This story is written by both me and Theramis. It's the first story we've written together, but we've both written others before this one.

Disclaimer: We own nothing but the plot!

Everything Happens for a Reason

Chapter 1

"Wow." Abby raised her eyebrows at the first sight of the plane that was going to take them halfway around the globe. "That is...what's the word? Crappy!"

"Well, if you had allowed me to set a private plane up, we would have already been served champagne and caviar," John said, lifting her bag and starting the fifty-yard walk to the small, dirty airplane that looked as if though it had been patched up several times.

"John! Stop it." Abby ran after her husband with an annoyed sigh. "You know I want to go as regular volunteers and not as some hypocrite adventure seeker!"

"I know." John stopped and turns her angry face up. "That's what I like about you." He kisses her softly, and chose to ignore that she stiffens when he touches her. He smothers a sigh and moves on.

Abby took his hand to make a mence for how she feels about him kissing her. She wasn't sure about when it started, but lately she'd been feeling more or less annoyed about everything John did or said that has anything whatsoever to do with her. And everything else for that matter. Hopefully this journey will bring them closer to each other. If not, they'll both be so packed up with work anyway. Which would mean that if they got tired of one another, they could easily find reasons not to spend time with each other elsewhere than in bed, sleeping.

They found their seats all the way in the back, right next to the not so clean restrooms. Abby noticed how her husband watched it in disgust.

"Look at it from the bright side, John. We'll be close if we need it."

"Yeah," He quickly shoved their bags into the little cabinet above the seats. "And too close if someone else uses it."

Abby just shook her head and rolled her eyes the way she always did. "Just sit down, Carter. I'll let you have the window seat." She had a thing with calling him Carter instead of John, when he really got on her nerves. But what annoyed her the most was, that he didn't even seem to notice.

"You know, I'm starting to think it's pretty weird when you call me Carter." "What?" Abby started to concentrate very hard on her left thumb nail. "It's your name, right Carter?"

"Yees," John raised his eyebrows. Tiny tiny eyebrows, Abby thought to herself as she forced herself to look at him with a questioning expression. "But that's also your name now, remember?"

"Yeah, but you know, maybe we could be like those poshy couples and call each other Mr. and Mrs. Carter. A bit kinky, but I bet your folks will be thrilled." John grunted and looked out through the window. It hit Abby that he hadn't even asked her if she wanted the window seat. She was starting to feel claustrophobic.

"I'm sorry, John. I crossed the line." She said in an attempt to lighten up the tension she created. Or was it only her? Why did her husband always have to be such a saint? He turned to her.

"It's ok" He took her hand and, if possible, it made her feel even worse. Of course he forgave her. What was it again? To sin is human, to forgive is divine. She could almost hear her lips crack as she forced herself to smile at him. Then she leaned back and looked forward, emptily. She could feel John's eyes on her for a little while, then he returned to looking out the window.

As the plane started to take off, Abby tightened her grip on the seat beneath her legs. She didn't want John to see that she was actually a little scared of flying, and especially taking off and landing. It reminded her about the time her mother wanted them to go to Sea World.

She looked over at her husband to see if he was as freaked out as she was, but he was just busy listening to his walkman. Of course the newest and most expensive one ever made.

After what seemed like forever, but was probably only a couple of minutes, the seatbelt sign turned off, making Abby relax a little bit. With nothing to do, she grabbed an old, ruined magazine from the seat in front of her.

When she opened it, it fell apart uncovering a big cloud of dust. Abby coughed and her eyes watered as breathing suddenly seemed to be a very big deal. When the dust finally seemed to leave her airway, she glanced at John, wondering why he hadn't dunked her back. He had fallen asleep with his music on the highest volume.

Abby knew that she should feel relieved that he at least wasn't ignoring her on purpose, but instead she felt an overwhelming need of strangling her husband. Since she couldn't do that, she settled with poking his side hard with her elbow.

"Oops!" She said innocently as he jumped. "I lost my grip" She immediately wanted to bite her tongue off. 'Lost her grip'?? But John just grunted, rolled over and...FELL BACK TO SLEEP. For a moment, Abby just stared at him, then she sighed and leaned back, trying to steel herself for a very long flight.

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