Chapter Twenty: Romance
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age 2.
"It's strange living here again," Leandra mused. "My childhood home now owned by my child."
"Mother, it's been three years," Emma said pointedly. "When are you going to get used to the fact that we live here? And I'm not the one who put my name on the deed."
"True," Leandra admitted. "But I thought that would make it easier when I inevitably died so you wouldn't have to pay any death taxes."
"That's thoughtful," Emma said, smiling.
Carver winced. "I really wish you wouldn't talk that way, Mother."
"I don't see what's so depressing about discussing the fact that I've got one foot in the grave," Leandra said, puzzled.
Carver sighed. "Just…for me? Please?"
Leandra sighed as well. "Oh, alright. I've never understood you, you know."
"I know," Carver agreed. "I miss father."
"I feel like an Amell again," Leandra said happily.
Emma frowned. "You never actually stopped being an Amell just because you got married. You might have changed your last name but you can't stop being a part of your family. Trust me, I've spent years looking into how to kick Carver out of our family. There really is no way."
Leandra smiled at her. "You're so sweet, Emma."
Carver rolled his eyes.
"I just wish we could all be together as a family one more time," Leandra said, suddenly wistful. "You know, if Emma hadn't gotten Bethany taken to the Circle."
"I wasn't even there!" Emma protested.
"That's the point," Leandra said tightly.
"You're the one who wanted me to leave Carver and Bethany here," Emma reminded her.
Leandra stuck her nose in the air. "Lies and slander. But that reminds me, when I start trying to find you a suitable husband, dear, you won't mention the fact that you're an apostate mage, will you?"
Emma blinked innocently. "An apostate? Me?"
"Good girl," Leandra said approvingly.
"What about Carver?" Emma demanded. "I mean, I know he's Carver and all but we're rich now so I'm sure that somebody will want to marry him."
"He's dating that nice elf girl," Leandra said absently. "I never had much hopes for him anyway."
"Merrill?" Emma drew back, disgusted. "Ew!"
"Hey, you're hardly one to talk. You're dating that possessed apostate," Carver shot back.
Emma pouted. "I wish."
Carver couldn't suppress a startled laugh. "Really? You haven't managed to seal the deal yet? It's been three entire years, Emma. That's kind of pathetic."
"I'm working on it!" Emma cried out. "In fact, I'm going over there again to try right now!"
"If this does work for once, do me a favor and be quiet when you sneak him in here tonight," Carver requested. "I think I might actually have to go in tomorrow and I'd really rather not be woken up by the sound of my sister having sex. At all, really, but especially not with someone that I hate."
"You hate everyone I sleep with," Emma accused.
"You have the worst taste in me," Carver said, shrugging.
"You just can't stand for me to be happy!" Emma accused, storming for the door.
"There is a reason that I haven't turned her in to the templars yet, right?" Carver asked rhetorically. "I mean, aside from the fact that I honestly don't think they'd believe me."
"Hello, Anders," Emma said brightly as she skipped into the room. "Do you want to have sex?"
"Hey, Emma. I'm having a lot of problems with templars lately," Anders complained, not seeming to hear that second part. "They were practically at my doorstep last night. I think that Varric needs to start bribing them more."
"I'll bring it up with him, I promise," Emma said earnestly. "Or you could just move in. If we have room for my uncle and my useless brother then we most certainly have room for you. It would make it more convenient to have sex, you know."
"The knight-commander is getting worse," Anders said solemnly.
"Are you even listening to me?" Emma wondered.
"Of course I am. But these curfews that mages have? It's ridiculous! We should be allowed to stay out as late as we want and report back to the Circle when we're good and ready," Anders said, incensed. "And raiding mage families at midnight? Can't they pick a more sensible hour? Everyone I know has been forced into hiding for their own protection which is completely different than when they were in hiding before so that they wouldn't be taken to the Circle."
"You don't know any people that aren't mages?" Emma asked, surprised. "What about our companions?"
"I choose not to remember that I know them whenever I can help it," Anders explained. "At least you're a mage, too, so I don't have to worry about endangering you and the others can either take care of themselves or at the very least I don't care if they die. But I feel that you should know that I would drown us in blood to keep you safe."
Emma practically swooned. "You're so sweet! I would drown this entire city in blood to keep you safe. And chances are, you'll need the protection before I do. Justice and whatnot. I've been thinking…is he the reason that you won't get together with me? I know you want to because you say things like you'll drown us both in blood to protect me but then you never freaking do anything about it."
"Justice disapproves of the idea of us," Anders admitted.
