24 Hour Coffee Shop
When Legolas drops Tauriel off at her house he is still not speaking to her. She rolls her eyes and shuts the door firmly. She fishes her keys from her pocket as she approaches her door. She listens for the roar of the jeep as it pulls away. She jumps a little and turns when she hears a car door slam behind her.
"What are you doing, Fee?"
"I haven't seen you much lately. Plus, I just feel like you shouldn't be alone."
"I'm fine. I have been . . ."
Fili interrupts, "I know, but you were telling me about that movie that you got that sounded cool. I thought we could watch that or something."
"You're as bad as Legolas," Tauriel groans.
Fili grins. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Tauriel turns to unlock her door. "Of course you don't," she mumbles to herself. Before opening the door, she checks her mailbox out of habit not expecting anything. However, a thick square envelope meets her questing fingers. She frowns as she pulls it from the mailbox.
"What is it?" Fili asks stepping closer to look at the card.
Tauriel's blood runs cold when she recognizes the handwriting. "Nothing," she says before quickly folding the letter and stuffing it in the back pocket of her jeans.
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah, now get inside," Tauriel shoves at Fili's shoulder, but he ducks away.
Fili disappears into the living room. "Where are your movies?"
"In the cabinet under the TV," Tauriel replies. She toes her shoes off and kicks them into the corner. She purposefully ignores the folded up letter – bomb – in her pocket. Despite the face she put on for Fili and Kíli, everything with Bolg was not okay, nor was she okay with everything. She had not told them that she had been counting down the days until he was out of the Rangers all while telling herself that she was not tracking it, nor was she worried about it any way. Lies. The lies she told herself.
"How about this one?" Fili appears around the corner holding up a case with a young wizard on the front.
"Really? You want to revisit seventh grade?"
Fili pulls an incredulous face, "Are you telling me that you don't? They're awesome movies. We had the marathon before you shipped out for boot camp, remember?"
"How could I forget that one," Tauriel laughs at the memory. "I was finding popcorn in obscene places for weeks."
Fili holds a hand up. "I promise that will not happen this time around. Besides, that was Kíli, not me."
"Didn't he want to stay?" Tauriel asks, changing the subject.
"Yeah, but he's got some coursework to finish and I'm not about to let him flunk a test for a movie marathon."
"That's semi-reasonable." Tauriel pushes past Fili and flops onto her couch. "But remember how many nights where we stayed up watching movies before exams in high school. We never flunked."
Fili puts the disc in and sits down next to Tauriel. "I know," he smiles, "but Kíli's got less focus, he's more reckless. Plus, math isn't his favorite or best subject, and he needs to pass this class."
"Ah, I suppose that makes sense." Tauriel pulls a pillow over and hugs it to her chest.
They watch the opening credits. The familiar music is deeply comforting. Fili kicks his boots off and stretches, casting his arm over the back of the couch. Tauriel leans against Fili. This is something they did all through high school; it is nice to be in a familiar and easy situation.
"How have you been, Fee? We talked about me earlier," Tauriel asks as the movie plays on.
Fili shrugs. "Everything's okay. There's the weekend events with the Reserve Guard, and then my courses."
"What are you majoring in again?"
"Criminal justice."
"What are you going to do with that one? Keep Kili out of trouble?"
"I'm not sure yet." Fili shifts and props he feet up on the table. "I was thinking lawyer or police work."
"Those are two very different careers."
"I know; that's why I haven't decided. I severely doubt that I could sit still long enough to attend law school."
"Hmmm."
The pair sits in companionable silence for a while longer. When the credits begin rolling Fili gets up and puts the second film in. "Do you have anything to drink?"
Tauriel forces herself to sit up and shake off the sleepy daze that had settled over her. "Uh . . . yeah, there's water and Gatorade in the kitchen."
"Anything more . . . adult?"
"Oh, yeah. I think that there's some beer and cider on the bottom shelf. I'm not sure what it is. Legolas got it ages ago."
Fili disappears into the kitchen, "Do you want one?"
"That should be my question." Tauriel sits up and stretches.
"That's not an answer!"
"A glass of water would be nice."
Fili looks around the corner. "Are you sure? If I need a beer as badly as I do I'm sure that you need one more."
"I'm sure. I don't drink that much anymore. I only drink on special occasions."
"Isn't this a special occasion? It's a reunion and a movie marathon."
Tauriel rolls her eyes. "Fine. Bring me one. Hurry up though, the intro is almost over."
The pair watch the rest of the movie and the next movie is relative silence. Fili gets an other beer whenever his runs out and they just share comfortable silence. Part way through the fourth film Tauriel dozes off on Fili's shoulder.
