Chapter Text
“Seriously, Jorah,” Daenerys sighed as she lowered herself down onto the couch. “We can’t keep calling our baby ‘Jellybean’ or ‘Bear’ for much longer. We’re going to have to decide on a name soon.”
Jorah smiled at his wife as he brought her a steaming cup of herbal tea, handing it to her as he sipped on his coffee and joined her on the couch. Daenerys was now six months pregnant, and their son was beginning to make his presence known and as much as Daenerys loved being pregnant, her hormones were making her a little snappier than usual, but it was nothing that Jorah had not experienced before.
Jorah would be lying to himself if he said a part of him hadn’t been putting this day off for a while now, knowing that Daenerys wanted their son to have Noah as his middle name. While he was more than happy with that, it was another reminder of the son that he had lost in tragic circumstances and until their son was safely born it felt like tempting fate to give him that name.
The long talk that he had with his father a few weeks ago certainly helped and it felt good to release some of that fear with someone who knew exactly how it felt to lose a wife so suddenly. His father hadn’t judged him or mocked him for his show of weakness but instead held him and comforted him like the father he should have been when Jorah was just a boy.
After he’d dried his eyes and swallowed his tears, he and his father spoke at length and Jorah knew that he could call on him and rely on his strength when he found his own wavering.
“Have you got anything particular in mind?” Jorah asked, running a hand through his wife’s hair as he gently pulled her closer to him.
“Poppy thinks we should call him Bear,” Daenerys replied with a smirk.
“Never going to happen,” Jorah replied quickly with a chuckle.
Daenerys swatted his chest playfully.
“I’ll let you tell her that then, shall I?” She teased, knowing that Jorah had a hard time ever telling his daughter ‘no’ about anything.
“Thoros suggested we name him in his honour,” Jorah grumbled.
“I hope you told him to take a hike,” Daenerys replied.
“I did. I no uncertain terms.”
“I want our son to have a strong name,” Daenerys continued. “Something traditional but modern.”
“So, Boris or Colin are out of the question then?” Jorah asked playfully.
“If you’re even one percent serious about either of those names I may have to rethink our marriage vows…”
“What do you suggest then?” Jorah replied, grinning at his wife. “How about you come up with some ideas instead of just saying no to everything?” He added cheekily.
She swatted him on the arm.
“Feel free to carry this baby yourself if you like,” she shot back with a snort before setting her mind to thinking of suitable names for their son.
The silence stretched as Daenerys wracked her brains trying to think of a name that sounded modern yet traditional…
David
Sam
Joshua
Benjamin
Oliver
Lucas
“Okaaaay, so it’s not as easy as it looks,” she said, letting out a huff as she rubbed a hand over her baby belly, frustrated that none of the names in her head felt right for their son. “Poppy was so simple and easy, why is naming our son so hard?”
Daenerys felt bad the moment the words left her mouth as she felt Jorah stiffen against her momentarily .
Jorah and his first wife Anais had their son’s name chosen early in the pregnancy and there had been no doubt that they had wanted to name him Noah. Although Jorah had been happy to honour him by giving their new son the same name as his middle name there was no way that Jorah would ever agree to naming him Noah. The pain would be too great and would only serve as a constant reminder of the son he had lost.
Shaking the memories of Noah from his thoughts, Jorah cleared his throat and drained the last of his coffee.
“Ok, how about this - let’s go through the alphabet and suggest a name for each letter until we find one we both like,” he suggested.
Daenerys looked at him with narrowed eyes and considered the idea. She shrugged her shoulders and nodded in agreement when she realised that she didn’t have any better ideas.
“I’ll start,” Jorah said. “Alex.”
“Adrian,” Daenerys suggested.
They both shook their heads.
“Benjamin.”
“Barnaby,” Daenerys replied as Jorah gave her an incredulous look.
“Christian.”
“Callum.”
“Dennis.”
“Hell no,” Daenerys said, shaking her head. “Douglas.”
They both pulled a face at each other and swiftly moved on to the next letter.
“Ethan.”
“Elijah… We’ll put it on the ‘maybe’ list?” She suggested when she saw that Jorah didn’t hate the idea of that name as he nodded his head in agreement.
“Finlay.”
“Felix.”
“George.”
“Gabriel.”
“Harry.”
“Henry.”
“Ivan.”
Daenerys pulled a face that clearly showed her distaste for the name Ivan.
“How about Isaac?”
Their eyes met and they smiled at each other and without saying a word they both knew that they’d landed on a name they liked and agreed on.
“Isaac Noah Mormont,” Daenerys said. “That sounds like a strong, traditional name don’t you think?” she said, beaming at Jorah.
He leaned over and kissed her soundly.
“I think it sounds perfect,” he replied as he leaned his forehead to hers and placed a hand on Daenerys’s belly. “Just a few more months and you’ll be ready to see the world, little Isaac,” he said as if his unborn son could hear him.
Perhaps he could because both Daenerys and Jorah smiled as they both felt the baby kick at the sound of his voice.
“Hey,” he said gently as he rubbed his hand over Daenerys’ abdomen. “You take it easy on your mother. No playing football in there,” he chided him softly.
‘I think this kid is going to be the rebellious one,” Daenerys huffed as she struggled to get comfortable on the sofa, their unborn child continuing to move around inside her. “He’s not exactly paying attention to your instructions at the moment.”
Jorah chewed on his lip and looked at his wife pensively and Daenerys could see that he was about to go into full ‘mother hen’ mode again.
“What do you need? Should I get a hot water bottle? Do you need some more tea? Would you like to have a lie down?”
“Jorah,” she cut in, holding a hand up to stop him. “Just sit down, put your arm around me and play with my hair, ok?” She snapped, immediately feeling bad for being short with him. “Please?” She said more gently this time.
“I’m sorry if my hovering is too much,” Jorah said quietly after a while. “I just want to feel useful but I’m getting the way, aren’t I?”
Great, that was making her feel way better about everything…
“I’m six months pregnant, Jorah,” she said, trying to be gentle yet firm with him. “I’m not an invalid. I don’t need you to do everything for me.”
“Maybe we should have a list of dos and dont’s,” Jorah joked.
“That’s not a bad idea actually,” Daenerys said in agreement.
“So, what’s on this list that I’m allowed to do then?” Jorah continued.
“Until the end of my pregnancy, you’re not to do anything for me unless I ask you to with exception of the following - foot rubs, running me bubble baths, shoulder and back massages, snuggling with me in bed and on the sofa and playing with my hair when we watch tv.”
She could feel the rumble of laughter through Jorah’s chest as he listened to her terms.
“And what do I get out of this deal then?” He countered.
She looked up at him and kissed him gently on the lips before stroking his bearded cheek with her hand, looking at him lovingly.
“You get me not screaming and shouting at you while I’m full of angry pregnant woman hormones and threatening to rip your balls off every five minutes.”
Jorah considered the terms of her deal for a moment or two.
“Ok, that sounds quite reasonable when you put it like that,” he agreed. “Although I’m going to remind you of this little deal when it’s three a.m. and you’re screaming at me because there’s no pickles and ice cream in the house…” he smiled.