Legolas wore a loose buttoned shirt and dark cargo pants Thanksgiving night. Kristy had been in the bathroom for the last two hours getting ready.
"Kristine? Are you alright?" Legolas asked, knocking on the door.
"Fine, why?"
"Have you slipped into the drain? Are you unable to come out? The small hand is on six and the other is on 9, we'll be late."
A few minutes of quiet passed, and the door pulled open. "You're a pain."
Legolas smiled.
She walked past him in stiletto heels and a long chiffon skirt. He hardly ever saw her in a dress. By the time she'd gotten her purse and put on a coat, he was still staring.
"What's wrong with you?"
"I...nothing," he said quickly. "It's just, your dress."
Kris looked down. "What? Is it bad? Should I change?"
"No! No, I mean. You look...I, it is nice."
She narrowed her eyes at him. Did he just give her a compliment?
Legolas quickly covered himself. "Your shirt of course is as terrible as ever. Not unlike a harlot, I mean."
Kris stared at him. Well, gaped. He looked deadly serious. Then, his mouth twitched and he grinned at her. Stupid elf. Her black shirt clung to her shoulders and tucked into the belted waist of her skirt. She shrugged her arms and brushed it off.
"Whatever. Who cares what you think."
But the entire drive there, she couldn't help thinking about it. He probably knew it too, because every time she glanced over at him, he had a smug little smirk on his face. A part of her enjoyed thinking of him as an elf. It explained some of his prudishness and old-fashioned ideas about women anyway.
"It isn't outside of the city, is it?"
Kris jumped a little at the sound of his voice. "Oh, no. My mom lives with my dad now. His house is up by the golf course."
"Gol- fcourse?" he mumbled.
"It's a field where rich old people with nothing else to do go to smack a ball around."
"I see."
Kris wasn't looking forward to tonight. She'd always lived in a small house south of the cities. She liked it there.
"Nervous about tonight?"
Legolas glanced over. "Should I be?"
The street wound through hills and past homes that looked like mansions lit in the sky.
"Well no, I don't know. It just might not be what you're used to is all," she said. Her dad was all about pomp and grandeur ever since the inheritance. "You know? All hoity-toity."
Legolas smiled a little. "I see." He didn't understand 'hoity-toity', but her snooty expression said it all.
Kris pulled up to a metal gate that slowly creaked open. Headlights broke through falling flakes of snow in the dark. The driveway curved for a half mile through winding gardens, trimmed hedges in the shapes of statues and trees. Kristy's heart sped up a little. Her hands clenched around the steering wheel.
"Calm down," he murmured. "Your tension is...palpable."
What's he doing with a word like palpable, anyway? "I'm trying."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she said quickly. "It's just that my dad and I don't exactly...see eye to eye."
Legolas frowned. "He is shorter than you?"
"What? No! I mean we don't agree on certain things. And it seems like it always comes up when we get together like this."
Before he could answer, bright lights flashed in their faces as the house came into view. Legolas surveyed the lot. It was a big enough house, with marble pillars and a stone porch. It was old, with a vine trellis climbing up one side.
They were escorted inside by the valet. Kris sighed. "Home sweet home."
"Lovely!" came a woman floating over the floor to kiss Kristy's cheek.
She smiled. "Hey, mom."
"'Shannon', dear. It's Shannon. And who's this my sweet?"
"Um, this is my friend Luke. Luke? Shannon."
Legolas bowed at the waist. Shit.
"He's from Sweden." Kris laughed, "he doesn't speak a lot of English."
She took just a moment to look him over. "Mm, Sweden? Ravishing, isn't he," her mother said under her breath.
Kristy turned almost as bright a pink as Legolas did.
"Um, Mom, he doesn't understand that little."
Shannon blinked.
"I thank you, madam," Legolas said a little hushed.
"Well, you're quite welcome." She brightened up and slid her hand into the crook of his arm. "Come, come now! Your father's waiting."
