"Eomer let me go, you drooling idiot! I won't be dragged about like some
rag doll you think you own. I'm serious! Let me go or I'll . . ." Lizzy let
the threat hang in the air when she realized he wasn't paying her the least
bit of attention.
Fine then. In mid-jog, she drew her leg back (much like a soccer player shooting for a goal) and kicked him as hard as she could behind the knee. Cackling rather evilly in her head, she watched with glee as he went down hard a look of utter surprise spreading across his face.
Unfortunately, she'd overlooked the fact that her hand was still firmly entrapped in his and, as the same look of stupid surprise crossed her features she was yanked down along side of him. A few seconds of stunned silence passed, and then Lizzy scrambled up yanking her hand out of his lax grip.
"Look what you made me do!" She practically shouted and stomped past his prone form still spread over the ground. Eomer's hand shot out like lightning as she passed and grasped her ankle giving it a hard tug. Flailing her arms, the supplies Legolas had given her flying, she saw the ground rushing up to meet her once again.
"Oomph," she groaned and felt like a felled log.
Eomer stood up and calmly brushed the leaves and twigs off him.
"Oops, look what you made me do," he said sarcastically and leaned down to clasp her hand and pull her up. After collecting the soap, towel, and hairbrush, he continued on, as if nothing had happened. Lizzy let herself be dragged along her mouth silently opening and closing as she searched for an appropriately horrible name for him. Finally giving up after a few minutes, Lizzy decided that nothing would ever possibly come close to describing the monster, so she settled on snarling, "I hope you rot in hell!"
"Same to you, darling," he said almost cheerfully, blast the man. Completely ignoring the fact hat she'd tripped him first and had probably deserved the fall she'd received, Lizzy fumed in righteous anger and was so consumed with plotting revenge that she hardly noticed when he let go of her hand and stopped. After slamming into him, she recovered her wits and quickly stepped back glaring at him, as if it was all his fault.
"Idiot," she muttered, gazing around. Moonlight kissed the leaves on the surrounding foliage and reflected off the water in the small pool. It would have been gorgeous if it weren't for one major flaw in the picture.
Turning to Eomer she made an angry gesture with her hand, "You can go now."
He planted his legs slightly apart and crossed his arms, "These woods are dangerous and I'm not about to-"
She swiftly cut him off. "Yeah blah, blah, blah, I can take care of myself."
"You think so? I haven't seen much to prove that theory so, no I'm not going anywhere," his voice still sounded cheerful and it grated on her nerves, making her want to strangle him.
"Stop acting like my mother!"
"I wouldn't have to if you'd stop acting like a child!" He shot back.
Oh, no he didn't.
Not saying a word, Lizzy spun on her heel and marched toward the pool. She was so mad it honestly surprised her there wasn't steam piping from her ears. So much for a refreshing soak, she'd have to settle for cleaning any part of her she could reach without removing her clothes since it was blatantly obvious he wouldn't be leaving anytime soon.
"Me? A child?! Try looking in a mirror, buddy!" she growled under her breath as she scrubbed the dirt and grime from her face. Submerging much of her hair in the water as possible, Lizzy toweled it off and began the difficult task of forcing a comb through the rat's nest. Soon she was chanting, "Ow, ow, ow . . ." as the knots stubbornly refused to untangle.
Finally, after what seemed like hours her hair finally smoothed out and her arms ached from the fight. Leaving it down to flow around her shoulders as she had no tie. Lizzy stared hopelessly down at her ruined jog suit that was almost completely brown with dirt. She'd wanted to scrub them but that wasn't possible with the big goon standing behind her. Deciding that that was all she could do for now, she stood up and slowly walked back toward Eomer. He didn't move and his unnerving stare was starting to irritate her.
"What? Did I grow a pair of horns or something?!" she snapped.
At the sound of her voice he seemed to shake himself awake and turned to lead the way back to the camp. Walking side-by-side she could almost feel the burning glances he shot her all too frequently. When she couldn't take it anymore, Lizzy halted abruptly. "Would you stop staring at me as if I was some animal in the zoo and tell me what's up?!" she asked, exasperated.
