The Clash
He figured if he was so bored from just one day of inactivity, there was no way that he was going to be able to survive ten months of it.
There wasn't anything he could do about it though. Unless he wanted to play with the lives of his unborn children.
He had known that going through with the pregnancy was going to be a hard thing. He hadn't any illusions of it.
He was going to be a fairly poor kid struggling to raise two children that were going to be at best, shunned by both humans and elves. Exiles from both their heritages.
School would have to be put off for a while, unless he would consider giving them up.
Other people were pretty much hinting at that. Even though Dr. Gwydion was fairly nice, he had pretty much told Legolas to give up the children.
On one hand, he couldn't blame the doctor for thinking that, since by all accounts, being caught in a bar-fight while pregnant didn't make him look like the world's most responsible parent. But it still hurt to be told that he was utterly incompetent. After all, it was just a matter of strange circumstance that had landed him in the hospital in the first place. It wasn't as if he hung around bars looking to get creamed.
He cared about the lives that were inside him. He would give up his life for them, but there was also the fact that he owed a lot to both his brother and the father of his children.
Growing up with them had made him fiercely loyal to the point that he would risk all to help them no matter what the personal cost to himself. There was no way in hell that he would just run.
Maybe that loyalty would be his undoing. The doctor seemed to think so, by the cold way that he had been treating him.
"You have to be more careful in the future, Mr. Mirkwood. If you want to have these children, you have got to think before you do something foolish that would endanger their health and yours."
Legolas had nodded. He couldn't speak. It was just too close to the way that the workers had treated him when he had been in the home. He knew that if he spoke, he would have just broken and told the doctor to go fuck himself and cause a hell of a lot more trouble than he wanted.
Besides, he was just too tired to really fight back. All the fight had gone out of him the minute that he had woken up. So he had just lain there, letting the doctor lecture him, not meeting Celebrethil's eyes, until he had finally run out of things to say and both he and the mid-wife had left.
The silence in the room had contributed to making him feel like crap, since it seemed to quietly echo the sense that he was nothing but a careless kid trying to play an adult role and failing miserably.
Legolas bit his lip and tried to keep his tears from falling at that thought. Curling up on his side, he then cradled his still flat abdomen. He knew that the children wouldn't understand this gesture of comfort, but it helped to ease his mind.
He couldn't imagine giving them up. Couldn't imagine living with the knowledge that he had children out there, somewhere and that he wasn't there to watch them grow up.
He buried his face in his arms as he imagined two little boys, both with blond hair and their father's and uncle's green eyes. The image was beautiful. But what shattered his composure and finally made him break down and start to cry, was the fear that he couldn't touch them. That he couldn't smooth away the golden silk of their hair, nor comfort them if they had gotten hurt.
"I'm not going to give them up!" he promised himself fiercely, the tears rolling down his cheek. "No matter what. I'm not giving them up!" He clenched his fists in defiance. "No matter how hard it is. I won't"
His hands uncurled when he spoke the last words, feeling utterly worn. Whimpering softly, Legolas let his hand fall onto the bed. He was too tired for all of this. Emotionally and mentally, he was exhausted and in desperate need to close his eyes and drift off even if it was for just a minute.
Sighing, he snuggled deeper into the cheap hospital blankets and had just closed his eyes when the door to his room opened. Even though it was done quietly, it was enough to make him open his eyes to see who it was.
"You playing dead or something?" A sarcastic voice asked the second he had opened his eyes. Only one person would ask that question, no matter what the circumstances. Only one person.
Legolas' head shot up at the sound of that voice. A voice he hadn't expected to hear for a while yet.
"Thought not." Boromir commented, the sarcasm gone from his tone when he spoke again.
His face had broken into a smile that belied the harsh words he had just spoken. Legolas didn't mind though. That was just the way Boromir acted sometimes. He could never really predict how the human's mind worked, so he had learned to just go with the flow and wait. Usually, Boromir had a nice and insanely logical reason for everything that he did. It was...odd, to say the least.
"What are you doing here?" Legolas asked as he propped himself up on his elbows.
