Archive of Our Own ^beta

Christmas time brought the best and worst out of people all at once. There was a point in time when Ned Stark loved his wife with mind, body, and soul. But lately, it’s been tough to talk himself into it. Catelyn Tully Stark as set ridiculously high standards for their six kids. If she had her way, she would have arranged matches for all of them – and had explained her choices and reasoning to Ned over the years.

Ned Stark knew unequivocally that his children humored their mother over the years, but even their patience was growing thin as of late. He could see it all over their faces when they came for dinner on the 26^th. All of their children showed up, just as they were supposed to. None of their children lived home anymore; their youngest was now 18 and had moved out as quickly as humanly possible and in with their oldest Robb, who was 27.

“I had wanted to get a family picture,” Catelyn lamented when they were done their very stilted dinner.

“We can still get a family picture,” Sansa assured her mother. Sansa was 25 and dressed immaculately as always – always the vision of the perfect daughter.

“I had hoped to have several of you married off,” Cat continued. “All my friends have in-laws now, and some even have grandchildren. It’s embarrassing that none of you can date anyone appropriate so I can have my dream.”

Sansa carefully pushed back from the table, stood up, gently smoothed down her dress and made eye contact with her mother. “Thank you for dinner.” She walked over to Ned and kissed his cheek gently. “I love you Daddy, but I need to leave.”

“I understand darling,” Ned murmured.

“Well, she has the most patience out of all of us,” Arya commented. “If she’s out, then I’m gone too.”

“Arya!” Cat exclaimed sharply.

“Nope, not today,” Arya replied. She went to kiss her father before wheeling Bran out of the house, Jon following close behind. Robb stood next, Rickon with him. Cat was spitting mad.

“I can’t believe that none of my children are willing to stick around with their parents for Christmas!” Cat screeched.

“Maybe they had other plans?” Ned suggested.

“They should know that they are required to be here, and get our pictures,” Cat continued. “I show these pictures through the year so that they can all see how beautiful my children are.”

“Our children are wonderful, whether we have yearly pictures of them or not,” Ned assured her.

“No! They are acting like spoiled children,” Cat insisted. “I need them to be here, I need them to behave, and I need them to stop being selfish and date appropriate people!”

“You can’t tell them who they can date,” Ned sighed.

“They are an embarrassment to me!”

“They are our children, it’s our job to love them unconditionally,” Ned reminded her.

“They are ruining my life!” Cat screamed again, throwing herself out of her chair and down the hall. Ned just waited for the inevitable. “I can’t be here right now, you aren’t being supportive of me. I’m going to Lysa’s.”

“I’m sorry that you feel that way,” Ned said. He waited in the formal dining room and listened for her to pack her bag and slam the door on the way out. He waited until he couldn’t hear the noise from her car anymore before he got his phone out and got on to the group chat with his kids.

Papa: Your mother has gone to stay with Aunt Lysa. Should we try for everyone tomorrow evening? Partners are more than welcome to join.

Sans: We will be there. Can we bring anything?

Jon: Same for us.

Robb: Four from this house.

Bran: 5 4 us.

Papa: See you all at 7. I will get the barbeque from town that everyone seems to like. If you all would bring a side dish that would be great. There will be 15 if we all are here, so plan accordingly. More like 20 with some of your appetites.

Arya: I will not apologize.

Papa: Nor should you. See you all here.

0o0

Ned had the meal catered and the food had just arrived and was set to heat in the large kitchen of the manor house. Sansa showed up first with her boyfriend of two years, Sandor Clegane. Ned knew about their relationship, and was impressed with Sandor. He was a bit older than Sansa, but he treated her like he always wished his daughters would be treated; kind, gentle, and respected. To see Sansa happy was all that Ned wanted for his daughter, so he embraced both of them when they came through the door. “There are a few more cars just pulling in,” Sansa warned him, pulling Sandor away from the entrance and into the living room to allow for more people to come through.

Robb was next, holding hands with the young man that Ned had grown to know over the years – even taking him in for a short while before he was 18 and leaving his abusive family. Theon Greyjoy had been a staple in their house since the boys met in middle school. It took a while, but they both realized that their close friendship actually lent itself to them developing a romantic relationship. Ned held no ill-will toward his oldest son and the fact that he was gay. “Come on in boys, food is just staying warm until everyone’s here,” Ned informed the boys. He greeted them with a hug and kiss a piece before shooing them into where Sansa and Sandor were.

The next to show up was Arya and her giant of a boyfriend Gendry Waters. Ned thought he was the only one who knew who Gendry’s actual father was – but apparently Gendry figured it out himself and informed Arya, who was really nonplussed by the news. Arya flung herself at her father and he wrapped her up in a bear hug. Gendry just chuckled at the sight and came over to bear hug the pair of them. It was a bit odd, but Ned actually liked that at least two of his children’s partners were larger than he was. Gave him a bit of security that his children were able to be more protected than what they could do it on their own. “Go on, join the others,” Ned said as he released Arya from the embrace. “I think I see another set of headlights coming up the driveway.”

