Authors Note: Thank you for viewing my story. I hope you enjoy my take on 'Outlander'! I am in need of a beta if anyone would like to preview my writing and offer suggestions. Thank you and let me know what you think!

Chapter One: Falling Through Time

The weather in Inverness was much as it had been the last several days. Cool, with a frequent mist that hung over the hills, clutching to the blades of grass and trees. It cause the village to seem as if it was shrouded in mystery and hauntings, a possibility in which the natives thrived.

A superstitious lot, the natives of Inverness, and Scotland as a whole still frequently practiced many of the old traditions which were rooted in paganism. Tea readings, palm readings, and druid rituals were common enough, although not frequently flaunted as official practice as almost all of the residents were practicing Roman Catholics. However, on pagan festival days it was not uncommon to see the residents celebrating Beltane, Samhain, Imbolc, and Lughnasadh, the four Gaelic seasonal festivals. So common and deeply rooted was this practice, that even the local priests often participated in some of the more mild rituals, such as bonfires. As it was, the village was quickly preparing for the festival of Beltane, the May Day celebration which would bring good crops, protect cattle, and encourage growth throughout the farming season. Although most of Inverness had been modernised and very few farms remained, the tradition was so well loved within the culture, that it was still celebrated annually.

Eva Barrach was assisting in the preparations for the Beltane festival at the local pub where she worked part time in order to support herself. Originally from just outside of London, she had moved to Inverness to live with her father's brother, her Uncle Edmond after her parents had passed away when Eva was twelve. Uncle Edmond had been a great parental figure to Eva as she went through the tumultuous affair of having lost her parents and aging into a young woman nearly at the same time. Although he did not always know how to best deal with her mood swings, teenage angst and rebellion, he had done the best he could. Once Eva had graduated from Inverness Royal Academy, she had decided to stay within the city and attend Inverness College where she was taking courses in access to nursing, with the hope of working as a pediatric nurse. However, with the rising cost of tuition, her Uncle's salary with the Scottish National Heritage did not cover the majority of her tuition. Scholarships and grants had gotten her through the majority of the payments, but still, Eva was required to work two part-time jobs to make up the difference. One, she worked with the Scottish National Heritage as a phone clerk, and the other as a barkeep in a local pub.

In order to prepare for Beltane, Eva was hanging the traditional flowers that were frequently associated with the holiday above the doors and along the window sills, while Tomas, the young man she frequently worked with piled kegs behind the bar to prepare for what was sure to be an onslaught of drinkers. The two had thirty minutes before the bar would officially open its doors, and it was promising to be a busy night, as it was Saturday and the football team many residents supported would be playing the German National Team.

"Agh, come help me with the last keg, lass." Tomas yelled out as he tried rolling it into place. Eva sighed, running a hand through her chestnut locks and dropped the primrose she was attempting to weave into place. The two of them quickly scooted, pushed, and wedged the keg, until it went into place below the cabinet where it would wait to be tapped.

The minutes passed quickly as Tomas unlocked the doors and soon a steady flow of patrons began flowing through the doors. The television was turned on, sound muted, and soft mellow music played from the speakers. Eva and Tomas were quickly overwhelmed with the number of patrons as more and more turned out for the game.

"Can I get you another, Craig?" Eva asked picking up the empty beer bottle in front of a middle aged customer. He grunted an 'aye' at her and she quickly pulled one out of the fridge, popped the cap and placed it in front of him. "Two pound". She replied and he quickly handed over the coin. Eva then moved down the bar to a young, newly married couple who were enjoying the game.

"Ah, Fletcher is playing like shite tonight, lass," Duncan, the husband lamented. "But nothing like your girls, eh, Eva?" He grinned. It was well known among the patrons of the bar that Eva was a die-hard Manchester United fan, having picked up the fandom from her late father.

"We're just having a bit of a rough patch," Eva sniffed, grinning back. "Just you wait and see; we'll kick your arses if it comes to that." Duncan laughed and his wife lightly hit him on the shoulder. "Be quiet!" Allison was watching the screen with rapt attention as a corner kick was set up. The ball sailed through the air, arcing gracefully over the players heads before a defensive man kicked it up field to a waiting midfielder. "Shite! Son of a bitch, we're getting slaughtered!" She cried, watching her team fail to score yet another goal. Chuckling, Eva continued down the bar, serving patrons, wiping counters, and clearing empty bottles and cups from the messy bar.

Once the game had ended around 11:00, many of the customers left the bar, stumbling home to their wives and beds and leaving a mess for Tomas and Eva to clean. Tomas quickly swept the floor while Eva took out the garbage and wiped down the counters one more time before leaving. The two parted ways at the front of the door, Tomas going left to his home and Eva right to the small home she shared with her Uncle two blocks away.

