Brienne stepped up into position behind the center, stretching her hands slightly before her and looking to both sides before clapping her hands together. The ball was snapped and suddenly everyone exploded into a flurry of motion. As Brienne stepped back into the pocket created by the collapsing offensive line, the running back stepped up to block a defensive lineman who had almost gotten through the line. Number 53, Rollam Westerling, the Stags leading tackler from the previous season, was fighting through the gap between the center and the right tackle as he came off a mike blitz. Arya watched as Brienne covered her zones, head turning left to The middle and finally to the right, as she looked for open receivers; then suddenly she saw what she was looking for and before half a heartbeat could have elapsed the ball had been thrown. For a moment Brienne stood watching the balls perfect spiral through the air, before she blindsided by a raging Rollam.

Arya wasn't interested in that as she also watched the ball sail through the air, and then through the gap of the safety who had read the play only a second too late and the cornerback who hadn't been able to keep up, and into the hands of the waiting receiver. The crowd roared behind Arya, as the receiver cut to his right to miss the desperately outreached hands of the defeated safety, and then it seemed the horses were off to the races. A clear path to the end zone as the receiver chewed up ground behind him, but before he got more than ten yards, the sheer tones of a whistle cut through the air.

The artificial crowd noise was cut as Gendry motioned for the team to meet him in the middle of the field. Arya leaned back into her seat at the fifty yard line catching her breath she hadn't known she'd been holding as looked up at the empty stadium that surrounded her. Lannister Mobile Field had been designed by Tywin's grandfather Gerold, back before the indoor stadiums that dominated the modern league had become the norm. According to Tywin his grandfather meant for the stadium to be a sign of Lannister power, and it certainly lived up to that standard.

The whole stadium was simply a massive bowl which surrounded the field and around it ten massive poles rose up to the sky high into the sky. Across from Arya sat the a double deck of luxury suites, with the largest one, Tywin's personal suite, clearly visible from where Arya sat. It had been designed to look like a giant crown, with the marble that made up its outside wall shining golden at sunset and with lights upon the poles around it turned on it did make a great bejeweled crown. It was a lonely crown Arya thought, as it rested on a peninsula that jutted into the Lannisport Harbor, lonely and beautiful; for a moment the thought of Mageary crossed Arya's mind. A great bloody crown that had known no glory beyond its own in all of its history. It was really quite sad, in the most Lannister wat.

The team had gathered around Gendry, and from her position Arya could hear him speak. "Ok, I saw a lot of good today, I saw where we need to work," Gendry said enthusiastically, "play for each other, play for the goal. Now lets finish today right," he finished before pointing to the endzone and blew his whistle. With several groans and halfhearted mentions of disention the team jogged to the endzone and Gendry took off towards Arya, arriving quickly Gendry beamed a smile as she leaned over the railing, "what'd you think." Before Arya could answer a whistle was blown and the entire team took off on a hundred yard wind sprint to the other end zone and for a moment she sat there watching them run. "Fucking run 39," Gendry yelled as straggler passed them. "Does that do anything for fitness," Arya asked as the team finished its first sprint and lined up for the next. "I honestly have no idea, it's just a tradition I guess; and I'd be lying if I denied enjoying watching the fat ones run," Gendry answered with a even more beaming smile than before.

"Ah, the asshole defense of tradition," Arya said with a chuckle as the Stags thundered past again. Gendry turned to watch them as they pass.

"Our they ready, " Arya asked, a somber tone arriving in her voice.

"As ready as they're goin to get," Gendry responded as the team passed them for a third and final time. The awkwardness that had surrounded them since their conversation three weeks earlier again filled the air with a pregnant weight, so instead of speaking they simply watched. As players threw themselves into the ground in exhaustion, they watched. As they slowly picked themselves up and began to filter out towards the lockers, as coaches patted some on the back and yelled at others, they watched. Yet through all there there were two solitary characters, fifteen yards apart, one throwing, hard perfect passes, the other catching and tossing them back. Arya recognised him as the receiver who had caught Brienne's final pass, as again Brienne again threw him a pass.

"What do they think of me," Arya asked suddenly, that question had been on her mind for a while now and she didn't know if there was going to be any better time to ask.

Gendry bit his lip at her question, Arya couldn't tell if it was out of thought or disdain for his answer. "They think you're a snob," Arya nodded, she'd expected that. "They thought you were stupid, and weak, but after what you did to Joffrey they changed their tones." Arya had had Joffrey escorted out by police when she had traded him to the Oldtown Flowers, he had threatened her when she informed him of the trade and frankly she thought the shit had deserved it. "They at a minimum respect your power, at a maximum they respect you. The reality is most definitely somewhere between those two points."

"Good to hear," Gendry's summation of the opinion the team held of her had been much more positive than she had expected, "she is great," Arya gesturing to the now leaving Brienne.

"They'll say that it was a huge risk, when she's inducted into hall of fame. That idea couldn't be further from the truth, she's just the best fucking player I've ever seen. We got a deal, 199th in the sixth round, and they'll call it a ballsy move. What fucking bullshit is that? She's the best and that's the unequivocal truth," Gendry finished sounding almost angry.

"You have a lot of faith in her," Arya said, a questioning tone in her voice.

"Just as much faith as Tywin has in you, and I guess by some extension myself," Gendry answered before nodding to Arya and turning and following his team into the locker room. Once more Arya leaned back into the hard metal bench behind her, and again she looked around the stadium. The sun was setting, and Arya watched as light made long shadows across the field and filled the empty spaces with golden light. Arya had found herself enjoying these moments of quiet introspection more and more recently. The quiet emptiness of the stadium calmed her, and for brief moment she forgot her fear. Before she completely lost herself, Arya got up and left.

