Oh, guys I am so sorry it took me forever to post! We've been extremely busy…the one thing I *don't* like about Christmas. But anyways, here now! ;)

*giggles* I thought you'd find the "dumb hobbit" especially funny, Hannah! :D I very much enjoyed inserting that part, personally. I can't IMAGINE why. Oh! Oh I know. It's probably because it's got FRODO in it. You know, any scene with Frodo. (har har har) :P

Oh man, Kellen, real sorry to hear about your problems. At least, thanks to your friend, it's had an up amongst the downs. Hey! That's what friends are for, right? But I hope things with your job goes better for you in the future. And I also hope that you can see the Extended Cut! Now THAT would raise your spirits to the ceiling! ;)

I'm very glad you're enjoying the story, and hope maybe it too is a light in the midst of your problems. You never know *where* you'll shine! :)

Hi Larelin! I'm glad you're enjoying my story, even though Merry and Pippin have been your faves for the most part. I can't wait for ROTK either! Rumor has it that Rosie'll actually have a LINE! Well, okay, she said "goodnight lads" in the first one, but that hardly qualifies as a LINE. :D

*tries to respond to Rose Cotton's feedback, but gets bulled-over by her hilarity* LOL! That was SOOOO funny, RC! I laughed SO hard! :D Yeah, I guess you liked it, eh? Well, I'd keep going, but this hilarity of yours is HEAVY! ;)

AREN'T they sweet? *smiles at Angel of the Elves* that's something that ANYone with eyes can agree on! ;) They deserve more attention then they get, I think, though. *sigh*

Well, here it is girls. The final post. It's been fun! I'm afraid if you have any comments or questions, I won't be able to respond to them here. If you'd like, though, you can e-mail them to me at:

Evenstar47@hotmail.com

Heck, e-mail me just 'cause, if you want! :D

Oh, and one last thing. We reeeally need new members on the Rosie/Sam fan listing. You don't have to join, but if you'd like to show your appreciation for these two, it'd be great if you would!

Actually, even if you don't join, it'd be great if you could just take a look. Katie's put a lot of work into it, and there's a pretty HUGE gallery now. Plus, there are several other things that you can do on there besides just joining!

Anyways, I'm rambling, when I only wanted to say one thing: Come on over, if you want. :)

The address again is:

http://www.those-who-wander.net/samrosie/

Anywayz, here it is! Hope you enjoy it as you've enjoyed the previous five! :)

Namarie!

~Chloe

Chapter 6

Tributes to Forever

Sam lay, his eyes closed, but his mind fully awake. He was thinking of what Frodo had said awhile back.

"If the One goes into the Fire, and we are at hand? I ask you, Sam, are we ever likely to need bread again? I think not…"

Was it true? Which did Frodo really believe? What he had said then, or what he'd said a few moments ago?

"Oh Sam. I promise you'll see her again."

He dearly hoped that he believed the reliving latter, but some how, the former was more likely, even to Sam's optimistic mind. But then Rosie's words overrode Frodo's.

"Why of course, though you told me not to make promises I'm not sure of keeping."

"Well, you shall have to keep it, then."

He smiled inwardly. Somehow, he had to come back. Death, as Rosie would have likely put it, is just another dragon. And he wasn't scared of dragons anymore, so why fear death?

But there was one thing about what Frodo said that *did* still ring true. All that mattered was right here. Right now. And at this moment, he had Rosie's love. What else could he possibly want?

About a month later…

Sam hurried to the house. By the large round door, at the top of the steps form the wide yard, stood Mrs. Cotton and Rosie, and Nibs in front of them grasping a hay-fork.

"It's me!" shouted Sam as he trotted up. "Sam Gamgee! So don't try prodding me, Nibs. Anyway, I've a mail-shirt on me."

He jumped down from his pony and went up the steps. They stared at him in silence. "Good evening, Mrs. Cotton!" he said "Hullo, Rosie!"

"Hullo, Sam!" Rosie called, beaming "Where've you been? They said you were dead; but I've been expecting you since the Spring. You haven't hurried, have you?"

"Perhaps not." said Sam, turning slightly red. "But I've been busy with much."

