Part two of the GoT Police AU series! Yet another one I had sooo much fun writing, because Sansa & Margaery are my baes & they deserves so much happiness.
Also, something that sort of comes up in this bc Sansa & Margaery talk about places but also I mention congress, I'm imagining this to take place in a hybrid of America + Westeros. Let's just say that Westerosi cities/places are somewhere in America. King's Landing is a bit like New York City, & Highgarden is an estate in Florida.
Title comes from "Heartlines" by Florence + The Machine, which is a nice & cute Sansa/Margaery song.
Sansa Stark was going to be a detective. And she was going to be a good one. That's all she wanted to be, a good detective. Her brother Robb wanted to be police commissioner, like their Uncle Robert, except better because Uncle Robert was an incompetent brute. Joffrey, Uncle Robert's son and Sansa's disgusting ex-fiancee, had wanted to be police commissioner too. Uncle Robert never would have let that happen. Joffrey's own recklessness got him killed in the line of duty anyway. Asshole got the whole nine yards for his funeral, courtesy of his police commissioner father and his Lannister mother, the daughter of a senator.
What did Sansa get? Well, most importantly, rid of Joffrey Baratheon and the god-awful way he treated her.
Sansa played the grieving fiancee for a few months while she was finishing up her time in police academy. She had tense lunches with Cersei Lannister and wore her engagement ring in public. But then she graduated top of her class, went to work under her mother, the formidable Captain Catelyn Stark, and finally perfected her winged eyeliner. Sansa flushed her engagement ring down the precinct toilets on her second day.
She also got a psychologist. But, ya know, it was necessary. Sansa was the first one to admit that she had a lot of shit to work through.
Sansa spent her first month on the job doing grunt work, speaking up when she had an idea, lending her eyeliner to the tall detective who always forgot hers, and taking lunch in her mother's office. Catelyn only remembered to eat if she saw Sansa eating. She called her father to talk during lunch sometimes, if he wasn't too busy with his recent promotion to Deputy Commissioner, just to check and make sure that Uncle Robert hadn't fucked anything up too badly yet. She didn't explicitly ask that, obviously.
It was a good first month.
And then she met Margaery Tyrell. Junior journalist with the King's Landing Times. Favored granddaughter of one of the most successful and long-seated congresswomen ever. Margaery Tyrell, who showed up at the murder scene that Sansa and a few other rookies were guarding with a hard look on her face and her iPhone in her hand, recording app ready to go, dressed in a sky blue pencil skirt with a matching blazer and a bright floral camisole underneath, heavy brown curls spilling over her shoulders, gold rose earrings with a necklace to match, and a dark pink rose tattoo just below her left collarbone that peaked out from under her blazer.
Not that Sansa was staring or anything.
With none of the major detectives near enough, Margaery set her sights on Sansa and called out, "Officer!" softly so as not to draw too much attention, loud enough to be heard by Sansa over all the din.
Sansa felt a traitorous shiver run down her spine and wished that her uniform fit her better. At least she'd remembered her lipstick that day.
Margaery pressed record on her phone and sent a winning smile towards Sansa as she glanced down at Sansa's name tag. "Officer Stark, can you tell me what happened here?" She asked formally, her back ramrod straight and her shoulders square. She gave off a presence of being taller than she was, but without her heels she probably stood a good three inches shorter than Sansa.
And Sansa completely did not adore the way her rank sounded coming out of Margaery's mouth. Nope. Totally not. No. (Yes.)
"I'm sorry, Miss Tyrell," Sansa smiled politely, "none of the officers are allowed to release information. You'd have to ask one of the detectives for a statement."
Margaery let her formality fall as she relaxed her spine and sent a wry grin at Sansa, a cute quirk of her mouth.
"Worth a shot, right?" Margaery asked rhetorically as she clicked the recording off.
Sansa laughed quietly. Margaery's grin turned to a smirk, and her eyes took on a mischievous gleam.
Margaery took another step towards Sansa and leaned in. "I know of one piece of information you can give me."
"What's that?" Sansa quietly asked, hoping that the detectives were preoccupied with the body. Even if she was the captain's daughter, they'd never let her live down flirting with a reporter, even a Tyrell.
"Your cell phone number," Margaery raised her eyebrows at Sansa and handed her phone over, contacts already open.
Sansa smiled, looked around to make sure that no one was watching her, and quickly typed in her name and number. As soon as she finished, she heard a few of the detectives voices coming closer. Sansa shoved Margaery's phone back into her hands.
