The chapter name comes from the song Off to the Races by Lana del Rey.

Enjoy!

41. Ready, Set, the Gate is Down and Now We Are Going In.

The car was approaching the street that led directly to the Red Keep mansion when Sandor suddenly pulled over to the side of the road and parked the car there. He turned around and looked at Sansa, and he handed her his phone.

"Dial your brother's number," he told her to do.

Sansa hesitated, but she didn't protest. She had stopped protesting long ago because she knew that it was useless. Sandor was going to take her to her family whether she wanted it or not, and nothing would change his mind. He had had enough of seeing Sansa in her current situation.

Sansa took his phone with trembling hands. She couldn't stop shaking because she was so afraid, and she hated it. She hated being so afraid. She wanted to stop feeling that fear that consumed her down to the deepest parts of her core. What she hated most about that fear was that it was the manifestation of Joffrey's control on her. He had manipulated her to the point where she was so scared of getting help that she felt like screaming.

She panicked for a moment when she couldn't remember her brother's phone, but then she thought really hard and slowly she remembered the numbers, and she dialed them. She handed the phone back to Sandor again, and he took the phone to his ear, waiting for Robb to pick up the call.

The phone rang several times, but eventually Robb picked up the call right before Sandor could start thinking that the President wasn't going to answer.

"Hello?" Robb Stark's voice was heard at the other side of the line. Sandor hadn't spoken that many times with him and was a bit unfamiliar with his voice, but he could notice the slight Northern accent.

"President Stark?" Sandor asked, just to be sure.

"Yes, who is this?" Robb asked with curiosity, not recognizing the number.

"This is Sandor Clegane. I'm your sister Sansa's bodyguard. Mr President, I need you to pay close attention, and I need you to do everything that I tell you to do."

"I don't understand," Robb said, clearly confused. Sandor didn't blame him, he would have been confused by a call like that too. "Is something wrong? Did something happen?"

"I will explain later. Now, listen. Mr President, I'm taking your sister to the Red Keep mansion. I need you to be completely discreet about our visit. If Joffrey or any Lannisters call, or anyone else for that matter calls and asks if Sansa is there, say 'no'. She's not there, and she's not going to be there. You don't know where she is, is that clear?"

"Yes," Robb nodded. Sandor could still hear the note of confusion in his voice, and also a little bit of alarm. Was the President imagining that something very bad had happened to his sister? He wouldn't exactly be wrong if that was the case.

"Good. Now, I also need you to get rid of all the staff in the mansion. No one can know that Sansa is there, and no one can hear what is going to be said once she's there."

"Clegane, what is going on?"

"Just do it!" Sandor exclaimed between gritted teeth, not wanting to lose any time on the phone. He wanted to be able to get to the mansion as soon as possible and get out of the road where they could be found easily. "Call me back when everyone from the staff is gone. And anyone else that isn't from the family should be gone too."

Robb hesitated for a few seconds, but eventually he decided to do what Sandor was asking him to do. Robb could notice the urgent tone of Sandor's voice and he knew that whatever was happening -though he had no clue of what it was- was very important.

"All right, I will take care of that," the President of Westeros agreed after those brief seconds of hesitation.

Sandor hung up the phone and then he waited in silence to get called back. While he waited he turned his head around to look at Sansa. She had lied down on the backseat to rest a little bit, with her head resting on her arms, and she had her eyes closed; she was emotionally and physically exhausted. While Sandor watched her the only thing that he wanted to do was join her and take her in his arms and shield her from the world, protect her from everything and everyone that wanted to harm her... But wasn't that what he was doing at the moment? He was taking her with her family finally, and they were the ones with the real power. Sandor had nothing more than his strength, his body and his gun to protect her; her brother was the President, and he had power and control. Robb would save her.

You are going to be okay, Sandor wanted to tell her, but he didn't speak out loud to not disturb her rest.

He extended his arm and touched her hand with his own. Sansa was shaking, and she was so cold... Sandor took his jacket off and then he put it over Sansa as a blanket, trying to keep her a little warmer.

It's all right, little bird, he said in his mind while looking at her face. You are going to be free soon.

