FicWad

Morning arrives sooner than expected. Jack and Shane are accustomed to being up before dawn. Jack carries Jason up to his room, takes off his extra clothing, and tucks him into bed. Jason does not wake. Shane and Jack take off all but a couple layers of clothing and go outside to chop wood for the fireplaces. Jack does all of the chopping, and Shane does all of the carrying because of his bandaged hands. Then they go inside to shower before breakfast. Shane goes upstairs first to try to clean himself up as best he can and inspect his injuries more closely. He returns to the drawing room and puts on his own clothing. Most of his warmer clothing was destroyed in the fire, so he puts on the warmest things he has in his suitcase, which are a black turtleneck, a thick, white wool sweater, and his green wool trousers. He is halfway through putting on his wool socks when he hears someone knocking on the door. Jack is upstairs in the shower, and Shane's hair is still wet. Still uneasy from the night before, he slips his pistol into the waist of his pants and goes to the door. He opens the door cautiously at first, but, seeing a beautiful woman on the front step, he quickly opens it and invites her in.

"Ye must be Lynn," Shane says.

"Yes. I am. Are you all right? Don't you remember me?"

"'M fine, an' I would if I was Jack. 'M not Jack."

"Ah, you're Shane, then."

"Aye."

"Faith, you look just like Jack."

"Not really. He's taller, thinner, better lookin', an' he has money."

"You're poor?"

"As o' yesterday mornin', actually."

"Is that what happened to..."

"Aye, lass. Ye can say it. I know I've two black eyes, a broken nose, an' two missin' teeth. 'Swhat happens when ye get hit in the face wi' a rifle."

"Bar fight?"

"Nah. B’lieve me, if 'twas a bar fight, nothin' would've happened to me. Ack, where are me manners? Let me take your coat." Shane helps Lynn out of her long, black woolen overcoat. He gingerly takes her graceful hand in one of his giant bandaged ones and says, "Please, step into the drawin' room, miss. If ye could please ignore me things all over. Me arrival was a sort've a shock to Jack, an' we haven't had time to move 'em upstairs yet."

"I could give you a hand with that."

"Nonsense. I just need Jack to help me zip me duffel back up." He holds up his hands. "Frostbite."

"Where is Jack?"

"Upstairs in the shower. I didn't think ye'd want to wait on the step for him to come down, an' his son Jason's still asleep. Please excuse me appearance. Ah, bang on time." Shane pulls a handkerchief out of his duffel bag and quickly covers his nose, which has just begun to bleed uncontrollably. "'Scuse me, miss. Please. I'm an awful mess. I'd make ye tea'r sommat, but I doubt ye'd want blood in it, an' I don't think I could pour it."

"It's alright. Jack didn't know I was coming. I meant to surprise him."

"An' how long've ye known Jack. I know he didn't know ye last time I was here."

"Since yesterday."

"Yesterday? By God! Jack'd better keep ye around. A girl as sweet as ye."

"I intend to," Jack says from the doorway. His hair is slicked back with water and he is clean-shaven, but he is wearing a simple pair of green woolen trousers, a black turtleneck, and a white woolen sweater identical to those Shane is wearing. "Forgive me, Lynn. I've the need to be clearin' the path. I'll dress nicer for ye later."

"I think it's charming."

"D'ye want to watch me shovel the walk? Or will ye stay where it's warm wi' me brother."

"I'll help you."

"Ye don't have to."

"Hold on. Um, Jack? Where's the bathroom?"

"Across the foyer, door behind the staircase, down the hall, take a left, second door on your right just past the bar. I'll show ye."

Lynn changes into a simple woolen dress and finds Jack in the foyer already wearing his greatcoat. She puts on her long overcoat, scarf, and gloves and smiles up at Jack. "So...where are we headed?"

"Out by the kitchen. I have to get to the barn an' feed the sheep an' horses. Ye realize that ye don't have to do this."

"I want to help."

"Shane, I'm startin' a fire in the kitchen. Keep it burnin' for me, will ye? An' keep an eye on Jason when he comes down."

Jack and Lynn clear the paths from the kitchen to the barn, the barn to the road, and the barn to the front door fairly quickly. Lynn leads her horse from the hitching post into Jack's stable. Jack feeds his own horses and shows Lynn his precious flock of multicolored sheep. A little plaid one walks over to her and sniffs her hand. She pets him as if he were a dog. "My, Jack," she says, "they're so darling."

