-1Chapter Five:

Daniel had just finished a scene and went to the makeup room to sit down and relax for awhile, hearing an old Greenday song playing on the stereo and Cassandra singing along. He sat down, smiled hello, and waited for her to finish up whatever she was doing. She looked uncharacteristically pale against all the gray and black she was wearing. Her hair was pinned back and she looked as if she hadn't gotten much sleep.

"Hey Dan," she smiled tiredly at him as she walked over and sat next to him on the couch, the gray wool of her sweater gently scratching at his left arm.

"You look exhausted," he told her, as she leaned her head back.

She looked at him through heavy lidded eyes and shrugged, "I'm all right. Just didn't get much sleep last night." The room was unnaturally calm without Cassandra's boisterous energy.

"Are you still coming to Lucia's tonight? It should be a nice break from all this work," Daniel said, suddenly distracted by the fact that their pinky fingers were so close they were nearly touching and one stray lock of hair was tickling at his upper arm.

"Yeah, probably." Cassandra shrugged, sounding a bit unenthused. "I'm just so tired all of a sudden." She closed her eyes again and Daniel saw her head leaning slightly towards his shoulder. He dared not to move an inch. As a wave of sleepiness hit Cassandra, her head gently touched Daniel's shoulder and her hair spilled down the front of his t-shirt like ink. Daniel attempted to breathe as evenly as humanly possible, but he felt slightly short of breath from trying to breathe slower and he gave up, realizing she was asleep and wouldn't even notice anyway. Then, without warning, Cassandra's mobile began ringing sending her flying off of Daniel's shoulder.

"Wha- oh Jesus!" Cassandra cried angrily, snatching up her mobile. "Hello? Yeah, what? For crying out loud, I was only-" she continued, waving her arms around. After she cursed angrily into the phone, he exited the room, leaving her to her conversation.

Daniel did not see Cassandra for the remainder of the day, and he ended up leaving a bit early after a round of stunts, to get ready for dinner. He and Rupert met in the lobby and the limo whisked them to Lucia's where Emma and Bonnie were already seated at the table across from each other and sipping drinks. Emma was all dressed up in a champagne colored dress and matching shoes, but Bonnie stuck to her guns and wore a black button up dress with clunky shoes, her coppery hair pulled back in a ponytail. She had strategically placed her purse and jacket in the chair next to hers, no doubt saving a seat for Cassandra.

"Hey boys," Emma greeted them, tousling her honey colored tresses.

"Hey, Em. What a day of stunts, I thought I was never going to get through them!" Daniel said, sliding into the chair next to her.

"Those bloody harnesses cut into my legs! Good thing that scene's over," Rupert chimed in, sitting on Emma's other side. Other cast and crew members trickled in and the room became louder as they all laughed and talked. The tables around the room were getting fuller and fuller, but the seat beside Bonnie remained empty as the appetizers arrived.

"Hey, where's Cass?" Rupert suddenly asked, realizing she hadn't arrived.

"I dunno, mate. She said she was probably coming. Maybe she got caught up," he said to Rupert, taking a sip of his red wine.

"Yeah, I-" Just as Rupert was talking, Daniel saw someone in a black peacoat come in. He turned his head, and saw Cassandra shrug her coat off, waving hello to Yates and their producer. She turned to their table and Daniel saw with alarm that she looked pale and quite shaken.

"Oh good, Cass got here." Rupert said, oblivious. Emma smiled and went back to her salad. Bonnie looked up, the alarm in her face mirroring Dan's, and she pushed her chair back with a scraping sound and hurried over to Cassandra. Daniel saw Cassandra saying something quietly to Bonnie, who put her hand on Cass's shoulder soothingly and replied. When they reached the table, Daniel gave Cassandra a smile which was halfheartedly returned. During dinner, she and Bonnie kept to themselves with their heads together, talking in hushed tones. Daniel tried to brush it off, and talked to Emma and Rupert while ever so often sneaking a glance to Bonnie and Cass. As the dessert menus were being circulated, Cassandra suddenly flinched and stood up. Even though he didn't hear her phone ring, Daniel knew it was the mobile because this motion was very familiar to him; the way she reached for her right pocket and looked around to see if anyone heard the mobile. Cassandra quickly excused herself to go to the loo, and Bonnie followed her worriedly. Daniel turned back to his conversation, but a few minutes later, the girls returned to the table. Bonnie gave Cassandra a hug and sat down but Cassandra just picked her jacket up from the back of her chair and remained standing. Completely distracted, Daniel turned to look at her, mid-conversation.

