Another jam packed weekend, this time with family. My cousin Brittney had an adorable baby 2 months ago and in our faith (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Any questions, feel free to ask) we have our babies blessed in church. My dad, a worthy priesthood holder was asked to stand in as part of the blessing so I got to see my dad, mom and kid sister for the weekend. Super excited that I got to show off my new place.

Well here is a little something I have been working on. I had this idea come to me after reading a series based on Greek Gods falling in love with mortals in crazy circumstances. It was always a different scenario and situation but I thought it was cool how it was all the different scenes were incorporated to make each story so different while following a different time line or time period.

This got me thinking: how interesting would it be to have a group go on a time traveling expedition, to prepare the world for time travel as a vacation option, to all to different times in the past and have love happen in crazy ways? I had the idea to call the series "Love in Time." So each book would technically happen "at the same time" but in different time periods, so then at the end of the series, everyone is back and you finally get the whole story, from everyone's point of view.

The first story line that I thought of was to have a girl get assigned to Victorian England. In order for her to gain access to information from people she would need to be married since at the time a lone woman would not have had much authority. So, she would have to be assigned to the time with a companion, of course a super cute guy who she would have to play husband and wife with. Eventually sparks fly and one thing leads to another and Love happens ;)

SO here is the start of this Writing Workout. Comments welcome and enjoy!

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Prologue:        

The year is 3025. Advances in technology had grown by astronomical leaps and bounds. However, life had remained pretty much the same for the last thousand years. Public transportation, communication, media and fashion all stayed basically the same with few improvements and updates as the years went by. One of the greatest moves forwards was the perfection of the science of time travel.

Although it was perfected, the scientists and government officials were unwilling to release the capability to the public just yet – could you imagine… taking a weekend family trip to the medieval times or to the late 2000’s. But then how would it be regulated? How would it be controlled and monitored? It was around the time these questions arose that the government created a special group of people to test the limits of the time travel science so that data could be gathered and analyzed. Each person assigned in the group would travel to a different time and spend varying amounts of time in each period. Data would be gathered and retrieved and sent back to headquarters. If the numbers were good and everything seemed well, the science would be released to the public. If not, improvements must be made.

Chapter 1:

            I flew through my room like a bat out of hell. I had gotten the call only a few hours earlier. I had been chosen to test the time travel program. Only six people were chosen and I was one of them. I couldn’t have been more excited. My mom was sitting on my bed as I flew around my room gathering anything I thought I would need.

            “Sweetie, I thought you said that the company was going to be supplying you with the clothes and materials you need for your trip. I mean really. You don’t even know which period you are going to. How would you know to pack? What if you are going back to a time before tech? Didn’t they tell you anything with the call?” she asked.

            I shook my head. “No, they just said that I had gotten the assignment and that I should be ready to ship out in a week’s time. I’m sure they will give me more information later at the meeting tomorrow with all of us.”

            She pursed her lips. “Well. I just don’t know how I feel about this. You don’t know where you are going, how long you will be gone. None of it!”

            “Mom, calm down. This is what I signed up for when I applied for the assignment. This is what I want.” I smiled. Thinking of going to another time and another place was so exciting me.  “I promise I will give you all the information I can after the meeting. I do think I should pack up some of my things though. Things that I know could go into storage and what not… I don’t know. This is crazy!” I laughed, completely exhilarated.

            My mom shook her head. “Well dear. I hope you have a great time trying to figure out the past. I’m just saying, some things are meant to stay in the past.”

            The next morning was our introduction meeting. I got there about 15 minutes early. I hate being late for things. My dad always told me that if you are early then you are time. If you are on time then you are late and if you are late, then don’t even bother; you have failed. So there I was, 15 minutes before anyone else, or so I thought. Already sitting in the conference room was a 25 year old looking guy with dark hair and dark eyes with oddly pale skin for the rest of features.

            “Morning!” he said. “I’m David.”

            I smiled. “I’m Margo.”

            “Margo? That’s an interesting name.”

            “It’s short for Margaret. I never liked Margaret so I gave myself a nickname.” I shrugged.

            He laughed. “Nice, way to be rebel. You don’t wait for others to give you a nickname. You beat everyone to it and name yourself. I like it.”

            I laughed with him. “Hey, thanks. So any ideas on where you’re headed?” I asked him.

            David scrunched his eyebrows. “I think if I knew what the options were I could tell you. You remember learning about early American history and learning about the Cowmen?”

            I looked at him blankly. “The Cowboys?” I asked.

            “Yeah that… but the grown up versions of them were called Cowmen.”

            “Uh… I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure it was Cowboys and Indians.” I said back. History has always been one of my favorite subjects.

            “No, no, no. The Cow…MEN…” he emphasized. I decided to let him think whatever he wanted because I clearly wasn’t going to win this one no matter how right I was.

