××Nicolette's POV××
I think that was the first night in almost five years that I've felt some semblance of peace. For most of my life I've struggled with Insomnia, but that night I had the best sleep I've ever had. It was so nice to feel Legolas right there next to me, and Ithilwen was curled up under the thick quilt…somewhere…
But, unfortunately, my blissful sleep was disturbed by the feeling of someone pouncing on my legs and yelling, "Mommy!"
My eyes popped open, Ithilwen was standing on my bed, and the pain shooting up through my leg told me that she was also standing on my ankle, "Get off me!" I yelped, and grabbed her, tickling her stomach and underarms.
Ithilwen giggled and gasped, "Lego…Las…Wants…You…To…Get…U- Haha!" She succumbed to her laughter before struggling to pull my hands away from her midriff, "Stop it, Mommy!" She shrieked in between bouts of laughter.
"Nope," I replied, tickling her unmercifully.
Finally I stopped and allowed my daughter to flee from me. Muhaha.
I turned on the CD player and "Killer Queen," a really stupid but cute song that Queen did, began to float out of the speakers as I cleaned up my room to the beat of the song.
After that I got dressed, taking my time on my make-up and hair; I wanted to look nice for Legolas. I'm pathetic, what can I say?
Finally deciding on my signature black formal pants and collared shirt, I left my room.
Legolas sat in the living room, watching cartoons with Ithilwen; I smiled and kissed both of them, "Hey, I have to go to work. You want to watch Ithilwen for awhile?" I asked, somewhat unwilling to leave.
Legolas nodded, "All right, I don't have anything to do today that I know of, unless Derby has some job for me."
"Huh?" I gave him a blank stare.
Legolas laughed, "I've been here for seven months. I had to work somehow."
"I want to know about those seven months when I get back," I replied before leaving.
××Ø××
"Whoa, you look way too perky today, who died?" Ally asked as I waltzed into the bookstore.
I grinned, "Hi, Ally."
Cecilia looked up from the floor where she had several piles of books that she was putting into individual stacks, she smiled, "Elf-boy's that good, huh?"
"Oh yeah, but not last night, a certain midget prevented any fun," I replied, "But it was nice." Cecilia and I were always open about stuff like that, I know it sounds vulgar; but she was like a sister to me.
Ally gave us a confused stare.
"Forget you heard anything, Al!" I called, as I pulled on my apron that said in bold red letters "Jenkins' Fireside Reads."
Ally nodded, "Uh…'Kay…" She said unsurely.
"Good girl," I slipped behind the counter and manned the cash register for most of the day. Taking small breaks to sip on coffee and call Ithilwen and Legolas.
I was on one of those breaks and instead of calling Ithilwen I was reading 'Jane Eyre' when someone rang the bell on the counter.
"Excuse me, can I get some service?" I looked up to see Aragorn, smirking.
"Hey!" I hugged him over the counter (perks of being tall). "Has Samantha hunted you down yet?"
Aragorn gave me a confused face, "Pardon?"
I shook my head, "Never mind."
Aragorn handed me a book that had something to do about trees and their different breeds, "How much will this cost?"
I scanned it, "Twelve dollars and fifteen cents."
Aragorn dug into the pocket of his jeans (A/N: Just picture Aragorn in jeans…phwoar!) and produced a leather wallet, he handed me a credit card.
"So how did you guys survive those first few months here?" I asked.
"A young woman found us passed out in her yard and took us in. She thought we had amnesia and that's why we didn't know what things like 'television' was. So she took it upon herself to teach us everything we know of your world," Aragorn explained.
I nodded, "How nice."
"Aye. Then we moved into a duplex and got jobs at Derby's Gardening service." Aragorn agreed.
"I want to meet her sometime, okay?" I said with a smile and handed him his book.
Aragorn became grave, "I'm afraid that's not possible. She died two months ago in a car wreck."
I covered my mouth, "That's terrible. I'm so sorry."
Aragorn nodded, he gave me a small smile, "She would always say 'I'm going to heaven, so I have nothing to worry about,' I think she's in this heaven now."
I smiled, "Yep. By the way, if a brunette named Samantha ambushes you, don't worry. Just threaten to file a restraining order and she'll calm down," I advised.
Aragorn gave me a confused look, "All right…Good-bye, my friend. Derby expects me back in fifteen minutes," He squeezed my hand before leaving.
