WHO: Theo Wolfe, with cameo of Zoe Wolfe → Robb Stark WHEN: Early afternoon of May 20 WHERE: The Wolfe abode SUMMARY: Theo and Zoe are going to the park to meet Max, but first the former has to have a flashback to a goodbye at Winterfell. WARNINGS: None
It was a parenting miracle: Theo had managed to talk his daughter out of wearing the fairy costume for the fourth day in a row. Of course, that had required letting her choose whatever outfit she wanted, which had led to a mix of purple polka-dotted leggings, a white tank top with a pink unicorn on it, green rainboots, and a rainbow, sparkly tutu. When Theo suggested a more coordinated outfit, Zoe had simply given her a, "No, this is perfect, Daddy," then sat to let him braid her hair back. She then placed no less than five glittery barrettes into the braid, completing the look.
It was a compromise, which was something that Theo had gotten more or less used to in the years since his daughter had started to form a personality for herself that was as headstrong as her mother's had been. Sometimes he had to put his foot down as her father, but he'd learned to pick his battles. Outfits, he'd decided, weren't the biggest deal in the world. If she wanted to wear every color there was, who was he to stop her?
Besides, Theo thought -- she was damn adorable.
By the time she'd found an orange cardigan that Theo knew he'd end up stowing away the moment they got to the park thanks to the 80-degree weather, Zoe was dancing around the living room in excitement as her father finished packing their things for the outing. Though he didn't have to bring nearly as much as he might have once upon a time when his daughter was a baby, the bag he was filling wasn't lightly packed. He knew his daughter, though. On top of the snacks and bottles of water and juice, he also had the customary change of clothes and shoes for when she inevitably found some mud, an assortment of small toys to keep her busy, sunscreen, hand sanitizer, the iPad -- just in case -- and plenty of other surprises that he'd just not taken out from the last foray away from their house.
"Daaaaaaddy," Zoe called, circling around Theo impatiently with her newest stuffed animal -- a floppy eared puppy she'd named Bubble Gum -- in her arms. Though Theo foresaw a trip through the washer and dryer in the stuffed animal's future if he came with them to the park, she had insisted on bringing him to show the person they were going to the park to meet in the first place. "Uncle Max's prob'ly there."
"All right, okay," Theo conceded, zipping the bag closed. He knew that there was a good chance that Zoe was right and Max would already be at the park; at one time in his life, Theo had prided himself in his punctuality, but that had all gone out the window the moment he become a father. He swung the bag up and over his shoulder, immediately cringing. As predicted, it was far heavier than necessary for a few hours at the park, but one could never say he was unprepared. "To the car."
Zoe grinned toothily, then immediately ran through the house and out to the car waiting in the driveway. Theo hesitated, making sure he had everything he needed, patting his pockets to ensure his phone, wallet, and keys were all in place, then stepped toward the front door that his daughter had left wide open in her escape.
Suddenly, he was no longer in the house that he and his late wife had put every penny of their savings into to buy when they'd found out she was pregnant. Instead, he was in Winterfell, stepping up alongside his half-brother in what he knew was to be a goodbye for longer than he'd like. Robb and Jon may have only shared half of their blood and his mother might have done all she could to make sure neither forgot it, but that didn't keep Robb from feeling that he was every bit his brother as Bran and Rickon were.
"You've said goodbye to Bran?" Robb glanced over to Jon when he didn't answer right away, before adding, "He's not going to die. I know it."
"You Starks are hard to kill."
Unable to help himself, Robb smiled. Years of training and sparring with Jon came to mind, meeting one another blow for blow, first with training swords and then eventually with the real thing. Still, he had to ask, "My mother?"
"She was very kind," Jon replied as they reached his horse that would take him to Castle Black.
"Good." Whether that had actually been the case, Robb wasn't sure. His mother had never grown happy with Jon's presence at Winterfell, though he supposed even he could understand why, no matter how much he loved his brother. Not wanting to focus on such things, he turned toward Jon and smiled again. "Next time I see you, you'll be all in black."
"It was always my color."
There were plenty of other things Robb could have said, but he knew that he'd see Jon again someday. They would be in different positions, having had their own experiences and tales to tell, without any doubt. He'd be doing his duty at Winterfell, helping his mother as his father rode south to King's Landing, while Jon would take the black and defend the most northern border of the kingdom. After years of growing up as some form of equals, they were taking diverging paths. It was bound to have happened eventually, yet somehow Robb hadn't imagined it would happen so soon.
"Farewell, Snow," he decided, giving Jon once more crooked smile.
"And you, Stark."
Part of him felt that, as a now grown man, that ought to have been the end of it. He should shake Jon's hand at most or simply give a final nod and turn away. Instead, Robb stepped in and embraced him, Jon completing it. No, they weren't children anymore, but they were still brothers.
He turned to walk away, but instead Theo was standing in his living room once again. It was quiet, outside of the rustling leaves and the neighbor's dog barking at Zoe for having the audacity to be within his line of vision. It wasn't the first time that had happened, his suddenly being dropped in the middle of some sort of medieval land that was about as far away from Dunhaven as can be, but he kept hoping that it would be the last. He'd seen Robb's father behead a deserter, brought home a horde of baby wolves for the Stark siblings to raise, and other small moments that left him knowing as much about Robb as he knew of himself.
And then there was his brother, Jon. Theo felt Robb's kinship with him, a strength in their closeness and love. Though he loved his own siblings, there was only one other person that he'd really felt that with before -- and they were about to go and see him at the park.
It was silly -- all of it was silly. There was someone out there in the town having dreams of Jon Snow, as well as Lyanna Stark. He wasn't alone in all of this and that did present a certain sort of comfort. Still, he decided as he released a long breath, he could mull over it later, if at all. Now he had to take his kid to the park.