            “Yeah, sure,” I said back.

            “Well that’s where I want to go. The old western Cowman time. Ride a horse, rough it in the wilderness…learn how to shoot a real gun!” He smiled like a kid in a tech store.

            I nodded. “That sounds pretty cool. I think if I had a choice I would go to…”

            “Good Morning!” an overly chipper blonde said as she bounded in.

            “Morning,” David and I said in unison.

            “Are we the first ones here?” she asked.

            “Looks like it,” David said. “I’m David. This is Margo.”

            She nodded to both of us. “Nice to meet you. I’m Alyce. How long have you both been with the company?”

            “Well, I’ve been in tech support for about 3 years now,” David responded. “When I saw the application for this was open to anyone, I jumped on it. Can’t believe I got picked.”

            “Me either!” Alyce said. “I’ve been in secretarial for only like 6 months. I couldn’t believe it when I got the call. I think maybe they are trying to get people who aren’t super familiar with the programs. Fresh, unbiased eyes and all that. What about you Margo? Where were you at?”

            I shifted slightly under the scrutiny of the comments about unbiased eyes. “Well… I’ve been in project development. I’ve been on this project for about a year and a half now. So I guess I’m not completely unbiased. This is kind of my life.”

            They both raised silent eyebrows at me and remained silent. It wasn’t often that project developers were seen. We just did our own thing, clocked in, did some science and called it good. I couldn’t really call this whole thing my brain child, but I felt like I had a really big part of the project. That’s why I felt I had been chosen. I thought that “fresh and unbiased eyes” would ruin the whole thing. Looks like the uppers thought differently. Just when the silence began to be a bit unbearable, I heard “Oh my heck Margo! You’re here?!”

            I turned to see one of my closest and dearest work friends, Greta Lyn stride into the room, looking, of course, like she had just walked off the set of a high end photo shoot. Her tall frame and waist length, midnight black hair curled to perfection always gave me a twinge of jealousy for her beauty. She was perfect; a fact that David picked up on immediately.

            “Hi! I’m David,” he said, standing for the first time since I’d walked in the room to go and shake her hand.

            She looked at him with a certain amount of disinterest. She had that look down. “That’s nice,” she said, the turning back to embrace me.  “Girl, oh my goodness! I can’t believe we both got the call! I’m sure you were through the roof excited. Did you tell your mom already?”

            I hugged her back, tight. “Yeah. Had her over last night. She is freaking out, of course. But I think she’ll understand more once I get more information.”

            “Don’t we all want that information…” she trailed. I nodded absently in agreement as the final people filed in and sat down without a word. We took that as a clue to sit down. The head of the project, Mr. Jon Johnson was standing at the front of the room with his pathetic looking assistant next to him with stacks of paper.

            “Alright people, let’s get started.” He looked to his assistant who began to pass out the files. He called our names.

            “David Blaise?” David raised his hand and got his folder.

            “Please do not open your files until I tell you. There is some information I must give you before you open it and I need full and undivided attention,” Mr. Johnson said.

            The assistant continued down the pile. “Carter Clark?” A young, good-looking blonde guy at the other end of the table lazily raised his hand.

            “Margaret Meridian?” I sighed inwardly. Only my mother calls me by that name. I chose not to correct and say the usual “Margo would be fine” since in present company that meant little to anyone. I accepted my file and it felt heavy with information. I was so excited I could hardly contain it. I gently rubbed my hand against the cover of my file, as if to learn my information through osmosis rather than reading it.

            “Greta Lyn Case?” he said next.

            “Right here darlin’,” she said in that way that she does. Her family had grown up in the south of what used to be called the United States of America. The accents had kept even as the time passed. It was a very distinct accent. The assistant flushed slightly at the pet name she used and he fumbled a bit getting her the file. His eyes lingered just a little too long on her before moving on to the next person.

            “Alyce Gilbert?” She raised her hand and flipped her blonde all at the same time. If this preppy girl ruined any of the data for this project because she was a ditzy secretary, I would have to throttle her.

            “And, Stuart…Stuart Hayes.” Only having one person left, the assistant brought the file to the Stuart. He was on the other side of the table, directly across from me and he was fantastic to look at. His striking blue eyes reminded me of the ocean after a really large storm; a calm after the storm look that you can’t even really describe. His jaw line was impeccable and I could tell that his form was kept in very good shape. I wouldn’t mind working in his department. I realized then that I had been staring, and he had been staring right back, those amazing blue eyes piercing me to my very core. I felt my face begin to flush. To suppress it, I scrunched my face and mouthed “What?” at him. The corners of his mouth turned up slightly as he shook his head and turned to face Mr. Johnson.

            “Alright folks. As you know, you have been chosen to take part in our pilot project for the time travel program. We spent weeks pouring over the applications and we really feel that each of you is meant for the specific assignment in your folders. There will be no negotiating your target periods. If you don’t like your assignment, it will be given to an alternate that would be more than willing to take your place. Is that quite understood?”

