Frodo sat at his writing desk trying to concentrate on the parchment before him and the words that he had just written. However, the harder he tried to distract himself from the confrontation that he was soon to have with Sam, the more he worried and pondered over it. He was still not entirely certain what he was going to say and he knew that he must have something, he had after all invited Sam over for a purpose, otherwise there was no reason Sam should be coming back up to Bag End instead enjoying a quiet evening at home.

A knock at the door soon announced Sam's arrival. Frodo took one last, deep breath and took the plunge, certain that he would not come out the better for his effort. He opened the door and there indeed was Sam, looking rather nervous.

"Come in Sam, can I get you a cup of tea?"

"No sir, thank you though, I had some already."

Frodo smiled, trying to sound normal, and mask his nerves, "Of course, how silly of me, let's go sit in the study, I want to talk to you for a moment."

Sam followed Frodo into the study, sitting in a chair that Frodo pointed to. They sat face to face with the fireplace to their respective left and right.

"Mister Frodo, sir, did I do something wrong?"

Frodo's nerves dissipated and he laughed, "No, not at all Sam, I just wanted to talk to you about something and I did not feel right disturbing your work, or talking about it in the garden."

"Good, 'cause my old gaffer'd have my head if'n you were to let me go sir."

"Sam I would never do anything of the sort and you know that. Sam, you're my friend, not just my gardener, I though that you knew that."

"I do sir, but well, I get to listening to talk sometimes and it makes me worry, that's all."

Frodo's brows furrowed in concern, "What kind of talk?"

"Jus' about how other folk treat their help, so rude likes, an' some say that you ought not treat me as a friend."

"Come Sam, you know better than I what block heads spread rumors about folk they don't even know."

"That's true, I didn't think of it that way."

Frodo rose, he walked over to Sam to stand in front of him, when Sam made to rise too Frodo put a gentle hand on his shoulder, forcing him to remain seated. "I had a reason for asking you here, and it is not to discuss the garden, or your position here, but rather, you yourself Sam. We've been friends for a long time and recently I've seemed to forget that, and it is not that I have ignored our friendship, but looked beyond it for something else. Something a little different than friendship, do you understand what I mean?" Frodo paused, he had said it, or tried to, in his own way, he only hoped that Sam understood his vague references and was not utterly confused.

"I think I do sir, but I do not want t'misunderstand you, for I feel that my heart would led me the wrong way if'n you don't use smaller words that mean what they say, instead of many things."

Frodo smiled, there was always Sam's plain common sense to ground him when he got lost in the stars, "Will then, I would use three simple words and hope that they do not scare you away with what they can imply. I love you."

"See sir, were that so hard?"

"Sam, you have no idea how hard or how long it has taken me to say that."

Sam put his hand on Frodo's shoulder, "An' you don't know how hard it's been for me to wait for you to say that."

"You mean that you already knew?"

"It's kinda hard to ignore some o' those stares you've given me, they've nearly set my face on fire from blushing. An' there's other things that I noticed, little things here and there."

"Why did you wait for me to say something?"

"You mister Frodo, are a puzzle, an' sometimes you're not even aware of all around you, an' you needed to work it out for yourself, just like I did."

Frodo felt very small, "You mean you fell the same way?"

"Of course, I don't see how I couldn't, you never did give me a choice on the matter."

"Well, I feel a complete fool at the moment. You have no idea how many times I tried to come up with some way to tell you in my imagination, or how many dreams I woke up from to find that this had not really occurred, how can it be so simple in real life? I had better not wake up and find that once again I am deceived."

"That there's your problem, mister Frodo, you thought 'bout it too much, you just needed to let it happen the way it wanted to. Now dreams I can't speak for, but you probably let your imagination run away with you, I've seen it happen before."

"Yes." Frodo sat on the floor in front of Sam, "How do we begin then?"

"I'd imagine that you have ideas as to that, but I'm in no rush sir, an' I think that there's some awkward moments ahead, but I'm more'n ready to have you, if you take my meaning."

"My goodness Samwise, where do you get all that patience and good sense."

"It's just plain hobbit sense, that's all."

"Yes, sometimes I think I've read too many stories to have plain hobbit sense anymore."

Sam reached down and took Frodo's hands into his, pulling him up from the floor, "Sit with me awhile, mister Frodo, I have secret to tell you before I have to be heading home." The chair was just about big enough to hold the two of them, but Frodo still food himself sitting on one of Sam's legs. They embraced one another gently and began to explore one another with gentle hands. First the face, then down the neck, across the shoulders and down their sides before Frodo gave in and kissed Sam lightly. The real thing was better than anything he had ever imagined and more solid than all his dreams. The kiss did not last long before they parted to breathe, but they soon came together again and repeated the action.

They broke apart, but did not move their faces any further than was necessary in order to look one another in the eye. "Where do we go from here?"asked Sam.

"We start at the beginning and take it from there, we have no need to rush, our lives are ahead of us, and I am quite willing to spend mine with you."

"Wise words, but I seem to have lost my place, hum, where was it?" Sam let his lips brush over Frodo's face lightly, as though searching for the taste of something. The feather light touch made Frodo giggle, and needless to say the hour was quite late when Sam finally returned home.