A/N: Hola, everyone! I believe I abandoned you all for a while, but never fear! I'm here again! I don't have much to say,except enjoy!

Disclaimer: weep. It ain't mine.

Chapter 12 : Waiting For Her

Lauralin never expected to see Legolas again. After 3 years or so, she'd given up any hope she had... hope of going back to Earth and hope of seeing her favorite brother. She hadn't wanted to admit it at the time, but she missed him.

So she definitely had been stumped when he climbed up onto her balcony one summer afternoon.

"Oh damn it..." he muttered, slipping and falling onto his rear. "Wrong room." He stood up and proceeded to throw his leg over the balcony railing when he turned around and saw who was in the room.

"Eru save us," he stared at Lauralin. "Is that you, Laur?"

"Uh, yeah," she said, hand on her hip. "And what have you been doing this last millennia? Have you no time to spare to come visit your sisters?"

Legolas rushed over to her and embraced her, lifting her and twirling her around. "Not a spare moment, I assure you... I haven't been myself," he smiled. "You've really grown up, sister!"

"And you," she said when he put her down. "Where did these come from?" she asked, feeling his muscled arm.

"I could ask the same thing about these," he pocked one of her breasts. Lauralin smacked his arm.

"Excuse me, Prince, but these are mine!" she accused with a smile.

Legolas hugged her again. "Come and take me to see mother. I need to do some major apologizing." They walked out of her room.

"You've been busy, or so I've heard." Lauralin had heard of the naughty business Legolas had gotten into, and it was something she wanted to bring up but not known how.

"Hey, I'm not proud of that," Legolas said, hanging his head shamefully and avoiding all eye contact.

"I'm sorry," Lauralin quickly apologized.

"You don't have to be." Legolas stared at his feet as they walked. An awkward silence ensued, during which Legolas stared at his feet and Lauralin surveyed her brother's face. He had grown even more handsome than she'd ever expected. She could see the pain in his eyes, plain as day. He was ashamed, she realized, and he wanted to do something to make the pain go away.

Legolas felt her gaze and looked up into her face. She was so different. She had her father's face and her mother's clear blue eyes. Her hair was a darker, more honeyed blonde than Alí's, and she seemed slightly shorter than Alí... not that Legolas had gotten a good look at Alí recently; she'd been running too quickly. She didn't seem quite as arrogant and spoiled as when she was a child... but Legolas sensed that she could probably command a room like her Grandfather could.

"Laur... your sister isn't here, is she?" Legolas asked tentatively.

"No, she isn't," Lauralin sighed. "But she's due in a week or two."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she travels on a cycle... or at least most of the time she does," Lauralin explained. "She spends 4 months in either Lórien or Greenwood... then she'll come home for a month or two, and then she'll be back on her horse and off to Lórien. She never likes to stay in one place for long.

"She loves Greenwood most, I think. She comes home and talks endlessly about your home, your family, your reputation. She misses you, more than you could imagine, and you've made it so the only way she can know you is through your home and your family," Lauralin and Legolas had stopped walking and were now facing each other in the hallway.

Legolas was about to respond, say something that would make the reality of those words seem less true, when he heard a familiar voice speak up. "Laur, who's that with you?" Liliana's voice floated through the hall. Legolas turned, and she stopped dead.

"Valar..." she whispered. "I thought we'd lost you, Legolas."

"In a way, you did, Mother," Legolas said heavily. Liliana rushed forward to hug him, and said,

"It's been much too long, Son." She smiled at him.

"I know," Legolas said. He saw his Liliana's eyes grow bright, "Don't cry, I'm sorry, Mother."

"Oh this is wonderful, I'm going to go and have your room readied," she sniffed. "Laur, take Legolas to the kitchen and get him some food. You must be starving," she said to Legolas.

"I always am. You know me and my appetite!" Legolas winked.

"I'm good something hasn't changed," Liliana smiled up at him. Legolas heard a tone he couldn't identify underlying her voice. It contained both relief and admonishment.

"It's one of the few things that haven't," Legolas said sadly. Liliana rushed off in the other direction.

"Come on, brother," Lauralin tugged on Legolas' elbow.

"I'm coming," Legolas said.

Legolas could not sleep. His thoughts churned, trying to process the information that Lauralin had offered him all day. Alíana loved to travel. She loved Greenwood. She loved his parents, his brother, his life... but what about him? Did she still love Legolas?

"I've messed this up," Legolas said. He rose from the bed and walked out onto his balcony. He took a deep breath and inhaled the fragrant summer air. "I've messed this up, and how I need to fix it." If there was one thing he'd learned recently, it was responsibility. He wouldn't give up until Alí was his sister again.

Alí stabled her horse in the Rivendell stables. She smiled and stretched, enjoying that homecoming feeling that she only got when arriving in Rivendell. She might spend most of the year away from the Dell, but she missed its homely air, and the feeling of unity and celebration that accompanied the hustle and bustle of daily life. She never tired of that feeling.

She was home earlier than expected, but because of her new engagement, she had to spend a year away from Gildor. She would spend the year in Rivendell, and he in Lórien.

"Sister! You're home!" exclaimed Lauralin when Alí knocked on her door. "Quickly, come inside. I have to show you something!" she ushered Alí inside her room.

