Prompt Response: Laundry Day

The sun had woken Hawke a couple of hours earlier, shining through the window as it rose. Anders slept on, exhausted by the events of the past few days. She’d left him there, quietly dressing and gathering some things that she took out to be cleaned.

After she’d dropped them off with a laundress she returned, stopping in her kitchen to grab some bread and cheese for later. Not even Bodahn’s attempts to feed her a hot breakfast could distract her from getting back to her bedchamber as quickly as possible.

When she came back in she found him still curled in the blankets, one thin arm flung out to his right where she’d been sleeping. His hair had fallen across his forehead, having been released from its usual haphazard confinement, and she smiled at the contentment on his face before turning to see to the rest of the mess.


She hummed as she moved around the room, straightening the papers Anders had strewn about her desk and picking up her clothes from where he’d tossed them the night before. As she was closing the wardrobe he began to stir.

“Mmm, good morning,” he said sleepily as he sat up. He stretched, arms wide, moving the muscles in his chest and belly where the blanket had fallen away. She stayed where she was, appreciatively watching his body move. It had taken her long enough to get him there: she was in no hurry.

As he woke more fully, he realized how high the sun had already risen. “How late is it? There must be patients waiting for me!” He tossed aside the blankets, revealing a lean frame whittled by deprivation and strengthened by hefting that ornate staff in battle after battle at her side. She let out an “mmm” of her own.

Anders grinned at her from where he sat on the side of the bed. He looked around the room. “Where did you put my robes?” he asked. “I’ve got to get to the clinic.”

“No, you don’t,” she replied, wearing a wicked grin of her own. “I posted a notice that you’re unavailable today.”

“What?!” He took the two paces between them almost in a single leap. “You know most of my patients can’t read. They need me.”

“I also told the women that help you that you were indisposed and could not be in today. They’ll be fine without you for a day.” She settled her weight back on her hips and looked him up and down. “You need some rest. Now back to bed with you.”

He gazed down at her, the corner of his mouth beginning to lift. “So you won’t tell me where my robes are?” he said, reaching for the door to the wardrobe.

“You won’t find them in there,” she answered, wrinkling her nose a bit. “I’ve taken them out to be cleaned.”

“What, all of them?” He’d only recently moved his things from the squalid clinic where he spent his time when they were apart. She’d been planning this for a week and he wasn’t about to get away this time.

“Yup. I even took your smallclothes. You haven’t a stitch to wear.”

“You cheeky monkey,” he smiled, sounding pleased. He snuggled his face into her neck as he pulled her against him. “Whatever am I going to do with you?”

0 Response to "Prompt Response: Laundry Day"

Post a Comment