Ned could not breathe. He felt a tightness closing around his neck and sharp pressure into his side. He gasped for breath reaching up to grab the force that cut into his throat.
He turned his eyes to the culprit of his lack of air and saw his youngest daughter with an elbow to his windpipe and knee kicked into his side. Her mouth was wide open in sleep and some drool began to dribble out.
He removed her elbow and tucked it into her side. Arya rolled over onto her back and found a new victim for her sharp jabs. Robb remained asleep despite Arya's onslaught of limbs. As if on instinct, he moved his head away from a violent swing as Arya adjusted her arms. He twisted away from her, somehow lodging his foot onto her face.
Arya let out a grunt and mumbled, "seven…hells" before falling back into a snore.
Ned's brows furrowed. He would need to have another talk with Ser Rodrick about watching his words when his children were around.
Ned felt sudden pressure in his ankles and glanced down. Jon Snow was curled at the edge of the bed, face pressed against Ned's legs. Ned turned his eyes further down the bed and saw a single foot on the mattress. He sat up to see Theon Greyjoy had completely fallen off the bed with only his foot emerging as the single victor to his children's sleeping habits.
Ned glanced over to his left where a bassinet held his youngest. He saw the rise and fall of his chest. A peaceful expression over his face, away from his siblings warring feet, elbows, and knees.
They held a family meeting, where all parties agreed that it would be unsafe for the six month old Bran to sleep in the same bed with them all. Largely due to Arya's sharp elbows, Robb's kicking, and Theon's propensity to sleep fight.
Arya had protested greatly at first, stating she had never harmed her siblings in her sleep, but one sullen look of Jon Snow's swollen, purple eye was enough to sway her.
Sansa had told her that ladies did not punch their siblings in sleep. Arya had stated that they would not all have to sleep together in the first place if she wasn't such a cry baby and woke everyone up with her screams.
Everything had escalated from there with Jon grabbing ahold of Arya, while Robb had to pry Sansa's hands from Arya's head. Her hands attempting to rip the hair off her sister's head. Arya had already succeeded in that endeavor waving a few red strands victoriously in the air.
Meanwhile Ned had to place a hand over a cackling Theon's mouth as he offered tips to both girls on how best to rip each others hair out and how it would be quicker with a pair of shears he just so happened to have in his pocket. Ned then had to confiscate the sharp object from Theon's offering hands.
Cat had stormed into the room with a crying Bran in her arms, shouting at them that she had just gotten him down for his nap and for Seven's sake, Ned, I leave you and the children alone for fifteen minutes—
It was one of their better meetings all things considered.
Ned turned his head towards the sound of gasping breath and whimpers in the corner of the room.
"Hush now, sweetling." He heard his wife whisper to his eldest daughter.
His wife sat in the rocker with Sansa cradled in her lap. He saw the glisten of tears on her cheeks as her face twitched and contorted in sleep.
Cat got up from her chair, noticing Theon in her path before stepping over him to place Sansa on the bed.
Once joined with her family, only then did Sansa's whimpers and cries quiet down.
It was discovered during a particular harsh storm that Sansa's night terrors ceased when asleep with her family.
It was a storm where the winds echoed through the halls and the flash of lighting and roar of thunder kept Ned and a six month pregnant Cat awake.
Not before too long they heard the patter of little footsteps. Robb and Jon had come first stating it was cold in their rooms, but jumped as a flash of lighting lit up the sky. Jon stood frozen as the sky illuminated catelyn stark's expression.
A clap of thunder coincided with Arya's entrance into the room. She ran and jumped onto the bed before noticing her brother's standing there. Another flash of lightning and clap of thunder sent the boys running to their bed, bravado forgotten at the sight.
Theon Greyjoy was the last to come in, his face pale and body trembling. Ned wondered at his expression, when a night like tonight should remind Theon of home.
Ned ignored Cat's glaring eyes and simply called Theon's name and motioned him to join the rest of the children. The children tossed and turned before finding comfortable positions between Ned and Cat.
"Only for one night Ned. We are not going to make a habit of—"
A scream tore through the air. Again and again and again. The sound more terrible than the wind and rain outside.
Ned stood up from the bed and knew the screams would lead him to Sansa. What he did not expect was to find his daughter in the hallway outside the door.
Ned quickly knelt at her side, his chest tightening at the sight. She lay curled up on the floor, mumbling to herself of blue eyes, weirwood trees, and dragons.
He knew that these were not night terrors brought on by old Nan's stories. He would be relieved if they were.
Sansa let out a choked gasp, "I do not want to die."
Ned found it difficult to swallow, "Sansa, Sansa, wake up. It is not real."
He shook her shoulders, his chest further tightening.
Sansa continued to sob and blabber her words.
"Sansa, you need to wake up."
A crack of thunder and Sansa awoke with a startled gasp eyes widening as she took in where she was and who stood before her.
Her voice was small and meek, "… please help me."
He felt like his insides were shrinking in on themselves as he saw the terror in her eyes. He knelt to pick her up and held her against his chest. He brushed a hand over her hair and attempted to make the soothing noises Cat made when their children had any hurts or ailments.
"Do you remember your dream?"
Sansa began to weep, "No, I can't remember, but it felt so cold. No one answered me. I was alone."
Ned looked down at his daughter, "It's okay Sansa. We are here."
His daughter sobbed into his chest for some time before falling back into a restless sleep. She continued to whisper her eerie words.
Ned returned to the room with Sansa intending to grab a lantern before returning to her room.
He placed her on the bed to grab a lantern from the other side of the room. He returned to her side expecting to hear her mumbles and whimpers but was left with silence. Her once contorted features were smoothed out in a dreamless sleep.
From that night on they had tested if Sansa had any nightmares with Ned and Cat. They found that she only slept through the night with her whole family, including Jon Snow and Theon Greyjoy, much to Catelyn's protests. As time passed Sansa's dreams appeared to lessen and stop altogether.
Ned was brought back to the present as he felt his wife curl into him.
"How did she do?" He whispered.
"She slept through until now. She was able to sleep in her room with just me, for most of the night.
Ned turned toward Cat, "Before long she will be able to sleep through the night without us."
Cat stretched out a hand over ned to run her hands through Sansa's hair.
"I wish I could take these terrors for her and take them as my own."
"I wish I could soothe them away." He replied, "this is a fight I am helpless to defend."
"She still sleeps best with all of us."
"This is not sustainable, Cat."
"I know. I want to ease her worries as best we can. It is a mother's burden to fret over her children." Cat brushed off the wetness on Sansa's cheeks.
Ned turned to look at Sansa and all his children before looking back at his wife, "Rest, Cat, I will watch over them."
Catelyn protested but her eyes were already closing.
Ned looked over his pack in there various positions of sleep, even Theon who snored on the floor. He felt a lightness and a heaviness in his chest.
He looked down at his daughter who now slept soundly. He hoped his children would never face the terrors that found there way into her dreams. He hoped their lives would never be Sansa's whispered words of their fates. They would have their pack. They would have each other and that would be enough.
Ned stark drifted into a restless sleep dreaming of his children's futures.