AN: Hey ya-all! Sorry that I haven't updated, Marching Band was taking up too much time, but here is the next chapter, please, please, please review, it won't get any better unless you point out my stupid errors, and any loyal book fan, make sure I keep to the book (Thanks I'm From Tookland!!!) and help me come up with ways to make it work, without going against the grain of the novel (Here's my shout out to you Samyo!!).

Warning: This is a Slash story, you've been warned now, so I don't want anyone yelling at me, if you don't know what slash is: it is male/male or female/female pairings. If you don't like it, don't read this!

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters (e.g. Legolas, Frodo, Merry, Pippin, Sam, Rosie…) nor do I own any of the places in Tolkien's world, and I don't make any money off of this, this is purely entertainment.

Legolas' Surprise

"Of course I will come, I have been wishing for a chance just like this!" Excitedly, Frodo led Legolas further into his house. Being sure to remind him of the impending arches, he showed him into the kitchen, a hobbit's favorite room in any house. "We will have to let Merry and Pippin know, after all, the last time they had a conspiracy to prevent me leaving without them. After insisting that they end it, they would never forgive me if we had all the fun and left them behind." Frodo whisked away while talking, first getting Legolas settled in a chair, then preparing a meal without asking if his elven friend was hungry.

Obviously amused, Legolas watched the hobbit scurry around getting out pots and pans, and gathering food from various places. It was nothing more than controlled chaos, a symphony of pans on pans, all to drummer's beat of thundering feet. "I could not imagine leaving the Shire without them." He would have offered help, but he thought he would be more troublesome than helpful. Once the food was set over the stove, he sat down in a huff, exhausted by what should have been child's play to a single hobbit. Legolas frowned in worry, and took notice of the bags under his eyes that age had no part in. "What is the matter Frodo, you look as if you haven't slept in months, surly you haven't been partying all this time."

Immedieatly, Frodo let down his false mask and what Legolas thought was an over exaggeration of time became under exaggerated in the matter of moments. He slunk back into the chair, decidedly tired of pretending to not be tired. "The problem is not sleeping, its dreaming. Every night is drenched in terror, either I have Nazgul chasing me, or there is one great eye that stares at me. In both it ends that I am captured and forced to watch each one of you be tortured and then put to slavery with me. I cannot shake the dreams, and I dread laying my head down." Frodo finished with a limp fall of his head, the curls in his hair hiding his face in shame.

Immediately, Legolas got up and moved over to Frodo, "I have neither the healing of Lord Elrond or Aragorn, but I will do what I can for you now," placing his hands first on his shoulders then supporting Frodo's head, he muttered and elvish command. Frodo felt something clearing his mind, dimming his harsh memories back into the past, allowing time to heal the pain. Then a pleasant tingle at Legolas' second command, when all of his enjoyable memories crystallized in his mind and a picture of Rivendell and Lothlorien appeared. Frodo's face softened at the scene in the Hall of Fire in Rivendell; Bilbo and Aragorn talking quietly in a corner, finishing the lines of a song, the relief to see Gandalf alive, and the beauty of Aragorn's wedding. It was a while before the scenes finished playing before his eyes. Legolas removed his hands to take care of the forgotten food. The images faded, softening at the edges, but they were easier to call up than the bad memories, now apart of his past. Frodo smiled, and the heavy bags under his eyes lessened. He looked over at Legolas who was trying not to let the food burn.

"Oh! I'm sorry; let me help you, especially after that." Frodo ushered Legolas from his ill experienced task, as it was obvious that he knew only how to cook over a campfire. Frodo dished out the food so that it piled high on the two dishes, and when he placed them on the table, they could not even tell that there was a plate beneath them. They dug in without further distractions. Legolas started telling Frodo all that which he missed while he was in the Shire: Aragorn and Arwen's son, Gimli's fight to win all of the dwarves over to end the terror of Moria and rebuild the city of the Darrowdelf, and Gandalf's help with restoring the land. It was near the end of the meal when he talked of the remnants of Souron's forces and their wish for land of their own.

