ONE CLICK AWAY

The awkward situation Brienne had found herself in proved to be less insufferable than she had imagined when the lunch situation had started to unfold in this very unexpected and very not desired way. Nothing could have prepared her for fate's weird humour, once again deciding that the unlikely pair should be getting together at yet another location. Her glass of water had to be refilled constantly by a rather diligent waitress, somehow Brienne felt like she was drowning in the situation whilst feeling as thirsty as a lost tourist on a camel tour in Dorne. Tyrion had shot her a sideways glance she could not quite interpret; she thought he had looked ... curious?

Jaime did look at her quite a bit, too, and every time Brienne realized that he was, she occupied herself with her glass of water again. If she continued like this, she would have to go to the bathroom every ten to fifteen minutes in just a short while.

'Damnit,' she thought and forced herself back to the vivid conversation that had started between Tyrion, Sansa and Margaery, obviously covering some recent celebrity incident Brienne wasn't familiar with. When she looked up, she felt Jaime's glance upon her again but against her timid nature decided to not care.

He would not ruin their lunch.

Not him.

He wouldn't.

"So does that mean she gets a settlement now?" Sansa asked.

"Most likely," Tyrion answered, grinning from ear to ear, "after all, that paparazzi stalked her for the better of four days. She should have been allowed to kick more of him than just his reproductive organs..."

"Ha Ha," Sansa laughed and ordered a bottle of white wine for the entire table. After their lunch orders were taken, Margaery slightly leaned in and lowered her voice conspiratorially.

"If that were to have been Brienne, she probably would not have let him live."

"Margaery," Brienne exhaled, wearing a shocked expression on her face.

"Oh come on, Bri, you know it's true," Brienne flinched at Margaery's term of endearment but the smug grin on her friend's face made her chuckle.

"Well, yeah," the blonde grinned and took yet another sip of her water. At this rate, she'd have to make a beeline for the ladies' room in about five more minutes.

"How's that?" Tyrion chimed in.

"Oh, have I never told you that I have a very good friend that is an exceptionally well sword fighter?"

"If you had mentioned that fact, I would have remembered, most certainly," Tyrion replied. Jaime swallowed, hard. This woman was a sword fighter? Did she enjoy one on one combat? Did she enjoy getting up close and personal with an opponent? Did she enjoy the sound of metal on metal when swords clashed? Would she want to take a long shower after practising and ...

"Jaime?"

"Yes, dear brother?" Jaime scolded himself for allowing his thoughts to drift away once more. It was one thing if it happened when he was alone, in the shower - maybe, in his bedroom - might have happened an inexplicable amount of times, but right then and there, with her, with her friends, with his brother, in broad daylight at a restaurant? 'Get your shit together, Jaime!' he thought, wearing an innocent expression as he turned towards his brother.

"Have you gotten back to training yet, dear brother?"

Jaime knew what Tyrion intended to do and he was most grateful for the opportunity, so he took it. He raised his right arm, now sling-free but still tender.

"Almost there," the golden Lannister said, "I should be back to fencing in a few short weeks. I really miss it, but my recovery was more important. I wasn't able to convince Dr Tarly to let me exercise. I've lost quite a lot of my physique..."

"Ah, you're fine," Margaery grinned, emphasising the word 'fine' and madly grinning at her friend whose beet-red cheek colour gave away that Brienne, too, had been caught in a little daydream.

"I have to ..." Brienne said, getting up.

"Oh, of course," Jaime said, "here, let me..."

Jaime got up, swiftly pulled Brienne's chair to allow her to get up and use the restroom. When she got up, her left foot got tangled up in the straps of her shopping bag.

"Oof," was all she managed to say as she fell into Jaime Lannister's broad chest.

"You ok?" Jaime said, his eyes searching for any discomfort in her sapphire blues.

"It's alright, thank you, Mr Lannister," Brienne answered. Jaime lowered his voice so that the others would not be able to understand what he murmured. "I think now that we've come a little closer, you might start calling me Jaime."

Brienne's eyes widened but before she could escape to the bathroom she managed one last stern look and a hiss.

"I most certainly will not."

When Brienne returned, food had been served and the rest of the party had already started happily digging in except for Jaime who was waiting for her to get back. Without saying anything, he once again took care of her chair.

