Wow, thanks so much to everyone who's gotten in the car and taken this ride with me up to this point. I'm having fun reading all the feedback you brave hitchhikers leave for me. I want to get a new chapter out to you guys every day, but sadly this car doesn't have a big tank, and runs of out gas fairly easily...lol. I honestly have no idea how long this story will be, but isn't the journey more fun than the destination? In addition, I'm really glad the Candre relationship is going over so well. I'll try to work in more scenes with them. Thank you to those who've left positive comments on my writing style. I tend to think I can get a little wordy at times, (like in this A/N) but then I can never cut things out, so I've decided I should probably stop trying ;)

As I said last chapter, I'm not going to respond individually to all my reviewers, but fear not! I will give you all your due props for being kind enough to leave me some love, so here goes...

Muchas gracias (cause I remembered that from high school..lol) to: xFabinao, tsttoain, alexjogia, superstar1030, greenkittycat, ZOMG its Angie, JustThatGirl, and last but certainly not least, whoever left the Guest review. They all brought a hugh smile to my face.

Obligatory Disclaimer: As of today I still don't own either the movie "The Proposal" or the tv show "Victorious"

Finally...here's the good stuff. Enjoy :)

CHAPTER 3

The meeting had been going on for 62 seconds, (Jade was counting) and she had been ready to leave and get back to making her movie 57 seconds ago. The execs opened their discussion by saying how much they admired Jade's work and blah blah blah, maybe something about money, blah blah blah (Jade had barely been listening by this point). She tuned back into the conversation, however, when one of the men declared in a saddened tone that she would no longer be allowed to continue working on this latest movie because she was being deported back to Italy.

"EXCUSE ME?!" She declared outraged. "Did you just say deported? That's not possible! I am given a new work Visa every time I make a movie-I have rights!"

"We're terribly sorry Ms. West," the younger-looking, slightly intimated man started, "but though you are correct, it would seem that you've gone over the time frame of your original filming schedule. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, and we weren't even aware of the situation until it was brought to our attention yesterday by the United States government." He glanced over at Jade to see how she was fairing so far with his news, and saw that she was just standing there with a stunned expression. He continued, "As a result, your Visa is no longer valid. You are to leave Hollywood and be on a plane back to Italy by tonight. We already have a new director we are bringing in to finish the movie."

After he finished speaking there was complete silence in the room as Jade tried to process all that she was just told. No one moved a muscle, except to blink, for a full two minutes (once again, Jade had been counting-it helped calm her rage once she fully grasped what was going to happen to both herself and her movie).

Finally gaining enough composure to where she was sure she wouldn't cause any future problems in her relationship with the studio, Jade began to speak. "Is there anything at all I can do in order to be able to stay here and continue making my movie? Can't I just get an extension on my Visa? No matter who you choose, no one will ever be able to make this movie as well as I can-I wrote it so only I know how it is supposed to turn out."

"Ms. West, we understand that you are not going to be happy with our decision, but frankly the whole thing is out of our hands. We are simply trying to protect the studio's investment. Therefore, you must understand that we cannot just abandon this movie. A lot of studio money has already gone into its making, and we intend to see that it is completed." Jade felt almost as if she were a child with the way the older exec was speaking to her.

"Then let me be the one to complete it!" Jade slammed her hands down onto the table in front of her as she spoke. She was starting to lose the short grip she had on her anger, and it was getting harder and harder for her to restrain the urge she had to stab something (or someone she added in her mind) with her scissors.

At her outburst, the execs stood and began to slowly make their way around the table, trying to put as much room between themselves and the getting-madder-by-the-moment director. Jade was blocking the doorway only by coincidence, as that's where the chair in which she had seated herself for the meeting was located.

Jade stood up from her chair but didn't get far as Beck had, mercifully for the other men in the room, entered with a fresh cup of coffee. He assessed the situation using his keen observation skills, then handed the cup to Jade as fast as was humanly possible.

Unknown to the rest of the world, seemingly only Jade and her assistant, coffee contained magical properties. This magic, however, only affected Jade, as it allowed her to calm down and think rationally. She took one sip and immediately came up with a brilliant plan to be able to stay in Hollywood and make her movie.

"Wait!" She shouted out of the blue.

The two execs stopped trying to move away and just stared at Jade waiting on her to continue.

"What if I told you that I am engaged to be married to a U.S. citizen?" She hoped the slight sense of desperation she was feeling wasn't coming through in her words.

