Boromir wasn't around when I woke. Legolas was, sitting cross legged on the floor beside the laptop, and I watched through a mess of hair as he used it. Used the laptop. Not like a pro exactly, I had to admit, he reminded me of an old man. Suspicious, tapping slowly, and taking his time.

He would sigh, from time to time, rubbing his forehead. Yeah. Making faces like an old man too.

"Fine."

It took me a moment to realise he wasn't speaking to me. There was something in front of him- a phone- and he glanced down at it. "Fine. I accept that cost. I'll call later."

And with that, he touched the phone and I heard the hang up sound.

It was so strange to see him like this. I shut my eyes, breathing out slowly, as I heard him close the laptop with a soft click. What was going on with him? Some part of me didn't like it much. It didn't suit him.

"Boromir needed to go to the bathroom. Brian has taken him under his wing."

It took me a few moments to realise that Legolas was talking to me now. I opened one eye and gazed upwards to him, as he came to kneel beside me, his fingers brushing the crazy hair out of my face. "They have already left? I have to talk to him! I'm motivated!" I sat up too fast, a wave of pain stabbing me from my thigh upwards, and grimaced. "Left where? He's only just gotten out of hospital, for crying out loud, where is he?" I wanted to talk to him. To … well, I wasn't sure, just to explain something. Somehow. I cared about him, I even loved him, but nothing like … like I was supposed to for a marriage. And I had to tell him that right now.

"Boromir wished to see some forest. His wounds are healing, they have been covered, and his hunger is strong. I do not think you have to worry about his desire to grow strong. Brian was very happy to take him and ask him questions. They will be back after lunch. We," He added, "are going somewhere else today."

"But I..." I sighed. Motivation would have to wait. "Okay. Where are we going?"

Legolas nodded. He lifted me up carefully, sliding his arm under my legs and around my chest, leaning down to kiss my shoulder. I wanted to push him back. "It is a surprise."

"Leggy, don't..."

"Touching you is now as important to me as breathing or sleeping." Legolas muttered. He leaned against me as he lowered me down, sliding a hand over my stomach, his nostrils flaring as the entire half of his body pressed against my side, maybe a little more than usual, some shadowed hunger appearing over his gaze. He hid it fast as he quickly stood backwards. "As is listening to our child. Shower before we leave?"

"How are we leaving?"

"I have help."

That was about as much information as he gave me. Bathroom and shower, only this time I found that I could stand in the shower with a crutch, and once again I found that it was amazing just to be able to stand. Naked. Without even a bandage. And when I went to stand in the mirror, halfway to dressed, I stared at my stomach a long time. It had been only a few weeks here but I was clearly pregnant now, clearly growing, and it was ... humbling. It was the first time I really GOT that this was happening.

"No more crazy drain rides." I muttered. I gazed down at the baby bump. When the door opened, I didn't panic, but just watched as Legolas shut the door and slid inside. "Look. Baby."

"You are gorgeous."

I tried to smile and relax. Instead I pulled a tshirt on, quickly, and tugged the skirt up my stomach. Stress dogged at me. This couldn't go on. If not for me, for baby, and I knew ... I knew if I didn't do something I wouldn't be able to deal with either of them. But … I had to stop, had to stare at my stomach again, this reminder. It wasn't bad. Some things were great. And I was staring at one of them.

"Is this really going to work out okay? I don't want to hurt Boromir..."

"That's not something you could have ever avoided." Legolas leaned against the doorframe, crossing his arms, eyes still on the tiny curve of my stomach. A soft warm smile had spread across his face.

"Yeah, it could, if I just gave into him."

"And would that really make him happy? Watching you carry my child? Seeing your conflict as I come to you, and to my son?"

And when he saw how much Legolas meant to me. I could picture it. Legolas coming back to Minas Tirith, riding, and from the second I saw him and Gimli, I'd be ...his. Maybe not literally. But I'd be unable to touch Boromir, to look at him, my entire mind and attention would be on Legolas until well after the day he was gone. Yes, I knew Boromir loved me, and I did love him. But … not enough. If Boromir had a girlfriend and she treated him as I was abut to do... I'd tell him off and I'd hate her.

It wasn't fair to Boromir. I knew he cared about me. I knew he genuinely wanted to protect and love me.

"You won't die, if I..." I hesitated. I still had my top up, still stroking over the bump, I couldn't get enough of it. Of him. This baby had been conceived in Lothlorien, survived all kinds of battles, and … I really had to be much more careful from now on. "You know. Lord Elrond said that if you chose to... you would die."

"If you wait for my return every year? If you let us remain as lovers and married?"

"Will it be yearly? But …yeah. Will you die young before he's an adult? I mean, die with me?"

Legolas laughed. The sound echoed around the bathroom, shocking me with how serious this was, and he shook his head. "No. No. I promise you now, I will be alive for a great many years, and will spend many of them with our child."

Then why hadn't he … why hadn't he stayed close to me in Minas Tirith? Why hadn't he told me this there and then? Or at least supported me? I wanted to kick Legolas but … one more glance at him in the bathroom, at the expression on his face, the way his eyes couldn't leave my stomach, and I couldn't do it. Instead I got that 'he's older' feeling. And if I let it go now I'd ...think I was crazy. Let it go. So I turned on him as I pulled my t-shirt down for good and asked, "Legolas, tell me what happened? How are you older?"

