A/N: I'm sorry that this is so much shorter than the last one! Oh, your feedback has been just amazing, thank you so much, and keep it up! Enough though, down to business! This piece is actually going to be in two parts, and it takes place before Cheating. This is more on the humorous side (even though I don't know if anyone else actually finds this funny) than the previous as well, but you'll still love it! (I hope!) It pertains primarily to Aveline, but don't let that discourage you! I was wondering how it might go if she hadn't chickened out at the Hanged Man. Aveline and Isabela conversations are my favorite! I hope you all are as amused by this take on Hawke's response to the situation as I was when it was just in my head. And don't worry, the next short story will be super romantic and junk.

A strangled cry rang out from behind them and the vanguard stopped short, turning on their heels and drawing their weapons as they had so many times before. Hawke surveyed the scene, the click of a readied bolt, the light reflected off of Aveline's poised shield, Merril flailing wildly at thin air, the low growl of her maba- wait! Merril doing what? Hawke seemed to notice at the same time Varric and Aveline did as they lowered their weapons to stare on in amazement.

Merril's shrieking finally calmed and her erratic motions slowed to a stop. She took an awkward step back to lean heavily against a large oak, panting in fearful exhaustion.

"Uh... Daisy?" Varric questioned as he trotted up to her. Varric never walks, he trots.

"I- I- There was-" The meek Dalish woman tripped over her words before she exclaimed, "spider!"

Hawke and Aveline had taken their place at Merril's side as well, and the Guard-Captain had to turn her head to hide her smirk. Varric outright snickered.

"What? A spider? Our own tree-hugging, grass-loving, Dalish blood mage is afraid of an itsy-bitsy spider?" Varric's sarcasm was not helping the situation, as Merril seemed honestly frightened. She hadn't even regained her ability to breathe yet.

"Didn't we just get done slaughtering a whole cavern full of those things? And you were beating down on them with an iron fist!" Aveline's attempt to help came out more like an insult.

"Stonefist, technically." How very Hawke of her to make a joke at a time like this.

"Well, those are big! This one was small and... and..." Merril's squeaky, breathless voice trailed off.

"This is starting to sound strangely familiar." Varric groaned.

"He's right though! I just never thought about it! You can always see the big ones, but the little ones can do just awful things and you can't- you can't stop them!" Merril was speaking of a similar instance in which Anders had expressed his dislike of the miniature eight-legged fiends.

"Hawke, talk some sense into her! We need to go home!" Aveline's temper was quick today, something had been bothering her lately.

"She's right, Aveline." Hawke had taken a sudden somber view of the situation.

"Wh- What?" Varric spoke, shocked. Aveline made a disgruntled noise under her breath.

"Personally, I don't agree with the existence of anything that has more that four legs." Hawke said with an angry edge to her voice.

"Why not?" Merril's curiosity got the better of her.

"Name one good thing with more than four legs." Hawke waited a moment, but when she got no reply, as she had expected, she continued, "Exactly. They're demon sent, I tell you."

"Ah! Then you should have no problem Daisy!" Varric's joke struck the group with a much more light-hearted mindset.

"That's not funny, Varric!" Merril said, laughing despite herself.

And so the gang trudged back to town, Merril and Varric headed to Lowtown and Hawke and Aveline to Hightown, taking little time with goodbyes.

"It amazes me that a girl that sweet and naive could get herself wrapped up with a demon." Aveline gave a solemn shake of her head as they walked.

"I wish I could do more than just trying to talk her out of it, but I'm afraid she's made up her mind." Hawke shared the same gesture as her elder.

"It's going to take something drastic, and with demons 'drastic' is never good."

"Nothing is good with demons."

"Oh lords, Hawke, this is far too depressing."

"You brought it up!" Hawke smiled with her retort.

"So I did." Aveline took a deep breath before approaching a new subject. "Hawke, would you, mind helping me with something tomorrow?"

"For you? Of course. I don't have anything planned that would take precedent."

"No angry Qunari? Not a single rampant mage?" Aveline asked with mock surprise.

"I'm sure I could find some if I looked hard enough, but your plight is far more important!" Hawke tilted her head with a smirk.

"You might not say that come tomorrow." Aveline nervously scratched her head. "Thank you for this Hawke, it means a lot to me."

