The walk back from Willa's house to Dany's was much longer than usual. Though she still seemed to cover ground with Rose in the same amount of time, Dany felt as though it stretched out forever with her thoughts plaguing each step of the way.
Plaguing? Maybe not the right word for it. Something else that was incredulous and hesitantly joyful.
"You can't know that!" Dany had protested in Willa's house after her friend announced Dany's diagnosis.
"Who's the healer here?" Willa argued, "Even if I didn't see you early when you had Rose, I remember what you told me your symptoms were. You got sick all the time in the beginning! When did you bleed last?"
Dany tried to think back, stuttering her response, "T-That - that doesn't mea - "
"Does too!" Willa snapped, "You don't remember, do you? It's been more than a month, hasn't it? Almost two? Way more than normal. And you're as normal as they come!"
She had been unable to say anything in defense. Willa's diagnosis was crystalline, and Dany knew it from the moment she heard the word. Was she shocked? Absolutely. In disbelief? Even more so.
Though she shouldn't be - Dany blushed - given her nightly activities. But Rose hasn't even had her first nameday yet, one part of her mind protested. It was silly, but Dany had always thought of families as being structured similarly to how she, Rhaegar, and Viserys had been. Of course that wasn't true, but she had just never given any thought to being pregnant a year after the birth of her first child.
"Ooh!" Dany said to Rose as they walked on, "How do I even tell your papa that he's going to be...a papa again?"
"Ah?" Rose replied, cocking her head up to look at her mother.
"And you're going to be an older sister," Dany said to her, "Because Mama's going to have another baby, Rosie." Despite the shock (and nausea) still swirling about, Dany was overcome with a swooping feeling of giddiness.
Hesitantly joyful wasn't the right description either. Overjoyed? Completely. She was pregnant. After everything. After the last few months with the unhatched egg, the ship of people bearing bad news and worse propositions, the barn roof damage; after all of that, there was something to truly be excited about.
Once again, she was carrying a new little life inside her. Her baby. Hers and Jon's. Their family was still growing and Dany felt as though her heart was about to bloom.
A memory of the week after Rose was born flashed in her mind: "I already know I want siblings for you as long as your mama does." She remembered replying that she needed some time to rest before they tried for another one.
"I guess the resting is over, Rosie," Dany said as the little house in the clearing came into view, "And now all we need to do is tell Papa."
The other people helping Jon to fix the barn roof were gone by the time Dany and Rose got there. It looked completely repaired now, like the storm had never even damaged it. The only hint that something needed to be fixed was the silhouette of Jon in the afternoon sun making a few last adjustments on it.
"Can you call your papa, Rosie?" Dany prompted her daughter, shifting to make sure Rose could see Jon on the roof, "Say 'Papa!'"
Rose looked interestedly at Jon, baby-toothed smile coming out in full as she realized who it was.
"Papa!" Dany said again softly, bouncing Rose once. She had been trying this with new words every day, though her success had so far been limited to excited attempts of babbling.
She prompted again, "Papa!"
"Papa!"
Jon nearly fell off the roof.
He slid down, ungracefully, and nearly leapt over to where the tiny voice had come from. "Did she - she just - did she -?" he spluttered, staring manically.
As if to confirm, Rose said it again, pointing at Jon, "Papa!"
Both he and Dany grinned and Jon took Rose from Dany's arms, bringing her up into the air. "That's my girl!" he exclaimed, "That's my Rosie! Did she say it before?"
"No, that was the first time!" Dany replied excitedly.
Jon looked as if he was about to burst with pride, his chest puffed up and his face beaming. The twinkle in his normally stormy gray eyes made him look like a young man again. Though neither of them were old, Dany once again thought about how much they had been dealing with over the last few months. Now Rose was growing up before their eyes, and he was just so happy as he sat down with Rose, coaxing her to say it again. It wasn't working, and Rose was simply enjoying the attention with smiles and giggles, but it didn't bother Jon.
He wore the pride of hearing his daughter's first word (and having it be in reference to himself) throughout the entire evening. They hardly discussed anything else, and Dany still had no idea if the barn roof was definitely completed or even how Jon's day had been. She nearly had to drag him away from Rose's bedside because he was worried he would miss hearing her say it again.
"I just can't believe it!" he said, sitting down on their bed, still grinning like a madman, "She spoke! Our daughter can talk! I mean, talk and know what she's saying!"
