Willow opened her eyes to a pounding headache. "No. Spell. Holleght. Riley. Riley!"

"It's okay. It's okay. Willow. I'm here." He crawled over to her.

"Where are we?"

"I have no idea."

She sat up. "Ouch. Big ouch." Holding her forehead with one hand she looked around. "In the bush. We're in the bush."

"Yur in mah bush."

They both looked up.

"Aye, laddie. That's right. Mah bush. This 'ere is mah place. Yure tresspassin' fur sure."

"Willow, I think we're in Scotland in the middle ages." Riley whispered.

"Wast that, boy?" Two more men and a young boy came up behind the first.

"Nothing."

"'E talks funny, da…"

"Ah know, Simon. Go back to th' 'ouse now." The man pushed the child away.

"Itsa girl!" Simon yelled and ran forward. His father attempted to catch him but he skipped out of the way. He came towards Willow but Riley shifted so he was in front of her.

"I wanna see 'er. Lookit her hair, da…lookit!" He squirmed around Riley, who grabbed him, but the young boy grabbed onto Willow's arm and held on for dear life.

"I-it's okay, Riley. Don't worry." Her voice was soft and she pried the little fingers off. "It's okay."

Simon looked into her face and grabbed a chunk of her red hair. He held it in his hands and sifted through it with his fingers. "It's soft and smells nice, da. She's beautiful." He was in awe. "Is she a' angel?"

Riley watched Willow sit upright and the small boy seat himself more comfortably, still holding onto her hair like it was the most precious thing in the world. Simon's hair was an orangey-red and stuck out all over his head.

"Thas enough, young Simon. She's no angel if yuh can touch 'er. Come now. You two come along now too…we want ye the come to the house. We'll git yuh cleaned up. Yure name is Riley, eh boy? Riley what?" He scooped up the young boy who reluctantly let go of Willow's hair.

Willow and Riley stood up, and the former stumbled. Riley caught a hold of her and held her upright.

"Finn. It's Riley Finn, sir. Nice to meet you," Riley said calmly, sticking out a hand while clutching Willow to his side to keep her from falling back to the ground.

"Finn, eh? Doan't be a callin' me sir, I ain't a knight. My name is Simon Fraser. This is li'l Simon, tha's James, and tha' old frog be Rubin." The man started off and another motioned them to follow. "Come along then…"

"Can you walk?" Riley asked in a low tone to Willow. She looked up at him with sad eyes.

"I think the spell that the other witch who cast the spell, cast another to take away my magic for awhile…but I don't know who would have done it…"she finished miserably. "I'm pretty much helpless for now."

"I'll help you then…" He scooped her up into his arms.

"Riley! Stop it! You don't have to do this. I'm sure in a little bit, I'll be able to walk. Just let me…"

He shook his head. "Willow, you need to rest up. You have to get us out of here…"

They came out of the bush to a real life old manor. Kids were laughing and running around. Women were washing and carrying around baskets of things. Old Simon beckoned them towards the manor. Willow held onto Riley's neck looking around at the people. "Wow…this is… wow…"

He smiled. "What's the story Willow? You want to be a sister or a wife?"

"Pardon me?" she exclaimed, blushing. "What did you say?"

He laughed at her red face. "You're cute when you blush. I said do you want to be my sister or my wife. Although I don't think I could pass you off as my sister…so you'll be my wife…okay?"

Her eyes widened. "Uh, okay…but what about the rings and other wedding things?"

He chuckled. "Good thinking… That's why I love you. Umm, okay, fiancée?"

"I can't believe we're doing this."

"It's the only way I can protect you. Otherwise you be married to some other guy or worse…"

"You really read up on this before, eh?"

"I watched Braveheart and, well, I wanted to know more…"

"This doesn't mean I have to go with an Englishman the first night, does it?" she asked and he laughed as they entered the building.

"This is Riley Finn and uh…" Old Simon stumbled, not knowing Willow's name.

His wife smacked him. "Yuh don't even know 'er name? What kind of a host are yuh?"

He shrugged half-heartedly.

Riley spoke up from where he was sitting with Willow. "This is my wife Willow. We were in the middle of our wedding when the English came through. The priest finished just as they came into the church. Everyone ran but the English got some of them. We escaped and ran as far as we could and ended up on your land."

Mrs. Fraser's face clouded over. "Tha's horrible! Damn English pigs!" She clapped her hands together.

"Yes." Riley started but his voice was lost among the others. Men yelled about the English and women tried to tell sob stories about it.

Suddenly Mrs. Fraser was in front of them. "Well, let's get yuh both cleaned up."

Old Simon came up beside her. "We'll have to git them some things to wear and of course they'll stay with us."

"We'll take care o' it. Mebbe tomorrow I'll go talk to Robert…"She turned to Riley and Willow. "Naow come along, we'll get yuh cleaned up." With the help of two other girls, she carted Willow out of the room.

"You come with us, sir." Three other old women grabbed a hold of Riley and pulled him off in a different direction.

