Sansa invited Jeyne over to keep her company while Robb went out on his date. It was in the afternoon when Sansa started to feel anxious about his date. She didn't want him to go, and it wasn't like she could tell him not to. Instead, she spent most of her time that day working on her homework and reading.

When Jeyne came over, Robb had just emerged from the bedroom, dressed in jeans, a white print shirt and black blazer. "Oh my God," Jeyne whispered to her while Robb put on his shoes in the living room and they hung out in the kitchen, watching him.

"What?" Sansa whispered.

"Your brother is fucking hot, Sansa."

Sansa narrowed her eyes thoughtfully as she watched Robb get up from the chair, adjust his shirt and blazer and then walk into the kitchen where he found her and Jeyne watching him. He stopped abruptly and looked at them. "What is it? Does something not match…?"

"You look great, Robb," Jeyne said with a grin. "Fantastic even. Who's the lucky girl?"

While Robb answered Jeyne, Sansa studied her brother, trying to see him through the eyes of her friend. His curly auburn locks were quite adorable, and quite soft she'd learned. His blue eyes that were so like her own, sparkled when he smiled, and his eyes crinkled at the sides when he did. He had a full mouth and straight teeth and his smile lit up his whole face. Plus, she liked the beard he had. It made him look older and distinguished.

His body…yeah, no, she wasn't going to think about his body. He was her brother for crying out loud. She knew he was strong – she had seen his naked torso before and he was ripped. Her brother was quite handsome.

And he's mine, she thought. It was what she'd been feeling all along since he told her about Roslin. He was hers and she wanted him to remain hers. Sansa didn't like to share, and she didn't want to share.

But was that really how she should feel about her brother? Was that really what she should be thinking?

"Earth to Sansa."

Sansa blinked and looked at Robb. "What?"

He came over and put his hand on the side of her face. "You okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I was just somewhere else."

Up close his eyes looked an even deeper blue. She forced herself to smile at him, to assure him all was well for she could feel the uncertainty wafting off of him.

"Go. Have fun," she said and pushed at him.

He sighed. "If you need anything—"

"Robb, I'm seventeen not twelve. In three months I'll be eighteen. I can handle you not being home for a while."

"Or for the night," Jeyne joked and Robb looked at her sharply and said, "I will be coming home tonight."

Jeyne cleared her throat and shifted on her feet. "Of course."

Robb kissed Sansa's forehead and Sansa felt butterflies in her belly. Odd, that. "I love you," he whispered to her, and then he left.

"Wow," Roslin said once Robb was gone.

"What?" Sansa asked.

"Just how he nearly bit my head off when I suggested he could stay out for the night. He takes this whole caregiver thing very seriously, doesn't he?"

Sansa frowned as she made her way to the fridge to get the pizza menu off the fridge so she and Jeyne could order a pizza. She pulled the menu off and turned to look at her friend. "He's not just my caregiver, Jeyne. He's my brother."

"Exactly. You'd think he'd be a little more lax. I mean, like you said you are seventeen. He could bunk over this girls place if he wanted to."

"We're still healing," Sansa murmured. She handed the menu over to Jeyne.

"Maybe some sexual healing would help," Jeyne said with a grin.

"Robb isn't going to sleep with her on the first date," Sansa said.

Jeyne arched a brow and looked at her as if to say 'We'll see about that' before looking down at the menu.

At least Sansa hoped he wouldn't. Robb wasn't some kind of man-whore, though he was a man and that's what most men wanted wasn't it? He'd never been a serial dater, in fact she'd only remembered there being two serious girlfriends while he was in high school. She assumed he'd had sex with them, but she had never given it much thought of course. Why would she?

And now it was all she could think about. Robb having sex with Roslin. Robb's hands on her, Robb kissing her…Robb wanting to spend the night with her and yet feeling obligated to come home. Maybe he was ready to spend time away from Sansa and felt that perhaps she was holding him back. She hadn't made things easy on him when she'd gone through that period of not talking after the fire. She'd seen the worry on his face. No doubt he'd wondered if she was broken and would never recover. She had wondered for a time if she had been – sometimes she thought she was.

Did he share a bed with her and stay close to home with her because he felt like he had to, because he feared she'd fall to pieces again if he didn't?

Sansa didn't want to hold Robb back. If he was ready to thrust himself out into the word full throttle then she was not going to be the one to stop him. She couldn't keep him close by her forever.

"We should invite the boys over," Jeyne said.

Sansa looked at her. "What?"

"We should invite Harry and Willas over for some pizza."

"And if Robb's date goes shitty and he decides to come home early? He'd shoot them and then me for having them over."

"Then let's go out."

