Early Saturday morning, there was a knock at the door, and Cassandra turned over, waiting for Varric to answer before she remembered Varric had gone out the night before. Whoever it was knocked again, and Cassandra cursed fluently before dragging herself out of bed, grabbing her robe on her way to the door. Halfway to the front door, the knock came again, rapidly, insistently.

Whatever Cassandra was about to say, she swallowed in favour of staring.

Varric was leaning heavily on the arm of a redheaded woman Cassandra vaguely recognized.

"Is that blood, Varric?" Cassandra said, eyes narrowed at the splatter of red across Varric's collar.

"Morning, Seeker." Varric said, attempting a small smile which reopened the cut in his lower lip.

Smoothly moving out of the way, Cassandra ushered them in and walked slowly to the bathroom to get their first aid kit. As the mirrored cabinet swung open, Cassandra caught a glimpse of her face, pale and strained.

"Aveline. I'm fine, stop fussing." Varric's voice floated in from down the hall.

"You are not fine! I can't believe you wound up-" Aveline stood up and clamped her mouth shut, as Cassandra entered the living room. "Aveline. Pleasure to meet you."

"Cassandra." Shaking the woman's outstretched hand, Cassandra shot her roommate a look. Varric looked ready to interject with her middle names, and despite his impressive black eye, and the blood dribbling from the cut on his lip, Cassandra wasn't prepared to give him any slack.

"I feel like letting you two meet was a bad idea." Varric said from the couch.

"You should've thought about that before you wound up in a bar fight, Varric." Aveline said. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"Not the face, not the face?" Varric smiled, and winced as both women turned to glare at him.

Cassandra dropped the first aid kit in Varric's lap.

"I have to get back to work," Aveline said, sending an annoyed look at Varric. "Sorry for waking you up."

"Love you too, Red." Varric waved from the couch.

Aveline studied Cassandra for a moment, then smiled. "Aveline Vallen, Staff Sergeant, 14 division. Let me give you my number and my sympathies for having Varric as a roommate."

"Cassandra Pentaghast. Detective, 52 division. I appreciate the sympathy." Cassandra said, smiling.

From the couch, Varric groaned. "This was definitely a bad idea."

"Staff Sergeant… Aveline. He wasn't booked?" Cassandra asked, in a low voice.

"No, showed up at the station with a black eye, bloody nose, a split lip, and a box of doughnuts, the ass." Aveline rolled her eyes.

Cassandra sent Varric a dark look which he pretended to ignore, and let Aveline out of the apartment.

Standing in the hallway, Cassandra watched Varric fumble open the first aid kit, and almost went back to bed. In the washed out early morning light, Varric looked terrible. Blood had dried in his stubble, on the collar of his usually impeccable shirt, and the black eye emphasized the shadows under the other eye. Red marks of fading injuries marred Varric's cheeks, and Cassandra's eye kept catching on his split lip.

"You're an idiot." Stalking back to the couch, Cassandra sat down next to Varric and flipped the lid of the first aid kit open.

"Not going to ask what happened, Seeker?" Varric drawled. Under the mint of his breath was the hint of old beer.

"I know what happened, Varric." Sorting through the kit's contents, Cassandra shot Varric a dark look. "You lost a bar fight."

"Not necessarily true. I could've won a bar fight."

"No one wins a bar fight, Varric." Cassandra said, "Stay there."

Standing, Cassandra paced into the kitchen, washed her shaking hands in the sink, and dried them on a clean towel before filling a bowl with warm water and arming herself with paper towels. Rejoining Varric in the living room, Cassandra sat down next to him and set the bowl in his hands.

"Aveline already-" Varric stopped talking at the dark look Cassandra sent him. "Never picked you for the Florence Nightingale type, Seeker."

"Never thought you were the type to start bar fights, Varric." Cassandra said sharply.

Any further smart remarks Varric might have made were stopped short when Cassandra pressed a warm, wet paper towel against his split lip. It stung like hell, but Cassandra's fingers were soft and warm against his jaw.

Cassandra tilted Varric's face towards the light, examining the cut across his lip. "It should be fine. Try not to smile. As for the rest…"

Light caught against the red gold stubble on Varric's cheek, while his stubble prickled her fingers, Varric's skin was warm. Whoever he'd been fighting with had hit hard, Cassandra thought, angrily.

