CHAPTER 4
“BLOODY HELL”, Amanda yelled for the millionth time, causing Dom and Billy to laugh. It was a rare afternoon off for the Hobbits and her and Elijah were on the floor engrossed in a game of Halo. Dom was sitting on the couch behind her, softly chuckling.
“You are starting to sound like Orli.”
Amanda scowled and elbowed him the shin. “Shut up.”
Laughing, Dom rubbed the top of her head. “Getting a little, angry there love?”
“SHIT!” Amanda yelled as she through down the X-Box controller.
Elijah was grinning from ear to ear. “Don’t worry, Mandy. These two can’t play half as good as you.”
Jumping up on the couch in between Dom and Billy Amanda pouted. “I HATE losing at video games. HATE IT!!”
“We can see that”, Dom said putting an arm around her. “Maybe you can have a rematch later.”
Amanda smiled. “Hell yeah. I will defeat him before I leave next week. I will.”
Elijah smiled and tapped her on the nose. “You can at least try.”
Amanda through a pillow at him as he left, headed towards the kitchen. He laughed and ducked as it went by his head.
“I’m hungry.” Amanda said suddenly. “Lij, bring me some chips and a Pepsi.”, she yelled to him.
“Excuse me?”, he said poking his head around the corner, “you are the one that lost. You should be waiting on me.”
Amanda made a grab for another pillow when Elijah disappeared back into the kitchen.
Dom just shook his head. Amanda was unbelievable. She fit in so well with all of them. It was almost like she had been with them since the beginning. “Want to go to a movie tonight?” Dom asked quietly.
Looking at him, Amanda smiled. “It’s already eight-thirty. You need some sleep Dom.” She was really worried about him. The had been filming fifteen hours a day and he was spending his precious hours off with her. As much as she was loving spending that time with him, she wanted him to get some rest.
“But..”
“No buts. Sleep. We have been out or up late every night since we met.”
Dom moved his hand up to her neck and rubbed. “You are leaving next week. I want to spend as much time with you as I can.”, he said quietly.
She smiled. “I still have a week. If you get sick, then what?”
Leaning his head back, Dom sighed. “You’re right. But you have to promise me to be here when I get home at night. So I can spend a couple hours with you before I beddy bye.”
Amanda giggled. “Beddy bye?”
Dom smiled. “What?”
Shaking her head Amanda smiled. “Nothing. I promise. I will be here. Besides, this is where the X-Box is.”
“I knew it. You are only hanging with us for our toys.” Dom said standing up and stretching. He was getting tired.
“Maybe. But what is your excuse?” She asked looking up at him.
Kissing the top of her head he looked down into her eyes. “Just you.” he replied quietly as he want into his room.
Amanda just stared after him and then shook her head. Dom was just Dom. He said outrageous things like that all the time. But he didn’t mean it. He was just a big flirt and Amanda was not going to get any delusions to the contrary. Turning to say something to Billy, she smiled when she noticed that he was dead asleep. And then she realized that Elijah hadn’t come back yet from the kitchen. Imagining that he had gone to the bathroom, Amanda started waking Billy up.
“Billy.” She said quietly, shaking him a little. “Bills.”
Billy sat up and looked around. “OH God. I am sorry. I am a wee bit more tired than I thought.”
Amanda smiled. “That’s ok. I sent Dom to bed already too. You guys are going to make yourselves sick.”
Billy sighed with his head laying back against the couch. “Well, I canna leave Dom to his own devices”, he said quietly.
Amanda was going to ask what he meant, when she realized he was fast asleep again. Shaking him again, he looked at her.
“Off to bed with you.” Amanda said pulling him up and shoving him towards his bedroom. “Goodnight Billy.”
“G’Night lassie.” Billy said swaying to his room.
Laughing, Amanda sat back down on the couch and grabbed the X-Box controller. “LIJ!! Where is my food?” When she didn’t get a reply she to the kitchen and found Elijah dead asleep, face down on the counter. Ruffling his hair, she nudged him.
“Lij, gotta wake up baby.”
Elijah sat up and rubbed his eyes. “Mandy?” Blinking he looked around. Before Amanda had moved her hand, she felt how warm he was. Moving her hand to his face, she felt him burning up. ‘Damn,’ she thought. She knew this was going to happen. They had been filing so many hours. And it had been wet and cold. And they stayed up trying to keep her entertained. She knew someone was going to get sick.
“Come on Lij. Let’s get you to bed.”
