AN: Thanks for the incredible response to this Snowing story! See previous chapter for important authors notes on characters and story notes.
Important note: Milah is not Neal's father in this universe. Cora is I've taken some liberties again with characters and back stories. :)
Special Note: The character of TJ Morrison is a Manifest character. The characters of Nick and Greta Branson are based on Hansel(also known as Jack and Nick Branson) and Gretel from Once season 7. The character of Isaiah is a Manifest character.
Another Note: As we get further into season 2 and season 3, I will be focusing more on the major Manifest plotlines and not so much the minor ones that involve one offs with passengers, in addition to the original plots I have created for this story. Season 4 will be premiering soon and once I see what I'm working with, I'll make a decision if this story will be going with a Manifest type ending or if I have to move to more of a Once ending. Most of you that watch Manifest know that (spoiler alert) that Margaret's counterpart character in the series, Grace, dies at the end of season 3. I will not be doing that with Margaret. Either way, when the time comes, I will give this story a satisfying ending that may or may not match the series. :)
This one will update bi-weekly on Sunday nights now. Please consider leaving a review, it is much appreciated. Here are individual responses to reviews:
Jharker31: You're welcome, so glad you're enjoying it!
Willow's Poppies: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
Jennifer Baratta: Yep, Cora and Fiona teaming up is not good. Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
Ghostwriter: Yep, Graham is a bad guy...or is he? Things may not be as they appear. Glad you're enjoying.
Sexystarwarslover: Yeah, Cora and Fiona is a dangerous team up. Yeah, a father/daughter Calling. It should be good. Yeah, things may not be as they appear with Killian and Graham. Yeah, Olive is heartbroken over TJ. But once again, things aren't as they seem and they found TJ alive! Unfortunately, Neal is freezing to death. Yep, Cora is a witch. Glad you're enjoying it!
Lightning in a Bottle
Chapter 70: Airplane Bottles, Pt 1
Regina woke up that morning and nearly gasped, clearly remembering last night with frightening clarity. After she had spent all evening with her research again, she had surprisingly ran into her ex, her married ex, who had come to see her. Robin had been concerned when hearing about the death of her father and had lent her a shoulder to cry on. That had been a mistake though, because they had gotten a drink and ended up in bed back at her place. She gently traced his lion tattoo on his arm and knew that this couldn't happen again, even though she wanted him to be hers forever.
"Morning," he said.
"Morning," she replied.
"Regina…" he started to say.
"Don't…" she said, cutting him off. He sighed.
"Don't tell me how this is a one time thing and that you're married and have to go back to your family. I know," she snapped.
"I do…" he admitted.
"Even though I'm in love with you," he added. Her heart nearly broke again.
"I can't do this again…I can't keep being forced to get over you," she said. He nodded.
"I know," he replied. It wasn't fair to either of them or Marian.
"I need to shower and get to work. You should go," she said, as she slammed the bathroom door closed and he would be gone before she was done, unaware that she was sobbing uncontrollably in the shower.
Emma came into the kitchen that morning and was surprised to see breakfast waiting for her.
"Wow…breakfast being made for me. I could get used to this," she said, as he set the eggs and bacon down in front of her, before sitting down himself.
"I figured if there is a chance at us being normal, we might as well try to start living like it," Neal replied.
"Then Regina thinks she might have a cure?" Emma asked.
"She is reluctant to test on a human without doing animal testing first, but I passed the preliminary trials and since I'm not going to make it if we don't do something…yeah, she does," Neal replied.
"Normally, I'd be against it too, but this isn't getting better," she mentioned, as she touched his hand, which had bandages around his frozen fingers.
"Dad is pretty quiet too…which means he's probably getting desperate. I don't like when he gets desperate," Neal mentioned.
"You think he'll do something rash?" Emma asked. He shrugged.
"I hope not…but whoever the Major is…she better pray he doesn't find her," she replied.
"Speaking of finding people…Cora has gone completely dark too. You have to have help to go that dark," Emma said.
"You think someone is helping her?" Neal asked. She shrugged.
"Maybe," she replied.
"Though I still don't buy that Leopold is really innocent in all of this. I just hope he's not stupid enough to go near MM and David again," she added.
"Yeah…I don't see your brother keeping his cool if he does," Neal mentioned.
"Anyway…if phase two is successful, then maybe I won't be freezing to death anymore," he added. She smiled.
"That would be nice," she agreed.
"I mean, my usual breakfast is coffee and last night's pizza or a box of pop-tarts when MM isn't hovering. But real breakfast…it's downright domestic," she teased.
"Still want the pizza?" he asked.
"No…you're a good cook, which is great for me," she replied.
"So…say Regina's cure works. What do you want to do first?" he asked.
