After the CRJ landed in Santiago, I bid farewell to others including David and especially Terri who had decided that I was her little sister!  But we knew that in a few weeks, we’d reconnect in Whistler and I quickly connected to my A350 for the long flight home.

Andy had given me a spare Surface and I now had a Rapid Response logon. There were several emails I needed to answer so they could complete my onboarding. Once I had done this, I fell into a deep sleep knowing that while I would be alone this week, I would be busy, and Andy would likely have a bit more time to call me.

On Monday, I had my arranged coffee with my boss Adrienne. We discussed my imminent change of plans. The deal was that, while away, I’d work part-time for her and part-time for 10B. She was pragmatic about my reduction in hours but happy that I had such a good time away.

On Tuesday evening, I arranged with my pub run group to run from our usual The Thistle 7k to the Old Inn and do the 5k there, though at 80%, before running back to our haunt for dinner. Pre-Patagonia, 19k would have killed me, but the final 30k run there gave me confidence. After the run, we chatted animatedly as I filled them in my match with Andy and experiences with The Pests and the unworthies.

Next morning, was TLS’ Girl's Day, which I’d happily agreed to this. I woke, feeling sore and annihilated which surprised me, then I wondered if it was the missing post-run relaxations that was the cause.  The filming was outside, and I put on my usual dark top and jeans, as I still was not inclined to hypothermia, and kept my skin natural and untarnished. 

The taxi arrived at a stunning stately house and, as usual, I was the last there.  All the brides were in semi-party gear, showing plenty of skin and their usual dosing of make-up.  I was not surprised at being welcomed in a rather stiff but friendly manner after The Dinner’s happenings.

The filming area was a large crescent with a table stacked with antipasti and a few bottles of wine.  After tasting a bit and a few sips, I thought that someone had ordered Budget Party Pack as the wine was sweet and bland, unlike last week’s soul-caressing wines. The meat paled in comparison with the succulent, sweet cuts that we had eaten.  Worse still, was the absence of any meaningful salad which would have ameliorated the situation and balanced the saltiness of the meat. Decent salads are a habit that I’d picked up from my love on the Honeymoon and heightened last week by the chefs.

I let them carry on chatting and realised that this was the opposite of Patagonia, where I’d received an immediately warm and engaged welcome into the group.  They started asking soft questions about the time away and I replied, “B and I had a great time away,” unconsciously using his nickname’s abbreviation, but the girls thought I said, He. I gave the headlines about the Lodge and the scenery.  I said that, at Saturday’s Dinner, the crew was going to show the video that I had shot while away, though I wondered how long it would be as it was the video we’d wanted to shoot, but maybe not the one The Pests wanted.

They asked what Andy was like and I replied, “Down was amazing as there was a good balance between family and group time. Bat’s great: we get on well and have a lot in common.  But he’s not here and there are always two sides to a story. In fairness, I want us to share our experiences together next week.”

Lindsay, the bride nearest in age to me, asked, “Bat, Down?” and I twigged, realising that last week, everyone referred to people by their Tag, not their name and I suspected some of the younger kids didn’t know Andy’s actual name.

I replied, “Andy.  That’s his nickname,” and smiled, remembering I had been gifted Cen, and then explained about [stand] Down vs [stand] Up weeks.

They asked me about the row we’d had that caused me to cut Andy off. I had a go at explaining this: that he had been rushing to check Falcon 1’s sensors following an urgent re-tasking and that Weasel [I referred to her as The Pilot] had fired the APU to commence start-up as she needed to get airborne quickly.  This went over most of their heads and I realised that, a fortnight ago, it would gone over my head too.

They asked me if we’d discussed it and I replied, “We had an open and frank discussion about it,” smiling as I remembered that it had happened when we were nakedly entwined in bed and concluded our discussion with a long, sensuous kiss and back caress.

In the taxi after, I felt that I had got to know the girls better.  Some I had started to like, but the rest I remained cold about as some were dissing their husbands hard, and others were taking shots at their fellow brides.  We had agreed early on that we would never kick the other in public which made me dismayed at their actions.  I wondered what Guy's Day was like and mulled that if it were similar to Girl's Day, Andy would have been bored shitless as he has a similar enjoyment of carping.  Worse, for him, was that I knew he had a near-absence of interest in team sports as when we were skipping through the sports pages, he was semi-interested in what Jim Radcliff was doing at Man U, but completely uninterested in what Ten Haag and the gang were doing, though some, my ears found Andy’s comments were simultaneously derogatory and witty.

Things had changed between us. On our calls, we no longer felt the need to hold our emotions, and we now admitted that we missed each other and were looking forward to his return. He was sending me pics from the aircraft’s centreline camera: stunning mountain scenes, dawns, dusks, and coastals. He told me that he’d taken the dawn and dusks himself as the camera wasn’t used during take-off and landing, so he could control it as the pilots flew the plane.

These lifted my soul and reminded me of our time in Patagonia, but the thought of entwined bodies opened my senses.

His schedule had changed as authorities wanted low tide imaging of rivers and coasts that the quake had deformed. To do this, Dog in Falcon 2 was flying during the daytime low tides and Weasel in Falcon 1 was doing the nights. He got the short end, having to split his sleep to accommodate. The unintended result was that he would go to bed at the same time I was, and we would reminisce about our bedtime snuggles, sharing other pics.

I had just got back from Girl's Day and saw that Andy had sent some stunning nighttime pics that he’d used the aircraft’s camera to shoot. I saw his status was Active, so I video-called him and we reminisced about some romantic times.

The rest of the week sailed past as I had a lot of work to do. Like the last Dinner, I went to Ellie’s for the day to see her and get changed, again being filmed. From the moment he gave me the dress, I knew that I was going to wear it to The Dinner.  I got dressed and pinned the Tag on the dress above my heart.  My love was hard on and in my heart. 

