"All of it?" Brienne repeated his words in disbelief. "You remember all of it?"
Gendry jerked off the bed suddenly, startling Brienne and pulling at the cables and tubes that were connected to his arms and chest. His face twisted in pain.
"Gendry!" Brienne caught the IV stand in one hand and pushed him down onto the bed with the other. "Did you forget you're injured?" she demanded angrily. He groaned in reply, letting himself fall back on the pillow.
"Arnold." he breathed out. "He's not Arnold."
"What!?"
"His name is Anguy. I met him in Spain. He works for Jaqen."
Brienne's eyes grew wide. "Don't move!" she barked at him, nostrils flared, and ran out the room and to the nurse's station across the hall.
"Contact security. Tell them to put the hospital on lockdown," she yelled at the nurse behind the desk, who jumped in her seat at the sound of Brienne's voice before clumsily pulling the phone off the receiver. Brienne pushed herself away from the counter and ran the opposite direction, attracting the attention of everyone in the corridor.
"Excuse me!" she heard someone, a doctor, call out to her. She ignored him and made her way to one of the officers stationed at the floor, for both Gendry and Robert's security. As soon as he saw her running towards him, he unlocked his hands and took a few steps towards her. On the intercom, she could hear a female repeat the words "code grey" over and over again.
"One of the nurses." Brienne told the officer, but before she could finish her sentence, the doctor that had been calling after her had caught up and placed a heavy hand on her shoulder.
"What is going on?" he hissed through his teeth.
"One of the members of your staff. He's not who he says he is. Arnold. A red haired boy. Early 20s."
"I've never heard of any Arnold," the doctor said.
"He's been here all week."
The doctor nodded. "Have a look around, officer," he told the Constable with another nod. "Follow me." he told Brienne, pushing her softly across the corridor and into a small room with a desk and a computer. The doctor sat on the desk and moved the computer mouse around until the screen saver blurred into the hospital home screen.
"I should call Inspector Daenerys." Brienne told the doctor.
"Go ahead. I'll log into the system to check for any records on this man, Arnold, you said his name was?"
Brienne nodded and stepped out of the room to make the call. Daenerys answered on the second ring. She had already been notified, but Brienne gave her details.
"I'm on my way." the Inspector told Brienne before she hung up.
By then, more hospital staff had made their way to the floor, as well as hospital security.
"What is going on Dr. Fitzgerald?" a woman wearing a white hospital coat over a skirt and jacket suit demanded as she squeezed into the small room besides Brienne. "The hospital's on lockdown. I have outpatients that need to leave."
"ER still open?" the man asked as he typed over the keyboard.
"This is a matter of security," Brienne told the woman. "A man involved in the Baratheon case was posing as a nurse."
"What man?" the woman asked the Dr.
"Arnold Smith. Here he is," the doctor said, and both Brienne and the woman in the hospital coat leaned into the screen.
"That's him!" Brienne cried out. "He can't leave this hospital."
"I've never seen him before." the woman said.
"Nor have I." the doctor confessed.
Brienne was about to squeeze out of the small room, when the computer screen turned a bright yellow and digital hourglass spun in the center.
"What is that?" she barked out, finger pointed at the screen.
"Someone's hacking into the system." the doctor gasped out, and just like that, the screen turned black, then returned to the hospital records page.
"What happened?" the woman demanded besides Brienne.
The man typed in Arnold Smith on the search bar. No record. "He's gone. His record's gone." the doctor whispered.
Brienne slammed the woman against the wall as she stormed out of the room.
"Look for a red haired boy. Five feet, nine inches. Lean figure. May or may not be dressed as a nurse." Brienne ordered all the security team members and hospital staff that had gathered around the door of the small room as she pushed her way through and made her way to Gendry's room.
"Did you find him?"
"No. But the hospital is on lockdown. If he is in the hospital, we'll find him. I'll be back. If anyone you don't know walks in here, call the nurses. Or scream."
"I'll be fine." Gendry groaned at her, "You're wasting time, go!"
"I have my mobile." she called to him over her shoulder as she ran out of the room, headed for the lifts.
