A/N: Right, This chapter is ridiculously long and don't expect anything
like this length in the future because you won't get it. Your reviews mean
a lot to me by the way, even if you say nothing in them.
Later that morning when Pip and I were all cleaned up and in our best clothes, aunt Eglantine arranged us all in the hallway to greet Uncle Bilbo as he came in through the door. Pippin completely ignored his place and came over to hide behind my legs from the monstrosity that was bound to come through the front door. If I've told him once, I've told him a thousand times, that Fatty may be ten years older than Pip but he has no right to tell him such tall tales.
There was a knock at the door and Pippin gripped my leg tighter. Uncle Paladin opened the door and Bilbo stepped inside. 'Welcome Bilbo! Good to see you.' Said my uncle. Bilbo looked around and greeted us all. Whenever he came near us, Pippin shrank away. I could tell he wasn't looking any higher than Bilbo's kneecaps and he didn't dare to.
'So,' said Bilbo once he had finished meeting and greeting, 'Where is the little terror?'
'I'm not a terror.' Squeaked a small voice uncertainly from behind me.
'Did I just hear a mouse squeaking?' said Bilbo, 'Eglantine, you should really get that problem sorted out.' Everyone but Pip and I laughed at Bilbo's teasing, if Bilbo was trying to wind up Pip he was certainly going the right way about it.
'There are no mice here!' said Pip indignantly.
'Oh,' said Bilbo, 'There it is again!'
Pippin stepped out from behind me and strode towards Bilbo in the exact same manner as his father took when talking to troublemakers.
'Now listen here laddie!' Pippin shouted up at Bilbo. It seemed that he had memorised the exact words his father used. 'Don't you go making fun of my voice! And my home is as fine a home as any so don't you say anything different!' His little face was terribly fierce but when Bilbo looked down at him he gave a little frightened squeak and hid behind me jabbering, 'S- sorry Mr. B-Bilbo sir.'
'Now now, my young Took, it is I that should apologise. You're right, you're home is just as fine, if not finer, than most holes this side of the three farthing stone.' Pippin didn't know what to say, as it wasn't often his rants got him anything more than a frown, or a pat on the head from someone who saw the resemblance between him and his father.
He crept around my leg but remained touching me and reached up to hold my hand. We turned towards one of the few dining rooms in the Smial. Pippin was between his mother and I but straying towards his mother's side because Bilbo was on my other side. Bilbo said nothing of Pip's unusual behaviour. Even though he must've known that Pippin wasn't his normal self. This was because I'd often gone to visit him in Hobbiton after staying with the Tooks. And I had usually been scratched all over by brambles following Pippin when he had run through them and out the other side in his adventurous Tookish kind of way.
At dinner Pippin tried to sit as far away from Bilbo as possible but only succeeded in getting two places away from him. With all of Pippin's immediate family, the table was quite full and other members of the Took clan kept Bilbo in conversation, which was fine with Pippin.
The conversation topic turned towards Frodo while halfway through pudding (a delicious summer pudding). Pippin overcame his fear of Bilbo to voice his concerns. He seemed to be doubting Fatty's words anyway having seen Bilbo in person and listened to the conversations he was having with the others.
'Shouldn't you be with Frodo now?' said Pip, looking quite angrily at Bilbo like he didn't forgive him for leaving Frodo alone at home while he had a temperature. Bilbo jumped at the chance to say something to Pippin.
'I tried to stay behind but Frodo would not hear of it! "Bilbo!" he says, "You will not miss meeting Pippin just because I got myself a temperature!" And with that he thrust my bags into my hand, pushed me out the door and slammed it hard behind me! Of course, I'm sure the Gamgees will notice if anything happens and no doubt take care of it.' Pippin looked satisfied with the answer and nodded his head in approval, something else he'd picked up from his father. I just hoped that he wouldn't pick up his father's temper. Bilbo continued having gained Pippin's approval, 'Frodo says that if he's well enough my this afternoon he'll pay a little visit of his own.'
Pippin positively jumped out of his seat in excitement. He loved Frodo and the amount of time spent away from him made the time when Frodo was there all the more special. Eglantine rolled her eyes and silently scolded Bilbo, Pippin could be a real handful when excited. Not that he wasn't a handful when he wasn't excited. He jumped down from his chair, which provoked a warning 'Pippin.' From his mother. Pippin climbed back up onto his chair and said in a well-rehearsed voice, 'Please may I leave the table?' and he earnt the customary 'yes you may.'
