A/N: Reviews are the best, they make me happy and want to write so much more, I love to know what you guys are thinking.


~She, In the dark, Found light Brighter than many ever see. She, Within herself, Found loveliness, Through her own soul's mastery And now the world receives From her dower: The message of the strength Of inner power.~

Silence consumed the council. The chaos that had filled the area will shouts forgotten. Everyone was more or less satisfied with the outcome, each race was to accompany Frodo on his quest, and though it would be extremely dangerous, all were willing. The council left one-by-one, Rosa was about to leave when she felt a hand on her arm, she turned to see Aragorn. "It is not yet your time to leave," Elrond said, cryptically.

She looked around and saw Elrond, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Boromir and Gimli staring at her. "What? What?" she said, beginning to get worried.

Elrond looked down at her. "Though I shall allow you to travel with the fellowship, there are certain conditions that must be met first." He took her off to the side of the group to speak with her privately.

"Do you remember what I told you before?"

Rosa nodded.

"Well, there is much more to your story young one. I, however, cannot be the one to reveal this to you, it is something you must discover on your own. Do not shy away from your fate, nor from the truth of where you come from."

Rosa felt certain that going with the fellowship was the right choice, but Elrond's words echoed in her head as she tried to make sense of them. She was caught between thinking that he was cryptically full of shit, and wondering if there was any truth to it. How could you he know where I come from? I don't even know that.

Boromir stepped forward. "I, for one, do not believe she should go at all. She will be a liability." He looked down at Rosa with disdain. "She will only slow us down, and will endanger whoever must protect her," he spat out.

Rosa felt her anger bubble forth, and took one quick step towards Boromir grabbing his wrist and twisting around. She pulled him forward over her back and used his weight to flip him onto the ground. He landed solidly on his back, the air knocked out of him. She leaned forward placing her foot above his family jewels, she applied a little pressure as she spoke, "I may not be a man, or some swords master but...Do not underestimate me."

Silence filled the area until Gimli broke out into laughter. "I like her." he said, pulling out his pipe and walking away.

Gandalf had nearly laughed at the display, he turned towards Elrond and gave him a knowing smile before following after Gimli.

Elrond stepped forward. "You will need training," he turned to Aragorn and Legolas, "Can I count on you to give her the training needed before the fellowship departs?"

Aragorn nodded and went to help Boromir up, who knocked his hand away and stood storming out.

Legolas turned to Elrond, "There is not nearly enough time to teach her what she needs to know," He glanced at Rosa before returning to Lord Elrond, "She should not go."

Elrond acknowledged what he said with a polite nod before saying, "That may be true but I have already decided, just do the best you can."

Rosa looked up at Legolas, his face betrayed nothing.

She sighed, Why do I want to go again? she asked herself, feeling rather unwanted. Aragorn, grabbed her arm and gently but briskly lead her from the room, Legolas followed behind. They lead her out to an open area.

"This field will serve as your training ground, " Aragorn said, "Training will start tomorrow. Be ready to wake early."

Afterwards they brought Rosa back to her room. She collapsed on the bed and sighed. Rosa pulled her bag out from under the bed and dumped out it's contents. As a doctor, she had gotten used to not always being able to go home so she had started bringing a bag with almost everything she could possibly need: wallet, phone, Ipod, an extra set of clothing, brush, makeup, toothbrush and paste, and lastly her gun.

She pulled it out and began cleaning it, it had become a sort of calming ritual for her. When she moved into the city her uncle had made her promise to take it with her everywhere she went, she was only nineteen at the time.

~Rosa Age 19~

She had tried to refuse the gun before, she was about to start her residency as a doctor, she didn't want to shoot people.

"I don't need it" she had said, "Papa already taught me how to defend myself without a weapon." He had just shaken his head and told her to keep it with her. So she took the gun just to please her uncle and didn't touch it until three years later, a few months before she joined the military.

"You keep it with you at all times."

"Yes, Uncle, I understand." Rosa said, sighing.

"All times. I mean it. The city is a dangerous place." He looked down at his niece lovingly, he knew she thought he was treating her like a child, but he made a promise to her father and if that meant that treating her like a child would keep her safe then so be it.

"I gotta go now. Love ya."

He pulled her into a hug, "I love you too, Rosie." Rosa smiled, she'd never admit it, but as much as she didn't like being treated as a child, she still liked it when he called her that.

~Present~

A tear streamed down her face, and she wiped it away as quickly as it had appeared. Everyone leaves you, she thought cynically to herself. Rosa threw her things back into the bag and tossed it on the floor before collapsing onto the pillows. She laid there for hours just staring at the ceiling. Her mind reeled through her memories.

