Sméagol's Redeption

Chapter 41

Sméagol and Lea changed into their swimsuits, covered their bodies in sunscreen, and hurried off to the beach together.

"Last one in the water's an orc turd!" Lea joked.

Sméagol laughed as he and Lea ran into the water together. Well, actually, Sméagol beat her.

"Lea's orcses turd!" Gollum laughed.

"Hey, no fair!" Lea joked. "You ran before I did!"

"Yes, Precious!"

"You butthole!" Lea splashed him with water.

"Ohhh, so it's like this, Precious!" Sméagol gloated as he moved his arms, and splashed a much larger amount of water at Lea, laughing hysterically. "We gots it! We gots it!"

"Oh, yeah?" Lea moved her arms, and managed to splash Sméagol with an even larger amount of water. "Take that, you sexy hobbit, you!"

"Sexy?!" Sméagol flirted. "Ohhh!"

They continued playing and splashing each other, laughing like innocent children for a while, until they finally got tired. Then, they sat in the shallow water, and let the gentle waves caress their bodies as they held each other close.

"That was fun," said Lea.

"Yes, it was, Precious," Sméagol agreed.

"I haven't laughed and played like that since I was a kid."

"I never played and laughed like that before," said Gollum.

Lea smiled at him. "Well, I'm glad you finally got to."

"I've never been this happy in my life."

"Honestly, neither have I. I've never felt so loved and wanted and..." Lea paused.

"And, what, my precious?"

"I never felt so beautiful before. You know, I always felt like I was ugly, because of my weight. I was always reminded of it my whole life. If people weren't telling me to lose weight, I would see it in the mirror... or in pictures of me. I would see a fat slob with pimples all over her face. I hated my body so much, and got so sick of people hounding me about it that I... I wanted to..." She couldn't finish her thought.

"What, Precious?" Sméagol asked sympathetically.

Lea sighed shamefully. "I almost developed an eating disorder myself. Every time I was reminded of my weight, I thought about throwing up my food, so I could get skinny. I didn't think about binging, but just purging up my regular meals and snacks."

"Awww, my poor precious," Sméagol said sympathetically, gently caressing Lea's shoulder.

"I never actually did it, but... I came close a few times. I just wanted to make myself skinny, so I could shut everyone up, even the people who genuinely cared about my health. It still made me hate my body, and... I felt like I was ugly and fat and lazy and gross. I wanted to be beautiful."

"You are," Sméagol said softly.

"When I'm with you, I don't feel fat and ugly and gross, because you don't look at me, and see all my flaws. Or, maybe you do, but... they don't matter to you. You just love me for me, and you make me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world."

Sméagol pulled Lea closer. "You are beautiful, my precious," he whispered. "When we looks at you, we sees the most beautiful of God's creation. We sees your flaws, my love, but they are not flaws to us." He caressed her face. "They're precious, just like you. We doesn't see it as fat and ugly and gross. We sees a beautiful princess with the voice of an angel who loves us very much... and we loves her, too." He kissed her softly. "Very, very much, we loves her." He played with her hair. "Oh, Lea, your hair is so beautiful. Even when it's wet, it's still beautiful. No matter what, you are always beautiful to us."

Lea rested her head on Sméagol's shoulder. "You're really beautiful, too, inside and out. You're the most beautiful, most special, most amazing man I've ever met, and I am so grateful to God that you exist." She kissed him.

The two of them stared out at the ocean.

"Ohh, it's so beautiful," Gollum sighed happily, "the waves dancing on the ocean, the way the ocean meets the sky, like a stairway to heaven, the sound it makes, like a gentle song."

Lea wiped tears from her eyes. "Wow, Gollum," she sniffled, "you are so poetic and deep."

"Can it see?" asked Gollum. "Does it see the ocean?"

"Yeah, I can," Lea said happily. "There's a lot of things I can't see very well, but I can see the ocean. Everything you're talking about, I see it, and it's awesome. This world may be screwed up in so many ways, but it's also amazing and majestic and... really, really special."