D/N: I don't own anything, it all belongs to the brilliant mind of Tolkien.
Author's Note: Hey everyone thank you for all your reviews, I really appreciate them. Sorry it has been taking me so long to update, writer's block for a while and then there was all the homework. Oh well. I hope you enjoy! And HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!
It Is You I Had Loved
Ch. 8. "I Won't Say (I'm in Love)"
"No chance, no way I won't say it, no, no you swoon, you sigh, why deny it, uh-oh It's too cliché I won't say I'm in love"
Hazel looked out the window. Her mind began to drift off back to the night of Christmas Eve. The lights, the music, the caroling, the hot chocolate, and the mistletoe. Hazel was confused. Lately she had been noticing that she was not acting the same. Many times she would catch herself staring out her window towards Brandy Hall. And then her mind would drift off during meal times. Daniela had been teasing her about her "Christmas gift", and Hazel found herself instead of arguing, blushing! What was wrong with her? Was she ill in any way? What were these feelings that she felt now in the pit of her stomach whenever she would take out her sketchbook to stare at his face? She was only admiring at her handiwork, or was she?
Dear Diary, Every day seems to be different. I wake up happy, happier than usual at the fact that it is a wonderful day.
Hazel paused and looked down at her writing, her pen suspended in midair. She sighed and her mind began to dwell on her thoughts. She just couldn't figure it out. Or did she just not want to admit it? It was clear what was happening to her. It seemed that every night before she'd go to bed she would turn the snow globe that Frodo had given her for Christmas and watch the fake snow fall down on the enchanting little village inside the globe. It was one of the best presents she had ever received. Speaking seriously, she had never seen anything like this. It was wonderful giving her new globe a shake and watch dreamily as the snow fell on the perfect minute town.
She would smile at the tiny thatched-roof cottages with their neat little yards and the adorable trees. Then her mind would drift off again and she would find that sometimes if she focused hard enough she could see herself among the flurry of snow. There standing holding her newly born son surrounded by her two little girls. Then she would cook and clean and paint. Later the family would gather by the front door as they watched her husband come down the lane.
His handsome face would be broken out in a grin. He would meet his two running daughters with a hug and kiss for each of them on their forehead. Then he would stand and greet her. His big blue eyes would engulf her with all his love for her and her children. It was perfect and then Hazel knew that nothing could possibly go wrong. The only problem was whenever Hazel would have this fantasy sometimes half-way through the dream she would realize that her husband that she loved so much was not Merry at all, as she wished him to be. It was Frodo. What did this mean?
"What else could it mean?" She grumbled as she finished writing this in her diary. She frowned slightly as she reread what she had just written.
"I feel horrible sometimes, thinking about this. I must be going weak kneed, that I begin to start dreaming about someone else after one kiss! One lousy kiss! I mean how can it be that I start falling for a lad that I have not entirely liked all my life?"
A small voice inside her head answered her. "Don't kid yourself you know that there is something else going on in this. Your stomach does flip flops at the sight of him. Your heart starts to pound in your chest like it has never done before. Whenever someone so much as mentions him, you immediately turn around and listen. You stare for hours on end at that little globe he got you and that picture you drew of him! Face it girl, you fancy the lad and that's that."
"I do not! I certainly do not fancy him!" Hazel retorted frustrated with the small voice.
"Your right, you don't. I think that the more appropriate word would be that you love him," snickered the voice. Hazel felt her cheeks flush and her ears grow red. She swore she could hear the voice giggling.
"What are you talking about I don't love him!"
"Don't love who?" Hazel whirled around to face Daniela where she was standing in the doorway.
"Don't love who?" Daniela repeated coming inside the room and closing the door. Hazel grumbled something about not having any privacy in her own house. Daniela looked at her as she sat down on her bed.
"Out with it Hazel, who don't you love?"
Hazel didn't say anything. She hadn't realized that she had her snow globe in front of her. Daniela eyed her sister knowingly. Hazel suddenly focused her eyes on the snow globe and then immediately placed it by her window in its place.
"Oh, I see."
"What are you talking about?" Hazel snapped turning in her chair.
"You were having an argument weren't you?"
How could she know? "I don't know what in Middle-Earth you are talking about Daniela. Who would I be having an argument with?"
"Oh but you do", Daniela smiled and picked up Hazel's sketchbook that lay on her bed. Hazel gave a gasp and made a motion to swipe it away from her older sister but Daniela held it out of her reach.
"Interesting, very interesting", Daniela continued flipping through the pages of her sketchbook.
"Yes they are all very interesting, Daniela, give it back though please?"
Daniela looked up at her and smiled and held up the sketchbook where Frodo's portrait was smiling up at them. Hazel felt her ears burn even more as she fidgeted uncomfortably in her chair. Daniela smirked, but then lowered the picture and looked at Hazel seriously.
