Chapter 28
Lady Baratheon
They were at Maester's Hospital before 8am. The car park was empty, there was hardly anyone around, and so the two Baratheon security guards positioned at the door were even more conspicuous than usual.
If Arya had been greeted with an imperceptible nod yesterday, Lord Baratheon was treated to the full snapped "Morning Sir!" as the guards stood to attention. Gendry greeted each one by name as they passed, gripping Arya's hand more tightly than was comfortable. Although the circumstances were awful, it felt good to have him by her side again.
To their surprise, Jaime Lannister was sitting outside Edric's room, cool as you like, one ankle resting on his other knee, Tyrion's Tazer gun cradled in his arms.
"Morning Arya!" His omitting Gendry from his cheery greeting didn't go unnoticed.
"Where's Loras?" Gendry snarled.
"Getting some sleep. He finally gave in about two hours ago. He'd apparently been up 48 hours straight before he finally let me take a turn."
Gendry glared at the Lannister with ill disguised loathing. Jaime deliberately grimaced back.
"Oh, give it a rest will you? Myrcella's in there as well. We've all got an interest in keeping those two safe."
Gendry reluctantly nodded, before asking "How is he?"
Jaime shrugged. "Just the same I'm afraid."
That was good enough for Gendry. If his brother could only stay that way for another 36 hours, hopefully The Full Moon would work its magic.
Gendry slowly opened the door. Edric's mother was lying on a make shift camp bed on one side of Edric's bed and Myrcella was sitting in a chair on the other, holding Edric's hand in hers. Her head was resting on the bed, hair flowing over and down the sheet, glinting in the morning sunlight like a molten river of gold.
With the noise of the door opening, both sleeping ladies, sat up with a jolt.
"Edric!" his mother gasped.
"He's still with us Delena" Myrcella assured the older woman. "His hand is still warm and I can feel his heart beat."
"Thank the Gods. He made it through the night."
Gendry and Arya felt as if they were intruding.
"We wanted to see him before we had to go to Storm's End." Gendry offered by way of apology.
Edric's mother ignored him, fussing around Edric, adjusting his pillows and holding his other hand to make sure Myrcella was correct.
Myrcella was more welcoming. She looked exhausted, but she tried to smooth her hair and shyly extended her hand to Arya
"Hi, I'm Myrcella."
Arya took her hand and then couldn't stop herself throwing her other arm around Myrcella's shoulder and hugging her. She felt an immediate connection with Myrcella. That could so easily have been her, lying in the bed, with a devastated Gendry keeping vigil.
Myrcella returned the hug and said quietly "I've heard a lot about you. Edric was dying to meet you."
As soon as she said 'dying to meet you' her eyes welled up with tears.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean…" she choked.
"It's ok, it's ok" Arya soothed, while stroking the back of her head.
Delena stood up and pointedly said to Myrcella "I'm going to go and get washed. You won't leave him alone will you dear?"
"Of course not" Myrcella assured her.
Delena brushed past Gendry and swept out of the room, never looking at him once.
"I can't blame her for hating me." Gendry said miserably, moving the camp bed out of the way and drawing up another chair so he could sit at Edric's bedside.
"I don't think she hates you." Myrcella offered in a small voice. "You remind her of Robert and you scare her - you and what you represent. She never wanted Edric to go to Storm's End but she knows you offered him all the things she couldn't – money and prospects and most of all you welcomed him into the big, happy Baratheon family."
"Happy family!" Gendry snorted in disbelief, "I wish!"
"I know what she means." Arya interrupted. "I feel it too. You're all boys together – you and Jon, Loras and Renly. Edric must have wanted to be part of that too. Come on, surely you must see it? He never had a father or a brother and then you lot come along all at once. Best mates; always hanging around together, working out together, going drinking, the cars, the bikes…"
"Ok, ok, I get it." Gendry conceded.
"Don't tell me you don't love that too. The whole Pack thing…"
Gendry shot Arya a warning look. She was getting a bit too close to their secret for his liking.
"Any mother would be jealous of losing her child to all that." Arya continued, unperturbed, "he was still a boy when he left her and she must have known he'd come back a man. That in itself would have been bad enough and then…this happens."
Myrcella was looking embarrassed by all this talk of boys becoming men. She turned her attention back to Edric, gently stroking his cheeks and holding his hand.
"I know…" Gendry groaned, holding his head in his hands and running his hands through his hair. "If I could only turn the clock back…"
"If you feel like that, think how Loras must feel!" Arya blurted out. "I bet he's blaming himself for this. You know how seriously he takes his responsibilities."
Myrcella agreed. "He looked absolutely awful and he wouldn't leave, wouldn't even go out for some air, before Jaime persuaded him he had to get a few hours sleep or he'd be no use to anyone."
Gendry groaned again and buried his face in his hands.
Arya stood beside Myrcella and the two of them looked at Edric. He was a mess. The doctors had given him a tracheotomy. The blood splattered white plastic tube, punched through his throat, was connected to a ventilator that made a constant, mechanical wheezing noise. His head was wrapped in bandages, stained with blood in places. More tubes drained straw coloured fluid, flecked with blood, from his skull. Larger tubes were draining fluid from his lungs into plastic pouches hanging from the sides of the bed and every bit of flesh that Arya could see, seemed to be bruised or broken or bloodied. Tubes going in, tubes coming out - everywhere.
Edric's eyes were covered, his jaw was swollen out of any recognisable shape, but the black tufts of hair escaping from under the bandages, the broad shoulders and the wide, strong hands marked him out as a Baratheon. She presumed that, underneath all those bandages, his eyes were that same, mercurial blue that she loved so much.
He'd been dying to meet her. She squeezed Myrcella's hand, wrapped over Edric's. The two of them didn't deserve this. What had Edric done, except happen to be another of Robert's bastard's? Gendry was right – someone was going to have to pay for this. Whoever was responsible – not the Mountain, he was just the blunt instrument - whoever gave the order, had to be made to pay. None of them were safe; not Jon, not Danni, not herself, until whoever was responsible for this was dead. She looked across at Gendry; head still buried in his hands and hoped he was up to the task.
-o-
There was a long queue of vehicles waiting to pass through the security barrier to Storm's End. Trucks, vans and cars delivering all the things Renly needed for his annual charity ball.
Their driver drove to the head of the queue and had only started to lower his window when the security guard caught sight of the Head of Baratheon Security, fast asleep in the passenger seat. Shocked and flustered, the guard waved them through.
Gendry had woken Loras up at Maester's Hospital and insisted that he return to Storm's End with them. At first, Loras had argued that he should stay with Edric, but Brienne and Jaime swore they wouldn't leave him unguarded and Gendry made several veiled references to 'the arrangements' that had to be made before tomorrow night. So Loras reluctantly left with them and promptly fell asleep again as soon as the Range Rover started moving.
