Work Text:
Sansa Stark had always wanted to have children.
She’d been a lot dumber about it when she was still a baby herself, even trying to claim Rickon was hers after he was born. Her mother, bless her patient soul, had indulged her for as long as she wanted it. Eventually, however, her parents did have to gently pull her infant brother from her arms more often than not.
But she still loved doting on him even after he turned eighteen because of it.
When she was eighteen herself she dated Joffrey Baratheon, whom she wanted to please so badly, was so scared of losing, that when he suggested he wanted to get her pregnant, she thought that was the greatest thing that would ever happen in her life. She would have worshiped the ground he walked on. It took one pregnancy scare and her entire family coming to salvage her prom night to realize how wrong she was.
Now, she focused on herself and her fashion career. She vetted the men she dated much harder; this of course meant she still hadn’t had much luck in love, but she at least knew she wanted someone as invested in children as she was before she started getting in bed. Her most recent failure, Harry, hadn’t even hidden his disdain for children from her when she had brought it up.
Finding a man who gave a damn about her as more than a hole to jack off into was also pretty high on the list of priorities. The bar was literally on the floor.
As her mother was constantly reminding her though, she was still young; no matter what those health and beauty magazines tried to say, now in her mid twenties Sansa still had at least twelve more years of prime baby-making age. There was no need to rush, although the arrival of her nephew into the world was not making it any easier for her.
Thank the gods Robb and his wife took pity on her, angels that they were, and always looked to Sansa for babysitting duty. She was beginning to suspect they were going on more and more dates each month just for her benefit. The only thing more they could possibly do for her was set her up on dates to get a boyfriend to eventually get a husband which would lead to a baby . Robb’s matchmaking streak was not very high though, so she didn’t have much confidence on that front. Frankly, she was starting to question the abilities of Margaery, her best friend, as well.
With her babysitting bag slung over one shoulder she opened her brother’s shitty front door with her other one. “Eddie, Aunty Sansa’s here! Robb, when are you going to get this door fixed-“
She completely forgot what she was even saying, though, when her eyes fell on the scene before her in the living room.
Her nephew was giggling, being held aloft in someone’s arms, someone decidedly not her brother or her sister-in-law. She followed those hands down to strong, corded arms and past biceps and shoulders - that she definitely recognized as having daydreamed about those arms wrapped around her more than once - up to the familiar face of one Theon Greyjoy. It wasn’t strange that he was here as he was her brother’s best friend; the problem for Sansa was that she was trying really hard to still shake the stupid crush she’d had on him since she was fifteen.
And now here he was, showing off how, unlike any man she’d ever dated, he was really good with children. Damn it, was that going to make getting over her stupid crush even harder now.
“Hey Sansa,” he was saying to her now, and oh fuck, she needed to unfreeze before Theon noticed her staring at him and gods, she hoped she wasn’t drooling. “Eddie, you wanna see Aunty Sansa, yeah?”
And then Theon, the rat bastard, was shoving her nephew into her arms with a grin on his stupidly handsome face. He slid the care bag off her in one smooth motion as he passed the baby to her, and slipped an arm around her shoulders in something she assumed was to be a hug. Her entire face heated up and she let her hair fall down around her face as she looked at Eddie to hide it from him.
“It’s been a while,” he was saying, but she was very distracted by the smell of spearmint gum on his lips, likely to cover up the smell of cigarettes. It was comforting. She would never voice that aloud though.
“Yeah it has,” she agreed. “What are you doing here? I thought I was on babysitting duty.”
“You are, we’d never replace you,” she looked up as Robb entered the room. A smile spread across Sansa’s face at the sight of her older brother in a suit. He cleaned up very nicely. “Certainly not with Theon.”
He let out a gruff of annoyance. “Yeah whatever. Robb and the missus are having me drive them to the theater.”
Sansa made a noise of acknowledgement, that also could’ve been interpreted as a cooing sound at the baby in her arms. Anything to keep the two of them from looking at her for any reason, because she was still burning up inside.
“And thank you again for that, by the way. Still can’t believe how expensive the parking is. Glad we can just throw money for gas at you.”
