Dany XXXVI

Dragonstone

It wasn't exhaustion that sent Dany scurrying to her bed. Nor the hunger or the babes. Just pure, raw grief. She lay down, grabbing onto a pillow for both physical and emotional support as she let the tears flow – the babies' firm kicks turning to more gentle flutters, as if they understood their mother's pain and were comforting her in their own, unique way. She remained in that position until she had no tears left to cry and until nature intervened, forcing her up to relieve herself and then to the table to eat so she could start recovering some of her lost energy.

Missandei had her own room down here now and so it wasn't long before her friend came to check on the queen, her initial concern turning to stoic acceptance. She had already learnt that the things Dany experienced through the Doors could not easily be discussed and, as much as she loved to confide in Missandei about so many things, this was something that only Jon would be able to help her with. Her husband was due to visit shortly though and so Dany simply asked her friend to help make her a little more presentable. She wouldn't be able to keep this from him – and would probably have to endure a telling off in the process – but she knew that Jon understood that there was nothing to be done. She had had to visit at that time and could now also confirm the direction of that Door and perhaps a few other things of importance too.

"Dany?" She had dozed off again but her husband's voice brought her quickly out of it. She could hear the scolding tone already and winced as she took note of the look on his face. "Missandei said you went travelling again."

"Yes … sorry but … I had to."

Jon rolled his eyes. "If you say so." He then sighed deeply. "I did wonder if I should have told you about the tower. I assume that's where you went?"

"Yes."

He frowned. "I tried myself but couldn't get through. I'm not sure why."

"Because you were already there," she replied. "At least, that's what I'm assuming. Lyanna was very pregnant when I saw her. As large as me – perhaps more so – although she was only carrying the one, of course."

Jon gasped, all concern and annoyance gone from his face in a heartbeat. "You … you saw her? You saw my mother?"

Dany nodded. "She and Rhaegar were discussing … us and how he had only recently worked out that I was his sister and you his second son rather than his first."

"Really? Did you get some idea of the Aegon issue?"

"I..." She frowned, trying to recall it. "I think so, yes." She looked up again at him nervously, as if trying to convince herself that he wasn't truly cross with her. "Let's sit at the desk, Jon and start writing this out. I think now that we've experienced all three of the visits we were expecting, we can look at them from Rhaegar's point of view and see if any of it starts making sense."

~o~0~o~

"So, you visit Rhaegar shortly after Harrenhal and that tells him that he has a dark-haired son who is a Dragon and marries another Dragon," Dany began. She jotted the information down on a piece of parchment and then frowned. "You didn't say who I was?"

"No."

"Then, with so few Targaryens living at that point, he must assume it was Rhaenys or your younger sister or both?"

Jon winced. "I know it's usual for this family but I admit that that still seems most odd."

Dany grinned. "Says my nephew."

"Yes, fine." He rolled his eyes. "Of course, Viserys was still alive at that point in time, so Rhaegar could also have thought it was one of his future daughters I married. I mean... in theory."

"True. Either way Rhaegar's assuming that Elia is carrying you at that point and I think perhaps Aegon is born before I visited my brother at Summer Hall?"

Jon looked at her notes and nodded. "Quite likely. Tell me more about the conversation you had with him then."

"I confirmed that I was happily married to you – his dark-haired son," she began, still taking notes, "and yet Rhaegar continues to assume throughout our conversation that I'm his third child."

"So, as we thought, he's assuming that two of his children will marry each other."

She nodded. "And Aegon is recently born with perhaps not much hair or hair Rhaegar thought might change later and so he still believes that he is you and that I will be his third."

"Except, he's now also being told that Elia can't have any more children," Jon remembered, "which must really have confused him if we both confirmed he would definitely have three."

She groaned. "That's part of it, isn't it? Part of the reason he chose Lyanna?"

"And it's impossible to say for certain but Elia might even have known about this too?"

"I actually think that's very likely," Dany replied. "Lyanna was talking about her so casually and calmly in the tower and seemed to know all about the Doors and of Rhaegar's plans to get his whole family to safety."

He nodded. "So we can assume Elia knew about the Targaryen magic too."

"'The whole of Dorne is on your side,' Lyanna said to Rhaegar when I was there," Dany told Jon. "And it stands to reason that they would most definitely not be helping him if he really had abandoned Elia to run off with Lyanna behind her back."

