When Brienne wakes, the first things she's aware of are fingers stroking her hair and a warm, pleasant weight against her. She blinks several times, resisting the urge to close her eyes again and go back to sleep. When she manages to open them fully, she's rewarded with the sight of Jaime above her, watching her with a fond look in his eyes. His hair is mussed and a contented smile is on his lips.
She smiles back at him, the memory of the previous night returning to her. "Good morning, Jaime," she says softly.
"Good morning, my love." His love. She hadn't believed since she was a girl that she would ever be anyone's love, and yet here she is, naked in her bed with Jaime beside her, knowing with more certainty than she knows anything presently that she is loved by him.
"Did you sleep well?" he asks her.
Brienne nods shyly. "I did."
He presses a gentle kiss to her shoulder, his beard a light tickle against her skin. She can't help reaching up and running her fingers through it. He's always been beautiful, but there's something about the way his hair, which grew to curl around his ears on his journey from King's Landing to the North, hangs in his eyes, and the silver in his beard, that makes something flutter faintly in her belly.
She pushes against his shoulder, guiding him to lie back, and settles her head onto his chest, closing her eyes and enjoying the feel of his heartbeat against her cheek. Her hand goes to the stump of his right arm, stroking the scars there, and his breath hitches. She knows it wasn't an easy thing for him to allow her to see him without the golden hand. It's his arm, she told him last night, and he should wear or not wear the false hand as he sees fit.
He'd let her see his scars, and in return, she'd shown him hers. She shivers as she remembers him reverently tracing his fingertips along each of the scars the bear had left at her shoulder.
They lie there quietly for a while, before Brienne sighs wistfully. "I'll have to get up, soon," she says. "Pod'll be expecting me for his training session, and Arya said she wanted to spar again this morning, too."
Jaime chuckles. "Your skills are in high demand, my lady. I'd hoped we might train together today, if you won't be too busy for me."
She smiles. "I'll never be too busy for you, Jaime."
They take a few more moments to enjoy each other's company in the quiet of the early morning before Brienne regretfully forces herself out of bed to get dressed, while Jaime studies her naked form appreciatively.
She buckles Oathkeeper to her hip, then leans down to give Jaime a long but gentle kiss. "I love you," she says.
"And I love you," he replies.
She squeezes his hand briefly and heads out of her chamber to find Pod, her mind already wandering to what another night spent with Jaime might bring.