The children must always be more successful than their parents. The grand old motto of my family and the tradition that I too must follow and then pass on to my children. You'd think this would be easy, especially by being the daughter of immigrant parents. Well, my mom is top in her field as a scientist and my dad is highly in demand as a pharmacist and chemist. My elder sister is a doctor and about to be married. As for me, I never realized how much of myself I've lost or never had the opportunity to explore, as I grew up following the footsteps of my successful parents and struggling to be noticed in the shadow of my sister.

I am the youngest, the so-called baby of the family and the one who always was thought of as still little and that there was no need to worry about her just yet. Yet I struggled and cried for my attention the only way I knew my parents would notice me, through my grades. I worked hard, studied hard and the built in battle between my creative side and my logical side raged on for the past 21 years, the former slowly becoming more and more defeated and diminished. Acting, singing, music, painting, and all those hobbies I loved as a child slowly became just that, hobbies. I fooled myself into thinking my passion was logic; that it was a career that I pursued only to make me more successful than my parents. Slowly, I was no longer fooling myself. I really believed that my passion was this and that music, art, painting and acting were just side distractions to my normal life. My life revolved around pleasing my parents and showing my worth to them. Though I had proved myself time and time again, it was a habit hard to break. I never realized I lost myself until I ventured forth that one night, hunting for a book that were not along the genres of politics, law or science, but a book that would hold my interest and perhaps strengthen the losing side of my mind.

It was raining that night, but I was determined for something that could save me. I was in a downward spiral, unable to catch my breath as my life sped out of control. My fiancé had deserted me and my parents blamed me for not holding onto him, a man successful and perfect, and yet such an ass that I hated him and hated myself whenever I was around him. He was perfect, in my parents' eyes, the epitome of true success of a successful daughter, the wealthy and ambitious husband. Never mind that I had a bachelor of arts from an ivy league university, a judicial degree from another prestigious law school; the one thing that became the apple of my parents' eyes was the man I chose to be chained with. No doubt he mentioned to them that I quit my job at the law firm a week ago or that I had become an aimless wanderer, with no purpose or no direction. My parents' awe of me was quickly diminishing and I was struggling to keep my head above the water as my life quickly became meaningless.

-- -- --

I ran into the bookstore, my hair in wet strands about my face and just about everything I was wearing on me soaked with water. An old man greeted me at the front and handed me some paper towels, giving me a sympathetic smile before pointing in a certain direction. I thanked him and walked there, thinking it was just going to lead me to the bathroom to dry off a bit. I walked deeper into the aisles of books, the air getting muskier with the smell of old, rare and used books. I glanced upwards, noticing the lone light bulb flickering, a couple of cobwebs clinging onto it and I gave an involuntary shiver, from the cold or something else, I did not know. I glanced behind me to realize that I could not see the entrance where I had come from. I knew at that point that I should have turned back and tried to retrace my steps, but I found that I had to continue on. There was nothing left for me back there, nothing to retrace my steps on.

I kept moving forward, the light from that lone bulb getting dimmer and the air around me became muskier. I glanced backwards again, as I continued walking forward, thinking perhaps, I had made a mistake in continuing forward. My foot suddenly caught on something and I felt myself falling forward. I shut my eyes, putting my hands in front of me to brace for the inevitable fall. When it didn't come, I slowly opened my eyes, wincing at the bright light that was there. I glanced around quickly and realized that I was no longer in the bookstore and not only that, the reason for the lack of falling was due to a man holding onto my arms, saving me from a few unwanted injuries.

I gazed up into his warm, brown eyes, dazed for the moment. I was no longer cold; his hands on my arms had spread heat throughout my body. All I wanted to do in that moment was lean in and kiss his lips. I had never before felt such warmth and protection from another person before and I wanted to take it all in. Unfortunately, before I did give into my passions, he pulled back a bit, straightened me out and slowly let go of me.

"Almost had a bit of a fall there, my Lady," he smiled at me, "Are you alright?"

I blinked at him, a dozen different thoughts running through my mind. I glanced down at my clothing, realizing I wasn't wearing my wet jeans, wet sweatshirt and converses, but instead I was in a simple pale blue gown, like one would see in the history museums. My hair wasn't wet and down either, but also up in a simple hairstyle. I glanced around again, taking in my surroundings. There were two horses nearby, one I guessed was mine and the other his and we were in a bright meadow. There was a castle manor in the distance as well. I took a deep breath in.

"My Lady?" I asked the first question that popped into my mind and then kicked myself for choosing that as the first thing I asked. Why couldn't I have asked, where am I? How the hell did I get here? Who are you? What year is this?

He gave a little chuckle, "Yes, my Lady, are you well? Perhaps it is best to head back to your home."

"Just call me Tabitha. Um… just play along, but where am I? Who am I? What year is this? Who are you? What is going on?" I ask quickly, shifting towards my law school training.

He looked at me concerned, but dutifully answered my questions anyway.

"You are on Edgewood Manor Estates, the property bestowed upon you by your parents, just 5 days journey outside of London. You are, my lady, Tabitha Edgewood, Lady Wessex, the title from your grandmother, daughter of Count and Countess of Lexington. It is the year 1558. I am your loyal servant and head of your guards Nathanial Melbrooke. As to what is going on, that my lady I am not quite sure what you mean."

"Okay, Nate, I am not going crazy but two minutes ago I was in the year 2008, in a used bookstore, and definitely not in this dress. My name is Tabitha Edgewood, but I'm definitely not a Lady, I'm a lawyer and…I don't own a castle!!" My logical brain was definitely short circuiting at this point.

He gives me the same sympathetic smile as that bookstore owner gave me and then hands me a flask.

"Perhaps the heat is too much, have some water."

I grumble and take the water anyway, knowing that two minutes before I had plenty of water, even if it was just soaked in my clothing, and that I was completely sane and perhaps this was just a weird dream. I let him lead me to the horses after I had my fill of water, my brain not bothering to think. Well, that is, until the sharp smell of horses attacked my senses and I stopped abruptly realizing that no matter what time period I was in, I cannot ride horses!

"Um… problem, you see… I… uh… can't ride horses…" I stuttered to him as I gazed up at the large animal in front of me.

He gave me the same glance again, and by this time I was tired of sympathetic looks from people, before quietly taking me about my waist, lifting me up onto the saddle and then moving up to sit behind me. He took the reins of both horses and led us all back towards the castle. As for me, despite the warm, comforting and definitely masculine body against my back, I still hoped that I was dreaming. Of course, I hoped that if it were a dream, then I wouldn't ever have to wake up.