Family

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"What happened?" Jon rushed into the nursery. He had one hand on the hilt of his sword, but Sansa didn't dare to look at him.

She simply pressed their baby boy as tightly to her chest as possible while she allowed her tears to roll down her cheeks and her neck. She should have known that this moment was coming. She she should have known that at some point the red lady would collect the price Sansa had agreed to pay her. Sansa should have known, the moment she discovered that she was pregnant, that she would not see her kid grow old.

"Sansa?" Jon wrapped an arm around her shoulders and his lips kissed her forehead. "You're upset."

Of course she was. She was happier than ever. She was married to the strong, gentle and brave man her father had promised her. She was holding a wonderful baby boy. She was living the life of her dreams. But it all came crashing down. It all came crashing down because of her own desperation to live without truly understanding the consequences.

"Talk to me, please." Jon let his head rest on hers, but she doubted if he would still be this sweet and kind if he knew the truth, if he knew that she had promised a stranger her first born baby if that stranger would help her to take care of Ramsay Bolton.

"I can't." She shook her head. "You'll hate me." She sniffed and she pressed her wet lips on the forehead of her baby boy. "I hate me."

Jon's grip around her tightened and for a moment he simply rocked her back and forth without saying anything. "I won't hate you." Jon eventually whispered. "I can't hate you. I love you too much for that." His words were soothing, just like his voice, but Sansa knew he didn't know what he was promising her.

Just like she hadn't known what she had promised that stranger two years ago, when Ramsay Bolton had almost broken her and the wrong God had listened to her prayers. "She'll come to get him." Sansa swallowed. "When I was..." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She had never talked about this. She had wanted to forget about it and she had hoped that the stranger would do the same. "I didn't just escape Ramsay." She felt her heart racing in her chest, but in the back of her mind she heard her father and mother, telling her that the ugly truth was always better than a beautiful lie. "I got help." She looked up at Jon and shook her head. "I didn't know what I promised. I didn't know, I swear."

"What did you promise?" Jon spoke softly. "I really wanna help you, but you have to tell me everything."

And so Sansa did. She told him about the red haired stranger who had shown up, assuring her that she could get Sansa out, that she could help Sansa escape the strong claws of the monster. She told him that the stranger had wanted the ring she had gotten from father to leave the door of her room unlocked. She told him that the stranger had taken the necklace she had gotten from mother to sedate the hungry dogs. She told him that the stranger had wanted her first born baby to make sure Ramsay would never come after her. And eventually she told him that she had agreed.

She had been foolish. She had been naive. She had been on the brink of dying. And she had given this beautiful baby boy up before she had even met him, without realising what she would truly be giving away.

"Why did you never tell me that?" Jon's voice was calm, but she saw the pain in his eyes, the disappointment. "Why didn't you trust me?"

"I did!" She replied. "I just wanted to forget. I wanted to forget about Ramsay and his dogs. I wanted to be happy. I thought...I hoped..." She wasn't sure what she had thought and what she had hoped. "She's coming back in three days. I tried to promise her gold and diamonds and brocade instead. I tried to promise her a title and a crown and a castle. But she still wanted the baby." Her chest went up and down rapidly. "She said that nothing was worth as much as a baby with royal blood."

Jon clenched his jaw, but he kept his arms firmly around her. The frown on his forehead deepened when he looked at his son, smiling and giggling in Sansa's arms. "There has to be a way to stop her." He hissed between his teeth. "There has to be something we can do." He tensed all his muscles and he buried his nails in Sansa's shoulders. "I can't let her take our son away from us. I won't. Over my dead body."

"I'm sorry, Jon. I'm so sorry." Sansa took a few deep breaths. "If I had known..."

"It's not your fault." Jon grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. "If you hadn't agreed, you would have died there. Ramsay would have..." Jon almost choked on the words. "That woman took advantage of a broken girl with nowhere to go and no other choice. She's the one who was wrong. And she'll pay the price for it."

Sansa bit her lip. "She can't be killed, Jon." Sansa shook her head once more. "I tried to threaten her, but she told me that the only thing that could kill her, was her name." She felt her shoulders shaking. "I don't know her name. She says no one does."

"She's wrong." Jon used his hands to wipe the tears from her cheeks. "We have Bran. Bran knows everything. Bran sees everything. He can find her name. If he has to, he can find the moment her parents gave it to her. And when she returns we will use it to destroy her."

Sansa focussed on her breathing. In and out. In and out. She knew that she wouldn't fully calm down until that red woman was destroyed and gone. Until their baby boy was safe. Until they had cleaned up her own mess. But Jon had given her something she had thought she had lost.

Hope.

Bran could figure this out.

That name would destroy the red lady.

And Sansa, Jon and their baby boy would get their happily ever after.

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