She would look in every room . . . every closet . . . every corner of this hospital until she found him.
xxxxxxxxxx
He had been in the dark for some time. Nothing below or above him. Nothing around him. Not even emptiness.
Just...
... darkness.
Not like a hole, or a dark room. Not like when you close your eyes. Even then, you see light, if there is any. There must have not been a single fleck of light anywhere here. In fact, he felt as though he had no eyelids at all. He was naked. And he was alone.
When he had finally woken up, it had been in a bright, white room that, a blinding contrast to the darkness he had been in in his dreams. He could feel most of his body here, unlike in the dark abyss of his dream, and it felt broken. Shattered.
Two blurred figures leered over his face. One of them lifted one of his eyelids to pass a light over one eye, then the other.
SO ... I do have eyelids.
"We have pupil response," he heard. At that moment both figures had been shoved aside, another taking their place.
"Gendry? Can you hear me? It's Brienne."
No I can't hear you! Bugger the fuck off, now!
He closed his eyes. He felt too tired to answer. He had no idea who either Gendry or Brienne were.
"Give him some space. He just woke up," an irritated voice called, and the blonde haired figure before him pulled away and his eyes closed and he welcomed the dark.
When he'd woken for a second time, a doctor had briefly examined him before the same persistent blonde came to his side again, grabbing his hand. This time his eyes were focused, and he could see the girl's features clearly. He had never seen her before.
She went on and on in a low voice, telling him meaningless information and talking on and on about people he had never heard of before. When she finally stopped a moment to take a breath, he cleared his throat and told her he didn't know who she, or any of the people in her stories were.
"It's me. Brienne, Gendry."
"I don't know who Gendry is either."
She'd called the doctor then, and after asking him several question he knew not the answers to, the doctor pulled Brienne aside and whispered something to her.
"You have temporary amnesia." Brienne had informed him once the doctor had left.
"When will I remember... stuff?"
"He said it varies. I'll help you as much as I can. But I've only known you a few months."
"Are we... dating?"
She shook her head. "We're mates."
Gendry nodded. It somehow made sense. She felt like a friend.
Not a lot was said the first few days. He spent most of them heavily medicated.
She rarely left his side. Helping him as much as she could. She even helped him undress when he had to shower, which he had felt very embarrassed about, but it had been necessary.
Whenever she left, even for just an hour, Anguy would come by and chat with him. Only he had no idea he was Anguy, not yet anyway.
"We went to University together. I had you for a class." the boy had said. "Arnold? I'm sure you don't remember. We weren't too close."
He smelled like strawberries and his nose was peppered in an exaggerated number of freckles as orange as his hair.
His gut said, I know him, but his mind found no place for his face and his name and his voice. But his scent. Shampoo, aftershave, or soap, whatever it was that filled the air with the subtle scent of strawberries, teased at Gendry's memories, and confirmed it. He knew him.
...he leaned into her and sniffed at her hair.
Why the hell was he smelling her?
"You even smell nice for a change."
It all made sense now. Now that his memory was back. Returned to him the night of his fevered dream. He'd dreamt of Arya. He told Brienne about it and she had security put the hospital on lockdown, but it was useless. After long hours of searching, she came back to his room with a frown, followed by a man and a woman.
"You didn't find him." Gendry guessed.
"Unfortunately not, but we are still looking for him. We have a picture of him, so it won't be long now." the woman, whom he'd never seen before, told him.
"Excuse me, I don't know you." Gendry said rudely.
"My apologies. I'm Inspector Targaryen. This is my partner Chief Inspector Mormont. We're from Scotland Yard. I'm in charge of the Stark case and I was wondering if we might ask you a few questions, seeing as your memory has returned."
"He's tired. Exhausted. He needs rest. I'm sure this can wait." Brienne had barked at the woman, coming protectively between her and Gendry's bed.
"Brienne, it's fine."
"No it's not!" Brienne snapped.
"We can return in the morning, Dany." the man, Chief Inspector Mormont, stepped besides Inspector Targaryen and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Tell that to the body we might find lying besides some snowy wheelie bin in the morning. We can't waste time! If what is in the CD is true, every minute that passes by, Cersei is slipping further and further beyond our grasps."
