Arya wasn't quite sure what happened to Sansa, but she was beginning to think that something had broken the brain of her poor sister. She hadn't seen a smile like that on Sansa in years, and Arya watched as Sansa ran around Winterfell so excited for the baby like she was the one who was with child. It was a little amazing to watch. Sansa excitedly sent out the ravens to all of the houses and then wrote some more to all of their various allies, including Daenerys, Edmure and Roslin, the Baratheon, and Yara.
"Do you think I'll get to send any of these ravens out?" Meera asked one day as they were relaxing in the godswood with Nymeria. It seemed that Nymeria knew that Meera was pregnant and had attached herself to Meera and wouldn't leave her side. No matter what Arya said or did, Nymeria was going to protect that new pup with her life. Ghost was also lingering close but seemed to know that Nymeria had it handled.
"Not a chance," Arya said. "It's best to just let these sorts of things happen when it comes to Sansa. She's excited, though, and I don't think I've seen her like this since we were kids. It's nice to see people smiling and excited again."
"Yeah, it'll be nice to have some little Reed's running around with Stark blood," Meera said as she placed a hand on her stomach. "I just wish my parents or Jojen were here to see this. My cousins tell me that Greywater Reach is doing well, and I love the North, but I do miss the Neck more than I can express sometimes."
"I'll make sure you get down there again," Arya said. "I know what it's like to be far away from home and wanting to go back but knowing that you can't for whatever reason. Your reasons are good at least, but that little pup is a Stark and a Reed. It needs to know the waters of the Neck as much as it needs to know the snow of Winterfell."
"Bran said the same thing and even said he would do his best to come with me when I want to go if I wanted to take the baby with me, but I don't think that's a good idea," Meera said, and she looked a little sad. "I've only traveled without Bran once, and that was when I went with you to deal with House Frey. I think it would bring some bad memories if we traveled together. But I wouldn't want to keep Bran from his son or daughter too."
"You have plenty of time to figure this out," Arya said as she placed a hand on Meera's shoulder and squeezed it. "And you have us; we're not going to let you go through this alone." Meera smiled, and the two of them sat quietly until Sansa found them sometime later. Sansa sat down in the snow, uncaring of the mud on her skirts, and grinned.
"I'm starting to think you're more excited about this than I am," Meera said, and Sansa blushed a little.
"I love babies and children. I miss the days when children would run around Winterfell, and I can't wait to see it happening again," Sansa said with a shrug. "And I'm not going to have children of my own, so I have to live through you. I chose Theon, and he cannot have children, and I won't have children that aren't Theon's."
"Maybe we should trade partners," Arya said with a smirk. "You can borrow Gendry, and we'll get the whole thing sorted out. It won't be a problem, right?"
"Arya, that isn't even a little funny!" Sansa said. She sounded scandalized, but she was laughing. Arya knew how much her sister wanted to be a mother someday and, much like her and Gendry, Sansa and Theon were going to raise a child that wasn't of their blood. It wasn't the same, though, and Arya knew that Sansa was at least a little sad that she was going to be missing out on something like this even if Sansa wasn't a fan of the steps it took to getting with child.
"Can you imagine the looks on those stupid boys' faces if either of you even mentioned that?" Meera said with a laugh. "I'm pretty sure Gendry would flee into the forest and not come back for several weeks if he could get away with it."
"Oh, several weeks if you were lucky," Arya said. "If he could find a smithy with someone who wouldn't tell us where he was, he'd hole up there for days at a time beating metal into submission as if it had personally offended him. What would Theon do if he heard that?" Sansa wasn't looking at either of them; she was staring at her hands, which were twisted painfully in her lap. Arya was joking, but as she glanced at Meera, she realized that maybe this wasn't something Theon was ready to joke about. She had time, years even, to come to terms with what was done with her body and the choice that was taken from her. Theon had not.
"Theon would probably go back to the Iron Isles and never return to me," Sansa said softly. Arya didn't know what to say to that, Meera clearly didn't either, and the three of them sat in the godswood in silence for a long time.
Gendry was coming to enjoy his life in Winterfell as much as he could. The Stark's were good people that had gone out of their way to accept him as a member of the family. He knew it was partially because they were good people, but it was also because they didn't want to risk losing Arya again. He could have been legitimized as a Baratheon, but his bastard status would follow him for the rest of his life the same way some people still thought of Jon as a bastard. He knew he wouldn't ever be good enough for their wild warrior princess, so Gendry did his best to keep his head down and not to cause trouble for Jon and Sansa.
The topic of children had started to come up a lot more in recent months, and before Meera announced that she was expecting Gendry went to Sansa with worries about what people would say about Arya when they found out she couldn't have children. He knew what people said when members of the smallfolk were barren; he couldn't even begin to think what they would say about a high born girl who couldn't have children.
"They will use it against her in every possible way," Sansa said with a sigh. "They will start terrible rumors about her being even more ruined than she already is, and it will undermine us with our bannermen. You know that women aren't seen as anything other than vessels for producing heirs, and if you cannot do that, then you have no purpose."
