"A toast." Sean said, raising his wine glass. The small party in the room before him returned the gesture. Orli stopped chatting to Diane and Eric Bana, to concentrate on Sean's toast, and Lou smiled passively and poured herself a drink so she might join in the celebration.

"What are we toasting?" Orli called. He smiled beautifically between the cast and crew that were assembled in the lounge room of what had become home.

"To 'Troy'." Sean said. He raised his glass and downed the contents.

The party repeated the action. "To 'Troy."

"May it run long in cinemas and gross much money." Orli said ceremoniously. He was beginning to feel the effects of the champagne he'd consumed, and he smiled and winked at Lou across the room, Lou flinched and turned away too late for Orli to notice her response, but Diane did.

Sean observed the interaction between the two before Orli turned back to telling Bana and Diane about the time he almost got crippled when he fell of his horse the previous week. Lou sighed deeply and set her drink down on the table. Sean frowned as he noticed the contents; Coke. She got up and crossed her arms tightly over her chest, glancing once more around the room to make sure no one would notice her departure, she slipped quietly from the party and out into the night.
Sean set his empty glass down and followed her. He found Lou sitting on a fallen tree out past the orchard, kicking holes in the dirt and trying to wipe the tears from her eyes as quickly as they came. He sat down beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. Lou leant into him, happy to have someone sympathetic, she stopped protesting against her tears and let them slide down her cheeks like rain on a window.

"I'm sorry to ruin your night Sean." She said after a moment of silence.

"You didn't. I'd rather spend it with you than anyone else. But I wish you were happy. I hate seeing you so sad." He said.

Lou sighed and Sean stroked her hair against his shoulder. "I mean to be happy... But how can I?" She said desperately. Lou sat up and turned to look at Sean directly. "How can I?" She repeated, more to herself than anyone else.

"What does Orli think?" Sean asked quietly.

Lou shook her head with a bitter smile. "He doesn't think."

Sean was shocked, how could Lou have kept such an important secret from Orli, the man she loved, the father of her child. "You mean he doesn't know, Lou?" He waited for her answer, but she just turned away. "Lou? Does he know?"

Lou continued to look away, content to observe a bat making it's way across the night sky. She shook herself out of her reverie and turned back to Sean, he was shocked to see her frowning angrily. "He doesn't know, no. He doesn't care-"

"You're not giving him much of a chance. Give the kid a little credit Lou" Sean reasoned. Lou opened her mouth to say something else, but was shocked by Sean's response. "But that's exactly what Orli is Sean; a kid. And I thought you were my friend. Can't you understand where I'm coming from?"

Sean's resolve to chastise Lou hollowed. "I'm his friend as well, Lou. Why haven't you told him?"

"Because he's not ready for this!" Lou said again. She stood up from her perch atop the trunk and began pacing back and forth in front of Sean.

"Why isn't he ready?" Sean asked.

"Because. He's not committed to this." Lou said, waving her hands around in front of Sean's eyes. He noticed for the first time that Lou's engagement ring was absent.

"Where's your ring, Lou?" He said, frowning.

Lou stopped pacing and set herself down on the ground near Sean's feet, head in shaking hands. "I don't wear it any more. I took it off a week after I...after I found out." She said softly.

Sean nodded silently.

"He didn't even notice." Lou whined. She turned to gaze up at Sean, laying her hand against his knee. "He didn't notice because he doesn't want to marry me." "He does." Sean protested strongly, with as much conviction in his voice as he could muster, he knew how much Orli loved Lou, he was just surprised she didn't. And now, after everything Lou and Orli had been through, he found himself in a situation where their relationship could go either way - down the aisle of the church, or up the creak...and as much as he hated to admit it, Sean didn't think he could manage another round of 'Orli has a mauldine cry to anyone who will listen' - he'd spent too much time on the phone listening to Orli the first time Lou had left him to have to go through that again.

"No Sean, he doesn't. He did once, but the romanticism has worn off. Orli isn't ready to get married, least of all to me." Lou said quietly. She released her grip on Sean's knee and turned away from him. She leant back against the tree trunk heavily, tilting her head up to the full moon hanging like a circle of lace in the night sky. It was a beautiful night, the moon painted shadows all along the lines of trees, the soft breeze rustled the fallen leaves and flicked a few up into the air to dance like sprites. But soon enough the would fall back to earth. Lou smiled bitterly at the image, in the weather that night she saw herself. Orli was her moon, watching over her, bathing her in light, and she was little more than leaf- She had danced on the breath of his words for a brief moment, but falling back to earth, she realised he would move along to make someone else dance.

"What are you saying Lou? You're going to leave him?" Sean asked cautiously, not really knowing whether he wanted to hear the answer.

"No." Lou shook her head sadly. She sighed and when she turned to look at Sean again he noticed something had changed in her demeanour, she seemed resolute to follow some hidden plan. "I couldn't leave him again, I've done that once, and I know now I can't live without him. I don't want to live without him. I'll stay with him." She said with a firm nod of her head.

Sean felt all at once much better. He smiled and rubbed Lou's arm affectionately. "You're doing the right thing."

"It's the only thing I can do Sean. I can't live without him, and I can't walk away from him knowing the pain it would cause myself, and Orlando. I know he doesn't want to marry me, I've known it for months now." She said sadly, staring off into the distance. "I just can't guarantee he'll stay with me."

Sean frowned. He wasn't sure he'd heard her right. "What do you mean?" He said slowly, just as the full meaning of Lou's words hit home. "Lou...you can't be serious! Orli loves you, he practically died last time you two were separated. Believe me, I was there." he pleaded.

Lou's hands flew to her face again and she shook her head. "I lived that to! I know what he felt. Believe me, I know what he felt. And I would not willingly put myself or Orlando through that again, but...if he leaves me, and I know it could happen...if it does, I can't keep...you know." Lou's hand flew to her throat, as though she were choking at the thought of Orli leaving her and what it meant. Lou felt like it would be wrong to keep the baby growing inside her if Orli left her. The child would only keep the wound open, and eventually Lou would come to hate Orli...something she couldn't bare to live with. The feeling passed, and She stood wavering before Sean for a moment, before she leant down and kissed his cheek lightly.
"Thank you, Big Brother. For watching over me. For keeping my secrets." And she turned and ran away through the trees before Sean could respond.
Lou dodged her way between the trees, back towards the distant lights of the house, the music that pumped like a heart from within it's walls. But as she ran, she neglected to notice the figure she left behind. Not Sean, but Orli, who had stood behind a tree, just beyond the light of the moon, listening to what Lou had been saying to Sean in horror. This time Sean was powerless to keep Lou's secret.

*

Orli was sitting hidden amongst the vine leaves in a swinging seat on the veranda, feeling strangely sober. He waved goodbye to the last of the party guests, trying to hide his emotions as they offered friendly goodbyes and parting comments. Many of the people who had been present tonight Orli would never see again, but the harder he tried to care, the more the only thing he could turn his thoughts towards was Lou. Lou doubted him, Lou doubted his love. Lou had said he didn't want to marry her, and she'd said she couldn't live without him. All at once Orli was confronted with a sobering set of emotions. On the one hand he felt relieved at the fact Lou had promised she couldn't leave him. Orli had worried countless times that Lou's love for him would wither, and he would be left alone again. Orli knew if that happened that he would never love again. He would still physically be everything he ever had been, coffee in the morning, a book before bed, but inside he would be hollow. He'd felt it before, he knew what it was like to loose hope that Lou would return, and he recognised the amazing contentment that was Lou saying she couldn't leave. It was insurance, but at the same time Orli noticed another feeling inside his soul, burrowing deep within his ego, undermining his security. Desperation, confusion, he was struggling with his own ideas about his relationship with Lou, he'd never really stopped to think how his reluctance to plan the wedding had effected her. He knew it hurt her, it was hard not to notice the crest fallen attitude she took towards his apathy, but he'd always taken it for granted that they would marry...but now...

"Is something wrong?" a female voice said from behind Orli. A hand was laid on his shoulder and he spun quickly to meet it's owner. Orli had to battle hard to gain control of his feelings when he saw Diane, not Lou, standing before him, a worried look on his face.

"I thought you'd already left." He said as Diane came to sit beside him.

She gathered Orli's large brown hands up in her own paler, smaller hands and sat in silence for a moment, face turned up to meet the friendly light of the moon. "No. I'm the last though. I suppose this means the Battle of Troy is finally over."

Orli smiled half heartedly, and was just about to say something else when the first of his tears arrive. He brushed them away quickly and turned away from Diane.

"Orlando, what's wrong?" She said, pulling Orli back to face her.

He shook his head and covered his face in his hands. "I don't know. Lou...I heard Lou and Sean talking." He said desperately. When he turned back to Diane, she could recognise the confusion in his face.

"They're not having an affair are they?" Diane said, only half hoping that Orli didn't hear the strange mixture of hope and shock in her voice.

He frowned, momentarily distracted from the truth. "No...I don't think that's not possible. But I heard them talking about me."

Diane listened intently to Orli, stroking his arm and artfully moving closer to him, to the point where they sat side by side, their legs firmly pressed together, in the middle of the massive swinging seat. As Diane tried to calculate what she would say next, all Orli could think of was the time he and Lou had made love under the stars on this same seat. He ran his hand over the plastic material and tears came anew as he remembered how Lou had complained it would leave a pattern embossed on her skin...

"What were they saying about you, Orli?" Diane asked finally.

Orli shrugged and wiped at his tears gruffly. "That I didn't love Lou. That I didn't want to marry her, and she thought that I could leave her-"

"But you don't want to marry her." Diane interrupted.

"Why does everyone think that?! Of coarse I want to marry her! I love her. More than anything, I do." Orli protested.

"You do a good job of pretending you don't, Orli. You might love Lou, but you don't want to marry her." Diane said in a husky voice. She inched ever so slowly closer to Orli, until she could feel his breath on her cheek. Sharp jolts of electricity seemed to race through her veins, and Diane tried to comprehend how she could feel the way she was feeling at the moment. There was something in the secrecy, in the fact that Guillaume would never know, that made her want Orli more than ever. Seeing him caused pain by another woman just strengthened her conviction.

