A/N: I'm bad about posting stuff on one site and not another, so here's one of my two "Gendry x Arya Week" submissions. This one was for the "Calm" prompt.
Arya watched him as he slept, his breathing slow and regular. Her mind ran rampant with memories and her heart fluttered at the thoughts. She reached up to his face and brushed a lock of hair away from his eyes, wishing they might open so she could see them once again. Arya recalled the first time she'd seen them.
She was sixteen and carefree as she could be. She'd never thought much of boys in the way that most girls did. Admittedly, she'd found more than a few to be attractive and had even crushed on two or three, but those infatuations always remained short lived. Before long she'd come to learn that even those she fancied were much like the rest. They were arrogant, shallow and self obsessed, only interested in what was between her legs and not caring for the girl beneath her wiry frame, masculine clothing and sharp northern features.
But Gendry was different. What other boys had found off-putting about her, Gendry admired and even enjoyed. That fateful day when she'd gone to Jon's college and intruded upon the shop class he was taking, she'd felt an unfamiliar ache in her chest when those deep blue eyes peeked out at her from underneath the piece of junk Jon called a car. Not being a girl who feared getting her hands dirty, Gendry had laughed when Jon couldn't find the engine part he was looking for and she'd ended up removing it herself, chastising her brother for his ineptitude. Gendry's laugh had rung in her ears and moved something within her that she didn't know existed.
His voice moved whatever that was again. "Do both your sisters know more about cars than you do, Snow?" And then, his grin. She'd smiled back at him approvingly, pleased that she'd humored him and feeling slightly dizzy as blood rushed to and from an unusual combination of areas of her body.
Arya thought for a moment that she saw his face twitch and it brought her back to reality, but just as quickly she realized it hadn't. It was only wishful thinking. With a longing smile, she looked down from his closed eyes to his lips and recalled the first time she'd kissed them...
Gendry was giving her a ride home from a party. She was furious, having had no clue that the Frey boys who'd tormented her since she was a small child would be there. Though she'd not seen them for years, their eyes had lit up with cruelty when they'd recognized her. "By the Stranger, is that Arya? Arya Horseface?" The rest of the guests quickly picked up on it. She wouldn't normally have felt so humiliated, but Gendry was there. She endured the occasional jeers for an hour before her hard exterior began to wear down. Arya was thick skinned, but she could only take so much. Feeling the burn of tears forming in her eyes, she'd gotten up and stormed out, slamming the door behind her. Despite being ten miles from home, she made for the road to begin walking home.
Behind her, she heard Gendry call after her. "Arya!" She wiped at her eyes and ignored him, not wanting him to see her in this state. "Arya, wait!" He caught up to her. "Where are you going?"
"Home." she replied flatly, her gaze remaining intently fixed on the path before her.
"You're going to walk all that way?" he asked.
"Yes."
He sighed, "You can't do that, Arya."
"And why not?" her voice cracked.
"It's going to rain soon and winter is coming. You'll catch your death of cold." She kept up her pace. "Let me drive you."
She stopped and bit her lip. "You don't have to do that."
Gendry insisted, "I want to." For the first few minutes of the drive, both of them were silent. Gendry finally spoke, "I'm sorry about what happened back there."
Arya looked out the window. "There's no need to be sorry. It's not your fault." The trees were a blur as they passed them, the leaves a striking mixture of yellow, green, gold and red through the rain-streaked window. She closed her eyes, wishing she was anywhere but there. "I know I'm not pretty. It's nothing I haven't heard before."
Gendry's voice was gentle, "I think you're beautiful."
She wouldn't have believed it coming from anyone, but coming from Gendry it was like an insult. "Stop the car."
He sounded confused, "Why?"
"Stop the car!" she demanded again. He slowed the vehicle and pulled off onto a dirt road. Arya went to open the door but it wouldn't budge.
Gendry explained, "It doesn't open from the inside." She glared at him and started rolling down the window. "Arya, what are you doing?" he asked, incredulous. "What's wrong?"
She looked back at him and fumed, "You don't have to lie to me just to make me feel better. I don't need your pity." Arya turned back to the window and started to crawl through it.
His voice was sure. "I wasn't lying." She hesitated before looking back at him. Gendry's eyes were gentle and he carefully brought his hand up to her head, tenderly pulling her to him as he leaned forward and softly pressed his lips to hers.
"Do you need anything?" The petite young nurse had snuck up on her.
Arya shook her head. "No, thank you."
The nurse smiled kindly. "The doctor will be in before much longer."
"Thank you." Arya smiled back as the nurse turned and left. She looked back to Gendry, still sleeping soundly. His hand still in hers, she traced her thumb across his wedding band.
She hadn't seen it coming. Sure, by that time they'd been dating for three years and she'd felt that they would eventually marry, but they'd rarely spoken of it. That weekend, she'd simply expected a few days of relaxation and fun in the mountains hiking, white water rafting and lounging in the cabin her family owned. On the second day, they'd embarked on a trek to the top of the highest mountain in the area. The trip up had been peaceful, the mountain air and surroundings always bringing about a calm within her that few other things did.
Upon reaching the peak they laid out a blanket and sat, eating lunch and talking casually about the view and their plans for the next day. "You can see for miles." she observed. "It's so beautiful, I wish we could live up here. It feels like being on top of the world."
Gendry chuckled, "Yes, it does. It's things like this that make life worth living."