Once more he leapt from his chair and pulled on my sleeve until I had finished my pudding (little Pippin had left some of his, but no doubt it would be finished off by someone else). 'Pippin,' his mother called after him, 'No climbing or anything dangerous, or we'll send Frodo right back to Hobbiton when he gets here!' Pippin replied earnestly 'Yes mummy!' before dragging me out of the door.
He stopped me as I shut the door behind us and made me leave a small gap. Then he sat down nest to the door and listened.
The cheeky rascal! But it was a terribly good idea. As if he were waiting for us to get settled just outside the door, Bilbo struck up a conversation about Pippin.
'He seems a nice enough lad, very loyal.'
'I don't know what's got into him. We usually can't stop his mouth from going ten to the dozen!' said Eglantine.
'Perhaps he's just shy.' Reasoned Bilbo.
'Shy?' said one of his sisters, they all sounded so alike, 'Ha! Just try living with him, then you can judge how shy he is!' it was definitely Pervinca, no one else disliked Pippin so.
'Oh just because you don't like frogs!' said another one of Pip's sisters. I was suddenly aware then Pippin was moving, I grabbed his arm and looked at him questioningly and he folded his legs in the manner of someone who really needs the toilet. I mouthed 'go, go!' at him and he went. I returned to the conversation.
'Pimpernel, you know I can't help it! And he just keeps doing it over and over again!'
'Leave off, he's only four, just be glad he's not filling your bed with worms.'
'Oh don't, you know how much I hate worms.'
'Pervinca,' said a voice I knew to belong to Pearl, Pip's oldest sister. 'You hate practically every living creature under the sun.'
'But frogs most of all!' I smiled that she didn't even try to disprove Pearls claim.
'You must admit, it isn't half-funny when you rush through the house with nothing but your nighty on screaming like there was a axe murderer in your room.'
'Now now, girls, this is neither the time nor the place for an argument.' Said a voice I knew well to be Paladin's.
The conversation abated for a while and all I could hear were the scrapings of cutlery on plates.
'He likes Merry doesn't he?' said Bilbo over the clacking of plates.
'They're like brothers, honestly, sometimes I forget that Merry doesn't live here!' said Pippin's mother 'You should see him when Frodo visits, if there was ever a hysteria to rival Merry's arrival, then it's Frodo's.' I heard a chuckle and, strangely enough, the sound of wooden wheels on the old oak floorboards. It took me a while to realise that they were coming from behind me and not from the room and I turned to find Pippin setting up his toy bricks. The rolling sound had come from the trolley he kept them in. Pippin then began to set out the bricks while I looked at him questioningly. He only tapped his nose so I turned back to the door.
I heard the scraping of chairs across the floor and suddenly realised why Pippin was playing with his bricks and I quickly went to join him. Just in time too.
Uncle Paladin emerged from the room only seconds after I had scurried away. He smiled at me, then beamed proudly down upon his son who was concentrating hard on constructing quite a complicated tower. But Pippin glanced up under his father's gaze and let a small smile slip. Next came Pippin's sisters, whom he ignored with great ease. Then aunt Eglantine came into the corridor.
'Oh you two! What have I said about playing in the middle of the hall! Everyone shall trip over you!'
'Nonsense Ann! It's the perfect place to build a tower. You can see nearly the whole smial from here.' That statement was true enough, we were at a small T-junction where the two main corridors running right through the smial met. Aunt Eglantine smiled at Bilbo's insistence on calling her Ann and decided to let us continue playing there but,
'Only if Bilbo stays with you.' Honestly, what did she expect us to do?
'That's quite a tower you've got there.' Said Bilbo, trying to start up a conversation. Of course, had he known Pippin as well as anyone else in this smial, then he would know that it was pointless to try and talk to Pippin while Pippin was concentrating on something else. Once Pippin started something he was so determined to finish it that he accepted no distractions.
'Is that a window there?' said Bilbo, pointing to an opening about three bricks off the ground. Perhaps Bilbo did know what he was doing because Pippin loved to explain what he was doing to lesser-knowing people.
'No.' said Pippin as though it was obvious, 'That's the door.'
