Warnings: HawkexHawke smut. HawkexHawke Lemons. Moderate Violence. Mild Gore. Some self-hate sooooo yeah I think that's all the warnings.
Chapter 4 :Two Birds, One Stone Bath
(Yes I can keep up these ridiculously cheesy titles. Try me)
Bethany could still feel her heart thrumming in her chest.
The whole night had been an adrenaline rush thanks to Garrett and now she had no idea how to wind down.
She had mere minutes before her brother would return and likely stir her up again just with his presence. She needed to find a distraction if she was to ever return to bed.
Looking out her bedroom window on a stroke of luck she found her solution. The rain that poured and the droplets that raced down the glass gave her the epiphany.
It was time for a bath.
The two men walked in silence to the elf's mansion.
Hawke was fighting with the thoughts in his head. That kiss and Bethany's sweet taste replaying in his mind. He hardly noticed the elf standing at his side stealing his excess body heat. Bethany had made him a little warmer than he should be apparently.
"You haven't visited in a while Hawke." Fenris said so solemnly as if he too had felt the loss of a loved one. Leandra had been close to the elf, but it was obvious Fenris was grieving over just losing Hawke.
"I've been taking care of Bethany." Hawke cast his eyes to the floor as he thought about his sister. He was momentarily bemused by the fact that he brought her up in almost every conversation now. She was one of the few constants in his life after all. Arguably the only constant. It was no wonder…
No. He still wondered what had him thinking about her so impurely. Still wondered why that kiss still lingered and sizzled through his system. Still wondered why she hadn't pushed him away.
Fenris blushed at the memory of the shared moment between the Hawke's. He had caught them just outside the bedroom door. Fenris knew better than to think what they had shared was innocent. Even as an outsider knowing only bits about their relationship he sensed a long, intense history behind the goodnight kisses they shared.
He knew they had something. "She did look well taken care of."
"The Wardens kept her strong didn't they?" Hawke muffled his words. Because once again he found his mind was drifting back to Bethany. Only now he was thinking of her perfectly sculpted figure. It had always been an eyeful, everything perfectly proportioned, but now her body was defined and adult. Thanks to the wardens exercises no doubt.
Fenris noticed the stammer as he led Hawke into his house and guided him to the larder. "Hawke you are the one that has been taking care of her. The Wardens merely brought her to the right happy place."
Fenris had no idea why he was instigating this. Pushing this relationship, but he was. If it meant Garrett's happiness then so be it. "She was smiling…you did that."
Hawke pulled out of his thoughts at the vivid words. They moved him. Made him remember his influence over Bethany. And his responsibility to keep her happy and safe. Hawke whistled for his hound and the beast came storming by. Darting towards him. Shadow had missed his master. "It's easy to make Bethany smile. It's the way she is."
Fenris remembered the woman differently. "No. Hawke. Only you have had that affect on her. If you don't believe me go and see for yourself." Fenris tried to be helpful. Literally nudging Hawke out of the door. A part of him desperately wanting to pull him back instead, while the other part yearned for the brute's happiness.
"I don't have any jokes to crack with her right now Fenris. How am I supposed to make her smile?" Hawke asked concerned about what his friend might be suggesting. More concerned that his best friend might know about his feelings.
Fenris grinned and shoved Hawke out of the door. " Improvise!" He yelled before slamming the door so Hawke couldn't retreat back to the safe zone of the mansion. He'd be forced to face Bethany now.
And the thought that Hawke just might get his deserved happiness tonight put Fenris at peace. That and the mabari now out of his larder allowed him to finally settle down into bed.
The bubbles multiplied as Bethany emptied the oils into the bath. A whole bottle of the stuff all for her pleasure. Because tonight was a night of indulgences after all.
She let the water sit for a bit to cool down. She had heated it with magic after all and those spells were meant for defense. She could only imagine the water was boiling. She took the cool down time to prepare her clothes and lotions.
One of the lotions was in the vanity. The treacherous vanity. As hard as she tried she still managed to meet her reflection despite all dodging maneuvers.
It was happening again. The downhill spiral of depression that always happened the moment she looked in a mirror.
It began with the shakes. She felt cold all over even with her bath robe and slippers on.
She saw her eyes. The color so close to Lyrium it reminded her of how much of a mage she was.
A mage.
The ugliest thing in Thedas.
Her hair so bold in color and curly it was wild. Exactly what they thought of her.
A wild beast they wanted to take down.
This wasn't good. Usually her mother would comfort her when she felt this low. But right now no one was there. The tears were starting and the self hatred. The suicidal thoughts.
She started to claw at her skin. Hoping to scratch off the ugly. More tears poured and her vision started to blur from the excess crying.
A pocket knife that she carried around for extra protection was suddenly being clutched by her hand. And blood was oozing out from her wrists and arm. She hadn't remembered when she cut herself. She only knew she wasn't stopping
It was at that instant that Garrett found her.
She only knew this because she felt his familiar warmth surround her as he wrapped his forearms around her and attempted to stop her.
She started to struggle because she wanted him to leave. To stop intervening. She needed to punish herself.
Garrett had to clasp her wrists together in his palm and grab the weapon. He threw it to the floor.
"Bethany. Please don't. "
His voice was so soft and calm she instantly mellowed. Going still in his embrace.
Her head sunk in defeat and Garrett tried to catch his breath. All of the wrestling and touching and fear had him gasping. And she felt every hitch in breath against her ear making her hands itch for him.
She let out a weak sob. Feeling more helpless now with him there. She hated that of all the people he had to see her at her worst. It's why she couldn't meet his eyes. She was fearful of what he would think.
But Garrett wasn't having that.
He had to think quickly. He took off his shirt and wrapped it around her wound.
