Yet another possibility for the next episode.
"Sir Brienne?" Podrick ran out into the courtyard when he saw Brienne shaking in the cold in only a nightgown.
"What happened?" He pulled his cloak off, when his hand touched her cheek to clasp it around her it came away wet, and ice cold. How long had she been out there?
"He left." The words came out broken, her throat raw from her endless sobs.
"Jaime? Jaime left you... To go back to King's Landing! I'll kill him!" Podrick put his hand on his sword.
"No! Oh gods, Podrick, he's going to die trying to save her!" She turned, and practically ran inside. Podrick rushed after her.
"What are you doing?" He stopped at her door when she dropped her nightgown.
"I have to stop him!" She dressed in a flurry, and tied Oathkeeper to her waist.
"Wait, you're just going to leave? What about Lady Sansa?" Podrick tried to stop her, but she shoved past him.
"You will stay here, and protect her. She'll be fine." She went to the stables to fetch her horse. Podrick felt as if she had been replaced by an entirely different woman.
"What about your oath?" He said, she rounded on him.
"Fuck my oath, fuck loyalty, and the things expected of me. I'm tired of doing what I am meant to, and losing everything! The only good things I've ever gotten in my life have come from doing what I shouldn't, and I will be damned if I'm going to let the idiot I love get himself killed. Nothing is more hateful than to fail to protect the one you love." As soon as she said the words Podrick knew there would be no convincing her to stay.
"Sir, please be careful. People love you too." He whispered , she put her hand on his shoulder.
"Keep her safe, and when I return you'll be the knight you deserve to be." She said, climbing into her horse, and riding off into the night. There was no way this could end well.
Jaime made it to King's Landing only half an hour before Brienne, who had been forced to track him at a slower pace when he veered away from the main gates. He'd spent a great deal of time sneaking around King's Landing, much more than Cersei. He had to kill a guard outside the room he'd come up into near the kitchen of the red keep, but otherwise made his way quietly to the throne room.
As he neared it the sounds of fighting grew louder. Whatever was going on out there had made it's way inside the walls. There she was, stood by the window, dressed to look fierce, and intimidating. She was so slight, and beautiful, but she possessed a much more frightening air than Brienne. The woman was a giant, and she could cut any man in half, but she would never stab him in the back.
"My queen." He shook himself out of his thoughts when he spoke, he needed to keep his mind on the woman he'd come to save, or perhaps he'd come to save people from her, he didn't rightly know yet.
"You! Of all the nerve. Did she send you, your bitch dragon queen, or are you here because you want one last fuck before I die?" She turned, her expression had no emotion despite the venom in her voice, and he knew what that meant. Cersei was afraid.
"Niether, gods Cersei, you are in a war you can't win, millions of people are dying out there for what?" He closed the distance between them slowly, she turned back towards the window, completely unconcerned by his presence.
"I know, I invited them here for just that reason. Even if she kills me, she will be exactly what she promised she would never be, a tyrant, just like me." She reached up towards the smoke filled landscape, so thick they couldn't see the outer walls anymore.
"You did this, you brought them here to die? You're killing them to get back at her, all these lives for a petty squabble! Cersei you can stop this! These people don't have to die!" Jaime grabbed her shoulder, she looked over with a raised brow.
"I didn't start this, you did. You started everything when you betrayed me to meet with our murderous brother. You did it again when you abandon me to ride North, for what, that sow? Oh you thought I didn't know?" She put her hand on his shoulder now, rounding him, and dragging her fingers over his back.
"You weren't the only man from my army in the North, just the most overt. I've heard all about your victory, and the spoils of war you chose to take. Was she half so sweet as me, or was she the bare, and you the maiden fair?" She whispered, he shrugged her hand off him.
