A/N: Well here's chapter two, I hope you like! Soooo sorry it took so long
_.
~Laurelin
CHAPTER 2: FARMER MAGGOT'S FIELD
Merry awoke with the sun streaming in on his face from the window and birds singing joyous melodies. He sat up in his bed and noticed that he had left his clothes on from the night before, but that someone, most likely his mother, had taken off his jacket and shoes. He decided that he was going to take a much needed bath, he was starting to feel all grubby and didn't really like that feeling in the morning. So up he got, grabbed some clean clothes and headed to the bathing room to get ready for breakfast. When he got there, he filled the tub full of nice, hot water with bubbles and got in. He sat that way for what seemed an eternity before he finished getting clean, got out, and got dressed for the day. As he walked down the long hallway on his way to the kitchen, he whistled a tune to amuse himself.
"Well good morning Mr. sleepyhead!" Merry's father said to his son as he walked in the kitchen. "We were beginning to think you'd never wake up."
"I was taking a bath 'cause I was all grubby from last night." He replied.
"And to think, I always thought you liked being grubby Merry." His mother put in.
"I don't mind it during the day, but it's awful when you wake up in the morning." He said with an air of superiority.
That statement was followed by a round of laughter from his mother and father and a very red, and embarrassed Merry.
"I was only joking Merry, now come and have some breakfast." His mother chuckled, and shook her head while she filled his plate, with bacon, eggs, toast, and tomatoes.
*******some time later*******
"Merry."
"Yea, Pip?"
"What makes the sky blue and the grass green and the dirt brown and the..."
"Whoa Pippin, slow down a minute. I honestly don't know the answer to any of your questions except to say...well, they are. Other than that I can't help you, but your father might be able to, ask him." Merry answered before Pippin could go on. Pippin had been asking a lot of questions lately that didn't really make a lot of sense and didn't have any relevance to any conversation they had been having when he asked them. It was getting a little tiresome for Merry. He found his mind wondering back to the night before when he danced with Estella. How wonderful it had been to have her near him. He found himself wondering if he was falling in love. But that couldn't be, he was too young to fall in love....or was he?
"Hey Merry, what you thinking about?" Pippin said slyly.
"Oh nothing," Merry mumbled.
"I bet you're thinking about Estella, aren't you?" He teased.
Merry's face turned a bright red, redder than it had gone this morning, when Pippin mentioned Estella.
"You are, you are! I knew it. Your eyes weren't focusing on anything and you weren't walking straight, so I figured you must be day dreaming or something, and if you're day dreaming there's only one thing that can be about. Estella!" Pippin squealed.
"Alright, alright, don't say it too loud. She may hear you. Anyone could hear you and then they'd tell her and then that would make me look like a big fool 'cause I couldn't tell her myself AND I'm not sure if she likes me back or was just dancing with me to be nice, so keep your voice down," Hushed Merry.
"Merry likes Estella, Merry likes Estella, Merry likes....Eeep! Pippin yelped as Merry tackled him down to shut him up.
"I told you to stop, didn't I?" Merry stated.
"Yes, yes, now get off me!" begged the smaller hobbit, who was almost being suffocated because Merry was sitting on him.
"Not until you promise not to say another word about it, not one, got it?"
"Alright, alright I promise. So can I get up now or what?"
"I don't know, I think you deserve to be sat on a bit longer." Merry said as Pippin squirmed underneath him. Finally he got off though because Pippin wouldn't stop moving and he was having trouble keeping him down. "There, there Pip, I'm off, I'm off."
"About time, I was getting tired trying to get away." Pippin said breathlessly. "So, what do you want to do now? You've already beat me up today, so that's out of the question. I say we raid Farmer Maggot's fields." Pippin suggested.
"Pippin, we tried that two days ago and it didn't work." Merry said matter of factly.
"I know, but I figured we could try again, seeing as how we're usually at it three times a week."