"If?" Brienne asked acidly.
"CD?" Gendry asked, then he remembered. "The recording."
"Yes." Inspector Targaryen said, "You were there with Cersei Baratheon. You travelled with the Stark girl. You were there when Yoren was killed. Heard the voices of the men who killed him. You are the only one in this room who can ID Jaqen. Who has been in the same room as him. Are all the stories we've heard about you true?"
Gendry shifted his weight on the bed. "Yes." he allowed uneasily.
"Then you see why it is important we speak."
He nodded. His head was softly throbbing with the beginnings of a headache. "Brienne, give me a moment with them. I'll be fine."
At first she stood completely still, and Gendry thought she wouldn't leave, but then she exhaled sharply, clearly upset, and crossed to the door.
"Don't exhaust him too much." she said before exiting.
"Now," the Inspector said, sitting on the chair besides his bed and pressing the button on her small recorder, "Start at the beginning."
xxxxxxxxxx
"What happened?" Sansa asked Robb as soon as he walked into their suite. He had just returned from offering Brienne the number of their father's attorney.
He pulled his scarf and coat off and dusted the thick collection of snow flakes from his head before he answered.
"She thanked me, but she said she and Renly have a lawyer friend. She's meeting up with him this afternoon." he crossed to the kitchenette, perhaps lured by the aroma of Alicia's hot chocolate.
Sansa turned to the window again, losing herself in the feathery thick fall of the snow. Just the way she liked it. "This will be our first Christmas . . . without father and mother."
"And without Arya." Robb added as he offered her a warm mug of hot chocolate. She took it carefully, and turned out the window once more.
"I know she's alive. My heart tells me so. I can feel her," she turned to Robb. "She's so strong, isn't she?" she chuckled ruefully. All she wanted at that moment, was to wrap her arms around her little sister, and pepper her face with kisses, not caring whether Arya pulled away and screwed her face in disgust. "She's so strong that I can feel her. Feel how alive she is . . ." Robb nodded. His wide eyes had glazed over. Sansa took in a deep breath before she spoke again. "Mother and father though . . . We will spend the rest of our Christmases without them. This marks our first."
Bran had been returned to them two days after Rickon had. All thanks to Petyr. Sansa was still very angry at the man who had once been a close friend of their family.
Robb didn't trust him either, but that didn't stop him from asking the man for help. Petyr asked a few favours of his contacts and Robb flew over to Spain and back in a private jet, with Bran, Alicia and Grandfather Tully. Their suite was big enough for the six of them, but on the night of their return from Spain, Robb shared his plans with both Sansa and Alicia.
"I'm arranging for our old house on Winterfell Road to be repaired."
Sansa had agreed. It was the most reasonable thing to do. There was no way any of them could ever return to their house. That's were their mother had been murdered and there was simply too many memories in that house. They'd moved out of the Winterfell house when Jon had left for the army. She had been 13 then. All the memories of that place were happy ones.
They were slowly uniting their family again, but the nightmare was far from over. The afternoon Rickon was returned to them, Jaime Lannister was found hiding in the basement of an abandoned building and Gendry recovered his memory, bringing answers to some questions, but also more questions in need of answers. The authorities held their first press conference since the case was given to Daenerys the following day, which brought a bit of reassurance. But Daenerys was very tightlipped about most of the details, but she did tell Sansa and Robb, however that Jaime wasn't being at all cooperative. They had not had the opportunity to properly question him, since he was still in the hospital due to a severe infection he'd caught on burn wounds that were found all over his back and chest. He wasn't sharing any information about how he got those either, but Brienne had already confessed what her role had been in Jaime's injuries the morning after Jaime's accident. When Jaime was found, Robb sought out Brienne to offer her the number of their lawyer, knowing she'd go up for questioning during Jaime's trial. After two days in the hospital, Jaime had been released and his court date was set for the 22nd day of December.
That was tomorrow.
"It will be difficult, sister. But we are strong. Stronger now that we are more whole."
Apparently Osha, the woman who had kidnapped Rickon, had not said anything to him about the outcome of the Cutler's Hall shooting, or the death of their mother and father. So it fell on Sansa and Robb to tell him. They struggled for words, stumbling with their own emotions as they explained to their youngest brother that mother and father were dead.
