There's No Place Like Home
Aisling took a deep breath and slowly let it out as she looked around the ballroom of the hotel, taking in the many guests dressed in their finest, chatting and drinking champagne. In the background she could hear the band playing, creating a happy atmosphere. Well, save for her.
While her mind had settled a bit over the past months, she still felt rattled. Work helped keep her focused, but she was still having dreams every night. Dreams about him. She would fall asleep and see him. Relive their time together. And then in the morning, she would wake up with a deep pain. Aisling wasn't sure if it was because she was finally admitting to herself that it hadn't been real or if it was because it had been real and she was devastated that they were apart. Regardless, the dreams still came. Tearing her up every morning when she realized that's all they were.
The mind was a cruel thing, she had decided. She was pretty sure Haldir had ruined her forever. She would never find anyone like him. No matter how many times she told herself he had been a figment of her imagination. Because it had all felt so real.
"How are you doing?"
Aisling turned slightly, seeing Liam standing next to her, decked out in a designer tux, his curls expertly styled for once and his stance causal as he scanned the room, bringing his glass to his lips. But when he glanced over at her, there was worry in his blue eyes.
"I'm fine," Aisling said, though it sounded a bit stiff to her own ears. Liam snorted.
"You can't fool me, kid," he replied. Aisling rolled her eyes.
"You sure you want to get into this now? Tiernan's been after us all day to be on our best behavior," she said dryly. "I'm not supposed to be mopey or crazy and you're not supposed to be flirting with everything with tits and legs."
"No - we're not supposed to do it in front of the Lloyds," he corrected with a grin. Aisling turned, giving him an incredulous look. "There's a difference."
"Yea, but have you met them?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "We don't even know what they look like."
"Well… no, but surely they stand out," he said, turning back to peruse the room again. "Just look for a group of people who look like they own the world."
Aisling huffed and returned to watching the party, her sharp eyes searching for anything that might need to be fixed before Tiernan saw and had a conniption fit.
"You look really nice tonight, by the way," Liam then added, his voice softer. "So this is the grand design that you switched to last minute that gave Grace a heart attack?"
Aisling looked down at her dress, her hands lightly running over it. She wasn't sure what possessed her to change her mind so soon before the event. But with the dreams coming over and over again, the dress from her dream wedding had gotten stuck in her head and she thought bringing it to life would help get it out. The therapist already had her writing the dreams down in a journal as a coping method, so she figured this was something along those lines. And well, she made a few modern improvements. The sleeves were much shorter and snug, ending just above her elbows rather than dragging to the ground. And she was pretty sure the elves of Lorien would have found the plunging neckline a bit scandalous. But Grace had somehow found a shimmery white-silver material and lace that floated around her as she walked. It was close enough.
And much like the dream, Aisling had opted to leave her hair down, large auburn curls now cascading over her shoulder. Though there was no circlet.
"Yea. Grace is a miracle-worker," Aisling said, a soft smile coming over her face as she closed her eyes for a moment, seeing Haldir's expression the first time he saw her in it. The awe as his mouth dropped open slightly, then pure, unadulterated love pouring out of his grey eyes.
His strong arms wrapping around her.
Aisling gasped softly as her eyes flew open and she glanced around, feeling heat pool in her cheeks. Thankfully, no one, including Liam, had noticed her moment. Shaking her head slightly, she straightened her back and adopted a neutral expression. She needed to be present and on her A game. Tonight was their first - and possibly only - chance to make a good impression on the Lloyds. The absolute last thing she needed was to lose it in her stupid coma dreams.
But suddenly, she felt something. A prick in her chest. And then a small sort of pressure followed by an unexplained feeling of urgency and anxiety. Aisling frowned as she looked around the room, wondering if it was real or yet another thing her mind created. For a moment, she swore she saw a flash of blonde hair, but then it disappeared behind someone else.
"No. It wasn't real. It wasn't real," she told herself firmly. "Do not lose it tonight."
"Thank god I found you," Tiernan said, rushing up to the two as he looked across the room, unbuttoning his tux. He then looked down and rebuttoned it.
