CHAPTER 38

Free of fear of the Cherokee's wrath and the danger of any wild animals, for the time being, Fraser's Ridge was finally once again underway.

The main focus now was on getting their cabin done. Using the trees they had cut down when they first cleared their land, Ian and Jamie stripped them of their bark and shaped them to fit together.

As she watched the logs stack perfectly on top of one another, Skylar thought, It's like that toy my mom had when she was a kid, Lincoln Logs.

While Jamie and Ian kept busy with the actual construction, Skylar and Claire took on everything else that had to be done to maintain care of the Ridge. They fed and groomed the animals, did all of the washing and cooking, kept the saws, axes, etc sharp, and on and on.

Over the next two months, significant progress was being made and the walls of the cabin were growing taller every day. Jamie would stare at it in pride every night when work was done for the day, and he would often walk around inside it and imagine every little detail that he was going to add.

Also during those two months, Skylar was getting frustrated. Not with the work. She did every chore and task given to her with a smile. It was needing to do it all in a long skirt that she was done with. She was so thankful every day that she was able to get away with not wearing a corset, but she couldn't escape having to wear a dress.

She kept thinking about how much she took pants for granted in the 21st Century and that now she would give anything for a pair of jeans.

Too many times to keep count of, she would trip over the bottom of her skirt or it would get gross from dragging through the mud. Sometimes it would even get scorched from sweeping into the fire. It would also hinder her ability to work productively. She would often have to hike up her skirt to not step on it which would then only give her one free hand to use and, in turn, make her tasks twice as long.

She reached her breaking point one afternoon when Jamie and Ian had gone out to hunt. She had gathered an armful of firewood Jamie had chopped before he left, and dared to use both arms to carry it to the collection near the shelter. But when she was about halfway there, she accidentally stepped on the hem of her skirt and fell forward, sending the wood flying. She grunted as she hit the ground.

Claire, who was tending to her small garden that she had started, hurried to her. "Are you alright, Skylar?" she asked as she helped the poor girl up.

"This sucks!" Skylar exclaimed, dusting herself off. "I'm done with these damn skirts! They're so impractical. It had to have been a man who decided women in this time can only wear skirts and dresses. He must have thought no woman would ever be having to do "man's work" in the middle of the goddamn woods. If I can't wear pants, whatever. But I'm cutting this into a miniskirt because I don't give a shit anymore!"

Claire chuckled softly with a small amused smile at the teenager's rant. "Come with me. I have something for you." She led Skylar to the shelter.

"Is it scissors? Because I wasn't kidding about the miniskirt."

They walked inside and, from under her bed, Claire took out a piece of folded clothing and handed it to the girl.

Curious, Skylar took it and unfolded it. She gasped when she saw that Claire had handed her a pair of pants. She held them up to look at them better.

"Where did you get these?" she asked in utter amazement.

"I made them. I could tell you were having trouble with the skirts so, after I finished mine, I figured you could do with some too. I just finished them a couple days ago and was waiting to give them to you." Claire had started wearing her own a little over a month ago and Skylar had been terribly, and silently, jealous. She figured it was more acceptable for a grown woman to wear pants and if she had voiced wanting some for herself, she would have been shot down. So for Claire to have noticed her struggle and surprise her with a pair nearly identical to hers was the best gift Skylar had ever been given.

"You like them?" Claire asked, just to make sure.

"I love them! Thank you, Claire! Thank you so so much!" Skylar hugged the older woman tight.

"I hope they fit. You look about the same size as Brianna, so I went off of that."

"I'm trying them on right now."

Claire grinned. "I'll leave you too it," and she went back outside, closing the door behind her.

Skylar didn't wait another second before taking off her skirt and stepping into the pants. She tucked in her shirt and buttoned them easily. They fit perfect and were very comfortable. She couldn't have been any happier in this moment.

She ran back outside and announced, "I am never taking these off. This changes everything. I'm going to be able to do, like, twice as much every day. I could build our cabin myself. Thank you, Claire. Seriously. This really means a lot to me."

"You are very welcome."

