A/N: Standard disclaimer here. I don't own ASOIAF and only write for fun.

"Robert, we are wasting precious time," Ned sighed. This was a conversation that he wasn't looking forward to having again, but he had no choice. This time he would try a different approach mostly because he was afraid what would happen if he weren't successful. In his previous life, the crown was in debt so when Pycelle suggested a faceless man, he was scoffed at. This time, they still were in debt, but not nearly as much as before, thanks to him, and Ned did not want to take that chance. Sometimes it was better to leave things alone,

"Jon Arryn used to tell us that he had no patience for wasted time, yet here we sit wasting time on horse lords half a world away while our mentor was poisoned in this very city."

"Do not try to charm me with the words of Jon Arryn," Robert responded back at him angrily, before pounding the table. "I know them well, I was there! It still does not overrule the fact that the dragon whore is pregnant! I warned you! I told you and you did not care! You will care today. I want them dead, mother and child both, and that fool Viserys as well."

"Did you not hear the words I said after I told you I did not care?" Ned responded evenly. "Did my next words mean so little to you?"

Roberts eyes narrowed, and Ned did not give him a chance to speak, "When we were young men leading a rebellion for your crown and we faced seemingly unbeatable odds, did my words mean so little to you then? I told you then, what I told you that day in the barrowlands! Should those fools cross the Narrow Sea, we will crush them together, just as we defeated their brother! I told you I would fight for you until the day you died! Do you remember?"

Ned took a deep breath, and continued coldly again before Robert could speak a word. "What happened to you in this god forsaken city? Is the man I knew, the man fearless in the face of defeat, the brave warrior who would fight for those who couldn't? Tell me Robert, did you fear Rhaegar?"

Robert snarled and pounded the table again before he stood, "I caved his chest in with my hammer!"

"So what do you think will happen should some Dothraki horse lord who is afraid of water crosses the sea? Let them cross. If they do, the lords and ladies of Essos will sing songs about how we rid the world of the Dothraki."

"You would suggest a war?" Pycelle said incredulously?

"I would actually," Ned responded calmly after Robert sit down "Can we think for once gentlemen? You, yourself Maester have studied histories at the Citadel, tell me how many times that the Dorthraki have gotten on a boat?"

"There are very few" Pycelle responded.

Ned nodded, "And tell me, if there are very few, why are we so certain that they would even make it cross the Narrow Sea if they boarded one? Those who have made it have come with other people. Whom do you trust more? A people who have a history of barely stepping foot on a boat, or the Royal fleet? The Dothraki would sink before they ever got to shore."

"Do we trust Stannis at this point to deliver on that victory should the time come?" Littlefinger asked, no doubt trying to sow seeds of doubt in Ned's words. Around the room, Pycelle started to nod, agreeing with him. Varys just stared at him blankly.

"Stannis Baratheon is many things," Ned began tiredly, "but above all he is a man of duty. When the Greyjoy's rebelled, he sank the Iron Fleet easily. The Dothraki are not the ironborn. Let us stop pretending as if they are."

"That all may be true," Pycelle tried again, "but wouldn't it be best to avoid all of that unnecessary conflict when we could kill them now?

Ned nearly growled. This had to stop, and he went to speak again before Robert spoke up, shocking him. "No, Ned is right. If they cross the sea we will crush them."

Ned smiled at his friend and nodded in agreement. He was beginning to think his little speech wouldn't work, but in the end Robert was a simple man. Give him a chance at winning a war or women and he would put great thought into the idea.

"I'm glad you agree with me brother," Ned said with a smile. It was time to cause some chaos of his own. "Do you remember what else you promised me? When we were in the crypts of Winterfell?"

It took a moment, but Robert's eyes narrowed and anger flashed across his face, "aye."

Ned smiled and turned to Varys, "Lord Varys, do you care to tell the room what you told me a couple of evenings ago?"

To the untrained eye, Varys was as calm and cool as he could possibly be, but Ned saw it, and he took great satisfaction in what he saw, the twitch. The mummer was nervous.

Lie and Ned would expose him. They both knew that the people in the room were more likely to believe him. He responded cooly, "I told you I suspected Lord Arryn was poisoned."

