A/N: Oy. I'm terribly sorry that I haven't updated forever, but hey-I made that little In-Betweener thingy, so I don't see how you can complain...though someone has found a way...intensely stares at Kait LOL, sorry. I hope that this doesn't turn out too badly. The In-Betweeners were basically a way to get my juices flowin' again, so bare with me, kay? ;)
:Previous Chapter:
"Becca! What are you doing here?" Laura asked and became slightly worried. Had she found out that the Fellowship was here?
"Abby, where are the guys?" Becca walked into the house, said a quick 'hi' to Laura, and wondered around the entry way. Laura glared at Abby suspiciously and before anyone could say anything, Becca screamed.
"OH MY GOD!"
She stared at the hobbits and Gimli in disbelief. The scream was so loud that it drew the attention of the men on the back porch and they walked in.
"What's going on? What's wrong?" Aragorn asked as he walked in.
Becca spun around and stared at them. Before she could do anything else she fainted.
Laura stared at the whole situation and began to muse to herself.
"I must have done something really really bad to deserve this..."
:Chapter: The Fight
Laura, Abby, and Kait dragged Becca off the floor and onto the nearby couch, fanning her face. The hobbits cautiously gathered around and stared at the girl in wonder. They were excited to meet a new person, but Gimli, Aragorn, Gandalf, and especially Legolas were not so thrilled. This was surely another unstable human child that would stalk him wherever he went and certainly ambush him. Gandalf looked over the girl and 'huffed'.
"Another friend of yours?" he questioned Laura.
"Yup," she replied and sat down on the coffee table, placing her head in her hands as she intently watched Becca. "That's my friend, Becca."
Gandalf nodded in understanding and folded his arms across his chest.
Laura shot Abby an accusing stare and asked her why their new friend was at her house. Abby explained that she called Becca and that she invited her over. Laura turned to Kait for confrimation that Abby's tale was true, and she nodded. Laura asked Abby what possessed her to call and invite Becca over, but she simply shrugged her shoulders and muttered, "I dunno."
Laura and Kait sighed and returned their gaze to the unconscious girl on the couch when they heard her move. Her eyes flickered open to reveal dark brown eyes and she groaned as she massaged the back of her head.
"W-what the heck?" she muttered and sat up painfully. Her head began to spin the moment she sat up, forcing her to hold her aching head in the hands and massage her temples. "What happened?"
"You fell and hit your head on the floor", Frodo explained, for he had seen the event unfold.
Becca sat up and stared at Frodo and the other. Turning to Laura and Kait she silently asked what was going on. Kait enthusiastically explained that the Fellowship of the Ring was in Laura's house. Laura nodded, along with those in the room. Abby inserted her two cents and rocked back and forth on the arm of the sofa. Becca finally lifted her head from her hands and stared at the group long and hard, taking in every detail of the men in the room. She was confused at the very least, but seemed to accept the information they were feeding her. Kait sat down next to her on the couch and engaged in a small conversation with Becca. There was a relatively comfortable atmosphere in the room and everyone began to unwind. Frodo and his kin even sat down on the couch next to the girls and began to talk with them as well. Aragorn sat down on the other couch, joined by Gandalf, and relaxed.
Laura stood back and watched the activity of the room. Pleased that her guests were comfortable, she slinked over to Abby and grabbed her upper arm. Abby whirled around to face Laura and was dragged out of the room and onto the back porch. The crisp autumn air greeted them and Laura whirled Abby around to face her. Saying that she was upset was quite an understatement; she was pissed and growing annoyed with Abby's behavior.
"What the heck do you think you're doing!" Laura growled angrily. Abby stared at her defensively and questioningly.
"What are you talking about?" she questioned.
"What makes you think that you can just call and invite someone over here?" Laura demanded. "That, AND saying I had some sort of bipolar illness. What's with you?"
As Laura was speaking, Abby became extremely defensive and offended, and intensity was steadily growing between the girls as a conflict arose.
"No, what's with you? You need to lighten up."
"You need to learn your place," Laura growled warningly. This struck a nerve with Abby.
