Chapter 10

Lissa woke early in the morning still, slowly returning to consciousness. A smile crept onto her face. Why? It may have been because she awoke feeling warm, when she usual woke cold in January. Or, it might have been because she awoke feeling completely safe, when she had thought she'd have woken up traumatized from her dream last night. But, quite frankly, she didn't care why she felt warm and safe-as long as she could keep those feelings a little longer.

As she regained more feeling in her sleep-numbed body, Lissa snuggled closer and felt strong arms around her, nearly at her hips. That may have been her safe feeling. Why was someone holding her in her sleep?

When the feeling returned to her entire body, she felt her long, slender legs tangled with another pair of legs. Lissa was laying against-ON- something or someone with a very firm, bare body with soft, warm flesh. She tilted her head a little and brushed against something hard, but it wasn't the headboard on her bed.

Immediately, as if a trigger had been set off by the contact, the arms around Lissa tightened more and she felt a kissed pressed against her ear. Then, she felt soft nibbling there. The voice she heard next was right at her ear.

"'Morning," Delemir murmured.

The smile still on Lissa's face widened. "Good morning," she replied, tracing a lazy pattern over Delemir's bare shoulder.

"Sleep well?" he asked her.

Oh, this felt so right. How many times had they woken in the morning together?

"Great." Lissa tilted her head up for a kiss when she felt something move in her stomach. Then flashbacks of her dream came to her. As soon as their lips parted, Lissa shied away and sprang out of the bed, leaning in a corner. "No, not again, no," she whispered, running her hands over her face.

"Melissa, what is it?" Delemir asked, slipping of her bed and trapping her against the wall. He took her hands in his, but she drew them away quickly.

"No, this is a dream. Wake up! Wake up, wake up, wake up!" She shook her head and willed the tears that raced to burn behind her eyes to go away, but they only fell down her cheeks. "I said I was through with your illusions! Let me wake up! This isn't what I want! I want to be home again with Delemir! I lo-"

"Melissa!" Delemir took her arms in his hands and shook her fiercely. He saw her eyes focus on him slowly. Then, he said calmly, "This isn't a dream. This is real. Onaumbar does not have you in an illusion. I insisted to stay with you the rest of the night in case he did, but he didn't. You are safe."

The shock in Lissa's face let him think she believed differently.

"If this were a dream about everything you wanted in you life, would it be true that you didn't have the car you prized so much because you wrecked it in an accident? That your neighbor, Alan, came over after you woke up to check on you when you hate people checking on you? If you were in one of the Death Giver's illusions, you would have the car you loved so much, and no one would check on you unless you wished them to." Delemir rubbed his hands up and down her arms gently, trying to restore warmth to her.

"But...I feel-I feel-" She trailed off, letting her hand rest on her stomach. "In my dream, I was carrying a child. This could be an illusion and you're only telling me differently because-"

"It could be, yes. You'll never know unless you open your eyes to see the truth. But I swear to you on pain of death that this is not an illusion. Do you believe me?"

Lissa took a long, shuddered, and reassuring breath. She nodded as she let it out. "Yes," she said. "Yes, I believe you." But her hand stayed over her stomach. Delemir let his hand rest over hers.

"And that feeling deep in the pit of your stomach you are experiencing. Do you want to know what it is?" Delemir fought back a grin as Lissa nodded feebly. "It is not a child, Melissa. There is no one here to do that since Elves save that for marriage. You're hungry." Now, Delemir let his grin show at the new shock that appeared on Lissa's face, the realization finally hitting her.

Lissa shut her eyes and sighed. "I feel really, really stupid now that I've embarrassed myself at-" She glanced at the clock "-seven in the morning.

Delemir laughed. "I'm sure you do." He leaned forward and rubbed his lips over hers. "Let's go make breakfast," Delemir suggested.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lissa fell onto her bed and stared up out of her window. The snow from winter was finally gone, and the realization fully hit her that she'd had her two casts off a few days ago. She felt so light now. Turning on her side, Lissa thought about everything that had happened in the past twenty- four hours.

