AN: This is just something of a vignette.
I am new here. By that, I mean very new. I watched a few seasons of the show ages ago, and I've forgotten it entirely. I'm reading the books, now, and I have barely begun. I love to play with characters that I love through fanfiction, however, so that's all that I'm doing here. I pretty much enjoy ignoring canon.
I say all of that to say that, if you're someone who really takes fanfiction seriously, and you're looking for some kind of amazing literature, please don't ever expect to find that in a single thing that I may ever write.
This is just for my enjoyment, and the chance to play with the characters. I share it only in case someone else might enjoy it. If you don't enjoy this sort of thing, then I hope you find a story that you do like.
If you do enjoy, please do let me know!
111
Catelyn burrowed a little deeper into the warm robe that was tied at her waist. She thrust her hands into it to warm them, feeling like every bit of warmth had been drained from her fingertips thanks to their exposure to the chamber air. Her feet felt half-frozen as she padded across the icy stone floor. She paused a moment and contemplated the grate of the bedchamber's fireplace. She felt almost mournful to see it cold and empty, with no fire by which she might warm herself.
"Come back to bed, m'lady."
Catelyn smiled to herself. She pulled her robe up a little more around her neck and hugged herself.
Ned's voice was thick with the sleep he'd been enjoying. It was thick, too, with affection. These days, he only called her "m'lady" as a teasing sign of intimacy and not at all as the overly polite attempt to address her that he had once used, when they were newly married and practically strangers.
"I thought there was a bear in our chambers," Catelyn teased. She turned away from the grate, then, and faced her husband, but she didn't move toward him just yet.
He rolled and lit several of the tapers nearest him to light the room with the warm glow of their light.
"And you thought to slay it?" He asked, sitting up in bed and rearranging the pillows and things to his liking.
"And if I did?" She asked, playfully challenging him. She always enjoyed when he was like this—softened by affection and the afterglow of their lovemaking.
He laughed quietly.
"I would not doubt that you could," he said. "Was my snoring really so bothersome that it drove you from bed?"
"There were other urgings that would not be ignored," Catelyn offered. She shivered and instinctively hugged herself.
Ned shifted, sitting a bit taller against the pillows.
Across the small distance, she felt their eyes connect. She might have imagined it, but she could swear that she saw his features soften. Her pulse kicked up—fluttered, practically—and her breath came in shallower bursts.
The way that Ned saw her—when he seemed to see somehow into the very depths of her soul—had an effect on her unlike anything that she'd ever experienced before knowing him.
This must be love. She'd thought that the first time she'd felt it, and she still felt it today.
She shivered, again, in response.
"Are you cold, Cat?" Ned asked, sincerely. His voice was soft enough to raise another shiver. Catelyn wondered if she felt the sudden wave of lightheadedness thanks the sudden shortness of breath, or for other reasons. She smiled to herself. She had felt this before, many times, and knew now to be careful when the sensation came upon her. With Robb and Sansa, both, she had fallen—not realizing the need to catch herself when her head swam so. She had worried, then, that she had done them harm, but they had both been fine. Still, she learned from her experiences, and she knew to be careful now.
"Quite," she said.
Ned moved and threw back the heavy blankets, making space for her where she hadn't lain before rising to relieve herself.
"Come," he said. The command was both warm and welcoming, and a touch demanding.
Catelyn knew her role as a wife. She understood the obedience that she owed her husband. Ned demanded respect, and he did expect a certain level of obedience, but Catelyn knew that he gave her more control and freedom than many wives enjoyed. He respected her. He rarely demanded anything from her that would not benefit every member of their family in some way. For that reason, Catelyn rarely fought Ned when he asked something of her.
She never fought him when he asked her to come to bed—no matter his intention. He had never given her reason or want to do so.
Catelyn came to him, happy to let him practically pull her into bed beside him. He covered her in blankets and wrapped himself somewhat around her as she leaned into him. He kissed her forehead affectionately.
"It is unusual for me to snore loudly enough to drive you from our bed," he said.
"It is," she agreed.
"I hope that it is not a sign that I'm taking cold," he said. "There's so much to be done…"
"I've known you to snore, before, when you weren't ill," Catelyn said.
