Yet again, another interlude from Mistletoe... I'm really stuck with that, and I wrote this a while ago and thought I'd put it up as consolation for the lack of Mistletoe updates...
This goes out to my big sister Cerridwen because she is, well, the best sister and friend I could ever ask for.
A/N: Gwende is A/A's house mistress/child minder etc. She belongs to me, but nothing else does. The rest is Tolkien's. I also may have stolen a few lines from the song If Tomorrow Never Comes, so they belong to whoever wrote that.
The First Snow Of Winter
The first snow of winter was falling heavily when Aragorn finally found his wife in their gardens. She was sitting under the trees where the ground was as yet unaffected by the white blanket that lay around elsewhere. Eldarion was cradled in her arms, and Aragorn could hear her soft voice singing a melody that threatened to lure the trees to sleep. Her silk dress and long velvet coat showed off the round bump that was their second child, whilst keeping out winter's bitter chill.
She looked up from her son when she heard her husband approach and pressed a finger to her lips, indicating Eldarion was asleep and he shouldn't talk. He wouldn't have anyway - here were the three most important people in the world to him, in an image so perfect he imprinted it in his memory forever.
He sat down next to his wife and looked at his sleeping son, stroking his soft cheek with his finger. Arwen's hand took her husband's hand and he kissed her forehead, then let the silence wash over them.
"How was court?" Arwen asked finally, still staring at her son.
Aragorn shrugged. "Same as ever," he replied, rubbing his wife's hand with his thumb. "How was your day?"
She smiled and met his gaze. "Perfect," she said, "And even more so now that you're here."
They simply looked at each other for the longest time before slowly leaning in to a kiss that seemed to warm their very souls. When they broke apart Aragorn ran the backs of his fingers across Arwen's cheek, before tucking her hair behind her pointed ear.
She felt a shiver tun down her spine at such intimate gestures, that had nothing to do with the cold. She leaned her head against her husband's shoulder, and together they looked out across the Pelennor Fields towards the pink-tinted horizon.
When Eldarion began to snuffle in his sleep she rocked him slowly before handing the two year old to his ada. The little prince soon settled and Aragorn was able to wrap his free arm around his wife.
"How's my little one today?" He asked, holding her hands that rested gently on her swollen stomach.
"She's fine," Arwen smiled. "Tiring her naneth out, but apart from that..."
Aragorn grinned and kissed her, squeezing her hands at the same time. "How are you so sure it's a girl?"
She shrugged, smiling. "A naneth knows these things."
He laughed softly and shifted Eldarion in his arms. "Well, who am I to argue with a naneth?"
Arwen grinned and stroked his bearded cheek lovingly. "You are everything," she said quietly, suddenly sobering the conversation. She kissed his lips with her own, softly and slowly, and it evoked feelings in her that had become quite rare since she'd found out she was pregnant. They broke apart only for air, and their kiss deepened with the night.
When they eventuallydrew backthey shared a look that conveyed their love far easier than any words. Arwen pulled her coat around her, beginning to feel the chill in the air, and they looked once more across to the West, where the setting sun turned the snowflakes a deep crimson colour.
"Sometimes," Aragorn began quietly, "late at night I lie awake and watch you sleeping. You're lost in peaceful dreams, so I put out the candles and lay there in the dark. And the thought crosses my mind that if I don't wake in the morning, would you ever doubt the way I feel about you?" He seemed to be lost in thought, gazing out across his kingdom. He still saw the death and destruction that had occurred there in the War of the Ring, and although all of Middle Earth was now at peace, he thought often of the dangers there had once been and all the times he had come so close to losing his Evenstar.
He sighed, but didn't look at her. "I know there's nothing to fear, but if there ever was... If tomorrow never comes, will you know how much I love you? I try to show you how I feel... If my time here was through, you must face this world without me. Is the love I've given you going to be enough to last?"
Finally he met her gaze, searching her sapphire eyes. "I know I don't tell you enough, but I love you Arwen, so much. I just need you to know that."
She slowly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, but it wasn't enough to stop the tears that began to fall down her cheeks. "Oh Estel, of course I know." She pulled him into an awkward hug - due to the size of her stomach and that Eldarion was between them - clinging to him like she was never going to see him again.
When she pulled back she kissed him, letting her tears fall unashamedly. "You're not going anywhere," she told him. "You're staying here to be a wonderful father to our children and a wonderful husband to me."
He looked away, but he had acknowledged what she'd said. When he spoke his voice was oddly unemotional, like it didn't belong to him. "Arwen, one day I'll- I'll die, and you'll be alone in this world. I just hate to think of you like that." He wasn't sure if it was snow or tears that had made his cheeks wet.