She was hazy from the loss of blood but she could still make out his perfectly sculpted chest through her blurry eyes.
The loss of blood also had her losing her senses. She wasn't thinking about consequences when her hand reached up to touch his bare chest and press her palm to his skin. Absorbing his warmth and letting the thump of his heart calm her.
"You saved me…again." Bethany felt his warm fingers touch her arm and it made her just melt despite being on the cold tile of the bathroom floor.
He could hardly concentrate on the bandage when she looked at him like that.
Knowing she was naked under her robe also made him struggle. When it shouldn't. It was all he could think about.
"It was nothing. You're my sister. " He was reminding her as much as he was reminding himself when her robe slipped off her shoulders from gravity as he had been messing with the sleeve.
She gasped for him when she saw his eyes travel. No matter what cautious, brotherly words he said she saw he was interested in those eyes.
Boldly she cupped his cheek an in so doing turned his face to meet her eyes directly. The pain in her arm not noticeable now.
"It was everything, brother. " At this point she just couldn't care for their shared blood anymore. He was the only man who treated her this way. Who made her feel this way. Who saved her. Who accepted her.
"You still haven't explained to me why you thought this was okay." Garrett said almost angry that she was prolonging his torture.
"I-I ummm" She was nervous. How could she tell him? It would be embarrassing to have a sister that tried to commit suicide.
"Do you know how much it worries me that you would do this to yourself? When you hurt yourself Bethany it hurts me. Do you understand?" He was entirely sincere. She could see that with the way his eyes grew watery. With the way his thumb pad stroked over her skin and the bandage.
"Do you think you don't matter Bethany? Do you think you aren't worthy to be alive in Thedas?" Garrett sighed again and leaned down to kiss her forehead.
"Do you think you aren't loved?"
The way he felt so close to her she already knew the answer.
"I think I'm ugly and no one other than my brother will ever love me." She turned away from his face as if she was angry at him for not being another man. He just had to be her brother didn't he?
"Wrong on both accounts." Improvising like Fenris had said Hawke turned her face back to meet his. "You are gorgeous and what is so wrong about just your brother loving you hmmm? Am I not enough? "
"Brother you cant give me what I need." Her hand touched his bare chest as if to explain without words what exactly she needed.
Garrett took her words as a challenge and wrapped his hand around hers on his chest. Interlocking their fingers.
"Name one thing you need that I can't give you." He tested her trying to prove his loyalty and devotion. He would take care of her until the end of time. She was all he had left.
"A bath." She answered so quickly that Hawke was taken aback. She had to have been thinking about it for some time.
He swallowed. Scared of his own challenge.
"See I told you, you can't give me everything." The defeated look on her face had Garrett gathering his courage.
"I can't give you a bath when you are dressed."
His words were so quiet Bethany half suspected she had imagined them. When she realized he was staring at her for an answer she blushed hotly. It had not been her imagination.
Before the opportunity slipped away she put her hands on her robe string. "I can rectify that."
She stood on her knees in front of him so that when the robe officially opened he was in eyeshot of her breasts. She wanted to seduce him into the bath with her.
It was working he was staring open mouthed. Deathly still even as she leaned over him a little to pull the sleeves off of her arms from behind her. He could not escape her womanly smell and that was her plan.
She looked down at him and noticed instantly that his eyes were trailing lower. Now the blush was spreading all over her body.
"You also can't give me a bath when you are dressed." She whispered as her hands went to his striped trousers. The moment she touched his lower abdomen he grabbed onto her left breast.
She gasped outmatched her hands went weak and forgot their mission. They fell to his thighs while he worked her nipple and began to stand up.
"I can rectify that myself sister." When they both finally stood up from the ground he started to remove his trousers with just one hand. The other was too preoccupied with feeling up her breast.
It helped that her body was sculpted like an angel's. Made him feel like the luckiest man on Earth. less guilty and more excited. He backed her up as he walked forward. Until the backs of her knees hit the tub and his hand was covering her stomach. Naked now they both looked at each other.
Bethany had her hands clenched around the edge of the tub. When Garrett stepped closer she turned her head to the side. He took the opportunity to graze his hand around her neck and into her hair.
If there was ever a time for them to kiss it was to be now. Bethany made it happen. Her last final attempt to seduce him to do more than just wash up. She surprised herself and him when she pulled him down by the shoulders and crushed his lips to hers. So urgently he found he was tilting into her and that her body was leaning back into the bath.
She turned to straddle the edge of the bath and then completely lifted her other leg into the water when she felt him sink into the kiss. She started to pull him in. He followed willingly. Their hands everywhere on the other's body until they were both in the water hidden by bubbles and steam.
She lost Garrett for a second behind the steam and her hazy lust-filled eyes. Then she felt him behind her tickling her neck with soft nibbles and long sucks at her jugular. She moaned so loud from feeling his whole body flush to her back that she felt the echo reverberate through his body. He smiled against her neck as he heard her. His hand rubbing her arms and waist with the bubbles to clean her. His legs wrapped around hers. She was sitting in his lap and she felt everything.
Giddy beyond imagination she reached her arm behind her. Holding his neck and pressing his head closer so he could kiss harder. She wanted marks to remind her that this was not a dream tomorrow.
When his travelling hands found her core she knew for a fact she was awake. She had never felt such a heat pool over her. His index finger went down to her curls and she lost herself in bliss.
I'm gonna have to end the chapter here. Because the next part is going to need its own chapter and I didn't want to drone on and on. Hope you all enjoyed and I apologize for the wait. Please tell me your thoughts. Any comments or suggestions maybe even critiques. I do take them seriously so please don't be afraid. Love you guys and hope to see you next time.