Shannon led the way and Kris trailed behind, wondering if maybe bringing Legolas here wasn't the best idea after all. The dining room was decorated from one end of the hall to the other with wreaths and glowing autumn leaves. Tall windows displayed a sparkling, snowy black sky. Lights ran through the shrubbery outside and made the grounds sparkle.
"Hello Kristine. How's my girl?" Came from the table just as they appeared. "Running late again, that's my precious! Love you sweetie, so glad you could make it."
"Nice to see you dad."
There were twenty or thirty people at the table. Some of them, Kris recognized as neighbors, mostly older neighbors with a taste for the finer things like silk and feathers. Others were cousins, nieces, nephews and a great aunt. Her sister was probably spending Thanksgiving with her new husband.
Kris pushed that thought out of her head.
And then she realized Shannon was guiding Legolas toward the head of the table and her father. Dammit. She couldn't let him get away, yet she wanted somewhere a lot less conspicuous to be. Oh well. Kris followed them and slipped down next to Legolas.
He glanced over. "How am I blending?"
"Right now, I'm as concerned with my blending as yours."
Unexpectedly, Kristy felt rough fingers slip over her hand fisted under the table. Legolas' face didn't change, not even a blink, but Kristy felt a shivering rush of warmth run up her belly. And suddenly she took a breath, squeezed his fingers, and quickly put her hands safely atop the table.
The dumb elf wasn't exactly relaxing her.
Kristine's father stood and tapped his glass. "Friends, relatives! we're gathered here together to celebrate Thanksgiving, that wonderful feasting day where we remember what's really important to us. This beautiful house, the lovely lawn, safety and security, my brand new Porsche outside which you can see there!" The table laughed and her dad gestured out the window, before starting to sit. "And loved ones."
Cooks started bringing out food and soon, Kristy was shoveling down pork and scalloped potatoes.
"So, Kristine." Shannon broke in once the conversation was a steady hum in the room. Legolas noticed Kristy didn't look up. "Are you still working at that market downtown?"
Kris still didn't look up. "It's a specialty shop, mom. And yes I am."
"Oh dear, I do wish you would move out of that dreadful place and move back in with us." She sighed. "Working is so...tedious."
Legolas smiled.
"And with these dreadful storms, precious, we're moving to the summer house next week for the winter. It's not safe to stay here!"
"I'll be fine."
"Your mother's right," Dad agreed. Kris didn't know he was listening. "The dumbest thing you could do is stay up here. Well, I mean, you've done dumber things-" he laughed, "It would be hard to be dumber than staying up here."
Kris snapped her head up. "Quit."
"What?" He glanced around, before snatching a grape and throwing it in his mouth. "I'm just saying, you should come down with us. We'll be near your old college, you'd be close enough to drive, start up where you left off? Another year and you'll have that bachelor's in chemical engineering."
Kris shook her head. "Dad, just leave it. I'm not going."
"But dear-" Shannon started, and her husband raised a hand.
"Nevermind, nevermind. She won't listen. It's not like we expected any different." Her dad shook his head, and he dropped his voice to a mutter. "Chasing dreams, gallivanting around, quit-"
"Stop!" Kristy hissed, making a few heads turn. She glanced around then, inhaling a short breath and turning bright pink, before pushing her chair out. She knew it was just her nerves, but it seemed like the whole room went silent. "Please excuse me," she muttered. "I need some air."
Kris headed for the door. The chilly night air hit her right away. She let the oak door slam shut behind her. Snowflakes glowed in the dark, reflecting off tiny lights strung through the naked trees. She walked around the house to the gardens. A stone path wound to the center where a statue of Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty rose out of a fountain sprinkled in fall leaves. It was the one thing she liked about this place.
Kris sighed, placing her hands on the stone and leaning over the water, looking at herself. Her face rippled and distorted in the faint light, making her look like a monster. A grouchy monster.
"I see what you meant."
Kris glanced over and Legolas' face appeared in the water.
"Yeah, well," she sighed. "I wouldn't have come if I'd known they were gonna bring that up."
"Kristine," he said softly.
"Yeah?"
"What is college?" He hadn't gotten much out of their conversation, but he'd gotten that.
