On Highland Time

by Lexi Post

  Desperate, she yelled for help, her eyes blurred with tears.

  Ian ran over and crouched. “Lord above. Not Torr!”

  “Help me get him back to the castle.”

  He laid a hand on her shoulder. “Nay, Diana. He is gone.”

  “No! He still breathes. We have to help him!” Tears streamed down her cheeks, but she ignored them. Didn’t he realize they could still save him?

  Ian stood. “Not for long, lass. He will not survive that.”

  “But you promised!” Rage bellowed up from deep within her. “Where were you? You told me he would be fine. You promised!” Her voice cracked as her heart broke. Overwhelming despair threatened to crush her. Ian shook his head as he walked away to rejoin the battle.

  He shook his head while his laird lay dying? The anger burned through her even as Torr’s blood continued to seep against her hand. If no one would save Torr then she would, and to hell with them all. He deserved to live! She looked at the castle. It was a long way off, and he was heavy. If she dragged him across the field he would never survive. She needed to find him medical help. He needed…a hospital.

  As soon as the thought appeared, she grasped it like a piece of driftwood in a turbulent sea. He needed an excellent hospital. She’d visited her friend Amber in the best hospital in Maryland. With no further thought then to save the man she loved, she held him tight. She wasn’t even sure if she could transport him with her, but she had to try.

  In her mind’s eye, she pulled the image of the front lobby of the hospital from her memory and focused her thoughts on present-day time. Put me there now. The battlefield disappeared in a blur, the green of Scotland giving way to the reddish-purple fluidity of the Timestream. She held tight to Torr in the weightlessness as they floated in a soft limbo. Then the colors formed into the muted tones of the front lobby, and she and Torr were on the floor.

  Her relief at their safe arrival was short lived.

  “What the…?”

  She looked up to see a white-haired man with a volunteer badge on his coat looking at them from over the lobby desk.

  She stared back a moment before he blurred as new tears flooded her eyes and fell. “Please, help him.”

  …

  Diana sat in the waiting room, Amber’s designer sweat suit helping her to stay warm against the cold air conditioning. Her close college friend had been the only person she could think of to call for help.

  Amber approached, her high heels sounding loud down the hall before she walked across the carpet of the area reserved for the closest relatives. Amber handed her tea in a styrofoam cup. “Anything?”

  “No.” She cupped the warm tea in her hands but didn’t drink. Torr was still in surgery after five hours.

  Amber sat next to her, her gray silk pants rustling softly. “Diana, he’s going to be fine. These doctors are the best. Believe me, I know.”

  She grasped her friend’s hand and nodded. Amber did know because she’d been a patient three years ago with a brain rupture due to a genetic anomaly. According to the doctors, people with the anomaly rarely ended up with a rupture. Amber was one of the unlucky ones who went through multiple surgeries, all her wavy brown hair shaved. It was hard to believe looking at her now. “Thank you for coming. I had no one else I could call.”

  Amber patted her hand. “Hey, you were always there for me. I’m just glad I can return the favor.”

  It had been a huge favor, too. Vouching for “Dee Dee Scott” and promising the hospital she would pay the bill for “Torriden Scott’s” care, put Amber in a delicate position. Diana would pay her back with more than simply money. She didn’t dare associate her real name with the hospital in case there were questions from law enforcement.

  Amber squeezed her hand. “So why the fake name? I don’t want to mess things up if someone comes asking.”

  Diana took a sip of the tea to warm herself as well as to delay the inevitable. “I’ve been working for a private investigation company. It is critical I keep my identity a secret. That’s why I came here instead of near home.”

  Amber’s brows descended. “Hey, it’s Amber you’re talking to, remember?”

  She smiled a little, looking directly into Amber’s brown eyes. Eyes that had been as green as her own before the rupture. “I know, that’s why I’m telling you the truth. I work for a company called TWI. You can look it up on the internet.”

  “TWI? Sounds like an airline.”