"What's a . . . a zoo? And why do you want to know what's up?" Eomer glanced overhead to search the star-studded sky that was barely visible between the tree tops. He looked so utterly confused she nearly laughed.
After rephrasing the question, she waited patiently for his answer and was puzzled when he seemed to squirm.
"You look different that's all," he muttered.
"Oh, you mean you're surprised I actually look partially decent without the layers of dirt? Thanks!" Her voice was laced with offence. Spinning away from him she marched away, hating the fact that she knew, even as she did it that she was overreacting.
"Lizzy! You know I didn't mean it like that!" Now he sounded exasperated.
Lizzy didn't care. She was so sick and tired of his callous treatment of her and she was ashamed to feel tears cloud her eyes. It was all too much and in the back of her mind she realized she wasn't really crying over what Eomer had said, but rather everything. She didn't want to be in middle earth anymore and if this was a dream she wanted to wake up. Now!
"Lizzy, where are you going?" Eomer's desperate voice came from behind her.
"Back to camp," came her muffled response.
"Well you'll wind up in the shire if you keep going this way," he said, putting a tentative hand on her shoulder. She stopped and turned around, lifting her face up to his with a hopeless look in her eyes.
When Eomer saw the tears streaming down her face, he naturally panicked like any man would in his place. "I'm sorry!" he cried, "I'm sorry for whatever I did just please don't cry!" He thumped her back awkwardly. All he accomplished was to make her cry louder. Falling onto his chest, she sobbed as if her heart was breaking.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Desperately looking around for help, he suddenly brightened. "I'll go get Gandalf. He'll know how to fix you!"
Wrapping her arms tightly around him, stopping his flight to safety, Lizzy continued to sob, tears squeezing out between her tightly closed eyelids. Resigning to the inevitable, Eomer enfolded her in his arms and prepared to suffer. After awhile, her sobs became sniffles and she began to calm down. They remained locked together for what seemed like ages when, in reality, it was only minutes. Finally, Lizzy pulled back and after giving him a slightly watery smile she thanked him. Wanting to know the reason for her tears, but, at the same time, not wanting to set her off again he only nodded and remained silent. They slowly walked back toward camp giving Lizzy enough time to compose herself.
The soft glow from the fire was a welcome sight and when they came closer, Lizzy became aware of the four men's stares.
"What?" she asked puzzled.
"You look . . . different," Legolas murmured and standing up he came closer.
Lizzy groaned, "Not you too!"
"What's this?" Legolas came even closer; ignoring the threatening step Eomer took towards him so intent was his study. "You've been crying!" He sent an accusing glace toward Eomer then turned to Gimli and Aragorn. "I told you! The brute made her cry!" All four of the males stared hard al Eomer with identical looks of reproach.
Before he could defend himself, Lizzy stepped in, "Oh, stop it, Legolas. It wasn't Eomer's fault." The look on the elf's face suggested that he strongly doubted that. She personally couldn't care less as the crying spell had left her drained and exhausted.
"Eomer would you find a blanket for me so I can go to sleep?"
"Striding over to his horse, he retrieved his own bed roll and handed it to her.
"But won't you-" Lizzy began, but Eomer, waved his hand, "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."
"Thank you," she said softly taking the bedroll and walking some distance away from the fires completely ignoring the angry Legolas. Not having any pajamas or her toothpaste or brush and frankly not caring, she spread her blanket out. After crawling in, it was only a matter of minutes before she slept
*****
Hours later she woke abruptly having no knowledge of what had disturbed her. Sitting up cautiously, she glanced around, surprise and warmth filling her. Her five companions had moved their own bedrolls over to surround her on all sides each clutching their own particular weapon. Eomer lay directly next to her and, because no one was looking, she reached a hand out to brush a stray lock of hair away from his forehead. Smiling, she snuggled back down and almost instantly fell asleep again, secure in knowing she was safer here than she would been with a thousand armed guards.
