A HOBBIT STORY
A/N: This story takes place before The Lord of the Rings, but after The Hobbit. I'm not a very good writer and anything I do write isn't good enough for anything anyway, so please spare me the flames, constructive criticism will be fine. If you think it's really bad tell me, but in a nice way.^_^ Sorry if any information is incorrect, I'll do my best to keep it right.
Disclaimer: Tolkien owns all these characters, and great characters they are. I'm sorry in advance if the characters are sometimes out of character. I'll try my best to keep them in character. Oh boy, I'm saying that word way too much. Oh and the months and dates of birthdays are made up because I couldn't find out the real dates.
CHAPTER 1: MERRY'S BIRTHDAY
It was May 8, 1415 in the Shire and two young (but not too young) hobbit lads ran merrily through a field of corn. Well I guess I shouldn't use the word merrily, I should say rather, as quickly as their hobbit feet could carry them, because they were being chased by Farmer Maggot. Yes, a regular occurrence for these two, in fact for most young hobbits living in the East Farthing, on both sides of the Brandywine River.
"I can't run anymore!" Shouted Pippin, because these two were of course, Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took.
"Well Pip, you're going to have to run, 'cause Maggot's not gonna stand around and wait for us to leave!" Yelled Merry as he looked back over his shoulder to see Pippin lagging behind. He then quickly jogged back to Pippin and grabbed him as they ran for their lives out of the corn field and into the forest.
"Oh my gosh," puffed Pippin. "I don't think I've ever ran that fast and far in my whole life."
"Well that explains why you always get caught then, doesn't it." Chuckled Merry as he tried to catch his breath.
"I always get caught because.........because....." Pippin stammered as he tried to think of a good answer.
"Because why? Huh, why do you always get caught? I can't hear you. What was that you said? Speak up!" Merry said as he tried to contain his laughter.
"Oh, just shut up Merry!" Pippin smiled as he jumped on Merry and the two started to wrestle.
"Hey Merry, sshhhh! Do you hear that?" Asked Pippin.
"Hear what?" Merry replied.
"That growling. It sounds like it's really close too!" Pippin answered. They listened in silence as the growling increased.
Suddenly Merry burst out laughing, "ha, ha, ha, ha, hoo, hoo, ha, ha, tee hee hee!"
"Hey what are you laughing at? This is no laughing matter!" Pippin insisted.
"Pippin," *muffle laughter* "it's your stomach! Ha, ha, ha!" continued Merry, who fell over holding his stomach because it hurt from laughing so hard.
Pippin looked embarrassed for a second and then started laughing just as hard as Merry.
"I guess we didn't do a good job stealing from farmer Maggot." Merry pointed out, trying to calm down.
Pippin thought for a moment and then said, "we could go to Brandy Hall and raid the pantries, they've got tons of food there!"
All of a sudden Merry stopped laughing. "Nu-uh, no way, you can't go raid Brandy Hall, I won't let you." He fumed, getting up and frowning at Pippin where he still lay on the ground.
"Why not? We'd only take a little, just to relieve my hunger. Please, pu-leeze, pretty please with a cherry on top?" pleaded Pippin.
"Not a chance. It would take a whole pantry to just relive your hunger. Besides, most of the food is for tomorrow anyway."
"What's so special about tomorrow?" Pippin pouted, as he crossed his arms and sat on a rock.
Merry was taken aback, a look of shock plastered on his face. "You mean you don't remember?!? Pippin how could you? You're supposed to be my best friend!" He shouted.
Pippin was surprised to see Merry blow up like this. "Well, what's the date tomorrow?" He finally asked.
"The date is May 9, 1415, the day that I come of age." Merry answered, crushed that his best friend had forgotten his birthday.
"Oh my! Your birthday! I knew there was something special going on tomorrow. I'm so sorry I forgot, but you have to admit, it's kind of hard to remember tomorrow's date if you don't know today's." Pippin stated, putting on a smile to try and cheer up his best bud.