"Aye. Me own creation. Ye've no idea the strings I had to pull to get 'em this way."

"I can imagine. So, what do you like for breakfast?"

"Ye can't be serious. First ye help me out here, then ye make breakfast?"

"Yes."

"Well, it has to be something soft for Shane's sake. I can make oatmeal. 'Tis about the only thing I can make."

"Do you like strawberries and cream?"

"Aye, both Jason an' meself...how'd ye guess?"

"I didn't. Kerrigan told me. I brought some with me. I love them too."

"By God, Lynn, ye know me too well."

"I love you, Jack. I know we just met but I already love you."

"I love ye too, Lynn. Last night I'd the worst dream. I'm glad to know ye're all right."

"What happened?"

"They came after Shane an' killed Jason an' yourself in front o' me eyes, an' I couldn't stop it."

"Oh God, Jack. I'd a dream ye were buried alive, an' I couldn't get to ye in time."

Jack holds Lynn tightly, and she buries her head in his sweater. He absent-mindedly strokes her perfect ringlet curls. Shane walks into the kitchen where they are standing, laughs, and says, "I can't leave the two o' ye alone for five minutes..."

"Ack, Shane, can't a man hug his girlfriend in peace?"

"Girlfriend, is it? After just meetin' yesterday? I'll never understand ye, Jack."

Lynn reaches up and tucks an errant lock of hair behind Jack's ear. "The two’ve us are makin' breakfast," Jack tells his brother.

"Breakfast ain't what I was thinkin' ye was makin', Jack."

"Ack, shut your gob!"

"All right, all right. Just thought ye'd want to know that, in your moment o' shall we say, makin' breakfast, the postman knocked."

"'Scuse me, Lynn." Jack strides quickly into the foyer and answers the door.

"Senator, sir, these are for you." Jack surveys the letters. There is one from Kerrigan and one from each twin. He sees a large envelope in unfamiliar handwriting and reads quickly that it is from the hospital sending him his copy of John's birth certificate. "Word on the street says you'll be seeing your other messenger in the next few days."

"I know. I was hopin’ to avoid a war altogether. Whose district d'ye think the men'll be comin' from? Not Five, that's for sure. Sure, a handful of the senior officers live here, but as for the rest o' the men... well, have a good Yule." Jack hands the messenger a tip and a small bag of gold as a Yuletide gift.

"And yourself as well, Senator."

"Oh, an' Ned, use your own voice."

"Ah, so, I will then, Senator. Best o' luck to ye."

Jack returns to the kitchen only to find that Lynn has already finished cooking and that his brother, son, and girlfriend are eating in the formal dining room with a fire blazing in the fireplace, his seat at the head of the table left open. The table is heavy, polished oak. Jack remembers moving it in with Shane. The matching chairs were not easy to bring into the room, either. The oak paneling on the walls and fireplace is in sharp contrast to the green rug on the floor, though the floor beneath it is polished oak as well. The candles down the long, formal table are all lit in their polished silver holders, and the coat of arms above the fireplace sparkles in the flickering light. Lynn, who has put her green silk bustle dress back on, mentions that she knows the name of a Werewolf exile who might be willing to help Shane and that she would run into the Banshee Quarter to fetch him: he lives there because of his wife of fifteen years. Jack mentions that he has to go upstairs to his study, and that Jason might come with him to allow Shane to rest.

Once settled in his father's study, Jason pulls out his ledger and begins to copy lines from his speller. Everything in his speller is written in four languages: Vampiric, Banshee, English, and Irish. Jack takes one look at the line of Banshee and decides that it is an unhappy marriage between the Irish language and something vaguely resembling either that which is left on an ink blotter after it has been used one too many times or the drawings of a drunken cat with a paintbrush. He had a hard enough time learning Vampiric when he got to Hell. Jack smokes one of his cigars while he reads his letters. Each twin wrote more or less the same thing, except Seamus printed in his rushed and disorderly printing and Sean used equally rushed and disorderly penmanship. Kerrigan's letter is to let him and any Vampires that might need to find her know that she is ill in bed and will not be able to return for a few days. Jack writes back asking her to come to Yule with his family if she is feeling well enough. He stows John's birth certificate in a drawer next to Jason's.

