Chapter 22

Jon Snow Stark POV

Dany and I are moving into our apartment today. It's stressful and I've been running around all over the place for the last few days, but I'm glad it's finally happening.

Dany knocks on the door and I open it. "Hey babe," I say, giving her a hug as she comes in. "Do you have all your stuff?"

"Yeah," she says. "My dad is unloading it right now, can we just put it by your car?"

"Sure," I say. "Does he need help?"

"I'm about to go help him," she says. "I just wanted to say hi and give you a hug."

"Aw, you're sweet," I say. "Let me know if you need help."

"I will," she says. "Is Sansa here? I wanted to say hi to her if she was."

"No, she's not," I say. "She's at cheer practice, they've already started and she's trying out to be captain."

"Oh right," Dany says. "I remember when I tried out for captain, I'll have to wish her luck."

"I'll be ready soon," I say. "Just let me know if you and your dad need help."

Dany nods and walks back out to her dad's car to help him unload her stuff. I go upstairs to get my suitcases and a couple boxes, but first I poke my head in my dad's room to see if he can help me.

"Dad?" I ask. "Can you help me load up my car?"

"Sure," he says, getting up from where he was sitting at his computer. We go into my room and he grabs the boxes sitting by my bed. "Dany's here, right? I thought I heard you guys talking."

"Yeah, she just got here," I say as we start to head downstairs. "Her dad is helping her put her stuff in my trunk."

"Oh, okay," my dad says, pausing. He sets the boxes out on the front porch. "Is this everything?"

"Yeah," I say. "That's all the stuff I'm taking with me to the new apartment."

"Okay," my dad says. "Can I give you a hug goodbye." I nod and we hug.

"Bye, dad."

"Bye, son," he says. "Let me know when you've gotten there safely and you're settled."

I nod and he walks inside. I load my boxes and suitcase in the car, Dany and her dad are waiting there. "You ready?" I ask her. She nods.

"Bye, dad," she says, hugging him. "I'll text you later when we're settled."

"Bye," he says. "Love you."

"Love you, too."

We get in the car and start driving. "I'm so excited," I say. "It feels like this took forever."

"I know," she says. "Sorry I was so hung up on the size of the place for a while, I'm coming around to it a lot more."

"I'm really glad," I say. "I know it's not what you're used to, but it'll be better for our budget."

She nods, and there's a pause as we keep driving. "Cersei and Jaime are staying in town for a little longer," she eventually says. "But I was hoping we could have them over once we get settled."

"Really?" I ask.

"Only if it's okay with you," she says. "I get it if you don't want to."

"That would be fine, I understand that you don't want to completely cut them off. I'm just surprised since you haven't wanted to be around them much lately."

"I know, but I think us not living together will be good for our friendship," she says. "I'm hoping the distance will help a little bit, I don't want to throw a lifetime of friendship with Cersei away. She's been there for me a lot."

"I'm sure distance will help," I say. "I know it's helped a lot for me and Sansa. We were at each others throats when I still lived at home, it's a lot better now."

"I'm really glad," Dany says. "I know she's been through a lot the last few years, I'm glad things are starting to get better for her."

I'm glad about that too, I hated seeing her struggle so much and not being able to help at all. Hopefully she's done with toxic guys and with all her food issues. I'm glad she forgave Dany, Dany always cared about her and has done so much for her.

I really do hope Dany can patch things up with Cersei and that things will get better for them. As much as I don't like Cersei, I know how much it would hurt Dany to not have a friendship with her at all. I do believe distance will help them, just like it helped me and Sansa.

Daenerys Targaryen POV

We get to the complex and pull up to the curb closest to our apartment. I'm so glad we didn't have to rent a moving truck, that would have been expensive and such a hassle. We start unloading boxes and our suitcases and setting them down on the ground.

"Ugh, it's so hot," I say. "Thank god we don't have a lot of stuff to bring in."

"Let's set all our stuff down and then carry it in," Jon says. "That way we can get all the unloading done at once."

"I can just bring in my stuff and you can bring in yours," I say. "We don't need to really have a rigid system."

"Trust me," he says. "The plan I have will make things much easier."

He's been pretty stressed this week, I feel like he's taking it out on me and trying to boss me around. "I got my stuff under control," I say. "Don't worry about me."

I get that he wants to have a structure, but he doesn't need to take charge with this as much as he is. I start bringing my stuff in and taking trips back to the car while he sticks to his plan. We keep crossing each other's paths, but we don't say anything since we're focused on the tasks at hand.

We're chilling on the couch after bringing our stuff in, we'll get to unpacking eventually. We got the wifi set up last time we were here, and Jon and I are connecting our devices to it. "Oh," I say. "I forgot something in your car. Can I have the keys?"

