If Noah had to pinpoint the moment his and Rachel's marriage ended, it would be the day of Nathan's second birthday. That was two years ago, but that was when Noah knew they weren't going to make it.

He and Rachel got married shortly after Nathan was born and had been married since. Noah didn't know why it all went wrong, he just knew it did.

They started fighting. It was just little things, but it started making life unpleasant. If it had just been the fighting, he thought they could have survived that, gotten over that.

But then Jesse St. James and his wife, Dianna, got divorced. It was all over the tabloids that he had cheated, that she had found him in bed with another woman, that he was sleeping with a close friend of his.

The fighting turned to suspicion and jealousy. Noah was convinced Rachel was the reason Jesse and his wife divorced. After all, she had changed her whole life for him—she moved to LA to star in his movie, even though her boyfriend was in San Francisco. She bent over backwards for Jesse, but never did the same for Noah.

Rachel swore time and time again that nothing was going on between her and Jesse, but there was always that little voice in the back of Noah's head that told him she was lying.

He wasn't sure when he started sleeping on the couch instead of in their bed, but after the first night on the couch, he never went back to the bed.

He wanted a divorce. He wanted out of the marriage badly, but he didn't want to abandon his son. Then there was Rachel. She was terrified what a divorce would do to her reputation.

So they stayed unhappily married for another two years.

Noah was sick of it. He was sick of pretending to be happy for the cameras, sick of accompanying her to movie premieres, sick of resenting her for keeping him trapped in a loveless marriage.

The only thing he loved was their son. Nathan. Nathan was a skinny little runt of a kid who idolized his father. Anywhere Noah went, Nathan followed.

Since Rachel was always busy with this movie or that interview, Noah spent most of his time with Nathan. He refused to get a nanny, wanting to raise his own son instead of pay someone else to do it.

Noah knew things were going to get even worse than they already were when Rachel got an offer to be on Broadway. She had originally planned to do that before they got married, but then she got pregnant with their son and had to back out of the show.

Now, however, she was in the best shape of her life and was itching to go to New York. Noah could have cared less—if she was on the other side of the country, he wouldn't have to put up an act all the time. He could stay in California with his son and enjoy life for once.

Rachel, however, wasn't planning on leaving Nathan with him. She wanted him with her in New York.

That night, they had a huge fight, complete with screaming and name calling. Noah knew if he didn't get out of there, he would actually hurt her.

So he left. He didn't leave, he just left for the night. He spent the night at Kurt's, staying up the whole night telling Kurt exactly what had happened to his marriage.

Kurt had moved to Los Angeles not long after graduating from Tisch. He'd done a few movies with Rachel, but he enjoyed TV more. He'd been the lead on the same show for five years now and had won an Emmy each year for it.

Kurt, even though he was Rachel's best friend, still felt for Noah. The man was unhappy, and he thought it was awful how Rachel was keeping him in a marriage neither of them wanted.

When Noah returned home, Rachel was pacing back and forth.

"Where have you been?" she snapped, not bothering to even say hello.

"Out," he said, looking around for his son. "Where's Nathan?" he asked.

"Napping, so keep your voice down. He just fell asleep and I don't want to wake him up." She sat down on the couch, leaning her head back. "Have you decided what you're going to do about New York?"

Rachel had been nagging him for weeks about New York. He still hadn't given her permission to take his son to New York for six months. The logical answer would be for him to come too, but he wanted the space form Rachel. He didn't want to have to pretend in another city that they were still in love.

"I don't want you to take him with you," Noah said quietly, taking a seat beside her, though he didn't touch her. "I want you to leave him here. You're going to be busy all the time, you'll never even notice he's not there."

"Noah, I'm not spending six months away from my child."

"But that's what you're asking me to do!" he snapped.

"No, I said you can come. You're the one who's being difficult and deciding to stay here instead of come with your wife and son to New York."

Noah sighed, resting his head in his hands. He knew what he had to do, and he knew how she was going to react. But it had to be done.

"Listen, I know we have to go away this weekend for the opening of the resort on our island. I promise I'll play along and do whatever you want while we're there. But when we come back, I'm getting a lawyer and filing for divorce. I can't do this anymore, Rachel. I'm sick of pretending we're something that we're not."

Noah was expecting shouted, yelling, cursing—he wouldn't have been surprised if she slapped him. Instead, he heard her let out a sigh of relief.

"Do you mean that?" she asked, not a trace of anger in her voice.

"Yes, I do. I'm sick of sleeping on the couch. I went to Kurt's last night and talked it over with him. He thinks it's for the best too. I know you're worried about what people will say, but we'll just tell people the truth—we grew apart."

Rachel nodded her head. "I knew this day was coming. And to tell you the truth, I'm kind of relieved. I'm sick of pretending as well. It'll be nice to finally go out in public and not have to pretend I'm happy when I'm not."

Noah bit his lip, bringing up the one thing that was going to be a problem. "What about Nathan? What are we going to do with him? I don't want this to turn ugly, Rachel, but I'm not going to give up my son."

"I know you're not." She placed her hand on top of his. Noah let her keep it there, not pulling back like he normally would. For once, they were acting like adults. "We'll discuss it with our lawyers. But I'm willing to share custody of him if you are."

Noah smiled—the first real one in months—and nodded his head. "Yes, I think that would be best. You can keep the house in Los Angeles and I'll get an apartment."