"Then don't," Arwen said simply. She cupped his cheek in her pale hand and made him look at her, kissing him when he did so. "Let's not talk about this now. We have our whole lives ahead of us. How many times do I have to tell you, I will never regret my decision to be with you. Honestly, I'm meant to be the emotional one!" Suddenly she looked suspicious and put a hand on his stomach. "You're not pregnant too are you?"
He laughed and shook his head. "I hope not," he said with a smile. "One baby at a time is plenty enough to deal with!" Then he looked serious again and pressed his forehead against hers. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, "I just-"
He cut off when Arwen placed a finger on his lips. "Don't," she whispered. "I love you and you love me, and we have a beautiful family and a wonderful kingdom. Is that not enough?"
He kissed her finger, then the palm of her hand. "It will always be enough."
Suddenly he realised how cold it was, but that he really didn't care. The snow had ceased falling but the ground was a pure white blanket around them. He slowly got to his feet so as not to disturb his son and smiled at his beautiful wife.
"Stay here, I'll be right back." And then he was gone into the night.
In the time he was gone, Arwen tried to make herself look a little more presentable. Her hair was wet with snow and plastered to her cheeks, and her dress was hanging incorrectly due to her son's wont for pulling at the neckline. She eased herself to her feet and stretched her aching back. However much she loved being pregnant, after seven and a half months of sleepless nights and back pain, it did begin to get a bit tedious.
She shivered and realised how cold it was, when he husband reappeared, minus child. He grinned at her and took her hand, leading her over to the snow-covered grass in the centre of the garden. "Gwende's watching Eldarion," he said to explain the prince's absence.
Arwen nodded and laced her fingers through her husband's. "I expect he'll sleep right through, he was awake all last night, as well you know."
Aragorn smiled. Resting his hand on her stomach he said, "When this little one's born, are we going to have night duty of one each?"
She moved his hand gently to feel where their child was kicking. "I was thinking more along the lines of you looking after them both and letting your poor wife sleep right through."
Aragorn raised his eyebrows. "Then you thought wrong, poor wife. I will do no such thing! We created these children together, and we will share every responsibility."
"You don't have to go through labour for them though!"
He grinned. "Wrong thing to say!" With that he began tickling her, doing it harder when she screamed for mercy. Eventually, when he had her begging to stop, he did. By now they were lying in the snow, not caring that they were freezing and their clothes were wet through.
Aragorn leaned on his elbow, looking down on his wife. She was smiling, and he could tell she was feeling more alive than she had in months. He lowered himself down and kissed her, teasing her tongue with his own, oblivious to everything else except the beautiful Elf beneath him. When he pulled back she smiled at him and reached up to claim his lips again, to which he happily consented.
Eventually they broke apart, and Arwen whispered, "Thank you."
Aragorn looked at her and kissed her nose. "What for?" He helped her sit up and she leaned against him.
"Everything. You make me feel so... complete." She shrugged and he wrapped his arms around her.
"Love is a funny thing, isn't it? It makes us laugh and cry, often at the same time. It warms my heart whenever I think of you, and it tells me that I'll never be without you. Even though it's not a physical thing, I see it when I see you, touch it when I touch you, hold it when I hold you. It's not so much love as perfection."
Arwen studied him for a second. "You know," she said quietly, "They say nobody is perfect until you fall in love with them."
"Then you will always be perfect to me." He kissed her softly, grinning as he pulled back. "I have an idea - let's make snow angels!"
Arwen wasn't allowed time to voice her opinion on this suggestion as her husband pulled her to her feet and lead her over to the other side of the grass where the snow was untouched. She lay down next to him and together they made their mark upon the pure beauty of winter's frost. They laughed aloud, because life was good, and they were high on it.
When they finally finished their works of art, Aragorn stood up carefully and assisted Arwen in doing so. She looked so beautiful; her snow-sparkled hair, pink cheeks, and deep blue eyes that looked at him through long eyelashes. Her coat and dress were soaked through, but then so was his shirt and he didn't care.
Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pressed a kiss to her sweet lips, noticing how chilled they were. He ran the back of his hand down her cheek, smiling at the way she tipped her head to look at him.
"You're cold," he said softly, tracing the outline of her ear with his thumb. She didn't reply, just watched him with so much love and intimacy that he felt his body responding before his mind could get a hold of itself.
She reached up and brushed a strand of hair from his eyes. When she spoke it was with so much passion that he almost came undone there and then. "Warm me," she whispered, taking his hand as she began to move towards the palace.
Aragorn didn't need asking twice.
Hehe, I'll leave your imaginations to fill in what happens next... ;)
Or should I write more.....?