I wanted to see their wedding night as something other then sad and lonely. So really, this is a very self-indulgent piece. Enjoy anyways.

The walk back to our chambers was long and painfully quiet. The nerves in my belly were almost enough to make me sick. After we left the feast Tyrion seems to gain back some of his awareness, he wasn't stumbling over himself anymore which made me question his level of drunkenness to begin with. We were no longer in the lions den and that's all that mattered. I didn't let myself dwell on the fact that I was still in the presence of one, even if he was the littlest.

When we reach our rooms he holds the door for me to enter ahead of him and I quickly walk in and turn to face him, afraid of what he'll do now that he has me alone.

"My lady, please don't be scared. I'm not going to hurt you." He didn't even stop after he entered the room, walking straight to the table where a jug of wine sat. He sounded tired and pained. As much as I was keeping my eyes on him he was doing all he could to avoid mine.

He was pouring himself a cup, "Do you think that's wise, My Lord?"

"Tyrion. My name is Tyrion." He says quietly.

"Do you think that's wise, Tyrion?"

He finally turned to me then and raised his cup in a mock salute, "Nothing was ever wiser. You really should join me, it'll make the hell we're in a little less...hellish."

"I don't think it's wise for me to lose my head on this night." He met my eyes then and I knew that he understood what I was implying. I don't want to lose my ability to protect myself from what was bound to happen soon. He hasn't made a move toward me since we entered the room but I was still tense with the possibility that it could happen at any moment.

"My Lady." He sighed, slumping back into the chair that was behind him. "Will you ever believe me when I say I will not harm you? I may be many things, Sansa, but I am not a rapist and I will never raise a hand to a lady to get what I want."

"But your father..."

"If my father wants someone to get fucked, I know where he can start." His voice was firm, leaving no room for argument. His anger towards his father put me at ease. Tyrion has never hurt me and has done all he could to comfort me when so little have. I want to believe him, so badly, when he says he will never bring me pain, but my pure hatred for the Lannisters is keeping me from letting my guard down. Even if my gut is telling me it's okay with him. He's different.

"My wife, I will not share your bed until you want me to."

"What if I never want you to?" The question left my mouth without a thought, so quick I couldn't stop it.

He closed his eyes and bowed his head. Guilt hit my chest and I flinched. Regardless of how true my question was, he doesn't deserve my revulsion towards him and the thought of laying with him as his wife. I'm sure that the pain on his face is now mirrored on my own.

I took a breath, prepared to offer my apologies but he was quicker. "So be it, I still have my wine." He finished his cup with a few gulps. And poured himself another.

My feet were starting to hurt from standing so still and I saw no reason not to join him at the table. If he wasn't going to take me to bed like I thought, I was at a loss as to what to do. I took the seat at a corner to his, and there was honest surprise on his face as I sat.

"I thought I'd join you, My Lord. Tyrion." I came this far, I might as well go all the way. I reached for the wine jug. It was true, that I don't favor wine but I was determined to not let this night get any worse by my reluctance to believe my husband. He has shown me kindness and I will do the same for him by sharing this with him.

Taking a heavy drink, I tried to break the tension that has settled over the room. "Do you always use wine to escape difficulties in your life, Tyrion?"

"Not always, but it sure does help. With the help of a little drink my mind is allowed a moment of peace by becoming cloudy and I'm able to forget, for a while, that my life is a hell I'll never get away from. You think my family is horrid now? Imagine yourself a dwarf, growing up forced to face them every day of your life. Are you imagining it? You have the urge to drink now too, don't you?" He laughed as if he told a joke. But it wasn't a joke, it was his reality.

I took another gulp of wine and he laughed again.

"I suppose if I were in your place I'd do the same. Being a lady, it's not really proper to turn to drink when things go poorly. At the moment I don't have anything to turn to when things get hard. And things have been hard for a long time now." He shared a truth about his life, I'll share a truth about mine. Obvious truths for the both of us, but they carry a different weight when spoken out loud.

