Author's note: This part turned out to be a little bit more dramatic than intended... Some facts may be incorrect but hopefully most of it makes sense. One question, by the way. Is there too much dialogue? Shall I lay low with all the talking? Let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: The characters and events from LotR all belong to JRR Tolkien!
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"We need to start planning things better, my dear Meriadoc" Pippin said and gave his pony one last pat before he picked up the basket on his feet and headed for the stable doors. "If we're going to make our wives with child at the same time we should at least make sure the children will be arriving in late winter or early spring, not during autumn. At least last year Diamond could still do her fair share of the work around here, now we have only you and me!"
"We got by before the lasses came along" Merry said good-naturedly and grabbed Estella's basket. "We'll get by now too."
"Not with you running back and forth between every task and Éowyn we won't!" Pippin commented. "Estella is perfectly capable of taking care of her on her own for thirty minutes, you know."
"I know..." Merry said with a smile. "But I can't help it. And you shouldn't talk master Peregrin, you're never reluctant to drop whatever you're doing just to hug her a little."
"I can't hug my wife anymore, Éowyn is all I have left" Pippin grinned.
"Good thing she has enough hugs to go around" Merry said.
The two left the stables and walked up to the Hobbit hole carrying Diamond and Estella's grocery baskets. Diamond was in her sixth month, Estella in her fifth, and neither of them got to carry anything heavier than Éowyn or they would never hear the end of it from their husbands. The family at Crickhollow had been to the market to do their monthly shopping, a task which usually the lasses took care of on their own, but now they needed help carrying the baskets. Pippin had complained that it was a good thing that they didn't do much farming, since they had spent such a long time at the market that their crops would probably have grown mildew long before they came home.
Merry and Pippin carried the baskets into the kitchen, where Estella, active as ever, quickly started unpacking them and sorting them up in different shelves. Éowyn was quickly given a sugar lump to suck on so that she wouldn't be in the way, and the rest sat down by the table. Merry placed Éowyn in his lap and rocked her back and forth while she sucked on her sugar lump and seemed very content.
"It's exhausting just to watch you, Estella" Diamond complained. She was hot and nauseous, she had never expected that being pregnant during summer could be so frustrating. Even more frustrating was the fact that Estella didn't seem bothered at all, she carried on much as she always had and just watching her flit about everywhere made Diamond feel sick. She had never been continuously morning sick, almost every morning she woke up feeling nothing but hungry, but it had been a hot summer so far and the heat made her nauseous. Estella was the other way around, during the first four months she had been sick every morning, but after an hour or two she had been as healthy as could be. And the heat of summer didn't seem to be bothering her the least bit, even though Merry claimed it set her off in the opposite direction. Instead of being tired and weary like Diamond she was overly energised.
"You need to slow down and take it easy" Merry now told her and got up from his seat. "I can unpack the groceries. You take Éowyn outside and let her walk on the grass for a bit. But don't stay out for too long."
"To tell you the truth I wouldn't mind going outside..." Estella said.
"One would think the long hours spent at the market would have filled your needs of being outside for weeks to come" Pippin remarked and rubbed his foot. "I think I've gotten a blister from standing for so long..."
"Oh nonsense" Diamond said. "We weren't there for all that long. When Estella and I go by ourselves you never even seem to notice that we're gone!"
"I think we just bought so much more food than usual" Merry laughed and fished out a huge bag filled with corn. "You two are going to out-eat Pip and myself by the time Diamond's child is ready to be born!"
"Eat more than you two?" Diamond laughed. "That will be the day. Perhaps if we were both expecting quadruplets. Do either one of you wish to explain what happened to the cherry pie I put in the cabinet yesterday?"
"You can't prove a thing!" Pippin said.
"Estella must have eaten it" Merry suggested, receiving a playful smack on the arm from his wife.
"I'm sure that's what happened to it" Diamond said with a laugh, and managed to get up from her seat. "Estella you take Éowyn outside, I think I'd better stay here and keep an eye on these two, or we won't have any food left to make dinner out of later. And just think Pippin, then we'd have to go back to the market."
"Fine, I'll stay away from the cherry pies then" Pippin sighed, to which Diamond laughed again.
"I can't prove a thing, huh?" she said. "Busted."
"Come along then, sweetheart" Estella said and lifted her daughter up. "Let's go outside and walk around for a bit!"
Éowyn had taken her first steps just a week before, causing so much reaction from the adults that it had scared her and made her cry. She had been in Merry and Estella's bedroom standing up, held by her mother, when Merry had entered the room and kneeled down a couple of meters away from her. Estella had let go of the child so she could practice standing, which was still a wobbly task for her, when suddenly Éowyn had taken a couple of steps toward her father before falling over. Both her parents had reacted so loudly that Diamond and Pippin had come running to see what on earth was going on, and suddenly Éowyn had found herself held up in the air, being loudly praised by the four adults, and all the fuss had been too much for her. But after that incident she had walked a few times again, each time getting more and more steady, and now she almost seemed annoyed that the grown-ups didn't make such a fuss over her walking anymore.
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Estella leaned against an apple tree and closed her eyes. She could feel the baby kick and put her hand on her belly. It felt nice to relax for a minute. She opened her eyes again and rested them watchfully on Éowyn who was toddling about a meter away from her. Éowyn could only manage a few steps at a time before she fell over, but she always got back up again and kept trying. She never seemed to lose her patience or her good mood.
Estella sighed. She loved Éowyn will all her heart, and she wanted a big family, but she wished she could have gotten to focus on Éowyn for a while before the second child came along. She was more tired than she would let on in front of the others, even with a child as cheerful as Éowyn it was not easy to have a small child. Especially not while expecting a second child in four months. Sometimes when she was alone, Estella couldn't help but to sit down and cry for a while, pondering her situation. How would she be able to manage taking care of little Éowyn when her pregnancy was further gone? How would she be able to take care of both Éowyn and the baby once her pregnancy was over? Diamond wouldn't be able to help her much, she would have her own child to care for. Estella had suggested to Merry that they would hire a nanny, but he had blankly refused. His own parents had had a nanny for him when he was little, and she had not been a very nice one. Estella had reminded him that his own wife had once been a nanny, but Merry still refused, saying that parents should raise their own children or not have them to begin with. He was nowhere near as concerned as she was about how things would be once their second child came into the world, but then again he had a lot of work to do around the hole and therefore it was Estella who had the main care of the children. It would not be as much extra work for him to have two small children as it would be for her.
"Estella?"
Estella took her eyes off Éowyn and looked up on Diamond who sat down on her knees next to Estella. She hadn't even heard her coming, she had been so preoccupied with her own thoughts, but she welcomed a break from them.
"How can you sit like that?" Diamond asked, glancing at Estella who was leaned back against the tree with her legs stretched out in front of her. "If I sat like that I would never get up again!" She sighed. "Why am I even sitting down in the first place? Merry asked me to go find you and tell you to come back inside. It's only getting warmer by the hour, and he says it's not good for you to sit out here in the heat for too long. I couldn't agree more, this heat is just too much..."
Estella slowly managed to get up, even though she had been much more pleased with just sitting by her tree for hours. But the heat wasn't good for Éowyn, and she had to come first.
"It's going to be one of the hottest summers ever" Diamond said, getting on her feet as well. "I just hope it starts to rain soon, or the crops will dry out!"
"Good thing we don't rely too much on crops" Estella said.
"The animals still need feeding over the winter" Diamond reminded her. "Not to mention that hot summers are usually followed by cold winters. Oh what a time to be with child, huh? This heat would be exhausting enough anyway!"
Estella nodded and followed Diamond inside, carrying Éowyn on her arm. The heat was indeed exhausting, and she was constantly sweating. And it was only June, most likely July would only get hotter. She didn't even want to think of what August and September would be like.
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"Éowyn's birthday is in three days, do you think we'll be done with the apples by then?" Pippin asked and climbed up the fifth apple tree in the orchard.
"Not in this pace" Merry answered. "I am telling you, we shall hire some help when we start with the rest of the fruit. The two of us alone can't pick all of this before it falls rotten from the trees."
He took a look at the rest of the fruit trees and plants in the orchard and shook his head. For each passing year they got more and more fruit, and it was getting harder and harder to keep up with it. Last year Estella had given birth in the middle of the harvesting, and this year she was in her seventh month of pregnancy and unable to help out more than by picking a few apples here and there and keeping Éowyn out of the way. Diamond, who had been a great help last year, was in her eighth month and strictly forbidden by Pippin to do more than pick the apples on the lowest branches and bring water to those working outside. Their pace wasn't even half of what it had been last year, now Merry and Pippin had to run back and forth with the baskets themselves and it took forever. Merry didn't want any of their fruit to go to waste just because they didn't have the time to harvest it, he preferred hiring some help.
"Make sure we get all the fruit we can" Diamond said. "We'll need it for this winter. I am still convinced that it's going to be a cold one, no matter how hot the weather is right now."
"We can't harvest even half of all this fruit on our own, Pippin and I need help" Merry said. "And I was thinking that if we hire four or five Hobbits to do this, then Pip and I can concentrate on harvesting the other crops, what little there are anyway. We're going to have to sell another cow or we won't be able to feed them all this winter."
"So sell one" Estella said and shrugged her shoulders. "We've got enough."
"I think we should sell one of the ponies" Diamond said. "There are only four of us, Éowyn is too young to ride, what do we need with seven ponies?"
"I was thinking about breeding them" Merry said. "In fact, I'm thinking about breeding them with a mearas pony."
"A what?" Estella asked.
"They're the finest ponies in the world" Pippin explained. "Merry's got a thing for them ever since king Théoden let him ride one of them."
"And exactly how do you plan on getting your hands on one of them?" Diamond asked and grabbed an apple from one of the baskets.
"Hey!" Pippin said. "Put that apple back!"
"Do you really want me to?" Diamond said after taking a bite from the apple.
"You're going to give yourself a stomach ache, like you always tell me" Pippin said. "This is your fifth apple today Diamond! Slow down! I'm supposed to be the one who eats a lot of apples in this marriage, but you're eating so many these days that even Merry's having trouble keeping up with you!"
"I can't help it, I crave them" Diamond said. "It must be the baby, whose apparently as fond of apples as the father."
"Tell the baby to slow down on the apples or he or she will have a stomach ache as well. Not to mention that the poor father will be left without any apples!"
Diamond ignored him and continued eating her apple, handing one to Estella as well. Pippin sighed and complained once again over both lasses being pregnant at the same time, but neither Diamond nor Estella took any notice. Pippin could complain all he wanted to, they both knew he and Merry thought it was great that they were having children at the same time. The two would often say that if they both had lads or both had lasses the two children would be as close friends as their fathers were, and if one of the children was a lad and the other a lass the two would get married when they were old enough.
"So about your ponies, Merry..." Diamond said. "Where exactly were you planning on breeding them?"
"Why here at Crickhollow of course" Merry said, surprised at the question. "This place is perfect. Lots of spaces, large stables... Any pony would be glad to have been bred here."
"With all this fruit taking up all our time you won't have any time left for breeding" Pippin said. "Except of course of the personal matter. Say how long do you plan on waiting before fathering your next child? One month after the new baby's born? Two?"
"Don't make me climb up that tree and hurt you" Merry said, not appreciating the comment very much.
"I wish you would" Diamond said. "Maybe if he fell down from there and broke an arm he would learn that he doesn't belong in a tree like some bird, but that his furry feet are meant to stand safely on the ground."
"When Éowyn is old enough I'm going to teach her how to climb a tree" Pippin grinned.
"You most certainly will not" Merry and Estella said in chorus, causing Pippin to laugh.
"Oh so that's the way huh, Master Brandybuck?" he said to Merry. "You are quick to climb a tree yourself, but not so quick to let your daughter do the same."
"There are a lot of things that I have done that I will not have her do" Merry said. "Wouldn't you agree, Master Took? How about the stone in the well?"
"Yes, or the Pellenor Fields Merry?" Pippin replied. "I for one cannot help but think that was one huge act of stupidity."
