Protect & Serve LotR-Lord of the Rings Fanfiction - Fan Fiction -WattyAwards2012

Chapter 7: No Regrets

"Marry me."

"Are you certain, Elaina?" Legolas whispered with an intensity in his voice, his hand sliding up to touch my jaw delicately with his fingertips.

I smiled when he didn't need any clarification on what I'd meant. "Yeah, I'm sure."

The yearning shone in his eyes; hell, I could feel the very emotion coursing through him. Yet he still seemed reticent and indecisive. He turned his head to stare out at the battlefield I'd just walked across, his eyes fixed on some distant point as he spoke, still not looking at me. "I would not have this be a thing you regret. I would have it be done with only love and joy in your heart, not a fear induced by those here slain."

With one palm on his cheek, I gently turned his eyes back down to mine, and with the other hand, I grasped one of his and pressed his palm over my heart, holding it there. "When I'm with you, there is only joy in my heart. Can't you feel it, Legolas?"

He smiled lightly but didn't respond, though neither did he move away. My left hand held his palm to my heart, and his hand twisted under mine, twining with my fingers to stroke the ring he'd placed on my hand. The promise he'd made.

"I do have a lot of regrets in my life," I told him. "But I never regretted acting on the desires of my heart. And too often, I've regretted not acting; regretted the things I hadn't done. I regret that we've already waited so long. And for what? I don't want to wait for this war to be over; we can't know what might happen here—not even me, because things have already changed from what I once knew—and I don't want to regret not seizing this moment when we found it."

I could see the emotions and desires battling across his face. "My heart knows what it so greatly desires, but are you certain you are not rushing your own?"

My smile turned wistful, "You said yourself that many elven couples unite almost upon meeting and first giving their hearts. I wonder now why I've waited so long. I don't want this thing to be something I regret, and I'll never regret finding and loving you. I never thought it was possible to find someone who understands me the way you do. And maybe I've been in shock at actually realizing that you do not only understand me, but love me as well. In spite of what you know about me. It might even be selfish of me, but I'm not foolish enough to let you slip away from me. I don't want to waste this chance for us to be happy. Even if for only this moment in time."

The hand that had been pressed to my heart and twined with my fingers, slid up to curl around the side of my neck as Legolas lowered his forehead to mine, staring intently into my eyes. "Nay, we shall have many moments of bliss and happiness. Just this one moment shall never satisfy the longing in my heart for you. It demands years of bliss in your arms."

A grin stole onto my expression. "Greedy, huh? I think I can live with that."

He closed his eyes and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to my waiting lips, and then slid his mouth to my cheek, pressing soft kisses there until he'd moved to whisper in my ear, "But say not that joining your heart to mine is selfish, for if such a desire is selfish, than my own heart is mercenary in its long desire to have you for my own."

My eyes had closed at his kiss, but I smiled wider at his words. "And I want nothing more than those years of happiness you speak of, but I want even more than just years, I don't think even eternity would satisfy me." I opened my eyes and pulled back to let him see my grin. "What an insatiable and possessive pair we'll make."

Instead of laughing or smiling at my joke, a look of sadness flashed across his eyes, and lingered in his emotions. "Would that we had an eternity together. Much I would give for it."