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thesassenachswiftie · 4 years ago

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Lover Chapter 11: “I Forgot That You Existed”

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Chapter 1 // Chapter 2 // Chapter 3 // Chapter 4 // Chapter 5 // Chapter 6 // Chapter 7 // Chapter 8 // Chapter 9 // Chapter 10

Summary: Claire runs into someone from her past, which becomes a catalyst for some important decisions to be made. This allows Jamie to finally introduce Claire to his family.

Notes: As always, thank you for reading. I had every intention of this being a very short chapter, but Claire had other plans and made some important life choices instead, so now it's one of the longest chapters I've written! A lot of important things are happening!There's a few instances of smut in this chapter (the first being at the very beginning) if that's something that bothers you; I'm sorry these two won't stop! I'm going to have to seperate them.

Chapter 11: “I Forgot That You Existed”

Jamie woke up to the morning light creeping into the bedroom. This time when he reached for Claire beside him she was there. He drew her naked body close to his, spooning her gently and kissing her head as she hummed sleepily. As she started to blink her eyes open she noticed his growing erection pressed against her buttocks. “Well good morning to you too, Mr. Fraser, Jamie Jr.” she greeted, pressing against him harder.

He grunted a distinctly Scottish noise of sleepy wanting and began kissing her neck. “Mmm…” he groaned. “Jamie Jr. wants to say hullo to ya”

She chuckled, rolling over to turn towards him, “He didn’t say enough to me last night?” she raised an eyebrow coyly, lifting one leg over his legs.

“Och! That was hours ago, seems he misses ya.” he said, continuing to craft the story of Jamie Jr. “He gets chilly in the morning, ya ken? Needs ya to warm him up.”

“Mmm… I’d be much obliged to help him, wouldn’t want him left out in the cold.” she positioned her hips towards his erection, ready to guide him in. He entered her, and they rocked together, eyes locked, stealing languid kisses from time to time. They moved slowly, building up their pleasure, enjoying the closeness of their bond. It was so nice, so peaceful and quiet in the early morning light of the room. The slow movement was really getting to Claire, Jamie’s pelvic bone was perfectly situated so that it was consistently rubbing against her clit, slowly pleading with her to come to the edge of her pleasure. With each stroke her breathing rate increased and she began to whimper and moan as he thrusted. Finally, she shattered around him, crying out his name into the glow of the bedroom. God, he loved the sound of his name on her lips. He saw this as an invitation to increase his speed, rolling on top of her to bring himself home easily, encouraged by her pleasure.

Claire had gotten out of the shower, dressed, and dried her hair all while Jamie was still lingering in the bed, still completely nude, a sight to behold. “Get up you lazy bones! It’s bagel time!”

Jamie grunted, “Ya tired me out last night, Sassenach.” That wasn’t surprising, after they recovered from their lovemaking session on the chaise lounge, he took her against the wall on the way to the bedroom, and they had made love a third time after settling into bed. He stretched dramatically across the bed--he was a sight to behold and was sending her a clear message with his body language--he knew exactly what he was doing. “Nice try, but my appetite is solely for Murray’s Bagels right now and I won’t be distracted until I get some. If you don’t get up soon I’m going without you!”

“Hmmpfff, at least I’d know where ya went this time.” he replied smugly.

“Actually, I could just pop out and grab them, if I call in the order before I leave it’ll just be a quick trip, I’ll be back by the time you’re out of the shower, if you ever plan on getting out of bed.” She tossed a decorative pillow that had ended up on the floor at him playfully.

“Aye Sassenach, that’s a braw plan, I don’ wanna keep ya from yer wee bagels any longer.”

“Here’s the menu” she handed her phone to him. “Let me know what you want”

“Hmm… Omelets on a bagel, that sounds… different, but delicious all the same… McCann’s Irish oatmeal, definitely want to try some of that. I always say parritch is the best way to start the day”

“McCann? Wouldn’t that be Scottish, with the ‘Mc’ at the beginning?”

“Nae, Sassenach, that one’s the Irish Gaelic.”

“Oh I didn’t realize they had ‘Mc’s’ too.”

“Spoken like a true Sassenach” he teased, rolling his eyes dramatically. “I’ll teach ya a lesson later about how to tell a Scot from an Irish man.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” She smiled knowingly. “Have you decided what you want yet?”

“Aye, I’ll have the Western Omelet on a Bagel, McCann’s Oatmeal, and… a black and white for dessert.”

“Well, you certainly worked up an appetite last night, sir, anything to drink?”

“Aye, I’ll have a cappuccino if it's no’ too much trouble.”

“None at all darling, I’ll call it in now.”

----------

The second Claire stepped into the small bagel shop, the nostalgia of the purely delicious scent of fresh baked good wafting through the air caused her mouth to water with anticipation. She was excited to eat, but she also was excited to share the experience with Jamie. The picture of him lounging naked was still fresh in her mind and she could hardly wait to get back to him. It had only been a ten-minute walk, but she was glad she ordered ahead so she didn’t have to wait any longer. She approached the counter and spoke to the young hipster at the cash register, “Pick up for Claire?”

“That’ll be $33.86.” Claire inserted her card into the small white card reader as the cashier swiveled an iPad screen around for her to add a tip and sign. “Here’s your food, the drinks will be just a moment, we like to make them fresh”

She smiled. “Not a problem.”

“Claire?” she felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle as she heard her name in a familiar, distinctly British voice that had once reminded her of her father, but now only felt cold. She hadn’t thought about Frank once this week, she’d all but forgot that he existed in recent months, her thoughts entirely occupied by Jamie. The fact that she had moved past him didn’t make it any easier to turn around and face him for the first time in months.

“Frank!” she chuckled nervously, “Long time no see!”

“What brings you into the city?”

“Went to see Wicked yesterday, thought we’d make a weekend out of it.” She wasn’t sure she should have used the pronoun we, she didn’t want Frank to react to her being with Jamie, it was a touchy subject between the two of them. Hopefully he would assume she was with Jo and not brooch the subject any further.

“Cappuccino and a Chai for Claire!” the barista shouted.

She turned back to the counter. “That’s me. Could I get a carrier for them?” The barista loaded them into a recycled cardboard carrier and handed it across the counter.

“Here you go. Have a great day!”

“Thanks, you too!”

Frank eyed her suspiciously, “Who’s the cappuccino for?” Damn. He remembered her order and apparently Jo’s as well. Jo was a vegan and of course wouldn’t order a creamy cappuccino, usually opting for black coffee instead.

“I’m not entirely sure that’s any of your business.” she replied coldly.

“It’s not that filthy Scot is it? Surely he’s not still around.”

She felt a fire rise up within her at his words. She no longer felt anything towards the man standing before her, not love, not hate, just indifference, but she did love the man waiting for her several blocks away and hearing Frank insult him so casually caused something in her to snap.”

“Jamie is more of a man than you’ll ever be.” she hissed viciously. She continued in a low, cutting voice, she didn’t intend to cause a scene, but the fury welling up inside her had to be released. “He sees me in a way that you never could, he treats me better than you ever did. We’ve made love no less than four times in the past twenty-four hours and I might just go do it again. He’s the best fuck I’ve ever had. He is more of a man than you’ll ever be in every possible way.” She knew her words were cutting deep, hurting his pride, his ego, his fragile masculinity, everything holding his identity together and she couldn’t care less. Frank had shown who he was and she had no reason to stand for his bullshit any longer. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to get this cappuccino to him before it gets cold.” On that note, she stormed out of the shop leaving him dumbfounded, an embarrassed flush on his face, eyes darting around the shop suspicious of anyone who may have heard.

She took a deep inhale of the crisp fall air to calm her nerves. The initial surge of adrenaline she felt in seeing them had mingled with something else, something empowering that was flowing through her veins. She strode the sidewalks with confidence, beaming with pride at finally telling Frank off. She thought that telling Frank about Jamie would kill her, but it didn’t. In fact, it had the opposite effect. How many days had she spent thinking about how he did her wrong? How much time had she wasted letting him live in her mind rent free? The first iteration of her and Jamie’s relationship she was constantly comparing the two, and Frank always came up short, but he was always there, lurking in the back of her mind, she couldn’t get away from him. She had been living in the shade Frank and his cronies were throwing until all her sunshine was near gone. Now, she felt free of that, she was ready to step out into the light and leave that part of her life behind her once and for all. Frank may have brought her reputation down, he may have tripped her up and left her on the ground, but he wouldn’t keep her down any longer. He taught her some hard lessons, and for that she was grateful, but she didn’t need to think about him anymore. She realized she had found herself and who she truly wanted to be and Jamie was the one who brought it out of her. She didn’t feel like she needed him to have that sense of self, more that he allowed her to be who she was unquestioningly. He drew out parts of her that she had long since hidden trying to be the ‘perfect woman’--whatever that meant. Jamie absolutely left her tongue tied and giddy. She found herself in her feelings more than Drake, but their relationship went so much deeper than the infatuation it seemed to be at the beginning. Something happened one magical night, and she couldn’t even pinpoint exactly when, but she knew with great certainty that their love was unshakeable. She would stick around for him while he was gone. She would have fought the whole town, not just Frank, for him if she had to. She would be right there for him, no matter what. He was there for her when no one else was, (except Jo, steadfast friend that they were), and she would be the same.

----------

She had gotten back to Cornelia St. quicker than she realized, lost in her thoughts and realized she had forgotten what the code to the door was--with everything that had happened in the last half hour, it was all just a blur. She had to call Jamie again for the numbers and she ascended the steps to the apartment, once again Jamie greeted her at the door. He was freshly showered and wearing just his pajama bottoms slung low on his hips and smelling strongly of some manly shower gel. His curls were still damp and his fair skin was flushed from the heat of the shower. God, he was attractive no matter what state he was in.

“Breakfast is served” she chimed as she handed him his cappuccino, walking to the dining room table to dig in.

“Thank ya, Sassenach” he kissed her, taking his bag of food from her and settling at the table to enjoy his portion.

There was so much Claire was bursting to tell him, but she didn’t know how to bring it up. She didn’t want to hide the fact that she had run into Frank, there was nothing to hide, but she didn’t want to kill her positive mood by upsetting Jamie either. She had also made two decisions on her walk: the first being that she no longer wanted to hide their relationship and the second, that she needed to move out of the house she co-owned with Frank as soon as possible. The first topic of conversation wouldn’t be difficult, but the second was more complicated. She had a feeling he wouldn’t mind moving in together under normal circumstances, but he was leaving and his apartment was owned by his sister. Jo’s apartment was almost as small as Jamie’s, but she didn’t think Jo would be as keen to let her share a bed.

First things first, she thought, sliding her phone out of her pocket with an exaggerated gesture, a coy smile on her face, holding the phone surreptitiously close to her body, glancing up to try to catch Jamie’s eye as he enjoyed his breakfast. Moments later, his phone on the table lit up. He glanced across the table curiously as he peered at the screen, a Facebook notification Claire Beauchamp sent you a relationship request.

Jamie’s face flushed with joy. “What’s this?” he inquired, raising an eyebrow. The look on his face reminded Claire of a puppy who had just gotten a new toy.

“I’m done hiding.” She declared, a proud smile on her face.

“Really?” he lit up the room with his smile, his heart felt fit to burst, it took great restraint not to dive across the table and scoop her into his arms. She nodded in affirmation. “Oh Claire! I canna tell ya how happy I am ta hear it.”

“I’m glad” she was smiling, touched by his reaction as he accepted the request, adding the words ‘In A Relationship with Claire Beauchamp’ permanently to his profile.

“What about Frank?”

“Funny you should mention that; I actually ran into him while I was out.”

“Oh Claire,” his face transformed, a look of concern on his brow and he reached across the table for her hand.

“I’m fine, I promise. Better than fine actually.” She flashed a satisfied grin, eyes twinkling with mischief. “I told him off. He called you a filthy Scot and I tore his stupid ego to pieces.” She was smirking, clearly proud of herself.

“I thank ye for defending my honor, milady.” He held her hand up, and leaned over the table to kiss it. “And I’m proud of ya for standing up to him, I know it couldna‘ve been easy. You’re a brave wee thing Claire, and ya make me so happy.” They sat in silence for a few moments, basking in the glow of their mutual feelings for one another.

“There’s one other thing” she put forward, much more hesitant than before.

“What is it, mo chridhe?”

“I have to move out of that house. Frank co-owns it and I want to cut my ties with him completely, but I’m not sure what to do, it’s been impossible to find a place of my own within my budget.”

“I could talk to Jenny about ya staying at my place while I’m gone, it’s not much, but I’m sure she’ll be happy that someone will keep the dust from gathering.”

“Really? You think she’d be ok with it?”

“I canna say for sure; my sister can be a fickle wee thing, but I’ll ask her.”

“Oh, Jamie, that would be perfect!”

----------

Regardless of what Jenny ultimately said, they decided that Claire would spend the remainder of the week at Jamie’s before he had to fly back to England on Saturday. Jamie was elated to finally properly introduce Claire to his family as his girlfriend, and had a feeling Jenny would love Claire almost as much as he did. Jenny had already been blowing up his phone since the changed relationship status earlier that morning, and before they left the AirBnB he called her and it was decided that he would bring Claire over that later night. Jenny insisted on having a proper family dinner, and when Jamie nervously broached the subject with Claire, she eagerly accepted the invitation to his great relief.

“I have met Jenny before.” she explained, recognizing his apprehension.

“Aye, but ya dinna think bringing ya home for dinner gives off ‘meet the parents’ vibes?”

“Hmm… perhaps you’re more nervous about this than I am. What kind of dirt does your sister have on you? I can’t wait to find out.” She smirked, hitting him lightly on the shoulder as they walked the city sidewalks, headed to their final destination on Jamie’s list before leaving the city. It was, of course, a carriage ride through Central Park. Claire couldn’t help but laugh at how cliché it was, but at the same time so fitting for the hopeless romantic Scotsman she’d found herself falling more and more in love with every moment.

On the carriage ride, Jamie filled Claire in on all the members of his family, although she already felt she knew them he spoke of them so often. She listened intently however, she’d always loved the way he spoke of his family, and he seemed nervous about how the evening would go and she knew talking about it would help ease him. He wanted everything to go smoothly, he knew Claire was special and he wanted Jenny to recognize it too. He had every intention of spending the rest of his life with her and that process would be a lot easier if Jenny welcomed her into the family wholeheartedly.

----------

They spent most of the train ride home snuggled together, checking the myriad of notifications on their phones. Most were some iteration of the expression “What?!?” or eye emojis imploring for more information. Jamie’s thread had a few borderline lewd comments, and Claire’s had a few angry reacts from Frank’s crowd mixed in with the likes and ‘wow’ reactions. Jamie had a few “pics or it didn’t happen” comments and he asked Claire for permission to post the selfie they had taken that weekend. Gaining her consent, he uploaded the picture to Instagram with the caption: Wonderful weekend in the city with my lass ❤️ . He shared it to Facebook as well, tagging her. She felt that reoccurring swarm of butterflies again as she opened the notification and read his caption, musing on the words my lass with that tiny red heart. He really did make her feel like a teenager again, every little expression of love making her giddy. It didn’t matter who thought poorly of their relationship, they couldn’t possibly understand and wouldn’t try. Nothing could crush her spirits now, their love was too strong, too powerful for her to care anymore. Their love was a solid anchor holding fast, neither wind nor waves could sweep them away into darkness so long as they had each other. It seemed there was no storm strong enough to sweep them away.

They arrived back at the train station on Long Island in the early afternoon; Jamie followed Claire back to her house so she could gather what she needed for the week. Jamie parked his car behind hers in the driveway and followed her in through the front door. It was strange that he hadn’t been here since the night they met, New Year’s Eve nearly a year ago. The house had been decorated extravagantly then, and now looked stark and barren by comparison. There didn’t seem to be any personal touches in the decor, it looked more like a home you’d see in a magazine or a music video.

“Are you sure it’s ok for me to be here?” he whispered reverently, as if they had just stepped into a mausoleum and not a large suburban foyer.

“Of course, it is my house after all. At least half mine, and Frank hasn’t been here in months, he packed all his things and left for good it seems.”

“Is there still a bar downstairs?” he asked smoothly.

“It’s a little early for a drink, isn’t it Mr. Fraser? But yes, it’s still there, not as well stocked as it was when you were last here.” It had just dawned on Claire that Jamie hadn’t been here since the night they met. “Let’s have a look, shall we?” she said coyly as she led him to the finished basement.

“This is where we met.” she said, stating the obvious.

“I see ya have bar stools now.”

“Yes, though I can’t say I use them much,” she replied, resigned to the fact that her house was an empty shell of what it could have been.

“Still sitting on the bar then, Ms. Beauchamp?”

“Why, is that how you like your women?” She eyed him flirtatiously, backing into the bar and hoisting herself up.