"Ok, fine." Merry gave in. "Last one to the edge of the field is a rotten tomato!" And with that the hobbits were off, running as fast as they could to Farmer Maggots field.
***** "Ah, ha! I beat you yet again Pip. Looks like you're the rotten tomato." Merry yelled at Pippin as he ran up to the field after Merry. When Merry looked around at the field, he noticed something else besides him was there. "Oh no," he whispered to himself, "It's Farmer Maggot." He started running back down the hill nearly running into Pippin. "Turn around Pip, turn around, Maggot's working up there and we don't need him running after us and yelling about how we always ruin his crops!" Merry hissed at his cousin as he ran past. So the two ran down the hill as fast, if not faster, than they had ran up it. Soon they were standing at the bottom panting, which was something they did a lot of when Farmer Maggot was involved.
"I think maybe we should just go to the market in Hobbiton and visit Frodo or something." Merry suggested.
"That sounds like a good idea, as long as we can walk." Pippin pleaded.
"No problem there Pip, no problem at all." So they set off for Hobbiton at a nice walking pace and whistled as they travelled.
*****
When the market came into view, Pippin got an idea. "Hey Merry," he said slyly. "I wonder if Estella will be at the market today."
"I don't know, I hope so," Merry replied in daze. "Hey wait a minute, what do you mean is Estella going to be there? Why should I care if Estella is going to be there?" Merry said defensively, turning bright red.
Pippin just chuckled, "oh no reason, I was just curious is all." Walking further, the market slipped from view because of a hill. As they rounded a corner and topped the hill, they could see the market looming before them. Unbeknownst to them, there was a certain female hobbit that saw them approaching and told her friends to hide with her from their view.
**Estella's POV**
"Oh my goodness, you guys look! It's Merry and Pippin." Estella said as she stared at the two boys walking down the hill. "We better hide, I don't want Merry, er, either of them to see me." She said quickly while dragging her friends behind a stand. "Make sure you guys are really quiet, they could hear us." She said to them after they were all hidden.
"How can they hear us with all this market noise going on?" Poppy asked. "And how will they know it's us anyway?"
"Sshhhh! Just be quite, please." Estella begged her friend. At that moment Merry and Pippin walked right past the stand the girls were hiding behind. **Merry and Pip's POV**
"Hey Pippin, did you just hear something?" Merry asked. "I thought I heard some whispering."
"Nope, didn't hear a thing. Why, do you think its Estella hiding on you?" Pippin said in a sing-song type of voice.
"Watch what you say or I'll pound you!" Merry threatened as he motioned punching Pippin.
"Alright, alright I was just joking. You need to lighten up a little bit. Someday everyone is going to know that you like Estella and you won't be able to beat everyone up now will you?"
"Yeah, everyone's going to know because you have such a big mouth!" Merry shouted as he chased Pippin through the square.
**Estella's POV**
"Did you hear that Stell? Pippin said Merry likes you." Daisy giggled.
"I wish Pippin would say he likes me. I've liked him for ever so long." Diamond sighed as Estella just stared into space and Daisy and Poppy giggled at Diamond's words.
"So Stell, what are you going to do? You should go up to Merry, tap him on the shoulder so he's facing you, and plant a big kiss right on his lips!" Daisy squealed.
"I will do nothing of the sort, Daisy Fields! I will behave rationally and maturely, and never let on that I know he likes me." Estella said trying to sound superior. The girls just continued to giggle as Estella stared after Merry who was currently wrestling Pippin to the ground, the younger hobbit begging for mercy.
**Merry and Pippin's POV**
"You've said you promise far too many times Pip, I don't think you really mean it."
"Please Merry, I can't help but bug you because you're my best friend and it's just too irresistible. Bugging you about Estella is so much fun. Oh and by the way, speaking of Estella, look who's over there."
