Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sansa loved her job. She had been working at Baelors Department store for almost a year now. She was especially looking forward to going to work this week because now that Thanksgiving was over it was time for Christmas. And because she worked in the toy department she got to wear a costume to work now. She loved all the decorations and the music, everything about the Christmas season seemed magical to her. It was her favorite time of year.

She happily got dressed for work, pulling on her bright green tights and red velvet dress. She had made her costumes herself. One of the perks of being in school for fashion design meant she had unlimited access to sewing machines and patterns. She felt a twinge of guilt knowing her co-workers would be dressed in store bought costumes, but she couldn't help but be proud of how well the three dresses she had created had turned out. She pulled the green stocking hat on and shook her head a bit to hear the tinkle of the bell that hung at the end and smiled.

When she arrived at work she smiled up at the security guard. Sandor Clegane was a huge beast of a man. The others called him The Hound because he could always sniff out a shoplifter. She used to be terrified of him, he was always grumpy and snarling and one side of his face was covered in hideous burn scars. Everything changed one night when she was leaving later than usual. A creepy guy had followed her to her car and tried to grab her. Before she could even scream for help, Sandor was there. He pulled the guy off her almost breaking his arm in the process. Since that day they had formed an odd sort of friendship. She had bought him a coffee the next day to say thank you, and he had seemed so genuinely touched by her gesture, that she had continued to bring him one every single day on her way to work.

"Merry Christmas!" She said beaming up at him as she handed him his coffee.

He stared at her for a few moments. "You look ridiculous."

She looked down at her dress. "Do I? Because I happen to think I look adorable." She took a sip of her drink.

"What the hell are you drinking? I can smell it from here." he growled turning up his nose.

"MMMM, Peppermint Mocha Latte. My first of the season." she smiled. "Unlike you with your boring plain black coffee, I prefer mine to be a little more interesting."

He just raised his eyebrows at her and took a sip of his coffee. They stood there in silence for a few minutes.

"So do you get to wear a costume too?" she asked.

"I wouldn't be caught dead wearing any of that holiday crap." he growled.

"Awww, why not. I bet you would look charming in a Santa hat."

"I hate Christmas. Worst time of the year."

Sansa gasped. "How can you say that! You will end up on Santa's naughty list for sure!"

"The naughty list?" he snorted in disgust. "Who gives a shit?"

"You shouldn't have such a negative outlook." She scolded. "Christmas is such a magical time of year. I love all the lights and the Christmas trees, presents and songs! My family always gets together every year no matter how busy everyone is and we spend the whole day together. My mother bakes cookies, and my father makes the grossest egg nog, but everyone always drinks it anyway. My brother Rickon and my sister Arya always have a sword fight with the rolls of wrapping paper, my mother gets so mad when they ruin it. Sometimes we sing songs too." She laughed nervously as she realized she had been rambling on.

"Well I am so glad that you have a nice family and Christmas is such a 'magical' day for you." He snarled at her.

She was quiet for a moment, ashamed that she did not even consider the fact that Sandor might not have a family to celebrate the season with. She honestly didn't know much about him. "Do you have any family traditions?" she asked hesitantly.

"Just leave it alone girl." he mumbled.

"I mean surely you must have had some happy holiday memories from your childhood." she pressed on. "The year that Santa brought you that bike you wanted or an epic snowball fight you had with your friends."

He turned toward her so suddenly it made her jump. He took her by the chin and held her almost painfully as he thrust his face close to hers. "See this face, take a good look at it. This is my Christmas memory. When I was six years old my older brother got mad because I was playing with one of his toys. He picked me up and shoved my face into the fireplace, holding me there till my father pulled him off. So unlike you I didn't have a happy childhood of baking cookies and singing songs with my family. I had children's hospitals and the burn ward instead, followed by years of enduring screams of fright from other kids and name calling." he released her and she instinctively pulled away from him. She felt tears burning in her eyes and quickly reached up to wipe them away.

