Flight Emergency Ch. 02

Meanwhile a team had gone to the wrecked plane and ascertained that neither Melissa nor Roger had survived the crash. That the plane was virtually out of fuel accounted for it not catching fire on impact. With some effort the doors were wrenched open and the bodies retrieved, placed in body bags and laid on the floor at the rear of the chopper. Micha got to sit up front beside the pilot for the return to RAAF Richmond.

Mitchell landed and taxied over to a hangar. There was a huge media contingent waiting for him, they certainly didn't mess about getting there, it required security clearances for all of their crew, reporters, cameramen, lighting and sound technicians and while some of the personnel would already have clearance from prior visits it was a feat of logistics regardless. He held up his hand to get some sort of order into the melee. "Do you mind, I'll be happy to talk to you, but not here, and not now. Firstly I have to meet a very important person." He looked towards the landing chopper. He left the media behind him as he walked towards the chopper, he could see Micha seated beside the pilot wearing a helmet that was way too big for her little head. As soon as it stopped, one of the crew lifted her from the chopper and carried her towards Mitchell.

"Put me down."

She was lowered to the tarmac. As soon as her feet touched the ground she ran to Mitchell and threw herself into his arms. "Daddy, I just knew that you would come and save me, I just knew it!" Her arms were around his neck and she was kissing him, tears streaming down her face. Cameras whirred, this would make a great story for the evening news bulletin.

"You know I wouldn't let you get too hurt don't you." He had seen the splint and realised that she probably had a broken arm.

"You mean this thing." She held the arm out for him to see. "That doesn't hurt a bit. Did you see me Daddy, I got to ride in the front of the helicopter, wasn't that great?"

They were met with a barrage of questions. "I am just glad that Micha has survived largely unscathed. First things first, we have to take her to the Base Hospital for a thorough check up and have her arm set, then we are going home, and then we are going to our local Hospital where my wife and new son are. There will be a statement released to the media in due course, but my first priority is to my daughter. Thank you." Leaving an undiminished barrage of questions behind them, Micha and Mitchell followed the crewman to the Base Hospital where an amazed Medical Team declared that Micha need not be detained any longer, once her arm was set.

As they left the hospital the Base Commander met them. "We have assessed your situation and this is what we propose. We will take you by helicopter to the hospital so that you can be with your wife. She is very worried about both of you. The Staff at the hospital has tried to reassure her but with little success. The interests of mother and child will be best served by a reunion as soon as possible. Don't worry about your plane, I'll have a couple of our chaps ferry it to your place. Good luck to both of you, all of you."

"Thank you sir." Mitchell shook his hand.

"Thank you mister." Micha stood on tip toes and gave him an unexpected hug.

"You're a brave little girl." He hugged her in return.

"When I grow up I want to be a pilot. I think I want to be in the Air Force."

"We'd be delighted to have you." He saluted her in the best military fashion.

Micha returned his salute. She turned and was a little girl once more skipping after Mitchell and grabbing his hand.

The RAAF chopper landed on the helipad at the hospital and a medical team were waiting for them. "Julie and the baby are fine. The only real problem we have is that Julie has been too upset to be able to feed him. We're hoping that as soon as she sees you two she'll be able to relax. We've passed on the message that you're both fit and well but she needs to see you."

Julie heard footsteps hurrying down the corridor and she knew, she just knew, that it was Mitchell and Micha, she could feel their closeness, she could feel their love for her moving like a wave ahead of them. She rose from the chair in which she had spent the time that she wasn't pacing around the room, and opened the door. Mitchell looked the same as always, a smile splitting his face in two as he increased his pace and strode towards her, his arms already open to receive her.

But Micha, her face covered in patches and her plastered arm in a sling, beat him to her, throwing herself at Julie, she sobbed her relief at being safe, safe in the arms of the woman she loved as a mother, the woman that her father loved as his wife. She was now safe, safer than she had ever felt. She was now a little girl sandwiched between Mitchell and Julie, a little girl bathed in a mixture of emotions, emotions that ranged from relief that everyone was safe and well, to love. That was the important one, love.

The three of them stood around the crib in which their son and brother slept blissfully unaware of the dramas that had happened to those around him. Micha stood on a chair so that she could see into the crib. "He's really tiny, I don't think I could touch him, or I'd break him."

"You'll be fine. Say hello to Julian Mitchell Underwood."

"Julian, that's a nice name, oh, I get it, my name is like Daddy's so his is like Mummy's."

Julie collapsed in tears in Mitchell's arms. "That's the first time she's called me 'Mummy'.

We left them there, and Micha and I caught a cab home, the driver at first was reluctant to make the relatively long journey so near the end of his shift but two factors influenced his decision. The first being money, I offered to pay for the return plus a large tip and he wasn't going to pass that sort of money on to another driver and the second reason was he recognised us and his venal mind probably had it worked out that he could sell the story of his drive to the tabloid media.

