This hasn't happened with these little stories before so this came as a surprise.  In order to read this one, you need to have read, "Snow and Ice" which is the one directly before it.  This one won't make much sense to you if you haven't read that one first.  I know all of these are supposed to be stand-alone stories, but I couldn't resist doing this short little add-on to the last one.

In this, Merry is 39, and  Pippin is 31.  Fredegar and Estella are also in this one.

Thanks, G.W. 10/26/2004

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To Coin A Phrase...

"Here you are," Estella frowned, taking the little hobbit lass from Merry. "Where did you find her?"

"Well, she had gotten as far as the orchard and was happily stuffing her adorable little face with apples that she’d picked up off of the ground. It’s likely she’ll not eat much lunch." Merry grinned and ran his hand through the small child’s curls with a wink at Estella.

"Auntie Stella, I’m hungry," the little girl chirped with a rather nasty glare at Merry.

Estella smirked and replied, "Well, of course you are my dearest. I’ll just give you over to your papa and he can see to it that you get all of the lunch that you want." As she handed her niece to her brother, she noticed that the child was sticking her tongue out at Merry who was returning the favor.

"Thank you, Stella, and you too Merry," Freddy said, taking his little four-year-old into his arms and turning to go. "You, my darling little Miss are as slippery as a Took on ice."

Merry snorted while beside of him Pippin blushed furiously. Estella grinned and smiled sweetly at Pippin. "I guess sooner or later a hobbit’s past catches up with him, doesn’t it?"

"It isn’t funny," Pippin growled.

"Of course not," Merry said, choking with laughter. "Not in the least."

"I was only twelve," Pippin objected, still looking mightily embarrassed.

Estella laughed. "Well, as far as I know you do have the satisfaction of being the only Took with a Buckland expression coined after him."

"Yes, Pip has definitely left his mark on Buckland, haven’t you Pip?" Merry teased, wrapping an arm around his cousin’s shoulders.

"They don’t really say that all of the time in Buckland, do they?" Pippin winced, looking over at Merry.

"Only when the occasion calls for it," Merry said.

Pippin groaned. "Everywhere I go, I wind up being the laughing stock of the place before I manage to leave."

"It’s part of your charm," Estella said, reaching over and giving Pippin a quick kiss on his cheek.

"It’s also why I was able to catch that tricky little lass of Freddy’s just now," Merry said. "I had plenty of practice catching you when you were young."

"Well, it’s still embarrassing to be known for getting myself stuck out on the frozen surface of the Brandywine when I was twelve," Pippin muttered. "It wasn’t my fault anyway. It was your mum and those awful mittens." Pippin looked at Merry accusingly. "If she hadn’t made me wear those, I might have been able to-"

"Get into even more trouble with those clever little fingers free," Merry broke in. "You’re just lucky that I was around to come out after you."

Freddy had returned from giving his daughter to her mother and he chose that moment to speak up. "Yes, Pippin, the rest of us were all for just leaving you out there until the spring thaw. Not Merry, though. This crazy Brandybuck just insisted on rescuing you."

"Yes, I did," Merry said. "And you should be very grateful to me and go and get me some of the strawberry cake that my mum, the mitten knitter, made."

Pippin sighed, "Fine, but only because it will get me away from all of this teasing for a few minutes." Pippin turned, ears still pink from his blushing, and went in the direction of the food tables.

"You just better hope that he never finds out who it was coined that little expression," Freddy whispered to Merry.

"I won’t tell anyone," Merry grinned.

"You didn’t," Estella hissed in Merry’s direction.

"You inch your way out onto the frozen Brandywine after him and see if you don’t get an urge to repay him," Merry said. "Besides, it’s a perfectly accurate expression. As slippery as a Took on ice. Has a nice ring to it and Bucklanders seem to have taken to it. Works well on cold winter mornings when the ground is frozen."

"How am I ever to put up with you?" Estella asked, wrapping her arms about him and looking up at him, lovingly.

"Stay off of the Brandywine in the winter and we’ll get along just fine," Merry teased her, leaning over and kissing her nose.

"Would you come out after me if I were stranded on the frozen Brandywine?" Estella asked, batting her lashes at Merry.

Pippin had returned with Merry’s cake and he answered before Merry could, "Of course he would. That’s where the expression ‘as reckless as the Master’s son’ comes from."

Now, it was Merry’s turn to blush as Pippin stood there and ate his cake.