Chapter 21

Jaime Lannister POV

I'm meeting with Brienne today, and I'm pretty excited about it. I'm not sure if she would consider it as a date, but I do. I hope it goes well, I want things to go further with us. We decide to meet up for coffee since it's getting chilly outside. When I walk in, Brienne is by the pickup counter waiting for her drink.

"Hey," I say, walking up to her. "Did you already order?"

"Yeah," she says. "I needed something to wake me up."

"You should've waited for me," I say. "I would've bought you something."

"It's really fine," she says as her drink is set on the counter. She picks it up and takes a sip. "I didn't expect anything."

"Well I was going to get something anyway," I say. "Do you want a cookie?"

"Sure," she says after a pause. "Why not? Thank you, Jaime."

I order a chocolate chip cookie and a drink for myself. The cashier hands me the cookie and Brienne and I sit on a couch together.

"So how has your break been?" I ask her. "Are you still set on this being your last coaching year?"

"Yeah, at least for a while," she says. "I'm excited to go back to school and then hopefully go into sports medicine, that was always the dream."

"I really hope you can do that," I say. "You'd be so good at that."

They call my name and I walk over to the pickup counter to get my drink. I sit back down on the couch next to her.

"You're sweet," she says. "Are you glad to be back in town?"

"I am, but I'm probably the only one."

"What do you mean?"

"Cersei and Tyrion don't love being home," I say. "I don't blame them, but they can really be downers sometimes."

"Why don't they like being home?" Brienne asks.

"Cersei and Tyrion have always had rocky relationships with my father," I say. "Especially Tyrion. They swear I'm the favorite."

"Does it have anything to do with Tyrion being homeschooled?"

"Kind of," I say. "Tyrion was homeschooled because my dad was embarassed and resentful of him, and that in general made their relationship rocky. It got really bad when my father slept with Tyrion's girlfriend."

"Woah, he did what?"

"Yeah," I say. "Tyrion had a really serious girlfriend, they were going to get married. He walked in on her and my dad one night."

"That's… horrible," Brienne says. "I don't think I'd ever talk to someone again if they did that to me."

"Yeah, I'm surprised he still comes home at all."

There's a long pause. "So why did you ask me to meet up?" Brienne finally asks. "Were you hoping we could start something up again?"

"Honestly, yeah," I say. "I really like you."

"I like you too." There's a hesitancy in her voice.

"But?"

"I'm just, I'm unsure," she says. "You have to understand that. How do I know you're not just going to do what you did before."

"I get why you don't trust me," I say. "But I won't do that. Cersei is dating someone else, and I honestly think it's time for that chapter of my life to end anyway."

"How can I be sure of that?"

"I guess there's no way really," I say. "But I've already been thinking, and I wanted to ask you to be exclusive if things went well today."

"Really?" She asks after a pause. "Like, you wanted to ask me to be your girlfriend?"

"Yeah," I say. "We already know each other pretty well, and I know I like you. I see no reason why I shouldn't ask you."

"Jaime…" she says.

"You don't have to say yes, I don't want you to feel pressured," I say. "I'm still willing to take it slow, but I wanted you to know that this was something I was serious about."

She pauses, I can tell she's thinking about it. "I really like you too," she says. "I think I have to say yes."

"Really?" Wow, that was much easier than I expected.

"Yeah," she says. "I'll always be wondering what could've been if I don't. I'm giving you a second chance, and you better not blow it."

"I won't," I say. "Can I kiss you?"

She nods and I kiss her. I'm so happy. We drive home separately, and I go straight to my room. Luckily I don't have to interact with Cersei. I'm so glad Brienne said yes, I honestly didn't think she would. I still feel bad about how things left off last time, but I'm going to make it up to her. I have to.

Daenerys Targaryen POV

I'm over at Cersei's place with Margaery, we go home tomorrow. I guess I don't mind us girls hanging out, it tends to be better as a group.

"So Cersei," Margaery says as we're sitting in the living room. "I heard you have a new boyfriend."

"Yep," Cersei says. "His name is Bronn."

"What's he like?"

"He's really funny," Cersei says. "And he has a side hustle, maybe I can help get you hooked up if you wanted."

"Ooh, what kind of side hustle?" Margaery asks.

"He's a drug dealer," I say. "That's what she means."

"If you want to use that term," Cersei says. "But he can get a lot of stuff, just nothing hard core."

"I may take you up on that," Margaery says. "You should bring him to town soon."

"I was thinking about bringing him for winter break," Cersei says. "Especially since I turn 21 on Christmas Eve."

Oh, that's right. I'm sure she'll want to throw a giant party, this is a birthday she's been excited about for years.

"Are you going to throw a party?" Margaery asks.

"Duh," Cersei says. "I'm going to start texting people about it soon."

I want to ask if Jaime and her are going to throw a party together. They always do that, but I'm not sure since there seems to be so much tension between them lately.

"How's it going with Jon?" Margaery asks me. "Still super in love?"

"Of course," I say. "Living together is great, but we don't have as much time together as I expected now that we both work and have class."

"Makes sense," Margaery says. "At least you get to live with him."