"Detective Cassel is good," Sansa told Margaery at lightning-speed. "He's the one most likely to give you the best information, but I can't guarantee anything."
Margaery transformed back into formality, but her eyes still regarded Sansa with friendliness. "Thank you very much, Officer," she said with a grin. As she strode towards Jory, whom Sansa had known all her life, Margaery looked back at Sansa and mouthed, I'll call you.
Sansa spent the rest of her long day with a smile on her face.
Saturday after next, Margaery treated Sansa to lunch at a gorgeous restaurant where Sansa felt underdressed in a teal silk dress shirt patterned with white daisies tucked into a tan high-waisted skirt, a pea green cardigan, and her very worn Adidas Superstars. However, Sansa was comforted by the fact that Margaery was similarly underdressed in jean Capri pants that had the knees ripped out of them from years of wear, a loose low-cut navy blue sleeveless top that showed off the tattoo Sansa had noticed at the crime scene, and a pair of brown gladiator sandals. Her curls were kept out of her face by a blue headband.
The staff of the restaurant were clearly familiar with Margaery as the host greeted Margaery by her first name, and the staff promptly treated the girls like princesses. They were given a table on the balcony, complimentary drinks, and their food came to them faster than anyone else's.
Sansa had never talked to anyone as easily as she did to Margaery, and she was sad when the meal was over. She assumed that Margaery would drop her back off at home, but instead they went to a flower market set up in a nearby park that Sansa would have never known was there.
Margaery laced her fingers through Sansa's and led her around rows upon rows of tulips, roses, peonies, poppies, hundreds of flowers that Sansa didn't even recognize. They were all beautiful, and Margaery could identify every single one of them by name.
Margaery bought a yellow tulip for Sansa and tucked it behind her ear. Her warm hand lingered on Sansa's neck.
They kissed in the middle of the flower market, finally breaking apart when a light breeze passed over them. Sansa couldn't speak for a moment afterwards, only smile and laugh when Margaery wiped a tear from Sansa's cheek and asked if anything was wrong.
"Nothing's wrong, I just," Sansa laughed at herself and ran a hand through her copper hair, careful to not disturb the tulip. Margaery looked confused when Sansa said, "Sparks." Sansa elaborated, "you're supposed to get sparks when you kiss someone. You're the first person I've ever gotten sparks with."
Margaery smiled kind of sadly, took Sansa's face in her hands, and kissed her very slowly and sweetly. When she finally pulled away, she simply said, "Sparks."
Sansa had an older brother and an older cousin who was basically a brother and a younger sister who could kick anyone's ass and two little brothers who were smarter than anyone she'd ever known and a father who was Deputy Police Commissioner and a mother who was Captain of King's Landing's very successful homicide unit–
and yet the safest she'd ever felt was in Margaery Tyrell's arms.
The first time they'd slept together, Sansa had to wait for Margaery to fall asleep so she could run to the bathroom that was connected to Margaery's bedroom and cry her eyes out because Joffrey had been so rough and demanding when he wasn't downright cruel, and Margaery… was sweet and comforting and made sure that Sansa felt totally safe all the time. Margaery constantly checked for consent, and they made yes/no/maybe lists together, and Margaery, for a very brief moment, had looked as Sansa so sadly when Sansa had quietly asked what a yes/no/maybe list was.
Early on, Sansa had told Margaery that she'd been engaged and that her fiancee had died and that she wasn't too torn up about it, but, after she and Margaery had made yes/no/maybe lists, all that Joffrey had done and been came spilling out. Halfway through, Sansa had had a minor panic attack. Margaery nursed her through it, getting her ice water and a cool rag and laying down beside her on the tiled floor of Margaery's kitchen. It had been over quickly. Margaery said she didn't have to, but Sansa finished her story, sitting on the floor, leaning against the cabinet that held all the pots and pans.
Before Margaery, the only person that Sansa had ever truthfully talked to about everything was Arya, and Arya had been so angry that Sansa had had to physically hold her down to keep her from going and defacing Joff's gravestone or something. Not that Sansa would have minded, but Cersei probably had cameras watching the grave or something similarly creepy.
But Margaery had held Sansa's hand and not said a word, just stared at Sansa and let her get it all out. Occasionally, she kissed the back of Sansa's hand very lightly, but other than that she didn't move.
Margaery was the kindest person Sansa had ever met. And Sansa was head over heels for her within two months of dating.
