Hi, everyone! I didn't think I would be able to post this chapter before I went on my holidays, but I'm really happy I was :D The next chapter is smaller, I have one POV written and I'll work on the next one :)

Thank you so much to indigoraysoflight on tumblr (IndigoRaysofLight on AO3) for being such an AWESOME beta! Thank you!

Enjoy the chapter :)


Rickard Stark

Rickard was at work, looking over his shopping list; with two other kids in the house, he was going to the supermarket almost everyday, and with Robert coming home today, it could very well change to everyday.

He had been in contact with Cressen, but he thought that he could only take them on the end of the month, so he would have the Baratheons at home a bit longer.

Renly was staying in Benjen's room – he was a good boy. But Rickard was sure they were not sleeping more than five hours a night; he checked on them constantly, and they pretended to be asleep very well, never letting themselves be caught, but Rickard knew they were awake. Besides, the maid had told him she had found more than a dozen candy wrappers under Benjen's bed last Wednesday – he had tried to convince them not to eat so much candy, so hopefully next week she would find less than a dozen. Renly went to school in the Stormlands, and Brandon was being nice enough to pick him up everyday after class. He did drop him off with Ned sometimes, but still, he drove there…

Stannis was a different case. He was a good kid for sure – the Baratheon kids all were; but he was quieter, not just quieter like Ned, but quieter and harder. He helped around the house, but he never complained – he just did it as it was his job. He went to bed early – read and still turned his lights off early – and woke up early; he was staying in Ned's room, on the bed Robert normally took. And now with the oldest brother coming home, they had to work out something.

"Mr Stark, you told me to warn you when it was one in the afternoon," his secretary told him.

"Ohh… yes, thank you. Please transfer any important calls to my cellphone; if it's not important, tell them I will handle it tomorrow."

"Of course, Mr Stark," she said, as he got up and put his jacket on; in the hall, he got a sandwich from the machine and started eating it on the way to the car. As he got into the car, he put it down, but picked it up to eat with one hand while he drove with the other.

He got out of the building and started to drive to King's Landing; the roads were awful as always – really nobody cared to fix anything from the Neck up. It was no wonder, Brandon was almost always late for his morning classes. Thetrain was much quicker – really he should convince Brandon and Lyanna to take the train with Ned.

Finally, after a bumpy ride, he got into the Riverlands and then the trip was much smoother, and he got to King's Landing without any problems. Ned was already at the school entrance, waiting, he had one of his school books out, and was reading over something, but the moment Rickard rang the horn, Ned looked up, picked up his things and walked towards the car.

"Hi, Dad," he greeted opening the door, and entering the car.

"Hi, son. You're sure your teachers are okay with you missing the afternoon classes?"

"Yes, they said I could easily catch up, and there would be nothing important. Catelyn will give me her notes tomorrow."

"Okay, and I'll give you the justification tomorrow, so you can hand it in at school."

"Thanks, Dad. Have you eaten?"

"I ate an egg sandwich when I left the office."

"I got you an apple and a yogurt."

"Very healthy," he answered.

"And a bag of chips," Ned said.

"That's better," he said with a smile. "Give me the chips." Rickard opened the bag, and put it in the panel, so he could eat while driving. He asked his son how the school had gone for the half of the day, and Ned wasn't very forward but he didn't seem to have any thing important to tell either.

"People are looking forward to Robert coming back to school tomorrow," Ned said.

"Has anyone else visited him?"

"No… I told you Elia stopped by, right?"

"Yes, at the start, at the same time as the Mayor's mess."

"Right. So no one else, except for Brandon, Catelyn, and even Jory, Harwin and Howland who came with me a few times," Ned said. "Catelyn is coming over tomorrow after class, so we can help Robert with the studying."

"He has been getting the notes, right?"

"Yes, and he told me he has been studying them, but some stuff is harder to process alone. Catelyn and I can help."

"Okay, that's good that she offered to help," Rickard said, before continuing to a very uncomfortable conversation. "So how are things going with you and Catelyn?"

"Good," Ned said, turning his head towards the window to look outside.

"And you've been careful…"

"Dad…"

"I don't like this conversation any better than you, but we do need to have it again – if you and Catelyn are being active..."

"We're not…"

"Son, I know you spent the night with her on Valentine's Day."

"But we didn't, Dad… We just spend the night together, without doing that…"

"Son, you don't need to lie."

"I'm not, Dad," Ned repeated, actually looking at him now, and Rickard believed him – it was strange. He had this conversation with Brandon and Lyanna before, and they had just known everything, and they had started their sexual life so early. Sometimes Rickard wondered if the same would have happened if Lyarra had still been alive. She definitely would have made the conversation with Lyanna easier; it had been rather awkward, but she had been very straight forward when answering him.

