Author’s Note- This story is a sequel to my previous stories Coming of Age and Apple Flavored Kisses. This story will continue it’s predecessor’s themes of sensuality. If you have issues with premarital sex then you may wish to consider not reading this. If you choose to read it anyway, please do me the courtesy of refraining from airing your grievances with what you feel to be a blatant display of a lack of good moral judgment. Thank You.

An Incident Involving Mistletoe

By MysteriousWays

The main hall of Great Smiles was bright in the golden light of hundreds of candles. Sprays, swags, and ropes of evergreen were everywhere. Generous amounts of pine, fir, and cedar intermingled with holly and mistletoe and colorfully accented with apples. Greens and fruit filled the air with their distinctive fragrance. Of the greens there was one that enjoyed a distinctive notoriety all it’s own. The humble small white berries and small green leaves of mistletoe, hung from every doorway and archway enticing Yule time revelers to kiss their sweet hearts under these diminutive sprays. How this custom came to be no one knew. Like so many of the more enjoyable customs enjoyed in theses modern times of the Shire, the origins of this custom had long since passed into antiquity and were forgotten, though the custom itself still stood.

Frodo stood in one corner trying hard not to be seen. Several of his female Tookish relations had been following him everywhere since he had arrived at Great Smials, for the Yule celebration. Each of these lasses was determined to take every opportunity they could, to get Frodo’s attention and attempt to entice him to be in love with them. Frodo had spent most of his visit, thus far, sitting in dim corners of empty rooms, or talking with his friends and playing the occasional game of chess or checkers. When the dancing was underway Frodo had found it rather easy to keep a low profile among the milling crowd. He was feeling relaxed and rather proud with his growing ability to avoid unwanted attentions when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around then choked on a sip of punch when he found himself looking into a pair of familiar brown eyes that were warm and sparkling with mirth. "Goodness, did I startle you? I do apologize," said Impatien with a complete lack of sincerity.

"Excuse me," Frodo coughed then swallowed, "it is quite all right. Merry Yule to you, Impatien. I did not know you were here."

"I only arrived yesterday evening with the Tuffets. You and several of your cousins were over at the Pebble Creek Inn, at the time. As for today, Pippin told me you have spent it avoiding Mirabella, Ruby and Myrtle. I had a bit of fun with them myself. I let it be known, to Mirabella, that I was hoping to spend some time with you. I gave her some strong hints that my intentions towards you were a bit more than of a friendly nature. Do you know that she started to look a little ill at that point? I was quite concerned for her, but Mirabella is a generous soul. She would not here of going to bed for a bit of rest, instead she went out of her way to spend time with me today. She seemed most concerned that I be well occupied. You know, Frodo," Impatien said with a wicked gleam in her eye, "I was thinking I should show my appreciation for Mirabella’s kind attention by seeing to it the two of you shared a dance or two."

Frodo’s face became pale and a cold sweat starts to bead up on his forehead. "Please, Impatien, if you were ever a friend to me do not tell Mirabella where I am. I beg you!"

"Why Frodo, you seem a bit nervous. Surely you are not afraid of your dear cousin, Mirabella!"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I am!"

Impatien put a reassuring hand on Frodo’s arm and laughed, "Be calm, I am not going to give you away. That awful girl could likely find some way of tricking you so that you had to marry her. I couldn’t bare to see one of my dearest friends in all the world so badly settled."

Frodo felt his heart beat slow down as he was filled with relief, "Thank you, Impatien. That means so much to me. How can I ever return the favor?" As soon as the words slipped past his lips he wished he could take them back. Suddenly Frodo was reminded of the last time he had spoken to Impatien and what that conversation had lead to.

"Hmm, I have done you a great service, haven’t I? Let me think," she said crossing her arms over her chest and tapping her chin with one slender finger as she rolled her eyes upwards, theatrically making a show of being deep in thought. Frodo watched her tapping finger and couldn’t help but notice the way it pointed towards a pair of plump rose colored lips. Thoughts of what had transpired last time he was so near those lips made him blush, and avert his eyes down words. This proved to be a mistake. His glance trailed down across creamy white skin to some of Impatien’s more salient features. He observed that the position of her arms made that part of her look fuller. Frodo’s hand twitched and he blushed still more. He quickly shifted his eyes back to her’s. "You know what, Frodo, I think I am going to have to consider this matter for a while. But perhaps while I consider this you can tell me what you think of my dress." Impatien took a step back and made a slow pirouette. "How do I look?"

