Disclaimer: I recently got obsessed with Game of Thrones, but doesn't mean I own it!
Story: Shireen has a hard time with people, but Sansa has always been there and parents her more than her actual parents. She doesn't even know where her mother is and her father tries but ends up awkward or distant. But she has Sansa and band, so it's alright, she supposed. Sansa had been taking care of Shireen for a long time. She's been to each of the girl's band concerts. She also makes sure Stannis gets the invites and pictures. He just hadn't realized how much a part of their lives she was until she was practically gone. These two awkward Baratheons have had their lives entwined with Sansa's so much that they couldn't picture life without her.
Set as a modern day AU.
Spoilers: No.
Warnings: No, I don't think so. Cursing and maybe sexual situations?
Pairings: Stansa (Stannis/Sansa)

March to My Heartbeat
Chapter Five: The Epiphany

Stannis, for once, had decided to work from home. It was early, though Shireen had already headed off to school. She'd said something about early practice and had needed to get to school earlier than the assigned time.

But it made him think. He wanted to spend time with his daughter —just make a day of it. He wanted Shireen and he to reconnect and maybe just them hanging out with no other obligations would help.

What would they do though? Where would they go? He had no idea how to go about this and that made him feel further inadequate as a father.

He was not built for fatherhood, he was sure. Maybe there was just something in him and his brothers that made them incapable of being remotely able to parent or appreciate family bonds. He was certainly at a lost to what he should do and how to proceed from here for his daughter.

But…there was one person who could help. Someone who knew Shireen and has practically been a parent to her.

Except could Stannis call Sansa Stark?

He wasn't sure. It would be embarrassing having to ask someone for help on how to bond with his own daughter, and having them know he needed help —but Sansa knew about the situation and might even understand his plight. She was definitely willing to help him and Shireen, so this would be no different for her in all likeliness.

Just Stannis being actually there and being proactive, and not being an absentee, deadbeat dad.

Yes, he was going to be hard on himself because it was true.

So, after taking several deep breaths, he looked at his phone and reluctantly called the young woman. After just a few seconds though, he was already tempted to hang up and call it quits.

Luckily (unluckily), she answered the phone with a breathless "Hello?"

Breathless? Why was she breathless? Was she breathless because it was him calling, just like he'd been breathless the last time she'd called him —

"I'm sorry I sound so," she took several breaths. "Breathless! I just took a jog around the park and ended up home now. Good timing, Mr. Baratheon! Anyway, is there something I can help you with?"

Feeling himself blush and berate himself for his stupid thoughts, he centered himself and brought the matter to hand.

"I, that is…I was hoping you could help me find ways to bond with Shireen? I wanted to plan some sort of day for her, with us hopefully reconnecting."

"Oh! Of course I'll help! Would you like me to come over?"

That made his heart stutter and his cheeks warmer. Unfortunately though, Shireen would likely come back home to them discussing his plans.

"I don't know how long it'll take, but I know that Shireen might come home from school and find us talking about my plans. I want it to be a surprise, so I'd like to avoid her finding out."

Which meant they'd have to meet elsewhere. Perhaps at a café or even that park she'd been just running at —

"You could come over my home then!"

It was like his mind went into a car wreck and everything came screeching to a halt. His mouth went dry and his tongue felt heavy, and Gods why was it so hard to talk?

"Ngh?"

No, no, no —why did that happen?!

"Mr. Baratheon, is something wrong? Do you need me to call 911? Mr. Baratheon!"

Oh fuck, he'd gotten her all worried over him and he was still being an unresponsive idiot.

"Fine," he bit out. He cleared his throat. "I'm fine. I, uh, was distracted for a moment. But yes, your place is fine, if you're okay with it?"

"Sure, of course," and she rattled off her address to him and they hung up soon after.

Stannis buried his face into his hands. What's wrong with him?

He'd driven himself over quickly, not wanting to wait. And by the Seven, when she'd opened the door to him, he was the one feeling breathless, as if he'd run all the way from his home to hers.

She was all smiles for him, wearing a flowy blouse that was a soft pink that went well with her fiery red hair and pale skin. Her bright blue Tully eyes were almost twinkling in greeting at him, as if welcoming him home. And her legs —long, lean legs that were encompassed by fitted leggings that accentuated everything.

"Come in, come in, Mr. Baratheon!" she kept smiling, moving aside to let him into the apartment. "Don't mind Lady. She'd get up to greet you, but she's an elderly," Sansa said teasingly, glancing at the wolfish looking dog laying on a large dog bed by the kitchen island.

Lady barely lifted her head, made a soft bark, before laying her head back down and going back to sleep.

"I've had her for a little over a decade," Sansa told him with a tender smile at her dog. "Dr. Tarly tells me she's getting too old to be running around much."

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said, thinking of Proudwing, the bird he'd once rescued years ago. "I'm sure she knows how much you love her."

That had Sansa smiling at him again, making his heart act strangely once more. Perhaps it was a precursor to a heart attack…

"Would you want something to drink, Mr. Baratheon?" she asked him, heading over to the kitchenette.