"I envy your ability to escape, however distasteful I may find it."

He smiled then, "Then it would please me greatly if you would join me, My dear wife. We shall drink and be merry." He raised his cup in another salute, and with a little hesitation I followed suit. As I raised my cup his face lit up and he let out a loud "Ha!" in his excitement. I couldn't help but let out a gust of laughter myself and smile in return.

The tension slowly left the room after that.

Tyrion was full of conversation from that point on, asking questions and telling me stories. He was a well educated man I learned and he took pleasure in asking me about my own, and what things I enjoyed learning the most. Learning my duties as a Lady didn't make the list.

I was laughing more than I had laughed in such a long time, far longer than I cared to think about. Throughout the night his stories became increasingly outlandish and I questioned the validity of more than one of them, but I did not care either way. I would laugh and he would smile wider and we both drank more wine.

I was holding my sides, laughing so hard at one point it was becoming hard to breath. "Oh, this dress is beginning to kill me I believe. This, I would do away with if I wasn't a Lady, Tyrion. The dresses may be pretty but some...they are meant to slowly kill us, I'm convinced!"

He chuckled at my distaste for the garment, "You are free, My Lady, to not be a lady when you are here in our rooms. I will not judge you, I give you my word." He placed his hand over his breast with a solemn look on his face. I could tell he was trying not to smile.

"I'm taking this off, Tyrion, I can not take it another minute." I began untying the laces of my dress, and one piece after another I got it off. Already the relief was wonderful, and I was left sitting with my husband clad only in my slip. Throwing my gown to the ground I declared, "There! I'm Lady free."

"Ah, there you are, my wife Sansa!" He smiled and handed me back my cup of wine. We had finished the first jug and Tyrion had called for Podrick to bring us another. We were verging on finishing that one as well.

I should be embarrassed right now, I realized. Sitting here, wearing so little in front of Tyrion. I wasn't though, not even a bit. He wasn't looking at me any different or being inappropriate and I was no longer afraid of any unwanted advances from him. I'm not so sure they would be unwanted at the moment. I don't let myself dwell on that thought.

"If we are tossing out our Lord and Ladyships here in our room then I shall follow my Sansa's lead. We may hide it well, but these coats are damn hot at times." I nodded in understanding as he began the task of removing his outer coat. As he was pulling it off his left shoulder he tilted to the side a little too far and began to topple.

I moved quickly forward to catch his arm before he slid right off the chair and I began to laugh. With my help he righted himself once more, but my grip on his arm remained as he joined me in my laughter. We were feeding off each other it seemed. I caught his eye and laughed harder and he grabbed my hand and threw his head back as he tried to catch his breath.

"You nearly took me down with you! Can you imagine, we'd be a pile of laughing wine on the floor." I giggled picturing it in my head. What a sight we'd be.

"Thank you for your quick reaction, Sansa. I believe you saved me from a bruised hip and ego." We seem to be unable to calm our humor at the moment. I scooted my chair around the table corner to set it in front of his own turned chair.

"I feel it's safer if I move here, husband. I can't having you falling all over the place. It is my duty to keep you safe upright."

"Ahh, quite a job there, I hope you are prepared. I've been known to tip over a time or two. Being so close to the ground as I am, it's always a tempting thing to just fall down and not get back up. Stops the spinning."

"I am prepared, Tyrion. I saved you once, I shall do it again." I reached down and removed my shoes. I should have done it a lot sooner, a few of my toes were red from the pressure. I threw them to the side with the rest of our garments. "May I run around barefoot as well when we are here? The cold stone feels like heaven on my feet."

"Of course, of course, who am I to stop your feet from heaven? What kind of husband would I be." he scoffed, kicking his own boots off as well.

"May I confess something, My Lord? If I had the nerve I'd run around the gardens barefoot and in my slip. The idea seems very appealing right now."

Tyrion laughed, then pointed his finger at me, "I forbid my wife from running around in her underclothes where any wild man can see her. Now, if you feel like running around in your underclothes while in our chambers...well, I will certainly not object." He winked in an exaggerated manner and took a drink.

