#but like…. damn I thought I’d be sitting here gasping thrashing at the cliffhanger

[captainsantiagos]

oh…. okay?

[takemeawaytocamelot]

Red Jamie and the White Lady - Part 15

Thank you all for your support with this story! I think the action is only going to get more intense as it goes on, so buckle in. I’d apologize for the cliffhanger last week, but... I’m not sorry. It’s far too much fun to watch everyone’s reactions. Anywhoo. Here’s the next chapter! As always, thank you to my wonderful co-creators @diversemediums and @outlandishchridhe who are amazing brainstormers and idea makers!

Catch up on part 14 HERE or the whole story on AO3

Previously...

She could feel her body going under, see spots in her vision. Most of all, she could feel Jamie starting to thrash, hear him bite back a cry.

No!

“Claire, ye need to get him out. Now!”

He was in deep - too deep - and he knew it. It was foolish to have looked into his own future. That was a rule Da had always had - never See into your future, never Look there.

Jamie knew it would happen somehow, could feel Claire tiring as the pain in his head increased with every heartbeat. Then, suddenly, he was pulled from the scattered visions in a burst of white light. He gasped and shook, blinking as he saw her face swimming before him. He tried to talk to her, tell her she'd done it, but his body wasn't cooperating. Then, she was gone. He felt her falling, reached out and caught her before she could hit the floor.

"Claire. Claire!" he cried, clutching her tight as nausea rolled through him.

He felt someone grab him, keeping him from falling himself. Ian had come in at some point.

“Jamie, let go. It's alright lad. Breathe,” Murtagh said as he slowly took Claire from him and laid her on the couch.

Ian helped Jamie to his own feet and held tight to him while he swayed. Before he could pass out or throw up, he was pushed into a chair where he closed his eyes and fought to keep his breakfast down.

He opened his eyes again to see Jenny kneeling down, checking Claire’s pulse. His sister exhaled, then looked up at him.

“It's alright. She’ll be alright. Ian, grab a cool cloth will ye?”

Ignoring Ian’s yelp of concern, Jamie pushed himself off the chair and went to sit on the floor beside the couch. Claire’s face was pale, her hand cold when he took it. He had a sudden flashback of the vision he'd had of her. But no, there was no blood. Not yet.

“Are ye alright Jamie?” Jenny asked, touching his arm.

All he could do was nod, not looking at her. His heart leapt to his throat when Claire started to stir, her eyebrows furrowing. He clutched her hand to his chest, leaning over to watch her amber eyes open slowly. For a moment, Jamie was afraid she didn't know who he was. Until..

“Jamie, your face,” she said, lifting her other hand to touch the blood that ran down his chin.

“I’m fine, mo chridhe. Christ ye gave me such a fright. Are ye alright?”

“I’m fine,” she said, shaking her head. The movement stopped abruptly and she winced. “But you’re getting blood all over the floor.”

A wad of tissue filled his vision and Jamie took it. Ian returned with a cool, damp cloth and put it over Claire’s forehead. Jamie began mopping up the blood on his face, but Claire took the tissue from him and finished the job. Her hand was steady and gentle, but firm enough to complete her task.

“Wh…” she took another breath. “What the hell just happened?”

“Ye got stuck, ye fool,” Jenny barked at him. “What were ye thinkin’?! Lookin’ into yer own future? Ye kent that was a rule of Da’s. Willie damn near beat it into yer thick heid!”

“Janet, dinna yell just now, aye?”

She huffed behind him.

“Either I yell at ye or I smack ye in the head.”

“Did you See anything helpful, at least?” Claire asked, her eyes shut tight against her exhaustion.

“I’m no’ sure yet. I need to think about it a bit, sort through what I Saw.”

Claire’s eyes were beginning to droop.

“And you’re sure you’re alright? Has… Has the bleeding…” she yawned. “Stopped?”

“Aye, mo chridhe, the bleeding has stopped. Get some rest, aye?”

“Just don’t… Look again until I’m… better.”

Jamie huffed a quiet laugh.

“Ye have my word.”

Then she dropped off into a heavy sleep. Jamie stood, leaning on Ian for support.

“Murtagh, I canna take her wi’ me upstairs. But I’ll no’ leave her to wake alone.”

“Aye, Jamie. I’ll carry her upstairs.”

With the help of his best friend, Jamie stumbled up the stairs and into the laird’s bedroom. He collapsed onto the bed and was only vaguely aware of Murtagh setting Claire down beside him before fatigue took him under.

***

Claire woke groggy and confused, and somehow still exhausted. Jamie lay sprawled out beside her, mouth open as he slept. Her mind pieced the events of the morning together and she gazed at him, making sure he was alright. As much as she wanted to touch him, she didn't dare wake him up after what he'd gone through. It looked like he hadn’t started bleeding again, so she got off the bed and slipped out of the room.