"That is the second person today who has spoken of poison," Lord Renly spoke, "yet I have not heard any proof"

Ned again found himself smiling. The game was fun when you knew all the moves. "The proof is in the symptoms Lord Renly. Maester Pycelle, tell us of Lord Arryn's condition right before he dies?"

"I told you," Pycelle stumbled. "He came to me the night before as healthy as he could be. The next morning he was doubled over in pain. Maester Colemon thought it was a chill on the stomach, but Lord Jon continued to weaken. I went to him myself but the gods did not grant me the power to save him."

"So he was completely healthy one day, the next he was in so much pain that it crippled him?"

"Yes," Pycelle started, and began to talk again but Ned interrupted him. Ned noticed he didn't mention the book but Ned didn't mind for now.

"Lord Vary's," Ned started. "You are well traveled, tell me does that poison sound familiar?"

Varys gasped and Ned almost laughed. The man was a convincing actor. "The tears of Lys.'

"Aye," Ned responded. "I had a run in with the tears of Lys once. Not everyone in the North liked that I let the free folk south of the wall, and someone tried to poison me with it. Luckily for me, I had tasters and a young boy drank the poison that was meant for me."

He paused a moment before turning to Pycelle and frowning, "The difference is that my own Maester Luwin was able to recognize what was happening and immediately started cleansing the boys body with potions and pepper juice. The boy had a rough couple of days, I will not lie, but eventually he recovered."

He glared cold and hard at Pycelle then, "Tell me Grand Maester, are you so old that you could realize the same as my own Maester Luwin and do the same?"

Pycelle began to stutter, but Ned cut him off again after quickly scanning the room. Robert was starting to grow red with rage, and Ned decided to throw the finishing blow, "but wait! Maester Colemon did try to treat Lord Arryn. He started to give Lord Arryn the same treatment Maester Luwin gave that boy, yet you stopped him! You sent him away!"

Robert banged his fist on the table and again rose to his feet, "Ser Barristan, arrest that man for the murder of Jon Arryn!"

Ned quickly stepped in, "arrest him brother yes, we must question him further. However I do not believe he acted alone, or that he was the person who gave Jon the poison. Remember, Jon was already sick when he went to the Maester for treatment! His only crime is not acting in a timely manner and within his abilities to save Jon. I told you from the very beginning that I would drain this cesspool of a city and this is only the beginning. I will continue to investigate, and when I find out who did this, we will have their head."

After he returned to the tower of the hand, he summoned Vayon Poole to his solar. The steward, as loyal as any man, came at once. "You sent for me, my lord hand?"

Ned got straight to the point, "the Manderly ship with the men I requested is it here yet?"

"Yes my lord," Vayon responded, "it just arrived this morning. The captain plans to depart in five days and return north."

"Tell him to delay," Ned commanded. "I fear that King's Landing has grown much too dangerous for my daughters and some of my household. You have ten days Vayon, not enough time I am sure, but you have ten days to prepare my daughters and all of the men who cannot fight to go home. That is all we can afford."

"At once, my lord," Vayon responded and bowed.

"Keep it as quiet as possible Vayon. Only tell Jory, and send him to me once you do."

"As you command, my lord."

When he had gone, Ned had sat and waited. The issue he had with making his move on Pycelle was that he was afraid of consequences of his actions. He didn't know how the world would turn with Pycelle in the black cells. He didn't know what would happen.

He was relieved when Tomard knocked to announce a visitor. "Lord Baelish to see you, m'lord."

Ned took a calming breath before he gave the command to allow Baelish in. He entered the room as he did before, with an air of confidence that would irritate Ned no matter how many times he lived.

"Quite a show you put on this morning," Littlefinger started. "Before you came here many members of this court wondered if the wolf had teeth. It seems as if we underestimated you."

"I used common sense Lord Baelish," Ned responded cooly. "It seems like that is lacking around here. I plan to restore it. Is their anything I can help you with?"

"I won't detain you long, I'm on my way to dine with Lady - "

"The point if you will," Ned interrupted impatiently.

Littlefinger sighed, "such impatience. Fine I'll get to it then. I have found the brothel that your man Jory has been searching for."

