Not Alone

Prologue

Ned awoke with a gasp as he felt the hand shaking him free of his dreams, he glanced next to him to see Cat's frantic face staring down at him. Her deep blue eyes filled with a terror the likes of which he had never seen before. Her face was even paler than normal and she looked like she was about faint. "Ned." When she spoke, her voice wobbled and she sounded like she was about to break down crying. "I think it's time."

Ned shot up in bed and leapt from it and ran over to the light switch on the wall, flipping it on and spun around to look back at his wife, he had never seen her so pale before and for a moment he was terrified that something was wrong, truly and deeply wrong. He took a deep breath and tried to focus on calming down, they had been waiting for this. They had been prepared for this, everything was on time. It was all going to be fine.

He was quick, they had a bag packed for just this occasion underneath the bed and as he fished it out, Cat sat up and threw her legs over the edge and began to rock herself back and forth and she kept a hand on her swollen belly, rubbing soothing circles into it as she focused on her breathing. She held out her hand for Ned to take and he took it readily.

"It's going to be alright my love, everything's going to be fine." He pressed a kiss to the back of Catelyn's hand while his free hand came to rub at her back. Catelyn breathed and nodded and Ned helped her up to her feet, they began to make their way through the house and down the stairs, he grabbed Cat's coat from the pegs and helped her put it on.

The walk from the doorstep to the car was the longest in Ned's life, for a moment he thought about calling an ambulance. But there wasn't any need, it wasn't an emergency as his dear mother would like to put it. This was the most normal time in the world and when it came to all of her children, her husband would drive her to the hospital and that would be all there was to it.

Once Cat was safely inside of the car Ned ran around to the other side, jumped in and drove out on to the rode. It was oddly normal, they spoke about the weather, names if it was a boy or a girl, they had wanted to keep it a surprised, friends and parties and what looked good on the TV over the weekend. Aside from Cat letting out a little twinge every now and then, it was almost perfectly normal.

The roads were clear as they could only be at almost three in the morning, he found a spot in the parking lot and helped Catelyn out and into the hospital. Everything after that was something of a blur, two midwives came and took his wife in hand and then lead him to a place that he could sit. He had wanted to be in there with her, but it was a sterility issue or something like that. Things were moving fast.

What followed was the longest night of his life, seconds passed like they were hours and every now and then a nurse would rush in or out of the room and no one told him anything. Around four in the morning a nurse brought him a cup of tea and a biscuit, the tea was strong and too sweet for his tastebuds and the biscuit was too rich, but he appreciated something in his stomach.

He thought about calling the rest of the family but...Well, Brandon wouldn't pick up and probably wasn't in any fit state to do so, his Mother and Father needed their sleep and he could tell in the morning that they had become grandparents, Benjen was oversees and Lya...Ned had no idea where Lya even was right now, and for all that he loved his sister he wasn't even sure he even wanted to talk to her.

It must have been almost eight in the morning when the door finally opened and the doctor came out, his gloved hands were drenched in blood but that didn't worry him even half as much as the look of pity in his eyes. "I am so very sorry Mr Stark, you have a son and the lad is healthy enough but...I am afraid that your wife is bleeding too heavily, and we can not stop it. She's asking for you."

The whole world seemed to fall into a haze, he didn't remember standing up or walking into the room but he must have done because he was soon at her bedside. Cat had never seemed so small or so pale in her life, her eyes were lidded and she could not open them any wider. She still saw him however and she smiled, her hand held out for him and Ned took it. "Well, this is a bit of a come down isn't it?"

"You're going to be fine."

"We both know that I am not." She almost sounded more insulted that Ned had lied to her than her life was leaking out of her, turning her sheets red. Catelyn closed her eyes and didn't open them again and for a moment Ned thought that she was gone but she soon spoke once again. "Ned, I need you to listen to me. You're going to be on your own now, but we have a son. I need you to not be angry with him, I need you to...to love him. I need you to tell him that I love him, I love him more than anything in the world."

"Of course I will." Tears were running down his face then, he tried to close his eyes and be strong but that didn't stop the tears. It only made his eyes saw. He leaned forward and kissed her, she was as cold as ice. "I love you Cat."

She didn't answer and the room was as silent as the grave. He wasn't sure what happened after that, all he knew was that Cat was taken away and he had to answer some questions. He thought that he did anyway, it seemed like a storm had blown into the room. He didn't sleep, he didn't even get up from the chair that he had been sat in.

