Jon

Christmas break came and he found himself on a plane flying down to where his family was. He was sad to be not having Christmas at home, all the Starks were. It was the first time that he had been away from Winterfell for any holiday. But on the bright side he got to see his family. What he was not happy about was that he was on a commercial plane in economy, wedged between Robb and Theon. All Theon had done when they got their tickets from his father was bitch.

"Why do we have to fly with all these people when they got a privet plane to fly down South?" Theon had complained over and over again.

"The Baratheons sent the plane; father had nothing to do with that. You know that Theon. Now will you shut your damn mouth? Unlike you I have studying to do." Jon snapped.

"Only you would decide to become a lawyer." Robb laughed as he read his book from the other side of Jon.

"We all can't get business degrees Robb. I won't be getting dads company, but someone will need to be there to bail your ass out of trouble when you step on it when you get to be in the driver's seat." Jon said, nudging his brother in the ribs.

They all lapsed in to silence. The plane touched down and they departed to find their family. All three young men walked as fast as they could through the crowded and congested airport. Jon was so eager to see his family that he was almost running when he saw them all waiting for them on the other side of the security point. He started laughing when he saw the sign that Rickon and Arya were holding.

Stark Family Here! Calling the Lost Sons!

When Arya saw her brothers she started to run to Jon. He dropped his bag and he opened his arms and they hugged one another. Sansa was getting a bear hug from Robb and Rickon had his arms around Robb's legs. Theon had his arm around Brans shoulders and they were talking.

"Oh Jon. Things are so crazy here, but they will get better now that my big scary brother is here." Arya squeezed him till he felt like he could not breathe.

"Alright here Little Wolf. Let me go. You have two other brothers to greet, and there are five other members of the family that I have to see. We will talk soon really." Jon untangled his fierce younger sister from his person. He saw the need in her eye to talk to him and just be around him.

Bran broke away from Theon and Arya took Brans place to say hi to him.

"Bran I think you are taller." Jon teased as he hugged him.

"And you have gotten old. I think there is grey in your black hair."

"That was a low blow. Is there really grey in my hair?" Jon asked.

"No. But I think mine might be. Arya and Sansa are still not talking and dad is not having an easy go here. He pretends when he thinks we aren't watching, but I can see him suffering here. You should talk to him Jon." Bran said to him.

"You always were the one who watched things more then others. I will try to talk to father." Jon sighed.

He had two weeks here and he had a large list of people that he "had" to talk to. He had to talk to Aryas two suitors, Sansas boyfriend, Arya and Sansa at the same time, a law firm here to intern with over the summer and now his father. He was not going to have long to take a vacation at all. He had two days to see the sights.

He said hello to his mother and father and his two other siblings. They all walked out to where the cars were parked. Robb and Rickon got into Sansas shiny red car, the rest piled into the SUV that his father was driving. They drove in the down town area. Jon was amazed that there was so much dirt around. There was dirt in the North, but it was a different kind of dirt.

They pulled up to the new home of the Starks. They had decorated the house with blue and white lights and strings of evergreen plants. It looked very festive, the only thing missing to was the snow.

"Wow the house looks great." Theon stood looking out at the house. "Do we get our own rooms here or are we stuck in the guest rooms?"

"Do you only think about yourself Theon?" Jon asked.

"You know me, I do."

"That is enough boys. You are not children anymore, so stop acting like it." Catelyn said smiling at her two adopted sons.

"Sorry mother. I will shut up now." Jon said hanging his head, glancing over at Theon. They both were acting like they were eleven again.

They made it into the house and it was also decorated. He knew that there was going to be a holiday party at the house tomorrow and that there were going to be dozens of people here.

"Come on boys I will show you to your rooms." Catelyn walked up the stairs. "Theon this is your room. Now you can either share with Robb or have a room to yourself."

"I can share. I was only joking about the guest room thing." Theon had the grace to blush and look sheepish.

"Well I will let Robb pick where he wants to go. Come on Jon. I have you in the room on the side of Aryas."

He followed his mom down the hall and was let into his room.

"It looks like it was made for me. It looks just like my room back home." Jon said amazed.

"We had rooms made for all you boys here in the house. I was just giving Theon a tough time." Catelyn said with a smile on her lips. "How have you been holding up dear?"

"Good. School is tough, but I knew that it was going to be when I decided to be a lawyer." Jon sat on the bed and smiled up at the woman that had raised him.

