I'm so sorry I have not been posting anything for a while. School has been crazy, and the workload is huge. I have at least four hours of homework each night, unless I am extremely lucky. Then, I have a swim workout from seven to nine o'clock at night every day Monday through Friday, and Saturday morning practice also from seven to nine. Some days, I also have dry-land, which means I do sit-ups, crunches, push-ups, life weights, you name it, we most likely do it. The, I sometimes also have to go to my personal trainer. As you can see, my schedule is very hectic. I really do wish that I had more time to post, but I just do not.

I promise that I do work on this story whenever I have the chance. Like today, I am home from school because I am sick. Basically, I have a fever, runny nose, congested and sore throat, and I sneezing and coughing constantly. I missed two tests in school, which I will have to make up on Monday. They should not be too bad though. Being in all honors classes is much harder than I thought it would be. I failed my first math quiz, I got a 21.5 out of a possible 38 points. My other quizzes, I did fairly well on though.

Tomorrow, I will be going to visit my grandmother to celebrate her birthday. We are going to see a play and then taking her out to dinner. I honestly have no idea what play we are seeing, but I am sure it will be great. On Sunday, I have to go to church then, study for my upcoming tests. On Tuesday, I get to go in to school at 6:50 in the morning. Why? You ask. Well, my Honors World History class and I are having a video- conference with a school in Taiwan. They will be presenting information about acupuncture and my class will be talking about the middle ages and the coat of arms. It should be interesting, but I honestly have no idea how the two topics relate to each other. I have to miss my math class for this project, which worries me because math is my worst subject. However, almost half of my math class is in my history class as well so, the math teacher should not be doing anything too new.

Enjoy this chapter! I worked really hard on it. You know the drill. Read, and REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!!!!!

CHAPTER 26

I awoke to hear voices around me. My eyelids felt heavy, but the fire that seemed to burn my body from the inside out was now gone, not completely, but it had subsided to a dull, pulsating warmth. I was sore, probably from giving birth and my recent ordeal, but other than that, I actually felt alright.

"Why isn't she waking up? The ring was destroyed. Good prevailed! What is wrong?" Legolas exclaimed. I could hear his footsteps. He was pacing, nervously too. I wanted to open my eyes, to get up and tell him that I was alright, but I could not open my eyes, nor could I find my voice.

"I know not Legolas. Yes, she should be fine, but maybe her body has not registered the fact that she is safe yet. If that is the case, the only question is how to wake her up. How long has she been like this Éowyn?" Aragorn asked.

"I do not know. I went to fetch water to attempt to cool her off. When I returned, she had already passed out. Sevossi , do you know?" Éowyn asked.

"Yes, it has been almost four hours. She should not be taking this long to awaken though," she replied. Again, I fought to open my eyes, but only to have them open slightly, before then snapped shut again.

"So, let's dump the cold water on her," Gimli suggested. I laughed inwardly at that. It was exactly the type of thing I had expected him to say. "That will surely wake her up. It is what my parents did to me when I was young and refused to awaken from my slumber."

"Are you crazy? That could make her catch a cold or something worse. If too much water gets in her lungs from having it poured on her, she could drown. Deep waters are not the only way to drown someone Gimli. No, you will do no such thing to her," Legolas replied sternly.

"Then what should we do?" Aragorn asked, utterly exasperated.

Finally, after trying very hard, I was able to open my eyes. None of them were facing me now and I had to blink several times to adjust to the bright light in the room. My friends were now arguin passionately, suggesting a vast variety of solutions. They just could not agree on anything. When someone suggested something, there was always at lest one person to disagree.

"Why don't you just wait for her to wake up on her own?" I croaked. Upon hearing my voice, they all spun around to face me. It was quite an amusing sight really and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

"Jasmine! Oh Valar, thank the gods that you're finally awake. Do you have any idea how worried I've been," Legolas said, coming to my side.

"My my, don't you sound like a father," I said smiling. Legolas smiled too.

"I should hope so," he replied.

"Do not worry so. I am fine now, except for the fact that I'm sore and feel like I've been run over by a thousand horses," I replied, keeping my tone light. Legolas, and Aragorn's faces were almost priceless. They looked absolutely horrified and confused at the same time, resulting in quite comical expressions.

"It's only too be expected from the birth," Sevossi said.

"Yes, well still…." Legolas said, trailing off.

"It's alright. No need to worry. It's finally over. The ring is gone, I'm fine, you're fine, our friends are alive, and our son is perfect and healthy," I said. Wow, I just realized how motherly I sounded. I smiled when I thought of that.

"Thank the gods for that," Éowyn said. "I'm glad you're alright Jasmine."

"As we all are," Aragorn said.

"Legolas, can you help me up? I need to walk," I said.

"Jasmine, are you sure? You just gave birth and woke up from an almost comatose state," Legolas said. He was nervous to let me do this. I supposed he was scared of what could happen to me and wanted to make sure that I did not overexert myself.

"I'm sure. I need to walk. I'm so stiff. I know it will probably hurt to walk, but it's better than being stuck in this bed for hours upon hours. I know that you know that you can't stop me from doing this," I said.