Boromir shrugged and wheeled himself closer to the bed. Although he was playing it cool, or trying to, at least, Legolas could sense that Boromir was wound tighter than a grandfather clock. His eyes were dark and his face was still ashen, making Legolas immediately reach out and console his friend.
"Boromir?" he asked.
Something was wrong. Boromir didn't go all quiet unless something was not cool.
"How bad was it?"
Legolas blinked at the question. "What?"
Boromir raised his head and looked straight at Lee, his eyes shimmering darkly as he spoke. "I felt everything. So how bad was it?"
Eomer walked down the hallways of St. Ig's a worried frown on his face as he did. Occasionally, he would peek into a classroom in hopes of seeing his sister. But so far, no such luck. It was as if she had suddenly disappeared, something he knew wasn't possible, since he had driven her to school after Theoden had given him a charley horse and told him to fuck off. Eowyn was looking a bit sick and he didn't want her walking to school. She had had a serious bout of bronchitis two years ago and Eomer was always worried that she would have a relapse whenever she got sick.
He knew that he was just being irrational when he got worried about her, but the fear that she too would be taken from him like his parents over-rode any rational thoughts he had about his sister. He loved her deeply and if she died, he knew that he would be nothing more than a shadow without her.
So he kept on looking for her until it was time to go to class. Mr. Fujiyama and maths weren't his idea of paradise, but he had to go to class or risk getting his balls served to him on a platter and a week-long detention. Fujiyama wasn't as bad as Mr. Yuy, but every student knew well enough not to fuck with either of them.
Oh well. At least it was only an hour block due to the shortened timetable. Shrugging, he shouldered his backpack and went inside classroom 213. Picking his way carefully over the old desks, Eomer then flopped into the second last row in the far corner and looked around the class. For some reason, he liked to watch people as they entered the class. It sort of gave him a curious feeling of being with them, but somehow outside of their little circle. He guessed he felt that way because he wasn't like his classmates at all.
Most of the students in the math course where the ones that had their noses stuck in books and their heads filled with the lists of Universities that they would apply for the minute they wrote the departmentals. They worked hard at every single course in the school and just sucked the joy out of everything because of that drive. They didn't pick a subject because they found it interesting or enjoyed it. They just did it because it would look good on their transcripts and get their foot in the door.
Eomer shook his head and began pulling out his textbook and battered binder out of his backpack. He honestly couldn't understand that. For him, math was something that was totally fascinating and ordered. He got a sense of satisfaction whenever he worked hard to figure out the Algebra and Calculus that Fujiyama taught them and got the answer right. He loved the complexity of numbers and even though he would never admit it to anyone, he loved the rules that governed the concepts. At least they were a solid rock in his landscape and never seemed to shift, unlike the rest of his life.
He liked that. The permanence of the rules of mathematics and the like. It was almost a zen exercise for him to do his work. He figured that if he didn't have that time for self-reflection, he'd probably go off the deep end or just end up sitting on the couch with his sister trying to dull the reality with a thick layer of marijuana. Hockey, though, stopped him from doing drugs. He wouldn't do anything to fuck up the only chance he had at getting out and making something out of himself. So he strongly relied on schoolwork and the occasional casual lay with a nameless girl he would pick up after a game to keep him from going off the deep end.
"Open your books to page 256." His mind snapped out of its reverie when he heard the flat, nasal voice of Mr. Fuyijama. Flipping the textbook to the required page, he looked up at the red-haired teacher and waited for the lecture to begin.
"We are going to be looking at how to calculate the area of a parabola today, so pay extra attention.. Or the test will kill you."
A few sycophants, mostly girls, tittered at the comment. Eomer didn't dare crack a smile, since Fuyijama's eyes had this weird gleam to them making him wonder whether the teacher would gladly do what he promised the exam would do. He was a hard task-master and was never pleased with a half-assed effort.
"Now. Here's the way you do it. You take x.." Eomer's attention was so riveted on Fuyijama that he didn't notice when Danny Rivendell had managed to sneak into the seat next to his until he received a charley horse.
