Hands

Genre: Drama/ General
Rating: PG
Pairing: None
Disclaimer: Hobbits are not mine. The end.
Author's Note: This is going to be my first real fic that's not one chapter long (huzzah!). However, because of this, and the fact that I am extremely lazy, there will probably be a fair space of time between the posting of chapter. So, if it's a been awhile and I haven't updated, please know that I haven't abandoned this story! Ok, enjoy!

Sam is around 13.

Chapter one — A scar, a turning point.

Samwise Gamgee of number Three Bagshot Row was naught past his father's knee when he received his first serious gardening injury. His father had, in a moment of rather weak mental foresight, requested that his young offspring keep an eye on his tools for him, specifically his new hand ax which had been purchased a mere three days before, while he went to take the ten minute walk back from the fields to the Gamgee hole to fetch more water for himself and his parched lad. Samwise sat down reluctantly in the tall grass, studying the effects which his father had just placed him in charge of. Sighing, his gaze caught the sparkling reflection of sun dancing on the metal blade of the new ax, and he picked it up, regarding it dully.

Sam was not interested in gardening, and he made this as clear to his father as he could. He would protest whenever he was asked to help outside, and when he lost the argument (which was quite often) his demeanor would become surly and snappy, until he was freed of his outdoor agricultural prison. But no matter how many times he complained, his efforts fell upon deaf ears. As far as the Gaffer was concerned, Samwise Gamgee would learn to love gardening, and that's that.

As he was turning over thoughts about the cruelty of life in his head, he began to forget that placed in his hand was a rather sharp object. Not until the blade began wavering dangerously in the young hobbits hands did Sam recall that the ax was in his grasp, but by then it was too late.

The tool had fallen with a soft thud to the ground beneath it. Before it came into contact with the earth, though, the blade had swiped across Sam's skin with a sickening slice sound as the hobbit made a vain attempt to keep the object from falling.

Immediately, Sam felt tears prickling at the back of his eyes. He scrunched his face up, and surpressed a scream. Cracking one eye open, he cast a gaze down to his hand, which was now bleeding profusely, and a sharp pain was sent all the way up poor Sam's arm.

Sam knew he did not have enough time to go back to his home or wait for his father's help, at least not without finding a tourniquet first. In an attempt to stop the blood flow as soon as he could, he immediately went to go tear off a bit of his shirt to wrap around his injury, but remembered he had gone outside without this particular vestment today, as the heat was unrelenting in the Shire in August. With his right hand, he went to go take a piece of fabric from his trousers, but the tweed cloth was too tough, and could not be torn with just one hand. He looked around him (more as a way to keep him from looking at his hand then anything else), and his eyes fell upon the Gaffer's vegetable garden.

Whenever Sam had been lead over to this patch of dirt by his father, he had his shoulders slumped and he would complain the entire time. Now, Sam willingly went to the garden, tugging at the leaves on a head of lettuce, and, once he had a handful, set them down against the wound gently. The leaves were cool on his burning skin, and the sensation slightly soothed him.

Although, that's not to say that he was completely relieved of the pain due to this. The burning sensation quickly seared up his left arm, until he felt the whole limb was alight with flame. He bit his lip a bit more to keep from crying out again, and tried to clear his head to think of what else he could do to subdue the injury. He quickly scanned his eyes over the contents of the herb garden, hoping to find something in Amaranth?"

Sam shook his head and tried to remember what his Gaffer had told him about this plant just two weeks prior to the situation he was in now. "If ever you're a'bleedin', Sam, this'un here, amaranth, will do good to stop up yer wound."

Sam took his right hand and pulled a tuft of the leaves out of the ground. He knew that it should be properly boiled in water to take, but he hadn't the necessary items nor the time to bother with making a tea, so instead he forced the wad of plant into his mouth. The taste was bitter, but he coerced it down his throat regardless. He felt the pain let up a bit immediately, and was very grateful for this; his hand no longer felt like it would fall off.

A few moments later, still holding the lettuce leaf down on his wound, Sam heard his father making his way back to the garden. "Sam-lad? Where'd ya go?" the Gaffer said, not seeing his son. Sam made a noise, somewhere between a greeting and a whimper, and the Gaffer soon turned his attention to his vegetable patch, where he saw his son had been meddling with his plants.

"Sam? What're ye doin', lad, getting into me vegetables like this? I reckon I've told ye a least a 100 times not to-" The Gaffer stopped mid-sentence, however, upon seeing the blood begin to leak out from underneath the lettuce leaf Sam was holding to his hand.

"Sam-lad, what happened?" Sam held his hand out as his father carefully removed the plant so he could better survey the damage done to it.

"I-I was just, sitting here like ye said, Da, wh-when I picked up yer hand ax, there." Sam began to explain, still fighting back tears of pain. "My mind started wanderin' a bit, and the next thing I knew, it...fell. Onto my hand."

The Gaffer immediately went to work; taking the cloth in his hand, (which, before the Gaffer had dumped them unceremoniously on the ground, housed in it a few strawberries taken from under Bell Gamgee's nose), Sam's father wound the fabric around his son's hand tightly, making sure the wound was under pressure. He then pulled out a canteen, and brought it to Sam's lips briefly, before running over to the herb garden for some aloe.

After the aloe had been applied to the injury, and Ham had announced that the injury would not, in fact, be life threatening, the Gaffer helped his son stand up, and both wordlessly began walking home.

When they had reached the front door of their hobbit hole, Hamfast Gamgee looked at his son and said "Sam, I...I don't know how you end up doin' the things ya do but, well...you'll be alright". Patting Sam on the shoulder, Ham turned back around, heading for the gardens to resume his work, leaving Sam to deal with the cut, and his mother's reaction, on his own. Despite the fact, though, that he would most likely not be left alone to his own devices again for a long while, Sam didn't mind; a great deal of this event had been sorted out by him, and no kind of cut or detriment could take away the certain feeling of pride he found in that.

Glancing once more over his shoulder, Sam saw the vast party field that rested in front of his house. His eyes took in the flowers and other plants which grew there, and he regarded them with a new sense of appreciation- after all, mere moments ago, they had saved his life. He breathed deep, and a small smile began to play on his lips. 'Samwise the Gardener', he thought. 'Now that doesn't sound so bad after all'.

Author's Note:Herb information taken from this site: http:www.boldweb(dot)com/greenweb/ailplant(dot)htm#P. I never realized how many female hobbit names are plants! It's kind of amazing, I think.

Also, I know there was probably no aloe in Middle-Earth. But since I have to access to Merry's book on Shire Herblore and do not know exactly which plants grew in the Shire, aloe will just have to do.

Frodo is next chapter!

Hobbits love food, I love reviews.