Chapter Two.

Hands.

Anne awoke, but kept her eyes closed feeling warm and cozy. She felt a warm hand on her waist and without thinking, reached over and interlocked her fingers into the hand and smiled to herself in comfort.

Reality suddenly kicked in when the hand didn't quite feel right in hers and she remembered she was on a plane and not on the couch at home with her sister. Panic set in when she understood that that meant she was holding hands with the guy sitting next to her. And sleeping in his lap! "Oh my!" She blurted, as her eyes popped open, slowly letting go of the hand. Carefully, she sat up in the quiet darkened cabin and looked at Chris who, thankfully, still had his eyes closed. She looked around to see who, if anyone, had been watching. Her face flushed with embarrassment. Thankfully most people were sleeping still. She checked her watch. She'd been asleep for a couple hours.

Anne looked at the pillow, then the blanket, and then again at Chris who appeared to still be asleep. Between waves of embarrassment, a stray thought about how cute he looked sleeping there, worked its way through her. She put a hand over her mouth. "Oh my, what have I done," she whispered to herself. Leaning foreword, she rested her elbows on her knees and shook her head. She put her head in her hands and sighed to herself as the heat of embarrassment washed over her again.

She was staring at her feet, trying to figure out what to do, when she heard the soft voice beside her whisper "It's okay."

With her hands still on her face, she peeked between her fingers at Chris and felt the embarrassment wash over her once more. "I'm sorry." She whispered, putting her hands down. "I didn't mean to...well," She held a hand open to his lap. "...sorry. And the hands. Oh my." She cringed. "I thought...oh never mind. I'm sorry."

"You thought what?" He pressed gently.

"I thought..." She sighed again. "Remember when I said I watch movies with my sister?" Chris nodded. "We often snuggle up on the sofa together. When I awoke, I..." She let out a long breath of embarrassment.

"You were groggy and thought you were with her. It's alright Anne. Really." A little more diffidently he continued, "I didn't mind. Actually I should be apologizing to you for not waking you. I allowed you to put yourself in this situation. I should have woke you. I'm sorry, you just..." He hung his head feeling stupid again. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" She looked at him.

"For doing something that made you feel bad. I could have...should have prevented it by waking you. You probably think I'm some sort of creep letting you sleep in my lap." He shook his head again looking down as he too felt his face flush.

Anne sighed, relaxing finally. She looked up at him. "You're not a creep. The pillow and the blanket, it was sweet of you. Kind of cliche in an old fashioned movie sort of way, but sweet." She smiled taking his hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. "Thank you again. I seem to be embarrassing myself a lot on this trip. You've been very nice to me." She sighed again.

Chris looked up shrugging his shoulders, grinned and gave her his best 'Aww shucks' look. Anne chuckled at him. He also noted she was still holding his hand.

He looked down at their hands and she caught the look too and began smiling.

Jackie came by just then, seeing that they were both awake, and asked quietly, "Would you two like anything to drink? Water, juice...?"

"Water, please." Anne replied.

Jackie disappeared and returned with a glass of water for her. Anne was grateful for the ice Jackie had put in the water.

Anne grinned at Chris and on a whim let go of him and pulled out her phone. She turned it on and handed it to Jackie. "Would you take a picture for us?"

Jackie smiled back, taking the phone. Anne almost couldn't believe she was doing this but she leaned back into Chris pulling his arm around her waist in a bold move and smiled as Jackie took the shot. Chris barely had time to keep up with what was happening, but managed to smile for the photo anyway.

"Thank you." Anne smiled politely, retrieving her phone and sitting back up. Chris retrieved his arm.

"You two are such a cute couple." Jackie shook her head as she left.

Anne giggled at the comment, but Chris was still at a loss at what was happening. Anne showed him the photo grinning. "You know, she is right. We are kind of cute together." She teased.

"Are you flirting with me, or just trying to tease me?" he grinned back.

