Just when Olivia was thinking of gathering her purse and leave the restroom, her phone beeped indicating a new text message.

It was from her friend Anika who had decided to fly to Paris in a European tour rather than come back to the States with Olivia.

"R u flying yet?" it read.

"Y." Olivia was about to put her phone back in the front pocket of her purse when on second thought she decided to continue typing. "Be careful." She admonished, knowing her friend's tendency to get into trouble. "Watch your bags at all times & don't sleep with anybody."

"I will, mommy," Anika typed back.

Olivia chuckled. "I met somebody."

"On the plane?"

"Y. He lives in CA too!" Olivia nearly giggled. She couldn't believe her luck.

Right then, she heard a knock on the door; someone waiting to use the restroom.

She quickly exited and walked back towards her seat, smiling from ear to ear and with a certain spring in her step.

All of a sudden, something shiny caught her eye and made her slow down: Handcuffs binding the wrists of a female.

The woman in question hid her hands under a blanket when she saw Olivia's quizzical gaze as she strode past her. She appeared to be in her twenties, fairly attractive and nothing in her expression betrayed the fact that she was a criminal. In other words, she appeared to be an ordinary passenger.

The man sitting beside the woman nodded at Olivia in a serious stance. He must be the air Marshal, she decided. Most flights had a federal agent disguised as a regular passenger and liked to keep their status as a secret from the other passengers. Some of them are regularly assigned to fly on certain flights as a way to combat terrorist attacks, and others travel to transport criminals. Obviously, this was the case here. Olivia would have never known that he was the air Marshal had she not seen that he had a prisoner in handcuffs.

"I'm back," noting that Fitz was resting, she spoke quietly.

Fitz opened his eyes and greeted her with a smile.

There was a pillow and blanket neatly folded across her seat.

"It's cold" She said draping the blanket across her body.

"It's company policy to keep the aircraft at just above freezing temperatures at all times." Fitz murmured with a smile, leaning his head back on the head rest.

"No wonder," she smiled while snuggling against the pillow and the blanket. "It feels like ad damn freezer!"

For the next hour or so, Fitz and Olivia alternated between talking quietly and staring at the movie screen which was playing a movie but since neither of them were wearing headsets so they weren't really paying much attention to the plot.

It wasn't long before most of the passengers had either dozed off or looked as though they were about to fall asleep.

They'd been flying for nearly five hours and Olivia was starting to feel tired. It was still early in the day, so it must be that the motion of the aircraft was lulling her into a sleepy state.

A while later, Olivia woke with a start, her heart pounding fast.

Not sure whether Fitz was awake or not since his eyes were closed and he seemed in a peaceful state, she glanced down at her gold Movado wrist watch.

It seemed she had been asleep for a little over 2 hours.

A moment later, he opened his eyes and turned to gaze at her with his head still resting on the headrest. "Are you okay?" he asked, noting the haunted look on her face.

"Aw…I just had this dream, you know one those where you're falling and falling."

"Oh, yes. I've had my fair share of those. I always dream that I'm in this building that's on fire or something and I need to find the elevator but then I take the stairs and I keep rolling down and down, no end in sight."

"This one was a little worse that." She sighed, taking a deep breath. "I saw myself sitting here so I thought I was awake…you were next to me just like now," she smiled a little at this part. "But then, suddenly the plane was going down," she swallowed hard. "It's was bad…people around me where screaming, bleeding…and I was in the middle of a field laying on my back, paralyzed."

Fitz gave her apologetic look, as though he himself had been responsible for her bad dream.

"Well…come to think of it, it was not a field, it was the middle of a jungle…" she cocked her head just so, as if trying to recall further details.

"You mean…the plane crashed on an island or something?"

She nodded. "Yes, I think so."

They had been so absorbed in their conversation that they didn't notice Cindy Chandler in the middle of the isle staring at them with a quizzical expression.

"What would you like, sir, ma'am? Grilled chicken or grilled fish?" she asked with a practiced smile, holding a meal tray in each hand.

Both Olivia and Fitz ordered a chicken meal.

Fitz made a face after taking his first bite. "Nothing like airline food to lift our spirits, " he noted with sarcasm.

"When I was young, my daddy used to take me to trips around the world a few times a year," Olivia stated rather fondly. "This was after my mother died of cancer. Those trips were wonderful, I think they helped us heal…I used to love airplane food back then…in fact, meal times were one of the things I enjoyed the most. I kept the napkins, silverware or anything else I could get my hands on as souvenirs." Her eyes adopted a far away look, lost in the memories. " Funny how I would remember this as the highlight of our trips rather than the places we traveled to…"

"I lost my mother too…" Fitz stated in between bites. He continued eating even though he didn't care much for the food on his tray. "She was in a car accident when I was 10. She died instantly so I was never able to say good-bye." He concluded rather suddenly. He was going to add a few things about his father but quickly recanted. He didn't feel like talking about his father, a hardened man with the heart of a stone. No matter how hard he'd tried, nothing was ever good enough... his expectations were simply impossible to meet.

"Sorry to hear about your mom," Olivia said sympathetically. "It must have been hard to suffer a sudden loss like that."

Fitz appreciated her kind words. "Sorry about your loss too," he added, suddenly realizing he needed to reciprocate the sentiment. "It seems like we have a lot in common, Liv. We're both lawyers, we both lost our mothers at a young age, we're both only children and…. we both hate airline food with a passion," he added with a smirk, pushing his tray away as a signal that he was done.

Olivia smiled to herself. Even though he wasn't exactly hilariously funny, his sense of humor brought a smile to her lips every time.

Shortly afterwards, a different flight attendant stopped to pick up their food trays.

Fitz and Olivia were engaged in another lively conversation when an announcement over the intercom system caught their attention.

"Flight attendants/Cabin crew, please be seated."

The seat belt sign was now turned on and the aircraft jostled and jolted.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Captain has turned on the fasten seat belt sign. We are now crossing a zone of turbulence. Please return your seats and keep your seat belts fastened. Thank you."

All the passengers returned to their seats and fastened their seat belts.

After a few moments, Fitz turned to Olivia, "don't worry, this happens all the time …about halfway across the pacific."

Olivia felt a strange feeling on the pit of her stomach at the sight of someone's coffee spilled on the ceiling. In a matter of seconds this feeling turned into panic as she realized that this turbulence was decidedly more severe than anything she had experienced before.

Her gaze locked to his in a meeting of souls, fingers interlocking, both struggling to keep panic at bay.

At one point she let go of his hand and held on tight to the arm rests. The aircraft was dropping in altitude although she had no idea how many feet. She closed her eyes and said a silent prayer, hoping against hope that everything would be alright.

A/N: Please leave your comments. Promise I won't leave you hanging for long!