The truth should always be the best policy when it comes to matters of the heart. Jon didn't want to lie to Sansa and tell her he felt nothing for Ygritte; after all, she was his first, and she'd died in his arms. But it was a different type of love. The one only youth can bring, where someone is free of the burdens of life experience.

The woman he loved then would be the same, but the man he was now wouldn't see her like he did. Only the bastard boy of the Night's Watch Jon Snow, who it turned out, really knew nothing, could love Ygritte. The man, Jon Snow, or Aegon Targaryen he had become, wouldn't be able to feel like that towards her. He even doubted he would find her particularly attractive now. Not because she lacked beauty, but because she was too wild.

He liked a woman who could and would fight, but only in self-defence. Although he'd never admit it to anyone, he always craved to be a hero as a child, and that hadn't completely died in him. He thought he'd been a hero for Daenerys, but he was becoming less sure as every day passed. She may have seen him as a heroic figure, but there were no heroes for Daenerys, she saw herself as the hero of her own story.

Sansa needed Jon, not to physically protect her as her training was coming along well and he suspected she would become a capable fighter. Nor did she need him for political gain. She had needed him to get out of marrying Joffrey, and it was entirely possible she could want to annul the marriage as soon as possible, but Jon suspected she wouldn't. Not because she aspired to be Queen, because the last place Sansa ever wanted to see again was Kings Landing. She would be enduring it for him.

Sansa needed him because he was the one who had been there when she was at rock bottom, after everything that had happened with Ramsay, Jon was the only person who would ever know what she went through. In truth, Sansa was the only person who would ever know how much death had affected him.

They had endured simultaneous traumatic experiences and had strengthened one another by bonding over it. It was something neither of them could ever fully explain to Arya; she knew it, and he hated that. So when they were in the tower and Arya had left them alone, he had to talk to Sansa alone.

"We haven't really talked about this properly, alone, since we got married." Jon started. "I'm going to make my intentions clear. I want a marriage like your mother and father, except without the complication of a bastard that never was. What do you want?" he asked.

Sansa frowned and thought for a moment. "I suppose I want the same thing," she agreed. "Do you think we can ever have that type of relationship?"

"We will have time apart to think about it." Jon could only reply. "I would like to hope we can. But if you don't want it, then I will not force it upon you."

Sansa smiled at that response, taking his gloved hands in hers. "You are the only man I know who is honourable enough to treat me how I wish to be treat. And I know you won't... well you know. Unless you get desperately lonely."

"I was a man of the Night's Watch, being lonely from the lack of a touch from a woman, if that is what you mean, was normal to me." He placed his arms around her. "This separation might be the right idea. Right now you look like a child. I know what a beautiful woman you will become and I'm a lucky man. In fact, I'm the luckiest man in the whole of Westeros. I'm married to the most beautiful woman in the whole Seven Kingdoms. Do you think I would jeopardise that?"

"I would have thought she was the most beautiful woman in the Seven Kingdoms." Sansa frowned.

"I'm not blind Sansa. I would heartily disagree with that sentiment. I could see what a beauty you were. But you were my sister, how could I look at you like that? Not only that, but you'd been..." he couldn't say the words.

"Raped and tortured." Sansa finished the sentence. Jon nodded.

"How could I ever hurt you after what you went through?"

"Thank you." Sansa smiled weakly. "But Ygritte is the one you will be the one you are going to be spending time with over the next few months, not her."

"Sansa, Ygritte took advantage of a greenboy. I am no longer that boy of ten and seven that she coerced into a cave." he tried to explain. She was a woman of experience who took advantage of an innocent boy who had never experienced love or war. She always said I knew nothing, and she was right. At the time, I thought I knew everything, but I was mistaken. I don't even know it now, but I'm a lot more experienced in life and I know what I want," he smiled.

"What is it you want?" Sansa asked.

Jon laughed. "I have no desire to be King. I want peaceful life. To live somewhere…" he looked around, "like this. Yes, this would be fine. Tend to the land, have a few pigs, sheep, chickens. A beautiful wife and children," he shrugged. "But I wasn't born to be a person who would be afforded that life, although I may have been allowed to have a beautiful wife, and hopefully one day children."