"Oh, you know, maybe a bit of both." She bit her lip and grinned. "Do you want me to send you a copy of this to your phone?" She held up the photo.

"Alright." He grinned back, pulling out his phone. As he flipped it on, Chris stopped suddenly and stared at her.

"What?" She asked.

"You are good at this!"

"What?" Anne protested.

"That is, hands down, the slyest, sneakiest way to get a guys number that I have ever seen!" Chris gaped at her.

Anne did her best to look innocent. "Do you want the photo or not?"

He grinned back at her. "Only if I can call you sometime."

"Deal." She smiled back. Chris typed his number into her phone and let her hit send. "I'm sorry it won't go through until we land. No signal over the Atlantic."

As he put his phone away, Anne did likewise. She pulled the blanket back up, leaned back into Chris, put her head back on his shoulder and pulled his arm around her waist again, snuggling into him. "Is this okay?" She whispered. Anne kicked off her shoes and scrunched her feet up on the seat beside her.

"I don't know." He teased back. "You're not just using me for a surrogate sister are you? Or am I just another airline pillow to you?"

Anne began to giggle at him. "Maybe. Maybe not." She teased back.

They were quiet for a minute before Chris spoke. "Tell me something about yourself Anne." He asked.

"What do you want to know?"

"I don't know. Tell me about where you live. Tell me about your sister. Tell me something to get to know you better."

"My sister and I live in a small farming community called Rykene. It's south west of Oslo near the city of Arendal. We have some land there, surrounding our home that we lease out to some of our neighbours to farm. Our land backs onto the Nidelva river. It's very pretty. My sister and I used to swim in the side pools of it as children but it's very cold."

"What's her name?"

"Elise. Her name is Elise. She's my older sister. She's a bit of a corporate business tycoon. We have a company in Oslo that we own and run together. I prefer to work in the background staying under the radar but she likes to be in the thick of things. Likes to be in control. Sometimes I think she needs to just cut loose and relax a bit more. Have a little more fun." Anne smiled to herself. "Spend a little more time with her family and friends. A little less with work. I don't see her much these days"

She gave a half hearted smile, but there was a far away look in her eyes. He could tell there was more to what she was saying. There was both love and hurt in her words.

"You get along well with her?" He asked.

"Yes. We do. Oh, we have our differences now and again, we're sisters after all, but we take care of each other. I love her. She loves me."

"Is she as pretty as you?" He asked as calmly as he could, trying to lighten the mood.

Anne sat up looking at him with a grin. "That was pretty smooth."

"Not to bad eh?" He grinned back. "Occasionally I can slip a good line in."

She snuggled back down on his shoulder. "In answer to your question, yes. She's very pretty. At least I think so. Maybe it's just little sister envy." She giggled to herself.

"Have you lived there long?" He inquired trying to steer the discussion back on track. "You don't seem the farming type.

"We're not. But yes, I've lived there all my life. It was my parents home, and before that, my grandparents. If Elise or I ever marry and have children I suppose it will be passed on to them. We don't farm but we like to garden. We keep a lot of flower gardens around the property. It's sort of been a tradition that's passed down from my grandmother. Elise and I try to keep it up, although she doesn't have a lot of time for it. Mostly we hire a gardener to tend it." She yawned.

"It sounds beautiful." He commented.

"Hmmm." Anne confirmed quietly. "It is." She was getting sleepy again and her mind was wandering. Talking about home was making her homesick. She lay quietly in her thoughts, going through her house and gardens in her mind. Letting memories of home, both good and bad flood her consciousness. In a short while she was peacefully asleep. Chris happily followed her into slumber.

Anne awoke to a soft nudging. She opened her eyes slowly and sat up from Chris's lap, where she'd been sleeping. Jackie was there waking her.

"I'm sorry to wake you dear but we'll be landing in Oslo in a few minutes. If you could wake your friend, stow your things and put your seat up please." Jackie spoke softly.

