Chapter Twenty-five

It took several hours before everything was settled. Dawn wouldn't let Patience hold her to get them to the airport. "Would you like to ride on my back? You could hold on to me instead of me to you."

Dawn timidly nodded with unsteady movements. Mark caressed her arm. "Don't worry. I'll be right beside you riding on back of Parro."

"I don't see why she can't just move us all to the air field." Targ grumbled.

Dawn looked at him and shook her head. "Too many people. I'm not strong enough to transport so many. I feel a little drained from just Mark and I. I know I'll pass out if I try with everyone at once."

Mark tilted his head to the side. "But you only shifted us once. You could be stronger by now."

Dawn shook her head. "I'm not. I can feel it."

"We should get going. Your flight won't wait for very long." Patience said looking down at her watch. She smirked as she crouched down. "Shall we?"

Dawn looked up at Mark. He knew she was scared and looked to him for comfort. He smiled as he leaned forward and kissed her. Her breathe was taken away with his kissed. When he pulled away, she was in a daze. Chuckling, he guided her to Patience and helped her to get settled for her flight through the city. He had to do something for her to calm her. His kiss was the fastest thing he could think of to make her more complacent to flying this way.

He got on Parro's back keeping his eyes on Dawn as she did him. He was only partially conscious to Targ and Pana taking their positions on their 'rides'. All Mark cared for was keeping Dawn calm. And if keeping eye contact with her does that, then so be it.

"Okay. Here we go." Angel Kat said making Dawn squeeze a little tighter around Patience's neck. Mark could also hear Targ's whimpers but he dare not take his eyes away from Dawn's.

In one swift motion, they were all in the air. Dawn shook with fear but was mellowed enough because of Mark. His eyes reassured her that everything was going to alright because he was there with her.

Halfway through the ride, Patience and all the flyers had to bank around a building. The second Dawn's eyes lost Mark's, she started to tremble. She clamped her eyes shut and started to sob.

"Mark!" Patience shouted as the group got back into their formation. "She's freaking out!"

Mark could see Dawn physically trembling bad. He could also see Patience feeling a little uncomfortable with Dawn's grip. "Dawn!" She jolted and trembled more burying her head into Patience's shoulder. "I need to get closer. I fear she'll pop out any second."

Parro nodded and shifted them closer. "You're in touching distance if you need it." Mark looked up and saw Dawn cowering on Patience's back.

Mark hooked his legs around Parro's waist before he sat up and reached for Dawn. He caressed her arm. Her head shot forward to looked right at him. "It's alright. I'm right here with you. Always."

He saw her loosening up. Dawn reached out to him while still holding on. He took her hand and kissed it. Her panic slowly receded as she stared into his eyes again.

"We're going to move back into line now. Follow me. Watch me." Dawn nodded.

Mark tapped on Parro's shoulder. Parro eased away with Mark still sitting up precariously on his back. Slowly he moved so Mark didn't break his eye contact with Dawn. They didn't need Dawn, with all she could do, to lose control.

Thankfully the rest of the trip to the air field was much better. Dawn and Mark never lost eye contact with each other. Parro and Patience made sure when they took corners, to take them as if they were one.

The moment they were on the ground, Dawn was rushing over to Mark. "You did very well." He said into her ear as they hugged. He pulled back with a silly grin. "There was only once you had a problem." Shrugged as he looked over at Targ. "Unlike Targ there."

Dawn giggled a little seeing Targ bent over a trash can puking with Pana stroking his back. "He doesn't take to flying, does he?" She bit her lip seeing his tail stretch out painfully as he puked again.

"Only the creation way. It's possible he has motion sickness when not flying in a manmade contraption." He turned back to Dawn. "Lets go get settled in the plane." He laced their fingers together.

Dawn waved bye to Patience, Parro, Angel Kat, and even the last flyer that she didn't know yet. Mark had received a kiss on the cheek from Patience. Everyone wished them luck on the flight and 'hope to see you again' from everyone who was staying.

The plane was beautiful on the inside. So clean and pristine. All the seats were spread out and every one of them looked to be soft and comfortable. Even the staff seemed to be polite and courteous as they greeted them when they entered.

Mark offered for her to have the window seat and she gratefully took it. "Do you mind flying on a plane?" He asked while taking his seat next to her.

Dawn snuggled up to his shoulder. "No. I never have in the past." She looked out the window. "Though I have only flown three times. The last time being before security tightened in airports. I couldn't get past without any true identification."

Mark wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Well that's good to hear. And you won't have to worry about identification much longer. Targ told me he was working on that after the whole injecting thing happened. He's doing it under the rouse that you're a creation."

"If you ask me, it's not a rouse." Targ said gruffly as he paused to hold onto Mark's seat back. He looked very green as he was hunched over a bit.

"Are you going to be okay?" Dawn asked worried.

