On The Pacific Aria

1. It's the Journey, Not the Destination

Logan was a little worried about this vacation Alex had surprised him with. He loved the idea, really. It wasn't that. He needed a holiday. And he loved holidaying with Alex. But they'd never been on a cruise.

There was something about cruising that was different to catching a plane, and Logan was really worried about it. On a plane, you were with a group of people for a maximum of forty hours, conveniently tucked away from view in first class with only flight attendant's, and a few other passenger's that would easily be bribed into silence, eying their movements. Unless, of course, they took a private jet. On a cruise ship, it was entirely different. Their fellow passengers could follow them around for days, eat next to them for a week, and invest themselves in their lives for the entire duration of the holiday. In which case, their cover would be blown in two seconds flat.

Granted, their secret love wasn't quite a secret anymore, there was really no reason for it to be – Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse was red-lighted and their relationship wouldn't continue to be viewed as a publicity stunt. Technically, they were free of their lies. Only, the pair hadn't come out publically with their relationship to the world, mostly because they didn't feel that it was necessary. The important people knew the truth, and that was enough.

But he was sure that it would be incredibly hard to avoid such obvious interaction with others on a cruise ship, even harder to not be rude about excusing themselves or not joining in on activities like trivia.

Alex, by the looks of it, was feeling the exact opposite to him. Her smile stretched her lips across her pearly white teeth and her eyes were shaded by her wide-rimmed sunglasses but Logan could tell that her blue eyes were bright with mirth and joy. She was excited. And if Logan thought for a second otherwise, the way her fingers squeezed his sweaty palms as they edged closer to the Customs booth signalled that Alexandra was anxious to board the brand new cruise liner.

When Alex had first pitched to him the idea of sea travel, Logan had protested. And protested up a storm. Personally, he would have preferred to fly, anywhere. Logan would gladly go anywhere Alex wanted to go, he was a man in love with the model – which, admittedly, consisted of a few more people than Logan would appreciate, although he was the only one that could hold a candle to the title 'Alexandra Daddario's One and Only.'

And therein lay the fault in his plans.

Because Alex wanted to cruise the Pacific Islands of New Caledonia, so did Logan. Although he was trepidatious about how seasickness would affect him. He was just glad they were setting sail from White Bay, Sydney instead of San Francisco, California, mostly because it'd be only three days to Noumea, rather than seventy-three.

Their flight had gotten in an hour prior to when boarding began, and Logan had just finished filling in the green customs form for both him and Alex, as the woman in question had bought them both coffee in order to fight of their need for sleep. He'd drained the brown paper cup of caffeine in relatively no time, eager for both liquid and heat as the cold breeze of the air conditioning chilled his bones and froze his smile in place.

"Hey, babe," Alex's voice was low, and quiet, meant only for him to hear across the round, marbled glass café table, "thanks for agreeing to this."

Logan sent her a look, one he sent her often. The one that told her she was insane for thinking he wouldn't handpick the stars for her. "Did I really have a choice?" he chuckled, knowing that she had seen enough of his expression to know that the tone in his voice was completely sarcastic and he didn't mean what he said.

Alex merely rolled her eyes, but her smile was wide and toothy as she stayed silent and waited for him to continue.

"Al," he slipped his hand across the table to hand her passport back to her, letting his fingers linger atop hers for long enough to watch her cheeks redden softly but not for so long that people around them grew suspicious or curious. "If I'm being honest, when I said we need some time to get away and just be ourselves, I seriously didn't have this in mind. But as soon as you mentioned it, the pieces fell into place and it seemed like the perfect idea."

Alex bit her lip tentatively. "Well, I'm glad you're excited about this too. I've never been on a cruise, or to New Caledonia. And I know you didn't really want to come-"

"Whoa, no!" Logan stopped her, squeezing her fingertips. He'd been on a cruise once before, when he was thirteen, and he'd spent the entire trip with a motion sickness bag by his side. It wasn't the fondest memory he had, but Logan was willing, ready, and wanting to create knew, better memories with Alex by his side. He just sincerely hoped that, within the past decade, his stomach and mind had synchronised and decided that slight swaying didn't make him sick to his stomach anymore. "Of course I want to be here, doing this with you."

It was completely true to say that Logan wanted to board the cruise ship with Alex by his side. It was also completely true to say that he hated the thought that she'd be alone playing trivia while he lay down to fight headaches and nausea. His motion sickness pills alone had been making

Him drowsy for the last few days alone, and he really hoped that he didn't ruin the trip for Alex by being asleep at midday, or puking at dinner, or bailing on shows.

Besides, Alex was constantly facing her fear of flying, not only for her job, but for the sake of visiting him while he was working. It was about time that he did the same for her, Logan thought. "I just don't want to ruin your fun by being out of action half the time."

Alex rolled her eyes again, her sunglasses tucked into the collar of her shirt weighing down the hem in such a way that had Logan desperately trying to keep his eyes on the mesmerising blue irises she owned rather than the soft porcelain skin below the silver chain of the necklace he had bought her for their second anniversary. "Right, because my lack of motion sickness pills doesn't leave me more susceptible than you, at all."

"Well," Logan decided to give in to Alex's irrational optimistic outlook, "at least this will make for some interesting travel then." He laughed; completely absorbed by the crinkle of her nose and the way her eyes squinted as she smirked at him.

"They do say that it's the journey that matters, not the destination." Alex interjected. "And more about the people you go with than the places you go." Alex used her elbow to nudge him with, grasping his attention in the most blissfully innocent way as she smiled jovially up at him. She was incredibly beautiful in that moment – all toothy grins, sparkling eyes and wanting nothing more but his smile in return. And Logan loved her even more for being able to joke with him about what was either to be the best or worst holiday they would ever go on.