Fic: Even When the Sun Goes Down [5/11]
Title: Even When the Sun Goes Down
Author: luna_plath
Rating: Mature
Pairing: Jon/Sansa
Word count: 2,500
Warnings: character death, sexuality, mentions of past abusive relationship,
Summary: The murder of Ned Stark shocks all of central North Carolina. While the police investigate the circumstances surrounding Ned's murder, his daughter Sansa Stark reunites with Jon Snow, an old family friend. An Afghan War veteran, Snow takes it upon himself to investigate Ned's mysterious death--whatever the cost.
AN: I'm going to the beach for the next couple days so I figured I'd go ahead and post this.
Jon scrolled through the pictures he’d taken of the Stark case file, pausing to look at the crime scene photos despite the hollow, unpleasant feeling in his gut. He hadn’t finished reading all the paperwork he’d photographed, there was more information than he’d expected to find, and yet he continued to look at the images of Mr. Stark’s wounds over and over again, unable to determine what, exactly, he was troubled by.
Something is wrong here, Jon thought, looking at the pictures that had been taken of Ned Stark’s black Audi.
As an Army Ranger Jon had seen what high caliber weapons did to people, the wounds Mr. Stark had suffered certainly reflected that, but the interior of his car looked undamaged. In Afghanistan Jon had seen rounds tear through men and continue through the wall behind them. He wasn’t an expert in forensics, but the photo he’d taken of the ballistics report stated that the bullets likely came from an old-fashioned Colt .45 revolver, the kind of gun Jon remembered seeing in John Wayne movies as a kid.
“It’s weird to see you here by yourself,” Sam said from the doorway of the cramped kitchen, making himself a cup of coffee despite the late hour.
“Why’s that?” Jon asked, not looking away from his computer screen.
“Normally Sansa’s here with you.”
Jon hadn’t mentioned anything to Sam about Sansa and their unsuccessful talk at the park. He was sure that his long-time friend had noticed a change in his behavior-for the past two weeks Jon had spent more time in the lab than usual and he had never been so ahead on his school work. It was easier, he found, to keep busy when you didn’t want to think about something painful.
After a period of silence from Jon, Sam joined him in the living room, sipping from his steaming mug.
“Did something happen between you two?” he asked, making an effort to sound casual.
“I don’t think we’re going to be hanging out much anymore,” Jon explained. “Remember that night she came over, it was late, you were telling Gilly about the spinal cord incident-“
“Yeah, I remember,” Sam said, shuddering.
“Anyway, some…things…happened between us and I didn’t hear from her for a while afterwards. Eventually we talked and she doesn’t think we should see each other anymore.”
“Wow,” he replied, clearly surprised. “Can someone break up with you when you haven’t even started dating yet?”
“I guess so,” Jon said.
Nearly spilling his scalding coffee on the floor, Sam asked, “Hang on, are you looking at pictures of a dead body?”
“It’s pictures from a crime scene,” Jon said quickly. “Why do you care? You cut open cadavers all the time.”
Purposefully looking away from the computer screen, Sam said, “But that’s different-it’s for class. We’re in a lab. Most of the time it doesn’t even feel like they’re…”
“Real?”
Sam nodded. “Yeah. What’s that for, anyway?”
Jon dragged a hand through his hair, sighing. His eyes felt tired from so much reading and the tension in his shoulders had begun to spread to his spine.
“It’s the case file for Ned Stark’s homicide,” Jon said.
“What do you mean ‘case file?’” Sam asked. “Like the file that belongs to the police?”
“Yes. I had to go to the police department to collect information from old records, it’s for a study that professor Lannister is doing.”
“And you just decided to steal a file or two while you were there? Jon, can’t you be arrested for that?”
Sam began to speak even more quickly, his worried tone picking up steam.
“Won’t they realize you have this? And what if the school finds out? You could get kicked out of the UNC System-“
“No one’s going to find out,” Jon said evenly, appearing calmer than he truly felt. “I didn’t steal it, I just took pictures of the pages. No one saw me do it, I was in a room by myself, there weren’t even any security cameras. I checked.”
Sam sank down beside him on the couch, his cup of coffee forgotten in his panicked state. “But why take the risk? Let the police figure out who killed Ned Stark. They already arrested his friend-that Baratheon guy.”
