Chapter Text
Staring up at the departure boards, it didn’t take me long to find my flight number. When I let my eyes follow the line over, written in red letters is my worst nightmare. Delayed. How is it that my flight is the only flight on this whole board that is delayed? Fuck. My 13:00 flight out from Spain back stateside is now pushed till 23:00. I’m going to be stuck in this airport for at least the next 10 hours. A sigh left my lips and I turned from the departure boards only to not be paying attention and knock into a shorter women standing behind me wearing a black hijab.
I reached out to steady her and got a hold of her forearm to make sure she doesn’t fall over. Once she was steady on her feet, she looked up at me and I felt like my world tilted off its axis. Her neon blue eyes stared into mine, so wide with concern and an undertone of something else I couldn’t place. My throat went dry as I tried to think of something to say to her. Looks like my concussed brain still is healing.
“Sorry ma’am, I didn’t see you behind me.” I finally got out.
“It’s alright, I probably shouldn’t have been standing so close behind you.” The women said with an accent. My brain another two steps behind as it took a few long second to place the middle eastern accent.
“I guess I should get out of your way then.” I said but made no move to step out of her view of the board.
“It’s okay, nothing to look at now that I know my flight is delayed until late tonight.” The women said and flashed me a small smile.
“You’re flying to North Carolina also?” I asked. The women looked nervous once I brought up the flight and I think I might have over stepped an unknown boundary.
“Yes” Was the only answer I got. That’s when I realized I still had her arm in my hand. I quickly let it go and tried not to automatically fall into parade rest but it was hard to fight the instinct that has been drilled into me over the past six years.
“Looks like we are going to see each other around today then.” I said trying not to dig myself into a bigger hole with the beautiful women.
“Looks like we shall, excuse me.” She said, her guard slammed up when I found her eyes again and nodded. I stood in place and watched as she walked down the hall in the terminal until I could no longer see her.
I let out a deep breath but hissed in pain as it aggravated my ribs. The emotion I couldn’t place when I first turned around was her guard being up and possible nerves. I tried to not let it get to me and fished my phone out of the pocket of my pants and pulled up a text thread with my friend who was supposed to be picking me up from the airport. Flight way delayed, like at least ten hours delayed. I’ll let you know when I actually get on board. Once I hit send I waited and only a few seconds later, I had a reply. I’ll still be waiting for you when you land Cruz. That left me with a warmth in my chest as I put my phone back in my pocket.
It wasn’t every day you had a team leader that actually cared about there team to this level. I don’t know where I would be without Bobby today, she helped turn me into a great Force Recon Marine even though she thought she was inheriting a problem child. My first tours as just a boot kicker went well so when I wanted to transfer out of my unit to do something specialized, my commander got jealous and marked up my file. He tried to make it so that none of the other schools would take me. Through the process of going out for Force Recon School, Bobby saw my file. Read through it a bunch and when it came time for the interview, she didn’t hold what my old commander said against me. She saw right through his words and just focused on me, the Marine in front of her, trying to further my career. In the end, she pulled all her strings to get me in and watched over me during training. On graduation day, she was waiting for me to walk across the stage. After the ceremony was over, she took my promotion notice and certificate of completion and told me welcome to her team. It’s been three years since then and I’ve come to call the team the closest thing I have to family.
This last deployment was a rough one though. We were going in for a rescue mission that went sideways almost as soon as we landed in country. The team barely made it out with just bumps and bruises with our asset, I unfortunately took the brunt of a grenade to protect the asset. When we got back to base, the team dumped me in medical to finish the exfil of our asset to a safe location while I got treatment. They ended up stateside sooner then I thought they would have while I had to wait to be medically cleared to fly a few days later, commercial. From Turkey to Spain, then from Spain back to base in North Carolina for some leave to recover.
With my phone tucked back into the pocket of my desert color camo pants, I walked down the terminal to where the gate I should be leaving out of is. Before I got there, I stopped into the bathroom and took a look at my face. My head didn’t hurt to badly right now but it looked like I hit a wall head first. I sighed and washed my hands before cupping some water in them and splashing it on my face. The cool water felt good on my heated flesh, so good I did it a second time before opening my eyes to find a paper towel to wipe my face.
After I left the bathroom I continued my walk down the terminal and found my gate. Nobody was sitting in the many rows of chairs, looks like they all got the message that the plane was delayed and didn’t show up so early for a flight that won’t leave for hours. I turned around and found a coffee stand not far from the gate and ordered an iced coffee with a sandwich that looked okay in the display case. When I got my order, I found a table not far from the café in front of a large bay of windows so I could watch planes come in and take off.
I took a few sips of my coffee before I unzipped the top of my camo jacket then opened my sandwich. As I watched a few planes race down the runway, my mind started to wander back to the women I bumped into earlier. Her beautiful haunted eyes stole my attention right away and I knew it would be hard for me to forget her. My mind started making up different lives she could be living. What would she be doing in North Carolina? Is she returning home? Going for vacation now that it’s summer time? Meeting family or friends? She didn’t look much older then I.
Just as I took another sip of my coffee, the women on my mind took the open seat in front of me. Of course I had to be in the middle of taking a sip of my coffee as she sat down and the coffee went down the wrong pipe and I started coughing. It took a few seconds to get my throat clear but the cough fit cause my back and side so much pain, it had tears in my eyes as I tried to hold my side together.
“Are you okay?” Her voice broke through my mind as I tried to let the pain settle and take shallow breaths.
“Fine, you caught me by surprise is all.” I said and grimaced as another wave of pain ran through my side as I let out a final cough.
“You don’t look fine.” She answered.
“Occupational hazard.” I answered and finally felt myself starting to calm down.
“The stitches look like they were done well. But even though your head wound was properly treated, probably because it was bleeding all over the place, they could have neglected looking over the rest of your injuries. The way you are holding your side though says there is more going on.” The women said, she eyes full of concern again, the guard not up as much as before I stuck my foot in my mouth earlier.
“You a doctor or something?” I asked trying to figure out more about this beautiful mystery women.
“I am yes, I wouldn’t mind checking you over, are you in a lot of pain that doesn’t feel natural?” She said. Her concern made me pause for a second and took I took a breath, trying to feel my back, chest and torse for anything different from the pain I felt since getting blown up.
“I’m okay, truly, I was cleared to fly by doctors on base. My body just hurts when I make sudden movements.” I answered.
“Alright, if that changes, we’ll be here for a while.” The women said and flashed me a small smile. My heart skipped a beat in my chest when she smiled.
“Alright, I’m Cruz by the way, Cruz Manuelos.” I said and held out my hand over the table, careful to avoid knocking my coffee off the table. She put her hand in mind and it felt like I shouldn’t be worthy to hold it. Her hands are soft, delicate and warm compared to my rough callused hands. Hands that are a bit cut up from the mission.
“Doctor Aaliyah Amorhi.” Aaliyah. A beautiful name for a beautiful woman.
A blush rose to her cheeks and she bit her bottom lip before turning her attention to our joint hands. Her thumb ran over my bruised and cracked knuckles and I suddenly wanted to pull my hand away, wanting to shield her from the violence.
“Do you say that to all the pretty women you meet in the airport or am I just special?” Aaliyah asked, her eyes returning to mine. That’s when I realized I said it out loud and not just in my head.
“I should also probably mention that I’m concussed?” I said wanting the ground to swallow me whole.
“I think the laceration to your head gave you away Cruz.” Aaliyah said with a breathy chuckle afterwards. From this moment until we get onto the plane, I want to do everything in my power to try and make her laugh. Aaliyah put her hand on top of mine and pulled it up a bit to take a better look at my knuckles. “Did you get these looked at too?” She asked.