"I am so sorry." she said quickly. "I didn't know."

"Well now you do. Fly away now Little Bird, I am tired of you chirping at me." he snarled at her, as he turned and walked away.

Sansa felt terrible as she walked across the store to her department. How could she have been so stupid to assume that everyone had the same happy childhood as her. She had never really known many people that had horrible things happen to them and the few that she did seemed to turn out alright. She had a cousin, Jon, who's mother had died when he was little, and her father had adopted him and raised him like his own. She also had a foster brother Theon, who's dad had gone to prison when he was eight, and while her family had never formally adopted him, he was like a brother to her. They both had suffered childhood tragedy and turned out happy. Maybe the fact that her family was very supportive and loving made all the difference. If Sandor never had that, then that would explain why he was so unhappy and miserable all the time.

She arrived at the toy department just in time for her shift. She was greeted by her friend and co-worker Margery. "Cute dress Sansa." she smiled as she did a pose, showing off her own costume. "What do you think?"

"Adorable." Sansa lied. Margaery's dress looked like lingerie. She had probably purchased it at the new Dornish Secrets store that just opened up at the other end of the mall. She was sure that if any other girl had dared to wear such an outfit to work they would be reprimanded by management, but since Margaery was currently dating their boss Bronn, he probably thought it was appropriate. He probably even bought the dress for her.

Margaery was dragging a box of Christmas decorations across the floor, so Sansa hurried to help her. They spent the rest of the day decorating the store. She was still upset about her morning conversation with Sandor, but as the day went on she found herself becoming more and more enthralled by the magic of Christmas. By the end of the day when she saw all the twinkling lights and sparkly tinsel her spirits were lifted. She decided then and there that she would make it her mission to make sure that Sandor had a happy Christmas. She would find a way to make it up to him and give him a new happy memory to replace his old ones. Even though she was unsure how she would accomplish her task, she was confident that with a little holiday spirit she would find a way to give Sandor Clegane the best Christmas ever.

Chapter Text

She hesitantly made her way over to where Sandor was standing. She had not spoken to him since the day he told her the horrible story of his scars, three days earlier. She had been off work the last few days and she had spent them carefully planning ways to help Sandor find the Christmas spirit. She knew that it would not be easy, he seemed to be perfectly happy with his gruff and grumpy manner, but she was bound and determined to change that, at least for the holidays. The first thing on her list was to apologize for upsetting him.

He looked over at her as she walked up, his eyes roaming over her. At first she was a bit offended that he would so openly leer at her, but then he snickered and glancing down she remembered what she was wearing. This dress was her favorite of the three costumes she had made. The white satin material of the bodice clung to her but she had trimmed the rest of the outfit with fluffy white faux fur. The cuffs of the sleeves, the full skirt and even the trim around the hood that she had currently pulled up around her head were entirely made of the fur.

She smiled and held out his coffee. He nodded as he took it from her. "That is quite an outfit you have on today Little Bird." She noted that this was the second time he had called her Little bird, and even if the first time was said in anger, she thought that perhaps she liked the nickname.

She spun around and showed off her dress. "I am glad that you like it."

He took a sip of his coffee. "Watch out, the little girls will think you are a real life princess or something, the chick from that Frozen movie or something. They might mob you."

"Well, Princess Elsa's gown is blue, so I don't think they will get confused."

He snorted. "I don't know shit about princess movies. I just know they played that Gods awful song every day last year till I was about to scream."

She laughed. She was relieved that things were going much better than she expected, she felt her apprehension melt away. She was grateful that he did not seem to still be angry with her.

"Yes, Let It Go was majorly overplayed. Now it seems like everyone has moved on to the newest Adele song."

He groaned. "Gods don't remind me. It feels like I just got it unstuck from my head." He looked at her oddly for a moment. "No coffee for you today? No liquid sugar in a cup?"

"I dropped mine off in the break room. I was having a hard time carrying both coffees and this too." She held her hand out, holding the pink Tupperware container out toward him.

