A week and two dates later, Ithilwen was beginning to consider her idea of talking to Payne about the dreams more seriously. He was still spouting compliments that Fiona crowed in laughter over, but he hadn't given her any reason to reconsider her decision. In a way, she had a distinct feeling that she knew the relationship wasn't going to go anywhere, but she couldn't bring herself to come upfront about it. Maybe he wasn't clever when it came to admiration, and maybe he was tactless when it came to common sense, but Payne had treated her very well in the time that they had been together. When it would come to the point that the relationship could go no further, she just hoped that they could part ways as friends.

"Isn't it strange?" Fiona asked, looking out the front window to see the familiar car drive up. Payne was in the driver's seat, and from her angle, could only see that he was fiddling with something in the front seat.

"Is what strange?" Ithilwen had entered the dining room toting her small purse. Payne was taking her to some café that he thought she would like for brunch.

"Strange that your boyfriend decides to appear only after Mom left to meet with the developers." The strawberry blond turned in her seat to face her elvish friend.

"What are you talking about? He called saying that he was running late because he had to stop by the gas station."

"And you believe that?"

"Why shouldn't I?" Ithilwen raised her eyebrow.

Fiona shot up from her seat and scuttled over to Ithilwen. "Please tell me that his denseness is not rubbing off on you." She leaned in, though with her elvish hearing, Ithilwen knew it was just in gesture. "The dude knew that Mom was home today. He called to let you know he was on his way, but he asked if Mom was still home first. When you told him she was, he made up that lame excuse. Payne is going out of his way to avoid meeting Mom, and she knows it. That's why she left earlier than she needed to." A knock on the front door stopped Fiona from finishing what she wanted to say.

Ithilwen looked her friend in the eye and assured her that he was just nervous about meeting parents, and that if Haldir were there it would be the same. Giving her a hug, she went out the front door to greet the mortal with a hug and quick kiss. Fiona watched him lead her to the car and hold the door open for her as she got in before moving to the driver's side. The car started up once more and eased out of the driveway, then sped down the street.

Fiona continued to watch even after the car was no longer within her sight. She knew that there was something strange about Payne's behavior, but she couldn't figure out if it was because of who Ithilwen's mother was or what she was. Morwen had picked up on the peculiarity as well, but chose to let the boy approach her on his own, though it was with great restraint. All Fiona knew was that she would have rather had the elf Ithilwen conversed with in her dreams over the company of Payne now. She was beginning to like him more and more. It just sucked that a war was keeping them from finding a way to her world, even if it would mean that Ithilwen and Morwen would leave. Fiona would rather they be happy than to keep them where they were not truly happy.

Of all the places that Payne had chosen to take Ithilwen, he had to pick the girliest café in the state. Don't misunderstand Ithilwen, she could appreciate feminine things, but there's a point where a line has been crossed, and whoever designed the establishment had a doily bomb go off. The pink accents on nearly everything wasn't doing much to help, either. She sighed inside, looking around the place with hidden displeasure. Payne had chosen this place because he felt that she would like it, and she didn't want to let him down this early into the day. At least he had chosen them a table outside the café, away from ground zero of the pink confectionary decorations.

Knowing that he was trying to please her – even if he was way off the mark – didn't help the thoughts she had about the future. The more that she lingered on the what-ifs, the harder it would be when she finally got the nerve to have the ultimate discussion. She lifted her mug and took a sip of her coffee, suddenly inspired to breach another topic, one that would give her a better idea of how he'd react later on.

"Payne, when you dream, do you ever remember what you dreamed about?" Better to start out slow and work up to it, she reasoned.

The mortal leaned back in his chair and looked up at the clear sky, humming in thought. "Sometimes, but when I do the details don't stay around long enough for me to make sense of it. Do you?"

Ithilwen hugged the warm mug in her hands for support. Payne couldn't see it, but her hands held the slightest tremble, either from anticipation or nervousness. "Yes," she began, "Some of my dreams as of late have been more clear, but by midday most of the details have blurred."

"What brought this on?" he asked. "You haven't been having nightmares or anything, have you?" Then he grinned. "Or is it that you can't get enough of me when you're awake, so you dream of me instead?"

If he was expecting Ithilwen to blush or stutter like one of his previous girlfriends, he was disappointed. On the contrary, she outright laughed. It wasn't mocking his words, and he found it a gentle, pretty laugh, but a part of his joking around held some seriousness to it that she missed.

"It's nothing like that!" she struggled to get her laughter under control before she continued. "Actually, I've been dreaming about a person that I've never met before."

"Really? Have you seen them around Burgess?" He wasn't expecting that answer.

"No… no, when I dream of this person, he is usually in the woods, but I have not seen any of the locations around here. They seem more…natural than what I am accustomed to seeing. It is peaceful, compared to the city."

