Archive of Our Own

…

December 30.

He had been working on his bindings for hours. She hadn’t checked on him since after lunch, but he still moved slowly and as quietly as he could. He didn’t want to run the risk of her coming in and catching him. Slow and steady wins the race, he recited to himself as he used his teeth to pull at the ropes. For some reason, she had tied his wrists together in the front today. She usually did it in the back. As soon as he saw that his hands were in front of him as she left him on the floor in the bedroom, locking the door behind her and leaving him alone, he knew that today was the day he was getting out of here.

It took him hours. It got dark so early now, but thankfully, the moon was bright that night and it was able to show him the way as his teeth gripped and pulled at the rope. He didn’t know how long it took. Hours. When he finally loosened the rope enough and he could get one wrist out, he exhaled a shaky breath. He did it. He had gotten free. He was free. He sat still for another minute, his ears straining to hear anything on the other side of the locked door. But the house was silent. She must have been asleep, and she had absolutely no idea what he had just been able to achieve.

He stood up and quickly leaned back against the wall behind him. His legs were asleep, and he let the blood flow back into his limbs, biting down on his lip to keep from even whimpering at the stinging sensation of them waking up. Finally, he was able to cross the room silently to the window. He was able to open it. She had never thought to seal them shut. She never thought he would be free to reach them. The cold December air smacked him in the face as he shoved the window up. No. Not cold. Frigid. He was only in gym shorts and a tee shirt, but he didn’t care. He would get out of here and then worry about finding something else to wear. He also had to get Dave, but he didn’t know where in the house he was. He would get out of here and then get the police to come back here to get Dave. He was not leaving Dave behind. He just had to get out to rescue him.

He shoved as hard as he could against the screen. Again, and again. On the fourth hard shove, the screen finally broke free from the window and he winced as it fell to the ground. But it didn’t make a sound as it fell into the snowbank outside. Thank God. He paused. The house was still silent. She hadn’t heard anything. He was getting out of here. He was actually going to get out of here and run as fast as he could to the first house he came to. He only had socks on, but he didn’t care about that either. He would get to a house, and he would get whoever lived there to call the police. He would then get Dave out of there, they would both get something to eat, and they would both be okay.

One leg and then the other through the window and he dropped himself down into the snow. And then, as fast as he could, without looking back, he ran as fast as he could – silent in the dark, frigid night.

…

Molly Alan slowly closed the bedroom door after one more peek. Her brother, Nick, was still asleep. Thank God. She was more than ready for bed herself after the past couple of hours.

For Christmas, Molly and her husband, Mark, had gifted Nick with a new sweatshirt – BEST UNCLE EVER – and had explained to him that they were going to have a baby and Nick was going to be an uncle. Nick was so excited – to put it mildly – and as soon as he put the sweatshirt on, he didn’t want to take it off. He had worn it since Christmas morning. He even slept in it. He had gotten food on it and some random colors from his new paint set, but even then, he had refused to take it off for Molly to wash. Tonight, Mark and Molly had insisted that Nick take the sweatshirt off. Put in the simplest terms, it had been a battle. But finally, the pair succeeded. Molly washed and dried the sweatshirt and Nick fell asleep in his bed in complete exhaustion.

More than one of her coworkers have already asked her what she and Mark were going to do with Nick once the baby was born. Nick Lucas was in his twenties but had the mentality of no one older than six. Nick had been in a facility in the city with others just like him. He had liked it there, but when Molly or their parents visited, it always took the staff hours to calm him down again. He missed them too much and never wanted them to leave. Their parents died in a car accident and Molly was named as his legal guardian in their will. She and Mark lived out of the city and further out in the country with a sweeping plot of land where Mark built furniture in a workshop behind the house and Molly worked at the van Houten Medical Center as an administrator. Both agreed that while the facility was fantastic, Nick needed to be with them. What were they going to with Nick with the baby coming? Nick was her brother and he was going to be an uncle. He was staying right where he was.  

Downstairs, Mark was in the family room, reclined back on the couch and watching a random horror movie on Tubi while sipping from a glass of eggnog. Molly came around the couch and made sure that he could see her exaggerated eye roll.

