Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Twilight or Outlander. Those rights are reserved for Stephanie Myer and Diana Gabaldon. Please support the original release. I do own the original characters created for this storyline. Thank you.

Writer's Notes: Thank you Roxhall for your review! Dougal is an ass. He probably won't get any better. Soon we'll get to see some other Twilight characters. Anyone have any guesses on who will arrive next? *smiles* As always, don't forget to follow, favorite, and review!

Dougal wasn't happy that he had to travel with not just one fugitive, but two. And he let it be known that he would drop Bella if he needed to.

Jamie wasn't thrilled with the idea of Bella being wanted because of him, though there weren't many choices now that they were on the open road. It meant that they had to keep going forward and they would figure out the rest.

It was nighttime and they were camping 3 days from the town. They had a village not far from here to go through and collect rents. It would undoubtedly be another swindle on Dougal's part, though Bella tried to tune it out the best she could.

For now, Bella sat alone, her hands folded in her lap as she thought about the possibility that she would never see her mother again. Her friends that she had made over her travels. A guy that she just started talking to that she felt could have led somewhere. She conceded that she was stuck there. Until she died and who knew when that would be. The life expectancy wasn't great in medieval Europe, let alone Scotland, which will see one of the deadliest battles in Scottish history.

"Yer all alone." Jamie said as he walked over carrying the cooked rabbit from the fire. The air was getting colder now that it was November.

Bella looked up at Jamie. "Yeah, just alone with my thoughts."

"Aye, that can be yer undoing sometimes." Jamie said with a nod and then sat next to her. He offered her the rabbit and she took it.

Bella listened to the others banter around the fire, speaking rapidly in Gaelic. "They're speaking Gaelic."

"Aye, tis the tongue of our people." Jamie said with a nod.

"Bidh a 'ghealach a' tuiteam anns na speuran, a 'toirt slighe gu grian orains ag èirigh." Bella said. (The moon falls in the sky, giving way to a rising orange sun.)

Jamie looked at her surprised. "Ye speak Gaelic…"

Bella nodded. "I do. Some. My mom taught me some phrases." That was the truth. Her mom was a Scottish history buff. Not only was her mom an expert in Scottish history, but her mom also had Scottish running through her veins and Bella did too.

"So, this whole time…"

"Yes, I know what they're saying. Some of the men don't like me and Angus is upset with me." Bella said and looked at Jamie.

"Nah. He's not upset with you. He's upset with the situation."

Bella looked at the rabbit in front of her and nodded. "Maybe. Though I feel like I have more to lose somehow."

"Yer right. Yer a young woman, traveling with no family. Losing a mother is hard and I won't pretend that it isn't."

Bella looked at Jamie. Here she was complaining that she had a lot to lose, but Jamie had already lost so much. She shook her head. "You're really nice to me. Why?"

Jamie smiled. "Ya did nothing wrong."

"So. I'm a foreigner here. I don't belong."

"Ye belong wherever ye want to belong."

It was wise words and Bella appreciated them. She stared at Jamie; his blue eyes were like swirls of the ocean. She felt herself getting lost in them. It was the first time that her heart stuttered a little, looking at him like this.

Jamie stared back at her, sensing the entrancement. He stopped it, clearing his throat to snap her out of it and himself. "Not here." He said with a nod.

Bella frowned. "What?"

"Yer a lass. I won't taint yer virtue. Not like I have tainted yer name." Jamie said.

Bella forgot that maidenhood was a thing in medieval Scotland. She just swallowed and nodded. "I see."

"Rumors can ruin a woman here in Scotland."

"It can in America too." Bella said and then just looked back at her rabbit. She took another bite of the dried flesh and was silent.

Jamie studied her, realizing he upset her somehow. "I didn't mean to upset ya."

"You didn't."

"I did. I'm not rejecting ya. It's just."

"I understand." Bella said. "More than you know." She said with a simple nod.

Jamie wasn't sure that she did, but he nodded anyways, letting it go for now.

