Chapter Text
The next morning, Claire woke up in Jamie's arms, warm and comfortable. She didn't want to move, she never usually did when she was in his arms.
"Jamie, what's the time?" She asked sleepily.
"Too early for you to escape me yet." He said grabbing her as she tried to sit up. Claire laughed as Jamie kissed her nose.
"Jamie!" She squealed. "I need to go and see Y/n and wake her up. Time travelling is a tiresome business you know."
"I mean, I wouldn't, but I suppose travelling 300 years back in time makes you a bit weary." Jamie smirked and Claire rolled her eyes. "She's a mouthy one though isn't she, even more than you."
"She's just scared, she thinks if she shows she's tough, then no one will pick on her in this strange land." Claire leant her head on Jamie's chest.
"She's got a strange way of showing she's scared." Jamie muttered. "But I should get up too, c'mon then."
An hour later, Claire was washed, dressed and fed. She went to Y/n's room with Mrs Fitz. Opening the door, Mrs Fitz quietly lay the clothes on the their side of the bed and the food on the table. She closed the door as she left and Claire was left alone with a sleeping Y/n.
"Y/n. It's time to get up." Claire shook her until she opened her eyes and groaned.
"Ugh, I thought maybe it would be a dream, for fuck sake." She muttered. "Do I have to get up?"
"If you want to get a good reputation, then yes and, you want one. I'll leave the basin here, the waters cold as hell is hot. I'll be outside, just call for me, you'll need help getting dressed." Claire told her gesturing to the large bowl thing in front of the bed. "Hurry up! They're all waiting to meet you!" Claire called as she walked out of the room.
Y/n didn't want to move, she just wanted to go back to sleep and never see any of these people ever again. But that wasn't going to happen any time soon, so she persevered and stood up. The curtains were already shut but she pulled the basin a little further away from them. Stripping off her underwear, she stepped into the basin. Completely unaware of the temperature. She let out what sounded like the scream of a cat being strangled. There was a knock on the door.
"Is everything okay?" It was Claire.
"This water is fucking freezing!" She yelled and there was more than one voice laughing outside. Y/n assumed it was Murtagh and Jamie, but it could be anyone.
"You'll have to deal with it I'm afraid. The cold should do you good." She heard Jamie's voice and cursed.
Stepping gingerly into the bath, she whimpered as she ran her hands up and down her limbs, washing them with the freezing cold water. It was nothing like the water at home, or anywhere for that matter. She stayed in there for maybe 10 minutes maximum, and it was all torture. Getting into her bra and pants she called out for Claire. The older woman walked in to Y/n sitting on the bed hugging herself.
"You'll catch your death of cold like that!" Claire wrapped a tartan blanket around her and rubbed Y/n's arms. "Now we have to dress you."
"These are staying on. I'm not wearing a corset I refuse and I'm not changing out of these pants either. So don't try and make me." Y/n said sternly.
"Okay then. It's the rest of it that's worse. Let's get started." Claire's expression made Y/n nervous.
Dressing Y/n took around twenty minutes. It usually took her about five minutes to throw on some leggings a shirt and a hoodie. This was just excessive. Her hips felt assaulted with the amount of weight on them, why did men get it so easy? Plus, this dress was even more revealing than some of the ones in the modern day. Her boobs was almost a spilling out of the top of her dress.
"There we go. You look lovely." Claire told her with a smile.
"I feel ridiculous."
"Go look in mirror." Claire told her nodding toward it.
Y/n walked over with zero percent of hope of looking good. When she got to the mirror she was slightly pleasantly surprised. She looked okay. Not stunning or beautiful. But it was bearable. Even if everything was bloody uncomfortable.
"Oh and I was wondering. How did you get Jamie and Murtagh to believe you when you told them you were from the future?" She asked.
"I just told them. No one else's knows. I don't trust anyone else enough to tell them. I told Jamie because we promised no more secrets and that was my biggest one that if kept from him. Murtagh doesn't believe in witches, at least I don't think he does. Plus he found it easy to believe given that he believed the stories about Craigh Na Dun. But then again, not even Fergus knows and he's practically my son. I wouldn't recommend telling anyone else though. You could be accused of being a witch and they take that very serious here." Claire warned. "C'mon then." Y/n turned around and followed Claire out of the door.
Murtagh stared at Y/n as she walked out of the door and Jamie smiled at Claire. Claire and Jamie started to walk down the corridor but Murtagh couldn't stop staring at Y/n, that put her on edge.
"Have I done something wrong. Does it look weird." She looked up and down herself.
"No. You just look..." He trailed off then coughed. "Anyway- let's go." He said quickly, walking off just as quick. Y/n followed as close as she could, but Murtagh was taller than her.
"Oi. Slow down. Your like, a foot taller than me. I can't walk that fast." She raised her voice and Murtagh turned around, smiling.
"C'mon then." Murtagh put out his hand and she took it.
"I'd just like to say. I like you Murtagh. You're patient. Which is what most people find hard to be with me." Y/n squeezed Murtagh's hand.
"Well. I ken you don't mean any harm so there's no point getting angry." Murtagh scratched his beard.