Upon seeing Jack stand up, Jason closes his ledger, wishing that he could go outside and run around, but he knows that it is snowy and cold, as well as cloudy. He will not be able to go out due to his father's fear of him catching pneumonia. Jack worries the same about himself. Winter makes Jack uneasy. He believes that it might be because he died during the winter. He longs to be able to walk through the woods and ride Spectre through the fields on his vast property. The idea of staying inside feels somehow isolating to Jack. Yule is always the best time of year because his siblings, especially his sister, whom he rarely sees, visit his home. It has been so long since her last visit that Jack doubts whether Jason even remembers his aunt. Jack changes into his full military uniform. Much as he hates wearing it, he feels that it will make more of an impression at the office to which he must go to process his brother's move. He removes his own paperwork from his desk drawer and puts it in a folder. He knows that half of the battle will be arguing his own credibility. He puts into his folder the papers he, his brothers, and his sister were given when they arrived in Hell; his marriage and divorce papers; his original military enrollment; all of his letters of promotion; his letters of commission as a Senator; the document that certifies him as one of the five original Senatorial Generals; and his sons' birth certificates, then puts the folder into a satchel.

He looks at his reflection in the bathroom mirror as he is taking two aspirin for the headache he is pretending he does not have. His dress boots are shined and look as if he had just got them when, in reality, he received them when he was ordained as a Senatorial General many years earlier. It had been the first act of the new Senate to bring the military under its thumb by naming Senatorial Generals, the most powerful rank in the Vampire Army to this day. Those named were Jack, already a General; Julius Invernus, a Colonel; Var Volkov, a General; Tem Lawlowr, a Brigadier; and Kerrigan Sheehan, then a trusted advisor because of her experience with military history and tactics both on Earth and in Hell and her willingness to participate in battles, though she was not officially part of the army. Jack remembers the first time he saw himself in his uniform as a Senatorial General. When he joined the Vampire Army, it was as a volunteer in a band of men from the poorest parts of what is now District Thirteen. They were the poorest of Hell's poor, and they had formed something akin to a gang to protect themselves. They were sought out by the leaders of the anti-monarchial revolutionaries. For a short while, Jack reduced his drinking in order to merit a promotion to an officer's rank. With the money he saved, he began lending at little interest, knowing it would be years before he was paid back in full. That was how he made all of his money. Over the ensuing years, the fighting was intermittent, but bloody. He rose through the ranks quickly as his superiors died in combat, one by one. When he donned the uniform of Senatorial General and received the last of his insignia on the floor of the Senate, he looked in a mirror and saw something that was not just another uniform and another rank, but a symbol of absolute power, and it scared him.

Now as he looks at it he sees a different man that he saw then. When he first donned the uniform, though he was a seasoned General before he ever became a Senator, he was inexperienced in politics and far too reckless. Now he sees a thinner, older, wiser man and a father. He looks somehow more severe and proper in his newly-tailored uniform, despite the fact that he slept in the wool jacket the night before. He sees the medals, ribbons, and decorations across his chest that spell out the entire revolution in so many acts, many of which he does not remember out of having blocked them with alcohol, and many more of which he remembers only too vividly. He remembers many a Yuletide he missed, and he wishes there was something he could do for the men waiting like sitting ducks on the Vampire District-Werewolf Territory border this year. They wear the green uniforms of his men, not the blue uniforms of Julius's men, the red ones of Var's men, the white ones of Tem's men, or the black ones of Kerrigan's men. He supposes that there are women, but men are still the majority. His own uniform consists of emerald green wool trousers and a stiff, emerald green, wool, belted jacket which bears his insignia, a lighter green cotton shirt, a green silk tie, and a green wool brimmer hat. He puts his pistol in his trousers pocket, which is hidden under his jacket, and scrambles downstairs to answer the door.

"Name've Michael Bailey. I'm the Werewolf Lynn told you about."

"Aye. Shane’s upstairs," Jack begins.

"I’m comin’. I’m comin’," Shane says scrambling downstairs.

"Lynn explained everythin’ on the ride over. I'm sorry it took so long. Getting’ in from the Banshee Quarter’s not easy at the moment. Lads in uniforms searchin’ everythin’... people watchin’. They pulled me over ‘cause I'm a Werewolf. Almost didn't get through."

"What color uniforms were they wearing?" asks Jack.

