A/N: I IS BACK….AGAIN! In case you don't know, this is Alu.
In Charge of ImladrisElrond looked at his twin sons.
One bounced up and down and the other shifted his weight from foot to foot.
He gathered his thoughts and tried to calm down. He couldn't believe he was doing this. "Lord Thranduil has summoned me, my advisors, and Gilraen – and all the really important elves, for that matter – to Mirkwood. To sign the treaty with the giant spiders, so that no elf colony will attack them as long as they do not attack us. Your grandparents will be there, as well. He wants to show off his realm."
"Caves," Elladan whispered to his twin Elrohir. They both sniggered.
"What does this have anything to do with us, Ada?" Elrohir asked.
Elrond sighed as he started to get second thoughts. "Which means…" he hesitated. "Which means that you two are in charge of Imladris."
"WOW! Really?" the twins chorused.
"Yes, really," Elrond sighed.
"COOL!" they yelled and gave each other high fives.
Elrond sighed again. "Which means not only will you be in charge of Imladris, but you must also watch Estel."
"But how can we do that?" Elrohir asked.
"Take shifts. One watches Estel, and one watches Imladris. And no parties!" Elrond answered quiet simply. He added darkly, "And if you don't do a good job, I shall disown you both!" With that he handed them the bundle of baby (which was Estel) and climbed onto his horse.
Glorfindel looked at the elf lord questioningly. "Did you really mean that?"
"What? About taking care of Imladris and Estel? Yes, I did mean that."
"No. About disowning them."
"No, I just said that to scare them. Do you think it worked?"
The twins waved goodbye as the group of Elves disappeared into the gloom.
"Do you think Ada really means that?" Elladan asked solemnly.
"What? That we have to watch Imladris and Estel? Of course he did!" Elrohir said, glancing at his brother.
"NO!" Elladan yelled, slapping Elrohir in the back of the head. "About disowning us."
"Of course not!" Elrohir said. The twins looked at each other. "But it's best not to take chances right?" he asked nervously.
"Right," Elladan answered.
"Okay. You take Estel, watch him for an hour, then I'll switch with you," Elrohir ordered.
"Okay," Elladan said as he raced to the main room. He sat himself down on a couch. Quietly, he rocked the baby back in forth in his arms, patting his back in what he thought to be a very soft way. But it wasn't.
Estel fussed in his arms. He struggled and kicked out blindly with his tiny feet. Elladan shot to his feet and held the baby at arm's length. "What is it? What do you want?" I asked, but not getting any reply, unless you count the infant bursting into tears. Elladan turned pale. What was he going to do? The doors to the room flew open. "ELROHIR! ELROHIR!" he shouted in panic.
"Yes, you can put those on the kitchen table. Thank you." Elrohir was in charge, and it was fun.
He got to order people around and force them to do whatever he wanted them to. His smug smile was wiped away as he heard his brother's faint cries of terror as he ran down the hall. Elrohir sighed and rolled his eyes, a habit he had picked up from his father. He spun his chair around until he was face-to-face with his wide-eyed twin.
"Elrohir, Elorhir! There's something wrong with him," he said, thrusting Estel in front of Elrohir. "I was sitting there and… we were… and then I was like….and then he just started crying! Did I do something wrong?" Elladan panted, looking as if he were about to burst into tears himself.
"I don't know. What did you do?" Elrohir asked, giving him a questioning look. Elladan sniffed. Elrohir sighed. "It's okay! You didn't do anything wrong," he said reassuringly. "He probably just doesn't feel good."
Unfortunately, Estel took that exact moment to throw up on them both, and after doing so he giggled. "There! You see? Now he's better," Elrohir said, looking down at his clothes. "You take Estel, give him a bath, get him dressed into some different clothes, then go back to the same room you were in first and rock him to sleep. I'll go change really quick."
Elladan sighed. He'd thought he'd done something wrong. Thank the Valar he hadn't. He headed to the bathroom and quickly gave Estel his bath, and this time as he splashed the Elf, he smiled and giggled along with him.
"Now let's see," he cooed to the now freshly clothed baby.
"'Dan!" he shrieked and let go of the bed (his only support), allowing himself to fall on his bottom.
They both burst into laughter. He reminded Elladan of Arwen when she was young. He sighed, remembering how much he missed her. He stopped daydreaming when Estel softly patted his cheek. He ignored it at first but then instead of a soft pat he received a punch. He hurriedly got Estel dressed, but instead of rocking him to sleep (though it was past his bedtime) he snuck him and some toys out into the main room again. After a while of playing, Estel started yawning. Elladan scooped him up and rested him in his lap.
Interlude: The Thoughts of the Infant
Oh yes, in a lap. How tired I am. Why, his robes are so warm I think I shall cuddle up next to him. I sigh, but then notice something as I stretch. They are at the end of my foot, five small appendages that I am allowed to move separately at will. They are strange to me. I look down. Yes, these must be the toes I hear so much about so often. I wonder what they taste like...
"Eww! Elrohir! Estel's sucking on his toes," Elladan screamed in disgust down the hall.
"THAT'S NORMAL!" came Elrohir's voice.
