The Long Winter | Jaime Lannister X Stark OC | GOT/ASOIAF

Storm

Giana Lannister stood before her father in his solar.

Everyone in the castle was under the impression she was getting fat; she ordered enough food so that they'd think so, and gave what she didn't eat to her grateful maidservant, who had two hungry young sons. That had the added benefit of ensuring the woman kept silent about her growing belly when dressing her, even if Giana had had to assure her doubts several times. Cersei was constantly crowing over the fact she was gaining weight, even though her sister had always been the more beautiful one anyway, and everyone knew it. Cersei just seemed to appreciate that any possible doubt had been taken out of the equation.

However, her father felt differently. Lord Tywin, having eyed her disapprovingly for months now, had called her to his solar to put an end to it. "Gluttony is not befitting to a daughter of House Lannister," His green-gold eyes were harsh and judgemental, intimidating as they always were; she might be his favourite, but that didn't make him any more lenient on her.

Giana suddenly felt a sharp pain to her stomach, and couldn't help but give a small gasp, hand twitching to her belly before she gritted her teeth and bore it. She'd been getting these pains since she woke up early in the morning, and had hoped they'd wear off soon, but if anything they seemed to be getting worse, and more frequent. A feeling of dread had gripped her all day, worrying that something was wrong with the babe, but she knew next to nothing about birthing children and had no one to ask.

Her father was too observant not to notice her wince, however, and his sharp eyes locked onto hers. He raised an eyebrow, not needing to speak for her to know he wanted an explanation.

"It's nothing," She knew it wasn't worth pretending it didn't happen, he had no patience for that. "Just a stomach complai - agh!" She was unable to stop the grimace this time, clutching her stomach in pain. This was definitely worse than the last few. Surely the child was nearly due by now, it had been nine months and ten days since that night at Harrenhal. She'd been counting.

Her father's eyes narrowed as he opened his mouth to say something, but then a stabbing jolt of pure agony wracked through her and Giana cried out, cutting him off and grabbing at the back of the chair to remain standing upright.

"Giana," His voice was sharp, but he was on his feet in an instant, holding her up. She regained her footing, not looking at him, before crying out again as another wave of pain hit and clutching onto the front of his doublet. He held her in a strong grip, but barked for the guards to enter. "Get the Maester for Lady Giana," He ordered. "Now, go!"

The guards practically fled at his snarl.

Her father placed his arm on her waist to guide her to the chair, but then froze as his fingers found the softness of the padding on her side, hidden under her dress. Giana felt ice run through her veins as he felt around her, feeling the hardness of her swollen stomach and the falseness of the padding on her arms and waist. Lord Tywin locked eyes with her own, which she knew looked incredibly guilty, but she stood by her decision and met his stare. He knew, just like that. He did not say a word, which was almost worse. She had never seen him so furious. When the next hideous pain hit her, she half expected him to let her collapse into a heap on the floor.

He didn't let her collapse. Instead, he sat her down in the chair none too gently, remaining standing himself, looming over her. She tried to turn her face away from him, but he grabbed her chin with rough fingers and forced her to look at him. Her father had not even been this angry when Jaime had been raised to the Kingsguard. He had ranted and raged then, cursing Aerys; now he was silent, beyond furious. Whether he was more angry at the fact she was pregnant, or that she had managed to hide it from him for so long, she couldn't tell.