Straighten Up And Fly Right [Open]

[Jason Owens]

Airports. Planes. And whatever else could fly.

Jason absolutely did not like flying although he wasn't scared of a little height. Nor would he sit in his seat, screaming like a little girl that the plane would crash and burn somewhere along the flight. The thing was that the only one who had some control over the plane was the pilot himself along with his co-pilot. Being a racer like Jase, you were used to be in control all the time and giving up that amount of control was scary. Not many racers would openly admit that, including himself, but it really did were the truth. If you were going down....well you were going down and there would be nothing you could actually do about it.

Now that was scary.

After standing in line for what seemed to be ages Jason had finally managed to get himself some coffee/hot chocolate thingy with a cookie the cute waitress had recommended. It was amazing how many kinds of coffee there were, honestly. You had African coffee beans, Brazilian coffee beans, Spanish coffee beans, French coffee beans and then you had all these other things you could put in your coffee like milk, cream, hot chocolate, alcohol and probably way more other things posted on the huge boards that hung above the counter. Seriously, how was a normal human being able to make a choice when you hand delivered him that many choices and then asked what kind of cookie he wanted?

You took the flavour of the week.

The perfect solution for people like Jason Owens who just wanted some coffee to go. Since sitting in the shop itself wasn’t exactly possible. People were almost sitting on top of each other. Now, don’t get it wrong. He’d definitely not mind sharing a seat with a cute girl but the only options were either sitting besides a mother breastfeeding her newborn – which would be awkward as hell- or sit besides an old lady that had a dog on her lap that looked like a frigging rat and was barking at every person that walked by. Again, not really an option. So Jason had simply settled himself down at the left end of the steps that led up to the shop.

As he sipped his coffee, holding his cup with both hands as he has pulled his legs up and had let his arms rest on his knees, his eyes wandered over all the people walking by. There were so many different kind of people walking around on this airport where one would be looking all formally dressed in a suit and shit while someone else –who probably just got off a long flight- looked exhausted and in need of a shower and some rest. Jason himself was wearing a pair of low hanging/loose sitting dark pair of jeans with a simple dark shirt on top of it. Nothing fancy but just comfortable enough for when you needed to travel.

The flight wouldn’t leave for another good while and since Reese had taken her son to the book store –which was something Jason did not do, reading- he’d had an hour or completely boredom to kill. Yawning, he let his head fall down a little, moving it from left to right to try and relax some. Flying wasn’t exactly something he did a lot, so when he did his body would get all tensed up. Especially his neck and shoulders.

[Claire Littleton]

((The following post takes place after this (link) deleted scene.))

[/b] she called softly to him. A small, polite smile turned the corners of her lips up tentatively. “You can sit here if you like. I was just about to go in a minute.” Claire nodded at the unoccupied chair at her table. She wasn’t actually just about to leave – her flight didn’t start boarding for another hour at least – but now she would have an excuse to go if he was some sort of lunatic. Not that she was one to talk. She had cried three times this morning, and once was because her alarm clock went off.
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[Charlie Pace]

"Sir, you've reached the limit."

God, why couldn't she just hurry up? The lump in his shoe was a constant reminder of what Charlie knew he needed. Charlie tried to keep his hands from shaking as the woman spoke. Frustration was rising inside of him, and he could no longer keep his mouth shut. "Look, I--Look, I'll switch, okay?!" Charlie said frustratedly. "I'll put the guitar into--into stowaway and then I'll take my bag." He grabbed his messenger bag, pulling it roughly over his shoulder. "There, perfect. No over limits, then, eh?"

"Sir, are you alright? Perhaps you should get yourself a cup of coffee; calm down a bit?"

"Yeah, coffee. Smashing." Grabbing the ticket, Charlie moved, shoving the ticket into his messenger bag. "Bloody idiotic woman." However, he took her words to heart; tea sounded brilliant right now.

The Coffee bar wasn't far from the gate, and he pushed the doors open, thankful that he couldn't see anyone in the coffee bar. A loud sigh escaped his lips as he brought a hand up, running it through his hair, until he stopped, hearing his phone ring.

Frowning, he dug the phone out, looking at the screen. A sigh escaped his lips, and he flipped it open, bringing it to his ear. "You better be Karen." When he heard Karen's voice, Charlie sighed out, leaning against one of the tables. "Kare." Charlie said in a sigh, looking towards the ceiling. "No. No, I don't care what he says, Karen. He's a bastard, that's why!" Groaning, Charlie looked up vainly to the ceiling. "Kaaaaaare. Don't bring--please don't bring Megan into this. Please, don't." His brows furrowed angrily. "Don't you dare say that I don't care about her, Karen! How dare you! I care for her like she was my own daughter!" He hissed angrily. "Don't you dare. Yes, of course I love you both but--"

Bringing a shaky hand up to the bridge of his nose, Charlie could feel the tears rise. He cleared the lump in his throat. "Karen. Karen, I've gotta go, I'm next in line. Karen, if I don't get some tea, I'm libel to go crazy in here, okay? I have to go." He paused, and looked down at the floor, his voice lower. "Look, I don't have anymore, okay? I used it all up last night with some Aussie bird. God, of course, I'm telling you the truth!" Charlie said, almost pleading. Liar. Liar. Liar. "Just--Just don't okay?! I've already made up my mind. I'm getting on this plane and I'm going back to Los Angeles. I'm staying at the Roosevelt. Tell your husband if he really cares about me like he was talking about, he'd step down from his bloody high horse, get his head out of his sodding ass and look at the BIG picture. Tell him to look me up if he stops being self-righteous and changes his mind. No. No, I'm done talking. Do not put him on the--I don't want to talk to you! No! No, screw YOU Liam! No, you know what? Don't bother looking me up in Los Angeles. Consider me dead. GET BENT!"

