~ Sightseeing in Middle-Earth ~

~ Quote: ~

"MOMMYYYYY!! IT'S OVEEEEER!!!" - That little monster-dude thingy at the end of 'Just for Laughs'

~ Disclaimer: ~

I own Erin, and the specific way the words are put together in this story. I do not, however, own any of the other characters, or the plot which is formed by the words that put together this story, or anything else.

~ Chapter XXVII~

~ The End ~

I must have tired myself out more then I thought, because I didn't wake until the next afternoon, and then only because my stomach was gurgling at me. Elrond, somehow, managed to walk in a few moments after I woke up with food. I ate, he checked my health again, and then told me to sleep some more before heading out again. I finished eating, and then followed the healers orders and went back to sleep.

I woke again the next morning, feeling restless. There was no one else in the room, and I knew I wouldn't be sleeping again for a good while, so I started inspecting my room as well as I could from the bed. Within minutes, I was utterly bored. And I spent at least another good hour like that, before the door cracked open and a hobbit head appeared, peeking into the room.

"You're awake!" Pippin exclaimed.

"Was it that obvious?" I asked, and Pippin grinned at me.

"Just a moment, then! I'll go tell everybody else! They've been wanting to speak with you for several days!" the hobbits said, still grinning, and then disappeared. A few minutes later, I heard the distinctive sound of someone wearing heavy boots coming down the hall, and then the door opened again to reveal the Fellowship - well, except for Gandalf and Aragorn. And much to my delight, Pippin was carrying a tray of food.

"Hobbits officially rock!" I exclaimed upon noticing the food, and Pippin grinned at me as the rest of the Fellowship laughed. They then set about arranging themselves in various spots around my room. The hobbits, after Pippin handed me my tray of food, jumped up on the end of the bed and sat there, while Boromir joined me at the head of the bed. Gimli sat in the chair beside the bed, and Legolas stood by the side of the bed.

"So, how is everybody?" I asked as I started eating, and boy did THAT set off the conversation. Merry and Pippin were full of tales about their being knights of Rohan and Gondor, and Sam was going on non-stop about the elves, and Gimli matched Sam's enthusiasm with his complaints. Legolas seemed a little out of it for awhile, until I asked him if he'd heard the gulls, and that started him off about the sea. Boromir remained silent - there really was nothing for him to tell me that he hadn't two days ago.

Frodo also remained silent, but I think it was more because of his recent quest. In an effort to cheer him up, I made use of the fact that Legolas had been lulled into a false sense of security by me being confined to bed, and I poked him. His reaction made everyone laugh. He was on the other side of the room in a flash, with a cornered-deer look in his eyes.

"I do believe all elves are ticklish!" I crowed.

"Just because one is does not mean they all are." Legolas said stiffly, trying to compose himself as the rest of the Fellowship remained grinning or laughing.

"How about if three are?" I asked innocently, and Legolas looked at me and blinked.

"You know of other elves that are ticklish?" Gimli demanded, and I nodded, grinning. "Who?"

"Haldir, for one." I said, and then paused and grinned wider before continuing. "And Lord Elrond for the other." There was a moment of stunned silence, and then even Legolas was chuckling.

"And how, pray tell, did you find this out?" Boromir asked once the laughter had calmed down.

"He told me I had to stay in bed, so I poked him. And he made a funny noise and leapt sideways. It was quite amusing." I replied.

"And Haldir?" Merry asked.

"Oh, he needed a whack. But it was the day we were leaving for Mordor, and I couldn't very well whack him in front of the troops, so I poked him. That was probably the only time I will ever see and elf almost fall off their horse." I replied, and when Legolas nodded vigorously, several of the hobbits chuckled - Gimli outright laughed. Then we got into a discussion about horses, and then moved on to Dwarf transportation methods when Gimli complained loudly about horses.

The rest of the morning was spent talking with the Fellowship. Elrond arrived shortly after noon with some more food for me and attempted to shoo everyone out, saying I needed my rest. He was, however, not getting a lot of respect, as everybody was busy trying not to laugh as they recalled that he was ticklish. Of course, I really didn't help it along when I poked him again. With a glare, he left, declaring that if I got myself sick from overexerting myself, he would not be held responsible.

