A/N I am so, so sorry. *Hangs head in shame* I know I promised to have this updated much, much sooner that I actually did. But at least it is done, right? I honestly don't know what took me so long, but I promise to never do that with a story again.

Thanks so much to all of you who reviewed and followed this story!

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.

Chapter Three

Time seemed to haze into one long restless repetition that slide from one hour to the next without change. Estel grew ever worse and nothing they did seem to have an effect or help him at all, much to the three elves great fear. The fever that racked the young boy's body only continued to rise and the hacking cough only deepened.

It was early afternoon the next day when Estel slipped deeply into a fevered delirium, causing him to scream with terror form hallucinations.

"Estel, shh —Estel, listen to ada." Elrond hushed in a gentle tone, holding his flailing child close to his chest and rocking him back and forth. "It's not real…I am here, you are going to be all right." He continued, stroking the boy's unruly and sweaty hair with one hand.

Elladan and Elrohir stood nearby, waiting anxiously for any command from their father that they could fulfill. Finally, after several minutes of listening to their father comfort the boy, the elf lord looked up at them.

"Go fill a bath. His fever has spiked again and we must get it down." He said hurriedly, struggling lightly with the still thrashing boy who was emitting chocked yells. The twin turned and vanished with the swiftness like that of a fired arrow.

Elrond, meanwhile, began to undo his youngest night shirt, pinning the boy down with gentle fingers as he did so. Within minutes, he had prepared Estel for the bath and wrapped his naked body in a light sheet as they waited, once again tucking him close to his own body for comfort.

"Shh, I won't leave you, hush my child." He murmured over and over again. His deep, calming voice seeming to at last have affect on Estel and he sucked in a large, shuddering breathe, going limp again.

"The bath is ready." Elrohir said quietly, stepping back into the room. His sharp eyes followed his father's movements with exactness and he couldn't miss the complete tenderness that followed Imladris's lord's movements. The short time that Estel had been with them had affected them more than they had ever been able to guess that it would. The love, joy and sure pure innocence that the child had brought back into their lives was priceless and the younger twin knew that if he was to die then their lives would be shattered. He was their little brother and would always be.

Blinking back sudden tears at the thought of the child dying, Elrohir held the door for his father and followed after him, refusing to let the tears fall.

Entering into the bathing chamber, Elrond hurried over to the tub, filled with scattered herbs and luke-warm water, and gentle deposited his precious bundle there. Instantly the boy's body tensed in shook, a painfully raw howl escaping his lips, and his eyes flashed open with terror.

"ADA!" he shrieked so hoarsely that it made the elves present wince as if it was their own throat's that the sound was ripped from. "Cold! It's too cold!" he continued to yell, thrashing wildly and splashing the water everywhere. Elrond pressed him back down, glad to see that the water had a least brought Estel crashing back painfully to reality.

"Ada, please, help me! It hurts!" Estel screamed again, tears now falling freely down his face. "I want out!" he moaned, clawing at his father's arm that was pressed against his chest to hold him down under the water.

"Estel, listen to me, listen to Ada." Elrond half yelled to be heard, desperately trying to comfort the human. "I will get you out as soon as I possibly can, I promise." But Estel wouldn't listen, going into a crazed fit as he tried to escape the water which felt like ice on his over-heated skin.

"Elladan, Elrohir! Help me!" he pleaded, catching sight of them and lunging forward against his father's arms to try and get to them. "Ada is hurting me! I just want out! —Please?"

The twins glanced up guilty heart-break clear. When Elladan finally spoke for both of them, it was with a chocked voice. "No, Estel. You must stay in." Estel stared at them with disbelief, large tears still trickling down his face as Elrond gently pulled him back so that he was once again lying half-submerged in the water.

Elrond cupped his hand in the water and splashed it across his child's face, stoically continuing the treatment even as the child began to sob hysterically, though he had stopped fighting.

Finally, after what seemed to be ages, Elrond relaxed a little, his much larger hand resting on Estel's small forehead.

"His fever is starting to go down." He whispered, smiling at the twins who both laughed aloud with relief. Estel was exhausted and didn't react to the words, simply lying still in his father's arm, taking in a shuddering breathe ever now and then. With one hand he clutched his father's hand where it lay against his chest so tightly that his small knuckle where white and aloud the soothing motions of his family moving around him comfort him. His father was speaking again, but the human failed to listen to what he was saying.

"Would the two of you please go see to the changing of the sheets and blankets on Estel's bed?" Elrond asked his oldest two, knowing that they would willingly do it. The sheets where soaked with sweet and herb-laced water that had been spilled upon it, never mind the smell of ripeness that radiated from them. If they wanted Estel to be comfortable, then he would need warm, clean, dry sheets and blankets.

Left alone with Estel, Elrond found himself reflecting greatly on the child in his arms. The boy he had adopted and learned to love just as much as his own children, the boy who had already see so much horror and suffering, the boy who had such a great destiny laid out before him. His child.

"Oh, Estel…" he whispered softly, gentle stroking a soft pattern with his thumb along the boy's chest. The human stirred sleepily in the water, a harsh cough escaping his lips before him stilled once, content to lay still against his father. Elrond smiled, knowing that the child would soon drift into a much needed rest. "Hope is a name that suits you very well, for you are out little hope."

The water lapped soothing against the edge of the tube and Elrond momentarily closed his eyes, just listening to the breathing of his son and feeling the thumping of his heart under his hand.

"You will do great things, Aragorn son of Arathorn." He declared, knowing it to be more than true.

A soft cough alerted sounded from the door way breaking the moment between father and son, and Elrond looked up.

"The bed is ready." Elrohir said, holding a towel in one hand.

"Good." Elrond answered, lifting the small body of his child out of the water and letting Elrohir warp the towel around his naked body. Estel gave a small grunt and shifted as he was moved, but almost instantly relaxed limply back into his father's arms and Elrond smoothed back the dark curls plastered against his head. One hand came up and curled into his father's robe like he had when he was just a baby.

ESTELOURHOPE

After that, Estel seemed to improve quickly and soon he was begging to be allowed to play outside again and becoming exceedingly hyper and lively as the days wore on that he was confided to his room. Finally, though, the day came that he was allowed to roam outside once again and his family celebrated by spending the day out together.

Elrond would later lock this memory into his mind, reflecting on it when times were hard or when Estel was far from home with no clue to his whereabouts. It was just him and his three much loved son sons on a day where nothing went wrong.

ESTELOURHOPE

(Present Time)

Legolas sat by the faintly smoking fire he had build, his head titled back as he watched the stars from high above twinkle merrily down at him, thinking deeply. Aragorn lay next to him, asleep. After the man had finished his story, Legolas had taken pity on him and had allowed him to drift off, awakening him every hour or so just to be safe.

As always when the ranger was injured, it struck home just how truly different they where to him. Aragorn was human and one day he would die. Legolas normally just brushed that practical thought off, always considering far off into the future but at times like this, he could not deny it.

Sighing loudly he realized he knew exactly how Elrond, Elladan, and Elrohir had felt all those years ago when Estel was just a young boy. They had a connection, Aragorn's family and he, one that Aragorn would never be able to understand and one that he didn't even know existed, to be honest. They had all suffered from the fear of losing the human to a death that wasn't natural for them, when that fateful day did happen; he had no clue how they were going to survive. But he did now, that they would be there for one another, holding onto the hope that Aragorn had been so well named for.

THE END

There it is finally done! Thanks again to all you wonderful people who stuck with me even though it took so long between each update! THANKS!