Work Text:
Best Laid Plans
Evelyn paused and placed her ear against the door, she concentrated and listened intensely for any sound coming from the other side. She held her breath, closed her eyes and said a silent prayer to the Maker that the room on the other side was empty. She gripped the doorknob, then slowly and silently turned it. As quietly as she could, she opened the door just a crack, placed her eye in the slender opening and surveyed the room on the other side. She was startled and nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a voice whisper in her ear.
“Is it safe? Can we make a clear getaway?”
Cullen was a warm presence at her back, his scent surrounded her as he leaned in closer and they both slowly opened the door wider to step inside. They made their way through the dimly lit office. Walking slow and with careful steps as they both scanned the room, hoping its owner wasn’t waiting for them. Evelyn thought it had been easier navigating the twisted landscape of the fade compared to crossing the room to reach the exit door on the opposite side.
Her heart was pounding and Cullen’s hand was a warm and steady weight on the small of her back as they crept closer to the exit. It led out to the main hall of the keep but felt like it was miles away. Her voice was barely above a whisper as she moved through the room on silent feet.
“I don’t see her… I think she must be gone.”
Cullen let out his breath in a rush as they both relaxed and all the tension left their posture. He stepped in front of Evelyn to open the door and they both entered the pandemonium of the main hall. Evelyn started talking as she turned to shut the doorway behind her.
“Honestly, I really appreciate all that Josephine is doing for our engagement party and wedding, but sometimes she’s just….”
Strong arms wrapped around her, picking her up, and dragged her behind the floor to ceiling drapery that hung in the main hall. Evelyn’s shout of alarm was muffled by a large hand clamped over her mouth. Cullen turned her to face him in the near darkness using his other hand he placed one finger to his lips.
“Shh… She’s right there.”
His voice was just above a whisper as they stood close together in the near darkness.
Josephine’s silhouette paused just on the other side of the silk fabric as she glanced downwards to the ever present writing table that never left her hands. One of the servants ran to her side and began speaking quickly.
“Lady Montilyet there’s been a problem at the dress makers. The peach silk fabric you asked for…. The one that was to be for the bridesmaids. M’lady…. I don’t know how to say this, but she tells me that by her calculations, there isn’t enough fabric to make all the dresses for the wedding.”
From their hiding place behind the curtain Cullen and Evelyn heard the usually mild mannered Josephine softly curse under her breath as she started shuffling through the parchments attached to her writing tablet. If Cullen’s hand had not been on her mouth at the time Evelyn’s gasp of surprise would surely have been heard by the other woman standing so close to their hiding place. Evelyn’s eyes were huge with surprise as she looked at Cullen. She found it hard to suppress a giggle when she saw that he too was trying to control his reaction to Josephine’s outburst. His eyes sparkled with humor and he was biting his lip to keep from laughing.
Looking up at him in the semi darkness, that their hiding place afforded them, Evelyn took the opportunity to step closer to him. She used both of her hands at the same time, one to remove his hand from her face, and the other to shift his hand away from his own lips. She quickly silenced any other sounds they would have made by placing her lips to his.
This kiss was slow and languid, unhurried and sweet. A gentle melding of lips sliding over each other, warm and moist. Evelyn felt more than heard a low rumbling coming from Cullen’s chest. She answered him with a soft moan of her own. The sound of Josephine and the frantic servant’s conversation faded away from her awareness as Evelyn lost herself in the feeling of Culllen’s lips on hers, his strong arms wrapping around her to pull her close, and she raised her hands to run them through is thick golden curls.
Time stood still and her whole reality narrowed down to here and now, in this small pocket of stillness they had found for themselves, right now it was only the two of them that mattered. As far as she was concerned the rest of the world outside no longer existed and if she could she would stay here forever.
“Alright you two, break it up. You can come out of hiding now! I told Ruffles that you both had gone to the Underloft to finalize crafting of your wedding rings. So make yourselves decent and get out here.”
Cullen and Evelyn had a few moments of panic as they tried to quickly disentangle themselves from the massive floor to ceiling drapes. Evelyn giggled as Cullen’s boots became trapped in the extra fabric that was artfully draped to pool on the floor. It took him a few seconds to kick off the offending material and step away.
“There you are. My Lady Inquisitor, we have a major disaster with the wedding gowns.”
Josephine walked over to them as quickly as she could. Halting just long enough to give Varric a disapproving face.
“Someone told me you had gone to The Underloft just a few moments ago. I really must speak with you about an urgent matter concerning the bridesmaids dresses.”
Cullen gave her a cheeky grin, planted a small kiss to her cheek, and said, “Ah, seems this is your department, my dear.” He turned on his heel and started to walk away. “I’ll just be heading off to my office to…”
Evelyn quickly reached up to grab the back of his collar as Cullen tried to make his get away. A loud sound somewhere between a cough and a strangled shout burst from Cullen as she pulled him to stand next to her.
She looked him in the eyes and said with a voice full of equal parts anger and desperation.
“You will NOT leave me alone with her. The woman is fanatic with her plans for our wedding. If I have to put up with her so do you.”
