Title: Escapades of the Fellowship (Chapter Four - One Day in Lothlorien)
Author: Kitty-Rose (blood_and_rubies@yahoo.co.uk)
Rating: This chapter, PG. Whole story, PG-13
Pairings: Many but mostly Frodo/Aragorn. See first chapter for more.
Archive: Ask me and I'll probably say yes. But please ask first.
Summary: Lots of misunderstandings and passion. See first chapter.
Disclaimer: None of the characters or places below are mine.
A/N: Thanks to my beta reader Baranduin. Sorry that this story doesn't have much of Legolas in it, I know a lot of you like him in this story although I'm not entirely sure why seeing as I don't really know what I'm doing with him! He'll have a big part in the next chapter, promise. =)

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Haldir had heard the squealing and crying from a long way off, and when he crept through the bushes and finally caught sight of the visitors, he caught his breath. Aragorn, back again? After that rather embarrassing incident the last time the ranger was here, Haldir had thought that Aragorn was never coming back. Haldir steadied himself and watched further, because Aragorn was not alone. A strange mix of companions he was with, too.

The hysterical crying seemed to be coming from a dwarf who was refusing to go any further, and was trying to wriggle out of the arms of a man who didn't appear very happy to be carrying him. Aragorn himself was speaking softly to the dwarf in that steady lilting voice of his, trying to calm him down; tugging at his arm fearfully was a pale frightened hobbit. There were three more hobbits, one of whom was standing at a distance and looking curiously at the flowers, the other two were pretending not to look at each other and trying to catch the other out. Haldir had no interest in hobbits, and let his glance travel over the group further. The remaining companion was an elf, a Mirkwood elf by the look of him, and he was glaring intently at Aragorn, who hadn't noticed, still trying to talk some sense into the dwarf. Haldir recognised something in the other elf's gaze, and frowned. He wasn't letting Aragorn escape this time.

***

Frodo held his cloak around him, feeling cold despite the sunshine, and gazed around him fearfully. Something unnerved him about this forest, and he was sure they were being watched. He tried to get Aragorn's attention, but the ranger was trying to pull Gimli up from the floor. Gimli hadn't stopped crying since they left Moria, and Frodo couldn't really blame him. He knew they were all feeling the loss of Gandalf, but he couldn't understand quite why Gimli was so affected, or why everybody kept looking embarrassed and not meeting the dwarf's gaze. Frodo had tried to comfort the dwarf himself earlier, but now it was impossible as Gimli was refusing to listen to anyone or move from where he was lying curled up on the floor.

Frodo felt somebody pat him on the arm comfortingly, and when he looked up he found himself gazing at Sam's warm friendly eyes.

"Don't worry, Mr. Frodo," Sam spoke kindly. "It's going to be alright. The elves will look after us now."

Frodo nodded. "Thank you, Sam."

He'd almost forgotten about Sam, what with all the travelling and exhaustion by day and all the secret happenings at night. He hadn't had a chance to talk to his best friend in ages and he reminded himself that he must confide in someone. Now wasn't the time however; it was getting dark and they were only on the forest borders. There was no time to take Sam aside for a chat now.

Suddenly there was a roar from Gimli as Aragorn dived on him with a spare cloak and wrapped him up in it. Boromir caught the other end and held it up, and between them the screaming bundle jumped around, but couldn't get free. Everybody breathed a sigh of relief, and prepared to start walking again.

***
They hadn't walked very far, however, when they found themselves surrounded by elves. Armed elves.

"What do we have here?" Haldir asked, smiling smugly.

Aragorn sighed, but met his gaze. Best not let the elf think he was afraid of him. The ranger had hoped never to see Haldir again, but there was nowhere else to go but Lothlorien, and Aragorn had been hoping that Haldir would be away on holiday. He felt a little hand grab his, and he sighed again, squeezing Frodo's hand comfortingly. He hoped that Haldir didn't notice the strange chemistry between himself and the hobbit, it would only lead to trouble.

But now wasn't the time for such thoughts.

***

Some hours later, Frodo found the chance to talk to Sam. Boromir was having a nap, Merry and Pippin were off on a walk, Aragorn was still with Celeborn, and Legolas was nowhere to be seen. And just as Frodo was thinking this would be a perfect opportunity, Sam approached him.

"Are you alright, Mr. Frodo, sir? You look very thoughtful all of a sudden." He smiled.

Frodo smiled back, gratefully. "I'm alright, Sam. Would you like to walk with me a while?"

Frodo kept up the small talk until they were a suitable distance away from the others, and then he dropped the cheery front, and sighed.

"Oh, Mr. Frodo, something's the matter isn't it? And it's not just about Gandalf, because you've been like this for three days now. Can't you tell your Sam?"

