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‘Let’s give it a chance, let it control our destiny.’
‘I’m sorry, what was that?’
‘I reviewed your code as per your request. If you intend to push it before the weekend you may want to do so now,’ Solas, her senior colleague, said.
‘Oh, terrific. Cheers, I appreciate it,’ she stuttered. Hm, that was odd. She could have sworn…
‘But I don’t want to get a merge, not now. If I’m unlucky I’ll be here all evening. I know Dorian’s been working on the same code,’ she objected.
‘We owe it to ourselves to live happy eternally.’
‘Excuse me, w- what...’
He knitted his brow slightly. If you had not observed him as closely as Ellana you would probably have missed it. Terrific, now he would think she was odd. But it was strange, she had just heard him say something completely uncharacteristic, right?
He spoke again, ‘If that happens, I can offer my assistance if you’d like. And if you push it now I believe we have a good chance of beating him to it. Let Dorian deal with the merge.’ He smirked.
Those two, there was a strange rivalry going on between them. Or truthfully, it was mostly Dorian, but sometimes Solas would get even with him, just to put him in his place. If Solas wanted, he could be sharp-tongued, oh, yes he could.
‘I couldn’t impose. It’s friday, don’t you have anything better to do than working overtime for my sake?’
‘Oh, love is what we’ve been looking for, and love is what we’ve been searching for.’
‘Oh, my gods!’ she screamed. And she fled, with cheeks burning. The coffee in her cup slopped as she ran to her desk. But that was the only sensible thing to do, because everything else seemed absolutely insane at the moment. Had Solas actually said that? Was he mocking her? What. The. Fuck. Was. Happening.
Then as if things were not already bad, Solas came to their room not long after her. Of course, they had desks beside each other. If she wanted to escape this was not the best location to run to. Ordinarily it was something she secretly appreciated, very much, one might add. But now it seemed like a curse. Oh, yes, naturally things got worse. Because when Solas, sat down at his desk seemingly unaffected, she felt an irresistible urge to open her mouth. So strong she could not stop it and before she knew it she turned to him and sang, ‘Now that I’ve got it right here in my hand, seems I’m gonna spread it all over the land.’
‘Ok, what the hell! Why am I singing?’ she exclaimed horrified.
Now Solas appeared visibly upset as well. That was a clear indication something was truly fucked up. Not that it was not clear before.
Come to think of it, those things Solas had said, were they not from the same song? What was it called again?
At that moment, Dorian and Varric who also shared this room, sang in unison, ‘Now that we found love what are we gonna do,’
And to her utter horror (and probably everyone else’s too, especially Solas’) Solas actually pretty clear singing voice overlapped theirs with, ‘Oh, we’ve got love, sweet love.’
And Dorian and Varric,’with it.’
Oh, “Now That We Found Love” with The O’Jays, that was the song. But why were they singing it, for the love of the gods, why?
‘This is peculiar, I find it very hard to leave. And to stop singing,’ Solas said thoughtfully.
Um, this is not the time to patiently reflect, it is time to panic my friend. She wanted to shake him. She wanted to flee again, but she noticed it was indeed impossible to do so. And she found it impossible not to sing, ‘Let’s forgive and forget, let no thought be your enemy.’
‘I never felt so good, I was happy, happy, happy as any man could be,’ Solas sang.
‘I’d like to think I’m pretty laid back, but this shit is creeping me out. Chuckles singing? Something’s seriously wrong,’ Varric frowned and added, ‘And why the hell can’t I get out of this freak show?’
‘Magic,’ Solas said, ‘It has to be some sort of powerful spell. Oh, love’s what we’ve been waiting for.’
‘Love is what we’ve been hoping for,’ Ellana sang to her dismay.
‘Magic?! Why would anyone do such a thing? To what purpose?’ she asked desperately.
‘That is yet to be determined, however I have my suspicions. Now that I’ve have it right here in my hand, I’m gonna spread it all over the land.’ His eyes narrowed suspiciously at Dorian who looked a little too innocent.
‘Dorian?!’ Could he have, no surely not even he could…
Dorian did not get a chance to answer because he started to sing the chorus with Varric again. Obviously, Dorian and Varric was affected too, maybe he was innocent after all.
‘Sweet lovin’,’ Solas sang, ‘Lovin’ we got it’
‘And I’m singing too. Great, this is going to leave mental scars, I’m sending my therapy bills to whoever caused this,’ Varric said.
‘What are you doing, this is a working environment! You’re bothering everyone who actually has work ethics,’ Cassandra asked angrily.
‘Oh, great, when you thought things couldn’t get much worse,’ Varric complained.
‘Right in the nick of time we found love,’ Ellana sang, in front of Cassandra, her boss. And she had liked this job too.
‘Gonna spread it all over the land, hey, hey, hey,’ Solas sang.
‘Solas? I’m surprised you’re partaking in this nonsense,’ Cassandra looked baffled.
