Claire woke early before light and as Jamie seemed to be sleeping soundly, Claire slipped out from under his arm and off the table. She placed her hand on Jamie's forehead and it felt warm, but with the injuries he had sustained and almost three full days in the back of that wagon jolting down the road, she had been expecting much worse. She moved her hand from Jamie's forehead to his wrist and took his pulse. Nice and steady. She could not ask for better. The house was still quiet, but soon it would be as busy as an active bee hive. The Queen Bee, Jenny, would be down at first light and Lallybroch would be in full swing; another day in the life of it's inhabitants. Jenny and Mrs. Crook would need the kitchen back and that included the table she and Jamie had used as a bed. Claire wanted to move him this morning, before breakfast was started. She would see to their room and have a quick wash. She also wanted to find and speak to Fergus. He had traveled all the way from Culloden to Lallybroch on Donas and she had worried about him from the moment he left and wanted to find out if everything had gone according to plan; if he had met with any trouble along the way.

Claire released Jamie's wrist and replaced it gently on his chest. As she turned to quietly slip away, she felt him grab her wrist. She turned to see his eyes were open, looking at her. "Just where do you think ya are go'n at this wee hour of the morning, leaving me without my good morning kiss?" he asked.

Claire smiled and place a gentle kiss on Jamie's lips. It never got old, kissing him. It quickened her heart this time as much as the first and warmed her insides with desire. Jamie was, after all, a morning person and her body responded to the routine. She drove the thought from her head. Jamie had a leg injury, that needed to take precedence plus they were in the kitchen; anyone could walk in at any moment. "First, I want to check on our room and make sure you are moved before breakfast. I don't want anyone cooking on top of you. We also might want to work a little magic to make sure things are fine with you and Murtagh; I want to check the injuries you both incurred at some point today," I said rubbing my hands together and creating a little blue glow. "I want to catch things early and encourage the healing since I am nowhere near as skilled a healer as Master Raymond. I also want to find Fergus and our little Fay; I only had a brief moment with them before they were ushered off to bed last night. I need to find out how things went for Fergus and if Fay was any trouble on their journey. He is such a brave and wonderful son. I am so very proud of him and know you are as well. We must be sure to tell him," I said with a nod of convection from my head. "And just how do you feel?" I asked. "You slept well, I think, yes? You only feel a little warm, running just a low grade fever, I believe which is not bad considering everything you have been through. Are you hungry? Though I think that is a silly question for me to ask you or Murtagh; you two are always ready to eat. We'll get you fed after you are moved upstairs. When you are settled in bed, I will bring the children to see you. I know you want nothing more than to see Fergus and hold Fay. Lie back down and rest until I return." I gave him another brief kiss and leave the room.

I quietly leave the kitchen, cross the main hall and climb two flights of stairs to the third floor where the kids rooms are. I thought I knew which room Fergus and Faith would be in. The same room Jenny had placed me in three years ago when I first came to Lallybroch. Jamie and I were not married when we had arrived. Jamie had us hand-fasted before we arrived but Jenny would not even allow us to sleep on the same floor, let alone in the same room until we were properly wed. I placed a hand on the the latch and opened the door. Fergus' eyes flew open, then he smiled when he saw me, sat up and opened his arms for a hug. I walked over, knelt down and hugged him. Much too hard and too long for a twelve year old boy, but he allowed it. I think I was hugging him for me more than for him. I kissed him on the forehead as I released him. "Your father and I are very proud of how brave you were Fergus. What you did was so very courageous. You saved both your sister and Lallybroch. Did you have any trouble with Faith or Donas? Please tell me that strangers did not bother you on the road?" I asked anxiously.

"No Milady," Fergus replied. "I gave Faith a drop of the medicine every time I fed her just as you told me. And I changed her before I fed her every time. Donas was very good with her as well. Very gentle and never tried to bite her the whole journey. I did not get lost once either Milady. I think Madame Jenny was surprised to see us however and she has been taking care of my little sister since we have arrived." He nodded at the other bed against the far wall. "I am so very glad to see you, Milord and even Monsieur Murtagh. You will make them better, yes? Is the battle over? Did we win?"