The woman chuckled. "It's an advanced school for adults. See, my parents wanted me to be an engineer. It wasn't my dream, but I didn't see another way. I didn't have any money. They did. But half way through my third year's term I met a...friend, and he made me realize I didn't have to listen to everyone else. All that mattered was me, what I needed. I didn't wanna work in a lab. So I quit, worked a job for awhile and saved some money for— well, it doesn't matter. It didn't work out. Things happened. I ended up managing Partha Lun for Corby, and I'm happy there."
Legolas watched her.
"Sorry," she mumbled. "Didn't mean to spill my guts on you."
"What was your dream?"
"It doesn't matter. You wouldn't understand," she said. "I'll tell you sometime, but I'm really not in the mood."
Legolas nodded slowly. He knew the feeling. Sometimes it seemed like the past was there for the simple reason of haunting you. "Are you alright?"
Kris looked down and nodded quickly. "Fine." She shrugged. "I'm not nuts about going back in there, but it's cold out here."
"How about we do something else then?" He smiled. "What would you like?"
She blinked. "Like... now?"
"Now."
"Um, well..." She spun around. A gust of powdery snow whisked over the grass and clung to her hair. "I want to," She drew it out. "Ice skate!"
"Ice skate?"
"Yeah, you'll see." She grinned. "It's been forever since I've gone. And its still early!" She grabbed his arm and started dragging him back to the door. "Come on!"
Legolas laughed. She was so bright and alive it was intoxicating. It was a precious holiday to her, and yet she'd been acting like she was going to a funeral all day. It was a half an hour by the time they changed and got to the rink. There weren't many people there, and Kristy didn't mind.
"Lace em up tight," she said, before jumping out onto the ice. To Legolas' shock, she flew forward and spun in a pirouette, spitting up ice shards into feathery flakes.
It was a small outdoor rink in the middle of the park. Tiny white lights lit the bare trees and a line of laughing children almost knocked her down. But she leapt onto her right skate and ducked under their clasped hands. Kris made one loop around the rink and came back, spinning around to skate backward as she came up to the rail.
"Come on."
He glanced at her gloved hands and opted for the rail instead. It didn't look hard. If a somewhat clumsy girl could do it, certainly so could an elven pr-... Damn.
Legolas slammed on his back and gasped.
Kristy broke out laughing.
The elf scowled up at her. "What is so funny?"
She snorted and hiccuped on her own giggle, before offering a hand. This time he took it. "These shoes are-" He kicked out violently and almost fell back again. "impossible!"
"Just relax." She grinned. "Hold onto me, look ahead and just...push." She shoved off and glided forward a few feet, before looping around and offering her hands. Legolas held onto the rail with white knuckles, before carefully, falteringly reaching out to grasp her fingers. He almost let go the instant she pushed her skates out and he slid forward.
"Who in Eru's name invented this..." He could run, fight, dance, or anything else on ice in the Greenwood with proper boots. "Walking on razors."
Kristy gave him room to move while never letting go of him. Pretty soon he was carefully, haltingly scooting along beside her in giant figure eights. It was an inexorable thrill. He couldn't help his grin.
"You're really good at this." Kris laughed, fingerless gloves still holding onto him as they stood under starlit branches on the sidelines. A cluster of tiny lights glowed amber and white just over the elf's head, woven into the naked branches. As Kristy looked up at him, a breath of heat ran down her neck. And it was then she realized he was staring at her with such a strange almost...gentle expression in his eyes, she couldn't help blushing and looking down.
"What."
"You are beautiful on the ice," he admitted softly.
She smiled harder.
"I could watch you all night," he said without knowing why. "You are positively...graceful." Frost from the ice dust clung to her cheeks and sparkled in her hair. Legolas didn't feel self-conscious or bashful at all. He just looked down into her averted eyes, fingers laced together, and he admired the wet dew drops in her lashes. Probably the wine from dinner and this silly human body. "You are beautiful," he said under his breath.
Kris took a sharp breath and snapped her chin up, whipping her eyes over his face. "What?" But there wasn't even a shadow of goading, or mischief, or even a teasing sparkle in his eyes. She expected him to take it back any second, or follow up with a witty retort. Legolas hardly ever used that word, at least not for a person.
