Erin was jerked violently awake as a loud thunderous blast shattered the quiet in a sudden explosion of sound, a scream falling from her lips before she had even become aware of her surroundings.

She covered her ears with her hands and slowly got to her feet, feeling rattled to her very bones. Gathering her wits, she rushed to the window and saw part of the main outer Fort wall was shattered, a fire slowly gaining traction in the ruins. Another 'VOOMF' sound and the world outside fractured, as debris and people were scattered like bowling pins and shrieks filled the air. Erin shrank back, scared that the mayhem would reach through the tiny window.

A lull came, a reloading maybe, or perhaps this had been a warning of coming destruction, and in the ringing hush Erin removed her hands from her ears, breaths heaving in her chest.

"I guess the French are here," Nathaniel said over the hum of chaos outside.

Erin would have laughed at his intrepid cocksure attitude if this would have been a book or a movie she was enjoying, but the galling reality stilled her into horror.

She heard him move and glanced over to see he was now looking out of his small window too, regarding the scene of calamity with a calm acceptance.

"Wall's gone," he stated frankly.

As they watched, people ran for cover and raised voices came from all angles. The distant screams of the injured, dying and bereft mingled into a cry of pure anguished sorrow. For a long time, the fort was swarmed in havoc as people ran to and fro, unsure when the next assault would begin, and the sun slowly crawled into the sky, laying bare the destruction the French had wrought.

Some short time later a white flag was hastily hoisted up a pole, looking all the world like it had been made from bed sheets.

Then English officers in their bright red coats gathered on the parade ground, golden brass buttons glittering in the sunlight. Duncan was there, and then Munro. There was nothing left of the frazzled Scotsman from last night, only a strong and well heeled looking Colonel, his wig and clothing meticulous, his face an unwavering mask of control.

Horses were brought and pipes and flutes began to drone, until a jaunty tune was floating out in the air, as if mocking the carnage that had only just happened a short time ago.

Duncan and Munro mounted their horses and the column of soldiers began to march, a steady slow drum beat joined the commotion, giving them a rhythm. The main wooden gates were opened and they were all away and through within seconds.

Erin gave took in a steady deep breath. "Parley?" she asked Nathaniel.

"Seems like."

All that could be done now was to wait, and so wait they did. Erin plucked and pinched the loose threads of her frayed silk bandaged forearm, the anxiety not allowing her to be still. She realized she hadn't even had time to give her injury much thought at all, it still throbbed every now and again when she bumped it with a clumsy hand, but it had become the least of her worries. She couldn't help but laugh inwardly at herself, the fuss she had made over getting stitches. That girl almost seemed like a different person as Erin stood there watching and waiting for the death and disaster she knew was still to come, it's cold fingers reaching out to grasp for strangers and friends alike.

It seemed like an unbearable amount of time passed before the shrill sounds of music began to float into hearing again, and then the soldiers came back through the gates.

Munro's face was unreadable but Duncan's was not, he looked grim, and a concerned wrinkle furrowed the space between his eyebrows, making him look as though he was constantly squinting or had smelled something rather foul.

"Did it go well do you think?" she asked, her eyes glued to the soldiers.

"Seems not, Miss," Nathaniel said.

That could mean anything from it being wildly different to her own knowledge, to nothing had changed at all.

"I reckon it'll be as you told Cora. We'll be gone from here before the day is out." Nathaniel's voice was certain and Erin had no reason to doubt him.

She grimaced. No news felt like good news anymore. The Martial music continued as those upon horseback dismounted and disappeared into the depths of the barracks, only once all men of note were no longer present did the music finish with a flutter of flute and boom of drum. The sound of chatter rose as the people of the fort tried to gain some understanding of what had happened.

"My brother warned me about being arrested," Nathaniel said, as if discussing the weather, his eyes not straying from the scene outside. Erin felt her muscles tense. "When I asked him how he knew, he said Miss Cooper says she can see the future."

