From the Ashes (ASOIAF) (Sandor Clegane x OC)

Chapter 21: Sandor

"I'm getting you a bigger bed." Said Sandor, stretching his legs so they hung off the end.

"My bed was just fine until I had to start sharing it with you. Maybe I should just get a smaller man." Tess retorted.

     She was standing across the room from him with her hands on her hips glaring down at the contents of a large trunk. After another minute she threw her hands in the air in frustration.

"I have nothing! Not a single thing to wear that's appropriate for having dinner with a king and queen. Damn me for selling everything expensive I've ever owned." She flopped in the chair by the fireplace looking sulky.

"Nobody cares what you wear." He said, "You look beautiful in anything, and since when do you give a shit about dressing appropriately?"

"I don't....not usually anyway, but this is actually going into the Red Keep, being a guest of the king not to mention I'm going to be....." her voice trailed off.

"Meeting Sansa?" Sandor finished, "Why are you so buggered about that?"

"I don't know....it's just the way all of you talk about her...Tyrion, Brienne, you....she's Sansa Stark. You've all kind of built her up like she's this mythical creature. And then of course there's her history with you." Tess crossed her arms, and looked down at her feet.

      She's jealous, Sandor thought. She had no reason to be but all the same he thought is was adorable.

"You mean the history where I kept her from being beaten and raped a few times, then told her I'd take her home if she wanted me to and she basically told me to go to hell? Yes, very deep and sorted stuff." He said.

     She looked up at him out of the corner of her eye and gave an unwilling smirk.

"You know what I mean." She said, "She's important to you."

"And you don't like that." He guessed.

     She looked up at him sharply with a look of confusion.

"No.....no it's not like that Sand. I love that she's important to you. You know I'm not the type of person who wants you to care about me and me alone, that's selfish. It's just....god this sounds so stupid. I want her to like me. She means a lot to you, and I think you probably mean a lot to her. So I'm worried she won't be thrilled at my existence honestly."

     Sandor didn't know what to say. He wanted to tell her she had nothing to worry about. That Sansa would love her, because everyone loved her, but truthfully he thought her worries might not be completely unfounded. Sansa had many good qualities, but she did tend to be a bit possessive and spoiled. She liked when she was made to feel as though she was the priority, and the most important person in the room. While he had never been hers, he'd always had an unspoken level of devotion to her, and she'd known. She'd taken it for granted in many ways. He was not at all certain she wouldn't take it badly when she saw that the object of his devotion had shifted.

"I think, she'll see you for the person you are, in time. And then she'll love you just as much as the rest of us do." He said delicately.

"That's incredibly reassuring." Tess said dryly.

      Sandor got up and walked across the room to where she was. He pulled her out of the chair and wrapped his arms around her.

"Sansa doesn't like people easily. She's guarded and skeptical. She's had to be with the shit life has thrown at her, but deep down she has a good heart. Sound like anyone else you know?" Tess smiled up at him.

"And look at it this way." He said, "You figured out how to make a mean, jaded, old bastard like me fall completely in love with you. I think you'll win her over."