The old ways

Haldir leaned over to Legolas to whisper into his ear "Do you think Aragorn might know if it is safe to..."

Legolas’ eyes grew wide. "Haldir! You are not going to ask him, are you?"

"But, love. Wouldn’t you want to know? Do you really want to go on for some months without any more than a few touches?"

"I didn’t know you were that desperate!" Legolas fumed and pulled away from Haldir.

"Oh and who was it then who begged me last night to give him more than just touches?" Haldir growled.

"Is there nothing more important for you?" Legolas turned and stormed out of the room.

"Now, what was that all about?" Haldir shook his head.

"You have to understand, Haldir, Legolas is going through some difficult changes right now." The calm voice of Gandalf made Haldir turn around. The old wizard had just come into the room, a smile of understanding on his face. He nodded at Merry, who lay in his bed, eyes round and listening intently to everything happening around him.

"It is a known fact, " Gandalf continued "that pregnant female do tend to have mood swings. I don’t see why a pregnant male should be any different."

Haldir swallowed and cast his eyes down.

"Now, what was the problem, Haldir?" Gandalf pulled a chair over to Merry’s bed and sat down.

"Maybe I shouldn’t talk about it." Haldir sighed.

"He was asking Legolas, if he should ask Aragif iif it was safe to..... I don’t know what." Merry chirped.

Haldir blushed and stared at the Hobbit.

"Oh!" Merry beamed "Now I know. Hey, Marchwarden of Lorien. I am not such a young Slingling as that I do not know what you two are doing during the night, or day somewhere secluded."

Gandalf chuckled. "So, my dear Haldir. You are afraid that your desire to couple with your husband might endanger the child. Is that it?"

Haldir rolled his eyes, but nodded.

"Let me assure you," Gandalf pulled out his pipe and stuffed it, much to Merry’s dismay, who had to lay flat on his back and watch, "it is perfectly safe if you want to be with Legolas in that manner. Just be careful not to put too much pressure on the lower abdomen. Maybe you will find it comfortable to lay on your side, if you want to take him, later during the pregnancy. For the other way around, there is no problem at all, as long as Legolas feels comfortable. Hence there is no problem with too early contractions, with a male, you needn't worry about passion at the end of the pregnancy. But always make sure that Legolas is comfortable and doesn't encounter any pain."

Gandalf leaned back, as if he had just given a child a lecture on how to treat an animal nicely and engaged Merry in a little conversation about meaningless subjects.

Haldir stood dumbfounded in middle of the room and slowly turned towards the door. His ears were burning and he knew that they had taken a bright shade of red. He would never have guessed, that he could actually get that embarrassed at his age again.

He walked down the corridor in direction of the room where Eowyn and Faramir were being treated, when he bumped into Legolas, who was leaning against the wall, head bowed and his shoulders sagging.

The blond elf turned at the sound of approaching feet and lifted his head to see who was coming.

Haldir could see from the red and swollen eyes that Legolas, did indeed have mood swings and he obviously had been crying.

His anger melted away immediately and Haldir drew Legolas into his arms holding him tight.

"I am sorry." Legolas voice sounded muffled against Haldir’s chest