“I must say, I never thought you’d EVER set a date,” Dom’s mother, Aureen, was saying as she sampled a bit of the pie, which hadn‘t burned even though Liberty had been afraid Dom would leave it in too long. The meal had gone over very well, at least after the fainting incident, and Dom’s parents, as Dom thought, seemed to take to Liberty right away. Liberty, however, was still fretful and on edge as she served all of the courses, and dessert and coffee.

“Neither did I,” Billy commented, swallowing his bit of pie. “Mmmm, good pie, Dom.”

Aureen’s eyebrow rose slightly and Dom jumped in, “Liberty made the pie, actually.”

“Liberty is such a unique name,” Aureen continued, while Dom’s father, Austin, partook in a heated discussion about football with Orlando at the other side of the table. “Though I often get comments about Kayleen’s name, as well. Your mother must have gotten an awful lot of odd looks. What’s her name?”

Liberty laughed, “Her name is Georgia, and she did get a lot of odd looks when I was born. It was something of the town gossip for about 15 minutes.” She paused to take a sip of tea, which was supposed to be calming her down, but wasn’t doing much good. “How is Kayleen? I hope she’ll be able to make it to the wedding. I still haven’t met her, even.”

“Well, she’s very busy. She’s doing an internship in Australia, so I’m not surprised you haven’t met her. She’s always traveling, like her brother, but for different reasons, naturally. She is eighteen now, so I can’t exactly stop her from leaving the nest.”

“No, it is a bit difficult at that age. I should get her address from you, though.” She turned to Dom, “Maybe we should try and visit her when ROTK premieres there.”

“That would be lovely,” Aureen nodded. “She’d love that, I’m sure. Dominic, would you help me to get my coat? I’m very tired, must have been the turkey. Your father and I should get home.”

“I can get it,” Liberty offered, standing up before Dom could.

Raya stood, “We should go too. The kids are both sleeping, I’ll have to go and bundle them up. Orlando?”

Orlando sprung to his feet, “I’m on it.” He waved and then disappeared down the hall.

Billy shook his head, a piece of pie halfway to his mouth, “That boy is so whipped.”

“There’s nothing wrong with some whipping,” Aureen laughed, putting her coffee cup down. Liberty and Raya left the room, headed towards the coat closet.

“Well, that went alright, I’d say,” Raya said, grabbing the baby bag from the floor of the closet and straightening up.

“I think so,” Liberty replied, folding two coats over her arm and sighing. “I’d like to know what she says to Dom while I’m not around, however.”

“You’ll never know, because Dominic won’t tell you. Billy might.”

Liberty smiled evilly, “Oh, Billy will. You can bet on that. I intend to bargain with him.”

*

“Well?” Liberty asked eventually; she and Dom were in bed and she was just about to close her eyes and go to bed when she remembered she wanted to do a post-mortem with him.

“Well, what?” Dom yawned and stretched his arms above his head.

“What did your mother think of me?”

“Dad thought you were hilarious, a good laugh he said. He also said you’re very beautiful. I think his exact words were, ‘She’s hot stuff, son.’ which scared me a bit.”

Liberty shook her head, “Yes, but your MOTHER. What did SHE think?”

Dom shrugged and kissed her on the cheek, “Nothing, really. We have an early morning tomorrow so if you’ll excuse the lack of tigerness I usually portray in bed, I’m turning in.” He turned over, clicked off the light, and ended the discussion; though beside him Liberty stayed up in the dark, going over things in her head.

*

“So, what did she say?” Liberty asked, crossing her legs and setting the large box on her lap. She gazed up at Billy, across the table, with big brown eyes and what she hoped was a nonchalant look.

“Nothing,” Billy said quickly, jerkily taking a sip of his tea. It was the following day and Dom was in the shower; the three of them were supposed to go shopping for premiere gear and then wedding invitations. Liberty and Billy were having tea in the kitchen and Liberty was ready to offer Billy a rather copious amount of his favorite cookies, chocolate chip, in exchange for coveted information.

“Do you want some cookies? There are about a hundred here. Of your favorites. I just baked them this morning, very…extremely early.”

“You made them? You make really good cookies.” Billy sniffed the air hopefully, “Remember that time, way back when we were doing FOTR pickups and you made us cookies? You made a complete mess of my kitchen, but the cookies were deeeeeeeelicious.”

Liberty nodded, smiling, “You can have ALL of them if you tell me what Dom’s mom said about me.”

