Disclaimer: Music is 'You Got Me' by J Williams feat. Scribe.

A/N: Sorry for the wait, few real world problems to deal with. Family… can't live with them, can't legally sell them to cannibalistic tribesmen…

Oh, and it's my birthday on Friday so please, come make my day with reviews! Please?

Chapter Thirteen;
It's Never Too Late

"Who's the girl?"

Holly glanced up at the talking figure and grinned. "What are you doing here?"

"Retrieving my two best staff." Chris turned and grabbed Moose's attention, waving him over. His girlfriend's hand tightly grasped in his, Moose came to his side and gave him a soft knuckle thump. "I hope you weren't deserting me?"

"We saw the damage and decided to get out before you were forced to kick us out. We know you hate breaking bad news."

Chris grinned. "Thanks but it's not all bad news. There is a way to save the school."

Holly frowned. "Really?"

He nodded slowly. "It's not going to be easy but I think we could do it." He smiled at Camille. "Hi, I'm Chris."

"Camille." She glanced between Moose and Chris. "You're telling me you could save the school?" Chris nodded. "And assure Moose and Holly of a job?" Another nod. "But it would be hard right?" A third nod. Camille broke into a smile. "Well I like a challenge so I'll help."

Moose squeezed her hand and lowered his voice. "You're going to help me keep this job?"

She looked at him. "You said this was your ultimate job, that you excelled here, that you felt at home." His expression remained blank. "What kind of person would I be to take that away from you?" He grinned and kissed her cheek.

"Alright fearless leader," Holly spoke up. "We're all in, so what's the plan?"

Chris just smiled. "Grab your stuff and follow me."

…

Back in Chris' office after a brief car ride during which Holly had asked a million questions and Chris had answered none, the four of them gathered around Chris' desk as he slapped two pieces of paper down on the table. "Okay, I should thank Erika Moore for this, but she doesn't deserve it so credit goes to Moose instead." Camille glanced sideways at Moose, her expression suggesting she was trying to connect Moose to this Erika girl, but she looked back at Chris as he continued. "The Elite Dance Crew are holding a competition for a new dancer. They sent out audition slips for each dance academy and crew in the eastern seaboard. Ours got lost in the mail I guess. Somewhere between here and wherever one of Atherton's lackies 'found' it." He frowned then gathered himself and continued. "Anyway, I contacted someone from the competition and they assure me we have been allocated the standard three competitors."

"Which means what?" Holly asked.

"Well, on Thursday 26th July, at 7pm in New York, the Elite Dance Crew will be holding auditions for one new member of their crew. Each school and dance crew on the eastern seaboard can enter up to three competitors to dance. Now, they won't be dancing alone but as part of a crew, to show their team spirit I guess. So Eckhardt will be entering a team, maximum ten, though I doubt we'll get even half that, but only three will be contesting the position."

"So who are the Elite Dance Crew?" Camille asked, looking at the printout in front of Chris. "I've never heard of them before."

"The Elite Dance Crew were the winners of 'America's Best Dance Crew' three years ago and worked with a team of professional dancers, choreographers and television personalities to put together their first video. It became a winner on Youtube and rated very, very well in Europe especially. But then they fell apart, lost two members, moved to Los Angeles and haven't had any big news since. Until now that is. Elite have been offered a big tour of Europe for later this year, hence the competition, and the winners will tour Europe and dance with them. They'll also win $50,000."

"$50,000 we can use to save the school…" Holly finished, nodding slowly. "All makes sense now." She grinned at Chris. "I hope you have a spot for me." He smiled warmly back at her.

"Hold up, so," Moose interrupted. "These guys have met Randy Jackson?"

Camille frowned. "I think you're missing the point here babe."

He ignored her. "Randy's cool." He put on the worst impersonation ever. "He's 'tight dawg'."

"And you survived New York with that 'wannabe' routine? Miracle." Holly scoffed.

"Yes," Chris laughed. "They've met Randy Jackson." He held up the other slip of paper that they now noticed was an entry form of some sort. On the top was written the school's name and Chris' as administrator. Underneath the word 'entrants' he'd already scribbled 'Holly Given'. "So, wanna sign away your life?"

Moose snatched the paper from him. "To save this place Chris, I'd walk across the roof of the Empire State Building."

"He's scared of heights." Camille said, nodding at them as Moose wrote 'Robert Alexander' just under Holly's name. Chris grinned and took the list back. "Now we're done here…"

Moose stopped. "Hey, wait, we have three so what about Cam?"

