20 December, 2164

Inverness International Airport

MAEVIS POV

"Oh, it's like a storm at sea,

And everything is lost,

And the fretful sailors calling out their woes,

As to the waves they're tossed…"

Ellie, now referring to herself by her birth name of Maevis Fowlis, had her eyes closed as she listened to the music on her cellphone - another Sandy Denny hit, 'It'll Take A Long Time'. It was winter break now, so Maevis decided that she wanted to travel to Scotland in an attempt to learn more about her mother, and to see if she had any other surviving relatives or friends. After learning that her mother had, most likely, gone back through the stones as she originally had claimed, Maevis wanted to find out where she went, and she wanted to meet her. She turned her head to glance at Rory beside her, who was fast asleep after taking a Xanax to knock himself out. She smiled lightly at his drooling, snoring appearance, and giggled quietly at Morgan, who was playing games on her iPad.

"Oh they are all gentlemen,

And never will they know,

If there is a reason each of them must go,

To join the cruel flow…

And it'll take a long, long time…

It'll take a long, long time…

It'll take a long, long time…

Oh, it'll take such a long, long time."

When the plane landed, Rory, Maevis and Morgan left the plane directly onto the tarmac, following the crowd of other passengers into the airport. As soon as she stepped foot outside, she had to tighten her coat around her body, as there was a biting chill, and it was incredibly dark for the time. "Wow, I feel like a celebrity leaving a private jet," said Morgan as they climbed down the steps. "Why's it so dark?"

"This part of Scotland always is dark this time of year," Rory replied sleepily, masking a yawn with one hand. "Do either of ye remember the time the train leaves for Edinburgh?"

"At five, and it's three now," Maevis told him, and he let out a groan.

"Two bloody hours," Rory replied.

"Just in time to get dinner!" Morgan chimed in excitedly. "I'm excited to try traditional Scottish food! I've never had any before."

"You wanna try haggis, then?" Maevis asked her playfully, and Morgan made a face.

"Ew, no! I was thinking something more like bangers and mash or something," Morgan told her, and Maevis chuckled.

"Well, I'm not sure how many exciting things we can find at an airport, but we'll see what we can find. Remember, the train leaves from here," Maevis replied. First, they went to Customs, where they presented the Scottish passports they had had to request when Stephanie took them to Canada two summers before.

"Welcome home," said the attendant.

"Thanks, but none of us have been here since before the war started," Maevis said back to the attendant kindly.

"Oh, lookin' fer family, then? Ye'd be surprised how many bairns of the war have come lookin' fer their parents," the attendant told them.

"Oh? Do you have any advice on where to start?" Maevis asked the attendant.

"Go te the National Archives and Records buildin' at the new government headquarters in Edinburgh, ask fer Emmie Kavanaugh, she's the best at findin' any and all records," the attendant told her.

"Oh, thanks very much!" Maevis said to the attendant. Good, she had a place to start now, but first, she had to get to Edinburgh.


23 December, 2164

Edinburgh, Scotland

The town was beautifully decorated for Christmas, which would be in a couple of days, which also meant that government buildings would be shut down, so Maevis wanted to get to the National Records and Archives building as early as possible. Morgan opted to stay in the room to sleep longer, and Rory contemplated it before ultimately deciding to join Maevis. "Suppose I can look fer my mother, too," he said while pulling on his coat. The two of them went out and followed their GPS to the building, going inside and admiring the inside. It was built like a library, practically, with books and records of all kinds all over the place. There were also a lot of computers, as many of these records were likely digitised. While Rory, who had studied to be a teacher in New Jersey but was struggling to find a job, found himself entranced by the books, Maevis went to the Records Request desk.

"Er, excuse me," she said to the middle-aged woman there, who had short blonde curly hair and spectacles balancing on her nose. "Hi, I'm looking for an Emmie Kavanaugh?"

"Ye've found her, sweetie! What can I do fer ye?" said Emmie excitedly.

