To Important To Ignore

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Skyrim or any of the Elder Scrolls game series. The only thing in this story that I own is Jenna, and like many of us I wish I could say I owned Brynjolf but I don't so all I can do is play in this world and dabble with the characters.

Just a little note: None of my stories are really interlinked, otherwise Jenna would be quite the player. She was just my favorite DB out of the 5 that I had. Maybe I'll introduce my other ones sometime, but for now I just really love my girl Jenna. :)


"Lass, a word?"

Jenna looked up from her conversation with Rune at Brynjolf and scowled, "I thought you were busy."

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, already feeling irritation setting in, "Well I'm not now, am I? So if you would be so kind..." He gestured towards the training room.

She glared at him, "Yes, well, now you'll have to wait because I am busy at the moment. Perhaps we'll speak at another time."

With that she continued on with her conversation with a now nervous looking Rune. Brynjolf was having none of it however, he marched over to them, his face a hard mask of determination. Jenna just ignored him while Rune began to sweat in his armor, attempting to make himself as small as possible. When Brynjolf was directly behind them, the white haired thief turned to stare at him an expression of defiance on her face.

"Now Lass." He growled in quiet, lethal finality.

She sneered at him, "No."

Rune was watching with bated breath, not daring to move in fear of getting caught in the middle of the storm that was brewing between the guild master and her second in command. If only he could slip away, the only way of escape, however, was to dive into the filthy water of the Cistern. At this point he didn't really know which was worse, to die of suffocation from the tension or to smell like the back end of a skeever for a week.

Whatever was in the air between Brynjolf and Jenna finally broke and the female thief found herself thrown over the large nord's shoulder like a sack of potatoes being hauled across the Cistern. Rune watched them go with a sigh of relief before making a hasty retreat to the Flagon for a very large tankard of mead to ease his nerves.

"You brute! Put me down right now you Bastard!"

Jenna kicked and struggled, banging her fists against Brynjolf's back. The red haired thief kept his hold of her with ease, never once breaking stride. Her shrieks were ignored, everyone steering clear of the two Nightingales, afraid of being caught up in the storm as Brynjolf carried her towards the training room. She could kick and scream all she wanted, he was bigger and stronger than her and he wasn't ready to put her down just yet.

"I swear I will blast you straight into Nocturnal's ass if you don't put me down right this minute!"

Having enough of all her noise, Brynjolf brought his hand that wasn't holding her, down sharply onto the back of her thigh. The sting that it caused shocked Jenna into silence, sweet blissful silence. Her shock lasted long enough for them to make it into the room, he then none to gently dropped her against one of the circular targets before crossing his arms. His face was set in a firm mask, he watched her lean back against the straw practically snarling at him, mouth already starting to mouth the words of unrelenting force.

"Don't bother shouting at me Lass. We. Are. Going. To. Talk."

Jenna scoffed, "Why? You made it perfectly clear you had 'more important things to attend to' so why talk now?"

He sighed, "I did Lass, there were things that needed doing, I couldn't stop for even a moment's breath. I especially couldn't stop when it came to you."

She bristled, her eyes and hands sparking slightly, ready to tear into him. 'Especially her'!? Well he could kiss her leather bound ass! Pushing herself from the target she went to storm past him, but Brynjolf moved to block her. His face was passive, arms still crossed. It only served to enrage her more.

"Move. I wouldn't want to distract you more."

"I'm not done with you yet, so no."

"Move," She growled, "Before I make you move."

"Fine."

When he did move, it was not out of fear, nor was it to move away from her. He moved directly into her space, leaving just centimeters between them. Startled out of her rage she stumbled back only to have the Tall nord's arms wrap around her, pulling her closer still. Now, not even a shadow could pass between them.

"I couldn't stop for you-"

"You said that already." Jenna replied tiredly, her anger having drained from her, leaving only the hurt from the sting of his words.

"So just release me and I will make more of an effort to stay out of your way."

Brynjolf continued to hold her close, "You misunderstand me Lass."

He was distracted then when he noticed how her smaller body fit perfectly into his own, soft curves melding against his sturdy frame. He could smell her hair, the fragrance of jazbay grapes and nightshade. Her eyes that now portrayed confusion were ice blue with silver swirls along the edges of her irises. By the shadows, she was beautiful.

"I couldn't allow myself to speak with you Lass." He whispered, "If I had, nothing would have gotten done because I would have never been able to pull away from you."

His eyes were pleading with her to understand what he was trying to tell her. The surprise on Jenna's face would have been comical had this been any other time. Now however, it only gave him hope that she could see.

"Are you trying to say- that is- are you trying to tell me that..." She could barely breathe, her words coming out as no more than air between them.

