"Legolas told us to not go out at night, "Merry said, tugging on his cousin's sleeve, moving it aside to reveal a caffeine patch. Pippin pulled his arm out of Merry's grip, and then gave him a rather sceptical glare.

"We don't have to do what Legolas tells us to do," Pippin retorted, "He's not our mums, he really has no authority over us."

"He has common sense, Pip, which is something that you clearly do not have," Merry shot at him, and Pippin rolled his eyes. Merry wanted to whack Pippin over the head with a frying pan. With Boromir getting hit by a car to save them (that notion made his gut twist; Boromir almost died for them), Gandalf's house getting burned down and more windows that Merry could count getting smashed on campus, Merry was really against leaving Pippin's apartment.

He had been staying there ever since the buddy system had been activated, due to the fact that it was easier for the both of them, and partially because Pippin's apartment didn't have shared showers. Pippin's apartment was a complete mess when Merry arrived, and the (pre)law student had spent an entire day making it livable. Pippin didn't see the problem with his mess, but then again, Pippin didn't see the problems in a lot of things.

"We'll be totally fine, Merry," Pippin said dismissively, "All I want to get is some candy. The store is a five minute walk. Nothing will happen to us."

"We almost died two weeks ago, Pip," Merry shot at him, "If it weren't for Boromir we might be dead. You don't seem to realize how serious this is, Pip! Those people are willing to kill us. What makes you think that nothing will happen to us?"

Pippin's shoulders visually stiffened, as his hand slid off of the door handle. Pippin turned to glare at his cousin; the stern expression so out of place on his usually joyous face. Merry had only seen this look once on Pippin's face before, and that was a long time ago; at Frodo's parent's funeral.

"Don't treat me like a kid," Pippin murmured, his jaw clenched, "I do know what Boromir has done for us. I go and visit him every day. I hope to God or whatever is out there that he wakes up because I need to thank him. Why do you think I go and buy him flowers, or chocolate or whatever every day? Because I know that if it wasn't him, it would have been me."

Merry looked at Pippin, dumbfounded. He didn't know what to say, but he finally realized why Pippin had been so desperate to go out and by some candy; he had forgotten to get some for Boromir today, and needed to get some now. Merry gulped and bit his lip, before Pippin turned and opened the door.

"Wait!" Merry cried out, and Pippin paused briefly, "We have to keep the buddy system."

Pippin sighed, and then waited for Merry to put on his outdoor clothes. Merry was just glad that Pippin didn't seem to be too angry with him, as he slid on his boots. Once Merry was bundled up, Pippin turned and locked his apartment door, and then began to make his way to the elevator. He didn't say anything to Merry, and the atmosphere was uncomfortably tense.

Merry waited until they were on the elevator to say something. "I'm sorry, Pip. I'm just worried for you, that's all."
Pippin sighed, and ran a gloved hand through his curly hair. He gave Merry a small smile, his face relaxing. "It's okay, Merry. I understand. Now, let's get this candy, and get home. I'll give it to Boromir tomorrow… do you know what his favourite candy is? I've just been getting everything because I don't know what he likes… and I'm hoping that he'll give me the stuff that he hates."

Merry shook his head; Pippin was back to normal, at least for now. He knew that the crash had shaken Pippin up a considerable amount. Pippin hadn't spoken at all until they received the call that Boromir was going to make it. Merry had been extremely concerned; especially when Pippin did not come out of his room for a meal.

He knew that Pippin felt guilty; it was impossible not to. Merry felt horrid when he realized what had happened. If somebody asked him to describe his feelings at that very moment, Merry would not be able to tell them how horrible it felt. It was almost like he had been hit by the car instead of Boromir.

Merry had visited Boromir in the hospital a couple of times. He had sat with the comatose man, and expressed his thanks. He would not admit this to anybody else, but he cried a little as he did so. Merry also bought Boromir as expensive as a chocolate box as he could afford. He hadn't thought to ask Faramir whether Boromir liked chocolate or not, and hoped to god that he did.

"Do you think he'd like some strawberry taffy? I hear its really good," Pippin said, looking up at the night sky. The moon and stars were smothered by a thick layer of clouds, and snow flakes were falling down on them. Merry groaned; there was so much snow already, they didn't need more.

"Where are we going to find strawberry taffy at a drug mart?" Merry demanded, and Pippin seemed to be a bit at lost.

"Jolly Ranchers it is then," Pippin decided aloud. "I hope they're on sale. If they are, I'm buying myself a pack."

Merry rolled his eyes at Pippin, before he asked, "How much candy have you bought Boromir?"

"Enough to probably give him diabetes, why?"

"Maybe you should buy him something healthier," Merry suggested. Pippin gave him a very 'are-you-shitting-me' kind of look.

"Okay then, how about I buy him a stalk of broccoli. I'm sure he'd appreciate it. The nurses can put it in a vase to keep it alive until Boromir wakes from his coma and devours it in one bite," Pippin rambled, waving his arms. Merry snorted at Pippin's antics.

"I was more or less thinking protein bars or something," Merry told him, and Pippin raised his eyebrows at Merry.

"Do you know how expensive those things are and how awful they taste?" Pippin said, "Nope, I'm planning on making Boromir chubby."

"Aren't you a great friend," Merry muttered sarcastically as they entered the store. There were few people in it; most of them were partnered up very much like Pippin and Merry were. Merry then wondered if Legolas had gone around making people use the buddy system, or if it was just a coincidence. He hoped that it was a coincidence, but he did not put it past Legolas to not do said thing.

