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Chapter Text

Gimli Durinson muttered under his breath as he stalked after his cousins along street. The three of them actually had a day off from their various jobs within the family businesses, and Kili and Fili seemed intent on getting into as much trouble as possible. He was younger than then, for Maker sake, and somehow he was their babysitter?

Though it was fall and the weather had turned chill, a number of businesses along the boardwalk were still open, taking advantage of the influx of patrons from a nearby college town on a Friday afternoon.

The dark haired Fili and Kili had already managed to get them kicked out of one happy hour and it was only 3:30 in the afternoon. But that particular bar had catered to young college co-eds who wanted frilly little drinks with umbrellas in them, far from the Durinson family preference for a good beer. Fili and Kili had been egging each other on, flirting with college girls and had been asked to leave because they were too nosy.

Gimli personally didn't think they'd been any louder than the girls a table over who had been giggling and loudly comparing Fili and Kili to stars from some latest action flick that Gimli hadn't even caught the name of.

But then the girls had been dressed in cute dresses, shirts, and jeans and making googly eyes at the attractive waiters, whereas Gimli and his cousins were in denim and leather because they'd ridden their bikes to the boardwalk.

So now here he was following Fili and Kili further down the street, looking for another bar to find drinks at.

"Ya know we really should think about eatin' something and not just drinking," Gimli called to the two slightly taller men ahead of him. None of the Durinsons were particularly tall, but they were stocky and muscular. Their family had a range of businesses from a nightclub and bar that specialized in industrial to heavy metal music to a mechanics shop, all within a few blocks of each other in the coastal town of Dale.

The brothers were in their mid twenties and worked at their uncle Thorin's nighclub as bouncers. Gimli had only recently joined them at Erebor, now finally 21 and old enough to frequent the club himself, though he only worked part time while taking classes at the university.

"Eh, I suppose," Fili shrugged as he paused, glancing back at Gimli. "Laketown's is supposed to be pretty good, and have a good selection on tap, why don't we go there?"

"So you can flirt with Sigrid?" Kili asked, elbowing his brother. "You know Bard's have your skin before he lets her date you."

Fili rolled his eyes at his brother and gestured for Gimli to follow. "Come on, it's just down this street." He turned onto the town's main thoroughfare and past several buildings until they reached a restaurant with a large sign depicting a dragon flying over a body of water and proclaiming the place to be "Laketown Bar and Grill."

Fili pulled the door open and wandered in, Kili and Gimli close behind, and Gimli got the feeling Fili had been here before when the woman at the potedum, a pretty lass with light brown hair about Gimli's own age, eyed Fili and gave a long suffering sigh.

"Fili. How many today?" she asked.

"'Ello Sigrid," Fili greeted her. "Just me and my cousins." He gestured at Kili and Gimli.

"I'll seat you near the bar as usual then," Sigrid informed him as she grabbed three menus from a shelf behind her and lead them further into the restaurant.

Gimli noted the warm wood paneling and furniture, memorabilia from the local high school and nearby university decorating the walls, and approved. This place exuded a casual and comfortable atmosphere. He followed his cousins towards a high top table not far from the bar.

His eyes more on Fili and Sigrid, he almost trip over a gray coat on the ground. Gimli blinked, jumping back a moment as he regarded the gray fur jacket on the ground. He supposed it was suitable for the cool autumn air, though not many people wore fur around here these days. He shrugged and picked the jacket up, draping it over the back of the chair it had fallen behind.

"I think you dropped your coat," he muttered as his hand accidentally brushed the back of the blond man sitting there.

The blond jerked in surprise and turned to look at Gimli, and the blond's gray eyes were wide as they met Gimli's dark ones. Gimli noted absently than the man was rather attractive, if a bit too tall for his normal taste, and slender, almost faeish. His hair was long and blond, braided carefully into a tail down his back. The blond seemed very surprised at Gimli's actions.

A redhead sat with him at the table, her own eyes just as wide, and, odd, was that a touch of fear in her gaze, almost?

"Than-thank you," the blond responded.

Weird, Gimli thought. He just waved lightly. "Er, welcome," he said in response, and then hurried to catch up with his cousins and Sigrid.

He settled onto one of the stools at the table and took a quick look at the menu, since his cousins had evidently already ordered their drinks during his brief exchange with the blond, and Sigrid was eying him expectantly. "Er, Balindar's Porter," he told her as he glanced at the menu. They had it on tap and he knew he'd drink it.

"Thanks," Sigrid told him dryly before she wrote his order down on her pad and headed to the bar where a dark haired bartender stood wiping down the polished wood counter.

Since it was only a bit before 4, the bar was still quiet, even for Friday afternoon, Gimli noted as he looked around. His eyes met the blond's gray again by accident and the blond man flushed a bit before ducking his head and talking quietly to the red headed woman with him.

"You okay?" Kili asked, his eyes following Gimli's. He whistled softly to himself. "Huh, pretty attractive pair over there."

"Yes, and it ain't exactly polite to be saying that aloud," Gimli responded.

"True," Kili acknowledged, unabashed. "Saw you talking to them for a few, what was that about?"

"Eh, the blond just dropped his coat," Gimli replied, waving the question aside. He looked sidelong at Fili. "So obviously you've been here before, cousin, what do you recommend?"

Fili smiled a little, not seeming at all uneasy about the assertion he'd been here before. "Black and Blu burger," he responded. "And get the sweet potato fries."

"If you say so," Gimli replied. He glanced at the menu and then found his eyes wandering the room again, but the blond and the redhead were gone now.

It had been an odd encounter, he thought lightly. Probably tourists, he decided at last, and resolved to put it out of his mind as Sigird returned to take their orders.

Chapter Text

Legolas eyed the fish and chips they were served at Laketown Bar and Grill with some misgiving, but Tauriel dug in readily to the greasy, fried food, and Legolas had to remind himself that Tauriel and other members of their colony typically handled affairs with the humans. Normally Legolas would have remained on the isles within Eryn Lasgalen, within the sea caves of Mirkwood Isle, or Greenwood Isle, but his father had been growing more and more agitated with human activity in the Wildlife Refuge of late and had demanded that Legolas accompany Tauriel this time.

There were very few humans who were aware of the Selkie colony that lived within the Eryn Lasgalen Wildlife Refuge. Most humans knew there was a colony of seals, and that seals were a protected and endangered species.

They did not know that Selkies lived among those seals.

There were select humans here in Dale, and perhaps a few others in strategic places who were aware of the faerie folk, those rare humans who could not be fooled by glamour. When one of the faerie folk found a human who was immune to glamour, there were typically two available paths - recruit them to help protect the faerie folk left in this world, usually under the guise of protecting the environment, or disposing of them.

It was preferable, Tauriel believed, to do the first, but sometimes the latter was absolutely necessary.

Lately there'd been more companies wanting access to the Refuge, not for research, but to drill. The thought of offshore oil platforms in the middle of the refuge, the damage that the construction could create, the risk to his people, had sent even Legolas's normally cold father Thranduil into a fiery fury.

So here Legolas was with Tauriel, after a day spent meeting with attorneys and local activists, reviewing the current laws, reviewing ways to block the companies in court from accessing the Refuge, and anything else they could do within legal means.

The entire process made Legolas feel rather ill. Tauriel hadn't seemed surprised by any of it and had maintained a calm facade throughout. It made Legolas realize just how in touch with modern humans and their world Tauriel and some of the others had been forced to become, while he and his family, while the Selkie King and his children remained within the Refuge, refusing to deal with humans.

Today Legolas had been forced to accept the reality that for good or ill, they must deal with modern humans if their people were going to survive.

Tauriel had suggested lunch after all the meetings and brought him here, telling him it was her favorite restaurant in Dale. She'd greeted the hostess/waitress, Sigrid, with familiarity and had waved to both the barkeeper, Bain. Legolas greeted them absently when he was introduced as Legolas Greenwood. He had noticed, though, how Sigrid's lips and quirked into an odd smile when Tauriel introduced them.

When they were alone at the table he turned a questioning glance to Tauriel, who had shrugged lightly. "Bard and his family are immune, him and his three children, Sigrid, Bain, and Tilda. It was better and easier to make friends with them, and they guard secrets well."

When the fish and chips, that Tauriel had suggested he order, arrived, she'd dug in with gusto. After poking at it for several minutes, Legolas finally began to eat, and found that Tauriel was indeed correct. It was far different from eating raw fish and meat, but it was still good for human food. Tauriel had also suggested a light cider to go with their late lunch, and Legolas found the bubbles in the cider dancing over his tongue to be an oddly pleasant sensation.

They'd nearly been done when three humans came in, all some inches shorter than Tauriel and Legolas, with stocky and muscular builds. Tauriel had watched them with mild curiosity.

"That one," she said quietly, nodding towards the dark haired and slightly older looking one that the other two addressed as 'Fili,' "I've seen him here a few times before, though we've never spoken."

And as they passed, the red haired one had paused, Legolas realized out of the corner of his eye as he kept his gaze resolutely on his remaining fish, and picked something up off the ground and draped it over the back of Legolas's chair.

It was only then that Legolas realized in abject horror that his seal skin, disguised as a gray fur jacket, had fallen on the floor.

If the red haired and bearded one had take it, Legolas would have been in a world of trouble.

But instead the man had apologetically placed it over the back of Legolas's chair and advised him he must have accidentally dropped it.

Tauriel too watched in horror at the events unfolding before her, as Legolas turned and stared at the red haired and bearded human with wide and shocked eyes.

Legolas could feel himself trembling as he grasped the coat, his seal skin, off the back of the chair and held it in his lap.

The stranger had returned it.

His gray eyes wide, he stared after the red haired human as the man was seated and ordered, feeling himself grow hot and cold all at once.

The stranger had returned his seal skin.

"Legolas!" Tauriel's voice as a sharp his as the red haired one met his gaze for a moment, and Legolas flushed, ducking his head to better hear Tauriel.

"Your father is going to kill you," she hissed as she quickly paid their bill and slipped on her own seal skin, again in the form of a jacket, and pulled Legolas quickly from the restaurant.

She more or less dragged him the few blocks to the small inn they were staying at and up to their shared room.

Legolas sat on the bed in shock, clutching his seal skin as Tauriel paced the length of the room.

"The number one rule, Legolas, the most important rule, always keep your skin with you!" Tauriel hissed at him as she paced. "And you let yours fall on the floor? Thank the sea gods that the human returned it!"

"I-" Legolas blinked. Legolas, in his few encounters with humans in the past on the shores of one of the isles, had always been haughty, and frankly looked down upon those humans, whose lifespans were so much shorter than a Selkies. But the events of the day had shaken him badly, to realize just how much threat their home and their people were under.

His father trying to ignore the problem and pull their people further into the caves wouldn't solve anything.

Tauriel stopped her pacing and sighed, regarding her friend and prince with some weariness. "You weren't expecting any of this, were you?" she asked. "The danger? The threat to the Refuge?"

"Dealing with humans to try and harm us directly has always been easy," Legolas responded. "They vanish below the waves, and people blame the waters. But this...this is far more than just a few hunters or foolish polluters." His face was shaking and his posture stiff.

"At least you now see what you father would try and ignore and will away," Tauriel told him. She shook her head. "He may not respond to the threat to us, but he will certainly respond to this! That his youngest child is now tied to a mortal? Is married to a mortal? Oh sea gods, Legolas, what will you do?"

All Selkies knew that a mortal returning a Selkie's skin meant marriage, that the Selkie was now tied to that mortal. In the eyes of the colony, Legolas would be considered married to that red haired stranger, a human whose name he didn't even..

No, he knew the man's name. "Gimli," he said, trying the strange name on his tongue. It felt odd.

He found he did not mind the man's name on his tongue. The man, short he was guessing by human standards, had been attractive in his own way. What was the word humans would use? Rugged, rough, red beard and hair tamed carefully by braids.

Few Selkies in the past decades had been tied to a mortal. He knew of one, and they had left the colony and gone to live a mortal life with their beloved after the human had given them back their skin, and had lived and died a mortal along these shores.

Would he live and die now, tied to a mortal as he was?

Oh Tauriel was right, Thranduil, who looked at humans and mortals with utter contempt, would be absolutely furious his youngest child was now tied to one.

"Legolas? Legolas, have you heard a word I've said?" Tauriel asked, sounding faintly annoyed.

"I-no," he admitted, blinking and coming back to himself.

Tauriel sighed and sat down on the bed next to him. "Well, you'll have to find him again tomorrow. Best to do things in the way of mortals too, not just Selkies." She chewed on her lower lip. "Perhaps some good might come out of this? Perhaps he might be one who can pull more humans to our cause?"

Legolas sighed and buried his head in his hands. "I know not," he admitted. "I know only that I am glad we are not set to go home for at least a few more days."

Tauriel put an arm around his shoulders. "We will figure things out," she promised her best friend.

Chapter Text

"You can't just want to come back here for the food," Gimli grumbled to Fili as the three of them entered Laketown Bar and Grill the following day. It was just past 1pm and the restaurant had a fairly sizable crowd, but then again it was Saturday. Gimli eyed the small crowd in the waiting area. He'd been all for just grabbing fast food, but then he was hungry after a morning spent at the library doing research for a class. He'd texted his cousins to let them know when he was done and Fili had suggest they meet for lunch at Laketown.

Fili decided not to remark on the fact that Gimli could have merely turned down the offer and grabbed his own lunch.

"I'm not," Fili admitted cheerfully. "I like the atmosphere."

"You like that waitress, Sigrid," Kili corrected his brother with a grin.

Fili shrugged nonchalantly and Gimli grumbled again as he leaned back against an empty space of wall while Fili headed to the podium to put their name in. There was another young woman there this time, one Gimli vaguely recognized from classes at the university. Fili greeted her with a familiar smile. "'llo Tilda. Three please."

"Alright Durinson," Tilda replied, jotting down the name on her list. "Though there are seats at the bar open if you prefer. Dad's behind the bar today." Gimli swore he saw the young woman's eyes glittering in amusement.

"Er, nah, we'll wait," Fili replied, rubbing a little at the back of his neck.

"Thought so," Tilda smirked and shooed him away so she could get back to work.

"Just how well do you know the family that runs this place?" Kili asked his brother, his eyes alight with curiosity.

When Fili refused to answer, Kili and Gimli merely exchanged a glance.

They'd been waiting fifteen minutes when two familiar faces from the day slipped through the door. Gimli was scrolling through his phone when Fili elbowed him lightly. "Isn't that the guy you were making heart-eyes at yesterday?" Fili asked him.

Gimli scowled at his cousin faintly as he recognized the tall and fair blond from the day before. "I was not making heart eyes at him," he protested in a low voice.

"Huh uh," Fili replied with dry amusement.

Gimli was about to reply with something about pot calling kettle when he saw the blond and the red haired woman who'd been with him the day before approaching them. The woman seemed faintly amused, whereas the blond looked just a wee bit nervous. Gimli frowned faintly, wondering what the man would have to be nervous over.

Kili, meanwhile, was watching the two of them with a very intent expression and a frown of concentration. The woman noticed the intensity and frowned, glancing at him, then her eyes went a little wide and she looked a bit pale.

"Legolas, perhaps we should speak to them in private," the woman said in low voice, pitched just aloud enough for the cousins and the blond to hear.

"I'd agree," Kili replied, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Trouble?" Tilda's voice next to him almost made Fili jump. Her tone was pleasant enough, but carried with it a hint of warning that confused Fili.

"Got a back room we can speak in?" Kili asked?

This time Fili and Gimli exchanged a glance, feeling lost. Kili and Tilda seemed to know something that they didn't, something about the blond and the redhead. It made Gimli a bit suspicious, and it worried Fili.

Tilda plastered a smile on her face and gestured for the five of them to follow her. Feeling out of sorts and a bit grumpy about the whole thing, Gimli followed Kili, who was all but dragging Fili along, and the blond and redhead.

"Better play nice," Tilda warned Kili as she ushered them into what looked like a break room off the kitchen and shut the door firmly behind her.

"What in tar is going on here?" Gimli demanded, eying the others in the room.

His tone seemed to cause the blond some distress, and the redhead sighed.

No one answered his question directly, but the redhead gave Kili a piercing glare. "So you can see through it?" she demanded.

"I can tell you aren't human," Kili responded. "Attractive as all get out, but then your fae so that's expected, but you sure aren't human."

"Er, what?" Fili stared at Kili as if he'd grown a second head, and Gimli felt more than a little confused.

"Your friend here is correct," Tauriel replied with a long suffering sigh. "Legolas and I are not human." She eyed Kili. "Can we trust you not to reveal our secrets?"

"I'm not suicidal," Kili replied in a dry tone. "But what I want to know is what business the fae have with us."

"Fae, like faeries?" Fili asked. "Those are just stories Kili?"

Kili rolled his eyes. "No, brother, they aren't. You're supposed to be the smarter of the two of us, but clearly you and Gimli can't see through glamour."

"They'll be able to now, now that they know what to look for," Tauriel's frown deepened as she watched them as if weighing them in her mind.

Legolas gave a delicate cough. "I'm going to have to tell Gimli regardless, Tauriel," he reminded her.

"Tell me what," Gimli demanded, his confusion making him irritable. The sudden revlation that faeries were evidently real and that these two were faeries and his cousin could tell that they were left him not entirely sure how to deal with the whole situation.

The blond, Legolas, flushed attractively and Gimli blinked at his own thoughts.

"Have you ever heard of Selkies?" he asked Gimli in a quiet voice.

Gimli frowned, thinking back to stories their uncle Thorin had told them as children. Thorin and Dis always treated the stories with a certain reverence, whereas the rest of the family tended to play it all off as just stories. "Seal shapeshifters?"

"Something like that," Tauriel said. "We have a seal skin that allows us to shift, and that skin is very precious. We are incomplete without it. Yesterday you gave Legolas back his skin." Her tone implied some significance, and it just made Gimli scowl a bit more.

"Well, aye, it was the polite thing to do. So that jacket was your skin?" Gimli asked, looking at Legolas. Legolas had already said thank you, what more was required? All he'd done was pick the man's coat, well, seal skin, up and give it back to him.

Kili was frowning in concentration. "That means something, but I can't remember what," he murmured.

