Disclaimer: Am I the only one who's bored by disclaimers? We are in a fan fiction site! Of course Tolkien's work isn't mine!
Thank you, islington bus no. 199, for beta-ing and supporting this story!
Here it is, our new chapter! Sorry for the wait. Things have been (and will be) really busy here!
Chapter 6
Los Angeles, Earth
Year 2013
Haldir stretched and tried to ignore the strong headache that he knew from experience would torture him for the rest of the day. He was still half-asleep but the sun's morning rays were too bright to allow him to stay on the mattress anymore.
Something, though, wasn't right. His chest felt heavier than usual.
Slowly, he opened first one eye and then the other.
There, on his chest, lay sprawled a mass of untidy, black hair. The elleth had grabbed his tunic and buried her face on the soft fabric. For a few moments he only stared at her, shocked by this unexpected turn of events. Then, slowly, a snicker escaped his lips and his chest rumbled in the effort not to burst out laughing.
The elleth didn't seem to mind that her pillow was shaking in laughter. She only lifted her other hand to his neck.
Haldir disentangled his arms and gently removed her hands from him. The movement woke her up this time. Her head jerked up and she grumbled from the sudden awakening.
The elf waited patiently for her to register her surroundings and, when she noticed where she was lying and a small cry escaped her lips, he was ready to catch her before she fell over.
Míriela's eyes narrowed from anger and she didn't waste any time. She half-asked, half-yelled at him. "What are you doing on my bed?"
He, on the other hand, simply looked at her. After a moment of silence, he took a look around. "I'm not as resilient to the drink as men but still I have the ability to recognize my room even after the night of worst drinking in the history of elves."
She stared at him blankly. Her head hurt horribly too, so she hadn't realized she was still on top of him. But suddenly she noticed that the bed was lying on wasn't in the part of the room she remembered and the walls were slightly paler. Her face quickly became the same yellowish color.
"Why the hell did you bring me to your room?" she asked abruptly, staring unblinkingly at his fake solemn expression.
"I can't claim I'm responsible of such a deed, no matter how much I'd like to. Because, actually, we were sleeping like this, with you on top of me, and not like…" He swiftly brought his legs beneath hers and turned her over on the bed, trapping her. "…this."
Her facial expression changed to that of fury and was about to start fighting when the door burst open and the two responsible for this incident came in.
"Whoa, Chris, our little plan seems to have worked!" a very enthusiastic young man exclaimed.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the right thing to say but the notion hit him a wee too late.
"Did you just say… your plan?" Míriela's voice came muffled under the weight of the ellon but the incredulous tone was still recognizable. Impatiently, she blew towards the curtain of silver hair that blocked her view. Of course, the effect was short-lived since once again the light elven strands fell back. Annoyed, she shoved him from atop of her and he landed on the bed next to her, a sly smile on his face. He could have her still pinned down with not so much of an effort but the risk of getting kicked or bitten would rise tenfold with each passing second. He lay back on his pillow and put his hands behind his head, preparing himself for the show.
"Did you just say YOUR PLAN?" She got up and fixed her shirt, not even bothering to tame the dark mass of hair that surrounded her oval face like a second-hand halo. Her eyes were wide as she took slow steps towards her friends.
With not such a friendly look, to say the least.
"Uh… plan? No, I didn't say such a thing… It was, uhh, merely… pan"
"And did your little PAN work?"
"Now, Mirie, don't get upset! All he meant was that …uhhh…"
She was close to them now. Perhaps too close for comfort.
In the meantime, Haldir was watching as if the only thing he was missing was a glass of good wine and a picnic basket. 'On second thoughts, just the picnic basket would be fine,' he thought, wincing slightly and pressing his thumbs to his temples in a useless attempt to diminish the ache.
"What were you two thinking? Or better what WEREN'T you two thinking again!"
"Don't be such a bitch, Mirie, we simply thought to… enlighten your day a little!" Christopher displayed a carefully chosen chastised expression.
"And let us ASSUME I am comfortable enough with you for such a prank! But Haldir? Did you ever think what HE might say about this, you thick-headed baboons?"
"As far as I managed to see, he was on top of y–"
"HALDIR! Tell them what you think about this. Now." The second-hand halo was more like a halo from hell, by now.
"Are you sure you want me to?" he asked comfortably, further stretching his long legs.
"Of course! They deserve it, the senseless calves." She tapped her foot, all the while shooting daggers at their direction.
At first it was quiet; then Haldir, turned his gaze upon the two of them and stated smugly, to the others' total shock:
"I suppose what I'd like to say goes along the lines of… thank you."