Skylar went back to work with a much better attitude. Though she never complained about doing any of the jobs, she suddenly felt so much more willing and motivated to go above and beyond what she was asked.

After a couple more hours, she was taking a break and sitting at the fire. Ian had been teaching her how to knit after picking up some wool on a trip to town a couple weeks ago, and she was practicing it on her own. She looked up when she heard footsteps and saw Jamie was back.

"This should hold us over fer a while," he told them, referring to the large deer he was dragging behind him on his man-made sled.

"Good thing we just finished the shed for our meat," Claire commented.

"Aye. It'll help keep it fresh."

"Where's Ian?" Skylar asked while Jamie worked on getting the deer into the small wooden shed.

"We ran inte Myers on our way back and he was able to convince Ian te come with him te the Cherokee village te do some trading."

"I can't imagine it took much convincing."

Jamie laughed. "No, it didna."

Since they become friendly with the Natives, Ian had been growing more and more fascinated by their culture and ways of life. He took every opportunity to interact with them and visit their village. Myers taught him everything he knew as well as more of the language; and he picked it all up very fast. He wasn't yet fluent, but he could speak full sentences in Cherokee and have simple conversations. Skylar would joke that one day he was going to decide to live among them and become a Cherokee himself.

When Jamie shut the carcass in and turned back towards Skylar, he saw her stand up to put another log on the fire. And when she did, he was able to see what she was wearing.

His eyes widened as he questioned, "What in God's name are ye wearin', lass?"

Skylar smiled wide. "Pants! Claire made them for me." Jamie glanced to his wife from the corners of his eyes, but Claire pretended to not notice.

"No," he said plainly to the younger girl.

"No, what?"

"Ye canna wear those."

Her jaw dropped. "What? What do you mean? Why?"
"Because…" He got closer to her, as if nervous someone might overhear them discussing the issue. "It is not decent fer a young lass te be wearin' somethin' so…so just…"

"So…what? Please finish that sentence."

Jamie was blatantly uncomfortable on the topic and didn't want to put the thought into words. "Everyone can see yer…yer body."

Skylar gasped dramatically and replied dripping with sarcasm, "Oh no! Now everyone will know I have a butt like every other human to ever exist. How will I recover from the shame?" Jamie's only response was a deep exhale in frustration. "Dad, you're acting crazy right now. It's not a big deal. They're just for me to wear around the Ridge. It's not like I'm wearing them into town. Who's even gonna see me in them? It's just you, Claire, and Ian."

He straightened his back and his face got much more serious when she said that. "That is what I'm most concerned about."

She was confused what he meant by that, but then it clicked. "Oh, I get it. You think that if I wear pants that are a bit more fitted than my dresses, Ian will lose all sense of self control, right?" She raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to agree.

And he did just that. "Aye, that is what I think. And as yer father, I will no be puttin' my daughter's virtue in such a risk."

"Omigod, my freaking virtue. Christ," she muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes.

"Skylar, I know that ye think I'm bein' ridiculous. I dinna ken what the boys are like in yer time, but here, a young lad is only ever thinkin' about one thing. It's why I kept Fergus and Marsali apart while on the Artemis, remember? And though ye may think he is, Ian is no different."

Oh, I am very aware he's no different. But neither am I, she thought, needing to hide it from her face that sex with Ian was the one thing on her mind most of the time as well.

Instead she said, "But you know Ian would never force himself on me or do anything I wasn't okay with. And if he ever did, I would break his arm. You've known him longer than I have, Dad, so you know you can trust him. Besides, I'm not getting rid of these pants. So we're all just gonna have to deal." She sat back down and picked up her knitting again, signaling to Jamie that the discussion was over.

Jamie just sighed, knowing there was no point in continuing to argue right now, and walked to join Claire who had been watching everything.

"The joys of raising a teenage girl," she commented with a knowing smile. "This is only the beginning. You're going to love it."

"I can already tell she's goin' te put me in an early grave. But it's worth it."

An hour or so after Jamie had come back, Ian returned as well.

"Yank?" he called out to find her.

"Over here!" she answered. She was filling the troughs for Clarence and the horses with fresh food and water.

