It isn’t like Brienne tries to keep Catelyn from finding out about her and Jaime, it’s that Catelyn takes two weeks off immediately after the Unicorn Incident and thus misses the time when Jaime spends his days bothering Brienne in her office until she kisses him (which she knows she’s just rewarding bad behavior but his lips are so soft and his smile is so tempting and she’s only human). Then Jaime gets a Hunter contract he can’t ignore and he kisses Brienne again at least twenty times, each one the last, he swears, until the next one, and finally he leaves and Catelyn comes back.
“Brienne!” she says cheerfully when she comes into the office Monday morning. Brienne is staring at the chair Jaime has been (should be) sprawled in and she jerks her head up, startled.
“How’s Bran?” Brienne asks immediately. She knows the unicorn horn milk was a success, Catelyn had texted her the very next day about it, but she wants to hear it directly to make sure it’s real.
Catelyn tells her how he woke up only an hour after they gave him the tincture and he’d looked around and seen her and said, “Mom?” and she’d cried for another hour at least. She’s glowing as she talks about it, how he’s out of the hospital now and Ned is home with him while she comes in for a few hours.
“How are you?” Catelyn says, sitting down in Jaime’s chair. She sits properly, no legs akimbo, a normal amount of friendly interest in her eyes.
“Fine,” Brienne says.
“Wonderful,” Catelyn says, and she means it, Brienne can tell, but also her son has come back to her and she’s off about Bran again until Brienne apologizes and says she has a call she has to make and Catelyn smiles and leaves her office.
And after that it just doesn’t come up. Jaime’s gone for a week on his contract, and then he calls and says he needs to spend a week in King’s Landing, which makes sense, he does live there, and then the third week arrives. Brienne is late to work that day, which she doesn’t tell Catelyn because they don’t keep tabs on each other like that, but as she’s walking into WFRI, she hears Catelyn scream from the vicinity of her office and even as Brienne is running down the hall she’s already 99% sure she knows what’s happened.
“How DARE you!” Catelyn is saying as Brienne nears, her hands on her hips, staring down whoever is in Brienne’s office. “You are taking advantage of her good nature and I will not stand for it, Jaime Lannister, I absolutely will not!”
Brienne covers her face with her hands briefly and then comes up behind Catelyn and peers inside. As expected, there’s Jaime sitting in his chair, grinning up at her. Unexpectedly, he is entirely naked except for the silver-white pelt of a Little Valyrian lemur. covering the most inappropriate parts of his anatomy. He still looks inappropriate with his absurdly attractive bare chest and his long, muscled legs sticking out, but it could be worse.
“Brienne, let me deal with him. It’s bad enough I forced you to spend all that time with him looking for the unicorn.”
Jaime’s not smiling now, and Brienne exhales loudly. “It’s fine, Catelyn, really. We’re…” she gestures vaguely between the two of them. It’s only been three weeks and they haven’t really talked about what they are at all. “Together?” she finally says, her voice raising so high on the last syllable that Jaime cocks an eyebrow.
“You’re what? I thought you hated him.”
“I thought I did, too,” Brienne says, and she looks at him and his worried face and his eyes that remind her of the meadow the unicorn had taken them to, and she smiles. “I was wrong.”
“I see,” she says, but she doesn’t really, Brienne can tell. “So you’re…together.”
Brienne shrugs at her mentor. “We didn’t really see it coming, but yes.”
“I did,” Jaime says, speaking for the first time. “You were the slow one.”
That seems pointed but mostly fair so she lets it slide. “Regardless of who knew what,” she says primly, ignoring Jaime’s swift smirk, “we’re here now.”
“And you’re okay with…” Catelyn waves her hand vaguely in Jaime’s direction, “this?”
“Well,” Brienne says, her whole face going hot, “I mean. Yes.”
“Huh,” Catelyn says. She is obviously not convinced Jaime hasn’t put Brienne under some spell. Brienne suspects he may have, but she doesn’t want to be saved from it if so. “Then I take back what I said. Though it’s extremely inappropriate to be naked in a research institute.”
“But fun,” Jaime says and Brienne stares briefly up at the ceiling and begs the gods to make him be quiet just this one time. They do not listen. “You should have Ned try it sometime if he’s not too ashamed of the family jewels.”
