Disclaimer: I do not own "Lord of the Rings" unfortunately. Go ahead, everyone cheer. I'll be inside, sulking and eating ice cream.

Chapter 6: Slight Surprises

Alison paced back and forth in the hospital waiting room, anxiousness on her mind and tears on her face. People around her were talking and babies were crying but she did her best to ignore it. She stole a look outside the window and noticed another ambulance pull up to the hospital. It's flashing lights illuminated the night, as it was nearly four thirty in the morning, and the sirens covered up the noise from inside the waiting room. As the paramedics pulled out a body on the stretcher, Alison burst into another batch of tears and she fell back into a chair behind her.

Her body shook with every sob that escaped her lips. She buried her head in her hands and continued to cry. She couldn't lose her daughter. She just couldn't. After all they had been through together, Samantha couldn't just leave her. She was all she had. They had been through so much in the past few years and they had made it through. Alison just wished with all her might that she would wake up and figure out that this was a nightmare. But something deep down inside of her told her this was real.

"Alison?" came a voice. Alison turned her head up and almost sighed with relief when she recognized the person. It was Ryan, her ex-husband and Samantha's father. Though they hadn't been on very good terms since the divorce, Alison was relieved to seen him there. She got off her chair and slowly walked over to him.

"I got here as fast as I could," Ryan told her. Alison nodded, not trusting any words to leave her mouth. She wiped her tears away and swept Ryan into a hug. The tall man hugged her back, awkwardly at first, but when the fact that his daughter, their daughter, was critically injured re-entered his mind, he grabbed on to her more fiercely.

"Do they think she's going to be okay?" Ryan asked quietly. Alison pulled away and shook her head.

"The doctors…they think she has about a 5 chance of living," she choked. Tears, for the first time, began to leak out of Ryan's eyes as well. Alison nodded mutely and walked back over to her chair. Ryan followed silently and sat down next to her. He put his arm around her and drew her closer. They sat like that for an hour, until a doctor came to them.

"Ms. Thompson. Mr. Ayden, can you please come with me?" the doctor asked. Alison drew her breath in tightly and stared up at the doctor. He looked grim and Alison knewt that definitely didn't look good. She took a deep breath and her and Ryan followed the doctor. He led them into another room and tears welled up in Alison's eyes as she stared at her daughter's pale form. She looked so vulnerable and Alison found herself wishing that she could be in her daughter's place.

"Ms. Thompson, Mr. Ayden, your daughter, as you know, received two bullets in her chest. One hit under her right breast and the other went through her left lung," Alison suppressed a cry at this news. "It is estimated that our daughter had these wounds for about an hour before you came home. She would have been able to survive if she had been taken care of sooner but she has lost too much blood to function correctly and her left lung has collapsed. I am sorry, but she won't live till noon." Alison fell to the floor, tears pouring out of her eyes harder than ever before. Ryan bent down to her and hugged her, crying as well. "I am sorry." And the doctor left the room to give the parents some time to themselves.

Samantha groaned as Sidhiel shook her awake once more. She tried to smack the elven maiden's hands away but they kept shaking her. She growled and sat up. Sidhiel took a step away and covered her mouth with her hand. Her eyes were large and it looked like she was trying not to laugh.

"What?" Samantha questioned, surprised. Sidhiel shook her head, reaching out to take Samantha's hand. Confused, Samantha allowed her to lead her over the mirror. Once looking at her reflection, Samantha groaned. She had a huge black and blue bruise on her forehead, right where she had hit Elladan's head the previous day. It must have formed over night, she thought, groaning once again at the thought of going to breakfast looking like someone who had been in a huge accident. This was not the way to start off a new day.

Samantha tried to casually cover her forehead as she walked through the halls on the way to the dining hall with Sidhiel. Sidhiel suddenly turned around and pulled her hand off of her head. She managed to keep a straight face while looking at Samantha but Samantha knew what she was thinking. She glared at her before continuing to walk. She quickly walked over to her seat, knowing that eyes were staring at her in curiosity.

