The next day was tense at the clinic. Robb had informed the volunteers of the shelter's impending doom and the mood was subdued at best. Gilly was walking around sniffling as she filled up bowls of kibble, and Gendry kept his head down as he went about grooming whoever needed it.

Brienne kept working steadily, one patient after another, until the afternoon. Robb bought everyone lunch, to soften the blow as best he could, and they sat there in silence, eating morosely.

"Do you think it's on purpose?" she asked suddenly, surprising Robb, Gendry, and Gilly, who were silently, somberly chewing their own food. In response to their querying glances, she elaborated, "Their purchase of this building, raising the rent to an amount we can't possibly afford. Do you think the Lannisters are doing it to get back at you? At the Starks, I mean?"

"It seems right up their alley," grumbled Gendry. As Arya's boyfriend of several years, he had an up-close-and-personal experience, watching his girlfriend's family skirt disaster at the hands of the Lannisters, and held no kind views of them.

"I don't know," said Gilly. "The Stark name isn't on the clinic, is it possible they're not aware of the connection…?"

Robb leaned dangerously far back in his chair and snagged the letter from where it lay on his incredibly messy desk, then handed it to Gilly, pointing at the addressee.

Robb Stark, it said at the top of the page, not merely a more impersonal Grey Wind Animal Clinic.

"Ah," Gilly finished, looking defeated.

"Yeah," Robb grimly replied. "Nothing to do with Lannisters is ever coincidental."

The bell over the main entrance tinkled, indicating that someone had entered the reception area.

"Hello?" called a resonant male voice. "Anyone here?"

"I'm just about done," said Brienne, more wanting to escape the gloom permeating the room than because she was full. "I'll go."

The others, still chewing, nodded gratefully, and she made her way to reception, but it was empty.

"That's weird," she muttered, frowning as she peered around, but saw no one.

"It gets weirder," said the voice, and a hand was thrust up to wave over the edge of the tall counter. "I'm down here."

Brienne stepped around the corner of the counter and there before her was a dwarf. The surprise of it rendered her mute. As he stared up at her, it was clear he was just as stunned to see her as she was to see him.

"Well," he said at last, "it's nice, for once, not to be the only weirdo in the room."

"We specialize in weirdos here," she said. "It's a weirdo-only zone."

He grinned at her. It was strangely familiar, somehow. "I've found my tribe, then." He sobered. "I'm Tyrion Lannister. I believe you had a letter from our company recently?"

She stared at him, blinking in surprise. "Yes. Let me get the director. Wait here a moment?"

He nodded, and she returned to the staff office. "Robb, Tyrion Lannister is here to see you."

"You have got to be joking," he declared, blue eyes widening. He put down the remains of his sandwich and stood. "Did he say what he wanted?"

"No." She stopped him with a hand on his arm and lowered her voice. "He's a little person. Just so you know."

"Ah." His brow creased in confusion. "Okay."

When he was gone, Brienne began to finish the last bit of her salad, but instead of popping the forkful into her mouth, she heard the muffled rumble of male voices and paused. Her eyes met those of Gilly and Gendry, and within seconds all three had arranged themselves at the door, ears pressed to the inch-wide crack Gilly made in opening it. Collectively, they held their breaths so as to hear.

Tyrion was saying, "It appears that a mistake was made regarding the letter you received yesterday. Someone was, ah, a little too enthusiastic about their plans for this building, and got everything wrong."

"Wrong?" echoed Robb.

"Your status as a non-profit organization was unknown to Lannister Enterprises until recently." He paused. "Very, very recently. And when it was pointed out how bad it would look for us to evict a Stark endeavor, so soon after that last, er, incident–"

Robb gave a harsh laugh that rang discordantly off the reception area's walls.

"–it was decided that it's in our best interest to do what we can to avoid any more bad press," Tyrion continued after an awkward moment. "So instead of doubling your rent, it has been halved. And as a gesture of apology and good faith, we're going to absolve you of rent entirely for the next year."

Silence fell. Gilly and Gendry heaved in shocked breaths and pressed their faces harder against the door, straining to catch a glimpse of what was sure to be a gobsmacked expression on their boss' face. All Brienne could think, however– aside from her blinding relief– was Jason was right. It all worked out.