"What, so now I need to learn my place? What next? Do I have to bow down and worship you everytime you walk by?" Abby yelled and crossed her arms across her chest defiantly.
"What I'm saying is that you have ZERO respect for me..."
"Now I need to 'respect' you," Abby interupted and threw her hands into the air.
"...as a friend!" Laura finished bitterly.
The girls glared at each other and continued their verbal battle. They were getting no where and were now shamelessly arguing over practically nothing. There was much shouting, pointing, pacing, and discomfort. Finally they had enough and Laura hissed, thrashing her arms into the air.
"This is so stupid!" Laura cried.
"You're right," Abby said flatly, turned on her heal and stomped down the wooden stairs of the porch. "This is stupid."
Laura stared after her retreating figure, flabergasted. She called after her and got no response. Abby had left and moodily walked down the street and turned the corner and out of sight. Laura was at a loss and tried to think about what they were fighting about and couldn't think straight. She was set in a pissy mood and wasn't going to come out of it anytime soon, so she violently stormed around her porch, hating everything that came into her sight. The pressure of the events of the weekend was piling up on her and she was upset that Abby was unconcerned about the whole thing. She wished she could be care-free about the whole thing, but it wasn't her nature. She felt the need to be assured about everything and she wasn't. Slowly she collasped onto a porch swing, which had been a victim of her angry, violent outburst. There was a dent in the hollow pole from where she had kicked it and soon realized a throbbing pain in her foot. It stung and she could feel blood soaking into her sock. She cursed and wearily sat back on the swing, physically and emotionally exhausted.
Suddenly the door opened and Kait timidly poked her head out of the house and stared at Laura. Concern danced on her face as she stared at Laura.
"Where's Abby?"
Laura huffed and shrugged her shoulders. Kait mouthed an 'oh' and fell silent for a moment.
"Well, we heard yelling and we were worried about you two. Is everything ok?" Kait asked.
Laura rolled her head over to Kait's direction and gave her a look. Kait felt embarrased and muttered, "Yeah, stupid question."
There was more silence before Laura spoke up softly and apologized for their rude behavior and said that if she wanted to go home she could. Kait smiled and shook her head.
"No thanks, I'd rather stay here, if that's okay with you."
"Ugh, just go back into the house. I don't want to start yelling at you. I'm going to be in a foul mood for a while," the paused and instructed her to warn the Fellowship about her mood. Kait nodded and scurried into the house to give her host some time to vent.
Kait walked back to the living room and relayed the information to the group. They nodded and appeared concerned about the situation. Becca became unsure of herself and looked at Kait nervously.
"This isn't because of me, is it?" she asked shyly and embarrased.
Kait shook her head and Becca let out a 'whoosh' of releif and lounged back onto the couch.
"Someone should go out and search for the child," Gandalf said. He assumed that she was able to take care of herself in this town, but he did not know the town or the people in it. Nor did he know much more about Abby and her capabilities.
Becca turned over to Aragorn.
"Hey, aren't you some sort of great tracker, Ranger-thingy or something?" she asked pointedly. Aragorn was still quite shocked that these girls knew so much about him and his companions, but he was getting use to it. Though, he did worry about how much they knew. He nodded his head in response.
"Yes, I am a Ranger, but it would be difficult to find her without any leads," he pointed out. "and your paved walkways do make the tracking a bit more difficult."
Becca nodded and understood what he was saying. Though he probably could track Abby down, she wasn't going to push him. Abby was either going to go to her house, come back here, or who-knows-where. Suddenly Boromir, who had come downstairs while Abby and Laura were engaged in their verbal war, proclaimed, "I think that Legolas should be the one to find her."
The elf shot him the most evil glare he could muster and Aragorn chuckled heartily. Aragorn and Boromir humorously joked about Legolas and laughed together. Finally it was decided that Aragorn and Legolas was search for her together, combining Legolas' site and keen hearing along with Aragorn's sharp skills as a Ranger. As they were leaving the house and stepped onto the main sidewalk in front of the house, Laura trudged up from the gravel driveway with a heavy face; the face of one whom is struggling to swallow their pride. The men looked at her questioningly as she made her way to them. Before they could voice their question she said, "It's my fault she left, so I should at least be the one to help find her."
