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Legolas was restless. He had received a letter a few days ago saying that you were approaching Gondor and that you would be there any day now. Gimli was quick to notice his friends odd behavior.
"What's going on, lad?" Legolas was standing next to the balcony wall, looking down to the city and the landscape surrounding it, hoping that your horse would appear soon. It was getting dark and the coronation would start first thing in the morning and you had told him that you wanted to be there for Aragorn, who you had grown with.
It pained him deeply to be away from you, and even more, as the boys were definitely a handful and being pregnant and watching them was not the easiest task. It would have been hard even if you weren't pregnant.
"Thinking of your wife?" Gimli asked, and Legolas turned to him, only to see a small smile on his lips. Sighing deeply, Legolas nodded turning to keep an eye out on your horse in the horizon yet again.
"She will make it, don't worry." Gimli tried to reassure his friend but couldn't find the words to do so. It was clear to him that Legolas adored you above everything else and that he feared for your safety, even if the war had been won. He had also mentioned having a son, who Gimli was quite interested in meeting, as he had never met an elfling before as they were rare.
Legolas was still gazing the horizon when Gimli tapped his elbow.
"She will not be here any sooner if you freeze yourself out here. Let's get some sleep, lad, I'm sure they will be here in the morning." Legolas sighed deeply and gave the area one last slow glance before turning around and following his friend.
- - - -
The morning had been hectic, serving girls running into all sorts of directions and visitors arriving all over Middle-Earth. Legolas spent most of the day with Aragorn, helping him with last-minute arrangements but his mind never truly left you as he walked around the kingdom reminding people what still needed to be done. He didn't have a quiet moment, but still, you and the triplets were still in his mind as he wondered if you had made it into the town already.
The answer presented itself as he was checking the wine in the cellars, an out of breath messenger stormed down the stairs.
"Legolas Thranduillon?" He asked, panting for breath as he leaned into a wall. Legolas turned around and placed the glass he had been inspecting down.
"Yes?" He asked, expecting it to be another request from Aragorn, but he was pleasantly surprised.
"Your wife sent me to tell you that they have arrived and they are already in their places, waiting for the coronation. She also said that she is alright and that you should stop worrying." Legolas smiled, you knew him too well.
"Thank you." Legolas nodded to the messenger, who took off again, probably deliver other messages. Legolas inspected last of the glasses and then walked out to change to the attire he would be wearing for the coronation as it was about to start.
Legolas didn't see you during the ceremony, but immediately after it ended his three sons found him and clung to his legs, begging to be picked up and him to tell them about his adventures. After he has drowned each of them into kisses and hugs and tickles, he places the last one down and looks at the three of them and smiles.
The trio is identical in height and they all have Legolas' blond hair. The one thing that is different between them is their eyes. The oldest, Falchon, had Legolas's blue eyes, the middle, Radhrion, had your eyes and the youngest, Amathon, had his grandfathers, Elrond's eyes. It easy to tell them apart from a short distance, but from further away it was instantly harder if you didn't know them. Radhrion was the one that led the trio, and Falchon was the one that came up with the pranks as Amathon was the quietest one but still loved spending time with his brothers, who were quite more coltish than him. The boys stormed off, yelling something about their swords before disappearing into the crowd. People didn't seem to mind the three rascals running around, and smiled as they raced around their legs.
Legolas is looking around, trying to find you in the crowd but it's not easy, there are hundreds of people. Gimli forces his way through the crowd next to his friend and sees him looking around.
"No luck, huh?" He asks, and Legolas turns to his friend, sighing.
"No. She did send me a message this morning that she had arrived so she is here, but I can't seem to find her anywhere." Legolas glances around again, trying to spot you in the crowd when Radhrion storms over with a wooden sword.
"Ada look what I have. Look-look-look-look!" He jumps up and down, waving it in the air. Legolas turns to his son who is now pretending to fight an invisible foe and smiles as Gimli watches the young elf jump around.
"It's very nice. Where did you get it from?" The elfling stops and smiles, pointing to somewhere in the crowd.
"Naneth had them with her!" The little elf ran off somewhere, and Gimli turned to his friend, chuckling.
"He must be a handful," Legolas smirks, knowing that the boys are probably up to something already. And he is right.
"Yes, he is."
Soon enough, the boys start to storm out of the crowd one by one, poking Gimli with their swords for a moment before disappearing again. They move in a coordinated and practiced order, and poor Gimli is confused, thinking that he is being attached by one fast elfling, when in reality it's tree separate ones, attaching from different places. Legolas can't help but laugh, they have gotten more skilled in this in the months he has been gone. They have been doing this for long, and every new visitor in Rivendell has gotten the special welcome after they moved in. You and Legolas had agreed that Rivendell was the safest place for you and the boys to stay in as Mirkwood was under attack.
"Die, you vile beast!" Amathon shrieks and pokes Gimli with his sword before running off into the crowd and Falchon storms out, firing a set of pokes to Gimli's right side.
"You have nowhere to run!" He squeals and storms off. Gimli is getting hang of the game, though he still has no idea that there are three elflings instead of one. The pokes don't hurt him, actually, they feel quite nice, so he decides to humor the little one.