  She shook her head and took another sip. Lying to people in other time periods was her job. Lying to one of the few friends she had outside of TWI was almost impossible. She wished she could say it was an airline instead of Time Weavers, Inc. Arthur’s theory about the name was that the Disruptors tore a hole in time and TWI agents wove the strands back together so everything appeared as it was, hence Time Weavers.

  “Are you sure TWI will reimburse you? I know you’re filthy rich, but if you’re on the job, then they should pay.”

  Amber reminded her a lot of Katz, not with her looks, but her bluntness. The biggest difference was that Amber had always had money and Katz had never had any, but both wanted to appear normal. She sighed. Everyone had to reach for something. With TWI she had reached for a new family and instead had found real love, only it was tearing her apart.

  She slipped her hand from Amber’s grasp and held her cup with both hands, the warmth helping. “They will take care of it. I’m just hoping I still have a job. This”—she motioned with her head toward the Restricted Access doors they had wheeled Torr through—“was not supposed to happen.”

  “I bet. I can’t believe the organizers of the Highland Games would let things get so out of hand.”

  She took another sip of tea, slowly swallowing as her brain raced to make events plausible. “I think it was just one particular man who was out for real blood. The participants were as stunned as I was. I promise, as soon as I find out if Torr is going to…” She swallowed hard, the tea she’d just imbibed wanting to come back up at her thought.

  Amber put her arm around her shoulders. “This guy is really important to you, isn’t he? He’s not just an assignment.”

  She nodded.

  “Then he’s just going to have to get better, isn’t he?”

  She choked back a new set of tears. “God, I hope so.”

  Amber pushed away and stared at her. “Holy shit! Did you just use the Lord’s name? The woman with the most creative swears in the entire history of Haverly College?”

  “Yes, I did. I guess I’m more shaken than I realized.”

  “I’ll say. Don’t you worry about anything. You keep positive thoughts for Torr, and I’ll take care of the rest.”

  She couldn’t help it. The tears came from the depths of her heart and started to flow. Having someone else to depend on again was too much.

  “Now look what I’ve done.” Amber pulled her into a hug, and she cried, unable to do anything else.

  The Restricted Area doors opened and a man in blue scrubs strolled out, his rubber-soled shoes nearly silent on the tile. He pulled down the mask covering his mouth as he approached.

  She pulled away from Amber and stood on shaky legs.

  “Mrs. Scott?”

  …

  “Diana, where the hell are you?”

  Diana started awake and her eyes focused on Torr in the hospital bed. Did he say something? She leaned forward in her chair and clasped his hand.

  “Diana, dammit, answer me.”

  Oh, Shakespeare. It was Jules. “I’m here. You woke me up.”

  “Thank God! Where are you? Why haven’t you downloaded with Arthur yet? Rafter told me you returned, but Go-Lucky said you’re not at the mansion. What’s going on?”

  Everything. She stroked the back of Torr’s hand. “Nothing. I just had a personal issue to take care of. I’ll be back at Stonehaven soon.”

  “Make it by Friday. Timestream activity has picked up. I may need you.”

  “That shouldn’t be a problem.�
�

  “It better not be… Diana, is everything okay?”

  She looked at Torr and bowed her head. “Yeah. Fine.”

  “Great. Then get your ass back home ASAP. Take care.”

  “Always.”

  She laid her head on Torr’s arm. It was time to call Katz. Hopefully, she wasn’t in the Stream. It had been over a week and she needed to bring Torr home, make arrangements. But he wouldn’t wake up and they had him on a feeding tube. Her nerves twitched with dread. What if he never woke? What if moving him into the future did something to him? The doctors said there was no medical reason for why he remained unconscious. At least it wasn’t a coma.

  And if he did wake? She hadn’t thought about that. Actually, she hadn’t thought at all. When she’d whisked him to her own time, it was pure emotion and adrenaline that had come into play, her only focus to save the man she loved. Now he was alive and healing well, but he wouldn’t wake up, and if he did, would his presence in the twenty-first century affect the future? She had no idea what she should do now.

