Would've, Could've, Should've // Ned Stark // Hayley Marshall

21. Remind Me

"Brandon. Yes. Brandon would know what to do. He always did. It was all meant for Brandon. You, Winterfell, everything. He was born to be a King's Hand and a father to queens. I never asked for this cup to pass to me." Ned remarked.

"Perhaps not," Catelyn countered, "but Brandon is dead, and the cup has passed, and you must drink from it, like it or not." Ned turned away from her, back to the night. He stood staring out in the darkness, watching the moon and the stars perhaps, or perhaps the sentries on the wall.

"My lord, Maester Luwin is without and begs urgent audience." Desmond called through the door.

"You told him I had left orders not to be disturbed?" Ned countered. But now that he was having the you will never compete with Brandon talk he was glad for the distraction.

"Yes, my lord. He insists."

"Very well. Send him in." Ned agreed Catelyn glared back at him.

"We are not done." Catelyn hissed.

"My lord," he said to Ned, "pardon for disturbing your rest. I have been left a message." Ned looked irritated.

"Been left? By whom? Has there been a rider? I was not told." Ned remarked.

"There was no rider, my lord. Only a carved wooden box, left on a table in my observatory while I napped. My servants saw no one, but it must have been brought by someone in the king's party. We have had no other visitors from the south." Luwin remarked.

"A wooden box, you say?" Catelyn questioned confused. "Like the trinket you wanted to put in a box?" She hissed glaring at Ned. "What happened to it?"

"What?" Ned hissed.

"The box was empty." Catelyn seethed.

"What was in your box Luwin?" Ned countered.

"Inside was a fine new lens for the observatory, from Myr by the look of it. The lens crafters of Myr are without equal." Lewyn offered. Ned frowned. He had little patience for this sort of thing.

"A lens," he said. "What has that to do with me?" Ned demanded.

"I asked the same question," Maester Luwin said. "Clearly there was more to this than the seeming."

"A lens is an instrument to help us see." Ned offered. "What is it that they would have us see more clearly?"

"The very thing I asked myself." Maester Luwin drew a tightly rolled paper out of his sleeve. "I found the true message concealed within a false bottom when I dismantled the box the lens had come in, but it is not for my eyes." Ned held out his hand.

"Let me have it, then." Ned agreed but Luwin did not move.

"Pardons, my lord. The message is not for you either. It is marked for the eyes of the Lady Catelyn, and her alone."

+

"You are a good kid, Jon. I wish Hope was dating a guy like you instead of the asshole that's mom got me killed." Hayley informed him seriously.

Jon took a step forward so he was face to face with hayley. She stared back at him expectantly, what she was expecting she wasnt quite sure.

"Hayley, I would love to be your honorary son if you will have me." Jon declared and that was not what Hayley was expecting.

"Hell yeah." Hayley agreed and Jon hugged her and he felt like he finally belonged. "You know I adopted four boys now since I arrived, think your father would be okay if I adopted Arya?"

"Arya would like it." Jon agreed.

"Great, I will talk to him in the morning, Arya first. I like her fire." Hayley declared. "Reminds me of well... me."

Jon chuckled as Ghost ran up sitting at Hayleys feet.

"Oh, I see how it is." Jon teased. "Hayley comes and you forget about me?"

"He's my son now too." Hayley offered as she pet his head, Ghost tipped his head up, nose high in the air as he looked to her. "You remind me of me too you know."

"Any chance... now dont hate me when I say this." Jon offered nervously.

"Great start." Hayley mused.

"You and Lord Stark... are you sure theres not chance you might be..."

"Your dad is handsome, if I was alive back then- and not married to Jackson or whatever they were calling him here-" Hayley remarked awkwardly. "I would say there would be a great chance that I would have been your mother... but also I was probably - God I would probably be 20 years older at least but maybe not. They are trying to marry off your 13 year old sister. What the hell is up with that?"

"Thats normal. I think Lady stark was to be married at 12." Jon remarked.

"Fucking hell." Hayley muttered. "This place is really fucked up."

"It is." Jon agreed. "But its better now that you are here."

+

"Tell me! What is the message!" Ned demanded grabbing her arm to keep her from fiddling around the room, procrastinating what was clearly important.

"A warning," Catelyn said softly. "If we have the wits to hear." "Lysa says Jon Arryn was murdered."

"By whom?" Ned countered

"The Lannisters," she told him. "The queen." Ned released his hold on her arm. There were deep marks on her skin.

"Gods," he whispered. "Your sister is sick with grief. She cannot know what she is saying."

"She knows," Catelyn corrected insulted. "Lysa is impulsive, yes, but this message was carefully planned, cleverly hidden. She knew it meant death if her letter fell into the wrong hands. To risk so much, she must have had more than mere suspicion." Catelyn looked to Ned with anger. "You say you love Robert like a brother. Would you leave your brother surrounded by Lannisters to protect your family?"

'If this news is true and the Lannister's are conspiring against the throne who but I can protect the king' Ned remarked. "We are safe here, you and the children-"

'They murdered the last Hand,' catelyn reminded him 'now you want to take the job?'

'They traveled a month to ask for Ned Starks help. He is the only one he trusts. He swore the oath.' Luwin reminded Catelyn.

'He spent half his life fighting in Roberts wars he owes him nothing!' she spat.

'My father and Brother Road South once on the kings demand.' Ned remarked.

'A different time,' Luwin reminded him 'a different King.'