Ch 9:Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
June 25, 2003, King's Landing General Hospital
Sansa awoke with sore neck and the sound of daughter calling for her as the door to the hospital room burst open.
"Mummy! Mummy, mummy!" Ygritte followed behind her, carrying a large hobo style over her shoulders.
She sat up in the chair and quickly cracked her neck. "Calm down, wildling child. What is it?"
"Guess what?"
"What?" Sansa asked back, faking her surprise.
"Aunty Gritte thought it'd be a good idea to bring some pictures for Mom, to put in the room, that it'd make her happy when she wakes up," Katie explained, not noticing the look that her mother flashed at Ygritte and then Ygritte shrugging her shoulders. Jon's wife loved Katie, but even sometimes she was too much for her to handle. "So we looked for pictures, but I found something even better."
"Oh, you did now? And what's that?"
"I'll show you!" She jumped down from the chair, took the photo album that Ygritte had in her giant bag, and handed it to Sansa.
"Gods, I cannot believe you two found this. Your Mom made this for me when we moved to Kings Landing," she explained. "As something to hold the memories of all the good times we had in Highgarden."
Sansa got quiet, looking down at the worn cover of the baby clue scrapbook. In the bottom left side was a picture of Sansa, and the bottom right side had a picture of Margaery. They were two sides of one of the professional pictures from their wedding. Then, flipping over to the back cover, she saw the hand-written note in Margaery's handwriting, quoting lyrics from one of the songs she'd been obsessed with right around the time they moved from Highgarden to Kings Landing.
It's something unpredictable
But in the end it's right
I hope you had the time of your life
She remembered how surprised she was when Margaery gave this to her. It'd been over dinner, the same night that Sansa's first big research piece was published in the Times. "We had both been so busy since we moved. I had just started working and the Times and was doing a lot of research on a very important article, and your Mom had just started her new job too. She'd been staying up late each night to make this for me in secret..." Sansa explained. Ygritte had walked over, sitting in the chair next to Sansa and pulling Katie into her lap.
"Why don't you tell us the stories behind some of these?" Ygritte suggested. "I'm sure Katie would love to hear them."
Sansa nodded, and opened up the book to the first page.
XxXxX
June 22nd, 1996 - Ten Minutes pre-Wedding
"Gods dammit," she cursed under her breath. It was only ten minutes to go before she had to be downstairs for the wedding ceremony, for her wedding ceremony, and she was spending it bumbling around her hotel room at Arbor Villa, frantically searching for her contact lens holder that had fallen somewhere on the ground. She'd knocked her glasses off the nightstand and then ran her knees into the bed frame twice and the dresser once. She only chuckled to herself a little bit, knowing that Margaery would see the unavoidable bruises and scrapes later, probably making fun of her and asking what she was doing on her knees to get bruises like that.
It was then that she remembered that Arya's room was adjoining hers. She figured it was a miracle that she was able to feel her away across the room, banging on Arya's door once she got there.
"Seven bloody hells, I'm coming!" She heard Arya yelling from the other side, then the door opened a second later. "What in the name of the gods is going on in here, Sans?" Arya walked past her sister and looked around the room. "...and why does it look like a wild boar ran through here?"
"I knocked my contact case off the bathroom counter and you know how blind I am! I can't find them and we've got to be in the lobby in less than ten minutes now." Sansa frantically spat out. She could feel herself starting to panic.
"Whoa there. Calm down. You don't want to look all worn out for pictures," Arya said. She grabbed Sansa by the shoulders and shoved her down to sit on the bed. "I'll find them."
It only took a minute for Arya to find the contact case, and she carefully guided Sansa to the bathroom so she could put them in.
"Ya know, you should've just called me earlier. I'd have helped you find it and then your room wouldn't look so ransacked," Arya said as Sansa reappeared from the bathroom.
Sansa scoffed at her. "Oh, well, you know me. I always take the opportunity to get scrapes and bruises all over." She bent over and pulled her dress up, showing off the quickly blooming blue bruises to Arya.
"Well, at least now you've got your 'something blue', right?"
She startled Arya then, pulling her into a tight hug. "That was the worst joke ever," Sansa laughed when she let her go. "But exactly what I needed. Run and grab your stuff and I'll meet you in the hallway."
Arya quickly ran into her hotel room, grabbed her purse, and joined Sansa in the hallway. She linked her arm with her own and waited for the elevator.
"Here," Arya announced, pulling a disposable camera from her purse once they were in the elevator. "We need to capture this moment when the amazing and valiant younger sister saved her poor dear older sister from temporary blindness and almost being late to her own wedding."
"If you insist," Sansa replied, but she was more than happy to oblige any actual sisterly moment with Arya, for they were few and far between.
Arya handed the camera to Sansa to hold out in front of them, smiling as she tried her best to hopefully get them both in the frame. At the last moment, Arya went up on the toes of her heels, kissed Sansa on the cheek just as the flash went off.
All Sansa could do was laugh as the elevator doors opened and Arya grabbed her hand to pull her out.
"Come on, Sans. Time to get you married..."
