Life After High School-Ten Years Later
By Risty Maskell and Silver15
Disclaimer: We own our own characters, but Tolkien owns everything else.
Summary: Set ten years after 'Life After High School' (Go figure) Jaime and Emma have not seen each other for years, but that is about to change.
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(Kane's POV)
It was really quiet in Hobbiton the day I went there with my dad and my uncle Benny. Neither of them had wanted to come, but they didn't have much choice. It was their job after all. At least they talked mum into letting me come with them. They had left me by the lake and told me to amuse myself for a while, while they went to the tavern to do some business deal.
I wandered around for a while and then sat down on a tree branch. Hobbiton really was a beautiful place even if it was a bit quiet and there weren't many people around. I couldn't work out why dad hadn't wanted to come here. I put my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on them as I stared out over the lake. Something about it looked very familiar, but I couldn't think what. Suddenly I remembered…
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Early one afternoon I walked past the kitchen and heard mummy crying. Wondering what was wrong I went in and found that she was looking through an old book of photographs.
"What's wrong, mummy?" I asked, climbing onto her lap. She smiled sadly and gave me a hug. I could see that she was looking at a photo of a group of young adults standing by a lake. At the front were my mum and a hobbit girl. A tall man with wavy brown hair had his arm around mum's waist. I knew that that man was Boromir South, my real father, and I recognised my mum's friends, Billee and Legolas, who we saw fairly regularly. But I didn't know anyone else.
"That girl" my mum said quietly, pointing to the hobbit girl. "She was my best friend Jamie. I haven't seen her for years now though. We don't talk any more."
"Why not?" I asked innocently, patting her arm in an effort to comfort her.
"Well" she said carefully. "You know I told you about how me and your real dad were going to get married, but then I met Damon and realised that I couldn't go through with it?"
"Yes, I remember."
"Well, Damon came to the hall and told Boromir that he loved me" mum said gently. "It got nasty and there was a big fight. Jaime was holding you and she refused to give you back to me. I grabbed you back in the end, but I could never forgive her for that."
"Why did she do it, mum?"
"She hated Damon" she told me. "Really hated him. She refused to accept him, even though he made me happy. So we had nothing more to do with each other after that. I didn't mean to get upset, it's just that sometimes I remember all the good times we had together."
"I understand mummy" I said, giving her a hug. "I really do. Don't cry, daddy wouldn't want you to be sad."
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This was the lake they had had the photo taken at, I was certain of that. And sitting there made me wonder how things had been for them. I thought that it was quite sad, the way they had stopped talking just because my mum had fallen in love. And I couldn't believe that Jaime had tried to take me away from my mum. I loved her, she was the best. Damon was great too. I'd only seen my real dad twice in ten years, so Damon had become my real father. I even took his last name, my choice not anyone else's. I loved him like a father, he took care of us and he made my mum happy. Sometimes they had arguments, always behind closed doors of course, but they always made up. They were always kissing and touching each other and saying nice things to each other. I was glad she made that decision.
I was so deep in thought that I didn't notice the girl until she spoke.
"Hello" she said. "Do you mind if I sit here?"
"No, be my guest" I looked at her and smiled. She was a hobbit, about my age and she was very pretty. She had long brown hair and really nice blue eyes. "What's your name?"
"Ria" she said with a smile as she sat down. "Ria Baggins. You?"
"Kane Aran Darkshield" I told her. "I'm ten years old."
"And I'm eleven" she said. "Do you live around here? I haven't seen you around before."
"No, I'm here with my dad" I told her, then suddenly noticed him and Benny coming towards us. Dad called me over and I turned to her apologetically.
"I've got to go" I said. She nodded.
"My mum is over there too" she said. "Come on, I'll walk over with you."
We walked over, side by side. It felt nice to have a friend. As I went over to my dad, he put his hand on my shoulder and pulled me closer to him.
"You all right, Kane?" he asked and I nodded. Then a hobbit woman came over and took Ria gently by the hand. Suddenly she looked up at us and her face went pale as she saw my dad.