Cal and Claire were standing at the front of the conference room when Wilhelmina walked in, followed by Daniel.
"What is so important that I have to be late to a hair appointment for?" Wilhelmina asked crossly, folding her arms over her chest. She seemed desperate to go, though by all accounts her hair looked as perfect as usual, not a flyaway or a frizz to be seen.
"You could just do your own hair" Daniel muttered from behind her. She whipped her head around to see him looking directly into her eyes, his mouth twisted into a barely perceptible cocky grin.
"And I could just shove my hand into your stomach and rip out your small intestine but I won't" she hissed at him, narrowing her eyes. He looked at her for a moment and then turned his attention back to his mom. Wilhelmina huffed in annoyance. "That paper-colored piece of privileged nothing is getting quite cocky" she thought silently as she glanced at his face as they were taking their seats. She turned back to Claire. Making eye contact would probably convince the old goat that she was actually paying attention.
"Cal and I have been giving a lot of consideration as to where we should hold our next photo shoot. It's been tough, but after much consideration, we've decided on Italy. It's beautiful, it's got an ancient feel to it, it's full of rich culture, and it'll complement our March issue since we're focusing on clothes with a classic feel to them."
Daniel shrugged his shoulders. "Fine, sounds great, but what's this got to do with me and Wilhelmina?"
"Oh, not late for a date with the latest issue of Playboy I hope" Wilhelmina purred condescendingly from across the table, just loud enough for Daniel to hear. Daniel turned to look at Cal and his mom, who had focused their attention on the Book. He turned back to Wilhelmina.
"?" he said, letting all the words slur together. Wilhelmina laughed quietly in return. "You think I wouldn't notice a piece of the cover peeking out from underneath while I was standing in your office this morning listening to you drone on about whatever? I've been in this business too long not to notice the conspicuous color and lettering of a tacky magazine."
Daniel could only glare in return because Cal and Claire were staring at them, waiting for their attention. Daniel and Wilhelmina slowly broke eye contact and turned to face them.
"We've decided we want to fly the two of you out to Milan to oversee the shoot" Cal said, moving his eyes back and forth between the two of them. Daniel and Wilhelmina's mouths dropped in unison.
"What?" Daniel asked incredulously.
"Are you crazy? You want me to survive an 8 hour flight from one country to another sitting next to the only person I know who, at 33, could argue that 'Finding Nemo' should have been an Oscar contender?" Wilhelmina asked loudly. Daniel turned to her.
"I never said that."
"You didn't have to."
Cal and Claire grinned at them. "We knew this would go over well. You two can go home and get packing. Your flight leaves in at 8:00; that leaves you 6 hours to figure out how you're going to get along better" Cal said, leading Claire out of the conference room. Daniel and Wilhelmina watched them go, trying silently to process what they'd just been told. Daniel turned to look at Wilhelmina. "Guess we'd better get packing. There's no way we can argue our way of this, especially since Cal organized last month's company meeting around the topic 'How to Get Along In the Workplace' just to screw us over." Wilhelmina drew in a deep breath, obviously quite annoyed. She knew he was right. "Fine; but you're kidding yourself if you think that just because we're sitting next to each other we're gonna be trading home makeover tips."
"Hey, we get along okay, especially ever since Connor wiped us out. I've noticed an improvement in our daily interactions" Daniel said, grinning as he got out of his seat.
Wilhelmina stopped right in front of him. "Shut up" she said, then turned and left. Daniel laughed as he watched her go. He knew she'd been having a bad day and had pushed all the wrong buttons.
The airport was crowded as usual when Daniel and Wilhelmina's town cars pulled up to the front gates. It was 8:00, the temperature was 30 degrees outside, and there was a cold wind that did little to help people's obvious discomfort. Wilhelmina was pissed. As one of the airport attendants pulled her Louis Vuitton luggage out of the trunk, all she could do was think about how much she hated Cal for forcing her and Daniel to work amicably in such a close situation. Sure, they'd come a long way, and she didn't hate him anymore-in fact they'd developed a nice rapport based on cutting jokes at the other's expense-but that didn't mean she was ready to sit next to him for 8 hours. She dragged herself inside, smiling at the memory of Marc's earlier remark upon hearing of her predicament ("I know at least 6 poisons that wouldn't surface in an autopsy" he'd whispered discreetly.) Still, she decided that ignoring Daniel couldn't be that hard-she did it all the time-and with the help of a little $700 champagne, it'd be smooth sailing. She boarded the plane and found her seat in first class. She noticed that her ticket was for an aisle seat, but she preferred the window and sat there instead.
