Author's Note: Hello again!

I still don't own most of the characters or settings, but I do own a lot of chocolate. The two may seem to have nothing to do with each other, but let me assure you: eating chocolate and writing fluffy Alistair moments have the same effect on me!

This chapter in particular may not be the best, but it is in fact devoted to my very dearest and closest friend, who is having a very rough time right now. We're both awkward and silly, but more than anything, hopeful that things will turn out alright. Because sometimes that's all you can do.

Responses and criticisms are, as always, greatly encouraged. Thank you for reading.

Life with a bunch of crazy women, pets, and assassins was hard.

But rewarding! I got a kiss every day, sometimes more for good – or maybe it was bad – behavior. Wynne, however, was so worried about us having responsibilities as Grey Wardens and trying to have a relationship at the same time that she unwisely decided to give Aliara some "words of wisdom" about love being selfish and how sacrificing every possible joy in your entire life was the only way to get things done sometimes. Or that was the gist of it.

My love was so angry she sliced a tree in half during her usual morning calisthenics. She also made Morrigan join us in our travels to save some refugees from Lothering, which…was not the best choice. Morrigan thought the exercise was pointless and made her opinions clear the entire day; even after we had saved the refugees, she muttered about the uselessness of the side-trip. When Aliara finally exploded, fed up with snarky comments and cold refusals to heal the injured, I watched as Morrigan physically flinched at the cold words thrown at her. For once, I actually sympathized with her; Morrigan hated stopping and helping every person along our way across Ferelden, but that was only because she was determined to end the Blight as quickly as possible. I didn't agree with her, but I could respect and understand how she felt unlike most everything else she said.

Needless to say, the day ended with Morrigan close to tears, Wynne hiding in Bodahn's wagon, and Oghren mostly sober, because Aliara had thrown all of his alcohol into our campfire. All the alcohol that she could find, at least.

The group ganged up on me after a deathly silent dinner. "Alistair," Sten grunted, as though asking me for something was paining him or somehow offensive to the Qun, "you must speak with her. Now."

"What? Why should I speak to her? Wynne's the one that pissed her off and Morrigan…didn't help. There's a surprise," I grumbled.

Zevran was lounging suspiciously nearby, idly cleaning his nails, but said nothing as Sten glared and nodded to our bard. Leliana quickly took up the torch: "You know that she will always listen to you, Alistair. Go try to calm her down before everyone starts to get nervous, please?"

I tried to resist, but she was making a passable attempt at my puppy face. "You cheater. Women aren't allowed to use puppy eyes against men! The fairer sex already has breasts, which is such an unfair advantage," I pouted, hoping to change the subject.

"Ah, Alistair, how will I ever teach you the fine art of seducing women if you think of breasts as a weapon?" Zevran purred lazily. "But did you know that angry women are the easiest of all to seduce? I may have to go…speak with our fine leader myself."

If my foot accidentally kicked some burning embers onto his sneaky Antivan leathers as I rushed to where I'd last spotted Aliara, then I could apologize later. Or, you know, not at all.

Damn trollop!

When I'd reached a rather thick part of the wood and still hadn't found her, I called out: "Aliara? Where are you-u-u-u-u?"

I poked my sword into a few shrubs, just in case she'd decided to play Hide and Seek on me or something, until I heard a muffled chuckle from above. "Hey! What are you doing up there, my lady?" I couldn't help but grin; she was safe and had even chuckled, so that had to be a good sign.

"I am hiding, of course," Aliara answered promptly, making no move to leave her sturdy tree branch. "I always used to hide in trees when I got angry with my family or if I thought they were angry at me. It seemed…right after how I behaved today."

"I might not be the best judge of good behavior, but I think you had every reason to be grumpy. Do you mind if I join you up there? I haven't climbed a tree in years!"

I could just make out her shy smile amidst the tree's leaves: "Of course you can join me, Alistair. Just watch your sword, please."

"Hmph," I grumbled loudly, "now you're even trying to tell me how to use my sword? I think I've had plenty of practice, thank you very much!"

I was too busy climbing the tree to see her expression, but the sly note in her voice made me blush. "Yes, Oghren's been talking about you and your sword-polishing habits. He seems to think that you've got some very strange notions about the whole thing."

"I hate you," I grumbled as I swatted a particularly annoying branch out of my path. "He's always drunk and perverted, so I thought he was making another, what's that called again? Oh, yes, euphemism. So I blame my confusion entirely upon him!"

Aliara was laughing as I carefully took my seat on a thick branch near to hers. "Just admit it, Alistair, you're a bit of a pervert yourself."

I felt a bit shaky, precariously seated on the branch with one arm tucked around another to keep me balanced, but her grin was making this spot more comfortable and warm than I would've expected. "Dear lady," I intoned gravely, "I will never admit to such a despicable thing! I am the essence of gentlemanly…ness and prudery. I have never had a single perverted thought in my life."

"Oh, I'm sure you haven't," her grin was wicked now, which was equal parts exciting and alarming. "You would never have thoughts like strangling Zevran or watching Leliana and I bathe together. Of course not. I'm so sorry that I accused you of such."

"Yes, yes, you should be very sorry. In fact, you could apologize for telling me when you and Leliana next plan on bathing…" I joked. Well, mostly joked. If she did tell me, I might fall off the tree, but the concussion would be so worth it. Cold baths for the rest of my life.

