GG the Good Witch

Outlander reader, watcher and fanfic writer. Sometimes actor, sometimes nanny, always appropriately chaotic.

[sassenachthroughtime]

Lovers in a Dangerous Time Chapter Twenty One

This is shorter than my typical chapter, but something about the flow just wasn't working when I tried to add anything more, so I give you what I have. Please be gentle as I'm a little rusty and this wasn't beta'd - I'm nothing if not impulsive, y'all! And again, I just have to say that the support you all have given me as a human being and as a writer is just mind-blowing. Thank you, and I love you. Now let's dive back in!

Moodboard credit goes to the lovely Susan ( @veryfaintveryhuman​ )

  If Jenny seemed a touch surprised to find Claire would be joining them for the day—and shot her brother a look that said she had questions and she’d get answers—she warmed substantially by the time the blankets were laid out over the sand, held down by coolers and bodies as the four adults made a joint effort to subdue their excited brood long enough to slather them in sun cream. The little ones were squirmy, be it from anticipation or a general distaste for lotions, and Jamie was pleased to see his sister and the woman he loved laughing companionably as Caitlin slipped out of her mother’s grasp over and over before Jenny finally managed to get her covered from head to toe.

    “Alright now, we’ve got to wait fifteen minutes before we can go in the water,” Claire announced brightly, dropping her phone back on the blanket after setting a timer.

    Jamie had to hold back a laugh at the way her brows scrunched together when the children huffed and groaned, small feet stomping with annoyance in the sand. Nurturing might have come easy to his Sassenach, but the daily ins and outs of life with children was a learning curve for anyone.

    “Ye canna just tell them tae wait,” he murmured, sidling up just as close as the comically large, structured brim of her sunhat would allow, “ye’ve gotta give ‘em another activity.”

    He nodded over at Ian as he overturned a bag of sand toys.

    “They dinna understand delayed gratification yet.”

    “They’re missing out.”

Keep reading...

[sassenachthroughtime]

Lovers in a Dangerous Time Chapter Twenty One Preview

Hi hi hi hi hiiiiiiii I am so excited to share this! It’s a short one, and I’m two days late, but I come bearing a preview of the oh-so-long-awaited beach day anyway. It hasn’t been beta’d, so any mistakes are my own. We’re back in business, babies! 

     When Ian leaned over his sleeping daughter’s body, pressed his lips to Jenny’s temple, and caressed the top of Michael’s head where he lay in the wrap, Jamie felt an uncomfortable pang of jealousy. He’d never liked feeling that way, and liked it even less when it was directed at two people so beloved to him, but it was there, twisting and simmering in his wame. It was so easy for them, had always been that way. Married upon Ian’s college graduation, bairn after bairn without a hiccup, they shared the kind of simple, completely fulfilling life in Scotland, together, that Jamie had always foreseen for himself.

     He had more or less come to terms with the fact that he wouldn’t have that; had uprooted himself and his daughters for the sake of a life without ghosts, where he didn’t have to take the long route home to avoid the site of the accident, content to live only for his daughters. He could have gotten by on that, but then, out of nowhere, there was Claire. More than he had ever dared to hope for, for himself or even for his children. 

     There was Claire, and he couldn’t have her yet. 

     He couldn’t casually brush his lips against her skin during a family day on the beach, or rest his hand atop hers on the blanket. He couldn’t even look too long, lest it draw suspicion. Maybe he’d never see her with a bairn of their own cradled in her arms, as Ian had seen Jenny time and time again. That particular revelation had been more than a little gutting, but she’d laid bare to him her pain about the matter, and he wasn’t going to pile his on top of it. He didn’t love her any less, didn’t want her any less, because of it; but there was a certain sting to the knowledge that he’d never get to meet a little person who was half of her, and half of him.  

     “Jamie lad, where’d ye go?” Ian asked, taking a wide stance as he stood over his brother in law and blocked out the early afternoon sun.

     “Och, just—thinkin’,” Jamie answered, and ran a hand through his hair.

[sassenachthroughtime]

A Wee Update

EDIT: I should have included this from the go, so that’s my mistake, but trigger warning for substance use and relapse. If I missed any others, please do let me know. 

     Hello hello hello, beautiful people! As many of you noticed, I was absent from our little corner of the internet for a pretty long stretch there, and now that I’m back I thought I’d post an update on myself and my stories all in one place. So, this is that! 

     First and foremost, I want to apologize for disappearing without a word. I’ve been pretty open about my struggle with addiction, and a big part of the disease for me is a tendency to isolate and, up until pretty recently, a lack of understanding (and, on some level, willful ignorance) regarding my place and meaning in the lives of other people. Turns out it’s a lot easier to fuck around if you genuinely believe that you don’t matter to others in any meaningful way. Also turns out that that belief was a big ole lie. 

