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DiSandiTime

         Earlier in the afternoon, Sidney was thanking God that Eliza had chosen to have an evening wedding. All the more hours that he wouldn’t have to face the inevitable, but here it was. As much as he had drunk this afternoon and evening, he was stone cold sober. The knot in his stomach had risen to his heart, and he actually prayed for a heart attack. He couldn’t believe Charlotte came to the wedding. He knew it was a defiant move on her part, but she didn’t look defiant.  He had discovered, well Crowe brought the fact to his attention, that he was free to roam as long as he didn’t talk to Charlotte. So he made his way around the room, and met her eyes every opportunity he could. He watched her dance several times. Lord Harrington, and Lord Baskerville claimed a couple of dances. Though she smiled at them, it never reached her eyes. She looked even sadder when she danced with Babington and Crowe, but she at least looked like she held tightly to the bonds of friendship they offered her. Crowe, being Crowe, relayed that Eliza’s friends were all talking about how jealous she was that Charlotte danced, with not only very prominent men, but lords, and even the Prince Regent – Susan made sure of that. Eliza invited her to simply ‘stick it to’ her rival, and her rival showed her up even at her own wedding. Sidney paid little attention until he saw her dancing with Alex Coulbourne. He had a bad feeling about that man. Not the one for Charlotte.

         But here they were, home at last. Eliza refused to share a drink with him in the study. “Sidney, I think you’ve had enough to drink tonight.” She walked her long fingers up his chest, along his neck to his face. She grinned. “I think this night is far from over. Come.” She took his hand, and almost dragged him up the steps. Eliza’s candlelit room was strewn with roses. The maids turned back the covers and littered the sheets with rose pedals. He couldn’t do this. He froze. His mouth went dry, and his heart pounded, and he thought he would faint. He stood by the door. Eliza took his hand, pulled him into the room, closed and locked the door. She ran her fingers under his tailcoat, and pushed it off his shoulders. She unbuttoned his waistcoat, then looked up at him. He didn’t see the anger flash in her eyes. “You’re not thinking about her, are you Sidney?”  He didn’t answer. She loosened his cravat, lifted his hand and placed it on her breast, then reached down to unbutton the fall of his pants, and he noticed her nose twitch when she realized that his body wasn’t responding to her touch. She pressed him tighter and lifted her lips to his, and suddenly there was nothing but a pile of Sidney’s clothing at her feet.  They say that her screams could be heard throughout half of London.

💜

         The next sounds he heard were the shattering of something porcelain and a woman sobbing… Charlotte sobbing. But her sobs instantly turned into a muffled shout of surprise. She obviously had no idea what had happened, but the street lamps filtered through her curtains enough that she saw a naked Sidney on her floor. They stared at each other in silence for several seconds, then they both heard a sound they dreaded. Mary’s footsteps in the hall. She knocked on Charlotte’s door. “Charlotte is everything okay?”

         In a panicked voice she said, “Don’t come in, I’m on the chamber pot.” She scowled at Sidney’s smirk. “I knocked something over. Mary, I’m sorry. I’ll clean it up when I’m finished.”

         They both held their breath when Mary’s soft voice came through the door. “Charlotte, are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?”

         “No!” She said with a twinge of irritation. “I’m tired, we’ll talk in the morning.”

         They both let out relieved breaths when they heard Mary’s retreating footsteps. “What are you doing here?” She hissed through her clenched teeth. She didn’t look away from him.

         As usual, Sidney was at a loss for words. “What do you want from me?” she hissed. “It’s quite obvious. You, a married man, naked as your birth day, in my room! Sidney, you’ve ruined both of us! Get your clothes on!”

         He finally started to lift himself off the floor. “I don’t have any.” He whispered back.

         “Any what?”

         “Clothes.”

         She gave him a look as if she was asking a shop owner about his beautiful tomatoes which were displayed right in front of them, and he just told her they were sold out. He wanted to laugh and kiss away her scowl, but what they heard next stopped both of their hearts.

         “SIDNEY! I know you’re here!”  She shouted as she raced up the steps. Eliza. She ran down the hall opening every door peering into every room. They heard both Tom and Mary’s voices as they met her in the hall.

         “Eliza?” Tom started to speak.

         She cut him off, “Where’s the country girl’s room?”

         “What?” Mary asked trying to buy time. She knew something was going on with Charlotte.

         “WHERE IS her room?”

         Sidney gave Charlotte a look of love and pleading and mouthed ‘I love you.’

         “It’s right here,” Tom stepped over to open Charlotte’s door and put his hand on the knob.

         Mary stepped in. “Tom, I’ll go in. It’s improper for you to go in. She’s in her night clothes.” She slowly opened the door. “Charlotte?” she asked quietly.

         But Eliza was having none this charade of being polite. She stormed past Mary into Charlotte’s room. “Think you can take him on our wedding night?”

         Charlotte sat up in bed, very pale, but very angry. Eliza first noticed the broken porcelain vase scattered on the floor, then she stormed around the dark room which was barely lit by street lamps. She looked under Charlotte’s bed, and in her wardrobe. She tried to open both windows, but they were locked. There was no Sidney. Luckily it was dark, and she didn’t see the drops of blood on the floor.