“I met Robert Baratheon at the wake, he didn’t seem like a murderer to me. Just an old drunk who apparently doesn’t pay his taxes,” Jon said dryly.
“But how do you know? He could be behind this whole thing and now you’ve done something you could get in a lot of trouble for.”
Jon shook his head, unsure of how to make Sam understand why he’d done something so undeniably reckless.
“At first they thought Jon Arryn did it, but he was Mr. Stark’s brother in law. They were friends for years. Then the police changed their minds and arrested Robert Baratheon but since then there’s been talk of throwing the case out for lack of evidence. It seems like they just want to be seen doing something, even if they haven’t found the right guy yet.”
“Maybe,” Sam admitted. “But why waste time bringing in the wrong people?”
Jon shrugged. “It’s a high profile crime. A well-known attorney gets gunned-down outside his office in downtown Raleigh after he’s taken on an important case. You don’t hear about that happening very often. If they don’t solve this one people will definitely notice.”
“I guess that’s true.”
Angling his computer screen toward Sam, Jon said, “See this picture of the car’s interior?”
The image showed bloodstains along the tan upholstery where the body had been, but there was no damage to the seats, the windows, or anything else in the vehicle.
“A Colt .45 should have torn through all of this,” Jon said pensively, gesturing to the photograph. “The wounds definitely look like they came from a high caliber weapon, but why wouldn’t there be structural damage anywhere else?”
“The reports definitely say that type of gun was used?” Sam asked.
Jon clicked on the ballistics report. “See, right there.”
“It could just be incompetence, or someone could be lying,” Sam said, concern clearly visible on his round face.
Sam’s words made Jon’s stomach sink lower and lower. At that moment a thought occurred to him that he hadn’t considered before, one that, ordinarily, he would dismiss as paranoid and unfounded, but the inconsistencies in the case file had left him rattled.
What if the killer knows someone on the inside? Jon wondered. Or several people. Mr. Stark had just taken on a big case-it’s clear that whoever it would hurt decided to put an end to his investigation.
Jon decided to go to bed shortly after that. Physically he felt tired, he’d gone running with Ghost that morning and attended a full day of classes and lab hours after that, but sleep eluded him. Instead of mulling over the details of the case his thoughts turned to more personal matters. Jon stared at the ceiling above his bed, wondering if he would ever get another chance with Sansa or if he would pull up facebook one day only to see a picture of her with a new boyfriend.
Or with Joffrey, he thought, bitterly remembering how Joffrey Lannister had been in high school and recoiling at the thought of someone so irritating dating Sansa.
Jon sighed into his pillow and rolled over once again, wishing that he could talk to Sansa about what he had seen in the case file, even if it was just on friendly terms. He felt like he owed it to her to share what he’d found out, in spite of the fact that it would be painful for him to spend time with her only as her brother’s friend.
He had thought several times about what he would say to Sansa if she ever changed her mind and decided to talk to him again, but in that moment the only thing Jon wanted to tell her was that he missed her. It was true. In the past couple weeks Jon had thought about her quite a lot, wishing that things had worked out differently between them, that they had gotten to know one another at a happier time in her life, that her father’s murder didn’t hang over the pair of them every time they saw each other.
However, in spite of all the surrounding circumstances once they had gotten to know one another over the summer he had discovered how much they had in common. They both liked the same sad, overly emotional films that Robb and his other friends hated to sit through. One weekend they had watched Never Let Me Go together and, even though Jon had already read the book, he’d felt himself get misty-eyed toward the end, only to glance over and see Sansa furtively wiping at her eyes.
After obsessing over Mr. Stark’s death for the past week Jon wanted to share what he’d found with someone. He didn’t want to call Robb, all the way in South Carolina with his fancy job and Jeyne, his new girlfriend, only to dredge up the death of Robb’s father. Every time that Jon talked to his oldest friend he got the impression that Robb was just trying to move on with his life, to accept the unfortunate new reality for his family. For Sansa and himself it was different. Jon was only a short drive from where Mr. Stark’s office used to be, he saw developments about the case every time he looked at the news, and Sansa had even confessed to him that people sometimes asked her questions at school about her father’s murder.
It’s like he isn’t even a real person to them, she’d said, her breathing coming in unsteady gasps, her arms crossed over her chest.
