Chapter Text
December 23rd
The sound of gleeful laughter welcomed Claire home as she closed the door behind her, leaving the December chill outside. She had experienced the Scottish winter the year before, when a rash decision to book an airbnb to escape Frank’s cheating had led her to Lallybroch and, rather unexpectedly, to Jamie and his family. Gosh that feels like a lifetime ago.
And here she was, a year later, coming back from the hospital in Edinburgh after a twelve hour shift. Adjusting to a different environment had been challenging at first, but now she liked to think she’d gotten the hang of things. She’d also made a friend, Joe, her colleague who worked in the cardiac unit. He called her “Lady Jane” on her first day, claiming she was “as British as one can be,” and she responded by pointing out that he was, in fact, as much of an Outlander as she was, being from the States. They’d been friends ever since.
That reminds me, I need to check with Jamie and the girls when we’re all free for dinner with the Abernathys.
Once her coat and hat were on the hanger and her shoes by the door, she left her briefcase on the table in the hall and followed Brianna, Faith and Jamie’s voices to the living room. There, she was greeted by a sight that had her heart melting as she chuckled.
Sitting cross legged on the carpeted floor was Jamie, wearing a princess tiara, his eyelids closed while Brianna applied bright blue eyeshadow on them. On his other side was Faith, occupied with applying glitter to his cheeks and a layer of gloss to his lips. Both girls were giggling endlessly, and Claire couldn’t help but do the same.
“I see I’ve come home to three pretty princesses!” she joked, pitching her voice in surprise.
More giggles erupted from both Faith and Brianna and this time, Jamie too. Soon she was crouching down on the floor, wrapping an arm around each of the girls as they greeted her, kissing each of their heads before releasing them so that they could get back to the task at hand.
“I put blue eyeshadow on Da’ because it matches his eyes!” Brianna stated, taking her hand to move closer to where Jamie was still sitting, his eyes now open with a playful glint in them and his mouth curved up in an amused smile.
“That it does,” she agreed, failing to keep her laughter at bay at the sight of Jamie all glammed up.
“And I added the glitter and lipgloss—a princess has tae shine” Faith pointed out, giggling at the last part, which caused everyone to do the same.
“I certainly can’t find any fault with that logic—you look amazing, love,” she teased, crawling closer to Jamie, assessing his appearance once more in mock seriousness.
“Aye well— I cannae deny the bairns their fun, can I?” he quipped back, voice tinted with humour. “Now—does this princess get a kiss too?” he added, his lips now just inches from hers, puckered in anticipation.
“I suppose I can’t deny a princess her wish,” she murmured, pecking his lips lightly, as the girls were there, still shaking with laughter behind them.
Later Fraser, she told him with her eyes, before he offered her a hand so that they could both get up from the floor.
“Ye can clearly see how our day went—but how was yers, Sassenach?” he asked her, both of them settling on the sofa, Faith nestling closer to Jamie and Brianna to Claire, his free arm around her shoulders.
“Long—you know how the ER gets during Christmas, people getting hernias from stringing lights up or carrying trees, plus other types of holiday clumsiness,” she replied, sighing as she lay her head on the back of the sofa, keeping an arm around Brianna and closing her eyes for a moment.
“Ye need a princess beauty sleep, Ma’ Claire” Brianna told her, and Faith nodded her head in agreement.
Ma’. Hearing Jamie’s daughters call her that never got old. Neither she or Jamie had ever mentioned anything about the girls calling her that, it had just come naturally once she’d moved to Scotland to stay.
“We ken we have a Ma’ in heaven, but can we call ye Ma’ too?” She remembered looking over to Jamie when they asked, seeking permission from him before saying something, and seeing tears pooling in his eyes. Holding back her own tears, she’d nodded and hugged them tight, honored that they loved and trusted her enough to call her that. “Our other Ma’ wont’ mind, right?” they’d asked Jamie, and he’d let out a sound between a sob and a laugh, wiping at the corners of his eyes before saying that no, their other Ma’ was happy for all of them and looking over them smiling.
She let out a small laugh, looking down at the little girl by her side to press a kiss to her curls “It’s late—I think we should all get our beauty rest,” she said, locking eyes with Jamie, the two of them silently making an agreement to get Faith and Brianna ready for bed.
“Aye—yer Ma’s right,” he told the girls, getting up from the couch, picking up Faith when she asked, Claire doing the same with Brianna. They were both getting big for that, but she and Jamie couldn’t find it in their hearts to deny them when they knew there would come a time when they’d stop seeking affection from them.
Once both girls were in bed, having changed into their pajamas and brushed their teeth, Claire and Jamie alternated in reading them their bedtime story (they wanted Claire to read as the narrator and Jamie to do the characters’ voices), and closed the door gently behind them after hugging and kissing them goodnight.
“Now—as much as I like your new look, why don’t you go and clean up so that I don’t get glitter all over my face while I kiss you?” Claire whispered in Jamie’s ear, her tone low and flirtatious.
“How about ye do it fer me, Sassenach?’” he replied, his lips practically touching her ear as he said the words, sending goosebumps all over her body.
Getting on her tippy toes, she grabbed his face, kissing away the lipgloss that was still on his lips.
“Now that’s done—let’s get the rest off of you,” she murmured, pecking his lips once more before stepping into their ensuite, Jamie following her closely.
She felt his arms wrap around her waist as she reached for the cabinet where she kept her makeup remover and cotton pads, his lips on the nape of her neck. Dropping her current task, she turned around to pull his lips down to hers instead, wrapping her arms around his neck as he lifted her onto the bathroom counter.
“You…are…distracting…me,” she managed to get out, in between heated kisses, as Jamie’s hands roamed all over her body, her legs secured around his waist so she wouldn’t fall off.
“I would apologize—but we both ken I’m no’ sorry,” he told her, his desire for her colouring each of his words as he got down on his knees, her legs now on either side of his shoulders as she gripped the edge of the counter, steadying herself, obliging him as he whispered “Let me take of ye, mo’ graidh.”
Glitter all over my face would have been preferable, she thought, cursing under her breath some time later.
She also finally managed to get the rest of Jamie’s makeup off, urging him to “keep still and stop complaining,” while hiding a smile.
He should have to suffer at least as much as me.