"Green, like yours," replies Michael Bailey.

"I wonder who sent me men on Banshee border duty without tellin’ me..."

"So you don't mind?" asks Shane.

"Not a' 'tall. A little blood's no sacrifice to help a fellow displaced countryman. Looks like they hit ye but good."

"Aye, they did," replies Shane. "Broken nose, the eyes, two missin' teeth, not to mention frostbite an' cuts an' bruises from me flight."

"You made it here in a day from the edges of the Werewolf Territory?"

"Aye. Ran over the frozen river, hitched onto a train, took a cart to the edge of the district, an' walked from there." Shane removes his white wool sweater, leaving his black turtleneck and green trousers. He wears suspenders over his turtleneck, and his fierce mane of red hair and his beard make him look vaguely like a lion. Typically, he wears only a goatee, but he is unable to shave with frostbitten hands.

Jack knows what quickly regrowing lost teeth entails, not from personal experience, but from having watched it so many times. He fetches an old dish towel in case the blood spills, and a shot glass and kitchen knife to facilitate the transfer. Jack helps Michael tie his arm off with the towel and makes a small incision with the skill and precision of a surgeon. About two ounces of blood drip into the shot glass. It does not take much blood to induce healing effects. Shane drinks it quickly and chases it with whiskey that had been laying out since the night before. He, like Jack, is not incredibly fond of the taste of blood. Immediately the effects begin. Healing is sometimes more painful than the injury itself. The minor injuries heal quickly, but the frostbite is agonizing and slow. Shane's nose starts bleeding as it resets itself. The teeth are the slowest and most painful to heal. As with an infant, the teeth are slow to break the surface, but they bleed almost uncontrollably as they do so. Shane cannot grit his teeth against the pain, nor can he ingest medicine to dull the pain. The two teeth come in simultaneously, taking about half an hour to fully come in and settle into place exactly where the old ones were. After half an hour of sitting in silence trying not to scream, Shane cracks his back, stands up, and shakes off the last of the stiffness in his legs. He replaces his wool sweater and finishes off the whiskey from the night before.

"Thankee, Michael Bailey."

"'Tisn't a problem. Sure, what's a couple ounces of blood for a fellow refugee what needs it. Any time you need it, an' if you just need to see another refugee an' know you're not alone, I'm here."

"If ye ever need me, I'm easy enough to find."

"I know your other brothers."

"Who doesn't?"

"I've a question," says Jack. "Did ye ever know a Sean Bailey? Half-Vampire, half-Werewolf. Died years ago. Was a soldier."

"He was my half-brother. My father was married to a Vampire, but she died giving birth to Sean, so he remarried my mother. When Sean was nineteen, he went back to live with other Vampires. How'd ye ever know him?"

"He was in the same band o' soldiers I started out in. We protected our corner o' District Thirteen 'afore the army took us up."

"That must've been..."

"Over a century since."

"I was goin’ to say that it must’ve been one hell o’ an army unit."

"'Twas...'twas."

"Well, I'd best be gettin' home to me wife."

"Thankee again," Shane says.

"Thankee," Jack says, giving a sum of gold to Michael for his help. "The border guards give ye any trouble, come right back an' let me know." After Michael departs, Jack says, "Lynn, I don't know what ye wish to do, but we must go to the District Five office of immigration. We may be a while."

"I'll go with you," Lynn replies.

The four of them ride on horseback because Jack does not want to take his eyes off of his brother for safety’s sake, and one of them would have to drive if they were to take the carriage. Lynn's snow-white mare prances daintily with Lynn riding sidesaddle. Spook stomps around in circles carrying Jason. Spectre was not expecting to have to carry Shane. He stomps and refuses to obey commands until Shane gives up and tries Jack's brown mare Missa. Missa follows Spectre and Jack, but she will not obey separate commands from Shane. They somehow manage to reach the office within an hour. Jack asks to see the clerk several times but is turned down. Finally, he loses his temper.

"D'ye know who I am?"

"Some crazy bastard who thinks he's getting away with having an assumed identity."

"Can ye not tell by the uniform who I am?"

"Some crazy army officer who thinks he's getting away with having an assumed identity."

"I am Jack Shepherd, Senatorial General."

