The world seemed to slow around him as Aragorn dropped to his knees in front of Caladel. All of the noises sounded like dull, distant wisps in his ears and everything except for the boy before him faded away a bit. This child – Caladel, the light of an elf – was like something out of a sleeping or waking dream, where he could see himself and Legolas living as they should be. But surely he would have known…surely Legolas would have told him, or else someone else would have…the birth of a child wasn't the sort of event that someone was supposed to keep secret, not from someone who had helped create that life…

The Man's mind was too numb with shock to register that distaste and uneasiness were mixing in the boy's expression. "Your ada and papa are getting married tomorrow?" repeated Aragorn, sounding dazed. He studied Caladel's face carefully, his heart both swelling and breaking at the same time, if such a thing were possible. "You look so much like…. Your ada – is his name Legolas?"

"Yes," answered Caladel with a touch of defiance in his voice, although he shrank back further against Eomer as he spoke. This strange Man was staring at him (which was very rude in and of itself, and was obviously a sign that there was something not trustworthy about him – why, even his grandfather or Aunt Eowyn hadn't stared so much and they had more cause to, being his relatives and all) with an odd look in his gray eyes. If the elfling had been forced to describe it he would have said that the Man looked happy and sad all at once and yet was filled with a love that was scary in its intensity.

Caladel didn't understand why the Man who had looked ready to fight his papa only moments before was looking at him like that now and it made him very uncomfortable. "My papa is King Eomer Eadig of Rohan and my ada is Prince Legolas Thranduilion of Eryn Lasgalan – although tomorrow Ada is going to be from Eryn Lasgalan and Rohan both," he continued, feeling safer when he felt Eomer's hands on his shoulders. He threw the Man kneeling in front of him an insolent look and muttered: "I don't know why you think that's any of your business."

"Perhaps you should go inside and find your ada, Caladel," suggested Eomer prudently as Aragorn's mouth dropped open. While he wasn't sure what Legolas' plan had been for telling Aragorn and the children of Elrond about the elfling's existence – if indeed Legolas had come up with a plan at all – he was certain that this wasn't anything close to what he had in mind.

"Wait," demanded Aragorn desperately, afraid that if he let the child out of his sight now then he would never see him again. Curse Eomer for trying to keep them apart!

"I think that would be for the best, Aragorn," Eomer told him firmly and meaningfully as he discreetly started nudging Caladel away. Yes, the sooner his intended got out there to do some damage control the better, for the other king looked like he was seconds away from losing all control and good judgment. "Go on now, my son. I'm sure that Legolas would like to know that our guests from Gondor and Rivendell have arrived and are waiting to see him."

That had exactly the opposite effect on what he wanted Caladel to do; before the boy had been more than willing to get out of the strange Man's company but once he heard the word 'Rivendell' his ears perked up and he put on the brakes. "Rivendell?" he repeated excitedly, smiling over Aragorn's head at the elf lady and the two identical elf lords. Of course! Why hadn't he noticed it before?

One of the lords – he couldn't tell the difference between the two of them – was staring at him as if he'd seen a ghost and that didn't make Caladel feel very comfortable either; but judging by the expressions on the other lord and the lady's faces they were just beginning to understand something. It was still odd as far as Caladel was concerned but he was more willing to put up with all of this, especially if what he was guessing was true. "Ada tells me stories about Rivendell a lot!" he announced to them, his eyes shining. "He says that it's a nice valley with gardens and books and rivers. He says that's where three of his dearest friends come from. Are you them? Are you Arwen, Elrohir, and Elladan?"

Tears pricked at Elrohir's eyes. "Yes," he confirmed in a whisper. For all of those years he'd wondered if Legolas had forgotten them or had stopped caring; it was heartwarming to know now that they had never been far from his thoughts.

"How wonderful!" declared Caladel. "Which one of you is which?"

"I'm Elrohir; and this is my sister Arwen and my brother Elladan," replied Elrohir, gesturing to himself and his siblings in turn. When he looked over to introduce his twin he noticed that Elladan was looking at Caladel as if he'd just realized something and that realization had broken him somehow. It was terrible; and yet at the same time it was nice to see that Elladan could still feel something other than anger and bitterness.

