Chapter Text
She missed her flight.
Kara collapses heavily in a seat near her. She places her head in her hand free of luggage and breaths.
Around her, the hustle and bustle of the airport continues, the people passing by blissfully unaware of her internal struggles.
She sighs. Snapper is going to kill her.
She had finally decided to use up her saved vacation days, expecting a completely relaxing time away from the busy reporter life.
Instead, like an idiot, she forgot to factor traffic of all things into her travel time to the airport for her flight home.
Now, she’s stuck. So much for relaxation.
As she allows herself a few moments to panic, a thought jumps to the forefront of her mind.
She swiftly grabs her luggage and quickly heads to the front of the airport.
Waving down a taxi she dumps her luggage inside and slams the door closed. She pulls out a wad of bills and hands it to the driver.
“The train station, as fast as you can,”
As the taxi pulls away from the curb, the exhaustion of the day catches up, and she finds herself drifting off, floating between dreams and reality.
The sky is glowing as the sun sets. The light warms her face and she shuffles, hearing the crinkling sound of leather as she opens her eyes.
The station looks more majestic than it normally would, given the stained tiles and dull tones. But looking at it through the water-stained car window in the setting sun, it almost seems like it was in it’s glory days.
She realises she’s gotten too distracted when the driver taps on her window. She blames it on the stress (really she just had a soft spot for older buildings).
Grabbing her luggage she rushes into the building, opening the metal framed doors and striding to an open ticket counter.
Twenty minutes later she’s back to rushing, this time with a ticket in hand.
Missing her flight is a costly mistake, monetarily and time-wise it turns out. The train ride will be 6 hours total. A small price to pay for her mistake (I guess…).
In the back of her mind, she knows her bank account would beg to differ.
In the true spirit of the day, she barely makes it to the train on time, fumbling and nearly dropping luggage everywhere as she hands her ticket to the unsympathetic attendant by the train entrance.
Leaving her luggage to be taken on board by the staff, she walks up the stairs, the thought of soon being on her way calming her frazzled nerves by a fraction. The next best thing would be sleep.
Please let there be no one sitting by me.
And like a last nail in the proverbial coffin, there was someone sitting by her.
She shuffles by him as he yawns (he graciously moves his crossed legs) and sits down with a slight thump.
If she hadn’t already had a crappy day, she probably would care that she’s making a terrible first impression to an attractive man.
Not that she noticed how nice he looked in his casual suit and button up or the way his blue eyes are welcoming and pierce through the frames of his glasses.
No, not at all.
She blames it on exhaustion.
She leans back in her seat and she can feel her eyelids closing without permission.
The jerking of the train combined with the screechy brakes is what jolts him awake.
He barely manages to grab the armrest in time, nearly slamming into the seat in front of him.
A gasp comes from his left and he feels hands grabbing his arm and pressure lifting from his shoulder.
The woman from before had been…Sleeping on him?
It seemed innocent enough, and she was pretty so he just leaves it at that.
She looks startled, her blue eyes darting around trying to make sense of the situation.
He can see the moment she realizes she’s grabbing his arm. Her eyes get huge and when her cheeks flush a pretty rosy hue, he figures she knows she was sleeping on him.
She drops his arm quickly like it burned her.
He can’t help but smile.
She’s embarrassed and he knows it. She continues staring at him while the conductor’s voice over the speakers informs the passengers they may now exit the train.
Quickly the flustered woman stands up and edges past him.
Casually (he hopes) he places his right arm over the entire armrest and just smiles again as she walks away.
He hopes she didn’t notice the hand-shaped dent in the metal and plastic.
The sudden stop shocks her out of her deep sleep.
She’s leaning on and holding something with both hands. It’s warm and nice and comfy and she really doesn’t want to move.
But when the train lurches and the thing moves, she gasps and instinctively tightens her hold, catching herself before gripping too tight.
The last thing she needs is to cause a scene by crushing whatever she’s holding in half.
She sit up, her eyes wander, slightly disoriented. She’s still in her seat and it looks like nothing’s changed, but…
Wait,
She stares down at her hands. And her thoughts click in place.
She’s been cuddling with the stranger’s arm in her sleep. And the thing she was leaning on….
She can feel her cheeks blazing.
She lets go immediately.
She looks up at the man and he’s smiling at her in a knowing sort of way.
The voice over the loudspeakers is nothing but background noise to her flustered brain.
This is so embarrassing.
Faintly she hears that they’ve arrived at the station and she immediately gets up and tiptoes by him trying not to make any more eye contact.
She seriously blames it on the stress.
He shifts, catching her attention for a moment as she gets into the aisle.
She walks away, indulging one last glance at him. He’s still smiling
With something nagging at the back of her mind, she hopes that getting the rest of the way home is easier than what it has been.
It is.
But it’s not until the moment she enters her apartment that she realizes what has been bothering her:
The hand shaped dent she briefly saw on the metal and plastic armrest.
And her eyes widen.
Come a little closer, then you’ll see
Come on, come on, come on
Things aren’t always what they seem to be
Come on, come on, come on
Do you understand the things you been seein’
Come on, come on, come on
Do you understand the things that you’ve been dreaming
Come a little closer, then you’ll see
COME A LITTLE CLOSER - CAGE THE ELEPHANT