"But…why?" Emma asked, distraught. "I mean, I'm the most pro-mage person I know besides you. What could he possibly have to object to?"
Anders shrugged and looked sheepish. "He actually just really doesn't approve of me doing anything that doesn't involve saving mages."
"Justice is kind of a buzz-kill," Emma grumbled.
Anders snorted. "Tell me about it. But it's not all bad. Angélique Amell – I think she might be a relative of yours, actually – recently sent Ser Pounce-a-lot here from Ferelden and even got Warden-Commander Fayle Fahlgai to write me an apology. He didn't mean a word of it, of course, but I appreciated it just the same."
"Is Angélique a mage?" Emma asked.
Anders replied with a question of his own. "Why do you think she's in Ferelden?"
Emma nodded in agreement. "That's very nice. And later I would love to meet Ser Pounce-a-lot. But let's get back to talking about us getting together."
"I don't think we were talking about that," Anders said, looking anywhere but at her.
"We should be. It's been three years, Anders. This is ridiculous. And I haven't even slept with someone in an entire month! What more do you want from me?" Emma demanded.
"I never asked you to wait for me," Anders said, sounding almost pained. "You don't want to be with me."
"Don't tell me what I do or do not want," Emma snapped, narrowing her eyes. "I get enough of that nonsense from everyone else and I do not need it from you."
"You're right, I'm sorry," Anders apologized. "But…you could have a normal life, Emma, and I never could. I'm an apostate."
"So am I," Emma reminded him. "The fact that the templars don't seem to have noticed is a good sign for you. If it wasn't for your healing you wouldn't be having any problems at all."
"I can't just give that up," Anders argued. "This place needs me."
"I'd never ask you to give it up," Emma insisted. "Just…let's try to have our normal life together in between you attempting to bring down the Chantry and me helping when I'm not busy doing other things, alright?"
"Don't tempt me," Anders said, but his resolve seemed to be weakening. "Not unless you're ready for what that means."
"Three years, Anders," was all Emma had to say.
"You've seen what I am but I'm still a man. You can't tease me like this and expect me to resist forever," Anders warned her.
Emma threw her hands up in the air. "Finally! We're getting somewhere!"
She was so busy feeling vindicated that she almost didn't notice Anders moving towards her until he kissed her.
"This will be a disaster," he predicted when he pulled back.
Emma was breathing heavily. "Way to kill the mood, Anders. It'll be fine. Assuming Justice doesn't talk you out of it, of course."
"It's long past the point of that," Anders promised. "I can't live without this. We could die tomorrow."
"Justice could kill us," Emma muttered.
"If you're with me we'll be hunted and hated forever," Anders informed her.
Emma shook her head. "You really don't need to get all melodramatic on me. I know what being an apostate means."
Anders looked skeptically at her but then shook his head. "If your door is open tonight then I will come to you. If it isn't then I'll know that you have taken my warning at last."
"Could you try to sound like maybe you have a preference one way or the other?" Emma asked, a little annoyed.
"I have to try to balance my own desires with your well-being," Anders informed her primly.
Emma groaned. "It's this kind of self-control that has taken us three years to get to this point! Listen, can't you just come with me now? I really, really want to jump you and I've never had to wait this long for anything in my entire life. It's really not fair."
"You have to have a chance to change your mind," Anders said firmly. "And I've got to talk Justice around anyway. I'll try not to get there too late but you really never know…"
Emma walked over to the clinic's wall and started banging her head against it.
Emma came home just as the sun was beginning to set to find Carver waiting impatiently for her.
"Where in the world have you been?" he demanded. "I've been waiting for ages!"
Emma looked surprised. "Really? Ever since I left?"
"Well…I did get lunch with Merrill a few hours ago," Carver admitted, "but aside from that yes."
"You have really got to get a life, Carver," Emma said patronizingly. "You can't just follow after me forever. Why don't you look into getting a job or something?"
"I have a job," Carver said, gritting his teeth. "I'm training to be a templar, remember?"
Emma waved a hand. "Oh, that. I'm not sure I believe you, actually, since you're always here."
"I am not always here. You just never seem to notice when I'm not," Carver pointed out. He put a hand to his forehead. "So where were you all day? Surely trying to convince Anders couldn't have taken this long."
"Oh, it didn't," Emma replied. "It was difficult but I finally wore him down and he agreed to go out with me. He's actually coming over tonight assuming that Justice hasn't talked him out of it," Emma explained.
Carver winced. "Great. Just…great."