"Did something bad happen?"

"No, we just… we don't want to rush into anything."

"Okay. But, son, if you need anything you can talk to me. And you have condoms if it happens, right?"

"Yes, Dad. Brandon and Robert gave me some, and I can buy them."

"Okay, kid. I just want you to be safe," Rickard told him, putting his hand on Ned's shoulder and squeezing it. "Now, that's enough of this talk. So what are your plans for Robert tonight?"

"Not sure. Whatever he wants to do?"

"Dinner – something special?!" Rickard asked. His other kids and Robert's brothers had said they had dinner handled, but he didn't know what they were planning.

"Brandon and Lya said they would handle it."

"Talking about Lya…"

"Robert knows she lives at our home. He said he would be okay with it."

"Okay. And you've talked to Stannis about where he would sleep," Rickard wondered.

"He offered to sleep on the couch. I told him we could get a mattress moved in to my room, but he declined the offer."

"Okay, but you will ask him again tonight. The boy may want to spend some time with his brother, he may also just not want to admit it."

"Yes, I know, Dad. I've been sharing a room with him."

"Right. So after we check out Robert, what about we go out for ice cream?"

"Dad… we're not little kids…"

"So you think Robert wouldn't like ice cream?"

"No, Robert would like ice cream," Ned admitted, and Rickard laughed, he had already known the answer.

The drive was just as smooth as earlier, just like Rickard had expected, the roads were even better here than in Riverrun, but Ned did tell him that Dorne had really bad roads as well. As they drove, they tried to remember if there were any ice cream shops close to the clinic, but neither of them knew the place well, so they ended up deciding to look once they got there.

Rickard found other things to talk about with his son, he liked these one-on-one moments. He was a busy man and he didn't spend as much time with his children as he liked, and especially not alone with any of them. It was interesting to see how his son was growing up, and how he seemed to be changing, especially with this girlfriend of his – in a good way, he was acting a bit more like a teenager, and he had not blamed himself for Robert as much as Rickard had expected.

Rickard had only been to the clinic once, but he could still find his way around Oldtown to get to the place. People greeted Ned by name when they entered the clinic, and Rickard stepped forward to talk to the receptionist.

"Good afternoon. We are here to pick up Robert Baratheon – he's signing off today."

"Of course, and your name is?"

"Rickard Stark," he answered.

"Alright, I'll have to ask you for some identification. But I don't see any problems," she said, taking his driving license.

"Ned, if you want to go up, you can. I'm sure you can help Robert pack up."

"Okay. Dad, I'll see you upstairs," Ned said, going off.

"Just sign here and here, Mr Stark. You read the recommendations about taking an alcoholic in recuperation home, correct?"

"Yes. I've taken all the drinks from the house." Rickard now had his drinking cabinet in his office, and he had made sure Lyanna and Brandon threw away their "non-existent drinks" as well.

"Okay, that's good," she answered. "Make sure he goes to meetings. Here's a list of some places, but he can always find his own," she said giving him a pamphlet. "You can go up, now. Just stop by on your way out, Robert still needs to sign a few papers."

"Of course. Where should I go?"

"Fourth floor, and then just ask someone if they know where Robert is."

Rickard got into the elevator and pushed the fourth floor button. Once he reached there, he approached the first man in scrubs he found.

"Excuse me, do you know where I can find Robert Baratheon? I'm here to sign him off."

"He's in his room with a visitor."

"Yes, my son. Where's the room?"

"Ohhh… you're Ned's father, of course, I can see the resemblance. The third room on the left." Rickard thanked the man and walked up to the room, he knocked on the open door.

"Can I come in?"

"Of course, Mr S. The door is always open here," Robert said, coming closer to hug him, and Rickard returned the hug. "Thank you for letting me stay in your home, and sorry for the trouble we've been causing."

"Hey, kid, it's good to have you back, healthy and strong," he told the boy sincerely. "You're good to go?"

"I have everything packed," he said, pointing to the bag on the bed that Ned was closing. "I just need to say goodbye to my friends, and sign a few papers downstairs."

"Okay, go on, boy," he said. "Ned and I will take the bags to the elevator."

After Robert walked out of the room, Rickard took the bag from Ned's hand, as his son picked up another smaller bag, and they went to the elevators to wait for Robert.

Robert took less than five minutes, and some people followed him to the elevator, and reminded him to take it one day at a time, and that they would see him in the meetings.

"How does it sound stopping for ice cream, before going home?"

"It sounds awesome!"

"Do you know any place?" Ned asked.

"I didn't actually leave the clinic," Robert said. "Didn't you come here with Catelyn on a semi-date to the library?"

"Yes, maybe that place has some ice cream."

