I held Bluebird over my head while she squealed with laughter. She was growing up so fast that it didn't seem possible that she wasn't one yet. Everyday we found something new that she had learned. She wasn't just crawling these days, she was walking and when she wasn't walking, she was floating. Where the energy was coming from, I hadn't a clue. Pippin just laughed and reminded me that he'd been no better when he was small.

He was right. I'd been chasing after him from the moment he started walking and now he'd given me a daughter who was just like him. Thank all the Powers that be. I brought her down and kissed her cheek. Her baby hands grabbed my hair while she smothered my face with her favorite smacking kisses.

"Merry, are we ready to go?" Pip came from the nursery with Bast cradled in his fabric sling and the big bag of child supplies that we took every where with us. "I sent the food on ahead with Jallico so that's one less thing to carry. Is Her Highness ready for our picnic?"

Blue nodded vigorously. "Go, Mama. Go now."

"Go now are your favorite words, aren't they, sweetheart?" I settled her in the sling on my back so I could help carry the supplies that two babies needed. "We're off!"

Bast and Blue giggled while we walked out our front door in time to meet Sam, Frodo and the twins. I could have sworn that the little ones were talking silently while we exchanged greetings. I had that feeling a lot lately. They'd showed some of their powers in the confrontation with the shadow creature but since then, they'd just been children. They played, ate, played some more and slept the night through.

But I got the impression that more communication was going on than we knew. All we could do was love them and wait for them to let us know what other powers might be awakening. Sometimes, I wondered if it was our journey during the war and all the things that had happened to us that was the reason for their differences, not to mention the Ent drink that Pip and I had drunk.

Maybe I'd talk to Lorrin today and see what he thought, I decided. Blue patted my cheek and I smiled at her. "What's up, sweetheart?"

"Fast," she nodded.

"Oh, your Highness wants us to hurry?" I smothered a kiss onto her soft cheek and she giggled. "And why would that be, Bluebird?"

"Din'," she said emphatically.

"Ah, dinner is waiting with all those good things that your mama makes, isn't it?"

She nodded and Pip laughed from my side. We both looked at him and he held out one of the cheese biscuits that he bakes. She smiled her thanks and began to nibble all around the edges with her two front teeth that had just broken through two weeks before. I looked around at our friends and children and felt my heart give a great leap. We'd survived things that still occasionally appeared in one of my nightmares.

But we'd survived, won the freedom of Middle Earth and created growing families out of our love and caring. Contentment, I decided, I'm content and happy. Maybe having babies did that to you; I mused silently and wished my parents were here so I could ask them. We'd sent off letters when we adopted Basteal but hadn't had an answer yet. There had to be a faster way to deliver the mail between Friendly and the Shire.

"What has you thinking so hard, Merry?" Sam's voice came from right beside me.

His curly hair looked like he'd had little fingers running through it. Smiling, I wondered if mine looked as tousled. "The mail, Sam, I'm thinking about how long it takes our letters to get to the Shire and back again. It's so slow."

"Aye, it is that pokey that it seems a shame that we can't speed it up a bit." He smiled at Bluebird and she stopped nibbling long enough to smile back. "Look at those teeth, Blue, you're growing so fast."

"Fly," she said sweetly and went back to crumbling the biscuit over my shirt.

We looked at each other with identical frowns. But Bilbo ran back to Sam and tugged his pants so his father picked him up. "Use birds take letters, Da. Fly fast up high."

"Well, that's a real good idea, Bilbo but how would they know where to take them?" Sam said seriously while I held in a snicker.

The little boy thought for a long moment then smiled. "We'll tell them to go where Granpa live."

"But how would they know where that was?" Sam asked patiently.

"Show picture in mind." Bilbo said triumphantly.

Pictures in the mind, I thought with a smile. Whatever would they come up with next?

********* Sam *********

I had a real odd feeling about Bilbo's suggestion. It was kind of like the feeling that I used to get when Frodo and I were on our journey and he was thinking something that I wouldn't understand, something big and scary and life changing. I was already pretty sure that our babies were talking with just their minds. When I asked Gandalf about that, he smiled and said that he thought so, too.

And Frodo said the same thing when I asked him. When it made me feel kind of useless, he just kissed me sweetly and made me sit down to play with them. Building block towers and knocking them down was still a favorite game and listening to them crow with laughter when the brightly painted blocks fell always made me feel better.

Frodo could make me feel five foot tall with just a smile but when he hugged me close and thanked me for giving him such beautiful and smart babies, I thought maybe I was the most blessed Hobbit in the whole world. Looking over to him walking with Pippin, I caught the tail-end of a smile that made my breeches draw tight. His blue eyes were sparkling and I suddenly wished we weren't headed for such a public picnic.

He was looking at me and I blushed because I could just tell that he knew what I was thinking. "Sam, it looks like you need a nice river-chilled beer to cool you down."