"If you had been there you would not have thought so" Merry said. "I would not have done anything different if I could have."
"Perhaps you wouldn't" Pippin said and came down from the tree. "But I would have. Of course you had an easy time at the House of Healing, all you did was lie in bed and have people bring you food and give you lots of attention, personally I look back on that experience with a gulp and a stomach ache."
"Ate too many apples, did you?" Diamond asked and grabbed another one from the basket Pippin lifted up.
"Give me that!" Pippin said and snatched the apple from her with his mouth before she could bite it.
"That apple is not going back into the basket after you've taken a bite from it, Pippin" Estella said. "Please, show some manners! And you," she said, turning to Merry, "whatever you did at those fields, don't ever do it again. If it scared Pippin it scares me. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go inside and see if Éowyn has woken up yet. Plus we have to get ourselves something to eat, I'm starving."
"Me too" Pippin said, still with the apple in his mouth. "I could eat a whole oliphaunt!"
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Estella said and went inside followed by Pippin and the basket. "I would tell you not to spoil your appetite with that apple, but what's the point? It won't stop you from eating it and it certainly won't have a negative effect on your appetite."
"Don't yell at me" Pippin said. "Yell at my wife. She's the one whose spoiled her appetite, if anyone has."
"No, I'm still hungry" Diamond said on her way inside.
Pippin shook his head with a chuckle and went back outside to get another basket of fruit. Diamond followed Estella into the kitchen and sat down while Estella started to prepare dinner. Merry entered with Éowyn asleep in a basket and left her there for Estella to keep an eye on before he went back outside. Diamond watched Estella silently for a minute.
"Estella?" she then said.
"Mh-hm?"
"Are you ever worried?"
"About what, Diamond?"
"About when your baby comes."
"No" Estella said after thinking about it for a moment. "When the baby decides to make his or her entrance, there's nothing I can do about it. No use worrying."
"I can't help but to worry" Diamond said with a sigh. "Oh Estella, I wish you were having yours before mine. I'm scared of having this baby, I wish you could be my midwife. But with your child arriving no more than a month after mine you can't be."
"You never know with these things" Estella said calmly. "You're having your first child, it might arrive early or late. Your baby might be weeks late even, and if mine is early I might actually be having it before you do."
"Or you might be having yours late as well" Diamond said and sighed again. "I really wish you could be there... My sisters are going to midwife, but still I would feel better if it were you."
"I'm really sorry I can't, Diamond" Estella said. "Especially since you were there to give Rosie a hand last year. And trust me, I know how comforting it is to have a good friend there. But with a child of my own arriving in merely a few weeks it would be impossible for me to deliver your baby. But I promise you that I'll sit with you for a while."
"I just wish this was all over soon" Diamond said. "It's too hot, I'm too immobile and I'm tired of feeling weak... And I want to see my child."
"It won't be long" Estella said with a smile. "You'll see him or her soon enough. And Pippin will finally have a child of his own to fuss about!"
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"How long is this heat going to last?" Merry complained and wiped his sweaty forehead. "Your wife must be out of her head if she believes this winter is going to be cold. With this temperature it's still going to be well over fifteen in mid-winter!"
"At least we're nearly done harvesting" Pippin said and rubbed his aching neck. "At least we got any crop at all to harvest, even if it wasn't much. We're going to have to sell more than one cow, and at least one of the horses as well."
"I hate the thought of that" Merry said. "Selling one of the horses. I can't think of a single one of them that I would like to be parted with."
"We use Strong and King on the farm, we can't sell any of them" Pippin said, thinking of the strong ponies who worked on the fields with their masters. "And selling Diamond or Estella's ponies are out of the question. So that leaves Fox, Raven and Blackbird."
"I do not wish to be parted with Raven" Merry said, thinking of his faithful black pony who always carried him on his and Pippin's wild rides through the lands. "And I don't think you'd wish to part with Fox. And Blackbird drives the cart."
"We could train one of the other ponies to do that" Pippin said. "Blackbird it is then."
Merry sighed but didn't say anything. He didn't like the thought of selling any of the horses, they had been nothing but faithful servants and selling them would almost be like if Bilbo had sold Sam's father to work for someone else. But Pippin was right, they didn't have a large enough harvest to feed all of their animals and Blackbird was the only pony expendable. He gazed up at the sky and wished it would rain, but so far the summer had been very cheap when it came to supplying rain. On the few occasions when rain had fallen it had been in the middle of a thunderstorm, and it had poured down for an hour or so and then just stopped.
"It is not just the harvest that I'm worried about" Merry told Pippin, still with his eyes on the sky. "Everything is so dry... How long will the water supply be enough? The Brandy Wine has not been this low for fifty years, and I know Sam is worried that the well at Bag End is about to dry out. And Rosie's expecting child again..."
"Sam is even worse than you are" Pippin commented. "This is his sixth child. What do you suspect he's aiming at? A whole fellowship of his own?"
"I don't think he's aiming for anything in particular, Pip" Merry replied. "Sam loves his wife, and that tends to result in children being born."
"You might just need to stop loving yours for a year or so and give her some room to breathe between the children" Pippin commented with a grin.
"I just hope Rosie will be feeling well enough to be here with Estella when her time comes" Merry said, ignoring Pippin's comment. "I know Estella wants her to be here. And frankly I do not know whom to turn to if Rosie cannot be her midwife."
"Deliver the child yourself" Pippin suggested. "You've done that before."
"Not my own I haven't" Merry said. But it was true that he had helped children into the world, he had been spending more and more time learning about- and practising medicine, and a few times he had been called in to assist at a childbirth. That was not something he did with pleasure however, since he was only called in when there was some sort of problem, since the general thought was that lads didn't belong in the room when a child was being born.
"Would there be a difference though?" Pippin asked. "Estella is no different from any other lass, it would be the same as with any other birth!"
"It most certainly would not" Merry said. "And I'd rather not be present to witness the pain that I've caused her when I'm powerless to make the pain go away. I don't think I'd be able to be as calm and together as she'd need me to be."
"I'm sure Rosie will be available, Merry" Pippin said, noticing the frown on his cousin's face. "I was just teasing..." He then gulped. "Merry you've seen it happen yourself, is it really as bad as they say?"
"You've seen calves being born" Merry said. "And lambs, and several other animals. You know what it's like. And don't worry, Diamond will be fine."
"I can't help but to worry" Pippin said with a sigh. "I know how much she wants to give me an heir, but I still think she'd rather be doing something else when the child decides to arrive. And it can be any day now, which only makes me more nervous. How you stayed so calm last year when Éowyn was born is beyond me."
"I knew Estella could do it" Merry said and shrugged his shoulders. "And I know she'll be able to do it again. And Diamond will too, Pip. Remember, it is only one day. And when that day is over you will be parents. Isn't that worth it?"
"If you think that will change the way I feel about your daughter then you are mistaken" Pippin said and managed to grin. "I will still love her as my own child, even when I've got a daughter or son of my own."
"Then I shall have to get back at you by loving yours as if he or she were mine" Merry said and wiped his forehead again.
"Merry! Pippin!"
Estella's voice caught their attention.
"Supper is ready, if you're interested in eating" she said as she approached them. In this heat even the most food loving Hobbit had a loss of appetite, it was over 30 degrees and much hotter than a normal summer. "The lads you hired to work in the orchard are having their supper outdoors, but I would much like some company from the two of you inside!"
"What about Diamond and her sisters?" Pippin asked.
"Diamond is asleep" Estella said. "And her sisters already ate."
"I can't say I'm very hungry..." Merry said and once again glanced up at the sky. "But with eating comes drinking, and I am thirsty!"
"You need to eat" Estella said. "And the crops will still be here when you get back. Unless of course they catch fire from this heat" she added with a sigh.
"If they do they'll be lost, that's for sure" Merry sighed. "Not a cloud as far as the eye can see... No clouds means no rain to put the fire out." He sighed again. "All this talk about rain makes me even more thirsty, come on, let's go inside."
"It's not just the heat" Pippin complained and dropped his reap, content with just letting it lie where it fell. "This burning sun is not kind on Hobbit skin! When the choice comes between keeping your clothes on and sweating or dressing as lightly as you can and getting sunburned, I think I prefer sweating."
"It can't last for much longer now" Estella said and followed them inside. "Soon autumn will be here."
"And a hot one it will most likely be at that" Merry said and sat down by the kitchen table. "I think we can forget all hopes of any snow this winter."
"Merry we haven't had snow in five years" Estella pointed out. "There's nothing unusual about that."
"I don't think I've ever longed for snow as much as I do right now" Pippin said. "And after Caradhras I vowed to never think kindly of snow again!"
"Here" Estella said and put supper on the table. "Eat now lads, and take a while to rest. It's hard work out there on the fields even without this heat."
"Where's Éowyn?" Merry asked and began filling his plate. His appetite had suddenly come back to him at the smell of the food.
"Asleep" Estella said.
"How she or Diamond can sleep in this heat is beyond me" Pippin said. "I can barely even sleep at night! Even though it is not as hot inside the hole it is still too hot for my liking. All I do is twist and turn and wish I could take a cold bath!"
"Autumn will be here soon enough..." Estella said again. "And shortly after autumn comes winter. Even if it won't be a very cold one, it will still be colder than the current temperature. And for that I am thankful."
She sighed deeply and looked out the round window. What she saw was not the Shire, green and leafy as usual, but a yellow, dry place that didn't seem at all like the home she was used to. And not a cloud was visible in the sky. No cool, reviving breeze blew either, the winds were as hot as the sun and didn't cool anybody off. Estella was worried, this heat was not good for herself or Diamond in their current conditions, and it was certainly not good for little Éowyn who seemed to have lost all interest in eating and most interest in drinking. It took Estella hours each day making sure the child got enough fluids and nutrition. And then there was Merry and Pippin, who both worked hard on the fields and put a far greater strain on themselves in the heat than Estella felt comfortable with. Pippin was already complaining about an aching neck and Merry seemed to be bothered by his back. The two would probably be spending a few days in bed once the harvesting was over, regaining their strength and healing their aching muscles.
She looked at the two lads who were busy eating and decided not to voice any of her concerns to them. They had enough on their minds anyway and needed to focus on their chores. At least they were eating now with good appetite, especially Merry was nearly wolfing down his supper. Now if she could only get Éowyn to eat and drink more she could feel a whole lot more at ease.
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"Pippin!" Merry yelled to his cousin at the other end of the acre. "It looks like we're getting rain! Finally!"
Pippin looked up and saw what Merry had just spotted, clouds coming in with the hot wind. The sight of them didn't seem very reassuring to him though.
"And a thunderstorm!" he yelled back. "If it brings no rain with it, something will surely catch on fire!"
"You're right" Merry said and eyed the clouds. "We should go back inside... I do not wish to still be out here on the fields when the thunder starts to roll. We should get the horses and the cows inside!"
"Let's pray we get rain along with the thunder" Pippin said. "We need it! I'll get the horses, you get the cows!"
Merry nodded and hurried off to fetch the cows. The heat was getting more and more intense, and the clouds were dark. He wouldn't be surprised if the incoming thunderstorm turned out to be the worst one to hit the Shire that year, but as long as it brought rain with it Merry didn't mind. After thunder and rain the air always seemed more fresh, and easier to breathe. He would be more than happy to open all the doors and windows in the hole and let that fresh air flow through their home and replace the thick, dry air that filled it now.
Estella looked up when the two lads entered the hole a while later.
"What's wrong?" she asked, sounding nervous. "You're half an hour early, you never leave the fields before seven unless something's wrong!"
"It looks like thunder" Pippin said. "We sent the workers home. Nobody should be out in the weather it looks like we're having!"
"Oh dear" Estella said. "Éowyn is so terribly afraid of thunderstorms!"
"Take her somewhere below, where she won't hear as much of it" Merry said. "No windows and less noise should make it easier on her."
"Will you come?" Estella asked.
"No" Merry said. "I will stay here and look out the window!"
