Love – Part Three (or use your imagination from there)

November 21st 2008

Arya

Thursday night was about to become Friday morning as Arya and Gendry were in bed and talking. There had been a lot of talking over the last month. They dished at the dinner table, they chatted on the couch, and there was even small talk while they brushed their teeth. The best though was the talking in the dark as they both lay in bed. Gendry found it easier to talk about the deeper stuff, the more uncomfortable stuff, in the dark. Arya liked it because she comfy in bed, cozy in her pajamas, and that helped lubricate the more difficult topics. At the moment they were discussing what was missing from Gendry's face.

"I still can't believe you shaved off you're beard."

"Why not?" Gendry asked.

"Cus you've had it since you were like eighteen."

"God, back then it was all patchy though. I think I like being clean shaven. Less maintenance."

"I also can't believe you spite-shaved it off."

"I was getting a little tired of the beard. I didn't just spite shave it –"

"But, you did shave it off to get back at me?" Arya interrupted her husband.

"- yeah I did."

"Why?"

"Why would I do something petty and stupid?" he chuckled. "Because I was really fucking pissed that you read my journal."

"And did terrible job at it," Arya couldn't help but add.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Arya had been busting Gendry on the shit job he had done on hair removal.

"A blind monkey could have done a better job with a banana."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"I know! That's how much you sucked at shaving off your beard! It didn't make any sense!" Arya raised her voice, but didn't yell. There hadn't been any yelling over the last couple of weeks. Even raising her voice for a joke seemed to tense them both up a little.

"Anyways," Gendry groaned. "I didn't shave off my beard just to spite you. I did it because I wanted to. I've been thinking about it for a while."

"Why didn't you ask me about it?"

"Cus I already knew your opinion on the matter. You are pro-beard and have been so for a long time."

"I still would have liked to be involved in the decision."

"Arya, it's my face."

"Yeah, I know. But…still." She thought to find words to rationalize her claim to his face. "You can do what you want with your face. But, I look at it a lot and I'd like to be part of the process. If I just came home one day with no eye brows you'd probably be a little miffed."

"I guess you have a point." He rolled on his side and kissed her on the cheek. "Next time I'm thinking of a drastic facial hair change, you'll be a part of the beard committee."

"Thank you," she giggled. Instead of rolling back on his back he stayed on his side. He had done this before. He'd roll over, stay on his side and brood for a minute, and then spill whatever was on his mind. Normally she'd give him time, but it was 11:58pm. At midnight they would be on vacation and she wouldn't get her answer until 12:00am Monday morning, but more liking Monday evening. She loved their vacations, but she didn't want to wait that long to get an answer. "What's on your mind?"

"Nothing, it's stupid."

"You always say that and it's never stupid."

"It's just a stupid sad story," he shrugged. "No big deal."

"It's one of your stories. So it's a big deal."

Gendry rolled to his back and she noticed him turn his head to his bedside table. "It's 11:59, one more minute."

"Exactly. Please don't make me wait until Monday to hear the story."

"It really isn't that interesting Arya."

"I know, but…" Arya whined. "I wanna hear it and I don't wanna wait."

"What? You don't want to go on Vacation this weekend?"

"God no!" she yelled. Their three day breaks are what kept them both sane over the last two weeks.

"So...you want me to tell you?"

Arya looked at the clock that struck midnight. "This week's vacation can go from Friday at 12:05am to Monday at 12:05am. So, if you wouldn't mind…"

Gendry rolled his eyes. "Fine. So, you're not the first person to read my journal."

"Your mom?" Arya took a guess. If she had a journal the most likely person to read it would be Catelyn. Or maybe Sansa, considering Arya more than once taken a peek at her big sister's diary.

"No, Eddie," he sighed. "When I was fifteen I think I caught him in my room reading through it. He started reciting from it, singing Arya and Gendry kissing-in-a-tree, and I kinda freaked out."

"Freaked out?"

"I might have shoved him out of my room and ripped out every page in the journal."

"Damn, really?"

"Yeah. I figured if I tore up all the pages and tossed them out, no one else could read it."

"Makes sense, I guess…" she mumbled and thought in a crazy way.

"I think I got grounded cus of it too. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I was grounded that weekend cus I was fighting with Eddie"

"Ohh –" Arya muttered, unsure what, if anything, else there was to say.

"Yeah, I told you the story was a bummer."

"I guess…but you don't have to worry about that anymore. We're on vacation." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

"Vacation," he chuckled. "You haven't gotten up before ten at all this week."

"You don't know when I get up," she playfully poked him. He was right, but he didn't know that, so he had no right to make that assumption.

"Urgh…I don't wanna go to work tomorrow." Gendry groaned that at least twice a week as they lay in bed.

"Why? Tomorrow is going to be awesome. Go to work, get a promotion, and come home."

"You're very confident."

