A.N.: So I admit the last chapters were pretty dark. Although I think it is mostly downhill from here, there is one silver lining in the end for those of you who keep reading. I hope you'll enjoy. :)
The bathroom walls of the presidential suite were not thick enough to muffle the sounds of their quarrel.
'How much more are you willing to lose until this is all over? Would you sacrifice our last child for it? Myrcella and Tommen were the first victims of your battle for power, but if you continue, Jaymee can be the next.' Jaime argued while they were preparing for Tommen's funeral.
'Tommen wasn't a victim. He killed himself. It was his choice.' Cersei remarked coldly as she put on her lipstick in front of the large mirror.
Jaime couldn't believe what he had just heard. He left the door frame he had stood against and stepped menacingly behind his sister. 'What kind of choice are you talking about? He was ten years old and he was so unhappy that he didn't see another way out.'
Cersei slightly winced as she felt Jaime's breath on her shoulder.
'I can't forgive him, Jaime. I simply can't.' she said softly as she leaned over the basin.
'And I can't forgive myself.' Jaime replied right away.
Cersei straightened up and started to study her brother's image in the mirror.
'No. ' she slowly shook her head. 'You can't forgive me. Just say it.'
'Maybe.' Jaime agreed.
His sister remained quiet for a while, then she let out a frustrated sigh and ran her hands down her tight black dress. 'I look fat, I hate it.'
Jaime raised his eyebrows in surprise. It was uncharacteristic of Cersei to back out of a fight.
'You don't. Anyway, it's not my concern anymore.' Jaime said wearily. 'I'm leaving, Cersei.'
'What?' her twin brother's words sounded so absurd, Cersei almost laughed.
But it wasn't a joke. She realized that as soon as he repeated them.
'You heard me. I'm leaving you.'
Cersei has already had quite a few drinks and after Jaime's dramatic announcement she didn't see any reason to stop after the funeral.
'Watch your step, sis.' she heard Tyrion's voice as she stumbled into the living room to greet the guests who were coming to the wake.
'Sorry, not sorry.' she mumbled scornfully and took a bottle of wine from the table.
Her brother watched her attempt to pour herself a glass, but half of the drink ended up on the tablecloth.
'What? You're not even trying to stop me?' Cersei snapped at her brother when she noticed his look.
'You would enjoy that, wouldn't you?' Tyrion said with a bitter smile.
His sister returned the smile. 'I always enjoy when you fail.'
Tyrion watched as a drop of red wine ran through Cersei's fingers that held the glass. 'I gave up a long time ago to try to make you a better person.'
'You can't imagine what I have been through.' Cersei hissed between her teeth while she wiped her hand in the tablecloth. 'How could you? You were not here. You left me!'
With her last screamed words, she accidentally dragged the tablecloth with her, along with most of the things that were on it. The piles of plates and glasses came crashing down and shattered on the floor. All the guests turned their head toward them.
'Let's get out of here.' Cersei suggested, which sounded more like an order to her brother.
Tyrion followed her sister through the rooms until they got out to the huge balcony.
'Another great funeral.' Cersei remarked after she let her brother soak in the view.
'It was beautiful. You really did justice to Tommen's memory.' Tyrion answered honestly.
Cersei gave him a suspicious look, then let out a soft chuckle. 'It's just like parenting. You get better with every child.'
Tyrion couldn't hold back a painful groan. 'God, Cersei. You should listen to yourself sometimes.' Seeing the hollow look in his sister's eyes made him feel pity for her. 'I'm truly sorry about Tommen.'
'I don't give a shit about your sorry.' Cersei remarked flatly. 'But I want to ask you something. Is it true that you are helping Daenerys Targaryen?'
Tyrion was taken aback by her change of subject, but there was no use denying the truth.
'Yes. I'm giving her council.'
'Why?' Cersei asked again with an almost childlike disappointment in her voice.
But she couldn't fool her brother. 'I'm preparing her for the next election.'
'Against me.' It was getting harder and harder for Cersei to keep up the cool facade.
Tyrion snorted in amusement. 'I wouldn't be so confident. You will probably get impeached by then.'
'I will kill you for this.' Cersei jumped at her brother's throat and tried to push him over the balcony rails.
Lucky for Tyrion, she was too drunk for the task. She fell onto her knees to catch her breath and let her sobs break free. After a minute, she raised her glance up to her brother who just stood there silently, unsure to leave or stay to comfort her… Finally, Cersei had enough and got up from the floor.
'Thank you.' she mumbled as she walked away, leaving her puzzled little brother behind.
'Sorry to interrupt. Can I talk to you, Dad?' Cersei asked her father who was talking to some distant relatives.
Tywin gave a concerned look to his daughter whose mascara was smudged and had serious trouble standing on her own two feet. 'I don't think it's the right time for you to talk about anything. Go back to your room. We'll talk once you have slept it off.'
Cersei shook her head and laughed at him.'I don't have a room, Daddy. The whole fucking house… the whole fucking country is mine.'
'Not for long if you continue like this.' her father remarked it as a warning. 'Where is Jaime?'
'How should I know? He didn't want to attend his own son…' Cersei began, but after her father's slight twitch, she corrected herself. 'Right, his nephew's funeral. But you won't get rid of me so easily. I'm the President.'
