Time Transcended

Saturday Shopping Trip

Disclaimer: I did not own it in the first however many fics I've written, so I am certain I do not own it now!

Authors note: For fear of throwing off my delicate filing system for chapters on my computer, this chapter shall be two chapters in one. I think it shall be long. Ready... set... BEGIN!

Late Thursday afternoon, after her classes were over, Rebecca had had enough. She simply had to know! She grabbed her books about Middle-earth off of her book shelf and began to pour through them, searching for any trace of the fate of Elrohir. She had heard someone say he chose mortality, but that simply couldn't be true... they must be mistaken! It would mean that they would be sundered... forever. Oh how she wished she had known one way or the other prior to deciding to go to Valinor.

For hours she read, looked, hunted, and then at long last she found her answer; he died a mortal's death. Elrohir and Elladan chose mortality. Rebecca read the words ten times before she believed it, and then she began to weep bitterly.

NO! It couldn't be so! Her heart was shattered, she had no hope now of ever seeing him again. She was destined for Valinor, and he no longer was. Why hadn't the Valars told her? Had they not known either? Why would Elro do that to her, knowing the consequences? She began to weep bitterly and then she began to sob. Her last hope and dream just died.

If Rebecca had been thinking about it, she would have thanked Elbereth for having Liz visiting her brother for the day. No one was there to hear her cry, no one was there to comfort her. Rebecca cursed her ill fortune in life and wished her life over.

---

"Wait Father!" Elrohir called. "Wait! Elladan and I are coming with you!"

"Really?" asked Elrond with a raised brow and a wide smile. "Then come! Come! We shall all sail together!"

Elrond and his sons reached the shores of Valinor and great was the celebration. For how many years they lived in peace, they didn't count, but one day Elrohir was summoned to the Halls of Manwë.

"Elrohir son of Elrond," said Manwë, "You have created a dilemma," the Valar said with a grave smile.

---

Saturday was Rebecca's shopping day. Every Saturday she went to the mall and shopped. She didn't buy anything most weeks, save maybe a smoothie, but it was her tradition and her time to relax, and did she ever need something to take her mind off of the death of Elrohir. She found people watching helped take her mind off of her now perpetual loneliness.

This particular Saturday however, she was buying some warm clothes for the bitter winter months that were imminent. She had three large bags from three different stores, and a small bag with a bottle of lotion and a candle in it. She was absent mindedly walking along, toting her bags and sipping her smoothie when she ran into someone, knocking herself to the ground, her bags across the floor, and the other person's bags to the ground.

From the large hand that was extended to her, she guessed it as a guy.

"Thanks," she said as she stood upon her feet. She looked and the stranger with dark hair was bent over quickly picking up all of their bags.

"Here you go miss, I think the Sears, J.C. Penny's, and Marshall Fields, and Bath and Body Works bags are yours," he said handing the handles to her.

"Thanks a lot sir," she said, taking the bags.

"You are welcome," he replied.

Rebecca's hair, which had been down, had fallen in front of her face. Seeing a bench through her loose locks, she set the bags down on it and removed her hair from her face. He set his down next to hers.

"The name's Rebecca, nice to meet you," she said extending her hand. She hadn't seen his face just yet, admiring his name brand clothes and sharp appearance.

"Ronald. Say, you wouldn't be Rebecca Parson's, would you?" he asked.

She looked up at his face, surprised. Her surprised look turned into one of recognition. "I would. You wouldn't be," her voice suddenly gave out as her heart screamed out his name.

"I would Mirë nin," he replied with a large grin.

She flung her arms around his neck and gave him a huge hug. He spun her around and said, "It's been far too long Mirë!"

"I thought you were dead!" she cried, restraining her impulse to kiss him and cry of joy at the same time.

"Dead? What do you mean?" Elrohir asked.

"I read that you and Elladan chose mortality," she said, feeling almost stupid and definitely confused.

"Oh," Elrohir laughed. "That! I was told about that."

"Elro, sweet Elro! I'm glad your alive, but would be ecstatic if you spoke plainly."

"Come Mirë nin, I shall explain it all over lunch," he smiled.

They left the mall and went to a small restaurant outside Ann Arbor and he began his tale.

"Let's see, where does this story begin," he said to himself. "Well, it was only a few minutes before Adar left Rivendell when Elladan and I told Father we going with him. Simultaneously we had realized what would happen if we did not, so we ran yelling the whole time, 'We're coming with you!' until we reached him. We sailed West, and lived peaceably for quite some time, until one day Manwë summoned me to his halls. For days I was up there and council was taken amongst all the Valars, the Wise, my Father, and so forth. In the end, after much debate and pleading, it was decided that since you already had read I was mortal and that thousands if not millions knew this and that they could not do mass brain washing, and that nothing should be altered, and all records should show that Elladan and I had chosen mortality. Then, it was also decided that I should be permitted to keep my immortality and come back and find you. Elladan wanted to come back with me, and the Valars decided it wouldn't be a problem. Strange as this sounds, it is all true. We were sent back a few years after Middle-earth joined this one, and that was somewhere in the Dark Ages."

Rebecca stared at him stupidly and said, "Fantastic," in a low, quiet awestruck voice. "Well, what happened after you came back?"

