Chapter XVIII

"So." Kíli watched Tauriel as she leaned back against the side of the window seat they were both comfortably settled in, her bare feet resting in his lap. The bright light of the sun caused her skin to glow and her hair to glitter with a brightness only rivaled by the soft laughter pealing from her lips.

"Allow me to summarize this," his beloved elf continued, her mouth twitching with a grin she was trying to suppress. "You sneaked away from the Rangers' camp and the watchful eyes of Fendir's wife only to find yourself followed by their son who refused to be left behind. Hunting for food, he eventually managed to throw you off a cliff, but you were saved by the miraculous appearance of your brother. Then you brought down a whole fortress swarming with Orcs with a plan developed on the spur of the moment."

Kíli grinned, letting his head fall back against the wall behind him. "That's how it happened, milady, I swear by my mother's beard."

At that, Tauriel laughed another of her bright laughs. "Forgive me, but the whole affair sounds a lot like a story told at a tavern after a generous amount of ale."

Kíli felt laughter bubble up in his own chest. "A tavern?" he asked teasingly. "Have you ever even been to one?"

Tauriel nudged him playfully with her foot. "No," she returned with an indignant huff that was not even half serious. "There are no such things in Mirkwood."

He leaned forward, raising himself onto his knees to be able to bring his face close to hers, mustering his most suggestive stare. "I could take you to one, if that's what you want." When she giggled and gently slapped his shoulder he found his aim of making her laugh once again achieved and sank back into his seat.

"Of course there are no taverns here at Rivendell either," he sighed, looking put into the garden with faked longing. Truly, as long as she was at his side, he had no desire whatsoever for any of the diverting pleasures of drink and company.

"Are you quite bored already?" she asked him with a small frown and he shook his head, a slight degree of seriousness making its way into his voice when he replied.

"Nah. I've got everything I need right here in front me."

She smiled sweetly in reply, that particular kind of smile that always made him feel as if his heart was going to burst in his chest right then and there. Looking at her, his gaze was drawn to hers and they merely looked at each other for a while, the smile on Tauriel's face fading slowly to be replaced by an expression of raw, intense longing. Kíli wanted to move forward, eager to touch his lips to hers and once again allow both their bodies the sweet release they would find between the sheets. Before he could act upon this impulse, the moment between them was however disrupted by shouts and laughter drifting up from the garden below.

Kíli cleared his throat, his face feeling quite hot all of a sudden when he remembered that they were sitting there in broad daylight, not at all concealed from the view of others. He shot a glance down into the garden, Tauriel following his gaze.

"Well, your former traveling companions certainly do seem to enjoy themselves," she said.

"Aye," he returned with a slight chuckle, watching Finn land on his behind after a blow from Dwalin's battle-axe which the boy had tried to fend off. "They certainly do. Don't ever tell him I said this, but I think Dwalin has grown quite fond of the boy."

"He has. But I agree that he would not like to be called out on it," Tauriel laughed. "But what of Finn's father? Fendir must worry about his son," she asked more seriously, her hand covering her own stomach in sympathy for another parent's feelings.

Kíli looked back down at the young Dúnedain who shook his shaggy brown hair from his face with a crooked smile, accepting Dwalin's hand to help him off the ground and continue their sparring. "Elrond sent a messenger down south with the order to locate Fendir's search party. Knowing the Elves and their speedy ways of traveling, they have probably delivered the news of what happened already." He could not help a worried frown as he thought about the possibility of having to confront a very upset Ranger in the near future.

Tauriel smiled a knowing smile. "I will protect you from his wrath, if need be," she said, her eyes twinkling. "And in the meantime the boy is quite safe and comfortable here, I should say."

Kíli suppressed a snort. "He seems to feel right at home. Although I have to say, me and Fíli, we would have wrecked this place at his age. Not nearly enough action or entertainment."

"I can imagine," she replied with a giggle. "Finn on the other hand seems to simply enjoy the company of the Elves. The young elf-maids in particular."

