As their flight wasn't until ten in the morning, there was a lot of hurry up and wait at the airport, so Alexis made sure that she was prepared. The moment they'd checked their baggage through and they were on the other side of security, they'd made a bee-line straight for the lounge and Alexis had purchased a couple of small bottle of Napoleon Chaud, then coffee for them both and slipped in some of the brandy into Shane's. She watched him take a sip, sigh in rustration.
'It sucks that I have to get lit up like Diwali just to make it onto a plane,' he grumbled.
'Why is that? Did you have a near-miss or something like that?'
'No. I just really don't like the idea of a goose getting sucked through an engine and plummeting to the ocean in a fiery ball of death. And even if you do survive between hypothermia and investigative-minded sharks, how long would you survive in the wild anyways before rescue came?'
'There aren't any geese, it's not like what happened to that flight that landed on the Hudson.'
'Okay, theory two. We get caught in a wind-pocket or cyclone of some kind.'
'We're too far north. We're flying over Iceland.'
Shane laughed, sipped his spiked coffee. 'I didn't eat much for breakfast, this is already getting to my head I think.'
'Then you'll have regular coffee after it's done.' Alexis looked at him with what she hoped wasn't a condescending smile. 'You made it to England and back once before when the weather was much worse. This is going to be no different.'
'Shh, you'll jinx it.'
Alexis fished around in her laptop bag, pulled out her card-game version of Monopoly; it had proven to be an excellent time killer on the train to Paris after night-fall when the country-side was too dark for picture-taking. She knew it would give her boyfriend something to focus on rather than keep staring down the 'Now Boarding' signs, and they played a few hands, even included the elderly couple on their way back to Chicago by way of New York.
It was only when Alexis saw on her watch that it was almost eleven in the morning - over an hour past the time they were supposed to be backing away from the gate and taxiing down the runway. 'Don't look at my cards,' she told Shane, who was a little bit more into the bottle, as she went over to the kiosk for their gate to the flight attendant.
'We're supposed to be on the American Airways flight one-two-one-six non-stop to LaGuardia in New York, is there a reason for this delay?'
'One moment, please, miss.'
The flight attendant checked her computer, shook her head. 'The message here says that your flight has yet to be called due to mechanical difficulties.'
'Okay. When will we know something more?'
'I will find out and make an announcement when I have information,' the flight attendant replied with the placid smile that seemed to be a job requirement for everyone in her field of work, leaving Alexis with a sick grind in her stomach. Shane was not going to like this - he already had problems on perfectly one-hundred percent green-light flights. Hearing that their plane had mechanical difficulties was going to send him off the deep end and truly give them a test of the strength of their relationship.
Sure enough, the moment she sat back down beside him, Shane's aviophobic radar went on red alert. 'What? What is it? I know something is up.'
'All she said was that there was mechanical difficulties and there will be an announcement when they have something to report.'
'Oh man. Where's the brandy?'
'Shane, getting drunk will not make waiting easier.'
'Fuck that, it will make me feel better. And it's not getting drunk, it's just a splash. See?' Shane tipped the bottle for all of two seconds into his Diet Coke. 'There's more booze in a chocolate rum cake than this.'
'Alright, alright.' Not wanting to fight when he was so clearly agitated and not thinking right, Alexis turned her attention back to the card game. 'Eleanor, I believe it was your turn.'
Twenty-minutes later, there was an announcement asking all ticket-holders for their flight to line up, which seemed to appease Shane - in his mind, lining up was one step closer to the plane taking off - but Alexis could still feel the slick sickness in her gut. She'd flown enough times to know when things were really going south, but she had to maintain herself no matter how freaked out she felt because if she lost it, she was certain that her big bad pathologist who handled dead bodies for a living would break down sobbing.
Her gut turned out to be right, as she held Shane's hand and watched as some people were turned away while others went through the gate, and they saw people walking back down the line with tears streaming from their faces.
'I don't like this,' he muttered to her. 'What is this, what is going on?'
'I don't know. But you're doing so awesome, Shane.'
