"Do you really have to go?" Roxanna asked as they cleared security a few days later. He sighed as he nodded, knowing that this was going to be much harder than he had imagined. They were so close to spending the rest of their lives together, that these little separations just seemed to get exponentially more difficult each time they occurred.

"Well, I'm at the airport, my luggage has been checked in, and now there really isn't a way for me to turn back." Roxanna nodded as they slowly walked to his gate, her hand clasping his tightly, squeezing it in random intervals as they got closer and closer to the gate. "Just think, you'll be home for spring break, and we'll visit then, and then I'll be coming over for your graduation, and will bring you home with me."

"When you put it that way, it doesn't seem too long, does it?" He could tell that she was trying to hold it together, but was perilously close to breaking down in front of him. As they reached his gate, he allowed his satchel to fall to the floor as he puled her into a tight hug, knowing that was what she needed in that moment, even if he wasn't the most comfortable with the very public display of affection. Roxanna nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck as she tried to take a few deep breaths, and then she just lost control of her emotions, bursting into tears as she tightened her arms around his waist. "I'm sorry, I'm just missing you already."

"Shh, darling, I understand, but if you cry so hard, you'll make yourself sick, and you don't want to be sick in public. Do you?" he murmured as he ran his fingers through her hair, trying to calm her down a little as they continued to embrace. He deliberately began to take slow, deep, breaths, knowing that she would eventually sync breaths with him.

"Thank you," she said lowly as she let go of him, looking at him through spiky eyelashes. "I love you."

"I love you, too," he replied, feeling the weight of his mother's ring in his trouser pocket. He knew that it was now or never, but he still didn't know of the right way to ask her to become a permanent part of his life, when he knew that they would be together until the end of time. Smiling at her, he reached up and swiped away the remnants of her tears before leaning down and kissing her possessively. The announcements for his flight began as their kiss ended, and he pulled away to look into her eyes. "Call me tomorrow, and we'll talk."

"You'll be at work!"

"I asked for the late shift, since I knew I might have a bit of jetlag to deal with. I land at eight, I'll be home by nine, and I have to work at four. If you call at 9:15, we'll have forty five minutes to talk before I have to get a few hours of sleep. Okay?"

She nodded as the announcement for his rows came over the loudspeaker. Knowing that this was the least romantic way of proposing, and that Serena would rib him for ages if she ever heard the story of this, he wondered if it was right. Still, he knew that he couldn't return to England without giving her the ring, and so he slipped his hand into his pocket and closed his fingers around the band before taking hold of Roxanna's hand and pressing the ring into it as he gave her one last, tender, kiss. Turning and hurrying down the jetway, he could almost swear he heard her yell, "Henrik, it's a yes!" as he stepped onto the plane.

Chuckling a little, he found his seat, grateful that he had gotten a window seat once again, and he instinctively looked towards the airport, wondering if he could see his Roxanna in the windows. To his surprise, he could just barely make her out, and he waved a little, watching her nod before pointing to her ring finger, showing that she had slipped the ring into place. Henrik nodded and then pressed his hand against the plastic window, watching as she did the same.

They stayed like that until his plane began to taxi away from the gate, and he found his heart lurching in his chest with the thought that Roxanna had said yes to him, without really saying a word. They had a future together, and she had just cemented that for him by her showing off the ring. Unable to stop the quick tears that came to his eyes, Henrik curled up against the window and buried his chin in his chest, trying to keep his crying as silent as possible so as not to arouse the attention of anyone near him.

Still, a kind, quiet, hand reached into his space, holding out a delicate linen handkerchief to him until he took hold of it. Without saying a word, the person next to him withdrew their hand, allowing him to clean up the tracks of his grief before he went to hand the handkerchief back to the woman. "Keep it," she murmured, giving him an understanding smile. He nodded a little before turning back to the window, pulling down the blind before stuffing the too thin pillow between the wall of the plane and his head.

Sleep was elusive, however, as his mind started to run down rabbit trails about the ramifications of what he had done. Though he had seen Roxanna with the ring on her hand, there was still the chance that she could change her mind, that she had only accepted out of pity, and that when she got back to the apartment, she'd realise that she had made a huge mistake, and then he'd get the ring returned to him in the mail, and never hear from her again. And without her, how would he ever think about getting custody of Fredrik. In his mind's eye, he could see everything that he had worked for turning to ashes and rust before he had even had the chance to be happy, and he pursed his lips tightly so as not to sob aloud. A part of him knew that he was being ridiculous, but he couldn't fight the negative voices in his head.

Finally, he screwed his eyes tightly closed and forced himself to think of nothing, to focus on letting his breaths even out, so that he could jump into the blissful arms of sleep. Henrik felt the scratchy fabric of the standard airplane blanket come to rest around his body, and he knew that his seatmate had done him a kindness once more. Sighing a little, he tugged the blanket up closer around his neck and smiled a little, relishing the gesture for all that it was worth, even if it did make him feel like he was a child once more. That brought about a new flood of painful thoughts, and he shook his head a little, trying to chase them away before diving headlong into the abyss of sleep. Still, as Henrik lost consciousness, he could feel the hounds of terrible thoughts nipping at his heels, trying to wound him even deeper than he already was.