"So. Wait. Let me get this straight," Robb said slowly. "We don't have to pay rent at all for the next year, and when we do pay it again, it will be half of what it was originally?"

"Yes, exactly."

Robb did not reply right away, and Brienne could just imagine his face: eyes wide, mouth an O of shock.

But if he were, it soon ebbed as that shock faded and his natural wariness of Lannisterian motives returned. "What's the catch?"

A beat of silence, and then Tyrion spoke, humor lacing his voice.

"You attend the Lannister Enterprises annual charity gala," he said. "Make sure you're seen, that people are aware that there's a positive connection between our families now, that amends are being made and tensions dispelled."

"That's it?" Brienne could almost hear Robb's eyebrows lifting to his hairline in skepticism.

"That's it," Tyrion replied, his tone mild. "But after that first year of rent is up… no promises about how much the cost will be. It was not easy to convince our father that this move was in the company's best interests. I wouldn't count on it becoming a permanent thing."

'Our father'? Brienne wondered about the phrasing. Who else had joined Tyrion in persuading the Lannister patriarch to take this alternate route?

"Well," Robb said at last, his confidence and poise fleeing now that the tension had dispelled, his natural dorkiness returning. "Well, okay. That's… that's good. That's great. I'm… we're… yes. This is… yes."

Oh, Robb, she thought with affection. He would never be a public speaker, that was for sure. He'd be out there, verbally bumbling around, for another hour if he weren't rescued. Not that she was much better, but the two of them fumbling to speak might be able to communicate better than only one, so she slipped around Gendry and Gilly and joined the men in the waiting room.

"Thank you, Mr. Lannister," she said to Tyrion. "We're very grateful. Dr. Stark is in shock, I think—" she shot Robb a warm, teasing grin, which he returned with a rather dazed expression "—but once he floats back to earth, I know he'll be every bit as pleased as the rest of us are."

They exchanged a smile, Tyrion's practiced, Brienne's genuine. She was so pleased that she could hardly keep from bouncing on her toes in delight.

"Would you like to take a tour of the clinic, meet a few of the animals?" she offered.

"I actually would like to, but my son is allergic to dogs," said Tyrion. "I can't bring fur or slobber home with me." He gazed up at her in speculation. "Are you another of the vets?"

"Yes, there are two of us, Robb and myself. I'm Brienne Tarth."

She put out a hand to shake. It enveloped Tyrion's entirely. When he withdrew his, it was to slip inside his jacket and remove an envelope.

"A letter of correction to yesterday's… hiccup, for your records," he said. "And a new lease detailing the new terms. Look it over, have it checked by an attorney, if you want. Sign and send it back as soon as you can."

Brienne took it. "Thank you again."

He nodded and left. Once the door swung shut behind him, she turned to Robb and tapped him on the shoulder with the envelope to get his attention.

"What just happened?" he asked, still looking dazed.

"Our bacon just got saved." She handed him the envelope and began to head toward the operating room. "I've got a neutering to enjoy. Tell the others. Have a drink. Relax."

Though she played it calm, inwardly she was so thrilled that she had to pause and collect herself before she started fixing the big ginger tom.

I can't wait to tell Jason, she thought the rest of the day.

She wasted no time dawdling at the end of business hours, only tossed a hurried farewell at the others before dashing out the door and practically jogging all the way home. When she burst from the elevator, Jason and Cersei weren't there waiting for her as usual. She was at least ten minutes early, though, and hadn't he said he might be late returning from that meeting?

She stepped to his door and knocked on it, hoping he had indeed returned already, beaming with joy she wasn't able to suppress. When he opened it and found her there, he began to smile, but it froze when he realized her excited state, his eyes growing wider and wider as she spoke.

"You won't believe what happened!" she burst out. "It was exactly like you said, all a mistake, and not only is the rent not doubling but it's half, and not even anything for a year, so— do you realize what it means? It means we can take in more animals! We can go to the kill shelters and rescue the ones who'd be put down, the disabled or sick ones! Maybe even open another branch on the other side of town!"

