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When Brienne arrived at highschool that Monday, she was incredibly tired. The weekend had been a nightmare. Her neighbours' neverending party had lasted the whole Saturday -day and night- and she hadn't been able to grade as much as she had planned because of the terrible noise. Besides, when she had woken up on Sunday after a long night of loud music and rude shouting, her front garden was full of garbage and odd fluids, and she had spent the morning cleaning while she cursed through gritted teeth.
That Monday was a cold day of January, and the dark, cloudy sky didn't help raise her spirits at all, even if Winter temperatures didn't usually bother her. But today was a different story. She knew that the moment she stepped into the first classroom, all her worries would leave her -her students had that healing effect on her soul-, but today she felt too exhausted and not at all ready to face hour after hour of teenagers full of energy.
With a sigh, Brienne headed to her locker in the teachers' room to take her books for the lessons she had before the break and when she opened it, she discovered something in there that she wasn't expecting. A brand new bottle made of blue glass was waiting for her in front of her books and papers. She grabbed it to inspect it better. There was a motto printed in some beautiful font on the glass that said: “In the name of the Warrior, I charge you to be brave”. As a History teacher, she immediately recognised the old words the knights used to make other knights. A spontaneous smile appeared on her lips before she could prevent it. Who could have left that little gift in her locker? She looked around with suspicious eyes and scanned the room. She didn't have true friends amongst her colleagues. Well, there were some interesting people she talked to sometimes and even had some coffee with during her free hours, like Margaery -French teacher-, Catelyn -Economy teacher- or Clegane -maintenance guy-, but she had never truly bonded with them. She had never been good at making friends.
And then, there was the hot teacher from her own History Department, Jaime. Thought they had already been working together for a couple of years, even leading some common projects with their students, he had never shown any interest in her as a woman. When they first met, Brienne had almost hated him. He seemed arrogant, too full of himself, and he always had a snarky comment for her. Plus, he had an awful reputation. Some years ago, every newspaper had informed about a teacher who had been acused of trying to abuse a female student and hitting a male colleague. It was no other than Jaime Lannister, who was by then married to the influential politician Cersei. The marriage hadn't lasted long after the huge scandal. He had even been taken to court, and though he had been cleared of all charges in the end, nobody had forgotten the incident. Brienne always tried to stay well away from him those first days, but suddenly, one afternoon, when she was about to leave for home, she had gone to the History office to put away some maps and she had run into a crying Jaime. Brienne didn't know who of the two of them had been more surprised to find the other there. Out of social etiquette, she had asked him if everything was going well. And then, she didn't know how or why, the infamous Jaime Lannister had started pouring out his heart to her.
Brienne had learned all the truth about Jaime then: he had stepped into the History office, right where he was telling Brienne his story, and he had caught old Aerys Targaryen, a History teacher who was also the highschool principal back then, trying to abuse a female student who was in her last year of school. After a few seconds of hesitation, Jaime had grabbed Aerys's neck and had slapped him hard. Aerys had hit his head against the wall and the noise had made the teachers who were near rush to the History office to see what was happening. When Ned Stark, the Meteorology teacher, appeared at the door, Aerys quickly informed him that he had caught Jaime abusing the student. Jaime tried to deny the lie and asked for the girl's support. But she never helped him. Her History teacher was Aerys and she was too scared to show up the principal, the man who held the power and had to sign her grades in the end. So Aerys had went on with his life as a teacher until he had retired while Jaime had faced the public scorn.
And that was how Brienne's opinion on Jaime had changed. She had believed in his innocence at once. His eyes were too honest for her not to. At the end of his story, Brienne had even stepped closer to him and had wrapped him in a warm embrace. The first and only time she had done something like that. After that day, they had started working together more often, always in a very professional way, but Brienne... couldn't help falling in love with him. He had a peculiar sense of humor and was always teasing her, which made Brienne blush all the time, but he was witty, sweet and very intelligent too when he wanted. They shared a moral code and both were incredibly responsible and professional in their classes. Plus, they always put their students' wellbeing and necessities first.
