Chapter 6: Just One Drink

~o0o~

"Come in Gilly…" Daenerys murmured sleepily when she heard a knock on her door. Her cheek was smashed against the pillow and the duvet pulled up over her to shield her from the sun coming in between the shutters. She could tell that the light was different, and it made her remember that she wasn't in her old room.

"Oh, my apologies, Daenerys," Jorah stood in the doorway, hesitant to step over the threshold when he realized the Princess was not quite awake. When Daenerys realized that it wasn't Gilly's voice answering her, she hastily sat up in bed, mortified as she looked across the room at Jorah.

"It's nine? Shit…" Daenerys cursed under her breath. This morning meeting thing definitely needed some getting used to. As she looked at him, completely put together and wide awake, she felt a twinge of embarrassment that she was so ill prepared. "Where's Gilly?"

"I just woke her up. You aren't the only one who overslept…" Jorah took a step further into her new bedroom, today's folder tucked under his arm. "She was up late talking on the phone with her new boyfriend. Sam something or other…"

Daenerys grinned. "How do you know Gilly has a boyfriend?"

"It's my job to know everything that goes on here, Princess. One day you'll thank me for it." He said, "She'll be in with your breakfast shortly." The poor girl had been besides herself when she realized that she overslept, but he couldn't blame her. They were all in a new environment and young love could be so all consuming. But he still made Gilly promise it wouldn't happen again.

Daenerys pulled the covers up a little higher. Her pyjamas weren't exactly revealing, but she still felt so sloppy in front of him. "What is on my schedule today?"

"You tell me…" Jorah handed her the folder. Inside there wasn't a schedule – just some clippings from the morning newspapers for her perusal. "The next three days are open. And I can promise you, these opportunities won't be frequent, so take advantage."

Daenerys' eyes lit up at the thought. No Starks. No having to see her father or Viserys. And she knew exactly what she wanted to do. "Is it alright if I have my friend Missy over to stay a few nights?"

"Not a problem – I'll have the guest bedroom readied for her. Just let me know when we should be expecting her." Jorah nodded, "And I just wanted to remind you, Princess…"

"Daenerys"

"Daenerys," a small smile played on Jorah's lips at her correction, "That my weekend off is this weekend. As is Gilly's. It will just be Grey and Chef."

"Any plans?" Daenerys asked, curious. Since their schedules were so rigorous, the household staff took every second weekend off, alternating. She had only ever seen Captain Mormont working and wondered what his life was like outside of all this. Surely he must have one, but he was very private about it.

"I'll be spending the weekend in Bear Island."

"Bear Island?"

"Little place off of Glasgow's coast. It's where most of my family still is and I'll be spending some time with my niece and my father, if he feels up to it." Jorah said, with a little uneasiness in his voice. He hadn't seen his father in a few years, since right after his divorce. Jeor Mormont had taken his daughter-in-law's side over the whole ordeal But nevertheless, Jorah knew it was high time for a visit, especially after the loss of Rhaegar. Maybe they could clear things up and move on. Nothing reset his mind and heart quite like going home.

"Well then, I hope you have a nice weekend." Daenerys smiled, and he returned the gesture before inclining his head just slightly in respect and leaving her alone to continue her morning. As she waited in bed for Gilly to bring breakfast, Daenerys picked up her cell and texted Missy.

"Palace slumber party?"

~o0o~

"Missandei…" Grey addressed Daenerys' best friend in his quiet, strong voice when her car pulled up to the private entrance to Kensington later that evening. As she stepped out and he offered his hand to help her, her deep, flawless complexion flushed just a bit.

"I feel like it's been forever!" Daenerys came out the back door of the residence and ran to greet her friend, wrapping her arms tightly around the tall, lithe French-Nigerian beauty and unknowingly interrupting the moment she and Grey were having.