💜

Sidney = Henry (TTTW) and Tobias Eaton, aka Four (Divergent)

Alex – Will (Divergent)

Sanditon Season 2, Divergent

         The next sounds he heard were the crack of wood, and the noise of the felt covered hammers hitting the untuned strings of an old piano that would now need replacing. The room was still lit, and he heard the quiet clink of crystal on wood as a glass was set down, and he was vaguely aware of another person moving in the room. His arm bled, and he could feel bruises starting to pulse on his back.

         “Parker?” the other man spat. “What the hell are you doing here?” Then he started to laugh. “Where the hell are your clothes? What did you do to have Eliza chase you out of your wedding bed?” 

         Sidney knew that for the moment Colbourne felt as if he had the upper hand. Even naked, he would NOT allow that to happen. He disentangled himself from the piano, stood, then said, “I guess I’ll have to replace this one.”

         “This one?” Colbourne asked with contempt. “Has this happened before?”

         Sidney had an odd sense of deja-vu, but he couldn’t answer the other man’s question.  “Um, do you mind?” Sidney nodded to the afghan folded over the back of the setae.

         “Oh,” Alex reached for the throw and tossed it to Sidney. “Need a drink?”

         He nodded, and accepted the full glass of brandy Colbourne poured for him. He took a big sip, and held the burning liquid in his mouth before swallowing. He took several more swallows to gather himself.  “Alex, you need to leave Miss Heywood alone.”

         Colbourne laughed. “Are you serious?” He couldn’t stop laughing. “This is your wedding night. I believe Eliza is now your wife, and you’re standing in my house, naked, and you want to tell me who I can and can’t socialize with? You’ve lost your mind. You’ve had too much to drink, buddy. You want me to call my coachman? You need a lift home? Miss Heywood is an attractive woman, and I kind of like her.”

         “Yes, I know. But, you love Christina more.” {1}

         Colbourne went pail and sat down. “How do you know that?” he hissed loudly.

         “Will, you were pretty obvious about that from the beginning.”

         Colbourne couldn’t believe that Sidney called him Will, and he poured himself another drink and held the bottle towards Sidney. He held out his glass for more. “So who are you? Sidney Parker or Tobias Eaton?”

         Sidney took a breath. “I’m not sure. At this precise moment, I think I’m Henry DeTamble.”

         Colbourne raised an eyebrow. “Having trouble with your identity these days?”

         “Like you haven’t taken on an extra persona or two to pay your light bills? Hell, you’ll pack up your carriage, and disappear for two years or more.”

         “And you think Sidney Parker is going to hang around?” Colbourne countered.

         “Well, I’m trying to deal with that. Henry kind of came in and took over.” Colbourne gave him another unbelieving look. “For some reason, Henry doesn’t seem to want me to be married to Eliza, and he’s putting up a rather nasty stink to prevent it. Hell, I don’t want to be married to her either.”

         “What does Henry DeTamble have to do with you being here, naked in my study? In the middle of the night… On your wedding night?”

         “Henry’s a time traveler, and he trying to stop me from marrying Eliza.”

         “A little late for that.,” he scoffed. “And where does this Henry come from?”

         Sidney shrugged and rolled his eyes. “I’m not really sure. I think Chicago, in the Americas. Probably around the year 2018. Two hundred years from now.”

         Colbourne nodded his head so slowly that his body rocked slightly with it. “Tell me about Christina.”

         “I thought you loved her.”

         “I did, but your girlfriend killed me.”

         “Well, maybe we can rearrange that a little.”

         Colbourne gave him a look that told him to continue.

         Sidney looked hopeful. “Well you did try to kill her, so she’s going to have to protect herself.” Sidney shrugged. “She’ll to have to shoot you, but she doesn’t need to kill you. Tris and Christina actually had a little falling out over that. Maybe we can both remedy the situation.”

         “So, I’m still going to have to get shot? Why would I leave the Regency Period to get shot?”

         Sidney shrugged. “Well, maybe she can just shoot you… in the eye. You know, just enough to stop you.”

         Alex lowered his voice. “Really?”

         Sidney kind of liked this idea. “Really! You get hurt. Christina can’t resist helping you, and you get to walk around for the rest of your days with an eye patch. Think about it!  Women go crazy over eye patches! You could write your ticket anywhere.”

         Sidney didn’t realize that Mrs. Wheatley had been listening in on her employer’s conversation from the minute she heard the crash in the study. Suddenly two rather large footmen stormed into the room. “We’ll take care of him, Mr. Colbourne.” The bigger one said. He strode purposely over to Sidney, and slammed a beefy fist into his jaw. Colbourne tried to get them to stop, but they didn’t listen. Here was a naked man in their employer’s study, and they weren’t taking any chances. Sidney put up a good fight, but fighting in the ‘Greek’ style wasn’t appealing to him. Suddenly, all that was left of Sidney Parker was a Scottish afghan pooled on the floor, and a shattered brandy snifter.