Lauralin's room was cluttered with papers and paints. She'd discovered how art came quite naturally to her, and she used it as a way of connecting with her old life. She painted portraits for elves who requested it, but her real love was simply sketching. She delighted in creating things from her memory; a computer on a desk, a traffic light, the lamppost in front of their old house. She drew anything that came to her, and brought it to life again.

Lauralin thrust a pencil sketch into Alí's face, and Alí peered at it. It brought immediate tears to her eyes. It was a sketch of the picture in her locket. The locket she gave to Legolas when...

"Laur, this is amazing," Alí said breathlessly. She felt very guilty about what she'd said to Legolas... but all of the pain of the last millennium had been shoved into one minute, one statement; she'd panicked.

"I wish I could make things better between us," she sighed. It was something she'd said a million times.

"You can make things better. Time heals, sister," Lauralin supplied, taking the sketch and setting it down on her bed.

"But..." it also kills. Alí stopped herself before she could finish the statement. She'd thought this for a long time, and the situation between herself and Legolas only proved this to her.

"But, nothing. Now go and have a bath and then you'll feel better and smell nice." Lauralin ushered her sister through the door that connected the sisters' rooms.

Alí went docilely and Lauralin called for a servant to bring hot water for her. She set her bags down and laid down on her bed. Why was it that as soon as she thought she was safe from plaguing thoughts of Legolas, he would suddenly spring up and catch her off guard? Couldn't she go anywhere that Legolas wasn't?

She must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew a servant was shaking her. "Miss Alíana, your bath is ready," the girl said quietly.

Alí blinked and sat up. "Thank you," she said. The girl disappeared and Alí stripped off her clothing and then sank into her tub in her bathroom.

She peered at her hand sleepily. There was a silver ring there. It mocked her, she thought. It glittered in the candlelight. It fooled with her; made her realize that she was committed to one elf, Gildor, forever. She knew it was all she ever wanted. She wanted this. She wanted this. She wanted this.

She...didn't know.

She stepped out of the tub, dripping water everywhere, and walked into her room, slipping the ring off her finger. She took two even strides over to her wardrobe and located a pocket in a dress. She slipped it in there and closed the door of the wardrobe.

Nobody had to know about the engagement yet. She would simply not tell anyone until she felt the time was right.

Lauralin knocked on Legolas' door. He opened it, casually dressed and tousle-haired.

"Were you asleep?" Lauralin asked.

"Um… yeah," Legolas said, yawning.

"Why? Oh, never mind. Alíana is back," Lauralin whispered.

"She is?" Legolas smiled. "Oh this is great," he started to push past, to go into the hallway. He obviously wanted to see her.

"No, Legolas. Not yet. She's rather upset," Lauralin said guiltily.

"Sister, what did you do?" Legolas asked flatly.

"I showed her my drawing. I wanted to see her reaction. She feels really guilty about…oh, everything. I could see it in her eyes," Lauralin explained. "And I wanted to tell you… I don't know, really. Be gentle with her. She seems really… I dunno… emotionally unbalanced. There's more going on in her head than she lets on."

Legolas looked confused, but muttered, "Okay." Lauralin said goodbye, and Legolas went back into his room and sat on his bed.

Be gentle? He wasn't planning on being rough. What kind of caution is that? How was he going to see and talk to Alí without her turning the other cheek?

How could he do it with as little pain as possible?

Alí knocked on the wood of the doorway to the stables, announcing her presence to her uncle Elladan.

"Alí! I'd heard you were home," Elladan smiled. He set down the brush he was using to groom his horse and embraced her.

"Word must travel fast," Alí smiled. "Were you talking to someone? I heard voices," she asked.

"On, no. I was just speaking to Clebroh, here," Elladan said, patting his horse on its neck.

"And was he responding?" Alí said suspiciously. "I'm pretty sure there was more than just your voice."

"No, it's just me here," Elladan assured. Alí surveyed her uncle closely.

"Alright, if you say so, Uncle," Alí said. "I just wanted to say 'hello'. I'll see you later Uncle Elladan." Alí turned and walked away, throwing a suspicious glance or two over her shoulder. Once Elladan saw she'd disappeared into a building, he visibly relaxed.

"You can come down now, it's all clear," he called up into the hay-filled rafters.

"Good!" came the muffled reply. A blonde elf dropped from the rafters, spitting hay out of his mouth. Elladan chuckled.

"I'm afraid I still don't understand why you won't let her see you," Elladan said. He picked a piece of hay out of Legolas' hair for him.

"Thank you," Legolas said, running his fingers through his blonde hair and finding more pieces of straw. "I just can't. She can't see me yet, or I'm afraid she'll never speak to me again. I have to give her time... and I am worried," Legolas confessed.

"Do not be," Elladan said with a small smile. "She will forgive you," he assured.

"Thank you, Elladan." Legolas left the stables and started the familiar trek to his room. He began to sing an old song and as he rounded a bend, he came face to face with Alí.

She was staring right at him, and she was white as snow.

"You," she said softly, vehemently. "You follow me. You hunt me. Why won't you leave me alone?"

A/N: Muah ha ha! Rather evil cliffie, ain't it? More coming soon, if I can convince my writers block to go away! cry.

Thanks to Nilimade, Harmony99, and Brownie24 for reviewing! You all get Elladan cookies! passes them out.

-Ivy

6/18/06