A/N: So this is my first multi-chapter fic. It's a little dark and there are mature themes as Sansa and Arya deal with real life issues, both separately and together, while dealing with being Princesses and dealing with school, learning who they are as people and discovering their identities. It's going to be a challenge – I've never actually read a Modern AU royalty fic before so I don't know how this is going to go down. Constructive criticism is welcome.

WARNINGS:

This fic will have dark and possibly traumatic themes in future chapters.

There will be drug use, alcohol use, rape/non-consensual sex, child molestation (for personal reasons I will not make graphic scenes but more references), self-harm, underage sex, sex with a minor and violence. I will put warnings on the chapters depicting one or more of these topics.

If you feel this isn't the fic for you, turn away now. If you still want to give this fic a go, thank you and enjoy.

Eddard Stark, the King in the North, had a headache.

No, not a headache. A migraine.

For the past twenty or so years, Eddard and his wife Catelyn had effectively governed the North of Westeros. They were in little debt, their subjects were good, honest, hard-working people and they had recently discovered that their country was one of the most sustainable, economic countries in the Known World.

And then there was a call.

"Ned!" Robert Baratheon, King in the South, shouted jovially.

"Hello Robert," Ned replied fondly. "What's making you call for the first time in six months?"

"I need your help Ned," Robert told him. "I need you to come south and help me fix my Kingdom."

Ned felt a sense of foreboding - he had no aspiration to leave the North. "Robert..." he trailed off.

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't need your help," Robert had said. "Look, I have an estate for you and your family to stay at during the year. One year Ned, that's all I'm asking."

"Sansa is in her last year of school," Ned said. "Arya is going to put up a fight and Rickon is young..."

"Please Ned," Robert begged. Ned sighed, knowing he had already made his decision.

"One year," he said. "And then I'm coming home to where I belong."

As Ned had predicted, his headstrong daughter Arya had put up a massive fight about moving.

"Why can't that fat sod run his own fucking country?" she had shouted.

"Arya Stark!" Catelyn said firmly. "You are a Princess of Winterfell! Don't use that language!"

"Why do we have to move as well?" Arya asked desperately. "I can stay here or live with Jon and Uncle Benjen-"

"Jon and Benjen are due to deport for Sothoryos," Catelyn argued. "You're to come to King's Landing with us."

"It could be a good opportunity Little Wolf," Ned said calmly. "You can start at King's Landing Private School and-"

"And nothing!" Arya cried. "My friends are here - my whole life is here! I'm not going!"

Ned sighed as he remembered Arya storming to her room and refusing to come out for two days before he told her she could take her wolf, Nymeria, with her. Arya was still miserable, it seemed, but seemed to have a slightly better attitude to moving now that she could bring her beloved pet along.

Sansa, typically, was excited to be moving. She would shine in the south, Ned knew. Bran and Rickon were also excited to be moving.

Ned stood and stretched before heading to bed. As long as his family stuck together, he would be happy to help his best friend. Ned stood in the doorway to the master room of Winterfell Castle and watched his wife sleep. Ned truly didn't think he would have survived the death of his sister, brother and father without Catelyn's help, and while at times he felt guilty that he married his brother's girlfriend, he also justified it by staying faithful to her. He loved Catelyn with his entire being and he knew that without her there to help him, the kingdom would have fallen more than once. Ned crawled into bed and felt a rush of affection as Catelyn naturally turned into his chest before shutting off the lamp. He would worry about tomorrow when tomorrow would come.