Jon didn’t remember what he had told her in reply. In his opinion, whatever it was certainly hadn’t been comforting enough. There was nothing he could do to bring her father back, Jon knew, but he might be able to catch the person who took Mr. Stark away from them all. Not for himself or for revenge, but for Sansa. At least he could give her that.
--
Jon tugged at the collar of his slate-gray dress shirt, feeling uncomfortable in the heat. Even at the end of September it was still hot in North Carolina, the temperature warm enough to make his button down and long pants feel oppressive, the air having cooled only marginally since the sun went down.
He knocked on the door and smiled reflexively when professor Lannister opened it.
“Come in,” he said, waving Jon inside. “You’re right on time, as usual.”
“I guess that’s one of those habits you pick up in the service,” Jon said sheepishly.
Tyrion chuckled and led him into the kitchen where he introduced Jon to his wife Shae. She had dark had and black eyes and she was dishing out what looked to be a wonderful meal of jambalaya and corn bread.
They all sat down at the polished hardwood table but there was a knock on the door before the food was even served. A small grimace passed over professor Lannister’s face before he removed his napkin from his lap and pushed his chair away from the table, the chair legs scraping loudly against the hardwood floor.
“I’ll get that,” Tyrion said, leaving his seat.
Jon heard the front door open and close, along with the deeper tones of another man’s voice. A few moments later professor Lannister popped his head in the kitchen.
“Dad stopped by to talk about something, it shouldn’t take too long. Don’t wait to eat on my account,” he assured them.
Jon had spent enough time around Tyrion Lannister by now to be able to tell when he had something on his mind. Jon also noticed that, despite being family, Tyrion’s father didn’t take the time to say hello to Shae, his own daughter-in-law. It was the kind of behavior that his mother would have called rude.
“Do you mind if I use the rest room?” Jon asked.
“Not at all,” Shae said kindly. “The bathroom is at the end of the hallway.”
“Thanks.”
Jon walked quietly down the dim hall, passing by a barely cracked door that was most likely professor Lannister’s office. He really did need to use the bathroom, but at the mention of Ned Stark’s name Jon crept back to just outside the office door, listening hard and hoping that Shae or professor Lannister didn’t catch him in such an awkward position.
“…every time we’re mentioned with the Stark case in the papers.”
“Why does it matter?” he heard Tyrion ask. “Robert Baratheon doesn’t pay his taxes, so what? How were you supposed to know that? They can’t possibly say you’re connected to his poor financial decisions.”
His voice sounding incredibly harsh, Jon heard Tyrion’s father say, “The more they look into Robert Baratheon’s finances the better their chances are at seeing a connection to us. There are financial ties between Baratheon Industries and Lannister Pharmaceuticals that would be difficult to explain. We’ll handle the editor later, I’ve got someone in mind to take his place, but that’s not why I came here. I need you to confirm that you’ll be leaving your teaching post by the spring.”
Jon’s mouth fell open in shock. He quickly covered it with his hand, listening for professor Lannister’s reply even more intently, his ear practically glued to the wall.
“Confirm? I never agreed to come work for you-I still haven’t made a decision.”
“Well you’ve run out of time,” Tyrion’s father said sharply. “I’m expecting you to take over Jaime’s position in January. Plan accordingly.”
Jon walked to the bathroom as quickly as he could while trying to remain completely silent. Once he got to the bathroom he turned on the tap, letting the sink fill with cold water before splashing his face with it, trying to clear his head before having to face professor Lannister across the dinner table. Jon had heard about Tywin Lannister in the papers: he was one of the wealthiest businessmen in North Carolina, the southeast even, and obviously someone with connections.
Wiping his face with a monogrammed hand towel, Jon thought about what Tyrion’s father had said about Lannister Pharmaceuticals and Baratheon Industries. It sounded like the Lannisters were involved in something a little more serious than tax evasion, and whatever that might be it seemed like Tyrion’s father was especially concerned about being linked to Mr. Stark’s death, to the point where he had arranged for an editor to be replaced.
An editor where? Jon wondered.
His knuckles turning white, he gripped the edge of the bathroom sink with both hands, thinking about Mr. Stark’s case against wealthy, powerful people. Jon took a deep breath and left the bathroom, certain for the first time that taking those case files had been the right decision after all.
