Disclaimer: I don't own Lord of the Rings, obviously, or any of the characters or places in this story except for Laelia. This story is based around the plot of Lord of the Rings but any extra plotlines you don't recognise belong to me :)
Full Summary: Laelia Greenwater has always been told that Frodo Baggins is far superior to her and destined for great things, sparking in her a passion to be noticed by him and everyone around her and to become someone she thinks Frodo will like. But her reliance on his approval of her is shattered when he goes away on the quest to destroy the ring, leaving her to find the broken pieces of her own lost character and to rediscover what it means to love and to be loved.
Prologue
My Mother had always said to me that Frodo Baggins was destined for great things. Just how great these things were we did not know, for no one could have predicted what would come to pass in that fateful time when he went away. But nonetheless, my Mother persisted in her belief that he did not belong with the Proudfoots and the Tooks of our small village, simpleminded and as set in their ways as they were. She believed that he was too good – too intelligent and too gentle – for the basic ways of the hobbits residing around us. She expressed that he would soon follow in his Uncle's footsteps and one day would disappear off on his own adventure and not return to us again.
Naturally, as a result of my Mother's profound insight into the Baggins' future I became more and more wary that one day said hobbit would take off and I would never see him again. You would think that the older we got the less worried I would become of this, for Frodo seemed to enjoy all the niceties that we other hobbits did and was deeply fond of his Uncle, but for me it was quite the opposite. Each day that passed I saw as another step closer to the day he would leave. I also became intensely aware of the inferiority of myself to the Baggins. He was an adventurer, or soon would be; he read books and walked where he pleased and when he pleased. He was a wanderer, lost in his own thoughts, probably dreaming of being anywhere but here in Hobbiton, no doubt picturing a far off land where the women sung sweetly and could recite poetry as well as he could. He would probably go and live with the elves one day. I had decided very early on that I could never live up to that.
I was just another hobbit; simple in looks and intelligence. Yes, he liked me and talked and spent time with me often, but to him I was just like the rest, I presumed. I was not particularly clever, more so than most hobbits I must say, but not quite in Frodo's league. I seldom read and was not at all interested in my studies; I was quite contented with living in Hobbiton for the rest of my life. I would marry a young lad and we would have own hole under the great oak in the South Field, where apple trees blossomed in the summer and wild flowers grew through spring. We would have three little children, two boys and a girl, and there we would live for the remainder of our days, together, watching our children maturing into what we once were, spirited and sprightly young adults. For a long time I thought that this young lad would be Frodo Baggins. When we were young and played together we were equals and I was oblivious to his sensible and mature temperament, but thinking back to it he was always telling me to be careful what I was doing and not to get into too much trouble.
I was also quite changeable in character, a trait that I thought Frodo would most disapprove of in a person, for it showed a weakness of character that contrasted deeply with his steadfast and shrewd nature. For most of my younger years I was quite quiet, preferring to just watch the other boys in their pranks and games, for I was not clever enough to think up such jokes and certainly not witty enough to carry them out so amusingly. As well as this I was set apart from the other children because I was much younger. It was my brother and sister who were the real friends of the boys, them being much closer to them all in age. There were many other children in the area of my age but I was not interested in them, it was exhilarating to watch the boys and their high-jinks and no one else I knew did such daring feats all in the name of fun, and so much of my time was spent following them all around.
But something changed in me when cajoled into joining in with them one day, a willingness to prove my worth as someone more interesting than I really was, someone more clever and funny, sparked inside of me and I soon would be pulling pranks and getting into mischief like the other boys. And so, nearly overnight, I changed from a shy and delicate young hobbit into a mischievous and outgoing girl, tagging along with boys and being almost as daring as they were, and all in the name of love. Soon I began to crave the attention of everyone in Hobbiton, I wanted them to look at me and be impressed, whether it was a good or bad impression I did not care, any attention in my eyes was good. However, though I wasn't aware of it all the time, it was Frodo that I wished to impress the most. I had gained much respect due to my antics from the likes of Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, the notorious duo of pranksters who caused terror to the residents of Hobbiton on a daily basis, but much to my disappointment I later learned that these pranks were not in the interest of Frodo Baggins, as much as they were to the other boys. By this time I was far too embedded in the games to back out and despite initial reserves found them to be quite fun, I also discovered that, though Frodo did not always join in, he was most amused by us pranksters goings on and regularly laughed at our exploits. Therefore, I persisted; it kept his focus on me, even if it was for just a second and so I could not give up. I sincerely believed that this would keep him here, that if I could just keep his interest in me and the other young hobbits up, then he would never wish to leave us. And so, despite the constant threat of his departure in the back of my mind, we remained firm friends from the moment we met.
I had long since put the idea of my marrying him out of my head, for I was certainly not the one he desired for a wife. My sister, for one, was much better suited to him, or so my Mother and Father told us many times. I suppose I could admit that they were quiet similar in character and interests. She was the eldest in our family and possessed a mind that belonged to someone double her age. She was beautiful, talented, clever and outgoing; everything that I believed Frodo would want in a wife and so everything that I tried to be. They were not as close as Frodo and I but she was much more of interest to any boy. She had a certain poise and elegance that I severely lacked. She regularly accompanied us on our trips and spent many a lazy day by the river with us but never did she properly join in with the mischief, preferring to sit looking pretty by the edge of the river with a pretty dress on and braided hair, sometimes reading or conversing with Frodo. It amazed me how she received so much attention but by doing so little. It was something that I wished to achieve but never could, so I did the exact opposite and was as loud and brash as I could be to try to top her.
In addition to this, I had decided that would therefore never marry, for who else was there for me if not Frodo? So, I was contented with simply being near him, having him there just around the corner from where I lived was a constant comfort to me. So, things carried on this way for many, many years.
But one day I reached a time when my childhood frivolities seemed ridiculous and I was left looking like nothing but a silly little girl in front of my most fond friend. This was the day that Frodo left. It was a day that I had been secretly dreading but one that I knew would come, for my Mother's predictions were always true. Over the years it had been a dull ache in the back of my mind, cropping up now and again to sharply remind me not to get too close to Frodo for he would soon be leaving. I thought that I would be able to predict when this would happen, but it was many years in the making and I was as shocked as any one else when it came at last. It is in these few years prior to the departure that my story starts.