October 29th, 1888 — Jamie's Shack, The Hebrides

Not much had changed in Bella's daily routine since her morning in bed with Jamie apart from small changes that went by wholly unnoticed by the rest of the MacFusty household. She braided her hair nicer and made a conscious effort to keep the dirt off her clothes, all in some twisted effort to ensure she'd look presentable if Jamie visited the main MacFusty home—which he hadn't. The 22nd had come, and despite the intimacy they'd shared the Saturday before, she was unable to bring herself to visit him.

The next Monday, however, was different. A week of regret had left her wondering how he was doing—and more importantly, if he was thinking of her—to the point where she'd mustered the courage to meet him on their scheduled day. Clad in her cotton dress and her hair up in a loose braid, she chose to apparate in favor of walking to stop herself from turning back. He wasn't outside, so it was a very long walk to the front of his shack. Times before had taught her not to enter without letting him no, she she loudly knocked before opening the door.

"Jamie?" she called quietly, peeking around each corner as she walked through the house. "It's Bella," she added, speaking a little louder as she peeked into the empty sitting room. Merlin, the only way she'd feel sillier is if she had a flower pinned in her hair!

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

There were many things Jamie was good at, he'd be the first to inform anyone of such. When it came to avoiding reality and confrontation, he was perhaps the best. So when Bella hadn't come to his house on the regularly scheduled Monday, he hadn't even been home himself. He'd taken a shift off one of his cousins who had been asking around for someone to do so. It had resulted in two weeks nonstop of staying put on the toddling island. So when he'd gotten home that Monday morning, he'd been beyond exhausted. He'd barely made it into the house and he'd forgone any form of sustenance and headed straight for his bed.

The wolf pups had followed, watching him (Well Arawn did) as he stripped from his clothing as if her were a drunken lout. Many a curse was said as he stumbled in in overly exhausted state before he eventually collapsed naked into his bed. It didn't take long for him to get twisted up in all of his blankets as he slept fitfully initially. That morning with Bella plagued his mind, pushing him well into the realm of overthinking everything that had happened. But, eventually, the sweet sweet slumber of a near dead man took over and Jamie began snoring in a blissful sleep. Who knew when the pups had joined him on the bed.

As it was, all three of them were so dead to the world that they never heard the knock on the door and never heard Bella wandering about and calling out in search of him. A particularly loud snore, however, startled Arawn just enough to where the pup yelped before rolling over on his back at the foot of the bed to continued snoring along side the man in bed. In such a small shack, it'd be a miracle if such things weren't heard outside of the bedroom.

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Yay Bree Set!

The sound of snoring startled Bella, causing her to quickly glance in the direction of the bedroom. She peeked around the short hall that led from the kitchen from the bedroom, weighing her options. She could leave the shack and return at a time when its occupant was awake, or she could risk embarrassing herself—and Jamie—by rousing him from his sleep. No less than ten snores had passed before Bella made up her decision: she would try and wake him, but she would linger no longer if he refused to budge.

Straightening the dress (and the ribbon she'd tied her braid with), Bella pushed open the door to the bedroom. Her eyes widened at the sight before her: Jamie was curled up beneath the covers, parts of his bare skin peeking through the sheets, with Arawan and Frideswide at her sight. Her heart—and her face—was warmed by the sight as she carefully maneuvered around his clothes on the floor.

"Jamie," she murmured, reaching town to touch his bare ankle. He merely snored in response, causing Bella to flinch. "Jamie," she said a second time, a little more force to her words. "It's Monday."

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

Dreams were a funny thing. One minute, Jamie was busy dealing with an ornery dragon and the next Bella was talking to him. About what, he didn't know. He couldn't quite seem to focus on the sound of her voice or even her face for that matter. Why she'd suddenly jumped into his semiconscious was a strange thing in and of itself.