When Sansa had laid down her hair had moved to the side, away from her face. Sandor could see where Joffrey had slapped her, and he saw red and felt his blood boiling in his veins when he saw the ugly purple color that the bruise was turning to. Joffrey had hit her with such strength that Sansa's skin was swollen, and he feared that she would have a black eye again. Sandor's hands turned to fists, and he tried really hard not to hit something. Instead he took a deep breath and relaxed. That would be the last time that Joffrey would put his hands on Sansa, Sandor would make sure of that.

He caressed her cheek with his fingers, and Sansa opened her eyes a little bit and looked at him with a tired expression. Neither one of them said anything, they just looked at each other in silence, waiting, hoping...

Twenty minutes passed before Robb Stark called again. The silence inside the car was broken by the ringing of the phone, and Sandor immediately picked it up after checking in the small screen that the caller was Robb Stark indeed.

"Hello?" he said when he answered the phone.

"It's done," Robb Stark's serious voice said from the other side of the line. "Only my wife, my mother and I are left in the mansion."

"Perfect. Have the garage door open, I don't want to leave the car outside for everyone to see."

Sandor hung up the phone and started the car once again. He went into the road, and ten minutes later they arrived at the gates of the Red Keep mansion, which was already open to let the car in. Sandor drove the car all the way to the underground garage doors, where most cars were parked. That door was also open, but it closed immediately after the car entered the garage. Sandor found an empty place in the garage and left the car there. He turned the engine off and then he opened the door of the driver's seat and stepped off the car, slamming the door shut once he was out of the car. He opened the backseat's door and gently helped Sansa out of the car, making sure that she could stand on her feet. Sansa was feeling weak after the incident back at the mansion with Joffrey, so Sandor put an arm around her slim body to keep her from falling down to the floor. She still felt like her legs were made of jelly, though her body wasn't shaking as badly as before.

"Sansa!" she heard her brother's voice calling her, and she raised her gaze.

Robb was inside the garage, where he had been waiting for them. As soon as he saw them coming out of the black Mercedes he ran towards them. When Sansa saw him she took a small step forward, moving away from Sandor's and stumbling into her brother's embrace. Robb held her tightly, but at the same time gently, like she was some delicate porcelain doll about to break. Sandor stood behind watching the siblings hugging in silence. He couldn't see Sansa's face, but he did see Robb's; the man's expression reflected all the confusion that he was feeling because of that unexpected situation, but he also looked extremely worried. Robb frowned, and deep lines of concern appeared in his forehead. He had his eyes open and he couldn't keep his gaze still; he seemed to be trying to figure out what was going on.

"Robb..." Sansa murmured, her voice barely a whisper. Robb ran a hand through her hair in a soothing and brotherly way.

"It's okay, Sansa, it's okay," he told her, still not knowing what was going on, but knowing that his younger sister was obviously in distress. "It's okay..."

"I need to tell you something," she said. It was so difficult for her to pronounce those words... but she had to say them. She had made it, she was with her brother, and nothing could stop her from telling the truth anymore.

"Okay. Let's go upstairs and talk," Robb said, nodding his head slightly.

He let go of Sansa, but he didn't see the bruise in her face, partly because it was very dark in the garage and partly because Sansa's hair was again covering that half of her face. Robb took her hand and gently pulled from her so that she would follow him. Sandor was going to walk silently behind them, but suddenly Sansa turned around and reached out with her free hand. She offered it to Sandor, not afraid to display her emotions in public anymore. Sandor didn't hesitate and he took her hand in his. Sansa's hand was so cold that it felt like it was made of pure ice, so he tried to warm it with his touch. Robb didn't notice that his sister and her bodyguard were holding hands.

Robb took them both to the stairs that led to the first floor of the mansion, and then all three of them walked in silence to the parlor of the Red Keep mansion. As soon as they entered the room, Sansa and Sandor saw that Catelyn and Talisa were there waiting for Robb to come back with them from the garage. Catelyn ran to hug her daughter, and Sansa let go of Robb's and Sandor's hands to be able to hug her mother back.

"Sansa!" her mother exclaimed, visibly more worried than Robb. Mothers were always more worried, and Catelyn could perfectly sense that something was very wrong. Sansa never visited them, never called them out of the blue like that... And Sandor had clearly stated in his call that their visit was an urgent matter. "My baby, what happened? Are you okay?"

"Yes, Mom, I'm fine..." Sansa lied so as to not make her mother worry even more, even though what she was about to say was going to have the same effect as a bomb falling on the Stark family.

