Chapter 5: Ann Arbor, North England, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Ann Arbor

Time seemed to speed up hen I finally got home. I had a pleasant afternoon with the ladies the next day when we met after lunch at the CK store. The dinner at Mitsy's restaurant was finally an eventless success and the sisters from England really enjoyed the whole Japanese experience.

The General had called in the morning and let me know that they had caught the two people who were responsible for providing the information to Mr. Blake. One was a section head of the Secret Service which had them scrambling to see what other damage she had done over her career.

The sisters flew home on Saturday and we were there to see them off. I picked up my SUV from the long-term parking lot after their flight left. When I dropped off Mitsy and Asuka at their home, we made arrangements to meet at the Dojo Sunday evening.

The rest of the weekend I read ahead for my classes. I was taking the second half of first year calculus; the AI class and a third year computer graphics course so it was going to be three classes a day, four days a week with the corresponding amount of homework as the semester was only eight weeks long.

I remembered to book my flight to London for next weekend. I corresponded with Emma via email and found out that they were filming in the Yorkshire Dales National park in Northern England that weekend so I had to book a flight into Gatwick airport, south of London, and then another flight up to the smaller Leeds airport. I found a flight that left at five on Friday afternoon so I would landing in the Gatwick airport at eleven PM my time or four am London time. The connecting flight up to Leeds would take off at six so I would be in Leeds before seven am Saturday. Emma said she would be busy filming that weekend but she would have a car waiting for me at the airport.

Sunday evening I joined Mitsy and Asuka at the Dojo. I passed on the offers from the General to Sensei and Asuka and they both declined but would let me know if they had any contacts in London that would be interested in helping them out. Mitsy joined us in the private room in the back as Sensei and her family decided that she needed additional training to protect herself. Sensei worked with her while Asuka and I sparred, first without weapons and then with them. The two weeks off from the Dojo showed, even though I had been sparring and fighting. Asuka was so much better than any of them that I had to really focus just to defend myself.

Near the end of the night, all three of them got into the act, playing the bad guys against me. First it was just with fists and then we graduated to weapons. We didn't go at full speed but it was still very fast and dangerous. We would stop often so that Sensei and Asuka could show both Mitsy and I what to do in each situation. It was very educational but exhausting.

The first week of school was an eye-opener. The pace was almost frantic in comparison to the regular length semesters. I could handle the calculus course and even the third year graphics course wasn't too bad but the graduate AI course was overwhelming. I had six chapters under my belt when I walked into the classroom on Monday morning but Dr. Albert covered all of those in the first class, skimming through them in the hour and twenty minute class by just touching on a point here and there.

The other two courses had assignments after every class so I had to take advantage of every spare minute during the day to do handle those and then spend all evening reading ahead for all three courses. The AI class had two major projects, one midterm and a final, while the other two had the daily assignments, one midterm and the final.

So, other than my early morning workouts, I spent the rest of the week on school work, not counting my two trips to the Dojo Tuesday and Thursday. Friday, the calculus class has an optional workshop taught by a Teaching Assistant if you needed help but so far I understand the work so I didn't attend. I spent the day finishing assignments due Monday morning and researching for the first project in AI. I packed my book bag with my AI research on my laptop and my textbooks to get in some reading on the plane and when Emma was busy on set. I left an hour earlier than normal for the airport so I could stop at a store. I took a bit of time choosing a few items but still made it the airport in plenty of time.

There was no trouble at the airport and we took off on time. I read and slept for the six hour flight and was woke up just before we landed.

Not much was open at the Gatwick airport when we finally got through customs. I followed the signs to the gate for the flight up north to Leeds and settled down in a chair near the deserted boarding area. I tried to fall back asleep but being in an unfamiliar country and a fairly dark airport had my imagination working overtime. I pulled out my laptop and started working on some code I had in mind for my AI project. As usual, once I got into programming I tended to have tunnel vision, so I was startled when there was a bang at the counter at the boarding gate. I looked up to see a woman behind the counter turning on the computer.

