After her conversation with Arwen, Carrie sat in her room and thought about the decision that was looming in her future. No matter how hard it was, it was still easier to think about than to face what could possibly be going on in the battle. Arwen was right. If she went home and regretted her choice, it would be something that hung over her the rest of her life. But for Arwen, at least her father knew what had happened to her. Carrie's parents would never know. She reflected on that for a while. She finally came to the conclusion that although Elrond knew what happened to his daughter, he also knew that she would one day die. Which was probably as painful as what Carrie's parents would go through, thinking that she had died.

Carrie knew her parents would want her to be happy. She just wished there was some way that she could let them know that she was ok. Maybe she would be able to go back, see them one last time, say goodbye, and return here.

Carrie continued mulling this decision over in her head, going back and forth, for the next week. It kept her mind off of what was going on in Gondor. When Elrond came in to tell her of the destruction of the One Ring and their upcoming journey to Gondor, she had just firmly made up her mind that she would stay here, and choose love, just like Arwen. Of course, ten minutes before that, she had just firmly made up her mind that she would return home, and go back to where she belonged.

Still contemplating her decision, she walked distractedly through Rivendell to where she would meet up with Elrond and Arwen to board the carriage that would take them to Gondor. She found what she thought was the place and sat down on a bench to wait. She wasn't there long when she saw a brown-haired elf running up the path.

He stopped short when he reached her and Carrie was able to get a good look at him. 'They are all gorgeous,' she thought. 'What is it with these elves?' It was enough to make even the most secure person doubt themselves.

The elf looked around nervously before he turned to Carrie and spoke. "Have you seen another elf come this way? One that looks just like me?" He grinned at her. "Except less charming."

Taken aback, Carrie shook her head. "No, nobody has come this way."

"Good!" the elf exclaimed. "If anyone else should ask, say the same." Then, almost quicker than Carrie's eyes could follow, the elf leaped up into the tree that was overhanging the path. Carrie looked up at him, trying to figure out what was going on. She had a hard time spotting him until he swung back down.

"Don't look at me!" he pleaded desperately. "That will ruin everything." With that he jumped back up into the tree, leaving Carrie sitting on the bench, very much confused. She was only there for a short while until Arwen came by. Smiling as she saw Carrie, Arwen approached the bench.

"Lady Carrie, have you seen anybody pass by here? I am looking for my brother."

Startled at the fact that the elf hanging above her could be one of Arwen's brothers, who should have been with Aragorn, her cover faltered. "Um…no," she said, but her eyes darted up towards the tree.

Arwen, smiling knowingly, looked up into the tree. "Elladan, come down. We are about to depart." There was no answer from the tree and Arwen continued. "Elladan, Elrohir is up the path a ways, doing the same as you, and father is growing impatient."

Carrie jumped as a voice spoke behind her, for she did not even hear the elf drop out of the tree. "You say he is up the path a ways?" He grinned broadly at his sister. "I shall then meet him there, and we will find you shortly." He jumped back up into the trees and although Carrie could not see him, Arwen apparently could and Carrie watched her gaze travel through the trees up the path.

When he had apparently left her range of vision she sighed and looked back at Carrie. "My brothers," she said with a shrug. "You would think they were still elflings, the way they behave sometimes." She smiled at Carrie and took her arm to lead her away. Just then they heard a shout and a thud from up the path. Carrie looked over at Arwen, who was smiling and shaking her head.

"How old are they anyway?" Carrie asked, curious.

Arwen smiled at her. "Old enough to know better than to annoy our father when he wants to depart. Come, Lady Carrie. I do know better than to keep my father waiting."

Carrie let herself be led up the path to where two identical elves were standing, talking to Elrond, who did not look at all pleased. As they approached, Elrond turned to her.

"Lady Carrie, I understand you have met my son Elladan." One of the two young elves bowed to her. "And this is my other son, Elrohir." The second elf shoved his brother out of the way and bowed to Carrie. Elladan was about to retaliate when Elrond turned a scathing look on them, effectively stopping any more of their actions. "Come. The carriage is ready."

