Spoil her

The night passed and the time for Laila, Noah and Steve to fly back home. After a few hugs and a promise that Maria would come visit soon, the three of them said goodbye and got in the taxi that would take them to the airport. At the airport Noah and Steve pulled out their laptops to get a bit of work done while they waited for their flight, while Laila used this time to drink a cup of tea, messaging Maria, whom she just said goodbye to a few moments ago, and to do a bit of duty free shopping.

Soon the waiting hours had passed as well and Laila returned to the first class lounge where Noah and Steve were just packing up. When Noah noticed Laila he looked at her with a look of surprise. "Didn't you go shopping? How come you returned empty-handed? Nothing to your liking?" Laila smiled and shook her head before she said, "I didn't go shopping for me. I wanted to get Maria a few things as a thank you for letting me stay there all week. She refused to let me pay for anything since I was her guest but I didn't want to leave without doing anything. Especially not after she let all three of us stay there yesterday and even cooked us all dinner. I know she isn't super poor or anything but she also doesn't have money to burn. Having all these extra expenses can't have been easy on her. So, I bought her a few things I know she would like and some things she might need and I had them put on the mail. That way by the time she receives them, we will be back home and it will be too late for her to reject the gifts. I hope you don't mind that I bought her some expensive things too. I know she won't buy them for herself, so I want to spoil her since I can."

Noah let out a soft puff of air through his nose as he smiled and pulled Laila close before placing a kiss on her forehead. "I knew I married you for a reason. That was a kind thing to do. That was the right thing to do. I am proud of you." Steve, who was standing close by, heard Laila's explanation as well and ignored the little husband and wife moment Laila and Noah were having to give his approval of her actions. While Noah still had his arm around her, Steve went and patted Laila's shoulder to say, "Indeed you are worthy of the word 'lovely'. You are a good person and a good friend." Laila was a bit startled by Steve patting her shoulder so suddenly but after a short chuckle she thanked Steve for his compliment. Whereas Noah shot him a glare for not having the sense to wait a little while he was having a moment with his wife, to which Steve just lifted his shoulders in a 'Oh well' kind of way, causing Laila to laugh once more and Noah to shake his head in a sigh.

After this short interruption they finally went to the gate, where they were just in time for boarding. Laila was amazed at how close they cut it considering how many hours in advance they had arrived at the airport to prevent exactly that. Once they were in their comfortable seats, Noah and Laila sharing a special two person cabin like structure and Steve having been chased off to his own single seat, Laila could finally catch up on the hours of sleep she had missed out on during her last night at Maria's house. She had told Noah that he could share the two person cabin with Steve and she would take the single one as she was planning on sleeping during the entire flight but he refused. He wanted to be with her, even if she wouldn't say a single word to him.

"The sound of you sleeping relaxes me. So, don't mind me and do what you have to do. If you want I can even put my work to the side and take a nap with you. I am certain I am lacking a few hours of sleep myself." With these words Laila gave up her convincing and just accepted the arrangements he had made. She wished Steve a good flight and headed into her little cocoon with Noah. Seconds after she had lowered her seat and put her head on the complimentary pillow, Laila dozed off and fell into a deep sleep that could be interrupted by nothing. Not Noah typing away on his laptop, not the cabin crew knocking on their door to bring them some food and drinks, not Steve coming in because he was feeling bored and being chased away almost immediately, and not Noah eating said food and drinks. Laila was out cold.

Noah was sitting across from Laila during the flight and snuck a glance at her sleeping face every so often. He did so while he was finishing up some work that needed to be done for the upcoming week and he was surprised to see how easily Laila was able to distract him without even trying. Fortunately she was a bigger motivator than distraction because he was completing his work ahead of schedule so that he could spend more time with Laila once they were back home. Which was much needed in his eyes considering they had just spent a full week apart and he had missed her quite a bit during that week.