Title: For this night only
Author: Enide
Rating: NC - 13
Paring: Eomer/Haldir
Warning: PWP, Explicit sex
Summary: Haldir is hurt and taken to Edoras, where Eomer helps him to
heal
Disclaimer: None
Publication: Yes, but ask first
Feedback: Please! At sus_secret@hotmail.com
Authors note: About as annoyingly fluffy as it gets ;o)

”Lord Eomer! Lord Eomer!” The upset shouting from the incoming riders
was enough to make Eomer start running towards them, fear enhancing his
speed. Was it a new orc-attack? They had been living with the threat of
invasion for so long now that the start of a war would almost come as a
relief. But when he reached the scout patrol, he could see that none of
them were hurt, although their horses were lathery and tired as if they had
been driven hard. “What? What is it, Eotain?” He asked the captain as the
horses came to a skittery halt in front of him. Eotain was carrying
something in his arms, but Eomer could not make out what it was until the
captain held up the unconscious body. “We found him at the northern
border. There were signs of an orc attack, but we could not see anyone
else around. He was hurt, so we brought him back with all speed.” The
limp body in the captain’s arms was pale from blood loss, his fair elven
features drawn taut from pain and the silvery hair hanging down his back
soiled with blood. A bandage had been constructed around his chest from
the torn remnants of his tunic, but blood had been pressed through the
cloth and stained even Eotains hauberk. “Valar, that is a Lórien elf!”
Eomer swore at seeing the half-dead elf. “Well done, Eotain! We must get
him to the healers!” He reached out for the elf and Eotain carefully placed
him in his captain’s arms. The elf didn’t move or make a sound.
Hurrying towards the healer’s house, Eomer marveled at the lightness of
the elf, as if he was made out of air alone, or already half way to wherever
elves went after death. His broad chest and muscled arms left no doubt as
to him being a warrior, and Eomer found himself murmuring the same
pointless words as he would to one of his own people. “Don’t give in, stay
with us, it is not your time yet…” He knew from experience that
sometimes the sound of a single friendly voice was the only
thing that kept a warrior back from crossing over the brink to death.

Eomer kicked up the door to the healer’s house, which caused a lot of
indignated shouting from the men and women inside until they say the
burden in his arms. A cloth, already stained with blood from several other
warriors through the years, was quickly draped over a long bench and as
Eomer put the elf down, the healers came running with clean bandages
and hot water. “He might twitch from the pain,” one of them told Eomer.
“You must hold him down.” In the healers house, a healers word was law
even to the third Marshall of Mark, and Eomer was far too worried himself
to want to leave. He watched the elf’s motionless face as the healer started
removing his clothes and the makeshift bandages. The blood had dried
into the cloth and as they started removing them, a spasm of pain went
over the beautiful features. A long fingered hand shot out and grabbed
Eomers in a surprisingly strong grip. Long eyelashes shivered, and then
opened, revealing blue eyes, glazed with pain and dizzy with the loss of
blood. “Where…where am I? Who are you?” The voice was hoarse.“You
are at Edoras. You will be safe here.” Eomer continued at the healers
encouraging nod. “What is your name, friend?” “Haldir. Warden…of
Lorien.” The pain suddenly grew too much and he lost consciousness
again, but Eomer kept his hand in a strong grip. With careful hands, the
healer washed of the blood and filth from the elf’s hair, body and face.
The skin was almost translucently fair and Eomer marveled at the strength
and beauty of the stranger. He had never before seen an elf this close, and
he found himself praying fiercely that the wonderful being would survive.

When the bandages were in place, the healers directed the stranger to an
empty bed in the further end of the long room. “He is cold, so you must
keep him warm.” The healer commanded and then glared at Eomer until
he with a sigh pulled of his shirt and crept under the covers with the elf.
Haldir was indeed very cold, Eomer discovered as he put an arm around
the elf, snuggling up to be as close as he could. With his smooth, hairless
chest and perfect features, the warden seemed almost more as a statue of
stone than a living person, but his chest moved with every breath, and he
grew steadily warmer as Eomer shared his body warmth. “What happened
to you, friend?” Eomer whispered as he stroke the wet hair back from the
fair face. The healer had pressed some water down Haldir’s throat and the
soft lips still glittered with droplets. Fascinated, Eomer moved his finger
over Haldirs mouth, catching the drops and placing them in his own
mouth. They tasted strange, a wild and fresh taste that made Eomers
heart beat faster. He closed his arms around the unconscious elf and held
him so near that he could feel every steady heartbeat.

