"And what was that all about?" Elena dared to ask from Jaime as soon as she had finished checking on Joanna and Harrold.

She took a seat at her dressing table and raked her hands through her hair, pulling out the pins she had used to pull her hair from her face. She kept silent whilst her husband stripped himself from his clothes and rubbed his hand down his chin. His anger still consumed him and he wondered what he was feeling.

Had he been jealous? Was that jealousy?

"Damion was leering," Jaime informed her. "I've noticed he's been doing that a lot recently...especially since you lost weight from childbirth."

"That tends to be what happens," she nodded to Jaime. "I have no interest in Damion. I thought that he could be a friend at first, but I soon realise that was foolish. I only want to know why he seems intent on...well..."

"Seducing you?" Jaime guessed for her and she nodded to him.

"I mean...I am quite clearly married," Elena said and she stood up from the table and pulled at the laces to her gown, wondering whether she should call her handmaiden in.

Jaime seemed to notice her struggling and he moved over to help her. He pulled them loose for her and she kept her hair over her shoulder to give him better access. She was silent as Jaime tugged at them and she wondered what ran through Damion's mind. What had he been thinking?

"Why would anyone want to seduce me?" Elena whispered and Jaime caught her gaze in the long mirror.

"You're kind...smart...you have a fair face," Jaime told her and she looked over her shoulder to him as he ran his hand down her slender neck and looked her in the eye again. "And you are a good mother."

Elena scoffed at that and she moved from Jaime, her gown pooling to her feet as she did so. She walked over to the wardrobe to pull out her nightgown.

"I'm a tired mother," Elena corrected to Jaime. "Having twins has been hard work, Jaime...and...staying in King's Landing has done nothing for me. Would you ever contemplate going back to Casterly Rock? We could go and raise the children...let them breath the clean, sea air."

Jaime sighed lightly and he contemplated nodding his agreement to her, but he couldn't. His mind went back to Cersei and he knew that she would never approve. Jaime was doing nothing but making his wife miserable. He could send her back to the Rock, but she wouldn't agree. She wouldn't leave him with his sister. She may have lost him, but she refused to let him dishonour her further or risk rumours.

"Before the children grow older," Jaime tried to appease her. "When they are children and are able to run and study...then perhaps we shall go back to the Rock."

Elena sighed and realised that there was no point in arguing with Jaime. She stripped her undergarments from her body and placed her nightgown on instead. She took her seat back down at the vanity and began to tie her hair into a plait. Jaime watched her with interest before he began to strip from his own clothes.

"Does she even love you?" Elena dared to ask Jaime. "I see how you look at her and it is almost as if she is the centre of your world...but...she doesn't look at you like that. I don't know, Jaime."

"It is complicated, Elena," Jaime reminded her.

"Isn't everything?" Elena replied. "And as much as I hate you for not even trying to love me...I do...Gods...I care for you. You're an arrogant, self centred fool. But I care for you despite that."

"You don't need to fret over me," he promised her and she shook her head.

"I don't," she replied. "But I do fret over our children and if anyone ever knew what I know."

"No one will," Jaime assured her. "I am trying to do my best, Elena. I have not been alone with my sister since before the babes were born."

"I just worry how long it will be before you crumble," Elena admitted. "And then I worry about the consequences. If we continue to stay here then we risk so much."

Jaime chuckled as Elena finished with her hair and stood up. She checked on the twins again and bent down to kiss them on the top of the head.

"I have self restraint," Jaime assured her.

"No you don't," Elena replied and she pulled the covers to the bed back before she crawled into bed. "You're far too gone for self restraint."

Jaime was about to argue with her, but he didn't bother. He watched Elena turn onto her side and noted how she closed her eyes and allowed sleep to overcome her. Jaime remained on his back, his eyes set on the ceiling as he thought about her words. Was he too far gone? He didn't know, but he did know that his father had been right when he said that his children should come before everyone else.

...

"I told father that I wanted to go travelling," Tyrion informed Elena as they sat out in the gardens the following morning

The twins tried to crawl on the blanket the handmaidens had laid out for them. One of them tried to stop Joanna from crawling to the dirt, but Elena was quicker. She scooped her into her arms and rested her on her lap, holding a small boat in her hands and waving it in front of her as Joanna reached for it.

"Your eleventh name day just passed," Elena said. "You are far too young to travel alone."

"Not now," Tyrion shook his head back and forth. "I want to go when I am ten and six. I am a man then, Elena. I should be able to go."

"A man?" Elena checked with a cocked brow. "And where is it you want to go?"

"Everywhere," Tyrion said. "I'd like to travel everywhere...the North...Riverlands...the Reach...maybe even Braavos?"

"That is quite a distance," Elena replied. "And what did your father say when you asked him?"