They could do that. There was nothing to stop them. Nothing said they had to stay in. "Okay."

xxxxxxxxx

Roslin was a nice girl. She was smart, funny, and easy to talk to. But he felt nothing for her. No spark. No heat. He felt like the worst sort of person for thinking about how hot it had made him that morning when the strap to Sansa's tank top had dropped off her shoulder while she'd been doing the dishes. Robb's gaze had been drawn to said shoulder and he'd wanted to put his mouth there.

He'd had to walk away from her before it became obvious what his reaction to that had been.

And now, here he was, out with this girl that clearly liked him and was definitely showing some cleavage and all Robb could think about was how he wanted to go to the bathroom and call Sansa.

She hadn't been acting right all day; she'd barely spoken to him. Then when he'd left, she had looked worried. He wanted to know what she was worried about.

"What's it like taking care of your sister?" Roslin asked and picked up her wine glass to take a sip. She set the glass down when she was done. "Do you guys argue?"

"Not really, no. I mean, we might have little spats here and there over who is going to do the dishes, or who left towels on the bathroom floor, but that's it."

Roslin laughed. "That's what married couples argue about."

Robb laughed nervously. He wondered what Roslin would say if she knew that he and Sansa shared a bed, too.

Just like a married couple.

xxxxxxxxx

Harry wasn't the brightest bulb on the tree, but he was nice. When he wasn't putting on a macho man show for them, he was actually pretty easy to talk to.

Sansa remembered a conversation she had with her mother once about the three year age difference between Catelyn and Ned. Her mother had said that the nice thing about being a little bit older was that she'd been able to train Ned. She'd meant it jokingly of course, but Sansa watched Harry as he aimed to please her and she felt the thrill of having a bit of power over someone.

"Hey, do you girls scare easy?" Willas asked as he sat back in the booth of the pizza parlor.

Sansa picked a piece of pepperoni off the pizza on her plate and said, "Not really. Why?"

"There's this abandoned mental hospital the next town over," Willas said. "People say it's haunted."

"Of course they do," Jeyne said with a roll of her eyes. "Let me guess – you want to go check it out?"

Willas shrugged. "Why not? Harry and I were talking about it before you guys called."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea," Jeyne said. "It sounds a bit dangerous. What if there's a bunch of creepers squatting there or something?"

"I'll protect you," Willas said with a sly grin.

Harry looked at Sansa. "What do you think, Sansa?"

Sansa was with Jeyne in that it sounded dangerous. Yet there was something strangely appealing about the idea of doing something dangerous. It made her blood quicken just thinking about going into a place like that. It was better than feeling numb all the time.

"Let's do it," she said.

xxxxxxxx

Robb got home later than he'd wanted to. After dinner, Roslin had suggested a movie and Robb didn't want to be the loser that said no, he had to get home to his sister who was – as Sansa had pointed out – seventeen and able to take care of herself.

That wasn't the point.

He liked being with Sansa.

Probably a little too much.

And that was what had caused him to agree to a movie.

When he returned home, feeling as though he couldn't get in the apartment fast enough, he kicked off his shoes at the door and padded down to the bedroom. Sansa wasn't there. He frowned and glanced in the living room. She wasn't there either.

Where was she?

He heard a bed creek and he looked down the hall to her bedroom. Why would she be in there? He walked down the hall to her bedroom and sure enough, there she was, curled up on the bed. Robb stared at her in the bed, his mind swirling. What was she doing in here? Was she done sharing a bed? Had she been wanting to sleep in her own bed and hadn't known how to tell him?

He didn't want this. He couldn't sleep without her next to him.

You want to do more than just sleep, too, the voice in his head reminded him. How long before your baser urges cause you to do something in your sleep you might regret?

With his heart in his throat, Robb walked over to the bed and sat down. He reached out and gently pushed some hair from her face. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at him. "Robb?"

"Who else were you expecting?" he asked with a grin.

She grunted as she rolled over onto her back. "How was your date?" she asked through a yawn.

"It was fine. Did you and Jeyne have a good time?"

She nodded. "Are you going to see her again?"

Robb sighed. "I don't know." He looked away and his eyes fell on a sign that said "Outpatient Care". He pointed at it. "Where did that come from?" When he looked back at Sansa, he found her looking a bit guilty. "Sansa?"

"Can I tell you in the morning? I really want to get back to sleep."

Not with me though? he thought. "Sure." He got up and then leaned over and kissed her forehead. "I love you."

"Mmm, love you too," she murmured and then shut her eyes.

Robb stood there, watching her sleep for a while and then shuffled to his room wondering how long it was going to take him to fall asleep without Sansa in their – his – bed.


This chapter had EXACTLY 2000 words. I was going to write more until I checked word count. It was too perfect to pass up.