'Don't talk to me like I'm your brother, Alexis,' he said tightly, and she bit her lip to hold in the chuckle.
'Of course not.'
They made it to the front of the line and hand over the passes. The groundsman, whom they hadn't seen owing to the sea of people in front of them, looked at the names on their tickets and passports, checked it against his list and nodded.
'You're now in seats AA-fifteen and AA-sixteen. You will be entering through the platinum-class cabin.'
'Thank you.'
Alexis looped her arm through Shane's not only to comfort them both but to make sure the eighty-proof didn't go to his head. They wound their way down the hallway, found two more flight attendants by the platinum-class ticket-holder's entrance. She stopped, passed their boarding passes to one while the other scanned her clipboard.
'Yes, you are in AA-fifteen and AA-sixteen. Pia will escort you.'
Pia, the petite flight attendant who'd scanned their tickets, ushered them to their new seats; as she did Alexis asked the question on everyone's mind. 'Why were we so delayed and why are some people not getting on the plane?'
'I'm not at liberty to say, miss, the captain is going to address the flight once we're underway. In the meantime, can I bring you a drink?'
'Double scotch on ice with a straw,' Shane replied instantly.
'He's not a good flier. I'll have a sparkling water,' Alexis added, earning a sympathetic look from Pia.
'Of course.'
Alexis looked at their seats - they were on the starboard window side, right by the flaps of the wing, and because it was a much smaller plane they were the only two seats in their section. The middle held five across and then there was another two on the port-side windows as well.
'Babe, you want the window seat or you mind if I take it?'
'It's all you.' Shane tucked up his knees to let her pass. 'What'd Pia say about the fight challenge?'
'You mean the flight change?'
'Yeah, that thing.'
'The captain's addressing everyone once we're on our way. You feeling alright?'
'Nope.' He shook his head, just like RJ would Alexis thought, a scared little boy. 'But I have you to hold my hand an' that's pretty very really alright.'
'You gonna try and sleep?'
'Maybe. I wanna know why we're so not on schedule.'
It was still another thirty-minutes to get everyone loaded onto the plane; while they waited Pia brought their water and scotch, and because Alexis knew Shane would gulp it down like Kool-Aid, she poured half her bottle of Perrier into his glass. He didn't even notice it, she thought, watching him slurp it up through his straw and praying it had a placebo effect.
By the time they were on the move, Shane had gone from being a childish half-drunk to a mute one, a slight improvement as it meant she didn't have to worry when he went to take a pre-takeoff leak on his own. When he came back to their seats, Alexis could see he was looking a little more clear headed and had to wonder if he'd sicked up any of the booze he'd so gleefully consumed.
'Alexis, in case I'm a total asshole on this flight, I love you so much, you're a saint to put up with a grown-man acting like this over an airplane flight.'
'Everyone has their thing. I don't like cruise-ships, so you'd be doing the same thing for me if we went on a Caribbean cruise. And I love you too.'
The seat-belt sign flashed on, and the captain's voice came on the intercom system.
'Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, first off I want to begin by apologizing for the delay. The original plane intended for this flight was hit by another taxiing plane on the runway this morning during its pre-flight check. The only people on board were the captains and one was taken to hospital for minor non-life threatening injuries. As a result of this, we essentially had to have a lottery, as this plane is one-hundred and fifty seats smaller than our original plane.'
'Well, that explains it, I'm glad no one was injured,' Alexis said.
'It was probably that icy slush they said we got overnight here,' Shane commented, surprised at how calm his voice was while the captain continued to address his passengers.
'American Airways would like to thank you for your patience while we've sorted the situation out and we will be taking off momentarily. The time is twelve-thirty-three local time and the temperature is plus-two degrees Celcius or thirty-four Fahrenheit. If at any time you have any concerns please speak with one of our flight attendants and thank you for choosing American Airways.'
The wings hummed mechanically, and Alexis watched as the flaps were adjusted and they began to move forward. She looked down, saw Shane had covered her hand with his, and patted his tense knuckles. 'There, see? Everything is going to be just fine.'
R&R&Enjoy
