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Juno swiveled in her seat and glanced out the window behind Jamie's shoulder. In the distance, she could see some enormous stones marring the otherwise flat, rolling hills that surrounded them. She looked all around them, and didn't see a single car, a single house, or any signs of life at all. It really was Craigh na Dun, she thought dreamily. It really was. "Shall we go exploring for a bit?" Jamie asked softly, watching her face as she stared out the window at the stones. "Absolutely." Juno breathed. Jamie had simply pulled Thor the Thunder Car on to the side of the road and parked on the soft grass. She opened the car door and climbed out as though in a dream and shut the door absently. She walked around the back of the car where Jamie was standing on the other side of a small ditch next to the road. "Here." He said, holding out his hand. "Let me help you across." Juno took his hand and leapt across the ditch and landed beside him, her eyes still on the stones on the horizon. Instead of releasing her, Jamie grasped her hand in his and began to walk slowly in the direction of the circle. His hand was warm against hers, and enveloped her hand almost entirely in his. He gave her hand a small squeeze, and she returned the squeeze after a moment. After a few moments, they fell into step together, their bodies closing the gap between them until they were parted by only width of their clasped hands. His fingers caressed hers as they walked in silence across the soft grass, and Juno almost gasped when the sun suddenly peeked out from behind the cloud cover, bathing them in warmth and light. This was a dream, she thought to herself. I'm going to wake up and still be on that boat watching Darcy flirt with boys and Viv cracking jokes about the passengers. This was a dream. "This is stunning." She whispered as they approached the circle. The stark gray stones poking out of the green earth were much larger than she had imagined, and were standing almost vertical from land to sky. There appeared to be five enormous stones, formed into a circle that could only have been man made. "How did they get them here? And who were they?" Juno asked, mostly to herself. "No one knows." Jamie answered softly. "That's part of the mystique of the stones, I think. No one knows how they managed to erect these enormous figures so accurately, or even who those people were. I've always found it fascinating." Juno nodded, and then slowed slightly as they drew closer to the circle. Her eyes traced from one rock to another, then out to the horizon and back again. She knew Scotland was beautiful, but this was just utterly breathtaking. "How did it happen in the book?" Jamie asked as they slowly, almost shyly approached the stones. "How did she travel back in time?" Juno closed her eyes and remembered. "Claire was all alone in the stone circle, and she thought she heard a humming noise. She leaned her hand on one of the rocks to look around, and when she did, the stone screamed. She stumbled and fell down, felt like she was spinning and being turned inside out, and when she came to, she was in 1743." "And then Jamie came?" Juno nodded and squeezed his hand with a small smile. "Yes. And then Jamie came." They approached the furthest rock in the circle, and Juno hesitated as she reached her hand out toward one of the rocks. "Is it silly that I'm afraid to try?" She giggled nervously, and Jamie tightened his grasp on her hand. "I won't let go." He said huskily. "If you go, I'm coming with you." Juno looked over her shoulder at him, wondering if his conviction was just about the possibility of traveling through time or about something else. Closing her eyes, she reached out and felt the cold stone beneath her hand. She laid her palm flat against the rock, breathing deeply. She knew she wasn't going to wake up in 1743, but she felt like she was on some fantastic journey nonetheless. After a few moments, she straightened and removed her hand from the rock. "No time traveling for us, I guess." She said lightly. "I'm glad. I don't think I would have done well in a clan war." Jamie joked. "Plus, I'd miss Thor the Thunder Car." Juno giggled, the reverent moment of the stones broken. They inched into the center of the circle, standing equidistant from all the stones and looked around them. The sun was peeking out from the clouds again, and a sudden breeze kicked up and threw Juno's dark hair over her shoulders as she closed her eyes again to feel the wind on her face. She heard Jamie turn to her, could smell his spicy aftershave, rather than saw him turn to her. Her eyes still closed, his lips touched hers lightly, and Juno felt that every solid part of her body turned to jelly as he kissed her. His hand released hers so that he could wind his arms around her body, pulling her closer to him, puller her closer against him. His lips nibbled at hers, pressed at hers, his tongue exploring her, and she opened to him, recklessly and wantonly. She'd never been like this in her entire life. She had to be living someone else's, or living in a dream world. This couldn't be real. She'd only known Jamie a day, but they kissed as though they'd known each other in a different time, in a different life. Juno knew with absolute certainty that this moment was the reason the boat had left her behind, that she'd been stranded in a foreign land, that she'd come to Scotland at all. It was so she could live this moment. She'd never felt so completely alive in one moment in time, and even before the kiss ended, she knew she never would again. 1022 / 14468 / 50000 | |||||
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