"I know. I've missed you. Things have been so busy…" Missy looped her arm through Daenerys', holding her close as they walked towards her new home. Grey kept his distance behind them, carrying Missandei's overnight bag. He was the only one besides her parents that called her by her full name and the way it rolled off his tongue never failed to make her stomach flutter.

"I have a thousand things to tell you, but we have all weekend." Daenerys led her inside and they giggled together over how gorgeous the entirety of her palace apartment was. There was enough room for Missy to have her own place on the property if Daenerys willed it, but she knew her friend was happy in her modest flat in Fulham.

"You must be Missy. Daenerys speaks so highly of you," Jorah interrupted them as he walked into the living room. He shook Missandei's hand and introduced himself.

"Dany has not told me about you," a smirk played on Missy's lips as she glanced at her best friend, "But it is a pleasure to meet you."

"I wanted to say goodbye before I took off. Don't drive Grey mad this weekend, alright?" Jorah looked between the two women and then over at Grey, still holding Missandei's bag. His face was stoic, as usual, but his eyes were fixed on their new guest. Jorah was keen at reading others and it was clear there were feelings between the two – and that they were mutual.

"Have a nice time with your family." Daenerys nodded to Jorah, who thanked her and took his leave. She asked Grey if Chef could take the night off and they could have Indian food from their favorite place off of the high street and they retreated to her bedroom to catch up.

"Okay…so are you just surrounded by hot men? Is that what being a Princess is really like? Because I don't remember this at Uni…" Missy plopped herself onto Daenerys' bed, resting her head in her hand as she looked up at her blonde counterpart. Dany rolled her eyes and joined her.

"Jorah?"

"Yes. I mean…not my type…we both know who is my type…but bloody hell. And he's your…what did he say he was…personal secretary? What does that even mean?"

"Private secretary. Basically the most intense assistant ever. Like what you do for Tyrion Lannister except he gets paid more than you do and he doesn't know 17 languages," Dany laughed.

"18. I just mastered Basque." Missy smiled proudly.

"Useful, I'm sure," Daenerys teased, "Will you use that a lot at work?"

"Do you think he's hot?" Missy completely ignored Daenerys' sad attempt at changing the subject. She rolled over onto her stomach and looked up at her with wide brown eyes.

"He's certainly not bad looking," Daenerys conceded. Her best friend could be dangerous sometimes. Always so inquisitive and intuitive.

Missy eyed her friend suspiciously. "Not bad looking? I know you aren't blind. He's fit. And totally the strong, quiet type. And that IS your type. Remember Drogo?"

How could Daenerys forget her first real relationship during her first year at Cambridge? Drogo could practically bench-press a car and towered over her by at least two feet. They fancied themselves in love and she certainly considered him her first love. They were together two years before he graduated and then things naturally started to fizzle as he moved away and they grew apart. It wasn't a bad breakup, but it was still hard on her.

But Missy wasn't wrong – Drogo and Jorah had some similarities. Quiet, but fit. Kind, but hard to read. "It doesn't matter if on paper he is my type. He's twenty years older than me and works for me."

"Minor details." Missy teased but sensing that Daenerys didn't want to continue that type of girl talk, she backed off the subject. "Sorry, babe…I just want to see you happy. I can't even comprehend what you are going through."

Dany nodded. It was the push she needed to let everything spill out to Missy. Her sadness over Rhaegar. The whirlwind of changes with moving and how she felt sick to her stomach that Viserys was next in line to the throne. She talked about Sansa and their less than friendly tea and how her father was giving her no choice but to marry one of the Starks. It all fell out of her mouth – sometimes coherent, sometimes too fast and piecemeal for Missy to really understand, but she nodded and held her friends' hand as tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

"We'll figure this out together – okay? You just happen to be the Crown Princess of England…but no big deal, right?" Missy smiled as she sat up on the bed and wiped a lone tear streaking down Dany's cheek as she looked her right in the eye.

Grey knocked on the door with their takeout and it brought them back to reality. They promised that they'd spend the rest of the night eating curry and watching chick flicks and forgetting about their daily lives, just happy to be two best friends together again.

