A/N: I am looking for a new beta...if you're interested please message me! :)
Welcome to Earth!
Chapter 27: Facing the Music
Late the next morning, Melody snuggled deeper into her bed, enjoying the softness and comfort for as long as she could. She couldn't even remember what she was putting off, but remained sure that some unpleasant task lay in store for her today and it was best to avoid leaving her bed for as long as possible.
"Mel?" Came Pippin's voice tentatively from the doorway. Melody struggled internally for a moment between ignoring him and responding. Responding meant acknowledging that she was awake and would lead to the unpleasant thing. Ignoring him would be mean and make her feel bad.
"What?" she mumbled, burying her face in the pillow.
"Breakfast." he sounded subdued, and Melody wondered if Legolas had already said something.
He wouldn't! He said we would talk to them! But that meant something else must have happened to subdue the normally overly cheerful hobbit. Unpleasant had arrived, despite her best efforts.
"I'll be down in a minute." she murmured. "Hey Pip?"
He edged into the room, looking nervous. Something had to be really wrong. "What happened?" Melody sat up and reached out to him, and he ran into her arms.
"It's awful." he whispered to her before pulling back. "You'll see." Then he left.
Anxiety sent the teen's blood pounding through her veins and making her head ache.
By the time she staggered into the kitchen, everyone else had already gathered.
"We need to discuss something serious." Legolas announced after glancing swiftly at her. Huh…guess he hasn't said anything yet. Then why was Pip so scared?
"What's that?" Gimli asked, burping his satisfaction with breakfast.
"While the armies of Sauron seem to have disappeared, our presence here causes other problems for our friends. And we must find a solution."
"What problems?" The hobbits chorused.
Melody quickly explained the situation with how the girls' lives would normally proceed, and everyone fell silent, considering the complications thoughtfully.
"We could join this world, take them home with us, or go our separate ways." Boromir said after a few uncomfortable minutes.
"The first two options are highly complicated." Aragorn reminded him. "We don't know if it would be possible, or worth the trouble."
The group fell silent again, each lost deep in their own thoughts. Every so often, someone would make an attempt to speak, think for a moment, and decide not to.
Eventually, a knock at the back door startled the group out of their contemplation.
"Gandalf!" Frodo cried, rushing to let the wizard in.
"I am sorry for any trouble I caused." the elderly man said as he stumbled inside. There was a general instinctive motion to help him, and once the lot finally had him seated, he looked over at Melody.
"Don't." she said calmly. "What did you learn?"
"These books we 'come' from...were written by a man in your world. He created us...making our worlds inextricably linked. Travel between the two is difficult and generally not allowed, but for some reason...you provided a loophole." Gandalf studied the teen curiously. Melody shrugged.
"I thought we already determined that was because of my ancestry?"
"It might be closer to the present than we think." Gandalf replied solemnly, but he suddenly brushed it off. "A topic for another time. We have more pressing matters at hand."
"Like what?" Boromir asked.
"We know we can't stay here like this forever-" Aragorn began, but Gandalf cut him off.
"We can't stay here any longer."
"What? Why?" the hobbits clamored.
The sound of keys in the garage door silenced the entire gathering instantly. Before anyone but the seasoned fighters had time to react, the door opened, and Melody's father walked in.