Frodo brought the mug to his lips and took a long draught. He set the mug back on the table with a sigh. He glanced around the Green Dragon. He sat alone at that corner table quite a lot now. Sam was off working now that he had a family to provide for, while Merry and Pippin had an ever growing list of duties to attend to. His thoughts turned to Aragorn, now King Elessar, and when they first saw him, sitting in a corner, watching over the Hobbits at the Prancing Pony. He glanced at the Hobbits gathering around the tables with their mugs of beer or ale, talking, laughing, and a few bursting out in song. Some had gathered to work on the spring festival decorations, coinciding with the second anniversary of the destruction of the Ring. He knew each one by name, he knew the songs, he had been a part of this two and a half years ago.

Two and a half years ago, it was amazing how things changed in such a short amount of time. Sam was now more confident, Pippin more mature, and Merry more stern. As for himself … his hand touched his shoulder ever so slightly. It didn't hurt now, but the memory of that dark blade was forever seared into his mind. A shudder passed through his body as the ghostly apparitions of the Witch King flashed through his mind. It did seem dull now in comparison to when he heard the call at Minas Morgul, but it was in no way fading away. He grabbed the mug and took another draught, his eyes wandering over the crowd to forget the memory. He locked eyes with Ted Sandyman. He shot him a smile as he dipped his head in greeting. Ted gave him a forced smile and a dip of his head before turning to the other Hobbits at his table. Frodo's smile wavered. An overwhelming feeling of being left behind came over him. He touched his shoulder. Or was he distancing himself from them?

"Mr. Frodo?"

Frodo glanced up, startled, and almost expecting to see an orc, or worse. But he blinked, and there stood a familiar face. "Fatty Bolger!" Frodo stood up, the smile back on his face. "Wonderful to see you, old chap!" He paused. Fatty' s eyes darted and his hands were fiddling with his scarf. "Fatty, what is it? What's wrong?"

"Oh, oh Frodo, I didn't know who to turn to! Well, maybe I did, that's why I'm here. But I went to the Shirriffs first, and they laughed at me. But you'll believe me, won't you Frodo? You, and Sam, and Merry, and Pippin? You all saw strange things on your journey … you will believe me?"

Frodo placed a reassuring but firm hand on Fatty's shoulder. "Fatty, sit down and tell me everything."

…

"What's all this fuss about, Frodo? What's so important that we had to meet you here immediately?" Merry asked. Sam, Merry, and Pippin were at BagEnd, having been summoned there by Frodo. Fatty sat in the armchair, the scarf being twisted constantly and the look of concern forefront on his face.

Frodo laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Tell them everything you told me."

Fatty nodded and gulped. "W-well, you see, Estella and I moved into our grandfather's old house, in Buckland, to make it easier for us to clean things up. It's, well, it's one of the houses closest to the Old Forest." He turned to Merry. "You know the ones."

Merry gave a little nod. "I do."

"W-well, Estella and I had only been there a couple weeks when … when something strange started happening."

"Go on," Frodo coaxed gently.

Fatty nodded and took a breath. "Well, see, we didn't think anything of it at first. We both assumed it was just one of the oddities of the Old Forest. See, we had heard the trees rustling when we went out early in the morning to draw water from the well. Estella was frightened by it, I was too, but I decided to be the one to keep drawing the water. Someone had to, figured it might as well be me. After a couple mornings, I had quite learned to ignore it. After all, it was no business of mine to go poking around in the Old Forest." His eyes widened as he paled and his voice dropped to a near whisper. "But it poked around in our backyard."

"What do you mean by that?" Sam asked, worry coming into his voice.

"Did you see something?" asked Pippin.

Fatty shook his head. "No, but we heard it one night, before we went to bed. Like something was walking up to the house. I quickly got a fire going, and that seemed to send it away."

"How long ago was this?" Merry asked.

"Five nights ago, sir. Neither Estella nor I wanted to stay any longer, but we had to stay one more night for another meeting with the buyers of the house. Then it came again the next night, but we found what had stopped it the next morning. It was the carcass of a dead deer. It, it was like it drank the insides of it and left naught but the hide!"

The four glanced at each other in shock.

"That, that's when Estella and I had had enough. We left a note to the potential buyers that we were having some difficulties and needed more time to take care of it. Then we packed our bags and came back home. I went off in search of Frodo, and, well, here we are now." He glanced at each of them. "Do, do you think one of those orc creatures could have done such a thing?"

Merry and Pippin shook their heads firmly.

"We saw how they ate," said Pippin, starting to look a little sick, "that deer would not have been left for you to find."

"And a fire would not have scared them off so easily," remarked Merry ominously. "If anything, they would know the house was occupied and would have invaded it."

"O-oh," said Fatty, his eyes widening further. "Then, then what do you think it was?"

Frodo tightened his jaw, grim determination lining his face. "We shall have to investigate and find out."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? After all, we can just send word to Ara- uh, I mean, King Elessar and he can send some of his rangers to look into it," said Merry.

"And wait for a Hobbit to die in the meantime?" Frodo shook his head. "I'm not going to take that chance. Besides, we might be able to figure out how to kill it, whatever it is, when the knights of Gondor show up, and they can finish it up for us." He glanced between the two. "You still have your daggers? Sam still has Sting."

"And you have Lady Galadriel's phial," Sam quickly added. "And I think Mr. Pippin has a couple other daggers. You're not coming with us unarmed, Mr. Frodo."

Frodo smiled. "I wouldn't dream of it. But don't expect me to do much fighting."

