July 11, 2005 Cleveland, Ohio

Tina had a bad feeling as soon as she pulled up in front of Nick's condo. The rented SUV that he had been driving the day before was no longer parked in the spot she'd seen it when she'd gone over. It was possible he had returned the car and was taking a cab to the airport, but she knew it was more likely that he'd already left. After all, it wasn't as though he had much of a reason to stick around now that the kids were back with her. 

Throwing her car into park she didn't even bother to take the keys out of the ignition before racing out of the car and up the steps to the entrance of the condo. Her hand slapped against the door anxiously before switching to ringing the doorbell but there was no answer. With a deflated sigh Tina headed back to the car and leaned her head against the steering wheel trying to think of her next move. 

Her brain told her that it was silly to do anything other than head home and call Nick later. She had two children sitting at her parent's house that didn't even know she'd left, she couldn't just disappear - they were traumatized enough. But her heart was telling her she needed to go to the airport. There was still a chance that Nick hadn't gotten on the plane yet and she could catch him before he left. She didn't have to get on a plane herself, she just had to see for sure whether or not he had actually left. Taking a deep breath to push away her nerves Tina started the car and turned in the opposite direction of home, heading instead towards Hopkins International Airport on the outskirts of the city. This level of spontaneity was unheard of for Tina; she was normally the type of person that liked to know ahead of time what was going to happen. She didn't particularly care for surprises and definitely didn't do things on a whim; like chase ex-lovers to the airport.

She was walking through the departures area of the airport and Tina was filled with a sudden sense of dread. It was then that she realized that if Nick had already checked in and gone through security then there was no way she could find him unless she had a ticket. She thought of calling him but didn't want him to think she was asking him to stay; she just wanted to talk to him, not stress him out before he had to go to work. If she didn't find him then she would simply call him later, once he was on the ground in California. To start with, she didn't have much of an idea what she even wanted to say so beyond exchanging niceties she didn't know how a phone call would go. She did a quick scan of the check in area but didn't see his familiar shape anywhere amongst the dozens of bodies milling around the room. A large screen hanging from the ceiling showed the long list of arrivals and departures and she did a quick scan for flights leaving to Los Angeles. At the top of the departure list there were two, one was just taking off while the other left in a half hour. Her gut told her that Nick was on the flight just leaving and she let out a heavy sigh. It was both relief and disappointment she felt as she turned away from the board. 

Thinking back to the conversation with her parents she remembered the last thing her mother had said to her before she'd left, enjoy your trip. She never would have thought her parents would have encouraged her to chase after him; their ability to be spontaneous was even more limited than hers. Yet her mother had told her to go. Of all people she never would have thought it would be the woman that for years had hated Nick, and hated that she was with him that would have told her to try and salvage things. Tina was tempted to leave, to stick to her original plan and just call Nick once he landed but her body wouldn't go. Soon enough, as if possessed by an outside force, she found herself walking towards the ticket counter and before she could stop herself she was asking about a ticket on the next flight to Los Angeles that she'd seen on the board. The woman behind the counter was helpful but explained that on such short notice the only seats available on the plane would be in first class. 

Tina sighed and opened her wallet, wondering silently if she would have room on her credit card for a first class ticket to L.A. The solution became obvious though when, sitting just behind her Visa, as always, was the Amex Black that Nick had given her when they first got together. Even after she left he didn't ask for the card back, rather he told her to keep it to pay for any incidentals for the kids; doctor’s appointments, new clothes, or anything else that was his responsibility to buy. 

"It's easier to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission," she muttered to herself, the statement having so much more weight considering her current situation. 

She handed over the card and cringed as the woman swiped it; committing her to a two thousand dollar bill if things didn't go how she wanted them to. 

"I'll tell them you are on your way but you'll have to hurry the flight is just getting ready to board," the clerk explained, handing Tina her boarding pass and the credit card back. 

Thanking the woman Tina raced through the airport before she had time to talk herself out of it.  

~*~

 Nick sighed a shoved his headphones over his ears, preparing himself for a long flight. It wasn’t the actual hours on the plane that bothered him but he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep himself from overanalyzing what had happened in the restaurant earlier that day.  