Aragorn felt invisible. He couldn't just kneel there and allow everyone to overlook his existence! "I'm Aragorn," he spoke up desperately. He reached out and seized the boy suddenly, clutching at both of his arms. "I too was from Rivendell and now hail from Gondor. Does Legolas tell you stories about Aragorn or Gondor too?"

Caladel violently jerked out of his grip. "No!" he said harshly. Eomer put his arms around his son soothingly and sent Aragorn a warning glare. "I mean, yes, I guess. He's mentioned Gondor a couple of times – there was a battle there or something; it wasn't anything that Ada liked remembering – but I've never heard him say the name Aragorn before."

Arwen was standing behind her husband and only saw his shoulders slump, but she didn't have to see the expression on his face to know that he was devastated by this news. She wanted badly to tell him that she couldn't believe that it was true; that Caladel was just nervous about the way that the Man was behaving and trying to distance himself from him in every possible way. There was no way that Legolas would have told his son about everyone else except for his closest friend – perhaps Aragorn was such a mythical figure in the elf's stories that Caladel couldn't believe he and the person before him was one in the same.

But no matter how much she longed to soothe Aragorn's feelings Arwen held her tongue. She didn't want to alienate Caladel by openly siding with Aragorn. If what she now guessed had happened to drive Legolas away all those years ago was true then both he and his son were going to have some issues with trusting others. They needed to be shown kindness and understanding; and her husband's feelings, as important to her as they were, would just have to wait.

"If you will excuse me for a moment," said Eomer to his guests, taking advantage of the awkward silence that had fallen over them. He took Caladel's hand and began leading him up the stairs. "I'm going to help my son find Legolas. I will be back with him as soon" –

"Caladel! Caladel!"

Legolas burst out of Meduseld and ran full-force to the top of the staircase. "Cala-" he began again

His frantic cry died on his lips when he beheld the scene before him near the bottom of the stairs. Arwen, Elrohir, and Elladan were there, staring up at him. The former two had expressions that were damnably close to pity on their faces while the latter was looked as if he was feeling too many contrary emotions to settle on just one. That was fine – he would choose mixed emotions over pity any day. Behind them were two young children; Legolas could only presume that they were the children of Aragorn and Arwen that he'd heard about. The boy and girl – Eldarion and Silmariën, if he was remembering correctly – had apparently been distracted from their impromptu game by his shouting and were now inching toward their parents, to the obvious disconcertion of a servant in a carriage who was cradling a baby. Faramir was there as well; standing with Eowyn, who in turn was at her brother's side.

The most disturbing image, though, was the three other people there. Eomer and Caladel looked as if they had been trying to slip away from…from Aragorn. Legolas felt his skin go cold when he registered that his former lover was there. For the first time in over six years he laid eyes on the Man that had broken his heart once more, kneeling at eye-level with the child that the elf had tried to hide from him. Then…then Aragorn's eyes were upon him; Legolas' throat constricted and his heart twisted as he felt the yearning and the pull emanating from his former lover. It was as if the Man was weaving a spell over him…

"Ada!" cried Caladel in relief. He let go of Eomer's hand and sprang up the stairs, not stopping until he reached Legolas and leapt into his arms. 'My ada is here now,' he wanted to yell back at the strange Man who'd frightened him. 'Papa has to be nice to you but Ada means business!'

"Oh, Caladel," said Legolas, trying to keep the rattled emotions out of his voice. Aragorn's hold over him lessened significantly as he squeezed the elfling in his arms, and even more so when the two arms and two legs that were wrapped around him tightened in response. "You left without telling me where you were going."

"I'm so sorry, Ada," Caladel whispered in his ear. "I was a bad boy."

"No, no; you aren't a bad boy," Legolas told him comfortingly as he rubbed the boy's back. "I just didn't know where you were and I have to know where you are, always."