It was like salt in to wound, and their sibling connection only made the ache feel fresh as they saw their youngest brother's face twist in sorrow before he buried it in a pillow. Robb pulled him into his arms and hugged him tightly. He didn't try to whisper comforting words into the boy's ear. Sansa knew they we're nearly impossible to utter when you needed them just as much.
Rickon didn't say much the next morning, except when asked if Osha harmed him or mistreated him in any way.
"No. She was nice. She said that bad people had tried to hurt Robert at the party and that she had to keep me hidden until she was sure it was safe to return home."
Bran's return lighten his moods.
"We are strong." she admitted to Robb as she rose from her seat, and placed the half empty mug of hot chocolate on the coffee table. When she crossed to fetch her coat, Robb asked where she was off to.
"I'm meeting someone."
"Who?"
"Gendry," Sansa told her brother. He hadn't yet been released from the hospital, but had agreed to meet her. "You should come. He was the last person to see Arya alive. I want to get the full story, not Daenerys's watered down version. The boys are still in bed. Alicia will watch over them."
"Like she doesn't already have her hands full with Grandfather." Robb said, but he stood and crossed for his coat.
Leaving the hotel was becoming easier. The outside of the building wasn't as full of journalist as it had been the morning after Joffrey's death. Daenerys had arranged a car service for them, which was always ready at the doors. There was still the occasional journalist here and there that managed to snap a few photographs of them as they jumped into the car, and Sansa would see their pictures on the cover of a magazine or a newspaper with some ridiculous caption on it. She's learned to not let them affect her though.
They met Gendry for coffee at the hospital cafeteria.
She had only met him once before, the afternoon he'd arrested Arya for the first time for egging both Sansa and her car. He'd lost some color. His hair was longer and his face scruffy. It made him look older. There was a healing scar over one of his brows she hadn't noticed before.
"Thank you for meeting us," she said as she shook his hand, "This is my oldest brother Robb."
They shook hands.
"I've... heard a lot about you. Both of you." Gendry said awkwardly. "I'm sorry about your parents. I never met your mother... but Ned... he was a good man."
"Thank you." Robb told him.
Sansa smiled at Gendry, hoping it would calm his nerves a bit.
They stood in line to buy their coffees, making small talk about his health and recovery and made their way to a table in the more deserted part of the cafeteria.
"So my sister came to you? The night of my party." Sansa asked as she uncapped her coffee to add the fixings.
Gendry nodded. "Her and Yoren. They told me all about it."
"I don't know, her side of the story. I was up on stage. It all happened so fast."
Gendry nodded, understanding what she was asking. "She told me she saw it happen, and then she saw your father dragged out into a hallway by some men. She followed them. To the basement." Gendry paused, staring down at the coffee in his hands. He licked his lip once. Twice. Sansa saw the clear movement in his throat as he gulped, before he spoke again. "She saw the men, the men that killed your father. She was with him, when he..."
"She was?" Robb asked. Daenerys hadn't shared that bit with Robb and Sansa.
"That's good." Sansa felt the warm tears roll down her cheeks. "That he wasn't alone." she sobbed out softly, taking the napkin Robb offered her and pressing it under her eyes.
"Yes." Gendry agreed.
"And you were there for her." Robb said. He'd slipped his hand into Sansa's under the table.
"It was supposed to be the three of us. Yoren, Arya and I. He told me Robert was my father and that I had to run too. It's like he knew before anyone else, the severity of the situation. He knew the will was the cause of it all."
"Father trusted him." Robb said with a nod. "He must have shared some information with him."
"And it got him killed." Gendry said stiffly. "So it was up to me to get Arya safely to London. When we arrived to the hospital, you were gone." he told Robb. "And Arya said you were most likely in Spain. So we used the money and fake passports Yoren had made for us and made our way to Spain. But we ran into a group of men there. Jaqen's men. Arya knew one of them. Harwin."
"Harwin?" Sansa gasped out. He had worked for their father years ago.
"He was a friend of father's," Robb said.