"What's this?" he questioned.

"I baked you some cookies."

"Why?"

Suddenly she began to feel nervous. "Because its Christmas. And I love to bake. Also I wanted to apologize for the other day." He made no move to take the container from her.

He ducked his head a bit and looked slightly ashamed. "You didn't need to do that." he said after a few minutes. "I don't really like sweets."

"Oh I see." She was disappointed. She had thought for sure the cookies were a good idea. Everyone liked cookies she thought, and so she had spent all day baking them, covering them with homemade frosting and then adding the colorful sugar sprinkles. She held the container in both hands, looking down at the treats inside. "Well, I guess I will see you tomorrow then." she said quietly as she began to turn and walk away.

His hand shot out and grabbed her arm, stopping her. "I didn't say I didn't want them." he said quietly. She smiled up and him and handed them over. He took it and offered her a rare smile back. "Thank you. I will make sure and return the container."

Just then Margaery walked by. Today her dress seemed to be made entirely of silver tinsel. It looked more like something a stripper would wear instead of a toy store employee. "Sansa there you are. Bronn is having an employee meeting in 5 minutes in the break room." She called out as she hurried past.

"Too bad its not a meeting to talk about how inappropriately she is dressed." She said under her breath. She turned to say goodbye to Sandor but he was already walking away in the other direction. She smiled as she saw him take a cookie out of the container and pop it into his mouth.

Chapter Text

Sansa bent down to pick up yet another toy from the aisle. Today was the first day that Santa Claus had arrived to the store and the kids had been beyond wild. The store was a disaster. Plus she had worked with Jeyne Poole today and the poor girl had ended up in tears after two people got in a fight over the last Shopkins playset. Sansa had told her to go home as soon as they closed, and offered to clean up by herself. Jeyne was a nice girl but very timid. Today she had really missed Margaery as she would have dealt with the unruly customers with ease.

She turned to walk down the Lego aisle and saw with horror that the large display of boxes had been knocked down. It was going to take her awhile to stack them all back up again. She sighed and began working, stopping after a few minutes to stretch. Her back was killing her, and her feet too. She had already kicked her shoes off and left them on top the checkout counter at least a half hour ago. She was really starting to regret telling Jeyne to leave early.

As she stacked the boxes she hummed along to the Christmas music playing over the intercom system. Then suddenly the main lights dimmed and the sound was cut. She looked down at her watch. It was close to midnight. She had not realized that it had gotten so late. Security must be finishing up for the night. She hurried to finish up picking up the boxes. The silence of the store gave her the creeps so taking a deep breath she began to sing.

I really can't stay
I've got to go way
The evening has been
So very nice

My mother will start to worry
And father will be pacing the floor
So really, I'd better scurry
Well, maybe just a half a drink more

The neighbors might think
Say, what's in this drink
I wish I knew how
To break this spell

I oughtta say no, no, no sir
At least I'm gonna say that I tried
I really cant stay
Oh, but it's cold outside

She jumped and shrieked as she heard someone begin to clap from behind her. Spinning around she saw Sandor standing there. "What a beautiful voice you have Little Bird." he said.

"You scared me." she scolded him.

"Sorry, I was getting ready to leave for the night and saw that your car was still in the parking lot. I didn't want you to have to walk out alone this late."

"I am just finishing up here, then I will be ready to go." She stood on her tiptoes and tried to stack the last box on the top. She lost her balance and started to stumble but Sandor reached out and steadied her. He took the box from her grasp and easily placed it on top. "Thanks" she said laughing.

She ran across the store to grab her shoes off the counter and her purse from the back room. When she returned she saw Sandor standing in front of the Christmas tree. She came to stand beside him.

"Never understood these things. Drag a rotting corpse of a tree in your house and call it decoration. Then when the holiday is over, throw it in the garbage because it was nothing more than trash to begin with." he grumbled.

