Leo and Kate
by BeegBoy
A "titanic" test of strength!

The cast and crew were relaxing in the middle of their lunch
break during the filming of Cameron's latest directorial effort. 
Most of the conversation concerned talk of the enormous cost
overruns during production and the fears that Titanic's box
office receipts could never turn a profit.  If that alone wasn't
enough cause for concern, the movie was also months behind
schedule, resulting in increased tensions among the primary
performers.  The old maxims are the truest ones: if absence makes
the heart grow fonder, then familiarity breeds contempt.

Kate was resting in a lounge chair near the lunch table by the
set.  Of course she had a private trailer, but she found it to be
too small and confining.  Besides, she genuinely enjoyed mingling
with the cast and crew (at least with most of them) and didn't
want to appear aloof to her fellow workers.  Naturally she used
the trailer at times, but today she wanted to be around people. 

Off in the distance she saw the door of Leonardo's private
trailer open and he emerged with his arm around one of the more
generously endowed female extras.  They kissed and she ran off
giggling as he casually brushed his hair back with his hands and
walked back towards the set and Kate.  The two actors had been
cordial to each other but nothing more.  Kate didn't necessarily
dislike Leonardo, but she wasn't exactly crazy about him either. 
He respected her as a performer but dismissed her otherwise.  To
Leonardo, Kate was too plump (to use a polite term) for his
tastes and not at all what he considered a babe.

Kate knew about his attitude towards her and was amused by it,
not angered.  It didn't bother her in the least that he failed to
find her attractive because the feeling was mutual; Kate
considered him to be somewhat scrawny looking, she preferred
beefier guys.  First hand experience had proved he was far from a
muscle man, she thought to herself as she reflected back on the
day they had shot the rescue scene at the rear of the massive,
artificial ship.........

Kate was in place outside the railing and Leonardo was helping
her back over it after she'd abandoned her threatened suicide. 
On que, she stepped off the lower rail (the closeup of her foot  
slipping had been filmed earlier) and fell, grabbing the rail
with one hand as Leonardo grasped her other hand in his.  The
script called for him to pull her back up to safety aboard the
ship, but even after he'd grabbed her hand with both of his he
couldn't quite manage it, visibly straining with her weight. 
James had finally yelled "CUT" and had a quick conference with
his male star, after which filming was suspended for the day.  

That evening, Kate received a script revision from Cameron. 
Instead of Leonardo pulling her up onto the ship, the script now
called for him to grab her and instruct her to "pull herself up"
with her other hand, the one grabbing the railing.  In his notes
Cameron stated this would be more dramatic, but Kate rolled her
eyes as she read it, knowing full well the reason the script had
actually been changed; Leo wasn't strong enough to hoist her up
on his own!

The modified scene was filmed the next day, but it had required
several takes until the two performers got their timing in sync. 
The main problem was that Kate kept pulling herself up too
quickly with her one arm and the camera kept on catching it; it
was obvious she was lifting herself up using her one arm alone,
with no help from Leonardo.  Her swift assent caused his arms to
jerk abruptly when she relieved him of her weight making the
action appear terribly phony, as if she was suspended on a cable. 
A very frustrated Cameron saw this over and over through the
camera viewfinder and over and over he yelled "CUT!!".

Kate finally slowed down and eased off, giving Leo reduced
assistance in lifting her so he still needed to strain as she was
raised up, even though she was still the one pulling up most of
her own weight.  It amused her to know that she could pull
herself up with one arm faster than Leo could using both of his.  
Cameron was finally happy with the scene and the production moved
on.  The next scene, with Leo and Kate landing on the deck with
he atop her was shot next, in sequence.  Kate fantasized to
herself how funny it would be if she rolled Leo over and pinned
him, or at least tried to, just to see if she could.  But she
behaved herself, Cameron was already being a bear about how far
behind the shooting schedule was.