Micha and I sat in the back seat of the car, me deep in thought of the events of the last couple of hours, Micha, exhausted and brave little Micha, fast asleep with her head on my lap.

As the cab pulled into my driveway the outside light came on and a whole bunch of people from the police to the media to Pete and Jan emerged to greet us. It was panning out to be a long night.

Jan picked Micha up and carried her inside, all the time being sleepily regaled about how she had ridden in the front of a helicopter, to her relief at seeing me circling the paddock where the plane crashed. I issued a short statement to the press that seemed to appease them and they left. Soon there were just the two of us and Pete and Jan. There was a meal waiting for us and coffee for me, and a stiff Scotch, one of Pete's single malts, although a cheap generic would have sufficed in my mood, I was numb to all feeling at this moment.

I wanted Micha to stay home from school but she would have none of it. She was a hero and was going to milk it for all its worth. The reception committee that was waiting for us when we arrived at school had to be seen to be believed, Micha was immediately surrounded by her fellow students and in no time the marker pen had been put to work by students signing her cast.

"You will keep an eye on her, won't you?" I saw the Teacher's expression drop and I realised that she thought that she was somehow to blame for the abduction. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to infer that you were to blame. What I am concerned about is that she has been through an awful lot, and while I know kids have a resilience that we adults can only dream of, she may be hit with delayed shock."

"Don't worry about a thing Mister Underwood, we'll keep a close watch."

For the first time in months I found myself rattling about in an empty house. I did a load of washing and cleared up the dishes. I took a stroll around the farm to see if everything was okay, and was relieved to find my plane parked in the hangar. I walked over to it and gave it an affectionate pat on the engine cowling before checking the fuel and oil levels. I pushed her outside and hosed her down before pushing her, clean and shiny, back into her hangar.

Pete came over after lunch and we discussed farm business and, on hearing that Julie and Julian would be out of hospital the next day, extended an invitation for Micha and I to have dinner with him and his family.

About mid afternoon I received a phone call from one of the tabloid gossip magazines offering me an obscene amount of money for the story of Micha's heroic escape from the plane wreck. I told them that I would have to discuss it with my wife, and if she agreed I would only do it on the basis that any monies would go to charity. I could almost hear the false emotions on the other end of the line. I have to admit that I have little time for this sensationalistic crap. To my surprise they agreed to my terms.

Over dinner I had to retell the events of the previous day. I choked when telling of seeing the wreckage of the plane and no sign of life, and then my relief at seeing Micha scrambling out of the wreck and staggering away from it, as well as my frustration at not being able to land and rescue her myself.

"But Daddy, you did rescue me. If you hadn't followed them I wouldn't have been found. I heard the Air Force men talking about how you were on the radio to them and how you stayed with me until they arrived. You are my hero Daddy."

"I think that everyone involved deserves credit, the police were very efficient and the RAAF guys were something else again. I couldn't have wanted better people helping out. My only regret is that Melissa was killed."

"How can you say that, knowing what she did to Micha?"

"In a way I felt sorry for her, she had become mentally unhinged and I don't believe that she was responsible for her actions."

"What about the pilot of the plane?"

"That's a different story, I have little sympathy for him, he took advantage of her when she was a Fight Attendant, and he went along with her crazy scheme instead of seeking help for her. I know it sounds harsh but he, more than her, deserved everything coming to him. He should have read the signs on the ground and either found somewhere else to land, or made a belly landing, the grass was wet and the plane would have skidded. He made two major errors of judgment yesterday, and paid dearly for both."

The next day I dropped Micha off at school and drove back home and changed the Morgan for the Range Rover, making sure that the baby capsule was firmly fixed on the back seat, and headed for the hospital. When I pulled into the forecourt I was met again by the media. "I am here to pick up my wife and son, this is a personal and emotional time for the both of us, so I would appreciate some respect for our privacy."

A microphone was shoved in my face and this reporter rudely asked me to comment on the rumour that we were planning to profit from the events of the last couple of days by selling our story to a women's magazine.

My response was a little short of civil, "I can categorically deny that rumour. I have been approached by one magazine and have spelt out that I would only do it if Julie agreed and then only if the money that they were offering was paid to charity. Now, I would ask that you leave us in peace. I will however allow photographs to be taken of us as we leave on the understanding that they be taken from a sufficient distance that the baby will not be disturbed."

Julie was ready to leave as I walked into her room. There were flowers everywhere and she had a thick wad of cards that she said that she would reply to, she was going to be busy. I gave her a hug and kissed her passionately, holding her to me. "I missed you so much. I can't wait to get both of you home so that our lives can return to normal."

"I'm with you there, the staff here has been great, really great, but I think that they're looking forward to some peace as well. It's been non-stop here, a magazine has been hounding me for our story, they're offering obscene amounts of money. I have told them that I would talk it over with you and give them a decision in a couple of days. I get the feeling that the story is ready to go to press already."

