First of all, I'm so sorry it took me so long to write this… I really realized how long it took me as I reread it – I normally take on things from real life and I was mentioning things from the April or May. And I wish you I could tell you I had at least part of the next chapter written, but I can't figure out what I want to do.

I also want to say that I've never personally dealt with alcoholism, but as you know Robert is dealing with it, so I tried to read about it, but the information could be quite contradictory, so I ended up trying to find the best way to work together what I learned and read, and I really hope it works!

But here is the chapter, finally! I want to thank indigoraysoflight on tumblr (IndigoRaysofLight on AO3) for helping me through all the previous chapters – you've been a joy! And now, thank you, sprinkles86 on tumblr (biohazard603 on AO3) for helping me with this one – you're amazing and fabulous!

Really enjoy this one! And if you have any ideas for the next chapter, please let me know :)

Robert Baratheon

"Could you stay for a moment, Robert?" Professor Jon asked him as he was leaving the classroom with Ned.

"Sure," he told the teacher. "I'll catch up with you in a second, Ned." Ned clapped him on the back and took Robert's backpack with him.

"So what's up, Prof?" Robert really liked Jon, and even if he was his teacher now, he couldn't help but think of him as the monitor from camp when he first met Ned.

"Sit down, Robert," the teacher told him, and Robert pulled a chair from him to sit. "How are you doing, boy?"

"Better, I guess."

"You're not drinking then?" the teacher asked. And Robert was surprised, Ned's father had talked with the principal, but he had said that he would keep most teachers out of the details. "Ned told me. I asked him, and he thought it would be okay to tell me."

"It is. I don't mind, and after all, the Spider had it all over the internet."

"He shouldn't have posted that," Jon told him. "But you're not drinking?"

"No, I'm not, I promise," Robert said, "it's not easy but I try to keep distracted."

"You don't need to promise," Jon said, "And school work? You have Ned and Catelyn's notes for when you missed, right? And you're catching up?"

"Yes, a lot of study time with Catelyn and Ned, which is unbelievingly boring but it helps."

"I guess that keeps you distracted and busy…"

"It does."

"I have a proposal for you, Robert," Jon Arryn started, "The principal lets us use the gym after class. Normally Professor Barristan and I train a bit – boxing, other types of fighting, sometimes shooting basketballs," he told him. "And I invite you to join us. I know you like sports, but without football, maybe you would like something else."

"We're still training. And I have basketball and baseball," Robert answered, he still missed playing games, it sucked that the football season was over. "But I started doing gym work at the rehab, they had machines and everything."

"We have some here too. Let me know if you want to stop by. You can talk with me or with Professor Barristan about stopping by."

"Thank you, teacher."

"Feel better, Robert. And see you next class."

"Have a nice day," Robert got out of the classroom and went in search of Ned.

He found them already in the biology class, Catelyn was reading against Ned's shoulder, and sitting on Robert's usual seat, and Ned was talking with Vayon. Catelyn smiled at him, as Robert sat on the table on Ned's side, and join the boys' conversation about the food and trying to guess what was for lunch.

"It's not meat today," Robert told them, "I'm pretty sure it's fish."

"Kids, class is starting," the teacher greeted as she entered the classroom. Catelyn took her book and moved to the table in front of them where she had already dropped her things, and Robert moved to seat she had emptied.

"So what did Professor Arryn want?"

"Ask about how I was doing."

"I told him about rehab, I didn't think you would mind."

"I don't. He offered to let me use the gym after class, with him and Professor Barristan."

"Are you going to take him up on the offer?"

"I think so. Training in the rehab center was cool, and it's cheaper and easier than getting into a real gym," Robert answered, and Ned nodded his head before turning back to the class. Robert just followed his lead and decided to at least pretend he was paying attention.

"Three burgers, and just spaghetti over everything," Robert told the cook when it was his turn in the queue.

"Salad," the woman asked, holding lettuce with the claw.

"No, thanks," he took his plate and put it on the tray moving to the condiment area so he could put ketchup over the spaghetti, before getting dessert – something with chocolate – and paying for the whole thing giving the lady his school card.

"Ned, where are we sitting?" he turned behind him, to ask Ned, "Where's he?" he asked when he found Catelyn paying for two trays with the main dish of the day – redfish fillet with some boiled potatoes and eggs.

"Brandon called him for something."

"Come on, give me Ned's tray and I'll help." Catelyn took out both his and Ned's glasses from their trays, and then Robert carried both of their trays, one in each hand.

They got to their usual table, since Howland was already there, with the food he brought from home, like he did almost every day, and since the queue to heat the food was much smaller, he was almost always there first. Catelyn sat next to Robert, so he put Ned's tray in front of them.

"I know we didn't have anything planned for this afternoon," Catelyn told him, "But Ned and I are going to this coffee shop I heard about after the school paper meeting, and your basketball training, it should be a great studying place."

"Cat, you two deserve some time alone."

"You still need to catch up on stuff. And Ned and I can always find more time."

"If Ned is okay with it," Robert said. But he also knew that Ned would never say no to him, especially when it came to studying; but Robert could read what Ned really wanted, so he would go by that.

"He won't mind. We just want to make sure you're okay with school, especially with the SATs coming."

"Don't even mention it!" Robert complained, fuck, he was freaking out about the stupid exams. Mom had promised to help him, she had been great at making flash cards.

"See, Ned and I can help you," Catelyn told him.

"I know," he told her with a smile, "Thanks for everything."

"Please don't start again…" she threatened.

"I wasn't going to say that," he said with a laugh, "I was actually being serious."

"Ahhh… okay," she said, "No problem."

"But since you brought it up… Thank you for making a man out of Ned."

"You're so annoying," Catelyn complained, "I may kill you someday."

"You love me too much," he told her, and she just rolled her eyes.

"Where's Ned?" she asked, turning to Brandon who had just joined them.

"Always so worried about him…"

"Brandon," she said in a threatening tone.

"Okay… okay… don't kill me," Brandon said, holding his arms up. "He's coming. Lya just needed something."

"Brandon, don't take Ned's food," Catelyn warned him.

"But it will get cold," Brandon complained.

"So go get your brother," Catelyn told him, and Brandon sulked and sat back down, "Ned, Brandon," Catelyn pleaded.

"He's coming, Cat. No need to be so desperate." Robert laughed at Brandon, and then at Catelyn's rolling his eyes.

"What did your sister want?" Catelyn asked when Ned came to sit back down.

"She wanted to talk about a ride home, and for me to convince Brandon to leave the car."

"I have plans," Brandon said, "and I need the car."

"Catelyn and I have plans," Ned said.

"Studying plans," Brandon complained.

"About our plans-" Catelyn started.

"See, she's going to bail. You can drive Lyanna."

"I would still need your car to drive her," Ned argued.

"And I'm not bailing on Ned. I was just going to suggest that Robert comes with us, so he studies."

"You're a third wheel," Brandon sang along.

"I can study alone, you know," Robert argued again, and it was probably a lie – every time he tried to study he got really distracted.

"Yeah, the last time you really and fully studied alone, you ended up finishing three comics and learned to cook your own pizza," Ned reminded him.

"First of all, we were in fifth grade, Ned. I probably can study alone now. Secondly, you love my pizza," he told him, waiting for Ned to nod.