"Well if you're here to say thank you again, you already have," Gimli told Legolas, his scowl fading. "Don't need to go to anymore trouble though if that's what you're worried about." He offered the blond a slight smile, trying to make it look reassuring.

"I, er...here," Legolas flushed again and all but threw a small jewelry box into Gimli's hands.

Gimli met Legolas's sea gray eyes, even more confused now. "Er, you didn't need to get me a gift, I-" the words fell from his tongue when he saw a black titanium band with small blue topaz stones set carefully into the band. It was far to extravagant a thank you gift, Gimli thought, and started to open his mouth again when Fili barked out.

"Is that an engagement ring?"

Gimli's mouth snapped closed and he stared at Legolas, his dark eyes going wide in surprise.

Kili swore softly. "Well shit, that's what it means, doesn't it? They're married now, aren't they?"

Gimli was vaguely aware of Kili directing the question to Tauriel, but all Gimli found he could do himself was stare in shock into the hopeful gray eyes of a Selkie Prince.

Chapter Text

They'd been sitting in the back room at Laketown Bar and Grill for over an hour as Gimli and his cousins slowly processed the news regarding Selkies, and Gimli and Fili adjusted to the idea of fae in general. The human Fili had somehow convinced Bard to take their orders and let them eat back here, though it was certainly safer that way, Legolas thought. The less humans who overheard their conversation, the better.

Legolas found he wasn't entirely surprised that the human Kili, his husband's cousin, could see through their glamour. He hadn't said anything the first day they'd met, but Legolas now recalled Kili watching them closely before he and Tauriel had left the restaurant.

Gimli Durinson, as Legolas had discovered was his husband's full name, sat on a low couch across from Legolas and Tauriel with his cousins Fili and Kili on either side of him. There was a burger on the plate in front of him, but Gimli had barely touched it, only nibbling absently at fries and drinking from the glass of beer in his hand.

Tauriel sat in a chair next to Legolas across a low table from them, contently eating her fish and chips while she watched everything with an expression torn between amusement and concern. Legolas had barely touched his own food.

Legolas watched Gimli's red beard shift as the human spoke, and he found himself wondering how the beard would feel against his skin if he kissed Gimli. Gimli appeared far hairer than Legolas was in his human form. Short, stocky, and incredibly strong, Legolas rather found he liked the view in front of him. He and Gimli looked so very different though, and he wondered, worried, if his husband found him attractive.

"So let me get this straight," Gimli said after a long swallow of beer. "According to Selkie tradition, because I gave you your skin back, you are enamoured with me and we are considered married, in the eyes of Selkie?"

"And in the eyes of fae in general," Tauriel put in as Legolas flushed under Gimli's rather intent gaze.

"Wait, there's other types of fae?" Fili asked with a frown.

Tauriel nodded seriously. "There are. Your cousin here, Kili, has proved he can see through fae glamour. There are many different types of fae, though perhaps not as many types around this area."

"Why do you work with humans to begin with?" Fili asked, his brain trying to work out what had brought Legolas and Tauriel here to begin with.

Kili surprised his brother and cousin by answering. "Fae live in the wilds, Fee, but they can't exactly work with human governments the way they are. They have to protect their homes someway."

"You are quite perceptive," Tauriel told Kili. "Our Selkie colony lives in the Wildlife refuge, and we work with humans who are aware of us to protect the refuge, and to protect ourselves from discovery." Her eyes flashed a moment with kindled anger. "There are humans who wish to drill for oil within the refuge, and that cannot be allowed. It will harm the refuge, and it will harm our people and expose us to discovery. So we work with human lawyers and environmental activists who can deal more easily with human authorities. We have to take our human form to do so."

"Are there other fae who help?" Kili asked, his voice curious.

"There are," Tauriel replied. "Faeries of the forest, others who might be harmed by the actions of those who wish to destroy our home."

"Are you planning on being here awhile?" Fili asked.

Tauriel shrugged. "It depends on what we must do. At some point we will need to slip back into the sea though, at least for awhile."

"Right...so you were here in town meeting with activists and all, then went to lunch, and I picked up Legolas's seal skin, and now we're married?" Gimli frowned faintly.

"Tauriel suggested that it might be best to follow human tradition as well regarding marriage," Legolas told Gimli, sea gray eyes meeting Gimli's brown. "She helped me pick out the ring."

Gimli bit his lip a moment, and the look as so cute that Legolas just wanted to lean across the table and kiss him. Gimli carried about him an air of confidence, it bled through the very way he moved, but Legolas's human husband seemed very unsure right now.

"While I appreciate the, er, effort, humans don't marry someone they've just met, well, not usually," Gimli told him, his eyes dropping a little, and he swallowed, his adam's apple bobbing.

Legolas sighed. "I fear I am unfamiliar with humans, Gimli. How do things normall go?"

Tauriel knew far more about humans than Legolas did, but most of her information regarding human relationships evidently came from movies she'd watched while in her hotel room on past visits here to meet with activists and attorneys, and Kili had informed her, when she'd started describing one scenario she'd seen in what Kili referred to as a 'romantic comedy,' that real life was rarely like the movies.

"Normally people know each other for awhile, become friends, date, then after awhile if they love each other enough they might move into together, or move onto the marriage bit," Gimli explained, rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous gestured. "You're...very attractive, but I don't really know you that well."

Distress flickered over Legolas's expression, and Gimli suddenly hated that he'd caused the Selkie distress and held up a quick hand. "That doesn't mean I'm not willing to get to know you better," he added quickly. "But...getting married right now in human fashion might not be the best idea."

"So date each other," Tauriel said patiently. "Get to know him."

Gimli glanced at Tauriel, and then at Legolas again.

Legolas was a Selkie, and tied to the sea. Legolas cared about the environment and obviously cared about his own people or he wouldn't be here. Legolas was very attractive.

Gimli had certainly had worse reasons for dating someone in the past.

"Would you be willing to try that out?" Gimli asked a bit tentatively.

Kili was watching Legolas and Tauriel intently. Fili looked like he had a headache.

"Of course," Legolas responded immediately. If that was what his human required to cement their marriage, then he was certainly willing.

"There's also the fact that Legolas is tied to the sea," Kili mused. His eyes narrowed a little. "Can you love my cousin as much as the sea?" he asked Legolas.

"There is no reason I cannot love both," Legolas replied. His tone took on a pained note. "But I could not give up the sea entirely for Gimli."

"Don't think I would ask you to," Gimli said, frowning again. "So what happens if you two finish your business with these attorneys and are ready to go back to the refuge?"

Legolas and Tauriel exchange a look and Legolas shrugged. "The refuge is not far from here," he replied. "It is not as if I cannot swim back and forth between here and there to go on a date, as you call it, with you. If I need to court you properly then I shall."

This was crazy, Gimli thought. He hadn't really dated anyone since his last boyfriend had broken up with him during his first year of college.

But there was something alluring about Legolas, something that drew him to the Selkie.

It was crazy, Gimli thought, but he wanted to try it.

"However, you cannot just tell anyone about us," Tauriel said firmly. "Bard and his family know about us, though not all his employees do."

"My mother and our uncle can see through glamour, I am fairly certain," Kili added. He looked thoughtful. "We need a good cover story, I think, because Uncle Gloin is going to have questions." He glanced at Fili and Gimli. "Any ideas?"

Fili shrugged. "Why not just say Tauriel and Legolas are environmental activists? It isn't as if it is very far from the truth, and you know how some members of our family are about the whole green movement."

"True," Gimli perked up a bit. "I wouldn't be lying, really, just sort of stretching the truth. And my parents aren't necessarily going to be asking to meet Legolas immediately since we just started dating."

"We need to tell Uncle Thorin and Mom," Kili told them all. "No one else though, not right now."

Tauriel's lips thinned a moment as she considered, then she nodded slowly. "If they can see through glamour as you say, they would figure it out eventually anyway."

"So...I work tonight," Gimli said, looking at Legolas again, this time meeting his gazefully. "So...maybe we can go on...date, tomorrow? Walk the boardwalk?"

"I would like that," Legolas replied, smiling, and that smile made Gimli's heart do a little flip.

"I have a cellphone out of necessity," Tauriel told Gimli. "I will get the numbers for the three of you, and for now you can contact Legolas through me."

"So, it's a date then?" Legolas asked Gimli, tasting the unfamiliar word 'date' on his tongue.

Gimli flushed a little, but he smiled, and it made Legolas smile all the brighter.

"It's a date," Gimli agreed.

Chapter Text

Gimli felt a bit unsettled that evening as he stood at the door of Erabor checking IDs. He somehow managed to keep most of his attention on the task at hand, checking ages and weeding out the fake ids (there were always a few idiots that tried every weekend. Gimli usually had to keep from rolling his eyes at their complaining when he wouldn't let them in), but the thought that he had a date tomorrow, with a Selkie, stuck in the back of his mind.

He wasn't against dating, and Legolas certainly was attractive enough, but Gimli really wasn't sure how he felt about the whole marriage deal. He'd known Legolas for all of 24 hours, and he'd also found out the man wasn't even human. Throw in the fact that Gimli was only 21, well, the whole thing made him more than a little nervous. He made a mental note to do some research on Selkies when he got home that night, thinking that knowing a little more about what myth said about Legolas's people might help him understand the other man a bit better.

If one really could understand the idea that you were married just because someone had given you back your seal skin.

Gimli muttered under his breath as Nori approached. The older man with a tri-braided beard jerked his thumb back towards the back of the club. "Go take your break, Gim, ya may be family but we've still got to follow labor laws."

Gimli shrugged and hopped off the stool by the door, letting Nori take his place. Neither of them were particularly tall, no one in their family or extended kin were, but they tended to make up for it by being broad and stocky. Gimli was fairly certain Nori could bench press Gimli himself with little difficulty.

He skirted the dance floor and bar and took the simple black painted door that lead to the back of the club and the break rooms. His movements were almost absent as he grabbed his frozen dinner from the fridge and shoved it in the microwave. Working had at least kept part of his mind off his forthcoming date, but now that he was on break, a thousand questions popped back into his mind.

The breakroom was empty, and Gimli was so preoccupied with his own thoughts that he didn't notice his uncle Thorin had entered the room until the man was standing him and cleared his throat.

Gimli jumped a bit and spun about until he recognized Thorin standing beside him, and felt his lips turn into a frown. "Yes Uncle?" Thorin rarely cornered him in the breakroom unless it was important.

"You've been preoccupied all night, what's up?" Thorin asked.

He couldn't really tell his uncle he was worried about a date with a Selkie tomorrow, could he? Then again, he remembered Fili and Kili's comments from earlier in the day, and how Dis and Thorin had always seemed to take old stories seriously when no one else did. Gimli glanced around to make sure they were alone before he let out a long breath and asked his uncle bluntly, "Do you believe in faeries?"

Thorin didn't laugh it off or look at him incredulously as Gimli had expected. Instead, he regarded Gimli with a very serious expression, and gestured his nephew over to the couch.

"That is a rather specific question," Thorin told him as Gimli sat beside him on the worn leather couch in the breakroom, Gimli absently trying to spear noodles in his dish with a fork. "And not one many would ask. I'll answer with this - I believe there are forces and creatures in this world that are not easily explained away by science or technology. There are...forces in this world that we do not entirely understand." His eyes narrowed faintly as he regarded Gimli. "Why do you ask?"

"I...." How did he explain this? "I met someone, someone who, well, let's just say the normal rules don't seem to apply to them," Gimli admitted slowly, suddenly wondering if it was really safe for him to be asking Thorin about such things, and if it might put Legolas in any kind of danger.

Okay, for a man he'd only known for 24 hours, Gimli was already a bit smitten for some reason.

Thorin continued to watch him for a few minutes before he spoke again, his voice low. "Years ago, when I was your age, back before the Wildlife Refuge was fully protected, I met someone. They were protesting allowing a logging company to clearcut in the temperate rain forests around Dale. The first time I met them, everything seemed normal, they seemed like just another protestor, maybe a little bit hippie, but nothing too weird. The longer I got to know him, though, the more I realized normal rules didn't always seem to apply to him. We had a...relationship, one that was short lived because of my own mistakes."

"Was he human?" Gimli asked quietly.

Thorin shook his head. "No. Some would fall him a faerie, a forest sprite. He was told me he was a Ghillie Dhu."

Gimli let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. "I met a Selkie," he admitted slowly. "Something...weird happened."

Somehow, Gimli found himself telling his uncle the entire story in a hushed voice. Thorin didn't seem particularly surprised by all of it, more concerned than anything else. Thorin's acceptance of the whole thing unnerved Gimli a bit. When Gimli finished, he noted they were still the only two in the back room, and that Thorin's expression remained a mixture of bemusement and concern.

"As I understand it, there are different rules that apply to different Fae," Thorin told him. "Selkies are something entirely unto themselves. That the Selkies consider you married is a bit worrisome. Fae don't tie themselves lightly to a mortal, but this Selkie of yours seems very much determined to do that." He frowned. "It could end poorly, for both of you."

"That's part of my concern," Gimli agreed. "I'm 21, maybe a bit young to find the love of my life and suddenly be married, when I've never had any long term relationships that lasted more than a few months."

Thorin's expression turned a bit wistful, an odd sadness in his eyes. "The best advise I can give you is to be careful, Gimli. Being involved with a fae can be dangerous, but it can also be a sort of heaven on it's own. Tread carefully, but don't just write off this possibility that you might grow close to this Selkie. I once gave up on something because I thought it impossible, and I've regretted that decision every day of my life since."

Those thoughts swirled in Gimli's head the rest of his shift, and on the short drive home with his cousin to the flat he shared with Fili and Kili. He could have still lived at home with his parents, but he preferred the semi-privacy and freedom becoming roommates with his cousins offered him.

"So you going on that date tomorrow?" Fili asked as they walked in the front door. The lights were dim and they could hear the faint sound of snoring, indicating Kili had evidently already gone to bed.

Gimli shrugged. "I said I would."

Fili frowned a moment. "Just be careful," he told Gimli. "All of this feels just a little surreal."

"Ya think?" Gimli snarked back. He sighed and tromped towards his room. It was smaller than the one Fili and Kili somehow managed to share, but those two had been living out of each other's pockets most of their lives.

Gimli kicked his boots off and threw himself onto his bed, grabbing his tablet as he did. A few finger strokes and he was looking at Google. Carefully, he typed in "Selkie" and hit the search button.

Hours later, Gimli felt he had more questions than answers. Everything he'd read confirmed Selkies were supposed to be fae who could change seal form with the aid of a seal skin. Most of what he had found had been more than a little depressing. In stories, Selkies were usually spied by humans who would then steal their seal skin and either destroy the skin or hide it away. Once the skin was hidden, then the Selkie would, according to myth, become the human's spouse, and force them to be parted from their love of the sea. The whole thing seemed incredibly coercive and cruel to Gimli, and he didn't like the idea that Legolas might be in that position.

Usually in the tales, the Selkie would eventually find their skin, and then abandon their mortal spouse after the great betrayal of their spouse hiding their skin, and flee back to the sea. Sometimes the Selkie would take any children they had with them, and forever more avoid their human spouse.

He found only one or two references about a Selkie being given back their skin, and the Selkie choosing to stay and be married to a mortal.

Legolas had said that Gimli was his husband because Gimli had returned his skin. Really Gimli had only picked up what looked like a coat, but Gimli took it far more seriously than that.

His best bet, Gimli thought as he yawned and finally put his tablet aside, was to ask Legolas about it tomorrow. Hopefully it wouldn't be an unpleasant conversation. The thought of keeping a Selkie from the sea, from a part of their life, didn't sit well with Gimli.

Chapter Text

"That site won't do you any good."

Legolas glanced up at Tauriel as she hovered over his shoulder, regarding the webpage he had open. He lifted his blond brows. "It's supposed to be a good site for relationship advise."

Tauriel snorted at him. "Legolas, it's a site that contains pickup lines. You and Gimli are already going to go on a date. To quote Bard's daughter Sigrid 'Romantic comedies are entertainment, don't take your relationship ques from them.' The same applies to most of those websites."

Legolas's shoulder slumped a bit. "Well I know very little about Tauriel, and you only know a bit more than me. How am I suppose to carry out this relationship? In the eyes of our people, Gimli and I are married. But he wants to...date? Court? I would hope the outcome is a foregone conclusion, but if he does not wish to remain with me..."

"You die of a broken heart or journey to the Otherworld, yes, Legolas, I know," Tauriel replied patiently. "But neither of those two options are a foregone conclusion. He's willing to try and date you, to court you, so to speak, so there's always a chance things will turn out well, regardless of the fact that you are fae and he isn't." She frowned faintly and glanced at the hotel room around them. "I think perhaps, though, we may wish to find more long term quarters. The business last week indicates that we may be here awhile dealing with the attempts of the Oil company. We must send word back to your father and the colony as well."

"You've been here more often than I have," Legolas replied. "I haven't the faintest idea where to begin finding a long term dwelling for us. I can though send a message back to my father. He will not be pleased with this development, but I think you are correct that we may be dealing with, what was it the human attorney called it, legal red tape, for awhile." He frowned. "I know humans require payment for their services, where will we find that?"

"Your father may not visit the human world often, but he used to," Tauriel said, her tone serious. "A long time ago he had arrangements made to assist our people while they were in Dale interacting with humans. Those arrangements will finance our dwelling and other things, don't worry about that. We will not need to turn leaves into gold."

"That's more of a sidhe thing anyway," Legolas replied. He glanced at the clock. He was supposed to meet Gimli at noon at the boardwalk. Out in the Refuge he'd tell time by looking at the sun or the stars, but humans seemed to rely more on these numeric devices to tell them the time. Forty-five minutes to go. "We have more meetings tomorrow, yes?"

"A few," Tauriel replied. "I can arrange a long-term dwelling this afternoon while you are on your date. For today, concentrate on learning about your human, and letting him learn about you."

"And of our other concerns? Our people, the refuge?" Legolas asked.

"You cannot let your worries consume you, Legolas," Tauriel replied firmly. Her gaze turned sad. "That is what happened to your father. He let his worry for his people and his grief consume him, until he could no longer bear to leave our isles. While he might disagree, I think this potential with your human holds hope for you, perhaps for our people. Do not let sorrow and worry consume you when there is hope to be had."