The sun was too bright and a nurse asked him if he wanted to see his son, Ned said nothing but nodded in agreement, following her to the room where lines and lines of plastic cots held new born babies. Ned followed the nurse inside to one specific cot, where a tiny little thing with red hair was slumbering like there was nothing wrong with the world at all.

The nurse said he would give him a few moments and then left the room, Ned reached down and cupped the little one's head. "Hello lad, I'm your dad." He wanted to be happy, more than anything in the world he wanted to be happy right now but all the grief in the world was crushing it down. "We're alone now, you and me. But I promise I will do the best that I can for you. But I've never been a dad before and there was meant to be someone with me, to help, but I'll do the best that I can. Okay?"

As soon as he had finished speaking, the baby's eyes opened and they were the deepest blue that Ned had ever seen in his life and he already knew that they would not be changing colour as he grew. He was Cat's son, he was his son. Ned bent his head and pressed a kiss to the soft skin. "Hello Robb, I love you more than anything in this world."

The day had come so very fast, and she had been dreading it more than anything. But she knew that there was nothing she could do to avoid it now. It had to be faced and once it was over and done with, she could move on with her life. Still, all Elia Martell could do was stare up at the celling for a few long moments before with a heavy sigh, she pushed her covers off of and began to get out of bed.

She grabbed one of her plastic pill containers, handily divided up into days of the week, and took her daily amount and washed them down with a swing of water. Her bones ached and she was so tired that all she wanted to was get back into bed and sleep the rest of the day away but she knew that she couldn't. The pills would pick her up soon enough. She just had to endure, as she had to do everyday.

Elia pushed herself out of bed and made her way over to her wardrobe, picking out a blue shirt, some white pants and a floral print headscarf that Oberyn bought for her when he had come back home from Pakistan. Once she was dressed, she exited her bedroom. She probably should have had a shower but she honestly didn't care what anyone thought at the moment and she had a long one the night before anyway.

Popping her head into the nursery soothed her somewhat, Rhaenys was sleeping in her bed with her kitten slumbering on top of her, it's tail swinging back and forth in it's sleep like a pendulum. Baby Aegon was slumbering in his crib, his tiny little chest rising and falling with every single breath that he took. Elia gently shut the door, praying she wouldn't wake them up.

She made a cup of coffee and let out a sigh of relief when she spied Oberyn and Elliara pulling up, they walked in as they always did but Elia didn't mind. She had given them both a key long ago, but they could have broken in and she wouldn't mind. She probably would have done something stupid by now if it weren't for the two of them helping her.

Ellaria pressed a kiss to her cheek and helped her to stand up, she would look after the babies, make them breakfast and play with them till they got back. His brother's girlfriend gave her that smile, the one which she had come to hate. It stunk of pity and Elia hated nothing more than being pitied. Thankfully, Oberyn knew that and quickly lead her out.

The drive to the solicitor's office was far shorter than she would have liked, Elia made no move to get out of the car and of course her little brother managed to notice that. "You don't have to go in there you know, or if you want I could go in there with you and when I see that arrogant, crazy, evil, vile bastard I could smash his face into paste. You know, you do have options."

She could always rely on Oberyn, to keep her safe, to make her smile, to make her laugh. But no, this was something that she had to do alone. It hurt, of course it did. It hurt more than anything in the entire world hurt, but once it was done then it was done and she could start to move on with her life. What little of a life she actually stilled had.

Elia patted her brother on the shoulder, a silent show of appreciation, but shook her head. She gathered her strength and opened the door and climbed out and slowly made her way to the doors. The woman at the front desk told her where their appointment was, and of course it was on the third floor and of course it happened on the day that the elevators had broken.

She forced a smile and made herself thank the woman and then made her way to the stairwell, she was out of breath and lightheaded by the time she had made it to the third floor and had to sit down on the nearest chair. Once she had regained control of herself, she stood up and made her way to the office where her future would be decided.

The solicitor's personal assistant told her that her husband had already arrived and that they were waiting for her, this was going to be the worst part of the day but once it was done then it was done. Elia took a deep breath, steeled herself and walked into the office.

Rhaegar Targaryen was as beautiful as ever, completely poised. That hurt more than anything else, he was dressed simply but every single item of clothing from the black leather jacket to the blue jeans with the stylish and tasteful tears to the black sunglasses which were perched on to the top of his head probably cost more than most people spent to decorate their houses.