Catelyn glares at Jaime like she will actually murder him there in Brienne’s office and Brienne pushes past her to stand between the two of them. “I’ll make sure he gets dressed right away,” she assures her mentor. “And that he won’t ever do this again,” she adds over her shoulder.
“Aw,” he pouts quietly.
“See that he does not,” she says. And then, because it’s Catelyn, she leans past Brienne and says, “Ned most assuredly has bigger “family jewels” than you do, Jaime Lannister, and you better hope he doesn’t come on campus to show you up.” Then she turns on her heel and strides away and Brienne definitely, definitely, does not want to think about Ned Stark’s anything so she turns to look at Jaime instead.
He looks like he’s been slapped in the face with the funniest thing he’s ever heard and he doesn’t know how to respond to it.
“You’re trouble,” she tells him, and that seems to shake him loose. “And you need to get dressed.”
“In ancient times men only wore lemur pelts,” he says.
“You’re making that up.”
“Probably. Aren’t you going to come see what’s under the lemur, wench? It missed you.”
“Please stop,” she begs him and he leans forward grinning wickedly.
“That’s not what-”
“I said last time, yes, very clever.” She looks around for his clothes, finds them tucked neatly under his chair. He’s just staring at her, and the lemur pelt is twitching a little. “Stop that,” she says, but he stands and the pelt falls to the floor and he murmurs, “I think you should close the door,” and she’s only human and probably bewitched and if Catelyn comes back, well, it’s not like she shouldn’t have expected it.
Tagged by @elizadunc and @thejustmaiden like ten million years ago - sorry for the delay, and thank you both for tagging me! :)
Bold what you like and tag whoever you want!
honey or lemon or milk or sugar // musicals or plays // lemonade or iced tea// strawberries or raspberries // winter or summer // beaches or forests // diners or cafés // unicorns or dragons // gemstones or crystals // humming birds or owls // fireworks or sparklers // brunch or happy hour // sweet or sour // Rome or Amsterdam // classic or modern art // sushi or ramen // sun or moon // polka dots or stripes // macaroons or croissants // glitter or matte // degas or seurat // aquariums or planetariums // road trip or camping trip // coloring books or watercolor // fairy lights or candles
I’ll forgo tagging because it’s been so long, but thanks again! I love trying to figure out which options are my favorite whenever I don’t personally know any, like cities or seasons lol
Hi! Are you the Luthien who Telanu regularly thanks in her fics?
Yes, I’m that Luthien. I first beta-ed for @telanu when she was working on the Tea series in HP fandom around 2002. She’s led me down a lot of fannish paths since then, and I’ve led her down a few, too. She’s still one of my closest friends - not just in fandom but in life. :)
Hi! We Make the Rules was so good and I loved the ending and you’re great. I gotta know how they told Tywin if you’re so inclined 💜💜💜
First thank you!
Second: they literally show up at the next Lannister Family Torture Hour (dinner) and Jaime’s like, “We got married. Be nice or you’ll never see us again.” And good Tywin just sort of scowls and talks business.
He never cares for Brienne because he’s an asshole and he hates everything. But he’s not outright rude, because frankly, he knows Jaime would somehow cause Actual Consequences for him.
elizadunc replied to your post “I miss Rumbelle and Braime and having a ship on a current show. ”
I just want to reiterate that the fact that I’ve now been in the Braime fandom for a year now and it’s your fault... thank you
Or maybe I owe you an apology. On the one hand, I hate that I exposed anyone to the travesty that was season 8. But on the other hand Braime is LIFE and if you ignore the end of season 8, it’s like the best slow burn enemies to lovers story you could ever want with an utterly fantastic (until the final episodes) redemption arc. Also, Gwen and Nik are perfect.
11) what aspect of your writing do you think has most improved since you started writing?
I hope all of it! LOL I think I’m better with actual structure, breaking up paragraphs more, etc. Hopefully, I’m learning with each story.
20) do you write in long sit-down sessions or in little spurts?
That’s a good question. I actually do both depending on time. Currently, I work from home most of the time for my “real” job, and it’s very common for me to leave my office and as I’m passing into the kitchen stop by my personal laptop and jot a few notes or lines. This has helped me be productive as a writer, and FAR less productive as an employee. But if I have a self-imposed or challenge deadline, I can block out an evening to help push something through.
