~DISCLAIMER~

I own nothing mentioned in this fanfic, I am merely an obsessed LOTR fan. I wish I could own Frodo, but beggars can't be choosers.

A/N: THIS IS AN AU FIC! PLEASE DON'T FLAME ME SAYING THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS THE BOOKS! This is one of my many versions of what could have happened after the end of the LOTR, The Fellowship of the Ring film. Also, I'm sorry if I've got the times wrong for how long it would take the fellowship to walk from one place to another, but I really don't know myself.

Love Is Blind

"Love may be blind but it seems to find it's way around"

PART 1

'Sam! Sam! Look, over there! Are they who I think they are?' Frodo asked, pointing to a small group of people hardly visible in the distance.

'I have no idea, Master Frodo, sir.' Sam said, looking. 'You have better eyesight than me.'

'It's the others, I'm sure.' Frodo continued, staring into the distance.

'Frodo, they went off to find Merry and Pippin. Now the ring's gone… they probably couldn't care less about us.'

'Oh, stop being so negative Sam.' Frodo said. 'It's them… look, Sam, look.'

Sam looked again, to see the group of people coming slightly closer. He was right in saying that Frodo had remarkable eyesight, but at this distance even he could make out the shape of two tall people, two very short people, and one person who seemed to be slightly taller than the short people and slightly shorter than the tall people.

By now, Frodo was running towards the group, waving his arms madly in the air, shouting at them. 'Over here! Over here!'

'Slow down Master Frodo!' Sam panted, running after Frodo. Within a minute, Frodo and Sam had caught up with the group of people to find that it was, indeed, the rest of the fellowship, apart from Gandalf (and Boromir, obviously.)  There then followed a lot of group hugs, especially between the four hobbits.

'We never thought we'd see you again!' Merry and Pippin were both saying, hugging Frodo and Sam so tightly they could hardly breathe.

'The ring, is it… gone?' Aragorn asked.

'Yes, it is. What are you doing here, anyway?'

'Looking for you.' Aragorn said. 'But now we must find somewhere to rest before nightfall.'

'What's the rush?' Pippin complained. 'We've been walking for ages, and my feet hurt! We're on our way home now, we haven't got to hurry.'

'Your feet always hurt, Peregrin, and as for the "we don't have to hurry" comment, if you would like to be stuck in the middle of nowhere when we run out of food, then don't expect me to join you.'

***

So the group of friends began on the long walk back to Rivendell, walking by day and resting by night. Many stories were told about what had happened after the breaking of the fellowship.  (A/N: I will not go into those now, as I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't read the books.) Frodo and Sam were told that Gandalf had escaped from Moria, but had business of his own to deal with, and had left them at Isengard.

***

After about 2 months of walking, the fellowship reached the forest of Lothlorien. 'Let us go through the forest and see the Lady of the Golden Wood again!' Gimli said immediately. 'She would welcome us!'

'If she's still there.' Aragorn reasoned. 'She may have left for the elf havens by now. These forests could have been taken over by the orcs of Moria by now.'

'Let us go around the forest,' Legolas said. Everyone seemed happy with this solution, and they set off walking again.

After a few days, Frodo asked Aragorn, 'What happens when we get past these woods, Strider? We are faced with the choice of Moria or Caradhras again.'

'We go over Caradhras,' Aragorn said. 'We would be very foolish to risk going back into Moria. The orcs in there were not ruled by Sauron or Saruman, and almost certainly still inhabit Moria and the land around it.'

***

It was early one morning when the fellowship made it to the other side of Lothlorien. 'If we make good progress today, we may be able to reach the foot of Caradhras by nightfall.' Aragorn said.

'But we have to pass Moria, don't we?' Sam asked.

'Unfortunately so, Sam.' Aragorn replied. 'But the land around it will only be swarming with orcs at nightfall – if we pass during the day we should be safe…'

But the fellowship made amazingly slow progress that day. First, Aragorn tripped and sprained his ankle, so could only walk very slowly. Then they managed to lose Pippin in a small wood and it took forever to find him, so it was near nightfall by the time they made it to the entrance to Moria.

'Do we risk it?' Legolas whispered.

'There seems to be nothing about… and we would be in a lot of danger sleeping here. We must risk it.' Aragorn said. They all walked from the edge of the small wood towards the river running by the entrance to Moria.

'We go straight past, and don't stop for anything.' Aragorn whispered. 'Try not to make any noise.'

But their presence did not go unnoticed. Just as they passed right in front of the doors, about fifteen orcs came bursting out of them. The fellowship immediately drew their weapons, and Frodo saw Sting glowing bright blue.

They fought, and managed to slay all the orcs. They looked around them, checking it was safe to move on, when Frodo saw an orc standing at the doors of Moria. His bow was raised, an arrow loaded into it. The arrow was shot from the bow, and came hurtling towards them or, more precisely, towards Merry.

'MERRY, MOVE!' Frodo shouted. Merry just looked at him, confused. Frodo dived at Merry, pushing him out the way as he felt something sharp hit him in the side of the head, and he knew no more…