Jaime was getting a little tired of entertaining Harrold Hardyng. It wasn't that Harrold was a bad guy. He wasn't obnoxious or cowardly. He was in fact fairly decent with a sword and witty as well. Both good reasons to like the man he supposed. But time spent with Harrold meant less time spent with Arya. He knew Arya wanted a chance to see her sister but after nearly three days of only being able to see her at the end of the day when they were both too tired to stay awake, he found that he missed her. It was the evening and Harry and Sansa had just retired to their room. Arya was getting ready for bed in her own room with the help of her maids and Jaime had just reached his own room. It was his first moment alone in nearly three days. A knock sounded at the door.

"What!" He shouted rather irritated at whoever was there.

The door opened slowly and it was Sansa who peeked inside. "Ser Jaime?"

"Sansa?" He was a little confused as to what she was doing there visiting in his room.

She let herself in almost shyly and shut the door behind her. "I came because I need to speak to you about Arya."

"Oh. What about her?" Had Arya revealed something in her conversations with her sister to indicate that hated him or something?

"She doesn't know… she doesn't know about about Bran, does she?" Sansa said.

Jaime felt like he'd been punched in the gut. He thought about denying it, about claiming ignorance but couldn't bring himself to do either one. "No. How do you know about it?"

"Petyr Baelish told me. I've known for years. I've had time to let go of the past. I can't say that I forgive you but for my sister's sake I will be civil and not speak of it again after this. However, you need to tell her, and soon." Sansa said.

"I don't think that's a good idea. Not yet." Jaime said.

"I know. Arya clearly cares for you and it will hurt her to know the truth. But she knows I'm keeping something from her. She's been after me for days to tell her what it is. I can't keep putting her off. If the truth comes from me then it will destroy what little happiness she has found here. She'll believe you never planned to tell her and maybe you didn't. I want my sister to be happy. Tell her yourself if you care for her at all." Sansa said.

"I do care for her. I'll tell her eventually but I think she needs more time to heal before having something like that thrown at her." Jaime said.

"I'm a terrible liar Ser. I always have been. Arya will get the truth out of me soon enough. Just tell her so it doesn't have to come from me."

He sighed. "Alright, I will."

Sansa only nodded and left his room, almost fleeing as she did.

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Arya wasn't in the best of moods. Sansa had been acting strange all day. She couldn't for the life of her figure out what Bran had to do with her feelings for Jaime and Sansa refused to tell her what the fuck she had been talking about or why she had ever mentioned it. Every time Arya tried to mention it, Sansa would evade the question entirely. And she knew there was a reason Sansa wouldn't answer the question, an important reason. After all this time away from each other, why would her sister be keeping secrets from her?

Jaime entered the room looking pale and disturbed. Something was wrong. She watched as he poured himself a glass of wine and gulped it down. Then he crossed the room and sat down on the bed next to her.

"We need to talk." He said.

No. Whatever this was, it wasn't going to be good news. She knew that. She could feel it.

"Is it going to be something terrible?" She dared ask him.

"It isn't good." He admitted. "It's about something that happened long ago when I visited Winterfell…Something I did..." Jaime said but then he stopped not wanting or unable to go on.

Winterfell. . Suddenly it all fit together in Arya's mind, what Sansa had been keeping from her and apparently what he was trying to tell her.

"No! Don't say it!" She said anxiously. She had been starting to like him. If he said it then everything would be ruined.

"Arya…"

"Why?" She finally managed to ask. "It was you who pushed Bran...why did you do it?"

"He caught us, Cersei and I. If he had told anyone Robert would have…"

"Just go." Arya said in almost a whisper.

"What?" Jaime asked.

"I want to sleep alone tonight. Get out." She told him.

"I'm sorry Arya." He said as he got up to leave. "I'm sorry."

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Jaime couldn't sleep alone. He had spent almost all of his life sleeping alone and after just a month of sharing a bed he couldn't manage the loneliness. It was really rather pathetic he knew. He decided that perhaps more wine would make him sleepy. After a while, between the exhaustion and the wine sleep finally found him only for him to wake several hours later and be unable to fall back asleep again. He got out of bed with a plan to go find some food in the kitchen. As he passed Arya's door he heard her, crying. She probably didn't want to see him. He went in anyway.

"Go away." She said brokenly when she saw him coming.

"I can't." He told her and went and sat on her bed. "I won't. Not when you're like this."

She said nothing to that, just turned away from him and curled up trying to keep her weeping silent. She hadn't cried like this in several weeks. This was his fault. He reached over and put his hand on her arm, hoping she would accept it there. She took his hand with her own and squeezed it tightly.

"I hate you…" Arya whispered but she clung to his hand all the same. He doubted thatshe really meant it but the words did still sting.

Jaime sat with her until she fell asleep then he pulled free of her hand and went down to the kitchens.

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It was just after breakfast when a chest of things arrived for Arya. Two servants carried the chest into the great hall before they had quite finished the meal.

"I know that box." Arya said, her face pale. She pulled herself to her feet and made her way to the end of the table to open the chest. Jaime, Sansa, and Harrold followed her. "This was Gendry's." Arya said.

Arya opened the box and began to take out each item, one by one. She looked each one over carefully as if it were a newborn child and she was checking to see that the child was whole with all their fingers and toes. There were four swords, each very distinct from one another. There was a dagger, a spearhead, a bunch of horseshoes, and a bull helmet.

"You stupid bull." Arya said as she took out the helmet. "You stupid, stupid, bull…" But instead of bursting into tears like they all expected her to do, she smiled.

Arya insisted on walking back up to her room after breakfast. Sansa went with her. Jaime and Harrold and the knights went elsewhere. She didn't ask where.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Arya asked Sansa as soon as they were alone. She wasn't angry, she just wanted to know why. "About Bran."

"It wasn't my place to tell you." Sansa said sadly. "He's your husband."

"And I'm your sister!"

"Yes, and I want my sister to be happy. Telling you your husband's secrets wouldn't have helped in that endeavor. Would it?" Sansa said.

"I suppose not. What makes you think I could be happy with him after this anyway? He tried to kill our brother!" Arya said with disbelief.

"Yes he did. And he failed. It seems to me like you've been well cared for here at Casterly Rock. Perhaps he is trying to atone for what he has done." Sansa said.

"I doubt that. Why are you defending him?" Arya wanted to know.

Sansa sighed. "I'm not. Not really. But it happened years ago. Why be miserable over something that's impssible to change? He has been kind to you. He might make a good husband if you can learn to forgive him."

Arya just gave Sansa a look like her sister must be crazy. "You really think I could forgive something like that?"

"Do you hate the Hound?" Sansa asked.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"When you told me about him, about the time you spent with him in the Riverlands, it sounded almost as if the two of you had become friends. If you can forgive him for Mycah then…"

"I never forgave him for Mycah! I just learned to forget about it that's all."

"It's the same thing." Sansa told her.

"No it isn't." Arya argued. "The Hound was following the King's orders. I couldn't entirely blame him for that."

"And Jaime was protecting his family from King Robert. How is that any worse?"

Arya only huffed in acknowledgement.

"Just think about it Arya, please." Sansa said. By that time they had reached Arya's room.

"I told him I hated him." Arya said sadly as she went to sit in one of the chairs in the corner of her room.

"I told Harry I hated him once too." Sansa admitted, taking her own chair. "It's not the end of the world."

"I didn't think it was." Arya said defensively.

Sansa shook her head and rolled her eyes at her sister. Then noticing the plate on the table said, "Oh look, someone sent up lemon cakes!"