"I took the liberty to ask our waitress to store your shopping bag for the duration of your stay here," Jaime said quietly as she sat down and when Brienne shot him a rather shocked look, he added: "Don't stress. These people are very trustworthy and they would not ruin the reputation of this fine establishment by stealing. Even if they were to be stealing some very nice clothes..."

"Oh, to top things off, you're a peeker?" Brienne retorted, suddenly pretty angry. How dare he looking at the contents of her shopping bag, how dare he snooping. Anger bubbled up inside here, a white angry hot feeling that she needed to fight down or else she would be ruining everyone's day.

Jaime didn't say anything. She dared to look at him more intently.

"I don't appreciate you snooping," Brienne said with as much calmness as she could potentially muster.

"Noted," Jaime replied, "it won't happen again."

"Sure won't. I doubt you'd ever get the chance to peek at anything again that concerns me in the slightest shape or form," Brienne said, surprised at her own firm voice and stance. She didn't know what had changed but a few months ago, she would have already run from the restaurant, hurried back to her apartment and curled up on her bed, under her comfort blanket and waited for the embarrassment to be over.

"Duly noted," Jaime replied, hurt in his voice. That did surprise Brienne and she shot him a glance which he answered with a small smile. What was going on? Her thoughts were interrupted by Margaery who - once again - had been the most attentive.

"So you mentioned celebrating," Margaery quipped as she swirled the noddles onto her fork, "what exactly are you celebrating if you don't mind me asking?"

"Do we mind, Jaime?"

"I don't know, Tyrion, do we? After all, you're the one that is - second only to father - the most experienced at damage control," Jaime flinched at the mention of their father but immediately regained control. He was expecting Tyrion to not tell the story as to what had transpired at Casterly Mansion earlier but Tyrion surprised him.

"I don't see any reason not to tell them, Jaime. After all, the tabloids will be full of it in no time, anyway?"

"Oh?" Sansa added, her food temporarily forgotten, her mouth agape and both her and Margaery looked at Tyrion, eager to learn what the dwarf had to say.

"Well, yeah, sure, go ahead," Jaime said nonchalantly. As his brother opened his mouth to explain what had happened earlier at Casterly Manor, all he could do was to look at Brienne. How would she take it? Would she be appalled? Would she feel like meeting a Lannister was too much work, too much drama, too much publicity and would she really be opposed to ever see him again?

"Wow."

"Oh dear!"

"She did NOT!"

"She absolutely did. Screamed bloody murder, threatened that Jaime would regret kicking her out, the whole nine yards. Cersei was furious. I don't think I've ever seen her like this except for her sweet sixteen that I've ruined. She got so mad ... I am digressing, so sorry ladies. Anyway, Jaime had the ingenious thought to upgrade our security system at Casterly Manor and the tapes are with someone that can use them and that will use them. It is up to them when they do, though, but we can already tell it's gonna be headline news for weeks. As you know," Tyrion turned towards Margaery and grinned, "nothing a few strategically placed appearances out in public won't cure. After all, Jaime was right to ask her to leave."

"Absolutely. She finally needs to understand that we're done and that we were done for a long time," Jaime added, unable to tear his eyes away from Brienne Tarth. When he had helped her out of the chair earlier and she made contact with his broad chest, he swore he could smell her body spray or perfume. Sandalwood, lavender and something else that smelled minty fresh. It had mingled with the scent of her skin, creating a mixture that he found dangerously intoxicating.

He was not online, the icon next to the username was set to orange. 'He must have used the app on the phone and then forget it in the background,' Brienne thought to herself whilst she stared at the little circular shape that wasn't filled with the green colour she wanted to see.

Nervously, Brienne paced the bedroom.

She had already changed into her sleeping wear, a rather expensive dark blue pyjamas with silver embroidery that Sansa and Margaery had gotten her for Christmas last year. Her favourite sleep shirt was in the wash, sadly. The silky material melted against her skin and made her feel oddly shapely, almost feminine.

After the day she had, all Brienne had longed for was a nice relaxing bath and then a chat with her new acquaintance but so far no luck. He just wasn't online.

Just as she had resorted to ignoring him, should he come online, the small noise of the application chimed and the display of Brienne's phone lit up.

Golden_Phoenix: You still up?