The Lions Protégée

Chapter 4 of my crossover story, enjoy.

Reviews

Boris Yeltsin: Thanks, well, we can only wait and see.
Parent12D: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it; yeah well, the life she's led would have that effect, as will be explained in this chapter, she's also, at this moment in her life, borderline suicidal.
Marina Ka-Fai: Yes indeed, oh, I'll bet :)
Wolfgirl2013: Thanks :)

Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyond Two Souls, Game of Thrones or their characters.

Chapter 4

Entering the kitchen, Jodie bit her lip, but the moment she saw her, Dorna smiled warmly.

"Ah Jodie hello, please, sit. I've made breakfast." She said. "There's more if you want it."

Jodie nodded, still feeling awkward but sat down. She had noted the other family members and even received quick introductions as she took her seat. That was how she knew she was seated between Janei and Willem, who easily looked at her with the most curiosity.

Thankfully however they didn't start badgering her with questions which allowed her to focus on eating. She had to control herself to maintain a degree of decorum, despite her nearly overwhelming hunger. She reminded herself she was in company and to remember her manners.

Nevertheless the food was incredible and all the more so as it was the first proper meal she'd had in a long time.

'I hate to impose on them like this, but...It's good of them to help me.' She reflected. 'But I wonder just how they'd react if they knew the truth about me, about Aiden...'

She pushed the thought out of the way. She didn't intend to stay here long enough for that to be an issue. Still she couldn't deny she was grateful to them for taking her in and helping her. Even if, being honest with herself, she wished she had been left to die. She was tired of running and yet, there had been either no opportunity or she found herself unable to act to finally end it. Either that or Aiden interfered, preventing her from completing any of her attempts.

Although right now, those thoughts were the furthest from her mind. Yet soon something happened to startle all of them, Jodie especially. They had been too focused on Jodie, and Jodie on her plate, that they didn't hear the front door or the footsteps, until the person spoke.

"Room for one more?"

They all turned, gasping, Jodie started, eyes wide. The new arrival was a young man, around her age, with neat sandy blonde hair, emerald green eyes and somewhat pale skin. He was tall, lanky, but had some muscle build. He was clean shaven and, a minor detail Jodie noticed, had slightly webbed fingers. Almost at once Dorna was on her feet and embraced him.

"Lancel, oh, thank the Gods, you made it." She burst out.

Lancel just smiled, returning his mother's embrace. "I'm fine mom, really."

She stepped back, still looking at him worriedly and Jodie recalled he had to travel through the storm to come see his family. Also rushing over to hug him was Janei.

"Lany!" She cried cheerfully; making him smile as they hugged.

The twins and Kevan all smiled too, clearly relieved, yet keeping a better handle on their emotions.

"Ah, I see we have a new face." Lancel remarked; raising an eyebrow.

Jodie tensed, realizing he was referring to her.

"Um, yeah..." She replied. "I'm Jodie, Jodie Holmes."

Lancel nodded politely. "Nice to meet you?"

He then listened as Dorna explained the story of how she found Jodie.

After Dorna finished Lancel turned to Jodie, surprised.

"Wow that's...you're lucky mom found you."

Jodie felt uneasy at that and just nodded.

Dorna then explained. "We let her sleep in your room, we..."

"Mom, it's fine." Lancel said with a smile. "Jodie can stay in my bed, I'll sleep on the sofa."

Jodie reacted to that immediately. "What, no. That's...I'm the one imposing on your family, you should..."

"It's fine, really." Lancel insisted.

Jodie grimaced, realizing right away that further argument would be pointless. So the family settled in to breakfast, as they ate, Janei noticed something.

"Oh, your brought your guitar." She said.

Lancel nodded, smiling and, after breakfast went with his siblings to the living room where he took it out. Lost, unsure what to do, Jodie had accompanied them and surprised them all by correctly identifying the make and model of Lancel's guitar.

It was Lancel who broke out of his surprise first. "Oh, you...you know guitars?"

Catching herself Jodie stammered. "A, a little, I mean...I play a little and, know some about them..."

"Really, I'd like to hear you play sometime." Lancel replied.

The others all nodded enthusiastically, leaving Jodie feeling even more awkward.