"I'll get you." He growls playfully, and the next attacker, Radhrion, storms out and gives him a poke before storming off, giggling wildly.
"You will never!" He squeals, and Amathon storms out again. This time, Gimli knows that it's coming and grabs his free wrist gently. The boy shrieks happily and swishes his sword to the hand that is holding on to him, and Gimli let's go with an exaggerated grunt.
He pretends to stumble and the trio notices their change and Radhrion storms out of the crowd, yelling.
"Attach, forces of Mirkwood, attach!" The trio storm to Gimli, who is knocked off his feet by a swarm of elflings and falls to the ground with a surprised yelp. Legolas laughs heartily as the little elflings poke Gimli all over with their swords, the dwarf trying to make sense of what is happening around him. The people around them smile, seeing the three young elves playing and laughing together.
Legolas stops laughing when his eyes land on you, and you walk out the crowd, looking at your boys who are still "fighting" with the dwarf. You walk past Legolas and give him a kiss on the cheek while smiling before placing your hands on your hips.
"Ionnath!" (boys) You yell, and the trio climbs up and storms to you, dropping the swords and clinging to your dress.
"Naneth!" As you try to get them to let go and scold them for attaching Gimli, Legolas helps his friend off the ground and checks him over, making sure that he wasn't hurt.
"They didn't hurt you?" Legolas asks, eyes shining and Gimli huffs.
"You could have warned me." Legolas shakes his head.
"I didn't want to ruin their fun. My apologies." Gimli scoffs but smiles as the trio is now standing with their heads hanging low, looking at their toes.
"It's fine, they didn't hurt me. Actually, I didn't feel anything." It's Legolas's turn to scoff.
"I have lost count how many times I have been attached by those swords and it definitely hurts when they poke." Gimli lets out a laugh.
"Lad, I'm a dwarf. We can take little poking, but you fragile elves apparently can't." Legolas narrows his eyes to his friend playfully and lets out a short hum of laughter.
The trio wanders in front of Gimli and speaks in unison.
"We're sorry about knocking you over."
"It wasn't nice." Gimli just smiles.
"It's fine, lads, it takes more than a few wooden swords to hurt me. You were quite good, coming up with an idea to attach one by one, making me think that there was one of you instead of three." The boys look at each other, beaming. No one has never complimented their game before. You walk up to them after getting your dress back into order and talk to the trio.
"Why don't the three of you go see what Elrond is doing? Or Lindir, they will keep you company for a while." Your boys hug yours and Legolas' legs before running into the crowd, bickering about something.
As the boys have disappeared from sight, you straighten your back and wince as it throbs and Legolas is at your side in a heartbeat.
"You okay, love?" He asks you, inspecting your face closely.
"I'm fine, just a little sore and stiff from all the riding." You answer, allowing him to slide his arm around your waist and pull you to his side. Smiling, you press a kiss to the corner of his mouth and you rest your head on his shoulder, enjoying the calm moment.
It doesn't take long, there is a loud "bang!" to be heard and you and Legolas sigh, looking at each other knowingly. It's the trio, they can't go a moment without destroying something. You begin to pull apart, but Gimli steps forward.
"I'll go see what it's about. I'll find something to do for the lads, the two of you relax." You looked at Legolas, surprised. You had always thought dwarves as impolite and rude, but this one was offering to wrangle your sons while the two of you relaxed. Legolas, on the other hand, smiled.
"You truly are a friend. But if they get impossible, come to tell us." Gimli shook his head.
"I can manage perfectly with their father, I'm sure that the young ones are no different." Legolas smiled warmly and Gimli bowed to you shortly before entering the crowd.
You turned to look at your husband with a raised eyebrow.
"Long story. Now I just want to know how are my girls." He kneeled down to kiss your stomach.
"Hello, little one. It's ada here. I hope you have been good with naneth, that you have not given her terrible pains." You smiled as Legolas rose to slide his hands from your belly to your back. You squeaked as he pulled you tightly to his chest and took a deep breath as he buried his head into your neck.
"I missed you terribly." He mumbles into your neck and pulls back to face you.
"I missed you too." You whisper and allow him to press his lips onto yours. The kiss is short, and you smile at each other after pulling away.
"Now, should we go see how Gimli is doing with our boys?" Legolas suggests, and you let out a chuckle, expecting it to be mayhem.
But it's not. The three are sitting side by side, carving a piece of wood with a small knife, Gimli watching them intently as he told them stories. The three watched him with round eyes, sometimes turning back to their wood and carving it a little but always returning to look at him and focus on the story.
"Remember to keep your fingers away from the blade, lads, it's sharp." He reminded them, pausing the story to correct Radhrions hold on the knife.
You and Legolas stood there, watching them, hand in hand, you leaning into his shoulder, enjoying the moment. The war had been won, there was no threat of Sauron. The two of you were together again, you had three healthy boys and a one on the way (Legolas was sure that you were expecting a girl). Everything in the world was fine, and now with Gimli getting so well along with the trio, there might be a change that you and Legolas could be able to spend some time together before the baby comes.