invisible string - TJ Morrison

3. welcome to new york p3 (s1 ep1)

"Now I have just a couple simple questions." He said. "Why were you on this flight."

"I was on my way home from a family trip and Jamaica and they offered a $400 voucher to go on this flight instead so I took it." She replied.

"Alright thank you. Now, when you were on that plan, where did you guys go." he asked, clearly preparing himself for the same answer everyone else had given him.

"Look Sir," Astra started, "We did not land anywhere. We took off from Jamaica and we landed in New York a couple hours later, or so we thought. I know as much as you do right now. We all do. I'm sure everyone has given you that same answer too because it's the only thing we can say right now. Now can I get back to my sleeping?" Astra replied. She thought that her tiredness was definielty affecting her response and felt a bit bad about how blunt it was but honestly they man needed to hear it.

Vance looked at her with an exasperated face before sighing and nodding, gesturing to the other government agent to escort her out of the room, clearly deciding he could get more information from someone who was not a cranky teenager. Astra just sleepily walked out of the room and back to her cot, instantly falling asleep despite how uncomfortable it was.

——
36 hours later

They were finally letting the passengers go to see their families. Saying that Astra was nervous would be an understatement. They had lived 5 years without them. Who knew what could have changed.

As her, her siblings and nephew walked through the room to find the rest of their family members she saw others happily reuniting. It put things into perspective for her and made things much more real.
All of a sudden Astra heard a familiar voice in front of her.

"Ben! Ben! Ben!" Grace screamed, running across the space between them and instantly throwing herself into a hug with him.

Both Michaela and Astra looked around for their parents before finally seeing their father. Michaela ran to him while Astra tried her best with her crutches, eventually just giving up and dropping them as she neared him. He threw his arm around both girls, looking happier than they had ever seen him. Astra, despite not being the one to have been stuck 5 years without them, had already begun crying. She couldn't even imagine what her parents have been through, losing all 3 kids. Both her and Mick stayed in his arms for what felt like hours, her father clearly didn't want to let go of them just yet and Astra thought he probably would never let her out of his sight again.

Finally, their father had released his hold on them, stepping back and looking at them with so much love in his eyes. As Astra looked around for her mom, who should have been right behind him, she started to realize that something didn't seem right.

"Where's mom?" She asked, and she noticed her father's face change.

"Yeah and um where is Jared." Michaela anxiously chimed in.

"I texted with Jared. He couldn't make it over. Work emergency." their dad replied.

"And mom?" Astra questioned, with a desperation in her voice. She felt like she could already tell where this conversation was going and she really, really hoped she was wrong.

"Your mom got sick. She... She fought so hard." Their dad responded. Ben tuned in from where he was behind them, staring at him in shock.

"What do you... what do you mean sick?" Michaela asked, not yet grasping the reality of what he meant. Astra just silently watched, tears streaming down her face as her brother put his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

"She loved you kids more than life itself. You were everything to her."her dad said, making her cry even harder. She eventually turned around, throwing herself into her brothers embrace as she began to sob.

"No! No, no. I was just... I was just running with her on the beach. I came out here to tell her t-that she was right about me and Jared." She heard her sister say as she descended into sobs. She finally collapsed into him, as her words turned into incoherent sobs. Astra turned around and went to join her dad and Mick in the hug and soon noticed her brother, sister-in-law, niece, and nephew joining them as well. Everyone was crying as they all slowly grasped their new reality.

authors note:
not my proudest of this but i was in a bit of a depressive mood recently and i knew i had to get this out. sorry for making the first episode so many chapters but like there's just so much in it. I promise the next will be the last 😭. I also am only doing a couple episodes from season 1 since it isn't the most interesting but I do want to begin to show Astra's character growth as well as the development of a better bond between her and her family
members, especially Ben. Also after all, this is a tj fanfic and he isn't in it until season 2.
anywho thank you so much for over 600 reads and so many votes and comments. you guys have no idea how encouraging those are to see and it literally makes me so happy.
next chapter will be out tomorrow, probably also around 4-5am since that is unfortunately the time i am most productive. we will be finishing episode one as well as exploring astras adaption to 2018, her mothers death, and the callings. how fun.