"Well if that is truly the case and not a made-up-on-the-spot excuse, I would firstly say that yes a marriage would allow you to stay here and continue directing the movie, and secondly, congratulations to both you and your fiance. Who is the lucky guy?"

Jade ignored the older man's tone of derision, but faltered for a minute on her response. "Uh, um, m-my fiance is," she was going to just make up a name when she happened to look to her right, saw Beck, and inspiration struck once again. "This guy right here! Beck, darling, (she cringed slightly as the word came out of her mouth) your timing couldn't have been more perfect." Turning back to the men she said, "Gentleman, I'd like to introduce you to my fiance Beck Oliver." She was proud of herself for not showing any outward signs of disdain upon saying that word.

"W-w-what?!" Beck's confusion was evident to all in the room, but thankfully for Jade, no one said anything about it.

She quickly but firmly grabbed his arm and spoke so low only he could hear, "Listen, just go along with this for right now and I won't fire you and black ball you in Hollywood. Got it?"

Beck nodded his head imperceptibly and, forcing a saccharine smile on his face, walked over to shake hands with the two older men. "I apologize for my initial confusion. It's just that I wasn't aware we were sharing our news before telling my parents. With that said, it's a pleasure to meet you gentleman. My little honey bunny (he just knew Jade was plotting his public and very humiliating axing as he said these words, so he decided he'd better enjoy what little satisfaction he was getting from this moment while he could still do so) was just telling me yesterday how excited she is to get married and finally become a U.S. citizen." Walking back to Jade he kept the cheesy smile on his face as he slung an arm around her waist and enjoyed the feeling of her discomfort, along with the murderous glare she was trying to subtly send his direction.

"Well we certainly didn't know this news, or else this whole conversation could've been avoided." The older of the two execs said in a mildly condescending tone. "This surprising revelation, however, compels us to further analyze your situation and report it to the correct party."

"What do you mean correct party? Don't you just have to tell the FBI people that I'm engaged to be married so it's okay to let me stay here until I finish my movie?" Jade was confused as she had obviously never been in this type of situation before.

"Well seeing as how this is a deportation issue, the Department of Immigration is who will have to be informed. They will then send an officer here to verify your relationship and make sure you two are really in love and not just trying to scam the government." The continual arrogant cadence of his voice was rapidly forcing Jade to rethink her no-stabbing-studio-executives-with-scissors policy.

Beck could sense Jade getting ready to say something that would make the deportation issue look like a promotion, so he spoke first. "If I may interject? We would like to thank you gentleman for your well wishes on our impending nuptials, and if that is all you have for this meeting, we must excuse ourselves as my fiancee needs to get back to work now." Beck was sure that he was going to need surgery after this meeting in order to remove the cat-that-ate-the-canary smile he's been sporting since the "engagement" news was announced.

"Yes since that matter has been addressed and will be handled accordingly, that is all we have for now." The younger exec had finally found his voice again. "We appreciate your time and attention to this matter Ms. West. Someone from the Department of Immigration will be in contact with you later today."

Gritting her teeth and silently counting to ten, Jade forced a small smile on her face as she told the men she would be looking forward to the call and asked if they would mind seeing themselves out. After exchanging goodbyes, Jade and Beck left the room with his arm still around her waist.

/

Jade couldn't get out of Beck's embrace fast enough after the meeting room door had closed behind them. She stomped her way over to the set and hollered at everyone to be ready for filming within five minutes. No one dared to question her actions or attitude-they simply just rushed as fast as possible to do what she asked. In times such as these no one, not even Cat (who was actually Jade's best friend-though Jade would never admit it), was immune to her wrath.

Normally if Jade caught Cat and Andre making out in a random corner, she would simply roll her eyes and tease (she wasn't completely heartless, despite what many of her staff believed) Cat about it when the two broke apart. Today, however, Jade threatened to fire them both if she caught them within 5 feet of each other again.

"Eep!" Cat stepped away from Andre so quickly he crashed hard into the wall she had been leaning against.

"Dang girl! Could you give me more warning next time? I almost just broke my nose!"

Andre's outburst, combined with Jade's warning, caused Cat's eyes to tear up rapidly. "Aw Cat, I'm sorry. I'm not mad at you. Don't cry baby. You know I hate to see my Little Red all sad." Andre went to give Cat a comforting hug, but was stopped by Jade's steely glare.