"Good morning, young man," she said with a smile. "Have you been here long?"

I looked at my watch and replied, "Morning, Ma'am. I came in on a flight from Detroit around four so I've been here about an hour and a quarter. I didn't even hear you come in."

"You're just like my son, tunes everything out when he's playing on his computer," she said with a shake of her head.

"I was doing some programming work actually, but you're right, I do tend to tune everything out when I get in a groove," I agreed. "So, what's the schedule for the flight up to Leeds?"

"We'll start boarding in about twenty to twenty-five minutes and it should take off right at six am," she replied. The flight is only about half an hour so you should be on the ground around six thirty. If you want to come up now, I'll get you your boarding pass so you don't have to wait in line."

I got up and handed her my ticket. She ran it through the scanner and checked things on the computer and soon enough I had my boarding pass and was back in my seat before the first passengers started showing up. I worked another ten minutes on my project and then packed up my laptop and my books.

Eventually we boarded the smaller jet and took off on time. I was still in first class so I had a wide window seat that let me look out on London as we passed over it and then the English countryside. We landed without mishap and, as promised, a driver was waiting for me at the luggage carrousel. He was just a normal guy in jeans and a tee-shirt but was holding a cardboard sign with my name on it. I grabbed my duffel bag and walked up to him.

"Hi, I'm Mike," I said.

"Hey, I'm Stan from the driver pool on the set," he replied, holding out his hand.

"Hi Stan," I said, shaking his hand.

"Let's get going, we don't want to keep Miss Watson waiting," he said. "Do you have anything more to retrieve?"

"Nope, this is it," I said. "Lead the way."

He led the way out of the airport to a Land rover. I put my stuff in the back and we took off.

"They're filming above Malham Cove today so we have about an hour's drive into the Yorkshire Dales National Park," Stan told me. "It's a bit of a winding road so just sit back and enjoy the scenery."

"What is Malham Cove?" I asked.

"It's an 80 metre high horseshoe shaped limestone cliff about 300 metres wide that is about a kilometre outside the village of Malham," he told me. "On top there is a huge flat area of limestone rocks that looks like cracked pavement where they are going to film a few scenes with Daniel and Emma. I've been up there, you can see for miles."

"Sounds cool," I said. "Will I be able to watch them film?"

"Sure, we all watch when we can," he told me. "So, you're the guy who saved Emma from that acid attack a few months ago?"

"Yep, got lucky to be in the right place at the right time to save her and her mother," I told him.

"That was a cool thing you did, man," Stan responded. "We all owe you big time for that. No one could replace her in these last two films."

"I'm glad I was there," I said. "So when do they start filming today?"

"They're already up there trying to get the sunrise shots," he said. "They have some daytime shots to do and then later this evening, they need to get a few sunset and night time shots and then we're done with this location. That is if it doesn't rain."

"So they're working all day and into the night here?" I asked.

"I'm afraid so, yesterday's shooting was scrapped due to rain," he explained.

Emma was not going to be a happy camper, I thought to myself as we headed in to the huge area that was designated a national park. The scenery was fantastic and we reached the small town of Malham and drove right through about a half hour later. The cove was just down the road and we were stopped well away from it and were told to shut off the vehicle and its lights. Stan guided me to the rock steps that led up to the top and then told me he had other duties. I threw my duffel bag over one shoulder and my book bag over the other before heading up the stairs, following a pair of guys carrying a large equipment box up the path. There were a string of lights along the pathway.

We got half way up and then a person with a megaphone shouted down the cliff for silence, so we stopped and rested. The lights were turned off and we waited as the sky brightened until the all clear was sounded. We made it up to the top of the stairs and I saw a bunch of people over to the side as well as a small tent set up just a few metres away from the cliff side. A small group of people were congregated near it and I recognized Daniel and Emma amongst them.

