Chapter 3
Ari's POV

I woke up with a throbbing headache, the sun burning into my eyes. I was lying on something soft, but I was too lazy and in too much pain to roll over and see what it was, so I just assumed it was a sleeping bag. Maybe like what Blondie and I used to camp out in when we were little kids. But then I remembered. Mosh pit. Captain Fuckhead. Glass bottle hitting my head. Ouch. Pain. Leggy. Oooooh. Middle Earth. Shit. This must be a bedroll, then, not a sleeping bag.

Eyes half closed, I surveyed my surroundings, looking for some familiarity, hoping that I would be in our backyard, back in Omaha, and that this was all some horrid nightmare. But no such luck. I touched my temple and was met with something hard that I assumed to be broken glass. And it hurt like a mother, too. I couldn't sit up, and even if I could have, I didn't want to. Somehow, getting up would have made it real. I shut my eyes and clicked my still-booted heels together under the blanket, willing myself to be back home with Mom, Dad, my siblings, being hit on by middle schoolers, just anywhere but in a strange place with fragments of shattered glass stuck in my skin. But it didn't work. Damn. Maybe I needed some spiffy sparkly slippers. Or maybe the good witches just didn't like me. Shit.

I opened my eyes when I heard familiar, light footsteps approaching me. Squinting against the bright sunlight, I could barely make out the shape of Legolas kneeling beside me, concerned look on those perfect features. "Are you well, milady?" he asked softly, so as not to hurt my poor head more. I was going to nod and fake it out of pride, but dammit, I couldn't move my head, so I figured that might be a bad sign. "Uh, first of all it's Ari, not milady. And thanks to some jackass from where I come from, no, I'm not all right," I said, closing my eyes against the throbbing in my temples where the shards of glass had pierced the flesh.

"Would you like your wounds dressed, then, mil- Ari?" he asked me gently, correcting himself mid-sentence, even though my eyes were closed, I betcha he was blushing! And I also bet it was cute. Aww! But my head hurt like a bloody mother, so all I could do was nod feebly, eyes still closed. Damn, this sucked. I hated being dependent on others, especially others whom I had never met, particularly when they were hot elves.

So I allowed Legolas to tend to my aching head with those gentle hands of his, and listened to him speak softly to me while he worked, though I was hovering between consciousness and sleep. "For a while, we feared you would not survive. We all feared very much for you, Ari." Wait a second! Did he say 'we'? As in including himself? He'd be sad if I died? WHEE! Aww. How sweet. Made me want to hug him. Actually, I always wanted to hug Leggy. He's just damned cute like that.

"Thanks, Leggy," I murmured. "Makes me feel special, really." I was slowly slipping into unconsciousness again, though the pain in my head had subsided significantly, thanks to Leggy and his awesome…Leggy-ness.

He either didn't notice my atrocious shortening of his name or was too busy working. Perhaps it might've even been that he took pity on me and didn't whack me because he didn't want to cause me pain. Or make himself work more on healing me. But he's a sweetie, I don't think he'd wanna hurt me. Cause that wouldn't be very nice now, would it?

In response to my barely coherent comment, he said softly in that sweet, silky voice of his, "You are special, very much so." Then he started speaking in Elvish. I had no idea what the hell he was saying, but something told me it wasn't the equivalent of 'dumbass.'

Wait a minute! It was like he knew I was crushing on him. Okay, more than crushing. Obsessing, maybe. How the hell did he know that? Who else knew that?

Ah shit. My sister.

The last thought I had before lapsing back into sleep was, I'm going to bloody kill Maya! Then my eyelids became heavy with eminent unconsciousness, and I fell into a restful sleep, with Legolas still whispering comfortingly in Elvish to me.