((Okay, this is a random RP thing that Mogget and I did to write out the episode that pre-dates the Quest. WARNING: LOTS OF ANGST AND SOAP OPERA STUFF AND SOME ROMANCE AND SOME HUMOR.))

Celeden sighed angrily, a small spot refused to budge from it's place on her sword. No matter how hard she rubbed at it, the smudge wasn't disappearing like the rest had. The female elf sat on her bed with her legs crossed, various knives and weapons laying on the sheets around her. Celeden had started the day as she normally did, checking all of her weapons and cleaning them till they shined. She didn't know where Elohir had gone to, but he was no longer in the area as far as she could tell. Letting out another angry puff of air, Celeden set the blade down, stretched, and moved from her position on the bed.

Moving out onto the balcony, Celeden placed her hands on the banister and looked over the edge. She couldn't see her husband from above, so she assumed he was still inside or further off in the woods.

"Maybe I should invest in a tracking service." She murmured in her own amusement.

Horse hooves could be heard long before Elohir could be seen by any eyes, elven or mortal. He had indeed been in the forrest, but he had his reasons for going away for so long. Nardin and he were looking for a particular cave. Elohir, despite the fact that his wife didn't know this, had lived in this very forest for nearly a few millenia. During that time he had left something in a particular cave. He knew these woods with his eyes closed, which was good, because now they were closed ever so permanently. Dismounting from his horse he let him graze and started up towards his home at the edge of the clearing, up to the top of the trees where he knew his wife would be waiting for him. "Celeden?" He asked coming up the stairs. He figured she might be upset when she had woken up to him not being there, but he knew that what he brought with him would bring forgiveness

Celeden had heard Elohir's horse coming closer to the clearing to her left. Sighing Celeden pushed herself away from the banister and headed back inside. It wasn't long before she heard his voice calling her name from her closed door. Normally she would fret over her appearance, because most elves don't go walking around with grease and polish littering their faces, but it didn't matter. Unless he came too close, Elohir wouldn't be able to tell her appearance. Brushing her loose blonde hair behind her ears, Celeden put away her weapons and cleaned up her mess.

"I'm in here!" She called opening the door and leaning against the doorframe, blocking any entrance into the room.

Elohir came up with a timid and yet strong smile, walking slowly but with purpose in his stride. He stopped as he came to Celeden, he could hear her very heartbeat, and he smiled to hear it. Gently he kissed her sweet lips and then embraced her as he always did when arriving or parting, it was practically habit now. "I have something for you." He said with his voice not showing the least bit of excitment, but being serious yet almost melodious. "Come, sit with me." He said gesturing for the two to enter the room together, he hoped that she liked what he had to offer her.

Celeden's cheeks reddened at the kiss, something that always seemed to happen when Elohir embraced her and most of her anger at his disappearance vanished....most. Raising one delicate eyebrow in suspicion, Celeden turned around and headed towards the bed. Sitting on the edge Celeden paused and waited patiently for Elohir.
Elohir smiled and followed her as she sat on the edge of the bed, he however knelt in front of her as she sat, getting down on one knee as he reached into a small pouch that hung 'round his shoulders and grabbed something, keeping his hand closed. "This was my mothers, she gave it to me shortly before I left home. To give on day to the woman I loved. I wanted to give it to you on our wedding day, but I didn't have time to retrieve it, for I left it hidden deep within this forest." He smiled. as he unfurled his hand

There resting in his palm was a ring for the most heavenly of Elven maidens, a ring made not of gold or silver, but purely of precious stones, crafted in the most beautiful elven manner, the likes of which was rarely seen on this side of the great sea anymore. This was something beyond the beauty of the rings of power, even though it held no power in itself.

"My father crafted this for my mother before I was born. He gave it to her on their wedding day, and knowing that I would never return home my mother passed the heirloom on to me before I left. To give to the woman I love. Celeden, I love you."

Celeden felt her face flush more and was a little relieved that Elohir was blind, for she would rather die than have anyone see her this emotional. Her eyes stayed on the ring, but her hands wrung themselves in her lap. Emotions made her nervous, Elohir for sure knew that and Celeden always had a hard time expressing how much she loved him. But there were moments, when they were alone that Celeden didn't mind coming out of her shell.

Making the quick decision on her own Celeden fell to her knees, joining her husband on the floor and falling into his arms. "I don't deserve beautiful trinkets." She murmured hiding her face, her voice weighted with tears. "Not for the things I've done to you."

