Disclaimer: In this story, I do not own the characters created by J.R.R
Tolkien. I wish I did but I don't.
Summary: A friendship where you would lay your life down for your friends, is the type of friendship that Sam, Merry, and Pippin have with Frodo. A friendship such as this doesn't start just anywhere. This pre-LotR story shows how friendship and sacrifice go hand. This story takes place five years after Bilbo's departure from the Shire. note: h/c, angst, no slash.
*In the hobbit timelines at the back of RotK, It says that Pimpernel was born in 1379. But for the sake of the story I am changing her birthday to 1359, making her 9 years older than Frodo opposed to her being 11 years younger like she was on the timeline. My apologies to all Tolkien Purists.
Aelfgifu- I kind of like to think of my story as a giant jig-saw puzzle. I am giving the you the pieces and you will soon see the bigger picture once the pieces fall together. Everything is going to start building to its brink (hint. major angst.)
Obelia medusa- I am so excited about your chappie update, I will definitely read it after I work on some of my school papers. I hate school! I just want to read and write fan fiction all day. I am glad you like the parallel bits with the family. It was one of those things that I didn't plan, it just kind of came to me while I was writing
Special Thanks to my beta, MBradford.
A/N - If you are a lurker who is reading my story it would mean a lot to me if you would review. Reviews really make me want to update faster and write more chapters. I am not a trained medical professional. Most of the medical descriptions in this story come from DiscoveryHealth.com, the 'Illness Bible'.
Beware: Much hobbit fluff ahead!
Ch. 7
The Sun Shines Through
~*~Bag End's Garden~*~
"So all three of Farmer Maggot's ferocious dogs were chasing Frodo and me. When I say that these dogs were ferocious, I am not exaggerating. They were probably half-warg or something vile like that. Anyway, Frodo and I were running as fast as we could, when I noticed that Frodo was starting to slow down and that the three ferocious half-warg dogs were gaining on him-"
"Mr. Merry you're standing on the tulips!" Sam said in a panicked voice. Once Merry removed his foot from the flowers, Sam quickly did a damage report on the tulips.
"Oh I am so sorry, Sam. I didn't see them. Where was I? Oh yes, so Frodo said, 'Merry we need to climb that tree'. And of course, I had no idea what tree he was talking about, because there were about one thousand trees there," Merry said.
"One thousand trees you say?" Sam remarked sarcastically.
"Ok fine, there were more about a hundred trees."
Sam stopped his work and looked up at Merry. "There were one hundred trees in a cornfield?"
"Just work with me," said a slightly annoyed Merry. Merry started rummaging through Sam's gardening equipment. "Sam, do you need this pointy looking shovel thingy, yet?"
"You mean the spade?" Sam corrected.
"Yes that."
"Not yet, Mr. Merry."
"Right," Merry said as he examined the spade further. "So I said, 'Which tree?' and Frodo said, 'The tree on the left. And I said, 'Which tree on the left? There are at least one hund. a lot of trees of the left.' After Frodo said nothing I told him to just follow me. I lead us both towards a nearby tree, but somehow Frodo got there first- Sam I picked these weeds for you. What should I do with them?"
"Put 'em down."
"Why?" Merry asked in a confused tone.
"Those ain't just any old weeds, those are poison ivy." Sam said watching the poison ivy wearily.
In panic, Merry threw the poison ivy right in the middle of where Sam was working. At this point, Sam's kindly and gentle nature was very much getting pushed to its brink. In the calmest voice he could produce considering the circumstances Sam said, "Mr. Merry you should go wash yer hands really good, to stop the poison ivy from spreadin'."
"Good idea Sam," Merry said. Sam breathed in a sigh of relief. "I'll wash my hands out here with some water from the well, so I can finish the story. I wouldn't want to leave you in suspense," Merry said while walking over to the well. Sam groaned inwardly.
Merry continued from where he left off. "By the time I had gotten to the tree the beasts were almost upon us. I soon realize that Frodo was having trouble getting both him and the vegetables up the tree. So I helped him up and handed him both his and my vegetables. I then began to climb up the tree, when one of the three ferocious half-warg dogs bit my right trouser leg and pulled me down. Then suddenly all three of the beasts surrounded me. I summoned up all my courage and fought off all three of the monsters with my bare hands."
"You fought off all three of half-dog, half-warg, monster beasts with yer bare hands," Sam said sarcastically.
Not noticing Sam's sarcasm, Merry continued, "Yes I did, and after that Frodo and I snuck back to Buckland without a single soul noticing," Merry said proudly.
"That's odd. I could have sworn that Falco Brandybuck said that you and Frodo had to do extra chores for a week ," Came a hobbit voice from behind.
"Pippin!" Merry shouted as he turned to see his cousin walking up the road.
