This chapter will be a bit more light-hearted than ones to follow... though the humor element will always remain, the mystery element will once more play a part either in the next chapter or in chapter 13. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter Eleven

Gathered in the living room of the apartment were nine beings, all different from one another yet bound together by this strange situation. Aragorn and Legolas sat on the couch while Mandy sat in the easy chair; all of the teenage girls were gathered by the elf and ranger's feet, and all looking up at them with admiration and a bit of lust. It was a bit disturbing for the two, to say the least.

For the last hour, stories had been exchanged, one of them being how Brittany had told all of her friends about Rivendell and the events that happened there and what they did before Mandy got home. It seemed also that during Mandy's and Aragorn's absence that the teenage girls had learned that they were not to touch Legolas' hair nor weapons on 'pain of death'. From the tale, the young girls had consistently asked if they could and the elf had soon gotten tired of their constant badgering. Aragorn was glad that he woke up with Mandy and not with them.

Then Mandy had told about the strange dreams and the disappearance of fan fiction, while Aragorn and Legolas told about their unfortunate situation with the orcs. The girls gasped and shouted in terror at all appropriate times, which amused Mandy to no end. Finally, Legolas came to the part where he woke from unconsciousness after their failed escape attempt.

"I found Aragorn to still be unconscious, and a burning pain in my leg; the arrow was still there. Once the orcs had found me to be in the waking world once more, they punished me for the escape attempt. I shall not go into details, but after I fell once more into unconsciousness, I woke and found myself here. I then saw Abs in the kitchen and… well, you know the rest."

Aragorn then told his part of the tale, including the strange behavior of the orcs and how it corresponded exactly with when the computer in the Control Room acted up. After he and Mandy related to them how they escaped from the box company unnoticed (with many giggles from the teenagers), Mandy took in a deep breath.

"Alright then… now that we have exchanged stories and such… now what?"

There was an unnatural silence within the room that made it very uncomfortable in the usually noisy house, considering Brittany's friends and their constant visits. Everyone looked at each other with frowns and shrugs.

Finally, Alex broke the silence. "Well… right now we really can't do anything about it. I don't know how this whole transportation from world to world works, but a lot of it has to do with this computer in this Control Room, it seems. Since everyone is still working there right now, we cannot all go down there and try to fix the problem. And I don't see how else we could really work on it."

"So, in other words, we sit back, relax, and enjoy the show?" asked Mari, eyeing Aragorn and Legolas.

"That sounds good," both Becky and Summer said at the same time, the former looking at the elf while the latter looked at the Ranger.

"But first," said Mandy, "you need a bath, Aragorn. Now. You really smell." Aragorn merely raised an eyebrow while Legolas burst out laughing.

"I have told you many times, my friend! Now come, listen to the good lady and wash up!" Legolas laughed in his clear, light voice. All six of the girls were openly staring at him, a good amount of them with an odd, fan girlish lust.

Aragorn glared at his friend, but then looked at the girls who were all staring at the elf, and held back a chuckle. If he was in a bath, he would be away from these odd children… Legolas would soon miss his presence. He stood up and bowed to Mandy in defeat, a smile playing on his lips.

Mandy looked back at Legolas and the girls and rolled her eyes. "Don't eat him," she said in her blunt manner, and then led Aragorn to the bathroom in her own bedroom; he could have some privacy, at least.

"Well, here's the bathroom… tub and shower, sink… erm… towel… soap is right here, and this is shampoo, use that on your hair a few times…" She frowned as she looked at the tub and then at Aragorn. "You're too big for the tub… do you know how to use a shower? Do they have showers in Middle-earth?" Aragorn shook his head. "That's what I thought," she muttered.

She then approached the bathtub and turned on the water. "As you can see, it's filling up as a bath right now, or would if it was plugged up… to take a shower, pull this thing out." She tugged at a small knob, and then the showerhead started spitting out water. Aragorn looked at it in surprise.