💜

         He became aware that he was lying on top of a bed.  It was a soft landing, but he thought his eardrums would crack with the piercing screams of a terrified, or was it angry, woman. But her screams suddenly dissipated, and he heard a breathy, “Sidney!” He realized that the voice came from Eliza, and now she was gathering up rose pedals and scattering them all over his body. Oh god. The candles were still lit, and he could see the look on her face, and suddenly felt terrible for all the women who were forced to marry men, older men, they didn’t love. That they didn’t even like. “Sidney, have you been fighting again?” She raised her nose to him and she let out a disgusted sniff. “You’ve been drinking, too.” She smiled. “What were you and Miss Heywood up to? I know you were there.” His whole body stiffened in revolution, well most of it. Once again Eliza was upset that she couldn’t get a rise out of him, but it didn’t stop her, and she laid a hand on his belly, and started tracing the trail of hair downward. “Sidney?” He couldn’t tell if it was a whine or a question, but before she really touched him, he vanished again, and all she was left holding were the rose pedals she planned to scatter about his body.

💜

         This time he had a much softer and quieter landing, and the most delightful sound he had ever heard… a whispered, “Sidney!” Her scent washed over him like a gentle breeze. He could lie here forever. “Thank goodness you didn’t break anything this time.” She hissed. He turned his head, and couldn’t help smiling at her, even though her face contorted in a scowl. He let out a sigh. How he wanted to kiss her, but she was angry.

         “Sidney,” she whispered struggling to keep from shouting at him, “what’s happening?”

         “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” He whispered back.

         “You have appeared, disappeared and reappeared… magically three times tonight. Try me.”

         He looked around, “Do you have something I can put on? I’m rather cold.”

         She turned her head and stared at him, as if she was unsure what to do next. Without taking her eyes off him, she said, “Stand up.” He stood, worried about her next move.  She lifted her covers, and tilted her head toward her other pillow the same way he had tilted his head for her to get into the carriage when they were in London looking for Georgiana. He was freezing, and he welcomed her warm bed. He wanted to wrap her in his arms, but he was a married man, both presently, and in the future, but this was the woman he loved and wanted in his bed. He thought he was going to lose his mind. Even with the covers up to her chin, and her hair askew, she couldn’t hide her beauty, nor her huge brown eyes. He almost died when she reached over and opened the curtain slightly to let in more light. His cold toes touched her calves, and she jumped and sucked in a breath, but then she moved her legs over his feet to warm them. That was all the touch she would allow. He felt like he did when he was a child, and climbed into bed with Diana. Though he wanted her desperately, he was happy with just being in her presence. “Well?” she whispered.

         “Charlotte,” he whispered, “I’m not sure exactly what’s happening. It’s terrifying. But I think I’m time traveling.” She didn’t look surprised. “I think my future name is Henry DeTamble.”

         “Future?”

         He nodded. “Like the 2000’s.” Her eyebrows shot up. “It’s as if Henry’s trying to stop me from marrying Eliza.”

         She gave him a derisive snort. “You’ve already married her,” She snapped. He could see her eyes well up with tears, and he had to resist the strong urge to wrap her in his arms and wipe them away with his fingers.

         “We’ve had the ceremony, but we haven’t consummated the marriage.”

         Charlotte scowled. And spat a whispered, “Because you keep coming to my bed.”

         “That’s the thing,” he said. “I have no absolutely no control as to where I’ll wind up.”

         “And this Henry does?”

         “I don’t know. All I know is that when I’m in Eliza’s presence, if things get, um…. intimate, which I don’t want, I disappear. I’m thankful, but I don’t know how it happens.”

         She smirked, “and you wind up here. That’s convenient. Sidney, I’m not about to become your mistress.”

         He felt like he had been slapped. She was right.

         “Who are you?  Who am I talking to? Henry or Sidney? And how do you know you’re from the 2000’s”

         “I don’t know. Like I said, he’s trying to stop me from marrying Eliza, and he’s telling me about things that may help us to raise money for Tom.” While he talked with Charlotte, he could feel Henry’s presence, but he told him nothing.

         “Sidney, do you have any idea how this makes me feel?”

         “I can tell you that I’m terrified, and I would guess your fear is tenfold mine. Look at me.”

         She looked into his eyes. “I’m trying hard not to.”

         He sniffed slightly in amusement. “I am too.”

         Her eyes flashed. “Sidney, you have to fix this. What do you know about Henry?”

         He didn’t meet her eyes.

         Angry understanding flashed across her face. “He’s married meaning you’re married.” She said, completely understanding that Sidney was married to two women. He nodded.

         “What’s her name?”

         “I think it’s Claire.”

         “Do you think Claire is a better woman than Eliza?”

         “I have no doubt she loves Henry.” He could tell his words cut through her like a knife.

         She took his hand in hers. “Maybe you should talk to her,” and in that split second he was gone. The bed beside her was empty.

💜

Henry = Sidney

Claire = Ygritte (Rose Leslie)

Jon Snow = Jon Snow (Kit Harington)

Game of Thrones

         He hit hard, but the rocks beneath him were warm.  It was pitch black, but he could hear water droplets echoing off the walls. He thought he heard voices, so he tried to listened. He heard a man’s voice say,  ‘We shouldn’t.’ Then he heard a coy woman’s voice say, ‘We should.’ Claire’s voice.  He felt an instant surge of jealousy. Then he heard the man say, ‘Good point.” Then things went silent until he started hearing things that a man should never hear his wife doing. He couldn’t take it. He called out, “Claire!” A man wearing all black, and a cloak embellished with what looked like crow feathers appeared from the other side of the rocks carrying a torch. The woman who followed him was naked. Henry felt his heart start to race. “Claire!” She took the torch from the man and walked towards him. “Ygritte, leave him,” he said.