Talisa was standing behind Catelyn while the woman and her daughter hugged. Catelyn's hug had made Sansa's hair move out of her face, and an expression full of horror appeared in Talisa's face.

"Oh my God, Sansa, your face!" Talisa exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hands in horror.

Robb noticed the bruise on his sister's face then too, and his eyes became wide with the same horror that was in his wife's expression. Confused by Talisa's words, Catelyn moved away from her daughter to look at her face. Aware that her family was staring at the dark bruise on her face, Sansa lowered her gaze to the floor, feeling embarrassed. She lowered her head, trying to hide her face with her hair again, but before she could do that her mother took her chin carefully and made her raise her head. Sansa gulped and stared into her mother's eyes while Catelyn examined her face. Catelyn Stark's expression wasn't twisted by horror like that of Robb's and Talisa's; she remained serene and serious. Sandor contemplated the whole scene in silence, and he observed the way in which Catelyn Stark's eyes lit up with burning anger as they took in the image of her injured daughter.

"How did this happen?" Catelyn hissed. Sansa didn't say anything, suddenly afraid of speaking again. Sandor knew that Catelyn already knew the answer, but she wanted it to be confirmed out loud. "Sansa, who did this?!"

"Did Joffrey hit you?" Robb asked then, and all eyes turned to him, except Sandor's. The bodyguard kept looking only at Sansa, who had started shaking violently again. She sobbed, and her body language and her sobs were enough to answer her brother's question. Still, just like their mother, Robb needed a confirmation. "Sansa, did Joffrey hit you?"

President Robb Stark's face was turning red with anger, and Sansa hadn't even said 'yes' or 'no' yet. His hands became fists at his sides, and when his wife noticed how upset her husband was she moved her hands away from her mouth and put them on his tense shoulders, trying to calm him down. It did not work.

"Sansa," he said, almost begging. He needed an answer.

Sandor took a step forward and put his hand gently on Sansa's back. She gasped slightly and turned her head to look at him in the eyes. She had started crying and her blue eyes were bright like sapphires, though they were swollen and red. She sook in Sandor the strength to speak, and he have her a small and encouraging nod.

You can do it, little bird," his grey eyes silently said to her. You can do it. Speak.

Slowly, she looked at her mother and her brother again, and then she nodded her head.

"Yes," she whispered almost inaudibly.

Robb turned around and walked away from his wife towards the other side of the mansion parlor, cursing under his breath and putting his hands on his head, suddenly feeling an explosion of anger inside of him upon that revelation. Sansa cried even louder then, and Catelyn rushed to embrace her with her motherly and welcoming and protective arms again.

"Sshh, it's okay... Sansa, it's okay..." she said, though she had tears in her eyes now. "You are with us now, we will take care of you. My baby, everything is alright..."

Sansa shook her head, which was resting on her mother's shoulder. The fabric of her mother's blouse became damp with her tears.

"No, it's not..." she sobbed, but no one listened to her.

"Come," Catelyn said, walking towards one of the couches. Sansa followed her without protesting and sat down on it next to her mother. "Talisa, please bring Sansa a glass of water. Robb, stop that and come here!"

Robb walked towards the couch where both women were and he sat down on the armchair in front of them. Sandor, meanwhile, stood on his feet away from them, not really sure if he was welcome there. He sensed that Catelyn and Robb Stark didn't want him there, but he didn't want to go and leave Sansa there. He had taken there with her family, just like he had promised her that he would do, but he wasn't about to leave her just jet.

I should have done this ages ago, he thought as he watched Sansa sobbing in her mother's arms like a small and scared child.

Talisa returned soon after with a glass of water in her hands, and she offered it to Sansa. Sansa thanked her and took the glass, then she drank a little bit. Her hand shook so much that she almost spilled the water on her, but her mother held her hand and helped her to keep if steady. When Sansa was done drinking Catelyn took the glass away from her and put it on the coffee table in front of them. Then she moved the hair away from Sansa's face; her tears had caused a few strands of it to become damp.

"Sansa, we need that you tell us what happened," Catelyn softly said, trying not to upset her daughter even more. "We will help you, but we need to know what happened. Did Joffrey and you have a fight?"

Without hesitating, Sansa nodded. Her brother asked the next question.

"Why?"

With her gaze lost on some point of the wall, Sansa merely shrugged.

"We just... started arguing... He didn't like what I said..." she lowered her gaze to the carpeted floor then. "He never does..."