“Yea, they’re mostly superficial though, nothing to worry about until I wash my hands.” I said.
Aaliyah gave me a half smirk half smile and I’ll take the win for now. She looked at my knuckles for a few long seconds before finally letting go of my hand. I was sad to not be holding onto her hand any longer but tried to not make it obvious so I used my hand to take a sip of my coffee before looking at Aaliyah again. But my jaw slowly slacked open as I watched Aaliyah slid her head scarf off her head and fold it up before putting it in her bag. Once away, she ran a hand through her wavy dark brown, almost black hair and it sprang to life to frame her face perfectly. When satisfied, she looked up at me a noticed me staring. I could feel the blush take over my cheeks as Aaliyah smiled at me.
I took another sip of my cold beverage, trying to play it cool, but I was so far out of my league. The concussion isn’t helping me clear my thoughts faster as I tried to think of anything else to say to her other then she is a vision and I don’t know why she would spend even a part of her day talking with me.
“So” Aaliyah said and cleared her throat to get my attention. Once she knew she had it, she continued speaking. “What does one do when stuck in an airport all day waiting for their plane?”
“You’ve never had a flight delayed before?” I asked wondering how the universe worked this one out for me to get to spend any amount of time with her.
“My in world, the only way flights get delayed are if we are running late. But since that is no longer an option for me, here I am.” Aaliyah said in a tone that spoke of something from her past bothering her. Her guard was back, swimming right at the edge of slamming up again. I took a breath to settle myself before answering to hopefully not spook her and or put my foot in my mouth.
“Well, as someone who usually only flies on big military aircraft and then regularly jumps out of them and the occasional commercial flight, there’s not much too do. I usually find myself a table by a window and watch planes go by. Then find some food and a bunch of snacks which you normal never buy in the first place if you’re out in the real world, but while waiting for a flight, it’s okay to indulge. I have a deck of playing cards in one of my many pockets that I usually break out between snack 2 and 3 when I’m feeling bored. Other then that, sleep is always an option along with people watching.” I said wanting to supply a bunch of ideas for Aaliyah to choice from.
“Like we are in a world inside a world.” Aaliyah said looking around at various things that are happening behind me while I still focus on her.
“Pretty much” I said and took a bite of my sandwich. Aaliyah was quiet for a while, her eyes watching things going on behind me while I finished off my food and slowly worked my way through my coffee. Our eyes would meet briefly before one of us would smile before looking away again. There was a fluttering in my chest that hasn’t been there in a long time whenever Aaliyah smiled at me. I tried to not let it get to my head though as I focused on the food in front of me.
After I finished my food, I stood up and threw out my garbage before sitting down again and fished out the deck of cards I have. They have seen better days but have continued to travel with me through all of our missions and deployments. The deck of cards was my way in to the team really. The first day Bobby brought me around them, I pulled out the then fresh deck and Bobby wiped everyone dry within the hour. The team started to come around to me while we played and I complained that Bobby was cheating all the time. None of us have figured it out yet how she is cheating, but it’s rare that anyone else gets a win in poker over her.
“Want to play a game?” I asked as I held out the deck of cards in the middle of the table.
“I thought you said snacks were also important to this waiting around?” Aaliyah said after eyeing the deck for a moment. A small smile tugged at the corner of my lips as I stood again and stuffed the deck into an open pocket.
“You’re right, I did say that didn’t I. Let’s go raid some of these stand to find something truly terrible for ourselves.” I said.
Aaliyah flashed me a smile and stood from her chair. Once she was standing I braced myself for lifting my backpack up and sliding it carefully onto my back. After it was in place, I clipped the front buckle together to avoid it moving much. Now that I’m steady I turned and found Aaliyah staring at my backpack.
“You should not be wearing that if you’re injured.” Aaliyah said, her eyes stormy when they returned to mine.
“I’m fine, I promise.” I said softly, touched at her concern for my wellbeing. Aaliyah ran a hand through her hair once and then twice before finally meeting my eye again and nodding.
As we walked side by side, I tucked my right hand into my pocket to avoid the urge to intertwine my fingers with Aaliyah’s. With my brain still being a step behind, I didn’t want to make things weird so I thought this would be the best solution so I don’t make a fool out of my myself and lose my only protentional friend that I would have for the next however many hours till the flight took off. We walked side be side for a minute, looking at the different little stands along the terminal, but nothing caught our eye. As we turned the corner that led to a different wing of the terminal, a group of airport security guards and what look like a group Spanish military were moving quickly in our direction then took a right down the other end of the terminal. As I stood my ground to watch what was going on, Aaliyah slotted her hand to hold the crook of my elbow.
My attention quickly shifted from the commotion that was going on to look at Aaliyah. Her walls were up again and she was nervous as her expressive eyes watching them rush to the other side of the terminal. I gave her a second to watch them before I brought my other hand up to rest it on the one that’s holding my arm.
“You okay?” I asked, not wanting to rush her if she needs a minute. Aaliyah turned her attention from them to me and nodded. I gave her hand a squeeze before continuing to walk down the hall.
On this side of the terminal there are a few different choice’s and we ended up finding some proper junk food here. It was only when we got too many snacks that Aaliyah took her hand back to hold them all. When we went up to the register to check out, I tried to pay for everything. But when my card kept getting declined due to the fact I was in a foreign county and didn’t tell my bank, Aaliyah pulled out hers instead to use.
After the cashier bagged everything up, I held onto the bag and was going to turn to go back to the table we were sitting at before but Aaliyah took hold of my bicep again to stop me. As I turned to her she nodded her head in the other direction so I just nodded and followed her lead. We walked around in silence for another ten minutes before stopping outside a lounge. She tugged on my arm again and I followed behind her through the doors to the lounge.
Aaliyah took out her card again and handed it over to the man behind the desk. He typed away on his computer for about a minute and then smiled before handing Aaliyah back her card. Once she put it back into her wallet, Aaliyah turned around and took my hand and pulled me through the doors of the lounge.
“Uhm, I definitely owe you a lot now for this, what’s your Venmo so I can send you some?” I asked as Aaliyah just held my hand and pulled me through the lounge.
“You owe me nothing for this or the snacks. This is my treat, now we really are in a world inside a world.” Aaliyah said and flashed me a smile over her shoulder before she continued to pull me into the lounge.
My boots squeezed the whole way through the main entry of the lounge and it was slightly embarrassing but I was able to hold it together because Aaliyah was still holding my hand. We past by a few different buffets of food before Aaliyah pulled me towards a quiet corner of the lounge in front of a large window. There are two comfortable arm chairs with a table in front of them and I found myself suddenly excited at the prospect of being stuck in this airport for the next ten hours.
Aaliyah finally let go of my hand to take the bag of snacks from me and put them down on the table, claiming it for us before putting her shoulder bag onto one of the armchairs. I undid the buckle to my backpack and slowly slid it off my shoulders and basically dropped it onto the floor in front of the table before sinking into the arm chair. I sighed at how comfortable the chair was and knew I would most likely end up taking a nap here before the flight.
“This is a lot better then the regular chairs we were sitting in before.” I said and turned my head to find that Aaliyah was already looking at me, a smile on her lips.
“Correct, and since I fly a lot, I have these little perks that I don’t usually have the time to use, so I figured why not.” Aaliyah said and took her seat before picking out a bag of chips and opening them. She popped one of the chips into her mouth before relaxing into the chair, propping her feet up on the table and looked out the large window in front of us. A large plane rolled down the runway and I watched it until it took off a few minutes later.
