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

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

Chapter 14

Two days later Lottie was seated in the parlor trying to study. Little Jamie was practically bouncing around all over the room and her frustration was starting to grow.

"Could you stop doing that?"

The little boy halted in his movements and stared at her.

"What?" he asked and made his way to the sofa and started to bounce up and down seated on his knees.

"That. Moving. Jumping. It's really distracting."

Little Jamie looked at her bewildered while he presumed his activity nonetheless. Lottie sighed inwardly and tried to concentrate. She had to copy several prayers from the bible and spell every word correctly and then hand them in tomorrow. Fordyce had said it was a way to practice spelling as well as one's goodhood. Lottie looked at the bible page in front of her. There were so many difficult words. How was she supposed to learn them all and spell them all? She didn't even know what some of them meant.

She picked up her quill and dipped it in ink and started to write again. She was interrupted by the "Whoooo!" that erupted from Little Jamie as he fell off the sofa and hit the floor giggling.

"Jamie! Be quiet!" she yelled loudly. "I have to get this done!"

"Get what done, Lottie?" he asked, peering at her surprised by her outburst with big round eyes.

"My homework! I go to school, you know? School gives you lots and lots of work that you bring home and work on until it bores you so much that you develop a hole in the back of your head large enough for a person to put his or her hand through and pull out your brain."

Little Jamie stared blankly at her before the tears started to appear in his eyes. Oh no, Lottie thought. Not that. But before she had had time to get up to calm him he had turned on the water works and tears were streaming down his innocent, chubby face.

Suddenly Jenny appeared at the door.

"What's going on in here with the two of ye?"

Little Jamie pointed at Lottie and completely burst into tears.

"She said I had a big hole in my head!" he yelled and fumbled with his little hands behind his head trying to make sure there wasn't a hole there."And that my brain will fall out."

Lottie sighed. He was such a baby and always took everything she said so literally.

"No, I didn't. Tell him he has to stop making all that noise. I have to study."

Lottie crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the little devil with the tears streaming down his face.

Jennie rolled her eyes and glared at them both. "He's a wee lad, Lottie, and ye ken that. They make noise sometimes and that doesna give ye the right to scare him."

"I didn't scare him!" Lottie yelled exasperated. "He cries for everything all the time!"

This accusation seemed to make Wee Jamie cry even louder though and Jenny even more irritated.

"Stop it both of you or I'll take a spoon to yer backsides, ye hear?"

That made the small boy halt his hollering and peer sullenly at his mother. She did occasionally give him a lick with the spoon, but it was usually not even hard enough to raise a dust. But when it happened wee Jamie would holler so loud anyone hearing it would think he was being murdered.

With those words of caution Jenny left the parlor and returned to the kitchen. Lottie tried to get back to her studying. The words on the page seemed to melt together and she blinked to try to get them into focus again.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Lottie jumped. Jamie was now pretending to shoot her from behind the sofa by pointing a stick at her and pretending to pull the trigger with his finger.

"Oh my God I can't believe you! You stop that right now unless you want me to smack you, you little rascal!"

Wee Jamie seemed to think Lottie's threat was simply just a threat and continued to pretend shoot at her head. Just as she got to her feet to try and grab him Ian entered.

"I cannae even hear myself think in the study with all the noise that's going on out here. And Lottie if ye're even thinking about striking at someone Wee Jamie's size ye'll find yerself over my knee faster than ye can blink, lass."

Lottie had stopped dead in her tracks when Ian had entered and understood that he really meant what he said. She hadn't intended to STRIKE wee Jamie exactly, but perhaps merely chaif him over the ear a bit. She decided that wouldn't be wise either now and let her arms fall to her sides and nodded.

"No, Uncle Ian, I wouldn't. But can you please help me get Wee Jamie out of here so I can study because I don't want to fail tomorrow, and I will if he keeps distracting me."

Ian wobbled over to Jamie and picked him up, then proceeded to take a seat next to Lottie on the sofa and peer at her bible.

"Copying from the holy book, are ye?"

"Yes," she said said with a deep sigh. "It's pointless and I hate it. You can see why, can't you?" she asked, hoping for a little sympathy from one of the grown ups.

"Aye, I remember those assignments too well, lass," he answered with a knowing grin. "So does Jamie and Jenny, I guarantee it."

A small hope was raised in Lottie.

"Do you think there's any chance I can convince Jamie to get me out of it? Speak to Fordyce for me?" she asked with wide hopeful eyes. Her hope was way too soon extinguished as Ian laughed.

"No, lass. Jamie will be sympathetic but not more than that. He'd never disrespect schoolmaster Fordyce in that way by demanding to let ye out of doing the schoolwork."

Lottie sighed and abandoned that idea. She was just going to have to do her best and study. Not that it had done any wonders for her before.

"Uncle Ian," she said slightly tentatively. He met her gaze. "I know we talked about not giving up and trying my best in school and all that…but let's just pretend that my work doesn't get any better…I mean, that I never improve much. What happens then?"

Ian peered curiously at her, wondering what she was getting at now.

