Author's Note: After working on several other stories, posting another Frodo/Gandalf story, and reading a book (for the first time in weeks) I finally got around to this story. My apologies for making everyone wait so long. At last here is the final chapter of this little story. I have enjoyed writing this so much that I am sad it is over. All good things must come to an end sometime. My thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed this story. It is because of your encouragement that I have kept writing. Now go and enjoy this last chapter.
Chapter 4: A Friend!
Frodo waves good-bye to Sam and heads toward Bag End. It has been five days since Gandalf comforted him after his nightmare during the storm. The lad wonders what the wizard thinks of him.
Since that night the only time he has spent with the wizard has been after supper, when Frodo would sit either on Gandalf's or Bilbo's lap and listen to the conversation for a while before being shooed off to bed. The wizard has been very formal with him. Frodo can read people very well and knows that the wizard tolerates him for Bilbo's sake. He can see it in the wizard's eyes. It happened to him all the time at Brandy Hall. People would do things for him because they felt pity for him.
Frodo kicks angrily at the dirt at the edge of the road. Why should it bother him that Gandalf welcomes his company for Bilbo's sake? But it does bother him, and he knows why. Because he has hoped that Gandalf would welcome his company for the sake of companionship, not pity.
When Gandalf stayed with him that night, Frodo felt so safe and secure in his arms. There seemed to be a familiarity between them. And he felt what they shared was a just a taste of what Gandalf's friendship with Bilbo is like. But after that, they had been completely formal and polite with each other. Frodo is only a tweenager, after all, not the usual company the wizard is probably used to. But the hobbit admits to himself that he has started to care for the wizard the same way he cares for Bilbo. He rubs the gathering water from his eyes and continues his slow journey with bowed head.
"Whoa. Frodo?"
The young hobbit snaps his head up and finds himself facing horse, wagon…and wizard. He had been so deep in thought that he did not hear the wagon approach.
"Good afternoon," Frodo greets Gandalf. He blinks and narrows his eyes at the sight in front of him. "You're leaving."
He says it as a statement. Not as a question. It is a statement full of dismay which Frodo cannot keep from his voice.
Gandalf regards the tweenager. He sees the sorrow in Frodo's eyes before the lad lowers his gaze. He is not deaf to the dismay in the small one's voice, and it causes his heart to sink. Perhaps Bilbo is right.
"I'm sorry you must leave so soon," Bilbo says, walking his friend to the door.
"As am I," agrees the wizard, "but I shall be back; you know that."
"It may not be soon enough for some of us," Bilbo mumbles to himself under his breath. In a clear voice he says, "Be sure to see Frodo before you leave."
Gandalf smiles, "I would hardly know where to start looking for the lad."
"Just try to, at least, keep your eyes open for him. I do not wish to have to console him when he discovers he has missed you."
Bilbo is no one's fool. He has been aware of the awe Frodo has for the wizard. But after Gandalf's first night here, he saw Frodo's view of him change. He saw that he seemed to trust the wizard and enjoy being in his company. Unknowingly, Gandalf had a new friend. Yes, he does not desire to see Frodo's face when the lad hears that the wizard has left.
Gandalf looks at Bilbo, not understanding his words.
"He has grown fond of you over the last few days," Bilbo states simply.
Gandalf blinks in amazement at Bilbo, dumbfounded and speechless.
Gandalf shakes his head slightly and returns to the present.
"Yes, I must leave," he answers Frodo.
"Will you come visit us again?"
"I shall come again, yes. Expect me when you least expect me."
"You promise to visit us?" Frodo presses, still looking at the ground.
Gandalf gazes silently at the hobbit for a time. Then:
"Come here, my friend."
Frodo lifts his head. His eyes are swimming with unfallen tears; but there is an emotion that can only be described as pure joy, also in his eyes, from those soft-spoken words.
He slowly walks to the wagon and stops when he is standing alongside of it. Gandalf reaches down and pucks the lad from the ground and sits him in his lap. Frodo immediately sighs in contentment and tangles his hands in the long beard. Being in the wizard's lap reminds him of Gandalf's first night at Bag End.
The wizard lifts Frodo's chin so their eyes meet. "I promise you will see me again, my dear Frodo. It may not be as soon as you would like, but we will meet again."
The tears roll down the tweenager's face, but he also smiles. He hugs Gandalf tightly. He feels his curls being stroked.
"I love you." The words are muffled because of the beard, but they reach the Big Person's ears and his heart melts. He wraps his arms around the hobbit.
"And I you, my friend," he whispers.
After a few moments Frodo wipes his tears away and looks into his friend's eyes with a mixture of sadness and happiness before jumping down from the wagon.
"Thank you for saying good-bye," he says.
"I shall remember you, Frodo," Gandalf answers, his eyes also seeming to be suddenly sparkling. With that, he raises a hand in farewell, flicks the reins, and the wagon continues on its original journey. Frodo waves until he can no longer see the wizard.
Thus ends the first meeting of Frodo and Gandalf. But it was the beginning of a deep and long-lasting friendship between the hobbit and the wizard.
THE END
