Free Marches ,Starkhaven, Wintermarch 2012

After three hours of interrogation the seeker left Vael's villa, many new notes in neat handwriting hidden in his case and a smile, half intrigued and half satisfied, decorating his face as his driver began to drive to one of the Starkhaven's hotels.

In the privacy of his car, nobody saw his own image faltering for a moment, revealing an under layer of sharp grey eyes and grey hair.

Marcus Downing opened the case again, passing once more through the gathered information. He busied himself with studying the files again, stopping at the one-eyed mutant's photo and lingering on it. Thumb slowly passing all over it, the edges of his thumbnail scratching the paper, light enough not to leave marks.

Soon.

An hour later the car stopped near a small hotel named "Andraste's Grace". It was a small, old fashioned place at the edge of the city. From what Marcus had found out Seeker Reeley quite liked this place, and usually stayed there when he visited the city.

For Marcus it was no different than any other dusty hotel. Nothing fancy.

He was greeted by a young pretty clerk and given a key to his room. Marcus hesitated for a moment and then asked for the dinner to be brought into his room around seven pm. He had reached his limit of wanting to socialize for today.

Marcus tiredly rubbed his eyes once he was in the room and placed the thick glasses on the table along with the case. He took off his coat and threw it on the bed. Then he sat near the table. Despite his fatigue, his restless mind was already planning his next possible steps. Not noticing, slowly, his head dropped onto his arms and he dozed off.

Sometime later Marcus opened his eyes, yawning and stiff. He gave the room a bleary look. It was already dark. Standing up he turned to the mini bar, wishing for a glass of whiskey, when he suddenly felt another presence in the room.

Fear washed through his body. Marcus jumped up. He put on Reeley's face automatically. It was safer than to meet the intruder as Marcus Downing.

With one hand he grabbed for Reeley's glasses, while the other was already pointing his gun at the intruder.

"Lower your weapon." The figure removed itself from the shadows. It was Magneto. Marcus tensed even more. Was he discovered already? But how?! He had been very careful, accurate in everything he did. After a short inner debate, he lowered his weapon. To go against one of the strongest mutants in the world was suicide. There was no way for him to come out of it alive. And Magneto could already kill him if he wanted to.

Then why was he here, endangering himself enough to come to Starkhaven? Its Templar population had increased dramatically over the last sixth months.

"Arthur. Good to see you." Magneto said, walking closer and looking at the other. Marcus slowly placed his weapon on the table, looking at the older man expectantly. He wasn't sure what to say. The realization that Magneto and Reeley were on familiar terms overwhelmed him a bit. How many secrets did you have, Arthur Reeley, you old fox?

Now Marcus was sorry for killing the Seeker so fast. He should have interrogated him more. If he'd only had the time to do so.

He nodded at the other and sat. "I have to admit that was unexpected. You must be really crazy or desperate to come here, alone," he said dryly, trying to keep both his voice and movements neutral. He could only hope that he was playing by the rules.

"Maybe, maybe, who knows?" the older man chuckled and sat across the table, putting his wrinkled hands on it. "Are you still angry at me? I am sorry for last time…" Marcus kept his silence, only frowning deeper.

"I need your help, my friend." Magneto went straight to business. "I need you to organize a ticket for two men. A safe passage to Rivain."

Marcus froze, stopping his breath. "Do you mean?…" No, could it be? Did Magneto really mean who he thought he meant?

"Yes, I need you to get them out of this hell. Favor for a favor, Arthur Reeley. Do it and all your debts will be forgotten."

Marcus chewed on his bottom lip. It was a situation he couldn't predict and a smallest wrong step would expose him. No way would he fuck up such a perfect chance. "I will do whatever I can. You do understand what it may cost me, don't you? "

Magento nodded silently, his jaw tightening even more. Marcus could tell, by the mutant's face, that he was surprised by the quick agreement, but said nothing. Marcus continued, glad he was on the right track. "I will need any information about their route, contacts. Anything that may help me to reach them. Now, do you want some whiskey, my friend?"

Free Marches ,Starkhaven, Vael's villa, Wintermarch 2012

After the seeker finally left, Sebastian and Marian had a nice dinner together, something small and homelike they had enjoyed preparing together. Both of them felt exhausted by the intense questioning that had brought back many memories of pain and loss, so they had decided to do something to lighten the mood. To her embarrassment, Sebastian's culinary skills still surpassed hers. She promised herself to improve, wishing to spoil her future husband with tasty home-made meals. She wanted to do so many things for him, just to see him happy.