So Elrond, Arwen, Elladan, Elrohir and Carrie boarded the carriage that would take them to Gondor for the coronation of Aragorn. The few other elves that remained in Rivendell were already on board. Carrie silently thanked the powers that be that she did not have to get back up on a horse. The ride took a little less than a week, but thankfully they did not have to stop for the carriage was large enough that they could take turns sleeping. Well, Carrie took most of the turns because the elves apparently didn't need that much sleep.

She and Arwen did not speak of their conversation in front of Elrond. Carrie knew without question that Elrond would want for her to go home. Carrie suspected it would be cruel to discuss her decision in front of him, reminding him of the one that his daughter had made that would inevitably part them forever. Although, he was probably too distracted to notice their conversation anyway, being occupied with trying to keep his two sons from playing pranks on each other as they seemed determined to do.

Once they arrived in Gondor, they did not travel up to the innermost circle of the city, to the citadel, as Carrie had hoped. Elrond and Arwen both insisted that they remain hidden until the coronation, due to some Elvish custom that Aragorn could not see Arwen yet. Although Carrie enjoyed watching the shenanigans of the twins, she eventually became stir-crazy. So, she took it upon herself to wander around and explore the white city on her own.

The destruction to the outermost circles of the city was immense, even though much of the debris had already been cleaned up. Not wanting to face that kind of devastation, Carrie found herself wandering somewhere between the third and fourth levels of the city. News must have traveled fast, because she heard the people whispering as she passed about how she arrived with a caravan of elves. The hushed voices wondered if she herself was an elf, and if not, how did a mortal girl come to travel with elves.

Slightly overcome with boredom, and wanting to have a little fun, Carrie decided to try out some Elvish that she had picked up in Rivendell, obviously not remembering her last two less-than-illustrious attempts at the language. The next group of people that passed by and whispered about her got quite a surprise when she turned to them and with a smile said, "Mae Govannen."

Thoroughly enjoying their startled reaction and becoming bolder because of it, she walked through the streets of the city, hailing various people with her attempt at the Elvish greeting. That was until she heard a long string of Elvish spoken behind her, and although the voice was beautiful, she could tell the owner of that voice was none too pleased.

She whirled around and came face to face with an unhappy looking elf. Gorgeous though he may be considered, the glower on his face did not do anything to enhance his features. Carrie unknowingly took a step back, and through her dry throat she choked out, "What?"

He arched an eyebrow arrogantly at her. "I asked why it was that a woman of the Edain was greeting people in the Elven-tongue." If it was at all possible, his frown deepened as he continued, "As it is quite obvious that she does not understand our noble language."

Carrie stood stock-still for several moments, not having any idea how to reply to this very angry elf who was glaring at her with such intensity that she could physically feel it. Just then, Carrie heard another voice speak behind her.

"I assure you Haldir, she meant no harm in her action." Carrie felt her body relax when she recognized the voice, until the name spoken registered in her mind.

She felt the color drain from her face as she addressed the elf that was still glaring unhappily at her. "Haldir?" she asked quietly. He did not acknowledge her, but continued to look over her shoulder at the other elf that had spoken. Carrie turned around to face him and asked again, "Haldir?" She was torn between the joy of seeing him again, alive and in one piece, and the shock of coming face to face with someone whom she thought to be dead. The latter emotion won out, and did a good job masking any other emotions she might have experienced.

Legolas must have noticed her unnerved expression, but did not say anything that would draw attention to it. Instead, he and Haldir exchanged a few more words in Elvish as Carrie stood by and watched dumbly. As they were talking, Carrie couldn't take her eyes off Haldir, who was listening intently to what Legolas was saying, both of them oblivious to the intensity of Carrie's attention. After a brief bit of conversation, Carrie saw Haldir's eyes grow wide and both he and Legolas turned to look at her.

