Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from Outlander, I'm just borrowing them for the story. Lottie is the only character that I have created myself for this story.

Warning: Mentions of spanking in this story.

Author's notes: This was originally two stories but I merged them into one story instead. Please let me know what you think of it by sending me a review or a message. It helps me write more quickly and encourages me to keep writing. Lottie's character is getting more and more revealed.

Conversations and Agreements

Lottie was standing in the stables that belonged to the inn that she and the rest of her companions had just gotten rooms in for the night. It was afternoon and she had just lead her horse into his stall and thoroughly rubbed him down of sweat and mud after their ride there. The grey horse kept nudging her right hand eagerly, hoping for a tasty treat of some kind. Lottie smiled a him and stroked his muzzle.

"You want a treat, huh? Well, I supposse you've earned one after the long ride we've had today." She reached into her leather satchel and pulled out a green apple. "Hold on, don't be so hasty!" she admonished him as she stooped to the hayfilled ground to split the apple in two using a small knife. The horse stomped his hooves in anticipation and leaned his head forward as much as he could. Lottie stood up and offered the hungry horse one half.

"We share. That's what friends do, you see."

"And friends ye seem to be the two of you."

Lottie jumped at the sound of Jamie's voice. She turned and saw him standing there leaning against the door frame of the stable entrance with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Yer taking good care of him."

She took a deep breath and exhaled and turned back to her horse. She and Jamie hadn't spoken about what had happened during the fight lesson earlier that day. She had been expecting him to say something to her. At first she had been worried he might take offense for her dropping him on his arse but she had sensed no anger from him while on the road so she hoped he wasn't concealing any resentment towards her. She expected him to confont her about it in some manner though and that was probably what he was about to do.

"Lass," he started and walked towards her.

The sound of the stable door being swung open made her look up as Claire entered. She stopped next to Jamie who seemed a bit surpirsed to see her there. Probably since her horse was already in its stall all taken care of.

"Jamie, could you give Lottie and me a moment alone, please?"

Lottie felt a stab of apprehension at what Claire might want to discuss. She figured the conversation would definitely be focused on her actions earlier today during the fight lesson.

Lottie had by now grabbed a brush and started to brush her horse's shoulder to keep busy.

Jamie looked from Claire to Lottie and back to Claire again and shrugged.

"Of course. I'll meet you inside when you're finished talking."

He closed the stable door behind him and they could hear his steps on the gravel path headed toward the tavern.

Claire then crossed the stable over to Lottie with determined steps and halted right in front of the girl. She put one hand on her hip and tilted her head to the side like she was expecing Lottie to start talking any second.

Lottie dropped the brush in the empty bucket by her feet with a clang.

"Did you want something?" she asked, not wanting to admit having done anything wrong today. She had known Claire would not approve of her choice to show her fighting skills but in the heat of the moment she had chosen to ignore that fact.

Claire's mouth dropped open a little and a small frown appeared on her fair face.

"You know very well what is on my mind, Lottie. I told you how crucial it is that you are descreet and not let people onto where you're from. The same goes for me as you very well know."

Lottie shrugged indifferently and tried to avoid Claire's angry stare.

"I didn't tell them anything. I wouldn't," she objected and slowly stroked her horse's muzzle. He responded with a content snort.

Claire wouldn't have any of her tactics to avoid confrontation though and took Lottie's arm and spun her towards her so she was forced to meet her eyes.

"That show you put on earlier today with Jamie could have raised suspicion and you were well aware of it. You lost your temper and decided to teach them a lesson. That's what you did."

Hearing Claire's words Lottie felt herelf give up her struggle of convincing herself she had not done anything wrong. She knew Claire was right and that the older woman indeed had been able to see through to Lottie's real intentions. She had wanted to show the men that she was after all not the helpless lass they saw her as. She had wanted to see at least a tiny drop of respect in their eyes when they looked at her. Sure she knew she probably never would have been able to take Jamie down in a real fight and that the only reason she had succeeded earlier today was because he had been under the impression that she was helpless. If he had been the least bit prepared then it wouldn't have been so simple to drop him on his stubborn Scottish arse. But it had felt so good doing it at the time.

Lottie bit her lip the way she couldn't help doing when she felt guilty.

"I'm sorry," she said in a low voice.

She fingered her skirt a little nervously as she made up her mind that the best thing to do was to own up to her mistake. That was the way she had been brought up by her father after all. She met Claire's stare which still had anger in it.

"You're right. Their words hurt me," she admitted. " They made a lot of assumptions about me without knowing the facts. It hurt my pride and I wanted to drop Jamie with that back sweep. To show them all that they were wrong about me."

