Author's Note: Taking it slow, I think. o_O I hope.
Pippin's First Love Chapter Four
Diamond waited until she thought Pippin couldn't see her anymore before whirling around and trying not to scream with happiness. ~I kissed him! Oh my gosh!~ she could hardly hold it in as she thought these words. When she skipped inside her hole Nob raised a questioning eyebrow.

"What's so great as to make Diamond of Long Cleeve skip about?" he asked. Diamond couldn't believe what came out of her mouth. No words, just mindless giggling. She didn't like when Nob referred to her as Diamond of Long Cleeve though. She was from there, but they had moved to Hobbiton for a good reason, Diamond didn't want to move back. She knew that look in Nob's eye though.

"Oh no. Nob," she giggled again. ~CALM DOWN~ her mind commanded. "We're not going to move back are we?" Nob's face fell at her sad features.

"Uncle Holman died and left us his farm. You know how big it is! We are moving there next week. I suggest you go make your goodbyes because we're going to be busy all week starting tomorrow." Nob announced. He stood up and left the table, his tea cup still half full. Diamond gawked openly at her brother's irritated exit. She felt tears prick at her eyes, was she not just thinking about how much she wanted to stay here and never return to Long Cleeve? Alas, now she would have to say goodbye to Rosie, Estella, Merry. And Pippin. She thought angrily about how giddy she'd been, she should have seen this coming!

"I need my diary!" she cried out to her empty room in which she found herself in when she opened her tightly clamped eyes. She wrenched her diary oout of her dresser and wrote until her hand ached and the pages were wet with tears. She fell asleep with exhaustion and awoke with a start hours later. She must go and say goodbye to her friends, now! She jumped out of her bed and taking her diary with her, walked to Estella's, then Rosie's, then to Pippin's. Paladin Took answered the door. Diamond curtsied politely at Pippin's father before speaking.

"Pardon me sir, I was wondering if Merry or Pippin were home?" she asked sweetly. He frowned at the three lasses at the door.

"Which one do ya want?" he questioned, suspicious.

"Both, if they are both available." Diamond crowed at the hobbit before her. He shouted over his shoulder into the house. Before long, Pippin and Merry were outside the house, panting and smiling.

"What brings you here?" Merry asked, more to Estella then to anyone else. Diamond cleared her throat, catching their attention.

"Could we go to the clearing please?" she begged her friends, she didn't want strangers seeing her sob as she said goodbye to all the people who she'd lived with for two years. True she'd only met Pippin and Merry a few weeks ago, but they were as close as friends got.

Pippin watched her sad gait as she led them all to the clearing out in the woods near her hole. Her eyes were red and swollen, as if she'd been crying. Whatever git made her cry, Pippin promised he'd pummel. He watched her walk slowly towards the end of their small journey, the first tear he'd seen roll down her cheek. He felt only concern and admiration for this lass before him as she fell softly into the grass in the clearing.

"Diamond, dear me what's wrong?" Rosie asked, worried of her friend's appearence. Tears she had shed left stains on her diary pages and leather cover. Diamond laughed and threw the precious book high into the air, not caring who read it's pages, she cared not, her life had ended as she knew it. Long Cleeve was so far away! She would be back in her old home, where memories of her parents plagued her and her brother's friends courted her. She wanted no part of it, she wanted to stay and live a simple life.

"What's that?" Pippin asked. He'd seen them before, his sisters all had one, a book they scribbled in and giggled about when Pippin brought friends or his father's company brought another girl over.

"A diary, don't you be reading it, Peregrin Took! Girls record things in there that no one should be able to read, not even their parents!" Merry exclaimed. He smacked Pippin's hand away from the leather bound cover. Diamond let out a spiteful laugh.

"Go on and read it! I care not. I am leaving next Saturday, not likely I will ever return." she said, her voice full of malice. Pippin gingerly picked up the book. First he skimmed through the pages until coming to that day's.

Her neat handwriting had become ragged and angry.

"August 22 of the third age
Why must Nob insist on moving back to Long Cleeve? I hate it there! I hate it! I have finally begun to make new friends and meet new people when Nob decided he wants a bigger farm. Oh who shall I miss most? I kissed Pippin today, he saved my life! I realized how much I liked him from when he first asked me to play tackle-ball and to help raid that field. Ah how life was simple! Now my life is in shambles, I need a shoulder to cry on. I must say my goodbyes and live on without those big green eyes and kind smile! Oh agony I must endure! Why me? Why must I live this life? I wish to be anyone but me right now. Though I still want to be Diamond. For he likes Diamond, and all that I care is that when I come of age, he is still mine. Whatever comes between, he's still going to be mine. "

The ink stained the pages so bad here Pippin could not distinguish smudge from letters. He wiped away they feeling of immense happiness that she liked him long enough to think the situation through. She buried her face in her hands and sighed, her tears unshed in her eyes, dangerously close to brewing over. Estella took the diary from him, Rosie reading it over her shoulder. They gasped and hugged their friend dearly. Merry took the diary from them and distinguished more of the smudges from the ink.

" Never even thought about Merry and Estella. He's moving back down to Buckland this coming fall. Oh how I hate change! Merry has very kind heart, though very different towards me. Feels a bit infringed upon I suppose. Oh happy life, why must thee end so soon? Oh bright green hills and knolls, I know I shall miss you! Life shan't be the same without him or you. My life has ended in so many ways, but why now? Why now?"

No more was there to be read. He glanced up at Diamond, her friends piled around her, trying to comfort her. She let out strangled cries of sadness, trying to appear more brave. The heartbreak, she knew was soon to come. He had read her thoughts, her deepest most innermost thoughts. Now he knew, she was leaving and she liked him more than the air and trees of the Shire. She could have said three words to express her feelings then, but for her, it wasn't enough.

Pippin watched in silence. He wanted more than anything to tell her the same, it would be torture without her there, he missed her and liked her. He wanted a moment alone with her, to talk. Estella and Rosie looked at the setting sun, and with small cries of pain and sorrow they departed. Merry watched Pippin observe the sun, they were late. He glared at Merry who turned on his heel and left the clearing immediately.

"Why now?" Diamond asked herself. Pippin moved closer and put an arm around her shoulders. She sighed and put her head on his chest, under his chin, hardly believing he was holding her. He kissed the top her head and spoke softly in her ear.

"Long Cleeve isn't that far away, my family goes there for harvest festivals, I can bring Estella and Rosie if you want!" he assured her. She sighed and felt a great weight off her shoulders. She knew Estella and Rosie's parents would never let them venture all the way to Long Cleeve with the Tooks. Respectable as they were, they were strange. She allowed herself to believe his every word.

"Keep my diary. I want you to have it, until you come to see me." she told him. He nodded and looked into her sorrowful eyes. She was so beautiful and perfect, he didn't know how anyone could cause her pain. He kissed her cheek lightly, trying to be subtle. She sighed and moved her lips to his, relishing the way she fit in his arms, and the way he held her to him. Like he never wanted to let go, in case she was stolen from him. They stayed this way for what seemed like mere moments, but in reality, was more like minutes. A distant cry from her hole brought them apart. Both blushed and leaped to their feet.

"I'll see if there's something I can do tomorrow to help, I guess." Pippin tried not to look at his feet. Diamond looked at the dirt in the clearing and nodded.

"Yes. That would be nice. Thank you, Pippin." she cleared her throat and pressed the diary into his hand. He watched her slow but steady gallop to her warm, cozy hole. The sigh he issued was that of great devotion and love. She was more than a friend now, and he wasn't sad to see that friendship die.