JC: Wow, we finally updated! Okay, stress…bad…screws up writing.

Kathrine: This is the second to last chapter!

JC: There is a REALLY big cliffhanger at the end of this chapter.

Kathrine: The stress made us do it!

JC: But we had planned to do it next chapter anyway… So I guess we just pushed it up a bit.

Kathrine: Sorry for the long wait, but at least it's here now. Enjoy.

Warnings: Slash, Fluff, little Angst, BIG CLIFFHANGER!!!!!!!!!!!

Disclaimer: We do not OWN LOTR per say…though we do get to decide what happens to the characters in this story.

Weight of the Burden

By Jennifer and JC

Chapter 8

Elrohir awoke slowly, his mind clouded with sleep still, though light was shining down upon his lidded eyes. A low half-moan escaped his throat as he stretched slightly, only to find that he was unable to move much. Allowing his eyes to regain focus, he caught sight of golden blonde, gleaming brightly within the illuminating rays of Anor, directly before his eyes. Scanning about, he realized that Legolas had shifted in the time they had slept, his body now lying mainly upon the younger twin, head cuddled into his chest under his chin.

" I see you have awakened," Elladan smiled at him from where he lay against the prince's back. " I feared that you were more tired than you admitted."

" I only found myself too comfortable to rise from such a peaceful slumber," he replied. " Now move so that I may shift him to his back. Legolas may indeed be quite light, even for an Edhel, but you, gwanunig-nín, are not."

Elladan childishly stuck his tongue out at his brother. " As much as I would just love to accommodate you," he said haughtily. " I am unable to move. It seems that malternil-mîn has ensnared us both." It was then that Elrohir notice the hand that snaked around the blonde's waist, lodged tightly within the Wood-Elf's crossed arms. It was almost comical how the prince had ensured that neither twin would be able to leave him without causing enough disruption to awaken him.

" His eyes are not closed, his breath steady, his body hale and warm," Elrohir reached up his hand to touch the pale cheek. " He is still here Elladan, he has not left us in the night."

" From his precautions, he is more worried of US leaving HIM," the elder twin pointed out and continued when he saw the look upon his brother face, " Aye, we have bound ourselves to him, and you know as well as I that we will not separate from him, but he has always been self-conscious about such things. No matter the great warrior and prince that hides his insecure spirit."

" I know," he sighed. " But he is OUR insecure warrior-prince and that is something I will continue to point out to him. As much as he is now ours, we are his."

" And I will not let you go, never again."

Both twins turned their heads to the soft voice of the on crushed between them. " It seems our prince was not as asleep as he portrayed," Elladan chuckled. " Did you enjoy your rest?"

" I enjoyed what I awoke to much more," Legolas smiled. " I almost believed it was all indeed no more than a dream. A beautiful, yet bittersweet conjuring of my love-struck imagination."

" Nay," the twin whispered to him.

" We are as real as the wonderful gift that Valar have graced us with, 'less it too is some cruel imagery," Elrohir reassured him.

" Gift?" He didn't understand. " What do you speak of?"

" Ai, you silly Elfling," Elladan nuzzled his shoulder. " We speak of you."

The gentle, caring words lightened the blonde's spirit, causing him to smile and blush at the same time. " I love you, both of you," he stated.

" We know," the twins acknowledged. " As we love you."

" Good," he smiled.

" Your - Our sons will be glad to know all is well," Elladan said. " They will not have to slay us now."

" Sons," Elrohir finally let it all settled in. Before he was too angry, to upset and feeling betrayed to actually think of it. But now that he let the thought run through his mind, it filled him with complete elation. " We are fathers, 'Dan."

" Yes," Legolas sighed, a strain in his voice. " And I was the one who kept you from your children, kept you from watching them grow."

" Do not dwell on that now," Elrohir told him.

Elladan agreed. " The past is behind us now," he said. " We have all moved on, please do not look back at what we did wrong. We must instead think of what we did right. Look at our sons… They are wonderful, loyal, and noble. We could not have hoped for better. You have been the perfect Adar, Laiqualasse."

