"It's the only way." You desperately mutter as you catch sight of an icy, frozen river about forty feet wide and miles long. The heavy snowflakes are driving in and out of your vision and weigh down your eyelashes. You look to Jaime in a terrified state.
You had been looking for white walkers with Jaime along the outskirts of the wall and for a while everything seemed fine; that is, until you had encountered a pack of about fifty of them on your way back. You could hear their shrill screaming and the two of you immediately looked to each other in fear. No horses and only their swords against fifty would be a suicide mission, so you had to try to outrun them and warn the others.
You look to Jaime, out of breath from sprinting a long distance and he nods back in fear. You cautiously place your foot on the ice and hear a crackling sound beneath you, and you look to see small lines forming deeply around the area you applied pressure to.
"Brienne!" Jaime shouts, voice filled with worry.
You look back to see what caught his attention only to see the white walkers, about twenty feet away and eyes locked on you both.
Suddenly Jaime grabs your hand and practically pulls you across the beginning part of the ice. The slippery surface is difficult to manage, and you take the pace lighter in order not to apply too much pressure. Just as you are about half way there, you hear a cracking sound behind you. You glance back to see the army of the dead hammering their weapons into the ice, breaking it. You hear an echoing crack, and look to see a deep crevasse forming in between your feet and your balance is put off by uneven surfaces.
"Brienne! Look ou-" is all you manage to hear before your body falls through the crackling ice.
You are immersed in what feels like needles in your body from the cold. You have never been this cold. It is as if you have been buried in a sea of ice, and your body is quickly turning numb. Your hair is whipping every which way from the cold current around you, and you look up just in time to see the surface of the water where you fell through glistening and gleaming in the sunlight. You are only about a foot from the surface but cannot bring yourself to move; your muscles have seemed to become paralyzed, you cannot feel your body whatsoever.
Suddenly you feel a force pulling you upwards and look to see Jaime, pulling you towards the surface. As your face breeches the surfaces you release a painful gasp of air as you quickly pant for more.
"Thank the gods! Come on, Brienne, I need you, hold on."
He heaves your upper body upon the ice, which luckily does not give beneath your weight. Your nails scratch to get a grip as you pull your body the rest of the way up, struggling to breathe. Once you are fully out of the freezing water, you feel yourself being dragged.
"Come on, wench, we're almost there.... you're alright." He soothes desperately as he helps you to your feet. Suddenly you're at the edge of the river and you collapse onto the ground. Jaime takes a large rock by you and smashes it onto the riverbank, sending the remaining pieces of ice crackling and effectively breaking into millions of small pieces, now moving with the river.
"Now they can't get us, come on!" He encourages as he once again lifts your weight onto him as he helps you stumble towards winterfell.
"So... cold..." you manage to mutter between chattering teeth. The wind bites at your dampened cheeks, your ears aching as they are enduring the freezing weather. You are feeling weaker by the second. You look to see Jaime staring into your eyes as you try to muster the strength to carry on. He looks extremely concerned.
"I'm not letting you go." Is all he manages to choke out as he continues dragging you to winterfell.
Eventually, you can see the burning torches of winterfell in the distance. You can smell the smoke from the fires and see the dark wood of the gates. You release a sigh of relief.
You suddenly trip over your feet as you try to walk faster. You fall with a groan along with Jaime into the snow and feel a numbness take over you.
"Jaime, I'm so tired..." you manage to whisper.
He looks you up and down before looking into your eyes.
"Brienne, your armor is weighing you down. And it's also freezing. I have to take it off." He cautions as he looks to you for confirmation.
"No... " you whisper softly.
"Brienne! Do you want to live?"
"Yes."
"Then I have to do this."
You look to him with a look of fear and nervousness. Your armor is your protection, not only from enemies but also from the sneering of men. You've never looked like the ladies you had read about as a child, and the boys never missed an opportunity to remind you about that. No one can say anything when you're knocking them to the ground as you proudly sport your armor.