"And Sauron Industries?"

Tauriel shook her head. "We will find a way to deal with them, come what may."

"You are too optimistic, Tauriel," Legolas sighed, his gray eyes flickering nervously to hers. "What if I mess this up, Tauriel? I feel I know so little about humans."

"And you are not optimistic enough." Tauriel's voice turned reassuring as she reached out and took his hands. "My Prince, you must be patient with your human. Things will not happen overnight. The two of you must get to know each other, and let a relationship develop naturally. Be honest with him, and ask that he be honest with you."

"I can only hope you are right," Legolas replied.

~~

Gimli had much to consider as he sat on a bench at the end of the boardwalk, scrolling through his phone. On one hand, he found himself concerned about the potential fate of his Selkie 'husband.' Many of the tales he'd referenced the night before and that morning indicated that loving a mortal could bring sorrow and pain for a fae. His Uncle Thorin, though, had told him that sometimes it was better to have love and lost than not loved at all. He knew there was a famous quote in there somewhere, but he just couldn't quite place it.

The facts he knew were that 1) Legolas was a Selkie, not human, and an immortal fae. 2) Legolas considered them to be married in the Selkie tradition and evidently wished to be wed to him in the human tradition as well. 3)He found Legolas attractive. 4) He did not know if Legolas only felt obligated because of tradition to be married to him, or if the Selkie really wanted to be.

He really hoped it was because Legolas wanted to be around him, not because he felt obligated to be. The inhuman beauty of the Selkie captivated Gimli, but he did not want to be a burden, a duty.

"Fae speak in riddles," Kili had told him seriously that morning. "They can twist the truth, but they cannot actually lie. Ask him, point blank, about your worries. It is better to be honest with a potential partner, human or not."

Gimli had dressed in one of his better pairs of jeans, no holes, a pair of cherry red Dr Martens, and a navy wool sweater. He hoped Legolas wasn't allergic to wool. He'd even made sure to brush out his beard and hair and rebraid them after his shower that morning. He wanted to at least try and look half way decent for their first date.

"Oh what a fine looking young man," he overheard a woman whisper to her friend, and one of the women wolf whistled. Gimli glanced up at his phone, scowling faintly. His mother and father had taught him not to cat call or wolf whistle men or women he found attractive, as it was considered rude, and he rather found he didn't like rude behavior from another gender either.

The two rude women were quickly forgotten when he saw who they'd been admiring, though. Walking towards him, dressed in gray skinny jeans, white trainers, and a dark green sweater, was Legolas. The Selkie's blond hair had been pulled back into a braid that fell halfway down his back, and Gimli found his heart beating a rapid tattoo as he considered his date.

It also made him feel incredibly self conscious. No matter how much care he might take in his appearance, he would never look as lovely as this inhuman creature.

But the smile that Legolas gave him, one that was directed specifically at him, made another part of his brain wonder if this just might all work out.

"Gimli, I'm glad to see you," Legolas said in a soft voice when he reached the ginger haired human. He reached out pale hand towards Gimli, and Gimli found himself grasping it in his own calloused fingers.

"I'm glad to see you as well, Legolas," Gimli replied, flushing faintly for a moment. "I thought maybe we could walk for a bit on the boardwalk or the beach, get to know one another a bit better, then have lunch."

Legolas smiled. "That sounds like a lovely afternoon."

Taking fortifying breath, Gimli interlaced his fingers with Legolas, and began to lead him down the boardwalk.

Chapter Text

As first dates went, this was a good one, Gimli thought as he and Legolas walked along the sandy shore. Gimli still wore his boots, but Legolas had taken off his socks and shoes and held them in his free hand as they walked. Gimli found the whole sight somewhat amusing, and more than a little adorable. Even with the autumn breeze whirling about them and the sand cold to the touch, Legolas was quite comfortable walking barefoot down the beach.

The tall blond’s seal skin was stowed carefully in a satchel he wore over one shoulder, a satchel that Gimli had noticed during the afternoon that Legolas would not let out of his sight. Their conversations regarding just how important a selkie’s skin was to them, and his own earlier research, made Gimli feel a bit protective of the satchel, and it’s owner, as well.

As the weather grew colder, Legolas told him, he would wear the seal skin in the form of a coat. A selkie’s magic allowed them to change the shape of the skin to suit how they stored it while in their human form, but it was never far from them.

“A Selkie’s skin is a part of their connection to the ocean,” Legolas told him in a quiet voice, when he’d assured they were alone on the beach. Few enough people wanted to go beach combing in this weather, even if it was sunny.

“I read stories online,” Gimli admitted as he ran his thumb lightly along the back of Legolas’s hand. “Most of them didn’t end happily. A human stole a selkie’s skin, then hid it away and the selkie was forced to become their spouse. The selkie would pine for the sea, and eventually, they would fine the skin, and feeling betrayed, return to the sea, never to return.”

Legolas paused at these words and gently turned Gimli to face him, regarding the red head’s dark eyes as he considered how to answer the unspoken questions dancing in those eyes.

The selkie might not know much about human culture, but he was perceptive enough to read those questions.

“It is true that the sea the first love of a Selkie,” he said slowly. “But a selkie may love their mate just as much, whether their mate is another selkie, another fae, or a mortal. For some, the divided heart is a difficult thing to understand. It is not easy being married to a fae in general, a Selkie more so in some cases. And yes, to steal a selkie’s skin is the greatest form of betrayal. So if you had stolen my skin from me, and hidden it away…no, I would not stay. But you didn’t steal my skin. You gave it back to me.”

“But still we are wed by your people’s terms only because I gave it back to you,” Gimli replied. This is perhaps one thing that bothered him most of all. He was not the kind of person to force someone else into a relationship, so he never would have had any interest in stealing Legolas’s skin. But he feared also that Legolas might only be interested with him because of a tradition, because he felt a duty towards Gimli.

It made Gimli’s heart ache to think he might just be a duty to someone.

Legolas caught the tone in Gimli’s words and tilted his head to one side. He was already smitten by this red haired human, even after just a few days of knowing him, and it made his own heart hurt that this human believed he was merely fulfilling a duty.

Legolas let his shoes drop on the sand, he wasn’t particularly worried about such human pieces of clothing right now, and placed his fingers gently under Gimli’s furred chin, lifting the shorter man’s head up so he could meet his gaze. Gray eyes glowing with sincerity, he spoke.
“Gimli, while it is a tradition that dictates that we are married, by giving me back my seal skin, without even knowing what it was, you performed the greatest act of kindness that a human could to a selkie. You sought to reunite me with a part of myself, even accidentally. How could I –not- be interested in you after that?” He gave the man a shy smile. “Not to mention the fact that you are rather attractive as well.”

Gimli flushed almost as red as his beard and hair, and Legolas squeezed the human’s hand in response. “You’re lovely,” Gimli replied quietly. “An otherworldly being who I would think would be more interested in one of your own kind like the red haired one than a short, scruffy human.”

Legolas laughed softly, and it sounded like crystal bells to Gimli’s ears. “Tauriel? She is like my sister, Gimli.” He shook his head lightly. “While I am fond of my fellow selkie and my colony, I have never seen anyone who captivated me so quickly as you. I know this is new, for both of us, and I am willing to follow human tradition and court each other, but so long as you never seek to steal and hide my skin from me, I will seek to be with you.”

Legolas’s look told Gimli he did not believe Gimli would do such a thing, but Gimli looked horrified at the thought nonetheless. “I could never!”

Legolas’s gaze was a little sad. “I was not lying when I said loving a selkie was not easy, Gimli. Tauriel told me I must ensure you make an informed decision about all of this, and I find I rather agree with her. I will not be able to remain on shore at all times. There will be times that I absolutely must return to the sea, else the longing for it will overcome me completely.”

Gimli’s lips twisted into a slight smile. “If you’re going to have a mistress, better the sea than another person,” Gimli told him. He shrugged.
“No one’s ever cheated on me, but I’ve seen the results of it, what it can do to a relationship. At least in this case, I know you wouldn’t be tempted to. You have the sea, and me, and that’s it. And I, well, I tend to come from a line that once we find our heart, we never stray from it. My Aunt Dis loved her husband with all her heart, and never has she looked at another. I’m not saying some of my family might not remarry or date again, but it’s rare, and their hearts remain true to the one they are mated to.”

“Humans seem far more complex than Selkie,” Legolas acknowledged. “None of the movies I’ve seen ever seem to indicate such deep conversations on a first day, but I think with us, it is necessary, and that real life is not like the movies.”

Gimli let out a bark of laughter at that. “Oh no, Legolas, real life is far different from the movies. And in my case, it appears to be far more magical than any movie could ever be.”
~~

Eventually, they had to part, Gimli walking Legolas back to the hotel he was staying at with Tauriel. “I’ve enjoyed this time together,” Gimli told Legolas as they stood outside the hotel. He took a breath. “How long do you think you and Tauriel will be here in Dale?”

Legolas looked thoughtful. “A few weeks at least. Even then, our colony lives on the isles in Eryn Lasgalen, so we are not far apart. I am under the impression from Tauriel that many humans live separately from their partners when they are first dating?”

Gimli nodded, finding he felt more relieved than perhaps he should that Legolas wouldn’t be that far away even when he and Tauriel were done with their business in Dale.

He had literally only known this man a couple of days, but he already had a feeling he was falling hard, for a fae creature. “That’s true,” Gimli agreed. “Though I find myself liking the idea that you aren’t more than an hour or two away.”

“And I find I have a reason I will want to continue visiting Dale,” Legolas replied. His smile turned a bit unsure.

“What is it?” Gimli asked.

“Is it customary to kiss on the first date?” Legolas asked tentatively.

Gimli laughed and leaned up, catching the back of Legolas’s head with his hand and pulling the blond down to kiss him on the lips.

They were both looking a bit flush when Gimli pulled back. “I’m good with kisses on the first date if you are.”

“I am loathe to go back inside,” Legolas admitted.

“Yes, but sadly you must,” Gimli sighed. “But my number’s programed into your mobile phone, and Tauriel can show you how to text me. Never hesitate to call me, or send me a message.”

“I will tell you the same, then, Gimli,” Legolas replied firmly.

He caught Gimli in an embrace and another feather light kiss against Gimli’s lips before the Selkie forced himself to turn towards the hotel.

“Good night, Gimli. Thank you for a wonderful afternoon.”

Gimli found himself smiling the entire walk home.

Chapter Text

It was nearing the end of the third week that Legolas and Tauriel had been in Dale. Tauriel and Legolas had returned to Eryn Lasgalen Wildlife Refuge briefly two days ago to confer with Thranduil regarding the current state of things on both protecting the refuge and the incident that had lead to Legolas's marriage to the human Gimli.

To say Thranduil had not been pleased that his son was now married to a human was a wee bit of an understatement. He'd sat on the rocks outside the caverns most of the colony was currently living in and stared icily at both Tauriel and Legolas for a good half hour then swept back into the caverns without a word. It had taken another two hours before he'd summoned Legolas to a private audience.

Tauriel knew that Thranduil loved his youngest son, but she also felt that her King was rather bad at showing it. The death of Thranduil's wife at the hands of illegal hunters had taken the heart out of the Selkie king. Much of Legolas's rearing had fallen to his elder brothers and sister-in-law. When Legolas had returned hours after sunset, he'd refused to speak to Tauriel about what his father had said, other than the fact that his father wanted them to maintain a regular presence in the town of Dale for the time being.

Legolas's brothers, niece, and his eldest brother's wife had appeared not long after and carefully enfolded the selkie prince in quiet embraces, then Tauriel, before wishing them luck.

Legolas had insisted they leave Eryn Lasgalen that very night. Given that it was already dusk and the few hours swim back to shore, Tauriel had simply been glad they'd extended their hotel stay as they'd both stumbled into the room and fallen asleep almost immediately.

Legolas stood in the bathroom, carefully braiding his hair as Tauriel leaned against the doorframe. She desperately wanted to comfort her friend, but until she was entirely sure what Thranduil had said, she wasn't sure how.

Legolas knew she was watching him as he carefully set his comb on the counter and took a deep breath to face her. "Tauriel, do you think you could find an apartment for us to rent here? Somewhere near the water, a cove maybe where we can slip into the sea if needbe? I have a feeling we're going to be here for at least a few months. The last attempt at Sauron Industries to apply for permits to drill near Eryn Lasgalen had been rejected, as had every other previous attempt.

One of the few things Thranduil had said not related to his evident disapproval of his son's marriage was that he did not believe that Sauron Industries was done with their attempts.

Legolas was vaguely aware of rumors associated with the company and their underhanded dealings. His father's demand that they keep a presence here in Dale, while it did feel like an exile of sorts, at least gave them the ability to keep an eye on that issue, and the added bonus of being close to Gimli.

The blond took a deep, calming breath and allowed himself to smile a little bit. He was going on another date with Gimli this morning, meeting him for breakfast. Over the past three weeks they'd met several times for a meal, or sometimes just a walk along the beach. Gimli was making a concerted effort to get to know Legolas, and Legolas found himself incredibly fond of the human.

There was something utterly fascinating about humans in general: the spark of life they carried, no matter how short their lives, and the sheer liveliness of some of them. He felt drawn to Gimli much as an insect to fire. The man was rough looking, but Legolas was discovering a deep, thoughtful heart beneath that gruff exterior.

He wouldn't let himself call it love, not yet, but he was definitely feeling something for the human, and not just because the man had returned his skin.

Tauriel nodded, watching the thoughts play over Legolas's face. "I'll find something," she promised. She smiled and leaned up, kissing his forehead. "Go and meet your human. You smile when you think of him, and I think his company would do you good right now."

Legolas reached out and took her hand in his, squeezing it gently before he left the hotel room.

But at least he had a smile on his face.

~~

Tauriel waited until Legolas was gone to open her cellphone and dial a particular number she'd been given some days ago.

When there was a knock at the hotel room door an hour later, she answered it calmly and ushered the dark haired Kili Durinson inside.

Kili glanced only briefly around the hotel room before he settled himself into the chair by the desk, and dark brow raised at her, asked, "So what's this about?"

She'd only told the human she wanted to talk about Legolas and Gimli. The human had been surprised, but he'd agreed to meet with her. Since he, his brother, and cousin all worked evening shifts, mid morning was one of the better times to meet.

Tauriel settled one of the full sized beds, tailor fashion, and met his brown eyes with her green. "Do you think Gimli is falling in love with Legolas?" she asked, her tone so bald that she was sure Thranduil would have cringed.

Kili blinked once then chuckled softly. "Well you certainly get to the point, don't you, Selkie?" His expression turned contemplative. "I think he is very fond of your friend. I also believe he is physically attracted to Legolas, and not because Legolas is using any kind of glamour or charm on him. That's more of a sidhe thing anyway. Love, I do not know, it's only been three weeks since they met."

Tauriel nodded. "Fair enough. I do believe Legolas is at least in lust with your cousin, and rather enamored of him, though it may not yet be all out love."

Kili frowned slightly. "This really seems to be their business and not ours, so why are you asking me anyway?"

Tauriel sighed. "I am concerned for Legolas. While we were at Eryn Lasgalen, he told his father of the marriage, and the Selkie king as not pleased."

Kili's frown deepened. "Do you think your king is a threat to either of them?"

Tauriel shook her head rapidly. "No! I do not believe my king would harm them...but I want to see what Legolas's prospects are. His family loves him, but it may not be comfortable for Legolas at home for awhile. He isn't as versed in human culture as I am."

The dark haired human's expression broke then, a smile flickering over his lips. "So you're feeling protective of your friend. Fair enough. Suffice to say, I do not believe Gimli has any intention of during him away, he simply wants some time to get used to the idea of their, er, marriage." His brow creased again. "Are you all able to stay away from your refuge for extended periods of time?"

"As long as we have access to the ocean and can go seal occasionally, yes," Tauriel reassured him. "My king suggested we maintain a more regular presence here, as it is, so I expect that Legolas and my residence in Dale may be a bit more long term than we were originally expecting." It was her turn to frown then. "I'll admit I've never been here for more than a few weeks. Legolas suggested we find more long term lodgings, like an apartment."

Kili tilted his head. "Well, since you're friend is involved with my cousin, and my cousin's happiness is important to me, it occurs to me I might help you a bit with that."

Tauriel smiled. "I hoped you would say that."

Chapter Text

Gimli could sense the change in Legolas's mood when he met his...significant other?...boyfriend?, that morning. Legolas and Tauriel had just returned from a short trip back to Eryn Lasgalen, and Gimli certainly hoped Legolas hadn't gotten any bad news during his visit to the refuge. Most residents of Dale were always at least somewhat informed of news regarding the Wildlife Refuge just off their shore. A number of residents worked as Rangers within the preserve off shore or within the nearby National Forest, or carefully practiced sustainable fishing outside Refuge waters.

He recalled briefly from a recent news story that Sauron Industries was trying to get permits to drill within the preserve again, but they'd been denied, so that hopefully wasn't it.

Legolas had given Gimli a small smile when the red head offered his hand as they walked through the town towards one of the local restaurants that specialized in breakfast and brunch. Bombur's was particularly popular with hungover college students on weekend mornings, but this was a Tuesday, and Gimli knew at this hour it would be sparsely populated.

Working at a night club that was open Thursday through Saturday night, unless there was some special reason to open otherwise, Tuesday was one of Gimli's true days off other than Sunday. He didn't have classes on Tuesdays this semester, and the club wasn't open, so he was free to spend it with Legolas.

He glanced up at Legolas, watching the blond chew nervously on his lower lip, and pondered again over the question of what they were, exactly. According to Selkie, and fae customers, Gimli supposed, they were married, husbands, but in human culture, they weren't.

They were dating at least, Gimli thought, so boyfriend worked, certainly, as did significant other. In less than a month's time, Legolas certainly had come to hold a great significance in Gimli's life.

For as bold as Legolas had seemed presenting Gimli with an engagement ring, Gimli had found that Legolas was almost painfully shy at times. Gimli had been slowly introducing Legolas to certain people in his family. Kili and Fili knew, obviously, and Thorin, but Gimli hadn't taken Legolas home to meet his parents, sister and brother in law, or nephew yet, though they did know he was dating someone.

