A/N: This one is shorter but hopefully, the next one can be a bit longer. Or not. Anyway, enjoy.

Disclaimer: Game of Thrones is not mine.

Summary: When Ned finally told Catelyn about Jon Snow's mother, he had not expected for things to turn out the way they did in the end. It was so unfortunate that Robert had been smarter than Ned ever thought he was.

II

It was Catelyn who told Jon.

Ned held her hand as they strode solemnly into the boy's room. Jon was smiling as Arya and Bran, who had fully recovered days ago, bickered good-naturedly on either side of his bed while Jon, failing to hide his amusement, was still confined to his bed with both his legs and ribs mending.

When the children saw their mother, they fell immediately into silence. Their father, who often visited Jon, had not been a surprise but their mother was a completely different story. She had avoided Jon's room like the plague. She had always avoided him like a plague. But when her eyes fell on Jon, it was like she had seen him for the first time. Jon could only gulp and had politely asked Arya and Bran to carry on with their lessons and duties. They complied with reluctance.

"How do you fair?" Was the awkward question thrown to Jon from his father's Lady Wife.

"I'm well, Lady Stark." Jon answered timidly yet at the same time bravely.

"That's good."

Silence ticked between them and many moments passed before Cat cleared her throat.

"Jon," She began and Jon's eyes widened at the fact that she just called him by his name. It had always been boy or bastard but never his name. "Jon, I owe you an apology and a thank you."

"There's no need to thank me, Lady Stark." Jon told her. "Bran is my brother and I would do anything to keep him safe."

Catelyn smiled shakily, the declaration catching her off guard. "All the same, I wish to thank you for saving my son."

"You're welcome."

"And I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to forgive, Lady Stark."

"Oh, but there is, Jon. There's so much to forgive."

And then she told him. Of what she's done, what she'd thought, and all the things she'd said and done to him that she regrets now. At the end of it all, Jon's eyes only widened and Ned saw a hint of tears in his eyes though the boy kept his head down all the while he responded.

"I-I appreciate your honesty, Lady Stark. Thank you." He raised his head and looked at Cat in the eye. "And I forgive you."

For the first time in Jon's life, Catelyn Tully Stark looked at him with a hint of almost affection. Even this little piece of warmth was enough to upturn many a feelings in his heart, as deprived of maternal love that he was.

"I've asked your father to make you a Stark."

Jon felt like he'd stopped breathing. "I—what—"

"You've always been a Stark." Cat told him and smiled. She was actually smiling at Jon. At him. "I see it in the way you love my children and my husband. Your eyes and even your countenance mirrors the Northern ways."

And she jested. With him.

"I can tell that this had all been too much and I think that I've disturbed your healing enough." She stood to leave and shared a meaningful look with her husband to which he smiled sadly.

Before she left, she turned around to face him again. "Family, Duty, Honor. Those were my house's words. It's not so different here in the North. The lone wolf dies but the pack survives. As we must for Winter is Coming."

With those words, she left and Jon's father told him about his mother.