Elena watched as Harrold reached for his sister and Elena set Joanna back down on the blanket, shifting her position on the floor so that she was comfier. She wriggled slightly and Tyrion folded one leg over the other.

"He said that I was a fool," Tyrion muttered. "He said that no one would ever take me to all of these places...that I would be lucky to be Master of Drains for Casterly Rock."

"Bastard," Elena muttered under her breath so that Tyrion couldn't hear her.

She shook her head at him, refusing to let Tyrion see how annoyed she was. Elena had just turned nineteen years of age and already she was soon learning that Tywin Lannister was not a man she wanted to anger, but she would do if he angered her back. She was as much a Lannister as he was now and she refused to be scared of him.

"Someone would go travelling with you," Elena promised him. "I would ask Jaime to find men to accompany you...the best men in the King's army...and if you are to be Master of Drains then I am certain Casterly Rock would have the best drainage system in the entire Seven Kingdoms."

She managed to bring a smile to Tyrion's face and she grinned to him as he chuckled deeply and looked to Harrold who had coughed lightly. Elena picked him up and patted him on the back as Tyrion watched her with intrigue.

"I wish I had known my mother," he whispered. "The twins...they are lucky to have you...you are a good mother..."

"And I am sure your mother is proud of you wherever she is," Elena said. "You are smart, funny and kind, Tyrion. No one else should be able to tell you otherwise."

It was only then when Tyrion looked over his shoulder to Jaime. His brother was sweating and wearing nothing but his shirt and breeches inside of his boots. Jaime settled down next to his wife and she wrinkled her nose at the smell of him.

"What are you two doing out here?" Jaime asked.

"We're enjoying the sun," Elena replied as Joanna crawled towards her father.

Jaime picked her up and held her in the air and she giggled softly. Harrold remained with his mother as Joanna continued to laugh and Jaime smiled down to her.

"And how long do you intend to be out here for?" Jaime asked and he noted Elena's reddening cheeks. "The sun is starting to affect your pale skin."

"We shall stay as long as we wish, shan't we, Tyrion?" Elena checked, smiling over to the boy and Jaime grinned at his brother who was staring at Elena with a small smile.

...

Cersei stood on her balcony, her gaze set on her brother as he walked to sit with his wife. She watched him pick his daughter up, her small white dress flowing around her body as he did so. The twins resembled their mother as much as their father. They had Elena's unruly brown hair, but they had Jaime's strong jaw and green eyes.

She hated the way he seemed happy. He even smiled when he was with his wife and children. Cersei had to spend her evenings in bed with Robert, doing whatever she could to keep him from being intimate with her. Thankfully he was too drunk most of the time to know what was happening. All he knew was that she had lost her first child. Her first child had gone and she had not been pregnant since. But she refused to let him spill his seed inside of her. Having his children disgusted her.

There was only one man she longed for who could give her children. And that man had not been intimate with her in months. She would change that. She would get her way. She always did in the end.

...

"I trust my son has spent all of his free time with you and the twins?"

Elena had been nervous about being called into Tywin's private solar. She had wiped her sweating palms on her skirts and remembered that she should not be scared by Tywin Lannister. It would do her no good to show fear. She had sat down and he had poured her a cup of wine.

"He has," Elena said. "Although there has been a lack of free time due to the twins. They take a lot of looking after."

"Do you not have handmaidens for that job?"

"I prefer to do as much as I can," Elena replied. "They are my children, after all."

"And Jaime?"

"He does what he can when he is not training. I never thought that he would be so taken with the twins...but he does love them..."

"Good." Tywin nodded. "And has he spent any time away from your bed?"

Elena shook her head. "He spends every night in bed. If you fear him returning to his sister then we both share that same fear. I do what I can to keep him from her."

"But you fear him leaving?"

"Yes and no," Elena admitted. "I fear what it could do to our children if he is caught...and...I care for Jaime...but I do not love him like a wife should love her husband. How can I?"

"Love does not interest me," Tywin waved his hand to dismiss Elena. "Keeping your husband happy is the only thing that bothers me."

"As you say." Elena said and made a move to stand.

"And spending time with my other son is not a priority...people already whisper," Tywin said and Elena shook her head at him.

"I like Tyrion," Elena said. "He is a child and someone needs to show him some attention. If not his own father then I am willing to do it, but it is no chore. Tell me, Lord Tywin, you claim that family is important, but what do you know of your family?"

Tywin regarded her coldly and Elena wondered whether she should regret what she had just said. She suspected it would be wise, but she was not known for being wise all of the time.

"Careful, girl," he warned her.

"I always am," Elena said and she turned on her heel to walk away from Tywin.

He would not control her like he tried to control everyone else. She refused to let that happen.

...

A/N: Once again, thank you all for the overwhelming response to the story! I've never received so many reviews for posting just one chapter. Do let me know what you think!