Plain Jane

Thank you all for your reviews and opinions. :) I'm doing my best to make my story better from here on out, and if I do rewrite anything it won't be until I'm finished with it; I don't want you guys to have to re-read everything if you don't want to.

I really do appreciate all of the reviews and support you guys have been giving me. I know I've said this before, but I honestly can't stress it enough; even the smallest reviews make me happy, and I really appreciate it that you all have stuck with me throughout this story. I've been doing my best, and I'm trying to make it as good as possible for you all. :)

So, I'm sorry that this took so long to write. I didn't have much inspiration for it, and so I spent the past week thinking about it and just basically brainstorming for it. I took into consideration what you all told me, and I hope you enjoy what I came up with!

Anyhoo.

I don't own Lord of the Rings.

"Seriously, Gwyn, I don't care!" Meeting with a wedding planner was the last thing I wanted to do. The ceremony wasn't important! As long as I actually end up married, I'm happy. All I need is my groom.

Unfortunately, Boromir sent me the most stubborn woman on the entire planet. "But Lady Jane! How am I supposed to plan your wedding if you don't give me any ideas?"

"Simple! You surprise me! There is one request that I have, though..." This had been on my mind all day. "I want Simbelmynë to be the main flowers." Simbelmynë, the flower that grows on the graves of all of my lost loved ones, and the future grave of Théoden, whenever they return to Rohan. I want it in memory of him, and all of those who helped me become the person I am today.

Gwyn sighed and wrote down the name of the flower on her empty parchment she was to use for notes. "Very well. I suppose I'll just have to come up with something."

I smiled and gave her a hug; she might be stubborn, but she's a nice lady. "Thanks, Gwyn!" Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I stood up and skipped out of the room in search for my hubby.

I'd taken to carrying my bag with me all the time so I could carry my I-Pad around with me. You never know when you'll want to take a picture, and I'd captured hundreds, so far. I'd completely filled my camera, and now I was working on sucking up the little remaining energy that my I-Pad had. There were pictures from nearly seventy years ago of me in Rivendell with Aragorn and Legolas, even Elrond made an appearance. I had pictures from Rohan, back in the days of Thengel, all the way up to now. It was wonderful.

I skipped up some steps and ran face-first into Legolas as I turned the corner.

"Poop!" I fell to the ground while my friend remained standing, unharmed. My eyes narrowed as I sent him the ultimate death glare. "I hate elves."

Legolas raised an eyebrow, an amused expression clear on his features. "Do you?"

With a sigh, I pushed myself off of the ground and dusted myself off. "I do. Anyways, have you seen Boromir?"

"Why should I tell you? You hate me, remember?"

Darn him. "Legolas, I hope you get eaten by a giant spider."

He shrugged. "It's possible. Mirkwood's got plenty of them. Would you come to my funeral?"

"Yes, for the specific reason of dancing on your grave."

Legolas shook his head, a bright smile forming on his mouth. "Yes, I suppose that my grave would be a lovely place to release the dancing beast within. I'll make sure that it is suited to your fancy, then!"

I couldn't believe he remembered that! Back in Rivendell, the first time I ever spoke to him, I told him that I had to go get the 'dancing beast out of me fast before I explode.'

Heck, how do I remember that?

Ohh, those were the days.

"Seriously, Legolas. Where's Boromir?"

The elf nodded down the hall. "He and Aragorn are making preparations for the repairing of the lower levels."

"Thank you!" I took off down the hall, knowing exactly where to find them. Their voices traveled through the empty hall, and I was running to the door that led to them when SMACK!

A door swung out into my path and nailed me right in the face. Who the heck makes a door that swings outward into the hallway? I'm gonna give Aragorn hell. Even if it's not his fault at all; he's not even king yet!

"Owwww..." I had fallen to the ground, my head throbbing, feeling like I was going to black out.

"Jane?" Faramir looked down at me from behind the door he'd just slammed into my face, and Aragorn and Boromir had run into the hall to investigate.