"I know it seems like that." He said, shaking his head. He turned to meet Diane's incredibly penetrating, if not incredibly close stare. " But I never meant...she was talking about me leaving her. Saying I didn't love her as much as she loved me..." He trailed off.

They sat in silence for a moment before Diane finally worked up the courage to take the last step. Just as Orli was about to begin his soliloquy of pain again Diane leant in and kissed him. Orli's eyes opened wide in shock, he sat stock still for a moment, trying to come to terms with what was happening.

Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, he pushed her away. "Diane-" He began, but Diane cut him off. "Don't fight this Orli - we both know there's a reason we're sitting here together. This is something strange for me, I admit, but that doesn't mean it's wrong." She said quietly, stealing a glance at Orli through her thick eyelashes, she hadn't been chosen for the part of Helen for nothing, Diane's face truly was the face that launched a thousand ships, and she knew how to use it.

"That's strange for me too. But..." Orli said, but slowly he noticed Diane wasn't listening to his response. She was staring over his shoulder. Orli felt his heart stop as he turned to see where Diane was looking; Lou.

Lou's mouth was open, as though she were trying to think of something to say. But nothing came out, until finally Orli pulled himself from Diane's grasp and ran to meet her. Lou fled into the house, away from Diane's ever present gaze.

Orli stopped at the door, turning angrily back to Diane, he said "I think you should go."

And reluctantly, knowing she would never see Orli again, she did.

Lou had run through the house, trying to loose the sound of Orli calling out to her, she'd ran to the bedroom, but realised there was no lock, she'd ran out the back door and fled through the orchards, and coming to the end of the trees she'd seen the distant lights of the last car exiting their property. She fell down to the ground, gasping for air, not from the effort of running, but from what she'd just seen. Orli, kissing another woman. Orli betraying her. Orli proving her point; he just was not the marrying type...

"Lou. I can explain, it's not what it looked like." Orli gasped as he came to a stop a few feet behind Lou. He leant down, hands on knees trying to catch his breath.

Lou gave a sharp little laugh. She didn't turn around to face him. "You've obvioulsy been in one too many romantic comedies." She spat.

They remained silent, both fearing that in a situation where there was so much to say, they would fail, and find nothing at all.

"This isn't a comedy." He said lamely. He chanced to sit down beside Lou.
Orli reached for her hand, but Lou pulled it away.
Orli smiled bitterly and gazed up at the night sky. He remembered the last time that Lou had reacted that way to him, it had been a night like this, that seemed to exist forever in it's own dimension. He sighed and stole Lou's hand quickly, before she could pull it away. Their eyes met and Orli held her stare with wicked determination. Time stood still as they sat there, hands clasped, searching each other's eyes for the answers to questions they would never ask. Orli let Lou's hand go and finally broke the silence. "You've not reacted that way to me in such a long time."

"I haven't needed to. Until now." Lou replied instantly.

"Well, I have to tell you that you don't now, either. That wasn't what it looked like." He repeated firmly. Who are you trying to convince you bastard? Lou, or yourself.... The trouble was that while Orli was trying to explain what had just happened to Lou, he was also trying to explain it to himself. Diane's kiss was lapping against his mind like waves against a jagged cliff, pushing into every cavity of Orli's memory, so that he felt almost as though he was back there, with Diane's hand on his hand, her breath on his skin. He didn't want to be kissing her. He didn't want Diane to be kissing him. But hadn't he let it happen? If he was so against that kiss...then why had be let it happen?

"I don't need to?" Lou asked incredulously. She turned towards Orli, and he noticed the tears in her eyes. " 'Wasn't what it looked like'? How do I need to react then, Orlando? What did it look like then?" She said.

The pain in Lou's voice startled Orli, he'd been expecting anger, but not so much pain. He winced as she spat his name out, like it was a dirty word she was reluctant to say.
"Be...be logical. I don't love her." He said, shaking his head and staring into Lou's eyes, exploring their inky darkness for some sign that she understand what he was failing to say.

"Logical? I think, given the situation, that I'm being more than logical." Lou said. She finally felt strong enough to stand, and as she walked away Orli ran to catch up. She marched quickly through the trees back towards the house.

Orli grabbed Lou's wrist and pulled her to a stop. "Please don't do this." He pleaded. He got down on his knees and threw his arms around Lou's knees, pressing his face against her stomach, these were the actions of a desperate character, but Orli knew Lou too well to think this would just blow over. "This isn't right, this is not the way it's supposed to be!" Whatever else that kiss meant, it meant trouble, and Orli could see it in Lou's eyes. "Please Lou, I can't bare this, not again. I don't love her." He repeated again.

"You don't need to love someone to kiss them, Orlando." Lou said finally. And Orli winced again at the bitter sound of his own name on Lou's lips. He could hear the tears in her voice, and stealing an up ward glance he saw Lou furiously brushing tears from her cheeks.

"What are you thinking then?" He said, still kneeling on the earthen ground.

"That...that the best thing to do here is just," she sighed and closed her eyes "...just to give you some time." She choked out. And suddenly the touch of Orli's arms around her legs, the sharp contact of his stubbly cheek against the bare skin where her shirt ended and her jeans began, was too much. Lou pulled Orli's arms from around her and began walking away again, leaving Orli to stumble to his feet and follow.

"Time for what?" He called.

Lou stopped and turned around, her body seemed to rock haphazardly, like she was close to falling down. She crossed her arms as a abnormally cool breeze stole through the trees, blowing her long hair across her cheek, and seeming to pull her in the direction of Orli. "Just time Orlando, to figure out what you want from...from this. Time to...to think about us."

"What about us?" Orli said cautiously. He took a step towards Lou, she took a step away from him, as though this was the closest she could be to him without losing control.

"About why you can't marry me. About whether there�whether there should be an us." She said quietly, but clearly.

Orli was utterly shocked. His tongue felt thick in his mouth, stuck against the roof of his mouth as he let out a choked a sob and felt a single, thick tear roll down his cheek. He fancied he could smell Diane's perfume all over his flesh, and it made him simply want to rip the skin from his body. He reached out his hand to Lou. "Of coarse there-"

"No." Lou shook her head and looked away. " No 'of coarse' Orli. It isn't meant to be this hard, true love isn't meant to hurt this much." She said emphatically, clasping her hands against her heart. These were the words Lou had dreamt about saying to Orli since she'd first seen him in that alley after their separation for all those months. She'd carried this burden with her for too long. "You're going to New Zeland tomorrow, and I'm staying here with Sean. In a fortnight when I see you again..." She said ominously. "You need this Orli. I've got....things to work out. And you do to."
Orli offered another protest, but Lou just brushed it carelessly away, saying "Please don't. You've done enough damage tonight to span a life time. Even if it were spent in the shelter of your arms." And she turned on her heel and walked towards the house, leaving Orli to crumble in a heap on the ground, face in hands, crying like he had so long ago in the airport, watching Lou walk away from him after he had first professed his love. And in that moment, as Orli felt the newly-dewed grass beneath his knees forming grass stains on his jeans, history was most definitely repeating itself.

Lou had laid awake in bed, silently sobbing for an hour before Orli had tiptoed into the room. Sean had had the good sense to make himself scarce for the rest of the night, Lou suspected he had called Billy in L.A to fill him in on what was happening, she'd caught a snippet of the conversation as she walked past him room on her way to her own.
And now Lou closed her eyes, forcing herself to look asleep as Orli climbed into bed beside her. She tried to let her tears come silently, but every few seconds was obliged to sniff loudly, giving away her lack of sleep. She heard Orli sigh heavily and the rustle of blankets. She wasn't shocked to feel his bare chest press against her back, his arms coming around to envelope her. Lou felt the moisture of tears as Orli's cheek met her shoulder.

"I love you Lou. Nothing changes love. No one changes love. I've told you this a million times. You've got something going on in your mind, I can see that much. And maybe you're...right, about me having things to work out, but I can't think without you. Send me away, but don't even dare think that I don't love you more in this moment than I ever have." Orli said as he closed his eyes.

"It's not that you love me that I'm questioning Orli. It's how much. Don't wake me in the morning when you leave, let this be good bye." Lou said quietly.

That night, for the first time since she'd discovered her pregnancy, Lou slept the whole night through. No dreams haunted her mind, and no worries confronted her when she woke in the morning. At least until she rolled over in bed to find the space beside her empty. The sheets where cold, the pillow still smelt of Orli's sweet skin, but all that was left of him was a note:

I can never forget,
and do not regret,
one precious moment
I have spent with you-

But Lou could only shake her head at the memory the short poem evoked within her; a quote from a book she had given Orli after their first date ever.

*

"Everything seems to have changed." Lou said suddenly, as she and Sean boarded their plane. It was the day before Christmas, and once again Lou found herself being waved onto the plane by a tangerine air hostess pointing them in the direction of the first class section, her face seemed to crack at the slightest smile. Lou was caught between the thought that this Tangerine was a worse than the Tangerine who had seated her the day she met Orli, and wanting to offer the hostess a wet wipe to remove her thickly applied slap.

"I would have thought you'd flown first class before Lou." Sean joked as he buckled his belt. Over head a voice began listing the emergency procedures in Spanish and English.

"You know that's not what I mean."

Sean smiled and patted her hand. "I was joking. Seems Orli isn't the only person whose learnt a lot in the past two weeks." He said, carefully pulling Orli's last letter from Lou's bunched fist. She'd spent the hour they'd waited in the air-lounge ripping napkins in nervous anxiety, and Sean knew Lou would regret it if she accidentally ripped Orli's precious communications. "You'd want to be careful, you'll rip it." He said, laying the letter down before Lou in her lap.

Lou frowned down at the letter and opened it to silently read again:

I live
upon the memory
of the last time
we were together...
I count the hours and the minutes,
fill time with a thousand chores-
answer all those letters,
tidy every drawer-
walk for miles,
try to sleep,
a child in every way-
until I see you tomorrow
is like waiting for Christmas day-

Orli had written Lou a letter like this each day they had been apart. She had replied to the first, telling him she didn't want him to write any more, but the next day another had arrived. And now she had thirteen letters tucked away in her suitcase, tied with string and waiting to be read for the millionth time. Well, fourteen if she included the one that had arrived today.

"I've enough to spare Sean." Lou sais gruffly. She concentrated on the letter in front of her as the plane skidded out onto the run way. Flying was still not her strong point.

