On the weeklong ride home, Faramir began to wonder exactly what his father had done, or threatened to do, to his brothers. Not only was the remaining journey peaceful but also incredibly restful. Apparently Aragorn's silent treatment had been having the opposite effect the whole way from Imladris to Edoras, and the Steward wondered what could have possibly made them behave. Faramir was very interested to find out, thinking it must be a very handy tactic, and though so far the twins had been surprisingly charitable toward their little brother's son, he had a feeling that they were only lulling him into a false sense of security. If they thought that would work on him of all people they had another think coming!

And yet, they were within sight of home, and still all was well. All had been well for far too long for Faramir's comfort. He supposed he had come to be comfortable with chaos in his life. It was when all was calm that he began to worry. Always was there a calm before the storm.

But Faramir put away those thoughts as they rode through the gates, trumpeters stationed all over the city announcing that the King and Steward were home again. It was literally an uphill battle to ride through the streets when the throngs gathered, cheering their beloved leaders. Yet after what seemed to take half an hour, they finally made it to the stables and dismounted, the twins offering to see their four mounts happily stabled as only Elves can.

Just as Faramir and Aragorn were about to head up the tunnel to the Citadel a nurse came rushing out from the Houses of Healing, begging for the King to come and help a particularly difficult delivery. For a moment Aragorn was terrified that there was something wrong with his Arwen, but he reminded himself that she still had three full months to go. He was also reassured that, according to Elrond, Elves do not have the type of complications many Mortal women suffer from at childbirth, though the experience could still be every bit as draining, depending upon how much of herself the mother chose to pass on to her child.

Aragorn sighed and told Faramir to on ahead. He hoped dearly that this would not take as long as some deliveries had, he was desperate to see Arwen again, and yet he could never allow a woman to suffer. When he emerged two hours later the sun was setting. Going over to the stables, Aragorn found the twins just finishing up with Roheryn and ready to escort their tired brother to his home.

"Your sister will kill me if you two come to dinner looking like that," Aragorn said, noting the bits of straw which decorated the twins.

Elladan smirked. "We had a bit of a straw fight... i won, of course."

"You did not win! I did!" Elrohir retorted.

"I really could not care less who won," Aragorn said, sounding rather testy. "Come on and clean up."

When Elrohir made to jump into the fountain in the courtyard the poor guards looked like they were going to faint. These guards were men who had survive the War to end all wars, they had battled orcs, trolls, Haradrim, Easterlings, they had seen more terrifying things than they could ever have dreamed... but those two Elves utterly unnerved them. Fortunately, Aragorn caught Elrohir by the collar and practically dragged him inside.

"That wasn't very nice, Estel," Elrohir pouted.

Aragorn just stared back in a way that said he was in no mood for their foolishness. "I trust i do not need to escort you any further? My honored brothers have their chambers held in reserve. I will be in mine for a while. Perhaps i will see you at dinner." Aragorn proceeded to make his way directly to his private quarters, not even acknowledging the welcomes he was given.

He practically fell against the door as he closed it behind him. He was tempted to pour himself a glass of wine, but told himself that he should work on getting to dinner as Arwen was probably already there herself. He had only just peeled off his coat and tunic when a gentle voice in the next room called his name in question. He dropped everything and went to Arwen immediately. She looked as inviting as she had the first time he saw her and he desperately wanted to crawl in bed next to her and sleep. Instead he kissed her deeply and held her close, breathing in her lavender scent.

"Oh how i've missed you," he said, gently helping her sit up. He had only then noticed just how much her belly had grown. Holding her hand and brushing her hair back he looked into her deep, mysterious eyes. There was no mystery in her little smile, though. She simply glowed, more than Elves normally do. He lowered his hand and gaze to her belly. "Arwen, I love you so -" he started to say, glancing back up to her, but he broke down mid-sentence, surprising Arwen as she held him against her, trying to calm him.

"Mela... sidh. Im nev," she soothed. "What troubles my love so?"

Aragorn held her tightly, protectively. He took several deep breaths before he could answer. "I just lost a patient; a mother... giving birth to her first child," he said sadly.

