Summary: Aragorn finds Eowyn after the battle. Rated K+ by Savannah (Eowyn & Aragorn)

March 15-16, 3019

The dead and dying were in the city, crowds and crowds of them. Aragorn walked slowly through the houses, breathing in the sharp warm smell of blood until it burnt his nose. Everywhere he turned they knelt, or sat, or lay like a sea. And the tide was coming in; as soon as he stood from one man three more had come into the houses. Every bed had been taken hours ago and now the living and the newly dead lay in clumps on the floor.

Aragorn took a deep breath, the air hot and damp suffocated him, but he was numb with grief, not able to feel anything. He heard his name whispered as he walked from man to man; in their voices was amazement, and hope was on their lips.

"Aragorn!" Gandalf yelled as he strode through the crowds of people, being pushed along by their tide. Aragorn looked up form where he knelt bandaging an arm, snapped from his trance. "She's here, you must go to her, and hurry!" Gandalf yelled over their heads.

Aragorn stood confused. "Who?" he called, but Gandalf was gone. Aragorn left the room he had been working in and crossed to the private room looking around until his eyes met someone he knew. Eomer stood across the huge hall, leaning limply against a door frame. His arms were crossed and his head hung down. Aragorn tried to breathe but his breath caught in his throat. "Eowyn," he choked out. He began to run. "No," he said louder as he grew faster and faster, bumping into people and pushing them out of his way. He leapt over a man lying on the floor and crashed in Eomer. "Where is she?" he cried, shaking Eomer's shoulders.

Eomer looked up at Aragorn for a long time, his mind in another world. "Here," he finally said, leading Aragorn through the door.

When Aragorn saw her his heart stopped and he tried to swallow down the lump that was growing in his throat but it just pressed harder. Tears sprung into his eyes as he walked slowly to her bedside. He half knelt, half fell to the ground beside the small bed. "You weren't supposed to be here," he whispered. "You were supposed to be safe, waiting for me." He took one of her cold hands in his and looked up at the healer.

The old woman shook her head. "Touched by the black breath," she whispered.

Aragorn tried to muffle a sob as he buried his face into the sheets. His body shook, his shoulders bent, slipping until he almost lay on the ground, grief breaking him. Eomer crossed the room and laid his hand on Aragorn's shoulder, trying in some way lessen his pain. After a minute Aragorn led out a shaky breath, moving to his knees he looked at Eowyn. She lay so still and so white, she looked perfect to him; her golden hair strewn out around her, her hands lying perfectly still on her stomach. Aragorn moved to sit on the bed, he placed his hand on her colorless cheek, running his thumb over her soft skin. "I begged you to stay," he whispered, slipping his hand around her head behind her ear, feeling the weight of her head in his hand. "I half expect you to open your blue eyes now and start to tell me how you couldn't just stay." He said that with a broken chuckle that turned into a sob.

Eomer nodded to the healer and she backed away.

"You know I've been dreaming of these days for a long time, Eowyn," he said, bring his hand touch her hair. "Of when this war would finally be done." He moved his hand and brushed his fingers against her eyelashes. "When we could live together in peace." Aragorn's hand fell to her cheek and finally moved to her lips, caressing the soft skin. "I can't do this without you," he said, leaning down and kissing her. His lips were not met with her warm touch but with cold lips from which no breath came.

Slowly he began to withdraw his hands and turned to where Eomer and the healer stood. "I must go, there will be others who…" His hands brushed her neck, his fingers lingering, trying to hold onto her in some way. But as his fingers left her skin he felt the faintest of movements, he stopped mid-sentence, his face snapped back to hers. 'It can't be, that's not possible,' he thought, hoping against hope. He pressed his fingers down harder and his heart skipped a beat. "She's alive!" he shouted, turning to the healer.

"Yes, my lord," he said, stepping forward. "But her heart is very weak, she will not live past the hour."

"No!" Aragorn cried, taking her hand in his once more. "Go to your herb master and ask him for athelas, or you might know it as kingsfoil and boil water!" The healer stared blankly at him. "And hurry!" he added. Aragorn pressed Eowyn's hand to his chest.

