They stay that way for a moment, entwined around each other in the darkness. Their exhaustion is complete now, there is no reserve left to draw from as they both wearily rest their heads on each other shoulders, each of them unwilling, for the moment, to leave this dark sanctuary that is providing them temporary shelter from the accusations and recriminations they know will await them both beyond these walls.

She knows she cannot forgive him this easily, that once they leave this place her mind will start fighting again with her heart and they both will be caught up in the battle of it. She tries desperately to save this memory, to tuck it safely away in the back of her mind. As she closes her eyes she concentrates on how warm his body is as he presses up against her, the smell that is uniquely him, the way the black feathers on his pauldrons tickle her nose as her head lays on his shoulder, his soft breathing in her ear as he buries his face in her hair, taking in the scent of her.

Their reverie is suddenly shattered as a thunderous pounding starts on the closed door to the pantry and instantly they push away from each other and grab their weapons from the floor nearby, tensing for the rush of Templars that their minds are imagining on the other side of the door.

"Hawke, are you ok in there?" A concerned but muffled voice calls through the thick wood.

They both relax slightly as they recognize the voice as Varric's. "I will kill him myself if that damn mage is upsetting you. Hawke sees the quick look of pain in Anders' eyes as his mind registers the fact that he has lost the privilege of his special nickname from the dwarf.

"I'm fine, just give us a minute more please" Hawke answers as both she and Anders fumble for the rest of their hastily discarded items. They just finish with the last buckle on Hawke's greaves as the heavy door thumps back in its frame. "Andraste's ass what the hell is going on in here?" Varric shouts as he looks down at all of the broken jars and ruined food on the floor and then glances up to take in the slightly guilty look on both of their faces.

"Hawke, you can finish killing him later, we need to go now!"

"I think we should stay here until nightfall" she counters. The dwarves eyes grow wide as he fires back at her "Are you insane, Hawke? The Templars will come looking for us here and although Bianca is always itching for someone to shoot we can't fight them all off"

"No, no insanity today, but ask me that again in a month, I might have a different answer by then"she replies only half joking as she starts pacing around the kitchen, a faint wisp of an idea starting to grow in her head. "Anders, do you still have that key I gave you to the passage beneath the house?"

"Yes, of course" His fingers slip into the pouch at his side and he pulls out the small key. This idea just might work, she thinks to herself. "Bring everything down to the cellars; we are going to wait in that passageway until things have quieted down a bit.

They quickly gather what they can from the house, starting with the big packs of food in the kitchen, adding to it the spare potions and healing poultices Anders had ready for the darktown clinic in his workshop upstairs and a small knapsack of clothes and personal effects Hawke had previously gathered from the bedroom and carry everything down to the secret passageway beneath the house. They have managed all of this in under an hour and still there are no signs of an impending Templar attack. Hawke knows in the mass confusion after the battle there will be delays to regroup but that soon more soldiers will be following their trail to the estate.

They depart to the cellars to await the moment that they will be forced into the passageway, leaving the front door of the estate ajar and quickly giving the main rooms a look of being rifled through in a desperate attempt at subterfuge before they go, hoping that when the Templars finally do arrive they will think that the estate has already been abandoned in their haste to flee Kirkwall and the looters have already begun their work.

Now that the necessities of survival have been secured and they are in the relative safety of the cellar, everyone turns their mind to cleaning up a bit from the battle, having brought a large wooden bucket of well water with them when they retreated to their hiding place for that very purpose. Each of them dampening a large cloth in the bucket and then moving off in a separate direction for a measure of privacy. Aveline and Donnic head around the corner behind a huge wine rack, filled with every dinner and dessert wine imaginable. A clean change of clothes for each of them, provided by Hawke, are slung over their shoulders. They are holding hands and talking softly to each other as they go and for a moment Hawke envies them that closeness before she turns back to the task at hand.

Bodahn had thankfully provided a change of clothes for Varric, although Varric had been complaining loudly to anyone that would listen that his chest hair seemed quite confined in this new shirt, until the problem was quickly solved with a sharp dagger and a thin length of leather.

Hawke wanders off in the other direction, with Anders following behind, and stops behind a large pile of wooden boxes that partially hide them from the others. They quickly strip off their torn and stained clothing to expose a multitude of welts and bruises across both of their bodies, all that remains of their injuries after the battle. As she scrubs at the blood and grime with the wet cloth, wincing slightly as she passes over the deeper bruises, she notices that Anders is definitely not thinking of mere survival as he watches her out of the corner of his eye. She tries to ignore him as she continues her meager ablutions, but she can't as he quickly strides over and gently cups the side of her face in his hand, in almost the same gentle way he had that night when they had first become lovers. "I do love you so very much Hawke" he whispers as his eyes meet hers. He is just parting those full lips to kiss her, and she is almost just to the point where she will let him, when they suddenly hear the entry door far above slam back violently on its hinges as raised voices faintly echo down to them.