"Well, we survived the Dark Ages, stayed home during the crusades, tried to teach medicine in the Middle Ages, which failed miserably, and tried to introduce elven music to the eager scholars of the Renaissance. Much to my surprise, the Irish picked up on it the best, but they are still a far cry from the source. Glorfindel..."

"Glorfindel?" Rebecca asked.

"Oh yes, he had decided to just keep staying on earth. We managed to catch up with him, and we have kept in contact since. Anyway, Glorfindel was the most fun to be with during the Renaissance. He was constantly pestering DaVinci about the fact that his Mona Lisa had no eye brows, much to DaVinci's annoyance, I promise you. Now, during the Spanish Inquisition, we found ourselves in a tight place, we were different, everyone could tell, so we all went into hiding in Scandinavia herding reindeer. That didn't last very long. After the discovery of America, I was tempted to sail over here, but I stayed behind, until the Puritans came over.

'After they were well established Elladan, Glorfindel, and myself all headed for America. We fought in the Revolution for America, and after that, went into hiding in the western frontier. I went north west, Glorfindel went west, and Elladan went south. I saw this place when it was all wild. Beautiful it was. When the Civil War came about, I wondered what had happened to Elladan, but he had gone west and was living with he Navajo. Glorfindel stayed out of the whole affair as well, but I was in the thick of it. I fought for the north, escaped unscathed, and then went north west to Montana and lived in the mountainous country.

'I was on the eastern seaboard, wandering up and down it, when the Victorian era struck. That was when I returned to Great Britain. I returned to America after World War I and serving in the British army, and watched America survive the Roaring Twenties and the Prohibition. I wasn't fond of the ban on wine, but I endured. During the Great Depression I moved out to Montana again to find Glorfindel, and discovered Elladan was there as well. We stayed there until the fifties, managing to stay out of World War II, and then came out of hiding in time to see the birth of Rock and Roll. Glorfindel wasn't happy about it. I was amused, but it annoyed me after a time. Well, drawing towards a close, we three traveled the world from the fifties til the eighties. Once the Cold War began to reach it's peak we all headed back with just enough time to register to vote for Ronald Reagan. I've been here ever since. Elladan and Glorfindel are currently in England, and I was going to go join them soon, but now that we've met once more, I may stay here a bit longer." He paused. "So, what have you been up to?"

Rebecca was surprised by the sudden change in subject. She was so fascinated by his brief narration that she had forgotten where she was. Once she regained her wits she said, "Well, I graduated in December after I got back, my mother home schooled me, and then I came back here for college. That's been about the end of it. No grand adventures, no world tours, just a lay over at JFK International airport. That's all."

"Oh Mirë, you must come with me and tour the world. It is a beautiful place!" Elrohir said.

"I'd love to, but I don't have any money and I'm in the middle of a semester at college. And what do you do now that lets you dress so nicely?" she asked.

"Well, I am currently a stock broker. I am masquerading as a twenty-seven year old stock genius named Ronald Smith. My boss says I'm doing very well and may get transferred to New York City in a few months. I think I'll quit before then," he said.

"So is that what you do? Run around masquerading as young guys in their twenties, quitting each job when it bores you or you've been there long enough to raise suspicion?" Rebecca asked with a grin.

"More or less. I've worked more jobs since the turn of the century than I care to recall. A few of them have been more prestigious, like the current one, and more than once I've been nothing more than a Soda Jerk. But, I always do well enough to travel the world," Elrohir said.

"I don't know how you do it. Especially now. Don't you have to have a degree?"

"I do. I have degrees from every major college in America, England, France, Italy, and Germany. Most of them are no longer valid, considering they are from the first few years of the college. I was of the first graduating class of Harvard," Elrohir smiled. "Most employers wouldn't accept that degree."

"So what will you do after you quit being a stock broker?"

"Well, I have a very large Swiss bank account. I plan on retiring to England and sailing. Or at least, that was the plan."

"It still could be you know," Rebecca said.

"Yes, but only if you married me," Elrohir smiled.

"Is that a proposal?" she asked with a smile.

"I thought so," he grinned.

"Best one I've heard all day. I'd have to think it over...okay. I'll marry you," Rebecca grinned. She leaned across the table and kissed him.

"Do you have a date in mind?"

"Nope."

"Do you care when?"

"The sooner the better!" Rebecca said.

"How about this weekend?" Elrohir asked.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. I have a good friend that is a minister, he would marry us in a heartbeat," Elrohir grinned.

"That's great, but, what about my classes? I have half a semester left," Rebecca said.

"Do you want to finish college?"

"Well, I guess that depends. If we can go tour the world until you want to sail, then I guess I don't care, but if I have to help support us, then I guess I do," Rebecca replied.

"Then tell the dean good bye because we can tour the world then sail for Valinor," Elrohir grinned. "Whatever you want to do, we can do. No worries. How does that sound?"

"Marvelous! Simply marvelous!" Rebecca exclaimed.

Elrohir caught their waitress the next time they went by. "Check please."

Authors note: Well, I hope I threw you all for a loop! I hope I have enough ideas to make this an interesting story still. Well, I guess we'll see! For the record, this is not my favorite chapter, so feel free to point out the flaws. LOL!