"Roddy? What the hell? Stop that!" she yelled as she tried to get him off her but he pressed harder and she winced in pain.

"Think you’re funny, don’t you, you little bitch!" he said, his voice low so that only she could hear him.

Angie closed her eyes a moment; she was not going to yell for Rollie to come help her with this buffoon. After all, she was responsible for his behavior in a way and he had called her bluff. She had already gotten in trouble with Ben Poe for gooping his shoes before Rollie and she had gotten married and spent a long time getting herself out of that one. She needed to stand on her own two feet for this one as well. She figured she would drop to her stomach and catch him off balance.

The line supervisor looked up suddenly and Rollie followed his stare. He could see that Roddy had his heavy, cleated boot on Angie’s back and was pushing her down toward the ground. He reacted without thinking, running over and grabbed the actor hard, punching him once in the face as the square jaw went down and Rollie found his fist in Roddy’s nose, smashing it hard to one side. Blood splurted out everywhere, all over Angie as well as Roddy.

A crowd had formed quickly as Roddy staggered back and fell hard to the ground in a sitting position. Angie was up in a second then, standing between Rollie and the now sitting Roddy.

"Rollie!" Stop it!" she told her incensed husband, who was holding his scrapped knuckles with his other hand and looking at her with an incredulous expression of shock.

"What the hell were you doing?" Rollie yelled at Roddy, who was being assisted by the line producer and now, Ben Poe who was calling for the movie’s emergency medicine crew.

Roddy wasn’t answering him and Angie, her face reddened and embarrassed, stormed away from them all. She would have taken care of the problem herself and now, she saw what she had stirred in Rollie and it only made matters worse. He had gone way over the line, too protective, in her mind as she made her way stiffly back to the van.

Once inside, she pulled off her bloodied T-shirt, reaching for her emergency bag with a clean set of clothes inside. She was busily wiping the blood from her upper chest and neck, when she felt the van tilt to one side and Rollie came storming inside.

"What happened back there?" he yelled at her as she pulled her new shirt on and continued to wipe off her arms and face.

"Nothing that I couldn’t handle, Rollie. You embarrassed me and everyone else. How could you do that? You broke his nose, do you realize that? He is probably going to sue us!" she yelled back at him, her hands on her hips.

"The man had his bloody boot in your back, pushing you to the ground like a dog!" Rollie shouted, coming toward her as she backed up against the console. She had never seen him so angry with her.

"Rollie, I deserved it, I was setting the charges too close and he just was getting back at me!" she told him, her voice lowering as his face came close to hers, his eyes dilated and dark.

"Angie! You are my wife- you are not a kid, playing around on the set. This is a business, right? You just can’t go around and keep this up, you hear?"

Angie was stung by his words, as if, all she ever did with him was play, that she had no real function at Tyler F/X except as his assistant and faithful lackey. She looked down at her feet, avoiding his eyes.

He sighed, and stepped away from her and she stepped away from the console and turned away from him, stuffing her bloodied shirt into the bag, "You know what? I think I’d better go get some air," she said, tersely and without looking at him still, stepped out of the back entrance to the van, leaving him there alone.

She walked by the crowd and the ambulance that had pulled up. She kept going. She could hear Rollie’s words; "you’re my wife, not a kid…" as the phrase echoed in her mind. How stupid she had acted! She didn’t want Rollie coming up like her big brother and defending her. She was not used to him being her husband either. She looked down at her wedding band, the blue diamond at home while she worked on the set and frowned. At the moment, she felt like it was a choke chain around her neck. She really hadn’t sorted out how Rollie and she would act on set once married. She hadn’t really thought about her future except as working next to him but as what? She stopped suddenly in her tracks and turned around.

She had walked around four city blocks away from the set and she stared in a shop window at her reflection. She looked so angry and it was silly, she told herself in silence as a child who was inside the shop, waved back at her. She smiled then, waving back and started back to the set. She would go apologize to Roddy, even if she had to make the trip to the emergency room. She would apologize for Rollie’s reaction as well.

As she reached the set, she noticed that the ambulance had left. The F/X van was gone as well. Rollie must have gone to the hospital to make amends, she thought as she looked for Ben Poe. She found him talking with the line producer that had been with Rollie that morning. Both men looked at her with some dismay as she walked up to them cautiously.

