Strong black coffee was good enough for him. He didn't really understand why people needed to make coffee into a fancy dessert-like beverage. Coffee was good for one reason and one reason alone, and that was the caffeine. A hot cup of java had kept him going plenty of nights when the muse wasn't ready to let him sleep yet. "Warm milk is for babies and the elderly," he remarked, sharing his opinion of latte and completely failing to see the artistry involved in creating it.

"Not when it has a shot of espresso in it," she pointed out with a chuckle. "Definitely not when it has a shot of my espresso in it." Tucking her hair back behind her ear, she considered him for a moment. "How about spiced apple cocoa" Any thoughts?"

He made a face, which told her what he thought of that idea, but she was the expert, not him. "I won't tell you how to cook, and you don't tell me how to write. Deal?" he asked, a teasing smile on his face. If anyone could pull him out of a foul mood and make him smile and laugh, it was Elena.

She laughed at his expression, leaning over to gently caress his cheek. "Deal," she promised. "Just don't spit things out when I test them on you."

"I don't recall that being part of our wedding vows," he teased further, smiling softly as she touched his cheek. He was perfectly happy to be her guinea pig, so long as she didn't mind his honest critiques of her creations.

"It's the unspoken part," she grinned. "I, Michael, do solemnly swear not to spit my food, or Elena has free rein to spank me with a duster while I clean it up again." She liked that he was so honest with her; trial and error were a part of cooking, and until she had something exactly the way he liked it, she wouldn't even consider replicating the recipe for her cafe.

"Is that how it goes?" he asked, chuckling. They'd come a long way since his unexpected arrival in Rhy'Din, both of them growing into responsible adults their families would be proud of with the help of the other. He reached over to tangle his fingers with hers. "I love you, you know," he told her quietly, for no apparent reason.

Her smile softened as their fingers tangled together. "I love you back," she promised him softly, her other hand rising to brush his hair back from his forehead with a tender touch. "I'm always here for you, whatever you need. Always."

"I know," he replied, his smile wavering. "That goes double, you know," he added for good measure, needing her to know that he was as there for her as she was for him, but he was still unsure if he should share what was bothering him. It wasn't like there was anything she could do about it, except to listen and maybe bolster his confidence. There had been plenty of problems with the first film, but no one had ever come close to suggesting he leave the set.

Her eyes narrowed, just a little, at the wavering of his smile, and she knew whatever was bothering him had cut deeply, no matter how he might try to make it seem less on the surface. "Tell me," she said softly, gathering his hands into her own.

He shrugged as if it was nothing, averting his eyes to gaze into his coffee cup, even as she took hold of his hands. He wasn't sure what it was he'd done wrong, but for some reason, he was feeling like all of this was somehow his fault. It was his book, after all, that had gotten this whole thing started - a book that had been based on his and Elena's struggles to overcome their problems and find their happy ending. "I'm beginning to think the movie is a mistake."

She eyed him thoughtfully. He had been so enthusiastic about the movie, even going so far as to write the script for it himself, and yet now he was second-guessing that excitement. She knew what it could be like on movie sets, but hadn't thought it would be quite so cutthroat for Michael as the creative mind behind everything they were doing. "What's happened?" she asked him, her voice still soft, suggesting he tell her, rather than demanding.

"I don't know. It's supposed to be about us, but it isn't, really. I mean, I don't have a best friend, and you mostly have your sisters." But that wasn't it, either. That was the way he'd written the book, which was only loosely based on their lives and experiences. There was more to it than that.

"Sweetie, whatever it is, it's got nothing to do with the story you wrote," she told him gently. "You wrote an amazing book, a book whose sales haven't dropped since it was released. People enjoy your writing. Whatever's going on here, it's not to do with the writing. So what happened on set?"

He frowned at her, unsure how to explain everything that had been bothering him lately. It was more than just the problems with the movie, really; it went deeper than that. "I'm not wanted," he blurted out, honestly and maybe just a little too bluntly. He wasn't talking about her, of course. She was the one thing in his life that was going right. "They told me to leave, that I was getting in the way. It might have been my book and my script, but it's not my movie, Elena. Not anymore. It's not my story."

The look on her face told him in no uncertain terms that whoever had told him to leave was entirely in the wrong. "Balls to that," was her abrupt response. "Who told you to leave, the director" He can't do that, Michael. You're an integral part of the vision of this story; it's your story. Not to mention, you were invited to consult on the movie by the producers! He can't throw you off the set, sweetie, he really can't."