Margaery very quickly inserted herself into Sansa's every day life. They texted in the mornings before they went to work and as soon as they got off. Sometimes they Facetime'd at night before bed, if it wasn't too late. Occasionally, Margaery even dropped by during Sansa's lunch break with take-out for Sansa, Catelyn, and herself. This would have endeared Margaery to Catelyn, had the two not already met during one of the infamous Stark Family Saturday Lunches and gotten along immediately.
Much to Sansa's horror, Margaery had been shown every single one of Sansa's baby photos by the end of the day, as well as Arya's album of embarrassing Snapchat selfies that Sansa had sent her over the years.
They still saw each other at crime scenes, sometimes at the precinct too, and they were completely professional, except that their eye contact had a bit of heat to it, and they'd find excuses to brush up against each other or stand beside each other.
Margaery never asked for information, never asked for special treatment. When she dropped by the precinct because Sansa needed lunch or she just wanted to see her, it wasn't as a reporter, despite what some of the detectives might have insinuated. It was as Margaery, Sansa's girlfriend; not Miss Tyrell, Officer Stark's girlfriend.
Eventually, Margaery became a staple of life at the station. At least a few times a week she'd drop by on her lunch break and visit Sansa if she wasn't busy. If Sansa wasn't there, Margaery would have lunch with Captain Stark and make sure that she ate. Sometimes she even contributed to the case, giving a logical insight that some of the more emotion-based police officers wouldn't have thought of. Detective Cassel joked that she'd make a better cop than a journalist, and Margaery impishly replied that she wouldn't look good in the uniform. That brought a chuckle out of even the most seasoned officers.
By some miracle a little under a year into dating, Sansa had two days off in a row, and Margaery called in sick so that they could spend those days together at Margaery's apartment.
On the first afternoon, they laid in bed together in a tangle of limbs and floral bedsheets, with Sansa half on top of Margaery, tracing the rose tattoo that sits just below Margaery's left collarbone.
"So many flowers," Sansa said very quietly, as if she would shatter the atmosphere by speaking normally. But it was true. Floral bedsheets, floral jewelry, floral clothing, a rose tattoo. Sansa knew that the Tyrells were an old enough family to have a crest, which was a rose, but this seemed to go a little far.
Margaery put one hand to her forehead and dragged the other up and down Sansa's naked back.
Margaery began, just as quietly as Sansa, "I was raised at Highgarden, my grandmother's estate in. Grandmother had just retired, and my parents traveled a lot, so my brothers and I were raised by Grandmother and the staff. Highgarden, as you can probably tell by the name, had the most fantastic gardens I've ever seen. There were miles upon miles of flowers. Some areas were open for tourists, and it was always crowded there. Loras and I would spend hours playing in the flowers, hiding from the staff until well after dark." She smiled happily at the memory, then continued,
"The boys– my brothers– were sent away to boarding school once they reached their teen years, but Grandmother wanted me to stay at Highgarden. I was her protege, you could say. She wanted me to go into politics like her, but… I preferred uncovering secrets to keeping them." Margaery smiled again, a little wryly and bitterly that time.
"I moved to King's Landing, with Grandmother's blessing, when I was eighteen, and everything here was," she sighed heavily, "a little too large for a girl who'd been raised on an estate and had a private tutor her whole life. All I wanted was to go back home and give up and live at Highgarden forever, be a gardener or something," Margaery and Sansa laughed together, "but I knew that Grandmother would never forgive me for giving up on my dream so quickly. So, I decided that if I surrounded myself with things that reminded me of home, then I could focus more on what I wanted to be and less on where I wanted to be."
Sansa had tears in the corners of her eyes when Margaery finished, which Margaery quickly noticed and wiped away with the pads of her thumbs. She lightly kissed where her thumbs had wiped, after.
"I've been thinking of adding a flower," Margaery whispered against Sansa's skin. "A tulip. To remind me of another home who I love."
Sansa took a deep breath because she needed to stop crying every time Margaery said or did something kind, but then Margaery pulled away from Sansa with tears running down her own cheeks and didn't care about crying after that.
Sansa threw her arms around Margaery's neck and rolled on top of her. She kissed Margaery's tears and let her own run down her cheeks and mingle with Margaery's as they kissed and kissed and kissed until their tears were dry, and they were laughing together.
Aren't they just the cutest ever. Wow. Such cute. So pure. Much good.
(I'm planning another Sansa/Margaery piece in the future, so believe me this is not the last you'll see of them!)
Expect Dany & Drogo's story coming soon!