Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own any of the character, places, names, or anything associated with the works of J.R.R Tolkien or the Lord of the Rings (books or movie, whatever). My characters are Anita, Leila, and Arlandria and that is all.

Chapter 17: Broken

Wakefulness slowly returned to Anita, spurned by sunlight lazily filtering into the room along with the song of cheerful morning birds. She had slept well, she always did after her and Legolas spent their energy reserves having sex. A large part of her wanted to lay here in bed all day in this state, hanging somewhere between sleep and consciousness, just enjoying the feeling of contentment that a good night's sleep can bring. For all her wishing though, she knew herself well enough to know that her own restlessness would get in the way of that grand plan. With a yawn, Ani stretched her arms to get the blood going…

…And her right hand solidly collided with something soft and fleshy. She gasped and snatched her hand back as she turned to see what it was she had hit. Ani let out a squawk of surprise when she saw Legolas lying next to her in bed, rubbing the red spot on his temple where she had hit him. In an attempt to leap from the bed, her foot got horribly tangled in the sheets that covered their naked bodies, so instead Anita tumbled from the bed to land in a heap on the floor like a tossed sack of potatoes. She could hear Legolas' laughter over the side of the bed as she remained on the floor struggling to disentangle herself. When her foot was finally free from its fabric shackle, the girl stood up clutching the sheet in front of her exposed body, staring stupidly at the elf who was occupying her bed.

"Pray tell, why do you look surprised to see me?" Anita was having to try extra hard to look Legolas in the eye as he spoke to her, since she held sheet the prince's body was laid out in full view like a museum display. Yes they had been having sex for over a week now so they were well acquainted with each other's naked forms, but they had never been like this and having a conversation.

"You're still here." She didn't know why he looked confused by that statement. Wasn't it a universally known unwritten law of fuck buddies? Don't spend the night. It was too personal to wake up next to the person you were screwing the next morning. But here he was, in all his naked glory.

"This troubles you."

"Well…yeah." Ani didn't know how to explain it; she didn't even know where to begin. Wasn't the whole point of their game that this kind of intimacy was shunned? Heavily, the girl sat on the bed with a great sigh. "It's just that, stuff like this, is how people get caught. And I thought that was something we both didn't want."

Legolas studied her a moment in silence before he addressed her. "You truly are a terrible liar."

What could she say to that? Yes she was lying, but truth was far more complex. It's how games like the one they were playing turned into something more…it was how people fell in love. Ani was only just now trying to get used to the idea that Legolas was going to have to leave sometime in the near future, there was no way she could make that worse by worrying about developing romantic feelings for him. But she wasn't. Nope. Just sex….that was the agreement.

While Ani was lost in her own thoughts, Legolas had removed himself from the bed to retrieve his scattered clothes from the floor.

"I am sorry to have offended you." He tugged his leggings up with unnecessary harshness, clearly he was pissed.

"Oh god Legolas it isn't like that," Putting her head in her hands, her tousled black hair fell around her face like a curtain blocking out the vibes of anger coming from the elf. She couldn't hide there forever though. Pushing the waves of black and purpled from her face the girl decided to be honest. "You are the only person in this whole god-forsaken place that isn't trying to change me, and I can't even begin to tell you how much it means to me that you accept me for me. When you leave it's going to be really hard for me, and I think it'll only be that much worse for both of us if this turned into something more. I thought we agreed on friends with benefits."

Dammit she was making it worse, she could tell by the look on his face. Ani didn't know if she was just more attuned at reading the stoic Elvish expressions or if Legolas' guard was down, but she knew he wasn't happy with what she was saying.

"Yes that is what we agreed upon." Anita was about to asked him who pissed in his Cheerios that morning when a knock at the door made her jump. She glared at Legolas as if to say 'I told you so', but the elf prince was already halfway to climbing out the window to the hidden courtyard below. Temporarily distracted by his natural athleticism, Ani marveled that he hadn't broken a bone dropping down two stories to the ground. A second louder knock at the door reminded the girl though that she was in no state to be seeing people this morning. In a flash Anita had ditched the sheet that she had been covering herself with and redressed herself in yesterday's clothes; one last quick check to be sure all traces of the prince were gone before opening the door to a very agitated look pair of women; Leila and Arwen.