"The Hand to the King is a woman, the head of the Kingsguard is a woman, and one of your greatest warriors is not only a woman but a princess, and people still think she isn't worth anything more than her ability to have children?" Gendry wanted to spit on the ground for his disgust at this system but couldn't because they were inside, and Sansa was way scarier than people realized.
"I know," Sansa said, and she sighed. "I know how much you love my sister, and I do have one idea, but she's not going to like it, and it isn't going to make things easier for you here."
"Tell me," Gendry said without hesitating.
"We'll tell them the reason you two cannot have children is because of you, not her," Sansa said carefully. Gendry blinked and realized why this would work.
"They already hate me so what is one more reason," Gendry said as he leaned back in his chair and frowned. "Do you think they'll ever accept me?"
"I don't know," Sansa said. "I wish I did, but I don't. You're from the south, and the south has given us a lot of trouble over the years. You're the son of the king that took Ned Stark and his daughters away from Winterfell. Robert Baratheon asking my father to be his Hand is likely the reason so many members of my family are dead. If he hadn't asked, then maybe they would be alive."
"Robb would be ruling or even Ned still," Gendry said. "But they wouldn't be independent." He sighed and looked at the fire in front of him. "She isn't going to like it, but I'll do it anyway if it'll make things easier for you and Jon."
"That loyalty will hopefully be the thing that will win them over in the end," Sansa said and kissed him on the cheek. Meera announced she was pregnant not long after and that appeared to be the distraction that everyone needed. There weren't any more talks about when he was going to have kids with Arya, and if they had been together so long, why hadn't they had kids yet. Gendry had to hand it to Bran and Meera; they had excellent timing. He was busy now, in the forge, putting the final details on the crown for Yara. Theon was supposed to come down and bring him a drawing of the driftwood crown that this was based on so he could get a better idea of what it looked like.
"Ser?" a female voice said, and Gendry looked up to see one of the kitchen girls standing in the doorway.
"May I help you?" Gendry asked, and the girl blushed, which confused him. He looked around to make sure that he hadn't done anything stupid, but there wasn't anything.
"I have a meal for you, ser if you're hungry," she said as she carried a tray of food into the forge, but he wasn't quite ready to stop working on the crown for food.
"You can leave it on the table, and I'll get to it in a little while," Gendry said. "Thank you." The girl curtsied and walked out of the forge. He watched her go and was more than a little confused. The staff knew him and more or less treated him like they would treat one of their own when it was just them. It was what he wanted and what he asked them to do when he moved into Winterfell permanently. He didn't like having people wait on him as it was the idea of anyone bowing to him made Gendry very uncomfortable. The only explanation was that the girl had to be new and didn't know that he made that request. Gendry made a mental note to tell Beth, the lovely woman who ran the kitchens, to inform the girl of his request should he see her in the future.
He went back to working on the crown but looked up when the door to the forge opened again, and Theon walked in. Gendry could tell that something was bothering him and gestured for Theon to come in and have a seat in a chair Gendry had near his work table. Arya usually sat there if she wanted to watch him work, but she wasn't here today; she was spending some time with Sansa and Meera. Theon collapsed into the chair and stared at the ceiling. Gendry went back to working on the crown and waited for Theon to say whatever he came in here to say. Sometimes, Theon needed more time to say the words, and Gendry had all the time in the world to wait.
"She's so happy," Theon said softly.
"Who is?" Gendry asked without looking up from his work.
"Sansa, she's so happy that Meera is having a baby. I've never seen her like that," Theon said, and he sounded sad. Gendry looked up from his work, and Theon looked like he wanted to be anywhere else in the world right now.
"It's an exciting time. Why would that bother you?"
"She's so happy about something she can't have because she's with me," Theon said, and he curled into himself a little in the chair as if he could make himself smaller somehow. It didn't work, and Gendry set the crown aside. He was going to send a raven to Yara today to let her know that the crown was finished, he was just putting the fine detailing on it, and by the time the raven got the Iron Isles, it would be done. Now he was wondering if he was going to have to add an update about Theon's state of mind as well.
"She chose you," Gendry said. "The same way that Arya chose me and Meera chose Bran. Those women, those amazing women, they knew what they were getting into when they chose to be with men like us. Arya knew that people were always going to question our marriage and look down on it, and it was always going to be hard, but she chose me anyway. Meera knew that she had to give up Greywater Reach and the Neck to stay here in the Neck if she chose to stay with Bran, and she did. She chose him over her home because that is what she wanted. Sansa could have any man in the world; you know that as much as I do, but you are the one she chose. She wants to be with you, Theon, and she chose to be with you knowing that one of the things she was giving up was having her own children. She chose you anyway."
"Well, maybe it was a mistake," Theon snapped. "Maybe she made a mistake, and she'll realize that she doesn't really want me, or she'll regret not having her own children someday."
