Joanna has been dreading the day since she was told that she wouldn't be returning to Kings Landing. She thanked the gods she was free from the capitols filth but at the expense of her family. Now she found herself abandoned in a place where she had no mother, no father and no siblings. She feared that Tommen and Myrcella would forget her as they grew older.

Outside Winterfell Joanna stood with Tommen who clung to her leg refusing to let go. Myrcella in her mothers embrace as the tears welted out of her eyes. Cersei couldn't stand seeing her children this unhappy, she glared to Robert who didn't even have the decency to wish Joanna a prosperous life.

"No! I want her to come back with us. Please mother!" Tommen pleaded, his screams making it harder for Joanna to maintain composure. She bent down as Tommen's arms clung around her neck. Wrapping her arms around his small torso she lifted the young boy up but not without a tear escaping her blue eyes.

Joanna turned her head to see the Starks, she saw the pain in Arya and Sansa's eyes when the realisation sunk in that they too wouldn't see their brothers and mother again. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Robb placing gentle kisses on his sisters foreheads. They were handling it far better than Myrcella and Tommen but then again the Baratheon children were no older than seven years of age.

Joanna breathed a deep breath as she finally released to Tommen firmly letting him go when she took notice of Jaime in front of her

"You know if it weren't for the guards I'd probably cling to you like your sister just did and never let you go." Jaime mocked as he raised his hand to wipe the single tear drops escape her eyes.

"We can't have that. What would the great Tywin Lannister say to his son weeping at the feet of a child." The two laughed. As silence filled the air Jaime felt shocked and taken back when he felt his arm make contact with her skin. She wrapped her arms around him. For a brief second Jaime felt like himself again. Not the arrogant son of Tywin Lannister and not the notorious Kingslayer. But like Jaime Lannister, the man who raised Joanna to be the woman she was before him. Jaime could feel the cold stares of Robert Baratheon and Ned Stark directing at him but he didn't care.

"I'll miss you. Please take care of them, please take care of our family." Joanna pleaded as she let go of him. They turned to look at Myrcella and Tommen, Jaime didn't answer but he didn't need to. He knew since the moment she was born, he swore an oath to himself that he would protect these children with every bone in his body.

his children

Cersei smiled brightly as cupped her daughters face, looking back into her mothers face and her fathers eyes. Gnawing at her bottom lip as her cheeks cramped with pain from her motherly smirk

"My little dove, such a pure heart brought into this world. I can't help but embrace fear knowing I leave you in this place. You deserve to live where the sun kneels at your feet and the gods sing praises of your beauty. You've always been as enchanting and radiant as you are now. When I look to you , despite all the mistakes I've made, I know I did something right. I raised you right. My darling I need you to know I will always protect you, no matter what. I will fight with my dying breath for your safety and for you to return to us." The two women said nothing as they embraced each other. She felt a wave of calmness as she held her mother and she cherished it, knowing it would be the last time.

Joanna wandered to the crypts again. The last Lannister in Winterfell. She needed an escape from the handmaidens walking around the grounds. Catelyn was in too much shock with what happened to Bran that Joanna didn't want to be a burden with her presence.

She once again found herself staring at the statue of Lyanna. Maybe because it was the only connection to her family that she still had. The idea that Robert would tell her tales about Lyanna Stark to spite her mother.

"Thought I would find you here." She turned to see Robb approach her. With Greywind trailing behind him. She smirked as she took notice of him. Joanna knew that she had no choice in the marriage to Lord Starks son but she did have say in how she felt towards him and so far - she didn't oppose her emotions. Robb was tall and broad. He had curls that shone with a mix of his mothers Tully genes and his fathers brown Stark jeans but it was his eyes that captivated her - those Tully blue eyes.

"Where else did you think I'd be. In the Godswoods chasing off Wildlings?" She asked in an amused tone which Robb welcomed. He liked seeing her smile.

"I see you've been spending some time with your uncle. Just this morning I heard him tell my brother about the stature of the Wall keeping the wildlings and white walkers away from us." Robb smirked as he took notice of how her body was easing into their conversation. Over the course of time he took notice of her body language.

Whenever she was accompanied by Old Nan and the handmaidens her body was stiff but around familiar friends her body was relaxed. Her arms never folded and she didn't bite on her bottom lip which she only did when unsure of how to continue to converse.

"Do you actually believe in them?" He asked her which she gracefully shrugged off with a feint chuckle

"No, they were just tales to scare me to eat my food as a child. Robert would go off about them whenever I cried at the dinner table, refusing to eat unless it were desserts."

"What were your favourites as a child?" He asked in a amused tone

"Lemoncakes." She smirked remembering fondly the memories she shared with Myrcella when they helped the servants bake in the kitchens. Cersei , naturally felt uncomfortable with the thought of her daughters amongst the peasants but seeing her girls happy warmed her heart too much to deny them.

"Ha, I see why you and Sansa got along. As a child she would throw tantrums whenever Arya and Bran ate the last of them." The two shared a laugh. The moment was bliss and she could relish in it for an eternity.