It was all he could do not to cry out. He turned and glared at the elf as he rubbed his arm. Danny put a finger to his lips and scribbled something in his book, and then quickly showed it to Eomer the second that Fuyijama had turned his back to the class.
"I gotta talk to you after class. It's about your sister."
Eomer nodded, then turned his attention back to the teacher.
Although he was playing it cool, his insides felt like they had just churned themselves into knots. Something had happened to his sister. Something bad.
He bit his lip as another feeling followed the anxiousness that was now sitting at the pit of his stomach. A feeling that he didn't want to experience, but he had no choice in that.
The feeling that he had failed his sister.
"She'll be fine, Max." Nurse Diamond assured the elf that was hovering anxiously over the now sleeping Eowyn.
Logically, he knew that she was going to be okay. After all, they had gotten to her before Theoden had done any permanent damage to her, but he still felt oddly compelled to stay with her until he knew that she was for sure going to be okay.
"You really should go to class now." Nurse Diamond told him once again as she sat down at her desk and began to fill out forms.
Max nodded, knowing that he was being ordered to leave more than anything else.
"Thanks," he said to the nurse before he gathered his backpack and left the office. He didn't look back at the sleeping human girl because he knew that he would just stand there until the nurse pushed him out physically.
"You're welcome. See you later, Elrohir."
Max winced. He really hated it when people called him by his birth name.
He actually hated that name. It had been his creepy uncle's name. The one that according to his dad, had died when he was out in British Columbia. He didn't ask any more questions cause he was actually relieved that the old weirdo was gone. He had always creeped him out and had made him cry when he was a kid. He was just that mean.
Shrugging his shoulders, he then looked up at the clock in the hallway. Shit. He had missed Elrond's class. Great. And everyone was going to be out in a couple of minutes, which meant that the 2nd floor was going to be all clogged and shit and he wouldn't get to Danny and Eomer until lunch.
Sighing heavily, he then made his way up to Fujiyama's class. He would have to endure the maths teacher's glares as he waited for his brother and Eomer, which was something that he would have gladly avoided at any other time. Fujiyama's glares, although not as lethal as Yuy's, were still very unpleasant things to be the recipient of. That guy seemed to have a stick permanently stuck up his arse. He was positive that if Mr. Fujiyama tried to smile, his handsome face would crack. He was sure that the only times he had ever seen something resembling an _expression of warmth on his face was when that girl whom everyone said was his younger sister came to visit him and when Haldir was in the hallway or on supervision duty with him. Even though Danny always defended the serious man, saying that it was just his upbringing. Max said that he was just a repressed homosexual with a big crush on Mr. Haldir and that they should just fuck each other in the broom closet so that they would stop being so bitchy with everyone. That was also his theory about Haldir. Elrond, he strongly suspected, just had a hard-on for Ms. Luthien and she over him.
"You're just a big hornball," Danny had told him once when he had explained his theory to his brother and the Usual Suspects over lunch one day.
"No, I'm not!" he had protested sharply.
"It's not my fault that I notice things like that! Besides, it's kind of hard not to notice when said people are always drooling over each other when they are in the hallways or on cafeteria duty or something! I swear, once me and Boromir nearly slipped in the puddle of drool under Fujiyama's mouth when he was talking to Haldir!"
The others thought that there was merit in his story. Danny had just thwapped him on the head and told him to keep his little theories to himself and to lay off the wacky weed for awhile.
He had laid off telling people his theory, but he still was strongly betting that a good fuck had by all would cure most of the ills in the teacher's lives.
"Hell, it would cure the ills in my life." he muttered as he arranged his gangly limbs against the row of lockers and waited for class to be dismissed.
Danny was always teasing him that his lack of a sex life was the reason why he was so fixated on the idea of Haldir and Fujiyama getting it on. He didn't think so. Sure, he thought about sex and chicks. Who didn't at that age? But it wasn't something that he was always occupied with. He was more content to not have the pressures he saw his friends and siblings dealing with. Love was a complication that didn't have a high enough dividend for him to actually want to take the plunge into. Besides, he had yet to meet anyone that he would have wanted to have sex with.
