Disclaimer: Oh, forget it. I know, you know, everybody knows, I don't own any of this.

Just for Father's Day, in this chapter see Bilbo act paternal to Frodo! OK, so I'd do it anyway, but it sounded good.

For clarification's sake: Anything in italics is what they're thinking

Ch.4

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In the tree, Frodo was brought back to the present by hearing other voices join Bilbo's in calling his name. He thought it was Saradoc and Esmerlda's but he wasn't sure. There was a rising amount of worry in all three's. Although he heard this, Frodo didn't come down from the tree. He enjoyed the tranquility he found while up there alone. It was the only place he could be truly alone, and he liked that.

On the ground, Bilbo, Esmerelda, and Saradoc had searched everywhere they could think of, excluding the trees, for what respectable hobbit climbed trees? Saradoc and Esmerelda figured Frodo would get hungry and come in sooner or later.

Frodo's tree was an oak, so Frodo always ate the acorns the tree harvested. He hadn't had a proper meal since tea yesterday (he didn't have a big breakfast) but he wasn't exceptionally hungry. He'd skipped more meals than that before.

**********

He came down sometime in the afternoon, after luncheon and before tea. He'd begun to feel sick from all the acorns he found up there.  Bilbo, Esmerelda, and Saradoc had never really quit looking for him, keeping their eyes peeled for a dark head. Frodo was the only brunette at Brandy Hall, and sometimes it came in handy. Of course, sometimes it didn't.

As soon as he came through the side door, Bilbo, who was standing there, threw himself at him.

"Frodo! Thank goodness! Where have you been?"

"Calm down, Uncle Bilbo. I've just been outside." Frodo hugged Bilbo back

"We were looking for you. You didn't come to second breakfast or luncheon."

"I had some acorns. I'm fine."

"Acorns? All you had was acorns? Come on then," Bilbo said as he half drug Frodo to the kitchen.

"Bilbo, really, I'm fine."

"Well, that's what you said this morning, too, and you weren't fine then."

"Well, I'm really fine now."

Bilbo didn't reply to that.

"Really I am, I've skipped more than that before, and I had lots of acorns this time." As soon as he said that, Frodo wished he hadn't. Bilbo stopped dead, making Frodo run into him.

"You've skipped more than this? Did no one notice?"'

"Of course no one noticed! Why would they? I'm not *their* child! They're not responsible for me. They don't care. Ever since Mum and Dad died, it's always been like this. You get used to it, really." Frodo seemed near hysteria.

Seeing Frodo worked up over that, Bilbo's resolve was strengthened to care for the child. He said, "Frodo, how would you like it if you did have someone to be responsible for you, to care for you?"

Frodo immediately calmed down, and his blue eyes filled with tears. "Bilbo, what are you saying?"

"Frodo-lad, how would you like to come to live at Bag End? We could share our birthdays."

Frodo hugged Bilbo. "Yes, Uncle Bilbo. I'd like that very much."

*Pause for audience to go awwwww…. And on with the story! *

After everything was settled, Frodo and Bilbo left for Bag End, Frodo still mindful of his healing cuts, which he still hadn't told anyone about, and no one asked.

"So, Frodo. What would you like to do when we get to Bag End?"

"I don't know, Uncle. You can choose."

"Frodo, you're going to have to stop being so passive. Stand up for yourself! Being passive will only make you get beaten up or something."

Frodo's thoughts went back to Farmer Maggot's. He'd been passive then, letting Lotho drag him along, time after time. And he had gotten hurt for it, too. He didn't reply to Bilbo's statement.

Bilbo of course noticed this and stopped. " Frodo, you haven't got beat up, have you?"

"N…No, Uncle Bilbo." Does getting whipped count as getting beat up?

Bilbo, seeing right through Frodo, said, "Come here." He hugged Frodo. "Now, who did it?"

Frodo looked up, his eyes wide with innocence. "Did what, Uncle Bilbo?"

"Beat you up, of course. I'm not totally ignorant. I notice things. Like you hesitated saying no. So, I ask again, who did it."

"I haven't got beaten up." I was whipped. And it was my fault anyway.

"Frodo, really, you are not going to gain anything by keeping this to yourself. Who was it?"

"I haven't got beaten up." I might not gain anything, but by telling I will lose my reputation.

Bilbo gave up trying to get Frodo to tell. We're not even at Bag End yet and we're already beginning a quarrel. Did I do the wrong thing by adopting him? Am I not fit for parenting?

 When they stopped for the night, Bilbo let Frodo go to sleep then silently took his shirt up to check his back. It was merely a precaution, but Bilbo gasped when he saw the various cuts that ran over it. Frodo woke at that moment and, seeing Bilbo, quickly drew back. Now I'm in for it. The lecture, the punishment, the whole nine yards. Why did I let Lotho talk me into going?

However, Bilbo's expression was one of concern rather than anger. "Frodo, what happened? Who did this?" He said it in a no- nonsense tone, and Frodo knew there wouldn't be any backing away from the truth this time.

So he sighed and began in a hurried voice, "Well, you see, Lotho talked me in to going to Farmer Maggot's, and this time I got caught and Maggot got all angry, and then he whipped me, and then he took me to the edge of the farm and set his dogs on me and I ran to Buckleberry Ferry, but they let off there, and then I fell into the river, and I went back to Brandy Hall." He seemed exhausted just from the retelling of his not-so-simple tale.

Bilbo hugged Frodo again, almost as proof that he wasn't angry. " It's okay, Frodo. Don't worry."