"I'll ask Senator Invernus myself." The clerk reappears with Julius, representative of District Five, who verifies the identity of both men. Jack lays his paperwork in front of the clerk and they go in before Julius. After nearly half an hour of arguing with Jack, eventually resulting in a fist fight, which he lost, Julius relents and grants Shane clemency, political asylum, and a certificate of residence. Lynn, who stayed in the lobby with Jason, looks concerned at first, but Jack, who was not even bruised by Julius, winks at her. She runs over and kisses everywhere on his face except for his lips.

"Ye missed," he says kissing her gently.

They decide to go to the Banshee Quarter. Every man in the border guard sees Jack's uniform and stands at attention. Michael Bailey is still stuck trying to cross the border. Jack orders his men to let the man go, and they reluctantly do so. Jack finds Sean and Seamus already in McFinn's and three rounds ahead of him. A fiddler is standing at one end of the room, and Dermott McFinn moved the tables off to the sides so that there is a makeshift dance floor. After four rounds, Jack lets Lynn talk him into being the first to dance. He does not like having that much attention, and the fact that Lynn is the woman whom every man there wants does not help much. The fiddler starts up a waltz, and Jack pulls Lynn closely to him, growling under his breath at anyone who looks like they might try to cut in. The waltz turns into a galloping jig and Lynn and Jack spin around the room. The twins pick dance partners whom they have never met before. Both girls are young, blonde-haired, blue-eyed Banshees. They do not notice that Lynn sees them. They are still in school, and Banshee students below eighth year are forbidden to have alcohol or go into bars unless they are Hell-born Banshees with some connection to the bar, with a professor, or any student working in one. Lynn whispers into Jack's ear that the twins are risking prison.

Shane is sitting off to the side nursing a pint of ale when a pretty, dark-haired woman lilts across the room, sits on his lap, smiles up at him, and asks him to dance in a pretty, lilting voice. She is fairly obviously drunk. He does not even ask her name before he sweeps her off her feet and into the crowd of people dancing. Shane is less social than his brothers. He does not visit bars often when he is not with them, save when he would drink with his close friends, and he rarely socializes with strangers. He also does not drink the way his brothers do. Despite the fact that he has almost nothing and is living with his brother in a country that would execute him simply for being a Werewolf, the lighthearted mood pervading the air of the bar infects even his thoughts, and he finds himself frolicking around the dance floor, galloping in steps he does not really know.

Dermott McFinn watches from behind the bar. His own wife and daughters are sitting at a table to the side. He sweeps his wife onto the dance floor in a rare opportunity to dance with her. All of a sudden, another musician arrives with his bodhrán. The drum pierces the air and more people begin to dance. Jason sits on a barstool watching his father and uncles spinning around the dance floor. Jack smiles at his son as he goes by. Dermott's second daughter is a month younger than Jason, who jumps off the barstool and runs over to her. She hides behind her older sister. Jason stands with his head cocked to one side looking up at the girls. Slowly, the golden-haired girl peers out from behind her sister. Jason's hand is outstretched. He stares up at her with his big, blue eyes, and she slides off the bench under the table wearing her nicest dress. Her sister tries to pull her back but cannot. The little girl runs off with Jason to one side of the band, where they are sure not to run into the adults dancing around them. Jason tries to mimic his father's actions. Dermott's daughter, though only a month younger, is much smaller. She is somewhat elfin in appearance. While her older sister has their father's straight, dark-brown hair, she has their mother's golden curls. They both have their father's green eyes. The girl has a heart-shaped face and a button nose. She wears a mauve dress with white lace; white stockings, gloves, and shoes; and a mauve ribbon in her hair. She flashes a smile from her delicate mouth. She is small and lively. She dances with Jason, even though neither of them really knows how. Her older sister runs off to the back room to play with the cat.

Throughout the evening, various musicians join the party. A flautist, an accordionist, a guitarist, a spoon player, a bones player, and a second fiddler join the group. Most of the dancers spend some time dancing and more time resting. Lynn spins Jack around all night. Jack's brothers hand him drinks as he dances by. Dermott and his wife return behind the bar after one song. His wife disappears periodically to check on their six-month-old son who is sleeping upstairs. She chases her two daughters to bed around nine, and Jason falls asleep on a bench in one of the booths. Eventually the twins stop dancing to buy drinks for their partners. Sean's partner passes out in his lap after only one round. Seamus's partner begins to scream and confesses that they had gotten drunk before they arrived and were still students, only finishing their seventh year. Seamus nods to his brother, and they depart for a short while to bring the girls back home.