"I have te show ye what the Cherokee traded te me," he said as he went to her. But he stopped in his tracks when he got closer and could see her better.

She saw him pause and his eyes widened, just like Jamie's had but for a much different reason. She pressed her mouth together to force back a smile as he looked her over.

She couldn't help but tease him. "What's wrong?"

"What are ye wearin'?"
"Pants. Do you like them?" She spun around to show him, keeping her back to him for a few seconds longer than necessary.

He walked the rest of the way to her as he said, "They're…they're verra nice." Standing in front of her, he swallowed hard as his eyes went over her again. Suddenly, he snapped his head up from her and looked all around him.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm makin' sure Uncle Jamie isna nearby. If he was, I fear he'd be able to read me mind and see all the indecent thoughts I'm havin' right now about ye." He put his hands so low on her back that he may as well be touching her butt, with the concern of his uncle catching him being what stopped him from doing so.

Butterflies erupted in her stomach and what felt like electricity shot through her body. She put her arms around his neck and told him, "Well, lucky for you, Dad went to get some more water since I used the last of it on the animals."

"And Auntie Claire?" he asked, hopeful yet trying to control the excitement in his voice as he pulled her against him.

"She's in the shelter doing some sort of medicinal magic with her herbs. So, tragically and unfortunately, we can't do anything."

He took in a long breath and let it out slowly. "Are ye quite sure the forest ground wouldna do? Yer still set on a bed fer yer first time?"

Skylar chuckled at his near desperate eagerness. "It'll be worth it, Youngin'. I'll make damn sure of that, I promise you."

"I ken well it'll be more than worth it. But that's what's makin' it so hard te wait."

"Maybe this will help tide you over, for a little while at least."

She stood on her toes and gripped the back of his head to bring him down to meet her. They started to make out with such intensity that if anyone had seen them, they would think they were trying to swallow each other. But this was all they could do to help ease the energy, per say, that had built up so deeply and densely in them. So they went hard and let their imaginations run rampant.

Skylar felt goosebumps form when she felt Ian move his hands down to rest on her backside. His mind had gone blank of everything but Skylar, so he wasn't thinking about the possible dangers of his action.

After an amount of time far too short for either of their satisfactions, they were interrupted by someone loudly clearing their throat. They turned to glare at whoever it was, the lust-filled haze they were in making them momentarily forget who they lived on the land with. But when they saw the 6'4" highland warrior whose red hair was as fiery as his temper standing only a few yards from them, they came back to Earth and let go off each other, putting a solid three feet between them.

Ian clasped his hands securely behind his back, and put his full attention to his uncle. Though the stare the man was giving the almost 18 year old made his body feel ice cold, a complete contrast to the feeling of fire running through him just two seconds previous, he was more scared to look away and appear more guilty.

Jamie spoke to him with an eerie calmness that did not match the expression on his face. "Ian, go help yer auntie. Now," not giving any specifics as to what help was needed, since likely none was. But Ian didn't question it.

"Aye," was all he said back. Without a look back to Skylar, he hurried into the shelter, feeling Jamie's death gaze on him the whole way.

Jamie turned back to Skylar, whose face was still flushed from both lingering excitement from kissing Ian and embarrassment at being caught. He was about to say something along the lines of 'this is what I warned you about,' but she beat him to it.

"Just so you know, I started that. I kissed him first. So, please don't kill him over this."

"It doesna matter who started it. He should have ended it. He shouldna be kissin' ye like that before yer married, wi' his hands all over ye."

"Ian's not a virgin, Dad. You know about Brighid, and you had no problem with him kissing her like that or having his hands on her."

"That is no the same. Brighid is no my daughter. And before ye say it, aye, Ian is me nephew and I love him dearly. But he is also the man who is courtin' me daughter, and so te see him handlin' ye like he's tryin' te get ye te bed…I dinna like it and I don't want it happenin'."

"We are human and kinda like each other a lot. We can't just go without touching each other. But, I don't want Ian to be scared for his safety every day. If it'll make you feel better, I promise we will keep it tame and to a minimum around you. Deal?"

