My Warden (COMPLETED)

Extra scene - Part Three

9:41 Skyhold

"It was Findle," her voice called from his bed, the sound rolling over along with her body.

Cullen couldn't see her as he was too busy trying to dress for the day that began nearly an hour ago. Something kept distracting him. "No, it wasn't," he answered her, reaching for his scabbard.

"You're remembering it wrong," Lana insisted, a scuffle breaking up her words. "Damn it!" He turned around to find her half off the bed, her hands crawling across the floor as she reached for a stack of books.

"Do you need help?" Cullen asked even as he stepped towards the woman with almost her entire torso off the edge of the bed. Her bare feet hung in the air, the toes pointed and arched to aid in her reach.

"Nope, I've got it," Lana crowed as she unearthed a book out of a stack and began the laborious challenge of crawling backwards up into bed.

Chuckling at her ingenuity, Cullen cupped his hands around her feet, softly kneading his fingers into them. As he sat down beside her lower half, he dug his arms under her legs, gripping to her straining thighs to help pull her to him. Still clutching to her hard won prize, Lana slipped stomach first across his scattered blankets, until she rested fully upon the bed. Then her naked legs twisted around, bringing the rest of her with until she could sit up to look him in the eye.

He couldn't remember why she wore one of his tunics, even baggier than the grey warden one she borrowed, and yet decided to forgo any trousers. But, by the Maker, he adored it. Lana looked so cozy, happy, at peace in only his shirt, her hair matted in the back, and some newly tried plum lipstick smeared across her face. It had been across his as well before he took the time to wash while she watched and then got into their current argument.

Sliding her stout legs under her, Lana struggled to rise up on her knees against the waning mattress. Cullen moved to wrap his arms around her, but she foisted the book into his hands instead. "Page hundred and fifty something. Go on, look." She wasn't about to let it go, so dutifully he flipped through the book scanning to see who was right.

As his face fell, she slapped her thigh, "See, I told you. It was Fingle who sold the farm for a stack of runes. Findle tried to buy it back using the golden chicken."

"How many times have you read this one?" Cullen asked, closing the book and placing it behind him on the bed. With his hands empty, he was now free to fill them with her. Curling his palms tight across her waist, he watched the baggy tunic pull taut against her breasts. It was a shame he was already dressed, and late.

After sliding her arms over his shoulder, Lana pressed her lips to his ear, and she chuckled, "I have absolutely no idea. It was one of my favorites growing up. One of the ones that didn't involve transmutation of entropic energies into...eh," she waved her hand, "it's not important."

Unable to help himself, Cullen kissed her. He meant for it to be a gentle peck, but Lana's exuberance stirred him awake, and his lips parted daring her to the challenge. Never one to back down, the mighty Hero of Ferelden met him tongue for tongue. "Maker, you are adorable," he sighed into her cheek.

"Oh? Is that all. I was expecting something more like pedantic, solipsistic, fussy, uh..."

Cullen laughed at her list, which caused her to join in. "A few of those at times as well, but mostly adorable." Her eyes sparkled against the dewey skin no woman who spent half the night awake should possess. He woke looking like what a mabari would vomit up after scrounging through the garbage, but not Lana. No, she was achingly beautiful, even as she had to correct him on his own books.