Legolas remained awake after the memory dream that Ithilwen had unknowingly shared with him, trying to understand how a person could say such things to another, and how creative he could be in destroying this mortal if he ever got his hands on him. There was no reason for him to speak to Ithilwen that way, and offhandedly Legolas wondered just how he managed to get away with it. 'Deceit, that's how.' He pushed a strand of hair back behind Ithilwen's ear, watching her sleep. 'I will make sure he receives his punishment. You should not have to fear trust, Ithilwen,' he thought. 'I will protect you.'
The elleth snuggled up against him began to stir. She rubbed her eyes and blinked away the sleep, narrowing her eyes in confusion when she registered that she wasn't in her room. When Ithilwen's eyes settled on Legolas, who watched her with a smile, she nearly jumped out of her skin in surprise. Relaxing, she muttered, "I nearly forgot about last night..."
"I must admit that it's nice to wake up with an elleth beside me in bed."
Ithilwen chuckled. "Maybe we'll have to do this again sometime," she joked.
"I agree wholeheartedly." Ithilwen's chuckles subsided when she looked up at Legolas, noticing that he wasn't joking. 'Is he...serious?'
Then Legolas shifted gears on her. "Why did you not tell me everything the morning after the...breakup, as you called it?" She stared at him in shock, to which he added, "Last night I dreamt of you in an eatery when that orc of a mortal said those things to you." Legolas frowned. "Why did you not tell me everything he said?"
"I'm-I'm sorry," she whispered. "The things Payne said to me hurt to much to repeat. They still do. Besides, it was over and done with. I didn't see the point in making you mad after you had been through so much."
"Don't apologize," Legolas reached up and stroked her cheek. "I understand now, after seeing it play out. Seeing it however makes me want to kill him even more." He smiled again, seeing Ithilwen laugh.
"As I've told you, it isn't worth it. But..could you promise me not to tell Ada? It's been easy enough to set his temper off lately," she said, remembering his outburst about her clothes.
Legolas nodded, then surprised Ithilwen by tightening his grip around her and rolling onto his back, bringing her to lay atop his chest. Ithilwen tried to take in in stride, but her mind went into a million directions at once. She attempted to make herself comfortable by resting her chin on her hands on his chest, looking down at him questioningly.
"What do you think about skipping breakfast?" Legolas had switched topics again. "I find myself rather comfortable here."
"We'll be missed," she pointed out. "Do you want Ada to send out a search party through the house looking for us?" The noise he made in his throat said otherwise, making her laugh outright. Ithilwen tried to crawl off him, but Legolas still had a grip around her waist.
"There is one thing I can agree with the mortal on," Legolas said, catching her off guard. "I do like your ears."
"What took you two so long getting down here?" Fiona watched the two elves enter the dining room as some of the last to sit down for breakfast. After the nights' storms, she expected to see her sister hobble down the stairs looking like a frightened cat, not a relaxed and smiling elleth.
Before she could filter herself, Ithilwen blurted, "I stayed with Legolas last night, and we've been up there talking in bed," as she reached for a waffle. She completely missed the looks of astonishment and the reddening face of the elf beside her until everyone made their feelings vocal.
"YOU WHAT?!"
"Congratulations!"
"I don't believe it!"
"Did you really?"
"Couldn't wait, could ya laddie?"
"How was it?"
"For Eru's sake, don't ask that!"
"Enough!" Morwen said over the noise. "Well...Ithilwen, Legolas...would you two mind explaining before my husband busts an arterial vein?" She looked at each of them kindly, unlike Haldir who looked ready to kill with the butter knife in his left hand and the toast in the other.
Legolas couldn't swallow the lump in his throat to speak. He couldn't even get the blush to subside. 'Eru help me, what was she thinking?!' he thought, looking down at Ithilwen, who seemed to register how her words had been taken out of context. Her cheeks were quickly progressing to a brighter pink by the second.
"It's not what you think," she spoke slowly. "I got scared last night because of the bad weather, and I went to Legolas. I was going to go back to my room, but he said that I could sleep with him last night. All we did was sleep."
"Do you swear?" her adar asked, not looking any less angry.
"Don't you think they'd have been happier coming down the stairs if they had done anything, Brother?" Celebrian asked from Morwen's other side.
"If they had even come downstairs at all." Miraear couldn't help but add to her son's embarrassment. She turned to her husband, "Don't you remember after we got married, how we-"
"No, and you don't either," Thranduil claimed, handing her a glass of juice to keep her mouth occupied.
Roughly an hour or so after breakfast, Ithilwen and Legolas set out for the mall to find a dress for the high school reunion. Haldir sat out on the front porch, watching the two back out of the driveway in the smaller Jeep. The screen door creaked, and the marchwarden turned his head to see the Elvenking step out. "My Lord," he greeted with a small bow.
Thranduil waved it off. "As I have told your daughters, Thranduil will suffice. I am surprised that you have not started addressing me as such already, what with the path our children are on." Haldir sighed, leaning back into his chair. Thranduil took the chair beside his, looking out across the front yard. "I understand where your emotions are coming from," he continued, "because it appears that Elrohir has begun to unofficially court Tauriel."
"And you accept this readily?"
"No, but what can I do? I have watched them together, and he is good to her. Tauriel is a grown elleth, as much as I'd like to believe otherwise. Legolas has been raised proper," Thranduil added. "He would never do anything to bring harm to Ithilwen."
Haldir nodded. "I know. I also know that I could think of no other ellon worthy of her. It is accepting that she is grown that I continue to have issue with."
"No parent can ever fully accept that their children grow up," Thranduil said. "They may not need us as much as we'd hope, but we will still remain there to guide them when they seek us."
Ithilwen had spent nearly two hours, going from store to store in the mall, trying to find a suitable dress without luck. Every store that contained women's clothing was designed for a casual get-together, and comprised of enough maxi and sundresses that could fill King Tut's tomb. Sighing as they left Pac Sun, she tugged on his hand, suggesting that they go back to Victoria's Secret to find Amber. The girl would know more about where to look than she had, and the fashionista could point her in the right direction if nothing was to be found in the mall.
"Come back already?" Amber was at the register, waiting for the receipt to print for her customer. "I was wondering when you'd be back for some honeymoon lingerie," she added slyly, as the customer turned to leave.
"Not happening." Ithilwen stuck her tongue out. "I need your advice about finding a dress, and I swear if you point me towards the bridal store I will pinch you."
Amber pouted, but then brightened. "Oh! You're going to the high school reunion! That's great!" She looked to Legolas. "I bet you convinced her, didn't you?" The elf smiled in response, knowing that the mortal woman had already guessed correctly. She came around the counter and led them to another section of the store. "We've got some stuff that will work. I already called Brigid to ask her-you remember her-our valedictorian that's a robot? She came by the other day and gave me the thumbs up." Amber picked dress after dress off the rack and started a stack in Ithilwen's arms that nearly reached her chin. "She said that any of these in this section would be fine, but I think any of the one's in your arms would be perfect for you, just from looking at them." Once again the pair of elves were shuffled across the store, this time to the dressing rooms.
"Why are we down here at the end?" Ithilwen asked, setting the dresses down on the bench.
"Cause when I'm on the clock you're my commission!" Amber said with a grin. "And I don't want you two to be bothered by the other workers when you're on a mission. Good luck!"
Legolas had been sitting outside of Ithilwen's dressing room patiently, listening to her curse modern fashions to Mordor as she tried on dress after dress. With each one, she would step out and turn before him, asking for his opinion. Each time he told her than she looked beautiful, and when he asked what she thought of the dress, she would sigh and say that it didn't seem...right. This confused him until she explained that she wanted to find a dress that felt like the right one to wear to the reunion; she didn't want to buy one she wasn't completely happy with.
