Everything seemed to slow down, the world was coming to a stop when I needed it to go faster. Marian, Winter and I seemed to crawl through the halls of the castle, peaking around every corner and making sure we seemed natural to any who saw us. But we prayed it would be no one. The Red Keep was mainly empty, everyone had already left for Baelor's statue, where Ned would be sentenced this afternoon. The only sounds that could be heard were the patterings of Winter's feet.

Everything felt strange, as the world seemed to slow I could feel my mind starting to slip, to thoughts of Robb, Winterfell, and Jon. Oh, Jon, my love, I pray you are well and happy.

"My lady!" Marian whisper shouted at me, quickly pulling me into the side hallway, towards the catacombs.

"Sorry Marian, I'm just a bit distracted today, and please call me Rhaella," I tell her with a small smile, readjusting my white fur hood.

"Alright...Rhaella, well we're almost there, but who knows who may be lurking down here, just try to keep quiet" Marian whispers to me awkwardly. I nod despite the darkness surrounding us as we continue down the hall. I try to keep my breathing even as we travel down the narrow hallway. I fall in step behind Marian who holds a torch in her hand while Winter walks behind me.

We take a detour to the old chamber with the dragon skulls where two piles of clothes are waiting.

"Hurry, we don't have much time," Marian said handing me a pile of riding clothes. I nodded and quickly changed into some riding pants, they were tight around my baby bump, but not unbearable. Once I was changed I pulled my satchel back on and my hood, holding my sword in my hand under my cloak.

"Ready?" Marian asks. I turn to look at her and see her hair pulled down in a dark brown braid with brown leather riding clothes, along with a loose black cloak and riding boots. She seemed a bit younger but still in her twenties, an adult where I was a child.

"Yeah, ready" I mumbled back as Winter walked closer to my side. I followed her as she grabbed another torch and we began walking out of the chamber and continued down the narrow hallway. It felt like we walked for miles before we made it out, right by the stables. Two horses were already saddled and waiting. A brown one and a white one.

We quickly saddled the horses and made our way out of the Red Keep, over the bridge and towards Flea Bottom, where one of the main gates are. The streets we took were empty. We did our best to stay as far away from Baelor's statue as possible. Before we knew it we were on the king's road, heading North. It was difficult riding, with Winter running and trotting alongside us and the sickness I felt. I knew we couldn't stop, not until we put a couple leagues between us and the castle. But all I felt was sickness and pain. It was sunset when we finally stopped and made camp off of the King's road.

Marian helped me off my horse and told me to rest while she started the fire. Selfishly I accepted. I leaned up against a tree while Winter laid down to my left. I closed my eyes and instantly succumbed to sleep.

I was back at the inn near the river. The inn where Nymeria disappeared and Lady was killed. A ghostly looking Ned stared at me with that cold look that only Starks could make.

"You promised me Rhaella, you promised me you'd leave" he scolded.

"I can't! Things have changed, I need to see them" I tried to reason.

"You're breaking your word" he continued.

"I will go there...someday but not now, can't you understand that?" I pleaded. He only looked at me with disappointment.

"Ned please, I'm sorry but I have to"

"No, you don't. You'll put them in danger, you'll put yourself in danger, it will only end in death" he warns before turning to exit the room.

"Wait...Lord Stark, how are you here? Are you from the future as well?" I ask curiously. He turns and looks at me with a sad smile.

"I'm afraid my future is over child, I only hope yours won't be," he says softly and exits the room. The room starts to vanish and I'm back in the meadow, wearing the red silk dress, and there he was.

"Oh Jon" I sigh in relief feeling tears start to run down my cheeks at the sight of him. I ran towards him and let him pull me into his arms.

"What's wrong? Is everything alright?" he asks as he holds me in his arms, and I'm finally able to relax.

"It's just...Ned was here...in this weird dreamscape, he reminded me of the promise I made to him, about leaving Westeros to go find my sister. But I told him I couldn't, that I had to get back to you" I explained hurriedly as I pulled away from Jon's embrace.

"You should listen to him, you should leave Westeros and cross the Narrow Sea," he tells me in all seriousness, the Stark stern expression engulfing his features.

"No! Try to convince me all you want but I am coming to see you! You and Robb! I need to, please!" I begged. As if I needed his blessing to go see his younger counterpart.

"Even if it means your life?! Our child's life?!" he snapped at me, his eyes seeming harsher than the normal soft chocolate.

"Nothing is going to happen to me, or our child. But I'll be damned if this child comes into this world and doesn't get to meet her father!" I snap back.

"Love, I took an oath, to father no child and take no wives. You need to cross the Narrow Sea and go to your sister. Or at the very least go to Robb for a little while before you go, but not here" he tells me.

"You don't get to decide that!" I spit about to turn away, but he holds me still.

"I'm sorry, it is your decision to make, but you promised me you'd stay safe, and the wall isn't a safe place, the North isn't a safe place," he tells me.

