Archive of Our Own ^beta

He never expected to find her in the Houses of Healing--not as one of the ill or injured, but as one tending them. Long had he sat by his brother Faramir’s side in his fever. When she had passed by to bathe Faramir’s pale, heated brow, Boromir had jumped up. “Lilianor!”
She looked into his joyful grey eyes even as her own blue eyes lit up her fair face. “Boromir!” They embraced.
Boromir stroked her golden hair. His angel had returned to him at last.
***
This would be the hardest thing he would ever do. Frodo was in the next room, recovering from his ordeal on Mount Doom. The other members of the Fellowship had greeted him, and now Boromir must go and make things right with him. He stood just outside the doorway, stalling for time. He passed his hand over his eyes. Why was it so hard to take this first step to forgiveness?
He felt a hand on his shoulder. Lilianor was at his side. “I healed your wounds at Parth Galen,” she said, “but only by reconciling with Frodo can you be fully restored.” She kissed him on the lips. “You can do it.”
Boromir fondly touched her cheek, then walked into the room and stopped at the side of Frodo’s bed. He knelt down so he could be at the hobbit’s level. “Frodo,” he began. He felt that the eyes of every member of the Fellowship were on him. He swallowed to relieve the tightness in his throat. “I have wronged you. When I last saw you, I attacked you and tried to take the Ring. It had driven me to madness, but I cannot fully blame my actions on the Ring’s influence. I ask for your forgiveness, if it is possible.” Boromir mumbled the last four words and bowed his head in shame.
“It is possible, Boromir.” He looked up at the sound of Frodo’s voice. “The Ring affected me, too.” Frodo held out his right hand to Boromir, and he saw that his third finger was missing. “I have suffered as you have, though it is not quite the same. Still, everything you did to me is over. It’s gone forever, like the Ring.”
A smile spread across Boromir’s face. He reached out and tousled Frodo’s dark-brown curls. The last time he had done that, it had only been a guise to hide what he truly felt. This time, it was a gesture that manifested what he truly felt--gratefulness. “Thank you, my friend.”
***
“It is time, Frodo,” said Gandalf.
At those words, Boromir knew it was time for him to give Frodo a last special goodbye. He let the four hobbits have a few minutes to say farewell, then, as Frodo boarded the Elven ship, he gave the signal. Legolas jumped down from his perch on the arch above the docks, Aragorn walked up next to him, and Gimli popped up right behind him.
Then Boromir stepped from his hiding place. From aboard the ship, Frodo’s eyes met his. He was still smiling. Boromir was too choked with emotion to say anything. His hand felt the horn of Gondor hanging at his side. Suddenly, Boromir knew how to give Frodo the perfect sendoff. He raised the horn to his lips and blew a mighty note. The air rang with the echo as the ship departed into the swift sunrise.
***
Lilianor looked up from the cradle in front of her when she heard Boromir enter their room. She put a finger to her lips. “He’s finally asleep,” she whispered with a smile.
Boromir took her in his arms. “I missed you, my angel,” he spoke softly into her golden hair. Even after two years of marriage, the sobriquet Boromir had applied to her the day they first met never failed to bring a blush to Lilianor’s cheeks.
Boromir finally released her, then looked into the cradle at their sleeping son. Tenderly, he touched the infant’s cheek. “I wish Frodo could see me now,” he murmured half to himself.
“Frodo will always have a place in our hearts,” Lilianor agreed. “He left you the greatest gift he could give--his friendship.”
Boromir, filled with love for his family and fondness for his newly regained companion, knew Lilianor was right.