--
Author: luna_plath
Rating: Mature
Pairing: Jon/Sansa
Word count: 2,500
Warnings: character death, sexuality, mentions of past abusive relationship,
Summary: The murder of Ned Stark shocks all of central North Carolina. While the police investigate the circumstances surrounding Ned's murder, his daughter Sansa Stark reunites with Jon Snow, an old family friend. An Afghan War veteran, Snow takes it upon himself to investigate Ned's mysterious death--whatever the cost.
AN: I'm going to the beach for the next couple days so I figured I'd go ahead and post this.
Jon scrolled through the pictures he’d taken of the Stark case file, pausing to look at the crime scene photos despite the hollow, unpleasant feeling in his gut. He hadn’t finished reading all the paperwork he’d photographed, there was more information than he’d expected to find, and yet he continued to look at the images of Mr. Stark’s wounds over and over again, unable to determine what, exactly, he was troubled by.
Something is wrong here, Jon thought, looking at the pictures that had been taken of Ned Stark’s black Audi.
As an Army Ranger Jon had seen what high caliber weapons did to people, the wounds Mr. Stark had suffered certainly reflected that, but the interior of his car looked undamaged. In Afghanistan Jon had seen rounds tear through men and continue through the wall behind them. He wasn’t an expert in forensics, but the photo he’d taken of the ballistics report stated that the bullets likely came from an old-fashioned Colt .45 revolver, the kind of gun Jon remembered seeing in John Wayne movies as a kid.
“It’s weird to see you here by yourself,” Sam said from the doorway of the cramped kitchen, making himself a cup of coffee despite the late hour.
“Why’s that?” Jon asked, not looking away from his computer screen.
“Normally Sansa’s here with you.”
Jon hadn’t mentioned anything to Sam about Sansa and their unsuccessful talk at the park. He was sure that his long-time friend had noticed a change in his behavior-for the past two weeks Jon had spent more time in the lab than usual and he had never been so ahead on his school work. It was easier, he found, to keep busy when you didn’t want to think about something painful.
After a period of silence from Jon, Sam joined him in the living room, sipping from his steaming mug.
“Did something happen between you two?” he asked, making an effort to sound casual.
“I don’t think we’re going to be hanging out much anymore,” Jon explained. “Remember that night she came over, it was late, you were telling Gilly about the spinal cord incident-“
“Yeah, I remember,” Sam said, shuddering.
“Anyway, some…things…happened between us and I didn’t hear from her for a while afterwards. Eventually we talked and she doesn’t think we should see each other anymore.”
“Wow,” he replied, clearly surprised. “Can someone break up with you when you haven’t even started dating yet?”
“I guess so,” Jon said.
Nearly spilling his scalding coffee on the floor, Sam asked, “Hang on, are you looking at pictures of a dead body?”
“It’s pictures from a crime scene,” Jon said quickly. “Why do you care? You cut open cadavers all the time.”
Purposefully looking away from the computer screen, Sam said, “But that’s different-it’s for class. We’re in a lab. Most of the time it doesn’t even feel like they’re…”
“Real?”
Sam nodded. “Yeah. What’s that for, anyway?”
Jon dragged a hand through his hair, sighing. His eyes felt tired from so much reading and the tension in his shoulders had begun to spread to his spine.
“It’s the case file for Ned Stark’s homicide,” Jon said.
“What do you mean ‘case file?’” Sam asked. “Like the file that belongs to the police?”
“Yes. I had to go to the police department to collect information from old records, it’s for a study that professor Lannister is doing.”
“And you just decided to steal a file or two while you were there? Jon, can’t you be arrested for that?”
Sam began to speak even more quickly, his worried tone picking up steam.
“Won’t they realize you have this? And what if the school finds out? You could get kicked out of the UNC System-“
“No one’s going to find out,” Jon said evenly, appearing calmer than he truly felt. “I didn’t steal it, I just took pictures of the pages. No one saw me do it, I was in a room by myself, there weren’t even any security cameras. I checked.”
Sam sank down beside him on the couch, his cup of coffee forgotten in his panicked state. “But why take the risk? Let the police figure out who killed Ned Stark. They already arrested his friend-that Baratheon guy.”
