"I need some time to think about this, Mom" Sansa said softly.
Robb's heart plummeted to his feet. He stood rooted to the spot, staring at her, unable to believe she'd actually just said that. "Sansa," he whispered. "No."
She wouldn't look at him. "I'm sorry, Mom, I have to go now," she said and disconnected the call.
She got to her feet and brushed past Robb. He reached out and grabbed her arm. She looked back at him, tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said, and her voice shook.
"Why…?"
Tears streamed down her face. "It's the finality of it. No contact ever—"
"You knew that was a possibility. You knew that before, Sansa!"
"Knowing something is a possibility is not the same as having it actually come to pass, Robb."
He pulled her to him and leaned in close so their faces were inches apart. "How can you think about leaving me like this?"
"I'm…"
"What? You're not? You are, Sansa. By telling Mom you need to 'think about this', you are contemplating leaving me. What happened to yesterday, huh? When you cried in my arms and told me how much you loved me? What was that, Sansa?"
"I meant it!"
Then how can you think about leaving me!" he shouted. "She set out to scare you and you fell for it hook, line, and sinker."
"Robb, stop—"
"You said you don't have a weakened mind, but maybe you actually do," he growled.
His head snapped to the side with the force of Sansa's slap. Robb knew he deserved that. As soon as the words had left his mouth he'd regretted them. And he hadn't meant them either.
He pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her tightly. She didn't hug him back. "I'm sorry," he gasped into her hair. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. Sansa, I love you. I love you so much."
He took her face in his hands and kissed her desperately. "Sansa, please," he muttered against her lips.
"Robb, I do love you, I do," she said breathlessly.
"Don't leave me," he begged as he lifted her in his arms. Her legs went around his waist as reflex. He carried her to the bedroom and lay her down on the bed. "Don't leave me," he muttered as he started to undo the snap of her jeans.
Sansa grabbed her wrist. "Robb, no."
He looked at her, tears in his eyes. "What do I have to do? What do you want from me?"
She sat up and ran her fingers over his face. He nuzzled into her palm and then she drew him close and kissed him. "You don't have to do anything, and I don't want anything but some space. I just need to think, okay? I need to wrap my head around everything Mom said. I'm sorry, I just…I knew it would be hard I just didn't…I didn't expect…" She started to cry then, a full out sob that wracked her body.
Robb climbed up on the bed with her and pulled her into his arms. Sansa buried her face in his chest and proceeded to cry into his chest. Robb held her tightly while tears streamed down his face.
xxxxxxxx
They'd exhausted themselves, Sansa realized when she awoke a couple hour later. She was practically on top of Robb at that point and he was passed out cold. Sansa moved off of him as carefully as possible, but he jerked awake and looked at her. "Where are you going?"
"Bathroom," she replied.
He nodded and rolled to his side.
Sansa quickly used the bathroom and when she came back in the room, Robb was still on the bed, laying down with his eyes open and watching her. He held up an arm. "Come back."
"I think I'm going to go for a walk."
"I'll come with you," he said and started to sit up.
"Robb, no. I want to go alone."
"Do you know your way around well enough to do that?"
"I'm sure I can figure it out."
He pursed his lips together and nodded.
"I just need some fresh air and time to think."
He nodded, but said nothing.
She came over to him and lay down next to him. She put her hand on the side of his face. "Please believe me when I say I love you, Robb. Please."
"Maybe I'm not enough," he mumbled.
"No," she said and tears sprang to her eyes. "You are. Please try to understand why I need time…you had a lot of time to get used to the idea of leaving home. I haven't. I wasn't in the same place as you for a really long time, and it all happened so fast…"
"For a while there, you didn't think it was happening fast enough."
She nodded. "I know. I'm sorry I'm all over the place…"
"Go for your walk. We'll talk when you get back."
She started to get up when Robb grabbed her. She looked at him and he looked pained. "You know I didn't mean what I said, right? I don't think your mind is weak, Sansa. You know that, right?"
"I know," she said softly.
"I was just angry at Mom and I'm worried…"
"I know," she said again. "I'm sorry I hit you."
"I deserved it for what I said."
"I think we're both a little emotional."
He laughed sadly. "A little emotional? I'm falling to pieces inside at the thought of you leaving me."
"I'm just going for a walk," she said in an attempt to make him smile. It didn't work.
"You know what I mean, Sansa."
"I know," she murmured. She got up and when she got to the door she looked back at him. "I do love you."
He didn't look like he believed her. And really, how could Sansa blame him for that?
xxxxxxxx
Sansa managed to find her way down to a pier and once there, she sat on a bench overlooking the water and sat down. She shut her eyes and listened to the ebb and flow of the waves and let the wind just wash over her. It was a beautiful day in San Diego and being near the water helped soothe her frayed nerves…well, a little anyway.
