Alys waited until Ned had closed the door to his study door and locked it before the pleasant demeanor dropped and she rounded on him. Ned had been to war. Had seen some horrific things, but the blazing rage that lit Alys' eyes as she glared at him.

"What the fuck were you thinking, Eddard!?" Her voice was a low hiss as she worked to keep from screaming. "His MOTHER?! His fucking MOTHER!? When I said I would help in any way I could, I didn't think you would do this! I would have taken him in as a war orphan! Been an aunt or distant relative of his mother's! But no, you had to experience a bout of madness and declare me his mother!" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. After a moment she opened her eyes and looked at him again, the fire dimmed and somewhat less terrifying. "What were you thinking, Ned?" Her voice was still a whisper, but it sounded more defeated than Ned had felt when he had sent her the letter.

Ned heaved a deep breath and sat himself heavily in a chair. He rubbed a hand over his eyes tiredly and said in a low voice, "I was getting to a point that was beyond desperation. Jon wanted to join The Night's Watch and Catlyn was becoming hyster-" A pale fist slammed into his desk and Ned winced; He had forgotten how Alyssandra reacted to that word. He cleared his throat and proceeded, "It was not an ideal situation and I reacted in the way I thought would have the best result."

Alys leaned against a wall and dug the heels of her palms into her eyes. She sounded like she was on the verge of laughing when she asked, "do you ever think your more insane choices through? Or do you just run with it and feel relief when it works?"

Ned waited until she pulled her face out of her hands and smirked at her, "It seems to be a perfectly workable system to me."

Alys pulled her hair loose from her braid and the thick curling tresses sprang apart immediately. She pushed her fingers through her hair and began to massage her scalp as a headache began to develop. "You realize you've made everything needlessly complicated now, right?"

"How so?" Ned asked as he leaned back in his chair.

"I was content to leave the headship of my house to a niece or cousin, now I'm going to be forced into having a daughter. But that isn't the worst part of it all, Ned. No, the worst part is that I have no idea how to be a mother. You watched me create chaos trying to bring up my brothers. How could anyone think I could be a good parent?

Ned took a deep breath and shook his head. "Those boys appear to have turned into good men these days. Perhaps a bit more mischievous than would be acceptable, but good men all the same. I don't imagine they would be half so well adjusted had anyone, but you raised them." Alys refused to look at him, keeping her eyes firmly on the ground as her lips pursed. "And you are right, Alyssandra; I did watch you raise them, so I know beyond any doubts, you will be a good mother to Jon and any other children you may have."

Alys looked up from under her curls, her eyes narrowed, "Are you aware that I like you less than I like Robert at this point?"

Ned couldn't help it, he laughed at her. "I won't need to worry about that for too long, thankfully," he said.

Alys straightened up and looked at him in question. "What on earth do you mean by that?" She asked.

He smirked at her again, "Did I not tell you? Robert will be here in two days."

Alys' face soured and she said, "I hate you Ned, really I do."

Before Ned could respond there was a knock at the door. Ned got up from his seat and went to unlock the door. On the other side there was a servant and Jon. The boy almost looked surprised to see him. Ned turned to the servant and the little woman said, "A cart bearing supplies and the banner of House Gris is at the gate, m'lord. Lady Catlyn directed me to you so that I may ask where you would have the servant sleep and what you would like for us to do in order to get everything situated."

Ned honestly thought it would be obvious, but then again Cat was upset with this whole situation. "Have everything taken to the guest keep and placed in the appropriate rooms. Find a spare room in the servants' quarters of the Guest Keepfor the servant of House Gris." The servant girl nodded and then made her way back down the hall to see it done. When the woman was out of sight Ned turned to Jon and said, "We will be with you in a few minutes."

Jon nodded at him and backed up to lean against the wall opposite the study, "Yes father. I shall wait here for you and Mother to be done with your conversation." The look on the boy's face was somewhat mystified, as though speaking the titles of mother and father in that sentence had stunned him.

Ned nodded and then closed the door of the study. He turned to Alys and said, "Now we need to be quick and get our story straight."

Alys groaned and let her head thunk back onto the wall. "Really Ned, I don't think I can deal with you and Robert under the same roof again. I might end up just killing one of you."

Ned let out a boisterous laugh and, despite all the stress, he found that he was genuinely looking forward to having both of his dearest friends in his home. "Come now, Alys, you enjoy Robert making a fool out of himself too much to ever kill him," He reasoned. "And you and I have a son together," He gave her a cheeky grin, "so you cannot kill me."

Alys laughed indulgently and shook her head, "Why can nothing ever be simple." Her face became serious as she looked at him more closely. "I did offer to take him with me," she said.

Ned nodded, "Aye, that you did. And I felt he would be better off here. Clearly, I was wrong." Ned sighed. "Now let's get everything straightened out quickly before I have to let Jon into the room with us."

"There isn't all that much that needs straightening out, Ned. It's pretty cut and dry. Clearly, we had an affair that resulted in a child that you took home with you, rather than letting me take him. Things on your end devolved to a point where you reached out to me to take the child in after all these years because of the tensions between your illegitimate son and your wife. The fewer details we change, the less we have to remember and the less likely we are to be caught in a lie."

"And if people ask for further details?"

"Like what? What could they possibly ask that would need corroboration? The when of it all? Sometime during Robert's Rebellion. I don't think either of us would have looked too closely at dates. Where? Does it matter? The only reason I know anything about Westeros is because I had to live here for a few years and was forced to learn so if someone does ask, I will simply point them in your direction for the answer. Why? It was war, could either of us be faulted for seeking comfort in those that are familiar to us? Even if that comfort took a turn neither of us would have expected, apparently. How? Anyone asking that question would get a hard punch to the face." Alys rambled off, her hands going back into her hair to massage her scalp.

Ned frowned in concern, "Are you well?" She had made good points and he could agree with everything she had said, but he had never known her to be prone to headaches.

She glowered at him from under her hair again. "Your sister is very expressive, even without the ability to speak. She keeps touching my head like she is trying to pat down my curls, but it is giving me a headache instead." She winced slightly. "I don't want to offend her because she is not being malicious about anything." She took a deep breath and straightened up, looking at the dead woman who had retreated to one corner of the study, looking upset with herself. "You didn't know that it would hurt me, don't be upset about it."

Ned felt like he had been kicked in the balls. He had nearly forgotten about Alys' ability to see and interact with the dead and he had not thought that Lyanna would be here. He had hoped that she had gone on to a pleasant and happy afterlife. He supposed he should have now better though, since her son was still very much alive and still at risk. He swallowed hard and locked away the emotions that threatened to drown him at the thought of his long dead sister bearing witness to his failures to properly parent her son. Ned cleared his throat and got Alys' attention away from the corner she was watching. "Are you ready to talk to him?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, "I take it that you are in agreement with what I said earlier?"

Ned nodded, "I am, and should anything unexpected happen, we can find a solution together."

Alys nodded and then jerked her chin in the direction of the door. "Then let him in, it's high time we have a long overdue conversation."

#%#%#%# Line#%#%#%

So… this happened. I spent three hours on the phone with my youngest brother going over potential names for Jon. We finally found one we could both agree on and it may or may not have involved a couple of coin flips. I hope you liked this chapter.

~Syl