Ithilwen's pickiness came at a price, though. The longer she stayed in the dressing room, the higher the discarded pile of dresses grew, and the more frustrated she became. Each time she opened the door to the dressing room, Legolas could see that she was nearing the end of the pile of dresses that Amber had selected. He wasn't sure what Ithilwen was going to do when if she reached the bottom without finding a suitable dress.
The elleth was near tears when she realized that she had four dresses left to try on. 'I'm being stupid,' she chided herself. 'Legolas is out there taking this so calmly, and I can't even find one damned dress that I really like!' She grabbed the cream-yellow number and pulled it on before stepping out again. "What do you think?"
"I still think you're beautiful," Legolas said.
"Could you tell me something else?" she pleaded. "Something that could help me decide?"
The elf stood up and walked over to her, noticing that her voice had cracked. "What's wrong? Why do you sound like you're about to cry?"
"I'm not," she sniffled. "I'm just...frustrated that I won't find a dress, and I'm mad at myself for taking so long, and you've been so patient with me, and-"
Legolas drew her into a hug. "I enjoy spending time with you, Ithilwen. It does not bother me how long you take. I would rather we spend all day looking for a dress that will make you happy, than to rush you into buying one you won't."
"You're unbelievable, you know that?" She looked up at Legolas. "You have to be the complete opposite of most men here in this world."
"That's because I'm an elf," he replied, nudging her back into the dressing room.
Ithilwen shrugged out of the dress and returned it to the hanger before turning to survey the final three dresses. She looked over each one carefully, trying to decide on one to pick first. The one on the far left kept catching her eye; it was one of the first that Amber had selected, so she didn't get a good look at it with the mass of fabric moving about in front of her. Stepping into it, she realized that she'd need help to close the back, as the clasp was set too high for her arm to reach naturally.
"Hey Legolas," Ithilwen peeked her head out from behind the door. "Could you help me with something? The dress I've got on...I can't close the back of it myself..." She smiled embarrassedly at him.
Legolas nodded with a smile, entering the dressing room to find what looked like a fashionista waste-zone. "I can see what you meant by frustrated," he chuckled. Ithilwen was standing with her back to him before the mirror, trying to keep the front of the dress from falling forward when he came up behind her.
"You see a silver ring in the back? That's supposed to hold the clasp of the chain, but my arm won't reach back that high unless I want to put it out of socket."
"Then I'm glad you asked for my help," he said, taking the chain that was fixated to the back of the dress and snapping it onto the ring. Legolas looked into the mirror to observe Ithilwen's reflection, and the sight before him made his heart skip a beat.
The dress was a dark green, nearly black piece that fell just past mid thigh on Ithilwen. It flowed out from the hips, and moving up he could see how the material hugged her curves before splitting at the breast to become two narrower pieces of fabric that joined the silver ring behind her shoulders. The chain in the back of a simple silver design that stretched down her bare back to clasp what bit of fabric there was to hold onto. A halter, if he remembered correctly. It was a strange design to see in a woman's gown, but he found he couldn't take his eyes off of it or the elleth wearing it.
Legolas watched Ithilwen's reflection as he traced the chain up the length of her back, noting how her eyes seemed to drift closed as his fingertips brushed her bare skin.
Ithilwen herself kept wondering, 'Why isn't Legolas saying anything? Does he not like the dress? It's too revealing, isn't it? I mean nothing's popping out but compared to back home… and why is he touching me like that?' She tried hard to suppress a shiver as she felt his fingertips brush her skin, but it was no use. Neither was trying to keep her eyes open. 'And why do I like this?'
Strong hands turned her around by the shoulders, and Ithilwen dared a peek at the elf in front of her to get an opinion. When she looked up, she noticed that Legolas was looking at her intently, but it was different than other times. And…were his eyes always that dark blue? Ithilwen meant to question him about it, sidetracked from wanting an opinion on the dress, when she felt her body being pushed up against the wall by the mirror and warm lips pressed against her own.
He couldn't help it. He tried and tried to resist, but when she looked up at him like that, something snapped, and Legolas lost control of himself. She made a small squeak at being up against the wall so suddenly, but Ithilwen went silent before she gingerly began to kiss him back. Legolas had cursed the last dream they met in, hoping that he could have gotten a small kiss from the elleth before he rode to battle, but now that he had her in his arms he was satisfied. More than satisfied, he realized, as Ithilwen began to kiss him back with more intensity.
'Why is Legolas kissing me? And why do I like it? Why am I..oh who cares, this is nice,' Ithilwen sighed against his lips, leaning into his body as Legolas' arms moved around her tighter. She gasped, feeling his tongue skim across her bottom lip before brushing against hers, deepening the kiss. 'Not nice,' her half-working brain managed to decide, 'Wonderful.'
Legolas had become so engrossed in the kiss, he hadn't realized that he had Ithilwen actually pinned to the wall. Hands moving down her hips, one reached to pull her leg up around his hip, while the other crept down to cup her bottom. He couldn't seem to get enough of her.
Ithilwen moaned into his mouth as Legolas changed their position; with her leg around his waist, he was pulled even closer, and her brain hadn't even begun to register that he was grabbing her butt, Her hands had begun a path on their own, moving past his button-up shirt and the tee that lay beneath it to touch the toned abs, gingerly at first, before becoming more daring and moving up.
The kiss was getting too heated, too fast, Legolas realized, when he felt Ithilwen's small hands ghost across his stomach. He hadn't meant to let it get this far, but he knew he had to stop. It'd kill him, but he didn't want to do something he'd regret later. Trying not to moan as her fingers tickled his skin, Legolas settled for nipping at her bottom lip, slowly pulling back from the kiss. When he looked down at Ithilwen, she stared back at him with half-lidded eyes. Their hands remained where they were on each other as they tried to catch their breath and register what had just happened.
"Um…so…" Ithilwen unconsciously licked her lips. "Uh…I guess I'll be getting this dress…" she said breathlessly to the slowly grinning elf against her.
"Hang on! Hang on! Hang on!" Fiona tore through the living room searching for the ringing cell phone before diving under the coffee table, where it had fallen. "Hello?" she answered, ignoring the startled looks of the people around her.
"What took you so long?"
"Gene!" THWAK! Fiona cringed as she lay on her side holding her head with her free hand. "Lost...phone...what's up?" Gene began to talk again as Fiona slowly wiggled out from underneath the table. Her pained expression turned to one of excitement as she covered the phone with her hand. "You guys want to go ride horses?"
After Ithilwen paid for the dress, which Amber seemed to predict that she'd pick out of the lot, she and Legolas left the mall to return home. They spoke little to each other as she parked at Sonic to buy them lunch unless it was necessary. Ithilwen was puzzled. When did their playful flirting escalate into making out in the dressing room at Victoria's Secret? Why wasn't Legolas saying anything? Why wasn't she saying anything? Had it been a mistake?
Legolas must not have been able to handle the silence anymore, for he spoke up after their order was placed. "Forgive me, Ithilwen."
Ithilwen looked over at him. "What'd you do?"
He looked up at her like she had grown a second head. "What do you mean? I forced myself onto you with my attentions! It was dishonorable to you, and I've been raised better than that!"
The elleth behind the wheel sighed dramatically. "I'm sorry Legolas, but I can't forgive you." She felt her heart sink seeing his crestfallen expression, and made haste to explain herself. "You say that you've been raised better, right? Well if I had pushed you away, you would have stopped, right?"
"Absolutely."
"And did I push you away?"
"...No..."
"Didn't I kiss you back?"
"...Yes..."
