Still in shock, Brienne only half noticed how Jaime led her to his car and opened the door for her. When she didn't get in, his raised one eyebrow again. "Is something wrong?"

"N-No," she stuttered, hoping that the fresh air would cool down her red face. It did not.

He kept looking at her, and she just stared back.

"So … do you want to get in the car, or will I have to wrestle you into the seat?" This time, she did not reply and hurried to get into the car. Jaime laughed quietly before closing the door.

Just as Brienne buckled up, she noticed several things. It wasn't his Valyrian, but a big Range Rover – not that this car was any less fancy or expensive. When she had first found out that he had not one but two overly expensive cars she just rolled her eyes, and told him how spoiled he was. The other thing she noticed was that Jaime was driving. Somehow they got to the silent agreement that she would drive whenever they were in the same car. It was safer and less complicated for Jaime.

"Shouldn't I drive?" she asked as Jaime slumped down gracefully – Brienne didn't even know that someone could slump gracefully, but if there was one person who could do that, it was him – into the drivers seat.

"It's not like I can't drive, Giant," he said with a little smirk before starting the car.

"But -"

"It would ruin the surprise." Before she could even answer, he started to drive and almost blew a red light. Like usual.

"For a cop, you drive pretty risky."

"And you drive like an old lady. It would take us days to get there."

Brienne decided to stay silent. You weren't suppose to fight with your date, were you? But then again it wasn't just any date, it was Jaime. Everything that dealt with him was something other than what it was suppose to be. Nervously she started to fiddle with the hem of her shirt.

"You look nice," Jaime suddenly said. Somewhat shocked, Brienne looked over to him, and he offered her a little smile. "The shirt matches your eyes." She remembered that he didn't like the hairstyle on her last date, because it hid her eyes. He would always drop comments like that, but she couldn't quite understand it. Jaime seemed to be obsessed with her eyes, though for her they were just blue, nothing like his shining green ones.

"Where are we going?" Brienne asked as she remembered what Margaery had said. He had told her that she should wear something comfortable. Jaime was wearing his usual leather jacket, a plain shirt and jeans. Nothing special, but it still looked way too good on him.

"I'm not telling you," he said smiling. "That's the point of a surprise."

"You said I should dress comfortably."

"I told Margaery that so she wouldn't force you in something you weren't comfortable in. I've seen what she does to you when no one stops her. And even though you have the best legs on earth, you shouldn't wear every dress she hands you."

Just as her face color had returned to something somewhat normal, he had to say something like that. Brienne wasn't even sure if it was a compliment or an insult, but she blushed nevertheless. Determined to not let Jaime see how confused she was about his comment, she looked out of the window. Jaime had turned down a road that led out of the city. It wouldn't be the museum then. That only left a dozen other choices.

"Are you going to be like that for the whole day?" Brienne wasn't surprised because of his words, but because of his voice. Was that annoyance or nervousness? Out of the corners of her eyes she looked at him, but didn't turn her head.

"Like what?"

"All weird and silent." He glanced at her quickly, before he had to concentrate on the road again.

"I don't know what you mean." And that was the truth. She was always weird and awkward, and most of the time she didn't talk much. Not like Jaime who could talk for an hour without taking one breath. "I'm acting normal."

"Well, I thought I would go on a date with the Brienne I knew and not with someone else." Brienne couldn't help but flinch slightly at the word date, and, of course, Jaime noticed. His smile turned forced, which was rare. "Ah, there we have the reason. Tell me, is it just the concept of the date that scares you, or is it having a date with me?"

"I don't know." The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. After all, it wasn't wrong; until now all of her dates had been miserable and a date with Jaime just seemed so unreal.

Unlike usual, Jaime stayed silent for a long time. A reasonably long time by his standards, which wasn't really that long at all. "Don't do this to do me any favors. If you don't want to spend time with me, then say it."

Brienne took a moment to look at Jaime. He was paying a lot of attention to an almost empty street. His knuckles on the steering wheel were white and his jaw was set. In this moment, she couldn't really tell if he was angry or nervous.

"You told me to give you a chance," she finally said. "So I'm giving you one."

