A Second Chance

Chapter 20

A/N 200 VOTES GUYS!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! *dances* \(*O*)/ I HAVE POSTED CHAPTER 20 IN HONOR OF THIS WONDERFUL WONDERFUL EVENT!! THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!!! WOOOOOO!!

Thranduil stared up at the stars with an annoyed expression. Still coming to terms with the fact that his son had dragged in a... dwarf. A dwarf that was quite possibly tracking filth all throughout his lovely palace. The thought made Thranduil's scowl deepen as he made a mental note to ask the servants to clean anything the dwarf had touched twice. Returning his gaze to straight ahead of him, he wandered deeper into the gardens, and his thoughts strayed to Emma.

Thranduil couldn't help but be amused by the trick Emma had played on his son. Especially now that he'd had a few glasses of wine. He offhandedly thought that he may be drunk (no the first time it would've happened) and if he was he should probably attempt to return to his chambers. His eyes wandered back up to the stars and he dismissed the thought.

He had just begun to ponder the feeling he'd had when he saw Emma dancing with that strange ellon when a sound interrupted his train of thought. A cross between a grunt and squeak. If such a thing was possible. Thranduil carelessly strolled down the pathway towards the noise and to his dismay, found Emma face-down on the ground in front of a bench she must have either been lying on, or just barely missed.

Sniggering a little, Thranduil took off his outer robe and put it on the bench before stepping carefully across Emma and sitting crosslegged on his robe. The Valar only know if that nasty dwarf had been sitting there. He sat there staring at the back of Emma's head for a few minutes wondering why she was out there, when the thought crossed his mind that she may have been drunk as well (drunk Thranduil isn't quite as perceptive as sober Thranduil).

After a few more minutes, he grew bored and decided to see what it would take to wake her up. Carefully leaning over, he reached out and poked her in the back of the head. Getting no response, he repeated the action and was rewarded with a.. growl.

Leaning back and feeling just a little alarmed, Thranduil contemplated his next course of action. He was spared the trouble when Emma growled again and rolled onto her back. They sat (or lay, in Emma's case) staring for a good minute and a half before Emma said in a slurred voice, "What's the great and mighty Thrandy doing here?"

Thranduil shrugged and she rolled her eyes. He stoically watched her pull herself up (with no small amount of effort), offering no assistance.

"You're drunk," he said, after she pulled herself up next to him.

"So are you," she said snidely. They looked at each other for a few minutes before they sniggered quietly. After a few minutes they were as serious as two drunk elves can get, gazing up at the stars.

"They are beautiful, are they not?" Thranduil murmured softly. When Emma didn't answer, he turned to see her nodding off, her hair blowing gently in the warm breeze. He smiled softly and returned his gaze to the stars, beginning to feel a little drowsy himself. A few more minutes passed and he felt a light weight drop onto his upper arm. Stiffening, he looked down to see Emma's head resting there. He considered moving her off, but he was to lazy (at least that was his excuse) to actually follow up on that, so he merely returned his gaze to the stars.

oOo

Legolas woke up nice and early, just so he could see the look on Emma's face when she found out he'd left her in the garden. As he bounced towards the gardens, he happened upon a cluster of servants whispering. Ever the mischievous elfling, he silently backtracked and did a little side mission.

Side Mission; Eavesdropping. Points equal- 9

He did an internal whoop. That would bring his total since he had an active imagination to...

8,338,739,278.

Shaking his head to rid himself of some of the giddiness, Legolas focused on the (side) mission at hand.

Conversation overheard by Legolas

Servant Girl #1: ...that he was even considering it!

Servant Girl #2: I think they would look cute together!

Servant Girl #1: Amariel! Don't speak of what you know nothing of!

Servant Girl #2: *sigh* Whatever. What did you see again?

Gardener: They were just sitting on the bench in the gardens, fast asleep. It was rather endearing.

Servant Girl #1: I still don't think all was as it seemed.

Servant Girl #2: You listen to me Cora-

Servant Girl #1: Don't call me that!

Servant Girl #2: Cora. We will have a new queen with in the next century and I'm sure of it.

End Conversation

Legolas staggered back.

A new queen?

That would mean a new mother!

That couldn't possibly be right!

Without giving it a second thought, Legolas sped to the gardens in search of answers.

~!~!~!~!~!~!~

Of course, he did not expect to see this.

Legolas couldn't help himself.

He burst out laughing.

Those idiotic servant girls. And the gardener. He wasn't very smart either. There is no way his father could or let alone ever would court Emma.

True, the position they were both in was slightly compromising, but he knew for a fact that they were both drunk. And when his father gets drunk he usually wanders into the gardens and gets himself hypnotized by the stars. They must have been near incoherent to get this close together.

His attention was drawn to the snuggling pair as they began to wake up. Stepping back behind a bush, he gleefully watched the exchange.

oOo

Emma burrowed into the nice warm lump that was beside her. She heard something that sounded like a laugh and began to wake up a bit more. After a few seconds, she realized the warm lump was a person. And that person had an arm around her waist.

She was pretty sure the last time she checked, she was unconscious on a bench in the gardens. The person holding on to her was clearly waking up as well. She cautiously peeked up and yelped.

After that, many things happened.

The person holding on to her finished waking up in record time and let go immediately with an exclamation of shock. Emma fell off the bench and scrambled backwards, and a bush burst into hysterical laughter.

Emma and Thranduil both slowly turned to the bush, confusion etched onto their faces. They assumed they were imagining things and slowly turned back to each other. Never meeting each other's gaze fully. Emma was beet red and the Elvenking was even a little pink.

Neither of them said anything and the Elvenking slowly stood up, bowed to Emma and picked his robe up off the bench with two fingers and a look of distaste, before striding off towards the palace.

"He's usually like that in the morning."

Emma yelped and whirled around to face the bush she had thought was laughing.

So apparently it really was.

"I didn't know elves had talking bushes," Emma said curiously (she was still half asleep. Forgive her for her idiocy).

"Oh yes." The bush bobbed vigorously.

"Oh no. I'm going crazy." With that, Emma (still beet red) picked herself up off the ground and stalked to the palace, leaving a hysterical bush (or Legolas, cleverly disguised as a bush) behind.

A/N 200 VOTES GUYS!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! *dances* \(*O*)/ I HAVE POSTED CHAPTER 20 IN HONOR OF THIS WONDERFUL WONDERFUL EVENT!!