"True." Jon paused, considering. "But my first meeting with him definitely happened later in his timeline. By then he seemed to know everything and already understood the errors he had made. He knew I was to have the children that would save the realm and understood exactly who I was."

"But neither of us told him that," Dany said, "so he must have found out some other … oh!"

"What is it?"

"Actually, I did talk to him quite late in his timeline," she realised.

"When?" Jon asked.

"When I was very young." She bit her lip, trying to remember. "He came to wake me up one night and showed me the Castle Black Door." She nodded as she began to understand. "He must have been testing me to see if I was a Dragon. I told him it felt warm to me but I think I also told him about the other Door."

Jon stared at her. "You told him about Winterfell?"

She frowned, struggling to remember something that had happened so long ago and that she had thought a dream for so many years afterwards.

"I can't remember what I told him exactly, but I can recall his reaction now, in hindsight. He appeared really shocked, even though he covered it well. Even though I was so young I noticed that. I must have told him something of importance."

"Well, if you told him you stepped through the Winterfell Door then his first thought would have been to wonder how. After all, you could have only done so if another Targaryen lived there and it was probably that which helped him to make the connection to Lyanna and from there to me?"

"But did he know what had happened to her at that point?" she asked. "Wouldn't he have assumed you lived with her here on Dragonstone too as he had planned?"

"Perhaps but just because we didn't tell him certain things didn't mean he couldn't find out elsewhere, by asking Viserys or Aemon? Piecing together what had happened after he died? Visiting you on Dragonstone when you were a girl. All of that must have helped him to understand that you were his sister and that Aegon wasn't a Dragon, and I'm sure Viserys must have told him what had happened to my mother at some point."

She groaned. "Of course. I remember now. Viserys kept saying that Rhaegar had told him to 'look for my third'. He knew for a fact he had had a third child but now had no idea where you were. Then I told him I could step through to Winterfell and he finally put it all together."

"That makes sense. It's hard for us to fully guess because we're only seeing little bits of his side of the story but, he had the time and the ability to slowly figure it all out." He sighed. "And Aegon? You thought you had an answer to that problem too?"

Dany quickly replayed the conversation between her brother and Lyanna, and finally put it all together.

"Your mother misunderstood I think. It seemed to me that Rhaegar knew the fate of his House and what would happen at the Trident and yet he was still trying to protect Lyanna from the news. So he was skirting around everything, being a little vague, telling her about his mistakes without fully explaining what they were. 'Your son should be Aegon,' he said, and I think perhaps Lyanna took that as an instruction rather than a passing observation."

Jon groaned. "He had thought of me as Aegon for so many years. Associated me, as a Dragon, with that name, and you and I were just so cautious during our visits that we never once dared to correct him. He must have been just as confused as us in the end. Wondering why both his sons had been given the same name."

"I don't suppose we'll ever know for certain," Dany said, "but we also have to realise that our visits were all tied together anyway. It always happened. It always was going to happen."

She shook her head, fighting back the tears at the thought of her brother and how there really never been anything they could have done to have changed the fate of their House. Jon looked emotional too, holding his arms out to her and pulling her against him. Comforting her in exactly the same way as Lyanna had comforted Rhaegar in the tower.

~o~0~o

Jon XXXVI

Dragonstone

Two Months Later

Jon had returned home from King's Landing on Rhaegal to be informed that the babies were on their way. There then followed a battle of wills with the resident maester who insisted that the king need not trouble himself to attend the birth. Not when he already had a Dothraki midwife and Missandei in attendance, and that he had only allowed them in because the extra help might be needed for twins.

Jon simply glowered until the maester nervously suggested that the king could perhaps remain by the door and he reluctantly accepted the compromise only until Dany cried out. On hearing that Jon was immediately at her side, glowering again at anyone who dared to suggested he might let go of her hand and move away.

"He stays," Dany gasped once that wave of pain had eased a little. "If for no other reason than for me to have someone close by to blame for all of this."

Jon winced, trying hard to put aside the fear that had been bubbling inside of him since he first learned of her condition and instead recall the image of her as an old woman gifting him those weapons. 'You should be asleep, young man.' That thought was likely to be the only thing that would get him through this and keep him strong enough to be able to help her.