"Oh, wonderful! I was told you're the best. You see, my friend and I were sent to America before the war started and we were hoping to see if we had any surviving relatives left here," Maevis told Emmie.

"Of course! I can find them verra quickly, too! What's yer name, lovey?" Emmie asked her.

"Er, my friend is Rory Tanner and mine is Maevis Anne Bridget Fowlis," Maevis explained to her as she scribbled their names down on a sticky note.

"Got it. Have a seat and I'll have a look fer ye in our records!" Emmie told her, jumping up and rushing off into a room behind the counter.

"Okay," said Maevis quietly, a little nervous to get the answers she was seeking. She let out a breath of air, then turned back to find Rory staring up at a very tall bookshelf full of books.

"Look at these! How incredible is it that they survived the Battle of Edinburgh?" Rory said to her. "There's evidence everywhere. It only happened four years ago, after all. Crazy te think that, aye?"

"Just a bit," Maevis replied. "I found Emmie and gave her our names, she'll look for anything on us and let us know."

"Oh, cool. I think I'm gonna have a look through some of these books. Do ye mind?" Rory asked her excitedly, and Maevis chuckled.

"Have at it. I'm gonna get a coffee," Maevis replied, and she watched as Rory ran off excitedly in search of a fascinating book. Maevis, on the other hand, went to the coffee bar inside of the building and got herself a cappuccino before having a seat in sight of where Emmie was seated and went on her phone. She couldn't help but Google the names 'Archie Fraser', 'Pretty Fraser' and 'Jamie Fraser', but none of those things yielded any results. With a heavy sigh, Maevis put down her phone and sipped slowly on her cappuccino, waiting for Emmie to finish her search. Within the hour, Emmie came back to Maevis with a folder of papers, an excited smile on her face.

"Ye'll be verra happy te ken that I did find ye and yer laddie some living relatives," she said happily, sitting down beside Maevis and opening the folder.

"Oh, we're not dating," Maevis said with an awkward chuckle. "He's basically my brother."

"Oh, certainly," said Emmie, pulling out one document. "So there were a lot of Rory Tanners, is there somethin' more ye can give me aboot him?"

"Er… Well, he has a little sister named Morgan, and his mom's name was something like… Maddie or…" Maevis said, scrunching up her brow.

"Maidie?" asked Emmie, flipping through the documents and pulling one out, then pulling out a highlighter and highlighting a record. "I found a Maidie Mackenzie! She lives here in Edinburgh, actually! She's a widow, she was married te a Donald Tanner who died in the bombin' of Glasgow, a true shame there, and had a daughter named Morgan Catrin Tanner."

"Yes! That sounds about right!" Maevis exclaimed as she looked at the photographs provided, which were government ID photos.

"I cannae give ye her home address, but I can tell ye that she's a nurse practitioner at the Royal Stuart Infirmary," said Emmie. "Now, as fer you , Miss Fowlis, firstly, I didnae ken ye were the daughter of Catrìona Fowlis! I remember hearing all aboot her leadin' the Battle of Bloody Bush and the Siege of Berwick! A shame we lost it again… but oh well! Anywho, I found ye four livin' relatives. Yer grandparents, yer father, and yer brother."

"Grandparents? I didn't know I-" Maevis said, and then she froze. Did she say brother ? "Did you… Did you say 'brother'?"

"I did," said Emmie.

"I… Is… Is his name Archie?" Maevis asked curiously. Archie was the only brother she knew about, and that was based solely on the letter from her mother. According to that letter, Archie didn't live in this century, so how was Emmie able to find him?

