Note:
Ok, this takes place a couple of months after the last chapter. The reason i'm writing ahead is because not much happened in these months. There wasn't a lot of Arya/ moments, save for the ones that will be mentioned here. Nothing much going on with the Starks. Besides this brings me closer to the event that changes everything. I think it would be silly if all the events followed one after the other. Plus, i needed to give the hospital the time they needed to finish building that Physical Therapy wing.
The first time Gendry ever saw Arya, she had left her truck engine still running, climbing out quickly, and had casually trown eggs at her sister.
Gendry had chased her along the highway, and after some struggle, he had handcuffed her and dragged her to his police car. Back at the station, he'd come to the embarrassing discovery that she was his Commander's daughter. His partner Yoren, and Ned Stark himself had assured him he had done his job, yet Gendry couldn't help the shame it brought. As if he didn't get enough shit from the rest of the dept.
But that had been that, and towards the end of the week, other more fascinating events had become the topic of conversation at work, and Gendry and the Stark girl were old news.
In that same way, that Stark girl had been pushed to the back of his head and would have probably stayed there, had there not been a second encounter.
His gym was the last place he had expected to run into anyone he knew, except for the friends he had made there. Out of all the gyms in Sheffield, Arya Stark had to choose this one to comply with her mother's agreements.
Gendry didn't know what had shocked him most. That is was her, or that he hadn't expected to see her twice in one week.
Perhaps it was the fact that seeing her had brought back the memory of Monday's incident. Should i apologize? Should i say hi...?
No you idiot!
In the end, he had asked the most stupid question he could think of.
Soon Arya had started talking. About yoga, and her mother, and then somehow her crippled brother had been mentioned.
Before he knew it, Gendry had somehow agreed to wrestle her. He recalled the thrill that had crawled to his limbs and settled in his gut at the thought. He felt the aftershocks of it every time he remembered it. But thankfully, she had left. Leaving him restless and feeling like a moron for even considering wrestling her.
Somewhere, in his head, he had made a mental note that he was probably going to be seeing a lot of her since they both had membership at the same gym.
Yet, the third time he encountered Arya Stark, he was shocked all over again.
He had expected he'd see her at the gym again, maybe they'd talk. Maybe he'd be too tired or focused and shoo her off. Maybe she'd try to wrestle with him again, and he'd laugh this time, and reject her. Or maybe he'd be stupid again, and they would succeed this time. He wasn't sure.
The last thing he had expected was to arrest her. Again! He had cursed under his breath at the sight of her. As she realized it was him, her eyes animated with the challenge.
Arresting her would shock him only once more, before it no longer did. After that third arrest (fourth encounter) Gendry's shock had turned into a mixture of irritation and amusement.
On one particular occasion, when they had walked into the station covered head to toe in dirt and scratches, Theon had come up to his desk after Ned had taken the rest of the day off to take Arya home, advising him to cut the act.
"That little bitch has got more miles in her than you can handle Waters. I'd cut the act and just leave her be if i were you. Besides, no one likes a brown noser, least of all people Eddard Stark!"
Gendry didn't recall why he'd punched Theon. Perhaps that he'd implied he was just kissing Ned Starks ass. Or, maybe that he'd called Arya a bitch. She was no picnic but she was not a bitch!
Maybe it had simply been cause he was Theon. That was probably it.
He still couldn't help consider that perhaps, he should just let Arya be. It was always just her beating someone up, or her trespassing, nothing too serious. Maybe next time, i'll just let her be.
But he hadn't. Nor the time after that. He was too stubborn to let her get away with it. To allow Theon, and the other wankers to get to him.
Today, however, when he heard the report over his radio, and had taken it, knowing too well it was Arya from the
"suspect is a white female, dark hair, dark sweater, about 13. destroying private property..."
he began preparing himself to speak his mind to her. He was trying to survive the crappiest week, and what was cute the first, second, third, fourth, even fifth time had lost it's charm.
He took a left on Winterfell road, which had the oldest houses in Sheffield, being part of the historic area and all, and drove a good mile and a half, before reaching the large abandoned house with the large white barked oak tree. Despite the fact that it was November, the tree still clung to a good part of it's red leaves. He pulled into the drive way, stopping before the large gate. He spotted Arya under the tree. She was throwing rocks at the windows.