The solicitor was overweight, red faced and had a weasel look about him. Elia sat down in the chair next to her soon to be ex-husband and made herself as comfortable as she was likely to get today. "I would like to thank both of you for coming here today, obviously this is not a happy occasion whatsoever so we shall make this as painless as possible."

It was all just details really, things she had always known were going to happen. Elia had signed a prenup which stated that she would be given a cash settlement when they were divorced but nothing more, five hundred thousand pounds for each year they were married. It came to two point five million all together, but with her medical bills, even with the NHS, and other expenses the vast majority of it would be gone soon.

Everything else was Rhaegar's, the houses and the cars and the artwork. It all belonged to Rhaegar, she had argued that it was almost medieval but it had been part of the prenup and she had already signed it. She had been so sure that they would be together for ever, she had been so stupid and so naïve. She should have fought against it, Mother had told her to do so and she hadn't listened.

All that was left was the children, Elia would have full custody which she quickly sent a silent prayer in gratitude for, but Rhaegar would have full visitation rights and would be able to see their children whenever he wished too and there was nothing that Elia would be able to do to stop it. Just like most everything else in her life.

Then it came to the signing, Rhaegar didn't even look at the papers and scrawled his signature on it. Elia had glanced at Rhaegar and for a moment, just a moment she thought about storming out. What would he do if she didn't agree to it? If she picked up the papers, ripped them in half and stormed out before anything else could be done.

Oh, Rhaegar would get the divorce in the end, of course he would. The Targaryens always got what they wanted, but that didn't mean that she couldn't make it painful for him, couldn't make it humiliating for him. Taking the eldest son of one of the most prominent families in Britain to court, now that would be beyond satisfying.

The only problem was, she didn't have that much fight in her. And so with a sigh, Elia added her signature just below Rhaegar's. And then it was done, the solicitor picked up the papers and left the room, promising to get them filed right away. The promise more for Rhaegar's benefit than for hers, she was sure enough of that.

"Thank you for all of that, I know it couldn't have been easy." She wanted to pick up the stapler right there and then and use it to smash his face in. "You will be all right Elia, I promise. I'll pay child support and I will drop in as often as I can."

"How very gallant of you, thank you for doing something that any actual decent human being would do. Would you like a parade, a trophy? A medal engraved with the words "I did the absolute bare minimum of what was expected of me?" Would you like any of that?" Her scorn clearly made him uncomfortable, perhaps he would have liked her to meekly submit to this indignity but she wouldn't, she might not have the strength to fight but she certainly had the strength to hate.

But suddenly, all the hate and the rage was overcome by a wave of sadness, of fatigue. "We've been married for over five years, we have a daughter and a son." Thoughts of Aegon, but more so Rhaenys, caused her to sob. How was she going to explain any of this to them? "How could you do this to us Rhaegar, don't you care about us at all?"

His violet eyes, the eyes she had loved to look into every single day when she woke up and every single night when she fell asleep, did fill with sorrow for a moment. With pity. "Of course I care, you were my wife and they were my children but..." He closed his eyes and breathed deep before he spoke again. "I fell in love with somebody else."

"You fell in love with a girl that is shy of eighteen." Oh, and that had been even more fun to deal with. The scandal, the embarrassment, Brandon Stark coming by at four in the morning, drunk out of his mind, hammering on the door, screaming for her husband who wasn't even there to come out and fight him like a man before he pissed on her doorstep and stumbled off, leaving her with a toddler and a baby who were terrified.

Rhaegar sighed, opened his eyes and looked at her like she was a child who didn't understand why she shouldn't put her finger down the drain while the waste disposal was on. "You just don't understand Elia." He came forward and pressed a chaste peck to her cheek and Elia fought the urge not to slap him, and then just like that he was gone.

Her legs buckled and she fell back into her chair, and buried her face into her hands and Elia Martell began to sob. Completely lost and no idea on where to go on from here. If Rhaegar heard her crying, then he did not care.

End of Prologue.

This was a story I've want to been writing for awhile, many of you know I've been writing another story for Ned and Elia that has ballooned into something more massive than I ever had expected in my life to happen. This was another idea, a Ned and Elia story set in our almost modern worlds, around the late eighties, early nineties.

As such, I hope everyone enjoyed this prologue and that it gives you an idea of what's to come. Each chapter will be split between Ned and Elia and they will be the only P. . There will be a time skip between this and the first chapter, roughly four years or so.

If you did like what you've read so far, then please leave a review, a follow and a favourite.

With much love and warmest regards,

DiscordantSymphony