ONE CLICK AWAY

Author's note:

Work sucks and being an adult sucks a lot, too. That's all. '

Night One - The Bearded Bard (3)

Brienne stumbled towards her friends and slumped down on the stool opposite Margaery who grinned mercilessly at her slightly but not so slightly drunk friend.

"Don't you just love to dance," Margaery grinned and touched Brienne's hand.

"I do, don't I? I think I've had a little too much to drink, though," Brienne answered, wiping away the small pool of sweat that had gathered on her upper lip.

"You want some water," Sansa asked, waving at their waiter, asking him to take their next order.

"That would be a good idea ... is there any food left? I think I'm starving," the blonde said and scanned their table. After finding it empty, she glanced from Sansa to Margaery and back.

"You guys ate all of it?"

"Guilty as charged," Sansa grinned and shot her an apologetic look.

"There's always that red-head. He might order some more food for us," Margaery laughed and looked around, only to find the spot at the bar the Northerner had occupied to be now empty.

"Huh? He's gone," Margaery said.

"I'm not surprised," Brienne slurred a little, "he must've seen me dancing and must've decided it was horrific. I get that, I have literally no rhythm whatsoever..."

"Are you ready to order," their waiter appeared next to them, small notebook in hand and retrieved the pen from behind his left ear, "I am all ears."

"I'd like some water..." Brienne said, quietly.

"Gotcha, anything for you ladies?"

"You got any more of those appetizers," Sansa asked, her credit card in hand, "they are on me."

"We do," Pod replied but declined to accept the credit card from Sansa's outstretched hand, "no worries, you're taken care of."

"We are?" Brienne asked, incredulous.

"You are. There's a gentleman that's opened a tab for this table."

"Really?" Sansa squealed, "was it the red-head that was sat at the bar? I could have sworn he was there just minutes ago..."

"I'm afraid I can't say who it was, Miss ..." Podrick looked down at her still outstretched hand and read the name on the credit card, "... Stark, but I can assure you the Northern gentleman had absolutely nothing to do with it." With that, the waiter turned around and went toward the kitchen wearing a smile on his face the women could not see.

The three friends exchanged glances. None of them had any idea what just happened but they all realized there must be another man in this bar that had decided to spend money on their evening and it made all three of them positively giddy. Emboldened by the drinks they already had, all three of them let out a delighted squeal at the same time. This evenings' turn of events had them confused and amazed.

"See?" Sansa laughed as their squeals had died down, "it's not so bad going out with us, is it?"

"It could be worse," Brienne laughed and as Podrick arrived with her water she boldly asked for another appletini. One more could not hurt, right?

"So, who of them do you think it is?" Margaery said, munching away on a cheese stick.

"Who is what?" Brienne asked, her thinking slowed by the alcohol.

"She wants to figure out who the guy is that opened a tab for us," Sansa grinned and scanned the room to find a stolen glance, a small smile or anything else that would give away their mysterious yet generous admirer.

"Maybe he already left?" Brienne suggested.

"You think?" Margaery asked, "you don't think he'd wanna see how we react? I mean ... he's paid for the entire evening and that hasn't ended just yet. That's very kind."

"True," Sansa added, "I think I would wanna see how that was received."

No matter how intent the women surveilled the room, they could not seem to find their generous sponsor and eventually gave up. Brienne's drink arrived and both Sansa and Margaery learned, that four drinks made Brienne a bit of a pervert. Now ... that was cute.

"You just opened and paid a tab for three women you don't know and I am not allowed to ask why?" Tyrion asked, trying to keep up with his brother's wider steps.

"Exactly," Jamie answered and grinned. In fact, he had no idea how he would answer his little brother. He tried to tell himself that it had been a spur of the moment decision but that was only half of it. Yes, it had been a spontaneous decision to open that tab for the three women at the bar but he had done more reckless, more daring, more spontaneous things in his life that he hadn't planned in advance. Still, somehow the blonde tall woman had caught his attention and it seemed ... right? He didn't know, it really had been a spur of the moment idea. Those ideas, however, had been the best ones he's ever had ... so going with the latest one didn't seem to be so far off his usual path.

"Cruel," his brother quipped as he slipped into the town car that had almost silently approached the curb in front of the building.

Jamie snorted.

"Where are we headed," their driver, Bronn asked with a dutiful voice.

"Home," Jamie responded, leaning his head against the cool glass of the tainted window of the spacious backseat.

"Home it is," Bronn replied and the car started to move.

"I am still wondering ..." Tyrion said and Jamie groaned.

"You really can't let this go, can you?"

"I'm afraid not," his younger brother replied, an amused grin plastered on his face.

"Why am I not surprised?" Jamie groaned again.