"What's up?" He asked, as she slipped back into her jacket and stuffed the mobile ruefully in her pocket.

"I gotta go-" She had a slightly frenzied look upon her face. "I'm sorry, I had a good time though." Daniel stood up and walked around to Cassandra's seat. Nervously, he pushed the chair in for her. She looked miserable. "Walk me to my car?" She asked him in the way that she asked anything; with no false hopes or promises, just straight out.

"Sure," Daniel agreed, furrowing his brow in confusion. She pecked Rupert on the cheek and patted Emma's shoulder in a distracted sort of way as they bid their farewells and Daniel followed her to the exit. As they stepped outside, Cassandra drew in a sharp breath as the cold air whipped at their faces.

"Are you all right?" Daniel asked her in a low voice. She seemed to hesitate, avoiding his eyes. Then as they reached her car which was double parked out back, she smiled convincingly at him.

"I'm good, just tired."

"Are you sure?" Daniel pressed, as she unlocked her door. She didn't answer; just stepped forward towards him and put her arms tightly around his shoulders; the first hug she ever gave him, and just held him there for a moment. Her arms pinned his own arms to his side preventing him from even returning the hug and he only managed to brush her hand as she drew away. Then she slid into the driver's seat, waved at him, and zipped away. He stood out there for awhile longer letting the icy wind cool his heated face and neck.

When Daniel arrived the next morning, he found the makeup room silent with no Cassandra. Dumbfounded, he sat down and after a few minutes Sheryl and her assistant bustled in and began getting him ready for the scene he was doing with Sir Michael Gambon that day. He talked for a bit with Sheryl as she carefully drew in some fake wounds, looking around for any signs of Cassandra. The scene ended up going very well, and during his lunch break he went back to the makeup room by habit. He sat down on the couch and reclined a bit, relaxing his strained muscles when he heard Sheryl's voice emanating from the adjoining room where the supplies were kept. He groaned, too tired to make more conversation with her, but it wasn't Sheryl who walked in, it was Cassandra. Daniel sat up straight with a start before he actually got a good look at her. She was wearing an old pair of torn blue jeans, a faded gray sweatshirt and old sneakers. Her hair was pulled back sloppily and her face was streaked with tears. She froze when she saw that he was in the room too.

"-and I'll be back in an hour then, all right dear?" Sheryl was calling. Cassandra nodded vaguely, and Sheryl rushed out, leaving Cass and Daniel alone. A small sniffle brought Daniel to his feet and he ran up to her, at a complete loss. With the absence of her usual high heeled shoes, she looked smaller and younger. He lead her to sit on the couch and she pulled the sleeves of her sweatshirt over her fingers and Daniel was there to catch her as the first few tears fell. Daniel had never heard anyone sound so broken, and with a sharp pang, he missed her; he missed his cool, worldly American friend who taught him to eat rice with chopsticks, loved to dance, and smoked cigarettes in stylish outfits. He didn't know this girl at all, and he didn't know what to do during this shift in their friendship because usually she was so sure of herself and all he had to do was to follow.

Finally he brought himself to ask, "What happened?"

Cassandra rubbed her eyes frantically with the sleeves of her sweatshirt, and sighed loudly. "This is gonna sound stupid," she finally said. Daniel shook his head emphatically.

"No way," he said firmly. "Never."

"We broke up."

"Ah." Daniel nodded fretfully, unsure of what to say.

"Me and Adam," clarified Cassandra, glaring at him.

"Right, well I didn't think you meant you and Bonnie." Daniel grinned at her, coaxing a small smile from her.

"I guess it just wasn't mean to last," she said slowly. Daniel was torn between feeling happy for himself and sorry for her. He decided to act on the part that felt sorry for Cassandra. Distraught or not, Cassandra was still tough and if he annoyed her he would surely regret it.

"I'm so sorry, Cass. I'm sure it was hard what with you being here and everything," Daniel reveled in the way her shoulder blades felt underneath his palms. She gave him an incredulous look.

"What?" he asked, thinking he'd said something wrong.

"It's just, I thought that if I- I meant anything to him, that d-distance didn't mean anything." She didn't bury her face in her arms and wail like he expected most girls in her situation to do. She just stated this quietly and looked helplessly around the room. "That's all."

"It's all right." Daniel said, curving his fingers around her shoulders. Truth be told, he felt helpless too. As if there was nothing he could say or do to wipe this broken look off of his friend's face.

"I feel so small and alone now," she said, "like London's just too big."

At this Daniel smiled, because he knew exactly what to do.