"It's better than you'd expect," Ned said, and before Robert could complain, Brandon spoke,

"It's great when you're stoned."

"Not really useful now," Robert told him.

"Talking about being useful and stoned. What about I take you out this weekend? You said I could get a driver now."

Robert wanted to go, he really did. He missed bars, just sitting around at the counter, with friends, playing darts; but he feared that the temptation would be too much for him to handle.

"I should talk to my sponsor… it's not really suggested to go to a bar, but I do miss it, besides the drinking, and it wasn't like I only drank in bars."

"I can go with you," Ned offered, "if you want."

"Now that I have a sober buddy, you offer, Ned. But sure, you can come, little brother. Catelyn?"

"No, thank you. No need to handle you drunk, Brandon."

"I'll tell you something soon," Robert promised.

"And do you agree about the studying today?"

"Okay if you insist. Where are we going?"

"We were choosing between the coffee house and Cat's house-"

"Your house? Now I'm really intruding."

"You're not," both Catelyn and Ned argued. "And not that it has something to do with it, but my father is working from home this week – he has a small cold."

"Okay that I can agree with."

"I've had sex with family – Dad, Ned – in the house," Brandon argued, "that never stopped me."

"Thanks for the information," Ned said.

"Yeah, I've done it with Renly in the house too, but not with Stannis – I tried but he's impossible – or Mom or Dad. He put a freaking documentary at my room's door, a doc about teenage pregnancy," Robert told them. "But we're talking about Catelyn and baby Ned – they are not going to do it."

"Does it always go back to that with you two?" Catelyn asked, rolling her eyes. And as Brandon and Robert got ready to answer her, a single look from Catelyn, they stopped and shut up.

They actually ate after that. And then they started to plan their outing to the bar – that Friday night – emptier than on Saturday, but still with enough people to not be depressing, like on a weekday.

Robert wanted to go. He wanted to try and with Ned there he would at least have company on staying sober. He also wasn't picking up girls, his therapist had told him that he should wait, until he was at least a bit more over Lyanna – he shouldn't be with someone as only a replacement of Lya. But he could play darts, and there were even a few bars with cards, and he could even bet money, he was supposed to play better sober.

"Come on, Robert, are you coming?" Ned asked him, interrupting his thoughts, as he realized their plates were all empty, with Brandon still taking food from Catelyn's plate, even if it was fish.

"Do I have another choice?"

"You don't if you want a good grade on your SATs."

"You know I'm getting a football scholarship."

"You still need the grades," Brandon reminded him, after all he had just gotten in a few schools due to his scholarship, and he had to work very hard to make the schools forget that he had lost a year.

"Okay, I'll go. And I can drive us up to Riverrun. You're still going to your house?"

"We are," Catelyn answered. "I still have to go the newspaper room, I have to talk to Varys about my next assignment."

"I still have a class," Robert answered.

"Right," Catelyn said.

"We will meet by your classroom when you're done," Ned let Robert know, before they went their separate ways.

Robert's class didn't go by that slowly, and he kept himself distracted by looking over Jory's shoulder to see what he was drawing on his notebook, between the exercises he was doing and the important things the teacher was saying. Robert tried to concentrate, since as Catelyn liked to point out he still had exams to pass, he was really trying to pick up this stuff up – he got through two exercises before getting distracted again. But he still thought he had gotten a piece of good work done.

Out of the classroom when the class ended, he found Ned and Catelyn already ready, waiting for him and talking between each other. Robert pondered about punching Ned's arm to get their attention, but he was nice this time and just shut up to let them finish talking and notice him. Catelyn noticed him as she threw her head back to laugh, and she jumped a bit back when she saw him.

"Sorry, Robert. Have you been waiting for long?"

"No, just got out. Are you ready?"

"Yes, you?" she asked and he nodded and followed him.

"So as I was saying…" Catelyn continued but Robert blocked her out, since he couldn't pick up the story mid-way through, luckily she finished it as they got to the car.

Robert threw his things on the back, carefully to make space for Catelyn who sat behind Ned on the passenger.

"Do you need directions?" Catelyn asked.

"I think I can get there, at least I can get to Riverrun, no problem."

"Let me know if you need help. I'm just going to read," she said as Robert saw her take out a book from her bag through the mirror.

"Hey, what are we studying today?" Robert asked Ned.

"Catelyn will know. Probably from vocabulary to science, whatever we need."

"Okay, I really need to buckle down with this," Robert said. "But for now some music." Robert turned on the radio to keep them distracted as they spoke over it over the games coming up – they were playing against the team from the Westerlands that had some players that seemed to be heading to play pro in college.

In Riverrun, Ned ended up helping him the way through instead of bothering Catelyn who seemed lost in her book. And after parking the car, Catelyn led them through the house and Robert mocked Ned for knowing the house so well, which led to Catelyn knocking him over the head.

"My father is home, so shut up," she said, "Go up to my room, I'm just going to say hi." Robert was starting to say something when she warned him, "Don't you dare!"

"Now I don't feel that bad about coming," Robert said when Catelyn had disappeared. "No way you would have sex with her father home."

"Robert," Ned warned him too. "And we told you."

"Okay, okay, I'll shut up. Let's go to her room."

They got to her room quickly enough, and before he even got into her room, Robert could tell it was a super girly room, her name across the door, and as he got in, everything was so light, white with light blue and red tones, with girly paintings, and clean, there weren't things on the floor, even the clothes around the room were correctly laid on chairs – it was so Catelyn... And then Robert laughed, imagining Ned living in a room like this – he probably would someday – Robert couldn't come to a room like this to burp, play video games and listen to Iron Maiden or Alice in Chains on the highest volume.

Robert pondered where to sit, but he just dropped into the floor, while Ned took the bed. Robert took his own books from his backpack, all of them, since he wasn't really sure what they were going to study. They waited for Catelyn and after she came back, she didn't get her bag, but something from her table, a pack of flashcards before sitting on her chair, pulling her legs closer.

"So I'll start with the questions," Catelyn said, "There will be points. You'll get more food if you get more right."

"Are you actually bribing us with food?" Robert asked.

"Do you don't want me too?" Catelyn asked.

"What food is on the table?"

"Robert," Ned complained.

"There's probably some cake from the weekend. There's chocolate. Leftovers. Soda-"

"When have you said no to food, Robert?" Ned asked him.

"Yeah, that's about right. Okay, I'll go with the points."

Catelyn started her questions after that – she started with the vocabulary ones, like "arcane", "burgeon" or "ethereal". Robert didn't do as bad as expected in that category, Stannis liked to use SAT words and Mom helped by using them too, or at least testing Robert when Stannis used them.

Moving from reading/writing to science vocabulary made things harder and it seriously made a dent on Robert's points. Catelyn had a bit of trouble with science as well; Ned fared rather well in it. But Math was the worst, Ned and Catelyn did okay, but Robert was lucky if he remembered even two formulas.

After that first round, they went to get some food. The points ended up not really mattering, as they got all the food they wanted. Robert got a bit of soda for them, each with a cup, while Catelyn and Ned got sandwiches ready for them, and Robert got a few cookies and he ate at least three before they reached the plate.

They took it up to her room and they continued studying, by going over the flashcards in the "struggle" pile, which only had science and math questions, and helped them realize what they should study next. They moved to exercises after the flashcards, they chose one to all do, and Robert couldn't solve it and neither could Ned, even if he got further in than Robert.

