Author's Note: Companion to Love is Kind.

Disclaimer: I own none of Tolkien's world, nor do I make any profit. Anything I write is for pure enjoyment.

Love is Patient

He woke sharply, feeling the cold breath of the Riders. As his eyes cleared, he realized it was the early spring air. In the excitement of their wedding night, they forgot to close the shutters.

Rosie.

The sun in the window wound ribbons of light across her curls. He smiled, brushing a hand - can he be forgiven for the blood upon them? - against her sleeping face.

When they were alone at last the night before, she said to him, somberly, "Ye had adventures, Sam. And I did too. Neither of us be unmarked, but at least we're together."

Her eyes shimmered in the firelight. "So many days, Sam-lad. So many I would say I lost count, if it weren't for the men each day who came looking for ye. Big men, taller than the barrel stacks outside the Green Dragon."

He drew her closer. Through the thickness of her shift, he felt her shiver.

"I'll never forget," she whispered. "Ye came back."

"I did," he said. "And I always will."