"J-jadey...what's...hic...wrong?" Cat's bottom lip trembled as she asked the question.

"One, NEVER CALL ME THAT! You know I HATE that name! And two, NOTHING'S WRONG! Now GET TO WORK BEFORE I FIRE YOU!" With that, Jade made her way over to her director's chair and began to get ready for the day's shooting.

Andre gave Cat a sad smile, then a quick hug and kiss before leaving to find Beck to try and figure out what was going on with Jade.

Luckily for Cat, Tori happened to be working on this current movie. As she saw Cat about to have a complete break down, she made her way to Cat's side to pull the red head into a comforting hug.

/

It didn't take long for Andre to find Beck because when the fluffy-haired assistant wasn't around Jade, he was usually found in her office. Andre stood in the doorway watching Beck pace back and forth for a minute before making his presence known.

"Alright man, what's up? Jade's being more of a gank than usual, and you're in here acting like a caged tiger and making me dizzy with your pacing. Cat told me about Jade having to meet with the studio execs, so I'm guessing you know what down in that meeting?"

Beck had finally stopped his cross-office trek as soon as he heard Andre's voice, and stared at his friend pleadingly. "Andre you're my best friend, and you know under any other circumstance I would tell you what's going on in a heartbeat, but please just trust me when I say that I cannot tell you about this right now." He held up a hand when he saw Andre's mouth open to speak. "No more questions man. There's just some crazy shit that went down at that meeting and I promise as soon as I can, I'll tell you every detail, but I just can't do it yet."

Andre saw how desperate Beck's countenance was, and decided to take pity on his friend. "Okay man no questions about that, but I gotta say, you need to go calm your boss down. Right now I have to wait until we're done shooting for the day before I can even go near my girlfriend, and I just can't last that long. If I don't get some red velvet kisses again soon I'm gonna go all wonky!"

"First, calm down dude. Second, what are you talking about? Go near Cat? Why can't you be around her now?" Andre didn't even have to answer, for it had taken Beck all of two seconds after he asked to deduce the meaning behind Andre's anger. "Wait, let me guess...that's why you're asking about Jade being more of a gank than usual right? She said something to you guys, and for whatever reason, now you're supposed to stay away from each other, correct?"

Andre's anger was starting to abate by the time Beck finished speaking, at least enough for him to not feel as if he would trash Jade's office in the next five minutes. "Yeah that's about it. Jade caught Cat and me making out in a corner of the studio-out of everybody's way might I add-and just went off on us. Told us that if we got within 5 feet of each other again, Jade would fire both of us. I didn't really care for her hollering, but I can take it. Cat, on the other hand, has never had Jade yell at her like that, and you know how sensitive Cat is in general, but with Jade she always takes things extra personally. It tears me up to see my baby so upset, and it just sucks because there's nothing I can even do about it until work is over. So once again, I'm begging you as my best friend, PLEASE talk to Jade and fix this-not just for me and Cat, but for the whole crew. We all need you to do this Beck because with the way Jade's going now, there'll be no one left to work by lunchtime."

Beck realized that nothing was going to change right now in regards to the meeting's outcome, so heaving a resigned sigh, he told Andre that it would be taken care of. He left the office to search for Jade so he could speak with her in an attempt to create a peaceful, at least for today, working environment. Somehow Beck was able to both avoid the meeting's repercussions, and calm Jade down enough so filming could commence that day. He considered it a small miracle, and win-win for all involved.

/

The call Beck and Jade had both been dreading came around 2 o'clock that afternoon. Jade was in the middle of the most crucial scene in the movie when her phone began ringing, well technically vibrating. Beck had been holding it, (as he always does during filming) and answered while walking into Jade's office for privacy. "Hello Jade West's phone. This is Beck speaking."

"Beck? As in Ms. West's fiance Beck Oliver?" The voice was a little hesitant, but very hard.

Beck figured out right away that it was the Immigration office calling without the caller having to even identify himself. Based on this discovery, he then realized that this wasn't going to be a fun conversation. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he replied affirmatively.

"Mr. Oliver, (no hesitation this time, just the hard tone) my name is Michael Amberson and I am calling from the Department of Immigration (cue eye roll for Beck) in Washington D.C. This case has just been assigned to me and I wanted to call and inform you that I will be arriving in Hollywood tomorrow morning to conduct my interview regarding your relationship. I shall be out there around 9 am, and I will expect both you and Ms. West to meet me at our Hollywood office at 10 if it is not too inconvenient."

