A/N: Hi everyone, just letting you know that I've got about nine chapters of this story completed, so updates will be pretty frequent (about once a week). This is a rarity to have two chapters up in two days, but I love this story too much to not be able to share it with you. Also, feel free to leave a review, the door is always open

ooOoo

Ships may come and ships may go as long as the sea does roll. Each sailor lad, just like his dad, he loves the flowing bowl. A trip on shore he does adore with a girl who's nice and round. When the money's gone it's the same old song, get up Jack, John sit down. Come along come along you jolly brave boys, there's lots of grog in the jar. We'll plough the briny ocean with the jolly roving tar

Jolly Roving Tar- Great Big Sea

ooOoo

"What's wrong with surprises?" Jamie asked.

"Trust me, Jamie, surprises aren't welcome things in my house."

"Well surprises are nae all bad," he folded his hands and leaned against the table. "I've had some pretty good surprises while traveling with the Doctor. Best time of m' life so far."

The Doctor poked his head in the kitchen again. "And it's about to get better," he smirked.

Jamie and Bridget could only look at each other in surprise. Getting up and rushing back into the console room, they stopped just short of walking into the door.

"Where are we?"

"Take a look…"

Jamie pushed open the door to find the Scottish hills staring back at him.

"We're in Scotland!" he marveled.

"The year 1746, specifically," the Doctor appeared behind him. "You've been missing about 3 months."

"Missing?" Jamie asked. "They donnae think I'm dead?"

"Well they never found your body," he answered. "And if they don't find a body, the person is declared missing, or worst case scenario, dead. But in your case, you're missing."

"I've nae got any family around here now, Doctor," Jamie reasoned. "Why are we back here?"

"How can you be sure?"

"They're probably all dead and gone," he said. "But when it's war ye tend to forget who's family and who's the one you're trying to run ye sword through."

"True enough, but I still thought you'd might like to see home, if only for a few minutes. See if your father and mother are still alive."

"Me mum and da died when I was ten," he answered. "That's why I was livin' with me Laird. They took me in, taught me to be exactly like me da. Playing the pipes and all. Is how I got to be their piper."

"But you weren't an only child, were you?"

"Oh no," Jamie shook his head. "No, no, no. I had a sister, though I donnae ken where she is. Probably has her own family now. Has nae use for me coming round."

"I'm sorry, Jamie," Bridget offered.

"Ah it's alright," he put an arm around her shoulder. "I'm more worried bout you."

"Me?"

"You've had a rough go of it the past few days."

"Nah, it's fine. Was a long time coming. Just needed that extra push I guess," she cleared her throat. "Wait a minute… Doctor?"

"Hmm?"

"You did say 1746, right?"

"Right."

"Jamie, your sister and her family could still be alive," she reasoned. "Especially if they were a long way from the battle. Don't you want to find out?"

His eyes locked with hers. "You're going to have to get changed though, lass."

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"T-shirt and jeans, Bridget? You'd cause a scandal," the Doctor explained. "Inside the TARDIS, in the wardrobe room there should be a couple of dresses to choose from. Go on, quick."

Bridget ran back to the TARDIS and emerged about 10 minutes later dressed in a cream coloured muslin dress. Jamie turned to see her walking back to them.

"Is that Bridget?" his mouth dropped open.

"This look okay?" she held out her arms, smiling. "Jamie, close your mouth, you'll catch flies."

"Beautiful…" he breathed, offering her his arm. "Well lass, shall I escort you down the hill?"

She giggled and took his arm. "Lead the way, Mr. McCrimmon."

The Doctor laughed with her, and followed them down the hill. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Jamie so alert. When they'd left Victoria with the Harris family Jamie had been angry with him for days, almost weeks on end, and as much as he liked Zoe, he'd never been as close to her. Now, with Bridget needing friendship, he was the best person for her, and she for him.

"Come on, Doctor!" Jamie called over his shoulder.

They reached the little cottage to find a small child, about 6 years old playing in the dirt.

"Mummy!" she called, running back into the cottage.

"What?" she called. "Oh my God, it's our Jamie!" she cried, running out to greet him and wrapping him in a tight hug. "I thought ye were dead, you daft old thing. Where have you been?"

Jamie could only smirk, turning to the Doctor. "That's the man what saved my life over there, Cora," he answered.

