#brownhairedlass

Faith sniffled and rubbed her puffy eyes. The beastie had looked so cute, but it hadn’t been too happy with Faith’s attempt to pet it.   

She nodded hesitantly. Mama could make most things feel better, but sometimes she made them hurt worse first. 

Yet Faith still giggled when Mama kissed beside the scratch, a laugh that developed into a full shriek of joy as she blew a raspberry into Faith’s belly. 

Well the number generator agrees with you because I got 18 - “Would you rather kill me or kill yourself?” 

The answer being obviously that I would kill myself. No way in hell would I be able to kill my mam.

ELOISE WHY?!

Situation meme || Accepting

“Mama! Mama! I finds them!”

Faith almost tripped over her feet in her excitement. 

“What have you found, darling?” Claire asked, turning to scoop up her excitable daughter. 

“The tormilil!” Faith announced, brandishing the yellow flowers, pulled up by the roots - in her mother’s face.

“Ah the tormentil! Well done!” She placed a loud kiss on her daughter’s brow, causing Faith to laugh and redden in delight. 

A groan came from the ground nearby, and Faith immediately schooled her face. “We must tend to the patience.”

Claire grinned. “Our patient certainly does need some aid. Do you remember what ails him?”

“The sun hurted him.” Faith explained, dropping down and toddling over to peel open her da’s eyes. “Patience. We fix you now.” Faith began whacking at her father with the flowers as her mother laughed and Da groaned again.

A startled Faith was rather abruptly lifted onto her mother’s lap. “Mrs. Crook needs to bring the boiling water to make the lotion, little lamb. The flowers can’t help Da if they aren’t boiled first.”

Faith pouted, upset that her healing had been thwarted. “But I was making Da better.”

 “Well how about you apply the lotion to Da’s burn, alright?” Faith’s ears brightened once more as Mama kissed behind each one.

“I can help Da, like you?”

 “Be careful now,” Claire commented in vain to Brianna as she tried her best to paste the icing around the little sponge cake she had prepared. All in all, the three year old was making a rather messy job of things and the cake had more chunks taken out of it than anything else, with blotches of pink everywhere, including Bree’s hair, face and hands and she’d even managed to get some on her infant sister Faith who sat on the table watching with interest as Claire made sure to keep her steady.

“There!” Bree shouted with delight, slapping the top of the cake with the wooden spoon in an act to declare she was finished, but not before she stuck it in her mouth to lick the remainder of the icing off. “No-” Claire hissed quickly, to try to stop her rubbing the slobber infested spoon over the cake again, but it was too late. “Oh nevermind.” She sighed, making a rather grim face, Jamie didn’t need to know.

“All right, are you sure you’re finished?” Claire inquired a little sarcastically to the icing covered Brianna, smiling fondly at her all the same. Bree nodded attentively with the spoon in her mouth again. “Shall we put the candles on then?” Claire asked with a smile before she lifted the two small wax candles from the table and handed one to Bree and the other to Faith. Faith grabbed the candle in her little fist and shook it before trying to gnaw on it. Claire laughed and tried her best to refrain her from chewing it.

Brianna wasted little time in jabbing her candle in with great force, making the jam ooze out from the second layer. Afterwards she made a face at her little sister, before she made to try and grab the candle from her tiny fist. “You’re not supposed to eat it!” She cried with surety. Faith cooed in response, before waving her hands around again, uncaring to her sister’s plight.

“No, no…” Claire insisted to her eldest daughter, trying to stop her grabbing the candle from her sister. “Let’s let her do it herself.” She explained gently, before she held Faith’s little hand with the candle and pushed it into the cake. Faith let go of it and laughed, but Bree merely sighed with frustration, already showing signs of inheriting her father’s stubbornness and a little of her mother’s bossiness, though Claire was reluctant to admit that part.

“Do you think he’ll like it, Mama?” Brianna was around at the other side of the table by this time and climbing onto a chair to get a better look at her masterpiece. Claire moved to lift the crawling Faith into her arms top stop her grabbing something to chew, but her infant daughter merely clutched onto a strand of her hair instead and stuck it in her mouth, coating her mother in a layer of slobbers. “I think he’ll love it.” Claire laughed a little, looking at the little sponge that was lopsided, half the top layer bashed in and icing blotched everywhere. It didn’t even look edible, but Brianna could not be more proud of it. “But I think he’ll especially love the pink icing.” Claire pointed out with a smile, Brianna had insisted that the cake be pink and who was Claire to refuse?