Oh hell it was gonna to be THAT kind of day.

"Greetings starshine." Ani didn't know if she couldn't have sounded any less enthused to see her family.

"Is that all you have to say for yourself?" Arwen had a scowl of disapproval distorting her naturally pretty features.

"What? What have I done now to piss everyone off?"

"Oh I believe you know very well why we are here child. Do not think the whole household isn't alerted to your nightly indiscretions with Legolas." It was way too early in the morning for Anita to be trying to decipher the proper way that people spoke.

"If that really were the case, then it would be Elladan standing here getting ready to lecture me instead of you."

Arwen bristled at her niece's snappy comeback. "Just because my brother prefers to remain oblivious…"

"So the one person," Ani cut her aunt off mid-sentence, " that I need to be worried about catching on, hasn't figured it out? I don't understand why we are having this conversation then."

"Ani," Leila's tone was far more gentle than that of her sister or aunt, " I don't think you understand the consequences if Dad does finally figure out what is going on between you two."

"Do you understand that if my brother does discover you that he can and will force both of you to wed to try and cover up your little scandal?"

"Okay two things. Firstly, I would love to watch Elladan try and force me to do anything I don't want to, and secondly, Arwen, you are such a hypocrite. Are you really going to stand there and judge what Legolas and I do when you and Aragorn are plainly doing the same thing?!"

Whatever remark Arwen may have had at the ready was immediately swallowed down. She stared at the young girl and marveled at how much Anita was like her mother; insolent, headstrong, and independent to a fault. Perhaps her brother Elladan had been unwise is requesting that the family remain silent on the circumstances of how Arlandria and Elladan became separated. Clearly an argument built upon reason and consequences wasn't going to get through to this girl, she was too impulsive and spontaneous. Arwen was going to have to appeal to a more level person.

Ani's aunt didn't bother to respond to her rude comments, instead she turned and stalked away, leaving the twins standing face to face on opposite sides of the doorway. The darker twin looked to her sister, expecting to see disapproval mixed with mild annoyance, but instead was met with whimsical amusement.

"I am so glad that we have a few thousand years to live, because at this rate you will need all that time just to learn some basic social manners." In response to Lei's sharp barb at her personality, Ani stuck her tongue out, but moved aside all the same to allow her twin access to the room.

"So…" Leila awkwardly continued after Ani had shut the door to offer some level of private conversation, " are you going to tell me what's actually going on between you and Legolas or am I forced to catch you in the library first?"

"It's nothing Lei, it's a game… like monopoly."

"There are no winners in monopoly, there's just one person sitting at the table a little less pissed off than everyone else."

Anita flinched at her sister's words. "Ok so maybe that wasn't the best analogy, but what do you want me to say? It's just sex. Friends with benefits. And for how much you and Arwen seem to dislike it, Legolas and I are playing inside the rules." But Leila had stopped listening. Something had caught her attention over Ani's shoulder. As she spoke, Ani watched as her twin's face fell into a deep scowl, a look that normally meant she was thinking really hard about something. Ani turned in the direction Leila's gaze was focused on to see what had her fair haired twin's devoted attention. Nothing seemed out of place, nothing seemed noteworthy, whatever had Leila's attention was only significant to her. Slowly but deliberately Lei stepped around her sister and made her way to the vanity that was pushed up against the wall. Slim pale fingers reached forward and grasped at the haphazardly folded fabrics.

"Anita, what are these?" Leila was holding up the silver tunic that Anita had forgotten to put away, her energies focused towards more amorous activities.

"Nothing. Legolas got me some riding clothes."

