24Ok, I planned and said I would post this much earlier, I should stop to promise things I can't deliver
I found this chapter hard to wright, please be gentle or not
Notes at the end
I own nothing (at all)
Sansa couldn't believe it, they drove through the gates of Riverrun. Finally she was free, in her mother's family home, far away from Joffrey. Tyrion brought her there, to her family, he committed another act of protecting her, a lasting one. She still wasn't sure if it was all real, it seemed like a dream. A dream she had had a long time ago.
Sansa wanted to give her husband an eternal kiss, hugging him in the process, for what he had done he deserved even more. It seemed right to her to thank him for it, or even more.
But he was nowhere to be seen since he had left the carriage. Sansa had no clue where he was. Why he hadn't come back to her? Had he left her? He had delivered her to her family, maybe he had left afterwards. Sansa's gut clenched tight by the thought. She didn't want him to be away. All these thoughts about him, together with her, what he had done for her. Her inside screamed that he was a Lannister, she should be glad he wasn't there, but she wasn't.
No, she definitely didn't want him to be away. She wanted him to stay, but why?
Sansa looked out of the window and saw the men in grey and blue riding beside her.
"Excuse me Ser?" She asked one of them, her voice was small and she was sure she sounded very shy. She had hardly talked to anybody besides Tyrion for long time. A few servants maybe, but never more than a few word. The presence of armoured men made her anxious. To much had such men done to her. She could only stand Pod, but only because the boy was as unsecure and shy as she was.
"Where is my Lord-Husband?" She mumbled out of her carriage after avoiding the gaze of the man. He didn't answer, a long time Sansa only heard the sounds of the wheels on the stony underground. The entire time Sansa didn't dare to look up, fearing her own reaction to his gaze, more than the man himself. She may was supposed to be a wolf, but she felt not like one.
After a while she finally gathered enough bravery together to look up, out of the window again. The knight was gone, only a boy with the crest of house Frey was left, riding in front of the window.
Sansa stared at his weasel face, searching her tongue.
"Do you know where my Lord-Husband is?" The boy turned and looked perplex at her, like she was mad.
"The Imp is with his grace." He answered short, his tone sounded arrogant, he gave her a smile, there was something else, maybe mischievousness in his eyes. Sansa didn't like it, she had a very bad feeling about all this.
-##-
She hadn't seen Tyrion, or anybody else of his men, not even Pod when they had guided her through the halls of Riverrun to a large room. The corridors had been quiet, abandoned, nobody was there.
After they had opened the doors Sansa's heart made a jump. Her mother had been sitting in the room near a window and now rose from her place when she was brought in. Sansa stopped and was fixed at her spot, not able to move, only to stare. It was really her mother, Catelyn Stark, she was there, in the room and Sansa was with her.
With a gesture of her hand Lady Catelyn waved the men, which escorted her, away and walked up to her daughter. At the sound of the heavy doors being shut Sansa's mother opened her arms wide and bypass the last feet with long steps. She smiled.
Embraced firmly Sansa's body seemed to wake up out of it stiffness. Her mother held her tightly to her chest.
"Sansa, Sansa, Sansa" She whispered in her neck like a mantra. Sansa raised her arms and joined the embrace. All them emotions so long lost slowly rose up to the surface out of the bit of her brain she had locked them up so long ago only opening them for Tyrion.
Sansa started to cry, sobbing wildly in her mother's arms. She was like a child after a bad nightmare. She was a child after a nightmare, a long true nightmare.
"I am so sorry. I should never let you alone." Catelyn Stark's voice sounded weak in Sansa's ear, like she didn't want tears to break through. "I will never let you alone again."
Unable to response Sansa was slowly guided to a cushioned bench at one side of the room, her mother dragged her with her to sit down. Sitting the first thing Sansa did was to fold her hands in her lap, not wanting her mother to see her 'claws'. If she would see it she would demand an explanation and Sansa didn't want to give one. There was no need for her to know all what happened. Her head was bowed and tears still streaming from her eyes.
Lady Catelyn straightened up and with lips pressed tight together, together with an awkward expression on her face, she looked Sansa up and down. She felt very uncomfortable to be mustered like this by her mother and Lady Catelyn's expression wasn't soothing at all too.
"How are you Sansa?" Her mother finally asked carefully, after an amount of time passed that felt for hours even if it most likely hadn't been more than a few moments.