"Hey!" came a voice not three seconds later. She turned her head to find Daniel standing above her with his suitcase in his hand.
"I always sit by the window."
"Well too bad, Danny-boy, but I can't stand sitting in the aisle. All those people pushing past you, bumping into your arm when you're trying to sip your champagne…" she trailed off, rolling her eyes. "You're a big boy; I'm sure you'll do just fine" she said smugly, pulling the Book from her large black purse and slowly flipping the pages. Daniel huffed, and threw his suitcase into the holder above their heads, plopping down next to her. He sat silent for a moment, then leaned over the armrest of his chair and looked at the Book. She pulled her head back in disgust.
"Will you get the hell out of my personal space before I have you arrested?" she said loudly, causing some passengers to turn and stare. All it took was one glare from her and they all turned around, pretending they'd been innocently looking past her. Daniel looked up into her eyes with a cocky little smile. "I always lean over the armrest of the window seat when I'm sitting near the aisle" he said quietly, his face so close she could smell his aftershave. Cinnamon; lucky for him a scent she liked. She put her hand on his arm and squeezed until her nails dug into his skin. "Get out of my damn face before I smother you with a pillow while you sleep." He paused for a moment, then slowly leaned back and put his head on his headrest. He turned his eyes back to her. "Always a pleasure flying with you, Wilhelmina" he said, before closing his eyes.
It took all her restraint not to commit an illegal act against him. It was going to be a long flight.
The plane was gently cruising through the air. It was three hours into the flight, and Wilhelmina was already bored out of her mind. She'd looked at every detail in the Book, marking X's through everyone of Cal and Claire's ideas just because she was pissed off; she'd stared out the window; she'd tried to go to sleep but the airline insisted on playing the same damn movie over and over again, making her efforts at temporary comfort unattainable. She was staring off into space when Daniel returned from the bathroom. He sat down next to her, then bent over and reached into his briefcase, pulling out a pencil and small piece of paper.
"Wanna play tic-tac-toe?"
She turned to look at him, almost not believing that he had seriously asked her that question.
"Tic-tac-toe? Daniel, I didn't even waste my time with that when I was three."
He shrugged indifferently. "You're bored, I know you are. You've got that same glazed over look in your eyes that you get whenever Cal opens his mouth to talk to you. I'm so bored that I winked at a stewardess 30 years my senior just to see her reaction. We're bored, we've got five hours left on this plane, we're miserable, and we're hungry. We might as well do something so that we don't kill each other or someone else."
Wilhelmina drew in a deep breath, trying to decipher whether or not he was messing with her again. She realized he was being serious, so she snatched the pencil and paper from his hand, drew the tic-tac-toe board, and marked an X in the middle square. She handed the pencil to him. "You're going to lost this game" she said, looking very sure of herself.
Daniel looked back in surprise. "How? You're never played before."
"I don't need to have prior experience at something to be good at it. I'm good at everything I do" she said smugly, grinning at him. Daniel let out a soft chuckle. "I see" he said, drawing a circle on the page.
Daniel balled up yet another slip of paper and threw it on the ground, stomping his foot. Wilhelmina was right; she'd won every game in the half hour they'd been playing. Damn her.
She crossed her legs and folded her hands over her knees. "Well, have you tired of embarrassing yourself, like you usually do in front of a woman, or would you like to play again?" She smirked at him, raising her brow. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back. "Alright, I admit defeat. Congratulations, you've bested me at a game made for preschoolers." He turned his face back to her and she grinned even more. "Yes, and you lost" she said, turning her body toward the front of the plane and pretending to watch the movie. His face dropped; she saw that out of the corner of her eye and bit her lip, trying her best not to laugh out loud. He turned away from her. Stupid Wilhelmina.
