AN: Hey everyone, guess what time of year it is! That's right, it's finals time, which means that instead of studying and writing papers like I should be doing, I'm writing fic! I had a thought the other day that for the first few years of Gilraen's life, she wouldn't have known the words "grandmother" and "grandfather" and thus this ficlet was born.

I still don't own Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. If I did, I'd have a phone case that wasn't falling apart.

Enjoy, and happy finals!

May 27, 5 FA

"Elwen!" a voice called from the door of a young Gilraen's playroom. The two little girls who had been playing together all afternoon looked up at the sound to see both of their mothers waiting for them. "Elwen," the woman repeated, "it's time for us to go," she said.

"Why?" Gilraen asked, her face drooping into a pout.

"Because Elwen's grandmother is expecting us," the girl's mother, a very fancy and pretty looking lady (who Gilraen didn't think her own mother liked very much) said, beckoning the girl over to her. Elwen gave Gilraen back the doll she had been playing with and obeyed her mother, going over the door, the young princess right behind her.

"What do you say to Elwen, nínim?" Gilraen's mum prompted her with a gentle hand on her shoulder and a kind tone.

"Thank you for coming and playing with me, Elwen," Gilraen recited, smiling at her friend and then at her mum.

"Thank you for having me over," Elwen replied, and her own mother gave the dark haired girl a smile of approval.

"Let's go, sweetheart," the woman said, taking her daughter's hand and pulling her along as they went, through the citadel and down to the sixth level.

"Alright dear, let's get you cleaned up for dinner," Gilraen's mum said once Elwen was gone. Gilraen nodded and went ahead to her bedroom, her mum right behind her.

"Mama?" Gilraen asked Ginny that night as she was tucking the girl in to bed.

"Yes, nínim?"

"What's a grandmother?"

Ginny froze for a moment, though she closed her eyes to take said moment to collect herself. Of course Gilraen didn't know that. Why would she?

"Grandmother is the word for your dad's mum or your mum's mum," Ginny explained to her little four-year-old girl, tucking a strand of her bright red hair back behind her ear. "Why do you ask?"

"Because Elwen went to see her grandmother today," the girl answered promptly.

Of course that was where this came from, Ginny realized. Where else would she have heard the term? It wasn't as if Gilraen had grandparents in this world.

"That's right, she did," Ginny confirmed.

"Do I have a grandmother?" Gilraen asked then.

"Well," Ginny began, not quite sure how to broach this. "Everybody has grandmothers and grandfathers," she began. "I do, your father does, your Uncle George does, and so do you and Fred."

"Why don't we know them?" Gilraen then asked, quite obviously confused. Ginny bit her lip to keep herself from crying.

"Well, part of that is because your father's mum and dad aren't with us anymore," Ginny began gently, smoothing her daughter's hair. "Your father and I named you after your grandmum on that side, you know," she added. Gilraen's eyes lit up in curiosity. Ginny smiled at her little girl. "They both died a very long time ago," Ginny explained. "But they would have loved you and your brother, nínim, so much. They were brave, and smart, and they did everything in their power to protect your father while they were alive.

"Now your other grandmum and granddad, they live somewhere very far away," Ginny settled on, and when she said that, Gilraen looked a bit confused. "Too far away for us to visit them right now, but your Uncle George and I are working on a way to fix that," the red-headed woman explained.

"What's she like?" Gilraen asked through a yawn, settling in to her pillows and hugging her doll close - a soft and well-loved little thing with what used to be very bright red hair.

"She's-" Ginny began, not quite sure where to start. "She's kind," the woman settled with. "She is so incredibly kind." From there, Ginny launched into stories, memories, everything she could think of to tell her daughter about Molly Weasley until the little girl fell asleep. Pressing a soft kiss to her forehead, Ginny carefully got up from her bed and after checking on Fred, retreated to her own bedroom for the night. When she got there, it was to find Aragorn still at his desk, busy reading something that needed his approval, though she wasn't sure what.

Approaching her husband from behind, she snaked her arms around his shoulders, bending over to give him a warm, lingering kiss on the cheek. In return, he turned towards her and kissed her properly on the lips, casual and welcoming. Ginny gave him another kiss on the cheek and straightened up, moving her hands to his shoulders and beginning to gently massage the tense muscle there.

"Long day?" she asked, judging by the state of his shoulders alone. He nodded in response and then let his head fall back towards her, his eyes closed and a contented smile upon his lips.

"Yes, but it is worth it if I get this kind of treatment at the end of the day," he elaborated, looking up at her now with a bit of a shit-eating grin. Ginny rolled her eyes at him but smiled back lovingly.

"Gilraen had an interesting question for me today," she told her husband in what she hoped was a casual tone.

"Oh?"

"She asked me what a grandmother was," Ginny told him, her voice taking on a slightly melancholy note. In response, the grin faded from her husband's lips.

"What did you tell her?" he asked carefully.

"I told her the truth," Ginny began, her hands still working at the knots in Aragorn's shoulders. "She heard the term from one of her friends - I hadn't even realized that that was a word she didn't know," she said softly. "I told her about how you mum and then about how she's named after yours; she fell asleep while I was telling her what my mum's like," she went on, her hands pausing in place. There were a few beats of silence during which Ginny snaked her arms around Aragorn's shoulders, bending down and burying her face in the crook of his neck. She felt him lift his hands to rest them on her arms and rest his head upon her own to provide her with as much physical contact and comfort as he could.

After another moment, Aragorn nudged his wife and she loosened her grip on him enough for him to free himself and stand up, taking her hand and leading her to the sofa by the fireplace. Aragorn sat down first, taking the end of the couch and opening his arms to nonverbally invite Ginny to sit beside him in a far more comfortable manner than they had been previously. With a grateful half-smile, Ginny obliged and sat beside him, tucking her legs up under her and leaning into his side, her head on his chest and his arm around her shoulders.

"They're never going to know their grandparents," Ginny said softly, fidgeting idly with the laces of her husband's shirt.

"No, meleth-nín, that's not true," Aragorn insisted gently. "You and George are going to work out that travel mechanism of yours and when you do, not only will you get to see the rest of your family again, but the children will meet their grandparents," he said assuredly.

"And you'll get to meet your in-laws," Ginny added with a hint of a smirk, looking up at him.

"Aye," he agreed, a hint of trepidation in his voice.

"They'd love you," Ginny said softly, meeting his eyes. "You love me, I love you, we love our kids, and that is all that matters," she stated simply, cupping his cheek and bringing him down for a kiss; soft, warm, and comforting.

Hope you liked it! If you did, let me know in a review!

If there's something you want to see - past, present, or future in the Reinforcements-verse - let me know and I'll give it a shot! I'm 100% open to prompts!

Natalie out.