Chapter 35

15 years later

                  He entered the dark room as quietly as he could, his eyes lighting on her sleeping figure.  He had not expected her to be awake.  Elrond ran a hand over his haggard face.  He sat on the edge of the bed, worn to the bone.  He slowly tried to lift a booted foot so he could remove the heavy shoe, but his legs did not cooperate.  Elrond sat there, before leaning his head back, trying to ease the kinks from it.  Two hands gently began to massage his neck.

                  " Tired, Herven?"

Elrond just nodded, rolling his neck and wincing when it cracked.  Celebrían knelt and helped him out of his boots.  He had just returned from a 5-month expedition to Lindon.  Celebrían could tell by his weariness things had not gone as he had planned.  She gently helped him out of his outer tunic, wincing when she saw the tender sunburn on his shoulders.  Elrond lay back on the bed with a soft groan.

                  " I have dreamed of this bed."

Celebrían just laughed.  He opened an eye and looked down at her.

                  " You try sleeping on rocks and grass for a couple months.  You will appreciate this bed."

Celebrían smiled mischievously.

                  " I already do."

~*~

                  Elrond awoke the next morning to find his beloved wife beside him.  He looked down at her bewildered as she looked up.

                  " How did I get into this room?"  Elrond asked with a look of utter confusion.

Celebrían smiled.

                  " You were so tired last night, I am surprised you even knew your name."

Elrond chuckled, before hugging her and wincing when his sunburn reacted.

                  " I missed you Celebrían.  Next time, you will come with me."  He looked at her a moment.  " When I leave you for such a long time, it seems you always change."

Celebrían just laughed.  She pushed back the covers.

                  " Get up, Elrond.  Breakfast is in an hour."

~*~

                  Elrond found his wife in her study.  He leaned against the doorway watching her paint.  She tilted her head as she took a step away from the painting.  Her eyes drifted up and fell on him.  Celebrían's crystal eyes sparkled and she set down her brush.

                  " Are you done for the day?"

Elrond gave her a quick kiss and then an affirming nod.

                  " Aye, they told me to get some rest.  I guess I look awful," Elrond answered sheepishly.

                  " Stand in here, Elrond," Celebrían turned away from him, hurriedly searching for paper.  " I have never drawn you."

                  Elrond shook his head.

                  " There is a good reason you have never drawn me.  I am not a good subject."

Celebrían came back to his side, a pout beginning to edge across her lovely face.  Elrond gave a small sigh, looking back at her pleading eyes.

                  " Ai, I am such an old softy."

~*~

                  Celebrían put a startled had to her stomach with a smile.  She glanced up quickly, hoping her husband did not notice.  He didn't.  Elrond was busy staring out a window absently where some young children played.  Celebrían doubted at first that that was where his attention lay, until she saw a nostalgic smile tug on his face.  She came to his side.

                  " What are you watching?"

                  Elrond motioned to the children.

                  " I remember watching Elros play like that."  He looked up at her.  "Were you ever like that?"

Celebrían laughed, sitting in his lap.

                  " An odd question, given that you saw some of my childhood.  To tell you the truth, I am still like them."

Elrond chuckled with a small nod.

                  " I shall second that."

Celebrían pushed him playfully.  She laid her head under his chin.

                  " What about you?  Were you ever like them?"

Elrond's smile faded as quickly as it had surfaced.  He looked down at her.

                  " I can never remember a time when I was like them.  I suspect at birth, but…"  He ran a hand over his neck and then shrugged.

                  Celebrían twirled his hair.

*Here goes nothing…

                  " Do you think we will ever have children?"

Elrond shrugged, glancing down at her and then back out the window.

                  " I believe so.  Someday probably."

She kicked her legs in the air, stretching each one as she formulated a response.

                  " What if that day is in seven months?"  She said quickly.

Elrond only shrugged.

                  " That would be-" His head flew around, eyes as wide as saucers- "Seven months?!"

                  His hand gently slid from her hip to her rounding abdomen.  Elrond looked up at her.

                  " You mean…"

Celebrían laid a hand over his with a grin.

                  " A baby, Elrond."

Elrond laid a gentle kiss on her lips.  Celebrían leaned her head against his shoulder.  Elrond shook his head slightly.

                  " They say I am one of the greatest healers and yet I cannot see that my own wife is pregnant."

Celebrían giggled slightly.

                  " All lose their minds sometimes."  She looked up at him.  " I would blame your weariness for deceiving to your eyes."

                  Elrond's hand still lay sprawled over her abdomen.  He glanced at her hesitantly.

