Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters within! They all belong to their respected creators.

A/N: THIS IS AN AU STORY! though some of it will follow the tv show the timeline is not going to be the same as I am changing it to fit this story.

Prologue – 1934

The first time Claire Beauchamp saw the Highlands of Scotland was shortly after her sixteenth birthday. She had never seen such a beautiful sight in all her life and she had seen many beautiful sights in her short life. But the Scottish Highlands had to be her favorite. She couldn't understand why she felt like she had come home when she first set foot in Scotland but she did.

Currently they were outside the lands that had once belonged to the Fraser Clan. Her uncle was currently excavating the ruins around the manor house. Her uncle, who was an archaeologist, had brought her along with him because he felt she needed a more hands on approach to her history lessons. And as he was studying the ruined castles of Scotland, he felt this was the best way for his niece to learn a bit about the highland culture that had been almost completely eradicated from existence after the Battle of Culloden in 1746.

So Claire, ever the curious wanderer that she was, asked her uncle if she could explore the area while he did his research. He had agreed and she was off. Now she stood looking out over a rolling hills and down at the ruins of the estate her uncle was excavating. Though she could not find any explanation for it, she was drawn to the house. Shrugging, she skipped down the hill to the stone archway that lead into the courtyard. As soon as she stepped through the archway she had a feeling of finally coming home and it confused her greatly for she had not had a real home since before she was five years old. But for some reason she felt like she had just come home. She entered the house and the sense of home only grew stronger the longer she was in the house. Somehow she knew this house.

She made it into what she believed to be a study or office of some sort as there was a desk in the center of the room. Looking around the room she was shocked to see a painting on the wall just to the right of the desk. The reason for her shock was because the painting was of her! Well an older version of her anyway. But it couldn't be! Yet there was no denying what her eyes were seeing. There hanging on the wall was a painting of her. Curious as to how her likeness could be hanging there she stepped closer to the painting a saw beneath it a small plaque which read:

Claire Elizabeth Fraser, Lady Broch Tuarach 1745

Claire stood there staring at the plaque in shock. The painting was of her but how? Surely she was dreaming and she was reading the plaque wrong because there was no way that the woman in the painting could be her. It just was not possible. Turning away from the painting she caught sight of another painting. Drawing closer to it she saw that it was of a man in full highland dress. The plaque under it read:

James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser, Laird Broch Tuarach 1745

She could not stop staring at the painting. She felt drawn to to man in the painting. Felt like she knew him though she had never seen him before in her life. But as she looked again at the plaque, she realized that the date was the same as the one on the painting that was of her. Had she been married to the man? Why else would her painting be in the room near his?

She was greatly confused by the discovery but wanted to understand how she ended up in the painting. Had that been her in another life? Was she the reincarnation of the woman she was seeing in the painting? But then why was she so drawn to the painting of the highlander? Looking around she saw that the room had been relatively untouched for who knows how long and she went about looking for anything that could give her the answers she sought. Finally on the top shelf of the bookcase, completely hidden from view, she found an old family bible. Upon opening it she made a discovery that shocked her to her very core. It was her in the painting. For if she was reading the entry in the bible correctly then somehow, someway she would traveled back in time. The entry read:

James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser

Born: May 1, 1721

Married on June 15, 1743

Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp

Born: October 20, 1918

Claire could not believe what she was reading but she now knew why the bible had practically been hidden on the top shelf of the bookcase. No one would believe the dates written within even she was having a hard time believing it but there it was in black and white the pages faded with time but there was just no mistaking it. There had to be some explanation as to how she ends up two hundred years in the past and why. Looking around the room she decided to see if there was anything that could explain it. A diary or journal, anything really. Not finding anything in the room she was currently in she decided to explore the house further to see if there was anything that could tell her what was happening.

She searched the entire house until she came upon what she figured was or had been a bedchamber. The room itself had at one time been painted blue, as the walls still retained there blue tinge though they were faded with time. Looking around she finally found an old worn book in a hidden area by the hearth. Retrieving it, she sat on the floor in disbelief. In her hands was a diary but the diary was written in a hand she knew very well, as it was her own. Trembling she open the book carefully and began to read the last passage that had been written.

March 15, 1746

In one month's time the Battle of Culloden will take place. I have tried so hard to convince Jamie not to enter the fighting but my stubborn yet honorable husband refuses listen to me even though he knows that he will most likely die in the coming fight leaving me to mourn him. I haven't even told him of the child I now carry, though I am sure he already knows. Fear I suppose is holding me back as I fear losing this child like I lost our darling little Faith. I know he will try to send me back through the stones at Craigh na Dun as soon as he learns of the child. He made me promise months ago that I would should anything happen to him and his need to keep me and our child safe will undoubtedly fuel his protective instinct. I know he will force me to leave him and I know that I can't. Nor do I want to. I love my husband far too much to be parted from him and even though I know the Battle of Culloden is a lost cause (as does he) and will most likely see the end of my marriage I would do anything to stay by his side. I would rather die by his side then ever be parted from him. Perhaps I can still convince him to allow me to stay. I want nothing more than to raise our child here at Lallybroch. This is my home and I want no other. And even if he did manage to send me back through I don't think I would ever be able to go back to Frank. He and Captain Randall though two very different men look to much alike for me to distinguish between the two. How would I be able to look at Frank and not see the man who tortured, raped and beat my Jamie? The man who tormented my husbands mind for months and kept him away from me. No, it is impossible for me to even contemplate such a thing but I know he will force me to go.

I often wonder what would have happened if I had made a different decision all those years ago. What would have happened it I had not met or married Frank Randall would I have still found my way to the past? Would I have found a way to my truest love? To my Jamie? Could things have been different for us? Could I have changed things for the better for the family I found here? Could I have stopped the pain and torment my husband had to go through to protect me? I suppose I will never know.

I keep telling myself that if my younger self could be reading this she would change what I did. She would not have married Frank and saved herself for her deepest and truest love. (As I have always regretted that I was not a virgin on our wedding night. And even though he was okay with that small detail, and I think it is because he would not have to cause me any pain, I have never felt right about it. After all I was the one to take his and if given the chance I would have gladly given him mine as well.) That somehow she would make her way to the stone circle at Craigh na Dun and simply touch the center stone. Though I would advice her to wear something more in-tune of the eighteenth century and not so revealing as I did. I would also advise her to learn to lie better or at least tell a convincing story and to learn Gaelic as it would help her understand the world she would be entering into better. But alas that is only wishful thinking on my part as I know I can not change what has already happened though I wish I could.

Anyway Jamie is calling and I have to go now. Perhaps I may still convince him to stay out of the fighting but I do not think that that will happen.

Claire sat there stunned. So she had been right and she would travel back in time. Looking out the window she was shocked to see that the sun was setting. Knowing that she would need to know more about what had happened to her other self, she took the diary and the bible and left the house.