Addendum 4/29/22: There's a poll on my profile, check it out! :)

Authors Notes: I'll probably edit this chapter in the future for a longer Authors Notes as I am very tired, But I am beyond floored and eternally grateful to the many kind words for this story, especially during this five month plus long hiatus. Anxiety prevents me sometimes from interacting directly with reviewers on and AO3, but I feel so touched and happy to see that so many of you find joy in words I type on my laptop :,)

As for the chapter itself, I will admit that it may not live up to such a long-hiatus. This is more of a breather chapter after the behemoth that it was the last one, both emotionally and with word-count. But I will say that this chapter serves another purpose; chiefly developing the Gwen/Noah romance. For some reason, this has been the hardest chapter BY FAR to write, so I hope you enjoy it.

I hope you enjoy! :D

Total Drama World Tour's Jumbo Jet soared gracefully in the sky. As of now, Area Fifty-One, Nevada, and even the western United States itself had long since passed the aircraft, as it crisscrossed the North American continent in a somewhat diagonal direction to its new, unexpected destination.

And blissfully unaware of the turmoil of what it held inside itself.

Indeed, the Area Fifty-One challenge proved to be tumultuous for not only the cast, but the crew. Chris had been alerted of a brewing crisis back in Toronto over the phone, and had to leave in the middle of the challenge in order to try to help quell it. An hour after the elimination ceremony, with no end to the mysterious catastrophe in sight, Chris was forced to move from his luxurious living quarters to a proper work area in the dining area. In order to secure secrecy, Chef made it clear to the cast that no one in each team was to leave their specific winning quarters until further notice, lest any of the teens catch wind of what was really going on.

This roused suspicions, but ultimately raised little objections for the remaining eight contestants of Total Drama World Tour. All were exhausted with breaking in and out of a United States government facility, but perhaps even more so due to the emotional onslaught they had to endure throughout the challenge and elimination ceremony, and most were already sound asleep in their teams' respective compartments.

Despite this, only Courtney and Heather were asleep in Economy class.

While not regretting her decision in axing Cody when she did, Courtney held a fair bit of other worries in her subconscious. She had upset her last friend in the competition (besides Duncan) with her maneuver, and she kicked herself for not trying to pursuing her course of action with more tact. However, that wasn't the only thing she was worried about regarding the elimination ceremony. She distinctly caught Cody say something about Noah before he left, and it caused her to be wary over how much influence the bookworm might've accrued with her goth friend. Still, this all had to be handled when she woke up, as the C.I.T wasn't going to pass up an opportunity for some rest.

Like the former, Heather was filled with anxiety. While she managed to make inroads with Tyler, save her skin by tricking Cody, and made a temporary pact with Courtney, she knew her luck wouldn't last forever. Sierra probably was going to go for her throat if her team lost again, and with whatever Noah, Gwen, and Duncan had going on, it couldn't be good. However, the most worrying outcome of the challenge for the Queen Bee was her sneaking suspicion that whatever crisis Chris and Chef were attending to had to do with a certain Latin heartthrob…

Like the other two, Sierra was sleeping, yet not in Economy class. Shortly before Chris and Chef gave the order for everyone to stay put, the fangirl had made it to the Cargo Hold so she could mourn Cody's elimination in peace. She felt incredibly guilty, as Heather revealed that she only turned on the geek as retaliation for Sierra leaving her alone with Tyler in the compound of Area Fifty-One. Eventually though, Sierra could cry no more tears, and slumber took over herself. Little did she know that a certain home-schooled stowaway had been watching her in secret. He vowed to make himself known to her when she woke up, both in an effort to cure his crippling loneliness ever since he started hiding and to do what his father drilled into his head before he arrived at Camp Wawanakwa those many months ago, to be a gentleman by helping any girl in need.

Up in First Class, Tyler, Duncan and Owen were all sound asleep, some more peacefully than others.

Tyler was resting the most content out of the trio. Not only had he won victory for his team, but his talk in the compound with Heather put his mind more at ease regarding the Noah-Owen debacle. He was still angry at both of them (for vastly different reasons) and remembering his talks with Alejandro vowed to press on with the game without anyone pushing him around.

Duncan took the longest to go to sleep, and for good reason. Today he had to deal with a gut-wrenching ordeal with Cody, Owen, Noah and Gwen, where the goth made firm to her commitment on telling Courtney about their kiss in London. The punk tried to convince her otherwise, but in his heart he knew he had already messed up so much that any effort to buy more time would be in vain. He tried not to think about it, and partly because of that he focused his attention on his crest-fallen teammate in Owen. His heart brimmed with rage over Noah's betrayal towards him, and vowed that despite whatever were to happen with Courtney and Gwen, he'd be the one to personally kick his ass off the plane for good.