“My women and my whiskey” he replied, approaching her and beginning to kiss her neck. “Mmm, ya looked so bonny that night, yer wee curls piled atop your head like a crown. Yer gorgeous legs dangling off the bar” speaking between kisses, he ran his hands up her thigh, wishing they were as bare as they had been that night, instead of denim clad as they were now. “I ken I wanted ya then, Claire, imagined running my hand up that dress of yours.” he pantomimed exactly what he had wanted to do, landing his palm on her fully clothed crotch.

Claire moaned, feeling warmer and warmer underneath his hand, also beginning to silently curse the fact that she’d worn jeans. “I wanted you then too, I know I shouldn’t have, but when I saw those hands around that whiskey glass,” she took his hand, the one that wasn’t on her jeans, to her mouth and sucked lightly on his index finger. “I couldn’t help but imagine what they’d feel like on my body.”

“Aye? Whereabouts on yer body”

She moaned again, as restrictive as her jeans were starting to feel, there was something to be said about the friction the fabric was creating between his fingers and the center of her pleasure. “Mmm… right about where they are now.” she sighed again, as he caressed in just the right spot “only in my imagination, we weren’t wearing quite as much”

“Aye, mine too, but I think that can be arranged.” he unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans, helping her wiggle out of them. Freed from her denim cage she spread her legs wide on the edge of the bar. “Christ Claire, this is better than I ever could have imagined. He pulled her shirt over her head, and then his own, and removed his own jeans before returning his mouth to her skin. Her position atop the bar brought her breasts right to his eye level, spilling out of a lacy green bra in perfect contrast to her milky skin. He brought his palms to them, massaging them and drawing them close as he planted kisses along her neck. “Dija imagine my hands here, Sassenach?”

“Mmm… yes.” He continued his trail of kisses, moving down her breasts, sucking her nipples through the thin fabric as she continued to whimper and moan. She had been running her fingers through his hair, tugging at the curls, and removed one hand to unclasp her bra behind her back, freeing her breasts for him to devour with his lips and tongue, which he did eagerly. He moved one hand from her breast down her torso, and thrust it into the waistband of her matching lacy panties.

“And ye definitely imagined my hand here, aye?” he asked, stroking her clit vigorously.

“Yes! Jamie!” she cried out, panting with need and desire. He continued to stroke small circles around that bundle of nerves until she was begging for more, “Please, Jamie” she gasped.

“Mmmm, what?” he inquired, clearly enjoying teasing her.

“I want you inside me,” she moaned, pulling at the waistband of his boxer briefs.

“No.” he replied, brushing her hand aside.

“No?” she inquired, a bit wounded, hoping she’d misheard.

“No mo nighean donn,” he responded, thrusting a finger inside her as she gasped, his thumb taking over the dexterous work of stroking her clit, “I want ta watch you.”

All Claire could do was moan in response, and he continued pleasuring her, watching intently for every flinch of her face, enjoying every whimper that escaped her swollen lips. He wanted to be able to picture her exactly like this when he was gone, gasping his name in the low light. He took it all in as he finally brought her over the edge of her pleasure, the way her wild curls flew back as she cried out his name in pure, orgasmic bliss. This is the picture he wanted of her always in his mind during their time apart--he committed every inch of her to memory as he gently nursed her through the aftershocks of her orgasm.

----------

The atmosphere of the Murray house was warm and inviting. The smell of something delicious and savory wafted through the air. It was a stark contrast to the home Claire had just left behind. Where her walls were bare and unpainted, the walls of the foyer were covered in a cornflower blue damask wallpaper, scuffed and scratched in places, cluttered with picture frames and children's drawings taped on askew at intervals. Where Claire’s honey colored faux wood floors were neat, polished and clutter-free, the dark wooden floorboards of the front hall of their farmhouse was rustically weathered with age, had piles of shoes spilling over near the door and stray toys along the baseboards. Deafening silence awaited Claire upon her arrival home each night, but here, the sounds of life could be heard everywhere as if the walls themselves were vibrating with it. Laughter of children could be heard from somewhere far upstairs, or perhaps downstairs? Claire couldn’t tell, but it was a beautiful sound to her after living in silence for so long.

“Jenny, Ian, we’re here!” Jamie shouted through the house.

“Uncle Jamieeeee!” a small girl with brown pigtails came bounding through the hallway, throwing herself at him, followed instantly by two boys, one around middle school age, the other quite a bit younger, lingering around his legs, vying for his attention.

“Maggie, Michael, Young Jamie! Och! I’ve only been gone a wee couple a days!”

“Uncle Jamie! Ma says if I do all my schoolwork this week we can play video games all night Friday night!”

“Uncle Jamie, come look at the picture I drawed!”

“Uncle Jamie, can we play race car drivers?”

Jamie felt himself being pulled into the vortex of the house, and Claire stood awkwardly in the small foyer, unsure of what to do. Another small little girl had appeared, younger than the first, wide-eyed and staring at Claire from a doorway down the hall. She tugged on her uncle’s shirt. “What is it Kitty my girl?” Claire didn’t hear her reply, but she must have elicited that it was confidential information, because Jamie knelt down on one knee and she cupped her tiny hands around his ear to whisper into them.

“Who’s that pretty lady?” she whispered, softly enough that only Jamie could hear; Claire could only see the smile that stretched across his whole face in reaction, catching her eye across the hall.

“Kids, I’d like ya to meet Miss Claire.” he announced, reaching out his hand to beckon her towards them. The sight made Claire’s breath catch briefly, and for a moment, there were no children, no toys strewn about, no scratches in the wallpaper. Just Jamie, blue eyes locked on hers, down on one knee, holding her left hand. She couldn’t help but to imagine him in this exact position, asking her to spend the rest of their lives together and that thought didn’t scare her anymore. In fact, it was something she hoped for in the depths of her heart. She realized she’d been standing there gawking at him for a few moments too long after he’d introduced her and broke contact to look at all the children Jamie had just introduced, having already forgotten their names, save young Jamie which was easy to remember for obvious reasons.

“Pleased to meet all of you” she smiled warmly at the children, “thank you for allowing me into your home.” The littlest girl tucked herself bashfully behind her uncle’s now-standing legs, peering out from behind them to smile at Claire.

The little girl with the pigtails, evidently less shy, approached Claire and extended her hand, “Pleased to meet you too” she said, mimicking Claire’s tone as best she could as Claire accepted her hand shake. “You’re very pretty. Are you Uncle Jamie’s girlfriend?” Claire couldn’t help but blush and smile at the question, turning to Jamie, she saw his face had a similar expression. She silently asked his permission to answer the question and he gave a subtle nod of assent.

“Yes, yes I am” she said. Saying it out loud felt even more refreshing than updating her Facebook status earlier had made her feel. That giddy teenager feeling was once again at the forefront of her conscience, giving her a solid foundation and the courage to face whatever the days, weeks, and months ahead of her would bring.

They followed the children into a small playroom cluttered with every kind of toy imaginable. Colorful drawers and large shelves showed an attempt at organization, but there seemed to be no system the children were capable of following and toys, books, games and dress up clothes were strewn about throughout the room. The children vied for their Uncle’s attention, and those who were less shy included Claire, eager to show all their favorite toys and explain their imagined lives to someone new.

“Kid’s! Wash yer hands, it’s time for supper!” Jenny’s voice bellowed from the kitchen. Jamie helped encourage the children to heed their mother, delicately playing both sides to convince them how awful their mother would be if they didn’t, simultaneously making it a competition to see who could get their hands the cleanest. Claire played along as best she could, admiring how good Jamie was with the children. He would make a great father someday. Picturing her with his own brood of red-headed children filled her heart with a radiant joy that traveled through her chest, and deep into her gut. Perhaps it was too soon to think about it, but she imagined herself carrying his children, giving him that gift, the warm smile he would have at becoming a father. He could see him tossing a giggling toddler in the air, kissing boo-boos, wiping away tears, reading bedtime stories. The thought was enough to bring her to tears, as she stood there observing him lost in a daydream, a goofy smile plastered on her face, blushing at how far she’d let her thoughts carry her away, hoping her glass face wouldn’t give away too much.

They headed into the dining room and settled at the Murray’s large dining room table. A man with a fair complexion and kind eyes limped into the room with the help of a cane held in one hand, carrying a child who couldn’t have been more than a year old in his other arm. He lifted her into a high chair beside the head of the table.

“Claire, this is my best friend and brother-in-law, Ian, and of course, wee Janet.” Jamie said, gesturing towards Ian with one hand and using the other to tousle the baby’s fine hair.

Claire rose from her seat and extended a hand to Ian. “Pleased to meet both of you.”

“Welcome, Claire!” Ian said, taking her hand in both of his and shaking it warmly “So glad ta finally meet the lass responsible for the goofy smile that’s been plastered on Jamie’s face for some time!” he teased.

“Och! ‘twas worse than when ya started dating my sister, need I remind you! Were practically running into the walls yer heid was so far up in tha clouds.” Jamie retorted good-humoredly.

Claire was loving every moment spent inside the walls of the Murray household. The love of family seemed to spring out of the very woodwork of the happy home and Claire was so glad to know that Jamie had such a large and loving family to spend time with when he was so far from home. She liked Ian immediately, and was also pleased that Jamie had such an amiable best friend he could be himself around--and one who got to join his family to boot! The light-hearted and loving atmosphere gave her a warm feeling, like the kind she got watching cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies. She felt wistful that she had never really had such a sense of family in her life. She never really knew what she was missing, but now that she saw it for herself, it was something she desperately wanted for herself and she hoped the Murray’s wouldn’t mind taking her in as one of their own so she could enjoy this feeling again and again.

A short, dark haired woman with severe features and piercing eyes walked into the room, carrying a large roast which she placed in front of Ian to carve. Claire was surprised at how small Jenny was, she hadn’t noticed it as much when they were both seated at young Ian’s football game, and the way her voice bellowed through the house calling for her children, she had imagined her to be much larger. Her presence certainly commanded more space than her stature would imply. Jamie stood up as Jenny entered, “Jenny, you remember Claire, from young Ian’s football game, right?” He placed his hand on the small Claire’s back, proudly beaming as he presented the love of his life to his dear sister.

“Nice to see ya again Claire, glad my brother’s finally stopped hiding ya away in the garage.” she raised an eyebrow and Claire wasn’t sure what to make of the expression.

“Can I help you with anything?” Claire asked, she was nervous and desperately wanted to make a good impression on Jenny.

“Aye, why don’t ya come help me carry the sides in.” Claire caught Jamie’s eye, and he gave her silent reassurance that she’d be alright, and she followed Jenny into the kitchen.

“So yer the lass who spent naer every night this summer in my brother’s flat without so much as a word from him about ya.”

“It was--I--” Claire hesitated, wondering how best to explain herself.

Jenny, however, continued on, “It’s not any of my business what my brother decides to do, or who he decides to entertain; that’s his space and as long as he keeps his intimate relations out in the garage and away from my children I’m fine with it. I’m sure ya have yer reasons for hiding away, and I don’t ken enough about ya to ken if they’re honorable or not, but I do ken ya make my brathair happier than I’ve seen him in a long time, and I’m grateful for that.” Claire smiled in response to that, ready to respond that Jamie made her just as happy, if not more, but Jenny wasn’t finished. “I also ken something happened last month that makes me feel inclined not tae trust ya so much. He tried to hide it--well enough that the bairns didn’t notice, but I ken my brathair and he was a shell of a man for near on a month. It seems Jamie’s willing to forgive ya and I’m inclined ta do the same, but if ya ever hurt him again I won’t be so forgiving. I trust my brathair’s judgement and I wanna trust you as well Claire, but I’m afeard yer gonna have ta prove yerself.”

Claire paused a moment to make sure Jenny was done with her speech before responding. “Jenny, I swear to you, Jamie has my whole heart. I definitely made more than a few mistakes in our relationship but all they did was lead me to realize that Jamie and I truly belong together. We have something deep and strange between us that I can’t explain, it’s like we were destined to be together. I never really believed in a higher power before I met Jamie, but now I feel as though there must be something out there, because it’s like some unseen hand is drawing us together against all odds. Jenny I swear to you, I will never hurt your brother again, I’d only be hurting myself if I did. I’m all in, and I don’t expect you to trust me right away, but I hope in time, you’ll see the truth of my words.”

“Aye, I hope so too” Jenny gave Claire a compassionate smile and handed her a truly large bowl of mashed potatoes. “Here, you can carry these in for me, thanks fer yer help.”

“Thank you Jenny, I’m so glad Jamie has such a wonderful family who cares so much about him.”

“Och, ‘tis what family’s for. Now come on, let’s eat.”

End Note: Ok, I know the order of Jenny's children is all messed up, but young Ian had to play football and everyone is too young for the Murray kids to be all grown. It's fine, who can really keep them all straight anyway? Don't @ me.

#lover #outlander #outlander fanfiction #outlander fanfic #outlander fic #jamie x claire #jamie fraser #claire beauchamp #frank randall #jenny murray #ian murray #inspired by taylor swift #fuck frank #i forgot that you existed #smut #fluff

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renee-writer · 4 years ago

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The Diary of Life Chapter 7 The Historian

Jamie keeps a lighter schedule then he is used to over the next week. His healing arm won’t allow him to lift weights or work out in the gym. His comprise is running and bike riding around the vast estate.

Hi is coming back from a ten mile run, when he sees a unknown car parked in front. A dark haired man with glasses steps out.

“James Fraser, I am Frank Randall. I believe Claire Beauchamp told you of me?”

“Aye. It is Jamie. Forgive me, Mr. Randall but do we have an appointment?”

“No, I am sorry for the intrusion. I discovered some interesting things about this estate and the historian in me was keen to discuss them with you.”

“Come in Mr. Randall. I am just coming back from a run so I will see you into the library and, then if you will excuse me, I will join you after a shower.”

“That is fine Jamie. You may call me Frank.”

“Thank you Frank.” He sees him into the house and library. That should keep the historian occupied, he thinks, long enough for a quick shower. Frank watches him walk away with a sigh. He loves Theo and adores Claire but, he isn’t blind. Jamie Fraser is a beautiful man.

He returns fifteen minutes later. “So Frank, tell me what you found out. I only know that she is a Fraser/Murray house. The last know Murray died and it was left to me.”

“She was built in 1717 by a Brian Fraser for his wife Ellen. The land was gifted to him from his father Lord Lovat. This was after the first upraising. Now around the time of the second, the house changed hands, gifted to a child, Jamie Murray the namesake of his Uncle, Jamie Fraser. Meant to keep it in the family.” He hands him a piece of paper, a copy of the deed of session.

After this the details get fuzzy. We know that this estate was spared the worst if the damage done to Scotland in the aftermath of the second upraising. This tells up that she was keep out of it. Jamie and his wife disappeared around this time. His sister, Janet, moved to North Carolina but that is all we know of her. She had two daughters. One became a nun. The other was lost in childbed along with the baby. Her son’s seemed to fair better. We know her youngest also went to North Carolina but both mum and son seemed to have been swallowed up in the backcountry.”

“Thank you Frank. It is more then I knew before.”

“A few more things. Seems the original Jamie got into an altercation with a Redcoat over his wife. Was temporally jailed. The Redcoat, Jack Randall, was killed in a cow attack.”

“A coo attack!” Jamie giggles.

“Yes. As unlikely as that sounds. Seems the bloke was trampled.”

“Randall? Any relation?”

“Through his brother Alex. He married a Mary Hawkins, a sweet English lass. They lived in England away from his scandalous brother. I prefer Scotland. The sense of history is deeper.”

“Aye tis. I would appreciate it if you could do some more digging. See if there are any living Murray relations in America. My own sister Jenny married into the clan but a different branch, ones that had also settled in France. That, by the way, is where the original Jamie Fraser and his wife, Elizabeth settled.”

“Ah, why it was hard to find them.”

“Aye, I have both Jenny and Elizabeth’s diaries. There was some conflict between them.”

“I will be happy to investigate some more. You are welcome to go through the archives and records in the university. It may help you in your search. Lot’s of Fraser’s mentioned.”

“Thank you. I might. Wasn’t intending to stay this long but might be here longer.”

“Claire will be happy to hear that.” His hand goes to his mouth, “Oops, I have broke a confidence between Theo and his sister. You won’t tell will you Jamie?”

“No.” The men stand as Frank prepares to leave. “Claire really discusses me with her brother?”

“Yes.” Said with a smile as he leaves. Jamie returns it. Does Claire like him too?

He settles into one of the big leather chairs and returns to Janet’s diary.

‘’My brother returned home with a Sassanach bride! How could he bring an English woman into my home?

She has been here a week and I believe her a witch. She makes Jamie eat green things, like a blasted coo, do a strange thing called brushing teeth, and, if that wasn’t enough, she has delivered four bairns and all lived! Unheard of! I won’t let wee Jamie near her. Jamie is mad at me but he is my son.

