October 20th, 1888 — Jamie's Shack
James MacFusty

Her father was dead, and nobody had written to her—not Julius, not her mother, not even Araminta. It was not the news of her father's passing that bothered her, but the fact that no one had cared enough to inform her, even if she was estranged from the family. Part of her wanted to believe her mother was behind it—that her mother had forbade them from penning a simple letter—but Bella knew better. Julius had gone against their father's wishes to protect her before; surely he wouldn't mind going against their mother's wishes to pen a single note.

Anger aside, she had risen in the morning to news of her father's passing in the Daily Prophet. It was a short, objective account of the events that had led to his death, but still: no visit, no letter, nothing.

Rather than attend to her usual Saturday activities, Bella had taken to the fields... which, out of routine, had directed her to Jamie's home at the edge of the woods. Even from a distance she could make out his large figure lumbering around the front of the shack, but she wasn't too bothered by what he might think by her presence.

As she approached him, she threw down her pouch—which, with the help of an undetectable extension charm, contained mostly her research books. "What? No dragons today?" she grumbled as she leaned against the nearest tree, her arms crossed grumpily over her chest.

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

Life had gotten back to its usual stride. Or, at least, Jamie thought it had. Things might have been a bit awkward since his rather bare run in with Miss Scrimgeour, especially since she still came by nearly every Monday to see the wolf pups. He'd thought they'd agreed on every other but he, surprisingly, wasn't fussed to see her each Monday. It was like clockwork, each Monday evening. And often times, treats were brought along. He couldn't exactly say no to that now could it. After all, a way to a man's heart certainly was through his stomach. Not that she was working her way there.

Jamie shook his head at the thought as he stooped to pick up some more wood and kindling. His pile in the shack had gotten quite low and he'd spent most of the day chopping and collecting wood. Now it was just a matter of hauling all of it inside. He'd just barely stood up with his arms full of a load of logs when he heard the all too familiar voice of Bella. He took in her stance and tone, brow raised quickly as a response before he gave a slight shrug of his shoulders.

"S'my weekend off," he answered a bit gruffly, "What went and crawled up your ass?" There was no denying she wasn't in the best of moods, not by the way she'd thrown her pack down and all but grumbled her question to him.

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Yay Bree Set!

Bella was hardly in the mood for any sort of chatter, let alone having insults thrown her way. His first remark had little effect on her, but his second—well.

She scowled in his direction and, without thinking, moved towards him. She pushed and she pulled at the logs in his hand, trying to get them on the ground (and, as she realized later, giving herself splinters in the process).

"Nothing 'crawled up my ass'," she snapped. She glanced down at her bleeding hands, groaning in both anger in pain as she examined the damage. "I just—can't—handle—it," she continued, wincing as she plucked each individual splinter from her palms.

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

Jamie had not expected that. Not in the slightest. He'd expected her to yell at him or throw some insult back at him but instead she was trying to get him to lose the logs in his hands. She succeeded, for the most part, those mostly because he'd been too shocked to really react. And then realized that she'd hurt her hands in the process and any anger he may have felt at her own overreaction was quickly forgotten.

"Let's get those cleaned up," he said a bit quietly as he dropped the remainder of the logs and reached to take her hands and look at them himself.

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Yay Bree Set!

On a normal day (that being one where she was assisting him or otherwise invested in impressing him), Bella would have reveled in his soft tone and instinctual tenderness, but she was enraged. She wasn't angry at him, but given the circumstances and their history, he was a much better target than Mac or Immie.

Pushing his hands away, Bella raised her palms to his chest to give him a hard shove, but nothing happened. He didn't stumble backwards. He didn't even budge. Recoiling from her own efforts, Bella took a step back, her nostrils flared. "Why are you so damned large? Did you think you'd be more intimidating if you were taller? Because you're not," she rambled, her fists balled up at her sides. "You're just... you're just—"

Lips clamped tightly together, she let out some sort of high-pitched angry noise before storming past him towards. She entered the shack and slammed the door behind her before slumping against it. The splinters were still visible through the window light despite the darkness, but she was determined not to look weak.

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

She batted Jamie's hands away and left him staring at her with mouth slightly agape and eyes wide in shock. He'd never seen her in such a way, not even when he'd been hollering at her like a crazy person. This was all new and he really didn't know how to respond.

But, chuckling was likely not the best way about it. He still did just that as she started yelling at him for being large. There was little chance to respond, however, before she was shrieking and storming off toward his shack. He stood, still dumbfounded, for a few moments before following in her steps only to find the door unable to be opened.

"This is my home," he yelled out as he hit his fist against the front door to let him know he meant business.

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Yay Bree Set!

Bella had not been paying close attention to the sound of footsteps approaching, and thus nearly jumped out of her slippers at the sudden banging on the door. She instinctively turned around and, clenched fists pressed against the door, shouted back, "Not right now it isn't!" Even with the fire running through her veins, she wasn't angry enough to believe that; sooner or later he'd find a way in (or he'd scared her enough to let him in).

