Author's Note: Thank you for all the reviews! This is a plot-smut-plot sandwich, it has plot and then smut and then more plot. Just so you know. :) (A million thanks to Ashley for helping me with the smut-part, she's the best!)

Chapter Five

Dim light flooded the room through the shutters but Lea kept her eyes closed, not wanting to properly wake up for a little while.

As she became somewhat aware of her surroundings, she found that she was half draped over Darren's warm body, one leg lined up to his side, the other sort of wrapped around him, her shoulder nuzzled into his armpit, her head on his shoulder, one arm clasped between them, one lying over his chest.

But the most wonderful thing was the smell. It was theirs somehow, not just his. His scent alone was exquisite as always, a faint note of musky sweat, the ever present detergent and a whiff of cinnamon that made her lips curve up into a smile. But there was also a note of her mixed in it, her vanilla body lotion and the scent of her peach shampoo lingering on her hair. All blended in with the rest of the air of their love. She thought how cheesy that was, but it was none the less true, it still smelled earthy, pure, a certain coloring to the scent that made her remember gasps and moans and movement, fingernails and kisses. It made her thighs tingle and her lower body warm up. It was perfect, just them in a bed on a beautiful morning, wrapped in a cocoon of their very own scent.

Darren hummed beside her but didn't move, probably not wanting to disturb the position their bodies had clicked into over the night. She agreed with that sentiment.

"Morning", Darren mumbled, lazily putting his hand on her wrist over his chest.

"Mhm mhm", Lea shook her head a tiny bit, "Not morning yet, still night"

"I thought you were the early bird", Darren whispered and she could hear the grin on his face.

"Not if I can help it", she informed him, her words coming out slurred and sloppy.

"I can't believe this weekend is already over", he mused, chest humming and vibrating with his voice, "feels like we barely just got here"

"I know", Lea muttered, "And by the end of today we'll be back to La-La-Land"

And secrets, she added in her head but she refused to let her slight aversion to their agreement spoil her good mood. Darren was right after all, there were hardly any good things coming from them making it official, so she vowed to finally accept it and stop thinking about it.

She had him, after all. They were together and that was all that really mattered.

When they did get up, Cerina and Bill were already at the breakfast table and Lea hardly noticed the time flying by until it was time to get back on the road again.

She hugged his parents tightly, finally loosening up around them a little more, she felt like they weren't so disappointed in the girl their son chose to be with and that made her smile as she climbed into the car.

"Drive safely", Cerina said through the open window to Darren, his parents seeing them off in the driveway and then the older woman turned her attention to Lea, "It was lovely meeting you and take care of him, make sure he sleeps enough"

"I will", Lea promised, her heart warming rapidly and then she had a brilliant idea, "Look, we have this big New Year's Eve party at my parent's apartment in New York, Darren told me you will spend the holidays there, so why don't you celebrate with us? It's always so fun and my parents would love to meet you guys"

Cerina's eyes lit up and she turned over to Bill, looking for his reaction, he smiled as well, slowly nodding.

"That's a wonderful idea", Cerina said, turning back to them, "It's gonna be great, thank you, Lea"

Darren sighed as they drove out of the little street, having a six hour drive in front of them, leaving behind his family and that precious idea of normality he shared with Lea for just two and a half days. They switched on the road, listening to their iPods and the radio, singing along or talking but the closer they got to LA the dimmer Lea's mood dimmed.

When he pulled over at her house he made sure that no one else was out on the street and didn't give her a kiss. His face was soft and warm as he said goodbye but her heart stung unpleasantly none the less as she rolled her suitcase over her doorstep, feeling oddly trapped alone in her house.

She turned on some album she had lying around, the latest Kelly Clarkson one because she really liked it and it usually made her feel fun and spunky but it didn't do the job just right. Instead of being light and smiley, she was hollow and her face scrunched together on it's own, her forehead in lines and her mouth thin. The weekend had been wonderful, spending time with Darren had been wonderful and now it was over and she couldn't get it back any time soon.

Tomorrow they would be back to pretending they were just friends, keeping a safe distance from each other and the way she knew Darren, he wouldn't even let her do things she normally did with the other guys with him. Just for the sake of it, just so they made absolutely sure that no one would ever guess that they could be in love.