She has done it now! The crazy witch hit a red back! Not done. They took Jamie away. She left soon after to secure his release. Good riddance.

I hear my brother and that woman are in France. Jamie is working on securing a pardon. He won’t be welcome back here unless he leaves the witch there. Ian calls me hard headed but I don’t care. She won’t be back in my house!

I found the deed to Lallybroch today. It was signed over to wee Jamie. Jamie left a note saying he wished it kept in the family. I pray he is well and happy.

My children hate me. They do. My baby is moving to the colonies. Says he can’t stand my hate and bitterness anymore. Wee Jamie told me that after his father passed, I won’t be allowed to live in the main house anymore.

My Ian died today. I wasn’t allowed in the room with him. Our love has been poisoned by my hatred of that woman. He and Jamie were best friends. He blamed me. They all did. I was just trying to see them safe. After the funeral, I will have to move to a croft on the property.

I am leaving Scotland. There is nothing here for me anymore. Ian write me from North Carolina. He has twins and requests my help.”

Jamie sits it aside with a frown. Sad what hate and fear caused in her life. Life is to short for that. On that note, he decides to invite Claire to dinner. He needs to see what she feels for him.

#my writing #outlander fanfic #the diary of life #the Historian #jamie and claire #cannon divergence #modern au #outlander fandom

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imagineclaireandjamie · 5 years ago

Note

Is there a Tagalong update on the horizon? I LOVE LOVE LOVE that story so much and can‘t wait for Jamie and Claire to reunite, for Fergus to be surrounded by Mother Claire AND Milord again, for Jamie to meet Bree, for the Murrays to see Jamie smiling again....I truly can‘t wait! 💕💕

Received this when the next update was already queued, haha. I hope you enjoy the various reunions contained herein. There’s only one more chapter and then the epilogue to go. ~ Mod Lenny

The Tagalong - Part Twenty-Two

Fergus disobeys Jamie’s order to return to Lallybroch and instead follows them all the way to Craigh na Dun, inadvertently following Claire through the stones.

Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight, Part Nine, Part Ten, Part Eleven, Part Twelve, Part Thirteen, Part Fourteen, Part Fifteen, Part Sixteen, Part Seventeen, Part Eighteen, Part Nineteen, Part Twenty, Part Twenty-One

***********************************************************

Fergus ran up the road to meet them as they approached Lallybroch, the three of them having been spotted by Young Jamie as he played in the yard.

“Mother Claire!” Fergus cried as he ran.

Brianna began screeching with delight, forcing Claire to put her down so she could wave her arms and toddle toward him. Fergus swept her up and let her wrap her chubby arms around his neck.

“Fergus,” Claire gasped, dropping to her knees when she reached him so she could look him over. “You’re alright? Oh, don’t you ever scare me like that again!” She clutched him to her, muffling Brianna’s excited cries of, “Gus! Found Gus!”

“Mother Claire, Milord is alive!” he exclaimed. “He did not die at Culloden. He is here!”

Claire pulled back, her hands shaking on Fergus’ shoulders as the color drained from her face.

“Mrs. Claire?” Roger touched her arm, uncertain but reassured by Fergus’ presence and excitement. “Are ye alright, Mrs. Claire? Who is it didna die?”

“Claire Fraser,” Jenny said, walking slowly up the road from the yard, an infant in her arms. “It’s about time ye made yer way back here,” she said with a warmth that both scolded and soothed.

Claire stood on trembling legs and took the few steps to Jenny, disbelief and fear etched on her face.

“The lad speaks true,” Jenny assured her. “It’s a tale best told inside wi’ a dram in yer hand to steady ye. Jamie and Fergus have told us about what happened to the pair of you as well—yer touchin’ the stones at the fairy hill. I’ve half a mind to skelp ye for no havin’ told us before ye and Jamie left. But as ye bade us plant those potatoes and as they’re a reason we’ve no starved these last two years, I’ll consider us even.”

“Jamie?” Claire whispered, trapped in a fog while everyone else around her seemed to move unimpeded. “He’s…”

“Ye’ll no see him till nightfall,” Jenny warned. “It’s no safe for him to be about but he’s itchin’ to see ye and to meet the bairn. He’s no alone, either,” she hinted.

Claire blinked and reached to take Brianna from Fergus, clinging to the bit of Jamie that had grounded her every day since their parting.

“Mama, found Gus. Home, pease?” Brianna said, patting Claire’s cheek in triumph.

Claire caught the small hand and kissed the delicate fingers. “This is home now,” Claire explained with tears in her eyes. “And this is your Auntie Jenny.” Claire carried Brianna to Jenny who laughed as Brianna peered and frowned at her, deciding what to make of the stranger before her.

“Baby,” Brianna said at last, pointing to the slumbering infant in Jenny’s arms.

“Aye, lass. This is Michael. He’s one of yer cousins. Ye’ve a few more who’d like to meet ye and play wi’ ye.”

“Roger come?” Brianna asked, leaning over to look around Claire’s arm.

“Yes, Bree. Roger’s going to stay with us now. Jenny, this is Roger Wakefield.”

“The lad ye told us of, Fergus?”

“Oui. I knew Mother Claire would find him,” Fergus replied, nudging Roger’s shoulder.

Roger looked more comfortable than he had since Claire first found him but there was also a tired resignation in the way he carried his shoulders.

“Well, ye seem to be about the age of my young Jamie. He’s tendin’ the horses just now. Fergus, can ye take Roger and the two of ye help wee Jamie wi’ his chores?” Jenny suggested.

“Horsie? Mama, I wanna see horsie,” Brianna said, squirming to get down.

“I’ve a wee cheetie in the house needs yer attentions, a nighean,” Jenny told Brianna, successfully distracting her.

Claire watched Fergus lead Roger away while she fell into step with Jenny.

“Jenny, if I’d known…”

“I ken well enough, Claire,” Jenny stopped her. “Ye came all this way for Fergus. I ken ye’d have done as much as that or more for Jamie did ye ken he’d lived. There’s naught to do now but share yer stories, shed yer tears, and move forward.”

***********************************************************

Brianna played on the kitchen floor with Maggie and Kitty while Claire helped Jenny bathe the twins. The three girls had taken to one another quickly, Maggie taking charge, Kitty enjoying no longer being the littlest and getting to help someone smaller, Brianna laughing at having playmates nearer her own age for a change.

“She’s the spit of Jamie,” Jenny remarked, amazement in her voice as she lay wee Janet down on a fresh clout.

“In temper as well as appearance,” Claire quipped nervously. She settled Michael into the lukewarm water, keeping tight hold as he flailed and splashed in surprise. It hadn’t been so long ago that Brianna fit in a washtub so small. Seeing the twins only a few months old drove home just how much Brianna had grown.

“Fergus said ye’d called her Brianna as it was what Jamie wanted?”

“The last thing I promised him was that I’d call the baby Brian for your father. She’s Brianna Ellen. Beauchamp, till now. Now I suppose she can be called Fraser.”

“Brianna Ellen Beauchamp Fraser should do nicely. Fergus says he goes by Beauchamp now too.” Swaddled and exhausted from the ordeal of being bathed, wee Janet was asleep before her mother lifted her to place her in a crate lined with blankets like a nest. Jenny pulled out another fresh clout and prepared for Michael’s exit from the bath. “And what of the other one? Roger?”

“His parents died in the war—the war where I first served as a nurse, where I learned most of what I know of healing,” Claire explained. “He was adopted by his mother’s uncle, Reverend Wakefield. Roger took his name but he was originally a Mackenzie.”

“Think he’ll wish to go by Mackenzie again? Like to find more friends ‘round here with that name than Wakefield,” Jenny noted.

“Best leave it to him, poor thing. I wish I could’ve taken him back before coming for Fergus, but I couldn’t risk it,” Claire lamented, handing a dripping Michael to Jenny.

“And will ye be able to return the lad now ye found Fergus? Can ye return him to his father and come back here to us… to stay?”

Claire wiped her wet hands on a rag, unable to look at Jenny. Instead, her attention was on Brianna, Maggie, and Kitty. Maggie had an empty bowl in her hands and a spoon and was mixing the air inside, pausing to give Kitty and Brianna tastes of whatever she was concocting. Kitty and Brianna dutifully made noises of approval and nodded encouragement.

“No,” Claire said quietly. “That last trip through to get here… it was too close. And I won’t send Roger through alone.”

“I’m no ashamed to say I’m glad of it for my part, though I’ll pray for the lad and his poor father,” Jenny admitted, settling Michael into the crate beside wee Janet.

“Even though it’s four more mouths to feed when resources are already tight?”

“There’s hands attached to those mouths and there’s somethin’ to be said for the comfort the lot of ye bring, as well. The change in Jamie just seein’ Fergus again and hearin’ of you and the wee lass… I’d gladly give ye some of the food from my plate as thanks for seein’ Jamie smilin’ again.”

“You don’t think he’s… You’re sure he’ll be glad I’m here?”

Jenny couldn’t help but laugh at Claire’s self-doubt, chasing some of it away.

“If it were possible for Jamie to command the heavens, he’d speed the sun along to bring the nightfall sooner that he might see ye now,” Jenny assured Claire.

***********************************************************

It was just Jenny, Claire, and Ian in the kitchen as darkness fell.

Brianna had fallen asleep in Claire’s lap, cheek pressed to Claire’s chest. Claire’s arms held her close, her chin resting on Brianna’s fiery curls and her gaze locked on the fire burning low in the hearth as she waited.

Jenny and Ian had ushered the other children through their suppers and up to bed, Fergus pulling Roger away and reassuring him that everything would be clearer in the morning.

Claire didn’t notice when Ian disappeared and Jenny started watching her more closely, eventually rising and slipping out of the kitchen for her own bed. She just continued to watch as the flames in the hearth shrank, marking the passing time.

“Sassenach?” Jamie’s voice came in a scratchy whisper and her head jerked up.

He was standing in the doorway, a worn, knitted cap clutched in his hands. He looked weary but alert, his posture stooped and stiff. His clothes appeared to be relatively clean, a little dusty and rumpled but recently mended. His hair was shorter than she remembered, the ends only just beginning to curl over his ears and at the nape of his neck. And his eyes shone as they locked on her.

“Jamie,” Claire gasped. She held Brianna tight against her chest as she started to her feet and dashed across the room into Jamie’s arms. “You’re alive,” she wept. “You’re really alive.”

“And ye’re here,” he whispered, holding her with trembling arms and crying into her hair. “Jenny said ye’d come and Fergus… But I couldna let myself hope they were right.”

Brianna began to squirm between them, the activity and tight quarters rousing her from sleep. Claire stepped back, Jamie’s grip on her loosening but he kept his hands on her arms, unwilling to lose contact with her altogether.

Brianna blinked up at Claire, her face still slack with exhaustion. “Mama?”

“Hi, sweetheart. It’s alright,” she soothed, watching as Brianna blinked slowly, her eyelids reluctantly rising. “Mama’s here… and so’s Daddy,” she added with a soft glance at Jamie.

Brianna’s eyes followed her mother’s until she met Jamie’s wide and wondering gaze.

“Da,” he said, quietly. “I’m yer Da.”

“Da?” Brianna mimicked before yawning and rubbing her face against Claire’s collarbone.

“Aye. Yer Da.” He lifted a shaking finger to brush Brianna’s hair back from her face where the ends tickled her cheek. She sighed and her eyes drifted closed once more, content.

Claire dipped her head to press a kiss to the top of her daughter’s head—an act of habit for Claire, an act that mesmerized Jamie.

“She’s beautiful, Claire,” he murmured.

“You can hold her,” Claire offered, shifting her hold of Brianna to keep from disturbing her as the warm seal between their bodies broke for the gentle transfer. She focused on Brianna, carefully ignoring Jamie’s terrified and yearning expression.

Brianna didn’t stir as her limp body settled against Jamie’s, her cheek resting against his chest in a way that meant he had to crane his neck to look down at her.

She looked so small in Jamie’s arms. Claire had to clear her throat at the lump that formed when she thought of how much smaller Brianna had once been and what she might have looked like then in his large, strong hands… that someone so big and broad could have played a role in creating someone so small and delicate.

Jamie looked up from their daughter at last and caught Claire watching him, tears shining in both their eyes.

“I love you,” she told him. A tear slid loose down her cheek at the relieved smile that played across his lips.

“I love ye too, Claire. I dinna ken as I could ever stop, did I want to—which I don’t. Somehow, I’ve more love for ye now than I did before, and no just for her sake,” he said, nodding at Brianna and watching as she sucked the inside of her cheek while she slept.

Claire hummed her agreement, stepping closer and rising on her toes, catching him by surprise with a kiss when he looked up again.

It was gentler than her last memories, the ones seared into her brain and her body—a kiss filled with the promise of time stretching out before them, uncertain in everything but its existence. Questions of what would come next fled from them, retreating into that slowly expanding future and leaving them alone with one another and the night.

“Let’s put her to bed,” Claire suggested. She felt Jamie nod, his forehead rocking against hers. “Do you think it’ll be safe for you to sleep upstairs tonight?”

“Aye,” he murmured, breath caressing her cheek. “Though… I dinna ken as I’ll be able to sleep at all tonight.” There was a teasing edge to his voice that sent a shiver of desire down Claire’s spine, but the edge softened as he added, “I’m afraid if I go to sleep, I’ll wake and find it’s been a dream.

“Me too,” she confessed, slipping her hand into his and giving it a squeeze. “I might need you to pinch me to make sure it’s all real.”

The chuckle that rumbled through his chest was very real. Turning back to the door and with a tight hold on his wife and daughter, Jamie silently led Claire out of the kitchen and toward the stairs.

#Anonymous #;mod lenny #the tagalong au #fergus through the stones au #featuring: fergus #featuring: bree #featuring: roger #featuring: jenny #featuring: ian #canon divergence au

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hrh-selene-r · 5 years ago

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Adam Driver Tag challenge!

Tagged by the wonderful @adumbdryer and @wayward-rose 🥰 Thank you & Mucho love!!

When did/What was your first film in which you discovered Adam?

I saw him for the first time in “What if” back in 2013 or 2014. Honestly, I saw if to see Daniel Radcliffe and was wowed by how good this movie was as a rom-com ish. Then I saw him again in Star Wars and I didn’t recognize him, I didn’t watch GIRLS until afterwards

Do you remember what your first impression was? What was it?

He was a good actor. His character Allan was such an obnoxious asshole sometimes thou, so I wanted to knee him in the nuts. 😒

Favorite Adam Driver movie?

Ummmm........It depends on my mood. If I want an easy going movie I’ll watch Logan lucky, or Paterson. Before I leave you’d a good time too. I’ll watch Hungry Hearts if I’m in the mood for drama. Marriage Story is so good, but it’s one of those movies you don’t watch often. I’ll watch Blakkklansman once in a while, The man who killed Don Quijote is gorgeous and fun in its surrealism, but if I just want white noise with Adam sprinkled into it, I’ll put on Girls.

Favorite Adam Driver character?

Phillip Altman | Clyde Logan | Adam Sackler | Kylo TIE....I cant decide...Maybe Phillip or Clyde are top running.

Least favorite Adam Driver character?

Ummm maybe Allan from “what if” because I still wanna knee him in the testicles sometimes, he just needs to back up. Or it’s Jamie Massey from “while we’re young” basically he’s self serving and a narcissist. But you can say that that’s part of youth too.

Favorite SNL skit?

What can I say this man is SNL GOLD!!

I know everyone’s probably said this but, I like the career day skit ‘cause he’s old, campy and hilarious. He chewing scenery in the best way. I LOVE the BK Joe ad and how realistic he acts (like I think I’ve met people from Long Island like this) 😆. So those two are tied for first place. I also like the ketchup bottle marriage skit cause it’s pure SNL goofyness, and I can’t forget about the undercover Boss himself, Kylo Ren and Matt the Radar technician☺️. But I have to say the medieval times skit does things to me 😏. Science room was good too, as was the social puppeteering PSA, but no one mentions Dr. Rockhard and the idea of Adam playing a porn star...just saying.

Least favorite SNL skit?

The second undercover boss skit, I think that maybe it was funny on paper, but it wasn’t that funny to me. It was missing something.

Favorite Adam Driver hairstyle?

I like his hair long, like Girls season 6/ Star Wars the Last Jedi, it just frames his face really well, but if he wants it short, I love the layers he had on This is Where I Leave you. He looks good either way and I could go with facial hair or no. He even looks good in a mustache in Don Quijote.

Least favorite Adam Driver movie?

Ummmmmm........I wanna say the Dead don’t die, but I laughed and it’s a comedy...plus Adam out deadpanned Bill Murray, and that’s an accomplishment. So I’m gonna day Lincoln ‘cause god damn the dialogue made the movie feel eternal. Like I fell asleep and so did my sister.

On a scale of 1-10, how much do you like him?