"Yes.. I know. Arya told me. When he figured out it was her, he decided to take us to Jaqen. He knew a lot about the Lannisters, and said he could get at them if Arya became bate. I was against it, and tried to get her out of there, but they knocked me unconscious and dragged me out of ther. When I woke Arya was there. All she said was that they came up with some, sort of plan, Jaqen and her. She wouldn't tell me what it was, but when we heard news about your mum, it didn't matter to her anymore. She just wanted to come home to you. To both of you. We found the chance to escape and were headed home, but along the way, Sandor caught up to us." Gendry paused, smiling sadly at Sansa. "Arya held a lighter to the poor sod's face, trying to get him to confess whether it had really been you who sent him."
Robb chuckled softly. "Sounds like Arya." he said with eyes bright with tears. Sansa smiled too, even though she felt terrible for Sandor. He'd told her the story of how he'd burned his face.
"We tied him up. Arya didn't trust him. Neither did I... but something happened overnight. Something that made Arya change her mind about him. Then it became three of us. Trying to make out way home unnoticed. We were being followed though. By a Lannister man. He caught up to us in Bordeaux." Gendry paused briefly, licking his lips again nervously. "I took care of him, but the next morning, Arya was gone. Took her belongings and the car we rented."
"She didn't say anything, the night before?" Sansa asked him. "Anything that might help us figure out where she left to?"
Gendry's jaw tensed and he dropped his gaze. "No. Nothing. I've gone over that night many times. Can't find anything. My only guess is she went back to Jaqen. Maybe changed her mind about him."
Sansa reached across the table to grab Gendry's hand. "It's not your fault." she told him, noticing how upset he looked all of a sudden. "You have done more than enough, more than could ever be expected from anyone who wasn't family."
"I didn't know her long." Gendry looked up at Sansa. "But I've never met anyone . . . like her . . ." he stole at quick glance in Robb's direction, and pulled his hand away from Sansa's, dropping his gaze again.
"We'll find her." Robb let out with determination. Gendry turned to him and nodded.
"I think he has feelings for her." Sansa told Robb on the drive back to the hotel.
"Maybe." Robb didn't meet her eyes. He was looking out the window. "They hadn't known each other long before the shooting."
"Arya and I met Gendry a few days after we returned from our trip with the Baratheon's. That was about three months before the incident, I believe."
"So they knew eath other three months, yes. But all they did during those months was play cops and robbers." Robb snapped at her. Sansa smiled.
It was true. Every time Arya had been arrested during those months, Gendry was behind the arrest.
They spent the rest of their day indoors. It was the calm before the storm, and night couldn't have come any sooner.
Sansa slept restlessly that night, both looking forward to and dreading the trial. When she woke up, her back was stiff, and her chest felt heavy. She'd cried most of the night, like every night before, but this time, it was for Arya. I need her.
When she walked out of her room, Alicia and Robb were making breakfast. Sansa just nibbled on a bit of toast and washed it down with black coffee. She knew if she tried eating anything else, her nerves wouldn't let it stick.
She would see Sandor today. She'd been trying to get ahold of him since the the morning after Rickon was returned to them, but it was as if her were avoiding her. He was still not answering all the times she'd rung his mobile. She'd meant to ask Gendry about him during their meeting, but then Robb had tagged along, and after the curious look she'd received from her brother when she placed a soft kiss on Sandor's jaw, she didn't want to raise more questions.
He would be there today though. Along with Gendry and Brienne. Gendry had mentioned that both he and Sandor were on Brienne's witness list.
Arriving at the Sheffield Crown Court was like the day after Joffrey's death all over again. News reporters and journalists lined the corded walkway between their car and the doors; flashes of cameras and a loud cacophony of questions followed them until they made it to the door, held open by two officers.
There were several people she recognized as soon as she walked into the court room. Amongst them, she spotted Tywin with Myrcella and Tommen, and their uncle Kevan was conversing with Tyrion two rows down from Tywin and the children.
Her eyes searched the room until she found Gendry sitting between Brienne and Sandor across the room. Her heart skipped a beat. I will talk to him today! Even if he doesn't want to.
The courtroom suddenly grew quiet when Jaime was escorted to his balcony by two officers. His hair was longer and his tired face was decorated by fading bruises. He'd lost some weight.
