Okay, I hate the first part. I just can't write Selwyn, probably because he wasn't in the show and I'm unable to define his character, I don't know.

However, there's still some talking to be done between our favourite couple, isn't there? I wouldn't keep you waiting any longer, so here we go. God, I hope you like how it finally unravels...

Btw, even though I planned to finish within thirty parts, it obviously didn't work out. Oops. I'm gonna do at least two more parts, one where we proceed in time a bit faster than before and then to end with a sort of epilogue chapter that takes place some years later:)

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Brienne had to be present at a council meeting and Jaime passed the time by strolling over the grounds. He liked the peaceful tranquillity of time spent alone in nature, the birds in the branches of trees that were moved by the salty breeze coming from the sea, the calming sound of waves breaking at the cliffs when he headed towards Shipbreaker's Bay, the sun that reflected in sparkles on the water of lakes as it made its way over the sky.
Some days, it took hours, but he didn't mind. Even though he missed Brienne whenever they were apart. It sounded stupid, as they had spent every possible second in each other's company ever since he had returned to Winterfell all those months ago, but as soon as she left the room, he felt her absence almost physically - as if they were attached by an invisible thread that stretched uncomfortably the further they were apart.
Jaime used those hours to think about everything he was usually avoiding, whatever he had managed to shove away found its way back in his mind during this time of quiet loneliness. He had learned to welcome it, knowing that he would have to face his worries eventually, and when would be a better time and place than there and then, alone and unhurried.
The trees were already casting long shadows over the grass as his father-in-law suddenly appeared in sight, coming towards him. How unusual. His thoughts had just been wandering to the man in question, had recalled their last conversation. They were talking more often since the wedding, the atmosphere increasingly at ease even when they were alone. Lord Selwyn was without question the same slightly harsh character he had been at his first entering Evenfall, but they made progress, Jaime thought contently as he came to meet his father-in-law.

"Have you finished, then?", he enquired when they reached each other.

"Yes." For a moment Lord Selwyn looked as if he was going to say something else, but nothing came, so Jaime just nodded slightly.

"Good. Thank you." He wanted to make his way back to the castle, assuming that Brienne had just sent her father to inform him about the end of the meeting, but he hadn't even made three steps when he was held back by him clearing his throat.

"Jaime."
Jaime. Not Ser Jaime. It had been three months since the wedding, their conversation became more frequent, but he had never called him Jaime. He turned around in surprise.

"Mylord?"

"I...", the older man began hesitantly, a sudden insecurity in his eyes that was very unlike the former Lord of Tarth. It lasted only a few seconds though, not even long enough for Jaime to be sure that it had actually been there before he quickly gathered himself to continue with his usual calmness and composure. "Do you have a moment?"

"Of course."

"I wanted to thank you", his father-in-law went on, taking him even more by surprise. "And I owe you an apology. My behaviour towards you when we first met was very wrong. I-"

"Please, Mylord", Jaime interrupted him, dumbstruck by the unfamiliar bashfulness in Lord Selwayn's voice, "it was comprehensible."

"Perhaps", the older man replied seriously, "but that's no excuse. I know that now. You make her happy and I see that she loves you very much", he added with a calm smile that threw Jaime more off-course than his usual reserve. He had learned how to deal with that, slight mockery even, had learned to take it with humour. But this was new.

"And I love her", he simply said, for it was the only thing that seemed to come to his mind.
Lord Selwyn bowed his head in acknowledgement. He knew. He wouldn't have allowed him to marry Brienne for anything less, after all.

"Yes. Obviously, you do", he agreed, "And I thank you for it."

"Please don't." Jaime shook his head dismissively. "It's me who should thank her. She's the best thing that could have happened to me", he said truthfully, holding the Lord's gaze as he scrutinized Jaime for a moment, but not like he had done all these weeks after his arrival. Jaime couldn't quite figure out what was going on in the other's head, but his expression had certainly lost all the suspicion it had displayed so many times before, his eyes were more open, the cold sparkle in them had disappeared.

