'All right, everyone, gather together, we have to talk.' Aragorn called as he stepped from his room; his voice sounded strangely calm to his own ears. He looked around, the hobbits were quiet and Gimli was moping, Boromir came out of his room, obviously still mad.

Aragorn looked at Boromir. I'm sorry, he thought, although he said nothing. Words seemed to mean so little. And yet, he wished that he could comfort him, find the words that would hold his friendship; he needed another man to talk to. Legolas seemed to be a true friend, but, well, he was an elf. Aragorn had been raised by Elves, and yet he still felt himself a mortal in his heart.

'I need to know the fate of Gondor,' said Boromir, his voice barely above a whisper. 'I need to be there for my,' his voice caught, 'people.'

Aragorn placed a hand on his shoulder, 'Boromir, I am so sorry.' Boromir had been crying, that was certain, but for Boromir to cry, ah, that was hard. Boromir was a warrior, true and brave, tears that he shed fell with purpose and meaning, they did not fall lightly.

'It is not your fault,' said Boromir, taking his hand.

Aragorn squeezed his hand tightly. They were friends.

There followed another silence.

'Will we never see the Shire again?' asked Pippin, finally, not even looking up.

'No, probably not,' said Aragorn, sitting down next to him.

'Will we ever find out what happened to Middle-earth?' asked Merry.

'No, I doubt it,' answered Aragorn.

'Will we have to live here forever?' asked Sam, looking nervously at the windows.

'No, not here. We'll move somewhere ground level just as soon as we can,' Aragorn assured him lamely.

'We're all fictional here,' said Legolas. 'So we can't let anyone know who we are.'

'Why not?' asked Merry.

'Because they would think we were crazy,' said Boromir.

'And they…' Aragorn began, but decided not to finish.

'At any rate,' said Legolas, 'We mustn't let anyone find out.'

'Is that why you said you were our mother?' asked Frodo.

The elf nodded. 'But I don't want to have to play that forever; it was just for the emergency.'

'We are going to have to give ourselves new names and new identities. And we also have to decide if we all want to stay together,' said Aragorn.

'But we can't separate!' cried Pippin, 'That would be terrible.' He clutched at Aragorn's hand.

'We are vowed to stay together and protect Frodo,' said Boromir firmly. 'I for one will not leave him.'

'I doubted that any one would,' said Aragorn. 'We're staying together then, that much has been decided.' He looked about to see if there were any objections. None. 'Next, we decide on names and backgrounds, and then we'll forge all necessary documents.'

'Forge documents!' cried Boromir, 'That is deception.'

'It is necessary deception,' countered Aragorn.

Boromir fell silent.

'I'll start. My name is Michael Fremont. I am, Boromir, how old do I look?'

Boromir shrugged, still sulking over the idea of deception.

'Legolas?'

'Oh, I'd say you look about, hmm…'

'Forty-six?' suggested Sam.

'I'm forty-six, a citizen of this fine country, and he,' He pointed at Boromir. 'Is my cousin.'

Boromir looked up. 'I am?'

'We could get away with it.'

Boromir sighed and looked deeply troubled. Gondor taught honesty.

'Do you want to go next, Legolas?' asked Aragorn.

'Fine, my name is Edel Greenleaf, I'm, I don't know how old, and I am most certainly not related to any of you,' said Legolas decidedly.

'You're 25,' said Aragorn.

'Thank-you, for reminding me.'

'I have a question,' said Pippin.

'Yes, Pippin?' said Aragorn.

'How did Boromir get all wet?'

Boromir looked distressed. 'Is that really necessary to bring up right now?'

Pippin nodded.

Boromir sighed. 'The window washer dumped his bucket over my head.'

'Goodness!' exclaimed Pippin.

'Did he do it on purpose?' asked Merry.

'No, I don't think so, but I'd rather not talk about it.'

Aragorn sighed. 'Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, you are going to have to play children.'

They all looked most indignant.

'There is no way getting around it that I can think of,' Aragorn apologized.

'Very well, I suppose that hobbits don't exist here, now do they?' asked Frodo.

Aragorn shook his head. 'I'm afraid not.'

'Well, that's just the way it is,' said Frodo. 'I suppose it could be fun.' He looked around to see if anyone agreed with him.

Sam looked skeptical. 'We don't really look like children,' he said.

Boromir shrugged. 'Not exactly, but you could pass.'

'It would take a lot less explaining,' said Aragorn.

'We'll do it,' said Frodo, trying to smile. 'So then, my name is, mmm, Peter. I don't know how we're going to do this, am I related to any of you?'