So there would be no arm-linking, like she did with Cory (except with Cory – and much more of that because even though she knew it was childish, she was going to own up to the decoy-plan Darren had thought of as a "good idea"), she wouldn't sit on his lap like she did with Kevin, wouldn't walk arm in arm like she did with Harry, wouldn't snuggle to his side like she did with Mark, wouldn't cuddle him like she did with literally everybody.

Over the next couple of weeks her glum predictions proved to have been sound and there were countless times that she wished Darren wouldn't give her that look when she approached him, making her take a step back, lower her hands, force her features to be a little less captivated by him, forcing her eyes to her feet.

"I love you so much", he told her one time that he actually stayed the night but he left before the sun was even up but she wouldn't say anything, keeping it bottled up because it was what he wanted. What she should be wanting. What she wanted, because she had to, because it was the reasonable thing to do.

Normally on set it was fine, they still spent a lot of time together – but with the others, they were enough of a distraction that she didn't notice how unhappy she really was with their agreement. On these days she was ecstatically happy, especially when she got to be with Darren in the night and he worked hard on making her forget everything and anything at all.

A day like that was the second they spent at a local pool they had on lock-down. It was November and their secret relationship had been going on for two months. Chord Overstreet was back with the gang and had his first big arch back on the show – as a synchronized swimmer, with Lea and Naya delivering the soundtrack, doing Rihanna's "We Found Love" with the New Direction supporting them. This meant two to three days with all of them huddled in a not nearly adequately heated public swimming pool, in admittedly cute but not very warm bathing suits, trying to disguise the fact that most of them sucked at synchronized swimming.

Zach Woodlee, their choreographer was animatedly walking around the edges of the pool shouting directions and last minute changes to the professional dancers already in the water. Lea pursed her lips, glancing over the pool, wrapping her white bathrobe tighter around her body, Darren stood a little down the room, talking to Chord and Cory.

Lea had told Cory in private about her and Darren and he hadn't even raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"What, are we obvious?", she asked alarmed as they drove in her car from a dinner, she'd let him drive because she was tired and they all thought she was a horrible driver anyway, "Darren's not gonna like the sound of that"

"No, not at all", Cory assured her, "You're very subtle, like..I thought he was with that other girl? But yeah, no, I'm just not surprised at all. You guys click, I mean, he's like the male version of you anyway"

"And I'm so self-centered that I had to be with him?", Lea asked playfully, fully aware that Cory had not intended to imply that but it was fun to tease him anyway.

"No", he shot back in defense, "That's not what I meant, I just meant that you like, fit and stuff"

"I know", she said, turning her head back to the road, "Thank you...So it's not weird or anything? That you know, I can play the rumors up about us? Just a little bit"

"Yeah sure", he said but Lea still couldn't help thinking that it indeed was a little awkward, "I think Ryan would love it, too"

Lea grunted heartily. She loved Ryan but he made no secret out of wanting them to tease the press a bit about being together as a little PR-stunt to gain more viewers and so far they had been adamantly against it but now Lea had her very own agenda and she also wouldn't tease it, she promised herself that much, she would just..mention him a little more, talk about Cory when she wanted to talk about Darren, letting people see them together, tweeting him more and Cory really didn't need to do much – just dodge the question if they were an item obviously enough to keep the bloggers entertained, the tabloids guessing. If everyone was looking to find proof of a relationship between her and Cory they would leave her and Darren alone because no one would even think of Darren as a candidate. Because Darren was so mum on everything personal and even Cory thought he still was with Mia.

"But you know if they ask you if we're dating", Lea started, trying to say what Darren wanted her to say without making him sound like a douche to Cory, "You can't..like, flat out say yes because..well, you know, it's just, um, supposed to be a distraction and Darren wants to make sure of that..and I do too"

"Sure", Cory said and she could feel him side-eying her, "And you don't mind how he lets everyone believe he's with someone else?"

Lea bit her lip because her friend had just hit a nerve, the good old jealousy but she had been over that question enough times in her own head to be able to present the one answer that she liked to give herself.

"He's not confirming it though", she said quietly, with a nudge of spite, "He just implies it"

"And you're okay with that?", Cory asked again, meaning to look out for her and be a good friend but she didn't want to talk about it. Oddly enough the fact that she couldn't talk to Darren about it didn't make her want to unload her bucket-fulls of feelings onto anyone who would listen, it made her want to hide the fact that she had a problem in the first place.

