Don't hesistate to leap...

SPOILER ALERT!
Disclaimer- I do not own the characters, the in-game dialogue included or any references to Dragonage 2. They all belong to the genii at Bioware. Bow down to their awesomeness!

The evening  is clear,twilight, but a chill hangs in the air like a shadow. The sharpness of the frost catches in Fenris' throat, a direct contrast to the heat that is stuck to his skin from walking through Hightown at such a pace. The thump of his heart against his ribcage was expected, but he is surprised at its ferocity.  Thoughts dash through his head, scenarios, feelings, fears. What was he going to say?

He reaches the house. It feels like a death sentence, and he slows his pace to approach his impending fate. Pearls of sweat begin to break on his furrowed brow, tracing a path as they slither down the side of his face to his chin. He shakes his head to be rid of them, and holds his breath as he struck his fist against the door, his metal gauntlets creating a metallic tinkle to compliment the dull thud of his knock.

No answer. His mind insists on conjuring terrible occurences, and worry begins to take its gripping hold within him. He steels himself against its power, but places his hand at the hilt of his sword, just in case. A crack of light shines through, revealing the doorway to be open, a small glimpse of the beyond. One small push from his hand, and the pathway is clear for him to enter.

Fenris lightly steps through the hallway, always ready to draw, eyes piercing every corner, every shadow for any sign of….disquiet. His lyrium covered skin being to glow like a beacon of defiance and protection, shedding light on the darkness.  A fire flickers from the library, and as he draws closer Fenris can already feel its heat, and as he pokes his head around, he sees her.

Damn.

She slouches in a high backed, comfortable arm chair, facing the fire. Her feet are resting on a stool, and a book is enclosed in her hand.  It must be good, Fenris thinks to himself, she hasn't noticed yet. Her shining white hair is, as always, tied up in a bun. Fenris had once asked why she chose to wear her hair in such a fashion, but his reply came when she nodded to Isabella, who was constantly flicking her brown locks out of her mouth and cursing when she came to comb it.

He follows her forest green eyes as they follow the page through her reading spectacles. She looked….as she always looked. As he had always hoped she would look. She looked like the stars, she looked like the sea and the sky but, best of all, she looked like freedom. He found it strange that this soft-natured, compassionate, caring woman had only days earlier unleashed her rage upon a coven of blood mages, daggers slashing and shining like a storm at sea, whipping blood from magical veins and sending it spattering on the floor.

He stares at her for a second. Just a second, but it is all he needs to set his mind at ease and make his hopes fly like wild birds.
She looked up, and sent them scattering with her broad smile.
"Fenris!" She greeted, voice low and soft like a blanket of comfort "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you come in"

Fenris swallows his butterflies. The ache for her begins to grow.

"Where is Bodahn?"

She smiles at him over the top of her reading glasses.

"Oh, he's out on merchant business, I believe. It is his day off today, and I believe he is planning on leaving soon. I shall miss him, and Orana"

"Orana? The slave girl?" His anger begins to heat like water under a midday sun.

"Fenris, she's a servant, and I make sure it stays that way. She's free now. " She could see his mind is not at peace with the thought of her working.

"She gets paid 5 gold a week, plus free board and lodging, and 2 days off. One for free time, with which she can do as she wishes, and one for tutelage"

"Tutelage?"

"Yes, Fenris.  I've taught her all I know. She can read and write as well as any of us, and she knows how to use a bow as well as I do. She's as quick with her daggers as she is with her tongue, and that's saying something. The rest comes with experience, and there is no way I'd rather her learn than being with Bodahn. They get on well and Sandal loves her. She will be missed, though. It was nice to have some female company around the house" She smiles at Fenris, her eyes glittering in the firelight.

"You treat her as a daughter" Fenris smiles a little, only a little, at the admiration he has for this woman, her compassion never ceases to amaze him.

"I treat her as an equal, and I would not have her unleashed into the world without some skills first. She has plenty of coin saved, too!"

Fenris bows his head, ashamed that for a fleeting second he believed this woman could treat Orana like a slave.  His shame only grows stronger when he thought of how much she had done for Orana, teaching her, caring for her…

How much she had done for him. She didn't have to help him kill Hadriana, nor did she have to help him escape Danarius forever. She, in particular, had taken the wounds from that battle, but still she never uttered a word or regret or complaint.  Even when he broke her heart, she remained by his side, ready. She had never given up hope. It was what had kept her strong.

He wanders to the chair opposite her, and sits uneasily, resting his elbows on his knees and steepling his long fingers.
"I…have been thinking. I wanted to thankyou for all you have done for me" Fenris immediately stares at the ground, unable to look into those green eyes without being lost.

"Don't thank me, please don't. I made you a promise, all those years ago, and I keep my promises."