“Yeah no big deal,” Theon replied, leaning over to tickle Eddie, which resulted in him getting much too close to Sansa again. She felt her hair brush his cheek and it took nearly everything she had in her not to jump back from him as if he were a hot iron.
She cradled Eddie tighter in her arms and smiled down at him as she tried desperately to calm her rapidly beating heart. Theon would be gone soon, and then she could enjoy her time babysitting without any distractions. He was still at the babbling stage, but Sansa was convinced he would start calling Robb “Da” any day now. She couldn’t wait to hear about her brother bursting into tears over it, if she wasn’t able to be around for it.
Sansa moved toward the kitchen as the two boys began to bicker behind her. Sansa opened up the fridge, relieved to see three bottles of milk in the door. Little Eddie was a hungry guy, having gone through nearly five bottles once when Sansa had him for a whole day. He definitely would take after his father in size, she just hoped he was a bit smarter like his mom.
And then Robb and Theon entered into the kitchen behind her, still playfully ribbing one another. Sansa looked at them just in time to see her brother shove Theon into the wall for something he had said, laughing. She could quite literally feel her eyes darken as she eyed the sliver of skin revealed between his jeans and his shirt, or how his large hands spread out as he caught himself against the wall. It should be illegal for someone that hot to be so good with babies. Or single. How had she ever pictured herself with anyone else?
“Hey, don’t expose your son to such violence so early in his life!” Theon yelled back at Robb. “I’m telling your mom on you!”
“Good luck with that. You think Catelyn Stark is going to listen to Theon Greyjoy over the word of her firstborn son?”
“No but she’ll listen to the word of her firstborn daughter over both of us, right Sansa?” Theon flashed her the sideways grin that he shared with his older sister, Yara. A grin that she knew had a terribly high success rate for charming the pants off girls between both siblings.
Sansa, for all the good it was doing, was currently choosing names for the imaginary children she had with Theon that were now dancing around her head as she bounced Eddie, trying to convince the two men beside her that the dreamy expression on her face was because of her nephew, not little children with Tully red hair and the blue-green eyes of the Greyjoy family. So she simply nodded in agreement.
“Ugh, should’ve known the two of you would gang up on me,” Robb groaned. “Where’s my wife at? You drive like a bloody grandma, we’re gonna be late.”
“Fuck you, I do not. How long is this thing again? What am I gonna do while you’re on your date?”
“Why the fuck would I know, man-“
Surely, if they had a daughter they would have to name her Alannys for his mom; Lanny, for short, would be adorable. A second daughter, maybe they could name Lyanna for her aunt, unless Jon got a girlfriend and married her and had his own daughter he could name after his mother first. She had never thought much about boys’ names; she didn’t think Theon had any male role models from his childhood that he missed and would want to name a son after, and her parents had already named her younger brothers after their late grandfather and uncle. Robb had claimed Eddard, securing his son’s spot as grandpa’s favorite grandchild for life. She wondered if she could convince Theon for Florian as a boy’s name, after that old fairy tale she loved so much-
“Sansa?”
For one horrifyingly, terrible moment, she thought she had just said all of it out loud. Sansa immediately prepared to push Eddie back into his father’s arms and then fling herself into his fireplace. But when she looked at Theon, the only expression on his face was the Greyjoy smirk. That meant two things; either he was very down to fuck and have babies, or she had only zoned out.
“Yeah?”
“Theon asked you if it would be alright for him to come back here after dropping us off, since he’s gotta pick us up too,” Robb answered, helpfully.
Oh no . That seemed like a very bad idea, Sansa being left alone with a baby and Theon; her two greatest weaknesses. But she couldn’t exactly refuse without the two of them becoming suspicious, so she shrugged as nonchalantly as she could manage.
“Yeah, I’ll just make him change Eddie’s diapers then,” she said with a carefully measured smile.
Theon shrugged. "Deal. I can handle some dirty diapers.”
‘Of course you can,’ she despaired quietly to herself, somewhat embarrassed by how badly she wanted to jump him as soon as they were alone. She immediately reprimanded herself. ‘Sansa Stark, you are going to be a terrible mother if you would choose sex over the baby you’re responsible for tonight.’