Normally she would have verbally thrown up on Cory but she couldn't bare to criticize Darren, not when she really agreed with him, and not in front of Cory, knowing that even though he liked him, it was a kind of touchy subject to Darren...her friendship with him and how close they were.

"I'm okay with that", she ended up saying, keeping her pokerface tight before smiling firmly at him and turning up the radio, ending their conversation.

Now Cory towered over Darren and shot her an approving smile, fumbling on his own head to gesture her he liked her 50's pin-up hairdo. All the girls had the same do, a tight knot at the back, her and Naya had the hair a little poofy in the front but they all sported huge white synthetic flowers, which looked nice with their bathing suits. They had candy-striped red tops and navy blue dress bottoms, playfully mirroring the boys long swim shorts, also navy and actual vintage-like red swim-shirts with white piping. Lea chuckled and nodded back in appreciation of his compliment, raising her index finger, wanting him to wait for the best thing and she opened her robe, revealing her short suit-number, earning another nod from him and finally Chord and Darren caught wind of their little exchange and turned their attention to Lea.

It was hard to acknowledge Chord at all with the look Darren gave her as his mouth dropped a little open and his eyes wandered down and up again over her.

He caught himself with effort as she walked over to them, nudging him slightly in the shoulder to at least collect his jaw. She was flattered but he was breaking his own 'No leering'-rules.

Though he broke them all the time, even worse, he repeatedly broke them on camera, something she could see each week a new episode aired and she saw the way he looked at her – his private looks just for her, on Blaine's face, tearing down the fourth wall and she wondered how many people still believed Blaine was gay during numbers with her.

"How do I look?", she asked Chord, giving Darren a little more time to regain his speech.

"Very pretty", the tall blonde replied and pulled her in for a hug. She snuggled into it and smiled, keeping to his side, imagining it was Darren's chest she was pressed against.

He smiled at her, reading the sentiment in her eyes. Back when they were on tour and he was still kind of courting her, if only for attention or friendship or more, she didn't know – but back then he'd touched her all the time, for the stupidest reasons, brushed her arms, almost pulled her away from people, tackle hugged her and now..a pat on the shoulder was all that she could hope for when there were people around.

"So boys", she said, not wanting to think about it anymore, "ready for a splashy day in the water?"

They all huffed at her weird choice of words and laughed, as if. No one was exceptionally pumped for it but it would still be fun, she knew that, that's why she could smile at them and wave them off and tell them not to be such babies.

They manned up then, all three of them aiming to prove they were indeed manly men who would power through the hard choreography and long day. Chris Colfer, who joined them minutes later had no such intentions. The delicately featured, tiny-waisted, pasty boy was not happy with his outfit and even unhappier with the location.

He coped with grim dark humor and soon had them all in stitches with snide remarks about how they would all sink and drown and how it would be glee: floaters.

"It's gonna be fun, Chris", Lea insisted, still wrapped in her robe but standing between Chord and Darren now, slightly shivering, "Cold but fun, betcha?"

"If you say so", he scoffed with a mocked eye-roll.

"Yes, I say so", and with that, she ushered the others around to their positions, noticing the commotion on set, the kind that happened when all the lights were set and the cameras were ready and it was time to shoot. The day before they'd done all the close ups on Lea and Naya and today was heavy on choreography and group performance, they would dance their way through the pool up to a platform floating in the middle and perform there before getting back into the water for fun and games.

Darren moved to his mark, truly the professional he was and she was in work-mode too now, not letting her thoughts distract her, set only on performing and getting everything right. The less mistakes everybody made, the faster they'd be out of the water and in warm clothes again.

The last adjustments were made and they were counted in, cameras rolling, playback rolling and it was showtime, like every day.

The hardest task was not to get their hair wet, all the girls were terribly preoccupied because their hairdo's were meticulous and had to last for the better part of the day and the guys had a jolly good time giving them a scare, threatening to get their hair wet. This only stopped when Ryan stepped on set and put on his intimidating face.

After three hours in the water they got their first longer break, the sun had risen enough for the lights to have to be completely readjusted and they would move on to the platform part, giving them a one hour lunch break – to be spent in costume on the perimeter (in case they could start earlier).