"Jealous now, how fitting that you finally have to feel it. How many other men have you fucked while we were supposedly in love? Thirty, fourth of them. I understood Robert, he was your husband, but our cousin, no wonder he brought you to the high sparrow. You took what you wanted, wherever you saw it, and expected I wouldn't notice. I may not be the smartest Lannister, but I'm no fool. I never strayed because you were the only woman I ever loved. You're not anymore. She's twice the woman you are on her worst day." He tried to hold the rage that shook him to his core inside himself. He couldn't even look at her. He had to calm down or he would never be able to get her out of here with his son. That's what mattered
"Please, I'm not jealous. She's hideous, and you never asked me not to fuck whoever I want. You're like a child, these people will die no matter what she does. They will all burn, including you new whore. My wildfire will take care of that." Cersei smiled, lashing out with a short blade from her sleeve. He had only half a second to look back and realize what was happening. She was going to stab him in the back.
"Jaime!" He heard her voice as she barreled into him. He crashed to the floor under her considerable weight.
"Gods, you are obsessed." Cersei laughed, taking another swing at her. Jaime rolled them away from her blade, and sprung to his feet. Her blade jammed into his golden hand, and he wrapped his fingers around her neck.
"No! Not her, not you, not again! I won't let you do this! I won't let all these people die for you! Not her! Not her!" He screamed as he pressed her into the iron throne, his hand crushing down on her throat as she struggled. She clawed at his arm, her nails digging into his skin, blood dripping down her finger tips, but his grip never faltered.
Her panicked eyes grew cold, and her thrashing ended. He fell back, crawling over to where blood pooled under Brienne, thick, and hot as it soaked through his trousers. He pulled at the ties on her armed with his one useless hand to no avail, and finally scrambled to draw his blade. He cut through the leather straps, ripping her chest piece free.
His sister's blade had slipped in just where her armor bent to let her arm move. He pressed down on the wound, trying to stop the blood. His gold hand crushing down on his left to try and make it stop.
"Brienne, talk to me, I'm right here. You were supposed to be in the North, you were supposed to be safe. I said all those thongs, and I left you to keep you safe, why in the seven hells would you follow me. You were supposed to be safe! Why would you save me?" He leaned his head against hers, tears dripping down his cheeks.
"Because I love you, you idiot." She choked the words out, and fell slack in his arms.
"Brienne! Brienne! Help! Someone please!" He screamed until his voice was raw, the maester came eventually, and ushered him away. They moved her, they kept working on her, so she had to at least be alive. He leaned against the door, unable to move an inch further from her than they made him be.
"Jaime?" Tyrion came up beside him.
"No." He whispered, Tyrion reached up to move his arm from the door.
"Jaime, you..." He tugged at his sleeve, Brienne's blood dried on it cracked, and flakes to the floor.
"I said no! Not now Tyrion." He snatched his arm away. Tyrion recoiled, but let him be. He didn't move, and no one spoke to him until the Maester opened the door.
"Goodness, I didn't expect you to be quite so close. I stopped the bleeding, she is no longer getting worse. She's still breathing, but if she doesn't wake soon, she may never." The maester said, he sagged against the door frame, far enough to allow him past. He grabbed a chair, and drug it to her bedside.
Laying there covered by the thin, brightly coloured blanket made for summer in King's Landing, she looked like a painting. He reached out to brush a strand of her perfect platinum hair from her impossibly pale cheek, but stopped as his finger touched her, leaving behind a dark smear of half dried blood. He pulled a piece of cloth from the fresh basin of water at her bedside, and cleaned her cheek before he moved to his hands, both gold, and real.
"Come back to me." He took her hand once his was clean, and brought it to his lips while he whispered quiet prayers to any god that would listen. He didn't look up when the door opened, or when whoever it was set a trey of food beside him.
"Jaime." Tyrion whispered, moving a chair to sit near him. He still refused to look away from her.
"What happened?" He shifted closer, Jaime took a deep breath letting it out slowly.
"She tried to kill me, Brienne... Brienne saved me, and I killed her, them. She killed another one of my sons with her cruelty." He whispered, laying his head against Brienne's hand.