Somehow he must have fallen asleep, snuggled up to the elf, for when he
woke the room was dark and filled with the sound of soft sleeping. The
body in his arms was warm now, but stiff as a piece of wood. Eomer
suddenly realized that Haldir must have woken during the night, naked
and cradled in an unknown Man’s arms. He turned towards the elf, and as
he suspected was met by a waken glance looking back, confusion and
withheld fear shimmering in the blue eyes. “Where am I?” he whispered in
the common tongue. “Where are my brothers?” “Your brothers? My men
only found you. They brought you back to Edoras.” He hesitated, but
added. “There were signs of an orc - attack…” Haldir gave a strangled
sound, and Eomer realized that he was holding back tears. “Rúmil,
Orophin…In the hands of orcs! And me, caught by Men…” From the
sound, Haldir barely knew which was worst. Hurt pride and anger, never
far away from Eomers mind, flashed at the words and he immediately
freed himself from the elf, scrambling out of the bed. “My men saved your
life. My people dressed your wounds and washed you. And I have spent
the night trying to keep you alive! You have a strange was of showing
gratitude, warden.” In the dark, he didn’t get more than two or
three steps before he herd Haldir’s voice again. “Forgive me.”
Eomer stopped, something in the elf’s voice revealing that this apology
was as costing to Haldir as it would have been to Eomer. “What?” He
turned back to the bed and the pale elf. “Forgive me. I was wrong
to…doubt you. But when I woke I feared the worst.” Eomer sat down on
the bed again. “I would never take advantage of someone hurt and
unconscious.” “Hurt, yes. It still burns like fire, but I can feel the 
healing
starting. But I am no longer unconscious.” Eomer was taken completely
off guard as the elf reached out and pulled him near with a firm grip on his
long hair. The kiss was warm, but hesitant, until Eomer answered with his
own warmth. Like the water drops on his lips, the elf tasted strange and
wonderful, unlike anyone else Eomer had ever known. “Will you help me
again?” Haldir asked as the kiss broke. “Help me pass these dark hours,
unless I shall go mad with worry for my brothers.” Looking down on the
beautiful face, Eomer barely found any words as his hand kept stroking
the now dry, soft hair on the pillow, pale as moonlight in the dark room.
“We are not alone in here,” he answered hesitantly. “We might waken the
others.” “We will be quiet.” Haldir smiled and caressed Eomers cheek
with tender fingers. “Very quiet.” Surrendering to the fire that caress
fanned in his veins, Eomer leaned forward and kissed him again.
Haldris body was strong under Eomers hands, but the wound made him
vulnerable in a way that sparked unknown tenderness in the Man. His lips
found Haldirs over and over again as the elf’s hands climbed his body,
panting softly at the touch of the scarred warrior body under his hands,
the signs of mortality that made Man-kind so precious and strange.

Fighting to keep his breathing low and steady as Haldir’s hands found
their way down his thighs and caressed him, Eomer sank his head to the
elf’s chest, kissing his nipples. He found himself caring more about the
elf’s pleasure than he had ever done with other lovers, caressing him softly
and kissing him warmly even as he started to harden and arousal made his
stomach knot with desire. Haldir had suffered so much. He deserved a
night of pure pleasure.

Haldir bit his lips to stop the moaning as the Mans warm wet tongue found
its way over his body, the excitement flooding his body and sweeping
away all worries and pains. He knew he was taking more than he was
giving in this lovers game, but the wound in his side made movement
difficult, and he was still exhausted from loss of blood. Never had he
known or expected that a Man could be so tender, so caring. Eomer’s
hands and mouth was warm and the callused fingers brought new,
unknown pleasures, as did the feel of scars and strength of his body. The
last of Haldirs fears and prejudice about Men crumbled and fell as Eomer
laid down next to him on the bed. “Come, my friend. If the wound doesn’t
hinder you.”

Eomer didn’t say that this was the first time he had ever let anyone do
this to him; he had always been the rider before, not the ridden. But
Haldir’s light body, smooth as silk against his own as he carefully placed
himself on top of him was not an intrusion but an embrace. Hot lips found
their way over his neck and ear, making him smile and the look on the
proud, fair face over his shoulder as it surrendering to desire when the elf
moved inside him, would have been reward enough. But the pleasure that
it brought was new to Eomer and he had to bury his face in the pillow to
muffle the sounds of desire that escaped him.

Haldir rested his face in the blonde hair, hoping he kept his breath low
and undetectable in the dark room. The skin of the Man underneath him
was hot as fire, his hips moving in the rhythm of Haldirs as they slowly
grew towards climax. When that came, Haldir had to bury his teeth in the
Mans shoulder to stop the cry, but Eomer only laughed breathlessly at the
sharp pain. The Man was also shaking with climax so close and as Haldirs
hand found their way between his legs, he sighed deeply and all tension
seemed to be drawn out from his body.

They fell asleep again, a sound, trouble free sleep. When Haldir woke
again just before dawn, he kissed the Man gently, waking him up so that
he could get dressed and disappear before the healers woke. Eomers last
kiss held both tenderness and regret, and his unwillingness to leave was
obvious in his eyes. Haldir felt a sting of the same loss, but there were no
words, no promises that could ever be enough. This night would never be
repeated, and they both knew it.

The sun had barely got over the horizon before Eomer returned, but by
now all of Edoras was awake, and Haldir had already got the bandages
changed. He was not as pale now as he had been during the night, Eomer
reflected, and the glow of growing health on his cheeks and in his eyes
only enhanced his beauty. “Your brothers are here,” he said as he sat down
on the bed again. “They were never caught by orcs, instead they hunted
them down and killed them, believing you were a prisoner. And when they
discovered you were at Edoras they ran through the night to get here. Now
they are outside the wall, demanding we free you at once. I fear they will
break down Medusarel brick by brick if I deny them.” ”They would do
that.” Haldir smiled. “We love each other very much.” “You deserve it.”
“But I will teach them to be more trusting towards Man kind.” Haldir
closed
his fingers around Eomers. “And should you ever need us, you or your
kin, we will be there. I swear it.” “And I know you will hold to that
promise.” They both smiled unaware of the dark shadow that hung over
their words.

The end