Many years ago, a young Rose was trying to sleep when she heard a knock at the door.

"Rose? Are you awake?"

It was Sansa, nervous and pulling at her dress. Rose was 13. Sansa was 11. All of the little sisters looked up to Rose since as the eldest they also considered her the smartest and toughest.

"Little sister, what is it?"

"I...I had a bad dream..."

"Oh no...oh come here. You can sleep here tonight if you like."

Sansa shyly nodded and buried her head into Rose's arms and chest, trying to get comfortable.

"One day..."

"Hm?"

"One day I might have to marry a boy. But what if I don't know how to please him? I don't even know how to kiss..."

"Sans, I will never let you be sold off like that. You'll stay here where you belong. I promise."

"I love you, eldest sister...but please show me how to kiss. Let me practice! I don't want to embarrass myself."

Rose hesitated, then said, "Gods I have to, don't I? Alright, sit up."

Sansa grinned in delight, then leapt forward to begin kissing her big sister on the lips.

"Woah, woah, not yet!" Rose said. Sansa then slinked back, embarrassed and sad that she upset Rose. "Don't...don't cry, I was just surprised. Ssshh, now..." She caressed her sister, "What you want to do is look the boy in the eye, and..." What the fuck am I doing? Seriously Rose this is Targaryen level. "Slowly press your lips to theirs." She leaned in, her breath hitched, and slowly pressed them to Sansa's soft pink little lips. Rose almost cried out at the softness. My sister's first kiss…I've taken my sister's first kiss. She had already realized she was into other girls and had Dorne-kissed with the farmer's daughter behind the castle, but her sister's lips were exquisite. She almost couldn't stop herself from Dorne-kissing Sansa passionately.

Instead, she forced herself to pull back, licking her lips to taste Sansa.

"That's how you kiss...now...off to sleep, my naughty girl."

Sansa shyly nodded, and cuddled into Rose's chest, her breath slowly slowing. Rose smiled contentedly but dreamed that night of many things, including kissing Sansa again.

Rose clenched with apprehension when she first heard that the King was coming to Winterfell. Months earlier, she had been present when they found a dead direwolf mother and her pups.

Father had said "They'll die without their mother."

Theon was quick to insist on trying to kill them, saying "Right give them here."

Rose hotly tried to make him back off. "Theon, wait."

"I take my orders from your father, girl, not you."

Rose huffed indignantly, "I'm future Lady of Winterfell-"

"Lord Stark..." said another woman, Joanna Snow, who had come as well. "There's five pups. One for each of the Stark Sisters. The direwolf is the sigil of your house. They were meant to be found here by us."

"Please Father, don't let them die." insisted Rose, until Father finally relented and Rose almost jumped for joy, cooing at how cute her new pup was. She decided on the name Grey Wind.

Rose then was thrown into another flashback. The day of Father telling her what was going to happen.

"Father?" she had said as he came walking into her chambers. "You wished to speak with me?"

He nodded gravely and she knew something was wrong.

"I…"

"Something's wrong. Or else it would not take so long to say."

"I'm riding south. I have accepted the position of Hand of the King for His Grace. If I return to Winterfell…..you will be a woman grown."

"What else?"

"Your sister Sansa….she will marry Prince Joffrey when they both come of age"

Rose stammered in confusion and rage, knowing that little shit was a prick.

"Is-is she just some...broodmare to be sold off to the nearest prick-"

"Of course not! Know your place, daughter!"

"Let me marry him then!" She stepped forward, as if to shield Sansa who wasn't even in the room. Ned briefly smiled at his eldest's bravery. But it quickly turned back into a frown.

"Rose! You will rule Winterfell one day. That is the only reason Robert didn't request that you marry him. I will not allow House Stark to lose this castle, understand? Sansa will marry Joffrey and I will hear no more of it!"

But Rose had always protected her sisters and she fought tooth and nail to stop the betrothal.

"You said Starks belong in Winterfell. You said that. How can you do this? How can you be sending Sansa away to the most dangerous city in the world? To the bloody Lannisters? I swore when they were born that I would always protect my little sisters-" she yelled at him. She had never yelled at her father. Not once.

"I am protecting them. If we don't do this and do it now...it's not wise to refuse a king. Sansa is happy about this arrangement, why are you not?"

"You know why, Father." she growled. "I will speak to the king and ask him to give Sansa a Northern husband. As the future Lady of Winterfell-"

"But you're not Lady of Winterfell! Not yet..." Ned raised his voice at her, something he had also never done before.

After this conversation, Rose never saw her father again. She almost sobbed at the memory. They had not parted on good terms, and she blamed herself to this day for his death, not fighting hard enough to save him and her sisters from going south.

Rose sat at Beth's side, almost sobbing at the sight of her crippled baby sister.

"Mother told you not to go climbing..." She chuckled sadly.

"I'd rather be dead." Beth had said. "Where are you going?"

"South. For Father."

"Will you come back?"

"I'll try to. Mother says I can't go since I'm a girl but..."

"They have more men than we do."

"Yeah...but I can't just let Father rot."

She sniffled, cuddling her baby sister to her chest, her breasts heaving.

"I'll come back. I promise."

"Lord Frey has granted us passage." said Mother. She seemed apprehensive enough. "He has joined his strength to ours."

"Beth will marry his son Waldron...and Arya will marry his son Elmar."

"Gods...They won't like that. What else?"

"And...you will marry one of his sons. Whichever you like best."

Rose pursed her lips. "Can I refuse?"

"Not if you want to cross." Mother insisted.

Rose gripped her hands, but then nodded. "I consent."

It was a decision she dreaded all her life, marrying some pisswater boy she barely knew, just like how Mother married Father when she didn't know or love him yet. She didn't know at the time if she could grow to love that boy, but she knew already she did not want to marry any boy at all. She preferred that farmer's daughter across the river. She preferred that handmaiden of Mother's. She preferred Queen Cersei, even, to some pisswater prince who can barely get it up. For Rose Stark loved the girls. One in particular, the bastard daughter of her father, though she didn't know it at the time.

She didn't know at the time that Joanna had loved Rose from afar almost all her life, also dreading the day Rose would have to marry for political alliances and heirs. Rose almost vomited at the thought of doing...that with the Frey boy. But she had to save her father no matter the cost. No matter her pride. After his death, she had to save her sisters. And she did. She had to protect them.