Oh my God, an update! Can you believe it? Just to let you all know, this is the second-to-last chapter. And I'm afraid I'm going to leave you all with another cliffhanger. Ah, it's good to be evil.

Disclaimer: Fic will become hot when heated.

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"Daisy? Daisy!"

Carrie opened her eyes and blinked a few times. Merry and Pippin had both been hovering anxiously over her; now they sat back. Pippin slowly let out the breath he had been holding, and Merry rubbed his face with one hand, looking shaken.

"What happened?" Carrie asked, looking around in bafflement. The last thing she remembered was crawling towards that figure and feeling ill, and now she was back at the fire and feeling groggy but more or less all right.

"I could ask you the same thing," Merry said sharply. Carrie squirmed guiltily; he had apparently recovered from his scare and was now glaring at her. She couldn't recall him ever looking so angry… except perhaps with the Uruks, but then he had been angry on her behalf. "What were you doing?"

Carrie bit her lip. Their previous reactions to her seeing things in the woods made her less than keen to explain herself.

"You saw it again," Pippin quietly interjected, "didn't you?"

After a few seconds of Carrie looking down at the ground and refusing to make eye contact, Merry sighed impatiently and leaned forward. "I don't know about you, Daisy, but I'm sensing a bit of a pattern. You think you see something in the woods, you chase after it, you get ill, and you fall over. You think you see something in the woods again, you chase after it again, you get ill again, and you fall over again." Merry paused for breath. "Then, just minutes ago, you undoubtedly thought you saw something in the woods yet again, went after it, and fell ill again, worse than before." Merry shook his head, looking pained. "You were half dead when we got to you, Daisy."

"Even if you don't have any concern for your own health," Pippin said with forced lightness, "I think we'd both appreciate it if you didn't give us heart attacks like that."

Carrie didn't say anything. She was frustrated to an outrageous degree, and on top of that, she was being scolded. Since frustration and scolding were two of the relatively few things that ever made her cry, this was a very bad combination. And since she was fairly certain that a sob was as likely to issue forth as an apology or an explanation, she kept her mouth clamped firmly shut. She was not going to cry in front of these two, damn it. She wasn't crazy, and she had nothing to be sorry for.

Merry shifted. "You don't have anything to say for yourself?"

After a short pause, Carrie managed, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't speak to me like a child."

Merry sat up straight in indignation. Pippin started to lift his hand in a would-be appeasing gesture, but his cousin was too busy glaring at Carrie to notice. "Then stop acting like a child!" he snapped. Carrie clenched her jaw and resumed looking down at the ground.

Pippin looked at Carrie for a moment, then turned to his cousin. "I think we should discuss this later," he said. Merry opened his mouth to object, but Pippin cut him off neatly. "I think we're all tired and upset, and shouting isn't going to do anyone any good." He looked back down at Carrie. "Daisy, regardless of what you see out there, will you just stay here by the fire for the night?"

Although she was still feeling disgruntled, she appreciated that Pippin was doing his best to defuse the situation. "Fine," she said quietly. The Took looked relieved.

"Excellent." He ran a hand over Carrie's hair, then stood up and went to set up his own bedroll. Carrie half expected Merry to do something retaliatory after the hair-touching, but he just continued to look peeved. As she watched them both out of the corner of her eye, she frowned. They were both acting… different. It reminded her of their behavior when Celestina ignored the fic. It was almost normal. But the fic was unraveling; it made no sense.

Then, quite suddenly, everything did make sense. The knowledge hit her like a bolt out of the blue. She knew exactly who the hooded figure was. But she didn't feel happiness or relief at the realization.

She was furious.

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Randi hummed as she snipped. His hair was actually turning out better than she had anticipated. She left it just long enough to cover his ears, though she didn't personally think that they were as terribly conspicuous as most Suethors made them out to be. And anyway, it wasn't as if people routinely examined the ears of passerby, for Pete's sake. But Randi figured that leaving it longer was safer, since Legolas would undoubtedly act like a freak and as such would be better off with as few physical anomalies as possible.

Legolas heaved a sigh as he looked sideways at the blonde hair on the floor. "Does it… look all right?"

"It looks fine," Randi said, rolling her eyes, "And anyway, it'll grow back. Eventually."

Legolas snorted, but didn't reply. Both parties maintained a relative silence until the haircut had been completed (though Randi occasionally let out small noises of triumph, amusement, or frustration). Finally, the girl stepped back with a pleased grin.

"Done and done."

Before she had said the second 'done,' Legolas had leaped off of the futon and rushed over to the mirror. He peered into the glass in incredulous horror, then reached up to touch his hair, which was now considerably shorter and very slightly layered (Randi had felt ambitious).

"Not half bad," Randi said with approval. Legolas whipped his head around to glare at her.

"Not half bad?" he repeated, gaping at her. "It's all gone!"

