Thanks for your reviews! I'm working on responding to you guys. I know I left you all on an evil cliffhanger, but I wanted her past to be in one chapter. I worked on this chapter for most of the afternoon today and I hope you all like it. As always, let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I own nothing associated with Lord of the Rings.

Chapter 14: Telling a Tale

"It was five years ago," she said slowly and looked at her hands clasped in her lap. "It was late, almost midnight, when I was on my way back to my dorm. I had been working in the library and lost track of time until the librarian had come up to me at ten and told me the library was closing. I'd stopped and got some food before I went home, that's why I was so late. I normally was in my dorm and in bed by eleven but I had finals that week, so I was studying.

"I didn't even hear or see him until he had the cloth over my mouth. I fought him but the more I fought him the more tired I became until I blacked out. When I came to, I was in a dark room. It was cold and damp and I was confused. I stood from the floor I was laying on and felt around the walls but they were smooth. The only light in the room came from under the door so I made my way over to it, but when I tired the handle it was locked. I pounded on it and screamed for someone to help me, but when no one came I walked around trying to figure out where I was.

"There was nothing else in the room, except for me. The floor was carpeted and the room was small, very small." Haldir watched as she shivered slightly and he reached out and put his hand over her hands. Her eyes moved from her hands to his face briefly before she looked back at her hands. "He came in then, when I was exploring the room. I couldn't see his face because the light that came in from behind him blinded me. I raised my hand to my eyes to shade some of the light." She paused and closed her eyes as her mind took her back

"Hello, Anastasia," he said. His voice was laced with a slight southern accent, but she didn't recognize it, she went to college in Tennessee so practically all the guys she talked to had the same accent. Ana licked her lips and blinked a few times.

"Who are you? Where am I?" she asked quickly. The man chuckled quietly and stepped further into the room. A clicking sound echoed and light filled the room. Ana closed her eyes and covered her eyes with her hand. He jerked her hand from her face and she blinked her eyes open as he pressed her against the wall. She met his dark eyes with her frightened green ones. She knew him all too well. She saw him every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in her favorite class.

"Who am I?" he asked as he pinned her to the wall. "I'm the last face you will see for a long time," he whispered as he leaned into her ear. Ana stiffened when he licked her neck and his grip tightened on her wrists that he had pinned to the wall. "Don't worry. . . we'll have some fun." He nipped her ear and Ana started to cry. He lifted back slightly and looked at her face. "Don't cry, pet, you'll like it."

Ana took a sharp breath and looked at Haldir who was looking at her closely. She unclasped her hands and took his hand into hers. She'd never admit it but the only male presence she truly felt comfortable with was Rumil's and Haldir's. "Ana?" he asked her and she shook her head.

"Please, just give me a minute," she said quietly and he nodded. Haldir was concerned; perhaps he should have let her sleep instead of making her tell him what haunts her. Ana sighed and looked down at their hands, she was holding on tightly but he was holding onto her just as tightly. She turned her eyes back to him and squeezed his hand as she started once more. "I'll never forget his face or his name. He . . . he kidnapped me and held me captive for three days. During those three days he . . . I . . . I was raped and beaten." Haldir looked at her wide eyes and watched as a lone tear rolled down her cheek.

"Ana," he whispered and raised his free hand and wiped it away. "I am sorry." She shook her head and he saw her swallow hard. She stood from the bed and wrapped her arms around her waist with her back to him. He followed and stood behind her. He stood close enough so she knew he was there, but he did not know if he should touch her again. The look on her face when he had touched her wasn't that encouraging. "You don't have to say anymore." She shook her head again and turned around to face him.

