We were laughing and crying at the same time while I held him close and vowed to never let him go. He was too light in my arms and I meant to scold him for not eating but one look from those beautiful eyes and I forgot everything but how much I loved him. His lips still tasted of raspberry tea so I knew that the nausea was still going on. Maybe that was why he was so thin still?

We must have kissed nonstop for an hour before weariness almost sent me to the floor.

"Sam, my wonderful Sam, you're asleep on your feet. Come to bed and let me hold you while you catch up on your rest." His sweet voice sounded like it was coming from far away but I followed it into a snug room with a soft bed built for two hobbits.

His hands stripped me bare while I was still trying to understand what he was saying.

"Bed, Sam. In you go and yes, I'm coming right in after you." He slid in beside me and his arms pulled me right up against his warm skin. "I've got you now, my own Sam. I'm never letting you go ever again. Sleep now and dream of me. I'll be right here when you wake up."

I could never refuse him anything so I fell asleep, just like that.

*******

I need to stretch in the worst way but someone was lying on my arm so I couldn't. My eyes flew open when I realized where I was. Frodo's dark head fit right under my chin and one of my hands was tangled in the silky curls. Holding onto him like I was a babe still and he was my blanket. For years, I'd refused to go to sleep without my yellow blanket with the bunnies on it.

Smiling, I looked down at Frodo's profile and just gazed my fill. He was all I needed now that I had the Gaffer taken care of. For the rest of my life, I would care for him and love him so much that Bilbo would write a song just about us. I glanced around the room in the light of the dying fire and grinned at how homey it looked.

Everything was sized just right for hobbits. That was such a relief after all the Big People's places we'd been living in lately. The walls were a creamy yellow like the very best kind of scrambled eggs. The stone mantel and hearth were a real pretty brown and gold granite. The wing chairs by the fire were upholstered in a kind of swirly blue-brown fabric that shouldn't have looked that good together. The bed was a four-poster with snug curtains all around to keep out any chill that might get in. The curtains were the same swirly pattern but reversed.

I wasn't sure how I knew but I was sure that Frodo had picked it out himself. But where had they found someone to weave so much fabric in the time we'd been apart? I had a vague memory of the outer room but I'd been so concentrated on kissing Frodo, the whole thing could have been done in pink and purple and I wouldn't have noticed a thing.

My stomach growled a little in the quiet room and I grimaced. I couldn't remember the last time I'd eaten but I was willing to bet that it had been at least a day or so.

"My hungry Sam, what a lovely sound to wake up to." Frodo raised his sleepy head and blinked at me while I fell in love all over again. "Dearest Sam, are you rested enough to eat now before we sleep a little more?"

"Yes, I'm hungry and yes, I need to sleep some more but right now I need to kiss you even more." I told him earnestly and watched that wide smile of his blossom just for me.

Leaning in he kissed me so sweetly that I could hardly stand it. Now, I was home because where ever he was would always be my home. We nestled together for a long moment then he sat up and slid out of bed. When I went to follow suit, the room spun around me and I had to shake my head to clear it.

"No you don't, Sam." Frodo pushed me back down. "You've been traveling much too fast without taking time to eat properly for days. Lie back down and I will bring you in something to eat. Jallico has been cooking up a storm for the last few days since we knew you'd be coming soon."

He belted his robe around himself and sternly told me again to stay put. And truth be told, I didn't have the energy to move even if I'd had to. He was right about the lack of meals and the hurried pace that I'd set for the others. But I wasn't going to feel guilty because they understood how much I needed to be home. I looked around some more and noticed the little treasures scattered around.

Silver candlesticks stood on the mantle and I could have sworn that I'd last seen them in Bilbo's room at Rivendell. An open book on the oak bedside table was a familiar sight since Frodo almost always had two or three that he was reading. The carved posts on the oaken bedstead were beautiful, all trailing vines and a flower or two. I rubbed my hands on the soft blue sheets and thought them scrumptious.

A dark blue rug on the floor caught my eye next and I seemed to remember it had a real silky feel to it. Our clothes were still scattered all over the floor but I was too tired to get up and put them away. There was a long low dresser against the far wall and the same vines were entwined around all the dark edges. It looked like the handles were made of acorns and that reminded me of the silver acorn I'd planted in the space where the Party Tree once stood.

I might never know what it would grow up to be.

