Thanks for answering my questions, I was worried about how I was writing it since the hobbits are part what I know about them from the books, but a lot also comes from my friends who remind me of them. Thank you all for the reviews!
"Why did they beat you up, Sam?" Merry asked as he handed him a cloth to clean the cut across his lip with.
"Lotho said nobody speaks to him that way and I let him know that there is a first time for everything and that no one runs into Samwise Gamgee without an apology."
"Then?" Frodo asked.
"He said that I had some nerve talking back to him after taking his Rosie. I told him that Rosie was never his and his friends came up behind me." Sam explained and blushed slightly when the other boys looked at him with admiration.
"You really told him that?" Frodo had never been so proud of his friend.
In the next room Lobelia and Otho Sacksville-Baggins were arguing that the three boys had attacked her baby. "Bilbo, my son says that those three began hitting him, unprovoked. He didn't do anything to them. Have you seen his bruises? Now I understand that with Bucklanders and some of the lower class families it may be common, but us Bagginses are taught better."
Bilbo sighed and wished she would drop the Baggins. "You forget, Lobelia, that I am part Brandybuck and that Frodo, Samwise, and Meriadoc are good lads." Unlike Lotho, he added silently. "I believe them when they tell me what happened. Now if you do not mind, I am going to see how they are doing."
When he reached the door, he could her Lobelia muttering to her husband something about "that brute of an heir he chose." He bit back a sharp reply. Frodo knew to ignore their cousins, but sometimes he still worries about the boy.
"You didn't believe them, did you?" Frodo asked uncertainly as they cleared the table after dinner.
"Of course not," Bilbo said. He sounded preoccupied and Frodo wasn't sure if Bilbo were telling the truth, even though he couldn't think of a reason his uncle would lie. "I want you boys to learn to fight," he said suddenly.
"What?" Frodo asked. "I mean, why?"
"I don't want you to end up like today. In fact, next time Lotho tries something, I want you to win." Bilbo was smiling mischievously and Frodo did too. This was the only time the lad was ever going to be allowed to fight.
Another bonus of having an adventurous uncle, Frodo thought. "When do we start?"