"I was only trying to help," lamented Caladel, unhappy that he'd caused his ada pain. "I wanted to find Papa so he could go to the study and help you make Grandfather and Gimli stop their bickering."

In spite of everything Legolas found himself smiling warmly. "My sweet, sweet child," he murmured.

Eomer came up to his fiancé's side and rested a tentative hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry," the Man apologized in a low voice, not wanting their new guests to overhear. "I should have contacted as soon as they arrived."

"It's all right, Eomer," Legolas assured him, feeling a lot better now that Caladel was with him – and with the two of them – and away from Aragorn's clutches. He gave the Man a small, reassuring smile. Eomer responded by wrapping one arm around Legolas' back, one arm around Caladel's back, and bringing them both close to him; and for a moment Legolas felt completely at peace.

Aragorn stood up slowly and stared at the three with a growing amount of elation, confusion, and jealousy. Caladel was his son, his child – he was sure of it. Legolas had borne his child after being driven away the forces that had come between them and now Caladel was a permanent reminder that their love was real and binding. Why hadn't Legolas ever told him? He understood that things had been complicated back then with his new marriage to Arwen and the foreboding presence of Elrond, but that shouldn't have stood in the elf's way when he was determined.

And now…now Legolas was raising his child with Eomer. The king of Rohan dared to stand out in public, practically spitting on all of the treaties between their two realms as well as their personal friendship, with his arms around his true love and his son. What's more, Eomer was about to marry the love of Aragorn's life and he was wearing the ring that the king of Gondor had always known was destined for him. Most damnable of all, his son was calling Eomer 'Papa' and Legolas apparently found nothing wrong with this. Eomer was living the life that should have been his!

The Man wanted to look away from the soul-crushing image but it was too devastatingly enthralling to tear his eyes away. It couldn't be true; Legolas had to have been brainwashed, or else Eomer was blackmailing him or threatening to separate him from Caladel. That couldn't be love that he was seeing in the elf's eyes…

"Legolas?" Aragorn called out in a shaking voice.

It was time: there was no way that Legolas could put off facing Aragorn – facing them all – any longer. The prince hugged Caladel close one more time and then ever-so-slowly put him down. "Caladel, I want you to go back inside," he instructed his son, successfully sounding as if nothing in the world was wrong. "Go back to the study if you would and see to it that your grandfather and Gimli behave themselves from now on. Perhaps if you make your eyes go all big and stare up at them sadly enough they won't be able to bicker anymore."

"Excuse me?" a boy's voice that did not belong to his son floated up to the elf's ears.

Legolas looked over to see that young Eldarion was staring back at him with a mixture of curiosity and hopefulness. The Gondorian boy usually didn't pay attention to when his parents were talking to other grown-up – especially grown-ups that had titles like king, prince, lord, and anything else that indicated that they were boring nobles and/or droning politicians – but the entrance of someone his age his age had begun to stir his interests and he'd listened more closely to his parents and uncles' conversation than he normally did. Then when another grown-up had come out he'd been in a position to watch more closely out of the corner of his eye; and when his father had called the newcomer elf "Legolas" – as in the famous Legolas who was always in his father's stories – he'd been intrigued enough to abandon his game with his sister entirely and join the adults.

With Silmariën at his heels he'd wiggled his way to stand in front of his mother and father just in time to hear this Legolas utter a name that was even dearer in Eldarion's heart. "Pardon me for interrupting," said the young prince most politely when he realized that he had the elf's attention, "but did you say that Gimli is here?"

"Yes, he came for the wedding," said Legolas awkwardly, for it was strange for him to be speaking to one of Aragorn's children with Arwen. Before now they'd just been concepts in his mind and had never quite seemed real. "He's inside right now, or what's left of him anyway; I did leave him with my father."

"Gimli and Grandfather don't get along too well," clarified Caladel when he saw that the other boy was confused. "There's nothing to worry about, though. They don't hit each other or anything – they just insult each other."