Feeling as sick as he did, Elijah formed no protest. Amanda somehow got him to his room and on his bed. She thanked God that he was already in a state for sleeping. She so didn’t want to go through the whole ordeal of seeing the boy semi naked. Although upon reflection, ordeal was probably not what it would be. Stiffening a small giggle, she pulled a blanket up over him and went in search of some sort of medication.
In the bathroom, she was astounded to find a thermometer and some NYQUIL. Ignoring the boxes of condoms that she had to rifle through, she grabbed the unopened Cherry NYQUIL and headed back into Elijah’s room. Thankfully, it was an ear thermometer so she could take his temp without waking him. She looked at the temp and gasped. Amanda knew he was warm, but 104.4 was a bit too high. She thought a moment. After giving him a dose of NYQUIL she headed back to the bathroom in search of a washcloth.
Opening another cupboard door, she outright laughed at finding another stash of condoms. ‘Whores. The whole lot of the were whores’, she thought to herself. While getting washcloth wet with cold water she briefly wondered how many of those belonged to Dom, and then shook her head. THAT was none of her business. Besides, they were all probably Orlando’s.
Back in Elijah’s room she put the cool cloth on his head and put kissed his forehead. He smiled in his sleep and she went out to the living room. She thought about trying to sleep, but knew that she wanted to check on Elijah in a couple hours. So she opted for practicing Halo. She would use Elijah’s down time against him.
~~~~
Amanda looked at the clock. It was four-thirty AM. She knew Elijah had to be in make-up at five-thirty. There was no way in hell that was going to happen. She had checked on him at four, and his temp was down, but only by a fraction. Somehow, she had to get a hold of someone to tell them about Elijah. There was no way he could work in this condition. Coming out of Elijah’s room, she ran into Orlando.
“Jesus, are you just coming in?” Amanda asked following him to the kitchen.
“Yes. We are filming at night for a few weeks. Helm’s Deep. Rainy. Cold. It’s bloody awful.”
Smiling, Amanda grabbed a glass of water. “Just take care of yourself. Lij is really sick. He has been sporting a 103/104 degree fever all night.”
“Shite! Is he going to go in?” Orlando asked sitting on the couch, plopping his feet in front of him on the coffee table.
“I really don’t think he should. The conditions you guys work in are whacked out.” Amanda said, copying Orlando’s sitting position.
“Let me call Pete, and see what he says.”
Amanda sighed and closed her eyes. From all that she heard, Peter Jackson was a fair man. Elijah would be given the time he needed to recoup.
~~~~~
Orlando hung up the phone and leaned his head back. “Let the boy sleep. Pete wants him at 100%. He is going to be doing some filming, flailing about in the water, and he needs to start out healthy.
“Thank god.” Amanda said, never picking her head up off the back of the couch.
~~~~
Amanda slowly opened her eyes and moved her head. She winced as he felt a pain shoot through her neck. Looking about her she noticed that was laying on Orlando’s lap. ‘How the hell did that happen?’ she asked herself as she sat up.
Orlando stirred next to her and stretched. “Wow, guess I was tired.”
“Ditto for me.” She laughed as she looked down at the drool spot on the thigh of his jeans. “Sorry.” She said pointing down to his leg.
Orlando looked down, laughed and then shrugged. “At least your not my dog.”
She was about to make a snappy comeback when she looked behind her and saw Dom getting his shoes on. Smiling she stood up and went over to him.
“Hey. I wanted to have breakfast with you.”
Dom didn’t even look up at her. “I am going to eat on set.”
“Oh Ok. Well, maybe we can have a late dinner when you get back.”
Dom stood up and threw his coat on. “Sure. Whatever.” And he walked out the door.
Amanda just stood there, mouth opened in shock. ‘What was that about?’, she asked herself and then looked at Orlando. She groaned and shook her head. “DAMN”
Orlando turned to look at her. “What?”
“Dom is pissed at us.”
Orlando looked confused. “Why?”
She looked him like

and he then groaned and shook his head as well. “Do you want me to go talk to him?”
“No. I will. Is he always this pigheaded?”
Orlando shrugged and walked by her to his room. “Only when he cares”
Amanda blinked and let that sink in for a second. The she hurried out the door to catch Dom before he left.
~~~~
Dom had just shut the door when he saw Amanda come running out of the house. Closing his eyes he took a deep breath. When Amanda made it up to the car she leaned on the door. “Dom”
“Amanda, I am already running late.”
“I know just hear me out.”
