Author's Notes: So, if anyone is wondering why these chapters are so short, it's because I originally posted these on tumblr; and I didn't want them to be ridiculously long. I'd change it, but I like where they stop for each chapter.

Disclaimer: If I owned these characters, I'd be a happier person in general. GRRM owns all of them and kills me instead.

In the Lion's Den
part ii

"There are things we need to discuss," Tywin stated, no longer beating around the bush. Yes, she preferred it this way. She didn't have the desire to dance around with all the proper politeness. "I've come to broker a truce with you."

"With me?" It wasn't a question so much as incredulity.

"Yes, a truce, with you." Tywin stepped towards her, proud and unrelenting. This was a man who was used to getting his way; and Catelyn was a woman that knew how to deal with men like that.

She refused to move, even if he was trying to intimidate her. She had never been a timid maid; she would not be one now. Besides, she mused, she had nothing left to lose. What else could they take from her? Here, the only person they could hurt was her, and she did not care about that any longer. "Why would you want to do that? Why would I want to do that? You killed my son, kept my daughter hostage, lost the other, burned my father's land and tortured his people. I have no peace to strike with you."

"It is not your peace that I seek, Lady Stark," Tywin explained, "but the peace of the North and the Riverlands." She pressed her lips together. The North had only been her home when she gave birth to her children and came to love Ned. She didn't know what it was to her now, but she had started to lose pieces of it with Bran's and Rickon's deaths until it vanished completely with Robb's. And while the Riverlands had been the place of her birth, she felt a foreigner there as well. "The Riverlands are a disaster and there is no peace in the North. It has become a wild mess, nearly as bad as beyond the Wall. Most of the families there have sworn fealty to the Iron Throne, and Roose Bolton is now the Warden of the North, but the hold is tumultuous at best. I need to solidify it, before winter takes over completely."

"And what does this have to do with me?" Catelyn asked, feeling edgy. She had a suspicion about what he was going to say, but she didn't want to believe her thoughts. They were absurd. There was nothing she could do to help contain the North. It had always been wild and untamable. Surely he knew that there was nothing a woman could do to bring them to their knees, especially a woman that did not want to do anything of the sort to begin with.

Tywin stood there, for a moment, looking her in the eyes. He was a cold man, she knew that, but two could play at that game. If she did not want to lose herself in her grief, she could lose herself in her anger. "The Tullys will hold no power in the Riverlands anymore, once Riverrun is taken from the Blackfish, but that does not mean they have lost the respect of the people. You also married a Stark. You cannot get any higher in the North. You walked with the men; you spent time in their camps; you broke bread with them. There is not a woman in the North that commands as much admiration and respect as you. Even Jaime said he had never seen a woman stronger than you."

"What do you want?" she demanded. "No more games, no more flattery, Lord Tywin. Tell me."

"I want your hand in marriage, Lady Catelyn. If I have that, then perhaps the rest of the men that still struggle against me will finally give up and bend to my will." Without thinking, Catelyn went to slap him in the face, but he caught her by the wrist and pulled her closer to him. "You can do this willingly, or you will find out what your daughter Sansa went through." She struggled against him, but he only tightened his grip. Once she realized it was futile, she stopped fighting and glared at him heatedly. "You may not realize it now, but this will benefit both of us. We both lost the one we loved. You have lost your children; and I need an heir. Peace will be a wedding gift, so that we may prepare for the coming winter."

Catelyn finally jerked herself from his grasp. "Do you think I will just go to bed with the man that killed my son?"

"I think you will do your duty and whatever is necessary to ensure the safety of your remaining family," Tywin replied coolly. She wanted to strike him again, but kept her fury at bay. "If you do this, then your brother Edmure will be pardoned; your uncle Ser Brynden as well, as long as he gives up his hold of Riverrun. We'll even give Edmure a little bit of land in place of Riverrun, so that he may continue to be a Lord. I heard a rumor that his Frey wife is with child. Will you choose to protect them or keep your pride? What are the words: Family, Duty, Honor? Family and Duty come before Honor, it appears."

Tywin knew as well as Catelyn that she would. Her brother and uncle were all that she had left. Her sister Lysa was hiding in the Vale, supposedly with Petyr at her court, and had proven to be no sister or friend to her. Sansa had vanished in the night and Arya was presumed dead. She didn't think she was strong enough to handle being the only one remaining from two once proud families.

"I will leave you to consider your answer." Tywin walked to the door, but turned before stepping out of it. "You have one night," he told her, "to decide if you will fight or follow." And then he left, leaving Catelyn alone with her fears and thoughts.