DISCLAIMER
**PLEASE READ**
Do not expect book accuracy from this fanfiction. I am taking many, many liberties which usually frustrate me, but because I am a lazy slob of a writer, I decided not to struggle with the language barrier. So, unfortunately, since I do plan on this story being long enough to read but not long enough to bore people, I am not going to have the characters speak Westron. I will be having enough trouble trying to keep the characters IC, and my OC's non-Sueish. Entering the Lord of the Rings fandom is a big step for me, seeing as I have the greatest respect for Tolkien and only gingerly and hesitantly enter his magical world, forcing my modern-day characters into his pristine literature. While I do love Tolkien, I shall not try to leave canon intact – there's not much point in putting modern day characters in Lord of the Rings if things don't change, even a little bit. (Mostly romance-wise, silly sap that I am. 3)
I am also going to be following movie verse – no, wait, sit back down! I do love and adore Tolkien's books, and I happen to own them all, but I believe the movie verse is slightly easier to follow, and will engage a larger audience. Please don't take my following of movie canon as disrespectful, merely as another example of my utter laziness as a writer. :)
That being said, this will have much less to do with the Fellowship's journey, and more to do with a frantic father who will go to any lengths to save his children. His children, however, will be going on their own adventures, and I do hope to use them as plot devices to expand a little on other characters.
If you've made it this far, I thank you. Please enjoy this rather tentative foray into Tolkien's lovely world with my fanfiction, By Any Means Necessary.
Chapter One: Kicking and Screaming
Hardship makes the world obscure. – Don DeLillo
"Guys! Supper!"
She stood at the foot of the stairs, a hand on her hip, one frizzy curl of hair stuck to her temple with some sticky substance. There was a muffled thump, an exchange of voices, and more little noises floated down the stairs to her ears; Peggy sighed noisily through her nose and hammered up the stairs with bare feet, bringing with her the smell of smoke. There was a dusting of flour in her rumpled, frizzy brown hair, which gave her the appearance of supernatural aging. Her helter-skelter appearance wasn't unusual in the Wade household anymore, seeing as she was the only one around to make supper most of the time – her brother Teddy was a far better cook, despite their three year age difference, but he was too involved in his stupid gaming community than actually bothering to help his older sister out.
Peggy banged open the door to her brother's room and was greeted by the Star Wars theme song blasting suddenly out of nowhere. "Theodore Alexander Wade, you shut that stupid music off and get downstairs so we can eat!" She shouted, folding her arms tightly across her chest.
Teddy peered myopically up at his sister, his eyesight a little blurry without his glasses. He had installed the sensor over his door to play randomly selected theme songs whenever someone tried to enter his room, and while it was nice every once in a while, it got a little harsh when someone was trying to sleep. He rubbed a hand across his face and fumbled for his glasses. "All right, all right, jeez," He muttered. "I'm coming, Miss Bossy."
He swung his feet out of bed as Peggy flounced away to drag Ally out her Barbie dolls, and shoved his feet into his shoes. She had become a total pain the past few weeks, running the household like a tyrant, and not allowing him to get a second of sleep because she kept barging in to yell at him. Grumpily, Teddy slumped downstairs and was greeted with the sight of smoke and a sink full of dirty dishes. Peggy came down the stairs with Ally trailing behind her, the seven year old blinking owlishly and sniffing the air curiously, a little awed at all the smoke.
"What did you do in here?" Teddy demanded. "Set off an explosion?" He opened a window and turned the kitchen fan on, waving the smoke with his hands.
"It would be less smoky if I had someone down here to help me, Teddy," Peggy snapped. "Sit down, we'll deal with the smoke later."
"Peggy, the smoke's getting in my eyes," Ally said quietly, sitting down at the kitchen table. There were three plates of eggs there, framed by triangular pieces of rye toast. She wrinkled her nose at the dark bread. "And I hate black bread!"
"It's rye toast, and it's good for you," Peggy said, an edge to her voice. "You're just going to have to eat it, Al."
"We had eggs last night!" Teddy pointed out. "Is that all you know how to cook? Eggs, eggs, eggs?"
Peggy's hot temper flared. "Fine! I don't even like cooking! You're the big cooking whiz, why don' t you make us some pancakes or those cookies everyone loves to eat! Oh, that's right, you're too busy gaming!"
"Can we have cookies for dinner?" Ally asked hopefully.
"At least I don't nag," Teddy sneered. "That's all you know how to do, isn't it? 'Teddy, do this.' 'Teddy, do that.' 'Teddy, I hate you, go die in a hole.'"
There was an excellent chance Peggy might have launched herself at Teddy with a plate of hot eggs in her hand, but just then they all heard the crunch of gravel in the driveway. The siblings froze, looking out the window and seeing the headlights of their father's car pull into the driveway. Teddy opened another window and said urgently, "Dad's home."
Ally sat down and began munching toast with an expression on her face as though she wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible; Peggy started washing dishes, and Teddy began waving a cooking magazine in the air to get the smoke out of the house. It was an unwritten law that all fights had to end, by either reconciliation or a cease-fire, by the time Dad came home from work. Especially now that Mom had died. Peggy had sat them all down the day after the funeral and laid down two very specific rules: No complaining or fighting in front of Dad, and spend as much time with him as possible. The first one was easy compared to the second, even if the three children got along like oil and vinegar. Scott Wade, their father, was barely ever home and when he was, he was usually buried in work.
