I'm not sure why, but I decided to continue this story. I'm not sure how long it's going to be, but I figured it would be an interesting exercise to explore the would-be relationship between Jon Snow and Catelyn Stark. This will be done only in short 1k+ words snippets, but I feel that as of now such a thing is appropriate.

Quote of the day:

"She had three sons before Catherine was born; and instead of dying in bringing the latter into the world, as anybody might expect, she still lived on—lived to have six children more—to see them growing up around her, and to enjoy excellent health herself."

— Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

"Jon Stark."

The name sounded so foreign to Catelyn Stark as she said it, but she read it over and over again with her husband Ned at her side, the two of them feeling different things as they stared down at the proclamation sent by King Robert Baratheon himself. She had hated the boy, she had hated what he was, and she had hated how many times his stranger's eyes had reminded her of her husband's betrayal of her, but she had made a promise to the gods both Old and New, and a promise to the Heavens is something that few seldom turn their backs on. The Stranger had stayed his dark and terrifying hand, and the gods had answered her prayers in saving the life of a little boy named Snow, and so Catelyn now had a price to pay; a price that could only be paid in love.

She stood up from her chair slowly then, never having expected the raven from King's Landing to have come so quickly. She wondered what her family in Riverrun would think when they found out that she planned to raise the still young Jon as her son, that she would be the mother she always should have been to him, and she wondered what the other noblewomen of the other noble Houses would think, and if any of them would be able to look into the eyes of a boy named Snow or Storm or Flowers, and still be able to call them son. She wondered what Ned thought, what he felt in his heart, what he had felt in the deepest pools of his soul, when she had gone to him the morning after that terrifying night where the Stranger had loomed over Jon. Most of all though she wondered about Jon, about that boy who still thought that his name was Snow. Would he believe her when she told him that she loved him? Would he always carry that doubt, or that shame, or that resentment with him to the contrary in the back of his mind? She swallowed hard at the thought, hard truths being called so for a reason.

Catelyn turned to leave, but stopped when she felt Ned gently grab onto her arm. He was looking away from Robert's letter for the first time since they had opened it, and the Lady of Winterfell was surprised for a moment, seeing just the barest hint of a smile on her husband's normally stoic face, with eyes staring back at her that were more misty than she had ever seen on Ned. She could see that he was holding things back, things that she knew that her husband would be able to let go when he was finally alone again. She wasn't sure what these things were, whether it was tears, or smiles, or prayers to the Weirwood trees of his ancient gods, perhaps even all of the above, but it was in the next moment that she finally understood that she had done the right thing, Ned's voice cracking for the first time since the night that she had married him.

"Thank you."

All she offered was a smile before she left to go find Jon, no words ever being enough for that moment in time.

She already knew where Jon would be at this time of the day, and Catelyn Stark held her head up high as she exited the castle of Winterfell, heading in the direction of Ser Rodrik and his training ground. The words of her House were 'Family. Duty. Honor.', and now was the first time that Catelyn had ever felt that she was truly living up to them. Jon would be her son, and she would be his mother. By the word of King Robert of the House Baratheon, the First of His Name, Jon Snow would become Jon Stark.

Catelyn knew she had been right about Jon's location the moment that the clashing of wooden swords came within her hearing. She walked slowly, her life and the life of her newest son only one conversation away from changing forever, and she felt a lump grow inside her throat, wanting to lodge itself there forever and wanting to forget that she had ever made a promise to the gods in the first place. There was a chill in the air that morning, a cold that seemed appropriate for how Lady Stark had felt the moment that she had read the letter from Robert, and she took a moment to look around at the different people who went about their daily lives at Winterfell, all of them being just as clueless as Jon about what was about to happen.

Robb and Jon stopped fighting as soon as they saw Catelyn approach them, and both Ser Rodrik and Theon Greyjoy looked towards her, the two of them unsure about why the Lady of Winterfell had decided to grace them with a visit. Robb's eyes met her own, obviously curious as to what exactly was the reason for her presence, but the boy said nothing, Catelyn sure that he was simply waiting for his mother to announce it herself. Ser Rodrik and the ward Theon Greyjoy were equally as quiet as was her oldest son, and their eyes rested on her as well, but Catelyn decided to ignore the three of them for the moment, instead deciding to focus on Jon Stark, even if the boy had lowered his head from the moment that she had come to them.

"Jon," she said in a tender voice that surprised all those who heard it, "I would like to have a talk with you."

She could see the fear in the boy's eyes when he looked up at her, and the surprise and worry on the faces of the others, with the exception of Theon giving one of his famous smirks, and it was then that Catelyn decided to do something that was even more surprising than the tenderness she had shown her husband's bastard.

She smiled at him.

So, this snippet is done and I'll see you next time!

Incoming projects in the future:

-Short one-shot about Cersei, were she to give Robert a true born Baratheon son.

-A one-shot about Brienne of Tarth as a young girl, and her relationship with her father.

-A multi-chapter story about a King Robb Stark who wins the War of the Five Kings, and who with a heavy heart a decade later has to march North to fight the King-Beyond-the-Wall, a man named Jon Snow.

-And a continuation of my Game of Thrones AU, which is a retelling of the series in a modern mafia setting.