He sighs. "Yeah," he says, handing them to me. I go out and look through the trunk and the backseat, I can't find the thing I'm looking for. I keep looking when Jon walks out to me. "What are you looking for?"

"I can't find my laptop sleeve," I say. "It's great for taking to school, I could've sworn I brought it."

"See?" He asks. "This is why my plan for unloading was better."

"It's not that big of a deal," I say. "I probably just left it at home, I can have my dad find it and then Cersei can bring it back to me."

"Whatever," Jon says. "It just all seems very disorganized, which is what I was afraid of."

We walk back inside. "Are you okay?" I ask. "You've been pretty testy all day."

"I just really wanted this to be a smooth process," he says. "I thought I had a good plan to keep things organized."

"This has nothing to do with us following or not following your plan," I say as we sit on the couch. "I left my laptop sleeve at home. It just seems like your taking your stress from moving out on me."

He pauses and takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry," he says. "I'm just used to having to take charge in these situations and make sure none of my siblings do anything stupid."

"Well I'm not your sibling," I say. "And you can't treat me like I am."

"I'm sorry," he says. "I love you, and I'm glad we live together now."

"Me too," I say. "I love you more."

We start making out and we end up fooling around, he takes his shirt off and gets on top of me. "Do you want to christen our apartment?" He asks between kisses. "Or are you too tired?"

"I want to," I say. "But I'd like to move to the bed."

We move to the bed and get right to it. I'm glad that we don't fight much, and that we can talk through it when we do. It feels really good that we live together now and we can get used to spending more time together. I hope we can get married sooner rather than later, but I know that probably won't happen until after college.

Jaime Lannister POV

I've been thinking a lot about the conversation that Cersei and I had, and I'm starting to feel kinda guilty about it. I know her miscarriage was really hard for her, and I would hate to minimize that. I know I could never fully understand what she went through, but I thought by now she would've at least moved on a little bit.

I hung out with Brienne today, and we ended up showering together and having sex after doing a workout. I was trying to just focus on her during it, but all I could think about was Cersei and the conversation we had. We're about to go back to campus, so Brienne and I need to have a conversation sooner or later.

"I don't think I can see you anymore," I blurt out while we're cuddling after having sex. "I'm sorry, but I wanted to just rip the band-aid off."

"What?" She asks, sitting up and looking at me. "Why? What do you mean?"

"I have to leave in a few days to go back to school," I say. "It would be hard for us to keep things going, we talked about this."

"I know," she says. "But I guess a part of me was hoping we could make it work."

"This was never that serious to begin with," I say. "I thought we both were on the same page with that."

"We were," she says. She sounds really disappointed, and there's a long pause. I should probably get up and get dresses now that I've officially cut things off. "Does this have anything to do with Cersei?"

"What?"

"Does ending this with me have anything to do with your sister?"

I sigh. "I wish I could say no," I say. "But I know once we're living alone again and we have less people that we know around, I know I'll eventually start things up with her again."

"How do you know?"

"Because I always do," I say. "She's my soul mate, and I'll always go back to her."

"Have you ever even tried to have a relationship with anyone else?" She asks.

"Not besides you," I say. "But before you, there wasn't anyone else I wanted to be with."

"So you do want to be with me?"

I pause, I'm not sure how to answer that. I feel like it's a trick question. "I could see myself being with you," I say. "If things were different."

"I want you to know that I think you're better than Cersei is," Brienne says. "You actually seem like you have a heart."

"She does too," I say. "It just takes a while for you to see it."

"I still think you're not like her," she says. "I really think her influence isn't good, at least from what you told me."

"You don't really understand," I say. "Our relationship is complicated, I've done a lot of really messed up things for her."

"I know, but I think you're better than you think you are," she says. "I just wish you would stay with me."

"Regardless of Cersei, I can't do that," I say. "I have school."

"It's not that far, though," she says. "We could at least keep in contact and stay together."

"I wish we could, I really like you," I say. "But it'll just hurt in the end, I can promise you that."

There's a long pause. "So you're definitely going back to her?"

I nod. "Yeah," I say. "I really just want her to be okay. I love her so much, I need to at least try to keep helping her."

Brienne sighs. "Okay," she says. "Then maybe you should get dressed and go."

I get up, get dressed and then head back home. We don't say a word to each other as I'm getting ready to leave. I hate that I had to do this, but I know it's what's best. I really like Brienne, and if it weren't for Cersei I would try to make it work with her.

I know Cersei can get through what it is she's going through, I just need to stick around to help her. I can't abandon her, that will only make it worse. I love her more than anything in this world, I have to stick with her.