                  " Have you felt the child?"

Celebrían was surprised he was so shy about this.  They were wed.  There was not part of her he had not seen and likewise.  She gently moved his hand to place it over the kicking.  His hand jerked back for a moment before awe overcame his face.  Celebrían could not help but hug him.

                  " I love thee, Elrond."

                  Elrond smiled down at her before frowning a bit.

                  " You say you are five months along?"  She nodded.  " Are you sure?"

Celebrían gave another affirming nod.

                  " I knew a day after it was conceived."

Elrond scratched his head.

                  " You are farther along than that, though, but I guess I could be wrong.  Your birth was the last I presided over and you were a petite child."

~*~

                  Celebrían stood outside beside Elrond, one hand resting on her protruding abdomen.  Her father was off his horse before it even stopped.  Celeborn paused a moment, seeming to take her in, before engulfing her in a gentle hug.

                  " My baby girl is having her own baby," Celeborn sent her a grin.  "You make me feel old, Celebrían."

Celebrían hugged her father fiercely.

                  " I wanted you to know as soon as possible, Ada, but I had to wait for Elrond to return home."

                  Galadriel approached.  Celebrían was taken aback for a moment at her mother's tear-filled eyes.  Galadriel hugged the girl.

                  " It seems like just yesterday, you were cutting your teeth on Elrond's arm."

Celebrían laughed.

                  " Well, he made me stop that habit once we wed."

Galadriel laughed, wiping her eyes.

                  " Twenty-one years and already a child."  She shook her head.  " Tis a wonder you have been able to run Imladris, Elrond."

Elrond's cheeks flushed a bit.  He gave a tiny shrug.

                  " You know what they say, work before-"

                  " Elrond Peredhil, I should smack you," Celebrían inserted.

Elrond sent her an innocent look.

                  " You mother started it."

Celebrían sent him a faux stern gaze.

                  " And you will end it."

Celeborn wove an arm through his daughter's.

                  " Shall we go inside?  I know I am famished."

~*~

                  Celebrían found her husband in his study, aimlessly staring at nothing.  She yawned slightly, stretching.  Elrond's eyes drifted to her, a smile crossing his face when he took in the bulge at her waistline.  Celebrían pulled her night robe over it.

                  " Why are you still up?"

Elrond gave a small shrug, beginning to play with a pencil lying on his desk.

                  Celebrían came around, awkwardly sitting in his lap.  She looked out the window and her eyes widened.

                  " No wonder you love your study.  It has a beautiful view at night."

It suddenly seemed as if the place was flooded with light.  Celebrían watched, slack-jawed as the Gil-Estel's path took it right over the study.

                  " I never had a father," Elrond said softly.

                  Celebrían turned her head to look at him.  Elrond's eyes were glued to the star.

                  " What do you fear, Elrond?"

Elrond looked at her.

                  " That I shall be just like my father."

Celebrían brow furrowed.

                  " What do you mean?"

Elrond's hand suddenly broke the stylus he played with.

                  " Leave my children to be cared for by their mother and then by other Elves."  Elrond glanced at her with a look of total fear.  " What if I am an awful father?"

                  Celebrían shifted so she could look straight into his eyes.  She laced her arms around his neck.  Elrond looked down, rubbing his hand on his tunic to free it of the splinters from the broken stylus.  She tipped up his chin.

                  " Ada said you were wonderful with me."

Elrond gave a small sigh.

                  " I am not who I was when you were born."

Celebrían sighed impatiently.

                  " Just because you have seen more death and lost so many, does not mean that you are still not Elrond.  I married the same man I knew before the war."

Elrond sent her a small smile.  She pressed their foreheads together.

                  " You will be a great father."

~*~

                  Celebrían felt Elrond rise and gave a small groan.

                  " Morning already?  It feels like I just laid down."

Elrond stifled a yawn.

                  " We just did.  If I remember correctly, hínamma (our child-Q), kept us up all night with its insistent kicking."

Celebrían put a hand to her oversized stomach.  She gently ran a hand over it.

                  " You just had to remind me."

Elrond nodded with another yawn.

                  " Aye, because when you are awake, that means I am too."

Elrond expected a sharp reply, but instead received only silence.  He pulled his shirt over his head and then glanced back at her.

                  Celebrían sat on the edge of the bed, one hand to her stomach, seeming to be frozen.  Her eyes slowly traveled up to meet Elrond's as he finished dressing.

                  " Elrond?" her voice was a bit shaky.