"I'm trying to say that from the moment your bony ass waltzed into the Flagon I was enraptured by you." He whispered gently, brushing her bangs to the side so that he could better see her eyes.

"You drove me to distraction even then, back when it was easier for me to ignore the pull I felt towards you. Not anymore though, it's not easy at all and it never will be again."

Jenna swallowed her heart pounding nearly out of her chest, beating a pulsating rhythm in her ears, "What changed?"

Brynjolf's eyes held an old pain, he reached out with his hand again only to caress her cheek with the back of his knuckles. He thought of all of the times he longed to do that, to feel her soft skin against his own. He thought of the times where he was sure he would never get the chance, when he walked through several feet of snow to find her, if only to hold her and properly mourn loss of something so precious.

"The night Mercer returned without you."

There was a thickness in his response that had her own throat closing up with emotions. She recalled what Vekel had told her the night she had come back with Karliah; Brynjolf had went out looking for her.

"When he told us that Karliah had killed you in Snow Veil it was like she had ended me as well. I didn't think I could ever feel that way about anyone, not what I felt in that moment."

He took a shaky breath, resting his forehead against Jenna's. He closed his eyes, finding solace in the warmth she radiated, it was a reassurance that she was really there with him and that Mercer's words had been nothing but lies just like everything else.

"After that I didn't want you to leave my sight and I would have told you the very moment you returned. I would have told you how much I love you Lass, but then everything happened all at once. What with the guild being looted by someone we trusted, becoming members of a mythical order, Mercer and rebuilding... There just wasn't time. I had to wait, stay away in hopes that I could do what needed done no matter how much it hurt. As much as I wanted nothing more than to be with you, my responsibility is first and foremost to the guild, to our family."

Jenna's heart went out to him then. Imagining his determination to take care of everyone and ignoring what he wanted, giving up his desires for the sake of the others. He may not have accepted the role of Guild Master, but his work behind the scene was so much more than anything she had done to contribute around here and for that she felt both guilty and appreciative. The fact that he had taken on so much, sacrificing his needs to support their family made her love him all the more. Her previous hurt at his avoidance melted away into understanding at the same moment her body melted into his.

She cleared her throat, "And now?"

Brynjolf chuckled and she shivered and the huskiness of it.

"Now Lass, they can handle themselves. Because I've got something much more important to take care of now."

"Oh? And just what would that be then?"

"You Lass, Jenna. If you'll allow this old thief the pleasure" He purred to her.

She would have snorted at the 'old' comment, but she was afraid to ruin this moment. Instead she breathed him in, humming at him while bringing her hands to his chest, pushing him away gently. She smiled at him lovingly, eyes shining brightly in the dimly lit room.

"Yes."

He grinned at her and started to lean down when Jenna stopped him with a hand on his mouth. Brynjolf frowned and looked at her in confusion, she was looking up at him with a very serious expression.

"There is one condition..."

He tilted his head slightly in affirmation, waiting while wanting nothing more than to cover her lips with his own. Jenna shivered at the dark fire she saw in his eyes, but this needed saying before she could allow any sort of passion to fly between them.

"Don't ever brush me aside again. If things are getting busy, then we can work together. Better with two, or so I hear. Can you agree?"

Brynjolf removed her hand from his mouth, not before he kissed each of her fingers lovingly only to smirk at Jenna's sharp intake of breath. She frowned at him waiting for an answer, he smiled down at her.

"Aye Lass, that I can do." With that he swooped down fusing their lips together heatedly.

'Finally.' Is what went through both of their minds and arms wrapped around the other's body. He lifted her off the ground, deepening the kiss as she giggled against his lips.


"Finally!" Whispered Sapphire as she pulled her head back from around the corner, she smirked at her fellow thieves.

"Alright you sorry bunch of fools, pay up!"

It was several disgruntled thieves that gave up their coin purses. They did not lose a bet about whether or not Brynjolf and Jenna would get together, rather, when the tension between the two of them would finally break. Sapphire won, she always wins. They all glared at Rune, if he hadn't alerted her they wouldn't be short their months wages. Their ire towards him deepened when he accepted his cut from the female thief. He looked to them with a sheepish shrug only to pale the very next second at the murderous glint in their eyes. He was no where near fast enough to escape them and Sapphire had already walked away, completely unconcerned for the well being of her accomplice.

When Brynjolf and Jenna emerged into the main Cistern, they got to witness Rune being tossed head first into its foul waters by Garthar and Thrynn, both brushing their hands as they walked towards the Flagon.

Jenna looked at Brynjolf questioningly, to which he relied with a shrug before pulling her along past a sputtering Rune and out the back entrance towards Honeyside. They could figure that out later, right now they had more important matters to attend to. Delvin and Vex could handle things for a couple of days. Hopefully by then Rune will have bathed enough to get rid of that smell...

End.