Sansa smiled. "You mean that don't you?" she asked.

"Aye I do. I've seen what power does, and I don't like it. I've been powerful, and it looks like I'm going to have to go through it all over again. But that is life I suppose." he frowned. "What do you want, not for Westeros, but for you?"

"I'm not sure about tending to pigs, sheep and chickens." Sansa smiled. "But the rest sounds nice. It just isn't reality for us." Jon shook his head in agreement. "If you feel nothing for her when you see her, Ygritte I mean, then bring her south. She wanted to live here, well let her. It might even help you heal, what with her death and all. This time she will live and get what she wants."

Jon looked at Sansa wearily, if there was anyone in the world who Ygritte wouldn't get on with, it would be Sansa, although he could imagine her bonding with Arya, well the old Arya. "I'll see how I feel when I meet her. There's a chance I might not like this version of Ygritte. I doubt she'll be as friendly this time, after all, she was there to make sure I didn't go back to the watch."

"She used you?" asked.

"Aye, at the beginning, but her feelings changed." he sighed, remembering the times he'd had with Ygritte. He'd enjoyed being with the Freefolk, with her, but that was as a boy. The man he'd become needed more. Jon wanted a proper loving relationship, but he had concerns about whether Sansa was able to offer that after her experiences, not that he could blame her.

"I trust you." Sansa put her head on his shoulder, as if she could read his mind. "You are the only man in the world I can trust. Don't make me regret it," she looked up at him and at his chin.

"What?" he frowned.

She pulled at his chin. "You might be right at the separation part, I'm not sure if I can cope with seeing this bumfluff for much longer. At least when you get back, you'll have a proper beard."

Jon wasn't sure whether Sansa was actually paying him a compliment. "You like the beard?" he asked.

"It makes you look quite King-like." she told him.

"Is that a compliment?" he asked, surprised, she'd never paid him any sort of compliment before when he'd been King in the north.

"This place could be made to look very nice." She suddenly changed the subject. "This would be the Lord and ladies chamber. The room below us the heirs room. On the second floor we have the guest quarters and below that the servants quarters." Sansa untangled herself from him.

Jon frowned. "That was quite a change..." he started, then he saw Arya approach, so he stepped away. "We could try to recreate the opulence it once had, but I don't think either Mance or Tormund would appreciate it." he suddenly laughed at the idea of Tormund in a grand fancy bedroom with tapestries and a large four poster bed.

"A raven from Winterfell." Arya interrupted, handing it to Jon, who opened it, while the girls waited.

Jon, Sansa, Arya

The King stayed a sennight. A shorter stay than you predicted. I have declined the role of Hand, which, although he was displeased, he understood my reasons. Robb will be riding north with Benjen and Lord Tyrion as you predicted. They will be with you within the fortnight, maybe less. Robb will stay and help with the rebuild while Jon goes north, be careful of what you say, Tyrion asks too many questions. I now see that Joffrey and the other children are not Robert's, they look nothing like him. I hope everything is going well. Please write back, Lady Stark is most anxious to hear from you, as am I.

Your ever loving father

Lord Eddard Stark

"Phew." Arya grinned. "It worked, none of us needed to go to Kings Landing. Lady will live and Nymeria will stay with me. Father won't lose his head and Robb and mother will survive."

"It seems too good to be true, although I wish Tyrion wasn't coming." Sansa sighed. "I suppose we ought to send a reply," she said, Jon nodded.

"Come, let us return to the tent and send him a raven." Jon encouraged the girls downstairs.

Over the following two weeks, the village and tower were completely transformed. The first thing to be restored to usability, was the tower, simply because this would be where they slept, cooked and ate, including the men who were helping. The kitchen had been restored and the underground hall was even made to look presentable, despite having no windows.

Jon decided this would be the best place to hide the elderly, infirm and children who were unable to fight when the long night came. For some reason, the army of the dead never seemed to search caves, and that could be used as an entrance while they blocked off the other exit in the keep itself.

Most of the remaining part of the keep had been brought into some kind of working order. The top floor had been turned into the grand bedchamber (or grandchambers as they were now being more commonly referred to) with a solar and a bathroom. The third floor contained two bed chambers, each with a privy, the second had the same layout as the third.

