When the doors opened, the smell of cleanser, food, luggage, and bodies filled the blond's nostrils as she made her way through the crowd that was O'Hare Airport. Besides the smell, the first thing she had noticed was the amount of guards; there were a lot more about the airport than there normally were. Lately, relations between the United States and Germany had been... less than favorable. Germany had become far more secretive lately, and word was they were shutting down all flights in and out save for one airport, and shutting down most roads in or out save for just a select handful. The roads in and out were going to be very closely guarded, but no one knew quite when this was supposed to happen, or why, as Germany hadn't specified, and due to extremely stepped up security, no one had been able to find out on their own.

Rumor had it power had changed hands too, but so far no name had been released. All information that had been released from Germany to any other part of the world had been via newspaper and radio only. None of this had been any concern to Chauntel however. As far as she was concerned, she wasn't going to be there long enough for it to actually matter, so there was no need to worry. As Chauntel pushed her way through the crowd, luggage in hand, she had heard a loud voice behind her.

"Chauntel! Chauntel, wait up!"

Somehow she had known her African-American friend would show up, but she kind of had hoped he wouldn't. He wasn't here to see her off, he was here to try and stop her. He had thrown a fit when she had told him she'd needed to go to Germany for a week for a photo shoot, and she couldn't imagine this scene being much better than James' tantrum. She had really hoped she could leave her home without calling him to let him know she was going, and instead call him mid-flight to let him know she was about half way to Germany. Apparently that plan wasn't going to go over so well.

When Chauntel turned around to look at him, she could see he was angry with her. It was written all over his face, and on the sweat that beaded around his forehead and neck. She couldn't say she blamed him, since she was trying to sneak out of the country without so much as the smallest of goodbyes, but she hoped this wouldn't last too long. She had a flight to catch.

"Jimmy --"

"Chauntel," he interrupted as he finally caught up with her "you can't go. Did you not listen to a single word I said last week? Relations between Germany and the United States are going down the tubes very quickly. Chauntel, it is going to be dangerous over there. You need to tell your agent to shove it up his ass, and stay here."

"Jimmy," she said softly as she took a small towel from her handbag to wipe some of the sweat from his face and neck "I told you, I can't do that. This is my job, this is what I do. I can't just tell him to shove it. I'll loose everything I've worked so hard to build. Jimmy, this is my last chance.

"I can't screw it up this time. I have to go. Listen, I'll only be there for a week, and then I'll be home again."

"Chauntel," he said in a far more demanding tone than he usually liked using with her "you can not go. You can't! What if things suddenly get bad? You can't predict what's going to happen. That's why the President has recommended no one fly to Germany."

"And what if it doesn't?" She argued. "Then I'll have wasted a job and will have to work twice as hard to find something else that won't bore me to death. Jimmy, it's only a week. It'll be fine. What can happen in only seven days? Come on."

The look he gave her was of frustration, disbelief, and worry, and she could clearly see it painted on his face. James knew there wasn't going to be any arguing with her though, once Chauntel had made up her mind, there was nothing anyone could do to change it. Christ himself couldn't have changed her mind once it was made up. As she heard her flight number being called over the loudspeaker, she had turned her head momentarily, and then looked back at him with a carefree smile.

"I'll be back in a week, Jimmy. Nothing's going to happen. I'm not going to be there long enough for any exciting events to occur. Don't worry so much."

She had kissed his cheek as he stood there before her dumbfounded, and watched her rush off toward the gate. Time had almost stood still for James, and he had just stood staring as she disappeared. It wasn't until the gate was closed he had succeeded in thinking up another question to try to keep her around.

"Damn it all to Hell!" he swore after she left, nearly spitting on the ground.