Chapter Text
"Lady Brienne had been right about you" Jaime says to Sansa Stark, the newly titled lady of Winterfell. He had spent all day watching as she effortlessly led the castle with a determination and kindness he had not expected to find. He found himself retracting the negative words he had cast out on the eldest Stark daughter only moons before. There was a strength and endurance in her eight and ten years, one he hadn't found in himself over the last four decades.
"About what?” she asks. Her eyes give nothing away but she provides a knowing smirk, as if she had been there to hear the foolish things he had spoken. They are alone in the lords chambers now. He had ridden to Winterfell and requested a private audience. Her acceptance of his request left him shamed and hopeful.
"About you" he replies. She nods slowly in the dim candlelight of the room.
"Most men are" she retorts. She stands up to grab a pitcher of wine and two glasses. She places them on the table and returns to her seat. After filling them up, she nods at him to drink, and focuses her Tully blue eyes on him. "Why are you here Ser?” she asks in an even tone.
He considers lying to her, to recite the oath he had pledged to her mother. He even considers telling her it's from the guilt his family had caused hers. He could tell her it's for honor, and maybe there is a little truth to that, but it's not the whole reason.
"Because I have no where else to go m'lady" He replies, and sips his wine. He can tell by the furrow of her brows it is not the answer she was expecting.
"I see. And why is it you have chosen Winterfell?" she asks. "Why not flee to the free cities or join the nights watch. Why come here?"
"Honestly?" Jaime asks sitting down his wine. "I wasn't sure of it until now. But I feel like I could be of use here. I could be of use to you".
"And what use could you bring to me?" She asks with a coy tone. He can see bits of Cersei in the way she talks, see shadows of the late queen in this girl, but there is curiosity in Sansa’s voice where there had been only malice in his twins.
"In whatever way you see fit".
"And what if I asked to leave, or to have you killed as a threat against the Stark name, to use you as an example of what this house will never have to face again" she questions. She's sipping her wine methodically but the color in her cheeks gives away the nerves beneath her armor.
"I would say it's a waste" Jaime replies. Taking the time to look around the mostly empty chamber.
"Winterfell has returned. My brother is now King in the north with an army at his back, I run the castle in his absence, and more than that I am finally home" she says, providing her own reasons as to why his stay would be unnecessary. "So I'll ask you again Ser, what use would you provide".
"Perhaps friendship” he offers. He does not even attempt to reach out and touch the pale hand that lays across the wooden table, but he looks at it and then to her.
"You are here to offer me friendship?" She asks, surprised for a second time that night.
"Well yes. If you would care to try it out" he replies with mock confidence, while deep down he is terrified that she will reject this hopeless offer, and choose to have him killed as she had initially said.
"Your sister was not a friend to me, and neither was Joffrey" she says absently and there's a faraway look in her eyes. "But your brother was kind to me" she finishes, a tint of a smile on her lips. "I am short of friends these days". The fire illuminates the auburn in her hair and he notices not for the fist time how lonely and beautiful the girl is that sits before him.
"So is that a yes?" Jaime asks with the optimism of a green boy. Sansa does not reply but stands up and opens the door to the chamber, ending his company for the night. He tries hard to contain the disappointment of her dismissal, and it is only when he's in the hallway and she's in the doorframe that he lets out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
"Well it's not a no" she says with a small smile. "There's guest rooms ready for you down the hall. Goodnight Ser" she says and closes the door.
It isn't until he's stripped of armor and in bed that he allows himself to a feel a small victory from the day. Jaime had never been more wrong than he had in the Riverlands. He didn't know any girl quite like Sansa Stark.