Chapter One : In Medias Res

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age 2, it is property of Bioware. I am just playing with the toys in their sandbox.

"What's wrong, Hawke?" Varric asked Adele, taking the seat next to her on the bench she occupied. She continued to stare languidly at her hands, leaning forward feeling and hearing the creak of her leather armor.

"Nothing's wrong, Varric. I'm just looking for some quiet," she muttered, staring at her feet rubbing the sole of her right foot into the stone beneath it. She wondered idly that if she wished hard enough a hole would appear and swallow her up, anything was better than having to tell Varric the real reason she was sitting alone in the Chantry courtyard.

"You can't lie to me, Hawke. You never sit around the Chantry if you can help it. You can't stand the Chantry. Come one, what's really bothering you?"

Adele knew he was right. She did have more than strong dislike of the Chantry. The bigotry that spewed from its walls was more than enough to make her stomach churn in disgust. However, she was not short sighted she knew that some mages were dangerous, but there were and are the rare, exceptional few that are nothing like the power hungry, corrupt individuals the Chantry tries to make them out to be. Not to mention the magisters of Tevinter, that Fenris always loved to tell her about. Her sister happens to be one of them, but now she was locked up in Kirkwall's prison of a Circle. She shouldn't have to be locked up like the others, but whoever said life was fair.

"You're right, Varric, but I was enjoying the quiet. This is the last place you would look for your loveable neighborhood rogue, especially after such a wondrously eventful day." She hoped he wouldn't push the issue and would go back to the Hanged Man to tell his elaborate tall tales about her to the taverns heavily inebriated patrons.

Varric chuckled warmly, "Very true, the last place I would look for you would be here. But there must be some reason for the great Lady Hawke to be sitting here in front of the Chantry. What makes you so desperate to not be found?"

She had so hoped to avoid this that she was tempted to pray to the Maker for the first time in her life.

"It's nothing," she began twisting her hands, trying to look anywhere at Varric, not wanting to give anything away. She might be a rouge, but she was still a terrible liar.

"If this 'nothing' of yours has nothing to do with that broody elf, then I give you the right to call me a nug's uncle."

She flinched, and Varric had his answer. Of course, Varric had no idea what had transpired, though she was surprised Isabela hadn't already taken the liberty of telling him. She hadn't brought him along earlier that day on a planned excursion to Sundermount that quickly turned into an unplanned race to the Wounded Coast in search of Fenris's former master's apprentice, Hadriana. As if Hawke didn't already have enough trouble to deal with. Nothing could have gone worse. After, fighting their way through more slavers than you could shake a stick at, Fenris had killed the woman that had spent more than a few years tormenting him.

Only to then run off leaving Isabela, Anders and Hawke to find their way out the slaver's cavern themselves. Not to mention one man, (or rather elf), short in a fight, when and if they ran across any more raiders. Hawke sent the others home once they'd returned to Kirkwall. At the time it was early afternoon and she really did not wish to return to her virtually empty estate, wandering around Hightown hoping to find her wayward friend had seemed like a better prospect. Though she was hoping that the young elf they had found down in the cavern, Orana, had found her way to the estate. The last thing she needed today was another innocent's blood on her hands.

After wandering around Hightown, Adele had come to place myself where she was now, outside the Chantry still hoping to run into Fenris, since he wasn't home the multitude of times she had gone to see if he had returned to his squalid manor.

"Perhaps it does."

"Well then, tell Varric all about it," he said tilting his head so he could hear what she had to say.

So, she did. In great detail, Varric does love to know everything about anything that goes on in Kirkwall, especially if it involves Hawke.

"Which led to me sitting here, staring at nothing, hoping that Fenris will walk by and I can at least try to talk to him. He looked so cross earlier. I'm really worried Varric, what if he went and did something he's going to regret?" she had to try so hard to prevent herself from crying, her heart hurt and felt like it was trying to take up permanent residence in her throat. As the nagging worry of the last few hours gnawed away at her.

