Carolyn Knapp-Shappey had always prided herself on never letting anyone interfere with her decisions; this whole soul-mates malarkey had sounded plain ridiculous to her ever since her childhood, never mind after two failed marriages. People got together and broke apart, and the universe had nothing to do with it. That was just the way of the world, and nobody would ever convince her otherwise; there was no 'special someone' awaiting for her, and even if there was she wasn't sure she would want to meet him.
Only, Arthur still firmly believed he was going to meet his soul-mate someday, and she didn't want to shatter the boy's dreams just yet. That was why she seldom broached the subject, and even when she did she always made a conscious effort to rein in her sarcastic remarks; luckily enough, neither of her pilots was particularly keen on addressing the issue, though for entirely different reasons.
Douglas Richardson had been round that particular corner three times now, and he always claimed he didn't care. What was the fun in looking for a specific someone when you could have anybody you wanted? Whether or not he'd ever thought that any of his ex-wives might have been the one, he wouldn't say.
Martin Crieff, on the other hand, had given up any hope of finding his own soul-mate ages ago. With his luck they might as well have long been dead anyway, so he chose to focus on his passion for flying instead. Having been a reluctant witness to a few of Martin's clumsy attempts at flirting, Carolyn couldn't help but agree entirely with such a decision.
That was why she quickly dismissed the matter as preposterous when her son suggested that her pilots might have found their happiness in each other's arms. There was no such thing as 'your other half,' and she simply refused to believe that that was what Douglas and Martin were to each other. It didn't matter that she'd been there when a tipsy Martin had tripped on his feet and landed onto his First Officer's lap, nor that she'd got a painful view of the unexpectedly soft look Douglas had bestowed upon his Captain.
The last thing she needed was a mental image of her employees sneaking behind her back so that they could do unmentionable things during the layovers; that didn't stop her from taking advantage of the situation by saving the money that would have gone wasted on booking separate rooms for the two of them, so she supposed she could call it a win.
It was only when Hercules Shipwright walked into her life that a small part of her started to reconsider her previous convictions. There was something about bickering with the man, she had to concede as much; however, she would rather die than admit her fulfilment depended on a man, let alone a romantic partner. She was an independent woman, for goodness' sake; she didn't need a soul-mate to make her life more complete, or anything equally ridiculous.
Still, when Herc eventually managed to talk his way around her defences and kiss her, it felt like the single right thing she'd ever experienced in her entire lifetime. With the exception of the first time she'd held her new-born son, of course; she was still a mother after all.