Cam shook her head sternly. "Oh no, I'll dance, but I don't want to be judged for it. I'm just here to help."

Moose turned to her, lowering his voice, but Holly and Chris still listened in. "Chameleon, you would be helping, you win and you can give the school the money. Come on, you're a great dancer, why would I lie?"

"Because you're sweet." She smiled then shook her head at Chris. "I'm not the spotlight kind. Just enter with Moose and Holly."

Chris smiled. "It's okay. If you change your mind then we can add your name later. This doesn't have to be in until ten days before the competition begins." He put the papers in his top drawer. "Now, if I'm not mistaken and you two aren't going to leave again; Moose, you have a hip hop class to teach and Holly, your jazz ballet class starts in five so you better go get changed." They both nodded and left, Moose giving Camille one last 'think about joining' before he left. She just shrugged then looked back at Chris. "If you want something to do then you can go through my books and help me balance some expenses."

"I was in the intermediate math class at school."

"Me too!" He grinned. "Suddenly all the school's expense problems make sense."

"If it's okay with you, I might go take a free studio and start choreographing some moves for the competition."

Chris nodded. "Sure, book's over there." He motioned lazily, pretending to be reading, but he watched her nonetheless as she walked over and assessed the pages, finding an empty one and jotting her name down. "How long have you been dancing?"

"I don't really dance, not anymore anyway, I gave it up to focus on the real world."

Chris nodded slowly. "I hear that one a lot." He folded his arms and watched her. "I can see you're all business and details Camille, and Moose tells me you're in public relations, so you clearly know a thing or two about twisting words your way." She shrugged, humble as ever. Chris smiled. He'd known someone just like Camille. His own mother had been exactly the same. "He also says you're a great dancer." She made to speak but he held up a hand. "I know he's probably saying that just because he thinks very highly of you, but he's also not much of a liar, isn't very good at it. So if he says you can dance, he must genuinely believe it."

"Believing in something doesn't make it real though."

"True," Chris nodded again. He paused. "I knew someone just like you Camille so I know what this is really about - you don't want to cast a shadow over anyone else, outshine others, so you don't bring your A-game unless it's completely necessary." Her shoulders slumped and he knew he was correct. "But everyone deserves their moment in the spotlight. I'd understand if you were shy or self-conscious but from what I can see, you're neither, so why hide the real you?"

"I don't need to dance Chris. Dance is Moose's thing, not mine."

"So it's exclusively his is it? Well, I'll go tell the rest of the school then." Chris joked.

"You know what I mean. I'm not going to compete against my own boyfriend, I'm not going to steal what he does best, in this relationship he's the dancer and I'm…"

"The support act?" She frowned. "Ever think he'd like the company?"

"If you want me to compete for the Elite position this desperately Chris, then fine, I'll do it, but for Eckhardt, so Moose can have his school."

Chris pulled out the slip of paper and turned it in her direction, putting a pen down on top of it. "Always the martyr aren't you Camille?" She wrote her name down quickly then turned back to the door. "Ever thought maybe Moose coming here, Holly threatening you to come down, this Elite business happening all at the same time, was meant to be. Was fate? Maybe you're supposed to dance this competition."

"For Eckhardt?" Camille said quietly.

"No," Chris responded, dropping the form back into his desk drawer. "For you."

…

Finding Camille, despite her lime-green dress and orange tights, was harder than it seemed, even when she barely knew the school. Eventually he went to Chris' office to check if she'd signed out a room and found she was currently occupying the B-wing, second-floor studio. He hightailed it there and found her staring at her reflection in the large wall mirror, sucking her teeth and moving her hands in varying different patterns. She frowned when she saw him in the mirror and turned. "Yes?"

Moose folded his arms. "Are you working on moves already?"

She smiled. "You know me so well." She glanced back at her reflection. "What's wrong with this picture?"

"Apart from the lime-green dress and orange tights? I mean, come on, are you colour-blind?" Her reflection glared. "Oh, and there's also, we should be doing a tour of the city before we get down to business. You've been here two hours now and seen little more than a train station and the school." He thumbed to the door. "I found this awesome place, you should come check it out."

"Moose, I'm not going to a place that sells Philly cheese steaks!" She turned with a soft, judging smile.

He nodded slowly, muttering to himself, but so Camille could hear. "She's a keeper Alexander. Smart, beautiful and completely tolerant of my natural attraction to food." Camille laughed. "Nothing short of perfect."