When everyone was fully fed and sleeping, Bella slipped away into the darkness. She could see her breath in front of her, the light of the moon highlighting it for her. She wanted a little privacy. She wanted to look at the book some more, take some notes. She found a rock and sat. She looked around her, listening to the sounds of the forest and it was silent. She then opened her bag and reached inside. She had a booklight that she carried with her everywhere in case she wanted to read in low light. She opened the book but stayed the light because the moonlight was plenty for now. She flipped through the pages until she stopped on the battle of Culloden. The Battle of Culloden: Fought on an open battlefield east of Inverness, April 16th, 1746.

Bella paused. That was just three years away. She knew that the Jacobite uprising was led by Prince Charlie. She frowned and kept reading and then she understood now what Dougal was doing with the money he was raising. He was a Jacobite. Clan Fraser. That was the one thing that popped out to her on the page she was reading. Clan Fraser would be part of the battle. Which meant that in three years. Jamie would be killed. She heard rustling, just a slight one and she put her book in her bag and looked around, prepared to run. When she turned her head, she was startled by Jamie.

"Jesus Jamie. You scared the shit out of me."

"That is a colorful phrase. From America I assume." Jamie said with a smile.

"Yes. What are you doing?" She asked in a low whisper.

"Following ya. Ye left camp, so I wanted to be sure that ya didn't get hurt."

Bella blew out her breath and ran a hand through her hair. "Well, I just wanted to read."

"In the woods. Where wolves can hunt ya?"

"I… didn't think about wolves."

Jamie nodded and smiled. "Ya wanted privacy. I get it. Not a lot of it traveling with twenty men."

Bella looked at Jamie, the light of the moon reflecting off his face. She saw his handsome features, his smile that actually met his eyes when he looked at her like that. She didn't want anything to happen to him, she realized. Not now and not in three years. She didn't realize she did it, but she lifted a hand to touch his face. She hadn't really touched Jamie. Only when riding on the horse at the beginning and when he carried her. But this was an intimate gesture.

Jamie gazed back, losing himself in her dark pools. He wasn't sure who leaned in first, him or her, but now their lips were touching. It was subtle at first. The gentle test of passion. The smoothness of their lips against each other was evidence that it was meant to be. The feelings that arose inside him made him want to vow to stand by her side for the rest of his life. His heart swelled in his chest, making it hard for him to breathe, but he didn't pull away. His lips parted, an invitation for her tongue to explore and she took it. She slid her tongue across his lips, tangling with his. It ignited her inside, a burn that she didn't know she had. One that she didn't quite understand yet, but she was there with Jamie in the dark woods, alone. Time didn't make sense and Bella, for a moment, forgot that she wasn't in her own time. She pressed against him now, reaching to close a gap that shouldn't be there. Jamie's hands moved to her waist, hugging her to him as she reached for him. Her lips were hot on his and the passion that she unfurled hit him like a wave.

Bella's mind switched off. She wasn't thinking about anything but the feeling that she had right now in this moment. But Jamie pulled away, confusing her. She opened her eyes to look at him. Both of them were panting slightly from the intensity of the kiss.

"Bella… I can't… corrupt ya. Yer too special."

"What does that mean? Jamie, I'm willing."

"I know, but ye shouldn't want to be with someone like me."

"Why?"

"Because ye are a maiden. Untouched and I will ruin ya." Jamie insisted.

Bella shook her head. "I'm not that young. I'm nearly twenty. Jamie. I know what I can handle."

Jamie hadn't realized that she was nearly as old as he was. He thought that she was younger, perhaps seventeen. "It's still not right." He stubbornly said.

"Nach eil thu a' faireachdainn seo?" Bella whispered. She wasn't sure why she felt the way she did. Like this was right. (You don't feel this?)

Jamie studied her. After all this time of travel, she revealed her understanding of Gaelic. It was a surprise and he thought that perhaps he could see this being something. "Tha mi." He nodded. "I do." He murmured.

Bella felt tears come to her eyes now, but she forced them away. "Then believe me when I say I don't just feel this way for just anyone."

Jamie was sure that this was a first for her as well as him. The way she looked at him with her deer brown eyes did something to him. "It's getting colder. We should go back to camp before anyone else realizes your absence."

Bella knew that was a possibility, so she just nodded and followed Jamie back to the camp quietly.