"Day dreaming again, Kate?" Leo inquired as he approached her
lounge chair and sat down.
"Huh, what...?" Kate muttered, confused as his interruption
brought her thoughts back to the present.
"Dreaming about me again, no doubt," he continued, with a slight
trace of conceit in his voice, "but if you want me you'd better
drink diet shakes for breakfast and lunch!"
"Oh please don't delude yourself!" Kate shot back as she sat up,
"and perhaps," she added as she reached over and squeezed his
upper arm, "you should drink a few protein shakes and lift a few
weights once in awhile!"

"Hey, I can take care of myself!" Leo answered as he flexed his
arm for Kate.  She felt his biceps swell under his shirt up but
remained unimpressed.
"Maybe if those were bigger, and not so soft, we wouldn't need
script revisions to cover your limitations!"
Leo winched at her words, knowing she was referring to the rescue
scene they'd filmed months earlier.  He remembered trying to pull
her up over the railing, but she'd simply weighed too damn much. 
Cameron had agreed to change the script without telling Kate the
true reason, but Leo now realized she knew the truth anyway.
OK, so I'm not Hercules!" he replied angrily, "But any guy would
have trouble hoisting you because you weight too damn much!"
"Oh really?" Kate inquired coyly, "I didn't have any trouble
pulling myself up, and I was only using one arm!"
"Hell!" Leo spat back, "I can pull myself up, that's a cinch!"
"Are you saying I weigh more than you!?" Kate glared.
"No, of course not," Leo stammered, "I easily outweigh you, but
you had a better vantage point on the railing to pull yourself
up, that's all.  I'd like to see you try to lift me!"
"But I did lift you!" Kate teased, "don't you remember?"

Leonardo's eyes opened wider and his jaw fell open as he realized
what incident Kate was referring to.  He didn't think she'd
noticed, but apparently she had...........    
 
They'd shot the scene three weeks earlier.  It was the sequence
where he and Kate entered the cargo area of the ship and sat in
the automobile just prior to their lovemaking scene.  The script
called for him to take the front seat and act as chauffeur while
she sat in the back, then she would pull him into the back seat
to join her.  Leo felt Kate's position in the back seat was very
awkward, being that she was seated while leaning forward, so he
decided to plant his foot on the front seat (out of camera range)
and push himself back to assist her in pulling him.

But Kate moved swiftly and, to Leo's surprise, she began to pull
him into the back seat before he could get his foot on the seat. 
Even more surprising was the fact that she appeared to have no
trouble pulling his body over the car seat, even from her leaning
forward position.  Leo was certain the action would look phony
and strained but Cameron loved it, yelled "CUT", and they went
with the one take.  Leo was bewildered, she'd had no leverage or
props to assist her, but she couldn't have pulled him over the
car seat using just the strength of her arms, could she?     

"Oh Leonard, are you dreaming about me now?" Kate laughed as she
now broke into his thoughts and brought him back to the present.
"Or..." she continued, "are you remembering how easily I lifted
you using just my arms?  Hmmmmm, I can lift you, but you can't
lift me, and you weigh more.  Leo, I do believe I'm stronger than
you!"
"That's a stupid thing to say!" he snapped at her, "I helped you
pull me over that....."
"The hell you did!" Kate broke in, "My arms didn't need any help
from a scrawny wimp like you!  In fact, you know what, Leo?  I
shouldn't have stood on my toes in the dance scene after those
guys finished armwrestling, I should have armwrestled with you
instead!  In fact, why don't we armwrestle right now and settle
this!?"

Before Leo could say anything further, Kate stood up, walked over
to the buffet table and cleared a spot.  She pulled a chair over,
sat down, and placed her right elbow on the table with her hand
extended and open.
"Come on Leo, show weak little Katie how big and strong you are!"
"Stop fooling around!" Leo spat, "we're behind schedule and we've
got lots of work to do!"
"By my watch we've still got twenty minutes left for lunch, and
that's plenty of time, more than enough time in fact!"  Leo stood
his ground and hesitated, causing Kate to begin giggling.  "My
God!" she tittered, "You're actually afraid to take me on, aren't
you........aren't you!!"

