Reasons Unknown

by grixx

Young Alex literally walks into Middle Earth. An innocent girl looking for adventure inadvertently changes her life forever and uncovers there is more hidden truth to discover than what she originally thought for reasons unknown. Serving a little dose of mary sue once in a while. Legolas is slightly OC. 10th and 11th walker.

22. Chapter 22

disclaimer: I do not own anything, nor am i getting paid for this story. just normal human being with an overactive imagination. =)

enjoy!

Chapter 22

It has been a week since Gandalf left for Minas Tirith with Pippin in tow. Meduseld was left in an awkward silence of waiting. Waiting for the next course of action. Waiting not for if the beacons will be lit, but when. And lastly, waiting for King Theoden's decision to ride to Gondor's aid.

Alex woke up a few hours after her ordeal and the fellowship had gathered around her to see for themselves whether she was alright. Her arm was wrapped in warm gauze to cover Grima's mark, the mark the Dark Lord used to gain access to her subconscious. Alex tried to brush off their concerns and played it off, but the rest of fellowship members were having none of it.

"Alex, do you realise how serious it was?" Paul asked aggravated when Alex waved off the concern of Gimli and tried to sit up making her head spin but she too fought against it. "You could have died." Paul enunciated every word earning him a glare from her.

"I'm fine now." Alex grumbled, pulling herself to a standing position. It was already a week into her supposed confinement and if not for Legolas, it was Paul who took it upon himself in watching her like a hawk. "I've been locked in this room—on this bed," hitting the mattress with her hand and turning her glowing emerald eyes to his friend, "for a week. I was lucky to have said goodbye to Pippin and Gandalf but I won't accept being cooped up in this room for any longer."

Paul studied his stubborn friend and sighed, moving across the room to stand next to her and extend his arm. Alex stared at his outstretched hand, realizing he was not going to put her back on the bed, she tentatively reached out, the cold stone floor beneath her feet was a welcomed feeling. "You want me to go get him?" Paul asked, spotting the longing glance Alex tried to hide from her face at the mention of the elf. "Okay, okay. But stay, right here." Paul admonished Alex, silently battling with himself if he should leave her alone.

Alex glared at Paul, "I'm not a dog."

"Could've fooled me." Paul countered rolling his eyes as he continued to stalk towards the door. Alex laughed, both slightly offended and impressed. "Did you just call me a bitch?" Her eyes showing her shock and glee.

"I'm creative like that." Shrugging one shoulder and giving her a wink, before his face turned serious again. "But, seriously—for my sake—don't fucking move." Remembering last week when the elf almost had a fit when Alex woke up alone, while the rest of them where gathered in council before Gandalf announced his decision to leave. Paul thought Legolas was going to burn Meduseld down. "And, you owe me details." Glaring and closing the door behind him and snickering to himself at his train of though—that was a bit dramatic, he thought—but he knew not to be in the line of fire when it comes to Legolas' fury.

As soon as Paul left, Alex was alone with her thoughts again. Paul's unmistakable hint over what happened between her and the elf reminding her of where they currently stood with each other. She had been swimming in memories since she woke up,. His hands, lips and tongue making her feel things she never knew was possible.

Opening her eyes to feel the expected, extending her arm to grasp the warm body beside her, hoping to feel blissful and satiated, but to her shock she found herself alone in her room with a raging headache and a bandaged arm. To her horror, she found out what happened from Paul and was swamped with all concerned and worried faces of her friends. The one face that scared her was Legolas, whose face wore remorse, guilt and anger. She had no memory of her dream.

Legolas tried to reassure her that his anger was not directed at her but Alex could not help but feel just a tiny bit responsible. Was it something she did? Or was it something she did not do, that made her a target for the Dark Lord to be used as a distraction against the fellowship and almost destroy whatever they had worked hard for. Try as she may, all she could recall was the activities prior to falling asleep. A blush blossomed on her cheeks and a small smile crept up her lips. Butterflies suddenly stared dancing in her belly and an anticipation mingled with excitement she had never known engulfed her.

Her heart hammered in her chest at the thought. For the past week he has been at her side whenever he was able to. Alex finally got around to telling him what really transpired during her debut and the days that followed. Alex's hands shook when she finally got the courage to recall her ordeal following her return home and what her Mother had decided. It was a heavy discussion for both of them and full of apologies. It was a painful conversation but one they needed to get through together and Alex felt light afterwards. Like a weight has been lifted and she felt like flying.

All her resentment and anger. Her self loathing and self pity regarding what her life had panned out for her finally settling and leaving her free. She had allowed herself to be held by him and his whispered words of apology and comfort only washed her soul with the remorse and pain she had been holding on for so long.

She was pulled from her musings then, as an arm snaked its way around her was it. Pulling her face away from staring intently on the floor and having those familiar warm lips crash down on hers. She forgot what she was worrying about and all she could feel were his familiar, strong arms wrapped around her. One hand securing her head, the other holding her in place anchored to him.

And to her abandon, she realized that she did not want him to let go.

Alex allowed herself to be kissed with an inch of her life. Like a thirst that needed to be satiated, Legolas was relentless. Despite the protest from Alex's lungs, a whimper escape her as Legolas released her lips, their foreheads still touching. Slowly both of them opened their eyes to gaze tentatively at each other. "Hi," Alex breathed out, smiling, her cheeks burning, feeling Legolas' thumb run across her cheek, as his eyes studied her with an intensity that left her burning from head to toe.

"My apologies. I shouldn't have attacked you like that." Embarrassment colored his blue eyes, arms loosening their coil around her and Alex felt her smile get bigger. "I don't mind." Biting her lip to keep herself from grinning as a giggle escaped her throat at the smile that slowly crawled its way up his pink lips. His eyes moved to the lip that was trapped between her teeth and with ease, his thumb gently pulled that lip free.

A breath he was not aware he was holding was released and he found himself gazing at the most beautiful and fascinating creature he had laid eyes upon. Something had shifted between them ever since their heated confrontation at the stables and the consummation that followed. Clearing his throat and licking his lips as he survey her and finding nothing amiss, he went on to ask, "Are you alright? You're out of bed, you should be resting."

"I'm fine." Exasperation coloring her tone, "I've been in this room for a week now. I'm fine, I want to move around and I want to help." I want to be around you, is what her mind conjured up and another blush crept up her cheeks at the incessant need that has been growing inside her for days. A pull she couldn't decipher, an anxiety that would grow in her gut whenever he was away and would only settle whenever she was around him.

Unbeknownst to her, it was the same for him. It was like the last fifty years of his mind torturing him with his need of her only intensified. Studying her face as she leaned up expectantly, her eyes a dark forest green, conveying a carnal need that she was not aware of was being reflected and Legolas had to hold himself back. She wasn't ready yet. She was recovering. Phrases and reminders flittering across his mind as he enumerated every reason why he should not. "How is your arm?" He choked out, silently scolding himself for appearing nervous at what her feä was presenting. He watched as a hint of confusion crossed her eyes before understanding dawned on her and she answered, "I...I don't feel anything." She breathed out, biting her lip in embarrassment—all the while moving her arm as if to demonstrate that it is capable of movement and feeling—convinced that she was caught spacing out. Her breath hitching as his eyes zeroed in on her lips and his eyes darkening as desire coursed through him.

"Does this mean I can finally get out of this room?" Her smile blinding and her excitement palpable. Alex still hadn't made a move to get out of his embrace, happily basking in the safety and security his arms and his mere presence offered. The prospect of finally being able to move around freely without being peppered with reminders from the rest of the fellowship or questioned by Gandalf—before his departure— about her brief encounter with the Dark Lord that she had no memory about—to which Legolas had to put his foot down— was making her giddy with happiness.

Blue gazing intently at green. Alex's eyes challenging despite the mirth swimming in them, "Are you asking for my permission?" Legolas asked tentatively, his eyebrows raised in challenge at Alex's question.

"No."

Nodding his head once as he offered her a crooked smile that made her knees weak and caught her unaware at the boyish handsomeness he offered her. "I thought so." He mused quietly thinking that her question made it seem like she was seeking his permission, earning him a breathy laugh that was across between a giggle and a chuckle from her that sounded like melody to his ears making him laugh quietly along with her. "Where were you planning to go?" Narrowing his eyes playfully as he gazed at her, admiring how her smile and obvious laughter making her eyes shine in the dim lighting of the room.

"Just…around." Smirking and making a gesture of keeping her lips sealed earning her a snicker from him. "I was thinking of going somewhere..with you." Legolas' eyes darkened at the obvious nervousness she suddenly excluded. He noted with glee that this is the first time she had mentioned of doing anything in particular with him.

"Oh, may I know where this 'somewhere' is?" Deciding to play along. They were skirting around each other and playing a dangerous game of seeing who would fold first. Legolas thought, his precautions of wanting to keep her safe was warranted seeing that her numerous brushes with death was one too many for his books and he was having none of it. But also realizing that he could not keep her locked up forever, but also basking in their newfound sweetness around each other.

"Nope. Not until tomorrow." Alex whispered, leaning more of her weight, hoping the feel of her body against his would make him yield. An action that did not go unnoticed by the elf.

"Tomorrow…what makes you think you'll be able to get out tomorrow?" Legolas almost laughed out loud at the frown slowly marring her beautiful face and watched in fascination as she quickly squared her shoulders, her eyes almost hardening. Attempting to pull herself from him but his arms locked around her to keep her in place. He especially liked her position just now.

A challenge rose up in her emerald eyes and her glare turned playful yet sinister, "Yes, tomorrow. I told you; I wasn't asking for your permission. So, do you yield?" One perfectly shaped eyebrow raised in challenge.

"Never." Fighting against the resistance she tried to put up with his answer and unable to mask the disappoint in her face. He snaked one hand in her luxurious hair behind her head and turned to face her, "To you, always." He whispered as he felt her sagged in his embrace and capture her lips again in fiery kiss that they both felt this time unhurried and unbothered by the outside world.

"Legolas?" she whispered at dawn the next morning.

Legolas opened one sleepy eye and beheld his wife looking bright and alert as she sat down on his side of the bed beside his hip. "Good morning," he murmured, his appreciative gaze shifting to the V of tantalizing flesh exposed by the bodice of her belted silk dressing gown. "What time is it?" he asked, his voice husky with sleep. He glanced toward the windows and realized the sky was not blue, but a weak shade of grey streaked with pale pink.

Unlike Legolas, Alex had been awake all night and was therefore not suffering from any foggy remnants of drowsiness. "I'm not sure, but I think its five…the morning," she answered brightly.