"Chill out," Aisling said with a small smile as she reached out and unbuttoned it again, then smoothed it down. "Looks better that way."
He smiled briefly before his business mask slid on and he cleared his throat. It was a look that Aisling was familiar with and immediately she knew it was time.
"The Lloyds have arrived," Tieran said. "Follow me."
"Showtime," Liam whispered as he leaned over to Aisling, causing her to chuckle softly.
"I heard that," Tiernan snapped. "Please, be serious for once, Liam."
"Aye, aye, captain," Liam replied, grinning widely. Though she couldn't see, she was pretty sure that Tiernan had rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Tiernan, relax. Everything will be fine."
"Not the first time I've heard that," Tiernan muttered. Aisling shot Liam a warning look that he returned with a wink. "Here we are."
Aisling turned to look ahead of her and immediately stopped, her eyes going wide and her feet seeming to cement to the ground. Her heart stopped a moment and then suddenly sped up as her mouth went dry and she completely lost the ability to speak.
"It wasn't real. It wasn't real. It wasn't real."
Three people were standing there, with the couple now speaking with Tiernan though she couldn't hear what they were saying. Another man stood with his back to her, but she knew those shoulders. The woman glanced at her, her smile not faltering though she had obviously noticed Aisling's reaction. Her hair was the same shade of golden blonde, though it was much shorter and straight, brushing her chin in a fashionable bob. She glanced over at the man at her side, eyebrows raised slightly. While his hair was a darker shade of blonde and not flowing down his back - rather it was cut close to his head in the current fashion for the day - everything else was exactly the same, his expression exuding calm though it did nothing to slow down Aisling's speeding heart.
But then Aisling's eyes fell on the second man, who was slowly turning around to face her. Her heart was pounding now and she swore she could hear the blood rushing to her head. She looked down and then back up his body, taking in the broad chest, the muscled arms that were just noticeable under his tux. His chin was covered in a slight stubble and his short hair was more dark blonde than white blonde.
Her eyes then stopped as they met his. That same piercing grey that was almost serious. A small smile played across his lips.
Aisling came to after Liam elbowed her in the side. Blinking rapidly, she looked over at him, catching his expression of concern. She then looked over at Tiernan, who was smiling, though it looked strained and there was a clear warning in his eyes. He then turned back to the trio.
"As I was saying, this is my brother Liam and our cousin Aisling. And this is Gabrielle and Harold Lloyd. Gabrielle's husband, Calum Marshall," Tiernan said.
"Lovely to meet you," Gabrielle said as she glanced at Harold and then back at Aisling.
Though she didn't notice as she was once again staring at Haldir - no, Harold. Liam elbowed her again, causing her to jump and then plaster a smile on her face as she held her hand out.
"I'm so sorry, it's nice to meet you," she said politely. Harold took her hand and gently lifted it to his lips, his eyes not leaving hers. Aisling's eyebrows rose.
"The pleasure's all mine," he replied.
"Oh, Hal. Take it easy on the poor woman," Gabrielle chided with a chuckle. Aisling's breath hitched. Hal?
Tiernan gave her another odd look before turning back to the group as Hal let go of Aisling's hand, though his eyes never left her. She swallowed and took a deep breath, trying to keep herself from hyperventilating or passing out. What the hell was going on? How could these people look exactly like the people in her dream? She knew she had never seen them before.
"It was just a dream. It wasn't real."
"I hope you all are enjoying tonight's event," Tiernan continued.
"Of course. I've always loved this hotel. The glamour of it," Gabrielle said as she looked around the ballroom. "We're certainly looking forward to sitting down and discussing things with you."
"But let's not get into that just yet, darling," Calum said with a smile. "Tonight is about fun, is it not?"
"Yes, of course. Please enjoy yourselves," Tiernan said quickly, his smile bright. "And let us know if there's anything that you need."
"We will," Gabrielle said, smiling at him. She and Calum turned and started to walk off, though she paused and cleared her throat when she noticed Hal had not moved. "Hal?"
"Yes, apologies," Hal said, shaking his head slightly and turning to follow them.