"You sound as if you're excited about this" Estella said grumpily. "What's exciting about a thunderstorm that might set our entire fields on fire?"
"The potential of rain, dear" Merry said. "If thunder is the price we have to pay for a little rain, then I'll be more than happy to pay it."
"Easy for you to say, you won't be the one hidden in a dark room with our hysterical daughter" Estella snarled and strode away to get Éowyn.
"What was that about?" Pippin asked, unused to seeing Estella lose her temper.
"Hormones" Merry suggested. "Come, let's go to my study. We will have a better view from there."
"To be honest Merry, I'm not so sure I want a better view" Pippin said, but followed his cousin anyway. "It looks like it's going to be a big storm."
"You never know" Merry replied. "It might also pass us by. We haven't heard the thunder yet, and it is close enough that we would hear it."
Once they reached the study they both went up to the huge round window in front of Merry's desk and looked out at the approaching dark clouds. They both squinted in the still bright sunlight and Pippin held his hand up above his eyes to see better.
"There's no rain falling from those clouds" he said.
"That doesn't mean there isn't going to be any rain" Merry pointed out. "Maybe we're in luck and it will decide to drop it all over the Shire."
"Or maybe we're not so much in luck and it will decide to continue to the sea before letting the rain fall!"
They stood silently and watched the clouds approach for a while, still waiting to hear the sound of rolling thunder. When not a sound was heard from the clouds after nearly half an hour Pippin sat down in a chair and took a deep breath. The clouds would block the sun any minute but still they were silent. It looked as if the storm would pass them by.
"Are you as hungry as I am, Merry?" he complained. "It's almost eight now..."
"It's getting dark!" Merry said, as the setting sun was blocked by the clouds. "Light a candle, Pip."
Pippin obediently lit a candle, which didn't provide much light. The door opened and Diamond's older sister Jewel entered.
"Master Merry!" she said. "There you are! May I have a word with you, please?"
Merry nodded and knew what she probably was thinking. This weather brought on a headache, and Jewel was probably hoping he'd give her some brew to help cure it, which didn't seem like such a bad idea at all to Merry. He could definitely use one himself.
"Out here, please?" Jewel said when Merry didn't follow her out in the hall on his own. Merry nodded and went out into the hall with her.
"What's the matter?" he asked. "Looking for something to relieve a headache?"
"You must help" Jewel said with a seriousness in her voice that Merry had never heard before. She looked at him with stern eyes and for some reason it was impossible to break from them. "It is very important that you help!"
"Relax" Merry stuttered, taken aback by her seriousness. "Tell me what's wrong."
"It's Diamond. Her child is coming."
"Now?" Merry said. "You and your sister were supposed to handle that! Just relax, take it easy and let nature have its course."
"You don't understand" Jewel said. "She hasn't just begun. It started this morning, not long after you and that husband of hers left for the fields."
"It can take hours, Jewel" Merry assured her. "Especially when it's her first. It has barely been ten hours yet, it might go on for twice as long as it already has. It's nothing to worry about, trust me."
"Will you listen? Just be quiet and listen! The baby is not coming. Nothing's happening. Nothing has happened for over an hour now, something is wrong!"
"Are you really sure?" Merry asked. "I do not wish to get involved with this if I don't have to. It will only scare her."
"Will you just have a look at her at least?" Jewel begged. "I am telling you that something is not right! She's bleeding, nothing's happening, something's wrong."
Merry sighed. He hated dealing with midwives who had never helped a child to the world before, they always assumed that both the mother and the child were dying if it took longer than a few hours and if there was any blood at all. He really didn't want to go see Diamond, his presence would only scare her, she was well aware that he only assisted at births when something had gone wrong. He would probably just make things worse by checking in on her.
"Please" Jewel begged, her eyes softening.
Merry sighed and caved. If there was indeed something wrong he might as well check it out as soon as possible, before it was too late. That thought sent chills down his spine, he couldn't even imagine what it would do to Pippin if he lost his wife at childbirth.
He nodded to Jewel who turned on her heel and hurried down the hall, with Merry in her tracks. She led him down one of the halls they didn't use much, which was located a bit further away from the others. Merry couldn't help but approve of their choice of location, knowing how nervous it would make Pippin if he were anywhere near the room where his child was being born. And he also understood why they had chosen not to tell him what was going on, it was much better to let Pippin believe Diamond was just resting so he could carry on with his own business without having to worry himself to a frenzy.
*
*
*
Estella looked up when Merry entered the room where she was playing with Éowyn. He had a look on his face that she couldn't quite define, and he didn't say as much as hello to her or the lass when he passed by them into the next room. Estella knew what was in there, it was Merry's collection of herbs. She frowned and managed to get on her feet and follow him.
"What is wrong?" she asked. "Headache?"
"Diamond" he replied.
"Oh..." Estella said. She didn't know what else to say. Before she could think of anything, Pippin came into the room, and one look at his face told her that whatever was going on with Diamond he didn't know. He still didn't know that his child was being born.
"Merry!" Pippin said, and nodded hi to Estella. "There you are! Headache? I've sure got one... Make some for me too."
Estella mumbled something incoherent and returned to Éowyn, secretly wishing she could be somewhere else. She wondered how Merry was going to keep whatever was wrong from Pippin, he had never even tried telling his cousin a lie and would most likely fail miserably if he tried. Estella didn't want to be anywhere near either one of them when Pippin found out what was going on.
"Merry?" Pippin said, and stepped inside the small room where Merry kept his herbs and prepared his brews.
"Yeah?" Merry mumbled and continued focusing on his task at hand.
"Is something wrong? You seem preoccupied with something."
"Has the thunderstorm started?" Merry asked, avoiding an answer.
"Yes, actually" Pippin said. "I just heard the first one... Haven't seen a flash yet, though." He glanced over at his cousin. "Is that really for a headache? Those are some pretty strong herbs you're using!"
"No, they're not for headache" Merry admitted. "Pippin if you don't mind, I need to focus on this right now... We can chat later!"
"All right" Pippin said, eyeing Merry with a puzzled look. "I'll go check on Diamond. She's been sleeping for an awful long time!"
Merry sighed deeply.
"No Pip, you can't see Diamond."
"Why not?" Pippin asked with a scoff. "Give me one good reason why I can't see my own wife. I haven't seen her since this morning!"
"You just can't" Merry said.
A suspicion came creeping to Pippin, and he eyed Merry, then the herbal brew he was making, then Merry again. Very slowly the realisation came to him, and he backed away.
"No..." he said. "Don't tell me that!"
"I haven't told you anything yet" Merry said lamely.
"I can think of one reason only why I cannot see my wife" Pippin said. "And that reason makes a lot of sense together with she and her sisters having been nowhere in sight all day! But if you're involved..." He gulped. "That's a pretty strong brew you're making."
"It is" Merry said, not knowing what else to say. He wished the brew would hurry up and boil so that he could bring it to Diamond and get away from this confrontation with Pippin.
"Why haven't you told me?" Pippin angrily asked, deciding to turn his fear into anger since that was easier to deal with.
"I only just found out myself Pippin, I swear" Merry said and finally looked up at his cousin. "There was no point in telling you earlier... And not much point in you knowing now either! There is nothing you can do."
"Is she going to die?"
"Don't be a fool" Merry said, not fully convinced. "She's having some problems, but that happens!" The brew finally boiled and with a sigh of relief he poured it over into a mug. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get this to her."
"Merry" Pippin said as Merry passed by him on his way out. "At least let me know what the problem is."
"Will it make it any easier for you to know?" Merry asked. Without waiting for an answer he hurried off.
*
*
*
Pippin didn't leave the spot he had been resting his eyes on for the past hour even when he heard the door open. Not that he was aware of what he was looking at, he was barely aware of anything at all, and hadn't been during the hours that had passed since he had been told of his wife's condition. The only thing he was aware of was that his Diamond was having problems with her delivery, and that there was nothing he could do for her but to sit in his study and stare out the window. He hated the helpless feeling, he hated it more than anything else. It was the same feeling as when Merry had been ill at the House of Healing, all he had been able to do then was to sit by his side and wait for him to live or die.
He knew that it was Merry who had entered. He knew those footsteps anywhere, just like he could recognise Merry from his shadow alone. But for the first time in his life Pippin didn't feel comforted by his cousin's presence. He could not be bringing good news.
"Is she dead?" he asked his cousin in a toneless voice.
"I do not know how to answer that" the hesitant answer came. "She is still alive, but... but I can't promise you that she will survive even the night."
Merry's steps slowly came closer, but Pippin didn't let his eyes leave the spot they had been staring on.
"What will I do now?" he asked, still with no emotion in his voice. "If she dies, what will I do? What is to become of me? I've grown dependant of her. How do I get up in the morning knowing that she is not there, and that I killed her?"
"Do not blame yourself" Merry's soft voice said.
"I was the one who got her into this situation" Pippin said. "It was because of me."
"It takes two to make a baby" Merry said. "And you and I both know how much she's wanted to have one. Now listen to me, Peregrin Took. I will not let her die. As long as there is still some herb I can use, some brew I can make, some prayer I can say, I will."
"How much she wanted a child..." Pippin mumbled as an echo. "Yes. It was she who wanted it. She much more than I. Before you had Éowyn I never gave any thought at all to having children, I've never thought of myself as father material."
"Nonsense."
"No it's not nonsense. It's for real. It's the truth. But your lass is so wonderful, and I would be lying if I said that I wasn't thrilled when she told me she and I were going to have a child of our own. But... Not at this cost, Merry. Not at the cost of her! I do not care about the Smials, or my bloodline, I don't care about generations yet to come. She is my care. If had had to choose between having her and having children, I would rather have her! It is not worth having to let her die for the sake of a child being born."
"That choice is easy to make..." Merry said. "Easy when you do not have a child. I could never choose between Estella and Éowyn."
"Diamond..." Pippin whispered, for the first time starting to hint at some emotion in his voice. "My lovely Diamond..."
"Pip..."
"She has to live" Pippin said. "She just has to. I would do anything! She cannot die like this, I haven't even gotten to see her yet! Oh Merry, I swear, if she only gets to live I will make sure she never gets pregnant again. I will keep away from her, I will sleep in a different bed than she does if I have to. Exactly how I'll be able to give up intimacy with her I do not know, but that is what I shall do if I in return can have her by my side for the rest of my life."
"Pippin..." Merry said with a voice ridden with guilt. "I am so terribly sorry, Pippin... But no matter what happens from now on, she will never have another child. And it's because of me. I killed your unborn children!"
"Don't be a fool" Pippin said, not even able to move his eyes from their spot to look at his obviously guilt-ridden cousin.
"Fool or no..." Merry said. "Diamond will never have another child again. And I am to blame for it."
"Oh how could you possibly--"
"The baby was breech, Pippin. And Diamond's sisters, they had never even delivered a normally positioned child before! So I had to do it, turn the baby... Why did I do that? I should never have done that!" Pippin could hear that Merry was now crying. "That Entwash... It didn't even cross my mind that I had grown too big! I damaged her, I should have let one of her sisters with their small arms and hands do it! I could have let them do it, I could have instructed them... But I didn't. And my treatment left her barren. I am so terribly sorry... But I had to choose between her life, hers and the baby's, their lives or lives that would never come to this world anyway if their mother was dead!"
"Well that ends all of my problems then, doesn't it?" Pippin said. "As long as she survives. I will never have to worry about her being pregnant again." He was silent for a moment. "If... If she..." He gulped. "If she doesn't make it through, Meriadoc. Do you think she will believe it was worth it? Will she think her death was worth it?"
Merry kneeled next to him.
"Pippin... I would take a knife and run it through my heart for Éowyn. My death would be more than worth it if it would save her life. I am sure Diamond feels the same way... Won't you look at your son, Peregrin?"
Pippin finally broke his fixed gaze and his eyes fell on Merry who was kneeling beside him. Pippin looked from Merry's face down to the baby Merry held in his arms and tears began to fall down his cheeks.
