Author's note-

Hello everyone and welcome to my first ever fanfic! After recently watching the movies and beginning to read the books I decided to start writing a love story for Frodo, since nearly every other character gets a love interest. This first chapter is set around 3 years after Frodo's parents die, so Frodo is nearly 16 and Ellie has just turned 15. It is also set in the time line laid out in the movie to keep things simple. Anyway, I'll shut up now. Enjoy, and please review!

Disclaimer:

With the exception of Ellie who is my own original character, I own none of the characters or places mentioned in this story, all credit for that goes to the wonderful J.R.R Tolkien.

Chapter 1- "Come on Frodo!" Ellie called as she raced down the hill towards the water. "I'm...coming!"Frodo panted back, exhausted from the steep climb up the hill Ellie was now hurtling down. It was a warm summers day in the Shire and the two young Hobbits were making their way to the lake, just as they always did on such summer days.

"Looks like I win, again." Ellie grinned as Frodo rolled to a stop in front of her feet at the bottom of the hill, having tripped and tumbled the rest of the way down. "That's because you had a head start, again." he grumbled indignantly as Ellie helped him to his feet. "Where are your manners Mr. Baggins?" she responded in a shocked tone, trying with difficulty not to laugh, "If I remember correctly it's always ladies first, not, ahem, gentlemen first." "Is that so, Miss Cotton?" Frodo replied, a mischievous grin now playing across his lips as Ellie eyed him suspiciously, "Then you can go in the lake first!" and as Ellie turned to run he caught her around the waist from the back, hauled her to the ridge at the water's edge and dropped her in the lake.

But before so much as her toe was wet, Ellie had devised a plan. She was a bit of a practical joker and loved a good laugh, even at her own expense, so as soon as she hit the water Ellie kicked off and swam towards the small jetty about 10 feet away, being careful to stay towards the bottom of the lake.

Despite the fact that the majority of Hobbits disliked the water, both Ellie and Frodo were very strong swimmers. When they were small children Frodo's parents would them to the lake and teach them to swim at least once a week. Although this wasn't normal practice for Hobbits, Frodo's parents hadn't exactly been normal, and neither was Frodo for that matter. His parents had died when he was just 12 years old in a boating accident, and boating was definitely not a common pass time for many Hobbits.

As Ellie resurfaced under the jetty, she could hear Frodo frantically calling her name and it wasn't long before he jumped into the water and began to wade out into the middle of the lake. As quiet as she possibly could be, Ellie slipped under the water and swam towards Frodo. When she was no more than a foot from him, Ellie jumped from the water. Frodo was completely caught off guard and slipped on a lose stone in his shock at the sudden reappearance of his best friend. He had only been under for no more than 2 seconds when Ellie grabbed his hands a hoisted him back the surface coughing and spluttering in shock and anger.

"You...should...have...seen...your...face!" Ellie gasped between peals of laughter. "I don't know what's wrong with you Elanor Cotton, but I don't find it funny when I think my best friend's just drowned on my account!" Frodo snapped back. Ellie stopped laughing immediately and wanted to kick herself for being so stupid. How could she have forgotten that this was the very same lake in which Frodo's parents had drowned? She was the one he had gone to first on that awful night they had pulled his parents lifeless bodies from the lake. She was the one who held him all night as he cried for his parents. She was the one who had stayed with him through it all, and she had been his best friend since they were 5 years old. And after 10 years of friendship, Ellie wasn't going to let him go without a fight.

"Frodo, wait!" Ellie called to him as he hauled himself out of the water and walked back up the hill. But he paid no attention to her as he continued up the hill and kept walking, even when she started to cry. Ellie hadn't given up yet and as soon as she had pulled herself from the water she began to run after Frodo up the steep hill. Frodo could hear her coming up the hill behind him but he didn't care, he wasn't speaking to her anymore. But before he could reach the top, Ellie stopped, drew in a deep breath and shouted, "FRODO BAGGINS STOP RIGHT THERE!" as loudly as she could muster from her small lungs.

Frodo jumped on the spot, surprised at the sudden outburst and that Ellie could make so much noise. As he turned to face her he barely had a second to register what was happening before he was knocked to the ground with his arms pinned to the grass beside his head and Ellie hovering over him with tears flowing down her face. "I'm. Sorry." she choked, her tears now cascading from her eyes.

As he watched her cry, Frodo's anger melted. How could he have been so horrible to her? He knew Ellie had a good heart, and although she was a little scatterbrained, she would never intentionally hurt anyone, especially her best friend. After all, she was the one person who had been there for him when his parents had died, and Frodo didn't want to lose her.

"I'm sorry Ellie," he whispered, then his lips slowly forming grin, "please don't throw me back in?"

Half laughing, half crying, Ellie rolled on to her back to lie next to Frodo. For a few minutes they both closed their eyes against the sun and lay there, listening to each others quiet breathing and the gentle breeze blowing over the grass. After a few minutes Frodo could feel Ellie looking at him. Thinking a staring competition would be fun, he moved his head to face her and opened his eyes.

Frodo wasn't expecting what happened next but when he looked at Ellie, his breath caught in his throat. He had always known Ellie was very pretty, in fact, it was common knowledge in the Shire that Ellie and her cousin Rosie were the prettiest girls for miles but he'd never fully appreciated it until now.

Ellie had long auburn hair that hung in loose curls down to her waist and it glowed a fiery copper red in the sunlight, an incredibly uncommon hair colour for any hobbit and possibly even more so than fair hair. She had large electric blue eyes that always seemed to glow with mischief, a small button nose with a smattering of light brown freckles across the middle of her nose and just under her eyes and slightly tanned skin with warm rosy cheeks.

In the strong sunlight her features were thrown into sharp relief, making her seem more lovely than ever. While there had always been rumours that her family was somehow descended from elves, but Ellie knew this was no more than an old wives tale.

While she hadn't been anticipating Frodo catching her staring, Ellie found it difficult to look away quickly and he seemed to have trouble doing the same.

Ellie had always thought her best friend had been quite handsome, but had never really thought about just how much until now. He had dark brown curly hair, fair skin and the most beautiful pair of blue eyes she had ever seen. Her other friends had always been quite jealous of her, as Frodo was often the object of many young hobbit girls desires in the Shire.

After around 10 seconds of being lost in thoughts of each other, they both realised their gazes were still firmly locked on one another. Almost instantaneously, they looked away and their cheeks flushed with chagrin at having been caught by the other.

They lay next to each other for 5 more minutes, finding it too awkward to say anything until Ellie's mother could be heard calling her.

"Fantastic." Ellie groaned and got to her feet, brushing the grass that had stuck to her slightly damp dress. Despite having been soaked through, they were both nearly dry from the heat of the afternoon sun. "Come here," Frodo laughed as he stood up, "you've got grass in your hair."

Ellie didn't dare move as Frodo's gentle hands begin sweeping down her hair and it wasn't long before she had goosebumps all over her body. She was confused. This wasn't the first time Frodo had ever touched her but she'd never reacted like this before, ever.

"Ellie?" Frodo's voice pulled her from her thoughts and she realised she'd been standing there staring gormlessly at nothing for a while. "Day dreaming again, were we?" he teased with an amused look on his face. "No..." Ellie mumbled as her cheeks flooded with colour again. She could hear her mothers voice calling her again, but getting closer this time.

"Same time tomorrow?" Frodo asked with a grin. "Wouldn't miss it." Ellie smiled back.