Merry couldn't help but smile back at him. He did have a point and he couldn't be mad at his friend for long. Besides Pippin had a habit of forgetting things.
**************************
Meanwhile in another part of the Shire, Samwise Gamgee was tending the gardens of Bag End. He was weeding a small patch of plump orange carrots and was just about finished.
At that moment Frodo Baggins came running out the back door and almost tripped over poor Sam, who was working fast to finish his weeding.
"Oh sorry Sam, I didn't see you there at first." Frodo apologized, trying hard to catch his breath.
"Well Mr. Frodo, what brings you out here all a huffin' and a puffin' and all excited like?" Questioned Sam.
"How would you like to go to a party tomorrow? It will be great fun and there will be lots of great food." He answered.
"I don't know Mr. Frodo, I have a lot of gardening to do and my Gaffer wouldn't be pleased if he found out I wasn't doing all my work." Sam began.
"It's all right. Since I'm the master of Bag End, I'll make sure you can come to the party, that is if you want too. Plus you're invited." Frodo declared.
"I am? You mean they especially asked me to come? I guess I will then, it's the polite thing to do. Who would be having a party that they wanted me to come?" Sam wondered to himself forgetting that Frodo was right there.
"To answer all those questions, yes you are invited, you even have your own invitation, though I don't know why they sent it here, and this person is really hoping you'll say yes. The person is Merry!" Frodo bursted out hardly able to hold in his excitement at the thought of his younger cousins birthday party.
"Oh you mean Merry Brandybuck? Isn't he coming of age soon? I guess that must be tomorrow. No wonder your so excited Mr. Frodo! And now you have me excited too!" Acknowledged Sam as he thought of all the wonderful treats that they would have at Brandy Hall for this joyous occasion. "I'll go tell my Gaffer that I won't be working tomorrow then, oh I can't wait." Sam said letting his mind wander over imaginary tables of ripe, delicious vegetables and pastries of all kinds, and of how much fun this party would be, for Brandy Hall was famous for it's parties.
"I think I'll come with you to make sure your Gaffer lets you come." Frodo decided wondering how his cousin had grown up so fast and where all the years had gone to.
********************
Back in Buckland, the finishing touches were being made on the party arrangements. There were hobbits all over the place, cooking food, setting up decorations and furniture, checking off yes's and no's from invitations, doing everything that was required to make Merry's coming of age party a great one. Seeing as how there were many, many hobbits invited to this party of the century, Merry (along with Pippin), was locked in his room attaching name tags to parcels. Merry's mother had given the two boys lots of refreshments to eat and drink while they worked, and Pippin was more than compensated for the unsuccessful attempt at raiding Maggot's farm.
"Jeepers Merry, how come you have to have so many relatives?" Complained Pippin.
"It's not my fault that I'm a Brandybuck. You should know how I feel, you're a Took!" Merry chuckled. "You have just as many relatives and friends and you know I'm always happy to help you with your birthday presents, so stop that complaining."
"Alright, whatever you say cousin." Pippin agreed.
So the two labored on for what seemed like hours, before they were finally finished with all the presents. They looked around and gaped at all the trinkets and gifts strewn all over Merry's floor and piled halfway up to the ceiling.
"Boy am I famished after all that hard work. What about you Pip?" Merry asked, but Pippin was already asleep. So Merry got up and went to the kitchen to sneak a small snack, and then came back to his room to get some sleep.
The next day came so fast, it seemed to Merry that he had just put his head on his pillow when his mother and father were calling him and Pippin to wake up and get ready for breakfast. So he and his cousin got dressed and went to the kitchen for first breakfast.
"Wow Merry, your mother sure is a good cook!" Expressed Pippin, who was stuffing food in his mouth.
"Pip, you've eaten here before, her cooking is the same, and you say that every time we have you over, at every single meal. I think she knows by now that you like her cooking." Merry stated, trying not to laugh so he wouldn't choke on his food.