He sighed and looked up at the clock. The bell rang a few seconds later, making him smirk at the fact that the he didn't have to wait a long time for Danny and Eomer. He had just greeted his brother when Eomer spoke up.
"So what do you have to tell me?" he asked, his voice a loud whisper that was lost in the throngs of students that were now rushing past them.
Danny looked around the hallway before he turned to the human beside him.
"It's too open here. Let's go to the stage and I'll tell you there," Danny replied tersely before he turned to the left and headed towards the stage-room, where the school productions and masses were held.
Eomer frowned at this, but only followed the elf. Although he wasn't in the mood to be led around all over the school, he endured the running around for only the sake of his sister. For her, he'd gladly do anything, even if it was detrimental to himself.
They arrived at the stage room a few minutes later, and found the room empty, which was a relief to both Danny and Max. Eomer was just glad that they had reached the destination and would finally get the news about his sister.
"Well?" he asked a few minutes later after they had found a suitably private spot and settled down comfortably.
Danny and Max exchanged a small glance before Danny spoke to the human.
"Okay. Well...what happened was that when we came to school today, we found Theoden beating the crap out of Eowyn. We told him to piss off and took Eowyn to the nurses office," Danny told him flatly.
Eomer blinked at this matter of fact information. Theoden hit Eowyn? Theoden hit Eowyn?
He licked his dry lips and rolled the thought over and over and over in his mind as he tried to reconcile the facts together. It was true that Theoden was a violent prick, but he had never stooped low enough to actually strike a girl. Theoden had always prided himself on his control over that aspect of his violence, so to hear that his cousin had lost it was an alien concept for him to grasp.
His first impulse then was to say "You're lying." and storm off to find the real truth. But he knew that elves never lied about anything. It just wasn't in their nature to do so. Plus, he had also known the twins for practically forever, so there was no reason to doubt them.
The only thing that he needed to know was the "why?" of the situation.
"I - I - I - I don't understand why he'd do that." Eomer whispered. "Eowyn is harmless. Ever since she stopped hanging around with Arwen, she's changed. She... there's no reason. No reason," he repeated before his voice trailed off into silence.
Max's fists clenched involuntarily as he flashbacked to that morning. It was true, there didn't seem to be a reason. But Theoden didn't seem to care. He was like a man possessed. Like he would stop at nothing to obtain his objective.
"Well, if there was no reason, then Theoden firmly believed that there was one. He kept asking Eowyn if she had heard anything before he slammrd her head into the locker."
Eomer winced.
"You know anything about this at all?" Max asked, wondering if he could get any useful information on Theoden's behaviour before he went out to wrench his arms from his sockets.
Eomer shook his head. "I don't pry at all. He lives his life, we live ours. We try to avoid each other as much as possible. We just don't get along."
Max and Danny looked at each other again. So there was trouble in paradise. Who knew?
As far as everyone on their block knew, they were as good a family as they possibly could be, considering the circumstances that had brought them together in the first place. Even thought it was an ambiguous statement, it was loaded with implications that were too hard for them not to miss.
"Okay. Well, maybe when Eowyn wakes up we'll be able to find something out."
"Wakes up? Did he beat her up that bad?" Eomer asked worriedly.
"Sort of. She's sick, man. Getting her head slammed in a locker probably didn't help her much either. Considering that she puked right after the whole debacle."
Eomer nodded as he wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans. This just didn't sound good. If Theoden was on the warpath, he would certainly not take too kindly to being dissuaded from his goal. In fact, the delay would probably make him even more determined than ever to obtain his goal.
Which meant that he would do anything possible to see it done. Theoden was that ruthless and that determined.
He and Eowyn would be so-o-o screwed when they got home after school today.
He rubbed his palms over his jeans again. He had to come up with a plan and fast before school was out. But what?
Legolas looked at Boromir for a long time, studying the planes of his face carefully as he gathered the words he wanted to say. Boromir's words had quite literally derailed his train of thought with severe casualties.
