The Making of…

Chapter 45

Don’t Pick Fights with Helmets

Just over a week after Orlando’s accident, he was allowed back onto the set. By now, most people knew about Viggo and I, but we weren’t exactly broadcasting the news about our relationship, word just crept around slowly. The media hadn’t caught wind of it yet, so I considered that a relief.

I suppose the day when most people got to witness it first-hand, was on one of the days when we were filming just outside the forest that was posing as Fangorn. We were taking filming pretty slowly, because Orlando was still in a ‘delicate’ condition, so we were mainly doing scenes where he didn’t have to move around that much. Today’s scene consisted of Aragorn, Rana, Legolas and Gimli turning up outside Fangorn, finding the pile of orc-corpses and thinking that Merry and Pippin were dead. I had thought that we’d get to work with Billy and Dom soon, but it turned out that the scenes of inside the forest would be filmed in the studio.

Viggo and I had to do a few shots of us riding up to the pile – as Orlando wasn’t able to – so we were sitting on Kenny, just out of shot. I was sitting in front of Viggo, but he held the reins by reaching past my waist. All I had to cling on to was Kenny’s mane, but I had my legs firmly clamped to the saddle, and Viggo was holding me pretty securely – I wasn’t going anywhere in a hurry!

“I feel like I ought to be controlling this horse somehow…” I mumbled.

“It’s ok, I’ve got it covered.” Viggo murmured softly in my ear – leaning a little closer than was probably necessary, but I didn’t mind.

“Are you sure there’s nothing I can do?”

“All you have to do is sit there and look pretty – in which case, you don’t have to try very hard.” He smiled, and I could only turn and stare at him like an idiot as I tried to think of some way to argue with him. But that was the thing about Viggo; he was constantly leaving me speechless.

“Right guys; let’s get the riding shots done!” Peter called from the other side of the pile of blackened fake corpses. “Action!” Viggo nudged Kenny into a gentle canter as we approached the pile, then he drew the horse to a slow stop and dismounted, leaving me in the saddle for a moment before I followed silently, keeping my facial expression shocked and mournful. We finished that shot and did a few more before Peter asked Viggo to kick one of the steel orc-helmets that littered the ground towards the camera – for the ‘I’m-really-manly-but-I’m-quite-upset-that-the-Hobbits-are-dead-so-now-I’m-angry-and-I’m-going-to-kick-this-helmet Effect’. I just had to stand there and look upset, because I’m a girl, and we don’t kick helmets apparently. We did the first take – consisting of Viggo yelling and kicking the helmet – and it was pretty good, but Peter wanted the helmet to fly right past the camera that was sitting further down the hill. We did three more takes, and on the fourth one, it was really close to the camera, but Peter was sure Vig could kick it closer.

“One more take and we’ll have it Vig!” He called, “Just try not to actually hit the camera!” I wandered back to my original spot beside Kenny and got my sad-face on as Peter shouted ‘Action’. Viggo yelled and swung his leg back, booting the helmet heavily down the hill with surprising precision, although he continued to yell as he sank to his knees. It was definitely the best take, he was being ridiculously… Real. Almost too real… I brushed my gut instinct aside so we could finish the take.

“Cut!” Peter shouted, “That’s the best take!” I grinned and dropped my mournful pose as I looked over to Viggo, who hadn’t yet stood up.

“Hey Vig, you ok?” I asked, walking slowly over to him.

“Yeah… I think I bruised my foot on that last take.” He laughed weakly.

“I’m not surprised; you gave it a pretty hard wallop.” I smiled, holding my hand out for him to take. He linked his fingers through mine and stood slowly, then staggered as he put his weight on his right foot. “Vig? Are you alright?” I asked as he winced.

“I’m fine, just a little sore.” He smiled, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes, and I knew his eyes well enough to know when he was in pain.

“Come on; just sit down for a bit.” I said, letting him lean on me as he limped over to his chair. Once he was sitting I turned away, “I’m just going to go get one of the first-aid guys, ok? You stay here.” As I took a step away from him, he reached out and grabbed my hand with a startling swiftness.

“Honestly I’m fine-” He began to argue.

“No you’re not.” I smiled gently, cutting him off. “And even if you are, there’s no harm in making sure, right?”

