AN: Thanks for the incredible response to this new Snowing story! I'm really excited about this one and blending the worlds of Once and Manifest. And it seems my readers are too. I did not classify this as a crossover, because that's not really what it is. This is a Manifest type story with mostly Once characters. I have kept a couple Manifest characters and a few minor ones may pop up. The notable Manifest characters I have kept so far are Vance and Olive as Snowing's daughter. You also do not have to worry about any love triangles for Snowing. That's not my thing and this will always be a Snowing story.
Another thing to note is that I've taken some liberties with the relationships as well. Most notably, Emma and David are siblings and they grew up with Mary Margaret, so Emma and Mary Margaret are very close as well. Due to Robert being a drunk after Ruth dies, David and Mary Margaret pretty much raised Emma while raising themselves. Another thing to note, Henry is in the place of Cal here as Snowing's son and Emma's nephew. Most everything else will become clear as you read. I hope you enjoy this new story and join me on another journey. This one will update bi-weekly on Monday nights. It is much appreciated and here are individual responses to reviews:
Ghostwriter: Yep, it's all connected. Glad you're enjoying it. :)
Jennifer Baratta: Thanks! Glad you liked it. :)
Grace5231973: Me too, I'm glad Olive sees Lance as just a friend. I like that they are working it out as a family from the beginning.
Number Ten: Yep, Henry saw something for sure. Yeah, Vance is not bad like he seemed at first. Glad you liked the flashbacks. :)
Sexystarwarslover: Yep, it's all connected. Henry saw something. Yeah, it seemed like a fitting title for this chapter. Yep, open on a flashback. This one opens on a flashback too. It was a rough one for Margaret. Yep, David just figured out that Henry's is having Callings. Yep, Bethany was arrested. Me too, I'd like to see David and Olive rebuild their relationship too. Yeah, Olive's right, but it's hard for Margaret. Now that David is back, she'd like to pretend Lance doesn't exist. I love that song too. Yep, in the zone David is hot! Yep, Henry loves the weirdness. Glad you enjoyed it! :)
AnonSnowing: You're welcome! I know, that flashback was hard to write. But they got them back, even if it was a rough five years. Yep, an adventure to Coney Island and a selfie to Margaret, which we know cheered her up immensely. Yep, it's all connected and now David knows that Henry is getting Callings. Yes, Bethany was arrested. Yeah, still dumb reporters outside their house. Yep, I totally get why Margaret wants Lance and Olive's friendship to fade. She wants her daughter to build a relationship with her father. Yes, the Nolan's are very tight knit. Yeah, that little flashback with their song was rough too, but got better in the present day. I know, David singing is swoon worthy. Yep, she waited and they were reunited. I love that she is turned on by watching him work, lol. Glad you enjoyed it!
Lightning in a Bottle
Chapter 19: Off Radar, Pt 1
Flashback - the plane
"Ugh...I hate these forms. You're the egghead...will you do mine for me?" Emma whined. He chuckled.
"No...you're a big girl now. Do you own," David teased, as they filled out the custom forms. They had just taken off and decided to get their forms done right away. Henry heard some commotion behind them, as a man speaking in another language tried to get help with his form.
"I'm sorry...I don't understand," Bethany said regrettably.
"Um...I understand him. I can help," Regina offered, as she spoke to the man in his native tongue. A bit of relief came over his face, as she helped him and Henry smiled at that.
"Dad...do you know any other languages?" Henry asked.
"I took French for a while in high school...but I don't remember a lot of it," he said.
"That's because he was too busy making out with your mom," Emma chimed in. He chuckled.
"And your Mom is fluent in sign language, which she taught to me. She has some deaf students in her class," David answered him, as he continued to fill out the forms. Henry glanced back at the man once more and then looked ahead.
David and Margaret were roused from their sleep, as they heard their son calling out frantically from his room. They jumped out of bed and rushed into his room to find him thrashing in his bed and sweating profusely, all while crying out something unintelligible.
"Ayudame" he cried.
"What is he saying?" David wondered, as they both scooped him up into their arms, holding him between them.
"I don't know, David, but he's burning up," she said fearfully. With that, he swept their son into his arms.
"Let's go…" he said, as she hurried to wake Olive and Emma and within minutes, they were all in the car on the way to the hospital.
Ayudame!" Henry repeated, further alarming his family, as David drove them to the hospital as fast as he could, while Margaret called Regina.
