Sansa was five when she brought home a boy from the river.

Ned Stark supposed he shouldn't have been surprised, considering the amount of other things and animals she'd bring home with her from down at the rivers edge, but a boy was certainly the last thing he expected. She had come bouncing through the courtyard with the boy's hand in hers, truly dragging him along with her towards the godswood where she had known her father to be. Those outside that afternoon had laughed, watching the young girl as she went, thinking she had made friend's with a Wintertown boy, not thinking for the slightest who he truly could be.

"Father!" Sansa's singsong voice cried out as soon as she stepped foot beneath the weirwood trees; there he was, sitting beneath the heart tree, eyes closed in thought. But Ned opened his eyes at the sound of his daughter's voice and smiled as she came towards him, dragging with her a boy of about Robb's age. She's breathless when she approached him, red hair wild from running, her clear blue eyes wide in her features. Though she was only five, Ned knew she would grow into a great beauty someday. "Father! Look, I have brought a friend home to live with us." She smiles widely, glancing from her father to the boy that now hovers behind her, looking quite uncomfortable. "Please say he may stay with us!"

He grins down at his daughter's upturned face and gently nudges her to the side, encouraging the young boy to step forward, closer to him. The boy looked as if he'd rather be anywhere else. "What's your name, son?" Ned asks as he takes in the sight of him; wild dark curls and deep set brown eyes that trusted no one. His clothing isn't rags and tatters, but old and in need of a wash and mend. His face is smudged with dirt and probably a bruise or two.

"Jon, ser. Jon Snow." The boy replies in a defensive sort of tone, eyes narrowing, daring Ned to make a remark about his bastard status. Instead, he's surprised when the man smiles upon him and reached out to touch the top of his head quite tenderly, as he thought a father might do to his son.

"Jon Snow, you say? Well Jon Snow, how does a hot meal sound?" Ned asks and he feels a warmth in his heart when the boy's face lights up. "And a warm bed to sleep in?" At that, the boy's eyes well up and Ned knows now that this boy has no home to return to. It's not just a local boy Sansa has brought home, it's a homeless orphan. "Go on Sansa, take him home, I'll follow you." Ned smiles when Sansa gives an excited cry and immediately takes the boy by the hand again, pulling him back towards Winterfell. Ned stands up and watches them go, a strange feeling settled into the pit of his stomach... A feeling that told him he needed to keep Jon and protect him as he would any of his own children. And seeing Sansa and him together, hand in hand, gave him another strange, but fluttering feeling. It was almost like looking into the future.

But Ned shakes away the feelings and begins to walk, trailing after the kids back to home.