"I'm sorry. I truly am. The pyre for Cersei, and... It's starting soon. I thought you might want to be there, say a few words." Tyrion said, Jaime reached forward to pull the blanket higher. It was cold, she would need another blanket.
"No." He said, getting up to find one for her.
"Jaime, I know you're upset, but I don't want you to regret..." Tyrion began, Jaime rounded on him.
" I killed her, I strangled the life out of her with the one hand I have left, and I let her grow cold on her fucking Iron throne because nothing matters if she doesn't wake up." He pointed back at where Brienne slept. He closed his eyes against the hard truth of his words, and went back to adding the blanket to Brienne's bed.
"I should have killed her sooner." He whispered, going back to his chair.
"She was supposed to stay in Winterfell. She was supposed to be safe. I would have let her burn King's Landing to the ground if I'd known Brienne would follow me." Jaime slid his hand back under hers carefully.
"You don't mean that!" Tyrion gasped, Jaime looked over at him, his expression completely neutral.
"I would let the who!e world burn down around my ears for her. You saw what I would do for Cersei, how could you imagine I would do less for the woman I truly love, who loves me back in a way Cersei couldn't even dream of?" Jaime said, Tyrion recoiled away from him, he had no idea he had fallen so hard for Brienne, maybe he hadn't even known himself until today.
"Alright, just... Eat something, please." Tyrion left, and Jaime went back to his impersonation of a statue. Two days he sat there, waiting, hoping that she would wake up before she squeezed his hand.
"Brienne!" He nearly fell out of his chair to get closer to her.
"Jaime?" She opened her eyes, everything felt so dry, and so heavy. Her voice came out in a thin rasp.
"I'm here, oh thank the gods, I thought... Water, you must be thirsty." He grabbed the cup Tyrion had meant for him to drink, and moved to help Brienne lean against him, and drink. She dipped at it at first, then sucked down nearly half the cup before he pulled it away.
"Not too fast, you'll get sick." He whispered, she looked up at him, and her soft, loving expression hardened.
"You are an absolute idiot! You left me, and now what they overthrew her so you're here, coddling me? I broke my oath to Lady Sansa to come down here and save you from your own stupidity!" She slapped him in the face quite hard, he knew he was supposed to be apologetic, but he couldn't stop his laugh.
"Are you mocking me, I was stabbed for you!" She shoved him off the bed, and he only laughed harder.
"I know, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He choked out between laughter, still seated on the
"Your not terribly convincing." She crossed her arms, letting out a gasp of pain when it pulled on her wound. His laughter choked to a stop, and he scrambled off the floor.
"I am sorry, I just, I'm so happy to have you here awake, yelling at me. An hour ago I would have given anything for you to sit up and slap me." He tried to get her to lay back down, but she swatted him away, moving to lean against the wall.
"Good, because it may not be the last time, now sit, and tell me everything that happened. Have we won?" Jaime sat down, he honestly didn't know much.
"I haven't been kept very well informed. I do know that Cersei is dead, I killed her, and my son, strangled her with my own hand to stop her. I didn't think I could when I rode south. I wanted to convince her to leave, or die trying, but when she... When you didn't get up I thought... I never wanted to put your life at risk.
"You have no idea how much I wanted to stay when you asked me to, but when I heard she had killed a dragon, and destroyed the ships, for a moment I thought that she might win. If Cersei had survived she would have come after me, and anyone I cared about to make me pay for my imagined betrayal. Cersei couldn't be the queen. If she lived I couldn't it was the only way for you to be safe." He said, she scowled.
"I don't need you to protect me! I would rather you had never stayed than choose me, and tell me I wasn't enough."
" I never said that.
"You left me for her. Your not the first to find me wanting. I have been betrothed before. I know I'm not the most beautiful woman, but I thought I meant more to you." She wished she could stand, and tower over him, sitting half naked in the bed with the covers clutched to her chest made her feel small, and weak.
"I never intended to leave you to be with her, I love you Brienne, for longer than even I realized. I certainly didn't mean to repeat the thing lesser men have done to you in the past. I've met one of your betrothed, and he didn't come close to deserving you." He said , her eyes went wide with a look of horror before she schooled her expression.
