Author's note: Sorry for the delay! Easter came and went in a flash, literally, and my holiday was over before I managed to do anything productive with it. ^^" Many thanks for the reviews, they are very encouraging. :D Do keep them coming!


Chapter 9

Hazel bit her lip nervously as she clasped her hands together tightly behind her back, trying not to fidget and draw attention to herself as their first flight lesson commenced under their strict but enthusiastic instructor for the day, Timothy Wood. It wasn't anything particularly interesting, and he was just giving them a quick briefing before giving them the opportunity to climb into the cockpit and have a feel of the controls for themselves. She wasn't exactly in the best mood to concentrate though…

"…any questions? If not, we'll split everyone up into 4 groups, and everyone will get a chance to conduct the routine safety checks before takeoff and start up the engines."

The girls were already standing in rows, so it was a convenient move to go by rows when allocating groups. Hazel's hopes lifted somewhat when she saw Tim walk towards the back of the room. He's going to take the back row. Yes, yes, please take the back row

She didn't dare to turn her head to see where he ended up, but she could hear movement behind her as the instructors took up positions at the head of their respective rows. Hazel risked a glance at the instructor for her group when he came and took up his position. Her heart sank for a second, then started pumping in an increasingly wild rhythm as she panicked.

It was him. Why? WHY?

Why did he have to choose the second row?

Gabby looked sympathetically at Hazel's stiff back in front of her, shook her head and quietly turned to follow her group out the door towards their plane, which was sitting in the hangar at the far right nearest to the runway. For once, someone had worse luck than her, and she wasn't sure if she was allowed to feel happy about it.


On the way to their plane, Hazel stared at the neck of the girl in front of her, dreading the moment when it was her turn. She had looked forward to getting into the cockpit for real ever since she signed up, and had dreamt of countless possibilities of how it would be like when she finally got to do it.

Never in her wildest dreams did she think she was going to end up in this situation. Yes, she wanted to find her brother and see that he was safe, but she planned to do that from afar, not…like this.

Her breathing steadily quickened as the line in front of her became shorter. All the girls were so enthusiastic about getting into the cockpit that each of them took longer than they should, but time still flew by in Hazel's opinion. Soon, the orange rays of the setting sun were dancing across the shiny metal hull of the planes as the day drew to a close, and finally, it was her turn.

Watching as the girl who was queuing in front of her skip happily down the steps of the short ladder leading to the cockpit, Hazel gulped. She could already imagine what it was going to be like, but she had to go through with this. She could only be thankful that the safety regulations were made such that no one was allowed near 20 feet of an aircraft with its engines on, so she still had that little bit of distance to make herself ready.

Squaring her shoulders, she started on her dreaded journey towards that plane, where her brother waited.

"What took you so long…" Tim pretended to complain as he turned around to greet his last student for the day, then the rest of the sentence lodged in his throat as he stared at the girl in front of him.

Hazel felt a slight tinge of bitterness as she watched the friendly light in his eyes shift into shock and disbelief, only to be replaced with that cold detachment that she was only too familiar with. However, now that she looked at him up close, she couldn't help noticing that he was a lot thinner than she remembered, and the bandage around his neck…she wanted so much to know what happened, whether it still hurt him, but she couldn't. She couldn't say a word.

"Get started." Tim said with a stone face, then turned back to his controls.

Curt and crisp, as usual.

"Sorry, sir." She said stiffly, sitting down and started to strap herself into the seat so that she didn't have to look at him.

The stony silence hung uncomfortably in the air as each tried to look busy fumbling with pieces of equipment, looking everywhere but at each other.

After the initial surprise and shock, it didn't take too long for the old feelings of anger and irritation to resurface, and it took Tim all his self control to stop himself from getting up and leaving.

What was she doing here? Didn't she know why he left home in the first place? How could she…The cockpit was his last sanctuary, the last place he could go where he wouldn't be reminded of…how his family was broken up, where he wouldn't see evidence of their existence every corner he turned.