" All right," the blonde nodded. " We have an entire future to right all of the wrongs we have committed."

Elrohir smirked. " I believe we will enjoy that," he kissed the blonde's willing lips. " Think of how wondrous our reconciling will be." He then kissed him again. It was then that he heard the ruckus from outside the door. There was shouting, obviously from a certain very impatient Dwarf and more shouting, obviously from a very frustrated Gondorian King, and then laughter, certainly from a very amused Balrog Slayer.

" I knew our reprieve would not long last," Elladan sighed, reluctantly pulling away from his lovers to stand. He then picked up the discarded leggings from the floor, passing them out before putting his own on. " I could just picture what they would do should they walk in upon us completely bare."

Legolas let out a laugh as he tied his leggings up. " Gimli would be the only one with enough chastity to apologize or blush," he replied with a smile. " I had never thought a Dwarf could be so modest, but maybe that is simply towards seeing others in such an intimate way."

It was then that said Dwarf finally was fed up with waiting outside the door and burst into the room with an irritated flare, his eyes cut and his tall axe in hand. " I want to know exactly what is going on and not being pacified by the lips of another!" he demanded. He then turned his eyes to the twins. " And should I find that YOU two are indeed the cause of all of this I shall…"

" Let it not be said that Dwarves are unable to dramatize things," Legolas laughed. " For surely they would become infuriated by being told them cannot accomplish something."

Gimli was about to give a snappy retort, but first notice that Legolas was sitting upon the bed, Elladan behind him with an arm around his chest, while Elrohir was in the process of resting stomach-down upon the mattress. " You look completely fine," he stated. " It appears as if nothing is wrong with you at all, save the fact that you are still too thin and you look as if you have not slept for more than a fortnight."

" THAT is what I have been trying to TELL you," Aragorn huffed. " He is no longer in any danger."

" Yes, thanks to these two?" His eyes were staring between the Twin Sons of Elrond with curious contempt. " And it was just last night that I was told they had something to do with his formerly ill condition."

" That is true," Elladan decided it was best to have this all out now. " The three of us refused to acknowledge something that in the end hurt us all. But now we have hopefully redeemed ourselves and will never make that same mistake again."

Legolas gave a brief nod. " It is not only their fault, elvellon-nín," he explained. " I allowed myself to fall to a misguided heart and, believe me this, I would not be here before you now without them." He placed a hand upon Elrohir's shoulder while Elladan pulled him closer. " So please, do not be angered for me, rather be happy that for once…I am truly happy as well."

These words seemed to calm the Dwarf more than any others. He lowered his axe to a stiff position on the floor before letting out a sigh. " To think I came here ready to cut off a precious limb or two," he stated. " But it seems that now I must wait until one of them decides to go back upon their vows. For should EITHER of you step out of line in ANY manner, I shall be the one to show you the error of your ways." This caused all but Elladan and Elrohir to burst into laughs.

" I am glad," Glorfindel patted Gimli's arm. " I do not believe anything less than your axe would be able to get through their thick skulls."

Elladan gave a snort. " We are glad that you find threats upon our person to be so amusing." He then took a look at the three before him and asked a question he knew that he and his lovers had been wondering. " Where are Andúnel and Amúntel?"

" Waiting until I have seen that Legolas is well," Aragorn replied. " Although they swear that nothing is wrong with you."

The blonde gave a smile. " My sons and I share a bond," he stated. " They would know if something was truly wrong with me."

" Good," two heads poked themselves from around the corner of the door. " May we enter now?"

" Yes," the king sighed. The young Elves hurried into the room, rushing to their father's side. He then backed away, bringing both Gimli and Glorfindel with them. " We will await outside. You five have much to discuss." They shut the door behind them, ensuring that none would hear what was to be said with.

" How are you Ada?" Andúnel asked, going over his father's tired, yet happy appearance. Never had he, nor his brother, seen such a content look upon their father's face, or such life in his eyes. It was as if an integral part of him had finally been restored. And I guess it has, he thought.

