Thanks to everyone who reviewed, or requested an email....after a bit of thought I decided to post the rest...but I'll do it a little at a time; don't want to overwhelm anyone.....

Another note: I did a boo-boo...let's just say I "updated" the old chapter four.

Chapter Five - Life's Choices

Paladin stood behind his sister; both watching the children going off towards the barn. "He'll be fine, Essie. Pimpernel is a good lass and won't allow any harm to come to him."

She turned to face her brother and sighed, "I know I must seem over protective of him. It's just that...I...." Her eyes welled up. "Sometimes...I think I'm all he has."

Paladin embraced his sister, not entirely oblivious of his sister's fears. "Saradoc has not recovered and come out of his study?" She shook her head.

"I've talked to him, Paladin, I've tried to reason with him....and recently--the other night, we were shouting and arguing at one another. We've never shouted at each other before." She sniffed, "And Merry was right there in the room when it all came out."

Paladin looked over to his wife. "Tina!" He called, "Come with us to my study; I think another woman might help."

Eglantine got up and handed their two year old over to Pearl. "Take Pervinca outside for a while, please." Pearl took her little sister by the hand and led her outside.

In the study, Eglantine sat next to Esmeralda, comforting her as she poured out her heart to her brother. "I've never heard him utter such vile words before, Paladin. And Merry heard them all!"

"What did Merry do? Has anyone asked him how he feels?"

"No, but he acts as if he never heard them! He still adores his father!" Esmeralda fidgeted with the handkerchief in her hands, "He ran off and hid somewhere in the upper levels for several hours. It was Frodo who found him and brought him back." She paused briefly, then continued, "Paladin, I...I want to return to Brandy Hall and..."

Paladin watched his sister, "And do what, Essie?"

"I want to go back and confront him. If Sara doesn't listen, then I will give him a choice."

"What kind of choice would that be? Merry is his son as well. You cannot simply keep Merry here without reason. Sara won't have it, and neither will Rory." Paladin said.

Esmeralda looked at her brother, "Sara has already made his feelings about Merry quite clear. Why would he care?"

Paladin spoke from an obstinate father's point of view, "Merry is a Brandybuck; out of sheer pride Sara won't allow his son to live anywhere but Brandy Hall." Then he softened, "Whatever he said the other night, Essie, I'm sure he's ruing those words already. Do you think it was drink talking through him?"

Esmeralda face fell; she remembered seeing an open bottle on Saradoc's desk. "Perhaps."

Paladin pulled his chair closer to his sister. "Essie, Sara is not himself. I've never known him to drink other than at a celebration. Does Rory or Gilda know about any of this?"

Esmeralda sighed, "No."

Paladin sat back in his chair, "They need to know." He exhaled a deep breath he took. "Have you talked to Merry at all?"

She shook her head, "No. As I said, even though he heard everything his father said, he still loves him, so I don't believe Merry really understood it all. The shouting seemed to frighten him more than anything."

Paladin shook his head. "No, Essie, I think he understands more than you know, or can even guess. You said yourself he ran away and hid in another part of the Hall for quite a while. If someone doesn't talk to him soon, his feelings may surface in ways that you will not like. Being five years old, he may not know how to speak his feelings, but if someone he loves were to help him talk it out, he would speak volumes."

Esmeralda looked at her brother. "Would you speak to him?"

"I would love to, Essie," Said Paladin, "but the boy doesn't know or even trust me yet."

"He will in due time. I mean, if you," She looked at her sister-in-law, "and Tina would allow him to stay for a short period, he will come to know you."

Paladin was incredulous. "Essie, you and Merry are welcome to stay as long as you desire, but Merry--alone? He's just a little boy who still needs his mother! You can't just leave him here alone and go off back to Brandy Hall." He paced back and forth trying to think of another way, but he came to the same conclusion as his sister; Merry ought not to return home to that destructive setting if it could be helped at all. Which would be the lesser of the two "evils"?, he thought to himself. "You must stay here with him for a few days at least, and then we'll talk to him together. If he seems fine with it, then he can stay. If he gives any indication that he will not stay without you, then you must not put him through that horror."

"He's already been through horrors, Paladin. Mine and Sara's argument being one of them. Which would be the more, Paladin? Going back to a father who treats his pony better than he treats his own son? Or the awfulness of staying on with kin that I know will love him and shower him with kindness and affection?"

Paladin couldn't deny that. He loved his own children more than life itself, and his nieces and nephews weren't far behind. "Very well." He sighed, "I only hope we're doing the best thing for Merry."

Esmeralda got up and hugged him. "We are! Thank you, Paladin!"