'Isn't it a bit high off the ground to be a door?' Bilbo pointed out.
'No.' said Pippin in the same away as he said it before, 'If it was on the ground then the enemy could just run straight in!' Bilbo looked a little taken aback by Pippin's thoughtfulness and reasoning.
'Yes,' I said, 'There's a reason behind everything my Pip does.' Pippin beamed. 'Except when he runs around screaming like a lunatic.' The beaming stopped and he looked up at me, frowning slightly.
'You know that's because I'm bored.' I just raised my eyebrow at him.
'I've heard that you like it when Frodo visits.' Said Bilbo, intent on getting the conversation back where he knew what we were talking about. Pippin hmmed in agreement while he eyed his tower critically. Bilbo nodded.
'You don't see him too often do you Pip?' I said. I really wanted Pippin to get to know and like Bilbo. Pippin was still eyeing his tower. I knew what was coming next. Pippin stuck his hand right through the tower and it came tumbling to the ground with many a bang. Bilbo jumped but decided not to say anything about Pip's strange behaviour.
That's what Pippin was like. He could spend an hour building something out of bricks, or carefully drawing a picture on his slate and then get rid of it without a second thought. He never became very attached to physical things, but his bonds with the people around him were fierce and hard to break.
Bilbo wasn't sure what he could talk about next. Pippin was fiddling with one of his bricks and he sighed audibly. For once in my life I prayed that he wouldn't get bored. I'd usually encourage Pippin in his boredom because he'd think of the most ridiculous things to keep himself occupied. But I was anxious that Bilbo should get to know and like Pippin and that Pippin should do the same. If Pippin got bored now, who knows what he would do?
As though in answer to my prayers, the sound of soft padding feet came down the corridor. Pippin put the brick down and waited expectantly on all fours. Yet another thing unique to Pippin was his relationship with that new addition to the Took family.
A shiny black snout poked around the wooden panelled wall and two brown eyes locked onto Pippin's. The puppy slowly walked towards Pippin and they touched noses. Pippin was shaking with suppressed laughter, like one who shares a joke with another that nobody else knows about.
'Thrush!' yelled Pippin as he leaped onto the young dog, which was around the same size as him. The two scrambled around on the floor, growling, shouting, yelping and making any other noise possible. Bilbo looked terrified and tried to prise the two apart, but no matter what he did the two kept writhing and squirming on the floor.
I watched calmly, knowing the two would right themselves shortly. And they did. Thrush was standing on Pippin's chest, nearly suffocating Pippin as his tongue kept slopping all over Pip's face. Pippin was trying to say something but the tongue kept catching the words before they came into the world. Bilbo pulled the straining pup's head away from Pippin's face and in his most commanding voice Pippin yelled,
'Get off!' Thrush's tail whipped between his legs and he sheepishly crawled off Pippin and let him sit up. Pippin did so, wiping his face on his sleeves and Thrush took up his spot right next to Pippin.
'Thrush is an odd name for a dog, how did he come by it?' asked Bilbo, it was a fair question, and about one of Pippin's favourite subjects.
'Well, to be truthful,' What a good start, he can make up the worst fibs about Thrush's name. Now all he had to do was actually be truthful. 'I had just learnt the word and I insisted on calling him that because I liked the word. And it annoyed Pervinca.' I was impressed, Bilbo was doing something right to get Pippin to tell the truth so.
'Bilbo!' came the faint voice of Uncle Paladin down the corridor.
'Oops, must be off, I promised to have a chat with your father about Otho's antics. Clear your bricks up for me will you? Lest your mother will have my hide!' Pippin nodded and began putting his bricks back as Bilbo rose and walked away. Thrush became excited at Pippin's movement and began leaping around but Pippin and I ignored him.
'What did you hear?' Pippin asked me. I hmmed in confusion. 'Through the door, what did they talk about?'
'Oh nothing much, you being such a smart, intelligent young lad and me being a strong, witty and handsome figure of a hobbit.' Pippin eyed me with great disbelief. 'Something along those lines anyway,' I said with a smile.
'Anything else?'
'You know that frog you're keeping in you chest of drawers?' Pippin nodded, 'I think it's time to let it back into the pond.'
'But then what will I put in Pervinca's bed?'
'I think there's a good source of worms in the far corner of the garden.' Pippin and I, who were transporting the bricks back to the playroom, looked at each other and a beam of pure mischievous evil passed between us.
