Hello, my fellow writers and readers. I know I haven't updated this in six months and I apologize profusely for that, but I finally got chapter 10 done. It's for the letter J. This chapter was inspired by another Lance/Ilana story called Thor. I hope you enjoy it. Please read and review.

Lance had a dead-pan look on his face as he watched Ilana hang a giant poster of a man named Legolas above her bed. He had blond, shoulder-length hair and blue eyes. Ilana had bought The Lord of the Rings Trilogy on DVD on Kimmy's recommendation a couple days prior and ever since, she'd been droning on about this Legolas character.

"Why are you hanging a picture of this guy on your wall? What's so great about him?"

"Legolas is the coolest character in the films. He's an expert marksman, he's incredibly strong and he's an elf, so that makes him exotic. Plus, he's a hunk."

Lance made a face at the poster. "A hunk?"

"Absolutely. Doesn't he look positively sexy?" she asked, looking back at Lance expectantly.

"Ilana, you're asking a guy to rate another guy's looks."

The princess stuck her tongue out at him. "Well, I think he's dreamy. That long, luscious blond hair, the piercing blue eyes, a beautiful face, and a toned body that isn't overly muscular."

Lance gawked at Ilana incredulously. She had just described him almost to a T! Why was she fawning over this guy?

"Ilana, I have long hair, piercing eyes and a toned body. Shouldn't that make me 'dreamy' too? What makes Legolas so special?"

She giggled at him. "You're good-looking too Lance, but Legolas is an elf, so that makes him sexier. It's exotic, like I said."

"Exotic? So just because the guy's not human, that makes him better-looking? What does that make me then? I'm a teenage alien, according to Earth's understanding."

Ilana gave a dismissive wave of her hand. "Lance, you just don't understand." She looked back at the poster and smiled.

You're right about that. Lance glared at the fictional man depicted on the poster.

"I bet he sucks as a fighter."

"What?" Ilana asked, turning to Lance with a shocked expression. "Legolas is a master marksman with the bow and arrow so how can he suck as a fighter?"

"A bow and arrow? That's such a primitive weapon. Does he have any skill in hand to hand combat?"

"He's never shown fighting with his hands, but he does use two daggers for close combat," she said.

"So basically, without his weapons, I could kick his ass in a fist fight," Lance said.

"Ha! I doubt that very much. Remember, he's much stronger than normal humans."

"So am I. What's your point?"

"You know what? Let's watch the movies. I'll show you how great of a fighter Legolas is."

"Fine, but we're not watching all three. We'll watch the first one and just skip to the fight scenes with him in it. I can get a good feel of his fighting style if I see two or three battles."

"Alright."

Ilana put the DVD into the player and once it loaded, she skipped to roughly two hours into the movie. The characters were all in what looked like a cave and had just opened a large door leading to what could best be described as a makeshift crypt because of all the dead bodies. A large tentacle grabbed one of the boys and soon a sea monster emerged. Everyone began to fight the monster, including Legolas, who Ilana pointed out to Lance.

Once the scene was over, Lance looked at the TV in disbelief.

"All he did was shoot arrows at the thing. Everyone else was chopping off the tentacles with swords. Did he not have one on him?"

"Everyone else was also getting grabbed by the tentacles. Legolas was smart and stayed back. Besides the arrows did what they were supposed to do and damaged the monster," Ilana said.

"What are you talking about? The only one that did damage was the arrow to its face. I could do a much better job of fighting that thing."

"Oh really? How so?"

"Well for one, I would move a lot faster than they did and chop off the tentacles as fast as I could. Second, I wouldn't just retreat, but would make sure the creature was dead so it wouldn't be a threat anymore."

"Do you really think you could kill that monster by yourself?"

"Sure."

"How?" she asked, as if daring him to come up with an answer.

Lance smirked and pointed to his Corus watch. "I just activate the armor and start slicing away."

Ilana rolled her eyes. "Oh great. But what about killing it? Even if you chop off all the tentacles, it's still alive."

"Simple. Laser to the face, problem solved."

"Okay. But let's say you didn't have your armor. What would you do then?"

"Well, if I had a sword, I could still kill it in short order. Slice off the appendages quickly and then stab it in the face until it dies."

"If you say so."

She skipped to the next fight scene with Legolas in it, which wasn't very far after the first one. The two watched as the party fought several orcs, focusing on Legolas's scenes.

"Well, what do you think?" Ilana asked confidently.

"He still used his arrows mostly, but at least he can do close range combat, even if it is with a weapon. Still, other than jumping on top of the big orcs head, nothing he did was really that impressive."

"But it was his arrow that ultimately killed that big monster," Ilana argued.