"Hullo Merry. Hullo Sam." Pippin said as he walked calmly towards Merry and Sam. Then without warning Pippin jumped at Merry, who was caught off guard, causing both hobbits to fall to the ground.
Sam gasped in horror as the hobbits fell mere inches away from Frodo's favorite flower, which was a gift that Bilbo received from Lord Elrond of Rivendell many years ago.
"I thought you'd never come," Merry said.
"Me either. My sister, Pimpernel*, constantly stopped to go look at the shops and to do other lass things. I just don't understand lasses and I suppose I never will. But where is my other favorite cousin?"
Sam spoke out protectively, "Mr. Frodo has taken ill and is sleeping at the moment and you two best not wake him up, with yer crazy antics."
"Thank you for your concern Sam, but it would be awfully hard for them to wake me, seeing as I am already awake." All three heads turned in unison to see Frodo leaning against the front door of Bag End.
"Frodo!" Pippin shrieked in excitement as he ran towards his cousin to hug him.
"Hullo Pippin," said Frodo with a smile. Both Sam and Merry walked up to where Frodo and Pippin stood.
"Are you feeling better cousin?" Pippin said as he looked at Frodo with concerned eyes. "Merry said that you had taken ill."
"I am feeling much better, Pippin. But enough about me, how was your trip?"
"It was very, very long and tiresome. Pimpernel is very hard to deal with." Pippin said in an exasperated tone.
"Merry and I know all too well how tiring your sister can be. Don't we Merry?" Frodo said as he turned to look at Merry.
"I still don't think she trusts us after what happened." Merry grinned.
"What happened?" Both Pippin and Sam said in unison.
Frodo began to speak. "Before Pippin was born, Aunt Esmeralda and Uncle Saradoc took Merry and I to the Great Smials when we were young lads. The night we got there all the adults went out to a nearby inn and left poor Pimpernel to watch Merry and me. So I got this idea to-"
Merry interrupted, "My dear cousin you are leaving out an important aspect of the story. You have left out the main inspiration for the prank we pulled." Merry grinned and Frodo paled. "You must first understand that Pimpernel thought that Frodo was adorable when he was younger. She was so taken by his dark mop of curls and his big blue eyes."
Frodo was turning red with embarrassment. Merry put his arm around Frodo and continued, "All through Frodo's childhood he had to deal with getting his cheeks pinched. I myself have experienced getting my cheeks pinched and it can be very painful. Luckily for me I did not suffer to the degree that Frodo did. "
By this point, Pippin was laughing and poor Sam was trying his best to keep a straight face. Frodo was glowering and Merry was smiling profusely as he continued with the story.
"So once Pimpernel saw Frodo she pinched his cheeks and told him how cute he was. All right, Frodo, I am finished. Please continue."
Still glowering at Merry, Frodo spoke. "As I was trying to say, I got this idea to do something to her face as she had done to mine. Merry became very good at crying on command when it suited his needs. So I told Merry to start crying to distract Pimpernel, while I went to her room and got her facemask cream. I found some blue ink and mixed it in with the facemask and put the facemask back on her bedside table. I went back into the room where Merry and she were and gave Merry the signal to stop crying. She then sent us to bed and proceeded to put on her facemask. Merry would you like to continue?"
"Certainly dear cousin. The next morning Frodo and I were awakened by a blood curdling scream."
"What happened to her?" Said a very anxious Sam.
"Since she wore the concoction all night, the ink ended up coloring her face blue for an entire week." Frodo said proudly.
"That is a great idea. Why didn't I ever think of doing that to my sister?" Pippin thought out loud to himself.
"Mr. Frodo, yer pullin' our leg s, aren't ya?" Sam said in an unbelieving tone.
"No he is not, Sam." Merry interposed. "Don't let Frodo's sophisticated gentlehobbit looks fool you. He taught Pip and I everything that we know. He is quite a troublemaker."
Pippin nodded his head in agreement, while Frodo merely shrugged his shoulders and said, "What can I say it is all true. I-"
"I'm Hungry! I haven't eaten for two hours. Lets go inside and get something to eat," Pippin said while rubbing his stomach.
"That is definitely one of your better ideas, Pip," Merry said as he and Pippin started walking inside Bag End.
"I fear what will happen to my kitchen and all of my food if I don't monitor it. Merry is bad enough by himself, but when you add Pippin to the mix things can become dire," Frodo said in a joking manner. His face turned more serious as he looked at Sam. "I want to thank you so much for your help yesterday, Sam. I really appreciate how you and Merry helped me. I am glad that you were there."
"It was my pleasure, Mr. Frodo," Sam replied, smiling. "And good luck with Mr. Merry and Mr. Pippin."
"Thank you, Sam. See you tomorrow," said Frodo as he walked into the comfort of Bag End.
