"I'm sorry folks, looks like the weather is grounding all planes." That was the announcement that prefaced a million groans. It was Christmas eve. They wouldn't make it to their destinations until who knew how long.

She looked over and there was a man sitting there, looking at his phone, with a frown on his face. She smiled a little sadly. He must have missed some sort of important flight to not have been with the misery of the others.

She scooched closer to him. "Look, they could always unground the flights," She said, trying to be a little bit helpful. She knew it was probably stupid to hope, but that's what Christmas was all about right? The big miracles. The miracle of a baby boy being born. She didn't really believe in all that, but she knew the story.

He looked up and shrugged. "Probably not. We'll probably be stranded here for a couple of days," He said as he looked her up and down. "You seem kind of familiar,"

Rachel blushed. She was used to getting noticed because she was on TV, but not so used to it in the middle of the airport on Christmas eve. "Yeah," She said as she brushed some hair out of her face, "Well, uh, I've been working on a campaign to make sure that everyone has their flu vaccine," She said. "My name's Rachel, what's yours?" She asked, putting out her hand for him to shake it.

He took her hand, shook it, and smiled. "Tex." He said. "Tex Nolan. Nice to meet you, Rachel. I'm, uh, just trying to get back to my daughter. I was out of the country for a while," He told her.

She nodded. It was one thing for her to be trapped in the airport, waiting to go home to her empty city apartment, but this man had a daughter that he was trying to travel to. She wished that she could do something to fix that, but there was no helping that, not even for her, a person on the TV. She was still stuck at the airport with him.

She nudged over to the windows. "It looks like it's really coming down out there," She said.

He looked over and laughed a little. "I think that's a bit of an understatement," He said. "It looks like God wanted to paint a new picture and the only color he had was white,"

She chuckled a little at the statement. "That's certainly a way to put it," She said with a brighter smile on her face. "So where's your daughter?" She asked, wondering about this man. He was cute. His hair was a little longer than she would have envisioned herself liking, but he pulled it off well. He also wore a beard, something that she normally hated, but it was well groomed and trimmed up, something that many men with beards didn't do.

"She's right outside of Mobile, Alabama," He said. "Her mother lives there with a boyfriend, I think," He said, looking at his feet.

She looked at hers too. She shouldn't be entertaining the idea of this man. Even though, he was clearly a nice and good man. He was talking to a stranger in the airport they were both snowed in at. He was just that, a nice man. "Sounds like you miss her,"

He nodded. She could see there were almost tears in his eyes, before he looked away from her and back to the windows. "She's all I've got in this world," He said, a little choked up.

He was a parent. She should take a step back from this. He was clearly in a lot of pain though. He deserved someone to have compassion and sit with him in his pain. She looked at her things and wished that there was something more that she could do to make him more comfortable. But all she had were things. There was nothing that was going to help him through the pain.

Eventually with enough rummaging, she found a tissue that she gave him. He took it gladly. She smiled sadly, at the thought of him being bound in this place. They didn't even have a hotel to go to. They weren't that lucky. They just had to stay in the airport and wish that things would eventually be okay tonight.

With enough sniffles, he looked to her. "So who are you missing Christmas with?" He asked.

She shrugged. "I haven't really got anyone I'm missing Christmas with," She said. She winced. She hated how those words came out. It wasn't like she wouldn't be completely missed. Her work partner would miss her, no doubt. But it wasn't like there was someone who was supposed to be waiting for her. "I have a…boyfriend. It's casual. But he's in China right now. Reporting on the conditions of internment camps there,"

Tex almost laughed and then calmed himself down. "Wow," He said. "That sounds like a tough job."

She nodded and looked at him. "He's a journalist. His work is the most important thing to him," She looked down at the floor and then back up at the windows. "I'm sure you know the type."

"Sounds like you could use a break from the 'important' and time to just be." He said, reaching out a hand to hold hers.

And that's when she broke down into tears. He held her as she cried. She shouldn't be crying though. He was the one who was taken away from his kid on Christmas eve and all she was missing was a casual boyfriend, who maybe if it were different, if he was a different person, the kind of person who didn't take a trip to China during the holidays to report on the conditions of internment camps, maybe they'd be more than casual, but he wasn't different.

