Work Text:
The phone had been ringing for what felt like an eternity. Taking the phone away from his ear to hang up, not able to bear hearing that damned dial sound one more time, instead of the last beep before killing it comes a silent voice “Hello?”
Almost slamming the phone back to his ear “Yes. Hello”
“What? Martin?”
“Yes, Sorry did I wake you?”
“No. Why are you calling”
“It’s stupid I shouldn’t have called”
“Martin. You never call me so it can’t be that stupid”
“I suppose I miss my old job”
“You suppose?” Douglas didn’t sound convinced at all “What’s really up?”
Martin sighed. Why did he decide to call Douglas? Of course he would see through the front. “The inevitable happened. Me and Theresa broke up”
“Oh Martin I’m sorry”
“Don’t be it’s fine”
“Is it really?”
“I’ll miss her but we both saw that it wouldn’t work out.” It had been more that Theresa opened his eyes but he couldn’t confess that.
“I have the week off I can come down there if you need me”
“No need. I’m on duty most of next week” A necessary lie. Theresa might have opened his eyes and had even been accepting of it, but he wasn’t ready to admit it yet. Not to the reason for their breakup.
“You should come to visit some time. Arthur is dying to hear stories about an actual airline”
“My stories would disappoint him. MJN had much more exciting flights”
“There must be SOME things happening”
“Ah. I suppose. Nothing as exciting as the mishappenings we had though”
“It has become a lot less exciting since GERTI flies the way she is supposed to and Carolyn isn’t on the verge of bankruptcy all the time”
“Really?” Martin had to laugh he couldn’t imagine things to be boring with his old crew “Wasn’t it Birling day just last month?”
“Yes but Herc is a lot less fun as Ms Marple”
“Did he stop you?”
“No, but his detecting skills aren’t up to par with yours”
“Why are you even still bothering to steal it? Everyone knows you don’t drink it”
“Tradition, fun, to remember the good times. Take your pick”
“Ah well”
“So how is life in Zurich?”
“Good. The city is bigger than Fitton for sure. The people here are nice as soon as you know enough German to understand them” Martin knew his standards were low. But he hadn’t spend much thought on the city. Sure he had learnt enough German to communicate with most people, but while he tried to take Douglas’ advice at work he was still his old self in private. He tried to move the topic away from himself. Whatever courage had let him dial Douglas’ number was now gone. “How is flying with Herc?”
“I think he tried to complain to Carolyn about things at first but now it is going great. Not as great as with you but it could be a lot worse” Martin blushed, happy that this wasn’t a video call “You would love to fly GERTI now. The way she flies now. It’s like riding a well trained horse after years of riding a donkey”
“I’d really love that even if just one last time. Just to see what she was destined to be”
“If your free time ever brings you to Fitton I’m sure Carolyn could squeeze a little round-trip in for you”
“Maybe” Martin wanted to say he lied and would be arriving in the morning but he had to stop himself. He couldn’t ruin their feeble friendship by confessing his feelings.
“You could stay at my place. It’s big enough” Did Douglas even know what he was doing to Martin right now?
“I-I couldn’t. I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you”
“It wouldn’t be an inconvenience. If anything it would be more convenient. You want to fly the plane I command and I consider you my friend so please consider my offer”
“I will. Are you sure I’m not disturbing you? It’s evening” Martin realised he had been talking to Douglas for a while. Douglas was bound to have something to do in the evenings.
“No Martin. I’m just home enjoying a bit of peace after a long flight” Martin wanted to answer but he didn’t get out more than an aborted sound before Douglas started talking again “Stop Martin. It’s nice that you called, you are not disturbing anything and if you can find another topic than the one right now I am happy to continue this call for a while longer”
“Ok”
In the end they talked for 2 more hours, falling back into the old ease they had in the flight deck of their golden girl. They mutually ended the call when both became tired, both promising to visit the other at a more convenient time.