~*~TBC~*~
Summary: A friendship where you would lay your life down for your friends, is the type of friendship that Sam, Merry, and Pippin have with Frodo. A friendship such as this doesn't start just anywhere. This pre-LotR story shows how friendship and sacrifice go hand. This story takes place five years after Bilbo's departure from the Shire. note: h/c, angst, no slash.
*In the hobbit timelines at the back of RotK, It says that Pimpernel was born in 1379. But for the sake of the story I am changing her birthday to 1359, making her 9 years older than Frodo opposed to her being 11 years younger like she was on the timeline. My apologies to all Tolkien Purists.
Aelfgifu- I kind of like to think of my story as a giant jig-saw puzzle. I am giving the you the pieces and you will soon see the bigger picture once the pieces fall together. Everything is going to start building to its brink (hint. major angst.)
Obelia medusa- I am so excited about your chappie update, I will definitely read it after I work on some of my school papers. I hate school! I just want to read and write fan fiction all day. I am glad you like the parallel bits with the family. It was one of those things that I didn't plan, it just kind of came to me while I was writing
Special Thanks to my beta, MBradford.
A/N - If you are a lurker who is reading my story it would mean a lot to me if you would review. Reviews really make me want to update faster and write more chapters. I am not a trained medical professional. Most of the medical descriptions in this story come from DiscoveryHealth.com, the 'Illness Bible'.
Beware: Much hobbit fluff ahead!
Ch. 7
The Sun Shines Through
~*~Bag End's Garden~*~
"So all three of Farmer Maggot's ferocious dogs were chasing Frodo and me. When I say that these dogs were ferocious, I am not exaggerating. They were probably half-warg or something vile like that. Anyway, Frodo and I were running as fast as we could, when I noticed that Frodo was starting to slow down and that the three ferocious half-warg dogs were gaining on him-"
"Mr. Merry you're standing on the tulips!" Sam said in a panicked voice. Once Merry removed his foot from the flowers, Sam quickly did a damage report on the tulips.
"Oh I am so sorry, Sam. I didn't see them. Where was I? Oh yes, so Frodo said, 'Merry we need to climb that tree'. And of course, I had no idea what tree he was talking about, because there were about one thousand trees there," Merry said.
"One thousand trees you say?" Sam remarked sarcastically.
"Ok fine, there were more about a hundred trees."
Sam stopped his work and looked up at Merry. "There were one hundred trees in a cornfield?"
"Just work with me," said a slightly annoyed Merry. Merry started rummaging through Sam's gardening equipment. "Sam, do you need this pointy looking shovel thingy, yet?"
"You mean the spade?" Sam corrected.
"Yes that."
"Not yet, Mr. Merry."
"Right," Merry said as he examined the spade further. "So I said, 'Which tree?' and Frodo said, 'The tree on the left. And I said, 'Which tree on the left? There are at least one hund. a lot of trees of the left.' After Frodo said nothing I told him to just follow me. I lead us both towards a nearby tree, but somehow Frodo got there first- Sam I picked these weeds for you. What should I do with them?"
"Put 'em down."
"Why?" Merry asked in a confused tone.
"Those ain't just any old weeds, those are poison ivy." Sam said watching the poison ivy wearily.
In panic, Merry threw the poison ivy right in the middle of where Sam was working. At this point, Sam's kindly and gentle nature was very much getting pushed to its brink. In the calmest voice he could produce considering the circumstances Sam said, "Mr. Merry you should go wash yer hands really good, to stop the poison ivy from spreadin'."
"Good idea Sam," Merry said. Sam breathed in a sigh of relief. "I'll wash my hands out here with some water from the well, so I can finish the story. I wouldn't want to leave you in suspense," Merry said while walking over to the well. Sam groaned inwardly.
Merry continued from where he left off. "By the time I had gotten to the tree the beasts were almost upon us. I soon realize that Frodo was having trouble getting both him and the vegetables up the tree. So I helped him up and handed him both his and my vegetables. I then began to climb up the tree, when one of the three ferocious half-warg dogs bit my right trouser leg and pulled me down. Then suddenly all three of the beasts surrounded me. I summoned up all my courage and fought off all three of the monsters with my bare hands."
"You fought off all three of half-dog, half-warg, monster beasts with yer bare hands," Sam said sarcastically.
Not noticing Sam's sarcasm, Merry continued, "Yes I did, and after that Frodo and I snuck back to Buckland without a single soul noticing," Merry said proudly.
"That's odd. I could have sworn that Falco Brandybuck said that you and Frodo had to do extra chores for a week ," Came a hobbit voice from behind.
"Pippin!" Merry shouted as he turned to see his cousin walking up the road.
