When the Walls Come Crashing Down

“Well, this sucks,” Charlotte said, wiping her eyes with a tissue and blowing her nose as she and Joe sat on the plane to California.

“Yeah,” Joe agreed, barely above a whisper. He let his head fall to the side, hitting the plane’s wall as he gazed out the window. The only things on his mind were Faith and Bryson. Not the job he was going to, not Charlotte sitting in the seat next to him crying, just them. He felt a tear drip down his cheek and didn’t bother wiping it away. There was no point

As the plane was getting ready to take off, Joe shut his phone off and put it in his pocket; easy access for when they landed. Around him he could hear so many sounds. Charlotte sniffing back her tears, a few rows back a baby was crying, someone in his general area was coughing, the person in front of him was smacking their gum, and a women on the other side of the aisle was writing something furiously and he could hear the scratching of her pen. He dug through his bag to find his headphones and plugged them into the jack on the armrest and pushed the button until he found a random, working radio station. He turned the volume up and blocked out everything going on around him.

****

What felt like only seconds later, Joe was woken up by Charlotte shaking his arm.

“Joe, we’re about to land. You need to put your seat up,” she said softly. He noticed her eyes were still red and puffy. She must have cried the whole ride. After thanking her he lifted his seat back up and looked out the window. He could see the ocean below them. With a sigh he rested his head back on the seat and just waited until they landed.

He always hated landings when flying. Everything else he was fine with but the landings were just too much. As he felt the plane going lower and getting ready to land he grabbed onto the armrest, squeezing tightly. His knuckles were turning white as he felt the vibrations made from the tires hitting the runway. As soon as the movements transitioned to something smooth he loosened his grip and reached for his phone, waiting for the flight attendants to give the okay to turn them on.

It felt like hours, waiting for the announcement. It was so horrible that he began to drum his fingers along the back of his phone. Looking to his right he saw Charlotte pretty much doing the same as she waited to call Nick. He sighed as he leaned his head back against the headrest.

“Ladies and gentlemen, you may now turn on and use all electrical devices,” one of the flight attendants said through the microphone.

“Finally,” Joe muttered as he hit the power button on his phone. “Come on, come on.”

After what felt like minutes, his iPhone turned on and he instantly dialed Faith’s cell phone. It barely rang once before she picked up.

“Hi,” she said, letting out a sigh.

“Hey baby,” he said, smiling. “We just landed a couple of minutes ago.”

“Well I’m glad to hear you landed safe,” she said and he could tell that she sounded relieved. Faith hated flying, even if she wasn’t the one that was actually on the plane. It made her nervous.

“Yeah it was a very smooth flight,” he said, watching as the people impatiently shoved their way off the plane. He and Charlotte seemed content to wait as long as they had to so they could stay on the phone just that much longer

“Are you waiting to get off the plane?”

“Yeah, these people are nuts, they can’t wait to get off. I on the other hand wish I could stay here so the plane could turn around and bring me home,” he said, running his free hand through his hair.

“I wish that could happen,” she said with a sigh. Joe was silent for a minute just listening to her breathe.

“How’s Bryson?” he asked.

“He’s good. He’s been very quiet since you left. Didn’t cry once,” she said. Joe could hear the change in her voice as she talked about Bryson.

“Can I talk to him? For all intents and purposes?”

“Of course! Let me go get him,” she said as she set the phone down. Joe looked over his shoulder and sighed in relief when he realized a lot of people were still waiting. It meant he could stay on the phone just that much longer. “Okay, here he is,” Faith said.

“Hi Bryson,” Joe said, smiling as he heard Bryson’s gargling baby noises. “I miss you little guy.”

Before Joe could say another word, Bryson started crying. He liked to think it was because he understood Joe. But he was just a baby and all babies cry. Joe heard a fumbling noise as Faith brought the phone back to her ear.

“Babe, I’m sorry. I’ve got to go and take care of him,” Faith said and Joe noticed the sadness in her voice.

“I love you, Faith,” Joe said with a sigh.

“I love you too,” she said and he heard the strain in her voice. “Bye.”

“Bye,” he whispered, pulling the phone away from his ear and hitting the call end button. He looked over at Charlotte and she was still on the phone. Looking over his shoulder he realized there was only a handful of people left on the plane. He waited a moment, letting her speak to Nick more, before tapping her on the shoulder.

“Hold on Nick,” she said, pulling the phone against her shoulder. “What’s up Joe?

“We should go, Char,” he said softly and she frowned. She was silent for a moment before nodding her head and bringing the phone back to tell Nick. After a few seconds she hung up and stood to grab her bag from the overhead compartment.

“Okay, let’s go,” she said, turning to walk up the aisle.

****

Nick’s POV

The morning after Joe and Charlotte left, Nick woke up to Bryson crying. He had volunteered to take the first shift so Faith could relax and hopefully have a full night’s sleep after they drank their glasses of milk. He sat up in bed and stretched his arms over his head before turning to Bryson.

“Hey Bryson,” he whispered, lifting him out of the bassinet. Bryson continued to cry as Nick held him against his chest, gently bouncing him up and down. “You hungry?”

Before he carried Bryson downstairs he brought him over to the mini-changing table that Faith had bought to keep in the room. He gently lowered him onto the table as his arms and legs thrashed around and his face contorted with his cries. Nick gently shushed him as he unbuttoned his one-sie. He grabbed a new diaper from the shelf and gently changed his son.

Once Bryson was all cleaned up, Nick lifted him into the air and smiled at him. He had stopped crying but Nick knew that he was still in need of a bottle. As quietly as possible so as not to wake Faith or Meg, he walked downstairs with Bryson in his arms to the kitchen. Once there he reached into the fridge for a bottle of milk Faith had pumped to warm up. He set Bryson in his pen and set the bottle in the warmer, keeping an eye on the timer so the beep wouldn’t wake Lizzy downstairs. He turned to the fridge and saw a picture of Joe, Faith, and Bryson.

His heart sank, just slightly. He knew he had screwed up with Faith. But he had Charlotte now. But Bryson was his son and in the whole two weeks of him being there in his presence… he didn’t have a single picture of or with him. Turning to look at his son, his son, Nick went over to the charging dock and grabbed his cell phone. He looked down at Bryson and opened the camera setting on his phone, holding it over the pen and snapping his first picture of his son; the first of many. He wasn’t going to screw up this time. He was going to be there for Bryson, and for Faith.