But even then, Brienne was sure Jaime wasn't interested in her at all, and it made her suffer. She was an inch taller than him -she was the tallest teacher in the highschool-, never dressed in fancy female clothes and her face wasn't exactly cute nor pretty. When Jaime searched her company, she always tried to be kind and polite with him, but sometimes she needed her distance to rebuild the walls around her heart, because he had a way to bring them down with a simple smile. And despite their more or less comfortable professional relationship, they had never gone out to have drinks together or even go for a walk. And that was why Brienne couldn't think of him as the one who had left the bottle in her locker. It seemed more like Margaery's idea...
Anyway, the gift had made her smile, and it was exactly what she needed that morning, and the words printed in the blue glass had given her the strength she needed to face the day.
Monday looked a bit better all of a sudden.
At the far corner of the teachers' room, his face hidden behind an old book about Middle Age Westeros, a blond man with green eyes was smiling softly at the sight of her.
- - - - - - - -
Tuesday had another surprise in store for Brienne.
This time she found the gift at the end of her work day. When she went to her locker to retrieve her belongings after six hours of discussing wars, politics, unrequitted love and dragons with teenagers, she found a package on top of her bag. There was nobody else around by then, all the teachers had already left the teachers' room, so she was alone. Carefully, she tore apart the paper that was wrapping whatever had been left there for her. When she finished opening it, a woolen scarf beautifully knitted appeared in front of her eyes. It was a dark shade of blue, and she instantly realised the fabric was of high quality, and therefore, expensive. She didn't pay any attention to fashion, and she was more comfortable in casual clothes than anything else, but she couldn't stop running her fingers along the beautiful scarf, marvelling at its softness.
Was it Catelyn's doing, maybe? Brienne didn't know. She would have to start investigating. There was someone out there giving her classy presents, and she needed to know who it was and why! Shaking her head, she looked at the window when she started hearing some tapping against the glass. Snow was falling heavily now. After pondering her new scarf for a few seconds, Brienne shrugged and finally wrapped it around her neck. She started feeling better instantly. Happier than she had been when she had arrived at highschool that morning, she ran through the playground towards the tramway stop, letting the snow fall on top of her short fair hair and feeling the warmth her new garment provided not only to her body, but to her soul as well.
From the window of the History office, on the second floor, Jaime Lannister's gaze followed Brienne's running shape under the snowstorm. And once again, he smiled with fondness at the sight of the scarf she wore around her neck.
Blue was definitely a good colour on her. It went well with her eyes.
- - - - - - - -
On Wednesday, the third gift appeared right inside her satchel after the morning break.
Brienne had left the schoolbag hanging from the back of her chair in the teachers' room while she went to the toilet, and when she came back, one of the zips was undone. She was sure she hadn't left it that way three minutes ago. Who was messing with her things? This was starting to get out of hand!
When she was about to close her satchel again, she caught a glimpse of something red inside it that wasn't there before. Carefully, Brienne extracted the shiny object and turned it in her hands. It was a chalk holder made of red aluminium, with a Lion Rampant and the word “Oathkeeper” engraved on its surface. It was truly beautiful. This little gift screamed Jaime right away, but Brienne would never dare to dream of something like that nor even ask him about it. What if he wasn't the one leaving the gifts for her? He would surely laugh in her face or make one of his snarky comments.
So Brienne kept quiet and decided to pay more attention to her surroundings from then on, just in case she could catch the mysterious post-Christmas elf red-handed next time to confront them about the gifts... If there was a next time, of course. She was already assuming too much.
When Jaime walked past Brienne's classroom after the break, he shot a discreet glance towards the window that looked out onto the corridor. With his heart swelling, he saw that she was using the chalk holder to write an outline of the Battle of Winterfell on the blackboard, wounding the dark surface with her elegant handwriting as if she were wielding a sword.
- - - - - - - -
When she arrived at school on Thursday, Brienne thought she was ready for whatever gift her mysterious, invisible friend had for her, but she was wrong. She noticed something strange was going on the very moment she caught sight of the door of the teachers' room. There was a student right there, apparently waiting for her, a satisfied smile plastered on his face. She recognised him immediately, since she had been his History teacher for a whole term now. His name was Podrick Payne, a very well behaved teenager with a rounded face and dark hair who had always been diligent and sweet in her classes,.
