Jackie opted for sunglasses and a sweatshirt, given her current hungover condition. No one seemed to notice who she was until she felt a gentle tug on her pants when they were in line for security. When she looked down, she saw a little girl.
"Excuse me, are you Tyler?" She asked softly.
Jackie smiled and crouched down next to her.
"Hi cutie! Can you keep a secret?"
"Yes," the little girl eagerly responded.
"I am Tyler, but shhh," Jackie said, placing her finger over her lips. "Don't tell anyone okay? I'm on a very important secret mission."
Catherine watched as the little girl's face lit up with joy.
"I promise I won't tell anyone Tyler."
"Pinky promise?" Jackie asked, sticking her pinky out.
"Pinky promise!" The little girl excitedly said, looping her finger through Jackie's.
"Is there any chance I can take a picture of you with her?" The mother asked. "I'll be discrete."
"Of course!"
After posing for the picture, Jackie autographed a piece of paper for them.
"What's your name sweetheart?"
"Emma."
"You have a beautiful name, Emma. This is Catherine," Jackie said, pointing to Catherine as she continued writing. "She is my best friend in the entire universe."
"Hi Catherine," Emma said, sticking her tiny hand out.
"Hi Emma, you sure are pretty," Catherine smiled.
Catherine's heart melt at both the little girl and Jackie.
Emma flashed Catherine a bashful smile, "Thank you."
"Well, it sure was nice meeting you Emma," Jackie said, as she gave her a big hug.
"I promise I won't say anything Tyler," Emma whispered.
"How about this. You can tell whoever you want, just as long as you wait until you get home. Okay, sweetie?"
"Okay," she said, obviously over the moon the she would be able to tell all of her friends back home.
"Thank you so much. You're so sweet," her mum said graciously.
"It was my pleasure," Jackie winked, before they were separated.
"Well that was adorable," Catherine beamed.
"I know right? What a cutie. The smallest fans are my favourite."
****
The flight from New York to California was a gruelling five hours. Catherine let Jackie have the window seat, both because Jackie wanted to sleep off her hangover, and mostly because Catherine was still uneasy with actually getting herself to look out the window.
Baby steps, she said to herself.
Jackie passed out soon after take off as Catherine worked on preparing herself for her interviews. After her eyes grew heavy and the words started to blur on the paper, she looped her arm through Jackie's and rested her head on her shoulder. About an hour later, they both woke up to the noise of a flight attendant pushing the drink cart.
Jackie opened her eyes and noticed the compromising position they were in. She slid her arm out from Catherine's.
"I'm sorry, it must've been out of habit."
"No it's okay. It was me."
Jackie looked at her questionably, "This is okay with you?"
"As long as they don't figure out my name and put two and two together, right? What are the chances they would find out things that happened in a small town call Bloomington?"
Before Jackie could answer, the plane began to shake and then suddenly dipped down. Catherine nervously grabbed her hand. Jackie pushed the window blind open.
"It's just turbulence. Looks like we're heading into a storm."
"Can you close that please?" Catherine asked, as she laid her head back and closed her eyes and squeeze down Jackie's hand hard.
"It's okay, it's completely normal. I promise."
The plane dipped again and Jackie felt Catherine's body tense up against hers. She leaned in closer, putting her other arm on Catherine's to offer a little more support.
"It's okay, I swear." Jackie said.
Catherine didn't say anything. Her breathing was incredibly fast and she was squeezing her eyes closed hard.
"What can I do?" Jackie asked.
"I'm okay," Catherine said, trying to breathe slowly.
"You don't always need to act so strong," Jackie said smiling. "Come here."
Jackie lifted the arm rest and offered her arm. Catherine looped her arm through Jackie's, clinging on tightly as she squeezed her hand with the other. As the plane dropped again, Catherine buried her face into Jackie's shoulder. Jackie lifted her hand and kissed it slowly. Although she would never tell her, Jackie loved when Catherine was vulnerable like this. It wasn't often that she was able to be the stronger one in their relationship, and she loved the feeling of providing some security to her as well.