"If you don't want to -"

"If I didn't want to, I would have told you from the start. You know that." She didn't mentioned that she barely had slept the night before. Or the night before that.

Slowly Jaime started to relax again and flashed her a wide grin. "So it's just my usual charm that turns you into a nervous little girl?"

"Oh, shut up," Brienne said, again fighting against the red flush. "I'm not nervous."

"Right. And I have green hair."

"You're acting like a little boy again."

"Only if you're my babysitter." Jaime winked at her, and she rolled her eyes, though she couldn't hide her smile. That was the Jaime she knew and was comfortable around. And that was also the Jaime she could vaguely picture having a date with without it ending horribly. No, wait, knowing his childish behavior it could still end horribly.

They drove for a few minutes in comfortable silence. More and more trees appeared along the sidewalk, and the buildings started to look more like suburb than city. Brienne still couldn't see any hint of where they're going, but there was a another question on her mind anyway.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked, before she could think twice about it. Like Margaery said, she was overthinking.

"Yes, you can kiss me anywhere and anytime you like. Does that answer your question?"

Brienne couldn't even see his smile, in her mind the images of naked Twister popped up again. Damn Margaery for mentioning that.

"T-That's not what I meant!"

"No? Well … No, I still won't tell you where we're going."

"I wanted to ask," Brienne said, ignoring what he said. "why you asked me out for a date. I mean, why directly after I went out with Hyle?"

Jaime took a deep breath, but this time it wasn't because he was angry. He seemed nervous, almost embarrassed. It was a rare sight, and if she was more witty and less tactful, she would probably make a joke about it. Jaime would have done that. But she wasn't him, and she knew the feeling too well.

"I thought I had more time," Jaime finally said. "Because I knew that if I would have asked you right away, you would get awkward and probably never talk to me again. And say no, of course. So I wanted to take it slow, make it subtle. Let you get used to the idea that I was part of your life. That we were friends, maybe even more than friends, and that I wouldn't want to hurt or make fun of you. I think it was actually going pretty well."

"How was it going well?" Brienne interrupted him. "You still insult me in pretty much every conversation we have. And you make fun of me."

"Well, but you can't deny that I am a big part of your life now, can you?" He quickly glanced at her to confirm his suspicions. Her first instinct was to deny it, but she couldn't. They saw each other almost every day, he had quickly become her best friend, and she trusted him like she wouldn't trust Margaery. Surprised by those thoughts, Brienne tried to think back to the exact point when he started to play such a big role in her life, but she couldn't point it out. Ever since she had moved to King's Landing, he seemed to be there.

"Anyways," Jaime said, and brought her back to reality. "As you now see, everything was going according to my plan, until you came to work in a bad mood because your father set up a blind date for you. Suddenly I realized that I maybe didn't have the time to take it slow. There were others courting you."

"Nobody courted me. And I told you that I didn't want to go."

"But you did go, even though you didn't want to. I couldn't stop thinking what would happen if you forgave him. Then I decided I couldn't let that happen, so I stopped by the restaurant."

"You said it was because of Loras' call."

"We both know that I could have simply called you after he called me and then picked you up."

That was one of the things Brienne had been thinking about ever since he had appeared at the restaurant. He had had absolutely no reason at all to be there. A simple call would have done it. Instead he had been there, waiting as he had said back then. More like manipulating she realized, now that she thought about it.

"When did you start your plan?" If she started this conversation, she should do it properly. Better to ask every question now instead of bringing this up again later.

"Is this an interrogation?" He asked, but before Brienne could defend herself, Jaime just winked at her and shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. "A while back. Actually I'm not quite sure when it started precisely." He glanced briefly at her again as if that would give him the answer. "Didn't really plan it. It kind of just happened. Sometime after I told you about Aerys, I think." Brienne wasn't sure what to say. Never before had either one of them mentioned their conversation – or his confession – about Aerys. For a moment, Jaime seemed tense, but then he was back to his usual self before she could respond in any way. "It was definitely there when we were back in King's Landing, and you were helping me getting used to ... my new circumstances."

