((AN: Partial credit for this story goes to my friend Tauriel. It was mostly her idea.

We own none of the characters (though we really wish we did) and we have based this on Cassia and Sio’s asumption= Aragorn/Estel + Elrond + Elladan + Elrohir = Family.))

“You idiots! You know that we are going to get in trouble for this.” Elladan stood beside Legolas, his hands planted on his hips. Elrohir and Aragorn stood in front of him, carrying a net, some ropes, and pleading expressions.

Legolas frowned at his close friend, who was wearing a most ridiculous grin. “Estel, do you remember the last time we tried something like that?” the blonde elf demanded, toying with one of his braids. “I *still* have not lived that down at home!”

“Yeah, but this plan is foolproof!” Aragorn protested, shifting one of the ropes to his shoulder. “Only Ada will fall into it, no one else!”

“Oh, and that is not enough for you?” Elladan demanded, turning his grey glare on Aragorn. “If this works, and it may not, you must remember, you will be fortunate if Father stops lecturing in ten years!”

“He is easier to trap than Glorfindel.” Elrohir pointed out, setting the net down. “Glorfindel is always looking for a trap. Ada’s danger sense is sadly rusted.”

Elladan treated his brother to a sharp cuff upside the head for that remark.

Legolas only rolled his eyes and bent to examine the net that Elrohir had dropped. “Where did you get this antique? It looks as though a goodly amount of weight would destroy it.”

“It’ll work,” Aragorn promised. “Elrohir has already tried it on me, and you know I weigh more than any elf I know of…except Cirdan, perhaps.”

“Wait until I tell Cirdan that, my brother,” Elladan commented, cuffing his little brother firmly enough to make the ranger wince.

“For my part, I have had enough lectures from Lord Elrond to last me the rest of my immortal life. You two will have to figure this out without my help.” Legolas said firmly, straightening to his full height and brushing his hands clean.

“And without mine,” Elladan seconded. In perfect agreement, the two elves turned and started back for Rivendell.

The twenty year-old man cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted, “Legolas, if you don’t help, I’ll tell your father about the time you ran into…”

Legolas spun on his heels and dove at the ranger. Aragorn was expecting that and dodged away, but Legolas grabbed him and shoved him firmly against the ground. “You promised, Estel!”

“I know. Help, or I tell your father *and* all of Rivendell.” Aragorn’s voice sounded vaguely smug, muffled as it was from being shoved in the dirt.

With one last shove, Legolas got off his friend and looked down at him, resigned. “All right,” he finally sighed, stretching a hand down to the prone ranger. “I suppose there is no getting out of it. How did you plan to work the spring?”

Elrohir and Aragorn traded guilty glances as the ranger brushed himself off nervously. “We…had not considered that…yet.” Elrohir finally admitted.

“You two are hopeless,” Elladan growled as he continued walking toward Rivendell.

Elrohir grinned at his friends and began talking in a louder voice than normal. “Remember that time, Elladan, that you got into that thing…about a hundred years ago? Oh, what was that…”

Elladan spun, his eyes twice their normal size. “You would not dare…” he whispered.

“Would I not? Help.” Elrohir’s voice was firm as he held out one of the ropes to his twin.

