The next few days went by without any notable incidents. Of course, Danielle and Hunt butted heads here and there, as was a surprise to absolutely no one, but other than that, production of the film went rather smoothly.

Danielle didn't talk to Nora again, either, and as far as she could tell, Nora hadn't spoken to Chris or anyone else about what she'd told her. Which was a relief, to say the least. The last thing she needed was for anybody to catch wind of it and suggest a PR stunt that included the two leads dating. She'd been there, done that, and was never going to do it again.

All in all, Viktor's blackmail notwithstanding, things were going well. That was, of course, until one day the next week, Viktor decided to visit the set again – and, from the moment he arrived, it was clear to Danielle that he'd come with a purpose.

Which suited her quite well, really, as it meant she may have a chance to put her plan into action. Though she most certainly didn't look forward to it.

Fortunately – or unfortunately, depending on one's point of view – there were still several hours of filming left, even if most everyone on set was more on edge than usual, which was to be expected with Viktor present. And, of course, he had to pick multiple fights with Hunt, which really didn't help anyone.

Like just now, as Danielle emerged from wardrobe in a costume Viktor had not seen before, that covered up significantly more of her body than the one she'd been meant to wear originally.

"What on Earth is she wearing? This is not her costume," he said the moment he saw her.

Hunt raised an eyebrow. "Yes, it is. You do remember that I told you there would be changes made to many things, do you not?"

"I remember mentioning the consequences trying to ruin this movie would have," Viktor said, narrowing his eyes. "Her costume was perfectly fine before."

Danielle could see Hunt grit his teeth. "The costume made no sense for her character as it would have been quite impractical in a fight – not to mention that it was grossly objectifying Miss Allen."

"That was rather the point," Viktor said exasperatedly. "Thomas, you know how this works. People will watch anything as long as we give them a pretty girl with little clothing."

Danielle couldn't believe he'd actually said that and, apparently, neither could Hunt. He looked at Viktor in a way that made her glad she wasn't the one on the receiving end of that look, then said, "And you know that that is not how I work. You wanted me to work on this, and that is what I'm doing."

"I did not hire you to be a costume designer!"

"I did not design the costume."

Viktor huffed. "You know very well what I mean."

"What I know is that we've been filming with the new costumes for the past week and that reshooting all those scenes would set us even further behind than we already are," Hunt countered.

They stared at each other for a good few seconds more, neither willing to back down, until Viktor eventually said, "One more step out of line, Thomas, and you'll be done for. Understood?"

Though it very clearly pained him to do so, Hunt nodded. It wasn't like he had much of a choice, in any case. "Understood."

There was a very uncomfortable tension on set after that, especially since Viktor didn't leave this time, and it affected the scene they filmed quite a bit. It wasn't good, Danielle could feel it, and Hunt was visibly annoyed by the time the fifth take still wasn't up to his standards.

Eventually, he seemed to realise that it was no use to try again just then, and called for everybody to take a break. He disappeared in the direction of the office spaces, and after a moment of contemplation, Danielle decided to follow him.

There was no need for Thomas to turn around to know who was behind him. Only one person would dare go after him when he was, quite clearly, in a foul mood, and as much as he wanted to snap at her for not leaving him alone when he needed to think, he was almost glad she'd followed him. After all, she'd proven to be helpful before, whenever he'd been frustrated with his students on the set of Centaurus Lost. Perhaps she would be able to help again. That – and only that – was why he didn't mind her following him.

"You're very bad at sneaking up on people, Miss Allen," Thomas said without turning around.

There was a quiet huff, then she was next to him. "I wasn't trying to sneak up on you."

A small smile formed on his lips. "Of course not."

"Would you look at that, my presence is already improving your mood," she said and nudged him slightly.

Thomas sighed. "I'm afraid not. Though I do believe nothing could improve my mood much today."

She was quiet for a few moments and he didn't have to look over at her to know she was biting her lip. He did it nonetheless and regretted it immediately. There really was no need for his thoughts to focus on the soft – or so he assumed, he wouldn't know – flesh of her lip when there were many other things he should have been thinking about. And yet…

"I'm really sorry," Danielle said quietly, and for a moment Thomas worried she'd guessed his thoughts. But she seemed entirely oblivious as she continued, "I know this is all my fault, and I promise I'll fix it. I'll get you out of this, if it's the last thing I do."

He had to admire her confidence – though he wasn't sure she felt quite as confident as she wanted to make him believe – but he knew it was impossible for her to take on someone like Montmartre. She was capable of many a thing, and she'd often succeeded where others had failed – the Silver Circle being a prime example of this – but there had always been a price. And, with Montmartre, Thomas knew he didn't want her to pay it. Especially not if she was doing it for him.

"No," he said decidedly and shook his head. "No, you won't. I don't like this – believe me, I don't – but there is nothing you can do."

Danielle's eyes narrowed – she clearly hadn't missed the slight emphasis on the 'you' – and she stepped right in front of him. "What is that supposed to mean? You think I can't do it?"

"I know you could," he said softly. "I don't think you should. Montmartre is a dangerous man, Danielle, and though I am still…" He tried to find the right word – angry wasn't it, and though disappointed was closer, he knew it wasn't quite what he felt – but came up short. "Even though I still believe you've made mistakes, I don't want you getting hurt."

An expression he couldn't quite interpret flickered over her face before she put on that smug little smile – the one he knew by now was just a mask – and said, teasingly, "Aww, I knew you cared about me."

Thomas sighed, suppressing the urge to roll his eyes, and decided that the window for being open with each other had apparently closed. "Why did you follow me, Miss Allen?"

"Mostly to apologise," she said with a shrug. "And because you're obviously not happy with how things are going."

"Of course I'm not," Thomas said, affronted that she seemed surprised by this. "You must have noticed how terrible filming was going today."

She nodded, chewing on her lower lip. "Yeah, I have. Having Viktor on set sucks."

"You can say that again." Thomas made a sound that could almost have been a laugh had the situation not been as it was. "I just don't know how to dissipate this tension and get back to work."

Danielle didn't appear to have an answer for him and simply shrugged her shoulders.

"Perhaps it's simply time to send everyone home for the day," he said after a while.

She shook her head. "You pointed out how far behind we are yourself today. Maybe send me home and film other scenes. It's quite obvious that I am the problem."

"You're not," he said instinctively, though it was true that she and he himself were most affected by Montmartre's presence, then added, "Montmartre is."