The plane should've landed almost twenty minutes ago. Burt Hummel wasn't a man who particularly enjoyed standing around and waiting for stuff to happen, so he wasn't too happy about there being absolutely no indication whether that had actually happened, or not.

There was no announcement that the plane was delayed, but the screen he was looking at also didn't say that it had arrived. It was almost as though the airline had kind of forgotten about the plane and just overlooked it when updating the statuses of all the other flights.

The absence of information was so absolute, that he had checked three times already whether he was at the right airport, the right terminal and the right time, and all of these had come up positive. It was just that he didn't trust the guy who did his inventory, so why should that guy's skills at making appointments be any better? Usually Kurt reminded him of things like that, and since his son wasn't there to check in on him, he needed to make sure himself.

But he was exactly where he was supposed to be, at exactly the time he was supposed to be there to pick up his son from the airport. He tried calling Kurt's cell, since he probably would've turned it back on the instant it was allowed again, but he was only greeted by Kurt's voicemail.

If the plane was delayed, it would at least be courtesy to tell people that, so they had an estimate for how long they would have to wait and maybe go buy a donut or a magazine to pass the time. As it were, he could just leave his spot, and then be met with an annoyed son in a few minutes time.

Because he had nothing to do, he was looking around the waiting area, and noticed when two men in suits with concerned expressions and airport staff badges started talking to people, and ushering some away. They were being very subtle and efficient about it, but despite their best efforts they managed to get a lot of attention.

It wasn't really that people were talking any more loudly than before or pointing and staring, but there was a strange sense that everyone in the waiting area was acutely aware of these two guys and who they were talking to. Apparently they all wanted to know what was going on, and to be honest, so did Burt.

Along with curiosity he was feeling this vague sense of dread, as he wondered whether these strange guys had any connection to the fact that there were still no news of what was up with Kurt's plane.

When they finally approached him, after leading a woman who had been standing not too far away from him away, he wasn't too thrilled.

"Excuse me, sir, but could you tell me which flight you're waiting for?", the shorter man asked politely.

"AB398", Burt said, and the two guys shared a look that didn't fill him with a lot of confidence.

"Alright. If you would follow us, we can give you some further information on the situation", the shorter one said. Which sounded even more ominous. So there was a 'situation'.

"Why can't you just tell me right now? There something wrong?", he asked with his intense stare that never failed to make people uncomfortable.

"Because if all the people waiting for that flight are in the same area the distribution of information is going to be much simpler. Please, if you would just accompany us…" the man gestured toward the area where Burt had seen them lead a good number of other people before. He honestly didn't like this, but he had no real reason not to comply with their request, so he followed them with an unhappy grunt.

If they needed to have a good system in place to distribute information, then something was clearly wrong with the flight and the plane, and even though he didn't want to think about all the possible maybes, his subconscious was already busy supplying a number of possible scenarios ranging from a swarm of ducks in the turbines to a flight attendant pulling the emergency chute just to fuck with some self important passengers.

If that was the case he really hoped the annoying passenger hadn't been Kurt.

His mind also came up with several less amusing scenarios, but he firmly pushed them back, refusing to think about them.

A blonde woman ushered him into the next room, and the two men went off to talk to more people. Somehow that didn't seem all that efficient a system to Burt, but he followed her regardless. It was a pretty normal waiting area, with some large windows looking out on the airfield, where a huge plane was currently moving into position for take off.

It was filled with a variety of people who all looked concerned, but apparently didn't know what they were there for yet, either. Some where talking to each other, but doing so in whispers, which didn't serve to make the athmosphere less gloomy at all.

Burt took a seat and looked around. This whole waiting game only put him more on edge, and gave his subconcious even more time to come up with explanations he really didn't like.

It took a while, but several more people came into the room, looking just as concerned as everyone already there. After a while the blond woman, who was dressed like a stereotypical stewardess but didn't have the right facial expression to match went to stand in front of the room, and cleared her throat.

"There have been some technical problems on flight AB398", she said, without bothering with any sort of introduction. She held the clipboard she was holding in front of her, almost like she wanted to hide behind it, but she didn't sound intimidated. "We don't know yet what caused it, but we do know that the pilots were forced to attempt a landing under less than favorable conditions, and it didn't go very well."