I stood up and placed my finger to my lips and walked over to the other bed. Faith was still sound asleep. I ran my fingers through her curly mop and brushed my finger down her cheek. I won this one. She resembles me more than Jamie. She had been born with wavy red hair just like her father's but it had changed and was now a nest of curls like mine but a deep auburn color mixed in with my brown. Jamie said my hair had all the colors of a flowing burn; our dear Faith's had all the colors of a Rowan Tree in Fall. She was not quite 2 years old, but already you could see she had my long, fine fingers and large feet as well as my rounded face as opposed to Jamie's much more angular, viking bone structure. She had his cat shaped Fraser eyes and they were the same beautiful blue as Jamie's. Some children's eyes change color before they reach three but I had a feeling Faiths were going to stay that beautiful blue like the sea – her fathers eyes; I could stare into them for hours. Her mouth is all Beauchamp with small full lips. She has a pair of dimples; I have not a clue where they came from. If my luck holds out she will not have the Fraser thick headed stubbornness either. I would not wake her now, I will let her sleep awhile longer; she would be up soon enough, my little bundle of energy. I whisper, "Thank you Master Raymond. I owe you." I stood up, smooth my bodice and skirts to leave. I still had to move Jamie.

I walked back to Fergus and told him to go back to sleep, that it was still early and I would see them at breakfast. I told him after breakfast, I would take them to see their father. He smiled as only Fergus can, using his whole face not just his mouth, warming your heart with it's gentleness. I helped him settle back down, drew the cover up over him and tucked him in. My hand cupped his cheek and he closed his eyes. I slipped out the door, down a flight of stairs and into the guest's room. Jamie had signed a writ of seisin for Lallybroch over to his nephew, little Jamie, Jenny and Ian's oldest to save the families heritage. He had sent Fergus to carry it along with Faith to Lallybroch and to safety when we realized everything was lost at Culloden. The writ of seisin prevents the British from taking the land from the boy because he was not old enough to have fought in the war and therefor not a traitor to the crown. Lallybroch would remain Fraser-Murray land. Jamie would not sleep in the Laird's room again because I knew he felt he was not entitled to; Lallybroch was no longer his. And my husband could be a stubborn man when his mind was made up.

Jenny is amazing. The room was spotless and there was even hot water in the washing urn. Where had she found the time? I rolled up my sleeves and did a poor job at pining up my hair to give myself a quick wash. I picked up the new bar of soap left next to the towel and, even though I already knew, I gave it a whiff. Yes. Jenny had left a bar of family soap for me. I smiled. Not one of the fancy perfumed french soap bars she always leaves for me to wash with; the french soap has always been a dig to remind me she does not approve of my marriage to her brother Jamie. Finally, proof that Jenny had accepted me as family. This was a long, hard fought battle between us. I could not wait to tell Jamie. The fact the the two most important women in his life were not close, has always upset him, though he has never really spoken about it. He has wished for us to be friends for so very long. When Jamie had first brought me to Lallybroch three years ago, she had called me an English Whore and had declared I was out to steal her brother from her. When we came back from France, we developed a respect for each other but no more that that. We were not friends, not by a long shot, but the family bar of soap was a giant step in the right direction. I would take whatever Jenny would give me for the sake of my husband, whom I adore.

After quickly washing my face and arms and then chewing a birch stick to clean my teeth, I feel rejuvenated. I don't even try to make sense of my hair. I tried to pick some of the larger pieces of straw out of it and end up with a couple of pieces of twigs and leaves as well. I try and wipe the front of my dress down with the towel I dried my face off with throw my hands up in frustration. I give up and return back downstairs and into the kitchen. Mrs. Crook is already up stoking the fire. We exchanged greeting and I walk to Jamie and helped him to sit up. Murtagh is already on what turns out to be his 2nd bowl of porridge. He looks up, smiles at me and says "I ken what your going to ask. I'm fine. Sore, tired and hungry but I am working on filling my belly now, thanks to Mrs. Crook," and shoots her a nod of appreciation. "I saw Fergus last night before he went up to bed but not the lass. Is she well?" he inquired as he tipped his head toward Jamie and added, "I was worried."

