Two years later:

Two years. For two years she sat by and endured queitly, as the bastard boy slept and lived in the same nursery as her own child Robb. Ned had a heir from her, why would he keep the dornish lowborn? She cared not, that the boy's mother might as well be Ashara Dayne- the boy would never be a Dayne and much less a Stark.

She strode trough the now-familiar corridors of the great keep, towards her lord husband's solar. The boy would have to go- enough was enough. Anger burned in her veins, like poison, but she stopped as she heard the muffled voices of Arthur and her husband from inside. (She couldn't help, but notice as with each passing day, the Dornishman got friendlier and friendlier with her husband and that made her stomach churn. What if her Robb would be passed over, as the Heir?)

Their voices were faint and she could make out no words. Glancing around to make sure no one was around, she inched closer to the door, pressing herself against it.

"Have you gotten news from Oswell?" asked her husband.

"Aye. They seem to be fairing well, tough Gerold had caught some illness. Tough Darry seemed sure that he'd get trough it. The wetnurese taken from Dragonstone does a wonderful job with the Princesses, tough ocassionally Rhaenys would mention she misses her brother or less frequently, you."

"Me?" her husband asked, obvously just as surprised, as she was. What in the name of the Seven was going on here? "That's endearing, considering our blood relations are very loose, trough Targaryen ancestry. But then again, she had called Lyanna her mother, as well."

Catelyn froze.'Rhaenys? Lyanna? What have you gotten yourself into, Ned?'And why were they speaking of Targaryens? That was skirting on treason, considering the current regime.

"I'm worried, tough." Ned siad with a massive sigh. "With each passing day, Jon looks more and more, like Rhaegar. The more he grows, the more the resemblance will be seen."

"Don't even finish that, Ned. You're speaking of my best friend's son, who's also your nephew and by all laws of gods, the rightful king." Arthur's voice was tense and Catelyn herself forgot how to breath.

Then, the red-hot anger she felt on her way here, returned. But this time, it wasn't directed at the tiny bundle in the nursery, but instead at her husband. She all but threw the door open, glaring at Ned and ignoring the Kingsguard- because, she guessed, that waswhyArthur was here.

Kingsguard is for life.That much even she knew.

"Eddard Stark." she hissed in a frosty tone, stepping into the room and slamming the door behind her. Both men looked at her, wide-eyed. "Why haven't you told me, Jon was your nephew?!"

Now both looked like as if she was the Stranger personified. Ned sallowed. "Cat, you have to understand I just did it to protect us all… I promised Lyanna…"

"You could have told me!" she said, crossing her arms, still galring. "Family. Duty. Honour. He is my family too. Duty binds us to him, as part of the family. And raising him, protecting him is the honourable thing.You could have told me."

Ned seemed even more tired, than she'd ever seen him. "I'm sorry, Cat."

She sighed and looked Arthur in the eyes, who was quietly observing. She curtsied to him. "I believe, I owe you an apology, Ser. I was obviously making your work all the more tiring, for no reason at all."

The usually jovial Dornishman's eyes seemed ready to pick her apart. She felt the shiver running down her spine. "I would merely ask you to treat him fairly, as he grows up."

Catelyn looked back at Ned. "What's his name?"

"Jaehaerys Targaryen." he said quietly.

Her eyes widened. "So itwasn'ta kidnapping at all."

"Princess Elia had agreed to it and the Queen also supported the decision." Arthur added. Catelyn's shoulders sagged. All that death and carnage for nothing.

"You can't tell anyone, Catelyn." Ned said, his voice ringing with steely finality.

"I won't." she said, looking him in the eyes. "I'll take care of him, too. You could have told me." she added in a queit whisper.

Suddenly, she felt a flood of guilt for ever wishing a babe dead- one, whose parents were no longer alive and Ned was risking his own life, to keep him safe.

"What was that part about Rhaenys?" she asked. The question seemed to catch them off guard, before Ned just waved at another chair, next to Arthur's.

"Sit down, Cat. This will take a long while." she raised an eyebrow in interest, but quietly seated herself.

Once she was sitting, Ned launched into the story of Harrenhall- with an ocassional addition from Arthur,- and all, that came afterwards. The supposed kidnapping, Lyanna's mirrage and then, how he found her in Dorne in a bed of blood. How he found little, four-year-old Rhaenys there in the tower, worried for her 'mother'.

"Princess Rhaenys had called your sister her mother?" she asked, shooked and touched.

"She had." said Arthur. "Elia called Lyanna a sister, after she married Rhaegar. Rhaenys took it, that she had another mother. Lyanna had been shooked to hear that from the child, but Elia, Rhaegar and the Queen were all happy, that Rhaenys accepted her."

