To Warm An Advisor's Heart

You take a deep breath before knocking on the wooden door. No one answers. You growl. It’s taken you all freakin’ day to get enough courage to even knock and now you going to have to knock again.

‘He better answer soon,’ you think.

You knock again, this time with more force. Still nothing. The next time you pound on the door. The door flies open and your starring into a pair of blazing brown eyes.

“What?” Erestor snaps.

You take a quick breath. He. Isn’t. Wearing. A. Shirt. Erestor isn’t wearing a shirt. His chest, while not buff, is sculpted. His nipples are dark brown against his olive skin and you fight not to play with them. He has a four-pack stomach. You never heard of a book worm like Erestor have a four-pack before this! He has a happy trail from his bellybutton to the top of his tight black pants.

Your mouth has gone dry as you think of very, very naughty things about where the happy trail leads to.

Erestor rolls his eyes. “Could you please say something?! I need to get back to work and you’re distracting me.”

“Me distracting you! I’m not the one with my shirt off,” you say. You feel your cheeks heat up.

He shrugs. “It got hot in my office.”

You are starting to think that it’s getting hot in the hallway. You tear your eyes from his chest to look at his face. “I wanted to thank you for this morning,” you say. “I probably would have had to crawl to my bed if it wasn’t for you.”

His eyes dark, making your breath hitch. Is it you, or does it seem like Erestor doesn’t mind the thought of you crawling naked?

“Anyway, it seems like you are always rescuing me,” you continue. “So I was wondering if I could escort you to supper. I wanted to come by during lunch, but Elrond said that you are usually working on the most difficult stuff during the afternoon.”

“He’s right. And no, I will not join you for supper.” It looks like he wants to say more. Instead, he slams the door in your face.

You stare at the door in shock. “Well that was polite!” you yell through the door. “A real fucking gentleman!”

“If you dislike how I act so much then why don’t you leave me alone!” he shouts back.

“Fine, I will!” You stomp off, knowing your right ankle is going to hurt like a bitch because of it.

“Stupid elf,” you mutter. “One minute he’s almost sweet and the next he’s a total jerk.” You sigh. “I wish he wouldn’t act like this.”

You walk to the dining room to find everyone is already there. You see there is a spot reserved for you between Elrohir and Glorfindel.

“Great. Just what I need, more testosterone,” you mumble. You sit between the two elves.

“Where have you been?” Elrohir asks. “I was about you look for you.”

“Before or after you finished your chicken?” you ask.

Glorfindel chuckles.

“Told you she was witty,” Elladan says. “Where were you anyway? Did you get lost or something?”

“No. I was inviting Erestor to supper,” you answer. You blush when you remember that he was only wearing those tight black pants. “He declined.”

“Did he slam the door in your face?” Glorfindel asks.

“Could you pass me the chicken? Or has Elrohir eaten it all?” you change the subject.

Glorfindel grins. “Have it your way.” He passes you a plate of chicken and doesn’t mention Erestor again.

You have a lovely time at diner. From trading jokes with Elrohir and Elladan to Glorfindel telling you stories about Middle Earth to Thranduil tossing whip cream at Elrond because he was ‘sure dear Rose was bored out of her mind and needed something to make her smile’. You are glad that you didn’t skip the meal again like you originally intended to do.

That’s when you get a small pain in your heart. While you’re having fun, Erestor is working is ass off. He’s missing all of the fun and you partially blame yourself. You shouldn’t have lost you temper with him so quickly. You feel like you need to make it up to him.

You get up and walk to Elrond. You lean in and whisper in his ear, “Can I have the key to Erestor’s office?”

He blinks. “Why?” he asks.

“I’m going to take him some food, whether he likes it or not.”

Elrond hesitates. He’s about to protest, when Thranduil says, “Give the elf the key. She knows what she’s doing.”

You smile at him, not admitting that you actually have no freakin’ idea as to what you’re doing. You don’t know why you’re so obsessed with Erestor’s wellbeing. All you know is that if you don’t do something, you’ll feel as though you failed him.

“Fine.” Elrond pulls out a key and hands it to you. “Keep it. I never use it.”

“Thank you.” You kiss him on the cheek. You find a clean plate and pile food onto it, ignoring the curious glances from the others. “Good-night everyone!” You leave the dining hall, knowing that Elrond is going to be bombarded with questions about where you’re going.

You whistle as you walk down the hall. With crutch under arm and plate in the other hand, you have a feeling you’ll probably look ridiculous when he answers the door.

“If he answers it,” you say as you look at the key around your neck. “That’s why I have you, incase he doesn’t.”

You reach his office door in no time. You square your shoulders before knocking on the door. “Erestor, open up,” you demand. Silence. “Erestor, if you don’t open the damn door then I’ll come in anyway.” More silence.