"This is a closed set," a burly security guard said as he came up from the other gathering of the set workers.

"I'm a guest of Emma Watson's," I told him.

"She busy now so I can't confirm that," he said. "You'll have to wait back down the cliff."

"I'm sure she put me on a guest list if you'd like to check," I said mildly.

"We don't have a list," he replied.

"Perhaps I could talk to someone in charge?" I inquired. "I don't imagine Miss Watson will be very happy if I'm not allowed in. I don't particularly want her mad at me so if you could check, I'd appreciate it."

"If you're wasting my time, I'm going to enjoy throwing you off the cliff," he threatened. "Don't move a muscle or else."

He stomped off to the group other at the side while I looked around at the wide expanse of limestone, worn flat by water and wind. I had never seen the like, even up in Northern Ontario where rock outcrops were exposed to the elements from all the glacier movement during the last ice age. I turned and looked out at the view from the cliff and it was spectacular. The sun was rising and I could see for miles. Rolling hills, valleys and other rock escarpments were visible in the breathtaking view. I turned around to see the security guard walking back with an older woman.

"Michael Stewart, I presume," the haughty lady said.

"Yes Ma'am," I replied.

"Well come along out of the shooting angle," she said as she led the way over to the area where the production staff were congregated under open-sided tents. She stopped at an empty one with some chairs in it.

"You can watch from here, and the speakers will play the dialogue if there is any," she replied. "We have a couple hours of shooting to do before we'll break for breakfast. Try not to get underfoot; we have a full day of shooting."

I nodded and sat down in a chair. From this distance, there wasn't much to see and the speakers were silent. A few minutes later, they crackled and a voice said, "Quiet on the set."

The group around the actors moved over towards us except for a couple camera crews. Daniel and Emma got into positions and someone shouted "Action."

I watched the pair as they sat apart and looked down at something in their hands. After a bit of that, Daniel got up and moved towards the cliff and looked out. Emma looked up at his back but didn't say anything.

"And cut!" shouted a man from underneath another canopy.

The group marched back and discussed things and they did the scene a few more times. I got bored looking at the same thing over and over and got out my laptop out of the book bag and went back to programming. I looked over from time to time as they moved on to another scene in which they finally started talking to each other. I listened as they went over the scene a few times until I tuned it out and continued with my project.

"Are we that boring?" Emma asked some time later.

"Not at the beginning, but hearing you and Daniel repeating the same lines a dozen times does get a bit repetitious," I replied as I got up. "It's a gorgeous area to shoot in and you look wonderful."

"Thanks, you look very industrious," she replied.

"I'm working on my first project for my graduate AI course," I told her. "I'm afraid I bit off more than I can chew with that course plus two others. Everything is accelerated and every spare minute I have is filled with homework or reading."

"I told you that you shouldn't have come, we're both busy," Emma stated. "I'm barely going to have any time to spend with you this weekend and you're going to have to do your homework every spare minute."

"I wanted to come see you," I told her as I stepped closer to her. "I wanted to apologize in person for last week when I ran out of the palace. It wasn't anything to do with you. I really like you a lot and thought we could spend a bit of time alone to see if we could talk things over and get things back on track."

"We talked about this when I was in Ann Arbor," she responded. "Both of us are very busy this summer so we were just going to do our own thing and wait until I came over for school."

"I thought we were getting closer on our trip to Monte Carlo and we were going to spend time together in England when we came back?" I asked.

"That might have happened but you ran off," she spat out. "I'm not sure how I feel about you right now and, with the shooting schedule today, we won't have much time to talk."

"I'm willing to stick around and wait for the chance to spend some time with you," I told her. "I didn't run off on you, just what they wanted to do."

"Part of that ceremony was for what you did for me so you ran off on me as well," Emma retorted. "How do you think I felt when you took off?"

"I didn't need a medal or whatever else the Queen was offering for what I did," I told her. "I thought we were past all that and we were getting closer to being a couple."

