"It's a letter! From Robb and Jon." Arya sounded as if that alone would make her day. She waved the cream envelope in front of Ned's face. Since they had left for university Robb or Jon rarely wrote. There were phonecalls and the occasional visit and a few postcards from Jon when he had done his internship in Norway last summer but no letter. Especially not when they had announced that they would come home for the weekend.

"Why don't you open it?" Ned asked her from behind his paper.

"Are you sure it's from them?" Sansa asked, eying the envelope sceptically.

"That's Robb's handwriting you idiot", Arya rolled her eyes at her sister.

"Arya", Catelyn admonished her.

"What does he say?" Ned asked when Arya tore it open and suddenly let out a squeal.

"It's a wedding invitation. They're getting married. I knew it."

Catelyn took the card from her and read it with a frown while Arya was jumping through the room.

…for the wedding of Robb Stark and Jon Snow on…"

"Mum, you're crumbling it", Arya pulled the card from her hand and gave it over to Ned.

Catelyn felt as if someone had poured ice down her bones. This couldn't be true. Robb, her Robb wouldn't do this, not even as a joke. Suddenly she was glad that Bran and Rickon were still in summer camp.

"I…" Ned studied the card like it could answer him.

"Oh, what is it?" Sansa asked impatiently and grabbed the card. "This is a joke, right?" She sounded scandalised. "They can't actually do that."

"They can and they will." Arya said and took the card to put it carefully back into its envelope.

Between the end of school and the start of university Ned had told Jon the truth, namely that he wasn't his son but that of Lyanna, Ned's dead sister who had been involved in the scandal about the Targaryens and Baratheons. Back then it had been safer for everyone involved to pretend that Jon was Ned's son instead of Lyanna's.

The door was opened and Robb called, "Mum? Dad? Is anyone home?"

"Robb! Jon!" Arya was hugging them within a split second. "We got your invitation."

Robb and Jon paled considerably. Ned walked into the hallway as well, greeting the two of them more warmly than they expected judging by their expressions.

"I believe you have something to tell us. We're having breakfast. As usually you have an impeccably timing of coming home."

"I thought we agreed not to send them the invitation", Robb hissed quietly.

"Sam must have mixed it up when he sent the others out as well", Jon replied under his breath.

Catelyn couldn't look at either of them when they came into the kitchen. She didn't trust herself not to attack Jon for corrupting her son. Her hands tightened around the table's edge. The idea that the bastard had touched her son was making her sick.

"Are you really getting married?" Sansa asked still frowning.

"Uhm….yes", Robb answered, taking Jon's hand in his.

"We've meant to tell you earlier but we didn't know how to", Jon added quickly, looking at Ned.

Catelyn stood up and walked up calmly to Jon before she hit him in the face. And again. And again. Again until Ned grabbed her arms and dragged her away from the monster that had done those things to her son, her sweet, beautiful son.

The same son that shielded the bastard with his body, looking horrified as she screamed at the abomination, at Ned to let her go so she could finish what she should have done years ago. The sight of Jon's bloody face wasn't enough. She needed more, needed to tear the skin from his face and smash his body to a pulp.

"Mum", Sansa stared at her, wide-eyed and afraid, looking like the frightened little girl she was. Catelyn realised what she was doing and let Ned pull her out of the kitchen and into their bedroom.

/

"I should have expected that", Jon said bitterly after Ned had dragged Catelyn out of the kitchen. He touched his split lip and winced when his fingertips brushed the wound. Sansa looked like she couldn't believe what had just happened and Arya seemed frightened.

Robb, however, was practically seething with anger. Jon could feel Robb's hands gripping his arm too tightly to be comforting.

"Guess it was more of a shock than we thought", he told Robb in an attempt to calm him down.

"Will you still get married?" Arya asked in a small voice, clutching the envelope to her chest.

"I certainly hope so", Jon said, smirking at Robb who slowly seemed to recover. He had always been more hopeful than Jon when it came to acceptance from their family.

"You cannot do this", Sansa said. She sounded appalled.

"We can and we will", Robb said, giving her a cold look.

"But you are brothers."

"Not really, no", Jon grinned.

"Please tell me you didn't do anything until you discovered you weren't related."

Jon and Robb exchanged a look.

Sansa shrieked. "But that's wrong!"

"I was having you on", Jon grinned but Arya could tell that he was lying.

"I'm sorry about that", Ned said as he came back into the kitchen.

"We didn't mean to spring it on you like that", Jon said. "It's partly our fault." Their father's approval was important for Jon, too and Ned would always be his father, no matter what his birth certificate said.

"But our wedding is not negotiable", Robb said straight away, ready to argue with his father over this.

"I didn't say anything, Robb", Ned reminded him gently. "But you need to help me understand. We raised you as brothers. And not even three years after we told you the truth you tell me you're getting married."

"It just happened. We just fell in love," Robb said and gave Jon a soft look which he returned.

"You're a bit young to marry."

Robb's face turned stony within a second. "As I said, our wedding is not negotiable."

Jon wrapped his hand around Robb's arm to calm him. "We know what we're doing. We've been living together our whole lives. I already know he snores."

"I don't!"

"You do", Sansa said.

"Like a locomotive", Arya added and they grinned at each other.

"Well, then you're probably hungry. There's more bacon and eggs in the fridge if you want them", Ned said and sat down at the kitchen table with his children. As if on cue Arya turned to Jon with big, pleading eyes. "Pancakes?"

"Second", Robb said immediately.

"Me, too", Sansa said. Jon was hopelessly outmatched.

"I'm on vacation", he protested meekly. But while he could've said no to Sansa, he was defenceless against Robb and Arya.

"Please?" Arya added and Jon sighed defeated. "Fine, but I'm not washing up."

"Deal", all three said in unison.

"You can help me with the batter", Jon said and looked at Arya.

While the two were puttering around the stove, Sansa went back to her phone and Ned leaned a little closer to Robb. "You should talk to your mother", he said quietly.

"She just attacked Jon", Robb hissed under his breath.

"I know. But you should still talk to her."

"She's always hated Jon."

"It's been difficult for her. And I didn't help as much as I could've. Please, Robb, talk to her."

/

"Mum." Catelyn sat on the bed, staring at her hands. The skin over one of her knuckles had split and the dark stains on them were undoubtly Jon's blood. The sight made Robb's anger flare up again.

She lifted her head and looked at him. "Tell me it's a lie."

"It's not. I'm going to marry Jon."

"Then you're not my son anymore." It was the calm way she said it that cut into his heart.

"Mum – "

"Don't call me that. I want you to leave and I never want to see you again."

"Please, Mum – "

"Leave!" She snapped.

/

When the day came everyone was there. Everyone they had invited except for Catelyn. Jon squeezed Robb's hand when it became clear that she wasn't among their family members. Robb gave him a smile and the shadow vanished from his face.

The actual procedure was rather short and not very romantic as paperwork didn't tend to be but the cheer they got from their family and friends once it was done made more than up for that. And when Jon cupped Robb's face in his hands to kiss him on the steps of the town hall, Robb couldn't care less about anything else in the world.