"Oh, it is not. If it were, you'd be bald." Randi surveyed the hair on the carpet and started to pick it up with a lint-roller. "Anyway," she continued briskly, "I didn't ask you to follow me to classes; that was entirely your decision. So don't blame me for wanting to make you look less freakish."

"Hmph," Legolas muttered, turning away from the mirror but still fingering his new 'do unbelievingly.

Randi finished cleaning up and eyed Legolas. "You know, once you put on some real clothing, you might vaguely resemble normal." After a slight pause, she continued in a businesslike tone, "I'm going to tell my professors that you're my cousin from England… my very shy cousin. You aren't to say a word."

"But we're not cousins, and I've never heard of this 'England' place," Legolas objected, sitting back down on the futon.

"Well, you're going to act like my cousin," Randi said, narrowing her eyes dangerously. "If you hit on me at all or just generally act like you're in love with me, I'm locking you out of the room; you can fend for yourself."

Disgruntled Legolas took a backseat as Moony Legolas began to reassert himself. "My lady, if you are telling me to act as if I don't worship the very ground upon which your lovely, dainty feet are wont to tread-"

"That is precisely what I'm telling you to do." Randi quickly grabbed Legolas' bow and leveled it at him. "You want to shadow me for a day, you're going to have to agree to some conditions. And 'Absolutely No Making Eyes At Me' is condition number one."

Legolas looked severely put out. "What are the other conditions?"

Randi shrugged. "I haven't thought of those, yet. But I'll have some ideas for you in the morning." She hesitated, shook the bow threateningly at Legolas, then backed over to her bed and plopped down. "I'm going to sleep. Touch me and I'll forking kill you."

Legolas sighed and settled himself on the futon. "I won't come near you, my lady."

"Hmph." Randi wiggled under her comforter and glared suspiciously at the elf. "You better not." She smothered a yawn, then turned off her bedside lamp. Tomorrow was going to either suck, or be a riot. She was betting on the former.

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Carrie sat by the fire, which was beginning to burn down. Pippin and Merry had fallen asleep, but she refused to give in to her own exhaustion. She was waiting for the hooded figure to return; she wanted to see it again. Whenever she thought about it, a fresh wave of fury washed through her. She stared at the edge of the forest, waiting, daring the figure to reappear.

And just as she was beginning to nod with weariness, it did.

For a moment, she thought she might have drifted off and was dreaming. But a hearty pinch convinced her she was awake. There it was, then. But instead of charging after it like she had so many other times, Carrie immediately looked away. It was time to give the hooded stalker a bit of a show.

Deliberately avoiding the figure's gaze, Carrie looked down at the grass and sighed a bit, as if suffering some internal debate. She bit her lower lip, partly to appear anguished and partly to keep from grinning wickedly; then, after a bit of hesitation, she crawled over to where Pippin was sleeping and nudged him.

The hobbit blinked awake, then squinted at her. "Daisy? Is something wrong?" He sat up and rubbed his eyes wearily.

"No, not really." Carrie lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug. "I just wanted to… thank you." She ducked her head slightly in a show of exaggerated modesty, glancing surreptitiously to see if the figure was still watching. It was. Satisfied on that count, she glanced back at Pippin. He was looking at her in sleepy bewilderment.

"Thank me for what?" He smothered a yawn.

Good question. She hadn't thought this far ahead. "Well," Carrie said carefully, "for defending me earlier." She smiled sheepishly at him. "You shouldn't have; I was being a spaz. I deserved to be scolded."

"Don't be ridiculous," Pippin said, shaking his head. "I don't… I won't pretend to know what's been going on, Daisy. But I don't think you would lie about seeing things just to be obnoxious."

"Well, even so," Carrie smiled gently, "it was very sweet of you." Much to her satisfaction, Pippin flushed and hastily looked away.

"It's no trouble," he stammered at the ground.

"I just wanted you to know," Carrie said, scooting a bit closer to him, "how much I appreciated it. You've been so understanding… I really don't know what I'd do if you weren't around."

By this point, Pippin was beet red and avoiding Carrie's gaze with a sort of bashful determination. He opened his mouth as if to defend his mediocrity, but shut it quickly when no sound issued forth. Instead, he continued staring at the grass with intense absorption.

Carrie didn't have to check to be certain the figure was still watching the show. She scooted a little bit closer and raised her eyebrows slightly. "Pippin."

He slowly looked up with a desperate, reluctant hope that almost made her regret deceiving him… but she comforted herself with the mental assertion that this was all really one big deception that she was bringing to an end. She was ready - more than ready - to go home.

So, before she could change her mind or chicken out, she leaned forward and kissed him.

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Bwahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaa! (kicks feet delightedly)

Hey you guys… think we can make it to 1,000 reviews? (puppy dog eyes) Because that would be spectacular!

Many thanks for the reviews last chapter! They really do inspire me. Hooded stalkers for everyone, and cookies for those of you who have guessed who it is by now!

Platy