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  “Coudreau gets great work.”

  Great, I’m being compared to a character on Friends. Lisa Coudreau’s kiss, though, had been a stunt kiss — the actress in her own character.

  This would be Chris’ body, but supposedly with Jeremy’s spirit inside it. The way Sean and Rachelle portrayed Jeremy and Luria the couple’s relationship was deep and solid. There was nothing timid in their touches, no hesitation as they went from moment to moment.

  Cassidy wasn’t a novice, but kissing Rachelle or being kissed by her — they had tried it twice — had set her head swimming. She had been unable to complete her lines in fourteen rehearsals.

  There was a buzzer. Time was up.

  A buzzer sounded. Anxiety making her run her fingers through her hair, Commander Jakes looked up from the pile of papers on her desk of papers. “Come.”

  The doors opened to reveal Chris Hanssen attired as Jeremy Dew-itt, a lost look on the blonde’s usually self-assured features. Beside Jakes, Luria, who had obviously been crying, turned. “Chris?”

  Controlled by Dewitt’s thoughts, Hanssen’s body jerked at the misidentification. “The test didn’t work.”

  Cass delivered the line dryly and dejectedly, obviously pushing forward DewŹitt’s depression at the situation.

  “We will keep trying, Jeremy,” Jakes assured, rounding the desk with a purposeful stride. She stopped at the slouched shoulder and tried to get “him” to look at her. She started to reach for the shoulder, paused. “I…” She dropped her hand. “Would you like to sit down?”

  When “he” wouldn’t, Jakes led the way over to the leather-padŹded bench against the view port wall. “Don’t give up hope. There is a way.”

  Luria walked up. “Jer?” She used her husband’s nickname. “It

  will work.”

  “I hope so.” “Jeremy” looked at her, pained.

  One second Cassidy was staring at Rachelle’s full, dark lips, watching her speak, and the next second, Rachelle’s hands were on her cheeks. Rachelle’s chocolate brown eyes swept her face before she moved to meet Cassidy’s lips with her own.

  Luria gave her husband a reassuring, even desperate kiss.

  Cassidy’s grip reflexively tightened on Rachelle, as she felt she was going to fall.

  “Now, let’s go try again.” Commander Jakes put a hand on “JerŹemy’s” back and propelled “him” out the door. “I want my officers back.” Luria was close on their heels.

  “Cut, and print that.” Assistant director Kim Swanson ducked out from behind camera one and waved the two women over. “That’s a wrap.”

  Having been in an earlier scene, the “test” Chris/Jeremy had referred to, Rich Paulson walked up. “That was fantastic. And perfectly timed,” he complimented.

  “Thanks for the shove,” Cassidy said to Brenna.

  “No problem. We worked it out in blocking while you were back getting reset in makeup.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It was a gamble. I’m sorry that we couldn’t get it changed. Network floated the idea, and the demographic seemed to love it.”

  “So it was a stunt.”

  Sean stepped out from behind the camera. “Yeah, I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d have a block about a five-second kiss.”

  Next to Cassidy, Rich looked at the time on a nearby wall. “Bren, are we seeing your kids tonight for the Halloween party?”

  “Yes. I’m on my way out to meet them.”

  “This will definitely end the day on an up note.” Rachelle turned. “Cass, are you coming?”

  Cassidy shook herself and answered quickly, “I have to grab Ryan. I’ll be back in a little over an hour.”

  “Are you going to be in costume tonight?” Brenna asked.

  Cassidy nodded. “I’m switching to my own instead of staying in this one. But it is Halloween, so I thought it best. What about you?”

  “I’m staying in costume, too.” Brenna hesitated, then added, “What you did was just an amazing performance, Cass. Even with the blocking changes.”

  “Rachelle, too.”

  “Mmm hmm.” Brenna ducked her head and walked off set. Cassidy turned in the other direction, headed for wardrobe.

  Chapter 7

  A little more than an hour later, Brcnna led a band of children from the front gate to the Pinnacle offices. Guardians and other volunteers from the Los Angeles Kids Experience (LAKE) trailed behind. She guided them to the offices first.