"My son..."
"He is beautiful, Pip" Merry said. "And as healthy as can be."
"He's silent."
"Yes. Now he is" Merry said. "He is asleep. Even in this raging thunderstorm he is sleeping peacefully. Here. Hold him."
Merry gently handed the infant over to his father, and tears continued to fall down Pippin's cheeks as he held his son for the first time.
"He looks just like you" Merry said. Pippin didn't say a word for over a minute. "Pip?"
"Only two people have had this affect on me the first time I saw them... This overwhelming admiration, this feeling of looking at someone special. One is Diamond, and the other is Fa--" Pippin interrupted himself and started to laugh slightly. "Of course! Faramir. That is what your name will be. Faramir Took."
"Faramir Took..." Merry repeated. "It's a good name. It fits a son of yours. And when he's older he can marry my Éowyn!"
"Faramir and Éowyn..." Pippin said and laughed through his tears. "Yes... Of course."
"Never regret that you had a child" Merry said. "Promise me that, Pippin. No matter what the cost, they are worth it."
"I never thought anything could be worth her life..." Pippin said. "But now that I look at him... Oh I don't know, I cannot wish him away! But if I lose her I will just..."
"Shhh..." Merry said gently. "It will be all right. She's asleep now, her sister is with her. And she has promised to come and get me if anything changes."
"Can I see her?" Pippin asked.
"As soon as she wakes up."
"Can I keep my son here with me?"
"For as long as you wish, Pippin" Merry said. "But I shall leave you now. It's getting late, and I'm tired!"
"Of course..." Pippin said as Merry rose and headed for the door. "And thank you. Thank you. She may be barren now, but she would have been dead already if it hadn't been for you. And probably Faramir too! Thank you..."
Merry nodded, even though Pippin couldn't see it. He left his cousin with the new-born child and left the Hobbit hole to get some fresh air. When he stepped out it began to rain, not in the heavy way it had during the previous thunderstorms of that summer but a lighter, softer rain. The cool rain fell on his tired face, his tired hands, tired body and washed away the heat surrounding him. He lifted his face toward the sky, completely oblivious to the thunder that was still rolling, only relieved to feel the water rinse his face and wash away the darkest memories from the hours that had passed.
How long he stood out in the rain he would never know, and later on he couldn't remember exactly how he had gotten back inside and found his way to his own bedroom. All he remembered was lying in bed next to Estella with his hand on her pregnant belly, waking her up from her sleep when his wet body came in contact with her hot, dry.
"Promise me..." he whispered right before he fell asleep. "That you will survive... Promise me... And I will never make you with child again... Just promise me that you won't die when the baby is born..."
"You fool" Estella's voice had softly replied. "I am not going to die, and I do not wish to receive any promises from you that will put an end to our nights together. What is, is what must be."
*
*
*
Diamond opened her eyes but wasn't aware of what she was seeing. She closed them again. She was sweaty, hungry, tired, thirsty, and every last part of her body was screaming with pain. Why had she woken up? She wished she could go back to sleep again.
"Pippin..." she whimpered.
A hand softly caressed her cheek and placed a cold cloth on her burning forehead. Diamond tried to smile, but wasn't sure if she actually managed to. Pippin was there, he was taking care of her. Everything would be fine.
"Pippin..." she whispered again, barely audible. A voice softly shushed her. "I love you..." she whispered.
Merry gently placed a kiss on her forehead. There was no meaning in letting her know that it wasn't Pippin who was there with her, it didn't matter now anyway. He would let her believe that he was Pippin if that would help her recover.
Diamond went back to sleep. The next time she woke up he would try and get her to drink something. She had been sleeping for nearly 24 hours now, and Merry was still very much concerned over her condition. He had not let yet Pippin see her, but if she didn't start showing progress soon Merry feared he would have to let his cousin come say goodbye to her. But he was not willing to give up just yet, she had at least opened her eyes which was a very good sign. But she had lost so much blood that Merry feared there was nothing he could do for her in the end.
He placed his palm against Diamond's forehead, which was still burning hot. He wondered if she would ever get to see the son she had given birth to the night before. Faramir was currently with Estella, who had both milk and motherly love to spare, but if Diamond died Merry wasn't sure what would happen. Diamond's sisters would insists on bringing their nephew back to Long Cleeve with them, but he didn't belong there. Faramir's father was still at Crickhollow, and Estella would be the perfect surrogate mother, not to mention that Faramir was now Pippin's heir and would one day become the Thain. As such, he should be raised by his predecessor and father, not by relatives in a different town.
"Oh Diamond..." Merry whispered with a sigh. "You must survive. Not only for your husband's sake but for your son's. For all our sakes."
Diamond didn't reply from her deep sleep and Merry placed a new cloth on her forehead. Only time would tell if she would come back to life or if her life would end.
*
*
*
Diamond finally opened her eyes and came out of her deep sleep for good two days later, like before calling her husband's name. Once again it was Merry who answered the call, this time however Diamond saw and recognised him.
"Was it you?" she asked, her voice sounding like it hadn't been used in months. "I thought it was Pippin... But it was you?"
"It was me" Merry admitted. "You have no idea how glad I am to hear your voice again, Diamond Took! You gave us all a scare!"
Diamond nodded slightly. She had only vague memories of the past few days, for as long as she lived she would never remember much of what had happened the night her son had been born. Merry's brew played some part in it, but most of all it had been too painful for her mind to wish to remember. She could only recall a few fragments here and there, and when she now opened her eyes and spoke with Merry she had no idea whether or not her child had been a boy or a girl.
"Drink this" Merry urged and helped her swallow a little soup.
"Thank you..." she said.
"You are doing much better" Merry told her with a warm smile. "For quite a while there I feared we would lose you. But like I said to Pippin, you are stronger than that and you can handle quite a lot. You'd have to be to be Pippin's wife! There is no way he would ever love a weak person."
"I'm still so tired..." Diamond said. "Yet I feel like I have slept for months. My whole body hurts..."
"I put something in the soup to ease the pain" Merry told her.
"Have you been here the whole time?" she asked.
"More or less. Your sisters have watched over you during the night... But I have been sleeping in the next room, in case you or they would need me. Now that you're awake however, and appear to be out of the woods, I am going to take some time to go do something I have been meaning to do for days now."
"I am sorry that I have been keeping you" Diamond said.
"Don't be a fool" Merry said and caressed her cheek gently. He rose and left the room, returning a few minutes later with Pippin.
Diamond somehow managed to sit up in her bed when she saw Pippin enter with the baby. She saw Merry's wide smile in the corner of the eye before he closed the door to give them some privacy, and then she was alone with Pippin and the child. Pippin sat down carefully next to her and gave her a long kiss.
"You had me scared" he whispered. "I thought I would never see those lovely eyes again... Yes indeed you scared me good."
"Can I see the baby?" Diamond said and reached out her hands for the child.
"Easy now, don't exhaust yourself" Pippin said. He managed to get her to scoot over a bit so he could sit next to her, and then carefully handed Faramir over.
Diamond took the baby and smiled gently. She was fighting her fatigue, she didn't want to go to sleep now, she wanted to stay in this moment for as long as she possibly could. She leaned against Pippin, comforted by his presence and his support, and he gently put his arms around her and helped her hold the child.
"His name is Faramir" Pippin told her. "That is unconditional, I will not argue with you on that! I gave him that name when I first saw him, because... Just because he's supposed to have that name."
"Faramir" Diamond said, trying the name out. "It's very strange... But so is Éowyn."
"Faramir is the lady Éowyn's husband" Pippin told her. "He is the brother of Boromir, the great warrior who sacrificed his life for Merry and I. I have never known a man more noble than Faramir son of Denethor, not even king Aragorn himself. If our son turns out even half as noble as the man he was named after, I shall be so filled with pride that you will never hear the end of it..."
"Then so it shall be" Diamond said. "Faramir will be his name. And he could not have come to a happier mother..."
"Or father" Pippin added. "And twice as happy am I that you lived through it. If I had lost you I would not have known what to do."
"If you had lost me it would have been worth it" Diamond said. "Our Faramir would have been worth dying for!"
*
*
*
Less than a month later Diamond was up and about again, still weak but so happy over her son that she didn't mind. And six weeks after Faramir's birth it was Estella's turn to have her child, assisted by Rose Gamgee. This time Estella was given nothing to put her to sleep, even though she several times during the birth asked Rosie to give it to her. Rosie blankly refused her every time, saying that she saw no reason why Estella couldn't have this child like a normal lass, and that the kind of procedures Rosie had gone to last time were only to be used when things weren't expected to be normal. Estella however questioned that everything was indeed normal since she had been asleep during most of her first birth and had no real idea of what it would actually be like.
Late in the afternoon on a cold October day hers and Merry's son was born. Unlike the day when Faramir had been born it was cold outside, the temperature had dropped fast after the huge thunderstorm which had started five fires in the Shire and scared several Hobbits much more than they were willing to admit. After the hot summer, autumn gave way quickly and winter was coming. Much as Diamond had predicted it had gotten colder, the temperature was closing in on freezing by now and rain was often pouring down.
Estella sat in her bed as dusk fell outside and gently rocked the baby back and forth when Merry was let in by Rosie to see his wife and new-born child. Now that the delivery was over Estella was glad that Rosie had kept her awake, for this time she got to see the look on Merry's face when he saw the baby for the first time. She decided then and there that the look on Merry's face alone was well worth the painful experience of giving birth and when they gently kissed she couldn't help but regret having missed out on this experience the first time around.
Merry carefully sat down next to her and looked at the baby. He eyed his son carefully and then looked at Estella.
"I can't really tell..." he said. "Does he look like me or you?"
"He looks like us both" Estella answered him with a smile.
Merry kissed her again and laid down next to her. He leaned his head against her shoulder and put his arm around hers, gently stroking the baby's head. Neither one of them spoke for a while, silently savouring the moment.
"I assume you have a name for him already" Estella said, breaking the silence. "After one of your friends."
"Théodoc" Merry said. "After Théoden king. As a father he was to me. For a little while..."
"I like it" Estella said.
Merry gently kissed her neck and closed his eyes for a second. He wished he could stay in this moment forever, this peaceful quietness with his wife and son. He was more grateful than he could put into words that he was able to lie here with Estella, that her delivery had gone well and that the baby was healthy. Théodoc would one day take over after his father as the Master of Buckland, just as Faramir would take over as Thain. It was pretty incredible that both himself and Pippin had had heirs born barely a month apart.
"I love you so..." he whispered to Estella. "You and Théodoc both... And Éowyn."
"I love you too" Estella whispered back. "But please... Can we wait for a little while now before we have a third?"
"We'll wait for as long as you want to" Merry assured her and kissed her again. "We already have the perfect daughter and the perfect son... There is no need for anything else."
Estella chuckled.
"You say that now... But you'll soon be finding several good reasons why a third child would be nice. And most of those reasons will be bedroom related."
"All in good time..." Merry said. "For now I'm happy just holding you. I'm happy knowing that you're there, right next to me, and that you're not going anywhere."
They fell silent again, not feeling that there was anything else that needed to be said. They had each other and they had their new-born child, it was all they needed at the moment. It was as if both were scared they would break the magic if they spoke, since there seemed to be no words to describe what they were feeling.
"Look..." Merry said suddenly, breaking the silence but not the magic. He had taken a look out the window and seen something. "It's snowing... Who would have thought that six weeks ago?"
"Snowing..." Estella said and looked out the window as well. "The first snowfall in five years. What a story to tell Théodoc when he is older."
Merry nodded. Estella turned her eyes away from the window and looked into Merry's. Then they looked at their son. Outside the first snow in five years was falling, and following the hottest summer in decades at that. But in the dark, quiet room, in Estella's arms, was something much more rare and special.
*
*
*
I thought of another question... =) Is there too much about Estella and Diamond? Should I focus entirely on Merry and Pippin? About Merry's son's name btw, while reading through his family tree I noticed that all Masters of Buckland had names that ended with "doc" or "mac". That is why I chose to alter Théoden to Théodoc!
