A/N: Sorry for not updating on Sunday like I usually do. To cut a long story short, I had to work extra hours at work because my department is two people short, so didn't have enough time to write this and get it uploaded. I'd really like to thank SAndyLeePotts for her help with this chapter and for suggesting it. I hope you all like it. Let me know what you think!
Holiday of a Lifetime
"So where are you going on the honeymoon? Do you know yet?" Jess demanded, her voice even higher in pitch than usual.
Emily nodded and replied, "Matt's taking me to India, of all places! It's so far away, I'm sure it'll take us ages to get there."
"Probably about twelve hours," Abby murmured, looking up from her magazine and setting it aside, feeling slightly guilty. It was their last chance to see Emily before she and Matt left, and she was too busy reading about the latest celebrity gossip to say goodbye.
Emily frowned.
"On an aeroplane," Jess added, hoping that that would clear things up a bit for Emily.
Her expression brightened. "Well that's definitely an improvement on the months it took by ship when Queen Victoria was Empress of India."
Abby and Jess nodded.
Matt staggered into their living room, laden with two suitcases and three bags over his back.
"Well, we'd best be off. Thanks for watching the house," he told Jess and Abby.
"No problem," Jess answered. "This way we won't be in the way of Connor's on-going inventions."
Emily smiled and drew her two friends into a hug.
"See you in three weeks' time," they told her.
She nodded and followed Matt out. She offered to help him by taking a bag or two but he wouldn't have it. He even insisted on opening the taxi door for her after he had manhandled their luggage into the boot. They had so much that they still had to sit with two of the bags – the handheld luggage – at their feet.
The taxi driver was filled with questions as he drove them to Heathrow Airport, but eventually they unloaded their suitcases onto a trolley and made their way through the terminal building.
They had another hour's wait before being allowed onto the plane, but Emily was able to pass the time by watching the planes taking off and landing, baffled by how such large, metal contraptions were able to defy the laws of gravity.
By the time she was boarding though, the excitement had long since disappeared and she was filled with nerves.
What if the plane broke? Surely things could go wrong all the time. She should have used the ARC systems to search aeroplane accidents, she thought regretfully.
"Matt, I don't think I can do this," she whispered as the queue to get on the plane continued to move forwards.
"Sure you can," he told her.
"I really can't. Did I tell you I was scared of heights?"
"You're not scared of heights," he scoffed. The first time he'd met her, she'd shown no fear at standing on top of a London skyscraper.
"Maybe not," she conceded. "But I still can't get on the plane."
"Why not?"
"I'm worried it's going to crash and we'll all die," she blurted.
Matt's eyes widened in disbelief. Statistically she was more likely to die in a dinosaur attack at work.
"It'll be fine. Those things hardly ever happen."
"But they do happen sometimes, don't they?"
"Well…yeah…but they check everything more thoroughly now…" Matt replied, trying to reassure her.
It seemed to work, or perhaps she was momentarily distracted from her fear when they arrived at the front of the queue and handed over their tickets to the flight attendants, who then showed them onto the plane and to their seats.
"Do you want the window seat?" Matt asked unthinkingly.
"No-"
"-Right, sorry, stupid question. I'll take the window," he muttered, squeezing past her and stowing his carry-on bag in the overhead storage. He took her bag and stored it up there too then sat down in the seat next to the window.
Emily tried to take her seat beside him as calmly as possible, but her heart was hammering against her ribcage.
When the passengers were all finally loaded onto the plane, she began to relax as the attendants ran through the safety procedures, only to return to panic mode the moment the engines rumbled to life and the seatbelt sign flashed on. Matt took her hand and gripped it tightly in support, though he felt like his fingers were being drained of life by her too-tight hold.
Emily had her eyes closed whilst the plane took off, but once it began to level out Matt told her to look out the window where wisps of clouds looked like white candy floss. The beauty of the view finally made her heartbeat settle, and she couldn't help wishing she had accepted Matt's offer of the window seat. It was just awkward to keep leaning around him.
Somewhere over Europe, she drifted off to sleep, leaving Matt to continue looking out the window. Occasionally, he would glance at her sleeping face just to make sure she was still peaceful and find himself staring at her for minutes at a time.
A flight attendant, seeing her sleeping, carefully laid a blanket over Emily and asked Matt if he would perhaps like a drink or something to eat.
When Emily finally woke up, Matt was into his second packet of crisps and had already drunk the carton juice he had bought for her as well as his own bottle of water.
She rolled her eyes and stretched before turning on the TV screen set into the back of the chair in front of her.
Immediately the flight information appeared on the screen, giving her a shock. They were at 35,000 feet and still rising. Not only that, but they had been flying for four hours.
She skipped to another channel and found a film. The headphones she needed to watch it were already plugged in, so she put them on and found herself watching Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.
That passed a couple of hours or so, and then in the night hours, she slept again, this time only waking as Matt shook her to tell her they had arrived.
As soon as she stepped off the plane, she felt the heat and was glad that she'd worn a light short-sleeved shirt and shorts. Matt, on the other hand, was more uncomfortable in his jeans and checked, flannel shirt.
Whilst they waited for their luggage in the terminal building, the pair of them perused tourist brochures and tried to decide where they would go and what they would do whilst they were in India. A visit to the Taj Mahal had been included in the holiday package, but the rest of the holiday was free for them to do whatever they wanted. Matt was sure, however, that being a woman, Emily would love to go and do some shopping at a local market.
So after spending the first day and night in their hotel – a luxurious five-star room, paid for courtesy of the Minister – they headed out onto the streets which bustled with life. At the first market stall, Emily stopped to run her hand over the bright and colourful materials hanging up.
