Prompt #38 by raffsmile: "Donna and Harvey, already married and living in Seattle, travel to New York during the holiday season to celebrate. However, a snowstorm begins to delay their flights, and when they finally manage to take off, the storm strikes again, causing the flight to proceed with several complications and turbulence that truly make them panic and perhaps become emotional at times about their relationship. Happy ending, returning to their former home :)"
Donna feels her seat bump, and then a bump again, and she drags her heavy eyelids open, blinking groggily against the soft cashmere of Harvey's sweater. His heart beat is steady beneath her ear, and the slight pressure of his lips against her crown fills her haziness with assurance.
"It's okay," Harvey murmurs. "Go to sleep." He kisses Donna's hair, then waits with bated breath, exhaling when his wife mumbles something unintelligible before she starts snoring softly again. Then he returns his earbud with relief, his attention drifting back to the in-flight entertainment in the first-class pod.
Seven months ago, he'd discovered Donna's normal fearlessness in the face of anything up and vanished when she'd been confronted by an airport gate. He'd only just managed to talk her onto their first flight together and had arrived in Seattle nearly crippled after five hours of his hand being crushed whenever they hit turbulence.
His wife refuses to open up about her aerophobia, and far be it for him to judge her hesitation. He'd kept parts of himself hidden from Donna for over a decade, and their relationship is as close to perfect as a marriage can be, but there are still hurdles to navigate.
Fortunately, Donna relented at this particular obstacle, agreeing to ask her doctor for anti-anxiety medication, and he's never been more grateful to take home a win in one of their not-quite-an-argument conversations.
The pills she's on have been a godsend.
After their last trip, his wife's genuine terror had left an unsettling impression that had haunted him for hours after they'd touched down at SEA airport. Never in his life has he seen her quivering lips fight so hard to hold back sobs, an experience he never wants to repeat.
Thankfully, she slept through the hour they were grounded at SEA due to bad weather, and she was none the wiser of their delay.
His only concern now is that the bumpy journey has stirred her twice, and he worries that the time they lost on the tarmac in Seattle will cause her to wake prematurely.
When his seat rattles again, he very carefully — so he doesn't disturb his wife — angles his wrist to check his watch. They still have forty-five minutes before their descent into SEA, and his stomach clenches when the plane suddenly drops, bouncing Donna's head against his chest.
[DING]
His movie is muted by an announcement over the PA system.
Ladies and gentlemen, because of atmospheric conditions, we will be flying through an expected pocket of turbulence. For your safety, the seatbelt sign has been switched on. We kindly ask that you return to your seats and remain seated, and we thank you for your cooperation.
The sound from the film returns as the headrest jerks behind him, and he threads his fingers through Donna's hair, bracing his wife as the plane corrects its altitude. Tension pushes against his palm as Donna stirs, and he reluctantly moves his hand so she can sit up, slipping out his earpieces and placing them on the table next to his privacy screen.
"Did we land yet?"
Her eyes are glazed with dopey confusion, and Harvey chuckles softly. He may have worried himself for nothing. She'll probably be under the effects of her medication for a while, and hopefully she won't even notice — holy-fucking-Jesus-in-hell!
He grunts in agony when the plane veers and Donna's nails bite into his arm, telling him she's every bit aware of her surroundings. Prising her sharp, deathly pinch from his sweater, he transfers the pain to his palm, where Donna's grip is slightly more dulled, but still tight enough to make him wince. "You don't need to worry, okay? You're safe."
The cabin lurches, the plane's hydraulics groaning and shuddering as their luggage rattles overhead, and Donna rips away from him, her lips quaking as she pulls her knees up onto the jerking recliner.
"Donna, listen — "
"Don't!"
He retracts his hand, cupping his knee as the plane settles, the return to normal bringing no relief to his wife's ghostly complexion.
God, he hates this.
Every urge in his body wants to take her back into his arms and sooth her fear, but the last time he made the mistake of crossing the invisible barrier between their seats, his OJ wound up in his lap, and he had to deal with a mortified stewardess trying to mop up his jeans.
"There's nothing to worry about, I promise."
Again, his attempt to comfort her fails, met by a stern silence, and he sighs. Of all the times he's let her down, and there have been a goddamn few, he's never been powerless. When she was fired by Jessica, after she moved to Louis's desk, during his relationship with Paula, he chose not to act.
He's never had such a feeling of helplessness before.
The plane is gripped by another tremor, and he's thrown forward on the lounger, his fingers pinching the seat as he hears a clatter of devices dropping in the surrounding pods. He glances at Donna, whose eyes are screwed shut, her expression clenched with pure terror.
[DING]
Ladies and gentlemen, the captain would like to remind everyone to stay seated with your seatbelts fastened. As a precaution, we would ask that you please store away any hand-held devices, make sure your tray tables are in an upright position, and ensure your window shades are drawn. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
Something bangs and clangs loudly behind them, and Harvey can admit to feeling anxious himself, but his wife's labored gasping keeps his attention focused on his wife.
Screw it.
Last time they'd flown, he'd faced an undercurrent of nerves dealing with Donna's phobia, afraid of messing up as her newly appointed husband. Now, he doesn't care if she screams or shouts or tries to claw his eyes out. She needs him, and that's enough to make him act.
His knuckles brush against the thin fabric of her sweats, jostling with the plane's instability, but his voice is a soft promise, no matter how she reacts. "I'm right here."
