Most of their trip to this point had been pretty uneventful; just one attack by thieves who quickly figured out these weren't just ordinary travelers. The Bann had sent five of his men though they wore nothing to indicate them as such. They were mostly middle aged men that kept to themselves except for one who seemed to be in his late twenties. He was the type most the girls he knew would go for, tall, dark brown hair, light blue eyes, muscular but not overly so. Anders had noticed him looking at Bethany from day one, and after a couple days he had drawn up enough courage to talk to her, and she had seemed pleased that he did. They had talked every day since, sharing meals together before retiring to their own tents. Inside their tent that night he brought up to his wife. "They seem to be growing fond of one another."

"That's what worries me."

"You are too protective, wife."

"You are too unconcerned."

"She had to grow up one day. I thought you would be happy."

"He's a soldier; he's all wrong for her."

Anders had to laugh at that, "And what she should be with, a mage?"

"Well, yes."

"I think you are forgetting something, love."

"What?"

"You were a soldier and I am a mage." He pulled her close and kissed her forehead.

She pushed him away, "This is different."

He sighed, "I don't see how, but if you'd like to enlighten me..."

She seemed to be fumbling for a reason, "He's a male soldier. I lived with them. I know. Most of them are bastards. You don't know."

"I lived with Grey Wardens and soldiers, or did you forget that? And you said most of them were like your brothers."

"Well, you never met my brother; he could be a bastard too. I'm tired, let's drop this."

She laid down with her back to him, and he could swear she was crying. He tried to move next to her, but she pushed him away again. So he rolled over on his back, wondering what he had done this time.

By the next morning her mood had not seemed to have improved much and she even look a little green. "Are you alright, love?"

"Yes."

"You don't look alright, are you sure?"

"I said yes, now stop bugging me."

He dropped it for now; he'll look her over when she was asleep later. Bethany approached, and Anders tried to warn her off with a vigorous shaking of his head but she must have missed it. "Are you alright, Sister?"

"I said I was fine, would you two stop pestering me." She walked away this time and Anders just shrugged at Bethany. Bethany went back to her new friend, both of them looking in the direction of her sister and Bethany with a look of confusion on her face shook her head. Hawke had came back to eat breakfast with him, but he stayed silent this time, food didn't seem to make her feel or look better either. He worried because Hawke had never been sick since he met her, but maybe something had finally caught up with her. He wished she would let him fix it but she was keeping her distance.

They set off again shortly after they ate, Anders and Hawke in silence, but Bethany was in front of them with the soldier, and they were laughing and talking. Anders watched Hawke's reactions to the two together, and she was scowling a lot. Perhaps too much worry was causing her to be sick? He had seen it before, but Hawke wasn't really a worrier. This was her sister though, and she didn't want Bethany to get hurt. He took in a deep breath, letting the light breeze brush his face and closed his eyes trying to at least enjoy the mild weather for a moment. At least they had had nice weather thus far for all the walking they were doing.

"Anders?" He opened his eyes and looked at his wife when she called, she looked very pale, "Anders, I don't feel so well."

"Hawke?" He was able to grab her before she fainted, and ease her to the ground. Bethany must have heard Hawke calling to him, because she turned and rushed over while her soldier called for a halt. Hawke was sweating even though the day wasn't that warm. "Help me get this breastplate off," he told Bethany.

After they removed the piece of armor, Anders squatted beside her, closed his eyes and took a few deep breathes trying to calm himself down and to gather focus. Bethany had already grabbed a piece of cloth, dowsed it with water, and was wiping Hawke's face with it. He closed his eyes, and focused all his energy on her, running his hands above her trying to find the source of the problem. When he found it, his eyes popped back open and he jerked his hands back so fast he lost balance and fell backward into the dirt.

"What is it Anders?" Anders sat there where he fell, his eyes wide and moving his mouth, but nothing came out. Bethany looked at him like he was utterly daft, but worried to death as well now. She calmed herself and found her focus before also trying to find what caused her sister to be ill and Anders to be stupefied. When she found it she looked up slowly at him, but not removing her hands. She also appeared to be shocked as well. The Bann's men except for Bethany's started to back up, casting worried glances at each other seeming to think it was some rare disease that appeared to be spreading. "I thought this was impossible," she finally said. Anders just kept sitting there wide eyed moving his mouth, little choked half syllables coming from it. Bethany finally lowered her hands to her lap, "Anders!" He snapped his head to look at her, "I thought this was impossible."

"No... Just... improbable." He finally managed to say. Suddenly it all made sense, the crabbiness, the tears, the tiredness, the illness, the sweating.