As an actor a solid 8.5 maybe a nine in a great movie. He’ll be a 10 when he’s able to tell a full story just with his eyes, he’s not quite there yet, but he’s close. As a person, I guess 4 or 6 based on his non profit and interviews, like I don’t know the guys so I can’t say for sure, but he looks like a cool dude.

Do you think he’s a good actor?

Oh hell yes! He’s one of my favorite actors working so I always like to see the material and how he works with the script; granted. It’s not always a good script.

Do you think he’ll ever win an Oscar?

Unpopular opinion: I wasn’t wowed by Joker, I think it was ok, and that Adam got robbed. It’s easy to make an mental health patient’s turn to violence and nihilism engaging, but it’s not easy to turn a man going through a divorce into and engaging story, because it’s something everyone goes through and it’s not that exciting, but he made it sad and relatable, and ultimately the movie doesn’t vilify anyone.

TLDR: Adam was robbed, he deserved the Oscar for Marriage Story and now the Academy owes him, so we’ll see.

What is a role or character you would want to see him play?

I wanna see him star in a rom com, but honestly, he thrives when he has a good script and a morally conflicted character. I’d wish we’d get a sequel to Logan Lucky, or maybe for him to come back as Kylo Ren, but I’m afraid of what Disney would do with him. I’d rather just get a Logan Lucky sequel with a justified script, maybe involving the fbi or something with a Good Girls vibe.

Tagging! but dont feel obligated: @kylos-wren @kowalskibro-adamdriverblog @tsarinastorm @ktellmeastory @solotriplets @babbushka @ohiobluetip @jyn-z-solo @oh-adam @callmehopeless @watchmegetobsessed @adamsnackdriver @clydesburntbacon

#tag meme #tag game #adam driver #tag game!

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jeremiahwasajoker · 6 years ago

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5x01 (Year Zero): A Review

Hey guys! As you know, Gotham’s first episode of season 5 debuted on Thursday, and I AM SHOOK BEYOND BELIEF! I felt it was necessary to document my thoughts and reactions for this episode, so here I am. I wanted to gather all my thoughts on the episode in one place, just to clear my head out a bit and to share some theories and thoughts!

WARNING: This includes spoilers. If you have not seen the episode yet and want to avoid seeing any information about it, I would advise you to not look at this until you have done so. Without further ado, let’s get started!

So, first thing’s first: I want to give a shout out to Danny Cannon and Jessica Lucas. This was Danny’s last episode as an executive producer on Gotham, and the show would not be the same without him. As we all know, this is Jessica’s last episode, too, as Tabitha died. She was a strong, outstanding character that added that much pizazz to the show, and she will be deeply missed by not only me, but so many other fans who enjoyed her development and presence.

Also, I think it’s necessary to say thank you to all the departments of design, whether it be for the costumes, cinematography, etc. The costumes were to die for this episode! The visuals were stunning and movie-like! I can’t wait to see what else they do for these next 11 episodes coming up.

Next, I would like to review what I thought about some of the arcs of major characters and scenes that were incredible throughout Year Zero. They are in no particular order! Here we go!

“If it’s the last thing I do...”

Wow. Just wow. Erin Richards really did give me the chills with this scene. Her shouting into the camera was absolutely perfect, as we can see that she really conveyed Barbara’s grief of Tabitha’s passing in these twelve seconds. I was blown away. Not only by this scene, but even in the big fight scene that I’ll get to later. I know Barbara is not on the top of everyone’s list as their favorite, but I can say that I am so excited to see the rest of her arc. This scene really took the cake for me.

“Hope”

I would first like to say that I am a huge fan of Jim’s inspirational speeches throughout the series. This one was really a unifying moment for the GCPD, as they decided that they were going to do the best job they could, no matter what, to save the citizens of Gotham from the wrath of the villains. I think this was a really strong way to end the episode, and it makes me really hyped to see Jimbo doing the best for the citizens of the city.

The Shootout

R.I.P. Tabitha Galavan. This whole scene, whether it be Bruce sneaking in, Jim and the GCPD fighting off Penguin and his men, the struggle between Oswald and Tabitha, or even Barbara’s rage was perfect. Jessica and Robin did a phenomenal job in this scene, as they showed that there wasn’t just a feeling of vengeance between the two, as their past has been pretty rocky. Barbara’s war cry gave me the chills, along with Oswald screaming in pain after being shot in the leg. (OW! That must’ve hurt a lot). This scene will definitely go down as one of Gotham’s most iconic.

Selina’s Suicide Attempt

This HURT so much. After hearing that she would have a suicide attempt this season, I was saddened, and assumed she would try to kill herself a different way than the way she did. I love Jeremiah so much, but the pain that Selina was going through was not worth whatever he was looking to do. Also, if she’s going to try to get revenge on him...oof. It makes me feel so conflicted! I know Camren said that this scene was one of the hardest to shoot, and I would like to say that she did an outstanding job with her performance. It made me so sad. Also, that nurse is creepy! There’s no way she’s not a Jeremiah follower in some capacity. (Look at her eyebrows!)

Ecco

A queen? She literally had the shortest scene in the episode, but shook me to my core. I was not expecting her outfit/hairstyle! I’m so used to seeing her with her hair in a bun, and I really like the look of the high ponytail for her. Also, the simplified version of the mummer costume was cool, it looks like just a leather jacket. She was so sneaky, and she doesn’t seem unhinged yet. It makes me wonder what will cause her to switch. Maybe it’s just a façade. Also, I love the jingle bells! I’m also glad she was doing work for her man, and I will say that her drawing was pretty good. Why the Jerome logo, though? I guess we’ll find out.

Since there were too many scenes for me to have the time to cover, I’ll have some honorable mentions! Edward the dog, Bruce vs. Scarecrow’s men, Scarecrow in general (he scared me), the flashforward to day 391, Bruce and Selina, Bruce and Jim, and the Riddler waking up everywhere.

Now is the time for a few comments and questions I have for the latest episode!

Who shot down the chopper? (I’m aware that literally everyone is asking this). Okay, so we only know three people who have access to an RPG: Penguin (who it wasn’t), Zsaz, and Jeremiah. Zsaz is actually a pretty good guess, I’d say, but something tells me it might have something to do with Jeremiah. I’d doubt it would be he himself, as he is a bogeyman this season, hiding within the shadows of Gotham’s discontent. (See what I did there?) I think it was Ecco. Maybe she needs to stock up on ammo, or needs to get food for her and Mr. J. She had access to the GCPD, so maybe she heard about it there? It’s a great distraction to steal stuff from Penguin or Babs, so I think it most likely was her. Also, she is doing Jeremiah’s dirty work, so it’s not out of possibility.

Who’s the Witch? I think the witch is Ivy. I mean, she’s been confirmed for 5x02, and she would have a motive for helping Selina. How that weird nurse would know? I have no clue. I used to think that when I read the synopsis for the next episode that Ecco would be the witch, as she kinda had those vibes with the mask and cloak on, but after seeing the stills and cast for “Trespassers”, I think it's Ivy.

Shoutout to my boy Jeremiah! I love the imagery of the map with the laughing face on it, as it kinda signifies that he’s literally ruling the city from underneath. I also love that his presence was felt throughout the episode, despite not being there for any of it in person. He’s going to be such an amazing villain this season, I just know it.

Who was the lady calling Jim? I heard things about a Theresa Walker this season, and apparently she has a big impact on the plot. Jamie Murray (who apparently plays her) was listed as one of the guest stars, but we didn’t see anything that had to do with her. Maybe it was her calling Jim? I don’t know.

If I had to sum up the episode with one Jeremiah Valeska mood, it would be:

I’m very happy with how this episode turned out!

What a strong way to start out the season. I know that I’ve seen most of the footage in Year Zero in trailers, stills, etc., but it still blew me away. My parents were also very impressed, and really amazed with how the episode turned out. (Which also made me happy!) I really can’t wait for next week.

Thank you for reading this! I hope you all had a wonderful time watching, too! I think I’m going to do one of these for each one that comes out. I’m so excited for the rest of the season! I hope you enjoyed!

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bee-kathony · 6 years ago

Photo

FOUR YEARS - YEAR TWO | “August 18th, 2015″

August 18th, 2015

I thought that the honeymoon phase would last longer than it did.

Jamie and I had only been married a little more than two months, it’d been a year since I was tumor free and I was looking forward to going back to work twice a week next month.

If only we hadn’t gone out to lunch to celebrate my tumor free brain. If only… if only…

++++++

“What do you want to eat, Sassenach? Yer choice,” Jamie smiled as we walked out to the car. It was a beautiful day, and the first time this month that Jamie had spare time away from work to celebrate my diagnosis of being tumor free.

“Hmmm, how about that little place on Home Street? With the really good pancakes!” Licking my lips in anticipation, I got in the passenger seat.

“The cafe that ye stuffed yer face at?” Jamie laughed, starting the car and headed in the direction of Cafe Class.

“I did not stuff my face!” I gasped, eyes wide. “The blueberry syrup was delicious yes, but I did not stuff my face, I ate them in a graceful way.” Jamie laughed, his eyes crinkling like they always did when he was really happy.

“I’m so happy, Sassenach… to be here wi’ ye,” he said a moment later, his left hand sliding over my knee. I brushed my finger over his ring, feeling the cool metal against my skin, blushing when I remembered our recent nuptials.

“I’m very happy too, Jamie.” I placed a kiss on the back of his hand and his lips curved softly. I would never tire of seeing him smile.

We got to the cafe and thankfully it wasn't busy, so we took the table nearest the window, looking out at the street. People watching was one of my favorite things to do — imagining their lives, the little details that make up a person. I was doing just this while I waited for our pancakes to arrive — Jamie had stepped outside to take a work phone call, mouthing “sorry” as he walked out the door.

I was looking at a woman coming down the street, noticing how cute her jacket and shoes were, wondering where she got them from, when she stopped suddenly in front of Jamie. She pulled her sunglasses off, resting them on top of her head, short curly hair much like mine. My heart squeezed as Jamie saw her, muttered something into his phone, hung up and gave her a hug. A familiar, yet tense hug.

My eyes were focused on them, unable to tear away my gaze until Jamie turned towards the window, pointing at me and I blushed, trying to make it look like I hadn’t just been gawking. Then my palms started to sweat as they both came through the door of the cafe — Jamie, kind as ever, holding the door open for her.

I stayed seated, legs crossed, my left hand with my wedding ring resting on the top of the table. Jamie looked at me, his eyes wide and his ears pink. Christ… who was this woman to him?

I didn’t have to wait long to find out.

“Hi, I’m Gia.” She stuck her small hand out and I shook it. My eyes shifted from her face to Jamie’s and I saw him shrug, as if his shirt were too tight. “You’re Claire, right?”

“Yes,” I found my voice. “Jamie’s wife.” I thought I saw her flinch slightly at the word ‘wife’ but I could have been making things up.

“Aye, Claire and I just got married in June!” Jamie chimed in. About time lad.

Gia smiled, resting her hand on the back of Jamie’s arm, “Oh that’s great! Congratulations you two.” I wanted to yank her hand off of my husband’s arm, but I also didn’t want to cause a scene. The next words out of her mouth caught me so off guard, I knew if I had been standing, I would have fainted.

“Hope your wedding went a lot better than ours did!” Gia laughed awkwardly, looking up at Jamie, but his eyes were fixed on me… gauging my reaction.

I sat still, vision blurring, and in that moment, I heard my heart break. It was a small, clean sound, like the snapping of a flower's stem.

“It went just fine, thank you,” I replied shortly, crossed my arms over my chest, and bit the inside of my cheek to stop the tears that would inevitably come. Jamie was married before? To this woman?

A million thoughts raced through my head, and I was too busy staring at my fingers in my lap to notice that Gia had left and Jamie was now standing in front of me.

“Sassenach… we need to talk.”

“Fuck you,” I said quietly for the sake of the people around us and stood up, brushing past him and nearly ran out the door, in a hurry to escape the nightmare that had become my life.

++++++

Jamie found me sometime later, sitting on the same park bench that we had shared our first kiss at. Why had I bloody come here of all places?

Tears threatened to spill down my cheeks when I saw the tips of his shoes approach. He stood there, waiting for me to say something, but I didn’t have any words for him — no words at least, that would do any good.

“Claire,” he took a step forward, his hand reaching under my chin, but I pushed it away, my stomach in knots at the feeling of his skin on mine. Only two months ago, we had promised to love one another, to not keep secrets, and to not tell lies.

This was a secret I didn’t understand and I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to get over.

“Claire, please,” his voice wavered and I finally looked up to see his eyes red, full of tears of his own. “Talk to me.”

“What do you want me to say?” I felt weak, as if every emotion I had ever felt in my life had been sucked out of me — a hollow shell.

“Somethin’, anythin’… please tell me what’s goin’ on in that wee head of yers.” Jamie bent his legs, and fell forward onto his knees to the grass, his hand hovering to touch my knee, but he pulled back when he saw my expression.

“You were m-married?” I stuttered on the last word. “For how long?”

Jamie took a deep breath and laughed. Laughed! If we weren’t in a public place, I would have hit him against his chest, clawed at his skin, anything to make him hurt as he had hurt me by keeping this from me.

“No, Sassenach. I wasna married to Gia, but we were engaged,” he sighed and rose to his feet, his fingers tapping against his thigh. I focused on his ring finger, trying to remember the vows he had made me, trying to remember the shit we had been through… anything that would help me to keep loving him. In this moment I very much wanted to hate him.

“Then why did she say wedding as if it happened?”

“Because…” he took a deep breath and muttered something in gaelic. “Because I left her at the altar.”

I finally looked up at him, “What? Jamie… how could you do that to her? Why?”

Taking it as a good sign that I had made eye contact with him, Jamie came and took a seat next to me on the bench, still a good safe distance away however.

“I ken it sounds bad, and I’m no proud of what I did. I’ll never forgive myself for it, but damn it, Sassenach… I dinna regret it!” Jamie grabbed my hand, shaking it slightly in his. “If I had never left the church that day, then I wouldna have met you.”

I pulled back my hand firmly, squeezing it in my lap. “All this time though Jamie. Not just you… but your family, Jenny and Murtagh. Wait,” I paused, trying to do the math in my head. “When was this? Before or after the plane crash?”

“After.”

“Jamie… how long ago,” I didn’t want to know but I knew I needed to.

“I knew Gia from university, that’s where we met,” Jamie said and leaned back against the bench as he began to tell me everything. “After the plane crash, I wasna myself. Once I recovered from most of the damage, I went back to school, but ye ken that I wasna speakin’ to Jenny and barely Murtagh.”

I nodded, keeping my gaze transfixed on a butterfly on a flower nearby and Jamie continued.

“Gia…” he sighed, and I could see him running his hand through his hair, leaving it sticking up in places. “She is the complete opposite of ye, Claire. I knew from our first date that she wasna my type and that I was only seein’ her to try and get away from the pain. After my Da —“ his words got stuck in his throat, and silently, without looking at him, I slid my hand across the bench, offering this small gesture and he took it, squeezing lightly.

“Ye wouldn’t have liked who I was back then, Sassenach. I was bitter, and no a verra nice person. I ken I never shoulda proposed to her, but she kept talkin’ about weddin’s and well I didn’t see why not.”

I wanted to cry at the soft touch of Jamie’s fingers on the palm of my hand. The same touch I had felt hundreds of times before. The same strong hands that had helped me when I felt weak and couldn’t get out of bed.

“So you got all the way to the altar and then decided that was the best time to break it off?” I spat out, maybe a bit too harshly and I felt Jamie’s fingers pause on mine before continuing to trace patterns on my skin.

“Aye. I did. I was a coward, Claire.” Jamie slid towards me on the bench, bringing my hand into his lap. I was too numb to move, to do anything but sit there and listen. “I met Gia five months after the plane crash, I was only nineteen and by my twentieth birthday, we had plans to be marrit. She hasna even met Jenny or Murtagh, mo ghraidh, that’s why they never said anything.”

“So they don’t know about her either, Jamie?” I looked at him, more tears welling in my eyes. Who was this man that I had married…

His eyes were wide, sensing my doubt in him. “Christ, of course they know! I told them the day after I left Gia. I wasna willin’ to make amends wi’ them yet, but I needed them to know.”

“Did Jenny yell at you?” I attempted a laugh, imagining what the fearsome Jenny Murray would think about all of this.

“No. She only said she was sorry she couldna be there for me. The conversation wasna a long one, Claire.” He pulled my hand to rest over his heart and I looked at him, biting my bottom lip. “I’m so sorry.”

“After everything we’ve been through Jamie… I just don’t understand why you never told me.” A single tear slid down my cheek and I felt it drop onto my lap, wetting my jeans.

“There’s no good reason why I didna, Sassenach,” Jamie bent his head. “I am a coward, that’s all there is to it.”

“I went through having a bloody fucking brain tumor and you don’t think the fact that you had almost been married to another woman was important to tell me? Yes, Jamie… you’re a coward.” I pulled my hand away and stood from the bench.