How could have Boromir felt his pain? How did that come about?
As far as he knew, there was simply no way for that to ever happen across the races. He believed that two elves could develop that bond since he had seen it happen numerous times in his life. But every time he had been aware of that bond, the carriers had always been two elves. Never had it been and elf and a man, or hobbit, sprite or anything else. The bond was exclusive and that was that.
"How?" he finally managed to choke out. It wasn't as eloquent as he had hoped, but it was a start.
"I was kind of hoping you'd tell me that." Boromir admitted. "Celebrian really didn't explain it much either when I asked her."
Legolas nodded. Of course she wasn't able to give him an explanation! How could she? Things like this just didn't happen!
"She just said it appeared. Nothing more, nothing less."
Legolas ran a hand through his hair as he wracked his brains for an explanation even though he knew that there wasn't really one to be had.
"That's all I know too," the elf finally admitted. "I have been told about the bonds, but no one has explained it. It appears in elves that just seemed to... well... belong together."
Boromir's eyebrows raised at this answer.
"Well then. What does that say about us?" he asked, his voice low and careful. "I mean... well, don't you still have feelings for my brother? And well, there's Aragorn too. Him and I, we love each other and we're still together, but if we have this kind of bond that makes us be so close to each other, what does it mean? That even though we have feelings for these other people, we are tied together? That ultimately, our fates are intertwined?"
Legolas blinked at the barrage of questions. He was overwhelmed by them, but he also had a duty to answer them. Boromir had made several valid points that needed to be addressed right then and there.
"Would it be a terrible thing for that to be the case?" Legolas asked in return.
Was Boromir too going to leave now as well?
Boromir's eyes widened at the question.
"That wasn't my meaning, Legolas. Forgive me if it sounded as if I am dreading the possibility of it ever happening. I assure you that wasn't my intention at all. It's just that well, I don't want for things to fall apart even more than they already have. I have been the cause of too many problems already. I just want to fix everything without any more problems. We have enough of those to deal with already without adding on to them."
He bit his lip before he continued.
"I mean, you guys are my family. I promised myself that I wouldn't hurt you ever. That I would protect you at all costs. And I am doing the opposite of what I promised to do. And I have to stop it. None of you deserve to be hurt because of me. And I want to make it right."
Legolas looked out the window before he gave any answer. What was he supposed to say? It was all a mess. There was no way of cleaning it all up without hurting anyone. It was all too messy and too raw for it to be otherwise. Even though the sentiment was a great one, there had to be that period of pain in order for every one to move on.
"I understand that you wanted to protect us. I do, but Boromir, this isn't about protecting anyone anymore. It's about us. About our relationships with each other."
Legolas turned his gaze back to Boromir's face.
"Boromir, you are a great person. You really are. You care about people too much. Even though some people might think it a bad thing, that is what's so great about you. You care so much, but you also forget to give people room to fail, which isn't that good. It isn't a criticism of you, but it's just something that you have to watch out for when you deal with people. I think that is the reason why Aragorn felt the way he did. No one likes to be thought of as weak."
"But I didn't think he was weak. I just didn't want for him to get hurt or feel bad."
Legolas nodded.
"I know. I know that it wasn't your intention to hurt him. But the thing is that 'you' made the decision for him, Boromir. You never asked him if that is what 'he' wanted in the first place. You just assumed it and he still got hurt. I know that Aragorn may seem as if he is fragile, but he has survived. In his own way, he is as strong as you."
"But I didn't give him the chance to prove it, did I?" Boromir asked, his voice hollow as he spoke.
"I'm afraid that, yeah, you didn't give him that choice," Legolas replied softly as he reached out and took a hold of Boromir's hand which trembled slightly, a telling sign of the deep turmoil that the human was feeling.
"I am such an idiot," Boromir whispered. "Such an idiot."
Legolas didn't reply right away. He just kept his gaze focused on the hand that he was caressing. He didn't feel it was the right time to say anything, since there wasn't really anything comforting for him to say to that naked fact.