XxXxX
September 1994
"Can you believe how much money we made?" Gendry asked, as the group of them walked back to the Stark house. "We've got to have at least a hundred bucks from only two hours."
Jon nodded in agreement. "I know! I mean, seven hells, if I'd known this was possible I would've sat out here in the commons instead of going to class."
"Um, you guys know that most of those people who gave money probably thought we were all homeless..." Sansa remarked, looking back and forth between everyone.
"What? No, no. We don't look homeless, do we, Sans?"
It'd been a gorgeous day. The trees were all still green, the sun was out, and there was just the smallest hint in the wind that autumn was coming soon. Margaery's only classes were in the morning, so she'd waited outside the language arts building for Sansa's noon class to be over, and they began the walk home together. They were interrupted about halfway, hearing their names shouted across the grassy tree-covered commons, and soon recognized Jon, Theon, Robb, and Gendry all sitting in the middle of the commons. The boys had been playing Frisbee for a while until Gendry walked up, guitar case in hand, and asked if it'd be cool if he practiced for his acoustic show at the coffee shop that night.
Ygritte showed up about a half hour later, backpack full of food, soda, and a couple of hidden flasks of vodka, declaring that it was wonderful weather for day-drinking.
Two hours later, all the food and drink was gone, Theon had fallen over more times than necessary trying to catch Robb's frisbee passes, and Sansa and Margaery had persuaded Jon to join them in singing along with Gendry. His guitar case was open in front of him, and despite the fact that he was the only one of the four that could sing worth a damn, the donations were piling up.
At some point in the day, a student reporter from the campus newspaper walked by, explained that he was writing a photo article about how the students all over campus were spending their time on the warm autumn day, and asked if he could take their picture. It was the perfect piece of university propaganda - all smiles, two of them in Highgarden t-shirts, Gendry front and center holding his guitar and looking handsome, Theon clutching the Frisbee, and Sansa and Margaery with their arms around each other's waists as Jon and Robb did the same with Ygritte. Years later and they all had copies of it... and so did everyone who'd purchased a yearbook that year too.
"Well, no, Robb, you don't look homeless," she replied, then winked at him. "The jury's still out on Theon, though."
Before she knew it, Theon had run up behind her, picked her up off the sidewalk, hauled her over his shoulder, and started to run ahead of their group. Laughter exploded out of Sansa as she tried to pretend that she was actually upset about this.
"Mags, help!" She yelled, trying to look up at Margaery from the upside down position she was in. "You've got to save me from him!"
"Guess that's my cue, boys," she replied, tipping an imaginary hat and jogging off towards Sansa and Theon.
XxXxX
June 1997
"Alright, does everybody have everything? Speak now, or forever... forever go without things for the weekend," Sansa announced. She was standing on the sidewalk in front of the unofficial Stark house in Highgarden, checking off items they would need for the weekend on a mini note pad.
"I think we're good, mom," Theon said, the normal snarky look on his face leaving for a moment when he saw Margaery coming up behind him.
"Very funny, asshat. I'm not gonna feel one bit sorry for you when we get to Starfall and you've not packed any boxers." She pretended like she was going to hit him across that head, but instead grabbed his shoulders and moved him towards the van.
Surprising Margaery, Sansa, and Ygritte, it hadn't taken hardly any persuasion to get the guys interested in going to Lilith Fair with them. It was easily a ten hour drive to Starfall, even with the new highway finished and then they'd be camping in the provincial forest for the weekend, but once they were only a half hour into the car drive, secrets came out about the guys' crushes on some of the ladies that would be performing - Sarah McLachlan, Natalie Merchant, Fiona Apple - their list went on and on.
After all the acts had finished, the group slowly made their way back to the large field that was serving as a parking lot. Starfall was always warm in the summers, even at midnight they didn't need jackets on their walk to the van.
"Guys..." Theon called from the driver's side door, his voice uncharacteristically shaky. "I think we have a problem."
"What?" Jon asked. "You're not too drunk to drive us all back to the campground are you? I'm sure someone else can drive the van." Jon walked around to the driver side door of the van, joining Theon and finally figuring out what he was on about. "Well everyone, this night just got interesting."
"Is there an actual problem?" Ygritte asked.
"If you call being locked out of the van a problem, then yes, there is an actual problem."
"Are you shitting me right now?" Margaery asked from the back of the group, going through her bag and hoping that maybe there was an extra set of keys hidden there, even though it wasn't her car.
"Would I make this up, Mags?" Jon asked. Sansa's nickname for her had quickly spread amongst their friends. "Our only set of keys is in the cup holder right now."
"Great. Now what are we supposed to do?" Margaery walked over to the van and looked in the windows, confirming for herself that they all were outside, and the keys were inside. "We're ten hours away from home and it's almost midnight. It's not like anyone can come help us."
"I dunno," Theon answered. He was still on the other driverside of the van, looking in the window. "Can't we call like AAA for assistance, or what about a locksmith?"
"Gods, Theon. Triple A isn't going to come out here at this time of night... and I'm not even sure if locksmiths still exist..." Margaery snapped back at him, which quickly led to the rest of the group starting to yell and argue.
