Start of a Lifetime

As walked onto the plane, I searched for my seat. finding the spot I put my bag in the overhead compartment, pulling out my Silmarillion book.

I sat down next to the window and started reading for a bit, after all, the plane wouldn’t take off for the next 5 minutes.

Just when I was about to turn the page, I felt a present next to me, looking up I noticed it was Harry. “Hey, may I sit here?” He asked me, pointing to the seat next to me.

“Sure,” I replied with a smile. He stretched as he put his bag next to mine in the overhead luggage. As he reached out, his shirt lifted a little bit and I got a small glimpse of his toned stomach. turning my head quickly, a blush covering my cheeks, I pretended I hadn’t seen anything.

trying not to look at him as he sat down next to me. Just when I had started reading again harry asked. :” So, why wasn’t your mother at your grandparent’s place?”

“Well, she still lives in Belgium with my stepfather and oldest brother,” I answered, not wanting to get into it.

“Well, I know that you’re a Belgian citizen and that you moved here. But why didn’t your mother join you and your grandparents? I mean she’s your mother after all and you told me that 4 of her children live here.” he explained, his body turned towards me again.

“When I was 19 my mother basically told me that we didn’t know what it was to be our mother. That we were a mistake and a waste of her time, she was drunk when she said it but still. Afterwards, she said she was sorry, but I never forgot.” I told him, closing my book and letting it rest on my legs.

“So you decided to move here with your family?” He questioned, leaning his arm on the armrest of his seat.

“No, I finished Uni applied for jobs with British organisation. And here I am, I worked for a year and then bought my grandparents a farm in Effingham.” I told him in short terms.

“So they didn’t come immediately to England with you?” he asked.

“No, they didn’t, I bought them the farm cause they don’t have a lot of money,” I explained, thinking back to how our past had been, where they literally had to count every cent.

“And what about your siblings?” he asked, and it wasn’t in a curious tone, but more in a caring tone. it seemed like he was genuinely interested in me and it surprised me. but Maybe he’d mastered it by what he had to do.

“What about them? “I inquired, turning my body a bit more in his direction.

“I mean you’re 22 they can’t be all adults, so how did you get them here without your parent’s consent?” He questioned, leaning his arm on the armrest closest to me.

“My sister is an adult, my second brother wasn’t that much of a trouble, cause he’s never known his father. My youngest brother was the hardest cause he’s the son of my mother and stepfather. But still, I managed to take them here.” I explained not really wanting to dive too deep.

“But still, that couldn’t have been easy. Your mother and stepfather didn’t just give their permission did they?” he assumed, running his hand over his cheek, covered with his now recognisable beard.

“No, it wasn’t but once I proved that I could give them a lot more then they got then it was easy,” I told him with a shrug of my shoulder.

“Which means? ”He requested.

“I’m their guardian, they live at my grandparents. but I’m their guardian and provide for them all.” I told him, moving in my seat a bit uncomfortable, ‘why was I telling him this anyway.’ I thought to myself.

“I must say every time I think you couldn’t surprise me more you do.” He commented.

“Yea, well I did what was right.” I shrugged it off, I just did what I had to do, What was right. No further explanation needed.

I hadn’t noticed that during our conversation we had taken off and that we were now on our way to Iceland.

“So, how is it Royal life treating you, I mean you always ask about me and know so much about me. But I barely know anything about you.” I questioned, wanting to move the attention away from me. but I guess I had gone a little too far.

I knew that he was a very private man, and didn’t tell people much, definitely those he didn’t know.

“I’m sorry, I overstepped the line here, you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to. I know you’re a private man.” I apologised, placing my hand on top of his.

“No you didn’t overstep the line, I mean I do ask a lot about your life, it’s only fair I let you do the same. So ask away.” he chuckled, turning his hand around so we were palm to palm.

“Okay, so how is it being an uncle to that little nephew and niece of yours? I mean they are the cutest little things I’ve ever seen.” I asked him and his face immediately lit up.