Arwen held him close, road dust and all, giving him all the comfort he needed until his hunger overcame his sadness. As he quickly bathed before making his appearance at dinner they talked of all that had been going on while he was away. Aragorn was concerned that Arwen was not coming to dinner with him but she explained that these last three months were like the last month would be to a Mortal woman and that meant she was essentially confined to their bed chamber.

Before heading downstairs he held his beautiful wife again, kissing her and laying a gentle kiss on top of her belly. "I can not wait to meet you," Aragorn whispered. He could have sworn he felt a little nudge from within her at that.

Arwen laughed softly. "And he can not wait to meet you! However, we shall all three of us have to wait a little longer."

Aragorn's smile beamed and he promised that he would do all he could for the next three months to spend as much time with her as possible.

ooo

Parting from his father, Faramir hurried up to the Citadel, practically racing across the courtyard to get to the King's house. He did not slow down until he was inside his home again and even then he took the stairs up to his quarters two at a time. Walking into his sitting room he pulled his cloak off without even bothering to unfasten it first, and when he heard a delightful squealing laugh he left the cloak lay on the floor and rushed into his bed chamber where Belthil sat on the floor holding Elboron's chubby little hands as the child took first one than two tentative steps.

"Welcome home, my uncle," Belthil said, seeing Faramir there in the doorway.

It took Faramir a few moments to come up with a response, so astounded he was at the sight of his little boy standing and taking steps. Belthil never did get the "thank you" Faramir intended though, as just as he was about to open his mouth Elboron turned and looked questioningly at his father for a moment before saying, "a-da," in a most cheerful voice, even as his legs decided they'd had enough for the day and sent him straight back down.

Tears of happiness filled Faramir's shining grey eyes as he lifted up his baby son and swung him around before holding him close and kissing his forehead. Elboron immediately took hold of Faramir's wavy locks and laughed in absolute glee that his daddy was back, there was no mistake because daddy's hair was by far the most fun to pull.

"How i missed you!" Faramir said to his little one. "And i thought you promised me you would not grow too much while i was away. Look at you! I knew you were growing like a weed, but at this rate you'll have a beard like Mithrandir's before i know what's what. You will hate me for this when you get to be my age, but you will always be daddy's little boy to me. Was it not just yesterday i held you for the first time and wept with joy that you were my little boy?" Faramir then turned to Belthil. "I can not thank you enough for being so good to him while we were gone."

Belthil chuckled. "Elboron has been a joy, uncle. Between helping with your office and keeping guard duty, he has been the highlight of my days. Last week the Queen took to her chambers, apparently she is due soon and it's been all me since. Though i have been infinitely thankful for Legolas and Gimli being about as well. When you have time, there is something i need to inform you of, but it can wait. Elboron deserves his father's undivided attention just now. It will be time for his evening feeding soon and you too should eat."

Faramir nodded and allowed himself to just enjoy holding his son and feeling that wonderfully familiar pull on his hair until Berethil came to feed Elboron, allowing Faramir to get himself ready for supper.

It was very good to be home again.

ooo

Moving right along... This has been a fruitful weekend so far! Perchance i will manage to get in yet another update on Separate Chaos. Next week is a short week for me, so hopefully i will be able to get a lot of writing done next weekend as well, since i only ever write on the weekend's anymore.

AM: Torturous twins soon to come.

Elenhin: I must say, when it comes to the twins, there is a very fine line between brave and... well, typical twin behavior. Some would call it imprudent perhaps. I must confessi have yet to get to work on my "mouse army" tale, i've been so occupied with this and Separate Chaos. Once i wrap this one up i will be much more disposed to getting on with some other little tales. I am dying to read your version though! I also have to confess i haven't really given much thought to the issue of infant Faramir and the nappy situation. Being childless myself and highly unlikely to ever reproduce, i never really thought about it. I have a little sister, only five years younger than me, but i never really had the joy of experiencing that whole ordeal.

linda: Sometimes i wonder why exactly the Ring had to be destroyed in Mt. Doom. Couldn't the Valar have taken care of it? Of course, i guess Sauron would have been pretty pissed off and destroyed everything between Mordor and the Pelóri. Ah, well, what's done is done.