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Where in the world are they?! For what seems like the millionth and one time, Iris scans the horizon of the Heathrow Airport baggage claim, but like the millionth time before it, there are still no bags peeking out from behind the flap doors of the carousel.
If it wasn't for the Christmas presents for Graham and the girls that comprise half of her luggage, Iris would just be saying f- it and leaving the bags there. It's midnight in L.A. and 8:00 am in London, and Iris tilts her head back and tries very hard not to cry from pure exhaustion. It has to be the fatigue talking, but she actually starts to send a little prayer to the big man upstairs that if the bags show up in 10 seconds she will be going to church so much more this upcoming year. She swears. 10, 9, 8, 7...
"I can see why you love it here. It's very nice."
Iris pauses in the midst of her prayer countdown to swat Miles on the shoulder. "Don't be cheeky. We're still in the airport."
"But it's a very nice airport," Miles replies, attention clearly caught by something if the inflection in his voice is any indication.
It's pretty likely that he's just messing with her somehow because "nice" isn't the word Iris would use to describe Heathrow. LAX? Sure. But Heathrow? Eh, not exactly a 5-star experience. Still, despite Iris's disbelief, Miles's comment has her sitting back up and returning her focus from the high heavens to the as of yet still-empty baggage area. The scene is completely unremarkable and completely unchanged.
"Very nice," Miles repeats as Iris turns to look at him. Despite the fact they haven't slept in over 24 hours, he is somehow 100% coherent. And nodding his head with a big goofy grin, gaze focused off to the right.
Iris tracks his focus to see what he's looking at, squints, and then promptly covers her mouth to stop a huge bark of laugher from escaping. She's only partly successful, but no one else appears to have heard, especially not the couple making out right near their terminal.
There are tangled limbs, and one body wrapped around another much taller body like a koala bear, legs and all. Their faces are glued together and Iris is mildly impressed by how long they can go without coming up for air.
"Well then..." Iris utters, taken aback.
It's like one of those nature documentaries that you watch that feels slightly invasive to be seeing something so intimate, but at the same time, Iris can't look away. She figures the couple probably doesn't care much in the first place given the location they chose. It looks like they literally just dropped their bags right on the spot and Iris imagines that it's some sort of long-distance reunion. Kind of sweet if one ignores the aggressive face sucking.
"Are all Londoners so... friendly?" Miles asks, a smirk in his voice. "Because if so, I really think I'm going to like it here." He tilts his head towards her and wiggles his dark eyebrows. "Feel free to greet me like that any time."
Iris rolls her eyes, but she's smiling now, too. She finds that she's somehow always smiling around Miles. It's a nice change from her previous relationship.
"That could perhaps be arranged," she replies before breaking out into a huge yawn. Her eyes trail towards baggage claim again and her head feels heavier than ever.
A warm arm wraps around her and she leans in, resting her head on Miles's shoulder. He holds up his left hand in a mock gun. "Get some rest and I'll keep watch."
She closes her eyes and only a moment passes before Miles starts to hum softly. It takes her a second to place the song just as Miles starts to sing the opening, and of course, it's none other than 007.
"He's the man, the man with the Midas touch..."
At the time, waiting for their luggage had seemed like the biggest challenge they would face this trip. Then the cab dropped them off at the end of Iris's road and she wished she was back in the warm, dry airport, taking a nap on Miles's shoulder.
"This road seems a lot longer than I remember," she comments after the cab driver takes off. They're left with two bags each and a several-minute trudge through snow away from her bed.
Miles, bless him, takes it all in stride, picking up his luggage without a single comment about how they could have avoided all this if Iris had just asked Graham to pick them up.
He has Sophia and Olivia, though, and she really tries not to put him in any tough spots when it comes to his daughters. She's seen how hard it is as a single father, and while Amanda appears perfectly lovely over the phone and from their emails, she's not sure if Graham would trust his daughters with her for a few hours while he played cab driver at the wee hours of the night.
If only they could have gotten tickets with a more reasonable arrival time, but two tickets at such a last minute were hard to come by as it was. They couldn't be choosy with the finer details.
The finer details currently have Iris trudging through a few inches of snow, though, and her toes are either missing from her boots or frozen solid at this point.
They walk in silence for several minutes before Miles speaks up again, slowing down so they're walking side by side. "So do you have to walk this every day or..."
Iris snorts. "Thankfully, no. I have a car. Which we'll be taking tomorrow." She shakes her head as she realizes it's getting lighter outside. "Or I guess today, rather."
Miles starts to hum again, then quickly stops before Iris is able to pick up on the tune. "Sorry, habit. Please don't pelt me with any snowballs. I'll be quiet."
"I don't mind."