"Ummm, maybe you should tell us what it is before these men make a dash for the trees." said Bethany's soldier.

"My sister is pregnant." Suddenly the other men seemed very unimpressed.

"Okay, they are married right? What's the big deal?" her soldier asked.

"He's a Grey Warden." Suddenly they were all very impressed.

When they were first together Anders had tried to urge her a couple of times to leave him so she could have children, but she would joke they would just have to try harder than anyone else if they really wanted a baby. They had never talked about children after they got married, he supposed content to be with each other and not dwell on something they couldn't have. In the Circle he never dared to dream such a thing, a wife and a child, both were practically forbidden, and knowing himself to be a bit clingy, he moved from bed to bed in hopes of keeping his feet two steps in front of his heart so he could never want something they wouldn't allow him to have. Once the Warden-Commander freed him from the Circle, he did allow himself to love someone, but that would have never resulted in marriage or a child, just a person to spend the cold nights in the keep with. He had never thought about what it would be like to be a father, but he never thought he would be a husband either. He's still stunned reaction caused a whispering among the other men, no doubt expecting a scandal, but his wife was having his baby, and a large smile spread across his face.

Anders looked at Bethany, and she was smiling at him too. He scrambled back to his wife's side, and picked up her hand. Bethany went back to wiping Hawke's face, and shortly thereafter Anders and Bethany were still smiling when Hawke opened her eyes, "Strange, I would have thought a little more concern an appropriate reaction, especially from you two, but perhaps one of you can explain why you are both smiling like that; it's kind of creepy."

When Anders excitement stopped him from forming intelligible words, Bethany stepped in, "You're pregnant, Sister."

"Oh ho, very funny. Getting me back for being a pain, I get it." She looked at them both, their expressions unchanging, and her brow furrowed. "Wait... What?" Anders started nodding at her, and he pulled her hand to his lips to kiss it. "But I thought..." Her initial reaction was confusion but it started to switch to excitement, it was a bit comical to see her smile go up and down before she finally settled on happy, and he wondered if he had done that too. "Really?" she asked Anders hopefully. He nodded again, leaned over, and kissed her forehead before resting his against hers and looking into her eyes, happy tears present for both.

They had gone ahead and stopped for the day, not waiting to risk over exerting Hawke again. Everyone in Ferelden knew the chances of Grey Wardens having children due to their King and Queen both being of the Order, and they actually all sat around the camp fire in celebration that night. One of the older men laughed, saying "You should have seen your man, ser; he was in such shock he flopped over in the dirt."

Hawke laughed, "I'm sure had I not already been on the ground I would have ended up in the same position."

Bethany's soldier, whose name happened to be Conall, piped up addressing the other man who had just spoke, "I do seem to recall you having the same reaction the last time you were told yourself, Fintan."

Fintan response was kind of high, "That's because every time I look at my wife she seems to be having another one at least!" Everyone laughed at that. The other men with children did admit the first time they heard the news they were quite shocked themselves, the biggest man actually admitted he had fainted, although explained it had been abnormally hot that day. Anders could see the pride glowing from the other men as they talked about their children, excitement growing this would one day be him. He looked at Hawke who was listening intently to the other men's stories and she seemed as excited as he was. She caught him looking at her, and she gave him a huge smile and he returned one just as big.

After a couple of hours everyone retreated to their tents. Anders laid on his right side with his wife pulled into his chest facing him, resting her head on his arm, his left hand running lightly across her back. The couple had been silent in their own thoughts for a while before he asked, "Are you happy, love?" She seemed to be, but he wanted to be sure.

"Completely."

"Had you thought about it often?" He didn't like the fact she could have ended up disappointed.

"Rarely, when I passed a child who had the same color hair as you or ones that reminded me of Bethany and Carver growing up, but I was happy enough just to have you."

"I guess for me it wasn't that different going from shouldn't have children to most likely couldn't."

"Are you happy then?"

"Entirely." He kissed the top of her head. "Although I have never been around small children before, that worries me a little."

Hawke laughed, "Almost everyone worries about that, I think. I would like to think we have handled tougher things than this."

"I hope you're right." He tilted up her face, and looked into her eyes a long moment before kissing her gently. "I love you, my beautiful wife." he whispered against her lips.

"I love you, dear husband."

He returned to kissing her, full of love for her and the gift she was giving him. He raised his hand to caress her cheek. After a few minutes his hand had lowered to rest on her ribs, still kissing her lovingly when she rolled over on her back. Watching his face she moved his hand to rest above the tiny life they had created and tears sprang to his eyes. He always had liked resting his hand there, and now he knew why.