Chapter 35

Jaime Lannister POV

My phone rings one morning while I'm reading for school, which is weird. I see that it's Bronn, which is even more confusing. I normally wouldn't answer a call from him, but something in the universe is telling me to answer it.

"Hello?" I say, sounding confused.

"Jaime, it's Bronn," he says, as if I don't know who it is. He probably expected that I deleted his number by now. "I'm at the hospital with Cersei."

"What?" I ask. "Is she okay?"

"I don't know," he asks, clearly panicking. "We were hanging out last night, and when I woke up today she was having a hard time breathing and fading in and out of consciousness."

"What?" I basically yell. "What did you give her?"

"Hey," he says. "Don't yell at me, I didn't force her to do anything."

"Well then where would she have gotten it?"

"I love how you assume that drugs are the reason," Bronn says. "Really shows how highly you think of her."

I take a deep breath. "Whatever," I say. "We'll talk later. I'll be right there."

I get in the car and immediately call my dad, putting him on speaker. "Hello?" My dad says. "Jaime, what do you want? I'm very busy."

"Cersei's in the hospital," I say. "I'm not sure why, her boyfriend just told me. I'm on my way there now."

There's a pause, I can tell he didn't expect that. "Okay, send me the address," he says. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

I text him the address and I text Tyrion what's going on while I'm driving. I know that's bad, but I just really need to get there. I don't expect my dad to actually show up, but at least he's pretending that he cares. I'm surprised he even acted like he would come here, I thought for sure he'd say he's too busy or he'd yell at me for letting her do whatever it is she did.

When I get to the hospital, Bronn is immediately there outside Cersei's room, he told me what room she was in. "What's going on?" I ask when I see him. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's going to be fine," he says. "She was just having a hard time breathing, and she was fading in and out of consciousness."

"Did you tell them what she had taken?" I ask. "You don't even have to tell me, but I hope you were at least honest with the nurses."

"I told them everything," he says. "They don't typically arrest people."

"Because that's your main concern," I say. "Of course."

"I didn't say that, Jaime," he says. "I actually feel really bad."

"Well, you should."

There's a pause. "Am I able to see her?" I ask.

"Not right now," Bronn says. "She should rest, and she probably won't be happy when she wakes up so I don't want to wake her before she's ready."

He's honestly probably right about that. I'm glad she'll be okay, but I'm not looking forward to the aftermath of this. She's going to be pissed, especially when she realizes Dany and our dad are here.

"My dad is on his way," I say after a pause of silence. "And I'm about to call Dany."

"Oh, God," Bronn says. "Will he try to kill me? I've only been around him like once."

"I don't know," I say. "But you seem awfully concerned about yourself in all this."

"Because I already know that Cersei is going to be okay," he says. "You don't know what it was like this morning, I was losing my mind dude."

"Somehow I'm having a hard time believing you," I say. "You haven't exactly been the best influence on her lately."

"Believe what you want to believe," he says. "I'm the one who brought her here."

"Yeah, well congrats on doing the bare minimum when your girlfriend is in danger."

He doesn't respond to that, so I just walk away so I can call Dany. I hate Bronn even more than I did before. I know Cersei can make her own decisions, but we wouldn't be here if it weren't for him. I just don't know what I'm going to do, so we'll see what happens when my dad gets here.

Jon Snow Stark POV

Dany and I are chilling this morning, I'm studying and she's doing some dishes. I hear her phone ring while she's doing dishes, it's charging next to her. She turns the water off, dries her hands quickly, and answers her phone.

"Hello?" I hear her say. I hear her yell out. "What?" She's clearly panicking. I put my laptop down on the couch next to me and walk up to her.

"Okay," she says between crying and heavy breathing. "I'll be right there."

"What's going on?" I ask.

"Cersei's in the hospital," she say, grabbing her bag. "I'm going to go see her."

"Why?" I ask. "What happened?"

"I don't know," she says, heading for the door. "My guess is that it's drug related."

"Well I'm coming with you," I say. She stops and turns around. "I don't want you to drive since you're clearly freaking out."

"Are you sure?" She asks. "I know you need to study."

"I'll be fine," I say. "Let's go."

Dany and I start heading to the hospital, and she's crying while we're driving there. This only affirms my theory that she shouldn't be driving right now. I'm glad to help her, even though I don't like Cersei.

