After the incident between King Robert Baratheon and Lady Elowen Stark, which had admittedly left many people shocked, namely:

The Lord and Lady Stark, for their eldest daughter's indiscretion;

The Queen, for the eldest young Lady Stark standing up to her husband and telling him that his actions weren't right and telling him that he had a beautiful wife he should focus on;

The Royal Prince, for the Lady he'd been talking to having the gal to stand up to his father, the King, when not even he had the guts to tell him off in public out of fear of being struck;

Robb and Theon, they weren't so much as shocked as they were proud that someone stood up to the King, and told him that his actions weren't the best even if he had a friendship with Lord Stark;

Sansa, for the fact that her sister had been so un-Lady like, yet so cold with their ruling Sovereign, knowing that Elowen hated being compared to anyone, especially their late Aunt, who was one of the people that Elowen most looked up to, from the stories they heard, and wanted to meet;

And last but not least, the King himself, although his shock was more due to the fact that Elowen was almost the spitting image of his late betrothed, the only difference being that Elowen had auburn hair and Lyanna had brown hair.

With most of the people in the Winterfell Keep in their chambers, or seeking the comforts often given by the Ladies of the Night, Lord Eddard Stark and his wife, Lady Catelyn Stark were in bed.

"I'm a Northman." Ned told his wife as he rubbed her back, the two enjoying the quiet time, so unlike the loud music and noise they'd been shrouded until they decided to retire. "I belong here with you, not down South in that rat's nest they call a Capital."

"I won't let him take you." Catelyn replied, laying on her husband's chest playing with the fingers of his free hand, her heart clenched in worry and despair that she might lose her husband.

"The King takes what he wants, that's why he's the King." Ned replied, huffing slightly as he knew his best friend.

Catelyn pushed herself onto her elbow and looked her husband dead in the eyes as she told him "I'll say 'Listen, Fat man, you are not taking my husband anywhere. He belongs to me now.'"

Ned chuckled at her words before adjusting himself for his wife to lay back down, and once she was settled back against his chest, Ned couldn't help but place a kiss on the crown of her head.

"How did he get so fat?"

Catelyn looked back at her husband following his question, they both knew Robert Baratheon, Ned more than Catelyn, but they knew how he loved to drink and feast. It'd been evident in the beginning of his reign.

"He only stops eating when it's time to drink." She replied, a teasing smile on her lips, one that her husband didn't often see nowadays.

Their moment was forced to come to an end when a knock on the door of their chambers caught their attention, and the guard posted outside the door told them "It's Maester Luwin, my Lord."

Knowing that Maester Luwin would seldomly bother this late at night unless it was an emergency, Ned gave permission for the Maester to enter the chambers.

Maester Luwin entered the chambers, a bit rushed and closed the door behind him as he spoke, "Pardon my Lord, my Lady. A rider in the night, from your sister."

With the fact that Lyanna, Ned's sister, was dead, the only other sister Maester Luwin could be talking about was Catelyn's, Lady Lysa Arryn, the widow of the late Hand of the King.

Catelyn wasted no time in turning around in bed and pushing the covers off her body before getting up, reaching for what Lady Lyssa Arryn had sent with the rider for her.

Maester Luwin produced a small sealed letter, which Catelyn took and moved next to her bedside table to read. The seal was not from the Capital, where Lyssa had been living with her husband and son, but of the Eyrie, her husband's House Seat.

"This was sent from the Eyrie." Catelyn informed her husband after taking notice of the seal before breaking it. Ned told Maester Luwin to stay as he got up while Catelyn continued, "What's she doing in the Eyrie? She hasn't been back there since her wedding."

Given the fact that Catelyn had her back to her husband as she read, it was Maester Luwin who took notice of Catelyn's eyes widening as they scanned the letters written on the small paper. And whatever she had read in the paper was enough to make her cross the small chamber while crumbling the paper before throwing it into the lit fireplace.

When her husband questioned what had the Lady Arryn written urgently about, Catelyn turned to her husband and Maester Luwin and recounted.

"She's fled the Capital. She says Jon Arryn was murdered, by the Lannisters. She says the King is in danger." Catelyn voice wavered, her mind reeling as she tried to understand if what her sister wrote was true, or the reason as to why she'd written informing her.

Catelyn knew that her younger sister would never place her son's life in danger, so what she wrote must be true considering that she could lose her life if anyone had read or intercepted the letter.

"She's fresh widowed, Cat." Ned told his wife, trying to comfort her but also diminishing both their high worries, or rather attempting. "She doesn't know what she's saying."

"Lysa's head would be on a spike right now if the wrong people had found that letter." Catelyn argued, her eyes wide and the fire of the fireplace dancing in them. "Do you think she would risk her life- her son's life, if she wasn't certain her husband was murdered?"

Ned shook his head slightly as he turned around, covering his mouth with his hand, trying to understand the whole situation, along with the King's demand that he be the King's new Hand.

"If this news is true, and the Lannister conspire against the Throne. Who but you can protect the King?" Maester Luwin said, angering Catelyn, who stepped forward.

Maester Luwin knew how much his Lord cared for the King, and how they'd fought side by side in the past, how he'd protected the King, and true enough, there was no one better to protect the King than his best friend, a man who was aware of nearly everything around them.

