AUTHOR'S NOTE: I don't consider this a true AU. It's more of "the organic direction the show should've gone because I really wanted to see Fergus beat Cartwright's ass for Martha."

The title is from "Make You Feel My Love" by Bob Marley.


When the rain is blowing in your face

And the whole world is on your case

I could offer you a warm embrace

To make you feel my love


Martha walked into her parlor to find Jenie with both Cartwrights.

"Miss Almond," John said as if they were mere acquaintances with no painful history. Jenie played with her cloth dolls on the floor, unaware that her father was seated a few feet away as he continued. "May I introduce my wife, Lydia Cartwright."

"How do you do?" the silk-clad woman said. Martha, in her patched wool dress, felt plain in comparison.

"Well enough," Martha said with a tense smile, and then picked up her daughter. "Hello, love," she murmured as she kissed Jenie's hair.

"I must say, Jenie is an enchanting child," Lydia offered as Martha put the girl back down.

"Thank you kindly."

"And it is Jenie we have come to discuss," John added. "I will come right to the point. We all know of the circumstances of her birth-"

Lydia looked down at her hands.

"-and to be frank, Mrs. Cartwright and I wish to raise Jenie."

Horror turned Martha's blood to ice. "You what?"

"We can give her a better life," Lydia added, at least trying to be kind.

John was more blunt. "And one that you cannot afford. Her parentage will not be discussed, and we will simply say that she is our ward. But your presence, Miss Almond, will raise questions. We will pay handsomely for you to sever all contact with Jenie." He smiled, as cunning as the Serpent who tempted Eve in the garden, and then Martha herself.

Rage like Martha had never known before rose within her. "You can take your bloody money and go fuck off!"

Lydia's eyes widened. "I beg your pardon?"

"If you think I am going to let you steal my child, you have another thing coming!" Martha spat.

"She is my child too!" John protested.

"But you have no right to take her from me!" Martha took Jenie into her arms again, holding her daughter tightly. "I must ask you to leave!"

"But-" John, stubborn and arrogant as ever, began.

Martha lifted her chin and declared, "At once!"

Lydia was decent enough not to force the issue. "As you wish," she said quietly as she stood.

Her husband got to his feet, dark gaze locked on Martha and Jenie. He took a threatening step towards the pair, and Martha backed up into the corner. The tension in the sitting room was thick enough to cut with a knife. Terrified, Martha had visions of the Cartwrights spiriting Jenie away in their carriage and never seeing her child again.

"John?" Lydia said.

Martha's former lover let out a terse sigh. "Very well," he said through his teeth, and followed his wife out of the room. Once the Cartwrights were gone, Martha took Jenie to one of the parlor chairs and wept.


"They wanted to steal Jenie from me," she told Fergus through tears that evening. "It was almost kidnapping. I thought Mr. Cartwright was going to rip her out of my arms."

Fergus' jaw clenched. "Ye said they would pay ye to end all contact?"

She nodded, swiping at another tear that fell. "It was practically a bribe."

Righteous fury in his brown eyes, he went straight to the door. "I am going to kill him."

"Fergus-"

"I cannot stand by and let them do this to ye!" he said as he put on his coat. "It ain't right!"

"Fergus!" she repeated as he went out the front door. Jenie started crying upstairs, and Martha dashed up to her brother's room. "Watch Jenie for me!" she told Smalley before rushing downstairs again and throwing on a shawl.

"What in heaven's name is going on?" her brother called as she went after Fergus.


Martha ran through the night, lungs burning as she looked for Fergus.

Even though it wasn't ladylike to run, she sprinted across the cobblestones to the Cotton Master's Club. She and Fergus both knew it was where John would most likely be. When she arrived at the Cotton Master's, she turned the corner to see Fergus punch John in the face by the front door.

"How dare ye try to take Jenie from Martha!" Fergus bellowed as John clutched his nose, thick blood oozing between his fingers. "Martha's life is hard enough as it is because of ye, and then ye pull a stunt like this, ye bastard?"