"I'm not so sure now," she admitted. "Look, I have to have something to eat before getting back out there. We got rained out yesterday so we're trying to fit two days of shooting into one. I'll see you in a while."

I watched her walk away and then sat back down. That didn't go as planned, I thought to myself. She hadn't changed her tune from when I talked to her on the phone last weekend. Hopefully after some food she would be a bit pleasant but working all day and evening probably wouldn't improve her temperament.

I waited for her to come back but the next time I saw her she was walking back to the filming area with the group. I shook my head and picked up my laptop and continued where I left off.

The only good thing about the day was how much I accomplished on my project, and when my battery started to run out, how much reading ahead I did. Emma brought me a plate of food for lunch but was quiet while we ate.

"Can we at least talk about it?" I asked. "You seem almost angry that I came to see you this weekend. What can I do to make it up to you?"

"Michael, these scenes require me to be sad and almost angry," she replied. "Luckily I'm still mad at you for what you did to us last week. I'm upset that you almost got killed several times over the last couple of weeks and worried what will be next with you. Add in jealousy over all the girls that now owe you their lives and I'm in the perfect mood to shoot these scenes. What my mood isn't good for is to make up with you today. So, you're going to have to put up with me for today and tonight and we'll try tomorrow to mend our relationship."

"Ok, I can understand how you feel and if it helps you get through the day better, then so be it," I replied. "I'll keep out of your hair until you're done shooting for the night."

She nodded and we finished the meal in silence.

"Emma, we'll be ready in five," a man came by a bit later as we finished up our food.

"Thanks," she replied and stood up. "I'll see you later, Michael."

"Ok Emma, good luck," I replied.

She nodded and walked to a tent where I watched her get her make-up and hair quickly touched up. They got started on another scene soon after and I went in search of a washroom and then an extension cord where I could plug in my charger.

The day was long and tiring for everyone. I dozed off at one point as the lack of sleep caught up with me. It was after ten pm when they finally called it a day. I was packed and ready to go when Emma came to get me. I grabbed her bag from her tired hands as we joined the line of people taking the stone stairway down to the road.

Emma led the way to a little mini-cooper and she drove about twenty minutes to a hotel in a larger town. She already had the keycards for the rooms so we went in the back door and up to the third floor by the stairs. She handed me one of the cards when she stopped.

"You're in 305, I'm next door in 307," she said. "I'm going to have a shower and be asleep in ten minutes. There's an exercise room on the main floor. Wake me at ten if I'm not up. Good night Michael."

"Good night Emma, have a good sleep," I said.

"You too," she replied before using her card to enter her room and shut the door.

I did the same and, after a quick shower, also hit the hay after setting up my laptop and phone to charge. I set the alarm on the clock radio for six and fell asleep quickly.

Sunday morning I used their exercise equipment to work out and then even swam for a bit in their pool. After a quick shower, I headed up to the room and continued on with my project until ten am. I went over to Emma's room and knocked and waited until she answered, obviously just gotten up.

"Sorry to wake you Emma, but you told me to wake you at ten," I said.

"Give me half an hour to shower and get ready," she said, dressed in a tee-shirt and sweats. "I'll come get you and we can go have some brunch."

"Ok," I said and went back to my room.

I continued to work on my project until she knocked on the door. I let her in and saved my work before shutting off the laptop.

"Ok, let's go," I said.

Emma led the way to the car and drove us to a restaurant nearby. We got a table in a secluded corner and she ordered a coffee and I got an apple juice from the waitress before we went up and filled a plate with breakfast items.

"How did you sleep?" I asked.

"Like the dead," she replied. "How about you?"

"Pretty good as well," I answered. "I'm still on Ann Arbor time so I was bushed. Did you get everything done that you needed to yesterday?"

"Yep, that's why we stayed so late," she responded. "At least we got today off."

"Good, I was worried you had to go back later," I said. "Where do you film next?"