"So should you. They wouldn't have interviewed you if they didn't think you could do it." Gendry was again silent when she knew he didn't want to be. "What's on your mind?"

"Nothing…" he mumbled.

"Gendry."

"Fine. I was just worried that it bothered you that I didn't ask you about it before I applied."

It did bother Arya a little. Although it was an amazing opportunity that earned nearly double what he did now, it also would require almost ten extra hours a week, if not more. Like the beard situation, she didn't like being out of the loop, but it was hardly something to rock the boat over because in the long run she wanted him to get the job. "It's no big deal. When the job came up I don't think we were on speaking terms."

"I think the day I applied you were eating peanut butter straight from the jar." Even though the room was dark, she just knew that stupid smirk was on his face.

"It was a rough day," she curtly told him, and poked him again. He swatted her hands away and during the tussle took her wrists in both his hands. After one mighty motion Arya found her hands jerked above her head.

"Was today a rough day?" Gendry whispered. His thumbs began to trace small circles on the inside of her wrists. "And if it wasn't rough, did you want it to be?"

"You aren't being very nice." Arya fidgeted under his weight.

"Ohh, I'm not?" His right hand drifted down her arm, his fingertips raking back and forth against her arm.

"I thought we were going to wait until tomorrow night," Arya asked and lulled her head back.

"Yeah, we should," Gendry released her and in the darkness she pouted. Ever since the 'limp' incident they had not had sex. Timid was a harsh word, but it did correctly describe Gendry's attitude towards sex over the last few weeks. Arya got it, his body failed him in an incredibly embarrassing way, but she still wanted him to get back on that horse. The horse in this case being her.

That wasn't to say they hadn't been physical in other ways. Currently there relationship wasn't where it once was, so it kind of made sense that it reverted in the ways they physically interacted. Lately they had spent hours just in bed, making out, playing with each other, getting to know each other's bodies again. It was fun. It reminded her of being a teenager again: Gendry's hand firm but soft touching her everywhere, moving slowly, seemingly asking for permission before any action. His touch was soft, but he himself was quite hard. Even since that shitty night, Gendry had no problems rising to the occasion. Gendry had suggested that they have sex again this Friday; his reasoning being it would be either celebratory sex or a good pick-me-up after not getting the job. It was a sound plan, and she was really looking forward to tomorrow night, but at this point she was afraid her hymen had grown back. Gendry, I love you, but I really need you to get back on the Horse. Like Drogo style. She didn't get mounted that night, but they certainly kicked off their vacation off with a bang. Thirty minutes later, after some of Arya's handy work, Gendry was fast asleep. Arya was quite content too, with Gendry's fingery work. It was a great way to start their three days off.

Over the last few weeks things had gotten better and better and it got that way by talking, and talking and talking. It was worth it to delve deeper into their problems, deeper into their relationship, but it was exhausting. No matter what they would talk about, be it work, or the news, or even movies it would always come back to their shit. It was just unavoidable and a tremendous pain in the ass. Even though it was great to get all of their problems off their chest and out into the open it was emotionally and, because of many late night chats, physically exhausting. Not to mention at some point talking didn't get anywhere new. Arya was still very upset that Gendry kissed another girl, he was more pissed than he wanted to admit that she neglected their relationship for over a year. There was only so many ways to express those feelings until it just got tedious.

To get around this Gendry came up with his greatest idea of all, which of course meant he read about it online and suggested it to Arya. Two Thursdays ago he suggested they take a 'vacation' from their problems. Starting on Saturday they would not discuss any of their problems unless absolutely necessary. On Monday they would pick up where they left off. Arya liked the idea, a lot, and amended it to a three day 'vacation.' They needed it, and three was better than two, so they put it into action. That weekend was one of the best she ever had. Even though she was the one that constantly dragged so much out of Gendry, it was serene to put all that shit away for a few days.

Arya got out of bed around ten o'clock that Friday morning. After spending so much time in bed lately so was trying to get out of bed earlier, but it was hard. Recently Gendry told her that she probably spent over four thousand hours at work over the last year and a half. She knew it was a lot, but hearing an actual number made her realize how tired she was. During those four thousand hours she got maybe five hours of sleep a night and had used caffeine, sugar, and liquor to prop her up through work. She felt like detoxing in bed was the best place to get that out of her system.

For as tired as she was, she grew more and more restless. It was almost a month since she quit Lannister, Lannister, & Lannister and she didn't miss that place at all. Since Tyrion went through with his threat to quit there was no reason for her to be there. But, she missed the work. She missed getting up each morning thinking she was going to do something important: to get out of the house and conquer all before her. At the moment, though, she was sitting on her couch, in her underwear and a hoodie, flipping through a constitutional law book. She was still doing something important, but she was just doing it in her underwear. Which was great, but still not the same. She wanted something important that she had to wear pants for.