Behind the closed doors of an NSA conference room, the symposium on the flight 828 was still in session, despite the late hour.
"Our studies have sufficient evidence to support the existence of temporal disturbances. Such disturbances could lead to incidents like teleportation," one female scientist argued.
"I have studied temporal disturbances too and there is nothing in these conditions that suggest a temporal disturbance is what happened here. Teleportation would not explain the disappearance for almost six years," another male scientist argued.
"Then you think it was a wormhole? That would explain the time lapse," another male scientist said.
"It would," the first man agreed.
"Except that we know that wormholes usually don't open up in the same place and time again," a woman argued.
"We don't even know enough about wormholes to know whether or not that is true or not," the first woman pointed out.
"This is an utter waste of time," Vance muttered.
"You should have brought a puzzle or something. It's a good way to pass the time," Gold commented, without looking up from his crossword book. Vance gave him a withering look, which of course, Gold ignored.
"We still haven't ruled out that one thing that no one seems to want to talk about," another scientist said, one that some of them considered to be a fringe practitioner.
"Come on...the time lapse, memory loss, and strange things happening around the passengers now? This screams extraterrestrials," he said, getting groans from some in the room.
"Here we go," Vance muttered, as he stood up.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the hour grows late and I suggest we dismiss for the evening," Vance said, vacating the meeting for now.
"Now that they're gone, perhaps you'd like to discuss this," Gold said, as he pushed the newspaper toward him, with the headline about the arrest of passenger Tisbe Taylor's murder. Made by another passenger, Emma Nolan, of all people.
"I'd love to, but I haven't heard from her partner. I'm assuming he is choosing not to assist me," Vance replied.
"You knew that was a long shot at best," Gold stated.
"Yes...and apparently six symposiums later and no answers was a long shot as well," Vance said.
"What do you make of this?" Vance asked.
"I'm not sure yet, but something tells me that we're going to know more very soon," Gold replied.
Flashback
The Day the Plane Returned
Regina's mind was still reeling from learning that it had been five and a half years had passed. She had no luggage to pick up like expected and no apartment to go to. But as she looked over at the group of about thirty people, she listened to someone direct them toward five vans just outside the terminal.
"Excuse me...where are they going?" she asked one of the agents.
"Oh...no one showed up for any of them, so we're taking them to shelters for now until they can get on their feet," the agent told her. Regina felt sad at that. At least she had a place to go...home with her father. She couldn't imagine what those poor people were feeling at the moment. She watched the five vans drive off and then turned to go find her father. She was going home with someone that loved her and for that, she was grateful.
Regina met them at the admission's desk and the attending physician approached as well.
"I'm Dr. Victor Whale," he said and Margaret froze, as he noticed her.
"Please tell me there is another doctor available," she replied coldly.
"Uh, no I'm sorry...I'm what you have to deal with," he said awkwardly.
"Fine...just save our son," she snapped.
"I'm Dr. Mills...I've been administering his cancer treatment," Regina said.
"Okay...let's get him into a room and see what's going on," Whale replied, as they followed him to a hospital room.
"Ayudame" he cried, as Margaret cradled him.
"It's okay baby...it's okay…" she cried.
"He's saying help me," Regina mentioned.
"Is that what it means?" David asked.
"Yes...help me in Spanish. I...I helped a man on the plane that was saying the same thing," she mentioned, as her eyes met his and Margaret's.
"His temperature is one hundred and three...we need to run some tests and see what's causing it," Whale mentioned, as they reluctantly stepped back to let the nurses hook their son up to the IV's and begin taking blood.
"Do...do you think this has something to do with the plane?" Margaret whispered.
"The man you helped...with the custom forms?" David asked. Regina nodded.
"Do you think you can remember him?" David asked, as Margaret handed him his tablet out of the hospital bag. He pulled up the database he had built and Regina's eyes widened.
"Wow...you documented every passenger?" she asked.
"It's what I do when I need to make sense of things," he replied, as she started scrolling and finally found the man.
"This is him…" Regina said.
"You're sure?" David asked. She nodded.
"Anton Garcia…" Margaret read the name.
"He's one of the ones I haven't been able to track down," David said in frustration.
"I might know why," Regina said.
"Really?" Emma asked. She nodded.
"As I was getting ready to leave the hanger the day we came back, I saw a group of about thirty people being taken to some vans. I asked an agent where they were going and she said they were all people that didn't have anyone show up for them. They were being taken to local shelters until they could get on their feet," Regina told them.