"Fine, I'm fine." Sansa stuttered and mumbled in a weak voice, her look fixed on her folded hands. "Now that I am here."
It was a lie, she lied to her mother because she still feared the shadow of Joffrey, she felt alone, unprotected. She knew she was safe, but she didn't feel like it.
"How has the world been treating you? " Lady Stark pressed more urgent, her voice small, while she laid one of her hands on Sansa's shoulder and leaned to her. "Please, you can tell me."
"I don't want to talk about it." Sansa turned her head away, her body followed and her mother's hand slid from her shoulder. Sansa was now facing the wall opposite to her. She tried to ban all the bad memories, which threatened to reach the surface of her consciousness, out of her head. She didn't want to remember, she wanted it all to be a dream, only a nightmare.
Catelyn Stark's laid her arm around her dragging her into her embrace, smoothing her hair like a child. It was nearly as like as the time she had calmed her after the nightmares when Sansa was younger. When she had been in Winterfell and father had been alive.
But then it seemed the gates had been opened and all what had happened flooded her brain. Each hit, each rape, each humiliation, every injustice came back. Sansa cried, feeling she would go insane when she relived the eight month of her live, filled with terror. Her mother hold her, never spoke a word. Sansa shook in her embrace.
It felt like it would never end, Joffrey and then Joffrey again, the Kingsguard and Joffrey all over again. But then different memories reached her. Tyrion smiling at her, he hitting Joffrey so hard that blood appeared. Tyrion telling her stories, calming her and of course his words: 'Say your King I bring him his sister back.'
All the sudden she calmed, her tears ceased and there was a warm feeling in her belly, she felt safe.
She raised her head and slowly freed herself out of the embrace to look her mother in the eyes. Her mother had a sympathetic face, but Sansa also saw pity in it and sorrow. Sansa took a deep breath, she was determined.
"Where is my Lord-Husband?" Sansa's words were loud and clear without a trace of fear, but at the same time the door was opened with a loud bang, Sansa flinched by the sound. First she thought her words had been drowned by the loud noise but Sansa could see a bewildered expression in her mother's face about her question. But both turned to the forceful opened door.
Robb marched in the room, his boots echoing on the floor. Sansa rose from her place when she saw her big brother approaching her, his arms wide and a relieved smile on his face. He looked older than she remembered, his face weathered. He looked like a warrior, not like her big brother who had played with her and the other in the Godswood.
"He is in a cell, where he belongs." Robb obviously had heard her question and Sansa wanted to reply but he swung his arms around her and took her in a firm embrace, lifting her from her feet. "He will never come near you again. Not to speak of harming you." He spoke in her ear. Sansa wanted to protest, her face consorted quickly in anger about his words. All her feeling turned to anger and the warm feeling in her belly turned sour. How could he dare to assume such a thing, like Tyrion harming her, he never had done so.
She slowly backed away from him, stepping a few steps back, a quick glance to her mother showed an unreadable expression on her face. Sansa controlled her anger, held her face in indifference. Maybe Robb just misunderstood something or hadn't articulated right. But before she could speak he continued addressing her and their mother as well.
"The Imp claims the marriage wouldn't be consumed. This is good." He gave her a confident smile. "If he spoke the truth or lied to save his head doesn't matter, we can undone it."
"Did he?" Sansa heard her mother's puzzled voice, she address her. Sansa turned slowly to her. "Are the marriage unconsumed?" Sansa nodded, her stomach dropped.
"It doesn't matter. I will free her from him one way or another." Robb stated grimly. "I would…"
"He was kind to me." Sansa interrupted him, before he could say more, her voice small and weak, it sounded like a justification. She wanted to explain, wanted them t understand.
"I will free you of him." Robb looked at her, speaking calming, placing his hand on her shoulder, like she wanted to hear this. Sansa shook him off and stepped farther away fixating both. And gathered her strength.
"I am not sure if I want this." Sansa had assumed the marriage would be forever, even if she had other experiences, the thought of the marriage undone let her stomach knot further. She felt so safe with him. She didn't want to be 'freed' of him. Sansa was actually sure she wanted to stay with him, in his embrace, but she couldn't say so. Not now. Not here. There was a suspicion rising in her too.
"What do you mean?" Robb asked suspiciously coming closer but Sansa backed up until she was at the wall.