"All rise," a voice called out as the judge crossed to his seat. He nodded his permission and everyone sat.
And then the unexpected happened.
"Stop!" Jaime cried as he rose to his feet.
"Mr. Lannister, sit down." the judge called to him, a constable already crossing over to Jaime.
"Stop. I ... I plea guilty. I don't want a trial. I plea guilty. And not just... to witnessing the death of Renly Baratheon... but causing it."
Sansa could hear sharp intakes of breath through out the court room. Robb slid to the edge of his seat, staring intently down at Jaime. For a brief second Sansa could have sworn she saw, out of the corner of her eye, Brienne try to rise from her chair. When her head snapped in their direction though, Brienne was still sat in her seat.
"You're confessing? You killed Renly Baratheon?" the judge asked.
"Yes, Your Honour. Just like I tried to kill Robert Baratheon," soft murmurs could be heard all around the court room. "It was not Ned Stark. I sent my men to kill him because he saw it was really me... He's dead because of me. I killed him. Just like I killed Theon Greyjoy, and the pub owner found dead in his pub... besides the alleyway where Theon's body was found. I killed Catelyn Stark." his eyes searched the room, landing on both Robb and Sansa. "She didn't kill herself. I killed her. I tried to kill her son, Bran Stark, as well. Twice."
The entire room, silent just moments ago, broke in uproar. Sansa's hand clapped over her mouth, a rush of shock making her shudder. Beside her, Robb's back stiffened. Gendry caught her eye across the room as he rose from his seat, his jaw set in fury, and made his way up the stairs, for the doors.
The judge banged his gavel, calling for silence, Tyrion rose from his chair, and was yelling, but amid the shouts of everyone else, Sansa couldn't hear the small man. Brienne was on her feet too, struggling to pull her arm free from Sandor's grasp.
Sansa had to get away from this. She had to get away.
She sprung from her seat, without an explanation for Robb, and ran for the doors. Gendry caught her eye, walking down the corridor, towards the exit.
"Gendry!" she called. He turned.
"He's lying." he pointed back in the direction of the courtroom as she ran towards him, the sound of her heels echoing off the walls.
"I think so too. I remember Cutler's Hall. He was right by the stage. I don't think he tried to kill Robert."
"Brienne was there when Renly was shot. It was Cersei." he told Sansa. She nodded. She'd heard the story from Brienne herself.
"He's protecting Cersei."
"Shit!" he huffed out, shaking his head in frustration. "I have to get out of here."
Sansa didn't get a chance to reply because at that moment the corridor flooded with people. When she turned back to Gendry, he was already walking away.
"Sansa!" she heard her name from the crowd. It was Robb.
"What happened?" she crossed to him.
"He was sentenced. For life."
The revelation pulsed through her unpleasantly. This was wrong. It was all wrong!
She was about to speak, when her eyes caught a glimpse of Sandor in the crowd, towering in height over most.
"Sandor!" she called, to him, pushing past Robb. The man's head snapped in her direction briefly. Their eyes locked for a brief moment before he turned away and got lost in the crowd. Shit! She called his name again, drawing the attention of some of the people that crowded the corridor. Sansa didn't care though. Not about them, nor what her brother would think.
She pushed though the crowd, her eyes fixed on the back of Sandor's head as he retreated from her, her shoulders knocking against the shoulders and arms of others. She called to him again. Daenerys and Jorah caught her eye briefly as they exited the court room, but she ignored their beckoning. She finally made it though the crowd, and Sandor was not too far ahead of her. He was by the door already, holding it open for Brienne.
She drew in a lungful of air, ready to call for him, when a hand encircled her wrist and span her round. It was Tyrion.
"We need to talk."
xxxxxxxxxx
Gendry crossed from the Courthouse to police escort car stiffly, holding down the unbelievable urge to sock one of the reporters or camera men who insisted on shoving microphones and camera lenses to his face. The officer that walked him to the car pushed most of them back, but a few here and there snapped a picture, blinding him, or called, "Gendry, Gendry! What was the verdict! Gendry!? Gendry! Have you visited your father in the hospital? Gendry! Gendry! Do you think Ned Stark really killed Robert? Gendry!"
