Thanks for all the love! The next chapter might be awhile, but hopefully not to long. :)


Catelyn held Jon until he cried himself asleep, then tucked him into bed. She felt a few tears roll down from her eyes as she listened to his breathing even out; tears she had not meant to let fall. Catelyn licked her dry lips and, still refusing to look at Ned, ran her fingers through Jon's brown hair, and she asked the question she desperately wanted the answer to, and yet never wanted to know.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

She could feel Ned's gaze on her, but she still didn't look at him. She couldn't look at him. Catelyn continued talking.

"I understand why you did it, but why didn't you tell me?"

Catelyn finally looked at Ned, anguish filling her. She loved her husband, but in this moment she had never felt more betrayed.

"I never would have told anyone. I would have been able to look at Jon and not wonder who the woman who captured your heart was! I would have never stayed up nights, wondering where she was and if you still loved her!" she screamed, not caring how she hysterical she might sound.

Ned looked at her, calm and quiet, and Catelyn hated that. Hated him for one moment that he was able to stand so strong when her world had crumbled around her. "I'm sorry, Cat. But I had to do it."

Catelyn shook her head. "You did, I know. I understand. But that's not what I'm asking!" Catelyn looked away and back at Jon. She whispered, "I would have trusted you. Why didn't you trust me?"

She barely heard what he said next and pretended that she didn't.

"Because it was the only way I thought you could be safe."

After a few minutes spent in silence, she heard Ned get up and leave the room. She knew he was as desperate for her touch as she was for his, but in the end neither moved.

She didn't watch him leave and, as soon as she heard the door close, the tears that she had held back started streaming silently down her cheeks.

Catelyn had constantly wondered who Jon Snow's mother was and sometimes she would recreate the woman in her head. She knew it wasn't healthy, she knew she shouldn't reflect on the past, Ned was her husband now and that was all that mattered, even if he had loved another woman more than her at some point. She couldn't help it though.

Sometimes it was Ashara Dayne, with her great beauty. Jon was a beautiful child, it was easy to see him one day becoming a handsome man, as much as Catelyn loathed to admit it. Sometimes she thought his mother had been simply a whore, sometimes a peasant, sometimes a noble woman from another house, but she was always a mystery. Catelyn had slowly come to accept that she might not never know the woman who made the honorable Ned Stark forgot his marriage vows and she wasn't sure how she felt about that.

And now she wasn't sure how she felt about this.

On one hand, Catelyn felt a greater joy than she had ever felt before. The knowledge that Ned had only loved her, or had at least not acted on any feelings of love that he may have made for another woman, was a burden lifted from her shoulders, a burden she'd been carrying for so long that she had almost forgotten about it. On the other, fear and anger raged inside her. Ned had risked her safety and her children's safety and the North was about to be thrown into war, but that wasn't why Catelyn was angry.

The Tully family words were Family, Duty, Honor. Ned should have told her about Jon. Catelyn had stormed out of Maester Luwin's chambers as soon as he was finished telling the story of how he found Lyanna Stark at the Tower of Joy. She laid no fault on his shoulder's for taking in and protecting his sister's son, that was only right, and she would have done the same thing if Lysa had been in that situation. But she would have told Ned. She would have burnt the title of whore the world would have thrown at her because she would have had him at her side. She would have trusted him to be by her side.

Obviously Ned didn't trust her.

Catelyn's thoughts turned back to Jon and the guilt she had always managed to keep at bay, managed to keep pushed down inside her came out.

She had refused to show the boy any compassion other than basic human decency. She made sure the boy was well-fed and well-taken care of, that he could have a relationship with his siblings, his cousins now, but otherwise she stayed far away from the boy.

Of course, as it turned out, there were some out there who might say that Jon was her rightful king.

And if this upcoming war turned out in their favor, if the North managed to protect Jon, if Ned was forced to stop Robert from hurting his nephew, if Ned was forced to kill Robert, Jon would probably become her king in truth.

Catelyn sighed. She needed to write to her father.

She needed to convince him to make the Tullys would side with the North. She needed to convince him to make the Tullys stand with Jon.

Family, Duty, Honor.

"Lady Catelyn," she heard a small voice say. She looked down. Jon was awake, his eyes still filled with tears and Catelyn brushed her tears away quickly. She didn't want Jon to see them. He shouldn't see them.

"Aunt Catelyn," she corrected. "I'm Aunt Catelyn now." It was odd to say and think now. It was odd how warm she felt towards him now. It was odd to say how much she wanted to protect him now. The guilt of her neglect seemed to crush a bit more.

"So it's true."

"Yes. It is."

Jon looked at her, his gray eyes wide. Catelyn studied his face. His coloring was Stark and most of his features were, too; but there things that Catelyn thought might be Targaryen. His nose. The shape of his eyes. His high cheekbones. A certain grace on his face that neither Ned, Brandon, Benjen, or even their Lord Father had. Perhaps Lyanna had that though.

"My daddy's a prince," Jon said matter-of-factly.

"Yes," Catelyn replied.

"And my mommy is Aunt Lyanna."

"Yes."

Jon's eyes seemed to get even wider as he asked the question that he seemed to truly want the answer to.

"Am I still a bastard?"

Catelyn swallowed the lump in her throat as she told Jon the truth. "No."

"What am I then?" Jon smiled and then asked excitedly, "Am I a Prince?"

"No," Catelyn replied more harshly than she meant and the smile slid off Jon's face. "You are a King."

You are Rhaegar Targaryen's only living child. You are the boy who everyone thought was a bastard, but instead had been King since before you were ever born.

"I'm King?" Jon asked, wide-eyed with excitement, his smile back on his face. He seemed to have forgotten all about his hurt over the fact that Ned was not his father and was just focused on the fact that he was now apparently a King, one the Baratheons and the Lannisters would want to kill.

Catelyn wished that she could do the same. "Yes, you are."

As she looked at Jon, she found herself speaking, "Many people are going to expect things from you because of it and many people are not going to like you for it. Just remember who you are. Can you do that? Can you remember who you are?"

Jon nodded, clearly confused. "I'm a King."

"You are King Jon Targaryen, son of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, nephew of Lord Eddard Stark. They will want you to forget it. Never do.

"Now," Catelyn said, smiling, not wanting Jon to get scared, though he probably should be. The boy should stay a boy for just a bit longer. "How about we go get Robb, and we ask Jory to help with training? Sansa and I will watch from the sidelines and we'll see how well the two of you are doing." Jon and Robb both loved training and sparring, and they were both becoming quite good at it. Sansa just loved being held, though watching the training left her bored and she would start messing with Catelyn's hair after a few minutes.

She would write to her father tonight. Right now, she just wanted to watch her son and her nephew spar and hold her daughter. She just wanted to enjoy the peace that would be disrupted by the war that was coming.