Frodo was captivated. Impatien wore a dress of cranberry red velvet. The rich color and texture of the fabric went beautifully with the glossy chestnut curls of her hair and deep dark eyes. The deeply scooped neck line exposed a considerable amount of skin, seemingly in defiance of the winter chill that could be felt in the form of the occasional draft. The full sleeves draped to just below her elbows where they were caught in a snug fitting band. This cuff and the neckline were both ornamented with embroidered garlands of mistletoe. To Frodo, Impatien was a vision of loveliness, who’s equal he had never seen before.

"Frodo, are you ever going to say anything? Or am I looking so frightful that you can not speak?" said Impatien with her usual impudence.

Frodo looked her straight in the eye and said with heartfelt sincerity, "I have never, nor do I believe will ever, see anyone more beautiful than you are this night."

"Oh my," said Impatien in a hushed voice. Her cheeks had taken on a vivid hue of their own as she started to blush. "Why thank you, Frodo. That truly means a lot to me." Impatien stepped near to Frodo, took hold of his arm and leaned forward so that she could speak in a low voice and still be heard. "Do you think that we could take a stroll through the passage ways? I believe it is starting to be a overly warm in here."

Frodo felt himself getting very nervous at the mere mention of this simple suggestion. Lately, taking a quiet stroll with Impatien seemed to lead to some rather interesting experiences. "Er... Well... Yes, I suppose that would be all right," he found himself saying almost before he knew he would accept her invitation.

Impatien did not hesitate. Keeping a firm hold on Frodo’s arm she carefully guided him around the edges of the crowd gathered in the hall, to a small side door, where they were able to slip out into a service corridor without anyone taking notice of them. "This is much better!" exclaimed Impatien in the quiet of the passage. "Don’t you think so, Frodo?"

"Yes, I suppose it is." Frodo found it hard to speak. Impatien still had a firm hold on his arm and he could not help but notice that she held it in such a way that it rested against her warm bosom.

"Now that I have you alone, there is something that I would like to speak with you about, my dear, Frodo. I think you should know that despite my appearance of being in high spirits this evening, I am actually quite put out with you."

Frodo stole a glance at her. Her eyes were round and glassy with feigned sadness. He was sure he saw the glimmer of a single tear caught in her long dark eyelashes. Her lower lip stood out in a decided pout. And was it possible that the color of her lips was deeper than before? "I’m sorry, for what ever it is I have done. What have I done?" Frodo was feeling flustered.

"You know very well what you have done. You have been avoiding me. We have not spoken once since the harvest festival. Now I ask you, is that the proper way for two friends to behave?"

"A, no, I suppose it isn’t," Frodo said hesitantly, "I have been rather busy of late. I do apologize."

"I don’t want your apologies, Frodo, I want to know why it is you practically take off running as soon as you see that I am anywhere near."

"I hardly think I have been acting like that," said Frodo feeling somewhat embarrassed at how near to the truth she actually was.

"Don’t bother to try to deny it. That would only be a waste of time. I just want to know why it is you don’t seem to want to talk to me anymore. We used to run into each other at least once a week at Ivy’s Tea Room. W e would have pleasant conversations over our tea and cakes. Now do you care to enlighten me, or shall I enlighten you as to the cause of the rift in our friendship."

Frodo was not certain, but he thought Impatien was teasing him, and not at all as upset as she was pretending to be. "Well, I suppose you will have to explain it to me. That is what you want to do anyway, isn’t it?"

"Frodo! I think that comes terribly close to accusing me of manipulating this situation. I would never do such a thing!" Impatien exclaimed indignantly.

"Again, my apologies," murmured Frodo.

"That is more like it. Now, since you have consented I will tell you what I think the matter is. I think that after our previous two encounters you have become rather frightened of me. Would that be the truth?" Impatien had her gaze firmly on Frodo’s face so she could easily see the way his cheeks bloomed with a deep blush. "Ah well, I can see that I have just hit the mark." Impatien’s tone shifted from playful and teasing, to kind and sensitive. "Frodo, why are you letting two lovely encounters, as we shared, keep you from talking with me as we used to?"