A thousand questions were in Brienne's head. How did he know it? Was he shocked or happy? Had he tried to deny it? Did he talk to Tyrion or someone else about it? Did he think she was stupid for not noticing his intentions? But she didn't ask any of those questions – either out of shame, fear or just because she couldn't decide. She stayed silent, lost in her own thoughts.

She snapped out of them when the car stopped suddenly. The city and even the suburbs seemed far away, instead they were surrounded by trees and parked on a little, bare field. There were a couple of other cars as well. That must be the reason why he chose the Range Rover. His sports car wasn't made for this. For a second Brienne wondered how long exactly she had zoned out, but a quick glance at the clock told her that it hadn't been more than a few minutes.

"Almost there," Jaime said and smirked as he unbuckled himself. "We have to walk the rest of the way."

"Where are we?" Brienne asked as she followed Jaime out of his car. He seemed a bit grumpy that she hadn't waited for him to open her door, but if he thought she would actually let him do that, then he didn't knew her that well at all.

"Just outside King's Landing. It won't take long." For a short, awkward moment they just stood next to each other, not sure if they should hold hands or anything. That's a thing couples do on dates, isn't it? Just as she was about to reach for his hand, Jaime turned around and walked down the little parking lot. Brienne felt somewhat disappointed, but didn't say anything. "This way."

They walked in silence, not really awkward, but not comfortable either. It would definitely have been awkward if they were walking for more than five minutes, but luckily they weren't. When they arrived at a small path which led from the parking lot into the woods, Brienne heard some noises. At first she couldn't name them, but the closer they got, the more easily could she place them. Definitely a lot of voices, some metal-clanging, drums, and did she just hear a horse?

Questioning, she looked at Jaime, but he grinned a cheeky smile. "You'll see it in a minute."

And she did.

As the trees parted, they arrived at a meadow, and it looked like they'd stepped right into the Targaeryen era. Bright, colorful tents were set up, as well as some wooden cabins, and there was a jousting area, stables with horses – even a little paddock –, several blacksmiths, banners, swords, people in costumes and so much more. Brienne couldn't even decide where to look first. It was bigger than any fair she has seen before.

"What is that?" she asked, and her eyes darted from one thing to another. A man in a costume – she wasn't sure what exactly he was supposed to be because he wasn't wearing any armor, a stupid hat or anything else that would give away his identity – demonstrated some pretty impressive sword moves. A crowd gathered around him.

"It's an Old Days Fair," Jaime answered, and put his hand lightly on her back to push her forward. "Surely you know what that is."

"Of course I know what that is." She sounded sharper than she intended to, but his easy smile told her that he wasn't angry. He knew how much she loved history. "I mean, who are they? Margaery looked up every event in King's Landing, and she didn't mentioned any fairs."

"Probably because, technically, this isn't in King's Landing." Brienne rolled her eyes, but didn't interrupt him. "This fair is pretty old. They were in Lannisport when I was a child, once every year, and I went there as often as I could. At some point they decided that it got too crowded, I think, so they cut down as many advertisements as they could, and became an insider-tip. Actually, it was a coincidence that I found them here."

She noticed that Jaime sounded as excited as she felt. Ages ago – she couldn't have been older than ten – there had been an Old Days Fair on Tarth for only a couple of days. On those days Brienne had spent almost every minute there. Her father's girlfriend, now ex-girlfriend, had gone with her quite often. She had liked that woman, but now she couldn't even remember her name or why they had broken up.

"Is it okay for you?" Jaime asked, and he sounded a bit nervous. They had almost arrived at the first cabins, and the smell of horse was getting stronger. It calmed her down. "I thought you would enjoy it, because you said -"

"I like it," she interrupted, which was quite unusual for her. "I haven't been to one of these in a long time."

"Well, you'll love this one," he said, and sounded much more confident now. The pressure of his hand on her back got stronger. "And we can have a look around before the show starts."

"What show?"

"You'll see."