Targ smiled at Dawn. "I'll be fine. I just need some water and sitting down for the whole trip. To feel something solid with enclosed space while flying is all I ask for." Pana helped him to sit down across from the two. A flight attendant handed him a bottle of water before she went to get ready for the flight.

Ten minutes later, they were moving out of the hanger where the plane was and onto the tar mat. Mark held Dawn's hand and even intertwined their fingers together. She sighed when she had to move to sit up in her seat as the pilot announcing their take off. She stared into his eyes as the plane took off into the sky.

Dawn saw the green fade from Targ's face and his normal color creeping back to him. Pana even teased him about his reaction to flying. He didn't look like he minded as he pulled her onto his lap and started to tickle her.

Dawn couldn't stop her giggling at the two. Mark smiled at her giggles thinking it was the sound of the angel who was his. The angel he was protecting and got to love. Who loved him back.

Dawn jumped when the flight attendant suddenly spoke. She gave her apologies to the attendant who gave her own. Mark told her what we wanted without Dawn telling him.

When she left, Dawn looked at him. "How did you know what I wanted?"

He shrugged. "I just know."

"It's a soulmate thing." Targ said as he watch Mark and Dawn's little exchange. "It proves that he is the one for you."

"I don't understand how it's possible for someone to know what someone else wants."

"It feels like a gut feeling. From what I have found out, it's actually stronger in humans than creations. Seems strange because we're enhanced because of the serum, but that's how it is." Targ shrugged.

"What's the serum you are talking about?" Dawn had asked shyly. Her curiosity about the world had come back now she felt relaxed enough to have her guard down.

"It was created by a man we call Father. He was a brilliant man who lost his way and tried to do something unspeakable to Patience."

"I felt really horrible about how I treated Patience after hearing about that." Mark hung his head. Dawn frowned and caressed his cheek. He looked at her and smoothed out her frown.

"Anyways. About twenty years ago while working in a small hospital in Tennessee, a woman was admitted with head trauma. When he ran tests on her blood, he found something he had never seen before. Her blood was unique." Dawn's heart sped. Head trauma? Unique blood? Could this Father been the doctor running tests on her? The reason for her hospital phobia?

"When he found his discovery, he wanted to know more about it. He ran tests for about a month on her blood and identified the compounds that were in her blood." Targ wasn't even paying attention to Dawn as he spoke.

"Oh god!" Dawn said with her hand over her mouth as she rose and walked to the back of the plane leaving Targ and Pana confused and Mark getting up to follow her.

Mark held her tight when he reached her. He realized after Targ started to talk what Dawn was thinking. She was the person with head trauma that was admitted to the hospital. "Shh. They don't have to know yet. If you want, we'll take what's happening right now and then tell them. Or not at all if you wish." Dawn nodded into his chest. "Here. Lets sit back here for a little."

Mark guided Dawn over the seats nearest them. He told the attendant to bring Dawn a wine. He glanced up to see Targ and Pana standing and wondering what Targ had said to upset Dawn. Mark shook his head at them to say 'don't ask yet'. They warily sat back down.

When Dawn was presented the glass of wine, Mark frowned when he had to help her drink it. She drank slowly. When the glass ran dry, Mark handed the empty glass to the attendant. He rubbed her back to help calm her more.

She looked up at him. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. It wasn't right to you or them."

Mark softened his gaze. "Don't worry about us." He brushed her hair behind her ear. "I know you still have a long way to go before you're fully healed emotionally. For heaven's sake, you have fifty years of bad memories to get past."

"You've helped me get past more than half of it already." She relaxed when she told him this. She felt so much better whenever she told him something. "In such a short time with you, I have felt at peace. I don't want to run because I have you."

Mark's mouth quirked up. "I don't do much. Just chased after you when you ran. It was you who were open enough to let me in."

Dawn tried not to smile. She tried with all her might, but couldn't stop it. "You're the one who snuck in when I wasn't looking. I tried running, but you stayed with me from the first moment I saw you with your camera."

"You saying its all my fault we are together? If so, then I will happily take that credit." He grinned smugly as he leaned over. "I wouldn't trade anything that we have. Targ even said that we're soulmates. I'm made for you babe."

Dawn giggled. "Babe? Am I a baby pig now? The language today. Sometimes I surprise myself that I can follow it at all." Dawn was shaking her head.

"You're so much cuter than a baby pig." Dawn's eyebrow went up. "You're even better than the sunlight itself." Mark glanced over at the two across the way. "Are you ready to go back over to the curious cats?"

Dawn lightly slapped his shoulder. "It's not nice calling people names." He chuckled at her reprimanding him. Dawn glanced over across the plane and sighed. "We should ease their worry, shouldn't we?"

Mark smirked and helped her up as he rose. He put a supportive arm around her waist so she doesn't huddle behind him. She shouldn't be afraid of her new friends. They won't hurt her.

~