By the time she finished, he was beaming just as widely as she was, but his voice was casual as he said, "Bet that's a load off your mind, huh?"

She nodded vigorously. "I've never been so happy and relieved in my life." She wasn't even exaggerating; not being accepted to the Citadel, not graduating as a fully-certified veterinarian, nothing had ever given her this level of elation.

He looked weirdly… proud, at that, but he kept smiling and said, "Think you can handle some more good news?"

"More?" Brienne's eyes widened. She already felt like bursting into joyful song. "I… yes, tell me."

"The manager of the farm that the goats and ducklings and Juanita will go to… he's in town. He's going to bring them to the farm when he goes back."

Brienne gasped. "When? Soon?"

"Tomorrow. Early."

That didn't give her much time; it was already evening. She'd need crates for them, and supplies, and—

"So I went to the pet store," Jason continued, stepping back— were they still standing in his doorway?— and to the side to reveal a small mountain of items: three spacious pet crates and sacks of wood shavings to line them.

When she turned back to him, incredulity plain on her face, he was smiling sheepishly.

"I knew you'd be back late, and tired, and—"

Brienne just walked right into him, arms circling his waist, and dropped her forehead to his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he embraced her in return.

"Yes," she murmured, awash with love for him. The urge to express it to him was so strong she gnashed her bottom lip between her teeth to hold the words back. She gathered herself and withdrew from his hold. "Thank you."

Jason gave her one of those searching looks of his, where his gaze traveled carefully over her face, studying it like he was trying to memorize the exact angle of each misshapen feature with an expression of wondrous contemplation. Yet again, Brienne wondered what he could possibly be looking for, and what conclusions he drew.

"You're welcome," he said eventually, his tone and smile easy. "Friends do anything for each other, right?"

"Yeah," she agreed, swallowing past the lump in her throat. She'd do whatever it took to make him happy, to make him smile. Give him the world, or as much of it as she could manage. "Anything."

.


.

The manager of the farm, an old childhood friend named Addam Marbrand according to Jason, had happened to come to the city and was happy to bring everyone back with him.

Well, perhaps 'happy' was a slight exaggeration.

"You didn't tell me it was live animals, Ja-Jason," he said as he unfolded himself from the pickup truck, glaring even as he stumbled over his friend's name. "You only said that you had something to carry back with me."

"And so I do," replied Jason cheerfully, arm sweeping to the side to indicate the three crates lined up on the curb outside the apartment building. The largest held the goats, the medium had the ducklings— now nearly full-grown ducks— and the smallest emitted a persistent series of affronted oinks.

Brienne had carefully set up their crates with nice comfortable bedding and generally fussed over the details of the transfer like an obsessed person. She was a terrible, neglectful pet-mother and her guilt had had her almost in tears since waking an hour earlier.

She wrung her hands as Juanita gave another indignant grunt.

"Here's her cart," she croaked past her tightened throat. She handed the cart to Addam, who watched her with the wary amazement of a hiker surprised on his forest path by a hungry bear.

Jason, true to his word, had taken Juanita's measurements and used his 3D printer to create a customized cart for her. It fit without chafing her round pink tummy, and had wheels that didn't stick and joints that didn't jolt out of alignment when the tiny pig ran around in her usual exuberant way. He'd even designed it so that when Juanita pooped, none of it got on the cart itself, which made the rest of the adjustments negligible. Brienne had had her fill of washing poop off the old cart.

Addam took the cart, staring down at it for a moment before looking up and staring at Brienne, then at Jason. "Ja-Jason, what the fuck is going on?"

He looked— beyond confused, he looked baffled, and Brienne wondered why. He managed a farm; surely it wasn't that peculiar, dealing with a pair of goats, a pig, and half-a-dozen ducks?

Then she realized exactly why: Addam knew Jason had facilitated the entire thing to help Brienne, and was shocked that a man like Jason would have anything to do with a woman like her. Her cheeks and tips of her ears grew hot and she knew they'd turned bright red. It wasn't exactly a surprise, that a man would be shocked at her ugliness, and she'd long since gotten used to how it would happen. In recent months, however, she'd only spent time around her friends and Jason, none of whom treated or looked at her as an ungainly specimen like Addam was doing at that moment.