"Your mom would have been proud of you. I know Ned tells you that all the time, but it is true." She gave Jon a kiss on the forehead and left him to settle in.

Jon looked around his room and saw pictures of him and the other kids growing up. The one that got him was of his biological mother, her belly large with him, and her hand touching it lovingly. She had a large smile on her face as she gazed at her belly. Jon had never seen this picture before and took it off the night stand and sat down heavily on his bed.

"She was so happy when she found out about you Jon. She loved you so very much." Neds soft voice floated over to him as he leaned in the doorway.

"I wish that I knew her. Arya looks so much like her. They could be twins." Jon laughed wiping the tears off his cheeks and his eyes.

"They could be the same person. I called her Little Wolf just like you call Arya. I know that I have offered you to tell you anything that you want to know about her, the offer is still there." Ned walked out of the room.

Myrcella

The Baratheon family was in the limo driving to the Stark holiday party. In the classic Baratheon fashion her parents had had an argument. It was heated and almost came to blows. Her mother was the aggressor this time. Her father had said that Aegon could come with them, but her mother had said no, in not so nice of terms. Cerise did not want her precious son to be with that violent jerk.

Myrcella had felt close to tears and her father had noticed. He had pulled her aside and told her to have Aegon meet them at the party. Her father had been acting differently ever since he had started working with Ned Stark. He still drank like a fish, but he was not so indifferent to what happened in the house. He did not tolerate Joffery from hitting anyone. He did not allow Cersie to bad mouth people the way she usually did. And they had to eat together as a family twice a week. She had started to have a relationship with her father for the first time in her life and she knew that it was all Ned Starks doing.

They all got out of the car and went into the house. Joffery went right to Sansa. She was in another red dress, this time with silver threaded into it. It was very festive. She saw Aegon off to the side of the room talking to Arya. As soon as they way her they waved to her and she walked over.

"I am so sorry that you were not able to come with us honey. My mom went ballistic." Myrcella said walking up and giving Aegon a kiss on the lips.

"It is okay sweets. I understand. I would not have wanted to be in a car with your brother, even if they paid me." Aegon laughed slinging his arm around her waist giving someone the classic stink eye over Myrcellas head.

"So when will we get to meet your brothers?" Myrcella asked Arya after she was finished giving her boyfriend googley eyes.

"Well they will be around somewhere. They are probably getting introduced to your parents." Arya scanned the room.

Myrcella looked around as well. There were less people at the Starks party then there were at one of her families' parties, she preferred it this way.

"So Arya, did you invite anyone here tonight?" Myrcella tried to be smooth when she asked, but she knew that Arya probably knew that she was hinting to whether or not she had asked Gendry to the party.

The last time Arya had talked about her love life with Myrcella Arya had said that she could not just pick Gendry because all her friends liked Gendry best. So Myrcella had tried to get to know Jaqen as well. And she knew where Aryas confusion came from. He was a super nice guy. He was different then Gendry, that is for sure.

Jaqen was tall and lanky but full of muscles. He was very funny, clever and kind. He was able to think of things to keep people talking. Hell if Myrcella had not been so happy with Aegon she would have started to like him. Gendry was completely manly, but Jaqen was suave in ways that Gendry would never be.

"No I did not. I have not decided anything yet and I did not think that a family party was the best place to pick." Arya said as she continued to look around the room.

"Well sister dear you would be wrong on that account. I took the liberty of inviting both of your beaus and they should be here. Hello I am Jon, and you must be Myrcella and Aegon." A tall dark and extremely sexy young man said coming up behind Arya and put his hand on his shoulder.

Myrcella tore her eyes from Jon Stark and looked at Arya as she had started to make a strange choking sound. Jon started whacking her on the back. Aryas face went from red to white to red again.

"Hi Jon. It is nice to meet you." Aegon stuck out his hand to shake with Jon's. "Now I know where Arya gets her tact from. It must be genetic."

"It must be. Our father is the same way. We are all Stark, us to. Bran has it a little, but it is not as strong in him." Jon said.

"Arya are you okay?" Myrcella asked. Her friend's eyes had grown to the size of dinner plates. Myrcella looked behind her at the door and saw what was causing her friend to freak.

There in the doorway of the Starks house was Gendry and Jaqen. They were together and looking like they both wanted to take a swing at each other.

