Title: The reluctant parents Author: Chaotic-Binky Rating: PG-13 Pairing: Erestor/Glorfindel Summary: Cirdan gives a reborn baby Celebrian to Erestor and Glorfindel to raise as their own – now how to get Elrond to take her off their hands as quickly as possible! Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, I just dream about them! Warnings: AU. Some angst, some humour, slash, alternate POV’s Feedback: yes please! This is for Nilorac who gave me the idea and offered suggestions – thankyou! The name Tiwele was generated from Chris Wetherell’s elvish name generator. Prologue The two elves stood at the edge of the harbour by the gangplank to the ship that would carry one of them across the sea. ‘I release you from our bond’ the female elf said to her husband and looked expectantly at him. ‘I cannot release you from our bond my love’ was the quiet grief stricken answer. ‘You must!’ she demanded. ‘I cannot’ was the tear strained reply. ‘Why?’ ‘Because one day, I too will sail west and I would want you to be able to feel my presence in the hope that by then you would have healed and can once again open your heart to me’ he pleaded. He moved forward to embrace his wife one last time. ‘Do not touch me!’ she cried and pushed him forcefully away. ‘I love you’ he said in a quiet anguished voice and watched with tears flowing freely as his wife walked up the gangplank never once looking back. The elf watched as the ship disappeared over the horizon and then he prayed to the Valar that one day he would be as one with his wife again. The Valar heard his prayer and it was done. Ulmo stirred the waters and raised huge solidified lava beds from the sea floor. The ship could not escape the whirlpool or the eventual dashing to pieces on the sharp jagged lumps of volcanic rock. Crew members held fast to anything that could float and as suddenly as it had started, the upheaval stopped. All made it to the shore safely except the Lady Celebrian who was found on the shore lifeless and unmarked. Erestors POV Celebrian was as a mother to me, the only mother I remember. I had been brought to Imladris after my parents were killed by orcs and she had raised me as her own. Elrond had shared in her delight at having a child to love and even though he knew my identity before I was reborn he allowed me in my innocence to call him Ada. I was not there the day she sailed, at her request. She did not want to see my tears, she had no patience for them, and her heart was as stone. Elrond arrived back a broken elf and it was a long time before he would smile again or even take joy in the simplest pleasures. This was compounded by the news that Celebrian had died in a shipwreck; Elrond blamed himself, he should never have let her go. Unable to fade, in spite of trying, he prayed nightly that she would one day return to him. I grieved for my mother and my heart felt physical pain. If Glorfindel had not been there to support me my heart would have cleaved into many pieces and I would have been as nothing. His love and soft, reasoned words limited the hurt and he held and comforted me in my grief. Elrond did not have this indulgence and for a time even I was unable to reach him. Glorfindels POV Erestor is the loveliest elf in the whole of Arda and there is nothing about him that displeases me. To comfort him when Celebrian rejected him was to comfort myself. When word came that she had died I held him in his distress and eased his heart and in doing so I eased my own. I did not allow Erestor to withdraw as Elrond had done. My love had to face life because loss and grief will affect us all in our long immortal lives and we have to deal with it and the consequences, or forever hide in a half life of our own making. This is a hard lesson to learn but one I know intimately from my own experience. Life became as normal again for Erestor and me quite soon after, he did not forget and honoured her memory but placed his grief aside so that we could run Imladris, we owed it to Elrond, his subjects and ourselves. Erestor became increasingly more like Ereinion in personality and took on the mantle of leadership with consummate ease. He seemed more at ease with who he had once been, but remained as Erestor because that is who he is. Elrond came back to us gradually, much to our relief and in the end embraced life as vigorously as the rest of us. Erestor resumed his Chief Councillor role and Elrond was once again the Lord of Imladris. There was agreement that there would be no return to the past, and so, Erestor remained powerful and still held sway over much of the realm and this was actively supported by Elrond who found ruling alone a burden he was more than happy to share. During this time I willingly carried out my duties as Captain of the Guard and had no wish to share in the power of the two rulers. Erestors POV We continued happily in Imladris, years passed by with the celebrations of the seasons marking time. Life seemed constant, pleasant and unchanging. My greatest joy and love is my bound partner, my Glorfindel and the time we spend alone together. He is the greatest, strongest, most handsome elf anywhere and I am his! Glorfindel is reading over my shoulder, and is laughing at my hero worship as he calls it; however it is all true, he is magnificent and I am as malleable as bread dough in his hands; it is in his hands that I wish to always be. Glorfindels POV That’s it I have to take over here; Erestors enthusiasm for me has made him digress somewhat from the story! Everything was going along very well and we had a very settled, peaceful and contented life until Cirdan came to visit carrying a tiny baby. I was reminded of when Erestor came to us in the same way. I asked Cirdan if the baby was also reborn. Cirdan handed the small baby to me and said that the Valar had blessed Erestor and me with a child; he had been specifically instructed to make sure we understood that she was ours. Elrond sniggered and muttered something facetious about sleep and nappies. Erestor bit his lip and looked at me expecting me to say something and I asked Cirdan why Elrond couldn’t bring her up instead. Of course, we will never tell her this – we will probably wax lyrical about how delighted we were but in reality my arm was wet because her nappy hadn’t been changed for a while, and she was crying non stop; one could only be amazed at her lung capacity. We decided to call her Tiwele and I gave her to Elrond to hold. He was not amused but took her into the house to change her and clean her up. Cirdan seemed quite concerned at this and told us in no uncertain terms that we were not to rely on Elrond to bring our child up. ‘I can’t see why not’ Erestor said dismissively ‘after all he raised me so he knows what to do.’ ‘This little baby is the answer to a prayer Elrond made to the Valar when Celebrian sailed’ Cirdan said. Cirdan irritates me when he is obtuse. ‘Get to the point’ I barked at him. Cirdan looked at me as though I was the most stupid elf in Middle Earth and said ‘She is Celebrian reborn’ ‘This should be interesting’ said Erestor with a wicked grin, ‘let us not tell Elrond yet’ he added. Erestors POV We were inundated with help and gifts of clothing, nappies and baby related furniture. Neither of us is very maternal and whilst we both adore children we have always been glad to hand them back after a while to their parents. However, we survived and Tiwele grew to be a happy child and we took much delight in her. Galadriel and Celeborn invited us to Lothlorien when Tiwele reached her fifth year. We arrived and Galadriel immediately took our little daughter into her arms; she was overjoyed. ‘Thank you’ she whispered to us ‘thank you for letting us see our daughter again’. Celeborn and Galadriel were totally enamoured of Tiwele and we thought that was great because now we had babysitters and we could go off and have lots of loud sex without Tiwele coming into the room and asking for a cuddle, a drink of milk, a story and so on. I suggested that as Tiwele did not have a Nana that she could call Galadriel this. I told Tiwele that Celeborn could be her Lothlorien Ada and she accepted this without question. Tiwele loved them both and during our stay always sought their company. Glorfindels POV Right! This is where I take over. Galadriel and Celeborn were extremely happy with the arrangement and took Tiwele into their care all the time we were there. In fact we saw very little of her and I must admit I began to feel a little jealous. Erestor laughed at me and said I was being silly. I replied that because of that remark he would get only partial sex that night but he merely raised an eyebrow, an irritating habit, and said that we both knew that wasn’t true. He was right. One night we were going into dinner which is a formal occasion in Lothlorien and everyone wears their best. Tiwele had been given a new dress earlier on in the day and was proudly showing it off. Erestor and I agreed that she looked very pretty and then she took Celeborns hand and went into dinner with him. Erestor nudged me, giggling. He pointed to Tiwele who had her dress hiked up at the back and was scratching her bottom. Celeborn looked down ‘What are you doing?’ he asked. Tiwele raised an eyebrow, a despicable mannerism no doubt learnt off Erestor and said in a loud clear voice ‘I’m scratching my ass, of course’. We fell about laughing and Celeborn looked at us; we quickly looked contrite. ‘You should not scratch in public’ Celeborn informed her. ‘But I am itching’ Tiwele answered insistently ‘why can’t I scratch myself?’ Celeborn considered this for a moment and decided to take the easy option ‘Because it is against the law for elflings to scratch their bottoms in public’ he informed her. Tiwele became incredibly cute at that point ‘Ada Celeborn?’ ‘Yes?’ ‘Don’t you ever scratch your ass if it itches?’ He had the decency to smile, ‘Absolutely not; I’m incredibly rich and pay someone to do it for me’ This was too much for Erestor, he cracked up with laughter and I followed suit. There were many more happy memories and that is why I would not have had life any different from what it was. Erestors POV Lets not get maudlin eh Fin? We returned and found that Elrond had missed us, as indeed he should; but to our surprise he paid more attention to Tiwele. I felt quite left out; I am his adopted son after all. He took Tiwele off for tea and left us standing their. We hefted our luggage to our rooms – most of it was stuff Galadriel had given Tiwele, and slumped on the bed exhausted. Quite often we would take Tiwele to Lothlorien and leave her there. It was for the best really, Galadriel could tell her all the things that women tell each other, like where babies come from and how to flirt properly and so on, which meant we didn’t have to try any more. We tried to answer Tiwele’s questions about where babies come from and the differences in male and female bodies, we really did. Glorfindel once drew a picture of a male and female elf and said that the male had a sword; embarrassment got the better of him and he drew a big broadsword in the males’ hand. Elrond point blank refused to help us out and suggested that she hang around with the ladies sewing circle more. Elrond was never happy that Tiwele spent periods of time away, he was very fond of her and spent a lot of time teaching her lore, healing and just about everything else he could think of. At dinner he insisted she sit by him and they would chatter happily together often at the expense of including others and being polite. We could see where this was going and when she told us just before she reached her majority that she was in love with Elrond we were not surprised. We just hoped that he had not reciprocated; neither of us knew how to ask her though. Glorfindels POV For some time, Tiwele had been experiencing strange dreams and returned memories. She dreamed of leaving the one she loved, of loss and dying. Erestor had been right to insist that we did not tell Elrond her true identity. We knew he was falling in love, but this way it was not with a memory but with a living being. Elrond was the slowest mover on Middle Earth. Tiwele looked at him with large puppy eyes and hung on his every word, but to no avail; she was several years past her majority and so we decided to egg things along a bit. I went to see him, ‘Elrond will you ask Tiwele about her dreams, we are at a loss to explain them.’ He agreed and I went to tell Erestor what I had done, ‘See you are not as stupid as you look’ he grinned. I love Erestor so much that I will forgive him this naughtiness. Erestors POV Glorfindel and I were despairing of ever having our suite of rooms back to ourselves. It was high time Elrond saw what was under his nose and stopped being so bloody chivalrous. My brilliant, clever, strong and handsome husband who loves me with a passion went to Elrond and asked him to talk to Tiwele about her dreams. Ah! Fin has wandered off – I wish he wouldn’t look over my shoulder as I am writing. Right! Tiwele went to see Elrond for their mid-morning cup of tea which starts just about after the morning council meeting has ended. They do this every day without fail and spend a lot of time just talking and giggling apparently. Glorfindel and I are never privy to their meetings so we just assume they are behaving themselves! Anyway, I digress. Elrond told me that he had talked to Tiwele about her dreams and did not want to share any opinions he had formed but asked me to trust him. I willingly said I would trust him, in truth I couldn’t care less anymore; this pussyfooting around each other is terminally boring and has to stop. Glorfindel POV Yes I agree! It is getting boring and Elrond is really pissing me off. Why don’t we just tell him who she is I wonder? He hasn’t even asked me if he can court her and we all know where it is heading, why doesn’t he get his finger out. It’s bloody frustrating! Anyway, Tiwele has just arrived and has told Erestor (because I am writing, therefore she thinks I can’t hear or speak) that Elrond wants to see both of us. She looks nervous and excited and I can’t resist asking her if she has been naughty. She is groaning and says to Erestor ‘Do something with him Ada’ before kissing us both and leaving for her singing class with Lindir. Poor Lindir, she is not a natural talent alas! We went to see Elrond who says and I quote nearly verbatim: ‘I know who Tiwele is; she is Celebrian reborn isn’t she?’ (We nodded) ‘I constantly see it in her eyes and only Celebrian and I knew what happened at the quayside so Tiwele could not have known unless she carried the memories of Celebrian could she?’ (We nodded again) ‘So, Tiwele is Celebrian reborn and yet is Tiwele also; it is Tiwele whom I love and I would ask that I can court her with your blessing.’ (Yet again we nodded) ‘I also took the liberty of seeking advice in this matter from Galadriel and she confirmed who Tiwele really is’ he added with an air of flourish. Erestor had had enough ‘Good old Galadriel! Court her and marry her and hurry up about it’ he said with a small degree of impatience. I laughed, Erestor loved Tiwele to bits but he was the most reluctant parent ever! ‘Of course you may court her Elrond’ I said ‘I reserve the right to become the heavy parent if you ever upset her you know that don’t you?’ and I leaned forward to emphasise the point. Elrond chuckled ‘I love her, so never fear on that point Glorfindel’ Erestors POV We see them together all the time, they are inseparable and now share betrothal rings. I am really happy for them both. I must admit that I heard the moment they declared their love for each other – they had left the door slightly ajar, the lock was not working properly so I doubt it was intentional - and it was very tender and sweet. Tiwele told Elrond that she knew who she really was and remembered her former life with him and the love they shared. Tiwele added that she regretted the pain she had caused him when she had left him and thanked the Valar she had been returned to the only one she could ever love. I heard her small sigh of relief when he told her that he loved her too. ‘You are Celebrian but you are also Tiwele’ he said ‘if it is possible I love you more than before, when you were just Celebrian. You are the only one I can ever love, without you I cannot exist.’ This made my heart sing; she was being loved for who she is and not for whom she once was. The room went very quiet and so I assume they were kissing or doing other things it would be inappropriate for me to hear and so I left. Glorfindel POV I am trying to write and my love, my sweet Erestor is licking my ear and telling me to come to bed, Mmm…….. I have to finish off tomorrow…. It is morning now and Erestor is telling me that I had better not write that he can hardly walk he is so loved up, worn out and tired. That’s what you get for not sleeping my dear! Oh look! I just wrote it. Ha-ha! Anyway Tiwele, our dear sweet daughter is now married and bonded to Elrond, and they now have two sweet baby elflings called Elladan and Elrohir which we love to cuddle and then give back. They are a devoted couple and we have no concerns, we thought that the end result would be that we would finally have our life back when Tiwele left, however; it was not like that. Our lives became enriched, we had the makings of a large and inclusive family and yet we also, once again, had the privacy that Erestor had especially missed. As a couple our togetherness was enhanced and shaped by the events of the past and its happy, joyful results and we grew even closer. It was a long time in coming but all four of us have been blessed by the Valar with our new beginnings finally merging together in a way that makes sense and gives us positive hope for the future. Once again my love is teasing and caressing me……….I have to finish now……..Erestor, my love……….Mmm, feels so good………….I am so weak. The end.