Lea snatched up Dianna and they went to dry themselves and then over to catering, although she wasn't very hungry.

They sat down at a line of tables and Lea picked around in her salad, eating a tiny mozzarella ball here and there.

"Are you alright?", Dianna asked over her sandwich.

"Yeah", Lea said, "I just don't have an appetite right now, I can't think straight"

"How come?", the blonde asked, scanning the room to try and find where Lea was so eerily staring, nodding when she saw Darren scanning the buffet table, "Oh, get it"

"We haven't had sex in a week", Lea said quietly after making sure no one but Dianna could hear her, "he wanted to come over yesterday and I set everything up and I wore the underwear we bought, the blue one and then he texts me, Di, he texts me that he can't make it because he has to run lines with Joey. Like, I get it, he's your buddy but I shaved and everything and I was all worked up and got nothing"

Dianna scoffed and chuckled lightly, "Well, you could always do it now"

"What?", Lea asked loudly and a couple of heads turned to them, prompting her to whisper, "We couldn't, Darren would never..also where would that happen? In the pool? Or like, right on Ryan's lap, so he can't possibly miss it?"

"At the end of the hall where the restrooms are, there's a room where they keep the floaties and stuff for the kids", Dianna shrugged.

"How do you know that?", Lea asked incredulously.

"I was looking for the toilet", Dianna said but Lea was hardly paying attention anymore, her mind already wandering over to getting Darren out of his damned swim trunks. But still, he would never have sex with her on set, he'd piss himself just with the idea.

"Darren would never do it", she voiced her doubts.

"I have an idea", Dianna said and abruptly got up, grabbing Lea's hand from the table and dragging her out of the room, through the swimming hall, where people were too busy to even notice them and on to the little deserted corridor, ushering her to a little door at the far end and turned the key that was in it, letting Lea in with a mischievous grin.

"Just wait here", she smirked and put the key in Lea's hand and Lea in the closet.

It smelled like chlorine and it was dark, the small space lined with metal racks of floaties and pool toys and Lea just stood there, unmoving for about three minutes, getting nervous.

She felt like a sinner in church and so excited at the same time, there was still a huge chance that Darren would blow her off or even get angry but she was determined to do this now, the thought alone making everything below the belt tingle and heat up. Her breathing exhilarated as she waited.

She felt oddly reminded of auditioning, especially the auditions where they seclude you from the group to prepare yourself for a bit before going into the room, her tummy wrapped itself in little nervous knots and she felt like throwing up and three minutes can really feel like one hell of a long time. She took of her robe and put it on the floor, trying to pull at her bathingsuit so that her boobies would pop a little bit. They would never pop more than a little bit anyway because they weren't very impressive..she tried to calm her breathing, pushing her palms against her ribcage, following the broad movements, this was way too exciting.

When the door knob turned, her heart stopped beating for a second.

Darren walked in cluelessly and the change in his features when he saw her standing there, hands knitted together at her chest, glancing up at him, was delicious.

It went from surprise, to wondering, to understanding and then he jumped and closed the door behind them, gasping at her with huge eyes.

"What's going on, Dianna said I should...", he let the rest of the sentence fade out because he knew exactly what was going on, especially when Lea stepped past him and locked the door without a word.

"Lea-", he breathed shaking his head slightly but she just got on her tiptoes right in front of him and put a finger on his lips.

"We can't make noise", she whispered.

"We can't do this at all", he protested muffled by her finger but he let her nudge him against the door anyway.

Lea, keeping her finger on his lips, started to kiss his neck, placing gentle little butterfly kisses up and down from his earlobe to his Adam's apple and then did the same to the other side.

He didn't make a sound, he didn't even move and she knew it would take a little more work to get him to loosen up.

Lips remaining at his neck, she arched her body into him, letting her free hand trail down the swim-shirt, down to the trunks and pressed her palm against his growing length. Because although he undoubtedly thought this was a stupid idea, she knew him well enough to be sure that he was turned on none the less. He winced slightly at her touch and she knew if he was going to stop her, he was gonna stop her now, take her by the wrists and keep her hands away from him but he didn't, so she went on.

He turned his head to give her more access to his neck but his hands were still clasped at his side, still easing into the fact that she was making him have sex at work.