"Well I believe this one is an artificial tree. Its fake." she said softly.

"Did you have real trees for your perfect family celebrations?" he asked mocking her.

"We did. Decorating the Christmas tree was always my favorite part of the holiday. My father and my brothers usually went and chopped it down themselves. My family always recycled the trees though, we never just threw them out."

"Of course you did." he snapped. They stood there for a few moments, the uncomfortable silence stretching between them. Finally she lifted up her foot and attempted to put her shoe on. She took ahold of his arm to steady herself and she slipped her foot inside the shoe then, switched feet and pulled the other one on.

"What in the Seven Hells is on your feet?" he said.

"These are my elf shoes." she said looking down at her green satin shoes with the curly toes.

"Those can not be comfortable." he barked out a laugh.

"Honestly, they aren't. My feet are killing me." she said. They began to walk toward the exit, and it wasn't until Sandor pulled away to opened the door for her, did she notice she had held onto his arm the entire walk through the store. She liked the way it felt being close to him.

When they arrived at her car, Sandor cleared his throat. "I really did enjoy your singing. Maybe you could sing me another song someday." he said.

"I would sing it for you gladly." she said smiling up at him. She took a deep breath and gave him a quick hug. "Thanks for seeing me safe to my car." She let go of him before he had a chance to react and jumped in her car suddenly nervous. She started the engine and glanced over to look back at Sandor but he was already walking away toward his big black truck.

Chapter Text

Sansa skipped up to Sandor, coffee in hand. He stared at her for a second before bursting into laughter. "You have got to be joking with that outfit girl."

She looked down at her Red and White stripped tights. Her pink dress was a bit shorter and more revealing than the others she had been wearing but she loved it because it was trimmed with candy canes and peppermints that she had hand embroidered. She had her long red hair in braids today one on each side of her head. She thought she looked cute.

"What is wrong with this outfit? I have been saving this one. Today is free Candy Cane day and we get to hand them out to all the children." She held up the wicker basket she held in her other hand and showed him the sweets.

Sandor rolled his eyes. "Guess I better alert the rest of the security team to keep an eye on you girls today. I'm sure every perv in the store will be asking for a taste of your candy before the day is over."

She gasped. "I am sure nothing of the sort will happen!"

"You clearly underestimate the way that most men think." he said.

She took a candy cane out of her basket and tucked into the pocket of his security shirt. "What about you? Do you want a taste of my candy?" she teased while batting her eyes at him.

"Seven Hells woman. If that is the way your going to be handing out the candy today, you might need a personal security team all to yourself just to keep the guys away."

She laughed. "The candy is for children only, so I should be fine."

He reached down and took the candy cane out of his pocket and handed it back to her.

She shook her head. "No that one is for you." she smiled as she refused to take it.

"You just said they were for children only."

"Yes but your special." she said with a wink before she turned and skipped back to her department.

The store was a madhouse as usual. Bronn had even arranged for a real life reindeer attraction near Santa. She spent the day happily entertaining the children standing in line, handing out candy canes with Jeyne Poole who had dressed up as Mrs. Claus today. Near the end of the day she was handing a candy cane to a sweet boy holding a stuffed cat who was waiting in line. The boy was telling her a story about his pet kitten at home when suddenly a guy stomped over and grabbed his arm yanking him away. "Come on Tommen, Its time to go home." he snapped despite the boys protests.

"But I want to see Santa! Joffrey, please can't we stay." he cried.

"Sir, the line is almost done, and the young man was next." she said. The man, Joffrey she assumed, stopped and looked her up and down, giving her the creeps by the way he was checking her out. He released the boys arm, and Sansa ushered him back to his place waiting for Santa.

"So do I get a Candy Cane?" he asked her.

"They are for the kids only." she answered.

"Come on, you have a whole basket of them." he pleaded.

Sansa reached down into her basket and handed him one to keep him happy. He ripped the wrapper off then held it out toward her. "Want to suck on it for me babe? Or if your interested, I have a bigger one in my pants." he asked as he gestured to his crotch.