“What?” He smiled.

“It’s still Christmas,” Molly reminded him.

“This is about a guy who dresses up as the Grinch, green body paint and all, and goes through town, killing random people,” Mark explained as if it made his movie choice that much more appropriate.

“Mark, I don’t want to watch this. Can’t you find-” The doorbell rang, and Molly let out a surprised shriek. Her eyes flew to Mark, who was already sitting up and setting his cup on the coffee table. “Who would that be at this hour? And in this snow?” She asked her husband as if he had been expecting this.

“It’s okay.” He gave her elbow a gentle squeeze and smiled. “It’s probably just Chuck. He said he was going to stop by as soon as he got paid to give me the rest that he owes on that rocking chair.”

“If it is Chuck, and he woke up Nick, tell him that I’m going to kill him,” Molly said.

“You got it,” Mark agreed. “Can you pause the movie for me?” He asked as he headed from the family room to the front door.

Molly picked up the remote, but instead of pausing, she instead stopped the movie altogether. “Whoops.”

Through the ring camera, Mark frowned. This was definitely not Chuck. It was a boy. He couldn’t tell how old he was. No older than ten, maybe. He was only wearing shorts, a tee shirt, and socks. He was visibly shivering. Where the Hell had he come from? And why was he dressed so inappropriately? Well, he wouldn’t get any answers with leaving this kid, freezing to death, out on the front porch.  

“Molly! Get your phone!” He called out over his shoulder as he hurriedly unlocked the door. “Hey,” his voice noticeably went softer. It was the way he talked with Nick when Nick was in a mood. “Are you okay? Where’d you come from?” Getting a closer look, he could see that the boy was “all bones” as his dad would say. This wasn’t lanky or even skinny. It looked like this kid hadn’t eaten in a long time.

The boy lifted his wet eyes. He started to shiver harder. “Can you call the police for me? And do you have anything I could eat?”

…

Detective Jon Snow was ready to ram his head into the nearest wall. He could not get this song out of his head. He had been flipping through stations as he drove from his house to the Sheriff’s station and his ears had only caught a second of it before he continued onto the next song. But a second was all it had taken for it to burrow itself into his mind and stay there. Even turning on background music as soon as he got into his office and turned on his computer wasn’t helping.

“Now you’re just somebody that I used to know,” he sang quietly to himself as he entered the break room for another cup of coffee. Kill me, he then frowned.

Someone had just brewed a fresh pot of coffee – bless them. For Christmas, his wife had gotten him a new mug with the World’s Okayest Detective on it and Jon filled it now. He turned and leaned against the counter as he took his first cautious sip. He and his partner, Jaime Lannister, were working nights at the station all this week. He didn’t mind. It had been quiet so far. It seemed like the county had taken a few days off for the holiday season from doing anything nefarious to one another. Working nights in the city had been an entirely different story. Call after call. Body after body. Sometimes, he and Jaime would be at one crime scene, and they would be called to go to another one before they could explain that they were already working one. Here, it was quiet, and Jon could sip his coffee and drive himself insane with this song. His eyes went to the clock. It was just after ten. His daughter would be asleep, and Sansa would kill him if he called the house just to have Ros sing a random song to him so he could get that one in his head.

Jaime Lannister came into the breakroom with his own empty coffee cup. He had said he was going to the bathroom, but he smelled like cigarette smoke instead.

“I thought you were quitting,” Jon said as he slid along the counter, so he wasn’t in the way.

Jaime shook his head. “I’m bored. I can’t quit when I’m bored.”

The breakroom still had plenty of holiday snacks on the table that others had brought in from home or were gifts from other police departments in the county. Jaime went and opened one of the tin containers, checking out what was inside. He was pretty sprinkled fatigued, but he took a couple sprinkle cookies anyway. In his head, Jon sang the same bar of song and swiftly followed it with a few curse words. His cell phone began to ring, and Jon had never been more grateful to hear the phone’s generic ring.