She got back to simply sniffles and looked at him with a sad smile. "You're good to be around when you need a good cry," She said as she wiped tears away from her face. She wished that she wasn't quite crying in front of the totally attractive stranger that she met on Christmas eve about someone who wasn't him, but that's the game she played unfortunately.

She had never cared about the holidays as much as she did in this moment. She understood that Michael's job was important and so she had kissed him off in an airport, not dissimilar to this one. But now, in the heat of the moment, it suddenly became more important than anything that she didn't have anyone. Her parents, her mother gone and her father unspoken to, weren't in her life anymore. She had no one to go home to. Not even a cat that would be happy to see her.

Tex looked around the airport. There were others milling about, on cell phones apologizing about how they couldn't make it home for the holidays. It was a sad state of affairs. There were even people arguing with car rental companies who didn't seem to be having a much better time than the airlines.

He looked back to Rachel and smiled. "Well," He said, "The airlines did generously gift us each enough to get some food, let's go find our holiday feast," He said as he offered her his hand.

She took it. She looked at the luggage and then she looked around. Most of these people looked like they had their own problems to deal with, rather than steal some luggage from two unsuspecting strangers on Christmas Eve.

Also, there was nothing of any grave importance in that luggage, she thought. All of her important stuff had been shipped to her PO Box because she didn't trust the people in her building not to take things that weren't theirs. She'd heard the horror stories. And because she also wasn't often at her apartment, it didn't make sense to have her mail piling up somewhere she didn't trust.

They walked like that for a minute. Hand in hand. It felt nice. It felt like what the Christmas season was supposed to feel like. Warm and familiar. They walked like that until someone stared at them and then their hands broke apart and it was ice cold again. She tried to warm her hands up by rubbing them together, but that only temporarily sated the feeling.

"Cold?" He asked.

She nodded. He looked around. There were people all around. And yes, someone might stare, but who cared about people who stared? They were all in the same boat. They were alone in an airport on Christmas Eve. It sucked. He went to hold her hand again and this time it was her that had the objection. "Let's just find some food," She said, not saying anything about her cold hands, but not letting him hold her hand either.

"Alright," He said.

They arrived at a restaurant called "One Flew South" a Southern fusion restaurant that seemed to have quite a few people in it, a popular choice apparently, but it was better than any of the fast food options, plus it would give them a place to sit and maybe have a cocktail or something. Since it was Christmas Eve, everyone had pretty much been given a near blank check to get food.

"Table for two?"

Tex nodded. And they were shepherded to an intimate table, obviously meant for couples, he guessed that Hostess assumed things about the pair and honestly, he wasn't going to correct her. Rachel blushed when she saw the table, but said nothing either.

"Your waiter will be with you shortly,"

Tex pulled open the chair and smiled at Rachel, nodding to her to get in. And she did. And then he sat on the opposite side of the table and smiled some more. This was some night. He never thought that his night would end like this honestly. In a nice restaurant, with a gorgeous woman, ready to get a little alcohol in him, and then who knew what? They simply were following where the evening and that's all they had to do. It wasn't like they were going anywhere anytime soon.

Rachel opened up her menu and tried to hide the blush on her face. She was fancy like that. She didn't know why such an intimate setting was causing her to blush so much? There was nothing to be embarrassed about. The hostess made a decision based on what it seemed like two adults looked like. They didn't have to complicate this more with feelings.

Tex thought it was funny that Rachel seemed so completely without words, but her body said it all. There was something she was hiding and it wasn't something small either. No, her whole body practically radiated that she had some big secret that she was keeping to herself, but that was her business. They had only known each other, less than one day, less than twelve hours even.

He opened up his menus and went straight for the cocktails. When he saw it, he knew that he had to order it. He had to order it while looking at her. Because it was about it. The name of the cocktail was made for her.

Tex thought how curious it was that she had furrowed brows looking at a menu. It was like she was going to have to take a test on this thing. But it was kind of adorable how seriously she took it. It seemed like time had slowed while he watched her.

Rachel looked at the menu, studying it, trying to understand which flavors she wanted to go together. That was the kind of person she was. She knew that she would want a good experience which meant making sure that nothing was up to chance, that the drink and the food matched together.

The waiter cleared his throat and smiled as they both looked up, in shock. Apparently, he'd been standing there for a minute. They both blushed as they looked up at the dapper young fellow and smiled.

"Can we start you all off with something to drink?"