With a stifled groan, Elladan came back and grudgingly took the rope from his smug twin.

~~~~~~~~

The sun was beginning to come up as they headed back for Rivendell. Aragorn hid a yawn behind his hand and rubbed his eyes sleepily, unaware that every elf eye was on him.

Elladan nudged Legolas in the ribs. “I think gwador-nin is getting tired, mellon.”

Aragorn heard that and turned to glare at his brother with blood-shot eyes. “Yes, I am tired, Elladan…and you would be too, if you weren’t an elf.”

“Stop.” Legolas’ voice was firm and commanding.

The three brothers made faces at Legolas, but obeyed. Even the elves were rather tired after their fight with the ropes and net.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Flashback…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Legolas grunted with effort as he strained to keep the young sapling bent. Beside him, Elladan and Aragorn worked feverishly to tie it down. Out of Legolas’ line of vision, Elrohir was tying the other end of the rope to the ground, setting it as a spring.

At last, Aragorn and Elladan had secured the sapling with the strongest knots they knew. “Ok, Legolas,” Aragorn said as he backed away. “You can let it go now. Be careful!”

Legolas rolled his eyes at his friend. “Do not tell your dam how to churn butter, Estel. I know to be careful.” Stretching on the tips of his toes, Legolas carefully released the sapling and jumped back to avoid the whipping branches.

Unfortunately, his backward path took him into the net they had set earlier. A very un-elvish yelp escaped the prince as the thick folds of the net caught him up.

At the same time, Elladan discovered how bad it was to have a foot in a coil of rapidly moving rope.

“I didn’t know flying lessons were scheduled for today!” Elladan yelped to Legolas as they flew through the trees toward the roof of the woods.

Seconds later, the upward swing of the traps ended, and the two older elves came crashing back through the same path they had taken on their trip to the canopy.

Neither Elrohir nor Aragorn dared say a word as the ropes bounced gently with their burdens attached. At last, Aragorn said quietly, “It works.”

Yes, in hindsight, it was the worst thing he could have said under the circumstances.

“You thrice-cursed fool!” It was the first time Aragorn had really seen his friend lose his temper…and boy, oh boy, was it a treat to watch! Legolas’ face was bright red, and his voice had risen to a frequency high enough to break glass. His arms were so tangled up in the stupid net that he couldn’t even get to the knife that hung casually at his side.

Elladan was in no better condition, and his twin watched in fascination. Hanging up side down, the dark-haired elf was grappling with the fool rope wrapped firmly around his ankle…and not having much luck.

“Should we help them get down?” Aragorn asked Elrohir.

An evil smirk twisted the corners of the dark-haired twin’s mouth. “No, let’s wait until they start begging.”

“Forget begging,” Elladan’s voice was a low growl. “How about, if you idiots don’t help us get down, we will take you apart limb-by-limb?”

Aragorn shook his head sadly. “No, no, brother dear, you’re not getting the point. Elrohir and I hold the power to get both of you down, and you are treating us most rudely. Now, ask nicely, and I may consider helping.”

Legolas, more comfortable in the net, replied in a somewhat calmer tone, “Elladan, has Estel ever told you of one of the times he was visiting me in Mirkwood, and he wound up having to sleep outside?”

Estel’s eyes widened slowly. He knew the incident that Legolas was referring to, and he did not want his brother knowing about that. “Um, Elrohir, perhaps we should help them down…” he began nervously, but was cut off by Elladan saying, “No, he hasn’t, Legolas. Please, tell on.”

“Well,” Legolas started with an evil grin and a sideways glance at Aragorn, “Estel and I were on a orc-hunting trip, and we discovered their lair. I didn’t want to go in, but Estel said it would be best to cut them off at their root, so we went in.”

Aragorn grabbed Elrohir by the lapels of his tunic. “Elrohir, I can’t get them down alone, you have to help me!”

Elrohir disentangled himself from his brother, saying, “No, no, Estel. This sounds like a most interesting story, and I want to hear it.”

Groaning, Estel curled into a ball. “And just when you thought it was safe to flub up around your friends…” he muttered to no one in particular.

Legolas flashed Aragorn his patented sparkly smile before continuing, “As we entered the cave area, I smelled something awful, and suggested politely that we leave.”

