My Heart Is Yours

Chapter 31

Maine knew she was late that moment she stepped out of that clinic Dr. Vega recommended for her, for her steroid shots.

Over the years, to keep her body from rejecting Alden's heart, she needed to take steroids. The doctor had changed her dosages every year and switching from injectables to oral medication and vice versa to see what was the most effective form of maintenance for her. Currently, Maine was in a cocktail of injectables once a week and daily oral meds.

The clinic didn't have that many patients that day but they had communication problems. By the time they found a staff who could understand english and gave her the right injection, Maine missed the subway train that would take her to the train station, where trains going to the airport were located. Needless to say, she also missed that train and had to wait 15 minutes for the next schedule.

She was really worried as she stepped off the platform and had to sprint towards the staff area where the flight attendants and pilots were assigned. It didn't bode well to be late on the first day with a new team, especially if that team had Martin Croft. Maine highly respected the senior head FA and wouldn't want to be on his bad side. Her FA career depended on that. So, she ran and prayed that he was in a good mood.

She found them in the staff room where the FAs were seated in a group with Martin pacing on one side, and the three pilots huddled together on the other side of the room. She slowed down and composed herself enough that she didn't look too distressed and harassed. She approached the group in tentative steps, not sure on how to let her presence known. So she blurted out the first thing that came into her mind.

"I'm so sorry I'm late!"

All eyes turned to her and she was glad that she saw at least two familiar faces in the crowd, Valeen and Abbie. They were a batch ahead of her but Maine was glad that they had assisted her enough when she was starting off at the local flights, giving her pointers and advice on how to better her work.

"Maine!" Abbie cried as she approached her. "We thought you wouldn't make it."

Valeen immediately went to the water dispenser and drew water for her when she saw her trying to catch her breath. The rest approached her and welcomed her to the group. Finally, Martin came and approached her with a serious face. He looked her up and down, and slowly walked around her as if inspecting merchandise. Maine was a bit uneasy. She tried to do a mental assessment of herself if her uniform was fine, her make-up wasn't too much or if her hair was out of place as she did ran the length of the airport just so that she wouldn't be any later than she already was.

Martin continued his inspection as Valeen gave her the cup of water and she gulped it down in big swallows. But still her eyes followed Martin and waited in bated breath if she was off to a bad start with him or not.

"Why are you late, Ms. Mendoza?" Martin asked, his face still looking at her seriously.

"I needed to get my steroid shot, sir," Maine answered calmly.

"Sir?!?" Martin exclaimed aghast.

"I'm sorry...ma'am?" Maine replied in a grimace and was slightly panicked.

"Better," he replied with a smile but then he raised an eyebrow in question. "But what do you mean about steroid shots?"

"Oh," Maine rummaged through her bag and extracted an envelop which she handed over to Martin. Martin scanned through the contents of the document as Maine explained, "I needed it for medical reasons...ma'am. It's part of my maintenance."

Maine kept a calm facade outside but she was a bit nervous on the inside. A lot of airline companies that she had applied to didn't accept her application because of her condition. While she was given a clean bill of health, a lot of companies were reluctant to hire people who went into surgery, especially transplants. She was just lucky enough that this airline company took a chance on her. She didn't want special treatment nor does she need it, but she didn't want people judging her capabilities because of it either.

"And you actually ran here?" Martin looked at her in disbelief as he handed her back the documents. "My dear child, do not do that again, please. If I had known about this beforehand, I would have had someone with you when you went to the clinic. You could have gotten lost down in the subway seeing as this was suppose to be your first time in Paris and you don't know the language! You've got guts, Mendoza. I'll give you that."

Then Martin smiled and welcomed her to the team. She was formally introduced to the other FAs once more and when everybody was acquainted, Martin explained to Maine, "usually, whenever you have me in your rotation, I usually implement a buddy system especially whenever we're out of the country. That way, we have each others back and if there's a problem, one of you can call for help. This goes especially when you're not on duty. You can't be too careful and I take my FAs well-being seriously. You never go around without your buddy or your buddy needs to know where you are all the time. Tanya was partnered with Ardee before, so since you've replaced her, you're buddying up with Ardee."

Ardee smiled and gave a quick wave to Maine which she returned in kind.

"Before I hand over your assignments," said Martin to the group. "Maine, let me introduce you to the pilots of our flight team."

At the mention of "pilots", two of them stood up and approached the group. The one whose back was turned to her kept to his seat. Maine looked at him and her heart lurched. There was a familiarity about his stance and demeanor that she couldn't place. She peered at him but was blocked by one of the pilot who approached.

"Maine," Martin said as the taller of the two pilots took her hand to shake it. "This is First Officer Jerald Usman. And this is Lieutenant Sam Robles, our reserve pilot."

Maine smiled as she shook hands with both men. But she discreetly tried to check on the last pilot who she didn't know yet. She saw him heave like he was bracing himself, then he stood and turned.

Maine stared wide eyed in shock as she saw his face. The same chocolate brown eyes, the same nose and thin lips. He smiled a fraction when he saw her and the shadow of a dimple on his left cheek surfaced.

When he stood there face-to-face, he calmly said, "Hi Maine. It's good to finally meet you."

She took a step back and just said, "Alden?" before she fainted.

-oo-

Author's Note: Just a disclaimer. From here on out, any medical terms, procedures and explanations will be purely fiction. Apparently, once you've had a transplant, you'll be more restricted. But since this is fiction, we'll take out the restrictions. 😊

Bit of trivia from my personal experience: Paris subway system is really confusing. Any wrong turn, you'll get lost. The subway station has a stop at the central train station that can take you to the airport. They usually have 10-15 minute intervals. If you know the subway system really well, it's the best mode of transportation since there really isn't traffic. 😊