Single or not?

The flight was almost over and all the while Laila had not woken up. Noah was pleased to see how comfortably she was sleeping. But sadly he would have to wake her now as the plane was getting ready for landing, which meant that all seats needed to be upright for safety reasons. Since there was no way that Noah would knowingly put Laila and his unborn son in any kind of danger, he did as instructed and accepted Laila having to cut her nap short.

Noah walked over to Laila's stretched out seat and gently stroked her hair. He alternated it with rubbing his thumb on her forehead as his hand was resting on top of her head, while he softly called out her name and told her it was time to wake up. After the third call, Laila could no longer ignore it and with a frown on her face she responded with an unwilling, "What.." before trying to turn herself to her side. Noah responded with a chuckle behind his closed fist and continued to stroke Laila's hair. "Wake up honey. The plane is getting ready for landing, so we need to put our seats back upright. You can sleep some more after that and during the car-ride home. I promise." Again Laila made her unwillingness known but this time without words, just sounds. But despite that, she did what she needed to do. Or at least helped Noah in doing what she needed to do by throwing her arms around his neck and have him pull her up as he fixed her seat. Noah of course obliged with Laila's wordless request and even found it endearing that she was able to let herself act so spoiled.

In the minutes that followed between the announcement and the tires of the plane actually hitting the ground of the landing-strip, Laila tried to wake herself up properly and fought against the sleepiness she was feeling with every bit of strength she had inside of her at that moment. Once she finally opened her eyes, she was greeted by Noah's bright smile who had been looking at her internal battle the entire time. With a chuckle he asked, "Short night?" In a bit of a grumpy tone Laila replied, "You already know I did." After covering her face with both her hands and taking a deep breath before letting it all out in one short exhale, she said, "Maria and I spent the whole night talking about anything and everything." Again Noah chuckled and asked, "Didn't you girls have enough time for talking during the days I wasn't there that you needed to use your precious sleeping hours to talk some more?"

Laila shot Noah a glare and said, "Of course we talked during those days as well but how can a week make up for the amount of time we have been out of each other's lives. Plus, we now also had the matter of Steve. He was newly introduced in our stories. Now that I see him as a potential match for her I needed to dig a little and lay some groundwork of course." This actually made sense to Noah and he asked, "Oh yeah, there was that matter too of course. And? Did you manage to find out if Maria likes Steve?" This finally caused Laila to become fully awake and with an excited expression she told Noah all about her talks with Maria about Steve. "I am certain that she likes him. She just isn't willing to admit it yet. Why else would she care if he was single or not?"

In the middle of her excited story Laila turned serious for a moment and asked, "He is single right?" Noah nodded. "From what I know, he is. But he is quite popular. So, I don't know how long that will last." Seeing the worried look in Laila's face, Noah asked, "Do you need me to keep him busy for a while? So that he won't have time for a girlfriend? Though his relationships so far have lasted no more than three months because he tends to go after the wrong ones, making them expect things he can't give them. So, maybe even if I do nothing, he will be available for her in no time."

Laila gave Noah a slap on the knee and said an unamused voice, "How can you say that. What if he happens to meet someone that is a good fit. I can't have someone else steal him away from Maria. She deserves nothing but the best and I believe he is that for her. So, you do what you have to do to keep him busy. Take him out for dinner, ask him over at our place, go play some tennis. I don't care but keep him away from any potential dates." With a chuckle Noah agreed to his little mission and promised Laila that he would do his absolute best. Shortly after, the plane landed, they got their bags at baggage claim and headed home. But of course not before inviting Steve over for dinner to make sure no dates were made.