Looking

By Songspinner

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Disclaimer: The usual…these characters don’t belong to me but to J.R.R. Tolkien and to New Line, Peter, Fran, and Philippa. I make no profit from this story, but please review!

A/N: Pure movie-verse, as will be obvious. This snippet popped into my head when I read Billy’s comment from ComicCon about redoing the scene when Pippin finds Merry by looking all day on the field.

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Aragorn had come and gone, but Pippin hadn't managed to bring himself to leave the room yet, even to find food. Merry waited patiently as Pippin tucked the blanket closer around his body, especially around his injured arm.

"Merry? Is that better, then?"

"Aye, it’s better, Pip. Come here for a bit."

"Don’t you want to eat some more?" Pippin asked anxiously.

"No, I’ve had enough for now, thank you. Between you and Aragorn, I’ve had plenty of coddling today." Merry answered. He looked up at Pippin’s face and was startled to see tears. "Whatever is it, dear one?"

Pippin sat down on the bed with a thud. "Oh, Merry…I just…it’s only…"

Taking his young cousin’s hand in his own, Merry squirmed about until he sat up a little against the pillows. His wan face was gaining a bit of color now as he lovingly patted Pippin’s shaking hand. "Only what? Can you not tell me, then?"

"I broke a promise to you, Merry. I wanted you to know that." Pippin’s voice was a bit hoarse with trepidation over his cousin’s reaction. "You know how much I believe in keeping promises, and I never wanted to hurt you…Mama always said that my stubbornness would get me in trouble, and…"

"Pippin, what do you mean? What promise? How did you…"

"I promised you that I wouldn’t look again, that I would stop doing that, but I couldn’t find you. I stayed out all of last night looking, and I wouldn’t stop. Some of the warriors told me to stop and come home. And if I hadn’t found you or worse, found you and you weren’t…"

Pippin took a deep, shuddering breath and went on, the words pouring out of him in a voice strained by lingering fear. "It would have been worse than when I looked in the palantir and the Dark Lord saw me. I know it’s not really what you meant about looking but it’s all that was in my mind the last day. And I’m glad I broke the promise, Merry, I’m glad!" Pippin burst out with the last part of his rambling explanation and stared the blankets.

"Ah, Pip." Merry pulled Pippin’s head down to rest on his uninjured shoulder. His own voice trembled a little as he spoke. "The stubbornness of Tooks is a good thing sometimes. I’m awfully glad you broke your promise, too."