Merry quickly let go of Pippin, who promptly fell to the ground with a loud thud. "I think I'm going to go up and say hello; that is, if I can find the courage." Merry said as he tried to swallow the lump that was in his throat.
"Well you had enough courage to ask her to dance didn't you? So go to it boy! Get movin' before I have to smack you." Pippin chuckled as he pretended to wind up so he could "smack" Merry.
"Alright, alright I'm going, I'm going." He mused. The he muttered to himself, "What am I getting myself into? What if she thinks I'm strange or doesn't want to talk to me? What if she hates me? What if.wait a second, she danced with me, so why would she hate me? Hmm well I feel a bit better. Oh my gosh, there she is." As soon as he saw her she straightened his clothes and tried to fix his hair (which was a lost cause), and stood up straight. "Oh, hello Estella, how are you today." He said casually pretending he had just noticed her.
"I'm fine, what about you?" she said shyly.
"I'm great! Are you here by yourself?" he asked her.
"Oh no, Daisy, Diamond, and Poppy are here with me. Is Pippin here too? I rarely see you without him." Of course she knew that Pippin was there, but she didn't want Merry to know that.
"Yeah, he's over in there somewhere. He's probably looking at all the food or something." Merry was starting to shuffle his feet because he was getting nervous. Talking to girls always made him nervous, but talking to a girl he liked was even worse.
"Estella! Hey we have to go know, come on." Daisy called to her friend.
"Oh, it looks like I have to get going Merry, sorry we didn't get to talk longer, good bye." She said, a look of longing in her eyes that Merry didn't notice.
"Yeah, of course, I'll talk to you some other time." He called after her as she ran off towards her friends. "Maybe next time we can talk alone.." He murmured to himself as he watched her get smaller and smaller and finally disappear.
"So, how did that go?" Pippin asked as he looked at the sad look on his friend's face.
"Not well at all." Merry sighed. "We hardly said anything and then she had to leave. I guess it was a good thing though because there was a really awkward silence between us and I had no idea what to say."
"That's ok. Just look on the bright side, there's always tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so. She did say she was sorry we didn't get to talk longer."
"Good then! That's something positive to think about, right?" Pippin said as he tried to cheer Merry up.
"Yes, your right it is." And with that Merry put on a big smile and started walking with Pippin back to Brandy Hall.
**Estella's POV**
"Daisy, why did you call me and say we had to leave?" Estella questioned.
"You two looked as though it was really awkward and you didn't have anything to talk about, so I decided to give you a reason to leave, and thought you could just talk to him some other time when you have something to talk about." Daisy replied.
"Fair enough, it was really weird, and I did kind of want a reason to leave, but only because it was awkward, not because I didn't want to talk to him. Oh I wish it was easier, but he seems so nervous around me, well around all girls for that matter. Oh well, I'll have to wait till next time I guess." Estella sighed as she and her friends walked away from the market place.
********a couple hours later*********
Soon the two young hobbit lads were back at Brandy Hall, feasting to their hearts content. After they were done supper (which took a long time), they went to bed, Pippin setting up a cot in Merry's room. Both were very tired after the events of the day and fell asleep almost as soon as their heads hit their pillows. They stayed awake long enough for Merry to say something about Estella.
"I really do hope she meant what she said about it being too bad we didn't get to talk longer."
"I'm sure she did Merry, so let's go to sleep now, I'm right tuckered out." Pippin groaned as he rolled over and closed his eyes.
"Right, it's time to go to sleep," he said to himself. "Good night Estella." He whispered. "Sweet dreams."
A/N: So that was the second chapter that took so long to get here, about 2 months I think. I have an excuse though, I have been really busy with school and work that I hardly get a chance to even get on the internet to check my emails let alone work on my stories. I apologize for the wait, and I can only hope that this chapter was at least a little bit worth waiting for. Of course we can't have Merry and Estella move too fast or else we wouldn't have a story now would we. I do have something good (or at least what I think is good) in mind for the up coming chapters and I hope you all like it.
