Chapter 2: Nine Welcome Guests

AN: I got my first review! Shout out and thanks to you, Aria Brewer! I hope it seems original enough! X3 I'm still new and I appreciate it!

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOT LORD OF THE RINGS, THEY BELONG TO TOLKIEN! AND I OWN NOT EITHER OLD NAVY NOR ANY PRODUCT OR STORE MENTIONED! MY FRIENDS OWN THEMSELVES TOO! There, now, enjoy!

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I stood in awe, the FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING WERE IN MY LIVING ROOM FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! I took many deep breaths and reached under my glasses to rub my eyes. I opened them up to see the Fellowship, looking curiously at Mom, who had finally run out of things to yell about and finally noticed the Fellowship of the Ring were in the living room.

After a few more deep breaths, I gathered up what little courage I had left that I could find and walked up to the nine men.

"Hello. My name is Anna Michelle Rilliane Sanbourn, which you would have heard from my mother over there if you could discern anything she said when she rambled. Please just call me Michelle by the way. My friend back here's name is Bethany, but call her Bee. She prefers that. These are my parents, Marie and Robert Sanbourn. We welcome you," I curtsied to the Fellowship and saw in my peripheral vision Bee, Mom, and Dad were too, Dad bowing obviously instead of curtsying.

I rose and saw my three speechless audience members do the same. I turned to the Fellowship and said to them,"May we know your names, sirs?" I asked politely and Gandalf, for that was his name, stepped forward.

"Ah, yes. I am Gandalf the Grey. The elf is Legolas of the Woodland realm. These two men are Aragorn son of Arathorn and Boromir son of Denethor of Gondor. The dwarf is Gimli son of Gloín, and these four hobbits are Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybuck, and Perigrin Took. We are the Fellowship of the Ring. May I ask, where are we? I do not recognize this place from Middle Earth."

I stepped back a step from the Fellowship and looked to Dad, hoping he wasn't still frozen. Thankfully, Dad snapped out of it and looked toward the Fellowship.

"Right now, and last I checked, we are in Texas." That, of course, was received by confused looks from the Fellowship and Mom and I face palmed. Bee stepped forward.

"You know, as in Earth?" The Fellowship was again confused and Bee slumped over, sighed, and said simply, "An uncharted region of Middle Earth." The Fellowship all nodded, seeming to understand. I rolled my eyes, leave it to Bee to know what to say to keep us from being sliced, diced, chopped, and magically cooked by angry warriors and wizards of Middle Earth.

Mom whispered under her breath something that sounded like, "Family meeting," and waved us three, who by now were all in the center of the living room in front of the TV, to the side. We turned and followed her as she guided us into a small alcove, still in sight of the Fellowship, but out of ear-shot - I hope. I stepped back and grabbed a hesitant Bee's hand and dragged her to the alcove - thing. Mom closed the door that led to the rest of the house and turned to us.

"Listen, since they are the real Fellowship of the Ring, we MUST keep them away from the books and movies. We are kind of in trouble with the movies, as they right now are in the living room with the movies, but hopefully they won't notice. We have to decide how they are going to sleep and what to do with the window and also, their clothing, but second most important, SHOWERS." We all nodded and decided to handle the sleeping arrangements first.

We walked out into the living room to see the Fellowship were standing where they were previously, in a slightly defensive stance. I grinned and shook my head as they relaxed when we were in the light again. They need to relax.

Mom stepped toward the Fellowship and said in her voice that meant business, "Alright. Seeing as you have no place to go here, we decided to allow you to say here until you may return back to your own home. As that has been said, sleeping arrangements must be taken care of. Michelle and Bee will show you how to use the shower upstairs while Robert shows you how to use our shower. Understood?" The Fellowship all nodded, not wanting to mess with Mom. Mom put on a strained grin. "This will be fun." Ah, her infamous sarcasm….

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I plopped myself down on the floor, tired after showing half of the Fellowship how to use the upstairs shower. I feel slightly worried that the hobbits are in my room, but I'm sure they won't do anything regrettable… 'No, don't think that, you'll jinx it, Michelle!'

The hobbits were placed in my room, whilst Gandalf was across the hall in the guest room. I feel sorry for him, if he is anywhere around Grandfather's height, he'll have to sleep diagonal. In Mom and Dad's room was Legolas, we decided with the exception of the hobbits the Fellowship were gonna sleep in separate beds. On the living room couch was Boromir. On the love seat in the study was Gimli and on the guest room couch upstairs was Aragorn. That of course led Bee and me to the floor—normally Bee would have just slept over tonight but she volunteered to stay at our house for a while longer while the Fellowship is here, since it's summer vacation and her parents are away and her siblings are at other's houses. She rocks in the category of best friend!