He’d been disappointed when it wasn’t Tina who came to pick up the kids. He’d really believed they had made some head way during her visits to his condo so he was shocked to see things go back to normal that quickly. She didn’t have to be his friend, but it would be nice for her to even want to see him at all.

 “We’re just waiting for one passenger and then we’ll get going,” the flight attendant explained, flashing them a bright, professionally whitened smile.  

Nick glared at the woman before turning to stare out the window; he hated when they made those announcements. They set a boarding time for a reason, if you couldn’t get on the plane before that then sorry you can take the next one. He never understood why they would hold up a plane full of people who potentially had connections in other airports that they had to make in order to accommodate one person who didn’t know how to manage their time.

The pilot’s voice was crackling over the speaker and suddenly the airport started moving away from them. Nick hadn’t even noticed anyone else get on the plane but he was relieved they were finally leaving. If they had stayed on the tarmac any longer he was pretty sure he would have found a way off the plane. He didn’t like to fly, and he didn’t want to leave his family behind again.

Zoey thought he didn’t want to be with her, thought that he was giving her away every time he returned her to her mother. Thinking about it killed him because it couldn’t be further from the truth. Every time his in-laws came to collect the kids he had to resist the urge to strap them into the back of the car, hit the gas and never look back. He had made a decision on the ride to the airport that he wasn’t getting enough time with them. Tina probably wouldn’t like it but he was going to call his lawyer as soon as he was on the ground and arrange time to get back in front of a judge. He needed more time, and he truly believed he could provide for them better while they were with him than just sending a cheque every month.

The seatbelt sign dinged off and the flight attendants were quickly in the aisles, doting over the first class passengers. Nick often found them annoying; you barely got through your drink before they were asking you if you were thirsty or hungry. He was paying for the leg room not to be bothered by an overly cheerful woman, no matter how pretty or busty she may be.

“Would you like something to drink?”

Both pretty and busty she was he had to admit. In front of him stood a curvy blonde wearing a tight blue uniform; the top few buttons of her dress shirt undone to reveal a considerable amount of cleavage as she leaned down to speak to him.

“Orange juice,” he replied with a grin, not even attempting to make it look like he wasn’t staring at her breasts.

He looked away while she poured his drink, feeling somewhat guilty about turning on the charm for the good looking flight attendant. He looked back just in time to see her ‘accidentally’ spill some of the juice on the leg of his pants with an innocent ‘oops’.

“I’m so sorry,” she said in a sultry tone and he didn’t buy it for a second, “If you come with me up to the front I’ll help you... get that out of your pants.”

He couldn’t believe he was being propositioned by the flight attendant. She must have known who he was before she came up to him, but it wasn’t as if he had never fucked a fan before. He had a split second to decide what to do; whether he should sit there and wallow in his own self pity for the next five hours or join the mile high club and bask in the afterglow instead.

It was barely a decision at all, “Lead the way,” he smiled, giving her another glance up and down.

She ditched the drink cart and started walking back up the aisle towards the bathroom, hips swinging. She turned back and gave him a quick look and a wink and Nick practically jumped out of his skin he couldn’t get up fast enough.

He unbuckled his seatbelt and started making his way through the first class cabin to follow. As he reached the first couple of rows he could have sworn the woman sitting in the second row looked just like Tina. It was as if his mind was trying to make him feel guilty for the decision to have sex on the plane. It wasn’t as if he was cheating on her, they hadn’t been together in three years. He couldn’t stop looking at the woman as he got closer to the second row, feeling his blood pressure rising and butterflies in his stomach. He’d almost completely forgotten why he was in the aisle to start with, oblivious to the fact that the flight attendant was waiting for him in the bathroom for a quickie.

He figured that once he reached the second row he would check and the woman would look nothing like Tina, just a figment of his imagination. Instead though, as he reached with his neck to see around the man sitting in the aisle seat he realized that the woman sitting by the window, looking out at the clouds, much as he was doing just moments before, was the woman he loved.