Frodo looked over at Impatien, they were at the juncture of where the service corridor led into one of the main passages of the smial. By the light of a sconce on a nearby wall he saw that all mischief had left her, and her eyes were now filled with concern and even a tinge of sadness. Frodo felt the resistance he had been carrying tumble in the face of what he saw in her eyes. "I’m sorry. I have missed you, but...well... after the last couple of times we have met, I have felt confused about my feelings for you. I thought it would be better if I stayed away from you until I could sort it all out."

"You could have told me that, Frodo. I would have understood. Would it have surprised you to know that I have been feeling confused over my feelings towards you?"

"You have?" Frodo’s eyes were wide with astonishment.

"I have. When I gave you that birthday kiss, I felt things that I had not expected to feel. You and I have always been friends. That evening you were sharing with me your concerns over what your future would hold. I thought, that as a friend, I could give you a special kiss that might help you sort out what it was you wanted with your life. I thought it would give you some perspective on what you would be missing out on if you chose not to marry. Granted a kiss under such circumstances would have paled in comparison to one shared in true love. But I thought that with the love between two friends, as we were at that time, it would give you a hint as to what is possible. However, to my surprise, I felt so very much more than what I had anticipated. I have kissed lads, in that manner before. They were mildly pleasant experiences, but that was all. That was the sort of experience I expected to have with you. But what I had with you turned out to be so much more. Is what I have said of help to you?"

"It is. I have never felt before what I felt when you kissed me that evening. I’ve never been in love before. I found myself thinking of you all of the time after that. I thought that maybe I was falling in love with you, but I wasn’t sure. I tried to picture us married and that some how did not seem right. Since I could not imagine myself being married to you I thought that maybe what I had felt was not so very meaningful after all. But rather something more of a natural instinct, if you understand my meaning."

"I do understand."

"After that, I just could not bring myself to be near you. Every time I saw you my heart would flutter. I wanted to kiss you again. The urge was so strong at times I thought that if I was near you it would not matter if all of Hobbiton were watching, I would still take the opportunity to kiss you. That is why I kept my distance. Apparently my fears were all too real. At the Harvest Festival I just couldn’t seem to stop myself. One moment there we were, walking and talking. Then we stopped, I found myself noticing how near you were. Then before my mind could fully form the idea of what was possible I found myself acting on those possibilities. What I felt was so exhilarating. Sensations that I had only tasted with our first kiss were so much stronger," Frodo paused embarrassed by the memory of the recent past and the feelings it was starting to generate within him. "Anyway, I am sorry for the way I behaved that night. I should not have touched you as I did. I’ve been ashamed of myself ever since. When you ran off into the darkness that night, I thought it was because of what I had done. I felt terrible. I tried to find you, that night. To apologize for my transgressions. But you were no where to be found. I decided then that it might be best if I just avoided our ever meeting again. I thought maybe that was what you wanted. I am really very sorry, Impatien. I confess, I knew you were here today. I found out yesterday that you were coming. I made a point of being out of the Smials when you arrived. Then I spent the day staying out of your view as much as Mirabella’s. I was most surprised when back in the hall, I turned to find you there. I’m surprised that you are here now."

Impatien sighed, "I’m sorry, Frodo. I didn’t know that by running off that night, I was making you feel that I was upset with you. I wasn’t. I was confused. As confused as you have been, I would guess. I was completely swept away by that kiss. If Sam had not come looking for you, I can only imagine where it may have led to. I ran off, unsure of what I would do next. Part of me wanted very much to seek you out and continue where we left off. Another part of me was in shock over the feelings that I suddenly had for you.

