Chapter 2: Creep

The summer of 1993 was turning out to be one of the longest and warmest on record, even in Winterfell. The dogs and horses they still managed to keep on their property had enjoyed it, the farmers in the North were enjoying bumper crops unheard of in that area for decades, and her younger brothers were certainly enjoying weeks upon weeks of camping outside and swimming in streams that were normally icy cold.

For Sansa, the long summer was continuing and only getting hotter on the road trip south to Highgarden. It took almost two full days of driving, sitting in the middle row next to her younger sister, her mother and father up in front, and every usable space of the Dodge Caravan filled with her belongings and extras for her siblings who were already there.

For as long as she could remember, all that Sansa had wanted in life was to attend college in Kings Landing, the capital and arguably the most metropolitan and fashionable city in Westeros. Even since she had heard about it, she had made plans in her head to go to Maegor College for Women, a thousand year old institution in the old historic city center, still in use from the days when the Baratheons were kings amongst men, instead of just her father's ex-business partners.

That's why the Stark family mini-van was heading along the Rose Road Highway instead of continuing along the Kings Road all the way to Kings Landing. It was just barely two years ago when the investigation of Baratheon Industries for insider trading and embezzlement began, and when all was said and done, Robert Baratheon was out of a job, out of a best friend and business partner, and his wife Cersei Lannister-Baratheon would be spending the next ten years in a minimum security women's federal prison in the Stormlands. Robert himself was spared the brunt of the blame since there were no records or evidence that he had been involved in his wife's doings, but the cost of the business interruption, trial, and lawyers had left the company with no choice but bankruptcy, not to mention that the majority of the money she'd made off with had either been funneled away to off-shore account in Braavos or was long gone up her nose years ago. With no ambition to try to start again, Robert returned to his family's house in Storms' End and as far as Sansa had heard, mostly from overhearing conversations between her mother and father, had resigned himself to drinking, cursing his imprisoned wife, and yearning for Ned's long-gone younger sister Lyanna.

With his mother imprisoned and his father wasting away in what was left of his family's estate, Joffrey had been sent to live with his father Tywin out in the west, a stern grey man with a military background who promptly put his grandson into a private military prep school, officially putting an end to his relationship with Sansa, which when she thought back on it now, had been a relationship dying a slow death from the start. It'd been fun in the beginning, the first boy who liked her, bright blonde hair and green eyes, who looked and dressed like he should be singing in one of those popular boy bands, New Kids on the Block, or whoever was popular at the time. The distance didn't help and as soon as the news broke about the Baratheon Industries scandal, everything went quickly downhill. She missed parts of it, the good times when she went on vacation with the Baratheons to Dorne or the beaches of the Sunset Sea near Casterly Rock, his mother's hometown, and when he was in good moods and would dote upon her endlessly. In the end though, what did we really have? Sure, he was pretty cute but we had absolutely nothing in common, not to mention how awful he got once he realized I was seriously not going to sleep with him. Should've just ended it right then, she thought now, but it's over now, too late to dwell.

After the business went under, the majority of the money the Starks had invested was also gone. They still had the income from Catelyn Stark's part-time nursing job at Winterfell City Hospital, but they had to start all over again. Ned was in contact again with his younger brother Benjen, who had continued on the Stark family age-old logging business that they were known for. It was certainly a less profitable and much less glamorous business to be in, and Sansa understood fully that the changes would affect them all, for her, most of all it meant that any chance of going to Maegor was off the table.

Instead, in a few hours she would be joining Robb, Jon, and their long-time friend Theon at Highgarden Provincial University - a thought that used to make her cringe. She smiled to herself now thinking about the way she used to act. The real world kicked Sansa Stark square in the ass when her parents first lost their money and pulled her and her sister out of Mordane Academy and her younger brothers out of Luwin Boys School, and they transferred to Winterfell Public Schools near the end of her sophomore year of high school.

Her older brother Robb and half brother Jon, both the same age, had already accepted to attend university at Highgarden so they weren't really affected much, aside from having to rush to take out student loans instead of using what their parents had been saving. Robb had been allowed to finish out the last month or so of his senior year at Luwin's and Jon had been in the public high school the whole time anyways. When the end of their freshman year came around, her father had gotten it into his head that instead of staying in the dorms or renting one of the outrageously expensive apartments near campus, that they would purchase a small house for Robb, Jon, and their friend Theon to live in. The whole family had gone to move them in during the summer and Sansa remembered now just how run down it was. Sure, everything that needed to work worked to make the house habitable, but save for that it was awful, which was probably the only reason they were able to afford it. Part of the agreement with the boys was that they would all keep jobs and spend their own money and sweat working on repairs to fix up the place. I hope in the time they've had it they've actually made it seem like a house, Sansa thought to herself, getting more and more anxious as they got closer to Highgarden. Each distance sign along the highway seemed to be counting down to her future much too quickly.

