Robert showed up to work on Thursday and announced that he and Cersei were engaged.

"Really?" Ned asked with wide eyes. "That…happened fast."

"I think what Ned means is congratulations," Jon said pointedly.

"Yes, congratulations," Ned parroted.

"I know, it is a little soon," Robert admitted. "But it was always going to happen; I figured I might as well ask her now. The wedding won't be for at least another year or two, but you know…there it is."

"That's wonderful," Jon said.

The moment Robert left for his usual morning visit to the bathroom, Jon turned to Ned. "Oh boy."

"Oh boy is right." Ned ran a hand through his hair. "Do you think her father blackmailed him?"

"What, blackmailed Robert?" Jon raised his eyebrows. "I love him like a son, and you know that, but Tywin Lannister has been on the cover of Forbes magazine three different times. He's the wealthiest man in the world. He could land any man his daughter wanted. Why would he blackmail a member of the board of education to marry his daughter?"

He had a point. "Maybe she's pregnant."

"Maybe, but the wedding's not for a year or two," Jon pointed out.

"Well, what do you think is going on?" Ned wanted to know.

Jon considered. "I'm not sure, exactly. It's possible he's settling for a woman he only sort of loves because he doesn't think he'll ever really be in love again; I've seen it happen before. But it probably won't last very long, and we should support him—whatever happens."

Ned considered it. Robert was brash and more often than not acted before he thought; it wasn't wholly surprising that he'd rushed into an engagement. And it did make sense that he could be settling—he'd been crazy about Lyanna, and his feelings for Cersei were comparatively lukewarm. It made sense he'd think he was never going to find another Lyanna. Still. He was twenty-four; he had plenty of time to settle down (and not, Ned couldn't help thinking, with a woman like Cersei Lannister).

.

The news that the Lannister heiress was engaged understandably hit the tabloids, and it was not long before Tywin Lannister threw an engagement party for the couple. Ned and Brandon were invited and given plus ones on their invitations; Ned had no intention of bringing a plus one until Brandon called him two days before the party.

"Look, Ned, I'm in a bit of a tight spot," he said in a strained voice. "Cat's sister is visiting from the Riverlands. She'll be here during the party."

"What, so Cat can't come with you?" an oblivious Ned asked.

Brandon sighed. "No, it's not that, it's…well, we were wondering if you would bring her as your, you know…plus one, since you don't…um…have one…"

Ned groaned. "Brandon…"

"Look, I know, I know, okay?" Brandon said, sounding very stressed. "I'm not trying to set you up with her, I swear, and I wouldn't be asking except that Cat really wants us to bring her and—look I'll owe you big time."

Ned considered it. He really didn't want to bring a date, not right now, but he also knew Brandon and Catelyn wouldn't be asking if it wasn't important. Well, it was a party—the worst that could happen was she would find someone else to talk to all night. He could live with that. "Yeah, okay."

"Thanks," Brandon breathed in relief. "You're the best brother ever."

"Yeah, well, don't tell Benjen," Ned muttered.

.

On Saturday night, Ned showed up to Brandon's apartment in his best suit and politest smile. Brandon let him in with a warning look; but when Ned glanced at the woman sitting on the couch with Cat, he only saw a perfectly normal, fairly attractive girl. In fact, he thought, she looked a lot like Cat, except that her features were sharper and her eyes did not carry the same warmth as Catelyn's.

"Ned!" Catelyn, looking lovely in a navy blue dress and her hair piled artfully behind her head, rose. "This is my sister, Lysa."

"Hello, Lysa," Ned said as charmingly as he knew how.

Lysa smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Ned. Thanks for bringing me along."

"Oh, it's no problem," he said a little too quickly.

Lysa didn't seem to notice. She and Catelyn went to the bathroom together before they left, and Brandon turned to Ned.

"You're a saint."

"Is something wrong with her?" Ned asked in a low voice. "I mean, you made her sound…I don't know."

"Nothing's wrong with her, she just…" Brandon shook his head. "You'll see what I mean. Or maybe you won't. I don't know. We'll talk later."

The four of them set out for the Glass Garden. It was filled to the brim with Cersei and Robert's friends and family, plus a few big names Ned was fairly certain were just there to bring media attention. They found a table with their names printed neatly on folded cards; they had not been sitting long when Jon Arryn joined them.