"Wonderful!" declared Eldarion, rushing up the stairs to where Legolas, Caladel, and Eomer were standing. Silmariën followed and an interested Caladel squirmed eagerly until his ada had to put him down. "Not that he's fighting with your grandfather, of course. It's just that it's been over a year since we've seen Gimli, though he sends us messages and stuff a lot."

"Me too," piped up Caladel. "I hear from him a lot too, I mean. Before a week ago it had only been a few months since I've seen him, not a year. My name's Caladel."

"I'm Eldarion, and this is my little sister Silmariën," replied Eldarion, patting the toddler fondly on the head as if she were a much loved pet dog instead of his sibling. "She's all right, for a little child; but I'm a lot older than her and most of the time she can't understand the games we're playing. How old are you?"

"I'm five," Caladel told him. Everyone there save the children drew in a breath.

Eldarion nodded seriously and then grinned broadly. "Me too!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Oh, we should have a lot of fun then. I turned five last month; we had a big party. It's too bad that we didn't know each other back then – you could have come."

"Well, happy birthday anyway," responded Caladel nicely. "I would have invited you to my birthday party too. I'm a little older than you; my birthday's in February."

Aragorn, Arwen, and Elrohir all silently did the math in their heads. A February birth put Legolas' conception date at roughly the same time that he, Aragorn, and Gimli had been traveling with the Rohirrim during the War. The dates solidified even more when they took into consideration that Arwen had delivered all of her children late and therefore figured that all elf pregnancies that involved mortals weren't as long as they normally were; taking the mortal nine months instead of twelve but needing a little extra time nonetheless. This all but proved to Aragorn that Caladel was truly his son while Arwen and Elrohir found that this confirmed the difficult situation that they'd guessed had driven their friend away. Of the four of them only Elladan didn't need to calculate any numbers – he'd known from another reliable source the truth since the moment that he first saw Legolas' child.

"My Queen Arwen," Eowyn cleared her throat. She cast a meaningful gaze at the three children when she saw that she had the she-elf's attention. "Perhaps it would be advisable to have Eldarion and Silmariën go with Caladel to visit with Gimli. We have a lot of…boring, grown-up things to discuss that would be…boring for them to have to sit through."

"Yes," murmured Arwen ponderously. "I do believe that would probably be best. Go on now, my children. Have fun with Caladel, bid Gimli hello, and tell that sweet, errant dwarf that we will be meeting up with him later to discuss his absence from the White City as of late."

"Oh, Gimli's in trouble," grinned Eldarion, nudging Caladel playfully. "Thank you, Nana! Goodbye, Father!"

With that Eldarion bolted to the door, enthused at this unexpected but welcome turn of events. He only stopped when he realized that Caladel was taking the time to lead the toddler Silmariën kindly by the hand. At a much slower pace the secret siblings disappeared into the Golden Hall of Meduseld and left their families to face the past at last.

Legolas watched wistfully after the children until they were out of sight. 'Caladel is a natural older brother,' he realized, melancholy. With them gone the elf forced himself to look upon his lover and his friends of old. He wanted badly to focus on Arwen or one of the twins – the faces that he had desired to see all along and still now when he couldn't stand to see the pity for him and Caladel that by now had even seeped into Elladan's expression – but his eyes, of their own volition, strayed to Aragorn's face.

The Man's piercing gray eyes bore holes into him and the elf was dismayed to feel emotions that had long been dormant stirring within him again. No, no, this couldn't be – he didn't want to feel anything for Aragorn; not love, not hatred, nothing that would indicate that the Man had any power over him at all. There was a lot of unfinished business between them, however, and that combined with the facts that Aragorn was his first love, someone that he'd spent decades pining for, and that he was the reason why Legolas had Caladel at all made feeling nothing for him impossible. All right, maybe he couldn't be completely indifferent to the king's presence but why did what he did feel have to be so strong? The elf suddenly found that it was difficult to breathe. His knees were feeling very weak and he doubted that they would be able to support his weight all the way down the stairs.