Disclaimer: The characters and events from LotR all belong to JRR Tolkien!
*
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*
"We need to start planning things better, my dear Meriadoc" Pippin said and gave his pony one last pat before he picked up the basket on his feet and headed for the stable doors. "If we're going to make our wives with child at the same time we should at least make sure the children will be arriving in late winter or early spring, not during autumn. At least last year Diamond could still do her fair share of the work around here, now we have only you and me!"
"We got by before the lasses came along" Merry said good-naturedly and grabbed Estella's basket. "We'll get by now too."
"Not with you running back and forth between every task and Éowyn we won't!" Pippin commented. "Estella is perfectly capable of taking care of her on her own for thirty minutes, you know."
"I know..." Merry said with a smile. "But I can't help it. And you shouldn't talk master Peregrin, you're never reluctant to drop whatever you're doing just to hug her a little."
"I can't hug my wife anymore, Éowyn is all I have left" Pippin grinned.
"Good thing she has enough hugs to go around" Merry said.
The two left the stables and walked up to the Hobbit hole carrying Diamond and Estella's grocery baskets. Diamond was in her sixth month, Estella in her fifth, and neither of them got to carry anything heavier than Éowyn or they would never hear the end of it from their husbands. The family at Crickhollow had been to the market to do their monthly shopping, a task which usually the lasses took care of on their own, but now they needed help carrying the baskets. Pippin had complained that it was a good thing that they didn't do much farming, since they had spent such a long time at the market that their crops would probably have grown mildew long before they came home.
Merry and Pippin carried the baskets into the kitchen, where Estella, active as ever, quickly started unpacking them and sorting them up in different shelves. Éowyn was quickly given a sugar lump to suck on so that she wouldn't be in the way, and the rest sat down by the table. Merry placed Éowyn in his lap and rocked her back and forth while she sucked on her sugar lump and seemed very content.
"It's exhausting just to watch you, Estella" Diamond complained. She was hot and nauseous, she had never expected that being pregnant during summer could be so frustrating. Even more frustrating was the fact that Estella didn't seem bothered at all, she carried on much as she always had and just watching her flit about everywhere made Diamond feel sick. She had never been continuously morning sick, almost every morning she woke up feeling nothing but hungry, but it had been a hot summer so far and the heat made her nauseous. Estella was the other way around, during the first four months she had been sick every morning, but after an hour or two she had been as healthy as could be. And the heat of summer didn't seem to be bothering her the least bit, even though Merry claimed it set her off in the opposite direction. Instead of being tired and weary like Diamond she was overly energised.
"You need to slow down and take it easy" Merry now told her and got up from his seat. "I can unpack the groceries. You take Éowyn outside and let her walk on the grass for a bit. But don't stay out for too long."
"To tell you the truth I wouldn't mind going outside..." Estella said.
"One would think the long hours spent at the market would have filled your needs of being outside for weeks to come" Pippin remarked and rubbed his foot. "I think I've gotten a blister from standing for so long..."
"Oh nonsense" Diamond said. "We weren't there for all that long. When Estella and I go by ourselves you never even seem to notice that we're gone!"
"I think we just bought so much more food than usual" Merry laughed and fished out a huge bag filled with corn. "You two are going to out-eat Pip and myself by the time Diamond's child is ready to be born!"
"Eat more than you two?" Diamond laughed. "That will be the day. Perhaps if we were both expecting quadruplets. Do either one of you wish to explain what happened to the cherry pie I put in the cabinet yesterday?"
"You can't prove a thing!" Pippin said.
"Estella must have eaten it" Merry suggested, receiving a playful smack on the arm from his wife.
"I'm sure that's what happened to it" Diamond said with a laugh, and managed to get up from her seat. "Estella you take Éowyn outside, I think I'd better stay here and keep an eye on these two, or we won't have any food left to make dinner out of later. And just think Pippin, then we'd have to go back to the market."
"Fine, I'll stay away from the cherry pies then" Pippin sighed, to which Diamond laughed again.
"I can't prove a thing, huh?" she said. "Busted."
"Come along then, sweetheart" Estella said and lifted her daughter up. "Let's go outside and walk around for a bit!"
Éowyn had taken her first steps just a week before, causing so much reaction from the adults that it had scared her and made her cry. She had been in Merry and Estella's bedroom standing up, held by her mother, when Merry had entered the room and kneeled down a couple of meters away from her. Estella had let go of the child so she could practice standing, which was still a wobbly task for her, when suddenly Éowyn had taken a couple of steps toward her father before falling over. Both her parents had reacted so loudly that Diamond and Pippin had come running to see what on earth was going on, and suddenly Éowyn had found herself held up in the air, being loudly praised by the four adults, and all the fuss had been too much for her. But after that incident she had walked a few times again, each time getting more and more steady, and now she almost seemed annoyed that the grown-ups didn't make such a fuss over her walking anymore.
*
*
*
Estella leaned against an apple tree and closed her eyes. She could feel the baby kick and put her hand on her belly. It felt nice to relax for a minute. She opened her eyes again and rested them watchfully on Éowyn who was toddling about a meter away from her. Éowyn could only manage a few steps at a time before she fell over, but she always got back up again and kept trying. She never seemed to lose her patience or her good mood.
Estella sighed. She loved Éowyn will all her heart, and she wanted a big family, but she wished she could have gotten to focus on Éowyn for a while before the second child came along. She was more tired than she would let on in front of the others, even with a child as cheerful as Éowyn it was not easy to have a small child. Especially not while expecting a second child in four months. Sometimes when she was alone, Estella couldn't help but to sit down and cry for a while, pondering her situation. How would she be able to manage taking care of little Éowyn when her pregnancy was further gone? How would she be able to take care of both Éowyn and the baby once her pregnancy was over? Diamond wouldn't be able to help her much, she would have her own child to care for. Estella had suggested to Merry that they would hire a nanny, but he had blankly refused. His own parents had had a nanny for him when he was little, and she had not been a very nice one. Estella had reminded him that his own wife had once been a nanny, but Merry still refused, saying that parents should raise their own children or not have them to begin with. He was nowhere near as concerned as she was about how things would be once their second child came into the world, but then again he had a lot of work to do around the hole and therefore it was Estella who had the main care of the children. It would not be as much extra work for him to have two small children as it would be for her.
"Estella?"
Estella took her eyes off Éowyn and looked up on Diamond who sat down on her knees next to Estella. She hadn't even heard her coming, she had been so preoccupied with her own thoughts, but she welcomed a break from them.
"How can you sit like that?" Diamond asked, glancing at Estella who was leaned back against the tree with her legs stretched out in front of her. "If I sat like that I would never get up again!" She sighed. "Why am I even sitting down in the first place? Merry asked me to go find you and tell you to come back inside. It's only getting warmer by the hour, and he says it's not good for you to sit out here in the heat for too long. I couldn't agree more, this heat is just too much..."
Estella slowly managed to get up, even though she had been much more pleased with just sitting by her tree for hours. But the heat wasn't good for Éowyn, and she had to come first.
"It's going to be one of the hottest summers ever" Diamond said, getting on her feet as well. "I just hope it starts to rain soon, or the crops will dry out!"
"Good thing we don't rely too much on crops" Estella said.
"The animals still need feeding over the winter" Diamond reminded her. "Not to mention that hot summers are usually followed by cold winters. Oh what a time to be with child, huh? This heat would be exhausting enough anyway!"
Estella nodded and followed Diamond inside, carrying Éowyn on her arm. The heat was indeed exhausting, and she was constantly sweating. And it was only June, most likely July would only get hotter. She didn't even want to think of what August and September would be like.
*
*
*
"Éowyn's birthday is in three days, do you think we'll be done with the apples by then?" Pippin asked and climbed up the fifth apple tree in the orchard.
"Not in this pace" Merry answered. "I am telling you, we shall hire some help when we start with the rest of the fruit. The two of us alone can't pick all of this before it falls rotten from the trees."
He took a look at the rest of the fruit trees and plants in the orchard and shook his head. For each passing year they got more and more fruit, and it was getting harder and harder to keep up with it. Last year Estella had given birth in the middle of the harvesting, and this year she was in her seventh month of pregnancy and unable to help out more than by picking a few apples here and there and keeping Éowyn out of the way. Diamond, who had been a great help last year, was in her eighth month and strictly forbidden by Pippin to do more than pick the apples on the lowest branches and bring water to those working outside. Their pace wasn't even half of what it had been last year, now Merry and Pippin had to run back and forth with the baskets themselves and it took forever. Merry didn't want any of their fruit to go to waste just because they didn't have the time to harvest it, he preferred hiring some help.
"Make sure we get all the fruit we can" Diamond said. "We'll need it for this winter. I am still convinced that it's going to be a cold one, no matter how hot the weather is right now."
"We can't harvest even half of all this fruit on our own, Pippin and I need help" Merry said. "And I was thinking that if we hire four or five Hobbits to do this, then Pip and I can concentrate on harvesting the other crops, what little there are anyway. We're going to have to sell another cow or we won't be able to feed them all this winter."
"So sell one" Estella said and shrugged her shoulders. "We've got enough."
"I think we should sell one of the ponies" Diamond said. "There are only four of us, Éowyn is too young to ride, what do we need with seven ponies?"
"I was thinking about breeding them" Merry said. "In fact, I'm thinking about breeding them with a mearas pony."
"A what?" Estella asked.
"They're the finest ponies in the world" Pippin explained. "Merry's got a thing for them ever since king Théoden let him ride one of them."
"And exactly how do you plan on getting your hands on one of them?" Diamond asked and grabbed an apple from one of the baskets.
"Hey!" Pippin said. "Put that apple back!"
"Do you really want me to?" Diamond said after taking a bite from the apple.
"You're going to give yourself a stomach ache, like you always tell me" Pippin said. "This is your fifth apple today Diamond! Slow down! I'm supposed to be the one who eats a lot of apples in this marriage, but you're eating so many these days that even Merry's having trouble keeping up with you!"
"I can't help it, I crave them" Diamond said. "It must be the baby, whose apparently as fond of apples as the father."
"Tell the baby to slow down on the apples or he or she will have a stomach ache as well. Not to mention that the poor father will be left without any apples!"
Diamond ignored him and continued eating her apple, handing one to Estella as well. Pippin sighed and complained once again over both lasses being pregnant at the same time, but neither Diamond nor Estella took any notice. Pippin could complain all he wanted to, they both knew he and Merry thought it was great that they were having children at the same time. The two would often say that if they both had lads or both had lasses the two children would be as close friends as their fathers were, and if one of the children was a lad and the other a lass the two would get married when they were old enough.
"So about your ponies, Merry..." Diamond said. "Where exactly were you planning on breeding them?"
"Why here at Crickhollow of course" Merry said, surprised at the question. "This place is perfect. Lots of spaces, large stables... Any pony would be glad to have been bred here."
"With all this fruit taking up all our time you won't have any time left for breeding" Pippin said. "Except of course of the personal matter. Say how long do you plan on waiting before fathering your next child? One month after the new baby's born? Two?"
"Don't make me climb up that tree and hurt you" Merry said, not appreciating the comment very much.
"I wish you would" Diamond said. "Maybe if he fell down from there and broke an arm he would learn that he doesn't belong in a tree like some bird, but that his furry feet are meant to stand safely on the ground."
"When Éowyn is old enough I'm going to teach her how to climb a tree" Pippin grinned.
"You most certainly will not" Merry and Estella said in chorus, causing Pippin to laugh.
"Oh so that's the way huh, Master Brandybuck?" he said to Merry. "You are quick to climb a tree yourself, but not so quick to let your daughter do the same."
"There are a lot of things that I have done that I will not have her do" Merry said. "Wouldn't you agree, Master Took? How about the stone in the well?"
"Yes, or the Pellenor Fields Merry?" Pippin replied. "I for one cannot help but think that was one huge act of stupidity."
"If you had been there you would not have thought so" Merry said. "I would not have done anything different if I could have."