"What do you mean we aren't going to the Rose today? What could possibly be more important than gawking at that pretty little Jethann?" Isabela cried, quite upset by Hawke's announcement that plans had changed. She slammed her fist on the table, feigning anger, or at least Hawke assumed it was a feint.

"That's not why we were going, Isabela." Fenris was quite curt with his reply.

"It should have been." Isabela snorted. "What are we doing anyway?"

"Don't sound so enthusiastic." Hawke's taste for sarcasm was impeccable. "We're going to help Aveline with something."

"You mean you're pulling me away from pure debauchery to help out a woman who utterly despises me?" Isabela raised an eyebrow.

"She doesn't despise you, just everything you say and do."

"Oh, well that's comforting." Isabela bit back.

"Are we going to go or not?" Fenris interjected with a rather annoyed look on his face. Hawke nodded and the three of them left the Hanged Man and started the trek up to Hightown. There was a long, uncomfortable silence, at least there was for Isabela. Hawke and Fenris had no problem with quiet, in fact, they both preferred it. Isabela, however, was quite fond of conversation, and awkward conversation at that.

"So, have you two like, done it yet or not?" Isabela said with a quaint smile.

Hawke made a disgusted sound in her throat and Fenris blushed furiously, or at least he would have if he weren't so tan. "Is that a yes or a no?" Isabela inquired, when she didn't get a response she continued with a "Hmmm?"

"No, Isabela, just, no!" Hawke barked, irritated. Sex was not on her To Do list, at least not now.

"But you are planning on it, right?" Isabela asked, quite pleased with herself.

"There's just no stopping you is there?" Hawke muttered.

"Ah-ha! You didn't say no!" Isabela cheered, making sure she was at least a swords-length away from Hawke.

"I certainly didn't say yes!" Hawke replied, furiously, I might add.

Isabela seemed to think for a moment, "I remember having a very similar conversation with you about Anders..."

"And what? You're surprised that I don't sleep with every man we come across? That's your job, slattern." Hawke used a word she had picked up from Aveline, she would have to thank her for it later.

"No..." Isabela said with an unaffected chuckle, "I just don't seem to recall you denying that anywhere near as vehemently as this, and certainly no where near as flustered as you are!"

Fenris was pretending not to notice them, but by now it was impossible. He was having trouble not laughing at the situation, he wasn't sure if it was Isabela's humor or Hawke's frustration, or perhaps the fact that Hawke's cheeks were a delightful shade of blotched pink.

"Shut up, whore." Hawke said with a dejected stare.

"Oh... I'm so telling her that you're stealing her lines!" Isabela chuckled yet again, she had achieved whatever goal she had set out to.

"She'll be quite proud, I'm sure." When the subject finally turned to Aveline Hawke regained her composure.

The Captain of the Guard paced back and forth in her office, nervously fingering the copper relief. 'Damn it, Hawke, where are you?' It felt like the walls were closing in on her, not that the room was very big to begin with. The last time she had been this unsure of anything was just before she had married Ser Wesley. 'But that turned out perfectly! This will be perfect too then! No, Aveline, that's the exact same thing you thought when you cut your own hair.'

"Oh, Aveline, where are you?" Isabela half sang as she made her way into the barracks.

"She's in her office, of course. Why would you even ask?" Fenris had a rather confused look on his face.

"I want her to know I'm here, so she can get a jump on thinking of names to call me! I'm sure she's got a ton in that little head of hers." Isabela let out a short, but overly loud laugh, "I said little!"

"Oh Maker, it was your voice I heard." Aveline scowled as Hawke and her troupe waltzed into the office.

"And I was so looking forward to seeing you." Isabela made a similar face in return.

"What did you need from me, Aveline?" Hawke quickly changed the subject.

"I, well," Aveline seemed jumpy, "you have to promise not to laugh at me, Hawke."

"Of course."

"I'm not promising anything!" Isabela remarked.

"I wasn't talking to you, harlot." Despite her jumpiness Aveline was still quick on the uptake.

"Ah, and here I thought you'd start off with 'trollop' today!"

"Don't worry, I'll get around to it."

"That's my girl." Isabela said with a discerning nod.

"Ugh. Anyway, Hawke, I need you to give this to guardsman Donnic." Aveline handed Hawke a piece of copper that had been imprinted with an image of marigolds. "Don't tell him who it's from, just give it to him, then come back and tell me his exact reaction. It's very important."

Hawke shrugged, "Alright." She turned to leave and her team followed.