"You just want me to marry me off again afterwards, right?" Her tone became stronger, the hard realisation in her mind. She gazed her confused looking brother in the eyes. She wasn't willing to control her anger any more. She thought her big brother would understand, but now she understood. He was not like she remembered, his expressing all his demeanour pointed out that she was right.
"Sansa. How would you…"
"Because that is it. I am nothing more than a tool for you. To make an alliance. Lucky for you somebody brought me here, right?" Her voice bounced high, accusation followed accusation. He really planed that. "Why else would you be so eager to make me marriageable again. You not even ask me."
"Sansa, listen." Her mother started to aid him, her brother was dumbfounded.
"No! You listen to me." She was near screaming now. "I don't want to be apart of him. He was kind to me, good to me. I don't want another husband."
"You can't be serious. He is just a Lannister." Robb spat at her, clearly without thinking, without controlling his surprise. "Not a suitable match for you. He is an…."
"What? An Imp? A monster?" Sansa felt anger turning to rage. She had thought all would be good when she would come home, but no, she had to fight for it first, for what she wanted. Robb had no idea what she was been through and presumed a verdict what was good for her? Where was he when Joffrey beat her? "HE was the only one there for me." She glared at him. He was quiet now, maybe seeing his mistake but Sansa didn't care, it was time to speak now. "YOU let me rot in King's Landing. Fighting your war." Robb opened her mouth but she was still in rage. "You killed the Kingslayer. Did you waste a single thought what this would mean for me? What Joffrey did to me? All the time you and your so glorious armies marched through the lands, never targeting the capital?"
Robb wanted to step nearer but Sansa didn't let him. Anger and wrath boiled in her, for all her memories all she had been through. He hadn't been there, now he thought he knew better. He looked guilty after her words, but not guilty enough for her, he had not even the decency to deny it. He had let her alone.
She unfold her hands, holding her claws in his face. Her mother sucked in her breath and Robb's mouth dropped open. While she was frowning at them.
"Joffrey beat me, raped me. He turned me in a toy, less worthy than a pet, or a slave. He forced me to sleep on the floor of his chambers." Her shouting seemed not to end. For Sansa it felt relieving, she wanted to shout, making them understand. "He tortured me so much that I asked myself how you" She turned to her mother "were able to be with father, feeling the pain the marriage bed causes. Joffrey caused more pain then I ever imagined to be possible and then he throw me away like a used napkin."
Robb's face was switching between fury and pain, pity. He breathed heavy and his hands were fists. Lady Catelyn had tears streaming down her face, but Sansa wasn't finished.
"Father and you, mother, sent me to marry this monster. And now another one? Appears he kind and is he handsome as well?" Sansa was panting from all the screaming, she ignored all tries of them to calm her. But her voice took a more resigning tone and was a bit quieter as well when she continued. "I already gave up. You didn't come, nobody came." Sansa had let her tears fall freely all the time. Her face felt puffy and her body itched but she wasn't finished. Her tone turned harder. "Nobody was kind. For the court I was only the King's possession, not more. Neither a Septon nor a knight spoke up to him, stopped him. They saw what he did and they only starred, some even laughed."
Sansa now let her mother near her, her anger had been spoken out for the moment. She embrace her, clung at her. She glanced over her mother's shoulder to Robb who looked ashamed at the floor.
"And then he was there." She sounded a bit dreamy, soft and calm she spoke of him, looking in the wide. "He didn't torture me, I thought he would but he…" A sob escaped her throat. "He cared for me, helped me, protected me. He even hit Joffrey when he came near me." A small smile appeared in her face when she laid her head at her mother's shoulder. "I was a Lady again, his Lady. I didn't feel like a toy. He let me feel" She closed her eyes, "human again. Everything Joffrey had taken from me he gave back, and more."
Sansa let go of Lady Catelyn, and stepped away fixating Robb with her eyes. She had made a decision, she wanted to stay with him and Robb had to accept that, no matter what. It was her turn now, she had to take care. Not because she was obligated, because she wanted to.
"If you want to put him in chains," She sounded hard, stern "then you must put me in chains as well." She stated crossing her arms above her chest.
"Don't be silly." Robb replied after a moment of utter disbelief. "Why…"
"If your grace didn't noticed, I am his wife, the future Lady of Casterly Rock." She explained angrily. "If you treat him as a hostage, you must treat me so as well." Sansa marched with large steps past of her mother and the confused looking Robb, heading for the door. She put her hand at the nob. "Where did you imprison him? I will join him there." She waited a few seconds, glaring at Robb who still didn't get his mouth open. "Or you bring him in chambers suitable for your sister's husband. Suitable for your honoured brother-in-law. I will join him there then."
