"Your great-grandmother I'm not so sure about. But you're a good man." Vica smiled as she slung her bow across her back.
"Well, I...er...thanks, Warden." He stared at his feet, taken aback by the kind remark and unsure what to say in return.
oOo
It had been a simple compliment, sincerely given, completely platonic. Neither had expected anything to come of it. Ever.
But in the aftermath of Fort Drakon, when Vica was nursing a broken heart and trying to avoid Denerim-and the new king and queen-she spent uncommonly large amounts of time at Warden's Keep. With her and Levi both being talkative individuals, lengthy conversations were practically inevitable. They talked about anything and everything; her clan, his family, why she had suggested Alistair marry Anora when she loved him so much, what Levi planned to do with the Keep.
Somewhere in the middle of it all, Vica found herself falling in love-again. Levi was a good man, she'd pointed out before. And she desperately needed a good man right now. He'd never tried anything with her, never even seemed to have such a thought cross his mind. Vica had been an emotional wreck, an easy mark for a less principled man. But with Levi there was no flirting, no hints, just an offer of friendship and a listening ear.
But to an emotionally wounded woman like Vica, that was tantamount to a declaration of love. As she headed for the Keep again, she was determined that, this time, she was going to tell him. Tell him she loved him. Tell him her life would seem incomplete without him, all those cliched yet true things. Vica allowed herself a wry chuckle at the realization she had fallen for two shems in less than two years.
oOo
She hadn't counted on arriving at Soldier's Peak so late, but true to her plan, when an opening appeared in their conversation, Vica took it.
"Levi, I love you." She looked him straight in the eye as she said it.
He blinked. "You..."
"I love you," she repeated, praying desperately to the gods his slightly dazed look was due to the way she'd sprung such a major confession and not a lack of similar feelings. She blushed behind her vallaslin. "I'm sorry, I guess I could have handled that better," she mumbled, "I've just been wanting to tell you for a while now, and I was tired of waiting and-"
Levi cut her off, placing his finger against her lips. "It's all right, Vica."
She bit her lip and looked up at him. "Do you...?" She couldn't finish the question for fear of his answer.
"Yes."
It was her turn to fix him with a slightly dazed look. "Really?"
"Yes, Vica, really. I love you." Levi pulled her close and proved his words with a gentle kiss.
That gentle kiss led to a more passionate one from Vica in response, and soon she was in his lap, rather than seated next to him, both of her hands tangled in his hair, and both of his resting on her hips.
Remembering something that worked exceedingly well on Alistair, Vica lightly trailed her fingernails down one side of Levi's jaw and fairly smirked in satisfaction when she felt his body shudder in response. She whispered his name, dragging the last syllable out long enough to turn it into a desperate plea. One he was all too willing to grant.
Hands slid under tunics, fumbled with stubborn ties, fought unwilling fabric, as two sets of legs move toward the bed. How they manage to manuver several hallways to the nearest bedroom was something Vica never remembered, not that she cared much.
oOo
"You were wrong about me, it seems," Levi whispered, brushing aside her thick, dark hair to kiss the back of her neck.
"Mm. Is that so?" Vica murmured in an equally hushed tone, smiling as a shudder rippled down her spine, her toes curling when cool morning air hit them and counteracted the warmth spreading from her neck.
"I'm not a good man." Another kiss, this one in the sensitive curve between her neck and shoulder. "I'm a very, very, very bad man." He punctuated each 'very' with a slow kiss.
Vica inhaled shakily with the kisses before rolling over to face him. "No, love." She swept the light brown hair back behind his ears. "You are a good man." She kissed him, letting her teeth tease his bottom lip. "A very good man."
A/N: I wrote this for a romance the unromancable contest on deviantART and decided to cross-post it here as well. This is AU for Vica, and as I can't remember if Levi has a family-like I gave him in Aftermath-for this, I'm saying he doesn't. The beauty of AU...