Rachel nodded. "Can I start off with the Golden Ticket?" She asked as she looked from the waiter to Tex and smiled, it was a thousand watt smile, and one that made sense why she was picked for TV for the flu campaign.

The waiter nodded and Rachel went back to looking at her menu for a moment, before realizing that Tex hadn't ordered his drink yet. When she looked up to see if something was wrong, he simply shook his head and smiled, "I'll start off with the pretty brown eyes, if you wouldn't mind," He said, not looking at the waiter, but looking at her, watching her blush underneath his stare.

"I'll be back with those as soon as I can," He said and then sauntered off. It was a real go getter of hospitality, but neither Rachel or Tex noticed. They were both too busy looking into each other's eyes and realizing that this night might just be more than they bargained for. They had taken up conversation with each other at random and now they were practically on a date. A date paid for by the airlines but now was not the time to be squabbling about specifics.

Rachel looked down first and took a breath before she looked back up at Tex who was still looking at her. "So do you have someone special in your life?" She asked him.

He shook his head. "No," He said, bluntly, but he softened. "I, uh, haven't really had much time to date around, you know, work has always been more important. Trying to make sure I'm a good dad too,"

She nodded. Those things made sense. She told him about Michael. So there was that. He was casual. "Thank you for the compliment," She said. "With your drink? You didn't have to,"

He reached over the table and took her hand in his, playing with her fingers a little bit, such delicate hands. "Oh, but I did." He said. "One must always compliment a beautiful lady when he sees one and has the chance to."

She chuckled a little at that and their fingers intertwined gently. She couldn't believe that this was happening. That something like this would be happening. "Your daughter, how old is she?" She asked, clearing her throat, trying to get them back on track to something less weird than where they currently were.

"Kathleen, that's my daughter's name, she's uh, she's going on sixteen right now," He said as he looked around. He loved his daughter but it was a weird topic on a date. "How'd you become the face of the President's flu campaign?" He asked. If they were going back to this, he could do it with her too.

"I work at the CDC." She told him. "I work to make sure that there aren't any major pandemics or endemics coming up. And the Flu is the most major endemic we have. So usually, someone from our department goes on TV every year about the importance of the flu shot and this year, our normal hostess dropped out. She's having a baby," Rachel said with a bit of a smile. Sometimes things could be good in the world. Sometimes, things didn't have to be all black and white. "So everyone else was busy doing other projects. And my project has been put on the back burner for a little bit, so I got to be the face of the Flu Vaccine."

"What's your other project?" Tex asked, now more curious than ever because Rachel glowed while she was talking about her projects. He noted that they still hadn't gotten those drinks yet, but he supposed it was a busy night in the airport. Nothing to worry about.

"There's a virus in Egypt that could be worrying. It hasn't left the region yet, and everyone's waiting on Christmas to be over. But uh, if it all goes right, by the beginning of the new Year, I'll be on a plane to Egypt to get a sample of it. And see if it's really something serious, or something we can control with a new cocktail of medications. But the Egyptian authorities are puzzled by it, anyway."

"That's…dark." He said. "And here my plans are just to go back to Cuba."

"Cuba?"

"You wouldn't want to visit the place I have to live and work in Cuba." He said.

She nodded. "Understood." She said. "Well, isn't that just something. You have to go to a not nice place and I have to deal with not nice things in the new year. It's going to be a great one for us."

He shrugged. "Could be worse. We could all be dead." He said to her.

Which is of course when the waiter came back with their drinks and sat the drinks in front of them. "Do you know what you want to eat?" He said as he took out his pen and pad. Tex could almost swear the man was chewing gum too.

Rachel went first. "Yes, I'll have the New York Strip Steak," She said as she put the menu on the edge of the table.

Tex looked at the waiter, "Make that two," He said.

"Fries, rosemary potatoes, or parmesan truffle fries?"

"Parmesan truffle fries for me," Rachel said. "Medium Rare steak," The waiter nodded and then looked to Tex.

Tex looked right back at him. "Regular fries are fine for me. Medium Rare also,"

"Right," The waiter looked bored writing all of it down, but he did. And then he left. They both took a sip of their drink and blushed at the simultaneous action. There was a lot of that wasn't there?

Tex cleared his throat and looked around. "We chose some place fancy," He said.