Shrugging he started the car. “What is there to hear? You and Orli…”
Amanda stopped him with a kiss. A kiss that was brief and to the point. Pulling back, she took off Dom’s sunglasses. “There is no Orli and I. He came home and fell asleep on the couch. Elijah had gotten sick in the middle of the night and I didn’t get any sleep. We both fell asleep and well…somehow we ended up like that.”
Dom smiled and pulled her close to him for another kiss. This one deeper and full of promise. “Bloody hell, I don’t want to go to work now.”
Sliding his glasses back on his face, Amanda smiled. “Well, I am going to the movies tonight. If you get out of filming in time, you can meet me there.”
Smiling, Dom grabbed her hand and kissed it. “I’ll try. Now what is this about Lij?”
Amanda sighed and wrinkled up her nose. “He had a 104 fever for most of the night. You guys are wearing yourselves out. I know part of it is because of me. Maybe I should…”
Putting a finger on her lips he shook his head. “Don’t say it. Especially now, love. We have to much to talk about. I am going to spend every second I can with you.”
Inside, Amanda was jumping up and down. On the outside, she was all cool and collected. She smiled. “OK.”
Kissing her one more time he put the car in drive. “I really have to go. I’ll see you tonight Manders.”
She smiled. “Later Dommers.”
CHAPTER 5
…end flashback…
Amanda grinned at the look on Sally’s face. “Ok, Amanda, let me get this straight. You fricken kissed Dominic Monaghan? Full on the lips?”
Amanda nodded.
“You nursed Elijah Wood back to health?”
Again she nodded.
“Have Billy Boyd wanting to protect you and have regular conversations with Orlando Bloom? Does that about cover it?”
Shrugging, Amanda smiled. “If you want the Cliff notes version. Yes that is how it went.”
Sally scowled. “If you were some girl on the net sharing this story, I would so call you a bitch. Hell, I think I am going to call you one anyhow. Bitch.”
Amanda chuckled a little. But was worried about how Sally felt about all of this. “Do you hate me?”
Sally shrugged. “I could never hate you, Mandy.”
“But…”
Sally just looked at her. Amanda could see that she was hurt that she didn’t know anything about this. And she knew that it was going to get worse because the story was no where near done yet. “I really did try calling you from New Zealand several times, Sal. And then when I got back all ready to tell you everything, you had moved to England. And telling you all of this on the phone was not going to work.”
Sally knew then, that Amanda had been hurt as well. “Mandy, I am sorry about moving like that. I just…”
Amanda grabbed her hand. “Hon, I know what you are like.Spur of the moment type of person. That is why I love you. You are so different from me.”
At that Sally laughed. “Not so different it seems.”
“Yea well, the entire time I was thinking, what would Sally do.?” Sighing she looked at Sally. “ Besides I was too preoccupied with what was going on in my life to ever get pissed at you. I was never upset by that. Just…when the shit hit the fan a few years later I sure could have used you then.”
“What do you mean?”
“Sal, I told you it was a long story.”
Shaking her head, Sally sat back on the couch, “Ok so you kissed Dom…”
Amanda laughed. “Yes I kissed Dom…
…flashback…
Amanda was beside herself with joy. And worry. She never that you could feel both emotions at the same time. But here she was. Ecstatic and confused all at once. Grabbing her cell phone, she dialed Sally’s number. She needed to talk to her best friend. Tears came to Amanda’s eyes as she was forwarded to Sally’s voice mail. Again.
…end flashback..
“Shit.” Sally said quietly.
Amanda blinked. “Come again?”
“I’m just really sorry.”
Amanda squeezed her hand. “It’s ok.”
Sally sighed. “Ok continue.”
…flashback…
Ok so her and Dom needed to talk. That much was true. But what was he going to say? What happened when she left next week? Sitting on the couch, Amanda sighed. It was all to much to think about, especially on so little sleep. She looked at the couch and scowled. The boys had the most uncomfortable sofa known to mankind. She had less than zero desire to sleep on it. Looking down the hallway, she knew that there was one empty room.
Smiling, Amanda opened the door to Dom’s room and sighed. She was instantly hit in her senses by his scent. Woodsy. Sexy. It effected her to the point that she almost fell to her knees. She took a few deep breaths and looked around. She had never seen so many t-shirts or sneakers in one place. Unless you counted something like Footlocker.
Looking at the bed she grinned from ear to ear. It was still unmade. Kicking off her flip flops she crawled under the covers. She closed her eyes and hugged the pillow to her. Amanda fell asleep, dreaming that she was holding Dom.
….end flashback…
Sally was staring at her in open-mouthed shock. “You didn’t?!?!”
Amanda looked sheepishly down at the floor. “Yeah, I know.”