With three of his six children here, he was ready for Jon to come see him. Jon might be his nephew, but Ned always thought of him as one of his children – his sister Lyanna died giving birth to him, and the boy's father had died in combat before he was even born. Ned took Jon in, to the chagrin of his wife, and raised him along with Robb as if they were practically twins, only being five months apart. Jon strolled up to the house, flanked by two people. Jon had texted Ned separately to see if this was okay for him to bring both of his partners to this dinner. Ned wholeheartedly agreed. If his children were in love, and wanted him to meet their partners, he was absolutely open to it. But he knew that they were reticent because of Catelyn’s previous attitude. Jon was accompanied by two red heads. “Dad, this is Yigrette, and Tormund.”

“Lovely to meet you both,” Ned said genuinely. He kissed her cheek lightly in greeting, but was swept up in a large hug from Tormund. Jon just chuckled.

“Takes some getting used to,” Jon teased his father.

“Nonsense,” Ned replied, laughing at their antics. “Now there’s three of them bigger than me. I’m sure you two will enjoy the rest of the family. I’m just waiting on Bran and Rickon and their partners now.”

“We’ll go on through then,” Jon said. He hugged his dad before ushering his partners into the room where everyone else was. Ned wasn’t able to hear the introductions because his attention was caught by another set of wheels coming up the driveway. This time, they parked in the special spot that Ned had made for his wheelchair-bound son. This set of young adults perplexed him the most, simply for the fact that Bran’s partners were a pair of siblings. They all had a dynamic that worked for them, so he wasn’t going to judge, but he knew that’s why Bran avoided bringing them to see Catelyn. Jojen unloaded the wheelchair from the side door of Bran’s van and assisted Bran in getting out of the driver’s seat. Meera brough the small gift basket from the back of the van as Jojen wheeled him up.

“Hello you three, I’m glad you were all able to come,” Ned greeted happily. He leaned down to hug his son before pulling Jojen in. Meera followed suit. Ned loved these two especially since they were the children of one of his oldest friends Howland Reed – they had been stationed together in the Greywater back in the army.

“Happy to be here Ned,” Meera said, pulling away. “Everyone here yet?”

“Just waiting for Rickon, and it looks like his bike pulling down the lane now,” Ned said. “Go on through, once Rickon’s here, we’ll be ready to eat.”

Bran wheeled himself through to greet the rest of his siblings and Ned went out onto the front porch to greet his youngest child. There were two people on the motorcycle, which was one more than Ned was expecting, but that wasn’t anything new. He always enjoyed meeting his friend’s partners. Rickon dismounted the bike and helped a very small person off the back of the bike. Ned just chuckled. Rickon was his tallest child and he seemed to have the smallest partner. Once their helmets were hung on the bike, they made their way up to the porch. “Dad!” Rickon greeted happily. Both men hugged tightly before Rickon stepped to the side and Ned got a glimpse at who Rickon brought to dinner. “Dad, this is Shireen, my girlfriend.”

“Shireen?” Ned questioned. “You’re Stannis’ daughter then?”

“Please don’t hold that against me,” she said softly. Ned always had a soft spot for this girl – with the scarring of her face from pox when she was small made her parents write her prospects off from the off.

“Never,” Ned said, leaning down to pull her into a hug. “I’m glad you’re here. My whole family is here, and that’s more than I could ever ask for.”

Rickon was smiling. He knew that his father was one of the most accepting people on the planet, it seemed, but trying to convince Shireen of this proved to be a bit problematic. Once the final members of the dinner were ensconced in the unofficial gathering place, Ned spoke up. “Firstly, I’d like to thank you all for coming tonight. It’s always nice to see my family so happy and at ease here in my house – I know that it didn’t happen very often growing up,” Ned began. “I’d like to follow up with the news that things may be coming to an end with your mother. She is proving to be quite unreasonable, but I don’t want this to truly affect any of you. You will all, always be welcome to wherever I land. You will all, always be loved, and I couldn’t be happier that you all have seemed to find people that make you happy.”

“We love you,” Sansa said, being the first to come and hug her father. The rest of her siblings soon piled on, and Ned was drowning in Starks. The partners held back, but then Tormund seemed to shrug and joined the pile. Sure enough, Ned was feeling emotionally and physically overwhelmed with all the love in this house.

“Now, let’s go get some food before it all gets cold,” Ned said as the hug began to ease up. “Grab plates, sit where you can, doesn’t matter where. I just want to be here and enjoy my children for the evening.”