"I don't care, I just want to see you, actual you" I reply, breaking his grasp on my shoulders and take his hands in mine.

"We're coming to see you Jon, and you can't keep us away," I tell him with a grin. He moves down and I move up to connect our lips. I can feel the fire stirring up in my abdomen at the taste of his lips. But it wasn't just a fire...I pull away from the kiss for a moment and feel it again, a kick.

"Jon...put your hand on my stomach for a moment" I whisper quietly, causing Jon to give me a weird look, but he obliges. I smile at the feel of his hand on my stomach and then, another little kick rumbles through me, right where Jon's hand is.

"Is that...what I think it is?" he asks me hesitantly. A grin breaks out on my face as I watch his gaze meet mine, and a smile appears on his lips. He quickly pulls me into a hug and reconnects our lips once more.

"Gods I love you" he mumbles and resumes our kiss, reigniting the fire in my belly. It felt like hours, the time we spent in each other's embrace. But I needed it, no words, just his touch. The sound of his heartbeat was so soothing it was the only thing I wanted to hear for the rest of my life. And his arms, oh how I wanted to live in those arms. And his lips, tasting of ale it felt like I was getting drunk off his kiss. And the feel of his breath on my cheeks. The soft and tenderness, it was all I could ever ask for. And then there was another kick.

"Our time is almost up" Jon mumbled softly, pulling away to look into my eyes.

"I don't want to say goodbye, not yet" I whispered, feeling the tears roll down my cheeks, but they sizzled and evaporated into the air.

"I know, I don't want to say goodbye either but we must, we'll see each other again, as stubborn as you are, I wouldn't want to be the person who's going to get in your way" he tells me with a tender smile, cupping my right cheek with his gloved left hand. I smile at the gesture, feeling another tear slip down my cheek.

I woke up, late into the night with Marian's hazel eyes watching me.

"You sleep very strangely" she commented in a very thick accent, so different from her normal voice I've gotten accustomed to.

"Your voice has changed" I mumble as I sit up a little, causing Winter to shift a bit in her sleep.

"I'm from the Iron Islands. Any further comments on my changes?" She asks me, anger radiating off of her. As if she had been bottling up pain for years and only now was able to let it go and even then only a little.

"I-I'm sorry" I stammer back, rising to my feet and grabbing my sword Black Sister.

"Hey, where are you going?" she asks me hurriedly.

"I'm taking the next watch, we'll both need sleep and this isn't the safest place. By now the Queen knows I've gone and gods know what other chaos has ensued" I reply emptily, moving to the end of our camp, wanting to be alone with my thoughts for a while. My thoughts and Hope. I laid my hand on my stomach and felt another kick, causing me to smile.

I looked up at the night sky, the full moon, the stars, and smiled. I fiddled with my direwolf ring as I looked up at the moon, wondering if Jon was looking at the moon too.

Robb couldn't think, or breath. All that clouded his mind was anger and pain. He grabbed his sword, a sword that was a gift from his father and went to the edge of their camp. He marched up to the largest tree he could find and swung. He swung his sword with all of his might, determined that the tree should fall by his sword. His arms started to tremble with fatigue and his head ached with pain but he kept swinging. The tree had to die. Its bark became Cersei's face than Joffery's, over and over again. They had to pay, they needed to die. it had to end.

"Robb" his mother called out to him in a broken voice. But Robb couldn't hear her, Robb couldn't hear anything through his pain.

"Robb, you'll ruin your sword" his mother tried again, which caused Robb to stop. His anger was fading fast, he was starting to break.

"I don't care" Robb choked back and that's when his mother hugged him. Robb could feel his anger return as tears rolled down his cheeks.

"We'll make them pay," Catelynn said soothingly, trying to mask her pain for the sake of her son. But she wasn't doing it very well.

"The lords need to hear from you, they need to know your plan" Catelynn whispered as she held her child in her arms. Her sweet baby boy, who wasn't a baby anymore but a man.

"Plan? Storming into King's Landing with vengeance in my heart is hardly a plan!" Robb snapped, pulling back.

"No, but an alliance might be" Catelynn reasoned.

They walked back to the camp as the sun began to set, Robb having no clue what he should do or how he should do it. As the camp argued over whether to pledge to Stannis or Renly, Robb's thoughts were drifting. Drifting to her as they so often did, but these thoughts were different. Was she alive? Did she survive, along with his sisters? The baby? Would she forgive him?

"I say enough of this! What do we care of the fools to the South?!" One of Robb's bannermen shouted, silencing the camp and drawing Robb back to the present, and away from her. There were grunts and murmurs of agreement.

"I say to hell with them! They know nothing of the North, I say, we choose our own king!" the man continued, pacing in the middle of the camp, looking over the northern men.