"You know, I think you're beginning to show." He said, staring at Lou's stomach. He knew as well as Lou did that his comment wasn't true, but Sean had taken to teasing Lou lightly about being pregnant. Even though they were as close as siblings, he failed to see the hurt in her eyes when he made such comments.

"That's impossible." Lou said derisively, but at the same time she anxiously checked her stomach. She knew that once she began to physically see the evidence of her pregnancy, there would be no turning back. She'd told Sean as much, and he'd only encouraged her more to keep the baby.
But Lou had to realistic, it wasn't that she couldn't support a child by herself financially. It was emotionally. She knew that she couldn't look at a child each day and know it belonged to Orli, if he wasn't there beside her.
' A child should be something to be happy about, a gift' She'd told Sean ' not a scar.' And she knew that is exactly what it would be if Orli wasn't in her life. Lou had promised herself that she would properly consider her options in keeping the child- or not- when she got to New Zeland. And while Sean had constantly begged Lou to keep the child, to tell Orli the truth, he'd been a pillar of support. He'd come with her to the hospital the previous week to get a proper check up, and had even held Lou's hand as she'd had her first ultra sound.
But for all intensive purposes, Lou had made up her mind. She just wanted to wait until she could be among friends in New Zeland before booking to have 'the procedure' -as the deeply unimpressed Catholic Spanish doctor had called it- performed. Lou knew that once it was done she would need a strong network of support to get over it, especially since she knew that network wouldn't include Orli. If he had made the decision to call it quits once and for all Lou knew she'd need all her childhood friends near her for solace. And if Orli stayed...it was pointless to even think about, Lou knew Orli could never find out about what could have been.

Sean leaned back into his chair as the plane stabilised in the air. While his intentions were to sleep the entire journey, he knew no such act could be committed with Lou sitting beside him, she was a nervous ball of energy. He placed a hand on top of Lou's to stop her from clicking her nails against the arm rest. "Close your eyes Lou, and when you wake up you'll be in Wellington, and it'll be Christmas." He said.

Lou smiled and closed her eyes, and surprisingly enough, she actually fell asleep.

*

"Excuse me?" said a strange voice.

Orli snapped from his reverie to see a young girl standing before him, biting her thumb nervously and holding a tray with two coffees on it. "Yeah? Oh thanks." He said with a quick smile, taking the coffees from the girl. She stood for a second, trading her stare between Orli and Dom, before sighing and running back into the cafe.

Dom sipped his coffee and stared at Orli across the table. He seemed to be deep in thought, bouncing his knee and biting his nails, a nasty habit he'd only recently picked up again. "Don't bite your nails." Dom said quickly.

Orli's hand snapped away from his mouth and he busied himself with dumping spoonfuls of sugar into his coffee and playing with the foam. "I hate that I've started this again, it's stress. Especially after all the trouble I went to so I could kick the habit last time."

"You mean all the trouble Lou went to." Dom scoffed. He remembered the numerous e-mails he had got from Lou during the two months she had spent training Orli not to bite his nails. Ludicrous stories abounded about the lengths Orli had reached in trying to keep his nailing biting concealed from Lou. But in the end she had triumphed. Meanwhile, Dom instantly regretted his mentioning Lou.
He'd spent the last two days amusing Orli in an attempt to keep him from thinking of Lou. She was meant to arrive today, and it had been the unanimous opinion between Orli's friends that Orli should be kept under observation the entire day so he couldn't get up to any trouble. Dom had drawn the short straw, so the task of the afternoon coffee/amuse-Orli-for-an-hour had fallen on Dom.

"I miss Lou." Orli said miserably. He writhed in his seat and pushed the coffee away from him.

"Drink your coffee." Dom said.

"I don't want to." Orli said sulkily. "What time is it now?" He said through a mouthful of fingernail.

"Orli, it's been five minutes. I know you're anxious to see Lou, but could you just calm down. You'll see her in a few hours." Dom reasoned.

"I can't calm down, I've been on bloody tender hooks for the last two weeks!"

"I know, believe me, I know. But obsessing over it isn't going to help." Dom said placidly. He skulled the rest of his coffee and reached for Orli's. Orli grabbed his hand.

"Yes. It will. Obsessing over it always helps, I obsessed over it last time and she just appeared." Orli said with a crazy glint in his eyes.

Dom grinned and narrowed his eyes. "You're a loony. By that logic, seeing as she is supposed to be coming anyway, she won't come."

Orli released his grip on Dom's wrist and settled back into his chair to process what his friend had just said. "You've got me there."

"Ahah!" Said Dom triumphantly. He sipped Orli's coffee, and on finding it cold set it back on the table. "That's cold. Lets get back to the house and play some board games from nineteen eighty two." He said. They sat in silence for a few minutes, Dom observing Orli, Orli looking distinctly depressed. Finally Dom stood up, and pulled Orli by the arm in the direction of his car.

"I miss Lou." was the last thing Dom heard as he shut Orli's door and ran around the side of the car to get in himself.

*

Elijah and Billy were early to pick Lou and Sean up. The airport was swarming with newly arrived family members, returning home for the holiday season. There were also an amazing amount of International 'Tolkies', having come to town to see 'Return of the King' in the city it was filmed

Lou and Sean found Billy and Elijah trapped within the tight conversational grasp of a pair of particularly scary breed of 'Tolkies'- Australians. The two girls were energetically babbling at Billy about their favourite Rings' scenes, they seemed at first to be screaming their monologue in elvish, but on closer examination Lou realised it was just English at warp-speed. Having secured signatures, the girls ran screaming from Elijah and Billy, waving the signatures above their heads, much to the amusement and confusion of passers-by.
The friends exchanged kisses and 'Merry Christmas' before Billy led them back to his rental. They spent the first ten minutes of the ride home in petty conversation about what each had been up to since the last time they had been together, but soon the conversation stopped and they were left with an awkward silence.

Lou couldn't help but feel responsible. She knew that the rest of the Fellowship would have been filled in on the goings-on between Lou'n'Orli, and their silence was the result. Sean seemed to know it to as he gripped Lou's hand and smiled grimly.

It was Elijah who finally broke the silence. He turned around in his seat and cocking an eyebrow at Lou and said plainly "So you and that crazy fella of yours are having a bit of a tiff?"

Lou smiled. "Yeah, you could say that."

Elijah nodded thoughtfully and smiled "He's been complaining about you for two weeks now-"

"Shut it, Lij, Lou-Lou doesn't want to know that." Billy said sharply.

"Well, I only say it because you owe us big time, we've had to listen to him. I don't know what he did Lou, but he was really upset at you sending him away. Seemed a little harsh to me-" Elijah said thoughtfully biting a nail.

"I caught him kissing another woman." Lou said flatly.

Elijah's mouth dropped open and the car swerved a little as Billy turned the corner into his driveway. "Sorry." Billy said quickly.

"He didn't mention that." Elijah said nervously, opening his door.

"I bet he didn't." Lou said happily. Sean smiled grimly and squeezed her hand again. They all got out of the car.

"I understand why you'd send him away." Elijah said as he unlocked the front door to the temporary home of the Fellowship. Lou and Sean followed the two Hobbits into the house. Elijah ran off to show Sean to his room, and Billy was left sitting in the lounge room with Lou.

"So..." He said finally.

"Yeah, so."

Billy smiled kindly and put his arm around Lou."We've all missed you Lou. Especially with Orli here. He's not the same without you. Not as funny. Not as neat, either."

"So everyone keeps saying." Lou said with just a hint of bitterness.

"We say it because it's true." Billy said truthfully.

But where does that leave me?! What am I supposed to do, I'm damned if I'm with him and he's damned if I'm without him! Lou wanted to scream, but all she did was give Bill a watery smile and a heartfelt sigh. "We'll see. Billy, where is my room? I'm big-time jet lagged."

Billy stood up awkwardly and wandered down the hall carrying Lou's bag. He stood in front of a door, his hand on the doorknob. Suddenly he seemed to reconsider his choice of opening the door. "Ah, I'll let you take it from here." He said quickly, he waved toward the door and dropping Lou's bag he backed away down the hall.

Lou stared suspiciously after him as he stumbled backwards down the stairs to the lounge room, Lou chuckled and shook her head. I always knew he was crazy...she thought as she opened the door. But Lou instantly realised why Billy was so keen to escape.
Before her, was the messiest room Lou had ever seen. An empty suitcase lay discarded on the floor among it's putrid contents. This was mixed with about a million pieces of paper, CDs, magazines, muddy shoes, dirty socks. Somewhere in the middle of the room, surrounded by a pulsing sea of rubbish lay a bed, and amongst it's knotted, grubby linen lay Orli.
He was laying on his back sideways across the bed, so his feet and head were over the edge. He was headphones on, and from where Lou stood she could almost hear the music, it was so loud. He was wearing a white singlet that had long since been stained with some form of green matter, and jeans that Lou recognised from the night of the set party in Spain. They still had grass stains on the knees from where Orli had begged Lou to stay.
Lou set her bag down gently on the ground and closed the door behind her silently. And not knowing what to do next, She found herself leaning against the door, hand still on the door knob, observing Orli. He was waving his hands before him like a conductor and every few seconds he would burst into tone-deaf song. Lou recognised the song he was signing as a CD she'd given him in Spain a few weeks before he left. Finally, Lou heard the disfigured lyrics to the last song on the CD, and Orli's singing stopped. He seemed to remain still for a few more minutes before rolling onto his side, facing the head of the bed. He pulled off his head phones and picked up a book, faintly half singing, half humming little bits of lyric.

"What are you reading?" Lou's voice rang through the silence like a bell in the mist.

Orli's entire body jumped and he turned around sharply. His face held an expression of severe surprise, more shocked than Lou had ever seen him, and more red from hanging up side down. "Garfield comics. You're plane wasn't meant to be here for another hour." He sounded cold...apathetic, but mildly confused. He stared at Lou for a few more seconds and then resumed his former position.

Whatever Lou had expected, it had not been this. Anger, relief, happiness, but not apathy. She picked her way gingery between the piles of crap on the floor towards the bed. "No, you're clock is slow." She said pointing at the clock on the wall. She sat down on the edge of the bed, keeping the distance between herself and Orli. Suddenly Lou could describe the feeling that had been nibbling at the back of her mind for the last two weeks. It formed a rock hard presence in her mind, and could no longer be ignored. Sending Orli away had not been a good idea.