"Hazel it isn't healthy for you to be doing this to yourself. You can't go around having arguments with yourself about whether you love Frodo or not when the evidence is right here in front of you."
Hazel scowled. "Oh really, well let's see it then! If it's right out here in front of me how come I can't see it?"
Daniela smiled and shook her head. "Hazel look at yourself, you must be redder than the holly outside! If that is not enough proof, besides your constant 'snow globe' gazing and your adoration of his portrait then I don't know what is."
Hazel scowled at her. This was enough. "I am not in love with anyone!" She wrenched her sketchbook from her sister's hands, grabbed a couple of pencils, and her scarf and tore out the door, letting it bang loudly behind her.
"No chance no way am I in love!"
She tore down the hall and called to her mom telling her she would be outside and raced out the door. As the door banged loudly behind her, Hazel knew for certain that there was little one could do. The damage was done, Daniela was right. "But I won't admit it to her or to anyone else!"
Hazel figured that she would head towards her favorite hilltop to draw and sketch Buckland under a light blanket of snow. But no sooner had she turned on the crossroads that she ran into someone quite unexpected. It was Alastor Busibody.
"Hello Hazel. How are you?" He greeted cheerfully. Hazel turned to him and managed a smile.
"Fine Alastor, and how are you?"
"A lot happier than you seem to be. What is the matter?"
Ugh why did he have to ask? "Oh it's nothing Alastor I just got into a little argument with Daniela that's all. Nothing to fret over."
"I see."
Hazel hadn't seen Alastor since Christmas.
"Where have you been these past few days I haven't seen you anywhere."
Alastor grinned, his charming grin that usually bewitched most of the girls into a dreamy fantasy. "Did you miss me?" He asked mischievously his eyebrows moving up and down in good humor.
Hazel laughed. "Of course I did. It seems that I haven't spent all that much time with you ever since my birthday party."
Alastor frowned. "Well that most definitely needs to be corrected. Come I will invite you to have a drink down at your father's pub." He held out his arm. Hazel hesitated a moment but then gratefully took his arm. She really had wanted to just sit up there on the hilltop and draw, but then again she needed to take advantage of the time that her friend was here and be with him, who knew how long he would remain in Buckland.
"By the way, Hazel where were you off to anyways?" Alastor inquired.
Hazel looked up at him and remarked about her plan to go atop the hill and sketch. Alastor looked down at her sketchbook that she held close to her.
"Ah, yes those lovely drawings that you gave to us all for Christmas. I plan to place mine in my room. Right there in front of my bed. So that way whenever I wake up and I go to sleep I will stare at it and think about you, every single day. There then you will be in my thoughts with me at the beginning and at the end of each day. But then again who needs a lovely picture to remind one of someone as lovely as yourself?"
Hazel smiled and couldn't help but blush. Yep, Alastor hadn't changed one bit, he was still the big flirt that he had always been ever since he was small. She knew that what he said to her he meant it as a friend nothing more and nothing less.
"Of course it seems to me that I am not the only one that has been thinking about you when they are not here sharing in your good company," Alastor continued conversationally.
Hazel looked at him questionably, her eyebrows raised.
"What you don't know who I am talking about? Of course who else but that lucky lad, that got the blessing to kiss you on Christmas Eve." Alastor smiled and winked.
Hazel stopped walking and stared. "Alastor, you must be joking. Surely you are not talking about Frodo Baggins?"
"The very same, by the way how did that kiss go?"
Hazel blushed scarlet, but tried not to show it. "Never mind, but what about him. He's been talking about me in Hobbiton?"
"Yep, ever since he received your invitation. It's been Hazel this and Hazel that", he said looking at her a little surprised at her reaction.
"But of course he has just been talking rubbish about me?"
"Oh yes, all the many pranks that we pulled on one another, the ones you won and the ones we won. And many more fascinating stories that I had long since forgotten. Of course now the only thing he wants to do is not talk about you. With what happened on Christmas Eve and all. Merry and Pip haven't let the poor guy rest ever since that happened. Which brings me to ask again how did that go?"
Hazel looked down at her feet. Merry was giving Frodo a hard time about it, was that good or bad? And what were these strange jumps of her heart when she had learned that Frodo had started talking about her.
"Hazel?"
"Oh, the kiss, right. Oh you must know that it was absolutely dreadful! Positively one of the worst nights I have ever had in my life! Ugh, the very thought sickens me!" Liar, liar. Shut up!
Alastor threw back his head and laughed. Hazel couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed at the little voice that continued to call her a liar. This was just too crazy.
"It seems to me that someone's going to have to teach our good friend how to kiss properly."
"Well it won't certainly be me!"
Alastor laughed some more and his face looked handsomer than ever in the faint winter light.
