Chapter Text
Autumn, 2001
The next few years pass in much of the same fashion, Brandon spends his nights partying with Ashara Dayne or Barbrey Ryswell or whoever else happens to tickle his fancy that week, and, more often than not, Ned would come by to clean up the messes Brandon leaves in his wake. The two of them sharing a cup of tea, sometimes talking, sometimes not, just glad to be in each other’s company.
Yet, Cat cannot bring herself to leave and she wonders why, frustrated at herself at becoming one of those women, who let their boyfriends walk all over them. But then, thoughts of Benjen come to her mind, the first time he met Edmure and the two became thick as thieves. She thinks of Lyanna, the first time she warmed to her, a peace offering in the form of a lemon cake after Cat had been caught in the middle of one of Rickard and Brandon’s fights. She thinks of Ned, with his warm eyes and guarded smiles and she knows why she cannot leave. The Starks have become her family, each of them have wormed their way inside her heart and the thought of leaving them cuts deeper than a knife. So, she stays and a voice in her head that sounds a lot like her father chants. Family. Duty. Honour.
Her relationship with Ned is easily the strangest of all the Stark siblings. She no longer thinks him cold as she did when they first met, each time he came to clean up Brandon’s mess thawed that image piece by piece. Yet, four years later when she feels she has come to know the man behind the stony exterior, he sometimes gets this look on his face, unreadable, and the cold man she thought didn’t exist anymore once again makes an appearance.
But that still doesn’t explain her current predicament.
Unbidden, her thoughts once more land on Lyanna. The normally loud and boisterous girl had withdrew into herself as of late and whispers of Rhaegar Targaryen follow her around. She had been in a relationship with Ned’s rambunctious friend Robert Baratheon until a few months ago, were Lyanna abruptly ended things. It was then that the rumours started, that’d she had begun seeing her former English teacher, her married formed English teacher. And last time Cat had seen her she could have sworn that she looked rounder, her normally lithe form giving way to some curves.
Cat did not tell her suspicions to her brother’s however, knowing that telling them may do more harm than good.
Cat now stares at the row in front of her, the five twin sets of pink lines staring at her mockingly, standing out in contrast to the white tiles on the floor.
She’s pregnant.
She’d called Brandon an hour ago, telling him that something important had come up and he needed to come over right away, he’d promised to stop by on his way home from work.
She has to tell him, it won’t be real until she tells him and a part of her is terrified about how he’ll react, he won’t know what to do. No one would, with her only 22 and him only just having turned 25, no one knows what to do with an unplanned pregnancy at this age.
Ned would, a traitorous voice whispers, Ned always knows what to do.
She wonders what her father would think. She wonders what Hoster Tully, honourable, proud, patron of his church Hoster Tully would think of his daughter getting pregnant and not being married first.
The clicking of the front door pulls her from her thoughts. She brings herself to move from the bathroom floor as she hears Brandon’s voice call out to her, she briefly takes in her appearance. It’s clear she’s been crying from her red-rimmed eyes and her hair it tousled from her frustrated tugging as she waited for test after test to come back with the same positive result, she looks a right sight, but cannot bring herself to care at the moment. There are more important matters to be discussed.
She pulls herself out of the bathroom and finds him in the fridge, looking for a beer, she assumes as he rambles about his day at work. It’s not until he looks up that he notices her, a frown forming on his face as he takes in her appearance. A lot can be said about Brandon – he cheats, he drinks too much, but it cannot be said that he doesn’t care.
She remembers a party around a year or so ago, where Petyr Baelish had been in attendance. It’s where she’d finally gotten her answers about why he’d disapproved of Brandon so much, shoving her hand up her skirt and telling her that he loved her despite her protests for him to stop. Luckily enough, Brandon had found them there and, in a blind fit of jealousy and rage, had beaten Petyr half to death, only stopping at her own cries. Lysa had said that she must have spurred Petyr on for him to behave in such a way and when Cat had denied any encouragement of his behaviour, Lysa had through a fit of her own. Throwing all kinds of accusations at her, when Brandon had eventually reappeared after having his knuckles checked by the paramedics, he grabbed her hand and took her home without a word, Lysa’s screams following them as they left.
It was perhaps the most tender moment of their relationship that followed, he’d taken her home and drawn her a bath, carefully washing her body and hair before wrapping her in a towel and tucking her into bed.
They didn’t speak of it again.
She can see that same concern now that he displayed that night, his brows furrowed together, and lips pulled into a thin line. He crosses the room towards her and cups her face, his eyes soft as he looks down at her. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m pregnant.” The words come out chocked, barely above a whisper and as soon as she says them, everything shifts and the world as they knew it is changed forever. It becomes real and the words hang heavy in the air between them.
He instantly drops his hands from her face and steps back as if he’s been burned. She watches his face, frozen in an expression of shock and horror for an undeterminable amount of time.
He stays silent and it’s not the reaction she’d expected. Brandon was never one to be silent, always the centre of attention, life of the party. Brandon Stark lit up a room and that was largely due to his loud voice and booming laughter. His silence now scares her, because at least when he’s talking she knows what he’s thinking. But his guarded eyes and silence give no indication what so ever of what could be going on in his head. His silence scares her.
