AN: Thanks for the incredible response to this Snowing story! See previous chapter for important authors notes on characters and story notes.
This one will update bi-weekly on Monday nights. Please consider leaving a review, it is much appreciated. Here are individual responses to reviews:
Jennifer Baratta: Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
Ghostwriter: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it and glad you appreciate my nuances. :)
Grace5231973: Yeah, Arthur seems like he might be untrustworthy. I'm hoping Vance listens to Gold as well. I think Gold's role will become more clear in time. Glad you're enjoying it!
Number Ten: I worry for David too, but you know him. He's willing to do whatever it takes to save Henry. I would say Gold is intuitive and later, it will become clear why he feels this connection to the Nolans.
Gaby2019: I'm sure there will be more flashbacks to come. Glad you're enjoying!
Sexystarwarslover: Yep, David is their hero and yep, he'll do whatever it takes to save his family. I know, sexy sleuthing accountant in glasses! Lol, oh Emma...too early for her brother and sister-in-law's romance. But with food, they are forgiven. David does play detective well and Emma loves her bear claws. Yeah, if Sidney is on the level, it might be good for them. But it's Sidney, so chances are he has ulterior motives. Yep, Arthur King...I'm sure you know who he might be. Yeah, David means all those words about Margaret. Glad you liked the little wedding flashback and glad you're enjoying!
AnonSnowing: I know, that beginning was heart melting. I love when he calls her my love too. Lol, yep, too early for romance for Emma, but food gets her to forget all about it. Yeah, they had a date in the show. Ben was late, because Grace didn't know everything at that point, so David and Margaret will be a bit different. Lol, yeah Doc is a douche and King Arthur as an agent could be trouble. Yeah, Henry wants to go back to school and feel normal again. I know, David is so sweet and means every word of that. Doc is definitely a douche. Glad you liked the wedding flashback too. Yeah, I'll have to decide who was David's best man in another flashback. Yeah, even at his worst, Robert was better than Leopold. Yeah, I might take notes during season three, but probably on a rewatch. I'm only about half way thru the events of season 1 right now so I have time before season 3. Glad you enjoyed it! :)
Lightning in a Bottle
Chapter 24: Whatever it Takes, Pt 2
Margaret was in heaven, as he kissed her deeply, which was in concert with the actions of the rest of his body. She lay pinned beneath him, bare and their bodies blissfully joined together in the act of lovemaking. Even though he had gotten home late, which she completed understood the reason for, he was making it up to her.
"David…" she mewled in pleasure, as he brought her to the edge and carried her over into a euphoria that had her writhing beneath him. She knew only he could bring her such. They had always been so in sync, whether it be emotionally, mentally, or physically. His climax was only seconds behind her and they slowly came down from the high. Sometimes she still couldn't believe that she had gotten him back. Her world had literally crashed to complete devastation, with only her daughter to give her a reason to go on and the only one that had held her back from complete insanity. Had she lost Olive too, she was certain she would have been broken completely and probably ended up institutionalized somewhere. Then he returned to her and with him, her son and best friend and turned the light on inside her that went out when they disappeared. Losing him again couldn't happen; it wasn't an option. A second time would kill her; she was certain of it. But she banished those worries and trepidations that all this was too good to be true from her mind and instead focused on him and being in his arms once again.
Margaret cuddled against him and rested her head on his chest, as they basked in the afterglow. As they lay together, softly kissing, he noticed that she seemed a bit distracted now.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Mmm…Henry asked if he could go back to school today," she replied. He sighed. He supposed he should have expected that conversation.
"And you think we should let him?" he asked.
"He is better...his cancer is in remission and I think he misses normalcy," she replied.
"He is...and I agree. I'm just worried about what happens if his connection to Anton rears its head again," he said.
"And I am too...but he really wants to and as long as he's healthy, I'm not sure we shouldn't let him. Regina says his cancer is all but gone...I think he just wants to be normal again," she replied, which reminded him of a conversation he had with their son on the plane.
