Disclaimer: hola, yeah don't own so what? (I'll tell you what!) lol

A/N: Thanks tooooooo.....

CrazyCruzet212: lol, that was fun to write.

loveroflegolas: drama....::dreamy sigh:: I love drama, don't u?

Piper xox Leo: yeah, I figured it was you; that's your IM name, right? Yeah. So ne way, sorry bout cliffhanger!

Insane Elven Rock Baby: lol, yeah, I thought it was a little too perfect, too...glad I did the right thing!

Myri78: nope, no more lil' leggy, hehe. Tho there will be a little somebody.... ;)

Lunawolf: lol, confusing guyz is soooo much fun! I do it all the time w/the guyz karate!

Ladyof Rivendell: I'm sorry...I don't mean to be evil, I really don't.... ::cough, cough::

Aliana Archer: u like the poem? Me 2, hehe...(Matthew West (More Than The Sun) and Hanson (More Than Anything), btw) ok glad I didn't confuse you.

Fire Vampire: yes, she did put him to the test, didn't she? Hehe.

jennifer: lol, I'll try to put one in soon, I promise...mayhap in this chapter....

Yet another month had passed; it was now August. It was a surprisingly cool night (even for the forest) for that time of year. Legolas removed his boots and slipped under the warm covers with Gwyn. She was sitting up, looking thoughtful, with her back against the carved headboard. Her eyes were distant, and she seemed strangely oblivious to any movement of his. One hand rested on her slender stomach while the other rest on the coverlet; her index finger drew small circles around a tiny embroidered leaf, never straying from its path. Legolas reached out and brushed her cheek lightly with his fingers as he pushed her hair off her shoulder. 'Are you alright, darling?' he asked gently.

'Legolas?' Gwyn said after a moment. She looked at him.

'Yes?'

'Do you love me?'

Legolas gave a small groan. 'Gwyn...' he moaned, 'we've been through this before....'

'Perhaps so,' Gwyn responded lightly. 'But do you?'

'Yes, Gwyn, I love you.' Legolas would have rolled his eyes had she not been looking, but her eyes were gazing directly into his.

'How much?'

'More than anything,' he replied, struggling to keep his tone patient.

Gwyn cocked her head slightly, and Legolas braced himself for another three-hour debate on why he loved her. But, truly, he needn't have.

Gwyn sat silent for a long while, her hand running back and forth over her stomach. Finally, she asked softly, 'Would you love our child just as much?'

Legolas stared at her for a moment, not comprehending. After a moment, his eyes strayed from her face to her stomach, then back to her face. 'Are you--?' he broke off.

Gwyn's face burst into a huge grin as she nodded vigorously. She suddenly flopped over onto him, pinning him against the bed by pushing down on his arms with her hand, obviously unable to contain her excitement.

'Gwyn, what--?' Legolas began, but he soon found out 'what'. She lowered her head and kissed him rather deeply. 'Isn't it wonderful?' she sighed dreamily. 'Thank you so much.'

'It is wonderful, yes,' he responded, his tone becoming stern, 'but you need to be careful; you could hurt yourself or the child by jumping around like that.'

Gwyn rolled her eyes, a small grin still on her face. 'Legolas, I'm not going to shatter,' she laughed.

Legolas cocked an eyebrow.

'Pin me,' Gwyn said abruptly.

'Pardon?'

'Pin me.'

'Why?'

'Because I want to prove to you that I won't break...and that I can hold my own...even against you.'

Legolas seriously doubted that she could, but he decided to humor her. 'Alright....' With that quick warning, he rolled over onto her and pinned her hands over her head. He saw a look of determination glinting in her eyes, and loosened his grip gradually, so as to not wound her pride. As soon as his grip was loose enough, Gwyn managed to flip him over and pin him.

'You're letting me win!' she cried, mild disgust in her voice.

'That's not true,' Legolas said, though he was lying.

'Yes, it is,' Gwyn contradicted playfully. 'You're letting me win because you love me and you don't want to hurt me.'

The elf grinned. 'Now that--' he said, reversing the pin, 'is true.' He kissed her softly, loosening his hold.

Gwyn laughed as Legolas rolled off of her. 'Honestly,' she said, 'how weak am I?'

With a twinkle in his eyes, Legolas responded, 'Oh, not terribly.' He grinned. 'But I've met stronger women.'

Gwyn made an indignant sound and sat up. She grabbed her pillow and smacked him with it. 'I beg your pardon?'

