And so it was that Arwen returned to her grandparents in Lorien. Gilraen agreed to stay through the winter, until the time had come for spring planting, and thus Aragorn got a fresh start at learning about parenting from his nana. Faramir seemed to miss Arwen, as all of the valley did, but as long as he had his daddy, nothing else really mattered to the little mortal.

Though Aragorn understood why it had to be, it still pained him to see Arwen go. That was when Faramir knew it was time to take matters into his own hands and make sure that this daddy was kept occupied. It was October and Faramir was already five months old when he decided he liked being able to sit up all on his own. Once he got that figured out, the next logical thing to work on was getting mobile. That needed some work though and it was easiest to practice when no one else was looking.

His father liked to take him for walks about the valley on these autumn days, and sometimes he would bring along a couple of interesting toys for Faramir to practice beating together as they sat under a tree and rested. Glorfindel had craved out of wood for Faramir three big, detailed figures of a leaf, a butterfly, and a bird. For now they meant rather little, but in a few months he would start learning to identify each with the real things. One day as Faramir and Aragorn sat under an oak, Faramir noticed that his father's attention seemed elsewhere, and, since he was bored of his bird and butterfly, he decided to try out crawling a bit.

It was a while before Aragorn managed to draw himself from his musings and when he looked to where Faramir had been playing there was naught there but a bird and butterfly. He looked around wildly, panic shooting through him. Where could he have gone? He was only just able to sit upright on his own, surely he could not have gone anywhere! Then he heard his little one crying, he could just barely hear him over the sound of the rushing Bruinen. Aragorn's heart froze and suddenly he was running full-pelt toward the river.

There was his baby boy, sitting altogether too close to the river's edge and no happier about it than his ada. Judging the distance between him and Faramir in a split second, Aragorn knew that if his baby moved any closer to the water he would not be able to catch him in him. Taking a deep breath, Aragorn dove into the river and swam upstream, knowing that if Faramir slipped into the water he would only stand a chance if he was already in the river as well. Fighting against the current, Aragorn realized he'd made one mistake: he did not count on the fact that when Faramir saw his daddy he would try to get to him.

Just as Faramir's little hands touched the water, though, someone shot out of the tree nearest the river and lifted him up, holding him safely. He rushed downstream to help the man who was fighting a losing battle. He reached out to Aragorn, still holding Faramir close, and shouted above the water, "take my hand. Come on, reach!"

Aragorn's breath was coming short and just as their fingers touched, Aragorn felt his rescuer grasp his hand firmly and literally pull him up and out of the water onto the riverbank. He said nothing, unable to speak as he caught his breath, but he reached out for Faramir and held his little one close.

"You saved my son's life," Aragorn said gratefully when he finally had the breath.

"And yours as well," the stranger said with a slight grin.

"How can I repay you?" Aragorn said.

The blond laughed quietly. "Well, I do not suppose that you know Lord Elrond, do you?"

"I ought to, he raised me," Aragorn said, now smiling slightly as well. He was only just now recognizing that this stranger was an Elf.

"Raised you? That is almost beyond my hope! Would it be at all possible for you to get me an audience with him?" the Elf asked optimistically.

Aragorn did laugh now. "He does not do audiences, as such, but I am sure he would meet with you." People always seemed to think life in Imladris was a lot more formal than it really was. Aragorn began to wonder who this Elf was and what he was doing in Rivendell; visitors were very rare in these days. A fear flashed in his mind that something had happened to the party who was escorting Arwen to Lorien, but he quickly put aside that fear reasoning that this new arrival would not be as smiling were that the case.

"It would certainly be in my best interests if he would be so generous with his time, though I realize he is likely very busy. I am Legolas of the Woodland Realm," he said, extending his hand as he had before.

"Mae govannen, Legolas. Aragorn of... well, Imladris again, I suppose," he said, grasping Legolas's hand and smiling awkwardly. "My son is Faramir. I truly can not thank you enough for helping us and I would be happy to take you to my father."

Legolas nodded his thanks and offered his cloak to the now shivering Man. Aragorn wrapped it around himself, thankful for the warmth after that impromptu swim. He made certain to spare a corner to wrap Faramir in as well, lest he take a chill. He held his child close as they walked, collecting Faramir's bird and butterfly and heading back to the house with their guest. Aragorn wondered that it was possible that his little boy had grown so much in just a few months. It rather saddened him as he said to Faramir, "I guess you have learned how to move around. It was only yesterday, literally, that you could not go anywhere all alone."

Faramir responded to his father's statement in a language neither man understood. Both guessed his blathered syllables to mean something along the line of, "you've gone many places all alone, why shouldn't i?"

"Do i take it that you are Isildur's heir?" Legolas asked conversationally as they walked.

For so long had that fact been an absolute secret that Aragorn actually stopped in his tracks when he heard Legolas speak of it so casually. He was rather dumbfounded that a total stranger would know something that he had kept from men had worked with every day and he began to question his safety in the world.