The first floor was where the servants would be housed, and what was once the strongroom on the ground floor, would become the home of the Maester, when he arrived from the Citadel.

Sansa slept in the grandchambers as she was the senior permanent resident, Arya had a chamber on the third floor, as did Jon. However, with the new arrivals, the sleeping arrangements needed to be changed. For the first time, Jon and Sansa would have to share a bed as man and wife, something neither of them were comfortable with.

Robb was to take Jon's room. Tyrion and Benjen would sleep on the second floor. Fortunately, the bed which had been made for the grandchambers, had been designed while the three of them had drunk far too much summerwine, forgetting their bodies were not able to consume the amount they were accustomed to and had gotten extremely drunk. It had been decided the bed should be fit for Tormund and his bear Sheila, or Tormund and Brienne.

None of them could make up their minds, which was the most likely outcome of Tormund's conquests, therefore the bed was enormous, which would make it easier for Jon and Sansa to share.

Sansa and Arya spent a lot of time making bed linen and stuffing mattresses, while Jon helped with the more manual labour and organising the felling of trees.

Over the course of the weeks which had passed, more men had arrived with bits and pieces to make the keep seem like a small castle, one which would keep a guest as important as a King happy. Each of the main bedrooms would have its own private bath and privy. There was one bath for the Maester and one for the servants quarters to share. The kitchen was ready and working. Sansa had found time to make some direwolf banners for the underground Great Hall, making it look almost welcoming.

The men who were working on the project would dine inside the Great Hall. It was comfort and respite from the cold, wind, rain, and occasional summer snows. As soon as it was ready, around fifty of the men would sleep there, some would sleep in the servants quarters, most of the rest would be on guard duty, as it was not unheard of for wildlings to raid the area.

By the time Robb, Benjen and Tyrion arrived, the keep was in a sound condition to sleep in and ready for them to even have a bath. The inn was still being rebuilt, so all drinking was to take place in the grandchambers, which was now divided into the bedroom area, with the enormous bed, a privy, a dressing chamber and a solar, which held a dining table, large enough for the seven of them to eat from, and then to gather their chairs around the hearth.

The walls were made of Ironwood and covered in a black banner with a white direwolf sigil, much like the Stark banner but with white on black, the eyes of the direwolf were red like Ghost's. Jon had known he'd need a new sigil and Sansa had come up with this herself.

Their guests were staying two nights before Jon set off with Benjen and Tyrion to Castle Black, a trip he really wasn't looking forward to. He'd almost gotten himself settled into the keep at Queenscrown and could have spent the rest of his life there, if only for the minor fact that he knew what was coming for them and what he needed to do to stop it.

For the sake of appearances, Arya had pretended to go to bed, however she was actually in Sansa's dressing room, listening to the conversation between the six of them.

"I must admit, I find it a little odd, that you wish to marry the girl who was raised as your sister." Tyrion frowned.

"We've known for a long time we weren't brother and sister. Even before then, Lady Stark kept us apart. She didn't want Sansa to be alone with a bastard." Jon sighed.

"Lord Stark hasn't legitimised you." Tyrion said.

"No, but I'm acknowledged by the Dayne's. That is why Lord Stark made me a Lord in my own right. It prevents succession issues if I am happy with my own land. Lord Stark has given me a large responsibility to establish peace between the wildlings and the north. We know something is happening north of the wall, the only ones who can tell us are the wildlings." Jon hated calling them wildlings, but if he started calling them Freefolk, Tyrion would find it very odd.

"What is happening beyond the wall?" Tyrion raised an eyebrow.

"Mance Rayder has gathered the wildlings together, all one hundred thousand of them." Benjen to a swig of ale. The number of rangers going missing has doubled, as has the number of deserters..."

"I'm not surprised. If they're all as surly as you, then I'd go missing or desert." Tyrion laughed, but nobody else joined him, instead they all stared at him stony faced.

"Tales of the whitewalkers reached us." Jon said.

