Chapter 4: A light in the Dark
Disclaimer: Own nothing

Crystal curled up against Frodo as she looked at the dresses Courtney had drawn for her a week before. She wanted something simple and elegant whereas Courtney wanted her to have something with a bit of flare to it. Frodo had remained neutral in the discussion and said that he was happy with whatever Crystal chose.

"Are you sure that Aragorn will be able to come?" asked Crystal as she put down the drawings on the clean coffee table and picked up the tea Frodo had made for her which was now cold
"If I know Strider, he'll as you would put it 'move heaven and earth' to be there. And remember, Boromir and Miki will want to come as well." He said as he finished addressing a letter to Éomer warning him to watch out for stray jewels that caused people to have mood swings before moving his arm behind Crystal's shoulders, kissing her hair gently where a magpie had swooped her earlier that day when they were out in The Shire looking for the Jewels. Merry and Pippin had thrown stones at it to scare it off, which worked
"What are you thinking?" he asked after a few moments like this
"About what?" Crystal replied looking up and pushing his hair- which was going to be cut before the wedding-weather Sam did it with hedge trimmers or she did it with Sting, either way it was going to happen
"Right now." Frodo replied looking down at her smiling because he knew she was contemplating what was the best way to cut his hair
"Nothing interesting." She replied sipping the tea
"Elaborate" Frodo said still smiling
"You know, what to wear to the wedding, how my hair should done, all the girly stuff that Courtney, Diamond and Rosie will probably do for me." Crystal said putting the tea down "What about you?" she said standing up to face him
"You. When we were in the Crack of Doom, I swear I got a vision from Galadriel just before I put the Ring on." He said staring into the fire
"What was it about. Xana's starting to get them. That and the weird mirror thingy her gran left her." Crystal said as she moved the drawings away from where she was going to sit down on the now visible coffee table. When she had arrived it had been buried under three foot of what Crystal called rubbish. In Bilbo and Frodo's minds it was called papers. That had got her smiling when they tried to stop her from cleaning up the place
"It was you. And me," he said suddenly looking her directly in the eye "I don't it was the full version of what she wanted me to see but it got the point across that it had to be destroyed. The first snippet was what would happen if I kept the Ring, there was a pack of Orcs that I had sent to kill you, Sam, Merry and Pippin and enslave the rest of the Shire hobbits. The Shire was bunt brown. There were no trees and it was a barren waste land.

The elves, Xana, Legolas, Nix, Haldir, Elrond and everyone else were quickly killed. The Dûnedain managed to hold back some of the onslaught. Miki, Faramir and Éowyn managed to hold Minas Tirith and Rohan for three days. Both Xana and Miki were killed when they were caught and tortured before they were killed in front of their families. Xana walk out to the execution block with her head held high, she smiled at Legolas as they cut her head off. Legolas somehow managed to break away from the twins and Aragorn and Haldir he was shot with his own arrow. Nix collapsed, Elrond faded on the spot. There was a huge fireball in the shape of a phoenix that left Xana's body and then Miki was killed after her. Boromir was forced to watch it and he ripped the arrow out of Legolas' body and stabbed himself with it.

Aragorn was hanged and his body was left to rot until the very end of time. Éowyn and Faramir were poisoned. Éomer had been killed in the attack on the Black Gate. The twins soon faded after their sister's death. Anyone else that was left was sent to work in the mines.