"And all those months, when she'd been kidnapped?"

"Spent on Dragonstone." said Arthur. "Then, when Robert's movements reached Rhaegar's ears, Elia urged to have Lyanna hidden in Dorne, while she travels back to King's Landing for Aegon. She lef the baby with a wet nurse. She travelled back and Varys started helping us arrange taking Elia away. But by then, it was too late to get them out of the city. Varys had Rhaenys smuggled out on Rhaegar's urging and Elia agreed. She was sure they'd make it out fine, but she wanted her daughter safe."

Catelyn bit her lip, her mind working furiously. "But… he already had an Heir from Elia…"

Arthur shook his head. "No. The baby, who was presented as Prince Aegon, was in fact, one of the last Backfyres, from the line of Maelys, the Monstrous, I believe. Elia's health was fragile, so the second birth could have killed her. Queen Rhaella came up with the idea to fake it, to save Elia from Aerys' wrath. He never liked Elia and we all feared what he would do, if he found out Elia could never give an heir to Rhaegar. Plus, Rhaella wanted Rhaegar on the Throne, for Aerys' madness was getting too wild. The Turney of Harrenhall would have been a plan to overthrow him, but Aerys caught wind of it and attended."

Catelyn's mouth fell open as she made the connections. A conspiracy by son and mother against the father. A conspiracy to save the Dragon's line and Lyanna Stark had been chosen. She chose to partake and Robrt Baratheon started a war over it. Started a war over a girl, who did not love him.

"The Seven have mercy." she choked. "What are you planning, Ned?"

"Placing the Dragons where they belong. But for now, safely raising the one under my roof." her husband answered simply, as if he was merely commenting on the weather.

Catelyn closed her eyes for a second and let her thoughts swirl around. It all made sense now. The reconstruction of Moat Cailin… the bringing of the Wild Wolves. Ned was preparing the North for when they had to stand behind the True King.

"Why?"

"I could say, it's for Lya's sake, but that's not the only thing." he said quietly.

She raised an eyebrow. "Then what else?"

"I have Targaryen blood too, you know." he added quietly. "My grandmother, Princess Vaella Targaryen was the only child of Prince Daeron. The granddaugther of King Maekar I. She had been briefly considered to take the Throne in 233, but since they thought her simple-minded, the idea was dismissed. Actually, it worked well for her, as the simple-mindedness was in fact, a disguise- she never liked the Game. After the Tragedy of Sumerhall, everyone thought her dead. But she only attended briefly. She left Summerhall before it ignited. After hearing what happened, she took it as an opportunity to live a simpler life." Ned explained quietly. "She hid and took a different name, travelling Westeros. When she met my grandfather, she chose to reveal to King Jaehaerys, that she was alive. She made him promise not to reveal she married. She and King Jaehaerys agreed, that if she didn't call for the Pact of Ice and Fire to be fulfilled, once her child was born, she could remain where she was. King Jaehaerys said, that for all he knew, a Northern Lord's daghter had married the Lord of Winterfell." Ned leaned back. "She never left the North again and since we were separate enough, no one ever bothered to see, whom had my grandfather married."

Catelyn's eyes went wide at that. She'd never known her husband had Targaryen blood… (Briefly, she wondered what this Pact of Ice and Fire was, but she dismissed it for now. There were more pressing matters to deal with.)

"After what happed to Elia, we even feared making a noise about it. Robert became a kinslayer, as his own grandmother had been a Targaryen- Princess Rhaelle. There was no guarantee, that he would not listen to Tywin and have us all killed, too."

Catelyn felt like the shook had turned her bones to jelly. She couldn't move.

"I didn't know what you'd say, if I told you, Jon was a Targaryen. I wasn't sure, how you or your father would react, if my ancestry came to light. It... wasn't safe."

"It still isn't." Arthur said and Catelyn glanced at him. "What you know, is treason."

She nodded slowly. "True. But something, that can have Robb and Jon killed as well. I will not tell a soul. I swear that on the Old Gods and the New."

Once her words died away, both men seemed to relax a little. She felt the fire in her coming alive again- but this was different from the previous flames of anger.

"He'll be safe with me, too." she swore, looking both men in the eyes. "He's my nephew and he'll be safe. Jon, Robb… both of them."

Arthur gave a relived sigh, tough she could see it in his eyes, that he was grgeatful. Turning to her husband, she found the most brilliant of smile on his face, his shoulders seeming to be lighter.

"Family. Duty. Honor."she said quietly.

Yes, she'd protect them all.