Summary: Ned steps in when Jon wants to join the Watch.

"He's asked to come back with me." Benjen drank deep from his cup – wine like this was hard to come by on the Wall. "I've told him everything he'd be givin' up, but the lad won't pay me any mind."

"The Wall? Already? I thought he might go when he was older, eighteen at least." Ned felt a familiar stab of guilt, that he had failed his son. Jon had never found true acceptance in Winterfell. Catelyn would never accept him, and Ned had noticed Sansa becoming increasingly hostile towards him too. Sansa had always been her mother's daughter, and it was only natural that as her childish tolerance began to fall away, her mother's intense hatred would begin to influence her. Arya and the others all loved him dearly, but Ned had always feared that they would suddenly turn on him too.

"He seems determined now. I don't know if there's anythin' you could say to make him stay. Bastards are equals on the Wall, Ned. Maybe that's what makes him so keen."

"All I ever wanted was to name him Stark. He is my blood, my boy. It pains me that the only place he'd feel himself is on the Wall, at the edge of the world. He does not want a wife, no life of his own – only to serve the Brothers. It's admirable, certainly, but does he really feel so distant from this family that he has no desires for one of his own?"

"I'm sure that isn't it, Ned. You've given him a good life, an admirable deed that has caused you much grief over the years. How many Lords would bring home their bastards? Most would leave a motherless babe to die."

"So I should be congratulated for bringing him home and subjecting him to life as an outsider."

"C'mon Ned, it's not that bad. You love him, his brothers and sisters love him. He's got a good life. And if he wants to join us, he's welcome. I'm just worried he'll realise it's not what he thinks it is. There's no talking to him."

"You'll watch over him, won't you? Nothing obvious, just make sure he doesn't get killed in training. You know what he's like, he'll probably thrash them all and they'll get him back for it."

"Aye, of course I will. He is a Stark, Ned. He's no less my nephew than Robb, Bran or Rickon." Ned smiled to hear that. "Try and talk him out of it, though. At least for a year or two. Things are getting tough at the Wall. Things are changing."

"Winter is coming." Ned said solemnly.

"Winter is coming." Benjen nodded In agreement.