Aragorn's arms encircled her waist, pulling her back against his chest as Legolas embraced her from the front. They stood like this, simply enjoying the feel of their bodies pressed together and the birdsong around them, the tenseness of the Council draining from their backs and leaving them calm and relaxed.
"You know," Aragorn started, pulling away and striding quickly into the House. "We never got to have our picnic."
"Does he always think with his stomach?" Natasha laughed, following at a slower pace with Legolas at her side.
"Only at home. In the Wilds, he'll ignore hunger until he loses consciousness."
"Guess we'll have to knock him out every night then. I wonder if Lord Elrond can give us a supply of his tea."
Legolas only smiled and conversation turned to other matters. Lord Elrond peeked out of his study as they passed its door, handed them a bag of tea with a wink.
"Just a teaspoon should do. Anymore, and he'll be asleep all day." the elf-lord explained with a wink and disappeared back inside his study.
"I don't think we should go on a picnic today." Natasha said, hefting the bag slightly. "Do you?"
"Yes, tomorrow seems like a much better choice." Legolas grinned and they ran to catch up with Strider in the kitchens.
Chapter 24
As it turned out, the tea wasn't needed. When Natasha and Legolas caught up with him, Aragorn was fast asleep, leaning on the wall outside the kitchens, arms folded across his chest and eyes glazed over in elven sleep.
"I don't think I'm ever going to get used to that." Natasha mumbled with a shudder, to which Legolas chuckled, as he scooped the Ranger into his arms.
"It did take Arathorn quite a while before he became used to it. But then all his acclimation disappeared once Aragorn was born. Wouldn't leave the room for the first several months of his life, just making sure that his son was still breathing. I need to put Aragorn to bed. Why do you not take a stroll in the gardens? I will find you there and take you to see some of the hidden beauties of Imladris." he suggested and headed off to his and Aragorn's rooms once she'd assented.
Once the elf had disappeared, Natasha slowly made her way to the gardens, wandering among the still-in-bloom bushes and flowerbeds before finally taking a path that wound through some trees away from the house. She hummed an old song she'd learned from the mothers back at the Med-Station as she walked, her hands slightly outstretched so as to brush the tops of the underbrush plants, enjoying the sounds of the breeze through the leaves and the birds singing their songs. She marvelled at how warm the day was, despite it being well into September, and the leaves had yet to fully turn to their autumn colours.
"It's amazing how peaceful this place makes you feel." she whispered to herself, feeling lighter and calmer than she could remember feeling in a long time.
The lightness had spread throughout her entire body, despite the pressing Quest she and her companions were going to embark on, and suddenly erupted in the an overwhelming need to climb the nearest tree as high as she could go and see whatever she could see. A tall oak tree suited her purposes perfectly, and cursing the dress she wore ever branch of the way, she climbed up into its branches and up to the highest branches that would support her weight. Treetops were all she could see, just like that day so many months ago, just before she'd met Legolas and Aragorn after the spider attack. But this time, she could see where the tree-line stopped, as though making room for the Last Homely House, before enveloping it from behind, as though cradling the elven settlement within its protective branches. This Valley was such a contrast to the Halls of Thranduil, in their caves under the mountains of Mirkwood. Here everything was sunlight and fresh, cool air. So wrapped up in her thoughts and feelings that she didn't notice when someone joined her in the tree until a hand touched her shoulder.
"Holy shit!" she jumped, completely forgetting she was in a tree.
Just as she started to fall, Legolas' hand shot out and pulled her back to the safety of the tree's trunk and into his arms, holding her securely in the branches.
"Legolas!" she hugged him swiftly and then swatted him on the arm. "I've told you before not to sneak up on me like that!"
"But it gets such a delightful reaction out of you." Legolas grinned, thoroughly pleased with himself.
"Yeah well, good thing you're both strong and have quick reflexes. Otherwise, I'd have a very angry tree on my hands, from all the branches I broke on the way down." Natasha looked down and nodded at the branches.
"Hardly, in this case." Legolas chuckled, nuzzling into her hair. "The branches are too thick. You would have been the one broken, I think. And that would be a terrible thing."
Natasha hummed in pleasure as Legolas continued nuzzling her hair, tilting her head to give him more access. She liked the feeling of him pressed against her back, arms wrapped around her waist, but then she also liked it when he was pressed against her front too, pressing her back against the wall as he'd done the previous night when he and Aragorn had said goodnight. She relived the feelings that had flooded through her the night before, the warmth of their bodies sandwiching her between them, their wonderful scents and the tickling sensations of their hair against her cheek as they kissed each other over her shoulder, their arms keeping her firmly in place. In her daydream, they then took her into the bedroom, closing the door behind them before starting to disrobe both her and themselves as they stood but a few feet from the bed. But then Legolas stuck his tongue in her ear, wet and slobbery, completely breaking through her daydream.
"You didn't hear a word I said, did you?" he accused teasingly when she turned to glare at him.
"No…not exactly." she admitted reluctantly, rubbing her ear against her shoulder. "But that doesn't mean you should slobber all over my ear to get my attention."
"Well maybe you'll pay better attention to me next time." he chuckled and then turned serious. "I'm not boring you am I?"
"No! Not at all." Natasha protested, turning in his arms to face him and touching his cheek. "Actually I was daydreaming about you. And Aragorn."