"Escape. Maybe take a year and see the world. Greece, Thailand, Tallahassee…" she joked.
"Anywhere but Jamaica," she added.
"You realize that all of those involve getting on a plane, right?" he asked. She winced.
"Yeah…that's a huge drawback," she said, as she checked her phone and sighed.
"I gotta go…though I really don't want to deal with this Killian thing," she said.
"If he really is working with the x'ers, then it's probably best to take him down sooner, rather than later," he replied. She nodded.
"I guess…I'd rather come with you though," she said. He smiled.
"I appreciate that, but we're going for normal, remember?" he asked. She scoffed.
"That means you go to work and I go to my appointments like a big boy," he replied.
"Fine…but we should make those travel plans soon, because you're going to beat this," she said, as she got her things and headed out and he was not far behind her.
Margaret moaned sleepily, as she snuggled deeper against her husband, who had her spooned gently against him. She smiled, as she felt his hand gently resting on the swell of her belly where their baby was growing.
"Good morning, my love," he whispered in her ear, his soft baritone sending warm chills down her spine.
"Good morning, handsome," she purred in return, as she turned her head to look at him. He gently kissed her tenderly and she cuddled against him. Her phone chimed and she looked at it, before turning it over again.
"Who is it?" he asked.
"My father…" she replied.
"Really?" he asked. She nodded.
"He says he wants to meet," she replied.
"Do you want to see him?" he asked. She thought for a moment.
"No…I never want to see him again," she replied, as she told him such and put the phone down.
"Do you think I should?" she asked, as he kissed her forehead.
"I think you should only do something if it's what you want and whatever that is, I'm going to support that," he replied.
"I just…he married the woman that killed my Mother and maybe he didn't know, but she was barely in the ground when he walked down the aisle with Cora. I…I just don't think I can forgive that," she said sadly.
"And no one would ever blame you for that," he replied. She smiled at him and brushed her hand along his face.
"I'm so lucky," she cooed, as she nuzzled her nose against his. He smiled.
"Stealing my lines again?" he teased.
"Maybe we're both lucky," she said coyly.
"We found this amazing, soul searing, passionate true love," she said, as she gazed into his blue eyes.
"Then we lost it when we were separated by death…or so we thought. And then you found me again and we got a second chance," she added, as she pressed her forehead against his.
"I can't help but wonder if we'll be separated again until I can join you in death," she said, choking back her words.
"I hope not…and I'm going to do everything and I mean everything I can to stop that from happening," he promised, as he kissed her passionately. Their lips parted and they shared a smile, as they started to hear the kids downstairs.
"Come on…let's go have breakfast with the kids," he suggested.
"Mmm…the little one and I will never say no to your pancakes, right baby," she cooed to her belly. He smiled and helped her up, as they got dressed and went downstairs.
Later, after breakfast with their kids and TJ, who was staying with them, while they recovered, they started to clean up.
"We've got that…you take it easy," Margaret said, as they took the dishes to the sink. TJ smiled.
"Thanks for letting me stay here while I recover and you know, for saving my life," he said. David smiled.
"We're happy to have you," he replied.
"Right…like it wasn't hectic enough around here without an unexpected house guest," he muttered.
"You doing okay?" David asked. He sighed.
"I guess I just don't know why the Callings chose to save me when all those people died," TJ replied.
"I guess I just don't get it," he added. David put a firm hand on his shoulder.
"TJ…there are a lot of things I wish we understood about the Callings, but what matters is that you're alive and safe and the only thing you need to do right now is heal," David told him. He nodded.
"Are you ready?" Olive asked, as she held the journal.
"Hey…you guys can take it easy today," David replied.
"No Dad…I'm tired of losing people. I just got you guys back and if the answer to saving you is in this journal, then I'm not going to waste another second," Olive said. David looked unsure, but TJ nodded.
"It's okay…keeping my mind busy is good right now," he replied.
"Okay…I'm going to go make sure Henry isn't still in his pajamas," David said, as he went upstairs and saw his wife standing in the doorway of their son's room. He peered over her shoulder and saw that he was trying to build something with one of his building sets. But he seemed frustrated.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"I don't know…he is very agitated about something," Margaret replied.
"Why won't it work?" he asked his parents in exasperation.
"It's okay buddy…what are you trying to build?" David asked.
"It's supposed to work! It's all connected!" Henry shouted, which clued them in finally.
"Henry…did you have a Calling?" David asked, as he knelt down on the floor beside him.
"Come on!" Henry cried, as he tried to get the pieces to work.
"Honey…can we help?" Margaret asked, but he didn't answer.
"Henry…if you had a Calling, we need to know," David said. Henry paused and sighed.
"What did you see?" David asked.
"I…I can't remember. It was like a dream. But I think…I think I was where the plane was," Henry replied, stunning them both.