The sigh that her statement drew from Leila was heavily weighed down. "Ani, fuck buddies don't buy each other clothes. Are you seriously going to tell me that you two share no feelings outside of sexual desire?"

Her dark twin just shrugged in response, not because she didn't have anything to say but rather because Anita didn't trust her own answer. Leila released the shirt which fell in a heap back on the vanity before she turned and purposefully strode over to the bed. As if driven by some unseen force, Leila began to dig in the area underneath the stuffed mattress just above where it met the hard wood bed frame.

"Lei what are you doing?"

"You can lie to me but you can't lie to yourself. You have hidden your private sketchpad in the same place for ten years; Always under the mattress. I will prove you wrong as soon as I … Ah Ha!" The girl gave a shout of triumph as the small booklet filled with sketching paper was pulled from its area hidden under the mattress. Anita sprang forward in a sudden jolt of energy to slam her hands down on the book's cover to effectively prevent Leila from seeing inside. "Yeah, Anita, that's what I thought."

Leila didn't need to see inside, and Ani didn't need to say a word; her actions had spoken clearly enough to get the point across. The book didn't need to be opened for Leila to know her twin had drawn multiple pictures of the elf prince in question , and that the only way he could have graced the pages of the book was if he had been Anita's mind constantly. Leila relinquished her hold on the book and silently retreated back to the doorway, leaving her twin to grasp the private book to her chest protectively.

"Be careful Ani," Lei spoke as her finger found the door handle, "Broken hearts can kill Elves." And she left her twin to stand alone in her room clutching the book.

Arwen , having left the set of twins to discuss Ani's indiscretions between themselves, had gone in search of the other half of the guilty party. She knew where to find him really, they had been friends throughout their youths; so she knew that when Legolas was upset or needed to think, he would go to the archery range. Granted the stationary targets were hardly a challenge for the expert marksman, but something in the repetitiveness of shooting was comforting as well as distracting enough to allow for free thought.

As surely as the lady predicted, Legolas's arrows could be heard finding their mark even as Arwen drew near the gallery. He did not cease letting his arrows loose as Arwen drew near to him, determination to confront him set in her jaw.

"Of all the thoughtless impulsive decisions you have ever made, Legolas Greenleaf, this is the worst."

"Speak your peace Arwen, I am in no mood to mince words today." Something had truly gotten under the prince's skin this morning, Arwen could tell that he was taking no pleasure in his current leisure activity. Regardless of his mood, the eldest lady of the household had come here to face the issue and that is what she would do.

"You have violated my brother's trust in a most egregious manner. You have violated the trust of the entire household. You may be in the habit of getting your way without consequence, your father Thranduil has been most generous in sweeping away the sins you commit in your own realm, but I can promise that my father and brother will not be so lax when faced with this issue."

Legolas gave pause temporarily in his shooting to look at his longtime friend. "What do you want of me?"

"Anita is a daughter of this household, my brother's child, my niece! She is not one of your play things! You must have been far removed from your senses to think this would be acceptable! You cannot continue this charade as though she is some bar maid whom you will never see again!"

The prince had a very far off look in his eye as he spoke. "Ani is different."

"Of course she is different!" Arwen's voice had become a hiss of anger. "She is the one you cannot have!"

Something in Legolas' expression as those words left Arwen's mouth deflated her anger. Was it…longing? As soon as she had seen it, it disappeared back behind the mask of Elvish stoicism that Legolas wore so well on his handsome face. An idea had begun to sprout in the back of her mind, an idea that when thought about in connection to her niece and to this elf was alien and outlandish.

"This is not as much of a game for you, is it?" Despite how quiet her voice had become, Arwen knew that Legolas could hear her quite clearly. He didn't dignify the question by sparing a glance her way, but he did respond through clenched teeth.

"Of course it's a game," Notching an arrow, he channeled all his anger into the metal tip on the bolt before loosing the arrow, which flew straight and true, piercing the target with such force that it buried itself up to the fletching. " It can only ever be a game."

Broken- Lifehouse