Seamus wraps his greatcoat over his date even though it drags in the inch or so of snow that has fallen since dusk. Sean carries his date as easily as if she were a baby. Seamus knocks on the door of the dormitory, and a muscular young man who is about the height of the twins answers, glaring at them. He pushes Seamus's date inside easily and starts asking the twins did they not know these were only schoolgirls, to which the twins are forced to reply that they did not. Another student comes out from the darkness behind him and pulls him back as he swings at Seamus. The second young man throws his friend back into the house and takes the unconscious girl from Sean.

The young man who answered the door throws himself at the twins, whom he catches by the collarbones and knocks down the steps leading up to the dormitory. Sean hits his head on the iron railing and falls hard. Seamus twinges as he hears his twin's skull hit the iron railing and the cobblestone street. The student throws his full weight behind a punch intended for Seamus, but it is easily sidestepped. He trips over his own force and rolls back into a standing position. Sean jumps back up, and the student comes after him again, knowing that he is weaker because of the injury to his head. The student is younger than the twins and sober. He hits Sean squarely in the jaw. Seamus tries not to think of his brother's pain as he aims for the younger man's ribs. Sean stumbles choking and sputtering. This distracts Seamus, who wants more than anything to be able to comfort his brother, allowing the student to get a good shot to his eye. Seamus flies backward, slamming against the dormitory across the narrow street with his full weight and falling to the ground. Sean rushes after the younger man with a vengeance, but his hardest blows barely affect the man because, although Sean is not weak, he is easily distracted by concern for his brother. Seamus jumps on the back of the man assaulting his twin and tries to suffocate him. The student throws Sean through the dormitory window, and the ensuing crash causes many windows to be thrown open and candles to be lit up and down the street. The man bites Seamus's hand, causing him to loosen his grip enough to be thrown off of his back. The student concentrates on Seamus, who manages to get several solid blows in before being thrown through the window and landing on his twin.

"Thanks, Sean."

"Not a problem."

The two of them jump up and through the window. Sean's left arm crosses with Seamus's right arm as they run toward the man holding each others’ shoulders for a brace, knocking him off his feet upon impact. They kick him mercilessly while he is on the ground, attempting to knock him unconscious, raining curses on his head as they do so. The man pulls Sean off his feet and rolls on top of him, attacking him all the while. Seamus kicks the man off of his twin, diverting his attention. The man throws Seamus into an iron fence, which badly pierces his right arm. As he races over to finish the job, Sean picks up a branch and swings it at the student, knocking him off his feet. In the ensuing struggle on the ground, the student gains the upper hand again and slams Sean's head into the cobblestones. Before the young man can reach Seamus, Jack jumps from the thatched roof of the dormitory and lands between Sean and his attacker. He sends the young man reeling into the wall of the dormitory across the narrow street. He jumps over Sean's unconscious body and lifts the student off the ground by his neck.

"D'ye know who I am?"

"No...sor."

"D'ye know how easy 'twould be for me to kill ye?"

"Aye...sor."

"I've a pistol in me pocket. I won't use it. I could kill ye wi' out it, but I'll spare ye, but don't ever touch me brothers again, elsewise ye won't live long enough to know what hit ye, understand?"

"Aye...sor."

"Now get the hell back into your dorm, ye wanker."

Jack throws the young man through the broken window and gingerly removes Seamus from the iron fence. Seamus wraps his left arm around Jack's shoulder, and Jack gingerly picks Sean up, unsure of the severity of his injuries.

"Thankee, Jack," gasps Seamus who feels broken ribs sliding against each other with every breath. He wishes with every step that they had been sober entering the fight, for he knows they would have triumphed without Jack's help if they had had their senses about them.

Jack brings them to the only place that he knows on the same street: the professors' home. He knows that Maire is still in the hospital, and Lynn still at McFinn's. He knows that he will see Katy O'Grady and Kitty O'Neill. Perhaps he will see Edana Kavanagh, who is Kerrigan Sheehan by another name. Jack knocks with his head, his hands being unavailable, and a Leprechaun answers by staring up at Jack's chin.

"Sir, the professors..."

