So late. Sorry!

Catching Up

Neri awoke aching and she smiled. She had missed that ache more than she cared to admit. Actually, that wasn't quite right. She had complained about it constantly. How much she missed sex. How much she missed Anders. How much she missed sex with Anders. She'd probably driven Arietta and the others absolutely bonkers on their little road trip to the Anderfels.

She opened her eyes, stretching slightly, her smile widening at the arm draped over her waist. Anders was curled up next to her, his face just a few inches from her own. She really had missed waking up with him, had missed how beautiful he looked without any worry lines marring his forehead, had missed his sleepy mumbles and the flutter of his eyelids when he started to stir, just as he was doing now.

He woke properly a moment later, his eyes cracking open and finding hers immediately. The fond smile he gave her melted her heart a bit and she couldn't help but lean in and kiss those softly smiling lips of his.

"Morning," she mumbled.

"Mmm. Sleep well, love?"

"Hard not to after that work out last night," she laughed lightly, her eyes brightening playfully.

He smirked. "I missed tiring you out."

A grin lit up her face. "We've still got a lot of catching up to do…" she said as she pressed herself closer to him, finding him hard and ready to go once more. He inhaled a rough breath through his nose and wrapped his arms around her.

"We really do."

…

Neri slipped on her leggings and shirt, finally sated enough to pull away from Anders' tantalizing and addictive grasp. She pulled her curls out from under her shirt's collar and then turned back to look at Anders, grinning. He was still sprawled out on the bed, his hands behind his head, his bare skin flushed and sweaty, and an equally big smile curving his lips too.

There were a million things she wanted to ask him, a million things they ought to be discussing, but one thing in particular was bugging her right now.

"So, why do you smell so strongly of lemons and elfroot? And those are just scents I can make out. I swear I can smell other herbs on you as well."

Anders let out a chuff of air through his nose. "It's the latest trend in Orlais. I thought I'd try it out, see if I couldn't attract the ladies with it."

She snorted and smacked him with a pillow. "Well it worked, here I am. Now what's the real reason?"

He snickered, but relented. "I've been healing people. In Darktown. It's just a small clinic that I, Bethany and some others help out at."

"Really?" She tilted her head, trying not to look too surprised—he had always been a good healer and very good with his hands, and helping people was kind of his thing when he wasn't focused on her. Still, she'd just expected him to lay low, drink and have a bit of fun while waiting for her. But he was…making a difference instead. She smiled softly. "That's… new."

He scoffed. "Yeah, even surprised myself by agreeing to help out."

She gave him a slightly teasing look. "Isn't Darktown dangerous, what with the lack of light and all?"

He let out a snort of laughter, eyes shining up at her. "Very," he said with mock seriousness. "Most of the injuries I treat are stubbed toes from people fumbling around in the pitch blackness. Very life threatening." She snickered. "Despite the name, it's not so bad. Smells a bit ripe, but you get used to that."

"Gross," she said, crinkling her nose. "Is it safe though? From thugs, Templars, giant rats?"

He shrugged a shoulder. "Has been so far. Most people know not to mess with a Warden. Plus Varric pulled some strings for us, got us some protection, I think."

"Huh. I'm not used to generous dwarves."

Anders nodded, grinning a bit. "Varric is one of a kind and absolutely nothing like Oghren."

Neri gave him a dramatic head roll. "Such a shame, who am I supposed to prank now?"

"Everyone else seems to use Carver," Anders replied, his amber eyes glistening with amusement.

"Poor Carver," Neri laughed. She knelt on the edge of the bed, her feet hanging off the side. "Will you give me a tour of the clinic later? I'd like to see it."

"I'll do you one better," he said, smiling a little crookedly. "I'll take you behind the scenes too. A proper VIP tour of the place."

"Well, I am the slayer of the Archdemon, I'd expect no less," she giggled.

He pulled her forward, into his arms and breathed her in. "Mmm. You know you smell of salt air and rum, mostly? But there are strange spices too, ones I don't think I've ever smelled before."

She blushed. "That would be because we went through a Nevarran spice market on our way back from Weisshaupt and I may have sprayed Max with perfume. And he may have dumped an entire bottle on my head in retaliation."

Anders laughed. "That seems a bit extreme of Max."

"In his defence, it was vile perfume and I got it in his eye, too." She smiled fondly. "It turned into a full on perfume spritzing battle after that. Arietta and Rafael got caught in the crossfire and suddenly it was Max and me versus them. Mages versus rogues. We lost horribly."