A few hours later, they finally pulled up and parked at the curb in front of the house. Sitting on the opposite side of the van from the house, Sansa quickly undid her seatbelt and leaned forward to get a better view from the rolled down car window in the front and took a long look at the house she planned to spend her next four years in. It's beautiful, she thought. I almost didn't recognize it when we pulled up. It was still small and the roof looked like it might need some work, but the boys had re-painted the siding a light blue color and replaced all of the gross half broken and half missing shutters with new white ones. She remembered when she was last here and while she could certainly tell it wasn't perfect, she definitely felt like a weight was lifted off of her when she saw even just the outside improvements. Within a few minutes, she saw the screen door fling open, slam against the wall, and soon Robb, Jon, and her brothers' two Husky dogs were all running down the steps leading down from the porch and across the small front yard to greet her parents and sister, all already standing out on the sidewalk. She watched Arya rip open the sliding van door and practically vault herself into Jon's arms as she grabbed her baby pink canvas backpack, slid across the seat to get out of the car, and joined the group, quickly being smushed into a group hug between Robb and Jon, once Arya had finally let him go.

The two days that followed were a blur. Their parents and Arya stayed for the weekend, helping clean up the attic loft that would be Sansa's room and move all of her things in. Afterwards, Ned helped the boys with some of the house projects they were wary of tackling by themselves, some plumbing and electrical, fixing up the front concrete steps to the porch and things like that, and Catelyn managed to wrangle both Sansa and Arya, the latter needing much more wrangling than the former, into helping her cook what seemed like a month's worth of food and then store it all in the freezer. She was amazed at the work her brothers and Theon had done with the inside as well, it was furnished and even somewhat decorated for a house with three college guys, and not just by movie posters. Sure, the faucets were all a little leaky, the water pressure was awful, they'd said the hot water heater was quite temperamental, and she found she had to put her full body weight into her bedroom door if she wanted it to shut all the way, but it was far better than she originally imagined. Maybe I was expecting something a little more Animal House, she thought.

By the time her parents and Arya had finally pulled away from the curb on Sunday, she felt like it was the first time she'd been able to sit down in ages, in spite of just having sat in the car for two whole days not forty-eight hours prior. Classes would be starting on Wednesday, only two full days away, she told herself, so instead of allowing her the time to sit and think, she ran back up the stairs to her room, now furnished and somewhat organized, and grabbed her backpack.

"Robb? Jon? I'm gonna head out for a little bit and check out where my classes are for Wednesday, okay?" She yelled from the front door as she put her shoes on, but all she heard were some grumbled words of acknowledgement from the living room and the noise from the television.

Well, I guess that's as good as any answer they'll give me, she thought to herself smiling. She was glad they'd been able to convince the housing office to allow her to live off-campus, something that normally was mandatory for incoming freshman. It'll be good though, living with Robb and the guys. I can't believe how much I missed them when they left two years ago… even Theon, obnoxious as he might be at times I got used to having him around. The only part that worried her about living off campus was making friends. After getting pulled out of Mordane's in the end of sophomore year, she was startled and, above all, actually pretty angry about how the girls she thought were her friends had treated her after her move to Winterfell High. You'd think I had personally insulted them by moving schools and moved halfway across the country with the way they cut me off. None of what happened was my fault, not even my family's fault, and if it wasn't for Jeyne I would never have known what was going on. Gods, I wish Jeyne was here, Sansa thought, crossing the street that led to the main campus and the student union. She'd known Jeyne Poole since as long as she could remember. Her family was not nearly as well off as Sansa's had been and Jeyne had only been able to attend Mordane's one a number of scholarships, which already made her somewhat of a social pariah from the start. After graduation, she had decided to stay and take classes at Winterfell Community College, telling Sansa she wanted to save money and promising to join her down in Highgarden for their junior year.