Orli shrugged and gave a sharp little laugh at something he'd read.

"Are you going to talk to me?" Lou said finally.

Orli rolled onto his side and stared coldly at her. "Wait, would you? I'm just in the middle of this." He said, waving Lou away.

She nodded silently, fighting back the hot tears that were threatening. She reached out and grabbed the Garfield book from Orli's hands.

"That's mine." He said threateningly. He tried to grab the book from her hand, but failed. He sat up, crossing his legs to face Lou. "Givvus' it back." He growled.

Lou frowned and shook her head. "Talk to me. Is a cartoon cat more important than us?"

"What do you fucking want me to say? There is no us, remember?" Orli shouted suddenly, his voice ringing out through the room, and probably half of the house - though it was obvious he didn't care who heard him screaming. He stood up and began to pace back and forth across the room, biting his nails. "You were right you know. That wasn't right. First you tortured me by not talking to me for fucking months! And then just...just show up, which I can forgive you, because after that everything was perfect.
Everything. Everyone knows perfection never lasts though. But it did for a good while, but then you wanted to get married - "

"You asked me Orlando! I did not ask you." Lou said angrily.

He turned towards her, pointing angrily at her face. "Let. Me. Finish." He growled.
"And then Spain...geeze, Spain. I don't know where to begin, but that's not important, how it begun. How it ended, now that's good gossip. You caught me being kissed by a married woman, being kissed, not kissing. And so you storm off, confiding in your good fucking friend Sean all the things you would otherwise tell me, should have told me because I was supposed to be your fucking fiancee! Your best friend. The love of your life! Does that ring any bells?
"And then when I try to explain you say...wait, let me remember what you said..." he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. " 'You've seen to many romantic comedies'. That was it, wasn't it? That I've caused a lifetime of hurt in one night?!" Orli stopped and faced Lou, his hands on his face, he was sobbing openly now, but the eye of the storm passed, and when Orli pulled his hands away his face was raw with rage. "And then you, you banish me. You stay behind with your good fucking friend Sean to comfort you. And I'm sent away, to the other end of the planet, literally, to suffer in silence."

"From what I've heard it's not been so silent." Lou bit acidly.

Orli raised an eyebrow and considered her statement for a minute. "Is that what you're heard. How nice that you've been keeping in contact with my friends. That's so something you would do, it's just like you! Meanwhile the only thing you've said to me, your fiancee in the last two weeks is a letter- " here he searched through his pockets to uncover a crumpled piece of paper, which he then read out "- saying as follows. ' Orli- no dear in this lovely letter- Don't write to me any more, I want this to about you deciding what you really feel for me, not about dwelling on what you think you feel for me.' End - no love from, no 'sincerely yours'. NOTHING." He glowered at Lou, grinding his teeth. He began pacing and biting his nails again. "So I've spent the last two weeks being followed around by my friends, pissing and moaning about lost love, and then you just show up. And you have the nerve, the utter nerve, to take my Garfield comic. Who do you think you are?" He finished wildly.

Lou stood slowly up to face Orli, clenching her fists. "They're my friends to. They've been my friends for a long time now. What is this about? The last time I left you? Or now?"

Orli raised an eyebrow and considered the question briefly before answering "Fuck you." He said. He walked towards the door and exited the room. Lou followed him down the hall.

"No, fuck you Orlando Bloom!" She said, catching up to him. This time it was Lou stopping Orli from walking away. "You don't get to have your little tantrum at me, without getting some back." She said.
Lou pushed Orli against the wall and walked past him into the living room, he followed rubbing his shoulder, and behind him Sean and Billy emerged from their rooms to see what was going on.

"Go on then. Have the courtesy to give me an answer." Orli shouted sarcastically.

Lou took a deep breath and composed herself. "Where to begin, so many questions laid before me..." She muttered "You say I tortured you Orlando? Well if we're going back that far...how about you getting me fired?! How about you embarrassing me in front of all my friends and co-workers? Denying me the opportunity of a life time to work on the Trilogy?! All because of some masochistic desire of yours for stunts? Because that's all that accident was. A stunt, and you dragged me into it, you broke my arm, you almost split my skull, you almost caused me brain damage! It wasn't that I almost died that upset you, because I did you know, it was that I'd damaged that little bubble you live it. And I tortured you? You expected me to fall at your feet when you said you loved me in the airport, that's not the way it works. You don't get to ruin someone's life then say 'I love you' and think it's going to be all better.
"Things were perfect, I'll give you that, I sacrificed my privacy to live with you, I put up with your bitch of a mother-" here eyebrows were raised from Orli, Sean, and Billy, but Lou didn't notice "- and things were still perfect. Here was a man who loved me enough to do anything for me, because I know you would have sacrificed anything for me, as I would for you, and this man wanted to marry me! Me, plain, boring me. So excuse me if I was a little excited by the prospect of marrying you Orlando, forgive me that at least. Obviously I was brain damaged in the accident you caused, because it's strange for me to comprehend someone not getting excited about marrying someone they love!" Lou paused and took another breath. "And now we come to Spain, my favourite. Everything is still perfect, I've been offered a fabulous job, I can work with the man I love every day, besides which I've made this great new friends, I think you'd know him as my 'fucking friend Sean'. And then Diane comes along. 'She's married' you say. So you can fucking imagine I was a little shocked when I see my supposed fiancee kissing her! He offers no other explanation above 'I can explain'." She effected a mockingly deep voice and spat the words so sarcastically at Orli that he almost flinced. "You didn't even notice when I stopped wearing the engagement ring You gave me." She spat out.

Orli sat down on the couch in front of her with his head in his hands. This was too much.

"I was going through some stuff...I am going through some stuff, that you couldn't understand, and maybe I didn't want you to. So I turned to my 'fucking friend Sean' for a little support, he knows what I'm going through, he welcomes my troubles. And I sent you away. You needed to decide if you could marry me. You needed...you needed to decide if you could love me that much.
Because honestly Orli, it isn't fair on me to marry me and offer me less than all your love. It's so fucking trite, and I hate it but all I am now days is you, you're all I have, and this...this stuff I'm dealing with, it's so hard to be realistic with you around Orlando. You walk around on a cloud, like everything would be ok, and it's not always ok. People get hurt, relationships get hurt. And you can stand the pain, I've seen you do it before, but forgive me my indiscretions, because I can't stand it, not again. Not...not you again."

Where Lou's speech had begun at a scream, it ended in a sob. She noticed for the first time the audience that had gathered in Sean, Billy, and now Elijah.

Orli lifted his head from his hands and confronted Lou with a tear streaked version of his face. "What stuff? What were you going through that you couldn't tell me? How am I supposed to be there for you like you want me to if you're keeping secrets from me? What is so fucking important that you can't tell me, if I'm all you have?!" He asked, the pain he was in abundantly clear in his voice.

"Pregnancy!" Lou blurted. And finally she noticed the audience around her, Sean, standing stock still with his arms crossed, a look of grim satisfaction that Lou had finally followed his advice, Billy gripping the wall in utter shock, and Elijah, looking equally shocked. Lou's hand flew to her mouth as she realised what she had said. She ran from the room, locking herself in Orli's bedroom and falling down on the bed to burry her face in his pillows.

For a good ten minutes everyone remained rooted to their positions, finally Orli got up woodenly, he noticed his hands were shaking. He walked pasively past Billy and Elijah, but Sean grabbed his arm.

"Don't say anything more, Orli. Not tonight-"

"Then when? You know so much about her, more than me. It's easy for you to say Sean. But..." He trailed off, wiping the tears from his eyes. When he looked at Sean again he smiled, putting his hands before him for Sean to see "Look at my hands, I've never seen a person's hands shake like this. Like my grandfather's, only worse." He said brightly. "Though I don't suppose I've anything left to say to her. There aren't any words inside me that could offer that woman what she needs." He said with grim determination. He removed Sean's hand from his arm and walked placidly from the house.

"That is the most volatile relationship I've ever seen." Elijah said quietly, shaking his head in sadness. Sean and Billy silently agreed.

*

Lou had cried so hard for an hour before she fell into an exhausted sleep. She dreamt in swirls of colours, no figures crawled through her mind, just warm colours and comforting sounds. And when she woke again she was still clutching the pillow hard, in the exact same position she'd been when she'd run from Orli. She felt as though there had never been a more disastrous fight, never a more ill fated union than that of Lou'n'Orli. And now it was all over, she realised how much she loved him. It had been hard to see, being away from him. Lou had sent Orli away thinking that she couldn't think about her future when he was there, clouding her judgement, but now she realised the opposite was true; Orli was her future, her past, her judgement was clouded by being away from him.
It was a sobering image that stood before her, alone, mid twenties, and already knowing she would never love again. Lou knew then that she would bare Orli's child, would raise it knowing that it was all she would ever know of Orlando's love. She couldn't believe all the things she had told Orli, things that had remained unsaid from their meeting in the alley. Where before they were starved of each other, and too keen to feel the warmth of unity again, this time there was only anger. At least it's finally been said.
Lou got up and looked around the room. It was still as messy, but now she had a sort of awe-filled affection towards Orli's things surrounding her. She saw his suit, the suit he would be wearing tomorrow to the premiere of 'The Return of the King', and it reminded Lou of her dress. She gathered up her suitcase and laid it out on the bed, reverently pulling her dress from it's tissue paper covering. She had bought the dress in Spain, knowing it would be perfect for the premiere. The world would never see Lou wearing it; Orli would never see her wearing it. Lou sighed, fingering the light material, rubbing it against her cheek; she would never wear it to the premiere...Why waste it? She thought sadly. She pulled off her t-shirt and jeans and slipped the dress over her head, pulling the zipper up her back in one smooth movement. She stood in front of the wardrobe mirror, admiring her useless reflection; it was a beautiful dress. Strapless, the palest of greens, just shorter than floor length. Where her last fancy dress had been almost completely covered in sequins, this dress was plain, simplistic, except for a applique lace pattern that seemed to float from her left hip, winding it's way up over her left shoulder. The lace had reminded her of a staircase in Loth Lorien. If elves lived in modern times, this is what they would wear. Lou thought with satisfaction. It reminded her of Orlando calling her an elf. Lou leant against the mirror; face in hands crying tears where she feared she would have none left.
Someone knocked at the door, but Lou didn't hear it, she slid slowly to the floor, dissolving into a mound of pale green silk and long, raven hair. What have I done?! She thought miserably, if I hadn't sent him away he would have loved me forever. We would have been happy... Lou picked herself up and began searching through her suitcase again, quickly finding what she was looking for- Orlando's letters.
She sat on the edge of the bed, and delicately unfolded the first letter:

I watched the sunset
through a mist of tears
and wondered
if my thoughts
could reach across
those aching miles
of loneliness
to touch you
with my love...

