Chapter 9: Calm Before the Storm...

It was two days before Sansa's birthday. It was yet another payroll Thursday, but it was the day she was picking Arya up from the bus station at Dartmouth. Arya had been traveling the past 12 months. First she spent a few months on the west coast with Jon and Ygritte then she headed to Japan to go stay with her old college roommate Takako.

Before she left, Arya had only intended to head to the west coast, but then something happened and she felt like she really needed to get away then headed to a new continent. Sansa only knew a small piece of what happened, but no one really knew the full story. Looking down at her payroll and T&E files, it dawned on her why the name Gendry Waters sounded so familiar...Arya.

Sansa walked into Sandor's office finding him laying on the carpet with Catey climbing all over him like an oversized jungle gym. "Hey Sandor, did Gendry Waters work in the west coast office for Jon?" "Yeah, he was there two years...took six months off then decided to come out here...why?" "Just wondering, where is he now?" "I think he is in New York at a job at the Lannister office, but is driving back tonight...check with Dany since she schedules contract jobs and he is on that team." Sandor got up, picking Catey up with him, then rubbed his hand down the side of Sansa's face, "You okay Little Bird?" Sansa looked up and smiled, "Yes, just thinking about picking up Arya today...you didn't tell Bronn did you?" Sandor just chuckled, "No."

An hour later, Sansa was waiting at the bus station. Because the closest airport was Logan in Boston, which was three hours away, Arya had to take a bus to Dartmouth. When Sansa saw her little sister, she was giddy with excitement. Arya no longer had the short boy cut she previously had. In fact, Arya had very long dark hair that was pulled back in a braid and it looked fantastic. Arya was still the same Arya as far as her fashion was concerned...black Chucks, ripped jeans, and an old Metallica tshirt. Arya was also still traveling with the old USMC TacPac Sandor loaned her before she left. Sansa got out of her car, running to where Arya was and hugged her, picking her up then swinging her around. Arya just laughed, "I missed you too Sansa."

Thirty minutes later, they were back at the office. Sansa, Sandor, and Arya were eating lunch in the break room when Bronn walked in, "What in the bloody hells is she doing here?" Arya just smiled at him, "Nice to see you too douchebag. Hey Sandor, are you all still playing poker on Tuesday nights?" Sansa just snickered when Sandor responded, "Why yes we are, you want back in the game?" Arya grinned at Bronn, "Fuck yeah...and Bronn, make sure you bring some lube with you to the next game cuz I'm gonna fuck you over good!" Sansa gasped, "Arya language! We are at the office and Catey is with Maege down the hall!" Bronn just groaned and walked out of the break room. Whenever Arya played poker with the guys before she left town, she almost always emptied out his wallet and apparently was planning to do so in the future. However, Bronn wasn't about to back out of playing poker as he knew the others would tease him to no end about it, especially Blackfish.

Later that afternoon, Arya was riding with Sansa and Catey to pick up the boys from preschool and school. Sansa started thinking about Gendry. "Hey Arya, do you know a Gendry Waters?" Arya just froze and didn't say anything, but Sansa knew she just hit a nerve. "Look, if you don't want to tell me about it, that is ok...but you should know that he is working out of the office here." Arya just remained quiet then softly spoke, "We will talk about it another time." Sansa looked over at her sister then back ahead since she was driving. "Just so you know, Sandor is having a party on Saturday for my birthday at our house." "Yeah I know, he told me." "Arya, I think Gendry was invited since he invited pretty much anyone who was in town this weekend that works in our office." Arya just sighed, "You don't need to uninvite him, I will tell you what happened." Arya shifted so she was sitting sideways looking at Sansa, "I met him when he was working for Jon and we started dating. Things went a little too fast and he asked me to marry him...well I sort of freaked and that is when I went to go see Takako in Japan." Sansa was worried about her sister, then asked, "Will there be an issue with you seeing him Saturday if he comes? Do you still have feelings for him?" Arya then smiled, "Sansa, I love him." Sansa just smiled at her sister.

Two days later, Sansa woke up with a smile on her face. It was her 31st birthday and she had celebrated with Sandor early the night before...all night long. She looked at the clock and it was 10am. She also noticed a rectangular box with a card attached. She looked at the card, written on the outside of the envelope was: do not open until you come outside. She immediately recognized Little Ned's handwriting. She got up out of bed, put her hair into a messy bun then put on a pair of shorts and grabbed one of Sandor's old shirts to put on over her tank top. She grabbed the box and the envelope before going downstairs. No one was in the kitchen or in the den, but she could hear the sound of children laughing outside.

Sansa walked through the kitchen and went into the garage. She had two garages at her house, one attached to the house where they kept lawn furniture, the kids bikes, and other odds and ends. They also had a separate two car garage on the other side of the driveway where Sandor kept his Harley Electra Glide Ultra Classic and his old Jeep Wrangler along with all of his tools. As Sansa went into the attached garage, she saw Sandor and Bronn sitting in the lawn chairs at the doorway of the garage. The boys were playing in the driveway with sidewalk chalk while Catey was rolling around in her baby walker. Sansa smiled at Sandor and was about to kiss him when she noticed the doors to the other garage across the driveway were open. Sandor's Harley was parked in the driveway, not in the garage, then Sansa saw red and gasped.