"Oh it looks like my guests have arrived. I am going to go get Robb and Theon. We will see you around Little Wolf." Jon mussed up Aryas hair and walked away from them.

"Oh this is so going to be good. I'm calling Thoros." Aegon pulled out his phone and started to call his friends.

"Arya are you okay? Arya are you alright?" Myrcella asked again.

Arya just stood there and was acting like she was catatonic. She poked her friend in the face and there was no reaction at all.

"This is so not good."

Sansa

She had had a very difficult few weeks. Her sister was not talking to her, her boyfriend was really getting on her nerves and her best friend was turning out to be to perfect for words. But somehow with all this going on she still managed to cheer, do gymnastics and join a number of other clubs, while keeping her 3.79 GPA. Her plan seemed to be working really well.

Joffery was starting to show public disfavor of her and she had heard that no one understood why. She was such a good person. When Margaery had told her that she had felt so happy. Things were working out super well. She figured that Joffery would keep at the whole relationship thing for another month tops. And by then she would not need him anymore. She would be able to stand on her own two feet in the popularity arena of Kings Landing and be a serious contender for the crown.

She was so happy to have her brother's home for Christmas. There were things that she felt were missing. Like the family getting their own tree from the wilderness that surrounded the Stark family home. How they would all bundle up in warm clothes and hop onto the snow mobiles and spend the whole day looking for the perfect family tree. Then the snowball fights. It was the one non-lady like activity that she loved to participate in. She was the best in the family at dodging the flying balls of snow that by the end of the fight she was the only one not covered in white.

Things were different in the South. It was the first time that she could remember that they had to pay for a tree. Arya had had a fit when their father had said that they had to buy one. They had shared a moment of disgust for Southern people, but then Arya had remembered that she was not talking or being nice to Sansa and walked away from her.

Sansa could not understand why Arya was taking her not breaking up with Joffery so hard. It was not like she was dating a murder and a drug dealer. But from where her sister was standing she probably was.

At the Christmas party that her parents were having for all the people that they had met in the South Sansa was so happy that Robb would be there.

She had been standing in the entry way talking to Robb when the Baratheons arrived. Joffery had come straight up to her and kissed her while she was in midword with Robb.

"Sansa you look amazing." Joffery interrupted. "And who is this that you are talking to."

She could tell that he felt threatened by Robb and she thought that he should feel like that, but not over her brother.

"Joffery this is my older brother Robb. Robb this is my boyfriend Joffery." She introduced them. Joffery looked relieved and Robb looked sad and disgusted.

"Nice to meet you Robb. Would it be to much to ask if I could steal your enchanting sister away? I have a present that I want to give her."

Joffery didn't even wait for a response before he started to drag Sansa up the stairs. She looked at her brother over her shoulder and saw that he was looking on in shock and disbelief. She had wanted to have her brother talk a little more with Joffery. She should have known that Joffery did not want to talk to her brother.

"Where are we going Joffery? This part of the house is closed to guests." Sansa said as she was dragged along the hallway.

"I am not a guest, and I have never seen your bedroom. I do have a present for you. I wanted to give it to you without people around." Joffery looked around the hall. "Which one is yours?"

She nodded to her room on the right of them. He walked into her room without as much as an "is it okay?" He walked in as if he owned the place.

"This is nice, slightly overly feminine, but nice." Joffery said as he picked up a pink pillow on her bed.

"Thank you Joffery. I have something for you too." Sansa went to her closet and pulled out a small box from off the top of the stack. She inadvertently let her eye fall to the gift she had gotten Sandor and for the hundredth time wondered why she had not given it to him the last day of classes.

She walked the box over to Joffery. He opened it and saw the lion cufflinks that she had chosen for him inside.

"These are nice. Thanks. All my father lets me get are ones with a stupid stag on them. This is really one of the nicest gifts I have ever received." Joffery sat looking down at the gift. Sansa was stunned to realize that he truly meant what he was saying.

"You're welcome. When I saw them they reminded me of you and I knew that you had to have them." She sat on the bed. He looked over at her and she knew that he was thinking something important.

"Well I got you this." He pulled a thin box out of his jacket pocket and handed it to her.

She lifted the lid knowing that it was more jewelry. It was a necklace that matched the earrings that he had already given to her.

"Joffery this is perfect." She looked at it in the box then shut the lid and went to put it away with the earrings.

"I will be wearing these for the New Year's party that your parents are throwing. They will go great with my dress."