Then Eomer slipped his hand into his and Legolas felt sweet air fill his lungs once more. The strength returned to his legs. He looked up into his new love's face and saw nothing but love and support there. That was the push that he needed and together the couple descended the staircase until they stood at Eowyn and Faramir's side. "Hello," said Legolas quietly, uncertain about how else to start. "Whatever reasons brought you here I'm glad that you came. Much has happened since the last time that we saw each other."

"That's obvious," said Aragorn in a choked tone. He had had a plan all worked out about how to handle this moment; but Caladel's appearance and Legolas' outward indifference to him was throwing him off kilter, making any movement more demanding than breathing in and out a struggle.

"I'll second that," concurred Elrohir, stepping forward and looking imploringly into his friend's eyes. "Legolas, I…I don't know where to begin. I suppose I could start by asking you about the biggest surprise of all today: Caladel. He's…he's…your…you were – you knew you were pregnant when you vanished, didn't you?"

The elf nodded and offered him a tentative but nostalgic smile. "I was two months along," he confirmed.

"And King Eomer is his sire?" continued Elrohir. No verbal answer came but Legolas did nod in the affirmative. "I just can't – during the funeral procession Arwen guessed that you two were involved but I must confess I saw no real sign of it. Estel, you denied it back then too; can you think back onto any clues now that you've been proven wrong?"

"None," stated Aragorn, his eyes never leaving Legolas' face.

"As Elrohir said, I did believe that you two were more than just friends," spoke up Arwen, unable to keep her concern out of her voice, "and even I couldn't see that you and he were so deeply involved."

"We weren't," Legolas told her plainly but did not offer any more details.

At this Eowyn rolled her eyes. She'd spent a long time interrogating Eomer and Legolas both separately and together after finding out that the elf was her brother's fiancé and then meeting Caladel. They had answered her questions in vague wayswhich had allowed her to draw her own conclusions; some of which didn't coincide with the story that they'd told Thranduil months earlier and none of them correct, although of course the pair hadn't saw fit to tell her. "They'd agreed not to get too serious," she broke in exasperatedly, seeing that her brother and his fiancé wasn't going to be any more open with them as they were with her. There was no reason to prolong this if she could speed it along. "All they meant to do was find comfort with each other during the evil times of the War."

Slowly, deliberately, they all turned to look at her. "When the War ended so did their agreement," she went on. "It was weeks later when Legolas discovered that he was pregnant. He panicked and didn't want to make my brother feel obligated to marry someone whom he didn't love – because, of course, my dear, thick-skulled brother was too much of a fool to tell him how much he truly cared for him – or be forced into a hasty marriage himself. Nor did he want to risk a war between his people and Rohan by returning to his realm in his condition. So instead he decided to spend five years in Fangorn Forest of all places, giving birth to my nephew there in the meantime, before an eored found them. They came here to live and while Eomer got to know Caladel and he and Legolas learned to be parents together they ended up falling in love."

Elrohir looked at Legolas cautiously. "Is that true, Legolas?" he asked.

"It is; a large part of why I left was because I knew in my heart that I couldn't depend on Caladel's sire," he replied, his flashing eyes shifting to give Aragorn an angry, defiant glare. Then he looked away, turning to Eomer and smiling at his fiancé. "But Eomer has proven to be everything that Caladel needed in another father and more."

Aragorn opened his mouth but Arwen, not seeing this, beat him to speaking. "But why didn't you talk to one of us about this before deciding to go off on your own?" she asked pleadingly. "You could have come back to Gondor or gone to Rivendell. There would have been people in either place that would have been happy to help you. You couldn't have gotten much help in Fangorn Forest."

"Caladel and I managed," said Legolas with a hint of a wry smile. "Ents are loyal to a fault when you give them no reason not to be, and they are caring in their own way. And I couldn't have gone to Gondor or Rivendell." 'As the two people I wanted never to see again were in those places,' he silently added. "I was tired, Arwen, tired of berating myself for letting things go so far; tired for obsessing over all of the dire consequences of what happened; and tired of hearing in my mind people scorning and insulting my child for something that he had no control over."