Legolas looked so blasted endearing, but nervous, as he chewed on his lower lip, and it made Gimli wonder what had upset his boyfriend.

Bombur was in the back cooking when they arrived at the restaurant, but one of Bombur's many daughters settled them at a table and handed them menus, taking two orders for tea before leaving them to decide on breakfast.

Legolas fidgeted a bit until Bombur's daughter returned and took their orders, one for bacon, eggs, and pancakes, one for eggs, fruit, and sausage, and left them alone again.

Gimli reached out and took both of Legolas's slim fingered hands in his stout ones, caressing the blond Selkie's knuckles lightly. "What's wrong?" he asked at last in a low voice.

Legolas glanced up, checking to see if anyone was around, bit his lower lip again, and sighed before he slumped in his chair.

Gimli really didn't like seeing Legolas look so dejected.

"I told my father about our marriage," Legolas replied softly. "My father can be difficult to deal with at times. He has rather high standards and is, how would you humans put it? He seems cold, distant, I think is your word. He does love me, but my brothers tell me the father I know is very different from the one they knew as children. They he was much warmer before my mother was killed."

"Did he hurt you?" Gimli found himself demanding, anger rousing in the red head at the thought of someone hurting the kind Legolas that he knew.

Legolas let out a soft, bitter laugh. "Not physically. Even if he tried, Gimli, we would be evenly matched. Seals are not always gentle creatures. We are predators." He squeezed Gimli's hand to prevent comment. "What he did was express a great deal of distress over, as he put it 'my carelessness' at letting a mortal get their hands on my skin. Distress that I was now tied to a mortal who could never fully understand me. Disappointment at it all."

"The skin thing was an accident, you didn't mean for it to fall on the floor," Gimli muttered. "So he scolded you, as if you were a child?"

"My father is centuries old, Gimli, to him we're all children, except for perhaps the dryads in the National Forest," Legolas snorted. "But yes, he ranted for a good few hours. I learned a long time ago there wasn't any point in arguing with him." Legolas's gaze softened just a moment. "He does it from worry, and fear, Gimli, not because he is truly angry with me."

"Intent means nothing when it hurts someone else," Gimli replied stubbornly. His brows creased. "What about the rest of your family? You've mentioned your brothers, your sister in law, your nieces?"

Legolas nodded. "They inquired more about what kind of person you are." He smiled a little. "And said if you hurt me they would come and hunt you down. I assured them it wasn't necessary."

Gimli's gaze flickered to the sea a moment. "Thank you, I think? Though I might still want to meet them, if they're more reasonable than your father."

Legolas smiled again, and it warmed Gimli's heart to see that expression on his boyfriend's face again. "I think they would be, though it would need to be done very carefully, and probably just one brother at this point." He sighed softly, staring at their joined hands. "My mother was killed by hunters many years ago. My father has, I don't want to say he hates humans, because he's always ensured we try to work with at least some of them to maintain the Refuge and out safety, but he is not fond of them. That I am married to one; he finds it difficult to accept."

"Well, I'm certainly not going anywhere nor looking to break off things with you, so why don't we just wear him down slowly?" Gimli suggested with a bit more confidence than he felt, but he'd always been a great deal of bluster and forceful courage. "We'll start with your brother and go from there. Tauriel is rooting for us at least."

"Yes," Legolas agreed, looking a bit more hopefully now, and while Gimli could still see some sorrow lingering in the blond's eyes, it wasn't as deep as it had been earlier. He would count that as a win. "She is hunting for an apartment for us." He shifted a little nervously in his seat. "After my father's lecture, he ordered Tauriel and I to maintain a presence in Dale, to keep an eye on things."

Gimli frowned a little, curious now about how the Selkies were going to manage that. "Er, it's rather rude of me to ask, but can you af-erm."

Legolas laughed softly as he caught Gimli's meaning. "You mean how can Tauriel and I afford to do so?" He brought Gimli's hand to his lips and kissed the shorter man's knuckles. "Do not worry about that, my love. We are paying them real money, not leaves turned to dollars, as the Sidhe might. No, as I said, my father is centuries old, and there are a few others among the colony who once dealt with humans, or occasionally still do. With help from humans versed in the law over the centuries and those familiar with finances, the colony has been able to invest, and as such, amassed a small fortune over the centuries. As long as Tauriel and I do not indulged too much or try and live ridiculously, we will be fine."

Gimli glanced around suddenly, wondering if Legolas should be telling him all this in the open, but he saw there was no one around them, and they'd been speaking quietly.

Legolas gave a low chuckle. "Selkies do not possess some of the greater powers of the sidhe, Love, but we are fae. We can 'encourage' privacy when necessary."

"Ah, well, okay," Gimli said at last as he chewed on that bit of knowledge. His ears when a bit red then when he realized that Legolas had called him 'Love' twice within five minutes.

That only caused Legolas to chuckle softly again and kiss Gimli's knuckles once more as their breakfast was brought out to them.

Chapter Text

The following Sunday evening found Gimli at his parents' home for dinner. While Gimli had moved in with his cousins a few years ago, his mother Sif insisted that he eat dinner with the family at least once a week, and Sundays usually worked the best. His sister, brother-in-law, and nephew lived next door to his parents, so the house was always lively on Sunday evenings. Gimli loved his family, but he was rather glad that he lived with his cousins at this point and knew when he returned home that he'd be able to retreat to his mostly quiet bedroom.

Gimli was in the kitchen with his mother, studiously applying the masher to the potatoes as his nephew Ari came tearing through. Sif had raised both of her children to be comfortable with all aspects of household chores, believing that you needed to be able to care for yourself, regardless of gender, and that a future partner wouldn't want a lazy mate.

Ari just barely managed to avoid running into Gimli as Sif, with a practiced motion, stuck her leg out and gently nudged him to one side so the boy when careening past his uncle instead of bumping into him. When Gimli shook his head at the boy, Sif chuckled. "Don't give him that look, Gim," she told her son. "You were the same way at five."

"I can still shake my head at him now, Mom," Gimli replied. He set the masher aside for a moment and grabbed the pepper grinder, liberally springing pepper into the potatoes.

"So you can," Gimli's sister, Valmira, agreed from the doorway. She sighed as her son went dashing out into the backyard. "I don't know how you did it with two, Mom! Ari wears Alrek and I out just by himself."

"There were a few years between you and Gim," Sif replied calmly. "And you were a bit of a calmer child. Still prone to your own antics, but you preferred to sneak about rather than rush the way your brother did, and Ari does now." She glanced out the window, noting that Ari was now running in circles, literally, around his grandfather Gloin and his father Alrek as they tended the grill outside. "Come and start taking the dishes to the table, will you, 'Mira? Alrek and your father can keep an eye on Ari in the backyard."

Valmira slid past her brother and started gathering some of the side dishes from the counter and carried them into the dining room. Sif smiled as she watcher her oldest work, recalling how happy 'Mira had been when she'd first met Alrek, and later when they'd announced Ari's impending birth. Sif's eyes slid to Gimli after a moment as that brought another thought to her mind. She regarded her son seriously as he began mashing the potatoes again.

"So Gimli, Bombur mentioned seeing you with a young man at his restaurant earlier this week," Sif began casually. "And Dis said she'd seen you with a young man over at your place a few weeks ago. Something you want to tell your mother, hmm?"

Gimli flushed and mumbled to himself, daring after a moment to look up at his mother, then flushed again. Carefully, he set the potato masher aside and glanced up, noting that his mother was currently the only other person in the kitchen, and said in a low voice. "I might have...met someone," he admitted.

"And how long ago did you meet them?" Sif asked curiously, though she was smiling.

"About a month," Gimli said. "We, er, met at Laketown some weeks ago when Fili, Kili and I went there. Met him and his sister."

"She a redhead?" Sif inquired, recalling someone else that Dis had mentioned had been other at the boys' apartment.

"Yes, Tauriel," Gimli replied. "They work at the Wildlife Refuge." Gimli couldn't exactly tell his mother that he was dating a Selkie, or that Kili had been spending a great deal of time with a Selkie as well. Gimli had his suspicions about Tauriel and Kili. Saying that Legolas and Tauriel worked at the refuge seemed to be the best explanation that he could come up with right now.

"So are you dating this young man?"

Gimli suppressed a nervous chuckle. Dating? Oh yes, he and Legolas were dating, and in human terms Legolas was his boyfriend. He wasn't going to tell his mother that they were technically married in the eyes of the Fae. "I am," he said. "His name is Legolas.." what name had Legolas given two weeks ago for their reservation? Oh yes. "Legolas Greenleaf."

"Then you should bring him to dinner next Sunday," Sif told her son firmly. She lifted her brows. "Even better, we'll have Dis and Thorin over, and Fili and Kili can come too, and Legolas's sister."

"I don't think our dining room is quite that big, Mom," Gimli protested.

Sif waved her hand dismissively. "We don't have to eat at the table. There's plenty of room in the house for everyone, and it's been awhile since Dis and I had the chance to get the families together."

Gimli knew that look in his mother's eyes, and knew it was useless arguing with her. With a sigh, he nodded. "If you insist."