"This is not a class exercise," Ned said.

"No, it's from old SATs. I thought we should train this," Catelyn said.

"It's not working," Ned said.

"I can't even understand what they are asking."

"I think I'm doing it," Catelyn said, "I'm almost done and I'll just check if I'm right and then I'll explain."

"Okay," Ned said, "Come on, Robert, I can at least explain what they're asking."

Ned explained it and it made more sense of what it was asking, but Catelyn explaining how to solve it was a bit harder to follow. They solved two more exercises of the same type, Ned picked it up with that second exercise, Robert still had trouble, so Catelyn sat with him and after that, he was able to solve the third one almost alone – hopefully some of that had stuck.

They moved to more math after that, closer to what they did in class, but those extra four small exercises were more than Robert could take, and he just quit. Robert took over the bed after that and just listened to them solve a few more exercises – really he couldn't take more math talk.

"Catelyn went to get popcorn," Ned said, coming to sit next to him on the bed. Robert hadn't even noticed that Catelyn was gone. She came back with popcorn and put on a movie, as she sat on the bed with them, resting against Ned, putting on The Lion King, which Robert hadn't watched it since he went to the movies to watch it when he was a kid. Had Renly even watched the movie yet? If not, Robert needed to fix that.

It wasn't that awkward watching the movie with them, they didn't even make out, they did hold each other's hands through the movie. They only separated when Catelyn's younger brother came into the room and finished watching the movie with them, sitting on Catelyn's lap now and stealing most of the popcorn.

When they left the house, Robert felt that the studying had been worth it and it would be fun to have more things to mock Ned about, which he did, before he left Ned at the bus station; and then turned South, to Storm's End.

Home was home. Home was also not home anymore. The house was there, the flowers were there, but if you looked close enough, you could see they weren't as pretty and flourished anymore, the basketball hoop was still over the garage and the cars were still parked inside. Inside the house, things were different, but still the same. The decorations hadn't changed, Cressen hadn't really changed anything to make the house look more his, the only thing that was obviously his were the papers scattered around the house. But he couldn't hear his mom singing or complaining in the kitchen, while Dad told jokes that were not that funny, while he walked around the house, mostly between the kitchen and living room, because he was hungry and he couldn't stay in one place.

Now, the food was already prepared, there was this nice woman called Jeyne that came during the day to prepare their dinner. Cressen couldn't cook besides fried eggs and noodles – he had mostly eaten in the cafeteria at the university where he worked, so they had to hire someone to help around the house.

Cressen was in the dining room working as usual – he hadn't dared to take over the office.

"Robert, welcome home. How was your day?"

"Good. I was studying with Ned and Catelyn."

"That's good. If you need help… I'm a teacher, I should be able to help."

"Thank you, but I'm good."

"Renly said that your mother used to help you."

"She did. Catelyn and Ned are helping me – they keep me in check. That's what Mom did. She had flashcards too."

"Never really liked studying with flashcards," Cressen said. "So should I check if you're studying?"

"Just ask if you want."

"I'll do that," he said and Robert prepared to leave the living room when Cressen called him back. "We were waiting for you for dinner. So when you and your brothers want to eat, let me know."

Robert thanked him and then moved upstairs, he stopped by Renly's bedroom, knocking on the door, before going in. Coming in, he found the kid playing in the floor with his legos.

"Hey, kid. Homework done?"

"Yes. Stannis already checked. You?"

"I was actually studying with Ned and his girlfriend."

"You should tell Stannis."

"I have nothing to prove to Stannis," Robert said. "Cressen said to let us know when we wanted to eat, so let me know, kid."

"Okay," he answered, and Robert took off to his own room. He started by changing into some more comfortable clothes, sweatpants and a t-shirt as he turned on the heater.

Robert was now holding his phone, looking for his sponsor's number, under the name Elder Brother and made the call. It rang for a bit but then the man picked it up, and they went through the usual greetings, before moving on to what they needed to talk about, with a simple question.

"So why are you calling, Robert?"

"I was wondering about going out to a bar."

"To drink? I'm sorry to tell you but that's a no," the Elder Brother told him, with a laugh. "Why do you want to go to a bar?"

"Just to go out to friends, really. Talk, hang out for a bit."

"You can do that in other places, Robert."

"I know that. I just miss going out to a bar, not to drink, just going out."

"You shouldn't go to a bar because you miss the atmosphere, that's not a valid reason, that's a dangerous reason."

"It's not the bar. It's being there with my friends."

"Drinking buddies?"

"It would be Brandon, Ned and I. Ned doesn't drink."

"Having a sober friend with you is better than nothing."

"But I still shouldn't go," Robert proposed.

"It's your choice, Robert. Going to bars can always be dangerous, but so is going to the supermarket."

"I want to go, to be with my friends. And I know to be careful and look for the signals."

"If you're feeling down you leave. You don't stay alone, stay by your friends, stay by your sober friend mostly. If you feel like seeing people getting drunk is affecting you too much, you leave."

"I know. And I'll go to a meeting the day after," Robert promised him.

"So you will go?"

"I will think about it. I will call you if I go, before I go."

"Okay, Robert, one day at a time, boy."

"I know, one day at a time," Robert answered before turning off the call.

Robert was hungry by now, so instead of waiting for Renly, he went to check if he was ready to eat – he was, he had just gotten distracted with his toys – Renly went to call on Stannis after that, while Robert went downstairs to start heating dinner.

"Cressen, we're going to eat now."

"I'll clear my things then," Cressen said, as he started moving his things to a single side of the table, before getting up to help.

They had a system by now, the table was set quickly, as Stannis handled the heating of the food, which he preferred to do it in the stove. Robert handled a quick salad to go with the food, while Renly and Cressen sat the table.

The dinner that night was a lamb with boiled potatoes and they were sitting and eating soon after.

"I'm doing laundry tonight," Robert told them, "Anything else you need to add, add it to the laundry basket." Robert was now in charge of doing laundry, which meant that they now had a few white shirts that had turned pink and light blue and green, when that happened to one of Stannis' shirts, he almost took over, but Robert was getting the hang of it; Stannis handled the clothes after, with the ironing – some days Jeyne would help with the laundry and ironing, but most days she only had time to take care of dinner. Renly dealt with the dishes, loading the dishwasher and then emptying it.

"I put my clothes in the laundry basket after I use them as all should do," Stannis answered and Robert controlled himself not to roll his eyes and looked at Renly.

"I just need to add today's. And my pyjamas," he said.

"Don't forget," he told his younger brother. "So how was your day?"

Renly told them about his classes and friends during dinner, like he did most dinners, Robert sometimes talked about his day a bit too. Stannis never spoke – maybe once or twice. Renly and Robert kept the conversation going, Robert had tried to include Stannis, but he really couldn't. Mom had always been good at pulling him in, and Dad too, they bonded over books a lot, but Robert couldn't just pull him in.

Robert wanted to talk to Cressen about this. He was a smart man and he seemed to read, maybe he read something that could interest Stannis too. Robert was the oldest and he wanted to help him even if he had never the most responsible.

"Robert," Stannis called on him, closer to the end of the meal as Robert talked about how he had done with the studying. "I have mom's flashcards in my room and a few other books she used to get words for us," he told him, "You have SATs before I do even if I studied more with mother."

