Pippin opened his moth to speak, but Sam dragged him away before he could say anything, and attract Merry and Frodo's attention. Once they were out of Merry and Frodo's hearing range, Sam turned to Pippin.
'We saw nothing, we heard nothing, we know nothing, alright?' Sam asked. Pippin nodded, shocked.
'But...'
'Nothing, Pip. Whatever is going on between Frodo and Merry is between Frodo and Merry. If they were planning on telling us anything, they will do so when they are ready. They're probably worried we'd react badly.'
It was early morning when the last guests finally left the party. Frodo was almost asleep by the time he reached his room with Merry. He fell onto his bed, and was almost immediately fast asleep. Merry tucked the hobbit into the bed, not wanting to leave him. Eventually, Merry decided to stay, and took his shirt of before getting into the bed next to Frodo. The beds were made for elves, not for hobbits, and there was plenty of room for them both. Sam and Pippin wouldn't miss him.
Merry sat on the edge of the bed with Elrond, Elvéndir and Elriong as Frodo made his way slowly but surely around his room, shakily but unaided.
He made his way right around the room, before falling to the floor exhausted. Merry immediately went over and pulled Frodo to his feet and helped him to the bed.
'All the way around the room, you are improving Frodo.' Elrond said, as Frodo sat on the bed next to Merry. 'It will not be long before you will be able to move about as if you never were injured.'
'That's not true, and you know it.' Frodo said, slightly more viciously that he had intended. 'Not that I'm ungrateful, or anything.' He quickly added. 'But I'll never be able to go much faster than walking, will I?'
'I very much doubt you'll be able to run, if that's what you mean.' Elrond replied. 'But you are no longer required to do so. You have been through dangers, have had to move quickly, but that's in the past. I am guessing that you plan to spend the rest of your life here?'
'That's what Bilbo did, and that's what I'll do.' Frodo said. 'I think Sam and Pip want to see the Shire again, but all my other friends are here – Merry, Strider, Legolas and you lot.'
'Then you will have no need of speed. Elves are relaxed people, apart from the children. Nothing is done with speed here.'
Frodo nodded. 'I want to try again.' He said. 'I want to walk around my room again.'
'Off you go then.' Merry said. Frodo got up from the bed and, rather shakily, managed to get the whole way around the room. He managed to get right back to the bed again, and was suddenly knocked to the floor by Merry hugging him.
'You did it, you did it, you did it, you did it!' Merry said, still hugging Frodo.
'You're... squashing... me!' Frodo said, trying to get Merry off him so he could breathe.
Merry got up, and helped Frodo to his feet, before hugging him again, this time more gently.
'You're going to be okay, Fro. You're going to be fine.' Merry said.
'I know... I'll be the Frodo you remember from our lives in the Shire soon, I promise.'
When Merry entered Frodo's room a few days later, Frodo was already up and dressed. It was a warm, summery day, and Frodo was standing on his balcony, looking out at the beauty of Rivendell.
He jumped when he felt a hand on his back. He turned to see it was Merry, and he slipped his arm around the other hobbit's waist as Merry came and stood by him.
'Happy birthday, Fro.' Merry said, giving Frodo a kiss on the cheek.
'Is that all I get?' Frodo asked, pretending to be upset.
'Later, Frodo, later. Sam and Pip will be here any second.'
Frodo looked at Merry pleadingly, giving him the 'puppy-eyes' look.
'Oh, one more kiss then.' Merry said, kissing Frodo again, this time on the lips. The two hobbits didn't break apart until they heard the door of Frodo's room open again. They let go of each other as Sam and Pippin came bounding onto the balcony. Aragorn and Arwen followed them, being slightly more graceful.
'Happy birthday, Fro.' Sam and Pippin said, hugging their friend.
'Happy birthday, Frodo.' Aragorn and Arwen said.
'Coming down for breakfast?' Pippin asked.
'Is there anything you think about apart from food?' Arwen asked.
Pippin looked to be deep in thought, before finally saying, 'No!'
They all laughed, and left Frodo's room to go to the main dining-hall. They got to the end of the corridor before Frodo stumbled. Merry and Aragorn grabbed him, and they helped Frodo the rest of the way.
It was late afternoon, and the four hobbits were walking around the grounds of Rivendell, Merry and Sam helping Frodo along. They reached the small graveyard where Bilbo had been buried. There were very few graves, as elves were immortal beings. The graves belonged to the elves that had decided to give up their immortality for love, and friends of the elves who had died at Rivendell, like Bilbo.