He remembers those words as if they had been said only moments ago. The surroundings, the noise, the crackling of the fire, everything else had been lost. All that existed were themselves, locked in the heat of embrace, skin against smooth skin.

He hears her voice in his memories, soft and low, a lullaby to him even now.
"I promise I'll keep you safe, Fenris. From now until the end of time, I will keep you safe"

Tears begin to prick at his eyes, and his heart starts to twist and turn, the burning ache more powerful now than ever before.
Hours later, he had broken her . He saw how his departure tore at her soul, he saw the pain behind the smile. She wanted to scream, tear her skin off, smash everything, burn, anything to escape the feeling. Most of all, she wanted to run. Run and never look back, and keep running and running, no matter how tired she may be. But she stayed.

She stayed to keep her promise.

He thought that everything else between then was lost, that she was lost. He had been wrong. Hawke had kept hope, she clung to it, kept it close to her and she never let it slip from her mind. It had kept her warm on cold nights, it had been her companion, her most treasured thought. It kept her heart from stopping.

Fenris is brought back to the present with a thud. He raises his head slowly, peering through his glowing white hair to see her eyes fixed upon him, a window to her concern for him. She slowly removes her glasses with one hand, her delicate fingers lightly grasping the rims, and she places the hand holding them at her chin. Now, more than anything, he wants to hold her, nuzzle her hair, protect her from all the evils of the world.

He leans back in his own chair folding his hands in his lap, and, to the amusement of them both, begins to twiddle his thumbs. With a deep breath, he leaps.

"We never talked about that night three years ago"

His voice is low and soft, like syrup dripping off his tongue and into her ear. It is one of things that she loves, that voice melted her to the core. He approaches the subject directly. She replies with equal direction.

"You never wanted to talk about it"

He takes his eyes away from his twiddling thumbs, and sees it. There it is, in her eyes, the corners of her mouth, the aura that spreads from her demeanour. Hope. That small flame she had kept alight, was growing. Yet, there was something else there, something familiar….

It came at him in a rush, a torrent of unspoken glances, of innumerable nights spent dreaming of each other,  of defending each other from all who would threaten their safety. He realised now, what that was, that wonderful , enveloping feeling he had whenever he has with her, the electric jolt he got from her smile or the touch of her hand. That amazing adrenaline rush that he had given up. Freely abandoned. The knowledge that he had done this struck him, like an arrow that he himself had unleashed upon himself, like a bottle smashing over his head.

"I should have asked for your forgiveness long ago"

He looks at her eagerly, his eyes revealing to her more than he knew. She recognises the shame, the guilt, the hurt that could not be healed by any mage's hands, the uncertainty of her reaction. But beyond that, there is something else. She catches a flash of it, a weak flash, and she is unsure at first. Hawke looks again, and there is the flash. Yes, there it was.

Hope. Small, flickering, and threatening to die under the pressure of all other emotions, but it's there.  His gaze returned to the floor.

She stands from her chair, moves to kneel before Fenris, lifting his chin by her hand and gazing into his eyes. He feels her soft hands upon his face, the smell of her hair fills his body like warm liquid, the smell of vanilla and hazelnuts, and he feels broken. He knows he had thrown this away, and now he was falling.

She continued to gaze, before her voice reached his ears like a butterfly.
"I understand, Fenris. I always understood.  You have me, everything that I am, by entire being is yours. It was yours that night three years ago, and though you turned from me you kept it still, you refused to let go.  I have been aching for you ever since, you have been like a dagger in my soul that I simply cannot pull out even if I wanted to."

Fenris began to shake, his hopes begin to burn. He slides off his knees to join her on the floor, like two pilgrims confessing before the Maker, two forms silhouetted against the fire. He grasps her hands, rubbing his thumbs against her slim wrists.
For a moment they each drink in the sight of the other, taking each glance as a drop as if it were their last. Hands begin to roam, to stroke, faces begin to smile and laugh, each caressing the other's cheek. Fenris reaches behind her head to remove her hair clasp, and as he does so her silver locks tumble to her shoulders like rays of moonlight streaming through a gap in the curtains.

His fingers swim through silver waves, as he reaches to the back of her neck and pulls her close….lips meet lips, the hunger growing, his heart keeps skipping, he has waited for this for three long, unbearable years but it was worth it. Time seems to stop, surroundings, the crackling of the fire, the feel of the stone on his knees, everything else is lost… Fenris is flying, soaring, gliding on the winds….

He lies behind her curled form, her hair spreading on the pillow behind her like wings. He pulls her closer and nuzzles the base of her neck as she stirs, and turns to meet his lips, soft and smooth as the wine he loves so much. She smiles up at him, the smile that would melt the Maker himself.  
He places his lips on her forehead- this time, he promises himself, I will protect her.
He leans down to meet her face and fall into the night sky trapped in her eyes.
"If there is a future to be had, I would walk into it gladly at your side"