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Elrohir stared defiantly into Elrond's eyes, his hands clenched at his sides. "I do not care. You do not care."

"I do care, Elrohir," Elrond said, kneeling beside his son. "I care so much. I am sorry for what I have done to you in the past. Please believe my oath; I will not hurt you again. I will not hurt Arwen."

"I-I cannot forgive you. You hurt me too much! Stop asking for me to forgive you; I cannot. And I am not sorry."

Elrond pinched his lips together. "What can I do to show you I mean it?"

"Nothing," Elrohir cried. "Leave me alone! I-I hate you!"

"Hating people is not right, Elrohir," Elrond said gently. "Hating people hurts you."

"I do not care," Elrohir snapped. "It is true, and I will not hide it. Your oath is a lie; you have lied to me more then Elladan. I will never trust you again. I stopped trusting you the second time you spanked me. And I remember it only too well!"

"I do not lie this time, Elrohir. How can I prove it to you if you will give me no chance?"

"I have no chances left to give you," Elrohir said bitterly. "Do you know how many times I went to bed after being spanked and said to myself, "All I want is for ada to truly love me. Maybe if I wait a little longer, he will stop hitting me." No, you have no idea, and I lost count once I hit the triple digits. You never gave a bloody—"

Elrond clapped his hand over Elrohir's mouth to cut him off. "No swearing, ion. I will not tolerate it."

Elrohir looked into his eyes as Elrond kept his hand pressed across his lips. He ripped himself away and fled from the room, biting back angry tears.

Elrond sighed and pressed a hand to his forehead. He had hurt Elrohir more then Elladan. All he wanted was to show his son how much he meant his oath. But Elrohir refused to give him a chance.

Feeling like a short rest would help, Elrond walked up to his room, feeling heated from his argument with Elrohir minutes earlier. He stopped as he tripped over a fallen tunic and frowned; convinced he had not left any of his clothes strewn about. He looked up and gasped as he saw the drawers of his dresser turned out, the contents spilled across the floor.

"What in Middle Earth?" Elrond exclaimed, his annoyance rising as he regarded the mess. It had clearly been done on purpose, and the thought annoyed him even more. Had Legolas or Landion decided this would be funny? Or was it . . . Elrohir.

Elrond turned to leave his room, frowning with frustration, but a noise in his wardrobe stopped him. On silent feet, he crossed to the wardrobe and listened, hearing heavy breathing coming from inside. Apparently the culprit was still in the room with him.

Elrond twisted the knob and opened the door. Elrohir let out a shriek and moved to dart past him but Elrond caught him by the wrist and held him back. Wrestling Elrohir under control, Elrond gestured to his ransacked room. "Would you care to explain yourself?"

"No," Elrohir cried. "Let me go. I have nothing to say, and I do not care what you do to me!"

"Elrohir, our disagreement earlier is no reason to come in here and throw my room into upheaval. I know you were upset over things that have happened in the past, but you cannot take your anger out in this manner. Do you understand?"

"No," Elrohir said, and hot tears filled his eyes. "Go ahead. Muffle me again. Make me be quiet because I am small." His jaw began to tremble.

Elrond sank down to the bed with thoughts of spanking Elrohir to punish him for his wrong deeds but he held back the thought as he remembered his oath. How he wanted to administer the punishment but instead he froze the idea and sat Elrohir on his lap, feeling the elfling cringe as he picked him up as though he feared being turned over Elrond's knee. "I will not muffle you. You may speak your mind and I will listen."

Elrohir made no reply but to turn and bury his face in Elrond's shirt. He began to sob, the tears turning the elf lord's shirt wet. He felt the wet cloth touch his skin as he rubbed Elrohir's back to help soothe him.

"You have never been kind. Never, never," Elrohir sobbed.

Elrond said nothing, his heart swelling that listening to his son meant so much to Elrohir.

"I have nothing to say," Elrohir sniffled. "I-I was angry about the things you said to me earlier."

"But that is not why you emptied out my drawers, is it?" Elrond questioned.

Elrohir hesitated before he shook his head. "No. But I will not tell you why I emptied out your drawers."

"You will help me clean up the mess you have made," Elrond said firmly. "What you did was wrong, no matter the reasons, and you must make amends. Because I have sworn to stop spanking you does not mean I will let you get away with wrong. There will still be punishments. Do you understand?"

Elrohir leaned closer to him and gave a small nod. "Yes. And I am sorry for some of the things I said to you earlier. You are right; I should give you a chance to prove yourself. It-it is just—I cannot bring myself to trust you. I want to give you a second chance but I gave you so many chances to stop spanking me and you never did . . ."

"I was unfair to you, Elrohir. I never gave you the chance to speak your mind, to explain yourself. I know you tried and struggled to make your feelings known and I never listened. I want to give you the chance to speak to me about your feelings. I want you to know the next time you are struggling, I will listen to you with more then half and ear."

Elrohir looked into Elrond's sincere eyes and faltered. "I-I guess I will try to give you another chance to prove you mean your oath. One more."

"One more is all I am asking," Elrond said, leaning down to kiss the top of Elrohir's dark head.

Elrohir sat on Elrond's lap, curled against his chest for a while longer, letting his upset breathing return to normal before he got down on his knees beside Elrond to pick up the clothing strewn across the room.

Elrohir is still struggling, but I think he is beginning to unfold his torn petals, don't you?

Thank you all so much for reading. Sharing this story means so much to me, and I love being inspired by your thoughts and suggestions at the end of each chapter.

Next Chapter: Elrond's vow is tested!