Title: Charlotte's Tumbling Time Travel: Parting of the ways

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters on Outlander, I'm only borrowing them for the story.

Author's notes: Here is the second part of what I have been writing this past month. I've decided to wrap up this story here and start a sixth one next. The last sentence in this chapter should give you an idea what the next story will be about. Please send me your thoughts and comments. I really appreciate the ones I've already received from you. They help a lot. Thank you.

They had escaped. They had been riding for hours: Lottie on Seoc and Claire and Jamie on Jamie's horse Donas. Finally Jamie said they could stop and take a break since the horses needed to rest. Lottie got out of the saddle and gently massaged her stiff bottom and thighs. They stopped by a stream in the woods and Jamie wetted rags in the running water and started to wash Claire's wounded back. She winced as he touched the pink welts on the creamy white skin on her back.

Lottie had trouble believing what had just happened. Had they really just escaped and left everything at castle Leoch behind? She hadn't even packed anything from her room there. Things had happened so fast. But then again, she had Seoc, and he was her most treasured possession anyway. She didn't need anything else from castle Leoch. The only unfinished business she regretted not taking care of before they escaped was punching Laoghaire in the nose. But that was a regret she would have to live with.

She watched as Jamie cared for Claire so tenderly. It struck her that she didn't even know where they were headed to. Perhaps just...away. Or maybe Jamie had a goal in mind. She just hoped they wouldn't have to double back and pass castle Leoch. She felt finished with that place now and she sucked in the free air of the lush forest environment. She liked this much better.

Lottie sat down on the log next to Claire and peered anxiously at her.

"Are you ok?"

She turned her head and managed a small smile Lottie's way.

"Yes. Thanks to you. Thank you for bringing him back to help."

Jamie leaned a hand against a tree trunk and hung his head as if he let some tension out for the first time since back at Cranesmuir.

"Lass, I need to talk to Claire," he said. "Would ye mind giving the horses some snacks and a rub while we talk?"

Lottie nodded and was about to leave and give them some space when Jamie started to speak:

"I know there are things that ye do not wish to tell me. But when ye do tell me something let it be the truth. I've often seen that scar on yer arm...and thought nothing of it. Until today when I saw that same scar on Geillis Duncan. She called it the devil's mark."

Lottie tried to bring herself to keep moving, but she couldn't. Jamie was onto the truth for the first time since she and Claire came through the stones at Craigh na Dune.

"Are ye...a witch?" he asked tentatively.

"Jamie," Claire started to respond. "I'm not a witch. But when you hear the truth maybe you'll think otherwise," she sniffled.

Claire and Lottie's eyes locked and they silently agreed. It was time. Lottie felt butterflies start to stir in her stomach. How would Jamie react to the news? What if he decided they were both out of their minds and turned them over to some authorities. Did asylums exist in this time, she wondered. She looked at the calm but slightly disturbed look on his face. No one had ever felt this constant in her life since her father passed away. No, Jamie would never react that way, she reasoned and felt herself relax a little.

"You should stay, Lottie," Claire said and tears began to form in her eyes. This time not just from the pain on her back but because of what she was about to do.

Jamie looked a bit confused but nodded that she could stay. Next he took a seat on Claire's other side.

Then Claire told him everything. About the Jacobites and their lost cause, the scar on her arm and what it meant healthwise to have such a scar and finally; about her being from the future. A worried wrinkle appeared between Jamie's eyebrows as he listened. When she finished he looked away. He processed the information he had just heard silently and Lottie could see Claire's desperation for a reaction of any sort. Finally he met her desperate gaze, and he smiled that smile of his.

"I believe you, Sassenach," were his words. Claire cried harder than before. But this time tears of happiness.

Lottie's heart raced so fast and she felt her face break out into a big grin. Finally she wouldn't have to hide anything about her identity from him anymore. She could be her entire self without having to worry about consequences if she should happen to trip.

Now Jamie's gaze turned to her. She had sat quietly the entire time and he probably thought that was unlike her.

"The two of ye showed up the same day. Ye're both sassenachs. Yer stories of where ye're from hasn't added up and ye both have unusual skills fer a lass here."

He stopped and wiped his face with his palm exasperatedly.