Lou smiled sadly and as she reached for the next letter a fat tears slipped down her shiny ruby cheeks:

Why squander
our precious now
on angry memories
of then....
That great black, heavy cloud
of depression-
closer and closer it descends
until the heaviness
travels down beyond my heat
to settle somewhere
deep within my being-
like a stone
weighing upon my spirit-
it is only you
who has the power
to lift it...

Lou let the poem fall from her hand to the ground as she covered her face in her hands, shaking her head. She was just about to begin reading the next when a voice sounded somewhere far away.

"You gave that to me." It said. Lou looked up to see Orlando closing the door behind him. He walked slowly across the room until he was standing a few feet away, before Lou.
Lou was surprised to see him, she let the loose pages of Orli's remaining letters fall from her lap. She seemed to blink slowly down at them, before reaching down to get them, but Orlando beat her to it. He slipped the bundle of letters into his pocket and reached for a small tan coloured bound book that lay on the floor, stretched open at the spine. It was well worn, grubby with handprints all over it's familiar skin. Orli had read the little book so many times in secrecy since Lou had given it to him, he knew exactly which page he was looking for.
He stood before her holding the book out in front of him and cleared his throat. "Forget the pride, the pain, and loneliness, and come with me- perhaps we'll find the wildness of our loving sets us free- and if we do not fit into this world, perhaps we should make a world for ourselves, fit to love in." He finished. He flicked through the dog-eared pages until he found what he was looking for. Orli frowned at the page before him and smiled a sort of sad half-smile "You came into my life, with you warmth the your laughter- just hope to a heart which was lonely, and joy to a soul that was sad- I ask myself 'Why-" Orli seemed dissolve as he read the words, he collapsed onto the bed beside Lou, still gripping the book in one hand, the other pressed against his eyes, as though to block out the mess he saw before him, the mess his life had become. "-am I crying?' I have so much more now you're here." He said, looking Lou in the eyes for the first time. "So much more." His lips seemed to mumble as he silently pleaded with Lou for forgiveness.

Lou hands itched to wipe away his tears as Orli stared her, but it didn't feel right. She tore her gaze away from his, removing the book from his hands, she flicked idly through the pages, looking for some sort of symbol, in the words that Orli would understand. Some sort of sign, to lead her in the direction fate was offering her. "Did you ever really care for me- or was it just 'pretend'. I dare not ask for fear you will kill my dream of the beginning- and leave me with my nightmare of the end-" She said sadly. She stole a glance at Orli, sobbing silently beside, shaking his head. He met her gaze and moved to say something, but she silenced him. She flicked through the book again and found a poem that seemed to quote directly from her heart "A simple truth, which most of us deny, is love cannot be resurrected as it was, before it died."

"Do you believe that?" Orli choked. After all they'd said in the last few hours, night descended not only outside, but inside his heart. Lou's answer would decide his future, but Orli knew, for good or bad, this ending would be beautiful.

Lou shrugged and wiped furiously at her tears.

"Do you believe our love has died?" He asked. Lou didn't respond. Orli reached for Lou's hand, taking it in his own and guiding it to his cheek.

Lou tried to close her eyes and forget everything that had happened in the last year. Her handed played against Orli's skin, through his hair, along the line of his jaw. Images of his embrace with Diane flitted first into Lou's mind, then disappeared, she willed them never to return. Their arguments about wedding arrangements, his cruel words towards Sean, his cruel words towards her...And all the time her hand played along his skin, as though that small contact between them was all that erased the pained memories from Lou's mind.
"I believe that...that you're all I've got." Lou said simply. She kept her eyes closed, & felt Orli guide her fingers to his lips. "And you?" She asked quietly. She opened her eyes to question Orli's silence, he remained mute.

Lou's fingertips continued to trace a line along Orli's lips, independent of his guiding hand as Orli answered. He cleared his throat again, casting a quick smile towards Lou he quoted - without the aid of the book- his feelings "You are my friends- my family, and all the lovers I have known- you are my wisdom, and my warmth, the ecstasy in every high my heart has ever flown- my pupil, my teacher, my eagle and my dove- you are the music and the words to every song my soul has heard, you are my love-" He paused and pulled both Lou's hands into his own. When he raised his eyes to meet Lou's she couldn't help but try to describe what they held, what the told, but the only thing she saw there was naked adoration, the primal emotion of true love that she knew only from seeing her own heart bending it's will towards Orli. "Did you hear me, Lou?" Orli repeated. "You are my love. This, is my love." He laid his hand on Lou's stomach as her arms came up around him.

Together they fell back onto the bed, wound around each other, both feeling that had they chosen to separate at that point they would have failed to judge where Lou began and Orli ended, they had united, and both knew this time the union would never be broken. There was no turning back.

Orli wiped Lou's tears away as they continued to spill onto his pillows. "I can't believe you didn't tell me about this, Lou?" He berated gently.

"I thought you weren't ready for children, least of all mine."

"What about my children? My child?" He said. "You would have...oh god, you would have 'solved' this without me even knowing?" the realisation that this had been Lou's intentions dawned on Orli for the first time as he stared at Lou. "No! I tried to, I thought about it a million times, but I knew I couldn't, deep down Orlando, I knew I couldn't. Do you believe me?" Lou worried. I've come too close now to have him be angry at me over this!

Orli smiled and stroked Lou's cheek tenderly. "I believe you, Lou." He said. Lou stopped frowning and returned his smile. She kissed him, and Orli had to fight to keep his mind, there were words left unsaid between them that would not be left to fester this time. "How could you doubt me?"

Lou shuffled uncomfortably. "You...you didn't show any interest in me Orli. You didn't notice when I stopped wearing your ring...you didn't notice when I stopped drinking, wouldn't go near you when you smoked...getting sick all the time. Everything was confirming you didn't give a shit."

Orli bit his lip for a while before answering, trying to find fault in the words Lou had just said, but they were all true. "I've no response to that, Lou. I...I don't know how I could have missed something as big as this...but I know it won't happen again - I won't let it. And you're crazy if you doubt me ever again, never ever, ever."

Lou wrapped her arms around Orli tighter, happy to recognise the smell of his skin against hers again. "Never ever, ever." She promised.

Orli nodded seriously at Lou's response, knowing that if he was forced to go through this again he'd die. Separation from Lou could be risked for any reason. But more pressing questions lay in wait. "How far along are you?"

Lou grinned at Orli's creased forehead and realised how wrong she'd been. He cared, he wanted to know, Lou knew from the worried look on his face there were questions he needed answers to. "A little over two months."

Orli whistled softly and placed a warm hand on Lou's stomach. She giggled and kissed his frown away. "You kept this from me for so long? I think I understand why you sent me away now." He confided. Orli was mature enough to know himself, mature enough to know that if Lou had of told him two months ago he wouldn't have had the right reaction...but in hindsight he wondered if the Garfield comic response was so much better than anything he could have said to Lou in Spain.

Lou placed her own hand around Orli's as he rubbed her stomach. "I think I understand why you got angry at me for taking your Garfield comic."

Orli groaned and covered his face in a pillow. "Don't tease me, I was being a bastard. Garfield was just a lame excuse!" came his muffled voice.

Lou got up on her knees and pulled the pillow away from Orli's face. He looked shamefully up at her as she straddled his chest, Orli's hands pressed against her hips. "I'm sorry for everything Orli." She said seriously.

"I know." He said knowingly, rubbing her back through the silky touch of her dress.

"No, you don't. If you think of something in the middle of the night that I've done to you, I'm sorry for that. Everything, everything I said to you just now, every hurt there is in you. I want us to have a clean slate..."

Orli blinked slowly, She's serious..."I know. I'm sorry I didn't notice your ring was gone, that you stopped drinking, that you got sick. That Diane kissed me. That I yelled at you, and swore at you, and swore at Sean." He said the last words with heavy tones of contempt for himself, and mentally noted the need to apologise to Sean. "You didn't throw my ring away, did you Lou?" He asked cautiously.

Lou sighed and reaching over Orli she searched through her suitcase, quickly finding Orli's ring on its chain. "I thought about it a lot, but I couldn't." She said truthfully, handing the ring to Orli. He examined it for a second before removing the chain and restoring it to its rightful place, Lou's finger.

They lay in silence for a minutes before Lou sighed and stood up. She walked towards the wardrobe as Orli propped himself up on his elbows, following her movements with a frown. "What are you doing?" He asked unsurely.

Lou turned around to face him as she tugged the zipper down her back, hanging the dress back on it's hanger. She placed it in the wardrobe next to Orli's suit and jumped back onto the bed, back to Orli's side. "I didn't want to crinkle my dress."

"That's a smart move." He said in a mock-authoritarian voice as he noted the advantages of Lou's dress being removed from the scene. He traced the lines of Lou's stomach first with his fingers, and then with his lips. Lou's stomach was fast becoming his favourite body part.

Lou ran her fingers through Orli's grown-out hair and bit her lip at his gentle ministrations, their separation had lasted too long, and it took her a moment to noticed that he'd stopped and was sitting upright staring down at Lou's stomach.

Orli's fingers were splayed over Lou's middle, olive brown and rough on the soft complexion of Lou's bare skin.

"What's wrong?" Lou said in concern.

Orli smiled proudly, and Lou glimpsed the tear in the corner of his eye as he said "I'm going to be a dad."

Lou pulled him down towards her, kissing him deeply. Orli's hands resumed their presence all over Lou's body as he deftly unclipped her bra- "See, all I needed was a little reminding" - and wriggled out of his jeans. Lou pulled his disgustingly grubby singlet over his head and threw it across the room, where it was immediately assimilated into the mounds of garbage.

