The Pirate

'Sure. You've probably got hundreds of wormholes in your backyard, maybe even thousands, but they all have worms living in them. As far as we know, wormholes only exist in space and that's only a theory, because no one's really ever seen one.'

'I don't care if no one's ever seen a wormhole. Tell me about the theory.'

'You really want me to explain? Meredith, you can't tell a gluon from a meson. And don't forget our little luncheon conversation about quarks a few months back. You said it gave you a migraine. How do you expect to understand wormholes?'

'I don't need to understand them completely. I just need to know if there could be a wormhole outside my back door.'

Kelsey rubbed her forehead as if she'd suddenly developed a nagging headache of her own. 'It's possible. I suppose we really can't rule it out.'

'And going through a wormhole could send a person forward or back.'

'The physics of the black-hole theory would support that.'

Meredith drew in a deep breath and let it out in one big whoosh, then smiled. 'I'm not crazy then. You don't know how much I needed to hear that.'

Kelsey grabbed Meredith's hands and stared at her. 'You've been working too hard, haven't you? Alone in this cottage for hours on end. Your mind is starting to… wander.'

'That's not it,' she said.

'Then what is it?' Kelsey cried. 'What is going on in that head of yours?' She stared at Meredith long and hard. Slowly, realization seeped into her expression and she sucked in a sharp breath. 'Don't tell me you've had a close encounter.'

Meredith felt a flush creep up her cheeks. Was it that evident? Could Kelsey tell that she'd spent the night with a pirate in her bed. That he'd held her as if they were lovers and that she'd imagined they were. 'A close encounter? You-you mean, like, with a man?'

'No, silly, with an alien.'

This time, Meredith had cause to look at Kelsey as if shewere going crazy. She shook her head and laughed. 'Don't be silly, Kels. I can assure you, I haven't had a close encounter with any little green men.'

'Well, that's a relief,' she said. 'You were starting to worry me.' She gave Meredith a sideways glance. 'Wait a minute. Are you saying you've had a close encounter with a realman?'

'No!' Meredith cried, knowing that if she answered any other way, Kelsey would launch into a full-scale interrogation. She decided it would be wise to steer the conversation back to physics. 'So, let's say someone came through this wormhole and he wanted to go back. If you can't see these wormholes, how would one go about figuring out where they are?'

'Forget what I just said. I'm still worried. Is there a man behind all this?'

'Tell me how I find the wormholes!'

'I don't know,' Kelsey said. 'Maybe you just call a really big robin and tell it to go fetch itself a little snack.'

'Very funny,' Meredith said. 'Now give me a straight answer.'

'I'll admit, lam the most brilliant physicist I know, but there are some things that are beyond me.'

'Hypothesize. That's what you physicists are good at, aren't you?'

Kelsey flopped back down on the couch and tipped her head back. She stared at the ceiling for a long time before she spoke. 'Well, I suppose it would help to duplicate the conditions that were present when the original time-travel incident occurred. Go back to the same place, at the same time of the day. Maybe do the same things, wear the same clothes…? I really don't know, Meredith. I'm just guessing.'

'An educated guess is better than nothing,' Meredith murmured. 'I'll have to be satisfied with that much for now.'

'So, are you planning a little trip back in time?' Kelsey teased. 'Maybe you could dig up a few good sources and bring them back for posterity's sake? Just be careful, though,' she warned.

'Of what?'

'Of changing the course of history,' Kelsey said. 'It could cause a lot of problems. Hey, while you're there, you can bring me back one of those romance-novel heroes, the guys in the tight britches and the lacy-' Kelsey stopped short, her eyes widening.

Meredith tried to contain the blush rising in her cheeks, but it was already too late. The hero she was describing sounded an awful lot like Griffin.

'I-I was joking,' Kelsey stammered. 'But-but you're not, are you?' Kelsey shivered then rubbed her arms. 'Tell me what's going on here, Meredith. You're starting to scare me now.'

Meredith grabbed Kelsey by the arm and pulled her up off the couch. 'I'll tell you everything as soon as I have something to tell. Now, you have to go before you miss the last ferry to Hatteras.'

'I was planning to stay overnight,' Kelsey said, digging in her heels.

Meredith grabbed her friend's elbow and maneuvered her toward the door. 'You can't. I have important things to do.'

'No. I'm not leaving. If I have to, I'll get a hotel room. We are going to talk about all this. I am going to figure it out.'

Meredith loosened her grip and groaned. 'All right. You want the truth? There is a man and if you're here when he gets back, it will spoil all my plans for a night of hot sex. I want you to get into your car and take the next ferry out of here. And I promise, I will call you with all the pertinent details just as soon as I have them. Are you satisfied?'

Kelsey smiled smugly. 'I knew it. I knew it all the time. You can't hide anything from me, Meredith. This is wonderful,' she said, pulling open the door. 'This is just what you need. So, is this man good in bed?'

Meredith gently pushed her out the door. 'I don't know yet,' she replied. Though she certainly hoped he might be around long enough for her to find out.

'Well, as soon as you do, you have to call and tell me. Promise you'll call?'

'I promise,' Meredith said, leaning against the edge of the door. She paused, then reached out and hugged her friend. 'Thanks for coming, Kels.'

'No problem,' Kelsey said with a grin. With that, she turned and headed toward her car, giving Meredith a little wave before she hopped inside and backed out onto the road.

Meredith closed the door and leaned against it, slowly letting out a tightly held breath. If Kelsey was right, then maybe there was a way to return Griffin to his own time. She had a good idea of how he'd gotten here in the first place. But the historian in her also wanted to know why.

Why had Griffin ended up here, in this time? Somehow, the notion that she had something to do with it was hard to deny. This whole affair wasn't just some cosmic mistake. After all, she was writing a book on Blackbeard and he knew the pirate personally. What more could she ask for in a research source? And then, there was her pirate fantasy.

But that couldn't be all there was to it. There had to be a more logical reason that fate had sent him here. Meredith pinched her eyes shut and searched her mind for an answer. If he wasn't here for her benefit, then maybe he had been sent for his. Was she supposed to help him in some way? Was there something she knew that he didn't? Or was she meant to prevent his participation in the events she had studied so closely?

Kelsey's warning about changing the course of history drifted through her mind. Exactly what did her friend mean by a lot of problems? And how could Meredith know whether her decisions would alter the past? She'd probably managed to lure a man right out of his century into hers, leaving a huge void where he'd once been. But then again, maybe sending him back would cause a problem.

Meredith groaned and rubbed her eyes with her fingertips. This was exactly why she was a historian instead of a scientist. She found no excitement in pondering a paradox like time travel. In fact, the whole subject was starting to give her a migraine.

Griffin stared up at the garishly painted sign. The familiar image of a pirate in a tricorn and eye patch, with a