a/n: Eheh…another part three is here. Yay! Okay, don't all cheer at once…anyways, I would like to thank all of you who have reviewed and decided not to kill me, and I hope you practice the same thing this time around ^.^ What can I say? Leggy is stubborn and so is Boromir, but I hope I didn't make them out of character towards the end of this part (read and tell me! Honesty is golden (unless you could get in trouble, but even then it's always a good thing) !). Enjoy!

Stumbling Across Danger [part three]

Pippin looked up into the darkness and once again saw the streams of light filtering down, but they were no longer bright.

"Night approaches on the outside." Boromir remarked as though reading the hobbit's thoughts, and Legolas nodded in agreement. "When the sun leaves us it's going to be near impossible to go anywhere until dawn filters in."

"Aye, and cold. I certainly hope you still have your pack with you, Peregrin."

"If it's any colder than it is now, I don't know if I'll manage." Pippin replied, but reached back to brush the tips of his fingers against the bundle on his shoulders. "I only have one blanket and there are three of us." he looked from man to elf, and then back again.

"It doesn't matter, Pippin, I do not need a blanket, and neither does Legolas." he cast a suspicious glance at Legolas, but continued to speak in a civil tone as he carefully stepped around the rocks and felt them fallen rubble with his hands. "We need to find a sturdy place where we can pull ourselves up. Legolas, check that side, and Pippin, you try that side."

Legolas gave a curt nod and moved only about twelve feet from Boromir and peered through the failing light. One of his slender hands gentle nudged the sloped bed of rocks and they growled at him. He instinctively sprung back and earned a glance from Boromir.

"Loose?"

"Very." Legolas replied, asking in turn, "What about your side, Peregrin?" His answer was a soft rumble and a yelp, then Pippin was behind him. He looked at the hobbit with no real interest, and Pippin waved as though to apologizing for momentarily valuing his own safety over Legolas'.  "Boromir?"

"It seems possible. The boulders here are very large and could probably support us, but we would need to climb one at a time." Boromir stroked his beard in thought for another moment, and then shook his head. "But that would mean two of us would have to wait down here and could get crushed. If we go up, we should go together."

"But the weight will bring us all down." Legolas reminded him.

"What other options do we have? Leave two of us down here to be beaten into a raw bloody pulp if something slips – "

"That is disgusting, Boromir!" The elf hissed. "You do not have to go out of your way to be crude."

"I will do my best to remember that." Boromir replied, and both warriors regarded each other suspiciously for a moment, but it was the hobbit that forced them to keep moving. Boromir suggested that Pippin go first, then Legolas because they were closest to women and children and the men of Minas Tirith always brought women and children to safety first. Legolas did not at all appreciate being compared to a woman and refused to go up the rocky path unless Boromir should go beside him.

Pippin rolled his eyes at the arguing going on behind him and he paused in his climbing and looked over his shoulder. "Legolas? Do you mind if I ask you something?"

Legolas stopped in mid-sentence and looked at Pippin as if the hobbit had just announced the moon was green, but replied breathlessly, "No, Peregrin, what is it?"

"Elves are supposed to be the noblest and wisest creatures on earth, right? Superior to men?" Legolas nodded and Boromir growled. "So why are you arguing with Boromir? I mean…if he's so below you why are you bothering to try and rough him up?" Legolas stared at Pippin blankly for about four seconds with his jaw hanging open, speechless. "I was just curious…" Pippin added after a moment.

Legolas opened and closed his mouth several times before stopping to think, and then opened and closed his mouth twice more before saying, "That is a very good question, Peregrin. But I do not know why I am bothering to reply to his petty insults. Excuse me."

The elf nimbly leapt up the rocks and quickly caught up to and passed Pippin, while the hobbit stayed put and waited for Boromir to climb next to him. Pippin whispered to Boromir in the darkness when Legolas seemed to be out of ears reach (how unfortunate they forgot he was an elf and had splendid hearing), "Boromir?"

"What?"

"Why does Legolas argue with you so much? The other elves don't seem to mind men. Infact they all like Strider!"

"Yes, well, Aragorn was raised by the fair folk, Pippin." Boromir replied, and then whispered back in an even lower tone, "And Legolas is a proud, spoiled prince."