Legolas smiled genially though. "You have nothing to fear, i only determined that because i know that Lord Elrond has sheltered Isildur's heirs for many generations. I rather doubted that there would be many other Mortals here."

Aragorn nodded, still a little shocked. "I am the current heir... yes. Though, i do not speak of it very often."

"That sounds fairly reasonable," Legolas said with a mischievous wink that put Aragorn in mind of the twins.

"Would you mind holding him for a moment?" Aragorn said, passing Faramir to Legolas as he re-laced his boots. In that couple of moments, Faramir became intensely fascinated with the braids worn by his new friend. He batted at them and watched as they swung to and fro, causing Faramir to laugh joyfully. Back in his daddy's arms again, Faramir now took more notice of his hair, too. He reached up slowly, almost contemplatively, and grasped at an errant lock. Deciding that he liked this very much he also pulled upon his father's hair, giving Aragorn his second shock of the day.

"Seems as though Mortal children learn everything all at once," Legolas said with a grin.

ooo

The next months passed quickly and, by the time Gilraen was ready to return to her own home with the first signs of spring, Faramir was getting to be not only increasingly mobile, but also keeping his father from becoming too complacent. It was much as Arwen had said before she left and Aragorn wondered if his beloved did not have a chat with his son at some point about keeping him from growing too comfortable.

Over the winter Faramir began learning to walk. He was a very fast learner before long he was giving his poor beleaguered father frights at every few moments. Once Aragorn was on his way to lunch when Erestor stopped him to go over a few records. Aragorn set Faramir down to have a better look, thinking that his little one would simply wait for his father to pick him up again and be off. Aragorn forgot to account for the fact that, to a child, even a couple of minutes is like an hour when idle, and when he turned around Faramir appeared to be attempting to climb a candle stand. It was his quick moving that gently swept Faramir out of harm's way, and Erestor's sheer panic-induced speed that caught the candles before a drop of wax hit the floor. Aragorn didn't even dare take Faramir anywhere near the wing of the house that contained the real artifacts of Númenor and the Last Alliance.

Still, for as many scares as Faramir gave his father, the joys he gave him easily outweighed them. There was one night after supper that Gilraen offered to take and put Faramir down for the night. Aragorn kissed him and said, "sleep well, little acorn. Ada loves you," just as he did each night before bed. Just as he was about to pass his son to his mother, Faramir reached out and, grasping his father's hair as Aragorn had come to love, babbled happily "a'da 'ove!" Aragorn was utterly over the moon and in tears of joy, regardless of his brothers' (loving) snickers.

By the time of his first birthday, which Gilraen agreed to stay until, Faramir was almost completely independent in mobility and when held he almost always reached for a lock of hair first thing. Elrond was taken back to the days when Estel was a child and never once in nearly eight years were the Elf-lord's braids straight. When he realized that his braids looked perfect as he went to greet Mithrandir and Thorin, it saddened him terribly - worn braids had become a bit of a status symbol for him.

It was only a matter of time now before Erestor got hold of the little one and put a book in his hands. Around the time the word "why" would enter his vocabulary was when Erestor would come to Estel's rescue and begin teaching Faramir about not only saying words, but reading them as well. From there things would really speed up and everyone knew that now, when Faramir was still truly dependent on his father, was the time that Aragorn needed to enjoy most.

ooo

steelelf: It's ok! Calm down! I realize now that that section was a little unclear and i should have referenced Shadows of Chaos, Chapter 8, What Once Was. Aragorn is definitely Arathorn's son, and Denethor is definitely Ecthelion's son, it's a mother that they share. In the year that Finduilas and Arathorn were married, Ecthelion was not yet Steward and so did some traveling in the north. It just so happened that he was there for the wedding and so chose to "bless" their union personally, but without Arathorn's knowledge. I will try to rewrite that bit and clear it up if i can find the time.

Raksha: I think i have a copy of History of Middle-earth so i will check that out. Thanks! Denethor is definitely a broken man now, he no longer habors the false impressions that were imbedded in him by palantir use - though one rather doubts that will last too long. Finduilas might have made provisions for Denethor to see his son, but he made no attempt to tell her of Faramir, and so it becomes a game of tit-for-tat that most of the world has played for most of history.

linda: I've had a lot of AU plots, but i try to make them feasible within canon too, and some of them are just too outlandish. I still intend to write that PB you gave me about Denethor surviving when Aragorn comes to claim the crown... i just like fireworks, what can i say?

Elenhin: I think Elrond had every table cloth in Imladris burned when the twins started pulling at them several thousand years ago. Still, Faramir has more than enough stuff to play with to scare his poor dad into old age. I am so anxious to get to the part where Faramir and Boromir finally meet. I might speed up through the years a bit here next chapter.