After the plane was in the air, I pulled the deck of cards out of my pocket and held them up again to show Aaliyah.
“You up for playing a game or two?” I asked.
“I don’t know many.” Aaliyah said and popped another chip into her mouth.
“Alright, what about war?” I asked and took the rubber band off the deck.
“That’s the one with flipping the cards and whoever has the high card takes it right?” Aaliyah asked.
“You got it. Ace’s are high, that okay with you?” I asked and cut the deck in half before shuffling it like a dealer. I did it again and when I didn’t hear an answer from Aaliyah, I looked up and found her staring at the cards in my hand. I smirked and shuffled them again before starting to deal out two piles. After the piles were made I stood up and pushed my arm chair next to Aaliyah’s so there wasn’t any space between us so it was easier to play. Sure, I’ll keep telling myself that one for the rest of the day.
“You pick.” I said held out both halves of the cut deck. Aaliyah wiped her hands on a napkin before making her selection then we started.
We didn’t talk much during the game. Just went through our decks of cards in this peaceful corner of the lounge ignored by the world. Only when we hit our first battle did I have to explain what would happen. Aaliyah caught on really quick and our match was pretty even for a while until we hit three battles in a row. Aaliyah ended up winning it and took most of my cards with her. The further we got into the deck, I was surprised Aaliyah didn’t mention the different oddity’s on the cards. Some had torn corners, others were singed on the sides. Some of the cards had some drawings on them. Others had some mission engagements written down. My favorite cards in the deck were the ones with our names on them. After being on the team for a while, one night while we were playing poker, after Bobby won for the millionth time, we all claimed our favorite cards of the deck and wrote our names on them. It was always a satisfying ending to a game when one of us beat the other with our cards. Only when Aaliyah won a duel with my Queen of Hearts, she finally asked about the different things written on the cards. I told her about a few of them. Other’s I just left to her imagination.
It took us a while to come to the end of our first game. Aaliyah ended up winning it with a bright smile on her face. I could only return it, not minding taking the loss if it means I get this smile in return. I would lose every single time if this was the out come, it wouldn’t even be a loss really.
After our game, I got up and found a bathroom to freshen up. On my way back to our corner, I grabbed two water bottles from a fridge not far from the buffet. When I took my seat next to Aaliyah again, she was looking troubled at whatever was on her phone. As I passed her the water she thanked me before typing out a text then put her phone away. She took a few large sips from the water bottle then put it down on the table in front of us.
“Everything okay?” I asked, not want to pry to much but wanting to make sure she was okay.
“Family drama, they don’t agree with I want to do with my life.” Aaliyah said and sunk into her chair some more.
“They do realize you’re a doctor right? I’m assuming a good one since you clocked my injured ass pretty quickly.” I said trying to make her feel a bit better.
“Yes, that’s actually the problem. They think I should be married by now and living in an estate in Riyadh, married off to a man who is socially acceptable for both our family, preparing to have his children.” Aaliyah vented.
“You’re from Saudi Arabia?” I asked, trying to think if I got my countries right, fuck this concussion man.
“That is where I’m from yes, but it is no longer home, hasn’t been in a long time. Have you been before?” Aaliyah said, her voice sounding sad.
“There’s a lot of desert there.” I said, trying to answer but not fully answer due to the nature of why I was there in the first place. Also for the fact that my memories of that place were not good ones.
“When I left for university, I came back to visit. It would be often, a few times a year. But after I finished school, I realized that I could never live there again, where I choke on the sand and all the rules.” Aaliyah said, pain in her eyes as she said it. Whatever kind of falling out she had with her family must have been a bad one.
“So, North Carolina is home now?” I asked trying to change the subject to a lighter one.
“I will make it my home.” Aaliyah said with some determination in her eyes.
We both picked up another snack from the table and munched on them for a bit, trading the bags of chips and pretzels back and forth to share them. When we finished up our latest round of snacks, Aaliyah picked up the deck of cards and tried to dealer shuffle them. The first time she tried, the cards sprung all over the place and most of them ended up on the floor. I couldn’t help but laugh but stopped when all the movement sent pain radiating through my torso. After Aaliyah picked up all the cards and got them back in order, I showed her how to position her hands to get them to shuffle and form the bridge without them flying around. My hands almost completely covered hers when I reached over and a spark went up my arms from the contact. The blush on my face was still present even after I pulled away to let Aaliyah try it on her own. It took two tries, but on the third, she was shuffling the cards like a pro.
Aaliyah dealt the deck in half and had me pick my stack of cards and we started to play another game of war. Before I could flip my first card over, Aaliyah put her hand on mine. I looked up at her and raised my eyebrow in question.
“How about for ever battle we get into, the winner gets to ask the loser a question about themselves?” Aaliyah asked. I gave her a smile and nodded before flipping over my first card, the 4 of diamonds. Aaliyah won the first flip with a 5 of clubs and we were off.
Our first battle happened only a few cards later when we both pulled a 7 card. We each put our next card face down and flipped over our battle cards. I ended up with an 8 of spades while Aaliyah had a 10 of clubs. She took the cards while I waited for her questions.
“Out of all the different careers one could choice, why did you make the choice to serve your country?” Aaliyah asked as she added her winning cards into her deck. I clenched my jaw at the question as flashbacks of Edgar and the mattress on the floor, the dark nights of working at the club, the wandering hands that always followed when I couldn’t say no.
“My life before the Marine’s was not a good one. I was in an abusive relationship and when I finally tried to get out, I hit him in the head with a frying pan before running for my life. I kept running because I knew if I stopped, he would have killed me. The only door that opened for me when I was trying to escape him was to a Marine recruiting office. I literally felt through the door when it opened and the Marine there protected me and saved my life. It took some time but I decided to join. At first I thought that joining would just help keep myself safe from my ex. But after serving for a year, I knew that that moment led me to something greater and now I really enjoy what I do and the team I work with.” I answered. That was the shortest way I could really sum up everything without going into great detail.
When I looked up I could see Aaliyah looking at me. Really looking at me, like she is tried to see if my story was true. Her eyes flittered across my face, stalling on the scar on my forehead, the one on my nose, the other above my eye. Like the puzzle was finally coming together for her now. When her eyes found mine, I thought there would be pity in them, but what I found was something else, compassion and a vulnerability that could only be found in someone else who has been through something similar. I put my cards down and put my hand over hers and that drew her attention, pulled her out of her own memory.
“You’re okay, we’re in our own world inside the world, remember.” I asked, trying to draw the light back into Aaliyah’s eyes, pull her out of the darkness to the present moment. It took another second before I saw her start to pull herself out of the memory and nod. She squeezed my hand before playing her next card.
We played in silence for a while, the first question really threw us both for a loop. As we flipped our cards and the next battle came, I was nervous for the outcome. When I pulled the Ace of hearts while Aaliyah had a 5 of spades, I sat back and thought of a question. Even though Aaliyah asked a question that she thought wasn’t going to be deep in meaning, I wanted to try and ask something fun and light.
“What’s the first thing you’re going to do when you get settled in North Carolina?” I went with thinking that would be something easy. Aaliyah gave me a smile as I picked up my winning cards.
“I want to spend the day at the beach with a book and finally relax now that school is over and I fully moved into my house before I start my new job.” Aaliyah said with a distant smile on her face.
It made me smile. We went back and forth for a while before we hit another battle that Aaliyah won. She asked what my favorite animal is, I answered with a lioness. Aaliyah looked at me for a few long seconds before accepting the answer and saying it fits. The next battle Aaliyah won again barely, her 9 of spades took my 8 of clubs. She sat back in her chair for a long moment as she added her winnings to the bottom of the deck.