"Huh?" Emmie asked, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, no, darlin', not at all! His name's Elton, actually. Elton Thomas McGinty, born te Catrìona Fowlis and Thomas Randall on the twenty-first of June, 2147 and- Oh ." Her mouth formed a tiny 'O' as she read over the documents, and then she glanced awkwardly up at Maevis. "…he was put up fer a closed private adoption." Maevis was staring at the woman with her mouth slightly open. She had a twin brother ? And he was put up for adoption? Her memories of her mother, though faint, were full of love. How could her mother give up her son? Unless… Unless she didn't know. Her father - or rather, adoptive father - Tom Randall, was never around much, and he and her mother never seemed to get along.

"Can… Can I please see that document?" Maevis asked, and Emmie seemed hesitant.

"Well… I guess if ye already ken aboot it…" said Emmie, then she handed the document to Maevis. It was a birth certificate for a 'Baby Boy Randall' who weighed five pounds and six ounces, was nineteen inches long and was put up for adoption the same day he was born. The adoption document was signed solely by a Thomas Randall, her mother's signature not present at all. "He… He put him up for adoption… Why? Why would he do that?" Maevis asked with shock, scanning over the document to see who had adopted her brother. The adopters were Mark and Lauren McGinty, who lived at 313 Evergreen Lane in Aberd- "All right, so I've showed ye everrathin'!" Emmie exclaimed nervously as she snatched the document from Maevis's hand. "Ye didnae learn that information from me! Goodness, I could lose my job over this… If ye want te see yer father, though, ye can find him workin' here in Edinburgh as well, in the military headquarters."

"My father," said Maevis meekly, and then she nodded. "A… all right… Thanks… Thank you very much, Ms. Kavanaugh, you… You've been a big help."

"Oh, of course! I wish ye the best of luck, dearie," said Emmie kindly to Maevis, giving her a smile before getting up to return to her desk. Maevis had a twin brother… All this time, Maevis knew that something was off, but she just didn't know what - now she knew. That missing thing was the twin she had shared her mother's womb with. But… how did her mother not know? Did she never get scans or anything? This day in age, it had to be impossible to not know you're pregnant with twins, unless you just didn't get scans. Well, she supposed Tom Randall was going to have to answer any and all questions she had about her brother - and she needed to find out what town Elton McGinty lived in.


After sending Rory to fetch Morgan and go to the hospital to meet Maidie Mackenzie, Maevis went to the military headquarters and requested a meeting with Tom Randall from the secretary. "Mr. Randall's a busy man, Miss," said the secretary.

"Tell him his daughter is here and wants to see him," Maevis replied, and the secretary raised an eyebrow suspiciously at her.

"His daughter ? Yer American," he said to her.

"I was born here and sent away after Glasgow got bombed. Want to see my birth certificate? I promise you he's on it," Maevis replied somewhat irritably, already pissed at Tom for hiding her brother from her, and the secretary huffed.

"What's yer name? I'll phone him," he replied.

"Maevis," Maevis replied. "Maevis Fowlis." The secretary picked up the phone and dialled a number, waiting a moment before speaking.

"Hello, Gemma. Is Tom available?" the secretary asked. "No? Well, I've got a lass down here who says she's his daughter. Mhm. Maevis Fowlis, she says. Oh. Oh, all right then… I'll tell her. Thanks." The secretary hung up the phone. "He wants ye te go right up te his office." The secretary quickly made a visitors' pass and gave it to Maevis. "Use that te scan into the lift. Fifth floor, down the corridor te the door labelled 'Scottish Intelligence Agency' and use tha' badge te let herself in. His personal assistant will meet ye there."

"Thanks very much," Maevis replied, accepting the badge and following his instructions. Once Maevis found the correct door and got herself in, she was greeted by a blonde woman that seemed oddly familiar, but Maevis just couldn't place her.

"Hello, you must be Maevis," said the woman who greeted her - this must have been Gemma. "Gosh, you look so much like your mother. It's like there isn't a single drop of Tom in you." Well, there isn't, so good observation, I suppose. Maevis gave her a forced smile.

"I've been told that a lot," she said as kindly as she could muster. "Can I see my father now?"

