Disclaimer: WHEEEE!

Author's Note: Author is only slightly concerned about frequency of WHEEEE moments she's been having lately…that and the strange urge to refer to self in third person. Hmm…

Chapter Eight

Cheaters and Liars

AT THE RAFIKI

Legolas was singing and playing with Vinnie.

"You are my sunshine

My only sunshine

You make me happy

When skies are grey

You'll never know, dear

How much I loo-ver you

So please don't take

My sunshine away."

Aragorn listened to the song. He looked at Vinnie, then at Legolas. Same grey eyes, same blonde hair. Common amongst elves. Same nose. Not so common. "YOU BASTARD!"

Legolas stared at him. "What are you talking about?"

"Does it make you feel like a man!"

"What? Aragorn, what the-"

"Don't play dumb with me! I know what you did to my wife! I'm going to kill you!"

Suddenly, it dawned on him what Aragorn was talking about. "You're crazy! They aren't mine."

"Am I? Am I crazy, Legolas?"

"Yes! I'm gay! Why would I have…" he covered Vinnie's ears. "…sex with your wife?"

Aragorn paused. Legolas was right. He's gay, a little voice in his head told him. Aragorn shook the thought away. "You might have been straight at one time!"

"Don't count on it."

"How would I know? I didn't even know you were gay until Jake came along! Maybe you didn't know, either!"

Legolas raised an eyebrow. Aragorn was looked a little…insane. He'd drawn his sword and there was a little froth on his lower lip, his eyes wide. Then, he remembered. There was a chance that the kids had been his, but that was…roughly nine months ago. Shit. Well, Faythe had just found out about her heritage and Aragorn was out of town, so she'd called Legolas for company. They'd gotten drunk and woke up the next morning, in bed. You get the point. He decided to tell Aragorn later. For now, he just walked away, setting Vinnie back in his cradle.

Faythe went over to Aragorn. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing." He was going to figure out if Legolas was the father, then yell at Faythe about it.

Taro smiled at him. "My advice? Let it out. There's got to be a tree or something around her somewhere…"

"Taro. Shut up."

To the untrained eye, Taro looked impassive. Kurama, however, saw the brief flash in his eyes. Taro's feelings were hurt.

"I was just trying to help…"

"Well, don't! I didn't ask for your help! None of us did! Just go back to where you came from!"

Now the hurt was visible to everyone. Kurama put his hand on Taro's shoulder. "Aragorn, leave him alone," he said calmly.

"I'll do what I damn well please! I'm the King, remember?" Aragorn stood, shoulders heaving, knuckles turning white at the intensity his hands were clutching Anduril.

Faythe put her hand on his shoulder. "Sweetie? Are you okay?"

He slapped her. "You cheating bitch! I hope you die, and your bastard children, too!" He stormed out of the restaurant.

Faythe dissolved into tears.

Kurama looked like he wanted to comfort her, but Taro turned his heel and went towards the bathroom, muttering about going home. He looked at the others and Jake nodded.

"Go. We'll take care of her."

Kurama nodded and followed Taro. Jake watched him leaved and hugged Faythe. "Don't worry. He'll calm down. Besides, it's not like you two were married when it happened."

Faythe started crying harder and Hiei glared at him. "You aren't helping."

Faythe sniffled. "It w-wasn't my fault!" She started bawling again before she could explain further.

Hiei, now intrigued by what she'd said, leaned closer to her. "Stop," he commanded. Faythe stopped crying. "Now, what do you mean by 'it wasn't my fault'?"

"I don't know what happened! One minute, we're talking! The next, I wake up next to him! I'm so embarrassed! And now he hates me! What am I going to do?"

Hiei didn't have an answer. He'd never had that problem before. Sara was his first relationship and they didn't have any problems. Well, his first real relationship. As for the problems, sure, they fought, but every couple fights at one time or another.

The only problem was, Faythe had a way of making him doubt their relationship. Now was one of those times.

No, that was silly. Sara didn't have anyone else. He shook his head. Right now wasn't the time to worry about this. He focused his attention on Faythe and her problems. "Aragorn can't possibly hate you forever."

Faythe looked at him, eyes red and puffy, in disbelief. "You don't know him very well, do you?"

