After the Applause

Nicole took a moment before speaking. Then she laughed into the microphone, and the room laughed with her.

"Sorry. I was thinking what this is going to do to my asking price."

The laugh grew louder. She held her second Best Actress Oscar in both hands, steadied herself, and spoke about how frightening it could be to follow a celebrated performance with another. A prize did not guarantee the next role would be good. La Vie en Rose had been a choice she had made because the part frightened and excited her in equal measure.

"Ethan brought me the script after last year's ceremony," she said. "Howard and the crew made it possible to live in that world. Thank you to every person who took the journey with us, and to the women nominated beside me tonight."

She thanked the Academy and stepped away to applause. Whatever her competitors felt, they offered her smiles as she passed.

"I want another one," Charlize murmured.

"You already have one," Ethan said.

"Nicole has two."

"This isn't a race between you."

"Easy for the man with two writing Oscars to say."

He could not argue with that. A good role and a good campaign were not things he could conjure on command, but he started sorting through stories in his mind. Charlize could disappear into a character when the material gave her enough room. He owed her better than a recycled promise.

"Find me something worth doing," she said. "A real part, not an awards-season favor."

"Fair."

Nicole returned to the row, still smiling at the award in her hand. Ethan kissed her and asked whether she was happy.

"I can barely feel my feet."

"Then tonight is yours. No demands."

"I like the sound of that," she said, and sat down before he could make another joke.

Julia Roberts took the stage to present Director. The nominees included Clint Eastwood for Million Dollar Baby, Martin Scorsese for The Aviator, Taylor Hackford for Ray, Ethan for Inception, and Alexander Payne for Sideways.

The camera moved from face to face. Eastwood sat back with an ease Ethan envied. Scorsese looked serious, Hackford smiled, and Payne kept rubbing his hands together. Ethan tried to look composed, though this was the award he wanted most. Best Picture recognized the whole machine. Director felt closer to the choices a single person made when the machine was moving too fast.

"Clint Eastwood," Roberts announced, "for Million Dollar Baby."

Ethan let out a breath, then stood with the rest of the theater. He had admired Eastwood for years. Losing to him did not erase the disappointment, but it gave Ethan a reason to applaud honestly. Eastwood thanked his family and the crew, particularly the people who had helped make the film at a pace most studios would have considered impossible.

Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand came out to present the final award. The Best Picture nominees were The Aviator, Finding Neverland, Million Dollar Baby, Inception, and Sideways. Ethan's name appeared twice in the producer credits, but the room was waiting to learn which film would own the last moment of the night.

Streisand read the card. "Inception."

The cast and crew rose together. Ethan gestured for them to come, and a group large enough to crowd the stage followed him up the steps. He had already used his share of microphone time; he passed it to the people beside him. Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Tom Hardy, Hans Zimmer, Wally Pfister, and others each found a few words. The show ran long, but no one cut them off immediately.

When they finally filed down, the 77th Academy Awards were over. Eastwood wanted Ethan to come to the Vanity Fair party.

"You can't win Best Picture and vanish," he said.

"Watch me."

"I used to have your energy."

"That's why I'm going home while I still have some."

He posed for the photographers outside the theater, then left with Nicole and Charlize. At home, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen had watched the broadcast. Elizabeth said good night and went to her room. Gal did the same.

Nicole set her award beside Ethan's. Charlize looked from one trophy to the other, then at him.

"Tomorrow," she said, "we start finding my next role."

"Tomorrow," he agreed.

They stayed up with Mary-Kate and Ashley, eating the food everyone had forgotten during the broadcast and replaying the speeches they could not remember giving. Gal joined them briefly before going to bed. Ethan let Nicole decide when the celebration was over.

* * *

Morning light found Ethan tired after a night too short on sleep. Nicole and Charlize were still asleep, and the Olsen twins had gone home. He slipped into the kitchen, unwilling to wake anyone for a conversation that could wait.

Gal was in the kitchen with coffee. She noticed his expression and laughed.

"Don't start," he said.

"I wasn't going to."

He sat across from her. "You and Judy took that trip a while ago. How was she? Really?"

"We had a good time. We traveled, talked, had a few drinks. Nothing you need to investigate."

"I wasn't interrogating you."

"You were close."

He held up both hands. "What did you talk about?"

"A lot of things. She asked about you more than I expected. Your family. How you handle relationships. Whether you notice when somebody is hurting."

Ethan frowned. He had known Judy for seven years. They argued, worked together, and understood each other's habits. Or so he had thought.

"The split with Bar hurt her," Gal said. "Two years is a long time to give somebody your trust. I don't know everything that happened, and neither do you. What I do know is that Judy was miserable afterward, and she won't volunteer that to most people."

"She told you?"

"Enough. Don't make me repeat every private word. Just check on her. Ask how she is and listen to the answer."

Ethan nodded. Judy's behavior around him had shifted lately. He had treated it as another joke between old friends because that was easier than admitting he might have missed something serious.

"I'll talk to her," he said.

"Good. And maybe don't make it sound like a board meeting."