Thanks so much to the lovely people who have written their awesome reviews: Erynnar, BlessedArrow, Melysande, karebear, Morninglight and Eynla and to all those who continue to add the fic to their list of favorites and alerts! You all rock! :D A special thanks to Eynla, for her suggestions and help with this chapter! :D

Anders fitting in with the rest of Hawke companions will be done in a special kind of order. They will go on some of the quests from the game here and there, but they will follow their own unique dialogue and will have unique ways of taking care of things. Anders's Journal will be used as an extra insight or peek/window into his thoughts, heart and soul.

This chapter has some sexual innuendos here and there, so if you are at work, be careful when you read it!

Bioware owns everything, I swear!

Chapter 5

The following day, Anders spent the morning organizing his clinic and thinking about Hawke, cursing every now and then because he couldn't get her out of his head. His patients were all cured and he had some free time on his hands, which he spent twiddling his thumbs and eating. When he started seeing the patterns on the ceiling come to life and crawl, he stood up quickly and tried to find something to do. Things got worse when the idea of paying Hawke a visit crossed his mind.

"Oh, hello, Hawke! I just thought I'd come over and try to convince you to have hot, unbridled sex with me!"

"Hot, unbridled sex? Why of course, Anders! Let me just get my daggers sharpened first!"

He was on the verge of losing his mind, alright!

He walked into his tiny room, squeezing between the cot and the wall to check the coin he had in his coin purse in the corner and realized he had more than enough for some fun at The Blooming Rose later. He smiled crookedly to himself as he approached his potion table and got to work on a few more embrium potions just in case while he waited for it to get dark, even though he knew the evening was a long way off.

He started thinking about Hawke again and cursed under his breath. The fact that she was a woman who didn't seem to be attracted to him probably bothered him the most. Maybe this was one of the reasons why he couldn't stop thinking about her. A vision of Hawke kissing Fenris, the white-haired elf from the previous night, suddenly popped into his head just like that and it nearly drove him up the walls of his clinic. He forced himself to focus on what he was doing, pounding on the embrium in his mortar a little more vigorously than necessary.

He was so focused on his task that he didn't hear Hawke enter his clinic.

"Hello Anders!" her voice said close to his right ear. He dropped both the mortar and pestle he was holding – the contents scattering all over the table as he cursed. Loudly.

"Shit on Andraste's knickerweasels, woman!" he exclaimed as he hurried to put the ingredients back into the mortar. "You nearly scared me to death!"

"I can't help it if I'm a good rogue, Anders," Hawke chuckled.

Anders turned and saw that she had brought Fenris with her. Varric was there as well, a huge grin of anticipation on his face. Anders knew exactly what Varric was thinking and rolled his eyes. Standing right behind Varric was Bethany - who was also smiling, and beside her was a ginger-haired woman Anders had never seen before. She was wearing a guard uniform, and he vaguely remembered Hawke telling him about a friend who was a City Guard.

"This is Aveline, Anders. She came with us from Lothering when we escaped the Blight," Hawke said, gesturing towards the redhead.

"You were in Lothering during the Blight?" Anders asked.

"She killed an ogre," Varric commented. "That's not something you see every day."

"I had help," Hawke laughed. "Right, Aveline?"

The redhead smiled, but offered no further comment.

"Are we going somewhere, or is this a social visit?" Fenris asked sullenly.

"I see you've brought 'Liri' with you," Anders grinned.

"What did you call me?" Fenris asked, bristling visibly.

"It's short for 'Lyrium'," Anders smirked. "I haven't had time to think of a good nickname yet."

"Hey, now!" Varric protested with a chuckle. "I'm the one who comes up with the nicknames around here!"

Fenris was clenching and unclenching his fists repeatedly and Anders had to bite his lower lip to stop himself from laughing. Aveline was keeping an eye on Fenris's tattoos and frowning, while Bethany was trying hard not to giggle. Hawke simply stepped really close to Fenris and whispered something in his ear, and he immediately relaxed, offering her a small smile.

"That's really good!" Anders exclaimed cheekily. "Can he sit up and roll over too?"

Fenris's lyrium tattoos started to glow and he took a step forward, the scowl on his face alarming Aveline who took a step towards him, her hand on her sword.

"Oh, boy," Varric said in an amused tone under his breath, but loud enough so that everyone could hear.

"Anders, stop it!" Hawke said, moving in front of Fenris so that she was in the middle. She turned to Fenris. "He's only baiting you because he knows you're going to get angry at him!" She turned back to Anders and shook her head, her violet eyes flashing angrily for a split second.

She was so close to him that he felt tempted to close the distance between them and kiss her on the lips. He smiled, winking at her with a smug expression on his face and she chuckled suddenly, shaking her head.