"There's a park a half hour out of London where we'll do a few scenes starting Monday," she said before taking a sip of her coffee. "I'll either drive down or take a quick flight from Leeds when you go."

"I have a flight out of Leeds at five to Gatwick if you want to join me," I told her. "My connecting flight leaves at six thirty back to Detroit."

"Maybe I will, if we're still talking by then," she responded.

"Emma, even if we never get together as boyfriend and girlfriend, we'll still always be friends," I chided her. "I know you're mad at me for running out and for having all these women around me, but I didn't fly all night and thousands of miles to see anyone but you. The women are grateful, just as you were but I am crushing on you, not them. Now, you have to decide if you want me as a friend or something more."

"You're crushing on me, are you?" she asked with a hint of a smirk.

"I've told you how I've felt about you from the get-go," I said. "Your jealousy of the others lets me know you have at least some feelings about me too. I worry about you finding someone as well so you're not the only one with issues. I'd like for us to be boyfriend and girlfriend so we don't have to be jealous and we can be with each other whenever we have time."

"That's the thing, we don't have much time," she said. "Look Michael, I'm not going to hook up with anyone before I head back to the States for school. You don't have to worry about that."

"That is a relief to hear, but I still want us to be together as soon as possible," I told her. "Other than the distance between us, I don't see any reason why we can't be together now rather than wait."

"Michael, I like you a lot, but with filming and the premieres for the sixth movie this summer, it's going to be non-stop without adding you to the mix," she explained. "I'd like to keep things as uncomplicated as possible before heading into school in a new country."

"That's the thing, you're going to be just as busy at the start of school as well," I said. "Four months will drag on to eight and we'll never be together."

"You don't know that," she retorted.

"I know how overwhelming both a new country and a new school are," I told her. "Homework, new roommates and friends will all take up your time. You'll need weekends to go out with them and to get homework done. It isn't the time to start a new, long distance relationship as well."

"So how is starting one now any better?" she asked.

"We would be over the awkward first stages and be comfortable with each other before you get there," I tried. "I wouldn't be a new distraction but a welcome break."

"People start new relationships all the time once they get to college," she contradicted me. "Believe me, after handling acting and going to school at the same time, just going to school will be a breeze. So your argument doesn't hold water. What else you got?"

"I want us to be together now so it will keep the others away from me over the summer," I admitted.

"I see, you don't think you can be faithful to me for four months," she stated. "That doesn't bode well for our relationship."

"I can be faithful to you, it will just make it so much easier to deal with them if we're together," I explained. "It's not the main reason of course; it's just a good benefit. I just want to be with you as soon as we can."

"Michael, I've made up my mind on this, you're going to have to wait until the fall," she said in a very firm tone. "I want a bit of freedom this summer not to have worry about a man in my life."

I looked at her for a bit and then sighed as I sat back.

"I'll never understand women as long as I live," I stated. "Ok, friends it is."

"Michael, just until school starts," Emma said.

"It will be interesting to see what happens then," I said. "Who knows where we'll both be at that time."

Her eyes narrowed as she said, "Michael, what do you mean by that?"

"A lot can happen in four months," I said innocently. "Maybe you'll like your freedom too much. Heck, I could be playing pro hockey if the right team drafts me. Who knows what the future may bring. But at least we'll still be friends."

"Michael Stewart, I know what you're doing but it won't work," Emma said with a fierce look.

"I'm not doing a thing," I protested. "You don't want to be more than friends now and I have to respect that. I don't have to like it but you're too stubborn to change your mind. We'll see what happens in four months. I'm going up for another plate of food."

I went to the buffet line and let her stew for a few minutes. If she thought that the quartet of Barb, Trisha, Mitsy and Asuka were going to let things be for four months, she was fooling herself. Who knows that some of the other women would try to pull if it was known I was single. I'm sure Emma was thinking that very thing right now. I filled my plate and headed back and saw she was just picking at the food on her plate.