"Why should you be? You've known me for my entire life, you know how curious I am," Tyrion said.

"You call it curious, I call it intrusive..."

"Potato, potahto," Tyrion quipped and stared at his brother intently. Jamie rolled his eyes in response.

"Is there any one of the three you liked in particular?" Tyrion asked.

"You're really not letting this go, aren't you?"

"Am not," Tyrion quipped and grinned at his older brother, "especially not since it appears you made the redheaded Northener leave the bar before he could make a move on any of the three so ... yeah, I guess I wanna know which one of them you felt like protecting."

Jamie's eyes widened. Damn his brother's perception. He found it impressive more often than not but when his astute observations were about him Jamie felt ... exposed ... naked even. He wasn't used to this kind of scrutiny and he wasn't sure whether he'd ever get used to it.

"I don't really know," Jamie evaded, knowing full well that his brother would not believe his charade.

"I don't believe you," Tyrion rebutted.

"You don't have to," Jamie snarled.

"I know I don't," Tyrion grinned, "but next time you feel like saving a damsel in distress form an intrusive redhead, you should actually let her know it was you, otherwise you won't get to know her. You just wasted time and money on someone you're likely not seeing again anytime soon."

"Don't I know it," Jamie said, quietly.

"Then why'd you do it?" Tyrion asked.

All Jamie could think about was the innocence he had seen in Brienne, in the way she danced away, sans rhythm but carefree. Men like the redhead ... they weren't right for her. But ... he thought ... since he belonged in the same category as the Northerner, he couldn't approach her either, spoil her innocence. He could not tell Tyrion that, though.

"It felt like a good thing to do," Jamie said the next best thing, "and you know, I am in desperate need of doing things the right way these days."

Tyrion stayed silent at that last remark and turned to face the window. They stayed in comfortable yet pensive silence until they arrived at Casterly Manor. Nuzzled into the hillside just outside King's Landing, the estate was a sight to behold with its white walls and impressive luxury it represented.

The comfortable silence the two brothers had shared was interrupted by Bronn who announced their arrival.

"Well, here we are," Tyrion said, "and what a shame it is we've come back empty-handed."

Jamie rolled his eyes at his brother once again as he got out of the town car and motioned Bronn to park it in one of the garages for future use the next day.

"I am serious, Jamie," Tyrion complained as he as much as wobbled up the few steps toward the entrance, "we could have stayed a little longer and then I would have known which of the three women you fancied..."

"I didn't fancy any of them," Jamie tried to steer his brother away from this past evening's events by sheer denial but his younger brother wasn't buying it.

"Uh-huh," Tyrion quipped, evidently not letting this go, "I still say it's a damn shame. That red-head was really cute..." Scanning for any indication that Jamie had meant the slender red-headed woman, Tyrion was relieved to find no evidence for it.

"Hmmm," was all that Jamie responded.

"And may I repeat, we are back - once again - empty-handed. Surely you'll excuse me from our usual nightcap dear brother?" Tyrion grinned and Jamie nodded in response. "You know ... I don't plan to go to bed empty-handed if you catch my drift."

Tyrion laughed and made a beeline for the stairs toward the east wing of the manor where his room was located.

Jamie stared at the retreating figure of Tyrion, wondering what he had done to deserve such an annoying little brother. He stood there for a few minutes, thinking long thoughts and eventually he grinned and climbed up the stairs of the westerly wing of the manor toward his master bedroom. 'Dirty little fucker' he thought, his grin intensifying. Sometimes Tyrion was something else but he would not trade his little brother for anything in the world.

They didn't get to see five-drink Brienne. As it turned out, four-drink Brienne became a pervert and soon after she became sleepy and would want to go home. Sansa hailed a cab and the three women shared a ride to Brienne's apartment where they would usually all crash after going out together. Even if it were only Sansa and Margaery, they'd still come as Brienne's apartment was conveniently located. Brienne really didn't mind having her friends over almost every weekend as it meant seeing them on a regular basis. She didn't have a boyfriend after all and her weekends consisted of hitting the gym, doing last week's laundry and cooking. Usually, she needed enough alone time to be able to face the new week, as work had gotten quite challenging under her new boss. Recently, she had added kickboxing to her gym rotation and she felt that this was doing what it needed to do to make her feel better about herself. Empowered. Strong. Female. Worthy.

Right now she didn't feel so worthy. She could feel the impeding headache and the regret she would be feeling in the morning. Yet, the evening had been pleasant and she was happy that her friends had given her an incentive to go out with them. The prospect of having to create an online dating profile was ... abhorrent. Who would really wanna click on the boring profile of Brienne Tarth?

It would not even get to this point, Brienne vowed. She would stick to the plan, she would go out with her friends for the duration they had agreed on and then this whole idea would be off the table.