“I met Robert Baratheon at the wake, he didn’t seem like a murderer to me. Just an old drunk who apparently doesn’t pay his taxes,” Jon said dryly.
“But how do you know? He could be behind this whole thing and now you’ve done something you could get in a lot of trouble for.”
Jon shook his head, unsure of how to make Sam understand why he’d done something so undeniably reckless.
“At first they thought Jon Arryn did it, but he was Mr. Stark’s brother in law. They were friends for years. Then the police changed their minds and arrested Robert Baratheon but since then there’s been talk of throwing the case out for lack of evidence. It seems like they just want to be seen doing something, even if they haven’t found the right guy yet.”
“Maybe,” Sam admitted. “But why waste time bringing in the wrong people?”
Jon shrugged. “It’s a high profile crime. A well-known attorney gets gunned-down outside his office in downtown Raleigh after he’s taken on an important case. You don’t hear about that happening very often. If they don’t solve this one people will definitely notice.”
“I guess that’s true.”
Angling his computer screen toward Sam, Jon said, “See this picture of the car’s interior?”
The image showed bloodstains along the tan upholstery where the body had been, but there was no damage to the seats, the windows, or anything else in the vehicle.
“A Colt .45 should have torn through all of this,” Jon said pensively, gesturing to the photograph. “The wounds definitely look like they came from a high caliber weapon, but why wouldn’t there be structural damage anywhere else?”
“The reports definitely say that type of gun was used?” Sam asked.
Jon clicked on the ballistics report. “See, right there.”
“It could just be incompetence, or someone could be lying,” Sam said, concern clearly visible on his round face.
Sam’s words made Jon’s stomach sink lower and lower. At that moment a thought occurred to him that he hadn’t considered before, one that, ordinarily, he would dismiss as paranoid and unfounded, but the inconsistencies in the case file had left him rattled.
What if the killer knows someone on the inside? Jon wondered. Or several people. Mr. Stark had just taken on a big case-it’s clear that whoever it would hurt decided to put an end to his investigation.
Jon decided to go to bed shortly after that. Physically he felt tired, he’d gone running with Ghost that morning and attended a full day of classes and lab hours after that, but sleep eluded him. Instead of mulling over the details of the case his thoughts turned to more personal matters. Jon stared at the ceiling above his bed, wondering if he would ever get another chance with Sansa or if he would pull up facebook one day only to see a picture of her with a new boyfriend.
Or with Joffrey, he thought, bitterly remembering how Joffrey Lannister had been in high school and recoiling at the thought of someone so irritating dating Sansa.
Jon sighed into his pillow and rolled over once again, wishing that he could talk to Sansa about what he had seen in the case file, even if it was just on friendly terms. He felt like he owed it to her to share what he’d found out, in spite of the fact that it would be painful for him to spend time with her only as her brother’s friend.
He had thought several times about what he would say to Sansa if she ever changed her mind and decided to talk to him again, but in that moment the only thing Jon wanted to tell her was that he missed her. It was true. In the past couple weeks Jon had thought about her quite a lot, wishing that things had worked out differently between them, that they had gotten to know one another at a happier time in her life, that her father’s murder didn’t hang over the pair of them every time they saw each other.
However, in spite of all the surrounding circumstances once they had gotten to know one another over the summer he had discovered how much they had in common. They both liked the same sad, overly emotional films that Robb and his other friends hated to sit through. One weekend they had watched Never Let Me Go together and, even though Jon had already read the book, he’d felt himself get misty-eyed toward the end, only to glance over and see Sansa furtively wiping at her eyes.
After obsessing over Mr. Stark’s death for the past week Jon wanted to share what he’d found with someone. He didn’t want to call Robb, all the way in South Carolina with his fancy job and Jeyne, his new girlfriend, only to dredge up the death of Robb’s father. Every time that Jon talked to his oldest friend he got the impression that Robb was just trying to move on with his life, to accept the unfortunate new reality for his family. For Sansa and himself it was different. Jon was only a short drive from where Mr. Stark’s office used to be, he saw developments about the case every time he looked at the news, and Sansa had even confessed to him that people sometimes asked her questions at school about her father’s murder.
It’s like he isn’t even a real person to them, she’d said, her breathing coming in unsteady gasps, her arms crossed over her chest.