"They do not wish for the land their leader held but rather want one already inhabited by men." Legolas' eyes held for a moment, a fury of pure anger and protectiveness. "They seek out Gondor as their land."

"Aragorn is a great leader, I am sure that if it comes to fighting, he will conquer it." Frodo was pretty sure that there was more to this. He was determined to get it out of him and so pressed him. "After all, it isn't like Aragorn needs to danger himself when he has an army and allies to call upon."

Legolas looked at him and knew what he was trying. "I'll save you the dramatics; I am in love with Faromir and he with me. I do not wish him to fight those disgusting creatures alone. That is why I made him promise to come with me. He waits at the Prancing Pony for us as he cannot sneak into the Shire like me." He smiled, "don't look so shocked, it's not like you were so very careful with your infatuation with Sam."

"Was I that obvious?" Frodo asked, turning pink. Legolas wondered if this would do more harm than good after his healing.

"No, I saw it in your memories." Legolas looked slightly embarrassed, "In order to help you I had to sort out the good from the bad. I am sorry, I should have asked, but you seemed in such need of immediate help." He started chasing his meal around with a fork on the now visible plate.

"Oh no, I am very grateful, I was just shocked. How about we go visit Merry and Pippin, once we get the go ahead, we'll let Sam know and head toward the Prancing Pony." He shook himself from shock and thought with relief that he did not have to explain the situation. With that they washed the dishes and left for Merry and Pippin's house.

When they got there Legolas was to the side by the garden, positioned so that you had to know that he was there to see him. Frodo knocked on the door and waited, listening to all of the thumping of activity inside. It creaked open revealing a rather exhausted and disheveled Pipin. Frodo turned pink, remembering the game from the other night.

"Hoy! Frodo! You missed out on all the fun last night, why didn't you stay longer?" Pippin knew full well why he left that night. Frodo's face matched the red of a ripe tomato as he tried to find an answer. Legolas had the pity to save Frodo from his obvious uncomfortable situation.

"I caught up with him early this morning; kept him company. I doubt he got much more sleep than you Perigan Took!" Pippin's head turned in sudden surprise.

"Legolas! Where have you been all this time! No letter, nothin'!" Pippin jumped up to hug him, "Merry! Come out here and greet our friend you lazy hobbit!"

"I don't recall being lazy last night!" Merry's voice came from another room inside. He appeared out of the shadows of the house, fresh and still wet from a bath. Instead of the joyful hello, like Pippin's, he took the opportunity to catch Pippin offgaurd. "Legolas!" he admonished, "Pippin's mine, you'll have to wait your turn." His eyes twinkled with stars of laughter as Pippin realized he was still in Legolas' arms. Pippin blushed and dropped to the floor.

"Sorry about that Merry" Pippin said sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it, I'll punish you later in private." Pippin hid his face from his lover, knowing that it would most likely mean the leather chains again that night, he prayed that he wouldn't remember that they haven't tried it with him strapped in a chair. He dreaded the sexual frustration that Merry would play on him. Maybe one day he would get back at Merry. Once they all recovered from the laughter at seeing Pippin in such torment, they were all herded inside by Merry, who took the opportunity to whisper a comment that made Pippin swallow hard with a dry throat.

In the kitchen, Merry whipped up some food for them all. Legolas turned it down, saying that one breakfast was enough for him. "Well we hobbits like eating more than one breakfast Merry, so if he doesn't want any, let's split it between us!" Pippin said loudly with a mouthful of food from his own plate.

"I guess the only requirement to be a hobbit is to have a large stomach, or rather several!" Legolas took the silence to let the rest know all of the news from the rest of the world. When he told them of his love for Faromir, Merry and Pippin cheered loudly.

"Welcome to the club! It seems that we are a very dangerous group, no chaperones to speak of! Ah but I have no worry, me and Pippin are tight, we can keep Frodo off of you."

