It was such a couple-y thing to do and he was actually kind of loving it. Her chin was on his shoulder, glasses covering her eyes because her contacts were being crappy on her, and the airline's magazine was in his hand, flipped open to the crossword page. They were that couple now. The one that you silently were adoring but giving them the stink eye anyway. They almost had the entire puzzle done and he was pretty sure it was all wrong, at least he knew a few were. It was like she was suggesting random five letter or six letter words just so they'd fit in the boxes, than the actual right answer. Honestly, it was funner that way too. Scribbling the last word into the boxes, there were only two clues before they could flip to the hard puzzle on the next page. "Fifty seven down, eight letters."

"Document."

"I didn't even read the clue yet."

"Giraffes. Cape Town. Ooo, try First Aid."

"Yes, because First Aid Salute is the right answer."

"If we were actually doing right answers on this, Ross, we wouldn't have made it past clue number five."

She was right, of course. Even the 'easy' puzzle was well, puzzling. Checking the flight status on the in seat monitor, they were over the Atlantic right now and headed towards Atlanta, their first stop before changing planes for Los Angeles. It was late and while they were both exhausted, they just weren't getting to sleep as much as they wanted to. At least not him. He actually needed a full ass mattress on the flight if that was going to happen. It was like that throughout the R5 tour too. Looking over to her, he watched her eyes flutter open and close and he took that as an indication to shut the lights off over them and make her sleep. While he wasn't a morning person per say, she was, and if she didn't sleep during this flight, she wouldn't be the best morning person the next day.

"Go to sleep," he kissed her temple, taking her glasses off of her nose for her.

"I'm not tired," she said and he snorted at her claim. "I'm not."

"If you're not tired, then I'm not blonde." He heard it as soon as he said it and caught her expression. "Okay, bad example."

"Very bad example," she agreed, but she wasn't arguing with him when he pulled the blanket she had gotten earlier up over her frame. "Who's picking you up from the airport?"

"I think the studio got us cars."

"Right. Sorry, sleepy brain."

"Goodnight, sleepy brain. See you in Atlanta."

+++

Well, they hadn't done that in a while. He stood back up from his crouched position after posing with a few little girls who had spotted both of them at the Atlanta airport. Apparently, Austin & Ally was still airing on Disney Channel and Austin Moon was their favorite artist, their mom told them both. While they didn't exactly recognize Laura with her blonde hair, she did have to ask if they were fans of Ally Dawson and squealed a bit when they got even more excited at the mention of her character's name.

"They were so cute! Matching outfits? So so cute!"

Ross grabbed her hand back. "I remember that phase. Mom used to that with us. I was always in yellow."

"Hence, your favorite color."

"And I hated yellow back then. I think it was an acquired taste. You and Vanessa had to have something matching too."

"Oh, we did, but you will never, ever see it."

"You remember that I have your mom on speed dial, right?" Ross teased her, a little frown staring back at him. "Only what? Three hours left?"

She nodded, holding onto her carryon with her free hand and him with his guitar. They had landed in Atlanta an hour ago and in between grabbing a bite to eat (because they were both starving) and running into some fans, their airport representative did help them avoid the major spots were paparazzi were known to slip in to. Of course, Laura had to know this, Ross assumed, since she did fly in and out of Atlanta all the time for First Aid. She probably knew this airport like the back of her hand. Walking towards their gate, Ross was surprised that they actually had a few moments to rest before the flight started to board. Milo had taken another flight to New York and Gale's own flight from Cape Town was to London, so it was just them left and he had no problem at all with that.

"Should we talk about what we do when we get to LA?"

"You mean about the paps?"

"Yea. Just in case, considering I'm sure Ryland's blasted that I'm coming back today all over every social network possible. Or maybe it was Rocky. It's one of them."

"I'd put money on your mom," Laura scrunched up her nose in the cutest way as they fished out a pair of seats to claim before boarding.

"How do you want to handle it all? You're more famous than I am."

"What?"

"You are."

"I'm not more famous than anyone Ross. Okay? I don't like that aspect."

"Got it," Ross nodded even though his mind was screaming you are more famous! "So, airport, paparazzi...do we hold hands? Do we avoid each other? Do we call ahead to the terminal and tell them we want separate exits? I'm following your lead here."

She pulled her legs up onto the seat, and turned to face him. "No separate exits. Our news is already out that we are together, separate exits would make us look suspicious," she ran her hand through her hair, making it not as flat as it looked. "No avoiding each other. Let's just walk together. I mean, even if we hadn't happened in South Africa, I'd still be reaching for you and holding your hand to get through the sea."

