Yeah they do get in lots of trouble. The stories are adventure romance. none of my own personal stories read like that because I am not a great adventure writer. But I love these stories. They get in a lot of trouble for sure... and there are a few major things that happen in this story.

Three

It was hypnotic. Jade stayed crouched over her laptop, continually hitting the refresh button and attempting to change the indicator on the page by sheer force of will. Change, damn you. She whispered under her breath, slamming the button on the mouse for the thousandth time.

And it did. The page redrew, and the Delayed status morphed before her startled eyes to Arrived.

Jade blinked. She clicked on it again, and watched the same results occur. Again. Same thing. Her shoulder muscles relaxed and she slumped over the desk. Then she sucked in a breath and closed her hand around the cell phone and started to lift it. It rang as she did so, causing her whole body to jerk in shocked surprise. The phone went flying and Jade dove after it, tripping over the laptop's cable and sprawling across the carpet in an undignified tumble.

Her head struck the bedside table, and she yelped, but her fingers found the buzzing phone and she managed to get it open and to her ear without further injury. "Yeah?"

"Sweetheart, you have no idea what I've just been through."

Jade rolled onto her back and sucked the voice in, every muscle going completely slack in utter relief. "Uh?"

Tori sighed into the phone. "We just landed… we hit this huge storm, and the plane was rockin' all over the place, and we lost an engine, and I think my stomach's going to resign and find a better job somewhere else after that ride down."

Jade placed a hand over her own belly and blinked. "Yeah. I know what you mean." She murmured softly into the phone. "Glad you're okay."

"I've never been so scared in my life." Tori's voice was shaking.

"I bet. " Jade murmured. "I bet it felt like your heart was coming out of your ears." She rubbed one of hers, then let the hand fall to the carpet limply.

"Yeah." Tori sighed. "I'm still shaking."

Jade lifted the errant paw again, and watched it tremble. "Hm." She let it drop with a thump. "Ow."

"What's wrong?" Tori asked. "We're stuck in here for a few minutes.. they're trying to get the jetway working. It's all iced, I think…."

"I bumped my head." Jade told her. "So.. does that mean you're stuck in Chicago?" She had hardly a notion of what she was saying, merely pushing words out to fill the quiet. "You didn't get hurt or anything, did you?"

"No." Tori sighed. "Just scared. I want off this airplane.. and I hope I am stuck overnight because let me tell you.. I'm not anxious to get on another one of them. I will drive to Madison from here I swear."

"Mm…yeah. I can understand that….boy." Jade exhaled. "Wish I was there."

Tori was very quiet for a moment, and when she did start speaking, there was a distinct catch in her voice. "I wish you were too…just before we landed I…" Tori stopped., then went on. "I was so scared."

Jade rolled onto her side, and curled her hands around the phone, wanting to reach right through it. Maybe she could squeeze through if she really tried hard. "Sorry you had such a rotten time, Tor…hang in there, okay?"

A shaky sigh answered her. "You okay? You sound kinda washed out."

Like a limp dishrag. Jade now had an excellent insight into that hoary old saying. "I'm fine.. just tired…and I think this damn New York food knocked my system for a loop."

"Oh. Where'd you end… " Tori paused. "They got the door open.. I need to get out of here. Sweetie, I'll give you a call back as soon as I figure out what's going on, okay?"

"Sure. Talk to you soon." Jade answered. "I love you."

"I love you too." Tori's voice, finally, sounded a smile at her. "Later."

Jade let the phone drop onto the carpet, and just lay there for a moment, then she reached up and dragged the hotel phone receiver off its hook, and held it to her ear. The operator answered, and she asked for room service. A ring, and another voice sounded down the line. "Could you please send me the largest cup of warm milk you have?"

"Certainly, ma'am… um.. will there be anything else?" The puzzled sounding room service operator asked.

"A really big dish of chocolate ice cream."

"How big is really big?"

Jade considered. "You got a punch bowl lying around?"

A muffled laugh. "I get the idea. It'll be right up, ma'am. Have a nice night."

Tori edged past the crowd at the end of the jetway and moved into the terminal, the chaos of too many people, and too little space hitting her with an almost physical force. The terminal was full, and she found herself pressed back against the entry gate, watching the harried airline attendants trying to guide the frazzled passengers into some kind of order.

"Ma'am?"

Tori turned her head, to see a red coated woman at her elbow. "Yes?"

"Were you on that flight?"

Tori nodded.

"Okay.. Well, as you can see, it's pretty jammed up here. The airport is closed now, because of the weather. They only let your flight land because of the trouble you had. We've got a cleared area set up over there, but there's not much good news about hotel space."

"Great." Josh appeared at her side, carrying his laptop case. "I think at this point, I'd be happy with a cardboard box and sheet of newsprint."