"What?" Emma asked, glaring at him. "This is my house. I can bring whoever I want to here."
"Of course you can but, as a templar and a sane person, I'm just not thrilled at having your possessed boyfriend here. You'd probably never forgive me if I had to save you from him," Carver replied.
"Probably not," Emma agreed. "But I hate Justice, too."
"Vengeance, more like," Carver muttered. "And why would you hate him? He's nice and fanatical about mages, just like you."
"I know but he also doesn't want Anders to sleep with me and has apparently been the force keeping us apart for three years so now he has earned my undying hatred," Emma said matter-of-factly.
"Not that there's anything even remotely healthy about dating a man possessed but is it really a good idea to hate half of the man you're going to date?" Carver inquired.
"I don't see why it wouldn't be," Emma said, seeming genuinely puzzled. "But anyway, after Anders agreed to come here tonight I went to the Hanged Man and Isabela and Varric and I celebrated for a few hours. Well…I celebrated. And Varric and Isabela brainstormed new book ideas, true, but they seem worried for some reason. Still, they were willing to drink the celebratory ale so that was alright. It would have been pathetic if I had had to drink it alone or even with strangers."
Emma turned to go upstairs.
"Wait, aren't you going to be down here to greet him?" Carver asked, taken aback.
Emma shook her head. "Nah. I'm going to light a fire in my room and then stare at the flames and imagine that it's templars burning instead of logs while I wait for him. You'll show him up, will you?"
Carver groaned at the thought of having to escort his sister's new boyfriend to her room so that they could keep him up by having sex.
Shockingly, Emma noticed his displeasure but – perhaps not so surprisingly – was wrong about the source. "Oh, don't worry," she said earnestly. "You weren't there at the time seeing as how you're never there. In fact, you might have even been right there along with us helping us burn the place to the ground. And complaining loudly but not actually doing anything about it, of course."
Emma knew the moment Anders entered the house because he complained that Carver was the one opening the door. She ran to the ledge to watch him walk towards the stairs before quickly running back and tried to appear nonchalant as she leaned against the bedpost.
"You're here," she said, trying not to pounce on him. That might not go over well the first time and it was actually a minor miracle that he'd even come at all.
"Justice does not approve of my obsession with you," Anders said, smirking. "He believes you are a distraction."
Emma felt another flare of annoyance at the way that he was bringing up Justice yet again even now. Sure she knew that he was always there, probably always watching but…well, that was kind of creepy actually so she preferred to pretend otherwise. Still, obsession was good, right? He never actually acted like it but maybe now he would.
The only time an obsession could possibly be bad was if she lost interest and it had taken her three years thus far and he was so much like her that she doubted that would happen anytime soon. Or, she supposed, he could turn violent but she could take him so it would be fine. Justice was the more likely culprit anyway. It would be so inconveniencing to have to hurt Anders to defend herself if it ever came to that.
"It is one of the few things on which he and I disagree," Anders continued. He really needed to stop talking about Justice. If she hadn't been building this up so much in her head it would probably be killing the moment. Still, an active difference between Justice and Anders was a good thing, right? The only spirits from the Fade that she found attractive were desire demons and even they weren't nearly as alluring as they seemed to think they were.
"If you didn't come here then I would go out and find you and jump you wherever you happened to be," Emma announced.
Anders smiled at that. "I'm sure you would. I've never tried a proper relationship before, you know. It's so strange that it's taken all of this, the Grey Wardens, Kirkwall, Justice, before I did but here it is. In the Circle it was too dangerous to love. It was too dangerous to give the templars any power over you."
"The templars will never have any power over me," Emma said fiercely.
"I know and that's why I'm here," Anders said quietly. "It would kill me to lose you."
"Then don't," Emma said simply. "Andraste knows I don't have the sense to keep away from you…"
"I love you," Anders told her afterwards. "I really should stay away from you because you deserve a normal life but…well, not that I'm blaming you but you really don't make that easy. And now that I'm finally here…I don't think I could bear to walk away."
Emma looked at him seriously. "It might be a little soon but…do you want to get married sometime?"
A panicked look entered Anders' eyes. "I've got to go."
"At least move in?" Emma asked hopefully as he headed towards the door.
Anders stopped. "This is a little soon…"
"We've known each other three years, Anders," Emma reminded him.
"And these past three years in Darktown have been pretty awful," Anders reasoned. "Alright, great. I'll move in tomorrow."
They heard banging coming from next door.
Anders looked questioning at her. "What-"
Emma rolled her eyes. "Carver. Some people have no respect for others…"
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