Chapter 46: Favorite Things

“Why isn’t he waking up?” Pippin turned frightened green eyes from his cousin’s to Gandalf. He had been asking the same question for the last three days, after very impatiently waiting for Frodo and Sam to come out of their healing sleeps. “It’s already been two weeks just like last time. Sam woke two days ago.”

The wizard thought of how he could relieve the anxiety he saw there, mirrored in blue and soft brown. “He was very deeply hurt,” Gandalf began, not wanting to frighten them, but wanting them to know the truth. “He needs time to heal.”

Pippin’s lower lip trembled as he tried to keep from crying. Merry absently rubbed his back, torn between wanting to comfort both his cousins. “But he is healing. His feet are getting better and his face and that horrible burn around his neck...everything but his finger. I suppose that will never get better, but shouldn’t he be waking up by now? It’s been so long.”

“He is healing,” Gandalf agreed, “but his deepest wounds are not physical ones. The Ring is a terrible burden for anyone to carry and he endured it twice now, longer than anyone and he’s paid a very dear price for it.” The wizard paused, not sure exactly how to continue, but certain that he had to. Frodo’s life depended on it. “I don’t say this to frighten you, but Frodo didn’t expect to live last time, to outlast the Ring and he’s frightened that now this time he has again, he’s not sure he wants to. He already knows what it feels like to live without the Ring. He doesn’t want to leave any of you, but he’s afraid of the pain he will have if he decides to live. It’s his choice, but he needs your help in showing him there’s so much more than pain waiting for him.”

Tears pricked at Merry and Sam’s eyes and freely ran down Pippin’s. Merry squeezed his young cousin’s shoulder.

“Well, I’m not going to leave him and that’s flat,” Sam said. “There’s nowhere I won’t follow him.”

Gandalf smiled at the fierce determination and love in the sturdy hobbit’s voice and stance. “He wants you to live, Sam. But he needs reasons to live too. Can you give them to him?”

“I can give him plenty of reasons.”

“So can I,” Merry said.

“So can I,” Pippin echoed. He sniffed and stopped crying and sat down at his cousin’s side and took his hand.

Merry took Frodo’s other hand and Sam gently cradled his brother’s head in his lap. He began to slowly stroke the elder hobbit’s curls. “Please wake up, dear,” he said. “I know you are frightened, but your Sam is here, waiting for you and Mr. Merry and Mr. Pippin and we just want you to get better and stay with us. You’d be missing so much if you went away. Like the first flowers of Spring and the first of the strawberries and cream.”

“Half pints at the Green Dragon,” Merry said. “Singing and dancing.”

“Mushroom omelettes,” Pippin chimed in with, anxiously searching his cousin’s face for a response and bitting his lip to keep from crying again when he didn’t see one. He looked up for reassurance from Merry or Sam, but they were both watching Frodo, hoping for the same thing.

“Hot tea on a cold night.”

“A pipe in the company of friends in front of the fireplace.”

“Reading by the fire, curled up in your favorite chair and blanket.”

“Reading at your favorite tree.”

“Hearing you read.”

“Or sing.”

“Or laugh.”

“Holding you.”

“Being held.”

So still, Frodo remained. So still. They exchanged worried, anxious glances, but then continued on.

“Kissing you goodnight.”

“Being kissed.”

“Having a cousin to cuddle with.”

“Two cousins.”

“And a friend.”

“Picking blueberries and eating them right off the tree.”

“Or apples.”

“Or cherries.”

“Long walks with you on summer afternoons.”

“And fall nights.”

“Laying with you on the ground and watching the clouds go by.”

“Or staring up at night sky, your head touching mine, as you told me all the stories of the stars.”

“Listening to me make up stories about the clouds and the stars.”

“Love.”

“Cheer.”

“Comfort.”

“Joy.”

“Peace.”

“Everything the Shire means to you.”

“Everything you mean to us.”

“Looking into your eyes and watching them dance.”

“And shine with so much love.”

“Please, Frodo, open your eyes and let us see that again. Please.”

“Seeing you smile.”

“Tickling you.”

“Being tickled.”

“Pillow fights.”

“Giggling.”

“Racing you to the Party Tree.”

“And you always letting us win.”

“Walking with you, hand-in-hand, and knowing that right then I am the most important person to you and you to me.”

“How happy we are.”

“How much you love me and I love you.”

“Gandalf’s fireworks.”

“Birthday presents.”

“Feather beds.”

“With lots and lots of pillows.”

“Silk nightshirts.”

“Hot baths.”

“Making sweetcakes with you and you letting me make a mess and lick the spoon.”

“Eating sweetcakes and making a mess.”

“Just being with you, standing in your light.”

“Playing blind hobbit and trusting you completely because we knew you would never let anything happen to us.”

“Bandaging our cuts and kissing them to make us and them feel better.”

“Listening to our dreams.”

“Encouraging them.”

“Hearing yours.”

“Wondering where someone so beautiful as you came from.”

“Hoping you’ll never leave.”

“Or you’ll take us with us when you do.”

“Pancakes with lots of butter and kissing your cheek with a lot of that around my mouth.”

