Chapter 4 – The Finale

Cullen was already in the war room when Leliana and the inquisitor arrived.

He was pacing back and forth inside the room with a dark expression on his handsome face. He stopped for one second when he saw them approach and looked up at the inquisitor with a hurt look in his eyes before he averted his gaze and continued pacing. He looked miserable and furious at the same time. Leliana almost felt sorry for him.

The inquisitor stepped inside the room and Leliana stopped at the door. She told them that she was going to fetch Josephine and Cassandra, but she doubted that they heard her. She inquisitor was looking at Cullen with a curious expression on her face, and Cullen seemed completely lost in thought. Leliana closed the door behind her but unlatched the small metal hatch on the door and left it slightly ajar so she could hear what went on inside. She could hear how they started talking the moment she left but couldn't tell what they said. That wasn't the point anyway. She only needed to hear their tone of voice to know how things were progressing.

Cullen's voice was raised at the beginning and he sounded angry, but his voice calmed down after the inquisitor replied to whatever he had said. She could hear them conversing in a normal tone of voice for quite some time. After a while she could note a change. Their voices sounded softer and quieter, as if they had moved closer together.

Josephine stepped into the room behind Leliana and she made a motion with her hand to show the ambassador to be quiet and come closer to the door. Josephine snuck up next to her and put her ear to the door so she could hear what was going on as well. The voices had turned so low that they could hardly hear them talking, and they were soon switched out for other noises. Josephine had to clap her hands over her mouth to stop herself from making a happy exclamation when they heard their friends kissing through the door. Leliana smiled.

Both of them were caught off guard, however, by the sound of the door behind them opening and more pairs of feet walking in. Leliana turned around in alarm as Cassandra, Varric, Blackwall, and Iron Bull walked in, obviously heading for the war table. Leliana shut close the hatch in the door as quietly as she could and tried to come up with an explanation as to why they were standing by the door.

"What are the two of you doing?" Cassandra sounded both curious and suspicious. Leliana guessed that they looked pretty guilty standing there, her with one hand on the hatch.

Varric's eyes followed the stretch of her arm to the hatch and a grin spread on his face.

"Spying on someone in the war room, are we?".

Leliana knew that there was no way to get out of this now. She shrugged her and told them the truth, keeping a close eye on Blackwall as she said it.

"We heard some sounds coming from the war room. The inquisitor and the commander are in there. They didn't look like they wanted to be disturbed".

Josephine giggled and Leliana smiled as she could see comprehension dawn on all their faces in turn, some more slowly than others. Blackwall frowned but didn't say anything. The Iron Bull let out a bark of laughter and walked forwards towards the door.

"Let's see it then!".

He easily moved Leliana's hand out of the way and slowly and quietly opened the hatch to peek in. His big face filled up the entire hatch and Leliana couldn't see anything even though she was standing right next to him. Although she couldn't see what was going on, the wet sounds of kissing and the ragged breaths told her exactly what was happening in there between the commander and the inquisitor. Cassandra and Josephine immediately started a silent struggle to move Bull out of the way so they could see what was going on too. Varric didn't bother joining them since he wasn't tall enough to be able to see through the hatch anyway.

The sounds of kissing were getting louder and more urgent. They could hear them moving around more in there, maybe searching for a more comfortable spot. Their breaths sounded ragged and loud in the otherwise quiet room. When Leliana heard the sound of the markers on the war table clattering to the floor, she knew it was time to interrupt this. Some things should be done in private and she knew that neither the inquisitor nor the commander would appreciate them watching if this progressed to something more than kissing.

She wrenched the door open and almost hit Bull in the face with it in the process. The inquisitor and Cullen jumped apart as if burned. The inquisitor almost fell over as she struggled to get off the war table as quickly as she possibly could. They both looked very guilty and stared mortified at the group of people in the doorway. Their eyes were wide and they kept opening and closing their mouths like fish on dry land, trying to come up with some sort of explanation. Their lips were red and swollen and Cullen was moving his coat a bit to cover himself below the waist, probably hiding an impressive bulge in his pants. The inquisitor's hair was ruffled, and several strands of hair had been detached from the ponytail and were hanging loose around her face. There were markers from the war table strewn over the floor at the inquisitor's feet and the maps on the table looked crumpled.

"Don't stop on our account!" The Iron Bull seemed to be enjoying this most of all and was laughing loudly and clapping his hands, giving them a standing ovation.

Josephine started giggling and Leliana couldn't help but join in. In a few seconds, all of them, even Blackwall, were laughing and the Iron Bull was catcalling as they watched the embarrassed couple trying to straighten out their clothes. The inquisitor quickly moved to tuck the loose strands of hair behind her ears to make herself more presentable.

Leliana shook her head in amusement at the situation. This wasn't exactly the way she had planned for it to turn out, but the result was what mattered. The inquisitor getting it on with the commander of the inquisition. Now that was a topic that ought to get people talking all the way from the Rivain to the Anderfels. Leliana smiled at her handiwork and signaled for the others to come with her.

"Come on, all of you. We should leave these two to each other's company. I'm sure they have lots of catching up to do". She winked at them as she said the last part and was rewarded by both the commander and the inquisitor blushing. Varric, Blackwall, and the Iron Bull all chuckled as they walked out of the room. Josephine was still giggling and Cassandra looked torn between disapproving and being happy for their friends.

Varric immediately hurried over to Josephine's desk to get a pen, some ink and paper to start writing the story. Leliana knew it was going to be a bestseller.