The Wolf and The Lion || Jaime Lannister

Seventy Seven

Rayna

When I find Sansa she is in her room checking the food stores and muttering under her breath.
"Sansa", I say from the doorway and when she looks up she isn't smiling as I'd hoped.
"Yes?"
I approach her and put my hand on her desk "You know that I'm home now, I can take care of all that"
"I've been doing it for months, I'll handle it", she says coldly but I don't let my emotions show. I thought it would be Jon she'd be displeased with, not me.
"What is it?", I ask trying to keep my voice even.
She closes the book and looks up at me with so much frustration in her eyes I'm taken back by it.
"You and Jon were gone for months, I have been the Lady of Winterfell and I took care of the North. Now you have all come back and everything I've done is already being ruined"
She's not completely wrong but she knew what our plans were.
"Sansa you knew that we intended to bring allies to fight with us against the dead and we have done that, we've been mining the dragonglass for months and this army is our only chance of survival"
She looks up at me and I can see in her eyes this is more personal than food stores and alliances.
"Jon has brought home a Targaryen Queen", she says with so much spitefulness in her voice that even I can't see proper reason for it.
"Jon loves her, and I believe that she loves him", I tell her and she looks even more bitter.
"I don't trust her", she admits shamelessly and I can't blame her but at the same time I don't know how I feel.
"Why?" I ask wanting to know what she can see that I can't, or if she sees exactly what I've been wanting someone to confirm.
"Do you trust her?" she asks me and I know what she's doing.
"I trust her to bring Cersei fire and blood", I reply but she gives me a skeptical look. She knows me too well.
"How do you really feel?"
"I've gotten to know her well over these past few months. There are two sides to her, there is the one that Jon and Tyrion see, she can be good and kind and compassionate. I believe she does want to break the wheel and be a good Queen, everywhere she went she freed men and they fought for her. She is a good Queen who loves her people and if I wasn't a Queen by my own right but simply a Lady then I would have declared for her"
"And the other side?"
I hesitate for a moment but this is Sansa I am speaking to. She is clever, taught by Littlefinger and Cersei just as I was. She is my own flesh and blood and I trust her.
"She can be ruthless, there are moments I look into her eyes and I see nothing but the lust for power. The moment that left me appalled was her ambush on the Lannister troops, I had no idea Jaime was going to be there and God's when I saw him across the battlefield I was terrified. I saw those men burn, I saw what those dragons and her army can do. It wasn't a battle it was a slaughter and she would have executed the survivors if I hadn't intervened. There are moments where I look at her and I don't see the breaker of chains, I see the Mad Kings daughter".
"Then why is she here?" is all she asks. She's almost as mistrusting of outsiders as the rest of the North. Sometimes I swear I am the only Northerner willing to make allies and friends with outsiders.
"She has the world largest army and we need it, the dead are coming and we can't defend against them alone"
"And how do we know that she won't use her army to take Winterfell and the North once the dead are defeated"
"We don't", I say knowing that this whole situation is a massive risk "Do you remember what Littlefinger taught us?"
"What part?" She mutters and we both know that Littlefinger taught us many things, good and bad. I tried to protect her from him as much as I could but I know that his influence wasn't all bad. He never got to chance to hurt or betray Sansa like he did to me, I took the brunt of that but she learned almost as much as I did.
"Everyone is our enemy and everyone is our friend", I remind her "In a few months we may be at war with her but for now she is our friend and if we want to be allies with her then we must act like her friend. Her and I have built a genuine friendship as rocky as it may be and I need to sustain that. You don't need to be her friend you just need to act like one, lie through your teeth if you must and tell no one of your doubts but me, not Bran or Arya or even Brienne, and especially not Jon do you understand?"
She nods in understanding. She is clever and she may make the occasional remark but she will not jeopardise this. Deep down she knows we need Daenerys.
"What if she tries to reclaim the North?" She asks again. Her hostility towards Daenerys is derived from fear. The fear we may lose our home again and I will never let that happen.
"I'll quote Littlefinger again in saying that chaos isn't a pit it's a ladder. It is a ladder that the Starks have used well while all the other houses have fallen into that pit. Daenerys may have an army but she doesn't have the loyalty of the houses, she is used to taking what's hers with fire and blood but she can't do that here which is why we have the advantage. Westeros knows the Starks, they know us as Ned Starks children and they trust us. They know Daenerys as the Mad Kings daughter and they do not trust her which is why if she makes one wrong step she will fall into that pit. We will die before we let anyone take our home from us again and Jon will make sure that Daenerys stays true to her word to let the North be free"
"Just how Jaime was going to make sure Cersei stayed true to her word", she remarks and I give her a warning look.
"That was different, Daenerys isn't cunning or manipulative like Cersei and besides her closest advisor is my brother by law now"
"And my ex husband as you've assured me the marriage was annulled", she reminds me.
"I almost forgot that we have both shared Cersei as a sister by law"
"An awful thing indeed", she says and I nod in agreement "I can't wait for her execution"
"Who knows we may share Daenerys as a sister next", I say in good just but she's not impressed as she leans back in her chair.
She looks up at the ceiling as she says "First a Stark and a Lannister wed then another Stark and Lannister and now perhaps a Stark and a Targaryen, just imagine what father would say"
I laugh a little "I don't have to imagine what he'd say about Jaime and I, I heard it all before he died"
In the end he did give his consent, not his blessing because he hated Jaime more than any man alive but I was pregnant so he knew that I would have married Jaime for that reason alone.
"So Jaime is alright?" Sansa asks skeptically as always "Are you sure Cersei was lying?"
"We both know Cersei is a lying whore but she's good at it"
"Lying or being a whore?", she asks as she takes a drink.
"Both", I smirk "And Bran told me that Jaime is alive and that my child will know it's father"
The skepticism finally leaves her eyes and then she does a double take "Are you?" she gasps as she realises "Your pregnant?"
I only then realise that I never told Sansa, I told Jon and Tyrion and Theon and all of them but I only just returned and haven't had a chance to tell her.
"I am", I grin and she hugs me tightly and then she pulls away in confusion.
"But the last time you saw Jaime was at the dragon pit a few weeks ago and before that months ago at Winterfell?" She asks as she tries to piece together how far along I am.
"Well let's just say I saw him in Riverrun a few weeks before the dragon pit so I'd be two, almost three months along"
She touches my stomach and can feel how swollen it is under the clothing.
"Does he know?" she asks and I nod.
"I knew for sure when I took the boat to Kings Landing from Dragonstone, I'd missed my bleeding and I'd never been so seasick", I tell her "He is so happy, he can finally have a child he can call his own"
"I'm sure he'd be happy to have any child that's not Joffrey", she comments and we both share an amused look.
"If its a boy I'm naming him Robb and if it's a girl I've been thinking of naming her Joanna after Jaimes mother"
"Robb Stark the second of his name", she says and we both share a look "I wish Robb was here"
"So do I"