"You jest!" he uttered. Appalled by the early hour recalling he had not afforded to properly rest the days prior, he promptly closed his eyes and required an explanation for being awakened at dawn: "Is someone ill?"

"No."

"Dead?"

"um…no."

A faint smile tugged at his firm lips and creased the sides of his closed eyes as he mumbled, "Illness or death are the only acceptable reasons for a rational elf to be awakened this early in the morning. Come back to bed."

Alex chuckled at his lighthearted, sleepy banter, but she shook her head. "You've never slept in this late."

Despite his closed eyes and apparent sleepiness, Legolas had already registered the unusually bright smile on his wife's face, as well as the fact that her hip was pressing against his thigh. Normally, Alexandria's smiles were reserved, not relaxed, and she scrupulously avoided touching him whenever possible, unless he was making love to her.

Curiosity over the reason for her very pleasant, but very unusual behavior this morning made him open his eyes and look at her. With her hair tumbling over her shoulders and her skin glowing with health, she looked delicious. She also looked like she had something on her mind. "Well?" he said lightly, restraining the urge to pull her down on top of him. "I am, as you can see, awake."

"Good," she said, hiding her uncertainty behind a vivacious smile, "because there's something special I'd like to do this morning."

"At this hour?" Legolas teased. "What is there to do, save to sneak out to the road, pounce on an unwary traveler, and steal his coins. Probably Eomer and Eowyn are about now."

"We don't have to leave for a while yet." Alex hedged as her courage began to ebb, and she braced for his refusal. "And if you'll recall, you did say you wanted to make yourself agreeable to me—"

"What is it you'd like to do?" Legolas asked with a sigh, mentally considering the usual things women tried to get men to do with them.

"Take a guess."

"You want me to take you to the city for a new…hat?" he ventured unenthusiastically. She shook her head, sending her hair tumbling over her left shoulder and breast. "You want to ride out early to see the sun rise over the hills so you can sketch the view?"

"I don't draw…not anymore," Alexandria confessed ghost of a frown marring her porcelain features, making Legolas immediately regretted his jest and filing the subject of her drawing away in his mind hoping to find an opportune moment to address it later. Drawing a shaky breath, Alex summoned all her courage and announced, "I want to go fishing!"

"Fishing?!" Legolas repeated, gaping at her as if she'd taken leave of her senses. "You want me to to go fishing at this hour of the morning?" Before she could answer, he shoved his head deeper into the pillows and firmly closed his eyes, apparently rejecting the idea—but there was a smile in his voice as he said, "Not unless there wasn't a scrap of food to eat and we were both prostrate from starvation. I'm surprised you're coming to me for this, what about Paul?"

Encouraged by his tone, if not his words, she cajoled, "Paul has the upbringing of the city life ingrained onto his veins. He can't fish to save his life," shaking her head and trying to fight the laugh that threatened to bubble out of her, quickly recovering from her study of his smirk adding, "and you wouldn't have to spend your time teaching me the proper technique—I already know how to fish."

He opened one eye, his voice amused. "What makes you think I do?"

"If you don't know how, I'll show you." Alex offered her smile innocent and child like making her eyes glimmer.

"Thank you, but I can manage on my own," he said with asperity, studying her intently.

"Good," Alexandria said, so relieved she was almost babbling. "So can I. I can do everything for myself, including put my own worm on my own hook—"

His lips quirked in a smile. "Excellent, then you can bait my hook." His eyes darkening to a deep blue reminding Alex of the color of the ocean. Alex swatted playfully at his arm which made him chuckle under this breath, "I refuse to awaken helpless worms at this unholy hour and then compound the crime by torturing them."

His humor was so contagious that a gurgle of laughter escaped Alex as she stood up and tightened the belt on her rosesilk robe. "I'll prepare everything," she said happily and headed for on the far end of the bedchamber to change.

Leaning back against the pillows, Legolas admired the unconsciously seductive sway of her hips as she walked away, while he fought down the urge to summon her back to bed and spend the next hour in the delightful—and laudable—occupation of siring his heir. He did not want to go fishing. Nor did he understand why she did, but he was certain there was a reason for it, and he was curious to discover what it was.

His mind drifted back to the subject of her aversion of drawing or of her once upon a time fascination with art. Despite what Alex had told him of what happened when she disappeared years ago, Legolas felt that there was more to her story than what she told him. Anger flared in him and he felt his fist close of their own accord at the memory of the the conversation between them.

It was a day after Gandalf and Pippin left for Minas Tirith, and Legolas found that he could not leave Alex's side. While Paul and Gimli tried to cheer Merry and Aragorn was called upon to council with the King. Legolas decided that Alex needed a companion more at that moment. Fear was still ever present in the back of his mind at what happened and of the possibility of what could have happened if they were just a minute late in their search of her that night. Alex was perched on the bed with her face solemn as she stared on the elongated window giving her a view of the mountains outside Meduseld.

Her welcoming smile at seeing him sent a flutters in his heart. He didn't deserve her, but she had accepted him again and for that he was immensely grateful and humbled. He returned with a strained smile that he knew Alex recognized but did not comment on. They still had a lot to talk about and the night at the stables was only the beginning of finally facing and addressing the elephant in the room, as Alex had put it.

Legolas was gracious enough that she was willing to talk about it and he sat there absorbing every detail she offered, understanding her side of the story. Alex never faltered when she recounted her story about the events during and after her debut, Legolas noted with admiration how she never showed anger anymore, so much as humor for her naïveté and flippant acceptance of it. Her recounting of the events after she arrived home, however, pained him to his core. He noticed how her hand shook which she hid under the cover her blanket and the way she masked her facial expression with a nervous smile.

Her own mother, he mused. As self righteous as he hated he sounded, he came to a conclusion that her own mother failed her. He saw the way the memories of her mother's treatment of her that night had haunted her and noted with admiration how as much as it should anger her, it made her sad that she now lived a life somewhat slightly estranged for her. Legolas made an internal note to thank Paul for providing her with stability in a form of loyal friendship.

He had to, however, tamper down the jealousy that rose within him at the mention of the men that crossed her life. He tried waving it off, but she insisted that she had no right flinging back his conquests in his face when her own was as clear as day. It was the first, since she'd been back, that she had acknowledged their binding.

Alex was forthcoming about Tom and the story behind her supposed engagement. Legolas celebrated on the inside as he noted Alex's obvious exasperation over the engagement and he rejoiced that it was her mother's pushing that had fast tracked the wedding. What was unexpected, was the sadness he felt when Alex defended Tom, saying that he was not bad at all and Alex considered herself underserving of someone like him, because of her aversion to commit, just like all the other men before him.

With dread, Legolas sat internally struggling to come to terms with Alex seeing herself less and the fact that her admission on aversion to commit might included him too. Once again, he noted—all the while trying to keep his face stoic and calm—that Alex was scarred from everything that had happened to her. Now finally after months back in Middle Earth, he finally understood her unadulterated anger towards him.

He had no right to deny he hadn't had a hand in her suffering.

Pain and remorse flittered within him at the moment that must have shown in face—that Alex quickly reassured him she was trying her best to heal and fix their relationship and that she owed him more apology than anger—he felt the secret of her lineage eat away at him from the inside. The admission was dangling in front of him and his thoughts strayed to what Gandalf and Aragorn said. Would she forgive him if she told her now and have no information more to offer? Would she forgive him if he kept the secret for a while and inform her later on when he had all the information available?

He felt trapped. And looking at Alex, guilt swam in him at his audacity to feel it when his wife was being lied to with something that is a part of her that she had every right to know. It did not help that their conversation strayed to her grandmother. Despite the distance that had formed between them, Legolas saw the fondness Alex still held for Aemilia. He had to scold himself for missing it then, just as Aragorn had noted during one of their quiet talks. Alex resembled Aemilia and was convinced as the day passed that the defiance and headstone attitude was carved out from her father who was with great possibility the lost offspring of Lord Glorfindel.

It was long night full of confession from both of them and despite him being honest with his own story of the last fifty years, he was glad she was accepting of the events leading up to the moment they met again. Alex laughed freely over the subject of the wager and how Enyelwen tried to hide from him in fear of his wrath. Alex tried to soothe him on the subject of his estranged relationship with his own father and tried to offer understanding in his situation and as always gave him another perspective on it. A talent she always had that made him admire her more. Alex's worried gaze made his heart soar when he recalled the story of his ambush and had to compose himself as he reached out and pulled her lip free from her incessant gnawing at it, her eyes sweeping over his form if it had happened only yesterday and was making sure he was alright.

Legolas was quiet the entire ride out to the river and was pulled from his thoughts when their horses came to a stop. His eyes surveying their location and found that Alex had indeed taken cared of everything, he realized when they wended their way on horseback down the opposite side of the high ridge that blocked Edoras from view of a wide, rushing stream.

Tying their horses to a pair of trees at the base of the ridge, he walked beside her down to the grassy banks of the stream, where a bright blue blanket had been spread out beneath a giant oak tree. "What's all that?" he asked, indicating the two large baskets and one small one beside the blanket.

"Breakfast," Alexandra replied, shooting him a laughing glance. "And dinner, too, from the looks of it. Evidently, cook doesn't have much faith in your ability to catch our meal."

"In any case, I haven't more than an hour to spend trying."

Alex paused in the act of picking up a fishing pole, her face confused and disappointed. "An hour?"

"I have a dozen things to do today," Legolas replied. Crouching down, he selected a pole from the ones brought out and tested its flexibility by bending it between his hands. "I'm a very busy elf, meleth nin," he added absently, by way of explanation.

"You're also a very prominent elf," she answered, affecting an offhand attitude as she tested her own pole. "So why must you work so hard all the time?"

He thought for a moment and chuckled. "It comes with being prominent."

"If by being prominent costs you the right to relax and enjoy life, then the price of prominence is altogether too high," she said, pivoting on her heels and looking at him.

His brow furrowed in thought, Legolas tried to recall who authored that quotation, and couldn't. "Who said that?"

She gave him a plucky smile. "I did."

Legolas shook his head in silent amazement at her quick mind as he put a worm on his hook, then walked over to the bank. Sitting down beside a huge fallen tree with its branches stretching out over the water, he cast his line in.

"That's not the best place to catch the big ones," his wife advised him with an air of vast superiority as she came up behind him. "Would you hold my pole for me, please?"

"I thought you said you could do everything for yourself," he teased, noticing she'd taken off her riding boots and stockings. Before he could guess what she was about, Alex hitched up her skirts, displaying a pair of slim calves, trim ankles, and small bare feet, then she scampered up onto the wide trunk of the fallen tree with the agile grace of a gazelle. "Thank you," she said, reaching for her pole.