"No, I do. You want to know how I got this scar and I'll tell you. The night of the third day he held me captive, he came into the room holding a knife. I coward away from him in a corner. He told me not be frightened, but that the . . . authorities were coming and he had to take care of me before they did. He dragged me from the corner and I begged him, I begged him to stop, but he just kissed me hard and stuck the knife in my stomach. I have four other scars besides this one, Haldir, he stabbed me four times in the stomach before I heard a loud boom and then heavy footsteps. An officer was running down the stairs when he raised the knife and slashed my throat." She was starting to shake and Haldir put his hands on her shoulders. "I almost died, Haldir, and for a year afterwards I wish I had died. I wished that that cop didn't save me. Just like I wished you hadn't saved me either. I hate being afraid and he was supposed to be someone I could trust." Haldir sighed and pulled her close to him and embraced her. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest, and she took comfort in his touch that time without tears. Haldir rested his chin on the top of her head as he embraced her.

"Who was he Ana? Who betrayed your trust?" he asked.

"His name was Kevin Lockwell; he was one of my professor's teaching assistants. It turned out he had been watching me, following me, and I didn't even know it. He was obsessed with me and when I rejected him when he asked me out, he lost it." She sniffed and sighed. She remembered that day. It had only been two days before he kidnapped her. It wasn't that she wasn't interested in him; he was attractive and kind to her before he kidnapped her, but she told him the truth. She wasn't interested in dating while she was in college because she had her career she was trying to establish, a career in design that went no where after she dropped out and took up working in a factory back in her hometown in South Dakota. Haldir ran his hand down the back of her head and through her soft black locks.

"I promise Ana, I will let no being whether they are orc, man, elf, or dwarf ever harm you," he vowed to her. "I wish never to see that fear in you or see you cry ever again," he said quietly surprising both himself and Ana. Ana looked up at him then, her face was free of tears but her eyes were red and slightly swollen. He raised his hand to her cheek and held her face gently as she looked up at him.

Ana's heart was pounding in her chest. She confided in him a secret she had wanted to keep just that and surprisingly after sharing it with him, she felt lighter. No matter how many times she had talked to her therapist or her friends, she never felt free of her past, but with him, it was different. The memories seemed to melt away as she looked at him and he at her, but they were still there.

"Haldir," she whispered and he moved his hand from her face to her hair, burying his fingers there. "Thank you. Thank you for making me tell you, even though I didn't want to. For some reason, I feel much better." She managed a small smile and Haldir returned it as he loosened his fingers from her hair and ran them down her neck to her shoulder.

"I am glad," he whispered. He studied her face and saw how tired she was and he stepped back from her. As he did so, he ran his hands down her arms and took her hands into his. "You should rest now. I think the events of the day have drained you." Ana nodded and he led her to the bed where he helped her crawl into bed. He covered her and she looked up at him. He smiled and touched her face gently before he leaned into her and kissed her forehead once more. Ana sighed and closed her eyes as his lips touched her forehead. She never let any man besides her father kiss her since the incident, but his touch was comforting and she found herself longing for it. Haldir pulled back and looked down at her. She slowly opened her eyes and looked back at his eyes.

He stood next to her bed, his body leaning over hers as he supported his weight with his left hand that rested on the bed on her right side. His hair dangled down and tickled her collarbone slightly. Ana found herself glancing at his lips before she looked back at his eyes only to see him do the same thing. When his eyes met hers she felt as if he was asking her something but she didn't know for sure. He started to lean down when a bark sounded from the sitting room. Haldir quickly pulled back and stood straight. Ana looked at the ceiling, her cheeks blazing with a deep blush until Sadie jumped on the bed and licked her face. Ana smiled, sat up and scratched Sadie's head. She glanced at Haldir only to see his back and him looking at the door Rumil and Orophin standing there with flowers in their hands.

"We were hoping to wish you well," Rumil said as they walked in. "We went to Haldir's talan to see if he had returned yet and found Sadie sleeping near the fire and the talan empty. We assumed you were still awake, so we came to see you before you retired." Ana gave them a smile and nodded. Rumil looked to Haldir and saw the troubled look on his brother's face and looked more closely at Ana. She was blushing deeply though she smiled and Rumil wondered what had happened between the pair.