It was disconcerting to see Loras sleep. He looked younger, peaceful and his features so perfectly masculine, they could have been chiselled by Michelangelo. He was so beautiful Arya found it hard to tear her eyes away. Sleeping was such an intimate thing and Loras was always so arrogant and so guarded, she felt as if she was spying on him by watching.
Gendry was distracted, staring out the window, lost in his thoughts about the Full Moon no doubt. Arya watched Loras and decided to start a revenge list; Tywain Lannister, The Mountain and Cersi Lannister were on it. No-one had mentioned Joffrey's involvement yet, but she'd quite happily add him to her new list too.
They were dropped off at the main entrance into Storm's End. Gendry had to gently squeeze Loras' shoulder before the sleeping man woke up with a start, staring around in disbelief and muttering "are we here already?"
They had to pick their way through crates of champagne sitting around the door, waiting to be taken inside. Busy tradesmen bustled in and out carrying various, unidentifiable, wrapped things and several huge floral displays. They were probably five feet tall, from base to tip and as wide as they were tall. They were all the same; made up of various white flowers, arranged around a gold prancing Baratheon Stag in the middle of the arrangement. The vases were emblazoned with the legend 'Baratheon Enterprises Charity Ball 2013'. As soon as they approached the first one, Gendry and Loras started cursing and covered their noses with their hands.
"Fuck, that smell is unbelievable!" Loras cursed, his voice muffled by his hand.
"Who the hell ordered these?" Gendry snapped at a man in a black florist's apron, kneeling down, adjusting one of the displays.
The man shot up, staring at Gendry with terrified eyes "Lady Baratheon herself!" he explained, pointing to a figure standing on a chair, adjusting a similar, but many times larger, floral display in the middle of the grand entrance hall.
"Margaery!" Gendry and Loras groaned together.
The three of them walked into the foyer, the two men still covering their noses and mouths with their hands. As they approached Margaery, Renly appeared from behind the display.
"At last! I was beginning to think you weren't coming!"
"I'm beginning to wish I hadn't!" Loras choked "What the fuck is that smell and how can you stand it?"
"Oh, its Lilies mostly I think and don't worry, you'll get used to it."
Loras tentatively removed his hand from his lower face. "I don't think I want to get used to it as I can smell bugger all else over that stench."
"Well, it can't be changed now, so you'll just have to put up with it!" Margaery snapped from the top of her chair.
They were interrupted by two more men wearing aprons, struggling to carry another one of the floral displays between them,
"Excuse me Lady Baratheon, but where do you want this one?" One of them puffed.
"Lady Baratheon?" Gendry snarled, glaring at Renly.
Renly just shrugged and brushed off Gendry's accusation with a dismissive "It's just easier."
"I don't care if it's easier or not! I'm not having her referred to as that!" Gendry yelled at Renly, while Arya and Loras exchanged awkward glances.
Margaery was ignoring the bad tempered discussion going on below her and ordered the florists to take the arrangement down to the half landing on the lower staircase.
"I've marked crosses with tape on the floor where I want these vases!" she yelled after the men as they struggled away with the huge display.
"Come on Gendry. It doesn't mean anything." Arya tried to smooth the matter over, as Renly was now standing with his hands on his hips, jaw clenched, obviously annoyed by his nephew's aggressive tone.
Loras diffused the situation by interrupting with "I need to get the hell out of here. I could do with some Tai Chi before we get ready for this damn ball. Gendry you with me?"
"Yeah. I need to get the hell away from here too."
"Renly?" Loras enquired.
Uncle and nephew glared at each other with ill disguised bad temper, but Renly eventually conceded he'd join them, with a sighed acceptance.
"And with his usual excellent sense of timing, here comes Jon…" Loras smiled as Jon and Danni descended the great staircase together. Arya couldn't help noticing that there was a distance of a few feet between them and that Jon was stony faced, while Danni looked unhappy.
"We had just decided to go to the gym, before the chaos really starts. Care to join us?"
Jon looked to Danni for approval. She shrugged noncommittally, avoiding making eye contact with him.
"Sure" Jon agreed "Danni – you can catch up with Arya. Ok?"
Danni pulled a face that made it clear it was anything but ok, but Jon ignored her, turned to Loras and exclaimed "Let's go do this then!"
At least Jon asked Danni, Arya thought to herself. Gendry never even asked her. He just buggered off with his Pack without as much as a backwards glance.
"Right ladies! Let's go and grab a coffee and then I've got a treat for us!" Margaery giggled as she jumped down from the chair, "and I'm sorry about the Lady Baratheon thing Arya – you know what tradesmen are like! I've told them so many times to just call me Margaery, but they simply don't listen."
Arya mumbled that it was ok, but she had no doubt that Margaery loved being called Lady Baratheon. However, Arya had to admit Margaery had obviously worked very hard at organising this ball. The decorations were stunning and all the preparations must have taken weeks. Arya couldn't imagine herself doing that next year - if that was what Lady Baratheon was expected to do.
Penrose had a beautiful, art deco style, Italian coffee machine in his office. He had a clip board in his hand and seemed to be checking off a mountain of boxes of spirits. Arya saw half a dozen boxes of Courvoisier vsop brandy, double that number of the boy's favourite Talisker whisky and dozens of boxes of Belvedere Polish Vodka. They had already walked passed another mountain of Champagne outside. Obviously the party was going to be well oiled with booze. Penrose didn't seem to mind being interrupted by the three girls and even made their coffees for them as they discussed the arrangements for the ball.
"I 'ave brought the most sexee costume with me! But I will need you to 'elp me with my 'air Arya." Danni giggled excitedly.
"Costume?" Arya wondered uncomfortably
"It is an annual a fancy dress ball Miss Stark" Penrose explained.
Arya was horrified. She didn't have a costume. Why hadn't Gendry told her? It probably hadn't crossed his stupid mind. Details like that seemed utterly unimportant to him.
"Don't worry" Margaery laughed, seeing Arya's obvious distress. "Loras is in charge of the costumes every year and he has us all sorted."
Arya was relieved. Relieved she had a costume and relieved it was Loras and not Gendry that had picked it. Gendry would probably have chosen a tarty French maid's outfit or something equally trashy. She expected Loras' choice of outfit would be a good deal more subtle.
"Same again for you then Miss Tyrell?" Penrose asked, trying to stifle a laugh.
"Of course! My brother has no imagination and Renly's favourite movie is 'Cabaret', so every year I get the Sally Bowles costume." Margaery sighed, obviously not looking forward to being made to wear what Loras and Renly wanted her to.
"What eez 'the Sally Bowles'?" Danni asked.
"You may be familiar with the pictures of Liza Minnelli from the movie Miss Targaryen. In fact, I don't believe Miss Minnelli has deviated far from that look since she made the movie 40 years ago." Penrose explained rather cattily.
Danni still looked puzzled, so Arya started singing the song
"What good is sitting alone in your room?