“What’s the thing you’re looking forward to most when you get home?” Aaliyah asked.
“Honestly, getting some days to myself. With my job, I’m always surrounded by people and I work on a team. When I get home I tend to lock myself away for a while to have some peace in solitude.” I answered before flipping over my next card.
We went back and forth with a few more battles before the game ended with Aaliyah winning again. I got to learn that her favorite food is, Shawarma, that she could only get while traveling away from her family. Next she found out my favorite color is blue, I tried not to blush when I found her eyes watching me closely after I said it. Then I asked if the glass is half full or half empty. Once I asked the question I knew it was a wasted one because she answered half full and I knew that was going to be the outcome.
Then in the finally battle before Aaliyah took my last cards she asked if I were a superhero, what would my powers be. I took a minute to answer that one because there were a lot of different things that I could pick from. In the end I went with being indestructible. If nothing could physically harm me, I could help protect people while doing my job and not have to worry about someone being sent home in a box.
After our game, I took the cards back and shuffled them a few times before putting them down on the table in front of us. When I glanced over to Aaliyah I found that she was on her phone so I just relaxed back into the chair and put my feet up on the table in front of us. I continued to watch planes go by for a while in our quiet corner of the airport. It was so peaceful that I felt myself wanting to sleep. The chair was comfortable, I’m safe inside not being shot at in some unforgiving desert somewhere, with a beautiful women to keep me company, the only thing that was missing was a blanket. But being the seasoned Marine that I am, it didn’t take much longer before the lost the battle to sleep.
“Grenade, take cover!” Bobby screamed as I was able to track the incoming explosive. It was heading straight to where our asset was stopped against a retaining wall for cover. My mind was blank as my feet moved faster then my brain. Using all of my strength, I flipped our asset over the wall just as the grenade landed a few feet in front of me. Once it hit the ground, the explosion blasted me into the retaining wall and all I could hear was ringing. I could barely get a breath of air into my lungs as I slowly opened my eyes to find Tucker standing above me. I could see his mouth moving, felt him grab my vest and shake me before I heard his voice again.
“CRUZ!”
“Cruz” I gasped for air as my eyes flew open. Instead of finding Tuckers brown eyes in front of me, I found a pair of blue opens. I pulled my hand back ready for a fight when my eyes caught the sight of planes in the background. Planes, the run way, airport, I’m in the airport, in Spain, not in Syria anymore.
My eyes found the pair of blue eyes again and it took another long minute for the rest of the afternoon to flitter into my brain. Meeting Aaliyah, calling her beautiful, our move to the lounge, playing cards.
“Cruz, I need you to breath for me, one big breath in, come on.” Aaliyah’s voice broke through my mental block and I followed her directions, breathing in sync with her for a few minutes until I felt myself my heart rate calm down. As I really started to come around I could feel my body again, my sore back, a slow throbbing in my head from the concussion, my right hand warm? I looked down and saw Aaliyah is holding tightly onto my hand, the other is checking my pulse on my wrist.
“Cruz” Aaliyah said and I looked up from my hand to find her eyes searching mine. “You with me?” She asked, her eyes determined.
“Yea, yes” I coughed out, my throat dry like the desert I was in a few days ago.
“Do you get night terrors often?” She asked, her doctor hat firmly on right now.
“One of the few occupational hazards. My last mission hasn’t settled yet.” I answered, more honestly to her then any shrink the Marines have made me see in the past.
“How does your back feel? You were turning over a bunch, I was going to let you sleep, hoping it would fade on it’s own, but then you suddenly woke up.” Aaliyah asked.
“To be determined. It feels okay right now, just sore from sitting for a while I think.” I answered.
“Okay, how about we go get some food for dinner then, it’s about half past five now.” Aaliyah asked.
“I’ll never say no to food.” I said with a smile.
Aaliyah gave my hand a squeeze before letting go. Together we cleaned up our unopened snacks and put them back into the bag we got from the store. Once everything was cleaned up, we both stood and grabbed our bags. Putting my backpack on sucked, my back is killing me and I think Aaliyah noticed as well, even though I tried to hide it. After I had my backpack on, Aaliyah took my hand and led me over to the buffets they have. She told me to get anything I wanted as it was all included in the lounge. I just nodded and followed her around the buffet lines like a lost puppy looking at everything they had. Once I saw what I wanted, I grabbed a plate and started to load it up. My airport rule also applies for meals, I went with a spicy potato dish for carbs, a large serving of paella with chicken and a few tortilla’s. But I couldn’t leave the buffet line without grabbing a few churros.
Once I had everything that I wanted, I found Aaliyah got a table for us not far from the food. This time there wasn’t a window to look out of but there were a few large TVs hanging overhead and a few that had departure times. Our flight home is still delayed till 23:00, but it actually didn’t bother me. It meant getting to spend more time with Aaliyah. I put my two plates down on the table along with my backpack on the empty chair next to me. Aaliyah’s plate looked a little bit smaller then mine, but sampled a bunch of different dishes. Before I could take a bit of my food, Aaliyah pushed a bottle of water in front of me and I couldn’t help but smile.
We made some simple small talk while we eat. How old we were, turned out Aaliyah is two years older then I am. Then I asked where Aaliyah went to college, she got her bachelor’s degree in medicine at Queen Mary University in London then went to medical school at NYU in New York City where she also did her residency. When I asked why she didn’t want to stay in at well known hospital in New York City, Aaliyah gave me a small smile and said she wanted a change from how fast paced everything tended to be there.
In return, I gave her a little more background about my job. How my unit is called in for dangerous rescue missions when an asset is under fire, or for high stakes recon missions. I also had to circle back to the whole jumping out of planes think I told her about earlier. How a lot of the time when we are sent out on missions, our only way in is from above. When she asked if I thought about what I would do after the Marines, I honestly didn’t have an answer for her. I already knew I would be a lifer. Joining the Marines gave my life a purpose. I was going to stay in and work on the team until either my mind or my body gave out.
I don’t think that Aaliyah liked that answer because she moved her food around on her plate for a few minutes after I said it. Instead I tried to move the conversation along to a few of my favorite places back home, a surf shop that wasn’t too far from my little bungalow, the best place off base to get authentic Mexican food from. Then the local mom and pop drug store that has about anything and everything you could ever want. I didn’t know what part of the state Aaliyah is even moving too but figured I would give her some different places to check out if she isn’t far from base. Talking about my favorite stores seemed to lift Aaliyah’s spirits enough that she took the churro I offered her for dessert.
When we were both done with our food, I held down the table and watched our things while Aaliyah went off to the bathroom. After she returned I did the same thing, happy to not have to lug my heavy pack with me in there. As I walked back to the table, I found Aaliyah starting to pack her things into her bag. When she saw me, she picked up her things and waited for me to do the same. A grimace graced my lips as I shoulder my backpack and Aaliyah caught it, shit.
Whatever levity we managed to find while we shared the churros was gone. Aaliyah held out her hand and I intertwined my fingers with hers as we walked away from the table. Aaliyah didn’t say anything as we walked the length of the lounge to what looked like a private bathroom. She pulled the door open and I walked in after her, before she shut and locked the door behind us. The private bathroom was nice and different from the one I was using since we got in here. Aaliyah hung her bag on the hook on the back of the door before walking into my personal space and unbuckling the strap of my backpack that in front of me. Once it released, Aaliyah moved behind me and I could feel her lift the backpack up from the top handle and I slid it off my shoulders easily. Aaliyah hung it on the hook by the door before walking over to the sink and washed her hands.
“Take your shirt off.” Aaliyah said.
