This is the last time I get to say this for this story... -tear falls-... so I'm going to make it count.

-summons courage-

Here we go...

The Same Woman

By Rose-Arwen-Padmé

Epilogue

(Several, Several Years Later)

He knew something had happened the moment she entered the chamber with that smile on her face.

"What on Middle-Earth could do this? I thought that my bride was so beautiful that her beauty could never be equaled, not even by her self! Yet here you come, entering the chamber with that radiating smile on your face. You outdo yourself, my queen."

Arwen seemed to float her way over to her husband. She was tempted to roll her eyes at his love-struck remarks, which he never tired of composing. "Mmmmm, dear, do you realize how little sense that philosophy makes?" She wrapped her arms around his waist, loving the feeling of touching him. "You say that my beauty cannot be matched, even by myself?" He nodded, gripping her face gently with both his hands as he leaned to capture her lips in a kiss. "How can that be?"

A low rumble echoed in his throat. "You are asking me to think… to put together comprehensible sentences when I have you in my arms… when you smell like this." He ran his hands down her arms. "When you feel like this."

Arwen smiled giddily. "Oh, if only the kingdom knew how much of a love-beast their king truly is."

Aragorn buried his face in her neck, scorching her skin with kisses. "Oh, but the kingdom will never see the 'love-beast' that you speak of. Only you bring out this side of me."

"I should certainly hope so," she mused, loving the attention he was giving her.

"Certainly," he replied, his voice muffled as his lips draped across her skin.

"Yes, hope is a wonderful thing," she continued, a dreamy look on her face, which he presently could not see. "Amazing what hope can do, would you say so?"

"My dear, I will say and believe whatever you want me to say and believe."

Arwen's laughter greeted his ears. "If you keep this up, I might have to postpone telling you my news, and that would eventually be most distressful to me."

Aragorn sighed overdramatically and stopped his exploration of the skin outlining his wife's collarbone. "Come now, it cannot be that important. Nothing important enough to bring my attention away from you." He resumed his ministrations, this time with his hands caressing her back.

"Oh," she beamed. "You'd be surprised." She wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling love seep in every pore of her body. "It is… shall we say, of one of the highest matters of royal business?"

"Exactly. Just as I said— not enough to divert my attention away from you."

She laughed again, and his heart floated at the sound. "What an idle king," she teased. "What would your subjects think?"

"It's not my fault!" he rebutted, now deciding to kiss every inch of her face before finishing with her lips. "It's your fault. You have this effect on me."

She giggled excitedly. "Believe me, my lord, the feeling is mutual."

Aragorn was placing soft kisses on her left cheek. "My, my, my, what inadequate rulers we are."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that, dear Aragorn. I'd say we've now meet all the requirements of a royal man and wife." He pulled back only long enough to give her a confused look before devouring her neck once again. She fought to not give in to her own desires. "Now, please, step away long enough for me to tell you of joyous news."

"Joy?" Aragorn yanked backwards to fix her with an incredulous, mimicking look. "Joy? You are ignoring my husbandly advances! You want to talk of politics! I want to get reacquainted with my wife!"

This time, Arwen's giggling caught his attention more than earlier. "Oh, I have no doubt that you are fully acquainted with me, my lord. And now we both shall share in the joy of the results of it!"

Aragorn raised an eyebrow. "Now, I… think I like what you are talking about." He paused to stare at her a bit closer. "What are you talking about, Arwen?"

"First tell me you love me."

He smiled warmly and lovingly. His tone was soft. "I love you."

"Tell me that you will want me forever."

"You know that it's true. I will want you forever."

Her eyes twinkled merrily. "You will love me and want me even if I have unpleasant stretch marks?"

Surprised, but still going along, King Aragorn replied, "I will love and want you even if you have unpleasant stretch marks."

"Even if I gain several pounds, and I do mean several pounds? Completely losing my figure to become more of a ball with arms and legs?"

"Even if you become a ball with arms and legs."

"Even if I tell you run and fetch me my favorite dessert in the middle of the night, because it will quench my unquenchable pregnant food craves?"

"Even if you order me to run and fetch you your fa…fav…favorite…" The lord of lands and peoples of Middle-Earth was powerless to his jaw dropping in shock, his eyes wide in disbelief. "Did you say… you couldn't have said…"

"Pregnant food craves… as in… food cravings brought about by the magic of a pregnancy."

She would treasure the priceless look on Aragorn's face for the rest of her days. "Arwen—"

"Perhaps this will tell you to listen to your little wife. I do mean, if she happens to say that there is still hope… you listen to her, and you understand that there is still hope. No matter how many years go by, the wife will end up—"

"PREGNANT?" Aragorn shrieked, as a grin that spread from ear to ear appeared on his face. "We… we are having a BABY? A CHILD?"

Arwen cradled his head in her hands, as they both were overtaken by tears of joy. "A baby!" she exclaimed in reply. "A real child of our own!" They leaned forward at the same time, enveloping each other in their embrace as their lips met in a fiery kiss.

Arwen excitedly pulled back to take her overjoyed husband's trembling hand in her own. She placed it over her lower abdomen, and broke into a wider smile as he stroked the fabrics covering her skin with the utmost reverence. He raised his eyes to meet hers, and he stared at her with an angelic look on his face.

"I love you," he whispered, and again, "I love you." He started laughing happily as he scooped her up into his arms and swung her round and round, their laughter mixing into one beautiful sound. "I love you!" he exclaimed loudly, never wanting to say anything else.

Arwen's shimmering black hair flew behind her as her husband swung her around in his gentle, but firm embrace. She laughed even harder when he suddenly stopped, set her down, and began making an extreme fuss over her, instantly worried that he'd somehow damage her and her precious load in his excitement.

"No, my Aragorn, my Estel," she beamed, unable to comprehend just how happy she was. "I am fine. This is a happy moment."

Aragorn wrapped her up in his arms even more. "This is the happiest moment of my life." And with that, Aragorn interlocked his fingers with Arwen's, and they placed their joined hands on her abdomen, their dreams of the future lifting them to new heights together.

Finis

I hope you all have enjoyed reading this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it. It's so hard to imagine that this is it… this is the end. I sincerely thank those that somehow managed to continue their faith and support in me and in this story throughout this dramatic two year process. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you to anyone and everyone who's ever read a single chapter of this darn story. It's been a wild ride. Thank you for going along with it with me.