Aragorn rolled his eyes as he remembered Legolas’ ‘polite suggestion’. It had been something along the lines of, “Estel, if you do not come out in ten seconds, I will collapse this cave around you!”

“Estel insisted that we keep exploring, so I followed him. He led the way into the area where the stink was coming from…” Legolas’ voice trailed off into helpless laughter. “And here I always thought rangers had good noses…” he giggled, trying to catch his breath.

“I could smell it, you festering orc carcass!” Aragorn yelled at Legolas.

“Exactly!” Legolas grinned. “That was exactly what was in there…but not exactly one, and there was a drop-off. We all know how Estel is around drop-offs, correct?”

“He fell into all that?” Elrohir gasped, collapsing into laughter himself.

“Oh, it gets better.” Legolas wrinkled his nose as he remembered that. “Apparently, the orcs used that room as both a impromptu graveyard…and a privy.”

Aragorn groaned, “I’m walking home now, mellryn-nin. Have fun getting down.”

“Estel! Get us down now, or I tell this story to all of Rivendell!” Legolas’ clear voice rang out through the morning.

“Ok, I’ll go to Gondor then. Perhaps the time has come to collect that long-lost kingly role, or something…” Aragorn’s voice trailed off as he looked back at his friend and brothers. Legolas had a smile that did not bode well for Aragorn.

“Did I forget to mention that a messenger from Lord Ecthelion was in Mirkwood at the time and heard the whole story?” Legolas’ voice was so sweet that it could have given any listening birds a major sugar high.

“All right, I’ll go to Mordor, then!” yelled Aragorn, losing his temper. He stormed off down the path that led in a general east direction. Elrohir rolled his eyes and chased after his brother. Delivering a sharp cuff to the young human’s head, Elrohir proceeded to pull Aragorn back to the clearing by the ear, Aragorn yelping and protesting the whole way.

“Face it, brother. He has you coming and going. You’d best get them down.” Elrohir leaned against a tree, casually crossing his arms.

“Help me, or I’ll tell Ada that it was really you who broke Elladan’s…” the rest of the statement was cut off as Elrohir delivered yet another stinging blow to Aragorn’s head and said quickly, “I’ll help, I’ll help!”

“You WHAT?!” Elladan, so quiet up to this point, exploded.

Elrohir cringed. About a month ago, Elladan’s favorite glass figurine from Gondor had turned up broken, and Aragorn had been punished for it. Now, as it turned out, Elrohir had broken it. “If I let you down, promise not to kill me!” he called to his fuming brother.

“I make no promise other than to DESTROY you! You know I loved that figurine! And worse, you made me think Estel had broken it!” Elladan was giving his brother the angry eyebrows look that he had learned from Lord Elrond.

Elrohir murmured to himself, “Well, it saved my tail for a month, at least.” Aloud, he continued, “Come on, Estel. We still need to finish the trap… correctly this time! And we waste time. Um…” he hesitated. “Can you get Elladan down?”

Laughing, Estel said, “I can’t get either of them down by myself. We’ll get Legolas first,” ‘For protection.’ his mind added. “And then we’ll both get Elladan down.”

They proceeded to do so. Legolas was quite relieved to be down on his own feet, so relieved that he cheerily helped Aragorn get Elladan down, giving Elrohir a head start.

Elladan, being the more athletic of the twins, had no trouble catching his twin and pummeling him. Once that was out of his system, the four got back to work on the trap, Elrohir limping noticeably. At last, after working well into the night, they got it done and headed back for Rivendell as the sun was rising.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
End flashback
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Think we’ll actually catch anyone in that thing?” Aragorn yawned.

“If anything, Ada will get flying lessons.” Elrohir muttered while rubbing his ear…. again.

Legolas and Elladan exchanged worried glances. Now that the excitement of making the trap was over, they were starting to realize the possible consequences if Elrond was really caught in that thing. “I vote we blame it all on them,” Legolas murmured.

“Agreed,” Elladan replied just as softly. “And in the meantime…do you think your father would mind having a guest for the summer?”

Legolas smiled wearily. “If that guest is you, I am sure he will not mind. Right now, Estel isn’t welcome. He pulled one too many pranks…with my assistance, but he took the blame.”