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

Jamie growled at her response, looking to be all the part of a grumpy old bear as well as sounding like one. This was absurd, entirely and utterly absurd.

"Bloody fucking hell, Bella," he all but snarled as he pounded on the door some more, "Open the damned door or I'll knock the damn thing down!" He hit the door once again, harder this time, for good measure.

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Yay Bree Set!

Bella opened her mouth to say something she'd later regret, but snapped it shut before the words could escape. She seethed in silence, attempting to muster the so-called "Gryffindor courage", until Jamie's banging came to a halt. Her hand lingered on the doorknob until she pushed herself to swing it open, and one deep breath later she was face-to-face with a red-faced Jamie.

"You need to learn to control your language," she scoffed, "Or is a territorial nature so deeply ingrained in your male psyche that you lose yourself the moment someone claims what's yours?" Her tone had shifted from loud and angry to cold and quiet—a subtle expression of the fear she felt when faced with a truly enraged Scotsman.

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

Jamie was most certainly red faced but mostly due to the annoyance and anger he felt over the entire situation. She'd been the one to show up in his domain and proceed to be a crazy person. Then she'd all but locked him out of his own home.

"I shouldn't be forced to control my bloody language in my own house," he all but snarled at her as he shouldered his way in and set to work putting a kettle on to boil. "Now shut up and sit down so I can see to your hands or get the hell out," he finished, an obvious tone of finality to his words as he busied himself with getting first aid supplies gathered.

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Yay Bree Set!

Bella's eyes burned with tears she'd never shed, as she wiped them from her eyes with the back of her hands as Jamie pushed past her into the home. She questioned whether staying was even for the best; in all the months she'd known him, he'd never directed such foul language at her.

She hadn't been angry at him—(and, in fact, she still wasn't)—but now that he was angry at her, she was angry at herself. One hand on the doorknob, Bella stood in silence while she watched Jamie distract himself. Her teeth dug into her bottom lip, the metallic taste of blood that touched her tongue serving as the only reminder to let go.

"Are you capable of being gentle while so upset?" she asked quietly from her corner, her eyes glancing down to his hands. "Or do you plan to exact revenge by being rough?" There was a silent question that hung in the air: Would it be better for me to leave?

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

Jamie was still fuming, there was no doubt about that, but more at the situation itself and not really at her. At least, not specifically even if it was she that had started it all. Regardless, gathering the first aid items happened to be enough to distract him from it all.

But then there was her quiet almost hesitant question that seemed to stab him right in the heart. He'd frightened her, probably reminded her of worse times and he hated himself for .

He paused in what he was doing, hands gripping the counter as he took in a deep and staying breath. "I'm sorry," he said softly, unable to look up at her yet, "I promise to be gentle but getting those splinters out isn't going to be pleasant." Perhaps he should offer her some whiskey but that could be a problem all on its own.

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Yay Bree Set!

Bella took a step forward, hesitated for a moment, and then continued walking towards him.

"I've felt worse pain before," she commented simply, lowering her gaze as she seated herself beside him. The scars down her neck and arms—not to mention her missing middle finger!—could attest to that, but there was a difference between magical damage and having each individual wood splinter pulled from one of the most sensitive areas of her body. She held her arm out and grasped her wrist with her free hand. "Do what you need to do." And then I'll go home, she thought, her gaze nervously flickering up to his face every few seconds.

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

Jamie couldn't really help but to regard her with a suspicious eye at her initial remark. It certainly didn't bode well for his inner protector and he actually found himself wondering what all she had endured. He wouldn't ask though. That was private and he was one to hate when others pried into his own privacy so he'd be the last one to do that.

With a surprising gentle touch, he held her hand in his much larger and calloused ones and made quick work of plucking the splinters from it. He had to make sure every last bit of wood was pulled out otherwise they'd risk infection. It didn't take long but he was well aware of every wince made as he went.

"I need to rinse your hand with a solution note, " he said, looking her in the eye for the first time since getting into the shack, " It's going to sting something awful but it'll help prevent infection. "

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Yay Bree Set!

Bella did her best to avoid dramatics as Jamie extracted every individual wood chip from her finger, but she couldn't avoid the wincing and occasional yips in pain. By the time he'd finished, it felt as if hours had passed by; her upper arms were stiff from holding their position for so long, and her bottom lip was red and swollen from being chewed on. Despite the pain and her desire to bury her hands and her dress pockets, the healer within her reason that he was right—she needed to prevent infection, lest she lose all her fingers.

"Like I said," she managed, shifting her gaze to a random pot in the corner of the kitchen in her attempt to hide her discomfort from Jamie, "Do what you need to do. I trust you."

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

Jamie noticed the shift in her gaze but didn't comment on it. He didn't really expect to hear her say she trusted him though and couldn't really hide the somewhat shocked expression on his face as a result. He covered it, or at least he hoped he did, by getting the cleaning solution. Once back with it, he settled in a chair next to her and took her hand gently once more

"I'm sorry, " he said softly but didn't elaborate any further on it before he started cleaning the wound.

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Yay Bree Set!