"Jane, are you alright?" Boromir ran to me and Aragorn knelt down to inspect the damage.

I blinked, unable to see clearly; the world was fading to black. "Dang it, Faramir, I'm gonna kill you..."

"Jane, hold on. Jane!" Boromir's voice rang in my head as I fell out of the world.

.

All I could feel was an intense throbbing in my skull. I guess that's what I get for breaking Faramir's leg. Boromir'd better get smacked in the head, too! I'm not gonna be the only one with a giant lump on her head at Aragorn's coronation!

My eyes opened to a bright sun and the leaves of a tree. Why would they put me outside? Grumbling, I rolled over onto my side and saw something I did not think I'd ever see again: home.

My old home... Looking exactly as it did before I left. Memories came flooding back, and I felt like I'd just gone back in time. Birds were singing, and the air was still. A great grief fell over me. What was I doing here?

Though, I'm pretty sure that I knew the answer. Ever since Boromir and I had made it official that we were going to get married as soon as possible, I'd developed a bad case of homesickness. My mom and I had always joked around about my future wedding, and she always expressed how excited she was for the day when I would fall in love and decide to marry the man of my dreams. A hopeless romantic, my mother.

I know that you're thinking that I never thought of my mother while in Middle-earth, that I was too preoccupied with Théoden and Boromir to even give my old home a second thought. That is completely untrue. During the decades that I was with Théoden, I wished that my mother was there to help me through the pain; to help me make the right decision. When I thought that Boromir would never return home, that he would die and leave me alone in this world, I wanted my mother to be there to comfort me.

She was my hero, and I had always wanted to be like her when I was growing up. My father wasn't around anymore, so my mother raised me to the best of her abilities. More than anything, I wanted my mother to be there with me on my wedding day; to celebrate with me whenever I have children, to comfort me when times get hard.

After decades alone, I wanted my mother back.

Ignoring the pain in my head, I slowly stood. I was still wearing my dress from Gondor, a deep blue with elegant embroidering, and my bag was still slung around my shoulder. My hair had grown long in Middle-earth, and it was now down to the bottom of my ribs. If anyone were to walk by right now, I'd look like someone right out of the Lord of the Rings movies.

Hesitantly, I approached my old house. How long would I have been gone? Hours? days? weeks? Years? All that I could do was hope that my mom was still alive, and that she was doing alright. I raised my shaking hand and took a deep breath before finally knocking on the door. Would anyone even be home?

Those few seconds felt like hours. I was shaking, and my head was throbbing. Everything felt like a dream, I didn't know what to do.

Then, the door opened.

There stood my mother, looking older, but just as beautiful as always. If anything, she just looked stressed. At the sight of me, she froze, a small gasp coming from her mouth. She looked at me with wide eyes, like she was trying to remember something.

"Janie?" Her shaky voice was just above a whisper.

I nodded. "Mom?"

My mom reached out a hand and gently felt my face to make sure that I was real. When she knew for sure I was not a figment of her imagination, she threw her arms around me in a warm embrace, weeping tears of joy.

We stood there for what felt like an eternity, holding each other, crying our eyes out. I could not believe it... After all of this time, after all of those years, I finally had my mother back.

"I always knew you would come back... I knew you weren't dead. I just knew it..." Mom pulled away from me, the brightest smile I'd ever seen dominating her features. "Where were you, what happened? You've been gone for nearly three years and you come back dressed like you're from Lord of the Rings. Did anyone hurt you? Kidnap you?"

"No one kidnaped me, mom." Happy tears were still falling from my eyes. "You'll never believe what has happened to me, mom..."

She pulled me into the house; everthing was just as it had been when I left. "Jane, I'll believe anything. Please, tell me." She sat me down at the kitchen table and immediately began to run about, preparing some food and drinks for the two of us. Yepp, that's my mom. She see's her long-lost daughter for the first time in three years and the first thing she does is make me food.

She knows me too well.

"Well, would you believe me if I told you that I've been in Middle-earth for the past seventy years?"