She returned to Joffery and he stood up from the bed, wrapping his arms around her. He placed his forehead on hers and gave her a small quick kiss on her lips. He was being gentle and considerate.

"Lets get back to the party. People probably want to see us." Joffery lead Sansa to the door and they walked out of the room together.

Sandor

The Stark party was in full swing as he when he got there. He had come to the party at Sansas insistence. He had not wanted to be involves a family party. He had no family really, so these things made him very uncomfortable. He sat in the car and sent a text to Sansa saying that he was outside the house.

Oh great. I have a gift for you. Come on in. –Sansa.

Now he had to go in. He walked to the opened door and let himself in. It was smaller then he had imagined it would be. He was used to the parties that the Baratheons threw. He wandered in the house looking at all the people there. He was uncomfortable being there.

"Can I help you?" Someone asked tapping him on the shoulder.

"No, I am just looking for Sansa. We are friends." Sandor said to a young man.

"You must be Sandor. It is nice to meet you. I'm Robb, Sansas older brother. She says you are her best friend here." Robb leaned against the fireplace in the family room.

"I guess you could say that. We have most of the same classes together. She is dating one of my buddies." Sandor said. He was starting to like this guy.

"So you are friends with that excuse of a person. That is interesting. You strike me as a pretty normal guy. Why are you friends with him?" Robb asked.

"We have been in the same class since we were little kids; he has been the QB for all the peewee teams that we have been on. It was never really a choice; it was just sort of forced on me. His friendship I mean." Sandor found himself telling Robb.

"I get that. Why are you letting him date my sister?" Robb asked.

"She is her own person. She is not someone that you can control. You should know that. She is your sister." Sandor said trying to defend himself.

"She sure is. Neither of them might like it but Sansa and Arya very much alike." Robb laughed. "Sansa went upstairs with Joffery. Something about presents. She should be down soon, or if not I will be going to get her." Robb started to walk away from Sandor. "It was nice meeting you. I can see why my sister is friends with you."

Sandor walked away from the family room and walked to the stairs. Sansa was looking around the hall. When she saw him she smiled and waved. He made his way to her side.

"Sandor, I am so happy to see you." Sansa smiled up at him.

"Good to see you too. Where is Joffery?" He looked around. Joffery was not there with her. He looked back to Sansa to make sure she was not hurt from her time with Joffery alone.

"He went to get us some drinks. He should be back shortly. I have your gift here with me." She handed him a festive bag.

He peered inside the bag and saw a book on astronomy and a small box inside the bag. He pulled out the box and opened it. It was a key chain with a piece of a rock on it. He looked up at Sansa confused.

"It is a piece of a star. Or that is what the guy at the store said. It reminded me of you and I had to get it. I have one too." Sansa blushed.

"Thanks so much. This stuff is great. I have something for you."

He took out a pair of tickets for the observatory and handed them to her.

"I got these tickets for you. They can be used any time. They will close it down for you and whoever you decide to take."

"This is amazing Sandor. How did you pull this off?" Sansa kept looking at the tickets in her hand.

"I volunteer there and they are doing me a favor. It is nothing." He just kept looking at the star key chain.

"Well you will just have to come with me. You went to all the trouble to get this all set up. You will be my plus one." She smiled up at him and his heart skipped a beat. She laid her hand on his arm and leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He could not believe that she had just kissed him. It wasn't like it was a kiss on the mouth, but it was more then he dreamed he would get.

"Um, I think I could do that. I see Joffery coming back. I think I am going to go before he sees me." Sandor turned and fled so he would not have to feel guilty about his so called friend's girlfriend kissing him.

Gendry

Arya had invited him to the holiday party at her house. He was sure that she would not invite him. So when she sent him that text saying he should come to her house he had been over the moon. This meant that she still liked him, that there was still a chance.

But when he got to the house and got out of his car he had seen Jaqen get out of his car and start walking to the door as well he felt anger. Anger at Arya, Jaqen and himself. He should have known that she would have invited both of them, that was just how she was.

"Gendry, nice to see you." Jaqen gave a fast nod of his head.

"Jaqen." Gendry did not nod his head. His hands were balled into fists and he was clenching his jaw so he did not say anything that he would regret.

They stood in the doorway looking over the gathering in the party. He was pleased to note that he was taller then Jaqen. It was something stupid to be pleased with, but the guy was to great to Arya, so he would take what he would get. He saw Arya by Aegon and Myrcella. There was an attractive guy standing beside her. He was even more annoyed. Then he just took a breath and realized that he must be her brother. He calmed down a little.