They strolled through the different cabins, walking past some blacksmiths, someone who sold wooden weapons for children, several food cabins, and a woman who sold some costumes. It all looked very authentic, and Brienne couldn't wait to see everything, but she was really curious about the man who had demonstrated the sword moves. Luckily Jaime seemed to have the same idea, because even though he didn't rush her, they slowly got closer and closer to the man. As they arrived at his little show area, he was fighting another costumed man. Both of them obviously knew what they were doing, and Brienne couldn't say if one of them was just better than the other or if it was a choreographed fight. In the end, the older man won, and helped the younger one – she liked to think that he was a squire – up. Then they both bowed to the crowd as everyone exploded in applause.

"My thanks, lords and ladies," he shouted over the noises. "After enjoying our fight, is there anyone who might want to try himself? Do not fear, we do our best to help you. You shall not embarrass yourself. Any lord? Or maybe a lady?"

The man looked around patiently, while everyone started to whisper, trying to get a friend to volunteer or making some excuses. Brienne was focused on the two tournament swords the squire carried, so she only realized what Jaime was up to when it was too late. He had already grabbed her hand, and shoved everyone out of his way with the boldness only Lannisters had.

"Jaime!" she whispered, but it was too late.

"We would like to try it!" he said loudly. The man turned to look at them, and to Brienne's relief he didn't grimace when he saw her, but grinned instead. However, she could feel everyone else's eyes on her and her cheeks burnt.

"Splendid! A round of applause for this fine lord and his lady!" Slowly everyone started to clap, not as enthusiastic as before, though.

"What are you doing?" Brienne whispered again, as the man talked to the squire about which sword to choose. Jaime was watching them curiously.

"C'mon, it'll be fun," he said lightheartedly. "I've always wanted to sword fight."

"You don't even know how to do it."

"And neither do you. But you can't deny that you would like to try it, can you? Besides, they said they would help us."

No, she couldn't deny it. Ever since she heard the first song about knights and swords, she had wanted to try it. But nowadays it was as impossible to learn how to sword fight as it was for women to learn to wield a sword in the Old Days. Even though Brienne tried to be angry at Jaime for putting her in a spot where everyone would be watching her, she was really excited as the two men came back with the swords.

They got some brief instructions about how to hold the swords – Jaime had it in his left hand, since he still wasn't supposed to use his right hand too much – and Brienne really liked the feeling of the piece of steel in her hand. Next they showed them some basic moves, and after a few tries, she got a feeling for it. It wasn't that different from the pretend-sword from her childhood which had been just an old branch, and even though Jaime's movements weren't as graceful as they once were, he hadn't dropped the sword yet. The longer she had the sword in her hands, the more excited and confident she got.

"My lady, are you ready?" the older man asked her, and Brienne nodded. Out of the corners of her eyes she still saw the crowd, but she realized that she wasn't that bothered anymore. They couldn't do it any better, so why should she be nervous?

"My lord, are you ready, too?" Jaime nodded as well. "Then fight!"

Brienne breathed in and out, her eyes fixed on Jaime, and a strange calm spread over her. It was just her and him. Nothing else mattered. Just him and her having fun. Before she knew what she was doing, she was smiling. Jaime didn't miss it. For half a second, he looked surprised, but then he was grinning from ear to ear, and did an old-fashioned bow. "Can I have this dance, my lady?"

As if on cue, they both jumped forward and their sword collided clumsily. For a second they just stood there, pressing the swords against each other and trying to get the upper hand. Brienne felt him struggle, obviously still not used to doing everything left-handed, but before she could knock the sword out of his hands, he jumped backwards, looking for another opening.

She took a deep breath and steadied her grip on the sword. Jaime smirked, then he moved again and Brienne reacted. Their swords collided, they tried to knock the other's swords out of their hands, circling each other, and forgetting everything around them. The cheers and shouts became an unrecognizable background noises. For once she didn't feel like someone too tall, too big or too strong – it just felt right. It felt even better that she could see real joy in Jaime's eyes, even though he was handicapped. It was a sight she had missed without really noticing it.

