Disclaimer: They don't belong to me, so I'll put them back safely!

Clean

By Elendiari

"I have never been scrubbed so hard before in my entire life!"

Pippin stormed back into his bedroom and flung himself on his bed. Although bath time was usually a lot of fun, with singing and splashing and making really big waves, his mamma had decided that he needed a good scrubbing after a long day playing in the mud outside. And it had been such glorious mud! Cousin Bilbo had laughed and said he looked like a little goblin. Pippin suspected that the only reason he had had to bathe was because Bilbo and Frodo were visiting.

"Hmph!" he muttered. "I’ll never leave my room again! That way, they can never clean me."

For good measure, he made a fearsome face in the general direction of his parents’ bedroom. It was somewhat spoiled when Frodo poked his head into the room and announced that it was dinnertime.

"And we’re having raspberry tarts for dessert. Better hurry before they’re all eaten up."

Pippin forgot about the woes of cleanliness and raced Frodo all the day to the dining hall.

*****

In Rivendell, Pippin was so glad to bathe that Merry thought that he would never leave the tub. After all the days on the road, slogging through the Marshes, sleeping in the dirt, all the hobbits were glad for rest and a little comfort, but Pippin was so happy to be clean again that everyone who walked down the hallway where the room he and Merry shared was could hear him singing at the top of his voice.

"Is Master Peregrin all right?" one curious Elven maiden asked Merry when she delivered their tea.

Merry smiled wryly. "He is now."

*****

Pippin had the vague memory of being lifted from the cold and crushing ground, and held. A wave of air hit him, but although he could feel it, he could not breathe. He gagged helplessly as someone wiped his face off.

Gimli had never bothered with a handkerchief, but now he mentally blessed Legolas for having one. He wet it with water from his flask, and ran it over Pippin’s face. The young hobbit was filthy, unrecognizable, soaked in sweat and blood from the great troll, and he could not breathe. Desperately, Gimli tried to clean his face, to help his friend breathe. It seemed hopeless, and Pippin slumped unconscious even as they fought for him life.

*****

"Father, I don’t want to take a bath. Baths are for girls!"

Pippin looked down at his Faramir and was suddenly, strongly reminded of himself at a young age. So the saying was true, then, that the apple never fell far from the tree. He shook his head and bent over to his son’s level.

"Faramir, if you do not take a bath, than the…the trolls will get you," he said, trying for a game voice. "You don’t want that to happen! Run!" Faramir squealed and made a dash for the tub.

It had been Diamond’s idea to tease Faramir about trolls. To most hobbits, trolls were only imaginary-children’s’ tales. Pippin knew differently, but he masked his revulsion at the thought of Faramir being chased by trolls. It wouldn’t happen, not in the Shire. And Faramir would be clean.

"Father!" screeched Faramir, flying back out of the bathroom. "There are goblins in the cupboard!"

Pippin grinned, old fears forgotten, and went to rescue his son from his imaginary foes.

The End.