"Are you sure?" Robb asked hesitating but defeated, his face taking a softer turn. Sansa had won. Her mother was shocked by his question.
Sansa remembered her time with Tyrion, how he had been, was and what she had felt, felt at the very same moment. She had reached a clear decision how her life should continue and if it should involve him.
-##-
Sansa had told him her decision and now she waited in the new chambers. Her mother hadn't been very pleased with her decision, not at all, she had tried to talk her out of it, had argued with Robb. Her arguments had faded on her, her words wasn't important, how could she even understand? And Robb had decided he could either support her decision or force her, he didn't want to force her.
Sansa was musing about what would happen next when the door was opened forcefully and a small figure stumbled in the room. With a bang the door was closed and Sansa was alone with Tyrion.
She was shocked to see his condition. He had some nasty bruises and blood were encrusted in his hair. They beat him, how had they dared? He looked at her confused, a bit like he was in a dream now.
"Sansa?" He sounded totally bewildered, like he never imagined to see her again. "What is going on here?"
"These are new chambers." Sansa explained, opening her arms with an expecting gaze at him.
"And why the sudden change of his grace hospitality? And maybe even more important: Why you are here?" He didn't sound unfriendly or hostile, but suspicious. He eyed her carefully, something that made her shiver, not uncomfortably but strange. She had expected him to understand much quicker, maybe the head wound wasn't helpful. She felt the sudden urge to call the Maester, she was concerned it would be bad. But then he raised his eyebrows, his mismatched eyes clear and attentive. It eased her so she could continue.
"Because I said so. We are married and I want us to stay married. Robb has to accept that and treat you like you deserve." She explained him smiling, feeling very good with herself. He on the other hand looked rather confused. Suddenly something dawned her.
Her stomach knotted again and her heart felt like it would fall to the floor. Gulping she spoke to him, very slowly, afraid of his answer.
"If you want it too, of course." She never thought about this, what if he didn't want her. What if he only pitied her and now…
Sansa slowly approached him. He carefully looked at her but didn't move. She feared his rejection. If he would say no everything would have been just a lie, an act of mercy to a wounded animal. She wouldn't have been his Lady, only a pet he had cockered up, all she thought would have been a misinterpretation. He would reject her, throw her away like Joffrey had done.
"Tyrion" She heard herself plea, nothing more than a whisper. She stopped before him.
"What are you doing?" he asked, coming the last step towards her. When he stood before her he took her hand and stroked it carefully. It felt good. "I told your brother that we didn't, eh do it." He stuttered for a moment. "So you are able to free yourself from me."
"I don't want to free myself from you I…I…" She protested, nearly sobbing.
"I am a match forced upon you." He made clear, looking away. "You can do better, much better."
Sansa lowered herself down on his level, laying her hands around his neck and smiled warmly at his face.
"I don't think I can do better." Her voice was strong and clear, but tears threatening to overcome her. "I want you, I feel right with you." She had to turn her head by the next sentence, gulping and hiding her tears. "If you want me, but if you don't think I am…"
"Hush." He placed one of his fingers at her mouth and guided her head with it to face him. Sansa saw him returning her earlier smile. He slowly put his finger down, cupped her cheeks with both hands and kissed her. Sansa's stomach tingled, flipped, it felt so right. After a time, Sansa felt it would be too short he backed his head away to look at her. "Who am I to turn such a woman down?" A small chuckle escaped his throat. "You are magnificent, smart, beautiful. Not to mention that you in good company distract everybody from my sight."
"Stop it." Sansa was flattered by his words, but it wasn't exactly what she wanted to hear from him.
"I always thought someday, I could settle down, with a wife, having a family." He continued a bit melancholic "But never had I imagined to be with somebody like you. Not in a single dream."
Sansa was so moved by his words that the tears streamed over her cheeks and forming a pool on the floor. She was between sobbing and laughing. He didn't reject her, he sounded more like he would worship the ground she was walking on.
"So you want to stay married to me?" There couldn't be any doubts.
"Didn't I make myself clear on that?" he asked joking, smiling at her brightly. "I would like to make you happy, brining you out of your misery, be with you .Even if I think you are way out of my league, so much better, I feel inferior."