He stepped out of the car. "Arya!" he yelled. Hoping she'd hear in his voice that he wasn't in the mood today. She picked up another rock and threw it with force, breaking another window.
"Arya!" He yelled a second time, slamming his door with anger. The gates were unlocked, and he slid one open enough to walk inside.
Jaw clenched, he walked up the hill, towards her, ready to give her a piece of his mind.
She picked up another rock. That's when he noticed she had earphones on.
"Damn it! Arya!" he yelled louder, feeling close enough to be heard over the music.
She spun around, startled, and once again he found himself surprised. Only this time it was because her face was red and wet with tears. He froze.
Arya wiped her face violently, tugging off the headphones, turning away from Gendry. "I don't want to mess around today" she let out, her voice thick from crying.
Gendry felt his jaw clench again, his earlier annoyance back. Mess around?
"Im not here to mess around Arya! You're destroying private property. What's wrong?" he tried to sound more calm than he felt.
"It's not private property. This belong to my family! Go Away!"
"And that gives you a right to break the windows?" Gendry felt little patience to argue with her, so before she could answer he walked the short distance between them and reached out for her. She began backing away from him, but before she could run, he had his hand on her shoulders, and he pulled her to him, her back crashing into his chest. With one hand he locked down both her arms and lifted her, feet coming off the floor.
She began kicking the air, and trying to free her hands. Yelling at him with more rage than he had ever seen in her before. She hadn't given him this hard a time since the first time he arrested her.
With his free hand he reached for the handcuffs, which he hadn't had to use on her in a while. Thats when she slammed her head into his face. He saw white for a split second as he fell to the floor from the impact, Arya falling about two feet away from him, landing on her back.
She turned over and began crawling away from him.
Gendry felt the warm liquid pouring from his nose was he turned and crawled after Arya.
His surroundings spun a bit, but he was able to catch her foot and drag her back. He managed to pull her under him and lock her down.
With one hand, he held her down and with the other, he succeeded in placing the hand cuff on her. She struggled and began to kick and he pressed his chest against her back careful not to crush her and whispered in her ear.
"Arya, stop." he pleaded.
She froze under him, then sighed, giving up. She relaxed her body and Gendry exhaled sharply, cursing under his breath, as he stood wiping his sleeve under his nose.
Arya twisted awkwardly on the floor before managing to sit up. Gendry reached down for her then, pulling her to her feet.
They both began to walk downhill towards the gates.
As the wallked away from the tree. something caught Gendry's eye. On the white back, right under the split of the tree, were carved names.
Robb
Sansa
Arya
Brandon,
Rickon
And under it in a different hand, a more child like hand, the name Jon.
Gendry noticed the fresh gashes that had been made over the name with was seemed like a knife or sharp rock.
Outside the gates, Gendry held the back door open for her. She walked towards Gendry not meeting his eyes, sitting on the back seat, leaving her feet outside of the car.
Gendry wiped the blood from under his nose, holding his hand in front of him to inspect it.
"This has got to stop Arya." He whispered after about three minutes of silence. He leaned against the door, exhaling sharply. "Is it attention you want?Cause trust me, you have it! What are you trying to prove?"
When she didn't answer him, he held his hands out in surrender. Her face was unreadable. Her eyes never met his, her lip worried against her teeth in shame, or perhaps anger. Maybe sadness. He found himself wanting to break her. He wanted to break through and find out what made her so reckless and fix it for her.
The feeling overwhelmed him and he suddenly felt drained. He licked his dry lips shaking his head at himself and walked up to her. He leaned over her body and carefully twisted her arms in order to reach the handcuffs. He slipped the key in, and with a click, they were off her hands. When he leaned back, her wide eyes were looking over his face.
"you're letting me go?" she asked disbelieving.
He didn't answer her. He didn't even look at her. He leaned against the open car door looking over to the she didn't move, he stole a sideways glance over at her. She was still sitting there, looking down at her hands.
And then she twisted in the seat, bringing her feet inside the car. "Take me to the station." she told him.
Gendry looked over at her scornfully. They shared an intense stare before she repeated herself with authority.
"Take me to the station."
Gendry rolled his eyes, feeling ready to punch something. He ducked his head in a mock bow.
