Carrie stretched languidly as she woke. She listened and could no longer hear the noise of the party. She pulled the blankets tighter around her and rolled over in the bed to find herself alone. 'Oh well', she thought, 'Legolas must have gone to sleep with the others so as not to arouse any suspicion.'

Legolas...she smiled as she thought of him. Wow. She hugged the blankets to herself. Nothing in her previous experience had prepared her for what happened that night. She continued to grin foolishly. So it was true. Elves were perfect at everything.

Carrie let out a deep, contented sigh. She decided to go outside for some fresh air even though she knew it was most likely still the middle of the night. She rolled over lazily to see where her clothes had ended up. She saw her dress on the floor across the room and got up to go retrieve it. She put it on, slipped on her shoes and wrapped the blankets around her, figuring it might be cold out. She left the room and wandered down the corridors to the terrace, avoiding the hall where she knew everyone was probably sleeping.

She exited the castle and was surprised to see Legolas standing on the edge of the terrace, gazing out over the plains, the hood of his cloak pulled up over his head. He turned to look when he heard her approach and smiled in greeting before he turned his attention back to the east. She walked up to him and stood at his side.

"I didn't expect anybody to be out here," she stated simply.

"I could not sleep," he answered in the same manner.

She followed his gaze to see what he was looking at so intently and saw a darkness in the distance. No, it could not be called a darkness, since it was night out and darkness was all around them. It would be more accurate to describe it as an absence of light, an absence of good, a tangible danger, the existence of evil, the embodiment of fear, of hatred, of intolerance. There was only one thing that came to Carrie's mind.

"Is that...Mordor?" she whispered. He nodded without looking at her. She felt a shudder run through her body. He noticed it and turned to her.

"You are cold."

"No, no I'm fine," she lied. "I woke up and wanted to come out for some air." She thought about whether she should say anything about what they had shared those few hours ago and decided against it. She decided to follow his lead in the conversation. If he brought it up, they would talk about it. If not, then she was not going to cause any awkwardness between them.

"The shadow in the east is an ever-present evil." He turned back to look into the distance, a frown creasing his brow. "It is unfortunate that you should see our world in these dark times."

"Oh, come on. It's not all bad." She tried to ease him. "I mean, you defeated Saruman, you found Merry and Pippin, you've made it this far. And besides," she moved to stand in front of him so that he was forced to look at her, "there are still things here that are beautiful." She looked up at him. "When I first ended up here, that's what I was struck by - the beauty of everything. Rivendell is beautiful, the plains of Rohan are beautiful, this castle is beautiful, the Elves are all beautiful..." She stopped short, noticing his smirk and cocked eyebrow, and realized what she had just said. She figured she had gone that far and might as well go against her earlier decision. "And what we did earlier, that was also truly beautiful."

He stood and looked at her for a moment, causing Carrie to wonder if she should have kept her mouth shut. But when he spoke she didn't regret her words.

"What we shared earlier is what makes this war worth fighting."

Carrie smiled at him and moved back to his side and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Everything will turn out ok. It always does," she assured him. How she ever could have been angry at so wonderful a being was completely beyond her. They stood there like that for a moment before something that he had said earlier entered Carrie's mind. She lifted her head to look at him.

"Legolas, can I ask you something?" He turned to look at her, waiting for the question. She hesitated a moment, nervous, before she asked, "When we were...um, well, earlier tonight you said, 'I love you too'." He continued to look at her questioningly. "Why 'too'?"

He studied her for a moment before answering. "So you knew I shared your feelings."

Carrie looked at him puzzled. "But...but I never...I mean, not that I don't...I mean, I don't know." She dropped her gaze to the ground. Why couldn't she just come out and say it? Why hadn't she just come out and said it?

Legolas smiled at her. "You did not speak the words, but your eyes told me countless times." He tilted her head up so he could look in her eyes. "Lady Eowyn's conversation with Aragorn only served to confirm what I already knew."

