AN: Hello, again!

It appears that I have developed a serious addiction to this site and posting and updating. So here you'll find a set of one-shots to fill in some gaps my story Family Complications left behind, or just provide some additional scenes that I have in my head, but couldn't fit into the story. (That means that I'll keep on this shameless advertising all along, because I need to define when these scenes take place in the confines of the main story)

Everything is owned by J.R.R. Tolkien.

I hope you'll like this, if you read Family Complications and if you didn't, you can still check it out, if these one-shots hook your attention. No-one is forcing you though, if you don't like it, feel free to stop anytime :) I'd be most happy to receive your comments and reviews and thank you for reading in advance.

Oh my goodness, there's such an AMAZING weather outside. Honestly, it's just amazing. I've already went for a walk, but I might go for another one, because it's already dark and the city lights just make the snow even more wonderful. Everything is white and shining and these fabulously rich and large snowflakes are falling. I'm just sitting on the sofa, drinking hot tea and looking out of the window, onto the snow covered trees, rooftops and streets. I love this weather. I'm half sorry we are going away tomorrow. Getting to the point. I had a free Sunday so I could get to do some writing. I hope you'll like it and read it in company of a large cup of hot tea while you are watching the beautiful snowfall. Given that it's snowing in your place too :))

SCENE No. 5

- set on the day (and night and morning) before Sybille's wedding (Family Complications - Epilogue) -

Somebody was talking. This one had been talking for close twenty minutes. Torundir had no idea what this fat man was talking about and exchanging a tired look with Barahin, he was sure that his friend had lost track of the speech as well. They had been sitting here for six hours. Some food and wine were brought halfway, but six hours were six hours and to spend those six fucking hours sitting on a council was far more killing than any of them had guessed. It was a rather ironic idea of fate that sitting in one place was the most tiring thing in the whole world.

And tiredness was the death of councils. The more tired men got, the more tense and jumpy they became; conclusion was nowhere in sight. The younger Forlan brother already looked as though he was going to stand up and throw the fat man out of the window if he went on for another ten minutes; Beregond looked a decade older than he was from weariness, while Eldarion kept leering at his father, silently praying for him to stop the fat man and call an end to the council.

Finally the King lifted his hand and thanking the fat man for his detailed description of the Haradrim moves of the past month rose to speak.

"If I remember correctly we started off with the question of the peace pact a few ages ago" he looked around while the Prince chuckled on his right. "Everybody has shared their views with us, now it's time we cleared where we all stand so we can continue discussing this important matter on Monday." Murmurs of agreement washed over the gathering and the King went on. "The starting point was the Haradrim proposition to extend our current peace pact for the pirate ships they are collaborating with hauling their merchandise along our southern coast. Finduras brought up the arguments why it would eventually prove beneficial and some of you supported him. Any new arguments to arise?"

The King looked around, but luckily no new bleeding arguments arose.

"Nobody changed their point of view, either? Eldarion?" the King turned to his son.

"My view point is the exact same as six and a half hours ago" the prince inclined with head with a small smile.

"Lord Hirgon?"

"No change on my side, Your Majesty" the spy master shook his head.

"Torundir?"

"Still against the extension, my lord" Torundir replied. He still wasn't sure if his opinion on this matter counted this much because of the threat the extended peace pact would bring to Maeregard and the fisher villages and smaller ports of the area; or because of the King's recent reconciliation with Gilraen. Well, it would turn out next week, when they would already have Florian on the council too, officially as the King's son-in-law by that time.

"I, too, am not convinced of those benefits" the King nodded.

All three responses supporting his opinion, King Aragorn did not seem to look for further reasons to go on with the council. "That was it for today then. I will see you all on Monday at 9 o'clock to finish the discussion. My lords."

What a relief it was to stand up and stretch his legs. And even better it would be to go home and eat and have a bath and simply not think about the peace pact for a few hours. Torundir joined the line queuing to bid farewell and good night to the King, but this time even this after ceremony of the council was shorter with everybody more than eager to get home, the King chief among them having his daughter's wedding on the following afternoon. He never thought he would, but Torundir found himself looking forward to Sybille's wedding with surprising anticipation. Some time to talk and drink with friends was something he hadn't had in ages and missed very much. Maybe he would even get to talk with his wife for half an hour…

"Heading home?" Barahin asked him as the council dissolved and the men flooded out into the darkness of the Sixth Street. It was close ten o'clock in the evening.

"Where else?" Torundir answered wearily.