Other members of the cast and crew had started to gather around
them, attracted by the ruckus.  Leo knew he couldn't back out
now, and he was actually confident that he could take her, but he
didn't think armwrestling his leading lady was exactly the type
of thing a leading man should do.  And, to be honest, Kate's own
cockiness and self confidence did unnerve him a little.  He
racked his brain looking for a way to quickly and quietly diffuse
the situation, but came up empty.  Where the hell was Cameron,
why didn't he call them back to work?!

"I'm waiting!" Kate called out sweetly, wiggling the fingers of
her open hand, "unless you're still afraid, of course."
Leo scowled, pulled up a second chair, and sat across from Kate. 
He put his elbow on the table and the two clasped hands.
"Ladies' first, my dear," he whispered to Kate.
"Well then," she replied with a grin, "by all means let's get
this show on the road!  One.....two......three.....GO!!"

Both their forearms tensed as the competition began.  Leo's shirt
sleeve was rolled up only to his elbow, so the degree of growth
in his biceps (if any) could not be seen.  Kate was wearing a
sleeveless dress, but the observers saw no increase or swelling
in her upper arm as the two opponents began struggling.  Kate was
indeed stout, but didn't appear to be all that strong.  She bit
her lip and her brow furrowed as she put forth a considerable
effort against Leo, his face was a reflection of intense
determination, his eyes locked on their hands.

Leonardo slowly began to gain the advantage over his female
opponent and began forcing her arm down towards the table as Kate
bit her lip again and her free hand closed tightly into a fist
and pounded the table.  Leo's own free hand was firmly grasping
the table edge; he was winning, but slowly, and he needed the
increased leverage of holding onto the table edge to do so.  He
hoped no one was noticing this.  He felt very little pride in his
pending victory, considering the amount of effort it was taking
him to beat a mere woman, and one he considered soft and out of
shape.  Well, at least he'd salvage a victory, after which he
just might follow Kate's advice and pump a little iron more
often. 

As Kate's arm moved steadily downward her eyes closed tightly as
she struggled to resist Leo's power and fend him off, but he
continued to hold the upper hand.  Eventually he was close enough
to victory to smile with confidence, and he began to tease her.
"Well, well, little lady," he beamed, "it looks as though you're
all mouth and no muscle," Leo continued as Kate grunted and
struggled against him, "I guess I'll just end this here, unless
you want to concede defeat and stop right now!"

"Or unless," Kate suddenly responded in a low, calm voice with
absolutely no sound of strain, "I've just been playing you along
for the ego inflated jerk you are!"  As she said this Kate tensed
her powerful arm and stopped Leo cold just inches shy of pinning
her arm and claiming victory.  Leonardo looked at her stunned, to
which she responded by winking at him as she broke into a broad
smile.  She increased her resistance and Leo felt his arm begin
to move back up.  He gripped the table edge tighter with his free
hand and even wrapped his leg around table leg as he put out a
surge of effort to force her arm back down, but only succeeded in
halting her progress momentarily.  She quickly recovered and
continued forcing his arm up to the starting position, smiling
brightly at him the whole time.

Even more frustrating, Leo glanced at Kate's arm as she forced
his back up but saw no noticeable thickening or bulging of her
biceps.  She had no muscle tone of any kind that he could see, so
how could she possibly be so strong!?  He kept putting forth
pulses of resistance but she continued to match and overcome them
until she had regained their starting position.  She opened her
free hand and placed it, palm up, under her chin to support her
head.  Then she cocked her head slightly, blew him a kiss and
sweetly asked, "Is that all you have, little boy?"