"So, shower in here for as long as you need… rinse your hair, scrub yourself, do whatever you need… to turn off the water, press against this knob. To make the water hotter or colder, turn the knob different ways." She then looked at the bag Aragorn was still holding and wrinkled her nose. "But this shower won't do any good if your clothes still smell. Here, give them to me… I'll wash them." Before he had a chance to respond, Mandy took the bag from him. "Feel free to take as long as you want," she insisted. "Make sure you smell good. Just fold up your clothes and leave them here on the counter. When I'm done cleaning these, I'll knock."

She went through the door and started to close it. "Oh, and lock the door behind you by pushing on this small thing… the door will unlock by simply turning the handle. And yes, you do want to keep it locked; we have six teenage girls in the house, many of them which lust for you and probably would not mind seeing you stark naked. Enjoy your shower!" With that, she closed the door behind her.

Aragorn blinked, and immediately locked the door. He was glad he could wash… however, he was not so sure he felt entirely comfortable. Indeed, he was far from. Nevertheless, he trusted for the door to stay locked, and with one last look behind him, he prepared for a shower.

O0O0O0O

When Mandy came back to the living room, she found Legolas telling the girls a story about his home in Mirkwood. They were so caught up in his story that they did not even hear Mandy approach them. Legolas, however, did, and he stopped mid-sentence.

"Aragorn's bath is already prepared?" he asked, surprised.

"The joys of modern plumbing," she responded with a grin. "But he's taking a shower, not a bath. You probably hear the water from my bedroom, and probably running through the pipes too."

"Indeed," Legolas nodded. "I was wondering what was making that sound."

"You'll hear many sounds you are unfamiliar with here," she said with a shrug. "Now, I've really got to wash his clothes… they reek. Do you want to take a shower after him, Legolas?"

"I am well, for now," Legolas said quickly, glancing at the girls. Mandy read his mind and rolled her eyes.

"Girls, you will not spy of him when he is washing up… and not Aragorn either. Actually, I don't want any of you going into my room. The poor man needs his privacy, not a bunch of drooling teens trying to get a peek of… well, I don't want to think about it. But I mean it. No going into my room. I'm going to wash these clothes now… and if I hear any complaints from Legolas, I'm sending you all home. No buts," she said to their shocked faces. "No watching the films or reading the books, though; you heard their story. They're at Amon Hen. If any of you spoil what is to come, I swear I will kill you. Don't say or do anything like that. Now behave." With that, she left the room.

Brittany looked at Mandy's retreating figure, and then shrugged to her friends. "You heard her. No movies, no books, no spoilers."

"Then what will we do?" Alex whined. "If we can't do anything LOTR-related, I'll go bored stiff!"

"We can listen to some more Evanescence," Mari suggested with a grin.

"No, thank you," Legolas said quickly. "And no, you cannot 'play' with my hair," Legolas added to Becky's inquisitive look.

"I didn't say anything!" cried Becky, giving the elf an innocent look. Abs rolled her eyes.

"I bet you were thinking it, though," she said.

"Maybe we can try and see Aragorn…" Summer said quietly, a bright light shining in her eyes. Six pairs of eyes turned to stare at her. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" she cried, throwing up her hands. "Sheesh, can't you people take a joke?" No one bothered to answer her.

"I've got an idea…" Brittany said quietly, a smile forming across her face.

"Really? Do tell," Abs nudged her on.

Brittany broke into a grin. "Care for a game of Monopoly, anyone?"

O0O0O0O

In the other bathroom was Mandy. The sink was filled with water, and right by her were cleaning supplements ranging from laundry detergent to bars of soap to dishwasher detergent. She looked at all the dirty clothes in the bag and wrinkled her nose. She had no idea when was the last time these clothes had been cleaned. This was not going to be fun. She would have used the washers that the apartment complex had, but as they were in another, public building, she didn't want to. After all, if her neighbors saw her with these odd clothes, and men's clothing at that… she didn't want to think about it.