"It's probably the same one that has contacted me and I told them the same thing. If it is them I think that they have overstepped the bounds of harassment. Speaking of the media, there's a whole bunch of them waiting outside, I've told them that they can take pictures as long as they don't get too close. They'll probably want one of you holding young Julian here, so I'll carry the gear and you can carry him."

A nurse came in to see if we were ready to leave. "What do you want done with all of these flowers?"

"I think that it would be a good idea to spread them around the wards, in the nursing stations and places like that, it might help to brighten the place up a bit." Julie replied.

"Great, I'll see to it. Now do you need a hand with anything?"

I could see her big opportunity to bask in the media spotlight. I wasn't about to prevent that, so I gave her the bag with all of the cards to carry.

The media were mostly well behaved and we had no problem getting clear and it was with a sigh of relief that we were on the open road heading for home.

We were half expecting another media scrum when we drove up our driveway, but there was none, just Pete and Jan. "A couple of Journos rocked up a little while ago so I told them that they should leave you in peace."

"Thanks, I've just about had enough of this, if this is the price of fame you can stick it."

We sat around in the living room discussing the recent events in our lives, Pete and Jan stayed for lunch, Jan getting quite clucky, especially when Julian was suckling strongly at Julie's breast. What could be more peaceful than sharing quiet times with friends.

The quiet didn't last long though. With Julian in his baby capsule, Julie and I headed off to pick Micha up from school. Again the media. Flash guns were flashing as Micha ran to us as the car stopped, "Mummy, Daddy." She was gathered up between us and carried to the car and we let her look at Julian, asleep in his capsule, oblivious to the world around him, the world that was pressing in closer and closer, all striving for that one photo that would make them famous.

This time they wanted photos of the four of us. Micha was posed, seated on a bench in the playground nursing her baby brother. Then there was a request for a group shot, then one with Micha's school friends. It was about then that I called a halt. "Look, we have been very patient with you," I was trying to remain calm, a difficult feat given my feelings toward their invasion of our privacy. "Now I think that it is time that you respect our wishes and allow us to return to normal. Is there a representative here from (I named the glossy magazine)?" There was an affirmative answer. "I have a message for your Managing Editor, and it is this, I do not respect the way that she conducts business, I told her that I would discuss her offer with Julie and that should have been the end of it, but no, she had to put pressure on Julie at a time and place where she was already under pressure trying to establish a feeding regime while dealing with the external dramas that we were going through. Would you be so kind as to tell her that we want no part of her offer, end of story." I knew that the other media would jump on that story.

I placed Julian back into his capsule and we all climbed into the car and drove home.

Closure came from two directions. The Coronial enquiry found that the plane crash was caused by pilot error, Roger didn't heed the obvious warning signs and attempted an unsafe landing, possibly exacerbated by a lack of sufficient fuel that would have enabled him to seek an alternative landing site.

The second event held major ramifications for us as a family. I received a notice of hearing from the Family Court and was surprised to find Melissa's parents there. While I was friendly enough with them before and during my marriage to Melissa, I had not spoken to them since it all went pear shaped.

Melissa's father, George, came over to me while we waited for our matter to be called. "Don't worry Mitchell, this is just a formality." This made me more worried.

We entered the courtroom, Julie, Julian and I on one side, George and Emily on the other. The Judge entered and we sat down. He looked at both sides and cleared his throat. "I have here a notice of motion that seems a little unusual, I wonder if someone would care to explain what this is all about."

George rose. "Your Honour, Michelle, Micha Underwood is our grand-daughter and we love her dearly and would love to be able to apply for custody." I was just about to say something but Julie put her hand on my arm. "Since our daughter's death we would seem to be her only biological relatives and that would give us a greater claim to her than anyone else. However, we have thought of her well being and have decided that this would be better served if she were to remain in the sole custody of the man that she has, through her entire short life, regarded as her father, her true father. We have looked at the traumas that Mitchell and his family have had to cope with because of our daughter, and the way that they have managed this, and have decided that Micha is their daughter in every sense."

"Why did you see fit to bring this to this court, surely this is a matter between both parties?"

"We wanted to make this official. We wanted Mitchell to know that we would never seek custody. Once we have achieved that, we wanted to publicly acknowledge our debt of gratitude to this man, Mitchell Underwood and his lovely wife Julie, they have come through this whole episode with a dignity that I could only dream of, and we, Emily and I, know that our grand-daughter is in the best possible hands. Thank you, that's all that I wanted to say."

"George, I don't want you to miss out on seeing Micha grow up, I don't want you to walk away from her. You are welcome to visit her at any time, you will be invited to any and all milestones in her life. I will not deny you that. I will make this promise to you, Julie and I will raise Micha as our own."

That all happened many years ago. Today I am a proud father. Today Julie, Julian and Rory, our second son, my parents, Julie's parents and Melissa's parents, are all in the public area watching as Micha fulfils her dreams. Today Micha Underwood graduates as a Pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force.