Infinity and Beyond

Epilogue

Emily

Airport crowds were never my favourite. They were always noisy, hectic and cramped. They were even worse, though, when you have your one year old daughter with you - and even more so when she refused to sit in her pushchair, so you had to push that and hold her.

"Sophie, will you please just sit in the pushchair? Only for a few more minutes, and then daddy can carry you," I begged her but she just stared at me completely unaware of what I'd said. Every time I tried strapping her in she would cry, and not stop until I had her in my arms, so I had no choice but to battle my way while carrying her.

The pushchair was also being particularly uncooperative and not maneuvering when being pushed by just my one hand, and I could feel myself on the verge of a mental breakdown. Ashton had been on tour for several months now, but today - our wedding anniversary - was when he was finally coming home. Being a weekday, Charlotte and Jasmine couldn't get the time off work to come and meet them, so it was just me and Sophie. We'd survived four months mostly on our own, so you'd think we'd be able to survive half an hour in the airport, but I was becoming less certain of that by the minute.

"You're really out to make life difficult for me, huh?" I sighed and continued battling with the pushchair, all the while struggling to stop her fidgeting and wriggling out of my arms.

"Excuse me, madam, do you need any help?"

At first I was in such a whirlwind that I didn't even notice the voice. I looked around me for a few seconds before the person made themselves more obvious by waving at me, and I saw that it was a security guard for the airport.

"Hi! Sorry," I apologised, shaking my head to clear it.

"No problem, are you okay there or do you need some assistance?" she asked again. I was about to decline it, not wanting to be a bother, but then I looked at the evil pushchair and my seemingly innocent child and changed my mind.

"Please," I said with a nod. She smiled and led me away from the crowds, taking the pushchair out of my hands.

"Are you here to meet someone?"

"Yes, my husband should be arriving soon," I answered, smiling at both the fact that Ashton would be with us again and the fact that I got to call him my husband - one year later and it still hadn't worn off.

"Which flight?"

"I don't know exactly, but it's the one from Jakarta."

"Ah, I've heard there's a band on that one - there's already quite a crowd gathering so everyone's on standby."

"Yeah...my husband's kind of in that band..." I laughed.

"Oh wow! Well, we'll get you sorted, don't you worry. We've got barriers set up that the fans are all behind so that won't be a problem for you," she assured me, and I internally breathed a sigh of relief.

Very helpfully, the lady helped me through to where I could wait for them, where it was much quieter and I also didn't have to keep fighting my way through with Sophie in one arm and moving the pushchair with the other. She had finally settled down a little but still wouldn't go in her pushchair, so I had to hold her the whole time, switching her from arm to arm when they started aching. It wasn't supposed to be for long, and I relaxed when I saw that the plane had landed, but then the crowd started coming in and they weren't there. I waited until the end of the group, as knowing them they would no doubt be one of the last off the plane, but even then there was no sign of them. I started panicking a little, and my panic only rose even more when I realised I might have to ask someone soon what was happening.