Chapter Text
“I can’t believe we still have two more hours to the hotel,” Margo grumbled. “I don’t regret taking the scenic drive out to Kennedy with you, but Christ am I tired.”
Margo tried to juggle her car keys, soda, and paper McDonald’s bag in the same hand and almost spilled her drink. She muttered a curse under her breath. Sergei placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Margo, please, you should rest, let me drive.”
“Not a chance, Sergei.”
Margo corralled him into the shotgun seat before she climbed behind the wheel. Sergei was an awful driver. His spontaneity and penchant for technical improvisation did not exactly make a man who abided by traffic signals. She had banned him from the driver’s seat after he almost ditched her car in the Gulf of Mexico back in Louisiana.
Sergei sighed in exaggerated resignation and buckled himself into his seat.
“Well, fine, I will amuse myself with this excellent literature instead.” He held a thick stack of tourist brochures in his hand. Margo narrowed her eyes. She didn’t like where this was going.
Margo started the car and took a sip of her soda as Sergei unfolded one of the brochures. He spread it out wide, with a mischievous glint in eyes. Margo spied a flash of a castle on one of the brochure panels. Wait, he wasn’t seriously thinking of—
“Did you know, according to this brochure, that Disney World is a mere hour from our hotel in Cape Canaveral?”
“Sergei, please don’t tell me you want to go to Disney World.”
“I am an American now, am I not? And what better way to celebrate my new life in your glorious country,” his tone was teasing, “than to make a pilgrimage to Walt Disney’s altar to capitalism?”
Margo choked on her drink. “Oh my God, Sergei, really?”
Sergei scratched the back of his neck, a sheepish grin on his face. “Also, I very much love amusement park rides. Have you ever been, Margo?”
“No, I never really had the time for it.” That was a lie. She’d been out to the Kennedy Space Center dozens of times. It was pretty common for NASA staff and astronauts to bring their families over to Disney World. Margo just never saw the need for her to go, not with her being so alone.
“Well, now you have the time! Come on, it will be fun,” he pleaded.
Sergei had plotted for weeks with Emma to find some way to convince Margo to use some of her quite frankly ludicrous amount of accumulated PTO. At first, they’d convinced her to go to Kennedy Space Center in person for the launch of the new Europa rover. It was a historic occasion, after all. Wouldn’t Margo want to be there for the launch of the first rover that could find extraterrestrial life?
Then, Sergei started dropping hints that he wanted to go on a road trip to “experience America.” Emma would make pointed comments about Margo looking tired, and wouldn’t it be nice if she treated herself to a vacation? Soon, they weren’t subtle at all about dragging her outside of Houston. Between the two of them assaulting her on all sides with visions of New Orleans jazz clubs, sunny Florida, and soft beaches, she didn’t stand a chance.
Margo was caving again.
“We’re two childless engineers in our fifties. Don’t you think we’re a little outside of the target demographic?” Margo laughed at him, but not ungently.
“Never too old to have fun!” Sergei clapped an enthusiastic hand on her knee. “We still have a few days before lift off. Besides, from one engineer to another, you will not be bored. If you want, we can calculate the physics of the rides,” he tempted in a playfully alluring tone.
Sergei lifted his hand to brush the nape of her neck, stroking that damnable sensitive spot that never failed to send shivers up her spine. His other hand cupped her check and drew her face towards his for a slow, decadent kiss. Margo sighed as his mouth moved to pepper her jawline and neck with kisses.
“And you know very well I am not boring company,” he murmured lowly in her ear.
“You don’t have to seduce me into going to Disney World with you, Sergei,” she laughed, pushing his chest away from her. “I was already gonna say yes.”
“What if I want to seduce you for other reasons?” He leaned back into her. Margo put her hand over his lips before he could kiss her again and drag her into doing something terribly indecent in the McDonald’s parking lot. He nipped lightly at her palm.
“You’re gonna spill my drink. Can’t you wait until we get to the hotel tonight for once?”
“I will try my very best, Margo.” Sergei laid his hand over his heart in a promise she knew he had no intention of keeping.