Ozlander

by Samantha Liddell

  Scott was out of breath so I took over, “Anyway to cut a long story short we fell into Cow poo, Scott got an electric fence shock and a badly damaged hand from drivers’ sunburn that he can now not move because of it. Our bags got stolen and sold to Clive by Emmett the Irish man, Clive later threw all our clean clothes from the bag into more Cow poo. We got chased by a Highlander bull, then to top it off, Scott punched Clive in the nose, and now we are here on time to sign that contract.”

  Troy looked impressed and a bit in shock at the same time. “Well Scott if it was not for the fact you came with a very high recommendation from a very well-known Scottish actor.” I gave a little giggle as I knew all too well who he was talking about. Troy Continued, “I would probably not feel too confident handing this contract over to you to sign. However I was warned that you were both very overdramatic but at the same time reliable and good at what you do. So I'm willing to give you a chance so whatever you do, just don’t let me down and make me regret my decision that has purely been based on a good friend’s recommendation.”

  “You have our word, we will not let you down Troy.” Scott said in a very professional tone. I looked at my watch. It was now right on 2pm and Scott had the contract in front of him to sign, although he was unable to hold the pen to do so, so I had to hold it with him to keep his hand closed and his grip strong. “This is why we make a good team, Letticia, we have each other’s backs.” Scott said. As he sat on the chair and looked up at me who was standing over him supporting his hand while he signed away.

  “That we do” I replied. I felt more as if we were signing our wedding certificate at our ceremony standing in this position rather than singing a business deal. “Now what are you waiting for? Let’s sign this contract and get out of here and to the nearest shower.” I announced.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Dreams really do come true.

  After the contract was finally signed and the catering project was all Scottlander’s for the next 6 months Troy decided to offer us a shower in the cast quarters.

  The dressing rooms were all set up for the actors who were due to be on set in the next fortnight.

  Scott went into the leading man’s dressing room and I went next door into the leading ladies dressing room. However, before we went to have a hot shower and clean ourselves up, Troy apologised saying “I’m sorry I don’t have any spare clothes to offer you, but I do have costumes in the costume department that didn't make the final cut. You are welcome to both go in and pick out an outfit to get you home in at least.” We both thanked Troy for his generous offer and accepted his kindness.

  With Troy’s directions, Scott and I found the Costume department and used the key that Troy had given us. I was so excited to see what was on the other side of this door, Scott turned the key and we walked in, I was in front of Scott of course far too excited to hold back.

  I flicked the light on which was situated next to the door on the wall. The smell was the first thing I noticed. It smelt like fresh new fabrics but also a tad musky at the same time.

  The sight of all the costumes hung up in rows for us to choose at our own leisure brought me back to my kindergarten days playing in the home corner and dressing up with the many costumes that were on offer.

  Troy had told us we were only allowed to try on the discarded rack of clothes. But that was fine as the first thing that caught my eye on the discarded men's rack was a kilt. “Oh, Hells bells, yes! Scott you are wearing that no question about it.” Scott being the good sport he is agreed without any hesitation and took the Green tartan Kilt off the rack along with the Charcoal Tweed Crail Jacket, and to top it off he grabbed a pair of black knee-high socks and black boots.

  I on the other hand was still indecisive. It reminded me of our shopping experience together back in Scotland at Scots Fashion. Scott found his outfit within 2 minutes of arriving while I tried on multiple outfits before deciding, while poor Scott sat on the waiting room chair for me.

  After a few long minutes, and picking up different items from the rack I finally settled on a dark green dress, yes my favourite colour. It was a vision of elegance and grace. It looked like a beautiful representation of a 17th century working class gown. It came in two parts with a separate bodice and skirt. It was fully boned for cleavage uplift so no need for a corset. The Bodice was fully lined with 16 loops for ribbon lacing up the back. It was firmly attached to the skirt with ribbons. The skirt with a hem of 155 inches and was pleated into a deep waistband. Black ribbon lacing was used on the dress which contrasted well with the green fabric. I did know a lot about 1700’s fashion for some reason.

  With our outfits now picked out Scott and I went to find our showers. We knew this shower was going to feel like Holy water running over our dirt ridden bodies and cleansing it back to our former self.

  The dressing rooms were located right next door to each other. Scott announced before entering with great excitement with the thought of a hot shower on the other side and a fresh bar of soap. “Meet you back out here.” “Yes once we no longer smell like Cow poo and whatever else we have on ourselves.” I laughed in response, before we both headed off to the showers.

  The dressing room I was in smelled like fresh paint as soon I entered. It was a brand new room with a bathroom and shower facilities located off the main room, which held the garment racks, a table, chairs, a mini-fridge, mirrors and the dressing table. The only thing on my mind however was a nice long hot shower.

  Once again Scott was waiting for me to get dressed but this time he was outside my dressing room door waiting for me to finish my shower and get dressed into my very own Claire looking outfit. As I opened the door I was presented with my very own Jamie Fraser, I mean my very own Scott, who was dressed in a kilt and knee-high boots. The sight of him looking this way made my knees go weak. I had a sudden urge for him to scoop me up in his bare hands and carry me off to the nearest bed where he could make sweet tender love to me. Instead, I would just have to settle for a kiss on my cheek and a compliment on how “Barry’ I looked which I was not too sure had even qualified as a compliment but I decided to take it anyway before I even asked Scott to translate once again. “Letticia, you look very Barry, Very Braw indeed.”

