Standard Disclaimer: Bioware owns all, except the insanity inside my head!

Thank you to the good people at Bioware for such an awesome game that has inspired so many people to put down the game and take up the quill and paper, er, I mean, computer and word processing software! This has been sitting on my hard drive for at least 7 months now (along with about 5 others). Finally decided to share.

Thank you for taking the time to read. If you like, please leave a review, they are greatly appreciated.

Ryder Cousland snuggled closer into the warmth of the man sleeping beside her. At least now he actually slept. At first he'd just dozed in that twilight between wakefulness and sleep. It had taken several months of traveling together and fighting as a team to gain enough trust so that he now actually slept.

Trust was something she herself had a hard time giving, so she hadn't pressed him, only tried to keep the group focused on the main goal, killing darkspawn. The more they bonded against a common enemy, the less they might backstab each other. Of course Alistair and Morrigan constantly snipped at each other and Sten always challenged her authority and decisions. Alistair was often unhappy with her choices, and no one seemed to trust the assassin, well almost on one. Ser Pickles had liked him from the first, and that had been enough for her. She often trusted the mabari war hound's character judgment over her own.

The more she talked to him, the more she was amazed that he could trust anyone at all. Given his background it was a miracle he'd even survived his childhood, let alone survived the Crow's inhuman torture, so prettily dressed up as "training". Sometimes she wanted to hunt them down, the ones who'd tried to destroy his soul, and unleash hell on them. One day she just might…

"More nightmares, my dear?" a sleepy voice warmed her ear where his lips pressed softly against her skin. "You are suddenly so tense, so full of anger…" Callused fingers stroked her shoulder and arm, moving up to thread through her hair.

"No, just adding to my list of people who need assassinating," she replied, already feeling the tension flow out of her.

"It would seem I have created a monster, yes? Who now had angered you enough to earn a place on this list of death you carry close to your heart?"

"If I tell you, you'll probably get all weirded out, so…"

"Oh, now you've aroused my curiosity," he sighed into her hair, raising his head up to gaze down at her with sleepy amber eyes.

"That's not all that's aroused," she replied, turning to face him and pressing butterfly kisses along his jaw. At the junction of her thighs the evidence of his arousal teased her, and she slid a pale, silken leg up over his hip, pulling him closer to the proof of her desire….

As he pushed slowly into her waiting heat, she sighed and squirmed to get closed, to become filled with him, one with him.

Her lips found his for a slow, unhurried sip, then moved to gently nibble and suck on a tender earlobe, a tongue tracing the shell of a sensitive ear. She was rewarded with an earthy growl as he rolled over and settled between her open thighs, still buried in her slick heat.

Maker, how she loved it, the weight, the feel of his body pressing down on her. She wrapped her long legs around his slender waist and arched to take his thrusts deeper. Ryder moaned as his thrust picked up pace and strength, soon crying out as his hips pounded into her.

Her lover leaned down close, wrapping his arms around her, and with the lithe dexterity of a master rogue and the practiced ease of a move done over and over again, he quickly rolled them over so that she was now on top. She squeezed his hips between her thighs as she began to move.

A full moon outside illuminated the space inside with a gentle glow and Rider couldn't help but gaze at his beautiful face as she rocked up and down on his thick cock. His fingers dug into the flesh of her hips as he gripped her and sought to seat himself deeper in her slickness. She traced the tattoo on a cheek with a slender finger before moving her hand to his muscled chest, teasing a taut nipple.

Ryder clinched her muscles as she moved up and down, and undulated back and forth. He pulled her down, crushing her to him, his mouth devouring her as he continued thrusting upward. Ryder pulled her lips away and traced the tattoo on his check with her tongue. She feathered kisses over his face and jaw line to an ear. That always got her delicious little moans and gasps as she licked, sucked and nibbled her way.

"You know what I want," she breathed into his mouth, slipping away to get on her hands and knees. He moved behind her and slid home, grabbing her shoulders to pull her upright. His lips found the pulse at her throat and he sucked the flesh as he hammered into her. Calloused hands palmed aching, heavy breasts, lovingly playing with nipples puckered with desire. One hand descended lower, over a taught flat belly to slip between the silken folds of her sex, finding the hidden jewel nestled there. Expert fingers stroked and caressed the tight bud. Ryder threw her head back, her breath coming in short little gasps and moans as she came undone, shudders coursing through her body as he took her to completion. He turned her face to his and their breath became one as he empted himself into her.

In a tangle of sweat slicked limbs and sated bodies, Ryder snuggled closer to the man she'd come to care too much for. He'd come to mean everything to her. It was dangerous, this feeling. Did she love him? Is this what love felt like? She had so many unnamed feelings… She only knew that with him she felt whole, complete.