Authors' Note: Oh my God! You all actually made me cry with all your wonderful reviews. I can not thank you all enough. I was going to wait till tomorrow to post this chapter, but because you all gave me such wonderful reviews, I decided to do it today. To answer Moonbunny77's question about Haldir and Elenwen arguing, no they do not fight like that all the time, but because they have been married for nearly a hundred years I figure that they have fought enough for her to realize what kind of body language he has when he is angry. Does that clear it up? If not I would be happy to answer any other questions you are any other reviewer might have. Thanks again! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Tolkien's work.

Chapter 7 Surprise

            Two weeks fled by in our beautiful forest. The season of summer had cast its glorious net over the world and every flower, tree and shrub was in bloom. The air was heavily perfumed with the scent of the elanor while wild flowers bloomed on the borders of the paths that winded their way through the city. Morning was the cool and quiet part of the day, where the birds twittered shrilly from their nests. In the afternoon, the sun blazed down and many elves sought shade under the branches of the mighty mellyrn. But night was my favorite part of the day. Millions of stars blanketed the sky, while gentle breezes rustled past the chimes when I and my beloved sat on our terrace for hours gazing at the light reflected in each other's eyes. Haldir had taken a week's leave on the borders to spend time with me. I knew he felt guilty about our fight and his lack of attention towards me. I, of course, was overjoyed by this. For a week he was mine and mine alone. All of my fears regarding Lintelin faded from my mind as I again laid my trust in his love for me once more. Then he returned to his post yet he made sure to be on time with his homecoming. I began to slowly accept the fact that my place was at our home. Now that I was happy again, I tried to put more of an effort in my housekeeping duties. For a century I spent my life in this flet and I had no friends. Never had I felt comfortable with other maidens, I felt like I was always looked down upon and judged by my appearance. The only elves I was at ease around were Haldir and his brothers. Now I fought the urge to join the guard once more and expected the matter to be completely dropped. So you can imagine my great surprise on that summer morning, when Haldir woke me.

            "Come meleth nin," he whispered down to me. "We will be late."

            "Oh, late for what?" I yawned and stretched.

            "For duty."

            "Duty, Haldir what do you speak of?" I was confused and half awake. It was still very early, before dawn even.

            "You are a member of the guard again. This week I managed to arrange it for you." I sat bolt upright in bed.

            "What?" I nearly screeched at him, he laughed softly.

            "Surprise," he murmured, kissing the tip of my ear playfully.

            "You jest," I did not believe him.

            "No, my dearest I am not jesting," he stood and beckoned to me with his hand. "Come we really must be going now." I stumbled out of bed, still bleary eyed. In the half light I dressed, my fingers moving clumsily over my clothes. Haldir was waiting in the main room for me. When I finally appeared out of our bedroom, he smiled brightly. "Here," he handed me a short knife. It was the same knife that Lintelin had borrowed and was still scratched. "You need to be retrained before I can place you on the borders. I am sure you have forgotten most of your skills, Elenwen. It has been near a hundred years."

            "Yes, Haldir, I don't mind. I will train hard and be vigilant at my post."

            "You speak as if I was your commander, not your husband," he teased. "I wish you to remember that always. I am your husband not your commander, keep that in you mind." He rested his hand under my chin and lifted it so my gaze met his. I was so happy that I almost did not notice the guilt in his eyes. But so prominent was it that I found it almost impossible to miss. Why would he be guilty? He had no reason for it. Inside, I felt a strong fear tug upon my heart. But now I ignored it and let my lips meet his.

            A smile curled up upon my face. Lintelin was fuming, I could just sense it. I had only returned to the guard for three days and already she seemed to feel threatened by me. Why, I did not know. She was a much better fighter than I and very pretty. Perhaps it was the fact that Haldir had begun to spend more time with me. I found myself throwing an occasional smirk in her direction when Haldir wasn't looking. Many hours were spent training both myself and Lintelin. Rumil and Orophin joined us often, being senior members of the guard themselves. My fighting skills had never been quite good, but I found that I had definitely improved over the days I trained with them. My archery remained rather poor, but better than it had been, while my fencing improved with every practice. My happiness blossomed like the elanor as I now spent every waking moment by the side of my beloved. Now, I was foolish not to tell him how tired I was, but I did not want to part from his company. With the passing of those three days, however I began to feel it more and more. Sickness and disease was not known by my kind, so I brushed it off with the explanation that I was simply weak from returning to the work from which I had so long departed. Yet on the fourth day, I could no longer hide my condition. It was Rumil who first noticed my pallid complexion and thoughtfully inquired.

            "Elenwen, you look rather pale, are you feeling ill?"

            "No," I lied and shook my head, smiling kindly back at him. I dearly loved the elf as a brother-in-law, but he had a great talent of alerting others to problems. Haldir and Orophin moved away from their work with their arrows and walked over towards us.

            "You are correct brother, she looks terrible," Haldir pulled me close to him and looked deeply into my eyes. "You should go to the healer's flet my dear. Do not worry about training for now."

            "Really Haldir I am fine…"

            "No, no I insist." I sighed knowing this was an argument I would not win.

            "Do you wish one of us to accompany you?" Orophin asked. He had always been kind and considerate. I shook my head and smiled at them.

            "Fine, I will go, but you will all see that I am just as well as I always am."

            I walked through the forest, ascending the long staircase to the healer's flet. It had always intrigued me as to why the healers were located at the top of one of the tallest trees in the wood. It made it that much more difficult getting the wounded up to the top. But now as I entered the cool room that was their flet, I pushed all silly thoughts out of my mind. A matronly elleth attended to me and luckily I did not have to wait long for it was empty. She only examined me for a short time, but when she reached my abdomen, her hand paused.

            "Oh," she whispered quietly and a smile lit up her features. "My, my, my, isn't that wonderful." I was completely in the dark when she said this. Confusion ripped through my mind and I felt myself grinning at her strange reaction.

            "What? What is it?" I was more curious than worried.

            "Well, my dear, it appears that you are pregnant."

Meleth nin: My Love

Elleth: Female elf

Author's Note: I would just like to add that I won't be following the trend of the pregnancy I had in my other story. That was merely done for dramatic effect, but here I thought it would add tension to the plot. I promise though that she will not miscarry the baby or anything like that. Thanks! I hope you enjoyed it!