Arya sighed, "I can't believe I forgot to bring my camera. The mountains are so pretty, bluer the farther off they are. I'll always want to remember this."
"Are you afraid you'll forget?" He grinned at her.
She smiled back at him. "I should hope not. This place feels special." Staring off into the distance, she didn't notice him fetching something from his pocket.
"It should, because you'll remember it forever." He lightly touched her arm, gaining her attention. Arya looked wide-eyed at the box in his hand and the ring within it. "Arya Stark, will you marry me?" She hadn't needed to think twice about her answer and there, amidst the tranquility of nature, they'd made love on top of the world.
Arya shakily exhaled, looking down at the rings on her finger. The beep of the heart monitor rang dully in her ears as she examined his hand in hers, tracing her fingers over his knuckles and then up his wrist to his arms. He's still so strong, she thought.
She recalled those arms as they held their only child just after he'd been born and the way Gendry looked on his face as he cradled him, smiling like only a father could. Little Ned had been a stubborn child since before leaving the womb and Arya had struggled through ten straight hours of labor. It had all proved to be worth it, though. Ned looked every bit like his father, save a few features that he inherited from Arya and the grandfather he got his name from.
Her father never got to meet him. She was five months pregnant when they'd gotten the news that Lord Eddard Stark had passed. After the funeral, she and Gendry lay in bed at the hotel while she did her best to stay strong. "Let's name him Eddard." Gendry suggested, holding her, as he traced his fingers across her swollen belly.
She'd turned a curious eye to him. "We don't know that it's going to be a boy."
He assured her with a smile, "It's going to be a boy." He laid his head on her stomach, listening. "I can hear him now. He's strong and full of honor like your father."
Arya placed her hand on his cheek and lightly scratched the side of his head. "I hope you're right."
And Gendry had been right. Now in his twenties, Eddard was in Essos serving in the military. The spitting image of his father at that age, Arya often worried for the girls he courted. However, she never fretted for long when he'd break it off with them. No matter how old he got, he would always be her baby and she couldn't deny that she enjoyed being the most special woman in his life. At the moment, he was on a plane headed for home being given leave in light of the circumstances.
"Mrs. Waters?" Arya turned her head to the door to see the doctor, two nurses standing behind him. He crossed to her. "Are you ready? Have you had enough time?"
Arya took a deep breath and stood up, letting go of Gendry's hand and smoothing her shirt. She didn't want to say the word, knowing what it would mean, but she knew that she had to. A tear ran down her cheek. "Yes." She nodded, biting her lip and struggling to keep her composure.
"Alright." The doctor smiled weakly and put a caring hand on her arm. "We'll just be a few moments while we take him off life support."
The words felt like they tore her heart from her chest. She watched them as they shut down the machines and removed the tubes from his mouth, her earlier conversation with the doctor still ongoing in her head.
"He's had a massive cerebral hemorrhage." The doctor explained, "The blood test showed a low platelet count so we tested further and he has adult T-cell leukemia, a rare subtype of acute leukemia that is very aggressive." She hardly heard him as he continued, "The low platelet count is likely the cause of the hemorrhage and as a result of that his brain is saturated in blood."
"Is..." Arya found it difficult to speak. "Is he going to be alright?"
The doctor avoided answering the question directly. "The brain is much like an electronic device in that once it gets wet, in this case with blood, it stops all the electrical activity. There's no way to reverse this. Right now, the life support is the only thing keeping him alive." Arya nodded slowly, the information refusing to sink in. "He's in what we call a vegetative state. We can keep his body alive, but his brain is no longer functioning."
The doctor and nurses finished what they were doing and the petite one spoke to her, "You can go back to his side now if you'd like."
Arya returned to her seat beside Gendry's bed and asked the doctor, "How long will he last?"
He spoke matter-of-factly, "It's impossible to say for sure. He'll continue to breathe on his own for a time, but without the life support it likely won't be more than an hour."
She nodded again. "Thank you." With that, the doctor left.
The petite nurse approached her, "If you'd like, I can stay here with you."
Arya looked into her eyes and saw only kindness and compassion. "Yes, I'd like that very much." She took his hand in hers again and with her other reached up and stroked his gray hair, admiring every feature of his face, the crows feet at his eyes, the wrinkles on his cheeks and the slight dimple on his chin. She whispered, "He's just as handsome as the day I met him."
The nurse smiled. "How long have the two of you been married?"
She choked, "This year would've been our fortieth anniversary."
The nurse spoke softly, "It's rare to find a love like that."
Arya sniffed. The doctor had told her that people rarely live a year after being diagnosed with this kind of cancer. Had the hemorrhage not occurred, Gendry's last few months would have been drawn out and painful for him and all that loved him. In a way, it was merciful for him to die like this: no pain, no suffering. Though it devastated her to lose him, she knew in her heart that this was the right thing to do. There was no point in keeping his body alive if the person she loved within could never come back to her.
She looked at the the tiny purple spots all over his arms and his face, almost as if someone had taken an ink pen to him. "That's where the blood is beginning to clot." he'd told her. "You can feel that his hands are cold. His head, arms and legs are getting very little circulation." Arya wiped a bit of dried blood from the corner of his mouth where his lips had split as they'd put the tubes down his throat.
Before long, Gendry's breaths became a struggled death rattle, his body shaking slightly, and the beeps of the heart monitor became irregular, more and more time passing between each one. She cried as he exhaled one last time and the heart monitor flatlined. The nurse got up and silenced it, and all was quiet and calm.