He handed it to her, expecting her to sit down where she stood, but to his alarmed surprise, she walked out along a thick branch hanging above the rushing water, balancing like an acrobat. "Come back here!" Legolas said sharply, raising his voice in alarm. "You could fall in."

"I swim like a fish," she informed him, grinning over her shoulder, and then she sat down—a barefoot princess—his barefoot princess—with her shapely legs dangling over the water and sunlight shining in her hair. "I've been fishing since I was a girl," she said conversationally as she cast her line into the stream.

Legolas nodded. "Your Nana taught you." She had taught her well, Legolas thought with an inward smile, for true to her boast, she'd reached into the basket of worms and had deftly put a worm on the end of her hook. "It wasn't my Nana, it was my horse riding teacher who taught me."

Evidently their thoughts were running in the same direction, because a moment later she smiled down at him from her high perch and remarked, "I'm happy to see you aren't truly squeamish about worms."

"I was never squeamish," he protested with an expression of earnest gravity on his upturned face. "It's only that I hate to hear the sound worms make when you stick them the first time. Normally we kill things before we use them for bait. That's more proper, don't you agree?"

"There is no sound!" Alex denied heatedly, but he looked so certain that her own conviction wavered a bit.

"Only people with extraordinary hearing can detect it, but it's there," Legolas argued, straightfaced all the while tapping his perfectly pointed lobe.

"But…Mr. Smith told me it doesn't hurt them," she said uneasily.

"Your horse riding teacher is a mortal. He can't hear them scream." He commented flippantly turning his back to resume his position and to hide the laugh he was successfully able to hold but his eyes, he was sure, was dancing with. Glancing at his wife again when she remained quiet after his statement, a chuckle threatened burst out of him at her expression.

An indescribable expression of queasy apprehension crossed Alex's face as she looked at the pole in her hand. Swiftly turning his face away again, to hide his laughter, Legolas gazed off to his right, but he couldn't stop his shoulders from shaking with mirth, and Alex finally spotted the telltale movement. A moment later, a fistful of twigs and leaves hit him on the left shoulder. "Oh my God!" she said cheerfully from above.

"My dear wife," he replied, grinning impenitently as he reached up and calmly brushed leaves and twigs off his sleeve, "were I perched precariously over the water on the limb of a tree, as you are, I'd take great care to treat me with more respect." To illustrate, he reached up with his free hand and gently nudged the stout limb she was perched upon.

His disrespectful wife lifted her graceful brows. "My dear, foolish husband," she softly replied, sending a momentary shaft of unexpected pleasure through Legolas, "if I fall, you'll be making a terrible mistake and setting yourself up for a wetting in the process."

"Me?" he said, enjoying their banter. "Why?"

"Because," she quietly and earnestly replied, "I can't swim."

Legolas paled and surged to his feet. "Don't, for Eru's sake," he ordered sharply, "move one inch. I don't know how deep the water is below you, but it's deep enough to drown in and it's murky enough to prevent me from seeing you below the surface. Stay where you are until I get there."

With the lithe agility of an athlete, he bounded onto the tree trunk and began walking toward her, moving out along the branch until she was within arm's reach. "Alex," he said, speaking in a calm, reassuring voice, "if I come any closer, my weight may break this branch or bend it enough to throw you into the water."

"And here I thought elves were light on their feet." Alex commented nonchalantly, Legolas noted with panic as she continued on as if her life was not literally hanging on a balance. He edged another few inches closer to her and bent at the waist, extending his hand toward her. "Don't be afraid. Just reach out and clasp my hand."

For once she didn't argue, much to Legolas' relief. Instead she reached up with her left hand and tightly grasped the limb above her head for balance, then she extended her right hand to his, catching his wrist in a strong grasp, at the same time Legolas' fingers closed tightly around her wrist. "Now get your legs beneath you and stand up. Use my wrist for leverage."

"I'd rather not," she replied. His amazed gaze narrowed sharply on her laughing face, while she tightened her grasp on his wrist and threateningly said, "I'd rather swim, wouldn't you?"

"Don't try it," Legolas warned darkly, unable to free his wrist. In his awkward position, bent at the waist and his arm imprisoned, he was completely at the mercy of her whim and they both knew it.

"If you can't swim, I'll rescue you," she sweetly volunteered.

"Alexandria," he threatened in a soft, ominous tone, "if you toss me into that freezing water, you'd better swim for your life in the opposite direction."

He meant it and she knew it. "Yes, my lord," she meekly replied and obediently released his wrist.

Legolas straightened slowly and stood looking down at her with an expression of exasperation and amusement. "You are the most outrageous—" He broke off, unable to control his grin.

"Thank you," she replied brightly. "Predictability is so very dull, don't you agree?" she called after him as he turned and walked along the branch, then jumped down to the grass.

"How would I know?" he replied with grim amusement as he stretched out on the grassy bank and picked up his pole. "I haven't had a predictable hour since I set eyes on you."

The next three hours passed as if they were but a few minutes, and by the end of it, Legolas had confirmed she was not only an excellent fisherman, but a thoroughly delightful, witty, and intelligent companion as well.

"Look!" she called suddenly and unnecessarily as Legolas' pole bent nearly in half, almost jerking him to his feet as he fought to hold it. "You have a bite—!"

After five minutes of the most deft maneuvering and skillful fighting on Legolas' part, his line abruptly went slack. His disrespectful young wife, standing upon her tree limb, from whence she had observed his unsuccessful struggle for supremacy while calling out advice and encouragement, groaned and threw up her hands in disgust. "You lost the fish!"

"That was not a fish," Legolas retorted, looking up at her. "That was an orc drowning and good riddance."

"Only because it got away," she retorted, laughing.

Her laughter was as infectious as her enthusiasm, and Legolas couldn't stop himself from grinning even though he tried to sound stern. "Kindly stop belittling my catch and let's open those baskets. I'm starved."

Standing back, he watched in admiration as she scampered down from the fallen limb. When she tried to hand him her pole and climb down herself, he caught her by the waist and lowered her to the ground, but she stiffened when her body brushed against his, and he abruptly let her go.

The pleasure he had taken in their morning faded somewhat at her reaction to his touch. Sitting down across from her on the blanket, he leaned his back against a tree and studied her in impassive silence, watching her unpack the baskets of food while he tried to guess her motive for instigating this outing. Obviously, she'd not wanted it to be a "romantic interlude."

"It's been a lovely morning," Alex said, pausing to watch the sunlight dance on the water's surface in front of them.

Drawing one knee up against his chest, Legolas draped his arm across it and said flatly, "Now that we've finished, suppose you tell me what this is all about." Alex tore her gaze from the water and looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, why did you want to spend the morning like this?"

She'd expected him to wonder, she had not expected him to flatly demand an answer, and she wasn't at all prepared with one. With a shrug, she said uneasily, "I thought I'd show you the sort of life I truly like to lead."

Cynicism twisted his lips. "And now that you've shown me that you're not completely the refined, elegant young woman you've appeared to be, I'm supposed to develop a disgust for you and let you go back to your world, is that it?"

That was so far from the truth that Alex burst out laughing. "I'd never have conceived such a brilliant, convoluted plan in a hundred years," she said, looking nonetheless impressed at the ingenuity of it. "I'm afraid I'm not that inventive." For a split second, Alex could have sworn she saw relief flicker in his hooded blue eyes, and she was suddenly determined to recover the companionable, easy mood they'd enjoyed while fishing together. "You don't believe me, do you?"

"I'm not certain."

"Have I ever done anything to make you think I'm devious?" Alex asked, her eyes narrowing into slits offering him a playful glare.

"Your sex is not noted for being either forthright or frank," he replied dryly.

"The fault for that must be laid at the door of men," she announced flippantly and with confidence, flopping down on her back and resting her head on her arm as she stared up at the fluffy white clouds drifting across the powder-blue sky. "Men couldn't endure it if we were forthright and frank."

"Is that right?" he retorted, stretching out beside her, propped up on his elbow.

Nodding, she turned her head and looked at him. "If women were forthright and blunt, we wouldn't have been able to convince men that they are smarter, wiser, and braver than we are, when in truth you are superior to us only in the brute strength occasionally required to lift extremely heavy objects."

"Alex," he whispered, as his lips slowly descended to hers, "beware of shattering a man's—in our case, an elf's—ego. It forces him to show his supremacy in the time-honored way."

The huskiness of his voice, combined with the seductive languor in his blue eyes, was already making Alex's heart hammer. Longing to put her arms around his broad shoulders and bring him down to her, she asked shakily, "Have I shattered your ego?"

"Yes."

"Be-because I said women are smarter, wiser, and braver than men?"

"No," he whispered, his smiling lips almost touching hers now, "because you caught a bigger fish than I did." Her startled giggle was abruptly smothered by his lips.

Feeling utterly languid and thoroughly content, Legolas decided to forestall their lovemaking for a few minutes, and after allowing himself a long, hungry kiss, he lay back beside her.

She looked a little surprised and a little disappointed that he hadn't continued. "Later," he promised with a lazy grin that made her blush and smile and then hastily avert her gaze. After a minute she seemed to become fascinated with something in the sky.

"What are you looking at?" Legolas demanded finally, watching her.

"A dragon." When he looked bewildered she lifted her arm and pointed to the sky in the southeast. "Right there—that cloud—what do you see when you look at it?"

"A fat cloud."

Alex rolled her eyes at him."What else do you see?"

He was quiet for a moment studying the sky. "Five more fat clouds and three thin ones." To Legolas' surprised pleasure, she burst out laughing, rolled onto her side, and kissed him full on the mouth, but when he tried to hold her tighter and begin to make love to her, Alex drew back and insisted on resuming her study of the sky.

"Have you no imagination at all?" she chided softly. "Look at those clouds—surely you must see one that reminds you of something. It can be something whimsical or real."

Goaded by her insinuation that he possessed no imagination, Legolas narrowed his eyes and stared hard—and then he finally discerned a shape he recognized. Off in the sky, on the right, there was a cloud that looked remarkably like, exactly like—breasts! No sooner did he recognize the shape than Alex excitedly asked, "What do you see?" and Legolas' whole body shook with silent laughter.

"I'm thinking," he said quickly. In his haste to come up with some acceptable shape to tell her, he suddenly found one. "A swan," he said, and then almost in awe, "I see a swan."

Alex's smile could rival the brightest sun as Legolas's gaze shifted from the sky to the woman beside him. The question flying out of his mouth before he could stop himself, "Why don't you draw anymore?"

