Falling Like || Jon Snow ✔

57| 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔪𝔬𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔬𝔣 𝔡𝔯𝔞𝔤𝔬𝔫𝔰

eastwatch, the wall

— BACK ON BOARD THE SHIP, NYMERIA BARELY LET THE MAESTER OR ANYONE ELSE TOUCH HER. Daenerys tried to insist, but there was nothing she could do, really, when Nymeria locked them all out. She stripped off her coat as quickly as she could, then everything else, then dried herself quickly with a warm towel and pulled on a loose white dress and a dark fur shawl over it. She was still shivering, but that wasn't anywhere near her main concern at the moment.

As soon as she was decent, she burst out of her room and rushed down the hall to where Jon was laid down, his furs and coats removed, thank the gods, but his lips and places on his skin were still slightly blue. She took a deep breath, trying to steady her racing heart. A few people bustled about, and she was quick about handing out orders while Daenerys watched from the doorway with a concerned sort of intrigue.

"Bring me ginger, mint oil, harp flower, hot water, clean towels and tea. And wine."

The hot water and towels were the quickest to arrive, and Nymeria set to work straight away, pacing this way and that across the room. Anyone standing in her path was quick to skitter aside at the urgency in her face and her stride. Perhaps thirty minutes or forty passed before she began to calm. Jon had still not woken, but whatever she'd done, he was looking much better, much more alive. Finally, she set a few things in a mug with steaming water for tea, took a long drink of wine, and took the blankets that had been warming by the small fire to drape gently over him while he slept.

She sat beside him, eyes full of concern and adoration never leaving his face. "Leave us." She spoke, her voice gentler now. Everyone was quick to scurry out, and she shut and locked the door behind them before making her way back towards the bed and climbing under the covers. She leaned against the headboard so that she sat above Jon slightly, lying-half on her side to pull him into her embrace, almost as if she were shielding his body with her own. "You idiot." She whispered softly. "You stupid, stupid idiot." she pressed a kiss to his head before letting her eyes flutter shut, the warmth and the rocking of the ship and her own exhaustion lulling her to sleep.

°

When Jon woke, the first thing he noticed was how strangely warm he felt. The last thing he could recall had been falling beneath the ice, the wights' grip on him... and a second dark figure breaching the surface after him.

His gaze slid left, finding Nymeria there, her cheek pressed into the pillow below her, hair splayed out around her as she slept. With each heavy breath, a few strands that had fallen over her face would flutter softly. They were back aboard the ship, he realised. There was nothing quite like seeing her face while she slept. The years of cold and pain and death seemed to melt away, leaving her looking very young and peaceful and innocent. A funny thought, really, considering just how much blood was on both their hands.

A knock interrupted his thoughts, and Jon realised the door was latched. Groaning, he pushed himself up, pulling on a robe that had been left hanging over one of the bedposts. Unlatching the door, he found Ser Davos on the other side, whose expression became one of relief when he saw them.

"Glad you're up and moving again, Your Grace. Is the queen...?"

"Nymeria's sleeping." Jon told him, stepping into the hall and closing the door lightly behind him so as to not disturb her. He frowned. "What happened?"

"You went under the ice, I heard." Davos huffed simply. "She went after you, and Tormund says..." he trailed off.

"Tormund says what?"

"He says the green dragon went after you, fished you both out and brought you back." Jon's brows shot up, and Davos gave him a nod that seemed to say, I know. "Then Nymeria fixed you up and sent everyone out. That was yesterday."

Jon frowned. "What about her? She went under too."

Davos shook his head. "Wouldn't let anyone touch her. But she wasn't wearing as much fur, so I don't think she was as bad as you. If she thought she was alright, I'll trust her judgement more than anyone else's."

"Yeah." Jon agreed, remembering how she'd pulled him and others from death's door before. "Thank you, Ser Davos."

"Your Grace."

When Jon settled back on the bed next to Nymeria she shifted slightly with a sigh. Then, without opening her eyes, she muttered. "You're an idiot. Have I ever told you that?"

He laughed softly. "You're the one who jumped after me."

"Shut up." he voice was still muffled by the pillow, and he stifled another laugh, for fear of getting hit over the head with that pillow.

"How do you feel?"

Her eyes fluttered open and a small groan escaped her as she stretched her arms and back. "Like I've gotten quite enough beauty rest."

"Hm, I don't know," he teased. "Maybe you should try for another hour."

A shocked laugh escaped her, and then, just as he'd predicted, she sat straight up, swinging her pillow around to smack him right in the face. "Manners, Your Grace."

"My apologies, you're right." he smiled, leaning back as she rose to pad across the floor to the wardrobe. "I am speaking to the most beautiful woman in the world."

She shot him a tiny playful smirk before ducking behind the changing screen to hide her soft flush. "You should send a raven to Sansa." She suggested, slipping into a black dress with beautiful golden patterning. She pulled the laces of the corset taught before arranging the skirt gently around her feet, adjusting the sleeves. "I need to go speak with Daenerys, now that we have our dead man for Cersei Lannister." stepping out, she took her black cloak and silky black gloves from atop the chest at the end of the bed. As she was slipping on the gloves, she pointed at Jon. "Drink tea."

"Yes, Your Grace." her lips curled into a mischievous smile and she rounded the bed to drop a kiss on his lips before striding purposefully out.

At the ship's prow, Nymeria found the Mother of Dragons staring out at the sea while her children drifted through the clouds above. For a moment, the two of them stood together in silence before Daenerys spoke.

"Mother of Dragons." She said softly. "It's what I've been since the day three fossilised dragon eggs came to life. Since I brought them back to life." She swallowed back a lump in her throat. "They are the only children they will ever have. And no matter what anyone else says, how anyone else sees them... I will always love them like a mother."

"I'm so sorry Daenerys." Nymeria's eyes were sad, her heart aching both for Viserion and his mother.

"He will not have died for nothing." There was determination in her voice now despite her sadness. "We will destroy the Night King and all of his army. Together."

Nymeria nodded, placing her hand comfortingly over Daenerys' on the rail. Fire burned behind her eyes. "We will."

A/N:
I think there's so much to be said about how well Jon and Nymeria know each other in the ways they protect one another. Like they both have each other's backs physically, but they're both pretty tough so that's just, like... loyalty. 

But Jon knows that Nymeria has been emotionally wounded so badly before, and that she doesn't always know how to fix that that he's always prepared to protect her emotionally, like he did when Jorah first came back. And just the way he's always been so cautious of her feelings and her trauma in general. 

And I think Nymeria knows that Jon is a very self-sacrificing person (which may or may not stem from an entire childhood of being told he was worthless), so she protects him from himself. Most of the times that she's had to patch him up, its because of something that he shouldn't have gotten himself into but he does anyways because its the best/only way to help others. And she doesn't give up on him. She kind of forces him to see himself the way that she does; as someone worth saving, worth admiring, worth loving.

<3