"I will tell you soon."

"Now." I snapped. My stress at him spilled over. Not just about now, but about his behaviour in Minas Tirith, and earlier, the way he'd just emotionally and physically vanish on me. All the time. Legolas actually looked taken back when I snapped and it didn't improve my temper. "You always do this. Hide things. Vanish. When I get stressed you vanish. When I get upset, you vanish, and all I want is for you to stay and listen and... be there!"

As I spoke my voice echoed around the bathroom, only adding to the effect, and some strange tiredness reappeared in Legolas face. He leaned against the sink and stared ahead.

"Be there."

"Yes! I mean, not when you're off doing fate related things, but when you're with me... just be there. Be around. Why are you always vanishing on me?"

"I am sorry." Legolas muttered. He met my eyes. "I regret it. Every moment I decided to let you have time with your own mind. I regret every second I left you alone like that. At the time I believed that I should not influence your choice..."

"But you did it anyway just by ignoring me all the time! I just wanted to be held."

Arms held me hard then, Legolas kicking the bathroom door shut, kissing me hard as he held onto me. Something in me broke, not sexual desire, but just … desire. For this, for his smell, his arms, his stupid silky hair, the familiar taste he had. He wasn't just holding me, he was devouring me, and I held on for dear life as he kissed hard. Or tried to- my bad leg screamed in pain when I tried to hold onto him.

This seemed to get his senses back and he stood back, just an inch, breathing hard, Legolas' eyes clouded with barely concealed lust and affection. "Do you … not want to wait... to talk to him first?"

I did. I groaned against his lips, feeling Legolas press hard against me, my lips already swollon from the hard desperate kiss. He barely seemed able to release me but he did, slowly, hand sliding down the outside of my leg.

"I will not push you into hurrying." He muttered. But he didn't seem all that convinced. Legolas groaned, shutting his eyes, pressing his hands against his head. "But you must give me... some time to relax."

Relax? I knew what THAT meant. Legolas could barely look at me, his breathing was hard, and when he offered the crutches I took them without an argument.

"Meet you in the shed then?" I offered. He nodded and I slowly hobbled out, keeping weight off the bad leg, glancing as the bathroom door was shut.

It took Legolas about an hour before he emerged, his hair damp, relaxed once more. Sort of. I'd never thought of Elves as being sexual before, not like I had after I'd met him, but the look on his face when he caught me sprawled in front of the fan, skirt up around my thighs, my tshirt bunched up so that I could get as much cool air on me as possible...

I'd almost wondered if he'd need another shower.

Legolas bent down to lift me up, slowly, helping me to my feet while he held out the crutches for me. I was relieved he didn't insist on the wheelchair- that stupid thing bothered me.

"Your meeting is this afternoon for the house, isn't it?" He asked, reaching around me to kiss the back of my neck, this soft tenderness back after the less controlled thing earlier.

"Yeah. At three. We had to leave at one..." Only Brian was gone. I tried to stay calm. "Brian was going to drive..."

"We are going somewhere for lunch. I am sure he will be back in time." Legolas started outside, lifting a bag as he went, and held the door open for me.

We met a taxi. I supposed that had to be why he was gone in the house so long, maybe, or maybe he'd already planned it. Who knew. But Legolas had a couple of bags with him and he sat there, eyes down on them, ignoring the window.

"How are you okay with cars?" I muttered.

"I learned to think of better things." Legolas responded, eyes darting up briefly, and then he met my gaze. He smiled a tense smile. "The trick is to control fear before it controls you."

"Oh."

"This I learnt from Dune."

Oh. Okay. Legolas had seen Dune. Sure. Why not? I eyed the bags in his lap, holding onto the crutches, and tried to focus. Legolas. Boromir. Oh bloody hell. Why couldn't I just zap to the future, get Boromir a loving android or something, and then ...everyone would be happy?

With this in mind I didn't really see where we were going until we were in the city itself. Brisbane had a massive Botanical gardens right beside the river and the taxi stopped right outside the edge. Legolas helped me out and led me through the gardens, the warm late summer sun beating down on both of us, and when we reached the edge near the river a breeze sprung up and made the heat bearable. In the shade, anyway.

Legolas unpacked a blanket and dropped it down carefully, before helping me down, and he sprawled across the blanket next o me easily.

"A picnic?" I asked, amused, but I had to admit it was nice. With a sigh of relief- the wind was relaxing- I lay on my back and relaxed there.

"A different breakfast idea." Legolas agreed, reaching out to brush hair away from my face, tenderness on his face. "Do you mind?"

"No." I breathed out slowly. "Not really." I tried to relax. It wasn't happening. I felt stiff and awkward.

"Turn over."

"First, tell me how old you are."

"I will. As I relax you." Legolas leaned up slowly, 'helping' me turn over, so careful with my leg. He knelt across my back, running his hands up and down the muscles, leaning down to kiss the back of my neck. It was so strange- being in the middle of Brisbane with an Elf on my back- but it was so hard to stay tense. So damn hard.

"I am old."

I groaned softly. Evasive answer. "Leggy..."

"I did not count the years. But … I did not come with you, injured. Instead I had to remain behind. There was those hundreds of years that I spent beside Gimli, and the hundreds of years more that we spent in the Undying Lands."