Erin's eyes flicked to him as a prickle of panic rippled through her skin. He'd moved from the window slightly and was now looking towards her over the space of two empty cells, the sun illuminating some of him in shafts of light, the rest of him still concealed in shadowed gloom. His body and face were unreadable but his eyes glinted with an old soul intellect, and it was as if he could see into her, through her and beyond. Erin squirmed under the intensity of those weary, watchful eyes.

"Cora and my brother told me about what you said would happen today, and they say you've seen what's to come?"

"I have."

"And you are no spy." It wasn't a question but a direct statement.

"I'm not."

He nodded. "Then I guess we best be prepared to fight." There was a pause as he seemed again intent on her. He took a step forward, revealing himself fully in the light, eyes direct and looking into her own, the green of leaf and brown of earth seeming to reflect all that he had seen and lived in his life, wisdom and recklessness co-existing. Erin shifted, feeling awkward, but he brazenly refused to release her. "And what you told my brother?"

"Told him?" Erin had told Uncas so much in the last few days, it was a whirl in her mind.

"His death?" His tone was cold, almost hateful, as if he blamed Erin for it even being a possibility.

"It's true too. At least... it's what I've seen..."

"You have seen it then?" He sternly interrupted her.

Erin could feel his hostility rising and pushed up her own defences in retaliation. "In a fashion."

"What?" His tone was gruff and aggressive, he had no time for her dancing around this subject.

Erin let out a petulant huff. "Yes, in a way, it's not happened yet... I mean, obviously." She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, knowing anxiety was trying to take command of shielding her. "But... yes I've seen it. Sorry." Erin admitted in defeat.

Nathaniel took in a deep breath, becoming as still as if he had been frozen in place for a brief moment. "But you can save him?"

"I can try," Erin said honestly.

He made a non-committal sound in his throat. "No, no trying." He was blunt.

"Understood." Erin knew there was no point trying to argue the nuances. Nathaniel didn't want to hear them.

"If you do that, I'll make sure you get home. Take you wherever you want to go."

His words were like a spiked gift, but she made a grateful noise and he seemed content.

"Do we have a bargain?"

"We do," Erin said, a little more tartly than she'd intended.

"Say nothing to my father." Nathaniel had turned his attention back to the window, now seemingly intent on ignoring her presence entirely.

"Understood," Erin replied again, feeling the weight of his clear dislike for her.

She could appreciate why, she'd waltzed into their lives proclaiming doom and death, she wouldn't be surprised if Mr Poe saw her as nothing but a bad penny.

/

It was only a little while later before Cora and Uncas returned, their work done. Cora had gone to her father's side and listened to all that was said about the parley with the French. She had pushed him to take their terms with great caution. Uncas had warned all those he trusted of the potential danger ahead and urged them to be ready. It felt like a tiny drop in a vast ocean.

"It's just as you said," Cora said breathlessly. "The French had Webb's letter, Duncan confirmed his signature. They offered good terms and my father accepted, he's surrendered." She paused, her eyes lingering on Erin, trying to see something that was not plainly there to see. "I have never seen him so... lost for words when he returned. He believes you are a French spy who has defected to the English. For your warning, he will not punish you, but nor will he free you."

"Well, no news is good news," Erin mumbled speaking the words she'd thought a while ago out loud.

"Not until after we reach safety, then he will consider it."

"And Magua? The escort? Does your father believe me about what will happen?"

Cora looked unsure. "I don't know if he believes he is in danger, but he did request the personal guard for Alice and my sake. The French agreed."

Erin did a little fist pump into the air and Uncas smirked before clearing his throat in an effort to hide his amusement.

"What of the terms?" Erin pushed, needing to know more.

"We can leave with all belongings and weapons but only one cannon, as a symbol of the French's good will. No ammunition though."

"Did you persuade your father that they are not to be trusted?"

Cora nodded. "I tried. But if he listened to anything I said I do not know. He will want to talk to you Erin, he did not outright say... but I know he will."