Owen had been the first to fall asleep, yet this was entirely due to exhaustion and not due to any peace of mind. Hearing his best friend tell Gwen that he had threw him under the bus was beyond brutal. But what truly hurt was hear Noah admit that he used his previous mistakes on Total Drama Action in order to convince Tyler of the lie. All the guilt he felt while working as Chris's mole came hurdling back towards the big guy, as his mind ping-ponged back in forth over if he made the right decision in voting to keep DJ over Lindsay in France. He simply had no idea what to do, and asides from Duncan, Gwen and (surprisingly) Sierra, he felt that he had no one left in the game to turn too…

As these six slept with their worries, two were soon going to have to deal with them awake. They had gone to sleep almost immediately since returning to the plane, and because of it were to awaken sooner than their competitors.

Five hours later, as Chris, Chef, and a handful of interns had fallen asleep themselves in their makeshift work-station in the dining area, Gwen and Noah were up.

And they didn't want to be alone.

Gwen cautiously stepped forward through the curtains of Economy class, holding her breath as she did so. Despite being insulated from the bone-freezing air on the outside of the plane, a shiver shot down the goths spine as she took another step into the darkened hallway. Once she was fully passed the curtains, she gritted her teeth and held out her left arm, sidestepping in that same direction until she felt the wall on her palm. She continued walking forward with her hand pressed against it, as the hallway was nearly pitch black.

Despite it being nearly sunrise during Cody's elimination, the interns would always make sure the windows of the plane be temporarily boarded up to simulate darkness after a challenge, in an attempt to trick everyone's biological clock so they could rest. As the plane was constantly in motion while the cast slept, traveling through changing time zones and the like, Gwen found it to be pretty effective.

And if hadn't still been completely exhausted, she may have made a point to remember to thank whoever on the crew came up with that idea.

But she didn't want to think about anything right now. She was so tired of thinking, she needed to talk. So Gwen continued to press forward into the darkness.

After a few minutes, the goth saw the faintest glow of light and halted. She was approaching the dining area, the only place that had been lit up due to Chris and the others moving there to deal with whatever crisis that was going on with the show. Gwen held her breath, trying to analyze her next move. Her desired destination, well, person, lay beyond the dining area, so she'd have to sneak across. But how was she possibly going to do that when –

"Horror show?"

And that's when her fight or flight response kicked in. Mostly the former.

"Ah!" Gwen took her hand off of the wall and in conjunction with her other shoved whoever was in front of her with pure reflex.

The person reeled back for a few seconds before losing their balance, and let out a bored and monotone, "Ouch," as their back collided with the ground.

Gwen instantly recognized who she had pushed and gasped, "Oh my gosh, Noah?"

Indeed, the light leaking from the dining area showed the silhouette of the bookworm, ass on the ground. Even amongst the shadows, the goth could make out a ghost of a smirk escape his lips, "Didn't expect that I would be able to startle the queen of horror films with a jump scare."

"Shut it," Gwen rolled her eyes with a smile. She knelt down and held out her hand, with the bookworm grasping it and helped him to a kneeling position of his own. "You're just lucky that my claustrophobia was beginning to kick in. Walking down a narrow, pitch black hallway is kind of the thing that triggers that."

"Fair, fair." The goth saw his shoulders shrug amidst the shadows as he chuckled.

A beat of silence passed, and Gwen bit her lip, not knowing how exactly to move forward. She had found the person she had wanted to talk to, thankfully without having to potentially get caught by Chris, but now that he was here, her mind blanked on what exactly to say. Eventually, the goth settled on the most obvious question, "So… what are you doing up? I thought you'd be leaping at the chance to finally sleep on something other than a bench after all this time."

"Oh believe you me, horror show, I did. Literally twenty minutes after my team got to First Class, I was knocked out on one of the recliners… I wasn't planning on it. I was waiting for Owen to be free but –

Noah's throat turned to cotton, and he could say no more.

Gwen hardened her gaze, remembering yesterday at the compound. She had whispered for Noah to talk to Owen before going over to him herself and consoling him briefly. Seeing her friend in tears caused the goth to be hit with a sucker-punch of guilt, and she knew that Noah must have felt a thousand times worse than she did over it. She sighed, "I understand. Yesterday was… a lot."

Noah murmured in agreement, and the goth could see his silhouette ever so slightly nod, "Yes, it was. For all of us…" he wavered for a split second, before asking, "Considering that I wasn't awakened by a blood curdling shriek of utter damnation, I suppose you haven't told Courtney yet?"

Gwen wasn't so sure he had caught her wince as he asked that, due to the lack of light, "No… I felt so sure on telling her after hearing how Duncan lied about you and I kissing – and I still do – but…" she faltered, "Something happened at the ceremony that kind of got me all… flustered."

