He sent for her to be brought down for breakfast the next morning, There was no sense in keeping her a prisoner in her room. She would need to be watched carefully as she might still try to escape or kill someone but they might as well try to make her one of the family as much as possible.

"Lady Arya is refusing to let Ser Hiram carry her and she is clearly still in pain as you said, my lord." Mikken told him in the great hall.

"Then I will see to her myself." Jaime said, making his way back up to Arya's room. Ser Hiram was still in there arguing with her.

"You may go Hiram." Jaime told him. "Are you able to walk without pain Arya?"

"I can walk." She said firmly.

He shook his head. "That wasn't what I asked. Can you walk without pain? Because I can send for the maester again and find out if you're healed enough to be out of bed walking."

"I can handle the pain."

"You're too stubborn for your own good." He went to her and picked her up again. She was stiff and angry faced but she did not fight him this time. He carried her down to the great hall.

"So tell me, what were you doing in Braavos?" He asked her over breakfast.

"Training with the faceless men." She told him.

"Truly?" He wasn't entirely surprised. She was clearly a strong willed young woman who didn't care to conform to society's expectations of her.

"What are you doing at Casterly Rock?" She said changing the subject.

"My father had me dismissed from the Kingsguard to take my place as his heir." He explained.

"Which is why you need a wife." She said, irritated.

"Yes, but I don't like it any more than you do. I didn't chose to come here or to take a wife."

"Your father will expect you to have sons." Arya said pointedly.

"I suppose he will." Jaime admitted.

"How do plan on doing your duty without raping me?"

"Perhaps if I continue to be my charming self you'll be more willing." He said with a grin.

"Seven hells…" She gave him a look.

He shrugged. "Or you can take a lover of your choosing and we'll tell my father that the child is mine… I don't really care either way."

"You'd let a Stark bastard inherit Casterly Rock?" Arya said with disbelief.

"It's only a castle. Why should I care who it belongs to after I'm dead?"

"Winterfell isn't just a castle…" She said, trying to keep the emotion from her voice and doing a poor job of it. "If I could give Winterfell to my children I would do it without a second thought. I don't understand you Lannisters."

"You can give Winterfell to our second son, or so King Tommen has decreed." Jaime told her.

Her eyes narrowed at him. "You're saying that only a legitimate Lannister and Stark child will inherit Winterfell… in other words I have to submit to the marriage if I want my children to inherit the north… you do realize it's still rape even if I don't bother to fight you?" She said hardly biting back her anger.

He sighed, looked down at his feet. "I do realize it. And I don't like it."

"Then don't do it." She said exasperated.

"Arya, it's not as simple as that. My father-" He began but she cut him off.

"Your father can go to all seven hells! He doesn't own you. If you don't want to be lord of Casterly Rock then don't lord of Casterly Rock. If you don't want to marry, then don't marry. What can he possibly do to stop you?" Arya said.

"He can have me sent to the Wall." Jaime admitted.

"Is that what he said he would do?"

"He tried to have Tyrion executed. If I fight him on this…"

"Tywin is a formidable man." Arya said, then went on seeing the look Jaime was giving her. "I spent several months with him at Harrenhal. He needed a cupbearer and I was just some random prisoner. I can see why you might be afraid of him."

"I'm not..I'm not afraid of my father." Jaime protested.

"Yes you are." Arya insisted. "You're so afraid of him that you'd rather be a lord of castle you hate and marry a woman you despise just to satisfy him."

"That's not true. I don't hate Casterly Rock. And I don't despise you. But you know nothing of what it is to have a father like mine. A few months in his service is a long time for any servant of his. If he didn't dismiss you right away then that means he liked you. His children weren't so fortunate. Nothing we did could ever be right for him. We were a constant disappointment. He has made it clear that I am forbidden from failing him this time. So I won't fail him, even if that means you have to fake a pregnancy to do it." Jaime told her.

Arya sighed, almost feeling sorry for him after that little speech. "I could fake a pregnancy if you'll let me have my sword back."

"You'll promise not to kill anyone with it?"

"I don't believe in making promises I can't keep." She said.

He almost laughed. "You and your Stark honor. Perhaps in a few months you can have your sword back then."

888888888888888888888888888

Jaime woke in the middle of the night to Mikken shaking his shoulder. "My Lord, please wake up."

"What is it?" He groaned now that he was awake.

"The lady Arya is not in her bed." Mikken said.

"Shit." Jaime was wide awake. If Arya escaped his father would never let him live it down. "Have you started the household searching?"

"Yes my lord, there are already people searching the castle and the grounds."

The search went on for hours with no sign of her. Granted, Casterly Rock was a huge castle and there were many places to hide if that's what she was doing. Jaime had been searching with everyone else and turned down a corridor in the west wing of the castle. he saw a door ajar down the hallway which seemed strange given that all the other doors were closed firmly. Sword drawn, he pushed the door open with his foot. He heard a sniffle from the far corner of the room.

"Arya?"

"Yes, I give up. You've found me." She said, her voice sounded raw and sore.

Jaime reached for a torch from the hallway and lit the room. Arya was curled up on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. Her eyes were red rimmed from crying not long ago but she was calm and composed as she looked at him now.

"What are you doing?" Surely she could have escaped four of five times by now in all the chaos of people searching for her.

"I wasn't trying to escape. I was looking for my sword. I don't feel safe without my sword."

Jaime looked down at his golden hand and knew that he completely understood the sentiment. "Come with me."

She stood and followed him, limping a little as they went.

"I could carry you." He offered.

"Don't." She snapped.

He didn't even try to this time. Jaime led her to the armory and unlocked the door. Arya's sword and her bag of things was on a table in the center of the room. Jaime picked it up and gave it to her. "You should know that even with the sword you are still greatly outnumbered here. If you use it to kill anyone there will be consequences."

"I know." She nodded, tears in her eyes.

"Let's get you back to bed."