Erin gave a strained smile, hoping it conveyed a reassurance she herself did not yet feel. "Then I will try and do my part in what is to come."

/

Cora and Uncas had brought food and water, which was gladly accepted, they would all need to be ready for the day ahead. Cora was now quietly talking to Nathaniel, sharing a brief moment of calm before the fast approaching storm.

Uncas leant against the cell door, watching Erin as she sat eating a chunk of bread and cheese, his arms casually crossed at his waist. She looked up at him, suddenly shy under his intense scrutiny. The excitement of the situation, the planning, and the weight of the coming day's events, had taken away all personal attention and now she was being confronted with it all once more.

"What?" she asked, finishing her last piece of bread and trying to play the situation as coolly as she could.

"You eat like a mouse." He demonstrated how she had been holding her food, grasped in two hands.

"Thanks." She wanted it to sound playful, but she just sounded sarcastic.

He spoke in his own tongue, "Mouse that sneaks."

She stilled a moment, disbelieving she'd heard his words correctly. "Did you just give me a name that means sneaky mouse?"

He flashed a brief mischievous grin enjoying his teasing.

"Better than red ant I guess," she playfully bantered back, and his eyes widened with realisation, but he managed to keep his composure.

He crouched, and held out the water skin to her with eyes glinting a soft smile in approval of their jovial jesting and Erin felt undeserving of the kind gesture. She reached forward, avoiding meeting his eye. He pushed the object into her waiting hands but his fingers deftly enclosed her wrist, thumb casually caressing her skin, then the mound of her palm, in an intimate and tender gesture before he pulled back. Upon seeing her startled expression he huffed a low laugh.

Erin had been avoiding looking at him directly following her talk with Nathaniel but after Uncas' affectionate actions she found the task even harder. She felt guilty for thinking of returning home, and even guiltier for their growing attachment for each other. Maybe it would be best to just get this whole thing out of the way? If she told him plainly that she would go home, maybe the original romantic side of this story would somehow fall back into place and she could save some part of what should have been?

She felt her whole body inwardly recoil at the thought and stomped down her own feelings. Perhaps the strong emotion was caused by knowing it could still mean Alice's and Uncas' death? Or perhaps it was her own selfish wants that fuelled her? She didn't know and she wasn't ready or willing to try and psychoanalyze herself right now.

Instead of being direct and honest, and confronting her own messy emotions head on, she unconsciously decided on being passive aggressive.

"When did you even start to like me?" It was a disparaging remark.

He cocked a brow up at the sudden question. "I never said I liked you," he said, the tone deadpan, but his eyes were gleaming with warm humour.

"I haven't done anything to make you like me," Erin continued, ignoring his joking manner, "just made you angry or confused or annoyed or..." She would have continued with her critical view but he stilled her with his own words.

"I don't think I did." He was forthright with his opinion. "I just knew you were strange, from the moment I saw you at the Camerons'. I thought maybe you were a spy or a witch... I thought... many things." He laughed a little at his own memories.

"Then what is... this?" Erin gestured to the air between them.

He shook his head as if he had no answers at all. "When I found you, that night..." He trailed off a moment, unsure how to tactfully refer to their clandestine meeting in the store room, "and you kissed me..."

"You kissed me back!" Erin said in her usual defensive manner, before pulling herself up for her knee jerk reaction. "Sorry, I just never expected... any of this." She relented, lowering her defences a little.

Uncas laughed, his face losing all stoicism as he found true amusement in her words. "Yes," he said, that crease of humor staying for a good while. When he had regained himself he sighed deeply. "After that, after what you told me and I began to believe what you said... I came to see I liked talking to you. On our way to the fort, outside by the fire..."

"Oh?" was all Erin could manage, as a swirl of thoughts began to gather in her mind, trying to reveal something she didn't want to see.

"You asked so many questions, no one has ever been so interested in me, who I am, before."

"Oh?" Erin knew she was just repeating the same word, her mouth felt dry.