“And to think,” I looked him in the eye. “We were so excited about getting on the adoption list,” I scoffed. “I wouldn’t dream of bringing a child into this… this web of lies!” Turning to leave, I prayed that Jamie wouldn’t follow me, but a larger part of me, the weaker part of me, wanted him to run after me and hold me in his arms, begging me to forgive him.

I made it all the way back to the car in front of the cafe, and with no sign of Jamie, I climbed in and headed home, my heart in pieces.

++++++

August 18th, 2015

5:08pm

I walked around for hours after Claire had left me at the park. The moment she called me a coward, her eyes no longer holding that spark I had come to love, I knew… she would never forgive me for this.

Or at least not easily.

Checking my phone every ten minutes, with no new messages from Claire, I steadied myself and started walking in the direction of our house. There was more she needed to know, and I hoped she would hear me out.

The water was on in the bathroom, most likely Claire runnin’ herself a bath. I didn’t want her to be shocked at my arrival home, so I slammed the door a little louder than normal and waited in the doorway until I heard the sound of the faucet creak and stop.

I walked down the hallway, past pictures of our life together. We’d only known each other for twenty months, but already those twenty months were the best of my life — no matter the hardships we had endured early on. Claire wasn’t in the bedroom, but I saw the bathroom door cracked open, steam drifting out.

“Sassenach, are ye in there?”

“Go away, Jamie. I can’t do this right now.” She didn’t sound like herself, not like my Sorcha.

“Please, ye dinna even need to come out of the bathroom, Claire. I just need to say somethin’ and then I’ll go and stay wi’ Jenny and Ian tonight.” I waited for her and let out a sigh of relief when she opened the bathroom door, padded across the room and took a seat on the bed.

“Go ahead, then.”

“I thought of tellin’ ye, Claire.” I walked over to her, sitting on my knees in front of her, ready to beg for her forgiveness. “I did. I almost told ye once, but then ye got diagnosed wi’ yer tumor and things happened so quickly after that.”

“You’re using my tumor as an excuse for your cowardice?” She rolled her eyes, biting her lip.

“No! Christ, no I’m not. It’s just that I didna want to cause ye more pain. Claire… be honest wi’ me, would ye have wanted me to tell ye about this when ye were ill?”

She took a deep breath, folding her robe tighter around her body. “No. But, I got better a year ago, Jamie. What about then?”

“I can’t give you a reasonable explanation other than as time went on, and the happier you became, I couldn’t dream of crushin’ ye, of hurtin’ ye,” my heart was racing, pounding out of my chest. I didn’t know what I would do if Claire couldn’t forgive me.

“I can try and understand that,” she looked down at me, her eyes and cheeks wet and it broke my heart to see her so. All I wanted was to hold her in my arms and promise to never hide anything from her ever again.

“Thank ye, Sassenach I —“

“I said try, Jamie. I didn’t say that I do or that I ever will.”

“Please, mo nighean, I’m a foolish man and I ken I’ve kept a secret from ye when we promised there would be no such thing between us.” I moved forward, gently resting my hand on her ankle. “But I didna marry her… I married you.”

Claire made a sound then that broke my heart completely. A sob like none I had ever heard from her, not even when she was in the most pain from her chemo. I looked up at her to see her shoulders shaking, tears freely flowing down her cheeks. I didn’t care if she tried to push me away, I rose to my feet and gathered her in my arms, sitting down on the bed and cradled her to my chest.

“Shhh,” I said through tears of my own. “I love you, mo cridhe, it’s you I chose and it’s ye who I’ll choose everyday.”

She buried her head into my neck, body still trembling.

“Claire, we’ve been through so much to let this come between us, I’m beggin’ ye lass,” I cried, my voice shaking. “Please forgive me for a mistake I made when I was an idiot. Christ —“

Her hand came to cup my face, and I weeped at the feel of her touch. “I dinna deserve ye, Claire.”

“No,” she whispered. “You don’t.” Her arms came around my neck then and I rose from the edge of the bed and laid her down, and then curled my body around hers. “Just hold me, Jamie. We’ll work this out tomorrow, but for now… just don’t let me go.”

That night, I cried until I had no more tears left to give and held her in my arms, thanking God that she hadn’t cursed my name and sent me out to the streets. Hours later, a small wet nose tickled the back of my neck and Annie, the furry wee beast crawled over my body to lay next to Claire, resting her head against her. Animals are loyal creatures… humans — they are flawed, and broken creatures.

#four years #august 18 2015 #jamie x claire #outlander fanfiction #mclairefras #jamie fraser #claire fraser

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saleintothe90s · 6 years ago

Text

384. “Mad About You” series finale (5/24/1999)

(source)

So, I remember watching the series finale of Mad About You that night, but I haven’t watched it again since it originally aired. I do remember feeling let down at the end however. This is what I remember from 20 years ago, maybe I’ll remember some forgotten details once I re watch it...which I will after I make this list:

- Janeane Garofolo was Paul & Jamie’s daughter Mabel all grown up and she had come out with a documentary about her life? Her dad’s life? The film was everything after 1999?

-Paul & Jamie bought the apartment across from them and merged it into theirs? Which didn’t make any sense. Everybody had to walk through P&J’s bedroom to get to the expansion?

-Paul & Jamie were pregnant again with twins but she lost the babies? I just remember the scene where Paul rushes into the apartment with a double stroller excited that he found one. He sees the message light on the answering machine and it’s Jamie. I was trying to figure out if this was early on when Mabel was still a one year old, and one seat in the stroller was for her, or Jamie was pregnant with twins.

-Paul’s dad died real early on in the episode.

-Paul and Jamie wonder who should give her the birds and the bees talk when Mabel is a teenager, but turns out they waited too long. When Paul sits down with her to discuss it, she interrupts him and says that she’s already had sex, or she was already on the pill. Paul decides to take Mabel out for bagels every Saturday morning so he can remain closer to her. I just remember them eating bagels and sitting on a stoop.

- Paul and Jamie separate for realz this time. Remember when they temporarily separated but then got back together and Jamie got pregnant with Mabel?

[That episode is titled “The Finale”, please don’t confuse it for this one like I almost did. In case you’re wondering about my bitmoji dressed like a snail, our power went on and off the entire time I was writing this. I went ahead and used that save video me website so I could watch the clips offline.]

- Jamie had become really cold at that point in her life and Paul had it.

-The last scene was everybody watching Mabel’s documentary in a movie theater and P&J were a little embarrassed. Paul (almost crying) asks Jamie if she would like to go out for pie.

-Clearly they hadn’t shot enough because the last five minutes were “home movies” of the two and Mabel in central park. The montage seemed to last for-ever.

-Before I re-watch, I also wanted to mention that I hate the theme song!

I found the episode on DailyMotion, and the username of the uploader is “Magic School Bus” ... ms. frizzle is that you? It also appears that Ms. Frizzle recorded this episode from syndication, so there might be a tiny scene or two missing.

(part 1, part 2)

(Apparently it’s on the internet archive too, but it took forever to get the vid to play on my iPad. It has commercials though!) https://archive.org/details/MelrosePlaceHomeImprovementFinales1999

So, Mabel’s film was titled “The reason why I am this way”. Maybe a grad school project?. Janeane looks grad school age here.

The film starts with Paul & Jamie’s anniversary when Mabel was 1 in 1999. I was right!

A bird pooped on Paul! Nah, it was just Lyle Lovett the construction worker spilling paint. He married Jamie n Paul 7 years ago, but turns out he’s NOT an ordained minster, so they’re not officially married. This is so dumb. Such a trope, right?

Jamie is freaking out that they’re not really husband and wife. Paul is the rational one here, he says just go to city hall next week! Jamie is all “no, we gotta do it today, its our anniversary!” So they go, there’s a chapel at city hall, there’s a lady named Phyllis there as a witness and who throws rice (25¢ a throw!)

Stupidly, however, Jamie runs away. I do remember this freeze frame from the episode.

There’s lots of jumping around through time while all this is going on, I forgot about that, I just thought it was a straight up timeline.

We jump to 2005 where P&J are in therapy for the thousandth time, also when Paul goes in for a vasectomy. At first, I didn’t realize that Jamie was talking to her sister, Lisa in the waiting room since she had short hair. Jamie tries to explain to her that Mabel doesn’t need a sister, but Lisa guilt trips her. Jamie tells Paul that she thinks they made a mistake. They Michael Scott-eded it:

It’s 2011 and P&J are trying to give 11 year old Mabel the sex talk.

In 2004 Murray (remember, the dog? Yeah, the dog got forgotten somewhere in the series) got a girlfriend and they had puppies! There is the best scene ever where Paul teaches Mabel how to shoot video and Nat the dog walker (played by Helen Hunt’s then husband, Hank Azaria) does a play talk show with the puppies. IT’S TOO CUTE, I put it on instagram. I forgot that Hank was on the show. I still remember how heartbroken I was though when Hank and Helen broke up, though.

There’s a real quick scene in the sports shop that Paul’s family owns (which I forgot about in the series). Jeff Garlin (who I like to call “Daddy Goldberg” since I love him on The Goldbergs) is teasing Paul for all his vasectomies. blah blah. You know what I noticed? That old Sketchers shoebox! Those ugly chunky metallic shoes they made in ’95 ’96 used to come in those boxes. aw. ugliest shoes I ever had, they were most def. Airwalk Jim knockoffs. ANYWAY.

Mabel’s first film “Stabbing Bob” comes out in late 2021 when she’s 23. The whole family is there, including Cyndi Lauper who married Paul’s brother cousin Ira. The whole family tries to get Paul and Jamie to sit together, so obviously something went DOWN between 2011 and 2021. This is when the syndicated version cuts off.

Part 2 begins again with Mabel’s documentary and her asking “Who do you think was responsible for my parents breakup? The one who ran away from the altar and changed her mind three times about whether or not her partner should have painful private surgery … or the other guy?” So when this film was made, Jamie and Paul were still broken up? Mabel is really tearing Jamie up a new one here. Jamie is the devil.

Back to 2005 and Jamie is pregnant, because Paul didn’t get that vasectomy. This is where everything is back on track with my memories of the episode. Except for those ugly ass pajamas. wow. Jamie is only supposed to be 42 here, the pajamas and glasses made her look 60.

2012, Mabel is 14 and she never did get that sex talk…perfect tribute to Whitney though, considering she had recently died.

Oh, no here comes the stroller scene in 2006. Paul is so happy, he says, “I found it! Last one in the city, and I found it! One big seat one little seat! 2 kids, one carriage! One big happy family. ” Uh, Mabel is 9. The “one big seat, one little seat!” makes me wonder if the writers forgot what year it was? Why would there be a big seat and a little seat?” Twins are the same size. Those stroller seats look the same size. Paul finds a note left by Jamie, so it wasn’t an answering machine message.

In early 2021 we see Jamie’s bff Fran, FINALLY. I was wondering where Fran was! She was married to Richard Kind and he left her so he could ride motorcycles like “Easy Rider”, (remember when Fran kept calling the movie “The Easy Rider” and it drove Richard crazy, he was like, “the name of the movie is EASY RIDER, NOT ‘THE EASY RIDER!”). Riffs is somehow still open, martini glasses are taller, forks have clear spiral handles, and Fran be looking like something that walked off the Enterprise.

Oh, and Paul left Jamie. Jamie now is wearing reading glasses around her neck. Oh, honey noo, you’re only 58. Here is Helen Hunt in 2018:

Paul said that Jamie is unkind and that was why he was leaving.

Aw, there’s my fozzie bear!

Costume and Makeup got Paul Reiser exactly right though!

After that, Paul & Jamie had to be straight with Mabel at all times. Ok, whatever:

So I was also wrong about Paul’s died dying when Mabel was little.

On the way to the funeral, Paul’s mom encourages the two to pay a bribe so they can buy the apartment across the hall. She says, “Then Mabel can have a room.” …. Mabel didn’t have a room? She was 13 in the Murray’s not real scene. Where did she sleep?! Now I remember thinking way back then that the episode left a lot of plot holes open, this being one!

I remember feeling kind of turned off by this elevator scene with the sad music after the funeral. I didn’t know the phrase back then, but now I know that it feels so forced. We get it. Paul’s mom is alone.

Casting didn’t do a good job with teenage Mabel, she’s supposed to be 18 in 2015 and it’s still the girl who played her when she was 12. w2g. I didn’t make a screen grab but I was right about Mabel having to cross her parents bedroom, and bathroom to get to her room. I was also right about the bagels!

It’s back to the scene in late 2021 where everybody is watching the end of Mabel’s movie, “Stabbing Bob”. I guess she was trying to be a lil Tarintino. Why did I think they were watching the documentary? Ha, at the end, Paul’s sister asks the family if they want to go out for pie. Yesss, the pie scene!

I did remember this from the pilot episode where Jamie kisses Paul on their first date when he turns to her. Jamie asks “buy me some pie?”, not Paul! I swore for 20 years I heard Paul Reiser tearfully saying, “I would like some pie” in my head!

Oh, one plot point that did get patched up was that Paul & Jamie asked the guy from city hall to come over and marry them in their apartment six seconds to midnight.

RIP, Murray the dog.

UGH, I was right about the long montage of the end that is just pretend home movies of the cast. It’s nearly four minutes long, and its set to country music. It’s hell. I remember actually leaving the room during this part 20 years ago instead of just you know, muting the TV. It completely ruins the quietness of the episode. It’s total filler.

The ending credits are on Youtube, it’s adult Mabel giving a rundown of what happened to who.

More from the series finale series: https://saleintothe90s.tumblr.com/search/Series%20finale%20series

/edit/

I was curious and went hunting around in google groups (which houses newsgroup archives) to see what people said about it online right after it aired:

Someone wondered too about where on earth Mabel slept until they expanded the apartment:

>2) Where did Mabel sleep before they got the second apartment and >turned it into a room? Shared with mommy and daddy?? Or maybe that little space before the bedroom. Did they convert the appartments into one or move to the other side? I was a bit confused about that.

>>I wish I had watched Ally (but that's just my

>opinion).<<

Trust me, if you've watched the show at all this season, you've seen this episode. Ally is depressed about no man, elaine whips out the video camera, the biscuit bobs his head to Barry White, does a gymnastic dismount from the toilet stall, stutters like Porky Pig, and all of the same fucking things he does every single fucking episode. I really liked this show at first, but I'm about to give up on it because the same shit happens week after week after week. If David Kelley cannot think of anything new to do with this show, he should hire a writing team, because it it going nowhere fast!

Brian

To know that Paul and Jamie's genes resulted in that shrewish frump Janeane Garofalo was one thing. But to be "previewed" twenty years of their misery resulting in Mabel's therapy for bad parenting was pretty unbearable.

Crap. Not quite as crap as the Rosanne finale, but more crap than the last

Seinfeld episode. I knew they were in trouble in the very first scene where

they set up the premise for the episode. Lyle Lovett tells them that he

wasn't really an ordained minister when he performed their wedding ceremony

and that he was drunk when he said he was. (now there's an original plot)

One problem: Lyle isn't the one who told them he was a minister and everyone

was sober at the time.

Then they have Jannene Garofolo as their grown up daughter, recounting everything thing that went wrong in their marriage, another lame plot device.

There're also a few little slips, like Paul buying a double baby carriage in 2005, when their daughter would be 8 or so.

But, to get to the root of why the episode (and the last two seasons for that matter) failed: The whole permise of the show was that these two likable, but occasionally goofy or even stupid, people were so much in love that they would always be together no matter what. Corny, naive, romantic, but also endearing. It made for a nice, comforting 4 seasons or so, but after a while the formula gets old. So they started making the characters a lot less likeable. Paul Reiser turned into Homer Simpson and Helen Hunt became a neurotic version of Lucy Ricardo, until I had no idea why these two people were staying together.

They got back to the original idea of the series in the last ten minutes, but it was too little, too late. In the previous 50 minutes, their whole marriage went to hell. Not only didn't those two people belong together, they didn't even seem to care about each other. They did something similar a few years back (marriage goes wrong, they still love each other and stay together) but it was convincing and they didn't do the gimmicky jumping back and forth over 25 years thing. That was the perfect moment to end the series.

I agree. I watched with the series finale of MAY with the morbid fascination that I would have while watching a car wreck. I didn’t *want* to do it, but I was drawn to it. And what a car wreck it was.

The plot of the finale should have insulted every thinking person. Did anyone accept the premise that two sophisticated New Yorkers could believe they were legally married without having a marriage license and certificate? For those of you who have never been married, you absolutely need such documentation for your bank accounts, health insurance, social security, credit cards, mortgages etc. The retroactive vitiation of the Buchman’s marriage is akin to the Bobby’s dream sequence on Dallas a few years ago.

