Over the Love

"Isabelle, can you please do me a favor and let the extras know we'll be shooting any moment so they need to be getting ready?" Helena informed me as I finished organizing some papers for her. I nodded in response and made my down the street where an average of two hundred extras mingled and relaxed.

"Excuse me?" I tried to call out. They didn't hear me due to the array of loud chattering. I tried again, same response.

"Hey! All of you!" I tried in an even louder voice. No response yet again and my impatience kicked in. Normally when I got this way, it wasn't responded well but it worked.

"HEY! OVER HERE!" I shouted in my "I-need-a-tax-now" tone. The extras finally heard me and their heads whipped in my direction. I think what startled them even more was that little hint of New Yorker in me.

If you live in the North in America, you know what I'm referring to.

"Thank you," I sighed. "Listen up now, shooting will be beginning so if you want to finally do what you've signed up and waited for, follow me and get ready."

It was like Noah leading the animals to the ark as I led our large group of extras to the streets. They simmered down a bit when the director for this episode, Toby Haynes, stepped in and gave instructions.

I headed back to where Helena was and Helena gave me a thumb up adding," Normally, you will be screaming like that everyday. Be prepared."

"Tea with honey and lemon is a daily drink of mine," I remarked with a smile. Helena laughed and Toby Haynes walked over.

"Isabelle, correct?" he asked pointing at me.

"Yes."

"Great, can you get Martin Freeman from his trailer and walk him over here?"

Toby was asking me to find Bilbo Baggins and spend sometime with him as we would make our way back here. Perhaps I forgot to mention to him that I was a massive "Hobbit" fan as well as a Sherlock one.

"Absolutely," I replied feeling my cheeks warm up. Toby gave me directions and I walked over, trying to refrain from my inner fangirl popping up.

The small trailer park for the actor's consisted of four trailers and Martin's was 4A. I knocked on the door and I could feel bursts of excitement in my upper body.

The door opened and there stood Freeman himself. He was dressed in a grey sweater and jeans and black shoes. How I composed myself in that moment, God only knows.

"Hi, it's time for-."

He slammed the door in my face, my words cut off as I jumped from the large thud. For a second, my entire being felt numb as I went over the event that had just occurred. Once relaxed,I tried to knock again.

"Mr. Freeman, you have to head to set! They're ready!"

"I'm not! Tell them I can't do it!" He called back from inside the trailer.

Great, I thought, Fucking John Watson is gonna get me fired my first day.

I knocked again and he shot back," Go away!"

I had heard stories about actors and actresses getting diva-ish, Martin Freeman never came across that way to me. Not in any of the interviews I had seen of him.

I knocked again.

"Mr. Freeman!"

"Leave me alone or else!"

"Mr. Freeman, with all due respect-."

"I don't care about saving your job so off you go you-."

"Mr. Freeman, get your whiney ass out here and show some respect to some of the people who came out to watch you film because some of those people are the reason you even have a fucking career!"

Realizing what I had said, I slapped a hand on my forehead and mumbled to myself. On my first day, I would be fired for lashing out at one of leading actors and be sent back home, not being able to watch "Sherlock" or "The Hobbit" ever again.

I heard the creeking of the door opening and I looked up to see Martin Freeman with a Chesire Cat smile on his face.

"Impressive," he chuckled. He came out and closed the door behind him as I stood there, bewildered at how my comment hadn't upset. It was as if he planned this out. I trembled a bit, afraid of what was to follow. Would he tell people what I had said?

"You have some fire in you, huh?" he asked chuckling. I couldn't speak. I just stood there, staring at him blankly.

"I'm playing with you darling!" he exclaimed with laughter. "Relax. I'm just giving you a hard time."

Relief swept over me and I chuckled and eventually laughed with him.

"Thank you for making me feel like I would lose my job on the first day," I laughed as I rolled my eyes. Martin held out his hand.

"Martin Freeman," he introduced. I shook it and responded," Isabelle Vendetto, production assistant. Huge fan, too."

"So you seem.''

I shook my head and we began making our way to the set.

"I gather you're from America?" Martin asked.

"New York."

"New York is a city in America, not a country, sweetie. Go back to school."

"Go back to the Shire."

"Is that all you got?"

