Love Never Expected

Chapter 5: True or False

Then next thing Fleur heard was a far away voice calling to her.

"Fleur! Fleur!" the voice called. She could tell it was male since it was a deep voice, full of worry.

At first she thought it was her father calling her, but as her senses increased she noticed the voice had an unfamiliar accent, alien yet enchanting.

She tried moving her arms, but as her senses increased, so did the pain that her body felt. Fleur slowly opened her eyes and saw a vague figure looming over her.

"Gabrielle. Gabrielle," Fleur said hoarsely, her throat dry and aching.

"Fleur, you're alright. I have to get you to the mansion, you're injured," The voice said. Fleur stained to clear her vision and saw that the voice was not her father's, but Legolas'.

He slowly picked her up and started running to the mansion at top speed. Fleur clutched Legolas' shoulder.

"Legolas! Gabrielle! Where is she?" Fleur desperately asked.

Legolas turned to her, "What do you mean? She's been in the mansion the whole time you were out."

After this remark Fleur felt her body go limp and quickly afterward once again fell into unconsciousness.

Even with her eyes closed Fleur could feel the sun's warm rays on her face. Her whole body was in pain and she felt as if she might collapse once again at any moment. She tried to open her eyes, though she couldn't open them very much what she saw surprised her.

As she opened her eyes she saw Legolas asleep on a leather chair beside her bed.

'He looks so peaceful, so innocent,' Fleur thought. Just then Legolas opened his eyes and peered at her. He let a small smile slip onto his face, his blue eyes warm and brilliant.

"Good morning, Fleur. Are you feeling better?" Legolas asked as he stood from his chair.

"A little. My body aches though. And I can't move much. How long have I been out, Legolas?" Fleur whispered, unable to speak any louder.

"Sh, don't talk. You'll only waste your energy. You've been out since yesterday," Legolas answered. 'Yesterday'. The word hit Fleur like the cane that had knocked her out.

"Gabrielle! Where is she?" Fleur cried out. She bolted upward in her bed. Even though pain shot through her spine Fleur ignored it.

"Don't worry, she's in the dinning room with your mother," Legolas explained.

At first Fleur couldn't believe what she was hearing. Then she remembered what Legolas had said to her before she had passed out.

'What do you mean? She's been in the mansion the whole time you were out.'

Fleur looked up at Legolas who was standing next to her bed.

"Legolas, before I passed out yesterday what did you mean that Gabrielle had been inside the mansion while I was out in the gardens? When I was walking through them she came and we were talking and then, and then," Fleur trailed off, remembering exactly what had happened.

"And then what happened, Fleur?" Legolas inquired. Fleur looked up at him. He wore a worried expression on his face and for a minute she wondered if she should tell him the rest.

She looked down at her hands, 'I can tell him what happened. I trust him, for some reason, even though I've only known him for what, a day?' Fleur thought.

Legolas sat down on the chair again and looked at Fleur, "You know if there's anything you want to tell me, you can. You can always come to me if you want to. Tell me what happened, I won't tell anyone." Fleur looked once again at his deep blue eyes, full of worry and care.

"If I tell you what I think happened in the gardens promise me two things, alright?" Fleur asked.

"Alright, I will," Legolas answered.

"First, I want you to promise me that you will not tell anyone what I'm going to tell you. I don't want anyone to panic. Second, I want you to believe what I say, no matter how farfetched or strange it may seem to you,"

Legolas nodded, "I promise."

Fleur spent the next minutes telling Legolas everything that had happened on her stroll of the gardens from right after he had left till the time of her passing out. When she was done she laid back against her bedpost.

Legolas wore a worried and disturbed expression and had began to pace around the room thinking about what Fleur had gone through in the gardens and of Gabrielle's kidnapping.

"Well, if the real Gabrielle was kidnapped in the garden, then who is that downstairs with your mother?" Legolas wondered.

Fleur looked up at him, "I don't know, but I do know one thing, that's not Gabrielle." Legolas stopped pacing and returned her gaze.

"If that's not Gabrielle then we must find out who it is and why he or she is playing Gabrielle's role," Legolas strode to Fleur's bed, reaching it in four large strides. "Can you stand up and walk? I was thinking, you know Gabrielle far better than anyone does, maybe if you see this one you can find some strange habits or reactions that the real Gabrielle wouldn't do. Then maybe we can trap this fake Gabrielle and make her tell us who she's working with and maybe even to where we can find the Gabrielle and rescue her," Legolas explained.

"Yes, I can walk, although not very fast. And good idea, but remember, we can't let my parents know that that's not the real Gabrielle or they'll really panic, especially my mother," Fleur commented.

She knew exactly how emotional her mother got when something was not right.

Legolas helped her to slowly get out of bed and stand. Fleur, noticing she wore her nightgown, changed before heading down stairs with Legolas at her side helping her out in any way he could.

When they reached the dinning room they found Celine and Gabrielle at the table, each reading a book.

'Well, there's something usual, Gabrielle loves reading,' Fleur thought to herself.

As soon as Legolas and Fleur walked in Celine put her book down and rushed to Fleur.

"Oh, thank heavens your alright. You had us all worried when Legolas rushed you in here and you were bleeding and hurt." She looked toward Legolas and for once gave him a smile that didn't make Fleur blush in embarrassment, "And thank you, Legolas, for helping my daughter, she means everything in the world to me." Celine thanked Legolas.

Fleur moved closer to Legolas, "How did you find me?" Legolas looked down at her.

"After my discussion with my father I went to look for you in the garden and I found you lying on the ground, bleeding from your head."

Both Legolas and Fleur took a seat at the table next to one another. A house elf came and offered some breakfast but they both declined, not having any appetite for the moment.

After the house elf had disappeared back to the kitchen Legolas leaned over to Fleur, "Do you notice anything different about her, Fleur?"

Fleur turned towards Legolas, "No, she seems normal, but there has to be something about her that isn't like Gabrielle."

Fleur studied the fake Gabrielle, but could find nothing proving that she was fake. Frustrated and tired Fleur laid down on the velvet couch in the living room.

'There has to be something different, there has to be,' Fleur thought.

"Fleur, what are you doing?" asked a voice from above her. Gabrielle stood leaned over Fleur curious at what she was doing.

Fleur looked straight into Gabrielle's eyes and found her answer.

"Nothing, Gabrielle. I'm just tired and I want to rest," Fleur said, holding herself from jumping up and seizing Gabrielle.

Gabrielle just nodded and strode off to her room.

After making sure that Gabrielle had truly left Fleur got up and searched for Legolas. It didn't take her long before she found him sitting before the fireplace in a chair gazing at the flames.

"Legolas, I've found it!" Fleur announced. Legolas stood and turned to her.

"You found out what was different about Gabrielle?" Legolas asked. Fleur nodded.

"Yes, her eyes. The real Gabrielle has grey eyes, but this one has blue ones," Legolas smiled.

"Then tonight we shall pay our con artist a visit in Gabrielle's room and really find out what has happened to Gabrielle."