He slammed the car door behind him, fisting his hands around his hair. A few of the reporters crowded around his window, but the car moved forward then, and Gendry let his head fall softly against the window.
"Crazy snow!" the officer chuckled from the front of the car. "Need a drink?" Gendry shook his head.
"No."
"It will help you forget. Whatever it is that's troubling you."
Gendry considered it for a moment. He did want to forget. About Arya, and Ned, and the Lannisters, but mostly about his father, and the events of that morning. He closed his eyes.
"No one is perfect, Gendry." Brienne leaned on the bathroom door as he splashed cold water over his face. He took a good look in the mirror. The hospital bathroom light made his dripping wet skin appear drained. Brienne had brought him a shaving kit, and he'd shaved his face, but his hair had grown into a shaggy mop.
At least it covered the angry, healing cut above his eyebrow. He wiped a towel over his face and pushed out of the restroom, past Brienne.
"Not you, not me, not anyone. " she continued, following him out of the bathroom. Gendry pushed a folded jumper into the bag on the bed and zipped it close, scanning the hospital room one last time. "Ned Stark was not perfect. Renly wasn't perfect. Your father isn't perfect. Go see him."
Gendry had received his discharge early that morning, and he knew that Brienne knew this was her last chance to try and convince him to visit Robert.
"The last thing I need right now is..."
"That's exactly what you need right now! You don't need it weighing you down. You have too much crap to deal with. Get it out of the way, so you can move forward now. Go... Gendry." she paused briefly, licking her lips, almost nervously. "He's waiting for you."
A wave of anger hit him. Brienne bit her lip, and for a brief moment, she reminded him of Arya. He shook his head at her. She was so stubborn. "Fine." he said, turning away from the blonde and stalking for the door.
He walked down the hospital corridor slowly. Uneasily. The nurses that caught his eyes smiled at him knowingly. He didn't smile back. He couldn't. He had to knock only once before he heard a thick voice call him in.
Gendry turned the knob, pushing the door open, and stepped inside the room hesitantly. He didn't want to be here.
"Hello." Robert said hoarsely from where he sat on his bed. Someone had combed his hair to one side, Gendry noticed, and the man looked freshly showered. He was breathing heavily. Gendry could hear him from where he stood, a few feet away from the door, which had closed behind him with a quiet click. He could just leave. Just walk away.
"Hi." Gendry said.
"Please, sit." Robert nodded towards the empty chair besides his bed. He was as nervous as Gendry. Shaking like a leaf.
Gendry shook his head. "I-I won't be staying long. Just..." his mind went blank. Robert's clearly had gone blank as well. His eyes were darting all over the room, never meeting Gendry's. Finally after a long, drawn out silence in which Gendry felt anxiety curl and twist beneath his skin, Robert spoke.
"We met before. Once."
"Yes." Gendry remembered the day too well. Robert had been drunk, and he'd insulted Brienne. "I'd seen you on the television before though."
"Oh, yes." Robert licked his lips. The skin around his eyes was one large bruise, his was face colorless, and there was no shine in his blue eyes. Eyes like mine. Gendry thought.
"Yep. I remember seeing you a while back. When you were talking about that new hospital wing you were sponsoring. For Bran Stark, your friend Ned's son." Gendry took a step forward. "I remember thinking, how is Ned friends with that man? But then I realized, that's just how Ned was. He looked past flaws. Saw the best in men. He certainly saw the best in me. That's probably why I loved him. I would tell myself, if I don't have a father to look up to, at least I have Ned. I wanted to be like Ned..."
Robert parted his lips to speak, but Gendry spoke before him.
"The thing is though . . . I'm not Ned. I will never be like him, I fear. Now, I'm sure you're a good man, somewhere in there. Ned thought so, so you must be. Trust me, I've met my fair share of evil men this past month to know, even when you're a stranger to me, that you're not evil." he chuckled mirthlessly. "But you tell that to my mum."
Robert blinked hard, clearing his throat nervously. "I'm . . . sorry. . ." he rasped out.