“What?” I asked and watched as she dried her hand on a paper towel before throwing it out into the garbage next to the sink.
“I know you think you were subtle before, but I noticed every time your back touched something, you moved into a different position. Something could be seriously wrong Cruz and I can’t let you sit around for the next however many hours until the flight if you need medical attention. So shirt, off, please.” Aaliyah said patiently but sternly and I knew she wouldn’t let it go.
I clenched my jaw a few times trying to get a read on Aaliyah. She seemed to genuinely be concerned about my wellbeing and seems like has been for while. I clenched my jaw one more time before deciding to let her have a look. I know I was cleared by doctors on base, if something was seriously wrong, I probably would have been dead by now, but if it means letting Aaliyah know that I’ll be fine to fly home, then I’ll do it. I unzipped my MCCUU jacket and hung it on the hook next to my backpack before untucking my basic dark green shirt from my pants. With one final look at Aaliyah, I pulled it up and over my head, trying not to swim with dizziness from the pain that ran through my upper back and ribs at the motion.
Once I was steady on my feet I opened my eyes again and found Aaliyah staying closely in front of me, her hand inches from my arm.
“Do you need to sit down?” Aaliyah asked.
“I’m okay” I answered quietly, my eyes meeting Aaliyah’s to try and convey the same.
“If you don’t feel good, feel faint, please tell me, I’m serious about that Cruz, okay.” Aaliyah said, her hand holding my chin in place so she could look firmly in my eyes as she said it.
“Yea ma’am.” I answered.
A little blush rose on Aaliyah’s cheeks as she let go of my chin and I couldn’t help but miss her warm. Aaliyah finally dropped her eyes to my sports bra covered torso and started her exam. Her hands were gentle, only touching my skin after she said she was going too and where. There wasn’t much to see on my front, just the bruising to my ribs which she took her time looking at and poking in a few places. When she was satisfied, she made her way to my back and I heard her gasp.
“You are not fine, have you seen your back?” Aaliyah asked, her fingers barely ghosting over the most sensitive spots by my shoulder blade and the follow around from my ribs.
“Actually no, I didn’t get the chance to look, not really wanting to.” I answered as I felt Aaliyah’s fingers trace over the criss crossed scars I have on my back and I felt myself tense up.
“What happened here?” Aaliyah quietly, sounding like she was afraid to hear the answer. My jaw clenched again as I felt her run her finger just under the raised line in my back.
“An extension cord. My uhm, my younger brother died when I was younger. I was supposed to be watching him, but I was also doing homework and not paying attention. He ended up overdosing. I didn’t notice until I went to check on him for dinner and found him unresponsive. My mother blamed me.” I said trying to hold it together and not let my past consume my present.
I heard Aaliyah let out a shuttering breath before she placed her palm over the scars. Her warmth coursing through me for a long moment before she pulled her hand away and put it on my hip. She moved me in front of the mirror and I half turned to look at my back. She was right to gasp. The bruising was bad, will probably take a solid month to fully heal and I sighed.
“So, what’s the verdict doc? Think I’ll live?” I asked and met Aaliyah’s eyes in the mirror.
“From what I can tell, you’ll be fine. Sore for quite a while and definitely should not be lifting anything heavy, especially on your back. Did they give you anything for the pain?” Aaliyah asked looking at my back again, almost like she was trying to memorize it.
“Extra strength Advil.” I answered thinking about the pill pack I had in my backpack.
“Why haven’t you taken them?” Aaliyah asked and came in around my body to be in front of me.
“I only have three, I was saving them for the flight.” I answered.
Aaliyah hum before looking down at my mostly naked body again. She looked at my ribs for a few a minute before her eyes traveled up to my chest and stalled there for a few seconds longer then necessary. When her eyes found mine again, I gave her a smirk and watched the blush crawl up her cheeks.
“I’m done, you can uhm, put your shirt back on.” Aaliyah stammer before she took a step out of my personal space and went back to the sink to wash her hands again. I did as she asked and slipped my shirt back on and tucked it into my pants before I reached for my jacket. After I put it on, I found Aaliyah took my backpack off the hook and was holding it in her hand along with her bag.
“You ready?” She asked and I nodded. She unlocked the door and pulled it open.
We went to our corner of the lounge again after checking the departure board. The flight is still scheduled for 23:00. When we got to our corner, I wasn’t surprised to see that other people were occupying the seats. Aaliyah sighed before she took my hand and pulled me down the hallways till we found an empty couch in front of another window. Aaliyah put our bags onto the floor before she forced me onto the couch then left and told me she would be back.
While she was gone I checked my phone and saw I only had a few notifications about the delayed flight and a few emails about my leave along with a few about my scheduled follow up appointments with a new doctor on base. I ignored them all for now, not wanting to deal with that until I’m actually stateside. Just as I was thinking about sending Bobby a text to see what she was up too, Aaliyah returned holding a few things. The first thing I noticed pretty fast was the ice pack. I grabbed it from her so she could put the rest of her things down on the table in front of us.
“What’d you get us?” I asked leaving the ice pack on the couch for now to look at everything.
“Some more snacks and drinks. That ice pack is for your back. I’ll put it in place then you can lean against the couch so it will stay. It should help with the pain for a bit before you take the medicine for the flight.” Aaliyah said and sat down next to me. She picked up the ice pack and placed it against the spot of my back with the worst bruising and slowly lowered me back into the couch so the ice will stay in place.
Once I was set, Aaliyah showed me the new selection of snacks she got along with some water. She gave me a bag of chips while she started to munch on her own. I pulled the deck of cards out again and held them up for Aaliyah to see and she nodded in agreement. I held them out for her and she took them to shuffle them up.
“What are we playing?” Aaliyah asked and shuffled the deck.
“Do you want to play war again, or we could switch it up and play like go fish or poker or something if you have a game.” I offered.
“War is good, same rules as before?” Aaliyah asked as she started to cut the deck. I nodded and watched her do it. She let me have my pick of cards and we started to play. The ice on my back was working wonders as the throbbing in my back started to numb.
We managed to go for quite a while before we hit our first battle. Aaliyah flipped her card first, a 6 of diamond, then I flipped mine, the king of spades. I took my winning cards and put them on the bottom of my pile while I thought of a good question.
“What is something you learned recently that you should have already known?” I asked and looked up at Aaliyah.
Aaliyah looked deep in thought for a few moments before putting her deck of cards down on the couch to look out the window.
“That living to just try to meet my parents expectations of me will never make me happy and I will never get to know love if I do.” Aaliyah said and swallowed hard.
Her answer took the wind out of me for a moment. The choice she is making to move away from her home to live the life she made for herself hit a little to close to home. The flirting and wondering eyes earlier also added to it as well. I put my cards down on the couch and I put my hand on hers. Aaliyah still wouldn’t look at me, but she did intertwined our fingers together. We sat quietly together for a while, until I felt cold water from the ice pack drip onto my jacket, then I pulled it out from behind me and put it down on the table.
Once it was gone I rolled my shoulder a few times and it felt a bit better then before. When I looked over to Aaliyah, I saw she picked up her deck of cards and we started our game again. This time it didn’t take us long to get to a battle, only a few cards in we both revealed a 3 of hearts. So, we drew our cards, this time Aaliyah flipped her battle card over first, and there it was, my Queen of hearts. I flipped over a jack of diamonds. Aaliyah gave me a smile as I handed her her winning cards.
“Have you ever been in love?” Was her question. Edgar’s face floated through my brain before I had the chance to block it out.
“No” I said quickly and clenched my jaw before flipping another card over to start the next round, not wanting to stay on this topic for long.
