Title: The Best Thing

Author: PiperDreamer

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age.

Sometimes, the best things are hidden in an unappealing manner. For Alistair, the best thing to ever happen to him was getting caught in bed with a maiden by her family.
"So here are you choices: you do the honorable thing and marry my daughter… or you don't. One of those choices guarantees a slight chance at staying alive. The other doesn't. I'll let you figure out which one."

It was to an ear-splitting scream that Alistair awoke to.

The Templar initiate opened his eyes, only to slam them shut as the light in the room attempted to attack his brain. His head throbbed terribly and the noise was murder on his poor head.

But a woman was screaming, and he needed to see what was going on. So despite the fact he felt as though he was swimming through mud, he found the strength to at least open his eyes enough to see.

And promptly wished he hadn't.

He was naked in bed with a young woman half draped over him, also equally naked and looking as panicked as he felt. But it wasn't her who was screaming.

No, that was the older woman by the door, who looked utterly horrified to at what she was seeing.

What in the Maker's name is going on?! Alistair thought, hysteria bubbling within him as he tried to recall how he ended up in bed with a woman.

He and a group of fellow initiates had been passing through a small quaint town on their way to Denerim. The sergeant ordered them to stay the night to re-supply.

Some of the initiates decided to have a little fun and go to the local pub. Alistair, not liking the sergeant at all (really, the man could do to lighten up) went with, out of boredom and spite to authority.

By drink three he was tipsy. By drink four they were joined by a small group of locals. By drink six he couldn't remember his name, but was successfully flirting with a pretty dark haired maiden. By eight, everything blanked out except the dark haired maiden who he had started to make out with, stumbling to her home—

Ah. The lady next to him was his dark haired maiden.

And the woman by the door was probably her mother. Great.

The possible-mother had stopped screaming but was still gapping at them in horror.

His bedmate had drawn the blanket up, covering herself as she tried to talk. "M-Mother, this isn't-its not-"

Whatever she was going to say was lost on her mother who had turned around and was running, screaming, "MALCOLM!"

"Mother!"

"Mother! What's wrong?!"

The bottom of Alistair's stomach dropped out when two males came into few. Despite an age difference, it was clear that the two were brothers.

And it became quiet clear to Alistair that his bedmate was their sister by their reactions.

"Bethany, what is Mother yelling about-MAKER'S BREATHE!" The younger one cried, shielding his eyes.

The older of the two snarled, taking a menacing step forward. "You bloody bastard!"

"What is all this screaming about?" Came a yell that stopped the elder brother's movement but not the intent.

And when he came into view, Alistair suddenly wished the older brother had acted.

Because the man who came into view must have been the father, because only a father could give you a look that made you believe he could rip your spine out through your chest cavity.

Alistair now wished he had just stayed at the Chantry.

The next hour passed in a blur, with him being forcibly removed from the bed, thrown in clothes that were not his, and then expertly tied up.

He now faced three angry males, all looking as though they would cheerfully murder him on the spot.

The father, Malcolm, stared at him with cold fury. Alistair had a sudden epiphany that the Maker, had he been a human, would have looked like this; all fury, no mercy.

"What's your name." came the clip question.

Alistair barely managed to squeak it out before Malcolm leaned forward.

"Well Alistair, you'll be happy to know I am a man that believes in choices. All men should be free to make choices. But they should remember that all choices have consequences. So here are you choices: you do the honorable thing and marry my daughter… or you don't."

"Uh, what, exactly are the consequences of those choices?" Alistair meekly asked.

"One of those choices guarantees a slight chance at staying alive. The other doesn't. I'll let you figure out which one."

Ser Bryant had been a Templar for ten years. He had seen his fair share of apostates, demons, abominations, malcontents and had taken it all in stride.

Yet nothing quite prepared him for the sight of seeing the residential tracker and hunter Hawke dragging in a tied up blonde haired man (that looked vaguely familiar to the Templar) into the Chantry, followed by his entire family.

They were making quite the ruckus, and Ser Bryant was now glad that the Templar initiates had left very early that morning, despite many suffering hangovers. He didn't think he could handle all that drama along with this new development.

