To the Present:

Pippin stood outside the circular door of his old Great Smials home, his heart rising up to his throat. Sweat beads formed on his forehead, and his hands were shaking. This was it… he had anticipated it for so long, so why was it so hard to open the door? What was it like inside? Would they accept him back? Of course, but where was his father? Would Pippin get hit? Or had everything changed?

His mind was a wasp's nest, swarming with painful questions and chaos. Were they even home?

He gritted his teeth and grabbed the doorknob so hard that it hurt. In an oddly calm way he pushed the door open. It whined on its hinges and lazily swung inward. Pippin took one step inside, immediately soaking in memories from only years ago. The parlor he used to see every day was only feet to the right of him. The furniture hadn't been budged. The blanket his grandmother had worked for a year on was laid straight across the top of the couch. On the mantle over the stone fireplace, the poppet Pearl had made was propped against the pewter candlesticks that grandfather Adalgrim had specially made. It was dustless, as you would expect the Thain's house to be.

The coat hooks were in the small indentation to the left. They hung bare like the bars of a gridiron. Of course, who needs a coat in this weather?

Straight ahead was the hallway. He had passed through so casually thousands of times, but now it was so difficult. Though the sun was shining through the windows in the parlor, the hallway was a continuous shadow, eerie and almost uninviting.

A noise came from the kitchen. It was the clacking sound of pots and pans. Someone was home today, and so unaware that the child who had gone missing was stepping silently into the hall. His heart jumped. He tiptoed toward the kitchen and peered inside. The light was spewing through the westward facing window in the kitchen. The glow held a relief, Pimpernel, with her back to the doorway, was mixing something in a bowl on the other side of the room. She paused for a moment to reach a pot from a cabinet to her right. She stretched up, a flower in the rays of the sun, and brought it down to the space of counter that she was using. Pimpernel was the most uniquely beautiful of his three sisters. She had slim, sweet, soft features, from her deep green eyes to her loosely curled light brown hair.

She busily sorted through a drawer of utensils. Pippin tiptoed into the kitchen, his throat swelling with a wonderful excitement. Here he was, only inches away from his beloved older sister whom he had missed so dearly.

"Do we not still hire people to do that kind of work?" he said casually. She jumped and twirled around. First she looked puzzled, then her jaw dropped and her hands flew to cover her mouth.

"Pippin!" She smiled and leapt towards him. She squeezed him tightly and pulled him away from a moment to study his face. He was now much taller, and had older features. He looked so tired and aged… Then she embraced him again.

"Oh my god!" She gasped. "Where were you?" Then she pulled him in front of her again. "Are you all right?" Pimpernel franticly studied the small knife wound he had below his jawbone. She ran her fingers through his hair, which with time had grown a darker brown and straightened a bit, as had his father's at his age.

"It's such a long story-" Pippin laughed. "I'm fine, Pinn!" He said as she began to roll up his sleeves and check for more visible cuts and bruises. He didn't want her to see the one huge stab wound on his shoulder, or the irreparable damage done from being smothered by a troll.

Pimpernel wasn't convinced. She looked horrified. "What the hell happened to you?"

Pippin made more attempts to lighten the mood of their reunion. "Aren't you at all wondering about Frodo, Sam, and Merry?"

"I've got enough to worry about! Isn't a girl's brother a bit more of a concern than cousins and friends? Pippin- does anyone else know you're home?"

"You're the first I've seen of our family."

"Oh, Pippin… would you be upset? We presumed you to be… Pippin, we had your funeral just months ago, mother was torn apart, father's been gone so often that I'm not even sure he's still alive…"

"How have you, Vinca and Pearl been?" Pippin asked, worriedly.

"Never mind us, please, tell me what happened to you, Ip."

He had almost forgotten the loving name that his sisters had for him. When he was young and couldn't pronounce his own name, he'd introduce himself as Ip, therefore obtaining the name for life.

Hearing it again was as if the angel of his past had kissed his cheek.

If only there were an angel for the future.

Note: Thank you for being so patient, it's hard to update a lot with my work and school schedule.
Please please please review! They mean so much to me! Tell me honestly, if you think there's something I can work on, I can't improve unless I'm aware of it.

Thank you,

Peril