Summary: We all know how Alex loved Claire, or how Tess suffered from being separated from her sister at such a young age. But there is one person, who is often overlooked, although she held things together throughout the years… This is a story about the relationship between Meg and Claire, narrated in snapshots.
Age Rating: PG
Disclaimer: All characters of "McLeod's Daughters" belong to Nine Network, Millenium Television, and Channel Nine. I do not own anything, except for the specific storyline, and even that draws on the show. This fanfiction was merely written for fun, all of the characters and events portrayed are fictitious.
Like My Own
In spite of her young age, there were many things that Meg Fountain had learned in life. She knew how to cook, how to prepare a meal that even the pickiest guest would praise. She could shear as many sheep as most of the men on the farm, and by now, she also knew her way around by horse rather well on the endless acres of the unfamiliar land she had learned to love. She knew how to treat colds with self-made vitamin cocktail, how to set a dislocated shoulder. She could walk a sick horse all night and take care that it didn't lie down. She was able to put even the most hyperactive of children to sleep with a few tricks.
But there was nothing in the world that she could do to fix this.
"Claire," the young woman spoke softly, putting her hand on the child's shoulder, "let's go back inside the house. It's time for dinner."
The brunette girl shook her head firmly, eyes still fixed on the road ahead. "I'm not hungry."
"You need to eat something." Meg felt a stabbing pain in her heart as she watched Claire shield her eyes against the sun to be able to see better, although there was nothing there to be observed.
Each and every evening, she would come out here, with the strong belief that her sister would return someday. Nothing that anyone said could change her mind, she knew that Tess would come back. She had to, after all, even if it was only to get Annabel. And when she did, they would come up with a new plan, a better one that would allow Tess to stay here forever. Claire had sorted it all out in her head: They would simply run away and hide somewhere, maybe in the old shed, and then their parents would have to go look for them together. Perhaps that would make Ruth want to move back into the house.
"It's time, your father's really tired, he only just got back from Skinny Jim's. One of the cows was having problems calving, but the calf's alright now."
Her attempts at arousing Claire's interest failed miserably. Usually, the girl would have been excited about the new calf, wanting to see it, asking if it was male or female at least. She would have been, Meg thought bitterly, but things had changed.
In the past few weeks, Claire had increasingly withdrawn into herself, just like her father. She hardly talked, wandered off all the time without giving an explanation as to where she was going, and spent hours by the gate if nobody came to fetch her, which took quite an amount of persuasion. With each night, her disappointment increased, and yet the stubbornness with which Claire explained why she had to stand there did the same. She never cried.
Meg remembered her first few weeks on Drover's Run, when Claire had been so little and she herself had been hired officially as a gofer. The same air of eerie silence had hung over the house then, except during the nights, when the poor child would often wake up, crying for her mummy. Jack had been utterly overstrained by the situation, in his own grief and loneliness, so Meg had sat up with the little girl for more hours than she could have counted.
Yet this time, it was different. Claire was older now, she wouldn't be consoled by bedtime stories, and Jack had just lost a wife and a child for the second time. Meg tried to keep life going, but most of the time, she simply felt helpless. Helpless, and incredibly angry with the children's parents – especially Ruth. How could she simply have taken off like that with Tess, without even calling once afterwards or letting her daughter speak to her father or sister? And how could Jack just accept it like that, did he know what he was risking? Did those two have any idea what they were doing to the children?
"The table's set, we're only waiting for you."
"I'm waiting for Tess" Claire mumbled with a strange dispassion that bordered on apathy.
"I know" Meg sighed. "But tomorrow is another day." She placed one hand on the girl's upper back and led her towards the house gently.
Claire went with her willingly, but not without throwing one last glance back over her shoulder. "She's gonna come, Meg, you know."
Meg swallowed and held her tongue, as always, she couldn't get herself to crush the child's hopes, since it seemed to be the only thing she hung on to.
They arrived at the house and Claire's face lit up for a brief second when she found her father sitting in the kitchen. "Dad!" She put her arms around his neck from behind.