"Serah Hawke, what-" was as far the Templar got because Malcolm -good natured, funny, witty, humorous Malcolm- dumped the young man in front of the Revered Mother like a sack of potatoes, and with a snarl that would have done a Mabari proud said, "How much are the marriage ceremonies?"

Both Revered Mother and Ser Bryant stared at the unusually murderous looking man and wondered if they heard him right.

"Marriage ceremonies…?"

"Yes. This," at this Malcolm gave a good kick to the blonde man on the floor, "fellow has agreed to marry my daughter. Now."

"Uh, Serah perhaps we-"

"Now, you're Grace. Before I kill him for honor's sake."

Ser Bryant knew what that meant. The blonde had said or done something that had gone against Malcolm sense of honor, duty, reputation…

…or the reputation of a family member.

And judging at the positively scathing looks Malcolm's sons were giving the vaguely familiar looking blonde and how young Bethany refused to meet anyone's eyes, it didn't take a genius to guess what had happened.

So with his help to get things moving along, Ser Bryant and the rest of the Hawke family acted as witness to the union of Alistair and Bethany Hawke in the Age of the Dragon, year twenty-seven, early in spring in Lothering.

It wasn't till the Templar sergeant (that had been herding the initiates to Denerim) returned two days later asking if he had seen a missing recruit, that Ser Bryant figure out why the blonde man looked familiar.

9:35

Marrying Bethany was probably the best thing to ever happen to Alistair. Not only was he married a wonderful woman, had amazing in-laws that accepted him, a job as a Kirkwall guardsmen, and was expecting his second child in the fall.

The first few years were…trying, though to get where he was now he'd live through them again.

At the start Bethany had been quiet, demure and unsure around him. Alistair felt like a heel the first few months into their marriage, mostly because she seemed afraid of him.

Shortly after they had been married, Ser Bryant had asked Alistair if he was still going to be a Templar, stating that there were those who were married within the Order and that once his training was complete, he could be transferred to Lothering. Alistair talked to his new wife about it, who showed she did have a bite to her when she made it very clear if he continued his training as a Templar then she would leave him.

Alistair was ashamed to say he sincerely considered taking her up on that but in his defense, at the time he lived in constant fear that her family was going to kill him in his sleep. In the end, he withdrew from the Order- much to the anger and rage of the Denerim Revered Mother. It took him forever to get her off his tail.

He had been scared shitless of his in-laws, especially after they found out he was a (sort-of) Templar, but things smoothed out some when he helped saved his father-in-law's life when the man caught a chill that nearly ended him when it turned into pneumonia.

Six months in his marriage, Alistair and Malcolm had been out hunting in the Wilds when the older man caught the chill. Alistair, despite being terrified of Malcolm had taken care of the man, force feeding him healthy potions and badly made stew. He nearly lost him a couple of times, and probably would have had he not met with the apostate Anders.

After that, Alistair was accepted, especially when he brought Anders home with to hide him from the Templar's.

It wasn't for another six months before they finally revealed that Bethany and Malcolm were mages and Garrett still laughed about the look on his face upon hearing the news.

Anders had stayed with them, becoming apart of the family when he and Garrett hooked up to the shock of everyone but Malcolm.

He was certain his ears had burned for a week when Malcolm stated that his first love had been a man named Maurevar and then proceeded to go into such detail about it that it would have made an Antivan whore blushed. He also didn't know why his mother-in-law had this surprised look on her face as she giggled like a little girl with a perverse grin plastered to her face upon hearing this, nor did he ever wanted to know.

He had stayed with them in Lothering, doing Chantry board work as well as hunting to make ends meet until the Bann sought out men for Ostagar. He, Carver and Garrett left to join up. Upon getting there, he was nearly conscripted into the Grey Warden's by some douchebag named Duncan, but mercifully Garrett managed to talk the old coot out of it, though even Garrett couldn't stop them from getting assigned to different army divisions.