Oh good god. The man was... "Hang on, what about Lady Galadriel?"

"Lady Galadriel reassured me that you would come but I would have to wait." Legolas was pressing fingertips into muscles. It was impossible not to groan when he found a tense spot, eyes shut now, my body slowly relaxing. He sounded distant as he said, "I have not forgotten anything. You still grow tense there when you are upset."

"So … how long?"

"There was a long time in the Undying Lands." Legolas responded, his hands continuing to ease and massage me into a relaxed state, his lips joining in as they found the sensitive nape of my neck from time to time. "It was known by many names by the humans who stumbled upon it. Lemuria was the common name..."

"Atlantis?"

"No, that was later." Legolas chuckled softly. "It was destroyed by many small earthquakes. We had warning, the earthquakes slowly crumbled and sunk the land, and Elves could organize. There was not one place we all went to- some rejoined the human races and vanished. Most came to create Atlantis. By then, the world of men had grown so vast and wide that it had taken to the seas, and we would trade often."

"But what about you? All that time..."

"Truthfully, my love, until the men came to our shores and started trading, I barely noticed. No Elf measured time until then." Legolas leaned down to lie beside me, a hand still sliding up and down my back, and he reached for the bag. He held out a fruit salad, still in a bowl and wrapped in plastic, and leaned there beside me as he unwrapped his own. "Without time, without care for it, I cannot say if Lemuria was there for a hundred years, a thousand, or ten thousand. It was both a long time and felt as if no time had passed at all. Gimli did not age. Nor did Frodo or Gandalf. There was no way to measure the time."

"Sounds nice."

"It was nice. I missed you." He leaned forward, kissing me suddenly, tasting of strawberries and watermelon. Legolas dropped his bowl, moved mine out of the way, twisting me onto my back suddenly. I felt it. How much he'd missed me. Impossible not to, really, he was almost eating me. Legolas leaned back, suddenly, exhaling sharply as he shut his eyes. I groaned, disappointment flooding me, staring at him.

That was right. We were in a public park. I'd almost not have cared right now. His need, his desire, it was impossible to not feel through the bond.

"Atlantis was when we noticed time again. When the Elves began to feel it once more and could not avoid feeling the world turning and aging. That was when I started to feel your absence. As Gimli's body resumed aging once more." He sighed, shutting his eyes, grief starting to show. Legolas slid closer, resting his head against my arm. "The younger of us would be the ones to live through those times. Many of us preferred to remain quiet, even sleep for months at a time, and only a few of the ancient ones would stay awake. I did until Gimli died, until Frodo passed away as an old man, and then I hid from time with the others. There was another time when we had to move- as the volcano of Atlantis woke- and we moved on once more. This time underground. We have created cities under the earth, vast beautiful places of forests and trees where few man has walked, having hid ourselves. There were few we welcomed, of men, but we did welcome some. Only the past several hundred years have Elves started to emerge. We felt it was needed."

"Because men are destroying everything?"

Legolas nodded, reaching up to stroke my face, and there was something in his face suddenly. Amusement. Pride. Even with the grief for Gimli it was there. "Because an Elf with a heart that had not aged refused to sit in a hole any longer."

He laughed softly. "If he had not, I may have not realised it was so close to the time you returned. But then time passed so slowly since then." Legolas shut his eyes, adding quietly, "I almost wish I could ask you to remain here."

"I can call you..."

"Do not call me. Do not take your phone, do not contact me, or your friend Brian, for the time of this world will match yours as it did this time. Did you not wonder why Lord Elrond was wrong?"

"You mean, how he said no time would pass, but it did?" I muttered.

Legolas nodded. "Because having a connection, through the energy of your phone, moved each world side by side. If you were to leave, now, and be in the past for one year without contacting me, you would return to my side right here at this moment. But if you contact myself or Brian after just a year, this world will have also moved ahead one year. The same rule will apply for ten, twenty years, and ... that is just how the laws come with such a strange thing." He sighed heavily. "I do not fully understand the reason. I only understand the rules."

So I'd have to wait twenty years. Legolas, on the other hand, would only wait a moment.

"Lord Elrond said I had to bring our son back here though."

"You will, I think, and it may be strange for the two of us to meet when you are spending so much time with myself as a ... younger Elf." Legolas nodded. "I am not sure what you did. If you ask me to leave, I will, but if you ask me to stay, that I will also do. I do not feel pain at the... I DID NOT feel pain at the idea of ...us. Now. I am myself, I am Legolas then, and now, and so there is no betrayal."

Yeah. That was weird. Loving Legolas now and loving Legolas then too. ...but then, he was right. He was the same Elf. Just older. "If you had to leave... if it was too weird?"

"I would wait. A month, a year, twenty." Legolas responded. No hesitation. No doubt. I didn't have any doubt. I couldn't spend time here, a month, three, without missing him. I could do it... sure. But ... "Then ...stay. I mean. If you're sure you don't mind..."

"With your love? No." He smiled suddenly, relaxing, reaching out to hug me hard. "No. Never. I was ... this is what I want, what I hoped for. I have so much... so much to show you. To tell you. But-" Legolas' smile faded a moment, "It cannot be shared with my younger self."

"Okay."