The Fellowship ended up leaving, anyways. Well, almost all of them left. I had managed to end up sitting in Boromir's lap, and I was way too comfortable to move. So Boromir remained behind while everyone else went off. I'm pretty sure I heard a rather dirty joke from Gimli about it before they were out of earshot, as well.

"I do have duties I need to attend to, beloved." Boromir said when we were alone, but completely undermined what he said by kissing my neck lightly.

"I think your duties can wait." I said, snuggling back against him as he proceeded to spread a trail of light kisses up my neck.

"Mm." Was the response I got as Boromir reach my ear and nibbled on it. I tried not to comment, really I did. But I was in a silly mood due to the Fellowship, and couldn't resist.

"I'm being eaten by the Steward of Gondor!" I exclaimed in mock-horror, and Boromir chuckled.

"And you taste exquisite." He said, kissing me lightly on the cheek.

"Well, there goes my excuse the next time a wild animal decides it wants to eat me." I said with a grin.

"You would charm any wild animal with your beauty before the thought even crossed its mind to eat you." Boromir said with a smile, and I blushed.

"Flatterer." I accused.

"Nay, I speak the truth." Boromir said defensively. "For your beauty is incomparable to any but the Elven maidens of legend."

"You just want me to answer your question." I said, reaching back and lightly whapping him on the head.

"Why do I need a reason to inform my love of her beauty?" Boromir asked in response, catching my wrist as I went to put my hand down, and somehow he then used his hold on my wrist to get my turned sideways in his lap. I had started to form a reply, but then, strange and love-sick as this sounds, I promptly forgot what it was I was going to say as I lost myself in his eyes.

The eye-contact was broken only as I closed my eyes when Boromir leaned in and kissed me deeply. When he drew away, both of us were panting, and we remained apart only long enough to catch our breath before kissing once more. At that point, Boromir's hands started to explore, and I realized that as I really was too tired to take this any further, I should stop encouraging him. So I pulled back and cuddled up to him.

"I know my answer to your question." I said, and I felt Boromir's breath catch. Then he seemed to calm himself, and he kissed the top of my head lightly.

"Do you, now?" he asked.

"Mm-hm." I replied. "You wanna know what it is?"

"One usually asks a question with the intent of getting an answer." Boromir said lightly, but I could tell he was nervous. I looked up at him and smiled, then promptly knocked him onto his back as I kissed him passionately. I pulled away after a very long kiss, and leaned down by his ear to give my reply.

"Yes." I breathed in his ear, and there was a moments pause before I found myself caught in another passionate kiss, only this time, I was the one on my back. When the kiss ended, Boromir rolled so he was beside me again, and I snuggled up next to him.

"Mmm, now I'm all tired out." I commented, and Boromir chuckled, then kissed me lightly on the head.

"Then sleep." he suggested.

"I think I'll do that." I said with a small yawn. But as I tried to go to sleep, a song from my world started running through my head, and I started humming it.

"That is a beautiful melody." Boromir commented softly after a few bars.

"It's a song from my world." I said. "It has words, but I can only remember the chorus."

"Would you sing it for me?" Boromir asked.

"I don't have the best singing voice, but what the heck." I said, and yawned slightly, before I started singing softly.

"'Cuz your love is too strong and I can't go on

Without your tender arms around me

I raise my hands and I surrender

I don't wanna resist 'cause your touch and your kiss

Have shattered my defenses

I surrender..." I finished the chorus and yawned slightly again.

"You have a wonderful singing voice." Boromir said softly.

"Mmm, thanks. Now I'm tired an gunn go t'sleep, mmkay?" I said, my speech getting lazy at the end as I felt my eyelids drooping.

"Sleep well. I love you." Boromir whispered in my ear.

"Love you too, 'Mir." I mumbled, and then drifted off into sleep.

---

I spent the next three days in bed, sleeping as much as I could, before Elrond finally allowed me to get up. That evening, over a meal with the rest of the Fellowship, Boromir and I announced our engagement. Everybody was extremely happy for us, and toasted to our happiness several times. Though both Arwen and I stopped drinking after about the third toast. The men, hobbits, elf, wizard and dwarf did not. By the time the evening was over, Arwen and I were watching with amusement as the males tried to remember what a straight line was, and why they needed to walk in it.

