Any and all comments, critiques and feedback are greatly appreciated. I just started seriously writing over the past half a year, and am hungry to learn and grow! This chapter is mostly setting the scene and back story. Stay tuned- next chapter has smut! Hope you like it! ;)

Necessary Disclaimer:

I'm the author of this story. The Outlander novels/TV Series are the source of the original work. Jamie Fraser/OC fantasy. I don't know Jamie Fraser, do not own the character Jamie Fraser, and do not mean to cause harm, confusion or headaches. This story is simply intended for enjoyment of the readers. Please don't sue me!

She didn't see the semi coming. Cruising down the highway in her Jeep, screaming along to Kelly Clarkson on the radio and having the time of her life, she finally felt carefree. After two years of morning her parents, Lacey was ready to really live. She packed up the house into a neat set of storage containers, threw her clothes in the back of her Jeep, and off she went. She didn't know where she was headed. She only knew she wasn't headed back.

The crash was sudden. They said later the semi driver was on hour 18 with only gas breaks in between. One second, Lucy is a twenty-two year old with the whole world ahead of her. The next, an explosion of fire.

Emergency workers were quick to arrive on the scene. The semi driver was pulled out with a few superficial burns. Lacey never was found among the wreckage. She made national headlines that day, and the world mourned the loss of a life so young. But the world kept turning, and soon people forgot about the tragic death of Lacey Payne.

If you asked them, most would pity the life she missed out on. Little did they know, her life was just beginning- over half a world and 200 years away, in the Scottish Highlands…

They were close. Jamie could smell the musk of the horses, and the stench of the English. Slipping through the brush he approached the cliffs. If he could make it down the side, he could slip around and rejoin Angus and the rest. Glancing to his right as he crept out of the woods, he saw her.

Amongst the boulders of the next hill over, pale as a ghost, looking as delicate as glass.

Jamie made his way to the girl and checked her over. Still breathing, barely. Wearing some sort of undergarment, it looked like. Enraged, Jamie felt sure the English must have torn off her other clothes and kept them. Scooping her into his arms, Jamie carefully descended the cliff down to the bank.

Reaching the raiding party, Jamie swung up onto his horse, keeping the girl locked tightly in his arms.

"I see y'brought yerself a wee present, young Jamie." Angus and the others laughed as they kicked their horses and road towards the forest.

"Found this wee thing up on the cliffs. Fear the English might've found her first." Jamie was grim and his expression fierce as they road.

They road straight through the night, pushing hard the next day. Finally towards nightfall they broke for camp. All the while, she hadn't stirred, and Jamie wouldn't take her out of his arms. Jamie laid her next to the fire, hoping to warm her.

Roasting meat and the musk of men who hadn't bathed recently. The smells hit her first. Then, the pain. Her entire body throbbed, causing her to moan. Blinking her eyes open, by the light of the campfire, Lacey saw him. The most beautiful man she'd ever seen, his face young and chiseled, red curls disheveled.

"Am I dead?" She croaked out.

Jamie raised a flask to her lips. "Drink this lass, and find out."

She raised her head slightly and took a sip. Coughing, she sputtered "Apparently not!"

The roar of Scotsmen laughing around her scared her half to death. Jumping, she felt a searing pain in her side. "Ow!"

"Easy lass, seems ye've had yourself a time with the English," Jamie told her, a look of concern on his handsome face.

English? What the hell was he talking about? And what the hell were they all wearing?

"Are you re-enactors, or something?"

"Re-en what? What're ye on about, lass?"

She gestured to their clothing. "What the hell are you wearing?"

Offended, Jamie scoffed. "Plaid of our people, surely. And what of you? A young lassy out in just her shift? It isna decent."

Her head was spinning. Surely, Lacey was dreaming. Yes, it had to be. She would play along for now until she woke up. "Why, I'm wearing the plaid of my people, of course." She winked up at him.

Jamie blushed from his neck up to the roots of his hair. Raising his hand to brush strands of hair off her face, he smiled down at her. "Get some rest now, lass. I've got ye."

His touch burned, sending goose bumps dancing down her flesh. Suddenly, it hit her. She wasn't dreaming, she was very much awake. And she was somewhere in the middle of the Scottish Highlands.