I watched him leave with a smile.
"What a hunk!" Ally said with a dreamy sigh, "You have all the luck lately!"
I rolled my eyes, "He's married and I think he has a kid now."
Ally gave me a shocked stare, "I didn't think you went that way!"
"No, Ally," I said with an exasperated sigh, "He's an old friend of mine, you twit!"
Ally gave me an incensed look, "Well, jeez! You don't have to be so rude!"
I closed my eyes, "May Eru protect that girl from me."
××Ø××
I drove home at a leisurely pace, feeling sleepy. The computer had gotten a virus so Cecilia and I were stuck there for an extra hour fixing the computers.
Finally I pulled into the driveway and unlocked the door.
Legolas and Cecilia were stretched out on different couches; Ithilwen was on top of Cecilia, already asleep.
They were all watching Phantom of the Opera; I could see Legolas wince every time Emmy Rossum hit a high note.
"How do you always manage to get home before I do?" I asked Cecilia, throwing my purse on the coat rack and shrugging my light jacket off.
Cecilia looked up with a smug grin on her face, "One, you drive like a granny; two, I know a shortcut."
I stuck my tongue out at her and kissed Legolas on the forehead before curling up in the recliner.
"Hello, melleth nîn," Legolas said drowsily.
"Mae govannen," I replied and grabbed a book.
Legolas gave me a surprised look, "You know Elvish?"
"Yeah, I can understand it but speaking it is harder," I replied and opened up my latest read, The Pelican Brief.
An hour later the movie was over, Cecilia was crying over Gerard Butler's incredible broken-hearted sexiness and Legolas had a thankful look on his face that the high-pitched torture was over.
"Hey, Sis, you want to stay for dinner?" I offered, getting up and heading to the kitchen.
Cecilia turned an unusual shade of pink, "Um, no thanks. I have a date tonight."
I gave her a knowing look, "It isn't with a mutual friend we both happen to have, who is tall, dark and flaming?"
Cecilia gave me a look, "Well now he's a raging heterosexual. Or so he tells me."
I laughed, "Samantha is never going to let me live this down."
Legolas turned over and pulled the blanket of the edge of the seat and muttered something that sounded like, "Women."
"You love us anyway," I replied, turning back to Cecilia, "Go, primp, have fun, primp some more. But don't get into any trouble."
Cecilia sighed, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, "Yes, mom."
I laughed and shoved her out the door.
Ithilwen, who had been disturbed from her sleeping place, was now curled up on top of Legolas.
Legolas had a look of surprise on his face, "Does she do this often?" He asked quietly.
I nodded, "Yep."
Legolas smiled and wrapped his arms around her. "Good."
Aww…He is definitely getting snuggle points with me!
××Ø××
Later that night I was tucking Ithilwen into bed when she said, "Mommy, I have to tell you something."
I grabbed her giant TY beanie baby and tucked it in with her, "Yes?"
"I'm not sure whether I'm going to like Legolas being my daddy," She said, her big blue eyes held fear in them.
"And you're afraid that will make me upset?" I asked.
She nodded, "Uh-huh."
I smiled and smoothed her black hair, "That's perfectly normal. Once you get to know him you'll love him as much as I do," I paused, "Well…pretty darn close."
Ithilwen rolled her eyes and turned over to go to sleep.
"Night," I got up and left the room to go to my room…or is it our room now?
Legolas was sitting in the chair in the corner of my room reading a huge stack of papers with headphones on.
"What are you reading?" I asked as I threw myself on the bed.
"No quite sure, I found it in the closet," He replied absently. Legolas winced, "I've come to a conclusion," He pulled the headphones off and shut off the CD player.
"What?"
"I have no liking whatsoever for any of your music," He said.
I laughed, "Shocking, what were you listening too?"
"Crossfade," He replied.
I got a very weird image of Legolas wearing eyeliner, singing along to 'Cold' before I began to laugh, quietly, but soon my sides began to ache and I couldn't stop laughing. I felt myself roll off the bed and hit the floor with a thud.
"Are you okay?" Legolas asked, chuckling.
I gave him an annoyed look, "Never really have been; but you love me, anyways."
Legolas nodded, "More than you can fathom," With that, he picked me up off the floor as if I was weightless and deposited me on the bed.