There's a beat as she feels Miles turn his head to look at her, and she can feel him radiating doubt. "Really," she reassures, trying to catch his eye quickly without taking her eyes off the road too long. One false step and she'll fall face first into the icy slush.
"I've been told my humming can be... annoying."
Iris doesn't know if this came from his ex or someone else, but she doesn't press. This feels far too vulnerable a moment as it is. Music is obviously Miles's passion and she could never imagine stopping him from enjoying it, even in the little moments like this.
"Well, I find it charming."
When he doesn't respond, Iris thinks that's that. But when they've finally made it to her place and are walking through the front door, the humming resumes. It's quiet at first and then increasing in volume to where it was before. This time she recognizes the song and notes there's obviously a Bond theme to this trip's soundtrack.
Iris shows him where the bedroom is and then goes back to the kitchen to check some of the mail stacked there. A new stick figure crayon drawing on her fridge catches her attention and she almost misses that Miles has now started singing the lyrics. His voice isn't anything fancy, but it's smooth and causes goose bumps to form on her arms.
"Until the day...
Until the world falls away
Until you say there'll be no more good-byes
See it in your eyes..."
His voice gets progressively softer until it fades out altogether and when Iris finally makes it back to her room, Miles is lying facedown on her bed, still in his travel clothes and out like a light.
She changes into her pyjamas and slips into bed next to him, unable to help herself from singing the next line of the song softly as she turns off the lamp. "Tomorrow never dies..."
They don't sleep nearly as long as they should given their late flight and the time change, and Iris can still feel the dregs of sleep in her bones. Across from her at the breakfast table, Miles is nursing a cup of coffee, eyes bloodshot and hair mussed up in a way that can only be explained by either a passionate night or a red-eye flight. Unfortunately, it's the latter. Still, there's something very endearing about his disheveled appearance.
She thinks she could get used to sharing all her mornings with this man. Him making a cuppa, her the eggs and scones. Right now they're not rushed, just sitting across from each other in their pyjamas. But even in the hectic morning, Iris knows Miles is the kind of guy who would still make time for a quick kiss. A whispered I love you as they both make their way out into the world.
The word love startles Iris right out of her morning musings. She has no idea where that thought came from as she isn't sure they're even officially dating. Although making a trip to London together for New Year's Eve certainly seems like something only a couple would do.
She tells herself nothing will come from dwelling on it. She just needs to enjoy the present and not get ahead of herself. "So I was thinking..."
"It's much too early for that." It's 2:00 pm.
Iris laughs. "Well, I know this is your first time here so you probably want to see all the sights-"
Miles cuts her off, saying, "-I want to see whatever you want to show me."
Iris pauses, lets that sink in, and calms the swooping feeling suddenly taking flight in her stomach. She waves a hand, continuing. "And we'll get to all of that after New Year's since you'll be here a few more days." She absolutely does not think about how at the end of all this he's going home and she's staying right here. "But I was thinking today we could just do something a little more relaxed, not quite the regular tourist traps."
Miles quirks a brow, face half-obscured by his mug. "I'm intrigued."
And that's how they end up at a video rental store at 3:00 pm on New Year's Eve. They're the only customers, which suits Iris just fine. The cashier stopped paying them mind ages ago. Despite it not seeming all that different from the one she visited with Miles in America, she's sure he can tell a difference.
They walk down every aisle, him picking up random DVDs and commenting on a score or particular director. There are a few local indie movies that have caught his eye and he's accumulated three in his hands so far to watch later.
"For research," he claims a little defensively. He clutches the DVDs to his chest as if Iris will take them away despite her having done nothing more than smile for each movie he adds to his stack.
Even though she's picked up a few things about the industry from spending time with Arthur and Miles over the past two weeks in L.A., most of what Miles says about film scores goes right over her head. She's learning, but needle dropping and diegetic modes are words as foreign to her as French or Japanese.
Iris tries to listen closely, but Miles is grinning excitedly as he talks, and it's so incredibly attractive to see him so passionate. As he points to a movie and walks backward, almost like a tour guide, Iris can't help but marvel at the way he just lights up when he's in his element. At some point, she starts paying more attention to Miles's expressions and gestures and less about what he's actually saying.
She only tunes back in when he gives a little yelp upon reaching a special setup dedicated completely to... you've guessed it. James Bond.
"Have you seen the new one that came out in November?" Miles asks, perusing the collection.
Iris, who can't remember the last time she watched something in a theater but doesn't dare admit that out loud, shakes her head no.
Miles makes a chef's kiss gesture. "When it comes out on DVD, we'll watch it together. It's the only one produced by Eon since Dr. No that doesn't play the classic theme during the movie."