Orli's hand caressed Lou's skin, solving the aches she's felt in his absence, and Lou was almost too far gone to notice when he stopped again and called her back from her trance.
"Lou?" He said with worry.

"What happened?" Lou said irritably, she was enjoying this far too much, and was struggling with the idea that anything could be important enough to interrupt their reunion.

Orli grinned at her irritation, a strange sort of satisfaction coming from the knowledge he could manipulate her feelings so easily. But his pressing concerns soon came back to mind. "Is this safe?" He asked gingerly.

"Is what safe Orli?" Lou asked in exasperation. "Is there some unknown war raging outside?!"

Orli laughed, lifting Lou's hand to his lips and kissing her palm. "What I meant was...is it safe to do...this, with you pregnant and all..." He said quietly.

Lou laughed and nodded "Yeah. Yes, it's safe." She said.

"Are you sure? Because I wouldn't want to...cause...trouble." He finished lamely.

Lou groaned and slapped her forehead. "And here was me thinking you wouldn't care enough..." She said, shaking her head. Orli continued to stare at her, wonder and curiosity clearly showing in his eyes. "Yes, yes it's safe. Safe as houses." She said with a wave of her hand.

Orli grinned brightly, a wicked glint showing in his eyes, silence reigned in Lou's mind for a good ten minutes as Orli meticulously seemed to kiss every centimetre of her body, but soon enough he stopped again. "Have you seen it?" He said, mid-kiss.

Lou thumped the pillow behind her and sat up to face Orli. "Have I seen what?!" She asked belligerently. Honestly...this is a bit rich...

Orli smiled sheepishly and stroked Lou's stomach as she laid back down beside her. "Our baby. Have you seen it? It...I don't like that, is it a boy or a girl...Oh no, don't tell me...I want to be surprised. " Lou rolled her eyes and Orli continued to gush excitedly, all the while his hand laid, palm spread wide over Lou's stomach, and their child. "...but then again, what if you knew, and I didn't know, and I assume Sean knows...that would blow...Lou?"

"Yes?" Lou said shortly, she could tell they weren't going to get anywhere that evening.

"Is it a boy, or a girl?" He asked excitedly.

Lou couldn't help but laugh. She rolled onto her side, wrapping her arms around Orli and pressing herself into him. "It's only been two weeks, and I've missed this so much." She said meaningfully. Orli ignored her hint and continued to wait with baited breath.

"Well?" He said breathlessly.

Lou rolled her eyes and shook her head in resignation. After all, it was a little cruel to deny Orli the pleasure of discovering his child, when she'd concealed it from him for so long. "I don't know yet. When I last went to the doctor I didn't want to know...I wasn't sure I would...keep it then..." She said uncomfortably. For a second Orli's caress on her shoulder stopped.

"Oh." He said ominously. The silence between them was laden with intensity for a moment before Orli spoke again. "Lou?"

"Orli?" She said sarcastically. She'd accepted that their night wouldn't include a passionate reunion of the sexual persuasion, consolidated by the arrival of Lou's jet lag. He could at least let me get some sleep...

"I want us to go to the doctor tomorrow. I need to know everything is...is ok." He said confidently.

Lou smiled and opened her eyes to meet Orli's loving gaze. He seemed to change before her eyes from an irresponsible child into a man, her man. The father of her child. "Ok, Orli. We can do that. But can we go to sleep now? I'm a little jet-lagged I think-"

"Yes, yes, yes. What ever's best...for the baby." He said hastily. Lou smiled at his attentiveness. Had she known at that moment that she would hear those same words nine thousand, six hundred, and twenty two times over the next seven months she wouldn't have smiled. To be truthful she would have belted Orli blue and black while she was still nimble enough to do it. Lou would soon discover it was very hard for very pregnant women to belt their partners.
But she was trapped within the moment, she failed to see how anything tomorrow, or in the months to follow could be more important than basking in the love she'd been through so much trouble for."It's not going to be the same Orli, our love. It'll be better." was the last thing Orli heard before he fell asleep that night with his hand still on Lou's stomach, and for the first time in two weeks they both slept the night through, wound around each other, not a single movement was made. The simple truth of it was, no matter where life took them, no matter what trials and sorrows where experiences, neither could sleep without the other's presence.

*

Lou was sitting out on the deck lethargically turning the pages of a 'Women's Day'. Orli sat across from her sipping coffee and reading the paper. It was only one in the afternoon, but Lou felt like the whole day had passed, it was probably the time difference. She'd stumbled out of bed late, finding Billy, Elijah, and Sean all sitting around the kitchen table eating breakfast and pretending not to listen to Orli making a doctor's appointment for himself and Lou. Lou had taken a seat and gratefully accepted her first mug of coffee for the day just as Orli snatched it from her hand, and hustled her off to the bedroom to get dressed. Only a few tentative words had been said about Lou's pregnancy by Elijah, while Billy and Sean seemed to silently accept that peace had been made between Orli and Lou, and Lou only heard a mumble of 'told you so' from Billy as she was separated from her coffee and pushed towards the bedroom.
They'd spent half an hour driving to the medical centre, only to wait another half an hour, filled with Orli silently reading gossip magazines while Lou complained about how she could have slept in for another forty five minutes. Finally the doctor had beckoned them into the examination room. The three had traded questions and answers, Lou calmly, and doctor apathetically, and Orli extremely anxiously. He'd bitten his nails down to the quick before the doctor led Lou into the ultra-sound room next door. From the moment the door was closed Orli seemed stuck to Lou's side, holding her hand the whole way through the examination, but not looking at her at all. Once Lou had turned to him, to say some inane comment about Orli's unexpected silence, and discovered the reason for his silence. Orli was sitting, legs crossed, transfixed on the monitor showing his tiny baby inside Lou. Lou loved Orli more in that moment than she did in any other before it.
For his part, Orli had barely heard the doctor ask them whether they wanted to know the sex of the child because he was so completely hypnotised by the constant beating of a tiny heart.

"Did you want to know the sex of your child?" The doctor had repeated. Lou had slapped Orli lightly and repeated the question as he pulled his quizzical stare away from the monitor to look at Lou.

"Well Orli?" Lou asked excitedly. He seemed to consider it for a moment before nodding excitedly, not able to speak.

"It's a girl." the doctor had said. He'd said those words so many times over his long years, but never before seen a look of such shock, such love between two young people when they heard him. He'd smiled and led them personally to the door of the medical centre ten minutes later, and at the door he had remained as he observed Lou and Orli making their way towards the car park. He could almost hear Orli shouting in excitement as he skipped, literally skipped across the car park waving the ultra-sound pictures above his head with one hand, and pulling Lou along beside him with the other. "Ah, true love." The doctor had muttered fondly as he went back inside to take his next patient, and the thought had sustained his good mood through the rest of the day.

"You shouldn't be drinking that." Orli said, lifting the mug of coffee from Lou's hands just as it reached her lips.

She ground her teeth and glared at Orli across the table, tossing up between throwing him an acidic retort, and continuing to flick through her rubbishy magazine. "Yes Mum." She said, poking her tongue out. Lou heard the front door slam within the house from her perch upon the deck couch of the Fellowship house.

Orli frowned over his paper and set Lou's coffee down on the table. He failed to notice as Lou reached silently over, reclaiming the coffee. She blew on it quietly, not wanting to alert Orli to her plans, and just as she lifted it to her lips a hand snatched the mug out from under her nose.

"You shouldn't be drinking that." Sean said, tipping the coffee into the garden as he sat down next to Lou. He moved to kiss Lou's cheek, almost loosing his nose as she tried to bite him.

Orli set his paper down on the table and frowned at Lou deeply. " Lou. I took that off you for a reason." He sounded extremely hurt and concerned for Lou's safety, as though her life were in danger from the mere thought of the coffee touching her lips...

"And then I took it off you for a reason. Seriously you guys, I don't understand why I'm not allowed to drink coffee." Lou said. She pretended to be very interested in the magazine, avoiding Orli's gaze. It had only been a day, but Orli had already begun his Lou-Dictatorship, his was a rule that would last long and hard into Lou's pregnancy. It would be at least two months before Lou liberated herself with the aid of a level of hostility only achievable when pregnant.

"The doctor said no coffee, no stimulants." Orli reminded Lou.

"Oh sorry-" Lou said sarcastically. "- I must have forgot what he said, this morning was so long ago. Jeez Orli, lucky you're around, seeing as you've committed the entire conversation to memory, you can remind me exactly what I am and am not allowed to do."

Orli smiled and reached across the table to pat Lou's hand fondly. "That's all right, dear. That's what I'm here for. And you can't be expected to remember everything." He said. Lou glared at Orli's uncanny ability to completely ignore sarcasm when it suited him.

"No, what you're here for is to be a total pain in the-"

"So, what are you two doing this afternoon?" Sean said brightly, cutting Lou off before she could finish her sentence.

She punched him in the arm and went back to her magazine, her attention piquing as she turned to an article on Orli. She still marvelled sometimes, that it seemed so ordinary to see the face of her Orli in magazines, on posters. But she had to say, in all honesty he really did look better in real life.

"We're going out." Orli replied cooly, without looking up from his paper.

Lou cocked and eyebrow. "We are? Where are we going?" She said curiously. It was easy to see Orli was hiding something, she could see the corners of his mouth twitching with the strain of not answering her question. Orli was useless when it came to keeping secrets.

"No where special. It's a surprise." Orli replied with considerable effort.

"If it's no where special then why is it a surprise? We've the premiere tonight, so it must be somewhere good if the laziest person in the world, otherwise known as Orlando Bloom, is willing to go two places on one day! Come on Bloom, you know how much you want to tell me." Lou wheedled. She got up off the couch, slinking over behind Orli.
She leaned down to whisper in his ear "Look at you, you sorry, weak man, you're shaking with the strain of not telling me. You're tongue is positively itching to say it. Say it." Lou said devilishly in Orli's ear.

Sean laughed after Orli as he quickly put his paper down and ran from the deck into the house. Sean knew as well as anyone, Orli really was useless when it came to keeping secrets.
"Don't be so cruel Lou. You'll regret it." Sean chuckled. Lou narrowed her eyes suspiciously after Sean as he wandered off into the kitchen.