"We couldn't have judged you or him," Elrohir told him, hurt that Legolas would have ever thought otherwise. "We'd have been worried, of course, but never judgmental."

"I just wanted to go somewhere where I would be free to be proud of my baby," professed Legolas with a slight tremble in his voice. "I know that you wouldn't have been so cruel, but others would have been. People love to think bad about children whose sires can't be bothered by them" – he sent another discreet pointed look Aragorn's way – "and I wanted Caladel to be away from all of that. I wish now that Eomer had been in our lives the entire time. I can't undo the past, however; all I can do is ask you to try to understand and not hate me."

"Oh, Legolas," said Arwen emotionally, embracing him. Elrohir joined them as well, though Elladan never made any move to hug his long-missing friend. "We're your family – we will always try to understand and we could never hate you."

Aragorn was not welcomed into the reunion embrace. In fact, any attempt the Man made from there on out to so much as touch Legolas was discreetly but unfailingly rebuffed. Arwen and Elrohir wondered at this, but only for a little while. The reason for it, they guessed, was all along Aragorn hadn't been as ignorant of Legolas' involvement with Eomer during the War as he claimed. Perhaps he'd counseled against it and grown harsh when Legolas had refused to listen. That would certainly explain the Man's violently opposed reaction to the wedding, as well as why he'd denied it so vehemently when Arwen had first suggested it during King Theoden's funeral procession. That could also explain why Legolas had been so reluctant to contact them before now – he'd probably figured Aragorn's position on the matter hadn't changed. All that Elrohir and the queen could hope for was that the two stubborn souls could see past their conflict and find some sort of resolution.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Dinner that night was low-key but fraught with a tension that everyone felt but silently explained away to themselves. Caladel, Eldarion, and to some extent Silmariën knew that their parents had been fretting about this reunion and decided that it was nothing to worry about, certainly nothing that would or should interfere with their surprisingly quick bonding. Pippin, Sam, and Merry understood that it had taken some time for Legolas to contact Aragorn and figured that the heaviness of the atmosphere was due to the Man's hurt feelings and the elf's penitence; Eowyn and Faramir knew it was quite a bit more complicated than that but resolved not to let it get to them until or unless they had no choice and therefore spent the mealtime conversing with the hobbits. Arwen and Elrohir used the opportunity to interrogate Legolas and Eomer further about their relationship; they knew they were coming across a bit too strong – even though they couldn't help themselves from doing it – and guessed that the tension was from the couple feeling overwhelmed and a little embarrassed.

In that dining hall, however, there were people that knew the truth, or else were guessing uncomfortably close to it. Elladan stewed silently, picking at his food and trying to incorporate in his mind what he had already known before the wedding invitation came with what he knew in his heart to be true now. Thranduil and Gimli were for once not bickering, for both were too preoccupied with keeping an eye on Aragorn. The dwarf was not sure how much his former friend had deduced about the Man's connection to Caladel and didn't trust him not to try to foil Legolas' happiness; the elven king was letting memories of a long-ago summer siege his mind as he plotted what his next move should be.

As for the Man who was the subject of their discreet scrutiny, he'd spent every moment since first laying eyes on Legolas trying to get his love's attention. Aragorn needed to get Legolas alone, to talk to him and get an explanation about Caladel, his disappearance, his relationship with Eomer, everything. He was certain that once it was just the two of them he would get to the bottom of this and be able to get Legolas and their son back to Minas Tirith where they belonged.

Legolas would have none of it from him, though. With a pointed, muted anger he'd ignored Aragorn, or at least tried to. There had been a few times when he'd look away from what he'd been doing and accidentally lock eyes with the Man; then, invariably, emotions that he didn't understand and didn't like stirred within him and made him tear his gaze away. He didn't want this; he didn't want to feel anything for Aragorn. Legolas loved Eomer – he knew that much – and he hated how the Gondorian's presence was bringing emotions that he'd long since pushed down to the surface once more.