I let out a laugh, "Alright, I can settle for just our rooms than, Lord Husband. I'll be satisfied with that."

"Good."

And there goes the last of the wine. I drink what little I was able to pour in my cup. Without a thought I get up and walk to the door. Waiting on the other side, on the floor, was Podrick reading a book. When he saw me standing there he jumped to his feet. "Podrick, can I trouble you with getting us some more wine?"

"Ye-yes, My Lady. Certainly." He stumbles back, still looking at me.

Tyrion yells from behind me, "Sansa! What did I just say about wild men seeing you like that? Shut the door, for heavens sake, Pod will have himself a heart attack."

I yelp and quickly shut the door in his face. I return to my seat by Tyrion and I can't help but to laugh at the look on his face. Unamused is the look.

I've never felt like this before. The wine has made my head cloudy like Tyrion said it would, and I feel free for the first time. I'm not watching my words or my actions and I'm free with my laughter. I can't honestly imagine being like this with anyone else, here in King's Landing or anywhere else for that matter. I wouldn't have imagined myself like this with Tyrion just a day ago either, but things have changed. After his own laughter and silly stories and questions of my passions, he's different to me now, I'm not seeing him as Lord Tyrion Lannister, brother to the wretched Cersei, and uncle to the devil himself.

Right now, in our rooms, sitting at this table he is my husband. My friend. A man who I can now apparently get lost in a jug of wine with while sitting in my slip and my feet bare. I smile at him.

"I'm sorry, Tyrion. I didn't even think before I opened the door. It won't happen again. I would hate to be the cause of poor Podrick's heart attack."

"Hmmph. I'll let it go just this once," he says, holding up his finger. "But if it happens again, I'll make him blindfold himself every time he comes here. I won't have my squire imagining you in anything less."

"My Lord! He would not do such a thing...would he?"

Tyrion tilts his head to the side and gives me a look, as if I must be joking.

"Alright, make him wear a blindfold from now on."

Tyrion gives a booming laugh and slaps his knee.

We relax back into a comfortable silence while we wait for the wine and I toy with the ring on my finger. I remember suddenly what Tyrion said to me just this morning. That I'm no longer a prisoner, but his wife. Which he corrected would be a different sort of prison. He's wrong. This isn't prison at all.

A knock sounds at the door, and Tyrion hurries out of his chair before I can even think about getting up myself. "I'll get it, don't move an inch." He says as he goes to open the door, only slightly, just enough to get the jug through. "Thank you, Pod. That will be all for the night."

"Yes, My Lord. Goodnight."

I laugh, "Is that how you will go to the door from now on? Peeking out before receiving whoever is there?"

"Yes." is all he says.

Still amused, I hold out my cup for him to fill. Once we're both topped off he returns to his chair but reaches down to grab my feet before settling back. He places them in his lap gently and begins to caress the tops with his short fingers.

I'm surprised, but I keep my feet where they lay.

"Hopefully we will be left alone for a few days. Surely they will give us peace since we were just wed. Thinking about seeing them again so soon makes me want to retch."

I couldn't agree with him more. "I shall pray tonight for our peace." He raises his cup in approval.

Our words have been slow, and slightly slurred for a while now. I always scoffed at the drunks I've seen, but being one now is different. Safe here in our rooms, I imagine it to be much different and much better than being drunk anywhere else.

Tyrion keeps one hand on my feet and the other on his drink. He's not doing much besides lightly running his fingers up and down the tops of them. It's relaxing and I lose myself for a bit in the feeling.

"What, Sansa, would you like to do tomorrow?"

"At this rate I imagine myself still in a wine haze."

Tyrion lets out a little chuckle, "If that is so then we shall just stay in bed all day. I'll tell anyone that comes to the door to piss off."

I come alert a bit more at the mention of the bed. He didn't mean anything untoward about it, he just means to sleep. I know this but my stomach still flutters a bit when I think about it. His touch on my feet is soft and gentle. There's nothing unpleasant at all about it. It's wonderful really, after a day in my shoes. What would his hands feel like anywhere else on me?

