"I walk through your dreams and invent the future. Sure,
I sink the boat of love, but that comes later. And yes, I swallow
glass, but that comes later." –Richard Siken

Chapter 8

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to disturb you." Came a soft voice from the door way.

Mal's head shot up from the large book she was reading to look at Sansa nervously hovering in the doorway of Winterfell's great library. She smiled at her good-sister. "Hello, Sansa. Come in, no need to hang around in the hallway. Perhaps you can help me."

Sansa gave a little bow in respect and entered the library closing the door behind her. "I was just walking by and I saw you in here. What are you doing?"

"Robb and I have yet to come up with a name for the babe," she motioned to the large book in her lap. "So I thought I'd read a bit about the histories of Starks of the past to help gain some inspiration. But alas, I find myself a bit lost among all the Jons, Brandons, and Rickards."

Sansa gave her, her most charming smile. "I would be happy to help you make sense of everything and help you pick out a name for a baby."

Mal released a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Sansa. You have no idea what that means to me. I've been racking my head for weeks and Robb and I have yet to agree on anything. As you can see," she rested a hand on her large belly, "I have a limited amount of time left."

"When will you be due?" Sansa asked with eyes glowing as she stared at Mal's belly.

"Maester Luwin says I have only a couple more months to go, which is a relief. I can't wait for this to be over. You can't imagine how uncomfortable this is, Sansa. My back is in constant pain." Mal grimaced as she straightened her back

"But it'll all be worth it right? I can't wait until I have babies; I want a whole nursery full of them. I think being pregnant must be one of the greatest feelings in the universe." She exclaimed with all the excitement of a young girl with no real life experiences.

Mal didn't have the heart to correct the little dreamer so she merely smiled and played along. "Yes, I'm sure it'll be worth it and I can't wait for the day my little one has a nursery of cousins to play with."

Sansa beamed brighter than Mal had ever seen before and she returned her bright grin with one of her own. "Now, I still need your help with a name."

"Of course, what do you need?" Sansa asked sitting up.

"So far we have decided that if the babe is a boy it is only right that he should have a strong Northern name to denote his station in life. I would like to use one of the names of old. But there's so much history I don't know where to start."

A frown fell upon Sansa's pretty face as she tried to remember her history lessons. "Well, we're descended from Bran the Builder; he helped raise the Wall and Winterfell itself, but that wouldn't do since we already have my little brother Bran."

Mal nodded along. "That was my thought as well. But I think it would be nice to name the babe after a former King of Winter."

Sansa pursed her lips as she took the book from Mal's lap and began flipping through pages, squinting her eyes to read the maester's small and cramped handwriting. The book had been with the Starks for ages and some of the pages were distorted with age making it difficult to decipher but the young Stark was up for the task.

"How about Karlan? He founded the Karstark line, that's a nice name." Mal made a noise of dissent against this choice.

"Okay then," she flipped through more pages. "Theon? He was known as The Hungry Wolf. "

"Greyjoy would be over the moon about it, no thank you." Mal sarcastically replied.

Sansa snorted. "Jonnel?"

"No, too fable-ish."

"Dorren?"

"Nope, it's too plain."

"Edrick?"

Mal paused as she thought the name over. "It's strong, Edrick for your father Eddard and your grandfather Rickard. Let's put that one in the maybe category." She threw Sansa a smile which she eagerly returned.

Returning back to the large book Sansa scanned a few more pages.

"Eyron."

Mal scrunched up her nose in distaste. "Too brutish."

Sansa nodded. "Right, um Edderion?"

"Sounds like the name of a dragon. I'm giving birth to a wolf not a dragon."

"Jonos or Jorah?"

"No son of mine will ever be named Jonos or Jorah."

"Beron?"

Mal smiled. "That might be another possibility."

"Edwyn? I like that name."

"I like it too, another maybe."

"Torrhen?

"The King who Knelt," Mal remembered him from one of the lessons she sat in on with Rickon and Maester Luwin, "Put that down as another maybe."

Sansa nodded as she closed the ancient tome and set it aside. "So we have four names: Torrhen, Edwyn, Beron and Edrick."

"I think that's a good start. I'll speak to Robb about them later."

Sansa hesitated for a moment before clearing her throat. "Mal, what about some Dornish names?"

"We've agreed that if the babe is a girl then she will be given a Dornish name, but our firstborn son has to have a Northern name. This babe is going to be the Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North he has to be 100% of the North. Any other son after him will have either Dornish or Northern names. Believe me I didn't name one of my sons Oberyn I would never hear the end of it from my uncle."

"And the girl what are going to name her?" enraptured at Mal's words Sansa tried to envision the day she would be married and pregnant. Would she feel the same about her son?

Mal gave Sansa a sad smile, she shrugged and quietly said. "There's only one name. There's always been only one possible name: Elia."

Robb had gotten into the habit of talking to the babe every night before bed. It helped calm the babe when they were acting overexcited while Mal would try to sleep. He told tales of past Starks and stories from his childhood making sure to add pauses and throw his voice to add more life to the stories.

"If you keep acting like this I doubt we'll have much need of a wet nurse." Mal informed plainly

Robb merely chuckled into her stomach before placing a kiss on her belly; the baby gave a small kick in reply. "I want the babe to recognize my voice when they're born."