Aaliyah’s eyes were on me as I started the next round but didn’t say anything, just flipped her next card over. We kept flipping cards over, both pretty even for a while until we got to the next battle. Our next battle came a while later, which I won.
“What is one dream you want to accomplish?” I asked as I took the card for my deck. I could see different ideas float around Aaliyah’s mind as she played with the next card in her deck before she put it down.
“This wouldn’t be for years to come, but, I think I would like to try either working with an organization like doctors without boarders or even independently through countries in the middle east to help women get medical care that is needed.” Aaliyah said. I couldn’t help the warm smile on my face at that answer. Aaliyah looked up as I hesitated putting my next card down and gave me a look. “What?” She asked as she won this round and took her cards.
“Nothing, it’s just that I think you would be great at that.” I answered and flashed her a smile before playing my next card.
Things started to get lopsided quickly after that. Aaliyah was winning rounds left and right and it wasn’t long before I was getting low on cards by the time we reached the next battle. As I flipped over my battle card and took a look at Aaliyah’s I sighed, she won. Aaliyah smiled at her win and took my cards while she thought of her question.
“Do you believe in fate?”
I looked at her for a few long seconds before playing my last card. I needed to think about the answer to that question for a moment. Aaliyah won the hand and won the game and she gave me some time to answer the question.
“Before the Marines, no. I don’t think I did. All the things I went through, experienced, when I was younger, how could there be something greater power out there pulling the strings of life that things were so bad. After joining, I do think that just maybe the universe has kept me safe and alive, without major injury, and able to keep doing this job I found and love, as a way to repay me for everything it put me through when I was younger. And I think part of that also led me here, to have to fly home commercial because there weren’t any flights going out to North Carolina any time soon, so I could get to spend this day in this world inside a world with you.” I answered then looked up at her.
Aaliyah put her winning deck of cards down on the couch in between us before picking up my hand again between both of hers. Using both of her thumbs, she rubbed, almost massaged just below my split knuckles for a few moments before picking my hand up and pressing a kiss to them. The action made me skip a breath as she went back to rubbing my hand before turning to face me.
“I do also think that fate brought us together to meet today. I was going to fly back to the states from London after visiting a friend but I decided that I wanted to go straight home after seeing family. I was only going to have an hour layover before this flight from Spain to North Carolina so I booked it. Turns out I was wrong.” Aaliyah said.
I couldn’t help but smile and move closer to Aaliyah on the couch. Aaliyah shifted herself and suddenly, we were touching, her body was against mine and her head rested on my shoulder. I felt like I couldn’t breath. I know that whatever happens after the airport, I know this moment right here already has restored my position on love. My body might be a tool of destruction but my heart might finally start to be able to accept feelings of love back into it again.
We sat together like this for a while, just quietly enjoying each others company as Aaliyah played with my fingers. Both just watching planes go back and forth on the runway, me silently wondering why our flight was the only one on the whole list of departures today to be delayed for this long. It wasn’t like I had much going on back at home to get back too, but I would like to enjoy sleeping in my own bed for the first time in a month. Maybe I could have some company. I tried to stop the thought as soon as it popped into my head but it was too late, my concussed brain wouldn’t let the fantasy go. Aaliyah’s perfect hair fan out along the white of the pillow case next to me. Her tan skin glowing in the warm morning sun streaming through the windows. Having her run her gentle hands along the scars on my back, for the first time someone touching them to bring peace and not pain.
It was only then that I realized that Aaliyah playing with my hands was a bad thing. While I was day dreaming, Aaliyah wrapped her hand around my wrist and when she noticed the sudden spike in my heart rate, she pulled her head off my shoulder and looked in my eyes.
“Are you okay?” Aaliyah asked, her voice thick, almost like she was close to sleep.
“Fine, why?” I asked trying to calm my racing heart.
“Are you feeling unwell? Your heartrate jumped.” Aaliyah said more awake now.
“I’m fine doc, don’t worry.” I said and gave her a smile.
Aaliyah nodded and looked at me for another long second before she pulled her hands away from mine to reach over to the table and pull out a bag of popcorn from our snack bag. She relaxed next to me on the couch while I took a sip of water.
God, how is it that this one women could defrost my frozen heart. There was no room for love and feelings while on the battlefield and after everything that happened with Edgar and while working at the club before the Marines, I though that part of me will always be broken. I closed myself off to those feelings and romantic love so I could never be used, abused and hurt like that ever again. Never wanted to give anybody the control over my emotional wellbeing to have it used against me again. But now, this one women is making me rethink everything and I only met her a few hours ago. Yes, we might both be traveling home together, but North Carolina is a big state, I don’t know if I’ll ever see her again after we land in the states. I tried not to let that thought get to me as I watched Aaliyah put another piece of popcorn in her mouth before running a hand through her hair. I guess for now, I’ll just have to live in our world inside a world for a little longer and try not to think about what will happen once we land.
This would be the time I would text Bobby for some guidance. She would have flings with women whenever we would be home on leave and she would know how to help me work through there unfamiliar feelings. Feelings I haven’t had in so long that I don’t know how to move through them on my own. But I can’t text her right now, not with Aaliyah still sitting right next to me, it would be rude and I don’t know if I could stay away long enough from her for a phone call because I knew that Bobby would answer but also tease me for a good few minutes before she would offer some life advise.
So instead I sighed took another sip of my water and sank back into the couch before checking the time on my watch. It was almost 20:00 so we didn’t have to much longer before we would have to board for the flight. Just as I was about to sit up and grab a bag of snacks from the coffee table just to have something to do with my hands, Aaliyah rested her head against my shoulder again and I felt my body tense up for a few moments before relax against her.
“Would you want to watch a movie?” Aaliyah asked and tilted her head up so she could look at my face.
“Finally had enough of playing cards?” I asked and smiled. Aaliyah let out a laugh before reaching for her bag and pulled out a slim MacBook. She started it up before looking up at me.
“So what are we watching?” I asked Aaliyah.
“Have you seen The Notebook?” She asked and pulled the movie up on a streaming service.
“I haven’t seen much of anything.” I answered as I grabbed the other bag of popcorn off the table.
“Well, now you will cry, a good, love exists in the world cry.” Aaliyah said as she pressed her side against mine while resting her laptop in between our legs for balance.
When Aaliyah said that, I was a bit concerned about what I was getting myself into. But as the movie started, I got sucked in right away by the forbidden romance between Noah and Allie. My eyes welled with tears as the Noah kept trying to find a way to get to Allie while her parents were set against the pair being together. But, as fate would have it, Allie saw the newspaper while trying on her wedding dress to find Noah again, standing in front of the house he said he would restore for her. There love prevailed and I sat and watched the rest of the movie teary eyed as I realized the older couple was Noah and Allie. Once the movie came to an end, I couldn’t help the tears running down my cheeks as Aaliyah closed her laptop and put it away.
“I said you would cry.” Aaliyah said and brush away a wayward tear from my cheek.
“You said it would be a good cry, this is fucken heartbreaking.” I said and rubbed my face of tears, trying to pull it together.
“But they knew love, can’t have heart beak if you don’t have love.” Aaliyah said, her gaze fixed on me as I slowly pulled myself together.
“It’s so just fucken sad, love should never be this sad or heartbreaking.” I said and started to clean up our mess, finding the last of the snacks we haven’t eaten and put them into the bag so we could take them with us for the flight before looking at Aaliyah. She had a pensive look on her face like she was debating with herself if she wanted to say what she was about to or not.
“You’re right, it shouldn’t. I hope to find that kind of love one day. Strong enough that even though they had to separate, in the end, they ended up happily together.” Aaliyah finally spoke, soft, like she still wasn’t sure if she wanted to say it at all.