Come hear the music play.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum,
Come to the Cabaret…umm, that's the only bit I know."
"Bravo Miss Stark!" Penrose clapped enthusiastically, "but please don't let Renly hear you sing that, or before we know it, he'll have us all putting on a show in Storm's End."
"Eeek!" Arya squeaked "thanks for the warning."
"Ah! I 'ave seen the movie – the one in Berlin, with the Nazis."
"Yes!" the other three chorused together. It did strike Arya as unusual that Nazis had come up in conversation twice in the one day.
As Penrose finished making them coffees, Arya and Danni learned that Renly was always Julius Caesar, Loras was always Russell Crowe from the Gladiator movie and, in an attempt at humour, Penrose was Batman, as opposed to the 'Albert the butler' identity he assumed for the other 364 days of the year.
When Arya asked if they didn't get fed up with it, Penrose told her that, after being given increasingly more ridiculous costumes by Loras (The Sumo wrestler was the final straw, but Santa and a Genie had been previous low points), Robert had put his foot down and threatened to call the whole thing off. Apparently Renly had taken such a strop that he'd refused to go into the office and, within three days, Baratheon Enterprises was in such chaos, that Robert was begging him to come back and even wore the Sumo wrestler fat suit to appease his young brother.
So no, they didn't bother arguing. It was easier to just go with the flow and keep Renly happy. Arya hoped Loras liked her enough not to make her a fat Sumo or something equally gross, and she couldn't help wondering what he had in store for Gendry and Jon. Apparently even Renly didn't know (or if he did, he wasn't telling Margaery).
"I promised you a treat girls! Follow me!" Margaery crowed after they all had their coffees in take away, brown cardboard cups.
Penrose rolled his eyes and gave Arya an apologetic shrug. He obviously knew what Margaery was up to and didn't look as if he approved.
Arya and Danni followed Margaery to a far flung part of the castle. Everywhere they went, there was frantic action. As they walked, Margaery barked orders left, right and centre; move this, more of that, polish harder.
If she was being honest, Arya found Margaery rather intimidating. She was like Sansa only even more so; older, beautiful, educated, sophisticated, spoiled, supremely self confident and everything Arya felt she was not. Watching her deal with the tradesmen and knowing she had organised this ball almost entirely herself made Arya feel inadequate. What if Gendry expected her to do all this next year? Arya had never thought much about what being 'Lady Baratheon' would mean – beyond being Gendry's wife. Seeing Margaery at work was opening Arya's eyes to the fact that there was much more to the title than she had anticipated.
Arya's mother was also Lady of a great house, but Arya had never seen her mother behave like Margaery. Winterfell had never hosted an event like this for as long as Arya could remember, however, Robb's wedding wasn't far off and she wondered how her mother was coping with all that planning and upheaval. Arya suspected that, if she went back to Winterfell right now, she would be shocked by its shabby, homely appearance. She supposed she'd never really noticed before, but while Storm's End seemed to be subject to a perpetual, rolling programme of maintenance and improvement, she barely remembered anything being done to Winterfell – ever. No wonder Robb was so worried about the bloody roof.
They followed Margaery up a flight of stairs, where they finally came out onto a terrace, bathed in late morning sunlight. The sky above was cloudless and a gently sea breeze was wafting towards them, gently moving the leaves of the orange and lemon trees planted in large terracotta tubs around the terrace.
"Ohhh, I zee what you mean!" Danni purred with pleasure, as she leaned over the glass balcony, eyes fixed on whatever was below.
Arya stepped forwards, to follow Danni's gaze and was shocked to see they were above a gym, where Gendry, Jon, Loras and Renly were calmly and rhythmically moving as one through flowing Tai Chi moves.
Arya immediately pulled back and hissed at the other two. "Why are we here?! This is like spying on them!"
"Nonsense!" Margaery scolded. "I come here every day. They love showing off and I love watching – so everyone's happy."
Arya wasn't happy. Who was Margaery watching? Her brother and his gay partner? Unlikely, which only left Gendry and Jon. The thought of Margaery watching either, or both of them, made her uncomfortable. The thought of them showing off to Margaery, made it worse.
Danni and Margaery were leaning on the glass balustrade, looking delighted with the view. Arya watched them watch the boys and she grew increasingly more annoyed. That was her man down there – she shouldn't be the one feeling awkward. Reluctantly, she edged forward and stood beside Danni, who giggled and bumped a hip against hers.
"We are lucky, no? Our men are so beautiful!"
Arya didn't reply, but had to agree. Only Renly had a top on and all four of them had a sheen of sweat on their skin that made them almost shine in the sun. They moved with perfect symmetry, this routine obviously practiced to perfection. Each one had a serious, yet serene expression on his face, eyes half closed as if lost in the rhythm of the moves. She had no idea Gendry could move so gracefully and she felt a surge of pride as she watched him slowly move, stretch and balance while different muscles rippled and pulsed under his skin.
Every part of him was so familiar, his handsome face, his big strong arms, silky hair that stretched across his chest and down, his tattoo and yet watching him move like this made her see him again with fresh eyes. Danni was right, he was beautiful and, best of all, he was hers.
The memory of their love making was still fresh in her mind. Her back and bottom were still aching from the pounding they had received as he'd taken her on the floor and against the wall a few hours earlier. Watching him made her want him again and she felt a fresh surge of desire as she remembered him, big and hard and strong around her and in her. It thrilled her to know how much he wanted her too.
As if reading her mind, he suddenly looked up, his sparkling blue eyes finding hers instantly and a slow smile spread across his face as their eyes met and unspoken words flowed between them. She gave him a shy wave and he winked back, not breaking the rhythm of his moves, but letting her know he was pleased to see her too.
She felt Danni's hip bump against hers again.
"We must 'ave fun and forget all zee bad things tonight. Jon says I 'av to leave tomorrow, so we make zee most of tonight no?"
Danni's intentions were clear. She was suggesting they have a repeat of their last night of 'fun'. Arya looked anxiously at Margaery, hoping she had no idea what Danni was talking about, but Margaery was still engrossed in watching the boys. This wasn't the time or the place to talk about it, so Arya just nodded. She'd need to speak to Danni about that later, when they were alone, or at least when Margaery wasn't around.
The Tai Chi seemed to be finished and Margaery excitedly told them this was her favourite bit. The weights and the machines could be a bit boring, she said, but she loved it, when they messed around.
Sure enough, Gendry immediately did an un-supported, perfectly balanced, hand stand then started doing press-up's in the hand stand position; the muscles in his shoulders bulging, legs impressively straight, hair flopping over his face. When he began doing them one handed, Arya knew he was really showing off. No way you could do that without inhuman strength, she thought… or could you? The boundary between what was real and unreal, normal and supernatural was becoming blurred.