Her own personal needs weren't the only reason for her to go out and do something. After some morning studies she flipped open her laptop and logged into their bank's website. Gendry got paid that morning, but before his check was deposited there was only seventeen dollars in their bank account. Even if she could just work a little bit she could help out. Then again, if he actually got that promotion they would be far better off, but still, she wanted a reason to put on pants.

It wasn't just the work she missed - she also missed contact with the outside world. Without work her social circle at the moment basically extended to Gendry before and after work. She had reconnected with Brienne at the wedding, but she lived too far away to see regularly, and whatever other friends and acquaintances she had made in college had long since moved away.

Then there was her Sister. Sansa had returned from her honeymoon a few weeks ago but she had been distant. Arya texted her a few times, wondering if she and Tyrion wanted to get dinner sometime, but was rebuffed each time. She assumed the Lannister's were in their honeymoon period, but it was odd for Sansa to keep on ducking Arya. It was usually the elder Stark nagging her little sister to hang out and not the other way around. But, ever since Sansa's wedding there was basically radio silence. That would change tonight when Arya and Gendry would go and have dinner with the Lannisters.

Not that Arya knew what she would talk about. Her life had been a maelstrom of shit, but she and Gendry decided upon trying to keep it to themselves. One sleepy evening Gendry mentioned that the only people that knew that he kissed Bella were Tyrion and her father. They both agreed that they wouldn't tell anyone else. For one, they didn't want special attention on them, and unwanted advice. Secondly, Gendry didn't anyone else to know what he did. Moreover, Arya wasn't too keen on her mother, or Gendry's mother, finding out she basically neglected her marriage for sixteen months. And third of all, and maybe most importantly, they both agreed that Arya's family would probably hold a grudge. At least Jon. He punched Gendry out just for seeing his wife naked once, by accident; no one wanted to find out what he would do if he found out Gendry mildly cheated on Jon's little sister. Tonight would be the first time they went out with people and she didn't know how hard it would be to tiptoe around the touchy subjects. But, she was on vacation, and she didn't want to ruin it.

With Sansa on her mind, she decided to call her sister. It was 3:30pm, so Sansa should have been done teaching for the day. When Arya called her sister the phone rang seven times before Sansa finally answered. "Hey, Arya," Sansa drearily answered.

"Hey to you too," Arya snorted. "What's up your butt?"

"Nothing. What did ya want?"

"I was just wondering if you still wanted me and Gendry to come over around six."

"Well, Tyrion won't be home until seven….."

"So, we should be there at seven?" Arya broke the silence.

"No. Be there at six." It didn't sound like Sansa telling Arya, it sounded more like an order.

"Did you want us to bring some wine or something?" It was customary for the visitors to bring wine or dessert.

"No. No wine." It was again an order. "Just some dessert."

"Umm, okay...what's for dinner?"

"Why's that matter?" Sansa angrily spat.

"Just curious…I'll try to get a good dessert…Sansa you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. Lasagna for dinner. Be here at six. I've got to go."

"Oh, okay, I'll see you-" Sansa hung up before Arya could finish her thought. Okay. What the hell? Arya just shrugged, concluded it was just Sansa being crazy and went back to studying.

Gendry came home about an hour later. "How was your day?" Arya asked him.

"Okay," Gendry shrugged as he walked passed her, giving her a wink as he strode.

"Okay?" Arya followed him. "I would think it'd be great or it'd be terrible. Okay isn't one of the options I expected to hear."

"Well, it was a boring morning…" he had a stupid grin on his face. He got it she knew. "And I couldn't take my morning break until like 11:30am, and then lunch was late…"

"And did you have a good crap too?" Arya rolled her eyes. "Did you get the job or not?"

"I did."

"Great!" she ran across the room and jumped into his arms.

"Whoa!" Gendry couldn't help but yell but caught her all the same.

"I told you you would get it. You should just listen to me more."

"Should I?" Gendry asked with a smirk. "What do you think I should do now?"

They had an hour or so before they had to be Sansa and Tyrion's-more than enough to celebrate. "Well, you could take me over to the bed, strip me down, and, well, I'd actually like you to use your imagination from there."

He let out a deep throaty chuckle and in one swift move Arya felt herself lightly tossed on their bed. His hand slipped under her shirt and pulled it over her head as her fingers fumbled at his pants. They were so close, so close. And then her phone played a familiar tune that Arya knew was Sansa's ring tone. They didn't stop though, whatever Sansa had to say could wait. But, then Gendry's phone rang as well, and although she liked it when his phone vibrated against her thigh, she didn't like where this is going.

"What the hell Sansa?!" Ayra angrily grunted. "Dad better be having a stroke or something!"

Gendry laughed at his wife, but pulled out his phone. "Hey, Sansa, whatdoyawant?" Gendry's eyes rolled at whatever Sansa said. "Your sister wants to talk to you."