But the look on Aryas face was not happy; she looked like she was going to be sick. Was she coming down with something? He waved and Jaqen did as well. They turned and looked at each other. They glared at one another. When he looked back to Arya she was getting poked in the face by Myrcella and her brother was walking over to them.

"Good evening gents. I am Jon. I invited you to the party tonight. I told Arya that I would meet you both." He held out his hand and Jaqen and Gendry stole a fast look at each other before both reaching for his hand.

Gendry got it first and introduced himself.

"I figured that you were Gendry." Jon said once he was done shaking his hand. "And it is nice to meet you both. Now if you would come in we can go into my fathers study and get to know each other, unless you would prefer to do this separately?"

"Do what exactly?" Gendry asked.

"The integration from a very protective older brother. It is the standard procedure to be able to like my sister. We can do this separately. I think that might be best. Jaqen since you are closer to the study why don't you come with me?" Jon said indicating Neds study.

"Of course." Jaqen said in his tight lipped manner that he had when he was around people.

Gendry watched them walk away and shook his head trying to clear it. He wiped his now sweating hands on his pants and walked to where Aegon was standing. Myrcella and Arya had disappeared.

"Hey there pal. I saw you with Jon. Is he going to take you behind the house and beat you up for making out with his sister?" Aegon joked.

Gendrys face paled. "I hope not. He just wants to get to know me. Do you know what the hell this is about?"

"Cella said something about Arya not being able to choose so she is going to let Jon pick for her."

"Oh for shits sake this is not cool man." Gendry rubbed his eyes with his hand.

"Look there is your best friend. Sandor over here!" Aegon shouted.

Sandor made his way over to then holding on to the straps of a red gift bag with green stripes on it.

"Why do you have a gift bag?" Gendry asked.

"Gift from Sansa." He replied.

"What did she get you?" Aegon asked.

Sandor looked Aegon over and decided that just because he could squish him like a bug he would not. Gendry laughed quietly to himself.

"A book and a key chain." Sandor said in a clipped reply.

"That's not to bad, at least she got you something. Arya got Gendry an interrogation from her brothers." Aegon said watching as Gendrys face turned beet red.

"Good luck with that. I got questioned my Robb. He was nice, I guess." Sandor said looking over at Sansa and Joffery.

"So you got questioned? That makes me feel a little better. Do you want to know the best part? Jaqen is here too. He is getting asked his questions now. I don't get this. Her dad liked me, I think. Why does it matter if her bothers do?" Gendry let his temper show now while he could.

"Arya is different buddy." Aegon said with a shrug. "Look here comes My Cella." Gendry as Aegons face lit up. He had just lost his best friend to the love bug. He looked at Sandor and he rolled his eyes.

"Hey Gendry, Sandor. Aegon I am not your My Cella." She greeted them after kissing Aegon and pulling his arm around her waist. "Arya wants to see you Gendry. She is in the kitchen."

Gendry walked to where Myrcella had nodded. He went in and found Arya sitting at a table in the back corner of the room.

"You wanted to see me?" He asked in a soft voice.

"Yes. I don't want you to feel bad. About my brother. He is just protective." She looked up at him.

"I hear that you want him to pick which one of us you want to date." Gendry sat down next to her at the table.

"Was it Aegon or Myrcella that told you that?" Arya sounded annoyed now.

"Aegon. He was the one who spilled the beans. Are you sure you need to have Jon choose?" Gendry asked.

"Gendry I really do like you. I do. We get along so well together and there is something there between us. I won't deny that. But there is something about Jaqen as well. I don't know who to choose." Arya whispered.

Gendry reached his hand over to her and held it.

"It is okay Arya. I know that you are having a hard time. I want to try to make things easy on you. Jaqen is in with Jon now. When he is done it will be my turn and I will get to be questioned. Any tips?" He asked.

She gave him a sad desperate smile and looked at him. Tears were welling up in her eyes and he felt something pull at his heart in a way that he had not before. He put his hand on her face and stroked her cheek.

"It is alright Arya. I won't make things harder at all for you. Really." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"There you are Gendry. It is your turn." Jon said in a slight sing song tone of voice.

"I will see you later. Okay?" He kept his eyes on Aryas face.

She nodded once and then he went with Jon to the patio behind the kitchen.

