GobSmacked82

It's a total coincidence that this installment lands on Thanksgiving Day. Originally, I hadn't included a segment, for that holiday, but then I found a way to include the character that we meet. Hint: She played a pivotal role in helping bring about this whole Kevney following. LOL. Enjoy, and Happy Thanksgiving all! (Don't overspend on Black Friday!)

And let me apologize upfront if I've violated movie set processes with my description here. It's been ages since I've been around people involved with productions, and I've forgotten details on how it all works!


Whitney's mansion in New Jersey is bubbling with noise and camaraderie as she excuses herself, telling everyone she is headed to the bathroom. She takes a cordless phone into her walk-in closet instead and sits down, checking her watch while dialing Kevin's number. He picks up after three rings.

"Hey Nightingale," Kevin answers in his casual drawl. Wow, Whitney thinks. He sounds downright sexy. For a moment, she doesn't know what to say.

"Well, this is a first," Kevin continues. "Usually, you're busting with news, singing or galloping away about some @sshole photographer who you think is certainly not going to Heaven."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Whitney says slowly. "It's just noisy downstairs. I had to gather my thoughts."

"I'm glad you're doing that, because in three days you'll be in the middle of a different kind of chaos," Kevin says. "You'll need to have your wits about you. Are you all packed and ready to come out to L.A.?"

"I sure am," Whitney says. "The pictures you sent of the mansion are totally stunning, by the way. If I do a great job, can that be my bonus?"

They dissolve into laughter after that, and talk for 15 minutes, wishing each other a great holiday. After Whitney comes downstairs, Dionne greets her with a flute of champagne.

"Wow. You were gone long," Dionne laughs. "Everything alright with you, darling?"

"Just beautiful," Whitney lifts the flute to hide her lips. "It was Kevin."

Dionne's eyebrows lift as she nods, and Whitney sips, smiling. "That's right, you're leaving tomorrow for L.A. Have you settled down yet and realized you're the perfect girl for the part?"

"Well, I'm not as nervous as I was yesterday," Whitney says. "Or the day before that. You'll come out to L.A., to see me on the set, right?"

"Of course!" Dionne says. "You're the first movie star in the family. With Kevin Costner! You might as well have gotten into Harvard Med School, we're so proud!"

Whitney laughs and blushes, then decides to change the subject and dive back into the gathering. "Are we playing board games, playing piano? What are we doing?"

Days later, in L.A. ...

The Bodyguard set echoes with the sound of chairs scraping the floor as the crew arranges them around a table. The cast is about to take their seats for the BG script reading, and everyone is mulling around. Whitney opens a cinch sack and empties her script, pencils and a bottle of water onto the table. Kevin approaches the table and rests a hand on Whitney's shoulder. The feel of his hand warms and jolts Whitney, and she turns around to catch him smiling down at her.

"Good morning, Whitney," Kevin smiles down at her. "Look at you, the good student on her first day of school. You even have your book bag and pencils and stuff."

"I like to be prepared," Whitney says.

"Good plan," Kevin says. "Well, did you get the director his gift?"

"Gift? What?"

"Every new actor is supposed to get the film director a gift on her first day," Kevin says. "It's the tradition."

"But no one ever told me this!" Whitney spins around. "Where is Robyn? Maybe she could run out and find something. Omigod, I barely know Mick. What am I supposed to get?"

"Well, let me help you think. I've known him longer," Kevin says. He pulls a chair out and picks up a plush toy, handing it to Whitney.
"How's that to begin with?"

Whitney's expression quickly goes from panic to displeasure as she realizes what Kevin has just done.

"I'm gonna get you good for doing this!" She waves a finger in his face and swerves her neck.

"No you won't," Kevin says. "Anyway take your best shot. I'm not scared of any Catholic school girl who couldn't see that one coming!"

Whitney sighs and shakes her head, muttering a warning to Kevin as the cast falls into place. Kevin takes a seat near Mick and Whitney stations herself across the table from Kevin, so that she can “keep an eye” on him. The cast spends the next several hours reading through the script. Occasionally, the director halts the reading to convey notes on how he wants a certain scene to be played. Kevin offers a lot of input during this phase, too, and Whitney notices how much influence he has on the cast and the production. Everyone absorbs as much from him as they do Mick, but Kevin keeps his remarks brief, not upstaging the actual director in any way.

Then the cast and crew break for lunch, after which Whitney heads back to her trailer to make personal phone calls, and Kevin decides to get acquainted with DeVaughn, the boy playing Fletcher. He finds a basketball and walks him over to a set of hoops, where they practice shooting. The laughter reaches a point where Whitney pauses a call with her parents to push aside one of the curtains and find out what’s happening. She can’t see the entire court, but she knows something is up. She lets the curtain drop, and as it swings back into place her parents end the call. She puts on a pair of light sneakers.

Outside Whitney’s trailer, meanwhile, Kevin and Robyn are walking to meet her.

“You said her brother Gary once played professional basketball?" Kevin asks Robyn.