"Well.. " The gate agent grimaced. "I wish I could say we had that.. but we do have some coffee and some sandwiches.. would you come with me, please? " Her eyes dropped slightly, and caught the tag on Tori's laptop case, and a subtle shift in her attitude occurred. "Are you two together?"

Tori had caught the motion, and was just sharp enough to realize what was going on. "Yes." She answered, a breath before Josh denied it.

"Okay… in that case, why don't you just follow me." The gate agent smiled, and took Tori's elbow. "We'll see if we can get you comfortable."

"C'mon." Tori caught Josh's sleeve, and tugged him along. They followed the red coated woman through the crowd, edging past angry faces and exhausted bodies, around a corner and paused, as the gate agent swiped her id and opened a large, heavy black unmarked door.

"Here you go.. let me have your bag tags. I'll go make sure your luggage is brought in." She took their envelopes, and disappeared, leaving them in relative quiet inside a large, plush lounge filled with comfy furniture, a bar, and several perky looking attendants.

"Uh." Josh glanced around, then at Tori.

"Cmon." Tori repeated, heading for the leather couch and dropping her laptop onto it, then following suit with her tired body. "Can I get a beer?" She asked the lounge clerk, who ducked behind the bar obediently. Josh slowly sat down at her side, and put his case down. "Never been in the platinum lounge, huh?" Tori asked him, with a wry smile. She hadn't spent much time in them herself, until Jade had prodded her the last few trips, personally dragging her into one of them at Newark, and showing her the ropes, so to speak. "We're very frequent business level flyers… short trips, big price tags… they love us."

"Uh..no." Josh leaned back. "Wow." He gave her a sideways glance. "Thanks for bringing me along… I know for sure this is better than the hallway outside."

Several more customers were ushered in, a few Tori recognized as being from their flight, several others she didn't. Everyone seemed tired, and cranky, and not inclined to talk, which was fine with her. She was very content to sit on the couch and sip her beer, washing down several Advil with a swig of the cold beverage. Jade would have scolded her for that, she knew, but she was just too tired to get up and get a drink of water, and the attendants were busy with the newcomers, making them as comfortable as possible. Blankets were being brought in, and Tori guessed they'd be spending the evening in the lounge. She was glad she'd claimed her couch first, being the plushest, comfiest looking one, and she didn't mind sharing it with Josh.

At least he was cute, and nice to talk to, unlike the majority of the folks who had come in after them. She lifted her beer bottle, and tipped it towards him. He amiably clinked his glass against it, and the both took a sip. "What a night." Tori sighed.

"You can say that again." Josh agreed. "I'm gonna give my notice as soon as I get access to a phone line. That's it for me, let me tell ya. No sir.. I'm going home to Minnesota, and sell me some pizza, and never get on anything bigger than a buffalo cart."

Tori sucked at her bottleneck thoughtfully. "Minnesota?"

A finger. "No jokes."

"Hey.. I'm from Darien." Tori chuckled. "I don't make jokes about other people's hometowns." Her eyebrows twitched a little, and she felt a sense of recklessness tickle her spine. Maybe it was her close brush with danger. "So.. you don't want to work for Intelsat, huh? How about working forWesTrek?"

He blinked. "You're joking."

"Nope." Tori smiled at a young woman, who offered her a platter of food. She had to look twice before she realized the small, square brown items were really White Castle burgers. "Interesting choice." She took two, and handed one to Josh. "Guess they were out of pate."

Josh munched his burger. "Texturally, there's not much difference here."

Tori bit delicately into her patty, and chewed it. "Hm." She swallowed. "You've got a point there… and no, I wasn't kidding. One of the things I do is look for new talent for the company.. you interested?"

"Do I get to work for you?" Josh asked, with a rakish grin.

Tori considered the question. "Well, all the programming groups do work in the department I'm in.. so yeah.. I guess you would, in a way." She smiled at him. "Unless you wanted to move to San Francisco... then you definitely would."

Josh wiggled his ears, a supremely goofy motion that almost made Tori choke. "Weeell… now." He looked definitely intrigued. "I'll get back to you on that, Miz Vega… I surely will."

"Good." Tori settled back and accepted the blanket the agent handed her, along with a standard airline size pillow. "Thank you… and thanks for bringing up my bag." She patted the leather item.

The agent patted her arm. "I know it's been a rough night for you all - we'll see what we can do about getting you out of here tomorrow." She sighed. "Doesn't look good, though."

"No?" Tori's brow creased. "Is the storm that bad?" She glanced at the tv screen, mutely dancing on the far wall. A map was featured on it, and the entire center of the country was one, big splort of flashing lights and colors. "Oh."

"Ugh." Josh exhaled. "Wonder if they make those White Castle things in turkey flavor."

Tori stared at the picture, her rising spirits sinking again. She was beginning to think Thanksgiving was definitely just not her holiday.