"Well...that's a starting place for me," Emma replied.
"Do you really think there's a connection?" Regina asked. David exchanged a glance with his wife.
"Honestly…I don't know, but why else would our son be calling out in Spanish? A language he doesn't even know?" he asked.
"I'll run the name and see what I can do," Emma replied, as she took a picture of the man's image from the tablet and hugged them quickly, before hurrying out.
"We're going to run the tests. Until then...we're going to sedate him to get him calmed down," Whale said, as Henry started to calm and the doctor rushed off to run the tests. David pulled Margaret into his arms, as they stood over their son's bedside, both worried out of their minds.
Upstate New York
A man in a white lab coat walked down the stairs and into the lab where several people were strapped to tables. They were hooked up to machines and electricity was being pumped into their bodies relentlessly.
"The data is promising," one of the man's subordinates reported.
"Good...shut down for a few hours and then pick up first thing in the morning," the man said. Anton felt a moment of relief, as the pain ended, but he knew it wasn't over…
It had been a rough night, despite the fact that Henry had calmed down. His temperature, however, had not lessened and the doctor and nurses were clearly perplexed. Emma came into the room that morning, with a tray of coffees, and saw her brother and sister-in-law curled up together on the small bench. Their father had taken Olive home for the night, much to her reluctance and would be bringing her back later. Emma set the coffees down and gently put a hand on Henry's hot forehead.
Margaret stirred, as she and David were roused.
"Hey…" Emma whispered.
"Did you find Anton?" David asked, as they stood up and checked on their son.
"No...there is no trace of him," Emma replied regrettably.
"I thought Regina said he went to a shelter?" he asked.
"She did, but none of them have him on file. None...it's weird," Emma replied in frustration.
David sighed, as he pulled up the database, just as Emma handed him a sheet of paper.
"I did manage to get this...it's a list of all the passengers that didn't have anyone that day," she said. David looked over the list and found Anton.
"Did you search for anyone else? Maybe we can find more of the displaced people. Maybe one of those people might know something," David said.
"Getting the names is one thing...but addresses, yeah I need a higher clearance for that," Emma replied.
"You're doing your best and we love you for trying," Margaret soothed.
"There might be a way to get that clearance...but I'd have to tell Killian everything," Emma mentioned, as she bit her bottom lip.
"I don't like it...but Killian has always been trustworthy," David said, as he glanced at his son.
"He's right...for Henry, we need to know," Margaret agreed. Emma sighed and took a sip of her coffee, before dialing his number and stepping into the hallway. David put his arm around her, just as Henry's eyes flew open and he started thrashing again.
"Prisa!" Henry called, as Regina rushed in.
"His fever is spiking," she said worriedly.
"What is he saying?" David asked, as her eyes met theirs.
"Hurry," Regina replied.
"Hello?" Killian answered.
"Hey...it's Emma," she said.
"I've been wondering where you are," he said.
"I'm not coming in...it's Henry," she replied.
"What's wrong?" he asked, as his tone reflected concern.
"We don't know yet, but he has a really high fever and I need your help," she said.
"What can I do?" he asked.
"I need you to run some names through the database and get the last known whereabouts. I'm sending you a pic now," she replied. She heard him sigh.
"Emma...what's this about?" he asked.
"It's hard to explain...but it's a lot. But if you do this, I'll meet you outside the station and I'll tell you everything," she promised.
"All right...I'm going to hold you to that," he replied, as he hung up the phone. She sent the pic and headed out to her car, intending to meet him at the station.
Margaret sniffed, as she rested her head on her husband's shoulder and he held her. She was sitting in his lap and they had received a few looks from the nurses, but they couldn't be bothered to care. She needed to be as close to him as possible and being held by him at the moment was the only thing that was keeping her from devolving into a crying, screaming mess.
"I can't lose him again," she choked.
"Shh...we're not going to lose him, my love. Have faith…" he implored and she gently kissed him with tender passion. Whale came in and she wiped her tears away, as they stood up, joining hands, and preparing themselves for whatever he had to say.
"What did the tests show?" Margaret asked.
"The tests are inconclusive...we don't know why he had a fever. There's no infection, but we need to get it down," Whale replied.
"What do you suggest?" David asked.