"I would appreciate if I can take a look. Catelyn has some good ones," Robert answered. Stannis was offering and Robert wanted to cooperate, but he knew Stannis wouldn't want to give it up, so he handled it carefully, always thanking him for the offer.

But they didn't continue with that conversation, Renly took over the conversation again, talking about his own studying. And Robert thought about how he would talk with Stannis.

After an entire day of classes, Robert had finally decided to take on Jon's offer. It had been two days since their conversation and after having found him today he agreed to meet with the teachers in the gym at the end of the day.

Robert had done some work between his last class and now, and he had now changed to shorts and t-shirt and was leaving the lockers, to join the teachers. He was pretty sure it was going to be really weird to hang out with his teachers, not Jon – he often forgot he was a teacher – but professor Barristan was a different case.

"Robert, glad you could join us," Jon said from the floor as he was doing a few crunches. Professor Barristan was lifting weights.

"Thank you for the invite. It's easier than joining a gym," Robert answered. "Professor Barristan, you shouldn't do that without a spotter."

"So come help me, Mr Baratheon." Robert did that and made sure the teacher didn't get hurt and then finally traded places with him. "You're strong, I should add a bit more weight. Just wait," the professor said, moving away to get more weights to add to the bar. Robert lifted twenty more times, before calling it quits, and moving on to the punching bag.

Robert trained at that, he hit punch after punch and he felt himself relax more than other sports or lifting weights did. There was this boost of adrenaline with each punch, he felt stronger and healthier with each one, every worry spilled out of him.

"Robert," professor Jon called, "We were calling."

"Right, sorry. What's up- What do you need?"

"We're going to do a small game," Professor Jon said, holding the basketball. "Do you want to get in? First to get to 24 wins."

Robert got to 24 first and won. He pondered after the game if he should have lost in purpose, it could play well. But he only realized after the game was over. Professor Barristan scored some impressive dumps and Robert congratulated him on that.

After that game, they called it a night, but the professors told him to come back any time. The locker room was large and Robert changed in opposite side of the room; he had no problem changing around his colleagues, as a sportsman, he did that easily, but around teachers is a complete different thing.

He walked out right behind the teachers. Robert felt better, he felt confident about going out tonight and he knew he would have to make the call when he got home.

Robert stopped by for something to eat on the way, just a taco, fries and something to drink, since he would be getting home late. As he imagined, when Robert got home, they were all eating, he still joined at the table for a few snacks but nothing big.

"So you're going out tonight?" Cressen confirmed.

"I am," he agreed.

"And you were training today," Cressen said.

"I was."

"Were you really training with your teachers? That doesn't seem professional."

"They were nice to offer, Stannis. I wasn't going to say no."

"You shouldn't…"

"It does him good," Cressen argued, "And if the teachers agree, that's acceptable."

"Thank you," said Robert, "I should go get ready." He got up and left to go up to his room, as he got in, his phone immediately rang and Robert picked it up, recognizing the number as his sponsor's.

"Hello, Robert. I just wanted to check if you're okay and if you're still going to the bar tonight."

"I am, Brother. I was about to call you. Like I said Ned is coming."

"Having a sober friend it will help."

"And the place?"

"I still don't know. But I trust them."

"It's okay to leave early and I'll have my phone with me the all night."

"Thank you and I know. I think I'll be okay."

"The phone. And you can always leave."

"I know. Thank you for the support."

"One day at a time, Robert. And come to a meeting tomorrow."

"I will. See you tomorrow." Robert turned off the call, to quickly be met by another visitor, he barely chose his clothes before he heard someone call from the door.

"Robert," Renly called as he put his head in through the door. Robert looked back at the door and made a sign for him to come in.

"What's up, kid?" Robert asked as he finished tying his sneakers and looked at Renly on the bed.

"Are you really going out? To a bar?" Renly asked, "I don't want you to drink again. Stannis says you will relapse."

"I won't, Renly," Robert took a seat next to him and put his arm around him. "I talked with my sponsor, and Ned is going – he doesn't drink."

"But there will be drinks everywhere, and you will be tempted…"

"I'm tempted everyday, Renly. A lot of times. I need to deal with that."

"You're tempted everyday?" Robert could immediately see that Renly was scared.

"I'm not going to drink, kid," Robert promised him, "I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going anywhere, Renly."

"Mom and Dad weren't planning to go anywhere, and now-"

"I'm not going. I'll always be here," Robert promised.

"You promise, Robert."

"I do," he said. And Renly ran away, Robert was confused, but his youngest brother came back a few seconds after, holding something.

"Take this."

"What's this?"

"A car. It was one of the first things I saw in my room. I think Dad got me this, to keep me quiet one some boring thing," Renly answered, "But it's just- it's mine. Look at it if you want to drink."

"There's no need," Robert argued.

"Take it."

"Okay, I will. And it will be okay, Renly."

"If you say so," his brother said, but he didn't really seem to believe it, but he hugged Robert before disappearing from his room.

Now alone, Robert finished changing his clothes, before looking around his room and stopping on the family picture on his shelf. They were young – Stannis was actually smiling – Mom holding Stannis, Renly was still a baby on Dad's arms and Robert was playing with football looking out the picture. He missed his parents, it was weird not having them around the house; Cressen was good, but he was rarely home and when he was, he wasn't much of a talker, and while he tried at dinner, but it was obvious that he had never been a parent before.

That photo was new to his room. He had changed a few things around his room since he came back, he had taken the booze from all his hiding spots – that was given (Ned had already helped Cressen get most of them) – but he had put diverse things in most places, that made him think of something other than drinking. He had also taken out most of Lyanna's photos, the only one that was still there was one with all the Stark family and his siblings on some barbecue party here a few years ago. He had more photos of his parents around the room, he even had a photo of their wedding day – they looked happy.

Robert soon heard the horn from outside and looking out the window, he saw the Stark car parked in front of the house. And he got out of his room quickly, pocketing his phone and wallet and walked downstairs.

"When will you be home?" Cressen asked as he sat on the dining table having already put the dishes from dinner aside.

"Probably after midnight."

"Do you have a curfew? Should you have one? You're going to a bar – should I forbid it," he asked confused.

"I'll be home by two probably. And I have it under control, Cressen. Ned will be with me."

"Ned?"

"My best friend, you've met him. He doesn't drink, he will look after me."

"Okay. Call me at midnight, and again when you leave the bar."

"I will try to remember," Robert promised his guardian, before leaving his house and getting into the back of the Stark car.

"Hi, guys," Robert greeted them and immediately got some fries from the McDonalds bag the brothers kept on the front of the car – they had probably stopped by one for dinner.

"We brought you a cheeseburger," Ned said, giving him a wrapped burger. "So you're okay? You sure you want to go."

"I do, Ned," he answered. "So where are we going, Brandon?"

"I was thinking that small bar in Blackhaven, the one with the big fireplace," Brandon answered. Even Brandon was being responsible; it was a small bar, probably nobody would even offer or pressure Robert into drinking. "It normally has a bunch of chicks and it's quiet – you know Ned is not going to go to a loud one."

"It never has those many girls..."

"I don't need many, Robert. Just one, two if I'm feeling lucky. And you're not searching, so even better for me."