"Has he hit you more times?" Catelyn said, shocked. She wasn't a fool, she knew what her daughter's words meant.

Sansa hesitated before nodding again. Catelyn looked at Robb horrified, not knowing what to say, while the President sighed and ran his hands over his face.

"How long has he been hitting you?"

"Since a little before Dad died," Sansa sobbed. She didn't hesitate that time when she answered.

Robb was shocked. His eyes were wide as plates, and he gaped.

"Since Dad died?! Sansa, Dad died three years ago. Three years ago!"

"I know..."

"You have been married to that asshole for a year!" Robb exclaimed, not understanding anything. Sansa didn't blame him, she knew that it didn't make any sense. "Why did you marry him?! Why didn't you say anything?!"

"Robb!" his mother scolded him, angry. "Don't make your sister feel even worse than she does already!"

"But-!" Robb started saying, and Sandor couldn't keep quiet any longer.

"Shut up and listen to what your sister has to say," he rasped, making everyone in the parlor turn their eyes to him and throw him shocked and surprised looks. It was as if everyone except Sansa had forgotten that he was still there. "Your sister has had to put up with fucking hell with that son of a bitch, and she doesn't need to have you yelling at her for that now!"

"You," President Stark muttered. He slowly stood up from his armchair while he glared at the bodyguard. "I remember you now... You used to be Joffrey's bodyguard."

"Aye."

"Did you know that he hit my sister?"

Sandor clenched his jaw, feeling furious to have to admit that yes, he did know. He was about to admit his guilt when Sansa interrupted him.

"He couldn't do it anything, no one could stop Joffrey," she protested.

"Of course he could do something! He should have done something!" Robb exclaimed, visibly very upset. He glared at Sandor again. "Why didn't you do something?!"

"He brought me here!" Sansa cried, again interrupting Sandor before he could say anything. "He's risking his life, Robb! I couldn't let him do that before!"

"Bullshit!" Robb exclaimed.

"Robb!" Catelyn Stark exclaimed horrified once again. "Don't talk to your sister like that!"

"Three years, mother! This had been happening for three years!" Robb shouted, as if he was trying to make his mother understand, but she understood perfectly fine. She was just better at handling her emotions than her son was, and her expression remained serene, though a few solitary tears streamed down her face.

"Let Sansa explain what happened," she said calmly, trying to make her son calm down too. Talisa went to Robb's side to help with that. "We should listen to her, not make things more difficult than they already are."

Suddenly Sansa stood up from the couch, startling her mother. Still shaking, Sansa walked to the door.

"I shouldn't have come here," she murmured. "I should have stayed there, I shouldn't have said anything..."

"Sansa, come back!" Catekyb exclaimed, losing her composure when she saw her daughter walking away. "Sansa, wait!"

"I shouldn't have!" Sansa cried.

Sandor took her by the wrist when she walked past him, stopping her. Sansa gasped and looked up at him with teary and desperate eyes.

"Let me go, Sandor!" she pleaded, pulling from her arm to get free from his grasp, but he didn't let go of her. "Sandor, let me go..."

"Sansa, you can't leave now," he told her, trying to make her see reason. He didn't want to speak roughly to her, he knew that she was scared. Hell, even he was scared! Shit would go down no matter if they left or stayed in the mansion talking to the Starks. It was too late now. "You are finally here, you don't have to hide anymore. You don't have to lie..."

"I have to!" she cried. "He will kill me, he will kill us all! I need to go back! Sandor, please!"

Tears streamed down Sansa's face like waterfalls. Sandor hated to see her like that in such a state of desperation, he hated to see her so panicked, but he knew that things would only be worse if they left now. The Starks already knew that something was wrong, but they didn't know everything. If they weren't careful they would attack Joffrey, and he would know that Sansa had gone to them, and then they would all be screwed.

"Sansa, please," he found himself begging her. "Please. Stay. Tell them the truth. Please."

Sansa stopped trying to break free from his grasp, she was too tired to keep fighting. While Robb, Catelyn and Talisa Stark watched not fully understanding what was going on, Sansa threw her arms around Sandor's body. It caught him a bit by surprise, but he immediately let go of her wrist and embraced her with his arms. Sansa sobbed against his chest, and he ran his hands through her hair. He kissed the top of her hair lovingly while he told her that it would all be okay. It would all be over soon.