Her laugh fell quiet. "Anything but." Moose looked up with furrowed brows. "I over-reacted when you told me about this place, and then not answering your calls, that was stupid. But I was scared. Scared you'd really left this time. Like NYU, except 100 times worse." He made to say something but she continued. "I must have told myself a million times that I was being irrational but still something inside me told me to keep ignoring you, blaming you, and just keep going with everything. Until Holly called that is. She w…"

Camille was cut off when the door opened and Chris walked in. "Guys, you're in charge of the place for the moment, I have some business to attend to in the outside world." He glanced between them. "Sorry, did I interrupt?"

"Yes, your timing sucks." Camille said, but she did so with a smile on her face.

Chris raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm growing to like you very much miss Gage, you tell it how it is." He smiled and slowly closed the door behind him.

"What did she say?" Moose asked, having not moved since Camille stopped talking, unaware before now (though he had suspected something at the train station) just how involved Holly had become in his mess of a life.

"She told me about a guy she'd fallen for and how she knew nothing could ever be. How he reminded her of a guy in her past. She comes from a Defence Force family and before her mother died they were moved all over the country. She fell in love with this guy in Ohio and he was everything to her. But then she had to move and even though they kept in touch, they had to move on. Now he's married with a kid and still she thinks about him." There came a soft thump outside the door and both glanced up to find Chris still standing there, a frown across his face. Camille cleared her throat and he looked up, gave them a strained smile, and rushed out of sight. Camille shook her head slowly at him. "Anyway," she finally continued. "She told me that if I didn't take the lead, change things, I'd lose you. She also told me if I didn't come here she'd go up to New York and drag me down here. I thought she was joking at first and I laughed, but when she didn't laugh back I kinda assumed she…" she looked at Moose for confirmation and he nodded.

"Oh yeah, she would've done it."

"Really?" Camille looked a little scared now.

"There was this kid in her Contemporary Jazz class who just never listened so she picked him up by his feet and held him upside down for about ten minutes until he agreed to do whatever she said."

"Oh my gosh!" She leant forward as if being told some incredible secret. "What happened?"

"Nothing. The kid didn't complain to anyone and instead spent the entire afternoon telling people about it. When Chris found out he went nuts, threatened to remove her from the class, but when they went back the next day and other kids asked to be picked up by their feet, he let it be. Best behaved class now. Also the most improved."

"She scares me."

Moose smiled. "Me too." He looked at his feet. "Cam, I'm sorry I left, I can't say that enough. It was such a spur of the moment thing and I just didn't think it through, didn't think about you to be honest, I just took it for granted that you'd accept it. I know now that I spent a lot of time taking you for granted and for that I'm sorry too." She moved towards him and he accepted the hug. As he pulled away he looked down at her. "So I'm forgiven?"

"You're just lucky it worked out alright. If you hadn't got the job and had returned to New York with your tail between your legs, I may not be so forgiving."

Moose gave a 'pfft' and waved one hand. "Not get the job? Babe, I was a shoe-in from the moment I walked in. Should've seen the other girls auditioning for the job." Camille stepped back, raising an eyebrow with a smile. "I strode through the doors and they were like 'o-m-g, it's Moose Alexander'," he put on a high 'girl's' voice as he spoke and Camille couldn't hold back a grin. "'He's so hot and such an great dancer'. I think two or three fainted."

Camille held back a snort. "Is that supposed to make me jealous?"

"Is it working?" She shook her head. "Oh well, I tried at least." He fished his iPod out of his pocket as Camille turned back to the mirror. She watched him plug it in to the iPod dock nearby and scroll through.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing." He turned up the volume but didn't hit play yet. "Oh and by the way, forget what I said about girls, I'm not going anywhere without you ever again." Camille smiled warmly as she took a seat against the mirror. "You got me."

The music started up and Camille threw her hands in the air, giving an exaggerated sigh. "Why does every meaningful talk we have always end in a dance routine?"

