Eddard
When Jon had called at four thirty in the morning to say that they had Arya and she was safe he was weak with relief. He told Catelyn that they had found her and she had wept with joy. He had called Robert and warned him that when Gendry came home in the morning he would be pretty beat up. Jon had mentioned that Gendry had been in a fight while they had been out looking for Arya and that he should tell his parents so they could have some warning. Ned had finally got to bed at five in the morning so he could be slightly rested for the argument that he knew Arya would cause when he confronted her at eight.
When his alarm woke him at seven thirty he was not ready for seeing his youngest daughter. He had always had a soft spot when it came to Arya. She reminded him so much of his sister and he had never known what to do with Lyanna and it seems that the blind spot had carried over to his headstrong daughter as well. He dressed in jeans and a dove gray sweater, moving as silently as he could so not to wake his wife who had been awake with worry for most of the night. He got in the car and drove to the house that Arya had taken refuge in.
Ned sat in the driveway thinking about what he was going to say. He had no real idea. He took a deep breath and left the silence of his car. He walked to the door and Jon opened it before he could knock.
"She's in the kitchen. I have scolded her pretty good and she seems defeated, but it is never easy to truly tell with her. The Little Wolf is tough." Jon said as he hugged his father.
Ned just nodded and headed into the kitchen. Arya sat at the small table cradling a cup of coffee in her hands. Gendry sat beside her. Ned had to do a double take on the boy, the kids face was a mess of bruises and he looked like hell.
"I hope the other guy looks worse then you do son." Ned said as he slid into the chair across from Arya.
Gendry smiled, and then winced. The cut on his lip started to bleed. "Yes sir. He looked very bad when we left him." Gendry said.
"Good." Ned nodded then turned his attention to Arya. He was going to make her talk first. They sat there looking at each other for five minutes before she cracked.
"Look dad I am sorry that I worried you and mom so much. But it was a real asshole thing that you did just announcing moving back like that."
"That was stupid of me. I should have done it at home. But Arya you were the greater fool in the situation then I was. Running away like that was something that I never would have thought you would do."
"I'm sorry." She looked down at her coffee cup and he saw tears well up in her eyes. The only time that he had seen Arya cry since she was five was when he told her he was disappointed with her.
"Little Wolf I am not angry at you. I mean I am, but I am more disappointed that you acted so rashly. You did not act the way that you have been taught. I expected more from you. You are a Stark, and Starks don't run from problems. We face them."
"I just don't want to go back to Winterfell and become nothing again. I know that will happen when we move home. I am not nothing here. I am someone. I want to be someone for a little longer. Please don't' move us away." Her face broke and the tears that had started to well in her eyes broke and fell freely down her cheeks.
Ned had planned on being strong, on being stone. He had planned on grounding her and telling her that he was the adult and that if he wanted to move the family back that is what they would do because he was the father and that was his decision. But watching his strong daughter cry so openly the words all stuck in his throat. How could he tell her all this and break her heart?
"Look Arya, we will talk about moving back as a family. I know you are not the only one who does not want to go back yet. When we get home I am sure that Bran and Sansa and Rickon will all have an input in us moving back. They, unlike you reacted with maturity that I had thought you had." He saw her wince and continued. "This was not something that was set in stone. I just wanted to let you all know that it was a possibility that could happen now that Robert doesn't need me anymore to steer his ship. Now come along. We have to get you home so you can be yelled at and smothered by mother."
"Do I have to? Mom is likely to kill me for what I did." She asked.
"Yes we have to. Now get up and walk out to the car young lady." Ned used a stern voice and pointed to the door. He turned to Gendry. "Thank you for finding her. I owe you." They shook hands. "You should get home too. I told your father that you had been in a fight and your mother was none to pleased to hear that."
"You told them? I'm going to be in trouble now." Gendry put his head on the table.
"Don't worry. I will go with you and explain everything." Jon said, placing a hand on his friends shoulder. "I will be to the house as soon as I get Gendry here out of hot water with his parents."
"Alright son. See you at the house." Ned clasped hands with Jon. Then he walked out of the house to his car where his daughter waited. "Let's go get this over with." He said to her. She smiled at him and they drove home together.