~Laurelin
CHAPTER 2: FARMER MAGGOT'S FIELD
Merry awoke with the sun streaming in on his face from the window and birds singing joyous melodies. He sat up in his bed and noticed that he had left his clothes on from the night before, but that someone, most likely his mother, had taken off his jacket and shoes. He decided that he was going to take a much needed bath, he was starting to feel all grubby and didn't really like that feeling in the morning. So up he got, grabbed some clean clothes and headed to the bathing room to get ready for breakfast. When he got there, he filled the tub full of nice, hot water with bubbles and got in. He sat that way for what seemed an eternity before he finished getting clean, got out, and got dressed for the day. As he walked down the long hallway on his way to the kitchen, he whistled a tune to amuse himself.
"Well good morning Mr. sleepyhead!" Merry's father said to his son as he walked in the kitchen. "We were beginning to think you'd never wake up."
"I was taking a bath 'cause I was all grubby from last night." He replied.
"And to think, I always thought you liked being grubby Merry." His mother put in.
"I don't mind it during the day, but it's awful when you wake up in the morning." He said with an air of superiority.
That statement was followed by a round of laughter from his mother and father and a very red, and embarrassed Merry.
"I was only joking Merry, now come and have some breakfast." His mother chuckled, and shook her head while she filled his plate, with bacon, eggs, toast, and tomatoes.
*******some time later*******
"Merry."
"Yea, Pip?"
"What makes the sky blue and the grass green and the dirt brown and the..."
"Whoa Pippin, slow down a minute. I honestly don't know the answer to any of your questions except to say...well, they are. Other than that I can't help you, but your father might be able to, ask him." Merry answered before Pippin could go on. Pippin had been asking a lot of questions lately that didn't really make a lot of sense and didn't have any relevance to any conversation they had been having when he asked them. It was getting a little tiresome for Merry. He found his mind wondering back to the night before when he danced with Estella. How wonderful it had been to have her near him. He found himself wondering if he was falling in love. But that couldn't be, he was too young to fall in love....or was he?
"Hey Merry, what you thinking about?" Pippin said slyly.
"Oh nothing," Merry mumbled.
"I bet you're thinking about Estella, aren't you?" He teased.
Merry's face turned a bright red, redder than it had gone this morning, when Pippin mentioned Estella.
"You are, you are! I knew it. Your eyes weren't focusing on anything and you weren't walking straight, so I figured you must be day dreaming or something, and if you're day dreaming there's only one thing that can be about. Estella!" Pippin squealed.
"Alright, alright, don't say it too loud. She may hear you. Anyone could hear you and then they'd tell her and then that would make me look like a big fool 'cause I couldn't tell her myself AND I'm not sure if she likes me back or was just dancing with me to be nice, so keep your voice down," Hushed Merry.
"Merry likes Estella, Merry likes Estella, Merry likes....Eeep! Pippin yelped as Merry tackled him down to shut him up.
"I told you to stop, didn't I?" Merry stated.
"Yes, yes, now get off me!" begged the smaller hobbit, who was almost being suffocated because Merry was sitting on him.
"Not until you promise not to say another word about it, not one, got it?"
"Alright, alright I promise. So can I get up now or what?"
"I don't know, I think you deserve to be sat on a bit longer." Merry said as Pippin squirmed underneath him. Finally he got off though because Pippin wouldn't stop moving and he was having trouble keeping him down. "There, there Pip, I'm off, I'm off."
"About time, I was getting tired trying to get away." Pippin said breathlessly. "So, what do you want to do now? You've already beat me up today, so that's out of the question. I say we raid Farmer Maggot's fields." Pippin suggested.
"Pippin, we tried that two days ago and it didn't work." Merry said matter of factly.
"I know, but I figured we could try again, seeing as how we're usually at it three times a week."