Noah quirked his brow and snorted, "What was it? Did Heather kick Chef in the crouch when she got eliminated and you laughed so hard that you forgot?"

The goth cracked a small smile at that mental image, "I wish. Heather didn't even get kicked off at all."

"Wha-hmph!"

As Noah raised his voice to over a whisper, Gwen immediately bent forward and cupped his mouth before looking across his shoulder towards the faint light leaking from the dining area. She held that position for a solid thirty-seconds, and only broke it when it was certain that they had not alerted those in the dining area.

"Sorry," Noah's voice cracked as he whispered when Gwen took her hand off his mouth, "It's just… how could you guys possibly let Heather stay on?"

"I didn't plan on it; I tried to kick her off." Defensiveness seeped into the goths' whisper as she held her hands to her chest, "But Courtney and Cody had other ideas…" She breathed in slowly before recounting the event in full, "Courtney and I always had a deal to try to get rid of her the first chance we got, and a little while after the challenge ended I tried to get Cody in on it too. But because he knew I was planning on telling Courtney after the ceremony, I guess he wanted to save me and tried to vote her off instead with Heather. And then after that, Courtney had the bright idea of deciding to ditch Cody without even telling me because he made me too 'distracted' and went to Heather too." Gwen sighed.

Noah narrowed his eyes, trying to take all the information in, "So both of them flipped on you at the same time and went to Heather to vote out the other, and in the end she chose…"

"Cody." Gwen finished for him, "She said it was only because of Sierra ditching her in the compound… I think? I was so tired so everything about what happened is kind of a blur. But I do remember being angry with Courtney…" she shook her head, "I guess that, coupled with how exhausted I was over everything, is why I didn't tell her yet."

The bookworms' brow rose in the darkness, "I'm surprised she decided to ditch Cody in the end, knowing how close you and Courtney are," the goths' stomach contracted into a tight knot as he went on with a chuckle, "Sierra must have really pissed her off…"

"Well, I hope Heather knows that Sierra is going to be pissed with her after the stunt she pulled." Gwen huffed, shaking her head, "But could we just –

Noah held his hand to his chin, and unaware he was interrupting added, "You were on thin-ice with her because of Cody's crush on you, but if you're saying that Heather betrayed him, you might be able to pull her onto your side… assuming Cody didn't take her last shreds of sanity with him when he jumped off the plane. Then if you lose next time you can finally vote off of Heather, assuming you don't tell Courtney –

"Noah," Gwen's plea was soft, yet leaning in and grabbing Noah's wrist was strong enough to stop him in his metaphorical tracks.

The goth herself took pause as well, not realizing she had made such a bold move in an effort to stop the bookworm from going on. It felt… reflexive. Natural, like if she was hanging out with Pixie Corpse and Reaper back home, or when she was hanging out with Leshawna, Owen, Duncan; basically anyone she considered a good friend from Total Drama. Memories flashed of her argument with Noah back in Area Fifty-One, and of the pain in her heart she felt when it looked like he was ready to give up. It shocked her that they gotten so close in the four short days since he had walked in on her and Duncan…

And their newfound closeness was why Gwen defied Chef's curfew.

"Could we just not talk about the game right now," Gwen pulled her hand off of Noah's wrist, "I know so much has happened but, and this is going to sound really stupid, but the whole reason I'm snuck out was to talk to you." Noah's eyes grew wide as the goth finished quickly, "I just need someone to distract myself from all of this, you know?"

Thankfully for Gwen, Noah did know. At least after he got over his surprise over her grabbing his wrist, which was thankfully short, "I think I know what you mean… back on the first night, when I saw you and Duncan, we were talking about horror movies in the cargo hold. It was honestly the only time when I wasn't thinking about the game… after I blackmailed you." He shook his head, chuckling under his breath, "Although I was also half-expecting you wanted to talk strategy, considering how I blanked you after Greece."

"After going through my own explosive elimination ceremony, I think I kind of see where you were coming from." Gwen admitted, smiling weakly.

"Thanks," Noah changed his position so he was sitting down fully, back resting against the wall, "So, how are you feeling then, non-strategy wise?"

"Like shit," Gwen huffed, following the bookworms' lead and sitting down with her back towards wall, craning her neck rightward to face him.

"Nearly getting a concussion usually does." Noah yawned.

"Oh that?" Gwen waved her hand away, "After the last two seasons, that's nothing."

Noah rolled his eyes, chuckling with mirth, "I'm essentially a Total Drama toddler compared to you and your illustrious resume, right?"

"Maybe before this season began," Gwen mused with a smile, "But we're nearly halfway through the competition at this point, so you're doing pretty well. Maybe like a Total Drama… adolescent?"

"Adolescence is actually from ten to nineteen, so we both already are."

"Wow, okay then… Harold."