"Then there's nothing to apologize for!" Ithilwen smiled at him. "I didn't push you away, I kissed you back, and I liked it so-"
"You liked it?" Legolas smiled back at her, widening to a grin as Ithilwen realized what she said and began to blush.
Ithilwen was about to retort when the waitress rolled out on skates to deliver the food. After she rolled back into the building to complete the next order, Ithilwen turned back to Legolas as they began to unwrap their food. "For what it's worth," she said, her cheeks pinkening again, "If you wanted to kiss me again in the future, I wouldn't have a problem with it." She smiled shyly at him as he looked at her, surprised by the admission. "Even the butt-grabbing," she added with a smirk, watching his own cheeks flush.
"If I recall correctly my hands weren't the only ones exploring."
"I don't deny it," Ithilwen said with a larger smile. The air might have still been a little awkward around them, but they were starting to get back to their playful banter from before. "I've gotta say, I'm impressed."
"So am I," Legolas recalled, watching Ithilwen explode into a fit of nervous laughter. He wasn't certain that Ithilwen would forgive him for his actions in the store, but he found he was more surprised for her to give him an open invitation to do it again. The thought of what happened between them made his insides twist in a good way, and he hoped that an opportunity would come where he could kiss her again.
The cell phone went off then, startling them both, and Ithilwen had a hard time trying to get the phone to slide open with greasy hands. Legolas had started laughing when she nearly lost her grip on it like a bar of soap, and she gave him a mocking stern look as she answered. "Hello?"
"Hey there Wen-wen!" the caller spoke through the speakerphone. "Long time no talk!"
"Gene, is that you? How have you been?"
"Better, now that I'm back home. I've heard you've had quite the adventure lately. Your mom and everybody's out here at Uncle Jerry's ranch. So where you at?"
"I'm at Sonic with Legolas. We just got done shopping for a dress for my reunion; I'm sure Fiona's told you about that."
"Of course," Gene said before pausing. "You mean the Legolas, as in your warrior-soldier-dream-guy Legolas?"
Ithilwen blushed again, and Legolas had to cover his mouth with his hand trying not to laugh. Just from the sounds of this person, they were a good match for her friend William.
"Yes and you're on speakerphone, numbnuts!"
"They're not anymore, actually. And Will and I have been careful not to let that happen again, so-"
The elleth made some strangled noises. "Don't wanna know! Too much, Gene! Too much!"
Gene laughed. "Alright, just get your butts over here soon. I haven't seen you since you went on that roadtrip, and I'm looking forward to the man - sorry elf - that's been in your dreams! Love you babe, toodles!"
Closing the phone, Ithilwen looked over at Legolas. "You do realize Gene's going to be obnoxious when he meets you?"
"He sounds like a good person."
"Gene likes to share information," Ithilwen started the engine. "A lot of information. Kinky information. Kinky information you don't want to know. He might also flirt with you, but he's harmless. He flirts with everything that moves, but him and William are true to each other."
As the Jeep scattered gravel in the expansive parking lot, a handful of people were waiting by the entrance. "About damn time!" one of the people teased, breaking into a run as the engine cut off.
Ithilwen barely made it out of the driver's seat when she was picked up by the person. "Damn Gene, it's not like we haven't seen each other in years!" she laughed, hugging him back.
"Doesn't matter," he shook her for emphasis. "Miss Morwen told me y'all were leaving in a few months! If I'd have known that I would have come up with some excuse on the fourth!"
"We just found out ourselves," Ithilwen turned to look at Legolas, who had come around the side of the Jeep with William.
Once Gene set her down , William interjected, "There's still her birthday."
"Begetting day," Legolas corrected.
"Alright, well before y'all leave, you've got to sit down with us and explain all these things about your people cause they don't make a lick of sense to me," William replied, shaking his head.
Gene had circled around Ithilwen to face Legolas, giving him a knowing look. "You must be Legolas," he spoke, holding out his hand to shake. "I'm Gene McFarland, Will's boyfriend."
"It is an honor to meet you," Legolas greeted, shaking his hand. Legolas observed the boy that had introduced himself. He was about the same build as William, with darker brown hair that fell loose about his shoulders.
Gene turned his head to look at Ithilwen. "Oh he's a keeper," he told her in a feminine manner, making William facepalm and Legolas look at him curiously. She did tell the elf that Gene was peculiar… "Well anyways," he continued, "This is my Uncle Jerry's ranch. It's not quite like what y'all must be used to in middle-earth, but we've got a fair share of horses." Gene led them through the gates marked for personnel only and around the side of the building. "Uncle Jerry owns this land, which was originally just a private farm, but with the costs to produce food for a living, he decided to let the bigger farms in the area take charge and he turned this place into a shelter. There's trails marked for riders to go on, or they can just ride around in the open."
"Eomer must be in heaven," Ithilwen commented.
"Oh he is," William confirmed. "he said that many of the horses were of fine quality, and he would have thought they had come from Rohan if he hadn't known better."
"Uncle Jerry's still beaming at that compliment."
It wasn't long before some other guests had arrived at the ranch. Ithilwen was leaning against one of the wooden fences, watching Elladan and Elrohir race across the open yard when she overheard some men talking.
"I don't get what it is about girls and horses," one said to the other, who shrugged and kept walking.
Ithilwen turned her head to the right and saw a small gathering of girls, probably of high school age, bunched up against the fence sighing and cooing with dreamy looks on their faces. She followed their gazes to see her cousins still locked in their race, with the addition of Glorfindel and Eomer to the scene. The elleth was about to question herself what was so appealing – it was her cousins for Valar's sake – when she saw movement from the stables at the far left.
A white horse speckled in gray rode out with Legolas perched on its back. He had foregone the warrior braids that day, simply choosing to pull it back from his face. Ithilwen watched as he easily steered the horse around the ranch, with each turn the movement would send his hair flying about his broad shoulders. An instance of the day before came to mind, of him standing on the ladder in the backyard, and again she felt herself transfixed on his movements.
"Oh, yum," she muttered, without realizing that she had said it out loud.
"What's that you said?" Came a teasing voice.
Ithilwen nearly squealed, spinning around to find Tauriel grinning mischievously at her. "I nearly had a heart attack!"
"Are you sure it wasn't because of my brother?" the redhead spoke knowingly, coming to stand beside her at the fence.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"I'm sure you do," came the singsong reply. "It's alright to admit that you like him."
"How can you be so sure about that?" Ithilwen leaned her forearms on the fence. "I've been saying for months that he's just my friend. If I said that I liked him that'd make me a hypocrite, wouldn't it?"
Tauriel shrugged. "There's nothing saying that friendship cannot turn into something else. Your cousin Elrohir and me are like that. We're friends, but I'm starting to like him more than that, and I'm at peace with this knowledge. How can you not be?"
She watched Ithilwen bury her face in her folded arms. "You probably haven't been having the dreams I've been having," was the muffled answer.
"What kind of dreams?"
Ithilwen peeked out of her cover. "Naughty dreams. I couldn't see a face until recently, and it was your brother! Tauriel, what am I gonna do?!"
"How bad can these dreams be?" she whispered, leaning in.
"They're not bad, per se," Ithilwen tried to explain. "My mind keeps screaming 'friend', but my body's telling me otherwise, which leads to dirty thoughts of me biting him…" Here she buried her head again, and Tauriel had to lean in closer to catch the last of the sentence. "…on his tushie."
Tauriel did her best to reign in her laughter, lest she draw unwanted attention to them. "My advice is to give it time. Your feelings will make sense to you soon enough, but it is up to your heart to decide what you really want, whether it is to be a friend of my brother, or to…bite his…tushie." She snorted in laughter, only laughing harder as Ithilwen made a mock attempt at punching her in the arm.
