Heyla! It's EHAB. Before we get into the chapter, someone asked what Klah is. If you have ever read Anne McCaffrey's (sp?) "Dragonriders of Pern" series, you know that Klah is the Pernese version of coffee, mixed with a little cinnamon and hot chocolate. If you haven't, I don't recommend the Klah (not being a big coffee-drinker myself). If you like coffee, have at it, but if not... Also, I would like to say that there are only two books in this series that I personally care for at all, namely "Dragonsong" and "Dragonsinger." There is a third book in that particular trilogy within the series, "Dragondrums," but there is a scene in it that I don't approve of, so I can't tell you to go and read it. Really, it isn't necessary anyway. It focuses on a different character than the other two, and "Dragonsinger" concludes things so nicely. Still, that's neither here nor there. Anywho (duck Meggie's pillow), you may need a list of names for this chapter, so here it is:

Orlando Turner-Legolas; Viggo Hidalgo-Aragorn; Liv Taylor-Arwen; Elijah Dodger-Frodo; Sean Mikë-Sam; Billy Masters-Pippin; Dom Shawcross-Merry; John Sallah-Gimli; Ian Ash-Bilbo; Sean Miller-Boromir

If we have forgotten anything, or you have any further questions, please let us know. Here, then, is Chapter Five: Hostage. -EHAB

Orlando watched Andrea, Erin, and Sivi dart out the door one after the other with a sinking feeling of utmost bewilderment - tinged with a strange, unfounded regret. One thing he was certain of: he had chosen the WRONG place to have breakfast. He had to get out of here. Once he was gone, he would never look back. Yet, a hidden, suppressed part of him seemed to say subtly, 'Wait! Not yet.'

Just as Orlando thought he had the upper hand in this insane debate with himself, Elmo stood, shaking his auburn head. Elmo walked to the railing and looked down at the lower level of the restaurant. For a moment, Orlando thought the older man was not going to say anything. Then Elmo shouted,

"REGULARS! WE HOLD COUNCIL NOW! ANYONE WHO IS NOT A REGULAR, PLEASE LEAVE THE PREMISES. YOU MAY RETURN IN THE MORNING, AND YOUR MONEY WILL BE REFUNDED, OR YOU WILL BE GIVEN A FREE MEAL. IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHETHER OR NOT YOU ARE A REGULAR, YOU ARE NOT A REGULAR. THANK YOU."

'Well, that settles that,' thought Orlando, and as a sparse few began to get up and head for the door, he moved to do the same.

Elmo placed a broad hand on Orlando's shoulder and pushed him gently but firmly back into his seat.

"That does not include you," he said with a wry, and to Orlando's surprise, somewhat sad, smile.

"I - I was just going to go anyway, when you got up, and -"

"My friend," said Elmo with that same sorrowful, authoritative air, "you are not to leave until we Regulars have finished conducting our business."

"What are you going to do, offer me as a sacrifice?" Orlando said, trying not to snap at Elmo, but close to losing his patience out of nerves.

"No, that wouldn't be very original," Elmo grinned ruefully. "It might be fun, but not original. We just have to discuss some things, and then, if everything's kosher, you can leave."

"And if everything's not?" Orlando inquired, his voice low and angry.

"Then Andrea, with advice from Sivi, Erin, Sarah, Megan, and the rest of us, will decide what is to be done with you. I must go downstairs. MISHA! SESH!" Elmo raised his voice again.

Two youths, one blonde and pale, the other obviously Asian, and both extremely handsome, looked up from their places by the window from which the waiters and waitresses picked up orders. At a sign from Elmo, they started for the upper floor. Elmo met them at the top of the stairs and spoke to them quietly. They brought chairs and placed them one on either side of the stairwell. Sitting down, they leaned back and began to talk leisurely to one another. Orlando understood, and seethed: he was under guard.

The group he had been sitting with rose and went downstairs with Elmo and the rest. Orlando was alone and trapped. He moved to the part of the booth against the wall, where Misha and Sesh could not see him very well, and tried to think up some way to get out.

Suddenly, he felt a thrumming vibration against his thigh. Puzzled, he stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. Of course; he had forgotten that he had it with him! He answered quickly with a quiet, harried,

"Hello? Viggo!" he almost shouted, and quickly glanced to see if either Misha or Sesh had heard him. They appeared not to notice anything, still talking in quiet, relaxed tones.