What she didn't know was that Eomer, being the trained warrior he was, had instantly woken up when she'd sat up and had felt her fingers on his face. He drifted off to sleep with a smile playing on his lips.
Fine then. In mid-jog, she drew her leg back (much like a soccer player shooting for a goal) and kicked him as hard as she could behind the knee. Cackling rather evilly in her head, she watched with glee as he went down hard a look of utter surprise spreading across his face.
Unfortunately, she'd overlooked the fact that her hand was still firmly entrapped in his and, as the same look of stupid surprise crossed her features she was yanked down along side of him. A few seconds of stunned silence passed, and then Lizzy scrambled up yanking her hand out of his lax grip.
"Look what you made me do!" She practically shouted and stomped past his prone form still spread over the ground. Eomer's hand shot out like lightning as she passed and grasped her ankle giving it a hard tug. Flailing her arms, the supplies Legolas had given her flying, she saw the ground rushing up to meet her once again.
"Oomph," she groaned and felt like a felled log.
Eomer stood up and calmly brushed the leaves and twigs off him.
"Oops, look what you made me do," he said sarcastically and leaned down to clasp her hand and pull her up. After collecting the soap, towel, and hairbrush, he continued on, as if nothing had happened. Lizzy let herself be dragged along her mouth silently opening and closing as she searched for an appropriately horrible name for him. Finally giving up after a few minutes, Lizzy decided that nothing would ever possibly come close to describing the monster, so she settled on snarling, "I hope you rot in hell!"
"Same to you, darling," he said almost cheerfully, blast the man. Completely ignoring the fact hat she'd tripped him first and had probably deserved the fall she'd received, Lizzy fumed in righteous anger and was so consumed with plotting revenge that she hardly noticed when he let go of her hand and stopped. After slamming into him, she recovered her wits and quickly stepped back glaring at him, as if it was all his fault.
"Idiot," she muttered, gazing around. Moonlight kissed the leaves on the surrounding foliage and reflected off the water in the small pool. It would have been gorgeous if it weren't for one major flaw in the picture.
Turning to Eomer she made an angry gesture with her hand, "You can go now."
He planted his legs slightly apart and crossed his arms, "These woods are dangerous and I'm not about to-"
She swiftly cut him off. "Yeah blah, blah, blah, I can take care of myself."
"You think so? I haven't seen much to prove that theory so, no I'm not going anywhere," his voice still sounded cheerful and it grated on her nerves, making her want to strangle him.
"Stop acting like my mother!"
"I wouldn't have to if you'd stop acting like a child!" He shot back.
Oh, no he didn't.
Not saying a word, Lizzy spun on her heel and marched toward the pool. She was so mad it honestly surprised her there wasn't steam piping from her ears. So much for a refreshing soak, she'd have to settle for cleaning any part of her she could reach without removing her clothes since it was blatantly obvious he wouldn't be leaving anytime soon.
"Me? A child?! Try looking in a mirror, buddy!" she growled under her breath as she scrubbed the dirt and grime from her face. Submerging much of her hair in the water as possible, Lizzy toweled it off and began the difficult task of forcing a comb through the rat's nest. Soon she was chanting, "Ow, ow, ow . . ." as the knots stubbornly refused to untangle.
Finally, after what seemed like hours her hair finally smoothed out and her arms ached from the fight. Leaving it down to flow around her shoulders as she had no tie. Lizzy stared hopelessly down at her ruined jog suit that was almost completely brown with dirt. She'd wanted to scrub them but that wasn't possible with the big goon standing behind her. Deciding that that was all she could do for now, she stood up and slowly walked back toward Eomer. He didn't move and his unnerving stare was starting to irritate her.
"What? Did I grow a pair of horns or something?!" she snapped.
At the sound of her voice he seemed to shake himself awake and turned to lead the way back to the camp. Walking side-by-side she could almost feel the burning glances he shot her all too frequently. When she couldn't take it anymore, Lizzy halted abruptly. "Would you stop staring at me as if I was some animal in the zoo and tell me what's up?!" she asked, exasperated.