"Classic theme?" Iris frowns. She's definitely watched several Bond films in her time. Who doesn't enjoy seeing Pierce Brosnan and Sean Connery schmooze and shoot their way across the screen with those incredible accents? But clearly she has never explored their music as in depth as they are now.
Immediately Miles begins to hum. "Dum de-de dum dum, dum-dum-dum," he intones.
Iris isn't sure if it's Miles's singing or his reenactment of the opening title sequence, complete with posing his imaginary gun, that has her recognizing the song. It's definitely the poses, though, that have her cracking up.
Not giving a toss what the cashier thinks, she hums along and pulls out her own imaginary gun, bringing it to her lips with a quick blow.
Miles pauses and eyes her up and down, entranced. As he walks towards her, fake gun forgotten, a secretive grin overtakes his face. "Oh yes, this was better than Buckingham Palace by a mile."
New Year's Eve with everyone is surprisingly easy. Graham wasn't exactly the big brother to issue threats or try to scare off her boyfriends, and he had greeted Miles with only a second of inspection before reaching out to shake his hand.
It definitely helped that Amanda was there. She'd greeted both Iris and Miles with a wide, bright smile and had quickly ushered Miles into the kitchen, leaving the two siblings alone.
As soon as Amanda is out of earshot, Iris turns to her brother. "She's gorgeous!"
Graham looks lighter than she's seen in a long time. "She is," he agrees, eyes drifting towards the kitchen. "And just a really good person. Iris, she's just so great with Sophie and Olivia."
Iris's heart soars for him and she gives in to the impulse to give him a big hug. "I'm so happy for you."
Graham leans back from the embrace, clasping her elbows and tilting his head to the side meaningfully. "And Miles...?"
"... is brilliant."
Graham nods, expression serious. "You deserve happiness too, you know."
Before Iris's eyes can do something stupid like cry at her usually non-sentimental brother's statement, she hears two sets of little feet rushing down the stairs.
"Aunt Iris!"
It feels like years rather than just weeks since she's last seen them. "Girls! Look how pretty you two are." Her nieces are decked out in adorable, festive dresses. Olivia has a white bow in her hair that is most likely thanks to Amanda.
Sophie goes in for a hug first then hearing Amanda and Miles's voices which have now drifted to the sitting room, she takes off like a shot. Next is Olivia who jumps into Iris's arms with a giggle.
After a quick kiss and spin that sets off another round of giggles, Iris carries her youngest niece into the sitting room to join everyone else.
Any lingering anxiety she'd had about introducing Miles to her family is instantly erased when she sees him with Sophie on the sofa. He's telling some story, complete with large hand gestures, and Sophie is absolutely enthralled. Olivia soon joins her sister and it hits Iris all of the sudden how significant this night really is. She had never brought a man around the girls before. They were either never that serious, or like with Jasper, it had never felt like the right time.
With Miles, there had never been any question. As soon as he'd asked to spend New Year's Eve with her, she'd immediately imagined them spending it with her family.
As if summoned by her thoughts, Miles glances away from her nieces, catching Iris's eye. His smile widens further upon seeing her and Iris takes that opportunity to join him on the sofa.
After that, there's copiuous amounts of food and laughter, and at some point, she and Miles end up near the fireplace, dancing in each others' arms. As Iris leans closer to rest her chin on his shoulder, Miles tucks his mouth next to her ear. "How's it going?"
Iris sighs. "I'm really glad you're here with me."
"Yeah?"
She nods, glad he can't see her face as she says the next bit. "I wish you didn't have to go back after the holidays."
Miles's grip on her tightens just a fraction. His voice is gentle and a little rough when he responds. "Iris, this isn't the end. We're going to figure it out. Heck, I'll move to England if I have to. I think the bitter cold agrees with me."
Iris pulls back slightly to look at Miles because while his words are joking his tone is absolutely serious. When she sees that he really means it, she feels a rush of affection and leans forward to press her lips against his.
He doesn't hesitate to respond, fingers sliding into her hair as he pushes the kiss deeper, warm mouth firm against hers.
They both become mindful that they're not alone, probably because their audience has gone suspiciously quiet. A high-pitched whisper, most likely from Sophie, is hushed by someone, definitely Amanda.
Iris isn't exactly shy, but she does nestle her chin back into the dip of Miles's shoulder, not yet ready to let this moment end.
As they continue to sway, she isn't at all surprised when Miles starts to sing. She's starting to see how music to him is like his version of a love letter.
"For your eyes only, can see me through the night
For your eyes only, I never need to hide
You can see so much in me, so much in me that's new
I never felt until I looked at you..."
In those few moments before they're pulled away to New Year's Eve festivities, Iris revels in how at home she feels in Miles's arms and realizes just how easy it will be to fall in love with this man. How she already can't imagine doing this, doing life, with anyone else.