Claire's frown eased up a bit at hearing that and after a while she gave a wave of her hand in dismissal.

"Oh, well. I can understand how you felt. They were after all goading you."

Lottie nodded.

"But you cannot do it again! It's too risky. Women and girls know very little of fighting in Scotland in the 18th century. The skills you have you are going to have to keep to yourself here."

Lottie sighed and fell back against a pillar in resignation.

"Agreed."

Claire stroked her hand gently across Lottie's cheek and smiled warmly.

"You're still not afraid, are you? Afraid of not being able to travel back?"

Walking side by side they exited the stables with the sound of horses whinnying and stomping behind their backs. Claire shut the stable door and they started to head over to the inn.

"No," Lottie answered. "You know I don't want to return. Then I'd have to go back to that orphanage and those horrible people running it. To Mrs. Ham…" her voice trailed off and she shuddered at her memories of the plump little lady in her beige apron.

"It's strange though," she continued. " I sometimes wonder why it happened. Why I travelled here. What's the reason for me being here?"

They walked with slow steps, almost like they didn't want to reach the inn. But they had no reason to avoid it either.

"Are you afraid of never returning?"

Claire immeditely changed the subject at the same time as she got the question from Lottie.

"Where did you learn that by the way?" she instead asked.

Lottie ignored the fact that Claire was avoiding the subject of whether or not she felt fear at the thought if not being able to return to 1945. She guessed it was because Claire was married to Jamie now and it was obvious that she cared for him a lot. Even loved him. But she was also married to Frank and if she was to ever see him again she would have to travel back through the standing stones. But that probably wasn't something she wanted to think about right now when she and Jamie were newly wedded.

"You mean the martial arts I know?"

Claire gave a laugh.

"If that's what they're called. You have other secret skills I don' know about?" She joked and playfully bumped into Lottie who grinned back at her.

"No I wouldn't say I do."

Lottie let her gaze drop to the ground in front of her.

"My father taught me. Before he died."

A pang of longing made itself remembered in her chest when she mentioned him.

"He was always interested in the martial arts and practiced from when he was a teenager to the day he died."

They reached the end of the trail and ascended the steps up to the small porch and front door of the inn. Claire stopped and seemed to want to put off going inside until Lottie was finished telling her small piece of family history.

"You see, my father practiced martial arts for a friend of his. A man from China named Mr. Kee. He had lived in England for a long time working with repairments of stoves and lamps."

Lottie's story was interrupted by a short, drunk brown haired Scot pracically bursting through the front door of the inn startling them both to a jump in the process. On his way out he loduly announced to his friends inside that he would be stepping out for a piss. They responded to that with a cheer and a raise of their cups while spilling some of the contents around them in the process.

Lottie and Claire waited paitently for the man to make it down the steps and round the corner before continuing their conversation.

"And why did he teach your father?"

" Well, his father had taught him the martial arts from the time he was five years old and to Mr. Kee the martial arts wasn't just athletics. It was a way of life. Father once told me that he believed Mr. Kee wanted someone to share that with," Lottie said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Anyway, when Mr. Kee left London my father needed someone to practice the martial arts with. I had basically been tugging at his sleeve nagging him about wanting to learn from the time I was three years old. Father always said he would teach me when I got older and when Mr. Tao left I guess he thought it was the right time. I was also starting to move around the city more by myself and he wanted to feel assured I was safe when out on my own."

Claire understood and agreed that that was a vice decision.

"So, what can you do then?" she wondered. " I mean, I know next to nothing about Asian martial arts myself," she admitted with a humble smile. "It sounds fascinating to learn."

An owl hooted nearby in the woods and a moment later the brown haired scot returned around the corner, using the back of his hand to wipe his mouth as he stumbled forward. He passed Claire and Lottie outside the front door and gave them both a confounded look.

"Aren't you lovely ladies staying out a bit late, aye? Yer husbands might have something to say about thet." he said in a slurring, drunk tone of voice as he fought to keep his balance.

Claire pushed her shoulders back and greeted his interruption with a chin held high.

"Good evening to you. For your information my husband is right inside by that round table in there" she pointed through the small window by the door. " And he is aware of my whereabouts, thank you very much."

Some saliva escaped from the corner of the man's mouth as he leered unpleasantly at them both. He wasn't exactly a sight for sore eyes with his rugged looks and straggling long hair. His grin exposed several rotten teeth in his wide mouth.

Lottie kept her senses on alert and chose to just continue telling Claire of her past and ignore the man, hoping he would go away on his own.