Evelyn knew the words were a bit harsh and not totally true. Even though she was a noblewoman by birth Evelyn was completely unprepared to handle the planning and execution of an event of such a large scale. She was never more grateful for Josephine and her expertise in matters of entertaining and planning. Especially now considering her current condition.
Evelyn admired the way Josephine handled herself, with all of her current and new responsibilities despite being midway through her pregnancy. Her rounded belly proudly on display in her new dress; as yet another servant pulled her aside to talk to her.
Thinking to make a getaway Culllen and Evelyn began to slowly walk backwards together, trying to lose themselves in the chaos of the main hall, and then slip out by a side door. Just as they opened the door and were almost in the clear, they both noticed a large body was blocking the doorway. They were both stopped dead in their tracks, by a very cross looking Blackwall as he asked in a menacing voice.
“Where is my wife? I haven’t seen her since breakfast. I know how she is, Josie will lose track of time when she gets lost to planning and organization.”
Just then the voice of the lady in question could be heard shouting loudly, even above the hustle and bustle of the main hall.
“What do you mean we’ve run out of steak knives?!”
The three of them walked back to where Josephine was standing with her head down and quickly shuffling through the parchments on her writing tablet. As they drew up beside her, and her hand dropped to caress the rounded shape of her lower body, whether it was to comfort herself or the restless child within her who knew.
“Josie, sit down, please. I haven’t seen you since breakfast, did you even eat a midday meal?”
“I..I don’t know? What time is it now?”
Blackwall waved over a passing servant as he led his wife to a nearby table and helped her to sit down.
“You lad, go get my lady a plate of food. And make it a full plate she is eating for two now.”
Evelyn and Cullen followed Blackwall over to the dinning table, their faces full of concern. Josephine looked up at them with her expression of disappointment and apology.
“I’m so sorry. But the wedding will have to be delayed. We can have an engagement party later in the week as planned, but the wedding will have to wait. There is not enough fabric for the dresses and with the extra guests that have RSVP in the past few days, we don’t have enough place settings or seating to accommodate them all.”
As a plate was placed in front of her Josephine kept talking through mouthfuls of food as she attacked the meal like a Grey Warden. While the lines of concern on Blackwall’s face began to disappear.
“I was thinking of pushing the date back four more weeks, but then that would make the roads leading in and out of Skyhold too dangerous. That would be too close to the start of winter. And then it seems like we will have to drive the wedding back till next spring at least.”
Cullen was filled with a small bit of relief, and he felt a little smile on his face as he turned to look at Evelyn. But in contrast her face was filled with a look of panic.
“No! We can’t do that. We shouldn’t push the wedding back so far.” She was looking back and forth between Cullen and Josephine as a blush began to form on her face. “We need to go on with the wedding as planned. I can’t wait too long.”
Cullen laughed as he put his arm around her shoulders and dropped a kiss to the top of her head.
“I love you too, but what’s the rush? I want to make this a once in a lifetime memorable experience for the both of us, my dear. We will only get a chance to get married once in our lifetime, Maker willing I’ll have you by my side for the rest of our lives. So we have to wait a few more weeks or a month or two what’s the difference?”
The blush on Evelyn’s face deepened to an even brighter shade of red as she answered him with a soft voice not meant to carry farther than their small gathering.
“The difference is that…. ah… if we postpone the wedding certain things may develop and be hard to ignore.” She looked pointedly down at Josephine and her very obvious pregnant belly. She felt Cullen shift and stiffen next to her and watched as even Josephine paused while eating, as the full meaning of her words were understood.
Cullen’s warm hands softly gripped her shoulders and turned her to face him. She looked up at him and began talking quickly, trying to explain.
“I’m sorry it’s a terrible way to tell you, but I wasn’t sure until a few days ago. I know Dorian isn’t exactly a mage healer, but he confirmed my suspicions when he examined me. And since the wedding was going forward it seemed that there wouldn’t be an issue…. Only now if things get delayed…”
Her words were cut short by Cullen’s arms wrapping around her, he picked her up to spin them both around, as he crushed her to his chest.
“Oh sweet Maker, Evelyn, are you sure?” His voice was thick with emotion as he held her close to him. “Are we going to have a baby?” He set her gently down on her feet and looked into her eyes. “I didn’t believe it was possible. I’ve been told that taking lyrium as a Templar, for most of my life would make it nearly impossible to father a child. Are you positive?”
She looked up to him with tears in her eyes, as she worried her bottom lip with her teeth; but simply nodded back at him and smiled.
“Well then, it seems that if we simplify the bridesmaids dresses a bit we may have enough peach silk to sew them after all. And if we alter the design of your wedding dress we can camouflage any of the changes to your waistline, Inquisitor. So it seems Cassandra’s first act as Devine will be performing a marriage ceremony. And our engagement party has just turned into a wedding reception.”
“Josie, dear, I don’t believe they heard you.”
Josephine looked up from her ever present paperwork and planning to see Cullen and Evelyn walking away hand in hand and arm in arm. Looking at each other with love shining in their eyes.
“No, I don’t think they did. But that’s alright, I’ve got all my plans in place.”