It's a wonder how a heart can maintain a heightened BPM despite his mood shifting from one end of the spectrum to the other. One second there's a smile on his face, the next his smile has fallen and he's covering one ear trying to hear what's being said. She's had pneumonia for three weeks..., Opa didn't want us to worry..., You have to leave now. His heart beats at the same pace it did before, he grabs Sam's wrist and tells him they need to go if they want to make it. It's so far. Joseph is on his way. It's so far.

He knows they'll make it.

"You're..."

He's in line for the bathroom, Joseph's sweats draped over his arm. She's in line too - it only takes two people to make a long line on an airplane. Her eyes fall to his ruffled bow, his mesh top, his puffy sleeves. He's been staring so he doesn't realized he's being addressed until the bathroom goes from occupied to vacant.

"I'm sorry your movie didn't win. You look great, though."

He shakes his head, lips upturned in a gentle smile. She closes the door, and he goes back to staring.

she plays guitar and wears long sleeve white dresses even in the summer and there's flowers in her hair and she looks at you with wide eyes and a raised brow and over-enunciates every single word and chastises you when you don't say them right. she says words that your five year old brain can't comprehend like "elocution" and "articulation" and plays raffi for you and your sister on a loop until you know baby beluga in english better than any german children's songs. she's barefoot and tells you that pigs have feelings too and so do goats and sheep and cows and she makes up a very nice story about all of those animals on some kind of adventure that you'll try to remember the details of when you're 25 but they're lost to time, sacred to that one moment. she holds your hand and carries you on her shoulders and sings dolly parton to you until the sound of her voice is imprinted on your ears and even now if you try to hear it with your mind's ears and see her with your mind's eye the picture and sound is crystal clear.

They don't have any bags to pick up. Roy is still in his high heels, patent leather Gucci boots that tie together a matching set of heather gray sweats. They're too big for him. They're Joseph's - and Joseph is very tall. They make it through customs and arrivals smelling like airplane and smoke and sweat and the last 24 hours. Roy holds Sam's hand. Jonas and Leon promised to meet them at the airport - Roy's heart rate rises when he sees his brothers and falls when he gets a look at their faces.

They didn't make it.