"Oh?" asked Rosie. "And what could busy you so far from home?"

"I've been about, picking Bluets, making parsley stew, running in the rain, fighting dragons and I've come to help you with your garden!"

This completely bewildered Mrs. Cotton and Nibs, but Rosie was glowing. "You are very good at keeping promises, aren't you Sam?"

"I do try, Rosie. I'm glad to see you."

"And I you. " Rosie smiled. "Well, be off with you! If you've been looking after Frodo all this while, what d'you want to leave him for, as soon as things look dangerous?"

This was too much for Sam. It needed a week's answer or none. He turned away and mounted his pony. But as he started off, Rosie ran down the steps.

"I think you look fine, Sam." she said. "Go on now! But take care of yourself, and come straight back as soon as you have settled the ruffians!"

"I love you Rosie!" he called as his pony took off, no longer ashamed to shout it, even in front of her whole family.

"I love you too, Sam!" she responded, watching him disappear, a clear smile on her face.

Sam found Frodo and his friends by the fire talking to old Tom Cotton, while an admiring crowd of Bywater folk stood around and stared.

Sam sat beside Frodo, and waited quietly a moment. When Frodo was no longer talking to Cotton, he turned to him and whispered. "You were right, Mr. Frodo." Frodo looked up, and caught the look of immense joy in Sam's eyes. "I did see her again." Sam finished, smiling at the other.

Frodo leaned over and laid a hand around Sam's shoulders. "I'm truly happy for you Sam. And do her feelings for you remain as ever?"

"No." Sam sighed, looking into the distance wistfully.

"Oh?" Frodo asked, leaning even farther forward to catch his friend's expression.

Sam smiled and looked over at the other hobbit. "It's even stronger now, Mr. Frodo."

"Good for you, Samwise." Frodo whispered. "Good for you."

Two Years Later…

Sam turned to Bywater, and so came back up the Hill, as day was ending once more. So he went on, and there was yellow light, and fire within; the evening meal was ready, and he was expected. Rosie drew him in, and set him in his chair, putting little Elanor upon his lap.

He drew a deep breath. "Well, I'm back," he said.

Rosie sat down in the chair beside him, and looked deep into his eyes. "Are you all right, Sam?"

"Yes." he sighed. "I shall miss him. As dearly as I loved him."

"I know." Rose gave his hand a squeeze. "Are you hungry, Sam?"

"No, not right now, Rosie, thank you."

He sighed again, and leaned back in his chair. "I suppose I sort of took life and time for granted, didn't I? But now, now Mr. Frodo's gone…"

"He's not gone, Sam. You'll see him again. I promise." she smiled. "And I only make promises I can keep."

Sam smiled back, and rested his chin on Elandor's head, burying half of his face in her honey-blonde curls. He sat that way awhile, staring at Rosie through the forest of blond ringlets.

"What is it?" she asked, smiling down at him.

A huge grin spread across his face "I love you Rosie."

She returned the smile, and put a hand on his. "I love you too, Sam. Always."

Sixty-two years later…

Elanor sat silently, looking out at the sunset far-off. She glanced over at her bedside drawer and sighed. She was *still* avoiding it. She really did want to read the Red Book her father, Sam Gamgee had given her, but it still hurt to read about him, for she still deeply missed him and her mother, Rose Gamgee.

She shook her head, her curls, almost identical to her late-mother's, swinging and bouncing as she did. It was time to put the past where it belonged. She then nodded resolutely, and sat down on her bed, opening the nearby drawer, and pulling the Red Book from it.

She took a deep breath, and opened to the first page. But instead of finding an introduction or date or anything expected of the first page in a book, she found a small inscription written in a careful, delicate script.

A spray of flowers,

Cup of tea,

A bit of rainy weather

The night we danced,

Her love for me,

Are tributes to forever!

~I'll love you forever, my darling Rosie…I promise.~

And beside the message was a pressed flower. A Gentian.

Elanor swallowed hard, but felt tears slide down her face anyway. She knew enough about her parent's life story to know what the flower meant, but not the poem. It seemed to be something only between Sam and Rose, and it took her breath away to see it here, like a call from her father in the Grey Havens.