~o0o~

Jorah stepped out of the town car at Heathrow at a quarter 'til seven that night and made it quickly through the security check. It was times like these that he was particularly thankful for the perks of working in the Royal Family's inner circle. Even if he only did get to have a semblance of a personal life once every two weeks, they took fantastic care of him. He didn't have to pay for a place to live, or food, or clothes, or travel. If he was truly banking the nice sum her earned from the job, he could easily retire from it all in ten years and travel the world without a care. But he was paying an exorbitant amount in alimony to his ex-wife, who refused to work and was seeing someone else, while also refusing to get married just so she could collect from him.

Unfortunately, something the Royal Family didn't offer was a good lawyer. Hers was much better and he paid dearly for that every month. The whole thing was such a mess.

By the time he reached the gate, the plane to Glasgow was already boarding. He'd be there just after nine and take the ferry to Bear Island. He settled into his seat in first class and pulled out a book to pass the short flight away.

"Captain Mormont?"

Startled, he looked up to see Lady Sansa Stark sliding into the seat next to him.

"Lady Sansa, it's nice to see you…" he said, still confused. She went on about how her seat was across the aisle, but no one would mind as she set her Celine bag down and crossed her long legs. For boarding a small 7:30 p.m. flight to Glasgow, she looked nothing short of glamorous.

"Where are you headed?" she asked, brushing her long, red hair over her shoulder and turning towards him as the plane started to fill up around them.

"Home for the weekend, you?" he found himself staring. Part of his job was to observe, and he was skilled at it. Her glances and overt attempts at catching his eye during the multiple funerary events this past week hadn't gone unnoticed. He hadn't expected to see her again, especially not so soon, and yet there she was sitting next to him. And he had to admit she was very beautiful.

"I'm heading to the Winter Gardens to represent Norfolk at the annual garden party there. And some other charity things…" she sighed, flippantly, "But then I'll be back in London next week for Fashion Week. I assume the Princess will be there? I'd love to catch up with her."

Jorah was overwhelmed by her. She was a force – sharp, quick-tongued, and clearly adept at leading the conversation where she wanted it, all with a coy little smile on her face.

"I haven't spoken with her about it." Jorah finally admitted, making a mental note to look into it. He was usually up-to-date on all of the important events, but London Fashion Week was never something Rhaegar would have thought twice about attending. But he was serving the Princess now, of course her interests would be different.

The cabin crew started to walk around to do their pre-flight checks and Sansa buckled herself in, her hand brushing his thigh as she snapped the seatbelt into the buckle.

"If the Princess and I are to be sisters-in-law, you will surely be seeing much more of me." Sansa was clearly flirting, and Jorah tried his best to remain as neutral in expression as possible as the plane started to taxi.

"I think that's all a bit far off, don't you think?" After years of knowing King Aerys, even knowing how strict he could be, he was still surprised at this sudden push towards a union. It had to be years down the road at the very least. Still – he remembered how sad Daenerys was last night after the dinner. It made him sad to think about.

"Mmmmm…" Sansa hummed noncommittedly and was quiet for a moment as the plane took off and didn't speak again until she looked out the window and saw the lights of London growing smaller beneath them. "Will you be with your family all weekend?"

"I hope to be."

"Do you think you could squeeze in a drink with me one night? I don't have a lot of friends in Glasgow…" Sansa looked at him with a glimmer in her eye that he only recognized as 'trouble'.

"Oh, I'm sure you do Lady Stark. A girl like you could make friends anywhere." Jorah did his best to skirt around the invitation.

"But I feel like we'd have a lot to talk about…" Sansa leaned closer to him and smiled, "Just one drink?"

"Just one drink." Jorah conceded, and he saw a triumphant smirk flit over her lips for half a second. He was shocked at himself for agreeing.

It was certainly going to be an interesting weekend.