"Dinnae tell me ye're from the...future too?" he said speculatively with an index finger pointed at her. But he already knew the truth, she could see it in those blue eyes of his.

She nodded slowly with a crooked grin.

"Oh, Lord all mighty," Jamie whispered with a roll of his eyes.

"I haven't lied to you," Lottie insisted. "We agreed to tell the truth and I have ...ever since we agreed to, that is."

Jamie peered critically at her.

"Ye told me ye were from an orphanage, lass. Not from the future."

Lottie nodded.

"And that's the truth. I am from an orphanage. Only that orphanage lies in Inverness Scotland in the 20th century. Not here in this time. I came through the stones the same day as Claire. Probably followed somewhere between five and ten minutes behind her is our estimation. Only we didn't know each other in the 20th century. So, that part was true too. That we didn't know each other before, I mean."

She realized she was babbling and bit her tongue on purpose. Jamie looked to Claire for guidance and she nodded in confirmation. Then she spoke.

"It's true, Jamie. She's from the future too. And she's an orphan."

"But she speaks English…" he started.

"I understand Gaelic too, have you forgotten?" Lottie interjected.

Jamie had obviously not thought of that and he looked like the penny had now dropped.

"Right," he said. "So that's why ye only understand Gaelic but dinnae speak it much. Ye're English and have only lived in Scotland fer a time." he concluded.

Lottie made a pattern with her boot in the dirt in front of her. It always hurt to bring up her father.

"I was born in London and lived there with my father until he died 15 months ago. Then I was sent to the orphanage run by Mrs. Ham in Inverness."

Lottie's thoughts pulled her away from the present. She hadn't told Claire or Jamie everything about her past. She had kept certain things to herself for a reason. She could hardly stand the memories from that evening she had run away from the orphanage, less tell people she loved about them. But it was time to now. She wanted them to know everything about her and give them an honest chance to push her away now before they all found a new place to stay. She had already worked out that they probably weren't returning to Leoch. They were heading to a new home somewhere and before they got there she wanted to be honest with them both.

"Mrs. Ham?" Jamie asked with a quirked smile.

"A fat, spiteful evil bitch that ran the orphanage." Lottie answered with a discrete shudder, remembering her red eyes always peering at her from a distance and her yellow teeth leering at her when she made mistakes.

She glanced at Jame to gauge his reaction to her choice of language but he didn't seem to care at the moment. She could tell she had captured his interest. Lottie met Claire's inquisitive gaze.

"I know I haven't talked much about the orphanage," she admitted and Claire shook her head. "There is a reason." She took a deep breath. "I...I'm afraid. Afraid of what you'll think of me after I've told you."

She bit her upper lip and threw her red hair over her shoulder in nervousness.

"Go on, lass. It cannot be all that bad," Jamie encouraged softly and put a hand on her back.

And Lottie started to tell them. She told them everything she could think of about her background. Starting with being born in London in 1934, her mother dying in childbirth and her being raised by her father. The big red brick house they lived in surrounded by a leafy garden area and a fence separating it from the street outside. She told them about her father being in the military and his martial arts training as well as the way he had taught her how to use it. Jamie and Claire both listened attentively to her. Jamie seemed to think everything she told them made sense and he smiled in recognition from time to time. She told them about her father going off to the war and never returning.

"He died in combat?" Claire asked with sympathy in her voice.

Lottie nodded and felt tears sting her eyes badly.

"I remember the day they came to tell me. An officer came to our door and rang the doorbell. He had that look. I knew right away what happened."

Lottie heard her own voice crack and felt Jamie's comforting hand stroking the back of her head. Suddenly Claire's head shot up as realization hit her.

"1934? Did you say you were born in 1934?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes," Lottie whispered without meeting her eyes. She swallowed as realization hit her too. She had just been made.

Claire sighed and Jamie stared at her.

"What?" he asked confused with eyes darting between them.

Claire gave him a slightly patronizing look.

"That would make her only twelve years old, Jamie."

Lottie sucked on her lip. She had actually forgotten about that little detail.

"I was under the assumption you were fourteen years of age, young lady," he said grimly.

"I know. That was a...lie I suppose. I told you both I was fourteen so you wouldn't treat me like some little kid all the time. I wanted you to see that I'm able to do more things. Adult things."

