'Twas the day before Christmas

"Did Dom get off alright?" asked Cait as Sting walked into the hangar having taken Dom to the airport to catch his flight.

"Yeah, no problems. He is so excited about his trip."

"Yeah, I don't blame him, I bet he'll have a great time. Sorry I couldn't bring my flight forward. I know it must be a pain having to do two trips to the airport."

"No worries Cait, it's not like I have any other plans"

"About that, I am serious you know, you can come with me to Texas, I'm sure we can book you a seat on the plane."

Cait, you deserve to spend some time with your family, I'll be OK, it's only a few days."

Aside from knocking String over the head and dragging him onto the plane to Texas, Cait wasn't sure she had much choice other than to respect his wishes.

"Well, if you're sure, then OK, but I will be thinking off you, you know that right?"

"I know" smiled String.

The rest of the morning was spent tidying up around the hangar ready for the holidays.

"Hey Cait, we need to be leaving in a minute if you want to catch your flight." shouted String.

"Coming" replied Cait

As she came out of the office she was stuffing the elf costume into her bag.

"I forgot to take this back to the store, oh well never mind it can wait til the New Year now."

"Well we don't have time to drop it off on the way either now, what have you been doing in there?"

"Just making sure everything is done so I can relax that's all." replied Cait.

String locked up the hangar and they headed for the airport.

Cait insisted they have the radio on as it was playing non-stop Christmas songs. String was happy to listen to Cait singing along, she had a nice voice and besides he couldn't help but smile at how happy she looked. There was even more of a sparkle in her eyes than usual and there was certainly no denying that Cait loved Christmas.

String felt a bit disappointed when they arrived at the airport, he had wished the journey could've been longer. Helping Cait with her luggage, which was just presents for family and a small case of clothes he escorted her to the boarding gate.

"Hawke, are you sure you're not coming with me?" asked Cait

"I can't Cait."

"Not sure about can't, more like wont, but OK, I'll stop nagging you. I'm going to miss you, that's all."

"I'll miss you too Cait, but listen, have a great time with your folks OK?"

Cait nodded.

String stepped forward and took Cait into an embrace, which was nothing unusual, they often parted in this way, but this time String hung on just a little bit longer. Eventually pulling away, neither spoke and Cait turned to go and board the plane.

"CAIT" shouted String

"Yeah" said Cait turning back.

"I…errrr…..have a good time Cait."

"Merry Christmas String" said Cait and then she was gone, disappearing amongst the other passengers. It didn't matter how many times Cait had flown back to Texas after her plane was hijacked and landed in the sea, String still found that he hated watching her go. Cait seemed fine though and had insisted on getting back on a plane as soon as she could just to prove it wasn't going to happen again. String watched her until she was out of sight before returning to Santini Air to collect the Jet Ranger and fly to the cabin.