The men nodded and smiled. Laura led them off down the street and decided that they would first try Abby's house. She wasn't there. Next they decided to try a friends' house (Aragorn and Legolas stood out of sight), she wasn't there. They walked around town for almost two hours and still were unsuccessful in their search. The autumn sun was slowly sinking into the west, along with Laura's heart. She felt horrible about forcing Abby to leave. They came upon a small elementary school playground and stopped there to rest. Laura numbly sat on a swing and dully pushed herself on it. Aragorn noticed Laura's unenergetic behavior and sat down on a swing next to her and decided to give her some council. Laura listened greatfully as they swung there for a while.
While they were talking, Legolas was roaming around the playground, inspecting it. He wandered across the black top and examined the basketball pole with curiosity. Everything was mysterious and strange. He suddenly found himself walking towards a small shed and stared at the strange grafiti on it. He circled the shed as he read the foreign words when suddenly he saw something that stopped him in his tracks. Sitting behind the shed was Abby, curled up in a ball and leaning against the back of the shed. Legolas hurried over to her and knelt down beside her.
"Abby!"
At first she didn't respond at all so Legolas tried again, this time he lightly shook her arm.
"Abby!" he cried again.
Slowly she pushed her head up from her knees and stared at him in wonder. She was puzzled with he was here, but she didn't care much about that. He was there while she felt like crap and he was a form of comfort. She softly muttered his name and rested her head against his chest. Legolas was taken back and wasn't sure what to do, so he sat there and allowed her to use him for support. She was silent for a while and Legolas wondered if she had fallen asleep.
"Abby?" he asked quietly.
"I'm sorry for running away." she muttered into his chest.
Legolas smiled and did something neither of them expected. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and embraced her. Legolas did not know what possessed him to do it, but he did. 'She was in need of comfort and he gave it to her,' he reasoned. Abby snuggled into his embrace and hugged him back thankfully.
"Legolas?" Aragorn shouted as he and Laura approached the shed.
"Over here," Legolas said as he urwraped his arms and stood up, offering Abby a hand and pulling her up as well. "I've found her."
They quickened their pace and peeked around the corner of the shed. Sure enough, Abby was there. Laura rushed over to her but suddenly stopped. She stuttered, searching for the correct words used for an apology, but found none. She always had difficulity forgiving. She got if from her mother, she supposed. 'That's why dad hasn't come back...mom never forgave him and drove him away'. She did not want that to happen to Abby.
"Abby..." Laura started but Abby shook her head.
"No, I'm sorry. You're right, I was rude and didn't care to ask your oppinion on anything," she paused and Laura stared at her with an unreadable expression. Abby continued, "And you're right about me no knowing my place. My place is as your friend and I completely tossed that aside and didn't give you the respect a friend should. I'm sorry."
Laura was flabergased. Absolutely puzzled. She was definately not expecting Abby to be the one to apologize, but she was glad she did because it made apologizing to Abby much easier.
Soon the girls hugged and the world was sunny and bright again. The company of four walked out of the playground and began to head for the house. They walked in the cool evening and Laura suddenly spoke up and asked, "So Abby, what were you and Legolas doing behind that shed, eh?" Aragorn surpressed his laughter and Legolas blushed. Had she seen their embrace?
"Oh you know," Abby joked slyly. "That kind of stuff. A bit of this and a bit of that."
Laura's jaw dropped and she began to laugh, along with Abby and Aragorn.
A/N: Hey everybody. I'm so sorry that I haven't updated since January. I've had absolutely no inspiration for the fic, but constant nagging from my friend finally got me writing this again. We were in Boston last weekend on a Marching Band trip and they were writing plots for their own fics, so I decided to get off my lazy butt and do the same. I know that you dedicated readers are probably pissed at me beyond words for not updating, but here it is. Happy? Better late than never, right?
Krissy119