Later that morning when Pip and I were all cleaned up and in our best clothes, aunt Eglantine arranged us all in the hallway to greet Uncle Bilbo as he came in through the door. Pippin completely ignored his place and came over to hide behind my legs from the monstrosity that was bound to come through the front door. If I've told him once, I've told him a thousand times, that Fatty may be ten years older than Pip but he has no right to tell him such tall tales.
There was a knock at the door and Pippin gripped my leg tighter. Uncle Paladin opened the door and Bilbo stepped inside. 'Welcome Bilbo! Good to see you.' Said my uncle. Bilbo looked around and greeted us all. Whenever he came near us, Pippin shrank away. I could tell he wasn't looking any higher than Bilbo's kneecaps and he didn't dare to.
'So,' said Bilbo once he had finished meeting and greeting, 'Where is the little terror?'
'I'm not a terror.' Squeaked a small voice uncertainly from behind me.
'Did I just hear a mouse squeaking?' said Bilbo, 'Eglantine, you should really get that problem sorted out.' Everyone but Pip and I laughed at Bilbo's teasing, if Bilbo was trying to wind up Pip he was certainly going the right way about it.
'There are no mice here!' said Pip indignantly.
'Oh,' said Bilbo, 'There it is again!'
Pippin stepped out from behind me and strode towards Bilbo in the exact same manner as his father took when talking to troublemakers.
'Now listen here laddie!' Pippin shouted up at Bilbo. It seemed that he had memorised the exact words his father used. 'Don't you go making fun of my voice! And my home is as fine a home as any so don't you say anything different!' His little face was terribly fierce but when Bilbo looked down at him he gave a little frightened squeak and hid behind me jabbering, 'S- sorry Mr. B-Bilbo sir.'
'Now now, my young Took, it is I that should apologise. You're right, you're home is just as fine, if not finer, than most holes this side of the three farthing stone.' Pippin didn't know what to say, as it wasn't often his rants got him anything more than a frown, or a pat on the head from someone who saw the resemblance between him and his father.
He crept around my leg but remained touching me and reached up to hold my hand. We turned towards one of the few dining rooms in the Smial. Pippin was between his mother and I but straying towards his mother's side because Bilbo was on my other side. Bilbo said nothing of Pip's unusual behaviour. Even though he must've known that Pippin wasn't his normal self. This was because I'd often gone to visit him in Hobbiton after staying with the Tooks. And I had usually been scratched all over by brambles following Pippin when he had run through them and out the other side in his adventurous Tookish kind of way.
At dinner Pippin tried to sit as far away from Bilbo as possible but only succeeded in getting two places away from him. With all of Pippin's immediate family, the table was quite full and other members of the Took clan kept Bilbo in conversation, which was fine with Pippin.
The conversation topic turned towards Frodo while halfway through pudding (a delicious summer pudding). Pippin overcame his fear of Bilbo to voice his concerns. He seemed to be doubting Fatty's words anyway having seen Bilbo in person and listened to the conversations he was having with the others.
'Shouldn't you be with Frodo now?' said Pip, looking quite angrily at Bilbo like he didn't forgive him for leaving Frodo alone at home while he had a temperature. Bilbo jumped at the chance to say something to Pippin.
'I tried to stay behind but Frodo would not hear of it! "Bilbo!" he says, "You will not miss meeting Pippin just because I got myself a temperature!" And with that he thrust my bags into my hand, pushed me out the door and slammed it hard behind me! Of course, I'm sure the Gamgees will notice if anything happens and no doubt take care of it.' Pippin looked satisfied with the answer and nodded his head in approval, something else he'd picked up from his father. I just hoped that he wouldn't pick up his father's temper. Bilbo continued having gained Pippin's approval, 'Frodo says that if he's well enough my this afternoon he'll pay a little visit of his own.'
Pippin positively jumped out of his seat in excitement. He loved Frodo and the amount of time spent away from him made the time when Frodo was there all the more special. Eglantine rolled her eyes and silently scolded Bilbo, Pippin could be a real handful when excited. Not that he wasn't a handful when he wasn't excited. He jumped down from his chair, which provoked a warning 'Pippin.' From his mother. Pippin climbed back up onto his chair and said in a well-rehearsed voice, 'Please may I leave the table?' and he earnt the customary 'yes you may.'