Leaning in closer, Cassandra scrubbed dried blood from behind Varric's ear.

"Did you take a hit to the head?"

"Seeker, look at me. I took a few hits to the head," Varric laughed grimly.

Face screwed up into an angry frown, Cassandra slid her fingers into Varric's hair searching for any injuries.

Varric let out a sharp hiss as Cassandra's fingers found a scab.

"There does not seem to be anything beyond a lump and a scab, Varric," Cassandra said softly, smoothing Varric's hair back down. It was soft under her fingers, silky. Sitting so close to one another, Cassandra noticed that his eyelashes were ginger too, and the beginnings of crows feet sketched in around his eyes. His left eye was swollen almost shut, the bruise already turning an ugly purple green.

With more gentleness than she felt, Cassandra rinsed the small cuts on Varric's face, dried them, and spread a thin layer of antibiotic cream on them.

"That's everything," Cassandra said lowly, examining Varric's face to make sure she'd not missed anything. Varric's leg was pressed against hers, and her hand still rested on his shoulder. Which had seemed impersonal when she'd been treating him, but now…

Varric offered her a small half smile, and Cassandra's heart fluttered ever so slightly.

"There's ice in the freezer for your eye." Cassandra said roughly, repacking the first aid kit. "I'm going back to bed."

Varric's guts churned in a way that had nothing to do with overindulging in alcohol. "Working tonight, Seeker?" he asked.

Cassandra looked tired, her eyes half open. Standing, she grunted assent, and made her way to the hallway, staggering slightly.

The door to her bedroom slammed shut, the noise echoing through the empty apartment and sending a shock of pain through Varric's aching head.

"Fuck," Varric said into the silence, grimacing.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Cassandra splashed water on her face in the station's bathroom, and frowned at herself. Shadows under her eyes, sallow looking skin, unimproved by the bathroom's yellow lighting. At least her shift was almost over. Making a pit stop by the Youth Bureau's somewhat illegal coffeemaker, Cassandra promised to bring them doughnuts the next day in return.

The Youth Bureau's jet fuel left a sour taste in Cassandra's mouth, but it livened her up enough that she finished her work on time. The second Cassandra's shift was done, she dragged herself up from her desk, and went through her end of shift routine on autopilot.

Thankfully the drive home was easy, the late hour meant few drivers were on the road. Something for which Cassandra was profoundly grateful.

Leaning against the cold metal of the elevator, Cassandra watched the floor numbers tick upwards, almost hypnotized by the changing numbers. When the door pinged, Cassandra stared blankly for a moment before realizing she was at her floor.

"Shit," Cassandra muttered, adjusting the strap of her bag and thinking longingly of a warm shower and her bed. Maybe a cup of tea, and a sandwich if she could stay awake long enough.

Pausing in door, Cassandra stared at the dark, empty livingroom. Not even the kitchen light was on. Varric was asleep, then. Probably still sleeping off the excitement and excess of the night before, Cassandra thought wryly.

Heaving a sigh, Cassandra padded down the hallway towards her bedroom. A strip of light glowed beneath Varric's door. Hesitating in front of it, Cassandra found herself debating whether to knock. To see if he'd recovered from his fight, she told herself.

Before she could talk herself out of it, Cassandra knocked on Varric's door.

"He's probably asleep, or listening to music, or something," Cassandra muttered, about to turn away.

"Seeker?" Varric's door opened, and Cassandra forgot what she'd been about to ask.

There was quite a bit of broad, well muscled, hairy chest on display.

"You are well, Varric? I hope I didn't wake you," Cassandra said, pulling her gaze away from her roommate's chest.

"Nah, I was up writing. Do a lot of my best work at night," Varric shrugged, closing the robe he was wearing over a pair of pyjama pants.

"And yeah, I'm fine more or less," Varric said, waving at his black eye, "Thanks again, Seeker."

"It was nothing," Cassandra said, sleepily, "Try not to get in any more fights when I'm working."

"I promise to only get my ass kicked on your days off, Seeker," Varric said with a grin.

"Good," Cassandra murmured, "I'll… I'm going to bed. Good night, Varric."

Offering Varric a sleepy smile, Cassandra turned and unlocked her own door, unaware of her roommate's soft expression as he watched her stagger into her bedroom.