Back to School

Claire loved working at the house and she and Nina had gotten very close. They had coffee or tea together before or after each time Claire worked a shift and it was amazing how much they had in common. One afternoon Nina told her, "I can't tell you how much I enjoy your company, Claire. We are so happy to have you as a part of our family."

Claire wasn't actually a family member, but she was deeply touched but the sincerely-offered sentiment. "I feel the same way, Nina. I love working here and I really enjoy our time together."

"Aidan seems to really like you too, Claire," she said beaming with happiness. "We've never seen him so happy. His time in Afghanistan was very hard on him. He won't tell us what happened, but we know his two best friends were killed in some kind of attack. We've been very worried about him ever since." She set her tea cup down and told Claire, "You've changed his life, dear. You've given it back to him and I just wanted you to know that."

Claire was so touched she felt a tear forming in her eye. She blinked it away as she said, "He never talks about it so I had no idea. I just know he's a really amazing man.

"I still remember the day he met you. He told us about it, you know. That day in the book store. We hadn't seen him smile a real smile since he came back from the war and that day he not only smiled, he looked...happy. When his father asked him what happened he told him he'd met his future wife."

Claire was utterly stunned. She couldn't say a word.

"It's true. Every word," Nina told her. "He loves you, you know."

"And I love him," she said with a smile. "Very much."

Nina leaned closer and said in a hushed tone even though no one else was home, "Just between you me, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a proposal somewhere down the road. No, he hasn't said a word about it, but I can't help but hope it happens."

Not wanting to jinx anything, Claire smiled and only said, "That makes two of us." Both of them laughed as Nina poured them both some more tea.

When the Christmas break rolled around so did report cards. They were sitting in the cafeteria at the 'fascist table' having a last cup of coffee for the year when Claire opened hers on-line. The University of Washington didn't assign letter grades—just numbers. She looked at her report card and said to Aidan, "Hah! 3.8 GPA for the semester. Read 'em and weep, buddy. Beat that!"

Aidan swiveled his laptop around and Claire saw the grades for each of his classes and his cumulative: 4.0, 4.0, 4.0, 4.0: Cumulative average: 4.0.

"Did you know I hate you?" she teased after sticking out her tongue at him.

"No you don't," he said. "You love me."

Claire looked directly at him and said, "Yes I do love you, Aidan. With all my heart I love you."

He leaned over and kissed and said, "Dittoes, kiddo."

She loved that he called her that because in spite of the age difference, she felt like the younger of the two whenever she was with him. She could feel young and vulnerable and be anything from a little girl to a sophisticated woman when they were together. Claire couldn't ever remember being happier in her life.

A week later they were at his parents' home for Christmas Eve dinner with plans to spend Christmas morning with her family. Although Claire had helped with everything, Nina pulled out all of the stops for this meal and the table was filled with everything from turkey and stuffing to mashed potatoes and gravy. There were sweet potatoes, peas, corn, carrots, fresh bread and butter, as well as pecan pie and vanilla ice cream.

"I can barely breathe!" Aidan's father, John, said after dinner. "That was delicious, girls," he said to both of them.

They were all sitting around sipping a glass of wine when Nina said, "We've always opened one gift on Christmas Eve as long as we've been a family, Claire, so it seems like this is the perfect time do just that."

"Oh, I'm up!" Aidan said. His job had always been to pass out the presents even though the didn't choose them.

"That one!" his dad said pointing to a red package. "That's for your mom."

"Your father's is the green one, honey," she told him.

"I have Aidan's," Claire announced pulling out something very flat and very wide wrapped in blue paper with a gold ribbon.

"And I just happen to have yours," Aidan told Claire. He handed her a large box which she shook bringing immediate calls of, "No fair! That's cheating!" from everyone else in the room.

"Mom? You first," Aidan said. She carefully unwrapped her present which was layered in several smaller packages until it got down to an envelope.

"If this is a check or cash, Johnathan...." She opened it and pulled out two first-class tickets to Paris, the city she'd always wanted to visit more than any other. "Oh, my stars!" she said. She jumped up and hopped into her husband's lap and said, "After all these years you still know exactly what to do to make me happy. Thank you, sweetheart."

"Merry Christmas—Eve," he told her as they kissed.

"Okay, Dad. Go for it!" Aidan said. His gift was also an envelope hidden inside three boxes. When he saw season tickets to the Seattle Seahawks, he nearly had a heart attack. Getting them was next to impossible but Nina had a friend who had a friend who....

"Honey, you are the best wife in the history of wives. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

She wished him a Merry Christmas Eve, too, then said to Claire, "Your turn, honey."

"Oh, no. Let me go last. Family first."

"You know you're a part of this family now, right?" Nina said.

"Yes, but you know what I mean. Aidan? You open yours next, okay?"

The first very large folder opened to a large envelope and he said, "I'm sensing a pattern here tonight." Everyone laughed as he pulled out the last envelope which was legal-sized.

"Open it, honey!" his mom said anxiously.