Flashback
As the plane touched down on the tarmac, there was some cheering, as they had been forced to circle for a while, before being diverted. He had no idea what that was all about, but he was just relieved that they were home and couldn't wait to see his wife and daughter, whom he still had to call and tell that they had been diverted to another airfield. He looked at his phone and became perplexed though.
"No signal...seriously?" Emma asked.
"Yeah...mine too," he replied, as he looked at his son.
"Hey...why the long face? We're home," he reminded him. Henry looked at him and it nearly broke his heart.
"When we were on vacation, I felt like I didn't have cancer anymore," Henry replied.
"I know, buddy," David said softly.
"But now that we're back in New York...I have cancer again. Part of me never wanted to come back here," he replied.
"I know...and Mom and I felt that way too. We even talked about just staying on the beach forever with you and Ollie. But life, unfortunately, just doesn't work that way. We're going to keep fighting though," he promised.
"You're right…" he agreed, as they had gotten up and put their robes on. They were both now in their son's room, watching him sleep. Despite being the middle of the night, they weren't the only ones awake and heard someone in the kitchen.
"Emma's probably eating blueberry pop-tarts," Margaret whispered. He kissed her tenderly.
"I'll go see what's going on with her," he said, as he left her to keep watch on their son, while he went to the kitchen.
"Hey…" he said, as he came in.
"Hey," she replied, as she drank cocoa and munched on a pop-tart.
"That's a lot of sugar at two in the morning," he mentioned.
"Did MM make you say that?" she asked and he chuckled.
"Of course...but seriously, you only eat this stuff in the middle of the night after a nightmare," he replied. She nodded.
"Was it about the night Lily died again?" he asked.
"Actually no...it was about Killian," she replied.
"A nightmare about Killian?" he asked.
"It was more unease than anything. I think we're being watched...and getting Killian involved was a mistake. What if knowing all this puts him in danger?" she asked.
"I've thought about that...especially with Margaret. But keeping something...anything from her just isn't an option for me. Especially something like this," he replied. She sighed.
"I know...but he's not with me. He's married to someone else. I mean, how do you think his wife would feel if she found out that her husband risked his entire career and livelihood to cover for his ex?" she asked. He winced.
"Not great…" he agreed.
"But that was his choice. You offered to come clean and he wouldn't let you," he reminded her. She snorted.
"I didn't have to listen to him," she muttered.
"But you did, because you respect him and there's still feelings there," he mentioned.
"Don't start with that," she protested.
"I'm not saying act on those feelings...but you probably should deal with them so you can move on," he said. She gave him a withering gaze.
"That is exactly what MM would tell me," she replied. He smirked.
"Well, she is my wife and soul mate...and she's always right," he said. She sighed and didn't protest that.
"Yeah...well, it's easier said than done. Meanwhile, what are you doing up and believe me, I'm trying to ignore your sex hair, cause that can't be the only reason," she said. He chuckled at that.
"We...we were just talking about Henry. He wants to go back to school and I'd be lying if I said that it didn't scare me," he said.
"You mean because of Anton?" she asked. He nodded.
"I just...maybe we should find him first. I mean, what if Henry relapses?" he asked. She sighed.
"David...you need to realize that it could be a while or never when we do find him. I think letting Henry go back to something of a normal life is the best thing. For all of us...especially if we are being watched," Emma replied.
"MM thinks so too," he mentioned.
"And she's always right," Emma teased and he smiled.
"Okay...good late night talk," he said, as he stood up.
"Get some sleep," he urged.
"You too," she replied.
"We'll see," he said slyly.
"Eww…" she complained, as she headed back downstairs and he went to the bedroom.
"Is she okay?" Margaret asked. He nodded.
"She is...and you're right about Henry. We should let him go back to school," he agreed. She smiled and kissed him.
"I'll get him registered...and everything is going to be okay," she promised. He smiled and kissed her again.
"You're right...because I have you," he said, as he caressed her face gently. Their lips met again and a second bout of passion consumed them.
After a restless night, Emma was on her way to the station when she received the call. They had a possible jumper and they wanted her there, because it was an 828 passenger. She rushed to the scene and arrived to find Killian and other officers already on the scene.