“But-”

“If I was the one limping, you’d want me to get it checked out.” I pointed out, taking a step back towards him. He stared at me with his mouth hanging ever-so-slightly open, and I smirked as I realised I’d just presented him with something he couldn’t argue with. “I’ll be back in a moment, ok?” I smiled, leaning forwards to lightly kiss his cheek before wandering off to find one of the first-aid teams. I spotted the two young men in their early twenties standing around talking to Peter and Orlando – probably making sure that his rib was ok. They were all medically trained; the hospital in Wellington sent them down to get experience. “Hey,” I smiled as I approached them, “I think Viggo’s hurt his foot, would you mind coming to take a look at him?” I asked, nodding towards where he was sitting. They followed me back over to where he was sitting and I crouched by his chair – Peter and Orlando came along too. The medics took off Viggo’s boot and I winced as I saw his bloodied toes.

“Just a bruise, huh?” I mumbled, taking his hand in mine as he flinched a little.

“Ouch.” Orlando muttered as he and Peter observed from a distance as Viggo had his foot examined.

“You’ve broken two toes.” One of the men explained.

“Oh.” Was all Viggo had to say as I looked on concernedly.

“I suggest you rest it for a day or two – and just avoid running and things like that for a few weeks.” The other man instructed whilst the other bandaged Viggo’s foot, “You shouldn’t need to go to hospital, there’s not much they can do for bones that small.” Viggo nodded and looked at me with a slight smile.

“Don’t look so worried, it doesn’t even hurt that much.” He said softly, squeezing my hand.

“Liar.” I mumbled, looking up and meeting his eyes as he smiled. He didn’t deny my statement, so I lifted my free hand to his face, pulling his closer and gently kissing him, “You don’t always have to put on a brave face.” I murmured quietly as I pulled away. I didn’t really care that people were watching as he leant his forehead against mine.

“You’re too good for me, you know that, right?” He grinned as I lightly thumped his shoulder – pushing him away.

“Shut up.” I blushed, looking away from his captivating eyes and directing my gaze at the ground as the medics finished up.

We helped Viggo back to his trailer and – despite his protests – Peter managed to convince him to take tomorrow off. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the day off too; Pete said we’d be able to do one or two of the few scenes I had that didn’t involve Viggo.

*

In the morning, I trudged to the makeup bus on my own and met up with Karl; we were doing the scene where Rana runs into the Rohirrim – pretty much one of the only scenes where Rana and Aragorn aren’t together.

The day seemed longer than it really was, probably because I was so distracted. I was worrying about Viggo, even though I knew he was probably fine. I tried to concentrate on the scene, and eventually we managed to get the right take.

“Ok Ki, that’ll do for today.” Peter announced, “You can go nurse Viggo back to health now.” I laughed a little as I jogged back to the bus to get my makeup off. I changed out of my costume and into a comfortable pair of jeans and an oversized mint-green hoodie, before making my way over to Viggo’s trailer. I knocked twice before I heard him call out.

“Come in.” I opened the door and walked in, and then raised an eyebrow as I spotted him lying on the sofa, with his injured foot propped up on one of the arms, and on his forehead he was balancing an empty beer bottle.

“Well I see you’ve had a productive day.” I said, folding my arms and leaning against the closed door.

“I got bored, so I’m trying to memorise what the bottle looks like from this angle so I can draw it later.” He answered, not taking his eyes off the brown glass bottle.

“Oh, it’s a shame you’re busy. I was going to come over and kiss you, but I can’t if you have the bottle on your head.” I smirked.

“Screw the bottle.” He replied instantly, lifting it off his head and setting it on a nearby coffee table as he sat up – and winced as his foot knocked against the sofa. I smiled gently as I walked over to him and knelt by his side, wrapping my arms around his neck as I did so.

“Does it hurt?” I asked quietly, kissing the slight hollow at his temple.

“Only a little.” He murmured as I lightly trailed my lips down to meet his. He gently kissed me back, his arms winding around me and pulling me closer, until I was somehow sitting beside him on the sofa. My fingers trailed through his hair as he broke away and smiled, “I missed you.” He whispered, holding me against him – close enough for me to feel the rapid beating of his heart against my chest.

“Has it been a hard day for you then?” I crooned softly, overplaying the sympathy.

“Very hard.” He answered as I changed my position so I was sitting behind him – my arms still draped around his neck. “It’s a lot better now you’re here though.”

“If you think I’m going to sit here and feed you grapes or something whilst you lounge around you’re got another thing coming.” I smirked.

“I don’t have any grapes.” He said, leaning back against me, “I’m perfectly happy to lounge around with you though.” He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me down a little so I was lying beside him. I turned to face him and was confronted by his lips as they moved against mine, practically making me dissolve into his arms. He halted the surprise attack long enough for me to catch my breath whilst he ran one hand through my hair. “I love you.” He whispered, making me melt all over again.