"Not even a hint. Only that which I already knew- the place, date and time that I would find you in those drains."

"Got it."

"And you must not tell our son either."

That... was a funny statement. I blinked at him. "Why would I... why would tha..."

I got it suddenly. This shock ran through me at his words, a thrill, heart suddenly kicking into life as excitement flooded me. Legolas wasn't alone here. That mysterious meeting. The way he vanished. Talked on the phone. The laptop. "...Leggy, he's around, isn't he."

The lack of an answer was exactly what I waited for. Legolas hesitated and I suddenly swung my head around as if expecting to see... I didn't know. Some familiarish face in the park.

"He is not here." Legolas muttered. He groaned softly. "Yes. Yes- he is here. But not around. He is not all-"

"Screw that, Leggy, I want to see my baby."

"Not until you have given birth. He must not talk you while you carry him."

That was weird. "But he's a ...blob."

"No. He is listening." Legolas responded. He pressed his hand against my stomach, slowly, and leaned down. "Even if he will not remember it. He is aware of your movements, your heartbeat, your emotions. I do not think it is worth risking. After the birth, I have promised, you and your son will... find each other. Until then, he remains hidden, as do you."

"Are you sure?" I tried. "I mean... maybe..."

"Long ago I studied this. I spent years, in the hope I could understand it and come to you faster, only to come to understand it and how it could not change. So I am very sure."

That was disappointing and a relief. I felt completely shy at the idea of meeting my baby before I'd even … well, I didn't even have an ultrasound photo. I rested back on my back, shutting my eyes, the warm sunshine against my bare feet. My belly was full, the day warm, and the sound of the fountain nearby was relaxing me. I could wait. It almost didn't seem real. "Okay. I can wait. Too tired to be worried about it."

I felt Legolas relax down on the blanket beside me, offering a juicy slice of watermelon, and I accepted it with a soft sigh. We ate, quiet, the entire weight of what he'd just told me sitting on my head. So long. I couldn't even begin to fathom how much time he'd waited. For me. I just knew that I would have done the same thing and how frightening the future would be if I'd had to wait thousands of years, stay alive, and ...still be able to make it to his side.

After I ate, I slept, dozing in the cool breeze and the warm summer day, knowing that Legolas was keeping watch. He only spoke when I woke up properly again, now on his back, asking softly, "Have you been tired much?"

"I guess so." I admitted. "Is that really surprising with all that's been happening?"

"Let me help."

I felt his hand carefully lift my bad leg, his other hand turning me towards him, and let him guide me. I ended up on my side, my bad leg supported by his legs, one of his hands slowly and gently stroking my hair out of my face and off my shoulders. I opened one eye as I felt something soft offered. His jacket, all folded up, made into a makeshift pillow. I should have laughed. It was like he couldn't resist touching me for any reason.

"There, comfortable?"

"Mmm." I agreed. Yeah. I was. I breathed out slowly, relaxing, his smell all over the jacket. He smelt stronger now, more than he used to, and I had to assume this was his 'old Elf smell'.

We lay there a while, ignoring people in the park around us, dozing on and off. Or at least I did- I would wake from time to time, staring sideways at him as he lay on his back, the city of Brisbane behind him. Legolas hadn't changed much. Same taste in colour, the tans, the greens, the natural shades of the world, and however modern his clothing was, he made it look like it would have looked equally at home on a ranger or something in Middle Earth. Practical, used, faded in places, some places stitched up. His hair was the same, long, silvery blonde, and if there was grey it was too light to tell. But he did have lines around his eyes, faint ones, and that 'older' ...thing. Old tree. He felt like an ancient tree, I realised, it may have been close to the same shape as it used to ...but it wasn't.

I noticed he hadn't lost his habit of his knives, I could see the tip of one jutting out of the dark brown jacket. The police would have a heart attack if they knew what he concealed inside his jacket.

I breathed out slowly, sliding closer, and shut my eyes as he pulled me against his chest. His heart sounded the same too.

"You haven't changed much." I said quietly. No argument with this either. Just appreciation. I was glad the world hadn't changed him.

"Elves have trouble changing. That is why the ancient have hidden away. Only the young are comfortable..." He sighed slowly, tension released as the air was released, turning towards me. "But I am comfortable in this world with you in it. It is your world."

"Did I prepare you for this?"

"You talked of it often, yes." Legolas reached up to play with my hair. "When it came, this world, I was more prepared for the swift change of man than the other kin. They are afraid of what humans are becoming. I … found it useless to sit hidden and complain, and so I came into the world early, and did my best to lessen the damage."

"You mean climate change and all of that?"

"Yes." Legolas nodded. "I did, as did a number of the younger Elves, and we continue to … assist. Science is something I struggle with but the younger Elves adapt to it easily."

"Science." I laughed softly. Oh god. Elf scientists hidden amongst the real ones. "Climate change scientists are Elves?"

"Some of them are. Some are engineers, some are social workers, some are monster truck drivers. The youth have adapted so easily to this world." He chuckled softly. "Your son is not a youth but he too has found no problems surviving. He works with the government even now to lessen environment damage. His energy is something no other Elf his age can understand."

"Elves are here."

"Yes."