Once the lady of the house appeared from the bedroom looking like a bonafide queen, kissed her baby goodbye, and Theon promised to return with some takeout, the three of them left. Sansa planted a kiss on her nephew’s head as she set him down in his bouncy chair for a moment.
“Oh boy Eddie, you better help me out tonight,” she instructed in an unconvincingly serious tone. Her nephew giggled sweetly in response to the attention, melting her heart again. “That’s perfect. Just be adorable and needy so that Theon will get baby fever with me. And then you’ll always be my favorite nephew, I promise.”
Sansa cast one more glance at the happy baby before pulling out her phone. She needed advice, needed to talk to someone. She wanted desperately to call her parents, who would absolutely give her the ego boost she needed, but she also knew that as much as they both treated Theon like a son and knew she’d been crushing on him for nearly ten years, her parents likely would not want to hear about how she was going to seduce him. Nor did she particularly want to discuss that with them. Arya was about the only person in her family she was willing to talk about it with, but she also knew the likelihood that her sister would turn around and tell everyone, including Theon, was very high. She didn’t have his sister’s number, and honestly wasn’t quite sure how Yara would help anyway. Robb was definitely at the bottom of the list, even if he wasn’t on a date right now. That left only one person.
Margaery picked up on the second ring. “Hey, girl!” She sang from the other end of the phone.
She decided to get straight to the point. “Margaery, help. How quickly can you get to Robb’s place?”
“Fifteen minutes, tops. Ten if I break a few traffic laws. Is it that serious?”
Sansa rolled her eyes, but smiled to herself. Margaery Tyrell was both a gift and a curse. “I’m babysitting Eddie and I’m a slob. Just in my sweats and a baggy shirt.”
“So? Sansa, he’s a baby. The baby doesn’t care how you look. Probably better to wear that kind of stuff anyway in case he throws up on you. You know this.”
She took a deep breath. “Yes, but Theon’s here,” her stomach filled with butterflies again just speaking the words.
There was a pause, and then-
“Oh my god. This is perfect,” she could hear Margaery’s grin over the phone. “Do not panic on me. I’ll make it in seven.”
“Margaery please, my love life is not worth the speeding ticket,” she laughed, a nervous laugh. “He’ll be a half an hour anyway, he’s dropping the parents off on their date and then going to pick them up. That’s why he’s going to come back and stay with me and Eddie until they’re done.”
“Wow they’re planning to get that sloshed, huh?”
“Robb said parking was way too expensive when they could just give Theon ten bucks to chauffeur them.”
“Wait, so you already saw Theon? Won’t he notice if you change clothes?”
“I was hoping you could come here to get my keys, drive to my place, and grab something so sexy he won’t even be able to realize I had changed,” she felt her entire face burst into flames just speaking the words to Margarey. How on earth was she going to gather the courage to say anything to Theon?
“Sansa, love, I made a copy of your apartment key months ago. I’ll stop there first.”
She groaned. “Gross abuse of my trust aside, thank you. You’re a lifesaver.”
“I did it for this exact situation, darling. See you in a bit.”
And Margaery had not been exaggerating when she said ‘a bit’. After what had to have only been ten minutes - which meant she really had only driven for seven, and spent all of three minutes going through Sansa’s wardrobe - her best friend was presenting her with three different outfits.
“Black tank top, keep the sweatpants on. Jeans, lacy bralette, keep the sweatshirt on. I thought those options might minimize any suspicion from your man,” Margaery wiggled her eyebrows, which made Sansa groan again. “But just in case you wanted something more, I brought the leggings that make your butt look really good and the purple top with the low neckline.”
“Okay, maybe I’ll go with the leggings and the bralette with the tank top?” Sansa worked her bottom lip between her teeth. “I want him so bad, Marge.”
Her best friend laughed, across the room where she was playing with Eddie. “I know you do. You’ve wanted him forever . I’m just glad something finally kicked you into action. What was it?”
She blushed. “He was playing with Eddie when I arrived. I had no idea he liked kids.”
“Oh my god. You’re thinking of all the little Greyjoy babies you wanna have with him, aren’t you? Did you name them yet?”
Sansa felt the blush intensify, heating up her entire face. “Maybe.”