"I wanted to know what you were hiding. Everything you did or said, made me curious."

"Oh?"

"Before I knew it, I was thinking about you all the time. Who you were, why you were lying..." He paused, considering his next words.

It sounded more like an obsession to obtain the truth, over romantic feelings, but Erin knew the results had been the same.

"Oh."

He caught her with his gaze and held eye contact a moment too long for Erin's liking, forcing her to glance away, suddenly bashful. "I understood after we had harsh words, I was so angry with you because I had come to care for you." He gave a whisper of a smile. "I didn't know what that meant then, and I can't say I know now." He paused, looking away, a finger coming to brush the tip of his nose as if he was suddenly just a little anxious. "Then, you wanted me, and... in the moment... I wanted more."

"Oh..."

"Erin?" Uncas looked a little concerned, the woman before him had gone a sickly colour.

Erin now finally understood she had changed things in this story the moment she had appeared at the Camerons' cabin. She felt a fool for not seeing it so clearly until now.

The day of the farm massacre, that was the point in the novel that Alice Munro had seen the grieving tracker bent over his murdered friends and had beheld his tender humanity. It was such a subtle paragraph that it could have been dismissed as a young Georgian woman's curiosity but it was there and Erin had denied them that bonding by saving the Camerons' lives. It was ridiculous and morbid, and wholly unfair to the Camerons... but it was true, and while Erin did not regret her actions, she couldn't help but regret the outcome.

The book never went into detail about what happened at the burial ground, if anything had passed between Alice and Uncas after he had quieted her panic with a gentle hand, but now, Erin had been the one talking to Uncas that night, Alice had never even been given the chance, because Erin was there!

Here in the fort, when Alice and Uncas may have been forming attachments over their shared journey, with secret unwritten meetings and growing affection, Erin had led him on a merry mystery dance of trying to figure out just who she was and what secrets she was hiding, blocking anything that could have been with her very presence.

She'd sought him out on purpose, showering him with attention with her own inner selfish need to know more, and in doing so she'd diverted all his thoughts to her.

The truth felt like bile traveling up the back of her throat.

He'd admitted it himself, there had been something between he and Alice after they had met on the George Road. Something that perhaps needed just a few pushes to bloom into more, but instead Erin had blundered in with her mighty plans to 'save' them, and in doing so she had distracted the young Mohican to another strange girl who held his fascination, for different reasons it may be true, but the results were standing, or rather crouching, right before her. He'd been unconsciously rebelling against his own mapped out life and Erin, not Alice, had become the focus of that rebellion.

"Erin?" he questioned again, his brow now furrowed in concern.

"Shit!" Erin breathed.

"What's wrong?"

She forced herself to meet his gaze. "I think this is all my fault."

"What is?"

"Why you and Alice didn't fall in..."

He let out a frustrated sigh and turned away, halting her words in mid sentence.

She gathered her resolve and continued. "I got in the way." She sounded distraught, and she had the right to be, she'd destroyed her own favorite characters' relationship!

"Good!" Uncas said, forcefully facing her, eyes ablaze with admonishment, his severe tone telling her to stop. "If it meant my death, then it is good you got in the way."

"You don't understand," Erin sighed.

"It is good." He repeated and his dark eyes held hers, saying so much in that one look that Erin felt a sudden shooting emotion that lay uncomfortably somewhere between deep regret and pure exhilaration.

She sighed again, wrenching her gaze from his. "But... us... it's complicated. I don't know you, and.. you really don't know me. It's not that easy."

He reached out, enclosing her fingers in his big grasp and squeezed gently. "Nothing good is ever easy."

"That's sweet and all, but..." She faltered as his eyes connected with hers again, scintillating silken caramel in the harsh shafts of sunlight, a question hidden glimmering within that gaze, awaiting her answer, and she knew she couldn't delay speaking up. Erin didn't think either of them knew what this was or could be between them, or if it even would be anything if they tried, but she knew for certain she couldn't stay, her home wasn't here.