She felt her mouth open in shock at his rudeness. Before she could reply Sandor was there. He put his large hand on the mans shoulder. "No harassing the girls, or I will have to ask you to leave boy."

Joffrey yanked his shoulder away. "Back off dude, I wasn't doing anything wrong. I am just waiting for my brother to get done with Santa."

"The store is closing soon. I would advise you finish making your purchases for the day and then leave." Sandor said. He took her by the arm and led her away.

"Thank you so much, I can not believe how rude that creep was." she exclaimed. "I never expected anything like that to actually happen. I mean I thought that you were just joking this morning." she said as they walked back to the front of the store.

"You underestimate how beautiful you are Little Bird. Its my job to watch out for you, so I see the way the guys leer at you every day as you walk through the store."

She stopped walking. "Wait. You think I am beautiful?" she asked him with a smile.

Before he could answer Margaery ran up. "Hound! We need security over here. Some creep just smacked Jeyne on the ass while she was helping his kid sit on Santa's lap."

"Ugh Looks like someone didn't take the hint the first time." he groaned as he walked away.

Sansa went to help at the registers for the rest of the night. She had a hard time concentrating. All night she just kept thinking about how Sandor Clegane thought she was beautiful. It made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Chapter Text

The first few snowflakes began to drift down when she pulled her car into the parking lot. She jumped out of her car and turned her face up, smiling as she felt the cold wet flakes touch her face. They were her favorite kind, the large fluffy ones that you could see floating down like wisps of cotton candy. She was still smiling when she walked inside the store and found Sandor in his usual spot. He laughed and reached over and brushed some snowflakes from her hair.

"Snowing I see. Guess the weatherman got it right for once." he said.

"I love the snow. I am so happy we will have a white Christmas. I was worried we wouldn't get any before I left to go back home." she said as she handed him his coffee.

"That's right, your leaving. Going home for your perfect family Christmas." he said grumpily. "When do you leave?" he asked as he took a sip of his drink.

"My flight leaves tomorrow morning." she said "I just talked to my mother. My sister just flew in today from Braavos so they are only waiting for me now." She was practically bouncing with excitement. She had not been home for over a year and she missed her family terribly. She loved Kings Landing but being so far away from her family had been hard for her to get used to.

"Will it be snowing back home as well?" Sandor asked.

"I come from Winterfell, up north. Its always cold and snowing up there." she said laughing.

"Well I hope your trip home is as magical as you were hoping it to be." he said

"Do you have any plans." she asked hesitantly.

"A bottle of Dornish Red and whatever shit is on the TV. Bought myself some steaks. Might get around to grilling them. Depends on how fast the red goes." he barked out a laugh.

She tried to not think about how sad it all sounded. She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out the small gift wrapped box she had. "Well in case I don't get a chance to see you again before I leave, this is for you." She handed the box to him. He made no move to take it.

"What is this?" he growled.

"It's a present."

"Why?"

"Because its Christmas. You are my friend so I got you a gift. Its nothing really."

"We are friends?" he questioned.

"Of course we are." she laughed

"I don't have anything to give you." he mumbled looking away.

"I didn't get you a gift because I expected to get something in return." she said reaching over and taking his hand and making him take the small package. He held it in his hands and stared down at the festive paper. After a few moments she became impatient. "Well are you going to open it?" she asked finally.

Slowly and more careful than she ever expected him to be, he peeled back the wrapping paper. Inside the box was a small statue carved from wood. It was a knight on horseback, complete with a shield and sword. Alongside the knight was a wolf. "It was supposed to be a dog." she explained and she watched him examine the small statue, turning it from side to side. "My little brother Rickon makes them but he has a thing for wolves. I asked him for a dog but he said, wolves were not so different than dogs."

"You are always looking out for me, like a knight in shining armor, and everyone calls you The Hound, so I thought the dog would be fitting." she said suddenly nervous that he did not like it.