Sansa
Sansa sat before the mirror of the vanity in her room and looked at her reflection. She was trying to see is there was anything different about her on the outside. She felt completely changed and she couldn't be happier. She was in love with Sandor more then ever before. After the first time they came together they had snuggled together stargazing. Then she had started kissing him on the neck and he had been ready for a second time. She giggled at the thought of how often she had gotten him aroused in the short span of four hours.
She was proud that by the end of the evening she could touch Sandor without feeling revulsion and disgust. She knew that she had made a breakthrough in her recovery and was happy that she had Sandor to help her.
She was really looking at her reflection and the only thing that she could tell that was different was was that she could not stop smiling. No matter what she tried to do she could not keep a smile off her face. She was supposed to be sad and frightened because Arya was missing, but she couldn't stop that damn smile from appearing on her face. There was a knock at her door and she yelled for whoever it was to enter the room.
Catelyn stood in the doorway and looked around at her daughter's room. There were tears in her eyes and Sansa stood, the smile whipped from her face. It had to be something to do with Arya to have her mother crying like she was.
"Oh gods mom what is it? Is Arya okay? What is going on mom?" Sansa rushed over to her mother.
Catelyn threw her arms around Sansas shoulders and started to laugh.
"Your father has her. They are on their way home now. Oh I am so happy I could sing." Catelyn threw her head back and laughed again.
"Mother I love you but please do not sing. For the love that you bare me, do not sing." Sansa declared, backing away from her mother.
Bran came out of his room and Rickon stumbled out of the steam filled bathroom. The boy always liked to try to use all the hot water in the house. They watched their mother act like a fool then skip down the stairs to the kitchen.
"Do you think she would act like that if it had been you or me that had run away?" Bran asked.
"Probably not. Neither of us would run away and plan on not being found. She's acting like this because with Arya you never know what can happen and she's just happy that she is alright. With us there is nothing to worry about because they would find us pretty fast." Sansa replied.
"We would never do anything like that. You are the passive aggressive one, I am the over logical one, Robb is the eldest so he gets to try everything once and mom and dad let him after they give him hell, Rickon is the baby so he can do anything and Arya is the impulsive one who has to much of the wild north blood in her. And Jon is like father. We all have our places and rolls that we play in the family. I am surprised that it took Arya this long before she did something like this." Bran said in his logical way.
"Yeah you are right. I am passive aggressive. Remember what I did to mom when she said that I couldn't get those shoes? The silent treatment for three hours and she caved. We all know how to work our parents. Just like you do. I remember when you were seven and wanted that giant tome of world history books that were 1000 dollars and they said no you told mother and father that it was the way that you could be able to become a doctor of history. That was masterful. Dad went out and got them for you." Sansa laughed and Bran blushed slightly.
"I loved those books. I still read them." Bran smiled wistfully.
The two Stark children walked to the kitchen for a bite to eat and to wait for Arya and Ned to return. Catelyn had the laptop opened and Robb and Theon were on Skype with her. They were going to be in on the family talk that Catelyn said that they were going to have once their father returned.
Sansa smiled at Mrs. Clark as she handed her a cup of tea. Sansa was finished with it and was putting her cup in the sink when Ned and Arya walked in. Aryas head hung in clear submission and shame. Catelyn flew at her youngest daughter. In between hugs, shakes, sobs and happy laughter Sansa was able to see her sisters face clearly. It was a mix of shock and pure happiness.
"Do not ever do that to me again young lady. I swear if you do that I will send you to that all girl boarding school near my sister Lysa's house. The Vale would do you good. I do not want you to ever scare me like that ever again." Catelyn nearly shouted. "Do you have any idea what you put me through? I was up all night waiting to hear if you were dead in a ditch somewhere. I was so worried about you. If it had not been for Jon I would have been out there looking for you myself."
"Mom you are crushing me. I cannot breath. If you don't loosen up I am going to die!" Arya squeaked.
"I will admit that I want to kill you. You scared me to death." Catelyn loosened her grip on her daughter and looked her in the face. Whatever she saw there was enough for her to leave her daughter alone and walk over to her husband and embrace him. He kissed the top of her head and they walked to the table and had a fast hushed talk with Robb on the computer call.
Arya sat down beside Sansa. There were dark smudges under her eyes and she looked like she had been awake all night. Then Arya lifted her head and looked at Sansa.
"There is something different about you. What did you do last night?" Arya asked.