The rest of the evening Sansa spent slowly strolling around campus, map and class schedule in hand, exploring and plotting out on the map where all of her classes were and how long it would take to walk to each. If there was one thing that Sansa Stark hated it was not being on time. After finishing her self tour, she stopped by a cafe she'd passed on the way there, grabbing a coffee, and thinking about what her mother and father had both said before they'd left, also picking up a job application from the shift manager. I practically lived at the coffee shop back home... how hard can it be?

Getting home, she toed her shoes off into the pile just inside the front door and went straight up to her room.

"What the... ugh, it's hot as the seven hells in this room..." she swore out loud to herself. It was still nice outside during her walk back, so as quick as she could, she threw her bag onto the bed, which creaked from the new weight, and then pulled open the window that opened out over their backyard. Huh, I wonder if that would work, she thought, noticing that the window led out to a good five or so feet of roof. Well, better than being hot inside. You're not afraid of heights anyways. Coffee in hand, she climbed out the window and sat on the roof, long legs straight out in front of her and leaning up against the siding of the house once she found it was clean enough. Although not very high up, the roof gave her a much better view of the other houses in the neighborhood, mostly old bungalows like theirs, with a few ranches or big brick houses like the one next door thrown in the mix every so often. I can definitely get used to this, she thought, looking around at her new neighbors.

The only two yards she was able to see into were the houses on either side, the one of the left looked to be an exact match to hers, with a backyard full of lawn chairs, a big fire pit, and a couple games of corn hole on the far side, though no one was actually out there yet. The house to the right was must more interesting she decided. The backyard was quite a bit deeper than hers, probably about twice as much, and looked like it had been plucked straight out of a gardening magazine. She'd heard all about the old mansions of the Reach and their sprawling gardens but she never thought she would have a miniature version of one not twenty feet from her house. The yards at the old Stark Estate couldn't even compare to what was in that small backyard, she thought. Midway through her thoughts, she saw someone come out into the open area of the yard that held a barbecue grill and a large dining table and chairs set on a wooden patio. It was a girl, probably close to her age, but Sansa figured maybe older if she already lived here. She wore a simple knee length dress with a floral pattern and cap sleeves, a pair of forest green Wellington boots, a large floppy sunhat, and carried a woven basket full of flower clippings and a couple tomatoes. She set the basket down on the table, looked up to the sky, and took off her hat, letting loose a tumble of wavy chestnut brown hair that settled somewhere just below her shoulders.

She finally turned towards where Sansa was sitting and looked up. Oh great, she probably just thinks I'm some weirdo sitting up on the roof to watch people. She's really pretty though, I bet Theon used to hang out up here all the time until I moved in, she thought, a smile spreading across her face as she tried not to laugh out loud at that thought. The girl noticed her though, but didn't seem to mind, just folded her hat up under her arm, smiled and waved at Sansa, and before picking the basket back up and going inside her house.

Well, since that's arguably the most exciting thing that's happened today, I might as well head inside. What was left of her coffee had cooled off and the sun had set almost completely as she climbed back through her window and into her room.

The next two days came and went without any real commotion. Robb worked Monday so Jon showed her more of the actual city of Highgarden and Robb showed her more of campus when Jon worked the next day as well as where all the grocery stores, banks, and those types of places were, not to mention drop off her application at the cafe. They had a couple of friends over on Monday night, Jon's girlfriend Ygritte, Robb's girlfriend Jeyne Westerling, among some of their other friends from class, a girl named Osha, and some other guys, Gendry and Hot Pie. They were all pretty fun, Sansa thought when she looked back on it. Ygritte was a graduate student a couple years older than Jon, same with Osha, but the rest were all in their junior year like Robb and Jon.

Each evening though, once she was thoroughly disgusted with the temperature in her room, she'd open her window again and climb out onto the roof. Why did I ever think I'd do well in the South? I guess the winter is in my veins just as much as it is for Arya and the rest of them. She'd read for awhile, until the dusk got too dark and started to strain her eyes, and each evening she'd notice the girl next door, working in the garden, floppy hat, long tunic or flowery dress, and a basket full of what she'd gathered that day. She'd always look up and notice Sansa sitting on the roof, smile widely and wave, only to get Sansa's somewhat embarrassed wave in return.

