Life After High School. Is It Scary? You Bet.
By Risty Maskell and Silver15
Disclaimer: to J. R. R. Tolkien: That is sooo unfair! I hate you! (audience: Think Kevin and Perry Go Large)
Summary: Geez. do I have to?
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(Benny's POV)
Damon and I got up early the next morning and, after speaking to my boss, we began the ride to Gondor. It was supposed to take about a day and a half, but our horses were fresh and we got there just about ten o'clock in the evening. Young Blaze was waiting for us at the doors.
"Hey guys" he called, raising his hand in greeting. "I was wondering when you would get here. Lucas is waiting downstairs. Oh, and you have a visitor, Benny."
"Who?" I asked, puzzled. But Blaze just shook his head. Realising that I would never get anything out of him when he was in this sort of mood, I sent him down to Lucas to tell him that we had arrived. Then Damon and I stabled the horses and went down to the hideout.
When I opened the door, I had the biggest shock of my life. Sitting in a chair beside Lucas was none other than my four-year-old daughter Galia. The daughter I hadn't seen for nearly three years. But she looked a right mess. She was pale, her hair was tangled and she was dressed in rags. Not only that, but her face was bruised and she looked half starved. If Damon hadn't put his arm around my shoulders to support me, I probably would have fallen over in shock. Then Lucas looked up and saw us. It only took him half a second to jump out of his chair and start hugging the life out of us. Galia just looked at us shyly. She didn't know who I was and I hated Lana for keeping us apart like she had. In doing so, she had not only hurt me, she had also hurt our daughter…
"How did she…?" I couldn't finish my sentence. I was just so overwhelmed with emotion that I couldn't think of anything else to say.
Lucas sat back in his chair and gestured to us to take a seat. Blaze, who had been in the room the whole time, sat down too.
"Blaze found her wandering the streets early this morning" Lucas told us. "He took one look at her and brought her back here to me. We tried to call you but Bernard told us that you were coming here so we waited. There's no sign of Lana."
"She is not having Galia back," I said firmly. "Look at the poor kid. Has she told you what happened to her?"
"She hasn't spoken a word since I found her" Blaze said quietly. "Dunno whether it's because she's scared or what."
"Galia" I stood up and walked around to where she was sitting. "Galia, do you know who I am?"
"Are you…?" she said quietly, then hesitated. "Are you my real daddy?"
I nodded, too choked up to say anything. Galia held out her arms and I lifted her up. She flung her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly.
"Don't let mummy take me way again, daddy," she whispered. "Please?"
"No one is going to take you anywhere" I reassured her. "You are safe now. I promise."
I didn't ask her to tell me what had happened. Not then. The poor kid was upset enough as it was and besides, I already had a fairly good idea. Still holding her close, I sat back down next to Damon. She eyed him suspiciously.
"Who is that, daddy?" she asked. "He won't hurt me, will he?"
"No, he won't hurt you" I told her. "This is Damon. He's my friend."
"Oh" she said quietly, and fell silent. After a moment, she rested her head against my chest and brought her thumb up to her mouth. Lucas smiled at me.
"Well then" he said. "I'm glad that we have dealt with one thing. Benny if Lana causes you any trouble I will do everything in my power to help you. Galia isn't going back there, even if I have to murder Lana myself."
"Thanks Lucas"
"And now then, what can I do for you Damon?" he asked. "You have a problem I assume?"
With my help, Damon explained everything. How he loved Emma more than anything, but she had chosen Boromir for the sake of her son and about the phone call I had received the night before.
"She doesn't want to go through with this wedding" Damon explained. "I'm certain of that. And now that she is carrying my child, I figure that evens the odds between Boromir and myself. But there is just one problem…"
"Go on."
"They won't let me talk to her. I tried ringing her last night, just to find out if our mystery caller was telling the truth, and Jaime hung up on me. They are trying to keep us apart, I know it. And so far they are doing a pretty good job of it."
"They?"
"All of them. Well, I don't know about Legolas and Billee or that Elrond, but certainly the rest of them. They don't like me, that's what it is. And they all want her to marry Boromir and forget about me. She's trapped." He put his head in his hands and sighed. "If only I could talk to her."
"Why don't you go down there?" Blaze suggested. Damon shook his head.
"It would only cause a major scene," he pointed out. "And on my own, I would have no chance."
"That is why we came to you" I interrupted. "Could you let us have a couple of men to go down there with? I don't want anyone to get hurt or killed, just a few people on hand to be on our side, so to speak."
"I see" Lucas looked thoughtful. "Exactly when is this wedding taking place?"
"Six days time" Blaze said at once. "In Hobbiton."
"I shall come with you" Lucas told us. "With Forrest and Blaze. It'll take a day or two for me to arrange some cover, but if it is a three day ride, we can still get there the day before the wedding."
"Thanks Lucas" Damon smiled. "I don't know what I would do without you."
"Well there is something you can do for me in return" Lucas informed us. "I have a proposal for you…"
Two days later, the five of us set out. Galia had been left with one of the other thieves who had promised to take good care of her and not let anyone see her, no matter what their excuse.
Damon did not have much of a plan really. He did not want to hurt anyone, or cause any trouble, but he was determined to talk to Emma and he knew that time was running out. First he was going to go to Jaime's house and trying to talk the hotheaded hobbit girl around, although we both knew that she wouldn't let him in. If that failed, he was prepared to go to other lengths…I just hoped for his sake that he knew what he was doing.
(Emma's POV)
My wedding day drew nearer and nearer and Jaime grew more and more annoying. She would not leave me alone for a moment. I couldn't go out by myself, someone always had to be with me, I couldn't be alone in the house and whenever the telephone rang, she always managed to get there first. I was curious as to why, but one evening, about four days before the wedding, I overheard a conversation between her and Frodo. She told him that Damon had rung her wanting to talk to me and that she had hung up on him. Counting back, I realised that it had been the night she had told me that she was pregnant again. Which meant that she had lied to me. She didn't ask if I had wanted to speak to Damon or anything, she had just hung up on him.
Although I did not confront her, I still felt bitter about it. If I could not trust my best friend, whom the hell could I trust? Apart from Billee and Legolas, who were too wrapped up in Colan, and Elrond, who was having trouble with his sons, there was only one person…
I went upstairs and put Kane in his cot. Then I took out the kitchen knife from under my pillow and went into the bathroom with it. I had not harmed myself since Kane was born, but I needed to do it now more than ever. Especially to cope with another betrayal from Jaime of all people…