Angered by her teasing, Leo increased his efforts yet again,
calling on all the strength reserves he had left, and again he
began to slowly force Kate's arm down to the table.  But this
time she didn't bit her lip or close her eyes in any phony
display of strain.  Instead, she leaned her head back as she
placed her free hand against her forehead, performing a parody of
the old time "damsel in distress" pose as she fluttered her
eyelids and cried out, "Heaven help me, heaven rescue me, this
brute is just much too powerful for me to resist!" in a mocking
tone.  Then she looked across the table and said, "Oh, Leo, Leo,
you're so strong.......NOT!" and with a laugh she easily forced
his arm back up to the starting position for a second time.

"Come on, little boy, show me what you've got!  Try again!" she
quipped as she again allowed him to ever so slowly begin pulling
her arm down for a third time.  At this point Kate turned her
head towards her left arm and flexed it so Leo and the onlookers
could see.  A sizable, but smooth, biceps appeared as she did so. 
The sight of it rattled Leo, but he didn't back off.  He was
certain she was tiring out and that he'd pin her arm this time
for sure.

"Now, Leo," she began, "watch my right arm as I again force your
puny arm back up."  Leo's jaw dropped open full and a gasp went
through the crowd as she effortlessly forced his arm up yet again
despite the fact that her right arm still showed no visible sign
of strain in doing so.  This time when she brought him back to
the starting position she just smiled and held him there against
his continuing, but diminished, efforts to take her down again. 
Kate was done playing around with him and was ready to administer
the final blow to his ego.    
         
Fixing Leo with a bright, confident stare and a cocky, arrogant
grin on her pretty face, Kate proceeded to casually take his arm
down to the table at a slow, deliberate pace so she could savor
both her victory and his humiliation.  Any remaining strength he
could apply to resist her was easily outmatched by the powerful,
relentless strength of her arm, which continued to display only a
feminine plumpness as she pushed Leo's arm closer to the table in
a display of gentle, but unstoppable, physical strength.  She
flexed her left arm a second time to display her biceps, but
there was still no hint of one on her right arm.

"I want you to see my left biceps, Leo," Kate explained, "because
I want you to see and fully realize how little of my total actual
strength is needed to overpower you, how little strength I need
to take......you......down!!"  she concluded as she softly
pressed his hand against the linen tablecloth.  She held his hand
down on the table briefly, then she released it, leaned forward,
and kissed him on the forehead.

As the onlookers cheered for her, Kate smiled and proudly flexed
both her arms for the crowd.  True enough, her right biceps was
even bigger than her left, though still smooth and relatively
soft to the touch.  Nonetheless, the right biceps hadn't appeared
at all during her armwrestling contest with Leo, proving that she
had only needed a minimal amount of her true physical power to
soundly defeat him.

Leo noticed her right biceps was the larger and immediately
demanded a rematch with their left arm.
"That wasn't fair," he protested miserably, "you're right handed,
Kate, and I'm left handed.  It was your stronger arm against my
weaker arm, let's try it lefty!"
Kate threw her head back and laughed haughtily as an amused
titter worked its way through the crowd of onlookers.
"You're telling me you're upset, little boy?" Kate spoke slowly
and sarcastically, "You're upset because I used my "strong" arm
against you're "weak" arm?  What difference should that make,
little boy?  I'm just a girl, a puny little girl!" she concluded
as she batted her eyes at him with her hands folded under her
chin.

Leo tried to ignore her teasing.  He was embarrassed enough as it
was, but he still wanted to salvage some shred of dignity if he
could.
"Look," he leaned forward to Kate and whispered sharply, "at
least when I beat you lefty we can call it a tie, so put up of
shut up, you dumb broad!"     
Kate stared at Leo, her anger at his insult rising steadily in 
her as she offered up her left arm on the table and replied
venomously, "Not when you beat me lefty, twerp, IF you beat me
lefty.......and you won't!!"
"That's what you think, doll!" Leo shot back as he clasped her
left hand.  Someone in the crown gave the countdown, shouted
"GO", and the second match began.

