Now you will all know why Carrie said that Elves are perfect at everything…

And a quick note to my sister, should she be reading: Skip this chapter. If you read it, Mommy would kill us both…

Carrie attended the Coronation with the contingent from Rohan, escorted by Eomer. She had wanted to accompany the Elves, but as Elrond patiently explained to her, several times, that wasn't the proper etiquette, and there would be plenty of time afterwards in which she could "visit with whomever she wished."

The Coronation was an extraordinary experience for Carrie, who had never attended anything remotely similar. She beamed with pride as Aragorn accepted the crown and made his first speech as king. She felt tears of pride well in her eyes as he walked passed her, and laughed happily when he winked at her. And she felt her heart swell and her breath catch when Arwen was revealed to him.

After the ceremony, she picked her way through the crowd, edging towards the periphery. The general feeling of the populace was excitement, and Carrie had too much on her mind to join in their exuberance. She eventually passed the outer perimeter of the crowd and walked alone through the streets until she came to the place she had been staying with the Elves. She walked through the campsite aimlessly, lost in thought. She didn't realize anybody was there until she heard a voice behind her.

"The celebration was not to your liking?"

Carrie whirled around and froze the moment she saw him. She had spotted him easily before in the procession of Elves, but it was nothing compared to how he looked up close. She was left breathless by how devastatingly heart stopping he looked in his blue-grey tunic with the silver circlet denoting his rank placed elegantly on his head. The braids that she had grown accustomed to had been let out and his hair flowed freely about his shoulders. She knew she was gaping at him, but didn't have the will or desire to do anything about it.

His brows furrowed into a concerned expression and he walked to her and gently cupped her face with his hand. "Are you not well?" he asked worriedly.

Carrie blinked a few times to try to clear her head, but with his hand on her face and the way he currently looked, it was all but impossible. Her heart racing, she tried to gather her thoughts enough to speak.

"I…I just had some thinking to do alone." She swallowed and tried to remember how to breathe. She saw disappointment in his eyes and covered his hand with her own. "I…I don't want you to leave."

He stared deep into her eyes and his lips curled into a comforted smile. He took his hand off her face and grasped both of her hands in his. "I wished to speak to you before, but there always seemed to be others around."

"Mmm hmm," was all Carrie could manage, entranced as she was by this vision standing before her.

"There is something I wish to tell you." If she had not been so transfixed on the way the setting sun was playing off his golden hair, she may have noticed the slight waver in his voice. If she had not been spellbound by how ethereal he looked at the moment, she may have glimpsed the trouble in his bright eyes. As it was, all she noticed was how incredibly beautiful he looked, and how incredibly fast her heart was beating.

Carrie swallowed nervously. "There is something I wish to tell you too…" she pulled her hands away and wrung them in front of her, "…but … I don't know… you just seem so…so… different."

"Different?" he asked, his brows drawn together in a confused expression.

Carrie bit her lip and shrugged. She reached up and almost reverently touched the diadem on his head. As soon as she made contact, she drew back her hand. "I ... you're ... I ... " she stuttered uncertainly and then took a deep breath to calm herself. "I feel as if you're someone else." She dropped her voice to a whisper. "I feel as if I don't know you."

"Carrie," Legolas said soothingly, talking her hands in his and gently kissing first one of her palms and then the other. "What do you mean you don't know me?"

The fact that Legolas was now holding both of her hands in his and caressing the backs of them with his thumbs was doing nothing to calm Carrie's racing heart. "You just seem so... so..." She had no idea how to convey what she was feeling so she swallowed hard and blurted out the first thing that came to her mind. "You're an Elf. Prince."

Legolas pressed his lips into a thin line and dropped her hands. "I am the son of a king, yes." He reached up and removed the silver circlet from his head. "But that matters not."

Carrie looked away from him. "Why not?"

"Because..." He reached over and cupped her chin with his free hand, forcing her to meet his gaze. He held her with his eyes for a moment before leaning down and gently kissing her lips. The moment their mouths touched, the fire of passion that had always been between them was ignited once more. His mouth felt as it always had on hers; soft and gentle. The arms that held her were the same arms that had held her at Helm's Deep; warm and strong and real.

When they broke apart he gazed into her eyes, still as a statue, the setting sun making a halo around his golden hair. She reached up to brush his hair back, but he smiled and shook his head. Taking her hand in his, he leaned in to kiss her again and she slid both hands around his neck, savoring the feelings that washed over her. He pulled away again and, without a word, he took her hand and led her through the campsite, until they reached a secluded garden behind a closed gate.

Their mouths found each other again, and he pulled her down to kneel with him on the soft grass. Gently, his hands worked on the ties on the front of her dress, his mouth moving to her neck, kissing her softly from her ear to her collarbone. Carrie threw her head back with a soft moan of exquisite pleasure, exposing more of her neck to his ministrations. He slid his hands inside the now-open front of her dress and gently slid the garment off her shoulders. She felt it slide down her back to rest on her hips.

He continued to kiss her neck and then his lips were scorching skin that was, until now, protected by the cover of her dress. His hands slid up behind her as she savored the feel of him against her. She ran her hands through his hair, his kisses making her cry out his name. Gently he wrapped her in his arms, pulling her down, until they were both lying on a bed of leaves. He released her only long enough to look in her eyes and whisper, "Melin le," against her skin before his mouth found hers again.

The delicious torture continued as he retraced the path his lips had already made from her neck to her breasts and than moved his mouth lower. She sighed and then gasped at the sensations coursing through her. "Meleth..." she heard him whisper, his hands stroking her hips and sliding the rest of her dress down until he could claim her. She arched her back at his first contact, the warmth of his mouth against her a welcome invasion. Her hands moved from his hair to grip his shoulders as he tasted her making her head swim with pleasure.