"Yeah," she nods. "He did a season with the Denver Nuggets and was traded after that. We all play basketball, me, Gary and Whitney."

Kevin's face brightens as he stops walking.

"Is she any good?" he asks, his mouth curving into a smirk.

"She's passionate about basketball," Robyn laughs. "That girl has a jock streak that people don’t really know about."

Whitney steps outside her trailer in time to see Kevin and Robyn approaching. He’s smiling casually, while turning a basketball around in his hands.

“What’s going on?” Whitney looks from Robyn to Kevin, leaning on the small banister outside her trailer door.

“A little birdie told me that you can hold your own on the court,” Kevin gestures to Robyn, who rolls her eyes. Whitney jogs down the steps and rests at the bottom, holding the rail while watching her newest friend dribble. “But I have my doubts. I mean a girl who can’t tell when she’s being played …”

Kevin doesn’t get a chance to finish the sentence, because Whitney darts in his direction, fakes him out and swipes the ball. She takes off running in the direction of the hoops she glimpsed earlier, then spots a grip who had worked her screen test, and who she had become friendly with.

“Lee!” Whitney screams, turning heads. “You and Kevin versus me and Robyn!” Kevin is momentarily stunned by Whitney’s speed and agility. She almost moves like a slinky toy, easily getting around carts and other large objects until they get to the court. Whitney pushes her hair away from her face, and they have a game. They decide to keep it men versus women, with Kevin covering Robyn and Lee trying to stop Whitney.

The game is light, then becomes competitive after about 20 minutes. Several of the cast and crew are on the sidelines watching and cheering on both sides. Then with the score tied, something happens that changes Kevin's mood.

It only takes a moment, but from Kevin's perspective it might as well happen over a minute, and in slow motion. Lee is driving for the basket, with Whitney close on him. As he moves to shoot, Whitney reaches up to steal the ball and her chest brushes against his. She steals the ball, and turns her back on Lee, moving and dribbling. Kevin misses a couple of beats, watching Whitney and Lee move in sync, only a hair's breadth from each other. She seems perfectly comfortable, and Lee is obviously enjoying the task of physically hovering and trying to get the ball away. Robyn takes advantage Kevin, who is too distracted to be effective, despite his natural athletic ability. She and darts between Whitney and the basket. Whitney passes, Robyn shoots and scores, and the game ends.

There is cheering from the sidelines, as Robyn and Lee exchange hugs. Whitney and Kevin, however hang apart awkwardly.

"You're full of surprises, Whitney," Kevin says, resting his hands on his hips and panting. "Great game. But of course now we all have to get cleaned up."

"That's OK, though, right?" Whitney ventures, a little unsure of herself. "We were just burning off lunch. Are we behind schedule?"

Kevin shakes his head no, and says they are fine. But there's something about his grin that she doesn't believe.

"You're making friends pretty quickly, huh?"

"Yeah! Lee is supersweet," Whitney lights up. "Sometimes if you and Mick are in a meeting he'll explain things to me."

"That is nice of him," Kevin says.

"Yeah, because I don't want you to feel like I need a lot of hand holding and babying," Whitney says. "You're a busy man."

"This is true," Kevin says. "Very busy. Listen, I'll catch up with you later, OK?"

Whitney nods and smiles slightly, watching Kevin walk away. She thinks she sees a minor smirk, and he doesn't turn back to look at her. The director catches up with him, and they chat for a few minutes while walking. Whitney spins around and heads back to her trailer to freshen up. For the next couple of days, Kevin and Whitney spend time in her trailer rehearsing her lines and going through acting exercises. Sometimes he brings his acting coach with him, and on occasion he meets her alone, but all the while he is more reserved and distant than he had been before. For the most part, Kevin is satisfied with Whitney's progress, but he can't seem to get her comfortable with the idea of kissing passionately. Every time he reaches for her face, or hold her before a kiss, she pulls back, apologizes and dissolves into giggles.

Then one morning Whitney is sipping a cup of coffee in her trailer, checking her watch, when she hears a knock at the door. She opens it, still holding her cup, and smiles letting Kevin inside.

"Good morning," she says, as he steps in.

"Morning, Whitney," Kevin smiles. He looks especially broad-shouldered in his jacket and mock turtleneck sweater, as he turns around and winks at her. "I think I've come up with a way to get you comfortable on the set for those ... kissing scenes." He drops his voice for the last couple of words and peers at her mischievously. Whitney laughs, but the realization that she'll have to get that close to Kevin, and soon, makes her twitch in her clothes self-consciously.

"I'm sorry about all this trouble, Kevin," Whitney says. "I just ... I've never had to ... really be that involved with another actor so much before. It's coming, but I guess I'm not there yet."

"You will get there," Kevin says. "All you need is an extra push, which I'm going to give you now." He touches Whitney's shoulders and grabs her jacket, helping her into it. Kevin steers Whitney out the door and toward the set.

