A few days had passed when Gabriel's group began their way towards Solide's airport. That was where they were due to meet up with Mason's group that came from Ponte Vecchio.
It took them about a 15-minute drive to get to the airport, which was on the other side of the city.
And when they arrived, they immediately headed inside the one and only terminal.
"We will have to wait here a bit for Mason and his group," Gabriel informed his crew. And with a nod, they all followed his words.
Minutes passed when a bus pulled up by the front of the terminal building. From there, a man walked out. When Claire looked at the man, she saw he looked familiar. Lieutenant Mason.
Behind the Lieutenant, there followed his men and women. They all began to approach the entrance of the airport, some still in casts wrapped around an arm or a leg. Or both.
Only when they entered and when Mason briefed Gabriel did they begin to make progress to get to the gates on time.
First, they all checked in. All getting a ticket each, they began to walk deeper into the airport terminal.
Minutes passed before they got to the gates. With the commands of both Gabriel and Mason, the group split again, Gabriel's group staying with Gabriel and Mason's group staying with Mason.
"The reason we have to split up once again is that, sadly, one plane will not have enough seats for us all. So we will all have to commute with two planes," Gabriel elaborated the reasoning for the making of such a decision.
---
Sometime later, Claire was sat on one of the seats right by her gate. Looking out the window, she gazed at all the activity happening on the other side of the glass window.
Slight worry, fear, nausea began to fill the pit of her stomach. This was to be her first time flying on a plane.
Walking over to her, Gabriel took a seat beside Claire. At first, he looked out the window, a small smile stretching across his lips.
Then, he diverted his gaze towards Claire.
Simultaneously, his smile began to recede. He noticed the slight paleness her face carried. The slight worry her face expressed, the tensing of her facial features.
"Claire?" he called her name. "Is everything okay? You look paler than usual...". A pause followed. "Do you need me to help you out to the bathroom?".
Upon hearing his words, her head dropped ever so slightly, with the steady shaking of her head being her reply. "No. I'm fine.". A slight lie. And he knew this too.
Claire took in another deep breath. She thought over her words, over what she wanted to say to Gabriel. Somewhere in those words, she managed to find enough satire to make her chuckle. Laugh at her own words.
Seeing such a reaction left Gabriel slightly confused.
Claire looked up at Gabriel, taking in another deep breath. "This will probably sound ridiculous to you, but I am scared.". A pause followed, but only momentarily. "I have never flown on a plane before, so I don't know what to expect.". Running her eyes down from his eyes to his shoulder and down to his thighs and knees, she returned to looking out the glass pane. "Looking out this window, it was the very first time I saw a plane this close to me. That I got to see the sheer size of an airplane...".
Looking out the transparent barrier, that small smile returned on his lips. "You are being ridiculous. It's only natural that you feel that way because you have never experienced such a thing.". A break in his words followed. "I should have asked if you were comfortable flying on a plane. But then again, it would have been futile. Because of the war going on, it would have been very dangerous to go on land - but it would have also been too far to travel by bus - and sail on the sea. If we had a sail strong enough, fast enough, we might have succeeded. But since Douleur is a neutral country, requesting such a transportation vehicle would have been a bad move. A slow one.". A pause followed. "Veursau is well known for all of its strong vessels and requesting one from them would have taken an unnecessarily long time.". Gabriel looked at Claire. "There is nothing for you to worry about. Flying on a plane is like driving on a bus. Except with a plane you go up into the sky.".
Upon seeing that his words barely made any effect on Claire, that her fear is still present, he blurted out. "Is there any other that I can help you calm down?".
Claire smiled ever so slightly at his words before looking at Gabriel. With that, she shook her head ever so slightly. "No... There has to be something, but nothing is coming to mind...". With a pause made in between her words, Claire looked down at her hands before she intertwined them with one another. With that, she began to massage the palm on one of her hands with the thumb from the other hand.
Upon realising her actions, she froze.
Gabriel took notice of this.
Claire kept her gaze down on the palm of her hand. And slowly, she felt tears fill her eyes. Closing them shut, she saw her mother. She saw her sitting beside her, Claire's hand in hers as she slowly massaged the underside of her hand, calming Claire down.
Without her notice, a tear managed to escape her eye and roll down her face. Only when she felt the cold drop leave a trail on her cheek did she react by wiping it away.
Opening her eyes, she found herself somewhere far away from home. Somewhere far from where she saw her mother behind her closed eyes.
With a hitch or two, hearing that Gabriel was quiet, she proceeded on talking. Although she felt his gaze burn through her. "My mother used to do this to me whenever I was upset...". After finishing her sentence, she continued the movement of her thumb. "It managed to, somewhat, calm me down.".
With that, silence descended upon both Claire and Gabriel.
Then, Gabriel extended his hand out.
Catching Claire's attention, she looked at it before raising her gaze and looking into Gabriel's eyes.
They both gazed into each other's orbs, and after a second, with the gesture of his head, softly Gabriel pointed down to his hand.
