Hour Six


Don yawned and pinched the bridge of his nose, craning his neck to get a better view of the aisles and trying to catch a glimpse of his brunette seat mate. It had already been ten minutes since she had gotten up to the restroom so she could brush her teeth ("I'm pretty high-maintenance." Liz had told him earlier. "It's absolutely disgusting when people don't take showers or brush their teeth, I can't stand it." Don was like that in a way as well, but he hadn't brushed his teeth yet, and should probably do that soon) and she still had not returned. Where is she?

And although they were on a plane (which was an arguably safe place to be, although Don could certainly beg to differ), he couldn't help but start to worry about her, if she was alright.

Maybe I'm just worrying too much. She's probably fine, I shouldn't be concerned.

Concerned for who? A stranger?

Don scoffed in spite of himself, leaning back against the headrest. His morality was getting the best of him, but to be completely honest, he didn't really care.

And now he found himself wondering what would happen after the flight, when they landed. Would they even see each other ever again? True, they were both FBI agents based in D.C., but it still wasn't a sure thing that they'd be working with each other any time soon.

Should I get her number? Don contemplated to himself. Or would that just be wrong? Technically speaking, we are in a way somewhat colleagues who work for the same group of people.

But his thoughts were interrupted by Liz, who had finally returned and was standing in the aisle, looking weary.

"Hey, sorry. The line was long." she explained briefly as Don got up to let her in to her seat.

"No worries. I was just wondering was taking you so long. Glad you're fine though." he answered, sitting back down and turning off the overhead light, which was still left switched on from their Candy Crush/Crossy Road 'tournament' (alright, after that Don will admit that today had been the most fun he'd ever had on a plane before).

Liz shuddered while getting settled in. "Those washrooms are horrible. Believe me, I wouldn't have gone if I didn't have to, but I just can't bear to not brush my teeth. It's disgusting if you don't."

"Yeah, planes are horrible." he brought up that same point once again.

They both sat there quietly, deep in their own respective thoughts.

"Ugh." Liz randomly broke the silence, looking out of the window. "Talk about a pretty bad case of cabin fever."

"Yep."

It was then that Don noticed that their conversation was going nowhere, and they were clearly getting quite bored. He glanced over at Liz, who had her legs tucked to her chest and was looking up with a blank face, and concluded that she would probably agree.

So then he had an idea.

"Come on, Liz." Don said, standing up and stretching his arms.

She turned her head to face him, blinking a few times to adjust to the brightness of the middle of the cabin. "What?"

"Come on, as in get up, let's take a walk." He leaned against the seat and crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow.

Liz scoffed in disbelief. "You're joking."

"I'm not. I swear, I'll even leave now without you. I don't care how tired you are, we're going."

"Go ahead." she was making a grumpy face, which was totally adorable and was making him laugh.

"Liz, come on. Maybe by then you'll be so tired out you'll be able to sleep. Plus I hear if you sit too long your circulation can get cut off." He looked at her expectantly (and the fact about your circulation getting cut off was one-hundred percent real; Don read it in the safety card just before takeoff).

She took one last irritated look at her surroundings and then finally sat up. "Fine. But if the plane starts shaking if we pass through some clouds or something, we're going back immediately."

"Alright, alright." he snickered, helping her out of the small confined space.

She brushed herself off, and then stood facing Don, hands on her hips as if waiting for further direction. "Okay. Where do we go now, Agent? Let's see, do you want to check out the galley in the back and try some of their gourmet food. Or maybe we can even pay a visit to the front of the plane, how exciting!"

It took everything he had to not laugh at her sass and sarcasm, especially with how her hand was perched on her hip, and her raised eyebrows, and those blue eyes. . .

Snap out of it, Don, he stopped himself before he could get lost in those beautiful blue eyes again. Focus.

"Follow me." he said, pretending to act cocky as he strode forward down the aisle, Liz right behind him.

"This is the dumbest idea you've come up with so far, Don." Liz said, although there was a hint of jest in her voice. "And in the course of the six hours I've known you and we've been on this plane, you've had a lot."

Don just laughed.

It was tricky, Don would admit, to walk through the aisle without stepping on someone's foot or bumping into their seat, and he was sure that he had stepped on maybe at least five outstretched legs by the time they had reached the galley in the front of the plane.

"Sometimes I wish that people would have some decency and tuck their bags away from the aisle," Liz huffed, catching up to Don by the galley.

Just then two flight attendants walked by and nearly rolled their cart stocked up with food right over Liz and Don's feet.

"And that flight attendants were a little bit more aware of their surroundings." she added under her breath. "I told you this wasn't a good idea."

"Well would you rather be cramped up back in our seats as that kid would kick the back of your seat?" Don challenged mischeviously as they continued to carefully weave their way through the aisle.

Liz tilted her head in acknowledgement. "Point taken."

After lingering in the front of the plane for a little while they decided to go back up to their seats except take the long way round on the other side of the plane (to Liz's annoyance, of course).

They walked in silence, except for the occasional grunt or sigh that came from Liz , who became especially fired out after a teenage boy purpously stuck his foot out into the aisle and nearly tripped Liz, who was doing her best to walk at a brisk pace through the tiny aisle.

When they had reached the back of the plane Liz sighed in relief and was just about to approach the flight attendants for some ice cream ("I'm hungry, alright?" she had grumbled) when the entire plane suddenly swerved to the left, causing Liz to be practically thrown against Don, grabbing his arms for balance on impulse while pushing him against the wall, their faces incredibly close.

Just then a father and his young daughter entered the galley, and then quickly backtracked out of there just as fast as they had come in, earning both Liz and Don a disapproving stare from the father.

It took them both more than a second to register (especially Liz, it seemed, as she had stayed pressed up against Don for a while) what it looked like they were doing.

"Oh. Wow, um, sorry." Liz slowly took her hands off of his arms and removed herself from him, embarrassed and bashful.

Don's face grew red and bashful, knowing that an extremely attractive woman had just been pushed up against him, literally, and hoped that she wouldn't notice how he had sort of. . . enjoyed it.

Well, that was something. . .

They awkwardly avoided each other's glances just as the plane made a sudden jolt to the right, and Liz was wiser this time to lean against the wall itself for support.

"Sorry to interrupt folks, we are encountering some minor turbulence. . ." the captain announced over the P.A.

No kidding.

"Well, uh, we should probably head back to our seats now, before it happens again." Liz said, trying to hide her grin but failing.

"Yeah." Don agreed absentmindedly, following Liz back down the aisle and to their seats (this time without tripping over anything), his heart still beating faster than it should.

"That was quite a walk. And quite some turbulence." And I don't think we'll be doing that again. Don said shyly, sneaking a look at Liz, who just smiled with a raise of the eyebrow.

"I'll say."


A/N: Thanks as always for the follows/favorites/reviews! Only three more chapters left to go!