Author's Note: Computer seems to be working after reformatting it to factory settings, but only time will tell. Let's hope it's permanently fixed and I can get another chapter up soon instead of fighting with my computer for 8 hours at a time.

Chapter 48: Fitting In

"Wait a minute," Mike said holding up his hand. Micky had helped Peter carry Piper down to the town and they were on the outskirts when Mike stopped them. "If we travelled back in time, we're gonna stand out an awful lot in these clothes. These houses are definitely colonial era, and we are definitely not in colonial era garb."

"So we need to change," Davy agreed. "How are we going to do that?"

"Piper, can you still freeze time?" Mike asked.

"I think so," Piper said holding up her hands to freeze Davy as a test. Davy froze confirming that her powers were still working. She then waved her hand again to unfreeze him.

"Perfect," Mike said. "We need to sneak in and borrow someone's clothes."

"Borrow?" Peter asked hesitantly. "What if we don't know when we're going back? Then we're just stealing them."

"Peter, if we don't blend in, we're going to get in a lot of trouble," Mike reasoned. "We have to do something."

"Trust me, I would love to pay for these clothes, but I'm pretty sure the money we have they won't accept," Micky added. "It hasn't been made yet. If these are colonial times, they'll think we're evil demons or something."

"Yeah, they used to burn witches at the stake," Piper agreed. "Let's try and avoid that if we can."

"Ok, ok," Peter said relenting. "But I don't have to like it, do I?"

"Of course not," Davy said. "None of us do."

"Ok, let's sneak into this first house and see what we find," Mike said. "Piper if you could freeze the room in case someone's in there. I don't want anyone seeing us just yet."

"Got it," Piper said preparing herself to freeze the room as soon as the door opened. When Mike opened the door, Piper froze the room and there was indeed one woman inside it cooking a meal for her family presumably. She froze midway through stirring something and Mike snuck past her to a side room. A few moments later, he came back out with a few clothes over his arms and the five walked into an alley behind the house after Piper unfroze the woman.

"I really hope these fit," Mike said. "Ok, we'll get dressed first, then we'll close our eyes and Piper can get dressed."

"Got it," Piper said closing her eyes first. The boys quickly got changed and Micky told Piper it was ok to open her eyes. Piper had a little harder time because she couldn't stand on her own very well, so Micky had to support her a little, which he found hard to do with his eyes closed. But once they'd managed to get everyone looking like they belonged there, they decided to see if they could find a place to rest. The only thing they could think of was to find a tavern and see if they could get a room in exchange for cleaning tables. Luckily, Mike came up with a good cover story to tell the tavern owner.

"May I help you?" the woman asked.

"Yes, I was wondering if you had a room for us," Mike started trying his best to hide his Texas accent knowing Texas probably didn't technically exist yet. "We don't have any money, but we are willing to work. See, we were travelling and we were robbed and just need a place to rest for a while."

"I see," she said looking at them. She rested her eyes a little on Piper who was still leaning against Micky.

"Our friend was hurt during the attack," Mike explained.

"Hard to believe four young men could get robbed," the woman said sounding a little skeptical for a moment.

"Yes, it was a group of marauders," Mike explained quickly. "About a dozen of them with muskets. And we were unfortunately unarmed."

"A dozen!?" the woman exclaimed startled.

"Yes, but don't worry," Mike said quickly. "They went north of here. I doubt they'll be bothering anyone in this town."

"My, my," she said relaxing a little. "Well, I do have one free room." She put a lot of emphasis on the word 'one' and eyed Piper and Micky closely which made Micky feel very uncomfortable.

"That's fine," Peter said quickly picking up on something Micky hadn't. "Piper and Micky are married and we're Micky's brothers. Everyone's family here."

"Oh!" she said brightening a little. Micky shot Peter a look asking him why he'd just said that. "Well, if that's the case then, all is well. I suppose I could let you rent the room in exchange for some work around here. My husband passed several years ago and I'm afraid since then this place has begun to fall apart. My son died in the war; otherwise he'd be helping with the repairs."

"We'll do whatever we can to help," Mike assured her. "We appreciate your generosity."

"Follow me," she said and led them back to a room that was a little dank and musty, but Micky didn't expect much better from a free room. "Settle yourselves down a little and when you're ready to begin work, just come let me know. By the way, my name Anne."