"Please stay with me..." he heard her muffled voice against his chest. He nodded and kissed the too of her head again.

"I will," he promised her. "Now please come, little bird. Come."

He started walking and leading her back to the couch with small and slow steps, not wanting her to fall to the floor. As he made his way to the couch, he was aware of the three members of the Stark family looking at him. Robb Stark was looking at him in shock, not fully able to believe what his eyes were showing him. Catelyn and Talisa, on the other hand, were looking at him and Sansa with understanding. They were wise women, and they didn't need anyone to tell them what they had just witnessed meant, it was pretty obvious to them.

Sandor arrived with Sansa on the couch and carefully helped her to sit down. Sansa didn't let go of him, and so he sat down at her side. He felt uncomfortable under all the stares that he was receiving, but he didn't care. All he cared about was Sansa, and her well-being.

"Come on, little bird," he murmured, rubbing her back with his hand in a comforting and encouraging way. He wanted her to know that he was there for her no matter what. "Tell them..."

Everyone waited in silence while Sansa quietly sobbed, trying not to force her to speak before she was ready. She sobbed for about a minute or so with her head resting against Sandor's chest until she was finally able to open her mouth to speak.

"The night that Dad died..." she started saying. "I was there. I saw everything."

All three other members of the Stark family gasped upon hearing that. They stared at her wide-eyed. Before they asked questions, Sansa continued talking. Because of all the sobbing it was difficult for her to speak, and she felt a deep pain in her chest and in her tummy.

"They argued. Then... then he took a knife out... and stabbed Dad..."

"Who did?" Catelyn asked, though it was obvious. But they all needed to hear it.

Sansa closed her eyes before saying:

"Joffrey."

Sandor had expected to hear gasps of shock, horrified cries, laments, curses... Instead he heard the most intense silence that he had ever encountered in his life. It was broken only by Sansa's crying, but Robb, Carelyn and Talisa were silent and still as statues. Robb's and Catelyn's eyes were full of pain, though, a pain that could not be put into words. They were beginning to really understand for the first time in that day the real hell that Sansa had been living without them knowing. There was fury in their eyes too, a cold rage directed towards the finally revealed murderer of their beloved father and husband.

"He forced me to watch as he..." Sansa continued saying in high-pitched sobs, "as he did all those terrible things to Dad..."

She couldn't keep speaking, she was hysterical. Sandor hugged her tightly against his chest, trying to soothe her and give her a sensation of protection.

All color had faded from Catelyn Stark's face, and she now appeared to be as white as a ghost. The woman waited for her daughter to continue speaking, but then she realized that Sansa wasn't able to say anything else.

"I will bring you some tea..." she whispered, barely able to talk because of the shock of what she had just heard.

"Let me get that for you," Talisa offered and made for the door, but she was stopped by Sansa.

"No. Not tea... Wine. I need wine."

No one was surprised by that. Talisa left the parlor and appeared moments later with a glass and a bottle of red wine that was already open. She poured some wine in the glass and then gave it to Sansa. The young woman took the glass and drank all the wine in one single gulp. Talisa pouted her a second cup, but that time Sansa only took a sip from it before leaning back into Sandor's chest. He could feel her stop shaking a little bit; the wine had worked and was calming her down some.

Sansa found the strength to continue talking then.

"After that happened... Joffrey told me that he would kill me if I ever told anybody," she murmured. She wasn't sobbing anymore, though her eyes were still crying. "He only let me get out of the house when I had to go on tour or to concerts, or to accompany him somewhere. He had me followed by bodyguards everywhere. He spied on me... He also told me that if I didn't marry him... he would kill you. Right before the wedding I told him I didn't want to marry him, that he couldn't harm me in front of everyone in the church... But he told me that he would kill Bran, and Rickon and Jon... And Ned. He would kill Ned."

Talisa cried horrified at the mention of her young son. Robb didn't move, nor did he say anything, but the veins in his neck and in his temple were swollen and pulsed dangerously.

"I couldn't let that happen..." Sansa whispered, and she shook her head. "I couldn't..."

"Sansa..." her mother murmured, putting a hand on Sansa's shoulder. She was the one that was sobbing now, after learning what a horrible nightmare her daughter had been living for three years. Sandor wasn't very good with emotions, but he could tell that the woman was feeling broken inside. She hadn't been able to protect her daughter, and that was the worst thing that could happen to a mother.

