Hi cuties! Update time! Hope you enjoy!

As the soft rays of the morning sun gently filtered through the curtains, Zac stirred awake, his arms instinctively tightening around Vanessa, who was nestled against him. The warmth of their entwined bodies created a cocoon of comfort, shielding them from the chill of the morning air.

With a contented sigh, Vanessa shifted slightly, her head finding the perfect resting place on Zac's chest. His heartbeat served as a soothing rhythm, lulling her back into a peaceful slumber. But the tendrils of consciousness began to tug at her, urging her to wake up and savor the precious moments of intimacy they shared.

Opening her eyes, Vanessa found herself greeted by Zac's peaceful expression, his tousled hair framing his face in a disheveled yet endearing manner. A soft smile graced her lips as she reached up to gently brush a stray lock away from his forehead.

Zac stirred once more, his gaze meeting hers with sleepy adoration. "Good morning," he murmured, his voice husky with sleep while he tightened his hold on her, nuzzling his face into her hair.

"It sure is," Vanessa replied, her voice barely above a whisper. She shifted in his hold as she turned around and leaned in to press a tender kiss to his lips, feeling a surge of warmth coursing through her at the contact. "Sleep well?" She asked, looking up at him.

"The best I have in ages…." Zac confirmed contentedly. "How's your foot?" he asked as he peered down to see her ankle. He had made sure before they both succumbed to sleep last night to prop up her ankle on an extra pillow.

Vanessa smiled at his thoughtfulness. "Oh wow, I forgot about that. I guess I was distracted."

"I wonder why," he smirked.

"Haha." She rotated her ankle and checked her mobility to find a vast improvement. "It's much better, thanks doc." She pecked his lips before turning around to check her phone.

"Good, I'm glad. You hungry? Shall we get some breakfast?" He leaned over and kissed her shoulder.

"That sounds really good. What should we get?"

"Anything… everything? I kinda want pancakes but maybe fries too," he grinned.

"Wow. No protein. Someone's in a good mood!" she said cheekily.

"Yup…." he confirmed as he gave her a lingering kiss.

"Mmm, well as tempting as that sounds…" she trailed off as her phone alarmed with continuous alerts. "Ugh… I have to get going soon."

Zac frowned. "Isn't your panel in the evening?"

"No… they moved it up because of the weather… Now everything is moved up. Hair and makeup are going to be here in an hour. I need to shower and change, ugh." Back to reality, she thought as she went through her mental checklist.

"Hey, take a breath. It'll all be fine. Sucks though. I really wanted to have breakfast and lie here with you… but maybe we can do lunch?" Zac asked optimistically.

"Absolutely! We should be wrapping up by 3pm at the latest."

"Awesome, just text me when you're almost done." Although they'd just made plans to reconvene later, Zac pretended to be blissfully ignorant for a few more minutes. He tackled her in a big hug and kissed her senseless.

"Noooooo…" she managed breathlessly in fits of laughter. "I'll never get out of bed."

"Works for me…" he grinned into her hair.

"No, come on, we have to get up…" she patted his leg as she begrudgingly forced herself up and tore herself away from his embrace.

"You kicking me out, Hudgens?" He cheekily grinned as he put his arms behind his head and leaned back on the headboard.

As Vanessa got up and turned back the sight of him in her bed made her melt.

"Ugh," she pouted. "NOT happily!" She grabbed her phone and snuck a quick picture of him. Just for her. He smiled softly at her through the camera once he realized what she was doing.

"Alright…" He groaned dramatically as he lifted the covers off his body. He scooted off the bed as he made his way to the bathroom. He rubbed his bare chest as he shook off the cold morning air.

"Oh no, are you cold? Sorry, I have your shirt." referring to his blue shirt that she was wearing which fell around mid thigh on her.

"Don't be sorry, I like you in my clothes." he winked. "I'm just gonna quickly hop in the shower."

He stopped in the doorway of the bathroom and looked back at her. "Hey Van…Thank you," he said.

"For what?" She whipped around as he peered at her.

"Thank you for calling me out yesterday…" If she hadn't been honest about her feelings, who knows where they would've been right now.

