For fluffy_vampire

(Y/n) lay on the bed looking up at the ceiling; Ubbe was laid under one arm, Hvitserk sprawled across her stomach, Sigurd under the other arm and little Ivar had found a comfortable spot on the pillow, right next to her head. It not the first time that she had found herself in this position, though given that she would soon be following her father, uncle and twin brother to Paris, she seriously hoped that it would not be the last. (Y/n) squeezing Ubbe and Sigurd a little tighter, as she placed a kiss to Ivar's head. All of them squirming and grumbling, before their grips on her tightened. The older girl doing her best not to laugh, as she realised that she was there for the rest of the night.

Her little brothers meant the world to her, and she was already training Ubbe and Hvitserk; Sigurd begging to join them whenever they would reach for the wooden training swords, and she had agreed to have him start, when she and the others returned. Björn's twin closing her eyes and praying to the allfather that she would return from the raid, that she would see Kattegat again; that she would be able to not only start Sigurd on the road to being a Viking, but also little Ivar when the time came. (Y/n) sure that despite his mother, and his disability, he would be a great fighter. Ragnar's daughter only able to imagine how Aslaug would come up with all manner of excuses why Ivar would not be able to fight, why he should not fight. (Y/n) though determining that no matter her protests, Ivar would get his chance to prove that he was a son of Ragnar, just like all the others.

Slowly she turned her head to look at her youngest brother. She liked to see him like this, at peace, without pain. She could recall following Ragnar after Ivar had been born. Her heart breaking as she watched the father that she adored, leave his newborn son, for the animals of the woods. (Y/n) becoming angered by the act, and quickly going to retrieve him. She and the tiny bundle just sitting there for a while, looking into each other's eyes. Her little brother finally falling asleep in her arms, as she made her way back to Kattegat; (Y/n) facing her father with what he had tried to do. It the first time that she had ever raised her voice to him; the first time that she and Ragnar had ever clashed. His daughter even more disappointed in him then, than when he had left her mother. (Y/n) warning him that if he ever dared to do something like that again to Ivar, he would have to face her. And she had meant every word; meant it and would say it all again. A smile pulling at her lips, as Ivar snuggled a little closer to her. (Y/n) placing another soft kiss to his forehead.

Yet it was not just Ivar that she wanted to protect, to care for, it was the others, too. Aslaug had neglected the other boys since Ivar was born, it seeming to affect Sigurd more than the other, as until the birth of the youngest Ragnarsson, it had been Sigurd who had been the apple of his mother's eye; yet now, just like Ubbe and Hvitserk, it was if he had been forgotten about. The queen only focusing on them, when she needed to. When she knew that it might annoy Ragnar or her. (Y/n) having come to feel as though she needed to be the mother that Aslaug wasn't. So, that was why she spent as much time with her younger brother's as she could. That was why she encouraged them, listened to them, trained with them. That was why she would come and sleep with them when they were restless. A little part of her hating the thought that the day would eventually come when she wasn't needed by them to do all those things, any longer.

"(Y/n)......." A voice came. The daughter of Ragnar turning to look at Ubbe.

"Ubbe.........?"

"You will be coming home, won't you..........You'll come back from Paris........?"

"I..........I will do my best, yes. And all of you can pray to the allfather for me while I am gone. But I will have father with me, and Björn. Rollo is leading the raid, and Flóki won't be far from me I should imagine. You cannot ask for better warriors than them. Then there are the brothers from Tamdrup.........."

"I don't like them. I didn't like how that one was talking to you........." Ubbe interrupted, (Y/n) able to see the same anger in eyes as she would see in her fathers, as she would see in her twin brothers.

"I don't think that you are supposed to, Ubbe. I don't believe brothers ever really approve of a man that shows interest in their sister. But you don't have to worry about that. I have more important things to think about than strange visitors. So, close your eyes and go back to sleep, before you wake your brothers." She told him, placing a kiss to his forehead, and smiling as he closed his eyes. (Y/n) turning her attention back to the ceiling, her mind drifting to the strange visitor, that she had so desperately wanted to kiss, before she herself closed her eyes and joined her brothers in sleep.