" I believe that everything is all right now," the blonde stood and wrapped both of his children in a reassuring embrace. " Never have I felt as I do now."

" So they make you happy?" Amúntel needed his belief to be confirmed. If there were any chance that the Sons of Elrond might bring more harm to his father, then he would waste no time in making sure they never stepped within the same realm as he again.

But he was brightened by the smile and lyrical tone in Legolas' voice. " Yes," he said, kissing his son on the brow. " They make me very happy. The weight I have burdened myself with for so long is gone, no more lies. Everything is truly well." He kissed Andúnel in the same manner as he had done his brother before and stepped back, allowing both sets of twins to stare at one another. " But perhaps it is time for you all to come to terms with each other."

Silvery grey eyes stared upon those that had sired them as said eyes stared back in return. There was an awkward tension in the room, none out of the four knowing what to say. It was finally Elrohir who let out low sigh, ready to end to stand still and said, " I know that you might still be quite upset with us…"

" That is where you might be wrong," Andúnel interrupted him. " We feel no ire towards you. We only don't understand why it took you so long to admit this to one another."

His younger twin added, " You say you love each other and yet you have hid it and denied it for so long. Why?"

The Elrondiond looked knowing at each other and Legolas nodded, feeling their thoughts and emotions flittered across his conscious. " Fear brings about many things in a person," Elladan sighed. " We saw what loss did to our father, my mother's sailing nearly crippled him with grief. If not for his love of us and Arwen, and the vow he made to Gil-Galad, he would have either left with her or faded. And then Gilraen, Aragorn's mother, lost herself in the grief of watching her husband slaughtered by Orcs, leaving her son in the care of we in Imladris. We feared letting another that close to our spirit."

" We felt we needed no other, that we didn't have to deal with such a pain as the loss of our mate, for we had one another," Elrohir went on. " But we found that we were wrong. Legolas had always been dear to us, for he was such a gentle, loving Elf-child, who seemed to follow Glorfindel around wherever he went. Then he began to join us for short trips about Imladris and that was when his more 'mischievous' side started to show. To us he was the brother that we had never gotten."

" Brother?" Amúntel broke in.

" We are still considered young, in terms of how Elves age," Elrohir explained. " Though we are surely not as young as they consider your father. Had this been before the War of the Ring, your birth would be considered nothing short of scandalous, especially for the youngest heir to Mirkwood. But in a way, I guess his age was one of the reasons why we were less that willing to pursue anything with him."

" Why?" Andúnel wanted to know. " Why should his age have anything to do with the feelings between you? Should not the love be enough?"

" Oh, you dear child," Elladan laughed. " To know that someone still believes such things…but I guess that once the war was over, things did change. It appears to be for the better."

" Elladan," Legolas' voice held tinge of warning, and he could see the identical scowls upon their sons' faces.

" Many of our elders would have believed such a thing purely disgraceful, for that was the way things were," Elrohir cut in to save the conversation. " An Elf was not expected to remain 'untouched' after their majority, but to have a child before they reached their first millennia? It was only after the devastation of the Silvan Elves at the Last Alliance that many saw the necessity of childbirths, but even then it was only accepted at eight centuries or older. Your father was just over his first half-millennia! We would have been thought pedophiles, no matter that he was of full consenting age! We find it truly refreshing that you believe so much in love."

" But why should you care what others think?" Andúnel pushed. " After reaching your majority, you are of full consenting age."

" Yes, and we were not ignorant to your father's beauty," Elladan's words caused a light blush to creep across said blonde's cheeks. " But we also saw how many desired him and sought to discourage them from such petty lust. What hypocrites would we be if we exactly what we threatened others against?"

Legolas' eyes widened. " You threatened Elves who sought after me?" He then frowned. " I was no child. I could have handled myself if need be!"