Alex watched regret flickered in his gaze in an instant the question left him. Her smile slipped and she found herself gazing back at the blue sky in concentration, her mind swirling with memories of her drawings all burning and disappearing in a cloud of smoke right before her. "It was taken from me." Biting her lip as she recalled with clarity the events following her admission to Springdale. "My mother took it from me," she could feel Legolas' gaze burning, "I guess, its wrong to point all the blame on them, seeing as I did not put up much of a fight when they took my art away from me."

Legolas noticed her hand shake and watched as her eyes glazed over seeing something beyond what is there. "Meleth," reaching for her hand and holding it tightly in his.

Alex turned to him and smiled but it did not quite reach her eyes. "My Mother burned every drawing I had of this place. All my sketches of you." Her voice faltered and her her eyes watered at the sketchbook she had filled with stolen sketches of his profile. "I was forbidden to draw, paint or anything resembling those activities. My sketchpads were taken from me. As well as my paints and pencils. I was forbidden to appreciate art in every form and in time I learned it was better to distance myself from it."

Legolas thought he knew what longing and pain felt like but he was shocked to his core at the blank void currently present in his wife's face. In choosing him, she lost the one thing she held dear. The one thing she was able to freely express herself in. The one thing her soul yearned for.

Astonishment crossed his features at the images he saw, flipping the peculiar contraption of white parchment paper sewn together, he saw drawings of different kind. From images he recognized of horses and trees, to images that made him question the true origin of the girl. "These are magnificent."

"They're not that bad." Alex answered feeling proud of herself.

"I beg your pardon, but how old are you? And who taught you to draw like this?" His eyes moving over the drawings, following every line and blended color.

"I'm eight and my tutor taught me the technique but I have always loved to draw. When I grow up, I'll be the best artist there is!" Alex proudly announced.

"Does your Nana draw?"

"No." Alex sighed, sadness taking over her form, "But she joked that maybe I got my talent from my Great Grandfather. She said he was a great painter, but I've never met him." Saying with child like nonchalance who was not to be bothered with a person she had never met.

Legolas recalled that day with vivid clarity. How could he have missed it? It was staring at him right in the face. Lord Elrond was revered as a great painter among the elves!

All of a sudden all their conversations flashed in his mind, each one offering an insight to her and all offering clues to her true form. His heart hammered in his chest at all the times he watched her hunched over her parchment deep in concentration, her eyes moving over the subject of focus and with swift moves of her wrist and fingers was able to reflect the images vividly with artistry over the parchment. Once again, Alex's subject of lineage ate away at him and he glanced at her to find that she was innocently gazing at the clouds, no trace of worry on her face.

"There was a time I was so afraid to go out." Alex scoffed at the statement, remembering all the times she would opt to stay indoors, avoiding all triggering subjects that would make her remember anything about Arda. "I could not look at a tree or a view of nature or horizon without shaking in fear. I guess in a way their form of therapy worked. In time I forgot all about this place. And anything to do with art. I became good with math and I flourished in competitive situations. I had no time to flounder about. I made sure I lived a fast paced life."

Legolas felt anger simmer in his veins at what she had to went through. It was a miracle she never faded while in her world. Thinking about everything she was forced to endure. She was an elf—a peredhil—but an elf nonetheless. At that moment, Legolas knew Aemilia must have fought for her. She must have. The fear of losing Alex from wasting away over her grief of losing something that is part of you was unimaginable and Legolas felt his throat constrict at the possibility.

Alex suddenly turned and smiled, this time making her eyes sparkle under the morning sun. "But, those fears don't matter now." At his bewildered stare she continued, "because me being here again reminded me why I loved the outdoors. To be honest, I was actually amazed I still remembered how to ride a horse." Alex snorted making Legolas smile at her ability to brush the pain aside. "And, I see a dwarf." Leaning her head back down on the soft grass, Alex pointed to a particular cloud that had a round head and an almost elongated tail that is shaped like a beard, "Reminds me of Gimli." Alex announced making both of them snicker.

The study of cloud formations, Legolas soon realized, was an unexpectedly pleasurable pastime— particularly with Alex's hand clasped in his, and her body pressed against his side. A few minutes later, however, the combined distraction of her nearness and the scent of her became too potent to ignore. Leaning upon his forearm, Legolas braced his other arm on the opposite side of her, then he slowly lowered his mouth to hers. Her response to his first kiss was so warm and eager that Legolas felt as if his heart was melting. Pulling his lips from hers, he gazed down at her lovely face, feeling humbled by her gentleness and warmth. "Have I ever told you," he whispered solemnly, "how sweet I think you are?"

Before she could answer, he kissed her with all the hungry urgency he felt.

It was mid-afternoon when they rode back to the stables. Unaware of the surreptitious glances of Gimli and Paul and the two dozen stablekeeps and grooms, who were all avidly curious about the outcome of the morning's jaunt, Alex put her hands on Legolas' broad shoulders, smiling into his eyes as he reached up to lift her down from her sidesaddle.

"Thank you for a lovely day," she said as he slowly lowered her to the ground.

"You're welcome," he replied, his hands lingering unnecessarily at her waist, keeping her body only inches from his.

"Would you like to do it again?" she offered, thinking of their fishing.

Legolas' chuckle was rich and deep. "Again," he promised huskily whispering to her ear making goosebumps erupt down her arms and shivers running up her spine, thinking of their lovemaking. "And again... and again..."

Alex's smooth cheeks turned as pink as roses, but an answering sparkle lit her eyes. "I meant," her eyes widening in scandal while her tone told him she was mockingly scolding him, "would you like to go fishing again?"

"Will you let me catch the biggest fish next time?"

"Of course not," she said, her face glowing with merriment, "but I suppose I'd be willing to vouch for you if you want to tell everyone about the 'drowning orc' you caught that got away." Legolas threw back his head and shouted with laughter.

The sound of his mirth echoed through the stables where Aragorn and Gimli was standing at a window beside one of the grooms, watching the elf prince and his young princess. "Told ye she could do it!" Gimli said, nudging Paul and winking. "Told ye she'd make him happier 'n he's ever been afore!" Humming cheerfully, he held his hand out as Paul dropped two gold coins on the dwarf's hand making Aragorn roll his eyes at the duo's affinity for betting.

A young boy paused in the act of polishing the silver-trimmed harness to study the pair of lovers, then he bent his head to his task again, but now he began to whistle a happy little melody between his teeth.

A stablekeep laid down his pitchfork and watched the elf and Miss Alex—known for her acts while in the Helm's Deep and her interest in the abbey and for helping the impoverished—then he, too, began to whistle as he reached for another bundle of hay.

Putting his hand beneath Alex's elbow, Legolas started to escort her back to the Golden Hall, then he stopped abruptly and turned as the stable yard seemed to fill with tuneless, discordant melodies being hummed and whistled by servants going about their tasks with jaunty vigor.

"Is something wrong?" Alex asked, following his glance.

A slight, puzzled frown creased his forehead, then he shrugged, unable to discern exactly what had caught his attention. "No," he said, guiding her back to the house. "But I've lazed away most of the day, and I'll have to convene with Aragorn on what I've missed today and attend the King's council tomorrow to make up for it."

Disappointed, but still determined, Alex said brightly, "In that case, I won't try to corrupt you with amusing distractions."

It was a warm reunion between Alex and Merry that night during dinner, while Gimli tried to regale Alex with the latest gossips and stories she missed during her week long seclusion as she was healed and as Gimli happily put it; Guarded within an inch of her life.

Alex was astounded that they feared for her safety that much, feared that it would happen again. Although she did notice, that no one seemed to be keen on giving her any explanation as to how it happened only the details of what happened and how it lead to Gandalf's decision of leaving with Pippin. As Alex allowed herself to be distracted by Merry and Gimli and the occasional smile from Eowyn and Eomer, she thought she saw Legolas, Aragorn—and to her bewilderment, Paul—all in serious discussion on the other corner of the room.

Legolas saw the worried glance Alex sent his way, as he stood with Aragorn and Paul, all three in discussion about the latest updates during the King's council. Aragorn had informed them that King Theoden still had not made up his mind of whether to ride to the aid of Gondor, but they were assured by Eomer that he would have word with his Uncle about it. Legolas did not appreciate the sudden silence as they await for any sign from Gandalf or what could their next course of action be and he hated more the fact that he cannot plan ahead, especially in regards of Alex's situation and the secret of her lineage. Legolas noticed as Paul also seemed nervous and the they both locked eyes to understand the gravity of what they were forced to kept hidden.

"What do you suppose they are talking about?" Alex asked to the table which earned her curious glances from both Merry and Gimli.

"Do not fret about it lass. Aragorn's frustrated with the King's indecision and the elf if not used to having to wait without a plan, tis all." Gimli offered, waving away Alex's concern and for the time being distracting her with Merry's tale of his shenanigans back in the Shire.

The King had another council called forth the next day and Legolas could not find a reason to miss it this time. What surprised him, however, was that despite the deep conversation about battle plans and route and terrain they are expecting to meet, he found he could not concentrate on any of the discussion at hand. He found himself on numerous times Aragorn pulling his attention back or when Eomer asked him about suggestions for plans of attack that—as a representative for the elves—could provide some recommendation on how to go about handling Sauron's forces. Legolas was able to worm his way out of the embarrassment before they all notice he was listening but not paying any attention to it all. Telling himself that he was merely restless and too long cooped up indoors, Legolas excused himself and walked out of the hall heading for the stables. But when a young stable boy rushed out of the stables to ask if he wanted a mount, Legolas changed his mind and instead strolled along the path that led to the abbey at the edge of the city, where Alex spends her time with the orphans and had said she gave her lessons.

A few minutes later, the sound of singing reached him, and as he ascended the two wooden steps of the abbey, he smiled to himself as he realized that, instead of "wasting time" with song as he'd first supposed, Alex was teaching her pupils the shapes, using a cheerful little song that named each shape. Folding his arms across his chest and leaning on the wooden frame, he stood unseen in the doorway, listening to the sound of her lilting voice and looking about him with inner amazement.

Seated upon the floor, singing with rapt attention, were not only children of all ages, but several adults as well. After some thought, he was able to identify two of the women as wives of some tenants—one of whom who sat beside Bert before Alex took over before he passed, and Bran. Beyond that, he had no idea who the other adults were or to which families the children belonged.

They recognized him, however, and the singing began to grind down to an awkward unmelodious halt as older children stopped singing and silenced their younger siblings. A few yards to his right, Alex tipped her head to the side, smiling at her pupils. "Had enough for today?" she asked sympathetically, misunderstanding the reason for their sudden lack of attention. "In that case, here's your 'thought to remember' until we meet again next time: 'All men are equal,' " she quoted as she moved toward the doorway where Legolas was standing, obviously intending to bid her students goodbye as they left. "It is not birth that makes the difference, it is virtue." Her left shoulder collided with Legolas' and she whirled around.

