AN: So I thought that I had posted this chapter, but I hadn't? Oops!

The rain falls in thick, unending rivets, soaking any who are unfortunate to be stuck unaided to the bone. Frodo glares up at the sky muttering darkly. He had thought the snow was bad but this? This is the worst. With the snow, he was able to hold and snuggle with Sam. He was able to use the excuse of sharing heat to be as close as he wanted to the Hobbit that held his heart. With this rain, he's just soaked and lonely. He hates it. His uncle is far too upbeat and seems to be timing something.

"Can't you do something about this deluge?" he hears Dori ask Gandalf. At his side Nori parrots his brother gaining a laugh from Fili and Kili.

"Are there any?" Bilbo asks drawing Frodo's attention from the three Dwarrows that are quickly becoming his friends. His uncle has that Tookish look that Frodo knows all too well from Pippin. This must be what Bilbo was timing. So it's no surprise when Gandalf walks right into a classic Hobbit snark attack.

"Is he a great Wizard or is he more like you?"

Nori chokes on his laugh and the Princes look amazed. Frodo, on the other hand, is left wondering if the Wizard understood the insult or if he let it roll off his shoulders. If it had been Frodo's Gandalf, the White one, the one who fell in Moria, the one who came back, he'd know. But this is Bilbo's Gandalf, the one that Frodo has only heard about in stories because just as the Battle changed Bilbo it changed Gandalf as well.

Bilbo pulls back from Gandalf, feeling happy to rile up his old friend again. That quip has always been one of his favorites.

"And how are you four on this very wet day?" he asks his nephew and the three Dwarrows at his side. The fact that his nephew is bonding so well with the Dwarrows makes his heart swell. Maybe Frodo will find someone to take his mind off of Sam? Frodo glowers at him.

"I'm cold and wet and cold," Frodo states his nose scrunching up, "I hate being cold."

Frodo says it so casually but it brings up memories of the time in Rivendell, in the Gardens, when that cursed Morgul blade wound nagged at his nephew. Unbidden his eyes dart down to where the scar hides beneath his nephew's shirt.

"And there is no one to cuddle with," Frodo continues, "Unless I feel like playing with fire."

That draws a snort out Bilbo.

"Why do you say that?" he asks.

"Yeah you can snuggle with us!" protests Kili. Fili nods his head quickly, also wanting to know why they don't count as possible snuggle partners.

Frodo gives the Princes hard looks.

"If your uncle didn't kill me you'd try to prank me. No thank you."

"What about me?" Nori asks, batting his eyelashes. It's a ridiculous look on the Dwarf's face.

"Dori," is Frodo's simple answer like it answers everything, "which also knocks Ori out of the cuddle buddy pool."

Bilbo and Nori both laugh at that. The oldest Ri brother is a force to be reckoned with. Especially when it comes to his brothers.

"What if I kept Dori busy?" Bilbo asks, shaking his head to try and dispel some of the water collecting in his hair. Nori wouldn't have been his pick for his nephew but the Dwarf is a good man. Frodo looks at him thoughtfully.

"That could work. So long as I didn't get poked with anything."

It takes a while for the laughter to die down and on they go. When it comes close to time for them to make camp Frodo pulls Bilbo aside.

"You aren't going to do anything… stupid are you?" he asks his uncle making sure Nori, who is picking up Hobbitish at a fast rate isn't near. Bilbo sniffs.

"I would never."

"Why do I not believe you?" Frodo asks warily, not liking the smile in response. He's starting to understand Gandalf's obsession with the phrase 'Fool of a Took.' With a deep breath, Frodo decides to trust his uncle. It can't be too bad, he's heard the story.

Gandalf storming off with a shouted 'Myself, Master Baggins' doesn't improve the bad feeling that grows when Bofur sends Bilbo off with food for Fili and Kili. Logically Frodo knows that at one point they will end up in sacks. Logically he knows that Gandalf saves them before they are eaten.

Logic, though, flies out the window when he rushes to save his uncle from the Trolls. His uncle who was trying to talk to the Trolls because he got caught trying to save ponies. Oh Valar above and below he hates Trolls! This is worse than the time one stabbed him! How is this journey worse than the one he took himself to rid the world of the Ring?

"Drop yer arms or we rip 'is off."

It's Bilbo's fault, Frodo thinks dropping his sword without complaint, even before Thorin does. He isn't about to risk his uncle's life.

Fool of a Took echoes around in his head as he is shoved into a bag, as he is forced to listen to Trolls discuss how to cook them. Fool of a Wizard joins it when Gandalf doesn't appear quickly to save them.

"It'll take more than sage to make this lot edible!"

Frodo's voice is part of the cacophony yelling at Bilbo at that.

"You said you wouldn't do anything stupid!" he yells.

"You have to skin them!"

And the world goes upside down as he is picked up. Frodo glares at Bilbo all the way up as the Troll says that he isn't a Dwarf and should be good to eat whole and hale.

"Not that one! He's got… worms in his tubes!" Bilbo shouts jumping up and down in his own bag. Yavanna does Frodo hate Trolls. He's dropped with a very girly 'Yuck!' coming from the Troll. Thankfully, Bombur breaks his fall or else he'd have broken bones on top of bruised dignity. The Dwarrows shout their denials until Thorin kicks Kili. Smooth move Thorin, Frodo snarks in his head.

"Dawn will take you all!"

Finally, Gandalf's voice breaks through.

"About time," Frodo grumbles. Patiently waiting to be unbagged.

Bilbo knows he's in trouble when Frodo simply dusts himself off and goes to check on Nori without looking his way. Technically he hadn't done anything he hadn't done the first time around, so that doesn't count as stupid… Right?

"Oh Yavanna!" Nessa calls out as she walks into the Gardens. The sweet little Sam follows her closely. She reaches down and caresses his hair. Yes, she can very much understand why the sister of her brother's wife loves Hobbits so. The Garden appears to be empty.

"Don't worry little Sam. My sister-in-law may be up to something but I'll make sure she helps you," she promises as she sits down on the grass. Samwise sits down next to her. And now to wait.