"Do you recognize him?" Killian asked.
"No...but I don't have the passenger roster memorized like my brother," Emma replied.
"We identified him as Felix Smith," one of the officers said. Emma vaguely remembered seeing him on the plane and that's when she heard her own voice again, in her head.
"Don't Lose Him," the voice said. Another Calling and she took a deep breath.
"I'm going up to talk to him," she said.
"All right...let's get a harness on you," Killian agreed, as they got her ready.
"And now...we're in," Billy said, as he showed David some of the coding procedures.
"Nice…I think it's starting to come back to me. Thanks for taking the time to run through this with me," he said.
"No problem," Billy said, as he stood up and David knew it was now or never. He felt badly about it, but pretended to accidentally stumble and knock the coffee cup in Billy's hand all over him.
"Oh my God...I'm so sorry! I'm so clumsy," he said, as he tried to help the now irritated IT tech clean off with some paper towels.
"Ugh...it's okay. I got it," Billy said, as he headed for the bathroom. David looked back at the laptop and took a flash drive out of his pocket. He quickly found his way into the UDS coding and through into the account. He smirked, as it was everything needed. He put the flash drive in the slot and initiated the copy. He tapped his foot impatiently and heard footsteps coming toward the room. It was undoubtedly Billy and he had only seconds. Fortunately, he finished and ejected the flash drive, before standing up from the table.
"I'm really sorry...and thanks again," David said. Billy smiled.
"No worries...and I know you didn't mean to," he replied. David nodded and returned to his desk, with the flash drive safely in his pocket.
Emma opened the door to the roof of the building and slowly stepped onto the rooftop.
"Stay back!" Felix cried.
"Felix...it's okay. My name is Emma Nolan...I was on the plane too," she told him. He squinted his eyes, as if trying to place her, and then shook his head.
"No...stay away!" he insisted.
"Felix...I know what you're going through," she promised, as she slowly moved closer.
"It has to stop…" he cried, as there were tears in his eyes.
"What has to stop?" she asked.
"People are dying and it's my fault!" she replied.
"I'm sure that's not true," she said.
"No...you don't understand! There's only one way to stop it!" he claimed, as he looked down.
"I can see my house from here…" he said quietly.
"Felix...if you just come down, I know I can help you find out why these people close to you died," Emma replied.
"No...you can't. No one can help. More will die, unless I die instead," Felix insisted.
"Felix...no, that's not true. Please don't do this!" she pleaded, but he jumped anyway and she rushed to the edge. She lowered her head, as she saw him, dead on the pavement. She lost him...she had failed another Calling.
David suppressed an eyeroll, as he made his way toward Doc's office. The guy was the definition of an inept manager, who spent his time in his office, trolling the internet and eating junk food, while his employees did his allotment of work and made him look good. He drove a Maserati, while the real workers made peanuts. Working here was necessary though, but hopefully not for much longer. He couldn't risk looking at the flash drive here at work, but he couldn't wait to get home to do so either.
"Hey…" David stepped into his office and Doc waved him in.
"Man…I have been all over the 828 conspiracy sites this morning. There is some insane chatter," he said. David hated those sites and how his entire family was splashed all over them. It was bad enough that he and Emma were all over them, but it made his blood boil that his wife and children were also on the sites.
He was about to tell him that he was done with what he'd been given and was bored out of his mind, but the fire alarm went off, interrupting them.
"Okay...fire drill! Everyone file out down the stairs calmly," Doc called. David followed the other employees to the lobby and outside into the courtyard. He saw Vance and Gold standing by a tree and watched them casually walk away. He realized that they were likely the cause of the fire drill and casually followed them, until he was in the parking garage.
"Phone," Vance said.
"Excuse me?" David asked.
"Give me your phone...it's bugged," Vance clarified.
"You bugged my phone?!" David asked, as he handed it over and watched Vance stomp on it.
"We're the NSA...we bug everything," Vance said.
"Then why are you here?" David asked.
"I know about the flash drive. You realize that I could arrest you for corporate espionage?" he asked.
"But you haven't," David replied.