Renly was doing some kind of martial arts high kicks, mid spin in the air. His physique was the least obviously gym honed out of the four, being thinner and leaner. Arya was most impressed by the transformation in Jon. He'd always been fit, with all that climbing and working outdoors. But now it was as if not only his hair had been shorn away. There wasn't a spare ounce of fat on him anywhere and that didn't even look like a six pack he had – more like an eight pack. Good for him, she thought and wondered if a month in Storm's End might do the same for Robb, who had been sliding into chubby middle age last time she saw him.
Pity Jon didn't seem to have grown up much though. He and Loras looked like they were wrestling. Jon was laughing, as he and Loras fought over some hold and they grappled this way and that, until Jon finally seemed to get some extra leverage and forced Loras down onto his back. Loras promptly kicked out with one leg, catching Jon on the back of his knee, causing Jon to collapse in a heap beside him. Then they started wrestling on the floor. Honestly, they were like two little boys in the playground. Arya thought it was embarrassing, but Danni seemed to be enjoying it; giggling then gasping when Jon looked like he was in danger of getting hurt.
After Gendry flipped himself backwards onto his feet, he shouted up to Arya
"Want to come down here and show me your gym moves?"
Arya was horrified. Brienne had shown her how to do proper sit ups and stuff like 'the plank', but no way was she getting down into the gym with those four. It would be like going into the lion's den….ok, the wolves' lair.
"Come on! Jump and I'll catch you!"
"No way!"
"Come on. I dare you!"
Arya shook her head. She might have done it if there was no-one else around, but not with everyone watching.
"I'll do it!" Margaery yelled down.
Gendry glared at Arya, before holding his arms up to Margaery.
"Come on then."
In moments Margaery was sitting on the top of the balustrade kicking her legs. Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch.
"You'd better not drop me LB!"
"Course I won't. Come on then – jump."
With a shriek she pushed herself off and dropped screaming into his arms. He caught her, pretended to drop her, and then tried to set her on her feet while she clung onto his neck. Gendry had to peel her hands away before she let him go.
"Me next!" Danni shouted down excitedly.
Arya had never seen anyone move so fast. In seconds, Gendry, Loras and Renly were all packing up and pulling on T shirts. Gendry yelled up "sorry we just remembered we've got a meeting."
Danni's face fell. "Jon?!" she wailed.
He looked at the other three. They were all, very unsubtly, telling him 'no' by shaking heads, rolling eyes and pulling faces.
Loras was the one who yelled up at Danni, "Sorry, he's got to come too." Before draping his arm around Jon's shoulder and virtually dragging a bewildered Jon away.
"Stupeed boys!" Danni huffed. "Let's go Arya; I want to talk to you anyway."
"Can we go to my room? I want to have a shower and find out where my costume is."
The two of them were quite glad to leave Margaery behind in the gym.
-o-
Once they were in Arya and Gendry's room, Danni sat on the edge of a chair, looking around everywhere but at Arya.
"What is zat?" she asked, pointing at the back of a huge painting.
Arya groaned. It was the painting of the wolf juggling the moons she'd sold to Renly. Apparently he'd dumped it on Gendry, who hated it and turned it to the wall.
"It's a white elephant."
Danni obviously didn't understand, but she seemed to have something else on her mind.
"Arya, I need your 'elp."
"Sure". Arya could tell Danni was agitated. She picked at imaginary fluff on her very tight dress. Danni certainly wasn't her usual, confident, sparkly, self.
"I 'ave a problem with Jon…."
Arya waited for her to continue. She didn't.
"Ok, I'll try and help you if I can" Arya said gently, trying to sound helpful, but thinking 'oh dear'. Jon could be so stubborn and so single minded; he wasn't likely to listen to anyone, not even her, once he got an idea in his head.
" …this 'as never 'appened to me before and I do not know what to do."
Danni finally looked up, with those sad, bewitching lilac eyes.
Arya tried to look sympathetic and nod encouragingly.
"He will not make love to me Arya…"
Arya tried not to look shocked.
"It eez worse! He will not even touch me! I 'ave tried everything! The sexy lingerie, I do a sexy dance for 'eem, I even beg and I 'ave NEVER done zat before! A Targaryen does not beg! But for 'eem I beg and I plead and still he will not touch me!"
Arya was sure she knew why – because the DNA test had confirmed Daenerys was Jon's aunt, but she wasn't sure if Danni knew that.
"Um…have you asked him why?"
"Of course! Zee stupid boy says it is because I am his aunt. Pah! He does not know Rhaegar! Mon dieu, I 'ardly know Rhaegar! Ma mere was 19 when she 'ad Rhaegar and 43 when she 'ad me! I was a beautiful surprise! A leetle miracle! And Rhaegar – he was already zee big star. He is never interested in me, yet Jon says we cannot be together because of zeese. Pah! Men are so stupeed." She said with feeling.
While Arya could certainly agree with that last statement, she also knew how important family was to Jon and also how black and white everything was with him. There were no shades of grey in Jon's world. It was wrong or it was right and once he made up his mind, she hadn't ever known him to budge. Look at the mess with Robb. Anyone else would have just minded their own business and kept their mouth shut, or at most, said their piece and respected their brother's wishes. Not Jon. He was prepared to estrange himself from Robb for ever, because he didn't approve of his brother's love life.
"Oh!" Was all Arya could think of to say.
"I would like you and Gendry to talk to heem. Ee will listen to you! The four of us had such fun before. No? Perhaps we can have fun again? I brought more 'ash with me."
Arya didn't think that was a good idea. She had been so drunk before and it had all happened so spontaneously, she was prepared to think of it as a one off – one daft, magic night when she didn't know what the potent mix of golden Arbour wine, marijuana and a very uninhibited Danni would do to her. Well, she knew now. It had been great, precisely because it had been so spontaneous and unexpected, but she could barely look Jon in the eye after the last time and she certainly wasn't going to knowingly go there again.
"Ummm. I don't think that's a good idea Danni."
Danni's beautiful face, that had been so full of hope moments before, fell. This seemed to have been the idea she was pinning all her hopes on. Arya felt awful for letting her friend down.
"I mean Ican't. Umm…my period has just started." She lied, trying to let Danni down gently.
"Pah! Your period does not 'av to mean no fun!" Danni huffed.
Just when Arya thought the conversation couldn't get more uncomfortable, Danni suddenly asked
"Ow long 'as zit been since we 'ad our fun Arya?"
Arya knew exactly. It had been the night before the full moon and the full moon was due again tomorrow.
"A month."
Danni's eyes became huge, like saucers.
"Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly, standing up. "I 'av been so busy weeth work and upset weeth Jon, I forgot."
"Forgot what?"
"My period."
The two women stared at each other, realisation dawning on them both.
"Oh, you're probably just late due to stress or something" Arya suggested hopefully.
"Mon dieu! Two weeks?" Danni promptly sat down, then stood up again. "I need zee test!"