She’d fainted. Again. How the hell was she supposed to help Jamie if using her Gift knocked her out? On top of all that, she’d failed and fainted in front of Jamie’s entire family. Humiliation was never something she’d handled well.

Down the hall, she heard Murtagh’s deep voice, mixing with Jenny and Ian’s. She couldn’t face them yet, couldn’t see the disappointment in their eyes. Instead, she shut herself in the study, surrounding herself with books that wouldn’t look at her with pity.

As she inspected them closer, she realized they weren’t published works. Each had a range of dates on them, written by hand. The leather binding intrigued her and she picked one off the shelf at random. Inside the cover was a name she recognized, written in a beautifully, swooping script.

William Fraser

She touched the writing gently, wishing she’d been able to meet Jamie’s older brother. Curious, Claire turned the pages and read through Willie’s journal. It was a collection of visions, theories, and personal entries.

I worry for my brother. Da isn’t doing well. Murtagh says he won’t last the month and I know he’s right. Jamie is still so young to have such a Gift and I worry it will consume him. Even now I work to find someone to help him, some healer somewhere that might be able to keep him alive. There is a rumor of a man-

The door opened suddenly and Murtagh stood in the doorway. Claire hastily wiped her face - when had she started crying? - and looked up at him. He looked unhappy.

"Ye need to be better, lass," he said. "I know that!" she snapped, rounding on him. "Do you think I'm not aware that if I can't get my fucking act together, I'll lose him?" Murtagh gave her a hard look, then nodded, his features softening a little. "Aye. I ken ye know that. My apologies."

“I thought I would lose him today,” she said, quietly. “I don’t know how to use this Gift or how far I can push myself. I could feel him slipping… I thought I couldn’t do it.”

With a sigh, Murtagh sat down in the chair opposite her.

“Aye. He’s like a son to me, Jamie is. I saw him slippin’ and… Weel, it isna yer fault. I shouldna ha’ spoken to ye so.”

Claire looked down at her clasped hands, remembering how it had felt to hold Jamie while he shook. Tears slid down her cheeks again and she brushed them away. She hated crying.

“Ach,” Murtagh said suddenly. “Ye didna rest as much as ye needed. Here, have a dram o’ whisky.”

She looked up to see him remove a large book and pull a bottle from behind it. A set of glasses came from behind another book and he poured them both a generous drink.

“This is the good stuff. Brian’s favorite. There isna much o’ it left, but he hid bottles all about the house. Drink up, lass. It’ll help wi’ the shakes.”

Taking a tentative sip, she hummed in pleasure. It was very good whisky.

“Clearly you’ve done this before,” she observed, raising her glass to him.

Murtagh nodded, settling himself into the chair again.

“Aye. More so in the last two years or so.”

“This has been hard on you.”

Again, the scruffy Scotsman nodded, staring into the bottom of his glass.

“Just before he left to meet ye,” he said slowly. “He had a vision. One he didna Look for, it just came. I heard him screamin’, so I ran to see what was the matter. He was nearly pullin’ the hair out o’ his head by the time I got up there. I did the best I could to help him, but… I kent the look on his face.”

Claire sat up, watching Murtagh carefully.

“Like Brian?”

“Aye. He wouldna let me call ye, or I would have. I’d do anything to keep him safe. When I realized he wasna in the cave and I saw ye sittin’ there at the table… Ye can keep him alive, in a way I canna. I’ve never been so scared in all my life as I was when I woke him from that vision.”

Claire was silent for a long time. For a man like Murtagh to admit that something had scared him was big. She recognized that he was showing her his soft center and accepted the peace offering for what it was.

“I want to help more. I know I have this Gift, but I don’t know how use it or even how to make it happen. Sometimes I feel like I’m pushing too much energy for only a small pain. I just don’t understand it.”

Murtagh’s eyes lifted from his glass and glossed over the notebook sitting open in front of Claire. His gaze sharpened and he sat up, whisky forgotten.

“Is that one o’ Willie’s?”

“What? Oh, yes. I’m sorry, I was just sort of drawn to it.”

Murtagh spun it around and read the passage she’d been in the middle of.

“Have ye finished this?”

“Not yet. You sort of kicked the door in and yelled at me.”

“After Brian died, Willie was on a mission to find a healer for Jamie. He kent that Jamie’s Gift was much stronger than his own, that it would move faster, hurt him sooner. Bloody fool ignored his own problems to find a healer, someone wi’ a specific Gift.”

Claire’s eyes looked down at the book, curious. What secrets did it hold?

“Did he find anyone? Could… If he’d found me sooner, could I have saved him?”

Murtagh sighed.

“I dinna ken that, but he did find someone. It was too late for the lad,” he said, voice catching in his throat. “But I think this man might be able to help ye wi’ yer Gift.”

“Who is it? And where?”

“His name is Master Raymond and I ken just where to find him.”