"Oh? But surely reality is better than any daydream?" he arched an eyebrow teasingly.
"Oh definitely, but we were doing things in the daydream that we haven't done in reality." she teased back, running a fingertip along his cheekbone and back to the tip of his ear, making him shudder.
"Ah." was all he could say as she continued to finger his ear, marvelling at the intensity of the reaction she was able to induce.
"Hmm, perhaps we should return to the ground." she mused aloud, nuzzling his neck, her hands traveling over his chest, enjoying the feel of the silk-like fabric of his tunic.
"Yes, we should. Wouldn't do to have either of us fall." Legolas replied, leading the way so quickly that Natasha had to laugh.
"A little eager aren't we?" she teased as she made her way down the tree, at a slower and more cautious pace than her companion.
"Only to have you in my arms." he whispered in her ear as he guided her down that last little bit and into his arms, holding her securely against him and looking deeply into her eyes. He brought a hand up to smooth her hair away from her face, gently brushing his lips against her cheeks and closed eyelids.
As he guided her gently to the forest floor, Natasha felt butterflies take over her stomach and revelled in the sensation. It had been years since she'd felt like this. Since before med-school, in fact, during her undergraduate days, since she'd had someone to hold her and love her…well, to lust for her, anyways. She'd thought that he was the one, but he left before they could truly find out, taking an opportunity overseas in his field. Afterwards, she'd had to concentrate so much on her studies that she hadn't had time to find someone new. But now, here with Legolas leaning over her, stroking her hair as he thoroughly kissed her, she felt like she was the centre of his world as he was the centre of hers.
The world around them disappeared, their vision narrowing down to only each other as hands smoothed over backs and lips met time and again. Natasha could feel the Power within her churning pleasantly with the emotions running through her, gently wafting from inside to surround her and Legolas in warmth. As time passed, their kisses grew more intense, as did the warmth around them, and Legolas' hands grew bolder, moving over her abdomen to barely brushing beneath her breasts. But before he could grow bold enough to actually touch her breasts, she took his hand with a small shake of her head as she gazed into his sapphire eyes.
"Only when you are ready, meleth." Legolas soothed, slowly rolling onto his back, pulling her to his chest and caressing her hair, humming softly to her an elven love song that had been popular when he was a young elf and had first fallen in love with the peredhel he knew as Estel. In fact, it had been one he had sung while courting the young half-elf and they had shared it with her just recently, before the Council. As he sang, Natasha cuddled into his chest, berating herself for a fool for refusing this opportunity at intimacy when they had the chance, as who knew when they would get such a chance again?
Yet it was partly because they didn't know when they'd get this chance again that held her back. Would it not be better to wait than to be constantly looking for places and times when they could share a few moments alone, just the three of them, when Aragorn joined in? But there was another part that held her back, even more important than her concerns over what would be better for them during the Quest. And that was fear.
Even though she'd already gone past this point in her previous relationships, and even though she had dreamed of him and Aragorn touching her intimately like that, she wasn't ready to take that step yet in reality, fear holding her back. Fear that if they got that intimate with each other that it would somehow ruin what they had, and she didn't want to lose that. Fear that they might decide that they were better off just the two of them, or worse, that they just didn't want her, like her previous boyfriends had done. But most of all, fear of opening herself up like that to them and then losing either or both of them during the Quest, which was quite possible if she was honest with herself.
Because sex was something very personal to her, something she couldn't do with just anyone, not even just for comfort. When she gave her body, her soul opened up to that person, incorporating them into her being so that with each leaving, it became harder and harder for her to open up again, fear of the pain that would surely follow. But she could feel herself opening up to the pair of elves who had found her and enjoyed every minute. This time would be different, she could feel it.
"Shall we go back inside, Natasha?" Legolas asked, and her heart leapt in her chest, thrilling at the way her name sounded on his lips, almost exotic in the sounds of his accent.
"It is getting rather cool out." she conceded, the warmer breeze from earlier now cooling with the decrease in sunlight. "And I'm sure Aragorn is up and looking for us by now."
"He is." Legolas smiled, tapping his skull with a finger when she tossed him a questioning glance. "Elven mating bond, we're never apart."
"So he felt…?"
"Everything that occurred here and did not like to be left out physically, though he was always here, through my mind. He's always been one to prefer physical touch than the more ephemeral sensations provided by the Bond. Though these have their benefits as well." Legolas explained as they headed back towards the House.
They had made it to the outermost portions of the gardens when they ran into Aragorn, almost colliding with him in fact, him having run from the House to catch up to them after his nap. He grinned sheepishly at them and took Natasha into his arms with a wink at Legolas before he kissed her thoroughly, his arms roaming her back.
'Gods do these two ever know how to kiss!' Natasha thought, her legs threatening to give way.
"Dinner is almost ready." Aragorn said as he released her and threaded her arm through his. "And Ada would like you to once again join us and Gandalf at the head table. Frodo will be there, as will Bilbo. And then to the Hall of Fire for stories and song."
Natasha smiled all the way to the dining hall, her arms linked through those of two elves she was well on the way to falling in love with. Inside her head, her twin Nigel chuckled, smugness radiating along their bond, as his own pleasurable liaison with a certain minstrel had finally born fruit, the two of them sitting in the Shrine of the Sword as they kissed tenderly, their limbs entwined.