"What the hell was that, Ash?" Tiernan hissed once they were out of earshot, spinning around to glare at her.
"Lighten up, Tier. Can't you see that something's upset her?" Liam shot at him, scowling at his older brother.
"We are about to attempt and negotiate a merger that will take us international and she literally gaped at them!" Tiernan said, his voice rising slightly.
"Stop it! Both of you," Aisling said, frowning at her cousins. They both turned to look at her, Liam's expression softening into one of worry while Tiernan managed to lose his angry edge. "I'm sorry. I, I don't know what that was. But I'm fine. I'll be good the rest of the night."
"Better be," Tiernan said with a huff before striding off.
Aisling sighed and looked around the room, her eyes searching for Hal, but he couldn't be found. She could be irritated with Tiernan, but she wasn't, knowing it was mostly the stress of tonight.
"Was it something to do with the dreams?" Liam asked softly.
Aisling looked at him, her eyes wide. She then quickly smiled and shook her head. If she told him the truth, he would think she was having another mental breakdown.
"Really, it's just… don't worry about it. I'm… I'm going to go get a drink," she said, before turning and walking away before he could question her further.
Once she got to the bar, Aisling leaned against it and sighed heavily before looking up at the bartender.
"What can I get you, Ms. Hughes?" he asked.
"Um… just champagne, please," she replied. She really wanted something stronger, whiskey perhaps, but after that display, she didn't trust herself to keep it together if she got drunk. Champagne would have to do.
"Lucky bastard, he gets to go to these events all the time."
"Why are you complaining? He brings us along."
"I'm not complaining at all, just can't honestly believe that he thinks they're boring. Even the beautiful women. Well, not at first. He keeps looking for the right girl and then proclaims them boring because they aren't right. And just what is his thing with gingers?"
Aisling's eyes widened as she gripped the bar, honing in on the conversation taking place next to her and recognizing the voices. Taking a deep, stabilizing breath, she then turned to look at the owners of the voices.
Towering over her were two men, both of them sporting the same sandy blonde hair and chiseled good looks, though one was slightly shorter than the other. They were leaning against the bar, looking around the room with grins on their faces. The one farthest from her glanced over, noticing her looking at them. A large grin flashed as he winked at his friend and then stepped closer to her.
Okay, earlier Aisling could play off as maybe a coincidence or wishful thinking. But this was… maybe she was having a breakdown. Because she could swear that the two men standing before her right now were the dopplegangers of Orophin and Rumil.
"Hello, there," Orophin said smoothly as Rumil turned to her as well. "Come here often?"
Aisling could only stare at them as she opened and closed her mouth a few times, no words coming out. Christ, she was really blowing this.
"I think you've rendered her speechless," Rumil said to Orophin as he chuckled.
"I hope you're not making complete idiots out of yourselves and bothering Ms. Hughes," another, familiar voice said. Aisling jumped, watching as Hal walked up to them, smirking.
She blinked a few times, trying to reconcile the Haldir she knew with this man. Sure, they looked the same, but was he anything like the elf she had fallen in love with?
"No! It wasn't real!"
"We're being perfect gentlemen," Orophin replied. Hal gave him a dubious look and then turned to her.
"These two are old friends of mine from university - Owen and Randolph Charles," he explained. "And this is Aisling Hughes. She owns this hotel with her cousins."
Though he was speaking to his friends, his eyes were still fixed on her, causing her to squirm.
Holy hell, what was going on?
Aisling felt her chest tightening as it grew difficult to breathe. She knew she was seconds away from having an anxiety attack. She tore her eyes from Hal and looked towards Orophin and Rumil - no, Owen and Randolph.
"I'm… so sorry. I need to… I have to… Sorry," she sputtered before turning and nearly running away.
Her breaths came in short, quick spurts as she dashed out of the ballroom and barrelled down the halls and corridors, her feet knowing the way. She didn't stop until she was pushing two French doors open and then walking straight over to the railing of a balcony that she knew would be empty. Leaning on it, she closed her eyes as she took slow, deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down.
"This can't be happening," she murmured. "It was just a dream. It wasn't real."
