Where You Are

Pearson Airport

Birgitta

It was very late when my flight arrived in Toronto. The layover would be a quick one, I'd be catching the red eye to London and arriving late morning, London time. Jesse had been strangely evasive when I asked if he would be one of the pilots on this flight. I was assuming that meant that he would be and I made sure to use the bathroom as soon I got off the first plane, I was practically wetting my pants, I was so excited to see him again.

As per my usual, I was one of the last people off the tiny plane from Moncton and then I had to do quite a bit of walking to find my next gate. According to the list of departures, my flight to London was still on time and would be boarding very shortly.

I couldn't help my smile when I saw Jesse's familiar figure leaning up against the desk at my gate, dressed in his full uniform, including his jacket and cap. My heart jumped into my throat at the sight. He grinned widely when he saw me and pushed off from the desk, walking briskly towards me.

'Hi!' I greeted him as soon as he was within earshot. He only smiled wider and caught me around my waist with one hand once he was close enough.

He reached for my chin with his other hand, tilted it up so I was looking him in the eye, and then bent down to kiss me.

I reached out to touch his cheek, it was warm and a bit rough from stubble, but the roughness was attractive to me. I couldn't help but smile through the kiss and relax into him. It was better than I remembered. I couldn't remember kissing ever feeling so nice. He was so safe and cosy, but extremely confident in what he was doing. More so than I was, anyway.

After a moment or two, he pulled away.

'Well, isn't this a nice surprise,' I grinned at him and pretended to look like I wasn't expecting to see him here.

'I think you knew,' he replied and bent back down to kiss me again. 'Crikey, it's good to see you.'

'It's good to see you, too,' I told him.

He threw an arm around my shoulder and guided me towards the gate.

'I'm afraid I don't have long before they lock me in the cockpit,' he said.

'That's alright,' I assured him at once.

'I was meant to in be there ten minutes ago,' he admitted. 'But I wanted to see you, and for you to know that's you're in very safe hands for your flight.'

'It actually does make me feel better,' I grinned at him.

'Excellent,' he grinned back. 'Oh, and I wanted to give you your boarding pass.'

'I already have my boarding pass,' I told him as he produced a thick piece of paper from an inside jacket pocket.

'This is your new boarding pass,' he winked.

I raised an eyebrow at him and then examined the piece of paper.

'Hold up...'

The row was smallest number that I'd ever had before on a boarding pass. Single digit, practically unheard of for someone like me.

'Ever travelled first-class before?' He asked.

'No!' I exclaimed, turning to look at him. 'You didn't need to do this, seriously! I don't need any special treatment.'

'Okay, only I wanted to,' he told me firmly. 'What's the use of having perks for being the pilot if I can't use them on my girlfriend? Besides, I had to wait to see if the flight was going to be fully booked or not. It wasn't, so you got an upgrade.'

'Oh, well... when you put it that way...' I said slowly. 'Thanks.'

'Anytime,' he grinned again and bent down to press a kiss to my cheek. 'Blimey, you smell nice. I'm happy to fly you to London, but I wish I could sit with you. We could cuddle under that blanket of yours.'