"Don't be silly, Noah. I'm going to be in New York for the next six months. You'll stay here with Nathan while I'm gone—maybe you can bring him out a few times a month so I can see him. Then, we'll buy another house nearby for when I return. I don't want this to be too stressful for our son. He needs stability."

Noah nodded his head in agreement. "He does. We have time to figure this out." He leaned forward and kissed Rachel on the forehead, a gesture he'd gotten so used to doing over the years. "I still have to finish packing for tomorrow. What time are we leaving?"

"Nine. The flight's at eleven. My fathers are landing in a few hours, so they should be here by dinner time. I'd rather not mention this to them. Not yet. We'll tell everyone when we get back, okay?"

"Yes, I agree. I don't want anyone leaking anything to the press until after the resort opening. They expect us to be in love for that. After all, it's a couple's resort."

xxxxx

Rachel and Noah had been sitting on the plane in silence for over an hour. Neither one knew what to say to the other. She knew they'd have to start acting like they were in love again soon, but for once, it was nice not to have to pretend.

Noah had had a few drinks already and looked close to passing out. Rachel had decided to stay sober—she tended to say whatever was on her mind when she drank.

Rachel still wasn't comfortable flying. She would fly occasionally, but nothing over six hours. This flight, however, was nine, and it was already a challenge for Rachel.

As soon as they boarded, she shut the shade on the window, not wanting to look out at the air. She had hoped to sleep, but that proved impossible. Instead, she watched movie after movie on the little TV in front of her seat.

She heard a snore and looked to her left. Noah was fast asleep, his head lolling onto her shoulder. She wasn't looking forward to nursing a hung over Noah, but it would most likely be the last time she ever had to do that.

Rachel thought she'd be mourning the end of her marriage, but she wasn't. She was relieved. Sure, she was going to miss Noah at times, but now she could finally move on with her life.

She knew people would speculate about her and Jesse, but the truth was she'd never even kissed Jesse since she'd been with Noah.

She and Jesse were more like siblings than friends. She couldn't imagine starting a relationship with him, even if her agent thought it would be a good career move.

Rachel knew the real reason behind his and Dianna's split, but she'd been sworn to secrecy. So, when Noah started accusing her of breaking up his marriage, she couldn't tell him the real reason for the split, as much as she wanted to. Perhaps that could have saved her own marriage, but she wasn't going to betray her oldest friend like that.

Rachel felt the plane shake slightly and was seized by a slight panic, but the turbulence stopped a moment later and she relaxed.

She was being silly. It was close to impossible for two people to be in a plane crash twice. Besides, turbulence was normal. The plane was going to land fine, they'd open the resort, then go home and back to their lives.

The stewardess walked past her, asking if she wanted anything. Rachel shook her head, going back to her movie. Nothing was wrong. Everything was fine.

However, when the plane lurched forward after a deafening bang, Rachel knew things were not fine. Something was wrong. Something was horribly, horribly wrong.

Noah's eyes flew open as the plane began dropping quickly. He looked around, disoriented. "What's going on?" he asked, his voice slurred from sleep and alcohol.

Rachel looked at him with wide eyes, shaking her head. "I don't know," she whispered, gripping his shirt tightly. "There was a bang and now we're falling."

It was true. The plane was falling. The overhead baggage dropped into the aisles as the air masks descended from the ceiling. Rachel grabbed hers, pulling it over her mouth, breathing rapidly.

Noah did the same, attempting to remain calm for Rachel's sake. People were screaming, holding onto their seats for dear life.

Noah reached under his seat, grabbing the life preserved he knew was there.

Just in case.

There was another deafening blow as the second half of the plane was ripped off. Rachel turned back, looking as it fell before a loud explosion. She closed her eyes, saying a silent prayer for everyone who had been in the back of the plane.

The front half started spinning, moving faster towards the earth. Noah put his arms around Rachel, holding her close as he leaned his head forward, murmuring instructions to her.

"Rachel, we're going to crash. You and I both know it. But we also survived this once before. We can do it again. If we hit the water, I want you to grab your seat and swim up as fast as you can. Get to the surface before the plane pulls you down with it."

"Noah, I can't," she said, starting to cry. "I'm not strong like you. I don't even remember the last crash. I was knocked out, remember?"

"Rachel, stay with me!" he yelled. "I know you're scared and I know you think we're going to die, but we're not. We're survivors, Rachel. You and me. We're strong, and we're going to live through this again. So, if we land in the water, you're going to take your seat cushion and swim like hell for the surface. Got it?"

Rachel nodded her head frantically. "Yes, yes, I got it! What about you?" she asked.

"I'm going to find the safety raft."

"Noah, no," she whispered. "You'll drown trying. I can't do this without you. I need you to stay with me."

"No, Rachel. We need that raft. I'm going to find it, and then I'm going to get out of here and find you. We'll get in the raft and try to find land like last time. We can do it. Say it with me, Rachel."

"We can do it," she whispered.

"Louder!" Noah shouted as the plane sped forward, the water quickly approaching.

"We can do it!" she cried. "We can do this Noah. We're survivors!"

"That's right. We're survivors. We can do this. We have to. For Nathan."

Rachel took his hand in hers and nodded. "For Nathan," she whispered as the plane hit the water.