Kíli laughed and reached out to lace his fingers through hers. "Are you jealous that he is no longer looking at you like a lost puppy?" he teased just to see if he could manage to make her blush. It still puzzled him how someone as beautiful as her could be so surprised and uncomfortable at receiving that particular kind of attention.

"By far not," she huffed in reply, but smiled fondly as she watched their young friend. "He is so young. I should say he will admire many females before he truly gives his heart to someone. Which is as it should be."

"Then I suppose I am not as young as my kinsmen usually treat me as," he returned, angling his head to one side. "Because my affections have been captured by the same person for quite some time now and that is not ever going to change."

This time Tauriel did blush, even if only a little. Leaning forward in her seat, she got onto her knees and proceeded to curl up against Kíli's side, putting her head on his chest. He brought up an arm to curl around her shoulder and smiled down at her as she continued to look down into the garden. He found her gaze fixing onto the other two people down there, his brother and his young fiancée, Sigrid. She was busy mending what looked like one of her skirts while Fíli reclined in the grass at her feet, the two of them exchanging shy smiles whenever Sigrid looked up from her work.

"The same thing appears to be true of your brother," Tauriel said while he absentmindedly trailed his fingers through her long hair, wondering if she would let him braid it for her later.

"Now that's a lovesick puppy, if I have ever seen one," he said in agreement with her words.

She glanced up at him, her expression soft. "I'm sure he might say the same thing about you if I told him some of the sweet things you say to me from time to time."

He gently tugged at her hair. "Ah, but you wouldn't."

She laughed and leaned up to press a quick kiss to his lips. "No, you're right. I would not want to risk you stop trying to find things that you can say to make me blush."

He grinned, not surprised by the fact that she saw through his agenda most of the time. Looking back down at Fíli and Sigrid he sighed. "I wish I could have been there to see Thorin's face when he found out about these two."

Now Tauriel looked slightly horrified. And incredulous. "Why? That could not have been very… pleasant."

He shrugged in reply. "It was not too bad from what Fíli told me. Also, I'm sure, the fact that Bard would not rejoice over this love interest of his daughter softened the blow."

"I thought your uncle and Bard were getting along well by now?"

"They do from what I've heard." He grinned. "But you know Thorin. Old grudges and all that."

Tauriel frowned. "I suppose that is true. I of all people can confirm that your uncle can hold a grudge for a very long time."

Kíli hugged her a little tighter to his body, guilt still gnawing at his insides when he remembered how she had suffered under Thorin's dismissal of their relationship. "Well, he will have to come around to the fact that the next generation of our line will only be part Dwarven. The evidence that there is not just friendship but even love to be found amongst Dwarves and Elves, Dwarves and Men, is all around him. Soon he will not be able to close his eyes to this any longer."

"No," she said, her palm resting against Kíli's chest. "He most certainly cannot if Fíli and Sigrid are to be married."

Something about the way she said this made Kíli glance down, trying to get a look at her expression. Was she bothered by the fact that Fíli and Sigrid would soon be married while they were… well, not married? It was not as if the thought had never crossed Kíli's mind, quite the contrary actually, but given the unique nature of their relationship and the fact that they were bound together for life by so many things already, he had usually dismissed the idea before he'd worked up the courage to bring it up.

He felt his heartbeat pick up a few notches as he once more tried to form words in his head that would not make him look like a complete fool in front of her. After all this time and everything that they had been through together, she still made him nervous sometimes. He took a deep breath and she lifted her head off his chest to look at him curiously, watching him fumble for words.

Before he got out a sound, however, they heard a horn sound in the distance.

Tauriel sat up. "It sounds as if someone is coming," she said. "I wonder who. That was not an Elven horn, I believe."

Kíli had straightened up as well, but did not return her questioning gaze. He swallowed as he looked down into the garden and caught Finn's stare. The boy looked just about as anxious and pale as he felt. "No, no it wasn't," he muttered. "It's the Rangers."