         She stared at Henry’s form as she spoke to the other man, “You know nothing, John Snow. A naked man north of the wall. He’s not a problem. He won’t last long.”

         Jon Snow stepped up beside her and asked, “Who are you?” Though Henry’s nakedness didn’t seem to register with him, it certainly did with Claire.

         She grinned as she raked her eyes over his body. “What makes you think my name is Claire?”

         Henry gave her an angry look. “You’re my wife.”

         Her mouth twisted into an odd grin as if she didn’t like the implications of his words, but she knew full well he was lying. “And your name is?”

         He scoffed at her. “You know it, Henry.”

         She laughed again. “Well, Henry, I told this to Jon Snow, and I guess you didn’t understand my words when I told you because you obviously left me behind, but,” she gave him a wicked grin. “I’ll remind you… “Don’t ever betray me because I’ll cut your pretty cock right off and wear it around my neck.”

         Henry felt a jolt of dread. This was not his Claire. He had to think fast. “Yes you’re my wife, but you love Jon Snow. You two will be married for a long time and travel the world together, and live in castles! Your name is Rose, and his is Kit.”

         She narrowed her eyes at him. “I thought you said my name was Claire.” She turned to Jon Snow and asked with mirth. “Kit? As in kitten? Oh, Jon Snow, don’t go soft on me. I don’t want to have to come running every time you see a spider.” She turned back to Henry. “And when does your fantasy happen?” she asked.

         Henry decided to go for broke.  “In the 2020’s.”

         “Bring the torch, Jon Snow.” She slowly drew her bone dagger that she kept  hidden in the folds of Jon Snow’s coat as she stood next to him.

         Henry yelled, “CLAIRE! CLAIRE! CLAIRE!”

         Once again he disappeared.

💜

Claire and Jamie Frazier

Outlander

         As he heard the wood cracking and the glass breaking, he knew this was going to be a bad fall. He was still repeating her name when he fell. “Claire!  Claire! Claire!” He opened his eyes to a beautiful middle-aged woman. Her dark, slightly greying hair pulled back and braided, and her green plaid dress made with rough spun fabric draped nicely over her shapely body. He had a sudden vision of her wearing high spiked heels and nothing but a bra and panties, and walking a well-lit runway. He’d keep that thought to himself. She helped him off the floor and onto some type of table. As he looked around, he realized that he was in an old-time doctor’s office, but when? He noticed the musket leaning in the corner, and Colonial looking medical tools.  Pain, fear and exhaustion wracked his body. He tried to think how many times jumps he had made today. Was it ten, twelve? he wasn’t sure. He suddenly realized that she was talking to him as she tweezed the broken glass out of his wounds.

         “Where did you come from, and what happened to your clothes?”

         “Don’t know,” he said warily. He was at this woman’s mercy, and quite frankly though she was beautiful and seemed kind, she looked like she may be a witch. But what’s the worst that could happen? He could die or travel again. He sucked in a breath and continued. “Where haven’t I been? Last night was my wedding night with a woman I detested. When she went to touch me…” he blushed a little, “well, you know where… I vanished. I’ve been in and out of different places…” he stopped to think then shrugged, “seven times?”

         “Where did you just come from?”

         “I don’t know. A warm cave some place. My future wife was there… with a friend of mine…”

         She raised an eyebrow. “Did you come through the stones?”

         He noticed that her hands had taken on a blue aura as she worked on him, and he felt oddly better.  “What?”

         “Are you a time traveler? Did you step through the stones?”

         “Step through? No! I’m bouncing around time and space, like a pinball, but I can’t stop it.” 

         Her expression turned to one of concern, or was it pity. He wondered if she really believed him. “A Maester once told me there were some like you.”

         “Like me?”

         “Time travelers who have no control over their time movements. It’s the worst time travel there is.

         Suddenly he realized Henry was talking. “It’s a genetic disorder, and I can’t control it.” He felt his voice crack.

         She nodded. Amazingly, she made no bones about his words or his nakedness as she ran her healing hands over his body, and equally amazingly, her touch made him feel oddly healed. “I don’t think I can heal your genetics. Even if I did, you would have to stay here. In this time. You wouldn’t be able to travel again. But, try focusing on a person or place as you’re about to leave one time. I know a Maester…”

         “CLAIRE! CLAIRE…. Mandy came and told me you’re with a naked….”

         Just then all of Claire’s healing flew straight out the window. Henry looked into the huge Scot’s murderous eyes, and decided that he would never have to worry about traveling again.  He thought the first punch must have broken a couple of ribs.

         “Jamie, Stop!” Her next words were scrambled as her enraged husband laid another beefy punch on his nose…  “Think Maester *aymon!”

💜

Maester Aemon

Grenn – Mark Stanley (Babington)

Jon Snow

Ygritte – Rose Leslie

Game of Thrones

         Once again he woke in complete darkness, only this time he was lying on a smooth stone floor in the bitter cold. He could smell the smoke of an old fire, and old books. He tried to sit up, but the fact that his head was still spinning from… who was it? Jamie’s punch, and he couldn’t get his bearings because of the dark, he just kind of flopped around.