"Well Merry, at least someone around here appreciates my cooking." Merry's mother said as she smiled at the two boys.
*******************
A few hours later Merry and Pippin had Merry's room cleaned up, and had already eaten second breakfast and elevensies and were starting on luncheon when they heard a knock on the door.
"I'll get it!" Merry jumped up excitedly. When he opened the door he hugged the hobbits that were on the other side so hard they couldn't breath. "Frodo, and you brought Sam too! Oh this is so exciting." he said as he jumped up and down.
"Merry, since today you come of age you can't go around jumping up and down like that every time someone comes to the door, your acting like a child." His mother reminded him with a smile.
"I know mother, I'm just so excited. Weren't you excited when it was your coming of age party?" He inquired.
"If you must know Meriadoc," his mother answered. "I was excited, but at least I acted like I was coming of age and not as if I was a young child." She chuckled at her son's antics. She shook her head and walked away into the kitchen to finish getting luncheon ready.
"Well, now that your here," Merry said to Frodo and Sam as he dragged them to the sitting room, Pippin in tow. "You can tell us what it's like to live on your own." His eyes gleamed as he waited for Frodo's answer.
"Merry, I've already told you plenty of times what it's like to live alone." He paused for effect. "It's very lonely." He laughed as he told Merry what he had told him countless times before, ever since Bilbo had left the Shire. The thought made him sad.
"Frodo, Sam, Pippin, Merry!" Mrs. Brandybuck called. "It's time for luncheon, come and get it while it's hot!" She watched as the two younger hobbits ran into the kitchen, followed a minute later by the older two who had the decency to walk in the house. "Merry, Pippin! What have a told you at least a dozen times before?" She questioned the two lads sitting in front of her at the table.
"No running in the house." They said gloomily in unison, looking at their feet before digging into the food on their plates in front of them. Sam and Frodo just chuckled.
As the Brandybuck family (along with Pippin, Frodo and Sam) ate their meal, they awaited the evening with excitement. They knew very well that with Merry and Pippin it would be a very eventful night indeed, and that there would most likely be many things that would go wrong because of the two trouble makers. Merry's parents didn't worry too much about it. It was Merry's party after all and if he wanted to crash it he was welcome to.
***************A Few Hours Later*******************
Merry and Pippin we standing on the steps of Brandy Hall looking at all the guests. Merry had already handed out all the gifts and was wondering how many of these hobbits he had actually met personally and which one's were just here for the party. Unfortunately, there weren't any cool fireworks at Merry's party, and Merry was quite disappointed about that, but thought to himself, 'you can't have everything I suppose'.
Pippin was looking at all the tables of food that had been set out and wondering how much food he could consume before the night was over. "Hey Merry, how 'bout we go over to those tables and get ourselves some food?" He asked his cousin, who didn't seem to be paying attention. "Merry! How 'bout it?"
"What Pip? Did you say something?" He looked kind of out of it. "Oh food. Well ummmm, I actually thought I might have a dance first. You don't mind do ya?" He finally looked at Pippin.
Pippin looked down, "I guess if you want." He cheered up though, "we can eat when we're done dancing, that way we'll be even hungrier!" Merry just laughed at his cousin, "sure Pippin, that sounds good."
As the two made their way down to the dance floor, Pippin saw the reason that Merry wanted to go dancing. He smiled as he saw the young hobbit lass, that he knew Merry had taken a liking to. "So that's why you wanted to come dancing," he stated, "to see Estella." It was his turn to laugh at Merry who had started blushing something fierce.
"If you must know, yes, she is why I wanted to come dancing. Do you have a problem with that?" Merry asked Pippin, knowing his cousin was going to tease him to no end about this, but he didn't really care.
"Well I'll just leave yea to it then." He said as he winked at Merry. Pippin made his way over to the musicians and started to beat a drum, which he found was quite fun.