My heart grew a few sizes in my chest at her admission, hoping against hope that maybe, when we get home, we might stand a chance. I leaned in then, feeling to connected to her in the moment, and pressed a gentle kiss to her temple. I know I probably overstepped and would probably regret what I was about to say, but, we had to leave the lounge to walk over to the gate for our flight. It was now or never.
“I think that you will find that love and once you do, don’t let it go.” I stayed close to her for another few seconds before pulling away to collect my stuff and made sure everything was in order. Once I had everything I stood and asked if Aaliyah wouldn’t mind watching my gear while I went to the bathroom. She simply nodded and I got up and stretched out my body for a moment before walking to the private bathroom Aaliyah looked me over in earlier. I didn’t take long, wanting to make our walk over to the plane. After I returned, Aaliyah went to the bathroom herself.
While Aaliyah was in the bathroom, I took my phone out and took a picture of the couch and window, wanting to remember the day we spent here. Just as I was putting my phone away, Aaliyah returned. We gathered our stuff up and left our corner of the world. On our way out of the lounge, I grabbed a new water bottle along with a few more snacks for the flight home and wasn’t surprised to see Aaliyah do the same.
Once we left the lounge, Aaliyah took hold of my bicep again and kept close to me as we walked down the quiet terminal to our gate. Aaliyah was quiet as we walked, and so was the whole terminal. It looked like our flight was one of the only flights leaving this late. When we got to the gate, there wasn’t room to sit anywhere, all the chairs already claimed by other passengers so Aaliyah and I stood off to the side. Before I could think about taking my backpack off, I heard my name being called over the PA system. When I looked at Aaliyah she looked confused as well and shrugged before letting go of my arm.
As I got to the desk, the women standing behind it did a double take as she saw me standing in front of her.
“I’m Cruz Manuelos.” I said and the women nodded.
“Yes, I needed to give you a new boarding pass Ms. Manuelos, your seat was upgraded.” The women said before leaning down to collect the ticket from the printer and handed it to me. When I looked down at the ticket, I could see the business class label printed on it and my eyes widened.
“Uhm, this has to be a mistake, I didn’t do this.” I said confused to how this happened, thinking about my seat in the back of the plane.
“I don’t know who did it but I do have it in my system that your ticket was upgraded Ms. Manuelos. You’ll board in group A.” The women said and gave me a smile dismissing me as she stepped aside to help another passenger who was also paged.
I took the ticket in my hand and walked back over to Aaliyah who was leaning against the wall, looking out at the plane that will carry us across the ocean. When I got over to her, I slid my backpack off onto the ground and stood next to her quietly for a minute and clenched my jaw.
“You did this, didn’t you.” I said more as a statement then a question.
“I want to stay in our world inside a world for a little while longer.” Aaliyah said quietly as she leaned into my side. Her words brought a blush to my cheeks as I wrapped my arms around her waist to hold her against me.
We stood like this only for about ten minutes before the air line workers made an announcement that they were going to start boarding. I finally let go of Aaliyah and found the pills in my bag and took them with some water. Once they were down, I put my backpack back on and tried to breath through the pain that blossomed from the movements. Aaliyah must have noticed because she ran her hand up and down my arm for a few moments to distract me. The motion worked as the pain settled and I gave her a smile.
The air line workers started to call for the first class travelers to board the plane and as they started to board, Aaliyah took my hand and pulled me closer to the gate. When they called for the next group, Aaliyah pulled me forward and went in front of me to scan her ticket against the reader. Once it flashed green, she moved forward and I did the same. As the reader flashed green, Aaliyah took my hand again and led me down the gangway to the plane. As we reached the cabin door, I put my hand against the plane body and whispered a few silent words before stepping aboard.
Aaliyah kept my hand in hers as we walked down the isle of the plane and found our seats. I took my headphones out of my backpack quickly before putting it in the overhead bin and slid into the window seat. Once I sat down, Aaliyah took the seat next to me and slid her bag under the seat in front of her. After I put my seat belt on, I relaxed into the seat and was thankful that Aaliyah upgraded me. This seat was way better then what I would have been sitting in. I could feel the pills already starting to work and loosened up my tight back.
Before I forgot, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and sent Bobby a text to let her know that we would be taking off soon and gave her my flight number so she could be on time to pick me up later. When I got a simple thumbs up in response, I put my phone on airplane mood turned to look at Aaliyah only to find her doing the same. She gave me a smile as she put her phone away and held out her hand. I put my hand in hers and could already feel myself starting to feel sleepy from the pills and being up this late.
It didn’t take too long for everyone to board the plane and for the captain to apologize for this long delay as he drove the plane out onto the tarmac. Something about a staffing issue. Aaliyah tensed up a bit as the large plane gained speed, racing down the runway before pulling up into the night sky. Her grip on my hand was tight as the pilot turned to get us in line with the eastern seaboard.
“You’re okay. We spent all day watching these planes take off. In all my years of service, I have flown on planes a lot bigger then this and never had an issue. I’ll keep you safe.” I said trying to sooth her nerves. I think it worked a little as I felt her grip relax as she instead wrapped her hand around my arm to lean into me. It didn’t take long for us to get comfortable and we were barely in the air for an hour before we both asleep.
I don’t know how much longer it was, but a bit of turbulence woke us both up when our head clanged together. Aaliyah sat up right away but the knock on the side of the head definitely wasn’t good for my already concussed brain. It took me what I felt like was a few minutes to really wake up to realize that we were still on the plane flying home. Once everything settled in my brain I looked over and found Aaliyah looking right at me.
“That didn’t feel good, I’m guessing.” Aaliyah said as I moved my neck around to try and get the stiffness out of it.
“Wasn’t the way I was hoping to wake up.” I answered looking at down at my body. Aaliyah and I slowly pulled ourselves away from each other to move around a bit in our seats to try and get comfortable again. When I felt okay again, I tapped the TV screen in front of me and saw we only had a little more then an hour left of the flight before we landed.
“Could I interest either of you ladies in a beverage or some food?” I heard the flight attendant ask and I turned to see her standing next to Aaliyah.
“Can I just get a cup of coffee and some fruit if you have it please?” Aaliyah asked before turning to look at me.
“I’ll have the same.” I answered. It only took a few minutes before the flight attendant was back with our coffees and two bowls of fresh fruit. I watched as Aaliyah made her coffee, one packet of creamer and two packets of sugar before stirring it up and taking a sip. I grabbed a few sugars and poured them into the coffee before mixing it together and taking a sip. The warm drink started to wake me up from the inside out. The fruit was surprisingly good, Aaliyah and I shared from each others bowls the pieces each other didn’t like.
After we finished our fruit and sipped through the coffee, I pulled the shade up on the window and leaned back so Aaliyah could look outside with me. The sun was just starting to come up over the horizon making for a beautiful sunrise. I offered to switch seats with Aaliyah so she could get a better view but she declined before wrapping her arm through mine again and leaning her head onto my shoulder.
That’s how we spent the rest of the flight. Our remaining time in the air was smooth sailing and our pilot got us onto the ground safely. Aaliyah stepped out into the isle first and blocked the back of the plane to let me have an extra second to get my backpack down from the overhead bin. Once I got it down, Aaliyah helped me put it onto my back so I didn’t have to feel the pain which I was extremely grateful for. After I was set, I reached back and took Aaliyah’s hand in mine and led us off the plane.