"Oh, geez." Arya grabbed the phone out of Gendry's hand. "We're in the middle of something," Arya informed her sister. The phrase 'in the middle of something' had been a euphemism used between sisters when it came to sex.

"Well, that's nice," Sansa's answered with an annoyed tone. "Could you get some cheese from the store before you come over?"

"Yeah. Sure. Whatever." Arya mumbled. "We'll be over in like twenty."

"No! I need it now!"

"What the fuck is with you? You sound like the bossy bitch from Willy Wonka."

"Veruca Salt," Gendry dryly added. The fact he knew that surprised Arya.

"I'm starting the Lasagna now, Arya, and I need it as soon as possible." Sansa sounded like a thirteen year old girl again, telling her little sister she was all dirty."

Arya looked to Gendry and covered the phone. "She's bitching that she needs us to pick up some cheese right now."

He rolled his eyes. "Well…we can always wait until later tonight."

"Fine," she groaned and turned her attention back to the phone. "We'll get your cheese…"

"Ricotta," Sansa specified.

"Yes, we'll get your damn cheese and be over in a jiff."

"Awesome." Sansa sounded quite pleased. "I can't wait."

After going to the grocery Arya couldn't hide her annoyance. She had the ricotta and the wine. Arya didn't know what was up Sansa's ass, but she was going to enjoy some wine tonight. "Fucking A. What the hell is wrong with Sansa? She sounded really bitchy."

"Yeah, I know," Gendry shrugged as he drove. "I hope this all isn't too…awkward."

"Well, Sansa should calm down if we get her this goddamn cheese."

"It's not just the cheese I'm worried about," Gendry was pained to say. "I mean, they both know, about…you know…so it might be weird."

"Yeah…" Arya absentmindedly grunted until her mind came to a crashing halt. "Wait. What?! Sansa knows!?"

"Yeah," Gendry coolly said. "I told you she knew."

"No. You didn't."

"Yeah, I did."

"No. You didn't."

"Yes. I did. I told you I told your dad, and Tyrion, and Tyrion let it slip to Sansa because of how horribly drunk he was."

"No. You didn't tell me that," Arya growled. "I think I would have remembered that."

"Well you asked me who I told and I know I told you everything," Gendry whined. He truly thought he told her.

"Gendry. You didn't tell me."

"Yeah. I did…at least I think I did…"

"You think you did?"

"It was like two in the morning! I've been sleep deprived!"

"Urgh,"she groaned. This was their vacation and they were fighting. "Okay. Let's not do this now. Either you told me, or you didn't, but she knows…fuck."

"What do you want to do about it?" he asked.

"Nothing," she groaned. "I want to have a lovely night."

"And what if Sansa doesn't let that happen?"

"If Sansa gets all bitchy…we'll figure something out."

Gendry let out a deep sigh. "I'm sorry if I didn't tell you. I think I did, but if I didn't, I totally didn't mean to overlook it."

"It's okay," she mildly lied. This could fuck up her whole night. Not to mention who knew who else Sansa told. But, she didn't want to think about that. She was on vacation goddamnit. "I know you wanted to tell me."

"Hopefully it won't be awkward," Gendry weakly offered.

"Yeah…absolutely."

They arrived at Tyrion's apartment a few minutes later. Both of the dressed casually, in jeans and t-shirts, Arya with her trusty red hoodie to brave the wintry November night. They knocked on Tyrion's apartment door. No answer. Arya knocked again, louder this time. "Oh, c'mon, where is she?" Considering her sister cock blocked her and demanded cheese the least Sansa could do was open the damn door quickly.

After one more whack on the door they heard some rustling. "Coming! Coming!" The door flung open and there was Sansa, in a blue floral dress, looking out of breath. "Have the cheese?" she asked as they entered.

"Yes, yes," Arya groaned and handed her the cheese. "And we brought some wine."

"I told you not to," her sister growled.

"Well…sorry…I wanted to have some wine tonight," Arya fake apologized.

"Fine," her sister spat out, greedily took the wine and cheese, and hurried to the kitchen. Good, she thought, hopefully Sansa just needed the cheese and is going to mind her own goddamn business. Sometime, when she wasn't on vacation and having a great day, she'd delve into her relationship problems with Sansa. It'd be nice to have someone else to talk about everything. Just not to tonight.

"Have a good day?" Sansa asked from the kitchen as Arya and Gendry got comfortable on the couch.

"Actually a great day," Arya answered. "At work Gendry got…"

"You know, I was reading something interesting the other day," Sansa interrupted her sister, either not hearing her or not paying any attention to what Arya said, or both. "It was in one of my old bridal magazines. It talked about how all relationships need a strong base of trust to survive."

"Ohh, goddamnit," Gendry said under his breath.

Sansa reappeared from the kitchen. "And I was just thinking about you two, and how you've been together forever, and how trust must just come so easily for you."

"Well, yeah, I guess…" Arya started, but was again stopped by Sansa.