The four hobbits stopped by the fence around the graveyard. Frodo looked to the newest gravestone lay. It was near to where he was standing, and he could read:
Here lies Bilbo Baggins
Died aged 121
An amazing hobbit and elf-friend
'Happy birthday, Bilbo.' Frodo said quietly. Sam and Pippin didn't hear him, but he felt Merry, who had been standing next to him, squeeze his hand comfortingly.
Frodo lay awake in bed. Merry was asleep in his arms, and Frodo forgot all sense of time as he held Merry close to him, and looked at the sleeping face of his lover.
Merry's eyes began to flutter open. Frodo held him closer, easing Merry back to sleep with a kiss. 'Thank you, Merry. Thank you for standing by me, looking after me. Thank you so much.'
Sometimes it's hard
When rain's pouring in
I used to worry
What tomorrow would bring
Then you came along
Changed my world around
Gave me something to believe in
When I'm upside down
And let me say I owe it all to you
And I wanna thank you
For making the sun come
Shining through
Now that we're together
Everything can only get better
Now that you're around me
Swear I'm going to love you forever
Now that we're together
Everything can only get better
You bring the sunshine to my life
If you should find
You need someone too
Just turn, head in my direction
And I'll do the same for you
And let me say from the bottom of my heart
I wanna thank you
For making the sun come
Shining through
And let me ask you
Where would I be
Without you right here
Making the sun shine down on me
Kissing Merry one more time, Frodo fell asleep.
When Frodo awoke, it was still dark. Merry was still peacefully asleep, and the world seemed still. Frodo had no idea what had woken him, but he felt uneasy, almost scared.
He looked wildly around the room, half expected something to come leaping out of the shadows and kill him. There was nothing though...
Nothing, apart from a pair of large, green eyes, clearly visible in the darkness. The eyes disappeared, and Frodo heard someone, or something, walking around his room.
'Merry!' Frodo whispered, shaking Merry awake. 'There's something in here.'
'Nonsense, Fro.' Merry said, still half asleep.
'No, really! I saw eyes, and I can hear something. Ah!' Frodo jumped as the green eyes appeared again, right by his bed. He could make out the shape of some small, humanoid creature standing at his bedside.
'Gollum!' Frodo said, half out of disbelief and half out of panic. He hadn't yet forgotten his experience at Mount Doom.
'You desstroyed my Preciousss!' Gollum hissed, before running from the room.
'I'm scared, Merry!' Frodo whispered.
'So am I, Fro.' Merry said, who had now seen Gollum with his own eyes, and heard him. 'Let us get up and dressed in case we have to run for it.' Merry said. Frodo whimpered at the phrase 'run for it'. 'Sorry,' Merry said, realising what he had said before. 'I won't leave you, whatever happens.'
The hobbits got out of bed, and gathered up their clothes that lay strewn around the room from the previous evening's passion. They dressed quickly, before calming down slightly.
'Nothing seems to have happened,' Frodo said, sitting on the edge of the bed. 'Perhaps we were both imagining it.'
'No, I'm certain we didn't. We weren't drunk or anything; we weren't seeing things. We could have scared him off, though.'
'I don't think we would have scared him off, especially since he was probably here for revenge on me.' Frodo said. He went onto his balcony to see whether Gollum could be seen outside.
When he pulled back the sliding doors leading onto his balcony, he immediately heard cries and screams from below. Frodo looked down to see what looked like all the inhabitants of Rivendell gathered outside. One look around showed him why – Gollum had set the building Merry and Frodo were in on fire.
'Merry!' Frodo shouted, going back into his room as quickly as possible. 'This place is on fire! We have to get out of here!'
'What? What about Sam and Pippin, the other elves.'
'I saw them all outside. I saw Sam and Pippin in the crowd, the place seems to have been evacuated. They missed us out for some reason.'
'We need to get out of here, and quickly.' Merry said. 'I'll help you Fro, let's go!'
Merry opened the main door of Frodo's room, and the room filled with smoke, making both of the hobbits cough and splutter. Merry grabbed Frodo around the waist, and led him out the door.
It was immediately apparent why the elves hadn't evacuated Frodo and Merry – the end of the corridor was blocked with fire. Merry knew that Frodo's room was the only room along this corridor that was actually occupied, so he and Frodo were the only ones in danger.
'Come on, Fro. We'll find a way out of here.' Merry said encouragingly, and the two hobbits began down the corridor, bending low so they would breathe in as little smoke as possible.
They reached the end of the corridor, and the great wall of fire. 'We can't go on!' Frodo cried in dismay.
'Yes we can!' Merry said, looking around. There is a small gap in the fire.'
'No! I mean I cannot go any further. My legs won't hold me any longer, I suddenly feel really tired, ill and weak.'