Dany watched as he leaned back on their bed, his legs touching hers as she stood at the edge, hands folded behind his head. "What a day," Jon said to her, smiling at the ceiling, "Barn roof'll be finished tomorrow. Rose said her first word. You're here, that's always a highlight - did seeing Willa help with your headache?"
"Yes," Dany said, suddenly nervous, although just as giddy as before. Instinctively, though it had been nearly a year since she last made the gesture, Dany's hands brushed over her stomach. Still flat, but she smiled quietly knowing that it would soon change. "I - uh - think I can add to your good day."
"Hmm?" Jon chuckled knowingly, propping himself up, "How's tha -?"
He stopped as he saw Dany, standing in front of him, hands placed where they would be if she was…
"Dany?" Jon breathed. His smile was gone, replaced with awestruck seriousness. He didn't ask the question, but sat up, bringing his hand up to cover one of hers. As he looked up, a small smile, so delicate compared to the one he had worn moments earlier, came over his face.
Without having to hear the question, Dany nodded, at first slowly and then more vigorously. Any shadows of shock were gone. They weren't traveling away, abandoning their old lives for an uncertain future. This was their choice. Their family. And it was growing.
Suddenly, Jon's hands were around her waist and he stood up, meeting Dany in a searing kiss that lifted her off the ground. She wrapped her arms around him as both grinned as one kiss quickly devolved many tiny kisses from Jon peppering her face.
"You're really…?" he asked as he lowered her back to the ground.
She nodded again, leaning in to kiss him once more. "You're going to be a father again," she murmured against his lips.
They spoke no more as Jon knelt down in front of her, his hands grazing over her stomach. He smiled as he felt the still-flat plane, and Dany knew if he was thinking about the coming change as well.
Barely, she heard him whisper a promise: "You are so loved already. So loved."
Sometimes, Dany could not believe the things around her were real. Here she was, Jon nestled over her breast and perfect smile over her face as they lay together in the quiet darkness. Every once in a while, Jon was moving his hand to once again remember that his child was inside of her, but it had not happened recently. She ran her fingers through his hair, scraping her nails gently over the scalp.
"Are you asleep, my love?" she asked him in a low voice, "Jon?"
"Hmm? No," Jon said raising his head to look up at her, "No, just lost for a moment."
"What about?"
"Ah, it's nothing, really," he said, leaning to rest his head on his elbow, "It's just...we never really did things properly, you know?"
Bewildered, Dany stared at him. "What do you mean?" she asked, feeling hurt. He doesn't want this baby, the fear in the back of her head urged.
That can't be true, she argued with herself.
"No, no, Dany," Jon assured her, seeming to sense her sudden anxiety, "Sorry, that came out wrong. It's not bad. I just meant, you know, we left Dragonstone and then you got pregnant with Rose on the way. And between that and making a life here...well, I know it's not really a free folk thing, but I just realized that we never actually got - uh - married."
He ended the statement with an anxious smile that looked almost like someone who had been caught in the midst of hilarious wrongdoing. Unable to contain her relief, Dany let out a laugh at Jon's face, which quickly turned to a frown.
"Sorry," he muttered, "It's stupid, I know."
Now it was her turn to correct. "No, Jon, no. I was laughing wasn't laughing at what you said. Just at my own thoughts," she told him, brushing a hand over his chest in reassurance, "Though I have to admit, I never really thought about it - the marriage part."
"Nor had I," Jon said, "But we were just laying here together and I was thinking about how much I loved my wife and realized that you, I guess in the most formal of terms, aren't my wife?"
Is it possible to love you any more? The deepest part of her heart was touched with his words and Dany could not help but lean forward and kiss him again. Giddiness had made its home in her again and she wondered if anyone else had been lucky enough to experience these indescribable feelings.
"Ask me, then," she told him between kisses, "Ask me to marry you."
Pulling apart so that his eyes could capture her gaze, Jon nodded. He brushed strands of silver hair from her eyes before bringing his hand to cup her face. "Dany, my love," he began, "Will you marry me?"
Grinning, she kissed him once more. "Yes," she said, "Yes, of course I will! Tomorrow. We'll be wed tomorrow."
A brief note: one of you fabulous reviewers asked how Willa has plants like lavender at her disposal, but not much nutmeg. Basic answer? She grows lavender indoors near her fire along with several other non-native plants she's been able to collect. But she can't grow nutmeg because it comes from a tree, and it doesn't have enough medicinal value to be worth trying (but it's been known as an incredibly valuable commodity, so it's worth having some to trade for things like spyglasses).