Reaching Rivendell, the four split up, Aragorn and Legolas heading for the trellis leading into the joined rooms the friends shared, and the twins heading for their joined apartments on the other side of Rivendell.

Stumbling with weariness, Aragorn entered his room with Legolas close on his heels.

“And where have you two been all day and night?” The deep, mellow voice from the shadows made both friends jump with surprise, Aragorn falling into Legolas. After recovering his balance, both turned to face the owner of the voice. Lord Elrond leaned against the doorway that was the more conventional way into Aragorn’s room, his fine eyebrows lifted slightly.

“Ada! Y-you startled us.” Yes, the excuse was lame, but Aragorn needed time to construct a reasonable reason.

“I can see that. Now, where have you two been?” Elrond repeated the question patiently, pushing himself gracefully off the doorframe.

“We were merely hunting, my lord,” Legolas interrupted gracefully. “Rabbits and other such small game are abundant this time of year, so we were setting snares for them.”

“I see.” Elrond’s voice was bland. “And it is this…’snare-setting’ that brings you back here bruised?”

“Ah, well…you know your sons once they are being teased…no sense of humor at all, I swear.” Legolas flashed his sparkly smile at Elrond, trying to ignore the plain fact that Elrond apparently did not believe him at all.

“I see.” Elrond repeated himself. “And did my sons also drag branches through your hair?”

Legolas’ hand flew to his loose hair. When they had left earlier, his golden hair had been bound in its typical braids, but after all he had been through, the braids had loosened and fallen out. His sensitive fingers found dead leaves in his hair, and wincing, he pulled them out.

“No, Ada…they just rubbed his hair in leaf piles.” Aragorn broke in with a yawn. “Now if you’ll excuse me…” he stumbled toward his bed and collapsed on top of the covers. A glass of water was on the table beside the ranger; he gulped half of it down thirstily and fell asleep moments later.

Elrond smiled tenderly at his tired human son, and then took his leave of both boys.

Legolas made his way toward his own bed and fell asleep as well, his unseeing eyes staring out the window.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later that day
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Legolas sat straight up with a start. Frowning…and yawning…the blonde elf made his way to his window, sure that he had heard something.

On the other side of Rivendell, Elladan and Elrohir sprang out of bed and headed for Legolas and Aragorn’s rooms. They too had heard it. They met Legolas at the window, and together they all looked in the direction they had heard the sound.

There it was again…a shriek?

The twins exchanged glances. “That’s Ada’s scream,” they said in unison. “And he’s not in Rivendell proper.”

Legolas winced and glanced at the bed where Aragorn still lay sleeping…with a thick down pillow over his head. Rolling his eyes, the elf stomped over to his friend and yanked the pillow off. When that only produced a moan and a rollover, Legolas snatched up the half-full glass of water left beside Aragorn’s bed and carefully began pouring it into his friend’s exposed ear.

Almost half of the water was in the ranger’s ear when he finally began stirring out of his very deep sleep. He felt something wet in his ear and absently rolled over, shaking his head to shake out the water. In his dreams, rain had fallen and dripped into his ear, so he thought nothing of it…until a cold splash of water on his face hit, followed shortly afterwards by a sharp shaking of his shoulders.

“Estel! Wake up, you tom-fool human!” Legolas’ face was very close to Aragorn’s as he shouted the words at his friend.

Aragorn jerked upright, nearly catching Legolas in the chin with his forehead. Luckily for Legolas, he had seen that coming and pulled back quickly.

“What? What’s wrong?” Legolas had only seen his friend like this once before…when he had raided the wine cellars of Mirkwood and drank most of his booty at once. Legolas had had to drag Aragorn, who was singing loudly and badly off-tune, to the river that ran under the palace and duck him several times. That didn’t help much; now he had a wet, angry drunk on his hands. Tying him to his bed was the only thing that made Aragorn stay in one place long enough to fall asleep. When he woke up, he had the world’s worst hangover, but he didn’t remember any of the events of the night before.