"Then we had better get that message sent to the King right away," remarked Merry as he walked over to Frodo's desk. He pulled out some paper, dipped the quill in the ink jar, and began scribbling away. "We will have to get this to Bree. Pippin and I have had to hire messengers from there since, you know," he paused in his writing to give a knowing glance at them, "our fellow Shirefolk don't relish leaving our borders."

"Can't say I blame them," muttered Fatty. The other four shot him a look. Fatty threw up his hands. "What? Nothing against you four, but it's dangerous out there!"

Pippin cleared his throat. "And if we hadn't, you would be in quite the pickle, seeing as how we're the only ones even willing to help you."

"I guess," muttered Fatty.

"You guess?" Merry clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Face it, my dear Fatty, it gave us the knowledge one would need in such a case as this."

"But, but, but …. what if my problem followed you home because you ventured out to places you shouldn't have gone?" Fatty blurted. Four heads shot him a look.

Merry's eyes narrowed. "Well it would have come here for sure if we hadn't left! As a matter of fact, the Nazgul were here and only left because we did!"

Fatty shot Frodo a glance. "Because you had the Ring. If only Bilbo hadn't gone on that foolish adventure and brought it here!"

Sam's eyes bulged. "You take that back!"

"No, I had wished it too," Frodo said softly. They glanced at him. He shot them a sad smile. "But it can't be helped, what's done is done. Bilbo did go on his adventure, I did get the Ring and had to get it out of the Shire. That's what happened." A faraway look came into his eyes. "There's no going back." The moment passed and he glanced at Sam, Merry, and Pippin. "But I do admit, the thought that something had followed us home did cross my mind. If so, we would know how to defeat it." His forehead creased with thought. "But what would have followed us home is the question. And, is it just one, or are there more?"

"More?" squeaked Fatty.

Merry turned back to writing his note. "All the more reason to get this out to Aragorn as quickly as possible." He returned the quill to its place and folded up the paper. "What do you say to splitting up? Pippin and I can take this to Bree while you and Sam go with Fatty to assess the situation."

"I doubt we'll get to the house at the same time," remarked Frodo. "You and Pippin are taking your ponies, right?"

"Well, of course," replied Merry.

"We might get there close to the same time, but you will certainly get there a bit before us as we will no doubt need to take longer breaks." Merry and Pippin cast side eye glances at Fatty, while Sam cast one at Frodo.

Fatty looked at Frodo. "What are you suggesting?"

Frodo nodded at Merry and Pippin. "They open the house and get things set up for us to arrive."

The scarf was being twisted again. "What? There are things Estella and I are working on that we don't want touched!"

"They just need to set up the kitchen and the beds," said Frodo with a shrug. He looked at the cousins. "And nothing else."

Pippin let out a whine. "But isn't there a cellar full of fine Longbottom?"

Fatty let out a squawk. "Wh-what? How, how did you find out about that?"

Merry smirked. "We have our ways."

Fatty turned to Frodo. "We are not taking longer breaks! They'll smoke all of it!"

"But you agree that they will get there before us?" Frodo asked.

Fatty turned to the cousins with a pout before letting out a sigh. "I suppose."

"Then I suggest that, before they even think of getting any Longbottom, they get the house set up for us to spend the night and dinner."

Merry held up a finger. "So you're saying that not only should we get to Bree and send the message, but that we should also cook and get the house ready."

"And only for a bit of Longbottom?" Pippin quipped.

Frodo crossed his arms. "Would you rather walk with us?"

Merry glanced at Fatty. "No, that will take too long. Oh, very well, we'll get things set up since we will get there first. He is your cousin after all."

"He is yours as well," remarked Frodo.

"A fourth cousin, in comparison to being your second cousin."

Frodo waved his hand. "Whatever, point is, you two can get started on it, at least. We'll handle cleaning up after dinner."

Pippin pointed at Fatty. "And at least a couple days worth of Longbottom."

Fatty sighed. "Oh, very well."

Pippin gave a nod. "It's a deal." He grinned.

"But you are not to touch that Longbottom until after we have arrived at the house and it passes our inspection," quipped Fatty with a wave of his finger.

"A few pints at the Prancing Pony might help prevent that," replied Pippin with a smirk, shooting Sam a mischievous look. Sam just crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

Merry clapped Pippin's shoulder. "Well, good job negotiating, but we should get going if we want to collect."

Pippin gave a nod. "Good point. See you at the house!" With a wave, the two were out the door. A soft smile played on Frodo's lips, a bit of their old selves were still there and it was comforting to see.

Fatty groaned. "I'll never hear the end of it with those two, looking for more Longbottom."

Frodo patted his shoulder. "We'll bring along some old Toby, that might distract them long enough. You should head home and get ready. I want to leave as early as possible, the earlier the better."

Fatty nodded. "Right, of course." He took Frodo's hand in his and gave it a hearty shake. "While I might complain about their overuse of my Longbottom, I am very grateful to all of you for doing this for us."

Frodo smiled and patted his arm. "Of course. With everything we learned while we were away, it's nice to know we can put it to some use."

"Right. Well, see you in the morning. Good night Frodo, good night Sam."

"Good night Fatty," called out Frodo and Sam as they closed the door behind him.

"What do you think of all this, Mr. Frodo?"

Frodo's lips turned down. "I don't know Sam, just that I don't like it one bit."

"Neither do I." Without another word, the two got to packing and had all their gear ready and set by the door for the next morning.