Flight

We went to the gates and waited for ours to open. Ava was wearing a wig and sunglasses so nobody recognized her. When they called the passengers of our plane in, we took our place in the line and patiently waited. We arrived to our seats and Ava closed the curtain so nobody saw us to take off her wig and glasses.

'Uff! This wig is so uncomfortable' she complained, scratching her head.

I put my head on her shoulder and I could imagine her smiling.

'Mom' I said looking up.

'What do you need my love?'

'I... I've never been on a plane... I'm getting a bit scared' I confessed.

'Don't worry. Hold on to my hand and everything will be alright. You will love flying. Just look outside the window if you are not afraid of heights' she gave me a warm smile and a squeeze on my shoulder.

'Okay' I felt more relaxed. I held her hand and I felt the plane vibrating very loudly. I looked at Ava and saw that she was calm so I assumed that it was normal.

The plane started to move slow and then faster so I held on to Ava's hand tight. She gave me a reassuring squeeze and I smiled. I started to feel gravity pull me against the chair as the plane tilted back. My adrenaline level went up while we gained altitude and when we were flying straight, I smiled and did a little victory dance.

'I did it! I didn't panic or anything! I like flying now!'

Ava giggled. She had a tired look.

'You should sleep mom' I stroked her shoulder.

'Yeah...' she yawned 'You're right. The flight is long. You can explore the plane once we reach the cruise altitude'

She fell asleep and I played Sonic for a bit. Suddenly, the captain spoke through the speakers:

'Dear passengers, it delights me to inform you that we've reached cruise altitude without any problems. We have clear skies and flight attendants will come by with snacks in about half an hour. Thanks for choosing us and have a good flight' I saw some people standing up and going for a walk through the curtain so I decided to do the same.

I looked both ways to make sure nobody was looking and I opened the curtain to get out of our section. As soon as I was out, I gave Ava a kiss on her forehead and closed the curtain again. I walked around the plane. It felt so weird. There was literally nothing under the plane, we were flying!

I was walking back to our section when I heard a muffled scream coming from Ava's seat. I ran towards her and opened the curtain to find Ava with a hand on her stomach and the other one on her mouth.

'Are you okay?!'

She shook her head and I saw her teary eyes. She winced in pain muffling another scream and I pressed the button to call a flight attendant.

When she arrived, she saw Ava's state and said:

'I'll be right back'

She spoke through the speaker:

'Is there a doctor on this flight? It's an emergency. I repeat. Is there a doctor on this flight?'

'Here!' A black haired man stood up 'I'm a professional doctor at "Los Angeles Surge Hospital"'

'Please come to the seats 25C and 25D in the first class section'

The man made his way towards us and lifted Ava's shirt revealing the wound. It was slightly bleeding little blood clots.

⚠️WARNING⚠️

The following diagnosis isn't completely true. I searched the web but didn't understand it too well so I made up some things. I think it's pretty close to what it really is but I felt like I should tell you :)

'I'm afraid you are suffering from DTV. It's common in flights. Because of the altitude your blood partially coagulated increasing its volume. That is why it hurts so much, you are stretching your veins. Unless we heal it on time, it could be fatal. I have some decoagulants with me but it will take some painful minutes to completely dissolve the blood clots. I'll go get them'

He left for a moment and I sat on my seat holding her hand tight.

Ava's POV

I woke up because of the unbearable pain. Suddenly, I felt a wave of pain that made me want to scream. I covered my mouth and I felt tears running to my eyes.

'Are you okay?!' y/n came back.

I shook my head as another wave of pain hit me, making me shed a couple tears.

After the doctor diagnosed me I felt y/n's hand taking mine from my stomach and holding it tight.

'You're strong mom. I know you can do this. Remember your song? Everytime I cry I get a little bit stronger... Stronger...' her voice broke 'Please don't leave me...' she sobbed 'I had nothing and then you came and gave me everything. But the most important thing, you gave me the love of a mother I never had...'

'I'm not gonna go anywhere.... Not after I found you' I smiled and gave her hand a weak squeeze.