‘I believe it has to be some sort of spell. You underwent Seeker training I understand, perhaps you can negate the magic. ‘Cause love is what we’ve been lookin’ for, sweet love is what we been searchin’ for,’ Solas asked calmly, and of course sang a bit of the song.
‘Magic?! In my office?’ Cassandra cried outraged. She immediately did a spell purge. It made Ellana dizzy, all her mana was drained. But if this charade would stop, it would be worth it. Unfortunately, the only thing the spell purge accomplished was to drain the mages of their mana because she could not stop singing, ‘Now I got it right here in my hand, I’m gonna spread it all over the land.’
‘I’m think I’m going to be sick, that spell purge,’ Dorian said, ‘it clearly didn’t help, I guess we just have to wait until the song is over. Hopefully it stops then.’
‘But what if it doesn’t?!’ Ellana panicked.
Nobody answered because they all broke out into the chorus, accented by Solas’ lead. Even Cassandra.
‘I thought Seeker training would protect you against these kinds of things?’ Ellana said.
She should have known by now, not to expect that they had hit rock bottom because there was apparently still room to fall. She and Solas started dancing. He took her hand gently. It was equally mortifying and pleasurable. The electricity she felt when he held her, it made the hair on her arms stand, but to know it was because of a spell. And in front of their colleagues of all things. Butterflies in her stomach. They danced close to each other. She could practically feel his breath against her lips. He felt strangely cool against her sweaty palm.
‘Feel it in the breeze,’ he sang.
‘Birds sing it in the trees,’ she sang.
Somewhere in the background she heard the others sing too, but that became less and less important. She and Solas were in their own world. His hand which had been placed around her waist started moving down slowly, caressing her. She caught her breath.
‘We’ve got love, we’ve got love, little darlin’. A sweet, a truly wonderful, wonderful love,’ Solas sang. She suddenly felt an uncontrollable urge to kiss him. Oh no, some part of her that still had some sense left told her. The rest of her was thrilled. She had wondered so many times how it would feel to kiss those lips. So what if it was a spell, she would get to kiss him. A truly wonderful thing.
They were still singing, she somewhere reflected that the song was nearing its end. She acted, she pressed her lips against his in a soft but absolutely lovely kiss. It soon became apparent that it was not enough for either of them. He slipped his tongue in to her mouth, and it felt so right. Until they heard a familiar voice.
‘Singing songs, old but not forgotten. Want to stop but can’t, I want to kiss him. But you probably don’t want to do that here. The song has stopped, you are free now.’
Cole. They let each other go like they were repelled.
‘Well, I think I speak for everyone when I say, that was awkward,’ Varric said, ‘But I guess it was worth it, if only to see Cassandra sing.’
‘I demand to know who is responsible for this!’ Cassandra shouted, her face flushed. Though she looked a bit excited beneath the mask of indignation. Of course Cassandra was a romance buff, and when it came down to it she was not the one who had been the most humiliated.
‘It was Dorian, he wanted me to help,’ Cole answered simply.
Dorian!’ Ellana screamed angrily.
‘Cole, you weren’t suppose to say anything,’ Dorian groaned.
‘But she asked,’ Cole said.
‘Dorian, what is the meaning of this?’ Cassandra demanded.
‘’It wasn’t supposed to be like this, I certainly wasn’t supposed to end up singing the chorus to “Now That We Found Love”, nobody was. I did this for Ellana.’
‘You did this for me, how can you say that?’
‘You love him but you couldn’t say it. We wanted to help. Did we help?’ Cole said.
‘Cole...’
‘Hrm, I am going to take my leave. Have a nice weekend everyone, except Dorian of course,’ Solas said and he left. He left. He had just heard that she loves him, and he left. She wanted to cry. But she sucked it up, that had to wait until tonight. Then she could wallow in self pity and watch a movie she had already seen on Netflix and get drunk. And cry. But now she was too angry at Dorian.
‘Anyway, we all knew you have a crush on Solas and I just wanted to push you in the right direction. And I may or may not have played The O’Jays while we were working on the spell.’
‘Dorian! I can’t believe you! And you tricked poor Cole into helping you too. And by the way, since we’re talking about The O’Jays I think “Back Stabbers” or maybe “Shiftless, Shady, Jealous.” should fit you quite nicely.’
‘You don’t have to be cruel, I’m not trying to steal your man. I’d prefer “Love Train” if you want to liken me to a song.
‘No, but you stabbed me in the back. I trusted you when I told you how I felt about Solas, it may have been 4 am and I might have been smashed. But still.’
‘Darling, I already knew how you felt about Solas, you’re like an open book when it comes to that. Why do you think I harass him so much?’
‘You do that because of my feelings for him?’
‘There’s that, but also because it’s so bloody funny.’
‘Wait, you knew? Even before I told you?’
‘Everyone knew, my dear.’
‘Even Cassandra?’
‘I don’t know why you think I should be oblivious, but I knew,’ Cassandra frowned.
‘My life has officially ended. Do you think Solas knows too?’ Ellana agonised.