Anders chuckled, shaking his head. "That's hardly surprising," he laughed. He wrapped his arms tight around her "So, minus the perfume war you started, how was the trip to the Anderfels?"

She groaned, nuzzling into him. "My horse was an arsehole, I told him as much constantly. My dog was ridiculous—never in my life have I seen so many soggy boots. I don't even know where he kept finding them! But apparently I just had to carry them otherwise he barked non-stop at us. The weather was mercurial. One day we'd have rain and mosquitos, the next we'd have blistering sunshine. And Anderfellan sandstorms suck—the desert was just plain miserable. And Weisshaupt was no better, really."

He gave her a sympathetic squeeze. "So the Wardens weren't pleased that Arietta let the Architect live, I take it?"

"Nope. They fear a double Blight and having him still alive complicates things, I guess."

"A double Blight," he echoed. "Could that really happen?"

Neri shrugged. "Well, all it takes is for darkspawn to reach the two remaining prisons at the same time, so…" She sighed, letting her fingers trail over the muscles of his abdomen. "They were actually happy that the Blight in Ferelden happened because that meant there wouldn't be a triple Blight to worry about. Shitdicks. And, like I said yesterday, being surrounded by so many Ander people made me think of you, constantly."

"Terribly sorry about that." He threaded his fingers through hers, squeezing her hand softly. "You could just call me by my real name, you know."

Neri glanced up at him, brows arched. "I don't know your real name. You've never told me it."

The corner of his mouth lifted in an easy smile. "You never really asked."

"That was yours," she said firmly. "Something the Templars couldn't take from you. I wasn't going to ask that of you."

His eyes softened at the edges. "I would have told you, though."

She gave him a slightly cheeky look. "Does that mean you'll tell me now?"

His eyes sparkled and she immediately knew he wouldn't. "No, but you can try to guess it."

She groaned and slumped against the wall with him. "You and your bloody games. Fine. But if I guess it correctly, you have to tell me I'm right."

"Deal. You won't guess it though."

"We'll see about that," she said, smirking. "Manfred?"

He looked at her incredulously, then burst out laughing. "No!"

"Wernher?"

"Maker, Neri. No."

"Meinhard?"

He cracked up, shaking his head no.

She grinned. "Knut?"

He laughed hard again. "Maker, do you only know terrible Ander names?"

"Well, it isn't much fun knowing the normal, boring ones, is it?" He rolled his eyes but his lips were curved. "This could go on for hours, give me a clue," she moaned.

"What kind of clue?"

"The first letter?"

"No, that narrows it down too much."

"Fine. First or second half of the alphabet?"

He sighed, leaning his head back against the wall. "First."

"Ambros? Adolf? Carsten?"

He looked at her and for a moment she thought she'd got it, then he shook his head. "That was my father's name."

"Carsten?" She shuffled closer to him, leaning her head on his shoulder, their hands still twined between them. "You never speak of your family."

"What is there to say about them? My father cast me away as soon as he saw what I was. My mother begged him not to hand me over, but he called the Templars anyway."

Anders started thumbing the pillow she had thrown at him just moments ago and she realised it was his mother's pillow. She winced.

"I'm surprised you didn't leave that in Amaranthine."

"I wanted it with me. It smells like you."

"Oh."

"This little thing reminds me of the two most important women in my life," he said quietly, a small smile at his lips.

"I'm glad you have that," she said. "I still wish I knew more about my parents. I only know that they were probably mages. It's not very much to go on."

"They must have been called Surana, though," he pointed out, "for you to get that as your last name."

"Yeah. Irving checked the records for me, but never found anything." She looked up at him. "Is he okay? What exactly happened at the Tower?"

Anders let out a rough sigh. "Let's see. It started with me giving a truly fascinating lecture on darkspawn magics. Then Sol and I talked for a bit, I was actually due to leave shortly when the first of the three explosions went off. Everything shook. At first we had no idea what it was…then the smoke started pouring down from upstairs."

"Fuck. I can't even imagine…"

He nodded glumly. "Sol rushed the door, wanting to help the people we could hear screaming above, but a fiery blast sent her flying backwards. I healed her up, told her to go help the apprentices on the floors below us and then I…went up the stairs, into the smoke-filled floors."

Neri hissed in a breath. "You could have been killed, Anders."

