Three Threes, One Family

A Lord of the Rings oneshot
by BiggerThanMicroscopic, or, Sira

Character Tags: Sam, Rosie, Merry, Pippin, and all their children
Genre: Family
Setting: Post-Quest. Obviously.

Disclaimer: I don't own Lord of the Rings. It's very sad but I'm trying to get over it.

This story is formally adopted from my cousin ImDreamingTheDream, who meant to write it but doesn't have the time at the moment as she's playing Grace Ferrell in a production of Annie. We made up our headcanons for the next-generation hobbits together, so the end result is both of us should be happy. Remember to check out her stuff too; she has a lovely LotR oneshot and a couple of great stories for Maximum Ride. Also, our format is borrowed from the wonderful Baylor in her story Scribblings.

The Gamgees

Elanor

She's as lovely a hobbit-child as ever there's been. Elanor favours her mother in looks, which means she's a pretty child from the start, except for her hair, which (once it grows) is as golden as the flower she's named for. When her younger siblings are born, Elanor proudly takes position as the eldest child and does not abuse her power so much as her supposed wisdom.

But really, she's a quiet girl, very pensive, and by the time she is twelve she has developed a habit of not coming home in time for supper, sending her parents into a panic. But each time this happens, and Sam goes out to look for her, he finds her on top of the Hill, making daisy-chains in the fading light, and smiles up at her father as he tells her to come in.

"Sorry, Da," she says each time. "I was thinking."

"About what?" asks Sam as they begin to make their way down the path leading to Bag End's front door.

And the smile on her little face will be mysterious but delighted. "Everything."

Frodo

He somehow manages to inherit some of the looks of the hobbit he is named for – the bright blue eyes and the raven curls, despite the fact that both Sam and Rosie have the common sandy-coloured hair of plain folk. He's a Gamgee through and through, with a profound love for gardening and cooking. He loves the Midsummer Faire more than anything in Middle-earth, those being his words on just his second year competing.

Frodo-lad enters with his pumpkins, and he wins second place the year he is eighteen. He couldn't care less for books and such, the way his boring older sister does, but like her, he's quiet, and there are times where Sam wonders if something of the elvish spirit has taken root in his eldest son, too.

Rose

Rose-lass is never more at home than in the bedroom she shares with two of her sisters, where she takes pleasure in things that Sam will never be able to understand, like decorating her light brown curls with ribbons and bows, and dressing her dolls in little gowns she starts to make herself by the time she is eleven. She's a skilled little seamstress, his Rose-lass is.

She isn't one for sitting outdoors making daisy-chains, but she does like to go out to the fields and pick the prettiest flowers, and put them in vases and pots on seemingly every flat surface in the bedroom, and the chambers she shares with Elanor and Goldilocks are always the liveliest and most colourful of all the rooms in the hole.

Merry and Pippin

It might be coincidence, or perhaps they made some terrible mistake, but the next two of Sam and Rosie's children take after their namesakes to the point where they manage to outdo them. In other words, they're soon labelled the terrors of the Shire. Sam is grateful in his choice not to let them share a room together, else that room would be of shambles.

They tramp about and cause mischief seemingly wherever they go, from visits to Buckland and Tuckborough to the market. Merry, being the elder by two full years, is the ringleader and can neither sit still for less than a minute nor keep his mouth shut for less than half of one. When not playing his proud role of the conspirator, Merry is constantly chattering about all sorts of things. He isn't one for asking questions, because he doesn't have the patience for the answers.

Pippin, on the other hand, has ironically turned out to be the quiet one. He sits still and actually likes learning his letters and sums, and is terrified of guests, especially when Mr Merry Brandybuck and Mr Pippin Took come to visit, because they of course are so very tall. In fact, he's so bashful that one wouldn't think he was the sort for causing trouble wherever he goes, but he does.

It's lucky for them that Merry is so chatty, and Pippin so quiet, because that way Merry can do all the planning and he doesn't have to worry about his little brother ruining it by protesting or asking questions. He goes along with whatever Merry says completely faithfully.

Lucky for them, yes. For the rest of the Shire? Not so much.

"Sam, your two lads are dreadful!" Pippin complains one day after what will come to be known as The Honey Incident. "They're even worse than I was at that age!"

Sam considers this a moment, then shakes his head. "I hate to be sayin' so, Mr Pippin," he says, "but I'm afraid you might be right."