"I don't want to hurt you," she said, her voice shaking. What am I doing? God...he just shot that man. The man in front of her stepped forward, "Stay where you are or I'll shoot." The man just clucked his tongue, "No you won't" he said, his eyes falling over her figure hungrily. Rosa's eyes darted over his appearance, he looked like he belonged to one of the local gangs, she could see some of his prison tattoos. Rosa took a large step back, her eyes then darted back down to the man he had shot, he needed medical attention or he would bleed out. The gang member stepped forward and the sound of a gunshot rang out in the night.

...

Rosa's eyes shifted to where the sound of the gun came from, a man stood a little ways behind her but further to the right, just far enough to be out of the sight of the gang member he had just shot. Rosa sucked in a shuddering breath, she knew what would have happened if this stranger hadn't appeared. She wouldn't have been able to do it...and she was angry with herself because of it. She had always been taught to fight for what you believed in, but another part of her wanted to only help people, couldn't there be a way to do both? she asked herself.

Rosa's hands pressed down on the bullet wound, trying to keep him from bleeding out, she had called 911 but it seemed like eternity before the paramedics arrived. It had only taken a moment to explain what was wrong, especially with her being a doctor. As they drove off, taking him to the hospital, Rosa took a moment to breathe before turning to the man standing not far from her. "Who are you?" she asked, sounding a lot less grateful than she felt. He gave her a lopsided grin, "Hey lady I just saved your life, least you could do is say 'Thank you'." She sucked in a breath, "Yeah, thanks for shooting someone for me...makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Now, who are you?" He grinned, "That sounded totally sincere. What are you doing with a gun you're not willing to shoot?" She glanced down to see her gun on the ground, then back to the man, "You're right. I wouldn't have shot him. I'm a doctor," she said as though it was a perfectly good reason to not shoot the man who would have killed her next. "So?" he asked. "I just couldn't, Okay? Thank you for helping me." She said angrily, before stomping away. The man followed her softly placing his hands on her slumped shoulders.

"Hey, it's alright. You still saved that other guy's life." This time, when she looked up at him, he gave her a full heart-stopping smile. Wow, she thought, her heart giving a loud thump of approval.

"Oh, and to answer your question, I'm Johnathan Ace."

It wasn't long before the silence of the room became deafening. She jumped up and grabbed her clothing from the bag, quickly tugging the dress off, she slide the cloth pants up her legs and over her hips. She pulled the tank top over her head, threw the hoodie on and slipped her feet into her shoes before leaving her room. She needed air, she felt like she was suffocating. Once she saw the opening to outside she broke out into a run. She took off darting between the trees, no destination in mind. It felt like hours before she finally began to wonder where she was, she had just been running, from what she wasn't sure. Life? Herself? The past? She slowed but kept moving. It took a good couple of hours for her to find her way back to the training field that Aragorn had showed her. She collapsed in the middle of it and fell into a deep taunting sleep, awaking with a violent start as another nightmare plagued her.

Rosa rolled off her stomach and onto her back. Looking up at the sky she saw the the sun was just starting to come up. She leaned forward and started her old PT routine. She was already covered in a good layer of sweat when someone's eyes fell on her. She groaned to herself, Man am I out of shape. It had been a year since she left the army, a year since Ace died. Rosa squeezed her eyes shut, the pain brought on by those thoughts pushed her to keep running for three more minutes. Rosa was walking it off when she saw Aragorn approach her, he had a look of worry mixed with anger when he saw her, but as he got close enough to see the sheen of sweat on her his expression shifted to surprise and then slight embarrassment at seeing her exposed skin. She had dropped the hoodie and now was only wearing a tank top and jogging pants, both of which clung tightly from the top of her chest, all the way down to her legs.

"You weren't in your room," was all Aragorn said to Rosa once he was close enough to be heard.

"You're right," she replied dryly.

"Where have you been?" He asked, his eyes staying firmly above her neck, never once wandering.

"Here, and lost in the woods for awhile but eventually I found my way back. I couldn't stay inside," when she saw the concern reenter his eyes she added, "Sorry...I started without you."

He almost chuckled, he could tell she was no stranger to hard work. "Well now that you're warmed up...time for the real work to start." Rosa turned around to see Legolas leap down from a tree and wondered how long he had been there and if he had been watching her.

Legolas and Aragorn exchanged words in elvish as Rosa stood there trying to pick words out that Vala had taught her, unsuccessfully, they spoke too quickly for her. When they turned back to her Legolas had the same blank expression and Aragorn had look that told Rosa that she was not going to like what he said next.

