If someone would ask him years later, he would say that he woke up with the grin already on his face. He didn't need to open his eyes to know that she was beside him; his heart told him that she was.

This was the first time in years that he had actually felt safe enough to fall completely asleep, usually he only managed a half sleep where he would awaken at any noise, any movement in the darkness. Too many years of being on the run, being only two steps ahead of the templars or fitfully sleeping in a makeshift camp on the open road waiting for someone to try to knife him in the back had trained his mind to know that a dead sleep could be..well…deadly. These last few years it had been desperate patients urgently banging on the clinic doors in the middle of the night that had kept him from his slumber. Although not usually a risk to his safety he would always awaken then too, and heal them of their injuries. Now he lay in the cocoon like warmth of the bed, not opening his eyes yet to the new day, but instead taking the time to savor the moment of being here, of being with her. He could see her in his mind's eye; the thousands of times he had gazed upon her had burned a permanent image of her in his head. The dark hair that was cut to shoulder length so it would not hinder her while she fought in battle, the eyes that were a unique mix of blue and green that reminded him of the color of the sea between the shallow and deep waters. Her smile, her laugh, all these things he could recollect without even trying. These were the memories, the images that had sustained him through the years of loving her but not trusting himself to be close to her. He opened his eyes then to see the exact features he had just pictured in his mind laying directly across from him in the bed. The grin got wider, if that was possible. "Good morning sweetheart" he murmured, loving the way she returned his smile as he said it. "I hope you slept well". She stretched and sighed in contentment "I slept wonderfully" she replied, her own smile now eclipsing her whole face. He pulled her closer to him, fitting her against his body, ready to replay the passion of the previous night when they faintly heard through the closed door the sound of movement in the hall followed by excited barking and a voice exclaiming "Good doggie, I like enchantment!" They both erupted into a fit of laughter at that, only stopping when their sides ached and they were both close to tears. As their laughter faded, Anders grew more serious.

"I meant what I said last night, I love you" he said with a ghost of his previous smile on his lips. "You should have a chance at a normal life" he continued, his eyes filling with a mixture of love and sadness. "But maker help us both, I can't live without you"

With absolute certainty in her voice, Hawke replied "I love you Anders, where ever your path takes you I want you right here beside me until the day we both die" He took her in his arms and kissed her then, at that moment almost daring to hope that they would both have the strength to stay together through these dark times.