Here it is. The Talk. Enjoy everybody! Remember to review/fav/sub!

"Do you think we could go somewhere a little more out of the way for this?" Erin asked. "I just really don't want to risk someone, especially Heather, overhearing us."

"Yeah," Chris said, tucking his head into his pockets. "Yeah, for sure. Uh… there's a clearing not far from here with absolutely zero hidden cameras and mics."

"Cool," Erin replied somewhat stiffly. Yeah… so far it was very awkward. She looked over at the sun which was now beginning to set, casting the sky in an orangey glow. "Lead the way." Chris turned around and started to walk off towards this clearing. Erin wasn't too far behind him. She couldn't really stick to the back of a group at the moment because it was just her and him.

"Sorry about the loss, by the way," Chris said as they made their way through the shadowy evergreens. "If DJ wouldn't have taken off his blindfold…"

"I know," Erin replied. She let out a sigh and shrugged. "Four in a row would've been pushing it, though. It had to happen eventually, especially since the Gophers got rid of that whole tiki curse thing."

"Yeah, that was messed up," Chris replied a faint laugh. Erin looked over at him, seeing just exactly how nervous he was. His voice sounded tense and a bit strained. He looked tense and strained. God she was really afraid of this talk… She just really hoped she didn't mess up things between them. At this point, she could have cared less about whether or not she was going to get booted tonight for what happened last night. She just wanted to try to preserve whatever might have been left of their friendship.

They finally reached what was probably the clearing Chris mentioned. A fallen tree went right now the middle of that tiny clearing with a small creek running alongside it. The sun continued to set and the sky continued to grow darker, casting shadows across everything in sight. He walked over to the fallen tree and took a seat on it. Erin followed suit and sat down next to him.

"So…" Erin started slowly. "Yeah… I guess, last night?"

"Yeah," Chris said, gulping very audibly. "I mean, I wanna start by saying that you're definitely not in trouble and unless the Bass eliminate you, you're not getting kicked off the show. I know you were probably freaking out about that…"

"A little," Erin said. "Look, I shouldn't have crossed that line last night-"

"If anything, I was the one who crossed a line," Chris interrupted. "I mean, I'm older than you, I'm hosting the show, not to mention it was me who gave you that much wine and even made the first move… I should have known better and that's on me."

"You can't put it all on yourself though," Erin said. "I made the decision to drink a bit beyond my limits and I also definitely kissed you back. I mean… it happened."

"It did," Chris said, looking down. He sighed and brushed a strand of his hair behind his ear. "If you want to leave the show because you don't want to be around me after that, I completely understand. We can come up with an excuse for the other contestants and never speak about it again."

"I don't," Erin said quickly. "I mean, things are really awkward but I don't feel uncomfortable with you because I know you didn't have malicious intent. Intent's always been the biggie for me. I mean, it's not like you planned on getting me drunk so you could do stuff to me."

"No, no, absolutely not!" Chris said. "I would never."

"Yeah, exactly," Erin said. "I mean, I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but I still trust you. It's been more me I haven't been trusting about this entire thing." Erin took a deep breath. "I just completely flipped last night after that and I felt so embarrassed and weird and afraid. Because I-" She paused and thought carefully about what she wanted to say next. "I… lost words. I don't know how I wanted to phrase what I wanted to say, but yeah. A line was crossed last night and it's definitely on both of us.

"I'm still sorry I crossed that line," Chris said. "The last thing I want is for you to feel uncomfortable around me and kissing you while we were drunk was a pretty skeezy move. Which leads me to my next thing." Erin froze and looked over at him. He took a deep, shaky breath. He let out a ghost of a laugh as he lifted his hand. It was shaking almost violently. "Wow I'm nervous," he breathed out. "This is new…" He cleared his throat and turned to face Erin. "We need to get everything out in the open right now. Both of us. And you need to know that I don't regret kissing you." Erin's eyes felt like they shot out of their sockets. "I regret how I did it. I shouldn't have been drunk when I did it. But I don't regret the kiss itself. That make sense?"

"Y-Yeah," Erin stammered out. He didn't regret kissing her? He had actually wanted to kiss her? "So what does that mean?" Chris sighed deeply and looked her directly into the eyes.