"What do you mean 'I'll regret it'? Am I to believe you know where I'm going?" Lou said, following Sean into the kitchen.

Sean silently turned his back to Lou, busying himself with the dirty dishes in the sink.

"Sean? You may as well tell me, He's only going to last another hour anyway." Lou cajoled.

Sean turned around and shook his head in pity. "You're as bad as him, he can't keep secrets, and you can't bare not knowing them! This is truly a match made in heaven." He said. Lou continued to stare at him. Sean stared back at Lou, he was determined not to give anything away, Orli had sworn him to secrecy, but under Lou's stare he was quickly breaking...

Lou sensed Sean's resolve weakening. "Come on Sean, just between friends." Lou said persuasively.

Sean's eyes darted around the kitchen, checking for exits. Lou continued to break Sean with her stare. "Lou! I'm not going to tell you! Stop staring at me like that! You're creepy." Sean said, moving to walk past Lou.

She moved to block his path.

"Lou." Sean warned. Lou remained where she stood, and finally Sean cracked. "Ok, ok! Orli knew you'd break me, so he prepared me." Sean chuckled, stroking his chin.

"Really? How curious, and how exactly did he prepare you?" The plot thickens...

"He told me, if I have to tell you anything, tell you to wear your green dress. I don't know what he means, but I'm assuming you do." Sean said quickly before he ducked under Lou's barricade-arm and walked quickly towards his room. He stopped half way up the stairs and turned around. " Girl or boy by the way?" He asked casually.

Lou was so distracted with trying to solve Sean's cryptic clue that she barely heard him. "Her photos are on the kitchen table."

Sean beamed quickly collected the photos from the table before heading back to his room. "Congratulations Lou." He said, leaving Lou to ponder his answer in silence as she made herself a cup of coffee. Curiouser and curiouser...

*

Orli was pacing back and forth in mid-conversation with his sister on the phone in the lounge room when Lou emerged from the bathroom two hours later. She was fully dressed, and almost swooned when she saw Orli in his suit. He looked suitably casual, but at the same time very smart in his blue-black suit and unbuttoned-at-the-collar shirt.

" ...for real Sam. About two months. Definitely a girl...perfectly healthy...No, she's getting dressed, but I'll tell Lou you send your love." Orli said running his hands nervously through his hair as he paced the length of the room. Lou was just about to announce her presence when Orli continued quietly. "Would you try to get her to come to the phone? I understand she was shocked...but this is kind of important to me...yes...no. Ok, well, I suppose I'll see you both when we come home." Orli said at the loss. He turned and noticed Lou, beckoning for her to come to him. "Bye Sam...love you too." Orli hung up the phone and wrapped his arms around Lou, soon forgetting his worries in her eyes.

"Did I just hear you telling your mother I was pregnant?" Lou said quietly. Orli sighed with a sad smile and nodded.

"Not the most painless exercise in the world. But I had to do it. I just wish it could have been face to face."

"You're braver person than me, I'm going to see Dad tomorrow...I wish I could just tell him over the phone. But I can imagine how she reacted." Lou said as she pulled Orli down onto the couch beside her.

He shook his head and said knowingly " Oh no, believe me, you can't." Orli tried to shake the conversation with his mother from his mind as he kissed Lou, not a difficult task, all things considered. " You know, I think I might love you." He said slowly. " But stand up now, and show us your dress." He pulled Lou up.

She did a little twirl and curtsy giving Orli a better opportunity to admire her appearance. She was wearing her green dress, as requested by Orli, and had her hair loose, falling down her back like a raven wave. She was wearing the obsidian earrings Orli had given her for her birthday, and her sandals were the perfect shade of green to match her dress. " What do you think."

"You're more beautiful than the day I met you." He said truthfully.

"That's not saying a lot." She laughed.

Orli smiled and checked his watch. "We're running a little late, we should get going. But what do you think of me?" He said nervously, holding his arms out wide. He frowned down at his suit, wondering for the fifthieth time whether he'd made the right choice.

"Darling, you look wonderful tonight." She sang. They called their 'goodbyes' to the presently invisible occupants of the house as they ran from the house hand in hand. Lou felt the pleasant butterflies of anticipation wake-up within her stomach.

*

Orli had negotiated his way through the amazing traffic in Wellington in record time, and soon enough they found themselves driving through familiar forests. Lou felt a sort of pang of regret that it had been so long since she and Orli had last visited the places they'd met. Lou still wondered where Orli could be taking her so far out of town, and she silently hoped it wasn't to the scene of her accident. She placed her hand on Orli's leg and matched his excited stare with her own quizzical gaze as he pulled onto a smaller road, leading deeper into the forest.
"Do you remember this?" Orli said as he slowed to a stop beside the road.

Lou got out of the car and followed Orli to where he was standing at the edge of the forest, staring up at the canopy towering over the leaf-strewn ground. "Should I?" Lou said suspiciously.

Orli smiled and nodded. He took her hand and led her down a winding trail through the forest. "You tell me."

Lou traced Orli's steps through the roots of the trees, cursing him silently for not telling her to wear more appropriate shoes. She failed to she what the necessity for her green dress to be worn, as she battled between dodging tree limbs and tree roots.
But soon enough the forest cleared out more, turning from densely grown trees and bushes to clearer ground, Old Growth Trees towered over Lou's head, letting more light filter in to light their way. The natural light was aided by the placement of tiny little fairy lights, strung between the branches of trees, winding around the trunks and up over head, only to fall in cascades down the willowy limbs of the ancient trees.
"Where are you taking me?" Lou said again. Something about this place struck a cord, deep within her body. It was like something inside of her was gently humming back to life, some memory long forgotten.

Orli slowed down to a stop, taking Lou in his arms. " You still don't remember do you?" Blank, yet perversely interested stare from Lou. "Remember ' I can't do this'...'I can see whoever I want to see'...?" Orli prompted.
He pulled away from Lou, running further into the trees. He disappeared over the crest of a second, then reappeared, seeming to count the steps from his place to where Lou stood. He pulled her a few feet to right. He pulled Lou closer to a massive tree trunk that was a few feet from the track. It was wound with fairy lights, but Orli found what he was looking for promptly.
He ran his fingers over four long lines that had been cut at enough depth into the wood to leave a permanent scar. He stared at the scars, and a sort of dazed smile came over his face. He placed Lou's hand on the scars, holding it in place with his own.

"What is this Orli? What is this tree?" Lou said breathlessly.

Orli's smile held such warm as he answered. He grew Lou's palm towards his lips, kissing it lightly before letting it fall. "This is where we first kissed."

And with those six words Lou remembered the exact scene. The fairy lights, the towering trees, the smell of fresh mist gathering beneath the trees. It was dusk now, earlier than it had been that first night, but everything seemed the same, and yet so different.

"Everything seems to different. " Orli said, not for the first time, Lou felt Orli could read her mind. And why not? She thought in a daze. We're closer than any two people could be..."Longer hair, darker eyes. But more love. You're pregnant, and I'm...no, I'm the same. Possibly a little less buff, but I love you as much now, as I did in that the first moment, when I first saw you on that airplane, gripping my hand for dear life because you were terrified by flying."

"Oh Orli, you were such a show off. Climbing all over the plane like some sort of extremely sarcastic monkey. But how could you love me then, you didn't know me, and you had a girlfriend."

Orli shrugged, stroking Lou's cheek with his thumb. "Girlfriend...I looked into your eyes and forgot her name. She came to see me the next week, you didn't know that. But she came to see me, all the way from England, and I called her 'Lou' by accident. And we broke up three weeks later. I wasn't even upset because all I could think about was this...this creature I'd been lucky enough to sit next to for a moment, to share the world with, for a moment. I remember you walking away from me in the airport, dropping a piece of paper-"

"It was serviette, from the plane. It had my number on it."

"- I know. I picked it up. And I almost tried the number a million times...but I never got past the fifth number. And then I saw you again, crippling Kerryn, and I thought that...I thought how could something so...so fated be wrong? I worried and fretted over you for so many weeks, almost kissing you, then not, almost asking you out, and then not. And then we kissed, and I seriously questioned my mortality. When you rejected me so savagely...I have to admit that threw me off a little bit. I thought you would ruin my plans. So when you walked away from me I took an arrow and ground four marks in this tree, knowing that in four years I'd come back and see them, and then I'd marry you."

Lou pulled Orli towards her, wrapping her arms around his neck and tangling her fingers up in his hair. "I never knew any of that. Why didn't you ever tell me any of that?"

Orli laughed and pulled away from Lou to look deep into her eyes. "Think about it. If I'd told you that night - or even in the days following - that we'd be standing here now, you would have taken out a restraining order on me and then my chances would have been shot."

"But all this time...I suppose you're not so bad at keeping secrets after all." Lou marvelled.

Orli smiled demurely and held Lou's stare in silence for a while before answering. "And what did you think of me then?" He said shyly. "I thought you were so good looking." Lou laughed. Orli was clearly disappointed. "Like so much meat." He muttered. Lou shook her head and ran her fingers along the lines of Orli's face. "No Orli, not just meat, very sexy meat. And I wanted to get to know you so much...but I knew that a guy like you would never dream of going out with a girl like me. You were so perfect - sexy and funny and interesting...But you were so confident. Not the kind of guy I would have gone for usually. I had you written off as a beautiful jock, someone I would have loved to know better, but would never see again. And then I met you all over again on set, and that was when I started to see through it."

"See through what?" Orli asked.