"The wolves are howling," Jamie Lannister said and quite literally they were. Lady and Nymeria had found him as they left the brothel. They were such smart animals, it was like they could sense the danger. Ned could see the rain running down his face. "Such a small pack, though."

Littlefinger walked his horse forward before pointing to the badge on Ned's chest. "What is the meaning of this? This is the Hand of the King."

While it was true he argued with Robert just as he did the last time about Deanery's, he didn't give up his badge this time. There was no point, not yet anyway.

"He was the Hand of the King," Jamie spoke as the line parted before him. "I wonder how they will remember you after today. I've already murdered a king, what is a Hand?"

Lady growled, and Nymeria barked viciously.

"Lord Baelish," Ned said calmly. "Go get the city watch please. The kingslayer knows what he is doing, there is no point in arguing with him."

"Quite true," Jamie smiled. "I'm looking for my brother. You remember him don't you, Lord Stark?"

"I do," Ned responded with a smile of his own by this time, Lord Baelish had already taken off and his horse's hooves echoed softly in the mud.

"It would seem he has met some trouble on the road. My lord father is quite upset. I find myself wondering if you know who might have wished my brother ill."

"Your brother was taken at my command, to answer for his crimes," Ned responded. Like before Ser Jamie ripped his long sword from its sheath and urged his stallion forward. Ned laughed, stopping him in his tracks.

"I do not understand why the people of King's Landing take me for a fool kingslayer," Ned spat. "Do I look like a fool to you?"

"Only a fool would..." Jamie began, but went quiet again as the sound of hooves approached them.

"You see kingslayer," Ned taunted him as Stark men approached the scene on horses of their own, swords drawn and ready for battle, "I knew when I gave the order to take your brother, that you would do something irrational so I went ahead and sent a raven to Lord Manderly and told him to send me some more men for my protection. Luckily for me, they just arrived this morning."

Jamie looked around and Ned could see him counting in his head.

"Do you really think I would walk around King's Landing without protection kingslayer? You are outnumbered a hundred to twenty and if I wanted to, you would be rotting in the black cells by the end of the day but today… today I feel generous. I will allow you to leave, no doubt you will run back to your father but when you do give him a message for me?"

Jamie knew he was defeated and simply nodded his head. Ned smiled, "Tell your father that house Stark sends our regard. Winter is coming."

A/N: So quite a lot happens this chapter and I hope it all makes sense. Let me explain my thoughts.

First, it was always quite odd to me that King Robert was so worried about the Dothraki in both the books and the show. As far as we knew at the time, (and we found this out later actually) that the only Dothraki who had been on a boat were those who were apart of the Brave Companions. Realistically, this means that not only is the likelihood of 40,000 of them getting on a boat very low, but the likelihood of them actually making it to Westeros is slim. Sure, with the right amount of gold they could hire sailors, but we are talking about 40,000 men. Common sense should say that even if it did happen, it would not happen any time soon, and that the Royal Fleet was superior.

At the time could Robert really trust Stannis? No, but in this story the North has a fleet as well which Ned controls. In the book and shows( and again we are speaking about at the time of this chapter) he still probably could arrive on the Lannister Fleet, as small as it was, or the Redwyne fleet, both which, imo, should be sufficient enough to sink the ships of hired sailors. In this story, Ned using this logic to convince Robert that killing the remaining Targaryens isn't necessary. I hope its realistic and makes sense to you guys.

The Pycelle arrest here is just a bit of common sense to me as well. The main character flaw here with Ned is that he wasn't suspicious enough when he went to King's Landing in the book or the show even though Jon Arryn just died there. In this he had the advantage of knowing, but sometimes that will bite him as we can see by the first paragraph of the story. I'm trying to keep this balanced as much as I can here, and the farther we get along, the more consequences Ned's changes will have.

The Jamie situation just wrote itself. First, let me point out how dumb it is for a man of Ned's stature to walk around a city like King's Landing with only three men. Again, your friend just died. You think that the Queen might have had something to do with it. Etc, etc... Ned wasn't nearly as paranoid as maybe he should have been. It's a character flaw, but without those stories would be boring. Again, I will begin showing the consequences of Ned's changes here soon.

Getting kind of long here, so I won't keep you any longer. As always, appreciate the reviews, follows and alerts. I never thought there would be so many!