Chapter 9 – Back to the Gate
The sound of the Captain's voice over the speaker system woke Sara up. She looked over at Grissom. He was still sleeping.
"Good evening ladies and gentleman. I've just been told by the control tower that it looks like it will be a while before we're able to take off. They are having all the planes taxi back to their respective gates to wait out the storm. Once we arrive at our gate, the flight attendants will pass out some drinks and snacks and I'll turn down the cabin lights. Again, I'm sorry for the delay."
Sara looked at her watch…12:30 in the morning, almost two hours after they were supposed to take off. Yawning, she put her seat up. She grabbed her book from the seat back and flipped it open, deciding to read while she waited for the flight attendant to come by. She could really use a hot cup of coffee.
The plane made its way back to their gate a few minutes later. The flight attendants were now walking down the aisle passing out snacks and taking drink orders. After giving her order for a cup of black coffee for herself and hot tea for Grissom, in the event he woke up, she took a look at him. He was sound asleep, but still shivering. Wishing that the blankets were bigger and heavier, she remembered her jacket. Since it'd been draped over the seat next to her for two hours or so, it should be dry. She removed it from the seat and covered Grissom.
As she put down the tray table for the aisle seat, the flight attendant came back with the drinks. She took them both and set Grissom's tea on the table. She took a few sips of her coffee and put it down next to the tea. She picked back up her book and continued to read.
At 1 am, the Captain came back on the speaker system. Sara closed her book. "Good evening. I'm sorry to disturb you all, but I've got some good news. We've just been given the okay to taxi out. I'm going to have the flight attendants come around and pick up any trash you have. I'll come back on once we've been cleared to take off."
Sara heard some rustling next to her. Grissom was slowly sitting up and rubbing at his neck. Seeing the jacket beginning to fall, she reached for it. Putting it across her lap, she turned to Grissom. "Hey, how are you doing?"
"I've been better." He started to cough.
"Sounds like it." She smiled at him. "Just kidding. Does your neck hurt?"
"Yeah." He continued massaging his neck. "Guess I stayed too long at that weird angle. I forgot how hard it really is to sleep on a plane. A person can never get comfortable enough in these small seats."
Sara reached for Grissom's cup of tea. "Here. I got this for you a few minutes ago…tea. I thought you might like to have something warm for your throat."
Grissom gratefully accepted the steaming cup of tea. The pain of having to swallow and talk was beginning to be too much for him, not to mention the constant tickle. He took a long sip, the warmth of the tea feeling really good on his sore raw throat. Again, he realized Sara had come to his rescue. "Thank you so much. I definitely needed this." He took another sip, and slowly breathed in the steam.
TBC