"What a thing to tell them," Legolas said in a soft, teasing voice, ignoring the occupants of the cabin, who had hastily leapt to their feet and were gaping at him in awe. "You'll incite anarchy with quotations like that." He stepped out of the doorway and the people, correctly interpreting his movement as a dismissal, hastily lined up and filed awkwardly outdoors.

"They didn't say anything to you," Alex said, watching in bewilderment as the cheerful, friendly students she liked so well, scooted guiltily past and then fled into the woods beside the abbey and some back into the city.

"Because I didn't say a word to them," Legolas explained with utter unconcern.

"Why didn't you?" Alex asked uncertainly, her pleasure at his unexpected arrival almost blotting out her confusion.

"Unlike many lords, most have never been on personal terms with their people," Legolas replied indifferently. "And in here, despite that excuse, I'm afraid my nature makes them even more weary of me."

"Your nature—because you're an elf?" Legolas only nodded to her query. Unbidden, a vision of a lonely little elf, forbidden to fraternize with anyone on his vast, populated kingdom, came to mind, and Alex's eyes filled with tenderness as she gazed up at him. Longing to lavish him with all the love in her heart, she linked her arm through his and said, "I'm surprised to see you this afternoon. What brought you out here?"

I missed you, he thought. "Council finished early," he lied. Covering her hand with his, Legolas strolled with her across the front lawns to far edge of the river, once again leading her away from the noise na bustle of Edoras. "This is now my favorite spot," he explained, propping a shoulder against one of the large trees providing them with ample shade. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he swept the woods and river with an absent glance, oblivious to the flowers growing to the clearing beside them. "I imagine that, if you combined all the hours I spent in the woods as an elfling and young elf, you could author an extensive biography of most of my life."

Thrilled that the handsome, enigmatic elf she had married was finally beginning to open himself to her, Alex smiled at him. "The gardens were my favorite place while I was at Fontanellato before. What did you do when you were not in the woods?" she asked, remembering the vivid, hopeless daydreams she'd invented about Legolas before it was evidently shattered with the truth about who he really was and his scandalous dalliances with numerous elleths.

"Studied," he answered flatly. "I didn't like the schoolroom much. Or my tutor, for that matter."

Alex's smile wobbled as she envisioned a handsome, solitary elfling, driven by his father to excel in everything.

Legolas saw tenderness glowing in her emerald eyes and grinned at her, completely unaware of why her attitude had warmed. "What did you do, before you came to middle-earth?" he teased.

Alex shrugged uneasily. "Daydreamed, mostly—when I was young. But before I came back, I was working."

"Daydreamed about what? And what kind of work?"

"The usual things. The first work that I had was when I was still studying. I needed money to pay for my therapy and I found an opening at a corner cafe from my university." Alex watched curiosity reflected in his eyes so she continued, "I worked as a waitress. I waited at tables, served food, washed dishes, cleaned the floor. By the time I graduated, I interned at the company I am currently working and now, I worked as an analyst." Legolas watched as a triumphant smile colored her face and found himself smiling along with her. No trace of resentment or regret in her eyes. At that moment he finally understood her penchant for helping other people. She had nobody to look out for her and she learned at a young age to look out for herself. Pride and pity swam within him. Pride—for her ability to adapt, her resilience and hardwork, her drive for excellence even at the expense of her personal relationship, and pity—for how different her life would have turned out if her father was still alive or how her mother would have treated her differently, of how she would—should—have been spared all the disappointment and heartbreak fate had dealt her with. Suddenly, a pulsing fear creeped over him, would Alex exist if Aemilia hadn't escaped to the other world? A crippling feeling of sadness shadowed his smile knowing that everything Alex is now, is a result of fate intervening. A result of the bizarre twist of fate, a riddle of complex decisions from the people around her—from her mother, to her grandmother, and her father, to the orcs that decided to ambushed Aemilia hundreds of years ago.

At his curious gaze Alex tried to steer the conversation to more lighter matters. She was spared the need to address the sadness in his eyes. She did not need his pity over how her life back home had turned out, "Do you notice something different about this particular part of the river?" Alex's smile never leaving her face, oblivious to the range of emotions battling inside him. Legolas glanced around, oblivious also but to the serenity and beauty around him. "No. Is something different?"

She rolled her eyes in laughing disgust. "How can you possibly overlook a veritable garden of flowers?"

"Flowers," he repeated without interest but perplexed at the sudden turn of their conversation. "Yes, I see them," he added, turning away from the clearing.

"Did you really?" Alex teased, but she was serious too. "Without turning back to look, tell me what colors they were."

Legolas shot her a quizzical look and took her arm, pulling her down on the soft grass to sit. "Yellow?" he ventured after a moment.

Alex laughed silently him, "Pink and white."

"I was close," he joked. "I want to know more about your world." His gaze was serious, a small smile gracing his lips as he regarded her.

Alex stared at him, the silence stretching between them. There was no judgment nor ridicule in his eyes, only sincerity and curiosity over her world. Slowly, Alex felt herself smile, "Who are you and what did you do with Legolas?" Biting her cheek to keep herself from snickering at the puzzled expression on his face.

Alex's eyes danced with mirth and Legolas found himself laugh silently, "I'm right here." His voice soft as he studied her face. Her cheeks flushed from the laughter, her eyes a glittering emerald from the sun's rays and her hair dancing in the soft wind.

"Alright, what do you want to know?"

For the rest of the afternoon, Alex regaled him with stories and descriptions from her world. His mind absorbing all the astonishing information. Informations ranging from the strange to the outlandish and to the unconventional. At one point, Alex grabbed a stick and started to draw figures on the ground just so he could have a better grasp of what she was talking about. Legolas smiled on the inside, watching as Alex did not even realize she was drawing and that her usual anxiety and panic made no appearance. With an insatiable need to get to know her and her world more, Legolas remained silent with an encouraging smile on his lips. In the back of his mind, he needed to prepare himself of what he was going up against, when he'll try to persuade her to stay with him, convince her that her place was with him. It was that afternoon that he found it in his heart as he watched Alex describe her home, that his place was beside her, that she is home—his home— whatever she decides, whether here or back at her world, that there is no question of whether he would follow. Alex is his home and there is no place he would rather be. Silently, in the corners of his heart he is praying that Alex felt the same for him.

On the way back to the golden hall, he noticed for the first time that the roses blooming lavishly in the manicured beds beside the steps were divided by color, rather than mixed together, and that the pink ones reminded him of her lips. Slightly embarrassed by the heretofore untapped sentimentality she was awakening in him, Legolas glanced at her bent head, but the next thought he had was even more shockingly sentimental than the last: I need you with me.

Another day has passed and there was still no word from Gandalf or any sign from the brewing war on Minas Tirith. Everyone on Meduseld was starting to feel the pressure. Merry had started joining in on the council. Even Gimli who was usually up at noon, had now started to wake earlier to everyone's surprise, was sometimes found spending time in the stables, offering help with the care of the horses or accompanying Merry in one of the council meetings. Eowyn was always a gracious lady of the hall and made sure that everyone's needs was met or catered to.

That was where Alex mostly found herself that day, beside Eowyn and trying her best to offer assistance in any way she can. Alex's time was divided between helping Eowyn and visiting the abbey. The latter was a welcomed distraction from the current battle of emotions swirling inside her, ever since she and a certain elf had reconciled almost two weeks ago. Last she had seen him was during their escapade yesterday and she was trying—unsuccessfully—to keep it that way. Her mind was a jumbled mess of thoughts, but her heart had always known what it wanted and that scared her.

What was she doing dallying with him when she was engaged? Or, what was she thinking getting herself engaged when she was already married?

Despite her self scolding, butterflies erupted in her belly at the thought that the handsome, enigmatic, kind elf was married to her. A rush of warmth would spread from her belly to her extremities at the thought he wanted to stay married to her.

Alex was no fool. She knows what Legolas was trying to do, and she knew what he wanted from her—from their marriage. It did not stop the burst of excitement that blossomed in her, but it could never hide the guilt—guilt at her being engaged. Legolas never pestered her about Tom and it shocked her that she told him everything about her fiancé. She watched numerous emotions flicker in his eyes but he never voiced them. To Alex's surprise, Legolas was calm and understanding about all of it, making things difficult for her and for her guilt to eat at her more.

She knew what she had to do. She knew she was never meant for Tom, but until she has no way of returning home, she was still engaged to Tom and her heart cursed her for it.

She recalled the days prior and how she and Legolas talked about everything. Her heart swelled at the memory. She wanted to reach out and kiss away the guilt and remorse on his face when she told him about what happened to her all those years ago. The urge to wrap her arms around him and offer the comfort he needed but a part of her could not bring herself to do it. Despite what her heart was screaming at her, she still held some resentment towards everything that happened years ago and to him by extension.

Her heart beat wildly in her chest once she acknowledged that all encompassing feeling she feels when he was near or when he was looking at her with something akin to admiration and pride and contentment. While he meticulously took his time every time they were together or how she would suddenly feel safe and secured whenever he was near. I love him, the thought coming to the forefront of her mind and she had not the energy or the heart to deny it any longer.

Happiness swelled inside her and she wanted to shout it. To run to him and tell him that and everything. That if he asked her to stay now, her heart would undoubtedly say yes. She will give him the world if he asked, she would give him her heart, body and soul without question.

With that thought, she felt like a weight has been lifted from her shoulders. Felt like her chest had loosened and she could breathe again. She felt light. She felt like floating.

"What's got your panties in a twist?" Paul suddenly appeared startling her.

"Jesus! You scared me!" Alex laughed, smacking her best friend on the arm making him flinch and distance himself a little ways away.

"Sorry. But you should've seen your face, you had this shit eating grin." Paul laughed mimicking the dreamy smile on her face, "Like a cat that ate the canary. So, what's up? What's the deal between you and the elf?" Wagging his eyebrows, making both of them laugh even louder.

"Nothing." Shrugging, attempting and failing to look nonchalant.

"Doesn't look like nothing."

Alex scoffed trying and failing to keep her face from turning into a ripe tomato. "Well, what does it look like?" Raising her eyebrows and giving her friend a glare.

"Well for starters, it looks like a lot of sex." Looking absolutely petrified, on instinct, Alex spanked Paul again. "Hey! Enough with the spanking." Rubbing the spot on his arm and looking back at Alex and looking like having a eureka moment, "Did you get that habit from him? He's not into spanking is he?"