"Yes," I started to say, "I just came down from seeing them. Fergus is awake but Fay is still sleeping. Fergus said he had no trouble at all..." and I stopped as Jenny entered the kitchen with Ian. Jamie looked me in the eye to let me know he was relieved to hear the children were both alright. I smiled, pointed at him then my eye and then mouthed the word 'later' and pointed upstairs. Hand signing had come in handy as a way for us to communicate without others knowing or understanding. We had been using it infrequently for years.

I turned and greeted Ian and Jenny with a "Good Morning" and received a cordial nod of acknowledgment from Jenny and a smile from Ian. "We need to be moving ya from the kitchen table then, brother. First thing. Today is bread day. We are happy to have you three back safe and sound but we have a schedule to keep, aye? I ken Jamie and Murtagh still need to recover but they need to do that upstairs, in bed, and Claire, I ken you want to nurse them and visit with Fergus and Faith, but I need you to spend some time in the house garden. It is fairly run over with weeds, and I have'na had a chance to get to that. I think there is still time to plant some more herbs, garlic and onions as well. Fergus is expected to help Rabbie MacNab in the barn. He kens. Everyone pitches in, aye? Is everyone agreed then?"

No one said a word. No one was going to argue with Jenny in her head of household role, barking orders like a well trained colonel. Jenny tapped the kitchen window and waved her hand. The next thing we know, the back door to the kitchen opened and two field hands come in. "Take my brother upstairs. Ian will show you which room to place him in, then come back down for a fresh bannock before ya begin your day, aye?" Jenny orders rather than asks. The two strapping young men, maybe 14 or 15 came over and each took an arm over their shoulder, and with Jamie struggling to help by hopping on one leg, they left the kitchen. It took almost half an hour of teamwork and several brief rests to get Jamie up the stairs and and on to the bed. I went downstairs with the lads and brought up more hot water in the urn and a couple of hot bannocks for Jamie and Murtagh to share, and proceeded to give Jamie a sponge bath. I must have emptied the dirty water out the window a dozen times. The man was filthy, covered in mud and blood. I did not ask whose blood, hoping that some of it at least belonged to Black Jack Randall; there would be time to ask later. The kilt and shirt were ruined and I piled them in a corner to see how Jenny thought it best to dispose of them. We had to be careful and not leave signs for the British to find that Jamie and Murtagh, know traitors, were here at Lallybroch. I had Jamie lean over the table with the bowl and washed his hair, pulling leaves, twigs and straw out of it. I almost thought it would have been easier just to cut his hair but could not bring myself to remove his beautiful locks. Finally, I had removed all of the mud that covered the beautiful red hair and I stopped scrubbing Jamie's scalp raw as Jamie swore I was doing. I sat him back down on the bed and while I toweled dry his hair Jamie placed his hand on my belly and spoke to our next family member. I knew it would be another daughter but Jamie insisted the child was going to be a boy and I did not want to take that away from him. I knew it would not matter to my husband the minute the child was placed in his arms, just as it had been with Faith. When I was pregnant with our first child Jamie would lay beside me in bed and talk to 'his son' telling him all sorts of stories while rubbing, tapping and kissing my belly. He would get so excited when our yet to be born Faith would kick his hand, and laugh with such a happy, carefree sound I had almost wished I could stay pregnant forever just to keep Jamie that happy. How different life would have been without Master Raymond. I clicked my tongue against my teeth to stop the thought.

I put a clean night shirt on Jamie and helped him into bed, covering his feet with the clean sheets and quilts. I had left the window half open to allow for some fresh air in the room and did not want Jamie to develop a chill. I rolled his shirt up and exposed the wound on his thigh. I rubbed my hands together and like a spark created a blue glow around them. My hands heated up. I looked up at Jamie and said "Ready?" Jamie nodded and I lowered my hands so they hovered over the wound and Jamie placed his hand over mine. We slowly worked our way down the wound, while I mentally pictured the muscles, healing, strengthen, and red oxygenated blood flowing through the tissue. I did not see much infection, and with Jamie's heat we made quick work of the evil germs. I examined the leg after we'd finished and the area around the stitches looked less red and inflamed. I gently poked the wound with my finger and Jamie did not wince nearly as much. I checked his fingers and the sword wound in his arm and I did not see any sign of infection though the arm wound was clean through the muscle so I did add a little blue glow to encourage things along in the healing department. I would keep my fingers crossed.