"Brienne... it's alright..." he coos as he caresses your face. You can feel yourself blushing, probably the only bit of color left in your face. He seems to understand all of your thoughts, all of your worries, and soothes them.
You finally nod to him in acceptance as you close your eyes, refusing to look at him from embarrassment.
You can hear the clinking of metal as he begins undoing the straps of your armor. It is then that you realize he is doing all of this with one hand, and very quickly. You feel a heavy weight being lifted from your chest, and shiver as your wet small clothes are exposed to the freezing temperatures. He quickly moves to strap on oathkeeper to him as he removes the heavy outer skirt of your armor.
He moves you back to your feet and you feel significantly lighter. You quickly manage to limp to the gates as they open, shifting your weight as you once again trip and stumble inside.
"Help us! Please! White walkers! She needs help!" Jaime manages to desperately shout as the people begin to scurry about in a fret. You manage to see a few soldiers on horseback head out towards the river as the women rush to help Brienne. Suddenly, Tormund rushes towards you and falls to his knees in front of you.
"What happened?" He shouts, voice full of concern. He quickly puts his hand to your shivering body and jumps back.
"She's freezing!" He yells to Jaime and he nods worriedly.
Suddenly you're being scooped up into Tormund's arms and bounce as he runs you inside.
You are immediately greeted by the warmth inside and your eyes begin to flutter.
"Stay awake, beauty." He whispers between heavy breathing as he takes you into a room with a large, inviting bed.
Jaime lifts the covers for you as you are placed carefully in the center.
A woman quickly enters the room with warm looking blankets.
"We have to get her out of these! Help!" The girl shouts quickly as she begins lifting your tunic up. Your stomach is exposed only slightly when you release a cry.
"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" The girl asks, worried.
Instead of responding, you look to the two men in the room as they look towards the ground.
"Brienne, we want to help you. We understand if you don't want us in the room, but you know we won't mock you or tease you. I mean, I only do it on certain occasions, but never in or about something like this." Jaime stated as he approaches the bed.
"Yes, beauty, we want to help you, not hurt you." Tormund adds compassionately.
Your eyes start watering and you eventually nod for the woman to carry on with what she was doing.
Jaime and Tormund quickly assist and gently get you free of your clothes, leaving you completely naked. You are too numb to move, except for the shivering. You simply just lay there without care until Jaime takes a large blanket and wraps it completely around you. You sigh into the feeling of warmth on your body. It feels to nice, and the new warmth of his skin feels so nice. Tormund does the same and you once again release a content gasp of air at his warmth.
After a few hours of watching you for signs of hypothermia or worse and giving you warm stew, the woman gets up from her chair in the room with a creak, directing all of your attention to her.
"I'll leave you two to watch over her for now. You seem to be able to handle it." The woman says calmly and happily as she smiles and shuts the door.
You are warm and happy tucked in with your blankets.
"That was close, Brienne. We almost lost you." Jaime states emotionally.
You look into his eyes and see true relief.
"Can I go to sleep now?" You whisper, eyes fluttering shut. You don't even wait to hear an answer as you fall peacefully into sleep.
*
Suddenly you are back at the river and running from the white walkers. You turn back to see Tormund and Jaime fall into the ice as you scream and call out for them.
"Tormund! Jaime! Come back!"
You search for them but find nothing in the water.
You immediately begin screaming and crying for them, confessing your true feelings.
"Come back! I love you! I love you, please, please come back!"
Suddenly, you can hear the crackling of the ice and yourself falling.
"Brienne!"
You are awoken by the shaking of your body and the calling of your name as you gasp for air. You look up with wide eyes to see the same terrified expressions of Tormund and Jaime.
"Are you alright?" Jaime whispers, calmingly rubbing small circles against your back.
"Yes... just a bad dream." You stutter over your own words as you sit up, forgetting your nudity until you have to tank up the covers over your bare breasts again.
"Ay, beauty, you don't have to worry about that in front of us. We've both seen it all now." Tormund comforts with a giggle as you turn a deep crimson color.