Haldir spoke to her once again and although his face was the perfect elven mask, she could see a mixture of curiosity and uncertainty in his bright eyes. "I apologize, my lady, for frightening you. It struck me as unusual to hear our language spoken by a mortal woman."

Carrie hesitated for a moment, still staring wide-eyed at Haldir, both shaken from seeing this ghost before her and also wondering what Legolas could have said to him. He and Legolas exchanged a glance at her odd behavior. Before she could pull herself together and formulate a reply, she heard another familiar voice behind her.

"I see you're up to your tricks again, enchanting elves as usual."

Carrie felt her shock turn to anger at the other woman's voice and the words that were spoken. She heard Legolas say something quickly to Haldir in Elvish, but before either of them could interfere, she managed to whirl on Eowyn. "What, exactly, is that supposed to mean?"

Eowyn raised her eyebrows at Carrie, as if the meaning of her last statement was obvious. She looked pointedly at Legolas, and as if that weren't enough, she turned back to Carrie. "And you must have enchanted the elves in Rivendell, to be sent as a messenger and then to travel around with them, if you only visited there shortly before, as you said." She waited a beat before she continued. "And when I say enchanted, I'm sure you know what I mean."

Carrie's anger flared at this, the second time Eowyn had basically called her a slut, but before she could respond Haldir stepped between them. "Lady Eowyn of Rohan, it is my immense pleasure to meet someone of such renown." He bowed his head slightly at Eowyn. Carrie opened her mouth to say something but seeing the warning look Legolas was giving her, she quickly shut it.

Eowyn glanced once more at Carrie, obviously torn between fighting and responding to the elf that had thrown such a well-aimed compliment at her. Carrie was daring her with her eyes to go on, just as eager to continue their verbal battle, but the women and their little feud were no match for two elves.

Legolas stepped in at just the right moment and addressed Eowyn. "Lady Eowyn, may I introduce you to Haldir, Marchwarden of Lorien."

Haldir bowed his head again as he spoke to Eowyn. "My lady, I would be honored if someone as fearless and noble as you would do me the honor of showing me around this beautiful city." He extended his arm expectantly at her and Eowyn, unable to resist the charm of an elf, took hold of his arm as he led her off. Carrie saw him exchange one last look with Legolas before he turned his full attention to Eowyn.

Realizing that she and Eowyn had just been completely manipulated, she turned to Legolas and put her hands on her hips. "What was that?"

He turned to her and smiled mischievously. "Diplomacy. With a little help from Lorien."

The mention of Lorien reminded Carrie of the reason for her earlier shock. She removed her hands from her hips and wrung them in front of her. "And that was Haldir? He should be dead!"

Legolas looked at her with a concerned expression, and then a corner of his mouth curled up into a smile. "I'll admit the Marchwarden can be a bit abrasive at times, but surely you don't wish for his demise?"

Carrie stared open-mouthed at him, not understanding how he could be taking something like this so lightly. "Didn't he fall at Helm's Deep? Wasn't he with the elf army that came to help out?"

The faint hint of a smile left Legolas' face and he stepped towards Carrie and put a hand on her arm. "Eomer told me that you spoke of an elf army." He looked at her somberly. "There once was an allegiance of elves and men that united to fight the Enemy, but that was long before even I walked in the forests of this land."

"No, no - I know that!" Carrie interrupted. "I'm talking about Helm's Deep! In this war!" She felt her mind become a jumble again and she remembered faintly that there was no elf army in the book, that was just the movie. But then, this was so unlike the book, and yet so unlike the movie, and yet…

"Carrie?" Legolas' voice brought her out of her thoughts and she focused back on him. Finally not thinking about Haldir, or Helms Deep, or Eowyn she turned to him and threw her arms around him.

"I'm so glad this is over! I'm so glad you're here!" She felt his arms wrap tightly around her and all thoughts of anything else drifted far from her mind.