Woah. I wasn't sure I could believe Legolas was here. I felt kind of mad all of a sudden and had to lean up, gazing down at him, prodding his face. "And you're here. I'm not lying in the middle of the park, on my own, talking to thin air." I had to glance around me, check to see if anyone was staring, but ...nope. Nothing.

"I am also here." He responded. There was the shadow of a smile as I felt something grasp my behind, suddenly, Legolas leaning up to kiss my throat. "As are you."

"This is crazy. How long did you wait?"

"It could have been a lot longer." He laughed and slid his hand along the side of my face, cupping it, kissing me again and again. "It could have been eternity. Stop asking about the past now. Think of our future. Your home."

My home! Oh crap. I fumbled for the phone, half lost amongst blanket and picnic bag, and stared at the time. I tried to move my bad leg and groaned in pain as thigh muscles failed and the entire leg just collapsed onto the ground- it was amazing just how much the entire fricken leg NEEDED the thigh muscles to do the work- I'd never thought about it till now. But I had more important things to stress about. Like the stupid rental. "We have to be there in half an hour, Leggy! What have we been doing?"

"You don't need to go." Legolas slowly slid up. "Calm."

"Yeah, I do, I can't just raise a baby in Brian's shed."

Something fell over my head, a long chain, fingers drawing hair out of the way. I stared at it. Two keys. A long old one and a newer one?

"No, you can raise him in the home we built." Legolas leaned against my shoulder, breathing out slowly, and added, "As can I."

"You ...built me a home?"

"Stone by stone, as Gimli once did, lo... long ago." He trailed off, voice softening, some measure of sadness there. Legolas breathed out slowly. "I learnt much from him. There is a home built closer to the way you remember from Middle Earth, crafted as a dwarf may have, but with the modern needs. I'm afraid our son would not let me build it without electricity... though I would have happily built it simple."

"I do like toilets." I admitted. "Even if I don't mind avoiding the rest."

Legolas laughed and squeezed me from behind. "I must confess I do too. But I am old now. There is a home now, built of stone and wood from the land it stands on, and half of it is built as homes are in this world. The other half is without electricity or lights, or plumbing, for I needed … a home too. The kind I am used to. It will give you something beautiful to live in, something filled with memories, and … I hope it is what you like."

"I'm sure I'll love it. Did you … really? You built me a house?" I couldn't believe it even now. "How? Are you rich?" I had to admit... I felt hope at that idea. Big time hope. My heart fell when he laughed and shook his head.

"No, my love, not rich. But we have worked hard- your son and myself- to buy you a home we know you will love. We have built it ourselves, brick by brick, as the years go on. We took many photos for you." Legolas smiled. "It was all I have thought of, all I have allowed myself to do, from the day of your birth onwards so that I would not find you too early and take you away from your father." My father. Oh god. Legolas had been here the whole time. Sadness filled me as he twisted away a moment for the bag. Then he slid something into my lap. A photo album. "I think you may see the photos."

I took the photo album and stared at the cover. My heart had started to beat again, fast, nerves filling me. "Does it have photos of him too?"

"Yes." Legolas didn't panic. He didn't take it from me. He just relaxed again on the picnic blanket, shutting his eyes, softer, "I know you have seen him as an adult. I remember this being one thing you could not keep from me- describing our son in vast detail. Do not take the photos with you and all will be well. If you are ready to see him."

Was it crazy that I felt shy all of a sudden? Stunned? Exited, sure, but ... nervous. I fingered the photo album, a plain dark brown leather album that was heavy with photos, at least three inches thick, and ...hesitated.

"Is he... healthy?" I asked quietly.

"My love, there is no man more healthy, no half-Elf stronger in mind or body, or in heart." Legolas' had this pride in his face, this real pride, as he nodded. "I speak as his father, of course, but ... he is much like you."

"As bad as you with pet fish?"

That brought back the amusement. Legolas grinned a sheepish grin, which made the age return to his face, and shook his head. "No. He has forbid me from entering any pet store. I will ...not hear the end of what I asked you to do."

"You talk to him?"

"At least once a week, if not more." Legolas nodded.

"Can you... at least tell him? You know. That i ... I already love him. And ... I " I didn't know. "I guess I wish I could see him now. Meet him."

Legolas nodded. He reached out to grasp my hand, tight, squeezing it. "He knows but I ...I will tell him. Perhaps you may write to each other until it is time for you to take Boromir home. Now. Would you like to see those photos or would you like me to take them until you're ready?"

I wanted to see them. That didn't change how nervous I felt suddenly. "You two built it?"

"We did have help, of course, but who knows your heart better than myself or your son?" Legolas slid across, careful of my leg as he drew me into his lap, wrapping his arm around me. He breathed in with a long shudder. "I have missed you. I have ... had to be very careful to not hurt you. After so long I have only entertained thoughts of ...what I would do to you. Now, if you like, for no one is around..." The last statement was barely a whisper, something flaring in his eyes as my weight settled on his lap, and I felt his hand slide up my leg. That desire that kept flaring up, that he kept trying to push away for a better time, was starting to take over. He muttered,"You smell as you always did."

"Oh? Tell me about that after." I grinned, as he shut his eyes, digging my hips down into him. Okay. If Legolas was himself, which I had no doubts about, it meant he probably hadn't …gotten lucky... for a very long time now. Honestly, my brain couldn't even begin to comprehend how LONG he'd waited, but … still, some feminine instinct rose up, the urge to tease him, to love him, to make his self-control snap. And it would. I knew it would. Elves pretended to be all controlled but suppressing their impulses usually made the explosion of impulse all the more amusing.