"I...I was only wanting to make it easier for him." Boromir said before a tear slowly slid down his face. "That's all."
"I know. I know." Legolas replied, squeezing his hand.
"If you know this, can you accept it? Can you still want to share the bond that we have between us? Or am I just bound to fuck everything up like I did with Aragorn?"
Legolas blinked at the questions. Boromir...was he serious?
"You...you have thought about this carefully, Boromir?" Legolas asked him, his voice soft as he spoke. "It's not that I am doubting you in any way, it's just that, well, What about Aragorn?"
Silence followed that tentative question. A silence that lasted for what seemed a century before Boromir finally broke it.
"I am going to talk to him about this. About everything. But I strongly believe that it is all just over between the two of us. I have proven to be what he doesn't 'need' in his life at this point. You are right in that I care too much. It's true. I care too much for him and because of that, I wouldn't be doing him any favours by trying to keep him from making his own mistakes and falling when he has to fall."
Aragorn walked down the hallway to Legolas' room, in his hand a bouquet of roses to cheer his brother up.
He hadn't gone to class at all that day. Faramir had gone because he hadn't the choice. Aragorn had just made up an excuse and gotten clearance to namely sleep in. He ahd reflected on the events of the past few days until he had come to a decision about what exactly his plan of action was going to be.
The only thing left now was to actually get up the courage to follow through with the decision that he had made.
"Soon," he promised himself as he got closer to Legolas room. "Very soon."
As he reached the room, he decided to put those thoughts at the back of his mind. His main concern right now was to make sure Lee was doing fine and to maybe cheer him up a little, since hospitals weren't exactly fountains of amusement.
He knocked on the door and waited until he heard Lee's voice telling him to come in.
Smiling slightly to himself, he pushed the door open and stepped in to find Boromir sitting next to Legolas' bedside.
Both of their faces were tear stained and they were both holding onto each other so tightly that one would think they were afraid that they were going to lose each other if they didn't grab a hold of each other.
"Estel," they both breathed out in surprise when they saw him. But their hands remain in the same place.
Aragorn only looks at them.
He didn't feel angry. He didn't feel sad, his only thought is "It's time."
"Are you CRAZY?!" Faramir yells at Danny and Max the moment they have finished telling him their great idea.
They were standing in front of St. Iggy's and he was hopping from foot to foot in an effort to keep warm as he waited for Celebrian to come and get him.
"I know. I know. It sounds pretty wacky, but we wouldn't be asking you this if we could find another way."
Max defended himself and his brother quickly.
"Come on, Mir. It's for a good cause," Danny piped in, putting on the charm.
Faramir frowned as he looked over at Eomer and Eowyn, who were sitting just a little ways away from them, the "good cause" that the Rivendell twins were championing to him.
He had arrived at school at nine o'clock, courtesy of Celeborn. He personally didn't really want to be there, since he was hurting from both the beating and the hangover he had gotten from the night before. He would have much rather stayed at home, in his bed, with Aragorn lying beside him.
But Celeborn had other ideas and had made him go to school. He would have skipped out behind his father's back if it hadn't been for the warning that Celebrian was going to come to school to pick up assignments for Lee, Boromir and Aragorn. She would have to talk to teachers to do this, so there was no way in hell he would get away with skipping out. So he went to class and sat like a zombie and prayed that Elrond, Haldir or any of the other teachers wouldn't ask him questions that were too hard.
He was lucky when no one really paid much attention to him until hometime. That was when Danny and Max, with a glassy-eyed Eowyn and twitchy Eomer in tow, ambushed him and begged for him to allow the Rohans to stay in his house for a couple of days until they got the mess with Theoden cleared up.
They had told him what had happened in the morning and he had been utterly disgusted. Even though Eowyn and Eomer hadn't been the greatest people when they had first met, they had mellowed out quite a bit, and to hear that Theoden had beaten up his own cousin was enough to piss him off big time. Sure, they weren't his all time favourite people, but Eowyn didn't deserve what had happened to her and Eomer shouldn't have had to look like a hunted animal because of that.