"She was just retiring," Haldir said. "I suggest you give your greetings and then join me in the sitting room." The two elves nodded and Haldir left the room. Ana's smile faltered and Rumil and Orophin walked over to her. They each handed her the beautiful white flower they held onto and she nodded her thanks.

"Is everything all right Ana?" Orophin asked. She nodded.

"I'm fine, just tired. Haldir and I were talking for some time and I must admit my energy seems depleted," she said. Rumil studied her and nodded.

"We will not be long then," Rumil said as he sat down and Orophin stood next to him. Sadie jumped down off the bed and trotted into the sitting room. "We leave for the border in the morning, and we will return in a month." Ana nodded.

"Do be careful. Something tells me more of those things will be coming," she said gently and Rumil nodded remembering that reports showed that the orcs said more would come if they failed to get her then.

"We always are," Orophin said. Ana looked at him and smiled. "Get some rest and we shall see you soon." Ana nodded and the two elves left the room. When they did Ana flopped back on the bed and sighed as she brought her hands to her face. Before they had come in, Ana had wanted Haldir to kiss her and she was almost certain he was going to, and those two thoughts alone scared and excited her at the same time.

Haldir ran a calloused hand down his face and sighed heavily while his brothers talked to Ana. He heard Sadie come from the bedroom and turned around to look at her. She nudged his leg and he kneeled down to her and scratched her head like he had watched Ana do countless times. "She has been through much and there I was about to take advantage of her," he said quietly to Sadie in common tongue, switching incase his brothers came from the room. "She had just shared with me the darkness of her past and I was going to kiss her and I probably would have done more harm than good. It seems that I cannot win with your master." Sadie huffed and moved over and laid by the fire. "Or you," he added quietly and stood. Rumil and Orophin left the bedchamber and closed the door behind them.

"You should retire as well, Haldir," Rumil said. "You look no better than Ana." Haldir glared at his brother, but Rumil just smiled.

"Come on, let's go," Haldir said and he and his three brothers left Ana's talan and retired to their own homes.

Ana woke early that morning. She bathed, dressed and stood in the kitchen humming. For some reason, she knew exactlyhow to work the old time kitchen and soon had made herself a warm breakfast and was getting ready to eat it. She had never felt better and she knew once she finished breakfast she would have to go to Lady Galadriel and apologize to her for being so forceful with her. "There is no need for that," Galadriel said and Ana looked up from the dish in her hands and gave her a smile. She sat the bowl down on the table and rushed over to the lady. Ana hugged the elleth and Galadriel smiled before she returned the woman's embrace. When Ana pulled away she smiled at her.

"Yes there is," Ana said as she stepped back and clasped her hands in front of her. "I was angry." Galadriel shook her head.

"You had every right to be." Galadriel looked at Ana closely. She noticed the young woman seemed to glow and she no longer had a hate or fear within her. At Galadriel's curious look Ana smiled.

"You and another helped me over come my past in a matter of a day." Galadriel looked at Ana more closely and smiled.

"Haldir, he made you tell him." Ana nodded and opened her mouth to speak when Galadriel spoke. "He made you face your past, and promised he would let none hurt you again." Ana nodded again and Galadriel chuckled quietly to herself. Ana raised an eyebrow at Galadriel who just looked around. "It seems as though you now know how to use the kitchen." Ana nodded.

"Yeah, it's weird. I know you told me that the bow thing was because of Haldir, but was this because of him too?" she asked and Galadriel could only guess.

"It is more than likely." Ana looked to her dish and then to Galadriel.

"Would you like some?" she asked and Galadriel shook her head.

"No thank you, child, I just came to check on you. Enjoy your meal and if you should need anything, you know where to find me." Ana nodded and Galadriel smiled as she left the talan, relieved to see that Ana was well and it was all thanks to a certain Marchwarden.