"How did you get in?" Robb demanded of Margaery.

"The door was unlocked," she said with a shrug.

"And you just let yourself in?"

"It wouldn't be the first time," Margaery said. "All the lights were on upstairs and your cars were in the driveway. I knew one or both of you had to be home. I've let myself in before. Right, Sansa?"

"Unfortunately, you are correct," Sansa said with a sigh.

Margaery looked at her sharply and then sighed. "Sansa, listen, about last night…I'm sorry." She looked at Robb and then back at Sansa. "I'm sorry to both of you for how I behaved last night. I was out of line. I'm kind of a mean drunk."

"Kind of?" Sansa said rhetorically.

Margaery sighed and folded her hands before her demurely. "Like I said, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have started drinking in the first place, but I thought I'd be fine since I hadn't gotten drunk like that in a long time. Clearly I was mistaken." She looked at Sansa. "I don't know what happened to you and me, but we used to be friends. I mean, sure we didn't hang out a lot or anything, but I always enjoyed talking with you, Sansa. I feel like ever since I started dating Robb our relationship has changed and I don't know why."

Because a. you started dating Robb, b. you went down on him on your first date, and c. you treat him like a possession, Sansa thought.

She couldn't tell Margaery the first two reasons, so she went with the third. "I don't like the way you treat my brother," Sansa said plainly. "He's not a possession, Margaery; he's a person."

Margaery nodded and looked about ready to cry. She bit her lip and looked at Robb. "Can we talk?"

Robb darted a glance at Sansa, who was already walking to the door. "Uh, sure…"

Sansa climbed the stairs up to the kitchen and started to head up to her bedroom when she stopped, paused, and turned back around. She went outside to the front of the house where the living room window was…

She could see it all and, in fact, she could clearly see the couch where Robb had gone down on her earlier. If Margaery had come by earlier she would have gotten quite the show.

Margaery would have also gotten quite a show if she hadn't announced herself the way she did before coming down to Robb's bedroom. Granted, Sansa and Robb hadn't been naked, but they had been on the bed together, laying in each other's arms. What if it had been Arya? Or Rickon? Or Bran? What if their parents had come home early? Neither of them had thought about locking the door, but if it had been any part of the family then that wouldn't have mattered.

They weren't thinking. They were being too reckless.

Sansa got the sense that before the accident she hadn't been as worried as she should have been about the possibility of discovery. Or maybe she just hadn't thought it would ever happen. However, post-accident Sansa was a cautious sort of person. She knew the risks involved and was aware of them in a way that Robb didn't seem to be. Yet when she was with him she became so consumed with him that all else fell away.

Being without Robb felt like an impossibility, but what did she do when being with him felt like one, too?

xxxxxxxx

"So, what were you guys doing down here anyway?" Margaery asked as she sat down on Robb's bed.

"Watching TV," he replied.

"The TV is off."

"I heard a noise upstairs," he lied easily. "I turned it off to hear better and then you called down."

"Why not upstairs in the living room? Is anyone else home?"

"No, they're not. I was just hanging out in my room and Sansa came down to see what I was doing. Was there something you wanted to say to me or did you want a play-by-play of my day?"

"I called you earlier," she said softly.

Robb raked a hand through his hair. "I rather felt after last night I didn't have to formally tell you that we were through."

"I know I was an asshole."

"Margaery, you slapped my sister. You let the entire table know that we weren't having sex. You attempted to jack me off at the table. Did I mention you slapped Sansa?"

"I know, and I have a lot of apologies to make to her, but Robb…I – I don't want to lose you."

"Margaery—"

"No, listen, hear me out. Robb, I like you. A lot. You're not like any guy I've ever dated before. Most guys I date want to get physical right away and you're not like that. You talk to me; you actually want to get to know me, and you have no idea how much that means to me. I like that you're making me wait – even I do want to jump your hot bod."

"Margaery—"

"Please give me another chance. You're such a gentleman and I'm not used to that. You're so kind and even shy and I like that. I fucked up last night. Royally. And I know it. Please just give me another chance. I'll be better, I promise."

Robb couldn't believe it. She had taken his utter disinterest and sheer unwillingness to do anything sexual with her as indicative of his just wanting to get to know her. She thought he was just being a gentleman and it made her like him more.

Had he stepped into another world, because that was certainly what it felt like.

"Well?" she asked nervously. "What do you say?"

xxxxxxxx

Sansa was sitting on the stairs that led to the second floor when Robb and Margaery emerged from the basement. She didn't make a move and didn't say a word as she watched them pass by.