"Wait!" Aveline called and the group stopped just short of the door, "You aren't going to question this, no snarky remarks?" Her question was obviously pointed at Isabela.

"Oh no, I'm going to wait for your plan to fail miserably before I get to those." Isabela winked.

"Shut up, whore." Aveline shook her head.

"That's not the first time I've heard that today!" Isabela laughed as they headed out on their 'mission'.

It was hardly a stone's throw away, and Donnic was present, as was expected. Hawke walked up to him and practically thrust the relief in his face, she was not one for pleasantries today. "This is for you. It isn't from me, but it's for you nonetheless."

He look confused. Bewildered. Constipated? It certainly wasn't what Aveline was looking for, at least Hawke hoped it wasn't. "I, uh, who is this from, Hawke?"

"I was instructed not to tell you." Direct and to the point, that's how this should be handled, at least in Hawke's opinion anyway.

"Well, thank you?"

"You're welcome." And with that Hawke walked away, right back into Aveline's office.

"So, how did it go?" Aveline asked, intrigued.

"About as well as a dwarf riding a dragon, I'd say." Isabela's comment made Fenris laugh.

"I'm sure Varric has a few stories about that." Fenris added.

"Where do you think I got the idea from?" Isabela said, as though it should be obvious.

"Enough! Hawke, is she right?" Aveline's intrigue had turned to concern.

"I, think so. I don't get it though, I thought you were perfectly clear. Metal is strong, copper ages well, flowers are soft." Hawke spoke her mind.

"I know! That was my intended message! How could he have not gotten it?"

"Really? You two agree on this? You're the only two people in all of Thedas that would get that!" Isabela was stunned, she'd expected something like this from Aveline, but Hawke?

"Fenris, did you get it?" Hawke questioned, assuming the answer would be yes.

"Not until you explained it just now."

"But it makes sense, right?" Aveline countered.

"I suppose." Fenris shrugged.

"Ugh, Hawke, what am I going to do?" Aveline exclaimed, exasperated.

"A dowry, that should do it." Hawke's answer was quick and precise.

"That's perfect!" Aveline agreed, clapping her hands together.

"No! No! No! You two are daft! Just talk to the man, Aveline!" Isabela yelled, terribly frustrated. She might have been at odds with the Guard-Captain most of the time, but she was still her friend in an unconventional way, and this was incredibly painful to watch. The entire time Fenris just stood there, snickering to himself.

"I, well, would that work? I don't think I really have the coin for a dowry..." Aveline still firmly believed in the dowry idea.

"Of course it will! That's just how it's done. Have him meet you in the Hanged Man or something, duh."

"But how would that look? The Captain asking to meet privately with-" Aveline was cut off.

"Hawke will ask him, and then you'll show up, obviously." Isabela remarked.

"Yeah, I could do that." Hawke added.

"Are, are you sure?"

"Well yes, why would I agree to it if I wasn't sure?"

"Correct, I suppose it could work that way. Tonight then?"

"I don't see why not." With that Hawke turned to leave the room, Fenris and Isabela following in stride.

"You're coming to the Hanged Man, tonight, for drinks." Hawke demanded, causing Donnic's face to morph in surprise.

"I... am?" He asked.

"Yes, you are." Hawke bluntly confirmed.

"May I ask why?"

"Well, I wasn't told not to tell you so-" Hawke started to reveal the intentions of the trip.

"We're just having a gathering that we thought you should come to! You'll have a lot of fun, promise! You might even learn a few secrets." Isabela winked.

"I- uh, alright, I can do that." Donnic nodded, still utterly confused.

"We'll see you there then!" Isabela said, pulling on Hawke's arm to escort her from the room.

There was planning to be done, Isabela had the sneaking suspicion that Aveline would try to run from this venture, so she would be certain to stop her. This would not end in failure, Isabela was sure, besides, then she would have a reason to tease Aveline for once!

A/N: Huh? Huh? How'd I do? I really hope I'm not the only one that sees Aveline and Isabela as secret best friends. This chapter isn't nearly as M-rated as the first, I feel like I should go add some swearing or something... Nah, there'll be enough in the next part. (I'm toying with the idea of a drunk Aveline! Yes? No?) As a side note, I really don't like that I can't have two bits of punctuation at the end of a sentence. I have trouble writing when I can't put an exclamation point and a question mark.