A/N Hey Y'all! Haha... don't judge this too harshly, I am in the middle of finals weeks and my brain stopped functioning about three weeks ago. (Someone asked me for my area code the other day and it took waaaay to long for me to stop giving them my zip code...awkward). So thus I am posting when I should be studying. Oh well, come what may and love it.

Disclaimer: not mine.

Precious Moments

"Come, Eldarion!" Aragorn called, setting aside his lunch to watch as the small boy pretended not to hear him. Arwen folded her arms from where she stood next to her husband and raised an eyebrow. "Eldarion. Listen to your mother. It's time for your nap."

The boy shook his head, pointedly playing with the small wooden horse clutched in small hands. Arwen shook her head.

"He's not going to listen," she stated softly and moved around. Hefting Eldarion into her arms, she ignored the sudden shrieks that the small boy began and made for the door. Aragorn smiled, shaking his head as he turned back to both his lunch and the stack of papers that towered at his elbow.

"ADA!" Eldarion screamed, trying to climb out of his mother's arms and holding out his arms towards his father. "SAVE ME!" The call made Aragorn look up, smirking. Glancing back at his paper, he shook his head and tossed his quill aside. "Oh, it'll wait."

Jumping up, he chased down his wife and screaming son. "I'll save you! Hold on Eldarion!" He wrestled Eldarion free and began to twirl him in a circle. "Come on!" he cried, turning his son upside and dashing for the door. "We've got to get away before Nana catches us!" He pulled it open, Eldarion screaming with delight and disappeared. Arwen placed her now empty hands on her hips, shaking her head and smiling.

"Come on!" Aragorn cried again, racing down the corridor and flipping the young boy over and under his arm like he would a package. The little boy laughed.

"FLY!" he cried, his voice small and sweet. There was an innocence there that Aragorn half-hoped would stay there forever.

"YES! FLY!" Aragorn spun around in circles until Eldarion was gasping for breath from laughing. Reaching his son's room, he burst into the room and tossed Eldarion onto the bed. As if a switch had been flicked his son's eyes begin to brim with tears, his lower lip trembling.

"Ah," Aragorn shook his finger lightly, breathing harder then he might have thirty years ago. "And this is why we are putting you down for a nap. Now where…" he trailed off, moving across the tidy room and bending down to look at a bookshelf. He began to pull books off, stopping only to scoop up a much-loved blanket.

"Don't cry, here," Aragorn held the blanket out and his son grabbed it with a pudgy fist, burying his face in it as he began to sob. "It's not all that bad. I would love—love —a nap right now, so you should consider yourself lucky." Shaking his head, he began to tug the blanket further around his son and with a gentle hand laid him back against the pillows. He plopped down next to him, curling around his small body.

"Look," He tapped the two-year old's chest, drawing his attention. "Look at this." He tossed one of the books up into the air, catching it nimbly with his other hand. He grinned, but Eldarion didn't seem impressed. Chuckling, he shifted to a better position and propped the book open against his leg.

"Once upon a time there was a strong elf that lived very, very far away and a long time ago," he began over Eldarion's hiccupped sobs. "See, here he is on a horse." Eldarion's sobs slowed and he turned to look. Aragorn took his small little fist, dragging it forward to point at the illustrations. "What noises do horses make?"

Aragorn laughed as the little boy attempted to make the sound. "That's right." He snorted, drawing out the sound. It sounded nothing like a horse but Eldarion mimicked him.

"Horse. Neigh! Horse."

"Yes, horse! That is what a horse says." He moved their hands over to the next painting. "His name as Fingon, and he was a strong warrior. He tried to fight for what was right," he began to summarize the tale, taking time to point at the pictures and further expound upon them. Eldarion giggled, laying his head against his father's chest and attempting to repeat the same sounds after him.

"…And thus ended the days of Fingon, king, and warrior," Aragorn finished at last and set the book aside.

Eldarion had calmed, but his eyes were still wide open and he stared up at his father. Aragorn pulled him closer, shifting the blanket higher.

Together they lay there, testing their wills against each other. Aragorn stared into Eldarion's little face. With his one hand, he began to lightly stroke the boy's forehead, making him blink tiredly.

The only sound in the room was of their breathing and Aragorn shivered lightly. The room was colder now that they weren't moving and he shifted just enough to pull some of Eldarion's blanket up around his own shoulders. Eldarion watched him, still blinking.

Aragorn went back to lightly stroking his face, and not for the first or the last time, he couldn't help but marvel at the feel of a child's soft skin. It hadn't yet been toughened by years of hard work. At this moment, he wished that it would never change and that Eldarion would remain young enough to be tucked into bed for years, but in his heart, he knew that to be impossible.

The motion was repetitive and his own eyes began to drift shut.

His hand fell still and Eldarion continued to stare at him silently. A few minutes later Aragorn jerked himself awake and inching up, he frowned upon seeing Eldarion's eyes still open and went back to his early position.

"Just like your mother..." he muttered.

Yawning, he watched as, at long last, Eldarion's eyes begin to slide lower before closing and remaining close. It wasn't long until the great king of Gondor, a warrior renowned far and wide, had also drifted off.

Arwen found them not long after. Smiling, she leaned against the door, painting the picture in her mind. Moving silently over to the sleeping pair she lightly tugged another blanket free and spread it over both of their shoulders.

Father and son remained asleep and her smile widened. For years it had been that the slightest touch or movement would awake Aragorn but at long last, he was comfortable enough to sleep deeply. She tucked the corners in, watching both of them breathe. They looked so much alike, the pair of them.

It was her little family, and it more precious to her than anything else that the world had to offer.

The End

So there you have it! I have started working on the next chapter (and I will actually have time to work on it once the semester is over!) and it will involve Thranduil, Legolas and a whole crew of other peeps. Thank you so much to all those who reviewed! They mean the world to me as always.

Review Replies

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