Sansa started running across the driveway screaming, "OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD." Bronn muttered under his breath, "Now I know what she sounds like in bed." Sandor punched him in the arm then followed Sansa to the other garage. "Sandor, what is this?" Sandor just chuckled, "You know what it is...open the envelope." Sansa opened the envelope and inside was a Mercedes key fob attached to a keychain that looked like a bright blue jay. On the back of the keychain "Little Bird" was engraved. Sansa just started jumping up and down then started scoping out her new car.

Almost forgetting about the box in her hand due to the excitement of the car, Sandor cleared his throat and pointed at the box. Sansa opened the box and squealed. Inside was a diamond bracelet and in between each diamond was the birthstone for each of her children. Sansa was in shock...a car and a diamond bracelet with her children's birthstones. She ran over to Sandor and jumped into his arms kissing him everywhere on his face and neck. Then she climbed down and one by one hugged each of their children. Sandor looked over at Bronn, "Hey Bronn, do you mind?" Bronn just waved his hand around in the air, "I got the kids covered, don't take too long." Sandor picked Sansa up and took her back in the house. Ned noticed they were gone a few minutes later and asked, "Hey Uncle Bronn, where did my mom and dad go?" Bronn struggled to tell the 9 year old, "Um they went inside to ummm." Ned just shook his head, "Nevermind, I don't want to know." Ned did not fully understand what his parents did and had only asked Sandor a few questions about the birds and the bees in the past based on stuff he accidentally saw on TV or what other kids told him at school, most of which Sandor struggled to answer. He just knew he did not want to know what his parents were up to, even if he wasn't quite sure what "it" was.

An hour later, Sansa was showered with her hair in a banded pony tail. She had put on a black tank top, dark blue jeans, and brown boots that went up to her knees. She was in the den playing with her children when Sandor came down the stairs with a Black Sabbath T-shirt on, dark blue jeans, and doc martens. Arya walked in the house, "Are you all ready to go?" Sansa nodded then gave Arya instructions on what to do about lunch for the kids. It was a nice June day and being that it was her birthday, they were going for a ride.

Sandor and Sansa walked out to the driveway where Bronn, Blackfish, and Carl were with their bikes. Dany was in the other garage admiring Sansa's new car trying to figure out how she could con Carl into buying her one before walking back out where the others were assembled. Sansa and Dany both liked to ride "bitch" behind their husbands and did not have their own bikes. Both agreed it was more fun that way so when Sandor offered to buy Sansa her own bike a few years earlier, she told him she didn't want one. They were about to get on their bikes when Blackfish informed them that they were waiting on one additional person. Next thing they knew, Maege was pulling into the driveway on her own bike, a brand new purple and black Harley 883. Bronn whistled when he saw the bike and Maege just looked at him and said, "I don't ride bitch." Sansa and Dany just giggled.

They went riding for several hours along the country roads of New Hampshire and stopped at a pub in the middle of nowhere, frequented by other weekend riders. After a big lunch mid afternoon, Sandor and Sansa headed back to the house finding two large white vans parked in front of the house. After putting the bike away in the garage squeezing it in the side where the Jeep was parked, they headed into the house. Sansa had two hours to shower and get ready for her party. As she headed into the house, the kitchen was full of caterers prepping food and her mother bossing all of them around. Sansa headed upstairs and started her makeover from biker chick to birthday party mode.

While it only took 15 minutes for Sandor to shower and change. It seemed to take Sansa forever. Dany and Carl arrived early so Dany could help Sansa with her hair and makeup since she went to cosmetology school in a former life. When Dany went into Sansa's bedroom to check on her, she found her sitting on the floor of the closet stressing over what to wear. Dany was in shock, she had never seen Sansa like that before. Without saying anything, she ran back downstairs, grabbed a martini off one of the catering trays in the kitchen then ran back up the stairs. Dany then pulled Sansa up off the floor and sat her down on the bed and ordered her to drink the martini. Dany then went to work digging in Sansa's closet, she found a purple dress she knew would look great on Sansa with a pair a sparkly green pumps. She then heated up the curling iron in the bathroom and started applying makeup on Sansa. After curling soft waves into Sansa's hair, she helped her get dressed. Sansa looked amazing and Sansa knew it too. She immediately smiled and hugged Dany before they both headed downstairs together.

The party was supposed to start around 6pm with the plan that around 8pm, Catelyn would take the kids back to her house for a sleepover knowing the adults would probably be partying late into the night. By the time Sansa and Dany walked downstairs, it was almost 6:30. As they descended the staircase, Sansa noticed the house was full of people... most of which were watching her in awe as she came downstairs.

Sansa was having so much fun talking to everyone and then noticed a dark haired man standing in the corner of the dining room nursing a beer. "Sandor, who is that?" "Gendry Waters...thought you knew?" Sansa went over and introduced herself to Gendry, "Hi Gendry, I am Sansa Clegane...you know, the one who signs your pay checks." "Oh hey Sansa, Happy Birthday!" Before Sansa spoke another word, she noticed Gendry staring past her with a murderous glare on his face. Sandor noticed it too, but when they looked to where his glare was aimed, they noticed Arya standing in the hallway right outside of the room laughing and touching one of their clients, Oberyn Martell, on the arm. Sandor knowing what Arya told Sansa days before just whispered an "oh fuck." Oberyn was a notorious flirt and Gendry was a bullheaded brute. This was not going to end well.