Title: To Be (Part 3)

Summary: Where Pippin gets an invitation and is pondering about Merry

Rating: G

Characters: Pippin, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, Eowyn, Eomer, and Merry

"Oh my," Pippin whispered again. Tears came into his eyes and he swallowed hard. The lad felt his knees feel like jelly. Before he hit the ground, strong, familiar arms caught him and sat him down on the couch. The being sat down beside Pippin, smiling broadly, with tears in his eyes.

"Oh Merry," Pippin whispered as he threw his arms around his pale, but healthy looking cousin, "I-I thought ye had died. Th-they would not let me see you."

The elder hobbit stroked Pippins curly brown hair tenderly with his left hand. "Shush." Merry cooed, "Don't fret any more, dearest cousin. Everything is all right. See? I am here and alive."

The elder hobbit let the younger out of his embrace so that Pippin could get a good look at him. Merry was pale - though not deathly so - and thinner, but there was a lot of life in his brown eyes and a kind smiled upon his lips.

Pippin smiled back at his cousin. "How is the arm though?" he asked

"Tis well, Pip, tis well," Merry said. The elder hobbit did not know that it would never fully heal and as the others of the fellowship listened to the conversation, they did not butt in and tell them the truth. The four of them figured they would find out soon enough in the future and that it would be in vein to tell them and it would be something that would dampen the two hobbits' spirits (which for Merry was a very bad thing), so they let them be.

"How are you, Pip?" Merry asked with raised eyebrows

"Good, now that you are up and better." Pippin replied wiping his eyes of a few tears, "I thought I had lost you for good."

Merry shook his head and then ruffled his cousins' hair. "You will not loose me so easily, Peregrin." He replied, standing slowly, "Shall we eat?"

Pippin nodded eagerly and helped Merry to the dining table. Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn saw them seat themselves and chuckled. Each of them joined in soon after and then Eowyn and Eomer joined them. They both looked very grim and were silent through most of the meal – mostly listening to the stories told. The feast went for hours and only when the last scrap of food was gone did anyone push their plates away. They would have stayed and talked more, however Gandalf, noticing Merrys fatigue, dismissed them all.

"Shall I lead you back to the house of healing?" He asked Merry.

Merry shook his head. "No, I can find my way – thank-you." He replied standing.

Pippin stood as well and followed Merry to the house of healing. Merry undressed and got into a nightshirt and clambered into bed. Peregrin got into a chair and looked at his cousin with adoring eyes. Merry looked back at him and in a quiet voice asked, "Will you tell me a story, Pippin?"

The younger of the two chuckled and nodded. "Yes," Pippin responded remembering when he was younger how Merry would tell him stories. "Once there was a hobbit who loved the sea…" Pippin began in a murmur.

"Much like you," Merry whispered with a small smile as he settled into his bed.

"Yes," Pippin replied with a small sigh, "Well, this hobbit – Drogo – he loved the sea so much that he decided on his fortieth birthday that he would take a trip to the sea. Everyone thought he was crazy, especially his wife. She did not want him to go on such a journey. It was very dangerous and there was a possibility that the hobbit would never return. His wife, Lila, begged Drogo over and over to stay. 'Please stay,' she would cry, 'Tis dangerous!'

'Oh Lila, m' dear, I will be just fine,' Drogo replied every time she cried this to him – even on the day he left…"

Pippin paused and looked at his cousin. He smiled and whispered, "I'll finish later." Merry had fallen asleep and for the first time, Pippin was not fearful of him passing.