It really was not a good time to travel.

The turbulence rocking the light DC10 airplane was frightening the passengers. They hadn't flown into any bad weather; there shouldn't even be any turbulence.

When the lights in the cabin went out, the din got even louder. Save for a few runner lights, it became as dark inside as it was outside. Frank unbuckled his seat belt to help the stewardess up off the floor so she could secure herself in the empty seat next to him.

"Thank you." she breathed a sigh of relief. "At least, we are still in the air. Right?"

Yeah. At least we are still alive you mean.

A moment later, Frank noticed a hush suddenly descend upon the cabin. One by one, all the passengers collapsed as if a switched had been turned off. He looked over at the stewardess. She was out too. Miraculously, he was the last one to remain awake only to witness a sight too fantastic to be believable. They were being drawn into a bright light.

He shielded his eyes as the plane entered the phenomenon. His last thoughts were with Olivia.

x

Peter Bishop watched as Ella walked down the stairs in her lavender taffeta dress. He couldn't keep from smiling at her proudly. She looked very elegant and grown up.

"How do I look, sir?" She effected a little twirl at the bottom of the landing.

Something looked off. Peter saw why. He stepped closer and pulled the tissues that were sticking out from the top of her dress. Girls should not have to grow up too fast. "You look lovely, my dear." She was only twelve, but she was going to turn a few heads and break a few hearts at the dance.

"Ella Jae!" Rachel could be heard yelling from the bedroom upstairs.

"Uh oh." Ella covered her earlobes to hide the borrowed earrings and hastily ducked into the kitchen to avoid her mother's wrath.

Peter laughed heartily. It was good to see this normal people thing. It made the house feel like a real family lived there. It didn't hurt that they were also Olivia's family either.

When Rachel told Peter that she had landed a job in Cambridge, he insisted that she and Ella move in with him and Walter. At first she argued that she didn't want to impose, but Peter finally convinced her that someone could look after Ella when she was at work. Besides he loved kids.

It worked out better than planned. With Rachel's permission, Ella got to spend more time at the lab with them. She was a genius in her own right when she picked Walter for a study partner. She excelled in the sciences and mathematics. The child seemed to grasp the basic principles of science more than most kids her age would. Every time she displayed comprehension of new concepts, Walter beamed like a proud papa.

It wasn't long before Rachel was a fixture at the lab too. On one such occasion, she brought Peter a box of Olivia's things. "I thought you might want some of these. I hadn't really sorted out which belong to my sister and which were the other..." Peter noticed that Rachel's eyes were downcast. She still would choke up when she talked about her. She didn't regard her as an impostor; she only remembered becoming very close to her during those last days together. She had that effect on people.

Seeing her obvious distress, Peter pulled her into a comforting embrace. "It's OK. I missed her too."

She kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks Peter. I...uh...I'm going to see if Ella is ready to go." She dabbed the tears from her eyes before leaving the lab office.

Alone at last, Peter started to go through the box of Olivia's things. There was an earpiece he recognized as a communications device from the other side. There was a drawing of a man. Looks like it could have been a boyfriend. Besides these items there were keepsakes one would expect her to take home one day. Such as photos with Rachel and Ella. She also had photos of him an Walter, Astrid, Broyles and even Gene. Odd. There didn't seem to be a photo of the two of them together.

Thinking about it now. Peter couldn't remember ever having a photo taken with either Olivia. That was going to change for sure when he saw her again.

He was still looking at her photo fondly when Walter walked in. "I liked her very much Peter. She was a great help to me." He said with a pat on his back. "But I know she was not my Olive."

Peter was surprised by Walter's sudden admission; it really took him off guard. "I have known for quite some time."

He really wasn't in the mood to talk to him about this right now. "Look. Walter." Peter tried to explain, but Walter cut him off.

"Please Peter. I need your help." Walter was growing agitated by the second. "I...I...I need go back. I have to go back to bring Olive home. It's my fault she crossed over in the first place."

"Walter! You can't. You know that." Peter put his hands on his father's shoulders, maybe he can instill some calm into the man. "We are all working on a solution. We all want her back. You can't just cross over. Think of the consequences." Before Walter could respond, Peter's phone rang.

"Hello."

x

Peter found Broyles standing just outside the hospital. He had just finished talking on his phone and waved Peter over. "The plane suddenly appeared over the North Atlantic. It's crew and all 20 passengers on board were found unconscious. Fortunately it was on automatic and landed safely at JFK."

"Where did it come from?" They proceeded down a corridor to a special wing of the hospital.

"We have a mystery on our hands. That's just it. It's not from around here. Something tells me it's from the other side." Broyles pulled out a photograph from a file folder. "What do you make of this?" It was a picture of a couple, Olivia and a man. Peter immediately recognize the man from the drawing he saw earlier.

"That's her boyfriend." Peter volunteered matter-of-factly.

"These people just started to wake up an hour ago. The passenger manifest listed his name as Frank Stanton."

"Agent Broyles." Astrid caught up with them from behind. "Peter."

"What is it, Agent Farnsworth?"

"Sir. These people are not entirely here in our reality."

"What?" This came from Peter.

"Well. I was just at the nurse's station. Outwardly they appear normal, but we are unable to get any reliable vital signs."

Peter exchanged a glance with Broyles.

"Thanks Astrid."

x

The taste in Frank's mouth did nothing to settle the nausea inside of him. He looked around and noticed he was not alone; he was surrounded by the other passengers from his flight. They seem as disoriented as he felt. He had no idea how he got here, wherever here was.

Whilst doctors and nurses were checking everyone's health in his group, a man in casual black attire was walking over to his bed.

"Mr. Stanton? How are you feeling?"

He seemed familiar, but Frank couldn't remember where he had seen him before.

He flexed his extremities to be certain. "OK. I think."

"That's good. I would like to talk with you. If I may?" Frank nodded his assent.

"I'm Peter Bishop. You've heard of the other universe I gather." He paused to gauge Frank's reaction. He wore a confused expression. "What happened to you out there?"

"Er..." Frank still felt a fog was hanging over his head, but he tried hard to recall. "Uh...All I could remember was an intense bright light. Nothing else comes to mind."

x

Broyles was waiting patiently outside the ward. "Did you find out anything useful?"

Peter shook his head. "I'm sure of one thing. We caused that plane to cross over. I've examined the flight logs too. That plane disappeared right when we ran a test scenario at Massive Dynamic the other day."

x

Frank closed his eyes and inhaled an unsteady breath. It had been a surreal ordeal. A woman's scream broke his reverie. He looked over to see the stewardess freaking out uncontrollably.

He wanted to get up and calm her down, when he saw something even more shocking. He could literally see right through his arms.

"Ahhh!" Frank felt a tingling feeling beginning in his arms. Pretty soon the same sensation coursed through the rest of his body. So preoccupied with his own condition, he didn't notice when everyone else around him started fading out of existence as well.


I couldn't just let poor Frank be gone forever. How could I? So there.
The end of this ride is near.