"So Jon what do you want to know." Gendry asked.

"Blunt, straight to the point. I like that." Jon said. "What I want to know is do you like my sister or do you just want to use her, like Sansas boyfriend is using her?"

"I like her. She is to good for words. I can't even begin to tell you what it is about your sister that I like. It doesn't hurt that she knows how to take a car apart and put it back together again. I think that I have you to thank for that." Gendry said looking over at Jon.

"You are good for her. I think that if things were different and I was here we could be friends." Jon said. "But that Jaqen is something that Arya is not used to. He is artistic and worldly. You don't seem like an idiot, I can see that. I know that you are smart. But he is different." Jon said.

"Thanks for the pep talk." Gendry huffed kicking a rock down the path.

"I am just giving you an update on what you are up against." Jon said.

"So do I have a chance? I mean will you put a good word in for me?" Gendry asked Jon, trying to keep hope out of his voice.

"Yeah. And I am not going to grill you like I did Jaqen. My dad likes you, so I do not feel the need to badger you." Jon smiled. "So are you going to tell me about the present that you are helping Arya work on?"

"Are you kidding me? Your sister would have my hide if I told you about that." Gendry laughed. Jon laughed with him.

"We should get into the house. Come on. Robb and Theon want to meet you. Don't worry they will be nice."

The two young men walked into the house and started talking about cars.

Jaqen

Jaqen was not amused that Gendry was invited to the party or that Jon wanted to ask him questions. He went along with it because he knew that this was what Arya wanted. He went into the study with Jon and sat in the chair that Jon indicated. Two other young men were sitting there as well.

"Jaqen this is Robb and Theon." Jon nodded his head to the two others.

"Hello. You must be the other older brothers." Jaqen said.

"Yes we are." Theon said as he stood and poured himself a drink. "Would you like a drink Jaqen?"

"No thank you I do not drink." Jaqen said.

"That is good. I would not like my sister being with a drunk." Robb said.

"Keep these things to yourself Robb." Jon said. "This is about Arya not Sansa."

"That's right I can do that." Robb grumbled.

"So why do you want to date my sister?" Jon said.

"Because she makes me better. She makes my art better and my outlook as well." Jaqen said truthfully.

"So she's your muse? Can you still use her to make your art, without her being her boyfriend?" Jon asked.

"One of the people who buys my paintings thinks that my work would be better if she was just the object of my desire and not the cure." Jaqen laughed.

He sat there and answered all the questions that they put to him. How many girlfriends had he had, how many girl had he slept with, was he a good student, what was his family life like. How would he treat Arya if they did end up dating? He felt like he was getting grilled by the police. When they got tired of asking all the questions they finally let him go. He stood and shook their hands and walked out of the room to find Arya.

He found her sitting at the kitchen table. She was looking at her hand. She looked breath taking in the pale light. She was in a black and silver dress with purple shoes under her chair. The dress was so tight that it showed off all her curves and made her look amazing. Her purple tipped hair was flipped up and showing.

"Hello there Lovely Girl. I just had an interesting chat with your brothers. My favorite question was from Theon. He asked what my preferred sexual position was. Jon punched him in the arm for that one. I didn't answer it." Jaqen said sitting down in the seat next to her.

Arya gave a halfhearted laugh and looked over at him.

"That sounds just like Theon."

"I have a painting for you. It is in my car for you for Christmas. Would you like to come with me to get it?" He kept his voice ever, as if he was talking to a wild, but caged animal.

"Sure." She stood and started to walk out the kitchen. He walked with her to the front door and slipped out of it and they went to his jeep. He felt a slight trepidation about giving her the picture. It was the one that he had made of the North with the cabin. He had wrapped it in the brown paper and twine.

"Let's take this inside." Arya said. "I want to be able to see it."

He walked back with her to the house as she lugged a large painting with her.

"Here let me take that Arya." He tried to take the painting from her.

"I have it, thanks." She took it from him.

"All right." Jaqen said. He knew that she was in a mood and that there was something's that she just had to let her do.

They went into her fathers study. He did not like this room. But he went with her into the room. She got the scissors off her fathers desk and cut the twine and unwrapped the paper. She looked at the painting.

"Oh Jaqen. This looks just like home. This is perfect. I love this. I wish that I could be there right now." Arya said touching the picture tender fingers.

"I am glad that you like it." He said coming behind her.