It was a while later before Ithilwen could shake the dirty thoughts from her head. She couldn't figure out why the kiss they had shared shook her that bad. 'It wasn't bad,' she thought to herself. 'It was wonderful, in which I guess lies the problem. Still...,' she stole a glance at the elf in question from across the yard with Glorfindel, '...it's not like I'd turn Legolas away if he wanted to kiss me again...gargh - damn hormones!'
Thinking about the whole thing was beginning to give her a headache. Or what she assumed to be the cause of the headache, until the air wafted a scent she hadn't smelled in months. The unmistakable scent of a strong cologne being used in excess could only belong to one person...
"Well, well, well," the voice said, making her cringe and tense from head to toe. "Didn't think I'd be seeing you around here. It's been a while, Ithilwen."
Resisting the urge to roll her eyes when she turned, the elleth slowly moved about to face Payne. "It has," she said curtly. She nodded politely to Rick and Daryn, who were standing back. They waved and motioned that they would be elsewhere while the two talked.
"What's the matter? Don't have a hug for your ol' pal?"
Ithilwen tried not to laugh. "If I remember right you were the one that said you didn't want to be seen with me in public again."
"That's when you had those pointed ears," Payne said. "You look well, so I assumed you took my advice."
This time Ithilwen did laugh. "I am, but not because of your advice." She pushed her hair back to show her untouched ears. "I told you before that I have no intention of mutiliating myself to satisfy anyone."
"And those ears don't make you a mutant?" Payne countered.
"They don't," a voice said from behind Ithilwen. Her body relaxed, feeling Legolas stand behind her.
Payne blinked, not registering that Legolas had appeared out of nowhere. "Who're you?" he asked rudely. He looked at how the blond seemed to tower over Ithilwen, like he was protecting her. "You're him," he realized. "You're that soldier that Ithilwen was talking to while we were going out. So was that your class ring or something that she's got around her neck?"
"I am him, and yes, it's something like that," Legolas stared down at the boy. Now that he could see him in person, he looked even more puny in comparison to that dream. It was his hateful words that he used that made his presence seem larger.
The boy spit at the ground, and Legolas' frown deepened when he continued to speak. "Can't say I've ever had much use for soldiers," he sneered. "They all come back from overseas spouting bullshit about how horrible they had it. I say get over your pansy asses and suck it up."
Ithilwen reached behind her to grasp Legolas' arm, which had grown incredibly tense.
"You know nothing of what it means to be at the forefront of a battle," Legolas spat back. "You haven't seen the life leave a fellow being's eyes as they are struck down, knowing that there is nothing that can be done to save them. You don't see the destruction that war leaves behind, or the broken families that have to be told that their loved ones will never be seen again. When you wake up at night, hearing the screams and smelling the bloody bitterness of battle, then you can say that you know what horror is."
When Legolas made a move to step forward, Ithilwen held onto his arm. "Don't," she whispered to him. "It isn't worth the effort." She spoke a little louder to the mortal feet away from them. "I'd say that it's been a pleasure to see you Payne, but we both know that's a lie. For your sake, I hope that this is the last time that we'll cross paths." Ithilwen began to steer Legolas away by the arm, which was becoming increasingly hard as the elf refused to budge.
"I do have a question for you, soldier," Payne spit out. "How the hell did you manage to get this frigid bitch to spread her legs for you? I tried for months with no luck."
"Clearly," Legolas was seething as he turned around to face the boy again, "Ithilwen has much higher standards than the likes of you. Matters such as this are of a private nature, and shouldn't be discussed publicly...especially in front of a child."
Ithilwen laughed out loud at Legolas' insult, but gasped soon after when she heard a resounding smack in front of her. Payne had taken a foolish move and threw a punch to Legolas' jaw, but his swing was so weak he barely turned his head with the impact.
"What the fu-"
Payne didn't finish his sentence, for in the blink of an eye Legolas had put him to the ground with one punch. He didn't stop there, as the boy had the stupid sense to try and reach up to choke the elf. Legolas had him pinned into the dirt, punching his face while he cursed the brat in Dwarvish.
The scuffle had caught the attention of most of their group, but no one made a move to step forward and break the fight up. All Ithilwen could think about was Legolas, and it was only his safety that she was concerned for as she yelled over the fight. "Legolas! That's enough!"
It took a few tries, but Legolas eventually let go of Payne's shirt collar and rose to his feet. Payne didn't move; he continued to lay in the dirt and blood groaning about suing. Ithilwen moved to stand between the two men in case Legolas got a second wind.
"I'd like to see you try it," she heard Morwen say from her spot by the barn. "You couldn't afford a lawyer that could compete with mine."
Rick and Daryn had rushed forward once the coast was clear of flying fists, tugging Payne unceremoniously to his feet. He looked terrible. What bits of his face that wasn't covered in blood was already beginning to swell and turn a blackish purple, and he swayed on his feet even as he was being held up.
"I told you that one day you were gonna bite off more than you could chew," Daryn reprimanded. "And look at what went and happened. You got your ass handed to you."
"By a seasoned veteran, no doubt!" Rick wasn't being a good model of a consoling friend, as he started to laugh. "You had this one coming, so I don't feel any sympathy for you right now." He looked over to the blond elleth acting as a minature shield. "You alright there, Ithilwen?"
"Yes," she said finally, feeling Legolas slip his arms around her waist. Ithilwen leaned back into him instinctively. "I'm fine."
Rick nodded. "Good. You've got a good one there. We're gonna get out of here and run this dumbass up to the emergency room. I'm no doctor but I'm pretty sure your soldier has broken Payne's face."
"That was the intention," Legolas growled from behind Ithilwen. She could feel the rumble against his chest and tried not to shiver. Ithilwen wasn't scared of Legolas, but she found the twist in her gut over his protectiveness of her hard to ignore.
The pair watched as they hauled the bleeding moron back to their car, apologizing for his behavior to Jerry on the way. Ithilwen turned in Legolas' arms to face him. She reached up to touch his cheek delicately, noticing a small red mark from where Payne's fist had hit. Legolas leaned into her touch, watching her.
"I can't believe you let him hit you."
"It wouldn't have been self defense if I had struck first," he replied with a grin. "It was all I could do to hold out until he hit me first. Once I realized who it was with you, I was ready to kill him."
Ithilwen wanted to frown, to get mad - anything but laugh - but Legolas' cheeky smile was making it hard not to. "You're a dork, you know that? A big, strong, elven warrior...but a dork." She sighed lightly when she felt his forehead come down to rest against hers. "Thank you, Legolas."
"For what?"
"For standing up for me just now. No guy's ever done that for me before."
"Ithilwen, I'd face Sauron if he said a word against you. No one deserves to be treated like that, and being able to finally put him in his place was immensely gratifying."
The elleth in his arms laughed again. "I imagine a punch from Sauron would be much worse."
From their place near the barn, Jerry walked over to join Morwen and Haldir. "So that's the boy you were telling me about, Morwen?"
"He's the one," she said with a smile.
Jerry rubbed his chin, making a small scratching noise as he did, having been too lazy to shave that morning. "I'll tell you what, if there's ever a person that you'd like to have get together with your daughter, it's that one. I ain't ever seen anyone put someone down that quickly. He makes that WWF or WWE or whatever they're calling it now look more like a joke than it already is!"