“Detective Snow,” he answered. Jaime held out a sprinkle cookie for him and Jon took it. He didn’t eat it just yet. This was his work phone. Whoever called him needed Detective Snow right now and he could not have a mouthful of sprinkle cookies.

“Detective, this is Deputy Crane,” a man’s voice spoke. “I don’t have a homicide, but I do need a Detective out to a scene and you’re the only one on call tonight.”

“What do you got?” Jon asked, pushing himself off the counter and standing straight. He turned and poured the rest of his coffee down the drain. He had a feeling he and Jaime were about to have a long night and no point in saving it for later. He then handed the sprinkle cookie back for Jaime to take.

“Man and woman called the police. A boy appeared on their steps a little bit ago, wearing just shorts, tee shirt and socks. He asked for the police and something to eat. Detective,” Crane lowered his voice. “He has rope burns on his wrists. Someone tied him up and he was able to escape.”

“Give me the address right now.”

That was all Jaime needed to hear. He quickly dumped his own coffee down the sink drain, made sure the lid of the tin container was snapped back into place, and followed Jon from the break room.

…

Both Detectives knew Mark and Molly. The couple, along with Nick, had helped the pair solve a cold case murder back in October. Anytime Nick saw either of them somewhere in town, he would shout “Detective!” and was always so happy to see one. But tonight, Nick didn’t shout, or say anything, when the pair came into the house. Mark led them from the front door, down the hallway, and into the family room. Molly was in the kitchen. The boy had already eaten two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a tall glass of milk, of which he seemed to inhale. She was now fixing him a cup of hot chocolate.

They didn’t have any clothes in their house that would fit him. Molly had taken his shorts, tee shirt and socks and Mark had given him one of his sweatshirts to wear. It was too big, and he drowned in it, but it was soft and dry, and he loved it. They had also given him a pair of socks to wear. Deputy Crane and his partner, Deputy Hughes, stood in the family room, waiting for Jon and Jaime’s arrival. Deputy Crane was an older man, closer to sixty than fifty, but was in no way ready to retire. Deputy Hughes had been with the Sheriff’s Department for two years now. She was young – mid-twenties – pretty, and small, barely 5’5 and one-hundred and twenty pounds when wet, but she had proven that she could hold her own. Last year, she had been on patrol by herself, had pursued a car jacking suspect and had executed a PIT maneuver perfectly. She then had taken the suspect down with a taser and a fist to his balls and waited for backup to arrive. She also had crushes on both Jon and Jaime, but everyone pretended that they didn’t know that.

She approached them first. “He said it’s his mom. She’s been holding him and his little brother for weeks, barely feeding them. Crane has already taken pictures, and Molly has his clothes in a bag in case you need them,” she whispered to them. Both nodded. “We also have other Deputies going to the boy’s house to take the mom in custody.”

When it came to kids, Jon was usually the one to take the lead. Jaime always felt like he didn’t know how to talk to them. Jon often told him that that was bullshit. Jaime was fantastic with his young niece, Mina, and was the fun uncle with his older niece and nephew, Myrcella and Tommen Baratheon. Not to mention that Ros Snow absolutely adored him. But still, Jaime argued that he knew all of those kids and had relationships with them. As a father, Jon was just better at it and Jaime rarely admitted that his partner was better at something than him, but in Jaime’s opinion, it was because it was the truth.

Jon looked at the boy sitting on the couch, immediately taking note of everything visible to his eye. The boy had obviously been starved. But except for the redness on his wrists from the ropes, there were no signs of physical abuse. What kind of mom starved her kid, but didn’t beat them? When it came to something like this, it wasn’t usually one or the other. He came to sit down on the coffee table, facing the boy, and another thing that was interesting was he looked at Jon and didn’t seem nervous. Most kids were taught that if a police officer was near, it was because they were in trouble. But not this kid. This kid seemed to look at Jon and the gold Detective’s badge hanging around his neck and he breathed.

“My little brother, Dave, is still in the house. I wasn’t able to get him out, too, and I figured that if I got out and ran somewhere, the police would come and they would get Dave out,” the words burst from the boy’s mouth in one continuous stream.