Tywin didn't appreciate her tone, but he knew better than to argue with a drunk. He excused himself from his company and followed his daughter to an empty sofa.
'What can I do for you, Madam President?'
'Did you know that Tyrion is working for Daenerys Targaryen?' Cersei jumped right into it.
Her father nodded. 'I told him to quit as soon as I found out.'
'Well, he didn't listen.' she hissed between her teeth. 'I'm waging war, and he and the Targaryen girl support my enemies.'
'Anything else?' Tywin glanced at his watch, signaling his boredom.
Cersei knew she was running out of her father's precious time. 'I need more money. Those Dornish scumbags are now getting foreign aid, so I have to double the men and the weapons to fight them.'
Tywin oppressed a yawn. 'You want to know the truth? You can't win this war, Cersei. You need to end it.'
'No, no, no…' Cersei quickly got up from her seat, only to lose her balance and immediately fall back. 'I just need more time and money…'
'The country is in flames, the people hate you.' her father interrupted her plea. 'And because of that abominable rumour about you and your brother, you have managed to lose your remaining supporters.'
Cersei's lips curved into a scornful smile. She found her father's Achilles' heel. 'It's not a rumour and you know it.'
Tywin looked as if he was physically hurt by her words. 'I don't have to listen to this. Stop fighting and make peace with the Dornish.' He got up from the sofa, ready to leave, but his daughter's voice made him turn back to her.
'Never.'
'Suit yourself, but I'm not financing your pointless war any longer.' Tywin remarked in a firm voice before he let himself one moment of weakness. 'You were my little girl. I gave you the world and you did nothing but squander it. This will end now. It's time for you to get your act together.'
After the guests left, Cersei wanted to say goodbye to her son one last time before the people from the funeral home came to take him away. But someone beat her to it.
'Look, who decided to show his face after all.' she greeted her twin brother.
'I wasn't right to leave you and let you deal with the funeral stuff all alone. I'm sorry. ' Jaime lowered his eyes in shame. 'Dad is worried about you. He thinks you might have lost it this time.'
Cersei snorted in disdain. 'What did you say to him?'
'The truth. That you are grieving. But I don't think I convinced him. He doesn't want you to be President anymore.'
Cersei stepped closer to her brother and put her arms around his neck. 'Lucky for us, I don't care about Tywin Lannister.' she whispered to his ear and pressed a soft kiss on his lips. Then another and another…
'Stop it, Cersei. It's not right. They can be here for the casket any minute.' Jaime tried to escape his twin's embrace, but she didn't let go of him.
'Let them come. I have nothing to be ashamed of.' Cersei whispered seductively.
Her brother's resistance slowly began to fade and he eased into Cersei's arms. 'God, why did you make me love such a hateful woman?'
Cersei woke up in her own bed. She was still trying to piece together last night's events when she noticed an open suitcase in the corner of the room.
'Jaime?'
Her twin brother stepped out of the bathroom with only a towel around his torso.
'What's going on?' Cersei asked in a hoarse voice, nodding toward the suitcase.
Jaime followed her gaze. 'I told you: I'm leaving.'
'No, you are not.' Cersei wrestled down the blanket of herself and got out of bed. 'You just fucked me beside our son's coffin.'
'It was yesterday. You just don't remember because you passed out right after.' Jaime remarked matter-of-factly. 'But look at the bright side. At least our last time was special.'
Cersei was shocked to see her twin this way. She was used to this kind of behaviour from Tyrion or her father, but never Jaime. 'How can you be so cynical?'
'I'm afraid if I stayed, I would end up strangling you in your sleep.' came the simple answer.
Cersei took it with a flirty smile.'I take that chance.'
But it didn't work. Jaime has already made up his mind. 'I don't. I'm leaving and I'm taking Jaymee with me.'
'Like hell you are!' Cersei screamed at him. 'Walk away like everyone else, run like the coward you have always been, I don't give a fuck. But you won't take my daughter anywhere.'
Jaime opened the closet to put on a shirt, then threw the rest in the suitcase.
'She is my daughter too.' he remarked softly. 'Thanks to your new bill that legitimized our relationship, I have a right to be her father.'
'Are you so stupid that you would actually go to court against me?' Cersei scoffed.
She walked over to her brother and stood in front of him, blocking his way to the suitcase.
Jaime didn't let himself intimidated by her. 'Imagine what a custody battle would do to you. Your presidency couldn't survive another fail. Not if I tell the world about your dirty little secrets. All the scandals, Dad and I helped you cover up… Robert's death, Margaery's death… You don't even have the decency to deny it anymore.'
'You won't talk about those things unless you want to implicate yourself too. And then neither of us will get Jaymee. Or would you rather have Dad raise her?' Cersei remarked with a confident smile and put her hands on her brother's chest.
Jaime gently peeled her hands off of him and took them into his own. 'No. That's why I'm asking you. She is not safe with you and you know that. Let me take her away until the war is over and things have settled down.'
With Jaime and baby Jaymee gone, the presidential palace was emptier than ever. Cersei was looking out the window with a glass of red wine, listening to the sounds of bombing that were slowly reaching the capital, when she heard a faint voice from behind.
'Mom?'