Jaime’s jilting of Paul at the “altar” was vapid. Tim Conway’s gag in being both the marriage clerk and the justice of the peace was predictable, and as predictably stupid as Conway’s similar gags on the now ancient Carol Burnett show. The pronunciation of “Buchman” to explain why Paul and Jaime had the same last name may have been amusing to a ten year old, but I doubt it was funny to anyone more mature. A justice of the peace would not play the wedding march with a dime store cassette recorder while demanding that a prospective bride walk down the courtroom “aisle.” Couldn’t they have done something interesting with the marriage witness instead of using a stock character such as the disinterested, magazine-reading rice-thrower? From a legal standpoint, Paul and Jaime’s marriage at midnight was as ineffective as “first” marriage because there was no witness (contrary to the dialogue, a baby simply cannot be a legal witness to a marriage). Why would a justice of the peace make a house call to perform a civil marriage?

The whole vasectomy gag was asinine. Have either HH or PR been in a hosptial? Did they do *any* research before they wrote this gag? Its pretty safe to conclude that a surgical nurse would *not* lead a post- operative vasectomy patient through a waiting room while he was wearing nothing but a robe. Moreover, given Paul’s obvious pain from the first vasectomy, don’t you think that Jaime would have known that Paul did not go through with the second one? Wouldn’t Jaime have asked Paul if he went through with the vasectomy before she purchased and used a pregnancy test kit? Jaime’s miscarriage was telegraphed from the beginning of the vasectomy gag.

The makeup aging of the characters was amateurish at best. The sex talk difficulty with Mabel has been done by every sitcom since Leave It To Beaver, and most have done it better. What was the point of the puppy urination scene?

The breakup and reconciliation was sentimental tripe. In the real world, people that fight as much as Paul and Jaime do not get divorced and then, with one magic kiss, make everything OK.

Was it necessary to introduce a new character in the finale to narrate the Buchmans’ life story? (As an aside, I hated the casting of Janeane Garofolo (sp?). She looked like complete crap. Can’t that woman ever look presentable? Someone should have given her a mirror and a comb before they began filming the episode. She is a second rate Roseanne knock off, and, judging from last night’s appearance, she is now attempting to catch Roseanne in the weight department as well.)

The closing montage attempted to simulate a home movie circa 1960s such as that used in the Wonder Years. But why would Paul and Jaime, a 1990s couple, have used such a medium for their home movies? Also, even assuming the choice of medium was justified, why did they wave in quick, jerky movements at the movie camera? Has anyone done that since the 1960s?

In the end analysis, the MAY finale was incredibly lame. I got home in time to catch the end of the Melrose Place finale, and, IMO, even that show -- as bad as it is -- has more entertainment value than MAY. At least they don’t take themselves seriously. I am delighted that MAY is now over. I hope that the poor ratings associated with the show will cause some retooling at NBC, especially in its high profile slots.

#mad about you #1999 #series finale series #series finale #Helen hunt #Paul Reiser #nbc #janeane garofalo

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killian-whump · 6 years ago

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Non-OUAT Whumpers

Most of the whump collected on this blog takes place on the show Once Upon a Time. The Whumpers responsible for these incidents are collected on this blog’s Official Whumpers Page for your amusement.

However, this blog also collects whump from Colin’s other work, as well as humorous “bestings” from real life when appropriate. Those “whumpers” will be collected on this post, also for your amusement ;)

Incidentally, while the Official Whumpers List is listed by character names, this list is organized by the name of the actor/actress playing the role. There’s no reason for this, other than it amuses me.

Amy Huberman Irish actress. Played Conor’s friend Daisy in The Clinic. Entirely angsty bestings here, as Daisy is the cause of a lot of Conor’s emotional upheavals throughout his time on the show.

Anthony Hopkins Academy Award winning actor. Played Father Lucas in The Rite. All kinds of whump here. Father Lucas brings about angst, delivers lectures, manhandles him, attempts to possess, and even throws Michael Kovak across the room.

Antonia Campbell-Hughes Irish actress. Played Shelley in Storage 24. Shelley doesn’t really do much to Mark throughout this film, but near the end, after everything he’s done to his friends... she gives him a sound slap.

Bad Fashion Choices Let’s be real, it’s mostly just that fucking shirt. This one also has a lot of Killian Jones bestings, as there was the diving suit, the white tuxedo, the Dark One robe that offended him, that hair bow, and various other questionable fashions in that show. There’s also some lovely fandom contributions of Killian/Colin being bested with bad fashion. And, of course, plenty of that buzz cut and that fucking shirt.

Bathroom Fixtures Seen in every bathroom in every home around the world. Usually, bathroom fixtures are useful. Sometimes, not so much.

Bel Powley English actress. Played Carrie Pilby in the movie of the same name. Carrie doesn’t really whump Professor Harrison, but near the end of the film, she does bring her father over to his house - and the two of them invade his home, her father punches him in the face, and Carrie mocks him.

Berserkers A crazy band of murderers found in What Still Remains. The Berserkers are at war with Peter’s commune in the film, and near the end of it, they attack and annihilate the commune entirely, burning it to the ground.

Bikers Random ruffians found in 2004′s Love Is the Drug. LITD’s Peter goes up against some badass biker dudes to defend the guy his sister’s with. It doesn’t go well, and he gets punched in the face. As usual.

Camera Angles Found in everything, everywhere. Stupid cameras. Let’s be real, though. It’s mostly just me bitching about leaves.

Cats Adorable furry creatures. Showed up en masse in The Rite. “Make sure they don’t come in,” Lucas said. Spoiler: They all got in.

Chris Carmack American actor. Played Nora’s boyfriend David in The Dust Storm. Near the end of the film, David confronts Nora and Brennan in a bar and punches Brennan in the face, resulting in a pretty big bruise.

Chris Ellis American actor. Played Harvey in What Still Remains. Harvey seems, at first, to be a harmless old man cooking over a campfire in the middle of the day. Unfortunately, his innocent demeanor lures Anna right in - and once she and Peter are close enough, they’re ambushed.

Colin O’Donoghue I think we all know who this guy is. This tag’s not for him getting bested... it’s for when HE bests US.

Cops Police officers. Seen in many films and TV shows. This tag includes some Once Upon a Time whump, but also has Conor Elliott’s arrest in The Clinic.

Demons Evil otherworldly beings. Most famously found in The Rite. This tag covers the demonic goings-on in The Rite, as well as some fandom bestings of Killian Jones being possessed or haunted.

Dorothy Cotter Irish actress. Played Laura in the short film, The Euthanizer. Laura is Ben’s beloved girlfriend, who has left him for unstated reasons. Ben is completely heartbroken by the loss, and turns to suicide.

Feels Seen: Everywhere, in everything. This tag encompasses all those moments when Colin’s character is overcome by emotion - including when that character is Killian Jones.

Finbar Lynch Irish actor. Played Terry in 2005′s Proof 2. The moment is very brief, but Terry does a wonderful job of grabbing Jamie by the lapels and manhandling him.

Frogs More animals, spotted in 2011′s The Rite, besting Michael Kovak. You’ve gotta be fucking kidding him.

Gary Lydon British actor. Played Dr. Patrick Murray on The Clinic. Patrick Murray was Conor Elliott’s therapist, and his poor handling of Conor (and Conor’s condition) contributed to the emotional breakdown that led to Conor setting himself on fire.

Gabriel Byrne Well-known Irish actor. Played Carrie’s father in Carrie Pilby. Carrie’s father invades Professor Harrison’s home and eventually punches him right in the face. In an interview about the film, Colin said, “Who doesn’t want to be punched in the face by Gabriel Byrne?” Indeed.

Giant Alien Monsters Giant. Alien. Monstrous. Starred in 2011′s Storage 24. One thing you can say about these things... they have good taste.

Jeff Kober American actor. Played Zack in What Still Remains. Zack doesn’t whump Peter at all within the film, but as the main driving force behind Peter’s warped world view and the man who orchestrated the abusive environment Peter grew up in, he is instrumental in the trauma that made Peter into the mal-adjusted psycho he undoubtedly is.

Jennifer Morrison American actress. Played Emma Swan in Once Upon a Time. She and Colin like to tease each other at conventions. “By teasing each other, we mean that Jen teases me, is what happens.” We got you, Col.

Josh Dallas American actor. Played Prince Charming in Once Upon a Time. O’Dallas is love. O’Dallas is life.

Keith McErlean Irish actor. Played Dr. Adam in Season 5 of The Clinic. Dr. Adam was Daisy’s boyfriend in Season 5. Conor and Dr. Adam didn’t get along very well, causing much angst... and eventually a blow-up that resulted in some physical aggression.

Kristen Gutoskie Canadian actress. Played Nora in 2016′s The Dust Storm. Brennan’s feelings for Nora (and Nora’s rather unhealthy ways of dealing with her own emotions) cause a lot of conflict and angst throughout the film. She also inflicts physical harm on Brennan near the end of the film, when she burns his arm with a cigarette.

Lana Parrilla American actress. Played Regina Mills in Once Upon a Time. Only adorable bestings need apply <3

Lee Arenberg’s Acting Choices American actor. Played Grumpy in Once Upon a Time. What was he even doing, tho? And why? And what?

Lesley Conroy Irish actress. Played Mandy in the 2003 short film, Call Girl. Mandy comes to Brendan’s house, she makes him nervous, they have sex, she argues with him, she pushes him... umm, yadda yadda yadda?

Lulu Antariksa American actress. Played Anna in What Still Remains. Anna spends more of this film getting whumped by Peter than whumping him, to be honest, but when she does get her whump in... it’s the fatal kind.

Marta Gastini Italian actress. Played Rosaria in 2011′s The Rite. Rosaria is a young woman who is possessed by a demon. Her behavior during a routine exorcism unnerves Michael in the beginning, but eventually escalates to an all-out physical attack where she tries to strangle him.

Mimi Rogers American actress. Played Judith in What Still Remains. Aside from a few awkward hugs and exchanges in the film, Judith doesn’t actually whump Peter on screen. So why is she here? The film hints at long-term sexual and emotional abuse that Peter suffered at the hands of Judith and her husband Zack - abuse that surely shaped Peter into the psycho he is, and a dynamic that adds depth to those awkward encounters.

Noel Clarke British actor. Played Charlie in Storage 24. Charlie is Mark’s best friend when the film begins, though he’s arguably less so as the film progresses and Charlie finds out Mark’s been sleeping with his girl and is the reason said girl broke up with him. There’s an accidental nut-crunch in the beginning, a fight when the betrayal is discovered, and a punch right in the kisser later on.

Others Everyone and Anyone NOT listed here or on the Once Whumpers list. That means everyone. Even you, if you play your cards right.

Pay Phones Apparently, they still had them in Ireland in 2009. In The Euthanizer, Ben has a bit of trouble with one of these.

Robert Carlyle Scottish actor. Played Rumplestiltskin in Once Upon a Time. Full honesty - this is mostly just endless references to that blooper.

Rose Reynolds English actress. Played Alice Jones on Once Upon a Time. Rose and Colin are amazing together <3 Their bestings are the best!

Rutger Hauer Dutch actor. Played Michael Kovak’s father, Istvan, in The Rite. There’s not really much besting shown in the film, but the man made his son Michael help embalm his own mother. If that’s not a fucking besting, I really don’t know what would be.

Sarah Bolger Irish actress. Played Princess Mary in The Tudors. You likely recognize this actress’s name from her role in Once Upon a Time as Princess Aurora, but what lands her on this list is her role as Mary in The Tudors - where she allegedly steps on Duke Phillip’s foot.

The Crew Assorted crew members of assorted projects, including OUAT. ...because everyone likes to tease Colin. It’s an international pastime!

Tobias Jelinek American actor. Played Phillip in What Still Remains. The dystopian world of this film lends itself well to random whumpings from complete strangers. Phillip is one of two men who Anna and Peter run into on their journey who attempt to rob them.

Tommy O’Neill Irish actor. Played the Euthanizer in the short film of the same name. The Euthanizer is originally hired by Ben to help him hang himself... but when Ben changes his mind and decides to live, things turn even whumpier!

This list was last updated on February 5, 2019.

#blog #other work #retrospective #oc

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shoepolishpolice · 3 years ago

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Stranger things 4 Breakdown- what I think we know

Day 0- the opening that we’ve presumably seen nothing of yet but sets the basis of where we are in 1986

Day 1- first 24hr… so day of the basketball game and hero project and D&D. Most likely when Joyce receives the package from Russia. Lots of tension, lots of lies

Day 2- mike leaves to see el, max takes her counsellors advice and writes a letter to billy- I think at this point she’ll be having some prickly feelings and thinks he may be alive- cue her flying moment (in the red dream world introducing our new villain Vecna). Roller skating night and Paul Riser returns. The older kids first hear about the Creels and start digging

Day 3- el meets with the lab and agrees to help but is intercepted and taken by Brenner (assumed from the first look this would happen and I’ve never once thought he was dead but all will be revealed) lab flashbacks and to the salon we’re getting 1986 el buzz cut fo sho (she’s defo gonna do it herself all while wearing white jeans good for her) Boys find out she’s been taken. Joyce and Murray fly away. Hawkins team visit creel house and Pennhurst.

Day 4 - someone attacks the cali boys and mystery hero defends them, bang bang lots of guns nice! ( gets hurt and thrown in the pizza van). Long hair boy and Eddie get clued in. El goes through some trauma to get her powers back. I haven’t mentioned hop at this point but we’ve probs had some context and he’s out there fighting for his life. From this point on the Hawkins crew are gonna be in the same outfit.

Day 5 - Suzie’s random return.. okay. Lots of explosions I feel: plane crash, desert explosion, Russian explosion. This is where it really Begins

Not quite sure on how quickly things pick up for the Hawkins crew but I think they will divide into 2 groups…

Steve, Robin, Eddie, Nancy.

Lucas, Max, Erica and Dustin.

^All on bikes

Leaving the days now and just pinpointing some Happenings..

The upside down is spreading: random people are dying ( the ambulance taking someone away at the beginning of the trailer looks like a trailer park and where the guitar sesh happens and maybe where Eddie lives?) the cabin (‘other side’ convo) and the creel house.

Pretty sure there’s going to be Gate gaps everywhere connecting to one place- all the gaps are where our lil teams are and people can jump through and get regurgitated out (Steve) - I’m pretty sure the Hawkins group will be featured most, we know Max has major plot lines and they seem to be the ones dealing with the Slender Krueger ( I can’t decide if I think he is The creel man, Jamie Campbell Bower or one of the kids or a completely different entity) lots of fighty fighty for Steve and sharing vests

I haven’t the foggiest what Hopper, Joyce and Murray will get up to, I assume mainly Hop escaping and unveiling the truth about the upside down etc

Looks like Karen and baby Holly get attacked at some point but probs just someone looking for the kids and they get swept into it- very much would like them to be involved. Also want more family and sibling dynamics this season they have been giving us nish

Someone else who has been giving us nothing is Will … Noah schnapp seriously gave us the best performance of season 2 for them to do nothing with his character in 3- I fear they will do the same again but hopefully they turn around and give him some well earned powers instead

That’s all I can map out from the the top of my head rn, I’ll go through the trailers and snippets tomorrow and see if I can fit in some other things

Taa raa

#this is basically what I can work out from the top of my head #pretty sure I could go deeper but this is an outline #I may write something about little things I’d realistically like to see idk #stranger things trailer #stranger things 4 #stranger things

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underthewingsofthblackeagle · 7 years ago

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Without Worry (4): Of Sons and Daughters (1)

(”Küche” by agata822)

It was still dark when Claire awoke the next morning. As her hand fumbled for Jamie, she found him lying on his back as usual. She caressed his chest gently until he pulled her to himself with his arm and she rested her head on his chest.

"Good morning, Sassenach. How are you?“

"Good morning, my Love. I’m feeling better. Much better."

He pulled her closer and kissed her.

Tenderly she stroked his chest and they were just laying quietly together for a while. "Can I ask you a question, Sassenach?"

She knew it had to be a serious matter if he asked this way.

"Sure.” His chest rose and fell as he took a deep breath. "Do you have any idea why this is all happening now, I mean … why these memories are reentering our lives with such power … right now?“

To his surprise, she answered immediately. "That’s a good question and I’ve already asked it myself.” "And did you find an answer?“

"Perhaps our memory wants to create order, now that we are no longer on the run, now that we have come to rest externally and inwardly. What do you think?” "I agree.“ Again they were silent for a moment.

Jamie’s chest rose and fell and he had begun drawing small circles on her back with his left hand. Claire sensed that his question had not really been answered yet. "Are you worried about that?” "Last night I worried about your health, Sassenach.“

He pulled her to him again and kissed her forehead. "And you? Are you worried?” Claire met his eyes and then slowly shook her head.