"Viggo, Viggo, listen to me," Orlando said urgently, "you have to c - No, I don't want to go - no! No, will you LISTEN?" he hissed. "I need your help!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"You what?" Viggo Hidalgo drawled incredulously. "You're WHERE?"

"Viggo, is something wrong?" Liv Taylor asked concernedly as she and the others lounged in the hotel lobby.

"H-hold on, Orlando," Viggo said, and he put the phone away from his mouth.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Viggo! No, wait, what are you - VIGGO!" Orlando snapped as quietly as possible. "Stop it! Don't you dare start laugh - Viggo! Viggo, this is not funny - Will you STOP? THIS IS SERIOUS! I NEED HELP!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"What ARE you LAUGHING at?" Liv queried in exasperation.

Viggo leaned against the wall and shook with laughter.

"What's going on?" asked Billy Masters, looking bemusedly from Viggo to Liv.

"H - he's - he's - he's at some restaurant," Viggo gasped, "being - being held - mf! - HOSTAGE - by a bunch of FANGIRLS!"

"WH-HAT?" Elijah Dodger exclaimed in an astonished laugh. "You're joking, right? Or he's joking. It's one of those crazy pranks he pulls."

"I don't think he would joke about being kidnapped by fangirls," John Sallah chuckled. "He'd never hear the end of it, and he knows it."

"He wants us to come get him," Viggo said, still breathing hard from sheer mirth.

"Don't worry, little Elf-princeling," John said loudly. "We'll come and save you from the big, bad blondes! Be careful until we get there! Fangirls can be ferocious!"

"At least Orlando HAS fangirls," Billy smiled coldly.

John stopped and shot him a savage glare.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Will you tell John to shut up? I'm going to beat him into a Dwarvish pulp!" Orlando snarled.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"As soon as you escape from the evil, possessed, pixi-stix popping makeup goddesses. Right. Got it. I'll tell him. Keep your shirt on; we're coming."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Ulmo, what is going on?" Bonnie-chan asked. "Why are we holding Orlando Turner hostage on the second floor? I know you KNEW Legolas, but surely the man's portrayal of him wasn't THAT bad."

"Orlando's portrayal of Legolas' character was next to flawless; that's just it," Ulmo told her sternly.

"I don't understand," Adam the Arachnid Normalcy Vampire spoke up.

"Orlando IS Legolas, but he doesn't remember BEING Legolas," Jeremie explained. "That's why we couldn't find him, and that's why he never came back on his own."

As a unit, the Regulars murmured,

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

"So what do we DO with him?" asked Jhaquira, a waitress. "How do we fix him?"

"I don't know. We'll have to talk with the other Valar. Varda or Mandos may know," Ulmo responded tiredly.

"Can you communicate with them from here?" Anthony, another Regular with a rather... large... pet bird, asked with a frown.

"I can," said Ulmo with a sigh in his voice, "but whatever we need to, er, 'fix him,' as Jhaquira puts it, is probably in Middle-Earth. Also, I don't think Mr. Turner is going to be too happy about matters if we just start experimenting, throwing spells at him. He might cooperate a little more if he had proof that what we are going to tell him is true. The only proof we really have to offer is an all-expenses-paid vacation in Arda. I think we're going to have to go back."

"Shouldn't we wait until we've rounded up all the others?" drawled Jesse, a former Texan who dwarfed just about everyone else in the room.

"I don't think that's going to be too much of a problem," Jeremie said, nodding towards the top of the stairs.

Sesh and Misha were still talking easily, but Sesh was making lazy gestures with his hands - gestures that were meant for Ulmo rather than Misha.

"According to Sesh," Jeremie said with a dry smile, "Mr. Turner has received a phone call, and we're about to have company."

"Be ready to fight," Ulmo said grimly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Andrea was running, to where she did not know, nor did she care. She could only be sure that she was running away. And yet her tears and her hurts were still with her, nipping at her mind and her heart like vicious wolves at the ankles of a frightened doe.

He has forgotten me.

"NO!" she told her mind harshly.

He never meant to stay.

"Stop it! It wasn't him!" she cried at her own thoughts, wondering if she was now losing her last feeble grip on sanity. She wondered if she even cared.

He doesn't lo-

"Leave me be," she told her thoughts, though she had no spare air in her lungs for it. She had never run quite this hard before. Distantly, she heard someone calling to her, but it was as if her despair had become an impenetrable shield. She could not even recall whom the voice belonged to. And so, she ran on, pushing herself faster and faster, trying to outrun the enemy that was her own broken heart.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Is this the place?" Liv asked Viggo uncertainly as they and their friends walked up to the outlandish-looking doors.