"Him?" Payne repeated, not catching half of the rest of her description. "You're dreaming about some guy?!"

Ithilwen blinked, surprised by his change of tone. "Like I said, I've never seen him before, so it's probably a figment of my imagination," she half-lied, half-reasoned. She knew for a fact that Legolas was real, but she couldn't very well tell Payne that now, not after his reaction minutes before. "It could just be those fantasy video games that I've been playing, pay no mind to it."

Payne sat back once more, bristling in his seat. He didn't like the idea of his girlfriend dreaming of some other guy, much less one her imagination created. She was supposed to dream about him and no one else! He had to calm himself; he brought Ithilwen out to brunch, it was supposed to be nice. Ithilwen had reclined back into her seat and took another drink of her coffee, observing him. Since it appeared that the dreams with Legolas were a topic not to be brought up again, she decided to change tactics.

"You know, I remember back in my humanities course there was a discussion about finding evidence of extraterrestrial life. It was almost as fascinating as the three-day debate we had in biology over the topic of intelligent design and evolution."

He relaxed more, used to hearing her discuss past school work. "And what side of the discussion did you stand on?" Payne found out quickly that Ithilwen was very opinionated, and if the topic had caught her interest, her passion really shined through.

Ithilwen smiled. "I said – and I still believe – that as a race of beings we simply do not have the technology at the present to find any evidence of extraterrestrial life on this planet or in outer space."

The mortal frowned. "So you don't believe that aliens exist?"

"That's not true. I do believe they exist, but we don't have the equipment or the power to go out far enough into the universe to document any evidence and still survive the journey. We're not even close to reaching one-tenth the speed of light, and even with a surge of advancements, there is still mortality to consider."

"What makes you think we would have to go so far out to find anything?"

Ithilwen frowned then. "The Drake equation."

"If I remember right, that tells us how many civilizations are out there in our galaxy."

She had to resist the urge to sigh right then. "The Drake equation is an estimate of the number of potential civilizations that could sustain life in our galaxy, and if you will remember, our galaxy is fairly large." The elleth made sure to put emphasis on the words 'estimate', 'potential', and 'could'. "As it stands, any possible evidence could be several hundred light years away. And for reference, just one light year is almost 6 trillion miles. Depending on how fast our best shuttles could go to match the speed of light, it might take anywhere between 100 years at best to 40,000!"

Payne laughed. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh, but Ithilwen… you couldn't be more wrong."

"Excuse me?"

"The math is against you. Everyday man is becoming more advanced, thereby debunking your belief that we won't find aliens. The Drake equation-"

"The Drake equation is an estimate at best!" Ithilwen's voice rose an octave in anger. "It doesn't matter how many times you plug the numbers into the formula! Each variable is an estimation because there is no documented proof that the records can't change! You speak of advancement, well the earth is changing as well! What is to say that the universe is not? Any attempts to record a life-sustaining mass cannot be done from this distance because we have to anticipate the possibility that the mass might not be there the next time we look! Besides, the Drake equation ESTIMATES POTENTIAL civilizations that we MIGHT be able to make contact with! Had we been near one of these civilizations, don't you think our satellites would have picked up on the foreign radio signals by now?!"

It was all Ithilwen could do to stay in her seat. Her knuckles were gripping the mug so hard they were turning white, and she didn't have to look around to see that their argument had attracted an audience of eavesdroppers. Not that she cared. Payne, for his credit, had not spoken once during her rant, even to interrupt. Unlike her, he did care that he was being stared at, and from the proud smiles of the women nearby, he knew that she had won the argument. He watched her warily, her grip on the mug finally loosening and her body relax back into the seat.

"Alright. Alright, you believe what you want to believe," he spoke in what he thought was a calming tone. "I still think you're wrong, but alright." Glancing about he asked, "So, uh… where would you like to go next?"

Ithilwen had drained the remaining contents of her mug in an ungraceful manner, not really caring about appearances. She was baffled that this mortal had the gall to still tell her that she was wrong. She had learned that the most he knew about academics were from his friend's college textbooks – he never felt the need to attend anything beyond high school. At his question, she wanted to chuck the mug at his face in frustration but held back. That outburst had left her drained. "Actually," she began, "I'm not feeling very well today. If it is alright with you, I think I need to go home and rest it off."

Payne looked surprised. "Are you sure? It's a beautiful day out-" Seeing her shake her head, he rose from his seat. "Alright, I'll take you home," and left to go pay the bill. He missed the open look of upset that crossed her elven features.

Had he seen it, he probably would have thought it was because she didn't fee well, not because of how hurt she was that he wouldn't listen to her point of view.

"You're home? I thought Payne was taking you out for the day. Did something happen? Oh wait, did he happen to catch sight of Mom, then turn tail and run like a scared squirrel?" Fiona laughed at her own joke, but when she got no response from Ithilwen she looked up. "What's wrong?"

