Chapter Twenty-Two

When She arrived in London, she caught a cab whose driver accepted US dollars and went to the hotel. When she was in her room, Legolas spoke to her again. 'I must go now,' he said. 'Time is of the essence, I must make a connection with Orlando.'

"But Legolas," Teresa asked aloud, now that she was alone with him. "Why is this so important to you? I'm no longer worried, I'm here, and tomorrow I'll go to a moneychanger so that I can change my currency. I have enough to stay for quite some time, I believe. What does it matter that I meet him right away?"

Legolas sighed, and said, 'There is more at stake then you know. I have spoken with Gandalf again, and there was more than just your life at stake, my love. We try to stop a fate that should not happen.'

"I-I do not understand," Teresa said quietly.

'In time, my love,' Legolas said. 'You will. I will return to you soon, I promise.' With that, he was gone.

The next day, Teresa went to a moneychanger named Jack Samuels. It was here that she hoped to exchange five hundred dollars to British pounds. After she made the exchange, she headed back toward the hotel and stopped for breakfast at a small bakery. When she went to pay for her food however, she found out she had been cheated. Jack Samuels had taken her five hundred dollars, and given her what amounted to two dollars…not enough for her food. The baker turned her away empty handed. 'Legolas,' she thought as she walked back toward the hotel. 'I need your help.'

After he left, Legolas had gone to find Orlando and established his connection. When Legolas located him though, Orlando didn't seem to be cooperating like Legolas thought he would. Apparently Orlando was trying to convince himself that he was not going insane by ignoring everything Legolas told him. Legolas' first night away from Teresa was a bust. 'Ok, it's time for a little reverse psychology,' Legolas though to himself the next morning. 'Ok, Orlando,' Legolas said.'I do not want you going near the Grange City hotel. In fact,' Legolas drawled. 'I forbid it!'

Legolas' reverse psychology worked. Within an hour's time, Orlando had arrived by limo in front of the Grange City hotel. Passersby stopped in awe as the limo pulled up to the curb. The crowd thickened, and Orlando did not see her as Teresa exited the Grange City hotel with her suitcase in tow.

After signing many autographs, Orlando was finally able to break free of the crowd, and entered the hotel. 'Under what name did she check in?' Orlando thought.

'Teresa Thompson,' Legolas replied.

The man at the desk looked up and smiled, "Ah, Mr. Bloom, you honor us. How may I help you?"

"Please tell me which room Ms. Teresa Thompson is staying in, I am here to visit her," Orlando said as he nodded to the man.

Suddenly the man's smile faded. "I-," he said as he swallowed hard. "I am sorry sir, but the young lady has checked out…you just missed her."

Orlando turned and rushed for the door. "Mr. Bloom," the man yelled. "I do not think she has gone far, she was very troubled."

Orlando didn't turn around to answer, but continued through the door and looked wildly around the street. People crowded him again requesting more autographs. He pushed passed them as politely as he could. As the way cleared, his eyes lit on a pale woman with long honey colored hair sitting on a suitcase. 'That's her!' Legolas cried.

'I thought you said she had red hair,' Orlando thought, but approached the woman anyway.

The crowd gathered behind him to watch as he slowly approached the woman. She looked up suddenly when his shadow fell over her, and he saw that she was crying. 'She does as I know her,' Legolas replied, then cried in a worried voice, 'My Love, what is wrong? What has happened?'

"Yes..." Orlando asked as he knelt next to her and peered into her face. "What has happened?"

Teresa didn't answer either of them though, for her strength had finally left her. " Orlando?" she whispered weakly, just before she pitched forward as she passed out. Orlando caught her before she hit the ground. He stood and walked through the crowd toward the waiting limo carrying her lightly in his arms.

The driver hurried to open the door. " Randolph," he said as he stepped into the backseat taking care not to bump the car with the woman as he climbed in. "Please get her bag." The driver nodded and rushed to retrieve the suitcase from the sidewalk.

A few minutes after they moved away from the hotel, Teresa came around. She found that she was lying on the leather seat of a car. She looked up and saw someone's chin. Orlando felt the girl move in his lap and looked down. "W-where am I?" Teresa asked as she tried to sit up. Dizziness hit her hard, and she lay her head back down in his lap.

Orlando smiled. "You are safe," he whispered. "Tell me, what happened to you? Are you ill?"

Teresa nodded. "It's stupid, really," she said quietly. "I haven't eaten since the day before yesterday, when I arrived."

'What?' Legolas cried.

Orlando looked at her with concern. "Why haven't you eaten?" he asked, his voice filled with unease.

"I went to change my money from dollars to British pounds yesterday, and the moneychanger robbed me," she said feeling foolish. "I didn't have enough money for food, and since my reservation at the hotel was already paid for, I went back there. Though now I have neither a place to stay, or money for food."

Orlando immediately picked up a handset next to him in the console. " Randolph?" he asked then paused. "Miss? What would you like to eat?"

Teresa looked up in surprise. She had not expected this. Her stomach turned, and she groaned. "I think," she said weakly. "That I need something to settle my stomach first."

Orlando nodded. " Randolph, go to the drugstore, and then to McDonald's," he said as he smiled down at her. "McDonald's plain cheeseburgers always help my stomach," he whispered as she closed her eyes once more.

Legolas had left them for a while after she had explained what had happened. He stuck around just long enough to see that Orlando would take care of her. He had to speak to Gandalf again. "Gandalf?" he called and watched as the wizard emerged out of nowhere.

"My friend," Gandalf said in greeting. "Why are you here?"

"Something troubles me, Gandalf," Legolas said quietly.

"What is it?" the wizard asked curiously.

