This time I'm sending all of you real big hugs as thanks for reviewing. Hope you get them!

I'm sort of writing this on my 15minute-breaks every hour (I've got a bitch of a midterm tomorrow, so I'm still studying), in hopes of getting this up before Saturday. I still feel really bad about making you guys wait so long for 'A gift from Bell', so this is my way of making it up to you. I hope it works, because I still need you guys to review.

Chapter Five – Gift or Curse

When Sam woke up, Frodo had left the bed. He was sitting in an Elven chair by the bed, looking intently at Sam. 'Good morning,' Sam said, noticing once again how clear Frodo's blue eyes were. 'Usually it couldn't be anything bud good with you here, but we've got something to settle which scares me.' 'There's nothing to be afraid of, Frodo…' 'Yes there is, Sam. I'm afraid you'll think I'm despicable.' Sam got off of the bed, and climbed into the Elven chair with Frodo. He took Frodo's hand and looked him in the eyes. 'Now why don't you tell me what happened that makes you think that?' 'I don't know if I even know where to start. Why don't you tell me what you remember about the time between the end of the Quest and my departure, and I'll tell you everything that you don't know.'

Sam figured out what Frodo was doing. He was buying himself time, and Sam didn't mind. So he thought back to the period of time Frodo spoke of. 'I remember Gandalf telling us Aragorn had a hard time bringing us back from the brink of death. Now that I think about it, you were even more quiet after the Quest than before. You were always whispering with Aragorn and Gandalf, and sometimes even with Lord Elrond and Lady Galadriel. You hardly spoke a word with anyone else until there was just the four of us, when we were going back to the Shire. And back in the Shire you locked yourself in the study even before the Sun was up and you wouldn't come out long after sunset. I always thought it was because you felt guilty about…'

Sam's breath caught. Frodo put a finger on his lips and took a deep breath. 'When I woke up, Gandalf and Aragorn told me they needed to speak to me. They said I had been lucky, very lucky. Or that a greater power had been at work. I shouldn't have survived the Quest, Sam. Aragorn told me he had barely survived healing me, that I should've been dead in the condition I was and that only one thing made it possible for him to call me back from the brink.' 'Bell?' Frodo nodded. 'If it hadn't been for Bell, Sam, I wouldn't be here. But when Gandalf told me about her, I got scared. Not just about how I was supposed to give birth, but about what the child would be like.'

Frodo shifted in the chair. 'What do you remember about the night before we reached Orodruin? What was I like?' 'I remember your eyes. They had grown dark in the four to five days before, but that night they were even different. I couldn't see it clearly. But you had all this energy all of a sudden.' 'It wasn't me, Sam. It was like I was somebody else looking in on what happened. I discussed it with Gandalf, Aragorn, Lord Elrond and Lady Galadriel. I needed to know what had happened. I believed it had been the Ring, trying to save itself, and they agreed it had to have been the Ring. I…I wanted to go back to Orodruin, Sam, and throw myself in the fire. I was convinced the Ring had used us to save itself, it's essence, even if it was destroyed. I was afraid the child would become like Sauron, and have his power. I was afraid I had not only failed in destroying the Ring, but that I would be bringing the Dark Lord back into the world. I would've thrown myself in the fire.'

Sam was shocked. Of course, the Ring must have had something to do with Frodo's pregnancy, but the thought hadn't crossed his mind that the child could indeed have been the Dark Lord reborn. 'What stopped you?' 'Not what, who. Gandalf told me not to. He said…I can't do this, Sam, not like this. I need you to just be quiet and hear me out. After that, you may judge me, but not until I've finished. Okay?' Sam nodded. It didn't matter how he heard the story, as long as Frodo told him. Frodo took a deep breath before starting to speak.

Frodo couldn't help it: he was scared. For starters, who ever heard of a male of whatever race getting pregnant? But the question that was mauling through his head all hours of day and night ever since he had been rescued and told about his pregnancy wasn't how he was supposed to deliver the child. The question that he feared the answer to was what kind of person would the child become.

Even in Minas Tirith, the White City where Aragorn now ruled and all the people were happy about Sauron's destruction, he felt as if the Quest wasn't at an end yet. No, for him, the Quest had just begun. As he stood in front of the window, he looked out into the horizon. I must go back to Orodruin. If I throw myself in the fire, the child will perish as well and the Dark Lord won't be reborn.

'Do not think of such atrocities in the presence of the Lady of the Golden Wood, Frodo.' The voice he knew all too well. It was Gandalf. Frodo slowly turned around to see Gandalf indeed standing just past the doorway, barely in the room. But it wasn't Gandalf that spoke again. It was the blonde Elf just behind Gandalf, clad all in white like the Wizard, but she did not cover her clothing with a cloak. She was the Lady Galadriel, just arrived in Minas Tirith.

'Indeed, my dear, such things are better not thought at all.' She moved past Gandalf and sat down on the bed. She motioned for Frodo to come sit next to her, which he did, while Gandalf moved a chair and sat right across them. 'My Lady, in other circumstances thoughts like that would have been impossible to even imagine, but surely you must know how this is even possible? How can I not consider that option as well?' Suddenly there was a knock on the door which Gandalf had closed. It opened and two other familiar faces stood there. 'Please enter, my friends. Your help will be needed, I fear, to convince Frodo.

Aragorn and Elrond entered the room and took the other two chairs. They sat down next to Gandalf, and both looked at Frodo with pity in their eyes.