"Thank you." Anne replied between yawns. As Jackie turned to wake a couple other passengers, Anne turned to Chris. "Hey, sleepy." She patted his knee a couple times, before nudging his shoulder.

Chris opened his eyes and was happy Anne was still there. It wasn't all a dream. She had a sleepy smile on her face that he found adorable.

"Hey, we're landing." She said, buckling up.

Chris stowed his things and prepared for landing. It was pretty uneventful. No champagne this time. The sun was almost rising and he could make out the outline of the city in the early dawn haze. They set down smoothly and taxied to the terminal. Everyone was eager to get off the plane but Chris found, for the first time in his life, he really didn't want to leave. He really enjoyed his time with Anne. There was something about her he couldn't place. He liked being with her. Yeah, she was cute, but it went beyond that. He found himself wishing the flight was another eight hours just to he could spend more time getting to know her. But the flight was over and it all ended, sadly, as Anne stood and collected her things.

Chris followed her down the aisle to exit the plane. As they got to the door, Jackie and another stewardess were there bidding everyone farewell. "Goodbye Anne. Thank you for flying with us." She beamed shaking Anne's hand.

"Thank you." Anne replied. "It was entertaining."

Jackie leaned in, still holding Anne's hand and pointing at Chris, "I'm sorry, but if I may...can I ask...how long have you two have been together...? A couple years at least?"

Anna looked at her with a surprised smile. "You're good! How'd you know?"

Jackie just shrugged and smiled. "It shows."

"Thank you for everything." Anne smiled. "Come on sweetheart, we gotta go." She took a surprised Chris by the hand and led him out.

When they were out of earshot of the planes crew, Chris turned to her. "What was that all about? Two years? We just met."

Anne let go of his hand and laughed again. "Two things. First, it made her, Jackie I mean, feel good about herself. She wanted to guess how long we'd been together. She guessed two years. If I'd said 'No you're wrong', she'd probably feel disappointed and put down that she was wrong. By saying yes it made her feel good about herself. What does it hurt anyone. We'll likely never see her again."

"You mean you don't know her? I thought she was a friend of yours. The way you talked to her, you knew her name when we got on the plane?" He looked at her with surprise.

"Nope. I just heard her name when I was boarding."

Chris shook his head laughing.

"What?" She questioned his laughter. "I like calling people by name. Especially when you've just met. It makes them feel important, like they've made an impression on you. Makes them feel good."

"You like making people feel good don't you?" Chris looked at her. "Why?"

"Why did you use Gwen's name when you were boarding?" She countered rhetorically.

She had him there, although Chris had to admit he'd never put that much thought into it. It just seemed polite or respectful to use her name. His next thought surprised him. How did she know he used Gwen's name when boarding? Had she been watching him?

Anne answered anyway. "Because it's empowering for them, makes their day just a little bit better, and in the end it makes me feel good. Makes me feel like I've helped the world in my own small way. Happiness can be infectious. But so can negativity. Which world do you want to live in?"

"Okay, you got me there. So what's the second thing?" Chris questioned. "You said there was two things to what Jackie said."

Anne blushed a little and walked on making Chris hurry to catch up.

"Well?" he pushed.

As they exited the hallway into the terminal she pulled him aside from the stream of people exiting the plane. "She thought we were good together. So much so, that Jackie thought we'd been together for over two years." She paused grinning at him. Her eyes danced up and down revealing her nervousness.

He dared to let a smile creep across his face as the realization of her train of thought took hold.

"Wanna find out if she's right?" She grinned back.

Those glacial blue eyes burned through him with a power he'd never felt before. He felt naked and exposed. Helpless to do anything but smile at her. It took every bit of strength to stop himself from looking like a stupid teenager with his mouth hanging open in surprise. Forming words suddenly became difficult. His mouth was dry. She waited for an answer.

He felt like an idiot. One of the most delightfully beautiful women he'd ever met, just asked him out and all he had to do was say one word. One word. He began to laugh.