I sat down and proceeded to eat as if I didn't have a care in the world. I was rather hungry so I let her continue to stew in silence while I ate with my usual gusto. When I finished my plate, I looked up to see her still playing with her food.

"Aren't you going up for some more?" I asked. "You haven't had much of that plate yet."

"I'm not that hungry," she replied, looking up. "I see that you have your usual appetite."

"Oh, not really, I'm full already," I told her. "Do you want anything else or should we go?"

"I'm done if you are," she replied.

I motioned for the waitress and asked for the bill. Emma paid for the meal as I didn't have any local currency. We headed back to the hotel room and packed up our stuff in our separate rooms. It didn't take much time for either of us and we were soon on our way.

"So where are we going?" I asked.

"I'm going to drop you off at the Leeds airport and then I'm going home," she said.

"You're driving to London while I sit in an airport for five hours?" I asked. "What did I do now?"

"You basically threatened that you won't be waiting for me in four months so I don't see the need to pretend for another five hours," she spat out.

"All I said is that making plans for four months from now is uncertain at best," I retorted. "You know as well as I do that four months is an eternity at this point in our lives. You seem to be willing to risk that and now you're acting like you don't want to even be friends. Not everything fits neatly into your plans, Emma. You have to be flexible too."

"My plans are set for the next four months," she said. "They are a little more important than the feelings of an immature boy who can't look past his own needs and wants. My work has to come first until the films are done. Then I'm free to do whatever I want. If you want to go play with other girls in the meantime, then go ahead. I'm tired of worrying about it or wondering what danger you're getting into."

I opened my mouth to respond but luckily my brain shut my mouth before I said something that I would regret. I felt like smashing the window with my elbow but just grasped my knees and looked out at the passing countryside as we drove in silence.

I spent the next twenty minutes thinking about what I how I wanted to respond, but in the end, I decided it wasn't worth aggravating the situation any further. I knew I would never go out with her now, but getting in one last dig would just prove her statement that I was immature.

So, when she pulled up to the terminal entrance, I got out of the car and shut the door lightly. I quickly had my duffel and book bags out of the back hatch and closed it without slamming it down before heading into the terminal without looking back.

At the ticket counter, I was lucky enough to exchange my ticket for an earlier flight for both the quick jump to Gatwick Airport as well as the flight back to Detroit. I was on the way to London an hour later and flying to Detroit by three. The flight was long and boring so I read and napped. We landed in Detroit six hours later at nine pm London time or four pm Detroit time. I was back in my condo by five thirty.

I decided to have a small snack and go to the dojo to relieve some stress. I was early and had my stretching and forms done twenty minutes before the girls were to show up. I decided to take out my aggression out on some of the equipment around the sides of the main floor. I attacked a padded wooden post that stood six feet up from its well anchored base. For the next fifteen minutes I punched, elbowed, kneed and kicked that post, trying to break it as I increased the force until I was hitting it with all my might.

"I gather that the trip didn't go well," Mitsy said from behind me when I finally took a break.

I turned to see Asuka and Sensei also there.

"No, it didn't" I replied.

"Has it made you feel better to beat up on the post?" Sensei asked.

"A bit," I admitted.

"Then it has served its purpose," he said. "Now, you must re-centre your mind so we can practise properly. Let us stretch and do the forms together."

I cooled down and put my thoughts of Emma aside while we stretched and did the forms. After we were done, Sensei had Asuka work with Mitsy while he showed me some new techniques using different Japanese weapons. It was a teaching session rather than a sparring one and it was just what I needed to keep my thoughts away from my troubles.

After the session was done, the girls cornered me in the parking lot.

"What happened, Michael?" Mitsy asked.

"Her feelings for me took a turn before I even got there and it was a losing battle from the get-go," I told them. "She didn't have time for me at all on Saturday and today she was insistent on waiting until she came over here to get together. I tried to change her mind but in the end she was adamant while calling me an immature boy. She dropped me off at the airport five hours early and we parted without a word to each other."