Gwen giggled softly to herself seeing Noah shudder at the comparison, "Feel free to kill me if I ever start wearing glasses and develop any sort of 'Mad Skillz.'"

"Dully noted." As the last breaths of warm laughter left her system, the goth instinctively crossed her hands around each forearm before shivering, "Worse than the head trauma though, is how cold the last challenge was. I didn't recognize it at the time, but running through the desert at night and then sitting inside of that…" she struggled to find the right word.

"Makeshift dentist office from hell?" Noah supplied.

"Yeah, whatever that was." Gwen shivered again, rubbing her hands up and down her arms, "It was chilling. And even though it's all over now I still feel freezing." She let out a small groan and closed her eyes, tightening the grip between her arms.

The bookworm cast a look of concern towards the goth before tilting his head towards the light leaking from the dining area with a glare, "I felt the same way after the Yukon. The only thing I could do to keep warm was holding a burning grudge that Eel-ejandro was seemingly perfectly fine with the weather. And even more for knowing that Chris was content in his hot-tub that night."

Gwen let out another groan before dropping her face toward her arms, "He does have a hot-tube, god damn him…"

"Bastard." Noah whispered darkly.

"Not to sound like an insane person, or Izzy, but –

"What's the difference?"

"I'd murder someone to be in a hot-tub right now." She ignored him to finish her thought, speaking in between her arms.

She expected Noah to come up with another witty line or quip at that; perhaps pointing out the irony of the brooding and tough goth girl was wishing for luxuries a spoiled girl like Lindsay would want. But he remained mute for some time, and Gwen noticed from the corner of her eye Noah turning to glance at the direction of the dining area.

For a good two minutes he stayed like this, wearing an incredible poker-face as to not betray his thinking or emotions. And, whether due to tiredness or something else, Gwen couldn't help but stare at him with anticipation.

Finally, he turned back towards her with a smirk nearly as wolfish as Duncan's, "I think we could use one without resorting to murder, actually."

"Huh?"

"I had to sneak through the dining area to get to you; Chris, Chef and all the interns are asleep there." Noah began to explain, "We could slip by and use our generous hosts' hot tub for a while without anyone knowing."

Gwen blinked, "Doesn't Chris have a passcode to his –

"I know it. He used the same password for everything when I worked for him; I doubt he'd use a new one for his quarters." Noah answered quickly, glancing back towards the dining area.

Gwen couldn't help but stare at him; utterly vexed by the proposal being thrown at her, "Are you sure Chris or Chef won't wake up when we try to sneak –

"Apparently our responsible and totally thirty years old host and company started to drink after they couldn't solve whatever problem they were working on." Again, the bookworm answered without missing a beat, even referring to an old joke of theirs from a day ago in Greece, "When I snuck through, the place reeked of booze. They're not going to come to for a while. And if we're quiet, we could easily just sneak back to Economy and First Class to change into our bathing suits before meeting back up at his quarters and –

He suddenly stopped short and blinked, which showed to Gwen that he finally understood how crazy of a train of thought this was. "And you thought you sounded like Izzy…" he shook his head, "I'm sorry, I don't know why that popped into my head –

"Noah –

"This show must be finally chipping away at my last strands of sanity; just forget about it."

"Noah." Like before, Gwen leaned in and took hold of his wrist gently to silence him. If they weren't under cloud of darkness, the goth might've picked up a deep hue of crimson on his face, but the only sense she felt was the warm and reflexive familiarity of talking to someone she had known her whole life, "I never said I didn't want to."

"What?" His voice nearly cracked.

"I mean, it sounds crazy," Gwen chuckled, removing her grip off of his wrist and leaning back, "But Duncan and I did crazier at the film lot. Hoisting everyone's underwear up the flagpole, starting a prank-war between Chris and Camera-Two, covering Heather's wig with sugar and pink dye so we could convince Owen it was cotton-candy –

"What? Owen told me that was just Duncan –

"He originally wanted to tape it to Harold's head while he was sleeping. I thought that'd be too far, so that was my alternate idea he went with." Gwen shook her head, returning to the subject at hand. She felt a strange rush of energy, like she was pulling pranks back on the set of Total Drama Action with Duncan. "The point is; I'm in."

A few beats of silence passed, to the point where the goth thought the bookworm would back-track, but he eventually he smirked, "Make sure you don't wake anyone, horror show."

"Same to you."

Noah was dreaming.

Breaking Chris's curfew to see Gwen was one thing, but inviting her to help break into his room in order to use his hot-tub?

He had to be dreaming in order to have put himself in this situation; the whole concept became more ludicrous after every step the now shirtless Noah took in the hallway that separated First Class from Chris's Quarters. Thankfully all three of his teammates were knocked out cold from exhaustion, so Noah could quickly rush in and change into his swim-trunks behind the bar counter. He was quick to depart, but he couldn't help but steal a glance at the slumbering Owen.