"No, last night … well, I felt really nauseated. But that was not because of the memory … rather because of the way I remembered these things. It was … as if … I was going to experience everything again … and it all happened so fast … It was as if a maelstrom pulled me down.“

She saw his dismayed look, so she quickly added:

"But the memories … no, they do not scare me. I’m glad we can finally talk about it. All those awful things we had to go through were not able to separate us and our memories of those difficult times will not do that either. On the contrary, I … I even have the impression that these difficult experiences, now that we talk about them, bring us even closer together."

On Jamie’s face a wide smile became visible. "I feel the same, Claire, truly.” He brushed one of her rebellious curls off her face and kissed her.

"I’ve always felt safe with you, Jamie, well, except … during the short time … after our argument at the inn … and after our reconciliation, I decided to trust you again. But after Cranesmuir and our conversation in the woods … when I told you my whole crazy story and … and you believed me, there was never any doubt in me that I could trust you completely. I do not doubt it today and I never will. I’m glad I can share everything with you.“

(”Kräutergarten” by tassilo111)

After breakfast, Fergus immediately declared that he would now go out to feed the chickens and provide the cow with new straw. Before Claire could say anything, he had already left the house. She looked at Jamie in surprise, but he just smiled.

"Men’s talk, aye?” she asked, shaking her head slightly in unbelief. But her husband just grinned.

While Claire did the dishes, Jamie got his appliances out of one of the barns. Fergus was standing in the yard feeding the chickens as Claire stepped out of the front door to say goodbye to Jamie. He tried discretely to look aside as they kissed each other goodbye. It made him happy to see them like that, because gave him a certain feeling of security. As long as Milord and Milady were fine and they stayed together, he would be able to stay with them. He would have a home.

Shortly thereafter, Claire began her work. The garden behind the house was like a big square. Four stamped paths in the shape of a cross divided it into four fields of equal size. She had provided two fields for various vegetable plants. On another field were various berry bushes and fruit plants and on the fourth field she had created an herb garden. All these plants had to be watered and therefore she needed the help of Fergus. The entire property, which had been made available to them, was bordered on one side by a brook. It could only be reached by a bridge, which could be used by a larger coach. The brook also flowed past the garden, but since it was surrounded by a wall, one had to go from the garden through the yard to the bridge and get a bucket from there into the river to fetch the water.

In principle, Claire could always rely on his help, but during the last days it seemed that Fergus was a little bit reluctant to do his work. So much bigger was her surprise when she came into the garden that morning and there were already two full buckets of water waiting for her. Shortly thereafter, Fergus appeared with two more full buckets, which he exchanged for those with which she had just watered the fruit bushes. Without grumbling, he made his way to the brook to refill the empty buckets. And so it went on, until all plants in their garden were watered. Fergus did not complain once, did not start to lament as usual, or take long breaks. Claire watched his behavior with great pleasure, but said nothing. Nevertheless, he did not miss the smile on her face. When it was time to prepare lunch for him and Jamie, she said:

"Come with me Fergus, you worked so hard, you deserve a break.“

Back in the kitchen she poured him a cup of milk and gave him one of the sweet rolls she had baked in the morning. As he ate, she prepared the basket with sandwiches, some apples and water for their lunch. Then she sent him to the field to bring Milord his lunch. When she heard the gate close behind Fergus, she took a sandwich and a cup of tea she had prepared for herself, sat down at the kitchen table and began to eat. Fergus would be gone for at least two hours and she wanted to spend an hour trying to get some rest. After finishing her lunch, Claire grabbed another cup of tea and a book. She carried both into the yard and sat down on the small bench, which stood under a window on the left side of the front door. She might have read for half an hour when the door in the gate opened and Fergus strolled in.

"Fergus! What are you doing here? Has something happened to Jamie?” she asked surprised.

Fergus, equally surprised, looked at her and said:

"No. I brought Milord lunch, ate with him and then I returned.“

"But why did you come back so early?"

Claire knew very well that Fergus liked staying with Jamie longer than necessary, and that on the way home he liked to detour and wander around. But Fergus answered:

"There is still a lot to do in the garden and in the barns. I thought you needed my help."

"Yes, sure,” Claire answered and got up. If he was so willing, she did not want to miss this chance.

They worked until the late afternoon. Together they had cleaned the garden of dead scrub and then cleaned up one of the barns in which the previous owners had stowed away old lumber. Some of the things were still good. Claire found some slightly rusty scissors that could be restored with some work. In addition, she found a number of clay pots in different sizes, which she could use very well in the garden. Old, partly broken furniture made up most of the lump. She would have to talk to Jamie about it. Maybe he could restore some of the furniture. The rest they could definitely use as firewood. When they finished the work in the barn, Claire took a brush and brushed the dust off her and Fergus’ clothes and hair.

"Come on, Fergus, let’s go in. We’ve done enough for today.“

(”Fetter Brötchen” by Flyfishinghut)

Shortly after, she put tea and sweet rolls on the table and encouraged Fergus to eat. She watched with pleasure as he relished his roll. He really looked a little tired.

"Would you like another cup of tea or maybe some milk?"

"No, thank you."

She poured herself another cup of tea, took a seat next to him on the bench and hugged him. He put his head to her chest and she began to cuddle his hair gently.

"Thank you, Fergus, for all that you have done today, you have been of great help to me."

"I liked doing that for you, Milady."

"I know. But I thank you from my heart. Do you remember the day in Culloden, Fergus? The day Jamie and I had to send you away?"

"Yes Milady."

"And do you remember what we said to you, when we had to send you away?”

"Yes Milady. I never forgot. Milord called me ‘mon fils’ and said he loved me like a son … and you hugged me and said you loved me like your own son. I never forgot, Milady. And I … I love you and Milord too … very much.“

"We are very grateful for you, Fergus and we are happy that finally we all can be together again - you, Jamie and I. And what we said at Culloden is still true today. We love you like our own son."

In order to emphasize her words, she pressed him even closer.

"But in the last days I thought about some things I think I have to talk about with you."

Startled, he raised his head and looked at her with wide eyes.

"Did I do something wrong, Milady?"

"No, Fergus, you did nothing wrong. Nothing."

Gently she pressed his head back against her chest and stroked his hair.

"There is something I like to ask you. When Jamie was imprisoned, we tried everything to free him. When he was transported to Helwater, we finally had a chance and took advantage of it. But the only way to preserve Jamie’s and our freedom was to go abroad. We knew that we could not go back to France because we would certainly be searched there. The colonies were not an option for us either. As you know, they are teeming with Englishmen and redcoats. But luckily I met someone who helped us and we were able to come here. When … when Jamie and I were reunited, we also wanted to have you back with us. That’s why we contacted the Murray’s and asked them to send you to us so we could take you with us. We were so happy when Grá finally brought you to us."

He raised his head again and smiled.

"So was I, Milady."

"Yes, Fergus, but we … we never asked you if you wanted to come with us."

Again he looked at her in astonishment.

"But Milady, have you forgotten, what you told me?"

"What do you mean, Fergus?"

"You told me, that I belong to you and Milord and that I always will have a home with you."

"Oh yes, that’s still true!"

Claire felt tears spilling into her eyes and she gave them free rein.

"Milady, why are you crying?"

"Joy, Fergus, pure joy. I’m so glad that you want to be with us."

"Oh yes Milady. Have you ever doubt it?"

"No, Fergus, no. But you know, when we came here after this long journey, there was so much to do. This big house had to be cleaned and rearranged. Jamie immediately had to take care of the fields so that we could have a harvest this year. There was so much to do and we had so little time for you. Tell me, are you missing anything?"

He smiled, but then his face took on a thoughtful look.

"Sometimes I miss Mr. and Mrs. Murray and I miss the other kids, especially the boys. I miss to go hunting with Milord. I miss the mountains and the forests. The country here is … very different. But I’m still happy to be with you and Milord. I missed you both very much when Milord was imprisoned and you were in England."

He was silent for a moment. His face clearly showed that he was thinking seriously. Then he continued:

"I talked to Milord and he promised me he would go and catch rabbits and trout. He also told me that we will have more time together when the winter comes. Then he will have more time to teach us the language. And if I first speak the language better, then I will certainly soon find new friends. No, I am glad that I can be with you. And if you ever move again I will be with you. That’s were I belong. My home is with you. You do not have to worry, Milady."

When Claire felt tears running down her cheeks again, she gently squeezed the small head with the restless brown curls against her chest.

"Yes, Fergus, because we love each other neither of us has to worry.”

#jamiefraser #clairefraser #fergusfraser #outlander #outlander fan fiction #withoutworry

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renee-writer · 5 years ago

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One Step Into the Future Chapter 31 Oliver Alexander

He clings to her hand as they approach the man. They had a quick discussion on how to handle this and decided sticking as close to the truth as possible, was best. So, Jamie, new here, is looking for family. He looks like his sister and he is wondering if they could be related.

“Pardon me.” Claire says. He looks and she is struck, once again by seeing Jamie’s eyes in a stranger.

“Aye lass?”

“My boyfriend here has recently moved back. He lost contact with his people and well,”

“Ye resemble my sister Janet Murray. I just, I ken it is strange but, I was wondering if we could be related.”

“Hey, aren't you the security guard that was shot defending the hospital?”

“That is him.”

“How wild! Have a seat guys. I am Oliver Alexander Fraser.”

“Jamie Fraser and my love Claire Beauchamp.”

“Very nice to meet you. I see it Jamie. What you saw. It is in the eyes, eh?”

“Aye. A trait from..”

“The Mackenzie’s.”

“Just so.”

“Well Jamie, it seems I may be related to the hospital hero.”

“I'm nae that. Was just doing my job.”

“You faced a bullet man. That takes some huge ones.” Jamie looks blank at the phrase and Clairs decides to steer the conversation back.

“Oliver. Do you know your family history?”

“Aye some. My dad is Simon Fraser. My mam is Oliva Grant.”

“A Grant married a Fraser!” Jamie is shocked for in his day they were sworn enemies. Oliver just laughed.

“I know man. My great-grandma, on dad's side, refused to come to the wedding. She told me ‘us Scots have long memories.’ But, she got over it when my sister was born. She is named Kathleen, after granny Fraser.”

“Kathleen. My sister named one of her daughter’s that.”

“A popular choice. Granny's late husband was Alexander. Where my middle name can from. Let's see they had, Samuel, John, Greta, and my grandma, Sarah. My da, Malcom was first born. Then the twins, William and Sean. Lastly was Lisa.”

“Thank you Oliver.”

“You're welcome. I also have a baby sister, Jennifer.”

“Jenny.” Jamie whispers, his eyes a million miles away.

“Aye all call her that. Does it help?”

“Aye lad. Does any have the red hair?”

“Oh aye. About half of us. Drives my mam crazy. I am the only dark hair in the bunch. Half my uncles, aunts, and cousins also. They say Granny Fraser did. But it is white now.”

“Would it be a terrible thing to ask to meet some of your family? Jamie is really searching for his.”

“Family is important, no doubt. How about this, let my take your number and give you mine. I will talk to my family and let you know.”

“Perfect. Thank you.” They exchange numbers, thank him again, and leave him to his lunch.

“Do ye think I have found them Claire, my family?” They are walking out.

“I think it is quiet possible. I also think we need a.more advanced cover story. Oliver is sweet but not to inquisitive. His family is sure to be.”

“Aye.”

#my writing #modern au #one step in the future #oliver alexander #outlander fanfic

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notyobeerwench · 7 years ago

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New Chapter of as yet Untitled fic

Thinking maybe calling this Gifted or Gifts of Love, I dunno not sure.

NOTE: OK I’m still trying to get used to the Scottish speak and I’m pretty sure my verb tense is all over the place, but oh well. I like this so far. LOL I hope you do too. Thanks again to @lenny9987 for the support and the signal boost! I’m amazed at all the encouragement everyone has given to me! I hope you enjoy this!

Chapter 1

Ellen MacKenzie Fraser was gifted.

It wasn’t just that she was just gifted with the love of good man who was also her soulmate, nor was it that she’d been gifted by the Lord with her 3 children. No, Ellen was also gifted with knowledge of things she shouldn’t know. She had the Sight.

She had been able to hide her gift for a long time with the help of her sisters and mother not just because so many would be afraid, try to use, take advantage, or burn her because of it. Her mother, while she did her duty as a wife, never loved her husband and did not trust him. While Mother had been left to her own devices in raising the girls, she’d seen how her husband had twisted her brothers into competing with each other especially as Colum’s illness began to start to show its early signs. No, the Lady MacKenzie would not allow her daughter to be used to further the competition between her sons.

It was mostly while dreaming that her gift became apparent which allowed it to be easier to hide. She had seen it would be her brother Colum who would become Laird after her father and how Dougal would support his brother, but also scheme behind his back the whole time. She also saw a time in the future that the clans would be destroyed and the famine that would come while the Redcoats were raping and pillaging their lands. Those dreams would wake her screaming in the night and her sisters, Jocasta and Janet, would hold her until she could calm down.

She’d also seen her Brian…as all through her life she dreamed of him. He was always just beyond her reach, but was also a comforting balm to her soul. She talked to him but he couldn’t hear her, she reached out, but could not touch him. However, there were times she could swear he knew she was there. He would smile or hug himself when she said something or tried to touch him sometimes. Those secret expressions always filled her with such love. She counted the days until he would come to her while her soul longed for and called to his.

While counting the days until her life would change, she used her gift in helping and healing the sick and wounded around Leoch. She taught Mrs. Fitz what she knew, and learned what she could when Davie Beaton came to stay with them. The man had some mad ideas, but she kept quiet regarding them and learned what she could of his sound knowledge.

The day came that she’d been warning her Mother, Jocasta and Janet of, her father’s death. A gathering had been called and as she’d seen, Colum was made the new Laird and Dougal his war chief. Her Mother told her of Colum’s plan to marry her off to the future Laird of another clan, but she did not worry as she knew her Brian was coming for her. She saw him in the hall the first night. As a member of the Clan Fraser, he’d come to offer his support of the new “MacKenzie”. When their eyes met in the hall, it was done. Brian knew she was meant for him and approached her with his kinsman, Murtagh, by his side.

They talked in secret, aided by her mother and sisters, but even with their mother’s intercession, Colum would not hear of any other match for Ellen other than the one he’d made. So, Ellen and Brian, aided by Murtagh, her mother and sisters, ran away from Leoch and were handfast as soon as possible. As their wrists were bound together, Ellen had her first vision of their future and knew she’d become pregnant with their son that very eve and the joy of it shone in her face as she and Brian completed their vows.

She and Brian shared everything, and so she told him of her gifts. Brian became the protector of her secret since she no longer had her mother or sisters with her.

“Mo nighean ruaidh, thank ye for sharing your gift with me. I will hold your secrets in my heart, my own. Do not be afraid with me. Always know I’m here to shoulder the burden with ye. No matter what you see. ”

And from that day forward she wasn’t, even when it almost killed her not only to know, but to share her burden with her love. Willie….she knew when he was born she would not see him fully grown. The birth had not been difficult, but once she held him she saw his fate and was inconsolable with grief. The auld midwife looked her in the eyes and took her hands in a tight grip.

“Mistress, love him while you have him. He is still a gift,” and then left.

Ellen got a hold of herself just before Brian entered the room to see his first born son, the lad who would become Laird of Broch Tuarach in his mind. He was ecstatic that his wife and son were healthy. Ellen decided then to keep it from her love her vision of wee Willie’s fate. However, Brian knowing her as he did could tell she was trying to hide something. Late that night, in the warmth of her love’s arms, she told of the fate she saw for their son as he lay sleeping in his cot beside them.

They took that evening to grieve, but resolved in the light of the next day to take the midwife’s sage advice and cherish their lad for as long they had the gift of him alive and with them.

A few years later, their daughter Janet was born and Willie was ecstatic to be a big brother. Ellen was happy with her little family and grateful that neither of her children shared the burden of her gift.

However, all that changed during her pregnancy with Jamie when she could feel how special he was. Ellen knew he’d have gifts similar to hers with the possibility of even more yet it wasn’t something she could see clearly. After delivering her son, Ellen began to see a young girl in her dreams. The brown haired lass was probably around Jenny’s age and wore strange clothing. She was shrouded in a mist and Ellen could not really get a read on her. It was very strange but somehow she knew this lass would be very important to her family in the years to come.

One day when Jamie was five, she found him gazing out the window of his room with a wistful expression on his face. He turned to her when he felt her hand run through his hair.

“What’s bothering you, my lad?”

“Oh Mam, I just miss her,” Jamie sighed while giving her a weak smile.

“Who do you miss? Jenny? She’s just at Granny McNab’s helping with her new grandbairn. She’ll be…..”

“No, Mam, no’ Jenny, although I do miss her, Jenny isna who I mean. It is the lass in my dreams. I haven’t seen her for awhile and I miss her,” a lone tear rolled down his cheek.

Wrapping her arms around her son, he nestled his head against her breast and sighed at the comfort of his Mam’s arms. After a time, she stepped back and knelt so she could be eye level with Jamie when she asked, “How long have you been dreaming of her, lad?”