"Thank you anyway. I know I'm annoying sometimes." She smiled at the floor and didn't notice Murtagh smiling at her.
"Nah. You're just young. Your allowed to be stubborn. I sure as hell was." Murtagh sighed slightly.
"We're you really? I'm imagining a difficult Murtagh. Did you go out on the town and get with loads of women?" She joked.
"Agh. Nah, it wasn't like that. I would go out on the town and get piss drunk. Sometimes a women would take pity on me but most of the time I was either looking after Jamie or riding around the highlands in a drunk stupor." Y/n let go of Murtagh's hand and wrapped her arm around his, leaning on his shoulder.
"I reckon you're being to hard on yourself. We're all stupid when were young. I mean look at me, I got myself thrown back 300 years in time and don't even know how." Y/n said quietly as they walked down the empty corridors.
"You're being modest. But anyway. I'm not young anymore so I'll leave it to the youths now."
"Hey. You can't be that old and I'm only twenty two. By my definition I'm getting old." She smiled up at Murtagh.
"Well I'm thirty seven. So I'm ancient by your definition." Murtagh said almost bitterly.
"That's only fifteen years. It's not that bad, Murtagh." Y/n reassured.
"You say that. But you'd be surprised how other people see it. I bet you're married at home." Murtagh sounded sad.
"What? No way! I don't want to get married till I'm at least twenty eight. Twenty two is waaaay to early to marry someone. Where did you get that idea?"
"It's just more of a normal thing here, anyway, let's get to the hall."
"Oh, and I was wondering. Doesn't Lassie mean girl?"Y/n asked, still holding his hand.
"Young girl, actually." He corrected.
"As you say. So will you refrain from calling me a young girl. I'll have ye know, I'm a woman. Or at least I'm categorised as one. You ken that I hate Lassie." She got in some of the dialect just to take the piss.
"Ooh. Look at you using the language. But no. I'll carry on calling you lassie, lassie. Anyway. I can hardly call you Sassenach, because Claire would always answer. So, I'll call you Lassie." Murtagh laughed at her slightly horrified expression as he pulled her along the corridors until they got to the entrance to the great hall. His hand dropped from hers, and Y/n felt a warmth disappear. "Alright. You'll probably be asked questions, don't make your story to extravagant or Column will be curious."
"Who's Column?" She asked. But Murtagh was already pushing her down the steps and walked beside her up to the table, stopping just before to sit down.
"This is Miss Y/Sn, who I told you about last night Uncle." Jamie said to Column.
"Ah Miss Y/Sn. I am Laird Column Mackenzie. We seem to be attracting English women lately. So, what brings you to Scotland?" Column asked with a patronising tone.
"England is so boring and so is France so I wanted to go walking in Scotland. If heard stories about the Highlands and them being beautiful and their reputation precedes them. I'm not the type to sit around or care about political matters." She said with a smile, her hands clasped.
"France you say, lovely country." She couldn't tell if he was joking.
"Generally, yes."
"So you heard about stories of the highlands did you. Can you remember any specifics?"
"Umh... Well there was the vague myth about the standing stones. I forget their name but-"
"Craigh Na Dun." He butted in.
"Well yes. Thank you, I heard a story about them being magic and that drew me in. Such fantasy and myth are unknown in England. If I may say so, it is a fairly boring country." Y/n smiled slightly and Column laughed.
"You can insult England all you want!" Column laughed again. "But anyway, I'll let you sit down with Lady Broch Turach and eat." He gestured to Claire and Y/n turned around. Sitting in the seat next to Murtagh, she was opposite Claire and Jamie.
"You got off lucky, I think he might be tired. I got a full on interrogation on my first morning." Claire said with a smirk.
"Guess I'm just lucky then." Y/n began to eat and parched her thirst with whatever watered down alcohol was in front of her.
"Lass, you should slow down, don't drink to much in the morning." Murtagh warned.
"I thought you Scots were all about the alcohol. I'm just trying to be at one with the locals." Y/n laughed and downed another cup. "I'm so ready to wake up from this dream, I want to get pissed." She muttered.
"This isn't a dream lass, pace yourself." Murtagh took the cup from her and placed it down. Y/n silently thanked him in her head.
"What do I do here? I don't exactly have any transferable skills." She asked Murtagh in hushed tones.
"Well. Do you like horses?" Murtagh asked.
"Oh yes. My friend owned a paddock and raced them. That's sounds incredible posh doesn't it.." Murtagh nodded with a smirk and she laughed. "I suppose I am slightly. I played all the so called 'posh sports'. Cricket, rugby, lacrosse and hockey."
"At least you did sport. Most of the women don't even know how to run. That wouldn't suit me." Murtagh downed a cup.
"I thought you said pace yourself. Anyway, so are you saying someone like me is more to your liking?" She raised an eyebrow in a jokey way.
"Keep flattering yourself and your ego will be bigger than your insolent mouth, lassie." He joked right back.
"Oohh, my hairy friend has claws." Murtagh smiled with food in his mouth and Y/n laughed. "You're gross." She threw some food at Murtagh and he looked shocked before throwing some back at her.
