Thank you soooo much to those of you who haven't jumped out through the window yet, because we've still got a long way to go!

I know I said I wouldn't respond to any reviews, but I have to make an exception just this once. I would've sent a PM, but the reviewer left if as a Guest, therefore I have to say something here. To that Guest, I would like to say thanks for informing me that the process was called Naturalization. I finished school a little more than a few years ago (not all that much though...lol) and obviously I didn't retain a lot.

SHOUT OUT TIME! Merci Beaucoup (cause I'm multi-lingual like that) to the following awesome reviewers of Chapter 3: xFabiano, Candreforver, justadream666z, and ZOMG its Angie

Also a gigantic THANK YOU to anyone who has put either me or my story on your favorites list and/or is following either me or this story. Seeing those makes me just as happy as seeing reviews :)

Side note: Is it just me, or did anyone else find it funny how after I published Chapter 3, the word count for the story was exactly 11,000? Or was I the only one who really paid attention to that? :o

Once again the obligatory disclaimer: I have been advised by my lawyer to inform you that I do not own either The Proposal or Victorious

Enjoy your reading :D

CHAPTER 4

Jade West was rarely one to show any emotion other than anger, but as she and Beck walked in to Mr. Amberson's office after getting permission, she was having a hard time trying to keep her hands from shaking due to nerves. Under normal circumstances she would verbally assault and intimidate anyone who stood in the way of her getting what she wanted. This situation, however, was different because Jade knew this man was the one holding the power over her, and she had too much to lose. Her current movie happens to be the closest to her heart because though she's written her own scripts before, this was the first movie she had based upon her own personal experiences. With this in mind, she put on on her most convincing smile and stood with Beck, facing Mr. Amberson.

"Ms. West, Mr. Oliver." He acknowledged them both with a nod of the head. So far Mr. Amberson appeared to be a very genial man, but Beck knew from personal experience that first impressions were not always correct.

Jade knew that if she opened her mouth nothing good would come out, so she subtly kicked Beck with her steel toed boot indicating she wanted him to speak. Beck winced a little from the kick, but got the hint and opened his mouth to reply.

"Thank you. It's nice to meet you as well." He said it through his teeth, (as he was still feeling the pain in his leg) but the smile never left his face. Jade saw this and decided that if this whole charade worked, she might start being a little nicer to her assistant...at least for a week or so-small steps and all that.

"Now that the unfortunate, but necessary pleasantries are over, let's get down to business shall we?" Mr. Amberson's demeanor changed from a cordial gentleman to a typical no-nonsense government employee so rapidly Jade thought she had imagined him even being polite in the beginning. Beck, on the other hand, wasn't surprised in the least by this sudden 180 degree turn in attitude. Mr. Amberson continued, "Ms. West, it is my understanding that upon hearing the news of your impending deportation, you informed your superiors that you and Mr. Oliver were engaged. Is this correct?"

Jade would never admit it out loud, but Mr. Michael Amberson was the first man she ever met who slightly intimidated her. "That's right." She was too afraid of the consequences to follow it with anything sarcastic, as per her usual retorts.

"And why may I ask were your bosses unaware of this relationship status prior to your meeting with them?"

"Because I like to keep my private life just that-private." Jade was close to snapping as she said this and Beck could tell, so he very slowly slid his foot over to hers and gave her a little warning tap to calm her down. He wanted to return her earlier favor, but figured the repercussions would be much worse. Jade took the hint, and gave Mr. Amberson a real-unless-you-knew-her smile. Jade thought he seemed to buy it for he didn't say anything in reply, he simply nodded his head. She soon learned, however, that was far from the truth.

"I'm going to be frank with the both of you. As you are aware, the revelation of your relationship and its current status is very sudden and convenient, given the circumstances. After reviewing your case, I believe that this engagement is a ploy to commit fraud against the United States government. In the next few minutes I am going to interview each of you separately. If the answers you provide don't match, Ms. West will be deported tonight back to Italy, and Mr. Oliver will be convicted on a felony charge punishable by a $250,000 fine and five years in prison." He looked at both of them intently as he spoke, but luckily for their acting skills, neither gave any outward signs of anything that was being felt on the inside.

Beck was having a fierce internal debate as he listened to the government official speak. He was torn between wanting to stay out of jail, (because who actually wants to be there?) and wanting to help his career by helping Jade stay in the country. He refused to even think of the monetary consequences at this time. He knew that if Jade were to leave, he could get another job with all the connections he has made in the past three years, but he would be lying if he said that he didn't care for her a least a smidgen in the time he has known her. Granted he would never ask her to hang out outside of the studio, but that didn't mean he wanted her gone completely. He also figured he could use this situation as blackmail to get her to stop sabotaging his future auditions.

