Chapter 36

Cersei Lannister POV

My dad said he would cut me off financially if I didn't do outpatient treatment, get off hard drugs, and go to meetings for two months. That seems like a lot to ask, I didn't expect him to be this concerened or care this much. He just cares about his reputation, so I know he doesn't want me to make him look bad.

I'm doing some outpatient sessions during Spring Break, and some when I get back. It's just to make sure I safely get off the drugs I was doing, mainly Xanax. I know it wasn't a great idea for me to combine the stuff I was combining together, but Bronn really didn't need to take me to the hospital. I just needed to sleep, I probably would've been fine.

I'm also going to AA meetings on campus since they host them there, but I have no intention to stop drinking. It's just to get my dad off my back. I hate that I go wild for one night and all of the sudden it's like the world will end and my life is over. Everyone was already on my back too much, now it's just gotten worse.

Jaime and I are packing to head home. Today was our last day of classes before Spring Break, but I didn't go. I still technically have medical documentation that says I don't have to go to class yet.

"Is Tyrion coming home with us?" I ask Jaime as we're packing up our stuff.

"No," Jaime says. "He's staying here, Oberyn is also staying here so they're going to hang out."

"Good," I say. "I really don't want to deal with him asking me a million questions, I've had enough of that lately."

"You really have some nerve," Jaime says. "You scared us to death, you know that?"

"Everyone overreacted," I say. "I don't think I really needed to go to the hospital."

"What if something happened to you?" Jaime asks. "Do you think Bronn could've lived with himself? Do you think I would've let him live, period?"

"I'm glad he was concerned about me," I say. "I just think his reaction was a little extreme."

"I'm shocked father didn't completely cut you off," Jaime says. "He was really upset."

"He threatened to," I say. "That's the only reason I agreed to go to therapy and meetings."

"That's better than nothing," he says. "You really did a number on us this time."

Before I can yell at him, there's a knock at the door. I open it and see it's Bronn. I haven't seen him since I left the hospital, but we've been texting a little bit. "Hey," I say. "Do you want to come in?"

"Aren't you about to leave?" He asks.

"Yeah, but we have time," I say. "We could honestly use the help packing."

"I actually wanted to talk to you in private," he says. He looks nervous. "Can we sit outside?"

I look back at Jaime and he shrugs. "Sure," I say. "That's fine." I shut the door behind me and we walk out to the grass and sit down.

"What's up?" I ask. "Is everything okay?"

He takes a deep breath. "I'm not sure it's a good idea if we keep seeing each other," he says. "It's really not you, I hate that I'm doing this."

"I've actually been thinking the same since I left the hospital," I say. "I like you, but maybe we should take a breather."

"I'm glad you're not upset," he says. "I just don't want to keep you from getting sober."

I chuckle. "I'm not getting sober."

"You're not?" He asks.

"No," I say. "What gave you that idea?"

"I just figured, after everything that happened," he said. "I figured your dad and Jaime would make you."

"I told my dad I would stop doing hard drugs and I would go to meetings and a couple therapy sessions," I say. "But I have no intention to stop drinking."

"Well still," he says. "I didn't want you to expect me to stop my side hustle."

"I don't expect that," I say. "I just thought maybe we should take a break because of how much I have going on."

"That's what I thought too," he says. "I just didn't want you to take it too hard."

"I mean, we agreed this wasn't supposed to be serious," I say. "Right?"

"We did," he says. "I just didn't expect to like you so much."

I smile at him, that's really sweet. "I like you too," I say. "And maybe someday we can try again, after everything calms down."

"I like that idea," he says. "Have a good break, I hope we can still stay friends."

"Definitely," I say. "You too."

He kisses me on the cheek and I walk back to the apartment as he walks to his car. I walk inside, and Jaime has our suitcases set up by the door.

"What happened?" He asks. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," I say, walking to my suitcase. "Bronn and I broke up."

"What?" He asks. "Why?"

"We just both needed some space," I say. "He thought we should take a break since everything is so hectic with me."

"Honestly, that's probably a good idea," Jaime says. "He wasn't good for you."

"It was never supposed to be serious anyway," I say. "But I know you're thrilled."

"That isn't what I meant," he says. "Seriously, are you going to be okay? I know the last week or so has been a lot for you."

"I'm fine," I say. "Let's go home." Jaime pauses, but then we leave and head to the car. He really doesn't need to be breathing down my neck about this, I'm truly fine.

I do honestly feel like this is for the best, at least for now. Bronn is great, but maybe I shouldn't be dating anyone right now. It's not like this was ever meant to be serious, anyway. I know Jaime is thrilled, but he won't stop seeing his little whore. He doesn't want me right now, he just wants to know he could have me. I don't need him, or Bronn. I just need me.