"You know what, it's fine," she murmured, a slight edge to her voice. She shot him an unfriendly glance before her gaze fixed on the crates, where a wiggling pink snout was poking out of the wire grid of the smallest crate. "I'll find somewhere else for them. Maybe somewhere on Tarth. There are farms there, too. I'm sure my father knows someone."

She turned away and grasped the handles on Juanita's and the ducklings' crates, hoisting them up and turning to enter the building, her motions jerky with anger.

"No," Jason said coldly. Surprised at the sound of it, Brienne turned to see his expression shift from its usual warm affection, when aimed at her, to something that looked like a mask of fury when he looked at the other man. "Addam's going to take them. He's happy to do it, in fact. Isn't that right, Addam?"

A tense silence ensued. Addam's face shifted from incredulity to shocked comprehension. "Uh… yeah. I am." His features loosened, and to her surprise, he smiled at her. Beamed, really. What insane conclusion had he drawn? "I am happy to do it. Brienne, is it?"

He approached her with his hand out. Talk about a quick about-face.

"Um. Yes?" She set the crates back down on the sidewalk and gave his hand a shake, taking back her own as quickly as was politely possible. Strange guy. "Thank you. I've been worried about finding homes for them, so I really appreciate this." The force of her relief had her smiling tentatively at him. "They're pets, you know, so… they won't be put into meat production, will they? And they'll still get some affection, right?"

Worried, she looked to Jason, beside her. "You know it'll break their hearts if they're suddenly dumped into a herd and—"

"They're going to be part of the farm's petting zoo," he assured her. He was back to his normal self, smiling easily at her. "Nothing to worry about."

Relief was a cool wave flowing over her. She sighed and smiled back, taking his hand to give it a squeeze of gratitude. "I'm glad. Thank you for setting this up. It means so much to me."

He squeezed back, his eyes a soft grassy green.

"So," Addam said with a little cough, "how long have you two been dating?"

Brienne sucked in a shocked breath and snatched her hand back, waiting for Jason's amused denial. But he didn't say a word, only crouched down to murmur into the goats' crate, and the silence got weird. Brienne found herself babbling.

"Oh, we're— it's not like that— we're not together. We're—" She felt awkward and embarrassed to have given off the wrong impression, even as she wished she could give a different answer. Four months, she wanted to say. It was practically love at first sight, for me at least. She steadfastly ignored the twinge of thwarted longing in the pit of her stomach.

"Just friends, huh?" Addam said, but there was something knowing and amusing to his tone, and it irked her.

"No such thing as just friends," Brienne said as she fixed him with some intense eye contact so he knew how seriously she took the matter. It was somewhat of a pet peeve of hers. "Friends are important. I love mine very much. There's no just about them."

He gazed back, at first bemused, but as the seconds ticked by, he began to look a little dazed, the same way Jason did sometimes.

"Oh," he said finally. "I get it now."

"Get what?" asked Brienne, lost, but when she looked at Jason for clarification, he only seemed a weird combination of smug and triumphant and proud.

"You're very sweet, and have the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen," Addam told her, his tone serious. "If you and Ja-Jason aren't dating… maybe the next time I'm in town, you and I can go out for dinner?"

She gaped at him. Was he serious or just mocking her? He seemed genuine enough, and with his auburn hair and piercing amber eyes, was striking and handsome in a rugged way. A sideways glance at Jason, for some clue as to Addam's true intentions, showed he was back to coldly furious, looking about to shoot laser beams of death from his eyeballs. If Jason were angry at Addam, he must be making fun of her instead of truly wanting to take her out. She hadn't even wanted to go, but still, she felt a little pang at being a joke to a man yet again.

"Thank you, but I'm very busy," she replied shortly, and it was even the truth, or at least only a small lie: with half the animals gone, she'd be far less occupied, but between her job, the pets who remained, and spending evenings with Jason, her schedule was packed. She hadn't been able to find the time to see Sandor and Sansa in weeks, and the less said about how long it had been since she'd been home to Tarth, the better…

"She's very busy," Jason repeated with meaning. "And so are you. Begone."