'You heard me,' Legolas grinned.

Gwyn laughed again and lay down on her side, supporting herself with an elbow. 'Tell me,' she said, 'why do you think I'm weak?'

Legolas pretended to look thoughtful, but there was a mischievous gleam in his eyes. 'Well,' he started, 'it's not that you're truly weak...it's just that I know your weak spots.'

Gwyn gave him a searching look. 'My weak spots?' she echoed. 'And what might those be, my lord?' Legolas grinned, and Gwyn felt his hand creeping to her stomach under the covers. 'Oh, no...' she started. 'Don't you dare...you wouldn't....' But he did dare. His fingers began moving quickly and lightly on her stomach and she burst out in laughter. 'That's...not...fair...' she said in between giggles, but he only ticked harder, now using both hands. She rolled into his arms, her back against his chest. 'Please,' she laughed, 'I yield.' And he desisted.

'I told you I knew,' Legolas grinned.

Gwyn turned her head to look over her shoulder at him. 'You know,' she said, 'it's not fair; where did you learn that I was ticklish? If it was from my father, I swear, I will never forgive him.'

'Actually,' said Legolas, 'it was from you.'

'From me? Why would I give you that valuable information?'

'Oh, you didn't do it intentionally, I don't think,' he said idly. 'We were in Lothlorien and you were telling me about your childhood.'

Gwyn blinked. 'What does my childhood have to do with any of this?'

'I'm getting to that. You were telling me about how your father used to tickle you when your temper flared. You said that it always calmed you down. Gwyn?'

A very odd look had come over Gwyn's face.

Flashback...ten years before present time...

'Ada?' a ten-year-old Gwyn said one night to her father as she watched him pack up his things.

'Yes?' Aragorn responded, turning to her with a nervous look; he knew what was coming.

'Can I come with you? Please?' The child's eyes were pleading.

'Not this time,' he answered gently. 'The road is no place for a girl your age.'

'You said that last year,' Gwyn whined, a hint of annoyance in her voice. 'When are you going to say 'yes'?'

'When I think you are old enough.'

Though she was young, Gwyn's temper was by no means any less hot than when she was older. She stomped her foot and yelled, 'You said that last year, too! Why is it never any different?'

Aragorn was tired, stressed, and in no mood for her temper tantrums. 'You watch that tone, young lady,' he said sternly.

'Or what?' she retorted boldly, but cowered a little when her father approached her, a scowl on his face. But little did she know how playful the scowl was. Aragorn knelt on one knee in front of her. 'Or this,' he said, a small grin pushing aside the scowl, and he began to tickle her. Gwyn burst into giggles. Between laughs, she begged her father to stop, until he finally did. He spoke no more of her request, and carried her to her bed, tucked her in and whispered, 'Good night.'

End of flashback...

'Gwyn?' Legolas said again, shaking her a little.

'What?' she replied, coming out of her daze.

'Are you alright?' He was frowning.

'Of course I am,' Gwyn said, a little briskly. 'Why would I not be?'

'Well, you just seemed a little—never mind.' Legolas wasn't sure if he should press her in her current mood.

'A little what, Legolas?' Gwyn demanded suspiciously.

'It's nothing, love, really.' He smiled and kissed her, and she let the matter drop.

Seven months later...

'Legolas?' Gwyn entered the bedroom, an excited smile on her face. 'Legolas, come here!'

Ever since his wife's pregnancy had begun to show, Legolas had become very protective...perhaps a little over-protective. He had been sitting on the bed, reading, when Gwyn entered. Sensing incorrectly that something was wrong, he tossed the book aside and hurried to her. 'Is something wrong?' he asked quickly.

Gwyn rolled her eyes at her husband's concern. 'No, nothing's wrong,' she said, for the millionth time that month. 'I just wanted to show you something. Here,' she said, taking his hand and placing it on her stomach. 'Can you feel it?'

'Feel what?' Legolas asked, nonplussed.

'Shh...just wait...' she whispered. Suddenly, Legolas felt it. Something was thumping against Gwyn's stomach. Gwyn felt it, too. Her eyes were shining. 'Can you feel it kick?'

Legolas smiled. 'Yes,' was all he could say, and he must have kept his hand there for at least five minutes, his smile growing with each kick of the unborn child.

One month later...

'Legolas?' Gwyn tentatively said to her husband as she walked into her bedroom late that evening.

