A/N It is done! I just accomplished something huge that took forever and was supersupersuper stressful so in honor of my pain, here is the next installment for all of you fabulous people!

Disclaimer: not mine.

Eight: Bedtime Stories

"Alright, Estel, come along. I've let you stay up late already," Lord Elrond of Imladris stated firmly as he stepped into the brightly candle lighted room. Looking down at his young foster son he folded his arms across his chest. The boy jerked his head up, staring with despair at his father. In one hand, he held a wooden horse and in the other he clutched a detailed, wooden, elven warrior. A few other warriors, another horse or two and a dragon were scattered across the cerulean rug on which he was playing.

"But Elladan and Elrohir don't have to go to bed!" the five year old wailed, looking over at the twins and his newest friend who were sitting together on the couch across the room, talking. Elrond sighed as the twins shrugged at him.

"We have been over this, Estel," he said wearily. Kneeling down next to his son he began to gather up the toys up. "Your brothers are older. When you are as big as they are, I promise that you can stay up as late as you want."

"You say that about everything!" Estel clutched the two toys he held close to his chest and shielded away as Elrond tried to take them.

"Not everything," Elladan interjected, grinning as the human boy gave him a glare. He was slouched comfortably on the end of the couch and his twin sat cross-legged on the far end. Sandwiched between them sat Legolas, who had arrived only that day. He was sitting with his feet propped up against the small table in front of the couch and he smiled softly as he listen, twirling a small twig in his fingers.

"You get to play for most the day, we don't get to do that," Elrohir agreed. He shared an emphatic, exaggerated nod with his twin as his eyes twinkled. Estel paused, his small brow furring as the thought.

"But it's not fair!" he cried in a high-pitched voice before collapsing dramatically on the ground.

"Life isn't always fair, Estel," Elrond reminded gently as he succeeded in prying the toys from his pudgy fingers He placed the toys carefully in a detailed wooden box as Estel began to cry.

"Please, Ada!" he begged through the tears and only wailed louder as Elrond shook his head.

"I have an idea, Estel," Elrohir suddenly said, leaning forward and catching his younger brother's eyes. "If you hurry and get ready then maybe we can tell you your bedtime story." He looked over at his father, waiting for his approval.

"One story," Elrond said strictly, getting gracefully to his feet.

"Yippee!" Estel yelled, tears forgotten, as he sprang to his feet with the energy of a jack-rabbit. "Come one, Ada!" He grabbed his foster father's hand and began to yank him urgently towards the door.

"Wait!" Elladan called, a grin flashing across his face. "You've heard all our stories before. What if Legolas told you a story?" Legolas sat bolt upright, his eyes widening comically as he gave the twin an incredulous look.

"But I don't tell stories," he tried to protest, holding his hands up. His words were drowned out by the human's earsplitting, verbal, agreement and Elrond gave him an apologetic look that said, you aren't getting out of it now.

"Race you, Ada!" Estel yelled taking off at a run and Elrond darted after him. A moment later, the child's shrieks of laughter indicated that he had been caught.

"A story?" Legolas turned in disbelief to the twins, horror radiating from his face. "I can't tell him a story!"

"Sure you can," Elrohir encouraged getting to his feet and clapping the prince on the shoulder. "It's easy. Besides, you live in Mirkwood. I'm sure that you have thousands of stories to tell." Legolas scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"Relax," Elladan said leaning forward, "Estel just likes stories. He won't care how bad you tell it as long as he gets one."

"Thanks." Legolas threw a withering glance at the older twin, who merely laughed.

Twenty minutes later, the twins and Legolas had migrated to Elladan's room, and were all sitting on the bed when Elrond opened the door, Estel trailing in after him. The boy clutched a small, lace-trimmed off-white blanket in one small hand while the other held-steadfastly to Elrond's much larger one. A large yawn was parting his lips and the twins shared a smile.

"Come here, Estel!" Elrohir called, leaning over and holding his arms out. The little boy ran towards them and he was swept up and into a bear hug.

