Legal:

I do not own any of the characters or the world.

Eddard Stark:

Ned sat in his solar, a soft snow drifting down outside his window. The warmth of the castle was settled on him like a blanket, relaxing him and coaxing his mind to wander and reminisce. He still remembered all those years ago, walking through the gates of Winterfell as the returning hero of the rebellion with his new wife and son along with his nephew. He grimaced at the thought of his wife and nephew, and the reactions of her learning of the child.

"He is a bastard" her blue eyes blazing with emotion, "he will not get what is rightfully Robb's". He only nodded, for he knew in his heart that Jon would never get Winterfell, for not only was he known as a bastard but he was in truth meant for a Throne, something larger than a Lordship.

"What will you do with him?" her eyes softer, heart set more at ease at his quick affirmation to her.

"He will be raised in Winterfell along with his cousin" he answered, bracing himself, knowing that the answer would not please her "for he may not have my name but he is of my blood". She reared back, eyes narrowed and opened her mouth to most likely push against his decision.

He cut her off before she could start, his mind starting to relive those painful memories, "I lost too much in the war," he brought himself out of his memories and focused his full attention on her, his eyes growing hard with his resoluteness, " I will not send what remains of my family away". He watched as her eyes lost some of their heat and after a few moments she a

"I will not be his mother, I … I can not bring myself to do it".

Even in the past 7 years the bond between his wife and his nephew had never reached true familial strength. She treated him fairly but with none of the warmth that she did with her children and Jon showed her the respect she deserved as his uncle's wife but always in his own unique way.

He sighed, knowing that it would most likely be like this, Brandon being her former betrothed had left a sour note on her relationship with the boy. He mentaly shuddered at what it would be like to have passed off Jon as his own bastard, most likely a lot more shouting, and a lot more giving from him needed to calm her feelings and allow for the boy to stay at Winterfell.

He looked up as there was a rap at his door and he looked up to see Maester Luwin waiting at the door. He beckoned him in to ask what was needed from him. Seeing Luwin's face take on a familiar troubled yet amused look he sighed and asked "What has Jon done now?"

He Luwin's face took on more of a grin at his reaction, "My Lord, it seems that he convinced Robb that it was a good idea to ambush some guards on their rounds to help prepare them for sneak attacks. They used some mud taken from the training yard to attack."

Ned could only shake his head and try to stop an amused grin from breaking out. Jon had always had a wild streak in him, making the people who heard of his exploits to whisper about the Wild Wolf reborn. It made his heart ache for him to hear for he wished to shout to the world that it was not the Wild Wolf, but the She Wolf who had been reborn to terrorize Winterfell.

"Ned! Look at what that boy has done now!" his beautiful Lady Stark, came storming into the solar with Jon, his ear held in her hands, following along. The boy was covered in mud, tall for his age, looking a few years older than his 7 years, and looked like a miniature Brandon with a smirk still on his face, not even sorry for his actions.

"Yes Cat, I have heard from Maester Luwin here. But where is Robb? Should he not be here too?" she scoffed at his question, believing that Robb would never do something like this without his cousin egging him on. He looked at Jon and his unrepentant grin and maybe considered she might be half right. "Well son, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"I was just helping train some guards, me and Robb were trying to make sure everyone was up to standards" Jon layed on the charm as well as he could, having gotten pretty good at it over the years of being in trouble. But Ned had gotten quite good at resisting it over those same years of trouble.

"Jon, I think the guards get all the training they need from Ser Rodrick, and you very well know that" Jon only grinned wider in response, "I think you will need some reminding that Ser Rodrick is quite good at his job, you will be working all day tomorrow in the yard with him after you go clean up the mess you made"

Cat of course voiced her objections to him being too soft, the training yard being where Jon spent most of his day anyway, while Jon just stood there grinning, purple eyes dancing with mirth at her reaction. Out of the corner of his eye he caught a head of auburn hair peeking around the side of his door. "Come in. You will be joining him, Robb."

Robb came in, coming over to stand next to Jon. His head down, sheepish at being seen, "Of course Father". Robb and Jon shared a grin. As Maester Luwin worked to convince Cat of the punishment and of Robb being included, he looked over his two boys. Jon may not have been his son but he was as good as one to him, and to most of the family.

Standing next to each other, on the surface there was not much in common between the two. Robb, a good looking kid with his wifes coloring while Jon with his classic Stark coloring with the glaring exception of his bright violet eyes. But looking deeper their features were both strong Northern and Stark, Jon with higher cheekbones and a narrower face from his father. While their builds differed they were both of the North, Robb closely following his own build, broad and strong, Jon was growing into an even closer replica of Brandon, his build of just being broad, strong, and most importantly tall. Jon stood half a head taller than his cousin, and looked like he would not stop growing. He watched as they snickered at his wife's reaction to whatever Lewin had said and was proud of them and their bond. He stood up and broke the argument with a quick "Off to bed with you boys, make sure to scrub off Jon. And Cat we can discuss this in the morning after a good night's rest." She huffed but nodded and strode off to their chambers, and Jon and Robb scampered off.

Ned looked down from his position on the balcony, snow falling again in the early morning light. He watched the training that was the boy's punishment for the previous day's mischief. He could clearly see a difference in their martial prowess. Jon was leaps better than Robb, though it was hard to tell with both of them being wrapped up in enough protection that they could hardly move. Robb was no slouch himself, being a capable lad, but with his teachings about becoming a lord and his duties he had less time and a little bit less interest in training in arms.

"Ha!" Ned watched on as Jon grew frustrated with the lack of progress he was making against Robb and his dutiful shielding. He threw his sword and shield at Robb and dove at his feet while Robb was blocking. Both boys tumbled and after much squirming Jon managed to pin Robb under him. "Aha! Yield Robb? Or face my wrath!"

"I yield brother, I yield." At that Jon forced himself to his feet with a cheer and his smile bright on his face until he came face to face with an unimpressed Ser Rodrick who laid into the boy for tossing his weapons in a fight.

"But the Starks of old wrestled their enemies! Rodrick Stark won Bear Island with it!" came Jon's refute. Ser Rodrick looked perplexed at that random tidbit of information. Ned sighed as he mused that without Cat to be the motherly figure in his life Jon grew under the care of Old Nan for the most part. Old Nan and her stories held a lot of myth and legend about the North, and most of it about the Starks. This led to Jon, instead of idolizing Knights like Aemon the Dragon Knight and Duncan the Tall, took the ancient Starks, such as Theon the Hungry Wolf, as his heroes.

He sighed as his nephew started on a tangent about all the Starks that had wrestled or fought without sword and shield. Jon certainly was proud of his Stark and Northern heritage. He turned as he heard hurried footsteps and turned to see Luwin hurring to him with a dark look on his face. At his unspoken question, Luwin spoke, "Dark news my lord, the Greyjoys have rebelled and sacked Lannisport. The King has summoned the realm to war."

Author Note:

I changed the date of the Greyjoy rebellion to be 7 years after Robert's rebellion because I wanted Robb and Jon to have had more time to grow up and be closer, and have Theon be more of an outsider intruding on a firmer relationship.