"I believe you." Gendry nodded once. "But right now . . . I just can't try and find what it is Ned found in you to love. Not today," he shook his head, hearing how vile his words sounded, "Not anytime soon . . . I'm sorry. Really I am. This is the last thing you need to hear right now, having just lost your son . . . but I don't want to get to know you. I don't want a father. I don't want you in my life right now. Not yet. Maybe not ever . . . I don't want your money. I think we can both agree that it has brought enough sorrow and death already. I want no part in your will. I just want you to just, leave me out of your life... I'm certainly considering leaving you out of mine."
Robert, who had slightly shrunk into his bed, nodded quickly at Gendry.
"I'm sorry." Gendry whispered stifly. His insides were on fire. Rage, ache, guilt, all lancing up and down his limbs and turning in his stomach.
"Thank you." Robert whispered back. "For being honest. I ... see a lot of your mother in you. You even look a little like her."
"No. I don't. Sadly." Gendry swallowed. "Goodbye Robert." he said, before turning for the door.
The word had dropped out of his mouth like poisonous thorns, and he didn't feel the relief, and weightlessness Brienne had promised he'd feel. He'd just hurt Robert. More than he deserved, perhaps.
All anyone ever saw in him was money. Power and money. That's all his wife ever loved of him. That's why she'd caused him so much pain. Perhaps that's all his mother had ever seen in him too. And now, that part of him that people loved him for, was the reason why Gendry had just turned his back on him.
When he walked back into his room, Brienne rose off her chair, and they both stood there in silence, staring at each other as the seconds on the her wrist watch ticked by, each ticking louder and louder, until Gendry realized it was his heartbeat. Beating loudly in his ears. Drowning out all other noise.
Brienne was the first to speak. "Are you alright?" she finally asked.
Gendry shrugged. No, he wasn't. He closed the distance between them, crashing into her chest and twisting the back of her shirt in his fists as his silent sobs shook him in her embrace.
"Ohh, heeeyy..." she whispered softly against his hair. "It's alright." she pressed a kiss on top of his head, tightening her grasp around him. "The worst is over." she whispered, pressing another kiss on his head.
Gendry opened his eyes, about to tell the officer that they should stop for a drink, when he noticed they were going the wrong way.
"Where the hell are you taking me?" Gendry asked rudely, noticing for the first time, that the officer sitting behind the wheel wasn't the same one that had driven him and Brienne to the Court. It was...
"Anguy!"
The door locks clicked, and Anguy peered back at Gendry through the barrier fence with a smile. "It took you a while."
Gendry let his head fall back in exasperation, exhaling long and slow to calm himself. Would this nightmare ever fucking end. He pulled his mobile out of his coat pocket.
"I wouldn't do that." Anguy said, glancing at Gendry over the rear view mirror. Gendry ignored him, scrolling down his phone to Brienne's name, pressing call. "Because we have Arya."
And then, Gendry pressed the "end call" button.
AN
Hi my darlings.
First off, before anything else is said, yes, there was no Arya in this chapter, and that is simply because the next chapter will be all Arya. Every bit of it :)
So going back to this chapter.
Mystery red haired Arnold bloke was none other than Anguy. No one commented on it, but I thought it was obvious enough, since Jaqen had sent Anguy to keep an eye on Gendry.
Gendry recovered his memory.
This chapter was slightly big on Sansa, but through her we got to see some Gendry and the Jaime trial.
Also, we answered some questions readers had about the kids. I just didn't want to leave them unmentioned.
SO yes, Jaime trial, he plead guilty, to crimes he didn't commit, Catelyn, Renly, Robert, and Ned. ( He did kill Theon and the old man at the pub, and he did push Bran)
And speaking of Robert, Gendry finally spoke to him. :'(
And we are left with Sansa/Tyrion and Anguy/Gendry cliffhangers.
After this chapter, the plot will pick up again, and like I mentioned, Arya chapter next time.
Thanks for all your reviews. That last chapter got a great reception. More reviews than any other chapter. Thank you all so much for your support and keep those reviews coming.. They're my fuel :) you guys are the ones that keep this story ablaze.
And we are a day away from Season 3! Fuck yea! Bring it on!
Thanks again :) I love you all! And review!