"Ah.. NÃl aon tintéan mar do thintéan féin." Jamie said under his breath.
"What?" I raised my eyebrows at him.
"There's no place like home, Sassenach. At least if you're there wi' me." He slipped his arm round my waist and i leaned against him.
I'd have loved my first night back home from my medical duties to have been a quiet one, to be able to lay against Jamie's chest while he and Fergus shared stories, and listen to the fire crackle while Roger sang and Bree and Marsali rocked their little darlings to sleep. But then, it wouldn't have really been home that way. So I settled for standing against his chest, listening to the babble of family and friends... for now.
Jamie and I had just been to Wylie's Landing, to see to the birthing of one of Wylie's slave girls. He wouldn't think of letting me go alone, what with such a notion being the same to a Scotsman as walking right into the spiders web. "Better the devil you know than the devil you dont." I'd offered as i mounted, hoping to sway him from his decision. He and Wylie would only be at each others throats the entire time and I didn't have any wish to nurse the slave and her master.
"I'd rather no devils, thank ye, and he isna a devil Sassenach. He's a bastard." And he had rode ahead of me, making it clear there'd be no other option.
I mentally shook myself. The events at Wylie's landing would have to wait, I was too tired to recall anything but the look of my bed and the sound of Jamies slow, even, sleep induced breathing as he lay beside me. My eyes closed, but only for a moment, because the latter of my wishes was far from being true. While Roger was singing, Germain and Jemmy were also taking turns singing, trying to imitate him. Not being rocked to sleep.
"Do your ears hang low do they wobble to and fro can you tie em in a knot can you.. eh.." Germain faltered a little, dropping his sing-song tune and twirling a bit of his hair with his chubby fingers.
"..TIE EM IN A BOW, CAN YE THROW EM OWER YER--" Jemmy corused loudly to show who was the better man. One mark to Roger's favor. Competitiveness was definately a scottish trait.
"Jeremiah, please! You're making mummys head hurt, don't sing that song." Bree pleaded, pressing her fingers industriously into her temples. I sat down beside her, massaging her neck gently.
Her offspring stopped for a moment, looking over at us both, weighing the consequences. "DO YER TITS HANG LOW DO TH--" Roger clapped his palm over Jemmy's mouth, and shrugged a little, trying to escape the stare of his wifes icy blue eyes that had creased into thin triangles of agitation.
"Ouch!" Roger jerked his hand back. Apparently, Jem was expressing rutheless cannibalism as well. Strike one in favor of Stephen Bonnet, I thought. Damn.
"Why, ye little soundrel! And the mouth on the laddie!" Jamie bent to tickle at his grandson's cheeks, giggling, a practice not usually taken up by men of his general calibur. Long red hair and whiskers, chiseled muscle hugging at his long broad limbs, he was a big scottish bear and with the tip of a hat he could be as ferocious as one. Brianna scrubbed at her face with her hands, pulling the skin of her lower lids down and looked at me pleadingly.
Across from her at the table Jemmy did the same, also sticking his tounge out.
"Damn this cold spell, damn it to hell!" Brianna exclaimed before sneezing into her cupped hands of ivory. Four times in succession.
"Have you been taking the Echinacea?" I asked her, leaning with my elbow on the table and my chin in my hand, raising my eyebrows. With the slightest hesitation she answered. "Yes mama."
Uh huh. Bree had a cold, not a fatal virus. Yes mama, I took it every time you forced it down me was more like it. It must have shown in my face because she suddenly groaned, slumping with arms folded on the table an her chin resting on them, and pouted. "Its nasty... blech.. and besides, it didn't help."
"Thats because ye took it twice, an then had tae fish the lad oot ah the pond, an not even a glance at the wee bottle since!" Marsali scowled, and Bree blushed. I shuddered a little, despite the fire at my back. It was in fact Rollo that had dragged him out. Brianna had been too late for salvation, but just in time for a lesurely swim through roughly 15 yards of ice water back to dry land when Jem fell from an overhanging branch.
Jamie yawned. "Well," he scratched his head and rose. "I think if I keep from bed any longer I shall not get there at all."
"Och, the night is young yet, Da!" Marsali said, a frown tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"Aye," he said matter-of-factly "And I'm not." He looked at her face, and hugged her to him, his fingers spread over her pale locks. "With luck I shall still be here in the morning, a chuisle mo chroÃ. Good night."
"Codladh sámh duit," Ian said, nodding to me and his uncle.
"Coming, Sassenach?"