The first real sound he made was a whimper in protest when she removed her hand but he seemed appeased when she replaced it with her hips buckling into him, rhythmically moving up and down against him and then finally, his hands flew up, one firmly on her ass, pulling her further in and one alongside her neck and jaw onto her tied back hair, nudging her head up with his pinky, making her kiss him, the sensation of his lips on her own after so long enough to make her weak in the knees, tumbling into him even more.

He bit her bottom lip with need and she gasped at the sudden pain, opening her mouth and he wasted no time, his tongue darted to hers, challenging her, almost making her choke, demanding more space, a quicker pace, a deeper connection. She didn't bother fighting him for dominance, so wrapped up in the feel of his hands on her ass, of this kiss that the rest of the cast could have been screaming for help, caught in a fire or something, and she wouldn't have pulled away.

He whispered her name when they broke apart and she looked up to see if he wanted to say something but his head was just tilted against the wood and his eyes where closed while he now used both his hands to pull her hips against his erection.

She kissed his Adam's apple again before gaining a little space between them. They were on a tight schedule and she was as ready to go as he was, maybe even more so after all the anticipation, so she made quick work of pushing his trunks down his legs before stepping away from him, pulling the swim suit panties down from underneath her dress quickly afterward.

It dropped to the floor soundlessly and Darren's focus was now on her again at the lack of touch. He leaned against the door, catching her eye, shaking his head with a sly smile. There was still a hint of doubt there, somewhere sparkling through his dark lusting eyes but she also sensed that the air of danger, the fact that they could get caught heightened the sensation for him. He was in every aspect more careful, more reasonable and thoughtful than her, but he was also a man and he stood there, manhood pointing upward in anticipation, his tongue running over his lips and she could tell he was not backing out yet. She doubted that he even could if he tried.

She retreated a bit further into the room and then turned around deliberately, putting her hands on one of the racks and the nervous flutter returned to her stomach, so ridiculously turned on, she thought she should be dripping.

She felt him get closer, body heat radiating from him like he was a glowing ball of light. Her breath hitched in her throat when he pushed up the polyester of the swimsuit and let one finger glide in between her legs, working his way up slowly, gently nudging her a couple of times, making sure she was ready. He drew back again for a moment, Lea fighting back a whine as she heard Darren take a deep breath.

"We can't make a sound", he whispered, one hand moving up from her hip to the small of her back to push her down a bit.

She nodded eagerly, bowing down and against him, whispering herself, "Please"

She could practically see him run his hand over his face again but then all notion of time and space flew off her conscience as he took charge, put himself in place and slid into her.

He took his time and even more deep breaths, getting accustomed to the sensation in a way that would allow him – and her – to keep it down.

She drew in a sharp breath as he filled her up, it had only been a week but she felt like she'd been missing this like a junkie needing her fix. The feel of him, moving in and out of her, his hands grasping her tightly - she would have easily given up nearly everything to never have it stop. It seemed dull and primal and she thought how their bond went so much deeper than sex, that they were emotionally linked, intelectually, they had a connection that seemed almost designed - like set up specifically for each other - but the way they were entwined now, it gave their whole meta-connection a practical feeling. They were linked, physically and she panted, trying to savor the feeling, trying to decipher each and every sensation she felt the moment she felt it.

He used the slow pace to claim her fully, pushing in further than he usually did, because usually they were at this a lot faster, harsher, now he seemed to deliberate each inch and he pulled out of her almost completely before going back in, even deeper than the time before.

It was different, and it made everything feel a million times more intense as she tried to keep herself quiet. It wasn't easy.

He growled lowly and that sound alone worked to get her that much closer to the edge. Still, she needed him faster now, harder but she didn't trust her voice, she couldn't talk, if she talked, she would scream and so she just used her position to push into him and he got the hint.

His hands were warm as his calloused fingertips pinched into the sides of her ass, holding her in place as he steadily picked up the pace.

It was a tough matter of control not to scream when he went even faster, thrusting into her harder each time and the rack was shaking with her, nudging against the wall with a steady and taletelling rhythm that was sure to get them caught, if someone walked by the door just then, even if they were virtually silent in all other aspects.

