Chapter 5: Natural Talent

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A/N: Alrighty, back with another chapter, finally on the set of A Star Is Born.

Lyrics: Shallow (Songwriters: Andrew Wyatt/Anthony Rossomando/Mark Ronson/Stefani Germanotta)

Enjoy!

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May 2017

"And cut! That's fantastic, guys, great work. Let's break for lunch, 45 minutes."

Stefani gave a tight hug to Andrew after they finished filming their father-daughter scene, then hobbled over to their director, who was going over footage with a small frown on his face.

"Was that okay?"

Bradley looked up, rolled his eyes at her. "Didn't I just say it was fantastic? That was a blanket statement which included you too."

"Right. Sorry," she muttered, flushing a little; it was still difficult to believe she was actually capable of doing this, that he seemed to find her work so good when she sometimes experienced severe doubts over every little thing she was doing.

He shook his head. "Stef, listen to me, please. You. Are. Amazing. End of story."

"Okay, okay, thank you." She laughed a little, studied his face. "You look tired. Lea keeping you awake?"

He shrugged, switched off the monitor. "She's a baby, that's what they do. I can't complain; she's been an amazing kid so far."

"She must take after her father then." Stefani followed him to the canteen, grabbed a chicken salad and an iced tea and sat down with the cast members, who during the past six months had become such a second family to her. She dreaded the fact that time was going so fast, that they were already over a month into filming, that it would only be a blink of an eye until this family was broken apart at the end of July; then she would engage fully in her Joanne World Tour and thus it might be God knew how long until she saw them again. She did not want to think about possibly not seeing Bradley until next year.

As if reading her thoughts, he swallowed a bite of his sandwich, glanced at her. "So, how are tour preparations going?"

"Pretty good. Set design is done, clothes are coming together." Stefani sighed. "I just hope my body won't give up on me."

So far during filming, she'd only had a couple of small flareups, both brief and relatively easily contained; she was becoming increasingly worried that a big one was in store for her as her body had been surprisingly calm recently. She knew there was really no point in stressing over that but couldn't help herself; the tour was sold out and the thought of disappointing her fans in any way terrified her.

One by one, people drifted off, leaving just her and Bradley; he gave her a smile, watching her over his water bottle. "So, ready to make out with me this afternoon?"

Always, she wanted to say, blushing slightly. "Well, it's a terrible chore but I guess someone's gotta do it."

He laughed, glancing at the screen of his phone. "I'll try to make it tolerable for you. Weather should finally be good for the parking lot scene tonight, thank God. I didn't think we were ever going to get it done."

She nodded; over the past week the weather had been doing odd things for California, cloudy and windy, rain every evening which had delayed the parking lot scene where Ally would be singing Shallow to Jackson for the first time. She wasn't nervous about that; Shallow was an amazing song and she knew it by heart now, they had already performed it in front of a full live audience many times while filming at Coachella. What she was nervous about, however, was the first intimate scene they had lined up next, Ally and Jackson in the hotel room, the first time they made love. Stefani honestly didn't know how she would react, her body or her mind; her relationship with Bradley was back to normal after the cooler period that had come to a stop at the barbecue in February, she was happy with Christian and he was happy with Irina and now baby Lea added to the mix but that one passionate kiss they had shared still haunted her, always at the back of her mind, never forgotten. No one else knew about it; she had refrained from telling even her sister Natali, or Sarah who was her closest confidante outside of her family, had wanted to keep the bittersweet memory of that incredible moment only for herself, only between her and Bradley.

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