There were no guards looking over her shoulder, no stares from their fathers reminding them why they needed to marry one another. They were simply two people enjoying each others company. It seems unfortunate that the gods wouldn't let them stay in that moment.

Joanna found herself in Bran's Chambers. Catelyn sat next to her in a state of whimpers. In the course a month she'd lost half of her family. Her daughters and husband in the capitol, her true love serving as hand of the King after the death of Jon Arryn and her son in a sleeping death.

Joanna couldn't imagine the pain and anguish Catelyn felt. The lest she could do is hold her hand reminding her that she did have someone's support.

Honourable as her intentions were Maester Luwin entered knowing well enough that there were matters that needed to be handled now that Lord Stark has left Winterfell.

"It's time we reviewed the accounts, my lady. you'll want to know how much this royal visit has cost us." He informed her

"Talk to Poole about it." Catelyn snapped looking down at her son praying that he would wake up.

"Poole went south with Lord Stark, my lady." The Maester sympathetically replied understanding her irritation towards him.

"We need a new steward and there are several other appointments that require our immediate attention- "

"I don't care about appointments!" She yelled

The door opened to reveal Robb, frightened by the screams of his mother that echoed through the walls. "I will make the appointments. We'll talk about it first thing in the morning." He calmly explained to the Maester.

"Very good, my lord." Maester Luwin left leaving the trio alone. Robb walked towards the window allowing the howls of the wolves to enter the room. His backside facing the two women hiding his frustration with one of them

"When was the last time you left this room?"

"I have to take care of him." His mother answered

"He's not going to die Mother. Maester Luwin says the most dangerous time has passed." Robb argued back

"What if he's wrong?" Catelyn quickly remarked refusing to admit that the predicament Bran found himself , he could fend for himself. Joanna could see the similarities between Lady Stark and Cersei even more.

"Rickon needs you, He's six and he doesn't know what's happening. He follows me around all day, clutching to my leg crying - " The howls of their wolves growing louder and louder. Catelyn shook her head as the tears escaped her eyes

"Close the windows! I can't stand it! Please make them stop!" She begged

Robb turned to window but he didn't close them. Instead he stared out observing the grounds. His facial expression grew from frustration to a look of concern. "Fire." He warmed them, turning around to look at their faces

"Stay here, I'll come back. Joanna make sure my mother doesn't leave this room."

"But Robb- " She interrupted as she grabbed the dagger she carried with her. It was small and delicate but made out of Valerian steel. Tywin had gifted it to her on her seventh name day after a group of peasant boys tried to attack her and steal the golden lion necklace she wore the day she and her Septa visited the baker.

"Stay, please." She nodded her head as he passed her. Catelyn moved towards the window outlooking the commotion that started outside. Joanna followed behind her, resting her hand on Catelyn's shoulder trying to rest her assured that her son would take care of it. But the faint footsteps behind her forced her to come face to face with a man who's face was hidden in a cloak.

"You're not supposed to be here princess. No one is supposed to be here. It's a mercy, he's dead already." The man spoke but his words scared Catelyn to her bone. In that moment she was scared for herself, Joanna and Bran but what frightened her was the fact that the man spoke to Joanna, knowing well enough she wasn't the mother.

"No!" Catelyn yelled quick to push him away. The assassin too quick on his toes easily pushed her away that she fell to the wooden floor. Joanna removed the dagger her grandfather got her. Without hesitation he slapped her through the face, the stinging pain catching her off guard as he used his knife and held it against her throat with her back turned to him.

Joanna's left tightening the grip of the dagger as she used it to stab him in his leg. His screams panged in her ear but she didn't stop. It wasn't until he clutched his bleeding leg that she managed to escape when she hit her head backwards purposely injuring his nose.

The assassin growing irritated with her charged towards her, but Joanna reacted smartly. As he threw his knife to her, bravely she caught it with her bare hands. The blade cutting through her hands. She screamed in agony as she felt her flesh being separated from the blade. Using his weight he pushed the girl down to her knees, blood trickling from her hands to stain the dress she still wore. Joanna bit down on her lip as she wilfully rose to her legs forcing herself to push through the pain.

The assassin's face grew pale at her strength. Her eyes sending shivers through his body as he felt his head collapse with the wall behind him. His body tumbled to the ground after he felt his skull crack open when the princess shoved him off of her.

Joanna sighed as she looked to the man whimpering from his leg, nose and head injury. Summer, Bran's direwolf charged from behind her ripping his throat open.

"Joanna - " Catelyn said as she saw the man who attempted to kill her child lying in a pool of his own blood. Despite the bite wound Summer had inflicted. She looked to the whole in his leg that seeped out blood like water. His nose crooked and shattered and on the wall stains of blood. Catelyn looked to Joanna who stood in a shaken state of paranoia and fear with a small dagger in her bloodied hands.

"You saved his life?" Catelyn asked

"No child should be killed for others crimes."