"I'm sorry," I say. "I know this must be really hard for you."

"We had a fight yesterday," she says. "So I feel like this is my fault."

"Why would it be your fault?" I ask. "What was the fight about?"

"She still thinks I'm the one who snitched on her and got her fired," she says, wiping her eyes. "She kep saying she knew it was me, and I kept denying it."

"That doesn't mean you're the cause of this," I say. "You were just standing by the truth, that's a good thing."

"She said I only care about you and about being perfect," Dany says. "She said I hover over her to much, so I told her to not expect me to pick up her calls any time soon."

"This still isn't your fault," I say. "You've supported her way more than most people would."

"I told her I was worried about her, and she insisted I was just judgemental and that all I've ever cared about was being perfect."

"That isn't true," I say. "Not at all."

"That's what everyone thought about me in high school," she says. "I thought Cersei actually knew who I really was."

"She's angry, and she has no right to treat you like that."

"I feel like maybe I drove her to this," Dany says. "Maybe if she felt like she could talk to me without being judged, she wouldn't have turned to Bronn and such destructive habits."

I take a deep breath and pause, this is just really sad. "This isn't your fault," I say. "I don't know Cersei that well, but it seems like her issues run far deeper than just having a fight with you."

"I know deep down that you're right," she says. "Thank you, Jon."

I know nothing will ever stop Dany from caring about Cersei, they're basically sisters. It shows how good of a person Dany is that she's rushing to Cersei's side, even though things aren't going well in their friendship. I think she's right to be concerned for Cersei, and it really sucks that Cersei seems to be unable to see her motives for what they are.

I'm glad Cersei hasn't been too terrible of an influence on Dany, but I feel guilty myself. I feel like Dany and I dating has pushed her away from Cersei. Maybe things would have been better if I just stayed out of the way. I know this isn't my fault either, but I still really feel for Dany with how much this is hurting her.

Daenerys Targaryen POV

We get there, and Bronn and Jaime are outside Cersei's room. The door is closed. I feel like I could punch both of them, especially Bronn. I don't know why I also want to punch Jaime, I'm just so upset.

"What happened?" I ask. "Is Cersei okay?"

"She's okay," Jaime says. "They got her breathing under control and gave her oxygen, she's asleep right now."

"Are we sure that's a good idea?" I ask.

"The nurses said it was fine," Bronn says. "She was up all night anyway, so sleeping would probably do her some good."

"What did you give her?" I ask him.

"Why is everyone blaming me?" Bronn asks. "Cersei can make her own decisions."

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Jaime asks. "She's your girlfriend and you don't even care."

"I do care," he says. "I'm freaking out inside, I'm just compartmentalizing."

"No you're not," Jaime says. "You clearly don't give a fuck."

"You don't know how I feel," Bronn says. "How dare you accuse me of shit like this."

"This is all your fault," Jaime raises his voice. "I swear I'm going to fucking kill you."

Just when I thought this couldn't get any worse, Jaime and Cersei's father walks up to us. He's clearly flustered and stressed out. I guess this isn't too bad because it stops Bronn and Jaime from hitting each other and getting kicked out of this hospital. I thought Jon and I were going to have to break them up.

"What's going on?" He asks. "Is she okay?"

"She'll be fine," Bronn says. "She's just resting."

"What happened?" Their father asks.

"She—" Bronn pauses. "She took something that she had a reaction to."

Jaime scoffs and I roll my eyes.

"How could she do this to our family?" Mr. Lannister asks.

"Is that all you care about?" Jaime asks.

"I was on the phone with a client when you called," their dad says to him. "It wasn't a good look to have to hang up so suddenly."

"You're daughter's in the hospital," Jaime says. "Why is no one seeing the bigger picture here?"

"I am," I say. "I told her she was going down a wrong path, multiple times. You can only help someone so much."

"Whatever Dany, we don't need a lecture right now," Jaime says. "Cersei was onto something when she said all you care about is being perfect."

"Hey, watch yourself," Jon says. "We're all pretty upset right now."

"I know you don't care," Jaime says to Jon. "You're just here to be there for Dany, which is nice but you don't have to be fake and pretend you care." I can't do this right now.