Once more he leapt from his chair and pulled on my sleeve until I had finished my pudding (little Pippin had left some of his, but no doubt it would be finished off by someone else). 'Pippin,' his mother called after him, 'No climbing or anything dangerous, or we'll send Frodo right back to Hobbiton when he gets here!' Pippin replied earnestly 'Yes mummy!' before dragging me out of the door.
He stopped me as I shut the door behind us and made me leave a small gap. Then he sat down nest to the door and listened.
The cheeky rascal! But it was a terribly good idea. As if he were waiting for us to get settled just outside the door, Bilbo struck up a conversation about Pippin.
'He seems a nice enough lad, very loyal.'
'I don't know what's got into him. We usually can't stop his mouth from going ten to the dozen!' said Eglantine.
'Perhaps he's just shy.' Reasoned Bilbo.
'Shy?' said one of his sisters, they all sounded so alike, 'Ha! Just try living with him, then you can judge how shy he is!' it was definitely Pervinca, no one else disliked Pippin so.
'Oh just because you don't like frogs!' said another one of Pip's sisters. I was suddenly aware then Pippin was moving, I grabbed his arm and looked at him questioningly and he folded his legs in the manner of someone who really needs the toilet. I mouthed 'go, go!' at him and he went. I returned to the conversation.
'Pimpernel, you know I can't help it! And he just keeps doing it over and over again!'
'Leave off, he's only four, just be glad he's not filling your bed with worms.'
'Oh don't, you know how much I hate worms.'
'Pervinca,' said a voice I knew to belong to Pearl, Pip's oldest sister. 'You hate practically every living creature under the sun.'
'But frogs most of all!' I smiled that she didn't even try to disprove Pearls claim.
'You must admit, it isn't half-funny when you rush through the house with nothing but your nighty on screaming like there was a axe murderer in your room.'
'Now now, girls, this is neither the time nor the place for an argument.' Said a voice I knew well to be Paladin's.
The conversation abated for a while and all I could hear were the scrapings of cutlery on plates.
'He likes Merry doesn't he?' said Bilbo over the clacking of plates.
'They're like brothers, honestly, sometimes I forget that Merry doesn't live here!' said Pippin's mother 'You should see him when Frodo visits, if there was ever a hysteria to rival Merry's arrival, then it's Frodo's.' I heard a chuckle and, strangely enough, the sound of wooden wheels on the old oak floorboards. It took me a while to realise that they were coming from behind me and not from the room and I turned to find Pippin setting up his toy bricks. The rolling sound had come from the trolley he kept them in. Pippin then began to set out the bricks while I looked at him questioningly. He only tapped his nose so I turned back to the door.
I heard the scraping of chairs across the floor and suddenly realised why Pippin was playing with his bricks and I quickly went to join him. Just in time too.
Uncle Paladin emerged from the room only seconds after I had scurried away. He smiled at me, then beamed proudly down upon his son who was concentrating hard on constructing quite a complicated tower. But Pippin glanced up under his father's gaze and let a small smile slip. Next came Pippin's sisters, whom he ignored with great ease. Then aunt Eglantine came into the corridor.
'Oh you two! What have I said about playing in the middle of the hall! Everyone shall trip over you!'
'Nonsense Ann! It's the perfect place to build a tower. You can see nearly the whole smial from here.' That statement was true enough, we were at a small T-junction where the two main corridors running right through the smial met. Aunt Eglantine smiled at Bilbo's insistence on calling her Ann and decided to let us continue playing there but,
'Only if Bilbo stays with you.' Honestly, what did she expect us to do?
'That's quite a tower you've got there.' Said Bilbo, trying to start up a conversation. Of course, had he known Pippin as well as anyone else in this smial, then he would know that it was pointless to try and talk to Pippin while Pippin was concentrating on something else. Once Pippin started something he was so determined to finish it that he accepted no distractions.
'Is that a window there?' said Bilbo, pointing to an opening about three bricks off the ground. Perhaps Bilbo did know what he was doing because Pippin loved to explain what he was doing to lesser-knowing people.
'No.' said Pippin as though it was obvious, 'That's the door.'
'Isn't it a bit high off the ground to be a door?' Bilbo pointed out.