"Ok, fine." Merry gave in. "Last one to the edge of the field is a rotten tomato!" And with that the hobbits were off, running as fast as they could to Farmer Maggots field.
***** "Ah, ha! I beat you yet again Pip. Looks like you're the rotten tomato." Merry yelled at Pippin as he ran up to the field after Merry. When Merry looked around at the field, he noticed something else besides him was there. "Oh no," he whispered to himself, "It's Farmer Maggot." He started running back down the hill nearly running into Pippin. "Turn around Pip, turn around, Maggot's working up there and we don't need him running after us and yelling about how we always ruin his crops!" Merry hissed at his cousin as he ran past. So the two ran down the hill as fast, if not faster, than they had ran up it. Soon they were standing at the bottom panting, which was something they did a lot of when Farmer Maggot was involved.
"I think maybe we should just go to the market in Hobbiton and visit Frodo or something." Merry suggested.
"That sounds like a good idea, as long as we can walk." Pippin pleaded.
"No problem there Pip, no problem at all." So they set off for Hobbiton at a nice walking pace and whistled as they travelled.
*****
When the market came into view, Pippin got an idea. "Hey Merry," he said slyly. "I wonder if Estella will be at the market today."
"I don't know, I hope so," Merry replied in daze. "Hey wait a minute, what do you mean is Estella going to be there? Why should I care if Estella is going to be there?" Merry said defensively, turning bright red.
Pippin just chuckled, "oh no reason, I was just curious is all." Walking further, the market slipped from view because of a hill. As they rounded a corner and topped the hill, they could see the market looming before them. Unbeknownst to them, there was a certain female hobbit that saw them approaching and told her friends to hide with her from their view.
**Estella's POV**
"Oh my goodness, you guys look! It's Merry and Pippin." Estella said as she stared at the two boys walking down the hill. "We better hide, I don't want Merry, er, either of them to see me." She said quickly while dragging her friends behind a stand. "Make sure you guys are really quiet, they could hear us." She said to them after they were all hidden.
"How can they hear us with all this market noise going on?" Poppy asked. "And how will they know it's us anyway?"
"Sshhhh! Just be quite, please." Estella begged her friend. At that moment Merry and Pippin walked right past the stand the girls were hiding behind. **Merry and Pip's POV**
"Hey Pippin, did you just hear something?" Merry asked. "I thought I heard some whispering."
"Nope, didn't hear a thing. Why, do you think its Estella hiding on you?" Pippin said in a sing-song type of voice.
"Watch what you say or I'll pound you!" Merry threatened as he motioned punching Pippin.
"Alright, alright I was just joking. You need to lighten up a little bit. Someday everyone is going to know that you like Estella and you won't be able to beat everyone up now will you?"
"Yeah, everyone's going to know because you have such a big mouth!" Merry shouted as he chased Pippin through the square.
**Estella's POV**
"Did you hear that Stell? Pippin said Merry likes you." Daisy giggled.
"I wish Pippin would say he likes me. I've liked him for ever so long." Diamond sighed as Estella just stared into space and Daisy and Poppy giggled at Diamond's words.
"So Stell, what are you going to do? You should go up to Merry, tap him on the shoulder so he's facing you, and plant a big kiss right on his lips!" Daisy squealed.
"I will do nothing of the sort, Daisy Fields! I will behave rationally and maturely, and never let on that I know he likes me." Estella said trying to sound superior. The girls just continued to giggle as Estella stared after Merry who was currently wrestling Pippin to the ground, the younger hobbit begging for mercy.
**Merry and Pippin's POV**
"You've said you promise far too many times Pip, I don't think you really mean it."
"Please Merry, I can't help but bug you because you're my best friend and it's just too irresistible. Bugging you about Estella is so much fun. Oh and by the way, speaking of Estella, look who's over there."
Merry quickly let go of Pippin, who promptly fell to the ground with a loud thud. "I think I'm going to go up and say hello; that is, if I can find the courage." Merry said as he tried to swallow the lump that was in his throat.
