"I can be your family. "

"You wouldn't be my family. You'd be My lady."

Gendry couldn't sleep. Usually, when he drank his weight in ale he'd fall asleep before he even got to his bed, but not this time. How could he be so stupid? Everything in him had urged him not to ask Arya to marry him just then, but it was too exciting to keep to himself. He wanted to share his fortune with only her.

She'd been his best friend when they were younger; the one he could depend on no matter what happened or who was after them. She'd tried so hard to keep him from being taken away by the Red Woman, but they were separated, and all he could think of when he was with the Red Woman, and with the three nameless, faceless girls after her, was of Arya. At first, it startled him that he could ever fall in love with her. She was nothing like the beautiful girls in the cities. She was absolutely nothing like her beautiful older sister, Sansa. It didn't matter, though. Arya Stark had a hold on his heart that wasn't going away anytime soon.

Seeing her in Winterfell again, he'd had to hide his true feelings. She was different. Harder, colder, more beautiful. But still Arya. She could give as well as she could take. When she ordered him to make her a weapon, he was almost disappointed. The first conversation they'd had in years and she wanted something from him. But he saw the way she looked at him after he pounded a dragon glass axe into the table. The same look she gave him when she used to watch him pound steel into swords.

The night of the Battle for Winterfell he hadn't expected her to come find him. He'd planned on resting and trying to not think of what was to come. He planned on dying. He'd fought the dead before, and they were relentless. He wasn't looking forward to doing it again, but if it was a choice between protecting the living or dying with everyone, he'd protect the living. He'd protect Arya.

When Arya told him she wanted him, he felt all of the tension in his body melt away. This had to mean something. She could've gone to anyone to find out what it was like, but she chose him.

Despite her leather armor and cold demeanor, she was soft and warm. She was open and accepting and gave to him as much as he gave to her. When she tightened against him and cried out, he pressed his lips to her forehead, holding her close, unable to let her go.

As they both came down from their mutual high, Gendry gazed into her nearly black eyes, which were softer than he'd ever seen them before.

This was absolutely it. No one else in the world would do for him. If he weren't a bastard he would have proposed marriage right then. If they would live through the battle.

Queen Danaerys then answered all of his prayers.

He was legitimized and given Storms End. He was a Baratheon. He and Arya could unite the Stark and Baratheon Houses for good. More than that, though, he was now able to go to her and offer himself and everything he had. He'd loved her for years. He didn't dare hope to ever see her again after the Red Woman took him away, but they'd been brought back together. He wanted a partner to teach him how to be a lord and also fight by his side. It would always be her.

Before he could run off to find her, however, he was handed an ale in celebration, followed by another and another. Before he could stop, he'd had more than he could count, and he was floating. The party started to break up, and he knew he needed to find her before he lost his nerve. She'd be so happy. The way she'd said she could be his family had comforted him through their years apart. She had to know how he felt and had always felt about her.

As he made his way through the halls and passages of Winterfell looking for her, an arrow flew by his head, just narrowly missing him.

Arya.

He tried to keep his excitement to a level that wouldn't frighten her, but the ale started to do the talking for him. He told her everything and kissed her. He offered her everything he had so earnestly that she had to say yes.

Except she didn't.

Letting him down with a heartfelt kiss that was soft and yielding, she gazed at him, sadly.

"You'll make a fine Lord." She said steadily. "And any lady would be lucky to have you."

Gendry felt his face grow pale and his heart stop.

"I'm not a lady. That's not me."

She didn't make excuses. She was very matter-of-fact, though sad. It was a simple answer and he'd have to accept it.

Her answer had sobered him up. He was no longer excited about his future as the Lord of Storms End. Without Arya by his side, it didn't matter. He could remain a blacksmith and disappear into the fabric of history.

He knew Arya wouldn't tell anyone, not even her family. But just the change in Gendry's demeanor was enough for everyone to figure it out.

When Sam told him that he and Gilly were expecting a child, he had a hard time choking out congratulations. When he watched the Dragon Queen fly off on her dragon to claim her lands by sea, he couldn't feel excited or anxious for battle. Lady Sansa barely acknowledged him, as was her custom, but there was a flickering of knowing. Maybe Arya had told her sister, but no one else. Maybe she hadn't. The Starks hid their emotions and hid them well. They couldn't afford not to.

If he could do it all again, he'd wait until after Danaerys was on the Iron Throne, he was settled at Storms End, and he would tell Arya more of what she'd meant to him since they were children. He'd tell her that her friends kept him going through the difficult times when the Red Woman wanted to kill him when Davos sent him rowing on the never-ending journey far away. He would tell her that there were moments he dreamed she was in danger. That she couldn't see and struggled, that she died. Each dream caused him to wake up in a cold sweat and pray to any gods that would listen that she'd be safe. That she would find her way home. That she would come into his smithy and he could see her again.

She was more his family than anyone else in Westeros. More than his brothers-in-arms that he fought beside, and more than the ancestors before him. She was the family he chose. Her words kept him going when things got difficult. She was the reason he hadn't been able to bring himself to sleep with more than three women. She was the one he wanted to fight by his side, build a life with, and protect the realm. Any lady might be lucky to have him, but he'd only be lucky to have her by his side.

He watched her follow Jon on horseback toward Kings Landing, and he'd be following shortly after. He'd protect her as much as he could in this battle. He would help her fulfill her destiny. If she could kill the Night King, she could slaughter Cersei Lannister. She was the greatest warrior in all of Westeros, and even if she didn't want to marry him, he would have her back. It's what families did.