"You're squishing me!" Estel squealed, laughing as he tried to push the twin away.

"Am I? Am I?" Elrohir teased as he tightened his grip which only made Estel giggle harder. Elladan dove in, freeing Estel for Elrohir's grip only to blow on his tummy.

"Stop! Stop!" Estel shrieked between his laughter as he attempted to jerk away and pull his night shirt down at the same time. Legolas laughed, his face lighting up as he smiled and watched the three brothers.

"Boys," Elrond said sternly and in mild frustration. Immediately the rough-housing stopped as they looked up at their father with pure, innocent faces. "We are trying to calm him down, not excite him."

"Sorry, Ada."

"Alright," Elrond said, "One story, and then Estel goes straight to bed." The twins nodded, but Estel shook his head.

"Two stories," he bargained but his father shook his head.

"One story. Now, you be good for the twins and go to bed when they tell you too, alright?" Estel nodded solemnly and Elrond smiled. "Come here," he said before hefting the small body up and planting a kiss on his cheek. "Sleep well, ion-nin." Estel returned the kiss with a slightly slobbery one of his own.

"'ight, Ada," he said as he allowed the elf lord to set him back down.

Elrond turned his attention to the twins, placing a hand tenderly on each of their heads. "Now, don't keep Legolas up too late. He must be tried after his long journey."

"We won't," the twins coursed as one and Elrond smiled at each in their turn before leaving the room.

"Story!" Estel crowed with excitement, jumping up and down. "Story!"

"Story, story!" Elrohir mimicked, grabbing the boy and pulling him into his lap. Elladan passed over the human's blanket, which he had dropped, and Estel grabbed it. Sticking his thumb in his mouth he nestled up against Elrohir and turned to look expectantly at Legolas. The elf's smile vanished from his face and he cleared his throat.

"What kind of story do you want, Estel?" the elven prince asked, shifting uncomfortable.

"A scary story!" Estel requested, taking his thumb form his mouth long enough to get the words out before sticking it back in.

"A scary story, hmm?"

"It's a good thing that is what he asked for that and not a romance," Elrohir teased. If looks could kill, then the younger twin would have already been in the coffin by the glare that Legolas was sending his way.

"Alright, a scary story." Legolas paused, biting his lower lip as he thought. "Well…" he nodded suddenly and the twins shared a grin. Estel shifted further into his brother's lap while hooking his arm through Elladan's and lightly resting his hand on his arm.

"Do you like spiders, Estel?" Legolas asked, leaning forward and smiling in devious manner. The small boy shook his head vigorously, his curls bouncing against his shoulders. "How big was the biggest spider that you've seen?"

"Th's b'g" Estel said after a moment of thinking with this thumb still stuck in his mouth. He held up his fist to demonstrate. "El'ohi' fo'u'd it 'n h's be'."

"What?" Legolas looked in confusion to the twins for a translation, holding his hands up helplessly.

"Elrohir found it in his bed," Elladan explained, a grin lifting his face. Elrohir whacked his twin, his face flushing lightly as he knew what was coming.

" an' t'en h'—" Estel started to say but Elrohir jumped in.

"That's enough, Estel, why don't you let Legolas get on with the story." Estel nodded rapidly and shut his mouth.

"Well, the spider in my story is bigger than that. Bigger than you, even bigger than a horse." Legolas grinned as Estel eyes' widened comically as he let out a gasp and leaned further into Elrohir. "One day, me and my friends decided to go camping. Everything started off just as it normally would. We were having a fine time, no work, no parents, and lots of time to go exploring. One the third day, however, we got board of staying where we were and thought that it would be fun to go into the forbidden area of the forest.

"We went deeper and deeper into the dark woods. The light began to slowly disappear as the trees reached higher and higher. We went further and further into the arms of darkness. Suddenly, we noticed that everything had gone quiet. Too quiet. I turned around to see what was going one behind us when someone screamed. Turning back around I found that instead of three of us, it had become two. My friend was gone and all that was left of him was a scuffling of foot print and a faint clicking noise."