"It means that I like you a lot more than I should," Chris said. Erin felt all the air leave her body as she stared at him in shock. What just happened? Did he just confess that he was into her? He let out another shaky breath and ran a hand through his hair. "You're just so easy to talk to. You're hilarious, you're creative and talented and…" He trailed off and added, "And I'm starting to catch feelings for you. I shouldn't be because of professionalism, but I am and I can't stop them." He looked back at her with a very, very tense jaw. God he looked so afraid right now… "And I know you're not vibing with me the same way, but we both need total honesty right now. At the very least I still want to be friends with you when all this is over. I can do whatever you need from me. I can steer clear of you, we could just try to go back to how we used to be… I just want to make sure that I don't wreck our friendship."

Erin couldn't believe what she was hearing. Chris was into her too. Chris was actually into her too! She didn't think he thought of her even remotely close to that way. But he did. It terrified her and relieved her, elated her and scared her. And now she had to figure out how she wanted to navigate this. She had to figure out whether or not to tell him how she was feeling about him. But like he said, they both needed to be completely, plainly honest with each other. They needed to trust one another. He trusted her enough to tell her that he had feelings for her when she could very well reject him or compromise is job with a single word. So being honest and trusting him was the route she needed to take.

"W-Who said I wasn't starting to feel the same?" Erin replied, tentatively placing her hand on top of Chris's. He looked down at his hand with wide eyes. Erin took a slow, deep breath. It was too late to take anything back now. Now here she was, baring her open, honest truth to him. And it was completely and utterly terrifying. "I've actually been pretty into you for a bit now. I just didn't want to say anything because I didn't want to wreck our friendship and also the whole host-contestant thing. Like, you can totally see how it could seem sketchy."

"Not with you, though," Chris said, tentatively brushing his thumb across the top of Erin's hand. Erin felt a surge of energy from that spot tingle its way up her arm. She still couldn't believe this was actually happening right now. "I know you wouldn't try to play the game that way."

"Still, from the outside looking in…" Erin pointed out. She winced at the thought of her or Chris getting into legal trouble about this entire situation they were in. "So… I guess the question now is what do we want to do?" Chris looked down and took a long, deep breath.

"I think what we want to do and what was can do are two different things," Chris said. Erin nodded slowly. He was totally right. Erin really wished the entire competition didn't exist right now for that sole reason. Everything between them would be so much less complicated without that additional roadblock for them. "What I want to do is take you out on a date and explore things between us. But Total Drama Island kind of makes that next to impossible right now. The network would fire me on the spot if I tried dating one of my contestants, especially one twelve years younger than me." Erin let out a ghost of a laugh and nodded. He had a point there. He let out a smile and tightened his grip on her hand. "I'm sorry, I just still can't believe that you're into me too. I, like, didn't expect that." She felt her face grow hot and she looked down, tucking her long black hair behind her ear.

"I'm not sure I was really being that subtle," Erin replied. "I mean… there have been some times when I was just really awkward around you."

"You say that, but I was the one blatantly flirting with you," Chris said with a small chuckle. "I mean, come on. I was calling you cute from day one. Not to mention the Phobia challenge when I straight up told you that you were hot." He smirked and added on, "You really are by the way. Cute. And hot." Erin felt her face heat up at the compliment. Wow she was turning into a flustered mess. He let out a sigh and rubbed his thumb across her hand. "I really wish the show wasn't a thing right now, brah."

"I know," Erin replied, squeezing his hand a little tighter. She looked down at their hands and let out a huff. The timing was just so off with everything right now. "This really sucks ass…"

"Yeah…" Chris muttered. He shook his head and shrugged. "I'm not sure what we're gonna do. We could hold off until after the show wraps, but that won't be for another month." Erin tensed her jaw and looked over at him. His face was stony, his eyes downcast as he sat deep in thought. "I don't know about you, but I really, really don't want to wait that long to test the waters with us."

"Same," Erin said. She bit her lower lip and stared back at the ground, trying to think of a possible solution to this problem. It should have been easy; she liked him, he liked her, and they go on dates and figure out if they want a relationship. But Total Drama Island was a major roadblock for that. There were ethical issues, there were legal issues… There wasn't a way around that. Suddenly it hit her. There might be one way around it. She turned to Chris suddenly and straightened up her posture. Chris turned to face her with an arched brow.