Remembering that, Legolas frowned and smelled the water still in the cup. His senses rebelled at the strong smell of herbs. He didn’t even have to ask the twins, who were both experienced healers, what herbs they were. Elrond had used them on the prince many times. They were the strongest sleeping herbs in Middle-earth. “Ah Estel…it seems as if your father got the jump on us for pranks,” he murmured softly.

“Whatdya mean? Oh…my head hurts…” Aragorn moaned and held his head.

Elladan, who had been watching the whole thing, remarked, “Suddenly I do not feel so bad about catching Ada in that contraption of ours.”

“Speaking of which…” Elrohir prodded. “We should go help him down. Otherwise…” He drew a line with his forefinger across his white throat, clearly indicating that they would all die.

“You’re right,” Legolas sighed, manhandling Aragorn out of bed.

Getting dressed in their normal attire, the four set out for the area where they had set the trap. Elladan, who was in the lead, froze when he came within seeing-distance of the trap. After running into the older twin, the others looked in the direction he was staring in.and all froze in shock.

Elrond was indeed in the trap. But he wasn’t alone. Glorfindel, his golden hair spilling out the side of the trap, was there as well…and to everyone’s shock, Celeborn, Lord of Lothlorien, was there as well, his natural dignity somewhat spoiled. All three were so tangled that they couldn’t even dream of getting to a sharp object, and they were all hollering at two riders at the edge of the clearing.

Legolas’ eyes were drawn to these riders…and recognized them seconds before a calm, dignified voice said in his mind, “Hello, Legolas Thrandulion.”

“Varda in Valinor!” Elladan squeaked, also recognizing the riders. “Grandmother Galadriel! Arwen!”

The second person named removed her hood, and Aragorn stared at her, no earthly good to anyone at the moment.

“So, when are you orc-spawns planning on getting us down?!” Glorfindel yelped, renewing his struggle with the net.

Elrond ordered, “Glorfindel, remain still. You are kicking me in the stomach, and it hurts. They will get us down soon…or risk instant death.”

Aragorn called at his father, drawing closer, “You drugged my water, didn’t you?”

Elrond smiled a patented innocent smile…that didn’t fool Aragorn one bit. “Did I? I cannot remember. Being caught in a net does something to spoil my memory.”

Legolas forcibly restrained his friend, as he attempted to walk closer to the trap. They had set up smaller booby traps close to the net, and Legolas was not interested in cutting Aragorn down.

Meanwhile, the twins walked over to their sister and grandmother. “What are you two–no, three, doing here?” Elladan asked. “We had not heard you were planning to visit.”

Galadriel smiled her graceful smile and replied, “We had planned with your father to visit last month. Did he not tell you?”

“No.” The twins spoke in unison.

“That is a shame.” Arwen’s clear, pretty voice cut through to Aragorn’s mind and he stopped struggling against Legolas. “But perhaps you should cut them down so we can get on with a pleasant visit.”

Half-entranced, Aragorn slipped out of Legolas’ firm hold and headed for the net, knife in hand.

“ESTEL!” The twins and Legolas all hollered the human’s name in unison. It was too late.

A rope tightened around the human’s feet, catching him up and flinging him through the trees. Moments later, the elves could hear the Doplering sound of Aragorn’s scream returning to solid ground. Even from far away, the elves all flinched.

“He screams loud, doesn’t he?” Elladan commented to Legolas.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Legolas muttered, curling into a fetal position and covering his ears. He knew just how loud the human was at close range.

“Did we ever tell him about that particular trap?” asked Elrohir, inching closer to his twin and friend.

Elladan and Legolas exchanged looks, Legolas’ guilty and Elladan’s mischievous. “No,” they answered in unison. Elladan added, “He was asleep! There was no reason to tell him!”

Aragorn bounced at the end of the rope, feeling dizzy on top of having a massive headache. “Ok,” he finally gasped, “I have been threatened, drugged, and flung through trees…are all of you even with me now?”

All of the male elves in the clearing exchanged glances. As one, they replied, “No.”

Arwen sighed gustily, the mischief shining through her grey eyes as she turned toward the woods. “Haldir, you had best come help Ada, Glorfindel, Estel and Grandfather down. I do not think the twins and Legolas can get it alone.”