Especially as she realized. 'Shit, what are you doing Jodie, stop it. Remember your plan, you need to leave once the snow stops and it's all clear. You can't get too attached to these people, it'll just make it harder.'

This was especially difficult for her as she knew her very presence in their house put the whole family in danger.

Thankfully, in Jodie's eyes, nothing else happened, until it was night time, coming downstairs she was surprised to see Martyn, wrapped up against the cold, pulling a pair of boots on.

"Martyn?"

He looked up and smiled. "Oh, hey Jodie. Um, we're kinda low on food and that, so, I volunteered to go and get some. The store is right around the corner so it should be alright. But, you wanna come along?"

"Um, sure." Jodie replied; figuring she might as well do something useful.

It was a way she could repay the family for their kindness to her. So soon she was all ready to head out and together they exited the house, making their way to the store.

"You know, if there's anything you'd like us to buy, any food in particular, it's no trouble." Martyn remarked.

Jodie just smiled. "Don't worry about it, I'm not a picky eater, you don't have to make any special concessions just for me."

Martyn nodded slowly at that and sure enough they arrived at the store before long. They quickly got to work getting what they needed and soon they had everything and paid for it. They began making their way back to the Lannister home when suddenly voices caught Martyn's attention.

Hearing them he cringed, sure enough, his worst fears were realized as the group of four approached, he recognized them right away as kids from his school, who targeted him for bullying.

"Uh oh."

Jodie noticed his tone. "Trouble?"

"Yeah." He replied.

"Well look who it is." One of them remarked, the four blocking them from getting any further. "The Lannister nerd."

The second laughed as he spotted. "What's this...isn't she a little old for you, dude?"

"Just, get lost." Martyn stammered.

The others all laughed as the leader spoke again. "I don't think so; keep the scrawny tadpole for later, it's time to teach the nerd a lesson."

With that he moved in.

Martyn cried out as he stumbled, falling backwards, but before he could be hit, Jodie reacted. Martyn watched in surprise as she deflected the attack. After being startled the attackers recovered and attempted to attack her. The leader acted first.

There was no time for finesse so she just struck out as he lunged for her, driving the heels of her hands into either side of his head, just below the ears. He dropped like a sack of rocks and Jodie stepped forwards, facing the others. Immediately they tried to attack her but she knocked two of them aside, before striking the third one, then dodged his next attack only to have hers intercepted.

Then she was grabbed by two of them and dragged to a nearby pillar. Held against it she kicked out, stopping the leader, who had recovered from striking her. She then knocked one of those restraining her away, kicking the inside of his leg.

However the other one got a lucky blow in, striking her hard on the face, leaving her with a black eye and a busted nose. She recovered well however, and knocked him aside before once more knocking down the leader. Turning to the other two who were getting up she soon made short work of them before turning to the last one, who had stayed back throughout the fight.

Before he could react she grabbed his wrist and flipped him over her shoulder.

"Holy shit..." One of them hissed.

Struggling to their feet they ran as fast as they could, slipping in the snow.

Jodie however didn't care about them, she instead turned to help Martyn up.

"Jodie, how the…?" Martyn gasped as they straightened up, retrieving the shopping bags.

She shrugged. "I learned to fight, in the army.

"But, there were four of them, against one of you?"

"Four assholes. They did not know how to fight." Jodie replied with a short laugh. "C'mon, let's get back."

Martyn nodded and they began making their way back. Once inside he called out.

"We're home!"

Dorna immediately emerged and her eyes widened with horror.

"Gods, Jodie!?"

Jodie grimaced, knowing what she meant, already she could feel the pain from the blow to her eye and she was sure her nose was bleeding.

"It's nothing really." She tried to say.

Dorna however shook her head and guided Jodie through to the kitchen before getting to work, trying to clean her up and treat her injuries. The rest of the family had gathered around, concerned, meanwhile Martyn told the story of their encounter.

"You should've seen it, there were four guys. Those...ones from school, you know." He said; they nodded. "Jodie took them down like it was nothing.

Jodie just shrugged, feeling awkward all over again, yet remained still, letting Dorna work. She just hoped things would clear up soon, this was getting more dangerous as time went on.

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.