I don't think I ever drove as fast in my life as I did then. All I knew is that suddenly, every look that bastard had thrown the little bird's way had a different meaning. Every word, every touch. I prided myself in being able to read people and gather their intentions. How could I have missed this?

I had only one advantage. He wouldn't be expecting me. I had no doubts now he had hired that man outside the station. I left the car a block away from his house, and quietly approached the place. The door was locked, so I went by the side, hoping to see what went on in the house.

Suddenly, through the window, I heard voices floating at me. I couldn't quite understand what was being said, but when I stood a little to watch, I had no trouble understanding what was going on.

He was kissing her. Kissing. Her. My little bird.

I saw her pushing him away, screaming something I could not decipher. I saw him taking her hands, and her trying to pull away. That was it. The git was a dead man.

Taking my gun, I smashed the window and aimed it at him. He managed to duck before my first shot, and I took the distraction to enter the room through the window.

"Sandor!" I heard her say, and suddenly she was at my side, her arms around me. Her eyes were bloodshot; clearly she had been crying. I took her by the arm and looked around. Baelish was nowhere in sight.

"I thought you were dead! He said you were dead! And then he told me I was to leave with him, and he said…"

"Little bird…"

"He kissed me! I didn't want him to, but he kissed me!"

"Sansa!" I yelled, and that got her attention. "I need to find the asshole. Hide. Now!"

However, the moment she stepped away from me, the lights went out. I raised my gun immediately, but I could see nothing in the dark, and there was almost no light coming from the windows. I tried to feel my way around me, looking for the girl. I whispered her name, but she didn't answer. I felt the now familiar prick of fear at the back of my neck. Where was she? Suddenly, the lights went on again. I turned around, my gun raised, and there she was. Baelish's hand over her mouth, his gun at her.

He smiled at me.

"That's as far as you go, Clegane. Lower your gun."

He had her by the waist, the gun resting in her temple. She was filled with terror and was looking at me beseechingly. I still had my gun pointed at the bastard.

"Let the girl go." I rasped, trying to remain calm even though I wanted nothing more than to jump at him, bash his face in, and take Sansa in my arms. "She doesn't have anything to do with this."

"No more than you do, and yet here you are. You shouldn't have gotten involved. Though I must admit, I didn't think you'd be smart enough to understand what was really going on."

I had to keep him talking. If Snow had any brains, after hearing Joffrey's words he would have sent a car to take Baelish. I needed time.

"It wasn't that hard to figure out. Joffrey has never done anything without mummy's approval before. But trying to overtake all three companies… that's a bit too ambitious, Baelish, even for you."

He laughed. "There are no limits to a man's ambition, if he's cunning enough. But I have no time to waste speaking to you. Lower the gun."

I growled. "I don't think so".

At this, he smirked.

"You want to shoot me, you'll have to shoot her, I'm afraid"

He was right. There was no way I could get a clean shot without endangering her. I felt like laughing bitterly. She had been right, of course. For all my bravado, all that I tried to stay away; at the end of the day I could not bring myself to hurt her. Baelish smiled.

"Lower your gun, Clegane, I will not repeat myself."

I looked into her eyes, her terrified, tear-filled blue eyes, and slowly began to lower my gun. I gave her a small, sad, imperceptible smile that I think she somehow understood. I'm sorry, I wanted to tell her, I've condemned us both.

"Good," he said, and in a swift movement, he took his gun off Sansa's head and shot me. The combination of his lousy aim and my reflexes helped me avoid a certain death. It did not help me to avoid the bullet lodged in my side. I fell on my knees with a grunt just as Sansa let out a loud, painful scream.

"No, no, no!" I heard her scream. I could not bear to lift my head to see her, but I could hear her struggle. "Why? Why did you shoot him? He lowered the gun! Why? Why are you doing this?" she wailed.

"That's enough, sweetling," I heard him say calmly, and looked up to see Littlefinger releasing her. "Now, take your things and prepare to leave. If you stay here, you'll be charged with our friend's murder, and I'm sure you don't want that, do you?"

She took a look at me, her eyes hard for one second, before she looked back at Baelish and nodded sadly. I watched her leave to gather her stuff.

Petyr Baelish looked at me with utmost contempt.

"For all your training, all your toughness, here you are, kneeling in front of the better man just because you couldn't shoot the girl. It seems the big black Hound has a heart after all." He snorted derisively. "Men like you need to be the biggest, the strongest, and the meanest. You remind me of Brandon Stark, all boldness and arrogance, but he died just like the rest. Just like you will."

After saying this, he came closer to me. I caught the glint behind him.

"I despise men like you. You are nothing more than a drunkard, idiotic savage."

I let out a rough laugh as I placed my right hand on my leg. "Maybe," I lifted it a little, "but you're dead."

At that exact moment, Sansa smashed a vase to the back of his head. It didn't harm him much, but he was distracted for half a second, and that was all I needed. It only took another second for me to take my spare gun from my right leg and shoot him right through the back of his skull. He fell to the floor with a final thump. It was over.

The sting in my side became more noticeable now, as the adrenaline wore off. I fell on my face in the carpet floor.

"Sandor!"

I heard her scream, and her quick steps, and then she was turning me around. I realized now my vision was blurring, but I could still catch the fiery red of her hair, spilling like a curtain of blood as she loomed over me.

"Oh my god, you're bleeding so much! What do I do? What do I do?"

I felt her frantic hands pushing on my side, but she wasn't strong enough to stop the flow.

"The police, I need to call the police." Her voice sounded more and more far away with each word, and the colours were dimming too. My eyes were closing on their own will, and suddenly I felt her sticky hands on my cheeks, both the normal and the burned one.

"No, no, Sandor, stay with me! You can't do this, you can't leave me, you hear? You promised! You promised you wouldn't let them hurt me!"

It was all disappearing slowly. I caught loose words, like "Stay," "Don't", "Please". My eyes closed and I felt very dimly something wet on my face and something warm on my lips before darkness overtook me.