I do not own any characters, plots, or anything else pertaining to "Outlander". I'm new to this fandom and I absolutely adore both the T.V. series and the book series. I was initially surprised not to see many fanfictions for this show, so I came up with an idea for a one-shot that I think people might like. Thanks for reading.
Always with You
Brianna listens to her mother regale her tale of her time in the 18th century. She wants to believe the things she's telling her, but the logical side of her won't accept it as anything but a fantasy her mother conjured up. Brianna wonders if her mind created this fantastical story to deal with what really happened to her when she had gone missing for three years. Her mother squeezes her hand, breaking her out of her musings. "When I was in Paris, I lost a child." Brianna's heart stops at her mother's words. She had had a sibling? Growing up, she had asked her parents every Christmas to give her a little brother or sister. They had always circumvented the question, usually coming up with an excuse for why they wouldn't be able to give her a sibling each year. "Your father was dueling with Jonathan Randall because of what he did to Fergus. I feared that if he killed Randall, Frank would have never been born. I tried to stop them and that's when I miscarried." Brianna notes the tears in her mother's eyes and her heart aches for her. She squeezes her hand to try and comfort her. "I'm sorry." Her mother shakes her head, attempting to keep her emptions at bay. Their eyes lock. "Her name was Faith." Brianna's heart stops at the name.
She'd heard that name before and she wonders if there's any connection. "What's the matter, darling?" Brianna realizes that she must have paused a bit too long and she looks at her mother once more. "Nothing, just…when I was a little girl, I had an imaginary friend that often came to play with me." Her mother gives her a nod. "I remember, you refused to tell me their name." Brianna prays that what she says next, won't upset her mother further. "The imaginary friend's name was Faith." The room goes completely silent and she watches her mother writhe her hands. Tears continue to cascade down her cheeks, leaving dark mascara tracks behind. The minutes continue to tick by and Brianna feels regretful for bringing up such a sensitive topic. "Why did you keep her name a secret from me and your father?" She attempts to grab her mother's hand and she quickly accepts it.
Brianna's happy that her mother isn't angry at her for keeping the name a secret. "Faith made me promise that I'd never utter her name to anyone, especially you and daddy." Her mother's brow furrows at her words. "Did she tell you her reasoning?" Brianna shakes her head and locks eyes with her mother. Another silence takes over and all that can be heard is the cackling of the fire place. She wonders if she should tell her mother every detail that happened between her and Faith when they were children. The games they used to play, the stories Faith used to tell her about her parents, and the few moments she caught Faith watching her mother. As a child, Brianna had thought it strange that Faith would sneak peeks at her mother, as she walked past her bedroom or when she did housework. She had asked once why Faith did that and she had refused to answer her. Brianna didn't ask again, but she continued to be curious about it.
The last time she saw Faith was when she was ten. She had made her weekly visit and told her that she couldn't come back. "Did she say anything about me or Jamie?" Brianna thinks back to that time fondly. Their weekly talks made them feel like sisters, but she never thought that they would actually turn out to be. "Yes, she said that she had been taken from her parents." Brianna looks over at her mother and sees her trying to stifle her free-flowing tears. She squeezes her hand and her mother's eyes lock with hers. "What…what did she look like?" Brianna tries to picture the little girl that she had once called her best friend. Her hair was dark black, like her mother's, and her eyes were blue. They didn't look that much alike, except for their pronounced noses and smiles. Brianna figures that they both must have inherited that from their father. This notion makes her feel an overwhelming sense of happiness. To think that her imaginary friend she had for years was her older sister is surreal. "She looked a lot like you, except for her nose and smile." Her mother is so overcome with emotion, she brings her in for a hug. Mother and daughter sit there thinking about the two missing pieces of their family, wishing more than anything, that there was a way to reunite them all.