The next morning, Sansa woke up early, making sure she would have enough time to get ready for her first morning of classes. As she paced across her room, holding up various outfits to herself and laying the ones that made the first cut down on the bed, she noticed movement next door out the corner of her eye. When she walked over to the window, she saw the same girl again, the one who had smiled and waved at her each time she saw her. She was dressed in black leggings with an oversized red flannel shirt belted at the waist and mid-calf motorcycle boots, squatting down in front of a row of large terra cotta pots with small garden shears in hand and that same basket, collecting what looked like could only be herbs from each of the pots. Sansa did realize she was staring until the girl quickly turned her head as if something had startled her. Oh, crap, crap, crap, don't look up here. I promise I'm not trying to creep on you. She must be starting to think it's odd that I'm always on the roof, it's just there's no air and all the heat rises to my room, Sansa thought. She let out an audible sigh a moment later when the girl was joined by a couple other people, all guys, in the garden. They must have just called her name from the house or something, that's gotta be it.

"Alright, Sansa, enough being weird, it's time to get ready."

After a half hour or so, she was dressed and ready to go, and she finally heard the guys moving around downstairs. Ya know, I've never seen any other girls in the house next door except for her… That's it. I'm gonna make a point to find out who she is and introduce myself next time I see her. That's how people make friends, right? Talk to their neighbors. I bet Robb and Jon know some of the guys I see there too. Putting her books she'd need for her three classes today into her bag, she finally made it downstairs for breakfast.

"So… I was just kind of curious, but you don't happen to know the neighbors, do you?" Sansa asked, sitting down at the table in the open spot next to Jon.

Robb was busy reading through the back of the cereal box, same as he used to do when they'd all gather for breakfast around the large table in their old house, except only this time he wasn't barricading himself in with all the boxes so no one could see him. "Huh?" he asked, looking away from the box and over to his sister across the table.

"The neighbors. You know, big house on the right with the gardens in back."

"Yea," he nodded, pausing to take in another spoonful of cereal, "Everyone knows them. It's the co-op house the Tyrell family started forever ago. Growing Strong Co-op, I think it's called. Guess it was originally for botany or forestry majors or something like that but now anyone can apply to live there. Why? What's up?"

"Nothing's up. Just thought it'd be good to make some friends that are girls. As much as I love you three and your various friends it would probably be a good idea to branch out a bit. Don't really know anyone here yet and I've seen one of the girls over there who's in the gardens all the time. Shorter than me, wavy brown hair, almost always wearing something flowery." Except for today, she thought to herself.

Robb sat back in his chair as if he was giving it some thought, looked over at Jon and Theon, both who just shrugged, then back to Sansa. "I'll bet it's Margaery. She's the only one I think that works on the gardens... but I'm, um, not certain if she's a good choice."

"What? What's that supposed to mean?" Sansa asked, not having any clue at what her brother was on about.

Robb looked around the room sheepishly for a few seconds. "Margaery Tyrell might not be content with, um, how do I put this? Being just friends with you."

"Robb!" Jon yelled from next to Sansa, his eyes throwing daggers over at Robb.

Seriously, that's what this is about? "Oh, come on, Jon," she said, huffing indignantly. "I spent how many years at Mordane's? You don't think I had friends that were into girls?"

Robb and Jon looked between each other, not really sure what to say. They seemed somewhat embarrassed that they'd even brought that up now. The three of them had paid no mind to Theon though, silently sitting at the end of the table staring at his toast, seemingly more intrigued by his breakfast than anything else, until he looked up at everyone else a moment later.

"So, Sans, why don't you tell us all about it then?" He asked, trying not to laugh.

"Hey! Shut the fuck up, Greyjoy. That's my little sister you're trying to perv on," Robb yelled back and the kitchen table quickly went from a somewhat regular conversation to Robb and Jon threatening to kill Theon should he entertain those types of thoughts regarding their sister again.

Really, guys, it's not that big a deal, Sansa thought, getting up from the table and walking her dishes over to the sink. "Just forget I asked about it, okay? I'll see you later though, don't wanna be late on my first day."

Three days passed and by the time Friday rolled around, Sansa was at her wits' end and about to call this whole thing quits. Within three days of classes, she'd been overwhelmed by all the syllabuses and requirements, classrooms full of hundreds of students, rude workers in the student union, showing up to the wrong buildings multiple times, and to top it all off she didn't think she'd talked to more than a handful of people in her classes, most not really wanting to have any sort of conversation with her.

Frustrated, she headed straight upstairs once she got home, ignoring the calls from Robb and Jon playing the Sega in the front room, dropping her backpack full of books on the floor and climbing out once again on to the roof. Oh, and you know what's worse, too? Sansa thought, I never even heard back from the coffee place about that job. I've checked the machine every day and no messages, nothing.

