A/N: Reviews are a writer's best friend! And since I've gotten some reviews that the sappiness wasn't so bad, I think we can have more serious chapters in this story. Thank you to Mellon! I promise you that there will be one extremely sappy chapter, but you'll have to wait a bit. Actually, now that I think of it, there's going to be two. At least. So all of you have to keep on reading and reviewing!

Oh yeah, and as for the title of this chapter: "La-di-da" is my lame imitation of somebody singing.

Disclaimer: The jingle for goldfish isn't mine... French wasn't invented by me, neither was Lord of the Rings. Though I really wish I could own Legolas, Frodo, and possibly the Ring, I do not. Maybe one day... *laughs evilly and begins plotting* ~moi~

Home Sweet Home

Chapter Eight ~ La Di Da Spells Trouble

The next morning broke clear and crisp, and Nicole found it very hard to leave the warmth of sleep. When Boromir dumped cold water on her head, it became much easier to get up. She groaned and rolled up her stuff.

"You know, I always knew that sleep was the best part of the day," she commented as she munched on what little provisions they had left. "But I never fully appreciated it's value until now." She twisted her neck and it cracked a couple of times. "I've also noticed that Middle-Earth should consider invested in motels and comforters."

Boromir laughed and finished packing everything onto Bill the pony. The hobbits were huddled over in a little group by a patch of rocks, laughing excitedly.

"Hey guys, whatcha got there?" Nicole called.

"Snow!" Pippin yelled gleefully and threw a handful of the white stuff into the air. It quickly melted.

"We will start climbing today," Aragorn said as he pulled on his leather overcoat. "Be prepared," he advised the group.

Nicole pulled up the hood on her sweatshirt and was trying to figure out exactly how you were supposed to wear a cloak. "You would think it was easy," she mumbled to herself, "but cloak-wearing is an art... you need a university degree to figure this out!"

Gandalf chuckled merrily. "It is not nearly so difficult as you have described it," he said. He deftly pinned the cloak so that it fell perfectly over her shoulders and the hood was properly positioned. "There. Now all we can hope for is less than a blizzard," he said and smiled kindly at her.

"Wow, you really are a god," Nicole noted, admiring his excellent pinning skills. "You're going to have to teach me how to do that."

They departed at last, everyone dressed more warmly, and they began walking again. The incline was steeper today, and Nicole could tell that they were getting up the mountain because the amount of snow increased. The days walk was more tiring as well, because the air was starting to thin and they made camp at nightfall gladly. The fire wasn't very big, so Nicole was somewhat grumpy at the lack of warmth and air, and her legs were frozen as well as very over-worked. Nicole didn't get much exercise usually... this was the most she had ever walked in her life.

"Guys, I might as well say this now," she said, rubbing her legs to restore feeling. "I don't think I'm going anywhere tomorrow."

Merry smiled broadly. "Excellent. If she's having a holiday, I want one too." The hobbits all agreed and Gimli was starting to warm up to the idea too, but Aragorn and Gandalf interrupted their short-lived happiness.

"Gentlemen," Aragorn began, but Nicole cleared her throat loudly. "And lady. We cannot stop, and should you want to stay, you would not have a guide, and become lost. I assure you, that would be a worse fate than halting our journey for a day."

"Indeed," confirmed Gandalf. "Time is growing shorter, and the mountain pass will soon become too difficult to cross. We must move on. And if your legs are tired, that is nothing compared to the aches you will feel over the next few days. You must overcome those trivial weaknesses."

Nicole's head was reeling from the over-excessive use of big fancy words and all the noble talking. She put a hand to her head. "Dudes, you have got to stop talking like that, or else I'm going to, and I don't think I'll do good," she mumbled. Gimli handed her a hot substance in a cup. She took it hesitantly. "What's this stuff?"

"It helps to ease the pains of walking, and clears a foggy head," he replied.

"Aww... thanks, that's so sweet of you," Nicole replied. "But I don't really have a headache. And this stuff looks like mud. But honestly, you're all guys here. And I know what guys talk like normally. Just chill out."

Pippin laughed.

"I don't get it," Nicole said after swallowing Gimli's mud. "What's so funny?"

He kept on laughing. "Chill out. I doubt that we could get any colder," he replied and kept laughing. The other hobbits smiled weakly, but it was obvious that they all thought Pippin was insane.

"Right," Nicole said. Her grumpiness returned, though she was surprised to see that Gimli's drink had actually helped her aching legs quite a bit. "Whatever. You people need to fix your vocabulary. I'm going to sleep." She huddled closer to the fire and started to lay down.

"So soon?" Boromir asked. "But the night is young, and we have much to discuss."

"Like what?" she said rubbing her eyes to try to stay awake.

"Perhaps you could tell us a tale from your land," Gandalf suggested.

"As a princess, I am sure that you have a lovely singing voice," Legolas said, the first thing he had said to her all day.