"Deserters, all knowing they are going to lose their heads, would prefer that than to return to the wall. They tell us time and time again, it is the whitewalkers." Benjen said.

"It is causing unrest with the northern Lords. The wildlings seem to be more and more desperate to get south. They're saying the same as the deserters. The Lords want my father to sort this problem out." Robb explained.

"When two sworn enemies are saying and wanting the same thing, then it is probably time to listen. If what they say is true, then we need help from the wildlings. Maybe if they help us, we can help them and come to an arrangement." Jon said. "If they are lying, then the north may have to do something about it. The Night's Watch alone can't help."

"Why send you? You're a bastard." Tyrion seemed unconvinced.

"That makes me even more perfect to go. Robb and I had the same upbringing, the same training. I know how to run a castle as well as he does. The difference is that Robb is the heir to Winterfell, his life is more precious than mine." Jon turned to Robb and shrugged.

"It is what it is." Robb nodded, although Jon knew it was the other way round, and so did Robb.

"That means I have the knowledge to do what has to be done. Giving me this keep, here on the Gift, with the authority of the Lord Commander, means Mance Rayder will listen to me. He won't listen to the Night's Watch, there is no trust and little love is lost between them. They don't care if I'm a bastard, but Mance knows who Ned Stark is and how honourable he is. Mance will know that I've had the right upbringing to know what I'm doing. He also knows I wouldn't be doing it without Lord Stark's blessing." Jon said.

"I suppose that makes sense." Tyrion said.

"Me marrying Sansa is part of the deal to get the Lords to support the what I'm doing. That way they know I am acting under the authority of Lord Stark." Jon lied, looking towards Sansa and smiling, something which Jon realised hadn't gone unnoticed by Tyrion.

"Ah, so the northern Lords won't like what you are going to do." Tyrion surmised.

Jon shook his head. "I very much doubt it. Sansa is my way of saying Lord Stark agrees with me, and if they don't like what I am going to do, take it up with him."

"That explains the soldiers." Tyrion nodded. "Are you letting all the wildlings through the wall?"

"The details are between me, Mance, Lord Stark and the Lord Commander." Jon replied. "Anyway, enough politics for the night, maybe we should talk about something more lighthearted."

"Lady Sansa. How do you fit into all of this? Why would you agree to marry your bastard brother?" Tyrion asked.

"He's not my brother." Sansa replied.

"No, you don't look at each other like siblings should. He certainly doesn't look at you like he looks at Lady Arya. Although I suppose he hasn't bedded Lady Arya. You are you, but I presume the marriage has been consummated? It would be a shame if Lord Stark had led King Robert on to believe that you are unavailable, when the marriage can be annulled." Jon couldn't believe the words coming out of Tyrion's mouth.

"The marriage has been consummated." Jon said coldly.

"Hmm, somehow I doubt that." Tyrion swirled his wine in his goblet.

"I don't think this is a conversation I wish to be listening to." Robb said. "She's my little sister."

"Nor I. She's my niece." Benjen added.

"Fine, I shall say no more." Tyrion shrugged.

An hour later, Robb, Tyrion and Benjen left, while Jon and Sansa returned to their chambers, where they found Arya.

"He was asking too many questions." Arya whispered.

"Of course he was, I'd be more concerned if Tyrion wasn't asking questions." Sansa shook her head as Jon heard a tap on the door. "That's Robb." she said as she walked over and saw Robb on the other side. "Come in," she whispered. "Is Benjen with you?"

"Not yet." Robb replied as they all sat on the vast bed.

Arya grinned. "Robb, what does it feel like to suddenly be the youngest person in the room?"

Robb looked at them and frowned. "How old are you all again?" he asked, but before he could answer, there were two taps to the door. This time Jon got up and let Benjen in, who joined them on the bed, looking over them in wonder.

"My younger brother was asking us how old we were." Arya told Benjen.

"Go on then, I want to hear this." Benjen grinned.

"I'm one and eight." Arya announced.

"I'm twenty." Sansa added.

"Four and twenty." Jon told him. "Robb is now our baby brother at a mere one and six." Robb scowled.

Benjen suddenly became serious. "Did you mean what you said, about the whitewalkers? Ned told me things... things I didn't want to believe to be true."