"He didn't really throw me off the set exactly," Michael explained further. "More like he strongly suggested I go home and find something else to do." And then, there was the cast and all the gossip in the papers. Sure, gossip was free publicity, but the wrong kind of gossip could hurt the movie, and he had no way of knowing what was true and what had been fabricated. "The lead actress - the one playing you - has been photographed partying and carrying on. I don't really care what she does in her free time, but the story is about redemption. It's about two people finding each other and falling in love and helping each other conquer their demons. How is anyone supposed to take it seriously if the cast and the director don't?"

She scowled at the idea of anyone making Michael feel unwanted, but was derailed from those thoughts as he offered further worries. "Yasmin, right?" she clarified before going on, silently thanking her sister in the back of her mind. "It's a stunt to promote the movie. Mataya warned me, just in case Yasmin wants to talk to me about the part. She's not turning to drink, and she will give it everything she's got, 'Taya's certain of it. I don't know Yasmin, but I trust Mataya. If she was worried, she'd let me know."

"A stunt?" he echoed, brows lifting. "You knew about this?" he asked further, wondering why no one had seen fit to inform him - or maybe they had, and he just hadn't listened or understood. It wouldn't be the first time that had happened. "You trust her, then?" he asked further, knowing the woman was involved with the Shanachie and had a reputation for being something of a diva, though he didn't really put much trust in rumors and gossip.

She giggled, glad to see him smiling again as he kissed her. "Unless you want me lightly toasted on one side and sizzling on the other, you're gonna have to get more creative," she informed him affectionately. "Or should I surprise you?"

"I trust you with everything. Since when haven't I trusted you with my dinner?" he countered, the smile on his face widening. "What can I do to help?" he asked, eager to repay her for helping him and unafraid to get his hands dirty in the kitchen.

She chuckled. It had taken a while, but finally Elena had started to trust Michael in the kitchen, especially during those first weeks when the sight and smell of just about everything made her gag. "You can manhandle the meat," she told him with a grin. "And decide what vegetables you're prepared to eat tonight."

"Vegetables," he repeated, scowling like a boy forced by his mother to eat something he considered disgusting. It made him look more like the young man she had met on the set of his first movie, rather than the tormented man he had later become. "Have you been taking lessons in persuasion from your sister?" he teased.

"What, you think this doesn't come naturally?" she teased him in return, nuzzling close once again. "I'll make you real popcorn if you eat broccoli tonight." How was that for persuasion"

"Real popcorn!" he echoed with a grin. "What's the occasion' Are we going to watch Princess Bride again?" he teased. It was a personal favorite of theirs and one they never seemed to tire of, quoting lines back and forth to each other through the entire movie, like a couple of loons.

"Do I need an occasion?" she laughed, drawing her fingers through his hair. "My baby needs some lovin', and I just happen to know exactly how to do it." She didn't often just treat him out of the blue, but he needed it today. He'd been all about her and the pregnancy for a few months now; it wasn't much to ask to give him one night that was all about him.

"No," he replied with a grin, as she drew her fingers through his hair. "You can spoil me anytime you want, Mrs. Donnelly," he told her, reaching for her hand and drawing it to his lips for a kiss. Whatever was bothering him before no longer seemed to be bothering him now. He was confident Mataya would sort everything out.

After all, she was good at that sort of thing.

((Stay tuned for the fallout! :grin: ))

"You know, other directors," she shrugged. "Before we got the contracts signed and everything decided, we had a few directors we could have gone with. Now those guys are out of the picture, and ....Well, I should have asked you right away, I know."

He'd finished lining his eyes with the kohl pencil while she was explaining and he set the pencil on the tray in front of him that held his makeup. He turned in his chair so that he could face her. As she had pointed out, he was obsessive about the theater and had plenty of time to finish getting ready before the first curtain call. "I don't know, 'Tay," he told her, frowning worriedly. "It means a lot to Michael and to the cast. What if I screw it up?"

"You won't screw it up," she told him firmly. "Jonny, I know you don't have a lot of faith in your own ability when you're trying new things, but trust me. You have a lifetime of experience in performance, whether it's on stage or on screen, and I think this would be good for you. You know the cast, and they know you, so no one's going to be intimidated on set. If you get lost in the vision, you'll have Michael right there to put you back on track. And on screen, it's one scene at a time. You can do this, Jonny."

"I have been thinking about trying my hand at directing, but I had thought it would be a smaller project. Some small indie film or something hardly anyone would ever see or care about, just to get my feet wet." Then again, it wasn't really like him to wade into new projects slowly, so much as to plunge right in head first. "Let me talk to Vicki first?"

Mataya's lips twitched, but she managed to hold back her smile. If Jon wanted to talk to Vicki about it, then he was going to do it. He just needed his wife to make him feel as though he'd been convinced. "All right ....but not too long," she warned him. "I really want to sack this guy."

