In the air

At the same time…

Sybil saw the beach starting to appear on the horizon and she breathed heavily.

"Oh God, Oh God," she moaned, her hands squeezing the joystick. "Tom…Tom, don't let me do this alone."

Receiving no answer, she turned to him and realized he had fainted, crushed against the side window. Or at least she was hoping he had only fainted.

"Oh shit," she said through gritted teeth. "Ok…alright. Parallel to the beach, the speedometer to 65 knots," she repeated like a lesson. "What's a knot?"

The beach was approaching quickly and Sybil started to feel the panic growing.

"Then…what? Ah yes, the ailerons," she muttered pulling on the lever. "Alright. The nose slightly up to land."

She pulled on the joystick and the plane slightly went up.

"That's good…help me, God!" she yelled in the cockpit while piloting the plane towards the water in order to land.

At the last moment, she retrained herself to close her eyes. But after all that they went through, she didn't have the right to give up now.

With a noise of scraping and a failing engine, the plane touched the water and made some jumps. Sybil cried, trying to keep control of the joystick, her visibility completely overshadowed by the projected water on the windshield. In a tearing noise and a last gasp, the plane seemed to crash in the water, throwing her and Tom against the dashboard before leaning dangerously on its left side and stopping.

From the beach, the gathered people were watching the floating plane in a stunned silence, not believing the scene that just took place. If cries of joy and thanking to God had been the first manifestations to Edna's own cries, it was now concern that was predominant but nobody seemed to find the courage to move.

Suddenly, Larry took action.

"I'm coming, My Darling!" he yelled, throwing himself in the water towards the plane.

Inside the plane, Sybil was slowly coming back to her senses. She opened her eyes, surprised to be still alive and turned to the body that she had been thrown against. Tom slightly moved.

"Tom…Tom," she said, shaking him gently. "That's it. We did it!"

He opened his eyes and she smiled at him so he first thought he was in paradise…Then, realizing where he was, he smiled back at her and looked deeply in her eyes. He leaned to her and, as their lips were about to touch, the moment was shattered by a familiar voice.

"Sybil! Sybil, I'm coming, My Darling. Here I am!" said Larry while climbing on the plane's wing that wasn't in the water.

Tom gave her a tired and resigned smile and Sybil gulped. No, it couldn't be. It couldn't end like this.

"Sybil!" breathed Larry, opening the door.

"Larry!" said Sybil, turning to his direction and so, pulling away from Tom's body.

"Oh My God! You're alive! Are you hurt?"

"No, no, I'm ok," she said while looking at Tom who was watching them as he seemed to be unable to look away from her eyes. "But Tom needs to see a doctor. Find one!"

"A doctor!" yelled Larry to someone who was in the water.

At the same time, Sybil had turned again to Tom. In his eyes, she could read a lot of things but mainly the regret he had too to see the things ending there. They were back safely and they each will get back to their own lives. As to confirm their thoughts, Edna appeared at the door near Tom.

"Oh Tommy boy!" she moaned. "Are you ok, baby?"

Tom didn't answer and just looked at Sybil as Larry was pulling her by the hand to help her out of the plane on the other side. When their eyes couldn't hold each other's anymore, he turned at least to the male voice at his left that was asking if he could move his leg.

"Yeah," he muttered, starting to get out of the seat.

"Be careful, slowly," said Edna.

So, each one helped by their partners, they reached the beach and the dry sand and then were taken separately without being able to speak. Tom went to the hospital as Larry was escorting Sybil to their bedroom.

Larry and Sybil's bedroom

Later the same day…

Sybil was looking at herself in the mirror of the vanity. Clad in a bathrobe, her hair wet, as she was just out of the shower. She let her hand slide over the red scar on her right eyebrow arch and was remembering the events of these last days. After all the agitation, she was enjoying this moment of calm even if she missed the intimacy she had shared with Tom.

Tom…

Someone had informed her that he was going to be alright after a lot of rest. The bits of the rockets only hurt him superficially, no bit entering the flesh. Sybil smiled at her reflection as she was thinking back to her adventure. It had been a close call but if she had to do it again, she wouldn't change a thing…or almost. She came here to have her first holidays in a long time with her man and she had found a lot more than expected.

First, she found her best friend again, a certain degree of complicity with him and, somehow an appeasement. Things were far from being resolved between them and, if Sybil was honest with herself, they had become even more than a little bit complicated. She couldn't erase from her mind the look they had exchanged when Larry had come to their rescue. That and other things…

She looked down to her left hand and caressed the diamond with the tip of her fingers. Why was her life always so complicated?

"They brought the tea."

Larry's voice shook her from her thoughts.

"Oh, great!" she heard herself say.

"Do you want some honey, Darling?"

Sybil turned to him to answer. Since she came back, he was acting strange. He was both embarrassed and eager toward her. Something was ringing wrong but she didn't know what yet. Maybe she wanted to read more into it than there was and maybe he was only happy she was alive…Therefore…Seeing that Larry was waiting for her answer, she smiled at him.

"Yes, thank you."

He smiled back at her and she joined him after having wrapped her wet hair in a bath towel.

"The guy told me that the hotel was offering us a one month stay whenever we wanted to."

"Oh, they must be afraid that I'll sue them."

"Yeah."

Sybil sat on the sofa and Larry followed her with his cup of tea.

"How are you feeling? Is everything alright?"

"Hum yes…I'm just a bit tired."

"There, here you go," he said, giving her the cup of tea.

Their fingers touched and Larry had an uncontrolled shiver that almost spilled the tea out of the cup.

"Oops, sorry."

"Larry? You're sure you're ok?"

He looked at her in silence, ready to spill everything seeing her worried face. But at the last moment, he changed his mind: too many things were on the table. Someday, maybe…

"Yes, I didn't sleep much."

"Oh, my poor Larry. Come here, come," she said, patting the free space at her side. "Sit down."

He obeyed and then looked at her straight in the eyes. Everything he did since her disappearance came back to his mind and, seeing Sybil was worried, he decided to take the plunge.

"It was horrible," he started. "You know, deep inside, I think I…that I had no hope to see you again anymore. You know, I was…I…I was desperate, I was…hem…we're only human. We're not perfect. You see, in this kind of situation, that's true, people do things…You know, we don't know anymore what's right or wrong. We become…we disconnect! You…"

Sybil didn't understand a thing about what he was trying to say if he wasn't overwhelmed. She smiled softly at him and took him in her arms.

"Shhh, Larry. Calm down. It's over, I'm here now…"

Without a word, he let go against her, savoring the happiness to have her back alive. He'll find time later to tell her the truth…

To be continued...