Jon nodded. “We will definitely get Dave. And can I know your name?”

“Bob.”

Jon smiled a little at the old name for the young boy. Not even Bobby. Bob. “It’s nice to meet you, Bob. I’m Detective Snow. And what you did tonight was very brave.” Bob didn’t say anything about that, but he nodded. Jon didn’t know if he believed that or not, but everyone in that room – maybe even Nick – knew that what Bob did tonight was nothing, but brave. “Bob, was it your mom who did this to you?”

Again, Bob nodded. “She thought Dave and me had been sent to her to punish her. We weren’t her real sons. We had been replaced by evil things. She said that not feeding us too much would push the evil things out because they would be so hungry and we would be her boys again.”

“And your dad?” Jon didn’t write anything down. He wanted to focus only on Bob. Jaime had an incredible memory and would remember every word and he knew Deputy Crane was writing it all down for his report as Bob spoke not to mention that Deputies Crane and Hughes had their bodycams.

“Mom told the judge that dad shouldn’t be around us. She said he was a bad dad, and the court believed her.” Bob looked down at his hands and fidgeted with his fingers. “Dad promised me and Dave that he would fight it, but we haven’t seen him in months.”

Jon did his best not to sigh. He may have believed in rules and laws. Without those, everything would be a free-for-all and would cease to exist. He loved what he did. But when it came to the court system, Jon had a few less-than-positive opinions about it. He had seen the courts screw up too many times for his opinion to not be biased.

“Do you have your dad’s name?” Deputy Crane asked.

“Chris Hooks,” Bob answered.

Crane handed Hughes the clipboard so she could continue writing the report and he headed outside to the squad car to run the name to see if the man could be found.

“Are you getting Dave?” Bob’s eyes went back to Jon.

“We are,” Jon promised. “Could you tell me a little more about the burns on your wrists? Were you tied up? Does your mom always tie you up?”

Molly came from the kitchen with two steaming cups of hot chocolate with marshmallows. She handed one of the cups to Bob and then the other to Nick, who was sitting on the couch, too, and looking at the boy in silence. None of the other adults knew what Nick was thinking. For his childlike brain, he was probably looking at Bob and trying to figure his situation out. Jon knew that Ros would have a hard time understanding the reality of some parents harming their children.

“Thank you,” Bob remembered to say, and he smiled up at Molly before he took a greedy drink, not even flinching as it seared his tongue and throat.

“You can have mine, too,” Nick finally spoke up. “Molly makes the best hot chocolate.”

Bob smiled at him. “Thank you,” he said. Nick smiled, too. When he looked at Jon again, his smile was gone, and he held his cup tightly with both hands. “Mom ties me up at night because I’ve tried to get out before. She said that I couldn’t get out because my evil would spread to others and she was saving them.”

“Did she tie Dave up, too?”

“No. He’s younger and wouldn’t be able to get out on his own. She just locked him in his bedroom.”

Hearing movement behind him, Jon looked over his shoulder. Crane had come back into the house. He was whispering something to both Hughes and Jaime. Jaime nodded and then came to Jon. Bending down, he leaned into his ear.

“Other deputies have got the mom in custody and Dave is in an ambo for the hospital. Locked in his bedroom like Bob said he would be. Bad shape. We should get Bob to the hospital, too,” he whispered.

“Did Crane find the dad?”

“Still working on it.”

Jaime pulled back and Jon looked at Bob.

“We have Dave and we’re taking him to the hospital,” Jon told him, and Bob’s smile was instant. “And now, we’re going to take you to the hospital, too. The doctors will want to check you and your brother out and there will be more food there for you to eat there. How does that sound?”

“It sounds good. Will we go home with mom tonight?” After asking, he seemed to hold his breath in fearful anticipation of Jon’s answer.

“You’re not going home with your mom for a long time,” Jon said. Bob exhaled his breath and then drank his hot chocolate again, emptying his cup. He had a melted marshmallow moustache on his upper lip, and he swiped it away with his tongue. Without a word, Nick took the empty cup and passed Bob his. It would be noticeably cooler, but Bob didn’t care. They all watched him as he chugged it down. “Are you ready to get out of here?” Jon asked. Bob nodded and handed that empty cup to Molly.