"Well," Legolas began. "You told me the merge would happen when Teresa and Orlando met. This has happened, yet the merge has not."

"Hmm," Gandalf said thoughtfully. "This is strange indeed. Tell me, is there someone in his life already?" Legolas shrugged. "If there is, that could be why the merge has not happened." Legolas nodded thoughtfully. "I am glad you came, Legolas, for I have also learned something recently that I wished to share with you."

"What?" Legolas asked curiously, hoping the new information would help him.

"Well," Gandalf said softly, pausing a moment not sure how his friend would react. "When I spoke with Haehithien in Moria…"

"Yes?" Legolas said, nodding that he remembered that which Gandalf spoke.

Gandalf sighed. "I hope you understand, I asked her not to speak to you of it… I was unaware then that we were a dream to her, and I did not want you to worry more for her or be upset if I was wrong…"

"What are you talking about?" Legolas asked in confusion.

Gandalf sighed heavily once more, sadness filling his eyes. "She was pregnant," he said softly. "She carried your child."

"What?!" Legolas yelled. "And you had me let her go?!"

"Don't you see?" Gandalf asked in a pained voice. "If you had not, you would have lost them both. All is not lost to you… The fact that she became to be with child in the dream can mean only that there will be a child between her and the real Legolas… There is a chance that this could still fail… it must not." Legolas swallow and nodding, thanked Gandalf, who vanished before him.

Back in Orlando's limo, Teresa was not feeling too good. Her stomach rolled and she moaned quietly. Randolph came back from the drugstore and handed Orlando a bottle of Pepto. Orlando measured it out for her, and then helped her to sit up as she took it.

No sooner had she swallowed it than she broke out in a cold sweat. She had to lie down. She fought the bile that rose in her throat. Orlando looked at her worriedly as she coughed. Suddenly, she threw up on the seat. Embarrassed, she started crying. "I'm so sorry," she said as tears rolled down her cheeks.

To her surprise, he wasn't mad. He smiled as he put his arm around her. "It's ok. You have an excuse. You're not feeling well. Do you need some water?" Teresa nodded as she tried to gather her composure. " Randolph, go on to McDonald's. While you are there, please get something to clean up the seat with…Ms. Teresa was ill and we had a problem."

When the limo pulled into McDonald's, everyone turned and stared. Not wanting to cause another scene like at the hotel, Orlando and Teresa stayed inside while Randolph went inside to place the order. He came back a few minutes later with two bags of food, a bottle of cleaner and a roll of paper towels. Orlando and Teresa moved to the far side of the limo while he cleaned up the seat. After he was finished, he left their food and went back inside the restaurant to return the cleaning supplies.

Orlando dug into the bag and pulled out six cheeseburgers and handed one to Teresa not knowing if she would be able to stomach anything yet. He looked into the second bag and pulled out a couple orders of fries as well. When Randolph returned, he was carrying drinks. He handed Orlando a Coke and a small Sprite.

'How are you doing?' Legolas asked Teresa when he returned after she had eaten. Teresa definitely felt better after having something in her stomach. She hadn't eaten her fill, but enough to where her stomach would settle.

'Much better,' she thought. Legolas hung around, but thought it best to keep silent and see how things progressed. He still wasn't sure what needed to happen for the melding to be complete. He was just an observer.

The car phone rang suddenly, and Orlando jumped. He answered it after handing Teresa the Sprite to help settle her stomach. "Hello?" he asked into the receiver. "Yes, Phil, I know I'm late. I'll be there shortly. There was something important I had to do. Alright, be there in a while. Ok, bye," he said, and hung up. Then, he picked up the small phone receiver that was linked to the driver. " Randolph? Head to the set, I'm late."

When they arrived at the set, Orlando told Teresa that he had to leave her with Randolph, but that she would be able to watch him as he worked. Phil went up to him and asked, "Where have you been? You were supposed to be here over an hour ago."

"I'm sorry, Phil," Orlando answered. "Like I said, I had something important to do first."

"And what, pray tell, was so important? We were working on your scene and you have no double…we had to shoot another scene," Phil said.

"Do you want to know what was so important?" Orlando asked and Phil nodded. Orlando pointed to Teresa and Phil looked over at her. "Helping her."

"Who is she?" Phil asked noticing the girl for the first time. When they looked over at her, Teresa waved and Orlando grinned at her.

"Her name is Teresa, I was over near the Grange City hotel, and she passed out on the street. No one was helping her, so I had Randolph stop so I could. You know how dangerous the streets can be even in the better part of London," Orlando said.

Phil nodded. "I understand why you where late, but don't make a habit of it. By the way, Ms. Smith was here looking for you. She was rather upset that you weren't here yet."

"Oh, great!" Orlando groaned. "That's all I need right now." He was frustrated with the woman already. She was way too controlling.

After Orlando had told Phil what had happened to her, Phil made sure Teresa was very comfortable. In fact, she was treated like a queen. Anything she wanted was brought to her by the stagehands, and when she got tired, Phil had one of the stagehands take her to Orlando's dressing room to rest. Soon, she was fast asleep.

Orlando entered his dressing room later that night, and quietly shut the door when he saw that Teresa was asleep. He smiled to himself as he walked over and knelt down next to her. "Hey," he whispered as he gently shook her shoulder. She opened her eyes sleepily, but smiled at him. "Come on, you can sleep in the car. I'm done for today, and I'm ready to leave."

She sat up suddenly wide-awake. "B-but I have nowhere to go!" she protested. "I told you earlier, all my money was taken by that horrible man."

"It's alright," Orlando said as he helped her to her feet. "All that's taken care of. Come on," he said as he led her from the room, turning off the lights and closing the door before they left.