Lisa awoke when she heard the man in front of her speak.

"Trouble, miss?"

"Yes. My Harold's gone!"

"I'm sure he just went off to the restroom and will be right back."

"Would you mind checking?"

A pause. "Not at all."

"Oh, and could you take a blanket?"

"Ma'am?"

"I'm afraid he's gone off naked. He's a terribly shy man, he'll be embarrassed."

"Does your husband have epilepsy?"

"No."

"Sleepwalking?"

"No."

"I'll be right back." Lisa smiled to herself. What a nice man. She wished she met more like him.

Lisa stirred and Jackson stretched as several other people in the plane awoke. She leaned forward to peer into the old man's seat out of instinct. She gasped.

"Jackson," she choked out, pushing his arm. "The man! He's gone!"

"It's a big plane, Leese," he said in disgust.

"No! His clothes, everything! His watch, and look! A filling, right on top of his clothes! They're all left behind!"

Jackson sighed in exasperation and looked. He frowned bemusedly and shrugged. But Lisa saw the worried expression on his face as screams filled the plane. A blonde flight attendant raced down the aisle, tears streaming from her eyes. Lisa stood. Jackson caught her arm.

"What the hell did you do, Jackson?" she accused, pushing him away. "What did you do to all of these people?"

"Nothing!" he cried, running a hand through his long dark hair. "For once, I can admit I have no idea what's going on."

Lisa pushed past him and ignored his cries for her to come back. As she darted down the aisle she accidentally plowed into the man who'd helped the elderly.

"What's going on?" she begged him. He just shrugged helplessly and slid past her back to the old woman.

Jackson caught up with her and took her shoulders. Looking around, Lisa saw dozens of seats empty, all with clothes, glasses, jewelry, even hearing aids and such in a neat pile on the chairs. She began shaking as the captain came out from the cockpit.

"Everyone, please, return to your seats so we can figure this out," the handsome man ordered loudly. Lisa nodded and she and Jackson sat back down. Amidst the chaos she heard the nice man yelling for the upset people to sit. Finally Jackson stood up, disgruntled, and helped him.

Several minutes later the captain's voice came over the intercom.

"Folks, we're about halfway to our initial destination, but unfortunately they aren't landing any planes in London. We're going to turn around and head back to O'Hare. Fuel won't be a problem since, as I said, we're almost halfway. I urge you to remain calm, and once we're back in service phones will be available to call your loved ones, though I'm not sure you'll be able to get through. Again, please remain calm." Lisa could tell that he, like everyone else on the plane, had no idea what was going on but was staying collected for the sake of the passengers. He clicked off.

Lisa checked her watch a while later. It was almost five am. Great.

"Shit." She shifted irritably in her seat and Jackson looked at her.

"What's wrong now?"

"I'm going to miss my meeting," she sighed. He shrugged.

"I'm not going to get paid."

"Oh, poor baby," Lisa replied sarcastically.

"Yeah, well," he caught the mild look of relief on her face. "Oh, don't think for a minute that you're off the hook. You're still making the call. I was talking about my job in London after that."

Lisa's heart sank. "Oh."

"In fact," Jackson peered out the window and grabbed the phone. "It's time."

Lisa set the phone back in the receiver. "They don't work yet, genius."

Jackson cursed. "Shit. I forgot. Well..." He glanced helplessly around, and finally his gaze caught the nice man ahead of them, tampering with the phones. "Wait here."

"Hey," he uttered quietly, sliding into the aisle next to the man. He jumped.

"What?"

"Are you getting the phones to work?"

"No. I'm getting the modem hooked to my computer."

Jackson sighed. "Well..."

"Listen, if you want, I can tap out a message for you via email and if you get a response..."

"Really?" Jackson was relieved. "That'd be great. Um...the address is Thanks, man. Just ask for Cynthia, and if the large party is still coming in. From Lisa."

The man gave him a weird look. "You don't look like a Lisa."

"I'm not. Its for my...girlfriend."

"Uh...ok. You have a phone or anything that I can get ahold of you on? If she responds after the plane lands?"

"Yeah." Jackson gave him his number, and returned to his seat.

"Problem solved," he told Lisa smugly, and buckled back up.

"Go to hell," she snapped. Little did she know how literal people would take those words in the days to come.