A/N: GUESS WHAT. It's 3 AM! And I'm JUST starting to write this! Are you all SO proud of me?! *smiles largely* This better be read, because I'm slaving away writing this and you should just READ IT. I don't care if you review, but read it, because…you should.

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                Arwen smiled secretly to herself as she padded up the steps to Aragorn's room. Oh, how he would be surprised to see her in the middle of the night! She held the lantern closer to her face and shivered, drawing her shawl around her.

                The elf maiden moved silently and quickly, as elves do, and slipped into her love's bedroom. She heard his breathing, soft and long, with a slight snort now and then. She chuckled to herself, then glided over to the man's bed.

                He was very handsome in the dim light of the lantern she held, Arwen thought. She put a perfectly curved, ageless elven hand to his scarred and unshaven cheek. She smiled and shivered a little at the touch, then sat down noiselessly on the edge of his bed.

                'He must be very tired,' thought Arwen, 'if he has not noticed my presence yet. He is usually very alert when he sleeps.' 

                She rested her hand on his thigh. What muscular, strong thigh…Wait! What was this?

                She picked up a piece of paper that had been on Aragorn's leg. 'What is this?' She held up her lantern to it, and saw that it was an envelope. Quickly, the elf looked back at Aragorn, who was still fast asleep. She stood up and slipped outside to read the letter.

                Her long fingernails slipped under the flap and she pulled out a folded piece of paper. When she unfolded it, she read to herself:

"My love:

                "I just wanted to write to you, and tell you how I love your beautiful dark brown hair. So dark brown, it is like black. Black like the night sky, black like a bird, black like anything beautiful that is black.

                "I am sorry for not telling you my name, but as I have said, the Fellowship must be comfortable around eachother.

                "Love, ?"

                Arwen let the letter fall from her hands. A look of dismay came upon her face. Someone else was after her love. Before the thought "Who is it?" even finished being said in her mind, another thought yelled, "Legolas!"

                'Oh, of course,' she thought. 'I have seen them together. Legolas is always looking at Aragorn peculiarly. And he is the Fellowship.' She bit her lip. 'And Aragorn sometimes returns them…'

                Well, Arwen could not let a tall elf with a pretty face get in the way of her love for Aragorn. Completely forgetting about her original plan of visiting Aragorn in the night, she silently ran back to her own room, where she would figure out how to get Legolas away from Aragorn.

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"Legolas:

                "I am sorry, but I do not love you. I cannot, for I love another. I have received your message, and it is not returned by the same feeling. I am sorry.

                "With all respect, Aragorn."

                The letter was perfect. Arwen admired her handiwork. 'Perfect,' she thought. 'This'll do what I need done.' She stood up and went in the direction of Legolas's room, to deliver her letter of denial. She had a smile on her face.

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                It was bright and early in Rivendell. The sun was shining through the window of Merry and Pippin's room, and the older hobbit lay on his bed thinking.

                This talk of fancying people had gotten Merry thinking. There was something he had been feeling since they had gotten to Rivendell, but he couldn't quite place it. Until now.

                He remembered the first time he saw him…How the embers flared and illuminated the mouth and nose of the hooded figure, how he had grabbed Frodo and the other 3 hobbits chased after him. How explained everything, and how he was so trustable. He knew so much but was so mysterious, so elusive. Enigmatic. Merry smiled at the very thought of it.

                Pippin returned from his bath and saw the grin on Merry's face. "What's on your mind, Merry?" Pippin said, drying his hair with some cloth.

                "Oh, nothin'," Merry said, sitting up and looking at Pippin.

                "Then…why do you have a goofy grin upon your face?" Pippin looked at him quizzically. "If I didn't know better I'd say you were--" Pippin stopped abruptly and turned around, intently drying his hair. (It was surely dry by now.)

                "You'd say I was what, Pip?" Merry asked. "Hungry? Tired? What?"

                Pippin turned around and saw his cousin, with that grin still plastered on his face. 'I should avoid this subject,' Pippin told himself. 'I don't want anything to slip…'

                The grin grew wider, and Pippin couldn't help his curiosity anymore. He let a mischievous smile grow on his face. "Does my Merry have a little bit of a fancy?" (A/N: LOVE that phrase)

                Merry lay back down on the bed, putting his hands behind his head and crossing his feet. "Maybe I do, and maybe I don't."

                "Oh come on," Pippin prodded. "Out with it."

                "I'll let you guess. And if you're wrong, I'll tell you."

                "Fine…Any clues?"

                "Hmm…he's tall."

                "Um…Is it…Legolas?"

                Merry shook his head.

                "Okay…Boromir?"

                Again, Merry gestured no.

                "Well, I don't think it's Gandalf, and Gimli is short, so," Pippin paused, "you fancy Strider."

                Merry looked up at Pippin and smiled. "I believe I rather do."

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A/N: The plot thickens… Okay,  I need some suggestions. What's something Merry and Pippin can fight about? Cuz I need something. It's crucial to a…er…crucial part of the story? O_o 

Oh, and just so you all don't get TOO creeped out. Merry simply has a hobbit crush. It most likely won't amount to anything. Frankly, Merry/Aragorn would be sort of…weird…I just needed someone for Merry to fancy. ^_^

Okay, I'm not doing individual responses for this chapter right now. I have a LOT of thoughts (ALL PARTAINING TO LOTR! Who knew!) floating through my head right now, and I just can't concentrate, but I DO wanna post this chapter for ya'll. So here tis.