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

By Risty Maskell and Silver15

Disclaimer: I look into the mirror of Erised® and I see myself owning the LOTR Characters. If you don't know what the mirror of Erised is, I suggest you read Harry Potter and the Philosophers stone (Sorcerers Stone).

Summary: Gee…let me think…nah, can't tell ya.

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The party was great, though I had to keep an eye on Emma. I knew she was getting fed up with me, but I was doing it for her own good. In the corner I could see Damon looking like a bus had run him over. He was so depressed. I began to feel sort of sorry for him. He loved Emma and I just hoped that Emma loved Boromir more than him. It's not that I minded them spending time together. It was just I didn't want Emma to break Boromir's heart again. He would just hit the bottle yet again.

I watched Elrond, Arwen, Elladan, Elrohir and Aragorn sitting and drinking their alcohol (soft drink in Arwen's case). They all looked so happy to be together after such a long time.

After about three hours of the Christmas party, I looked over to where Emma had been sitting. She wasn't there. Uh oh… Damon wasn't anywhere either. Double uh oh… I began to panic slightly. I knew what they had done. But I didn't want to 'disturb' them.

The next morning, I was sitting on the low tree branch, where I had told Emma I was pregnant. Someone came up behind me. I could tell before I turned around that it was Emma.

"Why?" I asked, icily. "Isn't Kane and Boromir enough for you?"

"Jaime, I had to -"

"Had to? HAD to? Had to what, Emma? I have to tell Boromir now. And when Kane's old enough, Boromir will have to explain to him why he hasn't got a mother!" I yelled, but my throat told me that wasn't such a good idea because it was still getting over my cold.

"Please, Jamie. Don't tell Boromir. I love him with all my heart, but this childhood crush… I don't know why I did it…" she trailed off. I glared at her for a long time before I said something.

"I'll make you a deal. If you and Damon don't do anything else, I won't tell Boromir. But if you do… then I WILL tell him. Boromir is a great friend, Emma. I can't keep secrets from great friends unless I have a satisfactory reason."

Emma nodded. Then we shook hands. "Deal."

Over the six weeks that followed Christmas, Dr. Elliot gave me a job as a part time receptionist, I went for fortnightly checkups to see how the twins were doing and I made up with Emma.

That had been a big deal for me, I had told the silly girl that I wouldn't tell Boromir until I saw a reason to. Like her spending to much time with Damon. She agreed, much to my delight. I didn't want to have a fight with her. We had done so well for about six months now.

While the morning sickness was almost unbearable, I was having a good pregnancy. Frodo loved to think of names. So I put him in charge of that.

"How about Jerry and Josh if they are boys, and Sarah and Simone if they are girls?" He said, which made me roar with laughter. Sam and Rosie, who had gotten married about six months before Christmas, had just celebrated the birth of their new little boy, Benjamin Gamgee. They were very proud. Frodo and I were made god-parents, because Frodo was Sam's best friend.

One morning, Emma came down the stairs and saw me in the kitchen eating chopped fruit and drinking milk.

"Hello, what happened to the girl who couldn't eat anything but dry toast and weak tea?" she asked.

"Oh I can tell you, it feels great. The morning sickness is finally gone and I'm feeling hungry. These little guys are taking it out of me."

Emma laughed and grabbed some breakfast. I got up and put my things in the sink.

"I'll see you later. I have an ultrasound and then I have to work until one."

"All right. Have a good time."

"Like hell."

I left with Emma's laughter following me.

At work, another doctor, Dr. Kurt, thought he owned the place, which he didn't. He thought he could push me around. Order me to do what he wanted. I always came up with instant comebacks and got on with my work. He was such an idiot. Pregnant women were not ones to be pushed around. So the one day that I came in early, he called out to me.

"Jamie! Would you please assist me in getting Mr. Gaffer Gamgee into his hospital room?"

"You know, as much as I would love to, Kurt, I can't. I'm here to have my fortnightly ultrasound. If you'll excuse me." And I walked off.

(Frodo's POV)

I can't believe we're going to have twins. It makes me happy. Sam, Merry and Pippin came over today, while Jamie was at work. Emma, Boromir, Kane and Ria had gone out to do some shopping, Emma had offered to take Ria off my hands for a while. Damon and Benny had gone to visit some friends for a few days and Legolas, Billee and Legolas' family were in town. Jamie's siblings and relatives had gone to see some friends in Midgewood and Elrond, Arwen, Elladan and Elrohir were with Legolas, Billee and co. Colan had gone over to Wendy's. So it was just me, Sam, Merry and Pippin.

We began to chat and Sam and I told the other two about how good life was.

"Life's good, man. I can't believe it took Rosie getting pregnant and having a baby for me to realize that." said Sam, grinning slightly. We all laughed.

"Well. I knew life was good when I first met Jamie. So that's my two cents worth of the conversation." I said, earning laughter from the others.

"We all knew you were happy. You used to stop breathing when Jamie entered the room at High School." Merry said, grinning wickedly.

"To be honest, I was going to ask her out for you, if you hadn't asked her yourself." Quipped Pippin.

Guy talk. I sometimes did miss it. It felt good to catch up once in a while.

(Jamie's POV)

I walked out of the theatre with my arms wrapped around myself. I made my way down the corridor and toward the door. Kurt called after me.

"Jamie. You're due to start work now! Where are you going?" I turned around. I think he could tell I was upset, because he stopped. "What's wrong, Jamie?"

"Kurt." I said in a croaky voice. "Do you think you could get Diane to fill in for me today?"

"Sure. What's wrong?"

"I just feel sick." I said and sniffled a bit to sound convincing. He nodded.

"You get yourself off home. I'll tell Elliot."

"Thanks Kurt." I said and waked slowly toward the door.

I walked up the path to Bag End, got my key out and opened the door. Frodo was there, dozing on the couch. He woke up when I shut the door and ran over to me.

"Hey! What are you doing home so early?"

"Frodo…" I said, tears springing into my eyes.

"What is it, Jamie?" He asked worriedly.

"The babies are dead…" I burst into tears as Frodo gasped. He pulled me into an embrace. I sobbed into his shoulder. "I-I was just s-so happy t- that the m-morning sickness had g-gone. H-how could I n-not have know, Frodo?"

Frodo didn't have the answer. Emma came in and I burst into tears again. The whole thing poured out all over again and Frodo and Emma did what they had done so many times before, helped me and walked me up to bed.