She played the conversation with her mother over in her mind and as she thought back on how Robb had been utterly disregarded to the point of being alienated, Sansa realized that Robb was right. Their mother had laid out the worst case scenario and had targeted her as the one she could get to. She supposed due to her lack of memories, Catelyn didn't see her as all that invested. Plus, there was the fact that Robb had been away for so long and Sansa had rebuilt her life without him around.
Plus, she was Daddy's girl. Arya was, too, and quite frankly Sansa had always thought Arya was the favorite. If she wanted to be honest, Sansa had always felt rather separate from the rest of them and she had always chalked it up to her amnesia, but maybe there was something else to it. Robb had talked about it before, about how they'd always been separate or "apart" from the rest of the family. Maybe that was how it happened. Together they had been a team, and everyone else had been interlopers in some way.
What would life be like if she went back without Robb? The thought of it made her shudder. Arya would make her life hell. Bran and Rickon…who knew? But her mother would never let her alone. She'd maybe even put her in some kind of home to get help for what she thought was a sickness. Her father…would he ever understand? Would he be able to look at her the same way again? Would he just see her as sick? As some kind of victim? And how much would that piss her off – how much did it already piss her off to think that they saw Robb as some kind of sick sexual deviant? She had been as much involved as he had been. She was the one that had kissed him the first time. She was the one that had been waiting for him in his bed when he'd returned from that disastrous double date. She was the one that had done all the research to get them where they were.
You would never see Robb again.
That fact felt like a knife to her heart. If their mother had been diligent in trying to keep them apart before, she would be downright militant now. So would their Dad most likely.
Again, she thought of how Robb had been utterly alienated on the phone and she grew even angrier. God, how had that felt for him? And then she'd gone and had to think about it?
There was no life without Robb. He was her life. He was her everything.
It was then that Sansa realized she hadn't had to think to make a decision. The decision had already been made. She'd had to think to make peace with her decision, and to make peace with the fact that yes, her family was going to turn their backs on them.
When Robb had returned home it was as if he'd awoken her from a deep sleep. Her life had been pleasant enough, if not a little boring, but she'd been content. Then Robb had come home and though confusion had reigned supreme there for a while, there was also the fact that she had fallen in love with him. Head over heels, completely and utterly in love with him. The thought of not being able to see him every day? Of not feeling his arms around her? Of not seeing his smile and hearing his voice?
Life wouldn't be worth living without Robb. Plus, how could she leave him alone – how could she go knowing there was no hope for him to return to the family fold? Nope. They were in this together, just as they had promised each other.
Sansa got up and practically ran back to the apartment. She was a woman on a mission and she just wanted to get it over with so it wasn't hanging over them like a dark cloud. Her phone was on the coffee table, just as she'd left it. Robb shuffled out of the bedroom just as Sansa picked up her phone and dialed her mother.
Robb stood frozen in place, watching her. Sansa came over to him and kissed him on the cheek just as her mother picked up.
"Sansa? I didn't expect to hear from you so soon," Catelyn said.
"I'd already made my choice when I left, Mom," Sansa said, looking straight at Robb as she spoke. "And just for the record, Robb didn't force me into anything. I was falling in love with him long before I'd even remembered I loved him once before. I was the one that did the research on moving and what it would entail. I wanted this, just as he did. You can think it's about sex all you want, but we know the truth and that's all that matters. I am totally butt-crazy in love with Robb, and I can't leave him. I won't. He is my everything and the only thing I regret is making him doubt how much I love him and need him and can't live without him. I know you can't understand, and I'm not going to try. I love you, Mom, I do. And I love Dad and Arya, Bran, and Rickon, but I'm not coming home and you can't guilt me into doing so. My home is with Robb."
There was a long silence on Catelyn's end of the phone, and in that time the biggest smile Sansa had ever seen spread over Robb's face.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Sansa," Catelyn said. "You know how to reach me if you change your mind and I hope you will."
"I won't. Goodbye, Mom." Sansa's voice shook, despite her stance.
"Goodbye, Sansa."
The call ended and Sansa felt as if the weight she'd been carrying around had left. She knew now what she was facing and now she and Robb just had to deal with it. Their lives could begin now, or so it felt to her, now that they knew what the story was from home.
"You meant that?" Robb asked.
She nodded. "I was out there on the pier and thinking about the family and what life would be like without you… there isn't a life without you, Robb. I don't think I really had to think about what I was going to do; I already knew. I just had to make my peace with it so that I could put it behind me. That's not to say I won't have my moments, but my life is with you. I love you. Please say you believe that."
He came over to her and kissed her, one hand on the side of her face. "I do now."
"You promised me something earlier…"
"What was that?"
"To take me to bed? Will you do that now?"
He smirked. "I don't know...I mean, that would make this all about sex, wouldn't it?"
She smacked him playfully on the arm and laughed. He did, too, and then swooped her up in his arms and carried her to bed.
So, there is probably one chapter left of this. How do you guys feel about a sequel?