She looked up and met two pairs of slightly exasperated eyes staring at her. This wasn't what she had actually been worried about telling them and she had been caught off guard with the truth about her age slipping out of her. She hadn't at all expected this discussion now. She gasped when Jamie suddenly stood up and pulled her to her feet by her upper arm.

"Jamie no…." Claire didn't have time to protest any further before he had already delivered a swat to Lottie's bottom with his big hand.

She yelped in surprise and felt her cheeks blossom. Jamie levelled a serious stare at her before letting her sit down again.

"Dinnae lie, lass. To me nor to Claire. If ye want to be treated like someone older than yer actual age then ye'll have to act like it. The truth is always best."

"Yes, Sir," she whispered.

"Well, back to what ye were saying," Jamie said, ignoring Claire's frown. "I'm real sorry fer yer loss, Lottie. It's never easy losing a parent. I ken that varra well. And you being so young…"

She nodded and wiped away a tear from her cheek.

"I miss him. So much. Sometimes I think I'm forgetting what he looked like, you know?"

"We both know, Lottie," Claire said. "I miss my parents too, even though it was so long ago that they passed away. I have a hard time conjuring that perfect and detailed picture of them in my mind nowadays. But I always have them in my heart. They can never leave that place no matter how much time goes by. "

Lottie leaned against Claire's side and sighed heavily. It felt good to talk so freely about her past. But the worst part was still to come, she knew that.

"I'm guessing ye have something stuck inside you that ye're trying to get out, lass. It's time to get it out now," Jamie said determinedly to her and she took a deep breath.

"I...I ran away from the orphanage."

Silence followed.

"Yes, we know that, sweetheart," Claire said.

"That's not all. I...I ran away because I was accused of stealing money from the founder of the orphanage's wallet."

Claire quickly explained the word wallet to Jamie who nodded in understanding. They were going to have get used to explaining certain words that they used to him from now on.

"Go on," he said.

"Mr. Reid was even worse than Mrs. Ham. He used to hit us kids when we didn't behave the way he wanted us to. He slapped me more than once and some of the others got the cane from him every other week. I managed to stay out of his way enough to avoid that though. But one evening I walked past his study to get a bucket from the kitchen and just as I passed he came running out of the office and grabbed me by my neck. He yelled that I was a thief and that I had stolen money missing from his wallet. I tried to tell him it wasn't true but he wouldn't listen. He just dragged me inside his office by my hair and slammed the door shut behind us. He yelled and spat at me and ordered me to hand over his money. I couldn't though, because I didn't have it. Then he sent me flying backwards into a shelf. I hit my head and everything spun and I thought he would let me go after seeing that I was hurt. But he didn't. He came at me again and pulled me up and hit me again. I yelled but his office was in a remote part of the big house and no one heard. Or maybe they just didn't care enough to come. Next he pushed me into the side of his big desk and pulled his arm back like he was going to backhand me. I got scared and the training with papa just kicked in. I ducked and hit him in the ribs, hard. He stumbled back in shock and stared at me like he couldn't believe what I had just done. Then he grabbed a statue on his desk and swung it at me. I ducked again and I kicked him in the back. He crashed into the shelf and collapsed."

Lottie stared at the grass the whole time that she talked, carefully avoiding looking at the two adults in her life.

"He didn't move and there was blood in his hair."

Jamie cleared his throat.

"Ye ran away after that?"

Lottie nodded, still with her eyes fastened to the ground below her.

"And ye feel shame?"

"Not from running away but from killing him. Or I think I killed him, but I'm not sure. He looked dead…."

Jamie grasped her jaw gently and directed her head so she looked into his blue gaze.

"Good for ye'd better not be ashamed of leaving that place, lass. It was definitely the right thing to do. Asked fer killing the man, I hardly think ye did. I cannae be 100 percent sure of course, but I do ken it is indeed possible to be knocked unconscious. And I believe that's what happened. But even if ye did kill the man, I don't blame you fer it. He could have killed you and ye had every right to defend yerself, lass."

"You didn't do anything wrong, Lottie," Claire filled in softly. "I would have done the same thing. Apart from kicking him in the back of course, because I don't think I would be able to get my foot that high up in the air."