But first, the photos.

I lifted the first cover and leaned against his back, as his arms came around to hold me close, his chin against my shoulder. We stared down. First photo? It was of nothing, really, of land. Pretty land. A large cleared area, a flat spot on top of a grassy hill, reminding me quite a bit of Rohan. Except that this place was surrounded by bushland and the hill was fairly small. In the background were mountains, I noticed, so it had to be pretty high up. The photo itself was old. Very old. Restored, it seemed, re-printed, but even then I could tell the original must have been taken a long time ago.

"This is the land." Legolas slid his hand over to touch the photo. "We bought it while this land was still young."

"You didn't kick off the indigenous Aussies, did you?"

"It was after that, so no. It was closer to the start of the Federation."

Oh bloody hell. Legolas had been in Australia when it'd become an independent country. THAT sort of brought this whole 'I waited' thing home. It explained why the photo was so dated, so old, so faded. But this was a distraction. I turned the page again, slowly, the stiff cardboard easily sliding past, and saw him.

Not Legolas. But he could have been. Light hair, like his father, in the black and white photo and a face that was probably closer to the 'Orlando Bloom' version of Legolas than Legolas actually was. Big grin. Standing on top of a heavy stone block, a giant sign in his arms, with a massive grin. And in the background were pyramids. I stared, my eyesight kind of going blurry, as my mind slowly caught up to what exactly I was seeing. It was my son, my baby, who was still growing inside of me... but now was also in a photo. He looked familiar somehow. I was too emotional to care why.

The next one was further away, my baby still on top of that stone block, but he was tiny now. And I could see exactly what it was he was standing on top of. He was standing on the top of a pyramid and holding up a 'Hello Mum' sign. It must have been so long ago, because I was pretty sure no one was allowed to do that any more...

"That's him." I said quietly. I wanted to cry suddenly. Oh good god, he had my sense of humour too. "On a pyramid. Seriously? He climbed a … a pyramid?"

"And none other than the Great Pyramid itself. He wanted the first photo to be special." Legolas chuckled softly, an exhale of air, the tense hunger vanishing. "He has gone many places to collect presents for you. More than I have. I was content to rest and wait. Not him. He has not stopped moving and yet somehow does not seem to feel the weight of time as I have."

"He didn't get me a mummy, did he?" That thought scared me big time... I remembered hearing about early English explorers to Egypt who'd collect mummies to burn or something. Like it was funny to take a dead body and play with it.

"No. But he did find you something special. When you meet him he will not hesitate a second to pile his gifts on you. You may not have met your son yet but … he has known you for a very long time. The house is our first gift."

I noticed, with amusement, that our baby ...well, man... had the same braid as Legolas. "He's got your hair."

"He has your warm shade though." Legolas reached up to stroke my hair, slowly, kissing my shoulder. "Keep looking."

As I looked I felt some sadness. I'd missed so much of his life. This man, my son as I had to keep reminding myself, had clearly already … had so much happen. I hadn't even seen my own baby yet. And here he was- my baby- already having grown up.

"I missed everything."

"You have not yet begun, my love, he still grows." Legolas slid his hands around my waist, fingers slipping under the pants to rest against my stomach, a soft exhale of contentment as he found the little lump . "He grows and will not forget a second with you, for he will come and go from this world and the last beside you, the two of you remaining close until the last moment it is time for him to go onwards."

"I have to give him up to the Elves when he's..."

"Twenty one. That is the age of maturity in your world, isn't it?"

It was. Big parties around it, people could drink in America, and on one hand I felt like twenty one years... was still a very long time. But it suddenly didn't feel like enough.

"Then when you return here, he will be here as a grown man."

"I know. But all that time in-between..."

"And most of it was spent so that he could tell you stories, tell you what he saw, what he did, who he met, for this world is his." Legolas squeezed me gently. "It is not easy to keep him away now. He has so much he wants to tell you. But he must wait."

"So do I..."

"Do not forget. He is here." Legolas pressed against my stomach, fingers digging in, kissing the back of my shoulder. "He grows larger, his mind is being created, and he is getting ready to come into the world. Focus on your future and not his past."

I tried. I turned the pages and started to see the beginnings of this house, as trees were cut down, photos of Legolas and my son alike talking to each tree beforehand. Not just cut down. Some grew, as I'd noticed Elves liked to do, grew to form the walls for the walls. Stones carved and placed, slowly, brick by brick. As the house slowly rose up, the photos grew younger, and yet almost nothing changed with Legolas. In every photo he was dressed the same, wore his hair the same, and as the time went on, he seemed to 'wake up'. There was no better way to describe it. My son, on the other hand, always seemed to be dressed to match the times.

The home itself was amazing, strange, probably perfect given where we were in life. One half of it looked organic, wooden, and yet somehow it merged into a stone half easily and naturally. Stone was carved, wood carved, this Elvish building that could have easily been a modern one at the same time, with plates of glass and even a chimney. I even saw a pool. A modern pool. A shed out the back. The building rose up into a second story and, to my amusement, there was a kind of ...ladder... going from a balcony up into the tree tops.