“I think this will be his best Birthday ever!” Brianna beamed with contentment, grinning at her mother and Claire could only return her daughter’s infectious smile. “I think so too.”

Jamie’s birthday was, unfortunately, much like any other day on the farm. He rose with the sun and was out working until the sun was close to setting. The whole day, he had barely thought of how it was technically a special day, and by the time he had returned home, he’d all but forgotten. 

Hearing the sounds of his wife and daughters in the kitchen, he rushed to remove his muddy boots, keen to spend some quality time with them. He always missed them all when he was out working. There was something excitable in their voices tonight that made him all the more intrigued to join them. And it was only at that point that he remembered what day it was. Likely, they were planning a surprise for him. Or, perhaps, that was only his ego taking over. 

Slower now, so as not to spoil anything before they were ready, he approached the door leading into the kitchen as quietly as he could. Given how good a hunter he was, that was very quietly indeed. Much quieter than the rabble of the two young girls perched on or near the kitchen table. Claire was there, standing over them to make sure they didn’t do anything too silly, or get themselves hurt. Although her hair had clearly featured as a favourite toy today, given how much wilder it was even than normal, Jamie was, as always, mesmerised by her beauty. So mesmerised, in fact, that he nearly missed the chaos of the kitchen. 

An exclamation from Brianna, however, drew his eyes to her, only to see she was absolutely covered in icing. Her usually brilliant red hair was more pink than red, and to be quite honest the two colours were clashing nastily. The sight of her, though, brought a beaming smile to her father’s lips. She was happy, and that was all that mattered. Happy, and only messy because she had made him a cake. Even from here he could see it was lopsided and had chunks taken out of it, but it was still the best birthday cake he had ever seen. All because his bairns had made it. 

They were sitting back admiring their handiwork now, so Jamie knew it was time for him to make his appearance known. Shrugging away from the door frame which he’s been leaning against without even realising, he took a step into the kitchen, folding his arms as though appraising the scene. “Did ye get any icing on the cake, a leannan, or is it all in yer hair?” Despite the serious expression he wore, his voice was teasing, and he knew Claire would catch the beginnings of a smile in the corners of his lips. 

Bree turned at the sound of his voice, throwing her hands up in the air in excited greeting. Jamie could see that the rest of her was just as covered in icing, but he didn’t care, letting her launch herself at him. “Happy birthday, da!” She exclaimed as he caught her, swinging her in a circle to hear her squeal. The smile that was threatening broke out, leaving him beaming with the same delight as his daughter. 

*happily kicks the daylights out of you*

“She’s a bonnie wee thing, a  bràthair,” Jenny murmured as she leant over his shoulder to peer into the depths of the blankets swaddling the bundle in his arms. Absently, he nodded his agreement, though truthfully, he was much too mesmerised by his daughter’s face, relaxed in sleep, to have even heard what his sister had said. In fact, it was entirely possible that he hadn’t noticed anything but the bundle in his arms in the last few hours since she had been placed in his arms for the first time. 

She’d been squalling and red faced when his wife had placed her in his arms, but his heart had been hers from that first look. Only hours old, and without even a name, the wee lass had her father wrapped around her little finger. All these hours spent with her cradled in his arms while Claire slept, needing the rest after a long and tiring labour, had only solidified that. 

“Ye ken ye willna be much use t’ Claire if ye dinna get yer sleep too, aye? The babe’s asleep. Ye should put her down and get some rest yerself. She willna disappear if ye leave her for an hour.” That, while ridiculous, was partly what he was afraid of, though. He’d never seen Faith yet the grief of losing her was very real, and part of him was afraid that this was all a dream, that he didn’t really have a bairn. It felt like if he put the child down then he would wake up and realise that his life was quite different from the happiness of this day. 

He’d never talked to Jenny about Faith though, and he didn’t intend to start now, so he reluctantly nodded and pushed himself out of his chair. Still not intending to put the baby down, he would at least go and sit in his and Claire’s bedroom just to stop Jenny nagging him. With a muttered “Goodnight,” Jamie left the room, gaze still very much fixed on his daughter. It was only as he pushed open the door to their bedroom that his eyes left his daughter to land briefly on his wife, seemingly still peacefully asleep, before returning to the bairn. 

Murmuring a comment in Gaelic to his sleeping child about how they should let mama have as much sleep as she needed, Jamie came to rest in one of the armchairs by the fire.