She smiled brightly. "Believe me, I do."

~~~

Gimli was glad to escape back to his own apartment with Fili and Kili that night, pleading that he had class the next morning and his family had finally let him go. They'd all had questions about Legolas, of course, and a few more mild ones about Tauriel. When Gloin had been informed his son was dating a blond man, the older man hadn't blinked, and merely ran his fingers through his beard a moment before informing his son that he and this young man had best be treating each other well, and that Gimli's boyfriend needed to know how to braid Gimli's beard properly.

Valmira had teased him mercilessly, while Alrek merely chuckled and hid smiles at some of his wife's more merciless teasing.

Ari's reaction had been the most interesting, and flustered Gimli.

"So does that mean he'll be my Uncle too?" Ari asked innocently before stuffing his mouth full of mashed potatoes.

"It's been a month!" Gimli replied, again keeping the whole idea of fae marriage to himself.

"But you really like him, don't you?" Ari asked. "Otherwise you wouldn't bring him home?"

Gimli rubbed the back of his neck. "I do like him a great deal," he said carefully. "But Legolas and I would like to get to know each other a bit better before we consider something as serious as marriage."

Gloin let out a full belly laugh at that. "Give it a few years," he told his grandson. "Your Uncle is young yet."

Oh if only they knew, Gimli thought.

Kili was on the couch playing Fortnite when Gimli got home. Gimli wasn't entirely surprised to see Tauriel lounging on the floor reading a book near Kili's feet, though he wondered if she'd left Legolas alone in their new apartment. Fili was probably still at Bard's place, trying to woo Sigrid again.

"Legolas is in your room," Tauriel informed in, not even bothering to glance up from her book. Gimli lifted his red brows and glanced at Kili, who merely shrugged. Tauriel and Legolas had been over a couple of times in the past two weeks, but evidently now they were making themselves at home.

Granted, he reminded himself, Legolas was his husband, so he supposed it would feel natural for the Selkie. And it wasn't as if he minded. He put the leftovers his mother had sent home with him in the fridge and headed for his bedroom, finding his boyfriend dozing on his bed. Gimli smiled a little at the sight, thinking about how natural it looked.

He questioned sometimes how quickly he seemed to be falling for Legolas. It had been a month, and yet it already seemed like Legolas was an integral part of his life. He didn't want to think about not having the Selkie around. He went and flipped on the bedside lamp then gently shook the tall, blond man awake.

"Mm, Gimli love?" Legolas murmured, his eyes slowly fluttering open. He smiled when he saw Gimli leaning over him, and drew the shorter man down for a light kiss. "Welcome home."

"How long have you been waiting?" Gimli asked, hoping it wasn't long, though Legolas knew he went to his parents' house for dinner on Sundays.

"Only half an hour or so," Legolas replied. "Kili invited Tauriel over, and then suggested I tag along since you would be home from your parents' soon." He opened his arms and shifted on the bed, and Gimli let himself settle against the taller man, letting his head rest on the pillow beside Legolas as the blond wrapped his arms around him. Legolas briefly rubbed his cheek against Gimli's thick red hair and smiled. "How was it?"

"Chaotic as always," Gimli replied. "My nephew was a little whirlwind as always." He glanced at Legolas. "Speaking of, my family would like to meet you. My mother also suggested that Fili and Kili come, and that Tauriel is invited as well."

Legolas's eyes went a little wide a moment as he considered the prospect of meeting so many people. Then he took a deep breath, and Gimli could see him visibly calming himself. "I would like to meet your family," he said at last. "You always sound happy when you talk about them, and they are a part of your life, so they would be a part of mine as well."

"They know we are dating," Gimli cautioned, "But not that we're married in the eyes of your people. I told them you and Tauriel worked at the wildlife refuge. I couldn't exaclty tell them what you were."

Legolas nodded, his expression thoughtful. "Yes, I suppose you couldn't. Well, what we do is to protect the refuge, I suppose you could say we work there, after a fashion. I will warn Tauriel, and she will find the best way to..convey this tale so that we are believable." He kissed the top of Gimli's head. "I do look forward to meeting them. I know your family loves you very much from what you've said."

"And unconditionally," Gimli added, his expression darkening a moment as he remembered Legolas's description of his father's reaction.

Legolas sighed and pressed his face against Gimli's hair. "He will come around, hopefully."

"If not, we'll at least have my family, and maybe your brothers," Gimli said, soothing the distress he heard in his boyfriend's voice. He turned, wrapping his arms around Legolas. "Why don't we watch a movie for a bit on my laptop?" he suggested, trying to change the mood. "And cuddle?"

Legolas's expression brightened at that. "That," he said, "sounds like a lovely idea."

Chapter Text

“Are you sure this is alright?” Tauriel asked for the fifth time that afternoon.

Legolas glanced up fondly at his heart-sister. For once, he felt like the calm one, while Tauriel was worrying herself into a minor mess about meeting Gimli, Kili, and Fili’s family. Legolas and Gimli had spent a number of hours over the past week discussing the coming family dinner, and the love Legolas could sense when Gimli spoke of his family reassured the Selkie.

It didn’t hurt that he was sure he was already head over tail in love with his short, red headed and bearded husband.
They’d known each other for five weeks at this point, and each passing day brought them closer, in Legolas’s estimation. While Legolas had used the term ‘love’ for Gimli many times over the past few weeks and Gimli had not yet said it, Legolas knew that Gimli did care for him at least.

That was enough for the Selkie for now.

“Tauri, darling, it will be fine,” Kili reassured her, coming up behind the redhaired selkie and wrapping his arms around her. “Mother and my Uncle will adore you. Just be yourself and there will be nothing to worry about.”
Gimli glanced over his shoulder as he copped vegetables for a salad to take with them and arched a brow at Kili. “Darling, is it?” the younger man teased.

Kili flushed to his ears, but didn’t relinquish his hold on Tauriel’s waist. Gimli and Legolas exchanged a glance at that, and Legolas smiled.

“I am happy for you, Tauriel,” Legolas to her. “Truly.”

“My brother’s right,” Fili told Tauriel in an amused tone. “Our mother and our Uncle will like you as long as you care for Kili. It might have been a bit different, when we were younger, but our uncle has mellowed with age.”

“Thorin gave me advise on my relationship with Legolas,” Gimli found himself saying, wanting Legolas and Tauriel to feel more comfortable about meeting their family. He smiled as he sliced through another carrot. “He told me if my heart was in it, that it was worth giving it a shot.” He looked at Legolas again. “He was right.”

Gimli felt more than heard Legolas slide out of his chair as the Selkie moved up behind the shorter man. Gimli lay the knife on the cutting board where it wouldn’t pose any danger as Legolas wrapped his arms around Gimli’s waist, pressing the line of his body against Gimli’s back.

The shorter man sighed and let himself relax against the blonde. He couldn’t deny how right this felt. Was five weeks too short a time to fall in love?

“You are thinking too hard, my heart,” Legolas told him, ghosting a kiss over his neck. “Finish making the salad, your parents will be expecting us soon.”

“Is Fili meeting us there?” Tauriel asked, pressing her cheek lightly against Kili’s shoulder and letting herself relax into the man’s embrace.

“He’s planning to,” Kili replied, his voice rumbling in her ear. Even with the height difference they found a way to make things work.

“Then let’s get everything together and head out,” Gimli decided, beginning to dump chopped vegetables into a bowl of lettuce.

~~

It wasn’t entirely unusual for Thorin, Dis, Fili, and Kili to join Gimli’s family for dinner on Sundays, though it had been several weeks since they last had. Gimli was half hopeful, half concerned over the large gathering of people. He didn’t want Legolas, and by extension Tauriel, to get overwhelmed, but he also wanted them to like his family.
Legolas still managed to appear serene as Gimli pulled up in his parents driveway, though Gimli thought he recognized a minor nervous twitch to Legolas’s fingers. He remembered how shy Legolas had been in the first few days of their relationship.

Oh please don’t let this be a bad idea, he thought.

“Hey, you were telling Tauriel earlier that it would be fine,” he reminded Legolas. He leaned over and brushed his lips lightly against the blonde’s.

“I find myself feeling more nervous now that we are actually here,” Legolas admitted in a quiet voice. “You and your cousins have already warned me that your family can be…boisterous.”

“Trust me on this,” Gimli said. He unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car, Legolas following his example. Kili and Tauriel followed from the backseat of Gimli’s car, the other two lost in their own quiet conversation of reassurance, Gimli had no doubt.

Gimli smiled and took Legolas’s hand in his own, running his fingers over the other man’s knuckles, and was rewarded with a soft smile from Legolas before Gimli knocked on the door.

Fili opened it, grinning largely at his cousin, brother, and the two Selkies as he gestured for them to come in. “Everyone else is already here,” he advised. “And they’re excited.” He glanced towards Kili and Tauriel. “Don’t worry Tauriel, I’ve already been singing your praises to my Ma. As long as she approves of you, Thorin will go along with it.”

Legolas gripped Gimli’s hand a little tighter as Gimli lead his boyfriend into the kitchen, Kili and Tauriel close on their heels.

They were greeted by the usual chaos that Gimli had come to associate with his family. Ari was running around the kitchen island as Mira shouted at her son to watch here he was going. Dis and Sif were laying out dishes on the counter, while Gloin neatly cut a loaf of bread into slices and Thorin stood in one corner discussing something with Alrek.

Gimli and Kili both felt their Selkie loved ones momentarily freeze at the onslaught of such noise, then Dis noticed them and was bustling over, her dark hair streaked with iron gray and her expression as formidable as Gimli had ever seen it as she embraced her younger son. “Kili.” Her voice was stern for a moment, and Tauriel looked a little pale, before Dis turned deep blue eyes on the taller woman, and suddenly smiled, her expression softening. “And you must be Tauriel. I’ve heard much about you from my sons.”

“Mistress Dis,” Tauriel began.

“Just Dis, m’dear,” Dis corrected her, smiling. There was a particular glitter in her eye as she stepped up and pulled the surprised Tauriel into a firm hug. Her voice was quiet, for Tauriel’s ears only, as she embraced the tall Selkie. “Don’t worry, my dear. Thorin and I can tell you aren’t human, but you’ve nothing to fear from us. So long as you love and care for my son, we consider you family.”

Tauriel blinked at the declaration, and felt herself relax in the embrace of Kili’s mother, and returned the hug.
Thorin stood watching, his gaze meeting Kili and Tauriel, then Gimli and Legolas. He watched them for a moment that seemed to stretch out, and Gimli felt him hold his own breath, until the bearded man gave a firm, approving nod of his head.

Gimli felt Legolas relax a little beside him.

“And who is this young man?” Sif asked, coming around the island to greet her son and his boyfriend.

“Mom, this is Legolas,” Gimli replied, shooting a fond glance at Legolas before looking back at his mother.
Gimli felt mildly surprised when his mother looked over Legolas in a way very similar to the look Thorin had given the Selkie moments before, then looked back at Gloin.

“Our boy always did know how to pick them,” she said in an amused tone.
Gloin shrugged. “So long as he ain’t like his father, I don’t think there will be any problems. He’s already proven he isn’t by being with our boy.”

Legolas, Tauriel, and Gimli stared at Gimli’s parents in something akin to shock.

“Wait, what?” Gimli cried, as Tauriel and Legolas gave their own shouts of surprise.

Thorin sighed. “It isn’t something we’ve spoken much of, Gimli, but a number of our family members have had experience with the fae, though often not necessarily pleasant experiences. That includes your father.”
Gimli couldn’t have felt more surprised if someone had whacked him on the back of the head with a pan.

“I think,” Tauriel said slowly. “It might be better if we all had an explanation?”

Gloin and Thorin exchanged a long look.

Sif prodded her husband. “You and Thorin tell them, Gloin, and take Ari with you. Alerk, Dis, Mira, and I can finish up dinner while you do

Gloin gave a heavy sigh. “Alright then, into the living room.”

Without further explanation, he lead the way out of the kitchen. Feeling bemused, Gimli, his cousins, and the two Selkie followed.

Chapter Text

Gimli found himself on the couch, Legolas half sitting in his lap as Tauriel, Kili, and Fili insisted on cramming onto the couch beside them. He felt Legolas trembling lightly. He already knew Legolas's father did not approve of him, of Legolas being with a human, but there was more to his boyfriend's nervousness than that.

"Legolas?" he asked softly.

Legolas shook his head, pulling Gimli's around around him and seeming to take comfort in his mate's firm grip around his waist. "I do not know," he said softly. "Your father's words indicate he has had dealings with my father, and it concerns me."

Kili's hard gaze was turning back and forth between Gloin and Thorin as he put an arm around Tauriel's shoulders, and Fili was frowning. "What's all this about, Uncle?" he asked Thorin.

Thorin sighed, rubbing his temple with one hand. "It was a few decades ago now, before any of the three of you were born. You know some of our family used to fish and harvest timber in the area?"

Fili's frown deepened and he nodded. "Aye, back before some of the environmental regulations were changed. They don't allow logging in the preserve now, not in the coastal forest, and fishing around the preserve is carefully controlled."

"Yes," Gloin agreed. His expression turned troubled. "Several of us used to work for one of the logging companies, just before some of the regulations were changed." He glanced at his cousin. "I think it started when you came across the Greenman."

Gimli and Fili's eyes went a little wide, but Kili only nodded. Gimli remembered Tauriel's words the day after they'd met Tauriel and Legolas, about how Kili could see through glamour, but Gimli and Fili hadn't been able to. Legolas and Tauriel exchanged a look but did not seem surprised.

"Yes, Bilbo," there was an old pain in Thorin's eyes as he spoke. "He appeared out of no where one day to warn me that the logging company needed to stop harvesting so quickly, that they'd begun to decimate the forest. I thought he was some crazy hippie at first, until he vanished into a tree when my supervisor came up." Thorin shook his head. "It honestly wasn't something I hadn't heard before. Some of the other loggers were concerned about our quotas, and the fact that the company had no plans to replant anything in place of the trees we were taking down."

His nephews' brows creased. "What did you do?" Gimli asked quietly.

"I started looking into things," Thorin replied. "Company practices, policies, and the more I worried. At the same time though, I didn't wish to be out of a job." He glanced at Fili and Kili. "Dis and I were barely out of high school, we'd just relocated to Dale after the fire that destroyed most of Misty Mountain. We didn't have a lot of prospects and we have family to support."

"Then they started demanding longer hours," Gloin said. "None of us were in much of a position to argue alone. Thorin was the one that suggested we try and unionize."

"I can imagine the company did not respond kindly to that?" Fili asked dryly.

"That is an understatement," Thorin replied. "They were dealing with us try and unionize and trying to expand their longing to some of the isles in Eryn Lasgalen." His gaze flickered towards Legolas. "That's when I met your father. Thranduil did not respond well to the camp that the company tried to set up on Greenwood Isle. He and a few others outright attacked the loggers, though I cannot really blame them now. Imagine our surprise when Bilbo appeared out of no where and put a stop to the fighting."

"How did a Greenman convince you and the Selkies to stop fighting?" Kili asked, his tone conveying the confusion he and his cousin and brother felt right now.

"He tangled us all in vines and told us to stop acting like idiots," Thorin replied, his expression turning fond for a moment. "Bilbo and I had a couple of encounters during the months I worked for the company. I didn't know he could cross water, but evidently he was tied to the Refuge in general, not just the forest I met him in."

Tauriel smiled faintly. "I recall Thranduil telling me of this, after it all happened. He was rather impressed, though annoyed, that a Greenman got the better of him."

Thorin nodded. "That sounds like Bilbo. He basically forced us all to sit down and informed Thranduil that those of us at the camp weren't really there by choice. Thranduil wasn't pleased, but he did promise not to kill us. He also suggested that we look into another occupation rather quickly because he could not promise he would be so kind to loggers who actually started cutting down trees on his islands."

"Around the same time I was still on the mainland and several of us had gone on strike about pay and working conditions," Gloin told them. "Everything sort of went to hell after that. Without us working and the media attention, the company eventually folded. We were out of jobs and had to rebuild, again."

"If I didn't know you, Uncle," Gimli told Thorin, "I would say all of that is far fetched, but..."

Thorin snorted. "Believe me I know how crazy it sounds."

Tauriel leaned forward. "Misty Mountain? That was the mountain village that burned, what is it now, forty years ago?"

"41 years," Gloin rumbled. "We all lost family members in that fire, and most of the Durinsons left moved here to Dale afterwards."

"I know that look, Tauriel, what are you thinking?" Legolas asked his friend.

"There were rumors that the mining company that employed a number of those who lived in Misty Mountain were trying to clear people out. They didn't want the bad publicity of fire so many miners to replace them with machines." Tauriel wove her fingers into Kili's. "Smaug Inc. That was the name of the mining company, wasn't it?" She looked at Gloin and Thorin as she asked the question.

"It was," Thorin confirmed. "My father and our grandfather worked for them in the Arkenstone Mines."

"Smaug Inc was a subsidiary of Sauron Industries," Tauriel told him seriously. "That's the same company that's trying to drill in the Refuge now."

Thorin's brows creased. "You think Sauron had something to do with what happened at Misty Mountains?"

"It wouldn't surprise me," Tauriel said slowly. "I have no proof, but Sauron is well known for underhanded and dirty tactics. They're just very good at hiding it."

"That's the company you two are working against now, isn't it?" Gimli asked Legolas.

Legolas sighed, pressing his forehead against his husband's shoulder. "It is. It would appear that both we and your family may share a common enemy."

"I swear this sounds like something out of a bloody storybook," Fili muttered under his breath.

"Maybe it is," Kili said. "Maybe it isn't. There isn't much we can do right now." He looked at his uncle and Gloin. "But is something to research. We can't do anything today, but maybe in the future.." he gave a shrug.

"Dinner's ready," Gloin heard his brother in law call from the kitchen.

The six in the living room exchanged glances before they all carefully began to unfold themselves from their seats and filed towards the dining room.

As Gimli entwined his fingers with Legolas, he found himself wondered just how all of these revelations were going to effect his life in the coming days. If he was tied to Legolas, well, what hurt Legolas, what hurt the Selkies, hurt him.

There was a great deal for him to think about.

Chapter Text

Gimli muttered under his breath as he ducked through the crowds and down the building steps. It was 3 in the afternoon and he'd just finished with his last class for the day. The drawback of being a full time student and working meant that he didn't have as much time to spend with Legolas as he might like, but Legolas and Tauriel had been busy recently working with local environmental activists regarding the threat of Sauron Industries and their desire to drill in the Wildlife Preserve.

Despite that looming threat and the general business of their lives, Gimli found himself feeling generally more happy that he'd been in a long time. He'd never been precisely unhappy growing up, with a large and loving family around him, despite the tougher times they'd experienced when he'd been young and before their businesses had been truly established in Dale.

It was more that, despite how young he was, a missing piece of the puzzle had clicked into place, and he knew Legolas was that piece.

The Selkies were settling into life in Dale as well as they could. Tauriel and Legolas would still vanish for several hours some days, off swimming in the sea, and Gimli knew that Tauriel made occasional trips back to the Isles the Selkies called home, but Legolas stayed in Dale. At first Gimli had felt somewhat guilty about it. Legolas didn't hide things from his husband, and had been honest with Gimli about the reason for his essential exile from the Isles, but Legolas had reassured Gimli many times since the initial exile that he was happy here, close to Gimli.

Tauriel and Legolas had managed to weave their way into the Durinson clan, and Gimli could not think of a single family member who actually disliked them, even the sometimes prickly Nori. Tauriel in particular had a wicked sense of humor and got along surprisingly well with Nori, taking his often shrewd and pointed digs in stride and responding with her own wit and sarcasm.

And Gimli wasn't blind to the fact that Tauriel and Kili had formed a relationship. He knew his older cousin was head over heels for the red haired Selkie, and Legolas told him Tauriel felt the same.

It felt odd at times, because Gimli had expected his family's initial reaction to the Selkies to be more suspicious, but he hadn't seen them, particularly Thorin, be anything but welcoming.

When he'd mentioned it once in Thorin's hearing, his uncle had smiled, a little sadly. "It would have been different, many years ago. I was far more hard-headed in my youth, but I met someone who broke through my prejudices, someone who made me look at things another way. Legolas and Tauriel are good people, Fae or not, regardless of the attitude Legolas's father may have, and I don't think anyone in our family will stand in your way. You love him, Gimli, and he loves you, and we want you to be happy."

The memory warmed Gimli, but it also stirred his curiosity. While various members of their clan had gotten married, and some had had children or adopted, Thorin had remained steadfastly single Gimli's entire life. The younger man had never even seen his uncle date. That ticked at another memory in the back of his mind, something that Kili had said when they'd all been very young.

"Unca never dates, says he got his 'eart broke."

The words drifted through his mind. Thorin had mentioned this person, the one who'd taught him to be a better man, more than once in Gimli's hearing, but he'd never said the person's name or given away much about them, only that he'd met them working in the logging industry.

These thoughts continued to plague him as he walked out towards the parking lot and climbed in his pickup. He'd reluctantly put his bike away a few weeks ago as the weather grew colder and the first flakes of snow had fallen. He could ride in the cold, but riding in the freezing rain or snow was just foolish in his mind. Legolas had mourned the winterizing of Gimli's motorcycle just a bit. The taller man had become fond of riding behind Gimli on his bike, their bodies pressed close to one another through denim and leather.

He didn't work tonight, and he and Legolas had agreed to spend the evening holed up in Legolas and Tauriel's apartment watching movies. Tauriel would probably head over to the apartment Gimli shared with Fili and Kili, and Gimli suspected Fili would take himself off to Laketown Bar and Grill to flirt with Sigrid. A quiet afternoon and evening spent with his boyfriend highly appealed to Gimli, and he could stay the night since he had clothing stashed at Legolas and Tauriel's now.

He let himself into the apartment with the key that Legolas had gifted him. Legolas and Tauriel had keys to the Durinsons' apartment as well. He had Legolas, and Kili and Tauriel, had only been together for a few months, but something felt right about it all in his bones, and interestingly, no one in his family had asked if they were moving too fast. A few of his college friends had, but his family had not.

Perhaps it was the fae thing, Gimli thought as he moved around the kitchen, taking out the chicken Legolas had texted him was in the fridge and began to chop it and vegetables up to put on a pot of soup. Gimli had worn a hoodie under his normal leather jacket today against the cold. Tauriel and Legolas of course seemed less affected by the cold, but they weren't human, and Gimli suspected it had something to do with them being seals and all.

He was humming to himself over a pot of soup, earbuds in as he listened to Windrose when he felt Legolas's familiar, warm hands wrap around his waist and his boyfriend rest his head on top of Gimli's red braids. He pulled his earbud's out and leaned back against his taller boyfriend. He took a moment to turn the stove down to a simmer and put the spoon down before turning into Legolas's welcoming arms. The warmth of the blond Selkie against Gimli brought him comfort and made him happy, leaning up to return Legolas's kiss.

"Afternoon my love," Legolas greeted him when they pulled back from the kiss. "Making dinner?"

"Soup," Gimli replied by way of agreement. "Something warm, add a fire in the fireplace and a Harry Potter marathon, I thought it would be a nice, quiet evening between the two of us."

Legolas arched his brows and smiled. "Mm, snuggling under the blanket, among other things."

Legolas and Gimli hadn't gotten beyond cuddling and heavy petting, but they both enjoyed it and neither wanted to rush the other. They were establishing their relationship, growing closer. Gimli knew at some point in the future, perhaps months or years down the line, they would discuss living together, but for now seeing each other almost every night would suffice. In the eyes of Legolas's people they were married, but in the mortal realm, well, they wanted a bit more time together before Gimli summoned a justice of the peace.

"How was your day?" Gimli asked as they settled on the couch with hot tea, waiting for the soup to finish.

"A little frustrating," Legolas sighed. "I think Tauriel wants to speak to your uncle, see who he might know from their time logging who might be able to help, perhaps, as Tauriel put it, dig up more dirt on Sauron."

That brought back Gimli's thoughts from earlier in the afternoon. "I was thinking about that earlier," Gimli said softly. "About the person Uncle mentions who helped him change." He tilted his head. "Legolas, does my Uncle Thorin strike you as someone who's been involved with the fae?"

Legolas paused at the question, his brows knitting together as he considered it. Slowly, he nodded. "There is something about your uncle, a certain melancholy that I have only ever seen among mortals who were involved romantically with a fae and then were separated from their love for some reason." He sighed. "In past centuries, relationships between fae and mortal have been a mixed bag. Some get a happy ending, but many did not. It has change a bit, in this modern era."

Gimli's arm tightened a little around Legolas. "We're going to get a happy one," he declared firmly.

Legolas smiled fondly at his husband. "I do not doubt it, my love. Your uncle has had heartbreak in his past, involving the fae, perhaps this person he spoke of who helped him change. All your can do is ask him."

Gimli nodded, settling back against Legolas's side, debating exactly how he would do just that.

Chapter Text

Pale gray eyes stared at the snow falling outside. Legolas's expression was twisted into concern, his hands clasped behind his back as he stared outside the window. Tauriel sat at the kitchen island, elbows resting on the counter, wearing a similar expression.

"So they're bribing officials now?" Legolas asked at last. "Trying to find people to override current regulations?"

Overriding current regulations that protected the Refuge could take years, or it could take months, depending on what kind of politicians that Sauron Industries managed to get on their side. Legolas massaged his brows as he felt a headache forming. They had local activists and they had attorneys, but their political pull was almost nonexistent at this point. All of the politicians that Thranduil had connections to had either moved or passed away in the last decade or so.

"They are," Tauriel confirmed. She grimaced. They both knew that it was only through Bard's insistence on getting word to Thranduil regarding Sauron Industries current activities that had even drive then Selkie King to send Tauriel and Legolas to Dale to begin with. Tauriel knew very little of the actual relationship between Bard Bowman and King Thranduil, other than the fact that the two had met at some point during Bard's youth, before he'd married, before his children were born, and through sheer stubbornness on Bard's side, the connection had been maintained.

After the incidents with the Durinsons, the Hobbits, and the Smaug debacle, Thranduil had drifted again out of touch with the mortal world, something about the issues with Smaug reminding him yet again of the death of his mate at mortal hands centuries ago. Sometimes Tauriel felt their king lived more in dream these days than reality.

Legolas and his brothers had feared quietly that their father had been fading slowly over the past few decades. Thranduil loved his children, Legolas never questioned that, but he was a cold individual, far from the warm and loving picture that his brothers painted of their father before the death of their mother. Thranduil let his people deal with mortals only out of absolute necessity. It was all just another reminder of how he'd essentially banished Legolas from the Isles upon hearing of Legolas's marriage to Gimli.

Legolas closed his eyes and forced those turbulent emotions aside for the moment. They had figure issues at hand than his complicated relationship with his father.

"Alright, if we do not have connections, we make them," Legolas told Tauriel firmly. "We know Bard will help us in any way he can. He is a businessman, even if he isn't a politician, he might know who we can turn to for help."

Tauriel's expression turned thoughtful. "The Durinsons too, and their friends. Between the clan and those they know, I'm willing to bet that they know at least a few people." And they had a personal interest in protecting the Refuge and the surrounding coast with Legolas's marriage to Gimli and Kili courting Tauriel, but that went without saying.

Legolas nodded his agreement. "Alright, you talk to Thorin, I'll talk to Bard, and go from there?" He was already grabbing his scarf and boots from the hall closet as he spoke.

"Beginnings of a plan." Tauriel smiled and Legolas could see an underlying feral quality to it for a moment. "We'll figure this out, Legolas, I have no doubt about that. We just need to get a few more allies on our side." She lifted a brow. "See you at Gimli, Fili, and Kili's tonight?"

At least one of them was optimistic about their chances. He paused at her words then remembered they were supposed to go to the Durinsons for movie night. Snuggling with his husband while the family watched a movie on a snowy night appealed, he thought, and he made a mental note to pick up hot chocolate mix for that evening. "See you then."

~~

Tauriel was already on the couch in Kili's embrace when Legolas arrived at the Durinsons' apartment that evening. The red haired selkie grinned at her brother from the corner of the couch but didn't bother getting up to greet him. Legolas just rolled his eyes in faint amusement as she sunk deeper into the curve of Kili's arm while the human appeared to be nuzzling her neck. Since they'd officially gotten together, Gimli and Legolas had agreed they could be almost sickeningly cute.

Tilda and Bain were perched on bar stools at the kitchen island while Sigrid and Fili somehow managed to manuver around with two people in the small apartment kitchen, prepping bowls of chili for everyone. Legolas's gaze flickered around for Gimli as he presented Sigrid with the hot chocolate mix and she gave him a quick grin before requesting another bowl from Fili. Legolas wondered briefly how nine adults were going to comfortably congregate around the TV to watch a movie in the living room. The over-sized couch and love-seat could only accommodate so many people, even if Gimli somehow managed to find his way into Legolas's lap as he was wont to do.

He felt strong arms come up behind him and the press of Gimli's face against his back as these thoughts ran through his head, and let himself relax into the embrace of his love as Gimli shifted them until they were facing each other. For all the Durinson boys' short stature, they were all stocky and muscular, and Legolas half suspected that Gimli could carry him, bridal style, if he really ever wanted to. He leaned down to press his lips briefly against Gimli's. "Hello Love."

"Hello Seaheart," Gimli replied, and Legolas smiled at the endearment, a play on sweetheart, as he let his husband maneuver him back towards the loveseat.

"Shouldn't we get dinner first?" Legolas suggested lightly.

"Eh, we'll bring it out Legolas," Bain told the selkie, waving his hand idly. Bain almost seemed amused at the romantic interactions between the Selkies and their human mates, even if he was less than amused at the interaction between his older sister Sigrid and Fili. Legolas still couldn't figure out if those two were actually dating or not.

"So what are we watching tonight?" Legolas asked as he let Gimli push him down into the corner of the love-seat and then the red haired man planted himself in Legolas's lap. He felt the press of Gimli's body against his own, and decided in that moment he would certainly be staying over that night. He had a standing invitation from Gimli to do so, and he always slept better with the shorter man in his arms.

"Princess Bride," Tilda announced gleefully. It was one that Legolas had yet to see, but Tauriel's expression lit up at Tilda's words.

"ROUS!" Tauriel cried. Then in unison with Tilda, "I don't think they exist!"

Legolas gave Gimli a faintly bewildered look and Gimli grinned at his love. "Don't worry, Seaheart, you will love the movie, I promise. Anyone who doesn't like Princess Bride is suspect."

Legolas wasn't quite sure he agreed with that sentiment but wisely kept that to himself as Tilda and Bain carried trays of chili bowls into the living room. Tilda settled onto the love seat with Gimli and Legolas while Fili and Sigrid took up the rest of the couch. When Legolas glanced over at Bain, the young man shrugged lightly and set his bowl down on the edge of the TV stand. He returned a few moments later, dragging a beanbag chair out of Fili's room. Fili eyed Bain for a moment, then gave his own shrug, and everyone settled as Kili qued the movie up on Amazon.

As Legolas balanced his bowl in one hand and Gimli in his lap, he reflected that there were worse ways to spend an evening than with the man he loved and their friends. He met Tauriel's eyes across the room and she smiled.

Even if he never could go home, Legolas thought, at least they had a home here.

Chapter Text

Thorin's heavy boots made surprisingly little sound on the lichen and leaf strewn path. A friend, many years ago, had taught him to move silently through the trees, trees very similar to the ones he now walked among. The weather was chilly, though there was no sign of snow despite the leaden gray skies. Thorin inhaled the scent of decaying plants and cold air, letting it steady him. It was only a few hours past dawn, and tendrils still rose from the ground, wreathing the entire forest in mist.

He'd left his car three miles behind in an empty parking lot, few visitors bothering to come to the national forest this time of year. He was highly surprised it wasn't snowing, given how much rain and snowfall this particular temperate rainforest usually saw. Still, no snow made for easier hiking.

Thorin was bundled against the cold, thick lined hiking boots, long sleeved henley, flannel, polar fleece, and lined bdu pants. He'd pulled a beanie on over his thick, gray streaked, dark brown hair, and actually bothered pulling his hair back in a braid today instead of letting the wild mane hang down past his shoulders. Unlike many of his family members, he kept his beard trimmed short, no beads or braids. Thorin had stayed in decent shape over the years, and he knew from the looks he got from some men and women at his club that he was still good looking, if rough around the edges to some.

But the reason Thorin had never dated drew him back to these woods at least once a year, often once a month. He always came alone, for time to think, and time to think over his mistakes, his regrets.

He kept walking, his thoughts churning over the concerns that his nephews lovers had brought to him a few days ago.

Legolas and Tauriel had asked the Durins for help, connections, anything they were willing to provide in the fight against Sauron Industries attempts to drill in the Eryn Lasgalen Wildlife Refuge. The Durins and their friends, predictably and down to every single soul, had promised whatever help they could give. Given their own history with subsidiaries of Sauron Industries, and their care for the area and environment as a result of that history, Thorin knew every member of his family would seek nothing less than to totally end Sauron Industries goals and aspirations.

They'd already begun planning, reaching out to local contacts, making lists of people they needed to write, and any number of other things for the cause. All the brainstorming, the reminder from Tauriel, Legolas, Gimli, Kili, and Fili how the fae and otherworldly creatures were effected had dredged up any number of Thorin's memories of his time with his Greenman.

Thorin had met the Greenman decades ago when he and his company had worked with Smaug Inc. mining lumber in the surrounding hills and mountains. A bit over thirty years ago, it had seemed a good idea to partner with Smaug Inc. That was before they'd discovered the company's double crossing, the violated environmental and labor laws, embezzlement, and any number of other issues.

Thorin remembered how much the Greenman had changed his life, from their first meeting, and the influence he still had over Thorin.

Thorin had been an angry man in his twenties, both bitter at the world for the Dursinsons' lot in life and worried for the financial state, health, and general well being of his kin. When one Bilbo Baggins had appeared to him from amidst trees he'd been marking for harvest one spring afternoon, Thorin had not first believed the man that he was fae. Bilbo's control over the local plant life had quickly convinced him otherwise.

He remembered the rich brown of the Greenman's hair, the deep golden brown of his eyes, and the smile that lit Bilbo's face when the Thorin admitted to believing he was fae. While Bilbo's reason for approaching Thorin had been dire, the pollution and overlogging that Smaug Inc had been guilty of, Thorin could easily remember the next several months worth of time he spent in the Greenman's company to be the best of his life.

His own pride and thought that he knew what must be done, his refusal to listen to anything else, had ended up being Thorin's downfall.

His last encounter with the Greenman remained etched in his memory. The yelling and misplaced anger that had clouded Thorin's mind, and Bilbo's resolute expression as he'd insisted on more immediate action, Thorin arguing that they needed to continue on just a bit longer, let the loggers finish this season's contract while they gathered information about Smaug, and Bilbo's argument that too many more trees would leave the area prone to flash floods...

Bilbo had been right, of course, and while they'd managed to work together at the end, neither of them could forget that argument. Thorin had been too prideful say sorry, and Bilbo would not beg for an apology that he deserved.

He'd never seen Bilbo again. He'd forested the forest several times a year, every year since the first, but he'd never seen Bilbo in all his wanderings.

"Oh my Love, how I wish I could go back and change things," Thorin murmured as he walked, his eyes scanning the silent trees around him. "I wish I had not lost you through my own foolish pride...but even if you never wished to be with me again, we could use your help right now." Thorin sighed, flipping his braid back over one shoulder before shoving his hands in his pockets. "They're at it again, Bilbo, only now they're going for the Wildlife Refuge and not the forests. They're going to hurt the Selkies. And Gimli and Kili, I've told you about them, their hearts belong to Selkies, and this hurts them and their beloveds so."

Each time Thorin came here, he came alone, and he would spend hours talking to the trees, pretending that Bilbo was listening, though he never received an answer or any sign that anyone was actually listening, but he'd talked all the same.

"I wish you could help me now," Thorin said softly. "You always seemed to know what to do."

After another mile and a half of walking, Thorin reached the overlook he'd been aiming for originally. He stared out at the jagged coastline below, the rocky cliffs looking down onto the foaming sea. He noted idly there'd been more erosion since last year, and wondered if humans had anything to do with it.

"I wish you were here with me now, Bilbo," he said quietly.

Thorin stood in silence for several minutes, listening to the sound of the crashing waves on rock, and the cold breeze through the trees. Finally, he heaved a sigh and turned to start his journey back to the car.

He did not make it more than five steps until he heard a voice he had not heard in over 30 years.

"And what would you do if I was here, Thorin Durinson?" Bilbo Baggins asked, his hands tucked into the pockets of worn green trousers. He was barefoot, glad in trousers, a red henley with sleeves rolled up thi his elbows, and a golden fleece vest. His hair remained the same rich brow it had been years ago, but his golden brown eyes looked older. "Do you just want my help, Thorin Oakshield," he asked again, using the name he'd given Thorin all those years ago. "Or do you want more?"

Thorin stared at him in shock, and when he opened his mouth to speak, he could only sob.

"You great fool," Bilbo's voice said soothingly, his arms suddenly around Thorin's taller frame, Thorin's face pressed against Bilbo's shoulder. "You great, old fool." The tone was loving, soothing, and of the first time in three decades, Thorin felt the pieces of his broken heart begin to mend.

Chapter Text

Legolas regarded the bronze plaque affixed to the brick building for a long moment before he started up the stairs. Tauriel followed him, calmly wiping invisible fuzz from the front of her green suit jacket. She could fairly see the tension in Legolas's shoulders and felt it herself, she was just better at hiding it.

Legolas opened the unassuming wooden door, old fashion decorative glass inlay allowing sunlight to stream through into a pattern on the wood floor. The building had once been a house and now housed three or four small businesses, all of which he was certain were owned by the extended Durinson family. The front entry way had been converted into a lobby and there were two doors leading into separate offices. A small hall lead further back into the building, revealing what looked like a break room and a set of stairs. A fierce looking, blond woman sat at a heavy wooden desk to one side of the lobby, typing on a computer. She glanced up from the screen as Tauriel let the door shut behind her, the woman's serious gray eyes seeming to measure them before she spoke.

"I'm Eowyn Eorl. How can I help you?" she asked in a perfectly professional voice, eyes still weighing them.

"We're here to see Dori Durinson? 9am appointment?" Legolas said, lifting his blond brows at her.

Eowyn's expression changed then, a smile chasing away the fearsome look she'd had moments before. "Ahh, you must be Gimli's friends. Dori's just in his office, go on in," she said as she pointed to the door on the left. "If you go down the hall there's tea and coffee in the break room you are welcome to help yourself to."

Tauriel and Legolas exchanged a glance at the sudden change in her demeanor but Tauriel shrugged. They both followed the hall to the breakroom, helping themselves to tea before Tauriel knocked politely on Dori's door.

"Come in," Dori's gruff voice replied from within. Tauriel and Legolas had both heard that voice several times over the past few months in their time with the Durinson clan, though this would be the first time they would be discussing business with him.

Dori's office walls were lined with books of a variety of subjects, though Legolas noted several law books as they entered. Dori sat at a massive wooden desk, much like Eowyn's, to the far side of the room. He moved from behind the desk and came to shake both Tauriel and Legolas's hands before he gestured for them to sit.

Both settled into the plush office chairs across the desk from Dori, Legolas relaxing only slightly now that they were in what he viewed as friendly territory.

"I am going to assume the situation is rather serious," Dori began as he looked between the two selkies. "Particularly since given a week ago you two had another attorney. One who, rather unprofessionally, suddenly abandoned you as clients after working with you for years."

Tauriel nodded, a faint scowl crossing her expression. "We suspect they were threatened by Sauron Industries. The company has a lot of money, and with some people, money talks."

Dori nodded, jotting a few things down on a pad. "I'll get Nori on it. If we can discover proof that they were blackmailed it will improve our own standing. Nori is clever, he'll find something." He opened a drawer and rooted around a moment before pulling out a file and passing it over to them. "Here's an official contract drawn up for me to represent you, ostensibly as a non-profit wildlife conservation group. Obviously we all know it is a bit more complicated than that, but its a start. Additionally, I have Nori researching other potential clients who might benefit from protecting the preserve and refuge, people who live on the borders, that sort of thing."

"Do we know that they'll be trustworthy?" Legolas asked, his gaze narrowing a moment.

Dori snorted. "Nori's vetting them, Legolas. What does that tell you?"

Legolas nodded. He'd learned during the months of his relationship with Gimli just how thorough Nori Durinson could be in his investigations.

"That you, Dori, for taking this on," Tauriel said as she began reading through the contract.

They all knew that Sauron Industries might resort to something more dangerous than blackmail. Smaug had, and Smaug was just one branch of Sauron.

Dori fixed her with a serious look. "You two are involved with Kili and Gimli, on a rather permanent level, I would hazard. That makes you two clan, and your concerns are that of the clans. The clan is prepared to deal with threats of violence if it comes to it, we know how bad it could be if Sauron is successful." He pointed at the contract with the end of a pen. "However, to make everything we can neat and legal, I want you two to read through all of that before signing it, and then we'll get started."