My laughter faded away, his large blue eyes bore into me as his long black hair fell around my face like a curtain.
"Shall I show you how much?"
××Ø××
Sun streamed through the curtains as I opened my eyes. I groaned and put the pillow over my head.
It turns out that the pillow was in fact Legolas' upper arm. You can imagine the reaction I got from him whenever I tried to dislocate his arm.
"May I have my arm back?" He grumbled.
"Of course not," I replied, releasing his arm and grabbing the actual pillow.
I felt Legolas smile into the nape of my neck, and retracted his arm. "Nicolette, how would you feel about returning to Arda, today?" He asked; his voice was muffled.
I turned over to face him, "Say what?"
Legolas repeated his question.
I nodded, "I've been waiting for you to ask, I didn't want to push you though."
Legolas rolled his eyes, "You can be so silly sometimes."
I huddled back into Legolas' embrace, "How can you get back?"
He tugged on a silver talisman on a chain around his neck, "Elvish magic, I brought one back for you; I haven't put it on you yet because you're an elementalists. Or are you still?"
A flood of memories washed through my mind of Isengard and that historic day, I had come to cope with it. But that doesn't mean I don't get a little emotional whenever I thought about it.
"I'm not quite sure, I never tried it again after the incident," I replied.
"If you're up to it, could you try?" Legolas asked gently.
I sucked in a breath and nodded, I slowly cupped my hands to my chest and pulled my hands apart.
Nothing.
"I guess I'm not," I replied ruefully. I had rather hoped I could still be one.
Legolas breathed a sigh of relief, "Good, you wouldn't have been able to leave had you been one."
Scratch what I said about wanting to be one.
"So, do you think that we could leave right now?" I asked him hopefully.
Legolas shook his head, "You need to explain to Ithilwen what's going to happen. Explain to Cecilia and your other companions what's going to happen."
I nodded, "Well, fine. How about we leave tonight? I'll tell my landlord to put the house on the market, that I'm getting married to some guy from Taiwan or something." With that I shot up to the office where my cell phone was to make all of the arrangements.
××Ø××
By seven-thirty, I had taken care of most of the paperwork for putting the house on the market. I had said a tearful good-bye to Cecilia, Rob and Samantha.
And I had gotten Ithilwen semi-used to the thought she was leaving, she didn't have any friends she was close too, so the thought of living in a place where people looked like her and there were magical beings was exciting.
"Will there be faeries in Arda?" Ithilwen asked me.
I shook my head, "I don't think so, baby. But there will be Elves, Dwarves, Wizards, and all sorts of things."
Ithilwen's eyes were big, "Will there be…Goblins?" She asked me fearfully, her latest closet monster was a goblin.
I nodded, "Yes, but they dare not come near where we'll live."
Ithilwen tilted her head, "Where will we live?"
Closing my eyes, I tried to remember what I could from The Hobbit, "If I remember correctly we'll live in a palace built into a mountain."
I thanked the God above that Ithilwen took after her father and found living in a mountain very appealing.
Anyway, working record time, I managed to finish all of the paperwork.
Legolas said that I could bring a book or two with me. No weapons or electronic devices could be brought into Arda, according to Galadriel.
"I can't bring a shot gun with me?" I said in a childish voice, "But c'mon! I don't want to get eaten by a spider!" I cried.
Legolas smiled, "One, no. Two, there are no more spiders in Mirkwood, they disappeared after the ending of the War of the Ring."
I sighed, "Well, that's a good thing to know. I was wondering how many cans of insecticides I was going to have to bring."
Legolas smiled, "Aragorn should be here in thirty minutes. Is Ithilwen ready?"
I nodded, "Will this hurt?"
Legolas shrugged, "Define 'hurt.'"
"Physical pain, dang it!" I snapped.
Legolas made a soothing motion, "No physical…it's just…"
"What?" I asked.
"You'll have a different reaction to it then Ithilwen. Because you're completely human you will be in a dream-like state during the whole thing. While an Elf will see it all with eyes wide open, which can be mentally trying. Ithilwen is half-elf, half-human, so I don't quite know exactly what will happen," Legolas explained.
"Mentally trying? Legolas, you're beginning to get on my nerves," I replied.
Legolas sighed, "Try reliving every bad experience the person, or persons around you has ever experienced; including your own."
××Ø××
A/N: Tell me what you think!