Chapter 35: We're having a picnic...

Once finished with my personal morning details, I returned to the campfire. Alistair was about to stand up, no doubt to offer me his seat, but I shook my head, pushing down on his shoulder, and then just parked myself in his lap. I'd never have been brave enough to do that before, but I'd never been so utterly confident about how someone felt about me before. Besides, he had literally carried me in his arms for hours – I was pretty sure he could take my weight. Leliana shot me a grin as Alistair flushed bright red, and I giggled back. Once settled, I turned to her and Wynne, and Zevran who had just emerged from his tent as well.

"Alright. Out with it."

They looked at me, confused, and Leliana spoke. "Out with what?"

"The teasing. The 'I told you so's. The lewd comments. Get them out of your system, would you? Speak now or forever hold your peace."

Wynne rolled her eyes good-naturedly, and continued reading her book. Leliana rubbed her hands together gleefully, and Zevran sat nearby with a mischievous look on his face. Leli had just opened her mouth to speak when a voice from the tents behind me piped up.

"Wait! If it's a free-for-all teasing session for my sister, you can't get started without me!" We all laughed as Aedan stumbled out of the tent we shared.

Seeing me sitting in Alistair's lap, he drew up short, and I saw his eyes flash from me to Zevran and back. He paused, just for a moment, and then seemed to make a decision. Taking a deep breath, Aedan sat down beside Zevran, drew the shorter man's face towards himself, and kissed him. I think he thought everyone would gasp in surprise, because when he pulled out of the brief kiss, his eyes flew open and he examined each of us in turn. No one looked shocked, and in fact Leliana and Alistair both had pleased smiles on their faces. Aedan's eyes narrowed.

"You all knew?"

Leliana, Zevran, and Alistair all responded at once.

"We're not blind!" "Of course they knew, amore mio." "How dumb do you think we are?"

I howled with laughter, and Zevran snickered in my direction. Aedan's face was sort of purple, and he shot me a nasty look.

"I didn't tell anyone! Don't look at me."

Wynne piped up. "If you didn't want everyone to know, dear, you could have tried to be a little more ... discreet."

Aedan shook his head, looking despondent. "So we could have just ... you wouldn't have cared?"

"Well, we'd have teased you. Like we will now." Leliana looked smug, and we all laughed.

The good-natured banter continued all morning while we took a much-needed break. Even Sten didn't complain too much about the delay, and he and Shale wandered off to explore around the camp a bit. Aedan watched them go, his expression both speculative and disturbed.

I laughed. "I don't think so, brother. But then again, who knows?"

Aedan shuddered and muttered under his breath. I couldn't hear the words, exactly, but the tone was obvious. I was quite certain he'd said "Maker help us."

Returning to the fire after a trip to the stream again, I found Alistair and Leliana talking together quietly, looking secretive. Alistair's face was red, and Leliana touched his arm and then said something that made him laugh. My jealousy flared, but I was able to squash it. I trusted them both. Nothing was going on. Seeing me, Alistair wandered over with a sweet smile on his handsome face. He held out his hand somewhat hesitantly, and I gave him mine, fingers intertwining instinctively. He had a bag over his shoulder, his sword and shield slung on his back.

"Come on." He tugged on my hand, and I followed him out of camp. We hit the stream and then followed it up a ways, until we found a little clearing right nearby. He let go of my hand, placed his shield and sword on a rock, and then started rummaging through the bag.

He pulled out a blanket, which he spread on the ground, and then sat down, patting the area beside him. "Picnic?"

I smiled down at him and plopped down on the blanket. He pulled out some bread, some cheese, and the ubiquitous jerky.

"I wish I could have brought something special to eat, or at least some wine or something, but..."

I interrupted. "It's perfect. Thank you, Alistair."

"I thought ... we could spend some time together. Just us."

"I'd like that."

We sat on the blanket, eating lunch, talking about nothing much, until the last of our meal was cleaned up. Alistair reclined back on the blanket beside me, and I lay down beside him, shoulders just touching. Our hands found each other again.

"I thought you might be angry with me this morning."

"Why?"

"The teasing? I thought you might be upset. I didn't say anything, didn't protect you."

"Oh, I didn't mind." I blushed a little bit. "I kind of liked it, actually."

"You did?" He rolled to his side, head propped on one arm, watching me.

I nodded. "I've never had anyone care enough about me to tease me, before now. I probably could have gone to school with no pants on by mistake, and no one would have noticed, never mind teased me about it. The teasing doesn't bother me – at least it means they care."

"They do. We do. There isn't a person back there who wouldn't put their life on the line to protect you, Sierra."

"I know." My blush deepened. "And I feel the same way. I've never had a family before. I like it, even if it means I have to put up with some teasing."

"Well, I'm sorry anyway, for what that's worth."

"Oh, don't worry Alistair. You'll get your fair share. Just wait until Wynne tries to tell you where babies come from."

"Wha-? Babies?"

"Wynne's right. You are cute when you're all red and mottled."

Alistair flopped back down with an exasperated sigh. "Maker, what is with you women?"

I giggled. "Do you still like me?" I went up onto my elbow to look down at him.

"No, Sierra. I don't like you. I love you."

"You're just hoping I'll kiss you."

"Not just ... but I mean, if you wanted to-"

I leaned down and softly pressed my lips to his. It was interestingly different being able to look down on him, and I spent a few minutes teasing him, dropping tiny kisses on him quickly, then nibbling his lower lip for a brief moment before backing off again. Finally with a growl he grabbed me, and flipped us both over, so I was on my back and he leaned over me. He pressed me down and kissed me firmly, his tongue tasting my lip, and then, when I opened my mouth, plunging in to meet my own. I moaned, aroused and amused, letting him be in control, my hands fisting in his shirt.

Something occurred to me, and I nudged him to stop. "Hey, you're wearing a shirt."

He panted softly, breath warm on my ear. "Um, yeah ... shouldn't I be?"

"No, I just mean no armour."

"Ah, yes ... Leliana convinced me that plate armour wasn't exactly romantic."

"Too bad she didn't say anything to me! I could have worn clothes too. Instead of armour."

"I don't mind. Your armour is ... uh, well, it looks ... nice on you."

"I'm gonna go with 'thanks', and not examine the rest of that statement too much."

"I appreciate that."

He kissed me again, and I didn't think for a while. After a bit, he rolled onto his back again beside me.

He spoke. "So can I ask you something?"

"Anything." I rolled over to my side again, admiring his profile.

"Really? Anything? Huh. I'll get back to that. But what I wanted to ask about was Zevran."

"That I wasn't expecting. What about him?"

"I just don't understand. You seem to actually ... like him."

I laughed. "I do. But it's because I understand him."

"How could anyone understand him? He's so aggressively ... I don't know. Sexual. It's creepy. I mean I guess Aedan doesn't mind it because he actually wants to be seduced by him, but ... how does it not drive you crazy?"

"Hmm. How do I explain this? He's ... he's like where I came from. You have to understand what life is like, there. It's so busy, everyone running around and working too much and not taking time to talk or even see others. They hide behind machines, even use them to communicate – I've seen two people sit side-by-side and use their machines to talk to each other instead of turning their heads and speaking. People are so ... lost. They don't know who they are, or what they're supposed to be. They're in pain and they don't even know why. So some of them overcompensate. They go out at night to have anonymous sex because at least then they can feel something other than empty. They use sex to sell things, they sell their bodies without even thinking that they're doing it. Some of the women wear these incredibly revealing, skimpy clothes, just because someone might notice them, finally. Morrigan would fit right in. It's all a mask to hide what's really happening.