Eomer pulled up a stool on the other side of the bed. "My lord," Eomer said, looking at him. "There are others," he sighed, "others that are not so close to…" He stopped and looked down at his hands.

Aragorn shook his head, placing his free hand on her forehead. "I will not leave her again."

..::..

A throbbing pain in Eowyn's left arm woke her up to bright white light. She winced as she hesitantly opened her eyes. When her eyes adjusted to the light she was met by the concerned gaze of her brother. "You haven't gotten any sleep, have you?" she managed to croak out. Eomer smiled a little. "How long have I been sleeping for?" she asked, trying to sit up, but the world spun and she shut her eyes tight.

"Twelve hours," he said. "Give or take a few." His hand touched her face.

When her eyes opened again she looked around the room. "Where is Aragorn?" Eowyn all but shouted as her panic began to rise.

Eomer looked up. "He is tending to another soldier. I'll go get him."

Within moments Aragorn burst through the door. Eowyn smiled. "Don't break down my door," Eowyn teased. "I like my privacy." She hissed in pain as she tried to sit up.

Instantly Aragorn was at her side. "Don't," he said, as he gently pushed her back down. When she was lying on her back again he pushed a couple of stray hairs away from her face. "Why did you come?" he whispered painfully. "You promised you would stay where it was safe."

Eowyn raised a hand and wiped the tear away. "I had no other choice but to fight, Aragorn, you know that."

Aragorn sighed, acknowledging defeat. He bent down and gently kissed her forehead. "There are so many here, so many wounded," he said quietly against her skin.

Eowyn closed her eyes. "Fine, if you must," she said, moving her hand to his face, using every bit of strength in her body for the simple movement.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Aragorn said as he stood up and reluctantly left the room.

..::..

Eowyn looked at her brother. "I feel so weak," she said. "The world is spinning faster than it should be. What time is it? What day is it?"

Eomer smiled. "It is almost midday on March sixteenth. You need to rest more," Eomer said. "You're so pale and thin, you look like a child again." He brushed his thumb over her cheek.

She wanted to protest, to tell him that she didn't need him and Aragorn to handle her like a baby, but instead her eyes slowly shut. "Eomer," she whimpered as an icy shoot of pain raced up her arm and into her chest. He moved to her bedside. "I'm so cold," she said. "My arm is so cold."

Eomer lifted her up, cradling her in his arms so her head rested on her chest. Eowyn clung to her brother, crying softly as her whole body filled with the icy fingers of pain. He held her there, remembering when she was a child after their parents had died. She had had a fever and he had to hold her in his arm then too, whimpering into the night.

A healer walked through the room and saw the two of them. "She's too weak," the old woman stated. "She may very well still die." Eomer turned to her, confusion and anger written on his face. "You must make her eat something, even if it's only broth if you want her to live." The old woman continued harshly. "Not that it matters if she dies, the king shouldn't be marrying some Rohirrim girl anyway." Eomer stood from the bed, laying Eowyn's frail form back down. She moaned still holding his hand. "The first king we've had in a thousand years and he's not even going to have Gondorian children. Instead he's planning to mate with some girl from the west." Eomer stood behind her seething, she turned and gasped as he stood heads taller than her.

"Eomer," Aragorn said, coming from nowhere to touch his shoulder. "The commanders are meeting, we need the King of the Mark."

Eomer nodded, taking one last look at the old healer then strode out of the room.

Aragorn turned back to Eowyn, her arm now hung off the side of the bed and the blankets were knocked off. His brow knit together as he moved her good arm back onto the bed and pulled the sheets up around her. He bent down and kissed her forehead then turned to the shaken healer. "Take good care of her," he said, his voice commanding. She nodded, gripping the table and shaking visibly. Aragorn smiled to himself. "I wouldn't say such things to Eomer-King, they say he has a temper almost as bad as his sister's." She nodded. Aragorn stopped at the door and looked back at Eowyn. He sighed, worried.