"Hullo Merry. Hullo Sam." Pippin said as he walked calmly towards Merry and Sam. Then without warning Pippin jumped at Merry, who was caught off guard, causing both hobbits to fall to the ground.
Sam gasped in horror as the hobbits fell mere inches away from Frodo's favorite flower, which was a gift that Bilbo received from Lord Elrond of Rivendell many years ago.
"I thought you'd never come," Merry said.
"Me either. My sister, Pimpernel*, constantly stopped to go look at the shops and to do other lass things. I just don't understand lasses and I suppose I never will. But where is my other favorite cousin?"
Sam spoke out protectively, "Mr. Frodo has taken ill and is sleeping at the moment and you two best not wake him up, with yer crazy antics."
"Thank you for your concern Sam, but it would be awfully hard for them to wake me, seeing as I am already awake." All three heads turned in unison to see Frodo leaning against the front door of Bag End.
"Frodo!" Pippin shrieked in excitement as he ran towards his cousin to hug him.
"Hullo Pippin," said Frodo with a smile. Both Sam and Merry walked up to where Frodo and Pippin stood.
"Are you feeling better cousin?" Pippin said as he looked at Frodo with concerned eyes. "Merry said that you had taken ill."
"I am feeling much better, Pippin. But enough about me, how was your trip?"
"It was very, very long and tiresome. Pimpernel is very hard to deal with." Pippin said in an exasperated tone.
"Merry and I know all too well how tiring your sister can be. Don't we Merry?" Frodo said as he turned to look at Merry.
"I still don't think she trusts us after what happened." Merry grinned.
"What happened?" Both Pippin and Sam said in unison.
Frodo began to speak. "Before Pippin was born, Aunt Esmeralda and Uncle Saradoc took Merry and I to the Great Smials when we were young lads. The night we got there all the adults went out to a nearby inn and left poor Pimpernel to watch Merry and me. So I got this idea to-"
Merry interrupted, "My dear cousin you are leaving out an important aspect of the story. You have left out the main inspiration for the prank we pulled." Merry grinned and Frodo paled. "You must first understand that Pimpernel thought that Frodo was adorable when he was younger. She was so taken by his dark mop of curls and his big blue eyes."
Frodo was turning red with embarrassment. Merry put his arm around Frodo and continued, "All through Frodo's childhood he had to deal with getting his cheeks pinched. I myself have experienced getting my cheeks pinched and it can be very painful. Luckily for me I did not suffer to the degree that Frodo did. "
By this point, Pippin was laughing and poor Sam was trying his best to keep a straight face. Frodo was glowering and Merry was smiling profusely as he continued with the story.
"So once Pimpernel saw Frodo she pinched his cheeks and told him how cute he was. All right, Frodo, I am finished. Please continue."
Still glowering at Merry, Frodo spoke. "As I was trying to say, I got this idea to do something to her face as she had done to mine. Merry became very good at crying on command when it suited his needs. So I told Merry to start crying to distract Pimpernel, while I went to her room and got her facemask cream. I found some blue ink and mixed it in with the facemask and put the facemask back on her bedside table. I went back into the room where Merry and she were and gave Merry the signal to stop crying. She then sent us to bed and proceeded to put on her facemask. Merry would you like to continue?"
"Certainly dear cousin. The next morning Frodo and I were awakened by a blood curdling scream."
"What happened to her?" Said a very anxious Sam.
"Since she wore the concoction all night, the ink ended up coloring her face blue for an entire week." Frodo said proudly.
"That is a great idea. Why didn't I ever think of doing that to my sister?" Pippin thought out loud to himself.
"Mr. Frodo, yer pullin' our leg s, aren't ya?" Sam said in an unbelieving tone.
"No he is not, Sam." Merry interposed. "Don't let Frodo's sophisticated gentlehobbit looks fool you. He taught Pip and I everything that we know. He is quite a troublemaker."
Pippin nodded his head in agreement, while Frodo merely shrugged his shoulders and said, "What can I say it is all true. I-"
"I'm Hungry! I haven't eaten for two hours. Lets go inside and get something to eat," Pippin said while rubbing his stomach.
"That is definitely one of your better ideas, Pip," Merry said as he and Pippin started walking inside Bag End.
"I fear what will happen to my kitchen and all of my food if I don't monitor it. Merry is bad enough by himself, but when you add Pippin to the mix things can become dire," Frodo said in a joking manner. His face turned more serious as he looked at Sam. "I want to thank you so much for your help yesterday, Sam. I really appreciate how you and Merry helped me. I am glad that you were there."
"It was my pleasure, Mr. Frodo," Sam replied, smiling. "And good luck with Mr. Merry and Mr. Pippin."
"Thank you, Sam. See you tomorrow," said Frodo as he walked into the comfort of Bag End.
~*~TBC~*~