I had several calls with Wing checking in and also 10B which was nice of her.  David and Terri called as she wanted to grab my pics to make some videos and we agreed that we would collaborate as I was making a couple in my sparse spare time.

When I opened the door for the filmed reveal, this time Ellie just smiled as I’d told her about everything last week and showed her the videos I had made.  She agreed that The Lodge would make a great place for a honeymoon.  I showed her my Tag that I had been gifted and she thought it was sweet but didn’t really get the context.  I knew that, in my dress, I would still stand out from the over-made brides, but again my heart was full as I was wearing a gift made of pure love, and material! As last time, I had my watch and phone with me in the hope of some hot messages or hot, cold pics.

As last time, I quickly fell asleep in the taxi, wondering what this time in The City of Sorrows would be like, but relaxed that this would be my last time there alone.  From Girls Day, I knew that there were a few worthy inhabitants and hoped that they would remain so, for I live in a realistic hope.  But my Dream, my love, was still two days from my embrace.  This time, The Pests had decided not to double down on their stupidity and greed, so Andy was either unmolested by them in the cold Apella hangar or dreaming of me in bed alone.

As last time, I arrived last and walked through the door.  The female More Worthies came and greeted me and got me a Malbec, though this was a rather tannic Mendoza one, not one the rounded southern ones that had caressed my soul last week, then reintroduced me to the group who were respectful, but wary of me. Once bitten, twice shy? I realised.

The girls were in their usual, over-painted, and generally revealing attire.  Some of the guys had more tits on display than I do in tri gear, and I realised that most were more muscly than Andy, but wondered whether they could do 30k on the road or 30Qs on the tablet as he could.  While the guys looked hot, Andy was and made me, hot in so many ways.

I was asked the same questions by the guys as by their wives and responded with the same answers, but this time I remembered to use my love’s name not his Tag, though occasionally, I would subconsciously rub my own Tag forcing it closer onto my heart where he lay.  By then, my glass was empty, and Lindsay helped me to a Methode. Again, the bottle looked stylish, but the contents paled in comparison with that served at Patagonia Lodge.  Already, both genders were engaging in point scoring, and I realised how childish that seemed, except that was an insult to Terri and the kids who were treated and behaved as near-equals.

The producers put the Patagonia video on the screen that they’d compiled from my supplied footage, but I was disappointed that they made our time away look rather boring. Tommy, a husband, asked who shot the footage and why I looked off in it.  “We shot most of the footage, Mr and Miss Weasel took the ones with both of us in. We had an amazing time there with the families, but the edit they did, seemed lacking,” I damned with faint praise and thought of our half-finished one that even now, reflected the week better.”

“Weasels?” he replied and I twigged.

“Weasel is one of the pilots, Mr, my nickname for her husband and Miss for their daughter,” I replied.

Sally piped up, “You didn’t seem too happy seeing each other on the runway?”

I recognised her revenge kick after Andy had keel-snapped her on the link-up, “We’d been stuck in a cold plane while they unloaded it.  Andy and his crew had a late finish and had just done Bring Up: same as when he was on cam with us, then they briefed the new crew, so they were wrecked and frozen.  We were relieved and very happy to be together,” and I felt a slight wave down my spine reminding me of how happy I was that day with his hands running down my spine.

Someone asked what was next for Andy.  “Crew 1 is up again on Saturday and Andy will fly home.  Things are calming down, so he thinks they’ll call Hib mid-week, and Crew 1 will fly home and give the birds a quick trip to the shop. They’ll call Washup about a fortnight after that,” I answered.

“Hib, shop, Washup?” Tommy replied.

Again, I realised how much I’d picked up, “Hib: Hibernate/suspend operations: the stuff they brought out either gets dumped, donated, or packed up so it can be shipped back later.  Birds to shop: aircraft go to the maintenance hangar. Washup: they have a debrief and lessons learned exercise.”

Tommy and I carried on chatting, but his wife caught his attention and wanted it exclusively. I tried to mingle with the group, but, unlike at Down, they generally stayed in their covens, so I remained on the outer and was disappointed.

Dinner was served and I was alone again, but I looked forward to having Andy with me next time.  Unfortunately, the food was, like Girls’ Day, superficially attractive, but actually boring and bland and there were more tosses, lobs, and aimed smashes than at Centre Court.  Worse, was that they were engaging in their pile-on and I was being ignored which I found very rude, though I had no interest in baiting anyone, and was clueless about most of the barking. The ones in Patagonia were the opposite: mostly led by the kids, they took a subject and ran with it to gain more information instead of trying to score points.

I was really bored and was happy when my watch pinged.  Carelessly, I pulled out the phone and saw some mountain shots that he’d pulled from Falcon 2 showing a fault line that had blown.  “Sad, but stunning”, I replied, “Bored as here, all point scoring, an only thing learned is how not to behave.  XXX my love.”

“Hugs, kisses, back finger,” he replied, and I felt a shallow wave percolate thinking of his hands on my spine.  That was the only excitement tonight, I realised, but thankfully a basic Eton Messe was served, and the tedium concluded shortly after.

In the taxi, I realised I felt quite sad.  We are all in this together, I had heard here and from Weasel and Wing.  Tonight was loud and people were taking shots aiming to injure as more distrust and disrespect flowing than the average wine being poured.  Patagonia was, at times, louder and more boisterous, but at worst was a very vigorous tickling to extract and share knowledge based on absolute respect and trust.

At the dinner, we were all in this, but some were definitely against it, and not together.  In Patagonia, we really were all in this together and I knew that Whistler would be louder, but with even stronger bonds would be formed, as Rapid events were truly based on trust and respect.

I messaged Weasel: Definitely all in together, unlike this shit show! and fell asleep.