"You knew! You've met one of the men who thought so little of me that one look, or one flaw sent them running from me, and you did it to me again anyway. Which was it, the man who found me so freakishly hideous he took on look, and broke his oath, or the man who insisted I was to be a proper lady if we wed, so I told him I would only agree if he could beat me in combat, which he obviously could not?
"Ronnet, the way he spoke of you... I broke his nose with my golden hand for his insolence." He said, despite her anger, she couldn't help the little bark of laughter that escaped her at the idea of Ronnet bleeding at Jaime's feet was priceless.
"Violence doesn't absolve you of your transgressions." She seemed to almost be pouring at this point. He tilted his head, trying to decide if she was still truly angry, or if she was teasing him now. The idea of having to learn the tiny nuances of Brienne's moods made him want to smile. He wanted to know everything about her.
"I know, but I wish you, and the rest of the world would stop talking about you as if you aren't a great beauty. Ah!" He held his hand up when she opened her mouth to insist they were right. "You are. Look at you! Soft golden hair, stunningly blue eyes, a smile that brightens the room. You are the most beautiful woman I know." He moved to sit on her bed, brushing her hair back gently with that charming smile of his.
"Stop that! I'm quite cross with you!" She snatched his hand from her cheek, but didn't let it go either.
"I promise to spend the rest of my life making it up to you." He pulled her hand up to place a chaste kiss on the inside of her wrist to try and hide his smile.
"You couldn't even manage a week in the North." She pulled her hand away, he sighed, getting her the cup of water.
"I know." He whispered , and let the silence fall over the room while she sipped at her drink.
"I'm not something to be tossed aside Jaime, if... I don't want to be a shameful secret like your sister, I am a Lady despite my insistence to the contrary, and I would want more than a tryst." She looked up at him, almost reluctant to meet his eye. He ducked down to hold her gaze, unsure if she'd let him touch her yet.
"That is not what I want Brienne, I want all of it. I want to be your husband, and have children with you that I can raise as my own, I want to show you Casterly Rock, and grow old with you, and by the gods Brienne I am going to fuck it up over, and over, because I'm not a good man, but I want to be that for you." He took the chance on reaching out to touch her cheek. She leaned into him, pulling him down for a kiss.
Feeling him not against her skin made her want to cry out in relief. She wrapped herself around him as best she could without aggravating her injury, he all but fell into the bed with her, desperate to be closer. He needed to feel her skin to skin, prove to himself that she was alive, here in his arms. He pulled back, ripping his shirt over his head, only to get it stuck on his worthless golden hand.
"Oh give it here." She took his arm, and detached the entire prosthetic, tossing it to the floor so she could get back to touching him. He leaned down kiss her neck, nipping gently at the shell of her ear.
"Jaime, you have to eat something, she... Oh gods!" Tyrion barged in, only to spin around and cover his eyes.
"By the gods, have you never heard of knocking?" Jaime grabbed the blanket, and covered Brienne before getting up to drag Tyrion from the room.
"I'm very sorry, I didn't mean to interior your fun, I had no idea she had woken." Tyrion struggled not to laugh, twisting his features comically.
"Yes well, we were celebrating. As you can see I am quite well, as is she. If your queen hasn't awarded it to someone else I would like to take her to Casterly Rock when she is well. I have quite lost my appetite for the capital, and the constant political manipulation. Not to mention we could use the privacy." He said , he didn't know if Brienne would want to go, or if they would need to go North again, but he wanted to secure his home while he had the war of the queen through Tyrion.
"Of course. I'll speak with the queen. You should get back, I'm sure your being sorely missed." Tyrion teased, Jaime groaned, ducking back into the room.
"Make sure you lock it this time." She said , he nodded, walking back over to her.
"Now, where was I?" He dropped back into the bed, tossing the covers aside to worship her. He didn't know what would happen next, but it didn't matter as long as he had her by his side.