Dragon Age 2, Act II, Part 2

Part 2

Hawke wasn't sure what led her to Anders' clinic so late at night. Darktown was hardly the place to loiter in dark corners. His lantern wasn't even lit. He might not be there. Somehow that made her even more nervous; if he wasn't here she'd have to come back another night and go through this all over again.

She stood straighter and glared at the door to the clinic as if she could set it on fire with her stare, which she might if she didn't reign in her temper more. That would be one way to get Anders' attention: setting his door on fire. Might send the wrong message though; more of an 'I want to kill you' message than a 'kiss me now, please.'

Hawke sighed and pressed her forehead against the door. What was she so afraid of? The worst he could do to her was laugh it off. She'd faced darkspawn in the Deep Roads, dealt with the Qunari leader, and even slain a Rock Wraith without blinking! What was it about Anders that had her so terrified?

She should have brought Damian. A mabari might not be the best at giving romance advice, but at least he would be there to give her his trademark disapproving stare and urge her inside. Hawke sighed and cursed her indecisiveness. If she'd hesitated like this in the Bone Pit she'd have been eaten. If she'd wasted time mulling over what to do while traversing the Deep Roads she'd have been killed.

Steeling herself with a breath and a quick prayer, she pushed open the door to the clinic. Suprisingly, she saw Anders immediately, kneeling on the ground not far away. He didn't jump up at her arrival or turn around to see who'd entered.

"What are you doing?" Hawke managed to ask. Anders stood and turned with a smile.

"Putting out milk. I miss having a cat around." He frowned. "But I think the refugees have scared them all off. Or maybe eaten them."

Hawke was glad she hadn't brought Damian now. If Anders was trying to attract a cat, bringing a mabari war hound into the clinic was the way to ensure that never happened.

"I've been meaning to thank you," Anders began again after Hawke's initial silence. "Having someone like you making a name for yourself… it's done a lot for mages." He smiled, slipping into that revolutionary leader that Hawke had not come to see.

"Well, to be honest, I wasn't doing it for them." Hawke admitted shyly, trying to smile but she had no control over her face so she wasn't sure if she did.

Anders sighed, suddenly seeming more tired than Hawke had ever seen him. "I tried to warn you, Hawke. I'm an abomination. I'll just end up hurting you if you're with me."

"When did I ever give you the impression that I cared a whit about Justice?" Hawke huffed. "I care more about you."

"I might be a mage, but I'm still just a man." Anders pleaded. "You can't keep teasing me like this and expect me to resist forever."

Hawke blinked at him. Resist? What? "I don't want you to resist."

Anders crossed the gap between them in one step and suddenly Hawke found herself pinned to the wall. His lips met hers with a passion she had not expected from the moody apostate, but that didn't stop her from throwing her arms around him and kissing him back. She could feel the electricity in the air around them, almost as if they had both lost control of common sense and let the magic free. Just when she was certain she was about to die if he didn't do something, he broke the kiss and stepped back.

A barrier had fallen from his eyes and he stared at her as if she had just taken hold of his soul. "This will be a mistake," Anders admitted, "but I can't bear to be without you. If your door is open tonight, I will come for you. If not, I'll know you took my warnings at last."

Of course her door would be open! If she'd had any mental capacity left after that kiss she would have said as much, but as it was he had turned and vanished into some obscure corner of the clinic. It took her a moment to gather her wits enough to move towards the door.

She wasn't sure what she had expected when she walked down here, but the reality had blown away anything she could have imagined. How long had he wanted to kiss her? She wasn't an expert in such things, but men just didn't go around with that much passion lurking beneath the skin for no reason.

When she found herself back at the door to her Hightown mansion, she instructed Bodahn to leave the door unlocked. At his questioning glance, she had just shrugged and wandered upstairs.

Time slowed to a crawl as she waited. She stocked the fireplace, straightened the curtains, made the bed at least four times, and constantly peeked over the railing to see if anyone had walked in. Damian was snoring by the downstairs fireplace, dead to the world.

Hawke began to pace the room. What if he doesn't come? she wondered, horrified that she would even consider such a thing. Surely he had just been detained at the clinic. There hadn't been any patients when she was there, but that didn't mean no one in all of Kirkwall was sick or injured.

She was about to go make sure the door was actually unlocked when she felt someone behind her in the room. Caution urged her towards her staff leaning against a wall, but hope bade her turn. Anders stood in the doorway, looking about as unsure as she felt. It took every bit of her self-control to keep her from launching herself at him.

"I was afraid you wouldn't come." Hawke admitted once he had stepped in the room.

"Justice does not approve of my obsession with you," Anders replied with a wry smile, "he thinks you're a distraction." He crossed the distance between them and put a hand on her cheek. Hawke's skin burned beneath his fingers, and he could very well be setting her on fire for all she knew. "It's one of the few things on which we disagree."

"If you hadn't come, I'd be out there looking for you." Hawke whispered, unable to take her eyes off him for even a moment. She had been, too. If he'd taken much longer she was about ready to storm out into Darktown and drag him back here.

"In the Circle, love was just an illusion. It gave the Templars too much power if there was something you couldn't stand to lose." He leaned closer, the barest touch of his lips to hers. "This is the rule I will most cherish breaking."

She pulled him closer, unable and unwilling to wait a second longer than absolutely necessary. Hawke led him towards the bed and he followed her to it, never letting her go, never relenting.

His lips found hers, a fire burning beneath her skin, and the world fell away.