It seemed to take forever. Jon could bear any level of discomfort for himself but seeing his wife in so much pain was another matter entirely. Finally though the maester announced he could see the head and Dany was instructed to push.

"I see silver hair, I'm sure," Missandei commented and, soon after, the first baby was delivered and everyone held their breath as they waited for the quiet snuffles to turn into a welcome, loud cry. Jon then found his attention torn between mother and child as the Dothraki midwife took the babe over to the wash basin, calling out something in the guttural tongue.

"It's a girl," Missandei translated.

"Go and see her," Dany told him before gasping again in pain.

"But..." Jon reluctantly released his wife's hand to do as he was bid, instantly overcome as a small, blanketed bundle was dropped into his arms and he stared, entranced, at the little girl in his arms. His daughter. "Hello my little dragon," he whispered, fingering the small wisps of hair which were definitely Targaryen silver. Probably not Lyanna then. Not unless her hair was set to change colour dramatically.

"Jon!"

He had no idea how long he had been starting down at his beautiful first born, but his wife's cries were enough to pull his attention back to her, cautiously handing his daughter to Missandei before scurrying back to Dany's side.

"'I'm here."

"I don't think I can do this again," she sobbed.

"You can. You know you can. She is just so beautiful, Dany and we've another on the way."

"Ah … perhaps?" the maester said, frowning as he leant in closer.

"What?" Jon asked, panicked. "What are you saying?"

"The next one is coming quickly, don't worry," the man replied, not paying much attention whilst he beckoned the midwife over to give her opinion. The woman placed a hand over Dany's still very swollen belly and frowned before uttering a few more short words in Dothraki.

"No," Dany sobbed. "I can't." On the other side of the bed, Missandei placed a hand to her mouth.

"What?" Jon asked. "What's wrong?"

But then the other baby was on its way and there was no further talk other than instructions for his wife to push yet again. And then, after what seemed like another age, their second child was born.

The wait for this one to cry was even longer and Jon had to keep remembering the future visit and the battle. Keep convincing himself that they would all make it through this.

He didn't understand what the midwife was telling him when the second bundle was placed into his arms but he was quickly distracted by the obvious dark hair on this one's head.

"Another girl?" he guessed as he looked down in awe.

"Yes," Missandei confirmed and Jon felt tears sting his eyes.

"Lyanna, I presume," he whispered to his second daughter.

"Your Grace," Missandei said, coming over and trying to take her off of him. "The queen needs you again."

"What? Why? What's wrong?"

"Three..." Dany sobbed as he came to hold her hand again. "No wonder I was so big. They say there's another one on the way."

"Three?"

Dany uttered a strange sound then and Jon had no idea if she was laughing or crying. "'The Dragon must have three heads.' Funny joke, yes?"

"Three?" Jon croaked out again.

"Yes, Your Grace," the maester replied as he pushed past him to check on Daenerys. "I'm sorry I can't give you a break, Your Grace," he said to the queen as he offered her a little water, "but I don't think this last one wants to stay in there without the company of its siblings."

"Three..." he mumbled, yet again and Dany yanked at his hand.

"Focus, Jon. I need you here with me … please."

He blinked and turned his attention back to her. "Of course. I'm here. I'm always here. You're nearly there, Dany. You are the strongest person I know and I love you." Her only response was another cry of pain and Jon blinked back tears as he saw just how pale and weak she was. "What can I do? What else can I do?"

But there was no response as everyone bustled around to help deliver the third child. This one with hair as silver as the first. Three girls. Two with silver hair, one with dark.

"They're all here," Jon whispered to Dany a little later as the babies were brought to her to start nursing. "All three of them."

"Lyanna," she said, holding her arms out for the dark-haired baby and putting her to a breast. "And the first, the eldest, will be Rhaella after her other grandmother."

"See if the third will accept a breast first, Your Grace," the maester said. "She is the smallest one and will need careful observation and attention."

"Aemma," she said, smiling up at Jon as the tiny bundle was passed to her.

"After Uncle Aemon," he realised. "Perfect."

He sat on the bed with his wife, holding Rhaella until it was her turn to feed, stroking each small, soft head in turn before kissing his wife on the cheek and then repeating the circuit.