"Of course! Right this way," said Gemma, leading Maevis through cubicles until she got to an office labelled 'SSA THOMAS RANDALL, HEAD OF INTELLIGENCE' and opened the door. "Tommy! Look who's here and all grown up!" Maevis followed Gemma into the office, finding a much older Tom Randall seated at the desk. His brown eyes glanced up at Maevis when she entered the room and he smiled, standing up.

"My God, look at you… Is it really you, Maevis?" Tom asked her as he approached her.

"Yup, it's really me," Maevis replied a bit neutrally.

"I guess you really can't be anyone else. You look exactly like your mother. Always have," said Tom, and then he glanced up at Gemma. "Oh, Gem, do you mind giving my daughter and I a moment?"

"Certainly," said Gemma happily, leaving the office, and Tom let out a happy sigh as he raised a hand to touch Maevis's face. Ew, stop that right now. She pulled her face away, and Tom's smile faded.

"Mae, darling, do you not recognise me?" Tom asked her. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, it has been a very long time-"

"Who's Elton McGinty?" Maevis demanded suddenly, unable to contain that piece of information anymore, and Tom raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, who?" he asked, having no genuine clue who she was talking about.

"Oh, you know him," Maevis replied a bit angrily. "Apparently, he's my twin brother, who you put up for adoption." Tom's face shifted into an expression of recognition, and he nodded subtly.

"Ah… So you found out," he said, and Maevis scoffed.

"Yeah, I did," she replied. "Did Mama know? Because only your name was on the adoption forms."

"No. No, she didn't. She never knew," Tom replied, turning around to walk towards his desk again and leaning against it.

"How? How does a mother not know?" Maevis demanded from him.

"You underestimate your mother's damn stubborn personality," Tom replied, turning to face her again. "Though that surprises me, considering you sound just like her."

"That's something I'm proud of. So how didn't she know?" Maevis demanded again.

"She wouldn't get any scans, and when she went into labour, she had a complication that required surgery," Tom told her, and then he let out a breath of air. "When they told me, 'Congratulations, you have a son and a daughter', I decided that I had to give up one of you. Your mother couldn't handle the two of you, she was mentally unwell at the time. And I chose him because he probably looked like… Well, I'm sure you know by now that I'm not your biological father."

"I've heard something like that, yes," Maevis replied, crossing her arms.

"Well, I chose him because I thought he would look like his father. I'd say I chose correctly, save for the fact that I had to look into his eyes whenever I saw you," Tom replied, meeting her eyes.

"So you never saw him?" Maevis asked him.

"The kid? Or your father? The answer is no either way. I've never seen either of them," Tom told her. "No, she said the bloke was some eighteenth century highlander. Absolutely ridiculous." He scoffed lightly. "At least, I thought so at the time… Then I did some research, pulled some strings… She once told me she had a child buried in the graveyard on Barra named Faith Fraser. I found the grave, the kid had been born and died in the 1700s, so I exhumed the body and had it tested against a DNA sample we already had from your mother."

"You… exhumed her child? Did she know about that?" Maevis demanded from him.

"No, she was already gone by then," Tom replied with a soft chuckle. "I imagine it was something that would make her hate me even more than she already did."

"It makes me want to hate you," Maevis replied sorely.

"Well, I don't regret it, because I learned something very interesting. Forensic scientists were able to confirm that yes, the remains were four hundred years old, and that it was the biological child of Catrìona Fowlis," Tom told her, and Maevis raised an eyebrow curiously.

"You mean… the remains in that grave were… actually her child?" she asked, and Tom let out a heavy sigh.

"Yeah, it was," he replied. "I also had a DNA sample from you originally taken the day you were born and had it compared… That child was your full sibling, meaning… you shared a father." Maevis stared at him blankly for a moment. "That means your mother wasn't lying about going back to the eighteenth century, but… I don't know how. She said something about… passing through rocks, but…"

"Craigh Na Dun," Maevis muttered quietly, and then she glanced up at Tom, who raised an eyebrow at her before his eyes widened.