"I looked for you with Sandor. Then when we decided that we couldn't find you we went stargazing." Sansa blushed.
"Is that what you call it? Gendry and I work on cars, if you catch my drift." Arya smiled. "I can't believe that it has taken you to so long to gaze at the stars."
"We did a lot of gazing. And if you would have not ran away last night we could have spent the night giggling about it watching a movie and eating junk food. Instead you flew off the handle and ran away." Arya opened her mouth to speak but Sansa held up her hand to silence her sister. "I understand why you did it. You felt attacked. Fight or flight. I get it. But you know that we will wait out the school year before we go back North. You were just stupid and impulsive. Do you understand what could have happened to you out there?"
"Yes. I already had this lecture from father and Jon. I know that I will get one from mother more in depth as soon as her bliss of me being found wears off. I do not need it from you." Arya grumbled.
"You will get it from all of us. And you will take it; there is nothing that you can do about it. It is the payment for what you did." Bran said slipping up beside his sisters. Sansa smiled at Bran and at Aryas scowl.
Jon walked in and Aryas head sprung up.
"Is Gendry okay? Is he in trouble?" Arya asked.
"What happened to Gendry?" Sansa asked in concern.
"He is fine. He is with his mom who is fussing over him like he is a baby again." Jon chuckled.
"What happened to Gendry?" Catelyn asked.
"He got in a fight defending Aryas honor." Ned said and the matter was dropped.
The family discussion began. Arya ranted and railed against the idea of a move, Rickon pouted and Bran said that they should not be moved with only three months left in the school year. Sansa sat there and let her siblings make their cases. Then she cleared her throat and all eyes turned to her.
"I would love to go home. But this is my senior year and you have already disrupted it once. I for one would like to finish out the year here. I have a good chance of being my class's valedictorian. I know that I would have that in Winterfell, but it is an accomplishment for me to achieve it here in a school that I started late in the year. And then there is the matter of prom. I don't care about being prom queen any more, but I would like to attend with someone I care for and someone who cares about me. After everything that happened to me here I should want to leave, but I find myself looking at the good things that this place has to offer. Please do not move us away just yet." Her voice was soft and she let the tears well in her eyes. She knew that talking about her attack was a low blow, but she felt that it was time to bring out the big guns.
"I know that the North has doctors that can work on Bran, but here there are world class doctors. If Derek Shepard was real I would say yes we should go back home and Bran could be treated in Seattle but he is just a character on TV. We need to stay here to cure Bran and to see that the doctor who deceived us and hurt Bran is punished and stopped from doing anything like this ever again." Sansa smiled slightly noticing her mother's frown increasing.
Ned and Cat talked in low voices. She saw Robb and Theon give her thumbs up. She knew that she would be the one who would get them to stay. Brans logic would not work, because their father was logical as well, Rickons youngest act would not work because the Starks had lived with pouting before with their many children and Arya was in enough hot water with her parents that they would ignore her. But Sansa was the good child that never asked for anything. They would cave and do what she asked she knew.
"Sansa is right. It is not fair to you children to force you to move during the school year again. We will be staying until school ends. But then we will be moving back to Winterfell and there will be no more discussion on the matter." Ned looked at each of his children and the look he gave them was a dare to argue.
"Thank you daddy." Sansa stood and flung her arms around him. She smiled and kissed his cheek then turned and did the same to their mother. The children were dismissed and they filed out of the kitchen. Jon caught up with Sansa as they walked up the stairs.
"That was masterful sis. I always knew that you were the one who could play mother and father like they were a fiddle." Jon ruffled her hair.
"I do not have the slightest idea what you are talking about." She smiled sweetly at him.
"Right. Go to your room and call that hulk of a boyfriend for you. Tell him the good news." Jon went to his room.
Sansa skipped and entered her room. She removed the sweater and looked at the love bites and marks that Sandor had given to her ant smiled. She picked up her phone to call him. The phone rang and rang then went to voicemail.
"Sandor its Sansa. We are staying until the end of the year. I just wanted you to know." She hung up the phone.
It was odd that Sandor was not answering the phone. That was the last thought that she had on the matter. She put on a tee shirt and went out of her room and went into Aryas room to talk about boys and to get some advice on what she and Sandor should do next.