"Okay, now, let's sign your papers so you can come home," Rickard told the boy, and they waited for Robert as he signed the stuff and said goodbye to the lady in the front.

"Let's hope I don't see you around here again. Good luck, Robert, stay strong."

They packed everything into Rickard's car, with Robert taking the backseat and talking about his time at the rehab center, and about the few meetings he had found around King's Landing, Winterfell and Storm's End.

"It's important I find the right place for me, and to find a sponsor – someone to talk if I find the need to drink."

"You have me," Ned said.

"I can't bother you every time, and it will be good to talk with someone who has been through the same."

"Right, that makes sense."

"Ned, you're still my main man, don't worry…" Robert told him, pushing himself forward to pat Ned's shoulder. "So I'm going to class tomorrow, right?"

"Yes, Robert," Rickard said. "You've already missed too many classes, and quite a few of the first tests of almost everything – they'll let you take it next week, so you can still have this week to study. Right, Ned?"

"Yes, it was the best deal I could get. Catelyn is coming over to help you study tomorrow, and any other day if you need."

"Is this just an excuse for you to make out?"

"No," Ned answered. "We will be there to help you study."

"If you say so," Robert said with a laugh. "So where's the ice cream you promised me?"

"Just waiting for Ned's instructions."

"Right. Follow the signs to the Citadel, then we will find the library and then the coffee shop."

"Sure," Rickard said and followed Ned's instructions. Once they were at the Citadel, Ned pointed out the coffee house.

Inside they were disappointed to find there was no ice cream, Rickard still asked if they wanted to go somewhere else, but Robert said that they should stay. Ned ordered his favorite, hot chocolate, Robert went with a chocolate milkshake and Rickard ordered a simple black coffee.

"This is so good…" Robert whispered. "Hey, can I ask for a dose of fries, Mr S?"

"Sure," Rickard said, asking a waitress for a plate of fries, something she brought in a few seconds. Robert immediately took one and dipped it in the milkshake, and Rickard immediately thought it was disgusting.

"If I knew that was the reason why you asked for the fries, I wouldn't have ordered them."

"It's good, Mr S, I promise. Try one," he said, giving him one, but Rickard denied it.

"It's not that bad, Dad," Ned said, and when Robert made a smug face, he also said, "But it's not that good, Robert."

"How does someone even decide to try this?!" Rickard asked.

"It was your daughter actually, Mr S," Robert said; and Rickard felt guilty for bringing it up. "I can mention Lya, after all I'll be living with her until Cressen comes up."

"And you're okay with that?" Ned asked.

"I can't not be," Robert said. "I'll handle it. And she's okay? After what happened in the meeting…" Rickard wasn't sure about what happened, but it hadn't been good for Lyanna.

"She's worried, like every one of us is. You're family, Robert," Rickard said. "And if you're worried about something with Lyanna, just tell us, we will try to make it more comfortable for you."

"It's Lyanna's house."

"Yeah, but you'll be living at our home, and you're healing."

"Yes. Thank you, Mr Stark, but I'll be okay," Robert said. "Are you sure you don't want one?" he said offering another one dipped in his milkshake, and after Rickard denied, he offered it to Ned, who took one.

They sat in the coffee house for over a half an hour, Rickard didn't talk much, he just observed – Ned had come to see Robert multiple times a week, but they still had so much to talk about. Robert went on to ask about what was going on at school, Ned didn't seem be very good about sharing rumours, and kept telling him to ask Brandon when they got home. Ned asked him more about the rehab center and what his plans were now that he was out – Robert told him that he was going to ask authorization at school to use the gym after class, the exercise would do him good.

Rickard liked seeing Ned like this, laughing and smiling, and actually being able to keep a conversation going; his son didn't do this around a lot of people – family and only very close friends were the exceptions.

After they finished eating, they got back into the car and started the long journey home. They both must have been really tired, because they fell asleep even before they left the Stormlands, and stayed asleep until they were almost home. So Rickard drove quietly, and took the time to go over a mental list of the things he had to do. It wasn't that long; work wasn't too busy right now, so it was mostly household stuff to make sure all the teenagers and kids were okay at home.

Ned woke almost instinctively when they got to the North, but Robert didn't wake up until they got to their street. Rickard parked the car in front of the house, and then Robert took out his bags and insisted on carrying them alone; Rickard went ahead so he could open the front door for them.

When they entered the house, it was completely decorated; they had put a banner up, that said "Welcome to the Starks' home, Robert" (and they could see the apostrophe had been in the wrong place, and it had been corrected with a different pen), and also balloons. And the house also smelled very good, it smelled like food – better food than any of them could make.

"Welcome home- back," Renly said. "I made you a drawing. It's us and mom and dad." Robert took up the drawing and hugged his brother.

"Thanks, little bro. What if I put it up in my room?"