"In all of the time that we have known each other I have seen myself as so much older than you. I was the grown up and you were the boy. After that birthday kiss and even more so after the one we shared at the Festival, I realized that you are no longer a boy. Like you, I was unsure of the nature of my true feelings for you. After I ran away from you, I left the festival and returned home. I spent a rather sleepless night trying to sort it out in my head what it was I felt for you. In fact I spent the next several days thinking about it, and what was to be done. I thought about all of the time we have spent together, how much I have always enjoyed your company, and I realized that even though I was thinking of you as a boy, my heart saw you as grown Hobbit. I realized that I have always loved you, though I did not see the true depth of that love. Once this became clear to me I was determined that the next day I was going to put on my prettiest dress and come to see you, to tell you how I really felt. But then that night I had a dream. I saw you walking a long and treacherous path through darkness and light. When I woke up I did more thinking. You are not like other Hobbits, Frodo Baggins. You have always been able to see further than what is beyond our own borders. And I have no doubt in my mind that one day you will go beyond those borders as Bilbo did and has."

Frodo did not know what to say to all of this. He knew it would take time for him to sort it out properly. A peaceful silence fell between the friends as each walked, lost in their own thoughts. After a few minutes Impatien looked up and noticed a familiar door. "We seem to have come to my room. How very kind of you to see me safely to my door this evening, my dear, Mr. Baggins," said Impatien, once more adopting her teasing tone.

"It was my pleasure, Miss Banks, as always. Good night, Miss Banks," said Frodo. He then started to pull away from her to make his way down the dimly lit passage.

"Wait just a moment, Frodo. I think you forgot something." Frodo looked at Impatien, his face showing his puzzlement. Impatien pointed one finger upwards, "There seems to be a sprig of mistletoe above my door. I believe you are supposed to give me a kiss. It is custom after all. Frodo smiled shyly, closed the distance between them. He leaned in to give her a tender chaste kiss, but Impatien had other ideas. She reached up with both arms and wrapped them tightly around his neck, pulling him still nearer and kissing him firmly and enthusiastically. Frodo was stunned at first, but the sensation of Impatien’s lips moving sensuously against his own, quickly got him past his surprise. He reached put his own arms around her waist pulling her tightly to him. In unison their lips parted, deepening the kiss.

This time their no were interruptions. Impatien buried one of her hands in Frodo’s soft curls and her other hand slid languidly down around his neck to press itself firmly against his chest. Frodo’s hands caressed the length of her back, delighting in the velvety softness of her gown and the warmth her body gave it. With each passing moment their passions grew stronger, as each hungered for more. At last, Impatien pulled back, her dark smoldering gaze boring into Frodo’s burning blue. She smiled a small smile. Frodo noticed that her lips were now vividly red. "Will you come into my room, Frodo?"

Frodo could feel himself shaking with pent up desire, "Are you certain you want me to? Or that we should..." Impatien stopped the flow of his words by placing her finger tip to his lips. She stood so near to him he could feel the touch of her breath against his lips, as she spoke. "I am certain, that this is a moment I do not want to let slip away. I love you, Frodo, and if you are willing we will have of each other in what we can."

Frodo felt the smallest stirring of dread beneath the smoldering passion. He knew what Impatien said and hinted at was true. He did not know what the future held but he was sure it was not that of the traditional hobbit life. As he and Impatien had strolled about the passages, talking of how they felt over what had happened, he realized that he did love her. To be with her now would likely mean a painful parting between them later. But the thought of going on and having to look back with regret over a moment missed seemed harsher still. Impatien watched Frodo’s eyes shift from one shade of blue to another as he considered all of this. When she saw the blue soften and his lips turn up in a small smile, she knew what his answer was. She kissed him briefly, yet tenderly, then turned and led him into her room.

~~~~~

The sky had only just started to lighten with the coming dawn. Frodo slipped out from beneath the covers of Impatiens bed. By the dim light of a single candle that still burned he picked his clothes up from where they lay scattered about the floor. As soon as he was dressed he stirred up the fire in the room’s hearth, added a couple of logs, then watched to be sure that they started burning nicely. After a minute he glanced towards the window, the sky had lightened still more. Frodo knew that the rest of the cooks would be getting the days cooking and baking started, the smells of baking bread and frying bacon would wake everyone else. The time had come for him to leave. He walked over to the side of the bed where Impatien still slept. He leaned over and kissed her tenderly on the delicate point of one exposed ear. Then quietly slipped out of the room. As Frodo made his way through the passages to his own room, his mind wandered through memories of the night he had spent with Impatien. He felt different, he could not describe then how it was he felt changed, but if he could have what he would have realized was that he was feeling more sure of himself. For the first time since he had come of age, Frodo truly felt he had.