I think I'm back! Me and my mom had a marathon of Game of Thrones, and I got the plot bunny back. (Also, I thought I posted this chapter a year ago, so it's been sitting on my computer since last March. Still, I'm writing stuff for my other stories.)

Davos looked at the boy in front of him. Bran Stark met his gaze. He was a year younger than Davos' son Stannis, and his new squire, and Davos had no idea what to do with the boy. This was the first time he had ever had a squire, and Davos wasn't sure what he should talk about. What they should do.

Stannis had given his new good-brother a knight to squire under, but Stannis probably should have given him a good knight to squire under.

They were on board a ship, heading towards Dragonstone. Though the King and the rest of the court had decided to take the Kingsroad back to King's Landing after Winterfell two weeks after the wedding, Stannis had opted to go to White Harbor and take a ship back to Dragonstone to drop off Joanna, Shireen, Davos, Bran, and some servants before heading to King's Landing himself.

Bran was the first to speak. "Is Joanna going to be okay?" he asked with worry. Lady Joanna had been sick since the moment she had boarded The Winter Rose, a beautiful ship that captained by a Dornishman man who apparently had a Northern for a mother.

"She'll be fine, boy, it's just a seasickness. She'll be miserable for her entire time on the ship, but it'll disappear as we get off."

Bran nodded, but bit his lip. Clearly he was still worried about his sister. Lady Joanna was currently holed up in her room, probably sicker than the boy had ever seen her before. Davos had seen many a strong man come down with seasickness before, some taking it better than his new lady and other's taking it worse.

"Shireen's helping take care of her. There's nothing wrong with your sister," Davos told him. Shireen already adored her new step-mother, who in turn had been as sweet as could be to the girl. Davos liked Lady Joanna for that alone, as well as the fact that she was clearly trying to make her marriage to her new husband work. Stannis seemed to taking his advice and getting to know his young wife, though it was clear that he was still uncomfortable with her and her youth.

"I know," Bran mumbled as he looked at his feet, kicking up imaginary dirt. "But Joanna never really gets sick. One time, right after Rickon was born, a sickness came to Winterfell and almost everyone got ill. All Joanna did though was sneeze twice."

Davos doubted the truth of that statement, but he still felt like he needed to reassure Bran. "Seasickness isn't like normal sickness. It's only if your sister is still sick after this voyage that we have something to worry about." How many times would he have to explain this?

Davos was saved from that number when he heard Stannis' voice. "Davos." Both he and Bran turned to look at the man, who had emerged from downstairs, presumably from Joanna's room. Davos was slightly surprised. He couldn't remember Stannis being so caring when he was married to Selyse. A required visit to the room yes, but Davos suddenly realized that he had not seen his lord for at least an hour and he knew that Stannis would not have stayed in Selyse's cabins nearly so long if Stannis had truly been with Joanna this entire time.

He wondered if Stannis was actually coming to care for his young wife. He didn't think it had anything to do with the fact that Stannis had been on the receiving end of at least five 'Hurt her and you're dead' speeches last night. Five was all that Davos had seen at least. One from Ned Stark, one from a man called Jory, one from the Greyjoy hostage, one from the girl's sister, the one with red hair, and one from the youngest Stark child, though that one had simply been three minutes of a glare and a growling direwolf. That had also been the only one that looked like it had any sort of impact on Stannis.

In all fairness to his lord, Davos had nightmares of that boy, who strangely was a cannibal in them.

"Why don't you run along and see how your sister is?" he told Bran. "I'm sure she would be thrilled to see you." It wasn't like that would cut into valuable time with his new squire. Davos still didn't know what to do with him. Fight?

As Bran ran towards his sister, Stannis walked briskly toward Davos. "How is she, m'lord?" Davos asked. Stannis sighed and looked out upon the narrow sea. He said something softly, so softly that Davos could not hear. "What?"

Stannis turned to look at him. "She thinks she's pregnant."

Davos raised an eyebrow. The girl was young, but still. . . . It was very possible. The girl did have five siblings, so the Starks were obviously fertile and she was old enough to get her monthly visitor as Marya liked to call it.

Stannis continued on. "She thought it was seasickness at first, but then she said that she started counting back the days. I only bedded her once, simply to consummate the marriage after the wedding, but she said that she should gotten her moon's blood five days ago. She's not positive, but she says that she has other symptoms that are signs of pregnancy."

Davos didn't even bother to ask what those symptoms were. Stannis probably didn't even asked.

"That's good news!" he said instead. "Hopefully it'll be a boy, but even if it's a girl, she's obviously capable of having children."

"So was Selyse, but only Shireen was strong enough to live," Stannis replied curtly. "And there's a good chance that she might not survive the birth anyway. Or something could happen to the babe. Or she could simply be off by a few days and not capable of having children."

Davos sighed. "M'lord, I'm sure she'll be fine. The reason why your brother picked her out is because she's young to bear you healthy children."

"My brother," Stannis spat out bitterly, "picked her out because she looks exactly like the dead woman he claims he's always loved, though she's far too young to be married, but he does not care, and he choose me because he cannot put aside Cersei Lannister and Renly is betrothed to Margaery Tyrell though why he would want to marry Mace Tyrell's daughter is far beyond me. He probably considers it good fortune that in certain lights, we look enough alike for him to pretend I'm him."

Stannis brooded for a few minutes, simply looking at the water. "Why did she even tell me?" he asked Davos. "She's not even sure."

"I don't think she has anyone else to tell, m'lord. Her brother or her step-daughter perhaps, but they are both young and might not understand her worry."

Stannis sighed. "My brother is a fool and I'm a bigger one."

Davos could think of nothing to say to that. He didn't even know what Stannis meant by that, but the words seemed to weigh heavily on his mind. Davos' heart went out towards Joanna Baratheon. The girl must be terrified. Davos knew about many childbirths that went wrong because of the mother's youth and Joanna surely knew many more.

"I'm sure she'll be fine, m'lord. She knew that she would need to have children at some point in your marriage."

"I did not intend for her to have them now!" Stannis sighed and all his anger seemed to leave him. "I intended to consummate our marriage only and then in a few years come to her with the intention of creating a son."

"What should I do?" he asked him and Davos tried hard to think of something, but only one answer came to mind. "Moon tea," he told Stannis and Stannis blanched.

"What if she survives with her and the babe fine? What if it's a boy?"

"What does she want to do?"

Stannis looked at the waves. "She said she wanted the babe, but what if that's just what she thought I wanted to hear? What if she truly doesn't?"

"Do you think she wants the babe?"

Davos had never Stannis sound small in his life. Angry, bitter, disappointed, yes. Small? Not until the words, "I hope she does."

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