"I already know my grades so what could this possibly be?"

He looked around the room not knowing that everyone else knew what was inside it. When he pulled it out, he stopped smiling as he read the words on.

"Congratulations and welcome to the Federal Bureau of Investigation! You will begin your training in Quantico, Virginia on the 15th of June, 2016."

"Your parents' intercepted this two days ago and decided not to tell you in advance," Claire said.

He looked up at the other three people and said, "I've been waiting on this and checking the mailbox 2-3 times a day. I couldn't believe I hadn't gotten an answer yet. Wow. This was the best Christmas present ever!"

"It wasn't actually a gift, son," his father reminded him. "You earned it. We just wanted to make it a surprise."

"Well you did that. This is amazing," he said as he read through it again.

"I'm so proud of you, honey," Claire told him. She put her arm around his shoulders and kissed him. "The FBI is lucky to have you."

"No, I'm lucky to have you," he said kissing her back. "Do you know how much I love you?"

"Not any more than I love you," she said accepting his kiss.

"Okay, you lovebirds. We still need Claire to open her present," Nina announced.

"I forgot all about it!" Claire said. "I got so caught up in Aidan's acceptance I forgot about this one."

She shook it again and got another round of scolding. "Sorry. My sister and I are the biggest cheaters ever when it comes to Christmas gifts. Sometimes we did more than just shake them."

She couldn't hear anything and was fairly heavy so she had no idea what might be in it. She opened it and found another box. "Another Matryoshka Doll, I see," she said with a laugh as she opened the second box. Then a third and a fourth and finally a fifth.

The size of it made Claire's heart beat faster. "Oh, my God," she said as she opened the fifth box to find a fuzzy, blue box inside.

Her hands began to tremble as Aidan reached over and said, "May I?"

Without waiting for an answer he gently took it from her then stood up before kneeling down on one knee in front of her. Nina was positively beaming and even John was smiling as their son spoke.

"Claire Randall? Since the moment I saw you in the book store, I've loved you. I never told you but you've completely turned my life around. After the war, I never thought I'd be same again. I felt like I'd never be happy let alone know love. And then I saw you."

Claire's hands were covering her face and tears were welling up in her eyes as he opened the box. "I love you more than anyone or anything in this world, Claire, and nothing would make me happier than if you would be my wife. Claire Randall? Will you marry me?" he said his eyebrows raised hopefully as though he wasn't sure what she might say.

Tears were streaming down her face and her throat was so tight she couldn't speak. She held out her left hand and nodded—and blinked—furiously. He slipped the ring on her finger and she threw her arms around him. Finally, she found her voice and said, "I will SO marry you, Aidan Lawton, who's not from Oklahoma!"

Nina jumped up and waited to hug Claire and officially welcome her to the family. John did the same as he told her, "Let me get a good look at that ring, honey. I wanna make sure my boy didn't go cheap on you." She held it out and he could tell it wasn't cheap. He didn't how big it was, but it was real rock. "Okay, looks like he did good!" he said as he hugged her.

They spent the rest of the evening together talking and telling family stories before going back to Claire's house were the newly engaged-couple made love as passionately as they ever had.

The next morning they were at her parents' home by 8am and Claire managed to hide her left hand until everyone was seated. "Okay, everyone. We have an announcement to make," Claire said looking around at everyone.

"Get out of here!" Carol said knowing what was coming.

Claire held out her hand and squealed, "We're engaged!" Carol and her mom both shrieked as all three of them stood up and grabbed each other. They began dancing in place and moving around in a circle as Aidan and Claire's father sat and watched.

He got up and shook Aidan's hand as the girl's celebrated. "I couldn't ask for a better son-in-law," he said as Claire was showing off her new ring. "You were exactly what my little girl needed after that SOB/sorry-excuse-for-an-ex-husband did to her."

Carol and her mom both hugged and kissed Aidan. The latter on his cheek and the former on the lips. "Watch it, sister!" Claire warned her playfully. "We share everything but boys, remember?"

"Ahhh! But this one's sooo cute!" she said. "And so young!" Everyone laughed then got ready to open presents.

********

Both of them managed to earn a 4.0GPA their final semester and because they couldn't stand the thought of being apart for Aidan's 20 weeks of training at the FBI Academy, they were married on the 1st of June in a quaint little chapel with family and friends in attendance.

Aidan finished third in his class at Quantico and was able to get his first choice of duty assignments and selected the Seattle Field Office where he spent his first five years as a newly-minted special agent.

His furniture moving business continued to thrive and by the time he sold it, he had ten crews working for the Hunks who moved Junk. Claire also sold her home and they used the money from the sales to buy their own first home just in time to welcome their first child, Brooklyn Lynne Lawton into the world. Brooke had a baby brother two years later whom they named Johnathon Andrew Lawton.

With the heartache of war and the affair far behind them, the Lawtons couldn't have been happier or more in love as they raised their children and lived their new lives together. Claire often reflected on what a great decision it had been to go back to school. Finally, she'd gotten some respect.