“Did you hear what his dad said?” Billy asked, hooting with laughter. “That man. Always cracks me up. He’s so funny…and he really does look like Ian Holm. In the right light.”

Sighing, Liberty leaned back, “There’s something you two are keeping from me.”

“Not at all.” He put his hand out towards the box of cookies, hoping to get a sample, but she slapped it away.

“Not unless you spill the beans, Mr. Boyd.” She stood up and brought the box into the kitchen. “You can forget about these cookies. And they were still warm, too. Such a shame.”

“LIBERTY!” Billy whined, following her into the kitchen where she was standing against the counter, drumming her fingernails on the counter. “Can I just have one? Please?”

She held the box out, “Fine. Just one. But you have to tell me at least a HINT. Did she like me, do you think?”

Billy shoved the cookie into his mouth and chewed, “Welf fe dofent feally ike anyfody.”

“She doesn’t really like anybody,” Liberty repeated blandly. “That’s not helpful.”

Billy swallowed and gave Liberty a quick hug, “Libs, she liked you…but she‘s a tough costumer. She has a very close relationship with Dom, as they are both rather similar. She said you were ‘quite young’ and that’s all I know, Inspector.”

Liberty sighed, “Too young, you mean.”

“Ready to go?” Dom asked, strutting into the kitchen wearing jeans and a t-shirt with sunglasses atop his head.

Billy nodded, “I am if you’re not bringing your purse.”

“I don’t have a purse,” Dom argued. “I’ve got a manly bag.”

“It’s leather and looks like it belongs with a very wealthy old woman. It’s a purse.”

“Let’s go ladies,” Liberty said, grabbing her own purse and slinging it over her shoulder. “We’ve got to find some young looking invitations because I am only just out of elementary school.”

Dom hit Billy upside the head, “You weren’t supposed to tell her, you twit!”

“I’m weak!” Billy wailed, holding his head. “She offered home-made cookies!”

Dom turned to Liberty, a smile quirking his frowned lips. “You’re evil.”

“I know how to get what I want,” she shrugged, leaving the room.

“You didn’t tell her the other bit, did you?” Dom rounded on Billy.

“No, of course not. I don’t want her to get hurt any more than you do. Come on, let’s go.” Billy sighed and the two of them followed after Liberty.

*

Liberty dropped down onto the sofa and answered the phone, “Monaghan residence, Dominic’s bitch speaking, how may I help you?”

“That’s an odd greeting. It’s also a bit kinky. Has Billy heard it yet?”

“He’s the one who came up with it,” Liberty laughed. “Is this International Sex Symbol, Viggo Mortensen?”

“’Tis indeed,” he chuckled.

“VIIIIIIIG!” Liberty yelled happily. “How are you? I haven’t heard from you in FOREVER!”

“I’m great, and you?”

“Oh, fine, fine. I was just filing out the last of the wedding invitations. We got them last week and it’s been…well…murder doing them all. Thank God for Billy, really. And Raya’s helped as well.”

“Splendid. I hope I’m getting an invitation.”

“Of course you are. It was the first one I did. You and Mr. Henry. How is he, by the way?”

“Oh, he’s good. He’s at his mum’s for the school year. I’ll get him once summer starts again.”

Liberty sighed and ran a hand through her hair, “I miss seeing you guys.”

“I know, I miss you horribly. Listen, I have a proposal.”

“I’m sorry to say I’m already engaged…but do go on.”

Viggo laughed, “Very funny. Seriously, though. I need a date to the premiere of Hidalgo. I was going to bring Henry, but he can’t make it.”

“You mean you can’t find some hot young girl to go with you? I wouldn’t think you’d have trouble in that department.”

“Well, thank you, but I am finding a hot young girl to take. Do you think Dom would give you up for an evening?”

“If not, I’ll just lie and saying I’m going to Raya’s to babysit.”

“Oh ho,” Viggo laughed. “Perfect. So you’ll come? It’s in three days, right in London. My flight leaves tomorrow, but I’ve got promo right up until the premiere. So I won’t be able to see you until then.”

“Well, at least I’ll get to see you. Aren’t you worried people will think we’re together?”

“No, I’m worried people will think you’re my daughter.”

“Oh good God, you can’t possibly be old enough to be my father.”

“And then some,” Viggo chuckled. “I’ll see you in three days. I’ll come pick you up.”

“Wonderful. See you then.”