The Jolly Ranchers, as Pippin had hoped, were on sale, and Pippin did not end up buying himself a bag, he ended up buying himself two bags, and buying Boromir two bags as well. Well, Merry thought to himself, Boromir won't have to worry about groceries for a very, very long time.

When they had exited the grocery store, Pippin was trying to justify his actions of buying more candy than what Merry thought was necessary and was falling quite short. Merry was about to respond to his cousin when he accidentally bumped into a large man.

"I'm so-" Merry didn't have time to finish, because the man grabbed him by the collar and yanked him towards him. The next thing Merry knew, there was something cold and metal being pressed to his head.

"You're going to come into the van with me, or I'm shooting your friend," The man said, his voice very hoarse. He smelt heavily of cologne; sickeningly so. Merry's head was spinning as he looked at Pippin.

The younger of the two was trembling, the bag of candy forgotten on the ground. Merry knew that the first thing to do in these kind of situations was to run, but the man had such a strong grip on his arm that Merry was sure that the bullet would be more likely to get him than if he didn't.

The van door slid open, and Pippin moved shakily towards it. Merry was roughly yanked in the direction of the vehicle, before he was thrown inside. He was tied up immediately by a small group of people and duct tape was placed over his mouth. He turned as much as he can to see that Pippin was tied up and taped in a similar fashion. Pippin's eyes were wide, staring at Merry as if he was begging him to help them.

"What to do now, Lurtz?" one of the people who tied Merry up demanded. What kind of name was Lurtz? He supposed that it was either a code name or a last name. He hoped it wasn't a first name, or he might have had a reason to pity the man who had put a gun against his temple.

"We toss them into the lake, boys," the man, Lurtz, growled.

Merry wanted to throw up. There was no way that he and Pippin would survive being tossed into a lake. They would most likely drown, but if they somehow didn't, they would freeze to death. He looked at Pippin, who looked at Merry fearfully. Merry hated this; he hated being tied up and unable to do anything.

The car started, grumbling in the cold air, and they began to drive. Merry was trying to think of something to do. He couldn't kick out any of the lights of the vehicle; they weren't in the trunk. He couldn't shout since his mouth was covered, and he couldn't break a window because he was tied, and he'd get shot if he tried.

Merry was trying to calm himself; trying to say that he'd die anyways, one day. He never thought that he'd be abducted while buying candy for a friend. But then again, he never thought that somebody would push him out of the way of getting hit by a car. And he never, ever, ever in a thousand years ever would have guessed that somebody was willing to get in legal trouble to save them.

But as it happened, somebody did.

There was a large jolt in the van; an impact from the side, and Merry felt the van turn and smash onto its side. Glass shattered over him as Merry was thrown down onto the opposite side of the car. He looked around for Pippin; desperately hoping that he was alright. When he couldn't see him, Merry began to panic.

Somebody grabbed him, and Merry struggled briefly before he heard a familiar voice.

"It's me, Merry, it's me… I got my ropes cut from the broken glass," Pippin hissed softly, "Just sit still, I'm getting you untied."

Merry waited as Pippin untied his hands, and then his feet. Merry ripped the duct tape from his face. He had forgotten how sticky duct tape was, and then realized that he wouldn't have to shave for a little while.

"Let's go," Merry said, trying to scramble out of the broken window. Everybody else seemed to be unconscious as they got out of the car. What they were greeted with was a large smile. Eomer, Boromir's friend and Eowyn's older brother, was sitting on the front of his severely dented car.

"Hey," he said softly. Merry noticed that the man's forehead was bleeding a little, "Glad I didn't kill you two. It was kind of a risky move, but I saw that the driver had a gun."

"Wait… you did this on purpose?" Merry demanded, his eyes wide, "That is illegal in so many ways!"

"That is awesome in so many ways!" Pippin said.

"I'm pretty sure kidnapping is illegal too," Eomer said with a grin, "I'm glad you two are okay. For the most part. I already called the police, all we have to do is hang tight until they get here. Is anybody dead in there?"

"I… don't think so?" Pippin responded. Merry was too dumbfounded to speak. Eomer, a man that Merry only knew through Boromir, had just driven his car into the side of a van in an effort to save them.

"Good. I won't get into too much legal trouble then," Eomer grinned, "It'll look bad for my dad… he's head of police, but maybe the charges will be lessened if I say it was because I was trying to save you two."

"Thanks for that," Pippin said, before he sat down next to Eomer, "Thanks so much for that."

"I got your candy," Eomer pointed out, gesturing to the back seats of his car. Merry stared at the man, shocked. He had even picked up Pippin's candy. Pippin looked Eomer, eyebrows raised.

"Keep it, man, keep it."

Thanks to BluestSapphire21, NTSFroes, Jasperslittlesister, MoonLight1300, Revolutionary Star, BoricuaPinkRanger, LoTR-HP-PJ, lotrharrypotter3, tommyginger, Wanderingidealism, NessaTiwele, ccandy, Daeril Ullothwen, . , BrightWatcher, Polka-dot Pippin, and phantombuggo for reviewing! Thanks to Lady Vanya, and sarathestarkkidranger for favouritng/subscribing. Thanks for reading, and please review!

This chapter was such a joy to write, guys.