"They are all so beautiful," he declared, only then recalling his visit to the future when the girls were a little older, annoyed at himself for not realising before that they had all quite obviously been the same age. "Our three, brave, beautiful little Dragons."

~o~0~o~

Seven Years Later

King's Landing

It had been a busy time for Jon recently, flying up to Winterfell to visit his Stark family and help with a few issues in the north before coming back home to attend a few meetings in King's Landing. They had a lot of work for him to attend to in the Capital but the king was insistent that most of it would have to wait. He had to return to Dragonstone. He would not miss his daughters' seventh name day celebrations.

He fell asleep late and then woke for no reason he could fathom whilst it was still dark outside. Getting up out of bed with a groan Jon paced for a while as he often did when unable to sleep. He then realised he was also nibbling at the food which was now always left in the chambers at night – wondered at his sudden hunger after the large supper – before feeling a familiar pull and belatedly understanding what it meant.

"Really?" he complained, grabbing another piece of bread as he headed down the corridor towards the Dragon Door. "You want me to go visiting now? Of all the inconvenient times?"

He quickly dressed and wrapped a cape around himself, grumbling to any gods who might be listening as he walked sleepily towards the small Dragon room, placed a hand on the dark wood and tried to work out who it was he was sensing. He was being called to the past, he decided and Dany... probably. Their visits in time were far less frequent nowadays but the two of them had now become very much better at working out something of what was to happen before they stepped through. This one seemed less obvious though.

Jon raised his hood and stepped from the dark of King's Landing to the dark of Dragonstone, quickly following the pull towards the Winter Suite, very slowly opening the door to get some idea of who and what he might encounter. He slid in silently, keeping to the shadows, watching two silver heads bowed near the Castle Black door – one tall and one very small – and he moved very slightly closer, trying his best to remain unnoticed.

"Well, all I want you to do is put your hand on this door, Daenerys, nothing more, and then tell me how it feels to you." Jon held his breath in order to stop himself from making a sound. That was Rhaegar.

"It's warm," the little girl declared and Jon heard Rhaegar's small intake of breath even as he recalled Dany telling him about this encounter. What little she had been able to remember, at least. "I prefer the other door anyway."

"What other door?" Rhaegar asked her.

"The one in the corridor." Jon winced, despite knowing it had happened, and it seemed that even young Dany had noticed Rhaegar's shock. "What is it? It's not dangerous in that courtyard, I promise."

"Viserys doesn't think you should go outside at all," her brother said, his voice sounding surprisingly calm, considering the shock he had just had.

Dany nodded. "I know. The guards always stop me on the south door but I don't think they know about that one."

"What's through there?" he asked.

"Just a lot of men training usually but there's one nice old woman there and some children that I like to play with."

Rhaegar smiled. "Including your dark-haired urchin?" Unseen Jon rolled his eyes at the description.

"He's my best friend," Dany declared.

"Well, I won't tell Viserys about your visits, I promise, but perhaps you should keep your hair covered when you go outside from now on. It's very important that no-one recognises you as a Targaryen."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, my sweet, but please promise me that you'll be very careful? Always remember that our family has many enemies and often where we least suspect them. Do not tell any of your new friends who you are."

"I won't. I promise."

"Good girl, now back to bed with you and try to remember everything I've told you."

Jon watched as Rhaegar walked with his little sister back into her bed-chambers and wondered what he should do next. His father was visiting Dany from her past and, if they had guessed correctly, was only now starting to put together the final, missing pieces of his puzzle. And yet Jon had now arrived here too, from the future. Why? Just to observe or was there another reason he was here?

He looked over at the door, wondering if he should leave, taking a single step forwards just as the moon decided to appear from behind a cloud and flooded the room with light. Inevitably Rhaegar stepped back out of Dany's chambers at exactly the same time.

"Who are …? Oh."

Jon had lowered his hood now and stepped closer. "Do you recognise me?"

"I do. Aegon?"

He winced. "Sort of."

Rhaegar looked like he was going to query that but he had now noticed something else. "You're older."

"Aye."

His father turned back towards Dany's door and then back. "And northern. You are Lyanna's child."

"I am."

Rhaegar groaned. "I got it all wrong."

