Life after High School. Is It Scary? You Bet.

By Risty Maskell and Silver15

Disclaimer: They're ours! All ours! Silver: No they aren't, Risty. Risty: Wha…? Oh damn.

Summary: You think we know? Gimme a break!

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"Yeah" I said finally, giving Jaime a hug. "Yeah, I would be honoured to. On one condition…"

"What?"

"That you go away and leave me alone" I said quietly. "I know that you are my best friend and everything, but I meant it when I said I didn't want anyone coming after me. I need…I need some time away from everyone. Just to think things through"

"Have you told Billee?" Jaime asked quietly. "What does he think of this?"

"He understands. He knows that I'll come back when I'm ready," I said with a shrug. "He says that he would have never let you come after me if he had known why I wanted to go"

"I'm sorry Emma" Jaime looked rather upset. "I didn't mean to upset you. I was just worried"

"I know," I said slowly. "And I'm not mad at you, not really. I…" I broke off as my vision went blurry. I stood still for a minute until everything went back to normal. I still wasn't well and Damon had been talking about calling a doctor out before Jaime showed up. I still couldn't eat, no matter how hard I tried and my drastic weight loss was having a dangerous affect. Every time I stood up I felt dizzy and I was spending a lot of my time asleep. Having said that, I hadn't hurt myself since I'd been staying with Damon, so I guess that was one good thing.

"Emma" Jaime looked very worried. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah" I said quickly. "Yeah, I'm fine"

"Emma, listen" Jaime put her hand on my arm. "I don't want to sound like I'm trying to get at you or anything, but if you are pregnant, you not eating is only going to harm you and your baby"

"Leave it Jaime," I snapped, a bit sharper than I had intended to. "Just because you're happy to be pregnant doesn't mean that I am. Well I don't want anything to do with you or your children, so just leave me alone"

I got up and walked out, slamming the door behind me. I was fed up of everyone getting at me; didn't they have anything better to do? Obviously not. I went up to my room and locked the door behind me. I knew that Damon and Benny wouldn't let anyone disturb me.

At some point I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up, it was dark. Outside my door I could hear Billee and Damon talking. Knowing that they were probably talking about me, I pressed my ear against the door.

"Well, I guess we'll be going tomorrow" Billee said sadly. "You look after Emma, Damon"

"Will do" Damon promised. "You'll be in Rivendell, right? I'll contact you if anything happens"

"Thanks. I don't know where Jaime and Frodo are going. I'm not sure if they plan to continue with the honeymoon or go back to Bag End…"

"Don't matter" Damon told him. "I can always track them down in an emergency. I think being here may do Emma some good. Which reminds me, how's her ex-fiancée coping?"

"Boromir?" Billee sounded surprised. "Hard to say. At her party Jaime's twin sisters were flirting with him and I know that Tracey has been making moves on him since then, but he doesn't really seem interested. At least I don't think he does. When Emma disappeared, he hit the bottle. Believe me, I haven't seen him in this state since Emma nearly killed herself last year. I feel sorry for him, although I'm on Emma's side in this business"

"If you ask me, she's better off without him" Damon said coldly. "He's just a stupid…"

I turned away from the door, not wanting to hear any more. I had mixed feelings about what I had just heard. Knowing that Boromir missed me made me feel both glad and guilty. I had hoped when I broke up with him that he would meet someone else, but the thought of him and Tracey made me feel really upset. I missed him and I guess that if I was totally honest, a part of me was still in love with him. But it was over and nothing was going to change that.

The next morning, Damon asked me if I wanted to see the others before they left. I told him that I only wanted to see

Billee and Legolas, so he showed them in. I hugged them both and told them that I would come back to Rivendell as

soon as I could. Billee asked me what had happened between Jaime and me but I said I didn't want to talk about it. I

asked them to give my love to Colan and Elrond and they said they would. Then I watched from the window as they left

Silverwood and rode away, with Jaime and Frodo behind them.