"Perhaps you wouldn't" Pippin said and came down from the tree. "But I would have. Of course you had an easy time at the House of Healing, all you did was lie in bed and have people bring you food and give you lots of attention, personally I look back on that experience with a gulp and a stomach ache."
"Ate too many apples, did you?" Diamond asked and grabbed another one from the basket Pippin lifted up.
"Give me that!" Pippin said and snatched the apple from her with his mouth before she could bite it.
"That apple is not going back into the basket after you've taken a bite from it, Pippin" Estella said. "Please, show some manners! And you," she said, turning to Merry, "whatever you did at those fields, don't ever do it again. If it scared Pippin it scares me. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go inside and see if Éowyn has woken up yet. Plus we have to get ourselves something to eat, I'm starving."
"Me too" Pippin said, still with the apple in his mouth. "I could eat a whole oliphaunt!"
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Estella said and went inside followed by Pippin and the basket. "I would tell you not to spoil your appetite with that apple, but what's the point? It won't stop you from eating it and it certainly won't have a negative effect on your appetite."
"Don't yell at me" Pippin said. "Yell at my wife. She's the one whose spoiled her appetite, if anyone has."
"No, I'm still hungry" Diamond said on her way inside.
Pippin shook his head with a chuckle and went back outside to get another basket of fruit. Diamond followed Estella into the kitchen and sat down while Estella started to prepare dinner. Merry entered with Éowyn asleep in a basket and left her there for Estella to keep an eye on before he went back outside. Diamond watched Estella silently for a minute.
"Estella?" she then said.
"Mh-hm?"
"Are you ever worried?"
"About what, Diamond?"
"About when your baby comes."
"No" Estella said after thinking about it for a moment. "When the baby decides to make his or her entrance, there's nothing I can do about it. No use worrying."
"I can't help but to worry" Diamond said with a sigh. "Oh Estella, I wish you were having yours before mine. I'm scared of having this baby, I wish you could be my midwife. But with your child arriving no more than a month after mine you can't be."
"You never know with these things" Estella said calmly. "You're having your first child, it might arrive early or late. Your baby might be weeks late even, and if mine is early I might actually be having it before you do."
"Or you might be having yours late as well" Diamond said and sighed again. "I really wish you could be there... My sisters are going to midwife, but still I would feel better if it were you."
"I'm really sorry I can't, Diamond" Estella said. "Especially since you were there to give Rosie a hand last year. And trust me, I know how comforting it is to have a good friend there. But with a child of my own arriving in merely a few weeks it would be impossible for me to deliver your baby. But I promise you that I'll sit with you for a while."
"I just wish this was all over soon" Diamond said. "It's too hot, I'm too immobile and I'm tired of feeling weak... And I want to see my child."
"It won't be long" Estella said with a smile. "You'll see him or her soon enough. And Pippin will finally have a child of his own to fuss about!"
*
*
*
"How long is this heat going to last?" Merry complained and wiped his sweaty forehead. "Your wife must be out of her head if she believes this winter is going to be cold. With this temperature it's still going to be well over fifteen in mid-winter!"
"At least we're nearly done harvesting" Pippin said and rubbed his aching neck. "At least we got any crop at all to harvest, even if it wasn't much. We're going to have to sell more than one cow, and at least one of the horses as well."
"I hate the thought of that" Merry said. "Selling one of the horses. I can't think of a single one of them that I would like to be parted with."
"We use Strong and King on the farm, we can't sell any of them" Pippin said, thinking of the strong ponies who worked on the fields with their masters. "And selling Diamond or Estella's ponies are out of the question. So that leaves Fox, Raven and Blackbird."
"I do not wish to be parted with Raven" Merry said, thinking of his faithful black pony who always carried him on his and Pippin's wild rides through the lands. "And I don't think you'd wish to part with Fox. And Blackbird drives the cart."
"We could train one of the other ponies to do that" Pippin said. "Blackbird it is then."
Merry sighed but didn't say anything. He didn't like the thought of selling any of the horses, they had been nothing but faithful servants and selling them would almost be like if Bilbo had sold Sam's father to work for someone else. But Pippin was right, they didn't have a large enough harvest to feed all of their animals and Blackbird was the only pony expendable. He gazed up at the sky and wished it would rain, but so far the summer had been very cheap when it came to supplying rain. On the few occasions when rain had fallen it had been in the middle of a thunderstorm, and it had poured down for an hour or so and then just stopped.
"It is not just the harvest that I'm worried about" Merry told Pippin, still with his eyes on the sky. "Everything is so dry... How long will the water supply be enough? The Brandy Wine has not been this low for fifty years, and I know Sam is worried that the well at Bag End is about to dry out. And Rosie's expecting child again..."
"Sam is even worse than you are" Pippin commented. "This is his sixth child. What do you suspect he's aiming at? A whole fellowship of his own?"
"I don't think he's aiming for anything in particular, Pip" Merry replied. "Sam loves his wife, and that tends to result in children being born."
"You might just need to stop loving yours for a year or so and give her some room to breathe between the children" Pippin commented with a grin.
"I just hope Rosie will be feeling well enough to be here with Estella when her time comes" Merry said, ignoring Pippin's comment. "I know Estella wants her to be here. And frankly I do not know whom to turn to if Rosie cannot be her midwife."
"Deliver the child yourself" Pippin suggested. "You've done that before."
"Not my own I haven't" Merry said. But it was true that he had helped children into the world, he had been spending more and more time learning about- and practising medicine, and a few times he had been called in to assist at a childbirth. That was not something he did with pleasure however, since he was only called in when there was some sort of problem, since the general thought was that lads didn't belong in the room when a child was being born.
"Would there be a difference though?" Pippin asked. "Estella is no different from any other lass, it would be the same as with any other birth!"
"It most certainly would not" Merry said. "And I'd rather not be present to witness the pain that I've caused her when I'm powerless to make the pain go away. I don't think I'd be able to be as calm and together as she'd need me to be."
"I'm sure Rosie will be available, Merry" Pippin said, noticing the frown on his cousin's face. "I was just teasing..." He then gulped. "Merry you've seen it happen yourself, is it really as bad as they say?"
"You've seen calves being born" Merry said. "And lambs, and several other animals. You know what it's like. And don't worry, Diamond will be fine."
"I can't help but to worry" Pippin said with a sigh. "I know how much she wants to give me an heir, but I still think she'd rather be doing something else when the child decides to arrive. And it can be any day now, which only makes me more nervous. How you stayed so calm last year when Éowyn was born is beyond me."
"I knew Estella could do it" Merry said and shrugged his shoulders. "And I know she'll be able to do it again. And Diamond will too, Pip. Remember, it is only one day. And when that day is over you will be parents. Isn't that worth it?"
"If you think that will change the way I feel about your daughter then you are mistaken" Pippin said and managed to grin. "I will still love her as my own child, even when I've got a daughter or son of my own."
"Then I shall have to get back at you by loving yours as if he or she were mine" Merry said and wiped his forehead again.
"Merry! Pippin!"
Estella's voice caught their attention.
"Supper is ready, if you're interested in eating" she said as she approached them. In this heat even the most food loving Hobbit had a loss of appetite, it was over 30 degrees and much hotter than a normal summer. "The lads you hired to work in the orchard are having their supper outdoors, but I would much like some company from the two of you inside!"
"What about Diamond and her sisters?" Pippin asked.
"Diamond is asleep" Estella said. "And her sisters already ate."
"I can't say I'm very hungry..." Merry said and once again glanced up at the sky. "But with eating comes drinking, and I am thirsty!"
"You need to eat" Estella said. "And the crops will still be here when you get back. Unless of course they catch fire from this heat" she added with a sigh.
"If they do they'll be lost, that's for sure" Merry sighed. "Not a cloud as far as the eye can see... No clouds means no rain to put the fire out." He sighed again. "All this talk about rain makes me even more thirsty, come on, let's go inside."
"It's not just the heat" Pippin complained and dropped his reap, content with just letting it lie where it fell. "This burning sun is not kind on Hobbit skin! When the choice comes between keeping your clothes on and sweating or dressing as lightly as you can and getting sunburned, I think I prefer sweating."
"It can't last for much longer now" Estella said and followed them inside. "Soon autumn will be here."
"And a hot one it will most likely be at that" Merry said and sat down by the kitchen table. "I think we can forget all hopes of any snow this winter."
"Merry we haven't had snow in five years" Estella pointed out. "There's nothing unusual about that."
"I don't think I've ever longed for snow as much as I do right now" Pippin said. "And after Caradhras I vowed to never think kindly of snow again!"
"Here" Estella said and put supper on the table. "Eat now lads, and take a while to rest. It's hard work out there on the fields even without this heat."
"Where's Éowyn?" Merry asked and began filling his plate. His appetite had suddenly come back to him at the smell of the food.
"Asleep" Estella said.
"How she or Diamond can sleep in this heat is beyond me" Pippin said. "I can barely even sleep at night! Even though it is not as hot inside the hole it is still too hot for my liking. All I do is twist and turn and wish I could take a cold bath!"
"Autumn will be here soon enough..." Estella said again. "And shortly after autumn comes winter. Even if it won't be a very cold one, it will still be colder than the current temperature. And for that I am thankful."
She sighed deeply and looked out the round window. What she saw was not the Shire, green and leafy as usual, but a yellow, dry place that didn't seem at all like the home she was used to. And not a cloud was visible in the sky. No cool, reviving breeze blew either, the winds were as hot as the sun and didn't cool anybody off. Estella was worried, this heat was not good for herself or Diamond in their current conditions, and it was certainly not good for little Éowyn who seemed to have lost all interest in eating and most interest in drinking. It took Estella hours each day making sure the child got enough fluids and nutrition. And then there was Merry and Pippin, who both worked hard on the fields and put a far greater strain on themselves in the heat than Estella felt comfortable with. Pippin was already complaining about an aching neck and Merry seemed to be bothered by his back. The two would probably be spending a few days in bed once the harvesting was over, regaining their strength and healing their aching muscles.
She looked at the two lads who were busy eating and decided not to voice any of her concerns to them. They had enough on their minds anyway and needed to focus on their chores. At least they were eating now with good appetite, especially Merry was nearly wolfing down his supper. Now if she could only get Éowyn to eat and drink more she could feel a whole lot more at ease.
*
*
*
"Pippin!" Merry yelled to his cousin at the other end of the acre. "It looks like we're getting rain! Finally!"
Pippin looked up and saw what Merry had just spotted, clouds coming in with the hot wind. The sight of them didn't seem very reassuring to him though.
"And a thunderstorm!" he yelled back. "If it brings no rain with it, something will surely catch on fire!"
"You're right" Merry said and eyed the clouds. "We should go back inside... I do not wish to still be out here on the fields when the thunder starts to roll. We should get the horses and the cows inside!"
"Let's pray we get rain along with the thunder" Pippin said. "We need it! I'll get the horses, you get the cows!"
Merry nodded and hurried off to fetch the cows. The heat was getting more and more intense, and the clouds were dark. He wouldn't be surprised if the incoming thunderstorm turned out to be the worst one to hit the Shire that year, but as long as it brought rain with it Merry didn't mind. After thunder and rain the air always seemed more fresh, and easier to breathe. He would be more than happy to open all the doors and windows in the hole and let that fresh air flow through their home and replace the thick, dry air that filled it now.
Estella looked up when the two lads entered the hole a while later.
"What's wrong?" she asked, sounding nervous. "You're half an hour early, you never leave the fields before seven unless something's wrong!"
"It looks like thunder" Pippin said. "We sent the workers home. Nobody should be out in the weather it looks like we're having!"
"Oh dear" Estella said. "Éowyn is so terribly afraid of thunderstorms!"
"Take her somewhere below, where she won't hear as much of it" Merry said. "No windows and less noise should make it easier on her."
"Will you come?" Estella asked.
"No" Merry said. "I will stay here and look out the window!"
