9) Love is in the air.

After supper, Ned and Catelyn shared a bed for the first night in months.

"I still can't believe we're here. All of us together. I fear I might wake up at any moment and realize this is all a dream" Catelyn started.

"It's not a dream. Can you feel this?" Ned said placing soft kisses on her face.

"You did that in my dreams, too" she replied sadly, remembering all those nights she had spent alone with her grief.

"You dreamt about me kissing you?"

"No, just a stranger in my room" she replied with a goofy smile.

"Did the stranger do this?" he asked as his hand started to go from her face to her neck, her breast and then her stomach.

"Oh, he did that and more" she taunted him.

"Did he do this?"

And she gasped when he placed his hand on her crotch.

"Oh, Ned. Don't ever leave me again" she said as she kissed him deeply.

"Not if you kiss me like that, I promise. So, tell me about those dreams you had"

"No, Ned!" she blushed.

"What? Was I in those dreams?"

"Yes"

"Were they dirty?"

"Ned!"

"What? I had dreams too. And they were dirty. Very dirty."

"Was I in those dreams?"

"Yes"

"What did I do in those dreams you had?" she was curious to know now.

"I'll show you what I did to you in my dreams if you tell me about yours"

She started laughing uncontrollably. "Seventeen years of marriage and I get embarrassed of my stupid dreams"

"Oh, so they were embarrassment worthy. This is a whole new side of you that I'm really staring to enjoy" he teased her.

"Ned! Just … just shut up and kiss me you fool!"

.

As the family got together for breakfast the following morning, they were interrupted by Brynden Tully.

"Uncle, good morning" Cat greeted her uncle.

"Morning Cat. Lords Stark" and he nodded to both Ned and Robb, and then he turned to both Arya and Sansa "my ladies. Sorry to interrupt your breakfast, but a raven has arrived this morning. I thought you should see it my Lord" he said to Ned.

Ned took the parchment and read it. "You are the one in charge now, Robb. I believe this is for you" and he gave him the letter.

"It's from Uncle Edmure. It reads: Everything is going according to plan. We'll meet at the Bay at the end of next month."

Robb could barely hide his excitement. "He did it. We have the Martells on our side. The Freys of the Crossing will be arriving within this week. Then we'll all march down to Harrenhall and meet with Lord Bolton's host, so that we can all march together to King's Landing. We will besiege them from the North. Stannis said he will attack from the sea at Blackwater Bay. Edmure's plan was to get the Martells to siege King's Landing from the South. Once we're all there we will cut their communications on all sides and force them to surrender."

"I'm impressed son. Well done" said Ned beaming with pride.

"We should have a feast before you all leave" Sansa suggested. "It would be fun to have food and music and dancing, just like we used to do in Winterfell."

"That would be a great idea, Sansa. I'll talk to your grandfather, but I don't think he'll object"

.

The Freys and their army arrived the following day by mid afternoon. It was time for a feast, Sansa celebrated, and she was more that happy to help with the organization herself. This is what a true Lady of the House would do, she thought, and was not disappointed when she saw the results two evenings later.

.

"My Lords, my Ladies gathered in this hall tonight" Ned addressed his men. "First of all I think we should raise our cups in honor of our host, Lord Hoster Tully who is a-bed could not join us tonight. His son, my brother in law is negotiating with the Martells so he cannot join us tonight either. Lord Brynden Tully, here's to you", Ned raised his cup and his action was copied by everybody in the Hall. "I would also raise my cup to all the men who joined my son in his cause against the Lannisters. I thank you personally for your valiant efforts trying to free me from my prison. I would also like to raise my cup to welcome our brothers from the Crossing. Thank you all for coming. Tonight we feast, for tomorrow we shall leave the comforts of these halls to face our fate in battle. We will join our rightful King, Stannis Baratheon and defeat the usurper Joffrey Waters. We will stop the Lannisters pillaging and ravaging our lands. The Lannisters have caused enough grief to my family and to your families. So I raise my cup again. To Victory."

"To Victory" the walls seem to echo as all the men and women joined in the toast.

"To face our fate in battle?" Catelyn mocked her husband once he sat down next to her. "Really Ned, did you have to be so drastic?"

"Men like theatrics before riding off to war. Besides, we really don't know if we'll all come back."

"You had better come back to me. If you die on me again, I will haunt you for the rest of your death"

"Then I guess I had better not die"

The feast proved to be a great success. Everybody was enjoying the food, the drink, the music, the dancing.

"Ned, who's that girl dancing with Robb?" Catelyn asked him and pointed towards a couple dancing very close to one another.

"I think she's one of the Frey girls."

"Didn't Robb just split up with Jeyne Westerling? He told me about her, but I didn't get to meet her."