Goldilocks

Goldilocks favours Elanor in her looks, with wonderful golden curls, but the resemblance stops there. It's Rose-lass who names her, when she peers over the edge of her newborn sister's crib. Sam and Rosie have been planning on naming her Marigold, for Sam's sister and her already full head of hair, but aren't sure yet. But little Rose looks and crows out to her parents, "Mum, Da! She has goldy-locks!"

She wants to play rough with the lads by the time she is four, and even has something of the Tookish spirit about her as she teaches herself to climb a tree by the time she is seven. The other Hobbiton lads reject her of course, and so do her brothers unless she is absolutely necessary for a game, but she doesn't care because she can climb trees and run to the pond all by herself, where she enjoys gathering interesting rocks and catching frogs. She brings them home and shows them off proudly to her parents and siblings.

She has very nice dresses to wear but they're always soiled from some adventure or, more often, misadventure. She comes home for tea from a day of playing with twigs in her hair and mussed curls, which makes Rose-lass turn up her nose. And when some lads tease Merry, she hurls herself at them with all her small might, and even though she comes out well on the losing end of the fight and loses a tooth, she walks home proud and beaming and while Sam scolds her for going and fighting he also ruffles her mussed golden locks and calls her his little ruffian.

She's not alone, either, because she finds a quick friend in Mr Pippin's only son Faramir, just one year her senior. He doesn't stop her from playing rough games just because she's a girl and neither does Mr Pippin, which makes him her favourite of her unofficial uncles. In fact, it's Mr Pippin who gets her her very own wooden sword for his birthday, and she promises to her father she will fight off all the nasty orcs and dragons that might come to the Shire.

Hamfast

It might be coincidence, but it's his third son that makes Sam begin to reconsider naming his future children for other hobbits. Hamfast Gamgee the Second takes after his paternal grandfather so much in quite literally every way it's astonishing.

From the look of him when he's born, with his chubby cheeks and few sandy-coloured curls, Sam is reminded of his father, and even though by the Valar his old Gaffer was a terror it makes him miss him anew, in a way Sam has not yearned since after he died, a little after Merry was born.

As Hamfast grows, his older siblings begin to fondly shorten his name to "Hammie," especially Goldilocks, and Mr Merry and Mr Pippin's children follow suit. In fact, Hamfast is called Hammie so much that his younger siblings grow up learning that to be their brother's name, and little Ruby is shocked when, at the ripe age of five, she learns her big brother's full name.

Hamfast accepts his nickname completely.

But it's when he's six and begins spending every spare moment out in the garden with his Da and Frodo that Sam looks at him, his chubby-cheeked, humble and sensible son, and truly sees something of his grandfather in him. One evening, when the family is gathered round the fire, Sam takes Hamfast in his lap and says sincerely, "He'd be so proud of you, you know."

Daisy

After Daisy is born, Sam is convinced he has never before met such a happy, easygoing, and calm baby. She's a relief coming after Goldilocks and Hamfast, who, as babies, would bawl their wee lungs out at everything. Daisy isn't much younger than Hamfast, but nothing seems to bother her. She barely fusses when she's hungry or when her nappy needs changing, and if she's tired she drops right off to sleep without a whimper.

She loves being outdoors more than anything, and becomes her brother Frodo-lad's shadow as soon as she can walk, following him all around the garden, all too content to watch his hands digging into the soil of the garden, and when she's too young to talk much she lets out squeals of delight whenever he unearths a carrot or potato, clapping her little hands together in glee.

When Daisy turns eight, she seems to spend every spare moment outside. In that respect, she's much like her older sister Goldilocks, but unlike Goldilocks Daisy is all too happy to sit on her rump in the garden or at the top of The Hill and make flower-chains or sprawl out on her stomach and watch the insects crawl around on the ground with utter fascination. She quickly becomes the darling among all her aunts and uncles, who dote on her and give her all manner of gifts.

Sam worries that Daisy will grow up spoiled, but most of the dolls and dresses and ribbons she receives don't interest her, and the dolls and ribbons go right to Rose-lass. The dresses won't fit her sister however, so while Daisy wears them, she doesn't pay them much mind. She's such a little sunshine that it catches them off-guard if she causes a fuss about anything, so Sam is surprised when he takes her to Rivendell when she turns sixteen, and she fusses the whole trip there. Not even the threat of a spanking will quiet her.

Eventually, when they're about halfway from Bree, Sam sits Daisy right down on a log and bends down a little so he better matches her height when seated. "Daisy." He speaks firmly. "You know what route we're taking now, don't you, lass?"