I leaned my head against the wall in exasperation. Everyone in the Fellowship had showered, Bee and I had taken care of the six upstairs and Dad had taken care of the three downstairs. Lucky Dad… Since he and Mom were, in fact, my parents, they were also going to sleep on the floor with Bee and I, with the exception that they got all the pillows…

I looked over and saw Bee plop down next to me. I looked back ahead and sighed. I saw the big empty gap on the shelf where the LotR movies used to be and sighed again. We decided to stash the movies and books in one place they wouldn't dare to look. My drawer of, erm, oh, never mind…

The Fellowship had all gone to sleep by now. Bee and I had changed into our sleep clothes and were getting ready to sleep on the living room floor. Mom and Dad were asleep right next to us.

'At least they took off their boots so the carpet wasn't dirty…'

Leaning against the wall behind me, I closed my eyes and felt myself drift into sleep, with one thought left on my mind… 'Gimli snores loudly…'

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I woke up to two very uncomfortable things, one being the fact I fell asleep sitting up. My back will hurt today - why I fell asleep sitting up when there was room on the floor, and I didn't even lay down in my sleep, . . . I will never know. The second being the worst, someone heavy—any of the Fellowship—stepped on my feet. Ow. Who wakes up at who knows how early hours of the morning after falling asleep at 1:30 AM the previous night?! I squinted my eyes and opened them in slits and straightened up against the wall behind me, wondering who was stepping on my feet.(AN: Italics and quotes mean "whispered," whereas italics and apostrophes mean thoughts!)

"Sorry Michelle. We're hungry." 'Pippin.'

"Yeah, what he said." 'Merry.'

"See what you did? You woke 'er up by steppin' on 'er feet!" I heard two whacks and two groans. 'Sam?'

"Ow!" 'Haha! You deserved it~'

"Hey! You two did it too you know!" 'Now, Merry!'

"Sam, stop it." 'Really Frodo?'

"Fine, Mr. Frodo." 'Oooh, grumpy today, are we, Sam?'

I opened my eyes all the way and saw the four hobbits standing together and still on my feet. I pulled a mild glare and Merry and Pippin, who were looking at me when I woke, stepped back off my feet in horror. I grinned, making the glare worse. I felt Bee's head shift from her position on my shoulder as I glared at Frodo and Sam, having them unconsciously step off me. I blinked a couple times and stopped the glare.

"Thank you. Now, if you'll wait for me to get up, I'll show you where you can find some food." I stood up, gently placing Bee's head on the floor, having her sleep horizontally on the floor, then straightened, popping my back multiple times. I grabbed my glasses and whipped them on, then turned to face the Halflings and guided them straight to the kitchen and tried to quickly make them some oatmeal and canned peaches. 'Do peaches even go well with oatmeal?' I thought, while I plopped the peaches into four separate bowls. I never eat

The Halflings sat at the table and I served them the cereal, poured them some water and coffee and grabbed some fruit for them, as well as some crackers and cheese. I grabbed myself a can of peaches from the pantry and a glass of juice and a mug of coffee and snacked on those from behind the bar-like counter, watching the hobbits eat the food.

The Halflings could probably tell I was watching them as Pippin and Merry—the two who's backs were facing me—turned around. They were drinking some coffee and I think Pippin had some crumbs on his face but I couldn't tell with my sleep blurry eyes. I took a big gulp of my coffee to help wake me up when I heard Pippin ask me a question.

"Michelle, how long have you known Bee? The way you set her down earlier showed you really cared for her." I set down my coffee and grinned at the question. I focused on the Halfling and it seemed Merry was interested too, as he looked to me expectantly. I took a breath and answered.

"I think I've known her for, hmm. Three, maybe even four years? Yeah, four. What, why are you guys slack jawed like that?" I looked to the two Halflings in surprise as their jaws dropped at the number I told them. Their eyes looked glazed over and I got worried, so I stretched over the counter top and waved my hand in front of their faces.

"Yoo-hoo! Real life to Merry and Pippin! Hello?" I snapped a couple times and they finally blinked, closing their jaws and looking at me.

"You've only known her for four years?" I tilted my head at Merry's question.