"Water is fine," he replied, glad that he wasn't making a fool of himself in her presence. "Do you have any lemons? I tend to have a slice with my water."

"Oh! I do. Lemon and any lemon things are my favorite," she told him, grabbing a fresh one from her fridge and slicing it in half, before slicing off two individual slices of it. She took two glasses filled with iced water and placed a slice of lemon in each of them. She led the way to her couch, where he almost hesitated obviously.

They were going to sit on the couch. Together. Next to each other.

Stannis slowly followed the rest of the way, sitting next to her, and realized his worries. It was definitely too small to fit them both and their sides were pressed together.

"So were you thinking anything specific yet, Mr. Baratheon?"

"Call me Stannis," he blurted out before mentally cursing at himself.

Why was he such a clumsy fool when it came to her?

But then she was grinning. "Then call me Sansa please!"

"Sansa," he found himself saying before sighing inwardly. He hadn't even had a reason to say her name, aside from just wanting to! When was he going to stop embarrassing himself?

"If you didn't have an idea yet, I thought you could take her to the beach? She's told me before how she misses going to the beach with you, how you'd used to take her out there when she was younger and let her play in the sand in the waves."

Stannis was taken aback. He didn't know what to feel about that. Sad and reminisced of such memories, that he'd stop being able to do such a simple but happy thing with his daughter, that Shireen remembered and missed those times herself. She had even told Sansa about it.

"Selyse never came," he murmured, thinking back to those times. "She hated the sand and couldn't understand why Shireen liked playing with it so much. She was always complaining about us going, but it was just the two of us and it was our time together. Shireen and I loved the sea. We loved the water and being out there for us was calming and special. We could spend hours just out there."

It again made him melancholic and wistful of the past, again a reminder of how far apart he and Shireen had become.

A soft hand on his startled him out of his thoughts, and he saw Sansa giving him a hesitant look, but still sweet and kind.

"You're really easy to talk to," he found himself murmuring, caught off guard by the admission.

"I'm glad," she told him shyly. "The truth is, Shireen is important to me. She's not…I'm not really related to her or anything, but all these years with her and it's almost as if she is. In fact, I really do consider her family, Mr. Barath —Stannis," she amended. Then she gave an almost helpless shrug. "I know she's been upset by the distance between the two of you. I don't want to overstep, but I can't help myself," she admitted to him. "You and Shireen, even if you haven't been physically part of us before now, have been such a large part of my life and most of all, I want to make Shireen happy."

"Part of that happiness being marred by me," Stannis looked down. But in that angle, he saw her grip his hand and he found himself gripping it back.

"I want her happy," Sansa continued as Stannis looked back at her. "So I want to do everything I can to help you two, even if it's making myself available for you to ask whatever you need or being extremely nosy and interfering. Besides, you have the added benefit of being just as easy to talk to for me as well!"

Stannis looked at her in bewilderment. Him? He would scoff but didn't want to offend her; just that him being easy to talk to was something he'd never heard described about him. As far as he was concerned, most people thought he was a difficult person, and hardly someone 'easy to talk to'.

"You know, my father and I had a similar problem," Sansa said. "It wasn't that he loved me any less, and definitely not any lesser than my siblings, but I was definitely the child he couldn't understand or relate to as much, which made it difficult for the two of us to communicate for the longest time. That's also why I don't want you and Shireen to feel like this and end up so distant from each other for so long, when you two can change things and I can help push that change. A miscommunication of feelings caused my father and I to not connect the way we were supposed to, and I want to make sure things aren't like that for you and Shireen."

It really moved him that she cared and wanted to help him and Shireen so much.

"The beach," he proclaimed, feeling lighter and happier than he had in years. And it was all because of her. "I'll take Shireen out to the beach after making her breakfast. Afterwards, we can…" he trailed off unsurely.

"She likes to binge movies on Friday nights and some weekends, so if you're planning this then, you could stay up and binge with her," Sansa suggested.

"Okay, I can do that," he agreed, finding it simple and easy to do. And if it was something Shireen usually did and liked, then it's something he could share in with her.

Without even thinking, he began to smile at her and realized he was feeling relaxed and not at all tense or unhappy.

In fact, he was very happy…

Stannis looked at the sweetly smiling Sansa, with her rose-tinted cheeks, her copper-colored hair, and those blue as the sky eyes and felt his heart begin that familiar racing beat that it went into around her.

And he made the realization that he really adored this girl who had unexpectedly crashed into his life, even though she'd already found her way into it before he even knew it.

Started 2/17/20 – Completed 2/21/20

A/n: Stanniiiis! You dork XD Eh, at least you're smartening up to things (and also getting the clue, lol). Haha, at least these two are on first name basis now, though it took the halfway point for them to do so. Let's keep going! Anyway, thank you all for continuing to support this story and continue to leave feedback! I love to know what you guys like or what to see~

Quick Points:

1. Current GoT Fics: Her Song of Fire and Ice (SansaxRoose/Stannis/Tywin), A Red King Bowed (Roose/Sansa), and March to My Heartbeat (Stannis/Sansa). Also The (Im)Perfect VERSE, including Deck the Halls and now Count Me Down to Midnight, and now Be Still, Heart.