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Chapter one: To the sea I go

Scotland - late October, 1769

Since passing through the stones Mckenna had made a mental checklist of everything she had to do to complete her journey and warn her grandparents successfully. Now in line to buy passage on board of a ship going to America for her and Elizabeth (her new companion for this trip), she was reminiscing how in just a few weeks she already felt different. Like when you start exercising and using muscles you never knew you had, and now your body aches and feels stronger at the same time. Getting help from Joanie to escape her vengeful mother and having uncle Ian's assistance to find a boat safely was making Mckenna feel more hopeful about her journey and reaching her grandparents in time.

Mack's throughts were interrupted when the person in front of her left and she was next to speak with the sailor sitting behind a small square table with a big thick leather book in front of him.

"I'd like to buy passage on the Gloriana." She said taking a few coins out of a small bag, "For two."

The man began writing on the book, "Your name?"

Mckenna...Fraser."

She hesitated before saying her last name and at the last moment decided on using Fraser. Not because she wanted to forget about her step father, but because she didn't want to leave tracks of her real identity. She wanted to warn her grandparents, meet her real parents and return to her own time without leaving any breadcrumbs or messing any more with history. Walking towards the ship,she gave Lizzie some space to say goodbye to her father, and seeing them share their last hug, mckenna felt as if Roger was also blessing her departure.

With the money her uncle Ian gave her, Mckenna was able to secure a small room with two beds, one on top of the other, so that she and Lizzie could have a bit more privacy and space during the harsh voyage.

Walking up towards the ship to embark along with the other passengers, Mack stopped to take in the great wooden galleon that would be her home for the next long weeks. A light breeze directed her focus up to the sails that were slowly moving with the wind and moving her eyes towards the quarter deck where a man caught her eye. He was wearing a tricorn hat over his dirty blond hair, a dark leather jacket that went down to his thighs, and as he spoke to a sailor next to him he moved his hands where she noticed a couple of rings on his fingers which made Mack begin to question exactly what kind of ship she had just embarked since that man seemed to be the captain and did not look like the captain she expected.

Soon he turned his face from the sailor and his eyes looked down to the main deck where they met hers. While there where many people walking about, Mack knew for certain he was staring back at her but she couldn't break her focus. Even in the midst of that cloudy day she noticed his darkish blue eyes, squinting at her.

for the next seconds, that seemed like hours, neither one pulled away and Mack began feeling her stomach tighten like the first time she rode on a roller coaster. A mixture of excitement and the sense of falling from a 20 story building all at once, the same felling she felt when she passed through the stones.

"Misstress?"

Lizzie's voice pulled Mack from their brief- albeit intense - stare down, and she blinked her now dry eyes. Shifting her gaze up once more she saw him smirking and later seemed to be laughing while turning away to continue on his work.

He's laughing at me! What the hell is wrong with me? Why was I staring at him like a freak? Mack's face began to feel hot, her whole body cold as if all her blood ran to her cheeks to display her embarrassment. She turned to Lizzie, who had a puzzled look on her face when she saw how flushed Mckenna appeared.

"Is everythin' alright, mistress? Do you ken that"man?' Lizzie questioned looking up at quarter deck.

"N-no, no, I don't. I was just looking around on the boat." Mack answered, moving her eyes away from now companion, and herself, that she wasn't just 'googly eyeing' some strange guy like a teenager.

"They said we have to accommodate ourselves in our chambers, we should be settin sail soon." Lizzie motioned for Mckenna to go ahead of her while trying to contain her own nerves. She never travelled by boat and as much as she wanted to show Mackenna her gratefulness, she was still processing leaving her father and her homeland.

The first couple of days aboard the ship were the most difficult. They hadn't faced any storms but the constant swaying of the ocean took getting used to. Six to eight weeks - that's the amount of time it could take to get to America, if the wind was on their side. Starting to feel cramped in her small room with Lizzie, who wasn't feeling her best, mackenna decided to venture off to get some fresh air.

Making sure she wasn't getting in anyone's way, Mack kept along side the rail but discreetly looked around the sailors at work. She had forgotten the weird feeling she had once boarding the ship that this wasn't just a reqular one. The Gloriana probably wasn't just transporting passengers and legal goods. Mackenna was so focused on getting on the first galleon sailing to Wilmington that she overlooked the fact that this for certain was also a smuggling ship, commanded by pirates. In all her research of that time she forgot that piracy was still a popular profession in the 18th century.

A small cry coming from further along the rail caught Mack's attention and she noticed a young women cradling a baby in her arms, gently shushing so the little one wouldn't attract the attention of the stern-faced sailors.

"Fresh air sure is nice, isn't it? Mackenna said with a soft smile moving closer towards the young woman.

"Oh, yes." The woman smiled back at Mack.