Stop it. I take another drink of my wine.

"I don't remember the last time I stayed in bed for any other reason than being sick."

Tyrion gets a slightly guilty look on his face. "Well, there is a chance the wine will make another appearance, and not in a very pleasant way."

No, no, I do not want to get sick. I look down at my cup, "I'm not going to retch from this am I?"

"No, I do believe you are safe from that. Do you feel sick now?" I shake my head no. "I imagine you would have felt sick by now if you were to be sick at all, we have gone through quite a bit of wine this evening. Just as long as you don't start dancing around the room." He runs the back of his fingers up the sole of one foot and I curl my toes and laugh.

"I will refrain from dancing then, My Lord."

"Pity, I imagine a dancing Sansa to be very beautiful. Another time maybe?"

I wiggle my toes into his belly and make him laugh.

"Yes, maybe another time when I'm much less likely to be sick all over the room."

"Barefoot and in your underclothes?"

"I can't imagine how else I would dance around the room." I can't stop myself from grinning. What an odd conversation to be having with Tyrion.

"All this talk of being sick is not a wise choice of topic." He yawned and continued. "Have you ever had this much to drink before, Sansa?"

His yawn makes me yawn in return. "Oh no, I have never done this before. I can see why you turn to drink now. You should ask me to join you next time you need a cloudy head."

He looks at me for a moment, thoughtful and sweet. "You would like to sit and share a cup of wine with me when things are unpleasant?"

The air in the room seems to change and I can't stop the words from pouring out. "I tried to hate you before. You are a Lannister and all Lannisters are cruel and poisonous. Why would you be any different." I'll never be able to drink wine in the company of anyone else after this. I take a deep breath. "But you are different, aren't you? I knew it when you saved me from Joffery, but I didn't want to believe it. Believing it would only put me in danger when I realize you're the same as them. And then this marriage. I'm tied to them now, I won't ever be free."

Tyrion's face has lost all the playfulness that has been present all night. No, his smile needs to come back, he needs to know I mean no harm.

"Then, you came to me and told me you wouldn't ever hurt me. Such beautiful words in such a dreadful place. But I couldn't allow myself to believe you because I knew things would be different once we were married. There's expectations for marriage and I was convinced that you would take what you believed to be yours. Yet here we are, Tyrion! This, I never imagined this." I reach forward and take his cup and place it on the table and putting my hand in it's place. His other hands grip on my foot had tightened.

"You defy everyone's expectations of you, Tyrion. You are different. You have shown me that by not taking me like I believed you would. Instead, we've sat together, drank together, and have done nothing but laugh all evening." I squeeze his hand urging him to understand how important this is. "I wish, more than anything, that I would have let myself trust you. If I would have just let you be on my side. I wouldn't have felt so alone. It's been horrible here, Tyrion. But this night? It's been a breath of fresh air. You are my husband now and I am so grateful for that."

I think I've run out of words and I just hope that I haven't ruined our night. His smile still hasn't returned and my stomach hurts.

"My lady...Sansa." He huffs and looks down at my feet. "I have wanted nothing more than to shield you from all the horrors that take place here. To protect you from my family. I knew you would hate me for being forced to marry, and I had accepted that. As long as I could keep you safe I could accept your hate.

"But not now. I won't be able to accept it after this night, this unexpected night of happiness. If you hate me tomorrow it will be unbearable."

I shake my head, and quietly reassure him, "No, Tyrion, I will not hate you. I could not make myself hate you before and I certainly won't now."

There, there is his smile. I find that I don't like it when it is gone.

He doesn't say anything more on the topic, he lets it fade away and returns to running his fingers along my feet.

"Tell me another funny story." I know we're both getting tired but I don't want this to end yet. Just a little while longer.

"Let's see. Well, there was the time when I was 12 that I thought it was a good idea to steal away one of the horses...I'll tell you now I didn't get very far." He spins his tale and our laughter returns within moments.