Eowyn...Carrie didn't know whether she wanted to smack her or thank her. Carrie grinned. She probably should thank her, after what she had helped to beget. But why couldn't she just say the words to him. She looked up at him mournfully.

"I want to say...I mean, I do feel...I mean..." she dropped her head again and held it with one of her hands. "I am an idiot."

Legolas turned to her and held her shoulders comfortingly. "Do not be troubled. If it is easier, say 'Melin le'."

Carrie looked up to see Legolas looking at her expectantly. She gave it a try. "Mel-lin. Lay. Was that close?" Legolas smiled at her bad pronunciation and nodded. "Melin le." Carrie beamed at her new phrase. "What does it mean?"

Legolas grinned at her. "I love you." Carrie felt her stomach flip at hearing him say that to her until she realized that it was a translation of the phrase he just taught her.

"You sneaky elf, you tricked me!" She smiled to take the edge off her words. He was grinning at her. So much for elves being all solemn and serious. "Well," she made a face at him, "now you know. Happy?" She attempted to sneer at him through her foolish grin.

He smiled back at her and he looked more content than she had ever seen him. That is until he caught sight of the omnipresent shadow in the distance again. She could actually feel the warmth and happiness leaving his body at the sight of that. They stood there for a moment before she could not bear his upset any longer. She reached out and took his hand in hers in a comforting gesture.

He turned back to her and smiled at her tender action. She felt giddy and intoxicated again and knew it had nothing to do with the amount of ale she drank earlier in the evening. It was all due to Legolas. He had always been able to unravel her like that. Ever since she first laid eyes on him that fateful night at the theater. Carrie sighed as she thought of home. Would she ever find a way to go back? What about her friends and family, would she ever see them again? She looked at Legolas. Already she was changing things here, however subtle. Where would it end? How much of an effect could this new ripple have on the whole of the story she was so familiar with? She had to go home, but now, after what had happened between them, how could she?

He turned then, and she followed suit. They stood there, hand in hand, looking eastward; both lost in their own melancholic thoughts. Finally Carrie couldn't take it anymore. The calm-before-the-storm feeling was overpowering her enough without the added pressure of her worries about home and her unintentional part in the tale. She squeezed Legolas' hand before she released it. He turned to look at her.

"You are returning to bed?" he asked, his eyes reflecting sadness as only those of the Eldar can.

For some reason Carrie felt the need to apologize. "I'm sorry. It's just too much right now. I'm, well, I guess I'm confused. I need to..." What did she need? "I think I need to sleep. I do. I think so."

He looked at her questioningly. Carrie couldn't stand to see the concern and worry for her in his eyes, on top of the sadness that was already there. She didn't have to endure it much longer because for some reason he closed his eyes and held that way for a few moments. When he opened them, Carrie longed for the prior emotions, for what she saw there now was torment, much like she felt when she thought about the inevitable decision that lay ahead of her.

"You miss your home and you feel the need to return." Carrie gulped and nodded. It was all she could manage. How was it that he was so perceptive? "And yet, going back would also cause you pain." His expression became one of anger and he turned from her and glared back out over the plains. Carrie stood and looked at him, not understanding why he was angry with her until he spoke.

"It grieves me to think I may be the cause of that." He did not look at her.

Suddenly Carrie understood. She understood everything. She understood why he had pushed her away repeatedly. She understood why he was hesitant to get close to her. She understood why he had said that there could be nothing between them. It wasn't that he didn't want anything between them. It wasn't that he wasn't attracted to her. It wasn't any of that. He didn't want to hurt her. He didn't want to cause her to be torn in a decision more painful than any other that she, or most other people in the world, would ever have to make.

He loved her. Truly. Selflessly. He loved her. And because of that he tried to keep his distance.

Carrie felt a pain stab through her chest. She groaned, realizing that it was a decision she was going to have to eventually make. The very thing he had tried to prevent happening would come to pass. He had fought so hard against it, and yet it had still overcome the both of them. And because of it, Carrie would come to a crossroads that would threaten to tear her heart in two. And he obviously blamed himself for this.