You grumble as you struggle to get the key in the door while maintaining your balance. You open the door quietly and slip in without his noticing. You then realize that Erestor’s head is on his desk. You walk over to him and check to make sure he’s breathing.

His deep breaths relax you. You smile at his sleeping form. His face looks ages younger than it does when he is awake. His whole body is relaxed as he lightly snores. You sigh at the sight of his back muscles moving with every breath he takes. You wonder how they’d move if you touched him.

You fan yourself when you realize how hot it’s getting in the office. You put the plate on the desk a distance away from him. You look at the book he is sleeping on and see that it reminds you of the inventory you had to do at your fast food job when you were younger. You lightly bring up his head and inch the book out from under it. You gingerly put his head back down and study the notes he made. Yes, it’s exactly like doing inventory. You look at the parcels on his desk and guess those will tell you how much they’ve used of what. You are about to grab them, when something catches your eye.

In Erestor’s hand is a piece of fabric that is tie-dyed. You recognize it. It’s the shirt you were wearing when you first came here! But… what is Erestor doing with it?

You shrug. You aren’t in the mood for riddles at the moment. You grab the parcels and move to the squishy armchair you sat in the last time you were here. For the rest of the night you work by firelight on the inventory while Erestor sleeps.

By the time the fire has died, the sun begins to rise. You yawn and watch as the sun peaks above the horizon. “I can’t believe I worked that long,” you say. “Now I understand how Erestor loses time when he works on this.”

“What are you doing?!” a voice yells. You jump. You turn to see Erestor is awake and glaring at you. You feel your lower region heat up at the sight of his mused hair and hooded eyes. It almost looks like he just had some hot, wild- “I said, what are you doing?”

“I was working on the inventory,” you answer. He looks confused. “I mean, the thing that was on your desk.”

He gasps. “How dare you touch my things without asking!” He snatches the book from you.

‘Actually, I was doing your work so I WOULDN’T touch anything of yours,’ you think. You want to say it, but doubt it would help the situation.

“I didn’t think it’d hurt anything. I’ve done that sort of stuff before in the other world. I’m finished,” you say.

Erestor blinks. “You’re done? You must have done it wrong.” He looks through the book. By the time he is done, he is in awe. “How did you finish it so quickly?”

“I told you, I used to do it nearly every week at my job in the other world. I learned little tricks that got the work done faster while still being accurate.”

He nods. He flings himself into the armchair across from you. He is still starring at your work. “I’ll have to tell Elrond at this. Maybe he’ll stop making me do this crap every season.”

“I’d be happy to do it. It’s the least I can do for all the things all of you have done for me,” you say. You look at the food you had brought and realize that it’s probably cold and stale. “Why don’t we get some breakfast?”

“The sun has just risen,” Erestor points out. “No one else will be up, not even the cooks.”

“Then I’ll cook something,” you say. “Come on, let’s get some food.”

You know that he wants to say yes. His facial expression shows it. Instead he sighs and shakes his head. “I’m not hungry,” he lies.

You want to yell at him. You want to call him a jerk for treating you like this. You manage to keep your anger from showing. “Fine,” you say. “Maybe some other time.” You stand and get your crutch. “I’ll see you later.”

As you reach for the plate he says, “I can get it-“

“It’s okay,” you interrupt. “I brought it up here, I’ll take it back.”

“But you shouldn’t walk around so much, it’ll make your ankle hurt more,” he says.

You reach the door and look back at him. “I can handle physical pain Erestor. It takes my mind off of the other pains,” you say.

His eyes widen, but he doesn’t reply. You leave his office and close the door. Tears flood your eyes, but you refuse to even shed one. The only comforting thought you have as you walk down the hall is that he didn’t lock the door again.

Maybe there is still hope.

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“I’m glad that all of you came here,” Elrond says. You look from the twins to Glorfindel to Arwen to Aragorn to Thranduil to Erestor. What is so important that Elrond needs to talk to all of you right now? “I have very good news.” His eyes shine, reminding you of a kid on Christmas day.

“Are you going to tell us already?” Elrohir asks, losing patience. He yawns. “I wasn’t waken up this early to be kept in suspense.”

“It’s eight in the morning,” you point out.

“Which is really early,” he says. He snuggles into his chair and closes his eyes. “If you aren’t going to spit it out, then I’m going back to sleep.”

“That’s no way to talk to your father,” Aragorn scolds.

“Come off it Aragorn,” Elladan says. “You know well enough that Elrohir isn’t polite to anyone when he first wakes up.”

Aragorn bites the inside of his cheek. He is about to say more when you cut in. “Look, all of you can bicker later. Right now I think we should listen to Elrond.”

Elrond grins. “Nicely put Rose,” he says. “Now as I was saying. Galadriel wrote me and told me that she would enjoy having all of us, including Thranduil, come and visit her as soon as we can. I wrote her back saying that would leave two days from now. And since I know that Erestor has his work done ahead of schedule,” he looks from Erestor to you, “I know that he will be able to join us this time.”

