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With the plane in the air, the rag-tag group, facing failure just a few hours ago, stared at the luxury showcased around them. This was surreal. How someone could just hand over a plane this nice to them, it was unfathomable. In the back of his mind, Jackson had a real bad feeling about who that 'someone' was.
"How long is the flight?" He finally asked, breaking the silence.
Mitch shrugged in response, unbuckling his seatbelt and standing, stretching his arms behind his back. "However long it is, I'm taking a nap." He rotated his neck, a loud crack echoing in the small lobby.
Chloe twitched at the noise. A brief grimace of sympathetic pain on her face. "Maybe twelve hours," she answered, smiling at him. Her hand slipped across the space between them and rested on his knee.
Abe grinned at them, flicking his eyes down to where they were touching, and then quickly up towards Mitch. "That's quite a nap." He, too, removed his seatbelt and stood up, rocking slightly with the plane's movement. "Though, not a bad idea."
"Which is why I'm claiming the master bedroom." And with that statement, Mitch took off jogging toward the said prize. Chloe was on her feet and after him within seconds.
"No. Not happening."
Rounding the decorative glass wall between where they were seated in the "living room" and the collection of small guest suites, Mitch shouted back, "It's happening!"
"I'm the leader. I get the chambre de maitre!"
Jackson smiled as Chloe slipped into French. She never realized it when it happened, try as she might to keep to English when in their company. More than once, they'd been arguing about the cure and she'd gone full French. He had just given in and nodded and shook his head randomly until she calmed back down and remembered to talk to him in English. He thought it was adorable.
Getting up from his own seat, he joined Abe as they walked after the duo.
"So, Rafiki, you and Chloe?" Jackson shook his head instead of answering. His wide, boyish grin said enough. Abe nudged his shoulder, grinning like an idiot. A brother.
"Nope! I got it. I'm here first!" They heard Mitch yell, then Chloe's laughter. "Finders, keepers. Hey… don't even think about it!"
Coming around the stairs down to the lab and the glass wall, Abe and Jackson stopped and stared. The master suite was massive. The double doors had been thrown wide by either Mitch or Chloe. A king-sized bed sat in the center, a whole living suite spread out around the bed. Like the rest of the plane, the decor was white.
Mitch was stomach down on the bedding, arms high over his head, gripping the headboard in a death-grip as Chloe yanked his ankles with all she was worth. She was laughing so hard, she kept losing her grip.
Jackson walked down the hall, taking a quick peek inside one of the guest suites as he passed. A twin bed, dresser, and desk. Minimalistic. Not as bad a safari camp tent, but pretty spare. He was going to have to side with Chloe. Mitch was getting a guest room.
"What do we have here?" he asked nonchalantly, as he stepped up beside Chloe. Her blonde hair was coming loose from the ponytail. Reaching up, he casually brushed a lock behind her ear. Her cheek flushed pink at the contact.
"Get her off me, Oz!" Mitch's voice shook. No doubt he was trying not to laugh with Chloe. She had an infectious giggle.
"Don't think so, doc." Grabbing one ankle from Chloe, Jackson motioned Abe over with a nod of his chin.
"I'm happy with a guest room. You're on your own," his friend said, crossing his arms and leaning back against the doorframe to watch the action.
So together they hauled, him and Chloe, grunting melodramatically, cheering when Mitch finally gave up and let go.
"Fine. You get the master suite," he said, as the older man straightened his clothing, brushing imaginary lint from his flannel. Then, giving them both a much sober look, he rubbed his chin and winked. "Just don't think I'm going to keep my mouth shut if I have to hear you two all night long."
Chloe's face turned beet red. Jackson's went pale. Abe erupted in laughter so loud, Jackson was afraid the plane would burst at the seams. Mitch, his irritating, sarcastic, pain-in-the-ass self slipped out the doors and slid open the door of the first guest suite he came to.
But before disappearing inside, he stuck his head back out the opening and stuck his tongue out at the others.