Jade, meanwhile, was having her own internal conflict as she listened to Mr. Amberson's speech. She didn't want to be deported by any means, but upon learning of the severe consequences for Beck, she began to wonder if he would go through with their deal. She had recently only admitted to herself that she tolerated his company more than most, and sabotaged his auditions because she wasn't ready for him to be gone yet. Only Cat knew that she had been doing that to his auditions, but as far as Jade knew, Cat hadn't told anybody else. Jade believed that it was because she had threatened to shave Cat's head if anything was told. Little did she know that Cat had already spilled the beans to Beck. Jade's lenient feelings for Beck were also why she was so harsh to him. She knew that if she were nice to him, he would have had no problem leaving her sooner. Jade knew now that he had more to lose than she, and she vowed that she would stop being so harsh to Beck in the future, but only to Beck.

Beck and Jade both finally tuned back in as Mr. Amberson was finishing his diatribe. "So if there are no questions?" He paused for a moment, then continued after both shook their heads in the negative. "I'm going to have you both wait outside for a few minutes while I get things sorted, then I will call one of you back in to begin the interviews."

/

As soon as Beck shut the door behind him Jade opened her mouth. "Before you say anything, because I know you will, I have something I want to say first. I know that there's a lot riding on the line for you, but if you do this for me then I will stop demanding you tell me what you're doing when you take vacation time." She had thought this was a good compromise, but once again she was wrong.

"Well first of all, thank you for that, but for what I'm risking here you're going to have to do better." He held up a hand to stop her protest, and continued while she glared at him. "I want you to not only stop asking me what I'm doing with my vacation time, but I also want you to actually help me when I do go to an audition." He didn't want to let on that he knew she had been undermining his attempts, so he conveniently left out how she could help him-she was going to have to figure that out on her own. "Also, I want you to give me a semi-decent role, not just a one-liner part, in your next movie." Beck thought his demands weren't too unreasonable, but it still surprised him when Jade didn't demand he change anything.

"Although I'm not happy with this whole thing right now, including your demands, I will agree to them, but only if this works. If I end up getting deported because of you though, you better pray to every deity out there that some high school will hire you as a janitor, because once I'm through, no director alive will want anything to do with you, got it?" Jade's eyes were full of fire when she first began speaking, but had started to dim as she neared the end. Then, out of nowhere, her eyes abruptly widened comically. It had suddenly occurred to her that she knew relatively nothing about her assistant in terms of his personal life. The only thing she basically knew was that his parents hated her and wanted Beck to quit every day, but Jade doubted that knowledge would be very helpful in this situation.

Beck noticed the worried look on Jade's face, and it started to worry him because if Jade West, the woman who sparked fear into everyone around her, was worried about something, it had to be bad. "What's wrong Jade? I've never seen you look like this, and frankly it's a little unnerving."

Normally one to never talk about her feelings under any circumstances, Jade knew she had no other option but to trust Beck right now, and told him what was bothering her. "I know absolutely nothing about you! I'm going to fail this interview and be on a plane to Italy in less than three hours! What's worse is the fact that we don't even have time for me to learn enough!" Jade was running out of steam, but Beck could see the glassy look in her eyes. He had to think fast because he knew one of them would be called back in any minute.

"Okay, listen quickly. My favorite color is red, I have no siblings, I've wanted to be an actor practically my whole life, um." Here he paused as he tried to decide what else might be asked. "Oh! We got engaged on your birthday, but have kept our whole relationship a secret for personal reasons (as he knew that's what she had already told the studio execs at the other meeting). We're telling my family this weekend at my grandma's 90th birthday party." Beck knew this was his only chance to get Jade to basically agree with anything he said so he was going to make sure he made the most of it.

Jade interrupted him with a "What?! I am NOT meeting your family!"

"Jade lower your voice! Do you want to have this thing end right now?" Jade immediately looked chagrined, and lowered her voice to a harsh whisper.

"Whatever. Ok, so I guess that's enough about you for me to know for now. As for me...let's see. I was born in Italy, have a younger brother-" Beck's hand came up to stop her.

"Jade no offense, but I've been working for you for so long that I know all I need to about you in order to pass this thing with flying colors." He smirked as he said it.

She was just opening her mouth to no doubt give Beck an angry, sarcastic retort, when Mr. Amberson's door opened and she was called inside.

