A long Journey

Summary: Jon does not go to the Wall and instead accompanies Catelyn to King's Landing. As they have to go into hiding together, events escalate and troubles stir in the continent leading different parties to lie, plot and obfuscate. Is Westeros doomed to go to war or can conflict be avoided?

OR: Catelyn and Jon take an interesting road trip together.

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1) Winterfell: The king's visit.

"He looks as if he were just sleeping" Lord Eddard Stark commented running his hand through the matted hair of his son as he lay unconscious on his bed. The fall had been brutal, but it hadn't killed him. And for as long as he drew breath, his family held on to the hope that he would survive.

"But then, why won't he wake up?" retorted a weary Catelyn Stark, her tired eyes never leaving her son.

Lord Stark grabbed his wife's hands in his and kissed her knuckles softly. "Bran is a strong lad, Cat" he tried to reassure his wife. "He'll pull through."

"And yet, you won't be here to see it" she replied her eyes still glued on the boy on the bed.

"I swore an oath, Cat. I have to go"

"You also swore an oath to me" she breathed out. "But this won't be the first time you forgo your vows to me" she added belatedly in a barely audible voice.

"Cat, please. Don't" he said still holding her hands. "Your hands are cold" he noted.

"I am cold"

"It's not cold, my love. The room feels warm. Maybe you should retire to your chambers for a while. You haven't left this room in days" he finished placing a soft kiss on her forehead.

"I can't leave. What if he wakes up? What if he doesn't? He needs me" and for the first time her eyes left her son's body. She looked up at her husband with pleading eyes. "He needs you too. I need you. Please don't leave."

"You know I have to. I don't have a choice"

"That's what men always say when honour calls. That what you tell yourselves. You do have a choice. And you've made it. Now you're leaving. I have five children. One of them lies lingering between this world and the next and there's nothing I can do to help him. You're taking my two girls away from me. Robb is being forced to be Lord when it really shouldn't be necessary if you stayed. What about Rickon? He will grow without his father to guide him. I can't do this Ned. I really can't."

"You can, Cat. You must."

"What about him?" she suddenly asked, her blue eyes growing dark.

"Bran?" Ned asked confused.

"No, not Bran. Him. Your other son"

"Jon." Ned felt the insurmountable crevasse that stood between him and his wife appear again: the same old rift that would sometimes heal only to surface again every time his name was involved. Jon had a very special place in his heart, but it was also a reminder of a darker time and something that Catelyn had never come to terms with. And he really couldn't blame her. He had placed this burden upon her and she had taken it in her stride as best as she could. If not loving, at least she had been civil to Jon. The boy was never pushed away from the family and that was really all he could ask of her. "I could take him with me. But the royal family won't take it kindly if I took a bastard. They might take it as an insult."

"No, you wouldn't want to insult anyone with a bastard. That wouldn't be proper, would it?" she countered not even bothering to hide her resentment .

Ned bit his lip and closed his eyes. "He has mentioned something about joining the Watch. He could have a future there, but it's an oath for life, Cat."

"He could have had a future anywhere if you had done things properly. Any of your bannermen would have taken him if you had asked" she retorted and her eyes went back to her young son lying on the bed.

"He could always stay here, together with Theon. Robb will need their help. And they could always help out with Rickon"

"Ned, stop it! He is your son, not mine. He is your responsibility, not mine. I have enough as it is with my own children. Do whatever you want with him, he is yours to care for."

The crevasse suddenly became an ocean. Ned wanted to hold his wife and tell her everything would be alright. But would it? All the conversations he and his wife had sheared since the arrival of the Royal Family to Winterfell and King Robert's proposal came to his mind.

Being the King's Hand was not just a great honour, it was his duty. And it would give him a chance to find out what had really happened to the previous Hand, Jon Arryn. Death by natural causes sounded too suspicious to be true, especially after receiving Jon's wife Lysa's letter about the Lannisters, the Queen's family, being behind it. Catelyn's sister Lysa had specifically said her husband had been murdered.

His becoming Hand of the King had an added bonus: his daughter Sansa would be betrothed to the Prince. He wasn't sure if this was a bonus or an added tax. But Sansa was very excited and had expressed her desire to marry Prince Joffrey.

Unfortunately these "honours" came at a price. He had to leave his family and his house behind, something he was loath to do, and he was taking his two young daughters with him. Plus, his older son Robb would be forced to become Lord of Winterfell and grow into an adult before his time. As Catelyn had said before, their youngest son Rickon would grow up without a father figure. He knew Robb could fill that place, but it wasn't fair to Robb. It was bad enough he would have the responsibilities of a Lord, he couldn't ask him to become a father as well. Bran's accident had only made things worse. He felt terrible having to leave without knowing whether his son would wake up again. Bran's condition had taken a toll on his wife and she was devastated. She was but a shadow of her usual self. As much as she had initially agreed that he had to accept the King's offer, and had actually insisted on it, now things had changed. And so had her mind. She was begging him not to leave and take her children with him.

And what about Jon? He would have to stay in Winterfell. He would indeed be of great help to Robb and Rickon. His mind was made and his decision had been taken. Jon would stay home, at least until Robb had found his feet as Lord and Bran had woken and so things could go back to normal.