I take a deep breath and walk away. I walk to a waiting room area with a vending machine and a station for water and coffee, I just needed to take a breather. I can't say I'd never have seen this coming, and I do want to help. I just don't know what to do. I know Jaime's upset, but I didn't like the way he was talking to me. I knew if I stayed with them, I'd say something I regret.

I'm sitting in a chair against a wall when I hear walking down the hallway behind me. "Dad," I hear Jaime says. "I told you seeing her was a bad idea."

"I just had to see her," their dad says. He's crying. In all my years of knowing the Lannisters, I've never heard or seen him get emotional like that. "I had to make sure she was breathing."

"You couldn't even talk to her," Jaime says. They stop in the hallway, they don't know that I'm in here and I can hear them. "I'm surprised you even care."

"What?"

"Well, you never cared before," Jaime says. "You didn't care when Cersei had her miscarriage, why do you care now?"

There's a pause. "Seeing her in that hospital bed did something to me," their dad says. "She looks exactly like Joanna."

That catches me off guard, Joanna is their mom. It's weird he called her that to Jaime, it feels impersonal.

Jaime takes a deep breath. "I know, I've seen pictures and videos," he says. "Is that why you've always been so distant from her?"

"I'm not doing this," their dad says. "I guess I just had a flashback to when Tyrion was born."

"You can tell me, dad," Jaime says. "It's okay." He shouldn't have this burden, but I can tell Jaime is craving any emotional connection from his dad. They've never had that.

"No," their dad says. "I just need to breathe."

He walks away and I hear Jaime lean against the wall and start crying, but he's trying to be silent. That conversation really changed my opinion of Mr. Lannister. I obviously don't know what his relationship with their mom was like, but maybe that's why he's so cold. Maybe that broke him.

I'm glad Cersei will be okay, but I'm nervous for what will happen when she wakes up. Will she be mad at Jaime, or Bronn? Will she still be mad at me? What will her dad do about this? Will he cut her off or worse, both of them? Will she go back to doing the same stuff? I don't know what will happen with our friendship after this, and the unknown scares me.

Arya Stark POV

My fencing competition was fun, but I'm still sad Sansa wasn't there. I got fifth place, which is better than I expected having not competed in a while. We're on the way home now, at least my brothers and Meera were there.

"Do you guys want fast food?" My mom asks.

"Yes!" Rickon calls out. "Please!"

"Sure," I say. "But why?"

"To celebrate your placement," my mom says. "We're proud of you."

That makes me smile. We pull up to the restaurant and go inside. We order and my parents sit down to wait for the food.

"Can we go outside?" Rickon asks.

"Sure," my dad says. "We'll call to you when the food is ready."

We go outside and Meera and I sit at a table while Bran and Rickon go off to do some shennanigans.

"Did you have fun today?" I ask Meera.

"Yeah," she says. "Congrats on your placement."

"Thanks," I say. "I didn't expect to do this well since I haven't competed in a while."

"I don't understand fencing at all," Meera says. "But I think you did great."

"You should try it," I say. "You might have fun."

"It seems hard," she says. "And dangerous."

"It's really not," I say. "And it's hard at first, but I feel like I picked it up quickly."

"Well if I want to check it out, I'll let you know," she says. "Maybe you could help me."

"I'd love to," I say.

There's a pause as my mom calls out to us that the food is ready. We go get the food and the boys scarf it down before going back to what they were doing.

"So how's it going with Bran?" I ask Meera as we're eating.

I can tell she's nervous about that question, she's really shy. "Pretty good," she says. "Why?"

"Just curious," I say. "Let me know if he ever acts up."

She laughs at that and blushes. "Okay," she says. "It does seem like sometimes all he wants to do is make out."

Ew, I don't like hearing that. I don't know why boys have to be so gross.

"Well, don't be afraid to punch him," I say. She laughs. "Or tell me and I'll punch him."

"Don't tell him I said that," she says. "I don't want to cause drama or get into a fight."

"I won't," I say. "But don't be afraid to talk to me if you need to. We can exchange numbers if you want."

She smiles and nods, so we exchange numbers. It feels nice to be making a friend other than Sansa. I love Sansa, but sometimes it seems like she would rather do what makes her most happy before thinking about other people. I guess I get it, but it can be annoying.