Chapter Text
Alice never expected to find herself in a rabbit hole situation. For all that her mother named her after Alice in Wonderland, Alice liked to think she was a bit more sensible than whimsical but current events were proving her wrong. She was staring at a baby. Alice went from being single to waking up with a husband, a child, and giving birth to another.
And hadn’t that been a mind fuck.
A week ago, Alice had woken up, body aching, nauseas, and sweating, in a bed too large and a room too grand to be hers. As she’d sat up and noticed her stomach, Alice fully believed this was a fever dream and done her best to go back to sleep.
Sometime later, she’d been awoken again, this time by what she assumes is a maid. Said maid had persuaded Alice to get out of bed but only to move her to a, well Alice was calling it a sitting room, who knows what the proper name is. Alice had spent the rest of the day lounging in a chaise, barely keeping food down. She had noticed the looks of concern the maids around her were giving but was too focused on maintaining a normal breath and not passing out to care.
Around mid-day, a man had come into her sitting room, expressing worry for her state. It was at this point that Alice lost her battle and she felt her vision begin to darken, her head becoming fuzzy. There was a tingling in her head and fingers as none other than Viserys Targaryen came to stand beside her chaise. Alice reached out because surely he was not real, surely this was not happening. His hand grabbed hers and Alice could feel her mind snap because what the fuck.
She must have passed out.
Alice once more found herself awaking on that too large bed, except now there were people all around her. Viserys was there talking to who Alice recognized as Maester Mellos, or rather she assumes they are talking because she could see their mouths moving but all she heard was a loud drumming. Alice weakly tried to get their attention only to gasp as she felt a pain in her stomach.
What followed was a nightmare. Alice found herself going in and out of consciousness, each waking moment finding herself pushing and in pain. There was screaming and so many people. They made her walk, holding her limp body up, forcing her to stay awake until finally she heard a child’s scream. She’s unsure of what happened next but as she felt herself drifting off she prayed to any god that would listen to wake up next in her own bed.
No god answered her prayer.
Alice was so tired and her body hurt more than ever. She blinked slowly, eyes opening and tried not to cry because she was once more in that god damn room. It was night, there was barely any light, but she could still see Viserys sitting next to her bed holding a baby. He was speaking low, in a language she could not understand. He glanced up and noticed that she was awake now.
He leaned forward, grabbing her hand. As he did so, he whispered softly, “Alicent, darling.” She felt his thumb gently rub the back of her hand.
Alice made to sit up, hissing in pain, and then coughing, her throat drier than the desert. Viserys barked at someone and then Alice felt hands adjusting her and a cup placed at her lips. Eventually she was sat upright and Alice saw Viserys’s face was pale, his eyes red rimmed. His hand still in hers, she asked, “What happened?”
A look of pure rage came across his face as Viserys said, “Someone put an abortifacient in your tea but luck was on our side. You went into labor early and our daughter was born safely.”
Viserys leaned forward, making to pass over the swaddled babe to Alice. She took a moment to respond before hesitantly bringing her arms up and around. Cradling the child, Alice peered at her face. She’d never had children of her own but she had nieces and nephews and this baby was just as cute as they were, if not more so.
“What shall we call her?”
Alice looked up at Viserys. “Hmm? Have you not already named her?”
Viserys shook his head. “No. I thought I’d wait for you.”
Alice was confused but nodded. “How about Helaena?”
Viserys smiled. “A lovely name, Helaena it is.”
They sat in silence both looking at Helaena, although Alice’s mind was anything but silent. Her thoughts raced. She’d slept and awakened too many times for this to be a dream, not to mention the pain of childbirth. Which, fuck, if things followed what she knew of canon, she’d have to do that twice more. There was also the ambitions of her new father and Rhaenyra birthing Harwin’s children rather than Laenor's. Alice was trying her best not to cry. This life sounded exhausting. She’d much rather go back to her comfy life watching the Targaryens on tv.
Fuck, this is so cliche but Alice was gonna have to fake amnesia. Well, sorta fake.
“H-husband?” Alice let the tears she was holding fall.
Viserys looked up, eyes widening. His hand came up and cupped her cheek, rubbing her cheek. “Alicent, what is it? Shh, everything is fine. We’ll catch whoever did this and make them pay. I swear it.”
Oh no, why did his hand feel nice on her cheek? Ugh, she’s too emotional to think about this. “Viserys, I- that this, is it normal for those drug-”
He cut her off. “Shh, no darling, Mellos believes you’ll be able to have more children. Once you recover, of course.”
Alice felt side swiped by that comment. And angry cause what the fuck. She felt her tears stop in shock and took a deep breath to calm herself. “That is, that is wonderful to hear, husband. I wanted to ask though, is it normal for those drugs to affect one’s memory.”
Viserys looked shocked and confused. “Why are you asking this, Alicent?”
Her stomach was in knots and she could feel a cold sweat break out on the back of her neck. “We have a son, yes? Or is it another daughter? I feel like my head is in a fog and I can only vaguely see through it.”
One of the maids sucked in a gasp and Viserys whipped his head around, his eyes finding her. He seemed angry and bellowed, “Get Mellos in here immediately." The girl looked barely sixteen and pale with freight as she bobbed a curtsy and ran from the room.
Viserys moved from his chair onto the bed, placing his arm around Alice. He placed her head onto his chest, his hand rubbing up and down Alice’s arm, murmuring words of reassurance.
Alice knew he was comforting her about her supposed memory loss but it felt a bit like he was comforting her for this whole waking in another body situation and it was nice. He was warm and she leaned in a little more as they waited for Mellos to arrive.