"I miss riding. Now that you know how to properly ride a horse," I poke fun, "we should go riding someday."

He nods his head and yawns again. "That would be nice. I do believe our time of wine has come to an end. I won't be able to keep my eyes open much longer." He puts our cups on the table and I reluctantly move my feet back to the floor. The cold stone isn't heaven anymore.

I stand up to put my chair back in its place and I sway to the side.

"Whoa there, easy." Tyrion grabs my arm to steady me. I'm laughing again and I put my hand on his shoulder to get my balance back but he's not much steadier than I am at this point. We both have to put a hand on the chair to stop moving. He catches my eye and starts laughing as well. "I was going to help you over to the bed, but I don't know if I could make it myself." He says around a chuckle.

"Well, you're going to have to make it there eventually. We might as well walk there together. If I fall I'll be taking you with me, My Lord."

"Any other day, I would try my best to catch you...but tonight I'm sorry, I would just let you fall."

We're holding onto each other now, laughing till our eyes start to water. Our humor has put any unease I may have felt over sharing the bed with my husband to rest. "Come now, I'm going to fall over if we stand here any longer."

I keep my hand on his shoulder and he puts his arm around my waist to hold my hip.

"Slow and steady we shall go, My Lady." We sway a few times, laughing the whole time, but we make it there in the end without tumbling down. I'm afraid if we did fall, we would have stayed there.

I climb in slowly and collapse atop the blankets. I can feel Tyrion getting into bed behind me and I roll over a little to give him room. I watch as he unbuttons his shirt. He sees me looking and apologizes. "I'm sorry, Sansa, but I can not sleep in a shirt. I will never rest if I do. Be assured I mean nothing by it."

I shake my head against the pillow, "It is fine. I'm not worried." And I'm not. I blame the wine, but I do not look away as he removes his shirt and throws it to the side. He has dark blond hair on his chest and I can't look away. Stop it. It's not proper to stare. But I'm not a lady in our rooms. So I continue to look.

He pulls the blankets the best he can from beneath my body, I try to help by sitting up but I can't stay there long and I fall back down. Once they're free he places the blanket over the both of us and lays back himself.

I'm laying there with my eyes closed. "We left the candles burning, Tyrion."

"No, I do not care, I'm not getting up to blow them out."

I laugh and let it go. They'll burn out in the night. I turn my head to look at him and he's there facing me as well. I wince when I feel the pins in my hair poke into my scalp.

"What's wrong?"

"My hair is still up." I reach up to start undoing what I can but my arms feel like they're missing their bones. Tyrion moves to lean on the pillow and reaches up to help the best he can. I put my arms down after a moment and let him continue. I'm yawning again and my eyes can't stay open. I feel his fingers move through my hair and I sigh at how nice it feels. "Thank you, husband."

"I got as much as I could. I will laugh in the morning when your hair is a mess and I will not apologize for it." His voice is quiet and slow and I can hear him yawn.

I laugh and keep my eyes closed. "How very kind of you, My Lord."

We lay there peacefully for some time, sinking into the warmth of the bed.

So quiet I almost miss it. "Thank you, Sansa." I turn to look at him. He holds my gaze. "Thank you for sharing the wine with me."

I lean over and gently place my lips on his cheek. I stay there a breath longer than I ought to and finally relax back into my spot in bed. He's smiling again. I could thank him for so many things right now, but I keep my silence and just watch him smile.

In such a short time, things changed a great deal. If I was able to see Tyrion differently in just a night, to see him as my friend and not my enemy, what would happen if we were given more time? And we do, we have all the time in the world now as husband and wife. No, this is not a prison like I imagined, like he imagined. If I am to be paired with Tyrion for the remainder of my life, I know now that he will make it as happy for us as he can. Prison, no. Paradise? Compared to my life here so far, yes. Yes, it will be paradise.

In all the times I thought about my wedding night, getting drunk with my husband never crossed my mind. I reach over and find his hand.

I am glad it happened all the same.