#Aislingean: Dreams

[bee-kathony]

The Oath | Ch. 5 “Aislingean: Dreams”

a/n: thank you to my people who read this before anyone and told me it was good and not s***, I am so grateful <3 @julesbeauchamp​ @claryclark​ @sassenachwriter​ @lburks226​

Ch. 1 | Ch. 2 | Ch. 3 | Ch. 4

January 22nd, 2019

12:09am

Geillis had given Claire a “you better tell me exactly what you’ve been doing” look as she came down the stairs. Claire hoped that she didn’t look like someone who had just had sex in the library of some stranger’s home. She thanked God that her hair was a mess ninety percent of the time, but still tried to assemble it into a bun on top of her head.

Once they found Angus and Rupert, the four of them climbed back into Geillis’ car and headed back to the city. Before Geillis could ask her any questions, Claire turned the radio on and it was a Beyonce song, making both Rupert and Angus break out into an off key singing battle.

Claire sat there in the front seat of Geillis’ car, a smile never leaving her lips as she thought about the evening. She had never been a woman to have a one night stand, especially not with a man in his house full of guests. Only feeling a little bit scandalous, Claire sighed happily which only made Geillis glare at her.

Not even two seconds after the car door shut as they dropped off Angus and Rupert, did her friend turn on her.

“Tell me what ye did, Claire! I can see it all over yer face…”

“What? I didn’t do anything,” Claire lied, but couldn’t help the grin that her lips formed.

“You met someone, didn’t ye?” Geillis questioned her, trying to study her friend.

“Perhaps I did,” Claire nodded. “But he doesn’t even know my name and I will probably never see him again. Just a one time thing.”

“Just what was a one time thing, Claire?” Geillis’ eyebrows rose to her hairline in surprise. “Did ye kiss a strange man, lass?”

“Ohhh, we did more than kiss alright,” Claire suddenly laughed and covered her mouth with her hand. She had lost count of how many drinks she had over the course of the evening and its seems her tongue was extremely loose.

Geillis gasped and smiling she clutched Claire’s arm. “Oh please, Claire. Ye canna leave it there, ye have to tell me. How far did ye go? Hand job?”

Claire didn’t answer, instead she only pretended to zip her lips and throw away the key.

“If ye dinna answer me Claire Beauchamp, I’ll assume ye went all the way wi’ a stranger at a party,” Geillis said firmly and when Claire started giggling again, her mouth dropped. “Well, well, look who’s the slut now.”

“I am not a slut!” Claire hit her friend on the arm. “I am tired though so if you will please drive home.”

“I bet yer tired lass, ye disappeared around 8 and I didna see ye for the next four hours,” she winked and moved the gear shift into drive. “Ye look like a lass who has had her corn grinded well.”

“Oh my God,” Claire laughed. “You were the one who told me to have some fun, so that’s what I did. I didn’t even think about Frank the entire night.”

“That’s great!” Geillis smiled. “Are ye goin’ to tell me who this strange man was or do I have to guess?”

“He was the owner,” Claire said freely — one way or another Geillis would have found out anyways.

The car swerved on the road as Geillis looked over at Claire, “James Fraser? Ye slept wi’ the owner of Fraser & Co. tonight?”

“I wouldn’t say we slept together per say since there was no bed involved, but there was a bookshelf and—“

“A bookshelf?! Claire!” Geillis laughed. “I didn’t think ye had it in ye to be honest.”

“Well I did and I don’t regret it for a moment,” she said crossing her arms over her chest.

“No lass, dinna every regret having sex wi’ that fine piece of man.”

Claire rolled her eyes, “Just drive, Geillis. I’m sure in a week I’ll have forgotten all about my wild night. We have to change some policies at the hospital so I’ll be really busy the next few months.”

“Ye just had amazing sex with a bookshelf involved and yer still talkin’ about work,” Geillis clicked her tongue. “Ye never cease to amaze me, Beauchamp.”

“He was a better shag than Frank,” she admitted. “With Frank, I often found my mind wandering to work… but not with Jamie.”

“Oh Jamie is it? Ye dinna call him James like everyone else?” Geillis smirked.

“Well we are intimately acquainted,” Claire joked.

“I’m glad ye had a good night, Claire. Are ye happy ye went?”

Smiling to herself once again, she nodded. “Yes, very happy actually. It turned out to be way better than I was expecting.”

“Oh yes…” Geillis smiled. “Ye had enough fun for the entire party.”

++++++

The next morning, Claire woke up with possibly the worst hangover she’d ever had. Not only was her head throbbing, but she had a delightful ache in between her legs and heat crept up her chest as she remembered the previous evening.

It’d been so long since Claire had felt this light and carefree. The last year of her relationship with Frank had been heading downhill and she only just realized it. He treated her as an accessory. Showing off his perfect girlfriend to all his colleagues at work, but never once caring for her opinion on anything he was discussing. She was a prop, not a lover — only to speak when asked, otherwise she must sit in her pretty little corner.

It was toxic. Claire furrowed her brow and ran her fingers through her curls. More than heartbreak, she felt like a complete fool. But there was nothing she could do to change the past save to go back in time, but that was impossible. So the only thing Claire could do was to move forward with her life and to put the past behind her.

