The Love We Never Had

Chapter Two

Arya was terrified. Yes, Jaime had said that she looked beautiful, but wasn't he almost required to say that as her future husband? Lord Tywin had not seemed pleased when they were briefly introduced, maybe he was disappointed in her? And Jaime seemed to really love his siblings, so what if they didn't like her? Would that mean that he would start treating her poorly? Would she be sent home if she disappointed them?

Jaime could feel Arya tensing up as they walked, her hand had started to grip his arm tighter and he could feel her skin becoming very hot as she was apparently working herself up over something. He frowned and decided he would ask her about it, before she worked herself into a hysterical state and they were around to many people for him to try and help her. He pulled her into an alcove in the hallway where a window seat was, looking out over the docks.

"What's wrong love?" Jaime said quietly, sitting down on the seat so that he was looking up at her for a change. She started wringing her hands again, trying not to look at his piercing emerald eyes. Jaime frowned and pulled her hands apart so that he was holding them in his much larger ones. He gave her a moment as she looked like she was trying to build up the nerve to say something, or maybe she was trying to find the right words. Finally she looked back down at him.

"What if your family doesn't like me?" She whispered, looking down at their entwined hands, almost like she was afraid someone would hear them. He chuckled.

"Who wouldn't love you darling?" Jaime said, not bothering to whisper as he didn't care who heard him. He was being truthful too, he couldn't imagine someone spending time with this woman and not leaving loving her. She rolled her eyes at him.

"I'm being serious Jaime." She was frowning now, and when he looked up at her eyes he could see tears forming there. He frowned and squeezed her hands, hoping she would look at him. She did.

"I was being serious Arya. But if you're that worried about it then I'll tell you what will happen if one of my idiotic family members don't like you, which they will, because you are marvelous darling. They will just have to suck it up. And if anyone says anything mean I will handle it. But you aren't going to go anywhere. You're mine now love." Jaime was smiling at her, and she could tell he was being serious, because when he said he would handle it, there was a dangerous flash in his eyes that Arya hadn't seen on him, but had seen on her father when people had disrespected her mother, or on Brandon when Petyr Baelish talked to Catelyn Tully. So she nodded, and squeezed his hands, almost like she was afraid to let go.

Jaime smiled up at her softly, and pulled her down until she was sitting on his lap, which she found very improper by the way, and he held her. Arya had never felt so safe, and loved, and honestly she never wanted to leave. So she relaxed, and she let her head rest in the crook between Jaime's neck and his shoulder, and she rested her hand on one of the arms that were holding her. As Jaime breathed, he felt like their heartbeats were lining up together, and becoming one. And then there was Cersei.

Cersei froze as she saw that Northern whore sitting with her Jaime. On the lap of her Jaime. She could have growled. She could have killed. But she breathed. She took in a deep breath. And folded her hands in front of her.

"Excuse me." She said, and watched, with a malicious sort of joy as she scared the wretch out of Jaime's hold, who had been glaring at her since she arrived.

"Supper will be beginning shortly." She said, not with the tone of a lady, but with the louder, sharper tone of a spiteful woman who hated everyone. And then she proceeded down the hall, trying to conceal her rage by clenching her skirts in her hands.

Arya felt incredibly uncomfortable, Jaime's sister, his twin sister, had just caught them... she had caught them embracing in a public space! It was horrible, it was the worst first impression. And Jaime seemed to know what she was thinking because he quickly wrapped his arm around her waist and put his other hand on the side of her face, turning her to look at him.