"To Robb Stark! The King in the North!" Lord Karstark shouted, pulling out his sword and bending the knee to his new king. The rest of his men followed suit, proclaiming Robb as their new King. It wasn't until later that night that Robb received the raven and realized the mistake he had made.

Jon's mind was clouded, fogged with rage and need to act. Jon cried when he heard of Ned's death, but those cries turned to screams which lead to action. It was the dead of night and Jon had everything prepared. He and Ghost were going to leave, find Rhaella and get to Robb. His brother needed him, and so did she.

Jon stopped and looked up at the moon, absentmindedly fiddling with his ring as he did. He prayed to the gods that his family was alright. That she was alright, that their child was alright. He continued on and quickly saddled up one of the horses and hopped on. Just as he was going to ride through the gate, Samwell showed up, blocking his path.

"Jon, you can't do this" Sam huffed up at him.

"Step aside Sam" Jon replied sternly, not daring to look down at his friend.

"You made a vow, you'll be a deserter! No...I won't let you do this!" Sam declared, trying his best to hold his ground.

"Step aside" Jon answered again emotionlessly. But Sam didn't move, so Jon rode towards and around him, Ghost followed obediently as Jon rode out the gate and into the night ridden forest.

Jon wasn't sure exactly where he should ride to. Moles town would be his first stop but where to from there? His half-brother Robb? Winterfell and the boys? Or straight to King's Landing, to her and their child? Jon was so consumed by his thoughts and possible outcomes that he didn't notice until now that he was being followed. He could hear three riders and they were gaining on him.

Jon pushed his horse faster, making Ghost sprint alongside him in the snowy woods. Jon looked back briefly to see who his pursuers were, surely Sam wouldn't have gone and told the Lord Commander. And Commander Mormont wouldn't bother to send troops after him, would he?

But Jon only saw Pip, Sam, Grenn, and Ed. His friends, persuaded by Sam to come and stop him. But they didn't know the stakes, none of them did. Yes, Jon had taken his vow with Sam beyond the wall in front of the Weirwood tree, the old gods. But things had changed. He could still hear her voice in his head, asking him of the cost, if he would just toss her aside. Gods knew he didn't want to, but it was for her own good, at least at the time it was.

Jon stopped when he heard the other horses' hooves stop. Surely they hadn't already given up? Jon turned around to see Sam, fallen from his horse into the snow, with the others surrounded by his side. Jon sighed in frustration and turned back around, Ghost by his side as he trotted over to his fallen friend.

"What are you all doing out here?" Jon asked, annoyed.

"We came to stop you, you took a vow..." Pip said as he helped Sam to his feet.

"Things have changed my brother needs me! She..." Jon cut himself off, the others didn't know about her, nor did they need to know.

"We're your brothers now, I'm sure your Kingly brother can take care of himself" Grenn stated, all of them holding up their torches to include Jon into the light as if the light would draw Jon back to them.

Yes...I'm sure Robb doesn't need me, and he'd be forced to deal with my desertion. Her on the other hand, she does need me, they both do.

"We took a vow, Jon, we all did" Pip adds in.

"Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to the Night's Watch, for this night and all the nights to come." They chant in unison, making Jon smile sadly. He took a vow, he gave his word and pledged himself a brother of the Night's Watch. A vow he could not break...that would cost him his life if he did and he knew that she would never forgive him if he died. He promised her he would live, so live he shall.

It felt like a long ride to return back to Castle Black, and with every step, it felt like she was slipping away, or fading from existence.

Thankfully the party returned just before daybreak, so they weren't classified as deserters, technically. Jon couldn't sleep when he returned back to bed, he couldn't help but feel he had let her down, her and their child.

Later that morning Jon was summoned to the Lord Commander's chambers, no doubt to be punished for last night. So after breakfast, Jon made his way to the Lord Commander's chambers, seeing the sword, Long Claw still on his desk, where Jon had laid it last night.

"So loyalty brought you back," Mormont said, looking up at Jon.

"My friends brought me back" Jon replied.

"I'm glad they did, now are you back for good?" Mormont continued, crossing his arms over his stomach.

"Yes, I am"

"Good, now take your sword, you'll be needing it for where we're going" he mumbled.

"Going, sir?" Jon asked, slightly confused.

"Beyond the wall. The Kings won't help us or bother listening to us, and a large army is said to be growing, of wildlings. So we're riding out, beyond the wall to see and to go find your Uncle. Gods only know what we'll find when we go" Mormont says with a heaving sigh.

So the next morning everyone saddled up, Jon with his sword by the Lord Commander with Samwell in the back with the cage full of ravens.

Who knows what would have happened if they would have remained a little longer. If Jon would have received the raven addressed to him that arrived a mere hour after he left. Maybe he would have asked to stay behind...maybe he would have made a better effort to come back as soon as he could. Maybe...but he'll never know now because the news arrived too late...news he'd regret not having received sooner for the rest of his life.