Fergus hit John again, and Martha's former lover spit out a tooth as she grabbed Fergus' arm. "Fergus, stop!"

"He needs to pay for what he tried to do!" Fergus snarled, trying to go after John again, but Martha held him back. "I am going to beat his sorry ass to a pulp!"

"They will lock you up for this if anyone sees!" she said, pulling Fergus away. Voices were heard inside the club. "We have to go, Fergus! You landed a few blows, we need to leave!" She dragged him into an alley as upper class gentlemen rushed out of the club. A few aristocrats helped the bleeding John inside, as Fergus finally left with Martha.


"Thank you for being my knight in shining armor," Martha said as she tended to Fergus' scraped hand in her flat. "My very own William Wallace."

"Anyone decent would have done the same," he replied.

"Aside from my brother Smiley, no, there is no one else would have done this," she countered as she finished bandaging his hand. "I have become accustomed to being judged by most folks. You are the only one who went out of your way to help. And Fergus, I-"

Smalley entered with Jenie. "Mama," her daughter said, and Martha stood to take the girl into her arms.

"Hello again, poppet," Martha said thickly, dropping a kiss on top of Jenie's head. "I ain't ever letting you go."

"And I will not let anyone take her," Fergus promised.

"Nor will I," Smalley added.

Martha's heart swelled in gratitude. "Words cannot express how much that means to me. It is high time you went to bed, Jenie," she said. "Say goodnight."

"G'night, Uncle Small," the girl said in her high, youthful voice. "G'night, Daddy."

"Oh, Jenie, I ain't yer da," Fergus said quickly.

"But you behaved more like a true father than John Cartwright ever will," Martha interjected. "I do not mind her calling you that."

Stunned, Fergus stared at her. They both knew the weight the word carried, what it meant for their relationship. "If that is what ye want, Martha."

She nodded. "I do."

"Then I would be honored to bear the title," he said seriously, as if he was being knighted by Queen Victoria.

"I will be back," Martha said, standing and putting Jenie on her hip. But before leaving the parlor, Martha paused to clasp Fergus' hand. "Wait for me."

"Always," he said, warm brown eyes gazing into hers.

Later, Martha and Fergus went to the front door.

"The title father has power," he said. "Not just for me and Jenie, but for ye and I, and what that means for our courtship. Because if she calls me that, it means I am a permanent fixture in the Almond family." His gaze searched hers. "Do ye wish for me to be, Martha?"

She nodded, finding cause to smile for the first time that day. "More than anything."

She was confused as he bent down. But her heart nearly stopped because he was on one knee and taking a ring out of his pocket and was he actually-

"I saved up my earnings to buy this," he explained as he held out a single gold ring. It wasn't fancy, but it meant more to her than the most lavish jewel-encrusted ring ever would. But what made love swell in her chest was the hand that held the ring, a hand that had been battered and bruised in her name.

"Oh, Fergus," she breathed.

"Martha Almond," he began, "would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

"Yes," she said in a watery voice. "Yes, of course I will marry you!"

He let out an airy laugh as if he couldn't believe she accepted. She watched as he slid the ring on her finger, the symbol of doing things in the right order after everything she'd been through. Then there was a creak at the top of the stairs, and they both looked up to see Smalley on the landing. "About time you asked her," her brother said with a grin.

Martha and Fergus both laughed. "Get up so I can kiss you proper, Mr. Suter," she said, smiling so hard she thought her face would split in two.

"Yer wish is my command, future Mrs. Suter," Fergus said, and when he stood, they kissed. In stark contrast to how harshly John's bruising, devouring kisses, Fergus' mouth was passionate but kind.

When they broke apart for air, her eyes welled with tears again. "Thank you a thousand times over." She threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. "Not only for asking me to marry you, but for all you did tonight. I don't just love you, I need you."

"I would go to the ends of the earth for yet," he said into her hair. She held onto him even tighter, never wanting to let go.