'I'm afraid things have taken a turn for the worst. Our dearest hobbit is contemplating options no one expecting a child should even think about. If we do not manage to convince him, Orodruin's fires shall taste hobbit soon, I fear.' Frodo looked at Elrond. The Elf was watching him closely, as if he was trying to look through Frodo. 'Tell us, Frodo,' Lady Galadriel suddenly spoke and startled him,' how did you end up in this condition?'

Frodo felt as if he was growing even smaller than he was compared to the other people in the room. 'The night before…before we reached Orodruin…Sam and I…we…' 'It's alright, Frodo, we understand. Quite frankly, I'm surprised it took the two of you so long.' Frodo stared at Gandalf in disbelief. 'What do you mean?' 'It is quite obvious what the two of you feel for one another, it always has been. Everyone in this room only needed to see the two of you together and we knew. That's why I chose Sam to travel with you, I knew he wouldn't leave you for anything in the world.'

'Frodo, the two of you share a deep love. This child might only be possible because of the Ring, but it was made out of that love nonetheless.' Frodo turned to Aragorn all agitated and he saw the King start. 'But you don't understand. It wasn't me, I wasn't doing those things! I know they happened, but it wasn't me doing it. I was looking in at it, an outsider without control over my body functions!' 'Are you saying the Ring took over your body, Frodo? Made you do things you didn't want?' Frodo, in other circumstances, would have been glad to have a conversation with the four. But now, he felt like he was being ganged up on. He turned to Elrond, a little aggravated. 'I didn't say I didn't want to do those things, not by a long shot! I'm saying it might have been my body, but I neither experienced or enjoyed the actions my body took.'

'Calm down, little one. Lord Elrond is not your enemy, none of us are. We are simply trying to learn of what happened, so we may determine a course of action.' While she spoke, Lady Galadriel stroked Frodo's curls and he calmed down a little. 'Frodo, I know what you're afraid of. You're afraid it is Sauron growing inside you, and you fear this because you think it was purely the Ring doing…those things with Sam. But it couldn't Frodo, don't you see? It couldn't even seduce you while you had carried it so close to its destruction, so there's no way it could've taken over so suddenly all by itself. I believe it used the power of your love for Sam to accomplish what you imply. And if it did, then the child is still made out of your love for Sam.' Frodo was at a loss. He had no idea what to say, so he looked towards the windows again, contemplating Aragorn's words.

'The fact still remains that the Ring would not have done that without a reason. The most logical reason is that it was trying to save itself, because it has nothing to gain in bringing a new life into the world. Unless it poured its power into that new life.' Frodo stared at Gandalf, wondering about how he had ended up with an ally after all, while the other three in the room wondered how Gandalf was going to play it out.

'It is impossible not to be frightened by the possibility, but a possibility is simply that. A possibility, Frodo, not a certainty. I told you once that even the Wise cannot see all ends, and in this matter indeed we can't. But you must listen to this, Frodo. No child comes into the world already formed to be this or that, good or evil. No, my dear Frodo, children are like a blank parchment when born. It is their parents and friends and events in their lives that write on the parchment, forming the child. We all believe, Frodo, even if you don't, that this child has a great part to play for the good of Middle-Earth. With you and Sam as it's parents, Frodo, we don't doubt that one bit.' Gandalf stood from the chair and took Frodo's hands.

'You have already done a great deal more than any of the Wise could foresee, Frodo Baggins, but we ask you to do one more thing. Give birth to the child. That's all we ask.' Frodo closed his eyes. 'I don't want Sam to know, not yet. So I can't go back to the Shire.' 'Yes, you can. You will go back to the Shire, it will take a while before your condition shows. When it starts to show, send word to me. I will prepare a room in Rivendell and send Lord Glorfindel to bring you to me. You will give birth in the Last Homely House.' 'And I will be there. We will all be there, so that the child will be surrounded by Light even at birth,' Lady Galadriel chimed in with Lord Elrond. 'And if at that time you still feel unable to care for it, Arwen and I will look after it to make sure it is still bathed in Light until you are ready to love it.' Frodo looked at Gandalf. 'Only this do we ask of you, Frodo. You will see, it will be it's own reward.' After those words, Gandalf winked.

Frodo couldn't help thinking about his conversation with the four Wise. He sometimes spoke to each of them separate, whispering so that Sam couldn't hear, while they rode to Rivendell and the Shire. When he couldn't talk to them anymore because they had all parted, he fell completely silent. He panicked when Saruman and his band of ruffians had to be fought. He still believed the child would grow to be evil, but still he preached a peaceful solution to the Shirefolk. It was no good.

His fear grew. Thinking about the child also reminded him of all the bad things that happened during the Quest, and he regretted promising to give birth to it. And then there was Sam. I can't drag Sam into this, he has been through too much already. Frodo had asked Sam on Orodruin who he would want to marry and have children with. Sam had said he wanted to spend his life with Frodo, but Frodo pestered him into telling Frodo that if he had to have children it would be with Rosie Cotton. So Frodo, despite his own heartbreak, bullied Sam into marrying Rosie and moving into Bag End with her. It wasn't long ere Frodo noticed himself getting bigger, and he told Sam he was travelling to Rivendell to see Bilbo. When Glorfindel came for him, Frodo left the Shire, not planning on coming back. He couldn't bear to see Sam, so he left while Sam was out tending to the Shire with his gift from Galadriel.

T.B.C

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