Merill had been in labor for several hours already. Garrett insisted on being near her in those difficult hours, a loving, devout husband.
Fenris really didn't understand why Hawke had wanted him to come. Oh, right, the position of Marian Hawke's husband made him a part of the family. Too bad Marian was away and couldn't make it in time. He didn't care much for the naive blood mage and when he heard Anders would be there to take care of Merrill, well, his day couldn't get any worse than that.
A half hour later, Fenris learned how wrong he was. The abomination brought his wife, Alexandra and his twins, Karl and Stefan, with him under the excuse he'd need Alexandra's help and they had no one to leave the kids with. Despite being petite the flaming haired woman could be really intimidating when she wanted to as the ex-slave had learned by now. Fenris almost pitied Anders. Almost.
To his horror Fenris realized he was brought only to be a baby sitter for the Anders's boys. Despite his excuses and desperate protests he was left to entertain them in time the others fussed around Merill.
Bloody Garrett Hawke and his honeyed tongue! He'd remember this treason!
To his great dismay he found himself alone, in a side room with the two four-year-old, red haired children. Fenris eyed them warily, what one should expect of an abomination's offspring? Nothing positive he was sure. One of the boys studied him curiously; a finger deep inside his nostril; the other appeared bored, quite unimpressed by the weird elf, almost ignoring him. Fenris returned the gazing kid a hard stare, unsure what to do with them. He had never entertained children before.
"I'm Karl," the staring kid said, smiling shyly. "And this is Stefan." He pointed at his bored brother. The other boy smacked his brother casually. "Stop lying! I'm Kawl, you awe Stefan." The first one cried angrily and charged at his offender. 'Liar! Today I am Karl!"
Fenris rubbed his forehead. It was going to be a very long day.
"I don't care who is who. How about you play with your toys like good little children and I'll be just there?" He tried a new technique, pointing at a sofa at near the wall. The twins glared at him, exchanged narrow-eyed stare and turned to him as one. Fenris insisted and after a while the children were persuaded enough to occupy themselves with some silly game. Perhaps it wouldn't be as terrible as he assumed it would be. One can hope, right?
Almost deafened by their loud, delighted voices, the astonished elf sat in the corner. He had no idea children could be so…noisy, staring at them with plate-wide eyes. For some time Karl (Fenris thought it was Karl, it was really hard to say, they were twins after all) just jumped around redoing the great battle with the Archdemon(his unhappy brother was forced to role-play the dragon). What started as an innocent childish "heroes & monsters" play quickly turned into a furious quarrel. Karl and Stefan ignored Fenris's orders to stop; too busy kicking each other for all the imaginary offences they shared. The annoyed elf, growling, had to separate them physically before they broke each other's noses. The boys huffed each at other and demonstratively turned their backs on each other, still trying to kick the other when Fenris wasn't looking.
Fenris could feel the onpcoming migraine.
The smaller of the twins held a long branch in his tiny hand, running to Fenris in excitement. "Look! It's my swowd." he declared proudly, waving it around and hitting Fenris in the process. The elf clutched his nose and growled. "Oh! Sowwy!" the boy blinked, not looking very sorrowful.
Fenris had to remind himself it was a child, he'll endure. He survived Danarius, what were two small kids after that, it can't be that bad. Right?
A small hand tugged at his leggings. Fenris looked down only to discover one of the little monsters staring at him, he still couldn't tell them apart. "I need to pee. NOW." Big amber eyes were bright with unshed tears as the boy pouted at him desperately.
Fenris's hands slightly shook with suppressed anger. His leggings, his favorite leggings were heavily stained with drops of not carefully aimed pee and the boy next to him was crying loudly, demanding fresh pants.
VENHEDIS! Where were slavers to kill when he needed them? And from where would he fish out pants for the yelping creature?
After Hawke passed out a few times in row, Anders lost his patience and simply threw him out. "Out!" hissed the blond healer and closed the massive, wooden door in front of Hawke's nose. "But...all the blood…and she's in pain!" the big boned warrior protested meekly. He, the one who defeated countless number of slavers, looked a dragon into the eye and came out alive, stood against Arishok was on the verge of panic. Alexandra decided she would accompany him for now. Someone had to calm down the big baby. Simply grabbing his hand and pulling him downstairs, Alexandra took the lead.
"She'll be ok. Anders is taking care of her. He's the best healer in Thedas, don't you worry Garrett." Alexandra took Hawke by the hand and gently led him away. The warrior didn't protest as she pointed him towards the garden.
On the way Alexandra noticed the broody elf trying to merge with a corner as he was delicately nursing a bottle of Aggregio Pavali and mumbling something about little red haired monsters. Alexandra's eyes lit up. Luckily for the hiding elf she didn't heard his unflattering comment.
"That's exactly what we need! Thank you, Fenris. And thank you so much for taking care of my little good boys. You are playing hide-and-seek, aren't you? They just adore the game. " The woman grinned, hurrying to claim the bottle and leading Hawke on, not bothering to wait for an answer. The warrior didn't resist, probably too shocked to be discovered, staring at the disappearing bottle longingly. Did she say good boys? Perhaps she meant little demons. That must be it, makes much more sense.
"You'll be the howssie now, I'm the wawden, I'll wide you." yelped the other twin as his brother was still waving around his 'sword.' Fenris moved away cautiously. "No." Fasta vass, he needed to find a better hiding place this time.
The child pursed lips in a pout Fenris saw many times before on his older version. The ultimate pouting expression he had learned to hate. For some reason most of the people found it irresistible. It seemed the boy was a quick learner, already mastering one of his father's trademark tricks. 'But even papa Justice lets me to wide him" the child whined loudly. "Yes! It will be fun." joined in the other boy, eyes gleaming as he sized up and down the shocked elf.
Images of Justice on all fours, jerking around with the twins on his back and neighing wildly hit the elf leaving him stunned. Fenris giggled hysterically, his right eye twitching.
"I have heard it's a lovely girl. Does he has Garrett's eyes or is she more elvish and delicate, like Merill?" Marian smiled at him. She kissed his shoulder, leaning her chin on it with a thoughtful expression. "Did you ever think about having a child of our own, pumpkin? Imagine yourself, a small white haired elf running around with a small sword in his small, lovely palms. Actually I have always wanted twins." Her eyes shone dreamily as she kept musing aloud.
"Fenris, bunny, are you alright? You are too young to have a heart attack. Yes, I'm sure about it. Should I call for Anders? Fenris? Hey, where you are going?! It's a window, not a door! … Fenris?"