As if he used the magic words to enter Ali Baba's cave, her eyes flash open, and she locks herself around his elbow, burying her face in his sweater. He palms her back, holding her as the lights in the cabin flicker and their electronics lose power.
In a single moment of undeniable dread, he knows why his assurance failed to comfort his wife. He would give his life for Donna, but when the plane drops several feet, the aircraft plunged into darkness, he has no control over the situation. And suddenly, Donna's fear of flying is no more irrational than her suggestion that they drive for three days to NYC.
Turbulence alone can't bring down an aircraft, but now he's terrified of the slim chance there was something wrong with mechanics to begin with, or other contributing factors that garble the next announcement.
[DI…NG]
The capt… Brace… Emergency landing.
"Harvey."
Donna sobs into his chest, and he reaches down, pulling her belt as tight as he can before his hand rakes her hair and cups the back of her neck. "I've got you."
With the unknown rushing up to meet them, he braces for his own onslaught of panic — crippling anxiety that's left him paralyzed before. Yet, the past sensation ghosts over him as he inhales the soothing scent of Donna's lilac shampoo, his thumb skimming below her ear to calm her trembling body.
If only she could only feel the way does, knowing how goddamn lucky he is finding a love that can suffocate the deepest, harrowing fears. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he registers he should be consumed by the endless, pitch-black and shaking chaos, but his memories of his very first touch with Donna, as she'd bouncily introduced herself, fills the darkness behind his eyes with light.
Their time together at the DA's office had been effortless, learning one and other through salacious flirting, but also discovering they were in perfect sync when shit hit the fan. Sleeping with her had been a conquest, but the night they made love changed him, sparking a deep urge to become the kind of man that deserved a woman like Donna.
A decade of moments seem to flash by in an instant, the enthralling pull of her laughter in every memory drowning out the ominous thrashing around him.
Nothing can distract him from the life they've shared — exploring Seattle hand in hand, late nights when their conversations ran on as if they hadn't talked in weeks, and lazy Sundays in bed, smiling at the pure joy of being together.
Somehow he feels completely content, no matter his fate.
The plane hurls forward into a roaring skid and then — silence. The picturesque glow of Donna's light is replaced by his wife's trembling body and the view of a tarmac.
They landed.
He hears the slow realization spread around the cabin, people starting to clap and cheer, but Donna is a wreck, and he unclips her tight belt, tossing the buckle aside so there's no barrier between them. "We're on the ground. You're safe." He tugs her onto his lap, cocooning her tremors with his arms. "You're safe, I swear."
[DI..NG]
Ladies and… On behalf… our crew…. Warwick Municipal Airport… Ground staff will compensate…"
He doesn't give a shit about where they are or compensation. The only relief he gives a damn about is Donna's hitched whisper against his neck.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't you dare apologize." His response is gentle, but rough with the threat of suing whoever goddamn decided it was safe to leave SEA after all the storm warnings. "Our Christmas present to this airline is going to be coal and a lawsuit."
Donna feels his adrenaline vibrate through his body, and she hates that she's still shaking and can't gain control of her fear. It's not something she's even been able to talk about, the root of her phobia stemming from a memory she keeps buried.
Shortly after her mother canceled their trip to Paris, Clara booked them a weekend in Nashville. Though her mom claimed the expense was a gift of gratitude, she'd heard her parent's fighting, and knew her father's business venture was in trouble. She'd played along, pretending to be excited, but the pressure of keeping her feelings bottled up had exploded, leading to a huge fight right before they boarded their ride home. An ill-fated flight which had left her traumatized.
One engine had caught fire, and she'd been sulking, rows away from her mother, when the oxygen masks dropped and the cabin was plunged into darkness. She'd sat alone and sobbing as the plane hurtled into an emergency landing, and even though the disaster brought her mother and father closer together for a short period, her parents had ultimately filed for a divorce, and there were no more family trips.
Before marrying Harvey, she never traveled further than the Berkshires for a holiday, always taking the train. But she wants to visit their family in New York and take all the abroad they've been talking about. She doesn't want the anxiety pitted in her stomach to be the reason she and Harvey can't live their lives to the fullest.
Inhaling a shaky breath, she lifts her head, resting her cheek against his light dusting of stubble. Before, she wasn't capable of realizing how much she needed his strength, but now she's aware just how safe she feels bundled in his embrace. "I'm okay."
His pinched expression softens, and he sighs. His wife manages the impossible on a daily basis, and she'll never have to face her aerophobia alone, but he's still worried about her. Though her lips gently coax away his concern. They both relax into the tender kiss, parting when the lights flicker on.
Able to see him properly, Donna smiles at his soft, warm gaze. "Hey."
"Hey." He thumbs the dampness from her cheek, finding her eyes more calm and focused, and his lips hook up too.
Once they arrive in New York, and they've assured their friends and family they're safe — he may even offer to call Louis — he's going to tell Donna just how grateful he is that she found her way into his arms during her panic.
He has plenty of experience pulling away from people he cares about, but that version of himself is in the past, and he's going to try harder to show his wife that there's no shame in confronting the parts of themselves they would rather keep hidden. God knows she's put in the work with him over the years.
So, no more sliding on hard truths because he's afraid he'll land out of his depths. They just fell as hard as they're ever going to fall, and if he's wrong, fuck it, they'll deal with whatever life throws at them.
For better or worse, they're going to be there for each other — the way they always have been — unwavering, loyal, and fiercely in love.