"But, the thing is, the article also said that relationships over time can get stale, and sometimes partners can drift apart. And that it was totally natural, but it always needed to be addressed." Sansa stopped her blathering and pointedly looked at Gendry. "Has anything like that happened with you two?" Arya assumed in Sansa's mind this plan was just brilliant. In practice it was bullshit. So, business as usual for Sansa. If Arya didn't know about what Gendry did already, and found out from a sputtering Sansa, she would be just as angry at her sister as she would be at Gendry.

"Sansa, just…" Arya started but was again interrupted, this time by the noise of someone outside the apartment rushing down the hall and then the front door being thrown open.

It was Tyrion, with a frenzied look in his eyes. "Sansa!" he yelled and noticed the 'Baratheons' on the couch. "Oh, hi there…" he mumbled and took Sansa by the arm. "I need to talk to my wife in the kitchen."

"Hey, let go," Sansa squirmed in Tyrion's grasp, but followed him into the kitchen, and out of view…but, still in ear shot. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Something I should have done a long time ago."

"Sansa, you promised you wouldn't."

"Tyrion. She's my sister."

"It's their relationship."

"And it's in need of major fixing."

"They need to figure that out for themselves."

"But, she's my sister," Sansa repeated.

Arya and Gendry grew restless on the couch. "Okay, so…did you want to say something?" Gendry asked. "Because I think we are going to have to take a break from our vacation."

"I don't wanna," Arya whined.

"Yeah, I know, but I really don't think we're going to have a choice."

"Ugh" she groaned as Sansa and Tyrion continued their not so private conversation in the kitchen.

"I know I promised you I wouldn't, but I can't keep this to myself anymore," Sansa said in the loudest whisper ever.

"You said you wouldn't tell…" Tyrion said and then actually whispered something to Sansa.

"No! I will not keep this from her!"

"Goddamnit," Arya sighed. "Okay! Come out here!"

Tyrion and Sansa stopped their bickering and returned from the kitchen. "Arya there's something I need to tell you," Sansa spurted out and Tyrion shot her dirty look.

"No, there isn't," Arya rolled her eyes. Today was going so good too. "Okay, I'm only going to say this once." She took a deep breath. "Gendry told me that he kissed Bella." Shock blanketed both Sansa and Tyrion's faces. "He told me a little after your wedding. We are dealing with it. We don't want to talk about it. That's all we've been doing is talking about it. Tonight, we just want to have some lasagna, some good wine, and a night free of heavy conversations."

Stunned silence followed. Arya was a little proud, it wasn't often that she left both Sansa and Tyrion at a loss for words. Both of them had an overabundance of words. "Damn," Gendry chuckled, "I expected some kind of reaction."

"Ohh-okay…" Sansa stammered, the night clearly night going the way she thought. "Are...you okay?"

"Super. Actually I was having a tremendous night until I got here. Can we open that wine a little early?"

"Arya," Sansa seethed as she said her sister's name. "I asked you not to bring any wine."

"What is up your butt?" Arya asked.

"Nothing," Tyrion answered. "Nothing is up or around her butt. I'll get changed out of this monkey suit and we'll have some wine." He gave Sansa glance and she seemed to take a deep exhale in agreement. But, she didn't seem happy.

A few minutes later Sansa was in the kitchen, clearly avoiding everyone after her master plan blew up in her face, and Tyrion started chatting with 'The Baratheons' after slipping into some more comfortable clothes. It was awkward at first, Tyrion apologized for what Sansa did, but Arya made it even clearer with vague threats of violence she didn't want to talk about it. However, after the awkward passed, Arya did enjoy Tyrion's company. Gendry listened to Arya's legal ramblings, but Tyrion actually understood. It was amazing to say habeas corpus and actually have someone understand.

About five minutes before dinner though Arya had to ask about the weirdest thing she had ever seen in Tyrion's apartment. "Hey, Tyrion, I notice you have a birdcage hanging over there…without a bird in it."

"Ohh that," Tyrion groaned and looked at black metal caging hanging from a low hanging hook. "It was a wedding gift…from Sandor."

"Was it now?" Gendry asked and got up to more fully inspect the 'gift.' "It looks like there's newspaper clippings on the bottom of the cage."

"Yeah…" Tyrion groaned. "He clips out individual words to form a poem."

"He writes poems?" Arya tried not to laugh as she asked. She probably didn't do that good of a job.

"Yeah…"

Gendry started to crack a smile, but he tried to remain serious. "What does the poem say?"

"Fuck really?" Tyrion asked.

"I'm just curious…" Gendry so badly didn't want to laugh she could tell.

"Fine. The poem read…Little bird, sitting there in your cage, repeating all those pretty little words they taught you. Little bird, sitting there in your cage, never knowing the real world. Little bird…" Tyrion sighed as he saw Arya and Gendry fighting back the urge to laugh, "…only those that have been burned know what hell is like. Little bird…one day you'll be free…little bird."