*

“He’s not going to try anything, is he?” Dom asked from the bed, watching as Liberty tied her hair up. She was wearing a very attractive dress that she and Raya had just designed the previous week and had scrambled to get it together in time for the premiere. It was a deep purple satin with black lace covering and it was lovely on her.

“I highly doubt it. If he does, you know where he lives. You can go beat him up.”

“I can’t beat him up,” Dom replied, looking thoughtful. “I’ll hire Orlando to do it.”

“Well, either way.” She spun around. “How do I look?”

“Ravishing. Speaking of ravish…couldn’t I just a bit before he gets here?”

Liberty looked behind him at the clock on the bedside table, “I’m afraid not. He’ll be here in five minutes.”

“I can do it quickly,” Dom laughed, standing and putting his arms around her.

“Oh, no fair. No blowing on the neck.” She swatted him away. “I won’t want to go if you keep that up.”

“That was my intention, my love.”

Liberty rolled her eyes and kissed him, “You know what you can do while I’m gone?”

“I thought about watching television, but if you’ve got a better idea…”

“You can make a list of what we need to do before the wedding. And then tomorrow we can try and get some of it checked off.”

“A day of wedding prep? Brilliant.” He flopped back on the bed and ran a hand through his hair, messing it up so it looked better. “ROTK premieres start in about two hours, you know.”

Liberty chuckled, “Yes, well…better pack then, hadn’t you.” She kissed him once more and then made her way into the living room; the doorbell rang shortly after and with a final goodbye, she was gone.

*
The next day was odd in that Liberty and Dom spent it together, alone, without anyone else present. They talked about the wedding and made plans; they talked about Liberty’s ‘date’ with Viggo which Dom wasn’t nearly as opposed to as he pretended to be, and they spent a good amount of the day in bed.

Comfortable and blissful were two words you could use to describe their relationship at this point.

“I cannot WAIT to see Return of the King,” Liberty said excitedly, rummaging through the closet for a skirt.

“I know,” Dom said from the bed, where he was sifting through a pile of hats. “Me either. It’ll be brilliant.”

“You’ve seen bits of it. Can’t you at least give me a hint about what’s to happen?”

Dom laughed, “No way. I’ll be murdered. Pete knows people, he’ll hire a hit-man without pause.”

She pulled a short khaki skirt from its hook and pulled it on before buttoning up her striped blouse. “Fine. I’ll just wait like the rest of the population.”

“That’s my girl.” He selected a hat and artfully arranged it on his head. “Are you ready to go? We’ve got to get to this bakery before it closes.”

“I’m all set. I just have to find shoes. Oh, I had a question for you, I don’t want to forget it.”

“What’s that?” He asked, standing up and looking at his reflection in the full length mirror.

“Where are we going to live after the wedding?” She slid her feet into a pair of slides and turned towards him, pulling her hair into a ponytail.

Dom grinned at her and shook his head, “That’s a secret.”

“What? Why?”

“It just is,” he nodded in finality. “Now, come on. We have to go pick out a really amazing cake.”

“Dominic Monaghan, what are you planning?” She stood tapping her foot against the floor, her arms crossed against her chest.

“I’ve just had a horrible flash of my future and this very thing occurring ever so often. I’m terribly frightened now.” He put a hand to his heart dramatically. “Oh, I must have a lie down…”

“Dom,” she laughed. “Cut it out.”

“Well, then, stop asking questions I can’t give answers to.”

“I feel as if there are too many things being kept from me. I may go all insecure on you pretty soon and flee into the woods to live as one of those wildmen.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but okay.” He took her hand and pulled her towards the hallway and front door. “We’ve moving after the wedding and that is all I will say.”

“Moving WHERE?”

“Somewhere,” he said, closing the door behind them and pulling her towards the stairs. “Somewhere where you won’t be able to drive because it’s on the wrong side of the road.”

“That could be lots of places, like here for instance.”

“Exactly. Which is why I’ve got to give you driving lessons. You’ll need your license here before long. You’ll have to cart the children around in the mini-van and bring them to football practices. A nice American/English family, we‘ll be. Another hint, we’re not leaving this country.”

“That’s good to know,” she laughed. “But doesn’t narrow it down too much.”

“If I meant for it to be narrowed down, I’d just tell you straight-out where I’m taking you.” He kissed her and smiled, “This way is much more fun.”