“It’s great, more than great even and you’re right, they are the cutest little things.” he agreed with a nod of his head.

We talked for a little longer before I was fighting to keep my eyes open. I knew that we still had a bit of flying to do, but I could barely keep my eyes open.

“Hey, why don’t you sleep a bit. We still have and hour and a half of flying to do.” Harry suggested.

“I know, but I feel bad for falling asleep on you once more,” I admitted; looking up at him.

“Hey, I won’t mind.” He said, patting my hand.

“I know, but still.” I objected. So he took matters in his own hand took my legs and laid them across his lap. “Sleep.” He said. So I took off my cardigan and put it under my head and fell asleep.

****

Harry’s Pov.

Looking down at this women I had only known for 48 hours I couldn’t grasp why I felt so comfortable with her. Like I could tell her anything and she wouldn’t tell anyone, wouldn’t judge.

Or why I wanted to know everything about her. Why I wanted her to know everything about me.

She intrigued me. she seems so smart and intelligent, fearless and responsible. Hell was she responsible she was taking 9 guys across Greenland at the age of 22.

I wouldn’t have done anything like that when I was her age. But still, I knew I was in big trouble.

I was falling for her or so I suspected, I hadn’t felt like this about anyone ever in my life. Sure I had loved Chelsea and Cressinda, but this felt so much more like that.

I was hoping that I would be able to call her my girlfriend. Ever since I met her it feels like she’s the one for me, how ridiculous that may sound.

But I knew that it wasn’t going to be easy. I’d overheard her talking to Conrad back in Heathrow. I knew she had a secret and whatever happened to her didn’t end well. She had this big mystery surrounding her.

When I look her over I see that she has Goosebumps over her arms. So I decide to give her my sweater. But getting out of it wasn’t going to be easy without waking her. she was lying on me with her legs. after a minute or so, I managed to get out of my sweater, without her falling on the ground.

putting my sweater over her and I saw her snuggling my sweater closer to her. smiling to myself and at her, she really was beautiful, gorgeous even and when she was sleeping she was so cute.

When the pilot announced that we were descending I knew that I should probably wake her up.

“Liv, Liv. Sweety wake up, were descending.” I said while softly shaking her, being careful for her not to fall to the ground in the process.

“Mmm,“ I heard her mumble as she pulled my sweater closer to her, rubbing her face in the fabric.

“what, what’s happening?” she asked, lifting her head, looking around the place, confused. ‘she was so cute.’

“we’re landing at Reykjavik,” I informed her with a sweet smile.

“Oh, okay.” She answered while pulling her legs from my legs and sitting up stretching herself.

While she was stretching herself, her shirt lifted a bit and I saw her stomach and I had to look the other way. “ Hey, thanks for this.” She told me, handing me my sweater.

“No, problem, I figured you were cold,” I told her, accepting the sweater. “Well, thanks anyway,” she smiled.

***

Liv’s POV

When we arrived at the airport, we had to check our gear. Reykjavik was after all our last chance if forgot something. I wanted to make sure that my sledge was ok, cause after all Conrad prepared it, not me.

After checking my luggage and making sure everything important was there. I started checking up on my team, moving from one person to the next asking if they needed something to add. After checking Guy, Duncan, Ed, Mark and James’s luggage and sledge I reached Harry’s.

When I saw him sitting on the floor surrounded by his gear all spread out. I couldn’t help but burst out laughing, holding my side from laughter.

“What the hell are you doing,” I asked him though my laughing.

“Ey, don’t you start laughing?” he warned looking up and I had to give him some sympathy when I saw him sitting on the ground.

“Yea, that’s a bit hard seeing you like this. So what are you doing?” I asked when I stopped laughing and crouched down, starting to gather some of his stuff. it would need to be repacked after all.

“I thought that I had packed my favourite candy, but apparently not.” he shrugged his shoulders in a childlike manner like I had seen Nathan do a lot.

