Why Rosie thought wearing three-piece suits and dress shoes for this album cycle would be a good idea, she had no clue. The first thing she had done when she entered her hotel room after the second very long day of press and promotion was kick off the leather oxfords and unbutton the top three buttons of her dress shirt. Finally, she felt like she could breathe again.

The suite was empty, a welcomed change from the hustle and bustle that had been filling her hotel room every morning at seven sharp. Gone were the hairdressers and make-up artists, the stylists and the nameless underlings running around as if their lives depended on it.

Rosie could hear Helen approach. She kept her eyes on the slowly darkening cityscape in front of her. Her lungs were desperate for fresh air, even the hot dry, smoggy air of a Los Angeles summer night. Anything other than the stuffy, freezing cold, air-conditioned air she had had to share with hundreds of reporters the past two days.

The last thing Rosie wanted to see was Helen's face. She was getting tired of her manager's pursed lips and constant scowl. She wanted to smack a smile onto her expression if she thought Helen was able to do anything other than grimace.

"Nate Harper's downstairs."

Those were the only three words that could have torn Rosie's eyes from the view and met her manager's. Before a smile could even light her tired face, Helen dashed her hopes against the rocks.

"I told him you were busy and unavailable."

Rosie opened her mouth to argue, scream, anything but she knew it was no use. Helen was impervious to all displays of emotion.

"You've had a long day. You have a big day tomorrow. You need to be awake by seven and downstairs by eight. You have no time to go gallivanting off with that boy-bander."

Nate might have been a convicted felon the way Helen talked about him. But Helen seemed to hate anything that even remotely resembled fun. Especially if it was something that Rosie considered fun.

"I want lights out in twenty."

Rosie nodded but sleep was far from her mind. Helen didn't look at her long enough when she finally glanced up from her phone and nodded good night or else she might have seen Rosie's clenched fists and locked jaw.

Helen turned on the noise machine as she left the room and closed the door behind her. Rosie turned back to the window and leaned at an impossible angle to see whether or not she could spot Nate down below. Her phone was already in her hand when she saw his head of brown hair glance up the side of the hotel as if he was trying to spot her too.

Rosie sent him three words before racing to the bathroom to change. "Wait for me."

Helen's room was on the other side of the suite and when Rosie peeked her head out of her room, she could hear Helen's booming voice ordering someone around through the phone. The coast was clear.

Rosie kept her sneakers in her hand the whole way out of the hotel room and down the hallway. Her Yankee's baseball cap was placed firmly on her head and her legs breathed a sigh of relief in her favorite pair of old jeans. The elevator doors opened to Rosie hopping on one foot trying to get her shoes on. She was through the main hotel entrance and out onto the street within a minute.

The night air tasted first sweet and then sour from the fumes of the cars racing by. But it beat the stuffy atmosphere she had just escaped from so Rosie breathed in lungfuls.

Nate was leaning against something, his arms crossed, his eyes scanning the sidewalk of people hustling by. Helen might have thought it bedtime but the rest of the city begged to differ. When Nate spotted her heading his way, he smiled and stood up straight. It was only when he held out a helmet to her that Rosie saw exactly what he had been leaning against.

"A moped, Nate? Really?"

"It was either this or a mini-van. I kind of like it."

Rosie didn't have time to judge or argue. Helen would soon be checking in to make sure Rosie had gone to sleep and Rosie doubted the body-double made of pillows she had stuffed into her bed would fool Helen for long.

Rosie climbed up on the back of the moped and wrapped her arms around Nate as he pulled into traffic. She enjoyed the feeling of being free, free from responsibilities, free from a million eyes all looking to her, free from Helen. She hadn't thought past this moment until Nate turned half around to yell back at her.

"So. Where are we going, Mulligan?"

Rosie had to think for a second. She had no idea. The only things she had seen of LA so far in her life were the insides of hotel rooms, business board rooms, recording studios, and arenas. There was so much of the city she hadn't even had a chance to see and now it was hers for the taking.

"Anywhere. I want to see everything."

Nate nodded. He knew the city better than she did. He had been living there almost six months working on the next album for his band, Late Nights. She trusted his judgment. And he didn't let her down.

Their first stop was the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It was shut, the sun having just now hit the horizon, bathing the whole city in a warm glow. But its outdoor exhibits were still open to the public. Rosie grabbed Nate's hand as soon as she jumped off the moped and raced towards the collection of white antique street lamps. They ran around it as if in a maze, Rosie managing to stay just out of Nate's grasp. She only let him catch her because she was running out of breath.

She couldn't remember the last time she had laughed so hard. It was most likely the last time she had seen Nate and it had been over three months since the last time the two of them were in the same city.

They bought last-minute tickets to a Dodgers game and loaded up on hot dogs and foam fingers, cheering along with the rest of the city as the Dodgers scored the winning home run.

They walked along Hollywood Boulevard, checking out every star along the way, taking pictures and laughing at their own, racing back to the moped when people started noticing Nate and coming up to take pictures.

They were the last people on the final ride of the Ferris wheel on the Santa Monica pier. They screamed at the top of their lungs from the very top, their hands sticking from cotton candy.They awed at the way the street lights reflected off of the curved walls of the Disney concert hall. And they were one of many who were buying burgers and milkshakes at two am at the famous Californian burger chain.

It was three in the morning when they crashed down upon the sands of Malibu. Behind them, the large mansions loomed dark and mysterious. Before them, the waves crashed just inches from their feet. The city across the water was reflected on itself in the still ocean and the moon wavered over the water.