Scott ran a hand through his thick, wiry black hair and dropped his keys tiredly in the crystal bowl by the door. The house was oddly quiet – for some reason, it usually was when he got home. Ever since Eleanor died, the children had been more subdued in front of him, but on days like tonight, he could tell when they had been fighting. Peggy's small lips were scrunched tightly together as she scrubbed the dishes, although she was humming determinedly under her breath. Teddy was waving smoke out the window with one of the magazines they had lying around the house, but his eyes were hard beneath his rectangular glasses. Ally was sitting still for once and eating toast, but she had that fearful look about her that she always got when she didn't know what to do.
"Hey," Scott said wearily. His voice was a little hoarse from lack of use. Nine hours in front of a computer screen, focusing on drafting lines, was a secluded life. "What's up?"
"Eggs," Peggy said tightly. Scott noticed that she was getting heavier around the waist; she had been sneaking food at night ever since her mother died, and the result was shrinking her clothes. Silently, Scott reminded himself to give her some money to buy her some new jeans.
"Sounds good," He said, taking a seat. Teddy sat too and he noticed his son had that familiar bleached glow of being in front of a computer screen all night. He had been playing online computer games relentlessly for several months now, staying up way too late and sleeping in far past the allowed time. Scott hadn't enforced any rules, and now Teddy was sleeping whenever he wasn't in school.
"Sorry, I burnt the toast," Peggy said, handing him a freshly buttered plate of rye bread. Ally made a face.
"That's what all this is about?" Scott said with a forced smile, gesturing at the smoke.
"Yeah, sorry," Peggy grinned, but it vanished in a moment. The strain in the air was thick.
"Hey, kiddo, how was your day?" He asked, ruffling Ally's thick blonde curls. Ally was the only one who inherited her mother's startling gray eyes and beautiful blonde hair – as of late, her blonde hair had been a rats nest, usually because Peggy was too tired after a day of school and housework to pin her little sister down and yank the knots out.
"Okay," Ally shrugged, swinging her small feet beneath her. "I hate school."
"What do you hate about school?" Scott asked, a familiar dread growing in his belly. Things had changed so radically after Eleanor died – they had been homeschooling their children, but ever since she passed away, Scott had to take on double hours to make up for the missing income, and as a result, the kids had to go to school for the first time. None of them, he knew, were adjusting well.
"Everything," Ally said glumly. "My teacher says I ask too many questions."
Scott felt that deep, inconsolable ache pinch something behind his ribcage, and pressed a kiss on his daughters head. "Well, I'll have to talk to Miss Stein, then," He said firmly. "There's no such thing as asking too many questions." He hated putting them into something so shocking, jarring their systems with something like public school when they had been learning on their own for so long. "Why don't we all take a bath, and then we'll pick out a movie?" He suggested.
There was a momentary reminder in his head, telling him that he had a desk full of blueprints to go over and scan, but it dissolved when he saw the delight on their faces. "Sure!" They chorused, and the mood considerably lessened. It was hard on everyone – Scott was working overtime to keep food on the table, the kids were trying to learn how to acclimate themselves to public school, and they rarely got to spend time together. If he had to pull an all-nighter to finish the paperwork, then he would do it.
After a flurry of dinner-eating, dish-washing, and bathroom-claiming, the Wade family finally emerged, relatively clean, in the living room. Teddy, who had been the first in the shower, had already loaded a movie for the evening. Peggy came out with a towel on her head and wearing a bathrobe, but as soon as she saw the loading screen, she let out a deep groan. "No, Teddy! We are not watching one of your nerdy movies again!" Peggy snapped.
"It's Lord of the Rings!" Teddy protested. "It's not nerdy! You'd know that if you had any taste."
"Well, excuse me if I don't like watching the same exact movie fifty million times," Peggy said icily. "Can't you pick a movie we all want to watch?"
"The only person who doesn't want to watch it is you," Teddy retorted. "Go read one of your stupid doctor books again, if you don't want to watch it."
Scott came out of his bedroom with his sweatpants and an old tee shirt on, and the conversation instantly died down. He narrowed his eyes at his kids, not quite sure what to do. If he let Teddy have his way, Peggy would go along with it, but pout all the way through. If he asked them to pick out another movie, Teddy would probably stomp off and not watch the movie with them. He sighed. "So we're watching Lord of the Rings?" He asked, taking a seat on the couch. Teddy grinned, and Peggy sat down stiffly on the couch, crossing her arms and legs.
"Guess we are," Teddy said, and hit PLAY.
There was a loud electrical pop!, a flash of white, and the sensation of falling.
A/N: Hello everyone! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of By Any Means Necessary, and will tell me what you think! *crosses fingers* I'm such a sucker for reviews, so leave me a couple and wait for the next chapter! xD This is all un-beta'ed, so every single mistake is mine. *flinch* Let me know what you think!