This is my Midwinter Exchange fic for the Dove. I got Tink the Flamingo, and she asked for Alanna/George or anything with George. So I, somehow, came up with this.

Disclaimer: I do not own Alanna, George, Jon, Thayet, ALy, or any other characters noted here. Tamora Pierce does, so coming after me with lawyers is pointless.

Also, about the dates: They were done with one glance at Lady Queenscove (quatre-sama)'s timeline and a lot of probably bad, innacurate mental math by me. If they're wrong, I apologize. I hope that you enjoy the story.

Memories from a Marriage

year one

They were still not really settled as a couple. Alanna had business to attend to as King's Champion, and George was getting used to being a spymaster, leaving for weeks at a time to help plant spies and talk with Myles. And then there was the famine. George and Alanna didn't go hungry, but a lot of the villagers would if they hadn't shared their food.

Meanwhile, the realm had gotten the news that Thayet was pregnant and Jon had asked Alanna when was she going to have little red headed warriors? She didn't want them, not then. Eventually, yes. She was just too busy, and so was George.

And she was absolutely not naming any after Jon, no matter how much he begged.

year five

She hadn't been wrong as a healer yet. She was good at diagnosing illnesses, and curing a simple stomach bug was something that she had been able to do as a child. She had poured her gift through herself yesterday to get rid of the flu or food poisoning, or whatever it was that was making her throw up. But then why was she still throwing up in the mornings? Wait- no. No. It wasn't possible…. Was it?

She couldn't be pregnant. It wasn't possible. She didn't want a baby, not now.

But she was.

two days later

Alanna never fiddled with things, George had noticed after their years of being married. She had very good control. She never fidgeted at council meetings or events of state that they were required to attend with her being King's Champion and all. Granted, she occasionally did make nasty sarcastic jibes about the other nobles during said events of state, but those were usually spoken softly enough so that only he could hear.

But then why was she playing with her skirt, smoothing it over and over, and her napkin, folding it up? She also was absently tapping the edge of her knife against the plate.

"'Lanna?" asked George during a pause in the conversation. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she said back snappishly. "I'll talk to you after dinner." She resumed tapping the knife against the plate. George sighed.

Once they were all done with the meal and had gone to the sitting room, George noticed that his wife had lost her affronted air of before.

"I have something to tell you," she said quietly, looking down.

He knew that that was coming.

"Yes, lass?"

She sighed. "It's really important, alright?"

"Then why won't you look at me in the eye?" She brought her head up immediately. "Stop that." He held both hands up in a gesture of peace.

"Okay." She took a deep, calming breath. "George, I'm pregnant."

He blinked. "Come again?"

"Is there something wrong with your hearing? I'm pregnant, as in having a baby." She sighed, and then added, "And if it's a boy, I- I want to name it after my brother."

"Thom?" he asked.

"Do I have any other brother?"

"No," he admitted. "Not of my knowledge, anyways." She glared.

"Thom of Pirate's Swoop is nice for me," said George. Then- "Alanna, what if we have a girl?"

year ten

She had missed Aly and Alan's birthday. Some idiotic conservative earl had been insulting female warriors and she had challenged him to a duel with words. As he was the challenged, he got to set the date. And then he set it on Aly and Alan's birthday… she scowled.

As she approached the gates of Pirate's Swoop's courtyard, she dimly made out three red headed children standing on the wall waving madly. Well, one redhead and two strawberry blondes, she corrected herself. Thom was the only one of her and George's children who was a true redhead as Aly and Alan were not. As she got closer she heard shouts of "Mama! Mama!" And in the case of her daughter Aly, "Ma-ah!"

The Lioness grinned and waved back. She had brought Alan and Aly rather large gifts to make up for her absence. They were in a cart a few miles behind her with the rest of them. She had ridden ahead, wanting to see her children.

She got to the gates, and rode in. As a hostler came and took her horse to the stables, she was hit three times around her middle- first by something topped with a shock of orange, then two littler golden blondes screaming "Mama!" She knelt so that she was at their eye level and hugged all three, grinning as George came over. He gently nudged their toddlers away, then pulled her up and kissed her. She relaxed in his arms, and hugged and kissed him back.

"Welcome home, lass." He said.

year fifteen

She was outraged at Jonathan. Well, and Lord Wyldon, the training master, too. How dare he! How dare both of them! Putting that girl- Keladry on probation was basically defying the law that Jon himself had passed. There was nothing, nothing in it about probation. Damn all politics to hell.

Alanna scowled darkly. It wasn't fair. She hated hearing one of her children whine that phrase, but it was true. And what was Jon thinking having Lord Wyldon evaluate Keladry? He would most certainly not be unbiased. She stalked into the study.

"George, I need to do something about this."

Her husband looked up. Aly was at his side, being taught a cipher.

"Yes?" Then, to his daughter he said, "Now be careful not to crush the pin pricks as you're reading the code. That would entirely ruin the message."

"Yes, Da." Said her daughter. "What do you need to do, Ma?"

"You know how the Mindelan girl is trying for her knighthood?" said Alanna. The two other in the room nodded. "Well, she's going to be put on probation for a year. And Lord Wyldon of all people is going to judge if she'll be able to stay or not! It's not fair, and Jon never said anything about it." She frowned. "Aly, love, I hate to tell you but it seems that our king is a coward."

Her daughter snorted. "Lovely, Ma," said the seven year old girl.

"Back on topic- George, is there anything I can do? DO you think that I should publicly denounce Jon?"

"No." said Aly. "No. Be quieter about it. Avoid court and Uncle Jon. Don't come unless Aunt Thayet begs you, or something."

"And you can help out this Keladry, lass."

"But anonymously." Said Aly, catching on to her father's line of thought. "You'll be a mis-terryi-s ben-i-fac-ter?"

"Mysterious benefactor," Alanna told her. "Mysterious benefactor. I like that."

year twenty

'Twenty years," said Thayet. "I can't believe that you've been married for twenty years."

"I know," said the Lioness. "And you for twenty one. Roald and Kally are grown up, and Liam and Lianne are almost. Only Jasson and Vania are still little ones."

"Thom is at university, Alan' going into page training eventually… when again?"

"Next year," Alanna told the queen. "He wanted to wait, to make sure that he didn't want to join the Own or the Riders first. So he'll be our knight. Thom is our mage, and Aly's our spy, not that I want that for her at all."

"Why not?" Thayet asked. "What's wrong with it? George is one."

"But Aly's my only girl. It's not the type of life that I would want for her at all. And she could be killed or captured…."

"But it's what she loves."

"She's turning twelve, Thayet. She could decide that she wants to do something else with her life. She can still become a knight."

"You're right. I still can't believe that it's been twenty years though…."

Reviews would be appreciated, and my (probably immortal) fish eats flames for breakfast.