The First Snow

Part XX: Sandor & Sansa

Sandor was growing nervous, they would be dock at any minute. He kept touching his face. Arya bit into a stolen apple, it was covered in brown spots but she savored it as if it was still crisp and sweet.

"Stop worrying, you think she is going to suddenly not want you anymore." Arya spoke around a mouth full of apple.

A leather smith on board had fashioned a mask of sorts to cover his scar. Not because he hadn't learned to deal with the recoil from people who had never laid eyes on him but rather because he wanted people to not immediately identify him.

His hair was cut short his beard gone. The little one had laughed at him for nearly an hour. When he grew tired of her giggles and started to leave the room she sobered.

"I'm sorry, you look good." she started giggling once again.

Once on deck, his eyes were immediately drawn to Sansa she was already being helped onto the dock. Her eyes snapped toward him then away again.

When Sandor started to reach for his face again Arya stopped him.

"Da, we gotta get to the Pig Whistle before 1:00 or they'll give away our rooms." Sandor frowned at Arya's attempt to sound like a lowborn. No matter how crude the words on her tongue she still reeked of education. It was another hour before they left the ship. Arya trailed behind Sandor nearly skipping.

During the time they were alone, they had become friends as much as friends as a child and a man could be. She had confessed to him how much she missed her brothers and her father and he knew he was a sorry replacement.

By the time the first snow fell, Sansa was already starting to show. She touched her belly wishing things were different but at the same time hoping that things would never change. They had purchased a small farm on the outskirts of town using Clegane money. Arya had her own quarters, an apartment above the barn but when it grew cold Sandor made her move into the main house.

Word spread through Braavos about the return of the white walkers. Arya longed to be part of the world and expressed her shame in hiding from the troubles of Westeros. Sansa never wanted to return, not if it meant giving up Sandor and their child.

Arya thought she was getting fat, Sansa didn't bother to correct her.

"Your father was a killer and your sons will be killers..." Sansa shuttered when she remembered her innocence about men but she hoped her child would never have that unreachable being that lived within Sandor.

As Sansa watched him curse at the mule and plow she resigned to help him. Pulling on her tall boots and tucking her hair beneath a wrap.

When Sandor saw her approaching he hung his head ashamed that he couldn't complete the simple task of turning the earth. He had lied about knowing how to farm.

"How does it go, my love?" Sansa smiled at him warmly.

"It goes not." he pouted causing Sansa to chuckle.

Stroking the unscarred side of his face.

"All men are killers, but apparently all are not farmers?". Throwing down the reins he scooped her off her feet so quickly she didn't realize he had moved. Settling her on the soft earth, Sansa began to squirm in a feigned protest before she kissed him, enticing him to take more.

"Gross, can't you keep your bloody hands off of each other?" Arya was standing over them. Her hair had grown out to her shoulders and she was actually wearing a dress. Only because she had ventured into town to purchase chickens with Sandor earlier.

"There is no point, anything you plant now will just die anyway." Sandor rolled to his feet reaching for a sword that wasn't there instead producing a dagger.

A handsome blue eyed boy stood 10 feet behind Arya. The boy looked down at Sansa and spoke.

"When are you due?" he paid no attention to Sandor's appearance or his weapon.

Sansa reluctantly spoke, "In four moons". She watched Arya's jaw drop.

"Me ma's a midwife, a goodin if you like." The boy stepped closer to Arya.

"Let me show you how to keep them chickens warm." Sandor stepped toward the boy when his back was turned Sansa stopped him.

Arya laughed "You're a child of summer, what do you know." The boy draped an arm around her shoulders before turning to look at Sandor. He quickly removed it and begged her pardon then motioned for the barn.

Sandor frowned watching them walk away.

"Where were we my love?" Sansa touched his arm.

Sandor forgot the boy and Arya and lifted Sansa carrying her into the house with ease. In their bed he made love to her until she begged for food blaming the child for the interruption. When he rose from the bed to fetch his mistress her meal. Sansa closed her eyes sated.

"I love you Sandor Clegane, you are my Lord, my savior and one true King." Before she could finish Sandor was over her, his hand on her belly his eyes on hers.

"I don't have the words but know this. I will gut anything or anyone who tries to come between us and our child, I love you." He lost his breath with the final words.

Sansa brushed away a single tear from his eye. Sandor blinked as if it were not possible then regained himself.

"Winter is coming." Sansa nodded in agreement before kissing him.