A/N: As per usual, my AN were full of lies. I have very easily been persuaded to add the smut (next chapter, sorry), and I have once again incorrectly assessed how much longer this story will be lol. I will say it again - one more full chap, and one short epilogue – but as we all know by now, I could very well be wrong on that.

They were up early the next morning to finish packing before heading to the airport. They had lots of time to kill between when they had to check in and when they actually boarded, so they decided to get breakfast at the airport and do a bit of shopping. They both picked up some snacks and a bottle of water, and Abby picked out a book to read and a pair of headphones. She was stuck in the dreaded middle seat from London to LA, so she needed ways to keep busy. Normally she liked a window seat, but there were only middle seats left by the time she booked. She was in the middle from Cork to London too, but at least it was Buck on the aisle side.

As it neared their boarding time, she noticed he was starting to get antsy. At first she thought maybe he was just eager to get home; transit days are kind of a drag, after all. But the time they were in their seats, he was definitely stressed. After the safety demo, chatter on the plane resumed and she decided she should say something.

"Buck, are you scared of flying?"

"What makes you say that?"

Hmm, answering a question with a question. "You just seem kind of tense," she said gently, taking his hand, "are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah… it's just… coming here was the first time I've been on a plane since working that crash scene. That one was at night, so I just took a couple Gravol and slept through the whole thing. And now it's daytime, and I won't be asleep."

She hadn't even thought about that, no wonder he was anxious. And yet he had gotten on a plane by himself, at the drop of a hat, to come piece her back together. She wasn't sure how she would ever be able to repay him for that. Sure, she heard more than her fair share of awful things and it was always hard, but she assumed seeing it must be even worse. Sometimes she never found out the outcome, and then she had the luxury of hoping everything turned out okay. He didn't have that. Just sitting with the victim's wife while she played the 911 call from the plane crash was heartbreaking for her, she couldn't even imagine what it must have been like for him to be right in the middle of it. He had called her later that night when he finished his shift, but he had avoided going into much detail about it and she had never pressed the issue. In hindsight, perhaps she should have.

"Just squeeze my hand and don't look out the windows. I'm right here with you. It's just a short flight this time, and I can get up and come see you during the next one, okay?"

He nodded stiffly and tightened his grip on her hand as the plane took off. He settled a bit once they reached cruising altitude and leveled out, and she did her best to keep him talking and distracted until they were back on the ground.

Heathrow airport had enough shopping to rival a mall. It was beyond easy to spend a 3-hour layover without even noticing the time. She hadn't bought anything though; her mind was elsewhere, trying to think up a plan to help Buck through the longer flight. They were nearly at the gate before she was finally struck with an idea.

"Hey, can you grab us seats? I just have a quick question for the agent at the counter."

"Yeah, sure." He took her carry on from her and set out to hunt down two open seats near their gate.

She approached the ticketing agent at the help counter. "Hi, I was just wondering if you could check the seating on my flight? My boyfriend and I aren't sitting together and he's kind of nervous about flying, I was hoping maybe a seat opened up and there's two side by side?"

"Sure, let me see your boarding pass." After a few keystrokes, she looked back up from her screen. "I'm sorry, there's still only single seats available."

"Oh, okay. If someone was willing to, would we be able to switch seats after take off?"

"It's up to the individual airline operating the flight, but it's typically frowned upon. I have an idea though, let me check something out."

"Okay." Abby had no idea where this was going, but it had to be worth a shot.

"Okay, so, the seats on either side of you are both individual reservations. What I can do is call those passengers up here and ask if either of them would be willing to switch seats. Then I could re-issue the boarding passes with the adjusted seating. I can't promise you they'll agree to it, but it's probably your best bet. Do you know what seat your boyfriend is in?"

"29C."

"Okay perfect."

The agent called two names over the loudspeaker but initially no one came, and Abby's heart sank a little bit. She had been hoping for a mini miracle. A few minutes after a second announcement, one man approached the counter.

"Hi, I was called to come to the counter?" he said.

"Yes, hi. Are you Mr. Williams or Mr. Davis?"

"Davis."

"Okay, so right now we have you in seat 42C. This is your neighbour in 42B," she gestured to Abby, "and she's travelling with someone who's afraid of flying, but they were unable to get seats together. Her companion is in seat 29C, so still an aisle seat like yours, and she was hoping you might consider switching seats."

The man looked pleasantly surprised. "I am more than happy to switch out of the back row."

"Excellent! Just give me your passport and your boarding pass, and I'll print you out a new pass with your updated seating information."

The man did as instructed, and Abby fished Buck's ticket and passport out of her purse. She was glad she had insisted that his pocket wasn't a safe enough place for them. After thanking the gentleman and the agent, she gleefully strode off to find Buck.

"That wasn't a very quick question," he joked when she finally tracked him down.

"No, but look what I have for you." She handed him the new boarding pass. "You're sitting with me now!"

Relief washed over his face. "How did you do that?"

"It was actually the agent's idea, I went to see if anyone had cancelled their ticket and opened up two seats together but they hadn't, so she asked the guy beside me if he would switch with you."

He leaned over the armrest between their seats to kiss her softly. "Thank you."

"It's the least I could do."

A/N: k so I know it doesn't sound like they were 10 rows apart, which is what I said, but I actually did use a seating map, and that actually is 10 rows lol. The jumble happened because I had to change what seat I had her in to make the smut possible, so you can thank the next chapter for that :P.