"I'm Mike, this is Micky, Peter, Davy and Piper," Mike answered.

"Pleasure to meet you all," Anne said. "Let me know if you need anything. You're welcome to join me for dinner tonight as well."

"Thank you," Davy said. Anne stared at Davy for a few seconds but then decided that she had to get back to work.

"Wonder what that was," Davy muttered. "When she stares at you, it's like she's trying to read your brain. It's creepy."

"A little," Micky agreed. "Watch your accent, Davy. She said her son died in the war. Not sure what year this is, but I have a feeling I know what war she was talking about. I doubt she has any compassion for the British right now."

"Oh," Davy said. "Good point."

"Speaking of," Micky said turning to Peter, "what was with the whole "we're married" thing?"

"People in this time are very conservative," Peter answered. "It is not proper for a man and woman to sleep in the same room unless they are married. Most won't even be alone together anywhere unless they're married. She wouldn't have given us this room if she thought there was anything even remotely improper between any of us."

"Right," Micky said suddenly understanding. "That's a very good catch, Peter."

"Sorry, I didn't think you guys would mind," Peter said blushing a little.

"It's no problem, Peter," Piper smiled at him. "It was quick thinking and it worked. We won't be here very long anyway."

"Right," Mike agreed. "I hadn't even thought of that. But we need to figure out when and where we are as fast as possible so we don't make any more mistakes. In the meantime, Davy, come with me and we can work on whatever she needs fixing."

"Right," Davy said.

"Just try and sound like us," Micky said. "I don't want her finding out your British and getting mad at you."

"How about I just not talk," Davy said. "I've been here for years and haven't figured out how to get rid of my accent."

"Works for me," Mike said. "Just always make sure to stick with one of us in case you slip up."

"Got it," Davy nodded.

"You gonna be ok, Piper?" Mike asked before leaving.

"Sure," Piper answered. "I just need to stay off it for a while."

"Ok, Micky should stay here with her while I try and figure out when and where we are," Peter said. "I grew up in a historic town and spent a lot of time in museums and stuff back home. I should be able to figure it out pretty quickly."

"Good," Mike said. "We'll meet back here in a few hours."

"Here's hoping we'll be back home before then, though," Davy mumbled though none of them really believed that. If undoing the curse was dangerous enough to rip through the fabric of time and unravel everything thereby destroying the world, Micky was pretty sure it wouldn't be done in a few hours. They'd just have to sit it out and wait; however long it took.

Mike and Davy made their way back out to the bar to meet with the tavern woman again. Anne was behind the counter cleaning a few mugs and keeping an eye on a few new patrons that had showed up. In addition to the two men that were already there, another two had showed up and were talking in hushed tones in the corner with their mugs barely touched. They seemed to be discussing something rather important and rather secretive so Mike decided it would be best to steer clear of that particular table. Instead he walked straight up to the bar and smiled at Anne who returned the smile.

"I want to thank you again for your generosity," Mike said. "Micky is going to stay with Piper for now to make sure she rests."

"I hope she's not hurt too badly," Anne frowned.

"I don't think so," Mike assured her. "I think it's just a little twisted. She should be better with some rest."

"Of course," Anne said. "Well, I would first like for you boys to see if you could fix the back door. It hasn't closed right since the last storm."

"We'd be happy to look at it," Mike said. Anne threw one last look at the men in the corner before showing Mike and Davy where the door was. Mike looked at the door and could tell by first glance the wood was warped. It was an old-fashioned door, though for Anne it was modern, made of only wooden boards and hinges. It would be a relatively easy fix, though time consuming. They just had to cut new boards for the wood and fit them to the frame.

"There's wood in the alley behind here," Anne told them. "And there are tools over in the corner. Let me know if you need any help with anything."

"Sure thing," Mike said.

"You boys are very strange," Anne said looking at them suspiciously again.

"We aren't from around here," Mike answered.

"Sure," she answered. She seemed to think them over, but decided to walk back to the bar.

"You think she suspects something?" Davy asked once he was sure she had gone.

"Probably," Mike said. "Which just means that we need to be very careful." They spent several hours working on the door and finally got it to shut right. Mike and Davy were both very sore and tired and Mike was starting to realize the clothes didn't breathe very well which only added to their comfortableness.

"So hot," Davy said sitting down on the floor when they'd finished.