And now, SHE was sharing HIS cockpit.

Why wouldn't she leave him alone?

Hazel could feel the tension building on the other side of the cockpit, and she laughed miserably at herself. He still hated her alright, that much was obvious. Well, she should get this going then, just so they could get it over and done with, and get out of each other's faces.

With that in mind, she started running through the set of actions she had rehearsed in her room countless times, running a hand along the knobs and levers to check that they were in the right positions, checking the fuel…

When she was done with her preflight check, her "instructor" was still zoning out. Rolling her eyes, she stuck out a tongue at him while he wasn't looking, then held her breath as she reached for the knob to turn on the engines.

Tim yelped when the engines suddenly whirred to life, instinctively laying his hand on the brake lever and heaved a sigh of relief when he found that it was still engaged. He turned and glared at the culprit, but before he could say anything, she calmly reached over and turned off the engines, and there was again silence in the cockpit.

"I'm done, sir."

Tim blinked, then coughed awkwardly as he realised he hadn't been paying much attention to what she was doing and so could not give any constructive feedback on her performance. "Good," he managed to say, but she had already unstrapped herself and was swinging herself out of the cockpit onto the ladder outside.

Halfway through, Hazel stopped. "You should write home, Dad's worried." And without a backward glance, she slipped down the ladder and fled.

When she was safely hidden in a toilet cubicle, Hazel finally gave in to the desire to cry. That brief glimpse of friendliness and warmth she'd seen in his eyes just before he recognized her kept surfacing in her mind, until it was all she could think about, all she could see.

Her brother had the most beautiful eyes in the world. Green…like his mother's, while she was stuck with the dull brown from her mother's side of the family. She'd seen how those green eyes were capable of shining with laughter and happiness…as long as he was not looking at her. For once, in that moment, that warmth and happiness had been directed at her, only to change immediately when he realised who she was. Hazel found herself wishing that moment had lasted longer, and it was such a pitiful wish it made her feel pathetic.

He had no right to treat her the way he did, she never did anything to deserve it.

She just wanted to be a true part of his family. Was that wrong?


Beside the plane, Tim stood motionless as he watched Hazel disappear into the building, his green eyes dark with conflict as he clenched his hand into a fist at his side.

Her last words rang in his ears. Dad's worried. She hadn't mentioned her mother, nor had she tried to call him Brother. She just mentioned Dad, the only one he still remotely cared about in that family, but had left without giving him any information or news. She must have done that on purpose, just to make him talk to her.

A pang of guilt struck his heart as he thought of the many letters his father had written him over the years, which he had never replied…Tim shook his head and sighed. There were so many reasons why he left home, and his father being against him becoming a pilot in the army was just one of them. He didn't think that his years away had made his father approve of his career decision, and he didn't want to create any opportunities for his father to have a row with him over it.

And besides, writing to his father about the things he was getting up to in the army wasn't going to put his mind at ease in any way. Absentmindedly, Tim reached up and felt the edges of the bandage around his neck. The events leading up to that particular injury was still fresh on his mind, as clear as if it was only yesterday…

Annoyed at the direction where his thoughts were going, Tim turned and walked with big strides towards the canteen, where he knew the rest of his friends were waiting for him. Food never failed to cheer him up, and since Hazel had gone off in the opposite direction, he wouldn't be seeing her there, which was good…his mind drifted back to the lesson he just had with Hazel. She had been extremely polite and professional in her behaviour, almost as if it was the first time they were meeting each other, and somehow, something about that made him feel uncomfortable.

She hadn't tried to cling onto him like she used to, or strike up a conversation, or even smile at him. Hazel always smiled whenever she saw him, without fail, even if he never returned the smile, so the absence of her signature smile was exceptionally obvious.

Maybe she finally realised he was never going to accept her as a sister and had given up trying?