            We all silently nodded. The suspense was killing me. Mr. Johnson continued.

            “Alright. We have chosen target periods that we feel people will try to visit frequently. All of the data that we require be gathered is in the folders. We will give you about an hour here now to go through your files and ask any questions that you have. Your launch day will be in a week’s time from today. All of your materials will be provided so you don’t need to worry about packing. Feel free to open your packets now and to converse one with another. The time is now yours.”

            Total and complete excitement overtook my entire being as I opened my file. At first nothing quite registered. At first opening there was a letter which read like a college acceptance letter. After I had read through it my mind began to understand where I was being sent. The period was called “Victorian England.” I was in shock. I knew close to nothing about England. Most of my historical studies had been focused on American history and what was going on there during out times’ growth in tech and industry. I had never once paid attention to England. England wasn’t even on the map anymore. As far as I knew the ocean had swallowed it when the Great Storms happened a few hundred years ago. This was going to be interesting. I continued reading through my paper work. As far as I could understand, I was going to be there for about 3 months. They needed me to gather data on living conditions, potential places for us to set up our own hotel of sorts for travelers to stay in, data on the money, food and things like that. My mind was reeling.

            It was right about then that I realized it was completely silent. Everyone else was reading through their papers as well. David looked completely confused. “You mean I don’t get to be a Cowman?” he said in disappointment.  I laughed a little louder than I should have.

            “Uh. Cowman?” Greta Lyn asked quizzically.

            He looked at her as if she had grown an extra set of arms out of her head. “Yes! The CowMEN! Why has no one heard of this?”

            “Sweetie, take it from someone who’s ancestors go back to the time you’re headed. It’s a Cowboy. No matter what age they are…they are a Cowboy,” Greta Lyn said with that tone she used to make anyone and everyone feel completely stupid. I’m glad she never used that tone on me. It was only to those around me.

            We had been friends for years now, since we had both started in the same internship group within the company just out of college. We had been the most unlikely of friends and I was so thankful everyday that I had at least one.

            I continued reading through my packet when I came across some information that I wasn’t quite sure I was reading right. I thought it was saying that the two of us would need to complete the following tasks, followed by a list. I raised my hand. “Excuse me, Mr. Johnson. There must be some kind of mistake. This is says the two of us. Is there going to be someone traveling with me?”

            “That would be me apparently,” I heard from behind me. I turned in my seat to see that Stuart Hayes had stood and walked over to me just as I had asked the question. Wait. What?

            “You?” I barely managed to get out.

            “Yup. Did you finish reading the packet? We are going in as husband and wife. Apparently you can’t just stroll into society without a man. History is weird like that. So it would be more effective for us to go together. So, it’s nice to meet you Mrs. Hayes.”

            When I got home that night my mind was still spinning. How was I supposed to be silent and anonymous getting my data with this guy having to play my husband? I did NOT sign up for this. I mean, he was absolutely gorgeous, yes. But that didn’t mean I wanted to play his wife for three months! Greta Lyn pinged my Device almost the moment I walked in the door. I turned my arm over to read the message on my forearm: So you’re married now huh?

            I could kill her. Yeah yeah. Don’t remind me. I mortified. I haven’t dated. How am I supposed to be married?!

            She took her own sweet time responding so I decided to get into a hot bath. Something that I absolutely loved about my tiny little apartment in the city was the bathtub. I might not have many of the luxuries that others had in their expensive condos but my bathtub was such a highlight to me. The three different faucets placed around the tub turned on. One spouted out the hot water, the perfect temperature. The other added the bubble that I could change the color of at the touch of a button and the third had a dizzying array of oil and relaxing add ons that I could pick my share, also at the touch of a button. I decided to have purple bubble with some lavender to soak in. The wonderful smell filled my bathroom and the relaxing aroma help ease my tense muscles even for a moment.

            As I slid out of my clothes I did an inventory of myself in the mirror. I had always been skinny. Skinnier than most of the girls around me. Fitness was a big part of society now a days. Back in the early 2000’s, an epidemic called obesity began to take over the entire world. People had gotten so over weight they couldn’t walk, couldn’t function without help from others. A few hundred years after it had hit an all time high, solutions were created and the people began to be much more healthy and understood how to take care of their bodies. I, however, had always been skinnier than the average girl for my age and my height. My collarbone stuck out farther than it should and my narrow hips protruded more than I would have liked. I at least had a nice butt and my perky C cup breasts were enough to turn heads if I actually tried. That was it though…IF I tried…which I never did. My mid back length hair was a light brown that I found to be quite plain. I could change it if I wanted to. Take one pill and a few weeks later, your hair’s a different color. I just had no reason to change it, no one to impress.