"I really like it." She said. "Thank you so much." She kissed him on the cheek and looked at the painting again. "We should get back out to the party. I should go say hi to my fathers guests." Arya walked out of the room in a trance.

Arya

She had stayed by Myrcellas side for the rest of the evening, much to Aegons annoyance. She was to ashamed at what her brothers had done. She had wanted Jon to talk to them, but she was not expecting then to do it here at the party. She had not invited either of them to the party for a reason. She was not ready to face Gendry or Jaqen. She had done everything she could to not be alone with them since her dates with them.

She knew that if she was alone for extended periods of time she would end up making out with whoever it was that she was with.

So when she saw them both in the doorway of the house she had felt that the world should open up and swallow her up whole. As soon as Jon had walked away she went into shock and she didn't even feel Myrcella poking her in the face. It wasn't until Myrcella gave her a small slap that she came to. It was like she was pulling herself up to the surface of the water.

"Arya are you okay?" Myrcella had asked.

"I don't know. Can we get out of here? I don't care if it is in the broom cupboard I just don't think I can talk to either of them yet." Arya hated how her voice sounded so weak and girly.

"Of course. Come on Arya." Myrcella led her to the kitchen. Myrcella made her a cup of tea and sat her down at the table.

"What am I going to do Myrcella? I feel like a fool for asking my brothers to talk to Gendry and Jaqen. The last two weeks have been hard on me. I just wanted to know for sure that I was making the right choice. I am just so conflicted." She said with her hands wrapped around her mug of tea.

"If Aegon had not swept me off my feet I would have been pining away for Gendry for the rest of my life." Myrcella said.

"You are so lucky. I should have just waited around for him to like me. Then things would be easy for me." Arya joked.

""You better take that back. I can be a scrappy bitch when I want to be." Myrcella said.

Arya laughed and she knew that Myrcella was only half joking.

"So I know that you like Gendry. And you have gotten to know Jaqen. So what am I going to do now Myrcella? You know them, tell me what to do." Arya pleaded.

"I am not going to pick who you should date. That is your choice." Myrcella said as she patted her friend on the hand. "I am going to get back to my boyfriend. You stay here and think. It seems like you need time to do it."

"Okay. Hey if you see Gendry or Jaqen can you tell them that I am in here?" Arya asked.

"Sure thing sweetie." Myrcella walked away and looked back at Arya. "I do no not wish to be you."

Arya laid her head on the table and drained the remaining tea in her cup. She was sitting there alone thinking about who she should pick.

Gendry walked into the kitchen and she felt her heart do a flip flop. It always did when she way him. They sat there and had a little talk and her brother came in and took him away. She watched them talk in the back yard. They were acting like they were old friends. She smiled watching them talk. She knew that they would get along.

She heard the door of the kitchen open. Jaqen walked into the room and he tried to make some joke about Theon asking dumb questions and then told her about a painting that he made for her. She had gotten the painting inside and opened it. It looked just like home. If there was any way that she could have stayed there looking at it she would have.

She went and waved and mingled with the people at the party. Gendry and Jaqen had left the house not long after they had had their talks with them. They had said goodbye to both and went back to her fathers study to look at the painting. Jon was there looking at it as well.

"This is good. Is it Jaqen?" Jon said standing up completely.

"It is. He is a very great painter." She said taking a seat in one of the chairs.

"So do you want my findings?" Jon joked.

"Sure. I saw you getting all buddy buddy with Gendry. So I know that you like him. What do you think of Jaqen?" She asked.

"I think that either one would be good for you, but Jaqen is not going to be around for much longer. He is going East for art school in March. He got an early acceptance to that school that he wanted to go to." Jon said looking his sister in the eye.

"He would have told me that." She said.

"He just found out. He will tell you." Jon said. "So if you want a short fling then Jaqen is your guy. But if you want a long term relationship, which I think would be better for you; I say you should date Gendry."

"I have a lot to think about. Can you help me take the painting to my room?" She asked. "I need to shower and get out of this dress."

"Sure thing Little Wolf. I hope that this helped you."

"I guess that it did. Thanks Jon." She walked out of the door and up the stairs to her bedroom and collected her things to get ready for her shower. She felt like a sleepwalker. When she was in the bathroom she turned the water on and stepped into it. She let herself relax in the shower. The hot water melted her tense muscles. The hard part was still to come. She had to pick which guy to be with. Was this never going to end?