"You make sense, Brandon, so I'm not going to argue. So drive," Robert said. After fifteen minutes and a burger, they were looking for place to park the car; the places right by the door were all full, but they found one across the street. And they walked into the bar – another very good thing about this one, nobody carded at the entrance.

"Okay, so what do you want to drink?" Brandon asked them.

"Get me a coke," Robert answered, and Ned asked for the same as his brother disappeared.

"Come on, there's a free spot there," Robert told him, pointing at the couch around the hearth, and saving the places already, throwing themselves on it – they took two places, and then picked the pack of cards that was kept on the side of the couch, and they started a match of gin (was it okay to play a game called after a drink?!).

"Here are your drinks," Brandon said carrying two glasses filled with coke, and an already half empty beer glass.

"You took your sweet time," Robert complained.

"I met a very hot girl. You should have seen her," Brandon told them.

"So show her to me," Robert said, reaching for one of the glasses.

"Let me try them first," Ned said getting it out of Robert's hand.

"What the fuck, Ned?!" Robert complained.

"Sometimes they mess up and think you're asking for coke and gin," Ned told him.

"Ohhh… Go on, then." His sponsor had warned him about that, so he really should check.

"They're clean," Ned said after taking a sip and giving it back to Robert.

"It's the girl talking to the bartender – isn't she hot? She's friends with the bartender, so she's not leaving the counter."

"So are you going to choose another?" Robert asked, and then looked around to finally notice the other girls. "That dark haired girl looks hot – have you see that ass?" Robert asked and then he realized that just maybe the girl was too close to Lyanna, either way he shouldn't be looking at girls.

"I'm waiting for her, and in between I'll make a few journeys to the bar," Brandon said. "I'm getting appetizers next, but for now cut me into the game."

Brandon took the bench of the hearth and they started another game. And during the game, a few other people joined in, and before they knew it they had move to a long and hard game of bullshit.

As more people joined and offered to pay rounds, Robert was glad that Ned was there to deny drinks as well. Robert didn't want to drink – he wanted, but he didn't want – but when people were pushing it to his face, sometimes it was hard to say no, but Ned really helped. Some people even recognized him and were confused when he denied the drink.

"What's going on, man? You're saying no to a drink," the man said with a laugh, and he looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn't really place it.

"Can't do it," Robert told him, "No more drinking for me," he said, "But I could take a refill on the coke." Someone offered to do it and took the glass. "Ned, do you want a refill too?"

"It's not a bother, is it?" he asked.

"Come on, man, just give me the glass," the guy said, taking Ned's glass and disappeared to the counter.

Ned still took a sip of Robert's glass when it came back, before Robert took the glass again and continued drinking. There were two other refills, and he only paid for one.

Besides the card games, he also joined in on a few dart games and people were right, playing sober really gave you an advance, and Robert ended up making more than one hundred dollars.

"I've made some good bucks," Robert commented.

"We should go. You don't want to lose any of that."

"That seems like a good plan."

They got Brandon after that. He was finally talking and drinking with the bartender's friend, since the bartender had finished her shift. Ned was annoyed at that, until Brandon finally stepped out of the conversation, with a goodbye and a new phone number.

Brandon dropped on the back of the car and was already sleeping before they got to Storm's End. Robert offered to drive – he liked the way the Stark car drove, it didn't go as fast as he liked going, since it was a rather large car to be handle the snow in the winter.

"Do you want to stay home?" Robert asked.

"I'm okay to drive home," Ned said.

"It's still a few hours of driving and Brandon is dead asleep."

"I drank way too much coke to sleep right now, and there are a few places to stop on the trip North."

"You sure about this?"

"I am, Robert," Ned said, "We're almost there." And after another block, he was home, he traded places with Ned and said goodbye to the Starks brothers, before going into the house – he unlocked the front door and found all the lights out in the house and the house was definitely quiet.

Before he went up to his room, he stopped by the kitchen for a small snack – just a few cookies; with them in hand he walked up to his room. He threw the last one in his mouth as he pushed the door open, and he was surprised to find what he did when he came into his room.

Renly was sleeping on top of the cover on Robert's bed, so Robert immediately stopped himself from turning on the lights and looked for his sweatpants to change into, and took out his sweater. Finding again the little car Renly had given him – he hadn't needed to take the car out the pocket, but he had always known it was there, and now he put it on the bedside table.

"Hey, kid. I'm home," Robert whispered to his brother, kneeling to his height. Renly didn't move, he made some sleepy sounds but he wasn't waking up or anything; so he pondered about taking his youngest brother to his own bedroom. But Renly looked too well rested, so Robert only pulled the covers off to cover his brother.

Robert left the bedroom to the bathroom, to take a leak and then brush his teeth, and he came out of the bathroom to find his other brother hanging around.

"Stannis," Robert greeted him, "I didn't think I would wake you up."

"You didn't. Renly is in your room."

"I know, I saw him."

"He was worried." I am worried, Stannis didn't say.

"I didn't drink if you're wondering," Robert said.

"Right. That's exactly what you should have done."

"I know, Stannis," Robert said walking by him and squeezing his shoulder. "Sleep well, brother."

Robert walked away from his brother and went into his bedroom, and joined the other in his bed.

"Sleep, Renly," he told his brother. "I'll be here tomorrow." Renly murmured some incomprehensible things but didn't wake up. And Robert soon fell asleep too, knowing that he had lived through another day, and tomorrow would be another, and he would take it one day at a time.

Elia Martell

"Hi, Elia," a smiling Ellaria greeted her as Elia left her room. Ellaria was already dressed, in tight jeans and a top with a jacket over it – she was sure that the top was Ashara's, and way too cold for this weather – and getting something from the fridge.

"Good morning, Ellaria. How did you sleep?"

"Well. Ashara's still asleep when I woke up, and during the entire time it took me to shower and get dressed."

"Don't worry. I'll wake her up after I shower, and probably again after I'm dressed because she won't get up." Ashara had gotten up with Ellaria the other few times she had stayed over during weekdays, and dropping down on the couch the moment Ellaria was out of the door – but she no longer felt the need to help her girlfriend around the apartment in the mornings. "We still have time before classes start."

"I need to go, especially if I still want to change shirts. I really don't think I can go to class in this," she said with a laugh.

"If you want, look in my closet," Ellaria's clothes style was closer to Elia's on the top half (and closer to Ashara's when it came to pants or skirts). "I have my clothes for today laid out, but you can pick anything else."

"Thanks. I'm going to look then," Ellaria said. "I barely have time to go home, and I can't keep using the same clothes every day."

Ellaria disappeared into Elia's room, as she started the coffee, looked for bread in the fridge, and then sliced a few pieces for her and Ashara, before putting them on the toaster.

"How does this look?" Ellaria asked coming out of Elia's room. She was dressed in a red and orange blouse, which looked much better on her than Ashara's shirt.

"You look great. I think it looks better on you than on me."

"I'm sure it doesn't. You have to look great on this and you'll prove it to me someday. We'll go out this weekend – okay not this one, I have a paper to finish – we'll go out the one after, and you'll wear it. And you can bring your cute boyfriend," Ellaria promised her. She was always such at ease, and she had been great with Jaime – they had gotten on so well. "Okay, now I need to go. If I get to class earlier, I may even get to do my Italian homework. So ciau."