Even in the low-light of the room, he could still make out the crimson puffiness which surrounded his best friends' eyes.

A stab of guilt caused him to look-away quick before he bolted from the room.

Now, remembering that guilt, he closed his eyes as he walked and tried to push it down to the pits of his stomach as his mind castigated him for even suggesting this idea to Gwen. They could get caught, and by Chris was the least of his concerns. He wouldn't dole out too hard of a punishment, knowing how much Noah's Gambit back over the skies of London caused the ratings this season to soar.

Heather was the one chiefly on Noah's radar, as unlike with Duncan, he didn't know if she was even asleep yet when Gwen snuck out. The Queen Bee was onto him, and after the disaster that was his blowup with Duncan, Owen, Cody and Gwen during the challenge today, it wouldn't be too long for word to spread to her ears that something went down. And with he and Gwen alone in a hot-tub together, guards down, she could easily spy on them.

Why was he risking his already precarious standing in the game like this?

"Noah?"

He was soon greeted with his answer as he opened his eyes.

Gwen stood in front of him, clad in her swimsuit with a beige towel wrapped around her waist. Despite the darkness, being this close together left little in the realm of imagination for Noah. He took a few paces back before responding, praying that Gwen couldn't see his blush, "I'm honestly having some second thoughts too, if you want to back out of this."

The goth pursed her lips, "I… I only sounded nervous just now because you almost walked right into me."

"Oh."

A beat of silence passed; a beat so long that Noah wanted to fling himself out of one of the windows of the Jumbo Jet right here and now. What on earth was he doing?

"Come on," Gwen nudged him with her elbow, "Don't you want to get back at Chris for shoving you off that cliff in Jamaica?"

He blinked, as if her snark had reset him back to focus. He was okay. He could do this.

"I do."

Both turned to what lay in front of them; the doors to Chris and Chef's quarters. Gwen took a step back as Noah stepped forward, giving space to the bookworm for him to open it. He put his right hand to the door, slowly traveling diagonally downward until he found the numerical keypad on the knob.

Keypad…

His stomach immediately tightened. He had stolen a glance at the keypad Cody had used to hack into the system the day prior in order to for him, Duncan and Owen to listen in on himself and Gwen, and this one bore a strong resemblance.

"This kind of reminds me of Heather trying to figure out what that vault combo was last season…" Gwen mumbled aloud. "She and Harold were talking about if it had to do with something personal about Chris, like his waist-line or birth date."

"Only Heather was talking about that. Harold was just being pissy about her and Duncan badmouthing Leshawna and screeched 'error' noises in her face, if I recall correctly." Noah started to type the sequence.

Gwen rolled her eyes, "My point was to ask you if Chris's universal password or whatever you were talking about before is actually related to him somehow."

The keypad glowed green, following a soft 'click' sound indicating that Noah had done it, "To Chris it is random nonsense." He slowly pushed the door open as he continued, "But a little after two weeks I was hired as his assistant, his combo was leaked online; I had to change it for him." He waved in Gwen with his left hand to follow him as he entered.

"Which is...?"

"4011992, my birthdate."

"Huh, same as Cody's?"

"No way we share a birthday," Noah whined softly as his left hand glazed over the wall in searched of a light-switch, "Don't those yaoi people on the internet have enough ammo to ship me with him?"

"Yaoi? Not a term I thought you'd be privy too."

"I was living happily in ignorance until Izzy showed me, among… other things." He shuddered.

Before Gwen could poke fun any longer, Noah had found the light switch and flipped it, causing the room to brighten.

While the compartment was smaller than First Class and even Economy, it was still generously spacious for just two occupants in addition to the numerous luxuries Chris had previous shown the cast during the flight to Egypt. The wood-burning pizza oven, grand-piano and, most importantly for Noah and Gwen, four-person hot-tub were all accounted for, with the principle object for the duo being placed center stage in the quarters.

The goth immediately walked briskly towards it before dipping her leg in, "Finally - shit!" She yanked her leg out of the surprisingly ice cold water.

Noah chuckled as he knelt down by the heating device hooked up on the tub, "I have to turn it on first, horror show."

"You didn't warn me it would be cold on purpose, didn't you?"

"Possibly."

As Gwen glared daggers, Noah turned the dial on the heating device, causing both the heat to rise and bubbles to form in the hot-tub. He cleared his throat, "I trust that Chris or Chef didn't wake up when you snuck passed through the dining area?"

Noah swore he saw Gwen eyes widen for half-a second before answering, "Nope. Them and all the interns were knocked out cold. God, the booze they were drinking reeked."

Noah stopped turning the dial at his desired temperature and snickered, "Izzy said Chef always went for the strong stuff,"

"Wait, Izzy drank with Chef before!?"