"These clothes aren't very well suited for building, are they," Mike mused. "No wonder they invent better clothes in the future."

"I am going to take the world's longest shower when we get home," Davy muttered. "I feel like my muscles are just going to walk away in protest."

"They'd have to move for that to happen," Mike answered causing a laugh from Davy. "Well, we didn't get much of a chance to rest after those tests in the Underworld."

"True," Davy said. "We'll sleep well tonight, though."

"Very true," Mike agreed. "And the first person who wakes me is getting punched in the face."

"I'll be sure to remember that," Davy laughed. They heard a loud yell come from the bar that caused them to jump up and run to the bar to investigate. When they got there, Mike saw that the two men who'd been in the corner hours ago were still sitting there, but they'd stopped talking and were now staring at the bar. A rather drunk man was standing at the bar yelling at Anne about something; Mike couldn't make out much of what he was saying to the severely slurred speech.

"You've had enough," Anne said backing away from him. "Please leave!"

"Make me!" the man roared back. He reached over and tried to grab Anne, but she backed up further and he fell off his stool instead. Mike cringed with how hard he hit the floor and decided that he should probably help Anne throw this drunkard out before he caused any real damage. Before Mike could reach them, however, the man ran behind the bar and grabbed Anne again and tried to rip her dress open. Davy and Mike reached him just before he could hurt her and together they pulled the man off her.

"I think the lady told you to leave," Mike said as he and Davy threw the man to the ground. Davy stood protectively in front of Anne while Mike stood ready to fight the man if need be.

"And who the blazes are you?" the man slurred, drooling a little. It took a lot of effort for Mike not to roll his eyes at the sight.

"Doesn't matter," Mike answered firmly. "She told you to leave, that means you leave. Now."

"Or what?" he dared trying to squint his eyes menacingly.

"Or we'll take you to the magistrate and see what he says," said one of the men who'd been in the corner.

"I can see when I'm not wanted," the drunk slurred and got up getting ready to leave. Instead, he turned and threw a stool at Mike who didn't duck in time. The stool smacked him in the head and he fell off his feet. The two men in the corner moved fast and grabbed the drunk before he could do anything else.

"Mike!" Davy exclaimed as he leaned down to make sure that he wasn't hurt. "Are you ok, mate?"

"Davy," Mike hissed realized he'd just used a very British word.

"Get out of here," one of the men had said to the drunk before turning to look at Davy and Mike.

"Where are you from?" the other man demanded looking at Davy.

"Gentlemen, these boys just saved me," Anne said quickly trying to defend them. "Leave them alone. All you did was sit in the corner."

"We try not to get involved in bar fights," the first man said still glaring at Davy.

"That wasn't a bar fight, idiot," Mike said getting up. "That was a drunken slob trying to assault Anne!"

"You haven't answered our question," the second man demanded. "Are you a damn redcoat?!"

"No!" Davy answered quickly.

"Leave him alone," Anne said.

"He's a damn, dirty Brit!" the first man declared.

"He's not going to do anything to hurt you," Mike said.

"So you don't deny it!" exclaimed the second man. "Why don't we see what the magistrate has to say about you!?" Before Mike could react, the men grabbed Davy and started pulling him out of the bar. Mike ran to go after them, but one of them turned and pointed a large pistol at him.

"Unless you want to join him, I suggest you back off," the man warned as his friend dragged Davy out kicking and screaming. When the man had left with Davy, the other man turned to leave, too.

"Damn!" Mike yelled trying to follow them.

"Mike!" Anne called after him. "You're never going to accomplish anything that way. Come back inside and we'll figure out how to get him back."

"Why would you help us?" Mike asked looking at her skeptically.

"Why would you help me?" she countered.

"Because it was the right thing to do," Mike answered. "But..."

"None of that now," she said pulling him back inside. "Get in here before they charge you with a crime, too."

"What exactly is Davy's crime?" Mike demanded. "Being British?!"

"Actually, yes," she answered. "Most of the people that live here lost loved ones in the war in this town. About 90% of the town buried their sons or husbands or brothers because of the British. Ever since, any time they see a British person, they charge him with treason. I thought you were all brothers."

"We are," Mike answered. "Sort of. What are they going to do to Davy?"

"He'll have to prove his place of birth and if he can't or proves he's British, they'll kill him," Anne answered.