'I don't need to be safe,' he says, and Ned closed his eyes and sighed. Promises and sacrifices and lies and heartache and endless hours upon hours of arguing - all for what? For Jon to feel unsafe in his own home, for Jon's resentment.
He opened his eyes, and if he'd been thrust back in time to that day, he'd be able to tell Lya that he can't do it - he can't make that promise to her; don't make him promise, please don't make him promise - because this is how Ned fails at raising him as one of his own, and this is how Ned ends up hurting her son.
Ned opened his eyes but he was still in the pub.
"I'm sorry Jon." His voice broke then, just a wee bit, on the surface. There were all sorts of things he could have come back at Jon with - outrage at being told that he'd rather know over being safe, over the fact that Jon thought that Ned would ever give him up. In the end he settled for an apology because Cat had refused to accept him.
"I'm going out for a smoke," he said quietly after clearing his throat. Not waiting for a reply, he slipped off the bar stool and headed outside.