"And I'd still be reaching for it." He wasn't lying. He would always be reaching for her hand in any kind of situation. Funny how much of Austin Moon was still in him years later for the same girl who inspired his heart. To be honest, he wasn't exactly sure how to handle airport situations. Sure, R5 were known, but not as known as you'd expect them to be. They still flew under the radar when they were spotted in airports or even out trying to sight-see in cities they toured. There were no sea of cameras following their every move and gossip about the band was still zero to none and he was taking that as a blessing. Ross knew she had just a bit more experience with this all though.

Laura had started to date Henry, the model who's ass he wanted to kick the moment he saw him, mere months after she had broken up with Nick, who was her boyfriend during the show's run. Ross could see it was for publicity - mostly for him, but it benefitted her as well. He had started to see pictures of her and Henry just after leaving for the first leg of R5 Worldwide, before he fell off the radar himself and dove deep into the music for the band. Letting her take the lead on this, letting her teach him how to handle this new found celebrity (he hated that word too) around them both was something he had to do and he was just fine with that.

Just as he was about to suggest getting some coffee for the flight, the rep they had been walking with came up to them with a report from LAX about the thing they were just talking about.

"How many?" He watched Laura's eyes bug out a bit.

"They're counting at least twenty."

"Thanks for telling us. We appreciate it."

"Of course. When you arrive - you've been through this before I think - you'll stay on the plane and a rep will be waiting for you after everyone. They'll get your luggage and get you both safely to your ride."

"Thanks so much," Laura told the woman before he got up to get some coffee. "Ooo, can you get me the raspberry cheesecake frapp?"

"Raspberry cheesecake frapp? You've been on the secret menu again, haven't you?"

"I can't help it, I'm obsessed."

Ross shook his head, praying he remembered what exactly was in the cherry frapp that she was talking about. He wasn't taking chances, pulling out his phone, Ross searched for the recipe really fast because from experience, every barista he had even encountered needed to know exactly how to make anything from the secret menu. After giving the guy the recipe, Ross carefully watched him make it behind the counter and double checked that there were two pumps of the syrup and that the chocolate mocha had been fully made. Ross wasn't sure if Laura could still tell if there were just one shot instead of two, but when they were teenagers, she definitely could. He found her on the phone when he returned, taking a sip of her drink before she could notice. Damn, it was good. But him, as a guy, getting a super girly drink like that? No way. Not going to fly.

"Great. I'll call you tomorrow then. Thanks Chris," Laura clicked her (still) flip phone closed and grabbed the drink. "I saw you take a drink you know."

"Couldn't help myself. Everything ok?" his eyes darted to her phone.

"Oh yea," Laura paused, inhaling as much of the mixture through the straw as she could. "Oh secret menu. I'm sorry Ross, but the menu is my new boyfriend." She took another drink, licking her lips to savor all the taste. "That was just my agent. I have a meeting with NBC about a show."

"Nice."

"I'm excited. I've been wanting to be on SVU forever. Not that it's SVU, but I'm crossing my fingers."

"That would be exciting. I could point to the television and say, 'See that girl on trial. That's my girl'."

Laura laughed at him, a bit too hard that her head came to rest on his arm as she calmed herself down just as boarding started for their flight. "Have you heard anything more about CBS?"

He shook his head. Truth be told, he actually hadn't since he hadn't checked his emails since three days before now. In their industry, you had to be on top of things. But then again, filming a movie 10,000 miles away and being a day ahead of everything...it was a blessing and curse. "I should probably check that as soon as we get home."

She shook her head almost violently. "Yes, so when you become recurring on the NCIS's, I can point to the screen and say, 'See that hacker? That's my guy.'"

In their seats fast, Ross and Laura got comfy once again and she pulled out her laptop so he could actually do what he was going to do later on and check his emails. The perks of holding a hotspot on her devices. "Thanks babe."

Laura bit her lip, he noticed, his eyes darted to them and back to the screen. "I like that."

"What?"

"When you call me babe."

Ross started to delete all the trash in his inbox, cleaning up the over 4,000 emails that were sent to him from business contacts, his brothers, the record label and a few hundred from his parents. "I shall do it all the time then."

"Good." She went back to her drink as the plane slid across the sky and she watched the sky go by.