The night had gotten colder. Despite it being almost May, Eva still wore a thick cardigan and scarf to keep herself warm on her journey home. She stuffed her hands into her pockets in an effort to keep them warm and began the quickly sojourn to her home. The sky had opened up at some point during her shift and a steady trail of rain fell, being interrupted occasionally by thunder and lightning. Eva quickened her pace and turned the corner when she stopped abruptly. Someone was standing in the middle of the road, looking confused and lost. Clearly a young man, he wore a flat hat, jacket, kilt, and boots. He was dressed quite oddly for the time as many did not wear their kilts outside of celebrations. Not wanting to cause trouble she looked to her feet, and began walking once again. She had almost turned the corner when a deep Scottish voice called out to her. "Sassenach!" It cried. Eva whipped around to see where it had come from, but could no longer see the young man. Shaking her head, Eva continued her journey home, questioning if she had truly even heard the voice or if she was just overtired, or perhaps even worse, losing her mind.

The next day, Eva woke to the ringing of her alarm and groaned. She had much to do today and did not want to complete any of it. She needed to complete a lab report, read several chapters of one of her textbooks, go for a run, and finally work another closing shift at the pub. Crawling out of bed, she grabbed a cardigan and walked slowly down the stairs where her Uncle was sitting at the kitchen table, mug of coffee in one hand and the Sunday paper in the other.

"Morning," He said without looking up. "Coffee is in the pot." Eva nodded and quickly poured herself a cup, adding a dash of cream to it and sipping the steaming beverage slowly. "Any plans for the day?" He asked, setting down his mug.

"Mhmm," Eva nodded, rubbing her eyes and taking a seat opposite him. Edmond passed her the front section of the newspaper which he had already read and Eva grabbed it with the thanks. "Need to get some school work done and then I was thinking of going for a run. Working at the pub again, tonight too." Edmond nodded.

"Just be careful out there. You know I worry." Eva smiled.

"I always am, Uncle Ed." With that the two lapsed into a comfortable silence as they continued reading their paper and sipping their coffee.

Several hours later, Eva was tightening the shoe laces on her trainers and had slipped her camelbak hydration pack onto her back. Her phone and house key were hidden within the folds of the water bottle, and the whistle her Uncle insisted she bring with her dangling from it as well.

"I'll be back later, Uncle Ed. I'm going for a run." She yelled out as she stepped out the front door and began lightly jogging.

Eva quickly lost track of time as she continued to run through the city of Inverness, leaving the hubbub behind her as she traveled towards the less populated areas directly outside of the city. Out of breath and panting, Eva slowed to a brisk walk as she wiped sweat from her eyes and began the walk up the steep hill to the standing stones at Craigh na Dun. When she finally reached them, she dropped down resting and still breathing heavily. She took a look at her watch and sighed. 11:15. She had time for a short rest before she needed to head back in order to shower and prepare for her shift at the pub. Eva leaned back against the tallest stone, the coolness of the rock seeping into her skin and helping her relax. She placed her head on it, breathing deeply as she closed her eyes. Her Uncle Edmond was right, she was working too much. But a quick rest was all she needed and she would be right as rain she decided as she fell into a slumber, lulled by a strange buzzing noise.

Eva opened her eyes in what felt like only moments later, but when she looked at her watch she saw that it was in fact over two hours later. The clock face read 1:32. "Shit," Eva muttered, knowing she was going to be late. Perhaps her Uncle could meet her halfway back to town in his car in order to save time. She dug through her camelbak for her phone and pulled it out as she began the walk back down the hill. "Stupid fucking highland service!" She yelled as she saw that she had no service. 'No matter', she thought. 'I'll just keep walking and call when I get service.' With that thought in mind Eva quickened her pace down the hill. However, when she reached where the road should have been, she saw nothing but continuing grass. "What the hell?" She whispered to herself and checked her phone once again. She knew there was service in this area, but her phone said otherwise. Steeling herself not to panic Eva took several deep breaths and picked up her pace, lightly jogging back to what she hoped was Inverness. Perhaps she went down the hill a different way than she had gone up. That would explain why the road was not where she thought it was. Regardless, the knew Inverness was approximately North from the standing stones, and with a quick look at the sun set off in the proper direction.

Eva's breath quickly began coming in shorter pants, partly due to the exercise and partly due to rising panic. It had been several minutes since she had left the bottom of the hill and still, she saw no signs she was headed in the right direction. She checked the sun once again and assured herself she was indeed traveling towards Inverness but she could not see any signs of modern civilization. There was no paved road, no speed signs or telephone poles. Determined, Eva continued, thinking it must be some mistake and she had overestimated how far she had traveled. When she got closer to town she would see the tell-tale signs of civilization, she was sure of it. The exertion of running soon caught up with Eva and she slowed to a brisk walk, trying unsuccessfully to calm her breathing. The sun was sinking fast and with it, Eva's hope that everything was okay and would be alright. She watch now read 4:17, and still Eva had not seen any signs of modern civilization. She was helplessly lost and her phone still did not read a signal. Blinking back tears Eva stopped and sat against a tree trying to figure out what to do. She thought back to her day at the stones and the strange buzzing she had heard before falling asleep. There were myths about those stones, Eva recalled. Her Uncle had told them to her one night when she could not fall asleep as a child.