The doctor came back with some pills and water.

'You need to swallow two of these. It will hurt but you will feel better when we land. Try not to get on planes with that but in case you have to, here' he handed me the container with pills.

'Th-thank y-you' I somehow managed to say.

I took two pills out as the doctor and flight attendant left when another wave of pain hit me. Y/n held my closed hand with the pills and delicately opened it to take the pills.

'I'll help you mom'

I nodded and she took the water bottle with the other hand.

'Here we go...' she said.

She put both pills on my tongue and then slowly poured a bit of water in my mouth so I could swallow them. A wave of pain hit me when I was about to swallow the pills and made me spit them out.

'I-I'm sorry...' I apologized.

'Don't worry. I caught them. Let's try again'

'Wait' I said.

'What do you need?'

The next pain wave hit me and I nodded signaling y/n to give me the pills. She poured some water on them and I successfully swallowed them.

'Good job mom!'

'Thank you' I whispered.

Now I only had to suffer for the next few minutes... I held on to y/n's hand while several waves of pain hit me. It was so painful but I could feel that it was working. I felt my blood flowing more freely and I smiled through the pain.

Your POV

After Ava finally swallowed the pills, I let out a relief sigh and fell on my chair. Who would say that pressure is so tiring? I saw Ava wincing in pain but she smiled. I think it's working...

In about fifteen minutes, I looked at Ava again and saw that she was asleep. I lifted up her shirt and used some clean gauzes I packed for cases like these to dry the blood and cover the wound. She looked relaxed so maybe the pills worked and the pain was over. I put my head on her shoulder and fell asleep

I woke up when the plane was shaking. The captain spoke through the speakers:

'Dear passengers, we are currently going through some turbulence. Please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts'

I shook Ava's shoulder. I was so scared. Were we going to crash?

Ava's POV

I woke up when y/n desperately shook my shoulder.

'Mom, I'm so scared... The plane is shaking. Are we going to die?'

I saw fear in her eyes so I gave her a warm smile to calm her down.

'Don't worry. This is normal. We are just flying through irregular waves of air. That is what shakes the plane but we will get through it and it will be like it never happened. Okay?' I softly stroked her cheek.

'Okay' she hugged my arm for reassurance and fell asleep again. After the turbulence, I looked at my wound and saw a patch covering it.

'I thought I had to take care of her, not her of me' I smiled and gave y/n a kiss on her forehead.

I read a book as flight attendants started to approach passengers offering dinner.

I took some gluten free pasta for both of us and woke y/n up with a kiss and a hug.

'It's dinnertime, sleepyhead'

She yawned and stretched to then smile and take her pasta to her table. We ate in silence and looked out the window.

'Mom! Look!' We could see Italy now. It looked so beautiful from up here. It was around 3:20 AM in Albania right now so we could see all the lights of Italy. I showed y/n a map.

'We are here' I pointed to a point in the ocean near Italy 'This is Greece' I moved my finger to Greece 'And Albania is just above it' I moved my finger up to point at Albania.

'We just have to do this' I traced a line from where we were on the map to Tirana 'It should take around an hour and a half' I said, putting the map back. We got some sleep to make up for the jetlag.

We woke up when the captain spoke through the speaker:

'Dear passengers, I'm glad to inform you that we are close to our destination and will start landing now. Please get back to your seats and fasten your seatbelts. The weather in Tirana right now is 10 degrees Celsius, skies are clear and it's 4:50 AM. Thanks for flying with us'

'Cabin crew, take your seats'

Flight attendants checked that everyone fastened their seatbelts to then go to their respective seats and fasten their seat belts.

We looked out the window as the lights started coming closer and the plane slightly tilted forward.

Your POV

I held Ava's hand tight as we started to land. We saw the airport and the plane slowed down to land on the long road. The plane was inches away from the floor and suddenly, we hit the floor making the whole plane shake. They activated the breaks and started turning towards the airport to then stop. I looked at Ava who was smiling, we had arrived.