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[ Bree shifts to the very edge of the bed; she'll be curled, she'll be held. She isn't afraid of falling.

Maybe she's too old for this, but all she wants is to feel safe and loved. For the people she was trying to save to be right there with her. ]

[ Jamie gives his wife a meaningful look before managing to get himself onto the bed after removing his boots. He isn't sure how much of a touch Bree wants from him, but he does reach out for a moment to rest a hand on her shoulder, speaking quietly. ]

You're safe wi' me, Bree. But if ye need me to leave, only say so.

He does snore.

[Claire jokes (but it's true), throwing another blanket onto the bed before crouching in front of Bree's face.]

Do you want to be in the middle, or the edge?

[She never got to squeeze into a bed between her and Frank, seeing as they didn't share a bed. This is new.]

I want to be held. By both of you.

[ So, it's decided, and Bree scoots back into Jamie's arms. ]

[ Jamie's honestly stunned, but his arms open immediately and when she's comfortable, his arm goes around her protectively, kissing the back of her head. He whispers, a soft Gaelic prayer, right into her hair.

Then, he looks at Claire, tears making his eyes shine. ]

[The surprises don't seem to stop. Claire slips into the bed--a tight squeeze, and half her arse is hanging off, but it's fine--and wraps her arms around Bree, tucking her face into her neck.]

Oh, my baby.

I'm sorry.

[ Bree whispers it, even though she's not supposed to, but it's not for the same thing. ]

I didn't...try to fight him. I didn't fight him...hard enough.

[ One last round of tears then, cried into her mother's neck. ]

[ Jamie never knew a heart could break in quite the way his is but it feels shattered to his very soul as he listens to his daughter cry and feels the way her body shakes with it.

He lets tears fall freely into her hair, rubbing her back with slow, steady motions, trying to soothe. ]

Ye're braver than any lass, Brianna. Strong. Ye shouldn't have had to fight. Dinnae ever think ye did anything other than survive a terrible thing.

It's not your fault. Oh, Bree. There's nothing to be sorry for.

[Her arms are tight around Bree, and the one over her grasps at Jamie's arm. Oh, god. Her family. She never wanted this for them.]

[ This round of crying and soothing is what makes Bree finally give into the pull of sleep. The sound of her tears slows, and then her body relaxes back into Jamie's, breathing deepening, evening out.

She's asleep, finally, and thanks to her mother, with no bruises making it difficult to do so. ]

[ When he knows she's asleep, Jamie moves his arm so that his hand can now grasp Claire's arm. He knows what this trauma is. He knows what nightmares it brings. He knows, and now his daughter knows, and he feels shattered. Scattered into pieces. ]

How do we fix her, Claire? I cannae...I cannae make this right or better. Our bairn, Claire.

We don't.

[There's no fixing it. She can set broken hands and heal away bruises, but she's never felt she fixed Jamie. Only time helped, and perhaps it's the same with Bree. Theon keeps reminding her she can't fix him--but that's never been her goal. To make life better, easier. Less terrible. But fixing people beyond a medical sense is not something she's ever claimed to be capable of.]

We just have to be here for her. She needs us.

[Now, more than ever. With Bree asleep, the tears fall from her eyes, catching in her red hair.]

[ Jamie feels helpless. Completely at a disadvantage because he can't do anything. His wife is weeping, and his hand moves to Claire's cheek, wiping away her tears. ]

She has us, Claire. Both of us.

[ There isn't anything else he can say, truly. And he just holds them both, praying as he hasn't since Paris, only knowing of his wife's distress but not truly knowing what was happening to her. ]

This can't keep happening. We can't let this happen anymore. To our children, to the ones we take in... we have to keep them safe.

[Not that anything that's happened to their loved ones, Jamie himself included, could be prevented.]

[ Jamie looks at Claire the best he can, his voice lower. ]

Claire. I vow to ye here and now that I willna let anything else harm Brianna, Fergus, or you to the best of my ability. The vow I swore to ye extends to our children as well. To any you've come to care for.

[ The problem is, he's never there to actually help. To stop those things. He only sees the terrible aftermath, when he can do nothing. ]

[She tries to find her hand, needing to hold it, to give her strength.]

Thank you.

Do not thank me for a vow I've never been able to keep.

[ He says it, even as he holds onto her tightly. ]

Don't. If not for you, Bree and I could be long dead. She might not have had the chance to be born.

[He saved them from the aftermath of Culloden. And even before that, he saved her life more than once.]

[ Jamie knows better than to insist or pursue this. Especially with Brianna between them. When he feels Bree jerk in her sleep, he whispers to her softly. ]

M'eudail. Dinnae cry. We're here. Both of us. Dinnae fash.

[ He soothes her, stroking her hair again until he feels her slowly relax. ]

He had nightmares, too.

[He being Fergus. Jamie wasn't there, locked away in the Bastille, and so it was Claire that comforted him when she heard him cry out in the night. When they were especially bad, she let him sleep in the bed, his tiny form occupying the space Jamie's once took.]

What helped you?

[Asked as her fingers stroke the hair at Bree's temple.]

You.

[ It's the truth of it, and he doesn't hesitate in his answer. ]

You, Sassenach. Even if ye dinnae think it.

[His reply has her falling quiet for a moment. The tears still fall, because if she doesn't cry now, she won't get a chance to again. She has to be strong for Bree.]

Then she's better off. She has the both of us.

[She might not have a moment of privacy with Jamie again for some time, she realizes.]

I need to tell you why she came through the stones.

[ Jamie's forehead creases. Christ, the fact that she went through the stones at all has been the last thing on his mind. ]

What was it, then?

It was to save us. She found out that we died in a fire.

[Somehow, sometime. Claire holds Bree tighter.]

Not that it matters much here. With all the worlds gone. But... that's why she went through the stones. It was for you and me.

[ Jamie's eyes close, and he drops his nose into Bree's hair before speaking quietly. ]

A 'nighean mar a mathair. Our daughter with heart so much like yours, Claire.

[ Selfless. Brave. Strong and able to endure. ]

It's how I ken she'll make it through.

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