It took the darkness longer to reach the Shire, where you, Merry and Pippin and Sam managed to set up a rebellion, you were like the elf from Eregorn." He said before pulling her tight when he saw the tears streaming down her face at the description before realising that he too was crying
"Please tell me there was a happier one…" Crystal managed to sob out
"There was. We were sitting in the garden on the bench with Merry, Pippin, Sam and Courtney, Diamond and Rosie and there were children running around. One of them turned around and looked me in the eye and it reminded me soo much of you. The hair, the eyes but it had my nose and skin colouring. Anyway, we were all laughing and everyone except you had a glass of ale in their hand but you had water and were looking slightly more… how do I say what I want and not sound horrible…?" he pondered before Crystal interjected
"Say it. Whatever it is you want to say, I'm pretty sure that I'll be able to handle it." She said holding his hand for support. This was the first time he was talking about Mt Doom and she wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to hear his thoughts
"Okay then. Like we were expecting a child. That's when your face stood out from the rest of the ash and stuff up there. I knew Sam was there, but you stood out. And that's when I knew you weren't going to leave me. That you were the one and my light in the dark." He finished gently kissing her
"YUCK! Merry, it's just as bad as you and Courtney in here!" came Pippin's very distinct voice from the doorway
"She and I aren't that bad" Merry said as he put his Lorién cloak on the pegs near the front door
"Yes you were! You two couldn't keep your hands off each other!" Pippin exclaimed as he walked through to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of ale and one for Merry as well
"No, we weren't" he Hissed as he sat down before looking at the dresses Courtney had drawn for Crystal. "This one's my favourite" he said holding up one of them. It was a simple design but had a complex lace layer
"Well if you hurry up and propose to her then she can wear it for you!" Pippin said as he handed his cousin a mug before sitting down next to him on the clean couch
"Why must you two insist on staying at my house after you get thrown out of the Green Dragon?" Frodo asked glaring at them with his arm around Crystal's shoulders
"It wasn't my fault! Pippin exclaimed throwing both hand sin the air in frustration
"Yes, it was!" Merry hissed "Because I wasn't the one bragging about the time that you managed to get the better of Ara-King Elessar and Boromir… Then I wasn't the one that started to fight" he added as an afterthought as he took a sip of his drink glaring over the top of the rim at his cousin
"But it was a fair fight! Nice and fair." Pippin said quickly looking at the shocked faces around him
"It doesn't count as fair when I'm the only one backing you up! Merry said angrily
"Sam was there! And it wasn't my fault that he wasn't quick enough to move when the pumpkin was coming his way!" Pippin said glaring back at Merry
"And I assume that it wasn't your fault either when you smashed a table when you were thrown back." Merry said sarcastically
"There was a fight at the Dragon?" Crystal said looking shocked
"Only a small one, nothing like those we took part in" Pippin replied
"Is Sam okay?" asked Frodo, worried for his friend's health
"Yeah, he's fine. Rosie, Courtney and Diamond are looking after him in the back room of the tavern." Merry said trying to comfort his other cousin
"I thought that's where Courtney would be because I saw her walking there with you." Crystal said as she got up to leave the room to find a blanket or something to keep her warm. In the end, she couldn't be bothered to walk all the way to her bedroom and most likely disturbing Bilbo on the way and settled for one of Frodo's jackets that was lying, conveniently, on his bed. It dwarfed her frame nut nothing she wasn't used to. If everything seemed big before, they were massive now.

When she arrived back, she saw Frodo saying Goodbye to his cousins before he came back into the house
"They're going to help Rosie take Sam back home because they caused the fight." He said as he shut the green door that they had painted yesterday, before quirking an eyebrow at his jacket that she was wearing
"Bilbo's asleep and it was too long a walk to my room so I saw this on your bed and I grabbed it" she explained as they sat back down on the lounge in the lounge room
"So is it safe to assume that I'll probably have to carry you to your room tonight?" he asked
"Most likely" Crystal yawned before noticing two keys in his pants pocket " What are those?" she asked pointing at them
"Oh! I confiscated Merry and Pippin's keys to Bag End so they don't invite themselves in at any time." He said giving her a quick side hug and kiss before leaving to clean up the ale jugs Merry and Pippin had left.

As he walked into the kitchen he noticed Crystal walking in behind him and grabbing the tea towel and putting her own cup in the sink before drying and putting away the mug he had already washed.
My little light in the dark he mused silently as he continued washing the jugs

It must have been close to 10:00 when Crystal fell asleep on the couch with one of the drawings on the table bearing the two ticks of approval sitting on the coffee table when Frodo came out of the bathroom in his pyjamas and dressing gown when he saw his fiancée curled up on the couch looking like she did when they were on their way to mount Doom
"Hey, Edward Cullen…. Stop looking at me and musing at how pretty I am and carry me to bed" she said causing Frodo to smile at the fact that she knew that he was watching her. Walking over, he picked her up bridal style and carried her to her room
"You know," he started before he pulled the covers back on her bed "you're going to have to tell me who this Cullen person I. I'm worried that I'm going to have to compete with someone I don't know." He said as he lay her down on the bed and kissed her goodnight before pulling the covers up
"Trust me… he isn't real and there's nothing to compete with." She mumbled as she kissed him back and fell completely in to the darkness of sleep and didn't even hear him leave the room.

Okay guys!
Time for you guys to guess who has the jewels. There are only three of them. It took me a long time to decide who would have them so. Take a guess in your review!

On a happier note, guess where I've been. The hint for that is in Chapter 2 and is also the name of the Shire theme, an entire chapter in the Hobbit and the Lord of The Rings BOOKS! If anyone guesses correctly, I will defiantly post chapter 5 quicker than this one!

Yours in epic hobbitness-This is a hint!
}{anabell