He swallowed a little thickly. "I know. But I could hear people, I had to try to help them." She nodded, brows furrowed a bit. She didn't like hearing just how close to death he could have come. "I saved Finn and some others before finally finding Irving. He was buried under rock up in the Harrowing chamber. The floor was giving out and there was a gaping hole on one side of the chamber. By the time I reached Irving and freed him from the rubble, the Tower was giving way. We were still inside it when the top half sheared off and crashed into the lake."

"Maker," Neri breathed, her chest tight.

"Yeah," he sighed. "I managed to get Irving out of the water, barely. His heart stopped on the beach but I saved him before Rylock and the other Templar renegades kidnapped me and murdered the Acting Knight Commander." He shook his head, teeth grit. "Greagoir and Sol saved me, and then Justice and Nathaniel saved them."

"That's just…insane. I can't believe any of that actually happened. I do…but I just…"

"I know. I saw it all happen and I still can't actually believe the Tower's gone."

She nodded sadly, hugging him tightly. "And then Justice was killed getting you to a ship?"

"Yeah. The nobles had been spreading slander among the common folk. They turned against us all so quickly."

"Fickle assholes."

Anders sighed a bit. "Justice, he… he asked me to host him before all of that happened."

Neri sat up straight, eyes wide as she stared at him. "He wanted to possess you?"

Anders snorted. "Merge, possess me, work together, the whole shebang. I said no because you were more important to me."

"Good!" she cried out, scowling. "Fuck knows what would have happened if you joined with a spirit! You'd probably end up glowing blue or something, like Kristoff's corpse always did."

"At least I'd be a good night light," he mused.

"I'm not sure I could love you with a glowing blue dick."

Anders let out a burst of laughter. "What happened to you liking any and all cocks?" he asked teasingly.

She flashed him a toothy grin. "You're right. I'd probably like that too." Her grin softened a little as she stared at him. "I'm glad you're you and okay," she said seriously. She shook her head a bit, amusement curling her lips. "I really can't leave you alone for five minutes before you become a damsel in distress, can I?"

He sighed heavily, exasperated like he'd heard it before. "I am not a damsel in distress!"

Neri grinned. "Sol told you the same thing, didn't she?"

He glared at her and Neri laughed.

"Theo should be here soon," she said a moment later. "Do you want to join us for breakfast?"

"Mmm. That does sound good," he said. "I'm not sure though, it's already late morning and I should probably go see if anyone needs me at the clinic."

She stared at him, smiling lopsidedly. So much had changed in the few months they'd been apart. Anders seemed more… considerate of others now than he ever had been. More willing to act, too. Maybe they'd both finally had enough of the state of things and had decided to bring about change. Anders was doing it one person at a time, while Neri had her eyes set on the bigger things.

"What?" he asked, obviously noting her odd look.

"It's weird seeing you like this. Working, for a change," she said, smile twitching into something teasing.

He scoffed. "I worked plenty hard with the Wardens. Gave them my blood, sweat, even my eyebrows to them!" he countered.

She grinned, lifting her hand to stroke the sandy brown hairs. "And I am so relieved those grew back."

"You and me both," he muttered.

"You're just sour because of the mono-brow I drew on."

"I looked ridiculous!"

She snickered, shoulders shaking and flopped back down against him. She trailed her fingers along his arm as she stared up at him. "So, you're really not coming to breakfast?"

He shook his head. "I'll let you all catch up. Beth and Carver usually head to the clinic around midday so you can join them and I'll give you that tour."

"Alright. Just… don't turn into Arietta."

He snorted, hard. "As if I'd ever become a workaholic."

There was a knock at the door then and Neri hopped off the bed, grinning. "That will be Theodore."

"You're just going to open it while I'm sprawled out naked on the bed?" he asked, smirking.

She laughed and glanced at him over her shoulder. "I assumed you'd cover yourself up. Either way, I doubt Theo will mind."

"Oh! I definitely need to tell you about my snog with him."

She stopped dead in her tracks and turned, wide-eyed. "You snogged him!?"

Anders grinned. "Bela made us."

"Fuck. And I missed that?"

A wicked smirk spread across Anders' lips. "We'll have to give you a repeat performance some time."

Neri groaned. "You really will."

Theo knocked again and Neri opened the door just as Anders flung the blanket over himself. Theo was casually leaning against the doorframe, a leg crossed over the other, smiling brightly. She ran her eyes over him, smirking as she took in his meaty thighs and muscled carves and biceps. She really had a thing for rogue physique.