"They murdered the last Hand!" Catelyn snapped, reminding the two men in the room of the horrible even that had taken a toll in their lives. "Now you want Ned to take the job?" her voice was incredulous, her face never losing the anger that burned within.

"The King rode for a month to ask for Lord Stark's help. He's the only one he trusts." Maester Luwin reminded his ruling before turning to his Lord and adding "You swore the King an oath, my Lord."

"He spent half his life fighting Robert's wars. He owes him nothing." Catelyn insisted, approaching her husband and taking his hand in hers, prompting Ned to turn around and face his wife.

"Your father and brother rode South once, on a King's demand." Catelyn told her husband as she looked up into his eyes, trying to get him to understand the situation, how perilous it was, how bad it had proven in the past.

"A different time, a different King." Maester Luwin remarked, emphasizing that Robert was not his predecessor, that he wasn't mad, that he merely needed protection.

Ned cupped his wife's face after a few moments of silence and pressed a lingering kiss on her forehead, a silent apology, a silent 'I love you', a silent everything.

Tears welled in Cat's eyes, and silently fell down her cheeks as Ned pulled away and began to walk to the door.

"Where's the King?" Ned questioned as soon as he and Maester Luwin left his chambers, he tightened his robe and looked at his Maester.

"The King is currently in his chambers, after Lady Elowen's words he seemed to sober up quite a lot and retreated to his and the Queen's temporary chambers as everything was dying down." Maester Luwin replied, walking next to Ned, his hands clasped before him, the sleeves of his robe making it seem as if he had no hands.

Ned, Maester Luwin and two of the guards that protected the Stark household made their way to the King's chambers, their steps steady and showing resolve. Even if Ned's body trembled with anxiety.

They walked from the Great Keep, across the bridge to the armory, and from the armory the small distance to the Guest House. Finding the King's door wasn't hard as there were guard on each side of the door and on the wall opposite.

The four members of the KingsGuard present all looked at their Host as he approached, confused by his late visit.

"I'm here to speak with the King." Ned told the Guards, his voice strong and unwavering. He watched as one of the Guards knocked on the door of the King's temporary chambers and informed him who was out there, and before long, King Robert's familiar voice beckoned him inside.

With a firm nod to Maester Luwin, Ned entered the King's chambers swiftly, almost like a child trying to sneak into their room before getting caught.

King Robert sat at the small desk next to the window, he'd been writing on a piece of paper. The Queen was nowhere in sight and Ned would be lying if he claimed that not having the Queen in the room didn't soothe his worries ever so slightly.

"What can I help you with in this late hour Ned?" The King questioned, turning his whole body to face his best friend.

Ned stood by the door, looking at his best friend. The usually bubbly King who had arrived in the North and wanted to be taken to the crypt before the greeting of the Royal Family was fully finished.

"I've come to apologize for Elowen's words, she had no right to talk to you the way she did." Ned started, he didn't really feel strong enough to say that he accepted the position of Hand of the King as of just yet.

Robert looked at Ned, his dark eyes searching Ned's face. Somehow Elowen's words had actually cut and sobered up the King of the Seven Kingdoms. This came as a surprise to Ned, who had gotten used to feeling the ache whenever Robert mentioned Lyanna, because he knew that Robert never truly gotten besotted with anyone else the way he and with Lyanna.

"Is she right?" Robert asked, his voice low and almost sounding gravely concerned. "Does it pain you when I mention her? It must.... I mention her pretty often."

It wasn't like the King to wallow in this type of self-pity, he would pity never marrying Lyanna or the fact that he didn't get to kill Rhaegar over and over and over.

"Robert, I-" Ned's words failed him, he truly wanted to deny Elowen's words and claim it didn't hurt him, even if he knew that it hurt Benjen just as much, all for the sake of the King.

"She was right about one thing, I do have one of the most beautiful women in the Seven Kingdoms as my wife, and I treat her horribly. She's not her and I messed it up on our wedding night, I called her by your sister's name...." Robert confesses to his best friend, almost as if Ned was a Septon.

Ned looked at the King with uneasy eyes, trying to understand if the King was utterly drunk or if he merely needed to confess something.

With a sigh escaping his lips, Ned decided to give his best friend the truth. "It does hurt Benjen and I when you mention Lyanna, but we understand that she was the love of your life."

Pain flashes in Robert's eyes, making him look just like when they were in the Family crypt hours earlier.

Not wanting to make their talk all about Lyanna all night long, and wanting to tell the King what he was really there to tell him, Ned slowly knelt to the ground, looking away from the King as he spoke, clearly and deafly.

"I accept your offer of the position of Hand of the King." Ned proclaimed, holding a fist to his chest, kneeling before the King, bowing deeply.  "As I accept your proposal to join our Houses."

Out of all the things that the King was expecting his best friend to say, coming to his chambers and accepting his offer of a higher position in the Capital was most certainly one of them.

The King got up and reached for his sword, that was sheathed and laying against the wall, near his bed. It felt heavy in Robert's hands for the first time, as he raised it gently over Ned's body.

"Then.... With the power invested in me, by the Seven who watch over me as I rule, I declare you, Lord Eddard Stark-" The King claimed as he touched Ned's right shoulder first, and then his left before bringing the sword before him as he finished, "Hand of the King."