"I have a difficult time thinking that would actually happen, Lottie. I mean, people generally improve at things they do over and over again. I dinna think ye're the exception. Do ye?"

Lottie fidgeted nervously unsure of how to put her question to Ian.

"No, maybe not. But would I have to stay in that school forever then? With Fordyce as schoolmaster?"

"Well, no because sooner or later Fordyce will most likely move on and search fer a position somewhere else. Most schoolmasters do. And you would only be there until ye're about fifteen and after that I doubt Jamie will make ye go any more."

Lottie's mood brightened and she looked up.

"Really?! Is that true, Uncle Ian? That schoolmasters usually don't stay that long in one place?"

Ian nodded, amused at her reaction.

"Aye, lass."

"I can't believe no one told me that before. Then I just have to hold on until he leaves. Or perhaps I can start acting like a real fifteen year old and then Jamie would let me quit early…"she pondered out loud.

Ian looked skeptically at her but Lottie wasn't going to let him discourage her now.

"Anything is possible!" she interrupted his upcoming comment.

"Aye, I willna say it's not possible, Lottie. But how come ye dinna just put some more time and effort into yer studying instead? Then perhaps it willna feel so hopeless?"

Lottie raised a brow at him and couldn't help but grin at his naivety in this issue.

"Meaning no offense, Uncle Ian, but it hasn't seemed to help so far. It could be that I'm truly stupid."

Ian frowned at her derogatory way of speaking about herself but didn't get a chance to say anything about it before she had gotten to her feet and collected her books.

"I'll study in my room. I have to try and get through tomorrow at school. And if it doesn't turn out so good then I'll just think about Fordyce moving on soon and console myself that way," she grinned and took the stairs two steps at a time.

Ian didn't have the heart to point out to her that he could stay on for years yet.

The next morning Lottie was dismounting Seoc outside the small school building. For once she wasn't dreading the lesson she was about to have. She had studied for hours last night and finally started to copy the prayers as neatly as possible down on her slate. She grabbed her satchel, peeked inside it for the third time to make sure her slate was in there, and turned to head inside. She was surprised to find Coinneach standing behind her when she turned. She was usually quite aware of her surroundings.

"Hey," he said with a crooked grin, slightly amused at her surprise.

"Good morning," she answered. "What are you doing skulking around like that?"

He shrugged. "Wasna doing any skulking. How's yer hand?"

She flexed her fingers absentmindedly. The pain was long gone since yesterday and behind her but his question brought back the memory of Annella McNab's accusation of her not being a Fraser, and that hurt more.

"Oh, it's fine now, thanks. How's that jaw of yers?" she said and delivered a playful grin herself.

"Haha, just fine. Ye didna think I bruised that easily, did ye?"

They started walking towards the entrance and just then schoolmaster Fordyce appeared at the door with a bell in his hand. The loud clinging noise was heard and they increased their speed.

"Ye do the prayers?" Coinneach asked and Lottie nodded. She was now holding her slate like it was a fragile vase she was afraid to accidentally drop. She was strategically holding it with the text up so she wouldn't risk smudging it. Coinneach snuck a peak at it and she didn't think much of it because she knew it was good, but something in his expression suddenly changed and alerted her sense of worry. He looked almost worried himself. "What?" she asked, but he didn't answer.

"Och, nothing, dinna fesh."

She saw him open his own satchel and look down into it really fast, and then close it again as they walked up the stairs.

"Where's your slate with the prayers?" she asked him with a worried frown of her own.

"Dinna have it. I just realized I forgot to do it yesterday."

Lottie's mouth fell open. How could he be asking about her homework but not pay any attention to the fact that he himself had not done the work and would soon have to answer to Fordyce for it?

"Forgot? What do you mean you forgot? How could you forget to do it but remember to ask if I did it, you idiot?" Lottie snapped worriedly.

Coinneach seemed unconcerned though and simply shrugged again. "Had important things to do yesterday, that's all."

They headed inside and Lottie tried to stop gaping. They took a seat next to each other in the back row and it didn't take long before the schoolmaster got down to business on the homework.

"I expect everyone of ye to get every word spelled correctly this time. I told you yesterday that's what I expected and I want to see you do it now. Anella McNab and Fiona Macleod can start. Come on up here," he ordered firmly as usual and pointed at the black board in front of the class.

The two girls got up in front of the class, took a piece of chalk each and started scribbling the words of the prayer they had learned. When they were finished Fordyce nodded approvingly.

"Good work. You can all learn from their example."

He shifted his gaze to the back row and pointed at Lottie.

"Charlotte Dawson. It's yer turn to show yer amazing spelling skills," he said with his voice dripping of sarcasm and a smirk.

Lottie reacted right away over him calling her Dawson, but was too focused on getting this right to have time to protest. She knew that would only result in Fordyce dealing with her talking back to him instead, so she went up without fuss.

"Ye can come here too," he said with a nod at Coinneach who shrugged and followed her way up Lottie glanced at little Bearnard who was following her movements nervously and gawking at her.