He shifted slightly in the bed from the feel of her touching his bare ankle though, twisting just enough to reveal a bare ass and to stir up Arawn all over again. The black pup blinked its eyes, lifting his head up just enough to kinda peer around before he saw Bella and barked happily to her. A bark that stirred Frideswide beyond the norm and for her to push away from Jamie as well.

The barking of Arawn and the sudden lack of warmth against his chest was enough to stir Jamie a bit. He blinked wearily, sleep still heavy in his eyes as he looked around. It was like trying to to focus through a haze again. "Am I still dreaming?" he murmured, eyes finally falling to Bella but still struggling to wrap his mind around reality.

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Yay Bree Set!

Bella's eyes widened as Jamie shifted in sleep, revealing his bare arse to her. She could not prevent the giggle from escaping her lips, but it was enough to see her hand removed from his ankle. His movement caused the pups to stir, which in turn caused him to stir, leaving Bella with a wide, amused smile across her lips as his eyes fluttered open.

Though her feelings towards Jamie had undeniably changed since their last... encounter, they had not changed enough to stop her from teasing him. "Am I a frequent visitor in your dreams?" she taunted, taking a step back towards the door frame as to provide him room. The pups were quick to follow, hopping off the bed and sitting at her ankles, their tails brushing against her skirt.

"Nonetheless, I can assure you that I'm here in the flesh. It's Monday," she continued, brows raised.

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

So she really was there. In Jamie's room. Again.

Unfortunately, this time she was clothed and he was not. But her teasing remark had hims smirking as he attempted to rub the sleep from his eyes so she could actually come into focus. He cared little about what she may see of his nude body as he shifted and the blankets moved as a result. He wasn't even aware of what all was bared to her but by then, she'd seen all of him so it hardly mattered.

"Oh lass," he said with a smirk, an all too familiar mischievous glint in his dark eyes as they raked over her from head to toe, "If you knew how often you were in my dreams and how you were in them, you'd blush for days." It may not be the full truth though she was certainly a frequent visitor in his dreams, it wasn't near as much as he was letting on. He had to jest back, after all.

But then she brought up the fact it was Monday. So she was there for the pups, surely. Nothing more. Nodding, he shifted in the bed again, this time pulling a blanket with him to keep his more private assets hidden from view and went about finding some clean clothing to put on. "Ye can go ahead and get started with them then," he said, his tone losing its joking sort of vibe and going back to just the norm, "I'll be out soon as I'm dressed."

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Yay Bree Set!

She'd expected some sort of jest in response, but nothing as frank as he'd given her. In an attempt to mask her red face, she bent and picked up his discarded clothes, shaking off dirt and dust before tossing them on the bedside.

"You would not wish it, I'm sure," she answered, trying—and failing—to hide her smile. "If you make me blush too often, it will lose its effect." She met his eyes then, a hand reaching up to touch at her auburn waves.

"I'll get their food and make some tea," she said, turning away to leave the room. She looked over her shoulder, her smile unmoved. "You sound like you need it." Jaw covered with stubble and his voice strained from hours of uninterrupted sleep, Bella found herself wondering whether he looked like early in the morning. (As if she'd ever get to see! It was a silly notion, but not unlike the ones that had filled her mind over the past week.)

Without waiting for a response, Bella hurried off into the kitchen to prepare the afternoon's work. She'd do laundry, today—she was sure of it. The curtains were beginning to dust over, and the rug she'd laid on the kitchen floor before was unrecognizable with the amount of dirt that had been stomped into it. For a man who hailed from a family firmly rooted in the middle class, he showed no desire to have as much as a housekeeper (... though she supposed she'd taken over that role, unofficially, over the past few months).

"Should I expect that you haven't eaten this morning?" she called from the kitchen, a quiet tsk tsk accompanying her words. "Or bathed, even?" When was the last time he'd bathed?

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

Her flushed features weren't lost on Jamie. His own jest had clearly had more of an effect on her than hers had on him. Really, it took quite a bit to catch him unawares on such things. He was far the innocent she was. Or rather, had been.