Estel let out a sharp gasp, his eyes growing even wider. Legolas smiled at him.

"I turned back to face my friend when the clicking came again. I looked over my shoulder to see if I could find what had taken my first friend but I realized my mistake almost immediately. By then it was too late, however, and my other friend was gone. I was alone. The clicking sounded again, and I knew this time that I would find out what had taken my friends so I pulled out my bow, but before I could do anything something grabbed me and I felt…" Legolas paused, examining the child before him. "Everything went black and when I woke up, I was trapped in a mass of web.

"That was when I discovered that I had been wrapped exactly like a fly in a spider's web. I was literally in a web. I started thrashing around, trying to escape, but something hit me in the head and a voice said to me 'Stop or I'll suck your blood here and now.'"

"But spiders can't talk!" Estel broke in again, sitting up straighter and folding his arms.

"Well, these ones can," Legolas replied easily and the child settled back. "After I had stopped struggling it told me that it was going to –er—leave me there till I was dead. And then it was going to eat me. But before it could finish speaking, I had freed my knife and stuck it through the webbing and right into the spider's ugly face. The spider squealed like a pig. As quickly as I could I ripped free of the web, which wasn't easy, only to realize just how much trouble I was in. There were spiders everywhere.

"I had found my friends, however. They were wrapped up much like I had been, though one of them had managed to free himself partially.

"The spiders began to attack and I held them off as best as I could while my friends freed themselves. When we were all free, we made a break for it. As we 'ran'" Legolas laughed lightly, rolling his eyes as he thought of how they had practically crawled on all fours, "the spiders began to chase us and we didn't get very far before I was once again grabbed and dragged backwards. My friends soon followed and I thought for sure that we were going to die.

"But when everything seemed bleariest, suddenly my father's warriors were jumping out of nowhere and killing all the spiders. We had been freed and where taken back home." Legolas finished with a smile. He had glossed over the more ugly details that the child didn't need to hear and had skipped over parts, but for the most part he was pleased.

"Another story!" Estel begged, yawning wide enough for a cat to slip in and rubbing his eyes.

"Nope," Elrohir said, ruffling his untidy hair. "You heard Ada. It is past your bedtime, anyway." Estel made a face but all the same allowed Elladan to lift him. Laying his head on his brother's shoulder, the human lightly wrapped his arms around his neck and letting another yawn loose.

"I've got him," Elladan whispered as Elrohir made to get up and the younger elf nodded. Legolas passed over the child's blanket and Elladan walked to the door, leaving it cracked. He could hear the soft mummer of Legolas' and Elrohir's voices as they struck up a conversation.

Carefully balancing the child in his arms, Elladan pulled open the door across the hall and backed in. Moving through the semi-darkness, he efficiently pulled back the warm covers to the bed and lower Estel gently down. Only a minute of inactivity and the human was almost already asleep.

"Here you go," he whispered, handing the boy his special blanket before tucking the covers in around him.

"Elladan?" Estel asked drowsily.

"Yes?"

"Do you think Legolas has anymore stories like that one?" Elladan grinned, turning to light the lamp before settling down on the edge of the bed.

"Probably." Estel nodded happily and snuggled further into the blankets.

"Elladan?" he asked again.

"Hmm."

"I like Legolas."

"So do I, Estel." Elladan agreed with a small laugh. The elf and the child had taken to each other like fish and water and he was surprised to say the least. "So do I." Leaving down, the brushed a kiss on his head and stood to leave.

He had barely made it too the door before Estel shot up.

"Elladan!" he cried, making the twin whip around. "What if there is a spider under my bed?!"

With a sigh, Elladan dropped down on his hands and knees, lifting the coverlet.

THE END

Allllrighty. Now that this is over I am going to go crash and sleep for many, many, hours until it is time to go see the Avengers (at last)!

Next time! Legolas and Thranduil have a misunderstanding! :)