"Everything is going to be okay, Hawke. But, you can't just sit here forever waiting for him; Broody will come to you when he's ready. The sun is setting and you've had a rough day. If you're up to it you can come down to the Hanged Man later and we can play a game of Wicked Grace. I'll even buy the drinks."

Varric patted her hand lightly and got up from the bench to leave. He nodded at her signaling his departure and Adele watched the dwarf saunter off to Lowtown.

She sat there for a while longer, out of hope or desperation she know not. When Adele heard the Chantry's bells toll the hour of nine, she finally removed herself from the courtyard and went home to her estate. Maker knew she didn't want to return home. Having Bodahn and Sandal for company was nothing compared to the family she missed so much, though she did quite enjoy the company of the two dwarves. With Mother, Father and Carver gone to the Maker's side, and Bethany in the Circle, it made for a very silent and lonely home.

When she finally returned home she heard Bodahn's cheerful voice fill the house, "Good Evening, Messere."

"Good Evening to you, as well, Bodahn. Did the elf I sent here arrive?"

"Why, yes. Orana is a dear and is very happy to have a place here in your home. She says she can cook and clean very you like for her to take over these duties?"

"Yes, and please make sure that she is paid one and a half sovereigns per month. Andraste knows, the girl deserves it."

"Very well, Messere. Would like me to draw a bath for you to enjoy this evening?"

"No, that's okay Bodahn, I'll do it myself. Enjoy your evening."

"Very good, Messere," He called to her as she began to climb up the stairs wearily, wanting nothing more than to remove all the troubles of the day, along with her armor.

Adele entered her room and stripped off her armor tossing it about, not really caring where it landed. She would search for the pieces later when she was good and clean and put it away. She drew herself a bath and stayed only long enough to scrub off the accumulated dirt and sweat from the day's activities. When she was finally dry and dressed she heard a knock on her bedroom door.

"Come in," she said from her perch atop her bed staring into the fireplace, running a brush through her tangled mess of black hair.

She was expecting Bodahn or Sandal, not the lithe elf that stood in her doorway when she finally turned her head. Fenris entered her room, quietly closing the door behind him. There was her heart again, trying to find a home in her throat.

"Hawke, I must apologize for running off earlier, I needed to think. I should not have said what I did, I was angry and not myself," He said looking down, his eyes hidden behind a curtain of his silver white hair. His apology was genuine, his voice held a note of sorrow.

"I was worried about you, Fenris. I didn't know where you went, I thought the worst," I thought that someone had managed to capture you despite my efforts and you were on a cramped boat on your way back to Tevinter. She couldn't and wouldn't dare to speak those words to Fenris. She'd spent the better of three years trying to gain his trust and affection, she was not about to lose it now.

"I'm very sorry to have needlessly worried you. After everything Hadriana had done to me, she was a torment. I wanted to keep my promise and let her live, but I couldn't. She needed to die. I needed to get as far away from all of it as I could, even for just a few short hours. I thought this hate I felt for her would go away when she died, but it still lingers, a stain upon my very soul."

She wanted so badly to wrap her arms around him and comfort him, make all of his pain wash away and replace it with the love for him that she held in her heart. She wanted to cry the tears he refused himself, to be there to help him weather the painful storms that might lay ahead.

"But, that's not why I came here," Fenris said stepping closer to where she sat on her bed.

Adele stood and he moved closer, his face mere inches from hers. He smelled of something she could not place at the moment, but what she now knew to be a soap Isabela had given him that had the extract of sandalwood and roses, (thank you, Isabela!). His lips were so close, all she had to do was lean forward and she would know what they would feel and taste like. Finally answer the questions that she had pondered for years.

"Ask me to go and I shall," he said, his breath felt like a warm summer breeze across her face, bringing a blush to her cheeks.

"Don't," was all she could say before he pressed his lips against hers.

They were as soft as she had imagined, like kissing the first roses of spring. His arms wrapped around her waist and her hands tangled into his hair.

She was lost.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter should be up in a week or less. It will me VERY mature, so please if you are sensitive to such content do not bother to look at and skip to Chapter 3. I have it set up so that it will flow whether you read the second chapter of not.

Once again, I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for reading!