Time: Chapters 1-4

Chapter One
Once upon a time (recently after today) in a faraway land (England) a prince (Prince William of course) lived a shining castle (does Buckingham Palace fit the description?) He was wandering around the palace before the night's celebration. He was wearing his trademark tuxedo and ran his hand through his hair. Darn the hairstylist for using too much hairspray. That's when he met her.
It was hate at first sight.
Ever since she laid eyes on his picture on a magazine it was Kyra Sullivan's great wish to meet Prince William. And tonight was her chance. And she wouldn't even be given that chance if her mother didn't know someone, who knew someone, who was a friend of the nurse who took care of the mother of Prince Charles secretary's cousin twice removed (gets?). Anyone of them could've used the invitation to the ceremony that night but she was really the royal fanatic out of the bunch so they gave it to her. She got lost trying to find the ballroom where the event was taking place. She was just about to scream for help when a hand came on her shoulder and a voice said. "Excuse me, Miss. You shouldn't be here."
Her heart skipped some beats. Kyra turned around. The words that were used had been polite but the look the boy was giving her was far from it. "Im sorry, I was lost and-"
He rolled his eyes. "A likely story," William told her. He should really get his father to find some new guards afterall how many times has he been kidnapped in the last months. And now this girl was free to wander around the palace grounds?
Kyra was infuriated. Who was this jerk? Just because he looked good in a tux doesn't mean have had the right to brand her a liar. "Be respectful," she told him. "You're speaking to your future queen.'"
He arched an eyebrow. "Really? And how's that?"
She responded without thinking. "I'm going to marry Prince William."
He stepped out where the light showed him better. "I am Prince William."
Blinded by her anger she couldn't she the similarities. "A likely story," she tried to turn away with flair but she tripped on her long skirt. That's what I get for imitating Cinderella's ballgown, she told herself.
William laughed at her predicament.
She knew it was childish but she stuck her tongue out at him.
The nerve of her! He was Prince William. "You're not leaving so soon," he grabbed her arm. He had to bring her to the security team. What if she had planted a bomb? He looked her over. No she didn't look smart enough for something like that.
"Let go of me," she told him. Man, he was strong.
An opened door caught his attention. "Did you go there?" He asked. "No one's allowed in there. Harry and I aren't allowed in there!"
She jabbed him in the stomach with her elbow. "I was looking for the ballroom. I peeked inside when I saw that it wasn't the place. I closed it." she gestured to it. She did a double take. It was open now. "I closed it," she stated again.
"You can at least turn off the light," he complained walking over to the door. Just because he was a prince people thought he had money to burn.
"I didn't even flip the switch on," Kyra muttered to herself. She followed William inside. "Whoa!" she breathed.
William turned around. Was she still there? he turned his attention back to the object. This was what his father had been hiding from him and Harry all these years? A mirror?
She looked at the expression on his face. Gee, he really does look like Prince William.
He looked at the mirror surely there had to be more than this that met the eye. Why keep something so plain a secret? He stepped towards it. He touched it with his hand. It went right through. A secret passageway maybe? From a ancestor of long ago? Oh boy! Finally his royal background bringing excitement to his life.
"Stop being conceited you don't look that great,'" Kyra told him, shoving him slightly. She gasped as she pushed him through the mirror. "Uh, William?" she said into the silence.
"William, Papa's getting mad. You're suppose to be down in the ballroom," a voice came from the hall. He turned and looked into the room.
Harry? That meant the guy really was- and she had just pushed - Where! She observed her options. Yeah right she was going to stand there and try to explain things like a blubbering idiot. Taking a deep breath of courage she jumped through the mirror.

"Omph!" William exclaimed as she landed on top of him. She wasn't exactly feather weight.
She collected her skirt and got off him.
"What did you just do."
"Oh, yeah, blame me," she said. "You were the one who didn't tell me that the mirror's molecules didn't hold together."
"You pushed me!" he countered. He looked around. Where were they?
"Where are we?" Kyra voiced the thought.
"You're asking me?"
"It was your palace. What happened to it?"
"I don't know."
"Well a whole building can't just disappear-"
"I know that. I'm not stupid-"
"Stop yelling at me!"
Ohhh, how he wanted to smack her behind. Being the well bred gentleman he was he just shouted. "Shut up!"
Horses hooves were heard in the distance. Then riders came bearing a flag. "Stop in the name of England!" the leader announced.
If this was England then...William thought. Wait, why were these guys wearing tights?
"Do you know the penalty for trespassing Her Majesty's grounds is beheading."
Oh, beheading, how was he going to explain this to his father. William wondered.
"I'm sorry Your Highness, I didn't realize it was you.'"
William closed his eyes ready to give the girl a smug look. Finally, someone recognized him. Her giggle made him glance at her direction.
The men wearing funny tights were bowing to her!