It was impossible to say how long they fought. It felt like an eternity and nothing at all at the same time. They met and parted again, steel kissing steel, and lost in the fight. In the end, Brienne couldn't say how she even did that last move. All she remembered was that she had twirled around, her sword had crashed against his, and suddenly Jaime's sword lay in the grass. Both of them stared at it, not sure if he should pick it up to continue fighting or not.

The audience decided for them. They exploded in applause and cheers, all congratulating her at once. Brienne had to blink. She couldn't remember when the last time was that so many people were genuinely happy for her. She blinked again. Were there this many people when they got here?

"M'lady wins!" the man announced and did an old fashioned bow in front of her. His squire picked up Jaime's sword and bowed as well, just as the audience cheered even louder, if that was possible. Brienne's face started to burn, and her eyes shot to Jaime.

He was smiling. Not smirking or grinning, and it wasn't one of those arrogant or sarcastic smiles. It was smaller and warmer. It made her skin burn even more. As he noticed, he winked and did a mocking curtsy.

The man took the sword out of her hand – she was just a little bit sad that she had to give it back – and congratulated her again, before turning back to the crowd. Not a second later, Jaime was at her side, and navigated her through the people , who had already forgotten them and were focused on the next performance.

"That was fun," he said as soon as they were somewhat alone again.

"It actually was. Thanks."

"Don't mention it. Even though you cheated to beat me."

"I did not cheat!" Shocked that he would even think that of her, Brienne glared at Jaime. She missed his joking mockery.

"Really? How else could you win?"

"Did you lose on purpose?" A wave of rage descended on her. Oh, he would be dead if he had. She didn't need any favors, she was good enough to beat him fair and square. Which she, of course, had.

"Do I look like someone who would lose on purpose?" he asked, dead serious, just as she was ready to demand a re-match to beat him again.

Suddenly Brienne's chest felt too tight. She shouldn't have won. After all she was still on a date with Jaime, it didn't matter how absurd the thought actually was. And you weren't suppose to be better than your date, were you? Men liked to show off and prove how good they were. Also their egos were damaged pretty quickly – and Jaime had the biggest ego she knew. This was even worse than him losing on purpose. Gods, she had ruined their date!

"Gods, you really can't take a joke, can you?" Jaime shook his head and laughed quietly. "Why am I even surprised anymore? It was a joke, Giant. Of course I didn't lose on purpose."

"Then why would you say something like that?"

"Because I'm a terrible loser. But, hey, it wouldn't be fair if I was rich, sexy, intelligent, and a good loser, right?"

"Luckily you're a jackass as well, so you don't have to worry about being too perfect." Before she could stop the words, they were out of her mouth, and her eyes turned into big tennis balls. Did she really just say that? However, Jaime just blinked and then started to laugh so loudly that the older woman next to them turned around to find out what exactly was so funny. Brienne blushed and avoided all eye contact.

"We should do more sword fighting if it makes you actually say your thoughts out loud." Brienne felt stupidly relieved that he wasn't mad at her. Something behind her caught his attention. "C'mon, we have to move, or we might miss the reason I brought you here." His hand was back at the small of her back as he led her down a grassy path. This time she was much more comfortable with his touch.

Jaime led them to the jousting area where quite a lot of people were already gathered. Quickly. he went over to the stands, and sat down on one of the wooden benches before pulling her down next to him. Brienne scanned the area. Different flags, sigils and ribbons in all colors decorated the columns and barriers which separated the audience from the large, sandy field in the middle. Behind the stands, she could see some horses and knights, all wearing different coats of arms, and getting ready for the show.

"What exactly is this show about?" she asked while more and more people filled the benches. A few kids stood right behind the barriers, waving little flags, wearing helmets and wielding wooden swords. "Or is it still a secret?"

"It's the story of the Golden Knight and the Lady-Knight," Jaime answered. "I'm not sure if they made it up or if there really was a pair of knights like them, but they had the show even when I was a child. It was my favorite of all their attractions." Brienne hadn't heard the names before, but even though she knew a lot of stories and songs, she didn't know all of them.