"He killed Theon too," Sansa revealed then. "Joffrey wanted to be Vice President in case that he didn't win the elections, so he sent people to make it look like it was an accident..."

Robb Stark cursed again, and he buried his face in his hands, feeling like he wasn't able to keep listening any longer.

"Who else knows?" he asked then.

"Tywin Lannister knows," Sansa told him. "That day that I went to see you and he was there... I wanted to tell you then, but he knew and he stopped me. I know he knows about Dad, but I don't know if he knows about Theon. I think Cersei knows about Dad too, and she definitely knows what Joffrey has been doing to me... Arya knows too."

"Arya?!" Catelyn, Robb and Talisa exclaimed all at once. Sansa nodded.

"That's why she disappeared," she told them. "She was there the night that Dad died, but I didn't know that until last year. She was hiding, and then she ran away. She... she was the one that tried to kill Joffrey, but she failed..."

Robb was the first to realize what she meant with that. "Arya was the one that killed Renly?"

Sansa nodded. Instead of questioning her about how in seven hells Arya had managed to do such an insane thing, Robb Stark's angered eyes turned to Sandor yet again.

"You saved him," he hissed. "You pushed Joffrey out of the way."

I'm not proud of that, Sandor rasped in his mind. He had laid awake many times just thinking about that moment. If he hadn't seen that fucking little red dot he wouldn't have saved Joffrey, and so many bad things wouldn't have happened... But there's no going back now.

"I didn't know what Joffrey had done then. At that time he was just my boss, and I did what I had to do," he said, defending himself. "I found out about everything else later. Had I known before, I would have let his brains fly in every direction."

But I didn't know...

"How do you know that it was Arya?" Catelyn asked.

"We saw her," Sandor said. "In King's Landing. Then we saw her in Tarth, she went to find us..."

"But... where is she now?"

Sandor shrugged. He honestly didn't know. The last time he had known anything about Arya Stark had been when he spoke on the phone with Jaqen H'ghar before Sansa's wedding, and that had been a year and five months ago. He didn't say how much time had passed since they had news of the girl. Sandor knew that knowing that her daughter had been completely missing since almost a year and a half would only sink Catelyn Stark even more in desperation, and the woman already had enough with Sansa's problem for the time being.

"We need to do something," the woman said then. She had stopped sobbing, and she was forcing herself to appear strong and serene again, just like she had been doing her entire life for the sake of her family. The anger, though, did not disappear from her eyes, and neither did the pain. "Joffrey needs to be punished for everything that he has done, he has to be arrested."

"No!" Sansa shouted then, completely panicked. She moved away from Sandor and took her mother's hand in between hers, and she pleaded desperately: "We can't do that! I don't have any evidence, just my word! It's my word against his, and he has all the power and the influence of the Lannisters!"

"I'm the President of Westeros-" Robb started saying, but Sansa shook her head.

"It's not enough!" she kept shouting. "There is no evidence, we can't get rid of him just like that! And he will kill me! He will kill you, he will kill us all!"

She swallowed all of the wine that was left in the glass, and then she took the bottle and poured herself a third glass. She filled the glass to the top, almost spilling wine everywhere, and she drank without even putting the bottle down. Sandor took the bottle away from her and then held her by the shoulders carefully.

"Sansa," he said, trying to get her attention. He wasn't going to tell her that that was enough, because he knew that it wasn't. "Little bird."

Sansa emptied the glass and Sandor took it away from her, leaving it on the coffee table. Then Sansa fell into her mother's arms.

"He's going to kill us all..." Sandor could still hear her saying, though her voice was weak and muffled. The wine had calmed her down, but it had also made Sansa dizzy and sleepy, and she closed her eyes while still in her mother's arms. Catelyn kissed her daughter's forehead.

"My poor baby..." the woman murmured, and she rocked back and forth like she used to do when her children were small and they were scared and needed comfort.

Sansa spent a few moments murmuring lowly that Joffrey was going to kill them all, but eventually she became silent. She wasn't shaking anymore, and everyone suspected that she had fallen asleep because of the exhaustion that she felt and because of the wine. Catelyn didn't let go of her daughter, though, and she kept rocking back and forth while whispering comforting words. They were all in silence, looking at Sansa. Now that she was asleep her expression was peaceful and innocent, like an angel, but that beautiful image and that peace was ruined by the bruise on her face and the red marks that showed that she had been crying.

