Author's note: Hey, y'all. It's been forever since I updated this! I'm so sorry if you've been waiting, though I have the suspicion no one has even noticed! LOL. So, not much to say. Just read and review!

Disclaimer: The only things I own are the Bywaters and the events that have happened so far.

Chapter Three: Rescuer

The day after Bilbo's party, Glory slept late. So late, in fact, that her mother sent Opal in to wake her, which she proceeded to do by pulling her blankets off and throwing them out the window into the garden.

"Opal! You wretched…" Glory grumbled, proceeding to call her sister every unflattering name she could think of. Opal just laughed and swatted her as she walked past.

"Better go get your blankets now! Mother will be mad if she has to wash them. For a girl named Morning Glory, you certainly are lazy!" This didn't improve Glory's mood at all. Hom came bouncing down the path as she was bundling up the blankets.

"Hello, Glor, why are you outside in your nightdress?"

"Opal had the clever idea to throw all my bedclothes out," Glory replied. She rubbed her eyes. "Goodness, I'm tired."

"Really? Why? You didn't stay any later than I did at the party. Oh, yes, I was going to ask you. Why were you crying at Bag End last night?" He tilted his head and looked at her innocently. She sighed and looked away.

"It was just something I'd been thinking about," Glory said softly. She'd almost forgotten about what had happened. The kiss, and the ring, and running off like that… She stared at the silver flower on her finger. Hmm, do I still love him? she thought naively, as though she would have changed her mind while she was asleep. She thought about him kissing her, and his smile, and his face. Yes, I do, she decided mournfully.

"Oh, dear," she mumbled.

"What is it?" Hom asked as he saw her anxious face. "You have to tell me what's bothering you. You're always so happy, and now you're glum as a thundercloud."

Glory shook her head, and he frowned. "You always tell me things," he insisted.

"This is different," Glory said as she carried the blankets toward the door. "I'm different," she added, looking over her shoulder.

"I bet it isn't," Hom replied, following her. "And I don't think you're any different. Except maybe meaner."

Glory frowned, then laughed. "Maybe I am being mean. I'm sorry. This is just strange."

"What is strange?" Hom demanded.

"I'll tell you later," she sighed, giving in. Everything didn't have to change. She never kept secrets from Hom.

An hour later, Glory and Hom were sitting on the bridge near Hobbiton, dangling their feet off the edge. Glory had just explained her predicament, and Hom was staring at her with his mouth wide open. "You're in LOVE?" he exclaimed.

"Shhh! Yes!" she answered quickly, clapping her hand over his gaping mouth. "Don't shout it out like that!"

"But…but you don't ever like boys!" he stammered.

"Of course I like boys, I like you, don't I?"

"I mean, you don't love them."

"Well, I'd have to sometime, anyway," she said reasonably. "Why not now?"

Hom shrugged, then blurted out, "But why Bilbo? He's so old!"

"He isn't old," she replied. "Just older than us."

"But he's so much older," Hom began, then stopped quickly as the noise of footsteps crossing the bridge met his ears. Glory's eyes widened.

"Do you think anyone heard us?" she whispered. Hom shook his head. "We have to act as though we're just sitting here!" she ordered. He nodded. Then, Glory leaned back and gazed off in the direction of the noise to see who it was. "Oh my goodness!"

"Who? What?" Hom gasped. He looked, too, and saw what had upset her. Coming across the bridge was Bilbo Baggins.

"Oh, my goodness!" Glory said again, hopping to her feet. "I've got to go. I don't want him to see me!"

"Glory, what's wrong with you?" Hom demanded. "You may love him now, but he doesn't know it!"

"He will, if he talks to me!" she replied, fluttering her hands nervously. "I should have known not to come over here, right by the Hill, of all places!" She turned and began running back across the bridge toward the bank farthest from their approaching guest. She had almost made it, when her foot caught on a loose board and she went flying into the water.

Like most hobbits, Glory couldn't swim. She let out a horrible shriek and began flailing about. Hom yelped and ran down the bridge toward her. Bilbo heard the noise, and quickened his pace. In a moment, he was standing by Hom.

"Glory!" Bilbo cried. "Whatever are you doing?"

"Drowning!" Glory squeaked. "Drowning, drowning!" She started crying, but you could hardly tell since her face was already drenched. "Help!"