"Yeah, well there's much more where that came from, " she teased.

"Looking forward to it." He grinned as he ducked into the bathroom to take a quick shower.

As Vanessa gathered her things for the day, she reflected on the past 24 hours. She never thought everything would transpire as it did. She was shocked at her own boldness yesterday but she had no regrets. She knew there were conversations that needed to be had but right now she was content in their bubble.

Fifteen minutes later, Zac emerged with a towel wrapped around his waist. "All yours, hun," he gestured to the shower. His hands playfully squeezed her waist as she passed by. "Do you really need hair and makeup? You look gorgeous already…Seriously just call the whole thing off, show up like this and spend all that extra time with me." He kept her in place as he stalled.

"Haha, you're cute. Nice try, " she smiled as she gave him a quick peck and went inside.

"Fine…. But tell me what do you want for breakfast?" Zac called over the running shower.

"I'll probably just get some coffee," she yelled back.

"Just coffee? That's not enough, babe."

"I'm so sorry, I really won't have time to have a proper breakfast with you."

"No, don't worry I'm getting out of your hair soon….but I still want to take care of you," Zac mumbled more to himself as he dialed the number for room service.

When Vanessa emerged from the bathroom, Zac was dressed and ready for the day as he waited for her on the couch.

"What time is the team coming over?" asked Zac.

"Hmmm, probably in 45 minutes or so?" Vanessa replied as she grabbed her phone to confirm when her team was heading over.

"Oh crap, the group chat's been active all this time. They're…. actually on their way here now," said Vanessa as she looked at him sadly.

There was an unspoken implication that he should leave before the team arrived. No one knew about their rekindled relationship yet, but they both knew from their experience that the fewer people knew the better. Especially when they hadn't quite defined their status themselves. They also didn't owe anyone any explanations and didn't need to open themselves up for further interrogation and speculation.

"I don't WANT you to go…." Vanessa addressed the elephant in the room as she approached him and interlaced their fingers. It was true. If he was her boyfriend, he would happily hang out and meet her hair and makeup team and be with her throughout. If anything, he'd also be getting ready for the panel now to accompany her.

I know... I don't want to go either," Zac's features softened as he looked down at her.

"But we'll see each other at lunch?" Vanessa asked optimistically.

"Definitely. But make sure to eat something before you go, okay? Break a leg." With one final kiss on her forehead and kiss on their interlocked hands, Zac headed out.

As he left, Vanessa gave a contented sigh. Just as she looked for her phone again, there was a knock on the door.

"Room service," a cheery voice called from behind the door.

Room service? I didn't order anything, thought Vanessa.

She was met with three trolleys overflowing with breakfast foods as she opened the door. Oh, this is DEFINITELY not for me.

"Hi! I'm so sorry but I think there's been a mistake… I didn't order any of this…"

"OH, you didn't, ma'am. This has already been paid for by a …" The waiter shuffled around in his pocket for a receipt… "Mr. E? That's all it says. I was just told to bring it up for you…. Room 216. Yup. It's right. Did you want to call the reception?"

Mr.E…. yeah, seems right she thought. "No, that's alright thanks I think I know who it's from. You can set it down anywhere."

She looked in amazement as the room was now laden with pastries, fresh fruits, juices, eggs and more. The waiter even had fresh cut flowers which he set on the table. All of a sudden she'd opened up a brunch bar in her hotel room. She shook her head with a small smile as she texted her mystery gifter.

'Did you clean out their entire kitchen??' she teased.

His reply was almost instantaneous. 'Haha. Nah, they wouldn't let me. BUT, I hope there's something there that looks appealing to you. More than just the coffee.'

Sure enough there was a selection of coffees too - hot and cold with different types of milks and sweeteners.

'I could probably live off this for the next few weeks! This is way too much.'

'It's for you and the team. My treat. But promise you'll eat something, yeah?'

Her heart squeezed at his gesture. Had he always been this sweet? Yeah, he had…

'Thank you…' she finally sent him alongside a red heart emoji. Simple, but enough to convey her emotions.

'You're more than welcome! Have a beautiful day, gorgeous.' He signed off with a big red heart emoji of his own.