She lifted her hips, her body pulled taut like the bow Legolas wielded so well. She wanted to beg him for release, but she needed the feel of their bodies melded together; one body - one heart - one soul.

As if he sensed her holding back Legolas slowed and moved his lips to trail his kisses over her thighs and back up until he was facing her once more, "If you don't want this, meleth..." he began. "If you want me to stop..."

Carrie's eyes widened. "Stop?" she asked, gasping for air. She shook her head, breathing heavily between her words. "No…don't stop… but…" She swallowed and tried to slow her breathing as she reached up to hold his face in her hands. "I want this… both of us… together…"

He kissed her again, still gentle, but Carrie felt overcome with a passion that was too powerful to be hers alone. She ran her hands down his neck and gripped his strong shoulders as he lifted her up to him. She felt the warmth of his body pressed against hers, but had little time to consider that sensation before she had cause to breathe out his name in blissful pleasure. His lips pressed against her neck between whispers of elvish endearments as he rocked her in a dance older than time.

"Meleth nín," his voice was rough with need. "Meleth... tiria na nin... look at me." She opened her eyes and locked her gaze with his, almost unable to bear the depth of emotion she discovered inside those blue-grey pools. His eyes did not leave her as she clung to him. Slowly, he took her to the peak of her desire, relentlessly driving her higher in need until she was breathless and felt as if her heart would explode into a million tiny stars.

"Legolas!" she cried, torn between drowning in his gaze and pressing her lips to his mouth. She felt the waves of pleasure begin to engulf her and saw his eyes darken, signaling that he could hold back no more until she followed him into a bliss so deep and satisfying that it almost broke her heart.

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Carrie lay next to Legolas, tucked under his arm, resting her head on his shoulder. The hand of his arm that was pinned under her rested gently on her waist, and his other arm was placed behind his head as a pillow. Her fingers idly traced the contour of his collarbone and she felt him turn his head towards her and kiss the top of her head. She looked up at him and smiled warmly. He kissed the tip of her nose and then gave the equivalent of a sigh.

"We will be missed soon if we do not return," he said, but made no move to rise.

Carrie brought her hand up to touch his check tenderly. "Let them miss us."

He chuckled slightly and kissed her forehead. "As much as I wish to remain here, we must go. We cannot miss the celebration."

"Could you imagine?" Carrie giggled. "I could just see trying to explain to Aragorn why we weren't at his feast."

Legolas gave her a grave look. "Were I you, I would be more fearful of explaining to his lady." Carrie's eyes widened and she bit her lip, thinking about facing Arwen with an explanation when she heard Legolas laugh again. Realizing that he had been teasing her, she propped herself on one elbow so she could afford him a proper glare.

"You're not funny." He continued to chuckle to himself as he sat up, retying his breeches and pulling on his boots, apparently thinking otherwise. After a few glances back at Carrie his expression sobered and his mood swiftly changed.

He leaned back down on one elbow and looked at her thoughtfully. "There is much I wish to speak of with you, and much I would have you tell me." He sat back up and pulled her up next to him. "Perhaps tomorrow will be a day more suited to talking."

Carrie laughed again. "Not if you wear that silver thing on your head." She shook her head and smiled coyly. "Then tomorrow will be suited to the same thing today was."

Legolas closed his eyes and smiled, shaking his head at her. He opened his eyes and took her hands in his. "It will not trouble you tomorrow. And after that I will not be wearing it much longer." Carrie frowned and tilted her head at him, not understanding. "When I depart Minas Tirith, I will travel to Mirkwood only long enough to beg leave of the king to start a small community in Ithilien. Designations of rank will not be as important there." He got an excited gleam in his eyes and Carrie was in wonder at how very childlike it made him look. "Ithilien was once called the Garden of Gondor. I would have it restored to its former beauty."

He stood up and pulled Carrie up with him, still holding her hands. He picked up her dress and helped it over her head. "It will be a place were elves and men will live together," he said meaningfully to her.

"Really?" she asked, helping him straighten the tunic he had just put on. He nodded at her and after pulling a few leaves from her hair, extended his arm to her.

"Come, my lady," he said formally as she looped her arm through his. "There is a room prepared for you in the palace." He looked her up and down once and cocked an eyebrow at her. "There are several other dresses laid out for you that may suit the feast better," he said, trying to contain his smile.

Carrie looked down at her dirty wrinkled dress and laughed. She looked back up at him with a smile. "No, I certainly can't go like this." He leaned over and kissed her one last time before they walked together up to the citadel.

Thank you reviewers. I want you to know that I had quite a bit of help with certain parts of this chapter that were way too tame the way I originally wrote them. I would like to thank my partner in crime and fellow Coronation!Legolas fancier, Lady Aranel. If you liked the love scene enough to want to read more stories like it, email me and I will point you in the direction of her website.

Jack-Sparrow-Lover: I'm glad you liked the last chapter! I hope you liked this one as much.

Lainfaer: Arguments in public are always…um…interesting. And fun to write. Well, I find arguments in general fun to write…

moonbunny77: I'm glad you liked my Eowyn & Carrie interaction, and the thing with Eomer's feelings. I always thought that in addition to Elves being sensitive to the emotions around them, that they might broadcast their own more than Men would.

crimson7319: I'm so happy you liked the catfight. Yeah, I guess Carrie put her in her place. Too bad they couldn't have been friends…

Moralinde: Thank you for praising my original ideas. Some times I worry about OOCness, but then I think to myself, I dropped a girl in middle earth. I can't be too worried about canon…

ElvenDragon: Thank you! Hope you enjoyed this one.