"As m'lady commands." he let out bitterly and when he raised his eyes to her, he could tell that had pissed her off. Good he thought, as he slammed the door.
He was exhausted. Arya always exhausted him. Both physically and mentally, and today he had reached a whole new level. He glanced back at her through the rearview mirror every chance he could. She just sat there, staring out the window. She looked just as tired as he felt. Her face was streaked in dirt where tears had fallen, her eyes were puffy, and her nose was pink. From the way her lips were puckered he could tell she was clenching her jaw.
He looked away, wiping under his nose where he could still feel bits of dry blood. He could smell the iron too. It was making him nauseous.
"I don't do it for attention. " Arya spoke out suddenly, startling him. His eyes turned to the rearview mirror. She was looking at him through it. "Not really." she added.
"Then why do you do it." Gendry asked carefully. He stole a glance at the light. It was still red.
"Sometimes ill do it because I just want them to give up on me."
That had been the last thing Gendry had expected. He was about to ask what she meant, when the car behind them began honking. Gendry turned and saw the light had turned green, and he stepped on the gas. He was about to speak when Arya said, " I tell myself if i continue this way, they might give up on wanting me to be something im not."
"Sansa." Gendry said.
Arya blinked nodding once. He nodded too, understanding, and he turned over on his seat despite the fact that he was driving, he opened his mouth, about to say something, but thought better of it. Instead, he smiled.
So did she. "That, and other times people just make me mad. So i'll hit them." she added, trying to change the mood
Gendry laughed then, facing forward again. Arya's smile deepened.
"Sometimes people...well, you see, it's so easy to get scared when you don't understand something. So you try and change it. Now, I'm sure your parents love you. They probably just don't understand how so much life can fit into one little person. They know how to deal with ordinary, but you aren't ordinary."
"I am too!"
"No you're not. That's a good thing. That was a compliment, stupid!"
Arya made a face, but didn't say anything. She sat thoughtfully the rest of the ride to the station.
As Gendry pulled into his usual parking spot Arya sat forward in the seat, feeding her face through the open barrier.
"You're different too. In a good way." she said, pulling her head back. Gendry's eyebrows furrowed, confused. He stepped out of the car, opening the back door for her.
"Different how?" he asked.
Arya shrugged, stepping out. "For once, not many guys your age are friends with girls my age. Not that we're friends, but... yea."
Gendry chuckled, slamming the door closed. "Yea"
He held the side door open for her walking into the building after her.
"Good job Waters!" Theon teased from across the room. "He's trained her to walk in on her own free will. She'll be catching the criminals for him next!" He yelled to the rest, laughing.
"Shut up! Just because you never caught me!" Arya said, gaining more laughs than Theon's joke had. She walked past Gendry's desk towards her father's office. She walked into the empty room, before turning around and leaning out the doorway. Yoren was walking out of the lavatory then.
"What've you done this time?" he asked her, shaking his hands dry.
"I was breaking the windows at our old place. Where's father?"
"He's gone home. Something's come up. You should head on over there. You have your truck?"
"I had Robb's car, but its back at Winterfell."
Gendry was about to offer her a ride, but Yoren beat him to it and walked over to his desk to find his keys. Arya crossed over to Gendry's desk.
"Guess i'll see ya." she said awkwardly, feeling the glances of some of the men in the room. She pointed to his nose, "it won't happen again. I promise." she added, almost whispering.
Gendry held a hand up to his nose, feeling the swollen skins.
He smiled, leaning into her. "Don't make promises you can't keep, m'lady"
Arya grimaced, shoving him back. Gendry fell back, landing on his chair, laughing as he watched her walk away, towards the exit.
Now he knew what to call her if he wanted to piss her off.
Yoren walked by, towards the exit, giving Gendry an odd look before exiting. Gendry's smile fell as he stood and noticed Yoren wasn't the only one giving him looks. He felt his face heat and quickly walked towards the restrooms. He needed to wash the blood off his face.
AN
This is a Gendry pov chapter, so at this point, just like Gendry, readers don't know why Arya was crying, and breaking the windows at Winterfell. Or why she scratched off Jon's name, but that will be up on the next chapter, which will be an Arya and Ned chapter... i know, Ned? It's needed to get some info out. Sorry this was short, c7 will be up later tonight ! Please review!