UNDERCOVER ⧗ BLACKHILL

Paris - 27

(Maria's POV)
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"We're here," I gently nudge Natasha awake in the car, in the airport drop off line.
"Hmmm," she mumbles, slowly waking up. "Oh," she wakes up fully when she sees all the commotion of people walking in every which direction outside.

We drove a few states over to Virginia so we could get through an airport without being recognized. Although it goes against everything I swore, Natasha knew she'd never get through an airport, so her new name is Natalie Rushman. It suits her, though.

"Let me help you with your luggage," a man says, as I open the trunk of the car.
Natasha and I let him, not wanting to lift the bags anyways. I pull out money to tip him, which he gratefully accepts. We get our backpacks and carry-on, ready to head inside.

Walking up to the gate agent, we get our ID and passports out. "Final destination?" the lady asks us, to which we both reply, "Paris."
"Any checked baggage?"
"No, guy outside took that."
"Ok, everything looks good. You'll have to go through customs obviously, that's that way," she says, handing us over our boarding passes for both legs of the flight.
"Thank you," I say, and we walk off towards customs.

We each take a deep breath, knowing we got past half the challenges so far. Customs are a little more thorough, but in a different state with valid everything, we just can't act nervous and we're fine.

Somehow, a lot of people decide to fly outside of the country on the same day, so the line is a little long, but we made sure to allow extra time for that. I've never understood that everyone here right now had the collective thought to book a flight for around the same time to who knows where.

"You ever been?" Natasha asks me, resting her head on my shoulder.
"Nope," I reply, slowly walking with her.

After what seems like forever, it's our turn at customs.
"Next," the man says deadpan. Must be tired of it, I would be too.
"Paris," I say, we're trying to keep Natasha's talking to a minimum around officials.
"Passports and tickets," he says, both of us sliding them under the plastic separator.
Looking them over and back at us a few times, he eventually stamps them and lets us through.
"Thanks," we say, but all we hear is next. People could be a little warmer.

Looking around the terminal, we eventually find our gate, and a place to sit. Natasha leans her head onto my shoulder over the seat, me wrapping an arm around her.

"You hungry?" I ask, looking around at the several choices of food that we have.
"Sure, what's around?" she questions, too lazy to look for herself.
"Well there's a McDonalds, Pei Wei-"
"Pei Wei, I've always wanted to try one," she interrupts.
"Ok, what do you want?"
"Kids honey seared chicken and white rice."
"Woah, you're prepared."
"Hmhmm, I've seen their menu here and there."
"I'll be right back then," I direct, making sure I have my card before heading over to the restaurant.

Luckily, the food doesn't take long, so I can get back to Natasha quickly. If she doesn't have her food, well, you don't want to see that. It can get pretty ugly. 

"This is so good," she comments, shoveling more food into her mouth. 
"I know, it really is, we have to go back."
"Agreed."

Not long after we finish our food, we hear an announcement over the loudspeaker.

Flight 1234 to Barcelona ready to board. First Class, welcome aboard. 

We pick up our things, joining the line of other customers in first class. As we get to the gate, we scan our tickets on the scanner, as the gate agent wishes us a good flight. We thank her, heading down the runway to the plane. Seeing it pull in from the inside before, this plane is huge, probably one of the biggest there is. 

The inside is just as amazing, our seats having the ability to convert into beds. We put our carry on bags into the bins above, and take our assigned seats. Looking over, I see Natasha looking a little nervous, trying to figure out what to do.

"Nat?" I ask, as she looks over to me, uncertainty in her eyes.
"Yea?" she asks, trying to act normal. 
"You've never flown before, have you?"

She just stays silent, giving me my answer. I never thought of this, she seemed like she had done this thousands of times before but I should've known knowing her background. 

"It's ok, here," I reach over to grab her seatbelt, buckling it for her. "Pull it until it's tight but not too tight," I instruct her, and watch as she follows my instructions. 

Soon enough, the loudspeaker comes over the plane, one of the flight attendants towards the front introducing themselves and the flight crew, asking everyone be seated so they can do the safety demonstration. 

"Is something going to happen?" Natasha asks, looking over to me worriedly. 
"Honestly? I want to say no, but I can't promise that, this is just in case something does," I tell her, as we watch the flight attendants show off all the safety features of the plane. I pay close attention although I've heard this millions of times and could do it myself, more, all for Natasha. 

Before we know it, were next on the runway, and can hear the engines start to go faster as we see everything go by in a blur. I reach over to take Natasha's hand, which she takes gratefully, but still watches the window to watch everything become smaller and smaller below us. 

"It's amazing, isn't it?"
"Yea," she chuckles, her worries going away. 

The flight attendant comes by after the seatbelt sign had been turned off. "Would you like anything to drink?"
"Two rum and cokes please," I direct her, as she goes back to make the drinks. 
"How much are those?" Natasha questions, going to grab her purse. 
"Free."
"How?"
"That's first class, in coach you'd have to pay, yes, but you won't ever know what that is."

She smiles, leaning over to kiss me quickly before the flight attendant comes back with our drinks. I show her how to pull the tray table out, and she puts her drink on it as it's handed over to her. We both take a few sips, savoring the flavor. 

Not late after, the flight attendants are coming back around, asking if we want anything to snack on. Natasha grabs a cookie while I grab some chips, her understanding the concept of free in first class now. 

"Thanks, for showing me everything."
"Of course, anything for you, you know that."

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A/N: im going to try to finish this by the 10th, my first day of senior mf year. one more and im free. anyways, i think it'll be a good celebration, last chapter here to start something new.