Danielle didn't deserve Chris as a friend. She knew this, and he must have known it, too. Still, he was standing at the foot of the stairs, a blanket around his shoulders, watching her with the kindest eyes she'd ever seen. "Or we can talk here, if you'd prefer that."

Tears started to well up in her eyes and within seconds, he was sitting next to her on the couch.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed, shaking. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't—"

Before she had even finished her sentence, Chris had thrown his arms around her and hugged her close. "I won't tell you it's okay, because it's not. But I'm not angry… I think. I just want to understand what happened just now."

Danielle nodded, still crying. "I… I want to tell you, but… I don't think I can. It's too embarrassing."

"We've been through so much together. What could there possibly be that could be too embarrassing to tell me?" he asked.

"It's… it's…" She shook her head. "Please just know that I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Chris sighed. "Okay. I just want us to be on the same page here. We are friends, right? And just friends."

Danielle felt like she had just walked face-first into a brick wall. Of course she didn't want more than that! But she hadn't done a good job of acting like it just now, had she? No, she'd thrown herself at him! Stupid, stupid, stupid.

"Look, I like you. And you're absolutely beautiful," he said when she didn't answer. "God, you're beautiful. And I can't deny I wasn't tempted just now, but I don't want to enter into another relationship with you that you're just going to end whenever you feel like it, anyway." He sighed. "And, I'm going to be blunt, I no longer have feelings for you. Do you?"

She shook her head vehemently. "God, no. I just…" She was embarrassed to admit it, but it would have been even more embarrassing to let Chris believe she was still in love with him when she wasn't. "I just needed a distraction."

"A… distraction?" he repeated slowly.

Danielle nodded. "Yes. A distraction. A way to rid my mind of thoughts I don't want to have. Maybe relieve some tension, I don't know." She covered her face with her hands. "I'm so sorry, that's so mean. I shouldn't have tried to use you for that."

"Just sex, then?" Chris asked, and she lowered her hands to look at him. "No feelings, no games, no strings attached?"

There was a gleam in his eye that didn't escape her notice. "Y-yes. But—"

"You know you could have just asked for that, right?" he said, an eyebrow raised. "We did always have very good sex."

Danielle swallowed hard. This was still a horrible idea. Very bad, potentially friendship-ruining, no good, absolutely terrible idea. But he was there, looking the way he looked… so she wiped her tears away and asked, "Well, would you be interested in that?"

"I would," he said in a low voice, and mere seconds after, their lips met again. They kissed each other hungrily, nearly devouring each other. There was nothing sweet about it, purely lust and need and maybe a hint of desperation. When they broke apart, breathless, Chris whispered, "Let's go back upstairs before anyone sees us."

Danielle agreed, and in one swift motion, Chris had picked her up and kissed her a second time. She wasn't sure how he managed to take her upstairs when his lips barely left hers, but, somehow, she ended up in his bed again.

And this time, neither she nor Chris had any desire to stop.

No one had ever told him such an obvious lie as Danielle had just hours ago. Thomas had been woken up by the sound of a door opening, which was followed by some sobs. He was fairly certain it must have been Danielle, and he was just about to get out of bed and see what was wrong when he heard the door open a second time. That must have been Chris, following her. For a few minutes, he heard nothing. And then footsteps on the stairs again, and something else, too. Moans, he believed.

Very quiet at first, but they got louder. A lot louder. He'd never really thought about what Danielle would sound like during sex – she had been his student once, after all – but it didn't surprise him that she was loud. She was always loud, wasn't she? It was only fitting.

The noise went on for quite some time, and had the thought of the two of them not made Thomas feel sick to his stomach for one reason or another, he might have been impressed by Chris' stamina. As it was, though, he just wanted it to stop. He considered going over there to stop them, but he had no desire to see either of them open the door half-, or even worse fully, naked. Besides, he had no reason to be bothered by it other than the fact that he could hear them – and even then, it wasn't loud enough to keep him from falling back asleep.

Danielle was an adult and so was Chris and what they did in their free time was their business, not his. He told himself this even as the thought of what might have happened had Danielle slept in his bed tonight crossed his mind. Ridiculous. He had no interest in learning about this side of her at all. He turned to lay on his side and tried to fall asleep again.

When he did, he still heard sounds coming from the room across the corridor. They may have influenced his dreams, as they were filled with white satin sheets and red hair and the smell of an all-too-familiar perfume.

When Danielle and Chris were woken up early the next morning, they were also informed that Hunt had already left an hour prior to make sure everything was set up correctly. They quickly got dressed without even speaking of last night and went down into the kitchen. The fridge and pantry were fully stocked with everything their hearts could possibly desire so they had a quick breakfast and got into the car that would take them to their first filming location.

It wasn't as long of a drive as Danielle would have expected. Good, at least one thing Montmartre had done right. In just under an hour, they arrived at the set. It was right by a beautiful waterfall. If Danielle recalled correctly that waterfall was supposed to be right outside her character's cave. They'd be filming some more scenes of Maeve and Jack's first meeting, which were always her favourites to film.

Hunt, true to what they had been told, was already there and greeted them not too friendly. "There you are. I was worried you wouldn't be on time."

Something seemed off, but Danielle didn't have time to question it as she was hauled to the wardrobe tent immediately. She was pretty sure, though, she heard Hunt scold Chris for one thing or another. She'd have to ask him about that later.

Later came just after Danielle was put into her costume and sat down in a make-up chair. Chris walked in, and sat down in the chair next to hers. "Hunt's not in a good mood today," he simply said before a make-up artist got to work on his face and he was forced to stop speaking for a moment.

"I thought as much," Danielle said and the hair stylist behind her tugged on her hair ungently in response. "What did he say to you, anyway?"

When his make-up artist turned around to grab something, Chris took the chance to reply. "Told me nights were for sleeping and not for other activities."

Danielle blushed at that. So he'd heard them last night, then. Well. But why should she care, anyway? It was none of his business what she and Chris did at night, so long as they showed up on the set well-rested and on time. "Asshole," she muttered.

"And he said something about not appreciating us lying to him," Chris added. "I think he thinks we're back together and hiding it."

"Maybe he shouldn't jump to conclusions," Danielle huffed.

Chris shrugged. "You weren't exactly quiet last night, Dani. I'd probably think the same if I were him."

"Well, it's none of his business."

Chris' make-up artist scolded him for talking too much so the conversation had to end there. But there was another conversation that would have to take place soon with someone else, and Danielle was already thinking of creative insults to throw at him.