"You saved each other", he finally said. A detection, not a question.

"In many ways."

"You're a good man, Jaime", Lord Selwyn went on, "a good husband. And I'm sure you're going to be a good father as well."
Jaime's heart fluttered at those words, the usual mixture of fear and excitement filling his belly at the thought, but he swallowed both for the moment.
"I'm glad you found each other", his father-in-law told him then, the softness in his voice confirming his words to be sincere. "And I hope you can forgive me my misjudgement."
Jaime bowed his head.

"There's nothing to forgive, Mylord." Brienne's father smiled.

"Enough of that", he said light-heartedly. "Selwyn, please. We're family", he reminded him. "And we're connected by something even stronger than that. Because we both love her more than anything else in this world."

o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o

When Jaime went up that evening, his heart felt lighter than it had in years. He had everything he had ever hoped for. He was married to the woman he loved, had a family that actually deserved that name, a place he had learned to call home, and soon, hopefully...

As he entered, she was already asleep. Not wanting to disturb her, looking so peaceful, wrapped up warmly in the white sheets, he just pecked her on the forehead and left the room as quietly as possible to change in the dressing room next door.

When he returned, he had expected to find Brienne just the way he had left her a few minutes ago, but instead, Jaime found himself standing in the door of their bedroom, stuck to the ground, stopped in his steps and unable to move, staring at the scene in front of him.

She was awake and standing in front of the drawer, a steaming cup in her hand and an expression of distress on her face as she looked back at her husband that had just appeared in the doorframe.

"Brienne, what is that?"
He didn't bother detecting that she had woken up, his eyes fixed on her hand, following it as she put the cup down.

"Jaime..."

"Brienne, please tell me that's not what I think it is."
He could smell the typical scent of the herbs even from the distance. He had smelled it countless times, his sister's delicate fingers wrapped around a golden goblet. This scene was so different and yet the same, but his mind was not ready to wrap around what his sense already knew. Brienne opened her mouth without saying anything, throwing a quick glance at the cup, then returning her pleading eyes to Jaime.

"You are taking Moon tea", he observed, her silence answer enough. "Why?"

"I believe you know the purpose", she replied silently.

"Yes." Jaime hesitated. Struggling to comprehend the meaning of all this, unwilling to accept the obvious. "But I thought-...I thought we were trying-" He broke off before his voice had the chance to abandon him. "And yet here you are-", he said instead, gesturing a bit too vigorously to the liquid on the drawer. "I-I don't understand."

"I think you do." Brienne's voice was firm, but she didn't look at him.

"You prevent yourself from getting pregnant", she heard him speak out loud what was clear to both of them. "But your father said-"

"I don't care what my father said", she snapped, more aggressively than intended, gathering herself before she continued. "I am the Lady of Evenfall Hall now."
Jaime looked at her uncomprehendingly.

"Then you must also know that you're going to need an heir", he pointed out to her annoyance, repeating almost literally Lord Selwyn's words that had been burnt in Brienne's mind for the last weeks.

"Of course there has to be an heir", she agreed slightly impatiently, "but I reject to have a child only because I'm forced to."

The words echoed in Jaime's ears even as they faded in the silence around them.
"That's how you see it?" He couldn't get himself to say any more than that.

"I don't have any other way to see it." The defiance in her voice awoke a spark of anger in him, but he swallowed it, knowing that their mutual stubbornness would only make matters worse.

"Don't you want children?", he asked instead, controlling his voice to the best of his ability, both craving and fearing her answer. "Is that it? I know we never talked about it before, so-" It was true, he had tried to bring it up several times, but they had never really spoken it through... He had noticed that she had always led the conversation in a different direction as soon as they approached the topic, but he'd skillfully dismissed it as coincidence rather than intention, had swiped the thought aside before it had even been formed properly.
A shaking of her head brought him back from his thoughts.

"It's not that I don't want children, exactly", Brienne contradicted him hesitantly, "it's..." She trailed off, unsure how to express what was bothering her, but Jaime came ahead of her before she had found out.

