I did not steal your...whatever it is!

Chapter 1

Brienne sighed as she looked at the little garden in front of her house. It was looking so bare without her azaleas there. She replanted some bushes but it would take a while to flower again. It seemed everything was going wrong lately. And it started with the death of her precious flowers. It was probably an omen of the terrible month to follow it, all things considered. They were a gift after all, from Jaime. The same Jaime who she should be focusing on right now, considering he showed up on her doorstep with some truly preposterous claims.

"Are you calling me a thief, Lannister???" she demanded, as he stood there in her doorway looking at her gravely. "As a matter of fact, I am," he replied evenly. He watched her face turn red with anger. Oh how he'd missed that face. He fought the urge to break into a smile. It wouldn't do to give himself away so easily. Half of the fun was riling her up. Although, if he smiled in that moment it was also quite likely she'd punch him in the face and he'd lose a few teeth, so he'd hold it in.

"Well, aren't you going to invite me inside?" he queried.

"Invite you inside?? Have you lost it Lannister?! You come here accusing me of being a thief and now you want me to invite you inside???" she said, red-faced and fuming. Now, lest one accuse Brienne of overreacting, she felt it necessary to recall that Jaime had been ignoring her for the past month. Considering they both worked together and had to interact with each other every day, it was quite a feat. Now the blond git was here, on her doorstep, after a whole month of silence and strange looks, accusing her of theft! Of all the ridiculous things. If it had been two years ago, she'd not be so surprised. Now however, they were quite close and he knew her better than that. Or so she had thought. Evidently, given his avoid-Brienne-at-all-costs attitude, she was wrong. The thought was quite painful in fact, and her chest tightened in a way that made her glare more at the idiot because if she didn't she just might tear up instead.

"Well yes actually," he, continued, and he dared to give a small smirk, oblivious to her internal turmoil, "Unless of course you want your neighbours to hear this discussion, then I have no problem staying out here."

He turned to the side and waved, "Nice to see you again, Mrs Haversham." The old lady, who'd had an ear tilted in their direction from her porch, had the grace to blush embarrassedly and wave back at him before retreating back into her house.

"Fine just get in here," she grumbled, as a mortified blush replaced the angry one. He grinned triumphantly and sidestepped her to get into the house, as she shot him a glare. She closed the door behind them and followed him into the living room, where he didn't stop but instead continued on into her kitchen. Acting like he owned the place, he poured himself some water and drank the entire glass before turning back to her. She would normally say something to him about his lack of manners but her thoughts were still focused on the shame of having been overheard by the neighbour, who undoubtedly would find a way to spread the news to the rest of the gossiping old bags in her community before the day was up.

"So as I was saying," he started, leaning on her kitchen counter, "It seems to me that you have something of mine."

"Well what exactly is it Lannister? I don't have all day to be playing games with you," she said, huffing, "And as I told you, I don't recall taking anything of yours and I do NOT appreciate being called a liar and a thief."

"Oh I didn't say you were a liar Brienne, just that you stole something from me," he said.

"How does that make any sense Jaime??? I'm saying I don't have anything of yours and you are saying I do, so isn't that you saying I am lying to you??" she said, frustrated by him.

"Well I didn't say you knew about it. In fact I'm certain that you're quite unaware that you have it," he replied, twirling the empty water glass in his hands.