~~~

Legolas collasped gracefully onto the bed in Gimli's bedroom, blond hair flailing about him. Gimli watched from his computer chair, arching a brow as the selkie slowly relaxed into the mattress. "Long day?"

"Extremely," Legolas sighed. "I feel somewhat better knowing that Dori is representing us now though, and that Nori is investigating. I don't want to put your family in danger but.."

"But nothing, Legolas," Gimli growled softly. He stomped over to the bed and sprawled himself out onto the bed beside Legolas. His thick fingers intertwined with Legolas's long, almost delicate looking ones. "You are my fiance. Husband already in your terms. This is what good family does for each other."

Legolas's gray eyes fluttered open, a little wide as he turned to look at Gimli. "Fiance? Just yesterday you were referring to me as your boyfriend."

Gimli flushed a bit, not quite as red as his hair, but didn't look away from Legolas. His gaze softened a little and he looked at their intertwined hands, then back at Legolas. "Yeah, well, fiance seems more appropriate since some day we're gonna get married after the human fashion. You did kind of already propose."

Legolas realized then that the ring he had given Gimli the day after they'd first met was actually on Gimli's left ring finger. He hadn't worn it before. His eyes remained wide as he ran his fingers over the ring, gaze never leaving Gimli's.

"I know you aren't going anywhere," Gimli told him softly. "I was obviously a little thrown by all of this when it first happened, but...well after all the time we've spent together? You've wooed me, you've accepted my stubborn ass, and well, I love you, Legolas. I really don't want to even consider life with someone else."

Legolas's gray eyes were blazing with emotion as he rolled up into one arm, wrapping the other firmly around Gimli, and pressed his lips against the shorter man's. It was some moments before Gimli could speak again, and his lips were kiss swollen as he looked up with darkened eyes at his selkie.

"I love you too, Gimli," Legolas replied, fierce and low. "This is no obligation because you gave me back my skin. You gave me a chance from the beginning and showed me just the kind of man you are, your stubbornness, your generosity. I love you deeply, my husband."

Gimli felt a full body shutter run through him at the tone in Legolas's voice and he pulled the selkie back to him. "I like the sound of that, when you call me your husband," Gimli rumbled. "We're fiances in human terms, and I want to finish school first, but we're gonna marry in the human fashion, ma's gonna go nuts at wedding planning, all of it. And in fae terms, we're married, and I ain't ever letting you go. I love you."

Legolas's heart soared as his husband said it again, and he bent to kiss Gimli again.

Chapter Text

Gimli stood with his hands shoved into his coat pockets, boots sinking slightly into the wet sand as he watched the waves lap up on the deserted beach. In the middle of February, even the residents of Dale typically didn't go to the beach, for all that they had relatively mild winters compared to further up in the mountains. Even still, they always chose a secluded beach for this, since Tauriel and Legolas didn't want the general population of Dale to know what they were.

He whistled softly to himself, idly spinning the black titanium and blue topaz engagement ring on his left hand while he waited for his finance to emerge from the waves. Tauriel and Legolas had been gone these past two days, taking time to swim and be in their seal forms before returning to their human lovers and the land. Gimli didn't mind sharing Legolas with the sea. If he had the connection Legolas did, he wouldn't be able to give it up either. Legolas spent weeks at a time with Gimli, before giving him a kiss and vanishing into the ocean for a few days, but Gimli knew he would always come home.

Normally Gimli wouldn't be here to meet them, but when Dori had contacted him, he indicated it was best if they meet this afternoon, so Gimli took a day off his classes and waited on the shore, waiting for Tauriel and Legolas.

Another quarter hour passed before one large, tawny seal and a slightly smaller russet one clambered onto the beach. They seemed surprised to see him there, and both shed their coats quickly, using their glamour to clothe themselves. Legolas shook the water from his lovely blond hair and crossed to Gimli, wrapping him in an embrace while Tauriel lifted a questioning brow at the human.

"Something amiss?" Tauriel asked, sensing a underlying tension in Gimli's posture, and Legolas shifted to wrap an around Gimli's shoulders, keeping his lover in the shelter of his embrace.

"Not precisely," Gimli replied, letting himself lean against Legolas.

"Then what is it, my heart?" Legolas asked, concern in his voice.

Gimli gave his fiance a slight smile. "Dori contacted the boys and I this morning, said he might have found some interested parties who could help us against Sauron. They want to meet this afternoon."

Legolas squinted up at the pale winter sun. "We'll it's just after noon now. When are we supposed to meet them?"