Jon didn’t remember what he had told her in reply. In his opinion, whatever it was certainly hadn’t been comforting enough. There was nothing he could do to bring her father back, Jon knew, but he might be able to catch the person who took Mr. Stark away from them all. Not for himself or for revenge, but for Sansa. At least he could give her that.
--
Jon tugged at the collar of his slate-gray dress shirt, feeling uncomfortable in the heat. Even at the end of September it was still hot in North Carolina, the temperature warm enough to make his button down and long pants feel oppressive, the air having cooled only marginally since the sun went down.
He knocked on the door and smiled reflexively when professor Lannister opened it.
“Come in,” he said, waving Jon inside. “You’re right on time, as usual.”
“I guess that’s one of those habits you pick up in the service,” Jon said sheepishly.
Tyrion chuckled and led him into the kitchen where he introduced Jon to his wife Shae. She had dark had and black eyes and she was dishing out what looked to be a wonderful meal of jambalaya and corn bread.
They all sat down at the polished hardwood table but there was a knock on the door before the food was even served. A small grimace passed over professor Lannister’s face before he removed his napkin from his lap and pushed his chair away from the table, the chair legs scraping loudly against the hardwood floor.
“I’ll get that,” Tyrion said, leaving his seat.
Jon heard the front door open and close, along with the deeper tones of another man’s voice. A few moments later professor Lannister popped his head in the kitchen.
“Dad stopped by to talk about something, it shouldn’t take too long. Don’t wait to eat on my account,” he assured them.
Jon had spent enough time around Tyrion Lannister by now to be able to tell when he had something on his mind. Jon also noticed that, despite being family, Tyrion’s father didn’t take the time to say hello to Shae, his own daughter-in-law. It was the kind of behavior that his mother would have called rude.
“Do you mind if I use the rest room?” Jon asked.
“Not at all,” Shae said kindly. “The bathroom is at the end of the hallway.”
“Thanks.”
Jon walked quietly down the dim hall, passing by a barely cracked door that was most likely professor Lannister’s office. He really did need to use the bathroom, but at the mention of Ned Stark’s name Jon crept back to just outside the office door, listening hard and hoping that Shae or professor Lannister didn’t catch him in such an awkward position.
“…every time we’re mentioned with the Stark case in the papers.”
“Why does it matter?” he heard Tyrion ask. “Robert Baratheon doesn’t pay his taxes, so what? How were you supposed to know that? They can’t possibly say you’re connected to his poor financial decisions.”
His voice sounding incredibly harsh, Jon heard Tyrion’s father say, “The more they look into Robert Baratheon’s finances the better their chances are at seeing a connection to us. There are financial ties between Baratheon Industries and Lannister Pharmaceuticals that would be difficult to explain. We’ll handle the editor later, I’ve got someone in mind to take his place, but that’s not why I came here. I need you to confirm that you’ll be leaving your teaching post by the spring.”
Jon’s mouth fell open in shock. He quickly covered it with his hand, listening for professor Lannister’s reply even more intently, his ear practically glued to the wall.
“Confirm? I never agreed to come work for you-I still haven’t made a decision.”
“Well you’ve run out of time,” Tyrion’s father said sharply. “I’m expecting you to take over Jaime’s position in January. Plan accordingly.”
Jon walked to the bathroom as quickly as he could while trying to remain completely silent. Once he got to the bathroom he turned on the tap, letting the sink fill with cold water before splashing his face with it, trying to clear his head before having to face professor Lannister across the dinner table. Jon had heard about Tywin Lannister in the papers: he was one of the wealthiest businessmen in North Carolina, the southeast even, and obviously someone with connections.
Wiping his face with a monogrammed hand towel, Jon thought about what Tyrion’s father had said about Lannister Pharmaceuticals and Baratheon Industries. It sounded like the Lannisters were involved in something a little more serious than tax evasion, and whatever that might be it seemed like Tyrion’s father was especially concerned about being linked to Mr. Stark’s death, to the point where he had arranged for an editor to be replaced.
An editor where? Jon wondered.
His knuckles turning white, he gripped the edge of the bathroom sink with both hands, thinking about Mr. Stark’s case against wealthy, powerful people. Jon took a deep breath and left the bathroom, certain for the first time that taking those case files had been the right decision after all.
--