Smoke
By ALBA

FANDOM: Lord of the Rings - Character Fiction

RATING: PG-13

SPOILERS: Everything (meaning, all 3 Lord of the Rings books, as this takes place after The Return of the King has ended.

SUMMARY: Little bit of fluff... Written for my friend Gabby.

DISCLAIMER: Wow, I have to do a new disclaimer here! Okay, the characters mentioned in this story do not belong to me, they belong to J.R.R. Tolkien's estate. I merely borrowed them and will return them when I'm finished with them. I am making no money off this fiction, in fact, I'm paying for it to even BE here. So don't sue me because I am flat broke. PrettySparklyDanceBoys (otherwise known as *NSync) broke my bank.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: For Gabby, who was having a bad day. Here's a Pippin to cheer you up! What IS it with me and the darn hobbits these days?

Smoke

"Do you ever think about it, Merry?" Pippin asked one night, gazing over the rim of his pipe at the older hobbit. Merry blew a smoke ring towards the ceiling and thought for a moment.

"Think about what?"

"You know."

Merry sighed softly. "I try not to. If I do, I'll think about the things I regret."

"What do you regret about it?"

"What's with the questions tonight, Pip?"

"It's rude to answer a question with another question."

"I know. But answer my question and I'll answer yours. What's wrong?"

"I don't know," Pippin said, settling back in his chair and placing his feet on the warm hearth. "I'm just... worried."

"Worried?"

"About Sam. And Frodo. And you."

"Why do you worry about me, Pip? I'm fine." Merry smiled, but it was hollow and he knew the younger hobbit saw right through it.

"Meriadoc, I'm old enough to know when somebody's not telling me something," Pippin shot back, leaning forward to glare across the expanse of the fireplace.

"Nothing's wrong, Pip. Seriously. If there was something wrong with me, you'd be the first to know!"

"Come on, I'm not a child anymore."

"I never said you were."

"Then stop treating me like I am!" Pippin flung his arms in the air, nearly throwing his pipe across the room in his frustration. "Merry, the things I've seen and done would have made even Bilbo's toes curl!"

"We've seen and done," came the soft correction.

"Whatever. We've faced the Ringwraiths."

Merry winced.

"Trolls."

Another wince, this one for a different reason. He'd almost lost Pippin to that troll and he didn't like to be reminded of that fact. He opened his mouth to halt the furious flow of Pippin's words but the younger hobbit kept speaking.

"We helped defeat the forces of the Dark Lord."

"I know."

"How can you be so calm? Pippin yelled, jumping to his feet and stalking the few feet between his chair and Merry's. "Frodo lost his finger and most of himself to that damn Quest! Sam's half the hobbit he once was, and I don't just mean physically. Doesn't any of that BOTHER you?"

"Of course it does!" Merry exclaimed, not meeting Pippin's angry gaze. "But I don't really regret a single step of our journey. I think we were meant to do this, Pip."

"Small comfort."

"What is wrong with you tonight?"

"Nothing."

"Pippin." Merry's tone held just a hint of warning and Pippin backed off, sitting heavily in his chair. "Why do you ask questions you don't want to hear the answers for? Does it bother *you* that we went on this Quest?"

"Sometimes," Pippin answered truthfully and Merry paused.

"Do you regret it?"

"No." Avoiding Merry's eyes and taking a puff from his pipe, Pippin turned his gaze to the ceiling. "If not for the Quest, I never would have found you. How can I regret that?"

Releasing the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding, Merry smiled. "You have no idea how much that means." Mood considerably lighter, Merry settled back in his own chair and re-lit his pipe and slyly watched Pippin through the gentle wisps of smoke that rose from the small wooden bowl.

"I think I do know what it means," Pippin finally said. "I do know because... Because it means the same to me. I guess the Ring was good for something."

"Don't talk about that thing here." Just like that, tension rose again and Pippin rolled his eyes.

"Why not? It's gone. Burned. Destroyed. It can't hurt us anymore."

"Just don't. Please, Pip."

"Because it reminds you of things you'd rather forget?"

Merry blinked at the sarcastic tone to Pippin's voice. "Pip, *what* has gotten into you tonight? I've told you, I don't regret one step of the journey. But if I had to change anything about the Quest, I would give back what that Ring took away from Sam and Frodo. Only for their sakes do I choose not to think about that simple, small object that was the cause of so much pain and doubt."

"I know."

"The Quest nearly killed them both, and I don't know if either Sam or Frodo will ever be alright again."

"They've changed," agreed Pippin. "I don't know what I'm thinking. I just want to move on."

"Then why are you dwelling on the past? Look ahead, not behind. We can't change what's already come to pass. All we can do is plan our future."

"You sound like an elf. That sounds like something Lord Elrond or Lady Galadriel would have said."

"I have the pointy ears." Merry wiggled his ears with that comment and Pippin snorted with laughter, the tense mood disappearing with the first giggle. Glancing out the window briefly, Merry asked, "do you think they realize?"

"Merry, they don't blink an eye at Rosie-Sam-Frodo anymore, so why would they think badly of us?" The two of them had bought a small hole for themselves soon after returning to the Shire, using the excuse that being such important hobbits they needed a hole to themselves. Their respective families had laughed it off, saying it was Frodo's influence on them. Which was closer to the truth than many of them would care to realize.

"Rosie-Sam-Frodo?" Merry repeated, laughing. "Is that what they're calling that arrangement up in Bag End? What do they call us, then?"

"In love?"

"That we are. Come here." Opening his arms, Merry welcomed Pippin into their embrace. Nuzzling his nose into the soft blond curls, he planted a soft kiss on the crown of Pippin's head, earning a contented purr. Pippin smelled like apples and pipeweed and home, all smells that Merry loved very much. Almost as much as he loved the hobbit currently buried in his arms. They sat like that for a while, cuddling, before Pippin let out a mighty yawn. "Go to sleep, meleth."

"Merry?" Pippin sounded like a child when he was half-asleep.

"Yes, Pip." Another kiss, another purr.

"Where'd you learn to speak Elvish?"

"I picked it up from Aragorn."

"I love you, Merry. My melethron."

"I love you, too, Pippin."

*********

meleth- love
melethron - lover