"That's very…" Gendry struggled not to laugh.

"Poetic," Arya filled in the gap, but couldn't but chuckle.

"Yeah…poetic."

"Shut up," Tyrion lightly snapped at them. "Sansa wants to keep it and got pissy when I said it freaked me out."

"Freak you out?" Arya asked. "It's just a stupid gift."

"Look more closely at the bottom."

Arya peered into the bottom of the cage and noticed a small vial of dark fluid. "What the fuck?" she asked and picked it up.

"That's a vial of Sandor's blood."

"What?!" Arya shrieked and dropped the vial in the cage. Thankfully it didn't break. "Put a fucking biohazard sticker on that or something!"

"What are you guys talking about?" Sansa asked from the kitchen.

"Nothing…nothing at all…" Tyrion sadly answered.

"I take it you don't like the gift," Gendry said in a lowered voice.

"You are master of deduction," Tyrion dryly answered. "A regular goddamn Sherlock."

"Dinner!" Sansa announced and appeared from the kitchen with a streaming pan of lasagna. In that moment Arya didn't see her sister, she saw her mother. It was creepy to say the least. Seeing shades of Catelyn Stark everyone obeyed and made their way to the kitchen table.

"It's really good," Gendry told Sansa after his first bite. Arya disagreed, she thought there was too much garlic.

"Oh, thank you Gendry," Sansa quietly said. Normally a compliment from Gendry, the man Sansa once had a tremendous crush on, would make Sansa downright giddy, but now, it barely registered.

"It's really good babe," Tyrion also complimented, as a good husband should. In fact Tyrion looked a little annoyed that Gendry beat him to it.

Arya didn't say anything, nor did anyone else for about a minute as everyone ate their food. That is until Sansa broke the silence. "I just have to ask, I mean, Arya, are you sure you don't want to talk about you and Gendry?"

"No. I don't," was the answer. Gendry and Tyrion both began to eat faster, and chew louder, seemingly trying to avoid the conversation between the sisters.

"But, are you sure you're okay? I've been dying wanting to tell you."

"Well, I haven't been okay," Arya answered and noticed a worried look on Gendry's face. "Well, it hasn't been all bad either," she assured her husband.

"Really?"

"Sansa, I don't want to talk about this. That's all we've been doing the last couple of weeks. This weekend Gendry and I decided to not to talk about it."

"You have to talk about it Arya," Sansa chastised her sister.

"I have talked about it. Loads and loads."

"Why didn't you call me?"

"I didn't think you already knew," Arya shot Gendry a look. "My husband wasn't exactly clear on that…"

"Yeah, I was," Gendry interjected.

"Anyways, I didn't know you knew already, and we decided to try to keep this private as much as possible."

"So, you're not going to talk to mom about it?" Sansa asked.

"Mom!?"Arya laughed. "Ohh, god no! I don't think I've ever gotten useful advice from mom on anything besides how to best baste a turkey."

"Well, she might have some useful advice."

"Sansa, I'm not telling mom," said Arya, her tone turning dead stony with the next part, "and neither should you. This should stay with just the four of us. And why are we still talking about it?!" Arya took a sip of her wine. She couldn't help but feel Sansa's scorn and Tyrion, who did not have a glass, look on with envy. "Why are we still talking about this? You two just got back from your honeymoon in fucking Paris! Tyrion is starting a new law firm! I'm sure one Sansa's first graders said or did something funny in music class today!"

"I'm just concerned, that's all," Sansa said.

"Well, don't be. I'm…" she stopped and smiled at Gendry, "…we are actually doing quite all right all things considered."

"Okay, fine."

"So, Tyrion," Gendry filled the silence. "How's work?"

Tyrion took a deep breath and again looked at Arya's wine. "It's been okay. It's odd, although I threatened to quit my father's firm at least twice a year, I never really thought I would. It's really weird not going there anymore. And, wouldn't you know it, starting up a law firm is kinda of a lot of work."

"You have an office already?" Arya asked. "I assumed you'd be working out of your apartment for a bit."

"I have building off Main Street. You know that empty place in the strip mall on main?"

"You mean between the Subway and liquor store?"

"Yep, that place, it's not a great location…but I have the building leased for a year on a great price. And, besides the fact my law office smells like a Subway, I have no reason to complain." He looked again at Arya's glass and clearly thought about the things he wanted to complain about. "I think I'm going to have a glass of wine."

"Tyrion." Sansa sternly told her husband. "You know you shouldn't."

Tyrion didn't heed her warning, returned from the kitchen with a fine steamed glass, and poured himself a mighty glass of wine. "Why not?" Gendry asked.

"Cus his sponsor told him not to," Sansa answered.

"It's called Narcotics Anonymous, not Narcotics Tell Everyone About my Personal Business," Tyrion spat at his wife and took a sip.