Merry was glad Pippin had left him to talk to Estella alone. It wasn't that he didn't want him there, it was just that, well, he might make things worse and Merry didn't want to make a fool of himself in front of her, especially not at his coming of age party. As he walked over to Estella, he started getting butterflies and contemplated turning back, when he saw Pippin wink at him from the stage and urge him forward. So he gathered up his courage and walked over to her. She was standing with a group of her friends, so he cleared his throat and said, "umm, Estella.....can I talk to you? Alone?" He added when her friends were still there. Of course he had to stand there and wait till all of her giggling friends had left before he could say anything.
"You wanted to talk to me?" She said sweetly, which made Merry's throat go dry.
"Uh, yea. I wanted to ask you if you wanted to dance?" He hoped that she would say yes so he wouldn't suffer further embarrassment. To his surprise she said yes.
"Why of course I'll dance with you Merry Brandybuck." She smiled. "I thought you'd never ask." She said as he took her hand and led her to the dance floor. He was so happy that his smile almost stretched from ear to ear.
After the dancing, the feasting, the socializing, and the speech were all over, and all the guests had finally gone home, Merry flopped onto his bed. Pippin had gone home with his parents, so he was alone. He was glad because he was really tired from the whole night and needed some sleep. He was so tired he didn't even bother unchanging. He was asleep as soon as his feet were off the ground and his head had hit the pillow. His mother came it to check on him and noticed this so she took off his shoes and jacket for him as he slept and pulled the covers over her now 33 year old son. He stirred a little as she kissed him goodnight, but stayed asleep. She smiled at him before she left to go to bed herself, for today had been tiring for her too.
A/N: Ok. We all know the routine. Review if you liked, review if you didn't like. Just please no flames. I got those before (last February, 2002) _ and they really discouraged me. I may not be the best writer and I'm not doing this to try and prove anything, I just thought it might be interesting, so go easy on me ^_^ Thanks. Oh and sorry if it's a little short, but if people like it then I'll continue and try to make the chapters longer.
~Laurelin
A/N: This story takes place before The Lord of the Rings, but after The Hobbit. I'm not a very good writer and anything I do write isn't good enough for anything anyway, so please spare me the flames, constructive criticism will be fine. If you think it's really bad tell me, but in a nice way.^_^ Sorry if any information is incorrect, I'll do my best to keep it right.
Disclaimer: Tolkien owns all these characters, and great characters they are. I'm sorry in advance if the characters are sometimes out of character. I'll try my best to keep them in character. Oh boy, I'm saying that word way too much. Oh and the months and dates of birthdays are made up because I couldn't find out the real dates.
CHAPTER 1: MERRY'S BIRTHDAY
It was May 8, 1415 in the Shire and two young (but not too young) hobbit lads ran merrily through a field of corn. Well I guess I shouldn't use the word merrily, I should say rather, as quickly as their hobbit feet could carry them, because they were being chased by Farmer Maggot. Yes, a regular occurrence for these two, in fact for most young hobbits living in the East Farthing, on both sides of the Brandywine River.
"I can't run anymore!" Shouted Pippin, because these two were of course, Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took.
"Well Pip, you're going to have to run, 'cause Maggot's not gonna stand around and wait for us to leave!" Yelled Merry as he looked back over his shoulder to see Pippin lagging behind. He then quickly jogged back to Pippin and grabbed him as they ran for their lives out of the corn field and into the forest.
"Oh my gosh," puffed Pippin. "I don't think I've ever ran that fast and far in my whole life."
"Well that explains why you always get caught then, doesn't it." Chuckled Merry as he tried to catch his breath.
"I always get caught because.........because....." Pippin stammered as he tried to think of a good answer.
"Because why? Huh, why do you always get caught? I can't hear you. What was that you said? Speak up!" Merry said as he tried to contain his laughter.
"Oh, just shut up Merry!" Pippin smiled as he jumped on Merry and the two started to wrestle.
"Hey Merry, sshhhh! Do you hear that?" Asked Pippin.