     So many of you reached out across platforms to check in on me with words of encouragement and concern, praise and appreciation for my work as a writer and questions about if and when my stories would continue, especially in regards to LIADT. I want you to know that coming back to that outpouring of love and care was deeply touching and incredibly powerful. Thank you all from the tippy bottom of my toes to the tippy top of my head for the love, support and grace you have given me. 

     It’s slow going as I start to flex those writer muscles again, but I am getting back to it (and I’m very, very happy about that). LIADT is my priority at the moment, and my intention is to have at the very least a preview of the next chapter up on here by the end of the month. That being said, I don’t plan to abandon any of my current WIPs (so long as Mizz Fickle Muse herself decides to cooperate), so keep an eye out for those in the future as well. (And the new idea that’s been simmering in the back of my mind for a few months now). I’ll thank you all in advance for your continued patience as I work. 

     And now, the personal side of things. Addiction is a hell of a disease, y’all!  Unfortunately I made a very sad, very unglamorous return to active addition over the winter, and I had a pretty rough go of it on all sides. I was bankrupt mentally, emotionally and spiritually. After a particularly disturbing episode near the end of March, I reached out to the sponsor that I had been ghosting and decided to try again. 

     Hear me when I say that so long as you are breathing, it is never too late to try again, and you can never start over too many times, in whatever you are trying to conquer. 

     Now, this is not to say that relapse is a good or necessary part of recovery from addiction. Plain and simple, my use could very well kill me. That could have been it. But, at this moment in time, it is incredibly common. It is not something to be embarrassed or ashamed about. I am not ashamed, or embarrassed. I am grateful that I’m still here, that no irreparable damage was done, and that I got to try again. 

     So this is me now! Happy, healthy, whole, and healing. Bandanas and sparkling water and vintage dresses and sunshine. I feel both younger and older than I ever have. I sang for an audience for the first time in years and it felt even better than it sounded. I am mercilessly earnest and open and joyful. I show up for the people I love, and the people I love now includes myself. I feel like an open wound sometimes, but that feels so much better than being the damaged tissue beneath the scab. 

     It does get better. It gets even better than you can possibly imagine for yourself, if you’re willing to let it. If you or anyone that you love is struggling with substance use and/or mental health, let me be a resource. I can’t keep it if I don’t pass it on. 

Love, love, and more love,

Gillian

[sassenachthroughtime]

Just wanted to drop a note to say I just discovered LIADT, and I’m obsessed! Are you on Twitter, and will we see more this great story?

This makes me so happy! I always love hearing from new readers. I am on twitter - in fact, I've returned to my OL social media and to writing, so you'll get more from me there, here and on AO3 in the near future!

[sassenachthroughtime]

Hi, you’ve been MIA for a while. Just wanted to say that you’re much missed and I hope everything is good with you! Sending you love and good juju.

I was indeed MIA for a good hot minute there. I had a pretty rough winter but I'm doing much, much better, and am very happy to be back on here with all of you!

[lallybrochloser-deactivated2021]

“The Protection of My Body”

Chapter Three: Arrangements

What are the consequences of Jamie accepting, and failing, his new mission? Meanwhile, Frank attempts to apologize to Claire.

Big thanks to @motherofthree2312, @sassenachthroughtime, and Katie on TW for being my beautifully talented betas, as well as Jacki on TW for the moodboards!

WARNING: this series will feature themes of abuse, domestic violence, murder, and authoritative abuse of power. But, in true JC fashion, it will also feature an abundance of fluff, angst, and eventual smut. So please take care of yourselves when or if you choose to read. Buckle up! This is going to be a very slow burn.

Read Chapter Three on AO3

[ayalgas]

[karlrincon]

The Great Conjunction: Jupiter and Saturn 🌌.

[lallybrochloser-deactivated2021]

“The Protection of My Body”

Chapter Two: The Offer

Jamie is presented with an opportunity he knows he cannot afford to refuse, but is hesitant because of who is offering it.

Big thanks to @motherofthree2312, @sassenachthroughtime, and Katie on TW for being my beautifully talented betas, as well as Jacki on TW for the moodboards!

WARNING: this series will feature themes of abuse, domestic violence, murder, and authoritative abuse of power. But, in true JC fashion, it will also feature an abundance of fluff, angst, and eventual smut. So please take care of yourselves when or if you choose to read. Buckle up! This is going to be a very slow burn.

Read Chapter Two on AO3

[sassenachthroughtime]

I’ve had the great pleasure of beta-ing this story and y’all, you are in for it!! A must read for sure. 