The terminal was quiet in the early morning hours as we made our way down the hall, hands intertwined together. When we got towards customs, we both went to the bathroom first before we had to separate into the different lines. Since it was the early morning, I made it through within minutes and waited by the end of the foreign passport line. It took Aaliyah about ten minutes to appear and I gave her a smile when her eyes landed on me. She looked a bit relieved to see me waiting and once she got close, she wrapped her arm around mine and leaned into me. I gave her a second before we started the walk to baggage claim.
“Do you have a ride home?” I asked, wanting to spend as much time left with Aaliyah as possible.
“I have a car picking me up.” She answered as we started to slow our walk to baggage claim, no rush to get there as it still was going to take some time for our bags to come out.
Before we exited the last doors before baggage claim, I took my phone out and turned it on. I saw a message from Bobby, telling me to hurry up because she wants to go back to bed. I just rolled my eyes and put my phone away. As we walked through the last private part of the airport, I led Aaliyah and I over to the baggage claim that our bags are going to drop from.
“How many bags are you waiting on?” I asked as we came to a stop.
“Five, I had to get the last of the things I wanted from my parents estate because I knew when I left, I don’t know when or if I’ll be back.” Aaliyah said quietly as she leaned into my side.
“We’ll get you a cart then for your driver, make it easier.” I mumbled and watched a few lights started to flash to indicate the bags were about to drop. We stepped closer to the line and watched as a few bags started to come down the shoot.
When Aaliyah let go of me and reached for her bag, she managed to pull it off the line with no problem. Just as she put it down on the floor, she turned to the line and her eyes lit up.
“Cruz.” She said and pointed to the bag that was about to go past us. I plucked it off the line with ease and put it next to Aaliyah’s first. I was also surprised to see my duffle bag come out so early. I pulled it off the line and stuck it near Aaliyah’s bags. A few more bags went by before Aaliyah’s final three bags came down. Now that she had all her bags, I knew our time together was finally at its end.
Aaliyah managed to find her driver and he was able to put all of her bags onto a cart and gave us a moment. I pulled a pen and my notepad from one of my pant pockets and wrote my name and number down on it before ripping it out and handing it over to Aaliyah.
“If you ever want to have some more moments from our world within a world, or a tour guide of your new home, this is my number. You can call or text any time and I’ll answer.” I said and bit my lip to stop myself from crying. Aaliyah gave me a watery smile before pulling me into a hug. Her arms wrapped tightly around my neck and I almost picked her up off the floor from our height difference.
As we pulled away from each other, Aaliyah pressed a kiss to my cheek before leaning in close to my ear.
“Thank you for reminding me not to give up on love Cruz.” She pressed her nose into my cheek for a few moments before finally pulling away from me completely.
She didn’t turn back as she walked away, I had a feeling that if she did, neither of us would have been able to let the other go. The connection we had formed over the course of the day was one I was hoping to have forever, but one I don’t know ever will. I left her with my number if she wanted to get in contact, wanting to see if the feelings I was having for Aaliyah, she shared in return.
Even though she didn’t turn around, I stayed rooted in my spot until I could no longer see her with her driver. I honestly probably would have stayed in this spot all day if Bobby didn’t walk up to me a few minutes later. She gave me a smile and pulled me into a hug before leaning down and picking up my duffle bag. I just followed her out of the airport to her pickup. She gave me a hand getting my backpack off and into the cab between us before we took off towards my place.
“So, who was that girl I saw you with? You two looked pretty close.” Bobby asked as she got onto the highway.
“We spent the day together in the airport. The time I spent with her was important, but I also don’t even know if I’ll ever see her again.” I answered while watching the cars pass.
“It’s a good thing I got this then.” Bobby said and picked up her phone. It took a second but when she found what she was looking for, she turned her phone around to face me and I almost wanted to cry. Bobby took a photo of Aaliyah and I standing together while we were waiting for our bags. Aaliyah was still wrapped around my arm and we were leaning against each other. I quickly sent the photo to myself along with the few others she took before putting Bobby’s phone back into the cup holder.
“You know, if you didn’t take those, I could have thought it was all a dream.” I said quietly, staring down at a picture of the two of us.
“Well, whoever she is, hope you find her again some day Cruz.” Bobby said, dropping the teasing tone from her voice when she sensed how important this was too me.
Being the early morning, it didn’t take Bobby long to drive me home and drop me off. She stuck around for a little while, making sure I was okay and if I needed anything before making a few notes about our training scheduled and sticking them to the fridge before leaving. After she left me alone in my empty house, I kicked off all my gear and hopped into a shower. Once I was clean and dressed in loose sweats I made myself a quick breakfast before taking some more extra strength Advil before climbing into bed and falling asleep.
********
Before I knew it, I was home for two weeks. Most of that time I spent in bed resting, trying to heal my body from the deployment, barely doing much else as the concussion symptoms really took it out of me. Bobby popped in a few times to check on me and bring me groceries because I didn’t have the energy to go to the stores myself.
The one thing on my mind that I tried not to think about was the complete lack of any communication from Aaliyah. I tried making excuses to myself, that she just moved here, she’s starting a new job for the reason why she didn’t call. But as one week became two, I got the feeling that I read the situation all wrong, that she didn’t feel the same way about me as I did her.
By the end of the second week, I tried to push her out of my mind and focused on trying to get my head feeling better. Bobby has a team workout scheduled for the upcoming week and I want to join in but I still have to be cleared by my doctor first. Today was my follow up appointment with the doctor here on base so I cleaned myself up, got dressed and drove my old Jeep onto base for the first time since being home.
Heading over to the hospital was a little weird instead of going over to our training area but I tried to ignore the feeling in my stomach as I parked my Jeep in the first open spot I saw. I made my way through the halls of the hospital and headed towards the clinic and checked in. A nurse brought me back to a room pretty quickly which I was surprised about before leaving me be to get the doctor.
I barely had time to send a response to Bobby to let her know I made it here in one piece when I heard a knock on the door before it opened. I looked up from my phone briefly to see a women in a lab coat walk into the room and I did a double take. The shock made me drop my phone onto the floor and I knew if I was standing, I probably would have ended up there with it.
Aaliyah was standing in front of me, tablet in hand, stethoscope around her neck, in light blue scrubs under her lab coat. It took a second before she broke out of her daze before she put her tablet down next to me on the bed. I slid from the bed to be face to face with her before I noticed her eyes welling up with tears.
“I tried calling you Cruz, the phone rang and rang and nobody ever picked up.” Aaliyah said, her voice thick with emotions.
“Call me please, right now.” I asked a sinking feeling in my stomach. Aaliyah came to stand next to me, leaning against the bed as she pulled her cell phone from her pocket and brought up my contact. She tilted her phone in my direction so I could see the number and it felt like I was going to throw up. Tears filled my own eyes as I watched her press the number and the phone rang and rang before the call dropped.
I gently took the phone from her hand and changed the number. The number I originally wrote down in the airport, I jumbled up the last for digits. I put them into the right order and handed her back the phone. Aaliyah pressed the number again and a few seconds later, we both heard my phone vibrating against the floor.
“I told you I was concussed.” I said quietly. Aaliyah hung up her phone and put it into her pocket before wrapping her arms around my neck pulling me in. Our lips met halfway in kiss full of fireworks. We kissed like the two weeks since our day in the airport was actually a year ago, returning home to each other. When I finally pulled away from Aaliyah to take in some air, I pressed my forehead to hers. Together we stood in each others space, finally able to again, not wanting to let the other go.
“You’re my last patient for the day, after we are done, would you like to go out on a date?” Aaliyah asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“I’ll follow you anywhere.” I answered before pressing another kiss to her lips, excited for the first time ever to finally have the chance to fall hopelessly in love.