*Another Month later*

“You can stay here longer,” Jackson says to her, “You don’t have to leave.”

“I stayed as long as I needed to heal here. Now I need to get back home and heal some more.”

Jackson and Chrissy stood in the airport, right outside of security checks. He had walked her all the way in this far, even though he wasn’t supposed to leave the car. Even now, he wanted to buy a ticket so he could stand with her at the departure gate. 

Chrissy looked tired behind her black face mask. She had taken so much medicine that she’ll sleep the whole time on the plane and hopefully avoid any nightmares.

Jackson looks down and sees Chrissy still holding on to his hand so tight, looking out the windows at the planes taxiing on the runway. She must be so scared.

“I’ll go with you,” Jackson whispers, turning to go buy his ticket. 

“No.” Chrissy pulls on his hand and turns him back around, looking straight into his brown eyes. “You need to go back to practice.”

“Chrissy—”

“Chrissy, nothing. I have distracted you at practice and the studio, because you spend so much time worried about me. And it’s time that I go home and finish working.”

“I’m scared,” Jackson says. He looks down at the ground, hating what he’s saying. Of course he’s scared for her to get on another plane, but this wasn’t about him. It was about her, who was probably ten times as scared as he was. He was supposed to be supporting her and her decisions, not trying to find other ways to make her stay.

“Text me when the flight is about to take off.”

“I will.”

“And call me for each layover, and then when you land at home. I don’t care what time it is, or what I’m doing.”

“Okay, Jackson.”

“And I’ll call every time I get a break, or text—”

“Jackson, baby… calm down.”

His heart skips as he hears the name she calls him, even though he knows she doesn’t mean it that way. She was from the South, which meant she called everyone baby. She called it, “Southern Charm”. But he couldn’t help but feel excited at those words directed at him. A feeling bubbled up from his gut, and he couldn’t stop it. “I love you,” he blurts out.

Chrissy looks at him, looks behind her at the people filing through to get to their flights, and looks back at him. “I know,” she sighs.

He sighs to himself. 

“Look… we’ve only known each other five months. I’ve only been divorced for five months.”

“Chrissy—”

“We’re friends. I want us to be friends. I don’t want you to be just some rebound, and I end up losing this friendship.”

Jackson squeezes her hand, glad that she didn’t pull it out of his. “We are friends, for now. We can take it slow. I don’t care if I’m a rebound. If it doesn’t work out… I’ll make it work.”

“And what about you being an Idol?” Chrissy asks, “look at us right now.”

Jackson didn’t want to look. He knew what it looked like. He had on a mask and a hat and glasses to hide who he was. He wasn’t even supposed to get out of the car, because he couldn’t risk fans and media seeing him and making scandals. There was so much he couldn’t do. So many normal things they wouldn’t be able to do.

“You saw the recent news from SM. They’re making it work. And if you want more privacy, we could keep it a secret. My company would understand this and try to help. We could do this. I just… want you by my side.” Jackson tried to come up with any excuse he could think of to make her his. He would do anything to make it work.

Chrissy chuckles softly. “Let's take some time to think about this.”

“When will I see you again?”

“Your next hiatus?”

“That’s too long, Chrissy. We’ll practice for months before a comeback and then do our comeback and variety shows. I don’t want to wait that long… come on tour with me.”

“What?! No, Jackson, we can’t do that.”

He grabs her other hand, ignoring the people staring at them as they try to get past. He can feel Chrissy move towards the gates, but he holds her still just a little while longer. “Come with me on the tour, and every second you can be with me. You can still write, and you can go sightseeing when I’m practicing. And you’ll be by my side. Chrissy… just come play with me. What do you say?”

She looks at him and sighs again. She pulls her hands out of Jackson’s and then wraps him in a hug. “Okay, Jackson, okay. If you can get permission for JYP for all of this to happen, which I doubt he’ll agree… I’ll do it. For you.”

Chrissy looks back again to where she has to go, and Jackson quickly turns her to him. Quickly, before he can chicken out, he pulls his mask down and presses his mouth to hers. 

She doesn’t pull away just yet. Maybe out of shock, but Jackson doesn’t care. He stands up straight, smiling at her, and then pulls his mask back into place. He turns her, so he doesn’t see the look on her face, or she can say anything to him. He pushes her towards security, and just as she turns to say something to him, he turns and skips away, so she has no choice but to continue towards her flight. 

After a while, he turns around, watching her put her bags on the conveyor belt and talking to the security officer. He can’t help the smile on his face, or the butterflies in his stomach. He kissed her. And told her he loved her, finally. And now she was going to be with him for months more. He’d make sure she knew he would make it work. No matter what.