"Hear what?" Merry replied.
"That growling. It sounds like it's really close too!" Pippin answered. They listened in silence as the growling increased.
Suddenly Merry burst out laughing, "ha, ha, ha, ha, hoo, hoo, ha, ha, tee hee hee!"
"Hey what are you laughing at? This is no laughing matter!" Pippin insisted.
"Pippin," *muffle laughter* "it's your stomach! Ha, ha, ha!" continued Merry, who fell over holding his stomach because it hurt from laughing so hard.
Pippin looked embarrassed for a second and then started laughing just as hard as Merry.
"I guess we didn't do a good job stealing from farmer Maggot." Merry pointed out, trying to calm down.
Pippin thought for a moment and then said, "we could go to Brandy Hall and raid the pantries, they've got tons of food there!"
All of a sudden Merry stopped laughing. "Nu-uh, no way, you can't go raid Brandy Hall, I won't let you." He fumed, getting up and frowning at Pippin where he still lay on the ground.
"Why not? We'd only take a little, just to relieve my hunger. Please, pu-leeze, pretty please with a cherry on top?" pleaded Pippin.
"Not a chance. It would take a whole pantry to just relive your hunger. Besides, most of the food is for tomorrow anyway."
"What's so special about tomorrow?" Pippin pouted, as he crossed his arms and sat on a rock.
Merry was taken aback, a look of shock plastered on his face. "You mean you don't remember?!? Pippin how could you? You're supposed to be my best friend!" He shouted.
Pippin was surprised to see Merry blow up like this. "Well, what's the date tomorrow?" He finally asked.
"The date is May 9, 1415, the day that I come of age." Merry answered, crushed that his best friend had forgotten his birthday.
"Oh my! Your birthday! I knew there was something special going on tomorrow. I'm so sorry I forgot, but you have to admit, it's kind of hard to remember tomorrow's date if you don't know today's." Pippin stated, putting on a smile to try and cheer up his best bud.
Merry couldn't help but smile back at him. He did have a point and he couldn't be mad at his friend for long. Besides Pippin had a habit of forgetting things.
**************************
Meanwhile in another part of the Shire, Samwise Gamgee was tending the gardens of Bag End. He was weeding a small patch of plump orange carrots and was just about finished.
At that moment Frodo Baggins came running out the back door and almost tripped over poor Sam, who was working fast to finish his weeding.
"Oh sorry Sam, I didn't see you there at first." Frodo apologized, trying hard to catch his breath.
"Well Mr. Frodo, what brings you out here all a huffin' and a puffin' and all excited like?" Questioned Sam.
"How would you like to go to a party tomorrow? It will be great fun and there will be lots of great food." He answered.
"I don't know Mr. Frodo, I have a lot of gardening to do and my Gaffer wouldn't be pleased if he found out I wasn't doing all my work." Sam began.
"It's all right. Since I'm the master of Bag End, I'll make sure you can come to the party, that is if you want too. Plus you're invited." Frodo declared.
"I am? You mean they especially asked me to come? I guess I will then, it's the polite thing to do. Who would be having a party that they wanted me to come?" Sam wondered to himself forgetting that Frodo was right there.
"To answer all those questions, yes you are invited, you even have your own invitation, though I don't know why they sent it here, and this person is really hoping you'll say yes. The person is Merry!" Frodo bursted out hardly able to hold in his excitement at the thought of his younger cousins birthday party.
"Oh you mean Merry Brandybuck? Isn't he coming of age soon? I guess that must be tomorrow. No wonder your so excited Mr. Frodo! And now you have me excited too!" Acknowledged Sam as he thought of all the wonderful treats that they would have at Brandy Hall for this joyous occasion. "I'll go tell my Gaffer that I won't be working tomorrow then, oh I can't wait." Sam said letting his mind wander over imaginary tables of ripe, delicious vegetables and pastries of all kinds, and of how much fun this party would be, for Brandy Hall was famous for it's parties.