“Good morning, Miss Tarth”, Pod greeted her when she stopped by his side.
“Morning, Podrick”, she greeted back. Then frowning, she realised the boy was carrying her text-books in his arms. “Eeerr, are those my books?”
“Yes!”, he almost shouted with excitement. “It's my duty today to help you between classes, Miss Tarth. I'll carry your books, open doors for you, refill your bottle with fresh water whenever you need it or even run errands for you.”
“Hm, thank you, Pod, you're sweet, but I don't need your help.”
The boy's face fell and Brienne felt a pang of guilt.
“But... I want to do it”, Pod tried to explain with a sad expression in his eyes. “I want to be a History teacher one day. And I would like to be as good as you are. I could learn so, so much from you if you let me help you.”
Brienne bit her lip. She suspected there was more to it than what Podrick was telling her, but she was almost late for her first class already and she needed to keep going, so she decided against pushing the boy further. She may try to ask him some questions throughout the morning.
And what a morning it was. Everytime the alarm rang to signal the end of a lesson, there it was Podrick waiting for her at the door of her class. He carried her books everywhere, he provided her with new chalks every hour, he even brought her some orange juice during the break. She was exhausted! The boy seemed to be having the time of his life, he was so enthusiastic. At some point during the morning, when she couldn't bear it anymore, Brienne turned round in the middle of the corridor and faced Podrick, pressing her forefinger against the student's chest.
“Now, Podrick, this is enough. You can't keep following me everywhere! This needs to stop. Tell me: who asked you to do all these things for me this morning?”
The boy got pale and hugged Brienne's text-books tight, as if he wanted to use them as a shield.
“No-nobody, Miss Tarth. I'm... doing this on my behalf”, Pod said feigning innocence.
“Yes, and I'm Aegon the Conqueror”, she snorted. “Spit it out!”
Podrick lowered his eyes and then he started stammering.
“He p-promised me that you would s-supervise my final project personally if I helped you t-today with everything you asked of me”, the boy confessed.
“Who promised that to you?”
“Mr. Lannister...”, Pod said at last after a few seconds of hesitation.
With a sigh, Brienne closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose to calm herself down. Then she opened her eyes, her lips pursed, and placed a hand on Pod's shoulder.
“Listen, Podrick. I'll gladly supervise your project. I thank you for all you efforts, but you don't need to do this. Rest assured that I'll talk to Mr. Lannister about the matter. You can go to your friends now.”
“Thank you, Miss Tarth. I really enjoyed your company. And I still want to be as good a teacher as you are”, the student said smiling while he handed all the books back to Brienne. When he was about to leave, Pod seemed to remember something all of a sudden, and he produced an envelope from his pocket. “This is from Mr. Lannister, by the way. I was supposed to give it to you at the end of the day. But I guess I can give it to you now, since Mr. Lannister already finished today's lessons and he's not around anymore.”
Brienne thanked him with a nod to dismiss him and then turned her attention to the message. As soon as she opened the envelope, she read what was written in the card.
Dear Brienne. There will be one last surprise waiting for you in the History office tomorrow morning. It's too big and precious to be put inside your locker. See you tomorrow.
So... the bottle, the scarf, the chalk holder... It had been Jaime all the time! Why would he be taking the trouble to gift her so many beautiful things? They were only colleagues, she was sure he didn't feel anything for her. You can't work elbow to elbow with someone for two years without noticing they feel something for you, right? Maybe he needed something from her and was trying to bribe her somehow to get what he wanted...
Brienne was so confused that she didn't know what to expect anymore. The only thing she was sure of was that Thursday evening would be the longest one of her life.
- - - - - - - -
The first thing Brienne did when she arrived at work on Friday was heading to the History office right away. She was never late to work, because she was very responsible, but today was a special day and she was incredibly ahead of time.
She didn't know what would be waiting for her in the office, so when she unlocked the door, the keys jingling in her shaking hands, she felt a bit disappointed when she discovered that Jaime wasn't there. But something caught her attention instantly: there was a big package on the table. This time, the mysterious object was wrapped in a piece of cloth and there were a pair of gloves and another envelope attached to it.