  Time Trails producer Victor Branch had been alerted by the gate guard and stood at his office doorway. In a gray business suit, he was dressed typically except for a plastic tiger face mask pulled down over his features. He growled impressively. “I see you brought my dinner, Commander.”

  Several of the youngest children cowered, some older ones laughed. He tipped up his mask and dropped to a crouch, drawing a bag of candy out from behind his door. The children spotted it, and small plastic orange bags were presented in short order. Giggles of delight filled the corridor as the youngest opened their bags to “Aunt Brenna” and yelled, “See what I got!” before dancing out of the doorway to let others partake of Branch’s bounty.

  Hands resting lightly on her upper arms, Brenna smiled, occasionally reaching down to brush fingers over soft cheeks and kissing others until the candy distribuŹtion was complete.

  “What do we say to Mr. Branch?”

  “Thank you, Mr. Branch!”

  Victor laughed, ruffled the hair of a few of the nearest children, and waved Brenna to him as she gestured for the other adults to lead the children down to the next office area. “Nice group of kids,” he said. “These are the ones you work with?”

  “One weekend a month, I help out with their fundraising,” she answered quiŹetly. “I’m glad you agreed to host the Halloween party. They’ll enjoy themselves in a safe place.”

  “No problem. I’ll trail with you down to the soundstages.”

  “Who’s still on set?” Brenna asked.

  “Rich has been helping the props guys. Cassidy just got back with her son. Chapman was here earlier. Interview, I think.” They walked behind the group as the children were greeted by more executives and writers in partial costume. Then GinŹger Vitano appeared: Victor’s personal secretary had dressed as a fairy godmother, complete with wings. Waving her wand, she helped lead the tour to the party area on the other side, collecting actors from several of the soundstages along the way.

  Victor and Brenna chuckled as the wide-eyed youngsters listened to the few rules: no touching props, no straying from the group, and absolutely no stepping through a closed doorway.

  “Aunt Brenna, does she mean it? She’ll turn us into frogs if we do bad?”

  Brenna washed the smile from her face. A look of disapproval shaped her feaŹtures as she affected Susan Jakes’ sharpest tone. “Regulations must be followed at all times.”

  “Well?” asked Ginger. “You already have pretty full bags of candy, but are you ready to get to the fun?”

  “Yes! Yes!” The children bounced up and down, their costumed feet padding over the floor with a rustling sound.

  “All right. Commander Jakes,” Ginger waved her wand, “would you lead the way?”

  “This way,” Brenna said, pushing wide the double doors that led out of the administrative building to the rows of large soundstagcs. She strode firmly, listening to the chatter of the children behind her, unable to keep from smiling.

  She checked the light above the door before entering Time Trails’ primary soundstage. On the far side a tent had been set up covering tables of food. However, a trip through an area filled with gory games and Halloween decorations was part of the tricks before the treats she knew her castmates were planning for the children.

  Hearing Rich’s easy lilt rather than the Doctors brusque tone and seeing fewer lights on, Brenna knew that they were having a post-shooting discussion, not a filmŹing moment. She rounded the corner of a set wall and grinned as she found Rich and Cassidy, Ryan in
her lap, seated casually on the edges of one of the exam tables, sharŹing a laugh. She caught the punch line to Rich’s joke.

  “With a gleam in its eye, the cat said, ‘I’m no mouse.’”

  Cassidy and Ryan both laughed. Just then Cassidy caught sight of Brenna and the collection of children staring at her from around the black-clad legs. The chilŹdren’s wide eyes made her consider putting on her character’s austere expression, but then she caught Brenna’s smile and let her own smile come back.

  Children suddenly swarmed in, in a chorus of “Hi!”, “Cool!” and “Got any candy?”

  Brenna was dragged forward until she was almost on top of both Rich and Cassidy. “Hi, guys,” she said simply.

  “Looks like you brought the whole L.A. school district with you,” Rich said.

  “Just half,” she replied. “Think you can handle them?”

  “Yep.” He grinned, tight-lipped, lifting a prop. “Have you had your shots?” he asked the children.