"I think I'll come with you to make sure your Gaffer lets you come." Frodo decided wondering how his cousin had grown up so fast and where all the years had gone to.
********************
Back in Buckland, the finishing touches were being made on the party arrangements. There were hobbits all over the place, cooking food, setting up decorations and furniture, checking off yes's and no's from invitations, doing everything that was required to make Merry's coming of age party a great one. Seeing as how there were many, many hobbits invited to this party of the century, Merry (along with Pippin), was locked in his room attaching name tags to parcels. Merry's mother had given the two boys lots of refreshments to eat and drink while they worked, and Pippin was more than compensated for the unsuccessful attempt at raiding Maggot's farm.
"Jeepers Merry, how come you have to have so many relatives?" Complained Pippin.
"It's not my fault that I'm a Brandybuck. You should know how I feel, you're a Took!" Merry chuckled. "You have just as many relatives and friends and you know I'm always happy to help you with your birthday presents, so stop that complaining."
"Alright, whatever you say cousin." Pippin agreed.
So the two labored on for what seemed like hours, before they were finally finished with all the presents. They looked around and gaped at all the trinkets and gifts strewn all over Merry's floor and piled halfway up to the ceiling.
"Boy am I famished after all that hard work. What about you Pip?" Merry asked, but Pippin was already asleep. So Merry got up and went to the kitchen to sneak a small snack, and then came back to his room to get some sleep.
The next day came so fast, it seemed to Merry that he had just put his head on his pillow when his mother and father were calling him and Pippin to wake up and get ready for breakfast. So he and his cousin got dressed and went to the kitchen for first breakfast.
"Wow Merry, your mother sure is a good cook!" Expressed Pippin, who was stuffing food in his mouth.
"Pip, you've eaten here before, her cooking is the same, and you say that every time we have you over, at every single meal. I think she knows by now that you like her cooking." Merry stated, trying not to laugh so he wouldn't choke on his food.
"Well Merry, at least someone around here appreciates my cooking." Merry's mother said as she smiled at the two boys.
*******************
A few hours later Merry and Pippin had Merry's room cleaned up, and had already eaten second breakfast and elevensies and were starting on luncheon when they heard a knock on the door.
"I'll get it!" Merry jumped up excitedly. When he opened the door he hugged the hobbits that were on the other side so hard they couldn't breath. "Frodo, and you brought Sam too! Oh this is so exciting." he said as he jumped up and down.
"Merry, since today you come of age you can't go around jumping up and down like that every time someone comes to the door, your acting like a child." His mother reminded him with a smile.
"I know mother, I'm just so excited. Weren't you excited when it was your coming of age party?" He inquired.
"If you must know Meriadoc," his mother answered. "I was excited, but at least I acted like I was coming of age and not as if I was a young child." She chuckled at her son's antics. She shook her head and walked away into the kitchen to finish getting luncheon ready.
"Well, now that your here," Merry said to Frodo and Sam as he dragged them to the sitting room, Pippin in tow. "You can tell us what it's like to live on your own." His eyes gleamed as he waited for Frodo's answer.
"Merry, I've already told you plenty of times what it's like to live alone." He paused for effect. "It's very lonely." He laughed as he told Merry what he had told him countless times before, ever since Bilbo had left the Shire. The thought made him sad.
"Frodo, Sam, Pippin, Merry!" Mrs. Brandybuck called. "It's time for luncheon, come and get it while it's hot!" She watched as the two younger hobbits ran into the kitchen, followed a minute later by the older two who had the decency to walk in the house. "Merry, Pippin! What have a told you at least a dozen times before?" She questioned the two lads sitting in front of her at the table.
"No running in the house." They said gloomily in unison, looking at their feet before digging into the food on their plates in front of them. Sam and Frodo just chuckled.