'Yes, Gwyn?' he replied, turning from his packing. He was preparing to leave on a errand for his father. He wrapped his arms around his wife's large tummy, smiling down at her lovingly. Gwyn had given him a 'talk' about a week before about being over-protective, and he'd been trying not to be paranoid since.

'I was thinking...I have not seen Father and Mother since...you know. And I—I want to go to Gondor tomorrow.' She bit her lip and waited for his reaction.

Legolas frowned. 'Gwyn,' he began tiredly, 'you are with child. Traveling would not be safe for you or the child.

'I'll go slowly...' Gwyn protested.

'No,' Legolas said firmly. 'It would be foolish. You know that.'

Gwyn pulled away from him. 'Foolish?' she repeated. 'You sound like my father. Stop treating my like a child!'

'I'm not treating you like a child, I'm treating you like my wife,' Legolas countered.

'So now I'm your property?' Gwyn demanded angrily.

'No,' he replied softly. 'You are my wife; someone that I care about...that I love.'

'I though when you loved someone, you trusted them, too. You don't trust me!'

Legolas looked pained. 'I do trust you,' he said. 'I just do not think that it is safe. Trust has nothing to do with it.'

'Trust has everything to do with it!' Gwyn snapped. 'If you trusted me, then you would trust that I would get to Gondor safely.'

'Think of the damage that could be done to you or the child!' Legolas half-shouted.

'But what if I ride slowly?' Gwyn propounded again gently.

His face getting slightly flushed with caring frustration, Legolas replied, 'The speed of your travel is not that matter here; you cannot control what will attack you or when it will attack you.' He paused, and stepped away from her, as he looked her over from top to bottom, a hint of amusement shone through his frustration. 'Besides, if I may say so, Gwyn, you're not exactly in a good condition to fight.'

'But surely no animal of the forest would attack any creature with child,' she said lightly, ignoring that last comment.

Legolas' amusement vanished as he saw that arguing was getting them nowhere. 'Gwyn, an Orc will not leave you be if you are with child. He will take advantage of your slow speed.'

Seeing that she was cornered (for she, herself, knew the dangers of riding unaccompanied), she decided to switch topics. 'I am a princess,' she said, her tone mildly haughty. 'Just because I have my duties to this forest and to the people here does not mean that I have forgotten my duties to my father! And just because I have sworn my allegiance to this forest does not mean that I may not act upon my own will. And my will as of this moment is to see my father.'

'Gwyn, it is late,' Legolas replied, sighing. 'Both of us are tired and stressed. Let us speak more of this tomorrow.'

Gwyn turned on her heel and left the room.

Later that night...

Gwyn slipped into her nightgown and into their bed. She turned her back to Legolas, who sighed. 'Gwyn, why are you upset with me?' he asked softly, putting his hand on her shoulder.

She shrugged him off. 'You know why,' she snapped.

Legolas sighed again, and moved closer to her, placing one of his arms in front of her, his hand resting on her stomach. 'Do you remember what you said to me today?' he asked, his warm breath on her exposed neck. 'You said that trust came with love. Do you remember?'

'Yes,' Gwyn said reluctantly.

'Then you must trust me,' he breathed. 'If you love me, you must trust me.'

Gwyn lay silent for a moment. 'I do love you,' she said finally.

'I know you do,' Legolas said. 'But do you trust me?'

Gwyn turned her head to face him, her face only an inch from his. 'Yes,' was all that she answered.

'Good,' Legolas said. 'Then trust me on this.' He closed the small gap between them and kissed her deeply, but tenderly.

Next morning...

Gwyn looked over at her husband's sleeping figure. Yes, she trusted him, but this was something that she had made her mind up about. She kissed him softly on his lips and murmured, 'Trust me on this.' She silently slid out of bed, and picked up a quill and a piece of parchment. After writing a short note, she put on a dress and a riding cloak, gathered a large traveling bag, slipped off to the stables where she mounted Beauty, and began the five day journey to her father's kingdom.

Okay, there it is: Chapter 23! Lolz. Sorry it's so short...I'll try to make the next one longer....i'll try, mind you, try. I can't promise ne thing, because I've already done the outline for it (I haven't written all of it, but some) and I'm not sure really how much material is there. Ne way, coming soon....: Chapter Twenty Four: At Long Last... hmmm......at long last she has her child? Or is it something else............j/k! lolz. At long last she has her child. Hehe. Ne way...look for an update rather soon! ;)