They were celebrating at the Gnawed Noble, and Alexa was getting drunk. Not just a little tipsy, but full out drunk. She was keeping pace with Oghran, laughing and grinning with her friends. It had been far too long since all of them were together. Granted they were missing a few people but the only one that she really missed was…

"Alistair!" Zevran's voice piped up.

Through her haze, Alexa narrowed her eyes at the elf. "Stop reading my mind, fiend."

He laughed and shook his head. "Ah but only if I could, mon cher. Perhaps I could keep you as my own. Alas, I will have to give you up to our fair and noble King. Who is right behind you, by the way."

The others greeted Alistair as he looked down, studying the drunken group with a hesitant smile. He didn't want to be the King tonight, he wanted to just be Alistair. Liliana scooted over, making room at their booth for Alistair to sit with them. She tugged at Alexa's sleeve for her to follow suit and the two redheads squeezed together to let the warrior's muscular frame slide in next to them. Behind him, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, stood Captain McNair. He had been given a standing promotion as the new Guard Commander and was so far taking the position very seriously.

"You left without saying good-bye again," Alistair scolded in a low voice, putting his arm possessively around Alexa's shoulders.

She looked at him with the seriousness that only the intoxicated can have, sipping from her own ale. "You didn't stop me from leaving again."

"Is that was I was to do?" he asked, frowning a bit. "I was unaware I was supposed to do that."

"You didn't come after me," Alexa told him. Her party members busied themselves with their drinks and were able to absorb themselves in conversation enough for Alistair and her to have a fair amount of privacy.

"I was supposed to come after you?" the King asked, reaching for Alexa's ale. She looked as if she'd had more than enough and he had the sudden feeling he was entirely too sober for this conversation. Several gulps made the mug's contents disappear and he set the empty glass down on the table.

"You were. You were supposed to take the horn by the bulls. No. Balls. No." Alexa's forehead creased and she shrugged. "You were supposed to come for me. I kept waiting for you."

"And I kept waiting for you, my dear," he responded. "What a pair we are."

Alexa's eyes began to fill. "I'm sorry. I was so stupid."

"Shhh, my love. There is no need to apologize. It is I who should be apologizing to you." He traced his fingers over her jaw. "Sylvia was asking for you tonight. She was very distraught at the idea of you leaving us."

"I'm still here," she protested. "You found me. I made it easy to find me. See? You're a finder person."

"And you're a drunker person."

"It's true," Alexa giggled. Her expression changed as her eyes grew wide. Alistair found it fascinating, watching the emotions play across her smooth skin. "I wouldn't leave her. She wants to be my mom."

"I'm…sorry?"

"Sylvia! She asked if we had been together if that would have made her my mom." Alexa blinked, thinking about what she'd just said. "Her mom. It would have made me her mom."

"And it would have made you my wife," Alistair said.

"I'm a Warden. I can't be a wife."

"It is my understanding that you essentially told the Gray Wardens what they could do with their joining ritual, taint, and themselves once the Blight was over."

"I did! I told them they were nug humpers – "

"Here, here!" Oghran interrupted, cheering her on.

"Yes! And that they could take their blighted blighting Blight and stick it where Andraste couldn't see it." She tried to stand up, raising an arm in victory. Instead she sort of toppled over and half crawled into Alistair's lap. Alexa stilled, very, very close to his face, and studied him intently. "You have the prettiest eyes I have ever seen in my entire life. I think I'm going to be sick."

With reflexes that made the two rogues raise their eyebrows, clearly impressed with him, Alistair got up from the table with the smaller warrior and carried her gently to one of the smaller, private rooms. Ignoring the cheers and jeers, he disappeared into one of them and gently set the redhead down.

Alexa stood on her feet, weaving back and forth for a few moments, before dropping to her knees in front of the, thankfully clean, chamber pot. Alistair pulled her hair out from around her face, rubbing at her back while making soothing sounds. When her stomach was empty and the room didn't spin quite so badly, she slumped back against him.

McNair had retrieved a pitcher of water and a mug, bringing it quietly into the room before shutting the door behind him. He took his post outside the door, standing alertly in front of it with his arms crossed over his chest.

Inside, Alistair poured Alexa some water, both of them sitting on the floor.

"Do you remember that tavern in Orzammar?" she asked drowsily.

"The one where you and Liliana got drunk and tried to pull nugs out of your armor?"

"Yes. And you held me until the room stopped spinning and then we made love for hours and hours."

"It was closer to about twenty minutes," Alistair commented dryly, scooping her up.

"It was hours and hours," Alexa corrected. "And you kept saying it was better than cheese."

"With you, everything is better than cheese," he grinned and carried her to the bed.

"It was the best night of my life."

"Mine too." Alistair concentrated on getting her boots off, fingers fumbling with the laces. Once he pulled off the second one, he looked up at her with a victorious grin only to see she was half asleep. Shaking his head a bit, he worked on tugging off her breeches, leaving her clad only in the soft tunic. He pulled his own tunic off and crawled into the bed with her, putting an arm around her waist. "I've missed you."

Alexa nuzzled into him on instinct, burrowing her face in the crook of his neck and flinging limbs across his body. Eyes opening just enough to make out his form, she murmured something that sounded an awful lot like 'naked.'

"Hmmm?" was his drowsy response. Struggling to sit up, Alexa pushed the covers off of her. He watched her move so she was kneeling on the mattress and stretch up to start tugging at her tunic. "What're you doing?"

"I'm warm," she complained, peeling the fabric off her skin.

"But now you're…" Alistair stammered. Her skin was as pale as he remembered it and his hands itched to touch, especially those pert breasts. They weren't huge, instead they fit perfectly in the palm of each of his calloused hands. Hair askew from taking off her tunic, Alexa grinned down at him, wiggling on her knees.

"Naked?" she finished for him. A pout formed on her lips and she rubbed her index finger along her lower lip before letting it slide down her neck, along her breastbone, before resting at her navel.

"Yes," he responded, voice thickening.

"I've missed you too, Alistair," Alexa purred, dropping forward to crawl, hands and knees, to where he lay propped up on his elbows.

He blushed, "I didn't think you'd heard that."

"I have messed up a great many things, my dear, sweet, sexy King. But listening to you is always something I have excelled in."

Her face was so close to his that he could smell the ale on her breath. Her pale silver eyes glinted with dark desire. Unable to resist, Alistair reached up with a hand and let it tangle in the firey red tendrils that hung around her face, tugging her even closer. As she inched forward, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest, the anticipation weighing him down as he came off his elbows and sunk into the mattress. His other hand came up and trailed lightly down her hip. He'd almost forgotten how soft her scarred skin was.

"Am I dreaming?" Alistair whispered.

"Maker help us, I hope not," as Alexa's fierce reply. "For if we are, I hope we never wake."