And he winked.
-----------------------------
2 hours later
"Is she still in her room?" Haldir asked tiredly, sipping at his tea.
"The thumping noises from the walls have stopped but I think she's still fuming."
The three males sat in the living room with their legs lazily on the coffee table.
"She'll kill us all when she comes out and, not that it makes a difference since you two guys will be dead too, but my will is on the second drawer of the closet, under the underwear."
Haldir let out an undignified noise. "Under the underwear? Even if I survived her ire, your will would remain untouched even if Arda's fate was written in it. Which I doubt."
He tilted his head to the man's side and gave him a cheeky grin.
"Elves… Go figure."
"It's the she-elves you have to be wary of my friend, not us, humble warriors that we are."
Before Jared had time to voice his agreement, a door opened and closed with a loud thud and the object of their conversation appeared in front of them.
"Okay. First thing: Don't you EVER embarrass me so again. Second thing: Haldir, you will pay with blood for backstabbing me like that. Third thing: TAKE YOUR FEET OFF THE BLOODY COFFEE TABLE."
With that, the elleth turned her back and disappeared as fast as she arrived, the door bouncing loudly for some time later.
Three slightly shaken males stared at the place she had stood.
"Women and hormones…"
An exasperated sigh came from not just one direction.
-------------------------------------
1 hour later
Míriela still wasn't at her best while she was preparing lunch. With swift movements, she added some salt to the red sauce and stirred. She was acting mechanically, her mind drifting elsewhere.
Just as she was taking out four dishes, she remembered to go the storeroom and retrieve her gun and some ammo. She would need it for tonight's job.
'Not every day can be a party.'
Taking the sauce and the pasta off the fire, she went to the cupboard where they kept the keys. Her hands lifted the thin wooden bottom and searched for the keys to the storeroom and the small apartment they had next door, in case of an emergency. The store room unfortunately was only linked to that apartment, having them go through the entire trouble each time they wanted to get their weaponry. Not that the choice of having it in the middle of their living house was discussable. And the other apartment was way too small.
Her fingers kept searching frantically but no piece of metal was found. Now worried, she stuck her head and inside. When she pulled back again, she was on the verge of panic.
The keys were gone.
"Chis! Jared!" She stomped at the hall, searching desperately for them.
They were in Jared's room, watching some game of football.
'No time for such things, now. If this really means what I think it does, we are really cornered.'
"Did you take the keys to the storeroom?" Her tone was too urgent to be ignored.
"Why are you on edge, girl? The keys…" the men exchanged a wary glance, "…no," said Jared.
"Did you do it again last night? Answer me!"
"Yeah, alright, we called some… well, uuh… girls here last night and we thought not to disturb the snuggling couple so we just went to the other apartment… But why?"
"Fuck it! What did you do with the keys? The KEYS, Jared. We have ALL our weapons in there, except for my daggers." She was suddenly very pale.
Fear tainted Jared's fair face, while Chris was wide-eyed. "Christ, Jar, we fucked up. I was too drunk to notice!"
He looked at the ashen elleth regretfully.
Her voice was shaken when she addressed them after a while. "Did you happen to invite…" she swallowed, shutting her eyes, "…Lysha?"
Christopher held his head in his hands.
"Oh dear, y-"
"OUT OF ALL WOMEN, LYSHA CONNOR, DAMN IT!" she exploded. "Jared, go check on the storeroom, though I'm sure that because of your frigging stupidity, it will be empty…"
She was shaking slightly. The argument didn't go unnoticed by Haldir, who stood now next to her.
"I heard. What does this mean?"
She looked at him stiffly.
"It means we are stuck here, without long-range or any other kind of weapon apart from two old daggers, set up by an organization of assassins with the secure back of the police…" she stopped until Jared came back and sat on an armchair, his face indicating that he had found everything wide open and empty. "…and now we must wait, unable to do anything, not to mention going out. We have to close all the windows, pull the curtains, and guard the door since we lost every key as the look on Jared's face tells me…" The man barely nodded, "…and that is until our food supplies evaporate. Not that I expect them to strike in the middle of the day. No…"
Míriela gave them one last ominous look and, before leaving the room, she added:
"I've been in this situation before. Don't be afraid now; save that for when the sun sets."
-----------------------------
Am I too cruel? You'll find out soon. Grizelda, what you asked me for is in the next chapter.
Thank you to all those wonderful people who have reviewed! Your support means the world to me!
Tell me, how did you like this one?!?