"I usually don't ask more than I have to about Izzy's personal life," The bookworm said nonchalantly as he stood up. He gestured Gwen to enter the tub first, with the goth quickly obliging. Once she sat down and let out a moan of contentment, the bookworm entered it himself and sat across from her.

"Oh my gosh, this feels so good." The goth rocked her head back, grinning like she was Lindsay. She paused, as if suddenly feeling self-conscious and looked back at Noah, "Why did you let me get in first?"

"Come on horror show, can't a gentlemen let ladies go first?"

"More like using a lady as a Guinea pig to gauge the temperature of the water…" She crossed her arms, maintaining a playful smirk.

"If being careful is a sin, then throw me to hell."

Careful

As soon as Noah said those words, a sharp knife of irony pierced his chest. What they were doing right now was far from careful. Farther than all the kilometers they have flown at this point on the Jumbo Jet from Canada and back.

"Uh…"

Noah blinked, his eyes returning to Gwen. She was biting her bottom lip; looking like she was now flinching back from the water that she so far enjoyed. And despite everything, Noah had to close his eyes out of shame as they were drifting towards her chest.

"Noah, if you're feeling pressured about being here –

"I'm not." The bookworm shook his head. Like the Yukon, a fire began to brew in his stomach. Gwen had come to him for help to distract her from the emotional hell she had to endure today. A hell that he caused. The least he could do is bite his tongue and help her take her mind off the game…

"So, what about your family?"

The goth stared back at him bug-eyed, utterly vexed at the sudden pivot in conversation. "Excuse me?"

"Y-your family." Noah tried to regain his footing, yet failing miserably, "But you don't have to if you don't want –

"No, it's cool." Gwen held up her hand, making a small splash with the water, "Just… a little jarring?" Before Noah could respond, the goth began her explanation, tilting her head down at the bubbles foaming from the tub, "This is going to sound super cliché, but my dad passed away when my mom was pregnant with my little brother…" Noah's eyes widened, "I was around two at the time, so my memories of him are faint." Her eyes returned to the bookworms, "In spite of it all, my mom told me that she was pretty lucky."

"What?"

"Her brother – my uncle – and his partner, now husband, lived close by and moved in until I was ten to help raise us…" Noah felt a bit unsettled as the goth went on. Her candor was as if she was reciting something she had done hundreds of times before with no-emotion. Another stab of guilt pierced his heart. He didn't want Gwen to feel like this…

"You don't have to go on if this is too –

"Sad?" Gwen finished for him. A soft genuine smile formed on her lips, one that caused Noah's body temperature to spike higher than any hot-tub could cause, "It's sad, but I've dealt with it. I've been dealing with it for fourteen years. Just talking about it doesn't make me choke up anymore." A beat of silence passed; an offering from Gwen for Noah to respond. He didn't know what to say, so Gwen continued, "My mom, Uncle Michael and Ian, they raised us. And it all worked out in the end, I guess."

Noah took a few moments to choose his words before replying, "Saying 'sorry' will sound hollow, so I'll just say you're incredibly strong despite everything."

The goth tilted her head towards him, her wet blue streaks of hair bouncing off the light of the room that created a glorious glow around her face. It captivated Noah to the point where he didn't even need to exercise any willpower for his eyes to not drift towards her cleavage, "Strong enough to be that 'strong-willed and independent goth from the island?'" She smiled slyly.

Noah's eyes widened, immediately recognizing the words he had once told her in disgust shortly after Total Drama Actions second aftermath, "I –

"God, I'm kidding." Gwen leaned over and playfully slugged his arm, causing some of the water from the hot-tub to slosh on the floor, "Not everyone has to be as serious as you all the time…"

The combination of her touch and relief that she hadn't held some resentment from that day caused Noah's mood to swell, "I suppose…"

"You suppose a lot of things," Gwen smiled, "Speaking of supposing, I was actually supposing about your own family myself."

"Really?"

"Of course," Gwen looked at him intently, "Not all parents will let their sixteen-year-old son work for the man who helped make their life hell for two seasons of reality television."

Noah laughed, "I think you're inflating my record in this show a bit much; I was third voted off on the Island and was spared from McLean's torture on the film-lot."

"Lucky bastard." Gwen snickered mischievously, "Alright, fine. But still, didn't you have school to finish?"

"I enrolled myself in a private-online school when his 'Host with the Most'," Noah put up air-quotes, "forced the ones who didn't qualify to stay at Toronto during the second seasons for the Aftermaths. With no gym requirement, I had already graduated by the time Courtney debuted,"

"Impressive," Gwen whistled,

"It really wasn't," Noah yawned, "Anyway, I had it in my head at the time to go to one of the Ivy League schools for university,"

Gwen quirked her brow, "You… wanted to major in Botany?"