"Jon, it's good to see you!" Brandon said warmly. "I don't think you've met my girlfriend yet, Catelyn…"

"Oh, Catelyn!" Jon said in a voice that was far too eager; he glanced at Ned and winked. "Lovely to meet you, Catelyn; I'm Jon. I had Ned and Robert in undergrad and now they work for me, poor bastards. But who is your charming companion?"

Catelyn exchanged a grin with Lysa. "This is my younger sister, Lysa."

"It's wonderful to meet you, Lysa," Jon said, taking the empty seat beside her.

Lysa let out a shrill giggle, turning her back on Ned and her full attention on Jon. Ned glanced at Brandon and Catelyn; Brandon low-fived him under the table.

They'd all just settled down with plates of hors d'oeuvres when Tywin Lannister got up on the DJ's raised platform and spoke into the microphone.

"Thank you all for coming this evening to celebrate the recent engagement of my daughter, Cersei, to Robert Baratheon." The room burst into applause, which Tywin looked annoyed at having to wait for. "I could not ask for a finer young man to marry my beloved daughter." But Tywin looked as if he could have asked for a finer young man. "I don't believe there has been a date set, but we look forward to seeing all of you at the wedding. Thank you." He left the stage as quickly as possible while still maintaining his dignity.

"That was heartfelt," Brandon sniggered. "Well, I'm going to take advantage of the open bar. Anyone care to join me?"

"No, thanks," Ned and Catelyn said. Jon and Lysa were too wrapped up in their own conversation to hear anything anyone else was saying. Brandon shrugged and walked off.

"So who is this Robert?" Catelyn asked. "And Cersei. I don't know anything about either of them; Brandon just said Robert was your friend."

"A bit more by force than choice," Ned chuckled. "We went to undergrad together; we were randomly selected to be roommates freshman year and we became attached at the hip."

"What's he like?"

"Very loud," Ned replied with a smile. "He's…well, I don't know how well you'd get on with him. He's a bit…indelicate, I guess, but his heart's in the right place. He once knocked a guy's teeth out because he called me a pansy."

"That was…nice of him, I suppose," Catelyn laughed. "And Cersei?"

Ned tried not to let his face fall. "She's…well, not exactly who I would have picked for Robert, but there have been odder couples. She's very…well, she's Tywin Lannister's daughter. I don't know how to put it any better than that."

Catelyn seemed to understand. "Well, I'm sure they'll make each other very happy."

"Mm-hmm," Ned responded noncommittally.

Catelyn glanced at her sister, who had a hand on Jon's arm. "I would apologize for my sister being such a bad date, but I mean, it's not exactly as if you two were straining at the leash to come together."

Ned gave her a guilty smile. "Was it that obvious?"

She shook her head, returning his smile. "Nah; but I know you don't like being set up with girls, and Lysa is still nursing a crush on a boy back home. Well, I thought she was," she corrected herself as Lysa giggled at something Jon was saying. "And anyway, now you can keep me company."

"I'm sure Brandon will be back," Ned offered lamely.

She waved a hand. "I don't care. As much fun as schmoozing with people I've never met before sounds, I do have a duty to my little sister."

"NED!"

Ned smiled and rose to greet his friend. Robert slapped him on the back and then moved to do the same to Jon. "Ah, I'm glad you both could make it! And you've brought dates!"

"Not exactly," Ned said, wanting to dispel that notion as quickly as possible. "This is Catelyn Tully—Brandon's girlfriend—and her sister Lysa."

"CAT!" Robert declared, shaking her hand. "Can I call you Cat?"

"Of course you can," she declared gracefully. "And you must be Robert?"

Robert slapped his forehead. "I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself! Yeah, I'm Robert, nice to meet you both." He moved to shake Lysa's hand, but not before sending Jon a sly look. "I'll see if I can't bring Cersei over to say hello."

"Well, we understand if she can't, of course," Ned said in what he hoped was a nonchalant tone. Catelyn shot him an amused glance.

"Nah, I'll bring her right over. CERSEI!" Robert dove into the surge of guests and reemerged a moment later with his fiancée.