Ellaria disappeared out the door, after blowing kisses, and Elia retired to the bathroom. Elia put her hair up, so it wouldn't get wet and messed up in the shower. It was quick, even if she wanted to be under the warm water. And after she wrapped herself in her red towel, before going to Ashara's room to wake her up.

"You smell good," Ashara whispered.

"Okay, Ash. You can smell nice too if you get up and go shower."

"I will," she answered, turning to her side, looking for someone else on her bed.

"Ellaria already left. Now get up," Elia said, kissing the top of her head. "Also I've already started breakfast – there's bread and coffee. And you can find your cereals too," Elia promised, before going back to her room.

Elia found her clothes laid out on the bed, with a note from Ellaria giving her the thumbs up for her choice. As Elia took off her towel and looked for underwear, she started to hear the water running in the bathroom, and at least Ashara was getting ready now.

Elia checked her hair after she was dressed, pulling it down, and trying to arrange it nicely with a headband. She checked herself two more times in the mirror, before moving to the empty bathroom, to steal a bit of Ashara's make up: a bit under her eyes to cover her small bags (which involved mixing a few colors, because Ashara's skin was a bit lighter than hers), and then she pocketed Ashara's red lipstick.

"Ohoh… you look good," Ashara whistled as she came out of her room, to meet Elia in the kitchen. But Elia looked at Ashara and felt insecure again, knowing that she would never look as beautiful as her friend.

"Shut your mind, Elia," Ashara told her, coming closer to hug her and kiss her forehead. "You look perfect, Elia. Don't you dare question it? Okay, darling."

"Thank you, Ash. Now let me get the coffee, ready." Elia filled two cups, while she got three toasts ready for her, while Ashara got a bowl of cereal ready for herself. They sat at the counter, sharing their food, as Elia tried to look over what the classes would bring today.

Today Elia couldn't focus on the class for too long. She had to be called up for a teacher more than it was ever normal, and none of those times were because of Ashara as usual.

Elia was pretty sure that at least in literature, she was going to pay attention. She always loved this class, and now they were waiting for the teacher. Elia looked over the comic she had found this morning in her locker – they still hadn't talked in school, but they just kept exchanging notes, books and comic books through their lockers.

"Ned told me I would like that one," Catelyn said, coming behind her, and asking if she could take the seat next to her. "I didn't know you read comics."

"I just started awhile ago. Some are good."

"Yeah, Ned made me read some. Watchmen, he made me read it, and it's really good. Superheroes, but more complicated than that," Catelyn told her. "I think it would have been a deal breaker if I hadn't liked that one," she told her with a smile.

"People can be serious about their comics," Elia told her, before putting the comic on her backpack, as the teacher came into the room. The class was interesting, they were going into gothic literature now – Elia loved it, it was so creepy, but so beautiful (but Catelyn was only creeped out by this, and she just kept wishing this part of the year ended).

"I hate this. Why can't we go back to reading Victorian children stories?" Catelyn whispered, "This is not good for me," she said. "I have homework tonight, and I need to study, but I'll definitely also need to watch another Disney movie because of this."

Elia laughed at that, knocking Catelyn on the leg, telling her to shut up, so they could listen to the teacher – mostly Elia; Catelyn just tried to sometimes, discreetly cover her ears.

Elia took notes as the teacher talked about Angela Carter, and then looked on to Catelyn, when the teacher started talking about a mandatory paper about this author – everyone would have to read one of her dark fairytale retellings, and compare it to the original work.

"It can be done in pairs," Elia whispered, "I'll do it with you. And I'll analyze the most graphic scenes."

"That's not really fair, Elia. I can't ask you for that."

"You're not asking, Cat. I know this makes you uncomfortable, so we'll work something out, so you don't feel that bad," Elia said, "And I know you won't take advantage of this."

Catelyn finally agreed to this agreement, and for the last ten minutes of class, the teacher let everyone talk in groups, or the people who decided to work alone, to get started. Elia and Catelyn worked on trying to decide a story to read, Catelyn was pretty partial to Beauty and the Beast, so they were going to choose between "The Courtship of Mr Lyon" or "The Tiger's Bride", so that's what they planned to think about.

"I'll read both," Elia promised, "and I'll choose the least violent and shocking one."

"Thank you, Elia. And I'm so sorry. You really don't need to…"

"Catelyn, stop! I can do this, you need to stop apologizing. It's not your fault that the teacher doesn't take in account that these stories may be uncomfortable."

"Okay, class is over," the teacher said, clapping and calling to their attention. "Keep talking about this paper. You can come to me with any questions, and have it done in two weeks."

"We will work out a day for us," Elia said as they packed their things. "Hey, do you have my number?" she asked.

"The house number. I don't have it, but I can ask Brandon, I guess he does have it, because of Ashara."

"I'll save you the embarrassment of asking Brandon," Elia told her, as she wrote down the number on a piece of paper. "Here have it."

"Thank you," Catelyn said, pocketing the number, and they left the room, for their next classes, now separated. And after that class, Elia heated up food in the cafeteria, and then waited for Ashara to go outside, and eat in one of their favorite spots.

"Hi," Jaime greeted, coming behind Elia, and dropping next to her, laying his head in her lap. Elia's hands instinctively reached for his hair – it was always so soft and it smelled so good; Jaime had even stopped using gel that many times, because he knew that it made it almost impossible for her to run her hands through his head.

"Can we go out this afternoon?" he asked her, looking up.

"Sure. But don't you have baseball this afternoon?"

"Don't really wanna go," he murmured. "I was thinking maybe we could go out for ice cream."

"You realize we just had lunch," she said. "But maybe we could come over to my house, watch a movie, and I do have food," she proposed, "Ashara is out for the afternoon."

Elia and Jaime hadn't really been together in her apartment alone; honestly they had a very few times, but it had been just for a few seconds and minutes, limited and controlled time, when he picked her up, or she forgot something. For long periods of time, Ashara had always been there, sometimes even with Ellaria.

"That seems even better," he whispered, turning his head to kiss her leg. She smiled at that, as he kept kissing her legs. "Does that feel good?" he whispered into her leg, and she giggled.

Elia had never been a fan of PDA before, but she was trying a new thing with Jaime. And it felt good that Jaime liked kissing her everywhere, but she kept it restricted to the gardens, and maybe soft PDA inside the building, but never in classes.

"So would you like to go now, Jaime?" she asked him.

"Sure I do, darling," he said, before dropping a kiss on her lips. Jaime had never really dated seriously before, but he didn't kiss like an inexperienced boy – he knew how to use his tongue and hands. She wasn't used to those kisses at first. Rhaegar never kissed her that hard, unless they were together in bed, and even then he was always more inclined to butterfly kiss her on the lips, all over her face, on her neck, and then especially on her back and torso.

Jaime pulled away, with a sly grin on his lips, which always made Elia roll her eyes, and then he got up, giving her his hand.

"Thank you, Jaime," she told him, as he rested his arms around her waist. "So I'll see you later tonight, Ash."

"Of course, very late tonight," said Ashara with a wink. "And thanks for finally remembering that I'm here too."

"Shut up," Elia mouthed to her friend. And then Elia followed Jaime to his car – she couldn't believe he had a sports car, she actually wasn't a fan of it – too fast, and too different and uncomfortable.