"When… When she… disappeared… The first time, at Culloden in 2138," Tom said as the realisation dawned on him. "That's where she was when she disappeared… But that didn't happen this time. She wasn't at Culloden or even near a stone circle, she was in the middle of the damn city! She was here , at South Bridge in the vaults where my goddamn brother stupidly lured her pretending to be me. Fucking idiot he was, got himself killed, hopefully by her. He deserved it." He let out a huff. "It took us a week to dig through the rubble of the South Bridge. We found Richard and we found her blood, but we didn't find her."

"Do you think she somehow travelled back in time in those vaults?" Maevis asked, and Tom let out a sigh.

"I dunno," he replied, glancing down at the ground. "Maybe, I mean there's been rumours of witchcraft and shit down there since they were built. Maybe they somehow opened a portal or something? I dunno." Maevis was silent for a moment before answering him.

"I want to find her," she said. "I want to find her and I want to go to her."

"Through the stones? Absolutely not," Tom told her somewhat firmly, and Maevis scoffed.

"You're not my father, and you gave up my brother for adoption," she snapped at him. "You don't get to decide what I do and do not do."

"Yup, just like your mother," Tom replied, narrowing his eyes. "You don't even know how to travel through these stones, let alone if you even can . I've been up near Craigh Na Dun and I can't travel through them. What if you don't have that ability?"

"She came through while pregnant with me," Maevis told him.

"That doesn't mean you inherited that ability," said Tom. "Look, let's focus first on where she ended up, if that's what happened to her, okay? We need to start with when she went-"

"We?" Maevis asked him, raising an eyebrow curiously.

"Well… yes. Maevis, I did love your mother once and you don't just stop loving someone. I need to know that she was all right. You'll want to have my help anyway, I'm an investigator. I have access to things you might otherwise not have," Tom told her, and Maevis let out a sigh.

"Fine, but this doesn't mean I forgive you for putting my brother up for adoption," Maevis told him. "First thing's first… I want to find him."

"Do you really think that's a good idea? What if he doesn't know he's adopted?" Tom asked her.

"Then find out, or I don't want your help," Maevis replied a bit firmly. "I want to meet my brother, the one that you took away from me - for a very selfish reason, I might add." Tom let out a frustrated huff.

"All right, yes. I was selfish, I'm an arse, I shouldn't have done it and I should have told your mother about her son, she deserved to know. Happy?" he asked. "I'll look into him. Elton McGinty, did you say?"

"Yes, and he lived I think on… an Evergreen something in Aber…" Maevis began, trailing off as she tried to remember the name.

"Aberdeen?" Tom asked her, but she shook her head.

"No, I would have remembered that, and it was a little longer… but it started with 'Aber'," Maevis replied.

"All right, I'll have a look," Tom replied. "You know, with it being Christmas soon, it would be nice if you joined me for dinner. I can show you what I've found, if you'll come by."

"I… I'll think about it," Maevis replied. "Do you have a pen and paper?" Tom handed her a pen and a notecard, and Maevis scribbled down her American phone number and an email address onto it before handing it back to him. "Text me, I'll give you an answer by tonight."

"All right, I will," Tom told her, and she nodded.

"Thanks," she said. "I'll see you, then." She turned to go, but his voice stopped her in her tracks.

"It's great to see you, Maevis… Really. You've grown into such a beautiful woman… And though I speak of your mother's stubbornness as a negative trait… it's a good trait to have," Tom told her.

"Yeah… thanks," said Maevis, and then she left. Once she was outside of the building, she sat down on the stairs and put her face in her palms. So her mother was a time traveller, the father she thought she knew was a complete and utter ass, and she had a brother who didn't know she even existed. And now she had to find a way to search through history to find her mother. Blessed Bride, this was going to be a very difficult journey.