Not long after, the show began. The Golden Knight was the most talented and loved knight in the kingdom, undefeated, and many ladies lay at his feet, but he chose his knightly duties instead of marrying a lady to become a lord. The Lady-Knight was a highborn lady, but instead of singing songs and knitting, she preferred to wield a sword and ride on the back of a horse. Of course she was forbidden to enter a tournament, so she dressed as a man and cut her hair to enter as the Blue Knight. She beat all her opponents, and in the finale she beat the Golden Knight. Soon after the tournament, they were both sent to defeat a terrible monster that terrorized the woods – after all they were both the best knights – and one night the Golden Knight found out that the Blue Knight was a woman. From there on, they started to banter about everything. The Golden Knight wanted to protect her, while she insisted that she was fine on her own. At some point they realized that they were better when they worked together instead of fighting against each other, and – of course – started to fall in love. They beat the monster and return to the capital, where they had a heartbreaking parting scene, before the Golden Knight runs after her and asks her to marry him. They marry and travel around the kingdom to fight monsters.

Brienne absolutely loved the show. The actors were good and the fighting so realistic and well choreographed that it was way too easy to forget everything but the show. Every fighting scene, she sat on the edge of the bench, and had to force herself to not stand up and cheer loudly. She even had to hold back a few tears at their parting. At the end, she was one of the first ones to jump to her feet and applaud loudly for them. Out of the corners of her eyes, she saw Jaime joining in just as quickly.

"So, I guess you liked it," Jaime said as everyone left the jousting area, but they didn't. To be honest, Brienne still felt so overwhelmed that she wasn't sure if she could move any time soon.

"I loved it! Everything was just so good and the story and the costumes and just … everything!" Desperately she searched for the words to describe all her feelings, but couldn't find them. It turned out she didn't need to find them, because Jaime knew exactly what she meant.

"I didn't take you for such a romantic," he laughed.

Yes, Brienne was a romantic. Always had been, and always would be, even though she knew it was stupid. She and Sansa had spend many nights having marathons of their favorite sickly romantic shows. Margaery never managed to join them, mostly because it was all way too romantic for her.

"Well, you liked it too, so you have to be a romantic as well," she said boldly. She didn't know where the courage came from, but she didn't care as she saw him blush. It wasn't like one of her blushes with red spots all over the face, but just a light, pink shadow over his perfect cheekbones.

"I just like it because of the fighting," he said quickly, and Brienne knew he was lying. But before she could call him out for it, he continued to speak. "Enough of that. Would you rather go home or spend some more time looking around?"

Wasn't the answer obvious?

They somehow managed to spend the whole day at the fair.

After the show, they started to really look around. Which turned into stopping at every cabin, doing every activity, tasting the food, and watching all the shows. The only thing they agreed to not do was getting their faces painted.

Instead they visited the forges and watched how the blacksmith made a sharp, shining dagger; Brienne also had to get Jaime away from the little shop next to it, before he could get out his Lannister Bank Credit Card and buy the most expensive – but undeniable most beautiful – sword she had ever seen. Twice he tried to buy her an old-fashioned bracelet with real sapphires, once he wanted to buy her a dagger, and then he almost sneaked off to buy the sword. She caught him before he got out of her sight.

Even though she managed to keep Jaime from buying something that was worth her monthly rent, she couldn't keep him from buying anything at all. If she did, he just argued that he invited her on a date and, therefore, was suppose to pay. It was a good argument. Mostly because she would turn scarlet and could only stutter a few weak excuses. So he brought every kind of food and drink they passed – by the end of the day, she was so stuffed that she thought she could never eat anything again –, matching key chains with little swords for them, and an beautifully illustrated books of old songs for her because she couldn't keep her eyes off of it. There were a couple of other shows, too. A jousting tournament without a real story but a lot of action, a juggler, some musicians, dancers, magicians, a puppet theater for the kids, and so on and so on. It didn't matter where they turned to, there was always something to look at.