'It's the smoke... but we have to keep going Fro. You have to try!' Merry pulled Frodo back onto his feet from where he had been sitting on the floor. Keeping close to the wall, they managed to get past the wall of fire. They knew that no elf would have managed to get past – it was lucky that they were very small creatures.
'I'm sorry, Merry.' Frodo cried, as he fell back to the floor on the other side of the fire. 'Go on and save yourself, I can't go on.'
'I'm not leaving you, Frodo. We both live, or we both die.' Merry said, kneeling at Frodo's side. Frodo had inhaled too much smoke, he was coughing and spluttering, and was falling unconscious before Merry's eyes.
'HELP!' Merry called, not knowing what else to do. The fire was spreading around them, before long they would be surrounded.
'HELP!' Merry called again, and amazingly he heard a reply, not far off.
'Where are you?' He heard a voice instantly recognisable as Aragorn's call.
'Here!' Merry called, before realising how useless that piece of information was. 'Fourth floor! We're by the main staircase! The fire's getting closer!'
'Don't move!' He heard Aragorn call, and heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Aragorn appeared at the top of the stairs with Gandalf. His staff was raised, and was obviously trying to keep back the fire. Both of their faces were covered with black smudges from the smoke and ash.
Aragorn picked Frodo up, and the four of them ran back down the stairs, Gandalf muttering some words and shooting jets of light from the end of his staff at any fire that dared to block their path. Whenever this happened, the fire shrunk back, leaving a path for them to go through.
They eventually made it outside, and Aragorn laid Frodo on the ground. The hobbit was as white as a sheet, and didn't seem to be breathing.
Merry pulled Frodo into his arms. He knew Sam and Pippin had come over, but he didn't care if they found out about him and Frodo anymore.
'Don't go, Frodo.' Merry said, rocking Frodo in his arms. 'Don't die, don't leave me! Don't join Bilbo yet!'
Frodo remained pale and limp in Merry's arms. Merry heard Sam and Pippin crying at his side, and he found tears rolling down his own cheeks. Then Sam and Pippin's arms were around him, and he burst into floods of tears.
'He's dead!' Merry cried. 'He's gone... I loved him, and he's gone.'
'We know about you and Frodo.' Sam said, hugging Merry. 'We're here for you.'
'You... you knew?'
'We saw you at Strider and Arwen's wedding party... we never said anything though.'
'He's dead!' Merry cried again, falling to the ground at Frodo's side.
'No he's not!' Merry heard Pippin say, utter disbelief in his voice. Merry looked up to see Frodo lying on his back with his eyes open. He was choking from the smoke and soot.
Aragorn turned him on his side, and he was immediately violently sick. After that, he stopped coughing, and the colour returned to what could be seen of his skin under the ash and soot smudges all over his skin.
'Bless you, Frodo, you're alive!' Sam cried, and Frodo found himself being hugged by Merry, Sam and Pippin.
Elrond walked over to them, holding something in his arms. With disgust, Elrond dropped the thing by the hobbits. It was Gollum... or, more precisely, it had been Gollum. Gollum had been slain – he had an elven arrow through his chest, and was most definitely dead.
'That will be the last you will be hearing of Mr. Sméagol, young hobbits.' Elrond said happily.
A year passed. Frodo and Merry were much happier now they knew that Sam and Pippin knew about them and were perfectly happy. They had, in time, told the rest of their friends. There wasn't a single negative reaction. Merry now shared a room with Frodo.
Rivendell, being an elven building, had charms on it against fire, so there had been no damage to the actual building, even though it had been difficult to stop the actual fire.
Frodo's walking was progressing in leaps and bounds. He could walk for around for about 10 minutes now, but he was still quite shaky. He hadn't mastered staircases yet, either, and still needed a lot of help getting up or down them.
One day, Sam and Pippin called Merry and Frodo to their room. 'You're the first two we are going to tell,' Sam began, 'Because we don't want to upset you.'
'What?' Merry asked.
'Pip and me... we've decided to go back to the Shire. We know you and Fro are perfectly happy here, but we want to go back to all our old friends.'
Merry and Frodo bowed their heads. 'So be it.' Frodo said eventually. 'But we'll miss you. We don't blame you for wanting to go back... I admit I had forgotten about you, with all my dreams of living here like Bilbo did. If you want to go back, then you should.'
'I agree.' Merry said. 'I am perfectly happy here. So long as I'm with Fro, I'm happy, but you should be back with the other hobbits. You've been away to long.'
'We knew you'd understand.' Pippin said, hugging Merry and Frodo in turn. 'We're not going immediately... there are things we want to do before we go, but once we have done those things we will be off.'
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