AN: Its here and not a moment too soon. Just in case any of you didn't catch the warnings in the summary or the first chapter, this will be Mpreg and Slash, as always. Don't like, don't read and don't complain cause I won't listen.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter Two: Return to Minas Tirith

~Valokiloren~

True to his word, we set out the next day. Thranduil was silent as we left but his eyes on me were not friendly ones. I could feel their burn on me even so far as the Celduin river. Once we were clear of Mirkwood and Thranduil's reign, I finally breathed a sigh of relief. Our journey was tense though. Legolas had been a still, silent form behind me the entire ride, his figure fuming and simmering in his anger. I couldn't tell who he was more angry with, me or his father. I couldn't help the deep regret I felt at our flight. Because of me, Legolas and his father were fighting, maybe a fight that would damage their relationship forever. We were fleeing the only home he'd ever known because of me. What kind of spouse couldn't suck up a bit of isolation for their husband's sake, for Legolas' happiness? It was shameful. I was so deeply ashamed of myself it made me sick. Thranduil's words were jusg that. Words. Legolas and I had only been bonded for a year. Maybe his father just needed time to deal with his heir's marriage to someone from Mordor. To someone like me.

I played with the end of my long braid, idly, trying to distract myself from the rigid anger from the elf prince holding onto me in the saddle. I wanted to ride my flying branch, my broomstick as my mind supplied, but Legolas had put a quick and cut off refusal to that immediately. He wasn't going to have his pregnant spouse flying high in the air and as fast as I was wont to go. We settled down to camp for the night some ways past the old forest road. Our elvish bred mare was fast and I had helped her hooves along with a bit of magic. Now that we were on our way, I was eager to see Aragorn and Arwen again. They had announced to all of Middle Earth their plans to adopt me at his coronation and much to the disbelief of many, they had followed through. To even more people's surprise and the particular disdain of a certain Elf Lord, Legolas and I had also announced our bonding that same day. I got the love of my life and a loving family all in the same day. And what did I do to repay him? Ruin my husband's relationship with his father.

Legolas returned with firewood and I quietly set fire to the pile, trying to ease his chores for the evening. I gave him a small, shaky smile, trying my best to diffuse the tension. It only served to deepen his frown. Legolas settled down next to me, his anger seeming to dissipate with a heavy sigh. I observed my husband, really looked at him, for the first time in awhile. Despite his immortality, Legolas had changed since the War. Not in a way that anyone else would really take notice of but in a way that only those intimately close to him would see. His eyes held a world weariness to them that he didn't have when we had first met. He was more protective of me, rarely letting me out of his sight. He always knew where I was nowadays. It hurt my heart to know that I had helped to put that look in his eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me that he was hurting you?" Three guesses who he was referring to and the first two don't count.

I shrugged one shoulder, drawing patterns in the dirt with a discarded twig.

"They were just words, Legolas. I didn't want to ruin your relationship with your father because of some careless words." I whispered, trying to seem nonchalant about it. Apparently, my attempt failed.

"Valo! If someone is hurting you, saying cruel things to you, you tell me! I don't care who it is! I would fight the Valar themselves if it meant they couldn't hurt you anymore." My heart lightened and no matter how much I tried to hide it, I felt a smile stretch across my face. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me as securely as if we were back in our own bed in Mirkwood, "How is the baby?" His hands came to rest on my softly sloping belly, rubbing circles on it reassuringly.

I grinned at his enthusiasm for our steadily growing child. Nothing could have made me happier than the baby growing inside me right then.

"Baby-like." He released the chuckle I had been aiming for, squeezing me in a tight hug. Everything was going to be alright.

~WHERETHESLEEPERWAKES~

Minas Tirith was once again the shining jewel of the kingdom. After the dwarves and elf nations had banded together to repair the city together, it was, if possible even grander than before. It stood as a testament to the new alliance between Men, Elves and Dwarves with a curious mixture of the architecture of all three. No matter who he was married to and where he had lived, this place would always feel like coming home. Why you ask?

"Eldarion! My sweet one, you're radiant as ever."

That was why. Valo gave a huge grin, rushing over to the Queen of Men. Arwen was as beautiful as she ever could be, practically radiating with joy. She had hinted in her letters that very soon, her and Aragorn may be trying for a sibling for him. It had filled his heart with joy to know that everyone was finally moving on with their lives after the threat if Sauron had been eliminated. Truth be told, he still woke up some nights in a fog, begging his Master for forgiveness. Some nights, he still awoke, his body on fire from a dream of how his Master would touch him. On those nights he felt more worthless than it was possible to be and all he could do was hide himself away until dawn or allow Legolas to touch him, easing his fear and his memories all in one. Arwen smelled of water and spring rain as she wrapped her arms around him. Aragorn stood behind her, watching his family reunite with a smile steadily growing like a flower on his mouth.