She nodded as she looked around. "Yeah," It wasn't entirely out of the ordinary for her, but she guessed that he was a guy that didn't normal order cocktails that had special names on the menu. "It's definitely not what you would expect for an airport," She said. That did marvel her. That they were still at the airport. This place looked worlds away from where they should be.

There was a lull in the conversation for quite a few minutes and he wondered if he had suddenly become a little bit boring, but no, he remembered. This was just basically the longest first date ever. Christmas Eve at the Airport. It should have been one of those crappy hallmark movies that Kathleen made him watch one too many of when she got the chance too. He actually didn't hate it, even though he put on that show. It was something to do with his daughter.

"So, you work at the CDC, but you don't sound American?" He asked her, wishing he had a more subtle way to go about things, but no, he was just going to ram into things as much as he could.

She nodded as she chuckled a little. "Yes," She said politely, "I'm not an American, even though I work for one of your government institutions. Not a natural born American anyway. I'm on my pathway to citizenship. My parents were British,"

"What's that like? Trying to get to be a citizen in the US?" She piqued his interest. She always piqued his interest if he was being honest.

She looked down at the table and then back up at him again and smiled. "It's a little stressful. Every so often my bosses have to make sure that I'm still allowed to work in the US. And we have a lot of time to deal with it, but you know, that doesn't always make things easier." She said as she fingered the tablecloth.

"You talked about going to Egypt earlier. You travel a lot?" He asked her.

This made her smile and release the tablecloth. He liked that he had that effect on her. "Yeah," She said. "It's normally to places that you can't get a good meal in. Even at an airport, but yeah, I travel a lot. Thankfully, it doesn't impact my visa standing with the US." She said as she looked around. "Do you think anyone actually wants to be here in this place tonight?" It was conspiratorial, like she was trying to discern a secret, but only between the two of them.

He looked around at all the people. Some of them had happy faces on, but he could tell that they were fake. Not an insignificant amount of people were on their cell phones, desperately trying to be somewhere else and not here. And then there was the third camp of people which were just not hiding it. They didn't want to be there and it was written all on their faces and they didn't want to be somewhere else virtually, it would just instill more hurt.

He shook his head. "Nah, no one wants to be here." He said in a low whisper to keep up with her interest in the fact.

She looked around and saw similar things to him. People with screwed on faces, people in their phones, and deeply unhappy people. And then of course, there was the crew that had to be here on Christmas Eve. The waiters and busboys and the hostesses and the bar staff. They weren't happy to be there either and for similar reasons to the guests, but at least they were being paid, whatever meager wage that might be.

"Which is sad," She said, and she did seem legitimately sad that they were here too, but there was so much more. "We could be outside where it's freezing like so many people tonight."

He nodded. Rachel cared a lot. That was one of the things that he found so interesting about her. Despite the fact that she seemed to have every advantage in the world, she didn't let any of that go to her head, and it easily could have. He'd seen way too many advantaged people think that they were a gift unto the people.

He reached over and put his hand on hers. "Let's not think about that," He said. Mostly because he was uncomfortable about the thought that there were so many people outside in this weather. "We're here and we're comfortable. We have a warm place to stay-"

"Food." The waiter said as practically threw the food down and smiled at them, a little more sinister than Tex would have liked. But Tex wasn't one to tell someone's manager because someone hated their job. They had a right to hate their job. And even to make a minor inconvenience of the people. "Enjoy," And then he sauntered away.

"That man is a gift," Tex said, trying to ease the conversation a little bit.

Rachel shook her head. "I don't think I would exactly use the word 'gift' to describe him, but he's something," Rachel said as she looked at the food. Despite the way it was presented to them by the waiter, it looked absolutely delicious. Rachel unfolded her napkin and put it in her lap and then went in to take a bite.

Tex, reassured by Rachel's actions did similar things. He moved his napkin to the right of him and got his fork and knife and dug in as well. The wait staff might hate their jobs, but the kitchen crew certainly didn't. The steak melted in their mouths and the fries were crispy and beautiful on the outside with a warm fluffy layer on the inside.

They sat there for a while just enjoying their food and the company, pleasantly smiling whenever they caught each other's eyes, which seemed to be happening more and more.

When they were finished, Rachel looked at him and smiled. "You know, despite the fact that this is a pretty shitty Christmas Eve, it's been one of the best days I've had in awhile." She told him.

