A/N
Oy, this story has sort of moved a bit fast! Sorry 'bout that.

Chapter 11
sunflower

Plans for the wedding were being made by now. Bofur and Clover were still in Hobbiton, though it had now been two weeks since Samwise's birthday had passed. Neither seemed to eager to return to Bree at the present time, now that Clover had a wedding to plan and Bofur had a home to fix up for them.

Bofur had sent word to his brother and cousin in the mountains, telling them of the wedding and that they needed to be on their way. The wedding would happen as soon as those two arrived.

Now Bofur kept himself busy with the house, or with the patch of soil in front of Clover's boarded up window. She still had not seen what was growing there, and Bofur was pleased with that. It was a surprise for her, and he did not want it to be ruined just yet.

Clover kept herself busy as well with planning the wedding. She wanted something small - just her family and Bofur's, but Hamfast argued that it needed to be a big wedding, so that folks could see that she was getting married and settling down. That almost led to a bigger argument before Bell broke it up, saying it would be a medium-sized wedding, with them inviting only family and some friends. That made both sides happy.

Two weeks went by and the wedding planning was almost a done deal. Clover was laying in her bed, covers pulled up over her. She didn't want to move today. She didn't want to think of the wedding or see her brother or do anything, really. She let out a pitiful whine as she rolled over on her side, keeping the blankets on.

A sharp knock on the broken window startled her out from under the blankets. She threw the blankets off and hopped out of the bed, approaching the window. To her understanding, the window was broken. Something about the latch? She couldn't quite recall; Samwise never kept the same story.

Another knock. 'Must be a bird.' She thought, frowning. Clover huffed in annoyance before she began to force the latch off the window, wondering what was going on. It was quite stubborn in not wanting to budge, but with enough force, Clover unlatched it and pushed the window open.

To her surprise, Bofur was leaning on the windowsill, a grin on his face. Barely reaching the top of the sill was a collection of growing sunflowers. Clover's jaw dropped.

"Where did these come from!" She asked, eyes wide in surprise. "They... they are growing here, aren't they?"

"Aye. Planted them the day after we arrived." Bofur replied, still grinning. "Though I can't take all of the credit. Samwise did quite the job digging the soil up for me."

"You sneaky, sneaky dwarf!" Clover giggled and gave him a kiss. "We'll need to keep watering them til they become taller than the window!"

Bofur smiled and kissed her back, then reached into his pocket. "I also have been working on this for you." He handed her something wrapped in cloth. Smiling, Clover took it from him and unwrapped it carefully. She let out a gasp. It was a wood carving of a rabbit - similiar to the one she gave to Samwise, except this one had sunflowers etched onto it.

"This is lovely!" She cried, looking it over.

"I'm glad you think so!" He could only smile, delighted that she loved the present. "Worked on it in secret, every moment I-" He was cut off by Clover throwing her arms around him and giving him a big kiss. She was almost hanging out the window when they were interrupted by someone calling from the road.

"Oy, Bofur, snatching hobbit maidens from windows now instead of making toys?"

The two looked up; Clover was rather annoyed that they were interrupted, while Bofur let out a cheer, keeping his arms around Clover to prevent her from falling from the sill.

"My family! You made it!" He cheered. Carefully, without treading on the patch of sunflowers, Bofur pulled Clover from the window and dragged her down to the fence. There stood two dwarfs - one whom was quite large with his beard braided down his front and draped over his shoulder, while the other looked more wild with a broken axe head embedded in his skull. Clover was quite speechless.

"Is this the lass you wrote about?" The larger one asked, smiling brightly. Clover's eyes widened; she was meeting Bofur's kin and she was only in her night dress!

"Aye, brother!" Bofur replied as he led his intended over to the fence. Clover was blushing, giving Bofur a smack on the shoulder. He turned to her, a bit confused.

"I'm in my night dress!" She hissed, folding her arms over her chest. Bofur looked slightly embarrassed before he pulled his coat off and draped it over her. "Thank you."

"There we go, now, introductions! My dear Clover, this is my brother, Bombur," He began, gesturing to the larger dwarf, who smiled and gave Clover a polite bow. "And this is our cousin, Bifur. Don't mind the axe, just an old war wound."

Bifur just grunted and gave her a nod, his attention on the flowers around the house.

"Well, um, my name is Clover Gamgee! Pleased to meet you both!" Clover replied with a polite bow. "Shall we head inside and get breakfast started then?"

"Breakfast sounds lovely!" Bombur exclaimed cheerfully. "Let's head inside and get started! Show me where everything is and I shall get started!"

Before Clover could say anything else, Bofur led the two dwarfs to the gate and up to the house. She sighed and followed after them, hoping that Hamfast was still asleep and would not notice the two new guests. While her brother had slowly warmed up to Bofur, the arrival of two new dwarfs might reverse all that.

Hamfast and Bell were still asleep when the two guests arrived. After a quick tour of the kitchen, Bombur went to work on breakfast, insistent that he cooked for them. Bofur and Bifur took seats at the table, while Clover stood awkwardly next to the table, unsure what to say or do. Thankfully, she was saved by her nephew.

"Auntie, Auntie! Dwarfs!" Came Samwise's excited gasp. He stood in the doorway, eyes wide as he pointed at Bifur.

"Oh, don't be so surprised! And don't point, Samwise!" Clover gently scolded. "These are Bofur's family, dear. Bombur is cooking us breakfast, and Bifur is sitting with Bofur. Go introduce yourself."

Now Samwise quieted down, grabbing hold of the coat she still wore, staring quite fearfully at the new dwarfs. Bofur turned to his future nephew and grinned, waving him over. With a nod from Clover, he approached Bofur, who quickly pulled the hobbit lad into his lap.

"Young Master Samwise! This is my family. My cousin, Bifur, who makes better toys than me," Bofur began, gesturing to the dwarf sitting next to him. Bifur just nodded at Samwise, his hands gesturing wildly at the lad. "Now, now, Bifur, the lad doesn't understand Iglishmêk." Bifur just rolled his eyes. "The large one there, cooking us breakfast, is my brother, Bombur! They're going to stay with me at the new house for a few days!"

Samwise nodded, still staring at the two newcomers. Clover just shook her head and took a seat at the table, pulling the coat tighter around her. It was strange now, knowing that with the arrival of Bofur's family that the wedding would be happening soon - likely within a week. And Clover was starting to feel more and more nervous with the thought.