Samantha looked up and noticed Elrond staring at her with an expression on his face that she could not read. He smiled at her slightly before turning to Glorfindel who was sitting next to him. The blonde-haired elf looked up at her quickly and smiled as well. He turned back to Elrond and Samantha got the feeling that he was telling the elven lord what had happened in the library yesterday. Sure enough, Samantha's suspicions were proven true when again the elven lord turned to her, this time an amused smile playing on his lips. Samantha blushed and looked away before rolling her eyes.

Samantha wished she could disappear. So many people were staring at her. It was like they had never seen a bruise before. True, it looked like none of them had bruises or scars right now because every person around her had completely flawless skin, but she knew that somehow they all knew what a wound was. But the seemingly perfect creatures that surrounded her continued to stare as if she was a whole other species that they never knew existed. It got quite nerve wrecking.

"Samantha," someone called out to her as she got up from the table and began walking away. She turned around and sighed when she came to realize that it was Glorfindel. She didn't feel like learning anything to day. Nonetheless, she smiled at him but he didn't seem fooled. He looked at her face which was covered with signs of annoyance and tiredness. He would give her a break today. He offered her his arm and when she reluctantly took it, he smiled gently.

Instead of Glorfindel leading her to the library like she had expected, he took her outside. Samantha was relieved to have new change of scenery and she enjoyed the color and peacefulness of being outside. Birds were chirping and she could hear voices singing though she could not understand the language. Glorfindel paused for a second and faced her. He touched her head lightly and then laughed. Samantha glared at him and focused her attention some place else. They were on a large balcony that overlooked Imladris. Her eyes widened when a familiar dark-haired elf walked down on the ground beneath her.

"Elladan," she said before shaking her head in amusement. Glorfindel looked at her and then looked down to where she was staring. He studied the elf before shaking his head and laughing.

"Elrohir," Glorfindel said. Samantha stared at him confusion. She shook her head as well and pointed down at the elf.

"Elladan," Samantha repeated. Again Glorfindel laughed. He pointed down at the elf again.

"Elrohir," he insisted and then pointed to something else. "Elladan." Samantha rolled her eyes and out of curiosity looked at the other figure that Glorfindel was pointing too. Her eyes widened as she saw an identical figure approach the first one. She stared at the pair, shocked. The second one was definitely Elladan, she noted, as he also had a small and lighter bruise on his forehead.

"Twins," Samantha muttered, feeling slightly dizzy. "Great."

Samantha sighed and quietly walked back to her room. How come she had never seen the two of them together at the same time before? Was it that she had truly seen both of them before, assuming that they were the same person because of them being alone and being identical to the other? Was it Elladan she had seen staring at her at the table and sharing that glance with her on that one night she had been looking out into the garden? Or had it been Elrohir? Could it have been one and then the other? Samantha was very confused.

Again she found herself gazing outside over Imladris, something she had been doing a lot lately. She found it peaceful and relaxing and something she could get lost in. The beauty of Imladris was unlike anything she had ever seen before. Everything back home was so…different. Buildings, people, pollution, and several things crowded her home. Time never seemed to slow and everything seemed so busy and rushed, but here she could slow down and smell the roses, as people often put it. Even Colorado, where she had lived before her parents had divorced, was busy and full.

Samantha's mind led to her father, Ryan. He was a tall man who was very strict and sometimes could be very uptight. That was the reason why their parents had divorced; Ryan was sometimes a bit controlling and wanted everything to be a certain way. He was a great man, but he just took things a little too seriously. Her mom was someone who liked to be wild and live in the moment rather than plan it all out and stay on schedule. Her parents had been too different, as they had realized finally when she was thirteen. At first it had been hard on Samantha, moving to New York because her mother had gotten a job offer, but she had grown accustomed to it. She saw her dad quite a few times and they were still close and her parents were still friends. So in a sense, even though her parents had been divorced, she had been lucky.