She heard Margaery bid him goodnight and he did the same to her. She heard the door close and then she heard the snick of the lock. She stood and then Robb was there about to head up to see her. He stopped when he saw her standing there.

"How long have you been lurking in the stairway?" he asked.

She shot him a withering look. "I'm not lurking."

He grinned. "No? You weren't sitting here waiting for me to emerge with Margaery?"

She rolled her eyes and came down the stairs. "I was, but not for the reason you think," she said.

"Then why?"

"Is she gone?"

"I'll check." She heard him to go to the door and unlock it. "She's gone!" he called out.

Sansa came down the stairs and found Robb about to lock the door again. "No, don't. I want to show you something outside."

He looked confused, but he followed her outside. When they got to the front of the house she gestured to the living room window. "Look. You can see everything."

He sighed. "Sansa—"

"If Margaery had come earlier she would have seen…everything."

"Sansa—"

"And we didn't lock the door. What if Bran or Arya or Rickon had come home? What if Mom and Dad had gotten home early? We didn't even hear Margaery until she called down to us. Arya wouldn't have announced herself. Neither would have Bran or Rickon. They could have come down and seen—"

"Sansa, stop."

"It freaked me out how close she came to seeing us together, Robb. It should freak you out, too."

"She didn't see us."

"But she could have."

"But she didn't.

"But she could have."

He threw up his hands. "What do you want me to do, Sansa? What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know! I just – we're reckless. You and I together are reckless, and we can't be."

"We got a little ahead of ourselves because we're alone."

She folded her arms across her chest. "What did Margaery have to say?"

Robb held out his hand. "Let's go back inside and I'll tell you."

She didn't take his hand though. She kept her arms folded and tight against her chest.

Robb felt her withdrawal like a slap. She followed him into the house and made sure to lock the door. When Robb tried to get her to follow him down to his bedroom she shook her head and sat down at the kitchen table instead.

He sat down across from her and calmly told her what Margaery had said.

"What did you tell her for an answer?" Sansa asked.

"I told her I had to think about it. I wanted to speak to you first before I did anything. I would just as soon as end it, but I don't know if it would be better to keep her around – what is it?"

"What?"

"You flinched. Like I hit you. What is it?"

"You talking about keeping Margaery around as a beard. As if she's not a person with feelings. I may not be a huge fan of hers right now but I still think that's wrong."

"And what is Jon then, Sansa?" he asked. "Isn't he your beard? Or is he your shield against me?"

"Excuse me?"

"You want to make me feel terrible about using Margaery when you're doing the same to Jon. But I have to wonder if part of the reason why you're keeping him around is so you don't have to fully commit to me."

"It's harder with Jon. Based on my life after the memory loss, I've known Jon longer than you."

Robb's expression darkened further.

"Jon's important to me," she said. "He was the first friend I made after the accident. The only one I could stand to be around, and so he's not like Margaery in the sense that I can just flick my wrist and say 'I'm done with you now'."

"Can you do that with me?"

She looked at him for a long time before answering. "My feelings for you are like a bowl of fish hooks. I can't pick up one without picking up others along with it. There's the one marked brother. Then the one marked lover. The one marked…infinitely more than I can understand right now. Saying goodbye to you wouldn't be just a flick of my wrist."

His voice was low and even when he spoke. "Do not say goodbye to me at all, Sansa."

"The last time a beard was involved we ended wrapped around a tree. I woke up with no memory, you were forced to leave home for five years, and someone else ended up paralyzed."

"Joffrey Baratheon was an evil little shit, Sansa—"

"And now we have two people involved. One I care about very much and another that obviously feels more for you than she knows what to do with."

"Sansa, what are you getting at here exactly. You better not be telling me that this is it. That you're not even going to see where this can lead us—"

"Where, Robb? Where exactly can it lead us? All I keep thinking is if one part of our family had seen us. Or if Margaery had. If Mom and Dad knew what we were doing right now do you think they'd let us within a mile of each other? You'd be sent off again. Or maybe me this time."

"Sansa, just stop," he said sternly and got up. He came over and knelt beside her at the table. He took her hand in his and squeezed. "Listen to me. Yes, it was a close call. Yes, we should have been more careful. We got ahead of ourselves and we were reckless. We learn from it; we move on. You want me to end things with Margaery, I will end things with Margaery. I never wanted to be with her in the first place. I get it – it's callous to use her. It's not fair to her just as it isn't fair to Jon. You can sit here and tell me until you're blue in the face about how you care about Jon, but the fact remains that you do not love him. You love me."

"But the thing is, Robb… I don't want to."

With his jaw clenched tight, Robb got to his feet and strode to the basement door. He slammed it behind him and Sansa started to cry.