            Then I thought of Stuart. Everything about him was striking. What were they thinking putting up together? I was so plain and pale in comparison, no one – not even Victorian England people – would believe that he would have ever wanted to marry me of his own free will and choice. Even if I put make up on I’m not anywhere near pretty enough to stand next to him. I groaned at myself in the mirror and shook my hair out before climbing into the amazing tub water and letting every inch of my skin get covered by the purple bubbles. I could feel the lavender relaxing me completely and just for a moment I felt good.

            My Device pinged and I turned my forearm over expecting to see a reply from Greta Lyn. Instead I saw contact picture of none other than my fake husband. Well. We have a week to become a convincing married couple. Want to start now? Got plans tonight?

            I about died right there. I thought that I would fall under the water and never come back up. It’s just for the job, Margo. This is nothing to him but a job. It’s nothing to YOU but a job. Pull yourself together. I slid the keyboard up to my palm and typed back Sure, what time?

            He wasted no time getting back to me, unlike certain best friends that I really needed right now! 20 minutes? Before I could respond he sent another ping. I’m outside your place. Come down when you’re ready. Take your time.

            I could’ve killed him. Don’t tell me 20 minutes and then turn around and say take your time. I knew I would need a lot more than 20 minutes to even try and look presentable enough to go out with him. You’re not going out! This is NOT a date, I kept telling myself. I had practically jumped out of the bath, rinsed my hair with the shampoo and conditioner faucet in my shower and threw it up into a semi elegant bun on top of my head. I ran into my closet and pulled a pair of form fitting jeans, well… as form fitting as I could. This pair at least made it look like I had hips and a top with a collar that covered my boney shoulders but was sheer enough to show that I had cleavage. I knew that I wasn’t going to accomplish much by covering up with a lot of make up so I settle for a tiny bit on my eyes and some color on my lips and decided that this was as good as it was going to get. I threw on a pair of cute flats and went downstairs to the lobby.

            He was there, just as he said, waiting for my on one of the simple couches that adorned my cheap apartment hall.

            “Hey,” he said. “You look great, my wife.”

            I looked at him in shock and the slightest bit of embarrassment. “Hello, husband. I still can’t believe this is happening.” I chuckled and pulled at the hem of my shirt.

            “What? That we are unofficially getting married to each other? How bad could it be really?” he asked.

            “Well, not that I thought it was going to be bad or anything. Just that I don’t remember anything in the project development that said that we would be going in pairs…or that those pairs would be pretending to be married,” I said.

            “Project development huh?” he asked. “That’s kind of intense. So you really know the ins and outs of the whole project then. This must be a huge deal for you.”

            “That’s a bit of an understatement.”

            He nodded and didn’t say anything, causing the slightest awkward silence. Even more so considering we were still standing in the same spot in the lobby. “So,” I said, breaking the silence. “What are we going to do this fine evening?”

            He cocked his head to the side and said, “I don’t know, what you want to do?”

            I looked at him, with a blank stare. “What, you don’t have anything planned?”

            His eyes widened slightly. “Uhh,” he stammered.

            “So you’re telling me that you walked all the way over to my place to take me on a date and you didn’t even have the decency to PLAN something?”

            “I guess I didn’t think that far ahead,” he said.

            “Such a guy,” I chastised. “Can’t believe they picked us to be married for this assignment. Just saying, I never would have married you in reality. Come back when you have something planned and maybe – just maybe – I will consider saying yes next time.”

            Without giving him a moment to respond I turned on my heels and marched back up to my apartment. My heart rate was through the roof. I couldn’t believe I had been so forward with him. I guess this was why I never dated. I tend to scare men off, a lot. Once I got to my door, I was shaking. What the hell was I thinking talking to him like that? I had to live with him – and be his wife – for the next 3 months. I probably should have not have treated him like that. I should Ping him and apologize, I thought. Then the little devil on my shoulder popped up and started chirping in my ear. He deserves it. You’re probably the only woman that has ever talked to him like that or called him out on his crap. Don’t feel bad! Feel accomplished and empowered. I smiled. I refused to let myself feel bad. He deserved it!

            Just then my Device pinged. It was him. I’m sorry about that. Next time, I’ll have a plan. Count on it.

            I thought about responding but then thought better on it. He had asked for it big time. Maybe he’d learn how to step up and actually have to work for a women. That was probably something he’d never had to do before.

            Well, I had the rest of the night to myself so I decided to whip out the packet and start analyzing and deconstructing and researching everything that I could. I dumped everything out on my bed and grabbed my five different colors of highlighters. I’m just saying, everything made more sense to me if it was in colors. I started breaking down all the data I needed to gather, every assignment that needed to be completed, different time check points and everything else that needed to be done in the short three month span that I had. It was a lot to cover but I was organized, and I was driven and I was not about to let some guy ruin his project; this means way too much to me.