"You always were stubborn Jasmine. Here, I'll help you up on one condition. You will be holding on to me while we walk and if you feel tired or you are in pain then you must tell me immediately," Legolas replied.

"Fine. Now please help me out of this bed!" I exclaimed. Everyone laughed at me. It was good to finally be able to relax with my friends without worrying about attacks or the ring, despite the humor at my expense "Where's Frodo?" I asked. I can't believe I'd forgotten about Frodo. What kind of friend was I? Then again, he had probably forgotten about me when he was facing the dangers of Mordor.

"He's resting. He passed out after destroying the ring. Sadly, he's missing part of a finger. Gollum bit it off while trying to take the ring from him," Aragorn replied. I gasped, shocked.

"That's awful," I said. "I hope it doesn't pain him too much. Is it possible to heal him or grow his finger back?"

"No, we did stop t he bleeding and his wound is sterile and almost healed, but we could not grow his finger back," Aragorn answered. I felt bad for Frodo. It must have pained him greatly. Despite his size, he had courage greater than that of even the stongest, tallest man.

We began to walk out of the room, but Mallanu began to whimper. I went over to his crib, with Legolas's help. I picked Mallanu up. His cries stopped almost immediately when I cradled him against me. "Aww. Hush my son. You didn't like being left behind did you? No matter, we'll just have to bring you with us," I crooned, smiling down at my baby boy. Aragorn and Gimli laughed. "What!" I said.

"It's just amusing to see how you've transformed. You've gone from a girl who wouldn't think twice about killing orcs and demons to a woman no, mother, who croons to her child- who probably can't even understand a word that you are saying," Aragorn said.

"Don't listen to them Mallanu. Your mother and I know that you're incredibly smart. Don't be offended by these nonbelievers," Legolas fake-whispered to our son. Now, we all laughed. Legolas had stepped into the roll of father extremely well. He even looked fatherly, which, in a rather odd way, turned me on to an extent that I had not thought to be possible.

"Yes Aragorn, Gimli, do not doubt my son's intelligence. You've probably scarred him for life. Now he will grow up thinking that he is not smart enough," I joked. This was met by even more laughter. We continued out the door, conversing happily. Soon, everyone had "conveniently" had something they had to attend to, leaving Legolas and I alone with our baby.

"I can't believe that it's all over. We're parents now," I said. Legolas tightened his arm around my waist.

"Indeed we are, and I intend to make the best of it. So long as I live, our children will never want for anything. I shall give them everything they need and more. As I will also make sure to take care of you. I will provide you a home with a fireplace and plenty of room for our children," Legolas replied.

"And I will do my best to please you and make your father proud of me, though I know he will not welcome me at first," I said, sighing.

"Why do you think that my father would not welcome you love?" Legolas asked.

"Legolas, I may not have lived here all my life, but I've studied life in royal courts enough to know that they will be upset that you proposed to me without asking them, or a proper courting period. That and the fact that I became pregnant with your child before we were married. What if they think of me as a whore?" I asked. This was one of my fears. I dreaded the day that we would ride to Mirkwood and see his parents.

"My love, they would never think such things. If they do, I shall hear none of it. You are no harlot and I love you more than life itself. I suspect that my father, as well as my people will be overjoyed. Not only will my father have a grandson, but a daughter-in-law. For ages, he, and his advisors, have been pressuring me to take on a wife and settle down. Now, I've found one. It may not be according to their plans, but they cannot be mad once they see how happy we are. Do not fret my love," Legolas said. His words, as always, reassured me.

"Thank you. You always seem to know exactly what to say to me. That's what I love about you," I replied.

"Just that?" Legolas asked slyly.

"Oh Legolas, you know the answer to that already," I answered.

"Really? It seems that I hove forgotten. Can you remind me?"

"I love your kindness, your tenderness, the way you hold our son and speak to him, the way, when you look at me, it's as if I'm the only person you've ever wanted to see, and I love how perfect you are for me," I replied.

"Those are the same things I love about you. I don't know what I would do without you," Legolas said. I smiled. We were about to kiss, when Mallanu let out a cry.

"Oh my son, do you feel left out?" I laughed. "Oh, and Legolas, you are never to come near my bed ever again. If you want more children, you will be the one carrying them and giving birth to them."

"I think Mallanu does feel left out. And Jasmine, I'm sure you'll change your mind about that last part though…eventually," Legolas chuckled. We both leaned down and kissed the small bundle in my arms. Mallanu giggled, and the sound was sweeter than music. It was the purest, most special sound in the world to me.

Author's Note: Yay! Jasmine is okay and so is everyone else... well, except Frodo, but he will be okay eventually.

Now, I only have one request.... Review. Please, please, please, with sugar, cherries, hot fudge, multi- colored sprinkles, caramel sauce, wipped cream, cookie dough, brownies, cake, frosting, and anything else you can think of, on top?

REVIEW

REVIEW!!! It will make me very happy, and it will totally make me feel less sick and crappy. Please? *looks at readers with puppy eyes*