Coinneach and Lottie both started to write down the prayer and Lottie felt like she actually knew what she was doing for once. The words came to her and she got them down with the chalk. Her hand was a little shaky so it wasn't the most beautiful work she'd ever done of course, but it was ok. She glanced at Coinneach who seemed to be writing very slowly for some reason on his side of the board. When she was finally finished she turned around hoping to receive some praise for her hard work. To her surprise she found schoolmaster Fordyce openly grinning from ear to ear. His brows were raised as if he were looking at something he couldn't quite believe.

"Is this what ye call a finished correctly spelled prayer, Ms. Dawson?" he asked and almost cackled. "I've never seen anything like it fer a pupil yer age! Every other word is misspelled for Gods sake!"

Several of the other children giggled and Lottie felt her cheeks begin to heat up, both from shame and anger. How dared he laugh at her like this? And how could she get it wrong? Was he lying to her? Was that possible? Maybe she had actually spelled everything correctly but he refused to admit it.

"Charlotte Dawson, ye have really outdone yerself this time, lass. Ye spell like a lass three years younger than yer age. And perhaps that ain't so surprising considering yer origins. Englishmen obviously canna spell Gaelic."

He moved towards the cane, hanging on the wall and Lottie clenched her fists. She wasn't going to cry out. Never again would Fordyce hear her cry. The schoolmaster was just about to grab the strap off the wall when Anella McNab suddenly pointed and spoke.

"Look schoolmaster! Coinneach Shaw isna doing much better either."

Lottie looked over at Coinneach's part of the board. She hadn't paid much attention his way before, and she wasn't exactly sure what she was seeing now either. He was still working on scribbling down the prayer and he seemed to be visibly looking at Lottie's work now and then, like he wouldn't even be able to remember what to write otherwise.

Schoolmaster Fordyce stood there gawking at Coinneach Shaw's writings. He shook his head dejectedly and snorted out loud.

"I see ye're no better speller either, Mr. Shaw."

Coinneach simply shrugged indifferently.

"Och, I dinna ken if that's generally true, schoolmaster. I mean I didna give a shit about practicing last night so that could also be the reason why I'm not doing so good today."

The already rather quiet classroom became completely silent, except for a gasp from Anella McNab. Fordyce stared blankly at the boy in front of him at first. But when he didn't receive a response right away Coinneach just turned back to the board and continued to try to copy the prayer as best he apparently could. But that's when Fordyce had had enough.

"Coinneach Shaw!" he roared, his otherwise pale face now red ."Ye turn around and look at me right now!"

Coinneach spun around and faced the now furious schoolmaster with raised brows.

"Yes, shoolmaster Fordyce," he answered innocently, which only seemed to enrage Fordyce further.

"This is the worst behavior I have ever seen from ye in my class, and I have seen plenty of it from ye! I swear that if you canna recite and spell that prayer tomorrow morning then I will take the skin off yer backside for ye with a switch in front of everyone in this class. But fer now ye and Charlotte Dawson here can just bend over my desk."

At hearing that something dark came over Coinneach's face and Lottie didn't understand why. It couldn't be a surprise to him that he would be punished for this after all?

As Fodyce again made to grab the strap on the wall Coinneach whispered to Lottie.

"Move slowly towards the benches and let me distract him and ye'll get out of this."

That was when it dawned on her what he was doing. He was trying to spare her this punishment by getting Fordyce to focus on him and his failure instead of hers.

"Hey, Fordyce! If ye think I will copy that "poem" fer ye ye're sadly mistaken. I have better things to do than to sit down and copy a heap of words from the Bible this afternoon. But…" he held up a finger, wearing a cheeky grin, "I'll make a deal with ye. If you show me that ye ken the fourth chapter in Gulliver's travels by heart by writing it down now then I'll give it a fair try."

It was now impossible for their classmates not to laugh at Coinneach's antics.

The schoolmaster's face was beat red now, both from anger and embarrassment. No one spoke to him this way ever in his own classroom. He grabbed the strap and started to move towards them.

"Now," Coinneach mumbled and nodded for Lottie to start making herself less visible.

"I can't do this to you," Lottie whispered back. "You don't have to do this."

But Coinneach gave her a shove in the right direction, masquerading the action as him trying to get away from Fordyce as he grabbed for him. This made the children in the room giggle even more. Coinneach really gave Fordyce a run for his money around the room, jumping over benches and circling the room, running behind the schoolmaster's desk and even escaping underneath it once. When he saw that Lottie was no longer standing by the black board he slowed down a little.

"Just ye wait till I talk to yer father, lad. Ye'll wish ye'd never been born," Fordyce panted as Coinneach did a grimace his way. Coinneach was just about to stay put and let the angry schoolmaster catch him and administer his punishment when Fordyce seemed to think of something. Coming down the aisle he grabbed hold of Lottie's upper arm firmly.

"Ye stay where ye are now, Coinneach Shaw, or I'll let the lass take yer punishment as well as her own…"

To be continued

A/N: Please let me know what you think. I'm still writing this story and I plan on finishing it but I'm also struggling with finding the time to sit down and write it. So reviews and thoughts usually help me keep my motivation up.