She sent him a picture of all the food as well as a cheeky selfie with a big plate of food she'd made for herself.

'LOOKS GOOD… The food too ;).'

Before she could reply there was another knock on the door. As she sobered up and controlled the flush in her cheeks, she greeted her team with hellos, hugs and kisses as they brought in their equipment.

"Something smells good!" said Danielle, her hair stylist.

"It's for you guys! Have some. There's plenty," said Vanessa.

"She's a hostess even in the mountains, guys. Haha," they joked. Thankfully, it wasn't out of character for Vanessa to generously feed and host her team so no one suspected anything out of the ordinary.

As they finished up eating, she couldn't help but think someone was missing. Lunch couldn't come fast enough.

Sure enough, at 3pm they had begun to wrap up the panel. Everything went well and they just narrowly missed the blizzard. Back at the lodge, Vanessa texted Zac.

'All done. Where are you?'

'Hey, that's great. How'd it go? Dylan and I are at the gym. Meet downstairs in the café in 30?'

'It was good! Sounds great, see you then. xx' She took the time to call her mum and Kai and rest before heading downstairs.

The café was quiet as most of the patrons of the lodge had checked out. Only members of the festival remained as everything was wrapping up tomorrow.

Vanessa scanned the crowd before she spotted Zac and Dylan. Zac was wearing a white cashmere sweater with dark wash jeans. Dylan was still in his gear from the gym. Vanessa wore a short black dress from her panel with her hair swept up in a high ponytail. She rounded the corner and gave them a big warm hello. Zac immediately stood up and gave her a quick squeeze and kiss on the cheek. Dylan gave her a side hug as well.

"How was the panel?" Zac asked.

"It was good! Yeah… there was a bigger crowd than I expected. They had to open the entrance so people could still be included. But man, there was this one guy he would NOT stop asking the same question…" As Vanessa went into the details of the day, Dylan couldn't help but notice how Zac had moved his seat closer to hers over the course of the conversation with a lazy arm draped across the back of her chair. Dylan couldn't tell if his brother was completely engrossed by the story or by the storyteller as his gaze was fixed on Vanessa. A second later, when Zac paused her mid-sentence to remove an eyelash from her face, Dylan's suspicions were confirmed. Dylan grinned to himself. He knew there was something going on between them ever since the Oscars. He was happy for his brother. He always liked Vanessa and he always liked how she made his brother feel. Just as his elation bubbled to the surface, something hit him in the pit of his stomach. He frowned to himself. What was that? He thought. He tried to shake the feeling but his anxiety only rose. He glanced around but Zac and Vanessa were oblivious to his turmoil. What could he do? There was only one person he could talk to.

As lunch progressed, Dylan quelled his uncomfortable feelings and put on a smile as they all laughed and joked about their days.

"Zac was so cryptic about 'someone special joining us for lunch' today… but it makes sense now." Dylan teased.

"Yeah? I'm a 'someone special,' huh?'" Vanessa good heartedly joked back.

"Yes…" said Zac as he blushed slightly.

"I mean, he gets so engrossed when he reads your texts, I almost hit him with a weight the other day because he wasn't paying attention to me," said Dylan.

"OKAY," Zac said loudly in an attempt to stop Dylan's teasing but secretly he couldn't help but like their banter.

"Hey, I'm just going to the bathroom." Vanessa said as she brushed past the group but Dylan didn't miss how she squeezed Zac's shoulder and he rubbed her arm affectionately back.

As she rose from her seat, Dylan lingered for a moment before following after her, pretending he needed to take a quick call.

When Vanessa emerged from the bathroom, she was greeted by Dylan's solemn expression.

"We need to talk..."

Thank you for all the kind words! Always a treat to read your lovely and encouraging comments. Just a tiny FYI but this is probably the extent of where the spice will go. Super sorry. Personally I don't feel comfortable writing spicy scenes and especially now as a mom I'd definitely rather not do that so I will just keep things cute and clean in the story. It'll still be mushy and intimate, don't worry! I hope that doesn't disappoint too many people but hey, I'm glad you're feeling the chemistry between them! LOL! Thank you so much once again for reading and I hope you continue to enjoy the story!