"I just don't know," she finally said out loud. "Maybe… maybe, I don't belong here."

"What'd you say?"

"Who's there?" Sansa called out, momentarily jolted out of her self-pity and into defense mode, eyes busily scanning everywhere until she saw where the voice came from.

It was the girl from next door, looking up at her, arms crossed in front of her leaning on the flat tops of the fence boards. She must've been on a step ladder to see over it, it had to be at least six feet.

"Hey, don't worry," she replied, the same smile and wave again, albeit a little more reserved this time. "Just me. You alright up there?"

"Yea, I'm fine," Sansa replied curtly.

"You sure? You just seem a bit upset, that's all."

Gods, can she please stop talking? This rooftop is supposed to be my little cool down area. "Why do you care if I'm upset?" she snapped back, immediately regretting it.

She watched the girl look down at her feet and run a hand through her hair before looking up at Sansa again. "Oh, well then. I guess I'll leave you to yourself." She said and started to step down from her ladder.

"Hey, wait, listen. I didn't mean to say that. I've just had a really crap day, that's all. I shouldn't take it out on you, I don't even know your name."

By the time she was done speaking, the girl had come back up the fence and was leaning over again. "It's Margaery," she said, "Margaery Tyrell. I've noticed you up there for a while and kept waving. Kinda wondered when you'd finally say something."

"Well, sorry I had to be so rude, it's not usually like me. I guess this whole new in town thing has gotten to me, ya know. Don't really have anyone to talk to about it yet," she offered as somewhat of an excuse. "Oh, I didn't say yet, but I'm Sansa Stark. My brothers and their friend live here too."

"Well it's nice to meet you. Don't be shy though, you don't have to sit up on that roof and talk to yourself, ya know?" She looked down at the green watch on her wrist as it started to beep. "Shit. Sorry, Sansa, I've gotta run… but hey, we're having a bit of a party tomorrow night, people'll start showing up around eight or so. Sort of a blow off steam from the first week back to classes thing. You should come, if you're not too busy."

"Yea, thanks…" Sansa said, watching her smile and climb down from the ladder and disappear inside the house. Well, that certainly wasn't how I expected this evening to go, she thought. Robb and Jon will probably hate it but I think I'll take her up on that invite.

Sansa was doubting herself once again as she walked up the steps to the house next door at around quarter to nine the next night. This was a horrible idea, she thought. She'd taken almost an hour getting ready, messing with her bangs, playing with her hair, before finally decided just to blow it out and throw it in a messy braid. Messy was in now, right? That whole grunge scene? She had picked out a pair of fitted light washed jeans, a tight plain baby blue t-shirt, and a new yet old leather jacket, which used to be her mom's from way back when.

The front yard sloped gently, just as hers did, and a wide brick paver pathway led up to the front, flanked by wooden planter boxes full of wildflowers. The large three story brick house sat in front of her and she could hear the music coming out loudly through the opened windows, even more loudly than it was ten minutes ago, when she sat on her bed in the loft room, waiting for her brothers to leave so she could walk over without them knowing. She recognized the song, Two Princes by Spin Doctors.

The front door, brick red and matching the shutters, was closed, and falling back on the etiquette lessons from childhood, she rang the doorbell and waited, nervously bouncing back and forth between her left and right foot. A few seconds passed and no one had opened the door yet. "This was a bad idea," Sansa said out loud softly. I bet that girl was just being polite, she thought, but as she stated to turn around she heard the door open.

"Well, what have we here?" The man's voice said. In the doorway blocking her entrance were two men, both looked to be around Robb and Jon's age, maybe a bit older. There was a step up between them, making them look tall but she realized that because of that they were actually of a height with her. The one who had spoken was leaning casually up against the door frame, and staring down at her with bright blues eyes and dark brown, almost black, hair that was long and pulled in a ponytail at the nape of his neck. He wore a black t-shirt with a faded yellow stag design on the front paired with expertly ripped jeans that bunched up around where they met his leather boots.

"I, ugh, I'm new," Sansa spat out. "I just moved in next door and..."