Mom stopped pouring me tea and turned around to stare blankly at me. "What did you say?"

"Mom, I've been living for seventy years in Middle Earth." Suddenly remembering that I had my IPad and camera, I reached into my bag and pulled them out. "I've got proof, if my looks aren't enough."

She put down the glass and walked over to me. "Jane Elise Miller, if you're lying to me, I don't know what I'll do..."

I turned on my camera first and turned to the first picture: a smiling Aragorn standing next to a slightly-smiling Elrond.

"Who are they?" Mom moved closer to the camera.

"Aragorn and Elrond." I then turned to the next picture: Legolas giving me a piggyback ride through Rivendell, courtesy of Aragorn. Then the next picture: Glorfindel and Legolas having a staring contest. (You don't know how hard it was for me to get them to do that.)

Mom seemed to be paying more attemtion, so I kept going. I went through dozens of pictures in Rivendell, then quite a few that I took when Gandalf took Aragorn and I to Rohan. There were pictures of a ten-year-old Théoden training with a young Beorn, Thengel happily embracing Morwen, and finally, I got to a video. I couldn't remember taking a video, so I hit play and decided that I'd just go ahead and be surprised with my mom.

The camera was moving around shakily, like someone with no experience was filming. The person was walking quickly through the halls of Meduseld and was soon outside. You could see down the streets of Edoras for a short moment, then the camera-person abruptly turned around and started to walk to the back of Meduseld. Within seconds, a familiar tree was in view, and the plains of Rohan loomed in the background, along with those familiar mountains. Underneath the tree sat someone very familiar... It was me.

"Janie, how do you work this thing?" I knew that voice. Théoden.

In the video I had been sitting underneath a tree, reading a book that I could no longer remember. I turned to Théoden and sprung up when I saw him with my camera.

"Théo, where'd you get that?"

"You left it in Theodred's room. I found him playing with it, and I thought I'd bring it to you. Unfortunately, I somehow managed to turn it on, and now I'm not sure what it's doing. Can you help?"

He handed the camera over to me and I could barely hear myself sigh in the background. "Théo, if you broke this I'm going to shave your head..."

The camera moved to face the ground as video-me turned it over to inspect it. "You've been filming us! I completely forgot that I could do that!"

The camera then moved up to view a very young Théoden. He looked just as beautiful as I'd remembered.

"What's a film?" Théoden reached for the camera but I pulled it away. "Is it like those movies you showed me?"

"Yepp! Now smile for the camera!"

Théoden smiled and waved. "Does this mean that I'm a movie star, now?"

I laughed. "No, Théo. But I still love you."

Théo smiled. "I love you."

The video ended there, and I noticed that small tears had formed in my eyes. Quickly, I wiped them away.

My mother just stared at me for the longest time. "You were telling the truth... How did that happen? How'd you live there for seventy years?"

"I didn't age, mom."

She nodded, and looked down to the ground in shock. "So... That was King Théoden, then?" I nodded. "You love him?"

"I do... But he is dead. We were never able to be together... I kept time-traveling... It happens against my will..."

"I'm so sorry, Janie..." My mom gave me the hug that I'd been wanting for decades. "Are you alright?"

I smiled, happy to finally have my mother's familiar hug surrounding me. "I'm amazing, mom. I fell in love with Boromir... We're engaged."

My mom pulled away and smiled brightly at me. "I'm glad, Jane... You must tell me absolutely everything that has happened to you..." She trailed off, and suddenly she looked very panicked. "Jane, if you're here, then what about Boromir? How'd you get here?"

Suddenly, the world began to dim, and I knew all too well what was happening.

"Jane?" My mom called out for me. "Jane!" She grabbed my hand, and suddenly, she became more clear as the world around us fell away.

"Mom!" I'd just found her, how could I be leaving again?

Everything went black, and I woke up to the familiar smell of my old room in Minas Tirith.

But I wasn't alone.

"Janie?" My mother's voice sounded frightened beside me. "Where are we?"

I smiled. "We're home, mom."