Chapter 1: In the past...

At age six, Sansa was a precocious little girl. She wasn't all rough and tumble like her little sister Arya, but she did enjoy watching her older brothers play and goof around on her parents sprawling horse farm. Her father was one of the more prominent litigators in the state; however, her mother at a young age showed a great fondness for horses. When Ned and Catelyn Stark were married, Hoster Tully gifted his daughter and her new husband with Winterfell a sprawling horse farm with a 10,000 square foot home to match. Her mother spent each day caring and breeding horses. On the weekends, the Stark children were given riding lessons by their mother and her employees at the farm. Winterfell was considered to be "in the country" but the nearest town was less than 30 minutes away. Across the road from their farm sat two houses. One that her father owned and sometimes rented out and the other was the residence of her great uncle Brynden..also known as the "Blackfish" from his younger days in the marines.

One day Sansa and her brothers were playing in the side yard when she noticed a limo pulling down their driveway. She immediately recognized that it was a Lannister vehicle and immediately flinched. She hoped it wasn't that nasty little Joffrey. Their fathers were friends, but she hated when Joffrey came over. He was mean to her and Arya and would pinch her on the arm when she did not let him get his way when they were playing. To a sigh of relief, she noticed it was Joffrey's grandfather Tywin, who sometimes boarded with or bought horses from her mother. Tywin went inside the house with Catelyn and an hour later he came out shaking her hand and mentioned he would come back in a week to check on things. Sansa wondered what things he was talking about but did not think anything of it and waved at Mr. lannister as his car drove by their play area. Her mother called her and her siblings in for lunch. Catelyn looked at her children and then informed them that new renters would be occupying the small house across the street. Sansa wondered if the new tenants would have children around her and Arya's age, but her mother did not provide any details and frowned when Robb asked what the new tenants were like.

Later that night after dinner, Sansa overheard her parents talking in the other room. Catelyn told her husband that she reluctantly agreed to rent out the house as a favor to Tywin since he has brought her so much business to the horse farm over the years. The tenants were another matter. An employee of Tywins had a nasty incident when his elder son was charged with the murder of three college girls. The murders were brutal and each girl was beaten to the point of their skulls were shattered. The bodies were left in a small creek to rot in the middle of the woods. Gregor Clegane was convicted of all three murders and in court did not deny the allegations and went so far as to smile at each of the victim's parents. Gregor was sentenced to three life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Gregor Clegane's father and his younger son were being helped by Tywin to find a new place to live away from the drama that surrounded Gregor's trial. Like his father before him, Mr. Clegane had worked for the Lannisters in one of their factories for 25 years, but the trial had taken a toll on his health. His younger son, Sandor, was only 14 and needed a fresh start at a new school. When Catelyn told her husband of the new tenants, he frowned and mentioned that the younger Clegane was not to go anywhere near their children until they could figure out if he was just as bad as his monster of a brother. Their son Robb was the same age as Sandor. Their nephew Jon and foster son Theon were both 12 and 13. But he also mentioned with the Blackfish living next door to the Cleganes, they would find out sooner rather than later.

The Cleganes moved in that summer and immediately the Starks noticed that Sandor was very quiet and also well over six feet tall. They also noticed that Sandor had scars on one side of his face. The other thing they noticed was how respectful Sandor was and any concerns that Ned had with Sandor being around his children was soon diminished once he found out how Sandor got his scars. Sansa was overly curious about Sandor. At age six he towered over her. She would follow him around whenever he would come over to hang out with Robb. Jon and Theon would tease her about Sandor. One day she looked at them and said "when I grow up, I am going to marry Sandor". Her older siblings just laughed at her. Sandor stared at her and did not say anything. It was not a perverse stare as he thought she was just a silly little girl with silly ideas in her head, just like a little bird. Sansa was always trying to get Arya to play dress up with her, but Arya was only interested in playing football with the older boys.

When Sandor was 18, he went away to college on a football scholarship and 10 year old Sansa was upset knowing she would not see him until the holidays or even until the following summer. When Sandor came home that Christmas, he brought with him a girlfriend. Her name was Ashley and she seemed to like reminding everyone about how Sandor was one of the best football players at their school, but did not seem to know or talk about anything else related to Sandor. This bothered Sansa who still held a longstanding schoolgirl crush on Sandor. The Starks invited the Cleganes (plus Ashley) over for Christmas dinner. When Sandor tried to wish Sansa a Merry Christmas, she just blushed and went into the other room. He asked Robb what was up with Sansa, but Robb just shook his head and laughed. After that, Sansa was very quiet at dinner and sat far away from Sandor and Ashley at dinner. After dinner, she told Catelyn she wasn't feeling well and went to her room. At aged 10, Sansa was very confused about why she felt the way she did.

Sandor graduated college (Ashley was long gone out of the picture) and decided to go into the Marine Corps for a few years. Blackfish convinced him that it would make him a "real man" and see the world for what it really was. Sansa did not see Sandor much for the next few years. At age 26, Sandor's service time was up and he was honorably discharged. He decided to go back home and would figure out what to do with the rest of his life. He knew with his BBM and the time he spent in the corps, he wanted to start his own bonding and security firm. He knew he would need to speak with the Blackfish as he was now a retired cop and with Ned Stark to get going on his idea. What he did not account for was an 18 year old Sansa overly anxious for him to come back home.