She looked at him with a questioning smile. "Well? Are you going to leave me hanging?"

"I'm sorry." He chuckled. "You kind of caught me off guard with that." He turned serious for a moment looking into her eyes "But I guess I should have expected it. I'm sorry Anne, but I don't think that there's any possible way..." he paused. Her smile faded and she looked down, but he continued, "...that I could ever say no to you."

She looked up in surprise to find his face inches from her own staring back at her. His eyes were a beautiful green she noted.

"You're amazing." He whispered.

Her face lit up with a grin. Putting a hand on his cheek she closed the distance and did what she had been dying to do for hours. It was soft, gentle, and just a little bit moist. Perhaps a bit more brief than she wanted but it left her wanting more. For a first kiss, it was pretty damn good. It ended abruptly though, when Anne's bag slipped from her fingers, hitting the ground with a thud, and startling them both. They both pulled back and laughed a bit awkwardly.

As she looked up, Anne saw the flight crew exiting the hall and Jackie was in the middle smiling at her. She gave Anne a wink and waved. Anne blushed, grinning, and waved back. She turned and looked back into those green eyes.

"Well...?" He questioned.

"Well what?" She too felt like a little school girl, shy and awkward all of a sudden. She didn't know how to stand, where to put her hands. Why the heck was that even important?

"Where do we go from here? Our flight is done. We have lives to go to." He smiled.

"We figure it out. Together. We're good together, remember?" She joked. "Just ask anyone on the plane."

"Dinner tonight?" He asked.

"No. I'm sorry, I can't." Her eyes betrayed her disappointment with herself. "I'm having dinner with friends. I'd invite you but it's not my place so I don't feel right about it. Sorry. Tomorrow?" She asked.

"I can't. I'm having dinner with some if my associates. How 'bout the day after?" He chuckled.

"That works." She said simply.

"The day after." He confirmed. "Thank you."

"For what?" She questioned quietly.

"For making me feel good." He smiled at her.

Anne smiled back and looked down with her hands still on his chest. She took a breath and stepped back. "Call me." She pressed a business card to his chest and wrote something on the back before slipping into his breast pocket and padding it. "Just in case." She slipped a hand behind his head, pulled him in and kissed him. Hard. His world began to spin.

Anne kept her face close to his when their lips parted and let out a deep breath. Looking into his eyes she gave him one more quick peck before picking up her bag and turned to leave.

Chris leaned back against the wall and watched her walk away. She turned once flashing him that smile he loved so much, waved and blew him a kiss before she was gone. He sighed considering all that happened in the last several hours. He felt like collapsing on the floor, he suddenly realized his legs were shaking and he was sweating.

It was hard to believe this was happening. He'd often heard his coworkers regale tales of their pick up conquests, one night stands and the like. That just wasn't him. He'd never asked anyone out without getting to know them at least a little bit first. He wasn't that type of guy nor did he usually have the confidence to move so quickly on someone. But, he reasoned, if one were to argue the point, it was Anne that made the first move anyways, perhaps accidentally and amongst some subtle flirting. But one could argue it was she that picked him up. That thought led him to another unsettled thought. Was she one of these types that picked up men all the time? Was he just the next conquest for her? Although he didn't really know for certain, it didn't seem likely. That wasn't the personality he saw on the plane. It was silly paranoid thoughts like this that always plagued him. A beautiful woman found him attractive and wanted his number. Therefore there must be something wrong with her, right?

Chris cleared his mind and decided he was overthinking this. She was a nice girl. All he had to do was play it out and see where it leads. Give her the benefit of the doubt. "Don't ruin it before it's even started." he told himself.

Chris took a few minutes to catch his breath and then worked his way through customs, collected his luggage and exited the airport. He flagged a cab, and after some rough translating and pointing to a hotel on a map, the cabby delivered him to his new residence for the next few days.