"You don't seem very enthusiastic…" Barahin chuckled teasing.

"No, it's not that…" he shook his head. He was glad to go home, glad to have dinner, to get a bath, to go to bed and sleep… That was what going to bed meant recently. Or not even that, when his son thought otherwise.

"Oh-ho-ho" Barahin broke into a knowing laughter. "Few more months to wait, my friend" he patted his shoulder.

"What are you talking about?"

"I know your problem. I'm having the same. But I have already done this once, and it'll pass, trust me."

Torundir raised his eyebrows. He was just too tired to follow riddles right now. "What will pass?"

"Come on, I know this. You scarcely see your wife, because she's with your son all the time. And that's just right, that's what mothers do, what they are supposed to do. But beds get cold and lonely very easily when your wife spends her nights breastfeeding, singing lullabies and passes out from tiredness after the little one finally gives in to falling asleep. We had this going on for six months with Anarys. I thought I would go mad."

Torundir gave a chuckle. He seriously hoped they would not have this going on for four more months with Turgalon. Because surely, he would go mad.

"It's not like I envy her from him, you know…" he mused.

"Oh yes, it's exactly like that. Why does she have to be with the baby all the time, why can't she talk with you, laugh with you, go to bed with you? It's exactly like that" his friend sniffed with a chuckle.

"It's not" Torundir insisted. "I love my son. I want him to have his mother around every time he needs her."

"I love my daughter too" Barahin shook his head. "But I also love my wife. And so do you" his friend pointed at him with a knowing glare.

"Yes" Torundir gave in with an amused eye-roll. "I do. And I so fucking miss her. We live in the same damn house and I scarcely even see her. I wake up and she is already with our son, feeding him. We never have breakfast together, because she is with the child, then I leave and when I get home, she is feeding him again, or trying to make him sleep or taking him out into the garden. And when I finally get to go to bed, she is already asleep, because she is so tired. I'm such a shitty father to envy her from him, right?"

Barahin burst out laughing. "No, you aren't. It was the exact same for us. Beginnings is always rough; we find it hard to understand that our wives are not only ours anymore… All I can say is that you be patient and wait. I'm going that way. Good night!" he patted his shoulder and turned off the Fifth Street.

"'Night" Torundir nodded and headed home too.

It was not so late yet, maybe Gilraen would be up and they could talk a little at least. He missed her. And he seriously hoped that he would live to see his son having the same issues with his wife and new born child so the poor babe would once understand that he was not blaming him. He was not blaming anybody actually… Barahin was right, it was a change he would get used to with time…

Pilares received him at home and while she brought dinner for him, he sent of one of the maids to prepare a bath for him.

"My wife?" Torundir glanced up at Pilares as the woman placed a plate of roast goose in front of him.

"She went upstairs to put the child to sleep about an hour ago, my lord" the housekeeper said.

After finishing dinner Torundir made his way upstairs to check on his bath and almost crashed into the cleaning maid.

"Apologies, m'lord" she muttered dropping her gaze. Torundir gave her an angry glare but he needed to talk with the girl, so there was no point in telling her off.

"My wife is still with the babe?"

"Yes, my lord, the lady is already sleeping too. She was very tired."

"Of course she is…" Torundir gave disappointed nod.

"Your bath is ready, my lord" the maid curtsied and scurried down the stairs.

He was really not this scary. Or was he? Once Gilraen said that young women tended to be scared of him. That had been back during their secret affair time, maybe in relation with the rest of the girls from Gilraen's Art of Hunting Bullshit group, he didn't remember. And of course Sybille was another proof of young women tending to be scared of him too. Not like he minded. The only young woman who did not generally annoy him was his wife. Because she was intelligent. And sweet. And just amazing.

Torundir walked past the nursery door and headed straight to the hind room to wash. After that he would come back to check on his son and wife. He entered the chamber, full of steam already and walked to the laundry corner to undress. This had alway been a handy room, had two doors, one opening into his bedchamber, the other onto the hallway, so the servants would not disturb them going through their bedroom when they prepared a bath or collected the laundry or cleaned or made a baby bath for their son. Turgalon loved baths, he giggled and kicked and splashed water all over Gilraen which only made her laugh with him. That was sweet. They were so sweet together, Gilraen and their son… If only his son would let him have a little of his mother too. He was throwing the last piece of clothing into the laundry chest when a loud splashing sound behind his back made him turn around.

