Detour

AN:I am fully aware that this doesn't fit time line wise. it is just a detour from "only they know" I did write it as 3am while i was waiting for the fade to take me.

Chapter 1

There he was. Maker save her. Alexander Cullen! Why wasn't he at the Circle in Ferelden? Why was he here back here in her life?

The Knight-captain Cullen pointed hit blade at a sickly knight that reminded Hawke of Wesley before he died. This was the Templar she was sent to find. Why did you have to deal with Cullen too?

"Lead on Hawke." Her eyes grew wide as she remembered that Fenris, her white haired warrior elf and current lover, stood beside her as she confronted her ex-lover. His frown deepened when she turned back to him. "Hawke?"

Of all the fates. Really Cullen?

"No. I can do this. He is only a Templar." She said taking Fenris' hand for a moment. As if his cool skin could shock her back to the moment. "Here we go." With that Hawke, Fenris, Varric, and Aveline moved in to talk to the knights.

They were forced to kill the new Templar for turning into an abomination. An abomination? How did a man with no magic become a malificarum?

"Thank you for your help, Serah..." Maybe he forgot her. Maybe he didn't want it leaked that he at one time loved a Mage. This tugged at her heart making her ache to see if he remembered those four years.

"Serah Alexandra Hawke. Scion on the Hawke and Amell families." She smiled. Two could play at that game. "You are?"

"Knight-captain Alexander Cullen." Oh Maker his voice was so deep now. He was a skilled warrior. As well as strong. Damn him for coming back now.

As they discussed things as if he had no knowledge of what she was Fenris moved closer to her. The longer they stayed the more likely it was for the Mage hating Templar to figure out what she was. Fenris could feel it in her muscles. He needed to get her out of there.

The only good thing that had come out of Anders was the knowledge of how Templars find and capture apostates. It was not just her blood in a tiny vial that could do it. It was also the lyrium. Something a kin to what the Grey Wardens used to sense Darkspawn. Fenris too disliked mages but there was something about this Mage that drove his blood wild as well as stopped the pain.

Cullen wanted the pain in his heart to stop. How could she forget him? Some of the best years of his life were spent in Lothering. The years he spent with the blue eyed teen were burnt into his soul. He would never forget her as she seemed to forget him. He would not forget the romps through the forest, the rolls in the hay or the training they went through trying to protect the other.

Alexa, as her mother called her, was a mage. Cullen could sense it clear as day back then. Not so much now. Somehow she had gotten better at hiding. No normal Templar could sense it. Cullen had a gift that no other Templar seemed to have. He could sense the Fade. His father has said it was a maker given gift. The first time he realized what it was they were 14 and 16. Hawke shone like the stars when he looked at her. Now not so much. She was staying well hid.

All the power to you, he thought. He would not see her new life destroyed because of him. Part of him still loved the girl in Hawke. The other part of him knew, from the glare the elf was giving him, that she was in love with someone far more likely to protect her.

Cullen resolved himself to speak with the elf, alone, to confirm that she was safe. For right now he had to go report back to the Commander.

As they parted Fenris saw a tear fall down her face and was resolved to ask her about it later. This Templar was something different.

Hawke normally spoke in an arrogant voice around Templar but this time she was calm, even tempered, even pleasant to the potential threat. She was being too trusting. What was this man to her?

"Hawke what was that about?" She turned not seeing him. "Hawke?" That unnerved Fenris. His Hawke never looked so blankly at anything. "Alexandra!"

"Fenris?" The smile she faked gave him more cause for concern. "We should head home now. It is getting late and it is a long walk back to town."

"Want me to find out whatever I can about this knight?" Varric had seen it too. Hawke was out of it. This was not a good state to be in in the city of Templars. Let alone crazy Templars.

"Yes. We need to know if he is a threat to our Hawke." Varric began to follow the knight while Aveline and Fenris followed Hawke.

Once in High town, Ave left for the barracks. Fenris took a now jumpy Hawke all the way to her room at her house. Leandra opened the door to a hug.

"What is this about?" Hawke refused to let go of her mother. "Ser Fenris?"

"We met up with a Templar named Cullen." Leandra's eyes got nearly as wide as Hawke's. "He did not harm her but she has been in this state since the meeting. Do they know each other from Lothering?"

"Yes. Come in Ser. I will fix her some milk tea then have Orana put her to bed. Then I will tell you about it." Leandra said taking her daughter to the kitchen. Fenris closed and locked the door behind him. Double checking to make sure that they were not being followed. Then moved to the kitchen.

"Should not your daughter tell me?" The look the mother gave him took him by surprise. In all the years that Fenris had known the family never never had Leandra Hawke showed a face so twisted with hate. It was something that Hawke herself would have teased him over when he spoke of Danarius. What did this Templar do to his Hawke.

The milk tea that Fenris has seen Leandra give Hawke was laced with Elfroot and a single bud of deathroot. Not even the most skilled herbologist could brew something that did not kill using deathroot yet here it was a sleeping tea.

"You are as talented as your daughter. I am surprised that Elegant hasn't tried to hire you. You could make a fortune with that." Fenris said after he carried his Hawke to her bed chambers.

"Leave your flattery for my daughter." Leandra sat at the table across from him. "Fenris I know that Alexa loves you a great deal and I am happy to welcome you into the family. There is something that you should know. This is something that my daughter would never tell you herself."

"Go ahead." Fenris stiffened.

"Four years before Malcolm was taken from us the Cullen family came to Lothering. There was just Ser Thomas, Adrianna and Alexander. Thomas was a Templar in training stationed in town to complete his training. Malcolm thought it great sport to befriend a Templar."

"That sounds very like Hawke." Fenris smirked. Leandra smiled. "I would have liked to meet her father. I think i would have liked him."

"He would have hated you. At that time he would have done anything for his children. However giving Alexa up to a man that wasn't himself was unthinkable. She was Daddy's little mage girl. Then Alexa got pregnant by Alexander."