"Begone? Nice 'lord of the manor' act," Addam pretended to gripe, but his grin was wide as he hefted the goats' crate and carried it to the rear of the pickup bed while a pair of alarmed bleats rang out.

"I am a lord of the manor," it sounded like Jason muttered in response. He took the ducklings' crate, eliciting a spate of wild quacking, and brought it to where Addam was placing the goats' crate onto the truck bed.

Brienne followed up with Juanita's, lifting it to face level so she could make eye contact with the pig one last time.

"Be a good girl," she told Juanita. "Don't trip Peachy, and don't chase the cats up trees, and don't steal anyone else's food."

"Oink," said Juanita. It was as good an agreement as Brienne was going to get from her.

She handed the crate to Addam, who placed it facing the goats' so they could see each other during the trip. Then he packed other things around the crates so they wouldn't shift during the drive. Brienne handed him the box of food she'd put together for everyone and he stowed it, as well, before slamming the bed gate closed.

"Thank you," she told him, her tone still cool. "It's a big relief to me, knowing they'll be well-taken-care-of with you."

"My pleasure," he replied, then said, "Hey, you should give me your phone number. That way, I can send you updates and photos of them every once in a while."

"Oh!" That sounded like a great idea; she'd feel far better if she could see how they were doing. She dug in her back pocket for her cell. "Yes, that sounds—"

"You don't need her number," Jason all but snarled while Addam laughed at him and climbed into the truck's cab. "You can send them to me."

Addam was still laughing as he fired up the ignition, put the pickup into gear, and drove away.

Brienne turned to Jason with wide eyes. "I thought you said you and Addam were friends."

The irritation faded from his face and he gave her a rueful grin. "We are. That's how friendship looks on us, I guess."

"Ah," she said sagely. "It's one of those man things, where you treat each other like shit as a way to show affection."

He squinted, skeptical. "I wouldn't call it affection, per se…"

They watched as the truck grew smaller and smaller as it drove down the street. When it finally turned the corner and was out of sight, a terrible sense of loss and guilt settled on Brienne. She swallowed hard, trying to hold back the tears that sprang forth.

"I'm going to miss their beady little eyes," Jason murmured.

"And Rosy's headbutts," Brienne said.

"How the ducklings chewed all my shoelaces," he added. "I won't need to buy new ones every week, now."

"The way Peachy runs to us every time she gives herself a bump or falls over."

"Juanita's happy oinks when she eats."

Brienne tried to hide a discreet sniffle but of course he heard her, and then his hand was between her shoulder blades, directing her into an embrace. As always, she felt peculiar about simply giving in to it, as if she ought to offer some token resistance at the very least, but… there was nothing wrong with accepting and providing solace when you were sad, was there? They were friends.

She put her arms around him and held on tight, even going so far as to bury her face against his neck as she permitted herself a minute to cry, trying to be quiet and unobtrusive about it instead of sobbing into his poor ear. He held her tenderly, whispering comforting nonsense as his palms smoothed up and down her back.

"Edgar's going to be heartbroken when he realizes the ducklings are gone forever," she said eventually. "It's going to be so empty in my place, with half of everyone gone."

"It doesn't have to," Jason replied, sounding cautious. "Cersei and I can spend time with you there. To make it seem more full. If you like. Or… my place. You could stay after dinner, I mean. We could watch TV or movies, or play cards, or just talk."

He seemed uncharacteristically nervous and Brienne felt her heart turn over, as it so often did in his presence. Was he still so unsure of his reception with her? He had to realize by that point that she'd welcome his company no matter what.

And… she wouldn't have to say good night to Jason until the very end of the evening? It meant that practically every moment outside of work would be spent with him, and the notion caused her equal amounts of gladness and pain. She had an awful feeling that she'd slip up, at some point, and blurt out her feelings or— gods forbid— kiss him. And then it would all be out there, revealed and naked. It would alter their relationship forever, and probably not for the better.

She was terrified that it would ruin things between them. As horribly wonderful as it was to be with him, it would be horribly horrible to drive him away because he knew she loved him and it made him uncomfortable.

She should refuse.

But she was not that strong.

"That sounds nice," she replied. "Okay."