A/N: Thanks for reviews on Ch. 13 to Taith Ant, Tanny, Jessica, indigo, and Casey Toh. Further author's notes and acknowledgements follow in Ch. 15.

Ch. 14: Going Home

The man who answered the door was none other than Joe. On seeing Renée, he pushed past Pete and grabbed her arm and started pulling her into the house. Pete had been pretty levelheaded up to then, but he grabbed Joe's arm with his left hand and drew back his right fist and punched the bigger man in the temple, knocking him out in one blow. After making sure Renée was alright, he continued on in. Calador stayed behind and made sure the man wasn't moving.

We entered the living room. A man lay passed out on the sofa, and a woman sat in a chair not far from him. She flinched when we walked in, seemingly scared of Joe coming back. It was obvious she had been beaten. One eye was swollen shut, and there were bruises on her arms and face. When she saw Renée, she hurried to her. From the way she moved, I guessed the beating had left her vision somewhat blurred, and I don't think she realized our clothes weren't simply costumes. She recognized Renée easily enough, but her mind wasn't clear enough to realize the strangeness of our party.

"Renée, you've got to get out of here. Joe just left, but I think he'll be back, and Mike will wake up any minute." Looking at the rest of us, she added, "I don't know who you all are, but I need you to leave. Renée, can you go with them?"

"Amanda, they're my friends. Joe isn't going anywhere any time soon." Renée tried to convince the other woman, but Amanda was still unsure.

I didn't want to get caught by the police, or any of Mike's thugs, so time was of the essence. Not wanting to take time to try to convince her, I simply told her in Sindarin that we had a portal, that we could all go, but she needed to come with us. She stared at us a moment, confused, before nodding her assent. She was stunned, but gathered her senses quickly, then ran back to her room and returned with a book, probably a diary. We started to leave, but when Amanda saw Calador standing over the unconscious Joe, her jaw dropped. He grabbed her elbow and guided her as gently as he could out of the house.

"Come on people, let's go," Pete said. "We should probably camp out at my house for the night and try to go back in the morning once the drunks have gone to bed." He led us back to the nursing home. He went inside and came back a moment later with the keys. "Why didn't I think to grab the keys earlier?" He asked, before answering himself. "Because it would have been too easy. Every trip into that building makes this whole escapade even more delightful, not to mention precarious."

With that dripping sarcasm, we all piled into Pete's car. He has a big car, but fitting six adults, several swords and a longbow into a passenger car was an adventure. Glorfindel had no idea what this mechanical beast was, and was really wary about sitting in it. I managed to convince him to get into it, but it wasn't easy. Pete drove us to an apartment in a safer part of town and retrieved a hidden key from the mailbox. Once we were all inside, Renée introduced us to Amanda. The poor woman was totally overwhelmed. A few minutes ago, she had feared for her life. Now she was once more with Elves. What amazed me, though, was that her concern wasn't for herself but Renée.

"Renée, honey, are you alright? I was worried sick when you disappeared. I don't know why, but I knew this time was different. Things have been so bad with Joe… I just knew you hadn't chosen to run away."

"Not exactly. When I went to Jenny's after the party on Saturday, she offered me a way to find a new life. I was drunk, and I just went along with her. The next thing I knew, I woke up in Rivendell." Amanda's eyes grew even wider, although I wouldn't have thought it possible. Pete went to work cleaning her wounds. Slowly through the evening, we told her the story that had brought us all to her door. By unspoken agreement, nobody mentioned Renée and Pete's engagement. That would have been a bit much for Amanda even knowing what she did. We spoke of the events of Middle Earth and the War of the Ring, and then gave Amanda and Calador some space to catch up. They had been friends since childhood, and were pulled apart with no warning when he returned to Arda. Watching them from a discreet distance, it was pretty clear that he felt more for her than friendship, but Amanda was in such shock that she didn't see it, and he wouldn't put more strain on her than she already had.

The next day we returned once more to the lake that had brought me back to Middle Earth. Amanda and Glorfindel hadn't seen this before. They were both thrown off by the idea of simply walking into a lake fully clothed, but we managed to convince them. I hope never again to experience that sense of falling into nothing that I felt once again in the portal. Once we had all recovered from the passage, I realized we weren't where I'd expected to be. In fact, I didn't recognize the place. Fortunately, Calador did. We were outside of Lothlórien. We started walking toward the city. In the company of one of Galadriel's guards, we weren't bothered. When we reached the city, the Lady herself came out to meet us.

"So the gate has brought you here. It must have been drawn toward the Mirror. Welcome back. You have been gone a few weeks by our reckoning. Our people are leaving this place, and I, too, will soon leave for Valinor. However, Lothlórien will stand as long as Celeborn and I stay. You are welcome to return to Rivendell, but I invite you to take your rest here and accompany me when I leave for the West."

That's exactly what we did. Amanda recovered quickly, and soon realized Calador's love for her. The two of them were married in a double ceremony with Renée and Pete. Soon after, we departed for the West. We were reunited with Frodo on ship, but I felt sorry for Sam, left behind. Time means even less in Valinor than Lothlórien, but it wasn't long before Sam, and also Legolas and Gimli joined us, and so, reunited once more, our tale ends.

Author's notes and acknowledgements

Thanks to my sister for proofreading, and for everyone who has reviewed this story. I have loved hearing from you. God bless you all!

What I'm up to:
I have published 3 other stories
Carried in the Current, an imported character Gimli romance
A Klingon in Middle Earth, a crossover with Star Trek where Worf comes to Middle Earth
The 4077th meets Middle Earth, a M*A*S*H crossover/parody in which the M*A*S*H characters take the place of Tolkein's characters.

I am working on another story, which I hope to start posting within a couple weeks. A tentative summary: Have you ever thought your history teacher taught from memory? What if your college history professor really did teach from memory--3000 years worth of memory? An Elf is living in our world, teaching college history, but returns to Middle Earth. Elrond/OC. Romance, PG. I also have plans for another Star Trek crossover.

Specific Acknowledgements
Star Elf, anonymous reviewer, Unicorn Lady, Jessica (10), Moonstone Tears, Dragon, Tanny (4), pallas (2), Casey Toh (4), starbrat, Sick Little Fiend (3), Hannah (3), BurningTyger, Taith Ant (2), Clarenova, and indigo.