Elohir held her gently, tenderly, but securely as she sank into his arms. "It's not a matter of whether or not you deserve what I give you." Elohir said softly, lifting her chin to his, before giving her a soft and tender kiss on her lips. "It never has been."

He knew that Celeden's emotions made her feel vulnerable, which she didn't like, but it was okay, it was just the two of them. He had seen her and helped her through her most insecure of times, he had always been there for her, she had always been there for him, and they always would be. "Accept it for my sake, that I might know that you accept my love."
duos girl 88: "I'll accept it." Celeden said retreating from the embrace and leaning against the bed. "But it doesn't change how I feel."

The light from the room retreated as the sunrise progressed. Tenderly, Celeden reached for the ring holding it up as the sunlight danced over it's surfaces. Removing her dark glove from her hand she slipped the ring onto the finger with her wedding ring.
pbucollegeguy: Elohir smiled ever so softly. "You should not be afraid of showing your emotions to me. You are my wife, you shouldn't hide anything from me." Elohir's soft words were betrayed by his own secrets hiding deep behind his voice. "I was thinking, perhaps we should travel to Imladris, and visit my brother Ithalion. I'm not sure if you remember meeting him, he was the dark one. He came to our wedding."

Then Elohir thought again. "Or perhaps we should just enjoy life here a while longer." He said looking out to the balcony, even though he couldn't see the sunrise he knew it was beautiful. "Perhaps not." He said with a shake of his head.

Celeden's mouth thinned and she once again placed her glove on her hand. "Let's go to Imladris." She said standing and heading towards the doorway. "I'll get the horses ready."

Celeden's face showed no evidence of tears or embarrassment as she went quickly down the steps, but the new unfamiliar weight on her finger was a reminder of things she had yet to tell Elohir. Pausing as nausea lept in her stomach Celeden stopped in the middle of the stairwell to quench the sudden feeling of dizziness. Scowling at the reminder of what she had yet to tell Elohir of, Celeden sighed and headed once again down the stairs.

Elohir sat down on the bed as Celeden left the room, his smile faded as soon as she had left. Rarely did he ever smile genuinely anymore. He truly loved Celeden, but she married him thinking that he was someone, something, else, and he needed to set that straight. After all, did it change who he was? no, he was still the elf that she had married, only he had kept it hidden from her for so long that she would never forgive him. He feared that more than anything.

Yet, hadn't he been perfect until thus far? He'd been the perfect companion, the perfect husband, hadn't he earned a little slack in case he messed up? Granted this was no ordindary goof, but still, she should have a little grace stored from him. Forget going to Imladris, he would tell her the truth before they left.

The reason he wanted to see Ithalion anyway was to see if there was a way to reverse it.

Prepping the horses took longer than Celeden had expected, with nausea growing as the days progressed, Celeden doubted if she would be able to hide it from Elohir much longer. Heading back up the stairs slowly, Celeden wondered if Elohir would be able to forgive her for not telling him the truth. She doubted that she could feign not knowing considering she's been explaining dizziness and nausea for at least a month or so. Reaching the landing Celeden headed back into their bedroom.

"I'll just need to pack."

"Celeden?" Elohir's voice was soft but loud, he wanted to get her attention, but something caught his as he did. Her heartbeat was... fast? No. There were two heartbeats. Was there someone else there. "Do we have a guest?" They were both coming from her general direction, the doorway, and both were extremely close together. "Who's there?"

"There's no one here.." Celeden gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth to stop her words. But it was too late, the damage was already done. Why hadn't she thought of it before? Elohir knew when she was in the room so why wouldn't he be able to hear the life growing inside of her?

Backing towards the door, Celeden felt her stomach lurch and dizziness hit her. She couldn't stay though, she had to get away. Turning around, Celeden ran, heading towards the stairs. Once she reached the landing however, the dizziness intensified and shadows licked the edge of her vision. Celeden scrambeled for the banister, but things moved too fast and she missed. Wrapping an arm around her middle Celeden did the first thing that came to mind, screamed for Elohir before tumbling down the stairs till came to a stop at the second landing.

Elohir rushed from the door and was after her before he even heard her scream his name. He didn't know what was going on, it was time like these that he missed his sight most, but he knew that something was wrong, and that Celeden had fallen down the steps.

Rushing down there he got there as fast as he could and held her head in his hands as he checked for gashes or blood, he was a healer after all, but there was none to be found. "Celeden are you okay? What's wrong? Don't run from me, why would you ever do such a thing?"

Celeden coughed, sliding her eyes open as Elohir's voice echoed somewhere at the back of her mind. The world was still spinning quite fast, but Celeden fought the urge to let her lids fall.