"To see through this...this image that you make for yourself. You were so funny, and so smart, and so...not fake. You didn't flirt with the elves like Billy and Dom and Lij, and you were so considerate of everything you did. You thought about everything. I remember seeing you, watching you act on the first day I ever took over from Kerryn. You were talking with P.J, and you just looked so...so immense. Like all the world was in you. You cared about every little movement, every breath you took seemed to be something you needed to balance and consider. I promised myself, you know. I promised that I would be the best of friends with you, because I knew I could never be anything more, but at the same time, I knew if I wasn't in your life, if I didn't mean something to you, then I'd be missing out on a chance for happiness.
"And everything seemed to pass in a blur of happiness, until you kissed me, and I'd built up this world for myself, where I was just one of the guys...and there you were, being you, and here I was, loving you. I just remember being so scared that I would ruin everything, I'd suppressed my feelings for you so well, and I didn't want to be lusting after a friend. Oh the hell you put me through after that, calling for other people to do your make-up, never even looking at me, I was so angry at myself I thought I could kill you!" Lou paused and took another breath, and Orli was transfixed on her expression of complete awe. "So everything has changed...so much. But I'm still in the same place, where I'm meant to be; in your arms, standing here, loving you. Only I'm not worrying about what it means any more, because not loving you means...means the end of everything. I'd rather go through anything anyone can throw at me than be without you. So nothing has really changed inside...it's just outside that's a little different. We're both older, I'm pregnant for Christ sakes! You've hair this time around, thank god, and I'm not splattered with paint and dirt. But I still love you, and I still think you're good looking...accept in the mornings." Lou finished warmly.

Orli kissed Lou, wondering that the same passion he'd felt so long ago could still burn so bright inside them both, so strong was their flame, Orli knew nothing could blow it out. "Do you still want to marry me?" He asked finally.

"More than anything Orlando. More than anything, but I know you're not ready..."

"No. I wasn't ready. I confess, I didn't care a bit about all your plans for the big English wedding. This is all that matters to me, you and me, together somewhere we can remember what should be the happiest day of our lives."

Lou frowned at Orli as he pulled her away from the tree, towards the crest of the forest. The sun above the trees had set, leaving behind the warmth of a summer night in New Zeland, and the twinkling influence of the fairy lights to guide the way towards Orli's destination.
Lou caught her breath when she reached the end of the old path. The forest opened up into a wide clearing Lou recognised from filming Rivendell scenes for the trilogy. Within the middle of the clearing stood a single house, softly lit from within and tousled with leaves, dancing along the floor as a gentle breeze stole through the open doors. It was almost complete, shy of a few of the old props. Orli led Lou through the familiar halls to the centre of the house, to the source of the light. Seemingly hundreds of candles, arranged haphazardly around the fully furnished room. Billy, Sean, and Dom were standing to one side speaking quietly in hushed voices. It seemed a crime to violate the warm ambience of the room with voices raised any louder than a whisper. Lou embraced each friend in silence, until she came to Sean. He accepted her into his arms, wiping a tear from her cheek.
"What are you doing here?" Lou sniffed happily.

"Your fella asked us to come." Sean said with a nod to Orli.

"So everyone knew about this, except for me?" Lou asked, trying to muster up at least the smallest amount of mock-anger, but feeling adequately subdued by her surroundings to fail miserably.

Sean seemed to consider Lou's question for a moment before answering. "Pretty much. Everyone except Elijah," He chuckled lightly "Can you imagine if you'd caught on he knew? The whole surprise would have been ruined!"

They all seemed to laugh excitedly, Lou for not knowing what was happening, and the rest for knowing what would come next. Lou's feet seemed to guide her independent of thought to Orli's side, her arms wrapping around his waist, chin rested on his shoulder.

Orli turned around to face Lou, smiling nervously. "Forgive me, it's not perfect. I drove out here yesterday after our Garfield fight, and when I found it had been kept intact for tourists to puruse, I knew it was where we should do it."

"Do what exactly?" Lou said, the realisation of Orli's intentions arrived at the same time as his answer.

"Get married." He said huskily. "In front of our best friends. This is me, Lou, creating a world fit for us to love in." Orli said. Lou smiled at the reference of the Nan Whitcomb poem.

"Married...our best friends..." Lou repeated. Mentally Lou was trying to memorise every detail of the room around her as she repeated Orli's words unconsciously, trying to memorise them as well. Lou's gaze travelled around the room, from Sean, to Dom, to Billy, to a previous un-noticed old man smiling serenely and sitting unassumingly in a ball-and-claw armchair in the corner. Lou cocked an eyebrow and turned to Orli. "Our best friends are all very well, but what about the old man?" Lou whispered to Orli.

He laughed and pulled her towards the old man, who stood up to clasp his hands in front of his stomach, a very celestial motion combined with the wise all-knowing expression he wore. "Welcome." He said dreamily.
The old man seemed reluctant to unclasp his hands as he shook Orli's, then kissed Lou's hand. She baulked slightly at the creepy warmness of his lips against her hands. Orli noticed her bemused & shocked expression and suppressed a snigger. "Reverend Molby, this is Lou." Orli said casually. "And Lou, this is Reverend Molby."

The good Reverend bowed slightly and reclasped his hands. "Shall we begin?" He said serenely.

Orli turned to Lou, guiding her towards him until they stood a few feet apart, before Reverend Molby. Dom, Sean, and Billy came to stand a few feet further behind Orli and Lou. Lou distinctly heard Dom sniffing into his handkerchief and Billy slapping him quiet.

She turned back to more important matters, the seemingly drug-addled reverend, and Orli's pensive stare.

"Lou?" He said unsurely.

"Orli?" She replied.

"Shall we begin?" He said expectantly. It seemed to Lou as though Orli were giving her one last chance to consider her options, as though having endured all the trials she'd endured, she would come to the end, only to change her mind. While the thought seemed blatantly ridiculous, Lou was so deeply embroiled within the moment, there seemed only futility in noticing Orli's stupid questions. Everything seemed to pale into insignificance as Lou took a deep breath before answering. This is it she thought, this is everything...She opened her mouth to answer, but found her breath had already escaped her, and there were no words within to answer Orli's question.

He squeezed her hand, running his thumb along her cheek to wipe away an escaping tear as she nodded. Their gaze lasted a lifetime before they turned back to the reverend. "Let's begin." He said.

*

"You're late." Elijah said as Orli climbed out of the limo. Elijah was momentarily blinded by the flashing bulbs of the cameras as the other passengers climbed from the limo.

Sean, Dom, and Billy ran around from the opposite side of the limo to meet Elijah as Orli helped Lou out of the limo.

"Hi Lij." Lou said breathlessly as she hugged Elijah.

He patted her on the back quickly before pulling away and resuming his frown. "You're late." He scolded again.

"I'm married." Lou countered.

Elijah's jaw dropped a metre as he stood gaping at Lou and Orli. Billy and Dom nodded and exchanged hushed comments that sounded suspiciously along the lines of Elijah being a idiot. "Whadda' you mean?" He said dumbly as Lou and Orli walked away from him towards the cinema doors. They seemed to move as one, not speaking to each other, but walking at the same pace in the same direction. Elijah hopped after them, grabbing Orli by the shoulder and spinning him around. "Whadda' you mean? Who is she married to?!" He hissed deliriously to Orli.

Orli smiled and proffered Lou's hand, and his own for Elijah's viewing. Orli's hand was naked, with the exception of a silver band on his wedding finger, alike to that which Lou wore on the same finger as her engagement ring. "Me." Orli chirped.

Elijah was gob smacked. "I'm gob smacked." He deadpanned. "When did all this happen?"

"That's why we're late." Lou said, trying to stop smiling and giggling long enough to string together a sentence that consisted of more than four syllables. "We went to the Rivalled site Lij, and Sean was there, and Billy and Dom. And everything was perfect, like perfect, and there was this weird old man called Molby...but I think he was on drugs-"

"Lou, just a second. You're confusing me. What do you mean it was perfect?! I wasn't there? What am I, freakin invisible?!" Elijah said loudly.

Orli patted Elijah's head and shushed him un-sympathetically. "I know, I know. But you've got to understand Lij, everyone knows you're hopeless at keeping secrets." Orli said sincerely pulling Lou towards the doors of the cinema before Elijah could rebut.

Elijah stood in silent disbelief as he watched all his friends filter into the cinema before him. How could they?...Without me?... "No good at keeping secrets hey? I'll show them!" He muttered defiantly before stalking into the cinema. And show them he did, for about thirty minutes before he turned to Viggo, half way through the opening scene, and told his exciting news. Viggo shook his head in quiet disbelief and shushed Elijah - Orli had already filled him in, and Viggo had to agree with the newly-weds, Lij was hopeless when it came to secrets.

*

It was four am before Lou and Orli found there way home from the after-party Peter had hosted at his home. They'd split a taxi with Sean, Dom, Billy, and Elijah, saying their good nights before falling into bed. Lou was exhausted, happy to wriggle out of her dress and under the covers without removing her make up or jewellery. Orli was comparatively subdued when he seated himself on the edge of the bed.

"Oh god I'm glad to be going to bed. It's been a full on day." Lou said, letting the yawn that had been threatening for hours to escape her mouth.
Orli didn't respond, and soon enough felt the familiar warmth of Lou's arms wrap around his shoulders. "What's wrong?" Lou said laying her hot cheek against Orli's cool skin.

Orli shrugged his response. His fingers traced the lines of his wedding ring, admiring the smooth consistency of the metal, the contrast of it's glimmering simplicity against the rough texture of his skin. "Just a little overwhelmed. 'It's been a full on day' for you? It's been a full on forty-eight hours. And tonight...you know three years ago I could not have predicted I would be here." He said with a smile and a shake of his head.

"What do you mean?"

"If you had of asked me three years ago what I would be doing in this moment, my answer probably wouldn't have been correct. I supposed I always knew that 'Rings' would make it big, how could it not? But I didn't think it would be like this. I had a fourteen year old girl try to grope me in the bathroom at the premiere." Lou could detect the awe in his voice, and she couldn't help but laugh at it. Orli was just in the middle of the beginning of his promising career, all of the movie industry, and half the civilian world loved him, and he still hadn't adjusted.

"But you're happy, aren't you? With where you've ended up." Lou asked.

Orli turned around, slipping his ring back onto his finger. He practically squashed Lou as he hugged her fiercely with one arm, yanking at the knot of his tie with his spare hand. "I couldn't be happier."

"So what would your answer be? If I asked you three years ago, where you'd be." Lou said. Orli smiled and tried to kiss her, but she held him back, waiting for his answer.

"I'd say...I'd say, in an ideal world, I'd be newly married, expecting my first child with the woman of my dreams." Orli said breathlessly. "I love you Lou." He said in his ultra-serious voice.

Lou laughed and kissed him. "I love you more. And I'm happy you're happy. But get back to me in seven months when I'm gripping your hand so hard you're fingers are about to burst, and screaming in your ear obscenities of a variety never experiences by the mortal realm."

***