Jon shrugged. "Easily done. It took quite a while for Dany and I to figure it all out."

"Dany?" He again looked back over his shoulder, smiling. "I understand now. You two knew each other since you were children. I thought you were both mine but … that bit at least makes sense now." He looked closely at Jon. "And the Three-Headed Dragon?"

"My children. Your grandchildren." He rolled his eyes. "And your nieces too, I suppose."

Rhaegar chuckled. "The Targaryen family tree always was a bit of a tangle."

"Seems appropriate considering the time tangles of the Doors."

"True." He winced. "I need to go now. These visits are getting harder recently, not easier." Jon just nodded, his gaze lowered. "Visiting the future is not recommended."

"I know," Jon replied, "and you should probably tell me that when we next meet."

"When we..." Rhaegar rolled his eyes. "Right … I'll see you again in your past?"

"Our visits seem to be mostly backwards. Except this one, of course. I had no idea about this."

Rhaegar groaned. "I have to go. Is there anything else I need to know?"

Jon frowned. "So much I would want to tell you but … I don't think it's going to be of much help now."

His father nodded, head down as he started to leave. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry about the mess I made of it."

"And I'm sorry too," Jon replied. "I really wish we had more … time."

And yet again he was being pulled into a fierce embrace, fighting the very real fear that this was going to be the last time he would ever see Rhaegar.

And then, just as quickly, Jon was on his knees in the royal bed-chambers at King's Landing, his eyes full of tears but otherwise far too numb to do much more than stagger towards his bed and collapse down on top of it.

~o~0~o~

Dragonstone

After all the nagging and threatening of his advisors, Jon ended up being the reason he was late for the celebrations the following day. He flew home on Rhaegal just as soon as he awoke and sprinted down to the Winter Suite to find Dany waiting for him with one eyebrow raised.

"Sorry … tried to get away earlier but..." He ignored her glare and moved forward to haul her into a hug, smiling slightly as he remembered seeing her, just last night, as a seven year old. The coincidence of that made him smile. "Where are the girls?"

"Playing outside. I'm sure they'll be here soon once they see that Rhaegal's returned." She pulled away and looked at him more closely, tracing her fingers under his eyes. "Time travel?" she asked.

"Aye. I'll tell you later." He moved to kiss her on the lips his body still quickly reacting to her even after all these years. "Any chance we can get some time alone tonight?" he asked with a smirk.

"That's the plan, Jon but, before you tell me about your adventures, I have some news of my own."

"Oh?"

She smiled brightly. "I'm pregnant."

"What?" He gasped. "But I thought … The triplets? I thought they were to be our only children."

"Yes, we assumed that, didn't we? However, if you think about it, there was actually no logical reason for that guess."

"No but after seven years I assumed..."

Dany shrugged. "Seems as if my body likes to have a long time to recover from each pregnancy,"

"Apparently so and it's probably just as well." He placed a hand on her stomach, currently perfectly flat. "Please tell me there's only one in there this time?"

"Oh gods, I really hope so. As much as I love them I just don't think I could go through that again."

"Papa! You're home," Aemma said rushing in first, a few unruly, silver curls already escaping their usual intricate braiding as she rushed forward to hug him.

"And you're late," Lyanna added as she entered not far behind, her tone stern, although she too flung her arms around Jon's waist and squeezed him tight from the other side.

Rhaella typically entered at a more refined pace. She had obviously run here just like her sisters but was doing her best to hide the fact. Trying to act dignified.

"We worried you weren't going to make it home in time for the feast," she said.

"Nothing would have stopped me from getting here. Happy name day my beautiful little Dragons."

"But we have to tell you that-" Aemma began.

"-we opened some of our presents already-" Lyanna continued.

"-because Mama said we could-" Rhaella explained.

Lyanna looked up at him, wide-eyed. "-and you'll never guess what we got from Winterfell-"

"-from Uncle Bran and Aunty Sansa and Arya-"

"-Guess, go on," Aemma urged.

"Slow down, girls," Jon said, laughing as he tried to keep up with their unique way of talking when excited. "They gave me the box when I was up there but ordered me not to open it."

The girls giggled. "But you're the king," Rhaella reminded him. "You shouldn't be ordered by other people."