"Hey now, you two. You're like four year olds." Jamie stopped the two from going any further. "You'll get thrown out at this rate." Y/n just carried on eating and sometimes kicking Murtagh or elbowing him.
"Can you teach me how to fight with a sword?" Y/n asked Murtagh as breakfast was finishing up and he laughed.
"You're a woman. You can't have a sword!" He laughed and Y/n raised an eyebrow.
"Why not? Claire seems like a tough woman, surely you taught her how to protect herself." Murtagh thought back to Angus teaching Claire where to strike, and on the same day her going into shock over killing a red coat, in cold blood.
"Well yes. But that was only because we were on the road." He finished his plate and looked at Y/n.
"Who says I won't be on the road at some point. Anyway, I, want, to, learn. So you are going to teach me." Y/n said in a demanding voice.
"You're very demanding aren't you lassie." Murtagh said and Y/n smiled. "Well, c'mon then if you're so keen." He stood up and brushed himself down.
"Wait. You actually will..."
"I've got nothing else to do, and neither do you. Plus, you should learn how to defend yourself." Murtagh said walking backward. Y/n quickly scampered after him and grabbed his arm.
"Where are we going for it?" She asked.
"We can't really have the men seeing you, so we'll say we're going for a walk or something and take training swords into the woods." Murtagh didn't look at Y/n. But she was beaming.
"I've done fencing before. So I know the gist of using a blade. Are we going to use knives as well?"
"Well let's not get ahead of ourselves with too much. We'll start with a wooden training sword and then move onto other weapons once you know how to fight with a sword." Murtagh told her as they walked out of the back door through the kitchen.
They stopped off at the stable to pick up the training swords before walking around the back of the castle through the forest. They walked for what seemed like an hour but was probably only half an hour.
"Alright. What do you know about killing someone, or fatally injuring them?" Murtagh sounded so serious that Y/n let out a slight laugh.
"You have to pierce an organ at least and the way you stab is different on the front to the back."
"Not to bad." He paused and picked up the wooden sword. "You want to strike here, just above the ribcage but to the side of the heart, then push your sword in further and get the heart. But. If you have to go in from behind," Murtagh turned her around and kept a hand on her waist. "You push it in here, to pierce the kidney or the liver or something like that. Either way. It works and makes a man bleed out." Murtagh kept his hand around her and looked down to the Castle.
"It's beautiful up here." Y/n breathed.
"I'm glad you appreciate it. Many a lady would come up here and just see mud and trees." His hand seemed to stroke her dress.
"Well, I'm not a lady." She smirked and Murtagh looked down at her.
"I never doubted that for a second." Murtagh said, receiving a punch in the gut from Y/n.
"You're not allowed to agree!" She yelled and he laughed, doubled over. "Stop being such a pussy and stand up Murtagh... Whatever your second name is." She pushed Murtagh and he stood up, suddenly taller than Y/n again.
"I'm no wimp I'll have you know. But I could pick you up with one arm." He boasted.
"Oh really?" Y/n walked away from him then said- "Wimp." Then Murtagh ran at her and even as she pushed him, he picked her up swiftly and slung her over his shoulder.
"I told you I could." Murtagh told her loudly. But Y/n kicked him in the stomach and he dropped her onto the ground. Y/n pulled him by his legs and he fell on top of her.
They were laughing and groaning because of the pain. It wasn't until Murtagh caught her gaze that they stopped. She was laying there, sprawled on the ground with her hair everywhere, a sweet smile on her lips.
But it was Y/n that put a hand on Murtagh's neck and slowly pulled him closer to her. This was strange for Murtagh, not only because of how she was a fair few years younger than him and she was very pretty. He was never desired by women, it was always anyone else in the group that they wanted. So at the very last moment out of sheer nerves he rolled next to her and looked up to the sky. They had been nose to nose and he just pulled away. Y/n didn't react, she just looked up to the sky with a slight red tinge of embarrassment.
The two stayed like that for a while. Until Y/n sat up and combed her fingers through her hair. Murtagh saw that she had eyes of a dark mahogany. They reflected the sunlight and glinted.
"Where did they find Fergus? I mean, he's French so I'm guessing they went to France." Murtagh sat up and nodded.
"Jamie and Claire went to go visit Jamie's Uncle Jared and Fergus was working for Jared. Claire took a liking to him and Fergus wanted to see Scotland. So he came home with them." Murtagh rubbed his hands together and sighed.
"Francs sounds fun, I might go there if I'm allowed to leave." She looked at Murtagh, eyebrows raised.
"Maybe I'll take you there someday." Murtagh sounded serious or at least, sincere.
"Is that a promise?"
"Nah. I said maybe. But maybe if you shut your gob for a second, you'd have a better chance." Murtagh stood up and Y/n scoffed.
"Fine. Let's make it a deal instead. If I stay here for... three months. Then you have to take me to France." Y/n looked up at Murtagh with a slight smile.
"Four months, just to show your tough enough." He raised an eyebrow.
"Three months and two weeks."
"Three months and four weeks." Murtagh suggested and Y/n stood up.
Putting out her hand, Murtagh shook it and a deal was made.