Kíli felt slightly queasy as he pulled on his boots and laced up his shirt, rolling up the sleeves that were slightly too long for him. Upon their arrival at Rivendell he had been provided with a change of clothes which had sat untouched on a chair in the corner until this morning, when Tauriel had protested against him dressing in his worn tunic that was still stained with blood from the battle they had fought. So he had reluctantly shrugged on the silvery-white shirt he had been given, the fabric cool and soft against his skin, but the color not something that he would normally have chosen for himself. Ever.

His outward appearances where however not what he was concerned with at the moment. He exhaled a nervous breath and turned around to face Tauriel who was leaning against the window-frame, her arms crossed in front of her chest. "You should let me go with you," she said, her expression disapproving. "After all, what happened, happened because of me as well."

Kíli shook his head before reaching up to pull some strands of his tousled hair into a braid at the back of his head. "You were attacked and kidnapped while defending Fendir's people. It is not like you had any choice in that matter. I, on the other hand, made a very conscious decision to bring the boy with me on a mission that I knew to be dangerous."

Tauriel opened her mouth to protest, but Kíli quickly walked over to her and reached up to cup her face in his hands, drawing her down into a quick but hard kiss. He wrapped his hands around her upper arms as he took a half step back. "You will have plenty opportunity to try and take some of the blame for yourself later," he said with a smirk, knowing that she would not let the matter rest so easily. "But for now, let me go alone to be at Finn's side when he is reunited with his father. I owe the boy that much."

She pursed her lips but nodded hesitantly. "Fine," she said. "But do not let this become a habit."

He frowned, sensing that something had upset her. "What are you talking about?"

Tauriel dropped her gaze for a second before looking back up at him, this particular, new kind of vulnerability shining in her eyes. "Making me stay behind. I know that with everything that has been happening lately you feel the need to protect me, but I cannot stand the thought to always wait for you to return to me, wondering if you are alright."

His expression grew soft. "Ah, my love," he said, taking her hands in his to bring them to his lips. "I promised myself once that I would never hold you back and I intend to keep that promise, even if we might have to make some adjustments in the next couple of months."

She tilted her head to one side and smiled. "You did? Make that kind of promise I mean?"

"Aye." He grinned as the memory played itself out in front of his inner eye. "Back in Mirkwood. We had just left Thranduil's halls and you were a sight for sore eyes, skipping ahead of me into our new life." His face grew more serious. "Especially after seeing you back in your room, dead to the world."

She sighed and relaxed her slightly tense stance, leaning her head on his shoulder. "That seems so long ago," she said softly.

"And a lot has changed since then." He turned his head to press a kiss into the side of her neck, breathing in her sweet scent as he did so. "But many things have also remained the same. Including my promise."

She drew back slightly to gaze at him and seemed about to say something when they both sensed a presence behind them. They stepped apart with some reluctance and Kíli smiled a wry grin at his love before turning around to face Finn, who was hovering at the entrance to their apartment.

The look of anxiety had not left the boys face, if anything it had intensified in the minutes that had passed since the Rangers' arrival had been announced. He shuffled his feet awkwardly, clearly not wanting to interrupt, but seeking Kíli's attention nonetheless.

Tauriel squeezed Kíli's hands. "Go now," she said, nodding in Finn's direction. "And you make sure that he is returned to me in one piece," she addressed the boy.

Her accompanying smile clearly failed to have its intended reassuring effect and Kíli watched what little color had remained in the boy's cheeks drain from it quickly. He offered Tauriel a last, small smile before heading over to the young Dúnedain. Grasping him by the elbow, he led him towards the stairs leading down into a small courtyard.

"Let's get moving," he muttered, feeling a little lightheaded himself. "Before you faint and I have to present your father with your unconscious body. I'm quite certain he would not find that very funny, given the circumstances."