Claire guessed that he requested to put her hand onto his. But for a request of such an action with such boldness and passion, she had herself thinking that she understood him wrong.
And even he saw this. He saw the confusion in her eyes, the dilemma as to what she should do. Taking things into his own hands, he slowly approached his arm to hers. But right before he made any contact, he muttered, "May I?".
Claire swallowed whatever was in her mouth, her gaze never leaving Gabriel's. "Y-you don't have to, Gabriel.".
"I know I don't have to. But I want to, Claire. As I said, I want to help you calm down. I feel as if it's my responsibility, as your captain, to make you feel as comfortable as I possibly can," Gabriel muttered.
Neither responded to the fact Claire called him by his first name. Neither noticed.
Silence descended upon them both and that was when Claire, slowly, raised her hand, by just a bit, before placing it onto Gabriel's. She looked at her hand in his, hers being noticeably smaller than his, and his being noticeably rougher. But despite all the coarseness, when his hands closed over hers, all she felt was softness. Delicacy.
And from there, her gaze rose back and met his.
For a brief moment, they both looked at the eyes of each other. Right before Gabriel broke their gaze and looked down.
Slowly, he began his caresses upon her hands.
For some reason, a reason she couldn't quite put her finger on, her eyes began to swell with tears.
She tried to tame them, to keep them at bay. But turned when she felt them threaten to flow down her face. She didn't want Gabriel to see her even more upset, to see her cry, but her sudden movement showed him just that.
He wanted to say something, to ask her why she was sad. But thinking back to her words, he guessed it was her family she missed. Or maybe it was the nerves.
Reflecting over all the times they have interacted, especially the day when she joined, the night she spent at his house. The morning when they had that morning coffee together - one of the better coffees he tasted. He felt his assumptions became more concrete. He sensed as if his guesses were more certain.
Family... Family, he missed his too.
Not that there were many people that consisted of his family now. Unlike before...
Now, it was just his mother and him...
Before anything else could have entered his mind, the voice of the gate agent at their gate sounded through the air. She asked for the captain to come up to the gate counter.
Gabriel looked at Claire, he gazed at the way her head was turned away from him. Spectated the way her hands, her arms moved, as she wiped her face. He wanted to say something, but just like a few minutes ago, he remained quiet.
Seconds passed before he muttered, "I'm sorry..." and decided that it was best to leave it at that. Moments later, he stood up and began his way towards the gate agent.
And as he walked, he cursed himself. The words Claire told him only days ago spun around and had no intention of leaving his mind. 'He meant it as a gift of gratitude...'.
---
Sometime later, Gabriel's group boarded the plane, Claire was sat by the window seat.
She gulped as she looked out the window. The hums of the plane echoed throughout the cabin and when she looked back, she saw Gabriel, near the rear of the plane, walking towards the front with a notepad in his hand.
A few rows ahead of Gabriel, she saw Frank, sitting with a guy. Consequently looking up, his eyes met Claire's. He gave her a small smile and a wave.
She replied with the same. A smile and a wave.
And from him, she looked back towards Gabriel.
The fact that she had two men, who she recognised, on the plane with her. It made her feel that bit calmer.
Only when he finished, handed over the list and sat down, was the plane powered up.
As usual, his choice of seating was the seat beside Claire.
Claire had her gaze on the ground, by her shoes, before occasionally raising it up to look outside.
"How are you feeling now?" Gabriel asked.
"A bit better. Honestly, knowing that you and Frank will be on the plane with me feel kinda like a remedy," Claire replied. At first looking at Gabriel before diverting her eyes, once again, out the window.
He swallowed whatever was in his mouth. Though he didn't know his name, he knew who Claire was talking about. Turning around, he looked back and saw him, the man who he helped out. The man who Claire helped out the day he was shot, looking out the window.
The engines started up and within no time, the plane began its way towards the runway, rolling slowly on the recently-concreted taxiway.
"Is the sound normal?" Claire questioned, looking towards Gabriel.
He nodded. "Yeah, that's the sound of the engines.".
Nodding to his words, she looked back out the plane. "Are we gonna take off now?".
He smiled at such a question. "Not yet, we are taxiing towards the runway. And then we will take off.".
Not too long passed and the plane turned before it entered the runway. And with that, the captain of the plane briefed his passengers for takeoff.
"We are gonna take off now?" Claire asked.
"Yeah," he replied, before moving closer to Claire. "And it's the best part, look..." Gabriel whispered to her, seeing how intrigued she was, looking out the window.
The plane stopped for a brief second before its humming increased drastically. The engines sped up their rotation.
With letting go of the breaks, the plane began to roll.
It rolled faster and faster and it only increased in speed, sprinting down the runway.
"I-is this normal, Captain??".
"Yeah, the plane is just picking up its speed to take off. I'd encourage you to lean back now," Gabriel answered.
And she did as he said.
Claire felt her stomach swirl with excitement as she was pushed back in her seat before the plane slowly began tilting upwards.
And then...
Then...
Liftoff.
The plane and everyone inside grew more and more distant from the ground.