But at the back of her mind, she couldn't help but wonder if perhaps it had been real. There were currently five pieces of proof that it could have been standing in the ballroom. No, that couldn't be right. She must have seen them before and her brain stored the information away. That's how they had all popped up in her coma dream.
But Galadriel had said they would find each other again.
"You're fine. It wasn't real," Aisling continued.
Damnit, she really wanted it to be real. Seeing Hal again had stirred something in her. Since getting back to New York, she felt like something inside her had died. No, truthfully, since she woke up. Even though it was a dream, it had felt so real. And the feelings she had for Haldir were very much real. So much so, that she couldn't help feeling a bit of joy at seeing him again.
But… it wasn't Haldir. It was Hal Lloyd. Right.
"I'm so sorry to bother you, but I had to see if you were alright."
Aisling spun around, seeing Hal walk out onto the balcony, a worried look on his face. She had seen that look before. She gulped.
"Oh, it's fine. I'm fine," she said, quickly attempting to brush it off, though her breath hitched as he stepped closer to her.
"Are you sure?" he asked, his brow furrowed.
"I, yes. I'm… it's just. God, this is going to sound so weird," she said, knowing that she was babbling but unable to stop herself. "You see, two months ago I was in Oklahoma and there was this tornado and-"
Aisling's words were cut off as Hal's lips were pressed firmly against hers. Her eyes widened as his hands came to her waist and he yanked her against him, tightly gripping her. For a moment, her brain stopped working and all she could do was stand there and let him kiss her.
But suddenly, everything rushed through her. Confusion, joy, love. And she could feel it - the bond was still there, lighting up inside her like fireworks. Aisling's eyes closed as she wrapped her arms around his neck and held onto him tightly, afraid if she let him go, he would disappear. Her lips began to move against him as chills ran up and down her body. She felt alive.
Finally, Hal pulled back from her, though his hands remained on her waist as a soft smile filled his face. Aisling was sure she had the world's stupidest grin on her face. But as she gazed into his eyes, she knew. This was Haldir.
"You have no idea how long I have waited to do that," he said softly. "How long I've searched for you."
"Is it really you? You're really here?" she asked. "Haldir?" He nodded, his smile growing into a grin. "It was all real?"
"Yes, it was," he replied.
"But… how?" Aisling asked, her head spinning. This made absolutely no sense. Haldir looked over towards the open doors of the balcony.
Aisling followed, her eyes widening as she saw Gandalf standing there in a tailored grey suit, a martini in hand, his beard gone and his hair cut short. He smiled at the two, lifting his glass, before he walked off.
"I find at times, it's best not to ask too many questions of a wizard," Haldir replied, looking back down at her. "All that matters is that I'm here and we're together again." Aisling couldn't speak as tears began to fill her eyes. Haldir reached up and brushed a tear from underneath her eye with his thumb. "I promised that I would find you."
Aisling laughed, though it sounded like a mix of a chuckle and sob. He was here. Haldir. Haldir was here with his arms wrapped around her, smiling down at her.
It had all been real.
"And the others… do they…"
"Galadriel and Celeborn, yes. The others, no," Haldir replied. "But I now understand your closeness to Thranduil and Legolas. You were right. They bear a stunning resemblance to your cousins."
Aisling chuckled before she went up on her toes, kissing him again. God, it was going to be hard to stop kissing him all night. Did they really need to stay? Maybe they could sneak off somewhere by themselves to reconnect. No, she had to stay. If she snuck off, Tiernan would kill her. But they could stand to stay here on the balcony just a bit longer.
"I fear I might not make it back to the gala if you continue that," Haldir said, pulling away as they both struggled to catch their breath. "And even though we are reunited, there was a reason we came here."
"Wait, you mean you're serious about the merger?" Aisling asked, for a moment completely forgetting about it.
"Of course, though I will admit, I was more concerned with finding you," he replied, a gentle smile on his face. "But Galadriel, well Gabi, kept me on course. She has a keen mind for business in this world."
Aisling shook her head as another chuckle escaped her lips. She was starting to feel a bit delirious as her head whirled.