“I’ll get a coat for him to wear,” Mark offered, already moving to the hallway closet.

Jon stood up and Bob slid off the couch. Jon was surprised for a second when Bob slid his hand into his, but Jon was quick to hold onto it securely. He wouldn’t let go. And when they went to the hospital and took more pictures of both boys and see if Dave would be able to talk with them, too, Jon and Jaime would go to the house to collect evidence. Then, they would go back to the station and start talking with the mom. Hopefully, Chris Hooks will get here quickly. It was going to be a very long night.

And though it would be hours from now, Jon already knew that when he got back home, he was going to give his daughter the tightest, longest hug he could give her.

…

December 31.

Sansa Snow snapped awake from a dead sleep at a few minutes past four o’clock. She blinked at the clock on the nightstand and tried to think of a reason why her brain woke up so suddenly. She couldn’t think of anything. It hadn’t been a nightmare, she didn’t think. Her body felt relaxed, and her heart wasn’t racing. And if it was a dream, she had already forgotten it. It didn’t really matter what had woken her up. Her brain was now wide awake and there was no way she would be getting back to sleep. At least she and Ros were still on holiday break, so Sansa didn’t have to worry about teaching a class or getting her daughter off to school today. She could just take it easy and possibly take a nap later so, if she wanted to, she could stay up until midnight.

Even before she got married and had a child, she had never liked New Year’s Eve. There was always this unspoken pressure behind this night. You have to go out and you have to kiss someone at midnight, and you can’t stay at home in your pajamas with a cup of tea and good book and go to sleep at a reasonable hour. Last year, Ros was five years old and pleaded that she stay up. Jon and Sansa told her that they wouldn’t put her to bed, and she could stay awake if she wanted. Ros still had the innocent idea that New Year’s Eve was magical at midnight, and she had her noisemaker ready. But she fell asleep just before eleven o’clock and Jon and Sansa were more than happy to go to bed themselves right after.

Now that her mind was awake, her bladder was, too, and Sansa pulled herself from the bed. Once finished with her business, she left the bedroom with Lady following close behind. Ghost wasn’t asleep in the bedroom with her, but Sansa wasn’t concerned. Whenever Jon worked night shifts, Ghost liked to sleep downstairs in the laundry room, waiting for him to come home again. Sansa stopped outside of Ros’s bedroom and poked her head in. Ros was sleeping deeply and peacefully as she should have been doing at this hour. Her stuffed capybara had fallen to the ground and Sansa walked into the bedroom. She picked it up again and returned it next to Ros’s body. She bent down and kissed her on the head. Ros didn’t stir. Sansa smiled and left the bedroom again. She and Lady went downstairs. Ghost’s hearing came and went, but he heard them and by the time Sansa went to the back door, Ghost was there, too. Ghost and Lady excitedly tore out into the backyard as soon as Sansa unlocked and opened the door for them. Soft flurries were falling. They had gotten a good amount on Christmas Day and even though it had remained frigid, the sun had been warm in the days since and some of the snow had been able to melt. These flurries didn’t seem like it would lead to anything substantial.

Sansa flipped on the light above the sink and with a yawn, she began to make the coffee. Realizing she had left her phone upstairs, she hurried to go get it and bring it back down with her into the kitchen. Tapping the screen, she saw that Jon hadn’t texted her. Not that she was expecting him to. He was working and he knew that she would be asleep so why bother sending her a text she probably wouldn’t see until he was already home? She hoped he was safe and having a good shift and he would be home at six. She would make them a big breakfast before Jon went to bed.

