Warnings: Rape mention. Jaime/Cersei mentions…if that needs to be warned for – LOL.

One

Brienne buzzes Jaime's apartment and makes her way to his door with a thoughtful scowl on her face. Her stomach growls as the smell of the Dornish takeaway she's carrying wafts to her nose, but her mind is still worrying at the case Daenerys Targaryen left in their hands earlier in the day.

Jaime's door is already open and she gives him a distracted nod as she brushes past him.

"I've been reading my old case notes," she says as she heads to his dining room. "Specifically the notes I made when I was looking for Jon Snow's mother."

"Really?" Jaime says, a thread of amusement in his voice as he follows her. "And what did you find in them?"

"Nothing," Brienne says then stops short as the table settings finally register on her consciousness. She blinks owlishly at the pristine linen tablecloth, the delicate silverware, the even more delicate dishes, the candles, the wine glasses. Horrified realization creeps over her and she spins round, glaring. "For the gods' sake, Jaime! Couldn't you have cancelled your date with Cersei just this once?"

Jaime amused expression turns confused then even more amused. "I didn't have a date with Cersei to cancel," he drawls as he prowls towards her. "I haven't seen her since Jon Arryn died."

He takes the bags of food from her unresisting hand and carries them into the kitchen. It takes a moment before Brienne can shake herself out of her stupor to follow him.

She finds him whistling cheerfully as he unpacks the food.

"Ah, good," he says, "you can help me dish up."

She scowls, her arms folded, her foot tapping. "You haven't seen Cersei since Jon Arryn died?"

He quirks an eyebrow at her. "I just said that, didn't I?"

"And you didn't tell me this earlier because...?"

He shrugs. "Because it didn't seem to be something I needed to tell you on an emergency basis. Besides, Cersei finds me when she wants me; it's true I haven't seen her in weeks but she could call me or walk through my doorway in the next five minutes. Resetting the clock gets tiring after a while."

He shrugs at her incredulous expression and says, "If you help, we can be eating sooner rather than later." He lifts his gold hand with a speaking look.

Brienne blinks then moves to help him, the scowl still firmly on her face.

*/*/*/*/*

They dole out the food in silence and Jaime wonders why he went to the effort to set the table in such a blatantly romantic fashion. He glances at Brienne and tells himself he did it because it would be a change for her; Hyle didn't exactly strike him as particularly romantic and he wonders if the man remembers to open the door for her. He scowls at the thought.

"What's the matter?" she asks.

He quickly smooths his expression. "Nothing, except I hope you like Dornish wine—and can force yourself to have a glass with dinner."

She blinks those remarkable eyes at him before she says, primly, "A glass of wine would be lovely, thank you."

He carefully pours them each a glass and thinks how much easier this would be if he could reveal to her that he actually has his hand. Once she got over her anger, it would make things so much more comfortable—at least when they're alone. He glances at her warily suspicious face and thinks it might take several years before her anger at his deception waned. Besides, she's here to talk about the case. This is definitely not the right time to spring that revelation on her.

He lifts his glass in a toast and watches as she takes a delicate sip then closes her eyes as she savors the taste. A smile curves her too-plump lips as she hums a little with pleasure and he's suddenly very grateful he's already sitting down.

She opens her eyes and flushes a little. She ducks her head, hastily lowers the wine glass and says, "Like I said, I went through the case notes I made while I was tracking down Jon's mother."

"And ended up finding his father instead," Jaime says.

"As well, you mean," Brienne says and takes a bite of food.

He raises an eyebrow. "I take it that means the rumors are true: Lyanna Stark really did have Rhaegar Targaryen's son."

Brienne nods. "Ned Stark had kept the truth well hidden, even from Catelyn, claiming Jon as his own son. It wasn't until Catelyn hired me to find Jon's mother that we discovered the truth." She grimaces. "Ned was not pleased, either with me or with Catelyn."

"Why did he go to such lengths to hide the truth? Even twenty-six or so years ago there wasn't nearly the same stigma attached to illegitimate births as there were in centuries past."

"I'm not sure," Brienne says thoughtfully and takes another sip of wine. "My services were no longer needed once I proved Jon's parents were Lyanna and Rhaegar instead of Ned and some unknown woman."

"You must have some educated guesses."

"Well, now I do." She sighs. "What do you know of the story?"

"Only what I've seen in the tabloids, whenever they want to stir up old scandals. I would have been around seventeen, and I was already a fan of the Targaryen acting dynasty, but I don't think we were in Westeros when Elia was murdered or in the months that followed. I think I would have remembered that scandal!"

Brienne chokes a little on her food. "You're forty-three?" she sputters.

Jaime shrugs. "More or less, I think." He smirks and leans forward. "Too old for you, Brienne?"

She blushes. "It doesn't matter to me," she mutters then blushes even deeper. "I mean, it has no impact on me...I mean..."

He chuckles then decides to have mercy on her and leans back in his chair.

"You, on the other hand," he drawls, " would have been a mere babe in your mother's arms."

Brienne's relief is palpable. "Almost: I was four. The details of the scandal are vague, of course, but it's something I just always knew without being told about. Most likely because my parents were huge fans of Big Bobby B's, and his career was at its height when everything went to the seven hells."

Jaime raises an eyebrow as he chews a bite of food. He swallows and says, "And Robert Baratheon is involved how, exactly?"

Brienne frowns. "You should know this, Jaime: he was married to Lyanna Stark when she had her affair with Rhaegar Targaryen."

