I know you won't take anymore of my excuses, what with it being another three weeks plus to update. but actually, belive it or not, I was, again away from the computer another three weeks. I was in Europe. On a tour. oh yes, I can feel the pity raining down on me in great torrents of... pity. but no! pity me not! pity only yourself because I was so... away. This isn't helping my case. Actually do pity me! Ionly got three reviews last chapter! tear oh how the mighty have fallen. I was really starting to enjoy those many reviews. I gues that none else is really going onto the Incredibles page anymore. I understand. I guess. Here's the damn chapter. next chapter up soon. I excited about what is to come, Benjemin isn't coming in for another few chapters (sorry), but when he's in it, he'll play a big part.(yay) right. Chapter. Read.

I had to catch the bus at 9:30, in order that I could catch my plane on time, so I set the alarm to go off at 7:30. And… then stayed up all night waiting for it to ring. Finally at around 5:47, I got sick of just sitting in bed pretending to sleep, and leapt from beneath the covers. I checked my luggage to see if I had packed everything, took a shower, checked my luggage again, got dressed, ate breakfast, tried to read a book, checked my luggage again and sat down on my bed. Then the alarm went off. Unfortunately, now that the stupid machine had finally decided to grace us with its obnoxious song, I was already completely ready to go. So now I was no longer waiting for the alarm, but rather for the time to be 9:00 so I could leave the apartment and make my way to the bus.

I flopped onto my bed in frustration, and somehow fell asleep.

The next thing I knew, Richard was waking me up.

"Anzhelika! What are you doing? It's 9:15!" I shot out of my bed and out of my room so quickly one would have thought that my power was super speed, and before Richard knew what was happening, I had grabbed my luggage and was running as fast as possible (which wasn't very fast at all, for my luggage was heavy and it didn't have wheels) out the apartment door.

"Wait! Anzhelika! Wait for me!" But by the time Richard had struggled with his jacket and managed to get it onto the correct arms I was already dashing out the building's entrance two stories down.

Because of my heavy luggage, Richard quickly caught up with me, but rather than allowing me to carry it all myself, he helped me by grabbing one of the handles. He did this without even thinking, as though common decency dictated he do so. At that moment I realized that I really would miss my adoptive father. This certainly was not the first time I would be away from him, but for some reason, being across the ocean made the distance seem so much farther, and the time away doubly long. Carrying the weight of the bag between us allowed us to hobble along the street side at a slightly more agreeable pace, but even so, we arrived just as the bus was loading up. The driver yelled at me that I was late, shoved my bag under the bus, and ushered me into the vehicle before I could even get two words of apology out. Just as we were pulling away it occurred to me that in all the rush of the morning, I hadn't said a proper goodbye to Richard. Suddenly panicked, I stumbled and tripped my way to the back of the bus and knelt on the empty back seat. Richard was still staring in shock at the bus and when I appeared in the large rectangular window, his face lit up with a glorious joy. I waved sadly at him.

"Goodbye Richard." I said softly, "my… father." I looked back until we turned a corner and I could no longer see him then I collapsed into the proper direction of my seat slapping tears from my face. I didn't understand these tears; wasn't I going to be seeing Richard again in just one weeks? I had thought so, but suddenly I wasn't so sure. Something made me want to scream at the driver to stop the bus so I could get off and run home. For a moment I forgot the show, forgot sense, forgot everything; all that mattered to me in that moment was being safe and secure in my green and pink room. Then my mind kicked back in. I banished these ridiculous thoughts and got my self settled back into my original seat. Everything was going to be fine, just… fine.

My tickets were for another airport that was less crowded than the one in San Francisco. Unfortunately the other one was two hours away, so I might as well have just gone to the San Francisco one and it would have taken the same amount of time. As my mother used to say, 'you can buy six eggs, or half a dozen, but the price will be the same.' The thought of my mother made me sad again, which made me angry. Why on earth was I hopping from one sad thought to the next? What was this foreboding feeling? This was supposed to be a great adventure.

When we finally arrived at the airport I was already so exhausted that I couldn't possibly imagine being in another enclosed space for a further thirteen hours. I could tell it would be no great adventure, or at least not an adventure that would be particularly amusing. I checked my baggage, and found my gate, with no difficulty at all but now I could only sit and wait for the thirty-five minutes before the plane was set to arrive. I sat on one of the uncomfortable benches and waited for a bored stupor to set in.