¥ ¥ ¥

"Tonight we feast fer the arrival of Riley and Willow Finn. They'll be stayin' here fer a bit." Old Simon raised his cup and the whole table drank.

Willow glanced around from where she sat. Girls were looking over at Riley with dreamy looks on their faces. Her eyes narrowed. Then it dawned on her. They thought that Willow and Riley were brother and sister. They either hadn't heard the announcement about her and Riley or they didn't know it was them… She was about to turn to Riley when the music started up. People were getting up and grabbing a hold of partners to dance to the fast beat. Little Simon came up beside her.

"Will yuh dance?" he asked cutely.

She looked over to where Riley was being swarmed and she sighed. "Yes, I will, Simon."

They danced and she caught on quickly. She was having so much fun being passed from partner to partner that she didn't even notice Riley.

When she sat down on a bench at the edge to catch her breath, she noticed one girl beside her. She was tall, with long, blond hair and sky blue sad eyes. She didn't look older than Willow herself. She turned to Willow and looked frightened.

"Hi, I'm Willow." Willow stuck out her hand.

The girl said something that sounded like gibberish to Willow.

"Oh. Um, hang on." She held up a finger to emphasize it. She then made a few signs in the air with her fingers. There was a flash and the girl shrank back as a necklace appeared in Willow's hands. Pulling it over her head she turned back to the girl.

"Now can you understand me?"

The girl practically bounced up and down, she was so happy. "Yes, yes, I understand! Oh, mother of our lord, it is good to hear my language again!" She giggled. "But how did you do that and what was that big bang?"

"It was just a little Wicca thing I picked up. I'm Willow." She stuck out her hand again.

This time the girl took it. "I am Calista. I am from Sweden. I was shipwrecked here and taken in by the Frasers but I am not really a part of the family…" she looked wistfully over to the other girls laughing in the corner. "They seem to like your brother a lot. I saw you give them dirty looks. Is he married or are one of them going to ask their father to ask him to join the Frasers?"

"Actually, he's not my brother. He's my husband." It sounded weird. "We were in the middle of our wedding when the English came through. They came just as the priest finished. They wanted to take me but we escaped and ended up here." She looked over to Riley then at the girls moving towards him and frowned.

Calista laughed. "Well, you certainly picked a very handsome boy. I wish I could find someone like that but who would marry a Swedish girl? They couldn't even talk to me!"

Willow frowned and muttered a few word, passing her hand over the necklace. "Here. Take it."

The girl frowned. She could no longer understand Willow.

Willow slipped it from her own head and placed it over Calista's. "Can you understand me?" she asked when it was settled in place.

"Yes," the other girl breathed. "This is wonderful! I can understand everyone in the room! Come on!"

"I don't know. I don't want to disrupt something the first day I'm here. Maybe they'll kick me out…"

Calista grabbed her hand. "I feel reckless now that I can understand them. Let's go take back your husband." She led the way towards the little group in the corner.

The girls looked up in surprise when Calista pushed her way through, pulling along Willow.

One of them stood up, blocking the way. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the Swedish slut," she purred.

"Here is your husband, Willow. You just couldn't see him because of all these silly girls." She pushed Willow onto Riley and sat down serenely beside them. "Hello, Bronwyn. How are you this fine evening?" She smiled at the shocked look on the other girl's face.

Willow looked at Riley. "You told them we were brother and sister?" she asked, feeling hurt. She made an attempt to get up.

He settled her more comfortably on his lap, wrapping his arms around her, preventing her from leaving. "No. They just wouldn't listen to me. And the fact that I can't really understand them…" he looked helplessly at her.

"Here." She made a sign and touched his neck.

"What the-" He stopped. Feeling a weight around his neck he felt around and found a necklace identical to Calista's. Everything was clear just as if they were back home. He understood. "Thanks, witch."

"Your welcome, dear." She leaned back against him for a second. Soaking up the warmth that was Riley Finn. Then she straightened up. The music had ended and people were drifting off. Calista pranced around, talking to people and laughing at their astounded faces. Bronwyn had flounced off and the girls had followed. "I'm tired, Riley."

"Okay, let's go up to bed. Time for you to get some sleep. You've got to be really tired by now."

They stood up and started towards the door. Old Simon stood up and met them. "I suppose you'd be going to consummate your marriage then?"

Willow's face burned and Riley cleared his throat.

"What?" she croaked.

"Aww, the lass is embarrassed. Don't you worry now dear, it's natural. My wife and my's room is right beside you two. Try not to keep us up too much…" he winked and sauntered off to his room with his wife, leaving two shocked people in his wake.

"Did he just say what I thought he said?" asked Willow. "We did have that conversation, didn't we…" she finished, very embarrassed.

Riley nodded.

"So what do we do?" asked Willow, following him up the stairs to their room. "I'm guessing the guys here are the exact same as the ones at home and they're going to ask you for all the details tomorrow…"

He nodded again. Could he really do it with Willow? Did they have to? What would happen if they didn't? Even worse…what if they did?