Sansa Stark POV

I feel bad about my fight with Arya, I know it was important to her that I went to her fencing competition. She's still been sleeping in Robb and Jon's old room mostly, or she's been asleep when I've come to bed.

I get home from cheer on Friday, and Arya is in bed reading. I guess we're going to be forced to talk now, we can't really avoid it any longer.

"Hey," I say. "I didn't think you'd be in here."

"I live here," she says. I roll my eyes and go into the closet to get changed. "You can't expect me to never come back to my room."

"I don't," I call out. "I just figured you were still mad at me."

"I'm not happy you didn't come," she says. "I placed 5th."

"That's great!" I say as I walk out of the closet and sit on my bed.

"It was higher than I expected, but I still wish I placed higher," she says. "I just hadn't competed in a while."

"Don't be so hard on yourself," I say. "You're really great at fencing."

"Thanks," she says. "I'm sorry I got so mad at you."

"Really?"

"Yeah," she says. "It hurt me that you didn't go, but I know you can't just skip cheer. I'm not sure I'd be able to skip a fencing competition to go to a cheer thing of yours."

"That's what I figured," I say. "And I'm sorry I wasn't dilligent about checking my schedule, I should've done that sooner."

"Maybe we can both work on stuff then," Arya says. "I don't want to keep fighting with you when we don't have much longer that we get to live together."

I smile. "That's sweet," I say. "Thank you, Arya."

"I got to talk to Meera more," she says after a pause. "We got fast food after my fencing competition."

"Bran wasn't all over her?"

"He and Rickon were off doing some bullshit," she says. "So she and I got some time to talk alone."

"Did you get any juicy gossip?"

"No," Arya says, chuckling. "But she did say it seems like Bran sometimes just wants to make out."

"Ew," I say, making a gagging noise. "No, I refuse to believe our younger brother makes out."

"Come on, he's 13," Arya says. "Of course he does."

"No, shut up," I say. "He does not."

"Meera and I exchanged numbers," she says. "I told her if she wanted to ever talk to someone, she could text me."

"Aw, that's sweet," I say. "Yeah, now that Meera's dating Bran, we should make an effort to get to know her more. Especially since we grew up with her."

"She's a sweet girl," Arya says. "It just seems like maybe he's pressuring her a little."

"You think?"

"Well, just based on what she said," she says. "Just saying that it seems like all he wants to do is make out."

"You'll have to ask her more about that," I say. "If he is pressuring her, we need to beat him up."

"I agree," she says. "Why are boys so gross?"

"Our brothers are not going to be gross fuckboys," I say. "Not if I can help it."

"I'll get closer to her and get more information," she says. "We need to set Bran straight."

"Good," I say. There's a pause. "I'm glad you're still not mad at me."

"We both messed up," Arya says, shrugging. "It's not worth it to stay mad."

She's right, we don't have that much time left living together. I know I should've checked my schedule sooner, but she still shouldn't have expected me to skip cheer and go to her fencing competition. I do agree that it's not worth arguing about, though.

I'm glad she's getting closer to Meera, Meera's sweet and we've known her for a long time. Plus, it'll be good for her to have someone to hang out with besides me and my friends once I go off to college. I'll be worried about her and her social life less, I worry about how she'll do after I'm gone. I hope she'll be okay.

Jaime Lannister POV

I'm so glad Bronn and Cersei broke up, or at least agreed to take some time apart. As much as I hate him, it made me feel good that he seemed to be so worried about her when everything went down. He took her to the hospital and was honest with the doctors, which is more than I expected of him.

I'm meeting with Brienne today now that we just got home for Spring Break. I really want to see her with all that I'm going through. I'm not sure how I can avoid bringing up what's been going on with Cersei, but I know she probably doesn't want to hear about it.

She picks me up and I get in the car and give her a kiss. "Hey," she says. "It's good to see you."

"You too," I say. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," she says. She looks at me and I think she can tell something is different. "Are you okay? You seem like something's on your mind."

"A lot has been going on," I say. "I can fill you in, but it's a long story."

"Okay," she says. "I have to pick up a couple things at the store, and we'll go back to my place after that."

I nod and we head to the store. She gets the things she needs and we head back to her place. I help her put the groceries away and she makes me a drink. We sit on the couch.

"What's going on?" She asks me.

"Cersei had to go to the hospital last week," I say. "She combined the wrong drugs and had a bad reaction."

Brienne gasps. "Oh my god," she says. "Is she okay? Why didn't you tell me? Is she okay?"

"I didn't think you wanted to hear about it," I say. "A lot was going on, and it was clear pretty quickly that she was going to be fine. She's home now, we rode together."

"What happened exactly?" She asks.

"She was having breathing issues, so her boyfriend took her to the hospital," I say. "Well, her ex-boyfriend I guess. They broke up before we left to come back, I guess they thought it would better for her if they took some time apart."