‘Well, he definitely knows now. But before today, I’m not really sure. He can be surprisingly dense sometimes. I guess that explains why he’s 40 and still single.’
‘You don’t know if he’s had relationships in the past.’
‘I know, he’s so secretive.’
‘My life has officially ended,’ she lamented again.
‘Now now, if you run now you’ll probably catch your knight in shining armour before he leaves the office. And be thankful I have the excellent taste to play the O’Jays version. We’ve might have ended up rapping the Heavy D and the Boyz’ lyrics.
‘Heavy D? Who’s that?’
‘I’ll show you,’ Dorian said and he showed them the youtube clip of an old video. They only got to, ‘(Now) One two, tell me what you got. Let me slip my quarters inside your slot to hit the jackpot...’ before Cassandra closed it with urgency.
They all shuddered, that would have been truly excruciating. Worse than being stuck physically in the Fade.
‘Just because you have an excellent LP-collection, doesn’t mean I’m going to forgive you,’ Ellana said and shook her fist at Dorian before she left to commence the hunt for Solas.
Feeling too impatient, she irrationally pressed the lift button repeatedly waiting for it to arrive. She had to speak to him, but she did not know exactly what to say. Apologising at least, it must have been even more mortifying for him. She pressed the ground floor button.
She found him to be a very private person. She did not know anything about his private life really, besides his love for book and magic. She recalled he had mentioned that he collected magical artifacts and rare books. It could not be helped, things would be awkward at the office now, at least for a while.
She could not see him in the lobby, she hurried through the doors. She looked around. Had she missed him? Her spirits sagged. There was nothing more left to do, she just had to go up again to collect her things, go home and realise her evening plans.
But just as she was about to turn back someone grabbed her and dragged her into a corner of the building. First she did not even know what was happening but then she realised who it was. He pressed her against the wall, and he kissed her. Thankfully there was shrubbery that hid them.
‘Ellana,’ he breathed in a break between their kisses.
‘Solas, I thought you didn’t like me.’
‘Whatever gave you that impression? Nothing could be further from the truth.’ He nibbled at her lip, before he began to explore her neck and her ear.
‘But you took off after Cole, um yeah, told everyone about my feelings,’ even now it was hard to express her feelings for him, but even harder to concentrate on anything other than his mouth and tongue on her skin. His hand which travelled along her body almost touching her breast, that was also very hard not to concentrate on.
‘Do you expect me to stay when I wanted nothing but to kiss you? I decided they had already seen enough,’ he explained. He toyed a little with her hair and kissed her lightly.
‘I would lie if I said I did not hope you would follow me however,’ he smiled wickedly.
That smile, it was more than enough to make her throw herself at him. She wondered what kind of face he would make when he came. But they could not do that here.
‘What do you say, want to come home to me and figure out how to extract revenge on Dorian?’
‘Hmm, very tempting, but I think I have something more agreeable than revenge in mind.’
‘Oh? Whatever could that be?’
‘I think that would best be explored when we’re there.’
‘Wait here, I’m just going to fetch my things. You know they’ll probably know, I won’t be able to hide it.’
‘Does that matter to you?’
‘No, not really. But they won’t let us hear the end of it.’
‘Go then, I will wait for you.’
She felt giddy when she pressed repeatedly on the lift button. She did not bother to figure out a strategy, she just walked into the office and straight to her desk.
She saw Dorian sitting at his desk but she ignored him and grabbed her purse. It was early summer so she did not have a jacket.
‘So how did it go?’ Doriand asked.
‘I’m not talking to you.’
‘You’re practically glowing, I take it, it was a success,’ he grinned, ‘Hm, which means my spell actually worked. I’ve said it before but I’m a genius.’
‘Which essentially means you’ve learned nothing from this,’ Varric said incredulously.
‘On the contrary, I learnt a lot.’
Ellana felt a surge of annoyance, she peered at his computer screen. It looked like he was still working on that code. Maybe she should push her code after all, it would be a little risky but it was worth it.
She logged in, pushed and it went through. She pulled the new version, up to date. Excellent. Hopefully there were not any serious bugs, but Dorian could deal with that. In fact, let him.
‘Okay, I’m off. See you on monday,’ Ellana said.
‘Good for you, I’m sure you’ll get a nice weekend,’ Varric said.
‘I think I will actually,’ she grinned.
‘Ellana,’ Dorian said.
‘What?’
‘For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.’
‘Bye, Dorian,’ she smiled. It was impossible to stay mad at him for long, especially when he had that look on his face.
She practically skipped when she left, saying goodbye to everyone ignoring all the amused remarks. It was 4.30 pm. A little early but she had more than enough hours to spare.
Solas waited for her at the front doors.
‘Shall we,’ he said and offered his hand. She took it without hesitation. It felt so strange and the same time exhilarating walking so near him, to hold his hand. Bumping into his side at times. It was all brand new. They took the underground, five stations, even rush hour seemed fine when he was with her. Hm, what to make for dinner.