"You're their father. Of course they'll recognize you." She smiled softly and ran her hand through his soft curls. "You're going to have to cut this soon. It's getting rather long." She gave his hair a little tug.

He nibbled on his skin in retaliation. "Do you not enjoy my long hair, my little love?" He asked suggestively. "I could have sworn that you had a fondness for it what with how much you love to pull it."

"I must admit that it does look rather ravishing on you. You look as pretty as Sansa." She teased.

Robb's patted her belly before reaching up and giving her nipple a tweak causing Mal to let out a little squeak of laughter and put both of her hands on Robb's shoulders trying to push him away.

The pair spent the next few moments teasing each other with hands and mouths before settling down with Mal's head resting on Robb's chest. Their hands were joined together over Mal's stomach.

"Not much longer now. " Robb whispered into her hair as he stroked her stomach with their joined hands.

She nodded softly and placed a small kiss on his chest. "Your mother is going to help me set up the nursery. I was thinking of having it set up in my old room. I'd feel better knowing the babe was sleeping close to us."

"Whatever you think is best, love," he raised his free hand into her hair and began making small ringlets around his fingers, "but wouldn't you want the babe to sleep in here?"

Mal raised her head to look at Robb. "Maybe for the first few weeks," she admitted softly, "but I still need to set up a nursery for them."

Robb sighed before staring up at the ceiling. "It's still a little strange for me. I never imagined myself as a father, at least not at this point." He admitted to her in a soft tone.

Mal stared at him as she tried to decide what to say. In the end she decided just to be honest. "Are you afraid?"

"I would be lying if I said no. I don't know how my father does it. He makes it seem so easy whenever he's dealing with one of us. What if I can't be like him? What if I don't know what to do when they cry? What will I say to them when they start fighting amongst their siblings? How will I teach my son to be a man and lord?"

"You can't be him," she told him bluntly but still had a softness to her tone. "You're Robb Stark; you don't have to be like him. No one expects you to be like the honorable Eddard Stark, but they do expect you to be the best that they know you can be. And you're going to be an amazing father. D'you think your father knew what he was doing when you were born? He was just as confused as you are right now. You're amazing with your younger siblings so I doubt you'll have many problems with our own children. It'll be hard at the beginning, but I promise you it'll be easier as time goes by," she smiled widely. "By the time we have our fifth child it'll be the easiest thing in the world."

Robb rolled over to his side and placed a hand on her cheek. "Is that how many children you want, five little Northerners roaming Winterfell. Our own little pack of wolves?"

Mal leaned in and gave him a kiss. "I want 100 children with you, Robb Stark. "

Robb beamed widely and Mal was struck with the thought of how he and Sansa had the same smile. The idea caused her to giggle a bit when Robb leaned in to kiss her deeply. "What a coincidence," he said as he ended the kiss, "because I want 101 children with you, Mal Stark."

Mal's heart was overflowing with love for Robb in that moment and she wished with all her heart that she could give him 101 children. If I could I'd give him a thousand children. And name them all after him. I'd make sure he'd be a Northern version of Walder Frey.

Suddenly remembering her work with Sansa, Mal jolted lightly on the bed. "I've almost forgotten, earlier today Sansa helped me come up with some potential names for the babe if he is a boy."

Robb gave his wife a roguish grin that made Mal's heart do a double-flip. "Did she now? Shall we name our pup Florian or Bael the Bard?" He teased her.

"Laugh all you want, you Northern cur. She's a young girl; her head should be filled with songs and fables. But I'll have you know that she helped me pick four very suitable names."

Robb sat up and Mal followed him. "So, let's hear them."

Mal smiled pleased at her choices. "Either Torrhen, Edwyn, Beron or Edrick."

"All Starks of old," Robb looked deep in thought. "I like them all." He finally said.

She let out a puff of air before throwing Robb an exasperated look. "We're supposed to pick one. I'm not carrying four babies in here."

He laughed lightly. "Calm yourself, princess. We'll figure this out. We still have two more months and because I like them all we can use them for our other sons."

"Some of our sons have to have Dornish names. I expect some Oberyns, Lewyns, Dorans and Marons."

"We'll have all of them and more. Our girls will all be given Dornish names to honor their beautiful mother. I'll be littered with Elias and Nymerias." He promised her as they settled back down for bed.

"I want them to have all your Tully hair." She told him as she felt her eyelids getting heavier.

"I want all the girls to have your dark curls and your eyes." He whispered as softly kissed her temple.

"No, your eyes, they're such a pretty blue." She sleepily argued.

"With 101 children I'm sure some of them will end up my eyes. Now go to sleep, my love. "

"I love you, Robb." She told him as she slipped off to dreamland but before she was fully under she heard his passionate reply.

"I love you, Mal and our pup more than you will ever know."

A/N: I know that not a lot happened in this chapter. I wanted to lay a little more ground work on Mal and Robb's relationship. A sort of "calm before the storm" kind of thing. Especially with all that happens in the shows and books, they deserve to have a little happiness for it really hits the fan.

I have the next week off for Spring Break so be on the look out for more chapters then, especially now that we're finally starting to get into the show's storyline. I think i'm going to do a combination of things from the show and things from the book.

Thank you again for reading, reviewing, following, etc.