"Everyone was fighting that thing, not just Legolas. Who knows if he would've been able to kill it on his own?"

"Would you have been able to?"

"Definitely. It wouldn't be easy without my armor, but I could do it if I had a sword."

"So wait. You're confident that you could kill that orc on your own, but you doubt Legolas could do it. What makes you so much better than him?"

"What makes him better than me?" Lance shot back. "I'm faster, more agile, better with weapons, and just as attractive."

"Legolas is stronger-"

"I beg to differ," Lance interrupted.

"Legolas is stronger," Ilana said more forcefully. "Plus, his mastery of the bow and arrow would be difficult for any opponent to overcome, even one as formidable as you. And in terms of close combat, remember he has two weapons, while you would most likely only have one so he would have the advantage."

"I've fought people with more than one weapon before and won."

"I know, but Legolas isn't an average warrior. He wouldn't be easy to take down. Oh and for the record, Legolas is better looking."

Lance glared. "Well, if Legolas is so much better than me and you're so enamored with him, maybe you'd prefer him as your protector."

"What? Lance, that's ridiculous. He's a fictional character."

"Oh I know, but that doesn't seem to stop you from fawning over him. If he was real, I'm sure you'd want him as your knight in shining armor."

"Lance-"

"You know what? Forget it. Just turn the movie off. You've made it clear you prefer him to me."

Lance got up and walked out of the room, slamming the door. Ilana was too surprised to react for several seconds.

What's his problem?

She cut the DVD player off and walked out into the hall just in time to see Lance close the door to his room. Octus came up the stairs just then in his Newton disguise.

"Is there something wrong with Lance?" he asked.

"I don't know what's going on with him. We were arguing over Legolas's fighting ability and then Lance got mad and stormed out of the room, saying I preferred Legolas over him."

"Who is Legolas?"

"He's one of the main characters in the Lord of The Rings movie. I have a picture of him in my room."

They went into Ilana's room and she showed Octus the picture.

"He seemed to be annoyed that I even got the poster," Ilana said.

"Oh now I see what's going on."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Lance is jealous of your attraction to Legolas."

"What? That doesn't make any sense. Legolas isn't real."

"That doesn't matter to him. Lance likes you and he sees any male that you like as competition, even if that male is fictional."

"Lance likes me, as in, romantically?"

"Exactly."

"How do you know that?"

"Let me ask you a question. What did Lance say before he left the room?"

"He said that since I seemed to like Legolas so much that I would want him as my protector."

"There you go. Protecting you isn't just a job to Lance. He does it because he cares about you and since you were probably defending Legolas, he feels like you're undermining him and what he does for you."

Ilana sighed. "I'd better go talk to him."

She went into Lance's room and saw him lying on the bed staring at the ceiling.

"Lance?"

He turned to her and his eyes narrowed. "Hey. Shouldn't you be admiring your crush, Legolas?"

"Lance, we need to talk. Are you really jealous of Legolas?"

"Of course not. Why would I be jealous of that lame pretty boy?"

"Lance, don't lie to me. Octus told me about your feelings for me."

Lance's eyes widened in shock for a moment, but he quickly became angry again. "That loose-lipped son of a-"

"Lance. Tell me what's going on."

Lance sat up and locked eyes with Ilana.

"Okay, yeah, I'm jealous! Octus was right. I DO like you and it pisses me off that you are so fixated on someone who's not even real. I have practically every quality he does so why I am not enough for you?"

Ilana smiled at the corporal and walked up to him. "You know what Lance? I may like Legolas and I may find him attractive, but you're my hero and no one, real or fictional, can replace you."

He took in what she said and allowed a small smile to grace his lips. "Do you really mean that?" She nodded.

"So does that mean you like me too?"

"Uh huh."

Lance stood up and his smile widened. "Good."

Suddenly, he took off in a run headed for her room. Once her brain processed where he was going, Ilana followed him and caught up with him just as he was tearing off the Legolas poster from her wall.

"Lance, what are you doing?" she asked, looking at him in shock.

He turned around, the poster in his hand. He had a smirk on his face. "Oh you won't be needing this anymore since we're boyfriend and girlfriend now."

He proceeded to rip the poster into pieces right in front of her.

"Lance, do you know how much that poster cost me?"

"Does it really matter? He's not important anymore, right?"

"I guess, but-"

"Look, I'll give you whatever you paid for that poster and then we can forget all about Legolas."

"I still like him as a character."

"That's fine as long as you don't like him as anything more."

Ilana laughed. "No, I don't. But if we're going to be a couple, we need to make it official."

"And how do we do that?" Lance asked.

"Kiss me."

He happily obliged.