She had accepted the fact that she loved Delemir, but it'd be next to impossible to keep him with her. That was a big one. Next, she accepted the fact that this 'Onaumbar' guy, or whatever Delemir had called him, was just taking a stand, or at least a bigger one, in this 'quest' she and Delemir had set off to finish. What was in Onaumbar's bonnet that made him so persnickety about translating some dreams or figuring out some riddles?

Third, it wasn't a good idea to go into shock at seven in the morning. It tired you out really quickly. That's why it was ten and she was ready for a nap. What else? She was missing something, but she couldn't figure it out.

Right before she was able to put her thumb on the correct answer, her phone rang. She reached over and mumbled a lazy "Hello" into the speaker.

"Are you still asleep at this hour?" It was Emilie.

"No. I've been up since seven," Lissa said, turning on her back again. "I'm just ready for a nap. Long night."

"Why seven? I thought I was the only person who woke up at seven on Saturdays," Emilie wondered.

"Saturday?" Lissa groaned. "No. It can't be Saturday already, can it?"

"I'm afraid it is, love. What's wrong with it being Saturday? Didn't you used to love Saturdays?"

"Yes, I still do, but today's my mom's birthday, and tomorrow is my sister's birthday. Holy crap, Kasey'll be fourteen," Lissa murmured.

"Wow. How old will your mom be?" Emilie grinned.

"Fire hazard." Lissa smirked. "Shopping, cards, driving to the post office in the crappiest car I've ever driven, phone calls, explanations are all on my list. See you on death row."

"Okay."

"Bye."

They ended the conversation and Lissa pulled a pillow over her head. "More Care Bears and chocolate liquor bottles. Whoopee."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Delemir felt slightly puzzled when he was climbing out of the old, slightly rusty compact car Lissa claimed she hadn't driven in over two years (she had proven it when it hadn't started up without her neighbor's help) and out into the mall parking lot. She had seemed a little unnerved and ticked off when she'd sat in the car, grumbling at the smell.

"I need a new car!" she'd said. "Going to buy one next week."

Now, they were walking into Pentagon City Mall, and she seemed quite happier now that they were there. She obviously had plans.

"Okay. First, let's put the tedious out of the way. We're going to go to Godiva or Lindt, find some chocolate for my mom, then to a kids' place to find Care Bears for my sister," she said. "Then, we're going to go back home, pack them in boxes marked 'fragile' and go to the post office to demand they be sent on speed delivery to my parents' house. Tomorrow, we'll go on my monthly splurge for shopping, or at least it's monthly when I take a good pay home."

"Sounds fun," Delemir commented.

"The last part about shopping, yes, is always fun!" she exclaimed cheerily, walking ahead of him and to an elevator.

Five minutes later, they were going on another elevator to the top floor (from the level about the metro level) to go to the kids' place. After about fifteen minutes of searching, Lissa unearthed a pink Care Bear. She paid for it, and asked to have it wrapped. That was four extra dollars on the fifteen for the doll. After a quick, discrete roll of her eyes, Lissa and Delemir were on their way back home to wrap and pack the chocolate.

"That was the quickest I've ever seen you shop for anything, even things of your own accord of which I found a little unnerving when you were purchasing them at the front," Delemir said.

Lissa shot him a keen, knowing, and extremely wry look as she said, "Well, today is my mother's birthday, and tomorrow is my sister's birthday. I forgot it was actually Saturday today, and would have done this earlier, but like I said, I forgot. Sue me. Come on." They pulled up and Lissa jumped out of the old, busted, wannabe car. Lissa made a run to the house, leaving Delemir behind, and to her frightful storage closet.

"Lissa?" Delemir asked when he made it inside.

"Help?" She tossed a medium sized box over her head aimlessly. "Sorry!" she said when she heard a loud thunk as it hit Delemir someplace.