  She needed to stay calm. Focusing her senses, she stroked her thumb across the back of Torr’s hand, enjoying the feel of its roughened surface. Her face warmed at the heat from his body, and she let his steady heartbeat and even breathing calm her. When her mind settled, she sat up.

  She would have to bring him home and arrange for a nurse to oversee the feeding tube. Would he waste away to nothing, all that muscle atrophying? If anything, he looked larger, but it had to be the modern hospital bed. Once she had a nurse, she would have to keep the woman or man from finding out about TWI’s operations. She never thought having TWI in her home would be a burden, but suddenly it was.

  She shook her head. One problem at a time. Taking the disposable phone that Amber had bought her out of her pocket, she dialed.

  “Katz?”

  “Shit, woman, are you all right? People are off their rocker over you not showing up here.”

  She took a deep breath to avoid the minute-by-minute tears she’d been shedding. “Not exactly. I need some help.”

  “Of course. What do you need?” Katz sounded like a pit bull ready to attack to protect its owner. It was a reassuring sound.

  Standing, she paced the width of the private room. “I need you to borrow Javier’s van and drive down to Maryland. Tell him he can use the convertible. When you get here, call me on this number, but most important, don’t tell anyone where you’re going. Not Arthur, not Javier, not even Jules. Can you do that?”

  “Shit yeah. Are you in trouble?”

  “Yeah. Almost as bad as my namesake.”

  “Well shit. I’m on my way.”

  “Thanks.” She hung up and stuffed the phone back into the pocket of Amber’s designer jeans, another kindness her friend had done for her.

  Katz now knew how serious the situation was. She obviously remembered the story of Diana and Actaeon that she’d told her. How fitting that Diana turned Actaeon into a stag and his hounds killed him. Had she done something similar to Torr? Had she lived up to her name? Her parents had named her Diana because it was one of very few names found in both mythology and Shakespeare. Just her luck that it involved such a tragic story. Then again, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was the play that hinged on a name and look how that one ended.

  She’d always been happy with Diana. Growing up, her teachers could at least pronounce it correctly, and she hadn’t had any particularly bad luck with the name…until now. She shook her head. Now she was depressing herself for no reason.

  The door to Torr’s room opened and Amber stepped in. “Still no change?”

  She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them. “No. And they don’t have a clue why. They said his body is healing well.”

  Amber placed her hand on Diana’s shoulder. “We can find a specialist.”

  Tears began to gather again, and she turned away from Amber’s kindness. “No, I’m taking him home.”

  “Okay, I have a limo we can transport him in.”

  She grasped the end of Torr’s bed and gazed at his closed eyes, willing them to open. “No. I’ve called someone to come get us.”

  “Fine. I’ll just go with you then.”

  “With us?” She turned around and finally gave Amber her full attention. “I really appreciate everything you’ve done, but I think you should stay here.”

  Her friend stalked toward her. “Oh no, you are not breezing in and then back out of my life again. It’s been two years since we’ve spent any time together. Phone calls are great, but come on.”

  She sighed. Amber was right. Since TWI, she hadn’t had a personal life of any kind. Discovering she had the ability to time travel and meeting Jules’s staff had commanded her entire attention. It had been exactly what she wanted after her parents’ deaths, but now she could see she’d almost completely wiped away her old life.

  “You’re right. I do want you to come visit, but let me get Torr settled in first. Then when I’ve got some kind of routine, and I’m more stable emotionally…”

  Amber shook her head and crossed her arms. “Friends are supposed to be there for you when things are tough, too. Like you were for me when I was stuck in this hospital for months.”

  It had been over six months and she’d been so worried. It was great to see Amber back to normal, or mostly normal. Sometimes… “I know, but then you went home to your family who took care of you.”

