Summary: Wee!Pippin experiences his first snow with 12-year old Merry. Eglantine makes an appearance as well.
A/N- Written for dreaminoflorien for Yule '05. Thanks to Slightlytookish for the beta!

First Snow

“Pippin?” Eglantine was surprised to see her four-year-old son at the front door, snow-soaked and shivering. Merry was besides Pippin with a smug smile on his face.

“Mummy—I’m so glad to be inside again,” Pippin said as he rushed inside to the warm smial. “The snow was fun, but it was sooooo cold!” Pippin shuddered against the warm body of his mother, and Eglantine quickly and gently removed Pippin’s snow-soaked cloaks and wrapped him with towels that had just been warmed by the fire. Somehow she had an instinctive feeling that the lads would get wet in the snow. She picked Pippin up and sat him near the fire which Paladin had prepared for the family when it had started snowing early that December morning.

“Now, there, there Pippin…you’ll warm up soon. You just rest by the fire. Now, Merry, why did you play so hard in the snow with Pippin?”

Merry grinned mischievously at Eglantine and replied, “I wanted to show Pippin how his first snow would be like… in more ways than one. I built him a snowman, though, so I wasn’t all bad,” Merry brushed off the remaining snow from his cloak and put out his cold hands to warm them by the fire.

“Merry!”

“No, it was fun… I like snow and it was fun, Mum, but I fell in it and it was very cold…Merry threw snow at me, but now I’m better,” Pippin snuggled into the warm towels around him while Eglantine put her arm around her son, rubbing Pippin’s cold hands between her own. “Don’t worry, momma—it wasn’t Merry’s fault that I was a bit clumsy in the snow… but I must say it wasn’t nice for him to throw snow at me…” Pippin glanced at Merry with a threatening glare upon his face. “Snow is cold, momma but it doesn’t taste like anything—just cold… very cold,” Pippin snuggled closer to his mother for warmth.

”I wished I could’ve been there to dunk you in the snow,” replied Eglantine scowling playfully at Merry who was trying hard to make amends by preparing warm drinks for all of them. “I wished I had come out to play and keep an eye on you both, but the Yule feast is tonight and I have so much to prepare.”

“Ah—a bit of snow never hurt anyone and Pip, I’ll be nicer next time in the snow, all right?” Merry handed a small cup of steamed milk to Pippin and gave a mug of tea to Eglantine.

Pippin received the cup graciously from Merry. “S’ok, Merry… you promise though… no more being a mean hobbit. We play next time only if you're not mean.” The lukewarm milk with honey was delicious and made him feel better and the bitter cold he had felt before was gradually fading as the heat of the fire warmed his toes and his mother’s arms cuddled him comfortably. With all the excitement from seeing and playing in his first snow, he was now warm and exhausted enough to doze off and take a little nap…

“I meant no harm, Aunt Eglantine. I just wanted Pippin to be happy in his first snow— it seems like he wants to nap now, the little sleepy-head,” Merry said as he fondly observed his young cousin’s drooping eyelids. “I’ll go bring him a blanket.”

“Thanks dear,” Eglantine wrapped her arms around the drowsy hobbit-lad in her lap.

Merry returned quickly and placed the blanket around Pippin’s body and whispered to Eglantine, “Pippin is fun to play with—we should play more often.”

“Of course, Merry—just so long as you don’t dunk poor Pippin in the snow that much,” Eglantine softly replied, as she grinned back to Merry, shaking her head in mild admonishment. Holding Pippin in her arms, she smiled down at her precious slumbering son, kissing him gently on the forehead and feeling ever so lucky to have a son in her arms.