Disclaimer: If I owned any of this "Lord of the Rings" stuff, I wouldn't be sitting here, writing fanfiction. I own Arwith. Steal her for your own use, and I'll send small, furry animals to eat your socks.
A faint knocking could be heard at the door of Samwise Gamgee's home. "Sam," his wife Rosie called from somewhere inside, "Sam, would you answer the door please? Thank you."
Sam hurried from one of the back rooms. He hollered at the door as though he thought it would answer back. "Coming, coming!" He opened the door to find a pair of large blue eyes and large grin underneath them. They just happened to be attached to his best friends face. "Mister Frodo, sir! Come in, come in!" Frodo Baggins and Sam hugged excitedly in the doorway before hurrying inside. They sat at the table in the kitchen. They talked while Sam bustled about the kitchen, bringing food and tea.
"How are you these days, Sam? I don't see as much as I used to." Sam set down the food. "I know, sir. And you know, I rather miss that. But since Rosie had Elanor, I haven't had much time for social calls." Frodo didn't miss the way Sam swelled with pride at the sound of his own daughter's name. "How are Rosie and Elanor anyway?" "They're fine. Elanor has my eyes and Rosie's nose. And just last week, Rosie said that Elanor had my old gaffer's feet!"
The last comment was absolutely tickling. Frodo stifled a chuckle and was about to respond when they both heard Elanor's screams and crying from somewhere in the house. Rosie's footsteps were heard and the cries quickly subsided.
There was silence in the kitchen while the experience sank in. Frodo was the first to speak. "Is it always like that?" He nodded towards the door, indicating the baby and her mother. Sam sighed as though the thought was exasperating. "Just about. It's actually a lot quieter now. You should have been here when she was born, if you think that's bad. The noise was terrible. And the commotion that came with it was down right murder!" "You were in a panic then, eh?"
"He was running around everywhere like a nervous hen!" Rosie's voice could be heard from the other end of the house. Frodo laughed harder than he'd laughed in weeks. Sam's face indicated that he was trying to look aggravated but was unable to resist his own snort of amusement.
When the guffaws finally subsided, Frodo sat staring into his own half- empty cup of tea for a while. He was beginning to become lost in his own thoughts when Sam's voice pulled him back into reality. "So Mister Frodo, how have you been of late?" Frodo was silent for a moment. When he looked up, his eyes had the excited twinkle of someone with a secret and the corners of his mouth were curling. He looked delightfully excited.
"Sam," he began slowly, "I received a very interesting letter today. Perhaps you would care to read it?" Frodo produced a folded piece of paper from his coat pocket and handed it to his friend, who was looking somewhat confused. Sam unfolded the parchment and his eyes began to skim the page.
Frodo sat watching, growing ever more amused as Sam's eyebrows began to rise higher and higher on his forehead. Sam finally reached the end of the letter and looked up, obviously pleased but not saying anything. The two friends sat in silence for a long time. From an outside view, they would both have seemed to be delighting in a shared secret.
"So," Frodo started, "what thinks you of it, then? Shall we accept the invitation?" Sam and Frodo shared the same look of glee and there was mirth in their voices. "Well," Sam grinned wryly, "we'll not be going anywhere without the other two."
"Yah yellah-bellied scoundrels, I'll boil yah up and feed ye to me swine!" Meriadoc Brandybuck peered anxiously behind him as he ran, dragging behind him Peregrin Took, who was not at all anxious to be running anywhere. On the contrary, he was waving and calling back to very pretty young hobbit girl behind him. "Ta then, Diamond!" When a clay urn came flying and exploded against a tree branch near his head, he quickly turned and reluctantly followed his best friend. They were running around another tree and had just ducked behind a stonewall when they saw two pairs of very familiar feet. They looked up to discover Frodo and Sam staring down at them and grinning like they had just witnessed something that they found to be highly entertaining. "Well well," Sam said, "The gruesome twosome."
"Get down, you fools!" Merry hissed urgently. Merry and Pippin each grabbed Frodo's and Sam's ankles and yanked so the two that were standing immeadiately fell and landed on their backs. Both grunted and crawled over to where Merry and Pippin were sitting. Sam winced and rubbed a particularly bruised spot on his back while Frodo spoke. "What in the Samuel hill are you two doing?" Merry glanced rather irritantly at Pippin, who was peering cautiously over the wall. "Pip's been at it again with courting Diamond of Long Cleeve." Frodo chuckled while Sam asked, "How's it going?"
Pippin ducked as the shards of another broken urn scattered as it came flying at the wall and was smashed. "It's not going that well," Merry stated matter-of-factly. "When I catch ye, Peregrin Took, I'll string yah up by yer toes and skin yah alive!" "At least not with her old pap," said Pippin, looking perhaps a little too pleased with himself.
When they could no longer hear the shouts, screams, and threats of Diamond's father, they each stood cautiously up and ran for the nearest pub, lest the furious father figure return with more urns, or a pitchfork. They had each downed half a pint of ale when the inevitable was asked.
"What's new with you?" Merry asked. Once again, Frodo and Sam grinned gleefully. Frodo took a letter from his pocket and calmly handed it to Merry and Pippin. The two clunked their heads together in an effort to see it at the same time and read carefully. "Dear Mister Frodo Baggins, (mumble, mumble, mumble) Aragorn (mumble) secret (mumble) important (mumble, mumble) please come immediately (mumble) urgent (mumble) looking forward to seeing you once more. Sincerely, King Aragorn and Queen Arwen."
Merry and Pippin glanced over the parchment at Frodo and Sam. The four of them grinned wildly. "Well?" Frodo asked, barely able to contain himself. "'Well?'" Merry continued excitedly. "What do you mean, 'well?' What are we waiting for?"