"Yes, but they're my siblings. You know how that goes." He smiled down at them. "Well? What was it? Bran said he asked Arya to go and get it for you especially."

"It's a dragon egg, Papa," Lyanna told him. "A beautiful, ancient, golden dragon egg."

Jon glanced over at Dany who nodded, her eyebrows raised. "Can it be hatched?" he asked.

"Possibly," she replied with a shrug. "I promised the girls I'd look into it."

"And Mama told us about another present for us, although we're all going to have to wait for a whole half a year. Did she tell you?"

Jon looked up at his wife with a fond smile as she rubbed her stomach gently. "She did, Aemma. Isn't it exciting?"

"We can't agree on whether we want a brother or a sister," Rhaella said. "Boys are annoying, of course, but we already have sisters so it might be nice to have a change."

"How about one of each!" Lyanna shouted.

"No," Dany and Jon replied in unison.

"Shall we go get the egg to show you?" Aemma asked him then.

"Oh, yes!" the other two chorused, and all three had run off into the Crown Chambers before Jon even had a chance to reply.

He took the opportunity whilst it presented itself – no matter how brief – striding over to his wife and pulling her into her arms to kiss her and she responded whole heartedly, her arms around his shoulders, her fingers tugging at his hair.

"Ugh!"

"Do you have to!"

"Yuck!"

Jon pulled away with a smile and Dany giggled at the looks amusement, disgust and exasperation on their daughters' faces. His attention was soon drawn to what they were carrying though, all three holding it awkwardly as if none wished to be parted from it.

"Isn't it beautiful?" the girls chorused together.

"It is," Jon said. "As are all four of you."

"And you too, of course," his wife said, stroking his face whilst the girls giggled at her comment.

Jon smiled, pulling her into his arms and kissing the top of her head before looking back over to his three daughters holding their name day gift and marvelling at the fact that, after all the heartache and loss and hardships, he and Dany had finally been gifted the home and family they had always craved.

~o~0~o~

The End

A/N: Surprise! :D

I'm not sure how many of you saw the art I drew for the 'dream of Spring' prompt last year, but I said at the time that I wanted to include the three girls in a story at some point and it was all the way back in June that I suddenly 'realised' that they were going be THIS Jon and Dany's kids. The closer we got to the end, the more impatient I got about sharing it again and have enjoyed writing the last couple of acts with that image in my head. You can find this and other Jonerys art on my Deviant Art (also jaqtkd)

I know a lot of you wanted Jon to visit his mother and perhaps he does at some point 'off screen'? ;) However, I had it in my head that it was not possible to visit yourself and that would include being in the womb - especially very late in the pregnancy as it was with Lyanna. The triplets would not want to get too close to Dany when they were fighting the Night King either but it was also very early in the pregnancy for her which would have made it easier. Young Lyanna had no problem interacted directly with her dad though.

The Aegon Problem was THE problem I wanted to solve from the start. Took a while for the whole solution to click into place. However, after all the plot tangles and hair pulling, Jon's explanation at the end seemed the most obvious with Rhaegar himself seeing both sons during his visits and also wondering why they were both called Aegon! :P What a lovely time tangle!

Rhaegar visiting child!Dany is in Chapter 2 if you want to check back. Also many of the references to Rhaegar's timeline and his thoughts on the three headed dragon are mentioned by Viserys in Chapter 1 if you fancy a re-read. Please ask me any other questions you have about this fic. Inevitably there are a few story lines which I didn't cover in huge detail, but I still hope that most of your big questions have been answered now.

Thank you SO much for the support on this, my longest ever fanfiction. I was terrified back in May when I started publishing this one and the positive responses and wonderful hits and comments have meant the world to me. xxx

I'm sorry to report that 'The Masks We Wear' is stuck again and the other ideas I have are being annoyingly stubborn too. I've taken a little break recently but plan to have another look at everything I have so far later this afternoon and see if inspiration returns. It could be that my brain is still too tied up in this story and that I'll be able to focus on others now it's officially done. Unfortunately it's looking very unlikely that I'll be ready to get a multi-chapter out next Sunday, although I have published one chapter of this fic every weekend for the last thirty-six weeks (and went straight from Warg Riders to this one too) so perhaps having a couple of weekends off from crazy Sunday publishing will do me some good.