Jaime freezes. "By the gods," he whispers, "that's right." He shakes his head. "Cersei always refers to her by...much less flattering terms than her name. Robert still mourns his first wife to this day, or so Cersei tells me."

"Lyanna's affair and subsequent disappearance ruined Robert's career, you know. He didn't come back onto the world stage until the Baratheon Brothers exploded onto the scene." Brienne's smile is fleeting. "Plus he couldn't remarry until he divorced Lyanna, by proxy, I understand, since no one has ever found her."

"Not even you?"

Brienne frowns. "Not even me. Ned Stark put a quick end to my services once I proved Jon was Lyanna's son. I never discovered what happened to her."

"Only that she obviously had Jon after her disappearance."

Brienne shrugs and nods.

They eat in thoughtful silence then Jaime puts down his fork, picks up his wine and leans back in his chair. "Do you think she's still alive?"

Brienne blinks her magnificent eyes as she ponders the question. "Unlikely," she says. "From what little I learned of her, she would not have simply abandoned her son."

"Unless it was too dangerous to return."

She frowns. "How so?"

"There are a multitude of possibilities. For example, if Rhaegar did murder Elia and Lyanna knew about it, she could have gone into hiding because she knew too much. If he killed once, he could kill again."

She nods, a thoughtful look on her face as she sips her wine.

"She might have been afraid that Robert would be angry enough to kill her in a fit of rage," she says.

"We've certainly witnessed first-hand how he lashes out."

Brienne winces and touches her cheek where Robert's fist had left her bruised. Jaime's fingers tighten round the stem of his wineglass.

"I should have stopped him," he growls.

"It's a good thing you and Ned were holding him back. He probably would have broken Cersei's jaw if he'd had his full weight behind him and managed to land the blow."

Jaime frowns. "I was talking about stopping him from hitting you."

She blinks again, eyes as wide and startled as a doe's as a flush slowly reddens her cheeks. "Everything happened so fast," she mutters and looks away.

Jaime hums a little then says, "So, we also have Robert as a potential threat to Lyanna. And then, of course, there are the Martells."

"The Martells?"

"If Rhaegar killed Elia and the Martells knew it, they could have targeted Lyanna in revenge."

Brienne frowns. "That's absurd. Doran Martell is the Prince of Dorne!"

"He's also the head of the largest criminal organization in Westeros."

Brienne's jaw drops and Jaime can almost see her mind racing.

"Those are just rumors," she finally says.

"There's no evidence that would hold up in court, that's true, but believe me: it's more than just rumors."

Her eyes narrow. "And you know this...how?"

Jaime simply raises an eyebrow as he sips his wine.

She rolls her eyes. "All right," she says, "I'll concede the point. But we've strayed far from the case we've actually been hired to solve, and that's Elia's murder, not Lyanna's disappearance."

Jaime nods as he puts down his wine and once again picks up his fork. "I've been reading the tabloids since Dany left us and scouring the web for the conspiracy theories."

Brienne rolls her eyes again. "Such wonderfully reliable sources for an investigation," she says drily.

"Even the craziest of conspiracy theorists sometimes hits on real evidence; they just willfully misinterpret it." He takes a bite of food and thoughtfully chews. "Are we going to be allowed access to the case file?"

Brienne snorts. "Not if Ned Stark has his way," she says.

"Which brings us back to Lyanna Stark and whatever it is Ned was so desperate to hide."

He catches his breath and his gaze meets her.

"Lyanna was behind it?" he all but whispers.

"Elia was also raped," Brienne whispers back.

"Doesn't mean Lyanna couldn't have hired someone to do it for her."

Brienne closes her eyes, almost in prayer, before she sighs. "You're right," she says. She opens her eyes and blinks at him, and his heart lurches a little at the disappointed determination on her face. "But we also have two men who are far more likely suspects."

Jaime nods. "Rhaegar."

"And his father, Aerys. Aerys and his wife, Rhaella, were living in the same house as Rhaegar and Elia."

Jaime frowns. "Aerys Targaryen? What possible motive could he have?"

"He's in an insane asylum after almost murdering his wife. What more motive does he need?"

"True," Jaime murmurs. He sighs. "We need to see the case file."

"I know. And then we need to talk to Rhaegar."

"I know." He pours them both more wine in thoughtful silence, then says, "If you work on getting the case file, I'll work on getting access to Rhaegar."

She picks up her glass. "I somehow think I have the easier task," she says drily and takes a sip.

*/*/*/*/*

Jaime walks Brienne to the door and says, "This wasn't such a bad way to work out a plan for the case."

"No," she says, then frowns. "Although we could have done this just as easily at the office."

He smirks. "You need to get away from that office sometimes, Brienne; it gets the juices flowing."

He watches with interest as she slowly flushes, and he thinks she might be improving her ability to recognize a double entendre when she hears one.

"Right," she says, suddenly brisk, "I'll see you in the morning."

With that, she opens the door and practically bolts from the apartment.

Jaime watches her hurry away and it's not until she turns the corner to the elevators that he steps back into his apartment and closes the door. As he wanders to the dining room to pour himself one last glass of wine he wonders, and not for the first time, what it is about Brienne that draws him towards her...especially when there's always Cersei lurking in the back of his mind.

He carries his glass into the living room and relaxes on to the couch. His gold hand catches the light and he scowls as he looks at it.

So many secrets and lies and shadows, he thinks, and only Brienne's guileless blue eyes to guide the way.

*/*/*/*/*

A/N: Well, this episode is definitely not going the way I thought it would… o.O On the other hand, the muse is running on all cylinders – LOL – although I'm going to try to focus on editing my novel for the next couple of days instead of writing this episode.