A/N: I was so happy to see all the comments, thank you! Hope you enjoy this chapter. :-)

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They watched as Elliana ran through the tall grass with Rollo chasing after her and playfully jumping up on her. Her giggles could be heard in the distance. "The lass seems happy," Ian commented. Jamie nodded in agreement. He was happy to see her behaving like a child should. "Uncle, I must tell you, I recognize the lass," Ian mentioned. Jamie quickly focused his attention on Ian. "I saw her on the steps at the brothel in Wilmington. I made eye contact with the lass, and I'll never forget her face. She looked so sad and scared."

"Why would the lass be at a brothel?" Jamie questioned with concern. He knew it wasn't out of the ordinary for a brothel to have young women, but Ellie was obviously a child and too young to be entertaining men. It sickened him to think of her being at a place like that.

"I dinnae ken Uncle," Ian replied with a shrug of his shoulders. Ellie and Rollo came running toward them. "He likes you," Ian commented to Ellie as he pat his dog.

"I like him too," Ellie replied with a smile as she pat Rollo's head.

"Ellie, ye're gown is ready!" Lizzie called from the porch of the house.

Ellie pretended to not hear Lizzie. "Come on Rollo!" she called as she ran off through the tall grass with the wolf dog chasing behind her.

"Uh, that child!" Lizzie protested from the porch while Jamie and Ian exchanged a chuckle. "Mr. Fraser, ye have ye're hands full with that one!" She flung her hands up in the air with defeat.

"I ken," Jamie sighed. He didn't regret bringing Elliana into their home, but he could see there would be some challenges ahead. The child wasn't like any of the children he knew. There was something very different about her, but he couldn't put his finger on it yet. Jamie allowed the child to run about until she was tired out and then she headed back toward the house.

"I'm thirsty," Ellie gasped.

"Aye let's get ye some water," Jamie replied as he pat her on the head.

"Uncle, I'll see ye for dinner," Ian mentioned as he headed off toward the barn with Rollo. After showing Ellie how to drink from the well, they headed into the house to find that Claire had just finished her appointment.

"There ye are," Lizzie stated as soon as she saw Ellie. "Come along, I want to make sure ye're gown fits ye before dinner." Lizzie sighed and looked up at Jamie. He gave her a firm look and motioned for her to go.

"Fine…..uhhhh…..dresses make me wanna puke," Ellie groaned. She headed off with Lizzie while Jamie went to tell Claire what Ian had shared with him.

"Oh Jamie," Claire gasped after hearing the news. "You don't think Ellie was…..," she began saying with disgust when Jamie interrupted.

"Ah dinnae ken," he sighed. "I pray not."

"Mr. and Mrs. Fraser," Lizzie's voice interrupted from behind. They turned to find Ellie in a perfectly sized blue dress. The child even had a slight smile on her face.

"You look very pretty Ellie," Claire commented.

"Aye," Jamie agreed. "Ye clean up well. Do ye like ye're new gown?" he questioned knowing full well her response would be negative one.

"I'd rather wear my pants," she huffed as she tugged at the waist of the dress, "It's not comfortable at all and I look too proper. I'm just a kid, ya know." Jamie laughed lightly.

"Thank you, Lizzie," Claire stated. Lizzie smiled graciously and headed off to start dinner preparations. "Ellie, Jamie and I would like to speak with you," Claire said gently as she looked toward the child. Ellie eyed them suspiciously. Anytime someone wanted to "talk", it wasn't something she wanted to talk about. "We'll go into Jamie's office." Claire motioned for Ellie to follow. Once inside, Jamie took a seat behind his desk while Claire sat across from him. Ellie found a spot on a small chair by the window.

"Did I do something wrong?" Ellie asked.

"No lass," Jamie replied, "But I had an interesting conversation with Ian." Ellie looked at him with confusion.

"Ellie, Ian recognizes you," Claire stated gently. "He said he saw you in Wilmington." Ellie felt a lump form in her throat. "Were you in Wilmington?" Ellie looked from Claire to Jamie and contemplated lying. She was ashamed of some of the events from her past and didn't want them to think badly of her.

