Imagine rushing past New York traffic, trying to not miss your flight, only to arrive at the airport and hear the flight had been delayed by 3 hours due to some technical issues with the airplane. That was exactly what Audrey's current situation was.

Flight got delayed by 3 hours. Looks like I won't be making it home for Thanksgiving after all :(       
[message sent to Henry]

Audrey settled down on one of the seats she found nearby and began to search for any other last-minute flights she could catch in order to get home. Even though Velescva or Europe altogether did not celebrate Thanksgiving as a majority, the Fletcher siblings took Thanksgiving very seriously as it was something their family would never skip out on. Their mother, Anabella, was from America and even after moving to Velescva, their father always made sure they celebrated Thanksgiving in order to make their mother feel close to home.

*incoming call from Henry*

"Did you get my text?"

"Yes, I did. And I found you a solution," Henry answered through the call, "you can come home on the Royal jet-"

"Henry, I told you I don't-"

"Audrey, listen," Henry interjected, "the jet is already there. Luckily, it went to pick up Prince Adrian this morning and it's headed the same place. I've already spoken to the prince's private secretary and there's more than enough room for you to join them onboard and get home in time for Thanksgiving. Or else you can stay back and spend the holiday at an airport, away from us. It's upto you but if you do decide to come home, the jet is due to fly in an hour from Terminal 02. Just go there and tell them who you are, they'll know."

"Henry-"

"I really wish you'd be here, Audrey," he went on, "it's the one promise we made to each other after mom and dad passed away- we'd always bring the family together for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Please."

"I...I'll be there," she finally agreed with a soft smile, "see you in 7 hours, brother."

"I'll be there to pick you up, I promise. I love you, Poodles, get some safe. Bye!"

And with that, the younger Fletcher hung up the call and got on her feet to find Terminal 02, to get home at whatever cost.

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"Sir, we're running late," Martin reminded as Adrian continued to stroll through the liquour store at the JFK International Airport, "We have wine on the jet."

"But I want this one, Martin," Adrian fussed as he walked to the checkout counter and handed them his credit card, already popping the bottle as some of the wine sprayed over the counter but nobody dared say anything to him.

"The jet will leave without us if we keep moving at this rate, Sir-"

"The jet is here for me, Martin," Adrian said angrily, "why would it leave without me?"

"We have a very small window of flight to aboard in order to avoi air traffic, Sir," the secretary answered, "all the other flights to Eurpoe were delayed for us and if we miss the window, we must wait a day before we can fly again."

"Ugh, you're no fun," the prince fussed as they walked towards Terminal 02, reserved for Royal flights only.

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Adrian walked onto the runway and aboard the plane as everyone curtsied and led him inside, Martin following close behind until the prince came to a sudden stop, alarming everyone.

He took off his sunglasses and walked over to the seats where an 'intruder' was seated.

"Who are you and why are you in my seat?" he uestioned, alarming the girl as she turned around to face him with a shocked look on his face.

Adrian looked her up and down as he took is her small figure, clad in a pair on comfy set of travelwear and reading glasses to top it off.

"Martin, who is this?" he asked again, "I didn't know we let commoners board the Royal jet now. Is this one of my father's pathetic attmepts to make the civilians relate to the monarchy? Did you win some contest?"

"Sir, I believe this is-"

"Audrey Fletcher," the girl answered for herself with narrowed eyes boring into the prince due to his snide remarks, "pleasure to meet you."

"Fletcher? From Eastwood?" the prince asked out of curiousity.

"Lord Henry's younger sister, Sir," Martin clarified as Adrian finally recognised.

"Oh you're Fatty Addie?" he asked as the attendants on the flight gasped at his words, "oh sorry, I meant...Audrey, yes, I remember you. You used to come to The Palace for the events with Sir Matthew a lot. Still doesn't answer why you're here, though."

"I'm studying at NYU and was going home for Thanksgiving but my flight got delayed."

"Sorry for that, Miss," Martin spoke, "all flights to Europe were delayed so the Royal jet could aboard first. But this worked out quite well, did it not? Thankfully, Lord Henry spoke with me in time for us to take you along."

"Plus this is much comfier than economy," Adrian chimed in as he sat down on the opposite side of where Audrey was stood, motioning for her to sit down too. The rest of the attendants and guards dispersed and the door closed as they now prepared for takeoff.

"I wouldn't think you'd know what economy even is like," Audrey said as Adrian hummed.

"I don't," he agreed, "but I have seen pictures and it seems miserable."