Margaery gave a dreamy sigh. “As if I didn’t think Theon could become any better of a match for you. Make absolutely sure he wants kids of his own as badly as you do before you jump in bed and marry him, love.”
“As if you think you even needed to say that to me. Now go, before he comes back and catches you here!”
She couldn’t even begin to imagine how she would explain Margaery’s presence to Theon if he returned while she was there. Or how she would temper Margaery from sticking around and “helping” the moment she saw Theon walk through the door.
“What, you don’t want me to watch Eddie for you? So you and Theon can get very familiar with one another on the couch?” She winked.
“Gross, Marge! We’re in my brother’s house!” Sansa shrieked as she shooed her best friend to the door.
“Okay, okay I’m going. Good luck, love. Tell me how it goes!” She called back as she slipped into her car, quickly starting the engine and pulling out of the driveway. Sansa stood there until Margaery’s car had disappeared, and then waited a few more minutes to make sure Theon wasn’t coming down the street and saw another car pulling out from Robb’s house. When nothing but the evening sounds of summer answered her, Sansa went back inside to change into the clothes Margaery had brought her. She took that time to steel her nerves, which were currently lighting her insides up like a Christmas tree.
There was a terrible voice in her head reminding her that she didn’t know whether or not Theon felt the same attraction to her. She was his best friend’s baby sister, after all. It was obvious, of course; if she had already known, then she’d be halfway to marrying him by now. She wouldn’t have wasted her own time with all the other boyfriends and awful men in her life.
Sansa had just gotten the bralette over her head when she heard the door of Theon’s truck slam closed. Not wanting to get caught changing and slightly neglecting the literal infant she was supposed to be with, she grabbed the tank top and yanked it around her neck and slid her arms in, before scooping Eddie up in one hand, grabbing a bottle of formula from the fridge, and falling back on Robb’s couch.
Theon entered with a big bag in his hand, what smelled to be Indian, and luckily looked back to lock his truck - giving her enough time to smooth the top down over her torso so it appeared as if she hadn’t just thrown clothes on. Eddie, like the good little co-conspirator that he was, made no indication of Sansa’s shenanigans as he fed.
“Little man’s hungry,” Theon chuckled as he walked to the counter. “I imagine you are too?”
“Thanks, I appreciate you getting something,” Sansa said as she got to her feet still holding Eddie in her arm. She shifted him so that her lacy bralette was peeking out from the neckline just as she walked past Theon to put Eddie back in his bouncy chair, but decided against it when she realized he was hungry because she had only started feeding him a minute before Theon came in. “I’ll wait until Eddie’s done to eat.”
“Or I could feed you,” he hummed nonchalantly.
What the hell was that supposed to mean? Was he flirting? Did he mean it in a purely friendly manner? Or was it a pass at sex with her? Sansa felt her heart stop, and whipped around to face him, as if she would understand everything he meant by looking him in the face. Instead, she found Theon thoughtfully admiring her leggings.
Oh fuck yes. She silently cheered this little victory as her panic subsided just slightly, having at least determined he found her appealing to look at.
Sansa threw her head back and laughed. “First you drive Mr. and Mrs. Stark to their theater date, then you offer to stick around and help me watch Eddie, and now you’re offering to help me eat the takeout that you bought for us so I can finish feeding the baby. You’re being pretty generous tonight, huh?”
He shrugged. “I like helping out. The faster he finishes the faster you can put him down to sleep.”
“And the faster you’ll get a dirty diaper that needs changing,” she teased.
He shrugged. “A small price to pay, don’t you think?”
“For what?”
“The chance for us to talk,” Theon avoided looking directly at her suddenly, making Sansa very suspicious. “I don’t pay for takeout for just anybody, you know.”
“Eddie’s very good at keeping secrets, you know ,” she repeated back as she leaned against the kitchen counter. She adjusted Eddie again, and looked down at him. He’d nearly finished the bottle. “Right, buddy? You won’t repeat anything you hear?”
“Heh, I guess not.”
Sansa looked back toward Theon as she tilted the bottle higher. He was also regarding the baby in arms with a gentle look. It made her heart swell. He was becoming more and more perfect as the night went on, had possibly made an attempt at flirting with her, and Sansa was losing her mind over it. She thought she might burst if he didn’t say something. “Well?”