Thankfully for all of them the meal was over with fairly quickly and Meduseld, in preparation for the big event the next day, settled down early that night. After permitting Eowyn to claim Caladel for the hour or two before his bedtime so that the boy could get to know his Uncle Faramir, Legolas and Eomer bid their guests a good night's rest and slipped off to the study. They'd planned soon after their engagement to spend the last of the evening before the wedding before they retired together there to relax and enjoy each other's company; yet their minds were now full of troubling matters and neither felt very relaxed or joyful at all.

"What a trying day!" declared Legolas with forced casualness once they were safely inside with the door shut quietly behind them. "It was…wonderful to see everyone like that again; I suppose it's been years since all of the members of the Fellowship that still remain in Middle-earth have been gathered together like this, and all of the others as well! Yet I for one will be very glad come tomorrow night at this time, when we're finally married and given a few days by ourselves. Don't you agree, melethnin?"

No answer came. "Eomer?" Legolas asked, turning to seek out his fiancé.

The Man was sitting silently and very still on the sofa, his hands clasped loosely on his lap as he stared ahead at nothing that Legolas' sharp elven eyes could see. "Eomer?" asked Legolas once more. "Beloved, what is the matter?"

"You need to set things straight with Aragorn," uttered Eomer in a voice that was not a command. Rather, it sounded as if it was something he was only beginning to allow himself to admit and was resigned to even though there was nothing else in the world that he'd rather not happen more.

"I beg your pardon?" asked Legolas incredulously, managing to keep his panic at bay. The last thing that he needed was to talk to Aragorn in any way. Why would Eomer think otherwise? "Eomer, I know that things are a little awkward between me and him, what with us not being friends anymore" –

"I know that Aragorn is Caladel's blood sire, Legolas," said Eomer simply even though this was one of the hardest things that he'd ever had to say and do in his life. He was risking his heart, his soul, his love, his son, and his life but this couldn't be allowed to fester under the surface any longer, not if they were going to be able to get on with their lives.

Legolas dropped down on the sofa beside him, stunned beyond belief. "What?" he croaked out, staring dumbly at the Man. "How? When?"

"You know the 'what', my love," said Eomer, trying to be wry as he looked down at his hands. "As for the 'when', well, I've never admitted it to myself before now but in truth I've guessed it since first you told me about your falling out with Aragorn and how Caladel's blood sire deserted you."

"I thought I was being so careful," said Legolas faintly.

"You were as careful as you could be without outright lying to me," replied Eomer. "I respect that about you, Legolas; it would have been much easier for you to hide in a comfortable lie. But that's how I figured it out too. I know you both you and Aragorn: he would never betray a friend in a decision about the rule of Gondor unless he had no other option and you would never abandon a friend over a political decision that you yourself could admit that there was merit in. So the both the decision he made and the betrayal you felt had to be personal; and the pieces fell together from there. There were other signs too."

"His constant inquiries about me?" supplied Legolas, feeling resentful of his former lover's constant intrusion in his life even when he was in exile.

"Yes, there was that," nodded Eomer. "Something also happened on the last day of my uncle's funeral procession. The two of us were riding together and you were telling me about how strangely Lord Elladan had been acting, requesting that you come up and ask me a frivolous question while he took Gimli over to his siblings and Aragorn. I glanced back at them and saw Aragorn giving me this look: it was so intense, sad, forlorn, and jealous. I didn't understand it at the time, but now…"

The elf's heart twisted. "If you knew or guessed then why didn't you tell me before now?" he demanded.

"Because then I would have known for sure," Eomer told him heavily. "Instead of having Legolas and his child in Edoras I would have been concealing the king of Gondor's illegitimate son; and that would have made everything much more complicated. And I didn't want to know – I wanted it to be just the three of us and no one else who could destroy that for us. Yet, in a way this has been hanging over our heads and now that he's here we can't ignore it anymore. That's why you must talk to him."

Legolas was feeling increasingly more helpless and it was getting harder and harder not to show it. "All right, Aragorn is Caladel's blood sire – I admit that," he said imploringly. "But that doesn't change the fact that you are our son's true sire. You don't think of him as not being your son now, do you?"