"If Ned lets you," Renly said.

"I'm sure he does," Robert said, looking k at Ned, who shrugged his shoulders, he turned back to his brother. "And you're doing okay?"

"Benjen and I have been sharing a room – it's fun," Renly said, and then whispered something else.

"Me too, kid. What about we play catch outside for a while?"

"Dinner is ready," Renly said. "And the console is ready to play on, after dinner."

"It won't always be our turn," Robert pointed out, and Renly hugged him again and agreed with Robert's suggestion.

When Renly stepped back, Stannis came forward and shook his hand, welcoming his brother; and Robert ended up pulling him in for a hug, that ended up looking very awkward and uncomfortable.

"I took my things from Ned's room, so you can stay there. I'll take the couch."

"You don't…"Robert started saying.

"No problem. I hope the help you got helped you."

"It did. I'm glad you're taking care of everything."

"Someone needs to," Stannis said, and before either of them could say anything else that could turn badly Rickard's oldest intervened.

"Welcome back, Robert," Brandon said, pulling him for a hug. "How have you been doing?"

"Good. You, man?"

"Always on top," Brandon said with a smile.

"We need to go out one of these days. Now you can have a permanent driver, without Ned nagging."

"That must be the best thing about you being sober," Brandon said with a laugh.

"I suppose the best thing about Robert being sober is actually that he now has a smaller probability of dying as early in life, or getting liver cancer," Stannis pointed out, and Rickard had to agree.

"My brother always calling to reason. The life of the party," Robert said with a laugh. "So where's Lyanna?" Robert asked, and Rickard had been wondering the same.

"She's looking over the oven. Catelyn told us to be very careful."

"Catelyn?!"

"She kind of came and helped us cook, after Lya asked for suggestions," Brandon said. "You just missed her, Ned. We had to drop her off."

"So there's cake?" Robert asked excited.

"Yes," Benjen answered. "And Catelyn helped make your favorite."

"You have the perfect girlfriend, Ned," Robert said, clapping him on the back, and started moving to the kitchen, where he found Lyanna. "Good evening, Lyanna."

"Robert, it's good to have you back," his daughter answered, still not coming any closer to him.

"It's good to be back. I take everything has been going well for you."

"It has. And I take you're better."

"It's a long road, but I'm on the right track," he told her, and Lyanna looked away, luckily she didn't have to say anything else, because the bell rang, and she needed to go to the oven.

"Ned, Robert, why don't you take your stuff to your room. And then all of you go wash your hands as we get the table ready." The kids did as he told them to do, with Renly following Ned and Robert closely; and Rickard was left alone with Lyanna.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Rickard asked.

"Yes, Dad. Just worried. He's sure it's okay for me to stay here."

"Where would you go?"

"I could stay at Catelyn's or Brienne's," she said, and Rickard knew she was also thinking of staying at her boyfriend's.

"You can stay here. This is your home," he told her. "Now let me see what Catelyn helped you prepare."

Rickard looked over the food and it looked amazing. There were two types of pasta, steaks and sausages, and more than one dessert ready.

"How much did Catelyn cook? She knows she's not our cook, right? You guys didn't make her do all this, did you?"

"No, she offered, Dad," Lyanna said. "Ned will be a lucky man." Rickard smiled, realizing that Lyanna was talking about the future like it was a sure thing, and if he were honest with himself, he wouldn't mind having Catelyn Tully as a daughter-in-law.

They quickly got the rest of the table ready, and after he and Lyanna also washed their hands, they were ready to start eating. It was strange to always have a table this full, with the food disappearing quickly, even if at first the food always looked like too much to him. They always talked as they ate, sometimes they just joked (like today, when almost everyone was pointing out that Ned should really marry Catelyn) and sometimes they talked about their days, or what they would do the next day.

Everyone was trying to get Robert ready to go back to school tomorrow, since it seemed like a lot had changed in just a few weeks. Most of what had changed had nothing to do with the actual classes, but mostly gossip.

"Really, Ned is not this good at telling me the gossip," Robert said.

"Of course not. Ned can be quite clueless," Brandon said with a laugh.

"Hey!" Ned complained, while everyone else pointed out that Brandon may not be that wrong, and Rickard may agree with them, and from that moment on until the end of dinner, they mocked Ned, who took it well, since he was already used to it.

After dinner, Rickard decided to let them go, and handle cleaning up the table alone, but Stannis stayed back to help him. He knew the kids were all playing on the console in the living room, and Rickard insisted Stannis would join them – he was finally able to when they had brought everything to the kitchen. So as Rickard put the things in the dishwasher, he was happy to hear the kids laughing and enjoying themselves – it had been a hard couple of weeks, so they all had the right to have fun, and hopefully the future would be better for those seven rascals.