"As am I," he said softly in her ear. There they stood for several minutes, but eventually Carrie's mind began to churn again and she pulled back. She eyed Legolas warily. "How did you know that diplomacy was necessary, with me and Eowyn?"

A slight smile returned to Legolas' face. "Eomer told me of what happened after Aragorn, Gimli and I left the encampment."

Carrie took a step back from him, and she felt her heart beat a little faster. Had Eomer told him everything that had happened after he left? Before she had a chance to figure out how to tactfully pose that question, as if on cue, Eomer came running down the street.

"Have you seen my sister?" he asked the two of them and then turned to Carrie. "She was looking for you and she was not pleased."

Carrie exhaled in a bitter laugh and nodded. "Yes, we were already graced with her presence," she told him sarcastically. She then stiffened, realizing that she was standing there, facing both Legolas and Eomer. She shifted her weight uncomfortably from one foot to the other as she looked at the two of them.

A tense silence fell over the three of them. Clearing his throat, Eomer looked once at Legolas and then turned back to Carrie. "Since you two have already talked and managed not to murder each other, I guess I can stop my search for her." He looked like he wanted to say something else, but remained silent.

Instead, Legolas spoke. "It was a near catastrophe. Luckily, Haldir of Lorien was able to intervene and asked your sister to escort him around the city." He turned then to Carrie. "I must go now and meet with my kin from Imladris. I will see you shortly." He gave her a smile and gave Eomer a nod and then turned and walked down the road in the same direction that Haldir and Eowyn went.

Eomer and Carrie stood there in silence for a while. Finally, Eomer turned to her. "I know I asked your forgiveness ahead of time, but I feel the need to apologize again." Carrie began to answer, but he held up his hand to let him continue. "Please realize, if I had the smallest hope that we would survive, I would never have done what I did."

Carrie smiled and dropped her head. She looked back up at him and saw that he was waiting for her response. "It's ok." She shrugged. "Don't worry about it." She reached out her hand to shake his. "Friends?"

He reached out his hand in front of him, just as she was doing and smiled at her. "Friends." Carrie took his hand and shook it, laughing at the startled expression on his face at this gesture that was completely foreign to him. He shook her hand back, joining her laughter, and any tension between them was washed away by that gesture of friendship.

Thank you, again, reviewers for all your kind words. I hope you have enjoyed this chapter as well.

BtchieChrissy: Thanks for the review! I'll keep the chapters coming pretty quickly now.

Jack-Sparrow-Lover: Here's your elf. Oh, and please don't put Leggy in the closet - it just makes it way to easy for the slash writers to have a field day with that…

PsychoPixie: Yeah, no fun to know how it turns out. Half the fun is in the anticipation…Thanks for checking out my drinking song! I hope the "crash course" about the first age I emailed you helped.

kalika55: Wow. I'm glad you find Carrie so realistic. I really tried to approach it with the idea of how would someone really react to all this happening to her, in a world that she had believed to be fictional. As far as the changes, the time of this story, or at least the time that Carrie "fell into" M-E was after TTT movie was released, but before RotK. So she only knows the book version of RotK. In the book, Elrond does not go to Dunharrow with the sword, so to Carrie, this is a change. I think the reason she doesn't say anything is kind of a "ignore it and it will go away" attitude. Plus I think she's afraid to talk about anything that she knows with any of the characters, lest she give away information that could change things further.

crimson7319: Thanks! Don't worry about how it ends. Most of the enjoyment is in getting to the end anyway, right? I'm glad you love the story.

ElvenDragon: Here's some more. Hope you liked it!

moonbunny77: I'm glad you liked my Arwen. Elves are much better when they are touchable…mmm…--goes to get mind out of gutter-- Anyway…this chapter was a bit longer for you…

Lainfaer: It's a very hard choice. But if being in her shoes means I get to hook up with a certain blond elf, well, I'd suffer through it somehow... --wink--