"Morning," he cheerfully greeted, his eyes briefly flicking to where Anders was still lying on the bed. "Well, I can see that one of you is ready for a rather late breakfast. You not joining us, Anders?"

"I thought I'd try the whole healing people thing today," he shrugged.

Theo smiled and nodded. "My sister and brother will probably pop by after brunch." His gaze returned to Neri's. "Let's go then, before it gets cold."

"See you later, love," Neri said with a bright smile thrown over her shoulder to Anders. He grinned and waved her off.

The Hanged Man looked very different in the light of day—now she could really see what a shithole it was. She grinned as she weaved her way through the tables and chairs with Theo. She felt at home in places like this, oddly enough. But she supposed they'd soon be heading to Hightown; that's where Theo's family home was, if she recalled correctly.

"So, where in Hightown are you living?" she asked, hoping it wasn't too near the Keep. The last thing she wanted was to get pounced on by stuffy nobles or the Keep's staff. It was bad enough that she needed to go there later in the day for… nobley things.

Theo sighed heavily as he pushed The Hanged Man's door open. A cold wind hit her full in the face, blowing her hair back and wiping through the thin cotton of her clothes. "We're not," he said.

"Oh?"

"Our uncle, Gamlen, sold the estate to pay off his debts," he muttered. "So we're stuck with him, in Lowtown."

"Oh," she said a little sadly. "That's a bit shite."

He laughed. "Tell me about it." He shook his head and ruffled his hair. "We had to do two years servitude with a mercenary group just to get into the city with all the refugees coming here during the Blight."

"Seriously?" she asked, brows arched. He nodded. "So the servitude's over now?"

"Yes, thank fuck," he said in a bitter rush. "Maker willing, we'll only be with our uncle a little longer. We're working on something to improve our lot. I'll… tell you about it later."

"Alright."

"What about you? Anders said there was trouble with darkspawn in Amaranthine and then you got called up to the Anderfels?"

"Yep. Was a right shit show. Naturally, I can't talk about any of that though, Warden secrecy and all."

"Of course," he said, trying to stay serious.

She sighed, her lips twitching into an exasperated smile. "Anders already told you all about it, didn't he?"

Theo chuckled. "He mentioned a few details…"

"He always did suck at keeping secrets."

Theo flashed her a grin. "To be fair, Varric has this natural knack for pulling stories out of people. I really don't know how he does it."

She shook her head, smiling. "You been friends with Varric long?"

"Not really. We met him just after our servitude ended."

"And that elf, Fenris?"

There was a twitch of a smile at Theo's lips at the mention of the elf's name, before he cleared his throat. "About the same. I uhh, should mention… he will be at breakfast today. He's sort of staying with us at the moment."

She smirked. "Is he now?"

Theo blushed. "It's not like that." Her smirked widened. "Really!" he laughed. "His house was broken into. Varric's got people repairing it."

"He… has a house?"

Theo snorted. "He sort of commandeered it."

Neri laughed.

"I do need to warn you," he said as he stopped in the street and faced her. "Fenris is an ex-slave from Tevinter."

"Bloody fuck." She hadn't been expecting that. It wasn't exactly often you met many ex-slaves. She doubted most made it this far south before being caught or killed. Most probably never even thought about escaping enough to actually do it.

"Yeah… He's not the biggest fan of mages, Neri."

"Right, of course he isn't," she said, shaking her head. "So, no throwing my magic about and declaring how absolutely awesome I am then?" She smiled crookedly.

Theo chuckled. "That would be for the best, yes. I don't think you want him to put his hand through your chest." She blinked at him. "He does that."

"Okay then."

"I'm sure he won't. With you. He hasn't to Bethany, yet. Although he did do that to Anders…"

"What!?"

Theo laughed nervously and rubbed at the back of his neck. "He was having an off-day."

"Fucking hell, Theo," she laughed. "I don't usually go for a bit of casual murder with my bacon and eggs."

He snorted roughly. "Come on, it'll be fine. He just might glare at you, a lot, almost all the time. I'm sure he'll soon realise you're nothing like those Magisters though." She nodded even as she swallowed thickly and pulled down the sleeve of her shirt.

A/N: Short one, I know. But it was getting a little long so I split it in half and this happens to be the smaller of the two halves. So the next one will be Neri having breakfast with the Hawkes and getting a tour of the clinic. I might update sooner that two week's time with the second part, but we'll see. My writing is still super slow so I'm right up my ass with the chapters I'm posting which makes me a bit anxious, so apologies if there are any long waits in future.