At one point, and Brienne wasn't exactly sure when it had happened, Jaime had taken her hand and hadn't let go of her since then. Honestly, it had scared her at first. Her doubts started to fill her head, sounding like her old nanny, Red Ronnet, Hyle and everyone else who had ever told her she was too ugly, too manly, too big to be desired. But Jaime's strong, warm hand wasn't letting go of her. It was calming, and soon it felt so natural to her that she wondered why they had never held hands before. A couple of times she caught him staring – she had been staring as well, but luckily he never noticed – and it had made her blush. Instead of mocking her about it, he had just smiled, squeezed her hand, and led her to the next cabin.

As they walked back to his car, it was pitch black outside, with only the millions of stars and a moon painting the deep blue sky. They weren't really walking, it was more like strolling. Neither of them wanted to leave the fair. On the one hand, they had so much fun that they simply didn't want it to end. And on the other hand, leaving the fair would mean that their date would end as well. The thought made Brienne sadder than she could have guessed.

"Did you have fun?" he asked into the silence.

"Yes, a lot. Thank you."

"I still should have bought that sword," Jaime said in a playful tone. They had just arrived at the car park and his car was one of the last there. "It would have looked great on my bedroom wall."

"I wouldn't be so sure about it," Brienne just replied.

"How would you know? You haven't seen my bedroom," he said, sounding offended, before he added, "At least not yet."

There was a hint of a seducing undertone, but Brienne wasn't sure if he was serious or not. Maybe he hadn't even noticed it, after all he had been teasing her for months. Maybe it was something like an automatic reaction. Suddenly she had a big lump in her throat, her body was too hot and too cold at once – even though she was completely sure that she was blushing again –, and she just wanted to run away and hide under her blanket until she knew how she wanted to react. But Jaime didn't leave her enough time for that option. He stopped, only a few feet away from his car, and looked at her seriously. The lump grew, and she had to swallow a couple of times before she could answer, "Jaime, I … I mean … I'm not sure, if -"

"It was a joke," he said as she couldn't find the right words. However, he didn't sound as natural as usual. Then he shrugged. "Well, only if you want to?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that this date will end where you want it. I respect your borders and will not try to force you to anything you don't want to do. Just …" He took a deep breath, and it was the first time that Brienne saw the Jaime Lannister struggling with words. "Just … do you believe me that I'm serious?"

She would have liked to say that she thought about it a lot. That she reviewed his actions, his manners, his behavior, and everything else, but the truth was, she did not. She just had a feeling that she did believe him. It didn't matter how absurd the thought that he liked her was. She believed him, and in this moment, that was all that mattered.

So Brienne nodded.

Jaime's tense shoulders relaxed at once, he muttered something under his breath that she couldn't catch, because a second later he had let go of her hand, just to put it on her cheek and his lips on hers. It had been a long time since a man had kissed her. In fact, it had been Hyle all those years ago. If you could get out of practice, she definitely was. But Jaime didn't seem to mind. He was quite eager to kiss her, even though she was too shocked to respond immediately. As she finally gave in to his touch and kissed him back, he pulled her so close that their chests were pressed against each other.

They broke the kiss to breathe, but Jaime didn't let go of her. Instead, he leaned his forehead against hers and stared into her eyes. Brienne knew that she was blushing. She knew that anyone could come out of the forest and see them. She knew that it was so typical cliché that they stood under the stars and moons, and stared love-struck at one another. She knew that neither Margaery nor Sansa would let her hear the end of this – and she had no doubt that they would both get her to tell every little detail.

Despite all of that, Brienne didn't care. For once she was not overthinking, but listening to her feelings. And her feelings told her that she didn't want this to end. Jaime had said that she had full control over when the date would end. Who knows, maybe she would take his offer to see his bedroom, and maybe she would not. She would think about it later.

"You know," she whispered boldly, staring right into those jade, warm eyes, "we never had the coffee you actually asked me out for. And I fear that all the coffee shops are closed now."

A big, lion like grin spread on Jaime's face, and he kissed her one more time, soft and sweet, before he took her hand again to lead her to his car. "Well, luckily I have a coffee machine that makes excellent coffee. And you even know how to use it."

"Sounds perfect."

A/N: So that's it! I hope you enjoyed it and leave me a review :) All characters belong to GRRM. Again josiepug (ao3) was my beta. And again there is a photoset on my tumblr. Cheers!