The door opened and Frodo came in carrying a heavily loaded tray. Before I could stop myself, I leapt from the bed and ran to help him. He frowned at me. "Sam, get back into bed. This little tray isn't going to hurt me."

But I already had it in my hands and I carried it back to the bed. "It's too heavy and I don't want you to hurt yourself."

He sniffed a little but followed me back to the bed. I set the tray right in the middle and climbed in after it. When I turned, Frodo was taking off his robe and throwing it onto one of the chairs. He was skinny everywhere but his stomach. That had really started to swell and I couldn't take my eyes off of him.

"I'm getting fat." He said apologetically and climbed in beside me.

"No, you're not, love. The babies are growing." I placed a hand right where the swell started and wished I could feel them move.

"Gandalf has a funny little tube and he puts one end on our stomachs to listen to the babies. You put the other end in your ear and you can hear all kinds of noises inside of you." He uncovered a dish of savory rabbit stew and handed me a spoon.

While I ate, he told me how they'd found twenty-two houses already built when they arrived. They'd scouted around for who might have built them but Elrohir and Elladan had found no sign that anyone had lived here for centuries. One of the biggest buildings was now the meeting hall and communal kitchens. They even had one of those spas where everybody liked to end the day, soaking in the hot springs that the original builders had built around.

I finished the stew and started in on the potatoes cooked just the way I liked them. He went on telling me about their adventures and I listened wide-eyed at all the interesting things they'd found while they were exploring. Gimli and Balic had scouted the nearest mountain, which they decided to call White Cap since even this early in the fall it had a snow covered top.

"They found evidence of marble quarrying and our whole bathroom is made of our very own blue-green marble. Wait until you see it." He grinned at me and nibbled on a biscuit covered with honey. "But more important, they found a cave full of storage jars sealed over two thousand years ago. We carried them all very carefully into one of the houses and Legolas has been deciphering the symbols on the seals. He thinks they may be scrolls left by the Varyans. But we need an expert to be sure that they don't disintegrate when we open them."

"Maybe they tell about males giving birth?" I asked hopefully. That was my greatest fear ... that Frodo would die when the babies were born.

"They might." He said with a nod. "And all kinds of wonderful things from when Middle-earth was young. The house where we took them is now the library. All the books that Aragorn let us bring are there, along with the scrolls that Elrond gave us. I can hardly wait until more books arrive. I think I'd like to be the archivist of our settlement."

"Have we got a name yet?" I asked since we hadn't come up with anything before we parted. The nice yellow cheese tasted wonderful with the salty biscuits and I tried to catch all the crumbs but knew I'd probably have to sweep out the bed when dinner was done.

"Not yet. We decided that for the moment it wasn't that important. A hard frost hit three days ago so there isn't much time to explore and finish up the homes we need for everybody." He finished his biscuit and drank some of the sweet tea. "We're doubling up this first winter. We'll be sharing this hobbit hole with Merry and Pip unless we have a respite from the cold. There just wasn't time to do it right so we've got the front room and the kitchen in the middle, this bedroom and the nursery to the right and another bedroom and study to the left. Just beyond the kitchen is the bathroom. Do you need to use that yet?"

And suddenly all the times I hadn't gone caught up with me. I felt so full that I needed it right now. He took my hand and slid out of bed, pulling me with him. Out the door we went and down a short hall, through the kitchen and into one of the most luxurious bathrooms I'd ever seen. It was so pretty that I felt a little intimidated by it all. But Frodo matter-of-factly showed me the little room where I could relieve myself while he went over to the big tub and started the water going.

Well, that rushing sounded started me going too, if you get my drift. Whew! I just about passed out from the relief of getting rid of it all. When I came out, he was already in the tub with a gleam in his eye and a bar of soap lathering in his hands. I climbed down into the sunken marble tub and he immediately started washing me from head to toe after first ducking me so I was wet all over.

It felt so good that I never wanted him to stop but part of me kept wanting to fall asleep right there in that pretty blue and gold marble tub. He just chuckled and rinsed me all off before helping me out and drying me off. I was yawning fit to bust when he led me back the way we'd come. A bed had never looked so good to me and once I fell onto the sheets, I was out like a candle.

*******

This time when I awoke, Frodo wasn't there and the tray from the night before was gone, too. I couldn't tell what time it was and it felt so good to not move that I didn't really care. It had been a very long time since I'd been lazy and it felt wonderful. The only thing better would have been cuddling up to my lover while we talked about anything at all. Or maybe it would be nice to have him read some of that pretty Elvish poetry?