Alistair was luckily placed under Fergus Cousland's command, and had been there then the noble had been sent on a scouting mission. The scouting mission ended in disaster when they were ambushed by Darkspawn, which killed nearly everyone. Alistair and four others managed to save Fergus' life and carried him to the safety of Lothering. There, they found out about the disastrous battle at Ostagar.

Lothering was the next stop for the Horde, and Alistair didn't care if he was abandoning the army; all that mattered was getting his family to safety. Fergus proved to be a better man then himself when he not only allowed Alistair to leave but encouraged it. Alistair wouldn't find out till later that Fergus was fine with him leaving with his family because he had lost his.

When the few surviving Wardens passed through, Fergus joined them in the battle to stop the Blight. Alistair later heard that he married Queen Anora and was now ruling Ferelden.

The second Garrett and Carver returned, the family left. They met a woman named Avaline and her Templar husband, Ser Wesley. Alistair very nearly stabbed the man when he threatened Bethany. They joined them, and proceeded to try and make it to Gwaren. Alistair would acknowledge to anyone who asked that it was a miracle indeed that they didn't loose anyone aside from Wesley, even when facing an ogre and a shape shifting witch

Though he was uncomfortable with Flemeth, the witch had proven that she could keep her word and got them to Gwaren. When they got to Kirkwall, it was another barrel of fish entirely.

Now here he was after surviving the Blight, the Expedition into the Deep Roads, the Qunari invasion that lead to the death of both the Viscount and Knight-Commander Meredith when she faced the Arishok and died shortly after killing him, Malcolm becoming Viscount and the general insanity that seemed to be a staple of normal Free March culture. He was happy with life.

Life was good.

"Alistair! I'm being attacked by a small child! Help!"

Alistair turned to find Garrett grinning as he held a small boy that looked just like Alistair. The boy was currently whacking his uncle with a toy sword, grinning as he did so.

Anders walked in, and though he looked tired from a long day in Kirkwall's first openly mage-run free clinic he smiled at the sight. "Oh, the fiend! Garrett, don't worry! I'll save you!"

Alistair laughed at the sight as Anders mercilessly tickled the small boy.

It was this sight that the Viscount of Kirkwall walked into.

Malcolm shook his head at their antics, smiling. Alistair was glad to see him smile. Leandra had been killed during the invasion. This triggered what lead to Malcolm becoming Viscount, seeing how he slaughtered every Qunari in the city, excluding the Arishok and a hand full of his men that sealed themselves within the Viscount's building. With Meredith's death after killing the Arishok, most of the Templar order dead and no other noble worthy enough; Malcolm was named Viscount due to his charming personality, people skills, his high publicity and the sheer hell he could rain down upon his enemies.

The two men watched on as the two uncles played with their nephew, enjoying the sight. Bethany walked in, announcing that dinner was ready. Alistair strode to his wife embracing her as his hand wandered to her swollen belly.

"How's my littlest man doing?" Alistair inquired, smiling brightly.

Anders was an amazing healer, but he was worse at keeping a secret then Isabella. The moment he found out about the baby's gender he told everyone who'd listen that he was going to be an uncle again, and that the baby was another boy.

"He is very lively." Bethany giggled, walking with her husband to the dinning area. Orana was there, talking with Carver.

Alistair felt for the young man; Orana may not have been the prettiest elf out there (he was certain that slave life hadn't been kind to her), but that didn't stop Carver from loving her. Carver though was being smart about it and taking it slowly, allowing Orana time to adjust to her free status. The last thing Carver wanted was for her to feel she had to give herself to him, and Alistair knew that Carver would probably have to wait years before Orana could love him in return.

Once all were seated (he still laughed a bit at Orana's flustered response at being able to eat at the table with them), and food served out (Sandal was getting better about not teaching his son to spit peas at the dog), Alistair smiled brightly, holding Bethany's hand.

Yes; marrying Bethany was probably the best thing to ever happen to Alistair.

A what-if AU, that has been wandering around my head.

I always wondered what Alistair would be like if he had a family before the Blight. He'd probably be better adjusted, more responsible and even less incline to become king.

Thoughts?

PD