Part 11 of the Elfwine Chronicles. The Elfwine Chronicles are a series of one-shots, of which there will definitely be three, but MIGHT be more if I come up with more ideas.

A/N: The idea for this actually came from that funeral I attended that started me writing this entire series. The man who died had Lou Gehrig's disease and was eventually bedridden, but in the program they had a photograph of a grandchild doing this with him. It's the cutest thing you ever saw.

Blue Eyes At Night - sorry about making you cry. I wrote three of these today (plus I have one more idea) - hopefully at least one of the three will give you tears of a different kind...

Jazzcat - more hot cocoa coming right up!

Discovery

(Mar, 2 IV)

I entered my bedchamber to find my husband fast asleep, face down on our bed with his bare feet hanging over the edge. He had been putting in some very long hours in meetings and planning sessions, and I was glad to see he had found enough of a break to sneak in a nap.

I placed our eleven-month-old son on the floor and moved to retrieve some mending. True, I would rather spend time with him while he was awake but, under the circumstances, I was willing to simply sit, sew and observe the peace that slumber brings to his face. I moved a chair closer and sat down, smiling at the boyishness his features still held at thirty-one.

Our son, Elfwine, had been walking more and more of late, though he still wanted to hold securely onto something to keep himself steady. Tiring of some toys I had given him and exploring the room, he made his way toward the foot of the bed. Carefully, he pulled himself up by the linens, and stood tottering there while looking around and grinning with pride.

I returned my gaze to the shirt I was repairing, and when I glanced up again, Elfwine had moved along the end of the bed until he discovered his father's feet. With great awe, he grabbed a toe in each hand, tugging and laughing at this new amusement.

Slowly, I set aside my sewing and moved to the bed. Though I was loath to wake Eomer, this was too good for him to miss. Gently, I called his name and shook him slightly til his eyes peeked open at me. "Do not move your feet, but look down," I instructed.

With a yawn, it took a moment for it to register with him what I was saying, but gradually he noticed something pulling at his toes, and he twisted down to take a look. Then he laid there grinning at the sight of his heir, who was now slobbering on his feet as well.

Eventually, Elfwine lost interest and moved on to other excitements, and Eomer straightened back to his original position. I rubbed his back and said softly, "I am sorry I awakened you, but I did not think you would want to miss that. Go back to sleep now." I pressed a kiss to his temple and his eyes slipped closed again, a light snoring telling me he had drifted off once more.

THE END

End note: It is best that you read the Elfwine Chronicles in the order they were written. The more of them that I wrote, the more likely I was to make reference to one of the previous ones and something that happened there. If you want to read them in order, go to the top of this page and click on my name (Deandra). That will take you to my profile page. Scroll down and you will find all the stories I have written. The Elfwine Chronicles are in order from bottom to top since ffn shows them in the order they were posted. A few were posted out of number order, but you can read them in posting order or number order since those few won't be affected in the story content.