Delemir rolled his eyes and shut the door. He walked up to Lissa and stopped directly behind her. He hesitated a moment, then hooked his arm around her waist, lifting her up in the air as she jumped and laughed.

"Delemir!" she squealed. She laughed and screamed as Delemir dragged her into the living room. He attempted to toss her on the couch, but she slithered from his grasp before he reached it and she fell onto the floor, laughing like a maniac. "Help?" she asked again, a wry smile on her face again. She thrust her hand up to him as if she really wanted help.

"Of course." Delemir took her hand and began to pull, but Lissa pulled him down quicker than he could react. He fell over her, but kept his fall light as he straddled her waist gently. This pulled another scream from Lissa.

"Delemir!" She laughed again, fluidly, like a trail of water was falling from a thin cloth, about to break through to a waterfall or a flood.

Lissa lifted her upper body, from her shoulders to her head, up, but Delemir let his hands rest at her shoulders to keep her down. He leaned over her, and rubbed his lips against hers.

Her eyes fluttered closed as another laugh bubbled up, but was stifled against Delemir's lips. When he drew back, he was smiling.

"I still need to pack those boxes," Lissa murmured after a moment of regaining her thoughts. It was a hard task, gathering one's thoughts, after being kissed by a man such as Delemir.

"Yes, you do." Delemir slipped off of her and helped her up. "Do you still want help on that?"

"Of course. You can hand me the tape." Lissa went back into the foyer for the boxes and tape and gifts and sat down in the middle of the floor.

After going through the tedious task of packing boxes, as she'd learned from her father, she drove them to the post office and demanded they be sent speed deliver to her mom and sister. It took persuasion, but after a few 'if-you-think-I'm-giving-up-you're-dead-wrong' looks, Lissa was on her way out back to her house to call her mom and sister.

"Kasey, let me talk to Mom," Lissa said, sitting at a bar chair in the kitchen.

"Are you coming down for our birthdays?" Kasey asked, ignoring Lissa's demand.

"Has your blonde hair grown back from when your friend cut it almost ten years ago?" Lissa murmured, knowing that'd do the trick. Upon the silence, but no yelling in the background, Lissa added, "You know, I could always write up a book like Emily is doing about the weird things her family has done, and I'll make sure that's one of the more humorous ones in there, with all the detail of your condition, Pretty-in-Pink. Put mom on the phone for me."

"Wasn't my fault I had Fifths Disease. It was Travis'. Hold on," Kasey said and ran off. "Mom!"

Seconds later, Lissa was talking to her mother. "Hi mom. I really hate to say this, but I can't come down for your birthday, or Kasey's, because I have to work on this deal and help Delemir out with his-his home and all. I'll come down as soon as I can, though, to see you guys." Lissa held her breath for a minute. She heard her mother's response and let out a relieved breath.

"But that doesn't mean I'm gonna be let off easy," Lissa said with her mom. "I sent you guys gifts. They should be there by tonight. You can enjoy yours while Kasey cuddles with hers tomorrow night."

"Another Care Bear?" her mother asked.

"Yes."

"Melissa, your sister is fourteen. Buy her something more grown up for once?"

"Why? She enjoys Care Bears, doesn't she?"

"Melissa." Her mother's voice was firm and held that no-nonsense only a mother could have.

"Okay. Next year: Horses. I promise. No Care Bears; only horses for the next birthday." She waited a beat. "Does that mean that chocolate is becoming repetitive? Should I go to Victoria's Secret and-"

"No," her mom interrupted hastily. "You father is still in shock to learn you actually bought something like you did at that place." She added the last bit in an undertone.

"I'm twenty-two. I'm a big girl. Besides, it's not like I plan on showing anybody soon," Lissa said with a smirk. Her watched beeped the hour. "Mom, bathtime. My radio show is on and I want to listen it in the tub, so I'll talk to you later. Happy birthday."