He stood up, petted the wolf that slept loyally on Bran's bed , kissed his wife on the forehead again and left the room. He had things to do. He had to leave all his official affairs in order, he had to pack, and he had to prepare a trip for his two daughters and their wolves. The wolves had been an interesting addition to the family. They had found them in the forest when he had had to execute the deserter from the Watch. The children had been over excited with their new pets, and they had one for each – all six of his children. They fed them, took care of them, and cleaned up after them. This will teach them about responsibility and love, his wife had said - Family and Duty echoing her family's words. And it seemed to be paying off. Sansa had been training hers to behave during the trip and according to Arya, her wolf was helping her pack. Bran's wolf, for his part, had remained stoically by his sick owner's side and refused to leave the room.

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The day finally came for the King and his entourage to leave. The King mounted his horse and proudly announced his family would be returning to the capital with gained allies, a new Hand and a beautiful bride for his son. Everybody in they yard clapped and cheered. The Queen waved to the people seeing them off and stepped on the wheelhouse together with her children. Arya and Sansa hugged and kissed everyone they were leaving behind and got on the wheelhouse with sadness about what they would miss, but anxiety about what they would experience. Ned turned to his ward Theon Greyjoy and gave him some encouraging parting words. He hugged his two older sons – his heir Robb and his other son Jon – and gave them some final instructions and fatherly advice. He then tousled Rickon's unruly red curls and promised him they would see each other soon.

Catelyn would have been able to witness all these goodbyes if she had just looked out of the window. But she was still perched over her ailing son praying and crying and then praying some more. She berated the gods claiming it was not fair other children should be able to run and play while her beloved Bran might never open his eyes again. So focused was she on Bran that she never saw her husband and her daughters leave. She never saw the King and his family leave. And she never saw how much the children that had remained home actually needed her.

As the days passed by, Robb tried his best to fill in the gap left by his father's departure. He became the Lord he had been trained to be. He relied on his bother Jon for support and Maester Luwin for advice. He would see his mother every day but she was still holed up in Bran's room. Bran still hadn't woken up and some people had already began to lose hope he ever would. But not his mother. She stubbornly remained by Bran's side. Robb could never fathom what his mother might be going through. He had always heard that losing a child was the worst thing that could happen to a person. His mother was one of the strongest and smartest women he had ever seen, but that person was long gone now. Unfortunately, this utter devastation that was taking hold of his mother meant that he was losing her as well. He could not rely on her as much as he would like to.

"Mother, I need to make some new appointments" he tried to ask his mother for counsel one night. "Maester Luwin thinks we should name Mycah as head forger. Jon agrees since he trained with our old forger for so long. What do you think?"

"What happened to Phillard?" she asked.

"Mother, Phillard left with father and Breckon was injured in the accident last week" he replied worried his mother had forgotten those details.

"Ah, true. Mycah is good then."

"Mother, when was the last time you left this room? Rickon needs you. I need you. And you need to take care of yourself. This is not helping. You can't help Bran if you die."

"I can't help Bran if I live either"

"Don't say that."

The air felt stuffy and warm. Neither Catelyn nor Bran's wolf had stepped out of Bran's room in days and it was beginning to smell. Robb got up and made for the window. As he drew the curtains and opened the window something caught his attention.

"Fire!" he yelled. "There's a fire in the library! You stay here!" he instructed his mother and rushed out into the hallway.

He wasted no time getting to the library as fast as he could yelling orders as he ran by and getting his people to move quickly. Jon had already began to get pails of water. Using the big curtains and the tapestry to put out the flames they were able to control the fire. Now they had the arduous task of cleaning the mess and finding out what had caused the fire. Their chore was interrupted by a desperate cry coming from the other end of the hallway.

"I'll go" Jon offered and sprinted down in the direction of where the cry had come from.

He checked the rooms as he passed by and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary – until he reached Bran's room. The door, which was normally closed, was ajar and he could hear faint moans and sounds of struggle. He burst into the room and was shocked to find a man attacking his father's wife. Catelyn was fighting back and had managed to bite off some of the man's fingers but now the man was grabbing her from behind and had a knife at her throat. She was trying to grab the knife with her bare hands. Both had blood on their clothes and bodies. When the man saw Jon standing in the doorway he quickly let go of Catelyn, the momentum causing her to stumble forwards. As she turned to Jon the man took the opportunity to slash her chest and stab her in the gut. Jon saw her fall and promptly ran to face her attacker. But a grey shadow beat him to it. The loyal wolf, whom Bran had not had time to name before his accident, pounced forwards and lunged at the attacker. The struggle lasted no more than a few seconds, the wolf quickly gaining the upper hand and tearing out the man's throat. He gurgled and gasped for a short time until his eyes closed and blood began to pool under his head.

The man no longer a threat and the wolf having returned to his place on Bran's bed, Jon turned his attention to Catelyn. She was bleeding and barely conscious, but she was alive. He gently opened her robe to check her wounds were not lethal. Her gown was stained red in the front where she had been stabbed and her chest had been slashed. Her hands were also a bloody mess and some of her fingers had almost been severed when she had tried to stop the knife at her throat.

Softly and trying not to injure her further, he picked her up and placed her on the bed next to Bran. She started to moan and suddenly opened her eyes.

"Bran!" she cried as her eyes focused on Jon. "He wants to kill him. Help Bran. Please!"

"Bran is fine" Jon reassured her. "You saved him. The wolf saved him. He is fine."

"You…" she trailed as unconsciousness was getting hold of her again.

"Stay with me. Open your eyes. I'll go get help, but stay awake" he said and stepped out into to the hallway yelling for help.

"You …" she trailed again. " … saved us."

TBC