"Umm, a pregnancy test?" Arya wondered, hoping she was guessing wrong.
"Oui! Now! We must get one now Arya!"
"Umm. Ok." Arya was wondering where the hell they were going to get one of them. Storm's End was miles from the nearest village and Arya didn't even know if it had a chemists shop. They needed a town or a supermarket and she had no idea where the nearest one was. Unless…
She picked up the phone and dialled Penrose's extension, hoping he was still in his office.
The butler's cultured, mannerly voice answered. "Penrose here."
"Uh, Penrose. I need some help."
"Of course Miss Stark. What can I do for you?"
He was as calm and as obliging as ever. Let's see how he reacts to this…
"Can you get me a pregnancy test please?"
There was only the briefest hesitation at the other end of the phone before he replied,
"I am not sure if we routinely carry these as part of our…ah…medical supplies. But I shall certainly check. If not, I shall obtain one as soon as possible."
"Brilliant! Oh thanks Penrose, you're wonderful!" Arya quickly hung up and turned her attention to Danni "One way or another, we'll have one soon."
Danni was beginning to look very pale and shocked.
"How about a nice cup of tea?" In stressful situations everyone always has cups of tea don't they? Arya couldn't think of anything else to say to Danni, so she busied herself with the kettle and tea bags.
As Arya made the tea, she couldn't help noticing Danni looking down at her flat tummy and slowly running her hands over it. Was there a baby in there? Jon's baby?
Danni looked shell shocked. Arya was beginning to feel a bit shocked herself. What the hell was Jon going to say or do if Danni was pregnant? Having a bastard child, born out of wedlock, was the one thing he had always sworn he would never do.
When they were young and Theon or Robb used to tease Jon about being a bastard, Jon had always said he'd never have sex until he was married. Like that was ever going to happen. Later, when they were teenagers and the boys talked non stop about shagging girls, he used to swear he'd marry any girl he got pregnant.
Back in his flat, Gendry had referred to Jon as 'Captain Condom'. Arya wondered what had happened to 'Captain Condom' at the Dorchester Hotel. If Danni was pregnant Jon couldn't exactly marry her, could he? Could you marry your aunt? Arya thought not. She found herself hoping that Danni wasn't pregnant and this was all a false alarm.
-o-
Gendry was looking for Penrose. He had almost reached the butler's office, when Penrose came rushing out, looking more flustered than Gendry had ever seen him. In fact, it occurred to him that he had never seen Penrose look even remotely flustered before; surprised yes – when Arya had dressed them both up in that 80's gear, but never flustered.
"Hey, you ok?" Gendry asked as the old man nearly bumped into him.
"Oh, it's you Sir. I'm just going to the medical centre, if you care to follow me." Penrose said hurriedly, without breaking his stride.
Puzzled, Gendry stood and watched him bustle off, before deciding to follow. He had wanted to ask Penrose if there was anyway he could get out of wearing a damn costume. Loras wouldn't tell him what it was and Gendry had a strong feeling he wasn't going to like it.
Penrose was the master of etiquette and if anyone knew how he could get out of wearing a costume and side step his obligations as 'Lord Baratheon of Storm's End' tonight it would be Penrose.
This was Renly's show and he was quite happy to let his Uncle get on with it.
After that close call with Danni wanting to jump, Loras had dragged Jon off somewhere; Renly beat a hasty retreat and left him alone with bloody Margaery. It had taken him a good half an hour to extract himself from her presence. She kept coming up with other things she 'had' to tell him about the ball, none of which Gendry cared a jot about.
"Uh, I wanted your advice." Gendry explained once he'd caught up with the butler. They weren't actually walking; it was more like a jog.
"Would you not prefer to wait until you have the result of the test?"
What test? Penrose had never mentioned a test before. But a test on his lessons about Baratheon history and bloody Baratheon Enterprises was to be expected. Testing him, to make sure he'd actually been paying attention to what Penrose was trying to teach him, was quite Renly's style.
"Uh. Ok, I suppose." Gendry muttered, still trotting beside Penrose. They were almost at the medical centre now.
"I hope you and Miss Stark will understand that I've never been asked for one before."
Someone asked for a test? It sure as hell wasn't him! Arya wouldn't have asked for him to be tested either as she hadn't been here in a month. Gendry was beginning to suspect he and Penrose might be talking at cross purposes.
He wondered what on earth was going on and making Penrose so anxious. The older man was now rooting around in a cupboard that seemed to contain boxes and boxes of Tampax and other, strange, women's things that Gendry didn't know much about and didn't want to know anything about. He averted his gaze as Penrose stacked box after box of sanitary towels on the floor in front of the cupboard.
"Uh Penrose…what exactly are you looking for?"
Whatever it was, Penrose seemed to have finally found it, exclaiming triumphantly
"Here you are! I am delighted to say we are prepared for all eventualities!" he handed Gendry an oblong, blue and white, cellophane wrapped box.
Gendry turned it over.
"PREGNANCY TEST!" he yelled, fumbling and nearly dropping the box with surprise.
"Yes, Miss Stark buzzed me from her room…your room…and asked me to get one as soon as possible."
"And she's up there just now?" Gendry yelped. He was amazed Penrose could understand what he was saying, as his mind was racing ten times faster than his mouth seemed to be working.
Arya had asked for a pregnancy test! Presumably for Danni, but there was a little voice of hope in his head whispering it was for Arya. He tried to rationalise things. If it was Arya, how could he not know? She didn't smell pregnant like Danni, but he didn't know how far on Danni was. Maybe there wasn't anything to smell until she was a bit further along. Dare he hope? He knew he was probably putting two and two together and making five, but if he and Jon became dads at the same time, how cool would that be? His kid would grow up to be best mates with Jon's kid. Would they be cousins? Holy shit!
"She is still in your room as far as I know Sir." Penrose replied, looking extremely surprised by the sudden change in Gendry's behaviour.
Gendry ran for the door. He didn't just hurry, he ran. He felt like a big kid again, running full pelt indoors. Unlike then, there was no-one to tell him to stop now. He nearly crashed into some waiters carrying an ice statute, but they spotted him just in time and managed to hug the wall. Storm's End had great, long corridors and he got up a good speed before he reached the bottom of the grand staircase where he took the stairs three at a time. He felt like he was flying. Running past the paintings of his ancestors, he couldn't help but grin. With a big bit of luck, there might be another Baratheon to add to the family tree, sooner than he had dared hope.
He was about to burst into the room – his room - rip the cellophane off the box and start whooping with excitement, but just as he was about to wrench the door open he decided it was perhaps not smart to be acting like a big kid at Christmas. So he knocked politely on the door – his own door - and waited for Arya to shout 'Come in!"
Her face was flushed; he could smell the adrenalin and hear her accelerated heart beat. He could also definitely smell that pregnancy smell as soon as she opened the door. His heart leapt with hope.