"You do know that you shouldn't accelerate the car in here, anywhere, but especially here, you're in the city," she reprehended him, and he mumbled something about Brienne. "How's Brienne, by the way?" she asked – she didn't really know the girl, but she was friends with Catelyn and Jaime.

"Good. She's been running a lot; supposedly she's now running faster than her previous record."

"I admire anyone who can keep running. It's so tiring," she whispered, and their conversation moved to sports. Jaime liked baseball, tennis, and volleyball, but not many more, and he agreed with her that running just for the sake of running wasn't really something he understood.

"So we're here," Elia said, as Jaime parked the car, and then with his left hand on hers, they walked up to her building and then finally to her apartment.

"Rhaegar lives there," Jaime commented, and she only nodded. "I have vague memories of going over there when I was little when my mother was still alive."

"You know we probably were there together for some time, or even as babies, just knowing each other." There was a past between them and the Targaryens that went much beyond them and Rhaegar – if you believed in Destiny, which it seemed to her that Jaime did, they weren't meant to not cross paths.

"So this is my apartment – mine and Ashara's," Elia said awkwardly, holding the door opened for Jaime. "Sorry for the mess." Jaime laughed, telling her that this wasn't anyway messy.

"And I'll guess if I find something, it's Ashara's."

"That will be probably right," she said with a laugh. "Come on," she said, pulling him to the couch. "We can probably find something on TV."

There wasn't much on TV, but she sat comfortable next to Jaime. Jaime couldn't really stay in the same place for a long time either – she had already figured that out when they had a movie date awhile ago. So he moved on the couch a lot, changing positions, but trying to bother Elia the least, which wasn't really working.

"Sorry," he murmured, "I'm really not good at staying in the same place."

"The TV does not really seem worth watching, right now." And then Elia kissed him. Jaime immediately kissed her back, she climbed on top of his lap, and they kissed.

Jaime moved down and kissed her neck; and Elia opened her eyes. She still had the need to open her eyes sometimes, but this time she didn't need to, his lips were Jaime's – she now knew how they felt.

"Jaime," she stopped him, with heavy panting and a smile on her lips. "I wanted to ask you if you would like to have sex with me."

"God, yes!" he said, kissing her again, and immediately picking her up. "Your room?"

"Jaime, don't pick me up," she argued, but she didn't fight him hard enough and she let him carry her to her room. He laid her on the bed, and he immediately climbed on the bed with her.

"I'm sure I'll be great at this," Jaime started, "but I haven't done this before."

"I know that, Jaime. That's why I'm going to lead," she said with a smile, and taking off her blouse, leaving her only on her bra – she had chosen the best one on purpose today.

Jaime rolled on his back, with his arms behind his head, and a smirk smile on his face.

"You know you can still move, and take off your own clothes," she told him with a laugh, and Jaime started taking off his polo shirt, pulling it over his head. Elia pulled down her skirt.

Jaime looked good naked – she had seen him without a shirt before, but with him lying down on her bed it felt incredible different – it felt real, too real… but before she could think about that for too long, she felt Jaime's hand on her body, on her thigh, bringing her closer.

"Fuck, your body…" he murmured.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked. She could always found doubt on her body – there were the spots and patches that didn't fit the rest of her body, there were some bones sticking out, but still fat on the sides…

"No! Fuck, you're sexy as well," he swore and pulled her down on him. Elia laughed, just before he kissed her again. Jaime turned her on the bed and was now on top, and he started kissing her neck and chest, her belly – her skin. Jaime murmured soft into her skin, words of lust and attraction, but there wasn't much he knew what to do (he wouldn't ask, mentioning it before was as far as he would go). Elia was tempted to push him down – his kisses were on the way there – and she would have if it had been Rhaegar, but Jaime was a green boy, so she didn't, and pulled him up and took the lead again.

Jaime sat again on the bed, against the wall, and he quickly pulled her onto his lap. Elia kissed him, and he kissed her back, with his hands on her hair and vice-versa, and then something started happening. Elia realized that when they kissed she couldn't see him, not his bright green eyes or his dimples, when they kissed, the most she could see was the strands of blond hair and those were too similar.

So Elia pulled back to take a deep breath, and Jaime spoke, more caring than his usual smug self.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so… I just…" Elia kissed him again, but kept her eyes open, hoping Jaime wouldn't notice. His forehead was nothing like his, no crinkles due to over thinking or worrying – still so young and free (at least he seemed, while he didn't tend to worry, she knew it wasn't that easy).

Jaime kissed her with vigor, and his hands on her body she felt pleasure, and with a moan she closed her eyes again. And with her eyes closed, she was lost, sometimes she knew it was Jaime – like when she felt a fingernail that didn't sting, or reached for his short hair – but other times she couldn't tell them apart (the blond on the side of her eye, their soft hands, familiar things).

"Stop, stop," she pleaded, pushing away from him, but Jaime wanted to keep kissing her, and only at the fourth time he heard her.

"Sorry," he apologized.

"I can't do this, Jaime. I'm sorry. I just can't… I thought I could, but I can't…"

"No problem, Elia. You give me more time to prepare to blow your world later on." She laughed when everything she wanted to do was cry. "I do need to go to the bathroom, and find a way to handle my magnificent strength," he said, eyeing his pants, and leaving her alone.

Elia couldn't cry and break down now, so she got up, put on the clothes she had worn during the day (after pondering on wearing her sweatpants, and going with a 'no'); and then looked for something to do in her shelves. Elia decided that a board or tabletop game would be fun, and when he finally came out of the bathroom, he agreed, but asked if he could first raid their fridge.

"Can I take a beer?" he yelled from the kitchen.

"Sure," she said. Jaime came back and sat on the bed with her, and they spent an hour playing Hungry Hungry Hippos and talking. Jaime didn't seem that mad that she had pulled out in the end – he didn't have a reason to, Elia knew she didn't owe him anything, but she still didn't like to disappoint people, especially someone she liked. (And she wasn't even considering the reasons behind her stopping yet – she couldn't really handle that right now).

But while they were happy and were having fun, it was still awkward. Jaime wanted to kiss her as she won games, or even lost them, but she didn't really want to be kissed right now, even a kiss on the cheek felt weird; but Jaime didn't comment on that.

Cooking brought another distraction to their relationship. Jaime was not a cook in any way, but he joined her in the kitchen, again walking from side to side, while she prepared a quick omelette for a snack, and he ate it with her before he left to go home.

Elia put on Party of Five and sat in front of the TV, transpired by the Salingers' lives, and looked for sweets on the pantry shelves, to make herself feel better. But since she had already seen these episodes, her mind easily wandered to Jaime and what had happened.

This wasn't fair to Jaime. She couldn't deny that she thought of Rhaegar sometimes; everything she could do Jaime, she had done it before with him. You need to wait, time will get you there with Jaime, the hopeful part of her brain said. But she wonder if this could ever be fair to him – waiting… how long? A week, two months, seven years – she couldn't guess, there was no timeline for this.

Elia wanted to talk to Ashara. She wanted to talk over everything with someone, she wanted to be able to let everything go. But Ashara wasn't here. Elia still knew what she would say – be with Jaime, fuck Rhaegar, you can have fun with Jaime and that matters. But Elia had never just been about fun, and Jaime wasn't just about fun – he made her smile and laugh, he made her happy. But could she make him happy?