"Oh my God!"

"And to answer your question, it just doesn't look like sex, but like a lot of sex. And not even the shitty type of hello-goodbye fifteen second type quickie thing, but like really good sex, ya know?"

"We're not talking about this."Alex murmured returning to arranging the plates in the hall as it was almost time for supper.

"Oh come on! You promised me deets—like a week ago. And if you haven't noticed lately, I live vicariously through you." At this Alex guffawed making few of the hall servants look at her in disdain.

"Since when?" Alex asked still trying to hold her laughter.

"Since we arrived here in Middle Earth. Like hello, earth to my selfish-bestfriend-who-is-keeping-details-of-her-obvious-very-active-very-good-sex-life-and-fulfilled-love-story-romance-with-a-handsome-elf-prince," Alex rolled her eyes at her exaggerated title, "Yes you! And don't roll your eyes at me missy." Paul scolded pointing a finger at her.

"I'm not talking."

"Come on, throw me a bone here."

"It's my bone. And I'm not sharing." Smirking and making at turn to walk away from the prying ears of the servants around them. "Because it's a very talented bone."

"So he's not only hot, he has to be packing too. Now, I hate you." Mocking a surprised expression and suddenly turning serious. "I miss Nikolai."

Alex felt guilt rise in her. She had been so caught up with the current development with her relationship with Legolas that she only now realized that she had been neglecting her best friend. This is a new world for him, and he too, had to adapt and adjust with everything that has happened. "Oh gosh Paul, I am so sorry." Biting her lip and staring at Paul with remorse.

"Whatever the fuck for?"

"I've been a shitty friend haven't I?" Paul made a move to answer but Alex cut him off, "Don't answer that. I know I've been a shitty friend. Shit. I should've asked how you were doing, I should've paid more attention if you're okay…"

"Hey, hey…hold your horses." Paul snickered, holding Alex by her arms making her look him in the eye. "What is with all this Dr. Phil shit? What just happened?" Paul's gaze never leaving Alex's. His face completely bewildered.

Alex licked her lips and tried to swallow feeling her throat close up. She tried inhaling and exhaling, remembering the calming exercises Dr. Patel taught her. "I love him." Alex blurted out, making her eyes water.

Paul's gaze moved round and returning back to her still with the same bewildered expression. 'I'm sorry, you lost me."

Alex groaned, moving away from Paul in frustration, "I love him, Paul! I love him. And its scary and amazing and…and…"

"Alex, slow down. You're giving me whiplash. You love the elf, I mean, that's good…right?"

"Dammit Paul! Haven't you been listening?" Alex ran her hand through her hair, almost pulling the strands out. "I love him. I love him with everything in me…but I'm still engaged to Tom and its unfair to Tom, he doesn't deserve this—"

"I beg to differ…" Paul muttered,

"and, and, and I…I…I don't know what to fucking do! And I know Legolas'll ask me to stay and I'm not ready, I'm not sure I can just drop everything back at home behind. I like my job, I like my world…right? And, and what am I suppose to do here? And what about my mother, my Nana, she's—her health is deteriorating, I don't want to leave the only family I have behind. I don't know what to do, and what if he doesn't feel the same, what if after all this is over he'll realize he doesn't want me and, and… what I really want to ask is, are you okay?" Alex was heaving by the time she had gotten her self to calm down, but her hands were left frozen suspended in the air when she tried to explain the riot of thoughts running through her head.

"um..Okay. Are you done?" Paul slowly asked, moving to where Alex was standing to rub her arm and squeeze her hand. "We have a lot to catch up on huh?" Alex gave a small smile and sighed heavily. "Why don't we find somewhere quiet to talk. Because I also want to talk." Paul said calmly giving Alex a kind smile and pulling her towards the direction outside of Meduseld away from everybody else.

"Ugh, I'm so sorry." Alex groaned covering her face with her hands, "We were talking about sex and then you said something about living vicariously through me and I just thought you must be suffering here and then you mentioned Nikolai and I felt like it was my fault for dragging you out here…and then this conflicting feelings about Legolas and… You already have so much on your plate and I don't want to burden you with my dilemma and now I did."

"Yes you did, and you don't have to apologize. And I'm not burdened." Alex gave Paul a teary smile, placing an arm around is waist giving him a soft squeeze. Both of them sat down on the bench on one of the quiet spaces outside of Meduseld.

Alex updated Paul on what has happened between her the elf, leaving out the intimate details, and giving him a detailed description of her dilemma—fortunate enough that Alex was calm through the whole conversation. Paul assured her that his earlier comment about Nikolai was not a jab against Alex, but that he was just voicing out how he would've actually liked to have settled whatever it is between him and the sexy resident at New York Presbyterian.

Paul had always been a free spirit and even as Alex scolded him last time for hooking up with a stranger as soon as Nikolai disappeared, it occurred to him that maybe he had something to do with the doctor's abrupt departure.

"Alex, I completely get your dilemmas, but you are going to give yourself an aneurysm if you continue to follow this trail of thinking. "

"Spell 'aneurysm'."

"Shut up."Paul scolded silencing a snickering Alex, "You love Legolas."

"I do." Alex admitted savoring the feeling of euphoria that engulfed her entire being at finally being able to admit it out loud.

"Well I guess the only logical thing to do is, you break up with Tom." As soon as Alex tried to gnaw at her lip, Paul interrupted her. "No, don't do that. You know as well as I do, that from the moment he got down on one knee and proposed to you, you had been dreading the wedding, you have been dreading breaking it off but it is happening—this is happening. Lex, you don't have to always do what people want or expect at the expense of your own happiness. You love Legolas, and Tom deserves more than a pity-partner. Tom deserves what you and Legolas have and Tom is not going to get it from you. You know for a fact that you will not be able to give him what he needs. So as soon we find a way back, you will turn him down and call the wedding off."

Alex mulled over what Paul said. Her eyes darting back and forth over her friend and the scenery before them. How was she suppose to choose—why does she have choose at all? Why does she have to choose between Legolas and her home? Was she ready to leave everything she ever knew in exchange for a world she barely knew? Hesitation and fear mingled inside her, but around the dark shadows of it there was a tiny light and the more she focused on it the brighter it became. Closing her eyes she only saw one face, his startling blue eyes staring at her with so much intensity making her skin crawl not with fear but anticipation, her insides feeling warm. She tried to imagine her life before arriving in Middle Earth and found pain and a gaping hole, an endless abyss or darkness. She tried to picture her life if she chose Tom and found herself suddenly void of happiness, trapped in a cycle of mundane living that she knows in her gut is going to eat her from the inside out. With startling realization she whispered, "Okay."

"Alright, next, you are going to be honest with Legolas about how you feel."

"I can't." Alex voice broke from the panic, she would choose Legolas but in the end she knew he would be the guiding decision if she was to ever stay. She wouldn't know what to do if he was to reject her.

"Yes, you can and you will." Paul's firm voice broke through her inner debate. "He maybe an an elf and have all this cool and hot traits," waving his hands around him like it summarized all the amazing characteristics of elves, "and a talented dick, but he is not an effin mind reader. He's no Edward Cullen."

"But, what if he…"

"Ah, ah… you will tell him and you will not regret it."

"You can't possibly know what he'll say.."

"Trust me, I know."

"Has he said something to you?"

"He doesn't need to. I have eyes, Lex. I don't say much, but my eyes see everything. You made the guy jump all kinds of hoops like some circus poodle, and you're doubting he doesn't feel the same?" Grabbing her chin and looking at her straight in the eye, "He's a fool not to want you."

Alex mulled again at the thought Paul presented. Her smile growing more and more as she thought about the possibility of the elf feeling the same.

"Look at you all gooey and mushy and soft. I never thought I'd see the day that the great Alexandria Grae is in love!" Snapping his fingers and making Alex laugh at the absurdity of their conversation. "You have rainbows and unicorns flying out of your ass." Paul continued making both of them laugh. Alex eyes watered at the thought of loving the elf. Suddenly she felt freedom, unlike everything she had felt before. "You've been in love with him your whole life. That's the reason you could not find it in yourself to commit to anyone else. You just found it easy to bury all that love under all that anger, but now you finally have a chance to love and be loved and take it, Alex. Because out of all the people I know, you deserve it." Without warning, Alex flung herself and hugged Paul. "I'm so happy for you, ya know." Paul whispered, his eyes downcast as he remembered what he and the elf were forced to keep from her. Paul knew Legolas was trying to find a way to tell Alex, despite what Gandalf and Aragorn had warned them would happen or how Alex would react, Paul had to trust Legolas that he was looking for a way without scaring her, or worse hurt her. Giving her a final squeeze before letting go. Legolas, don't screw this up.

"Your getting wise and all knowing again."

"Eh," waving his hand dismissively making both if them snicker, "Maybe I'll write a self-help book, you'll never know."

With the lush grass muffling the sound of her approach, she walked toward him, her emotions wavering between joy at seeing him and uncertainty because he had neither dined with her last night nor talked to her. Aware that his attitude toward her had begun to cool when they walked back from the river the other day, she hesitated and then threw caution to the winds. She loved him, and she was determined to teach him to love and to laugh.

In line with that resolve, she walked silently up behind him, rose up on her toes, and covered his eyes with her hands. Obviously, he'd heard her approach because he didn't flinch or move a single muscle. "You're late," he said with a smile in his voice because she was still covering his eyes.

Legolas felt guilt knowing that avoiding Alex last night was the last thing he wanted to do. Everything in him screamed for him to see her, to go to her, to talk to her… to tell her the truth. He silently chastised himself for being a coward. Alex and him had never been closer than the last few days. The last few days offered him solace and peace and assurance that Alex felt something for him. Along with that happy thought came fear. Fear that if Alex knew what he kept from her, would she still listen to him? Would she still want him?

"You have to tell her." Paul whispered frantically as soon they were alone. Alex was left with Gimli and Merry in the hall.

"I'am trying. I do not know how, but I will find a way." He whispered, casting a furtive glance at Paul.

"She deserves to know—"

"Don't you think I am aware of that? Everything in me is dying to let her know. Every day that follows that she remains oblivious to it is torture." Legolas hissed, closing his eyes and taking a sharp inhale before opening his eyes again and offering Paul a glance. To everyone around them it make look like nothing, but Paul saw the turmoil Legolas kept hidden inside. "I don't want to lose her. I just got her back."

"You won't." Legolas scoffed at Paul's statement. He had every reason to fear he'd lose Alex again but Paul ignored him and continued, "She loves you."

"Even if she does, there is no way of knowing for sure…"

"You will find a way. You two were meant for each other."

