Red Leaves and Polaroids

The hospital room was cold and white and smelled like a mix of rubbing alcohol and the inside of a latex glove. Dany opened her eyes and saw a woman with dark red hair and lipstick to match standing over her. Her scrubs were red. It was like she'd fallen into a vat of red paint.

"Look who finally woke up!" she sang, "My name is Dr Melisandre Rougement, but feel free to call me Melisandre or just Mel."

"Am I in a hospital?"

"Yep. Toronto East General, psychiatric ward. You had quite the round of tactile hallucinations but we've given you a heavy dose of anti-psychotics so you should be fine for the next four hours. We're going to have to keep you overnight, though. Just to make sure you're stable." Theon stepped into Dany's line of vision, his face was dark and scared, his pale teal eyes slightly teary.

"She was beating me up." said Dany. "Quaithe."

"Who's Quaithe?" said Melisandre, sitting on the edge of her bed,

"I've been seeing her since I was a baby. When I was little she used to tell me to burn things."

"Does she tell you to do that anymore?"

Dany shook her head, "Can you call my work and tell them I won't be in today?"

"I'll do it." said Theon, walking towards the door and stumbling into the hall.

"So, I'm going to have to start seeing you regularly."

"No, we can't afford it, I'm a cosmetologist-"

"I've offered to do it for free." Melisandre smiled, "I knew your father, I treated him for a few years before he died. You look so much like him, it's crazy."

"Yeah. So was he."

"The Targaryen family has a history of mental illness."

"Yep. There's usually at least one in every generation. When my brothers both turned out fine, everyone kind of accepted that it was only a matter of time before I started to slowly lose it."

Melisandre glanced towards the door, "Is that your boyfriend?"

"I don't know." the corners of Dany's mouth twitched into a small smile,

"He's cute." Melisandre quipped, "He was freaking out when he brought you in."

"Yeah, he, uh, he has a tendency to overreact."

...

Dany woke up the next morning with Theon's arms wrapped around her in a way that could only remind her of Drogo. Quiathe was sitting next to the window, curled in on herself and terrified, the lines of her body were blurred by the antipsychotics that had been intravenously pumped into her body overnight. Theon had pink tracks down his face from tears, Dany moved closer to him.

It felt way too similar to the night at the same hospital the night of the accident, she had been doing exactly what Theon was doing. Except no-one had died this time. Dany remembered holding Drogo's broken, unresponsive body and begging him to wake up, and seeing what had been her beautiful baby Rhaego in a state she felt sick describing, he hadn't been even a year old. Thinking back, she felt some relief for him, he had been killed instantly in the crash, as horrible as it was, he hadn't lingered like Drogo had. Everything had been so beautiful and perfect before, Quaithe didn't hurt her, she had a shot at another real family and she had been so in love. But they were gone forever, and Dany had no choice but to kill herself or continue living without them, with Quaithe in her head at all times, reminding her how disgusting and worthless she was, she'd never felt this low before July. Part of her didn't want to love Theon the way she did, she was still very much in love with someone who had been dead for almost four months, but Theon was here, living and breathing and reciprocating her feelings. She felt so bad for putting him through all her copious problems.

"I'm so sorry. Please don't think this is what it's always like." Theon opened his eyes, when he saw her he pulled her closer, "Stop, Theon, you're killing me-."

...

The car ride home was silent and awkward. Theon's eyes were glued to the road and every so often would stray over, Dany kept pulling her sleeves farther down.

"I understand what you're going through." Theon said softly.

"Really?" said Dany in a tone that was more argumentative than anything, "You've been choked out, verbally abused and beaten by someone who doesn't exist, really?"

"That's not what I meant." Theon inhaled deeply, "When I was 16, uh, my girlfriend shot herself."

"Did you have a baby with her? Was she the closest thing you had to a family? Because if not, you don't understand what I'm going through." Theon was silent, "...I'm sorry..."

"...I could be your family." he said quietly, Dany's thought process came to a standstill, she suddenly felt hot tears pouring down her face, Theon's hand came to rest on hers and she couldn't bring herself to pull away. She felt like such an ass for feeling this way about him. She loved Drogo, she loved her son, she loved Theon... As the antipsychotics began to wear off she kept hearing Drogo's voice in Theon's, and his face, and she cried harder. She felt the weight of Theon's arm resting around her shoulders. Still he kept driving.

"I love you..."Dany whispered, she glanced into the backseat, Quaithe was sitting there with a knife in her hand, she lunged forward, Dany screamed.

The car swerved violently into the other lane, Theon shrieked and straightened the car out,

"Ohhh, Christ." Dany seethed and punched Theon in the crotch. "Hey, what the fuck are you-"

"YOU ASSHOLE, WE COULD HAVE DIED."

Theon exhaled heavily and kept his eyes on the road.

...

I own you, Daenerys, you're my property, my little toy, I don't give a fuck what any psychologist says, I'm here to stay.

Dany spent the rest of the day on auto-pilot, putting makeup on people, telling them how beautiful they looked and then locking herself up in the back room of the salon until Doreah told her she had another person waiting, the end of the day came finally.

Walking home with Sansa was nearly silent. Dany saw how pale her friend looked, she'd been different after going to see her aunt in Burlington. Apparently they would be able to have full custody of the boys once their financial situation cleared up and their living situation was secure. And when Dany moved out. Lysa Arryn had expressed her concerns about Bran and Rickon living with a schizophrenic, especially after what had happened with Arya. Sansa had kept apologizing and apologizing.

"So, you and Theon?" Sansa finally asked,

"Yeah, it's... it's weird."

"As long as you're happy. You've been through similar things."

"He has a family."

"An abusive family."

"They still exist. They acknowledge him, they're trying to fix it, I never even got to see my parents."

Sansa put an arm around Dany's shoulders, "I know, I'm sorry, so, uh, my aunt and the boys are coming into town."

"I thought you said she didn't want anything to do with me."

"She's decided to give you a try. And uh... you know the Lannisters?"

"Yeah, why?"

"They've offered to help us out with money and they've also offered to let us use their house."

"Why would we need their house?"

"We need Lysa to think we're stable. We're going to have a civilized dinner at the Lannister house, and hopefully Lysa will make up her mind."