They continued to sit in silence when the pilot's voice came over the intercom. "Looks like we're entering some light turbulence. If you could please fasten your seatbelts, it'll make your journey much more comfortable" he said, cutting off the intercom. Daniel and Wilhelmina buckled up as everyone grumbled about the roughness they'd soon endure. They sat in silence as the plane started to jerk and bounce gently up and down. Wilhelmina sighed impatiently, waiting for the pilot to steer them through the bad weather. As she shifted in her seat she noticed Daniel's hands were gripping the armrest so tightly his knuckles had turned white. She pulled back.
"Oh, God, please tell me you're not going to puke all over yourself!"
Daniel turned in annoyance. "No, Wilhelmina, it's just that flying in a plane that's bouncing around like a ride at a carnival makes me a little uneasy, okay?!" he said loudly. She looked at him in surprise. "Daniel, it's not that big of a deal, this happens all the time, there's no reason to-"
Suddenly the plane dropped swiftly downward. Wilhelmina grabbed hold of her seat so as not to fly forward. Everyone gasped as the pilot's voice came back over in intercom. "Uh, it looks like this patch of weather is rougher than we anticipated. Please stay seated and we'll get through as best we can." Wilhelmina froze. She heard fear in his voice. She turned to look at Daniel, who had closed his eyes as though he were praying. She leaned slowly back in her seat and looked out the window. She could see the clouds bouncing up and down as the plane jerked this way and that. She closed her eyes and tried calming herself.
The plane dropped even quicker than before, thrusting them further downward. The whole aircraft was shaking, the lights above them flickering. Wilhelmina couldn't believe it. Out of all the ways she thought she'd leave this earth, sitting next to a Meade in an unsteady aircraft plummeting toward the ocean sure as hell wasn't one she'd considered. A tall, slim stewardess walked to the front of their section of the aircraft. She looked nervous, but did her best to talk above the noise of the wind outside.
"Please try not to panic. You'll feel better if you relax. Try smiling at the stranger next to you, or grabbing the hand of someone you care about" she said, nodding her head, trying to put on a happy face. They were stupid instructions to be sure, but everyone knew she was just trying to warm their spirits. Slowly people turned to smile at one another, squeezing each other's hands in silent support. Families and couples pressed closer to one another, leaning their heads on each other's shoulders.
Wilhelmina was pulling at her skirt with the arm not clinging to the armrest, trying to look cool and assured. Suddenly, she felt a large, warm hand gently touch the hand on her armrest. She whipped her head to her right and saw Daniel looking at her, trying his best to put on a brave face. Her mouth dropped open at the sight of his hand on her arm.
"Yes, just try squeezing the hand of someone you care about" the stewardess repeated. Daniel gently squeezed hers, and she looked into his eyes. He nodded slowly and smiled a small, yet sincere, smile. She stared at him for a moment, and then looked at the hand that was covering hers. She slowly placed her other hand on top of it, sucked in a deep breath and lightly squeezed his. She looked back at him and he opened his mouth as if to say something, pausing for a moment.
"I know we haven't exactly been the best of friends, Wilhelmina, but I just want you to know that I don't really hate you" he said, looking straight into her eyes. She studied his face, seeing the honesty and sincerity in his expression. She looked down at their hands. "I don't hate you either, Daniel…least not anymore" she said, her lips turning upward into a smirk. He laughed in spite of his dread at their current situation, and scooted his body closer toward her seat. He looked down and took a nervous breath before looking back at her.
"I'm scared, Wilhelmina."
She knew he was telling the truth. His blue eyes were wide with fear, and his mouth was twitching with uncertainty. The plane dipped yet again and she grabbed hold of his arm with both of hers, watching as people turned their heads frantically around the cabin. Before she knew what she was doing, she leaned her head on his shoulder. They both tensed for a moment, realizing just how incredible this situation was, considering the way they usually spoke to one another.
"Me too, Daniel" she whispered finally. He couldn't believe it. She actually admitted to him that she was afraid, afraid of losing the life she did love so dearly. He rested his head on top of hers, his neck still tense. He was surprised when she didn't shove him off, and he slowly relaxed. She spoke again.