"You know what happened to the plane?" David asked.
Killian stormed up to Emma's desk, nearly irate.
"Internal affairs?" he asked, as she noticed they had arrived after receiving her report.
"You know, I appreciate you having my back the way I've always had yours," he hissed.
"Always? Your new friends think my family and I are subhuman," Emma countered.
"Em, the box you just opened…you don't get what's inside," Killian warned.
"You know what I don't get, Killian is you," she replied, as Graham came out of his office.
"Nolan. These people need a bit of your time," he called. She got up and went in to meet with them. Killian and Graham shared a worried glance.
"Hey…" Neal said, as he peered into her lab. Regina smiled.
"Hey," she greeted.
"Wow…are you okay? Were you here all night?" he asked.
"Actually no…" she replied.
"Well, you look like hell so wanna talk?" he asked. She looked up and sighed.
"Come on…what are half brothers you never knew about for?" he asked. She smirked.
"Okay…my married ex stopped by last night to offer me condolences about my father and we ended up sleeping together again and this morning, he got up and went back to his family, while I fell apart in the shower," she admitted.
"Your ex…the married man that was supposed to get on the plane with you," Neal recalled. She nodded.
"I'm sorry…that sucks," he replied.
"Thanks…my love life is a mess and probably always will be so let's save you so I can at least have success in my career," she said. He nodded and hopped up on the table, ready to begin.
"Internal Affairs? Really?" Killian asked, as he entered Graham's office and closed the door.
"You think I had a choice? Emma had tape connecting you to the Xers. If I didn't run it up the ladder, she would have done it herself. At least this way, I can control it," Graham reasoned.
"An investigation about me, Captain," he protested.
"Nobody said this was gonna be easy. I've got all bases covered. If she gets anywhere with it, I can undercut her and make it go away," he said.
"In the meantime, she gets to say whatever the hell she wants to the rat squad," Killian replied.
"We got to play this out like any other investigation," Graham reasoned.
"We're very interested in what you have to say,"
"Appreciate you taking the time, Detective," the female investigator said.
"Thank you guys for being able to jump in so quickly," Emma replied.
"I just need to state for the record that you are here voluntarily, that you have a right to representation from the union…" the male investigator stated.
"I just want to do the right thing," Emma stated back.
"Good. Then we're on the same page. Let's start at the beginning. You have a long history with Detective Rogers, correct?" she asked.
"Yeah. Um…he's a great guy. He's always been kind and caring. This is all kind of unexpected," Emma replied, as she started to get a weird feeling in her gut.
"Detective Rogers separated from his wife after you came back on Flight 828. The two of you got back together?" the man asked.
"Uh, no, not exactly. W-We had a…" Emma stammered.
"I'm not looking to split hairs," he interrupted her sternly.
"Uh, we made a mistake. I think, you know, Killian took that hard, and I-I can only assume that's what caused him to turn to the Xers," Emma replied.
"Did your partnership sour before or after you accused him of attacking the man that you were romantically involved with?" the woman asked.
"I don't see how Neal is in…" Emma replied, but she was cut off again.
"Did you find yourself in need of some character rehabilitation at the precinct? In need of a win?" the male investigator questioned, as Emma realized that this was not an interview. It was an interrogation.
"I'm sorry, uh, what exactly are you guys driving at?" she asked.
"We're trying to understand why you seem to have a vendetta against a man you almost married," the woman said.
"Uh, no, that's not what this is. I'm concerned that the people he's associating with might be involved with illegal activity," Emma answered.
"So you resent the new woman he's seeing," the woman countered.
"That's not at all what I said," Emma sniped in return, before taking a breath.
"Okay, I understand that you need to vet my credibility, but why do I get the sense that you think that I'm the bad guy?" she asked, as she noticed they had her files.
"Why do you have my case file?" she questioned.
"We have a few questions about your case work since being reinstated after 828's return. More than a few, actually," the woman replied.
"Uh, you did not just happen upon these yourselves. Killian gave those to you to save himself. We are here to discuss his involvement with a hate group," Emma protested, but her pleas went unheard.
"Case after case of yours seems to involve rescues or solves with no evidentiary trail whatsoever. Recovery of two kidnapped girls. Murder of a barbershop owner. Murder of a college student," the male investigator said.
"Those all held up in court," Emma replied, but she was ignored.
"Bank robbery by an 828 passenger. Oh, this is a fun one. Your boyfriend was involved," the woman said.
"Let's start here," she said.
"Great. Fine. But if you don't accept my explanation of these cases, then where exactly is this heading?" Emma questioned.
"To a long prison term, Detective," the man answered, stunning her. This whole thing was a trap.
They had moved Henry's building set downstairs and were now trying to help him.