Daisy senses a lecture and nods, wide-eyed. "Yessir."

"And what is that?"

"We're goin' to Rivendell," she says proudly.

"That's right. And you know I went there once too, back before I wedded your Mum."

She nods again, her eyes still wide. And then, to Sam's surprise, she bursts into tears. Sam has plenty of experience with tantrums, and he knows this isn't one. These tears are genuine. Feeling baffled he gathers her in his arms and lets her sob into his shoulder, shushing her and patting her hair. When she finally stops crying enough to scrub away her tears - though she keeps having to sniffle - Sam crouches down next to her and asks her, "There now, lass, what is it?"

"I-I'm sorry, Da," she sniffs.

Sam is taken aback. "For ...?"

"For fussin' and moanin' and actin' all spoiled when you took the road to Rivendell and you didn't cause any fuss at all. You went on ahead with that Mr Frodo, and Mr Merry and Mr Pippin and you had a great danger behind you, and you didn't fuss at all. You went on ahead and you were brave."

Sam takes her in his arms and hugs her again. "There now, lass. That was different. We had something to do, and that kept us goin'. And you're just a young lass, after all." He holds her until she stops crying altogether, then pulls away, picks up her pack, takes his hand, and they keep walking.

"Da?"

"Yes, lass?"

"What were you gonna tell me afore?"

Sam smiles. "Do you know what? I've forgotten."

Primrose

Barely after she graduates into faunthood, Primrose somehow gets it into her young head that lads are for kissing. Sam will later discover that Rose-lass reading to baby Primrose from her big book of stories about maidens in need of rescue by brave knights, a children's book from Gondor that was a gift from Lord Faramir. But he and Rosie are concerned when, at the age of four, Primrose adopts the habit of fussing more than any of her sisters about her dresses, putting ribbons in her curls, and sitting on the windowsill practising her tragic romantic sighs. By the time she is eight, she begins chasing lads around the Shire trying to kiss them, and soon all the wee village lads are terrified of her.

It gets worse as she progresses into her teens, when she asks her mother and older sisters if this dress makes her look "too round" - an absurd thing for a hobbit to worry about - or "desirable." When she enters her tweens she takes to poring over romantic poetry and imagining herself in the position of all the beautiful maidens in her (Elvish) poetry books. The fact that it's Elvish poetry is a bit of a blow to Sam, who is reminded all too much of Mr Frodo, who he knows would have loved her.

She's a happy child generally, but lonely, seemingly without realising it. It's a relief, then, when Primrose, at the ripe age of thirty-three announces she's going to marry Toby Proudfoot and no-one can stop her now that she's of age. Toby Proudfoot is the cheesemaker's youngest son and Primrose's exact age. Sam recalls that he was especially terrified of their daughter in her kiss-chasing days, as she held a particular fondness for him. So Rosie says it was inevitable really.

Bilbo

He has very little in common with the hobbit he is named for - for one, he is a Gamgee, through and through, and for this reason gets on brilliantly with his older brother Hamfast, who he views as some kind of god. From before he can walk, the baby crawls all around Bag End and its garden and follows Hammie everywhere he goes. By the time he can walk he's already gotten his brother to teach him everything a faunt could possibly know about gardening. Sam sometimes thinks his children are going to shame him as gardener of Bag End, because they're even quicker learners than he was. Oh yes, Bilbo Gamgee deserves his second name all right.

As he grows older he becomes kind and generous and though he doesn't seem to care over-much for tales of the elves and the mysterious Tom Bombadil who goes a-wanderin' out in the Old Forest, he is always willing to help out a neighbour or friend even if it puts him in an ill place; his selflessness seems to know no limits.

And, says Mr Pippin one day when Sam mentions this to him, if that doesn't make him a true Gamgee at heart, then nothing does.

Ruby and Robin

They're practically inseparable. Ruby announces that Robin is her baby the day her sister is born. She likes to linger around the crib and is completely fascinated by her sister. To Ruby, it's very exciting not to be the youngest anymore, because with ten older brothers and sisters, being the youngest can sometimes feel like crippling pressure. She feels sorry for her sister, who just has one more big sister to look up to, decides that Robin shall not have to feel the tortures of being the youngest as she did for the first little bit of her life. As the two of them grow up, it is obvious that Ruby is Robin's favourite sibling. And as the two of them grow up, it is also obvious that Robin isn't growing right; she's too small and slower than other children of her age - it takes her longer to work things out; she gets frustrated more easily and is much more fidgety than the other children. She doesn't speak as much as she should either, and stumbles over forming fuller sentences.