"I love you."

"I love you too. Tell Dad and Kasey I love them, and happy birthday to Kasey, too."

"I will."

"Bye!"

Lissa hung up the phone and sighed. Twelve o'clock. Time for her favorite radio station and a full, hot, steaming tub with a glass of wine.

Walking into her room, Lissa picked out two black hair sticks and wrapped her hair, jabbing the wooden chopstick looking things into the tight roll of hair. She went into the kitchen and brought out a wineglass and the Merlot. No, she thought, Zinfandel. Grinning, she poured the white wine into the glass and sipped. Laughing at herself, she picked up her book and the portable radio and made her way upstairs.

"Delemir!" she hollered at the first landing.

"Yes?" He poked his head out of his door.

"If the phone rings, answer it. I'm immobilized unless it's either of the Emilys or Connor. I need to know if he made it back to Manhattan to his woman safely. Bye." She waved and turned the opposite direction down the hall.

"Whe-Where are you going?" Delemir stammered. He ran after her.

"Bathtime. Weekly radio shows. You're normally asleep when it comes on. I indulge in a bath and an hour of listening to opera singers. Today they're supposed to be doing one of my favorites, which will be two hours. I'll see you when I come back from 1861." She leaned forward and gave him a noisy kiss on his mouth. "Bye." Then she slammed the door.

Setting the radio down, she turned it to the classical music station to hear the beginnings of the opera and started filling the tub. She stripped off her clothes and what jewelry she wore. Sighing as her hair came undone, she twisted it again and stuck the hair sticks in the knot of hair again.

Just as she did that, she looked up in the mirror and saw that guy- Onaumbar. A scream caught in her throat. She whirled around and saw nothing. Cursing her overactive imagination and recent memory of traumatic dreams, she pressed her hand to her forehead and felt a bead of sweet pearl there and skim down her skin from the surprise.

"Good thing I didn't pee on myself," she murmured. Laughing, she moved her book beside the tub-just in case the show was cancelled-and set her wine glass on a stool beside the tub. She dipped her toe into the water as it reached a few inches below the lip of the tub; she grinned at the heat.

She stepped in, causing the water to rise with the hundred and ten pounds she had for a ballerina. She let the water slosh around her as she sank to lie down.

And thus was the beginning of a great mistake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour and a half later, love was being professed and death was in the air. A deathly choice was to be made between a lover's life and spending her own with the dark Phantom whom had abducted them both. The tension was high; Lissa loved it, even though she was out of wine. Feeling slightly dizzy from the heat of the tub, she closed her eyes and dreamt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lissa turned on her side, mumbling lightly in her sleep. She rolled over onto a firm, hard-muscled body. She heard the soft laughing of a male merged with her own. She felt the weight of another body pressed over hers tightly. She wrapped her arms around him and smiled.

"I love you," Delemir told her.

"I love you too." She leaned up and brushed her lips against his.

"Our first Christmas with Genevieve," he murmured, letting his lips blaze a trail along her neck.

"Yep." Lissa brushed her hand across Delemir's bare back and felt his muscles quiver. "Some things never change."

"While others do." Delemir rested his hand against her stomach when he rolled onto his side. "I'm glad this did." He leaned over and kissed her still-swollen belly from carrying Genevieve.

"I swear, I'm never going to fit into a leotard again," Lissa joked, feeling her heart rate speed up, still, under Delemir's touch.

"You will. And you'll look beautiful, like you always do," he told her. He kissed her lips softly. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas to you too." She stretched, as was her habit in the mornings now, like a cat against Delemir and laughed. "I'm going to go take a bath, then we can do the whole present thing, okay love?" she asked.

"Of course. Let the kids sleep for a while?"

"Yes."

Delemir grinned as Lissa stepped out of bed and into the bathroom. She showered quickly, soon joined by the blonde haired man she loved. When they were both dry and dressed, they went upstairs to wake up the two munchkins. Delemir woke Adam and Lissa gently cradled Genevieve in her arms, murmuring sweet, incoherent nonsense things that brought a baby laugh from the three-month-old child.