"They are indeed very facinating, yes.I loved learning to use the martial arts. Especially since I got to learn from my father whom I loved and looked up to immensely. My skills involve a lot of... "

She didn't get the chance to explain any further about her skills before the drunk scottsman suddenly took a step forward on the small, crowded porch and gripped Lottie by the shoulders. She reacted by ducking beneath his arms and twisting her body so she immediately escaped his clutches. Just as she was readying herself to send the man flying off the porch she cast a glance at Claire who gave her a strict and at the same time appealing stare that reminded her not to do anything rash that would attract attention to them. Lottie halted herself and Claire instead flung the door to the inn open and signalled for Jamie to come and lend some assistance. There wasn't much more needed than for him to show himself and offer some harsh admonishment to the drunk scot to make him scurry off to lick his wounds. Jamie did after that encounter insist for them to come inside though and both Claire and Lottie agreed that might perhaps be the best thing to do to avoid more trouble. Their rumbling stomachs agreed with them as well as they headed inside to join the others at their table.

Later that evening

Jamie entered Lottie's room at the inn and shut the door gently behind him. Once again Dougal had arranged a room for her on the second floor. She suspected the reason was that it was considered more secure than the rooms on the first floor. That was, less likely to be visited by any wandering drunks looking for a lassie to entertain them.

Lottie had retired to her room half an hour earlier when she had started feeling a bit sleepy. She hadn't really expected Jamie to come up and visit her and was a bit surprised by his visit.

"Can I come in?" he asked politely as he waited by the door.

Lottie couldn't help but glance at his waist to make sure he hadn't felt the need to take off his sword belt before he entered. She was in no hurry to feel that belt ever again. The belt remained securily around his waist though.

"Of course," she replied and put down the hairbrush that she had been about to run through her long red hair cascading down her back. She had just released her hair from its braided prison before Jamie knocked on the door.

He walked slowly across the wooden floor wih a pondering look on his face. He stopped by the large bed that was really overly large for just her to sleep in, and decided on leaning his back against the bedpost. She remained seated on the stool by the mirror table waiting for him to speak what was on his mind.

"I see ye're sittin down has improved," he nodded and she squirmed a bit in her seat. "That's good."

Lottie couldn' help but blush at his words.

"Yes," she replied with a purse of her lips.

Silence filled the room and only roaring laughter from downstairs was momentarily heard.

"Jamie, I…" she started. "You know I am sorry, don't you? I regret Claire getting captured and all of you having to put yourselves in danger to rescue her and…"

Jamie quickly closed the distance between them and put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Shhh," he gently shushed her. "That is forgiven, lass. It is forgiven," he assured her.

Lottie let out a breath of relief at hearing that. She had been so angry with Jamie earlier today when she had knocked him to the ground during that fight lesson. But she had also been worried about him still being angry at her for what happened with Claire the other day. After Jamie was done punishing her the other night it had felt like he had forgiven her. But after he left her to tend to her wounded pride and bottom it had struck her that he actually never said the words. Now that she heard them she felt relief.

Jamie cleared his throat and she looked up.

"Ye ken I punished Claire the same way I punished you, right?" he said with raised eyebrows.

Lottie nodded. She had felt really sorry for Claire. She knew she loved Jamie and she understood the older woman's reluctance to accept such a punishment from him. It wasn't the way things were handled between husband and wife back home in their own time. And she could understand Claire's feeling of betrayal from Jamie. Lottie herself howerer had felt extremely guilty over what happened. Lottie knew Claire had only been attempting to get back to her own time but she wouldn't have been able to go and then gotten captured without Lottie's help distracting Willie. What the two of them had done was wrong. Dougal might actually have punished Willie for losing Claire after she would have disappeared throught the standing stones. Not to mention the fact that Claire had happened to get captured instead of returning to 1945 and Jamie and the rest had ended up risking their lives to rescue her.

The guilt Lottie had felt that night had actually made her feel that she deserved the punishment Jamie dulled out. She had been afraid, more afraid than she wanted to admit or remember. But she had also felt Jamie was in the right that time. Not to mention he only punished her the way young ones were punished in the 18th century. She knew that.

"Well, I came up here to have a conersation with you about an agreement."

"An agreement?" she asked.

"Aye, thet's right, lass. An agreement between me and Claire. "

Jamie squatted down in front of Lottie seated on the stool and locked eyes with her.

"Ye see, Claire was very angry with me for punishing her the way that I did. I thought she would get over her anger if given time but she did not. Until last night when she and I were on the road together and the rest of ye went on ahead."

Lottie remembered all right. Claire and Jamie had stayed behind when Claire insisted on walking her horse. Lottie had wanted to stay with them and save some skin on her own behind too but Dougal had insisted she'd ride along with them. Probably to give the couple some privacy.

