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He sat on the edge of the bath at Harrenhal swimming in consciousness, at first all he could feel were the wench's hands scratching at his scalp. No, not scratching, massaging. What she was doing felt good, felt soothing. His hair had been a mud caked mop for far too long, all of its gold tarnished. After months of dirt and pain he, for the moment, was feeling relaxed almost like nothing had happened to him. He felt calm and whole again. Like he was back with his sister and wearing his white cloak. She never touched him with such gentleness though. She would pull and scratch, a wild thing that he would hope to tame but also knew he could not.
He sighed and relaxed back into Brienne."Ser Jaime you are getting soap on me" she grumbled.
"I'm sorry, wench. I did not mean to" he replied still a little groggy from his fainting spell.
She had stopped running her fingers through his hair, "Lean forward so I can wash this out". He did as he was told.
She then poured water over him washing away the last remnants of the nightmare he'd been lost in.
*~*~*
He no longer looked like her Jaime. His hair was short, shorter than it had been in a very long time. He was no longer his twin's mirror - handless, shorn - she would not like this. But it wasn't her that he was worried would find him unrecognizable. Brienne had surely heard stories of the handsome Kingslayer but the Jaime she knew was a ragged and useless old man. Covered in mud and smelling like horse piss and rot. For some reason he was concerned that she would not know his face beardless, his cloak snowy white.
He went to meet her at the balcony that over looked what was left of the godswood. He knew she would be there watching over Lady Sansa while she prayed. He watched her for a moment. She was standing guard with the bay beyond her and the sun glinting off of her straw blonde hair.
"Lady Brienne" he said, the sound of his voice startling her. She turned to him her astonishing eyes becoming wide, "Ser Jaime?"
He walked up to her, "I know it's..." "Different" she finished. Brienne reached up and touched his hair, her hand moving of its own accord.
"Not too different, I hope" he replied chuckling. "No" she flinched back almost as if burned "just a little".
He thought he saw a small smile on her lips but just as quickly it was gone.
*~*~*
He rode to Winterfell as fast as he could, hoping to catch up with her. He had to warn her, Cersei lied, there was no army. It took him longer than he thought. When he reached Winterfell he looked more like her Jaime again. His beard had returned and the hair that surprised her had grown a little. He had covered his golden hand and wore a simple cloak. Once again he worried that she may not recognize him. But she did.
She was in the training yard with Pod. He saw Jaime first, stopping mid-fight. Brienne was about to admonish him when she turned to see where he was looking.
"Ser Jaime" he heard her say before he was met by Winterfell guards and whisked away.
He spent the rest of his day repeating over and over again that the North had been betrayed but he had made a promise and they deserved to know. The person that ended up convincing them fully was Brienne. She vouched for him and his honor. It was because of her he was able to roam Winterfell freely. Well, not completely freely, everyone had their eyes on him. But there was only one set of eyes that he had wanted to see. One set of eyes that he rode all this way to look into again.
He had not been able to get a moment alone with her all day. He made his way to her room and knocked on her door.
"Come in" he heard her say. He entered and she was standing in front of the fireplace.
"Lady Brienne" he said. She turned toward him, setting her lovely eyes upon him. "Ser Jaime, what are you doing here?"
"I came to see you" he replied. "I wanted to speak to you".
He was standing in front of her now. She looked at him, really looked at him, then lifted her hand to brush his hair out of his face. "It's longer" she said.
He brought his hand up to meet hers and pulled it and her toward him. He chuckled lightly, "Yes, it is".
Not quite able to look at him she said, "I have missed you, Jaime".
He had to laugh again because he could not believe this was real. Brienne looked at him then scowling. "I've missed you too, Brienne".
He bent toward her placing his lips on hers. He knew then that he would always be her Jaime.