"I'm Mackenna, Mackenna Fraser." She said holding out a hand towards her new friend - to - be.

"Morag Mackenzie." The woman moved closer to Mack and shook her hand softly.

"And this is Jemmy." Morag added smiling down at the baby.

"Nice to meet you both." Mackenna replied with a silly smile to Jemmy. She had never been too drawn to children nor babies, but Jemmy for some reason had captured her heart with his round shiny cheeks.

She looked up at Morag, who had her brown hair tied up in a bun under her white cap and brown eyes that looked kind and exhausted.

"Mackenzie?" Mack repeated Morag's last name,not sure she heard correctly the first time since she was mostly paying attention to Jemmy

"Yes, it's my husband's last name. Do you ken any Mackenzie's?" Moarg asked,

Roger.. At that moment it dawned on Mack that since passing through the stones she hadn't thought about Roger. Not even once. Looking down a bit ashamed she answered morag:

"I do. My grandmother on my father'sside was a Mackenzie."

She deliberately left Roger's name out since he wasn't even born yet at this time and it would be easier to say who her grandmother's family was. Clair had given Mackenna Jamie's family history so she could know more about who he was.

"I didnae ken if I have seen you down there."

"I'm staying in one of the rooms wi-" Mack stopped mid-sentence when she saw him over Morag's shoulder, the man that seemed to be the captain, as he opened the captain's cabin door and stepped out unto the main deck.

Morag turned her head to follow Mackenna's gaze.

"Oh, that's Captain Bonnet. He looks young for a captain with a ship grand as this, doesn' he?"

While Morage spoke, Bonnet climbed the stairs to take over steering the ship. As he was releasing his first mate and going into position his gaze fell on the redhead he's seen the say they left Scotland.

Mackenna smiled at Morag and Jemmy and as they walked away, she looked up at where the Captain was standing, the bright sun that morning made his hair seem lighter blond color than she remembered. Following the few blond strands that were loose but tucked behind his ear, she saw him smirking at her and later changing his focus to the ocean in front of him as if she was a mere bird that had landed on the rail in a funny way. Mack felt her throat dry, cheeks hot and flushed as she felt exposed and stupid for staring again. What had just happened was the reason Mackenna had tried to remain in her small, stuffy room these past couple of days. She didn't want to put herself in the same embarrassing situation like before,and here she was unable to stop staring, like he was one of the seven world wonders.

Her parched throat now began to make her cough loudly and almost choke as she tried swallowing some saliva, which attracted more attention to her already embarrassed self. Bending forward a little mack gave small pats on her chest as she coughed/choked.

" Here ye go, miss, have a drink."

With a face the color of a tomato, Mackenna rose from her crouched over position and accepted a flask handed to her by one of the sailors. Tilting her head back to have the water reach her burning throat swiftly, she gave a quick glance up at the Captain to see if he had noticed her make a spectacle of herself, and indeed he had. Bonnet was chuckling but did not look back at her.

Wiping her lips with the back of one hand she returned the water flask with the other to the sailor who had come to her "rescue".

"Thank you. I appreciate it." She said with a hoarse voice.

"We're surrounded by water but the salt in the air makes us thirstier than on land." The sailor said taking back the flask and smiling sympathetically at Mack.

Back in her own time Mackenna wouldn't accept to drink from the same bottle as someone she knew, let alone a complete stranger whose hygiene habits were questionable. But in this time, she couldn't afford to be picky, she tried to maintain hygiene the best way she could but refusing water was something she wasn;t doing anymore and could no longer feel repulsed by it.

Laying in bed underneath Lizzie's that night she played with the bracelt Roger had given her. She never took it off but she felt sad and selfish that not once since arriving in 1769 she thought about Roger. Not because she didn;t have time, her mind wondered a lot, she often would make mental notes of things she saw that she wanted to draw to somehow eternalize that experience, she thought about things she needed to do to reach her grandparents every day, she though endless things, however her ex-boyfriend, who she still cared for, was not one of them.

There was one person that hadn't left her mind in the couple of days... Captain Bonnet. She now knew his name, thanks to Morag. She dreamed of him the past nights, the way he caught her attention, his piercing eyes, the way he smirked his lips.

"Ugh" Mack exasperated softly covering her burning face with her hands remembering the loud coughing fit the hand on the main deck earlier.

After that specific scemario, where she once again kept staring at Captain Bonnet for way to long in her opinion, she managed to avoid him the rest of the day.

It's a big ship with lots of people, avoiding any contact with him will be easy. He;s a busy man. Mackenna thought to herself not knowing what fate had instore for her the next weeks at sea.

Slowly drigting off to sleep, feeling the slow waves of the ocean, mack began to dream.

"Bonnet.." Her lips whispered unconsciously.

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