With eager eyes, she pulled one down and held it up against her skin.
"Matt?"
Restraining the urge to roll his eyes, Matt paid the lady and led the way on as Emily wrapped the aqua coloured material about her neck and head.
Matt was the next to stop, buying some seeds and spices for cooking at home. He was also eager to try and grow some of the plants back at the ARC.
Emily also managed to get Matt to buy a green sari for her and a kurta and shalwar for himself. When they returned to the Hotel, she convinced him to try his purchases on. The amber kurta fell to his knees, allowing the bottoms of his blue shalwar to show. Whilst he didn't look completely ridiculous, as Matt had feared, it was a little bit odd to see him dressed in such bright colours, let alone anything other than his standard jeans and shirt.
"Keep up your end of the deal, remember," Matt told Emily, moving out of the doorway so that she could enter the bedroom and dress herself in the sari he had bought for her.
However, after several minutes trying, it became clear to Emily that she would not be able to wrap the sari without some help and direction. Following a phone call to the reception desk, a maid was sent to help and Emily was finally dressed with her aqua scarf draped over the top of her head like a hood to throw in some more colour.
When she emerged from the bedroom, Emily twirled, the bottom of the skirt flying out slightly.
As she spun, Matt caught her hand and stepped closer, slipping his other arm behind her back and pulling her close. Without music, he waltzed them around their suite.
"Fancy going out for dinner?"
She nodded, kissed him briefly and stepped away, holding out her hand.
With interlocked hands, they strolled out of the hotel again, deciding that they wanted to experience the real India by eating out rather than in the hotel restaurant. They found a small curry house not too far away and were given a table for two almost immediately.
The waiter came over and took their drinks order.
Not wanting anything fancy, Emily requested a glass of tap-water, having seen people in the UK requesting free tap water rather than paying for bottled water.
It was a good thing she only ordered water. The curry she ended up eating, despite being labelled as medium; not hot, was the spiciest thing she'd ever eaten. After every mouthful, she felt like her mouth was on fire and even the water did little to quench it.
When they returned to the hotel, she was full but couldn't help noticing the thin sheen of sweat covering her entire body. Attributing it to the spiciness of the food, she simply headed to bed. However, she woke in the middle of the night and had to run to the bathroom to throw up.
Feeling the shift in movement beside him, Matt too was awake quick enough to hear what sounded like Emily hurling her entire meal into the toilet. Her padded barefoot to the bathroom, and rubbed her back, trying to help. She was warm to the touch and covered in sweat.
Worried, Matt felt her forehead and only just moved in time to avoid being caught in the line of her fire.
"Sorry," she moaned.
"S'okay," he yawned, taking a sitting position beside her, ready to wait out the night if needs be. But after another five minutes of her continued sickness, Matt was on his feet pacing. His worry defeated Emily's protests and he phoned down reception to request some sort of medical help.
It was another twenty minutes before help arrived, during which time Emily began to tremble and shiver.
The doctor asked Matt exactly what Emily had eaten and drank the past few days and what they had done.
But in his state of panic, Matt forgot about the water.
"Water," Emily croaked.
Without thinking Matt filled a glass with water and handed it to Emily.
"No," she tried again. "I drank tap water at the restaurant."
The doctor nodded.
"The water here isn't as pure as that of England. Likely, you were given untreated water. It'll take a few days but there won't be any serious consequences other than the current sickness you are experiencing if you take these antibiotics. Any symptoms should clear up in a few days as we've caught it early."
"Thanks," Matt said, showing out the doctor.
Bedridden, Emily didn't enjoy the three days of sickness, tremors, temperature fluctuations and diarrhoea.
When she was finally well enough, Emily was desperate to get out and about and find something fun to do. And Matt had come up with the perfect plan.
Blindfolding her with her scarf, he took her out of the hotel and got her into a taxi.
He kept her in the dark, despite her continuous questions, right until the time came for her to board. He thought it might be hard to get her onto the elephant whilst she still had a blindfold on, so he removed it and enjoyed her gasp of joy at the sight of the animal.
Abby would certainly be jealous, he thought.
Even able to see, it was still a struggle for Emily to climb onto the elephant. She finally managed it after a shove on the bottom from Matt and Jala – the elephant – lifted her front leg.
Matt quickly snapped a picture to show everyone back at the ARC and set about trying to find his own path to the elephant's back. Soon her was sat behind Emily, holding onto her waist and they were off, enjoying a ride on an elephant.
From the back of Jala, they saw much of India, going on a tour of sorts.
When they arrived back at the hotel, the camera was almost full.
They spent the last two weeks relaxing in the hotel spa and simply exploring the local community then went out to see the Taj Mahal.
They were given a talk on the history of the monument, the Mausoleum that was built by one of the Mogul emperors for his beloved wife. When they learned that Bentinck, one of the Governor-Generals of the East India Company had planned to tear the marble structure down, Emily only commented, "I'm not surprised. Always was a nasty chap."
Matt sniggered and kissed the side of her head.
They explored as much of the monument as was allowed and then had their photo taken in front of it.
It was rather fitting way to end their honeymoon, considering the Taj Mahal was a monument of love.
A/N: I'm shocked by the length of this one! I hope I did a good job. Just a quick little thing: I don't know anything at all about what happens when you drink untreated water and how it's treated – this was all just guess work. When I was writing the chapter, my internet randomly decided to die – literally I couldn't even get onto Google! (Sad times) So I just kind of guessed. Thanks to those of you who reviewed the last chapter. Let me know what you thought of this one!