  I smiled then simply said, “Translate please.”

  Scott laughed, “Aye Barry means Excellent/fantastic and Braw means good looking.”

  “Well I was in my right mind then to take that as a compliment in the first place.”

  “Aye of course Letticia, I would never disrespect you in any way, shape or form.”

  With that comment I had to, I just couldn't help myself but to bring up that random Emmet situation again. “Well Scott I can think of one time, and one time only when you showed me a bit of disrespect and that was when a certain person advised you not to pick up a certain Zoomer hitchhiker.”

  Scott laughed and pulled out a pretend sword, and said “I beg you for your forgiveness. If ever my disrespect is raised upon you again, I ask you to use this sword to pierce my heart.”

  I broke down in a fit of laughter, “Oh how very Jamie of you. You are forgiven, you always were.”

  Scott looked at his watch, “well we better get a move on Letticia if we are going to get on that flight home tonight.”

  With no car or means to get back to Cairns I was feeling not very confident at all we would make that flight home, as was Scott who announced to Troy, “Well Troy it was lovely doing business with you. I will be in touch over the next few days to finalise things and get my crew on board. We must get going though if we are to catch our flight home on time which I feel is a mission impossible, seeing as we have no transport to do so.” Troy looked at us with an expression of pity.

  I still could not believe he gave the contract to Scott when we turned up looking very disorganised and unprofessional at that. It really is just word of mouth and who you know in this business world I thought to myself.

  Troy insisted we jump on River the horse. River was a ho
rse in training for the upcoming film. Troy told us to ride River into town to the police station and leave River there with the police officers and he would grab him later on after the next meeting he was due to have. He had no car on set that day either due to it getting a service, so we accepted his offer. Troy phoned through ahead of time to advise the police station what was happening. His best mate was a constable there and he organised for him to drive us back to Cairns airport once we arrived.

  With such a kind offer we thanked Troy and headed off to saddle up.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Making our way to the Airport

  There was no saddle in the end, so Scott and I ended up riding bareback. Scott's hand was still in a lot of pain and strapped up. He jumped up onto River first somehow with only one hand, it must have put a bit of pressure on his sore hand as he let out a discomfort groan but continued to pull himself up. He then put out his good hand to pull me up to sit in front of him.

  We were dressed in the clothes Troy had very kindly given us. As I pulled myself up onto River with Scott’s help I got the sudden vision of the first time Jamie and Claire met and they rode back to ‘castle Leoch’ together with Claire sitting in front of Jamie.

  Scott and I were now both sitting on River the horse. I was in front of Scott, “What a big hard head you have there, and such a round arse at that too.” Scott joked.

  I laughed “Oh how very Jamie of you.” I said.

  “Well, ironically we do look the part. I think we have just turned into them. However I have no idea how to ride a horse,” Scott announced and with that, we were off, as he managed to get River into a steady trot. Before I had the chance to regather myself and ask, ‘What do you mean you don't know how to ride a horse?’ Scott reassured me “Relax I’m pulling your leg, I’ve been riding since I was a wee Lad,” Scott said in his very Scottish accent. I relaxed and enjoyed my time riding up against Scott strong body.

  I felt so safe, secure and loved sitting in this position, plus the added bonus Scott was dressed in a kilt and knee-high boots. I looked at my watch as I noticed the change in temperature in the air. Time was getting on, even with this thick 1700’s dress on, I started to shiver with the late afternoon sun slowly descending. Scott must have noticed and pulled me up into his body for a bit more warmth and laid a kiss upon the top of my head. I turned to face him with a smile and returned a kiss on his cheek.

  “Well Sassenach looks like we have overcome all the obstacles we encountered to get here, and we are now on the home straight.”

  I let out a big laugh and said, “Oh Scott you should know better than that, to say such a thing, until we have our feet firmly planted back in my parents’ house then you may say such a statement, but until then you know anything is still possible.” We both laughed in agreement.

  As we approached the paddock with our friend the Highlander bull still pacing back and forth Scott teased and said “hold on I’m going to clear the fence and go through the paddock instead of riding around it, it will save us time.”

  I elbowed Scott in his ribs and said “You will do no such thing.”

  “Aye correct, I will do no such thing, there is no way I’m ever going back into that same paddock with that thing, even if we are on a horse.” Scott said with a nervous laugh. We followed the fence line around the edge of the paddock past the point where we had our little Clive encounter. At that point I remembered Scott's hand.

  “How’s your hand Scott?” I asked with concern.

  “Aye it's still pretty painful but I will survive.” he told me. We continued to trot towards the police station. Being a country station they owned a few Police horses, so River could just join the other horses in the stables there until Troy came to pick him up. It was now coming up to 4pm. We would have to be on our way back to Cairns Airport by 4.15pm at the latest if we were to have any chance of making our flight. Just then the police station came into view. I decided to just sit back and enjoy these last few moments riding bareback with my Scottish man. I decided to be in the moment and take in the scenery around me.