"Let him inside," instructs Edana, who looks exactly like Kerrigan, as she is, in fact, the same person. She is wearing a long-sleeved black bustle dress with black lace trim. Though the top is tight and fairly low-cut, it is not provocative. She leads them into the living room. Blood will do nothing for them. They need a healer.

The charming Kitty O'Neill, whose eyes are the same icy blue as Jack's, leads Seamus to an armchair and pulls up a kitchen chair from the room across the hall. She sits next to him, stroking his hand and cleaning his wounds with alcohol while she whispers sweet, comforting things into his ear to ease his pain. Her long, black curls grace her presence, as does her sapphire-blue dress with its off-the-shoulder, ice blue, lace sleeves and ice blue accents. Sean lies unconscious where Jack placed him on the sofa. Edana kneels on the floor, gently and absentmindedly stroking Sean's hair. Katy O'Grady puts on her white cloak over her white gown, making her look like a tall, thin cloud with her gray-blue eyes and black hair, and walks down the street to seek the school's healer. Knowing something of the severity of Sean's injuries and the full scope of the brothers' attachment, Kitty first asks Edana, then gives Seamus enough whiskey to dull his senses. Jack smokes a cigar by the fire, trying not to appear shaken.

The healer arrives and does what he can for Seamus. Seamus starts to look better until his arm and ribs start to reset themselves. There is an audible grinding noise as the ribs slide back into place. The healer takes one look at Sean and shakes his head. He feels for a pulse and finds a weak one, but Sean is not breathing.

"He may not make it," the healer says grimly, throwing Seamus into hysterics.

"We've not been apart since 'afore we was born! Ye may's well not've healed me wi' out him! If he dies, I'll just have to bury meself wi' him!"

"I can try. Please, it's all I can do."

The healer does his best to heal Sean, who shortly opens his eyes lazily in desperate need of rest. "Seamus? Where are we?"

"Sean! I thought ye was dead."

"Why would I be?"

Seamus embraces his brother tightly, as Jack catches the sleeve of the healer intending to leave. "I cannot thank ye enough," Jack says, inquiring as to the man's fee.

"Don't mention it, an' don't worry. I owe the twins for some rare medical books they found for me. They'll take it out of my debt."

"Thankee. As an older brother an' patriarch, I've the need to thankee. Have a wonderful Yule. Oh, an' if ye see a student what's been through a fight wi' these two, don't be tellin' him me name."

The healer leaves and Jack returns to the sitting room. Edana says, "We have a spare room. The twins will stay here for the night, Jack. Thank you for bringing them here."

"Well, I'll be back to McFinn's. I've the need to apologize to Lynn." Jack puts his military cap back on his head and walks out into the night alone. Almost everyone has left McFinn's. Shane is sitting over Jason's sleeping figure, his date having left him for another. Lynn is sitting at the bar with several glasses in front of her. The first fiddler is the only musician left. Jack asks for one more waltz as he sweeps Lynn off her feet. Only Jack and Lynn and the McFinns dance. The fiddler then leaves, and Jack and Lynn sit at the bar. Jack drinks almost half a bottle of whiskey before either of them says anything.

"I'm sorry if I alarmed ye, Lynn. I needed to take care o' me brothers. Clan loyalty."

"I understand."

"I should thank ye for dancin' me sober. I'd never've pulled that off drunk."

"You're a wonderful dancer, Jack Shepherd. What other tricks do you know?"

"I've a few. Want to see? Ack...wrong thing to say. Whiskey's got me tongue."

Jack apologizes to Lynn, pays the group's bar tab, rouses Jason, and leaves with his son and Shane. Mrs. McFinn goes upstairs to check on her three children.

"Another whiskey," requests Lynn of Dermott.

"No more. I'd give ye some, but that I've no more meself. Bit o' free advice, though, go after him. Jack's crazy about ye. I've never seen him like this around anyone. He's just never been wi' a girl like ye before, an' he don't want to ruin it wi' his mouth."

"How would you know, Dermott?"

"I know Jack, and I know love. I looked at me wife the same way when we met. Trust me, Miss O'Brien, Jack Shepherd will do anythin' for ye. Now go an’ tell him he wasn't wrong. I don't want to see Jack's heart broken again, an' I know y'ain't mad. Ye wanted to hear him say that."

"Thank you, Dermott," Lynn says before decidedly riding off into the dark night.