"Thank you very much, sir…" she shook his hand and kissed his cheek. "I'm sorry I don't even know your name."

"I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor what?"

"Just the Doctor," he smiled. "Well Jamie, I won't keep you much longer. Bridget and I will head back. Take as much time as you need."

"Oh no," Jamie shook his head. "No way. You're nae getting rid o' me that easy…" he gripped Bridget's hand.

"Just for a bit, Doctor. I'd like to explore," Bridget pleaded.

"Oh fine, have…"

Before he'd gotten the last word out, Cora had pulled her from Jamie's side and was leading her back into the house.

"Whoa, hey, slow down!" Bridget giggled.

"Now gorgeous, sit ye down, I'll make us a cup of tea," she filled the heavy kettle with water and set it over the fire. "Now, where would my brother have found you?"

"Oh, well…" she looked to Jamie who had just made his own way back into the house and was wiping his feet at the front door. "I'm not from around here."

"Could have guessed as much. Didnae think you were a Scot at any rate," Cora answered. "Where are you from anyway?"

She knew she could really reveal where she was from. When traveling with the Doctor you can't really say "Well I'm from the future, over 250 years in the future to be exact. This is what you have to look forward to, if you live that long anyway." Always a tricky thing, and it was at this point in time she wished she hadn't left her iPod charging in the TARDIS. It gave her something to do when in tight or uncomfortable situations.

"Uh… across the pond," was her answer. There, that would satisfy her for now, she hoped anyway.

"So our Jamie didnae run off with you then?"

"Oh no, not at all," she insisted. "No as far as I know he was the one that saved me."

"Ye give me too much credit there, Bridget," he answered. "The Doctor was there too, you know."

"Yes that's true," she admitted. Clearing her throat, she moved to get up.

"Who's the Doctor?"

"Like he says, he's the Doctor."

"Who is he really?"

Bridget shook her head, made a noise that sounded like 'pfft' and threw up her hands. "I don't know. I don't think Jamie even knows, and he's been traveling with him longer than I have."

"So ye let a stranger take ye traveling of your own free will?"

"It was a damn sight better than where I was heading," Bridget answered. "Oh, excuse my filthy mouth." She cleared her throat again. "When Jamie and the Doctor found me I was sitting on the side of the road, covered in dirt. Really, I was ready to die that night, and believe me, I deserved it."

"Bite your tongue!"

"Last time I did that I bit right through it. There was blood everywhere."

"Oi, don't ye cheek me, lass," there was fire in her eyes now. "No one deserves to die, I donnae care who they are. Do ye understand what I'm saying? No one deserves such a thing!"

Bridget held up her hands in surrender.

"Now," she leaned forward so Jamie couldn't hear her next question. Whispering, Bridget's eyes went wide at the suggestion.

"Absolutely not!" she suddenly felt sick.

"Alright, just a question. Would nae want our Jamie to forget what he was taught."

"Well whatever it was I certainly hope he knows better than that."

"Course I do," Jamie sat down with a soft biscuit in his hand. "What do I know better of?"

"Taking a soft biscuit without asking for one thing," Bridget promptly snatched it away and took a bite herself. "There, you can have the rest," she mumbled around the foodstuff and handed the biscuit back to him.

"Come on, close ye mouth. You're not a cow are ye?" she heard her host's voice again.

"Depends on what day it is and who you ask," Bridget answered. "One day I could be a cow, another I could be a bitch, another could be good for nothing slag. Take your pick."

"Oh now, leave 'er be," Jamie interjected, hoping to avoid any further confrontation. "So, sis, what's going on tonight then?"

"Eh?"

"What's with the sticks in the bonfire pit?"

"We do that every night, Jamie McCrimmon," she smiled, gently pressing her knuckles to his jaw. "The kids love it, so does their da. Ah ye should see it."

"Well if you're doing on tonight, I think Bridget and me could stay, maybe the Doctor will come too."

"You think so?"

"Aye," he nodded.

"Well," Bridget placed her hands on the table and pushed her chair away. "Jamie, you stay here, I'll go ask him."

And with that Bridget got up, opened the front door and bolted. She ran across the grass, not even fully aware that she was still in bare feet. Reaching the TARDIS, she pushed on the door and almost fell forward with the momentum of her stride.

"Good heavens, my dear," the Doctor snapped his book shut and went to help her up. "Bridget, are you alright? What's the hurry?"