"Some say the old giants of Scotland carried the stones with them from their homelands to the hill." Uncle Edmond told a young Eva as she lay in bed, eyes wide.

"Giants? But giants aren't real, Uncle!" She protested and her uncle chuckled.

"Not anymore, perhaps, but many say that the bones of those same giants now lay below the stones themselves. They lay there, guarding the stones for all eternity, protecting them." Eva's eyes wrinkled deep in thought.

"What are they protecting the stones for? They're just a bunch of old rocks. What is so important about them?"

"Magic, my dear. Magic."

Eva was ripped out of the memory as she remembered what her uncle had told her. Many believed that the stones held magical powers that would allow certain individuals to travel back in time. Uncle Edmond had told her many of the stories and legends growing up, in which an individual, usually a young woman, found herself alone at the stones. She would place her hands on the largest and tallest of the stones which would then suck her through the folds of time, placing her two-hundred years in the past. Eva had never believed the tales of course; why would she. Magic and time travel did not exist outside of science fiction novels and television. Eva was soon beginning to run out of logical options though. What is she had traveled through the stones somehow. That buzzing sound was not of this world and after hearing it, she woke up in the same place but a seemingly different time. Eva shook her head. "Get it together, Barrach," she whispered to herself. "You're talking nonsense. Time travel is not real!"

She stepped off, brushing the dirt and leaves from her legs and began walking once again. It would soon be dark, and regardless of where she was, Eva would have to prepare herself to spend the night outdoors. She had not been camping since she was eight years old, and then, she had plenty of food, water, warm clothes, and a tent with a warm sleeping bag. Eva had almost none of that now. She jogging pants were light weight and those combined with her running shirt would do little to protect her from the elements. She had a quarter of her water left over and a cliff bar in her camelbak to eat. She soon stopped, seeing a copse of trees nearby that would have to serve as her shelter for the night. She walked over and looked up the the thick branches. Leaves covered the limbs and would provide some cover from prying eyes and any rain, should it come. Tomorrow, Eva would set out once again and find out just where the hell she was. Until then, she would sleep in a tree and hope she was not eaten by a bear.

Eva shivered as the rain continued to drop through the leaves and onto her head. She had been woken up with a start by a loud clap of thunder in the middle of the night and had since been shivering as the rain pelted down, soaking her and her few belongings. If her phone still had any battery it would be too waterlogged to actually use at this point, and her socks began to chafe along her ankles painfully. Eva could not remember if it was safe to be under a tree during a thunderstorm or dangerous, but regardless, she did not think she could move because she was so cold.

A loud crack of thunder echoed throughout the copse of trees followed by an impressive streak of lighting that landed much to close. Shaken, Eva quickly decided that she could move and sheltering within a tree was most certainly not a good idea. She quickly scrambled down from the tree and set to walking once again, hoping to find an overhang of rocks that she could shelter under until the storm passed. She took a small sip of her camelbak, having refilled it as best as she could from the rain water while within the tree and sighed softly to herself. Unable to blink back the barrage of tears, Eva's vision began to blur as her tears and the rain mixed themselves on her face and ran down in small streaks on her face. Eva was cold, hungry, and most of all terrified. All she wanted was her bed, a cup of hot coco, and her Uncle to tuck her in bed like he used to when she was younger.

So caught up in her thoughts was Eva, that she did not notice where she was walking. As she went to put her foot down she did not land on solid ground, but rather quickly plunged down a steep incline she had not been able to see in the darkness. Down she rolled, hitting rocks small and large alike. A sharp snap! Echoed in her ears as she felt her right ankle fracture after being caught in a rabbit's hole and she cried out in pain as she continued her ungraceful descent. Eva was quickly approaching a protruding rock that she knew she would hit. Unable to stop her rapid freefall, Eva smacked her head against the dull edge making her vision swim before her eyes. What seemed like minutes, but was in reality only seconds later, Eva stopped rolling and falling as she reached the bottom of the hill. Disoriented and in pain she looked at her surroundings, seeing that she was now near a winding river. 'It must have carved out the hill long ago.' She thought to herself. Her head was pounding and she could hear her heartbeat pounding within her temples. Unable to fight the battle, Eva's eyes closed and her body slumped into unconsciousness.