"I'll behave for a kiss," Anders said playfully, wiggling his eyebrows.

She burst out laughing. "Playing this game now, are we? I can think of something much better! Pull down your trousers and smalls right now and I'll give you a kiss – right where you want it!"

He took a step back, utterly confused. He had not expected that.

"Come on! What are you waiting for?" Hawke taunted, licking her lips and batting her long eyelashes at him. "I'm dying to get on my knees! I'm not bluffing, I assure you!"

Varric burst out laughing and even Fenris smiled. Aveline and Bethany, on the other hand, were totally shocked into silence and stared at Hawke as if she had sprouted another head or something.

Anders tried to get the image of Hawke on her knees before him out of his head, but it was impossible. He merely swallowed thickly and nodded, sweat forming on his forehead and upper lip as he struggled to get a grip on himself. "I'll try to – stop baiting him," Anders murmured, painfully aware of the fact that he now had a throbbing erection.

"Good," she smirked, stepping back and turning to Fenris. "What about you?"

"He's the one that started it; I've done nothing at all, so why should I promise to do anything?" Fenris scowled, giving Anders an angry glance.

"Because I've already asked you nicely?" Hawke simply said with a sweet smile on her face.

And, of course, Fenris nodded and calmed down immediately.

…

They travelled to Sundermount to deliver something to someone there. Anders sighed as he looked down at his boots. He had just bought them and had used a spell so that they wouldn't pinch the sides of his feet. Now they were walking through the brush and near ponds, over small hills and across marshy lands as they neared some mountains. He really wanted the boots he was wearing to last, but feared their lifespan would soon come to an end.

Glancing ahead, he was distracted by Hawke's swaying hips. He smiled to himself, utterly fascinated by them and didn't really pay attention to where they were going. It came as a shock, therefore, when they stopped and Hawke addressed a couple of Dalish elves. And just like that, they found themselves inside a Dalish camp.

"This is a Dalish camp!" Anders exclaimed as he fell into step beside Hawke who was walking around the camp clearly looking for someone.

"Now what would give you that idea?" Hawke chuckled.

"What are we doing here?" Anders shot back, sounding a bit annoyed.

Hawke stopped walking and looked up at him, a mischievous glint in her eye. "Haven't you been paying attention at all?"

"I know you have to deliver something to someone - I just never expected to be in a Dalish camp ever again!" Anders exclaimed.

"Again?" Hawke asked. "You've been in one before?"

"Well, not where there were any Dalish elves, but that's not the point!" Anders's reply tumbled out in a rush.

"A Dalish camp without Dalish elves?" Hawke burst out laughing. "You're absolutely priceless, Anders!"

Anders grinned back at her. "That's not what I meant, though I'll admit it was kind of funny…"

"The Keeper is right over there," Fenris's deep voice interrupted, gesturing towards an elderly lady who seemed to be delicately swaying with the gentle breeze blowing around the camp at intervals.

Anders opened his mouth to say something, but Hawke elbowed him rather hard in the stomach, eliciting a groan from him instead.

"Ah! Thanks, Fenris," she smiled sweetly as she moved away from Anders, who was now massaging his stomach and glaring at the white-haired elf.

Fenris smirked at Anders and then turned to follow Hawke.

Aveline and Bethany passed Anders as they followed as well, but Varric stopped and stood next to him waiting for him to recover.

"She's got a good punch, eh Blondie?" Varric said pleasantly.

"I wish you'd stop calling me that," Anders sighed.

…

The Keeper informed them they had to go up the mountain, meeting her First, Merrill, along the way, who was tasked to perform a rite of some kind at an altar. Then she asked Hawke to take Merrill to Kirkwall with her once the rite was over and done with.

Anders quickly stepped close to Hawke as they neared the base of the mountain.

"I don't think we should take this Merrill anywhere and certainly not to Kirkwall," he stated.

"I can't wiggle myself out of this. I promised the witch that helped us escape the Blight that I would do whatever the Keeper asked me to do in exchange," Hawke replied, looking up the mountain. A short distance away she could make out a petite form sitting on a green natural ledge.

"I'm telling you, all Dalish women are insane," Anders remarked. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

"Did you meet an insane one in that Dalish camp you mentioned before? You know…the one that didn't have any Dalish elves in it?" Hawke grinned.

"No, not exactly. We met her in the wilderness. Her camp had been abandoned by her people," Anders said. "But that's not the point. The point is –"

"That all Dalish women are insane," Hawke interrupted, finishing off the sentence for him. "Yes, I heard you the first time, Anders. I'll keep that in mind, thank you."