"Last time, I joined the Watch. I always aspired to be a ranger, but I was allocated to the stewards, to be the Old Bear's steward. You went on a mission with Othor and Jafer Flowers, none of you returned. We found them, they were wights. We burned Jafer, but Othor attacked the Lord Commander. That was how I got Longclaw. We went north to search for the missing rangers, it seems Will, Waymar Royce and Gared were attacked by the whitewalker and only Will survived, until he was beheaded by Lord Stark." Jon said.

"I infiltrated the Freefolk, the Lord Commander was murdered by mutineers at Craster's Keep. I became the Lord Commander, but everything went to shit when I tried to rescue the remaining Freefolk from the army of the dead. I was murdered for it and resurrected by a red priestess of R'hllor. I left the watch and Sansa, Arya and I tried to stop the army of the dead. We even brought dragons, but it wasn't enough. We died at Winterfell and came back here."

"I know who you are," Benjen said quietly. "and who you should be and what you plan to do. Ned told me. But how did you find dragons? Did you ride one?"

"Daenerys Targaryen will have three." Sansa said as Robb looked on in shock, he hadn't heard all of this information.

"I was able to ride one of them." Jon nodded.

"Bleeding hell." Benjen shook his head.

"What was it like?" Robb frowned.

"It makes horses seem quite dull." Jon laughed.

Robb turned to Benjen. "You should see him fight. He's terrifying. I wouldn't be surprised if he can hold his own against Ser Arthur Dayne."

Jon chuckled. "You think I'm terrifying," he turned to Arya. "You should see this one fight."

"I'd be quite capable of beating the Hound." Arya shrugged.

"Uncle Benjen, I want you to go with me when I parley with Mance. It means you won't be able to lead the next ranging." Jon said.

"Is that a clever idea? He saved your life last time." Sansa glared at him.

"I won't be that stupid to bring a wight south of the wall to please Cersei fucking Lannister. I won't need to." he reminded her.

"True." Sansa nodded.

"How long have you known Jon?" Benjen asked. "About your mother and father, really."

"The day before I got here." Jon replied. "Sansa and Arya found out afterwards."

"Why did you really get married? Is there something I should know? Those Targaryen traits?" Benjen screwed his face up in disgust as Jon and Sansa looked at each other and laughed, both shaking their heads.

"No, nothing like that. It was so I don't have to marry Joffrey. Robert would have insisted." Sansa replied.

"Ah." Benjen nodded. "He is a bit of a..."

"He's a twat." Arya shrugged, Robb and Benjen looked shocked at her cursing. "I'm a grown woman who has been raised around men and soldiers."

"I think you are being kind to him." Sansa smirked, before looking at Benjen. "Jon and I know what is required of us. Now is not the time, it can wait until he returns and looks like a man and I will be a woman in body. Neither of us are innocent in those matters." Jon rubbed his hand on her arm soothingly, and Sansa smiled at him.

"At least we already know what each other looks like. I'm married to the most beautiful woman in Westeros." Jon stated.

"Except her," Sansa said, and Jon screwed his eyes up.

"Oh dear, I take it there was someone else?" Benjen surmised.

"Take a guess." Arya shook her head. "Those Targaryen traits raised their ugly head. He was fucking his aunt."

Jon had had enough. "I don't want to hear about her in that way again. It will never happen," he huffed.

"Yes, your grace." Arya shook her head, but Sansa said nothing, which Jon understood. How could she make that promise if it ever came up in a private argument.

"I think it is time for bed." Sansa yawned.

Arya, Benjen and Robb bid them all goodbye and left Jon and Sansa alone. "I'll let you change first." Jon said. "Call me when you are in bed." he added, as he made his way to the solar to wait to go to bed.

A few minutes later, Jon was called into the bedchamber, where he washed, used the privy and changed into a long tunic for bed and some breeches for modesty. He blew out the candles and climbed into bed, the only light in the room was that of the orange glow from the fire.

"Goodnight Sansa." Jon kissed her on her forehead.

"Goodnight Jon." She gave him a peck on the cheek. With that, they both rolled over, as far away from each other and fell fast asleep.