Hiei frowned. "What do you mean?"

"If A lets this get under his skin, he won't let up. He'll get a divorce and move to Gondor to avoid me and my bastard children." She started sobbing again. "Oh Valar, I love him so much! I don't want to lose him! What am I supposed to do without him?"

Hiei didn't know how to respond. He didn't want to tell her everything would be okay, because he wasn't sure it was going to be. To be honest, he thought Aragorn was long gone and out of the picture forever, but you don't say that to someone who's about to lose the Man she loved.

And now he wondered…what exactly did love feel like? Was it what he felt for Sara, or was that something different? Did she really love him?

Once again, he commanded himself to stop thinking like that. Of course he loved Sara, and she loved him. Damn Faythe and the way she made him doubt himself!

He shook that thought away, too, and laid a tentative comforting hand on her shoulder. "He'll be back," he said, "There's no way he would leave you like this."

Faythe stopped crying and put her head in her hands. "I hope so."

ARAGORN

Aragorn was walking around in downtown Cairo in a rage, though he'd calmed down a little. His next step was clear. He couldn't live like this. He passed a divorce attorney's office, turned around, and went inside.

KURAMA/TARO

Taro had gone inside the empty men's room to think. He sat down on a large cushy sofa and screamed into a pillow. Just as his frustration was released, Kurama came in, probably to try and comfort him, which was very sweet, even if he didn't need it anymore.

Kurama sat down next to Taro and put his arm around him. "Hey," he said, giving his shoulder a squeeze. "You okay?"

Taro smiled. "I am now."

"He didn't mean it, you know," Kurama said gently.

"Oh, I know. I'm not worried about that anymore."

Kurama's brow furrowed. "Then what's wrong?"

Taro answered with a question. "Do you think he'll get a divorce?"

"Aragorn? No. He'll come around." Kurama kissed his cheek. "Don't worry. Faythe and Aragorn will be fine. You'll see." He smiled. "These things have a way of working out."

"I hope so."

LEGOLAS

Legolas was wandering around downtown, looking for a good store to shop in. Since he'd gotten his five credit cards, he'd maxed out two and the other three were dangerously close. There were no Gucci's in Egypt, though, and he was loath to shop at a second-rate store.

He sighed. He had a problem. Toxic Shop Syndrome, or TSS, as his therapist put it. Legolas had just decided to enjoy the evening and not shop when he passed an attorney's office. He stopped, sure he'd seen Aragorn in there through the large plate glass window. He paused, then went inside.

Sure enough, Aragorn was sitting in the waiting room, tapping his foot impatiently. He looked up to see Legolas and jumped. "What in Arnor brought you here?"

Legolas shrugged. "Saw you in here."

Aragorn snorted. "Are you getting a divorce, too? Or would you like to have visitation rights for your kids?"

"No. I came to advise against what you're doing here." He sat down. "You still love Faythe, you know. Don't give up on her because she made a mistake."

"A mistake? A mistake is forgetting to take a roast out and it burns. A mistake is hitting the mailbox when you back out of the driveway, or making the toilet overflow. She screwed up. I can't look at her without having to fight the urge to impale her. And I can't live like that. To be quite honest, I'm feeling a lot of violent rage towards you right now."

Legolas sighed. "I won't pretend I don't deserve it. Even if the kids aren't mine, I did have sex with Faythe, which was wrong. I wish I could change what I've done, put you in that bed with her instead of me, and let you love her without wanting to kill her."

"I don't want her to die, I just don't want to live with her. I can't take the rush of emotion I feel every time I just look at her." Aragorn scowled. "Why am I even telling you any of this? It's your fault!"

"Because you've always come to me with your problems, and even now you still want to hold on to our friendship. Which, in turn, means you want to hold on to your marriage." Legolas smiled. "The kids share my DNA, and the boy is more than half an Elf. That doesn't mean you can't raise them and have them call you daddy. If a divorce will help you, then make sure it'll help Faythe, too, before going through with it." Legolas stood and turned to go.

Aragorn followed her. Sometimes there were more important things than pride and image. Sometimes you had to follow your heart, bite your tongue, and just have Faythe.