Brienne hung her satchel from the back of a chair and took off her blue scarf and anorak just to be more comfortable. She was so nervous she didn't know if she should open the envelope or the package first. After a few seconds of taking deep breaths to calm herself down, she decided the envelope was the best option, so she went for it. The card said:
Dear Brienne, I know you have been looking for this for ages. It's been in my father's library since I remember and nobody except myself has ever opened or read it. With curiosity growing more and more inside her, Brienne put on the gloves and started removing the piece of cloth very carefully while she kept reading the card. I'm sure you'll put it to good use. I hope you find it interesting and enlightening. Yours sincerely, Jaime.
When she pulled back the last layer of cloth, she let out a strangled cry. Her heart started to beat so hard against her ribs that she thought it would end up breaking her whole ribcage. Right in front of her, waiting for her to touch it, there it was The Book of Brothers itself. Not a facsimile or a copy, but the real White Book where the Lords Commander of the Kingsguard had recorded the deeds of all the kinghts that had served under their command in more than five hundred years of history. Brienne's eyes filled with tears when she started turning the pages, slowly, gently, absorbing all the information that treasure contained.
She was so absorbed by the book that she hadn't noticed Jaime's silhouette by the door. He had been watching her for a while now, and he just couldn't tear his eyes off her moved expression and her careful movements. Jaime knew instantly that he had made just the right choice with his present.
Suddenly, Brienne's teary eyes turned towards him, as if she had sensed his presence. Jaime stepped into the office and closed the door behind his back, a beautiful and honest smile on his face.
“Jaime, I-I don't know what to-”, Brienne started to say, but she was so touched that she barely could go on. “This is such a treasure. I don't-”
“It's yours”, he stated without hesitation.
“I can't accept this!”, Brienne protested.
“Of course you can. Some months ago, you told me you had been looking for this book all your life, since you were a little girl who dreamed of knights and songs. Well, here it is. I want you to have it. Please, accept it as a token of my gratitude for your kindness.”
“But, please, Jaime. This is just too much! You don't need to thank me for anything! Just-just let me give you something in return”, she offered, a little bit flustered. “What can I do to repay you?”
Jaime kept silent for a few seconds, staring into Brienne's eyes as if he thought he could find some answers in her deep blue seas. Then he sighed and lowered his own eyes to the ground.
“You don't have to give me anything. There's only one thing I would want of you, but it's not something that can be given away in exchange for a bunch of gifts, Brienne.”
“Please, tell me what it is and if it's really in my power, I will-”
“Your love”, Jaime interrupted her, his voice a mere whisper.
Brienne's breath caught in her throat when she heard Jaime's words. Had he really said what she thought she had heard? For a moment, everything seemed to stop around them. Was Jaime Lannister truly in love with her? To be honest, Brienne couldn't explain the purpose of this last present if Jaime didn't feel anything for her. Did she really need any more proofs of his love for her?
Without thinking twice, Brienne stepped closer to Jaime, cupped his bearded cheeks gently with her still gloved hands and approached her face to his.
“Alright, Jaime Lannister. This is my gift to you, then”, Brienne whispered against his mouth before closing the distance between them and kissing his lips with passionate determination.
The effect Jaime's touch had on her was just amazing. The very moment their lips met, all the emotions and feelings Brienne had kept hidden for so long brought down her walls and left her trembling in Jaime's arms.
“Is this real, Brienne?”, Jaime asked her when they finally pulled back for air, a note of insecurity in his voice. “Are you sure you're not feeling compelled to return my affections because of the book?”
“Yes, I am. My heart has been yours for a long time now”, Brienne admitted shyly.
Jaime hugged her tight then and she marvelled at the feeling of safety that spread through her body all of a sudden, with Jaime's arms around her waist. She still couldn't believe that this handsome, honest and amazing man was interested in her, but she had all her life to assimilate it. Brienne was looking forward to sitting by Jaime's side with the White Book in front of them and reading every story out loud, and maybe sharing some kisses with him between one knight and the next. And going out after school and having some drinks, or even visiting Jaime's family library together.
Though none of them knew how their relationship would evolve, both were eager to try and make it work. However, they would have to start finding out in a few hours, since the alarm started ringing strong and clear in their ears when they were kissing for the umpteenth time, trying to make up for lost time.
But that's another story.