"No worries there either, Faromir waits for him at the Prancing Pony, surely he would harm me if I tried, not that I would. My heart is reserved for the impossible!" Frodo said trying to keep his honor, Legolas was a friend, no more, just like Pippin and Merry. "I thought that Faromir was married." Frodo said confused.

"Yes he was, but she was killed in childbirth. Their baby was killed by a group of invading orcs. When everyone went to Gondor for Aragorn's wedding and Crown ceremony, I found him depressed. I sat and talked with him for a while, and eventually we realized why we had connected so easily. We were in love, but not sure why, when women have been our love before. It's hard to explain, but we knew after a month of spending time together we could not ignore the feelings." Legolas was working on making more arrow shafts by now, bored with just sitting there.

"Well I am glad for the both of you, now we have more in common!" Pippin said starting to clean the dishes.

"So, that is the extent of the story when I left with Faromir to find a few hobbit's to share the job. Will you come?" Legolas put the knife down and placed the last headless shaft in his quiver.

"Well, I don't know about Pippin, but I would surely like to get out of here for a while." Merry stood up started to head to the drawing room, on a mission for a map.

"I agree with Merry, things here are just not exciting after the war, other than Sam restarting the life in the Shire with his gift from Galadriel. She told him that his garden would be the most glorious of all; poor old Sam thinks the whole of Hobbiton is his garden." Pippin finished with the dishes and sat down at the table as Merry reappeared with the map.

"I took a few of these from old Bilbo when he mentioned that he was looking to get rid of them. Now I am hoping that we can go through the forest again like the last time we escaped from here, and visit old Tom Bombadill. I am sure that it would be great fun, and I don't likely think that we'll have any trouble navigating with you Legolas. Then, we can take the road this time to Bree, it should be safe now." Merry had rolled the map onto the table and was carefully tracing the route with his finger."

"That sounds great! I'd like to see Goldberry again!" At Legolas' confused face he described their last visit. Legolas' face lit up and said and elfish word he didn't recognize.

"He is a legend among the elves, I hope we can stay there for a while." They spent the rest of the night discussing the rest of their path. After much debate, they settled on going through Rivendell to see Lord Elrond again, and perhaps pick up a few warriors to take to the fighting about to erupt in Gondor. From there they would go around the mountains, stopping off at the Dwarf village that Gimli was now living at to see if he will take on another trek through the wild. They would then head directly to Gondor with some speed so that they can make it there before all of the fighting was done. "If Gimli comes, we will have another killing match; we'll see who wins this time!" Legolas said.

Frodo and Legolas left the house late that afternoon to pack for the trip and go talk to Sam. They would be leaving in the morning so that they will travel very little in the winter. It was spring now, but there was no use waiting, they were all eager to go. They readied most of what they could before going to Sam's house, in Hobbiton, near Bag End.

Legolas stood beside Frodo for strength and he knocked on the door. "Jus' a minute please!" Sam opened the door a minute later. "Master Frodo, Legolas! What is this occasion that requires an elf to travel so far? Come in, Come in, Rosie is out, so we will not be interrupted." He led them to a sitting room and brought out some tea. "So, what is the news from the rest of the world?" he said looking at both of them. Frodo smiled at how much he grew up over this time. Yet no matter how old he got, he would not give up learning songs, Bilbo's particularly. He has been sending them songs that had been made about their adventure, the war of the ring. Bilbo also asked many questions as to what the details of their story were; he was determined to finish his book. Legolas started to explain and between him and Frodo they told the entire story, and their eventual plan. By the time they were done, the tea they hadn't drunk was cold and the sun was on its way down. Sam sat there thoughtful for a moment before speaking.

AN: Let me know if there is anything that needs to be worked on, the more I get in help, the better my writing will get, I won't throw out any idea without careful consideration!

AN2: I have the next chapter written, and currently typing it up, so, if homework allows, I will have it posted soon!!!