Only if I stand in the river for a few moments, I thought while Bilbo giggled in my arms. "I was just thinking that same thing, Frodo. It's a good thing we're almost there."

Half of Friendly was already here and we greeted each other with smiles and laughter while we set up our blankets under the willow tree and let our children run free. Elrond and Glorfindel were one tree over and I could see that the Elven Lord was feeling the heat. He was fanning himself while Glorfindel brought him a cool drink. So I went over to tell him what had worked for Frodo when he got hot.

"My lord, if you keep a cool, wet cloth on the back of your neck that helps with the heat." I said diffidently. "And keeping your feet cool helps, too."

"Good thinking, Sam." Glorfindel said with a smile before getting up and heading for the river.

"I'm only half way through this whole thing and I'm already pouting like a spoiled child." Lord Elrond said with a sigh but then he smiled, too.

Frodo crossed over to the dark elf and hugged him. "You're not pouting, Elrond. When you're as big as a house and you're peeing every ten minutes, that's when you'll be pouting."

They both started to laugh and I saw the elf hug him back. It just goes to show that even lords and such can still be just regular folks. Frodo came back to me and sat down real close, slipping his hand into mine. I looked into those beautiful eyes of his and wished that we were alone so I could kiss him and touch him. Every once in a while, I get that randy that I just want to ravish him where he sits.

"Sam, if you keep looking at me like that, we're going to have to go hide in the river." He said quietly before leaning in even closer to whisper in my ear. "I'd be all wet and slick and open. I'd want that lovely big tool of yours to slide right in and remind me of making babies."

"eep," I couldn't say a thing, not a blessed thing while that wild vision was racing through my head. I had to be beet red and all but he just chuckled real deep and throaty like he does some times and my poor cock felt like one of those rods of iron that the dwarves made swords and daggers out of on their forge.

Swords and sheaths, just kind of went together in my mind and Frodo wasn't helping any, either with that innocent look of his and a slight flutter of his long eyelashes. I cleared my throat and snuck a look at him. "I reckon our lily pond tonight would be a real cool place to be once the children were tucked in."

He smiled and patted my knee. "I think that's a wonderful idea, Sam. We'll be just the two of us in the dark, under the stars, sliding into the cool water while we listen to the frogs croaking on the far side of the pond."

Frodo was a master with words, I thought proudly while I swelled a little harder at his husky whisper that only I could hear.

"We'll be all alone . . . your hands will feel so good on my hot chest . . . you always taste so good that I'll be licking your sweaty skin . . . tasting your nipples and sliding my tongue over your stomach." He turned his head just a little bit more and bit my earlobe so quickly that no one could have seen it.

I was hard as a rock, afraid to move for fear that I'd explode in my britches and really glad that the twins were off playing with their friends.

"But you'll be tasting me, too. My own Sam, you'll be touching me, teasing me and getting me ready for that great . . . big . . . cock of yours. I'll be all wanton like I was after drinking that potion in Minas Tirith, rubbing myself against you and begging you to take me . . . slide inside of me . . . plant your Sam-lings deep within me." His tongue flicked out and tickled that spot behind my ear.

And I came, just like that, in my pants like a tweenie with his first lover. Frodo sighed my name and came, too. We were both quiet for a long moment while I tried to sort out what had just happened. He looked a little rueful. "I'm sorry, my love. I just couldn't resist. You looked so edible that I had to do something. Forgive me?"

Well, of course I did with a kiss. "We're going to be doing all of that tonight."

********* Perri *********

Gandalf was like a child with his fireworks. The children of Friendly thought he was the most magical person in all of Middle-earth and I agreed with them. Now that dusk had fallen, the air was alive with fiery butterflies flying around our ears and bunnies hopping past our feet. Golden sparkles flew through the air mixed with red and green tails from fantastical creatures out of myth.

Both sets of twins were squealing with laughter while they tried to catch the sparkles. Pippin had had to hold onto Bluebird very tightly to keep her from floating up to touch the 'pretty songs' and suddenly I wondered what our son would be like. Would he share Gandalf's gift of fire or would another element claim him?

Finally all the fireworks were finished and true night was settling onto the cove we'd nicknamed the 'Anniversary Cove'. Carved tables and comfortable wooden chairs now made a permanent home here where the citizens of Friendly came for picnics and other celebrations. Looking around, I found most of the others had already begun the walk back to home.

The wagons that had brought supplies to the picnic were now loaded with residents who didn't want to walk back. Courting couples walked hand-in-hand down the path that would lead us home. I spotted Glorfindel with his arm around Elrond taking the meandering path back and I smiled at the thought of the two men I so admired, who had helped me to my greatest blessing.

Turning, I found Gandalf looking out over the river. Crossing to his side, I slid my arms around his expanding waistline. He put an arm around me and dropped a kiss onto my head. "It was a good party wasn't it, Perri?"