Finn did not reply, but steadied himself and, taking a deep breath, descended the stairs in front of Kíli. Together they marched past the fountain in the courtyard below, Kíli catching his brother's gaze from a few feet away. Fíli made to rise when he saw the worried frown on his younger brother's face, but Kíli quickly waved him down with his hand. This was something that he needed to do on his own.

He followed Finn across a narrow stone bridge and they approached a platform that Kíli remembered well. It was the very spot where he had landed together with Thorin and the rest of the company in what now seemed almost like another life. He had felt so much younger then, when in fact only a year had passed since. If anyone had told him then that he would one day return here with an elf at his side who carried his child, he would have laughed them right in the face and accused them of having nibbled on the wrong kind of mushroom.

Shaking himself out of this state of remembrance, Kíli forced himself to focus on what lay ahead of him in the present. Today no company of Dwarves filled the wide platform at the foot of Elrond's house, but a group consisting of both Elves and Rangers. Some of them appeared to have travelled on foot while others were busy taking the halters off their horses. Off to the side, Kíli spotted two figures engaged in a deep discussion. One of them was Elrond, the other Fendir.

In front of him, Finn stopped dead when he, too, laid eyes on his father. Kíli stepped up beside the boy and resisted the childish urge to duck behind his back when Elrond paused in midsentence and pointed towards the two of them over Fendir's shoulder.

In the few seconds that it took the Ranger to whip his head around and then stride across the platform towards the pair that stood rooted to the spot, Kíli played out several scenarios of how this encounter might turn out in his head. Next to him, Finn flinched as his father drew close, clearly expecting the worst. Fendir, however, proved himself worthy of the very high regard in which Kíli held him and proceeded to crush the boy to his chest, alternately pulling back to look him over for damage and hugging him close again, muttering some words in the Elven language that the Rangers sometimes used.

Slightly dumbfounded, Kíli watched this exchange between father and son with a bemused smile on his face. That smile slowly died, however, when Fendir let go of his son and turned towards him.

"You had better wipe that smug smile off your face very quickly, Master Dwarf," the Ranger said, his eyes glaring at Kíli. "Soon you will be a parent yourself and then you will understand the agony that a father feels when his son manages to get himself in grave danger."

Kíli swallowed under Fendir's dark stare, desperately searching for a suitable reply. "I have reason to believe that I will be gifted with a daughter," he finally said sheepishly, wincing even as he did so.

Fendir laughed at that, a genuine, booming laugh. "All the better," he said. "I hear that daughters are even better at sending their fathers through hell. And you certainly deserve just that." Despite the harshness of his words, there was a twinkle in his eyes when he spoke and he proceeded to take a step forward and clasp Kíli's shoulder in an affectionate gesture. "Thank you for returning my son to me in one piece."

Kíli's confusion momentarily robbed him of any words to say in reply. "Then- you are not mad at me?" he finally spluttered, trying to comprehend why the Ranger was not currently attempting to choke the life out of him.

"Mad?" Fendir grinned dangerously. "I have spent a great deal of the past couple of days fantasizing over what I would do with you once I got my hands on you." His expression lost some of its mirth. "And then I saw with my own eyes where you had gone to, what you all survived. And I realized that whatever had transpired there, Fennion would not have escaped it unharmed without you to look to for guidance and protection. You should not have let him come with you, but in the end you proved a worthier guardian for him that most would have under the same circumstances."

Finn blushed, ducking his head. "You don't know the half of it," he muttered in reply to his father's words, clearly referring to the incident where Kíli had almost given his own life to save him from breaking his neck.

Fendir looked questioningly between Kíli and his son, but before he could ask what Finn was talking about, Kíli asked him a question of his own that was nagging at his mind. "What do you mean, you saw where we had gone to? You were there? At the fortress?" This was news to Kíli and he winced inwardly when he imagined how Fendir must have felt when he and his search party found the battlefield at the foot of the Misty Mountains with no trace of his son.

