Timeless

Chapter 37

"No, ma'am."

"Well ever?" Crosby pressed in surprise.

"No, never. I took a boat over here in '43, and then I've never had a reason to fly." Lemmons admitted with a slight blush on his cheeks.

It was reason to laugh between the small group in the back. And as the plane began to take off—Kathryn couldn't help but stare at the beautiful morning sky from where she was sitting. Every portion of her face seemed to light up at the sight of pure heavenly light . This is what it meant to be alive, she was absolutely certain of it. How had she gone this long without knowing what it meant to be free and in the skies?

"Better than hopscotch, huh, Kath?" Lemmons questioned, elbowing her slightly.

"Way better," Kathryn breathed out.

"How's the view?" Buck questioned into the radio.

"Beautiful," Lemmons answered.

"It's something, ain't it?" Buck replied.

Kathryn had to agree. She now understood why the skies seemed to captivate her brother and Buck so much. Because for all of the dangers it posed, it was a world all of its own. And as they passed over Holland, Kathryn thought that she understood for the first time. She thought that she had known why she was helping in this war. And she was helping people. And that was all good and fine.

But seeing a place so ravaged by war—and knowing that they were about to deliver food, a mercy in its simplest form—nearly brought tears to her eyes as she stared at the landscape down below. People help the people—and these people had been hurt and beaten and down for so long.

And seeing her friends in their native element—doing what they did best in the skies—it was a whole experience in and of itself.

"Navigator to pilot," Crosby said through the radio. "Come around to O90, over."

"Pilot to navigator, roger." Buck's voice sounded in Kathryn's headset and she couldn't help but smile about the entire thing. He sounded so much more at peace, so much more like the old Buck that she remembered before the Prisoner of War Camp had happened.

"Hey," Kathryn said, grinning at Crosby.

"Hey what?" He questioned, glancing over at her.

"You're not puking."

He couldn't help the annoyed grin that slipped onto his features. "Of course that's the one thing you'd remember."

"Well you were one of the only ones who consistently did. That's what I'd call growth ," Kathryn stated lightly.

"I guess so."

Before Kathryn could retort any further, Buck's voice had sounded over the radio again. "Here we go. Get ready everybody."

Kathryn wasn't sure if it was because it was a mercy mission or if she was just really delusional—but she felt deep in her bones that there was no reason to worry about anything the Germans could do to them. This mission was still a risk, as were all missions—even if it was a humanitarian mercy mission.

But she didn't worry. She didn't even hold her breath as she looked at the ground below them. And when the Germans did not fire on them, Kathryn couldn't help the wide grin that spread across her features. There was hope that this war would be over soon.

"Looks like we're good, guys. The Germans decided to honor the truce," Rosie said into the radio.

Kathryn couldn't help it as her eyes fell on the crowds of people down below—all shouting and cheering and waving excitedly at the planes that were passing overhead. And she nearly started crying as she stared at them all. "You good, Kath?" Lemmons questioned, elbowing her slightly.