Mandy pulled out the first item of clothing and blinked. Undergarments. She quickly threw it in the sink and locked the bathroom door. The girls could not see this. No. That would definitely not be good. She let it absorb a bit of water and then poured in some laundry detergent and a little dishwasher detergent for good measure. She grabbed a sponge, soaked it in the water, and started scrubbing. She tried not to think about at what she was scrubbing off; the thought made her a bit queasy.

After that was done, she quickly put it on the shower pole to dry and emptied the sink. She refilled the sink once more and pulled out the next item: Aragorn's leather jerkin. She frowned. She didn't know how to wash leather, though she was pretty sure that you couldn't do it with regular soap. She sighed and let it hang with the undergarments on the shower.

She took out the next item… pants. Thankfully not leather like the jerkin, but still as smelly. She cleaned it as quickly as possible, not thinking about what lovely things had gotten onto them over the passage of time. She followed this exact same process with the shirt and socks (both which smelled absolutely terrible and made Mandy feel sick), and then she took out the last three items: the belt, the duster, and the cloak. The belt and duster she simply folded and put on the side, but the cloak she held out for a better look. It definitely was one interesting piece of clothing. It was very soft and smooth to the touch, despite its scratchy look, and she noted that she really could not tell the color of the article of the clothing. It seemed gray, but at different angles it looked different shades of gray, and she was pretty sure it was not just the lighting that did this.

Her eyes came to the leaf pin, and she gently touched it. Her heart jumped up and down in her chest. She was holding a real elven cloak, woven by Galadriel and her handmaidens. The thought was absolutely thrilling. Mandy gently folded the cloak, but did not settle it down by the duster and belt on the floor. She instead held it close to her chest for a moment, and then finally set it down on the counter. It really was quite a precious thing.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud knocking at the door. She slightly jumped, and then frowned.

"What?" she yelled.

"Can I use the bathroom?" she heard Summer yell from behind the door.

"Use the other one!" Mandy shouted back, annoyed at her.

"But-"

"Go!"

She heard Summer's footsteps go down the hall and into her bedroom. Satisfied, Mandy cleaned up the counter and finally exited the bathroom. In her own room she did not hear any water running and assumed that Aragorn was done with his shower. But instead of heading over to her room to see if he needed anything, she went to the living room to see how Legolas and the girls were doing.

The sight before her eyes was definitely unexpected.

Legolas and five girls were all crowded around a game board; Monopoly, to be precise. Abs was currently pouting as Mari took some of her cash, while Legolas was rolling the dice. He got a '5' and moved his piece, the horse, five places and landed on 'Go to Jail'. Brittany then grabbed his piece and moved it to 'Jail'.

"Why did you do that?" Legolas asked her.

"You landed on jail. You go to jail," Brittany explained quickly. "We explained jail earlier, remember? It's not that difficult, really…"

"My turn!" Alex said, rolling the dice. She landed on 'Community Chest', and quickly read the card. "Ha! You all owe me fifty bucks!"

"What? Let me see that," Becky demanded, nearly ripping the card from her hand. "That's so not fair! I refuse to pay you fifty bucks!"

"You have to. It's the rules," Alex insisted.

"No I don't. I can… I can go on strike!" Becky said.

"No you can't."

"Yes I can."

"No you can't."

"Yes I can."

"No you-"

"Whose turn is it?" Mari interrupted.

"Summer's," Legolas said, handing Alex one of the blue fifty dollar bills. When Becky saw this, she immediately followed, thus ending her little 'strike'.

Mandy counted the people around the game board, and then counted again. Six… she was sure there was one missing… wait a minute…

"Where is Summer?" Mandy demanded.

Brittany looked up. "Oh, hello Mandy… uhm… she said she needed to go to the bathroom."