"Good riddance. Apparently she was only interested in his crown. Once he decided to support Stannis she left."

"Did you meet her?"

"Briefly"

"We missed so much of our children's lives, Ned. Did you know Sansa flowered while she was in King's Landing? The Queen had to explain everything to her. That should have been me" she said regretfully.

"Cat, stop it. Let's not dwell on things we cannot change. Besides, look at her. She's having a lot of fun now."

"Who is that boy she's dancing with?"

"That's Gendry, Arya's friend."

After a few more songs, and a bit more wine, Catelyn nudged Ned softly.

"Let's go dancing. Everybody else is."

"You know I don't dance, Cat"

"The stranger in my dreams took me dancing" she teased him.

"Then I guess I'll have to do better than him" he replied and took her by the hand.

.

When the dancing and the partying was over, Ned found his son mulling over some wine.

"Son, what's on your mind?"

"Girls" he slurred, "I was thinking 'bout girls."

"Any girl in particular?"

"Jeyne, she never loved me. She just loved who I could become. I did love her. Or at least I thought I did. But if I really loved her, how can I fall in love again so soon after she was gone?"

"Who's the girl?"

"Roslin. Her name is Roslin. She's a Frey from the crossing. Daughter, or granddaughter, or niece of the old Walder Frey, not sure."

"So you danced with her one night and you're in love now?"

"I was supposed to marry a Frey, did you know? When we were campaigning to go rescue you in King's Landing, we had to cross the river, but the Freys wouldn't let us. In the end mother was able to reach an agreement with them. Part of the deal was for me to marry one of his girls. But then I met Jeyne and I forgot about my promise to the Freys."

"Do you like this Roslin?"

"I think so. Did you love mother as soon as you met her?"

"Ha, no, not really. She was supposed to marry my brother."

"I know, but he died."

"So when we married, it was out of duty. It was not love at first sight. When we spent our first night together, there was no love between us, but we created something beautiful nonetheless."

"Me?" he said tipsily.

"Yes, son, you. We grew to love each other as the years went by and then we had four more beautiful children. I wouldn't change her for any woman in the Seven Kingdoms."

"I have made up my mind" Robb said. "I love Roslin and I'll marry her when we come back from the war."

"Son, are you sure? Is it not the wine speaking? Why don't you sleep on it and make up your mind tomorrow?"

"No, father, my mind is made up" he said as he tried to get up.

"Let me help you to your room." Ned helped his son stumble all the way to his room and helped him get in the bed. "Good night son"

"G'night f'ther" he slurred just before his eyes closed.

.

On her way back to her room Catelyn found Sansa gazing at the stars.

"Sansa, my dear, what are you looking at?"

"The stars. They are different from the ones we had at home, and different from the ones in King's Landing"

"You looked beautiful today"

"So did you mother"

"Thank you. Who was that boy you were dancing with?"

"Oh, his name is Gendry. He is a friend of Arya's. They met when they were escaping King's Landing together. He's a blacksmith, and very good apparently. He's helping forge swords for the soldiers and helmets and horseshoes, and many other things that I don't remember now."

"He sounds like a nice boy"

"I think he is" she said as her cheeks suddenly turned red and then felt the need to abruptly change the topic. "Goodnight mother, I'm a bit tired now, I had better go to bed" she rushed to say.

"Goodnight sweetling" Catelyn smiled knowingly and headed straight to the chamber she shared with Ned.

.

"I think somebody's in love" her husband greeted her as she walked in the room.

"Oh, Ned, I'm a bit tired tonight. I just want to sleep. Sorry" she said apologetically.

"Ha! That's not what I meant, but still, I take the hint. I was talking about Robb. That girl he was dancing with, her name is Roslin Frey, daughter or something to the old Walder Frey. Robb was in his cups when were talking, but he seemed determined to marry the girl as soon as we come back. You should have seen him. He looks so grown up."

"Well, apparently he's not the only one. Sansa was very interested in this friend of Arya's, Gendry."

"That could be problematic" Ned said scratching his beard nervously.

"Why?"

"He's …mh … well, he's Robert's. He's Robert's bastard. I met him before I was arrested when I was looking into Robert's possible heirs. I discovered Jon Arryn had already figured out Cersei's children were not Robert's and that he also had many bastards the Queen was trying to get rid of. When I saw him, I arranged for him to leave King's Landing before the Queen found out about him."

"Oh, no, another heir to the throne!" she breathed out exasperatedly.

"Is that what bothers you about him? That he's a possible heir to the throne?"

"Yes, I don't want Sansa to have to go to that wretched city again"

"I don't think you need to worry about that, I don't think he's interested. … But you're ok with him being a bastard?" he probed.