"Come let's get to the pub, eh? No use for us standing out here and freezing our fur off."
Author's Note: Hey everyone thank you for all your reviews, I really appreciate them. Sorry it has been taking me so long to update, writer's block for a while and then there was all the homework. Oh well. I hope you enjoy! And HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!
It Is You I Had Loved
Ch. 8. "I Won't Say (I'm in Love)"
"No chance, no way I won't say it, no, no you swoon, you sigh, why deny it, uh-oh It's too cliché I won't say I'm in love"
Hazel looked out the window. Her mind began to drift off back to the night of Christmas Eve. The lights, the music, the caroling, the hot chocolate, and the mistletoe. Hazel was confused. Lately she had been noticing that she was not acting the same. Many times she would catch herself staring out her window towards Brandy Hall. And then her mind would drift off during meal times. Daniela had been teasing her about her "Christmas gift", and Hazel found herself instead of arguing, blushing! What was wrong with her? Was she ill in any way? What were these feelings that she felt now in the pit of her stomach whenever she would take out her sketchbook to stare at his face? She was only admiring at her handiwork, or was she?
Dear Diary, Every day seems to be different. I wake up happy, happier than usual at the fact that it is a wonderful day.
Hazel paused and looked down at her writing, her pen suspended in midair. She sighed and her mind began to dwell on her thoughts. She just couldn't figure it out. Or did she just not want to admit it? It was clear what was happening to her. It seemed that every night before she'd go to bed she would turn the snow globe that Frodo had given her for Christmas and watch the fake snow fall down on the enchanting little village inside the globe. It was one of the best presents she had ever received. Speaking seriously, she had never seen anything like this. It was wonderful giving her new globe a shake and watch dreamily as the snow fell on the perfect minute town.
She would smile at the tiny thatched-roof cottages with their neat little yards and the adorable trees. Then her mind would drift off again and she would find that sometimes if she focused hard enough she could see herself among the flurry of snow. There standing holding her newly born son surrounded by her two little girls. Then she would cook and clean and paint. Later the family would gather by the front door as they watched her husband come down the lane.
His handsome face would be broken out in a grin. He would meet his two running daughters with a hug and kiss for each of them on their forehead. Then he would stand and greet her. His big blue eyes would engulf her with all his love for her and her children. It was perfect and then Hazel knew that nothing could possibly go wrong. The only problem was whenever Hazel would have this fantasy sometimes half-way through the dream she would realize that her husband that she loved so much was not Merry at all, as she wished him to be. It was Frodo. What did this mean?
"What else could it mean?" She grumbled as she finished writing this in her diary. She frowned slightly as she reread what she had just written.
"I feel horrible sometimes, thinking about this. I must be going weak kneed, that I begin to start dreaming about someone else after one kiss! One lousy kiss! I mean how can it be that I start falling for a lad that I have not entirely liked all my life?"
A small voice inside her head answered her. "Don't kid yourself you know that there is something else going on in this. Your stomach does flip flops at the sight of him. Your heart starts to pound in your chest like it has never done before. Whenever someone so much as mentions him, you immediately turn around and listen. You stare for hours on end at that little globe he got you and that picture you drew of him! Face it girl, you fancy the lad and that's that."
"I do not! I certainly do not fancy him!" Hazel retorted frustrated with the small voice.
"Your right, you don't. I think that the more appropriate word would be that you love him," snickered the voice. Hazel felt her cheeks flush and her ears grow red. She swore she could hear the voice giggling.
"What are you talking about I don't love him!"
"Don't love who?" Hazel whirled around to face Daniela where she was standing in the doorway.
"Don't love who?" Daniela repeated coming inside the room and closing the door. Hazel grumbled something about not having any privacy in her own house. Daniela looked at her as she sat down on her bed.
"Out with it Hazel, who don't you love?"
Hazel didn't say anything. She hadn't realized that she had her snow globe in front of her. Daniela eyed her sister knowingly. Hazel suddenly focused her eyes on the snow globe and then immediately placed it by her window in its place.
"Oh, I see."
"What are you talking about?" Hazel snapped turning in her chair.
"You were having an argument weren't you?"
How could she know? "I don't know what in Middle-Earth you are talking about Daniela. Who would I be having an argument with?"
"Oh but you do", Daniela smiled and picked up Hazel's sketchbook that lay on her bed. Hazel gave a gasp and made a motion to swipe it away from her older sister but Daniela held it out of her reach.
"Interesting, very interesting", Daniela continued flipping through the pages of her sketchbook.
"Yes they are all very interesting, Daniela, give it back though please?"
Daniela looked up at her and smiled and held up the sketchbook where Frodo's portrait was smiling up at them. Hazel felt her ears burn even more as she fidgeted uncomfortably in her chair. Daniela smirked, but then lowered the picture and looked at Hazel seriously.