"Ummmmm…well…my sister worked for Mr. Fleming," she replied worriedly, "He gave us a room in exchange." Both Jamie and Claire recognized the name well and not for positive reasons.

"Your sister worked at the brothel?" Claire questioned. Ashamed, Ellie nodded her head.

"Where's ye're sister now?" Jamie questioned. Ellie shrugged her shoulders.

"Ellie, please, tell us what happened, you have nothing to be ashamed of," Claire urged gently. Tears filled the child's eyes.

"We had nowhere to go, and we were cold and hungry, so she took the job," Ellie replied. "I told her not to, but she said we needed the money. Megan changed as the weeks went by. She became distant and really mean and one day she just disappeared without a word. Mr. Fleming was really mad and told me that I had to work for him because my sister's debt wasn't repaid." Ellie wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I….I….just couldn't work for him, so I ran away. Do you think he's looking for me? I just can't go back there." There was panic to her voice. "Please don't bring me back to him!"

"Ye will never have to go back there, that I can promise," Jamie stated. "Ye're safe here." Claire got up from her chair and approached the child. Once in front of her, she extended her hands toward Ellie. The child accepted and Claire pulled her to her feet and embraced her in a hug.

"Ellie, Mr. Fleming is a bad man. He took advantage of you and your sister," Claire said gently. "Jamie and I won't let anything bad happen to you. I promise." Ellie held onto her tightly for a few moments.

"I think something bad happened to Megan," Ellie said as she released her hold on Claire. "I don't think she would've left without me…even though she said she hated me and that I was a nuisance to her."

"Aye, I have business in Wilmington tomorrow. I will ask some questions," Jamie replied with a serious tone to his voice.

"There's more," Ellie said quietly. She was going to leave this part of the story out, but decided she'd better come clean about everything before Jamie went around asking questions and he found out from Mr. Fleming. "Before I left, I stole from him. I, uh, I took money from the bar and the blanket that was in our room…..and maybe some jewelry." Ellie paused and took a breath. "He's a rich man. He probably didn't even notice," she said in an attempt to justify her actions. "I know it was wrong, but I had nothing."

"Aye, I understand, but I'm sure Mr. Fleming doesn't feel the same way," Jamie replied as his eyes met Claire's. "Do ye still have the money and the jewelry?" Ellie flopped back down in her chair.

"No," she sighed. "Someone stole everything from me while I was sleeping one night." Jamie and Claire were both quiet for a moment. A small knock on the office door interrupted them and Lizzie poked her head inside.

"Mr. and Mrs. Fraser, dinner is ready, and your family has arrived," she announced.

"Thank you, Lizzie, we'll be right out," Claire replied. Both Jamie and Claire went to stand up from their chairs.

"Wait," Ellie sighed. "There's more," her little voice squeaked. They both focused their attention to her. Ellie hesitated for a moment as she looked from Claire to Jamie.

"What is it lass?" Jamie questioned.

"Mr. Fleming's son tried to stop me…..he's my age…and…..and…," she stammered as tears fell from her eyes.

"Ellie?" Claire questioned, "What happened?"

"I….I….hit him on the head with a vase and he fell…there was blood….and I ran…and I don't know if he's ok," she sobbed as she covered her face with her hands. "I didn't want to hurt him," she mumbled into her hands. She felt two large hands on each of her shoulders, she moved her hands and looked up to find Jamie peering down at her. "I'm sorry Mr. Jamie," she hiccupped through her tears. "I can leave if you want me to….when you said I could stay, you didn't know I was a murderer."

"Ye we're scared and ye're not a murderer," Jamie replied gently. "Ye did what ye thought ye had to….to survive." He took her hands and pulled her to her feet, and then pulled her into a hug. Ellie rested her head against his stomach and sobbed quietly. They were the first people she had told about any of this and she was relieved to finally get it out.

Dinner with the family was uneventful and Ellie was quiet for the majority of it. The idea of being surrounded by "family" was new to her and made her realize how much she had missed and how much she wanted a family. After dinner, they gathered on the porch for conversation. Bree requested to talk to her Mom in private and they headed into her clinic.