“We’re going to see Grandma,” Arwen repeats. She grins and claps her hands together. “I’m so excited! I’m going to start packing right now.” She jumps out of her chair and hurries out of the room.

“She gone. Let’s go now before she comes back,” Elladan says. You giggle.

“I don’t think so,” Elrond says. He looks at Glorfindel. “We are the only ones that will be going. I’m putting you in charge deciding who takes watch when. Keep it in pairs and make sure that you put the weakest and strongest together.”

“I will. Trust me, no orcs will surprise us at night,” Glorfindel states.

WAIT A FREAKIN’ MINUTE! “Excuse me,” you say. “Did you just say orcs?”

Erestor coughs loudly while Elladan signals Glorfindel to shut up, but Glorfindel doesn’t pay attention. “Yes I did. Did you think we wouldn’t be at the risk of running across some?” You nod. He sighs and shakes his head. “I was afraid of that. There are orcs all across the lands. That’s why we have at least two keep watch while the others sleep. After all, we don’t want a group of orcs to come upon us when we are unguarded. Who knows what horrors they’d perform.”

Your body trembles and you stand so suddenly that you almost fall. You feel a hand touch your side. Erestor is standing beside you, looking at you with concern. “Are you okay?” he asks.

“I’m fine,” you squeak. That’s a big fat lie. Good thing you’re not Pinocchio or you nose would be touching Erestor’s right now. You clear your throat. “I’m just glad that I’m not going to Lothlorien with you all.”

Elrond blinks. “But you are going. Galadriel knows that you are here and she wants to meet you.”

“I’m sorry, but no. Not with the chance of those… those… things running around,” your voice goes high, but you don’t notice. The thought of the orcs nearly catching you makes your skin crawl. “Maybe you don’t fear them, but I do.” Your body trembles and you feel like you’re going to hyperventilate.

“Rose, calm down. Nothing’s going to happen to you,” Elrond tells you.

“I don’t care. I don’t want to go,” you say. “I’m sorry Elrond, I really am, but I know that I won’t be able to handle the journey. I won’t be able to sleep because all I will think about is whether or not those monsters are going to pop out of the trees.” Before Elrond can say another word, you walk out of the room.

Your hands shake as you walk through the hallway. You leave the home and go into the garden. You wring your hands as you pace on one of the paths. “I really don’t want to go,” you say. “But I owe it to them to go.” You sit at the bench and bury your hands in your hair. “What am I going to do?” Tears burn your eyes. You close them and feel drops fall to your hands.

You feel an arm wrap around your shoulders. You bury your face into the elf’s chest and cry. You feel soft hands stroke your hair, giving you the comfort that you’ve needed ever since you woke up in this world.

Once your tears are shed, you look up at the elf who comforted you. You blink. You so did not think it you were going to be looking into deep blue eyes. Glorfindel.

“How do you feel?” he asks. He tries to stroke your hair again, but you pull away.

“I’m fine,” you say. “But I didn’t think it was going to be you.”

He smiles. “Who did you think it was going to be?” he asks. “Erestor?” When you don’t answer, his smile fades. “So that’s it? You choose him over me?”

“Stop acting so offended,” you say. “It’s not like you and I are dating or anything.”

“But I want us to!” He grabs your face and pulls you into a kiss. You try to fight it and feel disgusted when he tries to stick his tongue in your mouth. You bite it, causing him to break the kiss.

You look up and feel like a dear caught in headlights. You are staring into chocolate eyes that are brimming with anger. ‘Why is Erestor angry?’ you ask yourself. ‘Oh shit, does he think I wanted to kiss Glorfindel?’ You pull away from Glorfindel and move to follow Erestor, but he is gone by the time you stand.

You look down at Glorfindel and see the regret in his eyes. You wish that you knew every single cuss word there is so you could say it to him. Instead you decide to be the better elf in the situation. You say slowly, “Don’t ever kiss me again. I may forgive you in time, but right now please leave me alone. Okay?”

He nods his head. You sigh. You leave him alone in the garden. You have to find Erestor. You hurry through the halls until you are panting in front of his office door. You fumble to find your key. You open the door and nearly cry when you see that he isn’t there.

You spend the rest of the day looking for him, but to no luck. You fall asleep crying because you know that the only reason you can’t find him is because he doesn’t want you to.

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What do you think? Please review. To all of those who are also reading 'Love Thine Enemy', do not fear. I might not update for a while, but that is because I'm writing this story. I'm writing it while I have the ideas and energy to do so. I know where the story is going to the other one, but I'm still working on how it gets there. Anyway, hope everyone is enjoying this story, I'm very proud of it. Ta for now and take care. much love,

Ivory Wolf