Chapter Ten

It was like she couldn't help it.

She watched him while he didn't seem to be aware, for once, that she was doing so. He was staring out the window at the children playing on the jungle gym, and smiling faintly. She almost scolded herself, but couldn't bear to attract his attention.
His interaction with her world would definitely affect him when he was back in his, and she didn't want to be responsible for any pain caused to him. She also didn't want any pain for herself, but they had a connection. A connection threatened by the unsure future, one that went beyond the obvious bearing of touch. She almost felt his presence, knew when he was content, when he was worried, definitely knew when he was angry. And that scared her, because their knowledge of each other's existences didn't have a timely history for their bond to be understood in a practical sense for her. She needed practicality in her life, it was the base of her profession, the way she had always lived her life -since childhood, even- but for all she knew, he could pop back out of her life that second or the next minute, and have her believing it was all the most beautiful dream she had ever had. The thought terrified and saddened her. A tear rolled down her cheek, and it hit the leather seat, making a soft noise. He looked over at her.

"Silmeamin, what has happened?" His face was one of concern. "Why do you weep? It makes me sad to see it." He leaned over and placed soft kisses on her face, and pushed her dark curls back from her face, and stayed his hand.
"Your features intrigue me, Rhiannon. I have never seen one with your shades before. I have seen darker hair than yours, however. Though never in curls. You are so different from anything I have ever experienced, and yet stunning at the same time. Your beauty is compared to the Undomiel, not in similarity, but in value." She looked up at him as he spoke, her given name sounding strange on his tongue.

"You never call me that anymore." He looked down at her.

"I know this."

"Why not? I've been meaning to ask you."

"Because my name for you is something that we share only with one another. It is special to me."

"I like it. It still makes my stomach flutter when you say it. Every time you say it." She looked up at him again from looking at her hands, shy at her confession.

"I love your name, Rhiannon. You should as well. What does it mean?"

"Oh. Well, um, it means 'Great Queen'." She looked up at him, smiling sheepishly. She almost expected him to be smiling back at her lovingly, but he was looking back at her with darkened eyes.
She had worked out for herself (being the intellectual that she was) that his eyes went darker when he was fervent about something happening, and she flashed back to the color of his eyes the night before, both when Adam had tried to hit her and when they made eye contact while making love, and wasn't sure if the color now was due to a positive or negative influence. Surely he couldn't be angry with her? She was relatively afraid to ask. It happened that she didn't need to, because his eyes cleared, but not before he placed a lingering kiss on her parted lips. When her mind cleared, she sat up and glanced at the clock near her radio functions. Three o'clock.

"I can't believe we've been gone for almost six hours!" Legolas leaned over and spoke lowly into her ear.

"They need their time together, Silmeamin," It was reassuring to be 'his starlight' again, but the way he spoke sent shivers down her spine.
"It is not hard to understand," he added. She brought herself back to reality through the misty cloud that formed whenever he spoke that way to her, so close and low in her ear, and started the car. They sat there for five or so minutes before she felt ready to drive, and pulled out of the parking lot.

Rhiannon pulled up to Melissa's house, and she and Legolas walked in carrying their crumpled paper bags and grease stained napkins. She opened the door, and Melissa dashed up to her immediately.

"They just called about Adam!" She started breathlessly. Legolas stepped up next to Rhiannon, listening intently to Melissa's words and focusing on her face.

"Are you kidding me?" Rhiannon gasped. Melissa held up a finger, and bent over slightly with one hand on her knee, signaling her need for air. After a minute, she continued.

"Nope. He's practically dead, y'know. They don't know if he's gonna make it…" Rhiannon's eyes widened, but not without a glint of satisfaction and justification evident in them, and a small twitch at the corner of her mouth. Then 'The Lawyer Within' spoke.

"Okay. Well, If he does die… he was trespassing in my house, not only intruding without invitation, but also in violation of the restraining order put in place against him, so, " She turned and looked up at Legolas. "If it was me, then everything would be in the clear… but since it's Legolas.. I don't know. Besides, what are we going to do if they ask for his name!? He can't just say, 'Legolas of Mirkwood'. Shit. It's not fair! He needs papers, and stuff like that… Though I think if he had that he would be clear because he was defending me. Yeah, That's how I remember it… But the papers are what's going to be hard. Where can we say he's from?" She was pacing, but stopped and looked down, chewing her thumbnail at this question.

"The UK," Melissa chimed in. Both Legolas and Rhiannon looked at her. "What? UK boys are HOT!"

"Missy, are you implying that Legolas is-"

"Hell, yeah!" Melissa interrupted, looking at Legolas and raising her eyebrows playfully. Rhiannon took a deep breath and massaged her temples, before she stopped suddenly and looked up at Legolas.

"I think I have a plan."

"Okay. So I'm relatively sure that nothing they could test and link to Legolas was left at the scene." Rhiannon had been pulling Legolas' hair for little over half an hour, and looking at her hands to see if the blond strands had come out on her hands. "Christ, you could sew with this stuff!" She ran a hand through Legolas' hair, and bent over him and looked at his face upside-down.

"You don't sweat, and you didn't bleed, right?" He nodded, and she smiled, their foreheads touching lightly. "Perfect." They stayed that way for a moment, gazing solidly into each other's eyes, until she stood up straight, and walked around. Melissa was sitting next to Matt, who had joined them, and said,

"As long as we can make them believe it wasn't Legolas, then we're in the clear. It will be harder if Adam dies, though… and we," she continued, indicating Legolas and herself, "will have to talk to him, make sure he doesn't feel compelled to talk about him."

"Sweetie, you can't do that!" Melissa stood quickly in protest.

"What the hell do you mean, I can't do that?!"
"It's too soon! You're not ready!" Rhiannon walked up to her best friend until she was 5 inches away from her face.

"Melissa. Not only CAN I do this, I am GOING to do this. It's beyond my safety and me anymore, do you realize that? Others are affected." She glanced quickly at Legolas and looked back to her friend, fire in her eyes.

"I need to do this, Missy. Everyone is babying me, protecting me, and completely ignoring the fact that I need to move on with my life!" She left the room with tears in her eyes, and retreated to the guest room.

Five minutes later, after sitting in complete silence with a downcast Melissa and a shocked Matt, Legolas followed her up the stairs.

Legolas entered the room to see Rhiannon on the phone, nodding her head and humming 'mm hmm,'. She finished her conversation with, "Thank you so much. I'll be by to see him later, very soon. Yes. Visiting hours are when?" She scribbled on the legal pad on her lap. "Alright. Again, thank you for your help. Good-bye." She looked up at him, eyes slightly red from crying, and smiled.

"Get dressed. We're going to see Adam." She helped him pick something out, with a hat that hid his hair and ears well, and dressed herself in a white knee-length skirt, denim jacket with a black tank underneath, and black heeled Mary Janes, grabbed her sunglasses, her legal pad, a black handbag, and keys and went downstairs with Legolas posterior. The door closed behind them just as Melissa reached the door. Before she decided to rush out after them in lieu of waiting for their return, she heard tires squeal, announcing their departure.