"Nothing," she heaved. "Jamie wants to know if we can stay for the bonfire tonight."

"Yes that's fine, but why come barging in here like a herd of elephants? What's happened?"

She picked herself up, brushed the dirt from her knees. "I need to go take a shower."

"But what's…"

"Go ask Jamie!" she called over her shoulder as she made her way toward the bathroom. If he called after her for answers at that point in time, so help her she would have punched him in the face.

But he didn't. He let her get into the shower and cry in peace. If he heard her strangled sobs as she furiously scrubbed her body, the soap lingering over the tattoo of an old Scottish proverb she'd gotten on her shoulder, he said nothing when she re-emerged, adjusting her sleeves to cover the ink.

"What does that say?"

"What?"

"On your arm."

"It's just a Scottish proverb. I got it done when I was seventeen."

"May I?"

"Hmm…" she murmured in agreement. He gently rolled up her sleeve to reveal twelve highlanders and a bagpipe make a rebellion all in lower case letters.

"Why this proverb?"

"Because I thought it was nice. It was something I needed to do. It's not the greatest, but it was the first decision I ever made for myself and I'm quite proud of the fact that I've got it."

"You don't need to justify it to me, my dear Bridget," he let her sleeve fall again. "A tattoo does not maketh the woman. It's an expression of your individuality and who you are and something that is important to you, but it does not encompass the whole of your being," he ran a knuckle down her cheek. "You are so much more than that, and you mean a great deal to Jamie and I."

There was a genuine smile on her face. "That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me, Doctor," she admitted.

He smiled and kissed her cheek. "Now then, what do you say we go enjoy this bonfire, hmm?"

She chuckled and rolled her sleeve down again. Smiling, she stepped out of the TARDIS and linked arms with the Doctor, who walked her back to the bonfire, where Jamie was stacking firewood and the little kids were bringing him bunches of sticks to help.

"Hey oh, Doctor," Jamie smiled. "Pull up a stump and we'll be ready in a tic, aye?"

"That sounds marvelous, Jamie," he sat down and waited.

"Can I help, Jamie?"

"Nae, lass," he answered. "We're nearly there. Cora and her husband are coming out. The bairns are already out. He's got the pipes goin' too."

"Pipes?"

"He's a piper, lass," Jamie told her. "Just as I'm a piper like my father and my father's father too."

"Oh…" she nodded, sitting on another stump and wrapping her coat around herself a bit tighter. "All you guys pipers. Good sets of lungs. Good."

"You're babbling, Bridget," the Doctor leaned in and whispered.

"Am I? Oh sorry," she giggled. "It's really beautiful out here."

"Aye?"

"Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't mind staying for a while. Might be a good thing."

Jamie's eyes went wide.

"Best to think about it a bit more before you really say anything of the sort," the Doctor suggested. "But now, ah…" he noticed Cora bringing out plates of stew and a loaf of bread.

"What are we thinking 'bout?"

"Oh, nothing important," Bridget waved it off. "We're just talking."

"Oh enough talk," she smiled, handing the plates of stew to her guests and sitting down with them. They ate, chatting about life, where they had been, laughing. It was a lot more relaxed and welcoming than the interrogation they had had before.

Jamie stocked the fire again and heard the distinct sound of bagpipes starting. He heard 'The Piper's Welcome', a favourite of his, and sat back.

"Uncle Jamie, dance with me!" Jamie's youngest niece, Margaret, grabbed his hand and pulled.

"Alright, lassie, calm down, I gotta get up first…" he smiled as he was dragged around the bonfire, laughing as the little girl placed her hands in his and danced a small jig.

The Doctor and Bridget clapped out a rhythm as they watched Jamie and Margaret dance. Laughing, Margaret dragged Jamie over to her and joined their hands. "You too!" she insisted.

"Oh now I don't know…"

"I'll tickle ye if you don't," Margaret told her. "Please?" she begged, batting her eyelashes.

"Oh alright," Bridget pulled herself up and was soon dancing around the bonfire, jumping and laughing with Jamie and Margaret as the Doctor kept his place on his stump, merely keeping a rhythm with his hands.

But it was then he noticed something strange.

Well, not really strange, but different. Bridget was laughing and enjoying herself, and she was allowing herself more contact with Jamie than she'd ever allowed before.

She was changing, and he wondered if she knew it herself.