" As you can see, your father is blind to his own allure," Elrohir pointed out, smirking at the deep frown marring his love's lips. " 'Twas not merely Elves who enjoyed looking at him and then you WERE a child. All we did was warn them against trying to get you into their bed if they sought to break your heart afterwards. Although I do recall an 'incident' where a Man suggested…" His words were halted by the hand that suddenly found itself over his mouth, even if it was too late… Legolas could read all of their thoughts within his mind. The blush returned.

" That is quite graphic in detail," the blonde stated. " But I still do not think it would have been wise to castrate him, no matter the unsavory thoughts he kept for he did not act out upon them."

" Especially since he was the son of the Steward of Gondor, in Rivendell for an awkward diplomacy conference," Elrohir agreed. " But that was over five hundred years ago and only forty years after your mother's death. It had been your first trip to Imladris since and Elladan was feeling highly protective."

" What are you talking about? What did he say?" Amúntel almost demanded, his eyes cut.

" That is something that I wouldn't tell you, even if you weren't my son and a thousand years older," Elladan stated, sparing a half-glare to his twin. " And it was settled, the man was ordered by my father to stay away from Legolas and his body remained intact. He was gone from Rivendell two days later."

" And the relations between Gondor and Imladris became nearly non-existent after that," Elrohir put in.

" But that is all in the PAST," the elder of the two said harshly. " We need not dwell on how those things transpired."

" But our sons have asked us a question and I know that we want to answer it 'thoroughly'," the Elf-knight smiled innocently. He then turned back to the other set of twins. " Your father came to Imladris because your Ata'da worried for his mental state, as he had become quite closed off, unfortunately there was very little we could do for him. It was as if the Edhel that we had come to care so much for was gone.

"It was then that we began to notice certain 'feelings' towards him that were not simply platonic or brotherly. We plainly ignored them for they were certainly not proper to have towards one so young. When he left… we thought that he was lost to us, he was so filled with despair and the need for revenge. It was so wrong that one his age would feel such a need to fight like we did at that time. We did not see him again for over an entire century."

" We were told of how you helped him," Andúnel nodded. " Is that when you first realized your true feelings?"

" Actually, we did not truly know that what we felt was love until that night aboard the Corsair ship," Elrohir admitted. " We spoke of friendship and being there for him should he need us…and yet…that was not what we wanted anymore and we knew it. It suddenly struck us how wrongly those words described how we felt. Little be known that it was also the night that he would seek to have a symbol of his love for us, you two."

Elladan gave a brief nod. " You know we never admitted that it was you who helped us all that long time ago, when we wanted revenge of our own for our mother," he suddenly stated. " We would be long dead if not for you, malternil-nín."

" Me?" Legolas gave an inquisitive look. " What had I done for you? If I remember, and I remember well, you were the ones to help me see the truth behind my vengeful behavior."

" Yes, but you were the one who gave us the strength to see past our own hate," Elrohir explained. " We finally saw what others saw in us. You had once been so full of life and yet then you were so dark and filled with hate that was not meant to overcome one with a spirit such as yours. How could we hope for you to see past your pain if we had not done the same for ourselves? We finally understood the pain others held when they saw us for we felt that same pain when we looked at you."

" I was the one who helped you?" Legolas was somewhat taken aback by the emotion and sincerity in his lover's words and in their thoughts. " Why did you ever tell me of this before?"

" Because there was no need to," they shrugged. " You saw the truth without us having to reveal to you all of the details behind our own epiphany. And it took us a long time to realize why it hurt us so much to see you filled with shadow. Arwen was the one who saw through us, who knew for so long. She would leave us small hints, pointing out things that we would do with you and you alone, or how we were so protective of you above all others. We merely wrote it off, ignoring her words. Now we see how truthful they were."

" Thôredhel and Glosshen knew," Legolas sighed. " They knew how much I cared for you and after I gave birth to the twins, they believed that we had finally joined with each another. But when they saw no signs of a binding in my eyes, they demanded I tell the truth. But I swore them to remain silent until I found the courage to tell you myself. I believe also that Adar knew something, but as he had taken to doing since my majority, he stayed back. He knew I wanted to handle things like grown Edhel and left me to do it. His hands-off approach became more strained as the years went by without me actually doing anything."