The coffee finished brewing and both dogs wanted back inside. Settling down on the couch with her feet propped up on the coffee table and her laptop on her thighs, Sansa got herself comfortable. She took a sip of coffee. Lady had collapsed on the floor space beneath her between the couch and the coffee table and Ghost had returned to his spot on the laundry room floor. Living just thirty-five minutes away from the city, the majority of their news came from there. Unless something really big happened out in one of the county towns, the city really didn’t care about them “all the way out here”. A journalist, Dwight Dyer, who grew up around here left the city’s paper and moved back into this area. He began his own YouTube channel and website, reporting on things that only happened in the towns and villages in the county. Sansa sipped her coffee and went to the page now. She liked to stay up to date.

As soon as she saw the main headline – large and bolded – Sansa nearly choked on her coffee. Her eyes read as quickly as her brain could register the words. Two boys. Mom was arrested. One boy had escaped through a window. Tied up. Both boys being starved. Sansa read the story again and again. They were both safe now and in the hospital. Thank God, Sansa thought to herself after reading that. Dad had been contacted. Detectives Snow and Lannister are in charge of the initial investigation.

The story was absolutely terrible, but at least both boys were out of that house and a homicide detective hadn’t been needed. Jon and Jaime were probably called because they had been the only detectives available. That happened on occasion. There was no way that Jon would be home at six this morning. A case like this would keep him for hours. She and Ros might not see him at all today. She would call him later to see if he needed her to bring him a change of clothes to the station.

She read through the article again. She couldn’t believe something like this had happened anywhere near where they lived. She wanted to call Jon just to check on him, but it was too early for her and probably too late for him. And she wouldn’t dare interrupt Jon when he was working on something like this.

Finishing her coffee, she set the laptop aside and carefully set her feet down, mindful of not stepping on a snoring Lady. In the kitchen, Sansa thought over what she and Ros could possibly do today. She didn’t include Jon. Either he would be home, sleeping, or he would still be at the station, working. It would be just her and Ros today. Maybe they would go shop the special after-holiday sales. Olivia Ford was taking her granddaughter, Hannah, to the animal shelter today to adopt a cat and Sansa didn’t doubt that Hannah would want to show it to Ros once she had it back home. So, a stop at the Ford house today could be added to the list of things to do.

Returning to the family room with a fresh, steaming cup of coffee, Sansa got settled on the couch once more. She picked up her laptop and got comfortable. Lady remained snoring on the floor beneath her. Ghost was still in the laundry room. Everything was quiet. Not even the birds outside seemed to be awake and chirping their songs yet. Sansa hit the refresh button to see if Dwight had been able to add anything to the ongoing story. There didn’t seem to be any updates, but the page was flooded with hundreds of comments already, even this early in the morning and sipping her coffee, Sansa read them all. Just about everyone commenting shared Sansa’s thoughts. They couldn’t believe something like this happened anywhere near where they lived.

She was startled when she heard the garage door close. She had been so immersed in reading comments and hitting the refresh page, she hadn’t even heard the garage door open. Her eyes went to the time in the corner of her screen. It was a little after five, her coffee cup was empty, and Jon was back home. She sat up, closing her laptop and setting it and her cup both on the table. She didn’t stand up. She would let Ghost greet him first and get his love and affection. He, after all, had been in the laundry room all night.

“Hey, boy,” Jon greeted his faithful dog as soon as the laundry room door opened from the garage. Sansa couldn’t see him, but she could hear the faint tinkling of Ghost’s medals hanging around his neck clinking together and she could envision the dog’s whole body rocking back and forth with excitement. “Hey, Ghost. You waited for me, huh? Yeah, you did.”

When Jon finally stepped from the laundry room, his eyes immediately landed on Sansa. He exhaled a heavy breath and gave her a small smile.

“Hey.”

Sansa stood up and smiled, too. “Hey.”

He didn’t ask if she knew what had happened. He saw her laptop and coffee cup and seemed to just know that she had been awake, staying up to date with every posted word. They took steps towards one another and met halfway. His arms were tight around her middle and her arms circled his shoulders, holding him as close to her as their bodies permitted. They didn’t say a word. Neither knew how long they stood there. The hug went on and on and neither were looking to end it.

“Do you have to go back?” Sansa finally broke the silence though their hug was ongoing.

