Sansa continued to cook breakfast for her and Sandor then sat down to eat. Arya came back out of Gendry's room showered and in the clothes she had on the night before. She walked into the kitchen where they were eating, "Can I get some of that?" "Sure Arya, here let me fix you a plate...although my cooking isn't as good as Sandor's." Arya just looked perplexed then sat down to start eating. "Arya, do you need me to drop you off now or do you mind just hanging out and we can go to mom and dad's later." Arya just shrugged "later is fine I guess." Sansa just smiled at her sister, "if it makes you feel uncomfortable, we don't have to take Gendry with us." Arya looked at her sister, "no it is ok, we are sort of seeing each other." Sandor barked out a laugh and almost choked on his coffee.
After breakfast, Sansa called her mom to confirm what time they needed to be at the Stark's and if they needed to bring anything. "Oh good Sansa, you called...is Arya with you?" Sansa looked at her sister, "yes she is here with me, I will bring her home later when we come to the cookout, do we need to bring anything?" Her mother paused, "oh yes, sides, your father bought all sorts of meats to grill, but other than chips and desserts, we definitely need sides." "Sansa?" "Yes mom" "Are you um bringing Sandor with you?" Her mom sounded hesitant when she asked. "Yes, Sandor is coming, I am sorry you had to hear about him via dad, but you know how you can be about these things MOM." Catelyn let out a heavy sigh, "I know, but he is just so big and scary, I just don't get it, but you are grown and I trust you to make the right decisions dear...although your father seems a little too excited that you are dating him, he even mentioned that several NFL scouts had talked to Sandor a few weeks ago about playing after college." Sansa almost dropped the phone, Sandor never mentioned any of that to her. "Ok, well mom, I have to go, we will bring sides and see you around 4. Oh I almost forgot, we are also bringing Arya's boyfriend Gendry...bye mom." "Sansa who..." click! Sansa hung up the phone before Catelyn could ask, but then noticed Arya was fuming. "I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU TOLD HER, YOU KNOW HOW SHE GETS ABOUT THIS STUFF!" Arya screamed at Sansa, but Sansa just laughed at her and turned to Sandor, "we need to take some side dishes...and what is this about NFL scouts?" Sandor just grunted and said, "we will talk about the NFL stuff later." Sansa just scowled at him and Sandor took that as a sign he should probably go somewhere else, "I will go to the store down the block to get stuff to take to your parents". Sandor picked up his wallet off the table and walked out the door. Sansa just threw up her arms in frustration and stormed down the hallway, slamming the door behind her once she entered Sandor's room. Gendry walked out of his room, "what was that all about?" Arya looked up from where she was sitting on the couch, "you don't even want to know...by the way, you are going with us to my parent's house later." "Ok."
A half hour later, Sandor came back into the apartment with an armload of groceries and went into the kitchen. "You know, my sister has not come out of your room ever since your left." Sandor just turned to Arya, who was over two feet shorter than him, "I will go talk to her after I put the groceries away and prep the food for later." "She just needs to cool off and it really isn't a big deal." Arya looked confused, "how is talking to NFL scouts not a big deal?" "They made an offer, i refused, there is nothing more to say." Arya was now more confused than ever, she had heard of Sandor when her father and uncle Robert talked about the Huskies football team. Sandor's name came up quite a bit as they referred to him as the "Hound" because he could sniff out and sack the quarterbacks and anyone else who might be in possession of the ball, which is why the Huskies were almost always undefeated, so why would he not want to do it professionally and besides, pro football players made a ton of money. So why would Sandor not want to play after college. Before Arya had a chance to question him, he started talking again, "I was expected to play ball in high school because of my size, which got me a scholarship to UConn and I was expected to play as a result." Arya just stared as Sandor spoke, "I really don't like playing, but it got me a full scholarship so I can study to do the things I want to do...besides my knees are shot to hell and if i continue playing anymore, I will pretty much permanently damage them and walking will be a bitch...the surgeries to fix it are even worse." Arya understood, "Sandor, what exactly do you want to do other than fondle my sister?" "I am graduating in two weeks with a bachelors in accounting, then I will look for a job and go to grad school." "Seriously, accounting?...that's...that's so nerdy, so basically you just want to do taxes and shit all day" Arya just cackled loudly when she said it. Sandor just nodded, "I am good with numbers...after my parents died, I studied on how to best invest my inheritance and not piss it away like my idiot brother did...I found I liked reading up on that, tax laws, and tax codes." Arya just continued to laugh at him, "who would have ever though looking at you, that you want to be an accountant, that is some funny shit." Sandor just scowled and mumbled, "stupid little girl."
