Pah-leez read and review! This part gets really sweet, but Diamond and Pippin are really sweet anyway, so enjoy!

Rose Gamgee stood in the hallway of Brandy Hall, waiting for the sounds of hoof steps and the voices of her children and husband. The stars wheeled overhead, as the rest of her children were sent to bed. They had done so quietly, with only Elanor and her third eldest Rose, keeping her company.

"Shouldn't they be back by now?" Rose, the younger, asked.

"I don't know Roz, it would be harder to move in the dark; they're probably delayed." She sighed. After several minutes, she went into the large main kitchen of Brandy Hall. The kitchen was large, enough to fit the entire clan of Hobbits that lived in the Hall, and several long tables occupied the adjacent dining room. At the end of one table, next to a dying fire, sat the forlorn figures of Estella Brandybuck and Diamond Took.

"Are they back yet?" Estella asked, Rose shook her head weakly.

"I wish we knew what happened," Diamond sighed, "You know, Faramir did not want to come to the picnic."

"There is no need to dwell on the subject Di, but we weren't gifted with foresight; we couldn't have seen what has happened now. I'm sure they are fine." Rose reassured Diamond, her eyes bright with worry.

"Mum! Pa's back!" Roz ran into the room. The Hobbit women rushed to the front door. Sam stood in the doorway, his silhouette framed by moonlight and as he stepped inside, the candlelight exaggerated his grim features. Rose embraced her husband, tears falling down her cheeks.

"Sam dear, where are the children? Where have they gone?"

"We did not see the children-" he started.

"Oh…so are they lost?" Rose wailed, and the other women could not resist their breaking hearts, and erupted into tears.

"No, no, no, no, no. Rosie, you must listen: our children are in the safest hands in Middle-Earth. But they have managed to get themselves in a really big mess, and they are on their way to Fangorn."

Pippin and Merry ducked underneath the doorframe, while their wives hurtled into their open arms. Rosie looked at Sam with wide eyes "Why on earth are they going to Fangorn?"

"It's a really bad case of mistaken identity: somehow they heard the tale of Mr Brandybuck and Mr Took with the Ents; or about Frodo and me with the ring-"

"Who are "They"?"

"The Entwives, Rosie; and they thought our children were us. And they go and get the queerest of ideas…"

("Encouraged by Tom Bombadil. I don't think I could ever encourage that!" Pippin sighed, shaking his head.)

("Of course I'm not happy! I would never trade them for a bag of gold!" Merry said to Estella, who had asked him a tumult of questions regarding his opinion on the situation.)

"…Frodo and the others are going to Fangorn." Sam said solemnly.

There was a stunned silence as Rose digested the information, "Also, Tom has told us that we may not be able to catch up to the Ents, as they go faster than any pony, and also the little ones didn't really get a choice in the matter." he continued.

Sam could see Rose's temper rising gradually, and as it usually happened in their large family it would snowball until it exploded into volcanic proportions. By experience small, quiet words would be the best course of action.

"How are they going to get home?" she asked.

"We are going to get them."

"When? Are you going right now?"

"Not now, we need to get supplies, and sleep."

"Are all of you going?"

"Yes." Said Sam exasperated. Rose measured her husband from curly head to hairy toe, after a pause she burst into tears.

"No, Sam, don't go. Don't you go and leave me," she sobbed, "last time you left, I was afraid you weren't coming back. I can't go through that again. I want to come with you Sam, I want to come too."

Something inside of Sam clicked and the memory of Frodo Baggins rowing away from him. He had said to Frodo that he could never leave him, and he had promised to look after him, by heart and oath. She had promised at their wedding that they would never leave each other, be it death or otherwise.

"Rose…"

"But, I can't leave the children, Sam. Who will look after them, if I go?" She looked up in the troubled eyes of Master Samwise. His heart was on the brink of shattering.

Diamond squeezed her husband's hand then faced Rose, "Rose, listen. I'll look after your children. I know how much you love yours and care for ours, and I know that you will find our children with the same amount of love as you will for your own." Diamond blushed as the room became silent.

