A/N: Thanks to Azzie and Phiametta for looking this over!

Welcome to Earth!

Chapter Twenty-Six: Romance All Around:

Melody woke in her bed, slightly dazed. What happened last night? As her memories returned to her, her cheeks steadily grew pinker and pinker. It hadn't been an all-out kiss, more like a light touching of their lips, but it made her giddily happy nonetheless.

The buzzing of her phone drew her attention for a moment, and she picked it up to scan her text messages. There were several from her friends, asking where she was, then wishing her goodnight. The newest was from Bri.

Guess what?

What?

Guess!

He kissed u!

333 it was amazing! Hbu?

Same3

Melody smiled as she pressed send. She could almost hear her friend squealing in excitement.

U guys r so cute 2gether!

U 2 hun! G2g shower cya soon! With that, Melody tossed her phone on her bed and stumbled into the shower. Her dad was gone, her friends on their way over, her new family awake and, from the smell of the house, the hobbits were already cooking breakfast. Can life get any better?

It could. She met Legolas on her way down the stairs, and he smiled, flicking her hair out of her face so he could quickly kiss her good morning. Moments later, the key sounded in the lock, and he led her down the stairs to meet the others. She felt like a princess. Everything was going right, for her and for her friends. The threat across the world appeared to have vanished, and now they only had to worry about their secret, which seemed very safe so far.

They lounged around the house for the day, eating, playing games, or just talking. In the case of Aragorn, Bri, Melody, and Legolas, a fair amount of light kisses and gentle hugs went around. Frodo even spotted the elf holding Melody's hand. There were a few rounds of endless teasing for that, but Legolas took it well in stride, and Melody was used to that sort of thing.

No news was good news—for a while. Then Alec dropped by. "Hey Wynter!" he called, walking around the house.

"Another couple." Gimli groaned. Aragorn and Legolas gave him sympathetic looks. His affection for Wynter was no secret. But he tolerated Alec well, seeing that the young man made her happy.

"Over here!" Wynter called from the edge of the pool.

"Can you come here for a sec?" The unusual response garnered worried looks among the others. Wynter herself looked anxious, but calmly got up and headed over to where her boyfriend waited. Melody caught her arm and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Ruby and Toria glared furiously at Alec.

"What crappy breakup line has he come up with?" Ruby muttered sarcastically.

"Breakup?" Legolas asked in surprise. Elves rarely 'broke up' in the sense that humans did, so the concept was new to him. Melody leaned over and whispered in his ear, and his expression changed to one of shock and sympathy for their friend. Gimli growled low in his throat.

"I'll tear him apart if he hurts her!"

"He will, and you won't." Melody said calmly. "This stuff happens all the time—it happened to me recently." The Fellowship stared at her in surprise. It was the first time she had willingly brought up the topic of her exes. "She'll get over him the way she got over Chris, the way I got over all my exes. Relationships for us, in high school, rarely mean much. And they definitely don't mean forever for most people. It means trial and error, looking for qualities and characteristics you like, and those that you don't. Learning who you are and what makes up the person you will match well with. For Wynter, he was a good guy, but not the right one. There are lots of those for every girl, and many girls will settle for a nice guy instead of the right one, and only end up hurting the right one by not giving them a chance. Same goes for guys. It's messed up, but what's happening now is better than being stuck in something that's not right for life."

Her little speech shocked the Fellowship into silence for a few minutes. "You sound like you've been through this a lot." Frodo ventured at last. Melody nodded, unashamed.

"And I learned from every single one of them. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have known that Legolas is what I want. And I may have had a commitment when we met." she said pointedly. The elf in question looked thoughtful, slipping an arm around her waist and holding her against his side, both for security and comfort.

Soon after, Alec left, and Wynter returned in tears. The girls got up and each hugged her, staying and forming a group hug. After a few moments of awkward silence, Gimli got up, and Aragorn and Legolas followed, patting her shoulders and offering quiet words of comfort. The hobbits brought out plenty of chocolate and someone put on her favorite movie. They all stayed nearby, playing games or talking with her, doing their best to make her feel loved.

"He said he couldn't handle it." she whispered, staring blankly at her hands. "It was too much." Melody wrapped her arms around her friend's shoulders. Wynter shrugged her off and stood. "Thanks guys, but I should go home." she mumbled, clearly not wanting them to see her cry any more.

"Are you okay to drive?" Melody asked, concerned. Wynter nodded, taking a deep breath.

"I'll drive her." Ruby said. "Toria can take our car over and give me a ride home." Melody nodded, and the three girls said their goodbyes and left.

Bri stayed snuggled against Aragorn, thinking quietly. Everyone seemed down, and no one appeared to want to do much of anything.

"Can I stay here tonight?" Bri asked suddenly. Melody nodded, smiling at her friend. "Pizza it is!"

Ruby texted them that Wynter had gotten home safely, and that she and Toria had to go home and do chores, but they'd see them later. Boromir seemed a little upset over it, but shrugged it off well enough.

They spent the rest of the night watching movies, until a few minutes before Melody's dad got home.

Later, when Legolas went to wish Melody goodnight, he found her sitting outside her window, dried tear tracks shining on her cheeks as she stared longingly at the moon. "She'll be all right." he murmured, wiping the tear marks away with the tips of his fingers.

"He's the first to go. Who's next?" she whispered.

"No one else is going to leave." he replied.

"People are going to get suspicious. We always spend lots of time out with friends, but we were never together this much before. And what's going to happen when school starts? We need to get jobs and get out to start making lives for ourselves instead of relying on our parents. You...are all of you really intending to stay here? I don't think Boromir wants to stay, and eventually you're going to get homesick. Even if you do want to stay, how? How are we going to manage that? Ruby graduates this year, and she'll be going off to college somewhere. The year after next, it'll be me, Bri, and Wynter, and Toria will be the only one left. We're all going into different careers, and taking different paths. We won't know each other forever—we won't be best friends forever, either. That's just not how this world works."

"That doesn't mean it's impossible." Legolas murmured, wrapping her in his arms. "Let's just take all this one step at a time." Although even he had to admit that without Gandalf, their chances of going home even if they'd wanted to didn't look good. And no one had ever mentioned the girls' futures, but it was true that they would be adults soon, and be leaving their parents' homes to start their own lives and families. Which could make it easier for some of the Fellowship, he supposed, but they would be split up. "Why don't we talk to everyone in the morning?" he suggested. "There's no point to losing sleep over such things now. We still have time. And..." He hesitated, unsure of how she would react.

"What?" She lifted her head, her big, sad eyes begging him to reassure her. It was almost frightening. The girl who had fearlessly risked her own stable life by taking them in, who never seemed fazed by anything, was falling apart here in his arms.

"You could always come with us, if we found a way home. Our world is much more open to magical happenings." he said vaguely. It would still be complicated, particularly with his princely status, and he didn't quite want to picture his kingly father's reaction too realistically. Some said Thranduil was mad. But it might still be easier than here.

Melody hadn't responded, and he was afraid she would say no, that she couldn't give up her home for him, but to his surprise, she nodded. "I know I would. There's not much left for me here anyway. The others...probably not." she admitted quietly. He kissed her forehead gently.

"We can worry about that later. You should sleep." He kissed her goodnight, then returned to his own room, where he lay awake for many more hours before finally dozing off as the sun rose over the horizon. They'd played around long enough, maybe too long. Staying like this any longer was dangerous, to their world, and to the lives of the girls. It was time to face their problems instead of putting them aside for tomorrow. Legolas just hoped he could hold on to Melody through what would happen, and keep her safe and happy.