She was soon making her excuses and leaving the bedroom though. He nodded simply in response before he finally stepped out of his bed. The blankets were all but forgotten the moment she was out of sight but he quickly busied himself with getting some clothing on. Or, at least enough to be somewhat respectable. He had absolutely no intention of doing any sort of hard work that day so he saw little reason in dirtying a shirt just because she was there. So once his underwear and trousers were pulled on, he was pushing his way out of the door just in time to hear her question and tsking.

"You'd be correct in both assumptions," he said in a gruff voice as he sat down in one of the kitchen chairs. He dragged his hands down his face in an attempt to further wake himself but it was doing little good. His face was far more hairy than it normally was, having not bothered with trimming his beard in the slightest during the two weeks he'd been on the island. "I only got back this morning," he added so that she'd be able to understand the state of him. And the house for that matter. Not that he had ever really kept it all that clean himself.

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Yay Bree Set!

Jamie appeared, and Bella was all too aware of his every move, even as he sat at the table behind her. She busied herself with the dishes, arranging the worn teacups and plates that had been long-forgotten in the cupboards.

Even while juggling the preparations and the food, she was unable to keep herself from glancing back at him every few seconds. It was strange, she thought, to feel such closeness to a man who she shared no emotional connection with beyond what existed in her own mind. He'd shared his kisses and his bed, but he had not his heart, and it left her feeling displaced in his home. Furthermore, Bella wondered whether the sudden burst of infatuation would last, or whether it was a natural, twisted sort of reaction to their shared intimacy. She did not want to be too... presumptuous... with him, but neither could she pretend that October 20th never happened.

"This morning?" she asked suddenly, tossing a startled glance over her shoulder. "And you were gone how long...?" Jamie had mentioned once before that sometimes left for a week at a time, but now that there were pups—well, she hated to think they'd been left here by themselves.

Tea prepared, she carried both cups to the table and set one down beside him before taking a seat across from him. "You should take care of yourself more. You will get sick one of these days," she said, eyeing the streak of dirt down his cheek. Dirt itself rarely killed a man, but combined with sleep deprivation and dehydration, he could get sick! "And I'm not ready to take care of them myself," she added, motioning to the pups.

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

Jamie's gaze never really left her as she flitted about. Luckily, if she did glance back, he looked tired enough to where it could just be assumed that he was dazed and not paying attention. He was though, watching every move and every bit about her. He noticed the simple cotton dress paired with the ribbon to hold her braid together behind her. He doubted it would hold long though. It rarely did. Eventually she'd have tendrils of hair loose from their confines and doing as they please. It make him smirk. A carefree spirit clearly couldn't have anything that was overly tamable.

He nodded at her question though before shrugging slightly. "Two weeks or so," he answered, voice still tired and gruff but he went on to add, "Don't worry, I popped in on occasion briefly to see to the pups." He knew she'd have given him quite the look if he didn't assure her that the pups had been taken care of despite his absence. He hadn't slept in the shack for two weeks but had had made sure to come back when he could. And, as was obvious, the pups were just fine.

But he was shrugging again over her concerns of getting sick. "I've never known a MacFusty to die from getting sick," he said with a pointed look, "Just death by dragon for us." He chuckled at that as it was mostly true when it came down to it. If they made it to old age, they'd be lucky if they ever died. But, more often than not, their lives were cut short because of a dragon.

He took a sip of his tea then, trying to ignore the feeling of frustration that she was more worried about caring for the pups if he did perish of whatever imaginary illness she was predicting would befall him. He supposed he shouldn't be all that upset by it. She was only there for the pups again, after all. Not him.

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Yay Bree Set!