"Hazel it isn't healthy for you to be doing this to yourself. You can't go around having arguments with yourself about whether you love Frodo or not when the evidence is right here in front of you."
Hazel scowled. "Oh really, well let's see it then! If it's right out here in front of me how come I can't see it?"
Daniela smiled and shook her head. "Hazel look at yourself, you must be redder than the holly outside! If that is not enough proof, besides your constant 'snow globe' gazing and your adoration of his portrait then I don't know what is."
Hazel scowled at her. This was enough. "I am not in love with anyone!" She wrenched her sketchbook from her sister's hands, grabbed a couple of pencils, and her scarf and tore out the door, letting it bang loudly behind her.
"No chance no way am I in love!"
She tore down the hall and called to her mom telling her she would be outside and raced out the door. As the door banged loudly behind her, Hazel knew for certain that there was little one could do. The damage was done, Daniela was right. "But I won't admit it to her or to anyone else!"
Hazel figured that she would head towards her favorite hilltop to draw and sketch Buckland under a light blanket of snow. But no sooner had she turned on the crossroads that she ran into someone quite unexpected. It was Alastor Busibody.
"Hello Hazel. How are you?" He greeted cheerfully. Hazel turned to him and managed a smile.
"Fine Alastor, and how are you?"
"A lot happier than you seem to be. What is the matter?"
Ugh why did he have to ask? "Oh it's nothing Alastor I just got into a little argument with Daniela that's all. Nothing to fret over."
"I see."
Hazel hadn't seen Alastor since Christmas.
"Where have you been these past few days I haven't seen you anywhere."
Alastor grinned, his charming grin that usually bewitched most of the girls into a dreamy fantasy. "Did you miss me?" He asked mischievously his eyebrows moving up and down in good humor.
Hazel laughed. "Of course I did. It seems that I haven't spent all that much time with you ever since my birthday party."
Alastor frowned. "Well that most definitely needs to be corrected. Come I will invite you to have a drink down at your father's pub." He held out his arm. Hazel hesitated a moment but then gratefully took his arm. She really had wanted to just sit up there on the hilltop and draw, but then again she needed to take advantage of the time that her friend was here and be with him, who knew how long he would remain in Buckland.
"By the way, Hazel where were you off to anyways?" Alastor inquired.
Hazel looked up at him and remarked about her plan to go atop the hill and sketch. Alastor looked down at her sketchbook that she held close to her.
"Ah, yes those lovely drawings that you gave to us all for Christmas. I plan to place mine in my room. Right there in front of my bed. So that way whenever I wake up and I go to sleep I will stare at it and think about you, every single day. There then you will be in my thoughts with me at the beginning and at the end of each day. But then again who needs a lovely picture to remind one of someone as lovely as yourself?"
Hazel smiled and couldn't help but blush. Yep, Alastor hadn't changed one bit, he was still the big flirt that he had always been ever since he was small. She knew that what he said to her he meant it as a friend nothing more and nothing less.
"Of course it seems to me that I am not the only one that has been thinking about you when they are not here sharing in your good company," Alastor continued conversationally.
Hazel looked at him questionably, her eyebrows raised.
"What you don't know who I am talking about? Of course who else but that lucky lad, that got the blessing to kiss you on Christmas Eve." Alastor smiled and winked.
Hazel stopped walking and stared. "Alastor, you must be joking. Surely you are not talking about Frodo Baggins?"
"The very same, by the way how did that kiss go?"
Hazel blushed scarlet, but tried not to show it. "Never mind, but what about him. He's been talking about me in Hobbiton?"
"Yep, ever since he received your invitation. It's been Hazel this and Hazel that", he said looking at her a little surprised at her reaction.
"But of course he has just been talking rubbish about me?"
"Oh yes, all the many pranks that we pulled on one another, the ones you won and the ones we won. And many more fascinating stories that I had long since forgotten. Of course now the only thing he wants to do is not talk about you. With what happened on Christmas Eve and all. Merry and Pip haven't let the poor guy rest ever since that happened. Which brings me to ask again how did that go?"
Hazel looked down at her feet. Merry was giving Frodo a hard time about it, was that good or bad? And what were these strange jumps of her heart when she had learned that Frodo had started talking about her.
"Hazel?"
"Oh, the kiss, right. Oh you must know that it was absolutely dreadful! Positively one of the worst nights I have ever had in my life! Ugh, the very thought sickens me!" Liar, liar. Shut up!
Alastor threw back his head and laughed. Hazel couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed at the little voice that continued to call her a liar. This was just too crazy.
"It seems to me that someone's going to have to teach our good friend how to kiss properly."
"Well it won't certainly be me!"
Alastor laughed some more and his face looked handsomer than ever in the faint winter light.
"Come let's get to the pub, eh? No use for us standing out here and freezing our fur off."