Jon shook his head. “There’s a special unit in the city’s department. Crimes against children. We called and two of them rushed out. They’ve officially taken the investigation over. Back to the usual for me and Jaime,” he answered.

Sansa sighed with relief. What a strange thing her life had become where she felt better knowing that her husband could get back to murdered bodies.

Jon pulled his head back so he could look at her face. He didn’t say anything. He put his hands on her cheeks and just looked at her. “I love you,” he then said.

“I love you, too,” Sansa immediately responded. She often wondered that there had to be something more than those three words, but those three words were the only ones she knew so that was what she always said to him. Those three words were better than not being able to say anything to him at all. “I have fresh coffee, and I’ll make us waffles and bacon for breakfast,” she told him. He broke into a grin before pressing his lips to hers and kissing her fiercely. There was love and then there was also making him breakfast after a long night shift.

That was love, too.

…

Ros Snow’s nose twitched before her eyes even opened. Her brain was still half asleep when it registered the smells. Sniff. Coffee. That meant that mama was awake. Sniff. Ros’s eyes snapped open. Bacon! That meant daddy was home, too, because mama wouldn’t make bacon until he was home. She threw the covers from her body and sprang from bed. She was instantly wide awake. She ran into the bathroom first, taking care of that business as fast as she could. Daddy and bacon. Nothing was better than that. Before leaving the bathroom, she made sure she washed her hands. Sometimes, mama liked to smell her hands after the bathroom to make sure that she actually washed them with soap and she definitely wouldn’t let Ros have bacon if she didn’t wash her hands.

Racing down the stairs, jumping over the bottom two and landing with a thud on the floor, she then burst into the kitchen, and she was right. Daddy was standing at the stove, watching over the bacon, and mama was standing at the counter with the…

“Waffles?!” She exclaimed when she saw the big bowl of batter and the waffle maker.

Mama laughed and daddy grinned.

“Come here, Rosie,” daddy beckoned to her and Ros hurried over.

Jon bent down and scooped his daughter up in both arms. He kept an eye on the bacon, but just as he knew he would, he hugged Ros long and tight. Ros didn’t think anything was strange about this. Sometimes, daddy would do this when something happened at work. She didn’t ask him about it. She knew, even at six years old, that he wouldn’t talk with her about it. But he hugged her, and Ros knew that hugging her made him feel better. So, this morning, Ros hugged him back. Long and tight.

He kissed her head and then set her back down on her feet so he could start pulling the strips from the frying pan before they burned. “I need your help with something,” he let her know.

Ros climbed onto the footstool that was in the kitchen just for her and she opened the cabinet, taking down one of her plastic cups. “Anything,” she said. She loved when her parents needed her help with something. She handed mama the cup and Sansa went to the refrigerator to pour some milk.

“I have had the most annoying song stuck in my head for hours. I need another one in there,” Jon said.

“What should I sing?” Ros asked. “Thank you, mama,” she smiled when Sansa handed her the cup and Sansa kissed her head before returning to the waffle maker. Ros held the cup with both hands and remained standing on top of the stool. She watched as daddy took the plate of bacon to the table.

“Whatever you want. Help me out,” Jon said. Ros giggled and Jon and Sansa exchanged smiles.

A song instantly popped into Ros’s head, and she first began to hum it before she began to sing out loud.

“Yeah, I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road,

I’m gonna ride ‘til I can’t no more.

I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road,

I’m gonna ride ‘til I can’t no more.”

Sansa and Jon instantly looked at each other as their daughter kept singing Lil Nas X and with both trying not to laugh, they shared a smile.

“It’s going to be a good year,” Jon said as Sansa carried the plate of waffles to the table. He pulled Ros’s chair back so the girl could sit down. He immediately put a couple bacon strips on her plate. It was best to not keep Ros waiting when there was bacon in front of her.

The town was tearing that awful barn down from the back of their property at the beginning of the year, Sansa would be visiting Peru that coming summer to be fulfill a lifelong dream, and every day and night, it would keep being just this. The Snow family together.

Sansa leaned in and kissed him. “The best year,” she agreed.

…