After the dinner Sebastian remained to wash the dishes and she went out to take her mabari, Grimm, for a walk. Sebastian kissed her cheek before she left, saying he would be at his office till late to finish some important letters.

Returning, Marian found her fiancé still hunched over his laptop, scribbling something in one of the many papers that surrounded him and looking really busy. She decided to go to sleep early. Marian bade him good night and went to the bed. Hours later she felt him sliding into the bed and happily shifted closer to his warm form.

When she woke up in the morning, he had already left. Marian looked at her watch and jumped out of bed. It was 10am, she had overslept. Sebastian had left her a short note to say that he had an important business meeting. Deciding she needed a relaxing bath she left the room, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

Before going to the bathroom, Marian grabbed her bag and pulled a small bluish box out of it. She took it with her and placed it on the dark wood cabinet before Marian undressed and opened the hot water faucet to fill the bath.

When she was done she wrapped a large towel around her body. Hand closing over the bluish box, Marian opened it, studying the content of the home pregnancy test. She read the instructions and followed them dutifully. She impatiently waited two minutes, then took a deep breath and checked the results. Her jaw hanging slack, she rechecked it twice before breaking into happy laughter.

She was pregnant. She was expecting Sebastian's child. The knowledge filled her heart with something light and warm. Marian Hawke was a tough woman, an ex-gang fighter, a leader. But none of the above made her less a woman. She had her soft, feminine sides too. To say that had she always wanted kids, family would be a lie. For most of her life, she'd been unable to deal with babies and washing dishes, but her life with Sebastian had softened the edges. She wanted to create a family with this man, didn't see the responsibility of being a mother as something negative anymore.

She couldn't wait to deliver the news to her fiancé.

The smiling woman headed back to the bedroom, almost dancing the entire way. Her phone started playing "Mambo Number Five". Still smiling to herself, Marian took the ringing mobile almost immediately. That was Varric's ringtone. She put him on speaker.

"Varric! It's only 11am, what you are doing up in such an early hour? I thought Bianca was doing a fine job tiring you half to death every night." She teased him lovingly; her voice was warm to hear him calling.

"Oh, you are underestimating me, Hawke! Even my dear wife can't surpass my mojo, although I have to admit that she gets pretty close sometimes. Since she decided to try that new vibrator Bella gave us…"

"That's too many details for poor old me, especially if Isabela is involved." Hawke rushed to stop him. Varric joined her a moment later, his deep chuckle vibrating through the room.

"I don't suppose I could tempt you and Choir Boy around for dinner some time? Bianca's promised to stay out of the kitchen, so you don't have to worry about another bout of food poisoning." His tone was light but Hawke could tell he missed her. She missed him too, her trusty old friend. Varric was one of the few people that she could trust, who she could be herself around. There were a few others whom she had trusted, only to be betrayed by. Like Anders. "I would love to, but Sebastian is so busy lately. Maybe I'll jump to visit next weekend. " Varric hummed in agreement.

"We had a Seeker visiting us yesterday. A somewhat scary type, I must admit. He asked a lot of questions about Anders, Falcor and Beth. "Marian took a pause before continuing. "Sometimes I just wonder if I made the right choice back then. Maybe I had to look out for him. To check on him more frequently…Perhaps then I could have saved Anders from going mad, from Justice. I could have saved Beth." She bit her lip not to sob.

"Hawke," Varric said, his voice very gentle "It's done. Both Sunshine and Blondie made their own choices, and neither of them would thank you for beating yourself up over it. And Claws…well he always did follow Blondie like a red shadow."

Hawke sighed heavily and wiped her eyes, glad no one was there to see her crying. "Let's move to a happier topic. I know I should tell Sebastian first but…I can't hold it in. I'm pregnant! I'm going to be a mother, Varric!"

There was silence for a moment, but when Varric responded Hawke could tell he was grinning. "That's the best news I've heard in months. So, Hawke has an egg in the nest? You're going to name the baby after me, right? Haven't I earned the right to have your firstborn named after me? You know, for suffering you for all those years?"

Hawke snorted in amusement. " Stop whining. I think I will name her Bethany. I mean, it could be a boy. I would name him Carver then. I just have a feeling it'll be a girl. But you'll be a great godfather. On the condition you promise not to tell her the embarrassing stories."

"I would never miss that, not for all the gold in the world." Varric sounded delighted.