I hope you have enjoyed the story so far. I have a lot of fun with this chapter, I hope you like it.

Note: I do not own Skip Beat!.

Catherine and Kyoko headed straight into LME this morning to get ready for the commercial the actress had agreed to be in. There were a few paparazzi waiting, but no one jostled or pushed to get close to the actress, which Catherine was thankful for. It was the greeting they got in the LoveMe locker room that surprised both of the women. As soon as Kyoko opened the door, a dark hair pink streak hit her.

"Thank God you're alright." Kanae crushed her friend in a bone grinding hug before pushing her away to arm's length. "Don't you ever do that again!" The teen shook her friend to emphasize each word. Kanae released Kyoko and turned away from her with crossed arms. "You didn't even call me to let me know you were ok! I found out what happened when I came in today to this." Kanae threw both of her hands out to bring the younger actress' attention to the enormous pile of flowers and gifts stacked against the far wall of the room. Dumfounded, Kyoko walked slowly over to the stack and picked up a cute teddy bear from the pile and read the card.

"To Kyoko-sama, We are glad to see that you made it through that horrible accident and hope your manager is doing well. Please keep up the good work. We love you. The Kudos." Kyoko looked up from the card in disbelief. She checked a few more of the arrangements and gift and found they were the same. The outpour of love and good wishes overwhelmed the young actress so much she sat down on the floor cuddling the teddy bear and tried to make sense of it. Her grudges had all been reduced to babbling messes as they rolled around being comforted by her angles. She just could not understand how anyone could love the characters that she had been playing. There were all either bullies of bad guys. Catherine walked over and plucked up a rose from the stack and looked at the card with her name on it. She smiled softly as she read through the good feeling held in the card.

"It's days like this that make me glad I do the things I do." Catherine wiped a tear away and placed a hand on her charge's shoulder. "Take as long as you need, we have some of time." The woman turned to the door. "I will go check on arrangements for the rest." Kyoko was pulled from her thought and looked up to her retreating manager in shock.

"There's more?" Kyoko's grudges could not take it and curled into one big pile shivering.

"I am sure there is." Catherine smiled at her. "And if this is any indication, I am sure there will be a LOT of mail to go through in the next few days." Catherine left the frozen actress in Kanae's care as she went to find Sawara to make arrangement for the fan mail.

Kanae looked down at the pile of ooze that had been her friend just a moment ago. She bent down and tried to scrap the girl back into a solid mass and failed. It was just too much for Kyoko's love-resistant heart to accept at this time. The frustrated actress stood up and stomped her foot.

"It you don't stop ignoring me right this second, I will never talk to you again." Kanae crossed her arms and turned her back to her friend. This brought Kyoko out of her state as the girl levitate off the ground to her feet. An earsplitting no issued from the girl as she dropped to the floor in her normal apology position. After a long line of apologies and promises to never do it again, Kanae helped her friend up and forgave her. Kyoko was deep into an elaborate retelling of the previous days activated when Catherine returned from her mission. Not wishing to disturb the girls having such a good time, she went to find something to drink. As she walked through the halls, she heard two familiar voices echoing around the corner.

"I just need to stop in the office and pick up the script. I can't believe I forgot it yesterday." Yashiro reprimanded himself. Ren chuckled.

"I can." Ren smile as they rounded the corner and came face to face with Catherine. Yashiro's eyes lit up at her appearance, and Ren looked around to see where her usual companion was. Seeing his search, Catherine informed him that she was in the locker room. Knowing that it would do his charge good Yashiro looked back at the taller man.

"Why don't you go say hi, and I will go get the needed papers." Ren agreed whole-heartedly and slipped around the two to go find the girl of his dreams. Yashiro turned his attention back to the woman in front of him. "So how are you feeling today?"

"Better." Catherine admitted. "I took a long epsom salt bath last night that did wonders for my aches." She gestured towards his office and the pair continued on the path to retrieve the forgotten document. "How are you this morning?" She could see the light circles under his eyes from the hard night he had.

"To tell the truth, I did not sleep well last night." He admitted. "Everything just kept playing over and over again in my head." Catherine could tell that he had truly been bothered by the incident. She stepped closer to him and gave him a tight one-armed squeeze across his shoulders.

"Everything's alright now. We didn't get hurt, so stop worrying." The unexpected gesture from the girl ripped away what was left of Yashiro's self-control and Catherine found herself spun about and crushed to the man's chest. His embrace was gentle, yet unyielding as he buried his face in the hair on her shoulder and breathed in the soft sent of her rose and jasmine perfume. Given no other choice, Catherine wrapped her arms around the man and rested her head on his shoulder until he was able to recollect himself. After a few moments and some 'ahh's from passing people, Yashiro straightened up and pulled back just enough to look at the woman still trapped in his arms.

"Will you have dinner with me?" Catherine blushed lightly and hid in her hair for a moment before nodding.

"I would like that," She admitted before turning her eyes back to the man wrapped around her. "But I can't leave Kyoko unattended." Yashiro pulled her back against him and placed his chin on top of her head. Yashiro's eyes shifted around as he thought he heard a disturbing noise, but not seeing anything, he went back to the matter at hand.

"I will make sure she had company for that night." Yashiro grinned as he thought of the perfect man for the job. He held her for a moment longer before releasing the girl. If he did not get her out of his arms, he was going to act on his more basic instincts and they would never get on with the day. The two continued on to Yashiro's office in a comfortable silence. The man's eyes were attracted to the red rose Catherine twirled in her fingers. "Where did you get that?" Yashiro nodded to her toy.

"Oh this?" Catherine lifted the flower to her nose and sniffed it. "It was among the things delivered to Kyoko this morning." Catherine smiled as she remembered the girl's reaction. Yashiro raised an eyebrow at this.

They had finally arrived at the office they needed and Yashiro quickly retrieved the script for Ren. He locked the door and turned back to his companion. He was utterly shock as she watched the girl crack the head off the rose and stick the stem in her pocket. Before he could say anything about the vandalism, she produced a safety pin from inside her coat and closed the gap between them. She slipped the shorten stem into the button hole on his lapel and affixed it with the pin to the back side. Now that the flower was secure, she smoothed down the folds of his coat before stepping back to admire her work. Catherine smiled at the stunned man and turned to lead the way back to where their charges were. It only took a moment for Yashiro to recover and catch up to the woman twirling the now empty stem in her hand. Her every move was making him love her even more.

Autors note: You have asked for it and Yashiro is the first to man up and ask the girl out. Now all we have to do is get the other big lug to get over Kyoko's issues and ask her out... LOL