“As long as I can remember, but no’ every night. I can’t touch her, but I talk to her, and sometimes I think she knows I’m there. Something has happened tho’, I dinna ken what. She’s been sad for a while, and I think she is on a trip of some sort. She has been in strange lands the last few times I dreamed of her.”

“Do you ken her name, Jamie? How long has it been since you dreamed of her?”

“Nay, I doona ken her name, and it has been almost a month since I saw her last. The longest I can remember goin’ without seeing her. It just makes me sad because I ken she’s sad and I’m no’ there for her.”

Ellen hugged her son again and proceeded to tell him how she’d dreamed of his Da her whole life too, and she went through times where she didn’t dream and missed Brian as much as Jamie missed his lass.

Something deep inside her told her it was not yet time to speak of the connection she shared with Jamie’s lass, so she did not share the information with him. However, they talked of the gift they shared in basic terms a five year old could understand and before long, Jamie was off to bother his big brother Willie once more.

Over the years, Jamie continued to talk to his mother regarding his dreams, including the terrifying one he had just shy of Willie’s 11th birthday knowing his brother wouldna see 12 summers. Somehow, Jamie knew his Mam had seen the same thing and also knew not to speak of it to Willie as he’d never been told.

It was difficult on the family when the pox claimed their Willie, but they survived. Jamie continued to evolve into a sensitive and thoughtful lad who would make a great Laird someday. Not that he didn’t get into his fair share of trouble, especially with his friend Ian Murray, but Jamie’s sense of honor, duty, and doing the right thing won out more times than not.

Ellen was standing in the sitting room and felt a bit of a chill as a feeling of change passed in her heart. Brian approached her from behind and wrapped her in his arms, “What ails you, my own?”

Turning to embrace him and settling her cheek in her favorite spot in the crook of his shoulder, “Nothing my love, just the wind of change seemed to wash over me.”

“Come my love, I think it is time for bed,” he smirked as she looked up at him.

Cupping his face with her hand, she kissed him lightly and then tapped his nose with a laugh, “It is only noon you silly man, it isna time for sleep.”

“Oh my love, I said to bed, no’ to sleep,” and they both laughed as he swept her into his arms and carried her off to the Laird’s room.

#outlanderfanfic fanfic myfirstoutlanderfic thefraserparentslive

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imagineclaireandjamie · 7 years ago

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Chain Of Command

Anonymous said: I️ really miss your COC and The Getaway fics. Will you be writing soon? I️ am also loving your art. You must be an amazing person.

Thank you, Anon. You’re way too kind to me. Have some CoC <3 MBD

Strapping wee Fergus to her chest, Claire made sure that he could suckle should he want to under the cover of the sling she’d mocked up. Jamie had been up and away quite early, leaving Claire to find her own amusement and she’d decided that she wanted to get back to work. Tired of being stuck upstairs on bedrest she was ready to escape.

Sneaking downstairs, Claire’s sweat drenched hands clung to the banister as she descended. If she ran into either Jenny or Ellen she was finished. But luck was on her side. The big house was seemingly empty on the main floor, the fire lit in the sitting room seemed simply to be there to warm the dogs more than the household. Bran, the largest of Lallybroch’s canines, had curled himself tightly on the hearth and it didn’t seem like he’d be moving anytime soon. Claire smiled as she strode passed the hairy beast. He was supposed to be the guardian of the house, but he was the softest creature she’d ever met.

Curling close to her breast, Fergus scrunched his eyes closed and nuzzled Claire’s warm skin. He liked the motion of her movement, she could tell by the way his breath came in short sharp pants, fanning across her chest. It soothed her to know that he was comfortable enough swaddled as he was.

Opening the door to the upper kitchens, Claire walked with purpose passed the few staff that were busy cooking lunch. None of them would question her, but she didn’t stop to find out, instead she continued her journey downstairs stopping only when she reached the end of the largest preparation areas. Grabbing an armful of potatoes, she started peeling, using the small knife that Jamie had gifted to her directly after their wedding instead of one of the kitchen knives.

Glancing over at her, Mrs Crook gave Claire the once over but kept her mouth shut.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Claire whispered, sensing familiar eyes on her, “but I don’t want to be isolated anymore. It’s lonely up there by myself.”

“Alright,” Mama Crook answered, her tone purposefully light as she continued to hand pick the ripe vegetables from the basket for the evenings stew. She knew better than to argue with Claire but she had a feeling that it wouldn’t be long before a familiar Fraser came in search of his wife.

Claire had nearly finished peeling the enormous pile of potatoes before footsteps echoed from the small concealed staircase. She ignored the pounding of her heart as she began to chop the spuds into smaller pieces. Claire had been honest when she’d spoken those few words to Mama Crook. She was lonesome upstairs in her rooms. With this in mind, she pursed her lips and rocked Fergus as close as she could get him. Knowing Jamie would likely be more that a little put out at her dissent, Claire rolled her shoulders and prepared herself for a tongue lashing.

As predicted Jamie came storming into the kitchen, his cheeks stained red, his hair standing on end with stray pieces of straw sticking out of the side of his muddied shirt.

“Claire,” he began, hovering over her with a quirk to his eyebrow. Sliding one finger beneath her chin, he lifted her head so that she was forced to make eye contact. “I ken ye wanna work, lass, but ye’ve no’ long had the lad. Come, please?” He pleaded with no malice in his tone.

Taken aback by his immediate softness, Claire wiped her knife and placed it back in her sock before taking his hand, bowing her head in defeat and following him back up to their quarters.

Just as when she’d arrived earlier, none of the other lassies spoke or addresed her and before she knew it, Claire was back in their rooms surrounded by the warmth of the relit fire. Licking her lips she adjusted herself so that Fergus could feed once more, her arm cradling him to her breast as he suckled audibly.

“This isn’t forever, you know, Claire…” Jamie began, an air of apology to his words, “only whilst Fergus is wee.” “You don’t understand, Jamie,” Claire returned, her patience wearing a little thin now she was cocooned upstairs once more. It felt claustrophobic. The heat of the fire spread around her as her arms came up to wrap around her tiny son who’d neatly fallen asleep, her nipple still on his mouth as he suckled on and off in his sleep. It was shocking that he was still so dinky considering the amount that he fed.

Jamie watched, his eyes focused solely on Claire as he watched her shoulders sink as her hands came to cocoon Fergus. She was the perfect mother; nurturing and kind but brave and steadfast with it. He could attempt to make decisions for her and she’d bow to him eventually, but she’d resent him for it too.

“No,” he acquiesced “I dinna think I do…”

Claire stood stunned. She knew she was right though she hadn’t expected him to agree with her so easily. Jamie was nothing if not stubborn.

But he loved her and he saw her for who she truly was. Claire had been raised primarily between Mrs Crook and Ellen, his own mother. She was a product of a completely female upbringing and had been expected to forge her own path once she was old enough to see over the preparation tables in the kitchen. Having fallen hard and fast for Jamie, she had carried the burden of her feelings alone for so long. Independence was her armour, a shield she wore with pride and he would be foolish to try and erase that part of her.

Jamie had fallen in love with Claire; with her intelligence, with her energy, with her life and with her free spirited attitude - curtailing those would only dampen the spark that burned so brightly betwixt them.

“I’m lonely without you, without anyone - up here I’m isolated,” she began, seeing Jamie so ready to connect with her now. He was listening, so she would speak honestly. “I had to before, shield myself from everyone - even from you. But now we’re married I don’t have to, Jamie, don’t you see?” Jamie cocked his head to one side, his eyes soft in the dim daylight that streamed through the frosted glass of their windowpanes.

“I don’t want to be locked away in some ivory tower, Jamie. Swaddled tighter than wee Fergus because you think that’s the best way to protect us both. *You*,” she said, her passion rising as she rocked Fergus to and fro, “get to go outside. You can talk to your da...to Ian Murray and the other lads who work the fields with you. Aren’t I allowed the same freedom?”

“Aye,” Jamie whispered, nodding his head in time with his words. “Ye are, Claire. I could-”

“No,” Claire cut in, certain of what he was about to say next. “It isn’t just about company. It’s about being busy, too. I need something to keep my mind active, to keep my hands engaged.”

Pointing to the sling wrapped carefully around her, Jamie replied; “Ye made that yourself then? To help ye wi’ your chores?”

“Yes,” Claire said, her chin raising as she swayed on her heels, “I made it. Knowing he can’t be away from me, I wanted something that meant I could have my hands free whilst keeping him close and this solves that issue. He can feed too, come and look?” Beckoning him forwards, she moved some of the thick reams of cloth away so that Jamie, his tip-toed movements bringing him closer to Claire and Fergus, could see his dozing son clearly.

“...and he’s safe?”

“Of course,” Claire scoffed, “safe and warm...and *fed*,” she added with great mirth. “It’s like he’s back inside me, see…” she was pointing to the way he lay, his body twisted around hers, on his side but flat against her belly as if curled back in the womb. “He likes that, liked to think he’s enveloped within me once more. He doesn’t stir at all, only to feed and even then he’s quiet as a dormouse.”

Brushing his cheek with the back of his hand, Jamie ran a thick but clean finger over his son’s warm skin before leaning across to kiss Claire gently. “Would ye like to come out with me one day, mo nighean donn?” He asked softly, his voice a whisper as he breathed in the scent of her. “You can work and have my company. I dinna think I like sharing ye with the staff - no’ when I have to spend my time away from you and I dinna truly have to.”

Claire laughed as she wrapped her arm around Jamie’s waist bringing him flush against her. With Fergus sleeping between them she listened out for all three of their combined heartbeats before replying. “Yes, Jamie,” she returned in a sigh, her finger tapping against the hollow of Jamie’s back in time with each thrum, “I would absolutely love to.”

#Anonymous #;Mod MBD #Chain of Command #jamie x claire #featuring: fergus #Headcanon Fergus

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gotham-ruaidh · 7 years ago

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Shifted - Part 7, Chapter 6

In Shifted, the premise is simple - what if Claire had gotten pregnant with Brianna a month or two earlier in the story, and she and Jamie had re-evaluated their priorities and decided that the cause was lost, and they were able to slip away from the army and quietly return to Lallybroch?

Previous installments…

Part 7 - The Visitor

Lallybroch, Autumn 1762

In the end, introducing Roger as someone from Claire’s past hadn’t surprised the family too deeply – except for Brianna and William, of course, who knew full well that their mother didn’t truly have a past.

Dinner had been pleasant enough. Claire watched Roger clearly enjoy himself, seated at the place of honor at Jamie’s right, Jenny on his other side, Young Jamie across from him. Roger pleasantly inquired about the size of the estate, its agricultural output, and the features of the nearby countryside. He’d explained himself to be a scholar of some sort, born to Scots parents but raised by an English uncle after being orphaned as a small child. This being his first journey back to Scotland since he could remember, he was trying to re-acquaint himself with the land of his forefathers.

It didn’t escape Jamie’s notice that Roger was also trying to acquaint himself with Brianna. She sat diagonally across from him, in between two of her female Murray cousins, and only directly addressed him a few times. The lad had spent a good deal of time stealing glances at her. And from what he saw, Brianna had stolen more than a few glances of her own.

So. Better to puzzle it out with Claire before taking any action.

Claire sat stiffly on his other side throughout dinner, barely touching her food. It must have been the hell of a shock – not just to meet another person from her own time, but someone she knew, who bore news of her first husband. The man with Randall’s face. From time to time, Claire still woke from dreams where she was living as his wife again – and only Jamie’s touch could bring her back.

His hand found hers under the table, pushing the C on his left thumb against the J on her right thumb. She squeezed his hand tightly, desperately.

I am here, his fingers told hers. We will figure this out.

And much later, after whiskey and toasts and Jenny finding Roger a place to sleep, Jamie and Claire slowly ascended the stairs to their bedroom. They paused to kiss their children goodnight before locking their door and gently stripping off each other’s clothes. Jamie took Claire’s hand and led her to their bed. He folded back the covers, slipped in beside her, and drew the blankets up over their heads.

Nestled in their dark cocoon, he drew her to his chest and she wrapped her legs around him, drawing her hips flush with his. She buried her face in his neck and breathed deeply. Gently he drew a hand up and down her back, murmuring quietly in the Gaidhlig.

They lay quietly for what could have been minutes or hours, savoring the feeling of skin on skin. Claire breathed Jamie in, and he rested his lips against her forehead.

Claire’s mind raced – full of so many disjointed thoughts and images.

Frank’s motorcar, the same car she’d driven to the stone circle. Whatever had happened to it? She’d left the top down when she parked at the stones. Had the beautiful leather seats been ruined by the time Frank found it?

Young Roger, adorable in a brown sweater and polished shoes. Where had she seen those eyes before?

The fragrant oolong tea leaves Mrs. Graham had read for her so long ago.

The rectangular leather suitcase she’d brought with her to Scotland, stuffed with her few worldly possessions. Dear God, she’d even packed her wedding portrait with Frank.

And then the feeling of falling through the stones. Seeing Randall. The scent of damp in Murtagh’s plaid as he held her in front of him on his horse.

And Jamie’s eyes, glowing in the firelight, the first time she’d touched him.

So the loop ran over and over in her mind. This time, that time. Frank, Jamie. Roger. Randall. Dougal. Murtagh.

And Jamie’s voice – her anchor, whispering into her hair in the Gaidhlig.

“Hush, my heart. I am here. I am with you. Hush. Come back to me, my love. My blood. Mother of my son and daughters. How I love you.”

After a long while, Claire blinked hard and returned to herself. She raised her head and drew her nose along Jamie’s chin in the darkness. Her fingers twined in his hair and she brought his mouth down to hers.

A bit later she pulled back, breathless. He butted his nose against hers. “Are ye back, then?” he whispered.

She nodded, resting one palm flat on his back, thumb caressing his scars.

“What’s upsetting ye more – that Frank marrit again or that wee Roger sees the stones as playthings?”

She sighed. “I shouldn’t feel guilty about anything Frank did after I – after I left. I did love him, Jamie. I’m glad he found happiness.”

Jamie gathered her closer into his chest and hitched her leg around his hip. She gasped as he eased into her, and he smiled against her lips.

The Englishman never made her feel like this, he reflected. He never felt her belly when it was rounded wi’ child, or kissed its silver marks after she delivered a healthy bairn. He never lay wi’ her side by side like this in bed, joined as one flesh, sharing fears and hopes and dreams.

“You are my happiness,” he breathed, tilting his hips to penetrate even deeper.

He felt her smile and hum against his lips. “I never regret staying. I can’t leave you, Jamie. I can’t. My heart couldn’t take it.”

He pushed in and out, gently. “You are my heart,” he breathed into her ear. He felt her cheek flame against his.

“More, Jamie. I need more.”

Still he kept up a slow, shallow pace, one hand firm on her hip. His thumb settled in her navel, digging into the indentation, and he felt her belly quiver.

“You are all I want,” he whispered. “Each time is never enough.”

She swallowed, throat dry. “Jamie,” she gasped. “More. I need more.”

He smiled and bit her chin, stilling within her. “Ask me again.”

Her back arched, eyes closed. He felt her nipples press up against his own as she panted.

“No, you bloody Scot,” she laughed. He moaned at the sensation. She seized the back of his head and kissed him, hard.

He rolled on top of her and gripped her hips. She wrapped her legs around him. He brought his forehead against hers, and licked a bead of sweat from the tip of her nose.

“I said more, Jamie. Harder,” she panted.

He drove home once, hard. She cried out.

“More.”

He did so again. And again. And again. Driving all thoughts of her time and his time from her mind – until all that was left was her, and him, and their love for each other, shielded from the world.

Much later they lay in the dark, side by side, blankets pooled around their waists. Jamie held Claire’s right hand between his, resting on his stomach, fingers twining and untwining.

“Did ye see the way wee Roger was looking at Brianna tonight?”

She squeezed his hand. “Yes. He seemed quite taken with her.”

He raised her wedding ring to his lips for a kiss. “What do ye want me to do about it, then? He said he wasna going to stay for verra long.”

Claire settled her head on Jamie’s shoulder. “Maybe Brianna will give him a reason to stay.”

“Mmphmm.” Jamie turned to kiss her forehead, unconvinced.

“He’ll treat her right,” Claire said at length. “He comes from a time where men really do respect a woman’s wishes.”

“Aye,” Jamie said softly. “But it’s my daughter, ken? I dinna care how he feels toward all women – I only care how he feels and behaves toward my women.”

Claire sighed against him. “Let me speak with her in the morning, before breakfast. See what’s on her mind.”

“I suppose.” He yawned widely, gathering her against him and drawing the blanket up over their shoulders. Claire settled her head closer to him on the pillow. “Now then. Sleep, mo nighean donn. Let me protect yer dreams.”

#outlander #outlander fanfic #jamie and claire #shifted

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