Preparing for the Part
My mother met me at the airport when I landed in Heathrow the next day. She handed me the Contract that Anne had negotiated for me with MartinKross. I told her to fax it for me. I looked at My mother and raised a brow, "I was playing with Maddy on your computer when it came in."
"Oh," I said taking it from her and smiling down at my baby girl, "Hi baby."
She hid behind my mother's legs until I talked to her. She smiled up at me and threw her arms out to me. I lifted her into my arms and held her close. "Did you miss me?" Maddy asked
"Oh very much, two whole days is too many." I said giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Don't do it again." Maddy chastised me as I carried her and my overnight bag back to the car.
"Next time I'm taking you with me," I said and sat her down in her booster seat. Then walk to the drivers seat.
"So you got the part," mom said sitting in the passenger seat gloating.
"Gabrielle..." I said with a warning tone.
"I'm not gloating Xena, really I think you should exercise other muscles. I would like for the world to see the kind of woman you are."
"What kind is that mom?" I said pulling out into London traffic.
"Amazing and multifaceted." Mom said.
"What if I don't want to change my image? I don't really want for people to know the things I do outside of this." I said, "I'm too exposed as it is."
"Not really, since you broke up with BJ, they have stopped paying attention." Mom said.
"Good." I said, "I'm not in it for the notoriety you know that."
"Yes I do... but if you give yourself little shots of it you would be able to deal with the notoriety of this day and age when it hits you with a two by four upside the head." She said to me talking to me as Gabrielle, "You have a commanding presence that everyone wants to be around, so you are watched a lot more than you imagine. You haven't given anyone a reason to follow you, but once you decide to live your life again, they are going to be relentless, because that is your destiny in every lifetime."
"Gabrielle, I am not looking for it." I say a bit dejectedly.
"But you know that this always happens. It makes it easy for you to find Ares. You stand out no matter how hard you try. You will have the strength and power that his soul craves just so he can find you. Get used to it."
"Yes mom," I said to her her with a smirk.
"Who's Ares?" Maddy asked as I rolled towards Hyde Park "Why must you find him?"
"He's a very old friend of Mommy's" I answered looking at mom.
"Is he lost?" Maddy asked innocently as I parked in front of my mother's house.
"Yes," Mom said as she got out of the car then went over to the back, "But enough of that, bye princess." She said kissing the top of her head.
"Bye Grandmare," Maddy said and sat quietly in the back.
I started home and said, "You know Maddy, We're going to the states for a little while."
"Why?" She asked putting her foot up on the back of my seat.
"Because I'm going to work there." I answered.
"Are we going to take Lilly?" Maddy asked of her Nanny.
"We'll ask her." I said to her unsure if Lilly really wanted to separate herself from her boyfriend.
"Okay," Maddy said, She went quiet for a while, and I thought that she had fallen asleep. When we parked in front of our house she said, "I like your job mom."
"Why's that?" I asked.
"Because I can go with you." She said, I smiled at that and stepped outside of the car.
"Come on, Let's get packed." I said to her as we walked into the house.
"Anna I need you to get me into a residency program." I said to my agent once the munchkin was in bed.
"Why?" Anna asked.
"Because I need to know what it is like to be a resident. I need to know how tired I'm supposed to be." Not to mention that the last time I was a doctor was in the Renaissance era, and I am way behind on my medical skills. This aspect of the role was really exciting me.
"Oh Okay fine," Anna said, "What school did you go to?"
"Stanford." I answered sitting on my bed.
"Oh crap... They're not going to let you do it." Anna said
"What does it matter?"
"They are not going to let someone that didn't finish college to enter their medical program not even for observation. Their reputation is at stake. If you had gone to a more liberal school like Cal Tech they may have taken in the novelty and let you wonder their university hospital."
"I'm not flaky... I was a straight 'A' Pre-Med student," I said a little aggravated. "Just find me something."
"I'll try... sheesh," Anna said resigning herself to it, "I'll call you when I get some leads okay."
"Love ya Anna; nice contract by the way." I said, she negotiated some profit shearing for me on this film even if the salary is not much. If they do well I do well.
"I tell ya, Jayden is really cool, that is the original contract, I didn't do much to it but get you a few perks so that Maddy could come with you."
"Really?" I said shocked.
"He loves kids, so he was cool with that too." Anna said sounding distracted.
"Wow... I think I'm gonna like this movie," I said totally impressed.
"Okay honey I have to go, Nadia tells me that Shelly Herendon is on my other line."
"Oh yeah hon. Call me if you get anything on that residency program."
"For sure." Anna said hanging up. I turned my blackberry off and put it on the charger and finishing my packing. I know it's soon, but I only came back for Maddy. I needed to get ready for the role, accompanied by the premiere tour that I will be taking for 'Under the Sea' It was going to take all of the pre-production time I had.
"For sure..." I said with a sigh and called my nanny to see if she would come with us.
Weeks later, after a whirlwind premiere tour, I was back in LA. I headed to Burbank to do an interview with the late show. I got out of my car and passed by the studio that housed the show 'There for you'. That is the show that Jayden's wife Ashleigh Martin was in. I looked inside, the barn door was open. They were gearing up to do the last few episodes of the series. I saw Ashleigh sitting by the catering table with one of her other costars talking. She was kind of cute, blond and thin, very girl-next-door style.
Just as I turned to leave, I hear a, "Hey!" as Ashleigh comes out to greet me.
I smiled at her, "Hi, I'm Abby." I said extending my hand out to her.
"I know! I'm a big fan." Ashleigh said shaking my hand, "I'm Ashleigh Martin,"
"I know, I'm a fan of yours as well." I lied. The show lost its appeal with me after the third year, I really don't know how it lasted as long as it did.
"I heard you're doing our movie!" She said, "Jay is so psyched to be working with you."
"I'm looking forward to it," I said truthfully, "the script is nothing like what I'm used to. Though most of the time I don't really fit in any one box."
"I'll say." Ashleigh agreed with me.
"Listen it was great meeting you, but I was just heading to the Late Show set." I said.
"Of course," Ashleigh said, "I'll see ya around."
"Definitely." I said and headed on to where I was supposed to go. Wow she's nice, I thought as I settled into the makeup chair.