"But, he told you not too…" Sansa tried to remain cool, but the anger she had with her husband, and with Arya, was palpable.

"He said that when I drink I can make bad decisions." Tyrion looked to everyone else at the table. "No one offer me any drugs tonight," and he turned back to Sansa, "see, no risk of relapse tonight."

"That's not the point," Sansa growled. Arya felt a smidgen guilty for enabling her sister's husband, but that was dampened by how annoyed she was with Sansa currently.

"So…ummm…Sansa…" Gendry mumbled as his eyes darted around the room as he thought of any subject to break the awkward silence. Arya half expected him to look at the lamp and ask 'how's your lamp doing?' But, unfortunately, Gendry's eyes were drawn to the most complicated item in the room. "You got that birdcage from San-" he paused and stopped himself from saying Sandy, "-dor?"

"Yes, that was a wedding gift from Sandor," she said and Tyrion took a swig. "I think it's lovely."

"That's one word for it," Tyrion said under his breath.

Ohh, fuck me, Arya thought. She could just see the fight forming in front of her. Why did they come here tonight? They could have just stayed home, enjoyed some leftovers, and Gendry would have probably had his way with her twice by now. But no-o-o-o-o, they had to be here, right in the crossfire of someone else's fight.

"You said you were okay with Sandor's gift," Sansa shot the first volley.

"I said I was okay with your ex giving you a gift. I didn't know it would be one of the creepiest things I've ever seen."

"It is not."

"Hey," Gendry tried to interrupt their flow. "After this did you guys want to play some scrabble?"

"It is so!" Tyrion countered, ignoring Gendry. "Not to mention what he said to me when he gave you the gift!"

"What did he say?" Arya couldn't help but ask.

"He gave Sansa the box, leaned down to me and then said, 'if you ever hurt her I will fuck your face.'"

"Sandor's just a bit protective!" Sansa yelled, clearly annoying Tyrion by defending her ex-boyfriend.

"Or maybe Monopoly," Gendry suggested. "I could go for Yahtzee I guess."

"Psycho is more like it!" Tyrion yelled at his wife. "And that's not even the worst part! We can keep the birdcage, but can we at least throw out the blood? I don't want it to break and give my son Hep C!"

"Fine!" Sansa screamed and vaulted off her chair to the aforementioned birdcage. "I'll get rid of it!" She stormed into the kitchen and violently threw the vial into garbage, causing everyone to wince at the glass breaking once it hit the bottom. Sansa returned to her seat and they all just sat there. Arya didn't know what the correct thing to say was after her sister violently threw a vial of her ex-boyfriend's blood into the garbage.

"So…is that a no to games after dinner?" Gendry meekly asked trying again to break the silence.

"I'm sorry," Sansa sighed. "It's been a long day. And I'm PMSing real bad." Tyrion seemed to sigh along with his wife.

"That sucks…" Arya muttered. It seemed odd for Sansa to define herself with that cliché.

"Yeah. It does." Sansa's eyes started look teary. "Excuse me." With all the grace should could muster, she left the table, more tears streaming down her face as she walked toward the bathroom.

"Okay then," Arya sighed. "I mean, I don't like my special time of the month either, but it's never that bad. I mean, usually I'm excited, because it means another month has gone by and I'm still not preg-" Arya stopped herself as the truth finally occurred to her. "Ohh, damn."

"Yeah, today was her fifth day of being late," Tyrion explained. "We were really hopeful…maybe too hopeful." Tyrion started to get up from the table. "I'm going to go talk to her."

"No," Arya stopped him. "I will. We have a few things to talk about."

"Fair enough." Tyrion shrugged and finished off his glass of wine and started on another.

Arya found her sister sitting on the side of the bathtub with a wad of toilet paper in her hand. "Hey," Arya lightly said. "How's it going?"

"Peachy," Sansa sadly chuckled and wiped away some of her tears. "Sorry I ruined the evening. I was just trying to help."

"It's okay…" Arya lied. "I might have done the same thing," she lied again. If Arya wanted to tell Sansa that her boyfriend cheated on her, she would have just fucking done it.

"I had to do something. I've wanted to tell you since I found out, but Tyrion made me promise I wouldn't."

"You didn't do anything wrong…that time you hit Gendry, I take it you hit him 'cus you knew he kissed her."

Sansa nodded.

"Thanks," Arya patted her sister on the knee. "Tyrion, told me about what happened."

Sansa slightly sobbed and shook her head. "I was being so stupid. It's only been two months, but I thought…maybe…Tyrion and I would get lucky."

"You will, you will," Arya assured her.

"Fuck," Sansa sighed, "I miss being on the pill. Cramps are killing me and it feels like someone kicked me in the vag."

Arya couldn't help but laugh. "You do realize that pregnancy isn't much smoother?"

"Yeah, I know. But, it'd be worth it."