  Screeches and giggles greeted his mock threat, and he swept one of the kids up onto the exam table, pretending to scan her pixie tails with a wand-shaped prop. “These growths out of your head, are they normal?”

  “Yes!” She put her hands on her hips and glared at him as he tugged one.

  He lifted the girl down, and Cassidy set Ryan down, issuing an invitation. “Who’s ready to bob for apples? Or paint a pumpkin face?”

  Hands went up, and voices cried out, “Me!”

  “Commander Jakes?”

  “Lead the way,” she said, patting Ryan on the back as he stared at the large group of kids.

  The two women fell into step side by side, with Rich behind. A figure suddenly sprang from behind a wall, arms outspread, a black cape over his shoulders and arms, face covered by a bat mask. “I’ve got you now!” issued forth in an impressive Dracula imitation. Not expecting it, Brenna squealed and leaped sideways, stumŹbling into Cassidy as the children behind them screamed and fell into each other.

  “Hey! Hey!” The mask came off revealing Sean Durham’s surfer-dude good looks. “It’s okay. Just me.”

  One of the kids asked, “Who’re you?”

  The actresses righted themselves, helping each other. Cassidy’s hand remained on Brenna’s arm as they listened to the children’s reactions.

  Another child elbowed the questioner and loudly whispered, “He’s a vampire!”

  Cassidy laughed and patted Sean’s shoulder as the now foursome of actors led their merry troupe to the far side of the soundstage and out into the lantern-lit tent where the rest of the cast had assembled.

  The main attraction was the center table, laden with soda, punch, and barbecue

  foods. Over at the far edge of the tent, Cameron und Victor sported aprons and spatŹulas and stood over grilling meat. The children swarmed the table, with some of the younger ones getting help from a cast member in filling their plates with hot dogs, hamburgers, and potato salad. Nearly everyone picked up a candied apple from the bin at the end of the table.

  The group settled on the ground, devouring their food. Brenna circulated a few minutes, checking on everyone. Rachelle waved her over.

  “How’s things?”

  “Fine. You’re in costume, too.” Brenna crouched next to her. “You didn’t have to do this.”

  “The kids are worth it.” Rachelle smiled and accepted another shy, but interŹested study of her costume from a curious child. “I’m surprised you haven’t brought them through before.”

  “Trying to keep some of my life separate, I guess.”

  Rachelle chided, “These kids are great.” She finished off the last of her potato salad, scrambled to her feet, and trashed the paper wares. She smiled and patted Brenna’s shoulder, then turned away and announced that her “booth” was open. “Who’s ready for the haunted tent?” Cheers went up. “Everyone grab a buddy.”

  Children scampered about, seizing hands. As Brenna watched, Will Chapman was surrounded by half-pint admirers. Four grabbed his hands and arms, and he laughed. As sour as he had been lately, the laughter was quite a shock. Terry Brown and the two guest actors from the current script were soon dragged toward the decked out entrance to an adjoining tent.

  Thrust into the lead, Brenna was the first to step into the dark opening, folŹlowed by her collection of children. Halloween decorations leaped out at her, and props rounded out the garish appearance. A sharp-looking weapon danced in midŹair, and someone piped in non-English language chant music. Several children screamed when stagehands, sporting alien makeup courtesy of the set’s makeup artŹists, burst through openings and scowled in the red and ultraviolet lighting.

  Brenna was laughing when she emerged from the other side, having had to pick up one of the smaller ones who had gotten frightened. Child in her arms, she turned to watch the rest emerging.

  “That was so great!”

  “Too cool! Can we do it again?”

  Brenna shook her head. “There are other games.”

  “All right!” As a pack, the children raced into the main tent again, sizing up the carnival games.

  Stagehands and cast members manned the booths, handing out bean bags and baseballs and fishing poles for carnival-style games. Props had been stacked into pyramids for several knockdown-type games.

  There was face painting by the makeup crew and miniature pumpkin painting. Brenna took out a pile of Vordt statuettes with several baseballs, then slipped off to the side and sipped a soda while watching the happy melee. Sensing someone at her shoulder, she turned to find Cassidy. “Hi.” She scanned down the still-costumed woman. “I think you can take off the boots.”