"No sir, it's not an inconvenience at all." Beck rushed to agree with whatever Mr. Amberson was saying so as not to give a bad impression over the phone, as well as wanting to end the call as quickly as possible. "We'll be there tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock." After writing down the address to Mr. Amberson's office and exchanging goodbyes, Beck hung up the phone, sat down in one of Jade's office chairs, and ran his hand on an all-too-familiar path through his hair.

/

At precisely 9:55 Thursday morning, Jade and Beck walked into the Hollywood Department of Immigration office for their meeting with Mr. Amberson. Jade had refused to ride with Beck, and had demanded he meet her there. He at first had argued saying it would make a bad impression if they showed up separately, but Jade had a solution for that problem. She told him if anyone asked, they did not live together-they are waiting until marriage-and she had other commitments prior to the meeting this morning.

Beck had attempted to put his arm around Jade's shoulder in order to portray an actual couple "in love," but when Jade threatened to break his arm if it wasn't removed, he settled for simply walking next to her.

Jade walked purposefully up to the front desk and paused as she discovered the secretary wasn't the one she remembered from her first visit there. Jade shook herself from the memory and demanded, in a not-so-nice voice, to know where Mr. Amberson's office was because she was there for an appointment and couldn't be late. Seeing the poor secretary shaking in fear while stammering to give Jade directions, Beck stepped up and did what he has been doing for the last 3 years. He apologized to the older lady for Jade's rude behavior, and turned on the charm to more effectively discover what they needed to know.

Beck thanked the lady with his most disarming smile and turned to lead Jade towards Mr. Amberson's office, with Jade grumbling the whole way.

"She is so lucky I'm not her boss. She should be fired." Jade had then mumbled something that Beck couldn't make out, but he thought it sounded like "he's supposed to be my fiance." He found himself involuntarily smiling at the thought.

"Ok, here we are." Beck had stopped in front of what appeared to be a closet with a handwritten sign stating that the office belonged to Michael Amberson, Chief Immigration Officer (No idea what their system is like since I'm 1-a natural born citizen-unless Missouri was its own country when I was born, and 2-I was too lazy to do any research, so we're going to stick with this).

Jade's eyes had lit up once she had taken in everything. "Oh my god this is great! He can't even get a decent office around here. Do you know what this means Beck?" She didn't even give him a chance to guess before barreling onward. "It means he's not that important, and it's going to be so easy to get this mess cleared up without any worry of me getting deported!" She smiled for the first time all morning, and Beck couldn't help but let out a little chuckle at the sight, combined with her wild hypothesis. He then turned serious as he spoke the words relating to the things he had been thinking about all last night.

"Yeah, let's not be too presumptuous yet. His little sign does say Chief Immigration Officer, so we can't be too nonchalant about this whole thing. Now I don't like this situation any more than you, but seeing as how we're both actors," she scoffed, but didn't say anything to contradict him. He gave her a look as if to say seriously? "As I was saying, we both know how to put on a performance, so how about we go in there and pretend this is just a romantic movie-"

He cut off her impending rant before she she could even get started, "Yes I know you hate those so there's no need to say anything. As I was saying, we pretend this is simply for a movie and we're auditioning for the lead roles."

She really wanted to argue with him or at least call his idea dumb, but as she took a minute to think about it, Jade realized Beck's suggestion was probably going to be their best bet...for now.

"Ugh...fine, but don't expect me to act like some idiotic love-struck bimbo because I absolutely refuse to stoop that low."

"Jade, as hard as this may be to believe, I have worked with you for 3 years now, and I think I've learned a thing or two about you during that time. There is absolutely no reason for me to think that you would ever behave that way. I'm kinda surprised you're actually agreeing to go along with my idea now without argument."

"Yeah well don't get used to it. I'm only doing it because I have no other choice since no one is going to make my movie except me." Beck heard the underlying emotion in her voice when speaking about her movie, and vowed silently to himself to try his best at making this arrangement work because even though most of the time Jade was a very unpleasant person to work with, she was the most devoted director when it came to her movies. She fought with all she had in order to see that her films were made precisely as she had envisioned, and made everyone around her ultimately want to do the same.

He gave her a kind smile and proceeded to knock on Mr. Amberson's door.

A/N: Hope that was enough to keep you in the car until our next stop. For now, adios (hey look I remembered something else...lol) my adventurous aardvarks ;)