So for this one I got to thinking about how I'm playing Cara (which I'm seriously starting to think I need to flesh out for readers, but I digress). Basically, Cara is a person who was promised to the Chantry at an early age and given no options. So I thought that if that was the case, how would she react to a family member showing up, even if it was one she liked? My answer is this chapter. It's a little angst and a little fluff with some Cullen romance thrown in. :) Hope you all like it!

Cara had gotten Darin situated in one of the guest rooms shortly after dinner. He didn't want to admit it, but after nearly a month of worrying and travelling, he was exhausted. She had shown him Skyhold and introduced him to everyone. He had marveled at the size of the keep, the architecture, their forces, even their garden. At his insistence, she had also shown him her daggers and armor. It took her a while to convince him that she did indeed fight demons and other enemies herself rather than just sitting on a throne all day.

She was delighted to have her brother here, especially since it was Darin. They had two older siblings, but the four of them had never really gotten along very well, probably because Myra and Timothy were not only twins, but eight years older than Darin. There was just over a year between the younger siblings. She would have been much less pleased to see one of the twins show up at Skyhold, though they never would have appeared like Darin had. While it was great, though, she couldn't ignore the constant memories of her life in Ostwick cropping up since he had arrived that afternoon. She had been a very different person before the Inquisition and she had no desire to return to that life, but it almost felt like the back of her mind was trying to pull her there. She felt like she needed someone who knew her well to pull her back, to remind her of who she was as the Inquisitor. Before she had even realized she was walking in that direction, she stood in front of Cullen's door.

She had finally worked up the nerve to admit her feelings for him just before going to the Winter Palace. She was astonished that he didn't laugh in her face. In fairness, she knew he never would have done that; he wasn't cruel. But it had still terrified her to do it, particularly when she had automatically resorted to sarcasm and accidentally embarrassed him. But now that it was in the open, they had spent nearly every evening together playing chess, working, or just talking. It had been wonderful. She knocked softly on his door and opened it a bit to peer in. She wanted to talk, but didn't want to interrupt something important.

"Inquisitor!" he said sounding surprised. He was sitting at his desk holding some report or another and looking for all the world like he would rather be fighting a dragon.

"Am I interrupting anything?" she asked, silently praying the answer would be no.

"Not at all. I've all but given up on reading these at the moment." He gestured to the report he had been holding as he stood up. "I've read this one three times now and I swear I still don't know what it's about." He walked to the other side of the room to move a chair closer to his as she entered the office and softly closed the door behind her. "I confess, I wasn't sure if you would visit tonight with all the excitement."

"I practically had to force Darin into one of the guest rooms. He was exhausted, but refused to stop following me like a lost puppy!" She chuckled at the sight of her half pushing her older brother into a room, threatening to lock it if he didn't obey. "I am sorry you got caught up in all of that, by the way. That was…not the most ideal way for a family member to visit Skyhold. Or to meet the man I care about, come to think of it. Though he doesn't know about that yet." Cullen chuckled as they both took their seats.

"Yes, this has definitely been a memorable day. Let's hope we don't have more of your family showing up the same way."

"At least the rest of my family knows I'm the Inquisitor!" She pursed her lips. "I think… I still can't quite figure out how Darin managed to miss it. You would think someone would have mentioned my name around him!"

"One would have thought," he agreed. Sitting across from her now, he finally realized what it was that had seemed familiar to him about Darin at first. They had a similar smirk. He hated that he hadn't noticed it sooner, but it wasn't like he had expected a random prisoner to be related to the Inquisitor.

Cara was smiling, but Cullen noticed it wasn't quite hitting her eyes. Since she started letting her guard down around him more and more, he began to notice that her brilliant green eyes were actually quite expressive. He could tell something was bothering her, even though she was acting like everything was normal. Her chair was positioned near the corner of his desk, about as close to him as the masses of books would allow. Neither of them typically minded where their chairs were, but now he tried to scoot his chair just a little closer.

"You don't seem altogether present tonight. Is something wrong?" He was close enough that he could take her hand in both of his, rubbing the back with a gloved thumb. She smiled at him.

"Can you read everyone as easily as you do me?" Cullen scoffed at the thought.

"I wish. I couldn't always read you, but I'm getting better." He smirked at her with that devilish grin of his. Cara sighed.

"I…I love my brother dearly. I really do and it's thrilling that he's here. I'm just having conflicting reactions on the matter, I suppose. I'll figure it out." She looked up to smile at him again, though it still didn't reach her eyes. She had wanted to talk to him, but sitting here now, she had no idea what to say.

"Tell me about him." She looked down at their joined hands with a sad grin on her face.

"We were really close growing up. We had two older siblings, but Darin and I never got along with them very well. We tended to stick by each other. And we were thick as thieves most of the time. Always up to something." Her smile was much more earnest now. "We found this one spot in the manor where no one could find us. Just a little hole leading into a large enough space for the two of us. We use to climb back into this hole and laugh as the whole house searched for us for hours. Thinking back on it, we were absolutely terrible!" Cullen laughed as he imagined the Herald of Andraste, the Inquisitor hiding in a wide spot in the house laughing while people searched.

