Fic: Lady Mother

[redcandle17]

Title: Lady Mother
Rating: PG
Characters: Catelyn, Ned, Robb, Jon, Sansa, Arya, Old Nan
Pairing: Ned/Catelyn
Word Count: 1,081
Summary: Catelyn yearns to give her lord husband a son who looks like him.
Note: For violaswamp. I'm indebted to misstopia for beta'ing this fic and discussing it with me.

Comments

[scalesandfins]

OMG SANSA PETTING, BC SHE'S A LADY AT THREE, HER DADDY'S BEARD. YOU HAVE SLAIN ME. ::DEAD OF THE SWEET::

And I love how this goes back and forth between Catelyn being insecure about her children not looking like Ned's sons while Ned is so clearly SO I LOVE with his whole family-- Ned clearly adoring Catelyn at the beginning when Sansa is born, and being so thrilled that the baby looks like her. But then, the barriers between Cat and Stark-ness are pretty firm, with that knee-jerk "No" to naming the baby Lyanna and the religious differences. And oh man, I love Catelyn for making it to her room by herself, and Old Nan for being businesslike and telling her to do it quickly to coach her along through a hard birth. WHICH OF COURSE is Arya who of course is a loud baby. Sorry, I'm rambling, but this was just really wonderful. :)

[scalesandfins]

*GRABBING PETTING Ned's beard, because she was a lady at three. :P

[redcandle17]

Thanks. :D Yep, Sansa petted Daddy's beard rather pulling it because she's a lady.

[violaswamp]

*g* Arya would have yanked it. Not to hurt her precious daddy, just to get his attention.

I really like this. I love all the little character touches: Catelyn wanting to make it to her room on her own, her acid comment about Ned bringing home a bastard, the way Robb and Sansa and Jon and Arya would make such a cute little group, except for the fact that Jon isn't Catelyn's, and the way you handle the religion. It's kind of sad that this is actually a happy time for them all, relatively speaking.

[zoeiona]

This was just lovely enough; a lots-of-little-children story can come out twee, but this wasn't twee due to its suffusion with Cat's practicality.

And he had not brought home another bastard.

Perfect line.

[brigittebod]

Though of course, Theon isn't exactly an improvement, but she can't know that yet ;-)

[redcandle17]

Well, Theon is not Ned's. I think some Catelyn fans defend her by ignoring her emotions and focusing on the practical reasons for her to not to want her husband's bastard around. It's perfectly natural for her to be jealous and hurt.

[brigittebod]

Well no, he's not Ned's, but the line is still ironic, considering how much less fucked up things would have been if someone had dropped an anvil on the little kraken brat...

But that's just us readers' insight, as I said no one could have known.

And yes, Catelyn is justified in feeling resentful. It makes her human, but it's still her least attractive trait.

[brigittebod]

Aw, that was adorable without being too sugary. I think Ned and Cat are hard to write without being either too boring, too fluffy or too angsty, but I think you got it just right.

[redcandle17]

Thanks.