Haldir didn't know what the man was talking about, but he knew that Legolas would protect Ithilwen, as he just proved. He watched Ithilwen smile and laugh in the prince's arms, noticing how happy she was. He thought he heard her playfully say "Oh my poor baby" and begin to dote over him, to which Legolas would laugh and play along, but Haldir could see that the look in Legolas' eyes was anything but playing. Haldir knew then that Legolas was beginning to care for his daughter. Had it been otherwise, the boy that hobbled away a bleeding mess wouldn't have been in as rough shape. For a moment he wondered if the prince would have killed Payne if Ithilwen hadn't gotten through to him.
"You look concerned," Morwen noticed, following his gaze. "Tell me, do you fear for our daughter's safety now?"
"Of course not!" Haldir gave his wife an incredulous look. "I just have a feeling that Legolas has begun to care more for Ithilwen."
Morwen snorted. "That much is obvious. Is that what bothers you?"
"Not exactly... I am not sure if Ithilwen is even aware of the prince's affections towards her."
"You are worried she won't reciprocate then?" When Haldir didn't answer, Morwen wrapped her arms about his middle. "I wouldn't worry, melleth-nin. She will figure out her feelings in time, just as Legolas is beginning to. You know, I'm impressed! I didn't think that you would get used to the idea of the two of them having a fea bond!"
Haldir kissed Morwen chastely. "I'm not used to the idea. I just do not want him to pursue her without letting her discover things herself."
"You really believe that he would force her?" She looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"No," Haldir spoke finally. "But I am her father. It is my duty to worry when an ellon comes around."
As much as Ithilwen didn't want to admit it, she still felt strange around Legolas ever since that moment in the dressing room. In the days that led up to the day of the reunion, both had acted completely normal; no one around the house was none the wiser, except maybe her grandmother. Ithilwen was pretty sure that Galadriel knew, but she didn't give any hints to say that she intended on voicing her knowledge, and for that Ithilwen was overtly grateful. Any affections they had shared, in private or in open company was scaled back to how they acted around each other before. The playful banter back and forth continued, and even progressed into more flirting on occasion, leaving Ithilwen feeling flushed inside and out. She couldn't stop the blushing if her life depended on it, and at the rate she was going, she'd be likely to spontaneously combust before they got back to Middle-earth.
At night, her naughty dreams continued to torment her. What was worse - depending on how one looked at it - was that since that first dream that Ithilwen saw Legolas above her, he kept coming back! With each dream, things got more heated, leaving her to seek out cold showers in the morning. The whole ordeal was driving her crazy, and despite her talk with Tauriel, she still didn't know how to deal with these happenings. Her body told her one thing, her mind another, and meanwhile she's sitting on the fence trying to see all the outcomes of either direction. That mental image brought up a flash of the previous night's dream, and the fence that she was perched on morphed into Legolas, who looked like he had no problems with her looking down at him. Ithilwen groaned and beat her head lightly on the desk in her room, her towel-dried hair sprinkled little water droplets on the papers nearby. 'If I don't get myself under control fast I'm gonna have a hard time looking Legolas in the eye...'
The door banged open, and Ithilwen sat up so quickly that her desk chair turned over backwards, dumping her into the floor amist a pile of tangled bathrobe and wet hair. Fiona strode into the room, followed by Arwen, Tauriel, and Eowyn. "We came to help you get ready!" her sister announced, making a bee-line for the closet and searching for the dress.
"Lost in thought?" Tauriel whispered knowingly, helping Ithilwen to stand while Eowyn righted the chair.
"You could say that," she whispered back. "I thought y'all had plans or something this afternoon?"
"I wanted to help you get ready for your event," Arwen said, poking around the room curiously. "This will be the first formal event that I've gotten to help you prepare for!" She sounded genuinely excited, and it made Ithilwen refrain from saying that it wasn't that big of a deal.
Fiona came out of her closet, holding the dress by the hanger. "I've got an idea for your hair, but I need to borrow your curling iron. Mine's about shot and I haven't replaced it yet."
"What do you plan on doing to me?" Ithilwen asked warily.
"You'll see," Eowyn offered with a smile. It seemed that everyone in the room but Ithilwen was in the know about the preparations, and the elleth wasn't so sure she liked the idea or not.
Fiona had left shortly after setting up the curling iron to warm to go back downstairs to check on Legolas. She found him standing before her parents and the others in the living room. "Holy cow..." she breathed.
Legolas turned around to face her. "Does this look alright?" he asked uncertainly.
"Uh, yeah!" Fiona walked up to inspect him. "Does it fit? It's not too tight anywhere, cause it looks like it fits." She had been worried that the suit she gave him would be too small, but it appeared to be a perfect fit.
"I still don't understand how you had a suit on hand that miraculously fit Legolas," Morwen stated.
Fiona chuckled. "Actually, I wasn't entirely sure it would fit," she admitted. "See, I ordered it as a base for a cross-play Ithilwen talked about. When we got the suit in the mail, we discovered that Ithilwen's hips were too wide for the pants, and binding them didn't help."
"And the top?" Haldir asked.
"Isn't it obvious, brother?" Celebrian cut in. "Your daughter's too gifted to fit into it!" She laughed, along with Morwen, but Haldir didn't look amused.
"Well, it might have fit, if Ithilwen had been willing to bind her chest tight enough," Fiona speculated. "Cross-plays aren't something she's built for..."
"But the costumes she does fill out can make these mortal boys at the conventions weep for joy," Celebrian snickered.
It was almost an hour later before Ithilwen made her slow trek downstairs and into the living room, as per Fiona's instructions. Arwen walked behind her with Tauriel, both claiming to catch her if she were to fall down because of the heels of her pumps. Ithilwen was a nervous wreck, but it wasn't about falling down the stairs. She wasn't sure what to expect when she turned the corner, but seeing Legolas rise from his seat wearing a suit wasn't high on the list.
The suit fit him rather well, she noted with a mental groan. She recognized the suit, deciding immediately that it fit Legolas better than it ever would have herself. The suit consisted of a white button-down, tucked into a charcoal vest that fit like a glove, completed by dark dress pants. His sleeves were rolled up to the elbow, and his hair was pulled back into a low ponytail.
Legolas was speechless when Ithilwen came into the living room. He had seen her in the dress before, but it still rendered him incapable of words. Ithilwen's hair was curled and pinned up with what looked like small gems through her hair, and she wore the necklace that he had given her months ago. The shoes she stood in had a high heel, a strange thing to see, and it made him wonder if her feet would tire early into the evening.
"You look beautiful, Ithilwen," Legolas told her, watching as she mentally translated the Sindarin and blushed with a shy smile.
"What'd he say?" Gimli asked Thranduil.
The elven king still hadn't become used to his son's best friend, but he managed to not fall into old habits. "Legolas told Ithilwen that she was very beautiful in our tongue, Master Dwarf," he replied. Gimli nodded in his appreciation for the translation.
Ithilwen managed to recover herself. "You look very handsome," she told Legolas, noticing that he held something in his hands. "What's that you have there?"
Legolas looked at her sheepishly, holding out the dark strip of fabric. It was a dark green silk tie, she discovered. "Fiona said that you would know how to properly tie this," he spoke, almost embarrassed.
She took the tie from his hands and stepped closer to him. "If it makes you feel any better, Legolas, I had to learn how to do this from the internet." Ithilwen gently wove the tie under the collar of his shirt, trying not to blush at how close they were or how he was watching her intently as she worked. Soon enough, the tie was in place, and Ithilwen stepped back.
"How does it look?" Legolas wasn't sure of the point of the tie, but it's existence was an opportunity for Ithilwen to move close to him, so he'd go with it.