She was obviously shocked to see him and her eyes flicked to the pregnancy test.
"What are you doing with that?"
"I bumped into Penrose!" he grinned. "Got here as fast as I could!" he handed her the box.
She was looking at him, open mouthed.
"Oh, God, I never thought I'd be this excited. It's like Christmas only better. Come on, hurry up and pee on it or whatever you do. I'm dying to know!" he was practically hopping from one foot to the other with anticipation.
"It's not for me stupid!" she grabbed the box off him and hissed "It's for Danni – now get out and don't you dare say anything to anybody about this! And you know I mean Jon. Don't you dare tell him!"
"'Ave you got one?" Danni shouted from the bathroom.
Shit! Bloody fucking hell. Danni was here. Whatever was going on – it wasn't Arya thinking she was pregnant.
"Yeah! I'll be there in a minute!" Arya yelled back towards the closed bathroom door.
"I mean it Gendry!" she hissed at him again.
She started to walk away from him.
"I just thought…that is I hoped…"
She stopped and turned around.
"You know I'm on the pill! And don't you think there's enough shit going on right now without that too?!"
Yeah, exactly! There was too much shit going on – that's exactly why he wanted something great to happen to them both, but Arya didn't look like she was in the mood to discuss a baby of their own right now.
"You don't need that anyway" he growled, looking down at the pregnancy testing kit, "I can tell you she's pregnant."
Arya stopped in her tracks.
"And how do you know that?"
"I can smell it, of course."
"I mean – how do you know what pregnant smells like?"
"Loras had to explain to me exactly what it was, but she's reeking of it. Hormones…whatever."
"So, you lot know already – is that what you're telling me?"
Gendry nodded.
"Oh, I understand now – that's why you were so worried when Danni wanted to jump. Does Jon know?"
"We've not told him."
"So it's 'we' now is it?"
He ignored the dig. Of course it was 'we' – they were His Pack and as important to him as she was, albeit in a slightly different way. He'd fight and die for them too, only he didn't want to fuck their brains out.
"So everyone knows – except Jon and Danni?"
He shrugged.
"Margaery doesn't know…" then he had to qualify that by adding "…I don't think." He knew Loras wouldn't have told her, but bloody Renly might. Renly and Margaery were as thick as thieves at the moment.
"Oh that's just great!" Arya hissed sarcastically. "Where's Jon now?"
"Loras took him away somewhere…I don't know where he is." He admitted through gritted teeth.
"Well you'd better go find him and tell him to get down here and talk to Danni. He needs to hear it from her before some other idiot tells him!"
Gendry turned on his heel and walked out. Fucking women. They always managed to twist everything around so it was your fault. It wasn't him that got Danni pregnant for fuck's sake yet Arya was talking to him like he was to blame.
He stomped off to find Jon, wishing to hell that that night on the roof terrace – in fact the whole fucking week, had never happened.
It took him ages to find Jon. There was no sign, or scent of him anywhere, but the stink of the damn flowers was so overpowering it was masking everything else. Gendry eventually had to ask bloody Margaery, who was still doing her 'Lady Baratheon' act and bossing everyone around. She had last seen Jon about half an hour before, going up in the lift.
So Gendry took the lift. He decided to start at the top and work down. There wasn't much on the top floor – only the battlements and the roof. He'd been up a few times, when he was bored – just to have a look at the view, but he didn't know Jon had been up here.
As soon as the lift doors opened, he sucked in the fresh sea air and caught a whiff of Jon's scent; so familiar, so reliable, reminding him of their youth and of Winterfell. Gendry followed his nose, up the few stairs and out of the fire door to the ramparts. There was Jon, sitting in the sunshine, right on the top of the battlements, legs dangling over the side, staring down at Shipbreaker Bay.
Jesus Christ! Was he going to jump?!
Gendry didn't know whether to try and sneak up on him and grab him before he jumped, or to try and act naturally. What he wasn't going to do was shout, in case Jon got a fright and toppled over the edge. So Gendry made a great show of clearing his throat, stomping his feet and whistling tunelessly as he approached. He had no doubt Jon heard him, but his best mate didn't look up. He seemed fascinated with whatever was below.
When Gendry finally got within touching distance, he muttered 'Hey mate'. To his relief, Jon replied with the same greeting.
"Umm…what are you doing?" Gendry asked as he peered over the edge. He didn't like heights particularly and seeing the jagged rocks and the sea way down below made his stomach do a double flip. He quickly pulled back and kept his eyes focused on Jon. His friend did look miserable.
"I'm just thinking." Jon replied glumly.
"You're not thinking of jumping or anything like that are you?"
Jon looked at him as if he was stupid.
"No! Why would I do that? I like it up here. It reminds me of climbing and the mountains. I need to get back out there again. It's been too long."
Gendry breathed a huge sigh of relief.
"Can you come down please mate? It gives me the heebie-jeebies to look at you up there."
Jon swung his legs round and dropped off the wall, landing like a cat on the stone pathway.
"Heebie-jeebies…I haven't heard anyone say that in a long time." Jon laughed and he was back to normal.
Gendry though he might as well get it over with…
"Danni wants to see you."
Jon sat down heavily on the ground, with his back to stone rampart and sighed.
"I bet she does. Well, she'll be waiting a long time."
Shit! Gendry sat down beside him.
"Umm…can I ask why you don't want to see her?"
Jon groaned and picked up a piece of gravel and threw it between the stone stacks of the ramparts and over the edge. Gendry wondered how long it would take to fall all the way to the sea. Imagining the long fall made his stomach do a flip again.
"Because all she wants to do is shag." Jon groaned.
Gendry had to stifle a chuckle of relief. So that's all it was.
"And your point is…?"
"Well I can't can I? Not now I know she's my fucking aunt."
"So you've not had a terrible fight or anything?"
"No!" Jon looked at him in disbelief. "Why would we fight? She's just pissed off with me because all she wants to do is shag and I …I keep saying no."
Gendry did have to laugh at that.
"Mate, I can't imagine Danni's been refused often."
"I know" Jon groaned. "She's so fucking hot and the things she's been trying… to get me to …you know. Jesus, you can't imagine."
Gendry probably could imagine if he thought about it hard enough, but that wasn't why he was here.
"So you've told her about the DNA?"
"Yeah" Jon groaned. "I told her as soon as we were alone, not that it's made a blind bit of difference to her. She doesn't see any harm in carrying on."
Harm? That was a strange choice of word.
"Well, I have to agree with her. You suspected before anyway didn't you? And it didn't stop you then."
Jon glared at him. He obviously didn't like the truth being pointed out to him. Gendry continued, wanting to press his point home.
"All the DNA result did was confirm what you already knew. What we already knew. As soon as Renly told us Rhaegar Targaryen was your father, we knew. Ned and the DNA just confirmed it. We all knew and we all encouraged you and you loved it. Honestly mate. I've never seen you happier than those days in the Dorchester."
