Thanks for the feedback, everyone! :-)

My beta gave me a sort of "It's great, but it could be BRILLIANT!" thing with this chapter, so hopefully her beta notes helped me acomplish that. ;-)

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Chapter 8 - Confessions

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A small bounce in her step, Diamond walked briskly towards Pippin’s bedroom.  She held a book tightly against her chest; it was a small book, but a bit more complex than what she had been reading.  Pippin had selected it from the North-tooks’ small library as a sort of reading assignment for her, and she was on her way to show her progress to him.

She reached Pippin’s door and was getting ready to knock when she heard Paladin Took’s voice coming from inside.

“--nearly two weeks longer than planned!”

It only took Diamond a moment to realize what the topic of this conversation was, and she bit her lip.

“If you wanted to leave, why didn’t you ever say so?” came Pippin’s reply.  Diamond thought she sensed some anxiety in his voice.

Paladin sighed deeply.  “I suppose I was hanging on to some shreds of hope about this trip’s other purpose, if you’ll recall.”

Pippin echoed his father’s sigh.  “Yes, I recall.”

“You have seemed a bit... distracted lately.  I don’t suppose there is any one person who is responsible for this, is there?”

Diamond was only slightly aware of the fact that she was holding her breath.

“Well?” Paladin prompted after a moment of silence.

“Are you wanting to arrange a wedding within the month?” asked Pippin in a rather impertinent tone.

“Are you dodging my previous question?” Paladin shot back angrily.

“If you absolutely must know, Dad - yes, I have been spending time with one of the girls here.”

Diamond’s heart gave an inexplicable leap--

“And no, a marriage does not seem imminent.”

--and fell just as quickly as it had risen.

Diamond pulled at a lock of hair that fell over her shoulder, wondering why Pippin’s words had triggered such a response from her.  There was something about Pippin that had Diamond terribly confused - it was the way she felt when she was in his presence.  Some change would come over her, a change that was somewhat frightening, and at the same time had a rather calming, soothing effect on her.  It would feel right somehow, if it didn’t scare her so much.

Paladin’s voice pulled Diamond out of her daze.  “So who is this girl?”

“Her name is Diamond.  She’s the youngest one - dark hair, small, pale, do you remember her?”

“Ah, yes...”  Something about Paladin’s tone made Diamond slightly nervous.  “Well then, I suppose it’s good that you aren’t seeking a courtship with her.”

Diamond froze.

“Who says I’m not-- wait, what do you mean?”

“I’ve heard some things about her,” said Paladin awkwardly.  “Feldigram doesn’t speak of it much, but he said enough.  Why, it was her condition all those years ago that started the North-tooks’ financial troubles.”

Diamond’s breath came out in ragged gasps, and her heart began beating at an alarming rate.

“What condition?”  Pippin’s voice then changed, holding an underlying fierceness.  “And how is Diamond responsible for these people’s monetary issues?”

“I never said she was solely responsible, but from what I understand, she did have... complications that needed to be taken care of.”

Diamond was torn between rushing into the room and running as far away from it as possible.

“If you’ve got something to say about Diamond, why not just come out and say it?”

Please no, please...

“I... oh, it doesn’t matter, does it?  You said so yourself, you aren’t seeking a marriage with her!”

“But I care about her!”

“Well then, ask her about it yourself!”

Diamond took another gasping breath as the voices began to fade away.  She swooned and fell forward, hitting the door before slumping onto the ground.

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Pippin’s response was cut short by the loud thud from the hallway.  He dashed out of his room; what he saw made his heart turn to ice.

He rushed over to where Diamond lay and gently turned her over onto her back, stroking her cheek as he tightly clasped her cold hand.  “Diamond?” he whispered frantically, pressing his hand to her forehead.

He barely noticed that his father knelt beside him.  “Lay her on the bed,” Paladin commanded as he stood.  “I’ll go for help.”

As Paladin quickly walked away, Pippin carefully gathered Diamond into his arms and carried her into his room.  He laid her onto his bed and sat down beside of her.

“Diamond,” he said softly, bringing his face close to hers as his hand caressed her cheek.  “Diamond, come back to me...”

A strange curiosity overtook Pippin; he recalled an old tale he had heard as a child about a hero who awoke his sleeping damsel by laying a gentle kiss on her lips.  Though Pippin still considered Diamond’s lips to be sacred territory that was not his right to claim, he wondered if perhaps some sort of kiss would be in order in his attempts to wake this damsel...