When they finally reached the person that was sitting on the grassy ledge, she jumped up and began to talk non-stop, greeting all of them with a slightly lost and fearful expression in her eyes.

Merrill was cute. She was naïve and awkward, and constantly feared she was upsetting someone. But she was cute. Anders took an instant liking to her because she made no sense at all and this amused him. She certainly was a refreshing change from Velanna, who had nearly always been angry and ready to attack and maim others.

They were ambushed and attacked by the undead and shades on the way to the altar as they climbed the mountain. As they fought, Merrill revealed herself to the group as a mage who used a lot of nature spells which complemented Bethany's use of fire and Anders's use of ice and electricity.

They met one of the Dalish elves further up the mountain and he asked Hawke to finish her task as quick as she could so she could take Merrill away from their camp. Anders inched forward until he was standing close to Hawke and whispered, "Insane," in her ear.

Hawke smiled at Anders and shook her head, while Merrill stumbled over her words trying to apologize for the way her clan was behaving. But it wasn't until they went into a tunnel on the side of the mountain that things really took a turn.

…

First it was the stupid giant spiders they literally ran into inside the tunnel that opened into a vast cavern with different chambers and sloped upwards towards the mountaintop again. Anders didn't like spiders, with their many legs and deadly poison. He did know that ice slowed them down, however, just like it slowed down other creatures and demons from across the Veil. Electricity did them in nicely as well.

He nearly used up all his mana because they were ambushed several times, and also because they were attacked by corrupted giant spiders twice. The corrupted ones were extremely deadly because aside from the regular poison that killed, they were tainted creatures. This meant that they could potentially spread the taint to their prey, and it also meant they were stronger and harder to kill. Anders had a difficult time because he had to continuously heal both Aveline and Fenris who liked to charge into a fight without thinking of the consequences.

On a more productive note, Fenris was glowing the entire time they were attacked and all the other times as well, which Anders took to his advantage. Every time he felt his mana drain away all he had to do was run behind Fenris and his mana would replenish completely. He kept this up for a while until Fenris got suspicious and asked him why he was following him around. Well, he didn't exactly 'ask'…nor was he particularly nice about it. He might have even snarled at Anders once.

"I'm just making sure you stay alive," Anders replied wiggling his eyebrows, smiling warmly at the elf.

"If you keep on doing this, you might meet your untimely end," Fenris deadpanned.

Anders's eyebrows shot upwards and he took a step back, keeping his distance. "Didn't I tell you two to stop it?" Hawke intervened, throwing up her hands in utter exasperation. "I need you two to focus on the fighting, not bicker at each other!" She looked right up at Anders who winked at her.

Hawke rolled her eyes and shook her head as she moved up the slope towards the exit with the rest closely following her.

As they emerged on the other side, they noticed what looked like two stone columns and a graveyard up ahead. There was something that looked like a barrier that kept them from advancing any further. Merrill frowned, which could only mean that she hadn't anticipated this.

Hawke turned to the Dalish elf. "I don't see a way around it. Any suggestions?"

"I can open the way forward," Merrill said as she advanced right up to the magical barrier.

Then she took a knife and cut her palm, throwing the blood on the barrier. A hissing voice was heard and something that sounded like wings and a scream and then the barrier vanished.

Anders's jaw dropped open and he just stared at the whole thing for a full five seconds before he ventured to even close his mouth, let alone talk.

Fenris, however, did not want to talk. He immediately unsheathed his huge greatsword and adopted an offensive stance, a scowl on his face as he regarded Merrill with hatred.

"Blood mage!" he practically spat at her, his tattoos glowing brightly. "Prepare to die!"

"This is just the sort of thing I needed for my story!" Varric exclaimed beside Anders, a wide grin on his face.

…

Excerpt from Anders's journal:

Today was an ordinary day…and I'm laughing at the words I just wrote.

Important things to note:

- Get more embrium.

- If possible, purchase a mirror or two and put them on the table so I can see if someone is creeping up behind me.

- Merrill is cute.

- Merrill is still alive.

- Fenris isn't exactly Hawke's favorite right now! HA!

- Merrill uses blood magic. A bit upsetting as it involves demons and other terrifying entities that can kill or possess you, but I told Hawke that Dalish women were insane. No one ever listens.

- Avoid going back to Sundermount as much as possible – it's a death trap!

- Run like crazy in the OPPOSITE direction if Flemeth appears again.

Note to self: Try to learn the 'Hawke' language to avoid getting killed in the future.

Hawke language: witch = dragon lady abomination/Flemeth.

Also, will be needing yet another new pair of boots soon, so I might as well ask Hawke to supply me with boots every time we leave Kirkwall.

VERY IMPORTANT: The tension is killing me here. Must get laid as soon as possible!

…