"I may be afraid, but it's because I'm worried about what people will think if they find us like this" she said, adopting her usual sardonic tone. In spite of her attempt to adopt her usual sarcasm, she didn't move and squeezed his arm even tighter. He knew she was trying to lighten the atmosphere and decided to go along with it. "Yeah, God forbid my mom finds out they found our remains in each other's arms at the bottom of the ocean" he said, attempting a laugh. He paused for a minute.
"If you could say goodbye to anyone right now, who would it be?" he asked.
She lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at his face. He didn't meet her stare and kept looking at his shoes. She slowly returned her head to his shoulder, deciding to satisfy his curiosity.
"Nico."
He nodded silently. He knew that deep down, Wilhelmina loved her daughter a lot; he felt bad that they were staring in the face of Death and she might not have a chance to say goodbye.
"She loves you, Wilhelmina" he said, trying to make her feel better. He looked down at her head and saw she slowly nodded. "Just think about me and my mom. Sure, she was drunk most of my childhood, but that didn't stop me from loving her. She did the best she could."
"Yeah, she did" Wilhelmina sighed softly. She paused for a minute. "She did alright, you know…I mean, with you."
Daniel couldn't believe it. He was so shocked she's said that, he stopped breathing.
"You're actually okay, when you're not being a giant pain in my ass" she said, a small smirk forming on her face. He couldn't see her face, but he knew it was there. He could hear it in her voice.
"You're okay too, Wilhelmina."
Just then, the plane started to slowly rise up into the clouds. The shaking ceased and relief spread throughout the cabin. People were crying and hugging each other. The pilot's voice came once again: "We've made it through everyone. Thank-you for your patience."
Daniel couldn't believe it; they were alive. Wilhelmina lifted her head from his shoulder. They made eye contact for a brief second, and then they both scooted back to their respective sides, straightening their shirts and settling back into their seats.
"We're okay" Daniel said, turning and smiling at Wilhelmina, grateful to be alive.
"Told you" she said, cocking her brow.
Their plant finally landed in Milan. By the time they got off they were beat, still trying to get over the unpleasant near-death experience. Daniel and Wilhelmina got their luggage and made their way outside, where two town cars were waiting for them. Daniel threw his baggage down, and as his driver put it in the trunk he took his coat off, plucking Wilhelmina's hair off the shoulder of it. Wilhelmina saw him out of the corner of her eye.
"Daniel?"
He lifted his head. "Yeah?"
"You might not want to throw that away. That's the only evidence you have that I, in a moment of regrettable weakness, placed a part of my body near yours."
She looked at him from where she was standing a few feet away. Slowly, the corners of her mouth began to form a devilish smirk. He paused for a moment, then reached down and picked a long strand of brown/blond hair off the pavement. He glanced back up at her. She was staring at him, and though she was still smirking, her brows gave her face a look of bewilderment. "What is he doing?" she thought nervously. He looked back down at the strand of hair and put it gingerly into his pocket. He turned his eyes back to hers and returned her smirk.
"You're right. I'm gonna keep that. Have it framed, show it to the kids I might have. They'll be able to tell their friends that Daddy weakened the notoriously cold heart of Wilhelmina Slater" he said, opening the car door.
"Daniel?" came her voice yet again.
He stopped and turned back to her. She slowly made her way to where he stood, her hands on her hips, eyes piercing his. She stopped in front of him and tilted her head back.
"You tell that to your kids…and I'll come back from Hell and kill you."
He looked down at her, his mouth still grinning but eyes searching hers. She cocked her brow.
"You don't believe that I would do that, do you?"
"Oh, I believe you'll come back from Hell. There's no way you're getting into Heaven."
She lowered her brow, staring at him as he stared at her. Finally, they gave in and started to laugh. Wilhelmina turned and made her way back to her car.
"Be on time tomorrow, Meade, we've got a photo shoot to take care of."
"I'll be there."
"One more thing" she said, turning back to him, leaning an arm on her car door. "If, when we get back to Mode, you tell anyone about this…I'll tell them you have womanly shoulders and that you cried."
Daniel raised his arms in defeat.
"My lips are sealed."
"Better be."