Title: Charlotte's Tumbling Time Travel: Lottie of Lallybroch

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters on Outlander.

A/N: Hello I hope you're all having a good summer, despite the way the world looks right now. Here comes chapter 2 and chapter 3 is on it's way too. It shouldn't be too long before I submit that one too.

CHAPTER 2

Lottie was sulking as she walked through the meadows behind Lallybroch, breaking off blades of grass here and there as she strolled. Her days of freedom on the farm were numbered. She would be starting school in two days and Jamie had made it clear that she would be attending every day except Saturdays which was a full day of work on the farm, and Sundays which was the day of rest and contemplation.

She had never liked school in her own time and she felt pretty positive that she wouldn't like it in this time either, no matter how much Jamie and Claire tried to embellish it. She could see Claire being a bookworm as a kid, but not Jamie though. She had finally flat out told him that she could see right through his charade of positive attitude to the fact that he couldn't have been a diligent student as a kid. She hadn't missed the looks of mirth and crooked smiles that Jenny had been giving Jamie every time he'd constrained try to bring up all the positive things school would bring to Lottie's life. Lottie didn't tell Jamie the part where she had actually asked Ian about Jamie and school and he had told her the truth about his friend doing everything in his power to avoid going to school as a lad. They didn't need to know that he had told her that and he seemed thankful towards her for not telling his wife that he had shared that secret with Lottie. Everyone had laughed though, except Jamie whose mouth had twitched a little but then told her in a no more nonsense voice that it didn't matter how she felt about school, OR how his own feelings towards education in school as a lad had been, she would still be attending it diligently, just as he had been forced to do by his own father, and that was that.

Lottie had huffed and puffed about it for the past week but gotten nowhere. Having to attend school here in the 18th century just hadn't entered her mind before. She had assumed she had all the knowledge she needed and that she would never have to sit in a school bench again. She had always had boring teachers that she didn't care much for and they had always made her read extremely long and boring textbooks about wars and boring dead people. Not to mention that the letters sometimes seemed to change places when she read the texts. Sometimes a b looked like a d and vise versa, which would cause her to have to reread a word or sometimes guess it. And sometimes after she had gotten through several pages of a book and felt something that would resemble pride over her accomplishment she'd realize that she couldn't remember hardly a word of what she had just read. Nah, reading wasn't for her. Calculating on the other hand was something she was actually good at. She had always had a way with numbers. Not that that had ever made school into a place she was motivated going to.

"Come on, Mathanas, we have to get home for supper."

The pup strolled peacefully behind her, stopping curiously to sniff at everything he passed or to mark his territory on it. He followed her everywhere she went except inside Lallybroch house, since that wasn't allowed. However sometimes he just happened to slip in there too, usually when Lottie had "forgotten" to close the door behind her, but he would soon be chased outside by Jenny.

When Sunday came Lottie made one last desperate attempt to sway Jamie's mind at the supper table.

"Come on, Jamie, please," she pleaded. "There's really no point in me going to school…"

"Lottie, I'm through talking about this. So, change the subject, please."

Lottie watched him take another bite of his carrot and resisted the urge to glare at him in frustration. Instead she smoothed her tone and rested her chin in the palm of her hand as she looked sweetly at her guardian.

"But you could homeschool me right here at Lallybroch and I would never have to leave here."

Ian snorted at the opposite side of the table, barely avoiding to spurt milk over his plate.

"What's so funny about that?" Lottie asked demandingly but Ian just shook his head as he laughed silently behind his napkin. Lottie ignored him and carried on. "You could teach me everything I need to know. Math, Gaelic, French…and all that other stuff you've been talking about."

She wished Claire had been at the table right now so she could assess what she thought about her suggestion but she wasn't there. She was out doing some herb collecting.

Jenny placed a basket with buns on the table and swooped her skirts aside as she took a seat at the table. She scowled disapprovingly at Lottie from across the table.

"Jamie just told you to seize talking about not attending school, Lottie, and frankly I'm gettin a bit tired of hearing ye talk about it myself," she said firmly.

Lottie pursed her lips in annoyance and bit back a remark about Jenny not having any say in it knowing it wasn't true anyway. Jenny had a say in mostly everything that went on at Lallybroch and she wasn't someone to be crossed without consequences.

Lottie took a bit of her dinner and washed it down with some water from her glass. No, it was impossible. She just couldn't drop the subject and lose the battle.

"But I just don't see why…" she started again.

"Lottie, enough!" Jamie raised his voice and put glass down with a bang.

Lottie bit her lip and stared at her plate as she blinked back tears. She hated arguing with Jamie but she wanted to get out of going to school so desperately. She silently finished her supper while listening to the adults chatting with each other, then thanked Mrs. Crook for the food and whispered, without making eye contact with anyone, that she was going out to see to Seoc and Mathanas before going to bed.

When she had left the room Ian looked at Jamie with slight reproach in his eyes.

"She reminds me a lot of you, Jamie, back in our schooldays. Ye didna exactly relish sittin trapped in that schoolroom either, remember?"

Jamie rolled his eyes at his brother in law.

"Of course I ken that, Ian. I ken it verra well. But it doesna change the fact that Lottie needs schooling. If I let her take after me too much in that regard and let her get away with not going I willna be doing the lass a favor."

Jenny took a sip of wine and nodded.

"And what doesna kill her will make her stronger. The girl needs to experience reversals as well as prosperity."

"Are you talking about Lottie and school again?" Claire's voice interrupted them as she entered the dining room all washed up and ready to eat. She joined them at the table and Mrs. Crook soon provided her with a plate and some water.

"Aye," said Jenny with a quick purse of her lips. "Seems to be a never ending conversation here at Lallybroch. The lass still hasn't accepted her fate and is struggling with it."

Claire nodded understanding.

"Yes, well, she will as soon she starts going. It's my hope that she'll even enjoy it. As soon as she realizes it's fun and interesting to learn new things she'll come to enjoy it." She saw the raised brows of the others and smiled. "I hope," she added with a lopsided grin.

To be continued

A/N: Please send me some thoughts on the progress of the story. Like I wrote; chapter 3 is on its way too.