"A very good party, my love and your fireworks were the best part." I assured him and caught the gleam of his smile before he kissed me properly.

I could still taste the pickles in honey that he craved and that Pippin always made sure were close at hand. I could no longer get completely close because our son was in the way but that was all right since we were in semi-public view. Casting my senses out into the grove, I discovered that we were quite alone now, which made me want to celebrate that fact.

Gandalf wasn't the only one who knew something about fireworks. Gently, I led him to the willow tree where the cushions still lay. The warm day had left its heat behind so I didn't fear undressing my love. The starlight was enough that I could see the fond look on his beloved face while he entered into the spirit of the day.

"It's not our anniversary, beloved but that doesn't mean that we can't celebrate, too." He winked at me then slid off my tunic so he had bare skin to touch.

"Very true, my love, but I'm sure there's something that we can celebrate." I teased him back and that's when it happened. We were nose to nose on our sides, letting our hands roam where ever they wished when I felt a flutter against my stomach.

We stopped moving, holding our breaths and waiting. It came again, a small faint movement like the first flutter of a hummingbird's wings.

"It's our son," Gandalf said quietly and I looked up to catch a look of such surprise on his face. "Frodo told me what it would feel like but . . . it's so much more than I was expecting."

I curled down and pressed my lips against the swelling flesh, blinking back tears. "Hello, little one, we're glad that you've decided to move."

"Dear Havens, this is just the beginning, Perri. Soon he'll be kicking day and night while he grows and I get as big as a house." It might have been a grumble but for the note of awe in his voice.

Moving back up to his lips, I kissed him breathless before pulling away and reaching for the pouch from my belt. "You're quite right, Gandalf. I'm just going to have to make sure that you realize how very much you are loved."

He began to laugh while I kissed my way down his chest and started stretching him with salve covered fingers. His shaft was already hard when I got down that far so I settled in to nibble his lovely cock up one side and down the other. He groaned and I felt his hands comb through my hair.

Heat and tightness surrounded my fingers and when he moaned my name, I knew it was time to claim him again. Slicking my flesh, I eased inside and slid deep. He sighed and clenched around me while I stilled to savor him. "Dearest beloved, you are so beautiful like this, swollen with our child."

Pushing back against me, he groaned. "Perri, you always feel so good inside me. I wonder what our child feels when we're connected like this?"

I began the long pull out before thrusting slowly back in. "He must feel our love surrounding him." Another in-and-out and his channel rippled around me. "It feels so good to both of us that surely he feels the warmth we're generating." His legs were now over my shoulders so I could get deeper. "Lorrin has already said that once you get five inches bigger, we'll have to forego this method of making love so that must mean that he can feel our movements."

"I will miss this, beloved." He squeezed around me and I began to leisurely fist his shaft. "When you're inside of me, I feel like the most powerful wizard in the world. Oh there, my love, right there."

I smiled and made sure that I hit my target. I would miss this, too. Knowing that he loved my cock and enjoyed taking it within him, went a long ways towards making me feel better about my size. Others in King Thranduil's Guard had told me that I was too big to ever be able to make love with any of them. Of course, they were willing to show me how it should be done so long as I was the recipient of their cocks.

That hadn't convinced me but over the centuries, I had noticed that I was bigger than most of them. I'd thought that if I could ever have a chance with my wizard that I'd be the one taking his shaft as the others had said I should. But he'd been surprised and delighted at my size, so much so that he rarely if ever came inside of me. Thinking about the first time he had, I speeded up again.

He was moaning continuously now and his skin shivered with his need to come. I tightened my grip around him and he tightened around me in return. And we came together as we did sometimes now, his cock spurting between us while I flooded him with my seed. We trembled together and again we felt the little flutter that was our son.

"I think he's saying that it's time for bed, Gandalf." I chuckled and reached down to kiss the mound growing up from what had been his flat stomach. "The air is growing chilly, my love. It's time we go home." I gently withdrew from him and missed his heat immediately.

"Ah," he sighed before his long arms pulled me up to his lips. I was barely able to keep my weight off our son and realized that all too soon, we would have to give up making love face to face.

But only until he gave birth. Gave birth, I thought with that little thrill that always came when I thought about it. With Lorrin and Rheanus to help him, nothing would go wrong. Gandalf would deliver our healthy son and I would pamper him until he was completely back to his old self. Untangling our limbs, we dressed and I called for Shadowfax. Somehow I'd known that we'd be too tired to walk back and he'd been grazing nearby for most of the day.

The white horse knelt to make it easier for Gandalf to mount him; he seemed to understand that the wizard could no longer move as easily as before. I swung up behind him so I could ride with my arms around him, his big hands holding mine close. Shadowfax knew where to go so we rode home contented with the day and each other.

***********************
The end of part 14