"What's a . . . a zoo? And why do you want to know what's up?" Eomer glanced overhead to search the star-studded sky that was barely visible between the tree tops. He looked so utterly confused she nearly laughed.
After rephrasing the question, she waited patiently for his answer and was puzzled when he seemed to squirm.
"You look different that's all," he muttered.
"Oh, you mean you're surprised I actually look partially decent without the layers of dirt? Thanks!" Her voice was laced with offence. Spinning away from him she marched away, hating the fact that she knew, even as she did it that she was overreacting.
"Lizzy! You know I didn't mean it like that!" Now he sounded exasperated.
Lizzy didn't care. She was so sick and tired of his callous treatment of her and she was ashamed to feel tears cloud her eyes. It was all too much and in the back of her mind she realized she wasn't really crying over what Eomer had said, but rather everything. She didn't want to be in middle earth anymore and if this was a dream she wanted to wake up. Now!
"Lizzy, where are you going?" Eomer's desperate voice came from behind her.
"Back to camp," came her muffled response.
"Well you'll wind up in the shire if you keep going this way," he said, putting a tentative hand on her shoulder. She stopped and turned around, lifting her face up to his with a hopeless look in her eyes.
When Eomer saw the tears streaming down her face, he naturally panicked like any man would in his place. "I'm sorry!" he cried, "I'm sorry for whatever I did just please don't cry!" He thumped her back awkwardly. All he accomplished was to make her cry louder. Falling onto his chest, she sobbed as if her heart was breaking.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Desperately looking around for help, he suddenly brightened. "I'll go get Gandalf. He'll know how to fix you!"
Wrapping her arms tightly around him, stopping his flight to safety, Lizzy continued to sob, tears squeezing out between her tightly closed eyelids. Resigning to the inevitable, Eomer enfolded her in his arms and prepared to suffer. After awhile, her sobs became sniffles and she began to calm down. They remained locked together for what seemed like ages when, in reality, it was only minutes. Finally, Lizzy pulled back and after giving him a slightly watery smile she thanked him. Wanting to know the reason for her tears, but, at the same time, not wanting to set her off again he only nodded and remained silent. They slowly walked back toward camp giving Lizzy enough time to compose herself.
The soft glow from the fire was a welcome sight and when they came closer, Lizzy became aware of the four men's stares.
"What?" she asked puzzled.
"You look . . . different," Legolas murmured and standing up he came closer.
Lizzy groaned, "Not you too!"
"What's this?" Legolas came even closer; ignoring the threatening step Eomer took towards him so intent was his study. "You've been crying!" He sent an accusing glace toward Eomer then turned to Gimli and Aragorn. "I told you! The brute made her cry!" All four of the males stared hard al Eomer with identical looks of reproach.
Before he could defend himself, Lizzy stepped in, "Oh, stop it, Legolas. It wasn't Eomer's fault." The look on the elf's face suggested that he strongly doubted that. She personally couldn't care less as the crying spell had left her drained and exhausted.
"Eomer would you find a blanket for me so I can go to sleep?"
"Striding over to his horse, he retrieved his own bed roll and handed it to her.
"But won't you-" Lizzy began, but Eomer, waved his hand, "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."
"Thank you," she said softly taking the bedroll and walking some distance away from the fires completely ignoring the angry Legolas. Not having any pajamas or her toothpaste or brush and frankly not caring, she spread her blanket out. After crawling in, it was only a matter of minutes before she slept
*****
Hours later she woke abruptly having no knowledge of what had disturbed her. Sitting up cautiously, she glanced around, surprise and warmth filling her. Her five companions had moved their own bedrolls over to surround her on all sides each clutching their own particular weapon. Eomer lay directly next to her and, because no one was looking, she reached a hand out to brush a stray lock of hair away from his forehead. Smiling, she snuggled back down and almost instantly fell asleep again, secure in knowing she was safer here than she would been with a thousand armed guards.
What she didn't know was that Eomer, being the trained warrior he was, had instantly woken up when she'd sat up and had felt her fingers on his face. He drifted off to sleep with a smile playing on his lips.