He did not love the agreement. He wanted them to keep it tame and to a minimum at all times, even when they were out of his sight. But he knew that was impossible. She was right, they were human with human needs and very much in love. So this was the best he was going to get.

"I'll accept that fer now," he agreed. "I will be havin' a long man-to man talk with Ian about this though."

"I'll make sure to warn him."

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Another month gone and it was now November.

Much to Jamie's disdain, Skylar hardly ever wore anything other than the pants. But he had to admit that they did help her get more work done much faster than before.

Both she and Claire had started to help with shaving and shaping the trees for the cabin, and now, with all four of them working on it, it was nearly done.

By mid-November, the shape of it was fully finished and they were now focusing on the inside of it. What they couldn't make themselves, they bought. Jamie had taken Skylar into Woolam's Creek to help him pick out different pieces of furniture. Together they found a kitchen table, some chairs, a few cabinets, a wardrobe, and some decorative pieces. They took some of the smaller items home with them, and planned to pick up the rest of it when they would come back to town after Marsali gave birth; which would likely be very soon.

During the rare free time they had when not working on something, Skylar and Ian stayed true to their promise of limiting their PDA around Jamie. They were able to keep their distance during the day, and when they would be close again at night, they restricted themselves to just holding hands or kissing chastely.

As challenging as it was sometimes, it was worth it because Jamie was beginning to lessen his hovering. He was still keeping them in sight at all times, but over the last month he wasn't physically keeping them apart or sending threatening looks to Ian (as much). He could tell they really were trying to appease him and show they were able to be trusted. To show that it was working, he chose one day to give them a small gift.

On the morning of November 15th, Ian's eyes slowly opened as he felt Skylar kissing his neck.

She knew he was awake when she felt him move a little and heard him sigh softly.

"Happy birthday, Youngin'," she whispered sweetly. She kissed his neck one more time then laid back down behind him, wrapping an arm around him to hold him close against her.

He smiled and let out a sleepy chuckle. He closed his eyes again and put a hand over hers. "Wakin' up next te ye is better than any birthday present I could ever ask fer."

"Really? Because personally, I like Dad's gift to you of leaving us alone in here."

That woke him up.

"Are we really alone?" Skylar nodded into his back.

And before she could blink, he moved on top of her and started to kiss her eagerly.

She pulled away, giggling and holding the back of his neck. "You don't waste any time, do you?"

"We get moments like this so rarely, especially of late. We need te take advantage of them when we have them."

He kissed her again and she returned it just as fiercely. As they went on, things started to progress very quickly.

Skylar brought her hands up under his shirt, and drew her nails up and down his back very lightly. Ian grabbed one of her legs and attached it to his hip while slipping his hand under her skirt and holding onto her thigh to keep it in place, thanking her in his head that by some chance she had decided to wear a dress yesterday instead of pants. He kissed from her mouth down to her neck, nipping as he went as well. Skylar had to bite her lip to keep any sounds from getting out in case Jamie was nearby outside.

But any fear of Jamie catching them disappeared in an instant as she thought, If we're really going to take advantage of this time alone, we might as well fully go for it. We might not get another chance for a while.

She grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head, a little nervous that, for any reason, he might think she was taking things too far. But he didn't resist. In fact, he followed her lead and started pulling out the laces from the front of her dress to open it, speeding up as he saw her breasts start to show. As he did, she hooked her leg still at his hip fully around him and kissed all across his collar bone, up his neck to his jaw and back down.

They could feel themselves getting more worked up and excited as they were so ready to finally be with each other like they wanted to for so long.

And they would have gone through with it if not for Jamie calling through the door and making them both freeze, "Alright, ye've had long enough. Time fer ye both te come out. Now."

Skylar could have screamed. They had been so close. Jamie had pulled them apart from pretty passionate moments before, but this one was the most painful. Ian felt it too.

He dropped his head into the crook of her neck and let out a long, loud, very frustrated groan.

"He has the worst timin'," he spoke against her skin.

"Or the best, from his point of view."

Trying to just ignore what had happened, Ian began to kiss her neck again and brought his hand back to her thigh.