I wondered at the appropriateness of the King of Gondor get sloshed, but Arwen just gave a wicked smile and said something about blackmail. Plus, as she pointed out, the servants had been dismissed a long time ago, along with the guards, so there was nobody to see. Which is why I probably shouldn't have been surprised when, the next day, Arwen started making up outrageous stories about what the males had done while drunk. And Arwen has a rather odd, twisted sense of humour.

For awhile, she managed to convince Legolas and Gimli that they spent half the evening making out. Of course, then they found out that she was lying to them, and...well, things got interesting. Apparently the only things Elves love better then running around in their woods and being all wise is having a nice, refreshing round of practical jokes. Everybody let Legolas and Arwen go first wherever they went with them for the next few weeks, and quite often with good reason.

But while Legolas and Arwen's round of practical jokes was going on, there was also a bustle around the palace due to Boromir and my's engagement. In the beginning, everybody was asking me everything about when were we going to get married, and what was the wedding going to be like, and on and on. However, about that time, I had my long-promised emotional breakdown from my trip home.

I can't remember much from that time, but I was told that at one point Aragorn had to issue and order that no one was to let a weapon within 30 feet of me, because they feared I'd used it to harm myself or others. What I do remember is a helluva lot of crying, and the almost constant presence of either Boromir or Haldir. No one told me much about what happened, either. But by the time I recovered from my emotional breakdown, all of the Fellowship knew, somehow or another, what had occurred while I'd been at home.

When I finally did recover, it was time for the long over-due dissolving of the Fellowship. We went on our long round-about journey, and to my surprise, even though we were a good month late in the journey, everything happened as it was supposed to. At least from what I heard. There was perhaps a little more damage to the shire then there should have been, which I would eternally regret, but there was nothing to be done about it but try and recover.

It wasn't until late summer the next year that the Fellowship saw each other again, this time gathering for Boromir and I's wedding. It was a rather traditional - and large - Gondor wedding, since I'd flat out told the women in charge of putting it together that as long as I ended out getting married to Boromir, I did not care what happened, or how anything looked. The women were shocked for a moment, then grinned as they realized that I was essentially leaving the planning to them. I insisted on having - or rather, on NOT having - a few things, but on the whole, Boromir had more to do with planning the wedding then I did.

But in the end, get married we did, with the entire Fellowship there, and then promptly disappeared to Ithilien for two weeks for a honeymoon. There was no such thing as a honeymoon in Middle-Earth, I'd discovered, but I'd decided I wanted one anyways. And what better place then Ithilien, where I already wanted to go? When we got back to Minas Tirith, the Fellowship had already disbursed along on their merry ways, and my life as the wife of the Steward of Gondor began.

And what a life it was - full of enough happiness and contentment to cause even the readers of romance novels to have problems holding the contents of their stomachs in. But all in all, after what I'd been through during the War of the Ring, I was glad my life held no more adventure.

---

I can't pretend anymore

That I am not affected, I'm not moved

I can't lie to myself that I'm not always thinking of you

You make me strong

You show me I'm not weak to fall in love

When I thought I'd never need now I can't get enough

I always made it on my own

I always thought that I would keep control

You changed everything I believe in

And now I just can't fight this feeling baby

I raise my hands and I surrender

'Cause your love is too strong and I can't go on

Without your tender arms around me

I raise my hands and I surrender

I don't wanna resist 'cause your touch and your kiss

Have shattered my defenses

I surrender

I have to admit that I

Never thought I'd need someone this way

'Cause you opened my eyes so that I I can see so much more

I always made it on my own

I always thought that I would keep control

You changed everything I believe in

And now I just can't fight this feeling baby

I raise my hands and I surrender

'Cause your love is too strong and I can't go on

Without your tender arms around me

I raise my hands and I surrender

I don't wanna resist 'cause your touch and your kiss

Have shattered my defenses

I surrender

I surrender to this feeling in my heart

I surrender to the safety of your arms

To the touch of your lips

To the taste of your kisses

I raise my hands and I surrender

'Cause your love is too strong and I can't go on

Without your tender arms around me

I raise my hands and I surrender

'Cause your love is too strong and I can't go on

Without you..........

I surrender

I raise my hands and I surrender

'Cause your love is too strong and I can't go on

Without your tender arms around me

I surrender

I can't pretend anymore

I can't lie to myself that I'm not always thinking of you

"Surrender" by Laura Pausini

~ C'est Finis ~