"My lord?"

No answer.

"My lord?" the Lannister soldier said again.

Jaime stood on top of the hill with his army. They looked over Riverrun while on top of the hill. He inhaled a sharp breath and pursed his lips. His hands tightened into fists at his sides as he glowered at the castle surrounded by a glittering river caused by the sun's setting. "Pull back," he growled lowly.

"What?" the soldier asked, clearly surprised.

He turned sharply to the soldier and growled coldly, "I said 'pull back'."

"But we were givin' orders by your father to-"

"I know what he said, but he's not here. Is he?"

"No, my lord-"

"I'm your superior. I'm your lord. I'm the one giving the commands. I say 'jump', you say 'how high'. Am I clear?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Good. Tell the others."

"Yes, my lord." The soldier turned and walked away quickly.

Damn her. She has me wrapped around her finger and she doesn't even realize it. I lover her…and I would do anything for her. Even go against my own blood just to make her love me for me. I'm in love with a woman who does not love me. Jaime chuckled. She even told me to not fall in love with her. How did she know? Was this usual…for men to fall in love with the Rose in the North?

Jaime put his hands on his horse and mounted it. He urged the reins back and the stallion turned around. Jaime did not look back or turn around. He rode back to his family. To her. To his choice. I will make things right between us. I don't want to have a marriage like Cersei's and Robert's. I don't want our children to end up like the others. I'm going to be a father. I will protect them from the horrors of the world…as long as I can.

Maya put out her belly more, the bump now larger than before. She only had her silk crimson red robe on her body as she inspected her body more. If anyone were to see her naked body than they could tell that she was with child. She could see her breasts were getting even bigger and so was her belly. Her hands grazed delicately over the belly. She couldn't help, but smile at the little thing that was inside of her right this very moment. Her smile was warm and genuine as she looked more at it. Maya moved away from the mirror and tied the ribbons on her robe together. She walked to the table in the middle of the tent then stopped. She quickly grabbed her belly and her eyes widened.

"What the fuck…it…why are you moving?!" she whispered harshly.

If Maya barely moved, her hand could feel it move inside of her. Maya smiled brightly at Winter who laid on the bed. "Look!" she said to Winter as she looked at the wolf in the mirror. "It's moving! It's really-I'm going to be a mother. It's real."

At first she was smiling, but then she felt a sharp pain in her lower belly. Her mouth opened in an O shape to call for help, but nothing came out. She felt fear wash over her. All the fear she had buried deep inside of her. The fear that could do more than just eat away at her, but ultimately destroy her. The fear of losing. Maya Stark did not like to lose. She didn't like to lose anything. Just then Jaime came into the tent, still in his armor. Maya did not notice how clean his armor, if she did then she would have said something.

"Jaime," she whimpered in pain as she slouched her shoulders.

Jaime ran to her and held her close to him. "What happened? What's wrong? Maya? Maya?! Tell me."

"It was moving at first then- ah!" Her knees gave out and she gripped the corners of his armor. "It hurts."

Jaime lifted her up in his arms and laid her gently on the bed. "I need for you to breath."

She shook her head as her chest heaved up and down frantically as tears rolled down her face. "I-I can-can't."

He nodded. "Yes you can." He moved the hair from her face, his eyes looking at every possible spot on her beautiful face. "Just do it. I promise that it will make you better."

She nodded quickly and then inhaled and exhaled large breaths. Jaime mirrored her movements as he smiled at her. "Just like that. Good, Rose, again. About five more times."

Inhale, exhale. One.

Inhale, exhale. Two.

Inhale, exhale. Three.

Inhale, exhale. Four.

Inhale, exhale. Five.

The hot tears turned cold and dried on her cheeks. She gave him a weak smile which he returned. The pad of his thumb on his right hand rubbed her cheekbone. Jaime softly kissed her forehead and asked, "Are you alright?"

She nodded. "Yes. The pain is gone. Thank you."

"Anything for you, my Rose."

She chuckled softly and then knitted her eyebrows in confusion as her fingers traced the outline of the lion on his Lannister armor on the breastplate. "Why is there…what happened?"

He averted his eyes and looked down at her fingers. "I did not…we didn't siege the castle."

"What?"

"I didn't-"

"No, I heard what you said, but why? Why did you do it?"

He looked up and down into her eyes. "For you." He suddenly gripped her shoulders. "For you."

"You did it for me?"

"Yes. I love you. I realized that I-I don't want to lose you." His hands came to her face and cupped it tightly. "Tell me you love me. I want to hear you say it, Maya Stark."

"I don't want to be your second choice, Jaime."

"You're not. Isn't that obvious, Maya? I have made the possible worst yet somehow completely right choice I have ever made all because of you. Understand this; I have never in my whole entire life even with my own siblings gone against my father, disobeyed his orders, nothing. Never. I played the golden son role that he had always wanted me to play ever since birth. By now, he already knows what I have done. And I did it all for you. You should already know that you are my first choice."

Maya intakes a shaky breath as she moved away from him. Her hands fiddled in her lap as she sat on her legs. "There is something you need to know about me. I never told anyone about my-my childhood."

"Maya-"

"No, I need to get this out…I killed someone when I was only ten years old. It all happened so fast. I didn't know what was happening. I was so scared and-and he was trying to hurt a friend of mine named…oh Gods what was her name?"

"Who was he trying to hurt?"

"A friend of mine. She had dark hair, slender, um, she was pretty. Light lavender kind of eyes, anyways, I killed the man who was hitting her. I was so scared and frightened. I was about to go crazy until she helped me. She was nice to me. I remember I was searching for something-winter roses, yes, that's what it was. I was searching for those to give to my mother since she seemed so sad. I couldn't find them sadly and I kept on wincing at how badly he kept on hitting her. So I picked up a branch a-and I just snapped. She fed me and talked to me. She was very nice to me, telling me that it was ok; that he deserved to die or something, I don't know…I can't remember. She was nice and then became my friend for a year. I would go and visit her cottage every morning, afternoon, and sunset."

"Why would you think that this would make me love you less?"

Her bottom lip quivered slowly. "Because you don't know what I'm capable of, Jaime. That's not right for a ten year old to be able to snap and just kill someone. I never told my mother and father or anyone else, but after I found that she wasn't there anymore, every year I still went to the cottage. Until one year, I went there and almost got raped, but if it wasn't for Winter then I would've probably been either killed, forced into prostitution, or become a slave."

"You miss her?"

She nodded and smiled softly. "Yeah, I do. A lot. She was my first friend even though she was older than me."

"Do you remember her name?" Jaime asked curiously.

"Um, I think it was…" Maya smiled softly as she gently rubbed her belly when she stared off into the distance. "Tysha. Her name was Tysha."

Jaime's smiled dropped like lighting striking. He frowned and thought, oh, fuck me.

I'm so fucked.

TBC…

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE OVER 100 REVIEWS AND OVER 200 FOLLOWERS FOR THIS STORY! YOU GUYS ARE THE MOST AMAZING AND AWESOME READERS FOR THIS STORY! I hoped you guys liked that little surprise at the end and at the beginning. Remember, this is an AU story so I will change some things in the story and add some of my own characters, but that's not for a LONG time from now. I maybe will explain more about Tysha later on, but I just feel kind of bad for Jaime because this guy cannot get a freaking break from screw ups of his past. Just like come on man! I hoped you all liked this chapter.

REVIEW. FOLLOW. FAVORITE. Until till next time…