“I…” Was Theon blushing ? Now she was definitely imagining things. Theon Greyjoy didn’t blush. He made girls (and guys, but to her knowledge he was much pickier with men) blush. And that was probably the main reason why she hadn’t pursued her crush on him ever. He’d gone through a self-destructive phase for a while when they were younger; partying, drinking, sleeping around, and while she knew he had cleaned up his act years ago - Robb had made sure of that, their father had made sure of that, and their mother never would have let him back into any of her children’s lives if he hadn’t - she certainly had never imagined ‘blushing’ would be a description she would assign to Theon. “I’m tired of running from how I feel about you, Sansa.”
Record scratch. What?
Surely, she hadn’t heard him right. Her mind was playing tricks on her, she was now fully convinced. She was so wrapped up in her baby fever-induced fantasy of him being the father of her children that this time she was pretending Theon had actually just said he was done running from feelings that he had for her . She didn’t even know she had Theon’s voice committed so well to memory like that, where she could make up things he definitely had never said - but she supposed she had known him since she was eight years old, even if they hadn’t become close enough to even be considered friends until after they were both out of high school.
She stared at him stupidly, watching as he lost the nerve he had suddenly found, watching the color drain from his face and he started to fidget under her gaze. Sansa felt a bolt through her heart, almost like an arrow had pierced her. Why else would Theon be so anxious, if he hadn’t just said what she thought he said?
“You? …me?” Her words were completely unintelligible, but Theon nodded, as if they made perfect sense to him.
The bottle fell away as she lost her grip and Eddie no longer needed it, hitting the kitchen floor. Luckily she had enough sense not to drop the baby too, as that would have boded even worse for her ability as a mother than her thoughts from earlier in the evening. Eddie burped, and almost immediately fell asleep.
Still looking uncomfortable in his own skin, Theon pulled the baby out of her arms and scurried off to put him down in his crib. This bought Sansa a few precious moments to consider what she would do. She hadn’t even fully come up with a plan for getting Theon to want her, how could she possibly adapt her plan now knowing Theon already had feelings for her? She would have thought that would make things easier. It most certainly did not.
Oh gods, did she wish Margaery had stayed now.
She didn’t hear Theon return, and didn’t notice he was in the room again until he ran into Robb’s coffee table and cursed like the sailor he had always boasted he would be when they were kids.
She must’ve given him a funny look, because he shrugged sheepishly. “Got distracted.”
“By what?”
“By you,” he flashed that boyish grin that was going to be the sole reason behind her death, honestly. The nervous spin on the infamous Greyjoy smirk that he was sporting now could be classified as a lethal weapon.
Sansa opened her mouth, pathetically, and no sound came out. She had no idea what to say to that, to say to him, to say about any of it. But she needed to say something before Theon got the wrong idea, so she said the first romantically-adjacent thing that popped in her head.
“I’m glad you noticed these leggings make my ass look great.”
It was his turn to be stunned; he blinked slowly, like a cartoon, before his grin widened. “Yeah, yeah they do. I noticed. I noticed you changed completely while I was gone, too. Was that for me?”
“I was hoping you would find me so unbelievably hot that you wouldn’t even be able to think about the fact that I changed. But I guess that failed.”
“Yes, yes it did,” Theon hummed, striding across the room so that his shin bumped her knee where she was still seated on the couch. “But only because I’m always paying attention to you, Sansa Stark. What you’re wearing, how you style your hair, what ridiculous thing your boss is making you do this week but why it’s all worth it in the end, whatever thing you and Arya are fighting about that week…”
Sansa felt tears beginning to prick the corners of her eyes. To hear him say such things so easily, so casually, as if they were things he did for fun , because he liked her and wanted to know things about her, not out of some obligation to listen to her in exchange for sex, was overwhelming. Joffrey had made her feel small, that all the worth she could give a relationship was in what she could give him physically and that he was doing so much more for her than she was him; and while he had been the worst of them, no one she’d dated after had ever made her feel much better.
“Hold me,” she choked out, moving to reach up for him. “And don’t ever let me go?”