"Alright, think hard, Henry. What did you see? What happened to the plane?" David pressed.
"I can't remember. I just have to build it," Henry answered.
"Build what?" David asked.
"It's okay. Just take it easy, honey," Margaret said, as he stood up next to her.
"David, I haven't seen him this worked up about a Calling in a while," she whispered.
"Alright. Let me help. What's it supposed to look like?" David asked.
"Like a spider web. The plane was trapped in it," Henry explained, as Margaret swayed slightly and he steadied her.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, fine. I'm just feeling a bit woozy," she replied.
"I thought the morning sickness was over," she added, as he helped her sit down.
"What can I do?" David asked.
"Here, hold this while I tie it," Henry replied.
"So, what makes you so convinced that this journal is the key to everything and we're the ones who were supposed to find it?" TJ asked.
"Because the tarot card that led to all of this, it... it came to me when you guys were missing. And the book is in Latin. And you know Latin," she reasoned.
"Oh, so my life was spared, because the Callings don't know how to use Google Translate," he said bitterly.
"TJ, none of this was an accident. Your survival, my survival. We're... We're all in this together," David chided.
"I know. You're right," he said, as he started reading the Latin in the journal.
"Okay, here we go. Alzarus was definitely like us," he said, as he began to read the text.
"After a decade, we arrived. But for the men on board, no time had passed. Each of us was as young as when we left, only now we could hear the word of God," TJ translated.
"The Callings," David realized.
"Lumen" was the word they used," TJ said.
"Glow". They thought it was a-a curse," he added.
"Callings, they do good. I don't... I don't know why they would think…" Olive started to say, but he interrupted her.
"Well, according to Alzarus: "For every blessing, a price must be paid. We returned after 10 revolutions of the sun, only to learn our lives would be taken after just 10 more", he read.
"He had his own Death Date," Olive realized.
"And for every good that comes from the Voice, a trial must follow", TJ continued.
"So, in other words, when the Callings save you from a fire, get ready for something bad to happen," TJ added bitterly.
"Maybe the fire was the bad thing. Have you ever thought of that?" Olive countered.
"I hope you're right," he replied, but it sounded skeptical.
"And so began our quest to...dispel our ailment... and cheat death once again", TJ read.
"Alzarus seemed to think he could get rid of the Callings. So if we know what happened to him, maybe we could figure it out for ourselves," David reasoned.
Regina sighed, as she looked at the results of her tests and his bloodwork.
"Nothing?" he asked.
"No…it's all inconclusive," she replied.
"So…that's pretty much it. There's no cure for this thing," he said.
"Maybe not medically…unless…" she said.
"Unless?" he asked.
"Maybe we need to go back to finding the Major. We know she stole my research and probably has the government's top scientists experimenting with it," she replied.
"You think she has the resources to find this and lacks the ethics you do about experimenting on people," he said knowingly.
"We know she does…" she replied.
"But she's a ghost…how do you even find someone like that?" he asked.
"Vance…" she muttered.
"Do you know how to get in contact with him?" Neal asked.
"No…but someone we know does," Regina replied.
"There seems to be an awful lot of guesses and anonymous tips here. Individually, it wouldn't raise an eyebrow, but in totality, frankly, I'm troubled," the female investigator said.
"And like I said before, all of those cases stood up in court," Emma reiterated.
"Maybe. Still...let's talk more about the man you live with, Neal Cassidy," the male investigator replied.
"He has nothing to do with this," Emma said sternly.
"And yet after you and Cassidy connected, your knack for being in the right place at the right time took a giant leap forward," the woman replied.
"You know what else took a giant leap forward? The amount of second-guessing and outright betrayal from my fellow officers," Emma seethed.
"It's hard to have your professional capabilities questioned, to crave respect," the man said.
"I'm good at my job!" Emma exclaimed.
"You cut a few corners to get ahead. But then did you and Cassidy manufacture crimes in order to help your career?" the man asked.
"Manufacture?! You...no, no, no, you cannot be serious right now!" Emma shouted.
"You knew Isaiah McCann, manager of the nightclub that burned down," the woman accused.
"Not socially. Yeah, he was a victim in one of my cases!" Emma insisted.
"Witnesses and surveillance put you at the club before the fire started, talking to Isaiah McCann," the man said.
"He asked me to meet him," Emma answered.
"Now, I don't think that you meant to kill anyone. Maybe you underestimated things. Maybe the fires got out of control. Tell me in your own words what happened," the woman said. Emma was stunned. They were trying to blame the club fire on her. She had made a huge mistake and walked right into their trap.
"I had nothing to do with this. I would like my union rep," she requested, as she remained silent at that point. She was in trouble and she didn't know how she was going to get out of this one…