"It's quite alright, actually."

"If you say so," Adrian laughed, as if she was joking, causing the girl to scoff in disbelief as she turned to look out of the window when the plane began to move at full speed, ready for takeoff.

Nearly 2 hours into the 7 hour flight, Audrey had gotten tired of reading as she finally closed her book and looked up to see the prince's eyes boring into her. She raised her eyebrows at him, as if asking him a question and that seemed to have broken the prince out of the trance he was in.

"Um, do you want some wine?" he offered from the open bottle that lay on the cupholder next to his seat.

"I don't drink," she replied before looking out of the window, just in time to see thunder striking at the clouds underneath them. The weather had suddenly worsened due to some winter storm, causing turbulance to hit the Royal jet as Audrey shut her eyes and tightly gripped her seat till her knuckles turned white.

A slight touch on her arm caused her eyes to flutter open as she looked to see the prince had switched to the seat beside her, his hand slightly brushing against her arm although his eyes were focused on the phone on his other hand.

"Don't tell me you're scared of a little lightning," Adrian spoke, still looking at the glowing screen and not the scared girl beside him.

"My...parents died in a plane crash," she answered but her voice was barely a whisper.

"I know," he answered, finally looking at her, "father was very shaken up after hearing the news. The entire Kingdom was. Your parents were very loved."

"They were pretty great," Audrey said with a soft smile, "always tried their best to there for everyone while also being the best parents me and Henry could've asked for."

"Hmmm I wish I could say that about my parents."

"They're the King and Queen, their duties are much more complicated-"

"You do know the King and Queen do nothing, right?" Adrian interrupted her with a scoff, "they get everyone else to do their work for them."

"But they're still the ones running the Collective Kingdom. It is a lot of work, I imagine."

"Maybe for the King but the Queen does not have much to do except the occassional parties."
"Which must take months of planning considering how extravagant they always are," Audrey chimed in, "I could never imagine putting together an event half as extravagant as those are."

"Whatever," Adrian dismissed the topic, not wanting to discuss his parents anymore, "why are you going home for Thanksgiving? You know we don't celebrate that in Velescva."

"We do," she answered, "I mean, my family does. My mother was American and dad always made a big deal out of the Holiday so we still celebrate it now, in their memory. Plus, I missed my home."

"You missed Velescva?" Adrian laughed in disbelief, "what's to miss about that hellhole."

"It's a beautiful place, full of so much history and culture," Audrey answered in a 'duh' tone, "what's not to miss? It's home and maybe if you jsut tried to shrug off your 'high status' act of being a prince and tried to enjoy the Kingdom like us 'civilians', you'd be able to see its true beauty."

"Please, you're barely a civilian," Adrian countered, "and this 'high status act' of being a prince is all I have. I will never be King, that's for my brother, anyway. So I will always be stuck at this one title, might as well make the most of it."

Audrey fell silent as Adrian sighed before getting up from his seat, "well the turbulance is over, so you can stop being scared now," he said as he moved back to his old seat and put on an eye mask, trying to fall asleep, only to be alarmed but a shrieking scream from the girl sat opposite him as another turbulance hit the jet.

He quickly took off the mask to see a patch of red on her sweatshirt and the opened wine bottle in her hand.

"How are you this clumsy to spill red wine on a white shirt?" he questioned as he handed her his handkerchief.

"I didn't know the turbulance was going to hit again!" she defended herself as Adrian rolled his eyes at her trying to get off the stain but only making it worse.

"I thought you said you don't drink," he quizzed as he got up to take down his suitcase from the overhead area.

"I thought it would help with the nerves," she answered, "I don't usually fly alone. Henry or my friends are with me, mostly."

"Boyfriend?" he asked as he looked through his suitcase to find a hoodie to give the girl whose outfit was all drentched.

"No boyfriend," she answered as he passed her a black hoodie.

"Change, or you'll catch a cold in this," he said in an unbothered tone before retuing to his seat, "now let me sleep before I need to face my parents, god knows I'll need to be sane for that. Try not to cause more trouble, please."

"They're just your parents. Why're you even going home if you hate them and the Kingdom so much?"

"You don't know how terrible they are," Adrian mumbled, already sleepy, "you're lucky you don't have annoying parents who summon you home during your Holidays."

Audrey's smile slowly faded at his last remark as she cleared her throat and got up to go to the washroom to change, "um, thanks for the hoodie."

When she returned, the prince was deep asleep and so she too fell asleep, hoping for the flight to be over soon.