Disclaimer: I'm only going to say this once: I don't own any of the characters and I'm not making money off of doing this. This is simply for fun.
Present day (February 15, 2009, Dallas, Fort Worth International Airport):
"This is just great! Another hour to wait before getting on the plane." Rodney complains. "I shouldn't have let you talk me into taking this stupid flight with you. This is the third airport I've been to. I should've just taken a direct flight."
"If you had taken a direct flight, you would've either arrived too early or too late." Radek tells him. "And Evan wants us all to arrive all at the same time, or at least close to it. And what the hell are you complaining about? We got here an hour ago."
"Hey Patty, how are you?" Rodney greets Radek's wife distractedly, ignoring Derrick and Tina, their kids. "And then now we have to pay for food on the plane? I haven't even had lunch yet."
Tina is trying to get Rodney's attention, tugging on his coat sleeve. "Uncle Rodney, uncle Rodney…"
"What?!" Rodney asks with irritation. Patty smacks his head for that. "What?" He asks in a more gentler tone.
"Aren't you going to say hi to us?" The little four-year old asks.
"Hi." Rodney says quickly. Patty gives him a warning glare. "Okay, okay. Hey kids, wanna help me set my bags down?" Derrick and Tina eagerly help him with his carry on and set them on the airport bench seats.
"Okay kids! Here ya go!" Rodney turns around quickly to the sound of the voice and accent.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me!?" Rodney says in a frustrated whisper. "What the hell is this?" He turns to Radek suddenly, glaring wildly at him.
"I swear, I didn't know!" Radek says defensively. "We just ran into them. They were here before us."
"Can ya guys not talk like we're not here?" Carson says half pleading and half irritated.
"Okay, I think that we should leave you boys alone." Patty says, ushering the kids away and pulling on Katie's arm to follow her. Katie gives a Carson a sad and pleading look as she's being led away.
"Let's talk about this like grown-ups, okay." Radek says to both of them as he stands in between them.
"I have no problem with that." Carson says.
"Well I do." Rodney retorts. Leaving the two of them in a huff. Taking all his things, he moves to the far end of the waiting area just to avoid all of them. Unfortunately for him, the only seat available is beside a kid who's sneezing all over the place. But he'd rather sit there than be near those people.
X
"I'm sorry Carson, you know how it is. Rodney thinks that the world revolves around him." Radek says apologetically.
"It's not yer fault Radek, neither is it his. Maybe mine."
"You can't blame yourself, Carson. We were young. It was really his fault. I mean, he was the one with that stupid idea." Radek reassures him.
"But it isn't really about Katie. It's that I betrayed him." Carson says as they walk back to where Katie, Patty and the kids are. "I just thought that we could put this all behind us. It's been so long already."
"Give it time, Carson. Everything will work out with a little bit of patience." Radek says as he pats Carson on the back.
X
An hour later, they're all boarding the plane to Palm Springs. They've all booked first class seats, so they all got in the plane first. Rodney is the last one of the first class passengers to board, walking down the aisle, he sees that Radek is sitting beside Tine on one sides and Patty with derrick on the other. The row in front of them is filled with business men. Moving forward he finds his seat. "What the…? Why me?" Rodney says with exasperation as he sees that Carson is sitting next to his seat. Scratching his head he looks around. Katie is sitting across from Carson. Carson is just looking up at him expectantly. A flight attendant walks past him, "Uh, miss…" then seeing her name tag he says "Carol, are there any more empty seats available?"
"I'm sorry sir, there aren't any." She informs him.
"What about that one over there?" Pointing towards the back.
"The gentleman seated there is just in the lavatory, sir." She tells him.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, he walks over to Radek's seat and tells him "I'll buy you lunch if you'll switch seats with me."
"What for?" Radek says and then leaning to the side to see why. "Ah. I see. Rodney, just let it go."
"Come on, Radek, be a buddy. Besides it'll give me and my favorite god daughter time to get to know each other." Tina looks up at her dad with doe eyes. This wins Radek over.
"Fine." He finally says. Getting up, he opens the overhead compartment to take his carry on out and moves to the front. Carson and Katie exchange looks then.
X
Twenty minutes after take off Rodney gets up to go to the restroom. Rodney makes a face when Carson steps out of the lavatory. Once inside, Rodney starts muttering to himself. "Should've taken a direct flight. Better to get there late than to have to bear him." Washing his hands, Rodney makes a strangling gesture. "When I get my hands on Evan… grrr!" Then continuing to grumble "It's bad enough that I don't have a date…" Irritated with himself even more, Rodney takes a seat on the toilet. His head tucked in between his knees to keep himself from hyperventilating. After a few minutes, Rodney leaves the lavatory and back to his seat.
"Uncle Rodney, what took you so long?" Little Tina asks.
"Nothing. Just needed to get some air, in a manner of speaking."
"You can open a window in the bathroom?" She asks him.
"Restroom or lavatory. Not a bathroom. A bathroom is when there's a place to take a shower or a bath." Rodney clarifies. "And no, of course not. To crack open a window would cause…" Rodney looks at his little seatmate. "Oh never mind. You wouldn't understand."
"Go on, uncle Rodney, daddy says I'm pretty quite smart." Tina tells him.
"Quite. Only quite." Rodney says matter-of-factly. Good thing, Tina's too excited to be on a plane to notice his meaning.
TBC.