" I swear you three are quite immature," Amúntel suddenly spoke. " All of this could have been avoided if you had just decided to be honest with one another. Everything would be so different." The elder three stared at each other before breaking into light laughter. The younger twins had no idea what had taken over them.

" You…are right, as we've said before," Legolas acknowledged. " Though you are no one to speak of immaturity ion-nín."

" Were you not the one that just yesterday fought like a young child to defend your father's honor?" Elladan inquired.

" Exactly," Amúntel smirked. " Immaturity is inherited, from both sides if the tales we were told about your 'escapades' in Imladris are any proof."

" Glorfindel does enjoy reminiscing, doesn't he?" Elrohir glanced at his brother. They shared a smile, but then sobered. " As you can see, gwanur-neth," he returned to their original topic. " No longer are we confined by our past restraints. Love is something we shouldn't have denied, whether it was due to age, friendship, or fear. It is not something that should be let go of easily and we finally understand that."

" You're going to take good care of him?" they asked in unison.

" I am capable of caring for myself," Legolas pointed out to them.

" As you've done so wonderfully until now," Andúnel snorted, with a smile. " But as long as they love you as much as you love them…we will not hold any grudges against them." Amúntel motioned in agreement.

" We are glad to have our sons approval," Elrohir smiled.

" We shall do our best to live to your expectations," Elladan replied.

Legolas stepped forward and pulled his lovers to their feet, bringing them to stand directly before their younger counterparts. " My loves, these are your sons," he raised his hand towards the auburn-haired Edhil. " You have already taken to calling them so, can you not embrace them as such as well?" He the turned to the two he himself had carried and birthed. " They are the father I spoke of, ones worthy of your regard, let this put all in the past where it belongs."

Both pairs of twin stood staring at one another, unsure of how to handle the more than awkward situation. They had embraced before in the past week or so since their meeting, out of friendship and merriment, but now there was more to it, something deep and final. They could not simply play this out as something within mere comradeship, for there was so much more to it. It symbolized the reconciling of a bond that had almost been lost before it had even been forged.

" It is good…" Amúntel started, boring into Elrohir's eyes. " It is good, to finally know that our other sire - sires - are more than some nameless elf upon another shore." He extended his hand, knowing that his brother was doing the same towards Elladan. Elrohir stared at him outstretched limb with near-reverence before pushing it aside to wrap his son tightly in his arms. Elladan pulled Andúnel to him by the hand, wrapping and arm around his back with a wide smile upon his face.

Legolas watched the whole ordeal, feeling as if nothing had ever been wrong his world. Everything was right for once. It was then that he felt the slight change in him, as if something had occurred that he had not realized. It was warm and reassuring, like the golden rays of the sun shining down from the window on the other wall. But all that meant to him was that it was final, everything was going to be all right from now on.

It was then that Gimli burst into the room, his face shrouded in distress. " You must come to the room down the hall!" he exclaimed. " Something has happened to Aragorn!" Legolas felt his heart lurch in his chest, all of his happiness fleeing with the weight of the new nightmare.

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Translations:

Anor - Sun

Edhel/Edhil - Elf (sing)/Elves (pl)

Gwanunig-nín - My twin

Malternil-mîn/nín - Our/My golden prince

Ada/Adar - Dad/Daddy/Father

Elvellon-nín - My Elf-friend

Elrondiond - Sons of Elrond

Ata'da - Grandfather

Ion-nín - My son

Gwanur-neth - Young twins

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Kathrine: How was that? Did you guys expect it?

JC: See? Not you're usually perfect ending. Or is it?

Kathrine: Bittersweet happiness, how we love to use thee.

JC: Now just leave us a review and tell us what you think. And no…we will not magically make Aragorn better.

Kathrine: Until next time!