"Eldarion, we've missed you. What imparts this surprise visit? Not that we aren't overjoyed to have you home of course."

Eldarion. The name filled him with a hope that sprang eternal. Aragorn and Arwen had given him that name after he had been adopted. They had wanted to give him the chance for a new life away from the stigma of his Morgul name and his old life. No matter what name he was under, though, the whispers followed him still. Whispers of the darkness inside him. That his child was a monster and that it was a product of the union of he and Sauron through the Witch King. People whispered as he walked by that he would give birth to the next Dark Lord. Legolas, approached Aragorn whispering something that Valo couldn't catch but had the King give a double take towards his friend. Arwen must have caught the words with her elf hearing though because she gave him a fiercer hug, wrapping her kind arma around his middle.

"Come, love, let's leave those two to themselves and I'll show you your rooms. Maybe you can draw me one of those lovely portraits you do while we send word to Ada."

"Yes, Naneth."

~Legolas~

"Your father rejected him?" Aragorn's voice was full of surprise.

I watched him pace, unable to quell the feeling of failure inside me. I should have noticed that Valo was unhappy instead of focusing so much on my own happiness. I should have put a stop to my father's hurtful words when they first emerged, should have made my feelings clear.

"Rather spectacularly. He called him a whore as I recall." Aragorn bristled dangerously at the slight to his child, "I've yet to decide whether we're going to return to my father's house but unless something changes, I'll be moving Valo elsewhere. Perhaps to our summer home nearer Gladden Fields. Somewhere were Valo doesn't have to feel...unwanted."

Aragorn clapped me on the shoulder, offering his support and sympathy.

"How bad was it?" He ventured quietly.

The guilt torn into me, a steady weight in my soul. I felt as if I'd let down the one I loved. Like I'd failed to protect him just as I failed to protect him at Morannon.

"Theoden at Pelennor Fields bad. Is this all my fault, Estel? Did I fail him again?"

There it was, out in the open. My worst fears given word. Estel gave me a bitter smile. It had been the same fears he himself had once when the entire world seemed against our kind Valo, even me. Estel was the only one who had stood by him while everyone else scorned him. It wasn't a time that I was very proud of.

"Eh, you know that Valo has always been secretive about his feelings. Unfortunately especially when he's being hurt."

Valo still had 'MINE' scarred on his arm as a testament to that sad fact. I could still remember the sight of him when I saw him standing in the middle of a battlefield, alone and forlorn. Valo looked as if he had expected to die that day. His wrists had been red and weeping from the bonds he had just been cut from, his hair lank and loose. His eyes had held such weariness and grief that it had hurt to even look at him. His face was thin and it was painfully apparent that he hadn't been eating or sleeping. He looked as if he were Fading, little by little. It was the picture I'd had of him just before the Nazgul had snatched him up and carried him back to Mordor, back to his Master. The next time I saw him, we were on opposing ends of a battle field. Aragorn pulled me out of my dark thoughts as he led me out of his war room and towards the rooms that Valo and I would share.

~WhereTheSleeperWakes~

"These are lovely, Valo."

He turned a bright smile on Arwen as she leaned over his latest drawing. The four of them were lounging in the gardens, soaking in the bright sun rays and enjoying the fine weather. The cool breeze teased his loose hair, the strands floating like wisps of cloud around him. Legolas sat on a bench nearby, whittling a toy for their child's future nursery. It was a small wooden oak leaf, just a piece of what would be a mobile above the baby's crib. The musky, pleasant smell of Aragorn's pipe reminded Valo of their journey just two years ago, when the King was just a Ranger and he and Gandalf would sit with Valo, smoking, while the Morgul teen watched over four young hobbits playing. The memory of it made the soon to be new parent smile as his mother settled in next to him on the grassy turf. Their two companions were listening in, eager to know of the drawings that Valo had been so secretive of. Valo took in the picture with a fond eye. A lovely woman with red hair like sunrise and eyes like newly sprouted spring leaves. She was on the arm of a man with strange spectacles in his eyes and unruly hair as dark as night. He was looking down at the woman beside him like she was his entire world. It really looked like the image could come to life at any moment. He could almost see the two coming to life on the very paper they were born on.

Valo took a deep breath, unsure of how his words would be taken. He hadn't told Legolas much about the visions he'd been having. Somehow, he felt like it made him stand out more, like he were more unusual.

"I think they were my parents. When I was in the other place."

His words made his husband and father stand to take notice. They all sat below the canopy of the trees, staring at an image of a couple whose fate they would never know.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to review!