The dark-haired girl turned back to face her bedroom and let out a long, heavy breath. Life here was nice, the people were kind, even though she didn't understand them, and the scenery was breathtaking. She could get accustomed to Imladris, but without her family, it still would probably never be considered a true home. Yet Samantha knew deep down in her heart that there would be no chance for her to go back home, so she would also have to learn to accept that was well.

Samantha was awoken deep in the night by a loud bell ringing. She sat up slowly in her bed, rubbing the sleep out of her tired and droopy eyes. When the bell did not stop ringing, she threw off her bed covers and managed to drag her body over to the open window. Staring out into the dark, Samantha's eyes picked up the form of figures moving and she could hear several commanding voices, but because of the language barrier, she still couldn't understand exactly what was happening. But she knew one thing for sure; something was definitely wrong.

Samantha hastily put on her robe over her nightgown before flying out of the bedroom. She ran down the hallways until she came to the large balcony where she noticed Elrond, Glorfindel, Elladan, Elrohir, and several other elves standing. Everyone, except for Elrond, was dressed up in black leggings, a green tunic, and had on arm guards along with a various amount of old-fashioned weapons. Samantha frowned in confusion at them. What was happening? Before she could say anything, however, Glorfindel suddenly turned to her, a sharp stare on his face.

"Samantha, man carel le?" Samantha said nothing. He sighed heavily and turned to one of the twins, and Samantha did not even try to guess which one he was. The elf walked steadily over to her and grabbed her arm. Samantha struggled against his grip as he led her over to the edge of the balcony. He pointed out into the distance and faintly Samantha could see small fires burning several miles away. Her eyes widened and she turned to the twin.

"Lasto," he said but Samantha shook her head. He brought a hand to his ear and bought Samantha's hand up to her ear as well. She finally understood that he was telling her to listen. Samantha listened closely and she could faintly hear people talking in yet another unknown language which sounded harsh and cruel. Again her eyes widened. Then the twin pointed to his weapons and Samantha got the message he was trying to convey. The moving figures beneath her were soldiers moving out to where the other people were. Imladris was under attack.

I know, I know, this probably didn't really happen, but that's why they call it fanfiction, right? Anyways, everything has a purpose in this story and this event might prove to be important. So please don't come down on me for this, it's just a twist I'm adding to the story. Sorry if that upsets you. Now for my reviewers:

Banana4422- Thanks for your review! I'm glad you liked it!

Joy4eva- I'm glad you like it! Review again!

theycallmemary-Yeah, I got them mixed up. "Lhaw" means ear while "Anto" means mouth. "Asta" actually means month, I must have been looking at the wrong word. Thanks for pointing that out! It's part of the story that you don't know what they're saying. Sorry, but everything will come together in time!

JesuslUver- You don't know all the twists yet. There are some I'm not telling you and there are some I haven't even thought of yet!

candycane-eyelashes- I'm so happy you love it! I'm doing a little happy dance right now! Review again please!

EresseElrondiel- I love Elladan romances as well, if you haven't noticed. I didn't know you wrote a story with a language barrier as well and I read yours. I'm sorry if it seems like I maybe copied your story a little, I seriously didn't mean to because I hadn't even read your story until you mentioned it. Sorry if you're mad or offended or anything. If you are, just say so and I'll try and change it a little.

princess cythera- I'm flattered that you think so highly of my story! Really, I am! Please review again!

Black Spell- I'm glad that you find it amusing. Review again please!

PrincessofRain- That does sound like fun. I do it the old fashioned way by just studying it by reading it and memorizing it. Maybe I should try it your way! Thank you for reviewing!

Well, that's it. I'll try and update as often as I can, which probably will be once a week or something like that. Thanks for reading this chapter. Now review! Later.