She breathed harder, biting her lips with force, her face contorting as he growled again and his movements became sloppy, he was loosing it and she felt everything tense. Waves rose up inside of her, and then he brought one hand around to her front, sliding over her clit, swiftly and slick.

She fell apart against him, gasping in surprise that her orgasm hit her so quickly, with just one additional touch of his and she winced, audibly but she didn't have a mind for that right now as he still pushed into her and eventually followed her, groaning quietly.

He stayed inside her for a while before pulling out, wrapping his arms around her from behind and lifting her upper body up, holding it tightly against his chest, kissing her cheek. She was a bit dissappointed that they both still wore tops and she couldn't feel much of his skin on hers but she took it in stride.

"That was such a stupid idea", he whispered and kissed her again, on the lips as she turned her head to him.

"But it was phenomenal", she smiled into the kiss, still dizzy with their adventure and he hummed in agreement.

"I love you", she murmured but already felt him pulling away.

"I think you should go out first, you've been gone for a while longer than me", he said and her happy daze was darkened a little bit. She wondered when this would stop feeling like an affair and start feeling like a relationship.

But she didn't say anything, she smiled a thin smile and scurried out of his arms to put her damp panties and the bathrobe back on.

She went to turn the key but then his hand held her back at her wrist.

"Wait a second", he said, features soft and he looked like a twelve year old again, still shorts-less but with his shaved cheeks, slicked back hair and these puppy eyes..he looked like innocence on legs and it already was a hard concept to wrap her head around that he had just fucked her from behind in a floaties closet.

She looked up at him, waiting.

"I love you too", he said and pulled her into a tight, warm, wholesome hug, "I'm sorry I couldn't make it yesterday and I'm sorry I texted instead of called but if I had called I wouldn't have been able to stay away and Joey really needed me, I'm sorry"

"It's fine", she breathed into his neck, affection and love welling up for her after all considerate and devoted boyfriend, "We have all the time in the world"

He let her go but she could feel his reluctance and it filled her with joy, moments like these, she was reminded that he really loved her too, just as much as she loved him, that it wasn't just some one sided fling, not just a guy she was blindly obsessing over like she had at times in the past.

He loved her too and she was grinning when she left the closet.

"Lea", Meredith, one of the Hairdressers called out from the end of the corridor, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, um", she twirled around in shock, keeping her hand on the handle of the door, promising to guard it with her life, "I..um..I thought it was the toilet but it isn't so.."

"Yeah, toilet's over here", Meredith smiled and pointed at the door beside her and Lea smiled sheepishly, walking towards her, anything to keep her away from the closet.

The blonde woman watched her approach and the closer she got, the more she furrowed her brow.

"Your flower's almost all the way out of your hair, what did you do with it?", she scolded lightly, "Come see me when you get back, I need to fix that"

"Sure", Lea nodded, "Sorry, Meredith"

She excused herself to go to the toilet, using the opportunity to clean herself up a little bit and tell her legs to stop being jelly. Hoping Darren wouldn't be petrified of exposure and staying in the closet for another ten minutes she glanced back to the door when she went back.

With her flower fixed a while later she walked back to the sitting room and there he was, cheeks still a bit flushed, just like hers but apart from them looking like nothing had ever happened. Just a second she lingered on the moment to marvel at him once again, as he talked to Mark and Harry, one hand flying up to rub his neck. He did that when he tried to be subtle about something, she hoped she was the only one who had noticed this habit.

She caught his eye and bit her lip before she joined Jenna, Kevin, Naya and Dianna on the couch at the other side of the room.

"Thank you", she whispered to Dianna as she sat down beside her earning a big grin.

"Any time", the blonde said and nudged her forehead against her shoulder, "Darren looks all smug"

"He does", Jenna said with the realization, having heard them.

"You think?", Lea asked, trying to keep her features even.

"He's so pretty", Kevin said mockingly, mimicking Jenna's voice.

"He is though", Naya threw in decidedly.

"He is, isn't he?", Dianna agreed and smiled and then everybody seemed to wait for Lea to jump on board.

"Yeah", she said slowly, "He's alright"

"Oh come on, Lea", Jenna huffed, "He's more than alright and you know it"

"Of course he is but we've been over that by his second episode, he was pretty then, he's still pretty now"

"Yeah, but now you're single", Naya said with a raised eyebrow, Kevin nodding urgently and Dianna shuffled in her seat.