When she is six, a worried Sam takes her to the healer, who regretfully tells him that she is simple.

She becomes the ridicule of Hobbiton's children, who tease Robin, who gets angry, and the parents of the children don't do much to stop it. They cluck and shake their heads at Mayor Gamgee's youngest lass, pitying her but also mildly repulsed by her otherness, but Sam refuses to be ashamed. He tells his children that just because their sister is different doesn't mean there's anything wrong with her, or with them for that matter, and he is relieved when they take the matter very seriously but open-mindedly.

But it is Ruby who doesn't seem to view her sister in a different light, and when a curious, harmless village lad asks her about it - "But she's so 'elpless and different and all" - Ruby replies haughtily, "She's Robin and my sister, and that's what counts to me."

Tolman

It it Sam's youngest who is most like his biggest sister. He has a thirst for stories in the way his other brothers don't, and he likes to watch Sam write in the Red Book, on the rare occasion Mayor Gamgee has time to do so these days. He is quiet and shy of the other children in Hobbiton. As the elder of Sam's children grow up, they grow out of their appetite for their Da's stories. The fact that he's a hero is old news to them, but it never seems so to Tolman, who looks at his Da with a sense of wonderment whenever he is told one of the old tales. One day Sam overhears his son saying to Rosie, "Mum, did you know that Da saved his Mr Frodo and all of Middle-earth?"

Rosie laughs and replies, "'Course I do, Tom-lad, else he never would've had the courage to ask for my hand, and then you wouldn't be here."

The Brandybucks

Esme and Éowyn

Merry and Estella begin to worry they'll never have children. They've been trying hard but no babes are born. When Merry's youngest cousin births his first son, Faramir, Merry and Estella have more or less given up. So it comes as a surprise when, four months after Faramir's birth, Estella discovers she is with child.

Perhaps to make up for years of wasted effort, they're given two babes instead of one, two little daughters who are born plump and healthy. Merry names the first one to be born Esme, after his late mother Esmeralda, and the second is Éowyn, after the Lady of Rohan he still admires somewhere within him. Although Éowyn is a healthy lass, she is smaller than her twin sister, and as the lasses grow this proves to be a good thing, for if not for size it would be impossible to tell them apart.

Merry and Estella try to produce an heir to the title of Master of Buckland, but no more children are born or ever will be. Years later, Merry is asked by a distant Bolger cousin if he regrets never having had a young lad to keep the title of Master in his direct bloodline. The title, after all, must now go to a cousin. Merry replies, "What have I to regret when I've got them?"

The Tooks

Faramir

Being the son of Peregrin Took might have something to do with it. Pippin always considered his identity as worst young rascal ever known to the Shire a source of pride, but Faramir is five years old when it appears he might rob his father of the title. He tramps around with his favourite wooden sword, which comes all the way from Dale, managing to cause the very worst sort of mischief while also defending his homeland from dragons and trolls and goblins. "Oh, Faramir, whatever am I to do with you?" are the words most commonly spoken by Diamond when the lad comes in the door after a hard day of playing, tracking in mud and leaves in his copper-coloured curls. He very much takes after his father in appearance.

His partner in crime is Goldilocks, Sam's young lass. One day, while Pippin is visiting Sam in Hobbiton, he turns to his old friend and comments, "I don't know what we're going to do with those two. Diamond whacked me the other day because she told me my patience ought to be running thin and it doesn't."

Sam bursts out laughing. "I think we ought to just let them be children," he says with hard-earned wisdom. "Let 'em fight off goblins and trolls afore they're too big to know better than to want to."

Begonia

She's born early, six weeks to be precise. When Diamond was expecting, she and Pippin had countless rows about what to name the baby. If it was a lad, Pippin wanted to call him Boromir, and Arwen if it was a lass, but Diamond said, "I let you call our first son Faramir, and now it's time for the next one to have a sensible hobbit-name." They never did decide on one, in the end.

But after Diamond dies two hours after the birth, Pippin looks over at his tiny daughter and names her Begonia, as sensible a hobbit-name as any. She only lasts a few hours more than her mother, but long after the funeral and the worst of the mourning period passes, Pippin still considers her his daughter, whether he got to hold her or not.