"Next door?" He said excitedly, cutting her off. "With Robb and Jon? Really... gods what I wouldn't give to-"

"Renly! Stop!" The other man said, playfully shoving him before slipping his arm protectively around his waist. He was trimmer, perhaps the build of a swimmer or a runner, with crazy curly dark blonde hair and a forest green flannel over a light grey t-shirt. "You've scared the girl half to death with your first question, just look at her," he said, motioning towards her, "and I don't like you talking about how you pine over her roommate."

Sansa looked back and forth between the both of them, thinking for a moment that they did actually make a cute couple, before she managed to speak. "...brother." Sansa squeaked out. Stop talking like that, Sans, all nervous. They're just neighbors, just college kids, no different from you.

"What'd you say?" Renly asked quickly.

"I said," she began, "He's not just my roommate. He's my older brother. Jon's our half-brother."

Renly stood and looked her over, but the curly haired one spoke first. "I can definitely see that now. The hair, the eyes, the height. It's pretty obvious now why Margs -"

"It's pretty obvious that you're annoying my new friend, big brother." Sansa let out a sigh of relief as Margaery butted in, as if she'd been holding her breath this whole conversation. This was the first time Sansa had seen her look a bit different. Instead of the flowered dresses, this time she had on denim cut-off shorts and a large university sweatshirt, the neckline cut so it fell off her shoulders. She placed herself between the two men and looked down at her. "Sorry, Sansa, I was out in the yard. Didn't hear the bell, I guess. Well," she said, looking between the two men, "I see you've met my old brother Loras and his boyfriend Renly. Loras Tyrell, Renly Baratheon, this is our new neighbor, Sansa Stark. Just started at Highgarden this past week. Now, if you'll excuse us, I invited her over for the party, not to stand on the porch and get the third degree from you two." She smiled and turned her gaze back towards Sansa and offering her hand out to her. "Come on."

Grabbing her hand, Sansa mumbled a "Nice to meet you" at Margaery's brother and his boyfriend, before planting her feet at the entrance when the realization of who she had just met dawned on her.

"Wait, did you say Baratheon?" Sansa asked. "As in Robert Baratheon? Baratheon Industries?"

Renly looked over at Sansa and laughed a little bit at her question. "Yes, dear, guilty as charged. Though, not actually guilty. Robert's my oldest brother and fortunately for me I was nowhere near involved with his company. But you're a Stark though, so I'm sure you're well aware of what happened."

"I've done my best to put it behind me, as did the rest of my family. I'm sure you can understand," Sansa replied.

"Definitely. Now go enjoy yourself, Stark."

Sansa nodded and smiled, grateful that the one Baratheon she'd managed to run into seemed to be nothing like Robert, before allowing Margaery to tug on her arm to pull her into the house and through the mobs of people inside. A lot of them parted when they saw Margaery coming and Sansa had to guess there was probably about a hundred people throughout the house. Even more if this house has a basement, she thought. I wonder if this is the type of party I missed out on in high school? Joff was always talking about the keggers he went to in Kings Landing… either Winterfell High had no such thing or… well maybe I just wasn't invited. Something told her Arya had managed to get the invites. She'd made friends quickly after changing schools, mostly guys, and had many more friends as well as less fights than she ever did at Mordane's.

"Do you know all these people?" Sansa asked, almost yelling, when they got into the kitchen at the back end of the house. The music was switching back and forth between alternative and the latest Top 40 dance hits.

Margaery shook her head as she pushed herself up to kneel on the counter, making her well above Sansa. "Oh, gods, no. Not even close. There are two floors above us and about 20 people that live here in total, so I'm sure that most of the people here are connected to someone." She turned to her left, opening the tall cupboard and pulling out two quart sized mason jars from a shelf she would've never been able to reach from the ground.

"Do you want anything? There's pretty much everything you'd want. Beer, wine… I could probably mix you up something but I give no guarantees that it won't taste like crap. Lots of soda, too, if you don't drink or whatever." She hopped off the counter and opened the fridge, facing away from Sansa and pushing various items around.

"Wine would be good," Sansa replied. "Back in the North all everyone ever talked about was how good the wines were down here in Highgarden and in the Arbor."

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but even though this is the Reach, we're still all poor college kids, so while we've got some wine from the Arbor," she said, letting a bit of a giggle escape and plopping a large container down on the counter, "It's just in a box."

"That's fine. I don't know what I was expecting," Sansa replied, a little bit embarrassed. She watched as red wine filled the jar and Margaery handed it to her.

