When Tauriel came home later that afternoon, still clutching the manila envelope, Legolas was waiting for her, sitting on the cream-coloured leather couch in their living room.

"Where have you been?" he asked.

For a moment she hesitated, then she faced her brother, deciding to go for a half-truth. "I met with some friends."

Legolas narrowed his eyes. "Who?"

Tauriel took her time, putting the envelope down, shedding her olive green parka and her brown lambskin boots before answering, "You don't know them."

When she had left earlier this afternoon, Legolas had still been in his room, refusing to come out and listening to some sad love songs, drowning in self pity. Honestly, she was convinced that her absence would go unnoticed. But it obviously it didn't.

Legolas' gaze wandered to the envelope. "What's this?" he asked.

"Oh, erm, just some... papers," she said.

Legolas frowned. "Papers," he repeated sceptically.

Tauriel rolled her eyes. "Oh, for heaven's sake. Can't you stop being so inquisitive? I'm an adult! I can do whatever I want as long as I don't hurt anyone!" She didn't look at Legolas as she stormed off, heading for her bedroom.

After shutting the door behind her, she went straight to her bed, sitting down on the quilt in different shades of green her mother had made for her for her eighteenth birthday, before moving abroad, leaving her husband and children behind.

Tauriel opened the manila envelope again, pouring out its contents, spreading everything on her bed around her, contemplating. She had to admit that Fíli's and Kíli's mother was right. A part of her, a more instinctive than rational part, had already decided that she wanted to have a child with the brothers. Now she just had to figure out if that would be a wise decision.

A knock at the door. "Tau, can I come in?" Legolas.

Tauriel sighed. "Yes, of course," she answered, starting to pile up all the papers in order to put them back into the envelope, while Legolas walked in.

"Let's please not fight, okay? I have enough of fighting. And it wasn't my intention to -" He stopped, looking at the pictures of Fíli and Kíli she hadn't yet put back into the envelope.

"Who are those kids?" he asked.

Tauriel hesitated. Should she let him in on her secret, that she had set her mind on becoming a mother, taking the first steps into that direction? He was her brother, her twin brother, after all. They had shared their mother's womb, so wasn't it natural to share other things as well?

"Well, the friends I told you about, the friends I met today, I met them online first. These pictures are pictures of them when they were children," she started.

Legolas frowned, crossing the room, joining her on the bed. "I don't understand. Why did they give you pictures of them when they were children?"

Tauriel took a deep breath. That was more difficult for her than she had thought. "It... could be interesting for me. Because I want them to be the fathers of my child. It might give me an idea how my child could look like."

Legolas shook his head. "You don't make much sense, Tauriel. Are you dating them or what? By they way, are you dating two guys at the same time? That doesn't sound like you. At all."

Tauriel sighed. If she wanted Legolas to understand, really understand, she had to start from the beginning. So she told him about her wish for a child, about her joining the website and finding Fíli and Kíli, their exchange of messages, the first meeting. At first she was hesitant about mentioning her encounter with Dís because retrospectively she had to admit that it was weird. But a part of her was glad to have met that woman.

"She is a real mama bear, Legolas. Really! To some extent she reminded me of our mother, before -" She didn't continue. Legolas did. "Before she abandoned us? Before father started drinking?"

Tauriel sighed again. "She didn't abandon us. She simply moved away. You could visit her, you know. Like I do. She always asks about you."

Legolas smiled sadly. "If she had stayed with us, she wouldn't have to ask. Then she could see for herself."

Tauriel knew that Legoas was still hurting because their mother had left them shortly after their eighteenth birthday. Whenver she called, Legolas refused to talk to her, just handing the telephone over to Tauriel. But Tauriel knew that their mother had had her reasons for leaving like that and Tauriel understood. Legolas didn't and didn't even want to try.

"Anyway, let's not talk about mother, let's talk about you," he changed the subject, "How serious is that wish of yours? Do you really consider getting impregnated by two strangers?"

Tauriel rolled her eyes. "Yes, of course, why else would I have met with them?"

Legolas shrugged. "Just checking. Can I have a look at those papers?" Tauriel nodded, handig him the envelope over.

Legolas took his time, perusing every document as if his life depended on it. Finally he looked up, smiling at her. "I think they're a good choice, Tauriel, really. Especially the fact that they are completely clean reassures me. Because, you know, if you want to get pregnant, you will have to do it with them without any protection."

Tauriel blushed. It wasn't the first time that they talked about sex, but usually it was about his sexual encounters (or lack thereof), not hers. Maybe he believed she was still a virgin, for all she knew. "Thank you, I know how it works," she said flippantly, taking the papers back from him.