Moose grinned as he span on one toe, singing along with the song blaring from his little yellow iPod nano. "It's just me and you baby, oh no," he pointed to himself and then down at Camille. "We gonna take over this world." Throwing his arms wide, he turned slowly, playing the whole thing up as much as he could. Cam just shook her head with a smile. The beat picked up then and he really started to dance. "It was you that got me," pointing at Camille again, he ducked under his own arm and turned himself around, his arm pulling over himself until it fell to his left shoulder. "I thought I was out." He pulled at his shoulder, bending his knees and dropping his other arm back so he was crouched down, leaning back into his arm. His head fell back to look at Camille upside-down. She gave a small wave. "You stopped me, I knew I was at my worst." Then, pushing himself up again, he swung one leg around the other and twisted himself back to standing. Camille pretended to look unimpressed. "Then you came in, threw me off my feet." Moose came forward then, grabbing Camille's hand and pulling her up, forcing her to dance with him. Cam knew it was easier to dance than protest so smiled and let him go. "Tell me, te-tell me, tell me please can you help me?" He held one arm out in a 'please help' pose as Camille crossed her arms, shaking her head at him with a smile etched across her face. "Help me, to think that there can't be," with a soft shove at his arm, Camille watched with a grin as, stiff as a plank, Moose fell back before only inches from the floor he leant forward and collapsed safely onto his backside, continuing to keep Camille's eye the entire way. "Cos I never thought love could take me this quick." He fell onto his back, clutching his chest like he was suffering a heart attack and then, kicking up his feet, rolled back over his head and into the standing position once more. "A few months and it feels like years, and every year I'm-a still be here." Spinning again, this time on both heels, he reached out and grabbed Camille's hand as he stopped and dropped to his knees. "Never thought I could fall for someone like you…"

Camille shook her head slowly again as he looked up at her with a soft smile. "Don't tell me I'm supposed to genuinely believe that was impromptu?"

Moose grinned as he pushed himself back to his feet. "I kinda planned this, the whole 'I'm sorry', 'Girls falling over me' routine."

Cam shook her head. "I feel so set up."

He continued. "I found this song and it reminded me of you. So I made up some pretty awesome dance moves, if I say so myself."

Camille frowned. "I don't know this song."

"It's from New Zealand."

"You don't even know where New Zealand is!" Camille laughed.

He pointed one finger in her direction. "True," she bit back a grin. "But that's not the point." He moved away, going back to his dance. "Hey baby, you got me," he pointed at her, his left foot on its heel as he swivelled it along with the beat. "Like a bullet, shot me." He feigned being shot then, clutching at his chest as he slipped his left foot back into line with his right. "Right through my ventricle." He staggered a little as Camille laughed, shaking her head at him. "Don't know what I'm meant to do." Then, with one last wobbly step, he fell to his knees. Slapping both hands to the ground, he quickly pushed himself back up again. "Baby, now you got me, like Adrian got Rocky."

Camille laughed. "ADRIAN!" She did her best Rocky impersonation.

Moose continued to bounce around on his toes, his fists held up like he was about to throw a punch. "Imma be the champion, cos now that I got you, nothing can stop me." He squatted, gave two full spins on his toes towards her, then jumped to his feet right in her face on 'you'. Camille gave him a small smile, stepped back, and then, forming her own fists, pretended to punch him square in the jaw. He threw himself aside as if he had just been collected, rolling across the floor and stopping on his back, his arms out flat to the sides. "And even though I built those walls between us you unlocked me." Holding his hands out at right angles, the fingers turned in, he pretended to 'build' with them, raising himself up into a seated position as he did. On 'unlocked me' Camille held out a hand to pull him up but just as he went to take it, she pulled it back, laughing at him. He just jumped straight back to his feet quickly, holding his arms out in front of him and walking like a zombie for the next line. "They say love is blind and I can definitely not see." Grinning, Camille kicked one foot out as he passed and while he didn't hit it at all, Moose still tumbled to the floor in play. He sat up then, dusting his knees, as Camille crouched down next to. "I adore you baby, you're the freakin' best." Camille blew on her knuckles and rubbed them on her shirt, playing up a smug look. "If your world starts falling down," Moose pushed on her knees then and, off-balance, she fell back onto her backside with a shocked laugh. "You got nothing left, don't you forget." Then, standing over her, Moose held out both hands and easily pulled her back to her feet.

"You done my dancing Casanova?" Camille laughed.

"Sure, one last thing though." Then, grabbing her to him, he dipped her and dropped a kiss squarely on the tip of her nose. She laughed. "Now I'm done." He put her back on her feet.

"You're a dork." And, ruffling his hair good-naturedly, she pulled away. "Now, if I'm not mistaken, you've got a school to run and I have a dance to finish."

"Let it run itself. You can show me what you've got. That way, when you show the others, I can pretend I picked it up straightaway." Then, with a grin, Camille stepped up to the mirror and showed him what she'd come up with so far.