Disclaimer: Just in case you didn't know, I neither own the characters nor the copy right on them. I'm just obsessed about them and think about them way too much

A/N:  I know the whole person from our world finds him/herself in Middle Earth has been done numerous times ad nauseum, but I am writing this for a someone as a friendly challenge, and thought I would share it with all of you out there as well.  Please enjoy

And I'd just like to thank everyone who has reviewed my story to date.  I really appreciate the fact that you found my story enjoyable enough to comment on it.

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Chapter 1—A Great Awakening

Laying completely still, Karla could not believe what she just heard.  Either there was someone in bed with her, and that was a completely frightening thought, or else she was having auditory hallucinations, and after last night's shift, that wouldn't really surprise her.  And so, she lay there, afraid to move.  Of what she was afraid, she didn't really know.  It wasn't like her little brother to play these kind of practical jokes on her, and if she really was hearing things, well there are very few people in the world who would really want to be crazy, although as an artist it would most likely be accepted better than in most occupations.

"Pippin, did you hear what I said?  Get your lazy butt out of bed and get dressed.  Gandalf won't wait for you, and Frodo and Sam are already down stairs."

"Frodo and Sam?" Karla could hear herself mumble, but for some unknown reason her voice sounded very odd to her ears.  If she didn't know better, she would have thought it was someone else's voice that was talking, even though she could feel herself speak.  But that just didn't make sense.  Maybe she was just coming down with a cold.  Still, who would be calling her Pippin, of all the crazy names?

But since the speaker, whomever he was, was getting quite persistent with his shaking, and fearing that she'd lose whatever fillings she had in her teeth if he didn't stop, Karla carefully untangled herself from the covers she was hiding under and sat up to face her assailant.

Of all the things she expected, what she saw was the last thing she ever could have imagined she would see.  Standing beside the bed, looking at her with a look of veiled annoyance stood Meriadoc Brandybuck.  It wasn't the Merry from the movie, although how Karla could have known that this was Merry, she couldn't have said.  But by that same token, she knew all the same that this was Merry Brandybuck, just as she knew she was no longer in Kansas, as the saying goes (not that she had ever been to Kansas).

"Would you get a move on, you lazy Took.  No one is going to wait for you.  Better yet, be late and Lord Elrond can make you go back to the Shire alone.  That would teach you a lesson!"  And with that, Merry left the room, presumably to meet the rest of the fellowship as they prepared to head out.

Jumping to her feet Karla quickly grabbed the clothes that had been laid out for her and dressed herself, looking around the room for a mirror.  As odd as it seemed, there just didn't seem to be a mirror in the room.  Didn't all rooms have mirrors?  Shrugging it off, she grabbed Pippin's pack, which had been very thoughtfully packed for her, considering she'd have no idea what to pack and no time to do any packing even if she knew what to pack, and raced out the door hoping to be able to find the rest of the party before they all left without her.

"About time you got here, " Merry grumbled as Karla took the seat next to him and helped herself to breakfast.

"Sorry I'm late," Karla said to the group as she looked around the table trying to see if she could recognize everyone.  Even though no one looked the same as they had in the movie, Karla knew instinctively who everyone was.  There was no mistaking Gandalf, for he was the only one there dressed in long grey robes with a long flowing white beard.  Frodo and Sam were another easy pair, Frodo being the one with the ring on a chain around his neck and Sam the one waiting on him, making sure he ate enough for a Hobbit.

Aragorn was an interesting one.  Having never been in the presence of a King before, and though she couldn't say exactly why, there was no mistaking this man's leadership ability. Something in his very being cried out 'king'.  But looking at Boromir she was surpised to see how friendly and trustworthy he looked.  The way he looked in the movie, well, she had thought he would look a little more, well, evil or something.  If nothing else, she had assumed he would at least have looked mean.  He was the one to fall so easily under the seduction of the ring, trying to take it by force before being killed.  But looking at him across the table from her she was struck by how different he looked compared to how she had imagined him to look, and how different he looked from the actor who portrayed him.

Realizing that she had been staring at him, Karla quickly looked down at her plate and started shoveling food into her mouth, relishing the taste of the wonderful food.

"Hurry up and finish everyone.  After breakfast we have one last meeting with Lord Elrond before we begin our quest."  So saying, Gandalf stood up and began to head towards Elrond's study, motioning everyone else to do the same.  And Karla, stuffing the last of her gigantic breakfast into her mouth, quickly ran to keep up with the rest of the group.

The rest of the morning went by as a blur to Karla, who kept having to remind herself that she had better start answering to the name Pippin.  The problem was, she just didn't feel like a Pippin, but at least no one was calling her a pipsqueak yet.  Never tall, even in the best of circumstances, she knew well all the nasty names people called short people, or vertically challenged as they are called in the real world, she mentally reminds herself.  To be honest, she was little more than hobbit sized to begin with.

"Pippin.  Your name is Pippin.  Pippin.  Pippin.  Pippin," Karla mumbled to herself to get used to hearing the name applied to her.

"Are you alright Pippin?"  Frodo was looking at her kind of oddly, as though afraid that she might have gone around the bend one time too many or something. 

"Oh, I'm just fine Frodo.  Don't you worry yourself about me none."  That was just what she needed, she mentally chastised herself, to have the rest of the fellowship thinking that she was losing her mind.  Although, at times, she wasn't altogether sure she wasn't.  These kinds of things just didn't happen to normal people.

And with that, Karla picked up Pippin's bag and moved to stand over with the rest of the fellowship as it prepared to start their journey by heading out from Rivendell.

"Just remember Pip," Merry's voice said from beside him, "try to behave yourself and don't get into any trouble."

"Like I'd get into trouble," Karla responded back, slightly insulted that someone would think she'd go out of her way to get into trouble or something.

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TBC………………..

Oh ya, and reviews are always appreciated.