Gilraen was sitting in the bathtub a mysterious smile dancing on her red lips, her golden locks pinned to the top of her head, water drops rolling down the curves of her ivory shoulders like crystal beads, one of her legs, which splashed the water to catch his attention, still in mid-air as she slowly drew it back into the steaming water. She was more beautiful than anything in the world.

Was he this tired? That he hadn't noticed her when he entered the chamber?

"I was told you were already sleeping" he spoke up with a challenging smile understanding the situation a once. She had told Pilares and Marla to tell him that she already went to bed.

"And are you happy that I'm not?" Gilraen asked twinkling at him.

"If you were aiming for a pleasant surprise, this is by far the best I could imagine" he shook his head with a grin as he walked up to the tub. "Where's our son?"

"He is sleeping" Gilraen smiled. "Will you join me? This is your bath, after all…"

Torundir chuckled and climbed into the tub. Gilraen flirting with him was the loveliest thing in the world. He loved those suggestive eyes and twinkles, those mystery smiles and tones, and above all he loved the way they paired with the rosy blush on her cheeks, because she would never grow out of blushing when they flirted. The moment he sunk into the water, her arms were around his shoulders.

"My dear, you are so tired" she sighed and sliding behind him started washing and massaging his back with a sponge.

"Wait now. This is my bath, as you pointed out, my sweet, let me enjoy it as long as I can" Torundir smirked and pulled her into his arms burying his face into her neck, inhaling the intoxicating scent of her skin.

"As long as you can?" he heard her amused voice.

"As we both know well, Turgalon being asleep now doesn't mean he'll be asleep in ten minutes too, right?"

"Well then, he'll have Marla and Dolly to rock him back to sleep or entertain him for the rest of the night, right?" Gilraen raised a smiley eyebrow and Torundir's jaw dropped. This night was getting better and better with every minute.

"And what is that supposed to mean, my sweetest wife?"

"That I miss you so badly, my beloved husband" she said simply, looking into his eyes.

He couldn't say anything else to that. Torundir grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into his lap capturing her lips in the hardest, deepest, most hungry kiss they have had in months. Her arms coiled around his neck and her torso brushed against his as she kissed him back with ever growing passion. The feel of her full breasts pressing into his chest drew all the blood out of his head to a lower region of his body.

Gilraen broke their kiss with a giggle. "Oh, my beloved husband missed me too?" she smiled brushing her inner thighs against his erection, flushing rosy red on both cheeks.

"Oh sweetheart, I miss you so much, I want you so much" he panted into her ears pulling her back into their kiss.

Torundir had no idea how much time passed eating, biting, sucking each other's lips among their mad kisses and hugs. By the time he came to his senses again, his whole body felt like exploding and Gilraen was trembling with desire in his arms too.

"Wait, wait" he pulled away from her mouth. "Finish me with your hand before I explode…"

"What? Why with my hand?" she looked at him utterly bewildered.

"The midwife said you should not… After you gave birth…"

"Oh darling" she laughed and kissed his cheeks. "I'm fine. Torundir, two months were just perfectly enough to recover from the birth. The midwife said it should be up to eight weeks. It's nine weeks now, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" he looked at her, brushing her face with his knuckles.

"I'm sure. Just start off gently" she smiled at him.

There was nothing like taking his wife again after three months. He threw back his head in pleasure and a gasp escaped his mouth as he entered her.

"Are you still fine?" he glanced at Gilraen after a moment of shutting his eyes tight so he wouldn't release right away.

"More than fine" she whispered resuming their kiss as he started making love to her.

By the time they lay in each other's arms, spent and panting, half of the water was gone, Torundir realized.

"We splashed it?" Gilraen mused. "That much?"

"Are you kidding me? This was so amazingly crazy bloody good I'd not be surprised if we splashed all the water…" he laughed.

"Hmmm, you are right" she sighed happily relaxing against his chest.

"The water is getting cold. Shall we get out and continue in bed?" Torundir grinned at her.

"My thoughts exactly" his wife twinkled back with a small smile.

After having Gilraen once more, in bed this time, he was so tired and so content he couldn't lift a finger. His wife curled up to him and he drew an arm around her waist while she kept caressing his hand as they talked.

"When is your sister's wedding exactly?" Torundir asked kissing her head.

"The ceremony starts at four o'clock, but it'd be good if we could get there by three. I want to give her my congratulations, not just wave hello at her when she's walking up to the altar."

"That's fine with me. We can go whenever you want, I don't have anything apart from the wedding tomorrow."

"And how was the council? You seemed very tired."

