Runway Four

[Dominic]

“This is your Captain speaking, on behalf of the airline and crew I apologise once again for the delay in disembarking and assure you that the steps will be brought into place soon. In the meantime my colleagues will be serving beverages for those who wish them, thank you.” The radio was flicked off with slightly more force than was needed although those in the passenger part of the cabin had no clue of that, the mutterings and grumblings that would have been audible even without the enhanced hearing of a wolf telling the pilot that his message had not gone down as well as he would have hoped.

Dominic Izzard sighed lightly and ran his fingers through his hair as he looked out of the cockpit window in the hopes that this time he would see the steps being brought towards the plane. It had been a long day and night flying across the globe and then having to stay the night before flying back, and while Dominic loved to fly, right now he wanted nothing more than to get out of the cockpit, out of the airport and back home where he could finally relax. The thought of home invariably led to thoughts of Phaedra, a small smile replacing the irritated frown at being stuck in the plane for even longer, the delays of the busy airport meaning they were running behind on getting everyone off all the recent flights.

“They don’t sound happy,” his co-pilot ventured, breaking into Dominic’s thoughts and causing him to look over at the other man, giving a short nod of agreement. The natives were restless and Dominic only hoped there wouldn’t be any sort of incident; which meant he hoped the stairs would hurry up and arrive, thoughts neatly looping back on themselves.

[Dominic]

It had been a long twelve hour flight, dull and predictable. Dull was infinitely preferable to exciting because at least if everything was the same then there wasn’t the worry that they would crash. He’d crashed more than once before although only once in a serious way and he was in no hurry to repeat the experience. Dominic loved flying, loved the feel of the controls under his hands and the knowledge he was weightless in the sky but even he had to admit that during the hours when they crossed the sea and there was nothing under them but clouds and under that endless blue and nothing above them but the endless blue of a different shade, the whole thing got a little boring. With all the modern technology as well there were times when Dominic felt as though he wasn’t even involved with the whole flying part.

This time though, it hadn’t been the time or the flight or even the hours spent over the sea that had made the whole thing drag on; it had been his co-pilot. Dominic honestly liked the man even if he was a human. He just wished the pervious twelve hours hadn’t been spent with him humming and at times even singing the same two songs over and over again, the tunes clearly stuck in his head. It was enough to send Dominic insane, and he could feel his blood pressure rising, the urge to just open a window a deal with the problem lurking in the back of his mind, just waiting to come forward.

As the other man opened his mouth yet again, Dominic could feel his hard fought for control slipping just that further and he tried frantically to think of something else, anything else to block out the soft snatches of song that were now filling the cockpit. Mindless talk was better than this – dealing with the rabid passengers in the back would be better than this.

Movement caught his attention from the corner of his eye and he turned his head, almost sagging back against the chair in relief at the sight of the steps being pushed towards the plane, almost as in answer to his mental prayer. He could get through the rest of his shift without loosing it, he had to.

Continued in: Baggage reclaim