"Well, how are we going to approach it this time?" Whitney frowns, noticing a crew and rather large crowd gathered near the set for Frank's couch in the basement. "In front of everybody??"

"In front of all these people," Kevin affirms, nodding and stopping at the couch.

"I can't ... I can't kiss you in front of all these people!" Whitney whispers forcefully.

Kevin had been checking the marks and stops to look at Whitney. He's wearing his warm smile, so Whitney thinks he's about to say something supportive. But he lets her down.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I understand," Kevin reassures, resting his hands on both of her shoulders. "Much better to make out with me on film for millions of people to see all over the world, than for a few crew members, right?!"

Whitney was still adjusting to Kevin's teasing ways, but this was a bit much. Why couldn't they rehearse away from prying, critical eyes and noisy equipment? This circus didn't set the mood at all. Was she just supposed to flip a switch and come to life as Rachel Marron? The makeup and hair crew begin to buzz around Whitney, who tries to plot her escape, while Mick calls Kevin over to show him the camera setup.

"Oh, my gosh," Whitney suddenly touches her belly and leans her head back, wincing. "Oooooh!"

"Is everything OK, Whitney?" Kevin comes walking back to her, frowning and holding her shoulders.

"It's cramps! I think I need to lay down!" Whitney says, making Kevin roll his eyes. "No, you don't understand, Kevin. You've only seen Nice Whitney, but when the Killer Cramps hit, it's Banshee City. I will curse you, your father, your while bloodline and your dog."

"Whitney, I'm sorry you have a stomach ache, I really am," Kevin stroking her arm. "But this is important. If you hang in there with me and give it a solid try, you can have the afternoon off. I'll even send for a nurse if you're not feeling any better after a nap."

Whitney ardently wishes Kevin would be a Grinch for just one day, so she wouldn't feel guilty about being such a handful. With nowhere else to turn, Whitney lets Kevin slide her jacket off her shoulders and toss it onto the couch.

"Let's go," Kevin says. He moves toward her and slides an arm around her waist, pulling her closer. But when he tries to kiss Whitney, she turns away. Kevin tells her that she is alright, and tries again. But she flinches once again, which makes her feel conflicted. Kevin is toasty, and smells like soap and paper somehow. Whitney begins to feel like she could be in those arms for hours, but it's impossible to create intimacy with everyone looking! Finally, Kevin holds her firmly, pulling her chest against his, and tells her to follow his lead. Then he kisses her softly, using his lips to try to open her mouth. Then he turns her so that his back is toward the crew, opening her lips finally. To Whitney, it feels like he is about to break the no-tongue rule, so she opens her eyes, startled.

They widen like saucers at what she sees. The crew has completely paired off and is making out. Every single one has his or her lips on someone else, and is involved in a passionate kiss. Even Mick is in on it. With Robyn!

Whitney breaks away and shrieks with laughter. She presses her palms together and bends over laughing, then holds her forehead and stands up straight. The crew erupts into giggles and then laughter. This goes on for a minute, until Kevin, the acknowledged prankster, takes a slight bow to everyone's applause. After that, the mood lightens significantly. Mick then calls for Whitney to "lay one on him. Just for kicks!" This time, Whitney holds Kevin by the collar, and standing on her toes a little, leans in to give Kevin a soft, breathy kiss. Kevin takes her lead and holds onto the kiss a little longer. Then he drops his head bashfully as they pull away. Mick calls for a break, while Kevin walks Whitney back to her trailer.

Whitney is still giggling about it as they walk into her trailer and she fixes two glasses of lemonade. Whitney hands Kevin hsi glass and watches him as he sips.

"Very nicely done," she says. "Getting the whole crew involved? How long did that take?"

"It was nothing," Kevin says. "I just had to move a couple of mountains, shift rovers around a little."

"But you know what? Something was missing, or should I say someone," Whitney says. "Where was Lee, the grip?"

Kevin's smile slips, and he turns serious.

"I loaned him out on another Warner Brothers project," Kevin says. "Someone's crew came up short-handed for some reason. And I decided that we could spare Lee. So he'll be working other projects for the next five months. First one in Canada and then in Texas."

Canada? And Texas? Whitney notices that Kevin is looking around, seeming bored and disinterested by who they're talking about.

"Well that's too bad," Whitney says. "You'll tell him I said 'hi,' when you talk to him again, right?"

"Consider it done," Kevin grins. Then he pushes a lock of hair off of Whitney's forehead. "You were smoother out there. Do you feel more comfortable kissing me and letting me hold you and ... all that stuff?"

"Yeah, absolutely," Whitney says, drumming her fingernails on the bottom of the glass. "Thanks for being so patient. It all helped."

"My pleasure, Whitney," Kevin takes a last gulp and walks his own glass to the sink, where he sets it down there. As he passes her to leave, he squeezes her elbow. Then he kisses Whitney on the cheek, which makes her blink a few times. "I'll see you out on the set, OK?"

Whitney bites her lip and nods. Apparently, not many people say 'no' to Kevin these days.