Isabela peeked over the stacked crates, checking for any sign of the patrol that they had been rabbiting from for the past ten minutes. Or so. Isabela never had liked to keep time especially when forced into incredibly small spaces made smaller by the presence of two other people. Time always went so much slower when she was experiencing the absolute opposite of fun.
"They're gone, go go go." She hissed, scrabbling over and out of their impromptu hiding spot and smoothing out her shirt in a move more meant to calm her frazzled nerves than to primp. It took Aveline and Fenris a much longer time to get out properly and tried to stretch until they noticed that their captain was halfway down the corridor already with pistol and knife drawn. They shared a look and then jogged to catch up, keeping close tabs as they skirted around corners like rats looking for crumbs. And, really, it wasn't a far off description.
A quiet 'aha' punctured the tense silence as Isabela crouched down and placed a device from her pocket against a heavy metal door, picking the lock with some complex algorithm that she didn't and never would understand beyond that it was incredibly more useful than the old methods, but not nearly as satisfying. The lock clicked and the door slid open, showing them the treasure of stolen property that they would be shipping back to Varric's contact as soon as they moved it from here to the cargo bay of The Siren's Call. The trouble was getting back out with the heavy boxes in tow and not getting caught.
Leaning against the frame of the wall, Isabela tapped her finger against her ear to hail the ship, waiting for the line to connect with a faint click and then she could hear the voice of their (completely off her nut) pilot.
"…no, no please, anything but that. I'm begging you. Think of the children!" Hawke's voice was pitched in an imitation of frightened femininity, no doubt playing with her prized possessions of "collectible figurines" that littered the dash of the ship and also her quarters.
"Hawke."
"Ahem, aye aye?" Isabela rolled her eyes fondly at the immediate tonal change and could imagine the pink that was staining pale cheeks.
"How are we looking?"
"Really, considering the fact that we're plundering a Chantry vessel, probably for Andraste's unmentionables, we're looking remarkably well." Isabela could also imagine now, the easy smile on Hawke's face as she leaned back in her chair and put her feet up, dark hair lazily falling over her forehead...and she should really stop fantasizing about her pilot in the middle of another incredibly stupid job.
"Make sure to keep it that way. Tell Merrill to prep the ship in case things get fun."
"Your definition of fun has never matched mine." Aveline intoned dryly, crossing her arms over her chest and stepping over to assess the weight of the crates they'd be hauling by hand (by her hand, undoubtedly) all the way back to where the shuttle was sitting pretty and waiting. Hopefully.
"Nor mine." Not that Fenris had been with Isabela nearly as long as Aveline had, but the brooding elf had a point. Even if he was a fugitive on the run from the Imperium and the Chantry both, and Aveline still thought it was incredibly daft of Isabela to allow him on the ship especially considering how he and Anders nearly came to blows on an hourly basis. As much of a challenge as Anders was, they needed him intact to keep the rest of them in the same fashion.
"Aye aye."
Isabela was always pleased by Hawke's professionalism while they were on a job, eyeing the others balefully as they never did miss an opportunity to take the piss out of her. Not that she treated them any differently, of course, but she was captain and they were supposed to do as she said.
"All right, you clever bastards, let's be pirates."
It would have gone as planned if not for the unfortunate collision with a guard who, before Aveline could silence him with a blow to the back of the head, had already shouted an alarm and then the ship's alarms had started. It was difficult running the rest of the way towards where the shuttle was, especially after Isabela handed off her share of the weight to Fenris and Aveline to clear the route ahead of them. Aveline swore colorfully at her, as did Fenris though his were in Tevene.
Typically, Isabela just laughed, the adrenaline of the fight already coursing through her as she ran off and hailed Hawke on the way.
"Let me guess, everything got fun." Hawke drawled, executing a precise combination of button presses and switch flicks to bring the ship roaring to life. "Merrill, move like your arse is on fire!"
"Aveline and Fenris will be along shortly." Isabela was already a bit breathless and Hawke could hear the sound of gunfire and death in the background as she sat up and switched over to pilot mode. It was her job now to see they all got safely out with their lives, and the cargo, intact. Something she did not take lightly. Never again would she take having lives in her hands lightly.
"We're coming in; it'll only be a short jump to get the shuttle to the docking bay and then we're off like the top on a new bottle of brandy."
"Best pilot in the bloody universe."
"You say the sweetest things when we're in mortal peril."
And then the comm went off and Hawke breathed, a calm settling over her as she became The Pilot, the ship merely an extension of her mind and her hands as she maneuvered her closer to the Chantry vessel, swinging around to align with where they would need her. It wasn't a pleasant job, not really, nor was it what she thought she'd be doing with her life, but it was fulfilling on a level she never thought of, this being a pirate business, and she wouldn't trade it for all the sovereigns in Orlais.
It was a long period of silence before she heard Isabela's voice over the comm again affirming what she already knew as she felt the shuttle dock and then they were off in a push of the throttle, pulling a turn that a clunky warship like that couldn't even dream of without shearing the hull in half.
Once they were clear, Hawke eased up, setting the ship back in cruise and finally exhaling properly as she pushed her hair from her face and swiveled her chair just in time for Isabela to burst into the cockpit, whooping in her high off another successful heist, another successful thorn in the side of the Chantry.
In nary a second she had a lapful of exuberant Rivaini pirate, knees astride her hips and hands absolutely everywhere. Hawke barely had the time to pull her brain from the nebulose of job and stick it firmly in the moment that was Isabela's hand was right there and...oh.
-
Blessedly, the rest of the crew left them alone to their celebrations, though Hawke would have preferred it be in either of their quarters. The bunk wasn't much more comfortable than the chair but it certainly was roomier. She could already feel her wrist cramping.
She tried her best to smooth out her shirt as they made their grand entrance into the mess. Not that it was any sort of secret what they got up to, had been getting up to for most of the time they'd all been a crew. Despite Isabela's dalliances every time they were planetside and Hawke's staunch refusal to label something lest she give name and power to the feelings roiling in the pit of her stomach. No, no, this arrangement was perfect and not a secret and there were no strings or rules or promises to be kept.
"So, the plan is to drop the goods with Castillon and be on our merry way to spend our coin!"
"Do we even know what's in those crates?" Aveline was ever the paragon of justice despite that she had left the Chantry after the end of the last Blight and somehow wound up a pirate with the rest of them. She couldn't quite let go of her conscience.
"Don't know, don't care." That was Varric, already half into a mug of the rat's piss ale they had left over after their good stores had run out. "It's coin, good coin at that, and I won't put my nose up at it."
"I like to eat, Aveline." Hawke reasoned quietly, trying to soothe any ruffled feathers the woman might have over their rather indiscriminate (lack of) standards lately. But jobs had been scarce now that the Chantry was patrolling heavier, worried about the threat of the qunari and the return of the Grey Wardens threatening their stranglehold. It wasn't a time they could afford to be choosey. It was an uncomfortable burden to try to be the voice of reason when she herself held so many demons clawing at her mind.
"I'd like us to be careful. We can't exactly afford a real run in with the templars." Her eyes flicked to Fenris, briefly, then to Hawke and Merrill and finally to the figure of Anders skulking in the doorway. No, none of them could risk it at all.
"Who wants to play Wicked Grace?"
And that was that. Anders went back to the medical bay and Aveline to her quarters while the rest crowded around the small table to play cards as if the conversation had never happened and the consequences weren't looming overhead.