"Hush, Baggins."

"Weak."

"Question, I know Jackson originally cast you as Sebastian the hedgehog, but how hard did you have to beg him to be Bilbo too?"

Martin shook his head and said as he pat my shoulder,"We'll work on comebacks later. Now, how do you like set so far?"

"It's alright, I guess. I'm not used to the people across the stand or the security guards yelling yet."

"You will, believe me. They're well-behaved when we film and they're very nice folks once you talk to them. Have you met any of the other actors yet?"

"I saw Mr. Cumberbatch walk by but so far, you're the first one. I met Moffat and Gatiss earlier as well."

"I know what you're thinking and yes, Benedict Cumberbatch is single."

I elbowed Martin and he laughed.

"Not on my mind, but thank you," I scoffed playfully.

"You say that now," Martin told me," but things can change."

Martin Freeman was attempting to build up my hopes and later crush it when I would tell him how cute Benedict is like some teenage school girl and then Martin would tell Benedict about the odd production assistant who writes "Mrs. Cumberbatch" and "Benedict + Isabelle Forever".

I wondered if Martin had been diagnosed with "Peter Pan Syndrome".

Upon reaching set, Martin began conversing with Toby about blocking when I headed to where Helena was.

"He didn't give you any trouble, did he?" Helena asked. I scoffed and rolled my eyes and Helena sighed with a smile.

"He's quite the character but is truly a nice guy. He'll warm up to you in no time," Helena told me as the set quieted down.

Once quieted down, murmurs softly rose as glances turned to my left and Benedict Cumberbatch himself made an unplanned entrance. It was like watching the president or the queen making entrance onto the streets. Some squealing from the crowds behind the officers started up, but quickly died down.

Benedict smiled them and Toby called out," Ok, quiet down everyone. Now rolling in three...two...one-action!"

In the scene, Benedict and Martin were having a conversation about Moriarity shooting himself. Watching actors perform live is a different experience from watching it on tv. You feel apart of what's going on and you feel sucked into the moment and into the show's world.

Until the director yells,"Cut!" and you're back to reality. I watched as Toby and Gatiss and Moffat briefly conversed about a couple lines.

"We'll be doing this on and off for a good twenty minutes," Helena informed me. "You'll be used to it being like this. Minutes will fly by."

"How many takes do you think they'll do?" I asked.

"They'll do as many as they please until it's done right. One time, we took exactly ninety takes of a five minute scene because one of the directors, not Toby though, wasn't happy with it and changed it in between cuts."

I didn't know how the crew and the cast kept their patience running during days like those. It amazed me, but didn't phase me all that much. I had experience in acting and knew that sometimes you got through it and kept your mouth shut and words minimal to "Yes", "No", and "Alright".

Standing around watching would be a breeze.

"Don't look now but Martin just pointed to you and Benedict looked at you," Helena whispered in my ear.

Although my head was turned to her, from the corners of my eye, I could see Benedict looking at me, turning to Martin, and then looking back at me. I tried assuring myself that Benedict probably wondered who I was and Martin pointed me out or that Martin told him about my little remark to get Martin out of the trailer. It was difficult not to get curious enough to the point where I overanalyzed over-thought it.

Then, I felt Benedict's eyes on me like rays from the sun. I quickly glanced at him and then turned to Helena.

"Smile, dear," Helena pushed me. "He's looking at you."

"It's probably nothing," I told her. "He probably just didn't know who I was and Martin told him."

"If that's what you believe," Helena sighed. She then grabbed a stack of papers from Gatiss and handed them to me.

"So you don't lose your mind on the first day, why don't you keep yourself and organize schedules back at the trailer you and I were in earlier?"

I took them and made my way off. Before I turned the corner, I quickly took one last glance at Benedict Cumberbatch talking to Martin. I smiled at bit as I studied how his shoulders jumped excitedly when he laughed and how he tilted on the balls of his feet as he waited.

Then Martin turned his head, catching me and Benedict turned back, but probably didn't see me as I made a run for it, completely embarrassed.

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"Slide away and give it all you've got,
My today, fell in from the top,
I dream of you and all the things you say,
I wonder where you are now?

Hold me now, all the world's asleep,
I need you now, you knock me off-."