"Have you looked at any of the data?" Vance asked.
"Not yet...I can't here without getting caught," David replied.
"You can now...if you agree to work with us," Vance said, as he gave him a new phone and laptop.
"Wait...now you want to work with me?" David asked. Vance sighed.
"We saw the farm...and we saw the evidence," he said.
"Then why do you need me? Why don't you just take the flash drive and hand it off to one of your analysts?" David questioned and Gold smirked. Vance sighed.
"Because the minute I do...they'll be onto us and that data is too raw for me to make any sense of. Perhaps you can crack it though," he said. David sighed.
"So now you want me to trust you?" he asked.
"I know that's a risk, but I do respect your quest to keep your family safe," Vance replied. David took the devices and looked at them both.
"I'll see what I can find," he said, as he headed back inside, just as his new phone showed that he had a missed call from Emma.
"Hey...sorry I missed your call," David said, as he took the stairs.
"It happened again. A Calling...and I failed it," Emma told him.
"Okay...slow down," he said, as he stopped in the stairwell.
"One of the passengers, Felix Smith...jumped off a roof. He kept saying that people around him were dying and the only way to stop it from happening again was if he died instead. The Calling told me not to lose him...and I did," Emma said and he could tell she was really distraught.
"Oh Emma...I'm so sorry, but him jumping is not your fault," he reasoned.
"How do you know? The Calling was pretty clear," she sniffed.
"The Callings are never clear...you know that. Do you know why he thought people around him were dying?" he asked.
"Not yet...Killian and are headed to his place to search it soon," Emma answered.
"Okay...keep me posted and don't blame yourself. We'll figure this out...all of it," he promised, as he hung up and returned to his desk with his new laptop. He put the other one away and set up the new one. He looked around and without further delay, he put the flash drive in and delved into the raw data.
After her last class let out, Margaret arrived at Olive's school. The High School she attended was also connected to the Middle School and the Elementary School, which made her feel a little about enrolling Henry in school. At least she knew that Ollie would be there with him before and after school and perhaps even at lunch. Registering him was fairly quick and easy and she met her daughter outside at the car.
"Hey Mom…" Olive said, as they shared a hug.
"Hey sweetheart, how was your day?" she asked.
"Great...is Henry starting school tomorrow?" she asked, as they got in the car.
"He is and I know he's going to protest, but will you please walk him to his class in the morning and make sure he gets settled okay?" Margaret asked. Olive chuckled.
"Don't worry...I've got it, Mom," Olive promised, as they were about to get in when a man approached them.
"Mrs. Nolan…" Sidney greeted.
"You again? Are you following me?" Margaret asked in an accusatory tone. He put his hands up and kept his distance.
"I know I might seem persistent, Mrs. Nolan...I simply just want to tell your side of the story," Sidney said.
"How did you even know where I was going to be if you're not following me?" Margaret asked defensively.
"I am an investigative reporter, Mrs. Nolan...finding out where your daughter goes to school was not difficult," he replied. That alarmed her too. He was digging into their lives and she didn't like it at all.
"Listen…I don't know what your agenda is, but I don't like it. I'm not giving you an interview and I want you to leave us alone. My sister-in-law is a cop and if you come near us again, I'll slap you with a restraining order so fast, it will make your head spin!" Margaret threatened, as she ushered Olive into the car. Mr. Glass watched, as she hurried to the driver's side and sped away.
He walked back to his car and made a call, as he drove back to his office.
"I cornered her at the school, as instructed. She reacted much in the way you said she would," Sidney reported.
"Good...slowly driving that little retch crazy is going to be entertaining, to say the least," the female voice said.
"Mrs. Mills-Blanchard...I am a reporter, not a stalker. This makes me highly uncomfortable and it could get me terminated from the newspaper," Sidney argued.
"I am paying you more than you make in five years to do this one job. You cashed a check, Mr. Glass and I expect the job to be completed, unless you'd like to face a breach of contract," Cora said in an icy tone.
"Yes, Mrs. Mills-Blanchard," he relented.
"Good...I'll be in touch for our next move," she said, as the line went dead.