Her worries in regards to the pups' safety was soothed by his explanation, but she could only scowl at his excuse for his own safety. The man never once seemed concerned for himself. He worked himself to exhaustion, rarely bathed, and, judging from his unusual schedule, likely had troubles keeping to a regular meal schedule. The healer within her was ready to continue scolding him, but she was far more self-conscious than usual; she didn't want to upset him, annoy him, or do anything that would cause him to grumble at her.

"You might be a first, then," she answered, eyeing him from across the table. "Of all the times I've come in contact with your brothers, none of them looked like they hadn't showered for two weeks. Cleanliness is they key to a long life, and I would miss your company." And a long life was what she wanted for him; a time would come where she was no longer needed in the MacFusty household, but she never wanted to receive a letter from Immie or Tilda informing her of Jamie's death.

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

It was perhaps Bella wasn't in a scolding mood. Jamie could still see it in her features that she had more to say on the matter but he was finding that he really wasn't in the right sort of mood for such a thing. Having her back in his room had brought up some memories and thoughts that clearly weren't on the table anymore. He had to remind himself she was there for the pups.

He shrugged in response before he finished off his tea. "I can be the black sheep of the family then," he said easily enough as if it hardly phased him. It didn't, really. He was different enough in his own regard of being a bit of a recluse. The family was still close to one another, sure, but Jamie was the one most likely to not show up to some sort of familial obligation. "And it's not as if I choose not to bathe," he said, a bit gruffly again, "There just isn't exactly such amenities on the island and the times I was able to pop back here there wasn't time to do so." And when he'd gotten home that morning, well, all he'd wanted to do was sleep in a real bed. In his bed. That still smelled like her cause the sheets and blankets had yet to be changed. He should probably do that or he'd never get her out of his head.

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Yay Bree Set!

Jamie seemed unfazed by her concern, but she hid her disappointment by taking a long, burning sip of tea. It always seemed like Jamie had something to prove: that he wasn't like his brothers, that he was invincible, that he was experienced enough to handle dragons (while also insinuating that they'd eventually cause his death, which confused her to no end). Bella wished that he'd put away his pride for once, but his pride was so deeply embedded in his being; she was not wholly unconvinced that he would rather die than see his it wounded.

"Well," she said, peeking up at him with a smile, "the least you could do is let me clean your face. You look a caveman," she teased, turning her head towards the pile of folded rags on the counter.

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

Jamie had moved to lean back in his chair, using the wall behind him as support, after he'd finished his tea. He was still tired. Quite frankly, he didn't want to do a damn thing even if it was easy. He really just wanted to go back to bed. Maybe Bella would be fine seeing to the pups on her own and he could just go back to sleep.

He chuckled when she looked at him with that little smile though. "Just my fave?" he asked, a none to serious sort of smirk on his lips as he said it. It was a bit brazen really. But he supposed he wouldn't really say no to a sponge bath at the hands of her.

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Yay Bree Set!

Bella's cheeks flushed, but she was quick to shake her head.

"Just your face," she promised, setting her teacup down. She rose from her seat and snatched one of the rags off the counter, running it under cold water before approaching him. The water dripped onto his bare chest as she stood in front of him, one hand grasping his chin to angle his head up to look at her.

"If I come next time and find you this filthy, I might not be able to resist spraying you down with aguamenti," she explained, dragging the rag down his cheek. "If you don't scrub regularly, the dirt will never come off," she added, gently brushing the clean side of the rag down his nose and over his lips.

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— MJ is MAGICAL —

Jamie chuckled when he realized his remark had gotten to her. Good. He could still get her blushing. Even if he had sort of meant it when he'd asked her such a thing.

He flinched just slightly at the feel of the cold water against his bare chest, enough for him to jostle the chair to scrape against the ground and wall. "Bloody hell," her mumbled as she grabbed his chin none too gently, "Maybe I don't want you to wash anything but my face." He could only imagine what she'd do to his other bits .

"Maybe I don't want it to come off," he said tersely, "Adds some intrigue to my otherwise dashing looks."

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Yay Bree Set!