'I don't know,' said Aragorn, 'I don't know how we are going to make any of this work.' Why do ideas have to be so difficult to go through with? I can't see how we can make up any story that puts all of our company together into any sort of a reasonable relationship. This isn't going to work. I wonder what Elrond would do? He thought back on his foster-father. Elrond always seems to know how to handle anything. Where did he get his composure? Probably developed it over the centuries. He took a breath. 'All right, Frodo, you're my son.'

Frodo looked up and smiled.

'You too, Sam,' Aragorn continued. 'Boromir, you're my cousin, Merry and Pippin are your sons, so that makes them all related. Makes sense.' He broke off and studied the Dwarf and the Elf. What ever am I going to do with them?

'Why don't you say that Boromir and you are brothers?' asked Gimli.

'We don't look that closely related,' answered Aragorn.

'Where does Gimli fit in in all of this?' asked Legolas.

'Where do you?' snapped Gimli.

'I'm Aragorn's friend.'

'And so am I.'

'Calm down, both of you.' Said Aragorn, hoping to avoid a full-blown argument. 'You are both my friends.'

They glared at each other, but said nothing.

'Gimli, you are Henry Grant, a special friend of the family. We've known you for years.'

'Have you now?'

Aragorn ignored him. 'And you, my dear,' he said, turning to Legolas, 'Are a starving artist we have to support.'

'I beg your pardon?'

Aragorn ignored him. 'And Boromir's my cousin, and both our wives died, and the hobbits are, hmm, let's see, Frodo's eight and the rest are seven. Merry and Pippin are twins. I don't care if that doesn't work; it's the best I could come up with. Don't complain, you would have all done a lot worse.'

Legolas looked skeptical.

'Now, I am so glad that we are all friends.' He gave Legolas and Gimli a stern look. 'And that everyone gets along so well. Or we might all be in a lot of trouble. This is a dangerous world that we enter, you will find it strange and unsettling, nevertheless, it is the world to which we now belong and to which we must stay.' He closed his eyes. 'We'll sort out details tomorrow.'

'I don't think it's going to work,' said Legolas. 'Why would you have to support me anyway? If I was no relation of you, what would I matter?'

'You don't look related to us,' said Boromir.

'And do you really think that the hobbits look like your children?' Legolas scoffed.

'No, but at least we have a little resemblance,' Boromir decided. 'We could never get away with saying that you were related to anyone here.'

'So you're just going to say that you took me in out of the kindness of your hearts?' Legolas rolled his eyes and crossed his ankles scornfully.

'No,' said Boromir. 'You have to pay rent.'

'How can I pay rent when I'm starving?' Legolas asked.

Aragorn sighed. 'You are just trying to make my story unworkable, aren't you?'

'No, it already is, I'm just pointing it out,' Legolas said primly.

Aragorn groaned. 'Then think of something better!'

'I can't.'

'Then don't complain.'

'I have to.'

'I like it,' said Pippin, smiling up at Boromir, who he admired greatly. 'I think that Boromir would make a wonderful father.'

'Well I don't want to be Pippin's twin,' Merry protested. 'It's bad enough already being his cousin.'

Pippin glared at him. 'You're just saying that because you're jealous.'

'Jealous of what?' asked Merry disbelievingly.

'My honorable family heritage,' Pippin announced proudly, holding his head high.

'Why would I be jealous of that?' asked Merry. 'You're a Took, I'm a Brandybuck, if anyone should be jealous of family heritage, it should be you.'

'I think not,' Pippin sniffed.

Aragorn ran a hand through his hair in frustration. 'Does everyone have to argue tonight?' He wished that he could be alone, he was used to traveling alone, with only himself to care for, coming up with his own aliases, no need to think of relations to anyone. 'If anyone can come up with a more workable idea, tell me. If not, don't complain.' He looked at them all sternly. 'I'm going to bed now. Don't bother me until the morning.' He got up and walked towards his room.

'Strider?' asked Sam.

'Yes, Sam?'

'Do I really get to be Mr. Frodo's brother?'

'Yes, Sam, you do,' said Aragorn gently.

Sam broke into a grin, and Frodo smiled back.

'I think that the arrangements are just fine, Strider,' said Frodo. 'You did a good job.'

Aragorn looked over at Frodo, who was smiling at him encouragingly.

A sly smile crept over Aragorn's face. 'Thank-you, my son.'

'You're welcome, Father.'

Aragorn nodded. 'Goodnight, then,' he told the others, and closed the door behind him.