"What?" he asked slowly. "You have an idea. I can tell."

"So I'm about to make a nerd reference, so bear with me," Erin said. Chris narrowed his eyes at that, but didn't say anything. "So you've seen Star Wars, right? Like, the entire saga?"

"Yeah?" he answered slowly. "Erin, what does this-"

"Okay," Erin said, completely disregarding whatever he was about to ask her. It'd get answered in a second, after all. "So you know how Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala fell for each other and had their entire relationship in secret, right?" Chris's eyes lit up immediately once he figured out what she was getting at. "We wouldn't be able to go on dates or anything like normal people do, but we could at least hang out and get to know each other a bit more off camera."

"Secret dateless dating," Chris mused with a smirked. "I like the way you think, Hoffman." He looked around the clearing and nodded to himself. "No one else knows about this place, by the way. I might have forgotten to mention that little bit of info before." Erin felt herself smiling at that knowledge. Secret place, secret dating… It felt way too easy.

"So we kinda have a plan," Erin said. She frowned and looked back at Chris. His dark eyes met her bright green ones. God he had such pretty eyes… "But there's still a problem. I'm still a contestant. You're the host and showrunner. I don't want it to seem like there's favoritism for me or my team." He let out a laugh and smirked that incredibly sexy smirk.

"You don't have to worry about that," Chris replied. "I didn't plan on making life any easier on you or the rest of the Bass. I won't even tell my own sisters about the challenges. I'm not planning on giving you any edge. Besides…" he gave her hand a quick squeeze. "If you wanted to be in this for an advantage, you'd be gone by now." Erin let out a sigh of relief and squeezed his hand back. "I'm game for going all in and dating on the down-low if you are. Sounds like we have a solid plan, brah. We just both need to do it. Because if you think it's too risky, we can wait until after the show. It'll suck for both of us, but it'll be a safer option. But personally, I like a bit of risk in my life." He raised his eyes suggestively at that. Erin couldn't help but laugh at the incredibly obvious and cheesy flirtation. She let out a breath and nodded.

"Yeah," she said. She saw Chris's face immediately light up. "Yeah, let's do it. Secret dating." She let out a shaky breath and ran her hand through her hair. "Holy shit, this actually happening." Chris smiled and nodded.

"Doesn't feel real," he said almost breathlessly.

"No," Erin said. She looked back down at their joined hands. How was this even reality? She was sitting in a moonlit clearing holding hands with Chris McLean who she was now secretly dating. It was like something you'd read in a shitty fanfiction. She looked back up and saw Chris staring at her, smiling to himself.

"So now that we're both actually sober," he said. Erin immediately fell into a flood of giggles at that starting line. He laughed along with her, brushing his thumb across the back of her hand again. "Now that we're both sober, can I kiss you? Because that's all I've been able to think about since you told me you were into me." Erin felt herself beaming. That was actually really sweet of him to ask for permission, especially after the last time he kissed her. Consent was always required, but in this case it was incredibly sexy too.

"I don't know…" Erin teased. Chris rolled his eyes at her, giving her a look that said, 'Seriously?' all over it. She smirked and leaned in. She felt the warmth of his breath against her lips as they came closer together. She was the one who finally closed the gap between them, brushing her lips against his. She could feel the prickliness of his stubble as he kissed. It was slow, deep, methodical. Their hands remained joined, but his other arm moved to her waist, pulling her even closer to him. He pulled a hair's breadth away from her just for a brief breath of air before turning his head and kissing her even more deeply than before. Erin may have initiated this kiss, but he'd definitely taken total control over it. She moved her other arm to rest on his upper arm, feeling the strong muscles there relax at her light touch. Holy SHIT he's good at this, she thought as they both seemed to pull each other even closer.