"Uncas, I have to tell you something, I..."

The main jail door opened, stilling any conversation, and two soldiers marched in, behind them was Duncan. He glanced towards where Cora stood and then turned his face away as if he didn't even know her. The guard at the stairs once again did his jump to attention as they passed, before gazing after them in open curiosity. They advanced forward in certain steps to where Erin was imprisoned, and waited a moment as Duncan caught up. When he did, he paused, studying Erin's form behind the bars, and then gave Uncas a decidedly unfriendly sneer.

Uncas stood to his full height, regarding Duncan with the same unruffled disdain.

"Miss Cooper," Duncan said, his eyes coolly skimming over her, "I am to accompany you to Colonel Munro's quarters."

Uncas tried to move forward in some disagreement to the words but Duncan held out a hand stilling him. "Sir, I assure you the lady will be quite safe."

Erin's eyes went to Uncas', they held, and an understanding was reached, it would do no one any good to cause trouble now.

"I will go with you Major."

The door was opened and Duncan approached. Erin resisted the urge to step back as he pulled out a length of rope and gestured for her to hold up her hands.

"Duncan is that really necessary?" Cora said, stepping away from Nathaniel's cell.

"Since we do not know who this woman is Cora, yes it is necessary!" He was clipped and chilly in how he addressed her.

"It's okay Cora," Erin said, holding up her wrists, and Duncan bound them with a tight pull of knots, making her wince a little. "I trust the Major's word, he is an honourable man."

Duncan looked disconcerted, his features softening ever so slightly, but he pulled himself up, the icy mask slipping back into place. "You should not be here Cora, your father would not be pleased. You should leave now, while I still have any good will to offer." He said the words without diverting from his set task in checking Erin's bonds were secure.

Cora looked a little shaken but seemed to understand this was no time to argue.

"Miss." He gestured to the doorway and Erin stiffly moved her feet, slowly going further away from all those she trusted. One of the guards decided she was not moving fast enough and took hold of her arm, guiding her towards the doorway. Erin glanced back, her eyes seeking Uncas, then she was taken from the jail back into the warren of corridors.

/

A/N

Hallo all on another Friday.

This chapter was quite a fun one when I wrote it. The whole principle of changing something without meaning to in time travel stories has always been a interesting one for me and poor Erin really didn't stand a chance. Her own meddling has caused the rather sticky situation she is in and although, this is Uncas we are talking about, I really wanted her not to be wholly willing to give up her old life based on attraction and knowing someone for less than a week. I find it hard to connect to insta love stories now I'm older, romance is great but reality often brings those high emotions down to earth with a nasty bump (I did try to write Erin to have some of that practicality at least if no others.) I often feel instant 'love' is never really enough of a justification to give up everything, but who knows, this is Uncas sooo... but then Erin is rather stubborn and can't let go of Uncas' connection to Alice, even if it is in her own world... I think I'd find it difficult to let go of Alice/Uncas as a ideal too so I sympathise with her feelings. But I am just the writer, not the characters and they will take us wherever they like ;)))

I hope the story is still working for any out there who have been reading and enjoying. It's very fun to read your opinions of where this all might go or what a certain part means, what works or doesn't, what has intrigued you and your thought process as you read etc So thank you for letting me know your opinions. I value them greatly and they give me a new viewpoint that I really enjoy. A think a few questions will be answered in the story, a few may not. Let's see ;)

In answer to your good question, MohawkWoman Erin only has a feeling she can return, but it is a certain one. The mysteriousness of time travel I suppose (aka me keeping it vague because TT is hard lol) It was brought up in a few chapters but is probably buried in my overly descriptive, sometimes long winded writing (I am aware I would drive an editor mad!) The one that delves into it a little more is Chapter 15 as Erin sits by the fire, she comes to the certain thought, that she could go home and could easily have done so, if she'd only stopped to think... not Erin's strongest suit, thinking ahead. Oh well... let's continue next week.