I had been organizing schedules while listing to songs off my iPhone for over twenty-five minutes when I heard a knock on the door. I got up and opened the door to a girl no older than me with strawberry blonde hair and large, black, rectangular glasses framing her blue eyes. She wore a fitting navy shirt with the Tardis and "Doctor Who" in white along with jeans and black flats.

"You're Isabelle, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, nice to meet you," I greeted holding out my hand. The girl shook my hand and with a smile said," I'm Molly, Mr. Gatiss's assistant. There's a party tonight for some of the crew members at one of the crew member's flat and they'd like to invite you to join us as a bit of a welcoming gift."

I thought for a moment, making sure I had no other plans or no other errands that needed to be done. I had met up with the woman who's bed-and-breakfast flat I was staying in, I had organized my room and whatnot, and I did the other little errands the night before so nothing was needed to be cared for.

"Sure, I'd love to," I answered with a smile.

"Great! Here's let me give you my number and I'll text you the details," she said. I handed her my phone and she was putting her number in phone as she explained some details of the party.

"It's something some of the crew people like to do the night before their off day," Molly told me. "It's at Dave and I's flat. Dave is the prop guy and you'll like him alot. Really cool guy. Everyone's really nice so you'll fit right in nicely."

She handed me my phone and I said," Thank you so much again. It was nice to meet you, Molly!"

"Likewise! If you need anything else, let me know," she let me know as she made her way. I went back into the trailer, closing the door behind me. A couple minutes after sitting back down on the couch, another knock stopped me.

I opened the door to face none other than the man himself, Benedict Cumberbatch. I was startled for a moment, but collected myself incase this was for work-related purposes.

"May I help you Mr. Cumberbatch?" I asked giving him a smile. Benedict tilted his head as his eyes kept on mine and opened his smile to speak, but quickly smiled.

"I just came over to welcome you," he cleared his throat. That voice. That deep, velvety, sexy voice that could melt even the pickiest of women. A pounding my chest led to butterflies in my stomach. "I understand you and Martin had an interesting introduction and I at least wanted to assure you that not everyone will pull on your leg like he will."

I chuckled and replied sarcastically," Well, I'm relieved, honestly. Godforbid."

Benedict found it humorous and I held out my hand and introduced myself.

"I'm Isabelle."

"Benedict," Benedict noted as his hand shook mine. Him touching me sent shock waves and tingles and chills and goosebumps and every other exciting feeling a human being can feel. Still, deep breaths composed myself from screaming hysterically.

Unfortunately, there was no composing my blushing and my frozen smile.

An awkward silence fell and I immediately tried to come up with something so he wouldn't find me boring.

"How's filming coming along or did you run and hide from Toby?" I asked. Benedict laughed and replied," We finished but it took awhile to get it down. You'll see very shortly. Tomorrow is a table read for the next three scenes so it won't be too bad for while."

"It's not a problem at all," I shrugged. "I understand the process and completely get it. I've done theatre and stage productions for a long time so it's nothing new."

Benedict furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head at my response.

"You're an actor?" he asked.

"Oh, no, no," I laughed shaking my head. "Well, I was. I used to be. I don't do it as much anymore though. I mean, I'm taking a break. I just want to explore options like screenwriting and directing and other things for a bit and maybe go back to acting. I haven't decided but I know it's not something I gave up."

Benedict chuckled amusingly at my rambling and I could feel the flushes of embarrassment in my face. He probably thought I was odd and hard to understand. He wouldn't be the first person or the last person to think that.

"Sorry, I ramble a lot," I apologized biting my bottom lip. "Bad habit, you know?"

"You're alright," Benedict assured me while still chuckling. "I have to head back to my trailer but it was a pleasure to meet you, Isabelle."

"You as well," I nodded. "Thanks again for stopping by."

"If you ever need anything, feel free to ask me," he added as he began walking back. "Or if you have a hard time finding me, I'm sure the paparazzi would be more than happy to help hunt me down for you."

" I just might," I teased him. He smiled and waved before making his way.

I bit my lip again and went back into the trailer, squealing a fangirl squeal, and plopping on the couch.

Benedict Cumberbatch knew I existed and that was enough for me. It was that moment, my summer officially began.