At that moment, a voice came through the open doorway.

"Elanor, darling? Elfstan and I are having supper, are you coming?"

"Yes, Fastred." Elanor managed to call, without conveying that she was crying.

She looked down at the page again, brushing her tears away so they wouldn't blot the beautiful writing. This was too special, too wonderful to show to just anyone. The precious mystery of her parent's story should be preserved, but only to the ones who would know it for what it really was.

Gently, she tore the page from the beautiful book, and folded it, setting it carefully back in the drawer. Perhaps Frodo and Rose would like to see their father's inscription as well, but not now. Not yet.

Even as Elanor closed the drawer, she felt she wouldn't have the courage to show it's contents even to her siblings. It was too precious to be restricted to an explanation, or even the beautiful inscription in the Red Book.

She sighed, and sat before the fading sunset once more. But now, thoughts of her parents flooded her mind. "You had a wonderful life, didn't you father?" she asked the wind that crept easily through her window. "You and mother had what most only dream of; true happiness." and she sighed, and turned towards the sound of her family eating supper.

*****

"It's beautiful!" Frodo walked up beside Sam. "I haven't come to look at the sea in…well, of course, I can't be sure how long!" and he threw a hearty arm around the hobbit's shoulder, and said as though he were giving advice to a son, "Sam, my lad, you never realize what a burden time is until it is blissfully gone."

"Indeed it is bliss, but one can never put anything according to plan!" Sam exclaimed, smiling broadly at his friend.

"That's the most beautiful thing of it, Sam. There's nothing to plan! We don't have time, because we don't *need* time as we had in Middle Earth." he sighed. "And it is magnificent."

Sam's smile faltered a bit at these last words, and he looked softly over the smooth water. "Do you ever miss Middle Earth, Mr. Frodo?"

Frodo stared over the water as well, and was silent a moment, as he let his arm slide down Sam's back. "In Middle Earth, I felt pain and sorrow. I found no comfort after the One went into Mount Doom, little at least. You were the only joy I felt. But now, there *is* no pain. There *is* no worry. There is only joy. Everywhere. As far as the eye can see," he shook his head, smiling. "and farther." he sighed, and then looked over at Sam, curiously. "Sam? Do you miss anything about Middle Earth?"

Sam stared over the sea, letting his eyes glaze it's unmoving surface, but another, more beautiful picture was in his mind. A young hobbit-lass, sitting at the top of the Hill, picking flowers. She was laughing blissfully, her high, sincere giggle, and fiddling with the small Buttercups in her curly hair.

"Now, we are the handsomest in Hobbiton!"

"Just one thing, Mr. Frodo." Sam whispered, and was momentarily not-so-sure that there were no tears in the Grey Havens. "Just one."

Frodo watched his friend's expression turn from the hope of a distant memory, to the sadness of finding it naught but a memory. And Frodo wished more than ever to touch his friend, for Sam's heart was too innocent, and fragile even after many years, and didn't deserve to be hurt. Frodo couldn't bare the look of sorrow that Sam now wore, as he watched the still waters of the sea.

He wanted so to make the poor hobbit feel better, and in looking around for a distraction, lighted on a tall man, in a dusty-blue hate. He smiled.

"Come, Sam." he whispered kindly, and lifted his hand back onto the friend's shoulder. "There is Gandalf. Let us go say hullo."

Sam nodded, and smiled gratefully at Frodo. A smile Frodo could almost have returned himself, just for being able to see it on the hobbit's face again. "Thank you Mr. Frodo." and turning once more to the sea, Sam closed his eyes, breathed in the fresh air, and whispered with a smile fostered by the everlasting love of this one girl, "Goodbye, Rosie."

And the two left the water's edge, and journeyed towards their old friend, leaving distant memories on the bank. But though they were forsaken there, the haziest of visions still followed Sam wherever he went. Even as he approached Gandalf, and waved his hullo, Sam could hear a faint voice in his ear, reminding him of the past.

"I love you, Sam. How I do."

For who indeed could ever forget Rosie Cotton?

The End