  Cassidy shook her head. “It’s all right.” She carefully leaned against the tent pole. “Nice thing you have here.” She glanced away.

  Following the other woman’s gaze, Brenna noticed Ryan at a booth fishing a prize from the murky Vortex pool. “The guys in Props are gods,” she responded. She leaned closer to Cassidy and pointed out Chelle passing out the stuffed animals and

  other toy prizes for winning at the games. “Look at all that stuff.”

  Smiling, Cassidy pointed toward the apple-bobbing cauldron where a line of children waited their turn at the wet game. As they watched, a ten-year-old boy came up with a mouthful of apple. One of the volunteers offered him a towel and sent him with a ticket to Chelle’s booth to claim a prize. “Where are Thomas and James?”

  “They’ll be here in about twenty minutes. Thomas had weight training, then he was going to drive them over.”

  “I’d be white as a sheet letting them drive alone,” Cassidy admitted.

  Smiling, Brenna made a show of patting her cheeks. “I use heavy makeup.”

  A little girl rushed toward them. Brenna caught her before she could run into Cassidy. “Hi!” the girl enthused.

  Brenna crouched to be at eye level. “Hello there. Having a good time?”

  “The best!” The girl’s arms flung around her neck, and she felt the fluffiness of a stuffed toy on one cheek just as a wet kiss pressed against her other cheek. “Thank you!” the girl gushed before running off again.

  Brenna put her hands to her face, hiding the heat, and nodded after the girl was gone. A hand moved softly across her back, and she dropped her hands hastily.

  Cassidy observed, “These kids mean a lot to you.”

  “Yes.” She glanced up nervously only to find comprehension. Inhaling, she stepped away. “Sorry.”

  “Nothing to be sorry for.”

  Their gazes met, and suddenly the noise around her muted to the borders of Brenna’s awareness. “All right,” she said, startling herself with her own voice.

  Cassidy smiled slowly, holding Brenna’s gaze.

  “Mom!”

  Brenna’s head jerked around, and she spotted her sons standing at the entrance to the tent. Thomas wore his baseball uniform, and James wore a biker’s leather jacket and black leather pants. He even had a metal-studded black leather cap pulled cocke
yed on his head.

  “Yours?” Cassidy asked quietly. “I like the leather look.”

  “My rebel with a cause,” Brenna offered cheerfully. She left Cassidy’s side to greet her sons. All three were swarmed when she wrapped an arm around each and kissed their cheeks.

  “Kisses for me, too!” yelled the children.

  Brenna distributed her kisses judiciously, making sure she caught each cheek once before sending the children off to more games. Sean Durham waved at her, but children still swamped her. “Thomas, would you go take over at the slot track? Sean’s got a plane to catch.”

  Thomas went over to the slot racing table where Sean had been directing the various racing heats of wooden track cars. Brenna had promised to find a standin for him so he could head out early for his flight to Boston and the convention there.

  Thomas lined up the cars, and Brenna kept an eye on him while she relieved Rachelle at the prize table. Two circuits of the track later, the blue car had won. ThoŹmas passed a prize claim ticket to the winner, lined up the cars again, and started the next round.

  Handing fishing poles to the youngest children so they could catch prizes from the Vortex pool, Cassidy scanned the cheerful tableau, confused by her emotions. Her eyes strayed frequently to Brenna. She was witnessing a side of Brenna that she’d

  suspected had existed, but which had been held secret, Judging by Rachelle’s surŹprise, Cassidy realized that it was something Brenna had hidden from the entire cast, not just her. She wondered why. Most of them had a charity or two that they spoke for or worked with. Brenna seemed particularly watchful and engaged with this group, she realized, observing as the other woman accepted another hug from a little girl as she gave her a prize in exchange for her winning ticket. She had a distant, wistful look on her face as she closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around the smaller body.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Cassidy saw one of the volunteers look at his watch and set down his ticket bucket. He stepped from behind the table and strode across the tent. Her heart sank as she realized the evening was about to end.