It had only been two days since her horrible break up and yet Claire had learned so much about herself. She found out that she was able to not fall apart as easily as she once might have. She had been bold last night with Jamie and hoped that boldness would continue to grow in all other areas of her life.

She still had the next two days off, however, and planned to spend the next 48 hours sitting on Geillis’ couch watching reruns of Grey’s Anatomy.

“Morning, sleepyhead,” Geillis smiled from the couch, a cup of coffee in her hands as Claire walked out from her room.

“Good morning,” she mumbled on her way to the kitchen. Claire was far from being a morning person and add alcohol into the equation and she was a right nightmare.

“Did ye have any sex dreams about yer man?” Geillis asked once Claire returned with coffee in hand.

She nearly spit her first sip back into her cup as she sat down next to her friend. “No, I did not have any sex dreams. For your information, I didn’t dream at all.” This wasn’t entirely true. The truth was that Claire had dreamt about Jamie, but they weren’t sexual in nature. Her dream consisted of the two of them, sprawled out on a picnic blanket, limbs intertwined as two children ran around the garden. But Geillis didn’t need to know this. No one did.

“Fine then, lie to me.” Geillis settled back into the couch, propping her feet up on the coffee table.

“Are you working tonight?” Claire asked.

“Aye, from 4pm to midnight. Ye’ll have to fend for yourself for dinner.”

“I think I can manage ordering in,” she smiled and started to plan her pizza option for the night.

“Great, now hush… ’Tis my favorite episode, the one wi’ the bomb.” Geillis grinned and turned up the volume.

“Don’t you think it’s ridiculous that we watch this show? Being doctors and all?” Claire laughed as she pulled up a blanket around her feet.

“Nah,” Geillis smirked. “We both know we dinna watch it for the surgeries, but for McDreamy and McSteamy,” Her friend nudged her leg with her foot.

“Oh God, now we just sound like horny women.”

“I know I am, ye…” Geillis glanced at her, raising her brow, “Ye are horny for only one man wi’ flaming red locks, Beauchamp and ye know it.”

“Shut it,” Claire blushed, throwing a pillow at her friend who just laughed, knowing she was right.

They spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon watching tv and talking. Claire had never spent this much time with Geillis and found she quite liked the companionship. Frank had been so demanding of her time that she had spent very little of it with anyone else but him.

At 3:30pm, Geillis left Claire on her own as she headed in for work so Claire decided the best thing to do was to draw herself a bath.

Filled with bubbles and Eucalyptus oil, Claire climbed into the warm water, letting out a sigh as her muscles relaxed. With nothing in particular to think about, Claire let her mind drift and soon she found she was thinking about Jamie.

Even though she was submerged in hot water, her skin prickled with goosebumps whenever she thought about how his lips had felt against her skin. How his hands had touched her, leaving their imprint.

Her head fell back against the rim of the bath and her eyes shut, heavy with desire. Claire recalled the way his fingertips pressed roughly into her flesh as he held her against the bookshelf. With parted lips, she trailed her hand over her chest, lightly ghosting over her nipples, making them stand to attention.

But as she slid her hand over her stomach, she froze and her eyes snapped open.

“Claire Beauchamp, you will not have a sex fantasy about Jamie Fraser!”

She shook her head to rid any images of his strong lean arms holding her up and splashed water over her face. Then she settled back against the bath, closing her eyes and thought of sutures and broken limbs — anything to keep her mind off of Jamie.

After going over in her mind a very complicated procedure to remove a spleen, Claire found her mind drifting back to Jamie. She wondered if his company had any social media and so she innocently picked up her cell phone and went to Instagram.

“Fraser & Co.,” she muttered as she typed in his company and it popped up immediately. Her heart raced as she clicked on their profile and started scrolling through the pictures.

Considering they were a fairly new company, there weren’t many pictures. One of Jamie and a man that looked a lot like him, but with jet black hair; they were holding their first bottle of whisky. A few of the different types of whisky they sold, one of the distillery and then the most recent were from the grand opening last night.

In one picture, Jamie was on stage giving the welcoming speech that she had missed. Her lips curved into a smile as she zoomed in closer on his face and took a screenshot. She felt silly, but wanted to be able to pull up his face whenever she wanted. Another picture was of the crowd, people mingling and drinking at the party, but when Claire zoomed in to try and find herself she saw something in the top right corner.

They were barely visible and she probably only knew who it was making their way up the stairs, hand in hand because it was her and Jamie. If people cared to zoom in or brighten the picture, they would see Jamie talking Claire up the stairs! Heat fanned over her cheeks as she blushed, realizing that this was their first picture together and so she took another screenshot.

“You are not some high school girl, Beauchamp,” she rolled her eyes and locked her phone, setting it down beside the bath.

Later she would end up deleting the screenshots and she didn’t dare follow the account. Claire wanted to see Jamie again, but she knew that the only thing she would bring to any kind of relationship was baggage. And the last thing she wanted was to make another relationship complicated from the start.

