[A/N: Sorry this is a day late! Internet issues argh….anyways better late than never right? So continuing on with the fabulous prompts from AxG week see my response to day four – Haven. I'm actually surprised I was able to write something under 1000 words! Hope you like this and as always reviews are always appreciated :)
She looked over at the hulk of a figure sleeping silently. His breathing a steady rhythm of in and out. His chest rising and falling, letting her know he was in fact here and that he was very much not a figment of her imagination. She smiled to herself, memories of their encounter filling her thoughts. She was cold, so very cold. The harsh cool winds of winter beating furiously at her withering form. She had been on her own for gods know how long. On the run, doing her best to make it without the help of others, a girl of just 16 who had her whole world ripped from her in a matter of minutes.
All she knew was hate. The loving recollections of the family taken from her fading as the anger began to take over. Everything good in the world seemed to have died along with them, her faith in mankind at an ultimate low. She had been on the brink of death when he stumbled upon her. Her starved body, almost frozen on the park bench she decided to rest on. She was lucky it was him who found her and not some rapist.
She was suspicious at first. Why would someone help another without wanting something in return? "It was the right thing to do," he told her when she asked like it was common sense. It was anything but, from the experiences she had encountered. Humans were fickle creatures. They could be your friend one day and hold a gun to your head the next.
He had let her stay with him, no questions asked. "Only until you get on your feet again," he had said with a kindness in her voice she was not accustomed to. Slowly but surely she started to trust him. The ice over her heart cracking piece by piece. He let her be, never intruding or demanding. When she screamed at night from the terrors taking hold of her sleep he was there to coax them out. "What are friends for right?" he answered when she asked why.
Friends. That's what they were. But then things changed. She started to notice how blue his eyes really were. How they seemed to light up whenever she was near and how they followed her when he thought she wasn't looking. She noticed how his smile, although not perfectly straight like those of movie stars always made her insides twist and turn. And finally she noticed how no matter how loose his shirt, the outline of his perfectly sculpted form always seemed to make itself known.
The shift from friend to lover seemed to creep up on both of them. One day, it just happened. She let herself feel again. To have someone want you, need you and to need in return terrified but excited her all the same. When she had finally gotten up the courage to tell him who she really was, she half expected him to leave. To prove to her again that the world was not a kind place. But instead, he wrapped her in his arms, holding her and stroking the small of her back. A gesture that conveyed so much more than words ever could.
He started to stir in his sleep, his hands scanning the empty space next to him. When he found she wasn't there by his side, he sprung up immediately, the worry etched plainly on his face. She giggled at that, something she had learned how to do again because of him. "Get over here," he commanded groggily. She grinned and sauntered back to her allotted spot next to him. She felt his strong arms find their usual place on her body, his warmth instantly making her sigh in relief. "You ok love?" he asked into her ear.
She nodded turning her head to give him a chaste kiss. Terrible things had happened to the girl people once knew as Arya Stark, but Gendry Waters wasn't one of them. In this messed up world full of lies and deceit, he was her one saving grace. The one who helped her how to live again. Her haven.