"Now," she started, "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't all sorts of curious about what could possibly have made you so worked up yesterday when you've only been here a couple of days. Let's go out back. It'll be quieter and I'm pretty positive I'll freak if I have to listen to this damned Jane's Addiction song again. It's like five years old and Loras still has it on repeat."

Before Sansa had time to protest, Margaery had the box of wine put away in the fridge and was making her way towards the doors. She followed behind her through the set of double doors that led from the kitchen to the back porch, and Margaery led her to a wooden bench swing, set back against a row of trees on the edge of the porch. Sansa'd never noticed it before, but all of the trees surrounding the porch had little miniature lights strung up in them.

Do I really even want to talk to her about the other day? Thinking back on it now I just feel so stupid, like some little girl that gets upset when the other kids in the park don't want to play with her, Sansa thought, intently staring into the jar of wine before taking a large gulp.

"Hey, I know you don't know me very well," Margaery began after a few seconds of Sansa's silence, "but you can trust me, okay? You're stuck in that house full of dudes, I'm sure you wish you had a sister to talk to."

Might as well, Sansa thought. She's been so nice so far and she's right about needing someone to talk to… maybe not the sister part as I'm sure Arya would've just made fun of me about this by now.

When she finally looked up at Margaery and started to talk, everything she'd been mulling around in her head came rushing out.

"I spent so long dreaming of moving south, first Kings Landing then here, but I don't know, what with classes and finding a job and finding my way around. You know on Thursday I went to the wrong building twice? This whole up and changing thing, my little sister Arya is so much better at it then I am. She had no problems leaving our private school and heading to public school, and it was awful for me, and I hope this isn't starting out the same way," she explained, taking a deep breath before starting again. "I don't have any friends here, except for my brothers and their friends. Really, I don't know what I expected, I just thought it'd be different. Easier." She paused for a second to take another large drink of the wine. It was too cold, too sweet, but she really couldn't have cared less. "You're the first person that's actually talked to me and I wouldn't be surprised if you thought I was just some sort of creep with the way I've been up on the roof all the time. I swear, I'm not a weirdo, it's just not air conditioned in my room and—"

"Whoa, now, slow down a bit. First, I definitely don't think you're a creep. Second, you'll get the hang of it," Margaery replied. "You should've seen Renly his first week of med school. Could've sworn a bomb had gone off in his head. Seriously though, no one ever knows what they really want at first. I wanted to be the queen when I was little. Seems like Loras stole that one from me," she joked calmly, little to no expression or change in her voice.

Sansa finally looked up at that, laughing loudly and letting herself smile.

"There, smiling. That's better," Margaery remarked, then changed the subject. "So, I take it you've never been to Highgarden?"

"Not to be sarcastic, but aren't we in Highgarden?"

"Let me ask you, if someone wanted to see the North, would you only show them a couple classrooms at Winterfell Community College and a few of the shops around the corner?"

"No, I mean, of course not!" Sansa said excitedly, turning her body to face toward Margaery on the bench and pulling her leg up and under her. "There's the waterfalls in the Wolfswood, fountains in White Harbor… and oh! The weirwood groves and heart trees, you Southerners don't have those down here anymore," she added.

"We don't, and that's exactly the point. This street and the campus isn't all of the Reach. I'll show you. You will love Highgarden as I do, I know it," Margaery promised, reaching out to fix a loose strand of hair that had come out of Sansa's braid. She took her hand and placed it on top of Sansa's, grabbing and holding on as Sansa looked up at her with wide eyes. "You will see, Sansa. Now, come on, let's get back inside. I'll introduce you to everyone."

Sansa nodded as Margaery stood up, still holding on to her hand and helping her off the bench, before finally letting go. For a moment, she stood still, somewhat missing the comforting gesture from her new friend. As they walked towards the front door, a bit of doubt started to nag at Sansa. This really has to be too good to be true, she thought.

"Did you mean it?" Sansa asked as Margaery held the screen door open. "You'll really show me Highgarden and the Reach?"

"Sweet summer child, of course I meant it." She held the door open with her backside and pulled her arm around Sansa, guiding her back into the party. "Next Saturday sound okay for our grand tour? Once you see it, you'll never want to leave."

Note: It took a while, but I finally got motivated for a second chapter. I've decided to set it in the early 90s because I've been loving the 90s Sansa fanart I've seen on tumblr. Title of the chapter is for Creep by Radiohead, which just happened to be in the US top 100 charts in August 1993. Enjoy :)