Drying off from the bath, Claire re-twisted her hair into a high bun and slid into her favorite silk robe. It was only 5pm, way too early to go to sleep. Instead she ended up ordering pizza with extra cheese and turning on a Christmas movie called A Princess for Christmas. It wasn’t very good, but the guy playing the prince was kind of charming and so she watched until the end.

Her eyes were heavy with sleep, and she must have dozed off near the end of the film and only woke from the sound of the door opening. Claire lifted her head from the couch to see Geillis putting her bag down near the entrance.

“Hi there stranger,” Geillis smiled.

“Is it midnight already?” Claire yawned, reaching for her phone to check the time. In fact it was nearly 1am, she had slept for at least a few hours.

“Have ye been sleepin’ the whole time I’ve been gone lass?” Her friend chuckled and came to sit beside her on the couch.

“Not the whole time,” She sat up, stretching her arms above her head. “Only a few hours and I feel like I could fall right back into bed.”

Geillis yawned, covering her mouth with her hand. “Yer makin’ me tired too. Ye still have off tomorrow right? I do too. How about we go into town and do a wee bit of shopping?”

“Oooh yes please,” Claire smiled. “I could use a new sweater or two.”

“Och, ye have plenty of sweaters, Claire,” Geillis shoved her foot as she stood up. “Find somethin’ a little less modest aye?”

“It’s the middle of winter,” Claire rolled her eyes. “I’ll do no such thing.”

“Whether ye like it or no, I’ll find ye somethin’ sexy tomorrow, Beauchamp,” Geillis winked and then said goodnight, heading off to her own room.

Yawning again, Claire rose slowly from the couch and after brushing her teeth, climbed into bed with a sigh. She never usually had this many days off in a row, but was thankful considering the week from hell she’d had.

Except it all hadn’t been bad. Meeting Jamie for one had brightened her week considerably.

Sleep claimed her again, laying heavy on her chest and soon she found herself dreaming of a tall red headed scotsman.

His fingers touched her cheek, softly, caressing. Lips pressed just under her ear, sucking the skin lightly. Claire whispered his name and he pulled her closer to him, once again making her forget everything, but him.

Clutching at the sheets, she cried out as he parted her thighs and thrust home.

“Oh, Sassenach,” She heard him say before Claire sat up in bed, her heart pounding.

Taking a deep breath, Claire lay back down. She had dreamt of him — Jamie. Of course she had, he was all she had thought of since she met him. It was only normal, she told herself.

Feeling out of sorts, Claire closed her eyes and then imagined that he was there with her once again. Slowly she let her fingers drift down her body, over her breasts, nipples hard and standing to attention. Her lips parted as she found the relief she was aching for. It was Jamie’s fingers she imagined as she worked herself to completion — it didn’t take long.

“Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ,” she sighed, hoping that sleep would take her away again… away to Jamie.

Chapter 6: C. Beauchamp 

[mrs-mikko-rantanen]

As usual, Ewan was not sleeping. Avanda was, however, completely knocked out. She had rolled onto her side and was snoring softly, arms curled tightly around her pillow as she slept.

But Ewan wasn't sleeping. He was lying on his back, eyes glued to the ceiling as his mind thundered loudly. Even YouTube had proven useless. No amount of scrolling would quiet his mind. No matter how many sheep he counted, he couldn't drift off. No position was comfortable, nothing.

Most nights, this didn't bother him. He may be a little anxious, but he'd find a way to occupy himself before drifting off for about three hours.

Tonight was different. His mind was panicking, yes. Over nothing. His heart kept pounding and his eyes kept darting around the room even though there were no noises to draw his attention. His lungs burned and his throat was tight and--

Ewan couldn't sleep.

Avanda shifted next to him and he jumped at the movement. She stretched and made a small sound as she woke up a little, rolling onto her back. Ewan could tell she wasn't really awake. Her eyes were still closed and her breathing was too even still.

"Mmm.....no, I don't...Chan eil mi ag iarraidh..."

"Don't want to what, Lass?"

"Don't wanna go. It's...it's nice here."

Ewan smiled a little as he rolled onto his side to see her better. Avanda frequently talked in her sleep, but it was rarely pleasant. Normally she dreamed of terrible chapters in her life. Long hours spent in the dark, chained and trapped with horrors that she wouldn't even speak of in her waking moments.

"Yeah? It's nice here?" He was using one arm to prop his head up, and the other was draped gently over Avanda's stomach, his fingers gently tracing the magpie tattooed on her ribcage.

"Mm-hm. 'M not ready to go."

"We don't have to go yet. We can stay here for a while longer."

"'Kay...Mòran taing..."

And with that, she drifted the rest of the way to sleep again. Ewan smiled a little and gently pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Aislingean milis, Lass." He whispered against her skin.

One of Avanda's hands reached up now, her fingers gently gripping his arm as Ewan laid down.

Ewan was awake. But as he watched his beloved sleep and wondered where she was in her dreams tonight, he felt his mind begin to quiet somewhat.

[aislingean]

Aislingean an latha literally translates to Dreams of day, I chose this because sgaoileadh (daydreams) isn't as aesthetically pleasing