"Please, let's not talk about the council… Almost seven hours long, it was a torture" Torundir chuckled. "We chewed on the same arguments for hours, your brother even made some joke about it, I forgot, but it was hilarious and the biggest achievement of the council."

"That sounds like him" Gilraen nodded.

"The King will never let extension supporters convince him, and he is right. The whole debate was doomed to be fruitless …"

"And this will go on next week too?" she yawned. "Why do you even have councils then?"

"Well, you know us lords, we can't live without our councils" Torundir chuckled. "But six hours long ones are a little too much even for us. Shall we sleep, my sweet?"

"Mmm-hmm" Gilraen nuzzled against him blew off the bed side candle. "Good night!"

One last lungful of his wife's scent and he was fast asleep.

In the morning he woke to Gilraen slipping out of his arms. She turned back and gave him a swift kiss when she noticed she had woken him.

"Just a quarter of an hour. I'll be back. Go back to sleep" she whispered and tiptoed out of the door.

He couldn't go back to sleep though. So he just stared at the ceiling and waited for her to come back so they would cuddle for a while. Or he could just get up and go and see his son. Torundir pushed himself up on both elbows.

"Gilraen!" he called.

"Five more minutes" she called back softly.

"Bring him here when you finish" Torundir said and laid back against a pillow.

After a few minutes Gilraen reappeared in the door with their son in her arms.

"Say hello to Father, baby! Good morning Father!" she cooed to him smiling as she walked to the bed.

Torundir broke into the same incredulous smile the baby brought to his face every time he saw him. He was the sweetest child in the world.

"Give him to me" he said sitting up and took the baby from Gilraen's hands. "There is a big boy" he smiled at his son. "You are a bad boy, you know that, my son? Never letting poor Mama sleep. Such a bad boy, huh?" he lifted the child above his head who grinned down at them and kicked in mid-air with a giggle.

"There's your answer, Yes, I am" Gilraen laughed and lay beside him.

They played with the baby like that for a while. Gilraen rested her head on his chest, while Torundir lifted their son up and down and Gilraen tickled the baby's feet every time he brought him down.

"Auch!" Gilraen laughed as Turgalon grabbed a fistful of her hair with a giggle.

"That's the revenge for tickling him" Torundir chuckled and held the baby in place while his wife untangled her hair from the child's tiny fingers.

"You should put him down, it's tiring to hold his head for so long like that" Gilraen said reaching up to kiss the baby's nose.

"Tiring? Oh Mama, what do you know of being a man?" Torundir chuckled lifting his son back up. "He doesn't mind doing anything tiring, he wants to be strong and muscular to win every fight and be a great swordsman so every girl will be dreaming of him. And then he can dump all the ugly and stupid ones, and find someone as lovely and beautiful as his Mama."

The baby grinned and giggled teetering in mid-air with all his limbs. "You see, he agrees with me" Torundir smirked at his wife who just shook his head.

"I can see you two will make a wonderful team worrying me to craziness in the future" Gilraen smiled and reached up to take Turgalon from his hands anyways. "Hello baby!" she chirped to him as she brought him down and laid him on top of her so his little head could rest on her chest. "Will you fall asleep, my darling? Fall into a nap and dream something fun of girls and sword fighting? Will you, sweet baby?"

"Judging from his eyes, he will" Torundir smiled and cupped the child's head. "I love you" he said to Gilraen and kissed her brow. "I love you too" he grinned at his son and placed a kiss on his soft head.

"We love you too. You are our life. At least mine. But I'm sure Turgalon agrees" Gilraen said sleepily stroking their son's back rhythmically.

Torundir just smiled at her response twirling her golden locks around his fingers. They meant the world to him. His wife and son. They were everything. For a while he just listened to Gilraen's steady breathing as she fell asleep her head resting on his chest, their son resting on hers and thought about all the things he would teach his son when he was old enough. There were so many vague ideas, and only one thing he was sure of, that he would be so proud of his sons. Because Turgalon would have brothers of course. And a little sister too, with Gilraen's golden hair and blue eyes…

Okay, an important question, please let me know in a review. I was quite in an estrogen flow mood when I wrote this and I just want to know that I didn't not like... unman him for the want of a better word. :"D

So thank you for reading and I'd be really happy to read your thoughts or comments. I don't really know when the next chapter is coming, I'm getting back from Paris next week, so it'll probably be next weekend. Until then, au revior and enjoy the snow (if you have any - if you don't, enjoy the sunshine, or whatever you have, the point is that you enjoy it :))