Triallaire

Into the Stones

"James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser," she muttered, touching the document gently.

"Looks like it was signed on the fifteenth of February in 1768," Rory chimed in as he looked at the document. "It sounds like they werenae in Scotland long after 1766."

"Look who else has signed it," said Maidie, looking pointing out a name further down on the document dated the same day as Jamie's signature listed under 'Heir Apparent'.

"'Archie Brian James Fowlis Fraser'," Maevis read, and then she froze, suddenly seeing another familiar name that she had yet to see below Archie's, signed much later on the eighteenth of January, 1771. "Elton..."

"Huh?" Elton asked, looking up from the table.

"No... Your name, it... it's here..." Maevis replied, pushing the document to him and pointing it out, and Elton gasped lightly. There, written in ink right below Archie's name, was the name 'Elton Thomas McGinty Fraser'.

"No... No, no, no. This is too weird. No ," Elton exclaimed, shoving it away and standing up. "There's no way tha's me."

"What? But it's yer exact name!" Rory said to him, but Elton shook his head.

"No. I don't care what tha' says, it's some sort of cruel joke, but it's not me," Elton said rather loudly.

"It was all original, Elton. No new names were added to this document following 1771," Tom told him calmly, and Elton scoffed.

"It has te be. That isnae me," Elton snapped back at him. "Look, I was all fer helpin' Maevis te find this information out, but I wasnae lookin' te find out anythin' involvin' me. Nope."

"But Elton, they're your parents, too," Maevis said to him, but Elton seemed too upset to be reasoned with.

"No, my parents live in Aberdalgie and run a farmer's market! These people arenae my parents, they're yers , Maevis," Elton said, grabbing his coat and throwing it on.

"Elton, we're twins. They're your parents whether you like it or not!" Maevis said to him in an effort to stop him.

"Well, I dinnae like it!" Elton snapped at her.

"Do you mean to say you never wanted to come with me to find them?" Maevis asked him as he reached the door.

"Maevis, I never planned on going back in time. My life is here. It's safer here . I'm not goin' te the year seventeen-fuckin'-sixty-six," he snapped at her, turning to look away from the shocked and hurt expression on her face. "Now I've had enough of this... I'm glad ye've found the answers ye were lookin' fer, but I wasnae ever lookin' fer this. I was helpin' he, and tha's all I was doin'."

"Do you mean to say you don't care about Mama at all?" Maevis asked him, following him as he threw open the door.

"Maevis, I dinnae even ken her! I've never met her! I believe ye when ye say we shared a womb, and I've seen my actual birth certificate, but I'll no'... I'll no' travel four hundred years te meet her. I willnae. I have a life here, not there. I dinnae ken who that bloke is, but he isnae me. I have te go, I have a train te catch," Elton said to her, leaving through the open door.

"Elton! Elton, wait! Please!" Maevis called after him, but he wouldn't hear her. He stepped into the elevator and then he was gone. "Goddamn it!"

"Maevis, darling," Tom said to her, trying to draw her into his arms to embrace her, but she pulled away from him and shoved him away.

"No! This is all your fault!" she shouted at him. "Had you not been a selfish ass and given my brother away, I wouldn't have lost him! He would still be here now helping me find my mother, but no! You just had to be a selfish ass!"