"It's that you don't want children with me." The words were said slowly, expressionlessly, only the slightest hint of a question mark reverberating around them. He hadn't had that thought before, didn't really believe that he was what made her hesitate, but his own worries let his lips form the words before he could stop them.
Brienne's eyes widened without him noticing as his gaze was lowered to the ground.

"W-What?" He could hear the shock in her voice though, heard her steps when she finally left her place at the drawer and neared him.
"Jaime..." She reached out to touch his arm, but thought better of it, the fear that he would withdraw from her touch too strong. She had seen it too many times with too many men, and with him, she wouldn't be able to stand it.
"No", she said pleadingly instead, "that's not- What makes you even say such a thing? Of course that's not the reason and you know it", she finished softly, praying that he did know.

"What makes me say that?", he repeated disbelievingly, filled with anger again and unable to suppress it this time. "Are you really asking what makes me say that?" His voice echoed from the walls louder than he had intended and Brienne flinched slightly at the sudden outburst, but he didn't care.
"You, of course!", he went on, not trying to silence his words or to hide the hurt in them. "Tell me, what am I supposed to think when I am in the assumption that we are trying to have a child and then I find you...with this!? Telling me you don't want to be forced. Forgive me if it sounds to me as if -" He broke off suddenly, couldn't even say it out loud. He was breathing heavily and tears had started to form in his eyes, but as he looked at Brienne, he saw that her expression was even more pained and his anger instantly gave way to exhaustion, an inner emptiness that made him sigh sadly.
"When it has nothing to do with me, and I believe you that it hasn't...what is it then?", he asked, calm now. "Because I see clearly that something is wrong, Brienne, and I must know what it is, because...I can't pretend", he told her. "I want this. I want to have children, I want to have a family. I want us to be a family. And I need you. We need to go through this together, neither of us can do it on our own, I need to know that you're by my side and...and that you want all that too." His voice cracked and faded away while Brienne kept staring to the ground, obviously suffering as well. Jaime waited for her to reply, he had said everything there was to say, it was her turn now, and after some moments passed in silence, she did finally speak.

"I don't want them to be like me...", she whispered only just loud enough for him to understand.

Jaime stared at her in shock. He had imagined many scenarios what she might say, that she would think it too soon, that she wasn't ready, that it was inconvenient during the first time of her reign, even that she didn't want her children to have the Lannister genes.
And I wouldn't have blamed her, he thought. My family is a sort of disease. But her?

"Wha-", he stuttered when he had found his voice again, "..I-I don't..Bri...what..?", he pressed out incoherently, unable to form a full sentence.

"You heard my story, Jaime, you know what my childhood was like because of what I told you", she explained, the desperation audibly growing with every word, "but you weren't there, you haven't seen-...You're Jaime Lannister!", she laughed a little hysterically - an unfamiliar sound to both of their ears. "You'll never know-...you can't understand how it felt, Jaime, to be bullied..and laughed at...to be lonely and-", she broke off, her voice cracking with emotion as well. He wanted to open his mouth, but she silenced him with a wave of her hand. "I know what you're going to say", she went on, slightly shaking her head. "That you do know the feeling, that being the Kingslayer hasn't been easy either, and I know that it wasn't, don't get me wrong...I know what you've been through and I know-...but it's not...", she struggled, searching for words, unable to grasp them. "It's not the same. When you're young and innocent and vulnerable and people don't even care to go behind your back, it's-" She broke off, unable to finish the sentence, closing her eyes for a moment, breathing deeply.
"What if it's a girl?", she said then as she opened them again, still struggling to hold herself together, "What if it's a girl and she's like me? I couldn't stand it to see that our child has to go through all of this as well..and to know that it's all my fault.."

"Oh, Bri...", Jaime whispered soothingly, tears in his eyes again, but now for a different reason. He stepped forward and wanted to stroke her arm in comfort, but she had already turned away.