"You're going to take a child in someday, the same Arya, and I plan to, so she's going to be a mother, and you're going to be a father," Gendry said, and Theon winced as if the very idea was painful to him. "Not now because you're both still healing, but that little pup that Bran and Meera are bringing into the world? It's going to heal this place. I can feel it. It's why Nymeria is following Meera around; she knows that the little one is going to heal us all. Sansa wants to be with you; she chose you, so respect her enough to honor that choice." Theon's hands were twisted into a knot in front of him, and he eventually looked up at Gendry with wide eyes.
"You're a lot more perceptive than you let on," Theon said.
"They underestimate me, and I'd like to keep it that way. It's safer for all involved, which I think is something you understand," Gendry said with a shrug. "Your sister's crown is nearly done, and I was going to send a raven to her today to let her know. Do I need to include anything about you when I send this raven?"
"No, I'll figure my own shit out," Theon said as he stood up and left. Gendry had a feeling that Theon didn't believe him, but there wasn't anything that he could do about that. He set the crown in a safe place and sat down at the table to eat some food. The raven could wait a little while to go out.
Arya could tell that something was wrong with several people in Winterfell, but it didn't appear that anyone was really talking about it. Theon seemed to be withdrawing even more, and when Theon withdrew, he took Sansa with him. Without Sansa around, Meera was having a hard time with her pregnancy, which put more stress on Bran, who was already extremely stressed about this entire thing. Gendry, it seemed, was the only one who was taking all of this in stride. He just sat back and let everyone have their own private meltdowns, and whenever Arya brought it up, he would remind her that it wasn't her responsibility to fix her family's problems. Sometimes they needed to solve these things on their own.
She didn't like that answer, but she accepted it for what it was. That didn't mean Arya didn't try. She did her best to keep Theon engaged and talk to Sansa. She tried to keep Meera happy and healthy despite how little she knew about pregnancy. Arya had maternal instincts; she knew that, but she didn't know how to use them in this type of situation, so half the time, she let the people affected rant about their various problems until they were drained or out of breath.
They were all breaking their fast one morning when someone ran in with a scroll and handed it to Gendry. He opened it and raised an eyebrow.
"Queen Yara got my notice that her crown is ready and is insisting that I deliver it myself to the Iron Isles. Apparently, since I did for Queen Daenerys and since I personally handed King Jon his crown, it would be a great dishonor to her if I didn't bring the crown to her personally," Gendry said.
"Of course," Jon said, but he rolled his eyes and smiled a little. Jon and Yara got along surprisingly well, and they both knew what it was like to be fiercely protective of siblings that were a bit broken in the long run.
"Arya is, of course, permitted to join me-"
"-How kind of her to permit me to accompany my own husband on a journey-" Arya interjected.
"-and Prince Theon is also summoned along with Princess Sansa," Gendry finished. They all turned to Theon, who had suddenly become very pale in front of them.
"She wants me to come home?" Theon asked, and Gendry nodded as he stood up and handed Theon the scroll to read. Something on the scroll made Theon go even more white as he read over the words. "Sansa, you don't have to come with me, of course. You are the Hand of the King; I'm sure you are needed here."
"Nonsense," Sansa said with a wave of her hand. "Jon can handle things while I'm away, can't you, Jon?"
"I see no reason why I couldn't," Jon said with a smile. "It would be good for both of you to get out of Winterfell for a little while."
"Sansa, really, it's okay, you don't-" Theon tried, but Sansa frowned.
"Why don't you want me to come with you?" she asked, and her eyes widened. "Are you not planning on coming back? Is that what this is?"
"No, I would never do that to you!" Theon exclaimed as he waved the scroll around like it had all of the answers in the world.
"Then why wouldn't you want me to come with you?" Sansa asked, and she plucked the scroll from his hand. Theon looked like he was about to argue and ask for it back as she read it. "Oh, this doesn't just request me by name. It requested that Prince Theon and his betrothed Princess Sansa come to the Iron Isles to celebrate the joining of our Great Kingdoms and Houses."
"I don't know why Yara thinks we're betrothed, I didn't tell her that, I promise that I didn't," Theon said so quickly that he was nearly stumbling over his words.
"Do you not want to be betrothed?" Sansa asked. "Is that what the problem is?"
"What?"
"We are betrothed in all but name. We never made it official, I know, but we share a bed and a life. I thought you knew that meant I chose you for good," Sansa said. "I asked you to stay, and you said you were staying, did you not mean it when you said you were staying? Do you not want to stay with me?"
"I would stay with you in any capacity you have me," Theon said as he stared at Sansa like she hung the moon itself.
"So I will travel with you as your betrothed because we're betrothed," Sansa said as she reached over and took his hand. "I am yours, Theon Greyjoy, and I would very much like you to be mine."
"Yes," he said, and everyone fell silent as they stared at the two of them.
"Congratulations to Prince Theon and Princess Sansa on their official betrothal, I suppose," Jon said as he raised a glass. Arya laughed to herself as she watched Theon and Sansa both come to terms with what just happened around them. They both appeared to have forgotten that everyone was watching this unfold, and they just got betrothed in a very public way.
"And people say I'm the dramatic one in the family," Bran said with a smirk and Meera hit him on the arm.