"You sound as if you're excited about this" Estella said grumpily. "What's exciting about a thunderstorm that might set our entire fields on fire?"
"The potential of rain, dear" Merry said. "If thunder is the price we have to pay for a little rain, then I'll be more than happy to pay it."
"Easy for you to say, you won't be the one hidden in a dark room with our hysterical daughter" Estella snarled and strode away to get Éowyn.
"What was that about?" Pippin asked, unused to seeing Estella lose her temper.
"Hormones" Merry suggested. "Come, let's go to my study. We will have a better view from there."
"To be honest Merry, I'm not so sure I want a better view" Pippin said, but followed his cousin anyway. "It looks like it's going to be a big storm."
"You never know" Merry replied. "It might also pass us by. We haven't heard the thunder yet, and it is close enough that we would hear it."
Once they reached the study they both went up to the huge round window in front of Merry's desk and looked out at the approaching dark clouds. They both squinted in the still bright sunlight and Pippin held his hand up above his eyes to see better.
"There's no rain falling from those clouds" he said.
"That doesn't mean there isn't going to be any rain" Merry pointed out. "Maybe we're in luck and it will decide to drop it all over the Shire."
"Or maybe we're not so much in luck and it will decide to continue to the sea before letting the rain fall!"
They stood silently and watched the clouds approach for a while, still waiting to hear the sound of rolling thunder. When not a sound was heard from the clouds after nearly half an hour Pippin sat down in a chair and took a deep breath. The clouds would block the sun any minute but still they were silent. It looked as if the storm would pass them by.
"Are you as hungry as I am, Merry?" he complained. "It's almost eight now..."
"It's getting dark!" Merry said, as the setting sun was blocked by the clouds. "Light a candle, Pip."
Pippin obediently lit a candle, which didn't provide much light. The door opened and Diamond's older sister Jewel entered.
"Master Merry!" she said. "There you are! May I have a word with you, please?"
Merry nodded and knew what she probably was thinking. This weather brought on a headache, and Jewel was probably hoping he'd give her some brew to help cure it, which didn't seem like such a bad idea at all to Merry. He could definitely use one himself.
"Out here, please?" Jewel said when Merry didn't follow her out in the hall on his own. Merry nodded and went out into the hall with her.
"What's the matter?" he asked. "Looking for something to relieve a headache?"
"You must help" Jewel said with a seriousness in her voice that Merry had never heard before. She looked at him with stern eyes and for some reason it was impossible to break from them. "It is very important that you help!"
"Relax" Merry stuttered, taken aback by her seriousness. "Tell me what's wrong."
"It's Diamond. Her child is coming."
"Now?" Merry said. "You and your sister were supposed to handle that! Just relax, take it easy and let nature have its course."
"You don't understand" Jewel said. "She hasn't just begun. It started this morning, not long after you and that husband of hers left for the fields."
"It can take hours, Jewel" Merry assured her. "Especially when it's her first. It has barely been ten hours yet, it might go on for twice as long as it already has. It's nothing to worry about, trust me."
"Will you listen? Just be quiet and listen! The baby is not coming. Nothing's happening. Nothing has happened for over an hour now, something is wrong!"
"Are you really sure?" Merry asked. "I do not wish to get involved with this if I don't have to. It will only scare her."
"Will you just have a look at her at least?" Jewel begged. "I am telling you that something is not right! She's bleeding, nothing's happening, something's wrong."
Merry sighed. He hated dealing with midwives who had never helped a child to the world before, they always assumed that both the mother and the child were dying if it took longer than a few hours and if there was any blood at all. He really didn't want to go see Diamond, his presence would only scare her, she was well aware that he only assisted at births when something had gone wrong. He would probably just make things worse by checking in on her.
"Please" Jewel begged, her eyes softening.
Merry sighed and caved. If there was indeed something wrong he might as well check it out as soon as possible, before it was too late. That thought sent chills down his spine, he couldn't even imagine what it would do to Pippin if he lost his wife at childbirth.
He nodded to Jewel who turned on her heel and hurried down the hall, with Merry in her tracks. She led him down one of the halls they didn't use much, which was located a bit further away from the others. Merry couldn't help but approve of their choice of location, knowing how nervous it would make Pippin if he were anywhere near the room where his child was being born. And he also understood why they had chosen not to tell him what was going on, it was much better to let Pippin believe Diamond was just resting so he could carry on with his own business without having to worry himself to a frenzy.
*
*
*
Estella looked up when Merry entered the room where she was playing with Éowyn. He had a look on his face that she couldn't quite define, and he didn't say as much as hello to her or the lass when he passed by them into the next room. Estella knew what was in there, it was Merry's collection of herbs. She frowned and managed to get on her feet and follow him.
"What is wrong?" she asked. "Headache?"
"Diamond" he replied.
"Oh..." Estella said. She didn't know what else to say. Before she could think of anything, Pippin came into the room, and one look at his face told her that whatever was going on with Diamond he didn't know. He still didn't know that his child was being born.
"Merry!" Pippin said, and nodded hi to Estella. "There you are! Headache? I've sure got one... Make some for me too."
Estella mumbled something incoherent and returned to Éowyn, secretly wishing she could be somewhere else. She wondered how Merry was going to keep whatever was wrong from Pippin, he had never even tried telling his cousin a lie and would most likely fail miserably if he tried. Estella didn't want to be anywhere near either one of them when Pippin found out what was going on.
"Merry?" Pippin said, and stepped inside the small room where Merry kept his herbs and prepared his brews.
"Yeah?" Merry mumbled and continued focusing on his task at hand.
"Is something wrong? You seem preoccupied with something."
"Has the thunderstorm started?" Merry asked, avoiding an answer.
"Yes, actually" Pippin said. "I just heard the first one... Haven't seen a flash yet, though." He glanced over at his cousin. "Is that really for a headache? Those are some pretty strong herbs you're using!"
"No, they're not for headache" Merry admitted. "Pippin if you don't mind, I need to focus on this right now... We can chat later!"
"All right" Pippin said, eyeing Merry with a puzzled look. "I'll go check on Diamond. She's been sleeping for an awful long time!"
Merry sighed deeply.
"No Pip, you can't see Diamond."
"Why not?" Pippin asked with a scoff. "Give me one good reason why I can't see my own wife. I haven't seen her since this morning!"
"You just can't" Merry said.
A suspicion came creeping to Pippin, and he eyed Merry, then the herbal brew he was making, then Merry again. Very slowly the realisation came to him, and he backed away.
"No..." he said. "Don't tell me that!"
"I haven't told you anything yet" Merry said lamely.
"I can think of one reason only why I cannot see my wife" Pippin said. "And that reason makes a lot of sense together with she and her sisters having been nowhere in sight all day! But if you're involved..." He gulped. "That's a pretty strong brew you're making."
"It is" Merry said, not knowing what else to say. He wished the brew would hurry up and boil so that he could bring it to Diamond and get away from this confrontation with Pippin.
"Why haven't you told me?" Pippin angrily asked, deciding to turn his fear into anger since that was easier to deal with.
"I only just found out myself Pippin, I swear" Merry said and finally looked up at his cousin. "There was no point in telling you earlier... And not much point in you knowing now either! There is nothing you can do."
"Is she going to die?"
"Don't be a fool" Merry said, not fully convinced. "She's having some problems, but that happens!" The brew finally boiled and with a sigh of relief he poured it over into a mug. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get this to her."
"Merry" Pippin said as Merry passed by him on his way out. "At least let me know what the problem is."
"Will it make it any easier for you to know?" Merry asked. Without waiting for an answer he hurried off.
*
*
*
Pippin didn't leave the spot he had been resting his eyes on for the past hour even when he heard the door open. Not that he was aware of what he was looking at, he was barely aware of anything at all, and hadn't been during the hours that had passed since he had been told of his wife's condition. The only thing he was aware of was that his Diamond was having problems with her delivery, and that there was nothing he could do for her but to sit in his study and stare out the window. He hated the helpless feeling, he hated it more than anything else. It was the same feeling as when Merry had been ill at the House of Healing, all he had been able to do then was to sit by his side and wait for him to live or die.
He knew that it was Merry who had entered. He knew those footsteps anywhere, just like he could recognise Merry from his shadow alone. But for the first time in his life Pippin didn't feel comforted by his cousin's presence. He could not be bringing good news.
"Is she dead?" he asked his cousin in a toneless voice.
"I do not know how to answer that" the hesitant answer came. "She is still alive, but... but I can't promise you that she will survive even the night."
Merry's steps slowly came closer, but Pippin didn't let his eyes leave the spot they had been staring on.
"What will I do now?" he asked, still with no emotion in his voice. "If she dies, what will I do? What is to become of me? I've grown dependant of her. How do I get up in the morning knowing that she is not there, and that I killed her?"
"Do not blame yourself" Merry's soft voice said.
"I was the one who got her into this situation" Pippin said. "It was because of me."
"It takes two to make a baby" Merry said. "And you and I both know how much she's wanted to have one. Now listen to me, Peregrin Took. I will not let her die. As long as there is still some herb I can use, some brew I can make, some prayer I can say, I will."
"How much she wanted a child..." Pippin mumbled as an echo. "Yes. It was she who wanted it. She much more than I. Before you had Éowyn I never gave any thought at all to having children, I've never thought of myself as father material."
"Nonsense."
"No it's not nonsense. It's for real. It's the truth. But your lass is so wonderful, and I would be lying if I said that I wasn't thrilled when she told me she and I were going to have a child of our own. But... Not at this cost, Merry. Not at the cost of her! I do not care about the Smials, or my bloodline, I don't care about generations yet to come. She is my care. If had had to choose between having her and having children, I would rather have her! It is not worth having to let her die for the sake of a child being born."
"That choice is easy to make..." Merry said. "Easy when you do not have a child. I could never choose between Estella and Éowyn."
"Diamond..." Pippin whispered, for the first time starting to hint at some emotion in his voice. "My lovely Diamond..."
"Pip..."
"She has to live" Pippin said. "She just has to. I would do anything! She cannot die like this, I haven't even gotten to see her yet! Oh Merry, I swear, if she only gets to live I will make sure she never gets pregnant again. I will keep away from her, I will sleep in a different bed than she does if I have to. Exactly how I'll be able to give up intimacy with her I do not know, but that is what I shall do if I in return can have her by my side for the rest of my life."
"Pippin..." Merry said with a voice ridden with guilt. "I am so terribly sorry, Pippin... But no matter what happens from now on, she will never have another child. And it's because of me. I killed your unborn children!"
"Don't be a fool" Pippin said, not even able to move his eyes from their spot to look at his obviously guilt-ridden cousin.
"Fool or no..." Merry said. "Diamond will never have another child again. And I am to blame for it."
"Oh how could you possibly--"
"The baby was breech, Pippin. And Diamond's sisters, they had never even delivered a normally positioned child before! So I had to do it, turn the baby... Why did I do that? I should never have done that!" Pippin could hear that Merry was now crying. "That Entwash... It didn't even cross my mind that I had grown too big! I damaged her, I should have let one of her sisters with their small arms and hands do it! I could have let them do it, I could have instructed them... But I didn't. And my treatment left her barren. I am so terribly sorry... But I had to choose between her life, hers and the baby's, their lives or lives that would never come to this world anyway if their mother was dead!"
"Well that ends all of my problems then, doesn't it?" Pippin said. "As long as she survives. I will never have to worry about her being pregnant again." He was silent for a moment. "If... If she..." He gulped. "If she doesn't make it through, Meriadoc. Do you think she will believe it was worth it? Will she think her death was worth it?"
Merry kneeled next to him.
"Pippin... I would take a knife and run it through my heart for Éowyn. My death would be more than worth it if it would save her life. I am sure Diamond feels the same way... Won't you look at your son, Peregrin?"
Pippin finally broke his fixed gaze and his eyes fell on Merry who was kneeling beside him. Pippin looked from Merry's face down to the baby Merry held in his arms and tears began to fall down his cheeks.
"My son..."
"He is beautiful, Pip" Merry said. "And as healthy as can be."