"Oh," he said, as if just remembering that and chuckling to himself. "That bad, huh' Go ahead and sack him, then. We'll work things out without him." Which was as good as saying yes, though he still wanted to talk to Vicki about it before he officially decided or the news became public knowledge. "What's he like, Michael" He seems quiet."

She squealed happily, stopping herself from embracing her friend only because he was currently wearing a decent layer of stage makeup and she had a black top on. "Michael" He's a sweetie," she told Jon cheerfully. "He's a little under-confident, and he's not very good at making it clear that he has something to say. His stories are his babies, he's very protective of them. I think, so long as you give him plenty of opportunity to offer his opinion, you and he will work together just wonderfully."

"A sweetie, huh' Sweeter than me?" he asked, smirking at her. He would have liked nothing better than to hug her and smudge some of his stage makeup on her clothes as payment for cajoling him into this whole thing, but he couldn't deny he was a little excited by the prospect of directing his first film, just hoping he could do it the justice it deserved. "I'll have to find my copy of the book and give it another read. I think Humphrey had it last."

"Elena's in love with him, that should tell you all you need to know," she pointed out with a low chuckle. "Here." Taking up a brush from the counter in front of him, she turned his face toward hers, working gently on adding a few extra crinkles. Bob Cratchit was a downtrodden Victorian worker, after all, not a gorgeous modern day actor. "If you need another copy, let me know. Juno's got her own copy, mine's somewhere in my office."

"Has everyone in Rhy'Din read the thing?" he asked, closing his eyes briefly so she could add the finishing touches to his face. If they had, they just might have a success on their hands, before the movie was even finished filming. "We should put out a press release before the papers get hold of the rumors. We can just cite creative differences and leave it at that," he suggested. When he and Mataya worked together, there was no end to what they could accomplish. It was why they made such a good team.

"Seems like it," she mused, artfully smudging some of those lines with a gentle fingertip. Any actor who worked on stage got very good at applying makeup over the months and years. "He's a very popular author, even if he doesn't believe that's true." Sitting back, she considered his face for a moment before declaring him as done as he was going to get. "I'll get Des to put together a press release and a confidentiality document before I go Hitchcock on the dude."

Des. The half-brother Jon and Lena had never known they had until a few years ago. Jon had never blamed Desmond for his father's philandering - no one had - and he'd been welcomed by his long lost family with open arms. He was a lawyer by trade and was employed with GrangerGuild Conglomerate as the company's attorney, but he had been called upon a few times by the Shanachie, as well. "Well, if this movie does half as well as Allison, he's about to become a lot more popular."

"I'll warn Sol ahead of time, too," Mataya promised Jon with a smile. "Should I warn Liv, as well" What with her whole new baby big family issues right now?" She tilted her head teasingly as she grinned at her friend.

"I think Liv has enough to worry about right now, but she'd probably kill me if she found out through the press." He frowned again, looking very much like a man who held the worries of the world on his shoulders, not unlike Cratchit, but it was probably the makeup. "I hope Vicki's okay with it. We've been talking about a visit to see her father over the holidays."

"I'm not taking your holidays away from you, Jonny boy," 'Taya laughed, easing up onto her feet. "I'll make sure Liv knows, okay' All you need to do is chat to Vicki and let me know when we are go. Everything else is in my sticky little fingers." She winked at her friend, bending to kiss his curls teasingly. "Try not to break a leg literally this time, okay?"

"Are you doing this for me or for Michael?" he asked suddenly, out of the blue, even as she affectionately kissed his curls, which were really far too pretty for Cratchit. He winced at her remark, remembering all too well how he'd managed to do just that not too long ago on this very stage.

"Both of you," she told him warmly. "Don't forget to dust your hair tonight, it doesn't look right without a little gray in it under the lights." Making her way to the door, she flashed him a last wink. "Have a good show, Jonny."

"Yes, dear," he replied with a chuckle, wondering not for the first time if he had two wives, though Mataya was more like a sister than a lover. "And don't forget to swing by for tea sometime this week. Bring Juno with you. Elle has been badgering Vicki to invite you over to tea for a while now. Just watch your purse. She's a thief, you know." He grinned, knowing the woman was an ex-thief, but he thought he'd warn her just the same.

She laughed. "Oh, don't you worry, I'll descend on you with all of my brood, dogs included," she threatened cheerfully. "Tell Vicki I said hi, okay?" Blowing him a kiss, she drew the door shut behind her, finally letting herself grin widely at her triumph. Now all she had to do was manage the fallout, and Rhy'Din Nights would be back on track. Just so long as she could head off the Yas tantrum in quick quick time.

((Keep your eyes on the Rhy'Din Nights thread for the fallout, lovelies!))