"Oh god, how… How do we handle this? Do I call her Galadriel or what?" Aisling asked. Haldir tightened his hold of her.
"Well, I suppose you should call her Gabi. And Celeborn, Calum. And I believe you called me Hal more often than not, so there should be no issue there," he said. "And as for everything else, well… we'll figure that out as we go. I feel as long as you're at my side, I'm not so worried about the future." Aisling grinned.
"Right. Yea. Okay," she breathed as he bent down and kissed her, yet again stealing her breath away. God, she had missed kissing him.
"Wait, but wait. My cousins," she said, pushing him back. Haldir chuckled as he pulled her closer and began to kiss her neck, sending more chills running up and down her spine.
Did they really need to go back?
"Well, I suppose for now we should tone things down. But eventually, I'm sure they'll accept this," he said in between kisses. "And well, as I recall, we are bonded. But I assume after some time… we could arrange another wedding, if you would like..."
He made his way up, causing her to shudder when he hit the sensitive spot behind her ear and then continued moving up, feathering kisses along her jaw and then the corner of her mouth. He then looked down and back up, an eyebrow raising.
"I was pleasantly surprised to see this dress again," he said.
"I made a few improvements," she said with a shrug.
"I like the improvements," he replied, his eyes darkening slightly in a way that had Aisling shivering and seriously considering skipping the rest of the party yet again. She had a suite for the night after all.
"I couldn't get it out of my head, so decided to have it made, though at the time I thought it was all an elaborate coma dream," she said, attempting to refocus her thoughts.
"Coma dream?" Haldir asked, his expression a mixture of amusement and confusion.
"I'll… explain it to you later," Aisling said. "But seriously… we should probably get back. I'm pretty sure that Tiernan has sent out a search party by now."
"Yes, and I'm sure the others will want to know that you're okay," he replied.
He pressed one more quick kiss against her lips before turning and starting back into the hotel, his hand wrapped around Aisling's. She looked down at their intertwined fingers and then back up at him, unable to look away.
She then looked up, finding that he was staring at her as well, a wide grin on his face. Aisling's heart soared.
It had all been real. Haldir was back. They were together.
It was all real.
OOOO
This chapter is updated, but not much changed...
See? I promised a happy ending! So, back to my explanation of why I went this route with the story. So, I read this fanfic that was a love story between Thranduil and an OC elf and it was long and beautiful (and yea, VERY steamy, but I digress) and we go through this whole story where they struggle to be together, finally get to that point, and then Thranduil dies and the OC dies at his side, because their love was THAT strong. And I was crushed! They deserved a long, happy, immortal life together! But then I saw there were more chapters. Cue going on and we're in modern days and discover all of it was a series of dreams that a woman had been having for years (talk about a plot twist). She goes on this archeological dig and all the people on it are people from Middle Earth/the dreams. She then meets up with the dude leading it, who is Thranduil, and she realizes the dreams were some sort of past-life thing and they are reunited to get another chance at a life together.
I was stuck on the concept of dreams and past lives, obviously. And started getting the idea to incorporate something like that in this story. I wanted to create that tension with "but is it a dream?" throughout. And I knew that I was going to have Haldir and Aisling reunite in her world where they would be on equal standing - both mortals and such. And well, I wouldn't have to go on for chapters about Aisling trying to teach him everything this way. This chapter was actually one of the first ones I completed because I had this scene stuck in my head since I came up with the story - the two of them reuniting and Aisling realizing that it was all real even though it was kind of all in her head at the same time. And yes, I know everyone hates that Haldir dies in the movie (technically he and the elves weren't even at Helm's Deep) but it made for a good vehicle to project him into Aisling's world through reincarnation. This is actually the second fanfic I've used reincarnation in and I'm happier with this version than that one, I think.
I still haven't figured out quite how/why Haldir, Galadriel and Celeborn were reborn in the modern world with all their memories and the others weren't (or just how Gandalf plays into that) but I figure I don't really need to get into all that. It's a fantasy story, things happen, we all accept that and move on.
That said, proceed to the final chapter!
