A/N:  Just in time for Valentine's Day we have this selection that starts out with a little movie verse but the rest is book and the book is quoted from.  I will admit to cheating here since this is from "I Can't" that I wrote earlier, but it is most appropriate for this tale also and for this day. True love comes in many forms as it shown here by Frodo's love for Sam and Middle-earth at large and in Sam's love for Frodo that is strong enough to risk drowning.  Enjoy (again!)

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Frodo stood on the river bank, the Ring and its chain held in his open palm. He was weeping with the grief and strain of the choice before him. I can't go on alone, but alone I must. I can't lead anyone else to death. Gandalf has already fallen and because I chose to go that way. Boromir has fallen because the Ring is too close. I can't bear to think of Sam or Merry or Pippin being twisted. I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

The voice of Gandalf came to him then. So do all who live to see such times but that is not for them to decide. All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you.

The will hardened in Frodo. He closed his hand around the Ring and put it on his pocket, then he pushed the boat into the river and jumped in, resolutely ignoring Sam's voice calling after him. But he could not harden his heart fast enough. He turned back when he heard splashes and watched in horror as Sam's head disappeared under the water. "Sam!"

I can't let him drown! I can't!

He frantically turned the boat around and reached down to his friend. "Up you come, Sam, my lad!" said Frodo. "Now take my hand."

"Save me, Mr. Frodo!" gasped Sam. "I'm drownded. I can't see your hand."

Frodo's hand grasped Sam's and he felt his friend's fingers close around his, reassuring as it always from many tramps in the Shire, as though it had always belonged there and always would. What was he thinking trying to leave Sam behind? He did it out of love and Sam followed out of love. There was nothing Frodo knew that he could do to reward such devotion. It was going to cost Sam his life and a bit more of Frodo died inside to know that. They reached the shore again.

"Of all the confounded nuisances you are the worst, Sam!" he said, frustration, grief, anxiety and love all mingled in his voice and heart.

"Oh, Mr. Frodo, that's hard!" said Sam shivering. "That's hard, trying to go without me and all. If I hadn't a guessed right, where would you be now?"

"Safely on my way."

"Safely!" said Sam, amazed, scandalized and horrified that his beloved master would ever think such a thing was even possible without his Sam looking over him. "All alone and without me to help you? I couldn't have borne it, it'd have been the death of me."

"It would be the death of you to come with me, Sam," said Frodo, "and I couldn't have borne that."

"Not as certain as being left behind," said Sam. "It's just like you used to say, Mr. Frodo. The best adventures are the dark ones and you aren't going to be on all by your own self."

"This one will be very dark, my Sam. I didn't want to lead you into it because we won't be coming back from it. This is no there and back again like Bilbo had.  And I seem to recall that you once said that you wouldn't want to be in such adventures."

Sam was not about to be dissauded. "That was before I knew you were going to get away yourself.  I'm sure there were times Mr. Bilbo didn't think he'd be coming back either and he did. Just you sit tight, Mr. Frodo, and let me take care of you and everything's going to turn out the way it's supposed to, just as the Lady said."

"What if it's supposed to have a sad ending, Sam? This road we are taking leads nowhere but into black night."

"Then it will be as you said when you taught me the names of the stars - we'll be able to see them better in the dark. If it wasn’t dark, we would miss out on all their beauty. And just because we are going forward into darkness, don’t mean that we can't turn around when the job is done. It's going to lead back home in the end."

"I can't dampen your spirits, can I, Sam, even though you are soaked everywhere else?" Frodo asked with a small smile.

Sam looked at his beloved master square on. "No, Mr. Frodo, you can't."

Frodo took his gardner and guardian into his arms and hugged him tight. "I'm glad, Sam, I cannot tell you how glad."