Tim stopped at the last corner before he reached the canteen. He could already hear the noise from all those pilots trying to talk over each other. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to clear his mind and focus on dinner. Then, with his usual cheerful smile on his face, he stepped out into the light. It didn't take long for him to spot his friends sitting around a table nearest to the food, as expected. A genuine grin spread across his face as he walked towards them, and he couldn't help but laugh at the amount of food they had hoarded on their plates.

Sitting down on the chair they left for him, Tim rubbed his hands gleefully in anticipation as Rob Channing pushed a mountain of food towards him. He hadn't realised how hungry he was until now. Without a word, he dug in, casually listening as his friends continued talking. Or rather, gossiping.

"You see that girl over there, with the cute ponytail?" Rob nudged him in the side and gestured subtly with his thumb.

"Yeah, why?" Tim answered between mouthfuls of food, obligingly looking in the direction of Rob's thumb, and he frowned slightly. That's…her, isn't it? The girl he saw leaving the room earlier that afternoon, the one he thought looked familiar.

"She's cute, isn't she?" Rob grinned.

"Don't start, Rob. You know we're only here for a couple of weeks."

"She was quite good with the controls too, managed to get the engine started at the first try." Rob was almost preening with pride. Tim snorted and was just about to say that Hazel got the engine going at her first try too when he caught himself.

"I think they're doing a good job teaching these girls, many of them are better than I thought they would be." He ended up saying.

"Yeah, but Gabby's a bright one, I'm telling you. She'll be top of her class once they get up and start flying proper."

"Gabby?" Tim's ears perked up at the name, and immediately, his mind made a connection with a face he once knew. Blinking, Tim looked across at the girl again, and this time, he frowned in earnest. No wonder she looked familiar. She was almost like the female version of Shortie…almost identical, in fact.

"Yeah, her name's Gabrielle Connor, but she told me to call her Gabby." Rob heaved an exaggerated sigh. "Gabrielle, such a pretty name too."

She's a Connor as well?

Isn't that too much of a coincidence?

Tim chewed on his food thoughtfully. Did Shortie have a twin, by any chance? He didn't know him well enough to ask about that, but sure, he could have.

Tim made up his mind to ask the girl next time he saw her. It was none of his business, but still, it would be interesting to find out.


All throughout dinner, Gabby felt an uncomfortable prickling in the skin on the side of her neck, as if she was being watched by someone. However, every time she looked up, she couldn't see anyone looking her way. Strange…her eyes fell on a table to the right, where their new flight instructors were sat in a group, and her heart skipped a beat.

Maybe Tim had noticed her? He was seated facing her direction…

Bending down studiously over her food, Gabby quickly wolfed down the remaining food, and was just about to excuse herself from the table when she felt Nancy pull at her arm. "What?"

"Do you think I should, you know, go over and say hi to Tim?" Nancy said in a low whisper as she blushed slightly.

Gabby almost jumped back in shock. "Why would you do that?"

"Well…"

Gabby sighed and rubbed her temples. "Don't you think its a bit too obvious that you have a crush on him?"

"Hey, I never said…"

It was amusing to see the usually eloquent Nancy at a loss for words, but Gabby could only shake her head. "It's up to you, anyway." She raised her hands in surrender. "But I'm definitely not going over there."

Nancy pursed her lips. "Fine, I'll go ask Hazel."

Gabby sighed inwardly. Ha, good luck with that, Nancy. If you succeed in getting Hazel to pop over and say hi to Tim with you, I'll buy you dinner for a month.

She wisely kept her thoughts to herself though. Whatever was going on between Hazel and Tim was not something she should get involved in, unless Hazel asked for help first. She didn't want to intrude on other people's private matters, and from Hazel's reaction to Tim earlier that day, she didn't want too many people to know about her issues with Tim either, which was fine with Gabby.

It wasn't as if she was dying to get up close and personal with Tim. She'd much rather get these flight lessons over and done with, just so she can stop pretending its her first time flying and can actually get down to what she signed up for in the first place.

But before that, she's going to pray hard every night that she won't get allocated to Tim's group, ever.


Reviews? :D