Flattering words, letting her smile through her tears, not of pain but joy.
"If you feel so inferior think of this." She said teasingly. "We have more in common than you think. Now I am the one married to a hostage."
"A joke, this can only be a good sign."
Epilogue
Tyrion was a hostage, at least officially. A ruse, one Sansa heard driving his father insane. The ravens told that Lord Tywin raged in King's Landing, demanding heads, then suddenly he had no son left. Nobody who would give him a grandson to carry on his name, his so precious legacy. Then this was the only thing he cared about. House Lannister, the Lords of Casterly Rock a lineage given from father to son sine thousands of years. He would never accept one of Cersei's children to follow him, it had to be a son of a son, even if it was his dwarf son's son.
Tyrion on the other hand seemed to enjoy his 'hostage time'. They spent much time together, laughing and talking, wandering through the castle of Riverrun. Sansa loved it, she was in peace. She was sure she loved him and that he loved her. It really seemed he would worship the ground she walked on.
Robb made his peace with him when he saw how happy she was. The rest of the family joined in quickly, like her uncles or Roslin, Robb's wife. The only exception was her mother. Lady Catelyn needed her time to come to terms with him, she suspected he would plan something and her husband wasn't helping with that.
Sansa believed Petyr Baelish to be very creepy, she hadn't liked his stares in King's Landing and now she liked them even less. But one quick glance at her hands turned his stares away, he was clearly revolted by her disfiguration, the flaw in her beauty.
It was a relief for her when Robb send them to Winterfell, but the court had to stay in Riverrun for the time the war wasn't settled. The winter made fighting impossible but Robb didn't want to take chances, so he stayed.
-##-
Winterfell was exactly like she remembered, the much grown Arya, Bran and Rickon awaited her joyful and they even welcomed Tyrion with open arms.
One year in the winter the best day of her live occurred. She and Tyrion proved everybody in King's Landing wrong when their daughter was born. Their perfect little angel, she became the middle of their life. Sansa spent as much time with her as possible.
But she had to share, her mother snatched her grandchild away as often as she was able to. She spent the time with little Lyrana in the Godswood. She even came to terms with Tyrion because of her.
It were peaceful days in solitude of the war.
-##-
Her little girl was six years old when the raven came. Through a twenty days lasting snowstorm he carried the news of Lord Tywin's death and that Cersei proclaimed herself Lady of Casterly Rock.
It made Sansa angry, it wasn't her title, not her lands or castle. It were Tyrion's, her daughter's, her title. She was the Lady of Casterly Rock, not Cersei, she was only the dowager Queen. And following that only two years later the ravens came with more bad news for her.
The Westerlands were run down by Cersei, the Lords were discontented and on the quiet they demanded their true Lord. Robb sent Tyrion away, trusted him enough to send him with her uncle to the Westerlands to rally the Lords behind him to end this war.
A dangerous mission, it could get him killed, but he did so because he thought he had to. Her tears didn't change that.
But it was worse, because after his departure she discovered that another child grew in her but her husband wasn't with her.
She was huge with the child when the raven brought the news that the Lord of the Westerlands bend the knee to her husband, ready to follow him even when he bend the knee to Robb. The letters said he wanted back to her but Robb wanted him to stay, making him Warden of the South-West. He was to lead the Westermen to battle.
It pained Sansa, more than anything that he wasn't with her when his son came into this world. Maester Luwin delivered him safely, her little Lannister, the image of his grandfather. Tytos, she chose as a name, when she held him in her arms, and she wanted nothing more than his father to be there.
She didn't care when the news of Joffrey's head on a spike in King's Landing or Cersei's imprisonment or the retreat of the Tyrells to Highgarden reached her. The war was over, Stannis frozen to death at the Wall with his army.
With the end of the war the end of the winter followed quickly, so did Tyrion return to her. He looked not different than last time when she fell in his arms together with Lyrana and Tytos who first saw his father. She made him promise never to leave her again.
He never did, all honours her brother offered him he turned down. It was not without tears when they were leaving Winterfell and travelled to Casterly Rock but they had to, the Westerlands needed their Lord.
But they never were alone, even in the long corridors and gardens of the Rock her family visited them, Rickon even decided to stay forever.
I hope you liked my end, I think it works
Robb didn't get away very good, sorry for that
Please review
PS
I have a large number of really reading intensive courses this semester but I will still try to write more stories, I have some nice ideas, but they will most likely be only short once