“You’re certain?” He asks after what feels like forever, his voice now sounding as quiet as hers had moments ago. Cat nods her confirmation, still unable to find her voice, thinking of the five tests that lay in a neat line on the bathroom floor. He exhales loudly, turning away from her and running a hand through his hair.
“Okay.” He says as exhales, beginning to pace the floor as he continues to run his hands through his hair. “Okay.” He repeats, his voice slowly returning to its normal volume.
Everything moves in turmoil after that, he grabs her hand and leads her towards the couch. He kneels in front of her and looks at her, his grey eyes looking so vulnerable and raw and, maybe for the first time in their relationship, Cat knows exactly how Brandon feels.
He’s as terrified as she is.
“Marry me.”
Whatever she thought Brandon’s reaction would be, it wasn’t this. She’s astounded, she doesn’t know what to say and a part of her wants to laugh because he’s not kneeling right, he’s kneeling on both knees instead of one, like they do in the movies. It’s not the proposal that you see in the movies, with the beautiful background music and one hundred rose petals scattered around the room. Cat certainly never thought she’d be proposed to in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, her eyes still red and puffy from crying. And they don’t love each other, not like they’re supposed to, yet there is enough feeling left between them that it still stings every time he goes out with another girl and maybe that’s more than some people ever get.
She looks at him, his face every bit as handsome as it had been when they’d met four years ago and whispers “okay.”
Ned watches his brother roll the dice, his eyes lighting up when he landed on the nearest train station eagerly asking Lya if he can purchase it.
It was Stark family game night – sans their father, who was working late and Brandon, who was god knows where. Normally, Ned could breathe a sigh of relief when his brother skipped a game night in favour of doing something Brandon deemed more interesting as it meant that he didn’t need to suffer through Brandon alluding to his other conquests while he thought of Cat sitting home alone. On these nights, entertainment is normally found in the form of Lyanna, but even she didn’t seem herself these days.
Just as he was wondering how long they’d let the game continue to keep Ben happy, he saw Brandon appear in the doorway, his suit dishevelled and his face looking a little ashen. “Is Dad here?”
“No.” Lyanna answered frowning, clearly wondering about his current state as much as Ned was. “What the hell happened to you?”
He watched as Brandon flopped onto the sofa, before leaning forward and resting his head in his hands. “I asked Cat to marry me.”
Whatever they had been expecting him to say, it wasn’t that. Ned half expected that Cat had finally called him out on his cheating or that Barbrey had expressed her intent for him to leave his girlfriend for her once more. But no, the solemn expression on his usually cheerful brother’s face had been because he’d asked the one girl in his life who was worth anything to marry him.
“What?” Lyanna looks as shocked as Ned feels, her eyes wide as she tries to digest the news that just fell upon their laps. Brandon shoots a venomous look, making it clear that he did not appreciate Lyanna’s reaction, Ned frowned at that, because while his brother was prone to tempers and bad moods, he was never mean to their sister.
“Don’t act so shocked. We’ve been together for years now, it’s time I settled down, father’s been nagging about popping the question to her for long enough.” Brandon lounges back on the couch, trying to seem more relaxed about the whole thing that he really was, his eyes cast towards the monopoly board with fake interest.
“And you always tell him to fuck off and mind his own business.” It Ned that speaks this time, wanting to piece the puzzle together as much as everyone else in the room. Things between Brandon and Rickard had begun to grow tense as of late, their father wanted Brandon to step up and take more responsibility, growing tired of his boyish antics. Brandon, well, remained Brandon, and defied their father at every turn.
Brandon sighs and runs a hand through his hair, looking tired and older than his years, which wasn’t something that happened to his brother, who always looked like he’d stepped off the cover of a teen magazine. “She’s pregnant, isn’t she?”
Brandon’s lips draw to a thin line at his sister’s question, his eyes the colour of steel. “You know what, fuck all of you. Why can’t anybody be happy with what I do? I’m getting married to the girl I love and not one of you offer congratulations. I can’t seem to please anyone in this god damn family! Ned tells me that I’ve got to stop messing Cat around and Dad wants me to marry her – I’m doing both those things and not one of you are happy about it!”
He gets off the couch and leaves the room as quickly as he appeared. Ben looks shocked as he stares at the door through which Brandon had just left. Lyanna herself even looks shaken, so unused to her brother’s anger being aimed at her, he was normally defending something she had did to Rickard and Ned.
All Ned can think of is that he didn’t deny it. That Cat being pregnant was the most likely cause for this scenario, because even if his brother did cheat on her, he would not leave her alone in this, Brandon was a good man. Selfishly, Ned wonders what this means for him. Would his weekends with Cat end? Their long chats - and long silences - had been a source of comfort for him, he wasn’t a talkative person and often struggled to find words and somewhere along the way of picking her up when Brandon forgot and covering for him when she’d show up and his brother was already out with another girl, she understood that. He did not need to talk to her all the time to offer her comfort and friendship.
The thought of her marrying someone else and having their child should not pain him, but it does.