"Two," Gimli replied.

"Then lets go get something other than fish to eat, and then head to Dori's office," Legolas decided after exchanging a glance with Tauriel. She shrugged, indicating she was curious and would take his lead for now.

~~~ ~~~~

When they were escorted into a conference room near Dori's office, Tauriel was not surprised to see Fili and Kili already there, along with Thorin and the Ghillie Dhu, Bilbo, who had recently reunited with Thorin. She did not expect to see Bard Bowman there. More surprising though...

"Arwen Undomiel?" Legolas voiced the name in surprise just behind Tauriel.

The dark haired Seelie smiled from her seat at the table and rose from her chair, next to a grave human mail with silver threaded dark hair Tauriel knew to be Aragorn Telcontar, Arwen's Seelie descended human husband. "It is good to see you again, Legolas Thranduilion, and you, Tauriel. It has been too long." She came around the table and embraced them both.

Gimli arched his thick red brows as he regarded his fiance, then shot a questioning look at his cousin. Dori only smiled.

An older gentleman who sat next to Dori chuckled, his long white hair pulled into a neat braid and white beard neatly trimmed, rather unlike the more unkempt appearance he bore the last time Gimli had seen him. "And Gandalf," he greeted the man who had visited his family many times during his childhood.

Legolas pulled back from Arwen's hug to regard his husband in surprise. "You know Gandalf?"

Gimli snorted. "I'm fairly certain he was present for the birth of everyone in my, Fili, and Kili's generation, love. He is an old family friend."

"You can't really be surprised by that, can you, Legolas?" Thorin asked in an amused tone, as his greenman shot him a wry smile and shook his head.

"Why doesn't everyone take a seat and I'll have Eowyn bring in tea for anyone that wants it?" Dori suggested, "Then we can ensure everyone knows everyone else and we can get started?"

"Wisely spoken, Master Durinson," Bard replied.

Everyone took the hint, Tauriel placing herself next to Kili and Gimli and Legolas taking seats the other side of Fili. Dori regarded the oddly assorted group and nodded with satisfaction. "So, we're all here today due to issues with Sauron Industries. In the case of Tauriel, Legolas, and Arwen, it would be protecting your homes, and the rest of you wishing to support them and protect our environment around Dale in general from the threat Sauron Industries presents."

"I see a number of people here effected, and I assume you have some sort of plan in mind?" Bard asked curiously.

Dori nodded. "I don't think civil court is the way to go here, and obviously we as a group cannot necessarily press charges." He lifted his brows. "What we can do is expose them." His glance flickered around the table. "Several members of the Durinson family have stories they could tell about dealings in the past with Smaug. And correct me if I am wrong, Bard, but you've some tales from when you worked hauling goods and people across the bay."

Arwen exchanged a look with Aragorn then said, "We've a number of people we know who can, under human guise and identities tell stories, Dori. But are you really suggesting we take Sauron down with bad press?" Her lips pursed into a frown.

Dori snorted. "Not just bad press, Arwen. Not only do we gather the stories of bad press and go to the media, but we hiring private investigators to dig up what they can, and if they are resourceful enough, perhaps they can dig up something we can go to the authorities with." His smile was positively gleeful. "I already have Nori investigating finances."

"I've two friends, Faramir and Boromir Ithilien, who run their own private investigation firm," Aragorn mused. "They'd be willing to let us hire their services for this I'll bet."

"Boromir and Faramir would be excellent resources," Gandalf agreed. "Dori, perhaps you should speak with Eowyn as well. Her brother Eomer has done a great deal of security work, and he may have additional resources we can call upon, or know people who might be willing to lend a hand."

Gimli snorted. "And you know every last one of the Durinsons will help."

"So a campaign of bad press and private investigations?" Bard asked. His brow furrowed. "You know Sauron's reputation, Dori, hwo do we know they won't retaliate?"

Dori shook his head. "Right now we are only in the gathering stage, Bard. Once we've seen what the Ithiliens can unearth, and we have enough verifiable accounts from people, then we go to the press and the authorities. Right now, we plan and arm ourselves. Once we're armed enough, then we plan our attack."

Bard sighed and massaged his temples. "I don't know the waiting period, but I know it is necessary. The refuge, the surrounding land, Dale, all if it needs to be protected. Drilling in the Isles wouldn't just affect the isles themselves."

Biblo smiled slightly at Bard and reached out to pat his hand. "Don't get too morose, Bowman. I know we've had some bad business within them in the past, and we paid for it, but I've a good feeling about it all this time."

Bard lifted his brow at the greenman. "I wish I had your confidence, Bilbo." He glanced around the room. "At least we know we are not alone in this."

"Most certainly not alone," Gandalf agreed. "Trust the Ghillie Dhu's word, Bard, it will work out this time." He met Bard's gaze directly, something passing between them. "It will all work out, this time."

Bard could not maintain that gaze, and Gimli had to wonder why. That question, though, was for another time, as the conversation turned to rounding up resources and setting up contacts between everyone.

Legolas reached under the table and took Gimli's hand in his, his fingers ghosting over the engagement ring before squeezing Gimli's hand. Bard was right about one thing, Gimli thought as he shared a smile with his fiance, at least they weren't alone in all of this.

Chapter Text

Legolas sat with Arwen across the table from Nori Durinson. Gandalf sat beside Arwen, holding an unlit and unfilled pipe, something Legolas was certain was merely habit by now. Thorin and Bilbo sat along the side of the table near Legolas, Bilbo's eyes curious, and Thorin's vindicated. Legolas noted that Gandalf and Arwen managed to keep in perfect control of their expressions, but when one of them was a thousands of year old Seelie fae and the other a wizard, they had certain practice that Thorin and Bilbo did not.

"It took quite a bit of digging to get all the files I needed," Nori told them "Everything that Sauron Industries files with the government of course is clean, but the company has quite an interesting history of recording things off the books."

"With all you've got here and what else I've seen, I'd ask if you hacked them but I know you better than that," Gandalf murmured, stroking his beard. "So where did your big break come from anyway?"

Nori arched his eyes. "Remember that one low level worker we had contact with, back with the issues with Smaug and Globeni King and all that mess?"

Gandalf frowned deeply. "Sméagol? You actually managed to find him?"

Nori shot a glance towards Bilbo, one that Thorin followed with a frown, and the Greenman shrugged. "He wasn't that hard to track down," Bilbo replied.

Nori snorted. "He is if you're human."

Thorin looked torn between admiration and worry as he regarded Bilbo. "How did you even manage that without me knowing?"

Bilbo smiled faintly and took his lover's hand, interlacing his fingers with Thorin's. Legolas saw the look that passed between them, and knew that Gimli, Fili, and Kili would be placed to know things were well between their Uncle and the Greenman.

"You still have your life, my love, your work, and I certainly am not going to sit around the house all day cooking," Bilbo told Thorin. "I called in a few favors among some of the fae and they tracked him down." He shook his head sadly. "Years have not been kind to poor Gollum. Near as I can tell he's dreadfully ill now. He may not have that much longer to live." Bilbo winced. "Nori and I may have played upon that a bit to get him to 'clear his conscious.' Enough so to make him go to the authorities."

"This is just the beginning," Nori told them. "An investigation by government officials is going to take months if not years, but it is enough to start bringing Sauron down. Once rumors get leaked to just the right news agencies and the story breaks, Sauron Industries is going to have a lot more to worry about than trying to fight to drill in the Wildlife Refuge."

As the man's eyes flickered around the table, Legolas could tell that Nori was planning more though. "Other than this news, what is it you want us to do?" he asked.

Nori looked specifically at Gandalf, Arwen, and Legolas then. "I want you all to go to your non-human friends. Find the ones that can pass for human, and get them to leak stories to the news stations, or newspaper reporters. We need stories about their interactions with Sauron Industries, the damage they've done to people's homes and lives. The key to bringing down Sauron is two fold - government investigation, and bad press. The court of public opinion can be brutal, and if you know how to use it..."

"It can also be very effective," Gandalf nodded. "Enough stories about damaged homes and waterways, enough complaints to other government agencies from those who can give at least passable documents to the authorities, then we get another investigation kick started. Environmental violations along with violations of banking laws."

"Because one or the other might not be enough," Arwen put in, her eyes lighting up. "They've made certain invesigations go away before by paying off the right people, we want to hit them on as many fronts as we can. Just one investigation might not be enough, but two plus public opinion? Stockholders might back out, their worth may drop. Sauron is all about making money, so we hit them where it hurts the most."

Legolas watched the looks of agreement on the faces of the others and found himself nodding. Nori just smirked then leaned forward. "So here's what I want you all to do," he began.

~~~ ~~~

Legolas left Dori's office that afternoon feeling better about the Refuge situation than he had in a long time. Even with all the joy his husband and Gimli's family brought him, worry for his home, for his kin, and always been there in the back of his mind. He still felt concern, Sauron Industries had not been toppled just yet, but there was light on the horizon.

Thorin and Bilbo gave him a ride to Gimli, Kili, and Fili's apartment, though there had been some talk recently of the three human men, Tauriel, and Legolas finding a bigger place for the five of them to share in the near future. Legolas knew that Tauriel's relationship with Kili had progressed a bit more quietly and less dramatically than his relationship with Gimli, but he could see the bond between the human male and the other Selkie, and he knew that Tauriel would not be returning to Eryn Lasgalen once their homeland was protected once more. She had informed Legolas she intended to remain here with him, and he'd 'heard' the unspoken 'with Kili' as well.

He supposed he and Gimli could get their own place, but over the past several months Legolas had grown to prefer having the others close by. Selkies were by nature social creatures, congredating with their pod frequently. With Tauriel as the only other Selkie in Dale, Gimli, Kili, and Fili had essentially replaced the normal Selkie pod for both Legolas and Tauriel. A bigger home though, was going to become a must soon enough, particularly if Fili wanted any kind of piece for the nightly goings on between the human and selkie couple he shared a home with.

Legolas noted that Gimli's car was in its parking space and smiled as he climbed the stairs to the second story apartment and fished out his key. Legolas knew Kili had the evening off and had mentioned something of a special date night with Tauriel, and Fili was probably at Laketown. An evening alone with his husband rather appealed to Legolas right now.

"Gimli, love, what would you like for din-" Legolas's words were cut short by his surprise at the sight of his husband in the recliner, and a tall, fair haired man sitting on the couch.

"Aearion..." the name slipped from Legolas's lips in shock.

Gimli turned to look at Legolas, and Legolas could detect no unease in his husband's posture or expression. Instead, there was a wry amusement. "Hello my gem," Gimli greeted his lover. "Your brother surprised me while I was doing homework earlier. Didn't expect any of your kin would visit."

"That's because some of us don't let our pride and worry cloud our love for our family," Aearion snorted. He rose from the couch and crossed to the still shocked Legolas, enfolding his younger brother in a hug.

Legolas melted into the embrace, feeling a soft, shuttering sigh run through him at his brother's evident acceptance of his marriage to a human. Aearion gave him an understanding smile as he drew back, and gestured for Legolas to join him and Gimli. "Our father may be shark-headed, but the pod still loves you, brother, and I certainly do. Father's ranted quite a bit, but based on Tauriel's words, I wanted to meet the human that has made my little brother happy." He shot an amused grin at Gimli. "I am not disappointed."

Legolas let himself be lead to the couch, and watched as his brother and lover seamlessly swapped seats so Gimli could sit beside Legolas and Aearion took the chair. Feeling Gimli's comforting hand in his, Legolas let himself as, "How is the pod?"

Aearion smiled fondly at his younger brother, then launched into an updated on the changes to the Selkie pod since Legolas had left.

Chapter Text

Wednesday afternoons weren't typically that busy at Laketown Bar and Grill. The lunch crowd had just vacated the restaurant and the happy hour crowd wouldn't be around for a few hours. It gave Bard Bowman time to take stock and review records. Sigrid and Bain were wiping down tables while another one of their employees remained in the kitchen washing dishes. Tilda had classes on Wednsday afternoons. Sigrid and Bain's classes were normally in the mornings, at least for the past few semesters. His children were certainly free to get jobs at something other than the family business, but the three seemed content enough to work at the Bar and Grill for now, help Bard was glad for on busy Friday nights.

The elder Bowman hummed to himself as he went through the liquor inventory, making checks on the list on his clipboard as he move down the bar checking bottles. He jotted down notes on what he needed to reorder, and what would be near the end of its shelf life and needed to be tossed. He heard Bain and Sigrid discussing something about Sigrid's latest date with Fili two nights ago. While Bard had initially been somewhat wary of his daughter dating the elder Durinson brother, she was over 18 and it was her choice who she dated. Ultimately the boy had proved rather responsible and his respect and affection for Sigrid won Bard over. Even if it hadn't, he couldn't forbid his daughter from dating Fili. It was merely easier for everyone that Bard and Fili could get along.

He turned towards the vodka bottles behind the bar, making note of the almost empty bottle of Absolute Mandarin, only vaguely hearing the door of the bar and grill open. They did occasionally get customers around this time, so he didn't think much of it, until he heard both his son and daughter go silent.

Bard turned with a faint frown to see what had stopped their conversation and froze, nearly dropping his pen.

The impossibly tall, graceful man standing just inside the doorway was achingly familiar to Bard, even if he hadn't see him in over 26 years.

The man's long, blond braid swayed lightly as he crossed the distance between the door and the bar. He looked no older than he had when Bard was 20, somehow ageless and beautiful despite the passage of time. He wore a pair of soft, worn jeans, boots, and a dark gray leather jacket that Bard also recognized. The left side of the man's face was scarred as if burned long ago, his left eye milky white and blind. His blue right eye focused on Bard's face, gaze full of an old sorrow.

"Hello Bard," the tall Selkie said softly.

"Thranduil..." the name slipped from Bard's lips without thought.

That name immediately got Sigrid's attention. With as much time as she spent with Fili, Kili, Gimli, and Legolas, she knew exactly who Thranduil was to Legolas, and how much pain the last encounter between father and son and caused Legolas. Her eyes burned with indignation as she glared at him. "What are you doing here?" she demanded. "I thought we humans weren't good enough for you, since you exiled Legolas over his mate."

"Sigrid!" Bard snapped, turning towards his daughter.

Thranduil held up a hand towards Bard and gave a self-depreciating smile. "No, Bard, she is not entirely wrong. I did exile my son, somewhat rashly, I will admit." He tilted his head a fraction. "These are your children? They look like you."

"My oldest, Sigrid and Bain. Tilda's at school," Bard said with some reluctance, not entirely understanding the exchange between Sigrid and Thranduil. "What do you mean you exiled your son? What happened with Legolas? He's with Gimli, isn't he Sig?"

"Legolas and his human are married by fae law," Thranduil responded. "And my response was...let us just say that I did not respond well to the news."

"You think?" Sigrid said, voice still full of venom. "You really hurt him. Legolas is my friend, and I don't like people who hurt my friends, family or not."

That same smile twitched the scars on the left side of Thranduil's face. "You are not the only one who has told me so, Sigrid Bowman. My own sons were quite angry with me at their brother's exile." He sighed. "I am old, and perhaps far too set in my ways, letting old hurts and old fears dictate my actions. It is time I made things right."

"Doesn't explain why you're here, and not at Legolas and Tauriel's apartment," Sigrid replied, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It would help if I knew where it was," Thranduil replied with some minor amusement. "And I need to speak with your father as well."

"Oh.." Sigrid frowned slightly at the selkie, not quite sure what to say to that.

"Da, why don't you and he go talk," Bain suggested. "Sig and I have the dining room if anyone comes in."

Bard hesitated a moment, but the uncertainty, something he could never remember seeing in Thranduil's eyes, had him nodding. He lead the tall selkie into the back office, shutting the door firmly behind them. Bard dropped into the chair at his desk and gestured for Thranduil to have a seat on the worn leather couch even as a thousand questions ran through his mind. When Thranduil didn't say anything after a few moments, Bard asked, "What are you really doing here, Thranduil?"

Bard felt a shock to see unshed tears in the other man's eyes as he turned his gaze to Bard before dropping it. "I didn't lie when I said I'd come to see my son, but I came to see you as well. It's been a rather long time for you, hasn't it?"

"Twenty six years," Bard said with some bitterness. "Long enough for me to marry, have three children, lose my wife when Tilda was a baby, and raise them to adulthood. Long even evidently for you to exile your son over old fears, not that I'm surprised since the last time I saw you, you told me you didn't think you could trust me entirely because I was human. You didn't trust that my love would be enough."

Thranduil winced at Bard's tone. "I deserve that." He rubbed at his scars, old pains reminding him just how long he'd walked this earth. "And I was wrong, Bard, so very wrong. I should have trusted that your love would be enough to make you keep the knowledge of the selkies' existence to yourself. I should have told you how much I cared for you too. I've thrown away a great deal out a fear, and now I can only hope that I might be able to recover some of it..." He lifted his blue eye to Bard. "I am sorry for your wife's death, it must have been difficult, particular with three young children."

"It was," Bard admitted. "But we made it work, somehow." He glanced back towards the door. "All three of them could see through the veil from a young age, so there was no keeping the existence of fae from them. I just had to teach them to be careful about who they spoke to about it. None of them were particularly surprised the first time Tauriel and Legolas visited us here."

"Yes, my son mentioned you a few times when he was home," Thranduil replied. "I have a great many regrets over the past several years, Bard, not the least of which is how I left you. I know apologizing will not fix what I have done, but I must say I am sorry I ever doubted you and that I didn't give us the chance I should have."

Emotions that Bard had spent over two decades burying threatened to come welling up as he looked at the other man. "Some good came of it," he said with forced lightness. "I'd not have met my Amelia had we not parted, and I would not have had my children. They'd been my light and my joy over the past several years." He sighed. "I don't know if I can just...forgive, Thranduil. But it is good to see you again. It hurts, but I've missed you. I loved Amelia, but some part of my heart has always yearned for you."

Thranduil nodded in understanding. "I loved my own wife dearly, and I have taken joy in my sons, but I still...I have not been able to forget you, Bard, no matter how hard I try."

Bard took a deep breath. "Perhaps you should go and see your son and speak with him. But if you are willing, maybe we can be friends, at least, and spend some time catching up." There was a cautious hope in Bard's voice, and Thranduil caught the unsaid "friends, and maybe more."