I closed my eyes and dozed a bit, waiting for him to come back to me.

"Are you sure that he hasn't died, Frodo?" Merry's voice woke me up completely.

My eyes flew open and saw Frodo trying to hush our friend. "Not so's you'd notice. Is it time for breakfast?"

"We had that ages ago, Sam. But it is time for lunch so stop wasting the day away and get up to join us." He said sassily.

"Sam will get up when he wants to, you young reprobate. I can bring him a tray." Frodo cast a quick look over at me but I just smiled and sat up to stretch.

"Now's as good a time as any, I reckon. I do feel a mite peckish. Go away, Merry, so I can get dressed." I told him with a saucy grin and he saluted me before leaving.

"Goodness, Sam." Frodo went to my trunk, which must have been delivered while I was asleep. "I can see that something quite extraordinary happened in the Shire. You must tell me all about it over lunch. Here are some clean clothes."

I got dressed after I kissed him again. I figured that I had at least a thousand to catch up on. He chattered away about this and that and I listened with a sigh of contentment. I love him when he's happy because he likes to share that happiness with everybody. He's the most giving soul I know and it still made me a little mad at how the folks in the Shire had dismissed him so handily as that 'queer young Baggins with the odd notions'.

"What's wrong, love?" Frodo was buttoning my weskit, I realized with a start.

"Oh, just thinking about the hobbits we hired to drive the wagons. They're here but then they're going back to Hobbiton. I was kind of hoping that the empty wagons could take back some of that nice marble to help in the rebuilding of Hobbiton." I kind of evaded the question.

"Rebuilding?" Now, he was frowning and I hadn't meant to upset him at all.

"We'll tell you all about it at lunch, I promise." I hugged him close and breathed in that lovely Frodo scent. "But if we don't leave right now, we won't be eating out at all, if you catch my meaning?"

He chuckled and pulled away, taking my hand and leading me out into the front room. It had the same pretty colors that were in the bedroom and another silky rug under my feet. The cozy furniture near the fire was just right for Hobbits but with a love seat that would sit a Big Person or two, if they cuddled. Merry and Pip were waiting for us and we left all in a rush without me having the time to look everything over.

Our hobbit hole was nestled into the side of one of the foothills to the mountain that towered over us. Trees were everywhere, big grand ones that reached to the blue sky. It was a beautiful warm day even though it was October and sunlight bounced off the green and silver leaves of the trees that lined the path. There were still some of that pretty flower that the Elves call the 'elanor' blooming like little white stars among the tall grasses.

"It's a beautiful place, Frodo. I can hardly wait to see everything." Pip said with a bit of a bounce. "Have you found anything about the people who left these houses?" He gestured towards the larger homes that seemed to nestle among the trees.

"Not so far, Pip. It's the oddest thing though, sometimes I get the feeling that the original owners are still here, watching us from the shadows." Frodo smiled a little dreamily. "But they don't seem to mind us and a couple of times, I could swear that they led us to places where things we needed could be found. Sam will be surprised when he sees their herb garden."

I wasn't so sure about that feeling of his but so long as they didn't hurt anybody then I guess they were all right. I vaguely remembered the large building we'd passed along the way and now I could see the paving stones that spiraled out in front of it. The wagons from Hobbiton were there but quite empty now of all we'd brought with us. There was a great huge door set between the standing plinths of blue-gold marble. But Frodo led us to a smaller door to one side and pushing it open we stepped inside.

Tall pillars, painted to look like trees held up the walls and the ceiling soared high above us with the sun, moon and stars painted against a light blue sky. Round tables and chairs filled the room and I saw everyone I knew from the Hobbits we'd brought with us to Gimli, smiling at us from beside Legolas.

"Welcome, travelers!" His deep voice beckoned us over. "We can hardly wait to hear the tales of the Shire. Merry and Pip wouldn't say anything until we could all hear you. So, come and eat a little something first then unfold your tale."

We joined them and Jallico brought out enough steaming hot dishes to fill even a Hobbit empty stomach. Everything tasted wonderful but I wanted to ask about Legolas and how he was feeling and I couldn't. Afterwards, when we were private. For now, it was enough to just sit and eat and look my fill of my beautiful Frodo.

********************
The end for now