  However, this did not last as before I knew it River was now slowing down from a trot and was now walking up the path of the driveway of the police station. Once we got to a full stop Scott immediately swung his leg over and disembarked off River. How he kept his balance with only one hand was anyone’s guess, but he did it with such ease and confidence unlike me. Even with Scots help I groaned and moaned as I got my body into position to slide off River, who was indeed a very big horse. Scott was on the ground trying to guide me off. My bottom was heading right into Scott's chest with only one hand to catch me Scott said, “Oh dear lord, here comes that big round arse of yours.” With that I had lost all concentration and just slid right off bottom first into Scott who with only one good hand to catch me lost his balanced and we both ended up in a heap on the ground. We were all tangled up with each other but at least we still looked good in our 1700’s attire.

  All this commotion outside the station caused a crowd from inside the station to gather outside. Police officers, members of the public and even Emmett were standing looking confused from the Stations porch. As we regathered our dignity and got back to our feet we saw one police officer started walking towards us. As he approached, he said, “Right then you must be Scott and Letticia. I'm Troy’s mate constable Harvey. Troy did say expect a grand entrance and I’m glad to see you kept to his word.”

  Another police officer came down and took care of River as Constable Harvey lead us to the police car that was to escort us back to Cairns airport.

  I gave a little wave to Emmett but no sooner had I lifted my hand to wave, had Scott quickly put it back down. “What are you doing, Letticia? Waving to a criminal.”

  “Oh relax Scott. Emmett is just a lost Irish wee soul who needs some direction in life.”

  “Be that so, but not from you.” Scott corrected me. I could tell we didn't agree on this issue so I left it at that. I did however get a wave in just before we got into the car.

  Scott looked at me with that sexy half smile he does and said “Letticia get into the car.” I found myself in the back of a police car with my Scottish lover. Just another strange situation we had found ourselves in once again.

  Chapter Fifteen

  A ride in a Police car

  I checked my watch again for the time. Perfect, it was 4.12pm right on schedule. Scott looked over at me once we had started driving away. He was mouthing something. I could not work out what he was trying to say until he gave up and just ended up pulling the seat belt over my shoulder.

  He then whispered into my ear. “You are in a police car, make it click.” he did make a valid point. “Oh, Scott what would I do without you?” I replied.

  “I dare to think” he laughed.

  It did feel strange to be travelling with no bags, no money, and no clothes. We were indeed travelling very light and at the same time I felt very uneasy with being not in control of anything. We had our tickets and our ride to the airport so if all goes to plan we will not be needing any money until we got home.

  With just over an hour before we would arrive in Cairns, I decided to snuggle up against Scott's Chest and get a bit of sleep while Scott and Harvey talked about the history of Bibroohra, politics, and world events. Enough to put anyone to sleep. Had they talked about ‘Outlander’ or the latest Scottish news I would have been wide awake.

  I awoke to the sound of the car engine slowing down as we approached the many set of traffic lights in Cairns. As I open my eyes and saw the lights of this city a feeling of relief flooded over me. We were indeed now on the home stretch. Still far too soon to say it out loud though.

  I looked down at my watch, however it was dark outside now and I could no longer see the face of my watch. Scott saw me trying to read the time in the dark with great difficulty so came to the rescue and looked on his phone. “We are cutting it pretty fine,” he said, “we are going to have to run to our boarding gate.” The fac
t we were dressed like we had time travelled from the 1700s had actually slipped our minds. We were only focusing on one thing and one thing only and that was to make our flight.

  Traffic through the city was slow and I could feel myself growing annoyed as each second passed. The airport was situated on the other side of the city a bit further out. “Harvey, do you think this situation can be classed as an emergency, any chance we can flick the siren on?” I asked desperately.

  Harvey must've picked up on my desperate tone and agreed. “Oh, go on then.” He said. Within seconds we were zooming through the traffic, cars all moving aside for us to get through. Scott laughed.

  “Aye talk about VIP treatment.” he said.

  “Well we are Jamie and Claire for the night are we not?” I replied. By my calculations, the flight had already started to board and we were still a good five minutes away. I was squeezing Scott’s only good hand that had not been injured in the Clive altercation so hard I think he was worried he would end up with both his hands injured. But being the amazing Scottish gentleman, he is he allowed me to use his hand like a stress ball.

  Harvey pulled up to the five-minute drop off point right outside the departure doors. We thanked Harvey and luckily while I had been asleep Scott had explained to Harvey the whole situation as to why we were dressed the way we were, with no belongings or money. So when he dropped us off and we had nothing to offer him for the ride but two big over the top hugs, he understood and wished us luck. Scott ensured him when he was up next for work he would drop in a 6 pack of beer.

  Scott was catching on with the Aussie ways. Harvey was happy with that and said he would look forward to it. So we left him at that point in a mad rush and took off on foot at high speed towards the check-in desk. We were oblivious to all the looks we were getting from strangers towards our appearance.