"Mellon…"

Waving him off, Paul continued, "Even if we are not related, you do know that I am obligated to give you the big brother talk right?" Legolas watched amused as the man before him tried to square off his shoulders to seem to look taller, "I maybe gay, but I can throw a mean right hook."

"Have I told you, how immensely happy I am that are in her life? You were there for her when I couldn't and for that I owe you-"

"Meh. You don't owe me anything. I am a goddess, who wouldn't want me in their life?" Legolas smiled amused at the mortal, a very unique and queer mortal whose loyalty knows no bounds and Legolas felt intensely blessed to have known him, "What you both need to do right now, is to be in each other's lives. Make it happen, ya pointy eared elf princeling." Paul waved offering him a smile before walking off, their obvious crisis averted for the mean time.

In the back of his mind, he knew that by him keeping the secret of her lineage from her, he has a huge change of losing her completely. It was with that grim thought that haunted and that prevented him from seeing her last night. It was with that thought that lead him to isolate himself, and it was with that thought that he had another verbal spat with Aragorn.

The truth has been clawing at his heart. Slowly crawling its way out of his throat. Every look, every smile, every sigh, every moan. Every touch of her hand, the trust in her eyes made him want to kneel and tell her. She had every right to know, she had every right to decide what she wants out of her life knowing that she had a family—a loving family—in Imladris and that he would be by her side all the way—in whatever she decides.

But that choice is currently being withheld from her and he felt rage at the unfairness of it all. Alex deserves to know. Even Paul was clearly fighting the battle silently. Legolas would watch as Paul's smile would slip when she wasn't looking or how his eyes would betray the worry when Alex would glance at him and laugh openly at one his jokes. It was wrong to put the burden on Paul to hide something from Alex.

"Quick," Alex said her smile clear on the tone of her voice, "tell me what color are the flowers on the hill you've been looking at."

"Yellow," he said promptly, not in a hurry to remove her hand from his place. He could smell the scented flowers on her skin and he knew she had bathed that morning. Her touch sending tingling feeling along his skin. "White," she sighed, taking her hands away.

"If I keep saying yellow," he dryly replied, turning to face her, "sooner or later I'm bound to be right." This time pulling her hands slowly from face and keeping it in his own and turning to face her.

Alex shook her head in mock despair and headed toward the blanket he'd spread out on the bank, "You are the most coldly unsentimental elf alive," she told him over her shoulder.

"Is that right?" he asked teasingly, catching her shoulders and drawing her back against the lean, hard strength of his legs and chest. His breath stirred the hair at her temple. "Do you really find me cold, Alex?"

Alex swallowed, vibrantly aware of the compelling sexual magnetism emanating from Legolas' powerful body. "Not cold, precisely," she said shakily, shamefully longing to turn in his arms and ask him why he hadn't wanted her with him last night. Forcibly trying to ignore her wanton longing for him, she knelt upon the blanket and quickly began removing food from the baskets.

"Are you so hungry?" he teased, sitting down beside her.

"I'm starved," she lied, sensing that he was going to kiss her at any moment and trying to get control of her senses before he did. It was one thing to banter with him and try to establish some sort of rapport; that was permissible. But it was not permissible to let him see that she was ready to fall into his arms whenever he decided to kiss her—particularly because he had ignored her completely last night. As if her life depended upon arranging their plates and crystal symmetrically, she remained kneeling, keeping her profile to him.

As she leaned forward to straighten their snowy linen napkins, Legolas' hand lifted, brushing away a lock of hair that had blown across her cheek. "You have gorgeous hair," he murmured in a velvety voice that sent an uncontrollable thrill shooting through her. "It darkens in the sunlight like ebony and your skin is soft as a peach."

Alexandra sought safety in light humor. "Obviously, I am not the only one who's hungry."

He chuckled at her evasion, but his hand began trailing sensuously down her cheek and along her bare arm. "Didn't any of the women in the abbey offer you refreshment?"

"Mrs. Scottsworth did, but her sister Mrs. Tilberry was in the part of the abbey they use for a kitchen, so I didn't accept." Alex wrinkled her pert nose, thinking of the sharp-tongued Mrs. Tilberry, who mercilessly bullied her daughter-in-law, even in Alex's presence.

Legolas' hand tightened on Alex's arm, inexorably pulling her hand away from the napkin she was determinedly rearranging, until she had no choice except to turn her face up to his sultry gaze.

"What was Mrs. Tilberry doing in Mrs. Scottsworth's kitchen?" he murmured as his sensual mouth descended toward hers.

"Chanting incantations and waving a stick over a pot," Alex joked shakily.

"Chanting incant—" Legolas burst out laughing, caught her shoulders, and in one horrifyingly swift move, twisted her onto her back and leaned over her, his arm beneath her. "If there's a witch around here casting spells, it's you," he chuckled huskily.

Mesmerized by his azure gaze, Alex simultaneously wanted the kiss he was going to give her, and resented the easy conquest he made of her whenever he wished. When he bent his head, she turned her face slightly so that his lips could only graze her cheek. Undaunted by that, Legolas lazily trailed his lips across her cheek to her sensitive earlobe. Abruptly he plunged his tongue into her ear, and Alex's whole body jerked into rigid, automatic response. "I—I'm hungry," she gasped desperately.

"So am I," he whispered meaningfully in her ear, and her heart began to hammer like a maddened thing. Lifting his head, he gazed down into her languorous green eyes. "Put your arms around me."

"How about after dinner—when I'm stronger?" Alex stalled. She watched in absorbed fascination as his firm male lips formed a single word of implacable command: "Now."

Drawing a shattered breath, Alex reached up and curved her hands over his broad shoulders. Without any conscious order from her mind, her hands tightened, drawing him down toward her, then she stopped, panicked by the desire suddenly shooting through her.

Her mind replaying the conversation she had with Paul yesterday. The declaration on the tip of her tongue. Would he feel the same? As much as she tried to give herself the silent pep talk, doubt swirled inside her. He didn't come and see her last night, she knew he avoided her yesterday. Her heart could not take if if she offered it now and he would reject her.

"Now," Legolas repeated in a husky whisper, his lips a fraction of an inch from hers. Distracting her from the silent argument Alex was having with herself. "W-wouldn't you like a—a glass of wine, first?"

"Now."

With a silent moan of despair and surrender, Alex curved her hand around his nape and eagerly brought his lips against her own, showing him with her lips the emotion that is eating her alive, making her weak and light and peaceful. She hoped with all her heart he'd understand so that she doesn't have to say it, so that if he does reject her, she could hide behind the denial that it was all in his imagination. Despite the immense feeling of love, fear swallowed it all in the moment.

Alex felt like a coward.

At first the kiss was a gentle, tentative greeting between two lovers, but the longer it continued the more pleasurable it became for both of them, and the tighter they clung to each other, seeking more. Legolas' tongue sensuously parted her lips, slipped between them for one sweet, arousing taste, and withdrew... then hungrily, urgently, plunged again, and desire exploded between them.

His hands opened her gown, tugging down her chemise, baring her breasts to his hot eyes. His hand cupped her breast, pushing it upward, his thumb circling her nipple, while he watched the pink tip harden into a tight bud. And then with deliberate, aching slowness, he bent his head and put his mouth where his thumb had been. His mouth closed around her aroused nipple, his lips and tongue toying with it until Alex gasped with pleasure, then he lavished the same reverent attention on her other breast. His hand memorizing every curve, every dip, every smooth plane and committing it to memory. The universe has indeed dealt him with a fate worse than death. The one thing—one person—he needed to live, was going to slip from his fingers and he has no idea how to stop it.

Passion was raging through Alex's entire nerve stream by the time he finally removed their clothes and stretched out beside her, leaning up on his forearm. "I can't get enough of you," he whispered achingly, his eyes molten with desire as they gazed into hers while his hand sought and found the apex between her legs. His eyes still holding hers, he parted her thighs, his fingers toying and teasing her, penetrating her moist warmth, until Alex was writhing in helpless need, arching her hips against his hand, throwing her head back sending her dark waves fanning around her, her eyes clenched shut, her mouth opened in a silent cry and Legolas thought she looked absolutely magnificent, but still he would not stop. Hot, convulsive waves were racing through her in a trembling fury, and finally she moaned aloud, her hands running up and down the bunched muscles of his arms, then she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and leaned into him. His skillful fingers became more insistent, and another moan tore from Alex's throat. "I know, love," he told her achingly, "I want you, too."

He had unselfishly intended to give her a bursting climax this way, before he joined with her in yet another one—as he had done the other night—but his wife made him forget that idea. Tearing her mouth from his heated kiss, she slid her fingers into the sides of his hair and whispered brokenly, "Please…I need you—"

With a shattered groan, Legolas gave her what they both wanted. Settling between her legs both of them moaning at the sensation of skin contacting skin, he wrapped his arms around her, pulled her to him, and entered her with one sure, powerful thrust. Alex pressed her hips hard against his pulsing thighs, and with his hands cupping her bottom, Legolas joined with her in the most selfless act of lovemaking of his life. Driving slowly, rhythmically into her, he sought only to give her pleasure with each deep thrust, while she, in the same desperate need to please him, matched his movements.

I love you, he thought with each thrust of his body; I love you, his heart shouted with each thunderous beat; I love you, his fëa cried out as Alex's spasms clenched him tightly. I love you. The words exploded in his being as he drove into her one last time and poured his life, his future, and all the disillusionment of his past into her tender keeping.

And when it was over, he held her in his arms, filled with a joy that was almost past bearing as he gazed at the white clouds floating in the powder blue sky. All of them had shapes and meaning to him now. All his life had shape and meaning to him now.

When Alex surfaced to reality an eternity later, she found herself lying on her side, stretched full length against his naked body. Legolas' hand was splayed across her bare back, his other hand still wrapped in her hair, holding her face pressed to his chest. With an effort, Alex lifted her head, opened her languorous deep green eyes and gazed at him, then she flushed at the knowing look in those hooded grey eyes, and the faint, satisfied smile touching the corner of his lips. She had behaved like a shocking wanton and she had done it in broad daylight, outside! Suddenly overwhelmed by his ability to overcome all of her defenses, she drew back and said lamely, "I'm hungry."

"When I'm stronger," he promised teasingly trying to hide the sorrow that filled his heart. The truth once again had resumed at eating away at him from the inside out all the while deliberately misunderstanding what she was hungry for. "For food!" she gasped.

"Oh, that," he said dismissively, but he obligingly rolled to his feet and politely turned his back, allowing her privacy while they both put on their clothes. "You have grass in your hair," he chuckled, brushing the few blades from her glorious tangle of dark mahogany tresses.