“And lots of syrupy kisses on your forehead.”

“Your laughter whenever I did that.”

“Your hugs whenever I came.”

“Your delight in seeing me.”

“Listening to a rain storm at night, tucked safe in your arms.”

“Walking through wet grass.”

“Jumping together into a pile of leaves.”

“Laughing, always laughing.”

“Sitting in your lap listening to Bilbo’s stories and shivering in fear and delight, knowing I was perfectly safe because your arms were around me.”

“Very solemnly pledging to save you from any monsters that would dare attack you.”

“Even if I was only five.”

“Or seven.”

“Or nine.”

“And you just as seriously accepting our pledge.”

“Making the same at 28.”

“And 36.”

“And 38.”

“Slipping pieces of cake under the table when we didn’t think our parents or Bilbo were watching.”

“But then giving it all by giggling too much.”

Gandalf smiled as he listened to the myriad reasons the three hobbits came up with to entice their cousin and friend to wake up. Their immense love was like a visible, bright light surrounding Frodo. You have to wake, Frodo. Gandalf thought. You have to choose life.

“Fishing on the Brandywine.

“Swimming in it.”

“Splashing around.”

“Stroking your curls.”

“Having our stroked.”

“Being called Pippinsqueak.”

“Or Merry-lad or my Merry.”

“Or my dear Sam.”

“The smell in the air after a spring rain.”

“Chasing rainbows.”

“Snowball fights.”

“Piggyback rides.”

“Rides on your shoulders.”

“Holding my hands and spinning me around until we’re so dizzy we fall down, laughing.”

“Taking a nap in your lap against your favorite tree.”

“Smelling flowers.”

“Apple cider.”

“Bobbing for apples.”

“Yule.”

“Giving me a little money to spend at the fair, anyway I wanted.”

“Seeing Elves.”

“Shrieking in delight as I ran down a hill and you tried to catch me.”

“Chasing you down the hill.”

“Riding a pony for the first time and you holding onto to me so I wouldn’t fall.”

“You helping Merry hold me the first time I rode.”

“Picnics.”

“Skipping stones over the water.”

“Strawberry jam and the marks it would leave on your cheek when I kissed you.”

“And the grape jelly marks mine would leave.”

“Jumping into a puddle.”

“Together.”

“Hand in hand.”

“The muddier, the better.”

“Laughing.”

“Always laughing.”

“Running through the rain.”

“Together.”

“Hand in hand.”

“Hide and seek.”

“Tag.”

“Laying on our stomachs in front of the fire playing checkers.”

“Or chess.”

“Or puzzles.”

“Being read to.”

“Reading to you.”

“Closing our eyes and just listening to your voice.”

“Always together.”

“Laying on the grass, heads touching, talking.”

“Dreaming.”

“Sharing secrets.”

“Knowing no one outside our parents loved us more.”

“And we loved you more than anyone outside of them.”

“Always there.”

“Catching snowflakes on our tongues.”

“Or dragonflies in a jar.”

“Watching the first flowers of a new spring.”

“And you just as delighted as we were.”

“Just being with you.”

“So full of love.”

“And light.”

“And joy.”

“Holding your hand and feeling you hold ours.”

“Eating strawberries and cream and seeing who could make the biggest cream mustache.”

“Letting me sip from your mug at the Green Dragon.”

“Even if I was too young.”

“Bobbing for apples.”

“Blueberry pie.”

“Apple pie.”

“Cherry.”

“More mushrooms.”

“Ok, ok,” Gandalf interrupted with a laugh. “You’ve given him plenty to think about it, without needing to start repeating yourselves.”

“Do you think he heard us?” Pippin asked anxiously. “He hasn’t even moved.”

“I’m sure he did,” the wizard assured. “Let him be for a while. It’s time for you three to get some rest, too. Especially you, Sam. You still have a lot of healing to do yourself.”

“I am that tired still,” the gardener agreed, “and I’ve been doing little else but sleep.”

“Your body has to endure a lot,” Gandalf said, “so did Frodo’s. It kept going because it had to, but at a cost that will still be a while in repaying. Don’t push yourself too hard. Enjoy the peace.”

Sam looked down at his beloved Frodo. “I’ll enjoy it a lot more when he can enjoy it with me.”

He took his brother into his arms and sang softly,

“The days were glad, and all was fair,

And all the fields were green.

We trod familiar roads of home,

Thought of things we'd never seen.

We went together, hand in hand,

And our hearts were light.

Oh how could we have fathomed then

How dark would be the night?

'Twas merry then, when we were young,

And care we did not know.

Still I can see, in memory's eye,

Your face, all free from woe,

Your shining eyes, your smile that like

The sun so brightly shone.”

He kissed Frodo’s head, then closed his eyes.

Merry bestowed his own kiss to his cousin’s forehead before curling up next to him. “You nearly died for the Shire, love,” he murmured with a brush of Frodo’s curls. “Now it’s time to live for it.”

“Live, cousin, please,” Pippin begged quietly. He kissed Frodo’s brow, then snuggled up to Merry.
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A/N: Another musical masterpiece from Queen Galadriel.