Disclaimer: I own nothing except my imagination.

A/N: Thanks for the love on the last chapter, enjoy this one.

Jamie felt himself come in and out of conscious thought as the carriage move through the highlands, but he was not expecting to end up at Lallybroch when he was spared from his fate at Culloden. The first thing he could see clearly after the archway to his ancestral home was Claire, but he knew that to be a vision because she was gone, lost to him forever, through the stones. He focused solely on Jenny, trying to keep his mind from conjuring images of Claire, of giving his heart crushed even more than his wrangled body was. His mind couldn't concentrate as his body was moved, Claire's voice and her distinct smell came to him and went as he felt his body being moved, before his mind was taken back to the darkness.

When Jamie woke up next, his body feeling heavy. He could feel a throbbing in his left leg, where he knew he had been injured in the battle but everything else was fragmented and painful to move.

"Jenny." He managed to croak.

"Aye, I'm here brother. Murtagh, go get her."

"Jenny."

"Don't speak Jamie, keep your strength." He could feel her cold hand on his cheek. "Yer burnin up."

"Jenny, talk to me." Jamie closed his eyes when he heard her voice again, willing it to go away, but calling her name nonetheless.

"Claire." His voice was sluggish, but he was pulling on Jenny's sleeve.

"Yes Jamie, I'm here." He set his sight on his sister, willing Claire out of his thoughts.

"Claire's here brother." She insisted but Jamie kept moving his head side to side repeatedly.

"She's gone, she's gone." He repeated.

"He's delirious." Claire's voice told Jenny. "And he's burning up." The next hours were a blur for Jamie. His body screamed under the cold of the cloths that were put on his skin, he could feel the individual goosebumps on his body rising at attention. He could hear voices, Murtagh's and Claire's, arguing, but he couldn't hear the words that were being spoken. Then he heard Claire's and Fergus's, the two voices clear as day.

"You will watch over him, won't you?"

"Yes Milday, always." What a braw lad they had. That alone made him fight, fight to get back. He felt better in the following hours, his body feeling lighter, the veil in his mind lifting, leaving his thoughts clearer than they had been since the battle began. He tried to move his body again and groaned, trying to sit straight.

"Are you daft brother?" Jenny pushed him back down against the table. "Ye need your rest."

"Och, I'm fine." He complained, trying to sit again.

"Yer no fine Jamie. You've been hit we a fever, had to be stitched up."

"I'm fine now, help me up woman." Jenny helped him sit on the side of the table but forbade him from going anywhere until she returned. When she did, she was with Ian and Murtagh.

"Yer awake lad."

"Murtagh." Jamie was surprised to see him alive, knowing he had lost sight of him in battle. "How?"

"I dunno ken, faith maybe."

"Aye. How did I?" He looked at both Jenny and Ian.

"We dinna ken. You arrived by carriage, bloodied and injured. Claire."

"Claire's gone." He interrupted him.

"No." Jenny said firmly. "She's alive, here, in the laird's room, sleeping." Jamie leaned against the table, his breath knocked over.

"That's no possible, I saw it with my own eyes."

"A blessing lad." Smiled Murtagh.

"There's something else." He knew all three were hiding something from him. "I can see it on yer faces. What is it?"

"We canna tell you brother. Tis not for us to tell ye."

"Aye." He nodded. He would get answers later, he was sure of it. "Where's the laddie?"

"With wee Jamie and he's fine, so you need to get somethin' in yer belly, get yer strength up." Jenny ordered him. With Ian and Murtagh's help, they helped Jamie walk around the dining room, making him move as Claire had instructed them and after feeding him some broth, Jamie requested to spend his night in a proper bed.

"Milord." Jamie was almost toppled over by the force Fergus through himself into him.

"Laddie, good to see you made it safely here."

"Aye, I have." He smiled up at him. "It is good to see you awake."

"Aye." He ruffled his hair. "Have you seen yer mistress?"

"Aye, I have." He smiled.

"How is she? And the bairn?"

"Good, she has gone to rest Milord. She has tended to your wounds, saved your life. She was tired."

"Alright." He couldn't believe it, that she was here, that she had come back to him. It filled him with a mix of happiness and anger at the same time. "Murtagh, help me upstairs will ye?"

"Where do you think yer going? Jenny placed herself in front of her brother.

"To see Claire with my own eyes, and then to bed." He growled. He was not interested in a fight with his sister. "Tis alright with ye?"

"Ian and Murtagh will help ya, off you go laddie, there are still some chores left for ye." She shooed Fergus out of the kitchen and the two men helped a very slow Jamie up the stairs. Murtagh made him promise to call if he needed anything before leaving him alone. Jamie took a deep breath and pushed the door to the laird's room open. Claire was curled in a ball, clutching a pillow to her chest. She looked bonnie, a sight Jamie never thought he would see again. Their child was growing inside of her, safe from the outside world, from the dangers it brought. It filled his heart to the brim, something he didn't think he'd ever feel again after the loss of their first daughter, Faith. He hobbled into the room and kneeled next to the bed. Pushing the soft curls that had fallen in her eyes, he pressed his hand against her belly and whispered words of Gaelic. All his hopes and his fears of what was to come came out of him, prompting tears to pool in his eyes. He no longer wanted to sleep in a bed, he wanted to sleep in this bed, next to his wife. He threw caution to the devil and slowly made his way to the other side of the bed, slipping under the covers, Claire's body gravitating naturally towards his, like it knew he was there next to her. It offered them both a few hours of peaceful rest. Jamie woke up as the sun peaked out from the horizon, his leg throbbing and his bladder begging to be relieved. He pulled away from Claire as gently as he could, not wanting to wake her, knowing with a bairn growing inside her, that she needed it.

Claire woke up several hours later after her body had enough rest. She felt Jamie's presence around her, her body tricking her mind into the feeling but shook the idea out of her mind, knowing he was in no state to have been able to go up the stairs to share a bed with her to begin with. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, the room started spinning.

"Jesus H." The swear was lost on her tongue as she threw herself out of the room and the closest privy before she hurled the contents of her stomach out. "I don't bloody need this." She grumbled as she stood and wiped her mouth. She had to go see Jamie, see how he was doing, so she took a deep breath and headed downstairs and into the kitchen only to find Jamie gone from where she had last left him, setting a panic deep inside her bones.

A/N: EEeekkk...what did I just do? I hope you guys liked this chapter and please take a few minutes to review, I always love to read your thoughts. - Sarra