Oh no, Nicole thought, The meanie actually heard me yesterday. And now he's using it against me. I'm getting my revenge tonight... I'm sure it isn't that hard to chop that lovely golden hair into a mushroom cut.

Sam piped up. "Yes, a song. It would cheer this dreary night." The other hobbits joined in, encouraging her to sing.

Reluctantly, she sat up again. "Fine," she said. "I'm only doing it for the little ones."

"Hey!" Pippin objected. "I'm older than you are!"

"It's not polite to talk to a girl about her age, you know," she replied.

Legolas interrupted their banter. "Will you sing now?"

She glared at him. "Tu es un salaud," she said, using her French skills to confuse them and smiling to get them even more confused.

I'm sharpening my dagger... chopping time tonight, she thought and then tried to think of the most ridiculous song she could possibly remember. If it's in English, they won't even know what it means. Westron isn't the same as English... so I'm safe with anything.

"Alright," she said as the perfect song popped into her head. She began singing in English.

Here's our Jingle for Goldfish,
That's baked and not fried Goldfish.
The yummy snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.
Did you know their made with real cheese,
Even though they look like fishies.
The snack that smiles back, Goldfish!

Since that was a very short song by Middle-Earth standards, she added in a few more verses, mostly about fish, though some mention purple elephants, chain saws and hair, hot chocolate, and other things that made no sense at all. All in all, the Jingle for Goldfish got really really messed up, and Nicole felt a whole lot happier. She ended the song with the real Jingle for Goldfish again. Once she was done, she had a revelation. Singing in front of people isn't that bad. Just when it's people that you don't particularly like so much.

Needless to say, she left her audience speechless.

"Well," said Gandalf. "It was a very emotional story, I can see that."

"You do indeed have a lovely singing voice," said Aragorn. "I could not understand the words, but it was clear to me that the story must be very dear to the people of your land."

The rest of her reviews were pretty much the same, except Sam asked if she could teach him the song and Frodo wanted to write it down. Legolas just smirked. Gimli and Boromir were proud of her, which Nicole found odd but cool. Those two were kind of like older brothers... except less annoying.

"Ok, I'm done, so now I'm going to sleep," she said and started to fall asleep again.

"Encore!" the hobbits cried out.

"You're kidding me," she replied. "I just sang for almost fifteen minutes straight, and you want more? My brain can't handle it." With that she went back to sleep and was dreaming within minutes.

In her dream she was again looking through the cracked glass. Not this again. I'm not staying here. The picture behind the glass changed, kind of melted, and became a cold dark place that had a feeling of strong fear attached to it. Moria. I guess that's where we'll end up soon. The picture shifted again and Loth Lorien appeared, but here the feeling was a kind of nervousness, as though it was an uncertain future. I don't want to dream about this anymore. As though her weird dream had heard her, the glass shattered again, and she sat up suddenly waking up.

She was annoyed and frowned deeply. If I get that stupid dream one more time, I'm going to... I don't even know what I'm going to do. It's just a pointless dream, and I'm sick of it. She shook off the last of her weariness. Since her arrival in Middle Earth, she found that she didn't need as much sleep. It probably had something to do with the atmospheric pressure, or something else that she would have learned in science class if she had bothered to pay attention. She looked around her. Gimli was on watch, but he was busy sharpening his axe again and hadn't noticed her waking up.

Nicole smiled and slipped her dagger out of the sheath at her waist. Revenge is so sweet... she crawled slowly to the place where Legolas was resting. Nicole could only hope that he had decided to close his eyes, even though Elves usually don't do that. The amount of non-Elves around him must have rubbed off on him, she noted, when she saw that he actually had his eyes closed. She reached out with her left hand and gently picked up a handful of golden hair. She bit her lip hard to keep from laughing (A/N: think, "MUWAHAHAHA!!!!").

As she was bringing her right hand forward, the dagger's blade was a tiny fraction of an inch away from the hair, her peripheral vision picked up on some movement. A split second later, her right wrist was in a considerable amount of pain and the dagger clattered to the ground. She gasped and noticed a prick of pain at her throat. Her brain finally registered what her eyes were seeing. Legolas had a hand clamped firmly around her wrist and one of his knives was pressing into her throat, and from the feel of things, the knife had just pierced her skin, causing a pinprick of blood to appear. His blue eyes were filled with a fierceness that terrified her. Nicole could barely breathe now, for fear of drawing more blood. Time froze as they each waited for the next move...

A/N: My first cliffie! Well, maybe not, but it's the first good one! Anyways, I'm hoping that with this chapter, we can pull the review count all the way up to 15! Only four reviews everyone, it isn't that hard! And, on a bit of inspiration, I'm going to try to put some of your ideas into the stories! So in your reviews, write about what you think will happen next in the story! THERE IS NO LIMIT ON IDEAS!!!!! You can put fifty ideas for Chapter Nine if you want to. I can't promise that I'll use everyone's, but I'll keep them in mind for future chapters too. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far!

Ok, now do you see that little purple-blue button? Click! ~moi~