Would've, Could've, Should've // Ned Stark // Hayley Marshall

4. Dragonstone

Dragonstone was beautiful.

Considering everyone thought Hayley was a distant relative of a Targaryen who ruled over dragonstone previously she felt connected with this place.

But it was gorgeous. 

"Selyse this is..." Stannis looked to Hayley with pride but he faltered. "My mother reincarnated." Stannis offered. 

"You said," Selyse looked to Hayley as Shireen moved closer. "Something like that when you received King Roberts raven."

"And you must be SHireen." Hayley declared. "Your father told me all about you." 

"He did?" Shireen questioned looking to Stannis. 

"He is so proud of you. Told me how smart you are." Hayley went on and she saw Selyse tense, as though she wasnt proud of her daughter. Which made Hayley hate her instantly. 

Shireen smiled back at Stannis and Hayley felt so much love.  Shireen hugged Hayley and she held Shireen to her. Stannis didnt care for Selyse, he used to love her but right now he didnt care, he didnt look to her, he looked to Hayley and Shireen. 

"Can you show me around?" Hayley questioned. 

"I can show you around!" Shireen agreed leading her inside. 

"What's with that face?" Robert declared patting a large hand on Selyse's back. "Our mother is back. This is the stuff!"

"This is insane." Selyse countered miserably. 

+

"Shireen adores you." Stannis remarked. 

"She is adorable." Hayley declared. 

"She is getting changed, wants to show you her favorite dress. Put her best foot forward." Stannis informed her as Hayley peered around the library. 

"Shireen showed me a bit of her favorite books. I'm excited to read them because I have never heard of any of them." Hayley remarked. 

"Because you are from another time." Stannis agreed slowly. "Are you lonely?" Stannis questioned "being here without..." Stannis chuckled. "Father, you dont know him."

"Maybe... but not missing your father. Missing... my daughter." Hayley corrected. "Can you tell me about him, your father?"

"My father used to tell me that boredom indicates a lack of inner resources." Stannis informed her

"Were you bored a lot?" Hayley mused. 

"Steffon, my father brought me and RObert to court when I was four." Stannis remarked as Hayley sat beside him. "Robert was such a kiss ass, but I was never impressed with King Aerys. Robert and I agreed though that Aerys was as noble as dragons were fearsome."

"The dragons are gone, dead. I thought Robert told me that." Hayley countered and Stannis laughed out. 

"Exactly." Hayley laughed nodding.

"You and Robert dont seem to get along." Hayley remarked. 

"I found a hawk when I was younger, you... not you. Her. My mother." Stannis said awkwardly. "She helped my nurse it back to health. I named the bird Proudwing but Robert called him weakwing... the hawk never got higher than the treetops... he never soared."

"Thats awful." Hayley remarked and even though Stannis knew, part of him knew Hayley was not his mother, not reincarnated but Hayley. Yet he found comfort in her presence. "But you seem wonderful, you raised a wonderful daughter, I can't say the same for Roberts eldest." 

"Joffrey." Stannis agreed with a scoff. 

"What is wrong with the lannisters?" Hayley questioned. 

"Everything." Stannis offered leaning into her. "Robert had a hawk, Thunderclap, he never missed a damn strike. It was irritating but you, not you. You." Stannis agreed holding her hand. "You told me that it showed I was brave, resilient, kind hearted, you praised me made me feel like I was special, even when everyone else made me feel like I was living in Robert's shadow."

"I'm sorry they made you feel like that." Hayley remarked. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry your wife seems to treat Shireen similarly." Stannis stared over at her. "As though she isnt enough. As though she isnt special. WHen its very clear to me that she is." Hayley declared. 

"Selyse... she..." 

"I adore Shireen already but I'm telling you now. I dont like Robert's wife. I dont like yours." Hayley declared. 

"Thats understandable." Stannis agreed. 

"Speaking of that adorable little girl... what happened to her face?" Hayley asked cautiously. 

"When she was an infant, the Dornish trailer landed on Dragonstone. His goods were junk except for one wooden doll. He'd even sewn a dress on it in the colors of our House." Stannis recalled and Hayley ran a hand through his hair, it was just like his mother had done to comfort him and Hayley didnt realize how easily comforting her fake sons came. "No doubt he'd heard of Shireen's birth. And assumed new fathers were easy targets." 

Hayley didnt understand, she stared back at him, didnt hear Shireen come in. 

"I still remember how Shireen smiled when I put that doll in her cradle. Shireen, she pressed it to her cheek. By the time we burnt the doll, it was too late" stannis remarked. 

"I was told she would die. Or worse. The grayscale would go slow."

"Greyscale." Hayley rasped. 

"Let her grow just enough to know the world before taking it away from her. Everyone advised me to send Shireen to the ruins of Valyria to live out her short life with the Stone men, before the sickness spread to the castle." Stannis remarked and shireen saw true sadness in him that she hadnt seen before. Hayleys gaze shifted as the boards creek as her weight shifted. 

"I told them all to go to hell. I called in every maester on this side of the world. Every healer, every apothecary. They stopped the disease and saved Shireen's life. Because she did not belong across the world with the bloody Stone men." Stannis declared and shireen had never felt so proud and then his next words made her feel so loved, Stannis turned to her. "You are the Princess Shireen of House Baratheon. And you are my daughter."

"What a good father you have." Hayley declared as Shireen hugged him. 

"The best." Shireen agreed. 

"And look at you, so gorgeous!" Hayley declared. "I love that dress!" Shireen smiled proudly back at her. 

"Come lets get Omah to supper before your uncle Robert eats all the food." Stannis declared. 

"Did Stannis bore you in the library?" Robert questioned. 

"I love books." Hayley corrected. "It was no bore. But stannis was telling me about... things. Hawk related that I would like to slap you upside the head for." she remarked calmly. 

"You told her about weakwing?" Robert shouted. "Little bit-"

"Robert." Hayley scolded and she loved that these three grown men, Robert and Stannis both elder than herself turned into little boys. Desperate for their mothers approval.

"Sorry mother." Robert grumbled leaning into her. She pat his back and she felt like their mother. Each day that passed she felt like she got a do over. It was weird and beautiful but she got to be a parent again. 

"I should have given you a son". Selyse whispered as they got another drink at the bar, she filled her glass high. 

"Not your fault." Stannis whispered. 

"Whose then?" Selyse countered. "I gave you nothing but weakness." she corrected and glared back at their daughter. Greyscale covered her but they had stopped the growth. "And deformity."

"Those scars mean nothing to me."  Stannis corrected. "Nothing to my mother."

"Thats not your mother. That woman-"

"She is." Stannis corrected. "She is my mother, I dont care if she didnt birth me herself but she is my mother. She cares, she cares about Shireen and me... More than you."