"First we must work on strength training." Aragorn said grimly. Then next two hours Rosa was running, her body was screaming at her to stop but whenever she did Aragorn would smack her with a wooden sword and say, "Dead."

"You're not strong enough to fight a seasoned warrior, until then you run." He explained.

By the end of that day's training she had welts on her arms and legs.

Rosa collapsed on the ground, the time finally up, "Will I… ever.. Do… anything.. Other… than… running?" she said, through heaving breaths.

"Yes," Aragorn said, "roll over."

"What?" she asked. Aragon gave her a look that said, "Just do it."

She sighed and rolled onto her stomach.

"Now, push up."

"What?! You want me to do pushups after all that?" She groaned.

"Yes. Until you can't lift yourself anymore."

Rosa started grumbling until she saw Aragorn get down on the ground beside of her and do them with her. Rosa suffered through two weeks of that: running for two hours straight then doing push ups until she couldn't lift herself, three times a day.

XXX

Rosa felt like jelly by the time she reached her room. Aragorn wasn't exaggerating about the amount of training that was ahead. She was now beginning to understand why Boromir and Legolas didn't want her to join them. I'll show them. I can do this. She was determined to do better each day. She was no stranger to having to prove herself, and this time would be no different.

When Rosa saw Vala in her room preparing a bath she was so excited. "Oh THANK YOU...you're the best. I could kiss you right now." Her words earned her a blush and a look from Vala that told Rosa that the last thing she said was very improper.

Rosa sank into the bath and let out a noise that expressed her delight. When she was finished washing herself she let the warm water wash away her tensions and then rose from the bath. Vala helped her into another dress, while her work out clothes were washed and they had another elvish lesson. Rosa listened intently to everything she said. When the lesson was over Vala handed Rosa a stack of papers with different words and phrases on it for her to study. Rosa smiled gratefully, "Vala."

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"Ta nae amin saesa."(It was my pleasure.)

"Could you not tell anyone about these lessons?"

"Manka lle merna, mellonamin." (If you wish, my friend.)

Rosa smiled at the last part as she watched Vala leave. Friend...yes. It had been awhile since Rosa had considered anyone a friend, but in the past weeks Vala had been a better friend to her than anyone of her colleagues at the hospital, except for, maybe, Jane. Rosa thought about all the people she left behind, would they miss me?

Sure, the little voice piped up, because that means more work for them at the hospital. Rosa groaned and buried herself in her pillows. After a solid minute of wallowing in self pity she raised herself from the bed and made her way towards the field. When she got there Aragorn and Legolas weren't there. She wandered around the field, her fingers passing over the rack of practice weapons, there were wooden swords, daggers and next to them was a bow and some arrows. She let her fingers rest on the bow, wondering if they would teach her how to use it. Rosa's gaze shifted back to the daggers, they weren't much longer than some of the knives she was trained to use, maybe her marksmanship was not such an important skill the have anymore but surely knowing how to use different knives in combat would help her learn how to use the daggers quickly. She lifted the daggers off the rack, looking around for any signs of Aragorn and Legolas, as they had said that she wasn't ready to use actual weapons yet.

She took a moment to judge the weight of them, unlike the wooden swords these had actual blades, they were, however, dull. She flipped them around, remembering all the tricks she had learned to do so that she could impress her squad mates. Rosa knew that they would always be stronger than her so she worked hard to be the best shot, be the best with knifes, and she would spar with Ace and do lots of yoga so that she could make sure to be faster and more flexible. She didn't reach all her goals though, she was only the second best marksman, not that it matters now, she thought grimly.

Rosa relaxed her neck and shoulders, let her knees bend slightly and took a deep breath. She moved forward slicing through the air with the blades, at first she felt silly, without some sort of practice dummy or enemy to fight, but eventually she became relaxed with the movements. Some part of her felt at home in this place, and it was starting to show.

The sound of sudden movement behind her prompted her to swing around with the blades, they connected with metal and the sound rang out in the field.

"Oh shit, Boromir, I'm sorry...I was just," she was cut off when Boromir swung his sword around and knocked her back with another swing. Rosa stumbled, trying her hardest not to trip on the hem of the dress.

"Boromir...What are you doing?" She tried to block but he was much better and stronger, she wasn't able to keep her hold on the daggers. He knocked them out of her hands and she fell backwards, after stepping on her dress. She could tell that he had been holding back, he was trying to prove his point, that she wouldn't make it.

She glared up at Boromir from where she lay on the ground, "Are we even now?" she asked angrily. He scowled at her, staking his weapon into the ground, she could tell the answer from his look.