"I'll help too. With Merry and the twins away, I'll be so alone. I'll be glad to help." Estella stepped forward, smiling timidly.

"Thank you. Oh, thank you so much Di; thank you too Estel." She whispered embracing them both. Estella and Rose broke into silent tears; Diamond, being of a much tougher material, held her head high and returned the embrace. Sam smiled while Pippin looked at Diamond surprised.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sam asked, clutching her shoulders and looking at her in the eyes. She nodded tearfully.

"Very well, Rose; we need to get ready now and have a sleep, I ent going to go and have you fall exhausted out on the road." Sam said seriously. They turned down the corridor only to meet Roz and Elanor waiting for them.

"I'm coming with you, father." Elanor said determined, sticking out her jaw. Sam recognised some of his stubbornness in her. Roz, copying her elder sister stood in the same wide-legged stance.

"Me too."

"You two are most definitely are not going. I have enough worriting to do about your brother and sister and mother out in the big world, let alone looking after two small children tagging along behind us."

"I am not a child anymore Pa! I am twenty-one years old and I know more about how to look after myself than most other hobbits my age: I know how to cook."

"That's because you're my child."

"I know how take care of horses."

"I taught you that too."

"I can dress wounds."

"I showed you what needed to be done."

"I know how to fight."

There was a strong silent pause around the hobbits.

"Who taught you to fight?" he looked accusingly at Elanor then at Pippin and Merry.

"We had nothing to do with it. Honest!" Pippin raised his hands in protest.

"Well…?" Sam asked as calmly as he could manage.

"Ummm…Flash did, Pa." she said guiltily

"Flash? Fastred? Fastred of Greenholm? The son of the pipe-weed farmer? The one who I caught lingering around my taters? What on middle-earth are you doing around him?" his voice getting louder with each statement.

"I'll only tell if you let me go."

"What!" Sam spluttered. He knew Flash with undesired intimacy, having thrashed him when he was caught breaking a fence, knocking over a pot-plant, picking his best flowers and messing with his mushrooms. Him and Lestred, Flash's father had a fight over Sam's nearly-harsh punishment for those deeds. Slowly, he realised why Flash had been hanging around New Row a lot.

"Fine. You're coming, not because I want you to come, but because I don't want any funny business with Flash while I'm away. The best cure for that is to keep you right under my nose." He pointed a finger at her. She stood shocked, golden curls tumbling around her pretty face.

"What about me?" Roz asked. Sam turned his pointing finger to her.

"NO. You are far too young and with Elanor and Frodo gone, you are now the eldest child. You stay here and help Mistress Took and Mistress Brandybuck, and I do not want to hear anything about any bad behaviour when we get back. I expect that you will look after the others and make sure they all get to school, fine and dandy. Make sure that Merry and Pip do not get into any more fights; don't let Ruby go to the Market again by herself. And most of all, make sure that they do go to sleep on time. I'm counting on you, Roz."

Roz blinked out a few tears, "but I want to go to."

"When I come back, when you're a little bit older maybe, I'll take you to see the elves." Sam promised. Roz nodded and rubbed her eyes.

"Go to sleep, we all need it for the morning." Sam said, leading everyone to their rooms. The only ones left in the great kitchen were Diamond and Pippin Took.

"That was a lovely and brave thing you did, offering to look after Sam's children." Pippin said nuzzling into her dark curls.

"I'm only trying to equal you in brave and wonderful deeds, dear." She replied.

"I think you've passed me already."

"How do you mean?" she asked as they walked to their room.

"One thing, looking after most of Sam's children will be an epic in itself."

"Ha ha, very funny."

"Also, being the mother of the Prince of Fools is one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences. You, I think, are one of the greatest mothers of all time." He paused, opening the door to their room, "And I think that marrying me was probably the scariest, bravest, most wonderful thing that anyone has ever done. It is so special, that it cannot be put into song." He murmured. Diamond looked into his green eyes with wicked smile.

"It's because I love you."

"I know."

TBC

Audience Cue Card: AAAwwwwwwwwww.