He wasn't angry with Carrie. He was angry with himself.

Carrie pushed aside the pain she was feeling. She mustered up all the strength she had and growled out three words. "I don't care." Her voice was raw with emotion, and he turned to her, stunned. She took a deep breath and continued. "I don't care what happens down the road. I don't care if I have to endure some kind of emotional struggle. I don't care."

He was standing there, staring at her, and if he weren't an elf, his mouth would probably have been hanging open.

Carrie was oblivious, caught up as she was in her emotions. "Don't you understand? It doesn't matter what happens. It doesn't matter what I am going to have to face. All that matters is that when we were in there," and she gestured back towards the hall, "that I didn't think about anything but you. Nothing else mattered to me; not home, not this war, not what Gimli was going to say when he inevitably finds out." Legolas smirked at that. "All that mattered to me was you."

Tears were streaming down Carrie's face but she didn't care. "Maybe I'm young, and naïve, and foolish. Maybe you understand more with your years and years of experience. But I say that whatever happens from here on out does not matter to me," Carrie swallowed hard before she continued, "because everything will pale in comparison to what I shared in there with you."

He stood there, unmoving, looking at Carrie. She was beyond words at this point, utterly spent from her emotional outburst, tears continuing to fall relentlessly down her cheeks. He moved towards her and reached up to wipe the tears from her eyes. He stroked her hair and Carrie collapsed against his chest. He held her sobbing frame, continuing to comb his hands through her hair and she slowly calmed with each repeated touch. When she was finally able to look back up at him she saw a slight smile on his face as he regarded her.

"What?" she asked, for there was obviously something going through that elf mind of his.

"You are beautiful."

'He's out of his mind,' she thought, completely taken aback by his swift change of mood. 'I have pushed him over the edge. Here I am, yelling at him, my face probably puffy from crying, my nose running, my hair still messed up from sleeping. And he's saying I'm beautiful.'

She smiled at him nonetheless. "You're sweet to say that to try to cheer me up. But seriously, you're an elf. You all emanate beauty. I'm not much to look at compared to that." She grimaced before she spoke her next words. "Especially not right now."

He smiled affectionately at her. "I did not mean physically, although," he raised his eyebrows at her, "that is certainly part of it. I meant you. Inside. You are beautiful." Carrie felt a warmth suffuse her. She did not think she ever received a nicer compliment, nor one that meant so much to her. She was only able to enjoy the feeling momentarily though, for the sadness and hurt had entered back into his eyes. She put her hand on his arm.

"Please, I don't be sad. I don't have to make any decisions just yet. You don't have to ride off to any battles just yet. Let's be happy while we can, and worry about what will come when it actually does."

He covered her hand with his. "I fear that will be soon."

Carrie's heart broke at his tone. "It may be." She didn't know what else to say so she just repeated herself. "It may be."

Thank you, again, reviewers! I love the accolades, but please remember that constructive criticism is always welcome and is usually very helpful!

Jack-Sparrow-Lover: Wow! Thanks for that wonderful compliment! If you liked that love scene, check out Darma Druid's (id: 316613) Fortress Around the Heart (id: 1544706), chapter 17. (Warning: You may never read my stories again, because her imagery and symbolism are amazing.)

PsychoPixie: Thanks for the review! I hope you enjoyed this one as well.

LtSonya: Your reviews have always been so helpful, and I appreciate your suggestions to the other reviewers. I do feel proud about how much I have progressed, but I attribute it a lot to your helpful critiques. I'm glad that in addition to beta-ing the story, you continue to enjoy reading it. I am immensely grateful for all of the help you have given me! So once again, thank you!

Crecy: I'm glad you love the story so far!

Vanima Bliss: You say "already," but you know that if you were in Carrie's shoes, you would be saying "about $#$ time!" :) I'm so happy that you'll continue to review! We still have a little ways to go before the story is over.

nap-003: Yes, yes, their problems seem to be behind them. I'm delighted that you enjoyed these last two chapters.

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