"Come on Pip, it'll be fun!"

Pearl had come to know that whenever her little cousin, Meriodic Brandybuck, uttered those six words, there would be trouble. Come on Pip, it'll be fun to steal farmer Maggot's crops! Come on Pip, it'll be fun to sneak into the green dragon and see if we can order something! Come on Pip, it'll be fun!

"Meriodic Brandybuck!" She exclaimed swooping down on her twelve year old cousin and his four year old companion.

"Pearl! What are you doing here?" Pippin squeaked from their hiding place in the laundry closet.

Ignoring her brother, Pearl turned to Merry the older of the two with a disapproving glare, "Don't you dare try to convince poor Pippin to go getting into trouble again."

"I'm not convincing him to do anything," Merry pouted, crossing his arms, "and why do you assume that we're going to get in trouble anyway?"

"Alright then, what were you two planning to do?"

"We were going to take some of the Gaffer's prized apples!" Pippin exclaimed practically bouncing up and down.

"Pip!" Merry shouted sending a glare his way, "You aren't supposed to tell her that!"

"Oops!" Pippin gasped covering his mouth with both hands and looking at Merry apologetically.

Merry rolled his eyes but had already forgiven the young Took. He could never stay mad at Pippin. How could he when those big emerald eyes of his just begged for forgiveness?

"HA! I knew you were up to something! You two better stay out of the Gaffer's prized tree or else!"

"Or else what?" Merry challenged as Pippin shook his head his eyes wide, warning Merry not to mess with his eldest sister.

"Or else you won't be coming around for at least a month! I'll see to it," Pearl promised, a smug smirk adorning her face.

Merry's eyes widened; the thought of not seeing his favourite cousin and best friend for a whole month was appalling. By the look on Pippin's face, one would think that Pearl had threatened to kill Merry instead of ban him from the Took residence for four weeks.

"We won't do anything Pearl!" Pippin promised his big green eyes even bigger at the prospect of losing his cousin.

"Good," Pearl smiled and skipped off to help her mother prepare luncheon.

Merry waited until Pearl was out of earshot then turned to Pippin, "Let's go!"

Getting to Bag End from Tookborough wasn't that difficult if you knew the right people and luckily Merry knew a lot of people. Fatty Bolger swung by a few hours later with his father's pony and small wagon to pick the boys up. Merry had found out from his friend that he would be traveling from Tookborough to Bag End that day anyway and had promised to let them hitch a ride. When Fatty finally arrived, Pippin and Merry discretely snuck into his wagon grinning and giggling.

By the time the three finally got to Bag End, Pippin was almost falling asleep. He was curled in a ball, his head resting on Merry's lap. Merry gently shook the small Took, "We're here Pip," he whispered gently as the wagon rolled to a stop.

Pippin sat up, rubbing his eyes with two small fists and looked around. Sleep leaving him; he jumped up and out of the wagon, a smile lighting up his petit face.

"Thanks for the ride, Fatty," Merry grinned then turned to Pippin, "you ready?"

Pippin nodded enthusiastically and the two made their way up to the Gaffer's yard.

"Just follow my lead," Merry encouraged as he glanced hurriedly around, making sure no one was within eyesight. He swung up onto the first branch of the Gaffer's prized apple tree and watched as Pippin happily did the same. The two climbed, picking apples along the way until their basket was full and the only apple left was the one at the very peak of the tree.

"I bet you could get that Pip, you don't weigh enough to break the branch," Merry said, taking a bite from one of the juicy apples.

"Okay!" Pippin exclaimed eagerly climbing higher to please his cousin. Pippin climbed as high as the tree allowed until the branches were so thin he was sure they would break if he climbed any higher. Reaching with all his might, young Pippin grasped the apple with one of his small hands and threw it down into their already overfilling apple basket.

"Great job, Pip!" Merry congratulated watching as the small Took's face lit up joyfully, "You can come down now."

Pippin looked down trying to decide which branch to step on next when he realized just how high he was. With a small squeak, Pippin clung to the branch for dear life, his eyes squeezed shut.

"Pip?" Merry prompted, suddenly worried about his younger cousin.

"Mewy..." Pippin whispered, his little kid lisp making a return.

"Uh oh... Pip, are you going to come down?" Merry asked as he climbed down from the tree to get a better look at him.

"Too high," Pippin said, his voice wavering.

Merry covered his face with his hands, "no,no,no,no!"

What were they to do? The Gaffer could come out any moment now! Merry knew Pippin well enough to know that there would be no coaxing him down... Pippin just wouldn't listen. The only possible way to get him down would be to go up there and get him but the branches were too thin to hold Merry's weight.

"Uh... what do I do?" Merry asked himself, his voice strained.

He knew he couldn't get Pippin down by himself... he needed help. The only person he knew that might not be mad at them would be Frodo... Frodo! That was it!

"I'll be right back Pip!" Merry shouted running off to Frodo's home.

"Mewy! Where are you going?"

The sound of Pippin's small voice teeming with fear and desperation broke Merry's heart but he kept running, sure that the only way to help Pip was to find Frodo. He could only pray that Frodo was home.

Frodo was just about to sit down in front of the fire with his book and tea when three sharp and fast paced knocks interrupted him. With a sigh, Frodo put his book down and got up to see who was there. He wasn't surprised to see his younger cousin Merry, he'd guessed as much. What he was surprised to see was that his shadow, Pippin, seemed to be absent.

"Hello Merry," Frodo greeted with a smile, "Where's Pippin?"

Apparently he'd asked the wrong question because as soon as the words left his mouth Merry started to bawl. Frodo guided the young boy to his favourite armchair and began trying to calm him down.

"What's wrong?" Frodo asked when the tears seemed to cease.

"F-Frodo, I'm such a horrible person," Merry wailed not looking him in the eyes, "I convinced Pippin to steal from the Gaffer's prized apple tree and now he's stuck up there and it's all my fault!"

"It's alright, calm down Merry," Frodo said soothingly deciding now wasn't the right time to scold him; "We'll get Pippin down."

"But he's up so high!" Merry told him looking at frodo through teary eyes.

"I'm sure he's not that high," Frodo assured.

"...I was wrong... he is that high," Frodo muttered to himself, looking up at Pippin.

"Fwodo!" Pippin cried down to them, "Help me!"

Frodo sighed, it seemed the only way to do this was to climb up there himself. Getting a firm grip, he started up the tree. The branches groaned under his weight as he climbed higher and higher until he finally reached Pippin. Trying desperately not to put all of his weight on one branch at a time, he reached his arm out to the small Took.

Pippin gratefully clambered into Frodo's waiting arms, shivering and crying. Frodo looked down, wanting to be very careful about his footing when he noticed that Merry had followed him up the tree.
"Merry, you have to move so I can get down, okay?" Frodo coaxed gently.

"P-Pip was right... this is r-really high..." Merry stuttered, not moving an inch.

Frodo's eyes widened, "Merry, just climb down."

Merry shook his head, "It's too high!"

Oh no...

Sam left his hobbit hole whistling. He had his gardening tools and was heading down to 's garden to get to work like his Gaffer had told him to. As he passed the apple trees he noticed something... a basket teeming with apples. They weren't just any apples either. Those were apples from the Gaffer's prized tree. Sam walked over to the tree to investigate and gasped. Up in the tree sat Merry, Pippin and a very annoyed looking Frodo.

"Um... ? With all due respect, can I ask what you and masters Pippin and Merry are doing in the Gaffer's tree...?"

Frodo felt a blush rise to his cheeks as he looked down at the very confused gardener, "Urm... just please help us get down Sam."