"I have nothing against bastards, Ned. It's the irresponsible fathers I have a problem with. It is men who cannot keep it in their pants I have a problem with. Don't bring this up, Ned. Not now. I don't hate Jon. He did nothing wrong. Yes, I hated him at first, I'm not proud of that. I'm not proud of the way I treated him, but it was you I was angry with. Every time I saw him, I pictured you lying with another woman and I hated it. I hated him. By the time I was ready to accept him I was in a rut, too much into my own hatred and I just found it easier to ignore him and pretend he was not even there. I tried to love him Ned, I did. I just wasn't strong enough."

"I'm sorry my love."

"That was a long time ago, please don't. Just drop it." They remained silent for a few minutes just looking at the floor. "This boy, Gendry, do you know who his mother is?" she finally asked.

"Some tavern girl, I think."

"And Jon's?"

"Catelyn, please."

"I'm not the one who brought this up, Ned. If you didn't want to talk about it, then you shouldn't have opened your big mouth."

"You know, there's other things I can do with my mouth" he teased her.

"No, Ned, forget it" she snapped back.

"All right my love" he said stroking her back with his hand.

"No, Ned, don't touch me. Not now. I told you I'm tired. Let's go to sleep."

"If you want, I can find another room" he said apologetically.

"Ned, don't be an idiot. Just shut up and let me go to sleep. You should sleep too."

I'm leaving tomorrow to meet my fate in battle. If I should die, this will be the last night I spend with my wife. I'm brave enough to face an army and did not flinch when I learned I was to be executed, yet I cannot bring myself to face my wife with the truth.

.

However, when they woke up, it was not to the sound of battle horns but to the toll of mourning bells.

"My father!" Catelyn breathed as soon as she heard the bells. "Oh Ned, do you think he has died?"

"Maybe my love. Let's get dressed and let's go find out."

Lord Hoster Tully was carried from his bed by his chambermaids. They removed the clothes and bathed his body. He was covered in saltwater and seaweed. He was then dressed in his armour and placed on the altar in the Sept, where people gathered to pay their respects. His body was then taken to the river to be placed on the funerary boat, where he would take his last voyage.

Catelyn stood at the quay supported by her husband who held her by the hand. Next to her were her two daughters, and her son was standing behind them. Lord Brynden Tully stood to the other side of Ned. Standing on the shore saluting their liege Lord for the last time were all the other men and women. When it was time, Brynden Tully lit the torch and shot the arrow to help his brother in the final stage of his journey. As the boat caught fire, Catelyn could not stop the sob that escaped her mouth. Ned tightened his grip on her hand and she whispered a quiet thank you.

In honour of Lord Hoster Tully, no celebrations were held that day and the departure of the men was postponed for the following day.

"I'm sorry my love" Ned told his wife softly.

"It was his time. I'm just glad I happened to be here and that I was able to spend the last days of his life with him. We need to tell Edmure. I'll write him a letter. Make sure you give him my love if you see him in King's Landing."

"I will"

"Oh, Ned. If something happens to him in the war, what will happen to Riverrun?"

"Don't think about that, my love."

.

She spent the rest of the day reminiscing about her father and praying in the Sept.

"What were you praying for?" Ned asked her later in the evening.

"For many things. For my father. For the battle to go well. For all the men to come back safely. For you and Robb. For Bran and Rickon. I pray for them every night. I pray that they forgive me for abandoning them, for not being there for Bran when he woke up. I pray for my brother to come back safely. For Sansa and Arya"

"But you don't pray for yourself"

She just looked at him and shook her head slightly.

"Come on, let's go to bed. You had a long day today, and tomorrow I leave to face my fate in battle" he smiled and put his arm around her to usher her out of the Sept.

"I saw Robb today with Roslin. I even talked to her a bit. She seems like a nice girl" commented Catelyn as they walked together arm in arm.

"Yes, I asked him again, after our conversation last night. He seems adamant about marrying her upon our return."

"Oh, Ned our babies are growing up!"

"We could always have another baby"

"I get the impression you're more interested in the process than in the result" she admonished him playfully.

"Oh, I do love the process," he said in a husky voice "but I also love the end result."

She halted and turned to face him. "Are you serious?" she asked, all smiles gone from her face. "Ned, please do not joke about this. I wanted this before you left for King's Landing. Would you like to have another baby?"

"Yes," he answered and grabbed her hand "I most definitely would."

"But you're leaving tomorrow" she sighed disheartened. "When you come back we will. Promise me you will come back, Ned, please" she pleaded.

"I promise" he squeezed her hands tighter and kissed her softly on her temple.

Hand in hand, they resumed their walk towards their bedroom.

TBC