The Ranger nodded gravely. "Aye. We found your trail and followed it. But we were too late – a great deal of it had been turned to ash when we arrived. And you were gone."

Kíli sensed that there was more that the Ranger was going to say, but Fendir stopped him when he made to ask what else they had found at the orc fortress aside from ashes and dead Orcs.

"Let us go somewhere where we can speak without being interrupted," he interjected, making Kíli wonder whether maybe he just wanted to postpone for a little longer whatever it was that he had to say. To Finn he added, "Please help the others unsaddle the horses and store their weapons away, son. We will stay here for a few days upon invitation by the Lord Elrond."

Finn's face fell slightly at being sent away with such an awfully mundane task. His father sighed when he observed a small, not unfamiliar scowl forming on the boy's face. "Come and join me and Kíli when you are done. There are some matters that I would like to hear from your point of view as well," he added.

Kíli watched the young Dúnedain's face light up at this suggestion and he could not help a small spark of pride surge through his chest at the thought that under his tutelage Finn had become someone who would be admitted to the business of the adult Rangers.

Briefly smiling after the boy as he headed over to the remaining men, Kíli turned back around to Fendir. "Let us walk then," he offered.

Together they left the platform and headed down a winding path that led them away from the buzz of voices and the clatter of weapons being collected.

"Tauriel is well from what I have gathered so far?" Fendir asked after walking silently for a few minutes.

Kíli nodded. "She is. Weakened, but otherwise unharmed. Physically at least." Despite the lightness of their conversation this very morning, the easy, teasing manner of interacting to which they had returned so effortlessly, he had not forgotten the state she had been in when he had found her, the bitter tears she had shed over the loss of her young Elven friend. The events of the last couple of days had left scars upon her soul the extent of which he could not yet quite estimate – only time would tell how she would cope with the things she had seen.

From Fendir's nod and his accompanying silence, Kíli could tell that the Ranger could not be entirely unaware of some of the things that had transpired inside that fortress.

"Tell me," the Fendir spoke up after a moment, drawing Kíli out from a pensive silence. "How did one dwarf and one boy manage to wreak this amount of havoc over a place crawling with Orcs and whatnot?"

Kíli smirked a little at that. "First of all, we cannot take all the credit for ourselves - we had some help. My brother and another member of my uncle's company found and helped us. What happened then is partly owed to coincidence and to your son's impressive talent for mischief…"

He went on to recount the events of their invasion of the orc fortress, earning himself a surprised laugh or two from his companion. When he got to the part of his narration when he and Fíli had found Tauriel in her cell, he watched Fendir's face grow very serious.

"Did you ever find out what was really happening inside that fortress?" the Ranger asked after Kíli had recounted how the Orcs' master had met his end.

Kíli shook his head. "Not with certainty." He frowned. "But something tells me that you know more of this then I do." When Fendir did not reply immediately, he pressed on. "What did you find upon your arrival?"

Fendir hesitated, his expression tense. "Bodies," he finally said. "And I do not mean Orcs, though there were plenty of those as well. Some of the bodies we found deep inside the remains of the fortress were human, and very few dwarven, but most of them were Elves. Dozens of them. From what we could tell they had been dead long before the fire. Many of them were…" he swallowed, discomfort and disgust plain on his face. "They were gravely mutilated. Injured almost beyond recognition."

Kíli realized only that he had stopped walking when Fendir turned around to look at him, his eyebrows raised.

"Are you alright?" the Ranger asked him.

Kíli nodded and cleared his throat. "I am fine," he managed, when, in fact, he felt far from fine. A cold, dead weight had settled inside his stomach at the images that Fendir's words had painted inside his mind and for a moment all he could see was Tauriel as he had found her kneeling over Nimwen's body back in that horrid place, her eyes dull and empty, her hands covered in blood.

He drew a shaky breath to remind himself once again that it had not been her blood he had seen. She was fine and he really needed to get a hold of himself. And yet, having his vague suspicions of the evils of the place his love had been imprisoned in confirmed sent his mind spiraling down a never-ending path of guilt and horror.