"Presents!" Adam exclaimed.

"Shh," Lissa said quietly, touching his nose. "You're six years old, Adam, my love. You should know that mommies and daddies and little sisters aren't always as awake as you are in the mornings."

Adam laughed, even as Delemir scooped him up and they all went downstairs. Lissa sat with Genevieve on the couch, nursing the child. Delemir gave Adam the first present to open, and so was the beginning of that Christmas.

Later that evening, when they had laid Adam and Genevieve down for their naps, Lissa collapsed onto the couch with Delemir.

"I love you still," Lissa said, stroking her hand across his cheek. "But today was hectic."

"The first Christmas with Adam was hectic too." Delemir kissed her cheek gently.

"I guess it's the first ones, then?" Lissa grinned.

"Yes."

Then, a thought came to the back of her mind, slowly trying to make it's way up to the front. It caused the shapes in the dream to become slightly distorted and the colors off. Delemir's voice sounded different, almost watery or distant. But a moment later, everything became the way it had been again.

"Lissa, are you all right?" Delemir asked, seeing the glazed expression on her face.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just a little dizzy. The day's festivities are catching up with me," she murmured, laying her head back all the way.

She tried to figure out that thought-that one thought that seemed like it was a key to a lock she had been trying to open, but had only been hacking at it with a blunt axe. What was that thought? What did it have to do with? What significance did it carry so she was trying to figure it out as she was? Who did it concern? Adam, Genevieve, Delemir, Lissa? All of them?

Then it came to her: How did they finance income?

It seemed a silly time to think of that, but it was quite important. This was a big house. There were about twenty gifts under the tree that morning, and there was expensive furniture in every room and loads of food in the kitchen. There were plenty of toys for Genevieve and Adam, and more than enough of the necessities for Genevieve. How did they manage all of that? Her artwork couldn't hold them stable that easily, could it?

"Melissa?" Delemir's voice cut through the distorted shapes around Lissa, and the sounds. "Melissa, are you all right?"

"Yes, I said I was fine," she insisted.

Then Genevieve began crying, and Adam could be heard amidst her cries. The shapes and colors of the room around Lissa were blotched and merging, mixing and bleeding. It made Lissa dizzy.

"It's him," she murmured, sitting up on the couch. "He's trying to trick me again."

Then she heard the opera singers in the background, and the music rumbling the speakers on...on what? What was it playing on? Was she at an opera house and listening to it? Was she in her car, blacked out and dying and hearing the music?

Then she heard sirens, mixed with wild applause over the music. She heard voices, either real ones or over walkie-talkies. There were people sobbing about this and that, and one particular voice that caught her ear.

"This girl is dying," the sorrowful male voice said. Lissa knew it was pertaining to her.

"No!" she shouted, springing up from the water she'd slipped under. There was applause on the radio for the ending of the performance; there were sirens outside on the main road about an accident-they would be talking about it on the radio in a minute. Then, she heard the sound of her own rapid breathing and heartbeat.

Nothing bothering to drain the tub or dry her hair, Lissa pulling on her robe and belted it. She quickly unlocked the door, fumbling with the lock. When she opened the door, she ran down the hall to Delemir's room and burst in. He was asleep for his evening snooze.

"Delemir!" she yelled, but heard it as a sob. He shot up in the bed, his eyes immediately focussing on her.

"What? What is it?" He stood up and ran over to her as her knees buckled and she began to fall forward.

"He-He had me again! He took me into a dream again! I could feel it-all of it. I could hear the noise, the baby's cries and the wrapping paper. Oh, I could hear your voice in my dream. You were in it again!"

Delemir pulled her over to his bed and eased her down on it. He sat next to her and held her tight against him, her hair dripping beads of water still.