"What is the point of all this?" she asked, still glaring, "Am I supposed to be afraid of you? Do you think just because you beat me that I am just going to give up and decide to stay here?"

He crouched down so that he was nearly eye level with her, "The point, girl, is that you will get yourself killed, and possibly someone else along with yourself when they try to protect you. No man worth fighting beside would not come to your aid, should you find yourself cornered or injured. This is no garden stroll, it's the fate of Middle Earth. You are untrained, you know nothing of where we are going and you are a distraction." His scowl had softened by the time he had finished. Rosa's eyes sparked with understanding as she watched him. Though his lips were set in a firm line of disapproval, his hazel eyes showed his true feelings of concern. She now knew why he was treating her this way, which was so different from the way he had acted towards her before the council meeting.

Rosa quickly sat up and leaned towards him, placing her hand on his. His eyes looked down at her hand and then back up at her, as she opened her mouth to speak he abruptly rose, pulling his hand away from her and yanked his sword from the ground as he stalked off.

Once Boromir was out of her sight he walked away as quickly as he could. He didn't like the way she was affecting him, he shook his head as if to try and shake the thoughts from his mind.

XXX

Aragorn watched warily, he had walked to the training ground to find Rosa wielding the daggers, the longer she moved with them, the more fluid her motions were. It sparked his interest, he remembered before that she had fought bravely against the Nazgul, and though she had only barely managed to keep ahold of her weapon then, he assumed it was because of luck. Now watching her now he thought that maybe she had been trained before, it seemed to be natural for her, he found himself questioning if she were truly human. Aragorn banished the thoughts, he made to step forward when he saw Boromir making his way towards Rosa, at the sound she swung towards him, he blocked. The next moments stunned Aragorn, Boromir swung again, the graceful movements and fluidity to Rosa's movements vanished, replaced instead with uncertainty and fear. When she fell to the ground, Aragorn leapt to action, striding quickly towards them, stopping only when he could hear their words. He watched as the fear and uncertainty he saw in Rosa, changed to a fiery determination.

"Are we even now?"

Boromir said nothing.

"What is the point of all this? Am I supposed to be afraid of you? Do you think just because you beat me that I am just going to give up and decide to stay here?"

Aragorn watched, taking a step forward as he saw Boromir crouch down in front of her.

"The point, girl, is that you will get yourself killed, and possibly someone else along with yourself when they try to protect you. No man worth fighting beside would not come to your aid, should you find yourself cornered or injured. This is no garden stroll, it's the fate of Middle Earth. You are untrained, you know nothing of where we are going and you are a distraction."

Her eyes softened, a calm understanding replacing the fire. Aragorn was amazed by how expressive her bright blue eyes were, and how they seemed to change colors with her emotions.

When Boromir stalked off Aragorn changed direction to meet him. Aragorn grabbed his arm, "What do you think you are doing?" He asked harshly.

Boromir glared daggers at him, shrugging his hand off his arm and shaking his head before walking off. Once Boromir passed him, Aragorn made his way to Rosa, helping her off the ground.

"Nice guy, him" she said sarcastically gesturing to Boromir with a nod.

"He is young," Aragorn said, sighing, as if that explained it all.

She laughed, "No, I'm young. He's a just a jerk." Aragorn cocked his head to the side, confused, "What is a.."

"A jerk?" Rosa supplied, cutting him off. "Uh, a rude person, someone who doesn't care about hurting another's feelings."

Legolas strode over to them. "Rosa," he said, not seeming happy.

"Legolas," she said before he could continue, mocking his unhappy expression. Aragorn smiled, amused.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite elf," Rosa said sweetly, her smiled dropped, "Go away."

"I will not." He picked the daggers up off the ground and placed them where they belonged on the rack. Legolas turned back to her, stone-faced, "Boromir was right."

Rosa sucked in a deep breath, not wanted them to know how much those three little words hurt. She promptly turned walking away from both of them, leaving them standing in the silence. Aragorn tossed a glance at Legolas, who didn't seem to be phased.

"He doesn't mean that" Aragorn said softly, when he caught up to her.

She turned sharply towards him. "Yes," she said, her eyes a fiery sapphire blue, "he did! So did Boromir, and I'll bet you think the same!" Rosa took a deep breath, "You all think harsh words will stop me. It won't. I can do this." Aragorn could see the determination in her eyes, she was telling the truth.

He gave her and encouraging smile. "Then let's get to work."


A/N: Sooo what do you think? Telllllll meeeeeee...please :) R&R Hope you're enjoying it. I'm trying to keep a balance between totally new material and info from the books and movies, hopefully you guys, my precious readers, are enjoying what I've got going so far.