She avoided making eye contact with anyone. "The plane has already been found, and it looks like many passengers were not or only slightly harmed." What she left unspoken seemed to carry more weight than what she actually said. Some passengers were harmed. And they hadn't said anything about casualties.

"We don't have much more information at this point, but as soon as we know more about what happened, and the condition of everyone involved, you will be the first to know", she announced, and then left the room before anyone could ask her a question.

Burt tried his very best to look at the situation like an optimist would. She had said that many passengers weren't harmed, so it can't have been that bad. Of course they didn't have too much information right now, since there was bound to be a lot of confusion on site. And there was a good chance that Kurt was perfectly fine if a little shaken up. And maybe pissed, if something happened to the clothes in his suitcase.

If only he actually were an optimist and could believe that everything would be fine so easily.

He took out his phone and tried calling his son again. It went straight to voicemail, which wasn't necessarily anything to worry about. Even if Kurt was fine, he probably wouldn't have had thought to turn his phone back on right after a plane crash.

But it could also mean something was very wrong, and as much as Burt wanted to not believe that, the feeling of dread in his stomach intensified.

—

He honestly had no idea how long a wait was normal in a situation like this, but after two hours had passed, he had some serious trouble keeping himself from getting up and pacing. He was sure, if he started that, though, he'd probably wear a hole in the floor, because of his excess worry, and it would probably put everyone else in the room on edge as well, so he refrained.

The woman sitting next to him kept looking at her watch every thirty seconds, and wringing her hands whenever she didn't need them for time checking purposes, which was beginning to get on Burt's nerves.

Maybe he could afford to go on a bathroom break. Not that he really needed to go, but escaping the room for just a few minutes would be worth it, if only to get away from the mess in his own head.

"Who are you waiting for?", the woman next to him asked suddenly, and he looked up. She was kind of plump, but still pretty enough, but her face was red and blotchy now, even though he was pretty sure she hadn't been crying.

"My son", he answered. "You?" He wasn't someone who just struck up conversations with strangers for no good reason, but she looked so desperate for some human contact that he felt the need to answer.

"My husband" She put both hands in front of her face and took a deep breath and them let them fall. "I just… we've been married for two years, and were just starting to talk about children… and I know I should be hoping, but I just can't shake the feeling that we'll never get the chance…"

"You don't know that", Burt said. He refrained from adding any platitudes about how it would be alright, because he didn't know that, either.

"How old is your son?", she asked.

"Sixteen."

She was just about to say something, when the door finally opened and the blond woman from before entered.

"I'm very sorry about the wait", she said, and removed to pieces of paper from her clipboard. "We've been able to get some more information, and while we still don't know the cause of the crash, we do do have a little bit clearer picture of the consequences."

She took one of the sheets, and attached it to the wall behind her. "We don't know about the status of all the passengers yet, but we do have this list of people who are confirmed to have survived. Some of them are injured, but we don't know details about that. If you find your loved ones on this list, please contact us, and we can provide you with the contact information of the hospitals they were sent to."

Some people were already starting to get up and walk towards the list, but the blond woman wasn't done. She hesitated before putting up her second sheet of paper a few feet from the first one.

"There have also been some casualties", she said carefully and looked down on her clipboard, again avoiding eye contact. "We don't know exactly how many yet, but it's confirmed that the people on this list did not make it."

She took a few steps away from the list, as if not to be associated with it too closely.

"If you don't find your loved ones on either list, that doesn't mean anything, these cover only about a third of the passengers, but it is a start. I'm gonna have to ask you to remain patient, because we're distributing the information as quickly as we can, but right now the situation at the site is not very ordered."

As she left most people had already gotten up, and were all crowding around the list of survivors. The other list didn't draw nearly as much of a crowd. Very few people made that one their first stop, because everyone wanted to believe in the best.

Burt himself hadn't gotten up yet. He told himself it as to avoid the crowd, but really, now that he was close to finding out (or possibly not knowing anymore) uncertainty seemed like the better option. Of course, all his fears could be relieved, but on the other hand…

He saw the woman who had been sitting next to him point to a name on the survivors list, and start babbling with a clearly relieved look on her face. On the other side of the room he saw an elderly asian man start crying very silently, but looking all the more heartbroken for it.

He knew it was cowardly to avoid the answer, so he got up after most of the people had dispersed, either to resume their waiting, or going off to find out more details.

He looked carefully over both list.

Only to find his son's name on the wrong one.