*

The first premiere was actually to be held in London, and there were only four more after that; New Zealand, Berlin, Australia and Los Angeles. Though Liberty hated the red carpet aspect of premieres, she was really looking forward to seeing Return of the King; as was everyone else. Dom could hardly contain his excitement, Billy kept crying at odd intervals, half from joy and half from sadness and Orlando could be seen shooting off CG arrows at every turn. It was a bittersweet ending to their story, really, and it was sad because they knew they wouldn’t see each other as much after it was all over…but they also knew that they would make time to visit one another as often as work provided. Billy, Dom and Elijah were already planning a vacation to New Zealand sometime next year while Orlando was just planning the birth of their third child.

“LIV!” Liberty hollered, running over to Liv and hugging her as soon as she got out of the limo with Dom; Dom followed her over and gave Liv a hug afterwards. Her boyfriend, a rock-star type wearing eyeliner stood by looking out of place, but happy. Next they saw Miranda Otto and her date even before Dom started with the press. Liberty had never gotten to know Miranda very well, but she liked her and Dom certainly did, as they had a few key scenes together and had a good time shooting them.

While Dom did his first interview with Liv, Liberty stood behind them, glancing around and looking for other members of the cast. She spotted his blue eyes before the rest of him and before she knew it, they were running towards each other, yelling and laughing.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Mr. Wood.” She pulled away from him, beaming. “You’ve been keeping quiet. Why’s that?”

“Oh, you know,” he shrugged, smiling. “This and that. Been busy. And stuff.”

“This is the least articulate I’ve ever seen you.” Liberty laughed and then saw the girl standing behind him, looking ecstatic to be having her picture taken. She was looking all around at the photographers, posing and flipping her hair off her shoulders every so often. Liberty‘s smile slid off her face, “Em, Lij, what’s Anaka doing here?”

“I, er, invited her.” He cleared his throat and took Liberty’s elbow, guiding her out of the way of Karl Urban and David Wenham who were embracing rather fondly with a scared looking Hugo Weaving. “I sort of, um, ah…didn’t have a choice.”

“You WHAT?” Liberty shrieked, bending closer to him so she could hear him properly. “How could you not have a choice?”

“Calm down, Libs,” Elijah laughed nervously. “It’s just that we…“ he swallowed and then the words came out in a rush so that Liberty only caught every other one. “…She came to see me in LA and we ended up getting really drunk, drunker than I’d ever gotten and you know how sexually deprived I am, well, we sort of slept together and then she invited herself to the premiere because she said she’s my girlfriend now assuming I hadn’t meant for it to be a one night stand and since I couldn’t even REMEMBER I didn’t know WHAT it was so I had no choice and I’m really, really, really sorry, Liberty.” He took a deep breath.

“God, Lij. Use some commas and periods once in a while, okay?” She sighed. “You slept with Anaka. Well, then. Em…I don’t know if I should congratulate you or not so excuse me…I’ve gotta get back to Dom and tell him she’s here before he has a heart attack when he sees her.” She brushed past him, the frill of her dress tickling his arm; she was wearing the dress Dom had given her way back.

After Dom stopped speaking with Sir Ian McKellen and Liberty had given him a hug, she pulled Dom away from the crowds and told him the odd news. He merely laughed hysterically for several years before going and whispering to a shaken looking Elijah. Then all of the hobbits were suckered into singing the drinking song, so Liberty stood back and watched beside Liv and Viggo.

Following the premiere was a crazy party in which everyone got reacquainted with everyone else; Raya, Liberty and Liv ended up sitting together at a table in the back watching their respective men ‘canoodling’ as Dom would say, with whoever they saw.

“So Elijah was very, remarkably drunk, and had…relations with Anaka?” Liv asked, sipping her drink daintily.

“Apparently,” Liberty responded, sighing. “I feel bad for him. Look at her. Raya, honestly, she acts as if she’s on the runway.”

“She probably thinks she is,” Raya said heavily. “I don’t know about you, but when we get to New Zealand tomorrow, I need some retail therapy.”

“Count me in,” Liberty announced, holding her glass up and laughing.

“I’m out,” Liv said, “I won’t be in NZ until the premiere. Like, I have a flight and it’ll get me there about an hour before the premiere. I’ll make it, though. Maybe we could do a girls day out in LA?”

“Absolutely,” Liberty answered happily. With that settled, she excused herself and set off towards some of the hobbits; her fiance not being one of them, as he had disappeared with Orlando to play some sort of trick on Peter Jackson. Billy, surprisingly, was not involved. “Why aren’t you causing trouble like usual?” She asked as Billy put his arm around her waist in a hug.

“Oh, I decided to just stay right here and watch the fun…this way I can’t be blamed.”