         “Who’s there?” Though he was startled by the man’s voice, it was barely audible.

         “Maester Aymon?” he asked.

         “I’m Maester Aemon Targaryen. And, you are?”

         Henry didn’t realize he had spoken out loud when he said, “Great, Back in Game of Thrones.”

         The old man chuckled. “When you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die.  There’s no middle ground.”

         He tried to ignore the other man’s words He decided to go for broke. After all, what could an old man do to him. “Right now, I’m not sure.  Right now, because I’m time traveling, I think I’m Henry DeTamble, but this so-called ride started with Sidney Parker, then Tobias Eaton showed up, and I think there’s someone else floating around in there somewhere.” He tried to stand, but his shin hit something hard and he stumbled and knocked over what sounded like tin utensils. The old man’s quiet laughter irritated him.

         “Young man, I’m sorry, I’m blind. I never know if it’s day or night. Put your right hand on the table and come forward. There’s nothing in front of you. When you get to the end of the table, look left. The fire’s been banked. There’s fatwood beside the hearth. Light that, then light the candle on the mantle. But, watch your head.

         The warning reached Sidney too late because he lifted his head too fast and cracked it on the heavy mantle. “Ah, fuck!” He snarled inwardly when he heard the old man chuckle. Once he lit the candle, he turned back to Maester Aemon. “Um, sir, I’m kind of naked, do you have something I can put on.

         “You’re naked… at the wall?” he shook his head and shivered as he stood, shuffled over to his cot, picked up a folded blanket and handed it to Sidney. He blindly reached out to touch the young man. When he put his hand on his shoulder, Sidney flinched at the heat. Aemon smiled, “Those of us with dragon blood do tend to run a little hotter. The blanket will have to do until Samwell Tarly comes in the morning. There’s ale on the mantle, and a cup for stew beside it. Help yourself, then come back to the table and tell me what brings a naked man to The Wall.”

         The old man refused Sidney’s offer to fix him some food, but sat with the younger man most of the night while he listened with fascination to his story. Sidney never knew his grandfathers, so once he started talking, he couldn’t stop. He started with his youth and his infatuation with Eliza. How his brother, Tom, shipped him off to Antigua when he fell into drink and debauchery after Eliza married another man. He told him about discovering the darkness of slavery and changing the course of his business so not to support the human trade. He told him about the fortune he made and how even that wasn’t enough to save his brother from financial ruin, and he was forced to marry the widowed Eliza instead of the woman he loved, Charlotte. He talked about how he felt his heart break as he watched her dancing with other men, and one especially at their wedding. He told him the first time he time traveled was last night when his new wife expected his ‘services’ to consummate their marriage. How he vanished, then found himself on the floor of Charlotte’s bedroom. He told him everything about Colbourne and Will and the deal they made for the future. He told him about his wife Claire from the year 2000, and how supportive she was of his genetic disorder, but he never knew when he would time travel. He told him about finding her in the cave with some man she called Jon Snow.

         Maester Aemon smiled at this. “Jon Snow. He will become the Lord Commander of the Nights Watch, but he’s really Aegon Targaryen, the rightful king of the Seven Kingdoms.”

         “What?” Somehow these words, once spoken didn’t surprise him.

         “Please continue. You have precious little time.”

         He told him about how in the future, Jon would be happily married to Ygritte, or, to his wife, Claire, only her name then would be Rose. He told him about meeting Claire Frazier, how she told him that his form of time travel was genetic, and before he vanished while her angry husband worked on pummeling him to death, she told him to think of him.

         “Me?” he asked. “What did she think I can do for you?”

         “I don’t know. I thought you may know.”  

         When Sidney finally finished his saga, he sat in silence and waited for the old man to speak.

         The old Maester nodded his head slowly. “So you dishonored the woman you loved for the duty you felt for your brother?”

         Though the old man’s words were kindly said, Sidney felt he had been slapped. His honor was brought into question, and the folly of his so-called duty suddenly rang hollow. He had no reply.  The old man reached blindly out to him, and Sidney put his hand on his arm, then Maester Aemon placed his hand on the younger man’s arm and held it. His hand was hot as a heated brick used to warm a cold bed. Though he was blind, Sidney felt his gaze as if the old man saw right through to his rotten core, but he still gave him a sad smile. And said, “What is honor compared to a woman’s love? What is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms? Winds and words. We are only human and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory and our great tragedy.”

         Sidney had no words, but then his thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. He smiled at the person standing on the threshold. “Babbers!”

         The other man didn’t smile. His clothes were filthy, his hair and beard unkept, his hands gnarled, callused and bleeding, and he smelled like he hadn’t showered in years. “Do I know you?”  he scowled.

         “No, sorry, a case of mistaken identity.”

         Maester Aemon introduced the two men. “Henry, this is Grenn. Grenn meet Henry.” They simply nodded at each other warily.

         Sidney’s stomach dropped when he saw the other man step in behind Grenn. Jon Snow. He was more worried about Ygritte, but didn’t see her. “You get around the North pretty quickly for a naked man without a horse.” Jon said.