He couldn't believe that, could he? Maybe he could. She didn't have anyone in her life that was there for her, to bring her joy. God, what he would do to bring her joy everyday. It was too silly to think about, because he would never get that chance. They were going their separate ways after tonight. Hell, maybe tonight if the weather ever cleared up enough to get planes in the sky.

"You deserve more than a shitty Christmas Eve to be one of your best days that you can remember," He said, a little sad about the whole thing.

She shook her head and took his hand. "I'm so glad that I got to spend this time talking to someone instead of ruminating over the fact that I had no one who cared that I wasn't home for Christmas. You made Christmas for me,"

The waiter came and took their vouchers and let them go, surprisingly prompt this time, and Rachel put down a hundred for a tip. He wasn't the best waiter, but he also deserved a nice surprise when it came time to wrap up their interaction. But Tex and Rachel moved out of the way and made their way out of the restaurant and back to their spot in the terminal.

Tex stood behind her and hugged her. He couldn't believe that the only thing she was going to be doing for Christmas was going to an empty apartment with no one to make the day special for her? She probably didn't even have a tree up at home. There was no reason to have one. No one to share it with? No one to decorate for? A shame, really.

Tex couldn't believe that this was Christmas. The kindness of a stranger in an airport. He didn't really have anything to say to that. What could he say? That he wished that she had more for Christmas? Sure, he could say that but what good would it do? She didn't have more for the holiday other than what was.

"You should come to Mobile, with me. If we can make a flight." He said. "Kathleen would love to meet you, I'm sure of it."

Suddenly her phone buzzed. She looked at it. She seemed to be rereading the message, over and over again, as if she wasn't really sure what was happening in the message.

"What is it?" He asked.

"My boss." She said, "He's giving me the okay to go to Egypt. Right after the holiday. But it means that I have to get about a dozen vaccines and that I'll have to live out of my suitcase in an egyptian hotel for several days."

"Right after the holiday?"

"He's aware that I'm stuck in the airport right now," She said, looking up from her phone and looking at him. "This was a work trip." Of course, he had to have known that but she said it anyway, because if he didn't then her boss texting her on Christmas Eve, it would look pretty stupid. "Basically, as soon as I get home, I have to start getting ready to go to Egypt."

Which meant no staying with them. That was the conclusion of that statement. That she had to get home and she had to get ready to go to Egypt. And she had to do the things that made her happy in this world.

"Sounds like you have a packed time ahead of you, then," He said, trying not to think about his own sadness in this. This was about Rachel. She got to do the thing that meant the most to her in the world. That wasn't nothing. That was everything in fact. So what that he wanted her to meet his daughter? That was small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. She was practically saving the world.

She looked at him and the sad smile came back to her face. "I wish I could meet Kathleen. I want to go to Mobile and be with you and your family for Christmas, but my job…"

He nodded. "I get it. My job takes me away from people I want to be with too." He said.

"Weather conditions have now lifted, and all flights will be boarding,"

"Guess this is goodbye," She said to him as she looked at her luggage. She couldn't believe that she was going to get on a plane to DC and then get back on a plane and go to Egypt. It was insane, but that was what life was. She only wished that she had more time with the man that made being stuck in an airport so enjoyable. She put her hand out for him to shake.

He looked at her hand and smiled at it. "Yeah, I guess this is goodbye." He took her hand and instead of shaking it, he brought her in close and grinned. "I think you changed my life," He said.

"You changed mine, most definitely," She said as she also grinned at him.

He kissed her, hard and fast, because they only had so much time to do this. They only had so much time to find out where this was going, and she tasted like her cocktail and he tasted like steak and neither of them could believe that this is what they would be doing on Christmas eve. Kissing a stranger. But like not really a stranger anymore. They were something else. They weren't strangers anymore.

When they moved away from the kiss, her lipstick was smeared and he had some on his face. He didn't mind. He'd keep it that way for as long as he could, to remember her by. She reached for a piece of paper and gave him her phone number.

"I might not be able to answer for awhile, because I'll be in Egypt, but when you have the time, I'd like to see where this goes."

He nodded and quickly scribbled his number on something for her. "Well, till next time, Rachel." He said as he took his luggage and started to roll away for his gate.

"Till next time, Tex," She shouted and he grinned. Little did they know.