He continued to hold the statue in his hands. "Thank you Little Bird. It is a very nice gift." he said quietly.

Quickly before she lost her nerve, she stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. "Merry Christmas Sandor." she whispered. He looked over at her in surprise. She felt herself blush as he stared at her. "I better go clock in for my shift." she said as she quickly hurried away.

Chapter Text

She felt numb as she walked toward the front of the store. She had just hung up her phone from talking with her mother and the bad news had not quite sunk in yet. Thankfully they had already closed for the night and the store was mostly empty, just a few employees were left as they finished up before leaving.

All she wanted was to get outside to her car, she needed to make it to her car before she broke down. Then she saw something that made her stop in her tracks. Standing there next to the stores giant Christmas tree stood Sandor. He seemed nervous, shy almost she would say. In his hands he held a miniature tree. He smiled at her, with a big huge smile, like she had never seen him do before. He held the tree out to her.

She reached out and took it from him, her hands trembling. It was beautiful. A small green pine with full branches covered in a faint dusting of fake snow. Near the top sat a small red bird. She touched the bird gently with her finger, caressing the softness and noting that it was made from real feathers.

She burst into tears.

"Shit, I know its not a great gift, but its the best I could do last minute." Sandor said.

"Its beautiful." she said through her sobbing. "Its perfect. I love it." She took a few gasping breaths, as the tears came harder.

"Little Bird, come lets find you somewhere to sit down." he said taking her arm and leading her across the store to a small bench beside the doorway.

She hugged the tree to her chest and she tried to control her sobs. "My mother just called." she began to explain. "She said it was snowing back home. I knew it was snowing, I mean its always snowing up there. Apparently its the worst storm they have seen in 40 years. A blizzard, she said, an actual blizzard. They closed the airport, no flights going in or out, maybe for days. My flight was canceled." she said. "Everyone is there, my parents, and my brothers and my sister all flew in early. I am the only one who isn't there. I wont be there with them for Christmas."

She took a deep breath before continuing. "And the worst part. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Everyone is gone already or already has plans, so I can't even tag along with anyone . Jeyne left this morning to go visit her family. My roommates Mya and Myranda both left last week for the Vale. And Margaery is going to spend the holidays with Bronn. I will be all alone for Christmas."

Sandor awkwardly slid his arm around her and patted her shoulder. She turned and curled up against his chest and continued to sob. After a few minutes she realized she had gotten his shirt wet with her tears. Embarrassed she pulled away and began to wipe at her eyes, while still tucked under his arm.

"You could spend Christmas with me." Sandor said quietly. She froze in surprise.

"I wouldn't want to interrupt your plans." she whispered, her cheek pressed against his chest.

He barked out a laugh. "What plans? To get drunk as a dog and feel sorry for myself?"

She took a deep breath. "You mentioned that you had steaks to cook? Maybe I could make desert to go with them." she said quietly.

"Sounds like a plan then. No more tears alright." he said, brushing the hair away from her face and tilting her head up so he could carefully wipe away the tears from her cheeks.

She managed a small smile. Maybe this Christmas wasn't completely ruined for her after all.

Chapter Text

Sandor had arrived at her apartment that afternoon, bringing with him the promised steaks and bottle of Dornish red. She had fixed some vegetables to go along with them and currently had lemon cakes cooling on the stove. They had so far had a wonderful afternoon with good food and even better conversation. She was delighted to find that they had a lot in common and got along very well. They had never spent any time together outside of the store so she had been a bit worried, but so far the day had been amazing.

After dinner she carried their dishes to the sink while Sandor excused himself to use the bathroom. She set the dishes down then stood quietly and listened for the bathroom door to shut. As soon as she heard it she sprung into action. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the little sprig of mistletoe she had bought. She grabbed one of the kitchen chairs and hurried to pull it across the floor. She stood on top and reached up trying as hard as she could to push the thumbtack into the ceiling and tie the plant to it.