"That," Noah held up his finger in the air before pointing it at Gwen, "would have been a way better idea than what I had. The Ivy League is a bunch of private universities in America that reek of prestige… and expense."

Suddenly, it all clicked with Gwen, "So you took the job with Chris to get money to go to school in America. But wait, that still doesn't explain your parents… wait, were they the ones who pushed you to go to one of those elite schools?"

"Nope," Noah shrugged, "Just self-inflicted stupidity…" He looked to the side, focusing his gaze on the grand piano. "Coupled with a smug sense of superiority towards everyone…"

"That your parents instilled in you?"

"Wrong again, horror show." Noah clicked his tongue, "I'm the fourth child of seven siblings, right in the middle of a painfully average third-generation Indian-Canadian family." He shrugged, "I own every bad decision I make…"

Gwen frowned, "Did you not like being from a normal family, or something?"

The bookworm yawned once more, "I'd rather not get into my petty, first world problems in light of…" he let the sentence end there.

"We're literally on a reality show, Noah, where television executives literally exploit privileged teenaged 'first world' problems for money all the time," Gwen rolled her eyes before pausing. Despite her intrigue on Noah's family, she didn't want to press him, especially after today. Instead, her mind, and eyes, drifted downward to his chest, specifically towards the surprising well defined muscles she saw when she helped take his shirt off yesterday to tend his wounds.

She caught herself staring and raised her head, "Okay, so you wanted to get a job to pay for university, but why with Chris specifically?"

Noah shrugged, "Apparently him and his former assistant had a huge falling out near the tail-end of Total Drama Action, and was getting so desperate trying to find a replacement that he offered me the job a few hours before the final Aftermath was taped."

"He couldn't find someone else who wanted to be it?"

"Honey, you've dealt with his bullshit longer than I have. I think you know the reason why."

"Still… why you?"

"During one of the commercial breaks I got Owen an order from the studio cafeteria. Chris said I looked like 'prime material.'" Noah shook his head, "It might've paid well but I also almost regret taking it. I probably dragged gallons worth of coffee and even more gallons of shampoo to every meeting he went to."

Gwen snickered, "Shampoo? Didn't Geoff and Bridgette reveal he wore a wig when trying to stall out the tie between Beth and Duncan?"

Noah pursed his lips, trying to find the right words. "Ever hear of a guy buying a giant S.U.V to compensate for…"

"Alright, alright!" Gwen held up her hands in mock-disgust, laughing, "I get the picture!"

The bookworm returned to a somewhat serious tone after giving Gwen a chance to laugh, "It was mostly menial stuff: Laundry, dry-cleaning, coffee, food, running around Toronto like a chicken without a head –

"Oh!" Gwen snapped her fingers, causing a ripple in the tub, "That explains it!"

Noah blinked, "Excuse me?"

The goths eyes widened, a speck of crimson forming on her cheeks, "It's…" she shook her head with a smile, "Okay, don't take this the wrong way, but I was pretty surprised yesterday when you took off your shirt. Like, back on the island, you were so scrawny and –

"Are you saying I got fat?" Noah laughed.

"No, not at all!" Gwen held up her hands in defense once again, laughing herself. "It's just I saw some muscles here and there and… well…" she chuckled once more, "was wondering how you have gotten them. But it actually makes so much sense now with you being Chris's assistant, having to run back and forth and carry all of his shit."

Noah recoiled in faux-disgust, "How could I have forgotten; the worst part of being Chris's assistant… exercise." They shared another laugh, before he added, "I'm surprised you had the chance to notice that, given our situation."

The goth shrugged her shoulders, "Between seasons I knew I had to manage my claustrophobia better, and one of the tricks I learned was to distract myself by noticing stuff like that."

"Well, I'm glad you noticed my 'rockin' bod'", he held up some air-quotes, "when you got nervous being in an inclined space than whacking me with a shovel…"

"Isn't this like the fourth time we've brought up Harold at this point?"

"Oh god, you're right." He shook his head, "Remember, feel free to end my life the second I buy any nun-chucks."

"Again, dully noted. But I don't think you have to worry about it," Gwen smiled, "And you don't have to regret going forward with being Chris's assistant when it gave you that 'rockin' bod.'" She held up quotation marks with a giggle.

The bookworm looked back at Gwen and smiled in return. Any doubts or anxieties about doing this with her had vanished, like the bubbles that were popping in the hot-tub they were both sitting in, "I… actually never regretted taking the job." His pulse accelerated as he locked his eyes with the goth, "If I hadn't taken the job… I most likely would have skipped out on the Gemmi Awards, so I wouldn't…" Noah gulped. A new fear had screamed to the surface, one that eclipsed the old. New feelings began to bombard him like his own body temperature being heated by the tub. The beauty he saw in Gwen when she stood up to him in the cargo hold after London seemed to now be magnified by ten times.