"Well...we can try antibiotics. The only thing is...we don't know how it will affect his cancer treatment. If it interferes with it, then we might have more problems," Whale replied. David took Margaret's hand in her own, as they exchanged a glance. The fact that the doctors had no idea why he was going through this made them think that this really was connected to the plane. Which meant that Emma and Killian might be their only hope.
"And if we don't do the antibiotics?" Margaret asked.
"We can see if he will ride this out, but if it keeps going up and we can't get his heart rate down...there is danger in that as well," Whale replied.
"A rock and a hard place," David muttered.
"We can hold off for a while longer...but if it doesn't come down, then we need to consider the antibiotics," Whale reasoned. They nodded and returned to their son's bedside, with hope that they had answers from Emma soon.
"Hey," Emma said, as she got out of her car and met him.
"So I ran the names and located all but ten," Killian said.
"Really? That's kind of a lot of missing people, don't you think?" Emma replied.
"I agree...I was a bit shocked myself. Considering the NSA's interest around this, I find it hard to believe they let ten people slip through the cracks," he said.
"Anyway, I tracked the four vans and they all arrived at four different shelters," he added.
"Wait? Four vans?" Emma asked.
"Yes...there were four registered government vans that day," he replied.
"No...there were five. Regina saw them getting into vans. There were five," Emma said, as their eyes met.
"Bloody hell...and suppose these ten were all on that fifth bus," he realized.
"We need to find them," she insisted.
"I understand that, but what does this have to do with Henry?" he asked.
"Let's pull the footage and see if we can find where the fifth bus went and then I'll tell you everything in the car," she promised, as they went inside the station.
The bespectacled doctor straightened his white lab coat, as he came down the stairs. It was a new day and he was eager to begin again on this most auspicious endeavor.
"Are the patients prepped and ready?" he asked his assistant.
"Yes doctor...but they are not doing very well. I don't recommend increasing the voltage too quickly," the man said.
"And that is why you are the assistant and not the doctor. Begin where we left off yesterday," he ordered. The machines whirred to life and they prepared to begin again.
"Ayudame," Anton cried, as the pain began anew.
"Ayudame!" Henry cried, as he shot up in bed from his fairly restful sleep. The heart rate monitor beeped wildly, as his heart rate increased exponentially.
"Oh baby…" Margaret cried, as she tried to cradle him. He thrashed wildly though and even David's firm hand on his shoulder didn't seem to break through whatever madness had a hold of their son.
"Ayudame!" Henry cried again and this time tears streamed down Margaret's face.
"David...we have to do something!" she cried, as the nurses surrounded him. He pulled her back and she collapsed in sobs against his chest, as he held her tightly and kissed her hair.
"We need to make some sort of decision," Whale said.
"Regina…" Margaret cried, as she looked at the other woman, whom she had just found out was her step-sister.
"There's no infection...antibiotics don't make sense," she said, looking at Whale. He threw up his hands.
"Well, I'm at a loss then. At this rate, we will lose him to this fever!" Whale cried, making Margaret choke back another sob.
"And antibiotics could have a severe reaction with his cancer treatment and it could return," Regina said.
"There is no reason medically that he should have this fever at all," Whale argued.
"I know and this is a very delicate case. Let's try some good old remedies for child fever reducer and icing him down, at least until we can determine more," Regina suggested. Whale sighed.
"Because of his cancer...and only because of his cancer, I'll defer to you. But if this goes bad...it's also on you," Whale warned.
"He's my patient, but he's also my nephew," she said, as she glanced at David and Margaret.
"I'm going to do whatever necessary to save him," she promised.
Killian and Emma sat at his desk, hunched over his screen, as they viewed the footage from the airport where the plane landed. They watched as five vans left the hanger that day.
"Your friend was right...five vans," Killian said in amazement.
"Now if we can just figure out when the fifth one separated from the rest," Emma replied, as they watched for a while, when suddenly the last van veered off and onto an upstate road.
"The last van never went into the city," Killian realized.
"This road...this is where we need to start," Emma said with urgency.
"Emma...we have no idea where that van went. It could be anywhere," Killian reasoned.
"I'm going with or without you and if you want to know what's going on with me...then you better come. Otherwise, stay out of my way," Emma replied, as she grabbed her jacket and headed for her car. He sighed and growled a bit, as he grabbed his weapon and his badge.
"Bloody hell…" he said, as he caught up.
"I'm driving," he told her and she smirked, as they got in his car and drove off.