Lottie realized she had been holding her breath almost the entire time and now that she felt like the tension was relieved she exhaled. She looked from side to side, from Jamie to Claire, appraising their expressions. They honestly seemed like they didn't think less of her than didn't see her as a murderer like she had thought they would.

"Where did you go when you ran away?" Claire asked curiously. "The orphanage can't have been that close to Craigh na dune."

Lottie shook her head no.

"The orphanage was at the edge of Inverness. North of the city centre. After our fight I ran outside and headed away from the city. I found an old barn and spent the night there in the hay and the next morning I walked the country road into the woods."

She told them how she had figured that Mrs. Ham had called the police by then and told them to arrest her for murder, or at the very least assault and theft. Not wanting to be caught and thrown in prison, or worse, being brought back to the orphanage to face the consequences there, Lottie had kept heading away from the city. Finally she had heard a car approach on the road behind her. Looking back over her shoulder she had met the horrifying sight of a plump woman in her fifties sitting in the passenger seat of a black Rover 10 driven by a police man. The anger on Mrs. Ham's features had been apparent and Lottie fled up a hill in panic with her and the policeman in pursuit.

"Just as I reached the crest of the hill I heard two sounds. One was the sound of the police whistle behind me, and the other was a much stranger one. It was the sound of a thousand bees buzzing around me. And I felt dizzy. I saw the stone circle but didn't think much of it at the time, and I continued into its center. My legs were wobbly and I was terrified and as I tried to run straight through the stone circle I headed towards a large cleft stone and I think I accidentally bumped into it. Suddenly…"

"You found yourself floating and spinning weightlessly and woke up here," Claire filled in with recognition.

"Yes. And the rest you know," Lottie said. "I stumbled upon those two ass...I mean red coat men and Jamie saved me from them. And got injured in the process," she added sadly.

"Aye, but that's of little importance now, lass."

Jamie was quiet and reflective for a while. He got to his feet and leaned his back against a tree with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I...I never want to go back there," Lottie said looking at them both. "I have nothing to return to. I want to stay here with you."

"Don't you have more family back home?" Claire asked.

Lottie shook her head.

"None that matter."

"And what does that mean exactly?" Jamie asked.

"I have an older sister," Lottie said with a sigh. "She's my half sister. On papa's side. She was offered to be my guardian after he died and she accepted. She was trusted with our inheritance from papa because she's an adult." she looked down. "That's why I travelled to Scotland after papa died. Because Scotland's Anna's home. But when I got there she said she didn't want me to live with her and had me sent to the orphanage instead. I was forced to go and no one asked any questions. I won't go back and risk ending up in that place again."

Tears rolled down her cheeks again at the thought of returning through the stones and to the orphanage. Jamie stepped over to her and grabbed her. He held her close for a while while she sobbed. All tension and all fear she had felt throughout the day were let out into his chest. She didn't have the strength to try and hold them back.

"Shh, bithidh e glé cheart, lass," he said soothingly. "Ye belong with us now. No matter where ye originally come from. I just needed all information to be out. No more secrets, aye?"

She shook her head. It was of course difficult to tell them everything about herself and her twelve years of living in one hour, but she had done a pretty good job of covering the most important stuff. Her secrets were out and it felt good to come clean. She sniffled.

"Are you going to whip me for not following your orders earlier today?" she asked with an involuntary hiccup.

Jamie pushed her back and looked at her. He then looked at Claire who gave him a dismissive glare.

"No, lass. I did after all tell you to look after Claire before I left and thank God ye followed that order."

Lottie blinked and breathed out. She had been prepared to take a thrashing for deciding to disobey Jamie earlier and go with him but she had to admit that it felt really good to not receive one. Especially considering the horseback riding they had in front of them.

"But the next time ye decide to go against what I tell ye you probably won't have saved Claire's wife at the same time…" he let his voice trail off in warning.

"Yes, sir," she said and wiped at her eyes with her sleeve. She looked around them. The birds were chirping in the tall trees and a sense of serenity came over her. "What are we going to do now?" she asked.

Jamie and Claire's eyes locked and Jamie grinned.

"Let's go home to Lallybroch," he said.

The End

A/N: Here ends the fifth story about Lottie. Please send me some words, or even sentences if you like, about what you thought about this chapter. You now know a lot more about Lotties past and I hope it was interesting information.