"We have to do something," Catelyn said again, once she was sure that Sansa had fallen asleep in her arms and that she couldn't hear her.

"But what she said is true," Sandor said, much to his sorrow. "There's no evidence, and Joffrey will never confess that he is guilty. You'll be putting Sansa and yourselves and your entire family in a lot of danger if you dare to accuse him without the certainty that you are going to win."

"He can't harm us," Talisa said. "Everyone would know that it was him..."

"Joffrey is a psycopath, and he is very good at making a murder look like an accident," Sandor rasped, "when he wants."

"Then what do you suggest?" Robb asked. "Do we do nothing? So you want us to let Sansa go back to that... that son of a bitch... and let her keep living like that? Do we not make Joffrey pay for what he did to my father and what he did to Theon And what he did to Sansa?!"

"Of course not!" Sandor exclaimed, horrified at the thought that Sansa go back to that monster while he got no punishment. "I didn't get her out of there today for nothing! I want her as far away from Joffrey as possible, but I know that we can't be stupid about it if we want Sansa to be safe."

"Then what?"

"First, get your whole family out of the country. Send them somewhere where they can't be harmed, somewhere where no one can find them. Once they are out, get Sansa away from here. Once she's out, then you can go against Joffrey, but not before. He's smart, but he's also irrational... If he knows that you are plotting something against him he will turn his anger on Sansa. I've seen it happening before, and today... Today I couldn't stand it anymore. If she doesn't get out it's just going to get worse."

"We are leaving King's Landing in three days," Robb said. "We can get her out then."

"In three days?" Catelyn asked. "And what do we do with her meanwhile? Hide her here?"

Sandor shook his head. "Don't do that. If she doesn't go back Joffrey will know."

"Go back?!" Robb repeated in disbelief. "Go back?! Back to that house, with him?!"

"It's just three days," Sandor said. He hated to be saying those words, but he knew they had no other option. "Three more days, and she will be away from here... I will only take her back to that place if she agrees, though. If she doesn't want to, then we will have to find another solution because I won't force her to go there."

"And what if she agrees? What if Joffrey hits her again?!"

"He won't, I'll make sure of that," Sandor assured the Starks that were there in front of him. He said it with such conviction that it was impossible to doubt that he meant what he said. Besides, the fierce look of his steel-grey eyes confirmed that he was willing to do whatever he had to do to make sure that Sansa was able to escape safely. "If Joffrey so much as puts one finger on Sansa in these next three days, I will kill him. I will shoot him, I will stab him, I will strangle him with my own hands... I don't know, but I will kill him. I don't care if I rot in prison after that for the rest of my life."

His gaze was met by three pairs of astonished eyes after he made that statement. Not a single word that had come out of his mouth was a lie. His turned his gaze towards Sansa then, who still slept in Catelyn's warm embrace, and he felt himself coming undone at the sight of her. Slowly and carefully he raised his hand and he gently caressed Sansa's cheek with his rough fingers...

"You love her," Catelyn Stark suddenly whispered, and Sandor raised his gaze to meet hers. If he expected the mother of the woman he loved to be angry at him after that realization, or to hate him or resent him or be disgusted or repulsed by him like everyone else would have been, then he was disappointed. Catelyn Stark didn't look at him with any of those emotions. The only thing that was reflected in her eyes and that now replaced the anger that had previously been in them was understanding and realization. She was very calm, merely accepting the truth that was exposed in front of her very eyes. "And she loves you."

Slowly, Sandor nodded his head.

"Aye..." he said.

"I remember when I was buying with her the wedding dress. She was strange," Catelyn told him. "She wasn't excited about the dress or the wedding, and obviously I know why now... But I remember that there were some moments when her mind seemed to have slipped to some other place far away... And it was so confusing, because I could see that there was something wrong, though I didn't know what it was, but I also could see that she was in love... It was clearer than water. It is even clearer now. She was in love with you..."

Sandor was surprised to hear such words coming from Catelyn Stark, and the surprise was evident in his face. He clenched his jaw, which made the scars of his face slightly twist. Then he looked at Sansa again, and he caressed her cheek and also her hair more lovingly than before, not holding back as much as before. He didn't say anything, he didn't need to. It was Robb Stark who spoke.