         “I’m still trying to find some clothes.” Henry groused.  Jon Snow reached into his saddle bag and threw him a shirt. Sidney swallowed. The shirt was so dirty it was stiff. Grenn reached into his bag and tossed him a pair of pants in worse shape than the shirt.

         “Thank-you. You’ll get them back as soon as I leave.”

         “Who said you were leaving?” Grenn asked with menace.

         “We’ll send him on his way when Sam gets here and can find him some proper clothes,” said Maester Aemon.

         “Oh, no,” Grenn said. I think this man has some unfinished business with Jon.

         “How do you know Ygritte?” Jon asked, taking steps towards Henry.

         Sidney didn’t bother with the clothes handed to him, but he kept the blanket wrapped tightly around him. He sized up the smaller man. He would have to make his first hit count. When Snow moved close enough, Sidney let loose with the best uppercut boxing jab he could muster.  The force of the hit sent Jon sprawling on the floor, but Grenn was ready for him. The other man may have been shorter than he was, but he out-weighed him by more than a stone, and the only extra weight he carried on his body was the dirt. He grabbed one of Henry’s arms and held it behind his back. Jon Snow collected himself enough to grab the other arm. Then Ygritte stepped through the door.

         “Henry, you left me. You may not have kept your promise to me, but I always keep my promises. All three of them chuckled when she unsheathed her bone dagger. She smiled and put her hand on his chest and started to pull the blanket back. Suddenly they were all fighting with a blanket. Maester Aemon just laughed.

💜

Maester Raymond – Outlander

         Eliza couldn’t believe her luck when Lady Susan Worcester sent her an invitation for afternoon tea and card games with several other women.  She knew she was going to have to answer questions about Sidney, and she was desperate to put her spin on things first. He had been gone for four days, and there were rumors flying all around London of people who claimed to have found him crashing through ceilings, sleeping on park benches, walking the cliffs at Sanditon and swimming in the cove. The only common denominator was that he was always found naked. Every time someone from her staff went out, they came back with another story about Sidney. There was clearly something wrong with him. The man had to be insane. He disappeared the first time she tried to touch him, and two days later when he fell onto her bed, battered, bleeding and reeking of alcohol, he disappeared again when she tried to continue what they had started on their wedding night. The first night she stormed the Parker home at Bedford Place, and demanded to speak to Charlotte. She knew he was there, but she made the mistake of making such a noisy entrance that he had time to get away. She was also seething because Charlotte had danced with every unmarried lord, business man, and even the Prince Regent at her wedding. She invited her to rub salt in the girl’s wounds, but her plan backfired. How was she to know that she would be brazen enough to come at all.

*

         They made small talk for a while, then turned their attention to Eliza when Susan started shuffling and dealing the cards.  Even before the opening bids were placed on the dealt hands, Evie Starling opened the conversation. “Eliza, how did the wedding night go?” All three women turned their rapt attention to the newlywed. If they couldn’t have Sidney Parker, at least they would like to hear about his wedding night prowess. Eliza, incensed that people knew all about her business, decided she would take no prisoners. Sidney was on her shit list, and nothing but the scorched earth policy would work.

         “Sidney? I don’t know what’s wrong with him. I think he’s gone crazy. He walked me into the house, barely kissed me and left.” She sniffed a little for sympathy. “I knew he had gone to that country girl staying with the Parkers, so I went there looking for him, but someone tipped him off, and he was long gone when I got there.”

         “Charlotte? Why would she have anything to do with Sidney when every available man was after her because she had the Prince Regent’s stamp of approval?” Cindy Tate asked pointing out that it was possible that Eliza had enabled the girl to make a better match than she did.

         Eliza narrowed her eyes at Susan. Susan narrowed her eyes right back and said, “Charlotte’s a lovely girl, any man would be lucky to have her.” Her words were met with approval by the other two women. Eliza just nodded.

         “Two nights later, he’s in my bed naked. He had been drinking and fighting and god knows what else. He got blood on my sheets! By then all the rose pedals had dried up, but I hung on to them. Just in case. He left again when I tried to strew them over his body.” She unconsciously touched her upper lip with the tip of her tongue. An action not missed by the other women. Susan rolled her eyes.

         “I heard he got into a fight with Alex Colbourne.” Evie said with just a bit too much excitement in her voice.  “His staff said he wore nothing but a plaid afghan. Then he just disappeared.”

         “I heard the police picked him up and have hauled him off to jail.” Cindy said.

         Evie looked directly at Eliza and asked point blank, “Are you telling us that you’ve had Sidney Parker naked in your bedroom and you haven’t consummated your marriage?”

         Eliza blushed slightly, but she definitely didn’t want to live with a mad man, so she clung desperately to her only out – the lack of consummation. She grimaced and put on a sad face and nodded. “They say you don’t really know someone until you marry him, and Sidney’s fallen off the deep end.”

         The women continued their trivial conversations as they played their cards, but Eliza continued to drag Sidney back to the table. “I don’t understand why he has to drink and fight so much.”

         “Eliza, he’s always been like that. You knew that.  Think of all the balls and dinners he’s attended with a bruised eye or a split lip. And, even I’ve seen him stumble out a parlor with a footman on either elbow. In fact, he seems to have gotten much worse lately.” Cindy added.