Elia's mind went overboard with everything. The pancakes she made didn't calm her down or anything – nothing could calm her down. And after everything, she just decided to go to bed earlier, but sleeping wasn't any easier, nightmares haunted her the entire night.

The next morning, Ashara still wasn't home, and without her to talk through what happened, Elia answered Jaime's call and agreed to meet him for brunch in a coffee house in the city center.

Elia still hadn't completely decided what to say to him, but they needed to talk and that was for sure. She pulled out a legal pad and started writing things down, she started with talking points, but moved to pros and cons list, without her even realizing. But again, she still wasn't sure what she wanted to do.

Elia still really wanted to call Ashara. She tried her cellphone, but she was known to forget it somewhere, and then she tried Ellaria's dorm number, her roommate picked up and then gave the phone to Ellaria.

"Hi, Elia! How are you, darling?"

"Fine, Ellaria. You?"

"Magnificent, love. I guess you're calling for Ashara."

"If you don't mind…"

"She spent the night. But she left a while ago. She got a call from a friend, a boy – Brad or something like that."

"Brandon."

"Right, yes, him. I don't know where they went. Have you tried her phone?"

"She's not picking up. I'll talk to her later. But thanks," Elia told her.

"I can talk if you need," Ellaria offered, but Elia denied the offer and said goodbye.

Turning off the phone, Elia changed clothes, to something simple – jeans and a t-shirt, from the bottom of her closet that she rarely wore; and then picked up one of her favorite novels to take her mind out of things before having to leave. Very surprisingly Jaime was already in the coffee shop when she got there, and there was a mug in front of each of them, as she came closer, she smelled the vanilla in her coffee immediately.

"Hi," Elia said, nervously, sitting on the table in front of him. "You're early."

"I know, a proper miracle," he told her with a smile. "I had to drop Tyrion off, and he was quite pushy about leaving the house."

"Being your brother's fault seems right." She laughed, and Jaime took her hand, but she wasn't sure if she could accept it.

"So yesterday was great. We definitely should do it again."

"Which part?"

"Whatever you want. What you're comfortable with. But you do look amazing naked," he said, with a grin, and Elia glared at him.

"About that… we need to talk."

"I may not be an expert in relationships, but I know enough from Cersei that that's never good."

"It's not, but we do. I need to tell you what happened."

"Elia…"

"Jaime, it's serious. And I can't do this…"

"Elia, I don't want to hear it. I know what you have to say. Cersei has been rehearsing break ups since we were six or something, I know where you're going, and I don't want to listen," Jaime told her, putting his fingers over his ears and singling 'blah-blah-blah', he only stopped when the waiter came by with two dishes, and Elia was looking confused.

"I ordered it," he told her. "I thought you would like this cake." The slice the waiter put in front of her looked really good – supposedly it was a cookie cake, but nothing like she had seen before.

"Are you ready to talk now? You need to eat, you can't cover your ears," she reminded him.

"But I won't listen to a break up."

"But we need to talk. I had to stop yesterday, Jaime, because when you – we were together, these flashes of Rhaegar came to mind, and I couldn't go on."

"You open your eyes, Elia, I know you do when we kiss…" She didn't know he noticed; he wasn't the most perceptive person. "I know I'm distracted most of the time, since my good looks require a lot of my attention, but I'm still not stupid…"

"I'm sorry, I didn't know… I don't want to hurt you, and I… I couldn't be there with you. I couldn't open my eyes and be there," she admitted, and it hurt to say it out loud. She liked Jaime, he had an adoring smile, and he made her smile and feel incredibly sexy and special, and even if there were things that they could barely understand about each other – it was still special. She took a spoon of her slice – it tasted really good, very sweet, and with a bit of a coffee, and then a taste she couldn't really recognize.

Then she felt something, her breathing started to speed up, and then her throat started to close up; Elia then recognized the taste, something she hasn't had in years – pinyon nuts. She tried to reach for the epipen she always kept on her bag, but this was one of her worst things for her allergies, and before she knew it, she was passing out and there was so much noise around her that she couldn't control, but she could see Jaime holding her, and more worried than she had ever seen him.

Elia wasn't sure what happened. She was out for awhile, and when she woke up, she was alone in a hospital room, and she quickly found the button to call a nurse, who immediately came into the room.

"Miss Martell, I'm glad you're awake. You have a lot of visitors outside, and they are not the quietest of people."

"How long have I been out?"

"A few hours. You woke up three hours ago, but you were down quickly after, and we don't know who we can let in."

"Am I okay?"

"Yeah, of course, Miss. You're allergic to-"

"I know. I have an epipen, I guess Jaime didn't know."

"I'm sorry. He's outside."

"Who else?"

"The other mayor's son, and he almost got into a fight with your boyfriend. And there's like this huge guy who also almost got into a fight with them. He's sort of quiet now, the boy who came with your roommate calmed him down and they've been to the side. Your brother-"

"Oberyn?"

"Yes, and he brought a friend, who also almost got into a fight with your roommate, and there's another girl."

"I'm really sorry for all of them."

"Don't apologize. It's been like my own private reality show and I needed that. With two children, plus one on the way and this job, I've been too tired to watch any on TV," the woman told her with a smile, as she finished checking Elia out and seeing her chart. "So who's allowed to come in?"

"Just send Ashara and Oberyn in – my brother and roommate. If you could tell the others that I'm okay and that they can go home."

"Sure. Feel better, Miss Martell-"

"Elia."

"I'll stop by later to check on you, Elia."

It wasn't too long after that Ashara and Oberyn came through the door, and threw themselves on their bed.

"What's Robert doing here?" Oberyn asked immediately.

"No idea. I don't really control where he goes," she answered.

"Elia," Oberyn complained.

"You know I was just passed out. But he's my friend. I went to see him when he was in rehab and offered to be his 'Lyanna' sponsor – he can call me if it's something he can't really tell Ned."

"And this is a good idea?" Oberyn asked, "And why is he here?"

"He hasn't called. He just gives me comics and graphic novels sometimes – we don't really talk. And again I have no idea why he's here."

"Full Spider blast," Ashara told her, "he was around here, and he came since you went to see him, that's what he told Bran."

"Rhaegar came because of that too, and Ellaria – you could have told me that your girlfriend was really hot."

"Yes, she is," Ashara said with a smile.

"The nurse told me that there was almost fighting."

"Arthur held Jaime off. And Arthur is staying in our apartment."

"So am I," Oberyn told her.

"You both know I just had an allergic reaction, right? You should be taking care of me."

"We are," Ashara said, holding Elia's hand, and Oberyn took the other, and they both rested their heads on her shoulders. "Are you okay, baby?"

"I'm fine. Can we just stay here for a bit?"

"Are you being discharged today?" Oberyn asked.

"I think so, the nurse didn't say anything in contrary, and it's not like this is not a normal thing for me."

"Why didn't Lannister know about your allergies and the epipen?"

"We never talked about it," she told them, "and I really don't want to talk about it."

Ashara understood silently, and reached for the control on the bedside table; and after she turned on the TV, she searched for the right channel, and stopped on a comedy talk show, which they knew they could all enjoy.

Please let me know if you have any ideas :)

And I hope you enjoyed the chapter! :D