"You asked me if there was someone else in the room,"She said softly furrowing her brows together in pain. "But there wasn't, there is no one else here besides you and me." Celeden's body ached and she knew there were going to be a couple of bruises later, but her head hurt the most and the temptation of falling asleep was becoming more and more appealing.

"I'm so stupid." She muttered, "I should have told you sooner." Letting her eyes slide shut Celeden fell into unconsciousness.

Elohir was puzzled at the words, but he didn't take them to heart right away. He would mull over them later, right now he wanted to tend to his wife. He picked her up and gave a loud breath as he started up the stairs. "Did you gain weight?" He asked himself referring to Celeden as he carried her up the stairs. Ever so gently he laid her upon the bed, and began to treat her as best he could. A warm cloth was set upon her forehead, the spices and herbs that he mixed into the water would sooth her headache as she breathed them in.

"Celeden." He said softly stroking her cheek with his hand. He checked her out for wounds, but could sense nothing other than bruises and bumps until he reached her stomach. He fell back a bit at surprise. That was the second heartbeat. Had she known? She seemed well enough along that she should've... actually the dizziness and nasuea were probably side effects of this. He should've seen it sooner. Luckily however, the fall hadn't caused her a miscarriage, from what he could tell the unborn infant was fine within its womb.

Celeden took awhile to wake, the sun was high in the sky by the time her eyes twitched until they finally slid open. She didn't move to sit up, in fact she didn't make an effort to look for elohir. Her head still ached and she figured that there would be a tenderness to it for at least the next couple of days. The room had decided to stop spinning which was nice and Celeden didn't feel anymore signs of nausea.

However, now she was sure of it. Elohir knew about her child, their child that is. How could she have been so stupid?
"Now you know," Celeden said offhandedly. She couldn't hear heartbeats, but she knew when Elohir was in the room.

Elohir was indeed in the room, he was sitting on the floor next to the bed, working on more medicinal herbs a sav that would help her bruises heal quickly. This was the advantage to having a well experienced healer for a husband. Elohir would have laughed had the situation not been so serious. "You didn't need to hide it from me." Elohir said shaking his head. "This is a thing to be happy about is it not? We should be celebrating, Celeden." He said standing up and sitting on the edge of the bed ever so gently.

"This will be a new adventure. Our child will grow up in the loveliest of homes, in one of the most magnificent forests left in Middle-earth." Elohir laid his hand in hers. "We're going to have a child, there is life after sorrow. We are going to raise a life here, and teach it everything we know, what could be bad now?"

Celeden slid her hand out from under his and sat up slowly, her body ached and it didn't help that saddness licked the edges of her heart. "I hid it from you because I have yet to accept it."

"My father died when I was young, I wasn't even five years old." Celeden laughed, a bitter giggle that echoed in the empty room. "My mother grieved and couldn't handle it."

"So she left."

"At that point I promised myself that I wouldn't bring a child into this world." Celeden paused clenching her hands with fistfull of blankets. "There's no way I could ever be a good parent when I had parents like that."

"I have a hard enough time telling you that I love you."

"Celeden..." Elohir's voice paused... "My parents weren't exactly the best either. Though neither of them died to my knowledge, I rebelled against them, and was banished. It doesn't matter what our parents did, or didn't do, you are not your mother just as I am not my father!" His voice raised ever so slightly on the last part of that sentence, emphasising it though he didn't mean to.

"Celeden, I know that you are unemotional. You are darkness, I am light, we work together through our struggles..." He paused... "I wanted the timing to be better for this, but I suppose that I should tell you, now that certain secrets are being revealed... I am not of the race you think I am."

Celeden looked up in shock, rarely did her emotions show on her face, but the circumstances at the point permitted it. She had the sudden urge to leave, she didn't want to hear this and she didn't want to be there.

"Don't take me wrong. I am an elf, after all, but I am no mere wood elf." Elohir said shaking his head. "I have let others think what they will of me without correcting them. Celeden, how old do you think I am? Remember how we used to joke, how I was so young, and you so old compared to me?"

Celeden remembered, although she didn't often think it very funny. "I remember not finding it very funny." She said looking towards the balcony.

Elohir smiled. "Please, don't be angry my love. I have never lied to you. I love you with all my heart. Would I have married you if I did not truly believe this? Would I have done all the things I've done for your sake, giving my very life for yours, and paying with my very sight so that I could be with you?" Elohir asked with sadness evident in his own voice. "How old do you believe I am?"