"I don't know," Frodo admitted. "It's silly really..." He tried to smile, but found himself bursting into tears instead, and falling into Sam's arms. Sam hugged him tightly and Frodo felt himself releasing all of the tension and hurt he'd hidden the last couple of days, and sobbing into Sam's chest.
"It's Aragorn," he blurted out. "I think I'm in love!"

Sam felt rather relieved and patted Frodo reassuringly. He'd started to worry that Frodo might be in love with him. And after the events of the last couple of nights Sam was pretty sure that he didn't want to be romantically involved with anybody just yet. It was far too complicated and not the kind of thing to be conducted in dark foreign lands. He was cured of his brief infatuation with Mr. Frodo alright, he decided, and that meant he could help his master out with his little romantic notions. It would all work out perfectly, he was sure.

"There, there, Mr. Frodo, don't cry. I'm sure everything will be just fine. Have you told him how you feel?"

"Not exactly." Frodo sniffed. "Well, not with words..."

"Ah, I see. I know exactly what you mean." Sam nodded firmly.

"You do?" Frodo looked surprised.

"Well, maybe not exactly. But, pretty much." Sam changed the subject hastily. "What we'll do, Mr. Frodo, is make a plan, for you to court Aragorn, so to speak."

Frodo nodded, and wiped away a few tears with his sleeve. "Thank you, Sam."

***

"By the way, I liked what you did last night," Merry whispered.

"You did?" Pippin was surprised. How did Merry know about what he and Boromir had got up to last night? He'd been very careful to be discreet.

"Very much so." Merry winked. "I've got some more ideas of my own for tonight."

"Good," Pippin said, quickly, not wanting Merry to think he was confused, and then settled down to think about the situation. He didn't want anyone getting the better of him.

***

Aragorn walked through the trees warily, watching out for Haldir on all sides. However, the first person to jump out at him wasn't Haldir at all, but Boromir.

"Where've you been?" the warrior demanded.

"I've been with Celeborn," Aragorn said calmly, and didn't stop walking.

"Oh yes?" Boromir walked alongside him. "Why didn't you bring me with you? If you're going to be talking about important things, I don't see why I wasn't involved."

"Celeborn asked to see me, he didn't mention you."

"What did he want to see you about?"

"About the quest. Gandalf. What happened in Moria." Aragorn stopped talking abruptly, as he was swamped by too many memories of Moria that weren't really relevant to this conversation and that he didn't want repeated, by anybody.

"I could have been a valuable asset to that conversation," Boromir said .. "You just assume I'm a fighter, don't you? You don't ever think I might be capable of thinking and feeling and anything like that?"

Aragorn stopped, and looked at him quizzically. "Boromir, is there a problem?"

"Oh, just forget it!" Boromir choked, and ran off into the trees.

Aragorn sighed, and at that moment Haldir appeared.

"Hello, stranger," he said, smirking. "And now we meet again, after all these months."

"Actually, we met an hour ago," Aragorn pointed out, on his guard.

"I know," admitted Haldir. "But we had company then, so I couldn't really say it. Now we're all alone," hepurred, and stepped closer. "Who was that man you were just talking to? Seems like you upset him."

"I think he was upset anyway."

"Oh dear. Well, you do have an effect on people, don't you?" Haldir reached out, and stroked Aragorn's cheek. "I should know."

"I'm sorry, but I must be going," Aragorn said, smiling politely and removing Haldir's hand. "Nice seeing you again though."

Haldir watched the ranger walk away. "Alright, Aragorn," he called. "But you just wait until tonight!"

***

Merry grabbed Boromir's arm as soon as the man returned.

"I just wanted to say sorry. For not turning up last night," Merry whispered, after checking nobody was around.

"What?"

"You know, last night. I was going to come and see you, but Pippin was sleeping right next to me. He kept stirring and I didn't want to wake him up."

"Oh, of course. Never mind, then." Boromir smiled, wondering what Merry was talking about. He was sure he remembered being visited by the hobbit last night. Unless he'd dreamt it. Or unless it wasn't Merry.

But Merry had disappeared again, and Boromir made his way to his bed, where he could lie in peace and try and work it out. But to his surprise, he found Pippin waiting for him.

"I've been talking to Merry," he said, grinning. He was quite proud of himself for working it all out. Evidently Merry and Boromir knew all about last night, and Pippin certainly wasn't going to appear stupid or easily confused in front of them.

"Have you?"

"Yes. I had a lot of fun last night."

"Did you?" Boromir frowned, and tried to piece everything together. He was starting to get the feeling that he was being used.

"And I think Merry wants to join us tonight. So I thought I'd ask you if that was okay."

"No, it's not!" Boromir felt emotion stirring again. "You don't care about me! And neither does Merry! All you do is take advantage of me and I won't take it anymore! Now leave me in peace!"

Though Pippin was surprised, he quickly left before his confusion could show. He was starting to feel more bewildered than ever. Perhaps Boromir hadn't known it was him last night. Pippin decided he had a headache, and went to lie down himself.