I need, NEED a JB reunion kiss. :)
Thanks for the prompt, guapa! Hope you like it!
The worst part is the wait.
It's been five days since Brienne's ship departed to chase away the pirates threatening the coast of Tarth, her hand sure on Oathkeeper as she bid him goodbye, her duties as Evenstar calling her away from her home and from Jaime for the first time since that fateful day in Pennytree when they were reunited.
Since then, they have not spent more than a day away from each other, Jaime is not coping well, to say the least.
He has his duties to keep him busy most of the time; he was appointed as Evenfall's castellan when they returned, not so much triumphant as exhausted and heartsore and clinging to each other after the Long Night. Tarth had been almost razed to the ground by the fake Aegon and King's Landing hadn't fared much better under Daenerys' tender care. Jaime was the last of his kin and had been stripped of titles and lands, and had only kept his life by the grace of Sansa Stark, who had spoken for him to her brother/cousin, the real Targaryen King.
When Brienne asked to be dismissed from the Stark's service to return home to rebuild, Jaime had followed her; he had nowhere else to go and nobody he'd rather be with. She had not questioned it, just nodded when he got on the ship with her and Pod, and found him a job to do.
In the past two years since they arrived in Tarth and took it back from the Golden Company mercenaries who had refused to leave, they have worked together to rebuild it, to earn back the trust of her people who care nothing for what they did in the North, only that they weren't there when death came and Lord Selwyn fell.
Removing the last of the Golden Company was a beginning, as it was the efforts taken since but this is the real chance for Brienne to shine, with her sword in her hand defending her people. It's also the chance for Jaime to justify his presence in the island beyond being Brienne's sparring partner and devoted follower. He can finally use the knowledge his father drilled into him to be Lord of a castle he never got to inherit.
"We can't both leave, Jaime" Brienne had said when he had objected for the tenth time to her boarding the ship without him. "I don't trust anyone else with Evenfall."
He doesn't trust anyone else with Brienne either, but she would bristle and glare at him if he ever suggested that. Besides, she has Pod with her; the boy might still be young, but has been tested in the harshest of wars and would die before he let anything happen to his lady ser.
So she's gone, and Jaime makes sure things keep running smoothly in the castle and dodges the servants and their uncomfortable questions and knowing looks. During the evening, when he has seen to the grievances of the people of Tarth, and the training of the young ones, and the accounting for the castle, he sits alone in Brienne's solar and thinks about her, and her beautiful eyes and her rare smiles she usually bestows on him or Pod, and curses himself for a fool and a coward, and misses her.
"Ser Jaime, the Evenstar's ship has been spotted approaching the harbour," one of the servants tells him during supper, and Jaime doesn't care about finishing his food, he stands up and rushes to the stables under the amused looks of the castle's inhabitants.
They have all seen him moping without Brienne, he doesn't have any dignity to preserve.
The ship is docked and people are coming down when he dismounts his horse; he can hear laughs and cheerful conversations, the sailors and fighters in high spirits, and that makes the last of his nerves dissolve. They wouldn't be quite so happy if there had been casualties.
He sees Brienne then, leaning slightly on Pod and limping, a black eye and a new fresh looking scar on her brow. For a moment Jaime feels a surge of rage, hot and bitter, and he rushes to them, stopping barely a breath away from Brienne.
"Jaime?" she asks, her astonishing eyes wide on her face. "what are you doing here?"
I'm here for you, I couldn't wait another minute to see you, he wants to say but doesn't. There are a million thoughts crowding in his head, all of them pushing to be let out, some are harsh imprecations that demand she take better care of herself, other are dismayed pleas for her to never leave him behind again when she goes into a fight. Most are the declarations he had kept to himself for years, the soft yearning he knows she must be able to see in his eyes, the love everyone but Brienne knows he feels.
Instead, he does what he has wanted to do for the past two years, longer even, and breaches the remaining distance between them. He takes that one final step and puts his hand on Brienne's cheek, leans up and presses his lips against Brienne's.
Jaime feels her startle and for a moment fears Brienne will pull back and their friendship, the life they have built here, almost perfect but not quite, will be over. She doesn't, just parts her mouth with a shocked exhale and Jaime takes it as an invitation, his right arm sneaking around her waist to pull her closer, his tongue delving past her parted lips to taste her. He doesn't know how long they are there, kissing under the bright moon and Pod's embarrassed look, and when they part Brienne's face is bright red and her eyes are wide.
Whatever she wants to say, and there are many things that need saying, she doesn't have the words for it. Not yet. And Jaime is glad for it. He offers her his hand and she hesitates for a heartbeat before taking it and immediately twining their fingers together, her face still aflame.it.
They will speak, too many things unsaid between the two of them finally ready to be out in the open, but for now, there is only one thing he wants to say.
"Welcome back, my lady."