I leaned forward and gave him a kiss and looked deep into his eyes. "Never, ever try to send me away again. Do I make myself clear?" I said. "This would not have ended well if the bloody stones had taken me. They pulled me in and spit me right back out, Jamie. Like they knew I was not suppose to leave you. Master Raymond said I was Your Healer. Made for You. You need to promise me, you will not EVER ask me to go near those horrible stones again. Please Jamie." and I looked sternly into his eyes. I knew he saw I was serious.

He nodded. "Never again Sassenach. I do'na think my heart could take the missing of ya again. I only wanted to die when I rode away from Craigh na Dun knowing ya were gone from me forever. For what it is worth, you are stuck with me," and he kissed me back.

"I will hold you to your word, my extremely stubborn husband," and I poked him in the chest with my finger and smiled. "I will make you regret it if you ever ask me to again."

Jamie just raised his eyebrows at that.

"Now, Murtagh, lets see what we can do for Faith's favorite 'Unkkie', shall we? I said as I straightened up and walked toward him. He was sitting in a chair by the fire. He looked up when I said his name. "I want to look at the wound on the back of your leg first, while Jamie is sitting up and can help me. I helped him walk over to the bed and gave him the back of a chair to lean against. He put the leg up on Jamie's lap and together we leaned over and looked at it while Murtagh grumbled. I did not like the way it looked. I put a hand on his forehead and it was quite hot. "Murtagh, why did you not tell me you were not felling well? You were eating breakfast so I just assumed you were feeling fine. This wound is infected, germs are waging war in there," I scolded. "You are going to straight to bed when I am done with you. You need to stay off this leg, do you hear me?" and I walked around to the front of the chair and wagged my finger at him. He looked into my face sheepishly and said "aye, Claire." A Murtagh version of 'yes ma'am'. Score one for the healer. Old dogs can be taught new tricks. With Jamie's help, Murtagh got a fair share of 'healing' from me on his leg, side and especially the gun shot wound. I had managed to remove the bullet but the wound was weeping puss so I cleaned it again, placed a fresh poultice and re-bandaged it. Murtagh refused to go back to bed but said he would sit in the chair by the fire in the room with Jamie and allow me to check on him when I checked on Jamie throughout the day.

I had just finished washing my hands and was tucking the quilt in around Jamie when the door flew open and in rushed Fergus, Wee Jamie and Little Maggie with Faith tagging along behind them running as fast as her little legs would carry her. Fergus immediately climbed up on the bed beside Jamie, resting his head on his father's shoulder. When Faith caught up and saw me she screamed MAMA, ran up and hugged my legs. She then lifted her arms to be picked up, which I did. She gave me a kiss on the lips, grabbed me around the neck and hugged me until I thought my neck might break. Then she spied her father and screamed DADA, DADA right in my ear, let go of my neck and kicked to be let down. Instead I turned and before I set her down on the bed I told her she had to gentle and quiet because Daddy had owwies and I set her down by her father's feet. Faith, very carefully, crawled on hands and knees until she was right up next to her father and tried to wedge herself between Fergus and Jamie. She knelt next to him and placed her small hands on each cheek and asked, "Where owwies DADA? Fay kiss and make better and she smiled at him and kissed him on the lips. We are so blessed I thought as I ran my fingers through my husbands wet hair, while he held our daughter in a bear hug smothering her with kisses. I placed my hand on my belly in a feeble attempt to include our newest and yet unborn family member and a tear rolled down my cheek. So blessed. If Fergus and Faith were up on the bed then Wee Jamie and Maggie wanted up as well. Wee Jamie was demanding a story from 'Unkkie Jamie' and Jamie was thrilled to tell them the tale of the 'the fairy in the tree'. A story his mother and then Jenny had repeated to him when he was young. I took a minute to go down to the kitchen and brew some tea for both the men. I would slip a little something into it to help them sleep. Rest was one thing they were in desperate need of in order to help them heal. I also would bring some porridge for Jamie as I could not remember the last time he ate anything substantial. I kissed the top of my husband's head and left for the kitchen. Day one of post Colluden life for us was well under way.