The elleth sunk down into the seat on the couch and pulled her knees up to herself. Finally she spoke. "Nothing…that's a lie. Everything."

"I don't understand."

"I brought up the dreams with Legolas."

Fiona winced from the flat tone. "And I take it didn't go well?"

"Nope. He got angry because I mentioned that it was a guy; I didn't even bother to try continuing. He probably wouldn't have believed me anyway."

"What makes you say that?"

Ithilwen turned her head to look at Fiona. "Do you remember the extraterrestrial existence discussion forum?"

Fiona nodded. "Yeah, that got pretty brutal there towards the end."

"Stupid me thought that would be a good change in topic. He laughed at my explanations and told me that I was wrong, that the math was against me. I tried to explain to him why I wasn't wrong in my reasoning, and all he said was that I could believe what I wanted, even if it was wrong."

"That sonofabitch," Fiona hissed through her teeth. "What the hell does he know? From what his friends told me, he just squeaked by in order to graduate high school!"

Ithilwen waved her emerging tirade off. "Look, don't bother getting worked up over it. I'm beginning to accept the fact that he's a stump on some matters."

"But you shouldn't have to!" Fiona protested. "No one deserves that kind of treatment!" She shifted in her seat, sliding closer to her friend to put an arm around her shoulders in comfort. "Look, since you won't let me pound him into pulp three ways from Sunday, at least let me get this out. The more I hear about Payne, the more I regret setting up that blind date. His friends have told me that he is impossibly set in his ways about the world, and unfortunately that means he thinks he's king and that women are supposed to fall to their knees before him. Since you don't do that, he's using his ego to bring you down, even though you're right. I haven't heard of him being physical with any of his past relationships, but I'm still worried about you."

"You know that I can defend myself," Ithilwen cut in.

"I do, and in that case I fear for him," she laughed. "But I worry about your emotions. I don't want to see this jerk break your heart, even if you don't actually love him." Fiona didn't speak for a minute. "You know what it's going to come to, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know. I'm just not ready for it to get there yet."

She was on a river embankment this time. The water was a calming distraction from the mess that the day had started out to be. At least Ithilwen was beginning to get used to the overly long gowns now.

"You seem distressed," Legolas stated, coming to stand beside her. "Has your day not been well?"

Ithilwen shook her head. "It was downright awful. How did you know that I was upset?" she asked, looking up at him.

"I could feel it here," he replied, placing a hand over his heart. "When we set off in the boats once more this morning, things were fine, but as our passage approached midday I felt hurt and anger, yet I could not place the cause for such emotions. It was not until we stopped for the evening that I realized that it must have been your feelings."

"So there's a new level of empathy between two worlds?"

"It would appear so."

She was surprised at that piece of news. She shouldn't have been, considering, but decided not to dwell on what else this new information could imply. Or rather, Legolas didn't give her the chance, as he asked her again what had upset her. Ithilwen wasn't sure she wanted to tell him, but she knew that he knew that something was wrong, and he wouldn't relent until she came forward. A small part of her was afraid that he would get mad at her if she withheld any longer, and she wasn't sure if she could deal with that.

"Payne took me out for the day, and we stopped at this shop to eat breakfast first."

"I thought that you enjoyed your time with Payne?" Legolas asked. He masked his features so that she would not see the anxiousness he was feeling at the prospect that she might have ended the relationship.

Ithilwen nodded half-heartedly. "Normally, yes. But today, today… we had an argument." And Ithilwen launched into the details of the heated conversation. Legolas did not understand half of what she was saying, and she knew this, but she appreciated the attention that he was giving to her as he listened. She noticed that by the end of her story, his blank expression had turned into a deep frown.

"That boy was out of line to insinuate that you were wrong," Legolas stated in a near growl. "I will admit that I did not understand the things that you explained to me, but I would not be so foolish to claim that you were wrong because I did not know better."

"It's a patriarchal society, Legolas. Women are still considered second-class by some men in this world, even though they have advanced so far."

"That is no excuse. Men in middle-earth, mortal or immortal, know to respect the women in their culture and beyond as an unspoken rule. This boy had best hope that he is not within my sights when this war is over."

She fought hard to suppress the shiver at those words. Legolas meant business, and Eru help the boy if he caught him. "Don't bother getting worked up over it," she said. "I'm not sure how much longer this relationship is going to continue."

"How do you mean?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Ithilwen laughed. "He's gonna die one day, and my home isn't in this world. Fiona said it best when she pointed out that I don't love him."

Legolas wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer, but he had to ask. "What do you feel for him?"

"I…I don't know." The realization surprised Ithilwen. "I like him alright, and he has made me happy but… it's not the kind of happy that I should have in a relationship. Right now, in my sleep and in these dream meetings with you, I'm happier than any of my past dates with Payne. Is that wrong of me?"