Charlie hung up the phone with a loud click, and then noticed for the first time that two people were in the Coffee Bar with him. Oh, god. The woman was pregnant, and there he was, cursing up a storm. Bastard. Stupid bloody bastard, Charlie.

"Look, I, uh--sorry. Sorry, I didn't mean to--" he motioned to her stomach. "If he comes out cursin' up a storm and a complete prat, you can blame me, okay?"

[Claire Littleton]

[/i]

The stammered apology made Claire look up from her coffee and smile kindly at him. He seemed nice enough, perhaps in a bit of a tough spot at the moment. It was only when he started gesturing towards her stomach that the pristine smile faltered slightly. So this apology was just another “pregnant girl” thing. God forbid anyone upset the chick with the unborn child – she might break into millions of delicate little pieces. Her hands rested on her abdomen out of habit more than anything else. It would be nice after she gave birth, if only because she would go back to being a regular person rather than a hollow shell with a swollen tummy. The adoptive mum, whoever she was, was lucky not to be going through this. She probably thought herself burdened by not being able to have children of her own, but that was only because she didn’t understand. The adoptive mum, whoever she was, didn’t know what it was like to go for weeks without being looked in the eye properly.

But that was just her hormones speaking. “Don’t worry about it,” Claire reassured him, determined not to have her fourth emotional meltdown of the day. She took a closer look at the man who had just hung up his cellphone, and was a bit concerned with what she saw. He looked a bit… off, so to speak. Ill, almost. She was anxious about her flight, but he looked far worse off than she. “Are you okay?” she asked, sounding truly sincere in her question. She glanced in Jason’s direction as if for encouragement, but looked back to Charlie when she remembered that she hadn’t properly met either one of them.
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[Jason Owens]

Jason certainly did not mind sitting outside of the store on a few steps instead of sitting inside, squashed between a bunch of people. He needed his space and had never been a fan of crowds, so sitting out here was just fine with him. Surely a chair would be more comfortable but the flight back would take hours of sitting in a comfortable –hopefully- soft chair anyway. Besides this way he could spot Reese and Nathan easier than when he was inside. On the other hand though, he really would not mind some company.

It seemed that ‘whish’ got granted when he heard the soft voice of a girl. Turning his head back a little, so he could see who the voice belonged to, he noticed a beautiful blond haired pregnant girl sitting at a table. Her eyes though, they were the first thing Jason noticed as he instantly thought they were gorgeous. He smiled, thinking she was beautiful as pregnant girls usually were. They had this glow over them. Something that was hard to explain but it made them look pretty. Yet, Jason knew very well to watch your back when in the company of a soon to be mother. With those hormones racing through those baby making bodies they could lash out and be a handful at the same time. Or they’d suddenly start crying over nothing. He’d been through that with Reese when he had visited her when she had been pregnant…man, that had not been pretty.

He nodded, rising to his feet, definitely not passing up the offer of sitting with her at a table. She seemed nice, so why not? “Thanks, that would be great. Well, not that you’d be leaving but for the seat obviously..” Jason smirked, ready to walk over to her when –as what seemed to be- a very frustrated blond haired guy passed him and entered the coffee shop. Frowning, Jason followed the guy with his eyes and watched him move through the shop. The little movements and the way he talked/ his voice sounded Jason knew enough to say that the guy was using something. Being part of the illegal race circuit you’d come across junkies and drugs a lot. Jason himself wasn’t a user though but he knew exactly what signs to look for that gave a user away. Some were more stealth about it than others but you could easily tell if you knew what to look for. What the guy was using exactly he didn’t know, -nor did Jason really care about it- he just knew to keep an eye on the guy for the time he was in this shop.

Shrugging lightly Jason eventually walked over to the free seat at the table and sat down, placing his coffee besides hers. Whatever conversation had taken place between the two people he hadn’t entirely overheard, the only thing he’d managed to overhear was her asking the guy if he was okay. “You know that guy?” he asked, glancing back at Charlie for a brief moment. Turning his attention back on Claire Jason smiled, “I’m Jason by the way, thought I’d might as well introduce myself as we’re sharing a table.”

[Claire Littleton]

[/i]

Good point, Jason, well made. Claire did not, in fact, know “that guy” so it really wasn’t any of her business what he was doing. Again, the somewhat coldness in his phrasing surprised her. It might be a male ego thing. Too much testosterone in the room might overload their circuits and make them go into danger mode. “No, I guess not,” she said. Her brow creased slightly as she pondered the relationship between the two males. Men were confusing creatures. She doubted she would ever fully understand one of them. Growing up in an all-female household had its effects on Claire, and her relationships with men (friendship and otherwise) were always a bit shaky.

The friendly part of her personality made up for all of that, though. When Jason introduced himself, Claire smiled as best she could. Her nerves were still driving her insane, but the coffee helped her to function at least. “I’m Claire,” she introduced herself. “It’s very nice to meet you, Jason.” There was no harm in being polite, after all. Looking closer, she could see that Jason was your typical tall, muscled, handsome type. He was probably really talented, too. She hadn’t had the best of experiences with those types, as they tended to get you pregnant, convince you to keep the baby, and then leave you some odd months later. But maybe she was being a bit unfair.

It seemed customary to ask which flight he was taking, since the only thing they appeared to have in common was that they were both in an airport. “Where are you headed?” she asked. “You’re obviously not from here,” she added, referring to his American accent.
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