"There's something I need to tell you about Ellie," Bree said to Claire after the door was securely closed behind them.

"She seems to have a lot to her past," Claire commented. Bree looked at her with confusion. "I'll fill you in. What is it?"

"Well…..I know this is going to sound strange, but I think she might be from the future." Claire's eye widened with surprise and curiosity, but strangely it made sense to her. "When she was playing with Jeremiah and his toy wagon, she said 'vroom, vroom'," Bree explained. "And the look she gave us when he questioned her about it…it just seemed like she was hiding something. Maybe I'm wrong, but I really don't think I am." Bree sighed.

"I think you may be right," Claire commented. "Nothing is adding up with her." Claire went on to tell Bree about the conversation she had with Ellie before dinner.

"The poor child," Bree sighed. "What are you and Jamie going to do?"

"Jamie has to go into Wilmington for a few days for business…..he's going to see if he can find anymore information," Claire replied. Giggling came from the front porch. Claire pulled back the curtain to find Jamie chasing after both Ellie and Jeremiah pretending to be the tickle monster. She smiled with contentment and her heart felt full at the moment. Jamie loved children and she felt bad that he never had the opportunity to raise his own child.

"Looks like Ellie's settling in well," Bree mentioned as she put her hand on her mother's back. "I'm happy she found you and Jamie." Everyone left about an hour later and the Fraser home was quiet again.

"There's a clean shift on the bed for you," Claire mentioned as she showed Ellie to their spare room upstairs.

"What's a shift?" Ellie questioned.

"Ohhh…well it's like a slip or a nightgown," Claire replied. "You've never heard of it?" Claire knew then that Bree's theory was correct.

"I just forgot," Ellie replied quickly. Claire wanted to ask Ellie about where she had come from, but she hadn't had a chance to discuss it with Jamie yet, so she decided to wait. "Do you think I could go with Mr. Jamie tomorrow?" Ellie asked as she plopped herself onto the bed.

"I don't think that would be a good idea Ellie," Claire replied. "May I ask…why would you want to go back there?"

"I just want to make sure Harry is ok," she replied disappointedly. "He's the boy I hit with the vase."

"Oh I see…..well I'm sure Jamie will check on Harry's condition and report back to you," Claire replied.

"If he's ok, I want to tell him I'm sorry…we were friends," Ellie commented. "I need to go."

"Ellie, it's not a good idea, Jamie would never allow it," Claire replied firmly.

"No fair," Ellie huffed as she crossed her arms against her chest.

"What's not fair?" Jamie's voice questioned from the doorway.

"Ms. Claire said I can't go with you tomorrow," Ellie whined, "I just want to see Harry and tell him I'm sorry."

"Sorry lass, ye're not coming," Jamie replied firmly and abruptly. He knew from experience that it didn't do any good to beat around the bush with children.

"Please," Ellie whined.

"No," Jamie replied firmly, "Now get yereself ready for bed." Ellie sure didn't like his definitive answer and that he wasn't up for any negotiation on the matter.

"No," Ellie huffed, "Not until you allow me to go with you." Jamie felt his patience wearing thin. He had never seen a child question authority like her. In some ways, she reminded him a lot of Claire when he had first met her.

He took a few steps closer to Ellie. "This is the last time I am going to say this….NO…..and if you dinnae want a sore arse, I suggest ye do what ye're told and get yereself ready for bed." Ellie immediately pulled herself into a sitting position and straightened herself on the bed. She knew Jamie's threat was a serious one and weighed her options.

"Jamie," Claire interrupted.

"Claire, I willna have the lass disrespecting us," Jamie replied. He stepped out of the room and closed the door to give her privacy and hoped she would do the right thing. Claire emerged a few minutes later.

"She's ready for bed," Claire mentioned with a slight smile. Jamie knew that he and Claire didn't see eye to eye on his old-fashioned ways of dealing with behavior.

"The lass needs to have respect for us," he stated.

"I know," Claire replied as she kissed him gently on the lips. "I trust you Jamie." Meanwhile, Ellie was still frustrated with Jamie's response and was devising her own plan.