Jon Snow & Sansa Stark - Game of Thrones Fanfiction

The Pack Survives

Sansa stared at him for a minute, maybe two, maybe even longer. A million thoughts were running through her head, but it seemed impossible to grasp them. Every time she thought she was ready to say something coherent, three other thoughts messed up her sentence and forced her to close her mouth again.

"I hope this doesn't change things between us." Jon licked his dry lips and he locked his glance with Arya's.

Arya just smiled. Of course she did. Jon had always been her favourite brother. He would most likely always be. "You're still my brother."

But for Sansa it was different. And she wasn't sure in what way.

Jon was a Targaryen. Jon was the legitimate king of Westeros. If the world would know about this, he would end up on the throne instead of Daenerys.

The North would be ruled by a Stark.

She wouldn't have to slime and bow and kneel to keep her head and to stay alive.

This was perfect. Too perfect.

If only he had not just made her swear she wouldn't tell anyone. How could he do that? How couldn't he see that this was the best thing that could ever happen to him?

No one would ever dare to call him a bastard again. No one would ever look down upon him anymore. No one would deny him a place at the main table.

Had he grown so used to being a bastard that being a king was his worst nightmare? Had the way everyone, including her, had treated him really convinced him that he was unfit to lead a country?

How often did she have to repeat that he was a good leader? How often did she have to say that he was good at ruling? How often did she need to compliment him on how he encouraged people and motivated them to fight for a cause that terrified them?

"Sansa?" Jon interrupted her trail of thoughts and he furrowed his eyebrows when he let his glance linger over her. "Will this change things between us?"

"Compared to when?" Sansa cocked her head.

Years ago, when Jon had still been her bastard brother and she had been the naive little bird in love with the thought of marrying prince Joffrey, she had never understood why father was so determined to keep his bastard close.

And yet, during her years far away from him, she had missed him. She had missed his rare smiles. She had missed the constant frown on his forehead, even though it hadn't been as deep then as it was nowadays. She had missed teasing him and using him as an outlet for all those emotions she couldn't throw at anyone else.

Seeing him again had been one of the happiest moments of her life. Because although he had still been a bastard at that time, he had been her brother, her family, a small piece of the happy life they had once had and that had been completely gone. He had been her home, even before they had conquered Winterfell together.

"What do you mean?" Jon shifted his weight. He had his hands in front of him, his fingers entwined and his knuckles white.

Sansa shrugged. "Things already changed between us when I was in King's Landing and you were at the wall." She smiled when she saw the worry in his eyes. "For the better. It seems that sometimes you need to be away from something to realise how much you actually care about it. Or him." She bent her head and her cheeks heated up. She hoped that Arya and Jon would blame the cold winter wind for the redness in her face. "And no, this doesn't make me love you less."

On the contrary. It made her love him more.

He was not her bastard half brother. He was not her father's bastard son. He was her cousin.

Everything made sense now.

Why her father didn't want to send Jon away. Why her father didn't even dare to tell Catelyn about Jon's mother. Why he tried to keep Jon hidden from the Lannisters, even though there was no reason for them to guess that Jon was actually a Targaryen.

And what made the most sense was her own heart, that she always thought traitorous for loving him more than she should, always skipping a few beats whenever she was near him, always beating a tiny bit too fast whenever he looked at her.

For a brief moment she opened her mouth to tell him that. To tell him that yes, it did change things. It could changed things.

Cousins marrying cousins wasn't that weird.

It happened before. It would happen again.

They could do it.

But not when he didn't want to tell the world who he truly was. What he truly was: their king. The true owner of the iron throne.

"You're still family and you're still part of the pack, Jon." Sansa smiled and she saw Jon's shoulders relax. "And I hope that we're still yours. You might be a Targaryen, but you're a Stark too."

Jon swallowed and then he stepped towards her and wrapped his arms around her to press her to his chest. If only he knew what effect his embrace had on her.

But she would be patient. She would wait, as long as she had to. She was no longer that naive little bird. She knew that first they had to play and win this game. And she knew that maybe he was not gonna like how she was gonna play it.

"Of course you're still my pack. You'll always be my pack." Jon whispered and then he stepped back before he embraced Arya too.

"Never forget that, Jon." Arya spoke softly. "No matter how awesome those Dragons are. You're not just a Dragon. You're a wolf too."

"Thank you." Jon smiled. "Thank you, both of you."

Sansa felt Bran's eyes burning in her back, but she didn't look at him.

He probably already knew what she actually wanted to do now. He probably also already knew if she was really gonna do it, even though she herself wasn't certain yet. And he probably also knew if the future she actually wanted with Jon would happen, despite or because of what she would decide.