Amnesia

By Jo March

Disclaimer: We all know that I don't own the original, Tolkien does. I own the current storyline.

Summary: In this installment of, Amnesia, Elrond's children and Gandalf must decide how to tell him that he can never go back to Gil-galad. Will they ever be able to tell him the truth?

Chapter Seven: How Do We Tell Him?

Elladan and Elrond walked together hand in hand as they strolled though the garden. Elrond's eyes grew wide as they walk though what had previously his garden. He had never seen so many different types of flowers and herbs in one place. The tree branches swayed over head, as if they were trying to reach out and touch them.

Even though Elrond himself did not really know who he was the trees and flowers remembered him. They all wanted to be near their master, whom had so tenderly planted and taken such good care of them. To Elrond this garden was more alive than any other he had ever seen, it was breathtaking it was so gorgeous. Elladan had inherited his father's passion for herbs and other means of healing, and he was glad that the garden had come back. From the first day that Elrond had been injured it had wilted considerably. Elladan had done everything he could to revive it, but it needed its master's touch. Now that Elrond was up and around, even though he almost was 3,000 years younger, it still remembered him.

Elrond was in his glory among all the plants, he had always loved herbal lore, now he had almost every plant he could want at his fingertips. He let go of Elladan's hand and wondered around the garden for a good half and hour, till he noticed Elladan was missing. A panic came over Elrond, but he forced himself to be calm and fine Elladan. He wandered around the garden, and couldn't find Elladan for anything.

Elladan had retrieved his book and settled himself in his favorite tree. He had lost track of the time, and forgotten all about Elrond. Elladan was so intent on his reading he didn't notice that Elrond had sat down under that very tree and started to cry silently. Suddenly he lost his concentration when he heard someone crying, and it all came back to him. He jumped down and joined Elrond on the ground.

"What's wrong Elrond? Did you lose me?" Elladan looked down into Elrond's mournful eyes; the traces of tears still evident. Elladan gave him a warm smile that gave reassurance. He placed his arm around his father's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I-I-I d-d-didn't m-mean t-to cry." With that Elrond broke down into tears again. He clung to Elladan and cried into his shoulder. Great sobs racked his body. Elladan had never been near children before didn't really know what to do. He gently rocked back and forth, humming an old elvish lullaby that Elrond had sung to him when he had been scared or frightened.

He gently rubbed circles on Elrond's back. His sobs became softer and finally stopped as hiccups over took him. He had totally worn himself out with all his crying. He shifted a little in Elladan's arms, and Elladan noticed that he had fallen asleep. Elladan gently raised himself from the ground and carried Elrond back to the main hall.

Arwen saw her brother carrying Elrond, and think something dreadful had happened rushed out to meet them. When she saw he was only asleep her heart made peaceful. She gently pushed some his hair out of his eyes, and lay a gently kiss upon his brow. "Why don't you lay him down in your room, that way you can be there when he wakes up?"

Elladan didn't reply, but moved silently across the room and turned to his room. He pushed the door open with his foot and found Elrohir seated on his bed. His brother gave him a slight smile as he put their father down on the bed.

"How is he?", asked Elrohir.

"He's holding together pretty well. He got scared when he couldn't find me and started to cry. He apologized for crying. I can't think why though."

"He never talks about his childhood. Maybe it wasn't as happy as we have always thought."

"Umm, never thought of that. I feel guilty not telling him, don't you?"

"In a way, yes, I do. But how shall we tell him?"

"Get Arwen to do it." This brought laughs from both elves. They tried to laugh softly so as not to wake Elrond. They were talking in hushed tones about what should be done about their position. Glorfindel stuck his head in the room.

"Have you two seen your father yet today?" A guilty look passed between the twins. Oh no! Glorfindel hadn't been told yet. That was a task neither would relish having. Maybe Gandalf would do it for him, it was his fault anyway.

"Well, you see, uh, well." Elrohir stumbled over his words. He had never been good at lying that had always been up to Elladan.

"What Elrohir is trying to say is that father is currently unavailable. Isn't that right, Elrohir?" Elladan quickly covered up for his brother, hoping Glorfindel wouldn't notice the lump under the covers of Elladan's bed.

"Oh yes, of course. That's exactly what I meant." Glorfindel eyed the twins, they knew they were caught, but they would never admit that they were.

We'll see, thought Glorfindel. If they won't say, I will just get it out of Arwen, she'll tell. And if she won't, Gandalf will. Glorfindel gave the twins one last look over, just to see if they would repent, then went off in search of Arwen.

As soon as Glorfindel left the room, the twins felt the tension in the air lighten considerably. Elrohir fell back onto the delicately woven bedspread and let out a long, very unelvish sigh. He propped himself up by his elbows and stared at Elladan with intensity in his eyes. He broke the gaze and looked over at the sleeping form of their now, very young father, and sighed again.

