A/N: Just finished re-watching all of Game of Thrones (got my Mom hooked on it now. And now she's super annoyed that we haven't even got a date for season 8 yet too!) and I find I kind of like Sansa more and more after each re-watch. Back in 2011 I started out just almost hating her, she was like this spoiled annoying brat that didn't get how serious things were. But now I kind of feel like she has the most realistic story and she's in fact just as strong as Dany or Arya or Jon, just in a different way. She's, also despite everything bad that's happened to her, not as jaded as the rest of the gang. Or at least not jaded in the same way.

This story was kind of inspired by a lot of speculation on who Sansa might end up married to and the idea that she and Tyrion might end up raising Jon/ Dany's baby + some other season 8 speculations. Since I really like the Sansa / Jon scenes from season 6 early 7 I kind wanted to write something with the two of them. But this isn't a Jonsa story, even if I must admit I think Kit and Sophie look pretty together and have way more chemistry than Kit and Emilia (or more like those two could have had chemistry but how they set that love story up was a bit forced and weird) but I really love Jon & Sansa as brother/sister/cousins and just think they have an interesting dynamic.


Safe & Sound

Even when Jon was angry or upset with her, Sansa was never scared of him. Whether he was her half-brother, her Northen King, her cousin, the Dragon Queen's intended or the heir to the Iron Throne, it made no difference. Since being reunited with him at Castle Black, she'd never been scared of him. Not even as she watched him beat Ramsey to a pulp. Not when she argued with him. Not when she accused him of abandoning the north.

Never.

So she there was no way she was going to back down, even when Jon forcefully said, "No," and crossed arms, letting that all too familiar scowl come over his face.

"Don't be unreasonable," she said, trying to think of how to make him understand. "It's a good plan."

He stared at her for a few long moments, his dark eyes angrier than she thought the situation warranted. "This can't be what you want."

She smiled humorlessly, turning to look through the window, out over the city and beyond, vast army camped outside of it. "I want this war to be over. I want for the living to win it."

"Any you marrying Tyrion Lannister does that for us?" She felt him stepped closer to her. "The Lannister armies are almost gone! So's their gold! He's already our ally. It gives us nothing."

"I thought you liked Tyrion," she said, changing tactics. "I thought you had even become friends."

"You shouldn't have to marry him," Jon grumbled. "It's not… it's not how it's supposed to go."

How was it supposed to go? If it had gone like in her songs Joffrey would have been a different kind of boy. A different king. She would have married him and been the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. Her babies and she would probably had at least one by now, would have been princes and princesses. Beautiful golden lions.

But now Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen was the Queen of the Seven Kingdom and Jon would be her King. Or maybe Jon would be the King and she his Queen. Sometimes she wasn't sure who was the one leading this battle, Jon or Daenerys. But it hardly mattered, the child growing in her womb would be the future ruler of all of Westeros. If there was any of it left after the war.

"A Lannister and Stark alliance will be good for the future," she said simply, turning back to him. "Our houses have been at war for so long. Only this will truly show we've made a commitment to peace. It's the only way you and Daenerys keep the North without the dragons," she pointed out.

"We still have one." Jon walked over to her, close. Too close. "And there isn't any left of the North. Even if we defeat the Night King, this winter will be long. Rebuilding Winterfell will take years more."

"The North Remembers," she reminded him, putting a hand on his chest. "Or have you forgotten that already, cousin? Our people won't forget this war we've fought with the Lannisters. Just like they won't forget what you are. Not who your father was. Nor your mother. But your wedding to the Dragon Queen will only take us so far."

He put his hand over hers on his chest for a few seconds, then bowed his head slightly and stepped back. "If she weds me."

She smiled at him, even though he couldn't see it with his eyes cast downwards. Daenerys would marry him. It made sense both politically - he couldn't attempt to claim the throne if he was already sharing it with her - and emotionally, since it was clear the Mother of Dragons cared for him. Jon being her nephew so far hadn't seemed like it bothered her.

Jon's emotions were harder to read, even though, like most men, the Dragon Queen clearly affected him. Sansa wondered though, if not part of Jon's heart would always be with the mysterious wildling girl he'd loved. Or perhaps he'd left some part of himself in the darkness during those hours he was amongst the dead, never truly returning or able to experience all that life had to give. To love fully and truly again. Or maybe he was better at hiding his feelings. Or maybe he hadn't moved past the fact that Daenerys was his aunt, which was understandable if somewhat inconvenient. Sansa still wasn't sure how she felt about it herself.

"Once this battle is won," she told him and even though she had put a hand up to stop him from coming closer, stepped towards to him again. "Once she helps you win it, she will. If that is what you want."

He shrugged; a king, a soldier, a bastard, all at once as he looked up at her. There was both pain and hope and something she couldn't place in his face.

"Thank you though." She held his dark eyes for a long moment. "Thank you for trying to protect me."

Seeming torn, he nodded, then leaned forward, pulling her to him. Not a hug, but close. His eyes roamed her face.

Then he kissed her forehead.

It made her think of how he'd done that once before, as they stood on the battlements of Winterfell.

Winterfell, her one safe place, was a ruin now. Yet that didn't matter. Because it was Jon that had made her feel as safe at Winterfell back then. Despite the fact that the place had then held many terrible memories due to her time with Ramsey. Now he made her feel safe despite the coming war with the dead, in the half melted Red Keep, where Joffrey and Cersei had tormented her.

Safety had for so long been an elusive concept to her. She'd stopped believing in it for a bit. Nowhere was safe. No one could protect her. Yet safety had been the thing she wanted most. More than love. More than revenge and justice. Just to be safe.

She'd found it. Jon had helped her, made her believe in others again. But part of it had been learning to believe in herself, her own ability to actually take action. Having the power to make choices and actually accomplish things. Marry Tyrion would be another one of those choices. And hopefully it would make the future safer. Not just for her or Jon. But for everyone. All the people that had been hurt by the wars that had raged over the past years.

That was what she wanted.

Safety for all.

She wanted to be for the people in the north what Jon had been for her. She wanted to make them believe in the Stark name again. And in themselves. To not only realize there was a future for them, but that that future was good. To know, that as long as there was a Stark in Winterfell they, their families and future generations, would be safe.


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