Sally shook her head. “I can’t believe that little miss un-romantic did that.”
Amanda looked up at her and sighed. “Yeah. Well. That sure got cured quick enough.”
Frowning at the unshed tears in Amanda’s eyes she grabbed her hand. “You loved him?” She asked almost shocked.
Blinking, Amanda let the tears fall. “I did.” She said quietly. “Hell, I still do.”
At that moment, fan girl or not, Sally wanted to kill Dom. And it pissed her off even more, because she had taken off to England. “What happened, Mandy?”
Amanda shrugged. “Hell if I know.”
…flashback…
Rushing into the house, Dom kicked off his shoes and ran to check on Elijah. He wanted to meet Amanda at the movies even though he would be late. But a little time with her was better than none at all.
He and Billy had been calling the house all day with no answer. Everyone was worried about Elijah. Orlando would have known what was going on, since he was on a night filming schedule, but he was elsewhere so no one saw him. Looking at the clock Dom sighed. It was already eight-o-clock. The movie was half over.
Stepping into Elijah’s room, he smiled. The boy was fast asleep. Touching his forehead, and felt cool to him. Dom was sure that if Lij was still sick, Amanda would have stayed with him.
Going to his room, Dom stopped in his tracks. Amanda was in his bed. Fast asleep. The sight moved him like nothing ever had before. Most of the time, when there was a girl in his bed, they weren’t sleeping. Amanda looked like she belonged there. Quietly, he slipped off his sneakers and his t-shirt. There was no way in hell, he was going to remove his jeans. He was playing with fire as it was, even thinking about climbing in bed with her.
When he sat on the edge of the bed, she stirred and the blanket fell a little, revealing her shoulder. Smiling, Dom laid down on his side, wrapped his arms around her and placed a small kiss on it. Licking his lips he could swear that he tasted vanilla.
~~~~
Amanda’s eyes popped open and she gasped. It only took a few seconds to ascertain that she was in Dom’s room. Then looking down, she saw his hands locked in front of her, laying on her stomach. She smiled. Dom was holding her. She felt a gentle kiss ion her shoulder. It was so sweet and so gentle it made her shiver. Then she almost jumped out of his arms, when he whispered at her ear.
“Cold, love?”
Amanda closed her eyes, and willed her heart and other areas of her body to calm the hell down. “Far from it,” she replied quietly.
Dom nuzzled her neck. “Me either.”
~~~~
Amanda closed her eyes and relished in the feel of his lips on her neck, then behind her ear and back down to her neck again. Even though she knew she should stop him, she allowed him to continue with his torturous investigations. She needed to stop him, but it felt to damn good. His lips felt to damn good.
Suddenly things took on a whole new perspective when she felt his hand move slowly up her shirt. She froze in her spot and grabbed his hands.
“Dom. Stop. Please.” She said quietly. His hands instantly seized their activity, instead, grabbing Amanda’s and holding onto them.
“What’s wrong?,” he asked quietly in her ear.
‘OH God’, she thought to herself.
…end flashback…
“HOLD IT!!!” Sally yelled waving her hands in the air to put a halt to Amanda’s tale.
Amanda swallowed past the lump in her throat. She was dead. Sally was now going to kill her.
“I….How?…Are you…WERE you daft?”
Amanda shrugged. “Sal, you know me.”
Sally sighed. “Yes, I do. And this also helps explain the last few years. Why you never dated anyone. At least not seriously. You never ever would have been with someone unless you loved them. And that someone was Dom.”
Blinking back tears, Amanda just looked at Sally.
“Oh Mandy, I am so sorry.”, Sally said pulling Amanda into her arms. She held on to her best friend and let her cry. Sally was angry. At herself for not being there. Amanda for not telling her everything. And at Dominic Monaghan. Star or not he hurt her best friend and now he was on her shit list.
Sitting up, Amanda grabbed a Kleenex from the coffee table. “I’m sorry.”
Shaking her head, Sally wiped a few tears off of Amanda’s cheek. “Honey. The only thing you should be sorry for is not spilling all of this sooner. What he did to you…”
Amanda smiled. “Sal, that’s just it. I don’t know what he did to me.”
Sally cocked an eyebrow at her. “How is that?”
“Well, if I can finish the story you will know all that I know. We never officially broke up.”
“Were you officially dating?” Sally asked shocked for the hundredth time already,
Amanda nodded. “All his friends knew. My parents. We just never announced it to the world. “
Sally shook her head. “Ok. You had better tell me something that will make me NOT want to rip his head off.”
“I’ll try.”
…flashback..