         Susan’s footman made certain that he kept the port flowing. The three women sipped their drinks, but Eliza drank hers. The more she drank, the more she said about Sidney. She started to snivel. “I just wish something would happen to him, then I wouldn’t have to deal with him anymore.”

         “You know, Eliza, you can just have the marriage annulled if he doesn’t perform his marital duties.” Evie suggested.

         “I know.” She started to cry. “But it would create such a scandal.”

         “Seems to me, it’s already a scandal. Maybe you should cut your losses and run.” Evie suggested. Eliza nodded, and though she was sniffing, only a couple of tears managed to slide down her face.

         Just then, as if on cue, as if the ceiling had just opened up and dropped him, a naked, battered and bruised and half frozen Sidney fell onto the gaming table splitting it down the middle. They all jumped, but Eliza started screaming bloody murder.  Cindy and a kindly footman hurriedly moved to escort Eliza out. “Come on Eliza, you’re finished with him. He’ll never find a seat at another seat at a table in London ever again.” Before they were out of the room, Cindy cast one last look over her shoulder at the delicious Sidney Parker. Susan and a footman were already helping him. Eliza turned the full force of her fury onto her hostess. “It was you! Susan, you’ve been fucking my husband! You’ve been keeping him here all this time to yourself? How dare you!!! Wait till Charlotte finds out about this!” she screamed.  Cindy and the footman did a remarkable job ‘helping’ Eliza out of the house as she screamed about how she was going to ruin both Susan and Sidney, then suddenly the house was quiet again. Evie and another footman pulled the pieces of the table away, then Susan grabbed a thick cotton throw off the back of a chair and threw it over him.

         Sidney looked at Susan in shock. “Susan… I-I-I….”

         She put a soothing hand on his cut and bruised arm that almost felt frozen, and said calmly, “Don’t leave us this time. Sidney, this is Maester Raymond. He’s kind of the father of all time travelers, and he’s here to help you.”

         Someone had shoved a pillow under his head. He looked at the Maester, “Claire Frazier told me to go to Maester Aemon.” He stared at the man he thought was a footman. He wasn’t five feet tall, with thick unruly greying hair and a face that looked almost… froggish.

         Raymond looked at him with amusement then grinned. “The Wall’s a terrible place to be in your condition. By the looks of you it appears that Claire’s over protective husband, sent you packing. I’m not surprised your message got garbled. Tell me, are we talking to Sidney Parker or Henry DeTamble?”

         “Both of us, I think.”

         “Henry, why did you make the leap all the way back here when you have always bounced around in your own time?” Maester Raymond asked

         “First off, can I please have some clothes? I think I’ve been naked for a week or more.”

         Raymond looked at the women, “Give us five minutes.” Susan and Evie left the room. Someone had already brought in clean clothes. “Put these on for now, you can get a bath later.”  Five minutes later he was dressed, the game table was removed, and he was sitting on a sofa in front of the fireplace with a hot cup of tea. Susan and Evie returned.

         “Are you time travelers?” Henry asked the two women. They both nodded.

         “But we don’t do it anymore. Once was plenty for me,” Susan said. She noticed his questioning look. “Most time travelers can only travel through standing stones. You feel like you’re being ripped apart as you’re going through, and for some time after coming out, you feel you haven’t been put back together properly. And, people have been known to get lost in the stones.”

         “You mean they never come back out?” Henry/Sidney asked. The three of them nodded.

         Raymond spoke up. “Henry, let’s go back to my first question, why did you make the leap all the way back to here?”

         “I’ve been working with a geneticist, and he said there’s a mutation, and we believe it started with the union between Sidney and Eliza.” At those words, his face, Sidney’s face, suddenly took on a look of horror.

         Raymond looked at him seriously. “Henry, we can’t change history.” He saw the look of disappointment, and felt that it came from both men.

         “Maester,” Henry continued. “I’m not changing history, just genetics. The mutation originated with Eliza. I love my wife and family and friends in the future, but I can’t do the time travel any more… I just can’t I would rather not be born. My wife is desperate to have a child. I’ve time traveled as a child, and when you get thrown naked into places totally unfamiliar to you bad things happen. I don’t want my child to go through that.”

         Everybody agreed, but nobody spoke for several minutes.

         Sidney finally spoke up. “Henry, I don’t know how long the two of us have been traveling together. Days? Weeks? I don’t know, but it’s long enough for me to understand what you go through. It’s hell. You’re my many times over great grandson, and I’ve grown rather fond of you. Right now, you’re a part of me. I want you to exist so I can write you letters to find two hundred years from now.”

         “Sidney,” Henry said. “your only son married a Heywood. In doing the research, we discovered he had an aunt who never married. Born and died Charlotte Heywood.”

         The others watched this conversation between the two men in the same body in awe. They knew Sidney was about to speak because he looked devastated. “I can’t believe I did that to her.”

         “Sidney, you’re missing what I’m telling you. You touched on it, but didn’t know precisely what you were saying.” Sudden understanding flickered in Raymond’s eyes. Henry grinned.

         “Sidney I’m a soul. You know me now, and by writing to me, the letters that you pass down, will keep me alive. You’re ‘remembering’ forward instead of  backwards. I think we can eliminate the mutation, yet I’ll still be born. I know it. It will not matter if I originate from Eliza… or someone else.” He was pleading with them now.

