Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings.

Summary: See previous chapters.

Chapter Eleven

Eventually, Laer broke the silence. "Do you think she meant that? The threat about making us scrub blood off the floor if we started fighting? When we fight I seem to find that neither of us is in any condition to move afterwards, let alone do housework."

Boromir smirked. "Metaphorically or literally? Yes, she would make us clean up. My sister has an annoying tendency to carry through on her threats, if they are physically possible. I've had my nose broken at least once on that account."

Laer blinked. "She broke your nose? What in Arda did you do?"

Boromir rolled his eyes skywards. "Why is that always everyone's response?" he asked the room in general. "The first time was because I knew Faramir was in danger and I was refusing to listen when she told me that anything I did was less than likely to help and had great potential for getting me killed for no reason.

Most of the other times were during Natasha and Eomer's courtship. Faramir and I concentrated our efforts on showing up at inopportune moments. Inopportune for them, anyway. Natasha didn't appreciate protective big brothers appearing out of nowhere every time she and Eomer had a moment to themselves."

Laer grinned, "Isn't that always the case? I'm surprised she didn't do anything more permanent, if you interrupted as many times as you did."

Boromir returned the smirk. "No, she left the death threats up to Eomer. My Brother-in-law can be slightly intimidating when he wishes to be."

Suddenly, Boromir turned serious. "You probably saved my life with your actions when we were fighting the other Mary-Sues. I don't think I had the chance to thank you before, so allow me to do so now. Thank you."

Laer suddenly found it hard to look at him. "You're welcome. If you don't mind me asking, where do we go from here? I mean, do we go back to picking fights with each other at every opportunity, or do we follow a different path? If you don't mind my saying so, I prefer the second option, personally."

Boromir looked at her, quietly checking that she was sincere. "I prefer the second as well, but that begs the question of what path we intend to follow. Natasha seems to think we were just getting all of the fighting out of the way before falling in love, and most of the others don't seem to care what happens, as long as we stop biting each other's heads off."

Laer laughed, but then turned shy. "I don't mind following the Queen's suggestion, that is, if you don't object."

Boromir smiled faintly, "I have no complaints. It's likely to cause an uproar, however."

Laer blinked. "Why would it cause an uproar? Would people be upset about marrying a Mary-Sue, even if I have severed all ties with them, or some other reason?"

Boromir pulled a face. "It's more the principle of the thing. Both of my siblings married someone of a different nation, much to a lot of people's disappointment. I suppose it was subconsciously expected that I would settle down with a nice Gondorian lady. Not to mention that I've been fending off unattached females ever since the wedding prank on Natasha backfired."

Laer's eyebrow shot upward. "Fending off the unattached because a prank backfired? Sounds like there is an interesting story behind that. Can you tell me?"

Again, Boromir scowled. "It was both mine and Faramir's idea actually. There is usually at least on practical joke on the happy newly wedded couple during the wedding night, usually carried out while they are busy in their rooms. My sister had threatened us into promising that we wouldn't do anything, but she forgot to add that we were not to send anyone to do it for us, either.

One of Natasha's charges, Bella, I don't think you've met, had been brought into Middle-Earth with her, so we asked Bella to go and pour a jug of oil on the floor outside for us. The theoretical reasoning was that if we didn't physically do anything, we really couldn't be blamed if a four-year-old decided to be helpful and do it for us.
Unfortunately, we forgot to give Bella the exact directions of where we wanted her to pour the oil. Worse, she only realized that after she was already there, so she went to ask the nearest adult for help. The nearest adults happened to be Natasha and Eomer, neither of whom were particularly thrilled at the interruption." Boromir smirked faintly, "I think that may have had something to do with the fact that they were not very dressed at the time."

Laer burst into a fit of giggling, then managed to control herself as Boromir continued. "Anyway, Bella told them why she was there, and you can guess what happened next. Natasha decided to turn the prank around on us, probably to avoid the political upheaval that would have resulted if Eomer had physically harmed Faramir and I, regardless of how much we may have deserved it.
She told Bella to come back to the feast and dump the oil jug on Faramir's head, and somehow got a message to her attendants that asked them to spread the rumour that I was interested in joining the universal plunge toward matrimony, and I've had every unattached female after me since."

Laer had both hands clapped over her mouth in a vain attempt to stifle laughter, causing her to keel over onto her side from her sitting position. Boromir gave her an ironic look.
"Glad someone finds it amusing. You should have been around for the other disaster of the night. Someone managed to light one of Gandalf's fireworks, but forgot to stick it in the ground, panicked, and dumped it into a half-empty barrel. The barrel exploded, covered half the courtyard in dwarven ale, and brought Eomer running down to see who was attacking us. He wasn't wearing very much at the time, so the incident was resolved fairly quickly. His choice of language was somewhat less than polite when he went back to his rooms, something about having plans for the evening, none of which included running around the city all night."

That proved to be too much for Laer. She collapsed in a heap, laughing hysterically.

They were interrupted by the door opening again. It turned out to be Natasha, Eowyn, Faramir and Eomer. Natasha smiled at the sight. "All right, I think visiting hours are over for now. Boromir, Father wants to speak with you about something. Laer, try to hold still, you are going to pull your stitches otherwise. Try to control yourself while I get the healer."

Faramir and Eomer dragged Boromir away. Waiting for the healer, Eowyn, Natasha and Laer could hear some of what was being said.

Faramir's voice was identified saying "Well, you two seem to be getting along much better than you were before. What changed?"

Boromir didn't get a chance to reply as Eomer's voice joined in. "They seemed to be resolving their differences when the healer came to find us when Laer woke up. It was probably a continuation of that discussion."

Whatever Boromir had said in return was lost as the voices retreated. Laer glanced at Eowyn and Natasha. "How long do you think they will keep up with that? Should I be worried?"

Eowyn shook her head. "Not really. Natasha and I might tease you a bit if this becomes official, but we won't make it too unbearable. I wouldn't count on Boromir getting off so easily, though."

Laer still looked worried about Boromir. Natasha correctly interpreted her expression. "The other's have endured almost fourteen years of Boromir's teasing whenever something happened concerning our marriages. Let them have their fun."

Laer shot an apprehensive glance at the door. For some reason, she worried that even if the other Mary-Sues decided to lie low, the next few months would be far from a smooth ride.

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A/N - Well, chapter eleven is up and it's my Birthday in four days. La la la la la la!

Review and tell me what you think.

Thanks, Nathalia.