A Lions Flower |J.Lannister|

• Chapter 42 •

Rose didn't know what to think.

Her daughter laid quietly in her arms and she rocked in a chair by the fireplace. Jaime had left them to go and be with his sister.

This isn't how she wanted it to go, but she was always afraid it might happen.

Rose couldn't fight her way though Cersei's army, she wasn't a strong enough fighter, even with the experience Jaime had taught her, she wouldn't win. She couldn't leave her weeks old daughter who was just grasping for someone to hold onto with her little hands. She couldn't put her wants before that of her Queen, that's not what an advisor does.

Brienne watched from a distance everyday, realizing that without Jaime, Rose was seemingly lost. The strong independent façade was gone and it was now a new mother trying to cope with the disappearance of her partner. Brienne thought about leaving to convince Jaime to come back, but she wouldn't have the weight on him as Rose would, but she wasn't sure that would even work. Jaime was a lost cause when it came to Cersei.

He had once told her that he wanted to die in the arms of the woman he loved, Brienne wasn't so sure he was fully convinced it was Rose, even if he told her he loved her.

Men lied all the time. Jaime was no different. How could she convince Rose to go? Rose was the last resort to get Jaime back and have him be the man he always wanted to be but Brienne hardly believe in her abilities to convince Rose otherwise.

Walking down the long hallway and to Rose's chambers, Brienne hesitated to knock, re-thinking her decision before knocking. Rose had been drifting off into a light sleep but was startled awake when she heard the knocking. Luckily, it wasn't too loud and Joanna didn't wake. Brienne was standing nervously on the other side of the door when Rose opened it and she smiled the best she could to greet the knight.

"What can I do for you, Brienne?" Rose asked her quietly as she avoided waking Johanna, Brienne, getting the hint spoke lowly.

"I wish to have a word, Rose. If you don't mind." Rose looked back at Joanna and stepped outside her room, leaving the door cracked a bit so she could hear anything inside of it.

"Rose, I believe you should head to Daenerys camp and retrieve Jaime. I don't believe his best interest is going back to Cersei." Brienne told her and Rose let out a little laugh.

"Of course it's not in his best interest. But she's always had a power over him, Brienne. Not even his own family can break it. I don't see that there is anything I can do for him now." Rose backed into the room again before Brienne grabbed her arm, not forcefully but enough to make Rose stop. The look in her eyes was the same Rose had seen when Brienne told Jaime to forget oaths to fight for the North and Brienne wanted nothing more to convince her friend that she needed to do what was right for her family.

"Forget Cersei and everything she's done! Jaime has stayed by your side and came to Winterfell with you, to protect you and Joanna. He might not think clearly, but Jaime's intentions are there somewhere, I know they are, I can see it when I look at him gazing at you and your baby. It's there, Rose. Happiness is only what you make it, and if you don't try you'll never know and the moment will be wasted."

"When did you get so wise?" Rose laughed as a stray tear managed to escape from her eye she quickly wiped it away from Brienne's sight in an attempt to avoid embarrassment.

"I have a great friend who has taught me more than she knows."

"And what should that friend do about her baby? What kind of mother leaves their newborn for the sake of a man?" Rose asked her and Brienne truly didn't know. She wasn't a woman that had motherly instincts, the closest she got to being a parental figure was with Pod, and even then it wasn't motherly.