He smiled slyly.
"Oh shut up," she turned a fierce red and pushed away, before spinning around and gliding backward. "Come on! Everyone's leaving." Kris grinned. She couldn't help it. A compliment from him was a snowball in summer and it felt good. Really good.
Legolas just shook his head and followed after. He felt ungainly on the ice next to her, barely keeping a straight course while she dipped and wove across the sheets of white. She was like an ice princess in a child's story.
"I used to come here every single day after school," she said dreamily as he came up on her at the gate. "I remember my arms and legs black and blue from all the bruises." She laughed. "But soon I could do it better than I could walk. I wish I could just skate everywhere."
Legolas shook his head, pushing her off the rink. "Go on. This is unsettling enough without-"
As if on cue, Kristy's skate caught on the step and before he could grab her, she plummeted face first into the snowy grass. He gasped.
"Kristine, I..." he broke off. He didn't mean to push her that hard.
And a second later she was rolling over on her back laughing like a madwoman.
"I'm sorry! I had no idea-"
"It's not your fault." She wiped her nose and sputtered, still spitting snow. "It's not your fault."
"Eru help," he sighed, helping her stagger to her feet. He brushed chunks of snow from her hair and caught her cheek in a warm hand. It was icy cold. "Are you alright? You are shaking."
"Fine." She breathed. "Fantastic… actually."
Legolas stared at her, glancing over her face. Wet flakes dropped onto her nose. He wanted to touch them off, but she was already so close to him...so close he didn't know who was holding onto who. But it didn't last long. Before he knew it, Kris spun around and stomped a shortcut through a snowbank toward the parking lot. There was a sidewalk, but she plowed through the bank.
Kris sighed and slammed the car door shut. Legolas did it on purpose, she knew it. Staring at her, putting her under a spell, making her clumsy and tongue-tied like a schoolgirl.
If it wasn't so exhilarating, it would make her angry.
It was a quiet drive home, but comfortable. Legolas was humming the tune to a cereal commercial with a silly little smile on his face.
. . . .
Late that night Kristy was in Legolas' bed-couch watching old I Love Lucy re-runs because Legolas couldn't sleep. He'd asked her to keep him company for just an episode or two.
That was two hours ago.
She didn't mind. Shenzie curled up on the bottom of the bed, passed out. Lucy was just dancing around a stage in a raggedy gypsy costume when Legolas let out a gentle snore. He was propped up in pillows with his head back, shrouded in darkness.
She almost smiled, switching off the screen. What a strange man.
Slowly, carefully, Kristy untangled her arms from his and took a few seconds to pull her legs out from under the dog. Shenzie wouldn't budge anyway. She was just about free when suddenly, fingers grabbed her wrist.
Kris took a sharp breath.
"Stay."
Kris looked at him. A square of white light on the wall just over his head set him aglow in the dark. He didn't smile at her, nothing. The only thing he said was. "I can't sleep without you."
She didn't know what to say. It's not that she minded sleeping in the covers with him, but that he needed it? She knew him well enough to know that he hated weakness, and admitting it even more.
He stared at her, wondering what she was thinking. He wondered if she didn't enjoy his touch, if she was uncomfortable, if he asked too much of her. She'd already helped him more than he could imagine. He wondered if she thought it improper.
But a moment later she slid back under the sheets and a second after that, came up close to his face. He just looked. Soon she tilted her head, a smile tugging at her lips. She kissed his forehead through a shag of hair.
"Kay."
Well that was that. It'd been a long day. She was about to drop when he slid an arm out. Right where her head came down. He shifted closer so he cradled her in the crook of his arm. He spread his other palm over hers, flat on her stomach.
"Legs?"
"Hm."
She was quiet a moment, forcing her body to relax, before she glanced up. His lashes were so close she couldn't focus on them. He stares at her lips in the dark.
"Thank you for coming with me today. I was dreading it, honestly. But I had a really fun holiday with you."
He smiled a little, and it faded. "You're welcome."