Chapter Text
“So… are you going to tell me how we met?” Zeke Landon asked when the oddest female passenger he had ever encountered just stared at him without saying a word for a few minutes. “I really don't remember. Guess I probably should…”
He said the last few words more to himself. She was so beautiful that Zeke couldn't imagine how he could’ve forgotten about her. And there was something else about her… something he couldn't quite explain.
“It's okay that you don't remember. I remember enough for both of us.”
He took his eyes off the road to look at her for a moment. She stared back at him with a smile that made his heart race.
“I still don't know your name.” Zeke struggled to stay focused behind the wheel.
“It's Michaela. Michaela Stone.”
“Michaela,” he repeated. “I am…”
“Zeke. I know."
“Of course,” he laughed. Apparently, she really knew him.
“You know, Zeke…” Michaela began, “I just got back from a really long trip… and I just wanted to go home and get a good night of sleep, the first worry-free night in a very long time. But then I asked my brother about the car keys and he said we'd get a cab. That's when I remembered you told me that on the night of April 7, 2013, you were driving your cab in front of JFK.”
“Wait, did I say…? Sorry, I don't think I understand it very well. Did I tell you to meet me here tonight?”
“In a way. But you don't remember. Because for you that moment never happened. Zeke, you told me that in the year of 2023.”
Zeke processed what she said for a second.
“Please, Michaela, don't take this the wrong way, but are you on something?”
“No, I’m not!” She giggled. “Do I look like I'm on something?”
“No, but you definitely sound like you are.”
“Yeah, probably, but it's true. I know you, Zeke, better than anyone else. And you knew me like that too.”
“In the future.”
“For me, it was in the past.”
“Okay, so you're a time traveler?” he said in an amused, humorous tone. Michaela remembered how he always made her laugh even in the worst of times, and she wanted to hug him like never before.
“I hadn't looked at it that way, but I think so. Do you believe in time travel?”
“It depends. Is it a good story?”
“How about I tell you my…our story…and then you tell me what you think?”
***
“That's the craziest story I've ever heard!” Zeke said, staring at the beautiful and apparently not very sane woman in front of him. “No offense.”
“None taken.” Michaela replied with a smile. Absolutely nothing could ruin the joy she was feeling at that moment.
She could hardly believe they were together again. That her husband was right there, alive, that she could finally touch him, feel him. And she wanted so badly to touch him… But she was trying to control herself a little so as not to scare him so much. Zeke didn't remember anything they'd been through together.
“I can't imagine how insane all this must sound to you.”
Insane was an understatement, Zeke thought. But she had sounded so confident as she told that wild tale that he was having a lot of fun with the conversation. So much so that, after driving aimlessly for a while, he took them to the Brooklyn Bridge Park and they were now walking by the East River.
According to Michaela, she had just arrived from the year of 2024. The story included an airplane that traveled through time thanks to some sort of bright light, voices and visions she called Callings, a Death Date, a magical sapphire, Noah's ark, an apocalypse with volcanoes erupting all over the world, and many other details he had barely been able to keep up with.
But it was so good just listening to Michaela, looking at her beautiful and excited face, that he never once tried to stop her.
And there was another part of the story that was particularly interesting.
“So… in that other timeline, we were husband and wife?”
“For exactly 3 years.”
“Yeah, because then I died… and not for the first time, right? And yet I came back from the Great Beyond and…”
“The glow.”
“What?”
“When we connected after your death, you were in the glow.”
“Of course I was. So, I talked to you from the glow, whatever that is, and I gave you the information you needed to meet me at JFK tonight.”
She nodded. If Michaela was an actress just playing a part, she deserved an Oscar for her performance. She seemed 100% convinced of what she was saying.
Zeke stared at her completely fascinated.
“I need to be honest with you, Michaela. I don't have such high self-esteem to the point of thinking that a woman would make up all this just to talk to me, and, to tell you the truth, you wouldn't need all that effort to get my attention. Just so you know, you had me at 'this is my husband'.”
“Good to know.” She smiled, unable to not flirt with him. Looking at Zeke took her breath away.
“So, what is really going on here?”
“I'm not making it up, I promise. Some passengers didn’t make it, which means that by now the authorities must be starting to investigate how they could have boarded in Jamaica and not landed here. There will probably be headlines about this in a few days.”
She was so confident that he couldn't resist the temptation to play along.
“Okay, let's say all of that is true. How did I propose?”
Michaela felt her heart warm over one of her favorite memories of the two of them. And also because of the way Zeke looked at her. It was just like in the beginning, when they first met at the cabin. Confused, intrigued, and incredibly soft.
“First, you gave a speech about how you wanted to spend your last moments with the love of your life and making one last memory that you could take with you. Then you got down on one knee, pulled a beautiful white sapphire ring from your pocket, and popped the question.”
“And you said ‘yes’.”
“I sure did.”
They stared at each other for a moment, Michaela remembering that very special night, Zeke trying to imagine what it would be like to get a “yes” from a woman like her.
No, not from a woman like her. From her. A “yes” from Michaela.
“What song did we dance to at our wedding?” he recovered after a minute.
“Truly Madly Deeply.”
“Oh, that one is romantic! Good choice. Did we have a honeymoon?”
“We spent a couple of months in Costa Rica.”
“Months? Wow, this other life seems way more interesting than mine.”
The two burst into laughter.
“No, seriously, it sounds like an amazing life. I wish I had that kind of memories…” Zeke said in a more sorrowful tone. Michaela noticed the change in his mood, the old demons that always haunted him.
“Hey, this life can still be amazing. And I know it's going to be because you deserve it, Zeke. You deserve this more than anyone else.”
She couldn't stop herself any longer and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.
Zeke held her close, and couldn’t help but to get emotional over those words. He had never heard anything like that from anyone. He had never met anyone like her.
Without thinking, he let one hand slide up her back while his other arm held her around the waist. She was so soft and warm and beautiful that he was having trouble to think clearly. But Zeke was still a gentleman and, although all he wanted was to never let go of that hug, he forced himself to put a few inches between them.
To his surprise, however, Michaela still kept her arms around him, still holding him close.
He couldn’t know, but that hug reminded her of the first time she knew that she had feelings for him. His firm hands on her back, his warm breath on her neck… It also reminded her of all the times she wanted to hug him in the glow and couldn’t. All the times she so desperately needed to feel his warmth, his strength, his touches on her bare skin… And now he was back, so alive and strong in her arms again.
She wanted to hold him forever. And, god, she wanted to kiss him. And to make love to him.
“You have answers for everything, don't you? Can you tell me tomorrow's lottery numbers?” he joked.
“No, but now that you asked, I probably should have looked at that before we came back on the plane.”
“Yeah, that magic plane of yours,” he smiled. She was just unbelievable in so many ways.
They didn’t say another word for a minute. Still holding each other with no intention of letting go.
“There's a question I still don't have an answer to, Zeke.” Michaela said in a whisper.
“What is it?”
“It was a very long flight… Will you take me home?”
Zeke really didn’t have the highest self-esteem, but he wasn’t blind either. Michaela was sending him signs all night. Even the way she was looking at him right now was telling him she didn’t mean just a drive home. So he decided to take a leap of faith.
“Mine or yours?”