Chapter 2

Journey to the Cross-Roads

Frodo had awoken early with Hazel still in his embrace. Her presence was comforting, despite the fact that his shoulder was hurting. He reached inside his shirt to feel the scar on his shoulder, but touching it made him feel worse. He glared at Sam, sleeping nearby, making sure he really was asleep. He pulled out the ring and examined it. He ran his fingers along the edges. Hazel had gasped and cried out in her sleep, jerking Frodo's thoughts back and forcing him to place the ring back into his shirt.

Hazel shivered and slowly opened her eyes. She had almost sat up when she remembered Frodo's arms around her. She looked up at him and he smiled at her.

"What a terrible dream," Hazel said. "If there is anything I despise in this world, it's spiders!" She told him.

"I'm sorry," Frodo said sympathetically.

"That wasn't the only dream," Hazel continued. "I saw Galadriel, she said I could also bear the ring, I guess if it was necessary."

"Perhaps," Frodo replied, though he wanted to protest against it. The two heard a noise above them, and from the roof of the cave, a small head appeared.

"Wake up!" Gollum said as he jumped down to Sam's side. "Wake up! Wake up sleepies!" He continued, shaking Sam awake. Sam jumped up in surprise. "We must go, yes, we must go at once!" He galloped away.

Sam slowly sat up. "Have you got a good sleep Mr. Frodo?"

Frodo shook his head. He could honestly say he had slept well for awhile, until his shoulder started to hurt, but he said nothing to worry Sam and Hazel.

"I think Gollum had too much." Sam said, standing up and looking around.

Hazel on the other hand had gotten the perfect amount. The feeling of Frodo close to her had kept her a good feeling of peace. The only disturbance was nothing but a bad dream.

"It must be getting late," Sam said, looking at the darkening sky.

"No, it isn't," Frodo said.

"Is it Midday yet?" Hazel asked. "Or are the days growing darker?"

The ground suddenly began to shake. Sam had trouble steadying himself. Gollum ran over to them after the shaking had ended.

"Come on!" He cried. "Must go Master and Mistress! No time!"

"Not until they've had something to eat." Sam replied.

"No time to lose, silly!" Gollum cried. Sam turned to his friends. He knelt down and looked through his pack.

"Here," He said, taking a slice of lembas bread and handing it to him. Frodo took it and shared it with Hazel.

"What about you?" Frodo asked.

"Nah," Sam said. "I'm not hungry- at least not for lembas bread."

"Sam," Hazel whispered, her eyes filled with concern.

"Oh," Sam sighed. "All right, but we don't have that much left. We have to be careful and we don't want to run out. You go ahead and eat that Miss Hazel." He continued as Frodo unwrapped the leaf and handed Hazel a good sized piece of lembas.

"There should be enough," Sam reassured as Hazel hesitated to eat.

"For what?" Hazel asked.

"The journey home." Sam replied. Hazel went silent for a long moment. She never thought of the journey home. For so long she could only focus her thoughts on Mount Doom. But now she wondered what she would be doing afterwards, if they survived that is. Hazel thought she could go back to her home and bring her mother a special gift. She would have liked to own a library perhaps, happy to be surrounded by books every day, reading and helping hobbit-children learn to read. She would always have a book in her hand to read and smell. Yes, smell; she loved to smell books as weird as that may sound. But you should try it some time.

She might even get married, have children, and live happily ever after.

But she knew that was a long way yet.

The hobbits had finally packed and continued on their long journey, still in the woods.

"Come hobbitses," Gollum urged. "Very close now, very close to Mordor. No safe places here, hurry."

~jb~

After a hard day of traveling, the hobbits had finally settled for the night. Gollum had started to talk in his sleep.

"Too risky…too risky…They're thieves…They stole it from us…Kill them…Kill them… Kill them all! No!" Gollum sat up and gasped.

"Sh! Keep quiet!" He said. "Mustn't wake them! Mustn't let them know now!"

"But they knows!" Sméagol cried. "They knows! They suspect us!" He looked down into a pond.

"What's it saying, my Precious, my love?" Gollum sneered. "Is Sméagol losing his nerve?"

"No, not, never!" Sméagol said. "Sméagol hates nasty hobbitses, Sméagol wants to see them…dead."

"And we will," Gollum said gently. "Sméagol did it once, he can do it again."

"It's ours!" Sméagol declared. "Ours! We must get the Precious! We must get it back!"

"Patients!" Gollum said. "Patients, my love! First we must lead them to her!"

"We lead them to the stairs!"

"Yes, yes, the stairs! And then?" Gollum tilted his head.

"Up, up, up, up the stairs we go, until we come to the tunnel!"

"And when they go in, there's no coming out! She always hungry, she always needs to feed! She must eat, or she gets fifthly orcses."

"And they doesn't taste very nice, does they Precious?"

Gollum gagged. "No, not very nice at all, my love. She hungers for sweeter meats, like the flesh of a maiden. A maiden knows to be soft, pink and sweet. And when she throws away the bones and empty clothes, we will find it!"

"And take it for me!" Sméagol cried in excitement.

"For us," Gollum scolded.

"Yes, I-we, we meant for us. Gollum! Gollum!"

"And the Precious will be ours, once the hobbitses are dead!"

"You treacherous little mole!" Hazel cried, and swung a stick at Gollum's head. Gollum cried out. Frodo and Sam jumped up and rushed to Gollum's aid.

Frodo wrapped his arms around Hazel, while Sam threw himself in front of Gollum.

"Leave him alone!" Frodo said.

"I heard it from his own mouth!" Hazel said, trying to tear free from him. "He means to kill us!"

"No," Sméagol cried. "No!"

"Hazel," Sam said. "I don't trust him either, but we can't afford anyone getting hurt."

"Nice Mistress, Sméagol wouldn't hurt a fly!" Sméagol said. "Why does they hate poor Sméagol? What has Sméagol ever done to you?"

"Put biting and pulling hair at the top of the list!" Hazel said.

"Hazel, we're lost!" Frodo said.

"I don't care." Hazel cried. "I can't do this! I can't sit around and wait for him to kill us!"

"Sam," Frodo said. "Give us a moment." He took Hazel and dragged her away. She kicked and struggled. He led her under the trees, where they were alone.

"I'm not sending him away!" Frodo told her.

"You don't see it?" Hazel demanded. "He's a villain!"

"Hazel," Frodo said, turning her around and grabbing both of her wrists. "We can't do this by ourselves, not without a guide. I need you on my side."

"I'm on your side, Frodo." Hazel said, tears starting to fill her eyes.

"I know Hazel," Frodo said gently. "I know," He embraced her and let her cry. "You must have been dreaming." He took her hand and Hazel felt something very cold and heavy in her palm. "I think you're right." Frodo continued. "It's been getting heavier. Whatever Galadriel said, well, I trust your judgment. If you are right, and Sméagol plans to kill us, maybe we can fool him." Hazel stepped back and looked at her hand. There sat the dreaded Ring of Power. Hazel felt scared and uneasy.

"I don't know," Hazel said.

Frodo took her face in his hands. "Trust me," He said, stealing a kiss. "Come love, you need to rest."

Chapter 2! I had a question from one of the reviewers. Yes, Chapter 1 is based off of Taylor Swift's Mary's Song (Oh My, My, My). I'm very happy you got that. While Cassidy and I were writing this, I was listening to my music, and I stumbled across this song. I thought it was adorable and would fit well with Frodo and Hazel's little love story. Sorry if it bothered those who don't like Taylor Swift, I understand. I hope you enjoyed!