A/N: Ahh…not my best piece. Or anywhere near that sort. This was my first ever LOTR fanfic and it is kind of fluffy. It was submitted some time back for Marigold’s Challenge 9. Heh…Just got around to posting it.

Thanks to Baylor and Marigold for the ‘Winter Sickness’. Enjoy!

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Ten-year-old Meriadoc Brandybuck shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other in the middle of the bustling kitchen. Bad-End was usually filled with relatives at this time of the year, when Hobbiton was fit to visit, but today, it was exceptionally filled with busy hobbits. A message had arrived last night from Bilbo urgently summoning Merry’s family to the smial.

Frodo was ill.

Frodo was ill, an occurrence so rare that the neighbours gossiped the possibility of magical help. He had caught the Winter Sickness, which had plagued other young hobbits, and Bilbo was fraught. Poor Bilbo, who was a bachelor and had no clue as how to deal with an ill hobbit-lad. Poor Bilbo who had been so fraught that he summoned relatives from all over the country; from the Tooks to the Brandybucks to the Bolgers and even the Sackville-Bagginses.

Merry glanced around the huge kitchen for a familiar face and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his Ma making her way towards him.

“Merry, love, I need you to take your cousin for me,” she said as she handed over the squirming babe.

“But Ma, he’s a baby! And I’m hungry!”

“I know you are darling. Here --- take an apple. Now, take Peregrin outside for a while. He’s been a rightfully demanding baby.”

“But it’s dark outside!” exclaimed Merry, aghast at the thought of going out where it was cold and dark.

“Darling, Frodo is really ill. He needs all the help he can get. The healers cannot work with a screaming baby around. Please, just do this.” Esmeralda looked at her son’s still uncertain face and decided to try one last time. “Do it for Frodo, love.” With that, she disappeared from the kitchen, leaving Merry with an unhappy Pippin. 

Merry was careful in carrying Pippin outside, but no one could fault him if he was slightly less gentle than always. It was a mystery to the young lad how such a young baby could demand so much attention from everyone. All Pippin had to do was turn his bright green eyes to them, and the adults would just rush to attend to him.

But not Merry. He was immune.

He was jealous.

Merry was jealous of the red-faced Took in front of him. Before Pippin had been born, it had been Merry who was Frodo’s lad, but now, Frodo spent all his time with Pippin. Merry missed having Frodo all to himself. He missed being Frodo’s own special lad. He missed not having to share the attention.

As Merry settled down against the Party Tree, Pippin kicked up a fuss. He was only two years old and was confused as to why his Ma wasn’t with him. And who was this huge hobbit in front of him? He had a funny sort of face filled with little red dots. He seems nice, Pippin decided.

“Oh shut up you,” grumbled Merry. He looked up and was greeted by thousands of little diamonds glittering in the sky. Right in the middle, sat a big white orb, which only served to remind him of Cousin Frodo.

Merry sighed heavily and focused his attention back on the ground. He surveyed his surroundings before turning a distrustful eye on the now suspiciously quiet babe. Pippin was staring at him with those bright green eyes of his. Even Merry, immune Merry, who had sworn never to fall under his spell, felt a little tug of love and affection for the young Took. And some how, he found himself talking to Pippin.

“You see that round thing? That’s the moon. Cousin Frodo says that there’s a hobbit living on the moon and he watches over us. His bright light scares all the bad things in the dark away. Cousin Frodo also says that when he’s around nothing bad will happen to you.” Merry trailed off as he remembered that old tale that Frodo had told him when he was younger. “Maybe the moon-hobbit will take care of Frodo.”

Merry was silent for a moment as he reminisced all the fun he had with Frodo. Oh, he hope Cousin Frodo was all right and will get better soon. It just wouldn’t be the same again without dear, quiet, bookish Frodo always buried in some book or another. It wouldn’t be the same without Frodo teaching him how to ‘borrow’ from Farmer Maggot. It wouldn’t be the same without Frodo tucking Merry in at night during every visit to Bag-End.

But even as these things weighed heavily on Merry’s young mind, he took some comfort in having Pippin next to him. Talking to Pippin had helped him relieve some of his fears. And the wee lad didn’t at all seem to mind being cuddled to death; it gave Merry an odd sense of contentment. Out of nowhere, a thought came to him. He wouldn’t so much mind teaching Pippin all the tricks and secret passages. He wouldn’t so much mind having a younger cousin tagging along. And he didn’t think he would so much mind if he had to share Frodo with him.

Pippin knocked Merry out of his thought and pointed a chubby finger at the sky.

“That? Well, that’s the stars. Cousin Frodo says …" As Merry went off explaining the wonders of stars to Pippin, he had one last thought.

He was sure that Frodo would get well. And he was sure that they would have a lot of fun romping through the Shire in the future --- all three of them.