“I won’t quote Pippin,” Liberty replied, grinning. “But the closer you are to danger, the further away you are from harm.”

“You’re a liar, I hope you know that.”

She glanced at Sean and Christine who were talking animatedly with Andy Serkis about the new baby. “I do. Hey, did you know about EJ and Anaka?”

“Oh, yeah,” Billy replied, looking nervous. “He told me the day after it happened. He was in a right state. Poor bloke.”

“Mmmmmm, yes.”

“You’re not upset about it, are you?” He asked, bending closer to her so she could hear. Suddenly there was an awful lot of noise somewhere over on the other side of the room; neither of them dared look to see what it was, however.

“Not upset, no. Just…confused, maybe.”

“Well,” Billy laughed, “It’s no big deal. It was only a one-off thing. I doubt it’ll happen again. I’d bet my kilt that after tonight, Elijah never goes anywhere near her ever again.”

Liberty nodded and before long she had engaged in a fun conversation of catching up with Christine, whom she’d missed a lot more than she realized, and Sean, who had been very absent in her life as of late and she made him promise that wouldn’t happen again. A little while later, Dom drifted over, looking highly intoxicated with his arm slung round Orlando’s shoulders. This was no small feat as Dom was easily a foot shorter than Orlando; so Orlando was bent like a hunchback and couldn’t stop giggling. Raya eventually came over and coaxed him home so she could relieve the babysitter and make him some coffee. Pretty soon the only people left in the place were the core hobbits, sans Sean and Christine who had already gone back to their hotel, and their dates.

“We have a plane to catch at five am,” Liberty said, checking her watch which swore it was 2am. “It’s two unless I can no longer read clocks.”

“Oh holy Jesus,” Billy muttered, slurring slightly. “I’m supposed to be on that one, too, and I haven’t packed my room up at your joint.”

Liberty elected herself to get the limo ready while the others tried to suck down something other than an alcoholic beverage. Anaka, having had nothing to drink but mineral water, was beaming around at them all, obviously enjoying being at a premiere party; her arm was hung loosely around Elijah’s.

Dom dropped onto one of the haphazardly placed chairs near the buffet table and groaned, “How am I supposed to get on a plane in three hours? I can barely walk.”

“Libs will take care of you,” Elijah told him reassuringly. “All you’ll have to do is…um…have you packed yet?”

“I packed while she was at that premiere with Vig a couple nights ago so that’s all set.”

“How did that go, I wonder,” Billy said, sitting beside Dom’s feet on the floor.

“They had fun,” Dom answered vaguely. “People either thought they were dating or father and daughter. Really upset Vig, I think.”

Billy chuckled, “He looks pretty good for his age, that filthy human. Where’d he go, anyway?”

Dom yawned, “He left with Sean, remember? He said he needed beauty sleep or some such crap.”

Liberty came back then and practically picked up Billy and Dom, leaving Elijah to Anaka; Elizabeth had been Billy’s date but hadn’t been able to attend the party as she had to work very early the next morning; she had recently acquired a very lovely job at British Vogue which brought her closer to home (she was staying with Orlando and Raya until she found her own place) and closer to Billy, once he bought his own flat, which he was intending to do after the premieres.

Elijah stumbled slightly, plowing Anaka into the brick wall of the outside of the building, “Can’t I just lie down and have a nap? Just a little one?”

Anaka groaned as the weight of Elijah, all sixty pounds of him, fell onto her as she tried to heave him into the limo. “No, no. Come along, now.” Liberty, Dom and Billy were already in the limo; Dom and Billy were slumped over with their eyes closed and one of them was snoring.

“Come on, Elijah. If we can’t sleep, neither can you,” Dom hollered out the door. “He doesn’t weigh much, Anaka, just throw him in!”

“I’m bloody trying,” she muttered, giving Elijah a push. He tumbled into the limo, landing on top of Liberty and immediately falling asleep. Had Billy been awake and not snoring, he would have laughed hysterically. Anaka jumped in and then signaled for the driver to take off. Liberty gave her a look, “Um, hello? Your boyfriend has collapsed on top of me.”

“Oh he does that,” Anaka said, flipping open a compact and admiring her spotless reflection. “Just push him over onto the floor.”

Liberty looked to Dom for help; he reached his arm out and with one good pull managed to get Elijah off Liberty’s lap and onto the floor where he continued snoring peacefully.

“He’s lovely in bed,” Anaka mused lightly, “But really can’t hold his liquor, can he?”