Sandor
After dropping off Sansa Sandor had gone home and he was more pleased then he had been since his mother had been alive. Being with Sansa in that way was as close to the gods that he had ever felt. She was his everything. When they moved back North at the end of school he was going with Sansa. He wanted to ask her to marry him, but he knew that she wanted to go to college and he would not stand in her way. But he wanted to be near to her. He would get a job in the town that she was going to school. They could live together and they would be so happy.
But then he got a call that changed everything. He stood stunned looking at the caller id. Joffery Lannisters name was flashing on his phone. He answered his phone and growled into it.
"What the hell do you want?" Sandor's voice was deadly.
"I want to hurt that little bitch that you call a girlfriend." Joffery sneered.
"That will never happen. Leave me the fuck alone. And if you fuck with Sansa I will kill you."
"You will do no such thing. You will do what I say or your father will lose everything. And if that happens he will be home all the time, and so will your brother. I know how much you want that to happen." Joffery laughed at his joke.
Sandor sat down heavy on his bed. He knew that Joffery could make good on his threat. His father and brother were both in the employment of the Lannisters. If they lost their jobs they would be home all the time. One of them would end up dead. Whether it be him, his father or brother, but one of them would be dead by the end of the first week.
"What do you want?"
"That is more like it. You will do the unthinkable. You will break up with that slut. And then to rub salt in the wound you will start dating Margery Tyrell, her close friend. She had already agreed to this. She thinks what Sansa did to me was a betrayal. And she feels resentment for all the attention that Sansa has gotten from everyone since she came here. As well as the attention and sympathy from her family. She hates her as much as I do. But you will never hear her admit that."
Stunned by the revelation Sandor was sick with shock. Margery hated Sansa was something that he could not comprehend. She had been with Sansa during the trial. She had sat with them when they had heard the sentence. Why would she want to hurt Sansa that way? Would she truly hate Sansa out of jealously? Sandor knew that the answer was yes.
"I will do what you say, but I will pay you back for this. You will pay for what you have done and you will be sorry for this." Sandor's voice was deadly and menacing.
"You can do nothing to me Dog. You will be sorry that you have these thoughts." Joffery let out a nasally laugh. "Face it you have nothing." Then the line went dead. Sandor sat on his bed and a sinking feeling settled in his gut. He was sick to his stomach. He knew that he had to end things with Sansa now. But he was sick with himself. What he was about to do would kill her and she would think that all that he wanted from her the whole time that they had been together would have been so that he could get into her pants and for her to give up her virginity to him.
For the first time since he was a child he cried. Cried for the loss of the feature that he would have had with Sansa. For the loss of the love that they shared and would have shared together.
Jaqen
He woke on the floor of his entryway. His body felt battered and bruised. He knew that he had missed his flight and he didn't care. All that he thought about now was revenge. It burned with in him as he picked himself up and felt the broken bones in his ribs. It seared in his blood as he felt it drip down his face from the cuts on his face from the pounding that He had received from the Bull.
He looked at his face in the mirror and didn't recognize himself. His nose was broken, he was missing a tooth and his face was so swollen that he could hardly open both eyes. Looking at the damage that had been done to him he knew that one thing was for sure, Gendry Baratheon would pay for this with blood. And then once the blood was shed he would take Arya, by force if need be.
He stood in his bathroom and took a pair of scissors from the counter and went to work on cutting his hair. Once it was short enough he took a razor out and lathered his head up. He started to work on shaving his head. Once he was finished he really didn't recognize his reflection. There was no way that Arya or anyone would know who he was if they saw him on the street. He smiled and a stranger smiled back at him. Jaqen slid his battered body into the shower and watched as the water ran pink while his blood washed away down the drain. Once that was finished he walked out of the bathroom in a different silk robe, this one black. The first one he had been in was white now stained red.
In his room he took his clothes out of his chest of draws and dressed with care to make sure that he was not recognizable. He was a complete stranger. He walked to the car that he had bought to follow Arya without being discovered and left his house for good. He was now on a mission. He was going to destroy Gendry Baratheon for taking everything from him.
-AN Just a heads up the next chapter will be a time jump. I am planing on ending this one soon. I have a fun new story in the works that I feel will be as fun for you to read as it will be for me to write. I am thinking that there will be only five more posts if I am lucky. Remember to review. I love reading what you all think!