Skylar closed her eyes and let out a soft moan, enjoying it again for a moment before she remembered and pulled herself back. She pushed his hand away and forced him to look at her. "No, no, no. We gotta get out there. Otherwise, Dad will come in here himself."

Though his body and mind were demanding he do otherwise, he reluctantly agreed. "Yer right. And I hate that ye are."

"Believe me, I hate it too. But we to just rip off the bandaid."

"What's a bandaid? Is it somethin' as painful as this?"
"I'll explain later." She pushed him to sitting up and she followed.

Ian picked up his shirt from the floor and put it back on while Skylar retied her dress and pulled it up so she was fully covered. When she was decent, she got up and stood in front of him, putting her hands on his shoulders and his on her very lower hips.

"Soon, my love," she promised. "Maybe for my birthday, Dad will give me the same gift and let us be alone for just a little bit longer." She leaned down to him and kissed him long and slow, but made herself back away from him before they got carried away. "Come on, he's probably losing his patience."

Ian's face down to his neck turned red as he replied, "Ye go on. I'll be out in a minute. I need te…calm meself down first, before I can face Uncle Jamie. If ye ken me meanin'."

It took her a second, but the embarrassed expression he wore helped her understand and her whole body suddenly felt very warm when she noticed the problem as well.

"Oh, right. Okay. I'll make up an excuse for you." He just nodded and she went out on her own, heading to the fire where Jamie and Claire were cooking breakfast. The colder morning air was a relief to her burning skin.

"Where's Ian?" Jamie asked, a little suspicious when Skylar sat down by herself.

"Um…" Her mind raced to try to think of anything that wouldn't give Jamie a hint at what almost went down. "It's just taking him a bit longer to wake up. He was basically dead to the world when you knocked."

"Ye were sleepin', the two'a ye? When ye were alone in there?"

"Yes." She looked him in the eye confidently as she answered to further her lie that she wasn't lying.

Choosing to believe her, he simply said, "Alright," and stood up to get a couple extra pieces of firewood to keep close for when they needed it.

"Skylar," Claire whispered when he was far enough away. She turned her head to the woman. "Just so you know, you missed a few loops." She pointed to the front of her dress with her face screaming that she knew the truth. Skylar nearly broke her neck to look down. She had been so distracted when fixing her dress that she had tangled her laces and put them through some of the wrong loops.

"Oh, fuck," she muttered. She looked back at Claire in a slight panic. "Did Dad notice?"

"I don't think so. But if anything on Ian is out of place, he likely will."

"We didn't actually sleep together, we were just messing-"

"I know, and you can thank Mr. Myers for it," Claire suddenly said at full volume. Skylar looked over her shoulder and saw Jamie was behind her. "Skylar was just saying how good the bacon smelled."

"Aye, Myers was verra generous te share it wi' us. He thought Ian would enjoy it fer his birthday," Jamie added, sitting back down and putting the wood beside him. He glanced to the shelter door and back to Skylar. "What is takin' him so long?"

"You know how slow he can be in the mornings sometimes, and I guess he decided to milk it on his birthday," Skylar told him, trying to will Jamie to not pay attention to her dress.

Finally, they heard the shelter door open and Ian came out to join them.

"Good mornin'," he greeted them as he sat next to Skylar.

"Happy birthday, Ian," Claire said to him, smiling.

Jamie followed, "Happy birthday, lad. We're verra glad we're able to spend this one wi' ye here in our new home."

"I thank ye both. And I am as well. This is truly my best birthday, havin' it be in America and with all of ye." He looked at Skylar and took her hand to kiss it. She kissed his cheek in response and pressed her face affectionatly into the base of his neck. She pecked him there which made him shiver as he remembered her doing the same thing, but more, less than ten minutes ago. Luckily, he had been able to pass it off as shiver from the cold.

"18 years old. I feel like I've known you your whole life," Claire told him.

"I wish I had kent ye me whole life. I canna believe it's only been a year since I met ye," Ian replied.

"And here's te the next year and the next and the next," Jamie said, pouring each of them a small drink of whiskey; drinking alcohol in the monrings had become something that Skylar didn't think twice about anymore. He raised his cup and continued, "Ye've grown inte quite the young man over the last year, Ian. Ye've matured beyond yer years and have proven yerself te be the man ye sought te be when ye first came te me in Edinburgh. I'm honored te be yer uncle. Slainte."