"He's silent."
"Yes. Now he is" Merry said. "He is asleep. Even in this raging thunderstorm he is sleeping peacefully. Here. Hold him."
Merry gently handed the infant over to his father, and tears continued to fall down Pippin's cheeks as he held his son for the first time.
"He looks just like you" Merry said. Pippin didn't say a word for over a minute. "Pip?"
"Only two people have had this affect on me the first time I saw them... This overwhelming admiration, this feeling of looking at someone special. One is Diamond, and the other is Fa--" Pippin interrupted himself and started to laugh slightly. "Of course! Faramir. That is what your name will be. Faramir Took."
"Faramir Took..." Merry repeated. "It's a good name. It fits a son of yours. And when he's older he can marry my Éowyn!"
"Faramir and Éowyn..." Pippin said and laughed through his tears. "Yes... Of course."
"Never regret that you had a child" Merry said. "Promise me that, Pippin. No matter what the cost, they are worth it."
"I never thought anything could be worth her life..." Pippin said. "But now that I look at him... Oh I don't know, I cannot wish him away! But if I lose her I will just..."
"Shhh..." Merry said gently. "It will be all right. She's asleep now, her sister is with her. And she has promised to come and get me if anything changes."
"Can I see her?" Pippin asked.
"As soon as she wakes up."
"Can I keep my son here with me?"
"For as long as you wish, Pippin" Merry said. "But I shall leave you now. It's getting late, and I'm tired!"
"Of course..." Pippin said as Merry rose and headed for the door. "And thank you. Thank you. She may be barren now, but she would have been dead already if it hadn't been for you. And probably Faramir too! Thank you..."
Merry nodded, even though Pippin couldn't see it. He left his cousin with the new-born child and left the Hobbit hole to get some fresh air. When he stepped out it began to rain, not in the heavy way it had during the previous thunderstorms of that summer but a lighter, softer rain. The cool rain fell on his tired face, his tired hands, tired body and washed away the heat surrounding him. He lifted his face toward the sky, completely oblivious to the thunder that was still rolling, only relieved to feel the water rinse his face and wash away the darkest memories from the hours that had passed.
How long he stood out in the rain he would never know, and later on he couldn't remember exactly how he had gotten back inside and found his way to his own bedroom. All he remembered was lying in bed next to Estella with his hand on her pregnant belly, waking her up from her sleep when his wet body came in contact with her hot, dry.
"Promise me..." he whispered right before he fell asleep. "That you will survive... Promise me... And I will never make you with child again... Just promise me that you won't die when the baby is born..."
"You fool" Estella's voice had softly replied. "I am not going to die, and I do not wish to receive any promises from you that will put an end to our nights together. What is, is what must be."
*
*
*
Diamond opened her eyes but wasn't aware of what she was seeing. She closed them again. She was sweaty, hungry, tired, thirsty, and every last part of her body was screaming with pain. Why had she woken up? She wished she could go back to sleep again.
"Pippin..." she whimpered.
A hand softly caressed her cheek and placed a cold cloth on her burning forehead. Diamond tried to smile, but wasn't sure if she actually managed to. Pippin was there, he was taking care of her. Everything would be fine.
"Pippin..." she whispered again, barely audible. A voice softly shushed her. "I love you..." she whispered.
Merry gently placed a kiss on her forehead. There was no meaning in letting her know that it wasn't Pippin who was there with her, it didn't matter now anyway. He would let her believe that he was Pippin if that would help her recover.
Diamond went back to sleep. The next time she woke up he would try and get her to drink something. She had been sleeping for nearly 24 hours now, and Merry was still very much concerned over her condition. He had not let yet Pippin see her, but if she didn't start showing progress soon Merry feared he would have to let his cousin come say goodbye to her. But he was not willing to give up just yet, she had at least opened her eyes which was a very good sign. But she had lost so much blood that Merry feared there was nothing he could do for her in the end.
He placed his palm against Diamond's forehead, which was still burning hot. He wondered if she would ever get to see the son she had given birth to the night before. Faramir was currently with Estella, who had both milk and motherly love to spare, but if Diamond died Merry wasn't sure what would happen. Diamond's sisters would insists on bringing their nephew back to Long Cleeve with them, but he didn't belong there. Faramir's father was still at Crickhollow, and Estella would be the perfect surrogate mother, not to mention that Faramir was now Pippin's heir and would one day become the Thain. As such, he should be raised by his predecessor and father, not by relatives in a different town.
"Oh Diamond..." Merry whispered with a sigh. "You must survive. Not only for your husband's sake but for your son's. For all our sakes."
Diamond didn't reply from her deep sleep and Merry placed a new cloth on her forehead. Only time would tell if she would come back to life or if her life would end.
*
*
*
Diamond finally opened her eyes and came out of her deep sleep for good two days later, like before calling her husband's name. Once again it was Merry who answered the call, this time however Diamond saw and recognised him.
"Was it you?" she asked, her voice sounding like it hadn't been used in months. "I thought it was Pippin... But it was you?"
"It was me" Merry admitted. "You have no idea how glad I am to hear your voice again, Diamond Took! You gave us all a scare!"
Diamond nodded slightly. She had only vague memories of the past few days, for as long as she lived she would never remember much of what had happened the night her son had been born. Merry's brew played some part in it, but most of all it had been too painful for her mind to wish to remember. She could only recall a few fragments here and there, and when she now opened her eyes and spoke with Merry she had no idea whether or not her child had been a boy or a girl.
"Drink this" Merry urged and helped her swallow a little soup.
"Thank you..." she said.
"You are doing much better" Merry told her with a warm smile. "For quite a while there I feared we would lose you. But like I said to Pippin, you are stronger than that and you can handle quite a lot. You'd have to be to be Pippin's wife! There is no way he would ever love a weak person."
"I'm still so tired..." Diamond said. "Yet I feel like I have slept for months. My whole body hurts..."
"I put something in the soup to ease the pain" Merry told her.
"Have you been here the whole time?" she asked.
"More or less. Your sisters have watched over you during the night... But I have been sleeping in the next room, in case you or they would need me. Now that you're awake however, and appear to be out of the woods, I am going to take some time to go do something I have been meaning to do for days now."
"I am sorry that I have been keeping you" Diamond said.
"Don't be a fool" Merry said and caressed her cheek gently. He rose and left the room, returning a few minutes later with Pippin.
Diamond somehow managed to sit up in her bed when she saw Pippin enter with the baby. She saw Merry's wide smile in the corner of the eye before he closed the door to give them some privacy, and then she was alone with Pippin and the child. Pippin sat down carefully next to her and gave her a long kiss.
"You had me scared" he whispered. "I thought I would never see those lovely eyes again... Yes indeed you scared me good."
"Can I see the baby?" Diamond said and reached out her hands for the child.
"Easy now, don't exhaust yourself" Pippin said. He managed to get her to scoot over a bit so he could sit next to her, and then carefully handed Faramir over.
Diamond took the baby and smiled gently. She was fighting her fatigue, she didn't want to go to sleep now, she wanted to stay in this moment for as long as she possibly could. She leaned against Pippin, comforted by his presence and his support, and he gently put his arms around her and helped her hold the child.
"His name is Faramir" Pippin told her. "That is unconditional, I will not argue with you on that! I gave him that name when I first saw him, because... Just because he's supposed to have that name."
"Faramir" Diamond said, trying the name out. "It's very strange... But so is Éowyn."
"Faramir is the lady Éowyn's husband" Pippin told her. "He is the brother of Boromir, the great warrior who sacrificed his life for Merry and I. I have never known a man more noble than Faramir son of Denethor, not even king Aragorn himself. If our son turns out even half as noble as the man he was named after, I shall be so filled with pride that you will never hear the end of it..."
"Then so it shall be" Diamond said. "Faramir will be his name. And he could not have come to a happier mother..."
"Or father" Pippin added. "And twice as happy am I that you lived through it. If I had lost you I would not have known what to do."
"If you had lost me it would have been worth it" Diamond said. "Our Faramir would have been worth dying for!"
*
*
*
Less than a month later Diamond was up and about again, still weak but so happy over her son that she didn't mind. And six weeks after Faramir's birth it was Estella's turn to have her child, assisted by Rose Gamgee. This time Estella was given nothing to put her to sleep, even though she several times during the birth asked Rosie to give it to her. Rosie blankly refused her every time, saying that she saw no reason why Estella couldn't have this child like a normal lass, and that the kind of procedures Rosie had gone to last time were only to be used when things weren't expected to be normal. Estella however questioned that everything was indeed normal since she had been asleep during most of her first birth and had no real idea of what it would actually be like.
Late in the afternoon on a cold October day hers and Merry's son was born. Unlike the day when Faramir had been born it was cold outside, the temperature had dropped fast after the huge thunderstorm which had started five fires in the Shire and scared several Hobbits much more than they were willing to admit. After the hot summer, autumn gave way quickly and winter was coming. Much as Diamond had predicted it had gotten colder, the temperature was closing in on freezing by now and rain was often pouring down.
Estella sat in her bed as dusk fell outside and gently rocked the baby back and forth when Merry was let in by Rosie to see his wife and new-born child. Now that the delivery was over Estella was glad that Rosie had kept her awake, for this time she got to see the look on Merry's face when he saw the baby for the first time. She decided then and there that the look on Merry's face alone was well worth the painful experience of giving birth and when they gently kissed she couldn't help but regret having missed out on this experience the first time around.
Merry carefully sat down next to her and looked at the baby. He eyed his son carefully and then looked at Estella.
"I can't really tell..." he said. "Does he look like me or you?"
"He looks like us both" Estella answered him with a smile.
Merry kissed her again and laid down next to her. He leaned his head against her shoulder and put his arm around hers, gently stroking the baby's head. Neither one of them spoke for a while, silently savouring the moment.
"I assume you have a name for him already" Estella said, breaking the silence. "After one of your friends."
"Théodoc" Merry said. "After Théoden king. As a father he was to me. For a little while..."
"I like it" Estella said.
Merry gently kissed her neck and closed his eyes for a second. He wished he could stay in this moment forever, this peaceful quietness with his wife and son. He was more grateful than he could put into words that he was able to lie here with Estella, that her delivery had gone well and that the baby was healthy. Théodoc would one day take over after his father as the Master of Buckland, just as Faramir would take over as Thain. It was pretty incredible that both himself and Pippin had had heirs born barely a month apart.
"I love you so..." he whispered to Estella. "You and Théodoc both... And Éowyn."
"I love you too" Estella whispered back. "But please... Can we wait for a little while now before we have a third?"
"We'll wait for as long as you want to" Merry assured her and kissed her again. "We already have the perfect daughter and the perfect son... There is no need for anything else."
Estella chuckled.
"You say that now... But you'll soon be finding several good reasons why a third child would be nice. And most of those reasons will be bedroom related."
"All in good time..." Merry said. "For now I'm happy just holding you. I'm happy knowing that you're there, right next to me, and that you're not going anywhere."
They fell silent again, not feeling that there was anything else that needed to be said. They had each other and they had their new-born child, it was all they needed at the moment. It was as if both were scared they would break the magic if they spoke, since there seemed to be no words to describe what they were feeling.
"Look..." Merry said suddenly, breaking the silence but not the magic. He had taken a look out the window and seen something. "It's snowing... Who would have thought that six weeks ago?"
"Snowing..." Estella said and looked out the window as well. "The first snowfall in five years. What a story to tell Théodoc when he is older."
Merry nodded. Estella turned her eyes away from the window and looked into Merry's. Then they looked at their son. Outside the first snow in five years was falling, and following the hottest summer in decades at that. But in the dark, quiet room, in Estella's arms, was something much more rare and special.
*
*
*
I thought of another question... =) Is there too much about Estella and Diamond? Should I focus entirely on Merry and Pippin? About Merry's son's name btw, while reading through his family tree I noticed that all Masters of Buckland had names that ended with "doc" or "mac". That is why I chose to alter Théoden to Théodoc!