Leo strained, struggled and muttered curses under his breath, but
he couldn't budge Kate's powerful left arm so much as an inch. 
She looked directly at him with a cold, stony expression.  She
was through playing with him, through with the fun, games and
teasing.  She didn't want his hand holding hers any longer than
was necessary.  With no change of expression whatsoever, she
began to force Leo's left arm down to the table against any and
all resistance he could offer.  As in the previous match, her arm
(in this case her left) showed no hint of strain or biceps as she
took her male opponent down.  She squeezed his hand for added
emphasis and gave him a slight, cruel grin when it caused him to
emit a short, low whimper of pain.

As she forced him closer and closer to a second defeat Kate
couldn't resist on final insult at Leo's expense.  "I'm beating
your stronger arm with my weaker arm," she sneered as she leaned
forward, "and I'm winning with less effort than I exerted than in
our first match!"  Leo didn't know if this was true or not, but
it was completely irrelevant, all that mattered to him was the
fact that she was beating him again!  With a final, mild thrust
Kate put his left hand down on the table and held it there firmly
to let his second loss sink in fully to his bewildered mind. 
There was no kiss on the forehead for Leo this time, just her
defiant glare of triumph.

Leo stood up and attempted to yank his hand loose, but Kate held
it firmly in place without appearing to expend any effort to hold
him captive.  Then she abruptly released his hand and he
staggered backward, barely maintaining his balance.  Kate stood
up quickly, stepped around the table and grabbed Leonardo in a
headlock by wrapping her left arm around his slender neck.  Both
his hands shot up and grabbed her forearm tightly, but even both
of his arms working together couldn't pull Kate's arm off, she
easily maintained her hold on the embarrassed star.  She dragged
him back to the table and with her right hand hoisted herself up
so she was sitting on the table top itself.  

As the onlookers cheered, laughed and catcalled, Kate proudly
flexed her right arm and again displayed her attractive, feminine
biceps as her left arm remained snugly wrapped around Leo's neck.
She sat on the table, calm and relaxed, while Leo continued his
futile struggle to escape her hold and exit from the whole
humiliating affair.  Several cameras snapped as cast members took
photographs as a memento of the occasion.  Later, those viewing
the photos would remark that Kate's left arm looked like it was
gently draped around Leo's neck in a tender caress, not holding
him a helpless prisoner.

Still smiling, Kate looked down at some of the children in the
group of onlookers who were playing extras in the movie.  She
forced Leo's head to look in the direction of a small group of
girls who all appeared to be between 9 and 12 years old.  
"What do you think, tough guy?" she asked whimsically, "Think you
could take one of them, maybe?  How about if we let you use both
hands!?"

Suddenly, a voice from the rear cried, "everybody back on the
set", and the group disbursed to their various work duties; lunch
break was over.  Kate reluctantly freed her captive, put her left
hand to the center of his back and gave him a firm shove that
sent him sprawling onto the ground.  Leo stood up and dusted
himself off and, without looking back, stormed off to his private
trailer.  

Kate smiled as she watched him walk away.  She'd exceeded every
one of her expectations!  She really had started out just teasing
poor Leo.  She never truly thought she'd be much of a challenge
for him, and she never expected in a million years that she'd
actually beat him in a test of strength.  She placed her left
hand on her upper arm and felt the satisfying bulge of her right
biceps as she wondered who her next conquest should be, now that
she'd discovered her true physical prowess.  Perhaps Cameron
himself?  She giggled, shook her head and returned to the set.

A half hour later on the set Cameron was being a bear again, but
one could hardly blame him.  What the hell had happened, he
wondered, what was going on?  Kate kept muffing her lines because
she couldn't seem to stop giggling as if she kept replaying some
amusing incident in her mind.  Even members of the camera crew
were missing their ques and marks as they kept snickering amongst
themselves; and if that wasn't bad enough, DiCaprio had withdrawn
into his trailer in some sort of snit and wouldn't come out.

"Christ!" Cameron muttered to himself, "I'll never get this
bloody movie finished!!"