Chapter Two
"My Princess," the leader came up from his knees. "Your mother, the queen, has been worried sick. Where have you been? And what are you doing with this stableboy?"
William took a step back. Stableboy!
"I've been around and my stableboy," it was a miracle she didn't laugh at the word," He- uh- lost our horses!" The sudden inspiration coming to mind.
"Well, come. Come. Your mother will be so glad to see you again after you've been missing for days," he helped her up on the white horse. "Hey, stableboy," he called to William.
Kyra almost fell off the horse laughing.
William glared at her.
"You'll be whipped for having the princess walk around like a commoner.'"
"No," Kyra objected, her laughter abruptly stopping. "You see, I'm not really the princess and-" She stopped when she saw the look William gave her.
Was the girl insane! Did she rather have their heads chopped off!
"I mean-" she faltered. "He saved me. The horses... ran off a cliff! And if I would've gone over too but Wills here saved me."
The man looked at her oddly. "There are no cliffs around these parts, Your Highnesss.'"
She patted him on the shoulder. "Now you know why I've been gone for so long. William rides with me."
"You heard the Princess. Ride with her.'" To the man on his right he ordered. "Get off your horse."
William dumbly climbed the horse. "Stableboy," William muttered after they've traveled a distance.
"Hey, I'm not getting the best of the deal either. You try riding sidesaddle!"
"Whatever you do don't deny that you the princess. That's our ace in the hole."
"That'll be hard considering I don't even know what my name's suppose to be. All they address me as is the princess or Your Highness."
An amused smile passed William's face as he said. "Now you know what my life is like."
Kyra looked around. '"Where are we?"
"I think the question is when are we? If I'm not mistaken that mirror was a time portal. No wonder my father didn't want me to find it. Anything we do now can affect future events."
"William, how are we going to get out of here?" she couldn't live without a McDonald's nearby and neither could he.
"I don't know," He looked at the guards who were frowning at how chummily "the princess" was acting toward hired help. He had seen that look many times when his father greeted some of his less fortunate friends. He never expected that look to be directed at him. "I don't know. But we'll get through this I promise you that."
She liked the way he used the word we. And she liked the way he used the word promise. She looked onward. She gasped.
Standing majestically against the afternoon horizon was a castle. Grander than anything she had seen in books. Buckingham looked like a cheap hotel compared to it.
"Your Highness," the man announced. "You're home."

Chapter Three
"Daughter," a richly clad woman in shimmering garments held her hands out to Kyra.
Instinctively, Kyra held out her hands in the same fashion. "Mo--ther." She had been about to say mom but decided to use the more formal word. She was hugged so tightly she couldn't breathe. Help! Help! she signaled to William with her eyes. When the queen looked at her an immediate smile was plastered on her face.
"Daughter, what happened to your clothes. So plain for a lady of your stature."
"Oh, this? It's the latest style in France," she ad-libbed.
The queen looked at her worriedly. "Darling, we are at war with France."
Kyra forced her eyes to grow wide. "I know. I had to wear this as a disguise when I accidentally took a wrong turn and landed up there. I would've gotten killed."
The queen kissed the top of her head. "How clever of you, my dear. Now, go to you room and let the servants prepare you for tonight. I thought I was going to celebrate my birthday without you but now here you are. It will be a double celebration, welcoming you home."
The servants came around her and led her to her room. Thank goodness they were there it would be hard to explain why she couldnt find her own room!
"Where do you think you're going?" one servant asked William when he tried to follow.
Ow! but the exclamation was only mentally. He wouldn't give anyone the pressure of hearing him scream outloud. What was this Down On Prince William Day? "Your Highness." he hissed at Kyra.
She turned around. "Yes, stableboy!" she grinned.
He glared at her.
She knew what he wanted of her. "Please, let the courageous fellow go. I-I would like to have some tea so I can rest my feet awhile. And I'd love for him to be my company."
Please? the man thought. But he bowed lowly. "Yes, of course my princess. You must be famished and exhausted after your trip. I'll send the treats right away."
"I'd like to be alone now," Kyra dismissed the servants. When they left the room she burst out laughing.
William was laughing so hard tears came to his eyes. "You-You should've been an actress."
"What about you? Your Highness!" she mimicked him.
"I was so scared. I thought you wouldn't let me follow you to your room."
"Hey, you've got to know where I am. I don't want you going back to The 20th century without me." She playfully hit him with a pillow from the bed.
Feathers exploded on the other end.
They both laughed.
"I'm sorry but have you noticed that I don't even know your name?" William said between laughs.
Kyra collapsed on the bed exhausted. "It's Kyra Sullivan." she told him.
"Kyra," he tried the name on his lips.
"Princess, your mother craves you get ready for the ball tonight," the young maid blushed at the sight of William.
Gee, he was a heartthrob even in the 16th century.
William got up. "I'll wait out in the hall for you, Your Highness." he told her, kissing her hand and leaving.
"My lady, who was that dashing young man," the maid gushed.
Dashing? Prince William dashing? "He's very charming, for a stableboy," she added. She entered the washroom where there were dozens of servants. She waited them to leave so she could bathe. When they stayed she finally understood. "I could do this myself," she told them. "I picked upsome surviving skills in the woods. I know what to do."
They laughed taking this as a joke. Sighing, "the princess" let them wash, perfume and coif her to a beauty of what is now a lost era.
William was pacing the outside hall. He looked out of the window. How were Kyra and him going to get home? he wondered.
The door opened.
William turned. "You look- you look-"he stuttered.
"If you dare say I look beautiful I'll pound you to the ground, I swear." Kyra said, urging him inside. "Do you know what it would take to look this beautiful in our time? Look at this-," she pointed to her hair which was piled above her head and interlaced with pearl strands. "They expect me to walk upright with this! The stockings itch and corset is way too tight." But she looked at her trim waist with pride. "I can't breathe!" she moaned. "I can't even sit down. And these high heels are totally ugly." She lifted up her skirt an inch off the floor to show him.
"I have to wear tights!" he countered.
Kyra took the time to look at him. While they were making her up they must've changed William too. He was wearing a long blue coat with tails, with a dark brown vest, and light brown pants, Yes, there were tights, but it complemented the outfit. He looked. What was the word the maid used...dashing. Tina shrugged a bare shoulder. "It looks like your Eton uniform in a way."
"We did not wear tights!" he fumed. "And they expect me to do the valet stuff. Escort the ladies out of their carriages."
"Well, that's pretty good for a stableboy."
"I am not a stableboy!" William reminded. "I'm a prince."
"Not in this time,'" Kyra smiled.
"I'm leaving," William said, getting out of the room. When he was outside he realized he had no place to go.
"William," Kyra took a deep breath. It took a lot out of her to say the words "I'm sorry. Come back inside. I need your help."
"To do what? Carry your purse!" he retorted. "No thanks, Your Highness."
"I need you to teach me how to act like a princess."