"Something's...off," Ithilwen frowned, looking at him. Her eyes moved over Legolas, trying to figure out what was wrong. "It's your hair!" she blurted out, stepping forward again. Ithilwen moved her arms around his neck to untie his ponytail, running her fingers through the long strands to spread it out evenly. She missed the hitch in Legolas' breath as her fingertips brushed the tips of his ears, or the tenseness that came over him for a moment. "There," she nodded, satisfied as she stepped back again. "You look more like you! I don't see why you'd have to cover your ears up when mine are going to show."
Before the two could leave, Morwen had obtained one of Fiona's digital cameras, having a motherly spell and wanting a dozen pictures. They took the Civic, more because Fiona left it behind the smaller Jeep, than the chances of her hair getting messed up. Legolas had already mentioned that she should have fought for it to be left down, staring at the pins restricting her locks. Ithilwen gunned the engine, telling herself that the longing look she caught onto was that he wanted her hair down, and nothing else.
Legolas learned rather quickly that the basis of a high school reunion was that a collective of students that completed their studies in the same year met up at least a decade later, where everyone wore nametags and still couldn't recognize their classmates. He heard on more than one occasion that many of them complained about "marriage" or "baby" weight gain, but many also stared dumbly at Ithilwen as she moved about the room, baffled that she had barely changed in appearance. He was told on the way to the event that she went through school with her "secret" out in the open, and it seemed that some of the skeptics against her anti-aging claims were the most surprised.
Ithilwen felt awkward as she became reacquainted with her classmates. The staring was more open tonight, but then again, everyone was trying to process that everyone else had gotten older. 'Except for me,' she thought, looking to Legolas. 'At least Legolas is here with me.' She smiled, taking him by the hand. "Let me introduce you to some of my classmates!"
She led him to a small gathering of people off to the side of the large room. Ithilwen had a sense of déjà vu on the walk over, remembering that as students they would all be huddled together in the halls in clusters. Apparently some habits never die.
"Ithilwen! Oh my gosh!" A tall, thin woman in a deep purple dress tip-toed forward with quick steps with her arms out to hug the elleth. "It's been so long since I've seen you! You don't look a day over 20!"
Ithilwen laughed, returning the hug. "You're the first person to admit that I've aged tonight, Tahnae!" She looked down to see the large ring on her left hand. "And I see you've gotten yourself a keeper, congratulations! Is it Dustin?"
"Good guess, but you're off by two fiancés," Tahnae corrected her. "Dustin walked out on me right before I started my first year at Duke, then I met Tristan at a Duke-NC State game, and six months after he proposed I caught him in bed with his friend's girlfriend. No, the one I'm engaged to is called Raul, and he's just the sweetest thing! But it looks like you've brought someone into the lioness' den tonight..." Her sentence trailed off as she looked over Ithilwen's shoulder to see Legolas.
The elleth followed her classmate's gaze and smiled. "This is Legolas Thranduilion," she told the group. "Legolas, these are some of the craziest people you'll ever meet in this world-"
"We assure you that's a good thing," Amber cut in, grinning when Ithilwen rolled her eyes. "I know you know me, but let me introduce you to everyone else." She moved to a woman of a similar height to herself with strawberry blond hair pinned back with decorative hair pins to match her dark dress. "This is Ella, one of the few people in our English class that could nitpick Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night' down into a seven page paper and have it actually make sense."
"This is Chris," Ella said, motioning to the broad-shouldered man with sandy blond hair by her side. Chris didn't say much, other than a polite 'Pleasure to meet you' with a bow of his head. Ithilwen happened to notice the glint of silver that accompanied a gemstone on Ella's left hand. It seemed like everyone was getting engaged now!
Amber moved on to a slightly taller woman who also sported strawberry blond hair. She wore it loose, falling in waves down her back with a cerulean blue pant suit and black open-toed heels. "This conservative-nelly is Alexandria. We found out that by our sophomore year, she had already completed basic college courses online! If you have a severe case of blue-screen-of-death errors, this girl can tell you exactly what went wrong and how to fix it."
"If," Alexandria said quietly. "If it can be fixed. There are a number of errors that indicate a critical issue that can only be solved with a replacement of the particular part."
"Anyways," Amber pulled a face and slid over two steps to a woman with sandy blond hair in a large plait, which lay across her shoulder and the soft pink dress - a stark contrast from the other women. "This here is Olivia! If it wasn't for her and Ithilwen, most of us wouldn't have passed our second round of Algebra classes, and she was taking Pre-Calculus at the same time!"
"Just because we passed it doesn't mean we understand it," Ithilwen butted in. "I can solve it, but I don't understand why it is the way it is. Ain't that right, Olivia?" Olivia laughed and nodded in response.
"Beside Olivia is her husband, Leanard," Amber continued on. Leanard wore a dark suit with a tie to match Olivia's dress, and his dark hair was pulled back into a low ponytail. "Legolas, if you hear one of us call him Loki, that's a nickname he got in school for his mischief. Our class' senior prank was planned and instigated by this guy."
"What did you do?" Legolas asked.
"Replaced every roll of toilet paper in the school bathrooms with sandpaper. And since I was the one elected to handle student announcements at the start of the day, I got on the intercom and said 'I want to play a game' in a creepy voice. The day's suspension was worth it, even if a freshman wasn't paying attention on their mad rush to the loo." Legolas didn't understand half of what Leanard was referring to, but he surmised that it must have been a painful prank from the sounds of it.
"And this one," Amber patted the shoulder of a tall man with sandy brown hair and sparkling hazel eyes, "Took it a step further and dressed up as the creepy doll Leanard did the voice of and rode a tricycle through the corridors, ringing his little bell-"
"I'll have you know my bell is NOT little!"
"Had to have been little enough to fit on that tricycle," came a smart comment from a brunette with green eyes in a burgundy red dress. She grinned when the man beside her let out an indignant noise. "I'm Stephanie," she said to the elf, noticing that Amber had succumbed to silent laughter. "The man beside me is called Dustin. Or rather, Dusty in our circle. And he's not the same Dustin that Tahnae mentioned, or he wouldn't be standing here pouting."
After a while, Ithilwen was pulled away from Legolas by the other women of their group on an impromptu mission to visit the ladie's room, leaving Legolas in the company of Leanard, Dusty, and Chris. Ithilwen felt like she was back in school again as she was ushered along, minus the overpowering scent of super-sparkly-glittery-bubblegum-pink-passion-musk spray that was a staple of the female adolescent during gym class. And just like in school, she found herself squished between Stephanie and Tahnae in front of the large mirror over the sinks.
"So what has everyone been up to?" Amber asked the group, rifling through her purse to find her gloss.
"You mean besides our latest biological excursion?" Alexandria replied. "I've been writing open-source software for turn-based computer games that independent designers can use on the side while I've been studying culinary arts in San Francisco."
"That's awesome, Dria!" Ella grinned proudly. "I've been working with up-and-coming music groups to fine-tune their lyrics, and tomorrow morning I have to get on a plane to go to Tennessee to meet with the manager for The Band Perry. They saw some of my work on Youtube and are interested in having me come on and assist in the planning for their next music video!"
Stephanie smiled an open-mouthed smile as she retouched her mascara, making a bizarre face. "I've gotten my Bachelors in Applied Science two years ago, and just earlier this year I've moved up from assisting to a full-fledged massage therapist."
"Ooh, does that mean your friends would get a discount?" Amber waggled her eyebrows. "Y'all know I'm working at Victoria's Secret and still loving every minute of it."
"I've been volunteering at the youth center as an archery tutor," Olivia chimed in. "I'm really enjoying teaching children, and I'm thinking about becoming certified to teach professionally. Maybe as a math teacher, with the archery tutoring on the side."
"You'd be a great teacher," Tahnae said. "And since all you bitches have been busy," she joked, "You probably won't know that I've been doing theater work with a travelling company. Lately we've been doing improvisation acts to shake things up."