"The bathroom? But I…" Mandy became silent as she suddenly realized where she had sent Summer just a few minutes ago. "Shit," she muttered under her breath, ignored the look Legolas gave her, and dashed to her bedroom.

O0O0O0O

"Lalalalala…" Summer sang as she entered Mandy's bedroom. She headed to the bathroom door, yet when she turned the handle, she found that the door was locked. Annoyed, she loudly knocked on the door. "I need to go!" she shouted at whoever was behind the door. She could not remember if anyone had left during the Monopoly game, but whoever it was, it didn't matter. She really needed to go.

She heard a bit of noise behind the closed door, and finally it was opened a couple inches. To her surprise she saw a bit of Aragorn's head peeking out. She had completely forgotten that he was taking a shower… she idly wondered if he was still naked. Immediately she got her thoughts out of the gutter. Now was not the time for that.

"Can I use the bathroom?" she asked him. "Mandy's in the other one."

"Can it not wait?" he asked her.

She frowned. "No, not really… I've got to go."

He also frowned. "If you must leave, can you not use your own bathroom?"

"No, I'm not going like that," she explained. "I mean… I've got to use the bathroom. I've really got to go." At his confused frown, she sighed. "You know… I've got to… to use the toilet." His expression didn't change, and she let out a deeper, more frustrated sigh. "Look, can't you just get out?"

"No, I cannot 'just get out'."

"If you're naked, just wrap a towel around you or something. Look, I've really, really got to go! Don't make me start doing the freaking potty dance!" He simply looked at her, and she swore that she saw amusement dancing in his eyes. She was quickly becoming annoyed… Summer was not noted to be one who had a lot of patience.

"Aragorn, do I have to spell it out for you?" He didn't say anything, but instead started to close the door, as if she was just babbling a bunch of nonsense or something. She groaned in frustration, and, slightly raising her voice, she said, "I've got to use the bathroom so I can relieve my bloody bladder! Happy now?"

Aragorn stopped closing the door, looked at the expression on her face, and finally decided to comply with her. He understood what she had said just there, and though he could not comprehend why one would relieve his or herself in the bathing room, he did not argue. He quickly wrapped his towel around his waist, opened the door and let Summer in.

She did not even spare a glance at him as she ran inside and shut the door. He heard a loud banging sound, and then as he heard her sit down he stepped away from the door. It was then that he heard someone running down the hallway, and the bedroom door was yanked open to reveal Mandy.

"Summer, where are- oh. Hello, Aragorn." She ignored the state he was in and concentrated on the wall behind him. "Where's Summer?"

"In the bathroom. She said that she 'had to go'," he explained, trying to ignore the fact that he was clad in nothing but a towel in front of a woman who was young enough to be his granddaughter.

"Right, right," she said, still concentrating on the wall. "Uhm, I washed your clothes, but I haven't dried them yet… uhm…" An uncomfortable silence fell.

Summer then came out of the bathroom, breaking the uncomfortable silence. She looked at Mandy and frowned. "Aragorn didn't know what I meant by 'going to the bathroom'. Think you could possibly teach him some Earth lingo so that doesn't happen again? That was way too close." She then glanced at Aragorn, stared for a moment, let out a high giggle, and ran out of the room. Both adults could hear her screaming at the others that Aragorn was only in a towel. Before the others could come to see, Mandy quickly locked her bedroom door. Though both swore that they heard loud, elvish laughter coming from the living room at Summer's comment.

"Erm, right… you… uhm… you better just go to the bathroom right now. I'll… uhm… I'll dry your clothes and bring them to you." Before he could even answer, she quickly left the room and immediately shut the door behind her.

"That was embarrassing," she muttered to herself. "I can only imagine what that man is thinking right now…" At that thought, she let out a low chuckle. "Oh boy. And to think that there are still many hours of daylight left…" At that thought, she burst out laughing, and shaking her head, she went back to the bathroom to dry Aragorn's clothes. She had a feeling he didn't want to wear either the towel or the modern clothes for the rest of the night…