Her office was only a few minutes away and she had to get her bag before she left, so Arya headed in that direction. Gendry had decided to hold practice in the Stags stadium for their final week before the season started, Gendry was to instill a sense of scale to the team, Arya thought it was probably just Gendry being up his own ass. Yet she had allowed it, mostly because in the last three weeks of working with him and despite the awkwardness of their interactions, she had found him to be quite competent, even ingenious at times. Not that she would ever tell him that, he had a big enough head anyway, Arya told herself.

With her head wrapped up in thought Arya quickly arrived at her office. The room had turned into a neat mess as Arya had accumulated more paperwork in three weeks than she had thought possible. Reaching down she pick up the backpack she had brought to work that day, and began gathering her things, before a knock suddenly rang from her door. Looking up she saw her assistant Senelle, "Your dad left you message," she said while handing a post it note to Arya. Call me please! Arya frowned at the short message. "You doing ok," Senelle asked, as she lightly touched Arya on the shoulder, in the soft compassionate voice she seemed to be so good at. "Yeah, as good I can be doing I guess," Arya answered offhandedly. Senelle was a good secretary and in her own honest, caring way, she always seemed to be able comfort her. Arya had began to think of her as a friend more than simply a co-worker or underling. She was also the only other person in the office that knew about Arya's pregnancy besides Gendry. Senelle smiled at Arya response.

"You think they're ready," Senelle asked with genuine curiosity; Arya had learned quickly that Senelle was actually one of the Stags biggest fans.

"Gendry's confident, and I'm confident in him," Arya answered as she went back to packing her backpack.

"You give such great non answers," Senelle retorted playfully.

"I do," Arya answered quietly, looking down at the piece of paper in her hand. She'd been avoiding her father for weeks now, unable or unwilling to answer him, and to answer Tywin either. She just didn't know, and frankly didn't want to know, what she was going to do.

"I'm gonna head out so have a good night," Senelle said before leaving Arya alone in her office

"Night," Arya called after her weakly.

After gathering her things and quickly shooting off a few emails, Arya also left. Fridays were always half days at the office, so as Arya walked towards the exit her only companion was empty cubicles. They were cold, dead things in Arya's opinion, that worked more as apt metaphors for the soul crushing monotony of office work, than the efficient spacing tools that they had been designed to be. The sun was low in the sky when Arya got the parking lot, and from her view she could see a single man waiting by her Ferrari. As Arya drew closer the man looked up from his smartphone and said, "Ms. Stark, may I speak to you?"

"Well you certainly can Mr. Westerling," Arya answer her, voice mocking his manners, as she opened the passenger door to her car and stowed her backpack, "though usually your peers refer to me as bitch, fuck face, or 'I just bought a home and my kids just started school'' so just Arya will be fine." Rollam was clearly taken back by Arya's answer, as he froze for several seconds before continuing. "Ms. Stark I want to talk about the team," he said before uncomfortably pausing, as if waiting for Arya to give him permission to continue.

"Most people want to talk about the team," she said finally, before leaning on the roof of her car over its door and motioning him to continue.

"Well Ms. Stark.."

"Arya."

"Well the thing Ms. Stark," Arya had never seen someone so afraid to talk to her, Tywin's lessons on intimidation our paying off, she thought to herself. "I think Gendry's a great coach, and I really do think we have the squad to go far this year," Arya had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at his faux enthusiasm, "it's just that I feel that some of the supporting coaching staff our not the best option for our team."

"It's still just Arya," she answered after a moment's thought, "and do you have any specifics, " she asked.

"Yeah," Rollam said, "our defensive line coach Lommy is, well frankly, is an idiot."

"and what led you to that summarization of his character, " Arya asked, a deep frown covering her face.

"Well he just doesn't do things the way we used to-" Rollam started before Arya cut him off by loudly clearing her throat.

Arya looked down at her nails for a moment, they needed to be cleaned she noticed, before stepping away from her passenger side door. Slowly Arya walked to the front of the car where Rollam stood, and coming to a stop less than a foot in front of him Arya stared up at him. Rollam was clearly unnerved by her proximity as he turned away from her gaze. "Rollam," Arya started a smile on her face, "if your complaint starts with 'things our different,'" Arya poked a finger into him to make her point, "it's worthless. Now either get the fuck out of my way, keep your mouth shut, and shove your opinion up your ass, or get very good at sitting."

After staring into his eyes for a moment more, Arya sidestepped Rollam and opened her car door. Stopping before she got in, she looked up at a still reeling Rollam and said, "you're a good player, don't let your brain get in the way of that."

It took only a moment for Arya to duck into her car, start its engine, and race off. Turning the radio on as she met the late afternoon traffic, she was greeted by the soothing tones of her favorite band, House of Black and White. Since she had been in middle school Arya had loved them, finding solace in there angsty tones as the friendless tomboy that she had become listed from all those around her. It had never been easy living in her sister's shadow, always wanting what she had, but never knowing how to get there. She remembered the good times too, like sneaking out of Winterfell Manor in the middle of the night to see a hidden show, or broken into her high school to put a few live skunks in the hallways. As 600 horsepower purred beneath her, Arya found herself singing along.

Today is my birthday, and I'm riding high

Hair is dripping, hiding that I'm terrified

But this is summer, playing dumber than in fall

Everything I say falls right back into everything

Only bad people see their likeness set in stone

Only bad people see their likeness set in stone

What does that make me?

As the song came to an end, Arya realised what she had to do, she'd been avoiding responsibility for too long. She's been avoiding what she should have done weeks ago. She needed to be decisive, and with gumption that she hadn't had a moment before she dialed a number into her phone, pressed call, and pressed it to her ear as it rang once before being picked.

"Arya!"

"Hey dad, I love you," Arya said tears welling in her eyes, "can we talk?"