I stood too, and looked around. NÃl aon tintéan mar do thintéan féin, indeed.
"What?" I raised my eyebrows at him.
"There's no place like home, Sassenach. At least if you're there wi' me." He slipped his arm round my waist and i leaned against him.
I'd have loved my first night back home from my medical duties to have been a quiet one, to be able to lay against Jamie's chest while he and Fergus shared stories, and listen to the fire crackle while Roger sang and Bree and Marsali rocked their little darlings to sleep. But then, it wouldn't have really been home that way. So I settled for standing against his chest, listening to the babble of family and friends... for now.
Jamie and I had just been to Wylie's Landing, to see to the birthing of one of Wylie's slave girls. He wouldn't think of letting me go alone, what with such a notion being the same to a Scotsman as walking right into the spiders web. "Better the devil you know than the devil you dont." I'd offered as i mounted, hoping to sway him from his decision. He and Wylie would only be at each others throats the entire time and I didn't have any wish to nurse the slave and her master.
"I'd rather no devils, thank ye, and he isna a devil Sassenach. He's a bastard." And he had rode ahead of me, making it clear there'd be no other option.
I mentally shook myself. The events at Wylie's landing would have to wait, I was too tired to recall anything but the look of my bed and the sound of Jamies slow, even, sleep induced breathing as he lay beside me. My eyes closed, but only for a moment, because the latter of my wishes was far from being true. While Roger was singing, Germain and Jemmy were also taking turns singing, trying to imitate him. Not being rocked to sleep.
"Do your ears hang low do they wobble to and fro can you tie em in a knot can you.. eh.." Germain faltered a little, dropping his sing-song tune and twirling a bit of his hair with his chubby fingers.
"..TIE EM IN A BOW, CAN YE THROW EM OWER YER--" Jemmy corused loudly to show who was the better man. One mark to Roger's favor. Competitiveness was definately a scottish trait.
"Jeremiah, please! You're making mummys head hurt, don't sing that song." Bree pleaded, pressing her fingers industriously into her temples. I sat down beside her, massaging her neck gently.
Her offspring stopped for a moment, looking over at us both, weighing the consequences. "DO YER TITS HANG LOW DO TH--" Roger clapped his palm over Jemmy's mouth, and shrugged a little, trying to escape the stare of his wifes icy blue eyes that had creased into thin triangles of agitation.
"Ouch!" Roger jerked his hand back. Apparently, Jem was expressing rutheless cannibalism as well. Strike one in favor of Stephen Bonnet, I thought. Damn.
"Why, ye little soundrel! And the mouth on the laddie!" Jamie bent to tickle at his grandson's cheeks, giggling, a practice not usually taken up by men of his general calibur. Long red hair and whiskers, chiseled muscle hugging at his long broad limbs, he was a big scottish bear and with the tip of a hat he could be as ferocious as one. Brianna scrubbed at her face with her hands, pulling the skin of her lower lids down and looked at me pleadingly.
Across from her at the table Jemmy did the same, also sticking his tounge out.
"Damn this cold spell, damn it to hell!" Brianna exclaimed before sneezing into her cupped hands of ivory. Four times in succession.
"Have you been taking the Echinacea?" I asked her, leaning with my elbow on the table and my chin in my hand, raising my eyebrows. With the slightest hesitation she answered. "Yes mama."
Uh huh. Bree had a cold, not a fatal virus. Yes mama, I took it every time you forced it down me was more like it. It must have shown in my face because she suddenly groaned, slumping with arms folded on the table an her chin resting on them, and pouted. "Its nasty... blech.. and besides, it didn't help."
"Thats because ye took it twice, an then had tae fish the lad oot ah the pond, an not even a glance at the wee bottle since!" Marsali scowled, and Bree blushed. I shuddered a little, despite the fire at my back. It was in fact Rollo that had dragged him out. Brianna had been too late for salvation, but just in time for a lesurely swim through roughly 15 yards of ice water back to dry land when Jem fell from an overhanging branch.
Jamie yawned. "Well," he scratched his head and rose. "I think if I keep from bed any longer I shall not get there at all."
"Och, the night is young yet, Da!" Marsali said, a frown tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"Aye," he said matter-of-factly "And I'm not." He looked at her face, and hugged her to him, his fingers spread over her pale locks. "With luck I shall still be here in the morning, a chuisle mo chroÃ. Good night."
"Codladh sámh duit," Ian said, nodding to me and his uncle.
"Coming, Sassenach?"
I stood too, and looked around. NÃl aon tintéan mar do thintéan féin, indeed.