But just as my stupor was graciously taking over my body, I heard a creature of pure and resplendent evil say in it's most courteous and darling of voices,

Dingdingding

"Nonstop flight to the city of Prague, number 1065, will be delayed today," I looked in horror at my ticket. It read in big bold letters "flight number 1065". Maybe I misheard, maybe she hadn't said 106- "I repeat, Nonstop flight to the city of Prague, number 1065, will be delayed today, we apologize for any inconveniences, and wish you all a pleasant flight with Morticum airlines. "

Dingdingding

"Ugh!" I fell onto the bench so I could lie down, but much to my surprise felt my head plunge onto someone's lap. I opened my eyes and looked into a severe pair of angrily flashing blue ones, surrounded by the face of an ugly girl.

"Oh! Hello." I said as I hurriedly sat up. The girl only raised a manicured eyebrow and smiled as one smiles upon a child who has just gone and scraped her knee and begs for sympathy.

"Hello." She said affectedly, as she expanded her smile one last stretch and looked away. Upon closer inspection, the girl was not ugly at all, only the expression on her face had made her seem so. She was in fact quite pretty, almost beautiful, with a long slender neck, full lips, and gently waving chestnut colored hair. Only her strong jaw and broad forehead kept her from being classically beautiful.

The girl stifled an exaggerated yawn and flashed me that affected smile again, this time apologetically.

"Ugh" she sighed, "this is my second flight today, and I am just so tired, I don't know how I'm ever going to survive. I'm from LA you see." There was a pause, then she, frustrated with my lack of response pressed further, "Are you from around here?" a direct question. One cannot ignore a direct question. With and inward sigh I condescended to respond.

"No, I'm not" I said shortly. She tilted her head and gave me a pretty little enquiring pout, tilted heads, like direct questions, can also not be ignored, so I elaborated further. "I am… from San Francisco. I took a bus here this morning." I was tired and nervous about what Prague would bring, and cruelly, I considered myself above this girl, I did not want to talk to her, so I had hoped that this would end the conversation. But alas, the girl smiled wider and ever more graciously,

"Ah, that would explain why you look so… disheveled, you poor dear" the comment triggered two things, the first was the thought, 'ah, she's a model' the second was my patented sweet half smile accompanied by a shrug. All nervousness, all lethargy, all disdain for the girl next to me went out the window; the moment I felt the weak sting of the white glove it was time to play the game. Fortunately for me I knew her game. Unfortunately for her, I was one of the best at it.

"Well," I said appraising her hair, "I am lucky though, I mean that I had time to comb my hair at least a little bit."

Her eyes flashed with jealousy, while she gathered her pride and prepared for another attack to bring me down. We played this cruel game until it was time to board the plane. She played with wide obnoxious grins, and pretentious laughter, I with sly smiles and lowered eyes. She was the bunny-rabbit with very sharp teeth, I the emerald snake beneath the bed of flowers.

I stood the very moment our plane arrived, my carry-on already on my back,

"I suppose this is goodbye," I said offering the girl a sweet smile. Before she had even completed her calculated grin, I was in the front of the line presenting my ticket and walking down the retractable hallway towards the plane. I was one of the very first people on the plane and as such, I had time to stow my bag in the upper compartment without lines of people waiting in suspense behind me. I did so at a leisurely pace, and sat in my large spacious chair right next the window. First class, was a truly beautiful thing, especially since I didn't have to think about what it was doing to my finances. While I was far from poverty stricken at this point in my life, I still remembered the days of bologna sandwiches, and so made a point to live in relative frugality; it always made me nervous to spend too much of my money. But seeing as I had been given these tickets, I felt no shame in enjoying the benefits money had to offer. Maybe this wasn't going to be such a long flight after all. Warmed by these thoughts, I smiled out the window. I was startled from my reverie by a long-nailed tap on the shoulder.

"Excuse me m- oh! It's you! What a coincidence! This is my seat right here! I was going to ask you to pass my pillow." I stared with barely masked astonishment. It was the ugly-beautiful girl from the anteroom!

"What a coincidence indeed," I said. Wide-eyed I passed her the requested object and looked back out the window. This was going to be a long flight, a very long flight indeed.