Arya walked out of the kitchen as Sandor continued to prep whatever it was he got from the store. She sat down next to Gendry on the couch and started watching some crazy Japanese stunt show. Sandor walked out of the kitchen not saying a word and walked back to his bedroom. When he opened the door, Sansa was sound asleep on his bed with a wad of tissues near her head. He groaned as he knew she was upset with him. He gently nudged her to wake up, "Little Bird, we do need to talk." She opened her eyes and turned to him sniffling, "ok". Sandor then proceeded to tell her everything he had told Arya in the kitchen and afterwards, she smiled and pulled him in for a hug to lay down with her. He then snuggled behind her on the bed holding her tight in his arms and they both fell asleep to nap a few hours before going to her parents house.
A few hours later, Sandor woke up and went to the kitchen to start packing up the food he prepped. They all agreed to take one car. Sandor had a black 96 Chevy Tahoe that they could all easily fit in. After a quick trip by Sansa's dorm to grab her bathing suit and some extra clothes, 15 minutes later they found themselves at the Stark residence. Before entering the house, they all looked at each other and paused before entering the house. Sansa heard Arya mumble, "safety in numbers." As they walked in, Sansa led Sandor into the kitchen where they found her mom, Jeyne, and her cousin Jon's girlfriend Ygritte. Sansa warned Sandor about Jeyne ahead of time, but told him he would like Ygritte. Sandor was big into martial arts and Ygritte studied krav maga. Also, she told him that Ygritte was a big metal fan like him, Arya, and Gendry. Sansa introduced him to the women in the kitchen. When Sandor handed the tupperware containers he was holding to Catelyn and told her that he had made caprese salad, a pasta salad, and deviled eggs for the cookout, all reservations Catelyn had about Sandor were suppressed. Sandor could totally see what Sansa said about Jeyne, she was annoying in how she acted around Sansa's mom. Just as Sansa and Sandor were walking to go to the patio out back, Ned Stark came up behind Sandor and slapped his hand on his shoulder, "yup, you did well this time Sansa, well indeed...Sandor is the cream of the crop." Sandor just gave Sansa a puzzled look when she whispered, "I will tell you later." They followed Ned out back to where there were a bunch of people, some Sansa recognized and some she didn't. She immediately noticed that the Baratheon's were there, but she did not see Joffrey and hoped that if he was there, that Margaery was with him. Cersei Lannister-Baratheon was hitting the cocktail bar pretty hard already from what she could tell. Robert spotted Ned with Sandor and immediately whisked them away to go talk to some of the Husky Alumni or as Sandor thought they looked like "the pot belly beer patrol." Sansa just smiled at how well everyone was treating Sandor, she wondered if Arya was faring the same with Gendry. She did not see them once they went to the patio and knowing Arya, she probably had Gendry hiding out in her room.
Sansa was sitting in one of the patio chairs talking to her brother Bran about his hawking hobby, when she heard a loud crash and what sounded like two people yelling at each other inside the house. That is when she looked up and saw Margaery storming out the back door in tears. Joffrey stormed out behind her and he looked pissed. Everyone at that point had stopped talking to stare at them. Robert bellowed from across the lawn, "Joffrey, what is the meaning of this?" Joffrey just glared at his father then back at Margaery, "the stupid bitch got herself knocked up!" Everyone just gasped.