"We talked and…"

"What about?" Lottie interrupted to Jamie's obvious surprise. He scratched behind his left ear and looked away.

"Oh, we should not get side tracked with details now," he said with a bit of an awkward look on his handsome features which perplexed Lottie. But she let it go and listened. "We talked and the conversation ended with an understanding and an agreement between us. Our relationship as husband and wife has to be different from my parents' relationship," he said with a finalty and contentment to his words. As if he had actually just said something that should make sense to her.

Lottie didn't know what Jamie was trying to say at all and showed it by wrinkling her nose slightly at him. The floor boards squeked a bit as he hunched forward in his squatting position.

"If Claire does somethin wrong it will not be my duty to punish her by beaing her," he clarified.

Lottie's mouth formed an o in understanding. Jamie continued:

"That is the agreement between me and Claire." He suddenly pointed a finger up at Lottie. "You and I, however, do not have the same agreement."

He stood up to his full height towering over her.

Lottie was starting to see the purpose to his visit in her room begin to rear its ugly head.

"Claire and I have an understanding and I have made a vow to never to raise a hand to her again. I plan to keep that vow but I want to make it clear to ye, lass, that I do not make the same vow to you." He held up a hand in the air as she wanted to protest. "The reason for that is that you are a bairn - not my wife. Ye're still in need of certain upbringin. If ye choose to disobey me or act wrecklessly - then I will punish ye with a suitable beating the way that I was brought up by my parents as well. "

Lottie was of course aware of the certain sense of responsibility that Jamie experienced towards her. There was some sort of agreement between the men that stated he was more responsible for her than anyone else in the group as well. The reason why he was more responsible for her than anyone else in their travelling party was that he had rescued her from the red coats right after she, unbeknown to him, had come through the standing stones at Craigh Na Dune. He had been "rewarded" with a shoulder wound for his troubles by the red coats in the process. The fact that he had rescued her and helped her settle in at caste Leoch had somehow united them. He had become the one she turned to if she needed help the first couple of weeks at Leoch.

She wasn't sure she liked the law he was laying down in front of her now though.

"And what if I don't think that sounds very reasonable?" Lottie asked with seriousness.

There was a hint of a grin playing on Jamie's lips and in his eyes as he scrutinized her.

"I'm not sayin that to sound reasonable, lass. I'm sayin it to let ye know what ye can expect. I won't punish ye if ye havenat been deservin of it of course. But if ye have; then you know what to expect from me."

Lottie sighed and stood up. She resisted the urge to protest any further because she knew it was futile. She respected and looked up to Jamie and she felt safe with him. If this was the way he felt was right then she would accept it. She had to. It was the way things were done in this time and she trusted Jamie not to abuse his power over her.

Jamie leaned forward slightly with a twitch in the corner of his mouth.

"I also want to commend you on your fighting skills and tell ye that I am impressed. Even though surprise was involved I can tell ye that no other lassie has been able to take me down the way that you did today. On the other hand," he interjected "That doesn't at all mean that that would serve as any help whatsoever should ye decide to try and use it against me to escape punishment. I would win without much trouble, just so ye ken, lass."

Lottie felt her cheeks burning again. She knew Jamie was right. He was an excellent fighter and swordsman as well. She was pleased he had noticed her skills though. At least he knew she wasn't helpless. That was important.

The chirping song of a nightinggale was heard from the open window by the bed and drew their attention for a moment. Jamie soon turned back to Lottie with a curious frown.

"Where did ye learn to fight like that anyway? Men willing to teach a lass to fight are scarce around here."

She raised a questioning brow at him and he nodded and chuckled.

"I didna mean the situation today. That was merely a quick self defence lesson Claire got. You however have had lessons. Many of them and for some time."

She nodded in resignation. It would be stupid not to acknoledge that she had fighting skills. He had seen it with his own eyes.

"I know some fighting," she said with a detetmined brush of her hands on her checkered skirt to get rid of a fly that had found it a suitable place for a rest. "My father taught me."

Jamie appraised her thoughtfully with squinted eyes and drummed his fingers against his chest.

"I know you have secrets, Lottie. Claire does too. I have told ye before that that is all right with me and that you dinna have to tell me everything about yer past. But I will tell ye now what I have told Claire; when you tell me something then let it be the truth. All right? I will do the same."

Lottie took a moment to think his words over. This was no order - it was a suggestion. An agreement that could be made between them. She would still have to be careful exactly what she chose to tell him, but she wanted what she chose to tell him to indeed be the truth.

She extended her hand out to him.

"I agree. It's an agreement."

He looked at her hand and then grasped it with his own largely built hand, and they shook on the agreement.

The End