Bored and irritated, Aragorn thrust his body back and forth, making the rope swing. He began humming, then singing loudly, an old children’s tune. It was akin to “The song that never ends.”

Glorfindel groaned and said to the male elves approaching the net carefully, “Can you hurry? Estel is a good boy…but he can’t sing!”

Aragorn interrupted his song long enough to say sharply to Glorfindel, “Shut up.”

Elrond’s grey eyes blazed as he glared at Aragorn. He took a deep breath…and launched into his lecture about respecting your elders. Aragorn had heard this lecture so many times he could recite it by memory, which he began to do.

Legolas groaned and covered his ears…again.

As Aragorn swung back and forth, reciting the lecture, the knots were beginning to fray. They had never been intended to hold up quite that much weight.

When Elrond…and Aragorn…got to the part about, “He has seen much more of life than you, young human, will ever see,” the knot broke completely, flinging Estel to the ground. He landed on his shoulder with a sickening crunch of bones and a yelp of pain.

“Estel!” Legolas called, carefully picking his way through the springs. He whipped out a long knife and slashed one rope…the rope that held up Elrond, Glorfindel and Celeborn.

There were several screams and a loud thud. Legolas ignored all of them; his destination was the human, curled painfully on his side.

Elrond got up quickly and raced to Estel’s side, anger overwhelmed by concern for his human son. His long fingers prodded the shoulder, and felt several broken bones as Aragorn tried to struggle under him. Legolas had to practically lie down on the human to make him remain still while Elrond checked the boy.

Haldir, on a white horse beside Arwen’s grey mare, shook his head slowly and muttered something about idiotic humans.

Aragorn, catching the gist of Haldir’s words, painfully began singing the irritating children’s song through his teeth. Haldir started forward, but Arwen stopped him. “We do not know if there are any other traps set out there,” she said softly, “and I would not see your horse get a broken leg because of you.”

Haldir glared daggers at the female elf, but held his peace.

Elrond rolled his eyes at the young human and reached into a small bag that he always carried…particularly when Legolas was visiting Aragorn. He withdrew a small vial, and Aragorn’s eyes widened when he saw it. “Aw, come on, Ada, I can walk, you don’t need to drug me again.”

“You may think you can walk, youngling, but I know you cannot. Hold still.” Forestalling Aragorn’s protest, Elrond quickly waved the vial under the human’s nose.

“I’ve walked…with eight broken ribs…and a twisted ankle…” Aragorn’s voice started slurring in response to the strong odor. “And….you think…I can’t…walk…” and he began snoring.

Legolas flinched inwardly. ‘Lovely, Aragorn, give away every secret we have,’ he grumbled silently.

Elrond shot the blonde elf a look, and Legolas instantly put on an expression of absolute innocence. “When we get back, I expect to hear this story, young one.” Elrond growled with mock anger.

Glorfindel and Celeborn were still sitting in the folds of the net, not daring to get up for fear of tripping yet another trap. Elladan and Elrohir glanced at them and walked toward them casually, slashing at half-hidden ropes on the way. Trap after trap sprung, flinging leaves and other forest debris around, but the elven twins kept walking calmly toward the blonde elf and the silver-headed elf.

After a while, they reached the sitting elves and offered them a hand up. Instead of accepting the help, Glorfindel swept his legs out, tripping both twins. They landed on their backs with a collective yelp of surprise.

Celeborn broke up the small fight, and had the twins help their father get Aragorn ready to go back to Rivendell.

~~~~~~~~~~~
A week later…
~~~~~~~~~~~

Four chairs had been set up in the Hall of Fire and everyone except the four pranksters, the two elf lords, Galadriel and Glorfindel had been banished from that area for a time…though Arwen was sitting in a cubbyhole, listening.

From left to right, Elladan, Elrohir, Legolas, and Aragorn, his arm still in a sling, sat guiltily in the chairs listening to the lectures. If they had thought Elrond by himself was bad…try adding the Lord of Lothlorien and the Marchwarden of Rivendell.

Legolas leaned over slightly and whispered to Aragorn, “Think they’ll stop any time soon?”

Aragorn thought for a moment, and then replied in a barely audible whisper, “Perhaps ten years after I’m dead.”

The End