  Amber stared at her as if she was trying to see exactly what it was she hid. “Okay. We’ll do this your way for now. But if I don’t hear from you with an invitation in the next month or so, I’m coming up there and I won’t even let you know ahead of time. Got it?”

  She nodded. “Got it.”

  Amber gave her a hug and she hung on, knowing her friend would keep to her threat, and that warmed her heart.

  Amber stepped back. “Okay, so let’s get this hunk of a man discharged. I think I know a particular doctor who could help with that.” She wiggled her brows as she strode across the room.

  “Thank you. I don’t know what I would have done here if I didn’t have you.”

  “Me neither.”

  The door closed as Amber exited, and she crossed her arms over her chest. She shouldn’t have ignored her old friends from the past, but they had reminded her of her loss. Somehow, she would make time for Amber. Of course, that would be a lot easier after Jules fired her. She held herself tighter. The thought of what would happen once she brought Torr home caused her to shiver, but it would be worth it to have him alive and preferably awake.

  She sat in the chair next to his bed again and touched his cheek to reassure herself he was indeed still alive. The growing beard she’d trimmed just the other day reaffirmed his body’s status. Now if she could get his mind to wake. Leaning over, she kissed him on the lips.

  “I love you. Somehow, we will make this work.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Well, fuck me. Here I thought I was the one who bent the rules, but you broke them completely and sent them down the garbage disposal.”

  She cringed at the shock in her friend’s voice. At least Katz had waited until they were in the van and on the highway headed north. She thought Katz would say something when one of the nurses mentioned the sword wound, but luckily, she’d kept silent.

  “I had no choice.”

  Katz’s brows furrowed, her dark brown gaze darting toward her before returning to the road. “No choice? How about leaving him in medieval Scotland where he belonged.” Katz grinned. “Wow, now anything I’ve done is going to look tame. Great for me, but not so much for you.”

  She tensed. She needed Katz’s support on this. If anyone would support her it had to be Katz. She always broke the rules, though to be fair, she was a bit more subtle about it. “I love him.”

  Katz pulled off the highway into a rest area and put the van in park. She turned to face her. “You love him?” Her voice rose in absolute disbelief.

  “Aye, I mean yes, I
do. I love him with all that I am.”

  Her fellow agent shook her head. “Does he love you?”

  She looked out the window. “I don’t know.”

  Katz threw her hands up. “Well, that makes a whole lot of fucking sense. I can see you risking everything for some ultimate love across time story, but if he doesn’t love you back, then why bother?”

  Her eyes welled with more tears. Stubbornly, she wiped them away.

  “You haven’t told Jules yet, have you?”

  “No. I’m not sure it’s worth the telling if Torr never wakes up. If he stays that way for…forever, then he will have no impact on history. Amber told me that Great Britain exists, so I guess my mission was successful.”

  “Diana.” Katz grimaced. “Jules is going to be furious.”

  “I know. But technically, I didn’t break a single TWI rule.”

  “Yes, you…no.” Katz’s eyes widened, and she grinned. “Fuck, you’re right. You didn’t technically break a rule.” She laughed. “This is going to be freakin’ great.” She sobered quickly. “What if he does wake up? How are you going to explain to him that he is now in the twenty-first century?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking about that when he was bleeding to death on my lap.”

  “Honestly, I haven’t a clue what that would be like. It sounds like you really love the big bruiser back there.”

  Diana sighed and slumped in her seat. “Yes. Even more than TWI, though I’m hoping that’s not a choice I have to make.”

  “You’re going to be making a shit load of choices in the very near future, and I don’t think any of them will be a walk in the park.” Katz faced forward again and shifted the van into drive.

  Diana looked back at Torr resting peacefully on Javier’s custom-made bed. That Javier’s PTSD made him feel he needed to be separate from the rest of them on occasion, had always made her sad, but at this moment, she was grateful for his little home away from home. After what she’d witnessed, maybe Torr could help her trainer…if he woke up.