         “If we fix the mutation, how do we get you back to your time?” Sidney asked.

         “I think I’m still there. Sidney, we’re sharing your body here. I came to you to stop you from creating me with Eliza. The Maester doesn’t have to do anything! It’s you!  Well, you and Charlotte… if she’ll have us.”

         Just then the parlor door swung open, and Cindy charged into the room. “You won’t believe what just happened! Eliza went straight to the London Times and took out an ad to announce the annulment.  She didn’t even speak with her solicitor!”

         Once again, the room went silent.

         “That’s good news, isn’t it?” Cindy asked.

         Sidney looked at Susan. “What about Charlotte? She might not appreciate playing second fiddle.”

         “Sidney,” Henry said. She cared enough about you to tell us to talk to Claire instead of Eliza. Maybe we can talk to her, and Raymond will be there to mediate.”

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         The next afternoon, Susan invited Charlotte for tea. They sat in the library, and Maester Raymond came in with Sidney/Henry. She scowled at Sidney. Since being at Susan’s, Raymond didn’t let Henry, hence Sidney out of his sight. He considered what Henry said, and it made sense, but he didn’t want him to suddenly jump time again until they knew what was going to happen. Susan made the introductions and told Charlotte the reason why they were there.

         Henry opened the conversation. Though he looked identical to Sidney (they were in the same body), she could tell the second he started to speak that she was talking to another man. “Charlotte, I traveled here because I had to stop Sidney’s marriage to Eliza.” She rolled her eyes. “No, really. There are time travelers who can move through time, maybe not with ease, but they make the choice to make the moves.  Genetically I’m a time traveler, but I have a certain mutation that gives me no choice in the matter. Eliza carries the mutation. I never know when or where I’m going. Heavy stress can cause a time jump.” Charlotte looked at her friend, and Susan nodded acknowledging the truth of this.

         “How do you know this?” Charlotte asked Susan.

         “Because I am capable of time travel.”

         Charlotte stared at her friend in stunned silence.

         “I made one jump to the 1900’s, and it was horrible. I travel through the stones. I felt my body was being pulled into a million pieces, then reassembled. I wanted to come back to this time, but was afraid. When I got back here, I never traveled through the stones again. I learned a lot, and I was able to advise the Prince Regent on investments, and new technology. But what Henry has is different.” Charlotte turned her attention back to Henry.

         “What is a mutation?” she asked.

         “Well, DNA won’t be discovered for another forty years, and won’t become accepted science for another hundred and forty years, so please just trust me on this. Charlotte, when I time travel, it’s during my natural life time. But, I want to stop.  I researched my family tree, and they, the geneticists, think this unexpected change, the mutation, in my DNA originated with Eliza. Once I found out, and I knew their wedding was coming up, well, it just made me sick.  Like I said, I have no control over where I go, and only my body goes. Everything else gets left behind, so I’m always naked where ever I wind up.”

         “Like when you showed up in my bed the other night?” she asked through gritted teeth.

         “Exactly.” He explained everything to Charlotte that he had told Susan and the others yesterday, including the fact that she never married.  He got up, sat next to her on the sofa and took her hands in his. “Charlotte, um Miss Heywood, I’ve been rattling around in Sidney’s body for several days. He’s a complex man, but the one thing I’m certain of is that he loves you and only you. He lives and breathes for you, I know you love him too. It would be a crime against nature for you two not to be together.”

         Charlotte wasn’t quite ready to let go of her ire. “And of course you get a free ticket out of your situation.” Charlotte knew the second the words left her lips they were wrong. Henry looked strickened, and for once he looked as stunned as Sidney did when he couldn’t tell her what he wanted from her that day at the regatta. He sat back and slowly pulled his hands away from hers.

         He took a breath. “You’re right, Miss Heywood. But I want you to think of one of your little sisters, or little Jenny. I’ve seen my future, and Claire and I will have a little girl, Alba, and she will travel just like I do.” His voice cracked. “Think of one of them winding up God knows where, naked, and most likely hurt, totally at the mercy of whoever comes along.” He stood and walked over to the wall of windows that looked out on the garden. He stared at absolutely nothing. Raymond stood and walked with him. He had some power to keep him from making another time jump, but if Henry decided against it or got too stressed, he would not be able to hold him back. Charlotte swallowed the lump in her throat when she stood and stepped over to Henry. Raymond stepped back when she laid her hand gently on his arm. “Henry…” He turned immediately and wrapped her in his arms so tightly she could hardly breathe.

         “Charlotte…” It was Sidney. Henry was gone.

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         After one devastating miscarriage, Claire gave birth to a lovely baby boy. Their second and third children were girls. Henry and Claire named them, Sidney, Charlotte and Alba.

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         Sidney and Charlotte’s first son, the first of several children, was born a year later. They named Henry Tobias Theodore Parker.

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         He woke with a start. He gazed at his sleeping wife as she mumbled something in her sleep. He thought of his precious daughter asleep in the next room. He felt his wife’s warm hand slide across his middle and pull him to her. She gave him a sleepy kiss and murmured, “Everything okay with your time travelers?”

         He sleepily held her to him and kissed the top of her head and murmured back, “They’re perfect.”

The End.