"Tree house?"

"There are some things I cannot give up." Legolas responded. "There is an underground room as well."

"Like Mirkwood?"

"Crafted as the hall once was. I-" He sighed, a long deep sigh, and shut his eyes. "I miss it greatly. As do we all. There are new cities now."

"I'm sorry."

"No, do not be. Many an Elf has waited and crafted new homes. I miss the land of my birth, the forest of my childhood, but there are new forests to enjoy now." Legolas squeezed me. He turned the page. "And a new home. We may be there tonight, move in tomorrow morning, if you desire."

"Move out of Brian's shed? Yes!" The response was instinct. Of course I wanted to get the hell out. "Boromir's coming."

"Of course. I have a shed to put him in." Legolas actually laughed when I elbowed him. He kissed the back of my neck, murmuring, "I tease, my love."

I stared out, closing the photo album, staring into the city. Modern times. Modern times that meant helicopters, as one passed over, "All the magic has vanished. I can't believe this is … the future."

"It has not vanished. It has hidden. One day it will return." Legolas responded. He shifted around to kneel in front of me. "I will take you to them. To our people. But not today. It would be a journey that would take many weeks. They are not easily reached, not even by their own kind, and I would not dare risk it while you are pregnant."

Legolas was gathering things as he spoke and I sighed. Okay.

"Date over?"

"Boromir will be home."

That brought me back to reality. The soft fuzzy warm date thing, picnic, whatever it was, had faded away. I felt my heart sink as I watched Legolas slowly gather up everything he'd brought, breathing out, aware this was it.

"I still love him."

"But not for the right reasons." Legolas said quietly. "I do not doubt that you care for him. But-"

"I know, I know." I flopped back down on the blanket and shut my eyes. "So what happens? I tell him and... when do we go back? I don't think he'll want to share the shed with me." And he'd probably be furious. Or heartbroken. Or both. I couldn't say I blamed him.

"He can return straight away. His wounds need only time now." Legolas responded. He bent down to take my hands and slowly eased me onto my good leg, holding out the crutches, and when I was upright and steady he bent down to pick up the blanket and fold it. "You will need longer."

"Because of my rehab?" I muttered. First appointment was in a few days.

"Because I've missed you." Legolas turned to me. "And I owe you many nights where I stay beside you."

"Yeah, you do, and that starts..." I wasn't sure when. I didn't just want to throw Boromir back into Minas Tirith like that. "...well. Soon. He'll be back at the same time we left?"

"And you will also return at the same time." Legolas slid the bags over his shoulder and carefully started down the hill, eyes coming back to me, guiding me down the grass. "Even if you were gone a month."

"He'll know by how pregnant I look."

"I will not understand." Legolas muttered. "I mean, I did not know. That would be difficult for you too."

Oh yeah. Younger Legolas. I'd left him behind in Minas Tirith when he'd expected to come. "Will you be angry?"

"A little." He admitted and he didn't meet my eyes now. "Do not ask me more of your future. Just trust that all will be well. I will not tell you what to do."

He didn't have to. The less people TOLD me or PUSHED me … even if I NEVER saw Legolas in all twenty years from now, between visits here, I knew what … what I had to do. And it sickened me.

"Except for Boromir."

Legolas sighed heavily. "His fate is not yours either. He will be fine, however little likely it will seem, however long it takes, and you must trust that."

Must trust? I didn't. I felt sicker the more I thought about it.

"I am not telling you to … choose." Legolas said quietly. He turned around, dropping the bags, hands on my arms. "This is why I could not face you in Minas Tirith. Because I could not be sure that I wouldn't beg. I would only trust your choice."

"But you already know what I'll do."

"It is your future, not mine." Legolas responded. His eyes were away now. "The choice can still be made either way. I know what I would ask. I would ask that you love me now, and then as well, and let Boromir's fate go now."

Let it go.

Those three words hung in my mind as we waited for a taxi and headed back. Was he right? Had that been what I'd been doing- trying to force Boromir's fate? Maybe I had. I wanted him to be happy. I needed him to be happy, in fact, because I felt kind of responsible... but also, I cared about him so damn much.

"You said he'd have children."

"He may have. There are many fates. But they wouldn't be yours." Legolas responded softly. "We know that much."

"So he can't marry me if he has..."

"Don't ask anymore, please."

Could they? Would he cheat on me? I didn't see that happening. But then, how would Boromir feel if I would spend a month or two each year caught up and revolving around Legolas. His immanent arrival, his presence, his departure... would he be lonely enough seek comfort? I'd let him. And that kind of sunk the whole thing in. If I'd let the man cheat on me then I couldn't care for him in that way. If Legolas tried... I'd be devastated. But the idea of Boromir finding comfort with another woman …

My goal was to make him happy. It wasn't to be his lover or his partner. It was to make him proud, to get is approval, to have him around all the time, and to feel like I was supported by him. His happiness made me so damn happy, but when he was upset, I always felt like it was my fault.

It was sick. The more I realised it, the more I thought about how much I wanted to make him happy, the less I felt like this was okay.

Oh god.

Legolas had said it. He'd said 'You want him for another reason' or something like that. Boromir was protective, he was supportive, he cared for me unconditionally, but at the same time... he always thought he knew best for me. And he didn't bother hiding the times when he wanted to decide for me. Like with the marriage.