"Ben, I just wanted to say, that I am sorry for what happened. I am going to the hospital to apologize to Roddy and then…"

"Stop right there!" he told her, putting his hand out in front of her, "look, it’s all over. My star has a busted nose and won’t be able to work for over six weeks. Production has now all but pulled the plug on this movie and guess what- Tyler F/X has been fired!"

"What?" Angie asked, now realizing that Rollie had been told he was fired and it was all her fault. He was probably back at the loft right now, wishing he had never married her much less, ever got involved with her.

"Fired!" he repeated to her, "you guys used to be incredible, what happened?"

She looked at him and shook her head, "we are good, Ben. Don’t take this out on Rollie. It was my fault. Look, take him back. I won’t work on the set, okay?" She was pleading but he looked exasperated and just shook his head.

"Angie, your father was a great man and he trained a great guy who took over the business and it’s been a great time working with him. But now, since this picture started, Rollie has been preoccupied- out of sync and then you…"

"Yes, it’s been me that’s caused all of this, Ben. Look, think about it, okay? Just give him another shot. I promise I will stay out of it here. Please Ben!" Angie was begging him as the line producer rolled his eyes and Ben Poe stood there, tapping his pencil on his clipboard.

"Okay- if we get Roddy to come back and IF you stay out of this picture, Tyler F/X is back in, you got that?"

Angie smiled, "Yeah- I got it. Thanks, I will go talk to Roddy right now!" she added and she was off, whistling for a cab to take her to the hospital to talk with Roddy.

Roddy actually was getting better attention than on the set now in the emergency room and was feeling no pain when Angie approached him. She apologized profusely, begging his forgiveness, and asking that he not blame Rollie for her behavior. She swore herself off the set and he grinned then, his bloodied, crooked nose giving him a battered, warrior look. He was starting to believe that he might like this new look.

"Fine- as long as I don’t have to see your face on this movie again," he said, smugly.

"Great!" she said, grinning and rushed out, calling Ben Poe to tell him that Roddy would be back. Now, she had to face the music at the loft.

As the cab rounded the corner to the loft, she could see the van parked by the front entrance. She got out, paying the driver her last ten and hesitantly walked up to the door. This was new to her, a fight with Rollie as husband and wife. She couldn’t go home to her apartment, she had to face him.

She opened the door slowly, and stepped inside. He was not downstairs. Bluey was happy to see her as she told him hello. She looked up at the chamber, realizing he was probably inside and she slowly took the stairs to the bedroom and the chamber. She could hear the sounds of what she thought was Australia mode and she bit her lip. He didn’t like to be disturbed while he was in there.

She sat on the edge of the bed then, starring at the chamber door. She didn’t expect it to fly open as it did and she jumped, startled as Rollie came out, cordless phone in hand saying; "where the bloody hell would she go?"

He was startled then too, as he saw her sitting on the bed and he clicked the phone off then, staring at her, his face showing his worry.

"Hey…" she said softly.

"Angie!"

"Look, before you start- I went back and fixed everything…" she began as he stepped closer to her.

"Ange…"

"Yeah, wait- I know, I was wrong and I did some thinking and you know, I got Ben Poe to take you back and even talked to Roddy and he is coming back, you know, once his nose heals. And, I hope you are okay with that- cause I promised them both that I wouldn’t be on set for the rest of the movie." She had said it so rapidly, she hadn’t even taken a breath.

His lips were on hers before she could get a good breath then and he had her down on her back, kissing her like a drowning man.

"I’m sorry," he said, releasing her from the kiss as his eyes, now warm and brown stared into her watering blue eyes.

"No Rollie," she told him, sitting up, "it was wrong of me to do what I did. I put the whole business in jeopardy, just like you said- acting like a child. It won’t happen again."

"Ange, Roddy should never have done what he did, no matter what!" Rollie told her, touching her cheek with his finger.

"Yeah, but Rollie- I can take care of myself, you know…" she replied, grabbing his chin with her fingers and pulling his face close to hers.

"Yeah, my mistake for wanting to protect my wife."

"You got to stop being so possessive. It scares me," she warned him, smiling.

"You do something to me, Angie- you make me crazy!" he said, and pushed her back down, his lips caressing her neck as he moved against her, wanting her right then and there.

"You are insane," she said, as his mouth came down on hers hungrily. He slid her jeans down over her hips, cupping her tightly and told her in her ear;

"We got about 10 minutes before Mira gets over here."

"Okay, so why you going so slow?"