She intended to stand up and wrap her arms around him herself, so when Theon leaned down and scooped her up off the couch and into his arms, she was taken by surprise. She knew he was fit - he had always been more athletic than smart - but he was a swimmer and an archer, built lean rather than stocky like Robb and Jon. So she was kind of surprised he was able to lift her into his arms so effortlessly, but relished the feeling of being held, being wanted. Sansa threw her arms around his neck and buried her face into his neck, breathing him in deeply.
“Not since I’ve got you, now,” Theon mumbled against her ear. “I’m not letting you go unless you make me.”
The back of her thighs hit something, and he was setting her down. Sansa had been so distracted by their embrace that she hadn’t noticed he was walking with her. He pulled back and she was about to whine in protest until she realized they were still eye-to-eye. Theon was smirking as he leaned back from her, the look in his eyes positively smoldering. He’d set her down on Robb’s kitchen counter, and kept his promise by keeping his hands on her hips, slotting his body between her legs.
“Hope I’m not reading this wrong,” he said, rubbing light circles into her sides with his thumbs as he leaned in toward her. The fact that he was still giving her an out, a way to escape this before it went too far, did not go unnoticed.
She thought about running her hands through his bronze curls, tugging his hair and making him groan, thought about those children she’d been naming in her head earlier with Greyjoy eyes and Greyjoy grins, and she thought she would have to have a gun to her head to reject him now.
“Please, kiss me you idiot,” Sansa tried so very hard not to beg, but the way his pupils blew wide when she said it told her she hadn’t been successful.
But she didn’t really care about that, not as soon as Theon was kissing her.
She was comforted by the way he always smelled of cigarettes and spearmint gum, but she certainly had never imagined she would enjoy the taste of them on his lips. He was confident and suave, so all-consumingly swoon-worthy that she thought if she wasn’t sitting on her brother’s counter, her legs would’ve turned to jelly. Sansa knitted her hands into his hair just as she had imagined, gave a gentle little tug and was rewarded with a deep groan from the back of his throat and into where their mouths were slotted together. It was every romantic fantasy about Theon she’d ever had melted into one, except he was here and real and he’d told her wanted her. Even the way his beard scratched her face was pleasant, the hair around his lips tickling her.
When they pulled away all she could think about was wanting to do it again and again, forever.
“I can’t believe Robb was right,” Theon grumbled to himself a minute after he had deposited Sansa back on the couch, aside from her head in his lap with her fiery locks spread out across his jeans.
Sansa, who had been admiring how handsome he was and wondering who’s apartment they would be going back to tonight after Theon brought Eddie’s parents back home, gaped at him.
“You only told me how you felt because of Robb ?” she gasped in disbelief.
She watched as Theon went pale. “Shit. Uh, yeah… Robb didn’t care about paying for parking. He just thought trapping me alone with you and Eddie in his house would, you know, finally get me to say something. I didn’t think I would actually do it, but seeing you take care of Eddie…”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “Theon, I was a terrible babysitter because of you tonight. I got distracted watching you, I made Margaery bring me a change of clothes to try and seduce you, I hadn’t fed Eddie until a minute before you came back. Seeing you with Eddie practically made me lose my mind.”
“Ah, so Robb knew his son would be a better wingman than him. He’s definitely going to be my favorite Stark kid.”
She bit her lip to keep from blurting out something she would regret. Something like ‘ But what if your children were Starks? ’ But the very thought sent a new wave of butterflies fluttering about her gut.
To distract herself from that train of thought going any further, Sansa shot him a little grin of her own. “But if you think my worst was still good, then maybe I won’t be such a terrible mother after all.”
“Yeah, of course. You’ll be a great mom,” her heart jumped into her throat at the casual way he spoke such deeply powerful words again, but at least Theon seemed to realize what he’d done this time. His eyes widened. “I mean, you would make a great mom…”
She smiled to herself, figuring the baby talk was better left for some time after the first night they had gotten together, but more than content at the idea that it would happen much sooner than it had with any guy she’d dated before him. Instead, armed with the knowledge of the mastermind behind the evening, Sansa whipped out her phone to update Margaery - who was definitely going to call her tomorrow morning for a complete play-by-play of what went down, if her best friend didn’t just show up at her doorstep - and get some answers from her brother who was apparently a much better matchmaker than she had given him credit for.