"Guys, everyone... come on now. Let's just calm down. Look on the bright side, yea?" Sansa grabbed Margaery's hand, pulling her to sit down on the cement curb in the open spot next to the van. "We just saw an amazing day of concerts, we're all together with our best friends, and at thankfully it's a nice night out." There were some grumbles, but soon everyone had joined Sansa sitting on the ground, except Jon and Theon, both hell-bent on finding a way into the van.
Sansa's words might have jinxed them, as not five minutes later the skies had opened up and it was pouring down rain.
XxXxX
"Wait, so how did you get home?" Katie asked. "And who are those two other ladies in the picture?"
"Well, almost all the other cars had left the parking lot, not one stopping to help us. The rain had started to let up a bit, but we were still drenched. And then, one of the big tour busses drove by, and actually stopped to help us. That's who those two people are," Sansa continued to explain. She pointed to the people in the picture - their whole group, looking like drowned rats, with Theon and Margaery with their arms around someone on the right side, and another new person on the left. "That's two of the ladies who we saw at the concert. You recognize Theon and your mom? That's Fiona Apple with them, I think they both had huge crushes on her. And on the other side by Ygritte is Lisa Loeb."
"So you got to meet your favorite singers... and they helped unlock your car? I don't believe you." Katie made a huff and crossed her arms across her chest, but they could both see her smile peeking through.
"Well, they didn't help us, but their tour bus drivers were able to get the car open. Luckily, our camera wasn't wet from the rain and they were nice enough to take a picture with us before they left. We were all soaked down to the bone but nothing could've made us happier. And do you know who that is next to Aunty Ygritte?" Sansa asked, pointing at the picture as Katie frowned and shook her head, looking over at Jon who had joined them in the hospital room about ten minutes earlier, having got off his work shift.
"That's your Uncle Jon, Katie. Look at how awful his hair used to be," Ygritte said, sending Jon a smile and then turning to Sansa. "I don't think I'd ever seen either of you so star struck before."
"It's okay, mummy, I think I'd be the same way if I met Shireen and Missandei." She's clearly trying to help her hopeless, blushing mother, Sansa thought, then saw the extremely confused look on Ygritte's face.
"They're the stars of this kids' learning show on Saturday mornings that she loves. Shireen helps with reading and Missandei teachers the languages of Essos," Sansa explained, leaning over as Katie continued to flip through pages. The next page she flipped to, a picture fell out, sliding across the linoleum. Katie jumped off Ygritte's lap, said she'd get it, and quickly returned, inspecting the photo on her way.
"This picture looks funny," she announced as she climbed back up onto Ygritte, then handed the picture to Sansa.
"It's called a Polaroid. It used a special type of film and camera and the picture was ready in just a few seconds. You didn't have to go to the drug store to get the film developed. They were very popular when I was in school... but gods, I haven't seen this in forever," she flipped the picture over and looked at the date - September 1993. "You don't wanna hear about this one, do you?"
An enthusiastic head nod and chanting of "yes, yes, yes" was all she needed. "This was taken almost ten years ago, from the first time your mom and I spent time together."
"Was it your first date?" Katie asked with a huge smile on her face.
"Oh no, no. That came a few months later. I was new in Highgarden and your mom decided to take me on a tour. We went all over the place that day and this right before our drive home. There was a man making balloon animals and he mad e these crowns for both of us..." Sansa explained, her voice trailing back.
"Why don't you tell us about what you did at the beginning of the trip? Maybe we can plan a family trip later," Ygritte suggested, and Sansa nodded, starting back at the beginning of that day.
After a while, they'd all started speaking loudly, laughing and reminiscing, telling stories from years ago. They hardly noticed when the steady slow little beeps on one of the monitors got progressively faster. Katie noticed, probably lost in their grown-up conversation, pulling on the sleeve of Sansa's cardigan to get her attention.
"Katie, you know you're not supposed to interrupt when adults are talking," Sansa replied, confused, since usually her daughter was very good about that sort of thing. "What's wrong?"
"Listen, don't you hear that? The beeping noise," she added when Sansa shrugged. "I think it's coming from one of Mom's machines."
Sansa's eyes got wide as she jumped out of the chair and stood in front of all the various monitors that were hooked up to Margaery. She looked around frantically, trying to figure out which was making the noise, not like I'd know what to do, and then looked left and saw the heart rate and blood pressure monitor rising quickly
"Shit, shit, what do I do?" she asked, looking over at Ygritte, who had Katie in her lap still, and Jon standing next to them. "Do you thinking someone is already coming?" She took a step towards them, stopped, and turned back around to look at Margaery, then the monitors, then back to Jon and Ygritte, trying at all to control her panic in front of Katie but failing desperately.
"Hit the emergency button on the wall over there," Jon said, calm and collected. Sansa was usually thankful for this part of his nature, but at this moment she wanted to slap the calmness off his face.
"What? Where...? I can't..." she craned her head, trying to look between cord to find what he was talking about. "Godsdammit, where is the bloody thing?"
Before she had a chance to finish her sentence, Jon was already out in the hallway, yelling for help.