He, on the other hand, was still elbow deep in emails. There were photo shoots and a magazine offer for the band. There were interviews to conduct and Stella had sent him a list of possible projects. There were snippet emails from Rocky, who was looking for a pair of ears that weren't from the label or the singer he was working with at the moment, and then there were three particular emails that he was almost nervous to open up. Subject lines read: R Lynch - NCIS CBS Offers; and inside the actual emails were words that could be put to Rocky's snippets. There were offers and another one tacked on for another show as well. Another one of the emails was actually straight from Gary Glasberg. Crap, he should've answered these days ago. Good thing he had about four more hours on a plane so he could. Dear CBS...

+++

Laura watched as he leaned his head back onto the seat in their car that was waiting at the airport for them. He looked like he had actually just run a marathon and was trying to catch his breath. She tried really hard to hide her laugh, but it wasn't working at all. "Sorry."

"How? How did you do that for how many years was it?"

"Two. Two years."

"How?"

"You get into a habit," she shrugged his shoulders. "It was even worse when one time, he picked me up from the terminal. It was chaos," Laura explained to him. "We won't ever be doing that, by the way."

"I would argue with you and say I want to and be that boyfriend who surprises his girlfriend with a big ass sign and more flowers that you can hold, but after that? Hell no."

"Good boy," she smiled. "Ready to go home?"

He closed his eyes and nodded. She knew she was ready, but just looking at him, she knew he was ready too. She knew he hadn't gotten a ton of sleep on their first flight, either. He tried, but there was a difference in airplane sleep and comfy bed and blankets and mattress sleep. Both of them definitely preferred the latter, especially him, and didn't know anyone who liked the former better. They both were anxious to see their beds (priorities people), and their families as well. The driver would be dropping him off first, since she lived out in nowheres land. While she was looking forward to sleeping off the time difference that was slowly creeping into her body, Laura did not want to let him go. This was going to be the difficult part. Sure, they had only been together for about two months, but they'd been together in another city for four months and being more than two seconds away from him was going to be something to get readjusted to.

"Are we there yet?" he muttered from his space.

"No, not yet," she patted his knee and before she could pull it back, he covered it with his and squeezed it. "You're going to miss me."

"You have no idea."

"I think I do," Laura slid closer to him, resting her chin back on his shoulder with her nose just barely touching his cheek. "Definitely need to find my own place soon and remember, you're helping."

He nodded, his eyes still closed. "One bedroom, with a big living area so we can have dance parties."

"And a decent sized kitchen for counter sex."

"Don't forget the view." He kept her hand in his for the remainder of the ride and she was perfectly content with that. In fact, if the driver could just keep driving and looping around where he lived, she'd be okay with that too. But she could feel they were getting nearer to his place. There were more stops and more honks outside the window. She turned her head and got a glimpse of the street sign. Yep, definitely near. Just one more street.

As much as she didn't want to, Laura nudged Ross, waking him up a bit for his stop. "Almost home."

"No."

"Yes."

"No, I don't want to go."

"But your bed is inside." That did it. His eyes opened up and he sat up straight, a bit too excited to see his own bed.

"Mr. Lynch," the driver called out, rolling down the window separating the spaces. "We're almost to your home."

"Thanks so much," he said, turning back to her. "You coming with me?"

As much as she actually wanted to, she needed to go home too and shook her head. "You need a good day and night's rest. So do I." And before she knew it, his lips were on hers and sucking out all the kisses he could to hold them both for the night. It wasn't going to be like Cape Town, where they could roll over in bed and steal random kisses throughout the night from each other. Here, they were a half hour away from each other, and that was on a good traffic day. Just when she expected the kiss to end, he came in for more and she felt the car roll to a stop.

"Did that convince you?"

Laura smiled, her eyes still closed. She kissed him again and they heard the driver open the trunk and lift his suitcases from the back. "Go sleep and hang with your family."

"See you tomorrow?"

"Hopefully, yes. If not, I'm coming over the day after and you can tell your mom that I won't be leaving for another week."

"I don't think she'd actually mind that," he told her. "And since I have my own room now..." he winked.

Laura could only kiss him again for that one. For many many many years he had shared a room with Ryland and while they hadn't dated each other then, she could only imagine how that was when he brought a girl home. To be honest, she didn't want to imagine it though. She thumbed her fingers through his hair, and reluctantly, let him have his lips back. "Call me tomorrow anyhow."

"You got it." He stole one more before opening the door. "Sleep tight."