“I love you too.” I sighed, my fingers tracing mindless patterns on the soft fabric of his shirt. I was silent for a few seconds as I tried to take in every minute detail of this moment. I couldn’t take this for granted, every second was precious. I looked up and met Viggo’s eyes and he smiled, lifting his hand to my face to delicately trace the outline of my lips.

“You know, today it’s been exactly a week since we told each other how we really feel.” He murmured, his fingers leaving my lips to let his hand cup my cheek.

“Only a week? It feels like longer.” I quietly mumbled, “Or rather, it feels like I should have told you before then.”

“I know the feeling.” He smiled, pulling me closer so he could brush his lips over mine, “I can’t believe I wasted so much time that we could have had together.” He whispered as I closed my eyes, suddenly, he pulled away. “Let’s go out tonight.”

“Where?” I asked.

“I don’t mind, as long as I’m with you.” He smiled, sweeping a strand of hair out of my eyes.

“Can you even walk properly?” I questioned sceptically as he laughed.

“Of course I can.”

“Well I’d better go get changed then.” I sighed, sitting up.

“I think you look fine.” He grinned, sitting up with me and slipping his arms around my waist, “In fact, you look much better than fine, you look perfect.” I scowled at him and blushed as I tried to wriggle out of his embrace.

“Yeah, baggy clothes, no makeup and stinking of horses – I have so much sex appeal.” I rolled my eyes as he laughed and released me.

“Alright, my personal opinion mightn’t match that of others.” He admitted, “What time do you want me to pick you up?”

“Pick me up? My trailer is five meters away.” I smirked.

“You know what I mean.”

“Ok, ok… Give me half an hour.” I sighed, giving him a quick kiss before standing and walking out the door to my trailer.

I showered and changed into a fitted black dress with spaghetti straps and was in the process of fastening my hair into a simple French Twist as Viggo walked in. He’d changed too, into a clean off-white shirt and jeans.

“Hey beautiful.” He grinned as I rooted under my bed for my shoes.

“Uh oh, sounds like Viggo’s found a mirror.” I joked.

“You really don’t like receiving compliments, do you?” He asked as I stood and pulled on my sandal high heels.

“No, I feel awkward when I’m complimented, so I make jokes to diffuse my personal awkwardness and change the subject.” I explained with a smile, “In most cases, it works.” He walked up to me and rested his hands on my waist – I could feel the warmth radiating from him through my thin dress.

“You do look beautiful though.” He murmured as I blushed – finding myself unable to squirm away from the compliment, so I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him into a hug.

“Are you sure your foot’s ok?” I asked.

“It’s fine.” He assured me, releasing me and taking my hand in his, “Come on, let’s go.”

Viggo took me to a small Italian restaurant and we sat outside in the warm evening sun. After our meal, we decided to go for a walk through a nearby park.

“I love summer evenings.” I sighed happily as we walked hand in hand down a small stone path, passing a large green where a few children were playing football. Viggo smiled at me, squeezing my hand gently as we walked on, past a few people walking their dogs. Suddenly I was momentarily blinded by a flash of white light. “What was that?” I exclaimed.

“I think we just got paparazzied.” Viggo laughed a little.

“Ah, the ninja photographers return.” I sighed dramatically, “I can see the headlines now, ‘Romantic Walk for Co-Stars?’ or how about; ‘WE WERE RIGHT!’ I’d almost forgotten that they didn’t know that we were together...” I shook my head and cast a glance to the side, where I saw a man trying to subtly fiddle with a camera and pretend to take photos of the surrounding trees.

“Shall we give them something substantial to gossip about?” Viggo suggested mischievously.

“What do you mean?” I asked curiously looking up at him. In a single swift movement, he used our entwined hands to spin me around so I was facing him, then he grabbed my waist with his free hand, and dipped me backwards slightly as he planted a kiss on my lips. For a moment I was frozen in shock, before my free hand curled around his neck of its own accord and I closed my eyes – but not before I noticed the flash of a camera. He smiled against my lips and pulled back, cupping my face between his hands.

“I don’t care who knows or doesn’t know about us, all that matters is that you know that I love you.” He whispered, tenderly kissing me again before I could even stammer out a reply. I was pretty sure I could hear a camera going wild somewhere in the background, but right now to me there was only Viggo. I smiled a little as he pulled back, allowing me to pull in a much-needed breath of air. “It’s starting to get dark,” He commented, “We should be getting back.” I only nodded in reply; I was too breathless to form words. Instead of taking my hand again, his arm snaked around my waist and he hugged me to his side as we walked back along the path.