/

After interviewing Beck, (Jade had paced like a caged tiger the whole time and came close to pulling out her hidden scissors on two different people who dared to question her actions) Mr. Amberson called Jade back into the office to speak with them together.

"Mr. Oliver, Ms. West, thank you for agreeing to this formality. Were the circumstances any different, we would not be having this conversation right now. Since you Ms. West felt the need to reveal your engagement after learning of a potential deportment, however, our meeting became necessary. Now, after interviewing the both of you, I have come to some conclusions." Here he paused to consult his notes.

While waiting, Jade was beginning to panic again, but being the consummate professional she is, she showed no outward signs.

Beck, on the other hand, was almost the exact opposite. Sure he was slightly worried (who wouldn't be with so much on the line?), but he also knew that he did great in his interview, and based on the questions he was asked, knew Jade should have done well enough to not raise much suspicion from the government official. He sat in his seat seat cool as a cucumber, and gave Jade a small comforting smile when she turned to look at him.

They shifted their attention back to Mr. Amberson at the sound of his voice. "Now as I was saying," he glanced at each of them briefly, then continued. "Let's just say that, for the moment, I believe this engagement is real." He was looking back down at his notes at that point, and therefore missed Beck and Jade simultaneously releasing their withheld breaths with the minimalist of sounds. "I am only saying that because it is my understanding that you are announcing this news to Mr. Oliver's family this weekend, correct?"

It was Beck who answered, as Jade's eyes had narrowed momentarily in anger as she remembered that fact, before she composed herself. "Yes sir, that's right. We are attending my grandmother's 90th birthday party, and will reveal our happy news while we're there."

"I see." Mr. Amberson then directed his attention to Jade. "And to where, Ms. West, will you be traveling?" His voice, while still hard, had taken on a smug quality while he asked the question. He acted as if he had just asked the one thing that would cause their whole charade to be exposed.

Mr. Amberson had not asked Jade any questions pertaining to this topic during the interview, therefore, she stumbled over her words (cursing herself mentally the whole time) as she responded. "Well, uh, you see we're going to ahh-" she hesitated while shooting her eyes briefly at Beck, silently begging him for help.

Together, albeit with Jade a fraction slower than Beck, the two managed to get out "A-a-a-alberta, Canada."

Upon realizing the words that had just come out of her mouth, Jade began plotting the slow downfall of Beck Oliver's career, and only if he was lucky, would his life be spared. It was common knowledge to everyone that Canada was the one place Jade hated above all others. She could go on all day about the multitude of things she despised about the country, and was beginning to blame everyone she knew for not finding out sooner that Beck was from there.

Mr. Amberson raised one eyebrow in suspicion as Beck had spoken with Jade.

Fortunately for Beck, he was a quick thinker and had already thought of a reason as to why Jade struggled with her answer. "I'm sorry sir, but my fiancee here (seeing her suffer every time he said the word never failed to bring him endless amusement) has never been good at remembering that I'm from the town of Irricana, (a real town in Alberta that I have absolutely no connection to-I'm just using the name) but I thought she could at least remember the province. Apparently I was wrong." His cheeks were starting to hurt from stretching his smile so wide. He knew that although Jade needed this deal to work flawlessly, she was probably currently plotting his demise in the most horrendous way possible with every word he spoke.

"Mr. Oliver, I have to say that I am inclined not to believe you, but I will let it go because there is no way I can prove otherwise. Now, based on the answers you both provided during your interviews, I am going to temporarily sign off on this case." At this news Jade smiled for the second time that day. Her smile faded, however, with the next words that came out of Mr. Amberson's mouth. "I am doing this with the provision that I will be checking up on you periodically and spontaneously to verify that this engagement is real, and when I am fully satisfied with what I have seen and heard, I will hold off any further interviews until after the wedding."

Before anything could come out of Jade's mouth, (because at this point it was a toss up as to whether it would be helpful or damaging) Beck thanked Mr. Amberson and told him they would be happy to welcome the man anytime. After politely, although reluctantly on Jade's part, shaking Mr. Amberson's hand, Beck and Jade left the office.

A/N: I'm apologizing in advance because the next chapter might take a little longer to get posted. My sister is coming in from out of town for vacation on Thursday, and she just had a baby two months ago, so I'm going to be a little busy these next couple of weeks. Fear not though, somehow, some way, I will fulfill my duties as promised (I should totally run for president...lol) and will not let a whole week go by without an update. For now, goodbye my galloping gazelles :D