While his mind confronted him with images of what might have been had he not found Tauriel in time, Kíli's feet automatically continued their path beside Fendir, who resumed his narration. Kíli was however not really listening to what the Ranger was saying.

"We hope to gather more information on who the Orcs and their mysterious master were working for when we go back," Fendir finally stated, causing Kíli, who had been grimly staring ahead, to look back up at him sharply.

"You are going back?" he asked the Ranger, his voice sounding distant, strained, to his own ears. The thought of returning to the place where Tauriel had been held filled him with a mixture of dread and a deep, seething anger. He wanted to make sure that no Orc had left the place alive and those that had, he wanted to track down and make them feel the pain they had clearly inflicted on so many others, the pain they had intended to inflict upon his love. At the same time he never wanted to set foot in that place again, wanted to shield Tauriel from even so much as the memory of it.

"We will in a few days time," Fendir replied calmly, watching Kíli intently. "Orc raids have become far too frequent in this region over the last couple of months and we need to do whatever is necessary to find out the reasons behind this. To stop attacks such as the one when Tauriel was taken from happening."

Kíli nodded in understanding while waiting for Fendir to ask the question he knew was coming, even if he did not know how he would, how he should, react to it.

"Will you ride with us when we go?" the Ranger finally asked when he realized that Kíli would not bring the matter up himself. "Having you amongst our party would be a great advantage."

Kíli inclined his head, honored that Fendir would regard him as an asset. Before he had a chance to reply, however, they were interrupted by Finn, who had come up behind them.

"Go where?" he asked, clearly having caught only that last part of Fendir's and Kíli's conversation. "Can I come, too?"

Fendir turned around and raised his eyebrows at his son. "It is not polite to sneak up on people and interrupt their conversation," he scolded.

But the boy did not heed his father's reproach of his conduct. "You are going to take me back to camp, aren't you?" he asked, disappointment making its way into his voice again.

Fendir sighed. "We are going back there, yes. But only to prove to your mother that you truly are unharmed since she will not believe that unless she sees it with her own eyes. Once that is done, you will ride with us."

Finn beamed at his father. "I will?"

Fendir inclined his head, smiling. "It is obvious that you are not a boy anymore. And if you have to fight the battles of men, then I would rather have you do it at my side."

Walking over to his son, the Ranger put an arm around his shoulders. "And now tell me about some of your adventures." To Kíli he added, "Will it be alright if we speak more later?"

Kíli managed a small smile and nodded, acknowledging that father and son needed to spend some time in each other's company. Inside of him, his thoughts were however still running wild as he watched Finn and Fendir head back to where the remainder of their people were still busy getting settled in.

Turning back around, he continued to head down the path he and Fendir had taken before. He knew not where it led, but found that he did not exactly care. Daylight began to fade slowly as he aimlessly followed the path that circled around the edge of the Rivendell dwellings, the white light of the moon soon taking over from the sun, causing the valley to glow mysteriously.

But tonight he did not have eyes for the many visual attractions of this temporary home of his, the calmness of the descending night not soothing the fury that still burned inside of him. Fury at the evil forces in this world, forces that tore families apart, forces that seemingly made it impossible to live a safe, quiet life. And fury at himself for letting down his guard for long enough to allow the one he loved most to become endangered. For thinking even for a moment that this was a life into which a child could be brought. Tauriel was strong and could fend for her own, but what would be if something similar ever happened to their little one?

An intense sense of panic gripped at Kíli's heart, making him feel powerless in the face of the many terrible things that the future might still have in store for him and his small family. Breathing heavily he looked around, overcome by the need to punch something in order to vent his frustration.

A few feet away, his eyes fell upon a large stone pillar at the base of an old, seemingly deserted building and he flexed his fingers, balling his hand into a fist at his side. Before he could take a swing at the innocent object, however, a hand wrapped itself around his fist, caressing it gently until he relaxed his fingers.