Brienne of Tarth

Brienne had missed Jaime. Since he started dating Elia, they were hanging out less and less; and then there was always Cersei, she required a lot of Jaime's time. But today, she and Jaime were going out after class, probably to the batting cages in Riverrun.

She still needed to wait the entire day until she could leave school, and after, she wanted to enjoy her time with Jaime, so she asked her father if she could come home late that day.

"Of course, sweetheart. What are you doing? Are you spending the afternoon with Lyanna and Catelyn?"

"Jaime, actually. He's free today, after class. So he invited me to go out after class."

"Okay. Is he driving you home? Or do you need me to pick you up?" her father asked. "Or money? Do you need money?"

"Not sure where we're going, but I can pay, Dad."

"You don't need to," he said, taking a few bills from his wallet, and handing it to her.

"Dad…"

"Just take it, sweetie," Dad insisted again, and she couldn't help but accept the money.

They finished breakfast together, and after putting the dirty dishes in the washer, they got their stuff for the day and walked up to the car. Her father was driving her to Storm's End, where she would catch the bus to school – most days it was like this, unless her father couldn't drive her to Storm's End, thenshe had to catch the bus from Evenfall to there, which was always more complicated and took more time.

The car trip went smoothly, even if father had to speed up a little since they had taken longer than planned to leave the house. But luckily, he dropped her off at the bus stop on time, and as her father drove off, the bus arrived, and after she got in, she decided to sleep a bit more.

She woke up when the bus was coming to her stop, which was right across the street from her school. The school seemed dead when she got there, like it always did. Everyone seemed to be tired or half-asleep for the first class of the day. As she made her way to the door, she greeted the few people she knew, but never stopped, since she wasn't really close with any of them. And soon enough she had walked through the crowds and had reached her classroom.

She entered the room, but it was mostly empty, since the class wouldn't start for another ten minutes. She took her seat on the first row, on the left side of the classroom. In the back, there was a boy sleeping with his head on the table; and near the door there were the two girls she had walked by earlier, talking quietly to each other.

She looked over her notes from her previous classes until the bell rang and the classroom started to fill up. She hooked her backpack on the back of her chair, so no one would trip on it. And soon after, Rhaegar knocked on her shoulder, before smiling at her and taking the seat behind her.

"Lyanna was waiting for you."

"You weren't at the entrance, and I didn't see you on the way here," she told him.

"Brandon's classroom." If Brienne had walked just a few more steps, she would have found them. Brandon was a senior as well, but he was in a less advanced math class, but it was in the same section as their current math class.

"Right," she answered, before asking, "Did you do your homework?"

"Yeah. It already went for a few rounds of copying," he told her. Rhaegar didn't always do his homework, but when he did, everyone wanted a look, since he wouldn't fail any answers; and when he didn't do his homework, he could always fill it in when he was asked. Brienne always did her homework, but she didn't always get it right, but even with that, many people copied from her – she always felt bad when someone made a mistake in front of the teacher when using her answers.

"Nobody asked for mine today. I should have guessed you had done yours," she told him with a laugh, before turning back around to look at the board since the teacher had come in.

The class started well, the teacher skipped homework correction, and moved on to teaching a new subject; after that, she got them to train with a few exercises on page 62 in pairs. Brienne turned around so she could work with Rhaegar; that actually meant that she would be working alone, unless she couldn't understand something, then she could always ask him for help. Rhaegar always finished the exercises very quickly, and then pulled something else to do – this time a few music sheets; and this time she didn't feel the need to interrupt him.

"Mr Targaryen, you're supposed to be working in pairs."

"I've already done my work."

"So help your colleague, or I'll give you more exercises. This is not a music class – if I catch you with those papers again, I'll take them from you, and this time I won't give them back," she said.

"Okay, ma'am," he answered, and the teacher walked away after that. "So do you need help?" Rhaegar asked her.

"I think I'm doing okay – at least so far. I don't really need any help right now."

"Okay, I'll just look after the exercises, so she doesn't bother us anymore." She didn't particularly like someone looking over what she was doing, but she shrugged her shoulders and let him keep looking as she worked; Rhaegar only pointed out two errors, and the first one was just a lap of attention (which wasn't common for Brienne), and the other she was able to understand after Rhaegar explained it.

"So isn't it good to help others?!" the teacher asked Rhaegar with a smile. "Which exercise was it that Miss Tarth needed help with?"

"Twenty-two."

"Do you understand it now?" the teacher asked.

"Yes, it wasn't too hard."

"Great. And Mr Targaryen, if you can help Miss Tarth, I'm sure you can come to the board and explain it to the rest of your classmates. Can you?"