"Yeah," said a huge, sandy-haired man lounging against the outside wall. "It's closed fer the day."

"Excuse me?" Liv said, confused.

The man took a toothpick out of his mouth, pushed his hat back a little, and told her,

"You's askin' if this was The Place, yeah? Well, it is. Act'lly, its proper name is 'The Place to Be,' but everybody jus' calls it The Place. But like I tol' ya, it's closed fer the day."

"O-oh," Liv said nervously. "We were just looking for a friend of ours -"

"Mr. Turner?" the man said in a quiet, dangerous voice. "Yeah, he's here."

"I thought you said it was closed for the day," Dom Shawcross frowned, undaunted, stepping up beside Liv.

"Tha' doe'n' look like a fangirl t'me," Billy murmured to Hugo Smith, who shook his head in a very definite agreement.

"Looks like a bouncer," added Ian Ash, who had heard the comment.

"I AM a bouncer, o'sorts," the man said with a hard smile.

"A bouncer with very good hearing, apparently," John said with a smirk. "Well, look; this is how it stands. You've got our friend, and we want him back. Just hand him over sound, and there won't be legal trouble."

"Police chief's a friend o'mine. In fact, he's a Reg'lar here; he's just inside the door. You wanna talk to him? Follow me."

"Thanks, I think I will," John said without blinking. "Lead the way; there's a good lad."

The man gave John a bemused look and strode inside without even glancing over his shoulder.

"Surely we outnumber...?" Sean Miller began, looking around at his friends.

Viggo shrugged.

"Irrelevant," he said, and started for the door.

With uncertain glances at one another, his companions followed.

Gil-galad took off after Andrea. Sivi jogged behind, trusting her husband to catch the miserable Elven child. The Elf-king saw the ends of Andrea's coppery hair fan out and flash as she ducked around a corner. He followed at a dead run, hoping to catch her quickly. He had not taken into account, however, the fact that Andrea was now an Elf. Not only that, but she was small, and that made her fast. Gil-galad's only relative advantages in this twisted race were his past experience and well-trained muscles, and perhaps his endurance. He had no idea how far or fast the girl's anguish could carry her before it exhausted her at the last.

Andrea knew she should stop and go with Sivi and Gil-galad, but she couldn't reason with herself. He hadn't known her, and everything was over now.

'Not over,' said a Voice in her mind. 'You still have God.'

'I know. I just - I just want to be alone. I just don't want to go back in there. I don't want Sivi to say everything's going to be okay.'

She splashed through a grimy puddle, sloshing dirty water on her jeans.

'Don't you?' asked the Voice.

Dimly, she recognized Central Park ahead but did not slow.

'I don't, because it isn't,' she replied.

'Isn't it?' the Voice answered.

Gil-galad caught up to Andrea and grasped her arm. The girl cried out; he had clutched her burns. Not because of her arm, nor because of the Elf- king's strong grip, but because the Voice had finally prevailed upon her, Andrea collapsed on her knees on the ground.

"You're hurting my arm," she whispered, crying softly.

Gil-galad released her gently, and Andrea curled into a little ball in the grass. Gil-galad lowered himself onto his knees behind her. There he sat, keeping silent vigil, until Sivi came up. She stopped, looked around, and laughed hollowly.

"This is the bench where Legolas first met us when he came to New York."

Andrea let out a broken sob. Sivi sank down in the grass beside her and let her hand rest on Andrea's head.

"Are you going to tell me that it's all going to be okay?" Andrea asked in a dead tone.

"No," said Sivi, and Andrea looked up. "No, because I can't promise that. What I can promise is that God has got you. I can promise that He isn't going to leave you. I can promise that not everything He does will make you happy, but I can also promise that everything He does has a purpose. Trust Him."

"I do trust Him; I know He's always there. Legolas isn't, though. Legolas isn't there."

"Yes, he is," Sivi said encouragingly. "We just have to find him - or help him find himself. If we're going to do that, though, we have to go back to The Place."

"Come," said Gil-galad, gathering Andrea into his arms. "Walking back to sadness is hard. I will carry you."

This unexpected kindness overwhelmed the young girl, and she burst out sobbing again. She buried her face in Gil-galad's shoulder and wept as the Elf-king carried her back towards The Place. Sivi walked slowly behind, marveling at the day's startling revelations.