He would have said "sure" right away if things hadn't been so weird at his house. After all, when he was younger, there hadn't been a night when either Yohji, Duo or Thom or all three had been sleeping in their living room. But now that the Chibis where there and Celebrian, Aragorn and his parents were all stressed out, he didn't know if he could say it was fine only to have his word overruled.
"Well?" Max asked impatiently. "We kind of have to know before we go home, Mir."
Faramir had just opened his mouth to reply when a battered grey car with a huge blue daisy painted on the hood and with Black Flag blaring from the speakers appeared in front of them. The music turned off and Celebrian came out of the car, wearing a black woolen coat and a violent green tuque on her head that would have been an eyesore on anyone else, but looked perfect on her.
"Get in the car. I won't be long in there, okay?" she told him as she came up to him and gave him a friendly punch on the arm.
"Hey, Celly?" Faramir asked before she disappeared inside the school.
"What?" she asked him, her grey eyes full of concern for him.
"I need a favour." he told her. Celly nodded.
"See those two over there?" he asked her quietly. Celebrian nodded.
"The girl got beat up by her cousin and the guy's her brother and they need a place to stay for a bit. Do you think you can...like... cover for me in case mom and dad get mad? I mean, I normally wouldn't ask, but..." he trailed off and shrugged when he couldn't find the words he needed to explain why he was taking the chance to offer Eomer and Eowyn shelter.
"They close friends?" Celly asked as she looked at the girl and the guy again. The girl looked like she had just been slammed around and had the bruises to show it. The guy was hovering over the girl and despite his protective stance, the look of sheer hopelessness gave away the fact that he really couldn't do anything to protect her at all.
"Well...ehm...sort of. Eomer used to not like us, but he mellowed out a lot. Eowyn is pretty cool now."
Celebrian nodded as she received the information.
It was true that they had often had many people crash at their house because of problems and unexpected events. Her parents had never turned anyone away and had in their own way, encouraged people to show up in their homes. She didn't see why this situation would be any different, except for the fact that these two weren't exactly close friends of Faramir's and couldn't be as easily trusted as other people were in the past. But looking them over, she highly doubted that any problems would arise. They looked as if they would fall asleep on their feet before they would actually cause mischief at all.
"Look, just get them in the car. Mother and Father won't throw them out once you explained things to them. If they need help that badly then I'm sure that something can be worked out, okay? Now let me go in and get the work and we'll go, okay?"
Faramir nodded and turned to Max and Danny, who were grinning at him from ear to ear.
Damn them and their superior elven hearing!
"Shut up and help Eowyn in the car, will ya?" Faramir told them crossly as he went to open the car while Celebrian laughed softly before she plowed into the school.
"Estel? What are you doing here?" Legolas asked as he slowly pulled his hands from Boromir's own and shifted around on his bed to get into a more comfortable position.
"Visiting. I wanted to make sure you were fine after last night," Aragorn replied tersely as he came forward and placed the flowers on Lee's lap.
"I see you are fine and well, so I shall just go home now. Good-bye." He turned to leave, but was stopped by a hand grabbing at his sleeve.
"Estel...wait."
He looked down and found Boromir's green eyes looking up at him.
"Wait for what, Boromir?" Aragorn asked, his words measured and careful as he spoke.
Boromir licked his lips before he spoke. "We need to talk."
Aragorn, despite his earlier resolution, felt as if his heart had sunk to the pit of his stomach. It was true that he had made up his mind to search Boromir out to talk to him, but when the moment finally came, it seemed like he really wasn't sure whether he'd be able to face up to the challenge of actually going through with it.
"Fine. Let's talk then."
But it seemed that his mouth had no reservations for making the decision for him.
He and Boromir were going to talk.
by Jim Morrison
Chapter XVII
Baby, can we still be friends?
"If there's a chance
I would take it this desire I can't kill
take my heart please don't break it
I will crawl to your foothill"
—The Tea Party.
egolas was bored. Really bored. And he had only been lying in bed for about a day now.