'No.' said Pippin in the same away as he said it before, 'If it was on the ground then the enemy could just run straight in!' Bilbo looked a little taken aback by Pippin's thoughtfulness and reasoning.
'Yes,' I said, 'There's a reason behind everything my Pip does.' Pippin beamed. 'Except when he runs around screaming like a lunatic.' The beaming stopped and he looked up at me, frowning slightly.
'You know that's because I'm bored.' I just raised my eyebrow at him.
'I've heard that you like it when Frodo visits.' Said Bilbo, intent on getting the conversation back where he knew what we were talking about. Pippin hmmed in agreement while he eyed his tower critically. Bilbo nodded.
'You don't see him too often do you Pip?' I said. I really wanted Pippin to get to know and like Bilbo. Pippin was still eyeing his tower. I knew what was coming next. Pippin stuck his hand right through the tower and it came tumbling to the ground with many a bang. Bilbo jumped but decided not to say anything about Pip's strange behaviour.
That's what Pippin was like. He could spend an hour building something out of bricks, or carefully drawing a picture on his slate and then get rid of it without a second thought. He never became very attached to physical things, but his bonds with the people around him were fierce and hard to break.
Bilbo wasn't sure what he could talk about next. Pippin was fiddling with one of his bricks and he sighed audibly. For once in my life I prayed that he wouldn't get bored. I'd usually encourage Pippin in his boredom because he'd think of the most ridiculous things to keep himself occupied. But I was anxious that Bilbo should get to know and like Pippin and that Pippin should do the same. If Pippin got bored now, who knows what he would do?
As though in answer to my prayers, the sound of soft padding feet came down the corridor. Pippin put the brick down and waited expectantly on all fours. Yet another thing unique to Pippin was his relationship with that new addition to the Took family.
A shiny black snout poked around the wooden panelled wall and two brown eyes locked onto Pippin's. The puppy slowly walked towards Pippin and they touched noses. Pippin was shaking with suppressed laughter, like one who shares a joke with another that nobody else knows about.
'Thrush!' yelled Pippin as he leaped onto the young dog, which was around the same size as him. The two scrambled around on the floor, growling, shouting, yelping and making any other noise possible. Bilbo looked terrified and tried to prise the two apart, but no matter what he did the two kept writhing and squirming on the floor.
I watched calmly, knowing the two would right themselves shortly. And they did. Thrush was standing on Pippin's chest, nearly suffocating Pippin as his tongue kept slopping all over Pip's face. Pippin was trying to say something but the tongue kept catching the words before they came into the world. Bilbo pulled the straining pup's head away from Pippin's face and in his most commanding voice Pippin yelled,
'Get off!' Thrush's tail whipped between his legs and he sheepishly crawled off Pippin and let him sit up. Pippin did so, wiping his face on his sleeves and Thrush took up his spot right next to Pippin.
'Thrush is an odd name for a dog, how did he come by it?' asked Bilbo, it was a fair question, and about one of Pippin's favourite subjects.
'Well, to be truthful,' What a good start, he can make up the worst fibs about Thrush's name. Now all he had to do was actually be truthful. 'I had just learnt the word and I insisted on calling him that because I liked the word. And it annoyed Pervinca.' I was impressed, Bilbo was doing something right to get Pippin to tell the truth so.
'Bilbo!' came the faint voice of Uncle Paladin down the corridor.
'Oops, must be off, I promised to have a chat with your father about Otho's antics. Clear your bricks up for me will you? Lest your mother will have my hide!' Pippin nodded and began putting his bricks back as Bilbo rose and walked away. Thrush became excited at Pippin's movement and began leaping around but Pippin and I ignored him.
'What did you hear?' Pippin asked me. I hmmed in confusion. 'Through the door, what did they talk about?'
'Oh nothing much, you being such a smart, intelligent young lad and me being a strong, witty and handsome figure of a hobbit.' Pippin eyed me with great disbelief. 'Something along those lines anyway,' I said with a smile.
'Anything else?'
'You know that frog you're keeping in you chest of drawers?' Pippin nodded, 'I think it's time to let it back into the pond.'
'But then what will I put in Pervinca's bed?'
'I think there's a good source of worms in the far corner of the garden.' Pippin and I, who were transporting the bricks back to the playroom, looked at each other and a beam of pure mischievous evil passed between us.