“Well, what are they?” I asked, curious to know, which candy would deserve such a reaction.

“Sour Gummy bears.” he pouted, like a kid that didn’t get what he wanted. I grinned up at him.

“Come on, you won’t find them here, there’s a store next to our hotel, you can get some there.” I chuckled, helping him to repack his sledge.

So after helping him pack up his sledge, our minivan arrived to bring us to our hotel for the night.

Once we arrived at the hotel we all settled into our rooms. I came out of the shower and there was a knock at the door. so I wrapped the towel around and opened the door and there stood Harry.

'Shit’ I thought, my hand moving to the place where the towel was secured. standing there half naked with only a towel covering me in front of Prince Harry. Wasn’t exactly what I had planned.

***

Harry’s POV

I couldn’t believe it. All I wanted to do was go into her room and kiss her and confess to her that I had started to develop feelings for her.

I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t think, I couldn’t move. All I could do was stare at her towel-covered form.

“Hey, you promised to go with me to the store to get some candy,” I asked finally finding my voice.

“Yea of course.” she said, shaking her head. "just let me dry my hair and put on some clothes and I’ll join you downstairs in 15 minutes, is that alright?” she told him with a nod of her head.

So I went downstairs trying to get the image of liv half naked out of my head with a shake of my head.

When she came down the stairs we headed to the store. After getting my candy we headed back to the hotel.

At dinner, I sat next to liv. I think that the guys started to notice something cause they were giving me those looks.

We all had a nice conversation; everybody got to know Liv a bit better. after all, we had trained with Conrad for months, but about Liv we knew little to nothing.

And that’s when we found out that her birthday was in a few days, the day the expedition started.

After dinner, we all headed back to our rooms, cause we were leaving early again.

***

Liv Pov.

At 5’o clock I woke up changed into our gear and headed downstairs. The team was already there waiting in the lobby. We all crammed into the vans and drove towards the airport.

At the airport, everything was ready for departure. All our sledges had been put on the plane already by the airport staff.

So the only thing we had to do was get on the plane and leave. The next day would be really busy and crazy as we would change planes to get to our final destination.

***

“Hey, I guess this is out of your league then?” Mark asked as they were flying somewhere between Iceland and Greenland.

“What do you mean?“ I asked, looking at him in a confused manner.

“You told us that you normally guide people around an ancient building and stuff like that. Here you won’t have to do that,” he concluded with a rocking of his head.

“no,” I agreed. "not really the same. It’s not my normal expedition of guiding people through countries. I’m used to explaining what they see, but still, I love doing this. I’ve done four expeditions like this with Conrad and I still have the responsibility of you guys. I something goes wrong, I’ll have to answer. So for me, it’s the same just a bit different.” I explained, looking at every member of my team. They had all turned their attention to me as I was explaining things.

“What do you mean by that?” Guy asked.

“What I mean is. Whether I do an expedition in South America about the ancient civilisations. Or go across Europe talking about the Romans. or go to Africa on safari. You have to explain stuff to people; you’re always talking barely getting a moment of peace and quite. Still. I enjoy doing it, I enjoy telling people how those civilisations worked. how they originated, how amazing they were. But here. Whether it’s the North pole or the south pole or here in Greenland.

I don’t have to explain anything, sure I have responsibilities towards my team. And need to make sure we reach our destination in time. But in the end you have peace, quiet and time to yourself, you feel as if you’re the only person on the face of the earth. You can hear yourself think and become yourself again without being surrounded by civilisation.” And everybody had to agree with me on some level as I finished explaining the way I saw things.

***

Once we touched down in Kulusuk we transferred our gear to another plane and took off again. As I looked out of the window I only saw a white surface the Ice sheet we would be crossing. The sun reflecting on the white surface of the Ice.

After landing in Ammassalik, we all headed to our hotel. Tomorrow we would be sleeping on the snow.”