"I know" Jon groaned. "That's what makes it so goddamn awful. I'd been speaking to her for months and I knew we had something special. I thought she was the one – you know what I mean?"
Gendry nodded. He knew exactly what Jon meant. He always knew Arya was the one for him. He might not have realised it at first because she was so much younger, he might have tried to forget about it when she left Winterfell, but somewhere, somehow, he always knew.
"Instead it turns out the something special had was…incest". He spat the word out so loudly and with such vehemence that Gendry jumped.
Fucking hell! Why did he have to be the one to deal with this? Renly or even Loras would be so much better at this kind of emotional stuff than he was. Danni was downstairs waiting on Jon to tell him the wonderful news that he was going to be a dad, while Jon was up here shouting about incest. Dear God.
"Shut up and listen to me!" Gendry snapped. He felt like shaking some sense into Jon. Instead he listed all the points he could think of, to prove to Jon that it wasn't incest.
"You grew up in different countries! You met as adults, not knowing you were related! You've never even met your father! She hardly knows her brother as he's so much older than her – what is he, twenty two years older or something?"
"Twenty four" Jon muttered.
"See? And most importantly, you love Danni and she loves you – right?"
"I don't know about that." Jon mumbled, turning red and playing with the bezel on his Brietling watch – a present from Ned for his twenty first birthday. All the other Stark kids got a new Mercedes and Jon got a watch. A very nice watch – those pilot watches cost thousands of pounds, but it wasn't a Merc. Bloody Catelyn had put her foot down on that.
"Well, let's start with you first. Do you love her?" Gendry asked, confident the answer would be yes. He'd never seen Jon head over heels before, not even with that red haired Ygritte he'd been shagging on and off for years.
"I thought I did." Jon admitted, albeit rather reluctantly.
That would do.
"So you love her, we know she loves you…"
Jon snorted.
"What do you mean by that?" Gendry demanded. Jon was looking away, throwing bits of gravel over the edge again.
"She loves my cock I know that much!" he said angrily, missing the gap between the turrets with his next bit of gravel in his frustration.
"Do you think she doesn't love the rest of you?"
Jon groaned.
Even if Danni only loved that one bit of him (and from what Gendry had seen, she certainly did), Gendry was sure Danni would love all of him once she knew he was the father of her baby. Right? That was how those things worked wasn't it? As long as Jon married her, they'd live happily ever after. And Jon would insist on marrying her.
There was no way Jon would let any child of his grow up as a bastard, even if it didn't mean much these days. Gendry couldn't argue with that; he wouldn't want any child of his to be a bastard either, particularly now he was Lord Baratheon and, as Renly kept pointing out, needed an heir.
"She's the one! You know it, I know it and she knows it. Just marry her and to hell with what society thinks."
"You think I haven't thought about that? She's my fucking aunt you stupid bastard! I can't marry my fucking aunt!"
Gendry had never heard Jon call anyone a bastard before. They'd been best mates for twenty odd years and he'd never heard him use that word as an insult. To Jon, it was the most offensive word that could be hurled, one that had blighted his whole life. Jon could curse and blaspheme with the best of them, but use 'bastard' – never.
Perhaps it was the shock of hearing Jon call him a 'stupid bastard' that gave Gendry his thunderbolt moment, but he was suddenly hit with the best idea he'd ever had.
"Yeah, well you're a stupid bastard too, because you can marry her if you want."
Jon just looked at him contemptuously.
"Right, stupid – listen to this…you're a bastard, I'm a bastard. Our fathers fucked off and left us and we've been carrying that loss, that stigma our whole lives – right?"
Jon took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. "This bullshit better have a point…"
"But it's not all bad. Some good has got to come out of all that shit right? Look at me! I've got all this, I've got Arya…"
Jon groaned and pulled a face.
"Look at you, you're not Robb…"
"Thank fuck for that!"
"Exactly, so you can do whatever the hell you want! You're not chained to Winterfell like him and you can marry Danni if you want, because your birth certificate is piece of crap. It's a lie from start to finish; it says Ned's your father, some made up name for a mother – but they've done you a favour in the long run haven't they? Don't you see - you're not a Targaryen on paper and paper is all that matters to those cunts!"
Jon sat silently and threw another piece of gravel over the edge.
Gendry was so worked up, so excited that he'd just solved Jon's problem, he wanted to whoop and holler and run around, but Jon was just sitting there, saying nothing.
Gendry waited…and waited for Jon to say something. Eventually he came out with,
"But I'll know…"
"Oh fuck off! Who cares what you think?! You and your misplaced honour! I gave you the perfect solution and you want to throw it all away because it's not 'the right thing to do' in Jon world. Well I've got news for you; we're not living in 'Jon world' are we? Back in the real world, society says you're a bastard but society also says you can marry her and you should use their own rules against them - you stupid bastard!"
There was another long pause.
"Ok, I'll think about it."
Gendry slapped his hand against his forehead. He how stubborn Jon was and that 'I'll think about it' was as much as he was likely to get out of Jon at the moment. He just hoped Jon thought about it damn quick, as Danni was about to drop a massive bombshell on his precious 'Jon world'.
The two of them sat together, throwing pieces of gravel over the edge, for another while.
Gendry was too agitated to just sit quietly. He'd omitted the Cersi Lanister blow job bit when he'd told Arya how uptight he was, but the rest of what he'd told her was true. His skin felt like it was too tight and with every hour that passed, the urge to rip it open and reveal the wolf was growing stronger and he was getting hungry. Hungry for meat, hungry for sex, but he'd had sex already three times today and eaten all the meat and eggs Arya had in her flat and none of it had done anything to soothe this itch that he couldn't scratch.
He couldn't do anything about the impending Full Moon, but there was one other unwelcome issue he could deal with. He'd helped Jon with his problem; maybe Jon could help him with his.
"Seeing as we're having a misery fest. I've got a problem too."
Jon exhaled loudly. "Ok, spill. Thinking about your troubles, might make me forget about mine for 5 minutes."
"Ever since that afternoon with Cersi Lannister I've had a problem."
"Jesus! Don't tell me you can catch an SDT from a blow job!?"
"What? No! Well, I fucking hope you can't!" Gendry exclaimed. Trust bloody Jon to think of that.
"So do I, or we're both in the shit."
"Look, will you shut up and listen…it's not that. Ever since then, every time I hear the word 'blow' or 'job' or even seen an older blonde with big tits, I get this flashback to Cersi fucking Lannister with her fucking Nazi lips wrapped around my cock. I just can't get rid of the mental image. Her on her knees, the big tits, the green eyes, the bleached blonde hair sucking me off like there's no tomorrow."
"Hmm. I'm not surprised you can't forget it, she did look like a bit of a pro."
