A/N: I apologize for the long delay in updating. I regret to announce that chapter four may be long in coming as well, but I will try my very hardest to have it up as soon as possible. And thank you for the reviews!!!

Chapter Three: With a Fox

Pippin was talking, but Merry could no longer hear him. His mind was elsewhere now. It was a few dozen yards away with that lass sitting in the Bolger's front yard. He wasn't sure what she was doing. She had a very small bundle in her arms, and there was a pan of milk beside her, and she kept dipping a cloth into it and letting whatever was in the bundle suckle on the cloth. She looked like a new mother with the way she was smiling, but Merry knew that whatever was in the bundle was too small to be a baby.

"Merry!" Pippin called. Getting no response, he whacked his older cousin on the head.

"Ow! Pippin, what was that for?"

Pippin laughed, following Merry's gaze. "Estella Bolger? You are walking on air because of Estella Bolger?"

"And what is wrong with that?"

Pippin shook his head. "There's nothing wrong with it. She just hates you, that's all."

Merry looked from his cousin to Estella, and back again. "She doesn't hate me. She just… um… is annoyed by me sometimes."

Pippin snickered.

"It could work." Merry defended his fantasies.

"Oh yes, I'm sure it could," Pippin said sarcastically.

"You know what? Change of plans. I'll meet you at Crickhollow later."

Pippin walked away, laughing. "Whatever you say, Merry."

Merry rolled his eyes, hoping he hadn't acted that way when Pippin was courting Diamond. He wasn't going to let it stop him from talking to Estella though. He hopped over the fence and walked up to her.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing to the bundle.

She looked up and shushed him, but she was smiling. "Quiet, you'll scare him! And I just got him calmed down enough to eat, didn't I baby boy? Yes, I did," she crooned.

Merry came and sat beside her. He peered inside the bundle that was much too small to contain a hobbit baby, and saw the little face of a fox kit. "Where'd you find him?" Merry asked.

"Da killed his mother this morning because she was in our chicken coop. Fatty heard him crying and I found him by the fence post. Da was going to kill him too, but I convinced him to let me keep him and raise him, like a kitten. He said yes, as long as I let him go when he gets old enough. He's heard that when foxes get around a year old, they get wild. So, I'll keep him until he's old enough to let go. But maybe my Da is wrong, and he won't ever get wild." She smiled at the thought, and stroked the kit's head.

"Does he have a name?" Merry wanted to know.

"Trouble," she answered. "Because I saved him from a lot of trouble. Do you want to hold him, Merry?"

"Sure," Merry said, holding out his hands. Estella carefully unwrapped the baby fox from the blanket and gently placed him in the hobbit's waiting hands. Merry smiled. The kit was still blind and helpless and tiny. His orange fur was softer than a kitten's, and his tiny paws sported thin claws that did not do Trouble much good, sharp though they were. He squeaked in a pathetic manner, wondering who this new person was that held him. "He's… cute," Merry told Estella, for lack of a better word.

"Yes, and he still needs to be fed, so if you would kindly…" she stopped short, hearing a metal clanging and feeling a wet substance touch her leg. She quickly moved away, almost jumping into Merry's lap being startled by the noise and wetness. She shoved the lad away, then looked to her left. "Fatty!" she exclaimed, seeing the criminal. He had accidentally knocked over the tin pan full of milk in coming out to talk to Merry. Estella sighed. "Get some more before Trouble starves to death, please," she commanded. Freddy rolled his eyes.

"Fine." He picked up the now empty pan I don't know why Da even let you keep him. He's just going to be what you named him, a whole lot of trouble."

Merry looked hard at Estella once Fred had gone.

"What?" she asked, sensing his eyes on her.

"If you care this much about a fox kit, you're going to be the most wonderful mother some day," he answered.

She smiled a bit. "Thank you."

They sat in silence for a moment or two, petting Trouble's soft little head and rubbing his tiny ears. Merry broke the silence.

"Do you hate me?"

She raised her eyebrows, surprised at the question. "Yes. Most of the time."

"Why?"

"Apart from the fact that you are selfish, stuck-up, obnoxious, proud, and like to brag on yourself? You still have not apologized."

"Apologized? What have I done to you that I need to apologize for?"

She glared, taking Trouble back from him. "Oh, I think you know."

Merry shook his head in confusion.

"You do too!"

"No, I really don't," he told her.

"You don't remember what you did?"

"No! I honestly don't remember!"

"You did this," she said, then leaned forward and kissed him. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her closer, kissing her back. He heard her sigh, obviously forgetting about Trouble, and the fact that she supposedly hated Merry Brandybuck, the lad she now held close while she kissed him.

Estella regained her wits and shoved Merry away hard.

"Sorry," he said, smiling cheekily.

She growled and picked up her baby fox, cuddling him close. She wondered what on Middle Earth had possessed her to kiss him. It was one thing for him to kiss her, but when she was the one who kissed him… What was happening? Merry Brandybuck was her brother's show-off friend whom she had always detested.

"But I think you were lying when you said you hated me."

"Merry, no words can describe the complete and utter hatred I have for you."

He smirked. "Well, that is the third time we have kissed in the past two months. I'll admit, I am beginning to like you quite a bit."

She looked surprised for a minute, then her scowl returned. "Yes, I'm sure."

Merry looked up and saw Fred coming back with the pan of milk. "Now… um… I believe I'll leave before Freddy gets back. I'd rather not be here when you tell him I kissed you again." And with that, Merry was up and away, heading for the shelter of Crickhollow. He knew he was just as safe with Estella though. She would rather die then tell her brother she had kissed Meriadoc Brandybuck.

A/N: Please review! Oh, and I feel like my sentence patterns are very repetitive. If they are, could you please let me know?