Sansa: You planned this?
Robb: Of course I did
Sansa: Why?
Robb: You and Theon have been trying and failing to get over each other for like ten years now
Sansa: You knew? Both of us?
Robb: Yeah duh
Sansa: You aren’t mad? Nothing about Theon being a bastard for wanting your sister?
Robb: When I first found out he loved you yeah
But I got tired of the both of you pining
And you deserve someone who will treat you good sis
Besides he knows if he hurts you our entire family will kill him
Sansa: Thanks Robb <3
Robb: Wifey says I have to stop texting now
Have fun
Please don’t forget to watch my son
You guys can cuddle but nothing else
Tell Theon he still has to pick us up he owes me for this
She gasped, softly, at the text Robb had sent her. Her eyes roamed over the word a hundred times. Loved you . Theon Greyjoy loved her.
Then she threw her head back and laughed at the last string of texts her brother had sent.
“What’s so funny?” From above her, Theon’s face wrinkled in confusion, which only made her laugh more as she flashed her phone screen toward him with her and Robb’s conversation.
“Texting during the theater,” he shook his head and made a tsk tsk with his tongue. “Wife’s gonna kill him.”
“You’re not concerned at all by being restricted to cuddling only?” She raised an eyebrow at him.
“Nah, because once I go get them and bring them back home from their date, I can steal you away for more. Like kissing, or hand holding,” the grin he gave her was positively impish.
Sansa rolled her eyes and groaned. “Please, for the love of gods, don’t make me wait until my brother gets back for another kiss.”
“Nuh uh, oh fair Sansa Stark,” he waggled his finger at her in protest as he spoke like a medieval prince trying to protect her virtue. “Cuddles only. Your brother said so, and the bro code is so much worse when you’re dating your best friend’s sister.”
“How would Robb even know ?”
Theon looked at her with a stern face, leaning in conspiratorially. “He just would,” he whispered, as if they had cameras on them right now.
She showed him what she thought about that, grabbing him by the face and pulling him down to her so she could tangle her tongue with his.
When they both came back up for air, they were laughing. Sansa admired the way his eyes crinkled, the soft rumble of his laugh, the gap between his front teeth that had once made him look even more mischievous than he already was as a kid, but now blended quite nicely to smooth out his sharp handsomeness as an adult.
Theon caught her staring, and then he was staring back at her, a look in his eyes saying he did want to break the bro code he had just so passionately declared - when they both smelled it. A heartbeat later, there was a soft cry from Eddie’s room.
“Little man’s up,” He said, stating the obvious.
Sansa sat up to free his lap, curling up on the opposite end of the couch. “Smells like he’s finally got a present for you, too. Remember who promised to do all the dirty diapers tonight?”
Theon stood up from the couch, giving her a mock bow. “With pleasure. I shall return to you from battle, my lady, a hero. Please wait for me.”
She should roll her eyes, but the idea now of Theon reading her favorite stories of the knights of hold - and his too, apparently - to their children suddenly occupied her thoughts.
“Hurry back, my knightly Prince of Diapers,” She called after him, devolving into a fit of giggles. Theon disappeared down the hall toward Eddie’s room, the grin still plastered to his face.
~*~
Sansa held her breath. It was only the second longest ten minutes of her life.
In the other room, she heard giggles. She focused on the giggles. Those giggles would still be there if this didn’t work out. The sexiest man in Westeros would still be there, to kiss her forehead and remind her that it didn’t matter. He was, after all, doing a wonderful job distracting their daughter from the near panic attack her mother was having in the bathroom, currently.
Sansa looked down at her watch. Two minutes. She groaned and hit her forehead against the bathroom counter, praying to the Seven and the Old Gods and the Drowned God too that this wasn’t a false test. She was so ready for baby number two.
Little Alannys Greyjoy had been a dream baby. She wasn’t fussy, she hardly cried, she had a gentle temperament. Theon had told her once that what he remembered of his mother, his daughter had all of it. Her same gentle soul, kind and sweet and full of love. Now she was two, and she smiled at everything, and toddled after her cousins Eddie and Lya - because yes , Jon had in fact found a girlfriend who became his wife who became a mother to his daughter and he had gotten to name her Lyanna first - relentlessly, and got spoiled by her Aunt Yara every weekend.