Chapter Four
"Shoulders back," William instructed, pushing them. He jutted her chin up. "Head held high. Bearing is important. You can be beautiful but the effect is lost if you don't have that regal stance."
"Do you really think I'm beautiful?" Kyra asked.
He gave her a side glance. "You don't look bad with what you've got." he said.
Kyra frowned.
"Don't do that!" William said.
Frown erased, Kyra groaned. "I feel silly."
"You're a princess. Don't think like that. Your mentality is the world is your oyster."
"That doesn't seem like your way of thinking," Kyra observed.
He grinned. "I'm special."
That you are William.
"Okay, salad fork-" he quizzed.
"Three tines."
"Dinner fork-" he looked at her expectantly.
"Four tines-"
"Everyone's going to be bowing but your rank is higher so you don't have to. You may nod if you wish." He thought. It was hard teaching her in a few minutes what had been drilled into him since childhood. "That's it I guess."
"Not really, "
"What else is there?"
Kyra let out a breath. "Can you teach me how to waltz?"
"You don't know how to waltz." he said disbelievingly.
"Talk to my P.E. teacher who I threw into the blackboard or the guy whose ten toes I crushed."
William pulled back his long sleeve and glanced at his Rolex watch. He hid it again. He gave them ten minutes before someone walked through the door demanding what happened to the princess. "Hold up the hem of your skirt so it's aligned with you waist," he told her.
"So everyone can see my underwear?"
"That's what your petticoats are there for, darling," he drawled. "Let's see. My hand goes here."
Oh my. Prince William's hand was on her waist!
"Pay attention." he ordered. "Place your other hand in mind. Keep it extended. Follow me. Step, close, rise. Step close, rise. "
Kyra did as she was told.
"Very nice. But I'm your partner. Stop looking at your feet. Look at me."
Kyra looked into those deep blue pools. She was getting light headed.
"This distance is fine when I'm instructing you but when you dance with a guy you're going to have to get closer."
Kyra nodded. Closer. She could feel his heart beating through his chest. That light headed feeling was getting worse. She could smell the scent of him. He didn't smell like the dust of the countryside that Kyra feared she was getting used to. He smelled like the 20th century, he smelled like a prince, he smelled like Prince William. Did he bring an extra bottle of cologne with him? He must've. The musk scent was getting to her.
William looked at her face perplexed. What was she thinking. "Hey, wake up," he teased. When that didn't work he put a twist in the dance and dipped her as if it were a tango.
"My word!" came the exclaimed remark from the doorway. The servant couldn't believe his eyes.
The princess dancing with the stableboy!