This was the first drabble I ever wrote for the fandom, shortly after DA2 was released and I was still on my first playthrough of Awakening as well. And my love for this pairing has continued to grow ever since. This wasn't actually a normal prompt-fest entry, but part of a game called When Nouns Verb.
When Nathaniel Gets Married
It was a far cry from anything he'd ever imagined his life would become, even when he'd still been young and foolish enough to believe in things such as dreams. Not that he'd ever had any great aspirations, mind, being the youngest son of an Arl and spending more years in the Free Marches than on any lands actually held by his family. Any dreams he might have entertained surely had been dashed with his father's treachery and execution.
At least, with the Grey Wardens, one's family or birthright meant little to most. They were alike, connected by a darker secret than anyone outside of their order knew. The Joining was a death sentence, to be sure; you either died as the darkspawn blood entered your system or you had approximately thirty years to find your death fighting the foul creatures before the Taint truly took its hold. Maker's breath though, it looked like he'd not be alone for what time he had left.
Nathaniel had sometimes wondered how he'd ended up where he was, if the Maker hadn't had a hand in it all along. After the years of darkspawn dreams, of trying to prove to himself that he was more than the sum of his father's deeds, who else but the Maker could have led him to her? He'd been waiting at the docks in Amaranthine six years ago to greet Stroud's ship when he'd seen her step off, her white knuckled grip on her mage staff the only thing keeping her upright until he could reach her to offer a steady arm.
Bethany smiled brightly up at him now, her amber colored eyes so much brighter than the haunted, sleepless ones that had first turned his way. They'd both come a long way in those years and the trials that had come with them. He squeezed her hands gently in his as he repeated the simple vows, only vaguely aware of the look in her sister's eyes that promised he'd best be holding to them or she'd know why.
He didn't wait for the cleric to pronounce them husband and wife before he'd pulled Bethany into his arms and sealed his promises with a kiss. They might not have a normal lifetime together, probably would never be able to have children, not with the Taint that coursed through their veins. But if the Maker willed it, they'd take that last journey together.