For a moment, he wanted to reveal to her, no, reveal to himself the real reason of him not regretting his decision to take the job as Chris's assistant…

Without the job, he would never have been dragged by Chris to the Gemmi Awards.

Without the job, he would have never have been roped in by Sierra and the rest hijack the Orpha show.

Without the job, he would never have been rescued by Chris and taken back to the film-lot, where his former employer had offered them another chance at a million dollars in Total Drama World Tour.

And without Total Drama World Tour…

He would never have been close to Gwen…

But Noah was not ready to admit that to her or himself. He wasn't ready to admit that he had feelings for the girl he had blackmailed. And he immediately felt intense guilt of feelings those emotions of pure joy due to the circumstances he had put Tyler and especially Owen in.

So he turned inward, "It… doesn't matter." He looked down to the water, not seeing Gwen's look of worry at his sudden downward attitude. "I'm sorry Gwen, but this was a mistake. I –

"Noah," Gwen leaned forward and clasped his knee, "I know what you're about to say, and I get it. I fucked up today too by not telling Courtney. And… maybe you are right. That we shouldn't be doing this when Tyler and Owen are in so much pain right now." She gulped, "Even though he went behind my back, I still feel so shitty for dragging Cody into this. If he had never known any of this, I know for a fact he'd still be on the plane…"

"But I do know that he wouldn't want me to feel shitty about it all the time. Especially during a time of day when everyone else, including Courtney, is asleep."

"I noticed you specifically said Cody didn't want you to feel shitty about it all the time," Noah darkly chuckled.

Gwen looked to be at a loss from words at Noah's quip during her emotional monologue, but she quickly smirked, "Yeah, he's still pretty pissed at you probably. But I'm serious. I know that Izzy, whether if she's in some army base or back in the playa, doesn't want you to feel shitty all the time either. Especially during a time when everyone we wronged is sleeping." She sighed, "My point is, I guess, we should feel guilty, but we shouldn't feel guilty about breaking into our jerk hosts' hot-tub in order to forget about it for a while, I guess…"

"You said 'I guess' twice…"

"Shut up." Gwen smiled. "Are you okay to relax now?"

Noah nodded his head with a genuine smile, "Thanks for bringing me back, horror show." His head turned towards the door exiting Chris's Quarters, "I'm going to make this up to you, Owen…"

Gwen gripped the palm of his hand under the water and squeezed it with reassurance, "I know you will… we both will…"

The rest of the night went over smoothly. Both goth and bookworm were quipping back and forth throughout the night: talking about horror movies, making fun of Chris, and yes, even Harold was brought up a few more times. And as the hours ticked on, Noah could no longer deny to himself what he had hoped wasn't actually true for so long.

He liked Gwen.

And that was the final thought he had as he and Gwen drifted to sleep, with the heat of the hot-tub surrounding them both.

"Damn kids," Chef Hatchet stood above the hot-tub, growling to himself. He was the first to awaken from the crews' alcohol fueled work session. They were given no updates to solving their potential show-canceling dilemma, and he needed to contact their agent on the field to see if she had finally arrived to help solve the problems.

But when he went to Chris's Quarters to make the call, he was greeted by none other than Gwen and Noah sleeping soundly in the hot-tub next to each other. He was tempted to order them out in the room in a screaming rage, but Chef's hangover quickly put that potential solution to the wayside.

"I'll deal with this later…" Chef gripped his head, groaning in pain. He turned about-face and walked a few paces until he was next to the airplane phone. After dialing some numbers and waiting a bit, he picked up the phone to his ear and whispered darkly, "Sanders, where is Alejandro?"

Elimination Order: Ezekiel, Harold, Bridgette, Leshawna, Lindsay, Izzy, DJ, Alejandro, Cody

Authors Notes: Again, tomorrow I'll update the Authors Notes so it will truly capture my extreme thankfulness for everyone's kind words on this story (seriously, some of what you guys' said made me tear up a bit ngl) but thank you all so much!

Next chapter will be less of a wait; one where we will finally meet up again with Alejandro. And after that the plane will be heading towards Australia for the next episode of Total Drama World Tour!

Have a wonderful night! :D

Addendum 4/30/22: Next chapter will NOT be going back to the Alejandro plot, as writing non-competition chapters are rather hard for me and I don't want there to be another long hiatus. Next chapter will be Australia.

Addendum 6/4/2022: Added an elimination order table after being suggested to do it now that our first elimination of the story occurred. Italicized names are contestants who have been eliminated prior to Noah's Gambit (or in otherwords, canonical Total Drama World Tour eliminations up until "The Ex Files/The Ex Friend Files!")