Disclaimer: I don’t own them, and I’ll put them back safely when I’m done.

Rating: PG

Pairing: Frodo, the Fellowship

Summary: The thoughts of the Fellowship as they watch Frodo sleep after his ordeal in Mordor.

As We Watched, You Slept

By Elendiari

    Legolas

          I have not the gift of foresight, but when they lifted you down from the eagles, I looked into your future and I saw death.

      Your face, so fair and pale and determined when we set out from Imladris, was black and filthy with the dirt of Mordor, and there were lines of pain etched into your forehead. Aragorn handed you to me and lifted Sam down from Landroval.

     “Hurry, Legolas,” he told me. “We must get them away from here, to somewhere where the air is clean. Hurry!”

     Nowhere around Mordor was clean. We took you and Sam as far from the battlefield as we could, and there, among the wounded and the healers, I left you in the care of Gandalf and the High King. When I returned hours later, carrying your brave young cousin, whose body was broken, you were clean, and there was a faint glow about you, one that is unusual in mortals. It was then that I knew that you would live. You would live, but not in Middle Earth. Beyond all reason, you would live across the Sea.

  Aragorn

       That first night, I did not know if you would live. When Legolas returned to the tent where we took you and Sam to rest and heal, he looked at you and smiled, as though he saw something that I could not.

    “He will be fine, Aragorn,” he told me, but I was not so certain. You were so far gone when you came out of Mordor that it was a struggle to call you back, a struggle that left me more exhausted than I have ever been before. Even when you were stable, I sat and watched you. Sam would be all right; he had not prepared himself for death as you had. He had always intended to come back, but you…you had not.

     Your face was thin and haggard, and there were the marks of intense inner struggle on it. You were as still as one already dead that night, and your breathing was shallow. When I pointed this out to Gandalf, he bent over you and murmured something that my ears did not catch. After that, your face slackened out, and your breathing deepened until I knew that you were deeply asleep. It was then that I knew that you would live.

    Gimli

         Young hobbit. I do not mind telling you that if you do not pull through this, I shall have to beat you, for old Bilbo’s sake. You are a Baggins, lad, and Bagginses do not give in easily. Aragorn has already fought for your life, and quite a struggle it was for him, too. It is up to you now to decide whether or not you return to us. You know that you can give in, that is Iluvater’s gift to us mortals. Aragorn can heal your body, but only you can decide to really live. What would Lady Galadriel say to you if you decided not to remain? What would Bilbo say?

     Ah, that got your attention. I saw your eyebrows twitch. Yes, you just think of Bilbo, waiting for you back in Rivendell. He wants to know your story, the story that you promised to tell him. You sleep now, and regain your health, because you have friends and family that are waiting for you here, Frodo. So don’t you dare die, young hobbit. You’ve been through too much to throw away your life now.

     Merry

          Gimli met me at the docks when I arrived from Minas Tirith. He led me to Pippin first. He had been wounded, but Strider said that he would be dancing on tabletops in the Shire again in no time, so I was not worried about him.

     I was terrified for you, though, when I first saw you. You were so small in that big cot, and you were so still. You talked in your sleep, too, crying for your mother. It broke my heart to hear you, so I went straight to the bed and climbed up beside you, stroking your hair like you used to do to me when I was a little lad, and had had a bad dream. I sang you the lullaby that my mum always sang to me, and you curled right up against me like a child. You were so light, and so I picked you up and held you, rocking you and singing. You stilled, and clung to me like a lifeline. Strider, Gandalf, and some other healers were all in the tent, too, but I didn’t pay them any mind. Not, at least, until Strider came up and put his hand on your forehead. He looked at me after a moment, and smiled, his eyes somehow both sad and relieved.

     “Merry, will you stay with him for awhile longer? He has not been this peaceful at all, till you came,” he said.

     “I’ll stay,” I said. Pippin was fine, and at that moment, I wouldn’t have left you even if all the remaining orcs had banded together and attacked the encampment.

     I stayed with you all that night, Frodo, and I did not let you go until dawn came, and Strider made me go to Pip’s tent to sleep for a while. I laid you back down on your pillows, and you sighed in your sleep. It was a sigh of contentment, the one you always used in the Shire, when one of us did something for you, and you didn’t know how to say thank you. I kissed you on the forehead, and went to go see Pippin, and sleep. I had faith, then, that you would be all right.

   Pippin

       They wouldn’t let me out of my tent to see you for the longest time, Frodo. I wheedled and begged, but Strider told me that I needed to rest, too. He said that I had been injured to badly to be walking anywhere. Right after he left, though, Gimli and Legolas came into the tent, picked my entire cot up, with me in it, and carried it into your tent.

     “You are not to tell anyone that we did this,” Legolas said as they set my cot down next to yours. “Ever.”

    “All right,” I replied, my gaze already on you. “I won’t.”

    I picked up your maimed hand and held it. Merry told me that you have been sleeping better the past few days, and I could see the truth in his words. Your face was peaceful, and your breathing was deep. You have always slept like a Took, you know. You looked beautiful then, just like an Elf. I told this to Legolas and Gimli, half expecting them to laugh, but they both agreed with me, perfectly serious. You were glowing, Frodo, and it wasn’t a trick of the light. You looked like you had starlight coming out of you. It made me happy, so happy that I cried. I told you that story, then, Frodo, the one that you told me the night I thought that there was a troll in the wardrobe at Bag End. The one about the brave hobbit lad who went on an adventure and ended up living on a beautiful island with the Elves, in eternal peace. As I watched you sleep, I said a little prayer, asking that you be like that lad. I want you to be as peaceful and happy in life as you are in sleep. I know that you will live, but somehow I don’t think that you will live here. I have a strange feeling that you will live with the Elves, but I do not know where. For now, though, you must sleep. Sleep well, cousin, and know that I love you.

Gandalf

       My dear boy. You have done it. You have saved them all, and you have lived. You sleep a deep, peaceful sleep that I think would not have been possible without Merry and Pippin. As much as they are rapscallions, they have helped you heal, reaching out to you in ways that the rest of us cannot.

      I don’t believe you know, Frodo, how many lives you have touched. You lie here, sleeping, the color returned to your cheeks, finally returned to health and a semblance of peace, and outside the world awaits you. Merry comes in everyday to talk to you, and he tells you stories that amuse me to no end. Legolas spends every night standing near you, singing elvish lullabies. Gimli comes in to tell you of Pippin’s progress, and Aragorn plies you with remedies that heal your small body.

     And I? I have read your mind, and I know that you have endured beyond all hope. I know what the others do not. I now that you are only here with us still for them, because you do not want to give them all pain. That is yet another sacrifice in your favor, Frodo Baggins. You do not know yet that you will receive the greatest honor ever given the halflings, an honor never given to another mortal. You hardly know that you have saved the world or that Sam slumbers nearby, your faithful friend until the very end. You only know that you have come out of the Fire, and now you sleep. You sleep in utter peace, the peace of one blessed with the love of those around you. You sleep with the blessing of the Valar. Their light shines from your face.

The End.