Liberty had been crying for what seemed like hours, wrapped up in Elijah’s arms, before they both fell into an exhausted sleep. Tissues were strewn all over the floor and Liberty’s eyes were puffy, but the two of them looked rather comfortable just lying there together; peaceful at last.

Dom, taking a deep breath, pushed open the door to Elijah’s trailer and stopped dead when he saw Elijah and Liberty curled up together looking comfortably asleep on the couch.

He cleared his throat several times before going, “HELLOOOOOOO!” so loudly that they both jumped up from the couch in shock. “What’s going on?” he asked, trying to stay calm.

“I’d ask you the same thing,” Liberty countered, squaring her shoulders, “I didn’t expect you back so quickly from your tryst with Anaka.”

“Oh, tryst, good word, Lib,” Elijah said, his voice very quiet and serious.

“There was no TRYST,” Dom replied, his eyes flashing. “I dropped her off at the house and told her not to bother me anymore.”

“Why’d you do that?” Liberty asked.

“Because she was bothering me! Us! She was ruining everything!”

“I won’t disagree with that,” Liberty said, biting her bottom lip, “But it doesn’t matter anymore anyway.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I though I made it pretty clear.”

“No, you didn’t,” Dom said, his voice no longer angry; he sounded sad. “I couldn’t say no to her, she’d have just kept on and on.”

“I don’t know about that,” Liberty said, sighing heavily, “I don‘t want to talk to you right now, so I’m going to go find Sean. I need some sanity and I’m not getting it from ANY of YOU.” Liberty turned on her heel and stalked from the trailer, leaving the two men staring blankly at each other.

“What the bloody hell was going on?” Dom demanded, gesticulating crazily the second Liberty left.

“Nothing,” Elijah answered quietly, “Nothing was going on. We were talking, she was crying, we fell asleep. End of story. What was going on with you and Anaka?”

“Same story,” Dom replied, “Nothing. Absolutely positively nothing. I told her to stop being a whore and to leave me alone. I was telling Liberty the truth.”

“She seems to think there’s something going on between you and Anaka.”

“I seem to think there’s something going on between you and Liberty.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Is it? Because from where I’m standing, it doesn’t seem to be. You were the one who saw her first, weren’t you. It was all you. I was just along for the ride.”

“That’s not true,” Elijah said, looking at the floor.

“Tell me you’re not in love with her.”

“I’ve told you a million times I’m not in love with her,” Elijah stated evenly, staring at him. “I’m her friend. She needed a friend. She’s confused, she’s upset. She knows how she feels about you, but she doesn’t want to get hurt. She’s scared. I told her---I told her she needs to tell you how she feels before you go and make a mistake. You didn’t go and make a mistake, did you, Dom?”

“No,” Dom answered quietly. “But I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up.”

Elijah raised an eyebrow, “If you ruin this with her, it’s over for good. She’s not going to give you any more chances. She’s not going to sit back and watch as you sleep all over the place to satisfy your needs and then come crawling back to her. She won’t just---”

Dom threw his arms into the air helplessly, “I’M DYING, ELIJAH! A man has NEEDS!”

“Preach it!” Billy yelled, and then realized he’d spoken aloud. He ducked his head down under the window so he wouldn’t be seen.

“I don’t preach!” Elijah retorted, then looked oddly at Dom. “Who was that?”

“Billy. He’s creeping about like Gollum.” Dom looked towards the window, “This is a PRIVATE conversation!”
Billy rolled his eyes but didn’t respond, he hoped they’d assume he left.

Elijah gawked at Dom, “What, did Billy follow you to see what was going on?”

“We KNOW you’re still there,” Dom said suddenly, opening the window and peering out. He didn’t see anything, as Billy had rolled underneath the trailer. Dom shrugged and shut the window. “Anyway. Continue preaching. He’s gone.”

“I DON’T preach,” Elijah responded, sounding only slightly angry. Billy giggled quietly to himself while he laid under the trailer in the dirt.

“Fine,” Dom replied calmly, “Continue SPEAKING in a non preachy manner.”

“Thank you,” Elijah said, his voice still remarkably serious and quiet, “But I’ve forgotten where I was going with this.”

“I am not going to hurt her, I swear to God I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize what I have with her.”

“You need to tell HER that, not me.”

Dom sighed, nodding seriously, “You’re right. You’re always bloody right.” Without a backwards glance, Dom strode from the trailer in search of Liberty.

*

Liberty found Sean at the catering tent surrounded by a large pizza, but sitting by himself. She sat across from him, smiling wanly; it’d been a while since she’d last seen him and she was glad to. "Sean, why are you eating this entire sausage pizza?"

Sean looked up at her, grinning, “I’m the fat hobbit. Gotta keep up appearances.”

Liberty nodded before putting her chin atop her hands and gazing at him as he chewed his pizza.

“So, troubles with Dom I take it?”

“You can say that again.”

“I won’t bother, that’d be cliché.”

Liberty smiled, half laughing, “Sean. What do you honestly think? About all this?”

“This is the best damned pizza I’ve ever had,” he chuckled, “But, seriously, I think you two are madly in love with each other. Relationships have problems, Lib. Everybody knows that. You gotta work at it. You and Dom have had your fair share of obstacles but you need to stop being so stupidly stubborn and just tell him you’re in love with him and he needs to tell you the same. Then things will at least be out in the open so there isn’t so much question about where your relationship stands.”

“Sean. I don’t know about you being ‘The Fat Hobbit’, but you certainly are ‘The Wise Hobbit.’ I knew you’d give me some sanity. Thank you.”

He reached over and patted her arm, “That’s what I’m here for.”

Dom came up just then, cleared his throat and said in a loving voice, “Listen, Tubby, I need to talk to my girlfriend.”

“Yes, indeed, you do, Master Brandybuck. Leaveth me with my pizza-ith and begone with you both.”

Dom grinned down at him, outstretched his hand towards Liberty and motioned with his head for her to take it. She did, and allowed him to lead her out of the tent, back towards the trailers.

“Ah, young love,” Billy said wistfully, stepping up to the table. “I’ve been eavesdropping on them, Samwise, and I’ve formulated a plan.”

“You’ve been dropping eaves?” Sean asked, watching as Billy stuffed a piece of pizza in his mouth.

“That is not the point, but yes. Anyway. Will you help me with this plan?”

“Does this plan involve dynamite and Elijah’s boxer shorts?”

Billy scowled, “No, Sean.”

“Then, okay, I’ll help you.”

Billy nodded, smiling, “Good. Now, when is Miss Anaka’s next call time?” Sean raised an eyebrow in question. “I can’t tell you the plan until you become a Super Spy like me. Right now you’re just a Mini Spy.”

“I’m not mini anything right now,” Sean muttered, before dabbing his mouth with a napkin, “Fine. Anaka is scheduled, I believe, for early tomorrow morning.”

“Drats. I’m not here until noon.” Billy tapped his chin, “This calls for an unscheduled visit. Very well, then.” Sean continued to eat, watching Billy impassively and waiting for further instructions. “That’s all I need from you, thank you young hobbit.”

Billy trotted away after that, towards his own trailer, leaving Sean sitting by himself and staring blankly at the spot where Billy had once stood.