"When we started to grow up, though, reality began taking hold. He started training to help father's business and I had to start my studies for the Chantry. After that we just kind of drifted apart. We were still close, but it wasn't quite the same anymore. Having him here now almost makes me feel like a kid again, but…"

"But?" She refused to look him in the eye.

"But it also keeps reminding me of Ostwick. Not the child with a rotten streak; after that. I wasn't the same person. After my mother practically guilted me into studying and going to the Chantry and all of that, I guess I kind of withdrew from the world. I don't know how to put it better. I didn't see my friends, I didn't do the things I used to consider fun, I spoke remarkably little. I just put up this impenetrable wall so no one would see how insane my life was making me. I don't mean to sound like Ostwick was a terrible place; it wasn't by any means. I just never had any options and having a life you don't want forced onto you isn't easy. Before all of this started, I wouldn't have made the friends I have. I barely had the confidence to keep myself going in the beginning. I never would have dreamed a year ago I would be here…" She paused and finally looked up at him, reaching up to touch his cheek with her free hand. "And I certainly never imagined I would have found you." They enjoyed the gesture for a moment before she continued. "It just feels like part of me is trying to drag myself back to where it thinks I'm supposed to be with family around, like it's trying desperately to convince me all of this is a dream." She sighed heavily, dropping her head almost into her lap. Then she groaned in frustration. "This isn't making any sense, is it?"

"You're family really gets under your skin, doesn't it?" She nodded slightly. "That makes sense to me. Up until now, you're family has been far away, now they're here. Well, one of them anyway. You're having a hard time being Inquisitor Cara Trevelyan instead of someone who had no way out of a life they didn't want." She had told him before about being forced to join the Chantry simply because she was the youngest, not wanting to but not finding a way out, and having to completely change who she was for her familial expectations. The story still made him sad.

"I could almost feel myself regressing into that more and more as the day went on. I couldn't help it. I know I'm not that person anymore. You've all helped break through that wall I put up. But I still feel like I need to be reminded of who I really am before my insecurities plummet me into an abyss that shouldn't exist." Cullen grinned, though Cara didn't see it.

"That I can help with, my lady," he said lightheartedly as he pulled her out of her seat and onto his lap. It was probably the most forward thing either of them had done since their kiss on the battlements and she gasped in surprise. He held her chin, forcing her to look him in the eye. "You are the leader of the Inquisition, a group of men and women who would follow you to the Fade and back. And trust me, they would fully believe you would return with as many of them as humanly possible. You are the woman who chose to stay behind to start an avalanche to stop a dragon so that others could escape, knowing full well you may not survive the encounter. You are the center of the most ridiculous group of friends who ever assembled which would fall apart without you, but would do anything in the world for you. You are kind, fun, loving, and your smile can light up an entire room." She laughed, earnestly this time.

"Now you're just flattering me!"

"I'm serious, Cara." And he was. Perhaps it was flattery, but it was also the Maker's truth. "You walk into horrible situations and make decisions no one should ever have had to make, and you keep going. You help people, no matter how they need help. You've pulled all of us back from our own brinks at one time or another. You always listen, no matter how much you may not want to. You are the woman I care about more than I can say. And none of us would be here without you. That's who you are, Cara Trevelyan." Cara's smile had disappeared and she just stared at him, mouth slightly open.

She didn't know what to say. She tried speaking a couple of times, but nothing she could think of even remotely approached what she truly wanted to express. It faintly looked as though Cullen was growing concerned over her silence, but he held her gaze. She could see how serious he was, how much he had meant every word he said. When she came to him, when she chose him to bring her back to reality, she had never expected that kind of outpouring. She wasn't very experienced, but since her words were failing her, she simply held his face in her hands and pressed her lips to his. It felt nearly as abrupt as their first kiss had been, and she typically wasn't so forward. She kissed him more passionately than she ever had, hoping that he could tell just how much his words had meant to her, hoping that he could see this was more expressive than her words could have been. She didn't kiss him for very long, but when she pulled away, the look in his eyes told her that he had understood. They were still very close and Cara allowed one hand to drop to the fur on his shoulders, keeping the other on his cheek and moving her thumb gently.

"I don't know what I'd do without you," she said at last. "I think that was the kindest and most heartfelt thing anyone has ever said to me." He snaked his arms around her waist and hugged her close.

"Remember that the next time you feel yourself slipping," he said into her hair. "You aren't that girl anymore and you never will be again. You may have been thrown into this life of chaos, but it's made you who you are." They remained there for a while, both caught up in the moment and the sudden realization of exactly what they meant to each other. Finally Cara sat up and returned to her seat with a real smile.

"Now then, how about I beat you in a game of chess?"