"Somewhere over 200." Celeden said, she really didn't keep track of their ages in fact she really didn't know how old he was unless it was the anniversary of his birth.

Elohir smiled. "I am well over two hundred times two hundred. I am far older than you even." He answered. "I was here before Beleriand sunk into the great sea, I was here before Numenor, I was an elf of the Noldor, born to Vagorion Palantari, and Vanariel Vanwetari who was of the Vanyar. Well before the destruction of the trees and the war against Morgoth." Elohir said a bit sadly. He then continued to tell her the entire story as his brother Ingolion had written it in the book of tales, all of it, the entire truth, he laid all bare, and made everything known.

"I am not perfect, neither are you, but with this new life, we shall try our best!" He said desperately. "Please... forgive me for my secrets."

"I can't do this." Celeden muttered shaking her head as she pushed back the covers. She needed to get away, her recent injury and now this? This was too much to handle. "This isn't something that I can forgive." Celeden said shaking her head in disbelief, "you couldn't have told me before we were married."

"You waited 3 years to tell me something that I could have easily have forgiven before were married?" Celeden said, anger lining the edge of her voice. "We're going to have a child, I'm going to have a child with someone that I don't even really know."

"You do know me. I am who I am." Elohir refuted. "Celeden. I am the man you married, nothing about me has changed. Save that now you know the truth that I was ashamed to tell you before. I am cursed." Elohir argued. "I'm sorry, I should've waited for a better time than this, but I couldn't hold stand to hide it from you any longer." Elohir's face, showed little emotions other than joy, but a tear was strolling down his cheek from his distant and empty gray eyes. "I will leave. Please, remain here, and take care of yourself, I will go travel, while you decide whether or not to forgive me this one sin that I have committed in all the time you have known me."

Celeden had many days where she wished she could just give up and leave in fact today had been one of those days. She had tried to leave and instead ended up cracking her head on the stairs. Fate seemed to have one screwed up way with dealing out it's cards, but it seemed that Celeden had to be one of the favorites. However, Elohir's last statement caused the rage in her chest to intensify. Snapping her head around Celeden pushed herself despite the dizziness up off the bed and stormed around the bed until coming to a stop in front of Elohir.

At that point Celeden didn't know if Elohir knew what was coming next and personally Celeden hadn't known either, but in that moment her hand was up in the air and brought down quickly in a moment of rage.

It would be the only time in her life that she would ever strike her husband. The sound of the slap echoed in the room and was followed by a short pause in which Celeden's heavy breathing was the only thing heard. "You know if you left that you would either come back to a dead corpse or nothing at all!" Celeden yelled as tears started to stream over her cheeks.

Perhaps she didn't mean it to be that hard, but Elohir was completely unexpecting of the slap. He didn't have time to react. Whether she meant it or not it knocked him to the floor, catching himself on his knees. He could feel the pain in his cheek, physical pain was something he hadn't felt in a long while.

"Celeden..." He said as he picked himself up. There might've been some who would return the slap, but Elohir would never strike his wife or any other elfess. It went against his very nature, not to mention his honor or his upbringing. "I'm sorry." There was not much else he could say. He loved her, if she didn't believe that there was nothing he could do further to prove it to her.

It took a moment for Celeden to calm down and silence in between was deafening.

"I'm sorry." Celeden repeated reaching up a pale ungloved hand and lightly brushing her fingertips over Elohir's reddened cheek. "I didn't mean to hit you that hard." She said letting her hand drop and looking down at the floor ashamed. "I don't want you leave, I don't want to be alone anymore."

Elohir's reaction was predictable one, being this closed, he held his wife close to him, and kissed her on the same cheek that she had slapped him. "We are both sorry for things that we regret. If you don't want me to leave, I won't. I thought maybe you would want time to sort your thoughts. I'm sorry. We'll stay here. I don't want you to travel like this."

His hand gently stroked her hair as he embraced her. "Celeden, I will always be here. I will always be with you." He said as he closed his eyes. The silence before had been deafening, but this silence was slightly sweet, and Elohir didn't want to break it.

Celeden sighed laying her head on his shoulder and wrapping her arms around him as well. "My thoughts are too hectic to sort out."

"But thank you for staying with me."

Elohir didn't say anything, he just continued to hold her in his arms and stroke her hair. He wouldn't leave now for all the world. She didn't have to sort her thoughts out now, he knew this would take time, but they would be parents. They were going to have to get their act together and start trusting and being more open with each other. He knew that would be hard, for both of them. He smiled, she hadn't wanted a kid? What did she think was going to happen after they... well... consummated the marriage?