"Shh, shh, shh," he soothed. "Calm down first, my love. Calm down first." He kissed her hair and felt her shiver.

"He tried to kill me, Delemir. He led me into a dream and kept me there. When I woke up, I was under the water. He tried to kill me," she repeated, sobbing against Delemir's chest. "Why would he do that? Isn't he after you?"

That triggered something in Delemir's mind. Onaumbar was after him, yes. But how would he try to kill him this time? He had conquered him physically before, but who or what said he wouldn't try again? The Death Giver had slain him mentally for a short time when he had first arrived. Delemir had thought he was dead and in the Halls of Mandos. Then there was only one significant place left.

His heart.

The familiar throbbing in his heart came back as he felt Lissa shake from fear in his arms. The fear that Onaumbar had given her. Onaumbar would try to harm Lissa, take her away from Delemir. He wouldn't have it.

"Shh, shh." Delemir touched Lissa's cheek gently. "You are safe now. I have you. Lie down," he told her gently. When she did, he pulled the quilt over her shivering form.

"Where are you going?" she asked when he attempted to leave.

"To find a towel for your hair. It's wet," he told her. She nodded as he left.

As Delemir stepped into the bathroom, he felt it. He felt the presence there. It was strong, and not easily denied, even by someone who didn't and wouldn't believe in all of this. He admitted it was all slightly crazy, yes, but that didn't mean he didn't have to believe in it, or Lissa either. They both knew it was real. They both knew it because they'd both felt it.

When he returned to his room with a towel and sat down beside he Lissa on the bed, she was still in shock, but obviously warmer now. He began to dry her hair gently with the towel.

Lissa sighed out a long, quiet breath. She was afraid. She was deathly afraid now. She was afraid of being alone. God knew she hated being alone.

"Then why are you alone all the time?" Delemir asked her.

"What?" Lissa looked up at Delemir. He was still drying her hair, attempting to be taken by the task at hand, but obviously interested in her thoughts.

"You just said you didn't like being alone. Why don't you, when you are alone most of the time?" he repeated.

"I don't know. I just don't like people, that's all." She sighed again. Then yawned.

"Sleep," he told her, letting the conversation rest as well.

"I don't want to. He might-jeez, I sound like a little kid," Lissa muttered.

"What? Why would you feel like a little child? A child would be crying still, and more hysterically," Delemir stated, matter-of-factly.

"He might find me and take me again," Lissa whispered. "I don't want him to." An inward shudder chilled her slightly at that thought. But when Delemir touched her cheek, she felt her warmth again.

"He will not find you. I promise you that," he told her, sitting on her other side against the headboard.

"How can you promise something like that?" Lissa began to sit up, but Delemir kept her down easily.

"Because, I will watch you as you sleep. At any sign that he has you, the faintest whimper, I will wake you and you can tell me if he did or not." Delemir offered a smile before he bent down close to her face to rub his lips against hers. "Sleep."

Lissa nodded and was instantly asleep after she closed her eyes in Delemir's bed.

"I love you," he whispered and kissed her cheek gently.

Delemir leaned back against the wall and sighed, knowing what he had to do now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hiya everyone! This is great! Eleven chapters next time we talk! Whoo! Oh, and I've decided that once I finish this, I'm going to change the names and a few scenarios in here and publish this! Yay! Ahem, anyway. Today is my mommy's birthday. :D And a quick shout out to Lady Gwen of Avalon! She's going to be married the 23rd, so congrats to her! DISCLAIMER: Nope, don't own Lord of the Rings. Will never own it, either, so don't worry. I'm glad I rid us of Connor finally. He was getting really annoying. Hah, anyway. Yes, he said it out loud, but she was sleeping. Poo. Hehe. Mmm, yes, more dreams to come, still associating with everything in here. I am becoming fond of them. But anyway, I own the dreams, and they're fun to make up. I own the story. That's what counts. Enjoy chapter 11 when it comes!