"Of course, Ma'am." So when they got to exercise twenty-two, Rhaegar got up and explained everything to the rest of the class – he explained well, and while he was helping the class, they were also mocking him by calling him 'Professor Rhaegar'. And when the bell rang, Rhaegar was still up next to the board, and a lot of their classmates patted him on the back as they walked out of the class, one of them even said that they would bring an apple the next day.

"What happened?" Lyanna asked the second they were out of the door.

"The teacher asked me to explain an exercise," he answered. "And now they are offering me apples, and also a lapdance for a better grade."

"A lapdance… I feel cheated."

"Don't worry. Not really a tempting proposal," he told Lyanna with a short laugh, putting his arm around her shoulders; and Brienne followed them.

It was a short break, and while Brienne followed them out, she really wanted to go back to her classroom as quickly as possible, so she could sit and read for a bit. So once they stopped walking, Brienne walked away, telling them that she would see them later.

The rest of the classes went okay. She had most of them alone – obviously not alone, the classroom was almost full, but she didn't have anyone in those classes that she really knew and talked to (which sucked when she had to work in pairs).

But finally at lunch time, she met up with her friends, and people she could actually talk to without feeling too awkward and uncomfortable.

In the cafeteria, Brienne started to think about what she wanted to eat; she knew she should eat healthy – there was the meal of the day, meatloaf, with mash potatoes and spinach, but she was not in the mood to eat that, but she knew she shouldn't eat a slice of pizza.

"Are you still deciding what to eat?" Lyanna asked. "I see you're eyeing the pizza."

"I shouldn't…"

"Come on, you eat right everyday. And you sure burn the calories in the field, and with your running," Lyanna continued. "I'm getting two pepperoni slices, and fries," she said. Brienne didn't have a bad metabolism, she really didn't, but Lyanna's was so good – she didn't run as much as Brienne, and she ate much worse than Brienne, and she barely put on any weight, she still seemed to be mostly muscle.

"Come on, meatloaf is good too," Brienne said, and she wasn't lying, it was better than the fish they had served the day before.

"Catelyn would say that you can get salad with pizza, even if I think that's a waste of pizza." Lyanna had a point, not about the second thing, but she could eat pizza with salad or even vegetables.

Brienne ended up getting one slice of pizza, broccoli and carrots, what Lyanna called a waste of pizza, of course, and chastised her for eating "small trees". But Catelyn did get the meatloaf and the mash potatoes, which were all soppy and awful, so she ended up getting half of Lyanna's fries. They walked outside, and sat on one of the tables, since it was quite a nice winter day.

"See? You made a good choice picking the pizza," Lyanna said cocky, and Catelyn rolled her eyes, while Brienne was sure she would still eat the mash potatoes even if they were not that good.

"Do you want any broccoli, Catelyn?"

"I'll take a carrot if that's okay."

"Sure," Brienne said, rolling it onto Catelyn's plate. "Anything else?"

"No, that's okay. Thank you."

The three of them ate together for most of the meal, before Rhaegar showed up and sat down behind Lyanna, but turning to talk with Brienne.

"We need to work on the English project," he told her. "Do you want to meet this weekend? You've finished Brave New World, right?"

"Yes, a few weeks ago."

"Me too. I think we should try to explore Henry's character," Rhaegar said. "He's just a normal guy, who follows the rules." Brienne was happy Rhaegar had said that, she liked Henry, and she was pretty sure she was very much like him – he just did as he was taught.

"Okay, that would be alright by me. Where do you want to meet?"

"Can you stop by my house? I may have to babysit my siblings."

"Okay…"

"He lives close to the Red Keep," Lyanna said. "It's the big building that screams rich person."

"And you're not rich, Lya," Rhaegar said.

"Ohhh… shut up…" she said, pulling him down to the grass, and jumping on top of him, and started kissing him. Brienne looked away immediately, and she knew she was blushing, and looking at Catelyn – she was blushing too, and trying to avert her eyes.

"You're going out with Jaime after class, right?" Catelyn asked, trying to change the conversation to distract them from the kissing.

"Yes. Jaime still has one more class after lunch, but we'll meet after. I'm going to run after lunch, while I wait."

"Really?! Running after lunch?!"

"What?! You are going to exercise and you were doubting if you could eat pizza?!" Lyanna asked, from the top of Rhaegar, as they laid on the grass.

"Lya…" Brienne complained, but her friend didn't answer and just went back to kissing her boyfriend.

"So you liked the book, Brave New World? I have it at home. It was my mother's. It has an inscription inside from her father, he gave it to her when she married and moved in with my father," Catelyn told her.

"It's so interesting, and strange. I really can't believe that anyone in my class can call the book boring. You should read it. You would enjoy it," Brienne told her. "And if you have the same teacher next year, you'll have the work cut out for you."