Lanny was her whole world, with the same auburn hair that her mother had inherited from the Tully side of her family, and the same beautiful sea glass blue-green eyes as her father. Sansa knew her daughter would grow to be even more beautiful than the world claimed she was; she’d heard the same things repeated to her, over and over again while she was growing up, how Catelyn Tully had been the most lovely beauty, but her Stark daughter eclipsed her. And now Sansa’s Greyjoy baby would surely do the same. She only hoped she could spare her sweet girl the pain her mother had endured to find the happy ending that led to her. That led hopefully to more good news now.
Sansa’s head shot up when her phone alarm went off. She scrambled for the plastic stick on the other side of the counter, nearly dropping it, and shrieked when she saw the results of the pregnancy test.
Theon was in the doorway in an instant, balancing Alannys on his hip. “What is it?!” He looked hopeful, but tempered, like he was prepared to both celebrate and comfort her, whatever she needed. It was exactly like him.
“Baby number two is on the way,” she replied softly, choking up as her eyes filled with tears. She was so happy. She and Theon were now going to be the parents of two kids, not just one.
“What?!” Theon’s eyes seemed to pop out of his head, like he hadn’t been expecting it. Like they hadn’t been trying at all. He grabbed Sansa and threw her into a hug with their first baby squashed between them, as he planted a kiss on his wife’s forehead.
“What do you think, Lanny?” Sansa cooed to her little girl. “You’re gonna be a big sister!”
“Will she be fun?”
“I don’t know if it’s a girl yet. But yes, the baby will be lots of fun.”
A grin spread across her face. “Good. Babies should be fun,” she stated matter-of-factly. And Sansa agreed, wholeheartedly.
After all the excitement, and a little bit of ice cream all around to celebrate, their little girl had needed to be put down for a nap. The two would-be second time parents settled down on the couch together to relax. There were a lot of preparations that would need to be done, of course - telling all the Starks and Yara and Margaery, setting up a doctor’s appointment as soon as possible, stocking up on more baby supplies - but those were all concerns future Theon and Sansa could deal with. For now she just wanted to be draped across his body, her head nestled against his shoulder while Theon ran his fingers through her hair.
“What if it’s another baby girl with Tully red hair?” Theon whispered. “Feels like some kind of omen, to have three girls with red hair taking over my life. Are the fae sending their most beautiful girls to trick me and take me away?”
“I wouldn’t need to steal you,” she purred back, planting a soft kiss on his nose. “You’d go willingly by now.”
“I guess you’re right. I would’ve gone with you long before you gave me a daughter.”
“Could be a boy with Robb’s hair,” she reminded him after a moment. “What are you going to do if your son looks like your best friend?”
He groaned. “That’s what I get for being in love with his sister.”
Sansa smiled as she lifted her hand to push through the curls that had fallen into his eyes. “I love that Lanny has my hair color with your curls. She's going to be the prettiest little girl and grow into the most beautiful woman. But I wouldn’t mind having a baby who looks more like your family too.”
“Ah yes, radiant Alannys Greyjoy of Tully and Stark beauty, and her hideous brother or sister from Pyke,” he snorted.
“Shut up, you know I didn’t mean it like that,” Sansa smacked his arm as he laughed. “I was thinking more like, ‘Alannys, the princess kissed by flames’ and our second baby would be the ruler of the sea.”
Theon listened to her with amusement and affection lighting up his eyes. “I’d no idea our children were royalty. Have you named the little prince or princess who is to be the heir to my home?”
Her eyes lit up now, having thought it over many times, and he knew it. “I was thinking Bryar for another girl… a little bit of Bran, a little bit of Arya, and a little bit of Yara. They’re the three always fighting to watch Lanny for us, after all.”
“Yes, and my sister always wins. I think the ‘Yar’ would satisfy her. Might even make her fight harder for babysitting rights to two nieces both named for Pyke,” Theon added with a roll of his eyes. “But if it’s a boy? We never decided on a boy’s name the first time around.”
Sansa grinned. “How do you feel about Florian?”