"Shut up! It's not that. If she ever comes near me again in my Goddamn life it'll be too soon. I just can't get rid of the fucking mental image. Like this morning, when Arya offered to give me a blow job…"
"Dude, she's my fucking sister, I don't want to hear that!"
"Cousin! And shut up about yourself will you! The point is; I don't know if I'll ever be able to have another woman's mouth on my cock without thinking about her. She's ruined it for me." Gendry moaned miserably. "Bloody Nazi bitch."
"It's probably because you feel guilty. Come on mate. You know there's nothing to feel guilty about. You had to do it. I mean, we had to neutralise those pictures. I practically fucking begged you to do it! You took one for the team…I mean The Pack… and I never told you before how much I appreciate that mate. Seriously. We all do."
"I suppose you could be right – I feel guilty and I also think that maybe if I hadn't done that to her, Edric might not be in the fucking hospital now."
"Yeah, and those pictures might be the current internet sensation. You just don't know Gendry. Asking yourself 'what if?' is pointless. It's a one way ticket to misery. You need to put it behind you and just get on with it."
"So, do I tell Arya?"
"No fucking way! Are you kidding me?! How do you think she'd take that?"
"We both know how she would take it and it wouldn't be pretty."
"It's done. Just shut the fuck up about it. I'm sure as soon as you get your next BJ… God, I can't believe I'm discussing you getting a blow job off my sister… you'll be fine."
"Oh, God, but so many people know. I'm worried she'll find out from someone else. Or worse, see the fucking video!"
"Quit worrying. No-one's going to show her that. They know you'd kill them for a start – right?"
"Right!"
"Come on, it was only a blow job. Look, I wasn't going to tell you this, but if it'll make you feel any better… I got one from Loras."
"What the fuck!"
"Yeah I know. See – you feel better already don't you?"
"I feel a bit sick if I'm being honest mate. Loras? You? I mean what the fuck? Are you bisexual or something? I mean, if you are, I'll be like totally supportive and all, but that thing with your balls that night was strictly a one off mate. I'm not up for a repeat performance. Ever. Ok? I just want to lay that on the table…"
"I fucking know that and you know I'm straight."
Gendry looked askance at him. His expression said "Really?"
"Look, it was a couple of days ago. We got drunk and he started telling me I didn't know what I was missing, that a blow job from a man was so much better than from a woman…"
"And you fell for that bullshit right?"
"Piss off! Look, do you want to hear this or not?"
"Ok, ok. Carry on and I'll keep my thoughts to myself."
"It wasn't that. I really didn't care if it was a hundred times better, but what I did care about was him."
Gendry open his mouth to say "you care about Loras Tyrell?" then, remembering his promise to keep his thoughts to himself, shut it again.
"He's been really good to me Gendry. From the beginning. Remember how he cleaned up after me when I'd…killed that guy in your flat? Where would I be now if he hadn't done that? You and Renly are away at the office all the time and Loras and me… we get on, you know. The stuff he's shown me, taught me, helped me. I can't ever pay that back and I know he's into me. Hell, you noticed it before I did and I was drunk and I've decided I'm leaving, so I thought… you know what Loras, if you want it that much and it's going to make you happy…what the hell…"
"What the hell…" Gendry echoed in disbelief and then his brain finally picked up on the 'I've decided I'm leaving' part.
"You're leaving? I thought your future was here, with all of us?" Gendry was shocked. Not just shocked, devastated. What about The Pack? He assumed Jon would stay, that they would be a team like Loras and Renly; that the four of them were in this together, for life.
"It's too …controlled here for me. I like the wild, being outdoors. Doing what Loras does is not for me. Keeping you lot safe is like herding cats! And look at the mess we're in with Edric."
The shock on Gendry's face turned to pain at the mention of Edric's name. Jon decided to continue his explanation with a bit more sensitivity,
"Come on Gendry, this office thing isn't for you either. If you think you're going to be happy sitting in your designer suit, in your designer office talking shit with the rest of the suits until you retire at 65, then you're kidding yourself."
Jon was right. Gendry had known after his first day in that damn office that it wasn't for him. He just hadn't admitted it to anyone else yet.
"But what about The Pack? What about us? The Werewolf thing? I thought you wanted that?"
"I do. Come on! Who wouldn't want that?"
Gendry could think of one person straight away – Arya.
"The strength, the power, the reactions…and Loras tells me the sex is great."
"Don't fucking start with that again!" Gendry groaned.
"Ok, but you can still bite me tomorrow night and to be honest mate, I hope it's just you as the thought of getting bitten by all three of you…well…I don't want to be bitten by Loras…or Renly."
"Well I'll do my best Jon, but I can't promise. I have no idea how this Alpha thing works."
"It can't be that complicated can it – I mean they're still fucking animals aren't they – wolves. Just make sure you let Loras and Renly know who the boss is and you'll be fine."
Jon had hit the nail on the head. He was determinedto be the Alpha, but how did he make Loras, with all his strategic and combative abilities and Renly with all his smarts, bow to his will. He had no idea. His head hurt when he thought about it and anyway, he was still trying to get his head around Jon and Loras.
"Does Renly know about you and Loras?"
"Well I'm not going to bloody tell him am I? And anyway, we're back to the point of my telling you in the first place – it was only a blow job."
The two of them threw pieces of gravel over the parapet again.
"So, have I made you feel any better?" Jon asked.
"Honestly? No mate." Gendry sighed heavily. "I feel life just gets more and more complicated. If I could, I would swap all this to be back in Winterfell with you and Arya and have everything the way it used to be."
"Well I wouldn't."
Gendry raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Not knowing who my mother was; if she was dead or alive, not knowing where I fitted in, only that it wasn't in Winterfell and wasting my time in a dead end job, getting paid peanuts to line Ned Stark's pockets! Nah. I'm glad I left, glad you got all this, glad you brought me along for the ride and I'm never going back. My future's out there somewhere and I'm going to grab it."
"So where are you going to go?"
"I want to go find my father. I need to meet him. Presumably Danni knows where I can find him."
"Maybe you could go together?"
Jon pulled a face.
"And so we've come full circle. She wants to speak to you remember? And Jon…don't forget all those months you spent skyping each other and how happy she made you. Some things happen for a reason you know … and I'm here for you mate. Me and Arya, we'll always be here for you. You need anything… anything at all…money, a house you just name it, ok?"
"What are you on about? I'm telling you I'm leaving and you're going on about a fucking house. Why would I need a house?"
"Just go see Danni, ok?"
"Ok" Jon groaned as he stood up and stretched his legs. "You coming?"
"Last I heard she was in Arya's room…I mean my room… so yeah, I'll walk you down."
"Race you down the stairs? And none of that Werewolf shit or I'll rip your throat out, next full moon."
"You can fucking try mate…you can fucking try!" he laughed, watching Jon sprint ahead. Gendry decided to let him have a head start. What the hell…maybe he'd even let Jon win. It could be his last chance. Danni's news might change everything.