"That probably is good," Brienne says. "How do you feel about that?"

"I think it's good for her," I say. "But I hope you know that I'm not interested in getting back together with her."

"I am glad to hear that," she says. "That was a concern of mine."

"Well I'm not," I say. "She wasn't good for me, which I always knew. It was just hard for me to separate myself from her."

"I think anyone could have told you she wasn't good for you," Brienne says. "That much was obvious."

"I know," I say. "It's hard when you grew up with a person, but I definitely hated the person she turned me into."

"What do you mean?"

"Cersei just made me a really bad person," I say. "It's horrifying to think about the person that I was when I was entangled with her."

"Can you elaborate?" Brienne asks. I pause and take a deep breath.

"I'm going to tell you something, but you can't tell anyone," I say. "You may even leave me when I tell you this."

"What is it?" She asks. "You're scaring me."

"When Cersei and I were seniors in high school, we were hooking up one night during a football game," I take a deep breath and pause. "There was this place close to campus where people used to go to hook up."

"The treehouse?"

I pause and look at her. "How do you know about that?" I ask.

"Everyone knew about it," she says. "Teachers aren't in the dark nearly as much as you guys think."

"Oh," I say. "Well anyway, we were hooking up there. You know Jon, right?"

"Daenerys' boyfriend?"

"Yeah," I say. "His brother, who was 9 or 10 at the time, climbed up and saw us."

"What did you do?"

"Cersei started yelling," I say. "She asked me to stop, and Jon's brother tried to leave, but I ran over and grabbed him by the shirt."

"What happened then?" She asks. "Was he scared?"

"Yeah, I could tell he was afraid of me," I say. "He said he wouldn't tell anyone what he saw and to just let him go, and I told him he didn't see anything so it didn't matter."

"Did Cersei say anything?"

"No, she was just angry," I say. "But after Jon's brother promised me he wouldn't tell anyone, I pushed him out of the tree house. He ended up getting a concussion."

"Oh my God," Brienne says. "Does Jon or Daenerys know?"

"No," I say. "Well, they obviously know he got a concussion, but they have no idea we know what happened and that I caused it."

"Do you feel bad?"

"Yeah, I feel horrible," I say. "I never would've done that if it weren't for Cersei, which is what I mean when I say it horrifies me to think about the person I was when I was with her."

Brienne pauses before finally taking a deep breath and sighing, I'm certain I've ruined this relationship.

"You have to tell Daenerys," she says. "You have to tell her what happened."

"You think?"

"Yeah," she says. "What if Jon's brother brings it up years down the line?"

"I'm sure I can make something up," I say. "It was years ago."

"Would you rather her hear it from you?" Brienne asks. "Or have her find out later that you kept it from her for so long?"

"I guess you're right," I say. "I'd have to tell Cersei first before I tell Dany."

"Do you think that's a good idea?"

"I don't know," I say. "But I don't want to go behind her back."

"I guess that's fair," Brienne says. "How do you think Dany will take it?"

"It'll be the end of our friendship with her," I say. "She won't care that it was before she started dating Jon."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah, I know Dany well enough to know how she'll react," I say. "She doesn't play around when it comes to people close to her, and she's gotten really close to the Stark siblings."

"I still think you should tell her," she says. "It's the right thing to do, and I'm sure she would want to know."

"She would," I say. "But she'll hate us when she finds out, Cersei has never even admitted to Dany that we were together."

"Really?" Brienne asks. I shake my head. "I thought she told Daenerys everything."

"I'm sure Dany has figured it out by this point," I say. "But Cersei didn't want to come out and admit it for the sake of our reputations."

"Don't you want to do the right thing now?" Brienne asks. "Especially after seeing how bad Cersei is for you?"

I take a deep breath. "I don't know," I say. "I've never even told anyone about that incident, and I don't think Cersei has either."

"Well I'm glad you told me," she says. "I'm not leaving you, but I do think you should do the right thing and come clean."

"Okay, I will," I say. "I'll tell Cersei tomorrow that I'm planning on telling Dany."

"I know you're not like your sister," Brienne says. "You're a good person, I know you can do it."

"Thank you," I say. "You're making me a better person than she ever did."

Brienne smiles at me and we kiss. I do end up staying the night with her, it's nice to finally be with someone that I can have a healthy relationship with. I meant what I said, she makes me a better person.

I'm definitely scared to confront Cersei, but I know telling Dany is the right thing to do. It'll make Dany end our friendship, but she deserves to know the truth. I'm at the point now where I just want to make things right and leave all of the horrible things Cersei got me to do in the past.

A/N: Okay, that was a call back from Part 1! I'm glad I'm finally on the way to resolving that, I always wanted to. It's been so long, I just hope you guys remember.