"I may read it in the holidays then, or just when I have the time. School is killing me, and my dad has been travelling more nowadays... and I'm just tired I think," Catelyn said, dropping her head on the table.

"I'm sorry," Brienne said, patting her on the back. "I can help if you need," Brienne said, since it seemed the appropriate thing to say, even if she wasn't sure how to help in this situation.

"Sorry, I shouldn't…" Catelyn apologized immediately, composing herself. "My dad is great, and I love my siblings. I love being with them," she said, with a tone that seemed like she was still apologizing.

Brienne wanted to tell her that it was okay to feel tired of her family that she didn't need to be there always, that she could ask for help. But Brienne didn't say anything; she feared it would be the wrong thing to say.

"I know."

"Yeah, my dad will be gone until Sunday, so it's just us. I need to handle dinner, and breakfast, and get Edmure ready for class everyday, and also check his homework, and make sure he bathes. And I have to study, and we're also helping Robert catch up in school, luckily I convinced him and Ned to do it in my house."

"Are you sleeping enough, Cat?"

"I was up late doing laundry last night."

"You can sleep now, I will wake you up when lunch time is over"

"Thank you," Catelyn said, before laying her head on her lap. Brienne looked at her for a few seconds, before turning back to her food.

They stayed like that during most of the break, Catelyn sleeping, Lyanna and Rhaegar kissing and laughing while and Brienne studied. Ned stopped by to see Catelyn, but he let her sleep, but Brienne stopped him, just to tell him to look after Catelyn this week, since her father was out.

"I know. She never wants me to help, but I'll try. I'll always try," Ned said. "I'll let her sleep now."

Ned left after that, to go back to Robert and their friends, and Brienne only woke up Catelyn when she had to leave for class. They walked up to the school, but they separated when Brienne went to the locker room, and the others went to class. She changed from her clothes to a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt, and put her sneakers back on. She put her backpack and clothes in the locker, and after locking it, she left the building and made her way outside to the field.

Brienne started by warming up and stretching a bit, and only after she started running, first slowly – she didn't want to tire herself too early, and after a few laps around the track she started to speed up. Brienne could feel her heart beat faster, and her breathing speed up, then her legs got heavier, but she pushed forward through the aches.

She loved running when no one else was there to watch or judge her. She felt free and strong – it was like her mind and body could only focus on what she was good at. When she ran fast, there was no one to tell her that she was ugly, that her hair looked all wrong, that she was too tall or too manly. And since no one was watching, there was no one to tell her that she could do better and run faster. When she ran she didn't think about that either...

She only stopped running after quite a few laps, when she was tired and breathing too hard. She rested her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath, and took the time to massage her upper legs.

After she let her heart slow down, she went back to the showers. She sat on the bench and stretched her legs, and then her back and chest, before stripping down. She hated showering when the other girls were there and could see her body, but not when she was alone – some people considered the water at school too cold, but she liked it like this, it felt good on her sore, sweaty and tired body.

She didn't take much time, just enough to clean herself up with the soap, and then she dried her body with her towel, and let her hair air dry (a privilege of having short hair). And then she pulled on the same clothes she had before – jeans and a sweatshirt; actually just in time for the school bell to ring, and for her to meet Jaime at the door.

He was already waiting when she got there, and alone – neither Cersei or Elia were with him, which she found strange, so she asked him if he had already talked to both of them about where they were going.

"You know that I don't owe them any explanations, right? I'm a grown up," he answered. "But yes, I told Cersei where I was going. And I had already told Elia."

"And she's okay with us hanging out?"

"Why wouldn't she be?" he asked as they walked to his car.

"I don't know," Brienne answered, blushing. Of course, no one would ever be jealous of her, or think of her as a threat. Jaime or no other boy would ever look at her.

"So where do you want to go?" Jaime asked, as he backed the car out of the school. "I was thinking Riverrun – we could go to the Brotherhood."

"Sure," she answered. And with that Jaime entered the highway to Riverrun, speeding faster than the speed limit, as she told him to slow down, since it could be dangerous, but he didn't care – he never did. Jaime never slowed down, unless the police were after him, and even then not always. And he definitely never slowed down when she asked him to, which got them to the Brotherhood quicker than it should have.

But the batting cages were closed. Jaime swore when he read the note saying that they were closed due to the rain.

"Fuck, it's not even raining! They're just a bunch of lazy fucks."

"The weather forecast did announce rain, Jaime. And you know the Riverlands, it almost always rains here."

"But next time they should check before closing down the place," he complained. "Do you have a pen?"

"No," she answered.

"Shit. I'll get one of mine." Jaime got back to his car and after getting a pen, he added to the note 'its n raining u fukers chek nextime' – Brienne cringed at the language and spelling, but said nothing. "So what are we gonna do now?" he asked.