"Sigh on more time, and I'll think you've gone mortal on me, Elrohir."

"Aye, if that were possible. I wonder if our dearest, darling sister will tell Glorfindel. How are we ever going to tell Elrond?" It felt strange calling his father by his first name. He reached over and pushed a lock of back from his father's forehead. "Funny, before now I had never even thought of father having a childhood. It's like he's always been an adult, but now that's all changed."

"There's still the problem of telling him who he really is. I think I know now what he went though when he was raising Estel, don't you?"

"Yes I do, Elladan. It's a horrible feeling. It feels like lying, yet we've said nothing. Is it possible to not say anything, and still lie? We did lie to Glorfindel though."

"Don't go self-righteous on me now. We didn't lie, father is currently unavailable. I just hope that Arwen doesn't break down and tell everything, or Gandalf. I guess it wouldn't be to bad if Gandalf told him because then we wouldn't get the blame for it."

"That's not logical. If we had told the truth in the first place we wouldn't be in this fix, now would we?"

"Um, I hate it when you're right."

"You're admitting I'm right?" asked a very incredulous Elrohir.

"Oh course not! We're not in a fix."

"What do you call being caught in a lie then?"

"We are just between a rock and a hard spot, that's all." Elladan threw an impish smile in his brother's direction. He picked up a dirty sock and threw it at Elrohir.

Elrohir was not in a mood to mess around, he was serious. "How are we going to tell father that he got knocked on the head with a tree branch. Got amnesia, Gandalf showed up and tried to help him restore his memory, but changed him into a child! Is that a believable story?"

Elrond had woken up somewhere in the middle of this, but had kept quiet, and laid still. What he heard scared him. These were his children? He was the ruler of Imladris, and he could never go back to Elros. Elros, must be at least three thousand by now, if his math was right, unless- no he wouldn't have.

Elrond sat up quickly, and startled Elrohir and Elladan. His eyes were wild, and his body was tense.

"Look like we solved the mystery."

"Shut up Elladan! This is no time for jokes you idiot. Elrond, please, sit down, and we will tell you everything."

"How do I know I can trust you? You lied once, how do I know you will tell the truth now? Why didn't you tell me before now?" He eyed, who now claimed to be his descendents.

Elrohir sat down on the bed next to his father so that he could be on eye level with his father He gently placed his hand on Elrond's shoulder. Elrond looked down at the floor. "Look at me please." Elrohir raised Elrond's chin. "I would never lie to you. We though that it would be hard on you if we told you then, but we were wrong, we made a mistake. That mistake may have been for the best, would you have believed us if we had told you straight out?"

Elrond's chin quivered, he shook his head no. "Come here." Elrohir pulled his father into a heartwarming embrace. He stood him back and looked at him, then wiped the tears away. "We love you and would never do anything to hurt you. What we did was for you. Do you believe me now?" He nodded slightly, and smiled at Elrohir and then at Elladan.

Elrond's stomach made a gurgling noise. "Well, Elrohir, I am kind of hungry for some lunch, but I don't suppose Elrond would want any, do you?"

"No, never," Elrohir decided to play along with his brother's little game. "I suppose we could go without today. No big deal, really."

"Then that settles it. No lunch today, we shall wait for dinner." The brother's shared an amused look that Elrond completely missed or he would have known they were just joking.

Elrond started to panic, no lunch? They looked serious too, but he was so hungry. Elrond did not want to say anything that would offend them, so he kept silent. But his stomach would not. It started making noises again and would not stop

"Why, Elrohir, I do believe he is hungry! Would you imagine our father being hungry? You wouldn't object a little lunch, would you, Elrond?" Elladan looked down with a serious look on his face.

"Just a little. I don't really need any if you...." Elrond did not have the chance to finish what he was going to because at that moment he was picked up. Elladan and grabbed his arms and Elrohir had him by the legs and were carrying him down the corridor.

When they reached the dinning room Arwen was just sitting down to eat. She stood up as they entered, still carrying Elrond. "You know, Elladan," said Elrohir, "the only bad thing about carrying him this way is that there is no way we can tickle him." This made Elrond squirm all the more.

"I think that I could help you out there." Arwen set in to tickling Elrond unmercifully. He was laughing so hard that the twins almost dropped him.

"Stop, stop! Please, stop, it hurts!" Arwen was having a bit too much fun and kept on. A plan then formed in Elrond's head. He was her father, he could make her stop. "Arwen, as your father I command you to stop!" The boys dropped him immediately. Arwen took a step back, casting a dreadful look at her brother's. How had he found out?

A/N: That is the new ending! Really it is not an ending, it is the end of a chapter, and the beginning of a new story. I cannot wait to get to work on the next part of this. I put the tickling scene in because I was thinking about how much my nephew loves to be tickled. He is about the age I have Elrond right now. The kid is smart, he has already read the Hobbit and he is seven!