Elrond Earendilion, Master Healer, Lord of Imladris, Ringbearer of Vilya, and one of the most powerful elves in Arda tried not to keel over in exhaustion in a valiant attempt to preserve his dignity.
He was in the healers' chambers, caring for a group of rangers that had a rather unfortunate run-in with a pack of wargs and orcs. It was also equally unfortunate, he supposed, that all the other healers in Imladris happened to be away gathering herbs in the Misty Mountains when the rangers were brought to the Last Homely House. Moving around the room to check for signs of fever and infection in his patients yet again, he accidentally stubbed his toe on the corner of his table.
Hard.
He muttered a curse that would have had turned even Glorfindel's ears red, and hopped awkwardly to his desk, the renowned grace and agility of the elves having abandoned him for the moment. He sighed as he nursed his throbbing toe, then rested his head on the smooth, gleaming mahogany.
"I'll just rest my eyes for a moment…"
"Nana!" Two voices called out in unison.
Celebrían looked up from her work to see two dark-haired, bright-eyed elflings scrambling towards her. Abandoning her letter-in-progress to the Queen of Greenwood regarding a joint event between Imladris and Greenwood, Celebrían opened her arms, scooped up Elladan and Elrohir, and accepted a kiss on the cheek from each of her sons.
"What are you doing here instead of sleeping, hmmm?" She asked with an admonishingly with a mock frown on her face.
"We couldn't sleep, Nana…" Elrohir informed her solemnly. "So we came to search for you instead!" Elladan finished. Both turned to her simultaneously, all huge grey eyes and hopeful smiles.
Celebrían's heart melted. How could anyone resist such childish innocence? She acquiesced, rising gracefully to her feet. Carrying an elfling in each arm, she headed straight for the door.
"All right, let's go find your Ada for a story!"
The twins whooped with joy, and she had to suppress a smile at their delight. Elladan wrapped his arms around her neck, settling comfortably against her side, and Elrohir insisted on being set down (he was a big elf now) but he held on to his Nana's hand, anyway.
Celebrían made for Elrond's study – he was most likely going through the tons of paperwork he had to shoulder as the Lord of Imladris. Not that he ever shirked his responsibilities; he always had a solid core of strength and honour in him that spoke of the leader he was. And that was one of his qualities that had first attracted her to the Noldo.
They had a funny habit, her sons, Celebrían mused as they walked through the quiet hallways of their home with Elladan already asleep in her arms. One would only say half of what he was thinking, and the other would complete his twin's thoughts on as if both were of the same mind. Celebrían knew that Elrond and Elros did the same when they were young – Elrond had told her that about him and Elros when Celebrían had first noticed that their sons were often of the same mind – but she was still a tad concerned whether it would affect the development of their personalities. After all, it couldn't be too healthy if the twins were identical to each other even in thought, could it?
To her surprise, Elrond wasn't in his study hunched over his desk poring through stacks of paper, nor reading a book (or three). Sensing that Elrohir was beginning to tire, she went to the twins' room instead, predicting that he wouldn't last very long before falling asleep.
She bumped into a few inhabitants of Imladris on the way, who greeted their lady with respectful bows, while Celebrían returned the greeting with a genuine smile. When they reached their destination, she opened the door gingerly for fear of jostling Elladan. Elrohir was already starting to sway on his feet, apparently too bleary-eyed to notice they were already in their own room.
Celebrían tucked them into their bed – technically, it was two beds, but they had long decided that they would rather sleep together, so they merged their beds instead - and drew the soft woolen quilt over their small bodies. Elladan shifted until he got comfortable, already in the land of dreams. Pressing a kiss to his forehead, she whispered a good night and moved to Elrohir.
"Good night, Nana," he yawned, clutching his pillow. Celebrían smiled tenderly and smoothed his raven curls away from his forehead, knowing that it would help him to fall asleep faster. She left the nursery on silent feet, and closed the door gently, leaving behind two elflings with dreams of being brave warriors like their Ada. She had no doubt they would grow up to be wonderful ellon, each in their own right. Some things, a mother simply knew.
Now for Elrond…
The sight of her strong, stately husband sound asleep, his head resting not-so-comfortably on a table with his robes rumpled and in disarray threatened to send Celebrían laughing out loud. She resisted the urge only through pure practice with her rambunctious sons. It wasn't that Elrond was perfectly groomed all the time, (Erestor was the one) it was simply rare to see Elrond with his guard down around less familiar people such as the Rangers in the room.
She decided to save him from the headache he would most likely get in the morning. She shook him. He stayed in his coma-like state of sleep, but muttered, "Go away, Glorfindel, find someone else to spar with…"
This time, Celebrían couldn't stop her giggles. The Lord of the House of the Golden Flower, affectionately known as 'Glorfy' to the twins, was most persistent in his efforts to get Elrond to "leave the work behind and get some exercise!"
"Come, meleth nin, return to our chambers, surely you do not want to abandon your wife to sleeping alone tonight?"
Her response was simply an incoherent mumble.
After several attempts at waking Elrond, Celebrían gave up. She lifted his arm, set it over her shoulders, wrapped her other arm around his waist, lifted him up… and almost fell back down. Sweet Eru, but Elrond was a lot heavier than his leanly muscled physique would have led people to think. All of a sudden, the path from the healer's to their rooms seemed very long.
She gritted her teeth and managed to half carry, half drag him to their room - but not before nearly dropping him to the ground twice and not without a few stumbles on the way. When they reached the door, Celebrían set him down unceremoniously (he deserved it for making her carry him) while she unlocked the door. Then, she hoisted him up and dragged him to their bed, her muscles quivering with exhaustion by the time Elrond made it to the bed.
She collapsed on the bed, too spent to do anything but lie there for a few moments, staring at the ceiling painted like the night sky while regaining her energy. Then, she fetched a damp cloth and wiped him clean, unbraiding his hair, removing his day robes and changing his underclothes. Finally, when her work was done, she changed into her nightgown and crawled into bed beside Elrond, curling up around his sleeping form and surrendering to the tendrils of exhaustion enveloping her.
"All in a day's work," Celebrían thought, snuggling up closer to her mate. She smiled when Elrond wrapped his arms around her even in sleep, his breathing deep and even.
The End!