"You are such a gentleman that I assume you would use the information to keep the possible perverts away, I imagine." She winked at me and I knew that a grin had taken over my face. "But I must refuse to give out such information in case some sneakier people might be listening. So did they send you out here to calm me down?"

"Huh," the recoil from that abrupt subject change nearly knocked me off my seat. "Yes, they did. I told them that Wynne or Morrigan should come out to speak with you since they're the offense witches that got you riled up in the first place, but they're all chickens. I'm the only brave one of the bunch," I caught her disbelieving look as I sighed dramatically.

"Oh yes, you are a very brave man…except when it comes to facing any of the women you're camped out with."

"Hey," I objected, "it's not my fault that you're all very scary. Different kinds of scary, of course, but still scary. Do you want to talk about it?" If she could change subjects with no regards to finishing conversations, then so could I!

She blinked. "Well, sure. I…understand why she said what she said," I pitied the tree as she spoke, gripping it so tightly that I hoped she wouldn't break it. "But it just seems like we have a hard time of things right now, to say the least, and a bit of hope and well…" ah, a blush! "It seems that sabotaging a relationship that could help both of us through all this is…really stupid."

I hazarded reaching towards her, to grasp one of her hands in my own. "It is really stupid, but you know that she was just looking out for both of us. Things are crazy right now and maybe she just doesn't want either of us to get our hopes up when everything could fail at any point or either of us could get hurt-"

Now I pitied the bones in my hand. "No, Alistair, that is the point." Aliara sounded fierce and I would've known that determined face from any distance. "We have to have hope. It's the only way that we can keep going and fix everything. Undermining that hope is something I won't allow, just as I won't allow failure. We will fix things and we will make it through all this regardless of the odds. I won't have it any other way."

I had to chuckle at that: "This is how I know you're really a noblewoman, when you say things like, 'I won't allow the Blight to stop me from wickedly seducing you.'" Her tight grip eased as she joined me in laughter. "I think that the hope you have is what keeps us all going, together," I admitted. "You're a good leader and an excellent person, but I think what really makes you special is that you never give up and never let us give up, either. I think you should explain that to Wynne and maybe it'll give her the hope that she needs."

I froze when I heard a sniffle. "Alistair, I don't know what I'd do without you," Aliara whispered. I could see that she wasn't crying easily enough, but her eyes did look a bit watery.

"I…I know that I wouldn't be able to do any of this without you," I responded, feeling my heart climb up my throat as it liked to do when I wanted to say something important. You're not helping, stupid heart! "I can't imagine a life without you anymore. What I said, about your hope, it…it keeps me going. After Duncan, after everything that's happened, I can't imagine being without you anymore than-than being without air." Though the obstruction in my throat was proving exactly what life without air would be like.

Aliara was just staring at me, wordless and unmoving except for the gentle rhythm of her breathing, and I panicked. "Is that too soon?" I heard the anxiety in my voice and cringed; Maker, I'm such a baby sometimes!

"No," she breathed and I realized that her staring hadn't been blank but awed. "No, never too soon, Alistair." There was a squeeze of my hand as she quickly darted forward to press her lips to mine; the kiss chaste and quick, but just as beautiful as any of the others we'd shared. "Let's get down from this tree, I need to kiss you properly, you wonderful man."

"There's an order I don't need to hear twice to obey," I grinned, content with the world and myself.

I clambered down the tree and landed in a surprisingly graceful manner back on solid ground. Aliara followed suit and soon I had her in my arms, grinning as she frowned and pulled leaves out of my hair. I didn't want to point out that she had been up in that tree longer than I had as well as having longer hair because she looked adorable with an errant branch peeking out from behind one of her ears. It was times like these when I could imagine us together in a world at peace that made me want to fight harder to end this Blight, to end Loghain's impending civil war.

But then she held up her promise of a proper kiss; it was tender and a moment so beautiful that I wished I could paint it or put it into song like Leliana could. I had kissed her plenty of times by then, but each time felt just as new and exciting as the first. I savored each one, hoping as she hoped that there would never in my life be a day without them.

We weren't as nervous anymore about the rest of our bodies touching and feeling her heart pounding just below mine was wonderful. If I ever thought there was a lie in her smile or words, I'd know the truth from the honesty of her heart, her eyes, her hands. Those hands were rough and blunt, just like the rest of her, but she used them so gently on me that I wondered if I could actually die of bliss.

What a good way to go that would be, Maker. I know if we even survive this Blight business that thirty years down the line I'm supposed to die honorably in a dark, dank cave to some nasty darkspawn, but maybe You could just let me have a heart attack while she touched me, instead? I'll be a good boy forever if You do!

Okay, maybe that's a stretch. I've never been very good at being…good my entire life. But people can change or pretend to change, right? Right?!

A man can dream!

Wynne apologized that night after we returned to camp, but it was obvious that her worries had been for my sake. She felt that if something were to happen, it would inevitably be me that would wind up getting hurt. I was touched by her concern, but it was unnecessary; I would risk being hurt in the future a thousand times over for any one of the kisses we had shared. Any one of the times that Aliara had comforted me or I her. If I had learnt one thing on this ridiculously perilous journey of ours, it was that a little hope could accomplish far more than anyone would suspect was possible.