For a brief moment, a sad smile flashed across his features, and he looked soft and gentle once more. "Claire, you know you're not supposed to stay out late."
Claire shrugged and sat down on her chair, being smart enough not to explain what she had been doing. She had understood pretty fast that questions about her sister and stepmother would remain unanswered, that Tess' absence was something they didn't talk about.
"Oh well, I'd say it's about time we started eating" Meg suggested. "The meat loaf will be all dry by now."
She took the mashed potatoes from the cooker, got the meat loaf out of the oven, and placed both on the kitchen table. They hadn't eaten in the dining room in the past few weeks.
"Ah, Meg, that smells good" Jack remarked politely.
They sat down and started eating in silence. That is, the adults started eating, while Claire was just picking at her food wearily.
"Don't you like meat loaf anymore, honey?" Meg asked.
The girl shrugged indifferently.
"Well, you don't need to eat it if you're not hungry. What have you been doing today?"
"Stuff."
"What kind of stuff?"
"Riding" Claire replied monosyllabically. "Walking 'round."
Meg had already opened her mouth to ask another question, when Jack interrupted her. "I got a call from your teacher today."
His daughter kept poking at her food.
"Would you look at me when I'm talking to you?"
Meg threw him a disapproving glance, shaking her head in a barely noticeable motion. This aggressive tone wouldn't get him anywhere; she would only shut down more, although she did look up from her plate.
"She sounded pretty worried about your marks. And she also said that you refused to participate in a dictation, that you didn't write anything down at all. What was that all about?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing? Claire, school's the most important thing, I want you to remember that. It's got to come first, before riding, wandering about with the heeler and whatever else you're doing."
"I'll help you with your homework after dinner" Meg offered.
"You haven't done it yet?"
"There'll be more time when Tess gets back" Claire stated. It was the first complete sentence she had said during dinner.
Jack's expression turned into stone. After a short pause, he resumed eating, more quietly than before. The only sound was the clanking of the forks and knives against the plates. The silence was unbearable.
"I was thinking about making sweet potatoes and beans tomorrow. Would you like to help me, Claire? You can pierce them with a fork." She had always enjoyed doing that.
Meg only realized what she had stirred up when Claire looked back at her sadly, with her lips pressed firmly together. Not she…the girls… "Tess likes to do that" she said quietly.
"Yes, she does." Meg tried to smile, but it was difficult. They hadn't heard from Tess since Ruth had taken off with her, and she was quite worried about how the little girl would cope with being ripped out of her environment, deprived of her father and sister all of a sudden.
"We have to make it when she comes back. Do they have sweet potatoes in the city?"
"Of course they do."
"I don't think Ruth knows how to make them, though-"
"Will you stop it!" Jack interrupted his daughter harshly. "Just…stop talking like that."
He buried his face in his hands for a moment, but when he looked up, he seemed more tired and weary of life than anything else. "Claire," he sighed heavily, "your sister and Ruth have left for good. They aren't gonna come back, at least not anytime soon. You need to accept that. Tess won't come back tonight, or tomorrow night, or the night after that."
"You're lying!" Claire shouted.
"I wish I was, but-"
"No, Dad!" She jumped up from her chair, almost knocking over her glass of water. All of a sudden, her disinterest had been replaced by a burning rage. "They are gonna come back, I know, because…because they have to! But you're not even trying to make them come back, 'cause you don't care, 'cause you only care about cows and horses and sheep! It's your fault they left, and now you don't want them to come back-"
"That's not true" he yelled, completely losing control over himself, "how dare you say such a thing? I never, never sent anyone away, ya hear?!"
"You let them leave, just like that, though Tess didn't want to!" Tears had formed in her eyes now. "Tess didn't want to, and you made her leave!" She turned around and ran up the stairs to her room.
"Claire! Come back here!" Jack barked.
Meg stared at him in sheer horror. Everything had passed too fast for her to intervene, but it only took her a second to gather her senses, before she went after the girl.
That night was the first night she heard her cry…and the last night in which Claire went out to wait by the gate.