Rosie felt like she could breathe again, again. Only the weight of what was waiting for her in a few short hours kept her from relaxing.

"I missed you," she said, her voice rolling out with the tide.

Nate leaned over and nudged her shoulder before dropping his arm over it. "I missed you too, kid. How's promo going?"

Rosie let out a long exhalation that ended with a groan.

"That bad?" Nate laughed.

Rosie nodded.

She had been living this life for years. She knew how to perform, to stand on a red carpet, things she never would have thought she had the guts for. And she had learned to enjoy them! Mainly because there was always someone more important than her for people to pay attention to.Even the year she had won Album of the Year. It was supposed to be the biggest night of her career. But Reeve Keller had done her the great service of refusing to show up and so kept the spotlight from ever fully shining on her.

But promoting her album, the spotlight had nowhere else to go. And Rosie's hated it.

"I hate it, Nate. I absolutely hate it. There are so many people, all asking the same stupid questions, over and over again, expecting me to be honored that they're even paying attention to me. I wish they wouldn't! I wish they would just leave me alone!"

"Come on, think about it-"

Nate's arm had left her shoulder while he attempted to get her to think rationally. Rosie threw a seashell in front of her like a child throwing a tantrum.

"Rosie, I'm serious. Listen to me."

Rosie pulled her eyes from the water to try and find his in the dark.

"What do you love most about what we get to do?"

The answer was simple.

"Being able to make music."

"Okay. And the second."

"Being able to perform music in front of people who appreciate it."

"The third?"

"Being able to travel the world and experience different cultures."

"And I'm guessing promo is your least favorite."

Rosie nodded emphatically.

"Here's my question: how much promo have you had to do in the last two years?"

Rosie had to think back. The answer made her feel like a fool. She couldn't count her radio station visits that she made at each city to promote the shows as promo as she liked interacting with the hosts and the fans that got to come meet her.

"Two."

"What?"

Nate leaned forward like he hadn't heard her. Rosie had spoken barely above a whisper but there was no other sound but the ocean so Nate heard her just fine. Rosie tried not to smile as she pushed him away.

"How much promo have you done?"

"I said two weeks."

"I'm guessing that's been the last two weeks since your album came out, all the talk shows and magazine interviews, right?"

Rosie nodded.

"And you have, what, one more to go in New York?"

Rosie nodded again. Nate lived the same life she did. He understood.

"It's three weeks, Ro. Three out of how many? A hundred and something, something like that? If you have to suffer through three weeks of misery every two years but it means you get to put out an album, doesn't that make it worth it?"

His logic was wearing her down.

"You suck, you know that, right?"

Nate's laugh floated on the ocean breeze and flew out into the night.

The flower markets were just opening when Nate pulled up in front of them. They had just a second to look around as Rosie had to get back to the hotel if she was going to get any sleep. Nate grabbed a white daisy from among a bouquet of them and passed it to Rosie.

Rosie fell into her soft hotel bed, looking at the pure white flower where it lay on her nightstand as she fell asleep.

Helen was true to her word and pulled the blinds open at seven o'clock, sharp. Rosie had gotten two hours of sleep. It was only with the help of strong coffee that she managed to make it downstairs, looking semi-human, on time.

She had said goodbye to Nate outside the hotel. Her schedule kept her from seeing him again as she was leaving for the airport immediately after her press conference. They had both been disappointed.

Rosie's smile came easier than it had all week as she sat behind a table up on a small platform next to Helen, a sea of reporters sitting before her, all looking at her.

"You, in the back," Helen called, as she pointed to the back of the crowd, fifteen minutes into the press conference.

Rosie didn't notice Nate until he stood. He was smiling wide, a mischievous glow in his eyes.

"Los Angeles Home and um," Nate had to look down at the badge that wasn't his to read the title of the magazine he was supposed to be representing. "Home and Gardens. A question for you, Miss Mulligan. Have you enjoyed your time in California? Have you've got to see any, you know, homes? Or maybe some gardens? At least the beach."

Rosie was trying to contain her laugh as Nate's terrible American accent kept breaking. No one was looking at him and so they didn't notice that one-third of the world's largest boy-band had sneaked into the hotel conference room.

Rosie swallowed and took a deep breath to steady her voice so she could answer.

"Yes, I have. I've seen both homes and gardens. And the beach. I saw a particularly beautiful daisy garden just yesterday."

"Glad to hear that, Miss Mulligan. One last question that I know our readers at Los Angeles Gardens and," Nate had to check his badge one more time, "Los Angeles Homes and Gardens are just dying to know. Who is your favorite Late Nights band member?"

His accent slipped on the name of his band. Rosie's expression matched his own smirk as she leaned into the microphone placed before her.

"Oh, that's an easy one. Johnny."Nate's cackle could be heard over the flood of follow-up questions that filled the air.

A/N:

Not gonna lie, I am a serious Gregory Peck fan. As well as Audrey Hepburn but mostly Gregory Peck.

Roman Holiday is a movie I haven't seen in the last fifteen years but it is somehow engrained in my brain from the many times my family watched it when I was a kid. It's one of my dad's personal favorites.

And it's a great story. And it perfectly fit with the ongoing relationship between Rosie and Nate.

So. How are we enjoying ourselves so far?

Any thoughts?

Any movies you would personally like to see adapted to fit Rosie and Nate's story arc? 

I'll take any suggestions. It's harder than you would think to adapt as most rom-coms/dramas are about a couple meeting and Nate and Rosie have already met.