"There's a mall nearby, I think… Catelyn mentioned it once."

"No way… this place is deserted – there's no chance there's a mall."

"Something Harrenhal. Not the actual village, but related."

"If you say so. We'll drive up there – see if you spot something, they may have an arcade at the mall. Or we could always drive up to Harrenhal, unless you're scared of ghosts… or bears, I heard there's a bear living there."

They got back to the car and followed all the plaques to Harrenhal, and they did find a mall center, even if Jaime complained that it was too small to be considered a proper mall. Brienne was used to small malls, there weren't any malls in Evenfall, and the closest one was still small – there weren't anybig ones in the Stormlands.

"Come on, this is fucking tiny. What can we even do here?" he asked.

"Just park the car," she told him. "We'll go inside and find something."

When Jaime and Brienne entered the mall, they quickly found a place where to go There were some old foosball tables in one of the coffee shops, after ordering two sodas, they took over one of them. They were not that good, and Jaime kept blaming the table for every miss.

"This sucks," he complained. "So how are you doing?"

"Fine," she said. "How are things with Elia? You seem happy."

"She's good. She's fun, and sweet," he told her with a strange smile on his face. Brienne wasn't sure about Elia – she knew Catelyn liked her, but Lyanna and Elia were complicated. "It's weird to actually be dating someone."

"Why?" she asked. She felt dating was weird, but she was her… and Jaime was Jaime Lannister – a beautiful and a popular boy.

"I don't know… we haven't hung out for awhile, and then there's my brother and sister, and having to choose between them."

"Yeah, Cat said your sister wasn't a big fan of Elia."

"Why would she say that?!" he asked immediately, looking like she had offended him.

"That's the idea she got at the Valentine's Day dance. At the diner after the dance."

"That's not true, not really… Cersei is just overprotective, and Elia did date Rhaegar which is not good news." And now Brienne was confused, she thought Jaime liked Rhaegar – they were somewhat alike. "Ohh… also why weren't you at the dance?"

"I don't particularly like dances. Just stayed home with my dad," she said, just before scoring a goal.

"Fuck," he swore. "You should have come. I could have saved you a dance," he suggested with a grin. "And you may have kept Lyanna from getting drunk."

"She got drunk?" Brienne asked, they hadn't told her, but she wasn't surprised that she had been drunk.

"Before the dance. I'm pretty sure the Starks were drinking before the dance, they just stayed at school."

Knowing Brandon and Lyanna, it was very possible they had been drinking… Ned not so much… unless he had been nervous… she knew he and Catelyn were supposed to have done it, even if she said that it didn't happen.

"You're blushing. Right, Ned and Cat fucked, right?!" And she blushed even more. "You're blushing even more. They did fuck! I need to text Cersei, she's been trying to confirm it."

"But they didn't…" she stammered.

"Come on, you're blushing. It has to be true." And now Brienne was pretty sure she got Catelyn in trouble, since Jaime had finished the text to Cersei; she needed to call Catelyn when she got home.

"Really they didn't… please don't tell your sister…"

"She probably already shared it. Cat is strong – she can handle it. Still don't get why she's with Ned – he's so boring…"

"He's not…" Brienne didn't like when Jaime said that; if he didn't like Ned, there wasn't much reason for him to like her – she and Ned were quite alike.

"Yes, he is. He does nothing with his life, and have you seen how he dresses? How can Catelyn give him the time of her day?" he asked, shaking his head. "Did you know I tried to date her in middle school? She said no to me." No, Brienne didn't know that… it felt weird – Catelyn and Jaime… they were nothing alike… maybe that was why they didn't want to get together… And Jaime and Brienne were nothing alike either…

Brienne didn't want to keep talking about this. She couldn't explain but she didn't feel comfortable with Jaime talking about all these things. She liked it when their lives were just training, and playing sports; she didn't like this type of conversation.

"One more game, Jaime. I think I need to go home."

"Come on, it's still early. I took the day to hang out with you."

"It's not early, Jaime. And some of us need to do homework."

"Homework… homework…" he complained. "Okay, but two more and then I drive you home. Deal?"

"Deal," she agreed, and he ordered another coke.

Brienne beat him in the next two games, so Jaime left the place pretty mad, and Brienne took into her hands to apologize to the patron at the coffee house for Jaime's behaviour, but the patron only smiled and shook his head, saying it was no problem.

Back in the car, Jaime put on some music and he started driving to her house. And Brienne observed Jaime as he drove, and she could see that he looked happier, and calmer; and even if she wasn't sure how she felt about Elia, she was glad that she seemed to make Jaime happy (and at least she was much better than Cersei, Brienne thought, making her feel a bit guilty, since she knew how much Cersei meant to Jaime).