"How are things with Gendry?" I ask. "Did you ever end up meeting up with him?"

"Yeah, we met up earlier this week," Margaery says. "It went okay."

There's a pause. "You don't seem so sure," I say. "How did it go?"

"I thought we could maybe start things up again, but it honestly was awkward," Margaery says. "I thought it would be much more comfortable since we know each other so well."

"I never thought you guys made much sense together," I say. "I know you want it to work out, but maybe it's just not meant to be."

"It's because he's so hung up on Arya," Margaery says. "I know it has nothing to do with me."

I wouldn't say that, but I just don't respond because I don't want to piss her off. Luckily, Jaime walks into the living room so I don't have to respond.

"Hey, Jaime," I say. "How's your break been?"

"Pretty good," he says. "It's been nice to hang out with people." He goes to the fridge and grabs a coke bottle.

"What are you doing for your birthday?" Margaery asks. "Cersei mentioned that she wants to throw a party."

"Really?" Jaime says, looking over at Cersei. "She said that."

"Of course," Cersei says. "We'll be 21, we can invite everyone over."

"I wasn't sure you'd want to throw a joint birthday party this year," Jaime says. "I know it's a big one, but I didn't want to assume anything."

"Well if I throw one for me, I can't just invite you without it being a joint party," Cersei says. "That would be shady."

She's right, it would be and it would probably raise more questions than she'd like because they've always done joint birthday parties.

"Sure, we can throw a joint 21st party," Jaime says. "I'd love to invite Brienne."

"Really?" I ask.

"Yeah," he says. "We're dating."

There's an awkward pause. "You are?" Cersei asks, trying to sound cool about it.

"Yep," he says. "We just became official yesterday."

There's another pause, this is really tense. "Cool," Cersei says. "I'll invite Bronn then."

"Sounds good." Jaime walks up the stairs.

I can't imagine how awkward this birthday party is going to be, and it hasn't even been planned yet. I'm already dreading it, but I know I have to go and I should probably bring Jon. I wish my friends could act like adults, or at least normal siblings.

Jon Snow Stark POV

I have no idea what to do with the information I've been given. I want to tell my mom that my dad isn't this awful cheater she thinks he is, but I honestly don't think she'd believe me. If she wouldn't believe my dad, then she definitely won't believe me.

I stayed with Dany for the rest of the break, it was hard for me to face my dad. I guess he's not even my dad, but that's all I know him as. I'm at home to say goodbye to my family before we head back.

"Jon," my mom says when she sees me come in with Dany. She's in the living room with my younger brothers. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We just came to say goodbye," I say. "We're about to head out."

"Bye, Jon," Rickon says. "You'll be back for Christmas right?"

"Of course," I say to him. "We'll definitely be back for that."

I give my brothers and mom a hug goodbye. "Where are Sansa and Arya?" I ask my mom.

"Sansa's with Myrcella and Arya is at fencing," my mom says. "I'll tell them you said goodbye."

"Okay, thank you," I say. "Where's dad?"

"He's out back," my mom says, gesturing to the back porch. "You can go say bye to him, I'm sure he'd like that."

"I'll be right back," I say, turning to Dany. She nods and I walk outside. "Hi Dad."

"Hey son," my dad says, although it feels weird this time. "Are you leaving?"

"Yeah," I say. "We're about to head out."

"Do you have time to sit for a minute?"

I pause and look inside, Dany is talking to my mom. "Yeah," I say, sitting across from him. "Sure."

"Are you doing okay?" He asks me. "I want to make sure you're handling everything alright."

"I guess," I say. "You know it's a lot of information to take in."

"I know," my dad says. "I'm really sorry I lied to you, but I felt like it was what I had to do to protect you."

I guess I can understand that, but it's still something that's confusing for me.

"I just need some time," I say. "I need to be able to think about this and process it."

"I understand, take all the time you need," my dad says. There's a pause. "You're not going to tell your mom the truth, are you?"

It kinda hurts that that's his main concern right now. "No," I say. "I'm not." She wouldn't believe me anyway.

"Thank you," he says. "I think it's best if you let me tell her when I'm ready."

I'm not optimistic he'd ever tell her, but telling her life-changing information isn't something I can think about right now.

"I have to go," I say. "Dany's waiting for me." I start to get up.

"Wait, Jon," my dad says. I turn to look at him. "You don't hate me, do you?"

"No, dad," I say. "I don't hate you."

"Good," he says. "Because I love you."

"I know."

I walk back inside and Dany and I head out to the car. "Was everything okay with your dad?" She asks me.

"I guess," I say. "He just wanted to make sure I was doing okay, and that I wouldn't tell my mom the stuff he told me."

"Are you going to?"

"No, at least not for a while," I say. "He wants to tell her on his own, plus I have more to worry about than that right now."

"Makes sense," she says. "I'm sorry all this is happening."

"It is what it is."

I'm not sure how to process all this, I'm just glad I have Dany with me to help me through it. I don't think my dad will actually tell my mom the truth, not after all this time. I won't tell her either. I don't know what's going to happen from this, but I don't think my life or my relationship with my dad will ever be the same.