He hummed and squeezed her affectionately. She closed her eyes and drew in a breath, appreciating the warmth of his arms around her and the strength of his embrace.
"You fell asleep not long after our love making," he said. "And you did snore, too."
"Like a bear?" She asked, half-challenging him to respond. He laughed.
"More like—some great cat," he said. His eyes practically twinkled as he looked at her. "My beautiful, noble cat—curled up at my side. Purring." He rubbed his hands over her, as though he were purposefully warming her. She drew in a deep breath, breathing in the comfort of the moment and the scent of her husband—a man she loved with all her heart and soul, though once she'd feared that she might never come to truly love him. "It was endearing. I have heard the sound a number of times before."
"I slept well after my husband so generously looked after my every desire," Catelyn said.
"It was I who was most pleased," he said, smiling at her.
He slipped his hand inside her robe, beneath the heavy blankets. He found her breast and, rubbing it gently with his fingers, coaxed her nipple to rise up in response. Finding her nipple, he lightly traced it with his fingertip. It was a simple pleasure and, yet, her entire body responded to it entirely.
Ned watched her face, nearly without blinking, as he touched her.
"You are hot, Cat, like the heart of a fire and, yet, you have been visibly shivering," Ned said.
"Winter is coming," she breathed out.
"And, yet, it is still summer," he said. "And though the late summer snows are on the ground, the air remains quite warm for Winterfell."
"The chamber is cold," she said. "The floor is like ice. Our breath hangs heavy in the air. I thought of asking that a fire be built."
"You haven't asked for a fire in years," Ned said. "You tell me that the hot springs warm you plenty."
"I am usually quite warmed by them," Catelyn agreed.
"The only times that I have known you to say that Winterfell was too cold for you to bear was when…"
Ned fell off.
Catelyn smiled at him. She turned her body to face him just a little more.
"When?" She pressed.
Ned looked a bit more solemn than usual, especially when he held her in their bed.
"When you have had the heat leeched from your body to keep warm the next of our brood," Ned said.
"With the cold of a new Stark inside me, and the cold of the North without," Catelyn teased.
Ned's hand travelled lower—away from Catelyn's breast—and came to rest against the skin of her abdomen. His hand was warm—warmer, even, than the heat created by her robe and the blankets.
"Are you certain?" He asked.
She smiled and nodded. He started to smile, too. She saw the twitch of his lips. He hesitated to show too much of his happiness at once.
"Why have you said nothing?" He asked.
"I only just became aware of it, myself," Catelyn admitted. "It was only a day or two past that I understood what I was feeling. It has been three years since Rickon. A woman never forgets the experience of being with child, but sometimes she does take a moment to understand the sensation when it comes upon her again. I had prayed to the seven faces that I would bring forth another…perhaps more. I am young enough, still."
"As you well know, Robert has asked me to come south," Ned said. "I wanted to refuse his invitation, and thought to invite him north, instead, but I knew better than to do so without reason. I've delayed my response for nearly too long. Now, I have the perfect explanation. Without any immediate threat or need of me in battle, Robert will understand my hesitation to leave my wife when we are due another Stark."
"You cannot refuse the king," Catelyn said.
"Refuse him, no," Ned said. "I will invite him to Winterfell. Let him come to me. Besides, he will be happy of the excuse to travel to the North. It has been so long since he's been here."
"His queen will not be happy," Catelyn said.
"He'll appreciate the invitation even more, if she refuses to accompany him," Ned said with a laugh. "Come—I've had enough talk of kings and queens. Let me enjoy the company of my wife, who has just given me the wonderful news that my house shall have another heir."
Catelyn came happily to him. She kissed him and welcomed the weight of him as he shifted their positions. He opened her robe, and she slipped free of it, exposing herself entirely to his wants and needs.
"You hardly have want of heirs," she teased.
"And yet, each is a gift," Ned said. "A treasure."
"All your children?" Catelyn asked.
Ned hummed in the affirmative, beginning to place kisses delicately on her body. She shivered in response to his affection, now, instead of the chill.
"And my wife the greatest treasure of all," Ned assured her.
Catelyn smiled in response. Suddenly, she wasn't feeling cold at all.