"Of course I don't."

"And neither do I," reasoned Legolas in desperation. "It's not as if Aragorn needs an illegitimate child from a relationship that he didn't bother to tell anyone about in his life, either. So why does it matter? Why can't our lives continue on as they have been?"

"There is a lot of unfinished business between you and Aragorn," pointed out Eomer painfully. "Feelings that have gone unresolved…a history that I can't compete with."

"Do you think that I don't love you?" cried Legolas in frustration. A horrible thought occurred to him and tears started falling from his eyes. "I do – I love you; to the bottom of my heat and soul I, Legolas Thranduilion, am in love with you, Eomer Eadig. I want so badly to marry you; do you not want to marry me?"

That last heartbreaking question finally made Eomer's head snap up and he looked at the one he loved. "More than anything," the Man proclaimed passionately. He let out a breath that he hadn't realized he was holding through his nose and cupped Legolas' emotion-filled face. "I love you; I'm not saying these things because I don't or because I think that you don't love me. I can see in your eyes how much you do love me." He tenderly traced the outline of one side of the elf's face, his hand lingering on his cheek as he felt the moisture there. "But you've never confronted your feelings for Aragorn or dealt with them – only buried them until you just thought that they were no longer an issue. They are, however; they still exist is some form and we can't get married until you understand what they are and how strongly you still feel them. It wouldn't be fair to either of us – or Caladel – if we did."

"No…"

"I am not leaving you," asserted Eomer. "I will wait for you, my love. I don't need you to conquer all your emotions or wait until you can truthfully claim that you feel absolutely nothing for him at all; you just have to know – and I have to know – is if your love for me is stronger than what you feel for him."

"Eomer," said Legolas in dismay, still shaking his head.

The Man took both of his hands, kissed them, and then gently let them go. Legolas knew that this was one of the most difficult things that his fiancé had ever done, and that he was taking a leap of faith by putting the strength of the bond between them up against the weight and history of his relationship with Aragorn. Yet that knowledge didn't make accepting this less hard for the elf. Faltering a bit, he rose to his feet and headed toward the door, all the while waiting for Eomer to call after him and beg him to forget everything that he had just said except for the parts about their love. No such call came, however, not even after he stepped out into the corridor and stood hopefully on the other side of the closed door.

When he realized that Eomer was really letting him go Legolas wandered a bit through the corridors, shocked and despairing. Why was this happening when happiness and love had been right there for him to live and enjoy? 'Aragorn,' he thought. 'Aragorn and these stupid lingering feeling that I have for him.' Anger washed over the elf. He had worked hard to achieve this sort of happiness for himself and Caladel and had been blessed enough to fall in love with a wonderful Man along the way. He had to do whatever he needed to do to hold on to that, even if that meant dealing with Aragorn once and for all.

Resolved now, he stormed into the guest quarters, glaring at all of the doors until he found the one that he was looking for and pounded on it with so much force that his first stung. He steeled himself when it swung open to reveal Aragorn standing there. "Is Arwen in?" he demanded.

"Are you all right?" asked Aragorn in alarm as he took in Legolas' tearstained, devastated, and furious face."

"Where's Arwen?" reiterated Legolas with a hard edge in his voice.

"She went for a walk with the twins on the city's grounds," replied Aragorn. "Legolas, what happen" –

"What about Eldarion and your daughters?" pressed Legolas.

"They're visiting with Gimli before bedtime," answered Aragorn, frantically trying to figure out what had put his love in that kind of a state. "What did Eomer" –

Legolas ignored his question and insinuations; and instead pushed past the Man into the bedchamber. "Good," he declared, staring intently at his former lover. "It's time that you and I had a chat."

Aragorn shut the door and walked over to him. "I couldn't agree more."

To be continued…

A/N: Wow - this story now has over 500 reviews. Thank you so much!

A/N: A few people have asked me questions about the possibility of me writing an alternative version/ending of this story. I'll answer these later, I promise; let me get to the end of this first! :) That's coming in about three chapters, not including any appendices I might be adding.