"We will get you out of here too," the President said, and Sandor looked at him. Robb wasn't looking at him; he was looking at Sansa. "She will want you to be with her when she's out of here. I will arrange for both of you to go someplace safe until all this mess is cleared out."

"Thank you," Sandor said, feeling genuinely grateful for the first time in a long time.

"No, thank you," Robb said. "For bringing her here, with us. Now she can go home thanks to you. And I'm sorry for being rude to you before, I was very..." he sighed. "I was very shocked by everything... Very upset. I still am..."

"Don't apologize, you have every right to be upset," Sandor told him.

"Still, thank you," Robb said, and then silence refined over all of them again.

During those long moments of silence everyone looked at Sansa, and they used those moments to think about all the things that had been said and discovered that day there. Sandor knew that that would be a sleepless night for all the Starks, for they all had many things to worry about. Robb would have to plan in his head over and over again what he was going to do with the information that he had been given, and plan how to cause the downfall of Joffrey Baratheon without endangering his family. Catelyn would probably toss and turn in her bed all night, unable to close her eyes, tormented by images of her husband's death, Sansa's suffering, and wondering about Arya's whereabouts. Talisa would have her worries too, because she had a young son and a husband to fear for. Sandor pitied them. He pitied them all.

"I think we should let her rest," Catelyn murmured then, referring to Sansa.

Everyone agreed with her. Sandor had no intention of taking her away from that mansion until she woke up and told him what she wanted to do; stay there hidden, or go back to the mansion and pretend that everything was back to normality until the time to escape arrived. It was still early, so he figured that it would be okay if Sansa continued sleeping for a few hours. He stood up from the couch and took Sansa in his arms. Catelyn stood up from the couch as well and walked with Sandor to the exit of the parlor. Robb and Talisa followed them.

"Take her to her old room," Catelyn told the bodyguard. "It's the one at the end of the right hallway in the-"

"I know where her room is," Sandor rasped, and he walked up the stairs with Sansa asleep in his arms.

He reached the bedroom and pushed the door open with the tip of his foot. The bedroom was almost the same as when Sansa had lived there more than a year ago, with its light green walls, the queen size bed, the closet with double doors, an oak wardrobe, an armchair, a library and a vanity. Sandor walked towards the bed and laid Sansa down on it, carefully placing her head on the pillow. Catelyn came inside the room a few seconds later with a blanket and covered her daughter with it while Robb and Talisa were watched from the door. Catelyn looked at them.

"I'm going to stay here with her," she whispered, not wanting to wake Sansa up. "I want to be here with her when she wakes up."

"Ok," Robb said, and he gently took his wife's arm. "Come on, Talisa. I have to make some calls... I need to arrange the flights and everything else..."

"I'll help you," Talisa said, and Robb and her walked away, leaving only Catelyn and Sandor in the room with Sansa.

Catelyn got on the bed next to Sansa and hugged her daughter while she slept. Sandor cleared his throat and made for the door.

"Well, I will be downstairs," he said, thinking that maybe he wasn't welcome there anymore, but Catelyn Stark stopped him.

"No, Clegane," she said, making him stop and look at her and Sansa again. "You can stay if you want."

He did want to stay, so he didn't turn down the offer. He walked over to where the armchair was and sat down on it. Once he did that Catelyn Stark rested her head on the pillow next to her daughter's, and then she closed her eyes. Not long after her slow breathing gave away that she had fallen asleep, jut like her daughter. At that moment, with the two Stark women lying on the bed side by side, with their eyes closed and their faces relaxed with peaceful expressions and their auburn hair spread all over the pillow, they looked almost completely identical, except for age.

Sandor watched them both for a long time. His mind kept racing with the events that had happened that day. He couldn't stop thinking about how that afternoon had gone, and he wasn't completely sure of how he felt. Part of him felt fear for what was to come now that the truth had been exposed to the Starks. He wasn't an idiot and he knew that that war against Joffrey was far from over, they still had a long way to go. But part of him felt very relieved, because at least they had already taken the first step, which was telling the truth. The first step was always the hardest... Now that the Starks were aware of the true and dark nature of Joffrey, Sansa wasn't alone in her war... And that was something that Sandor was very thankful for.

With those thoughts in mind, his eyelids became heavier and heavier as time passed, until he finally closed his eyes and fell asleep on the chair, just like Sansa and Catelyn had done. That had been a very long and hard day, and it still wasn't over.