"Yeah. What's wrong with that?" Merry shook his head.

"Oh it's nothing, we just thought you knew her for a longer amount of time, that's all." I gave them the I-don't-really-believe-you-but-I'll-go-with-it look, shaking my head and putting my dishes in the dishwasher. I heard the two turn back around and go back to their food and I walked out of the kitchen, content on the food I gave them.

I walked into the living room and saw Bee was waking up, as was Boromir. I looked toward my parents' room and saw Legolas walk out of there, still in his Middle Earth garb. I looked in the direction of the study and saw Gimli stumble out of there, also clad in his dwarvish armor. Boromir walked past me toward the kitchen and I realized—with some mental face palming—that they can't just go around everywhere in their Middle Earth garb! Or weapons, for that matter, which I realized that, except for Legolas with his bow, they all slept with their weapons.

I made a mental note and plan for where we should go today for their clothes and how we are going to go. I considered the idea of walking, but Mom nor the hobbits nor I are capable of walking to Cedar Hill just to buy clothes at Old Navy. That left driving. Mom's Toyota Corolla and Dad's Buick can seat 5 and 6, respectively. I sat down on a chair in the living room and mapped out the seating arrangements in my head. Mom driving the Corolla, then four of the Fellowship or three and me. Then Dad driving the Buick and five of the Fellowship or four and Bee, someone sitting in the front middle seat. If Bee and I could ride bikes and tailgate the two cars, it might work… I guess… I'll have to take it up with our drivers for now.

I looked up and saw Bee snapping her fingers in my face. I grinned and stood up. We walked into the kitchen and saw that all of the Fellowship—minus Gandalf, still sleeping?—were seated around the six seater table, Legolas and Boromir standing at the counter. I guess they found some food for themselves, which was good.

I helped Bee find a bowl and a spoon and she poured herself some cereal. I glanced at Frodo every once in a while, he and Sam seemed to be on the sidelines, but injecting themselves whenever Merry or Pippin included them in conversation with the rest of the Fellowship. I guess that's good…

I was brought out of my reverie by my mom patting me on the shoulder and saying something not directed at me, so I went back into my thoughts, which were soon ripped away again when Boromir clasped his hand heavily on my shoulder, saying something half to me and half to Mom. I listened to what he said attentively.

"I knew not that she was that talented in art, even though it is an odd style. She seems too small and young to draw that well, Mrs. Sanbourn. You must be proud of her!" 'I am not that good, and I'm 14 for Peter Jackson's sake,' I mentally protested, outwardly smiling politely at the supposedly fictional character.

What Boromir said must have been heard by the Fellowship because the chatter on different subjects was directed to one, me. Apparently, Mom had been needlessly bragging on me and showing Boromir a picture of a drawing I did and now eight of the nine Fellowship members were all looking at me expectantly. I sighed and excused myself to get my sketchbooks. People always ask to see and I dislike seeing people upset. If what I draw makes them happy, I guess it's okay… Bee draws much better though…

I walked up the stairs to my room and glanced to the guest room. The door was closed and a noise of some sort was coming from there. And, there was some sort of light coming from in there, as it flashed continually. I shook my head, dismissing my curious and nosy ideas, and turned back to my room. I went in and grabbed my back pack devoted to my drawing resources and hafted it onto my back. I walked out of my room and saw the light was slower, but still pulsating. Odd. I carried my back pack past the room and down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Bee was even bragging about me. Since when did she do that?

I came in and dropped my back pack onto the floor and zipped it open and pulled out the two sketch books and handed one to Boromir and another to the crowd at the table.

While they were busy "ooh"ing and "ah"ing at my drawings, I pulled Mom, Bee, and Dad out into the living room for a family conference. We spoke in hushed tones so the Fellowship wouldn't hear.

"Mom, Dad, we need to take them to Old Navy in the Cedar Hill stretch mall or whatever it's called and get them clothes! They cannot stay here in their cloaks and tunics and boots and armor, no. Just no!" I looked to Mom and Dad and then told them of the driving seat plans I planned previously. Mom and Dad nodded and Bee looked at me like I had just recited pi to the thousandth decimal(which I don't know).

"We can do that. And thank the Lord Bee had brought her bike over from her house when she planned to stay over the night. Otherwise we wouldn't have enough bikes, only yours." I nodded in agreement with my mom and looked around the small circle we formed.