"So are you, in a manner of speaking."

Boromir scowled and used one of his free hands to push the hobbit up the rocks by his backside. "Be quiet and climb."

"Sorry, Boromir."

"Do not be sorry, be quiet!"

Big people can be so uptight. Almost as bad as elves. He thought, and Pippin climbed and climbed for what seemed hours, finally coming up beside Legolas (who had been waiting for them a while, not wanting to get separated). Together they waited for Boromir, and when he came to rest beside them, they studied their progress.

"We made it to the top!" Pippin cheered in a kind of whisper-laugh tone, and both Legolas and Boromir shushed him. He rolled his eyes.

"We seem to be at the surface once more." Legolas told them, running one of his long fingers over what felt like flat ground. Light had left them roughly an hour ere their victory and they were now alone in complete darkness. Legolas gave a sigh and crawled blindly to the surface.

Boromir handed the Pippin to the elf, and Legolas pulled the hobbit safely up and next to him. Then he absently held an arm out for Boromir to grip, and after a second of silence and stillness, one of Boromir's large hands reached up and grasped the elf's forearm. Legolas leaned back and pulled the man up with surprising strength, receiving only a muttered thank you.

"You are quite welcome." Legolas replied but his tone did not reflect his words in the least bit, and Pippin once again had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. Why could these two just get along? Pippin saw the outline of Legolas wrap his arms around himself and noticeably repress a shiver, and it reminded him suddenly how cold he was.

"Boromir, I'm freezing!" the hobbit whispered, and he heard Boromir grunt an affirmative reply.

"Yes, it's very cold. I do not think they will find us before morning in this darkness. We should try and find a place to sleep whilst one of us keeps the watch." he moved slowly away from the group until he found what seemed to be a sturdy wall, and then sat heavily against it. The other two followed him, and Pippin of course took it upon himself to use Boromir's thigh as a pillow. The hobbit wrapped himself up in his blanket, but the still night and darkness only grew colder and colder.

Pippin shuddered in his sleep and finally woke, nudging his pillow to see if he was awake. "Boromir?"

"What?"

"I'm cold."

"So am I." Boromir replied, but motioned to the elf with his forefinger. "But Legolas must be even colder."

"I wish Merry were here." Pippin whispered, and moved closer to Boromir's warm body while trying to look like he wasn't at the same time. Boromir halfheartedly wrapped one of his solid arms around the hobbit and Pippin gratefully accepted it. "Merry always shared his blankets. He brought two, you know."

"That was smart of him. I did not think to bring any."

"You left 'em in Rivendell?"

"More or less." Boromir did not seem to be paying attention to the hobbit. His gaze was on the elf, who stood silent and still, but if Boromir looked long enough he saw an occasional shiver break the prince's composure. Legolas was trying very hard to make it look like he was not cold, but was failing miserably. "Legolas." he called in a voice just above a whisper, and the elf turned.

"What?"

"Come and sleep with us. Or if you won't sleep, at least huddle. You must be freezing!" Pippin called, mimicking the Captain's tone. Legolas looked back as though considering it greatly, but only shook his head once and turned back to the night. "But you're shivering!"

"I am most certainly not!" Legolas snapped, but did not turn around. He must have let his guard down, because he shivered twice more in as many seconds, and the hobbit took it upon himself to unlatch Boromir's arm from him and, despite how cold it was to be away from Boromir, scampered up to where Legolas stood.

"Legolas, you're like ice, don't just stand here and catch a cold!" Pippin pleaded, grabbing one of the elf's idle hands and feeling just how icey he really was. "Come on, Boromir won't mind."

"Elves do not catch colds." Legolas replied, but followed reluctantly where Pippin pulled him. The hobbit settled on Boromir's left, and the man mockingly patted the seat on his right. Legolas gave a rather nasty look to the man, but took the seat nevertheless. He had to admit, it was warmer by Boromir (who seemed to be radiating heat).

"Kind of makes you wish you had brought a blanket after all." Boromir remarked in the darkness of the drafty, freezing mines, but his tone held no mock or challenge. In the same tone and even the slightest bit of a smile, Legolas replied as he scooted closer (but not too close),

"I will be sure to remember that next time, Boromir."