Alexandria snorted. "Oh really, I hadn't noticed your absence. What's your favorite improv act?"
"Either when we do 'Scenes from a Hat' or 'World's Worst..'. Trying to sing on spot is something I'm not strong at yet."
Ithilwen tried to shrug in the cramped space. "Wow, y'all sure know how to make a gal feel lazy."
"What are you talking about?" Amber asked. "That piece of blond beefcake out there should be proof that you've been busy!" Five sets of eyes suddenly shifted to Ithilwen, who wanted to hide under the sink.
"Nothing's going on between me and Legolas!" she said exasperatedly. "We're just friends!" She managed to squeeze through the swarm of women in the bathroom to get to the exit, being closely followed by her friends.
Outside the bathroom, Ithilwen felt herself be positioned just so by Amber. "Are you sure, hun? That's a fool's statement, and I know for a fact you're not a fool. A fool doesn't get high marks in college, earning them a place in two honor societies and get invitations to Ivy League schools to shoot for a Masters."
"Amber's right," Ella said, moving to stand on Ithilwen's other side. "Friends don't look at friends the way that Legolas is looking at you right now."
Ithilwen's gaze moved across the room to find that Ella was right; Legolas was looking directly at her, in what Ithilwen could only register as a predatory longing, which unnerved her. Her mind tried to dive into memories of indecent dreams with the prince, and as she tried to shake herself of the thoughts, Legolas had moved across the room to stand before her. Before she knew it, Legolas had pulled her to him to dance with other couples as a song by the country group Perfect Stranger started up.
'You have the right to remain silent, Anything that you say as I hold you against me, Will forever be a secret between us two, I've been wanting you but you didn't know it, And now that he's gone at last I can show it, If your heart is tired for the rest of your life, Lay your love on me...'
The lyrics were campy at best, and if Ithilwen wasn't so relaxed in Legolas' arms as they swayed to the music she might have snorted. 'Cliché song, but still,' Ithilwen let out a soft sigh, resting her head against Legolas' shoulder with a small smile, 'this is nice'.
"Did you enjoy the reunion?" Ithilwen asked Legolas as they made their way through the dark parking lot.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that question?" He smiled. "I found it enjoyable. It was rather interesting to meet the mortals that you attended your studies with. Your class seemed to share many experiences that most wouldn't understand, much like the Fellowship."
Ithilwen stopped at the driver's side of the Jeep. "Ah, but y'all went to war against evil for civilization. We went to a figurative war against evil for good grades."
"From what I've heard, this algebra sounds about as hated as Sauron."
"You got that right," she laughed, stopping when she felt Legolas' palm reach up to cup her cheek tenderly. Ithilwen looked up to see him looking at her again with the same intensity he had earlier. Before she could say anything, Legolas had leaned forward to capture her lips in a delicate kiss.
The elleth felt herself leaning into the kiss, cursing herself as she recalled stating that they were just friends, and here she was making it look otherwise. It was when she felt a short tug on her hair that she pulled away from the elf, realizing what he intended to do. Legolas looked down at her, confusion written all over his face.
"i told you to leave my hair alone, remember?"
"That was before the reunion. We have left. I assumed that meant you would let me remove the pins."
Ithilwen tried to look angry, or at the very least disapproving, but the elf's logic and his confused face made it infinitely hard to do. "And what would everyone say if we showed up at the house with my hair down and in a mess? They'd think that we'd done something!"
Legolas grinned devilishly, then. "We could...do something," he said with a purr, sending a shiver up Ithilwen's spine.
Ithilwen tried not to let this show to him, or she'd never live it down. Instead, she tried to laugh it off, telling him to get in the Jeep so they could go, but her insides were doing somersaults at the very idea.
"We're back!" Ithilwen and Legolas walked through the house, not finding a soul. "That's weird," she told the elf behind her, "We weren't out that late-"
"We're back here!" Morwen called from the den, cutting off her daughter's sentence.
Ithilwen shrugged at Legolas before they continued through the house to the den. Morwen was there on one of the long couches with Haldir beside her, but they weren't alone. Thranduil, Miraear, Elrond, Celebrian, Galadriel, and Celeborn were also reclining in the room. Morwen was turned to face the entryway as they came in. "There you are! How was the reunion?"
"It was really nice," Ithilwen said as she and Legolas took their places on the loveseat. "Where is everybody?"
"It's just us old farts up tonight," her mother laughed. "The rest of the younglings turned in for bed about an hour or so ago. So tell us things about the reunion! Did you recognize any of your graduating class?"
"Eh… Some. A lot of the girls in my class had changed their hair over the years, and a handful were still carrying what they swore was 'post baby weight', but compared to how thin they were in school, they do look overweight. I told them they looked just fine."
"And if I recall," Legolas interjected, "each one of the women told you that you were…what was it…sugar coating a cow pie?"
Ithilwen laughed. "Yeah, that's it. They also said that it didn't look like I had aged a day since graduation, but I don't believe it. Just about everybody has gotten married and has had at least one kid. In comparison I look like an oddball of the group – with pointed ears." Ithilwen felt something in her hair, or rather someone. "Okay, what is the deal, Legolas? What in the world are you doing?"
Legolas' only response was to tug lightly on one of Ithilwen's spiraled curls, implying that the ellon wanted to take the pins out finally.
Ithilwen huffed dramatically. "Oh fine!" To make things easier for him, she perched herself on the floor between his legs, using his knees as armrests. "You big goober. You couldn't leave it alone any longer, could you?"
The elf chuckled, reaching up to carefully remove the first bobby pin. Only after he got one of the silver gemlike pieces caught in the bobby pin he was trying to remove for the third time, Legolas switched tactics to removing the studded pins first, which involved some twisting. All the while Legolas wondered just how the hell Fiona had woven these nuisances into her hair in the first place. By the third tug on her hair and the sixth muttered swear that fell from his lips, Ithilwen was the one laughing.
"If you're trying to get those jewel clips to turn loose, twist them to the left. You know, lefty loosey, righty tighty?"
"No, I do not know," he replied. "I also do not know how Fiona managed to do this."
"Hey, you were the one that was dying to take all of these pins out, Legolas. Did you bite off more than you can chew?"
"Hardly. Though next time you're wearing your hair down."
Miraear couldn't hold in her giggle. "Did you hear that, Morwen? There's going to be a next time!"
"I wonder," Celebrian mused, "Will it be here or in middle earth?"
"I don't know. What do you think, Naneth?" Morwen looked to Galadriel.
The Lady of Light shook her head with a smile. "I do not know the answer to that question, my girls." Whether she was playing dumb or not, Galadriel was smiling just as deviously as the other ellith.
Celeborn leaned forward to address the other husbands of the gathered hens. "I think we need to find a way to distract our mates from plotting where it concerns the younglings."
"I've got an idea," Thranduil grinned, and continued to grin even as Miraear smacked him in the arm. "What?" he asked innocently.
"Yes, what-" Ithilwen chose to change topics rather quickly. "-are y'all watching?"A body exploding on the screen just then gave her a clue. "Is that True Blood?"
Morwen nodded. "The first season. I wanted your adar to see some of the things we've been watching."
"So what do you think, Ada?" Ithilwen had a feeling she knew the answer already.
"I think that this is not appropriate for you to be watching, is what I think," Haldir answered. She knew it. "The violence is tantamount a battle scene, the sexual voyeurism of the viewer is improper, and the language leave a lot to be desired."
"But did you see the vampire Eric?"
"Yes, and why is that of any significance?"