Pippin leaned forward until his lips brushed against Diamond’s brow.  He kept them there for a moment, unwilling to separate himself from the feel of her soft skin, and hoping that his lips might somehow hold the power to pull her back into consciousness.  He pulled away only when he felt Diamond shift slightly, and he still kept his face close to hers as he let out a deep sigh of relief.

“Are you all right?” he whispered.

Diamond groaned softly.  “I... what... Pippin?”

He took one of her hands and massaged it.  “You fainted.”

Memory seemed to return to Diamond; she bit her lip and turned her head away from Pippin.

“Diamond?” he prodded.  “Are you all right?”

She rubbed her chest with her free hand and nodded wordlessly.  Tears sparkled in her eyes, making them turn an even brighter shade of blue.  Pippin’s chest tightened at the heartbreaking image.

“I’m sorry, Pippin,” she said softly.  “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, I just...”

Pippin squeezed her hand comfortingly.  “Shh, don’t worry about that.  I understand.”

A faint smile flashed across Diamond’s face.  “You always understand.  Sometimes I feel like you’re the only one who understands.”

Pippin stared down at her hand, his brow furrowed.  “Diamond, I--”

He stopped short when he heard several other hobbits entering the room.  He turned to see Paladin, Feldigram, Bellamanta, and a few others crowded in the doorway.

Bellamanta was the first to approach the bed.  “Oh Diamond, if you weren’t feeling well, you should have said something!”  Pippin saw that Diamond avoided her mother’s gaze.

Another hobbit, whom Pippin assumed was the healer, sat down on the other side of the bed next to Diamond.  As he put his hand to her forehead, he asked, “Have you been having any problems recently, Diamond?”

Diamond muttered something about a few small headaches, and how they weren’t anything important.

The old healer sighed.  “Now, Diamond, you know that you are to report any sort of problems.”

“I didn’t think it was important,” she mumbled.

“Well, it obviously was,” Feldigram put in, “since you fainted just now.”

“She only fainted because she was feeling stressed!” Pippin snapped.

“Stressed?”  Bellamanta looked at her daughter with furrowed brows.  “About what, dear?”

“It’s nothing,” Diamond said meekly.  Pippin could see that tears were threatening to escape her eyes.

“Would you like to rest, Diamond?” he asked her gently.  She looked up at him and nodded gratefully.

“Now see here, young lad--” Feldigram began.

Practically fuming, Pippin turned his head to glare at him.  “Diamond would like to rest.  Do you understand?”

Bellamanta touched the healer’s shoulder, gesturing for him to stand.  She then turned to her husband.  “Come along, Feldigram.  Don’t get yourself worked up.”  He tried to protest, but Bellamanta managed to herd him out into the hallway, the healer following them.

But Paladin lingered in the doorway for a moment.  “Remember what I said, Peregrin.”

Pippin kept his eyes fixed on Diamond.  “I remember.”

When Paladin had left, closing the door behind him, Pippin asked Diamond, “Would you like me to leave?”

Diamond shook her head, tightening her grip on his hand.  “Please stay, Pippin.”

They sat in silence for a moment; Pippin lovingly stroked her palm, causing Diamond’s fingers to reflexively close around his.  Finally, she said, “I was sick.”

Pippin looked down at her with surprise.  “What?”

She met his gaze steadily, her eyes wide and mournful.  “When I was nine years old, I was sick with a fever.  I was coughing up blood for two months, and I couldn’t tell where I was half the time.  The healers said that there was no cure, and the most they could do for me was give me herbs to make me sleep so that I did not feel so much pain.”

“Diamond...” Pippin reached out to touch her cheek, and she closed her eyes.

“They don’t know how I ever survived it, but I did eventually recover.  For the most part.”  Her brows knitted together with the pain of the memories she was reliving.  “I’ve always been rather weak because of it, I suppose.  My lungs especially, because of all the coughing, and...”  She trailed off as tears escaped from behind her eyelids.  She tried to speak again, but no words came, and her free hand moved slowly to rest on her abdomen.

Comprehension dawned on Pippin.  “You’re barren?” he whispered.

“That’s what the healers said.  And that’s... that’s why my parents don’t want me to get married.  They don’t think I’ll make a suitable bride because of it.”

Pippin tilted her chin up, and she opened her eyes to look at him.

“I think that they are very foolish to believe such a thing,” he said.

Diamond’s eyes widened slightly, and her lips parted as she took a deep, shuddering breath.  Pippin slowly reached out and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her up into a gentle embrace.  She buried her face in his chest and wept as he held her close, wishing he would never have to let go.

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