Just then, Lindir walked past, with a smile using up all the room he had on his face. He stopped short as he looked down at Estel. He promptly took the baby's foot from his mouth and with that walked off.
"Um…thank you?" Elladan said, rather to himself since Lindir had disappeared around the corner.
"WHAT?" shouted Elrohir. He thought Elladan was talking to him.
"It's nothing!" Elladan answered in a low shout.
"WHAT?" Elrohir shouted again.
"It's noth - OH NEVER MIND!" Elladan shouted back, getting frustrated.
"OKAY! IF YOU SAY SO!" called Elrohir.
Then Estel started fussing, but this time he was stinky. Elladan knew very well what that meant. "Oh, no. Diaper change!" he cried in exasperation.
"WHAT?"
Elladan chose not to answer as he fled back to Estel's room. He timidly opened the diaper, and when the smell hit him, everything went black.
"WHAT?" Elrohir shouted, hoping what his twin had shouted wasn't true, but he went to see anyway.
He called Elladan's name all the way down the hall. He didn't answer in return. Something was wrong. He ran to the room they shared but they weren't there. He ran to Estel's room – to see Elladan on the floor unconscious.
Elrohir sniffed the air; he had been changing Estel's diaper. Elrohir went in, but as he lifted the diaper, he was knocked unconscious as well.
Interlude 2: More Thoughts From the Infant
There goes the second one. My they are rather dull-witted, can't even change a one-year-old's diaper. Ha! And besides, it was giving me a rash. I wail as loud as I can. Someone is bound to hear me. Just then, Lindir pokes his head into the room. He sniffs the air, then looks down at me in disgust. I look right back at him in disgust. This foolish elf! Soon he will faint as well, just like the rest of them, for no one stands a chance against my stench!
What's this? He has not fainted? He merely sighs, holding up baby powder and a new diaper. Before I can say Nebuchadnezzar, he has completed his task. Slowly, he picks me up and rocks me in his arms. I yawn due to lack of sleep, and as I close my eyes I see him lay me in my crib, and carry the twins off somewhere. I know not to where. And with that, I fall asleep.
"Wakey, wakey, my small princes, for you are still in charge of Imladris," someone was saying, patting Elladan's cheek.
"Imladris can wait," he drawled.
"Yeah," came Elrohir's mumbling voice from beside him. "Imladris can wait - IMLADRIS! Oh no, that certainly cannot wait!"
They woke a jolt. Then the events of what had happened a few minutes ago came back to them. Lindir was grinning up at them.
They immediately took off running from the room. Lindir grinned wider at the sight of them fleeing in such a manner. "Don't forget, one must watch young Estel. And Lord Elrond is coming home in five minutes!" he shouted at them as they escaped.
"ADA'S COMING!" they shouted, looking at each other in utter terror.
"You watch Estel, and I'll watch Imladris!" Elrohir ordered as they sprinted down the hall.
"Okay. But who's going clean?" Elladan asked as he went into the room were Estel slept.
"I'll tell Lindir to do that!" Elrohir shouted down the hall towards him.
Fifteen minutes later:
"Ah, home at last," sighed Elrond. He looked about suspiciously. Everything seemed normal. He just hoped they'd done nothing wrong for the sake of all Imladris, and the vase which he'd betted on with Glorfindel. He dismounted from his horse, handing the reins to another elf and walked into the hallway, untying his cloak. When he got to the main room everything seemed fine. There was nothing wrong. He looked in the Hall of Fire. No wild parties had been thrown. But nothing was happening. Everything was silent. So he decided to investigate.
He walked from room to room. But there was nothing to see; nobody was even in there. He went to Estel's room. It was clean, but…
"WHERE'S ESTEL?" he cried. He ran to the twins' room. There were lit candles, so he just looked in, and there they were. Elladan lay on the bed, his arm around a sleeping Estel, and Elrohir on the other side, his arm also around Estel. They all looked so comfortable that Elrond couldn't help but smile. Slowly, he went in and kissed them all once on the head, then left, blowing the candles out and closing the door.
Glorfindel slowly walked toward him, smiling as widely as possible.
"Well, Glorfindel, it seems the house is in order. Now, about our bet," Elrond said, grinning as well.
"Yes, yes, the bet," Glorfindel chuckled. "Um, Lord Elrond, have you yet checked the kitchen?" he asked and burst into laughter at the expression on Elrond's face.
He ran to the kitchen. What he saw was so horrible that he fainted.
Glorfindel chuckled. He waved for another elf to come. "Please move the golden jeweled vase to my room for me." The Elf-maid nodded. "Thank you," Glorfindel said. As she left, he laughed, "It wasn't the Hall of Fire they had a party in. It was the kitchen!"
"And that, Estel, is why we were never allowed to watch Imladris again," Elladan finished.
Aragorn looked at them, his mouth agape. " Wow. That is sad!" he said.
"Yes, it was," Elrohir said, shaking his head. "Is that Arwen calling? Looks like it's time for your wedding. Good luck Estel." And with that they bid their brother goodbye as he walked down the hall, heading off to get ready for the ceremony.
A/N: I hope you liked it, and there's another one shot I'm going to write. So keep up with it, please! So long ;)