"What are you doing?" his voice surprised her and she lost her balance and the chair wobbled beneath her as she struggled to stay upright. Before she could fall his strong arms were around her and she leaned into his embrace. She giggled as he put his arm under her knees and swept her up off the chair. She threw her arms around his neck and smiled.

"I was hanging mistletoe." she said breathless with laughter.

He looked up. "Mistletoe?" he questioned.

She stopped laughing as she looked into his eyes. "You do know what happens under mistletoe right?" she asked.

He nodded slowly so she leaned in to kiss him, but before their lips touched he pulled away. "Why are you doing all this Little Bird?" he asked.

"I like you." she whispered.

"You like me? Or you feel sorry for me?"

Angry, she struggled to get out of his embrace but he wasn't letting her go. "Put me down." She snapped. "I can't believe you would think that about me. Do you really think I would do all of this only because I feel sorry for you. I could say the same thing you know. Maybe you just feel sorry for me. Poor Sansa has no one to spend Christmas with." before she could say more he was kissing her. She stopped struggling and kissed him back her tongue sweeping across his lip. He growled in response and pulled back to nip at her.

"Are you sure you want this? If we do this, there is no going back. I don't want you just for Christmas, only to lose you when something better comes along. If I kiss you again, then I intend on not ever letting you go."

"Then you better shut up and kiss me again." she whispered smiling as he obeyed.

Chapter Text

She woke with a cramp in her shoulder. She reluctantly opened her eyes and saw that she was still in her living room. Further examination of her situation revealed that she was on her couch, curled up in the arms of Sandor Clegane. She could see a hint of light coming from the window between the curtains so she knew that the sun was just coming up. She attempted to stretch a bit without moving too much, not wanting to disturb the man at her side. She remembered now that they had curled up together on the couch, trading kisses while watching some of her favorite Christmas movies. She saw the empty bottle of Dornish Red on the table and remembered drinking much more than her usual, plus the Red was a stronger vintage than she normally picked for herself.

Finally she became too annoyed with how uncomfortable she was in her current position so she sat up and gently nudged Sandor. He opened his eyes and looked sleepily around the room. "Come on, lets move." she said taking his hand.

"Shit, I didn't mean to fall asleep here. I'll get out of your hair now Little Bird." he mumbled.

"No, that's not what I meant. Lets move to the bedroom." she said pulling him up off the couch and onto his feet. She saw him raise his eyebrows at her in surprise. "Nothing like that, I just want to be more comfortable." She said laughing as she dragged him down the hallway to her room.

"I don't have to stay." he said as they entered her room.

"Yes you do. You promised that we could spend Christmas together. And now its Christmas morning. And right now all I want for Christmas is to go back to sleep." she said sitting down on her bed and pulling back the blankets. She pulled off her heavy sweater, leaving her in just a tank top and her snowman printed pajama pants, and crawled under the covers. When she got settled in bed she patted the spot next to her and looked expectantly over at him.

He smiled and sat on the bed, bending down to pull off his heavy boots. Then he swung his legs up on the bed and curled up next to her, reaching over and pulling her into his arms.

She smiled now that she was all warm and comfortable in his embrace. She settled her head on his chest and listened to his heart beat as she felt herself already being lulled back to sleep. She felt him yawn and knew that he would soon follow her. Just before she finally drifted off she whispered to him. "Are you having a happy Christmas Sandor?"

He was silent for a few minutes and she thought that perhaps he had already fallen asleep. She closed her eyes and was almost asleep when she heard him whisper back. "Little Bird, I can honestly say this is the best Christmas I have ever had." He placed a small kiss to the crown of her head.

She smiled. "Mission accomplished." she whispered.

"Hmmm?" he made a sleepy noise at her.

"Merry Christmas Sandor." she said leaning her face up and kissing him.

"Merry Christmas Sansa." he replied as he kissed her back.