"Twice now. Don't forget the bath." Jaime adds with a wicked grin.
You shiver at the memory.
"You remember it now too?" He jokes at your reaction with a giggle.
"No! I'm just cold!" You nervously exclaim.
"Well, beauty, you know what we used to do with our tribes to warm up? Skin to skin contact! It heats the body tremendously!" Tormund adds with a look of seriousness.
"That's actually not a bad idea. It does work." Jaime affirmed with a look of confirmation.
You laugh deeply until you notice that they are not joking.
"Brienne, you're still cold. You fell in ice for gods sake!" Jaime exclaims.
"We won't try anything." Tormund adds.
"Like I'd believe that." You scoff.
"You have my word." He states.
"And mine." Jaime nods in agreement.
"You can't be serious?" You shake your head in confusion.
"Brienne, you're still recovering from practically freezing to death. We've already seen you naked, it's not like we're doing it to take advantage of you." Jaime adds with a serious expression.
You look to him with a serious expression before you realize it might not be the worst idea. You'd heard of skin to skin contact being used for people being stuck in freezing weather to keep each other warm, and you're still freezing cold. Jaime would never dishonor you. Tormund appreciates you too much for him to do anything stupid.
You shake your head.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but alright." You declared as you look to their stunned faces. Both have wide eyes and open mouths.
"If you're just going to stand there then this won't work." You quickly noted, sending them both scrambling to take off their shoes and clothes. You close your eyes until the both settle in beside you.
It is odd feeling their warm bodies next to you knowing what is there, but you feel surprisingly comforted by their presence.
As you all lay down on the bed together in complete silence, Jaime breaks it.
"We heard what you said about us in your dream, Brienne..." Jaime whispers calmly into your ear.
You quickly turn to look into his eyes and see nothing but acceptance. You look back to Tormund as see the same. You once again redden and your eyes water from fear and embarrassment.
"I... I was afraid t-" you begin before being interrupted by Jaime.
"We know, and we feel the same way for you. We actually had the same conversation once you were asleep about how we felt."
You look towards the ceiling and refuse to accept their words. They're going to mock you. They'll kick your body and tell you false stories of wanting to make love to you like the other boys did, only to laugh and jeer at you after.
"I refuse to be made a fool. Don't mock me." You mumble, trying to keep your voice from breaking.
"We aren't mocking you. We wouldn't dream of it, beauty." Tormund purrs.
You look into his eyes to see nothing but pure appreciation. You quickly turn to Jaime.
"I know he cares for me and wouldn't mock me, but how do I know you won't be like all the other men." You evenly state, apathetically looking to him.
"If I was not attracted to you, then why do I have this?" He reassured, using his good hand to grab yours and drag it down past his chest, stomach, and finally to that secret place. He brings your palm over the hard surface, and you gasp as you realize that it is for you. He has this reaction to your body and presence. You quickly jerk your hand back and look into his eyes to see tears forming.
"I don't know why I didn't see it until you were almost gone, but I love you, Brienne. I don't know what I'd do without you." He confesses.
At this, you put your hand on his cheek soothingly as he grabs your face in his palm and guides you to him. He envelops you in a chaste kiss that quickly turns hungry. Sloppy, needy kisses are given as your tongues fight for control. Just as you gasp for air, you feel yourself being pulled to Tormund.
"I love you too, beauty." He grins as he envelops you in the same manner, claiming you as his as well. When you both pull away from each other, you feel both Tormund's and Jaime's hand resting on your back.
"We will protect you, no matter what, and we care for you too much to lose you." Tormund states as you begin to lay back down onto the bed.
"I love you both too... how can I love two people?" You question, confused.
"Sometimes love works that way. We don't expect or want you to choose. As long as we can both have you in our lives, we're happy." Jaime adds.
Just as you lay back down to fall Adler, you can feel two kisses being placed on your forehead.
"Now get some rest, we'll be right beside you." Tormund adds as you fall into the best sleep you've had, between the loves of your life.