"And he still has a girlfriend", Lea said beside herself, "so that's that"

"I thought they broke up over the tour?", Kevin asked, "I think he told me that anyway"

"I don't know", Lea said and shrugged, "I don't know..but..it's..yeah..no."

"Well if I was you I would be all over him", Naya said.

"But why aren't you all over him?", Dianna asked with a grin.

"He's cute but he's so short and you know..he's a Lea-person", Naya mused and nudged Lea at her rolling eyes, "Honestly, the first time we all met him, we were all like, look, it's a Lea-guy, totally a Lea-guy"

"What does that even mean?", Lea huffed.

"He's your type and you're his and after ten pm you're the same person, seriously", Naya huffed back, slightly defensive, "If you put him in a line up with everybody here, everyone would pick him for you, it's true, don't look at me like that..it's not like it's an insult, he's a great guy"

"Also he kinda looks like you", Kevin added and everyone agreed with him as if they'd just noticed it.

"Maybe you're related", Jenna said, "Then you really shouldn't be dating"

"We're not related", Lea said quickly, the thought alone making her uncomfortable but she laughed because they were all joking and they all didn't know that ten minutes ago, she did something with him you really shouldn't do with people you shared the same DNA with.

Except Dianna, who laughed hardest of all of them.

"Okay, guys", an AD stuck his head into the room before Lea could say anything more, "Showtime"

Back on set, they swam over to the platform where everything was set up and took their positions, Lea next to Dianna and Naya and Darren behind her. In a busy moment he ran his hand over her back, making her turn around to him with a grin.

"They all say we look like siblings", she informed him and Naya turned around to them nodding, making Darren remove his hand very quickly.

"It's freaky", she said, "Kevin said, you look more alike each week, like you're morphing into one person"

Darren laughed and Lea remembered an article she'd read a while ago, of how couples started looking and dressing and talking like their each other the longer they were together and she imagined them smushed together into one weird being because if people noticed they grew more similar after two months, they would probably literally, physically morph together after what – a year or something? Sje smiled at the mental image but then the cameras were rolling again and she became Rachel Berry, leaving Lea's musings behind for a while.

The next time they got out of the water Lea was actually not freezing, they'd turned up the heaters and Darren, Dianna and her sat around the edge of the pool with the others all scattered around on a short break.

"Thanks by the way", Darren said with a wink to Dianna, "For being her partner in crime"

"Sure", Dianna laughed, looking up from her phone and then she lifted it and snapped a picture of Darren and Lea with their feet dangling over the edge of the pool.

"Aww", she mused, "Looking good"

She showed them the picture and Lea nodded in agreement, "Looks like from an old movie"

"Come on, get up, let's take a real picture of you", Dianna said, getting up, pulling Lea with her.

"I don't know", Lea said, "Maybe that's a bit much"

"Get real guys, there's nothing wrong with taking a picture", Dianna argued and gave Lea her phone when her friend shot her a look that said how she very much agreed with her but Darren wasn't having any of it.

Lea stood with Dianna's iPhone, watching her friend pull up her boyfriend and putting his arms around her, "Now smile for the camera"

Darren pursed his lips but then looked at the camera, looked at Lea and smiled his innocent smile and the picture came out like a movie poster for some 50's love epic.

Dianna grabbed the phone and showed it to Darren, "Look, it's pretty and no one thinks we're sleeping together more than they do anyway, since we all sleep together here on glee, right?"

She aimed to prove that by uploading the picture to the delight of all the fans on twitter. And of course they all tweeted how Dianna and Darren should be sleeping together. Something that gave Lea a little jealous pang but given the happenings of the day, it was easy to ignore.

Still, the picture they took with Lea's phone, the one with Darren holding Lea remained secret on her device, unshared. She didn't need to post it and she liked the thought of having it all to herself. She wanted to take some proper pictures of them too, or maybe just one in the morning when they were just waking up..something to keep close when he wasn't there, something where they looked like a couple and not just friends. A reminder.

At the end of the day she was cold and tired but she'd remained right, she'd had fun none the less and instead of staring at the picture on her phone, Darren had come over later and she fell asleep in his arms, feeling like being in a relationship again, not living an affair. And that was all that mattered to her that night.

Next stop: Christmas-time in New York.