"I have unlimited faith in your fighting skills," Tauriel's voice whispered into his ear from behind, "but I fear that this is a battle you would lose. What did these stones do to deserve your anger, melamin?"

Kíli let his head fall forward in embarrassment and exhaled. "How did you find me?"

Tauriel let go of his hand and ran her hand up his arm, her other hand joining it to knead the tense muscles of his shoulders. "I grew worried when I saw Finn and his father together, but you were nowhere in sight. Fendir suggested that you might have taken the path that led me here."

"Did… did Fendir say anything else?" Kíli did not dare turn around, afraid what he might see on her face.

Tauriel remained silent for a few moments. When she answered he could sense that she was keeping her voice deliberately neutral. "He told me enough for me to know why you are upset. And he told me what he asked of you."

Kíli nodded almost imperceptibly, not surprised. "And what would you have me answer him?"

Tauriels hands stilled on his shoulders and he sensed some of the anxiety she was clearly trying to keep at bay drifting closer to the surface. When she replied, her voice was however surprisingly calm. "I would have you deny Fendir this request, of course. Because I could not stand to be apart from you and, as much as I hate to admit to it, I am in no state to go on such a mission. But I cannot make this decision for you, even if I wanted-"

Here Kíli interrupted her by turning around swiftly, reaching up to cup her face between his palms. "I do not want to go," he admitted, suddenly feeling that there was a weight that he desperately needed to get off his chest. "Only a few weeks ago I would not have thought about it twice, Mahal, I would even have thought it cowardly to stay behind while Fendir takes his men back there. But now…"

Both his hands and his gaze traveled down her upper body, coming to rest on her stomach. "You are the one who has to carry this burden and I cannot change that. But I can be at your side and help you carry it, be there every step of the way. I have failed you before, but I will not do so again."

Looking back up at her after this small outburst of his, he saw her eyes grow soft as she looked down at him. She covered his hands with hers. "For a long time I did see it as a burden," his beloved elf whispered, her voice heavy with emotion. "But I have come to regard it as a gift given to you and me for reasons I cannot fathom, but will not question anymore either. And I know that, if we try our best together, we will keep this child safe, not matter what."

"We will," he promised, his voice slightly hoarse. Straightening up, he pressed a kiss to her lips, drinking in the sweet scent of her skin so close to his. "I may regret this at some point and I will probably offend every single one of Rivendell's inhabitants in the months to come, but I really think we should stay here," he said as he drew away.

She laughed. "We can still change our mind if things become intolerably dull," she said with a twinkle in her eyes. "For now I agree though that this is the wisest course of action," she added more seriously.

He returned her smile, relief washing away the dark feelings from before. Where before his mind had been a black abyss, he now saw with refreshing clarity what it was that he was meant to do. With an arm wrapped around her waist he drew he closer to his body. "May I escort my lady back to our quarters then?" he asked her, tilting his head back to gaze at her face illuminated by the light of the moon.

"In a little while," she muttered distractedly as she lowered her head, her eyes flickering down to his lips before she leaned down to capture them between hers.

As he hugged her close and turned both of them around on their feet to press her against the stone pillar he had been about to attack earlier, his last completely coherent thought was that, for now and for the months to come, this was exactly where he belonged. In her arms, protecting the child she carried. Adventures, Orcs, battles… that would all have to happen without him for at least a little while. All other musings about how they would go about their new life at Rivendell where abandoned with the sensation of her hands on his bare skin and with the sound of the foreign and yet familiar endearments she whispered in his ear as she encouraged him to give himself to her without inhibitions, without restraint.

Author's note: It's been a while. But I'm still here, still writing - just in case you were wondering whether I had abandoned this story. I haven't and I won't. There are a couple more chapters left to this tale and I will try my best to get them written down in the weeks to come. Thank you all for your support which makes it so much easier to sit down and write even after a long day at work ;) Hope you enjoyed this one as well!