"C'mon," Arya took her sister's hand. "Let's go enjoy your lasagna and not talk about my relationship, your ovaries, Tyrion's job, or anything else upsetting."

"That sounds amazing," Sansa smiled and took her hand.

The rest of the evening thankfully went forward without incident, albeit still a little awkward. Tyrion stopped after his second glass of wine under the menacing menstrual gaze of his wife. Sansa cleaned herself up before they headed back to the table, and besides the terrible period, seemed to have a great time after Tyrion stopped his drinking. They played Scrabble and besides the time Arya played 'cheated' and Tyrion played 'infant' nothing was that awkward.

"Well, that was…good…" Gendry mumbled when they were back home in their bedroom.

"Yeah," Arya shrugged and heard her husband sneak up behind her.

"You have a good night?" his hands slipped down her body his fingers began to circle on her thighs. She did, and his fingers felt amazing, but unfortunately the moment from earlier in the night was lost.

"I did have a good night," she sighed. "But, Sansa's whole problem, and Tyrion…and…I just don't feel like it anymore."

"Oh," Gendry sadly grunted. "Okay then." He stopped his advances and they both changed into their pajamas. "Good night," Gendry said as he turned out his light.

"Night," she lightly answered and rolled to her side. "Gendry?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you hold me?"

"Sure," he rolled over and held her.

"I can't believe Sansa knew and didn't tell me," Arya commented. "And I don't think she was going to tell me. I think she was going to just guilt trip you until you told me."

"I'm not surprised. She promised Tyrion she wouldn't."

"Still."

"Well…what would you do?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, what if Tyrion kissed another woman, I found out, drunkenly admitted it to you, and then made you promise you wouldn't tell Sansa?"

"I'd tell Sansa…"

"And break your promise to me?"

"I'd…" Arya started again and realized she had the perfect answer to this question. "I'd say we're on vacation and we shouldn't be having this conversation."

"Fair enough," Gendry laughed.

"In fact after tonight I think we should have four day vacation through Tuesday."

"I can go for that."

"Good," Arya cooed, got comfortable and fell asleep in his arms.

The next morning Arya woke up with Gendry still wrapped around her. It was pleasant sight to see him still asleep at seven in the morning with some sunlight splaying across his face. Gendry was still having problems getting a full night sleep, but since he had returned to their room he had seemed to be doing much better. She nestled deeper into bed and stayed there until Gendry got up about an hour later.

"Morning," he groaned and rolled on to his back.

"Morning," Arya followed him and rolled on top of him.

"What did you want to do today?" he asked as his hands crept up her sides.

"I don't know," she spread her legs around his hips and straddled him. "We need to go grocery shopping, we need some laundry detergent, and I've been hankering for a roast beef on wheat so we might go to Subway for lunch."

"Sounds like a good day," Gendry sighed under her weight. All that was between him and her were thin layers of cotton.

She lowered her head down to his neck and slowly kissed her way to his ear, being sure to give his lobe a gentle nibble. "Are you sure that's all you wanna do?"

"I could probably think of a couple things," Gendry nearly growled as he fidgeted beneath her. "I have a very active imagination." Whatever anxiety he had was gone in that moment as his hand crept up her back. His fingers sent a shiver up her spine and a tremble in her arms.

They made love that morning for the first time in far too long. Their movements were slow at first, both of them out of practice, but soon enough their hips rocked in unison. Her hands slithered up his back began to twist in his hair. She moved faster and faster, and he slid deeper and deeper, until both reached their end. It was a moment of bliss when nothing else, none of their shit, mattered. The moment passed and she rolled to the side as life began to come back to focus. Their shit mattered again, first and foremost they both badly needed a shower. "I missed that," Gendry sighed as he got out of bed, a sweaty, smelly, sexy mess.

"Me too," Arya purred and joined him in the trek to the shower.

"So, now what?" he asked.

"Well, we do need laundry detergent…I think I need to wash the sheets."

"I agree," he laughed looking back at their bed. It was also a sweat, smelly, splotchy, mess.

They spent the rest of the day together with no incident and not even a smidgen of awkwardness. Not until that night did Arya remember they were on vacation and they weren't supposed to be talking about their relationship problems. It just didn't come up. Words couldn't express how happy she was that it didn't come up.

AN:

A special thanks to Crogos for continuing to be my faithful partner in fanficiton crime. Also thanks for everyone who continues to read and review. Over the last year (yeah, I know, a year) I've become addicted to getting reviews to this story. Hearing people's POV of how I portray the character's and their reaction/thoughts on issues related to relationships is always interesting.

Next time – In the past and present Arya and Gendry face difficulties with their families around the holidays. In the past Arya has her first Christmas away from her mother. In the present Arya and Gendry head back home for Christmas, where Jon has a surprise for his family. Also, if you were curious why in the future Tyrion has a tattoo of a unicorn above his penis, I'll talk about that.