"Are you nervous for your interviews?" Jackie asked.
She thought maybe getting her mind off of the plane might help Catherine with her anxiety.
"Yes."
"You're going to do great. You're the most confident person I know. I mean, you kissed me in the middle of campus during a department mixer in broad daylight, not knowing how I would react. You've got some balls, woman."
"You wanted me," Catherine replied without even pausing. Her face still buried in Jackie's shoulder.
Jackie laughed, "You know, one of the things that made me fall in love with you is your humbleness."
Catherine pinched her arm.
"Ow! Also how gentle you always are towards me, but sometimes I wish you would be a little more aggressive. I'm not made of glass you know," Jackie said sarcastically.
This time Catherine couldn't help but laugh. She lifted her face up and smiled big at Jackie.
"I know what you're dong."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Jackie replied, playing dumb.
"Who's the Psychology professor here?"
"You are, Professor Stark," Jackie winked.
Catherine squeezed her knee.
"Thank you for that Porcupine."
"So we got two more hours left on this flight, and we're not going to see each other for a while after Thursday. Might as well make the most of it, plane turbulence and all," Jackie joked.
Catherine started to ease up a little.
"Is all of the Neptune stuff over after Europe?"
"Yeah. Well, the execs are throwing a big party once we get back. One last hurrah."
"Are you sad that it's all over?"
"Yes and no. It's surreal to think I will be unemployed after this, but I'm exhausted and happy to get away from all of the Tommy drama."
Jackie saw Catherine's pause for a minute. She hoped she wasn't worrying about her and Tommy being in Europe together.
"Why didn't you ever mention that you wanted to go back to school?" Catherine asked.
Not what Jackie was expecting.
"I assumed you knew. Just because Neptune came long didn't mean that I ever planned on stopping my education."
"Where are you going to go?"
"Well, I think that all depends on where you land your job now. I don't want to interfere."
"What if you land that big movie?"
Jackie just stared at her. Given their current situation, it made things a little awkward.
"What?" Catherine asked, confused.
"You've cut off the circulation to my arm. I don't think you'll be getting on a flight half way across the world anytime soon."
Catherine let go of her arm. Jackie wasn't sure if it was due to the circulation comment or if she was upset.
"You're not turning that down because of me."
"Well, you're not the boss of me," Jackie replied, pretending to be tough.
Catherine just smiled.
"We'll figure it out when the time comes. By the way, Matt and Wade really want to set up a meeting with us and PR before we put ourselves out there too much. I know you've got enough on your plate right now, so we will figure it out a time when I get back from Europe."
"What exactly is this meeting going to entail?"
"Just getting everything in order in case anything leaks out. Damage control is the official lingo."
"Such official business for a relationship," Catherine responded, seeming somewhat bothered with the entire thing.
"Welcome to Hollywood," Jackie said, rolling her eyes. "So what about you, what's the best case scenario for these job interviews? Which is your first choice?"
"My first choice will always be Stanford since it's my alma mater, but they haven't reached out to me."
Jackie knew Catherine was upset about Stanford but it was so far from Los Angeles that it made her worry a bit. Regardless, she needed to stay supportive.
"You never know, they still might. What about your second choice?"
"Second choice is UCLA. They have the number six Psychology department in the country."
"You know what else they have?" Jackie asked.
"What?"
"Me! Minutes away," she grinned.
Catherine laughed, "Yes, that too."
"So Berkeley is your last choice?"
"Yeah, it's still a really good department though. They rank number 10, but we'd have to deal with some distance issues," Catherine said.
"Give or take six hours," Jackie smirked.
Jackie had already looked it up as soon as Catherine landed the interview. She knew she couldn't be selfish enough to complain though. Catherine was already moving across the country.
"We will figure it out when the time comes," Catherine smiled, mirroring Jackie's response to her pending movie predicament.
They talked the rest of the flight. Just enjoying each other's company since it had become quite rare for them to have five hours alone just to talk.
A/n Thanks for reading my story. Please vote and drop a comment. Comments will help me a lot more than you might think. â¤ï¸