Ithilwen was distracted from answering as Legolas began to drop the spiraled gem clips into her lap. Morwen decided to answer instead. "He's got pretty arms. Very muscular for an undead creature."
"Alcide's better built though," Ithilwen got in. "He's what those guys at the strip club want to look like, but his workout is more intense than I bet most of them want to commit to."
"Who is Alcide?" Legolas asked, leaning over her.
"He's a werewolf that caters to events. Tall, broad, dark and tan, with a scruffy face that would look weird if he shaved, and I'm not a big fan of beards."
"Ithilwen thinks he's a good drawing model," Morwen explained. "She wants to find a good form for defined muscles, and he's been the closest she's run up on. The problem is that there's not enough pictures of him for a good reference."
Celebrian looked over at Morwen questioningly. "You mean as a nude model, right? Well that's going to be hard with this show, as most of it takes place at night!"
Haldir frowned at his sister-in-law. "It is just as well then. My daughter doesn't need to be staring at nude men in the first place."
Ithilwen buried her head in her hands. "They're for reference, Ada!"
As the first season of the show wrapped up, those remaining in the den began to retire to their rooms. On their way upstairs, Ithilwen had continued to fill Legolas in on the parts of the season that they had missed.
"I find this strange, but then what doesn't seem strange in this world?" he said as they stopped outside Ithilwen's room.
"You get used to it. The show's completely different from the book, but both have their merits. Lafayette or Pam have to be my favorites, with Terry a close second." Ithilwen opened the door and motioned for him to follow. "Fiona stuck that case for those pins somewhere around here," she said, opening drawers left and right before finding an empty clear box.
Legolas stood by her desk, holding the pile of pins and clips in his cupped hands. Ithilwen removed the spiral clips and set them aside, pushing the case towards Legolas to deposit the pins. He watched as she carefully placed each clip back into its place on the sheet before setting the sheet in the case and closing it. "Did you enjoy yourself tonight?"
"Yes, it was a lot of fun!" Ithilwen returned the case to the drawer she found it in and looked up at him. "I probably wouldn't have gone if it weren't for you, Legolas. Thank you."
"It was my honor," he said with a smile.
"What about you? Did you have fun?" She knew she had already asked, but she felt compelled to ask again.
Legolas smiled some more, stepping closer to take her hands in his. "I did," he began slowly, caressing her hands with his thumbs. "I especially enjoyed our moment in the parking lot."
Ithilwen tried not to laugh. "You mean when I got on to you about leaving my hair alone?"
"No," he chuckled, "I mean this."
Somehow, a small part of Ithilwen knew that was what he meant, but she didn't believe that he'd kiss her again, not that she was complaining. In fact, why wasn't she complaining? His kiss began soft and gentle, but it gradually deepened, and she felt herself being pulled closer into his arms.
Really, she should have stopped it, the last logical train of thought suggested to her body. But then, she didn't care that her neat desk had become a mess when Legolas shifted half the items to the side before setting her upon its surface. Ithilwen didn't care that as his tongue was exploring hers, his hands were exploring her waist, bringing her legs up to wrap around his waist. As their bodies became closer, what little bit of logical sense had left her mind. Ithilwen let out a small moan as Legolas' lips left hers to kiss a path down her neck and across her shoulder, occasionally nipping at the bare skin.
Yup, Ithilwen could have cared less about logical thought just then. One of her parents could have knocked on the door and she wouldn't have cared. Legolas had brought out feelings she hadn't realized she had, and she could have cared less if the world were burning to the ground right then, just as long as he didn't stop.
That was, until she heard Legolas mumble something that made her freeze as if Jack Frost had dumped a bucket of water from the Antarctic on her head.
"What did you say?"
Legolas looked at her confused, still caught up the haze she had once been in. "What do you mean?"
"Legolas, please," Ithilwen stared at him hard. What did you mean when you said 'pictures'?"
The elf in her arms seemed to become aware of her distress. "Ithilwen, I-"
"Can I see them?" she pleaded. "I need to know for sure."
Still confused as to why Ithilwen had cut off such an intimate session, Legolas unwound his arms from her waist and helped her off the desk. He led her to his room, where he reached into the bedside table drawer and removed a large envelope. Ithilwen had perched on the edge of the bed, still dizzy from what just transpired and her fear of what the envelope he handed her contained. Ithilwen opened the envelope and removed its contents, bracing herself as she turned the stack over. "Oh god…"
"You did not know?" Legolas asked concerned, sitting on the bed beside Ithilwen as she flipped through the pictures of herself that Fiona had taken.
"I had no idea Fiona would do this," she said, shaking her head. "Legolas, I'm sorry. This shouldn't have happened."
"What do you have to apologize for? I see nothing you could have done wrong."
"Then at least let me explain. Those pictures…those were among some others that Fiona took not long after Payne and I split. She thought it would be fun if I were to pose for sexy photos in your tunic, like some girls do for their boyfriends who are stationed overseas. I caved, thinking that no one but Nana, her, and me would have seen them; I didn't expect her to give them to you." Ithilwen was completely mortified, knowing that Legolas had seen nearly all of her in such a manner. She was going to make sure that Fiona got what was coming to her for this little stunt, that much was for sure.
Legolas tried to give her the envelope back, thinking that she wanted to destroy the evidence of her embarrassment.
"No, you keep them," she said. "You've already seen them, and even if it was meant to be a joke, they're still meant for you."
"Regardless, I still think you look stunningly beautiful in these," Legolas said.
Ithilwen turned to look at him in surprise.
"I must admit that I'm also pleased to discover that I am the source of your…ah…inspiration for these," Legolas added cockily with a smirk.
Ithilwen's face turned from a light pink to a bright pink as she proceeded to smack Legolas in the arm, all the while he was laughing at her expense.
x.x.x.x.x
A/N: Finally! And for a lot of reasons! :D
First, an explanation: School ran me ragged at the end of July, I had a computer burn up, and my sister and her boyfriend decided to visit during finals. It's a longer explanation, but those are the main bits. I have been working on it all of July, though, so that counts for something. I may just start cutting the chapters off shorter in the event of another real-life meltdown.
So a lot of stuff happened in this chapter that I know a handful of you were waiting on! Did I pass or fail in the intimate scenes? This is a first for me, putting something like that online, and I'm thinking I pushed the current rating. My intent was to take it a little farther, which is why I put up that poll months ago. Now that you've seen a smidge, let me know what you think. Who knows, I may chicken out and leave it at this. Lol
I don't know proper Sindarin, so any sentences italicized are my way of avoiding Grelvish. The song by Perfect Stranger just seemed appropriate considering the two, and if you think that they're together now, you're gonna be surprised!
Okay, time to announce the OCs at the reunion!
Alexandria – Fellowship of Avengers
Ella – Fellowship of Avengers (as herself) Hope you didn't mind me taking some liberties with your 'name'! I saw 'fellowship', thought 'fellow', and it became 'Ella' and stuck. ;)
Chris – Fellowship of Avengers
Stephanie – Littlemissthunderbird
Olivia– Shadowspring
Leanard - Shadowspring
'Dusty' Dustin – Alison-Fire
Tahnae – Jenni D.
A big thank you to you guys for letting me use your characters in the chapter! Writing that scene was a lot of fun, and I hope you enjoyed how it came out! Also a big thank you to everybody that's read/reviewed/alerted this story – thank you for sticking with me and my sporadic updates! I appreciate all of the feedback I get from you all, so don't be afraid to tell me what you think or of an idea you'd like to see. Also, if you want to check out some extra scenes (and maybe character conversations with the muse), look for "If Walls Could Talk" on my profile. That's where I'll stash bits and pieces that wouldn't fit in the story but seemed too good to be left on my hard drive. :)