[loremonster]

Facebook PSA

Hey all, a little Social Media PSA if you have the Facebook App on your phone. 

With the last update, Facebook began tracking something called ‘off-Facebook Activity’ which keeps up with all apps and browsing you do off of Facebook and collects that information with the purpose of targeting ads… which means they’re selling it to ad agencies. This includes access to any banking apps on your phone and your spending habits. 

 Not only is this a major breech of privacy that Facebook didn’t have to tell us about when they updated the app, it’s, of course, automatically turned on. 

To turn it off, go into your Facebook app, pull up the menu from the main screen [the button with the three horizontal lines] scroll down to security and privacy, find ‘Off-Facebook Activity’ and hit the button that lets you manage your history to see all the apps it’s been collecting from. From there, you can clear the information it’s already collected, and there will be a button regarding ‘Future activity’ where you can turn the ‘feature’ off, at which point Facebook with give you an ‘ARE YOU SURE YOU DON’T WANT US COLLECTING YOUR INFORMATION TO SELL YOU THINGS???’ screen. Yes, yes you are sure. Because this is disgusting. 

[blackmarkettrombones]

Facebook made this super hard to find, so I’ve written up instructions for how I got through it (on my app - I don’t know if there are other versions where it’s different):

From Facebook, go to the Menu by clicking on the three horizontal lines on the top right of the screen.

Scroll down to the bottom and select the Settings & Privacy drop-down menu.

Then select Settings (the first option under the drop-down).

This will take you to a screen showing multiple headers with lists of links under them

Scroll down to Your Facebook Information and select Off-Facebook Activity.

The next page has a short explanation of Off-Facebook Activity. Click Manage Your Off-Facebook Activity after the What You Can Do header.

This will take you to a screen with an option to Clear History (which I recommend). To actually turn off this feature, you will have to click the three dots at the top right of the screen and select the Manage Future Activity option that pops up.

This will take you to a page explaining in more detail what they’re doing. Select the Manage Future Activity at the bottom of the page.

THEN you can finally select the toggle to turn off Future Off-Facebook Activity. 

If it’s glowing blue with the circle on the right side, it’s active, and if it’s gray with the circle on the left side, it’s off.

[simplyclockwork]

Just went and checked this out and yikes on a stick

[delightful-fear]

Yuck. I just did this.

[thefloatingstone]

[galaxa-13]

I don’t use facebook (and continue to be glad for this ever day), but for all the folks who do I’m spreading this.

[juchestoner-deactivated20220412]

Deactivated my account and never going back.

[themusicsweetly]

“Lets get to the lady of the hour. She’s a four-time Golden Globe nominee. A champion connoisseur of gin. A generous and kind actor and human being. The star of Outlander. It’s Caitriona Balfe.”

[mo-chride-blog]

365 Days of Jamie Fraser: Day 74

[thegirlwiththecoffintattoo]

I couldn’t answer, but kissed him, first his hand, its crooked fingers warm and firm, and the brawny wrist of a sword-wielder, and then his mouth, haven and promise and anguish all mingled, and the salt of tears in the taste of him.

— Voyager, Chapter 62: Abandawe

[flygirlreads]

“Thank God,” He said, smiling, “and God help you.” Then he added, “Though I’ll never understand why.”

“Because,” I said, “I bloody well can’t do without you, Jamie Fraser, and that’s all about it.”

[ecampbellsoup]

“Your love is devoted like a ring… like a vow that is tested like a covenant of old. Your love is enduring through the winter rain and beyond the horizon”

-Bethel, Ever Be

What is in a wedding band?

The two rings that rest on Claire’s hands strikingly juxtapose the two men that Claire has wed.

Frank’s: Ordinary, traditional, smooth, acceptable, expected —conventional

Jamie’s: Memorable, personal, rough, fused, unexpected—particular

Both slipped on her fingers and both have remained where they were placed. Yet which of the loves survived? Which of the loves has proven to be true across all time & space? Which of the loves presses beyond the symbol of a ring?

The love of a young man, who took a key, and gave the woman he loves the way to unlock his heart.

And never asked for it back.

[mariaae]

I’m crying. Thank you for such beautiful thoughts.

[theoutlander]

[sassenachthroughtime]

Happy Monday! How is the little ‘Lovers’ family prepping for Christmas?!

It’s no longer Monday,but happy day to you, nonetheless! Thank you for the message :) In their world (I’m slightly embarrassed to say) it’s still the day after Thanksgiving. BUT, because y’all are the best readers ever and have been waiting so patiently for an update, I’m not spoiling anything when I tell you that Jamie is knitting Claire a little something for their first Christmas as a (secret) couple...what could it beeeee?