"I was never thinking about anything like this", she said to the room, lifting both hands, gesturing around. "I mean, I didn't even expect I would get married, let alone having children! And..perhaps..I started to think that it was best like that...", she whispered more to herself. "Some of the boys working at Evenfall and even the suitors, they all made clear that I better shouldn't pass on my genes, best for me and everybody else, so I wouldn't cause anyone to be equally...strange..", she finished, eyes fixed on everything but him.

"Words are wind."

She looked up. "What was that?"

"Words are wind", Jaime repeated. "Some time ago...I heard someone say that", he managed to smile. "Do you remember who it was?", he asked warmly when he saw the astonishment on Brienne's face.

"Me", she said slowly. "I said that..and you...-?"

"I remember", Jaime confirmed, "it got stuck in my head since the day I first heard you say it..and do you know why?", he asked affectionately, not waiting for an answer, "Because it's true, Brienne. It's true, and it sums you so accurately, both of us, actually. You're not strange, Bri..", he said warmly, but slightly shaking his head in disbelief that they really had to go through all this again. How could she be the only person left who still didn't know how amazing she was?
"You may be different, but being different isn't a weakness - on the contrary, it's a strength. Isn't everybody different in some way or other?", he added, smiling, when she gave him a doubtful look. "Who decides what is considered as "normal" anyway?", he went on. "Who has the right to make such rules? Your difference causes you to be who you are, and that doesn't make you strange, Bri, it makes you special."

"You really think that, don't you?", she asked quietly.

"I do", he assured her. "Do you think I'm not worried as well?", he added, for she was still looking slightly insecure. "I panicked at first when your father mentioned the whole matter! I didn't know how you would feel about it, I was worried if I would be a good father, regarding that I didn't have one to show me how to be.."

"You'll be a wonderful father", Brienne interrupted him.

"Thank you", Jaime said, "and I know that you'll be the most amazing mother as well, I'm not worrying anymore about us being parents, neither of us, because I thought about it, and...do you know what it is that makes you different?", he suddenly wanted to know. Brienne looked at him in confusion, puzzled.

"It's not your height or the fighting skills or even the knighthood", Jaime said without waiting for an answer, "Although that is all quite impressive", he smirked, delighting in seeing the corners of her mouth twitch as well. "But they're just something like a side effect of your strong, courageous nature...What makes you different it that you don't seek the same things as most people do", he told her firmly. "You're not interested in power, achievements or success. I mean, you have all this", he granted, "but not because you wanted it, and that makes the difference. People who think you strange don't understand that there are much more important things in life - things like honour and loyalty, kindness, empathy, love...and you have so much of all this, Bri..." The loving smile she received would have been enough to make her believe everything he said, and yes, she wanted to believe him. So she did.
"I can't tell what the future will bring", Jaime finished, "I can't promise that there won't be any difficulties on our way, but what I know for sure is that we will both love this child, very much...and what could be more important than that?"

Brienne pressed her lips together, eyes closed, nodded.
She stood in the room, surrounded by walls and things that usually appeared to be too small for her, but at this moment, she seemed more forlorn and vulnerable than he'd ever thought possible even though he had been allowed to see underneath the layers of steel, toughness and self-protection she took off so rarely in front of others.
His feet moved without needing instruction and before he even knew it, he was wrapped around her, breathing out when she welcomed his embrace no less firmly.

"Thank you." A whisper, muffled, but full of warmth.

"I love you", he simply replied. "And if we'll really be blessed with a daughter", he said softly in her hair, "I hope she'll be just like you. Brave and kind and with a heart full of love that she's willing to give to everyone who needs it." He could feel her mouth forming a smile through the quiet tears and he closed his eyes.
"She'll be born in a changing world, Bri", he whispered in the silence. "A world where the war is over and the rightful queen is on the iron throne. A world where dragons exist and White Walkers are nothing but stories." He leaned forward on his tiptoes to press a little kiss to her forehead.
"A world where the Kingslayers can get redemption. And a world where women can be knights."