She had no idea how much time had passed. It was like time was standing still at that moment. There wasn't Total Drama Island, there wasn't an elimination ceremony tonight… it was just her and Chris kissing under the moonlight in a clear with only the sounds of crickets and the small creek behind them around. She felt her heart practically pounding out of her chest as he kept kissing her, every brush of his lips sending shockwaves through her. She never wanted this moment to end. He finally pulled away and stopped her when she tried to go in for another kiss. He rested his forehead against hers and let out a very, very sexy chuckle. "As much as I would love to keep making out with you, we're on a bit of time crunch right now," he murmured to her.

"I know," Erin said with a pout. "Doesn't mean I like it…"

"I know, babe," he whispered back, his hand brushing against her side. "But we have to do what we have to do."

"Yeah…" she whispered back. She let out a sigh and let go of his hand. Suddenly her stomach let out a massive growl. She flushed brightly as Chris burst into hysterical laughter. "I guess that's my cue to get dinner." He doubled out, still laughing hysterically. She could see tears in the corners of his eyes from how hard he was laughing. Erin couldn't help but laugh along. It was pretty hysterical. Heartfelt moment, really hot kiss, and then her stomach decides to chime in as loud as humanly possible. It kind of summed up Erin's entire aesthetic of poor timing and hilarious awkwardness.

"There's never a dull moment with you, Hoffman," Chris said between laughs.

"Shut up," Erin teased back, lightly slapping him on the shoulder. "It's your fault I'm hungry!"

"How?" He asked.

"Because we never got a lunch break!" Erin complained, still trying to hold back her own laughter. Chris rolled his eyes.

"You guys got a late breakfast," Chris said. Erin gave him a pointed, but mocking, glare at the weak defense. "But I will admit fault when it comes to holding you up from dinner." He took her hand again and the two of them stood up. He faced her and took her other hand in his, briefly pecking her on the lips. Even a half-second peck was making her heartbeat go crazy. "So… you, me, this spot tomorrow night?" Erin smiled and nodded.

"Yeah," she said. "And no one else knows about this clearing besides you and me?"

"Correctamundo," he replied. He let go of her hands and motioned for her to follow him. "Come on, I'll walk you back to camp. Let's get you some food." Erin rolled her eyes and followed him out of that moonlit clearing. She still felt dazed and breathless from that entire evening. As soon as the main lodge was in sight, she felt Chris pull her behind one of the bigger trees and press his lips against her. Her hands were pressed against his chest as his arms wrapped around her waist. He rested his forehead against hers when he pulled away from the short, but still completely mind blowing kiss. "Sorry, couldn't resist," he said with a smile. Erin giggled and rolled her eyes.

"You get away with it this one time," she teased. Chris gave her one last peck on the lips before letting go of her and backing away.

"See you in an hour or so," he said with a smirk. "Vote off wisely."

"I planned on it," Erin replied. Chris simply winked at her and then walked off, probably heading towards craft services to get his own decent food for dinner. Erin's stomach growled once again at the promise of food, even it was the gross ass slop that Chef normally served them. As soon as she entered the main lodge, she felt the eyes of every single other camper on her. She slowly made her way in and grabbed the last tray of food from Chef. She sat down in her usual place between DJ and Duncan, who were both staring at her very intently. She furrowed her brow and looked at her teammates, all of whom were staring at her. "What?" Erin asked.

"What were you in Chris talking about for so long?" DJ asked. Erin tensed her jaw and looked down at her plate of food. So that definitely didn't go unnoticed. Shit.

"Oh, um, you know…" Erin sputtered. "Uh… stuff."

"Really, brah? Stuff?" Geoff asked. Erin let out a sigh and slammed down her spoon. It was clear her team wasn't going to let this go. So she had to take drastic measures and give them sort of a half truth.

"Look, some things were said last night when Chris and I were drunk off our asses. Embarrassing things on both ends," Erin hissed. "We had a long talk to clear the air. That's it. Can we just drop it? Because I honestly kind of want to forget last night even happened." Everyone, including the Screaming Gophers, was staring at Erin in complete shock. Outbursts like that were very atypical of Erin. But it seemed to do its job. Everyone immediately went back to eating their dinner and didn't ask Erin any more questions about her excessively long "talk" with Chris. Duncan gave her a very pointed look that meant the two were going to be talking later. But after dinner and after Elimination. She had a feeling she knew exactly who was going home… After all, only one person on their team caused a concussion today.