As the Brandybuck family (along with Pippin, Frodo and Sam) ate their meal, they awaited the evening with excitement. They knew very well that with Merry and Pippin it would be a very eventful night indeed, and that there would most likely be many things that would go wrong because of the two trouble makers. Merry's parents didn't worry too much about it. It was Merry's party after all and if he wanted to crash it he was welcome to.
***************A Few Hours Later*******************
Merry and Pippin we standing on the steps of Brandy Hall looking at all the guests. Merry had already handed out all the gifts and was wondering how many of these hobbits he had actually met personally and which one's were just here for the party. Unfortunately, there weren't any cool fireworks at Merry's party, and Merry was quite disappointed about that, but thought to himself, 'you can't have everything I suppose'.
Pippin was looking at all the tables of food that had been set out and wondering how much food he could consume before the night was over. "Hey Merry, how 'bout we go over to those tables and get ourselves some food?" He asked his cousin, who didn't seem to be paying attention. "Merry! How 'bout it?"
"What Pip? Did you say something?" He looked kind of out of it. "Oh food. Well ummmm, I actually thought I might have a dance first. You don't mind do ya?" He finally looked at Pippin.
Pippin looked down, "I guess if you want." He cheered up though, "we can eat when we're done dancing, that way we'll be even hungrier!" Merry just laughed at his cousin, "sure Pippin, that sounds good."
As the two made their way down to the dance floor, Pippin saw the reason that Merry wanted to go dancing. He smiled as he saw the young hobbit lass, that he knew Merry had taken a liking to. "So that's why you wanted to come dancing," he stated, "to see Estella." It was his turn to laugh at Merry who had started blushing something fierce.
"If you must know, yes, she is why I wanted to come dancing. Do you have a problem with that?" Merry asked Pippin, knowing his cousin was going to tease him to no end about this, but he didn't really care.
"Well I'll just leave yea to it then." He said as he winked at Merry. Pippin made his way over to the musicians and started to beat a drum, which he found was quite fun.
Merry was glad Pippin had left him to talk to Estella alone. It wasn't that he didn't want him there, it was just that, well, he might make things worse and Merry didn't want to make a fool of himself in front of her, especially not at his coming of age party. As he walked over to Estella, he started getting butterflies and contemplated turning back, when he saw Pippin wink at him from the stage and urge him forward. So he gathered up his courage and walked over to her. She was standing with a group of her friends, so he cleared his throat and said, "umm, Estella.....can I talk to you? Alone?" He added when her friends were still there. Of course he had to stand there and wait till all of her giggling friends had left before he could say anything.
"You wanted to talk to me?" She said sweetly, which made Merry's throat go dry.
"Uh, yea. I wanted to ask you if you wanted to dance?" He hoped that she would say yes so he wouldn't suffer further embarrassment. To his surprise she said yes.
"Why of course I'll dance with you Merry Brandybuck." She smiled. "I thought you'd never ask." She said as he took her hand and led her to the dance floor. He was so happy that his smile almost stretched from ear to ear.
After the dancing, the feasting, the socializing, and the speech were all over, and all the guests had finally gone home, Merry flopped onto his bed. Pippin had gone home with his parents, so he was alone. He was glad because he was really tired from the whole night and needed some sleep. He was so tired he didn't even bother unchanging. He was asleep as soon as his feet were off the ground and his head had hit the pillow. His mother came it to check on him and noticed this so she took off his shoes and jacket for him as he slept and pulled the covers over her now 33 year old son. He stirred a little as she kissed him goodnight, but stayed asleep. She smiled at him before she left to go to bed herself, for today had been tiring for her too.
A/N: Ok. We all know the routine. Review if you liked, review if you didn't like. Just please no flames. I got those before (last February, 2002) _ and they really discouraged me. I may not be the best writer and I'm not doing this to try and prove anything, I just thought it might be interesting, so go easy on me ^_^ Thanks. Oh and sorry if it's a little short, but if people like it then I'll continue and try to make the chapters longer.
~Laurelin