It was late, and Meredith would be flying with Lily to Ibiza to get away from all the reporters. She'd called her parents and reassured them that she was just doing fine. And that she’d call them more often using Lily’s phone.

She sighed, staring blankly at the plane that was waiting on the tarmac.

It’d been days, and Lily had made her promise to never check the internet. They'd been on media lockdown – no phones, no internet, no social networks, no data whatsoever. It was Election Day and she was dying to know the results, but she was sticking to Lily’s rules.

She had to do it because she believed it was the best thing to do.

Wearing sunglasses and a cap, she gritted her teeth as anxiety devoured her.Lily handed Meredith a bag of gummy bears, which was usually an effective distraction. But she found them unappealing this time. Meredith grimaced and shook her head.

“Nah, thanks,” she murmured apologetically.

“It’s going to be okay, Mer. We’ll meet a lot of hot guys. You know, I heard Ibiza was a whole lot better than Bali. And I’m telling you, Bali is crazy. Imagine Ibiza!” Lily screeched excitedly.

She tried to smile, but not hard enough to actually make it happen.

She didn’t want to spoil Lily’s excitement, but she just couldn’t feel it herself. She was about to leave everyone and everything she knew. She’d be leaving the one man she loved.

Meredith and Lily fell in line when the gate called them to board for first class. Every step felt like she was walking on a pile of nails.

“Relax, it’s going to be okay. You’ll be okay,” she heard Lily whisper.

“Yeah,” she agreed, releasing an exasperated sigh and hoping to placate her friend.

When they boarded the plane, she noticed that several flight attendants were pointing and smiling at her. Her stomach plummeted, and her cheeks reddened in embarrassment. She pulled her cap lower and bit her lip, hoping that they would stop acting rude.

She felt a light squeeze on her shoulder.

It was Lily, smiling at her.

“None of this will matter anymore once we get there,” she said, fixing her seatbelt the moment they settled in their seats.

“Yeah, I know.” Meredith couldn't stop the tears that began to well up in her eyes..

She wanted to slap herself in the face for feeling so emotional. It wasn't like she was going away forever. It was just for a couple of months.

Lowering her head to hide her tears, she grabbed a magazine and started flipping through the pages. She could hear passengers getting  onboard, filling the plane. She was not in the mood to talk when a flight attendant walked up to her suddenly.

“Meredith Fields?” asked the brunette woman in uniform. She had a nice smile on her face, and she held an iPad in her hands.

Meredith looked up.  “Yes?”.

“I think you should see this before you fly across the ocean,” the flight attendant said, turning the screen of the iPad to face Meredith..

“What are you doing?” Lily said. “She’s not supposed to ”

Lily’s protests were left hanging in the air when a video on the iPad started playing. It was a recording of Elijah’s TV appearance, confessing his feelings, saying that he was willing to give up being president just to be with her.

The tears she was trying to swallow flowed freely down her cheeks. She raised her head and looked at the smiling cabin crew, who were clearly delighted and giddy. 

Meredith bit her lip and took a quick glance at Lily who was frozen, still looking at the iPad.

“Do you think… it's too late for me to get off the plane?” she asked the flight attendant. 

The woman smiled then shook her head.

Meredith looked at Lily who was already on her feet, looking more energetic than ever.

“Well, what are you waiting for? I think there’s a man you need to track down.” 

Lily made it sound like a manhunt. Yes, she was out to hunt down the man who had stolen her heart. 

Dropping the magazine, she grabbed Lily’s wrist and they ran down the aisle  of the plane together. 

She was in pursuit of her happiness.

And it was to be with Elijah.