Basically, he was everything my father should have been but never was.

And Brian was exactly the same thing. Had been. I'd needed a protector, a father, someone to keep me safe, and I would have done anything to make them happy. And they'd become the same way my father had- Brian had become abusive. Boromir had more or less made me sleep with him. Not that it was rape, I knew that if I'd said 'no' he would have backed off, but … he hadn't really given me much chance to say no and I'd really wanted to make someone happy. He'd gotten what he wanted and I'd made someone happy. And that night … all I'd wanted was Brian.

Boromir was a lot like Brian, in ways, and in other ways he was nicer. Better.

That wasn't love. That was really messed up.

I felt sick.

My reaction, my physical and emotional reaction, it said more than anything ever could. I knew. I knew what I was going to do as clearly as if I could see my own future. Or see Legolas' past. It was so clear suddenly, from the way he reacted around me, the intensity, and ...the sadness.

"I still love him."

"I know." Legolas twisted towards me in the back of the cab. His voice softened. "You have realised, haven't you?"

"I feel sick." I muttered. Gross. What was wrong with me? The sex suddenly seemed so … urgh. "And we-"

"He is not your father. But I have met your father. We always seek that which was missing from our lives. Gimli had a role in my heart that took the place of a brother. Boromir is, and always will be, one of the friends closest to your heart." Legolas slid his arm around my shoulder, slow, leaning against me. "And he is like an older brother."

"But we..."

"It is not the same." Legolas responded quickly, not letting me finish, squeezing my shoulders. "You do not need to feel shame for it. You and he needed one another as lovers, and I … I feel I am partly to blame for leaving you alone like that... and for a night you were lovers."

"I'm sorry."

"As I said, I should have remained, and found out why you were so distressed." Legolas didn't let go of me. He slid closer, shoving a seatbelt out of his way, voice low so that only I could hear. "But there are things we do in our past that always haunt us. This is how we grow up."

"Even you?"

"If you are worried I have taken a lover, I have not, but yes. Even I."

I shut my eyes and sat there, numb, still sick to the stomach. How hadn't I even seen this? "I'm not marrying him."

It wasn't a question this time. It was a statement, a quiet sad statement, because now that I knew I also knew that we were minutes from devastating him.

"I know." Legolas said quietly.

Another long silence. The traffic around the taxi was slow, rush-hour type slow, and after a while I realised what Legolas had said earlier.

"You met my father?"

"I would have knifed him myself, were I not satisfied he would spend his days in a cell, and yes. How could I not stay away from the man that hurt you so badly?" Something rose in his voice, stiff, an anger that he didn't seem able to control. "We both visited him. Myself and your son. He will not contact you again. If you wish to see him, it will be your choice, but never his."

"I might one day, you know..." I muttered. He was still my dad. I hated him... but he was still my dad. But it got me thinking. About them. About my son. About... the lawyer that'd put my dad away. The blonde lawyer, his hair tied back, green eyed and gorgeous. Cold though- the kind of scary beautiful man that made even my father cringe. Wearing a beautiful suit. I had been too distressed to really be there- I'd only gone once for my testimony and I'd been unable to look up so I'd only gotten a glimpse out of the corner of my eye. But... "Hang on."

"What?"

I lifted the photo album carefully out of his bag and quickly turned the pages. I stared at my son again. It was him. The lawyer. My son. The same person. It may have been years ago but I wasn't stupid. "Leggy..."

"What?" He blinked at me.

"Is our son working as a lawyer?"

"Yes." He frowned, confusion faint on his face, and a little alarm. "Why?"

"I swear I've seen him before. At my father's trial." I stared at him on the pyramid. His big grin. Hair wild in some wind I couldn't see.

Legolas frowned and muttered something in Elvish. I saw him reach for his phone, f inger it, and then glance at me. With a sigh he muttered, "I will find out. If he has then ..."

"He's gotten daddy very angry?"

"I have told him to stay away from you." Legolas muttered. "But yes. He is a lawyer. Environmental, but sometimes criminal, and … it made no sense why he'd choose both. Until now." Another sharp word. I wasn't sure that one WAS Elvish. It sounded too rough.

He didn't say anything else. I didn't want him to. I sat there, so bloody confused and twisted with emotions, I didn't know what to feel. My son had ...put my dad in prison for almost all his life? Made sure I could live on my own still? Gotten all my mother's money to me? I had been too upset to really pay attention at the time- my mother had been murdered- but … wow. But then, wouldn't I have done the same thing? I would have. And now I wished I'd paid attention to him, looked at him at the trial, noticed his name, or something.

Maybe his name would be in all the paperwork I still had. Where had Brian put it? In a storage unit? I wondered if I should find his name out. If I did I'd want to find him. Call him.

This train of thought was knocked aside as we pulled up in front of Brian's house. I got out carefully, leaning on the crutches, as Legolas paid for the taxi. Then we headed inside.

It was time to tell Boromir and to send him home to his brother.

A/N - :O

Gross? Naa... but the funny thing is that we always seek out what we missed in life in some way or another. How will Boromir take this though? :O

As for the little girl- I have not forgotten her, even if Wendy has. lol She will have a part to play of her own. : D