Instead of answering him with a smile or a quip, Alex bit her lip, her gaze sliding away from his as she began to unpack the picnic dinner.

Finally understanding her unspoken need to be alone for a few minutes, Legolas strolled down to the bank of the stream where he remained for several minutes, his foot propped upon a boulder. The flowers on the hill, he suddenly noticed with dazzling clarity, were indeed white—a joyous, cheery carpet of white against dark green.

When he returned, Alex was holding a crystal decanter of wine. "Would you like a glass of wine?" she asked with the extreme courtesy that only very uneasy people employ. "It—it's the special kind you drink—I can tell from this decanter."

Crouching down, Legolas took the glass from her outstretched hand, but he put it aside and gazed directly into her eyes. "Alex," he said gently, "there is nothing immoral, nothing shameful, and nothing wrong about what just happened between us here."

Alexandra swallowed and glanced uneasily about them. "I know that." Scoffing and refusing his eyes, "But…its broad daylight and we're outside. What if somebody saw us?."

"I left instructions at the stables that we wished to be private here this afternoon." Color flared in her cheeks.

"No doubt everyone knew why."

Lowering himself into a sitting position, he put his arm reassuringly around her shoulders and grinned at her upturned face. "No doubt they did," he agreed without a trace of her own embarrassment. "It is, after all, how heirs are made."

To Legolas' astonishment, a stunned look crossed Alexandra's face and she suddenly buried her face against his chest, her slim shoulders rocking with mirth. "Did I say something funny?" he asked, tipping his chin down, trying to see her face.

Her laughing voice was muffled by his shirt. "No. I—I was thinking of something an old schoolmate of mine told me long ago—about how babies are made. It was so outlandish, I couldn't believe her."

"What did she tell you?" Legolas asked.

She raised her laughing face to his and managed to gasp, "The truth!"

Their laughter rang out across the valley, startling birds in the trees overhead.

"Did you have enough wine, or would you like more?" Alex asked when they had finished eating.

Legolas reached behind him and picked up the empty glass he'd inadvertently tipped over in the grass. "No," he said with a lazy, white smile, "but I like having you wait on me like this."

Alex managed to hold his gaze as she quietly and shyly admitted the truth: "I don't doubt you do." Giving him a playful glare while carefully placing everything back into the basket laughing when Legolas chuckled, "I like doing it." Alex answered, no trace of the earlier playfulness in its place was all sincerity and adoration in her stunning emerald orbs.

In the on the way home, Alex could not tear her thoughts from the stormy passion of their lovemaking or the quiet tenderness that stayed with them afterward while they ate. "Touch me," he had told her. "I like it when you touch me." Did Legolas mean he wanted her to touch him when they weren't making love? The idea of voluntarily touching him was vibrantly appealing, and yet she cringed at the idea that such an action might be construed in elven society as clinging or childish.

She gave him a short, speculative sideways glance through her lashes, and wondered what he would do if she—very casually—rested her head against his shoulder. She could always pretend to be half-asleep, she decided. Having ventured that far in her imagination, she decided to try it and see what happened. Arod trotted silently swaying gently beneath her, and her heart beating a little faster within her, Alex partially closed her eyes and leaned her head lightly against his shoulder. It was the first time she had ever voluntarily touched him in affection, and she instantly knew from the way Legolas swiftly turned his head to look at her, that he was surprised by her gesture. She could not tell, however, what he thought of it.

"Sleepy?" he asked.

Alex opened her mouth, intending to save face by saying yes, at the precise moment Legolas lifted his arm and put it around her shoulders. "No," she said instead.

She felt the slight stiffening of his body as he registered that she had just indirectly told him she wanted to be close to him, and her heart pounded as she wondered what he would do next.

She did not have long to wait. Legolas' hand shifted from her shoulder and came to rest against the side of her face, his fingers gently caressing her cheek as he cuddled her closer to him and then began slowly stroking her hair.

Legolas felt more than heard as Alex's breathing evened out and to his delight he found his wife asleep softly while leaning against him. Something akin to peace and warm wrapped around his heart. He recalled his own question to her earlier in the day about finding him cold and unsentimental and he found himself disagreeing about it too. Slowing Arod to trot to avoid awakening Alex with all the jostling, he felt her adjust herself and bury her face deeply onto the crook of his neck where it met his shoulder. For the moment he never thought about the brewing war nor the threat of Mordor. He had forgotten about the politics back at home and the pressure of his title.

He only thought of her. She had brought him peace.

Leaning down to press a ghost of a kiss on her forehead, holding Arod's reins in one hand, he continued to cradle her head with his other hand, and unceremoniously brush the hair at her nape.

But the peace that was granted was only for a moment, as he felt the telltale signs of dread replace the previous feelings of contentment. There was still the subject of her lineage and with the added pressure of Paul urging him to tell her despite the advice of Mirthrandir and Aragorn, he felt himself leaning more and more to going against it.

He found in that moment that the dread was not all consuming as the previous times when he contemplated about how to broach the subject about her elven blood. In that moment, while he held her tenderly, feeling all her trust thrusted on him as she slept soundly against him, he felt unworthy of her trust and an unstoppable desire to be worthy of it at the same time.

Days of working out the information of her lineage, of how to approach the subject and most importantly how to tell her all became inconsequential as the decision stared at him then, taunting and simple. In that moment, he decided to condemn Mithrandir and Aragorn's words and follow his heart.

He finally decided he was going to tell her. She may feel betrayed, she is going to fell confused and she will definitely express anger, but he vowed to be honest with her. He was going to stay by her side and allow her the space and guidance to process everything, as daunting it maybe.

Most important of all, she needed to know he was all hers. Despite the need of wanting to tell her the truth, he was craving to be able to tell her how he felt. His mind raced with a million other ways to show her what he felt, but he needed to tell her too.

With a solid resolve he decided to be honest with her about everything. Pulling her closer to him and feeling her quiet sigh, he prayed to Eru for strength.

When she awoke, they had driven up to the stables and Legolas was gently lifting her down. Ignoring the avidly curious, surreptitious stares of the servants at the stable, Legolas lowered her to the ground and grinned at her. "Did I tire you out, meleth nin?" he asked, and chuckled huskily when she blushed.

With her hand linked through his arm, they began strolling toward the Golden Hall, while behind them a groom began to hum off-key, another whistled, an outrageously bawdy ditty whose tune Legolas recognized. Stopping in his tracks, Legolas turned and stared hard at stable boys. Beneath his penetrating gaze, the whistles abruptly died down and the humming wavered to a tuneless stop. A young boy reached quickly for the reins of Legolas' restive horse and led him into the stable; a groom snatched up his pitchfork and energetically dug it into the hay.

"Is something wrong?" Alex asked.

"Nothing. It's just that…" Legolas joked, but his expression was puzzled. "They're entirely too cheerful."

"At least you're finally beginning to notice there's music in the air," his wife pointed out with an irreverent smile.

"Shrew," he teased with a chuckle that was rich and deep, but his grin faded as he looked down into her beautiful face and soberly thought, I love you.

The words crashed into his brain, almost bursting out of him in their need to be said. She wanted to bear those words, Legolas realized instinctively as her eyes held his, looking into his soul.

She loves you, Paul's words echoed in his mind.

He would tell her, he decided. When they were alone in his bed, he would say the words he'd never said before. He'd release her from their arrangement and solemnly ask her to stay with him. He'd tell her about her family in Imladris and after all was said, he prayed she would want to stay, his only hope is that, as well as he knew this lovely, bewitching, joyous woman loved him.

"What are you thinking?" she softly asked.

"I'll tell you tonight," he promised huskily. Putting his arm around her waist, Legolas drew her tightly against his side and they strolled together back to Meduseld—two lovers returning from a halcyon day, sated, unhurried, content.

As they passed the wide, rose-covered arch that marked the entrance to the formal gardens, Legolas grinned ruefully to himself and shook his head as he realized, for the first time in his life, that the roses tumbling over the arch were red. Rich, vibrant red.

It was mere minutes when they passed the grand dining hall, Theoden enjoying his meal and Eomer in the company of his knights discussing battle formations and combat strategies. On the other side spotting Paul, Gimli and Merry huddled talking and laughing lightly when their short moment of peace was interrupted, ending the last few days into a crashing halt and reality settling in.

A voice he all too recognized booming and baring at them all, "The beacons of Minas Tirith! The beacons are lit! Gondor calls for aid!" Aragorn's voice echoing around the grand stone hall, all eyes sharply turning to Theoden who looked up startled.

0-0-0

AN: AHHHH! aren't they just cute and frustrating and cute? hahah lemme know what you guys think! =) now, just a heads up, the next chapter is going to take longer than i anticipated. (please don't kill me...) again, i am all about the vibe and even though the plot is already there, it just feels incomplete for me, if you know what i mean. like something is missing. i just want to make sure that after all the twists and turns, i am still able to give these characters the right portayal and turn that they need to make this story a pleasure to read. =)

fun fact: some of you maybe wondering about Thranduil's statement about preparing for war (in the previous chapter), here is where i tried to stitch it with the events in the book:

-During the War of the Ring, a series of assaults were made by the orcs of Dol Guldur against Lothlorien and the Woodland Realm (Mirkwood) which happened simultaneously with the Battles of Dale, Pelennor Fields (shown in the 3rd LOTR movie), and the Black Gate (3rd LOTR Movie). The first assault in Lothlorien occurred on 11 March 3019 when the orcs from Dol Guldur swarmed into the forest in a full scale assault, only to be driven back by the Galadhrim. The second assault took place 4 days later and happened simultaneously with the assault on Mirkwood. Again, both attacks failed.

7 days later, the third and final attack on Lothlorien occurred, causing much destruction but again the orcs were defeated. 3 times Lothlorien was assaulted by the orcs and 3 times they were easily repulsed not only because of the Valor of the elves but also because of the power of Galadriel, "which was too great to overcome, unless Sauron himself had come there."

When the Tower of Barad-dûr finally fell in ruin, Celeborn led the Galadhrim across the river Anduin, stormed Dol Guldur and took it. and then Galadriel "threw down its wall and laid bare its pits, and the forest was cleansed." Thranduil also had the victory in the North, clearing his realm from Orcs and other foul beings.

On the New Year's Day of the Elves, Celeborn and Thranduil met in the midst of the forest and renamed Mirkwood, Eryn Lasgalen (the Wood of the Greenleaves).

-Source: The Great Years, Appendix B

=))))

translations:

peredhil - half elf

Udûn - hel/ hell (from the pervious chapter)

meleth - love

meleth nin - my love