"Oh, dear! Oh, my!" Bilbo exclaimed, wringing his hands. "Er, Hom do you have any idea what we should do?"
Hom was so taken aback that he'd lost what capability he had of intelligent speech and had been simply yelping and shouting wordlessly since the moment Glory screamed. He shook his head to Bilbo's question and kept yelling, his flopping mouth lending his face an uncomfortable resemblance to a dying fish.

"Hush!" Bilbo said impatiently, smacking the back of Hom's head. "Let me think!"

"Ohhhh!" Glory sobbed, her head going underwater for a moment. "I'm going to drown!"

"No! No, you're not!" Bilbo replied in a harried tone. "Move a little closer to the bridge, maybe I can reach you then!"

Glory was too upset to answer, but she waved her arms half-heartedly and propelled herself a foot or two closer to the bridge. It was fortunate that she was a small hobbit; for Bilbo reached down and grabbed her, and he had quite enough difficulty pulling her out as it was.

When she was back onto the bridge, Glory looked down at her wet, dirty dress and cried even harder. Bilbo didn't seem to have any idea what to do with a wailing tweenage girl. He patted her shoulder and said "There, there!", but she just looked at him and appeared to get more alarmed when she saw who had saved her.

Hom had recovered a little. "Thank you, Mr. Baggins!" he said, knowing Glory was too upset to say anything.

"Oh, it's nothing, but I'm sorry I hit you, Hom, I just seemed to lose my head for a moment," he said anxiously.

"Well, we'd better be going!" Hom said, taking Glory's hand. "She'll need to change her gown and all. Goodbye!" He began leading Glory quickly away, but Bilbo stopped them.

"Wait! You can come back to Bag End, and my mother will take care of her. Bywater's more than a mile away. You don't want her to catch cold."

"N-n-no!" Glory said, her teeth chattering. "I'll be quite all right, thank you!"

"Don't be silly. You're shivering all over. Come on, quickly." Bilbo took her hand, which made her even more disconcerted, and led her off toward Bag End. Hom ran after them, rubbing his sore head. Belladonna was working in the garden, and she made a great fuss over Glory as soon as she saw her and Bilbo explained what had happened.

In a few minutes, Glory was sitting wrapped in a blanket in front of the fireplace. She was wearing one of Belladonna's dresses; it was so long that it trailed on the floor after her, but at least it was warm.

"Here, have some biscuits and tea," Belladonna clucked, handing her a plate and a cup and saucer.

"Thank you, ma'am," Glory said politely, taking five lumps of sugar from the bowl her hostess held out.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Bilbo asked for the third time. He was very afraid of water, even more so than most hobbits, and was deathly afraid of the idea of drowing.

"Yes," Glory said quietly. She knew she was acting strange around Bilbo, but she couldn't help it.

"You seem so quiet, though," he pressed. "Are you really sure-"

"YES!" she snapped, gasping as soon as the annoyed word left her mouth.

Bilbo was taken aback for a moment, then chuckled. "Well, that sounds more like you!"

"I'm terribly sorry, I didn't mean it," Glory said desperately.

"It's all right, quite understandable," Bilbo reassured her, taking a sip of his tea. She huddled down into the blanket. How could she have been so rude, when she liked him so much? She watched him eat and talk to his mother, and she loved the expressions that moved across his face as he spoke.

A few minutes later, Glory and Hom left, carrying Glory's wet dress and accompanied by Bilbo, who insisted on seeing them home. When they reached the Bywater farmhouse, Mrs. Bywater came out and made a fuss over Glory much the same way Belladonna had, except the fuss also included a scolding (since she was Glory's mother, after all). Bilbo bid them good afternoon, for it was past one o'clock by then, and went off back toward Hobbiton.

"This has certainly been an interesting day!" Glory said as she hung her dress up to dry.

"That's no mistake," Hom agreed.

"It's all my own fault, for acting such a fool!" she said. She remembered her resolution the night before, to love Bilbo quietly. Well, she hadn't told anyone but Hom, and she hadn't cried except when she was half-dead, but flying off the handle and nearly drowning every time she saw him wouldn't do, either. She wondered if it would always be this difficult.

"Well," she muttered glumly. "At least he walked me home!"

A/N: So, what do you think? Please review!