"So, we all agree that as soon as Gandalf comes, down," which the wizard did just as I said the last word, ", we'll gather everyone together and go clothes shopping for the Fellowship of the Ring. Ready?" Mom, Dad, and Bee nodded and I nodded, then we whispered, "Break."

And we headed into the kitchen, Dad making conversation with Gandalf. Wow, never thought I'd say that in my life… We all walked into the kitchen and I saw that the two groups had swapped sketchbooks. Why do people think I'm good? I'm not that good…

When the Fellowship saw Gandalf come in, they set down my sketchbooks and they all fell silent, since Gandalf raised his hands and lowered them for everyone to become silent. Gandalf looked to Dad and me and Dad stepped forward and spoke to all 13 of us(ooh, we could form Thorin's Company now!).

"We decided that, since it seems y'all might end up staying here a while, we are going to go clothes shopping for you all. We would walk, but the store is too far away. So, four of you will follow Marie," Mom waved, ", and go into her car. The other five will come with me in my car. Michelle and Bee will follow on their bicycles. Understood? Good." And with that, we all somehow made it to the cars—Bee and me going to our bikes—and, once Bee and I exited the garage before the two cars, the cars drove out of the driveway and we were off, Mom's car in the lead, Bee and myself bringing up the rear.

Before we had left, I had texted my other eight best friends who formed our junior reading group to join us at the Cedar Hill stretch mall. I knew they and their parent drivers were bored and had nothing to do, so they whole-heartedly obliged, not knowing the Fellowship was the "group of friends" I vaguely mentioned they would be joining. Oh well, most would be fangirling a lot and two would be confused, but they're both the oblivious ones in our group.

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I'll just skip the uneventful drive/exhausting bike ride to Cedar Hill—which is actually not that far from Duncanville, kinda…

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When I saw the entrance into that stretch mall, I never felt so relieved. I am not an exercising person, but I was too wrapped up in the thought of clothing shopping for the Fellowship, I forgot how far Cedar Hill is when you're biking.

Thankfully, we remembered before we left the house that the Fellowship couldn't have their weapons, so we left them at the house, much to everyone's chagrin, even Gandalf's staff. Since trying to forcefully yank it out of his hands wouldn't be the best idea, instead, we had asked the group to leave their weapons at home. They complied, although with a lot of grumbling and muttering when they piled them on the kitchen floor.

When we all found parking spots, Bee and I found a spot to park our bikes in a bike stand and had Gandalf mutter a spell so no one but Bee and I could touch them. See, Gandalf? You don't need your staff!

We all walked over to Old Navy, where, to my delight, I saw standing outside were the other eight of our Junior Reading Group, standing together, waiting patiently for us to arrive. I grabbed Bee's hand and ran forward to my friends, shouting their names excitedly.

"Heaven! Ange! Miriam! Mikaela! Aryana! Sarah! Jyoti! Kendra!" They turned and smiled upon seeing me, with a tired Bee in tow, running toward them. However, when they saw the nine people we were shopping for, their faces turned into this(respectively of how I shouted their names);

Heaven's dark face first looked confused then giddy, and she bounced on her toes when she saw Aragorn(though she has only seen clips of the movie I've shown her). Angela's porcelain face displayed confusion, as she had never touched the Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit, ever, which was why she was excited in the first place when we chose to read the Lord of the Rings as a group. She did lighten up when she recognized Aragorn from trailers and pics she'd seen and what we told her. Miriam and Mikaela both looked giddy and happy all the way when they spotted the Fellowship in all. And Aryana, I couldn't read her Hispanic face, but I could tell she felt an adventure in the air and I couldn't agree more! Sarah, Kendra, and Jyoti all looked ecstatic when they saw the Fellowship, as true fans do! Joyti expressions were etched all over with giddiness, if the strength of her hug wasn't anything to go by when she enveloped me in a hug. Kendra, although she was technically an adult, was obviously trying to not bounce up and down in excitement when she saw Legolas… and the rest of the Fellowship, of course! Sarah was in roughly the same boat as Kendra, except she really was jumping up and down in excitement.

When I approached, they all gave me the What-did-you-do-this-time? look, to which I simply grinned said,

"It's a long story." They copied my grin happily.

AN: Well, I did it! Chapter two! *collective sigh*

Please review, it's very welcome! I am still new, and have that stupid homework I must get to…

Thanks again to Aria Brewer for reviewing! I was very happy, I didn't expect something so soon!

Good day, morning, or evening, whenever you read this! On to chapie three! Whoo-hoo!