The elf was shocked to hear her admission. He enjoyed the meetings as well, because it gave him a distraction from the stress of the waking hours, even for a short time. With each day he looked forward to being able to travel with Haldir to this world to bring her and Morwen back home. After a moment he replied, "No, you are not wrong. You are aware of where you stand in the situation; had you carried stronger feelings for him it might have been different. Have you decided the course that you need to take with the boy?"

"Uh huh," she sighed. "I'm just not looking forward to it." Ithilwen knew that it would come to her ending the relationship, but with Payne's attitude earlier that day it wouldn't make it hard to call it quits. She would rather separate on some level as friends than to have a drawn out fight, but making the decision on when to bring the topic to light would be difficult.

Legolas decided not to press her on the matter, aware that she was still sorting her thoughts out. He knew Haldir would be pleased to hear the news, once he was in a position to send post to Lothlorien. Speaking of which… He felt inside the pocket of his leggings to find the small drawstring bag he had received before they departed. Was it right? He looked to Ithilwen, who was staring out at the water, not paying attention to anything around her. Stretching the opening of the bag, he decided that now was a good a time as any. "Ithilwen, I have something for you."

The elleth turned her head to look at him quizzically. "What?"

Legolas extracted a necklace from the drawstring bag, now left discarded in his lap. "Before we left Lothlorien, I was given this by Lady Galadriel. It was sent from my home, at my mother's request." He held the necklace up in the light for her to see. The chain was a simple metal that shined as brightly as the pendant that hung from it.

Ithilwen leaned closer to look at the necklace. What she thought upon first glance as a pendant was actually a ring. The band was of the same metal as the chain, and wrapped in an intricate pattern of leaves and vines sat a cut emerald. "It's beautiful, Legolas."

He smiled. "I am glad to hear that you approve, because I want you to have it."

"What?!" That part she missed. "I-I couldn't, Legolas!"

"My mother gave me specific instructions to give this to the elleth that I felt deserved it," he explained. "I can think of no other elleth in middle-earth or beyond that is more deserving. I want you to have it."

Ithilwen was stumped. Why her? Surely there were more deserving ellith that would give an arm or a leg to get such a precious gift. She didn't feel that she was worthy and tried to explain this much to Legolas, but he refused to take no for an answer, eventually witling her down into accepting the necklace. She had to suppress another shiver when he moved her hair to the side to lock the clasp because his light touch tickled the exposed skin. "I still don't understand why you chose to give this to me," Ithilwen said, fingering the ring lightly, "but thank you, Legolas."

Legolas smiled. "In time you will understand why you deserve such a treasure."

Ithilwen wakes the next morning to find the chain about her neck. Smiling, she moves away from the mirror to go about getting dressed for the day, hearing Fiona shout from downstairs that breakfast was ready.

The next morning, Ithilwen managed to wake before her alarm went off. She grabbed the clock as she rolled out of the bed and swiftly shut it off before heading to the bathroom in a brisk walk. The night's dream meeting by the water did nothing to calm her protesting bladder, especially after drinking a large glass before bed.

One need satisfied, her stomach began to wake as well, telling her of its intentions to eat. Before she left the bathroom however, something shiny reflected off the mirror causing her to stop and double back.

The necklace.

She fingered the jewelry as she observed her reflection, a smile beginning to form on her face. Now she had undeniable proof, squashing any paranoid doubts in her mind about the whole scenario. She still thought him nuts to give her of all people something like this, but he would not let her decline his gift. While wondering what she could give him in return, she heard the shouts of Fiona come from the foot of the stairs.

"Ithilwen! You awake yet? Breakfast is almost ready so get your immortal butt moving!"

"Coming!" Came the short reply. Ithilwen looked back at herself once more in the mirror before leaving her room with a smile on her face. The day before may have started out bad, but the night more than made up for it. Now, she knew what she had to do, and while she still wasn't sure how she would go about finding the right moment, she felt more at peace with the prospect.

A/N: Anybody dislike Payne now? If this doesn't do it for you, just hang it there cause it's gonna get worse before it gets better. The college topics that I used were actually from my biology and humanities courses. Last semester in biology on of the students in the lecture hall had brought up "Why do men have nipples?!" during the discussion, and when we returned the following week he was quite proud to learn that that question had gotten around campus.

Now the humanities discussion occurred this past week, and the argument between Ithilwen and Payne is essentially the heat I caught using Ithilwen's points. The worst part was, that like Payne, they weren't listening to me. If you want to see an interesting take on the topic, Martymer81 on Youtube has a series called UFOs: The Introduction and UFOs: The Evidence (my sources for the discussion). And if you want to see the long-ass formula, just search the Drake equation.

Well, sorry for nerding this chapter up with science; I tried not to make it too technical. Hopefully I won't loose too many of you lovely readers! Thanks for reading, review if you want! I read and appreciate them all!