"Tau. Tau, wake up," Fili shakes Tauriel gently.
Tauriel groans.
"Come on, Tau. I'm sure your bed is more comfortable than my shoulder and the couch. If you don't wake up and take your bed then I'll take it."
"Fuck off…" Tauriel groans pulling the pillow over her face.
Fili chuckles. He takes away the pillow. "Do you really want me to take your bed? You can sleep on the couch if you want."
Tauriel forces her eyes open as far as she can. She blearily peers up at Fili's face. He is nothing but a blurry face with a golden halo. "Help," she demands, holding out her hands.
Fili grabs her hands and pulls her to her feet. She stands unsteadily and makes her way up the stairs to her bedroom. Fili follows her to make sure that she does not fall down and hurt herself; or decide to just sit down and fall asleep in the hallway.
"G'night, Fee," Tauriel says sleepily.
"Sleep well," Fili replies before making his way down the stairs.
Tauriel quickly pulls own pajama pants and an oversized t-shirt after she shuts her bedroom door. She crawls under the blankets. She searches for her favorite blanket, curls around it, and absently rubs the cool, soft fabric against her cheek. She lays cocooned in the soft warmth of her bed drifting off to sleep. She returns to full wakefulness with a start when she remembers the letter in the back pocket of her jeans. The letter that she had not wanted to open in front of Fili, the letter that she did not want anyone to see.
She flicks on the lamp and finds her jeans pulling the crumpled envelope from the back pocket. She sits back on the edge of her bed and stares down at her address written in familiar cramped handwriting. The letters are pressed into the paper with the force behind the pen. Her address. How did he get her address? The nauseous feeling from early returns, but this time it is much worse. She feels light-headed and clammy. Tauriel opens the draw of her bedside table forcefully with the intention of stuffing the letter in it and then forgetting about it.
Tauriel stops when she feels a hard shape in the letter. It is folded in the layers of paper making it impossible to distinguish without opening the envelope. She slowly shuts the drawer. She takes a deep breath. She exhales and catches her finger under the flap of the envelope; tearing it open. She drops the papers and unknown object into her hand. The envelope flutters to the floor. She slowly unfolds the letter. In the center of the paper, surrounded by that cramped and angry handwriting is one of her spare dog tags. She had forgotten that she had given away the spare pair.
She picks up the oblong piece of metal. The indents of the letters, the notch in the side, and the chain are as familiar to her as her own fingertips. She traces her name lightly – Thranduilion, Tauriel L. She closes her fingers around the metal rectangle before turning her attention to the writing itself.
Tauriel,
I found this while cleaning out my house on base. I figured that you might like it returned to you. I'm sure that you don't remember giving it to me that night at the bar after your birthday. You had several more shots than you could handle. I think about what happened after we left the bar a lot. I'm glad that I wasn't too drunk to remember it.
I have fond memories of most of our time together. I remember that Christmas at your uncle's house. Your family is something else – how are they doing, by the way? – Your uncle's stories about the Guard from the old days were quite interesting. I hope my kids and yours think our stories are half as interesting. Part of me doubts that though with all the regulations that restrict everyone now.
I recently received my discharge papers and I'm moving to Dale for a job in security. I'm hoping we can meet up for coffee sometime. You work in a coffee shop now, right? I think I've seen you there before. I've missed you. I've been wondering if we could start back up where we left off.
Hope you're well.
Love,
Bolg de Azog
Tauriel stares down at the dog tag that rests in her palm. Tauriel remembers that night all too well; she wishes she could forget it. She had hoped that he would not be able to find her despite his threats/promises that he would find her wherever she went. At the beginning that had been a comforting promise, but, now, it was a terrifying threat. The letters blur through her angry tears, her scared tears. She feels like an angry hot balloon is about to burst from her chest. She hurls the dog tag as hard as she can at the wall. It bounces off the dark green wall and lands with metallic 'cling' in the darkness that is outside the lamps circle of light. She stuffs the letter into the drawer beside her bed and turns off the light. She chokes on the tears that burn her eyes. She slams her fist into the bed. The relief she expected to feel from hitting something does not come.
In this moment, she realizes that she has not checked her phone – it is probably dead by now – all day. But she cannot find the heart or the energy to crawl out of her bed to find her phone to check for messages from Legolas or Bard. The fear and sorrow and anger well up further until she feels like she cannot breathe. Then the tears come hot, hard, and fast. She curls around her favorite blanket and hopes that Fili cannot hear her.