"This is actually still a decent plane," Sylvester said, taking Florence's bag and shoving it into the compartment.
"Thanks, babe," she said, easing down onto the seat next to his. "I hope we don't hit turbulence. My balance is starting to go a bit."
Sylvester nodded, still studying the cabin. "No comfortable couches, but there's a level of private space every couple chairs, so we can all sit with our spouses. And it's clean. This pleases me greatly."
"You losers can stay back here in the cabin," Toby said. "My private space is with my wife in the cockpit."
"Absolutely not," Happy said. "The owner of the plane sent along his son as the copilot, and I don't want him backing out on us last minute so I'm not subjecting him to all your dad jokes."
"I still say I would have been a good copilot," Toby said. He turned to Walter and Paige. "Did I ever tell you how Happy made fun of me about my lack of a sense of direction?"
"No," Walter said.
"Yeah it was pretty bad, so I packed up my stuff and right."
Paige groaned.
"This is exactly why you can't be in the cockpit," Happy said, tapping him firmly on the chest before disappearing through the door.
There was some wind present by the time the team was ready to take off, but they were cleared to go on schedule. Simon, the copilot, came over the intercom to give the update. "Please remember the emergency thingamajig we talked about earlier, and it is now time to buckle up, because we're going to put this baby in the sky!"
Walter frowned, leaning over to Paige. "The term 'buckle up' always sort of turns me on, and it's very weird when it's not you saying it."
"Hey," Paige said, "we're getting older every day. I don't care who gets your motor running as long as I'm the only garage you visit."
He rolled his eyes. "Obviously it's only attractive because I can't hear it without picturing you in my shirt."
"As much as I do love getting details of your private life," Sylvester said, "and as classic as this particular story has become, Cabe isn't here to scar for life, so maybe tone it down a little."
"Tone it down?" Toby repeated. "The copilot just referred to our safety and emergency evacuation plans as a thingamajig. These may be our last hours alive."
"You're more dramatic than the wannabe actress I roomed with in college," Paige said.
"Attention, please," came Simon's voice. "It is time to turn phones into Airplane Mode. So time to get off Tinder, Grinder, Farmers Only dot com, wherever you are swiping, we do not judge, but do need you to…"
"Dear lord," Walter muttered.
The plane picked up speed lifting into the air, and Paige noticed both Florence and Sylvester grab the motion sickness bags available in each compartment. She realized she wasn't sure where hers was located. She hoped she wouldn't get air sick.
The plane slowly reached cruising altitude, tipping just a bit with the wind. Paige closed her eyes, trying to zone out as Toby began giving statistics about motion sickness. She was nervous about what they were headed East to try to do. She got irritable when she was nervous, and Toby providing non stop commentary on the flight wasn't helping. He'd been chatty like this in the van over, too.
They hit slight turbulence, tipping one way and then the other. "Weeeeeeeee!" Toby held his arms out, leaning side to side like a plane against the wind. "This is fun, huh?"
Paige, resting her cheek against her hand, glanced at him. "Toby, the kids aren't here, you don't have to do that."
"Oops." Toby grinned. "Just a habit, I guess."
"I have never been in that habit in my life," Walter deadpanned.
"Guess I'm just a better dad than you, then," Toby said, adjusting his hat.
"You are absolutely not a better dad than me."
"Paige," Toby said, "which of us is the better dad?"
"Of course she's going to pick me," Walter said, "I'm the one she's parenting with."
"Which might be exactly why she'd pick me."
"The best father of everyone here?" Paige said. "Me. Because I had to be mother and father to Ralph, and I did it alone for seven years."
Walter and Toby were quiet, looking at each other. "Alright," Toby said. "We were joking around and you made it really real, but fair enough."
Paige was resting against the divider. Walter leaned over, resting his head on his shoulder and squeezing her knee. "Ugh, it is too hot in here to be your pillow, Walt."
"No it isn't," he said, "you're just mad you didn't think to make me yours first."
"My wife is flying the plane, and I'm stuck back here watching Waige PDA." Toby made a face of mock disgust.
"I mean, you could turn around here and watch me rub my wife's feet," Sylvester said, "but I'd imagine that would distress you more."
Toby peered over the divider. "You're rubbing her feet with gloves on?" He cocked his head. "I thought the magical thing about your relationship is you actually like touching her."
Sylvester looked at Toby as if he had two heads. "They're still feet."
The plane jostled. Happy's voice came over the intercom. "We're experiencing some slight turbulence again. Do not be alarmed, but leave your seat belts on."
The intercom crackled on again, and this time Simon's voice was heard. "However, if you happen to see the pilots screaming and leaving the air bus, feel free to grab a parachute and follow."
"Not funny!" Sylvester called.
The intercom activated again. "I'm sorry," Simon replied, "we're not taking questions or comments from the audience just yet."
There was a rattling sound, and then Happy's voice again reached their ears. "You'll have to forgive my copilot. His mouth is talking. I'm working to fix that."
"Well, they seem to be having fun," Sylvester remarked.
The plane shook, as if it was going over potholes.
Florence jumped up and fled for the bathroom.
"Poor lady," Toby said. "She's just gotten over morning sickness and now she's got air sickness." When no one responded, he tapped his foot. "Do you guys want to see something cool? I could perform a magic trick."
"Or you could perform a stop it," Walter suggested.
"Honestly, both of you," Paige said with a heavy sigh. "I know you're both nervous about this presentation. We all are. But when Walter, you're coping by getting quiet and broody and Toby, you're talking enough to make up for his silence. And everything about that is driving me absolutely crazy." She ran a hand through her hair. "If we get on each other's nerves now, we're going to act like assholes when it counts, and that's not how we get these donations. We have to figure out how to cope with nerves without it being at everyone else's expense."
Florence emerged from the bathroom. "Well," she said in response to the others looking her way, "I was scared I was going to throw up all over the floor in there, and I didn't, so…small victories?"
"You didn't throw up?" Sylvester said. "I'm impressed."
"Oh I threw up," she said. "I just threw up in the toilet and not all over the floor."
Sylvester gave a slow nod, then lifted a hand. "Hey. Small victories."
Florence completed the high five. The plane jostled again, and she overcorrected, slamming her hip into the side of the seat as she sat back down. "Imagine what my balance would be like in the third trimester," she commented. "I won't be able to walk on the ground at this rate."
"You're experiencing a very different situation than you do on the ground," Toby said. "With your midsection growing slowly, you should be able to adjust just fine, although you will find that the pregnancy alters your…" he trailed off. "I'm doing it again, aren't I?"
Paige nodded.
"Oops." Toby clapped his hands together. "Hey, why don't I lead a breathing exercise? It will help all our nerves, plus Florence, Florence can get a jump start on Lamaze."
"Florence is tired," Florence said. "Florence is going to get a jump start on a nap."
"Fine." Toby shrugged. "I thought I would distract you all from how much better the project I was working on is better than all of yours, but if you'd rather dwell on getting upstaged by the person with a lower IQ, then feel free to…"
"My IQ is lower than yours and my project is best," Florence said. "So I think I'm the real winner here."
"Um, excuse me," Paige said, raising a hand.
Walter was looking around curiously. "I'm sorry, correct me if I'm wrong, but did this suddenly become a competition for who is the least genius?"
"That it did," Paige said. She stuck her tongue out at him playfully. "Loser."
Just giving a brief reminder that there will be some heavy-ish stuff in this fic, not coming next but at some point during it. I'll reiterate here that nobody dies, and there's no sexual violence. If beyond that you feel you might need a more specific warning, please message me (do not ask for a warning in a review, because if it's anonymous I can't reply)
