A/N: This is more like a birth. She's only *this* old, so there isn't really a history, just the years of her early childhood. Still worth a read.

Disclaimer: Melissa Cotton is my baby! Everyone else belongs to Tolkien.

Melissa Cotton's History

            It would be hard to believe that Melissa Cotton was the eldest child of her five siblings. She was at least ten years older than her brother Tom. But the problem was that she was still the smaller of her two younger siblings.

            Her head was always in the clouds around her brothers and sisters. Way before she even heard of Bilbo Baggins, she dreamed of dragons and oliphaunts and all sorts of things that weren't even heard of outside of the Shire. She would tell her brothers and sisters about what she saw, but they thought she had a problem. When she was twenty, she had the mentality of a small child. Tom and the rest towered over her in height, and their mentality was stronger than hers, so she allowed them to take care of her.

            She was very young when she decided that she wanted to venture off into the Wild, not aware that there were certain dangers that she would never have guessed existed. She went past Buckland into the Old Forest, hoping she would see a friendly dragon or something of that nature. But when she found that the trees could move, she began to get scared. Eventually, she lost her bearing, and began to wander aimlessly deeper into the woods. She passed the North Gate of the Barrowdowns, not aware of the dangers that existed there. She encountered a barrow-wright and scared out of her wits, she stood there and waited as it prepared to do the unthinkable.

            It didn't get a chance to do anything. A tall woman, clad in black garbs, swept Melissa off her feet and carried her out of the wood and to the edge of the Old Forest. Melissa caught a good look at her- she was pale, and had a varied length of jet-black hair that went from her ears to the small of her back. She didn't strike her as one of the Big Folk, considering that she had never seen a human before. "This is a very dangerous place," she said to Melissa. "You should go back to your Shire where it is safe."

            Melissa almost began to cry, still scared half to death at what had happened. But seeing the look on the girl's face, she held back her tears. "Who are you?" she asked her in a tiny voice.

            The woman hesitated, noticing the frightened tone the girl was using. "Just call me a friend," she replied with a smile. "Now hurry back to your Shire." Melissa ran off without saying a word.

            Tom was born several years later, and already became an older brother to his older sister Melissa. She never told anyone about her little adventure out in the Old Forest; somehow she knew that her family wouldn't let her get out of the house ever again. So she kept it a secret.

            She would always hear word around the Shire about a hobbit who ventured out into places unheard of, and returned with vast amounts of treasure and riches. She would hear stories of dragons and Elves and Dwarves and things of that nature. The only problem was that she could never find out who he or she was. She became miserable, and when she came around her parents and Tom, she would always be silent. So Tom took her aside one day and told her the story of Bilbo's adventure. It made her the happiest hobbit in the world.

            But that happiness was short-lived. She wanted to meet Bilbo.

            Rosie was born only a few years after Tolman (Tom). Melissa still had her head in the clouds, and even as Rosie grew, she still remained the younger out of the bunch. During supper, she would still tell her family about dragons and such, and still requested that she leave the Shire to see bigger and better things. They still continued to worry about her, but Rosie found those stories fascinating. Melissa looked up to Rosie, and began to confide in her more than she did with her parents. She finally decided that she would tell her sister about her encounter with the mysterious woman that she met in the Old Forest.

            Rosie took Melissa out and introduced her to Bilbo Baggins- the one who was brave enough to go out on the adventure with Gandalf the Wizard. They instantly bonded, and Bilbo gave her full detail about his whole adventure, and even regaled her with the songs they sang before they had set out. He didn't mention the Ring for fear of overexposure.

            "You know, you might want to meet my nephew, Frodo," he said one day.

            "Frodo…? Who is he?"

            "Oh, he's my favorite nephew, and such a fine gentleman, if you ask me," he emphasized. "He's just as fascinated with my stories as you are right now. From day one, he was always interested in hearing about such things that you would never hear about in this part of the World."

            She was elated to find out about someone that shares the same interests that she did. It came to a point where meeting this "Frodo" became a life long goal. Though she was always enthralled about hearing Bilbo's stories, she started coming back down to earth. Eventually, she thought more of Frodo than she did of the old lore. She still remained the youngest out of the three, despite her age, but she was finally coming into her own.

            Unfortunately, meeting Frodo was a task in its own.