"Can you give me his address?"

~~~~

Legolas had to admit his brother Aearion's appearance had been unexpected but very much welcome. Aearion had decided to stay with Tauriel and Legolas for a few days and get to know the humans that had stolen his brother and his adoptive sister's hearts. When Gimli and Legolas had recounted the caution that they'd approached their relationship with at first, and the slow and quiet courtship between Kili and Tauriel, Aearion found he couldn't fault any of the parties. While Legolas's marriage to Gimli had been a complete accident, he was glad to see his younger brother's husband took it seriously, but also that they hadn't rushed into things.

Some part of him was perhaps a little sad his brother had chosen to live out a mortal life here on the shore with Gimli, but Aearion couldn't fault that decision either. He remembered their father's reaction to their mother's death and how deeply it had effected Thranduil. He wouldn't wish to spend centuries without his beloved either.

Tauriel and Legolas had also informed him of the case they were building against Sauron Industries, and the careful campaign some of their human and fae allies were working on. To hear that Arwen and Gandalf were involved surprised the elder selkie some. They had a greater chance of defeating the company he felt, with the help of those individuals though.

"How many of the humans are aware of the presence behind the company though?" he asked Legolas and Tauriel as they sat on the couch in their apartment. It was Wednesday afternoon, with Gimli in class and both Fili and Kili working, so the Selkies were alone in their discussion.

"Thorin knows," Legolas grimaced. "And his Greenman, Bilbo. Most of the Durinsons suspect some inhuman activity behind some of it, but some don't know the full extent."

"Sauron was sidhe once," Aearion frowned. "He still retains a great deal of his power, or he wouldn't have been able to hide for so long. The Durinson's plan to publicly expose the company to both media and government may stop the company itself from succeeding, but it won't stop Sauron himself."

"Arwen has advised me the Lady Galadriel is working on that end," Tauriel supplied. "And Gandalf confirmed it. He and Aragorn are working with her. I rather suspect Elrond and others are as well."

"This won't end completely until Sauron is truly dealt with," Aearion sighed. "People have tried to kill him before and failed. I can only hope things are a bit different this time."

"This time we have more humans who are actually aware of something insidious," Legolas told his brother. "I think it will help." Legolas's brother nodded, though he didn't seem entirely convinced. "Will you come with us to the next meeting?" Legolas asked.

A firm knock at the door interrupted their conversation before the elder selkie could give an answer, and the three exchanged a curious glance, since Tauriel and Legolas were not expecting visitors. Tauriel rose from the love seat and went to peer through the key hole. She stiffened when she saw whoever was on the other side. Mechanically she unlocked the door and opened it, revealing the tall form of Legolas and Aearion's father on the other side of the door.

Chapter Text

Legolas stared at his father as the Selkie King stood in the doorway just beyond Tauriel. He recalled his father’s anger the last time they’d spoke over his mating with a human, and he eyed his father with wariness as the elder selkie looked beyond Tauriel and met Legolas’s gaze.

Gimli shifted from where he sat beside Legolas and stood in front of his husband, partially blocking Thranduil’s view, his stance protective. Even Aearion regarded his father with some misgiving, wondering what had brought Thranduil onto shore.

The elder selkie sighed and said to Tauriel, “Please let me in, Tauriel, I need to speak to my sons. I have been blinded by my fear, and it’s already cost me a great deal. I need to speak to them, and apologize why I still can, before I lose them both.”

“And what makes you think you haven’t already lost them?” Gimli growled softly at the tall blond.

Thranduil looked beyond Tauriel at the red haired and bearded human with an appraising gaze, then the corners of his mouth twitched upward. “Once I thought a human could not be worthy of my son, but I can see that I was wrong. You seek to protect him, even from his own family. I was wrong to cast him out, I was wrong to think you might not make a good mate for him.”

Gimli frowned faintly and looked back at Legolas, who placed a hand on his husband’s shoulder. “Let him see me, love,” Legolas said softly.

Grudgingly, Tauriel stepped aside to let Thranduil in. Aearion watched his father carefully as the Selkie King crossed the distance between himself and Legolas, and then he surprised them all by kneeling on the floor in front of his youngest son.

“Iôn,” Thranduil half-whispered, reaching out a hand to Legolas, but not touching his son, waiting to see if Legolas would accept him. “I was wrong, iôn. I let my fear of the past cloud my judgement, I let it could my sight for so long, and I am sorry for that. I never should have cast you out or exile you. I love you, Iôn, and I cannot say enough how sorry I am that I wronged you.”

Legolas reached a shaky hand out to Thranduil, took his father’s hand. “It is difficult, father,” he admitted. “Your words hurt, very much, but I know how mother’s death effected you…you blamed humans for a very long time, and even though we had to deal with them, you still hated them.”

“Not all of them,” Thranduil admitted. “There was a human I met, a few decades ago, who made me begin to rethink my stance on humans. There is still evil in the heart of some, but not all, and your faith in your mate, your hope that they could help us fight for our isles…Your actions and your brother’s words talked sense into me, though I am sorry it took so long.”

Gimli could feel Legolas trembling a little against him, and he put an arm around Legolas’s shoulders, comforting him. Legolas smiled faintly at his mate, feeling the human’s calm seep into him. He met his father’s gaze, and after a long moment, he allowed himself to embrace his father. Legolas swore he could hear his heart pounding as he felt Thranduil envelope him in an embrace like he had not done since Legolas had been a small child.

“Thank you, Legolas,” Thranduil said quietly, then turned his gaze to his son’s red-haired human. “And thank you, Gimli Durinson.” He sighed. “I still have much to make up for, and there is much for us to talk about.”

“There is,” Gimli agreed.

Legolas let Gimli pull him back onto the couch, and Aearion indicated Thranduil should take a seat beside him. Tauriel lifted a brow at them all before heading to the kitchen to make tea, knowing that this was going to be a long afternoon.

~~
“So Galadriel, Elrond, and Gandalf have chosen to involve themselves in this?” Thranduil asked after his sons, Tauriel, and Gimli had brought him up to speed on the current battle against Sauron industries. His expression was grave, but he didn’t seem particularly surprised by the involvement of the sidhe or the wizard. “If even Galadriel involves herself, I really cannot have any reason not to join in myself.”

“You’d deal with more humans?” Aearion asked his father in mild surprise. His father had already come ashore, but he hadn’t expected the elder selkie to profess interest in doing more than using his magic to protect the isles themselves.

“I think in this case it is a necessity,” Thranduil replied. “Sauron has hidden behind the humans for a very long time, and it will take many of the fae to bring him down.” He turned to Gimli and considered the human with some interest. “You say that your family and others you know are working on the human aspect of things?”

“Nori is, aye,” Gimli responded. “He has some of his contacts looking into some of the employees, finding if there’s anyone willing to expose some of Sauron Industries’ practices. There are bound to be a number of laws they are breaking, and there are human laws in place to protect whistle blowers.”

Thranduil’s brows creased at the term. “Whistle blowers?”

“Humans often use whistles to get people’s attention, or signify danger,” Legolas explained, though he’d had to have Gimli explain it to him a few months back. “So they call those who come forward and report wrong doing whistle blowers.”

“We don’t trust Sauron Industries to not go after any such people, so Nori’s being cautious, and I believe he’s asked Gandalf for help in protecting anyone he finds willing to speak out,” Gimli added. “The goal is to legitimately take Sauron Industries down and keep the company from publicly continuing to function. Then the fae and the wizard are working on the other side of things, to take down the dark fae Sauron that’s behind the company itself.”

Thranduil considered all this thoughtfully then nodded. “I approve of this approach. The Isles are safe under your eldest brother’s care, Legolas and Aearion…even if something does happen to me, our people will continue to thrive under him. For now, I’ll remain here to help where I can.”

“Apartment might be a bit crowded,” Tauriel mused. She regarded Aearion. “Do you intend to stay or are you heading back to the colony?”

Aearion exchanged a look with his father. “If Father is staying here, I may head back to help our brother keep an eye on things in the Isles, ensure that the colony and the wildlife are protected there.”

“You can stay here if you wish, Father,” Legolas offered. “I can stay with Gimli.”

Thranduil arched his brow at his son’s words, but he did not seem surprised. “If you and Tauriel are willing to have me, then I will be glad to stay here,” he said after a moment. “I can find Galadriel on my own, and some of the others. I think it’s best if we arrange a war council, to plan how we intend to take Sauron down. It will not be easy.”

“They say nothing worthwhile ever is,” Gimli said absently, his hand entwined with Legolas. His own brow creased. “You do realize you may have to deal with my family if you’re going to help in all this?”

Thranduil smiled faintly. “The history between your uncle Thorin and I is complicated, but we managed to work together for a common cause once before. I believe we can do so again.”

“This is going to be interesting,” Tauriel murmured to herself.

Chapter Text

Gimli had noticed his finance moving with a lighter step over the past few weeks, since Thranduil had come to shore and spoken with his son for the first time in months, apologizing for his words when Legolas had first told him of Gimli. Thranduil had taken up residence in the apartment that Tauriel and Legolas had rented, in part since Legolas spent most nights with Gimli at the apartment he shared with his cousin. Father and son saw each other often, and Thranduil seemed to be making an actual effort to get to know Gimli, going so far as to spend an afternoon or two with the human married to his son.

The red haired and bearded human felt more at ease himself knowing that his beloved no longer carried the weight and hurt of being exiled from his family. Legolas had lived for centuries with his family among the isles, and he cared deeply for his blood-kin. Gimli could find no fault with that, and with Thranduil's somewhat halting attempts to get to know Gimli, Gimli found his anger at the elder Selkie melting away. Under the cool fae exterior, he found a man that had closed himself off from his own emotions, letting his grief drive his actions for two long, and now looked at the world as if scales had melted away, and regretted his actions.

Legolas had always been graceful and beautiful to Gimli's eyes, but his smiles made him even more lovely, and he smiled even more often now, and more confident in his otherworldlyness even among humans.

With as often as Legolas slept in Gimli's bed and spent time at the apartment, and the times Tauriel and even Sigrid showed up, Gimli and his cousin had begun discussion finding a bigger place. Their apartment served three bachelors perfectly, but when two of the young men were in committed relationships and the third was working up the nerve to ask a young woman out on a date, it could feel crowded at times.

Timing, of course, was everything. It was almost the end of spring semester, and with summer coming, Gimli would be out of school for the summer, giving him more time to help with the move. Kili was the first to bring up the idea. While their Uncle wouldn't let Gimli work full time at the club until after he'd graduated, with his income and Fili and Kili working full time, the three of them could afford a larger place, a house specifically.

"I'm alright with living with both of you with Legolas and Tauriel now, but we might not want to all be underfoot a few years down the line," Gimli told his cousins with some wariness. None of them could predict the future, but eventually he suspected his cousins might consider marriage and having children. It might be a bit awkward if they all lived in the same house for the rest of their lives.

"True, but Tauriel and I could buy a house, and Fili, Legolas, and you could all rent from us for awhile," Kili put in. "Maybe a house with a basement apartment. You and Legolas could rent the basement, Fili could rent a room upstairs, and Tauriel and I would buy the place."

Gimli lifted a brow and swung his gaze to Fili, the older and usually more logical of the two brothers. Fili shrugged. "Ki and I have talked about it a few times over the past few months. I don't need a lot of room myself right now, and you and Legolas might appreciate a bit more privacy. You're engaged, in human eyes, and married Fae terms. You and Legolas could a basement apartment as long as you needed, and even if you never decided to buy your own place, you wouldn't be 'in the way' if Ki and Tauriel decide to have kids one day. Eventually I'm going to want to buy my own place, but a room works for me now, everyone wins."

"What does Tauriel thing about it?" Gimli asked.

"She thought it was a fine idea, you just have to see if Legolas is on board," Kili replied.

When Gimli had brought it up to his fiance, Legolas nodded thoughtfully. "It would give us a bit more privacy," he said. "Certain things would be easier if we didn't have to worry about waking your cousins up since they essentially room on either side of you. I'm not sure on the idea of children, but we have years to decide if that's something we'd want or not, unless you have thoughts on it now."

Gimli shook his head. "I prefer the idea of being the favorite uncle that spoils the kids rotten, to be honest."

Legolas smile bloomed. "I am happy with that," he told Gimli and pressed a kiss to his husband's lips.

Legolas and Tauriel continued to have meetings with the other Fae, Dori, Nori, Thorin, and Bilbo, now with Thranduil now joining in the planning. Gimli had a general idea of what was going on, though he hadn't attended any meetings since the first few. Nori was working with his associates to dig up dirt on Sauron industries, intent on exposing the company to both the press, public opinion, and the authorities. Legolas mentioned that Thranduil was working with Gandalf and Lady Galadriel now, finding ways to get at Sauron and his minions behind the company.

Rumors began to swirl of accounting fraud and potential environmental violations, stories the media ran that Sauron Industries appeared to be trying to make go away, but the buzzing rumors persisted. Gimli was in the student union at school one afternoon working on homework between classes when every screen in the quad flipped to a national news station. Images of Sauron Industries' headquarters stood in the background as the screens showed men and women in expensive suits being lead away in handcuffs by federal authorities. Gimli stood, staring at the screens a long time as the news anchor detailed a long list of charges including tax fraud, accounting fraud, bribery, and other sorts of crimes that the white collar crowd took very seriously.

He really wanted to skip his last class, but he made himself go, fidgeting through most of it until he could hurry home to see of his fiance and Tauriel were there and if they knew what was going on. He was unsurprised to see them sitting on the couch in the living room when he walked into the apartment, though a wee bit surprised to see Thorin and Bilbo with them, all eyes fixed on the screen.

"Gimli, lad, come over here," Thorin gestured for Gimli to join them. He dropped his bag at the door and took a seat beside his fiance, noting the TV was playing the same channel he was watching earlier, with continued coverage of the Sauron Industries scandal.

"Did you know about all of this?" Gimli asked Thorin as Legolas wrapped an arm around his husband and idly nuzzled his red hair.

Thorin shook his head. "I knew Dori and Nori had found something, I just didn't realize how involved it was. I guess Nori's been having people investigate for months, digging up every thing they could before they turned the information over to the government authorities." He glanced towards the screen.

"There's a question of what's going on with Sauron himself," Bilbo added, as the greenman studied Gimli and Legolas. "But Lady Galadriel, Lord Elrond, King Thranduil, and others have promised they have it well in hand. I will leave them to it. I'd rather not get involved in the matters of more powerful fae if I can avoid it."

Gimli smiled to himself from Legolas's embrace as he watched the way Bilbo and Thorin say together. His uncle had been happier than he'd been in years since he'd reunited with his Greenman. Like Legolas and the sea, Bilbo still had to return to the forests at times to maintain his connection with the fae and with nature, but he was living with Thorin now, and Gimli knew that Thorin had a jewelry box tucked away in a drawer, waiting for the right moment to propose.

Gimli glanced back towards his fiance at that thought. The search for a house that spring with his cousins had yielded an excellent property amazingly just a few blocks from the rest of the family. Tauriel and Legolas wouldn't admit to any sort of meddling, but Gimli had his suspicions. They'd be closing soon on a four bedroom home with a small basement apartment that would suit Gimli and Legolas just fine, with plenty of room on the main floor for Tauriel, Kili, and Fili.

The future, Gimli thought, was looking rather bright. As he pressed against Legolas's side, he considered his lover, and thought with the good news of the day, a bit more couldn't hurt.
Weeks ago Gimli had asked Thranduil and Tauriel to go shopping with him. At first the prospect of going shopping for something specifically for Legolas with Legolas's father seemed a bit strange, but Tauriel had assured Gimli that Thranduil would warm up to him more at the idea.

"You wish to do what?" Thranduil had asked his son-in-law, regarding the human with some curiosity.

Gimli looked down at the black titanium and blue topaz ring on his left ring finger and back at the elder Selkie. "I know your son and I are married in the Fae fashion, and we've talked about getting married in the human way, but I want to present him with a ring, as he's already given me one. And I want your help in picking it out."

Thranduil tilted his head. "Is it normal to take the father of the person in question shopping with you?"

Gimli winced a little. "Not really, but I thought it might be a good idea to keep you involved...show you that I'm as dedicated to Legolas as he is to me."

The elder Selkie fixed Gimli with an unreadable stare for several moments, before he broke into a faint smile. "I approve of this. Let us find something worthy of my son."

With Thranduil and Tauriel's input, Gimli had ended up order a custom black titanium ring set with moonstones, very similar to his own except for the stones. He'd picked it up the afternoon before, and it currently still sat in a pocket in his backpack. Squeezing Legolas's hand a moment, Gimli got up to retrieve the ring box from his bag.

Legolas looked at Gimli in surprise as the human returned to him and then got down on one knee in front of the couch. His eyes were wide as Gimli flipped the ring box open. "I know we're already technically engaged in human terms, and married in Fae terms," Gimli began, smiling up at his love. "But Seaheart, I thought it might be a good idea to give you a physical declaration of my love for you, as you've already done for me. So, Legolas, it'll have to be after I graduate next summer, but will you marry me, in the human way."

Legolas laughed and swept his shorter lover into his lap, hugging Gimli tightly as he let the human slip the ring on his finger. "Always, my love," he told Gimli. "I would marry you in any way you wished."

Tauriel was grinning at them and Thorin wiped what suspiciously looked like tears from the corner of his eyes. Bilbo jumped up with a laugh. "I do believe this calls for a celebration!"

Thorin chuckled and caught his greenman in his arms. "It does love, but lets plan one where we can get everyone together. I know how much you love planning things."

"Congratulations," Tauriel told them. "And we have a year to plan."

"We can talk about planning later," Legolas said firmly as he pulled his husband to his feet. "Gimli and I have our own celebrations to attend to."

With smiles on their lips and love in their eyes, Legolas and Gimli vanished down the hall towards Gimli's room.

"Why don't we head home, my love?" Bilbo suggested lightly to Thorin.

Tauriel stood with the, grabbing her phone and texting Kili. "I'll let the boys know," she told them. "They probably won't want to come home for a few hours." The Selkie locked the door behind the three of them as they left the apartment, leaving Gimli and Legolas to celebrate.