Cersei Lannister exuded the same sort of confidence Ned imagined a queen might. She moved comfortably in her impossibly high heels and skin-tight dress, and she had the look of someone who was mildly bored with everything. When she came up to Ned, she lazily shook his hand in greeting.

"It's nice to see you again, Cersei," Ned said as genuinely as he knew how.

"Thanks," she said with the barest of smiles.

"Cers, this is Jon Arryn, I've told you about him, and Brandon's girlfriend Catelyn Tully and her sister Lysa."

"Thank you all for coming," Cersei said, eyes drifting over all of them. "I'd love to stay and chat, but as you can see there are quite a lot of people here I should play hostess to, so if you'll excuse me…" And she disappeared.

Robert gave Ned and Jon an embarrassed look. "Sorry about that—social butterfly, she is…"

"We understand," Jon said kindly.

"I'm very happy for both of you," Catelyn offered, and that seemed to make Robert feel a bit better.

"Thanks, Cat." His eyes drifted to Ned. "Ned, could you come with me a moment?"

"Sure." Ned followed him out of the ballroom (though not before Robert had grabbed a bottle of wine on his way out) and to the garden outside. "What's going on?"

"I don't think I'm cut out for this, Ned." Robert yanked the cork out of the bottle with a glunk. "All this…hobnobbing, schmoozing, whatever the bloody word is." He took a swig. "All this time I've been with Cersei, I thought, gods, I'm lucky to have this glamorous woman on my arm. And I am, I know I am. But I don't know if I have what it takes to be a Lannister."

"You won't be a Lannister."

"I'll be married to a Lannister, and that's as good as." He wiped his mouth, handing the bottle over to Ned. "Without you and Jon, I'd be nothing. I was a bully in school and I'm not that smart."

"You are smart," Ned said fiercely. "Maybe not in the way Tywin Lannister is smart, but he's Tywin Lannister for a reason. If more people were like him, he wouldn't be the wealthiest man in Westeros."

"I guess."

"It won't always be like this," Ned tried to reassure his best friend.

"You say that, but…look. This family is in the news all the time over some blasted thing or other. I'm going to have to become part of this family. I'll have to go to every stupid fucking party and tennis match and cotillion and whatever the bloody hell else rich people do. What am I supposed to do?"

"Become an alcoholic."

Robert let out a wry chuckle. "Don't think I haven't considered it."

Ned clapped him on the back. "You'll be fine. I have faith in you."

"It's nice to know somebody does," Robert mumbled. "But really, thanks, Ned. I needed that."

"That's what I'm here for."

When they reentered the ballroom, Brandon was nowhere to be found, and Catelyn was sitting alone at the table.

"All alone?" Ned asked.

She sent him a wry smile. "Lysa's dancing with Jon."

"And my idiot brother hasn't come back?" When she shook her head, Ned held out a hand. "Come on. Let's dance."

"You don't strike me as the dancing type," she said, taking his hand nevertheless.

"I'm not, really," he admitted. "But I didn't think you would judge me too harshly for it."

She gave him a mock-stern look. "On the contrary, I'm judging you quite a lot. It's been statistically proven that men who don't know how to dance are intellectually inferior."

"Really?"

She laughed. "No. But wouldn't it be funny if it was true?"

They were joking about Ned's inability to dance (Catelyn had to lead him through the steps) when an older couple nearby smiled at them.

"You two make such a lovely couple," the woman commented. "How long have you been together?"

Ned and Catelyn exchanged a look.

"Well…"

"Three months," Catelyn said, sending a dazzling smile to the woman. "I'm just crazy about him."

"That's so sweet," the woman cooed.

"Come on—honey," Ned said, trying to fight off a grin. He and Catelyn became separated from the older couple and they burst into laughter.

"We do make a handsome couple, though," she said, nodding towards the mirror behind the bar. Ned saw their reflection and was surprised to find that she was right—they looked good together. They fit, somehow. He looked down at her to make a joke about the height difference, but the light caught her a certain way and the joke died in his throat.

"You look really beautiful," he said instead.

Her cheeks turned the faintest shade of pink. "Thank you." She ducked her head, looking to the side—and saw Brandon staring right at them. She stood frozen for a moment before offering him a tentative smile.

Brandon didn't smile back.