Chapter 25

Jaime Lannister POV

I wake up and see that Tyrion called me 5 more times while we were sleeping. Cersei is still sleeping, so I head into the hallway to call Tyrion back.

"Hello?" He says after the first ring. It sounds like he's groggy, or he's been crying.

"Sorry, man," I say. "Cersei got really drunk last night and I had to take care of her, you know how it is. What's going on?"

"Shae and I broke up," he says between sniffles.

"What?" I'm shocked. That makes no sense, they were so happy last time I talked to him.

"We broke up last night when she was supposed to sleep over."

"Why?"

"Let's just say I now understand why father likes her so much." I pause before realizing what he means.

"What?" I ask, horrified. "How long has that been going on?"

"I don't know, I was too busy kicking her out and throwing her stuff at her to find out any more details. I swear, Jaime. I could've killed her."

"God, I'm so sorry," I say to him. "For what it's worth, I had no idea."

"No one did," he says. There's a pause. "Can I stay with you guys this weekend? I need to get out of this house."

"Let me ask Cersei, and I'll let you know today."

"You know she's going to say no."

"I'll do my best to convince her," I say. "I'll ask her and let you know."

"Okay," he says. "Bye." We hang up and I walk back into the apartment. Cersei is sitting on the couch massaging her temples.

"How are you feeling?" I ask, sitting next to her. I put my arm around her and start rubbing her shoulder.

"Shitty," she says. "What were you doing?"

"Talking to Tyrion, which I also wanted to talk to you about."

"Okay…" she sounds confused.

"Can he stay with us this weekend?" I ask her. "He and Shae broke up, and he needs to get away."

"Why did he and Shae break up?" She asks me.

"Something to do with father," I respond. "I guess father liked her a little too much." Cersei's eyes widen.

"Sure," she says. "He can stay here, but just for this weekend."

"Thank you, Cersei. I'll go let him know." I start to walk into our bedroom.

"You better tell him what a good person I am for letting him stay here."

"Will do," I say, closing the door to the bedroom. I can't believe she was okay with it, I guess even she realizes how fucked up the whole thing is.

*Cersei said sure,* I text Tyrion. *But only for this weekend.*

Ding. *Wow, tell her thank you. Love you, brother.*

*Love you, too.* I can't believe this. I always knew father was a cold and heartless person, but I never thought he would do something like this. I guess there isn't much I can put past our family at this point.

Jon Snow Stark POV

I'm hanging out with Dany at her house when her phone rings. She sighs when she looks at who's calling.

"It's Cersei," she says. "Sorry, I should probably take this. She's been going through a lot since starting school." I just nod and she answers the phone.

"Hey," Dany says to Cersei. I can't hear what Cersei is saying, but she's raising her voice and clearly talking very fast. "What? Holy shit, what the fuck? Yeah, I can come for a bit since it'll be spring break, but I can't stay the whole week. Sorry, I just can't. I have to go, but I'll text you later. See you next week." She sighs after hanging up the phone.

"What was that about?" I ask her.

"Tyrion and Shae broke up," she says to me. "Apparently their dad really really liked her."

"What the fuck, seriously?"

"Yeah, I'm honestly not even surprised. He never gave a shit about Tyrion." There's a pause. It's weird to me that they aren't really doing or saying much, I would beat the shit out of my dad if he did that to me.

"Anyway," Dany continues. "I'm going to stay with Jaime and Cersei for a couple days during spring break. Tyrion will be there too, and I think Cersei wants me around to distract her from Tyrion. I hope that's okay."

"Of course," I say. "I'll miss you, though."

"I'll miss you more," she says. "I wish I didn't have to take care of Cersei so much, but she's done a lot for me. It's the least I can do."

I don't agree with that. She shouldn't feel like she owes Cersei anything, especially if Cersei is being self-destructive. I know I can't convince Dany of anything though, she's too headstrong.

"Did you ever talk to Sansa?" Dany asks me. I'm pretty sure she's referring to her food issues.

"No," I say. "I told you I don't think she'll respond very well. It would honestly be better if you did it."

"Jon, I have enough to deal with already with Cersei and my dad. I would, and she can come to me if she wants to, but I think you should try first."

I pause, she's probably right. I just really think if I try to talk to Sansa, she'll just get angry and start yelling at me. I think about it on the way home from Dany's. I've noticed even more how little Sansa eats now that I'm paying more attention. I see my dad sitting on the back porch when I walk inside, maybe he can help me. I know Sansa wouldn't like me talking to dad about this stuff, but I don't know what else to do if Dany won't talk to her.

"Hey, Jon," my dad says as I walk out onto the back porch. "How's Dany?"

"She's fine," I say. I try not to bring her up too much, but I think my dad is trying to be more supportive. "I actually wanted to talk to you about something?"

"What is it?" He asks me.

"Have you noticed that Sansa's been eating less?"

There's a pause. "Maybe a little bit," he says. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm just a little worried," I say. "She seems to be getting really skinny again, kind of how she was last year."

"Well, she's always been skinny. I just assumed she was growing."

"You haven't noticed at all how little she eats?" I ask. "Dany told me even she's noticed."

"I try not to police you guys too much," he says. "You guys will eat when you're hungry." That irritates me. I'm sure he just doesn't understand, but I wish he was more concerned about Sansa's wellbeing.

"Can you keep an eye on it?" I ask. "Maybe mention it to mom?"

"Sure, if you're that worried about it," my dad says. "Thank you for telling me."

I get up and head to my room. I know I haven't been as concerned as maybe I should be, but it seems like my parents don't care at all. Maybe we'd all be doing a little better now if they were more attentive.

Arya Stark POV

My mom and I are picking up Sansa from cheer practice, it's the last Friday before spring break and Sansa has a couple of cheer events over the break. I also have a fencing competition, but I think my mom couldn't care less about that. I have to keep reminding her.

"Arya," my mom says to me. We're sitting in thw car, waiting for Sansa to come out. "Can you wait outside for a minute? I have to talk to your sister about something."

"What is it?" I ask.

"It's not your concern right now," she says. "Just go run around outside, or whatever you do." That upsets me, but I get out of the car anyway. It's easier to not argue with my mom.

I'm pacing around outside when Gendry walks past me. "Oh," he says, stopping after he sees me. "Hi Arya. I haven't seen you in a while."

"I'm just waiting for Sansa," I say. "Apparently my mom wants to talk to her alone when she comes out, and I'm not allowed to be there."

"I'm sorry," he says. "That sounds annoying." Sansa walks out of the school, sees me, and waves. She heads to the car, but she looks confused that I'm not following her. She gets into the passenger's seat and my mom starts talking to her.

"Do you like doing tech theatre?" I ask him.

"Yeah, it's fun," he says. "Why do you ask?"

"I recently started doing robotics at school, and I've had a lot of fun with it. I was thinking the two might be similar, and I might be wanting to try tech when I get to high school."

"They are kind of similar in some ways, I did robotics in middle school," he says. "I'll be a senior then, I'd love to show you the ropes next year if you decide you're interested."

"Yeah," I say. "That would be really cool." I know it may seem like I'm only interested in tech because I once had a crush on Gendry, but I've mostly moved on from that. He'll never look at me like that, so I might as well just move on. He'll always see me as Jon's goofy little sister.

My mom sticks her hand out of the car window and waves for me to come back. When I get into the car, I see Sansa wiping her eyes. I don't mention it, though. I'm sure she'll tell me what that was all about later.