                  " Hmm?" his mind was far away.

                  " I think you might want to be fetching my mother."

Elrond whipped around.

                  " What do you mean?  Are you ok?"

Celebrían winced.

                  " I think I just went into labor."

                  Elrond forced himself to remain rational.  He bent beside her, gently helping her back into the bed.  He caught sight of Celebrisse on her way to breakfast.

                  " Celebrisse, fetch Galadriel please."

Celebrisse nodded, hearing the urgency in his voice.  She took off at a sprint down the hall.

*And so comes the first child of Elrond into the world.

~*~

                  By the time Galadriel got there, she was sure Elrond was about to come unglued.

                  " Celebrían, child, you just could not wait any longer."

Celebrían grunted.

                  " I could not wait?  Tell it to wait."

Elrond remained oddly silent, his hand connected to Celebrían's.

                  Galadriel had to smile.  He was so nervous; she doubted he remembered where he was.  Celebrían squeezed tighter onto Elrond's hand as she rode another agonizing contraction.  Galadriel frowned at the end of the bed.  She stood and then motioned Elrond over, allowing Celebrisse to coax Celebrían through the contractions.

                  " From what I can tell the child is ready to exit, but it is turned the wrong way."  Galadriel sighed.  " I guess this must be some kind of a hereditary thing."

                  " What shall you do?"  Elrond asked, glancing back at Celebrían and wincing this time with her.

It looked painful, whatever she was feeling.

                  " Elrond, you are the only one who has successfully performed the surgery necessary."

Elrond looked at her before shaking his head and putting a hand to it.

                  " Please do not ask this of me."

                  " You must perform the incision to remove the child.  Either that or it will surely die and put Celebrían at such a risk also."

Elrond's decision took less than a split second. 

                  " Begin the preparations."

~*~

                  Celebrían felt her mother's numbing touch on her stomach.

                  " What are you doing?"

The numbness was a welcome relief, but she did not like the intense concentration she could see on her husband's face as he scrubbed his hands clean.

                  " Trust us, Celebrían."

Elrond gently came over sitting beside Celebrían on the bed.

                  " Do you trust me, Bree?"

Celebrían nodded.

                  " The child is breeched."  Elrond knew better than to do anything without her consent.  " You were the same way.  So far, I guess I am the only one to ever successfully perform the incision necessary to safely deliver the child a different way."

Celebrían nodded.

                  " Go ahead, then Elrond."

Elrond let out a pent up sigh.

*I have two lives resting on me at this moment.

He was soon to learn other wise.

~*~

                  Celebrían let her mother shield her eyes as Elrond began the incision.  Elrond carefully continued, allowing the power of Vilya and his knowledge lead his steady hands.  He took a deep breath before reaching inside and freeing one child.  Celebrisse came to his side, quickly taking the child.  Elrond felt a need to reach his hand in again.  He drew his hand back before staring at the head of the bed. 

                  " Celebrisse, I need another cloth."

Celebrisse turned at his astounded tone.  He lifted yet another child towards her.  Galadriel gave a small laugh.        

                  " Twins, Celebrían."  She smoothed her daughter's hair.  " You have twins."

The first healthy cry resonated through the room as Elrond swiftly healed the incision with a wave of his hand and some soft words.  He then looked up at his wife as he began to wipe his bloodied hands off.

                  Celebrían bid him to her arms.  She hugged him, pressing a kiss to his lips.

                  " I love you."

Elrond wound his arms around her, hugging her close.  Celebrisse cleared her throat.

                  " Hey, Father Elrond, come see your twin sons."

                  " Sons?"  Elrond's eyes nearly bugged from his head.

Celebrisse delivered one into Celebrían's arms and then the other into Elrond's. 

                  Galadriel looked over, coming to stand beside Elrond.

                  " This one is the eldest," she whispered, motioning to the one he held.  " See how his wrist is marked with a scarlet thread.  I marked you the same way."

Elrond sent her a small smile.

                  " Would you like to hold your grandchild?"

Galadriel took the child with a loving smile.  Elrond took that moment to exit the room.

                  Erestor, Glorfindel and Celeborn, plus numerous others sat outside.  All eyes flew up to Elrond as he exited.  Celeborn was the first on his feet.

                  " Well?"

Elrond clapped his hands together.

                  " Twins."

Celeborn's brow rose.

                  " Boys?"

Elrond gave a small nod.  Celeborn just grinned before looking up towards the heavens.

                  " After taking care of you and Elros, you get to see what you put me through.  Ah, revenge, thou art mine!"