"Well you had enough courage to ask her to dance didn't you? So go to it boy! Get movin' before I have to smack you." Pippin chuckled as he pretended to wind up so he could "smack" Merry.
"Alright, alright I'm going, I'm going." He mused. The he muttered to himself, "What am I getting myself into? What if she thinks I'm strange or doesn't want to talk to me? What if she hates me? What if.wait a second, she danced with me, so why would she hate me? Hmm well I feel a bit better. Oh my gosh, there she is." As soon as he saw her she straightened his clothes and tried to fix his hair (which was a lost cause), and stood up straight. "Oh, hello Estella, how are you today." He said casually pretending he had just noticed her.
"I'm fine, what about you?" she said shyly.
"I'm great! Are you here by yourself?" he asked her.
"Oh no, Daisy, Diamond, and Poppy are here with me. Is Pippin here too? I rarely see you without him." Of course she knew that Pippin was there, but she didn't want Merry to know that.
"Yeah, he's over in there somewhere. He's probably looking at all the food or something." Merry was starting to shuffle his feet because he was getting nervous. Talking to girls always made him nervous, but talking to a girl he liked was even worse.
"Estella! Hey we have to go know, come on." Daisy called to her friend.
"Oh, it looks like I have to get going Merry, sorry we didn't get to talk longer, good bye." She said, a look of longing in her eyes that Merry didn't notice.
"Yeah, of course, I'll talk to you some other time." He called after her as she ran off towards her friends. "Maybe next time we can talk alone.." He murmured to himself as he watched her get smaller and smaller and finally disappear.
"So, how did that go?" Pippin asked as he looked at the sad look on his friend's face.
"Not well at all." Merry sighed. "We hardly said anything and then she had to leave. I guess it was a good thing though because there was a really awkward silence between us and I had no idea what to say."
"That's ok. Just look on the bright side, there's always tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so. She did say she was sorry we didn't get to talk longer."
"Good then! That's something positive to think about, right?" Pippin said as he tried to cheer Merry up.
"Yes, your right it is." And with that Merry put on a big smile and started walking with Pippin back to Brandy Hall.
**Estella's POV**
"Daisy, why did you call me and say we had to leave?" Estella questioned.
"You two looked as though it was really awkward and you didn't have anything to talk about, so I decided to give you a reason to leave, and thought you could just talk to him some other time when you have something to talk about." Daisy replied.
"Fair enough, it was really weird, and I did kind of want a reason to leave, but only because it was awkward, not because I didn't want to talk to him. Oh I wish it was easier, but he seems so nervous around me, well around all girls for that matter. Oh well, I'll have to wait till next time I guess." Estella sighed as she and her friends walked away from the market place.
********a couple hours later*********
Soon the two young hobbit lads were back at Brandy Hall, feasting to their hearts content. After they were done supper (which took a long time), they went to bed, Pippin setting up a cot in Merry's room. Both were very tired after the events of the day and fell asleep almost as soon as their heads hit their pillows. They stayed awake long enough for Merry to say something about Estella.
"I really do hope she meant what she said about it being too bad we didn't get to talk longer."
"I'm sure she did Merry, so let's go to sleep now, I'm right tuckered out." Pippin groaned as he rolled over and closed his eyes.
"Right, it's time to go to sleep," he said to himself. "Good night Estella." He whispered. "Sweet dreams."
A/N: So that was the second chapter that took so long to get here, about 2 months I think. I have an excuse though, I have been really busy with school and work that I hardly get a chance to even get on the internet to check my emails let alone work on my stories. I apologize for the wait, and I can only hope that this chapter was at least a little bit worth waiting for. Of course we can't have Merry and Estella move too fast or else we wouldn't have a story now would we. I do have something good (or at least what I think is good) in mind for the up coming chapters and I hope you all like it.
~Laurelin