Somewhere Only We Know

He picked her up from her place very early in the morning, much to her dislike. Jeremy could see that she was fighting between her elation at the thought of meeting Riley and her fear of doing something new. Like her mother, she was not a fan of change.
"So," she said nervously as they sat and waited for takeoff. "My first flight and it's first class. That's something to remember."
"You've never flown before?"
"No, my mom always drove us wherever we went, and there weren't all that many places."
"Did you ever take vacations?"
"Well, yeah, sorta," she stammered. "I mean, we saw the Grand Canyon once."
"That's pretty cool!" he smiled, glad to be having a successful conversation.
"Yeah, and we used to go up to Frisco to see my grandma a lot. We would sometimes do the touristy stuff there like ride the trolleys and see the Fisherman's Warf."
"Yeah? What else?"
"Um," she thought for a moment. "I guess that's it."
"You guys never went on any other vacations?"
"No. Not that I can think of."
Hearing this made Jeremy sad. He knew for a fact that they had gone to Disneyworld, but apparently she had no memories or pictures with which to remember it. He thought about telling her, but he didn't. He was afraid of what she'd think of her mother for choosing to erase any memory of it.
As the plane took off, Olivia gripped the arms of the chair. "Holy shit!" She yelled, causing everyone to look at her. "Is this supposed to happen? I feel like the plane is going straight up! Planes don't go straight up!"
He held her hand. "Close your eyes and breathe," he told her. "This is perfectly normal, but I know it can be scary. It'll be over in a second."
She not only closed her eyes, but she would have locked them shut if she could. She squeezed his hand so tight it hurt him, though he didn't mind. She gritted her teeth as they started to straighten out, and when she finally opened her eyes, it looked to her like they were floating on a sea of cotton.
"Oh my god, did we die?"
He smiled. "No, we didn't die. We're above the clouds."
"Is that safe? Won't the pilot have a hard time seeing where he's going?"
"No, it's fine. This is how you fly."
She kept her eyes fixed on the beauty just outside her window. "I'm flying," she breathed.
He let her have her moment. She loved it, and he loved her.

They were about an hour into the flight when she began to speak again. "So, how long is this flight, anyway?"
"About 4 hours."
"You're gonna like him, you know. He's really sweet."
He grunted, apparently without Olivia taking notice.
"And he's so handsome. He's like a mixture of Alan Matters and Jose Fuentes."
He gave her a puzzled look and just nodded, pretending he knew who she meant.
"You have no idea who those guys are, do you?"
"None whatsoever."
She sighed. "Well, I could explain, but I really don't think it would do them justice. Let's just say they're two of the hottest actors in Hollywood."
"Well I've never heard of them," he told her. "They can't be THAT hot."
"Hot like good-looking," she said. "Like they're super attractive."
"I know, I was joking," he told her. He wasn't.
He then noticed she was leaning forward and holding her stomach. "I don't feel so good," she said. "I think I'm gonna puke."
He handed her the bag in front of the seat. "Use this in case you don't make it to the bathroom."
"I get airsick, huh?" she shook her head. "Figures. Oh crap. Ugh... did you say three more hours of this?"
"Yeah, sorry," he lent her a shoulder to rest on, and she took advantage of it.
"Oh, I'm so sick," she groaned.
"Tell me more about Riley," he cringed. He didn't want to hear anything more about the guy who lived on the opposite side of the country and was taking his little girl away from home, but he wanted her to relax. As she went on about how handsome and smart and talented and funny he was, Jeremy just listened. He didn't care who she was talking about or what she was saying. He just enjoyed the feeling of her head resting on him, the smooth vibrations of her tiny voice passing through him as she cooed about whatever she was cooing about at that particular moment. A smiled traced along the edge of his mouth as he closed his eyes and breathed in the fact that he was a father, and that he had such a beautiful daughter. Not in a very long while had his life felt so complete. Not since a rainy day in March 18 years before when he held a six-pound baby girl in his arms and sang Sweet Caroline.