"Slainte," the three repeated and they drank.

The rest of the morning was very peaceful. They just ate and talked and laughed for hours. John Quincy Myers showed up in the early afternoon to wish Ian a happy birthday as well, and invited him to the Cherokee village as a gift, which he gladly accepted.

"Skylar can come along too, if she'd so like. I imagine ye dinna want te be apart from her teday if ye can help it," Myers offered.

"I'd love to!" she agreed, making Ian smile even bigger and brighter.

Seeing their Native American friends was so wonderful and Skylar was surprised at how warmly she had been welcomed, never having been there and only meeting them once briefly.

"Ian has spoken te them of ye every time he comes, so they ken ye well," Myers explained.

She watched Ian interact with the Natives with such adoration. Hearing him talk about his times with them was so different to seeing it in real time. He fit in easily and seemed to get along well with everyone he spoke to. It warmed her heart to see him be so happy.

On their way back to the Ridge, Myers was driving his wagon and pretending not to hear the two teenagers talk in the back of it. They were sitting against its wall and Skylar hugged her arms around his torso with her head on his shoulder and legs draped across his. He had his arm around her to keep her close and was playing with her hair.

"Maybe by some stroke of miraculous luck, Uncle Jamie and Auntie Claire will have gone out fer the day, and when we get back, we can finish what we started this mornin'," he said.

"Ian," she hissed quietly. Her cheeks turned red and she looked up to see if the woodsman heard him.

"It's alright. Ye dinna have te worry about him. I've talked te him about such things before and he hasna said anythin' te Uncle Jamie."

"This damn wagon creaks so loud I canna hear anythin' that gets said in it, especially behind me. I must get it fixed," Myers said "to himself", reassuring Skylar that anything they talked about was safe with him.

She chuckled, relieved. "Well, I wouldn't get your hopes up," she said, coming back to Ian's original statement. "Dad may be trusting us enough to leave us alone for 15 minutes in the morning, but I think that's the most we're getting for a while."

"I'll be grateful fer those 15 minutes fer the rest of my life. It was better than my birthday last year."

"What did we even do last year? I can hardly remember. It was before…everything."

"Aye. We were still in Edinburgh. It was ye, me, Fergus, Uncle Jamie, Willoughby, Lesley and Hayes. We just had a dinner in that tavern we went te so rarely because it was expensive."

"Oh, the, um, The Lavender Thistle."

"Right. It was verra nice and I enjoyed it greatly."

"Then why was this one so much better?"
"Because last year, me heart was breakin' durin' it. I was pinin' over ye still and every time ye smiled at me that night, I thought more and more that I would never have yer love the way I loved ye."

"God, I was being such an idiot. I was already so in love with you but I was in such denial because I didn't want to ruin our friendship. I'm so sorry it took me so long to actually come to my senses."

"We're tegether now, and that's all that matters."

"Til death do us part."

"Practicin' yer wedding vows, aye? Comin' around on the idea?" he joked.

Instead of saying her answer out loud, she lifted her head to his and kissed him. He cupped her cheek and kissed her back sweetly. They didn't go into a heavy make out, they just enjoyed the feeling of the other's lips on theirs for a few moments.

Skylar could have fallen asleep as Ian continued to stroke her hair for the rest of their ride home. She leaned against his chest and closed her eyes, thinking about if she still did want to wait to marry him. Only four months ago, she was so sure she did. But now she was starting to question that. She was so unbelievably in love with him and wanted to have their own life together.

He wants to wait though, she remembered. He told me that. He was glad that I wanted to. I don't want to scare him by saying I might be changing my mind. But if he mentions it again, we can talk about it. Jesus Christ. I can't believe I ever lived in a time where getting enough likes on a picture was the biggest thing to worry about.

Outlander fanfiction is still Outlander, so sex still finds a way of being a major plot point lol

Thank you all for sticking with me during this non-scheduled uploading time. I have high hopes for next Saturday!