A Visit From Mayor Samwise

Chapter Seven: Waking and Breakfasting

"Saaaaam…"

"Oh, Saaaaaaaam…."

"Master Samwise, I do not think you want to over-sleep this morning."

"Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam…"

Sam awoke to find himself face to face with four green eyes and two unmistakable sharp noses.

"Tooks." He frowned and closed his eyes once more.

"Why, yes, Sam, quite so." Pippin scooted closer, pushing Faramir tighter between them. The lad reached out his hand and took firm hold of the mayor’s nose.

Sam opened his eyes once more and became more conscious of the situation. "How long have you two been in here?"

"Some time, Sam. Goodness you sleep hard. I thought soon I should have to move to stronger methods. Like a spade, for instance."

Sam sat up then and glanced bleary-eyed at his pocketwatch on the nightstand. "Well I guess I’d’ve woken more easy if it were more a natural time to be wakin’."

"Oh, but you don’t want to be sleeping late today!" Pippin grinned, pulling himself to his knees and, taking Faramir up under the arms, "For it’s your last day here and the Took representatives of the Crickhollow household have prepared you a fine farewell breakfast."

Sam was skeptical based on his past experience with Pippin’s cooking skills, but he didn’t want to be impolite so he offered a weak smile.

"Of course, Estella cooked some things as well." Pippin added.

"Well, then," Sam’s face brightened significantly along with his outlook, "I should hurry and get dressed before anything is left to cool."

"Right," Pippin nodded, satisfied. "Come along, Faramir, let’s leave Sam to his modesty."

Sam watched them leave his chamber and wished more than anything to return to the blankets, but he knew it was no longer an option. Still, the prospect of an Estella Brandybuck breakfast cheered him some and he set about washing and dressing with not too grim an expression on his face.

When he entered to kitchen a short while later, Sam was immensely pleased to see Estella had provided heaps of eggs and sausages in addition to the massive stacks of pancakes Pippin had contributed, pancakes being one of the few things the hobbit could create with some skill as their cooking time suited his attention span. He also seemed drawn to the fact that he could toss in random handfuls of whatever fruit or sweet pleased him and they did not often turn out too worse for it. Indeed, Merry was rather fond of Pippin’s toffee pancakes, although the same could not be said for Pippin’s peppermint-fig pancakes or his ill-fated experiments with "pipeweed flavoring."

As Sam took a seat and began examining the nearest stack of cakes to see how creative Pippin had gotten for his farewell, he noticed the Took looked distressed.

"Is Merry not coming to breakfast?" Pippin asked Estella uneasily, turning in his chair to address her at the stove where she had begun to fry mass quantities of bacon.

"I woke him, Pippin." She shrugged, "Perhaps he’s gone back to sleep."

"Surely he’ll be around in time for Second Breakfast, Mister Pippin."

"But he’s going to miss First." Pippin was quite displeased. "Or at least it will be quite cold and have lost its appeal."

Sam doubted there was much appeal to begin with in what appeared to be butterscotch-raisin-ham pancakes, but he did not say so.

"I shall have to wake him myself, then." Pippin stood and exited resolutely.

"Here, Sam," Estella handed him a plate of plain pancakes after she was sure that Pippin was gone. Sam grinned back at her gratefully.

"I always make back-ups," she explained with a half smile, "he never seems to notice."

~~~~

Merry came out of sleep slowly, gradually becoming aware that there was someone laying back-to-back with him and that someone was not soft like his Estella.

"Pip?"

"Oh, hey-ho, Merry, decided to finally awaken?"

Merry smiled, even though Pip couldn’t see his face. "No Pipling with you?"

"No. He’s having his breakfast like a big lad, as you ought to be doing too."

"Mmm." Merry didn’t care to bullied first thing in the morning.

"You ought to get one of those yourself, Mer."

"One of what?"

"A lad!" Pippin laughed. "They are quite nice."

"I’m certain," Merry rolled over to face his cousin, "but I don’t suppose it’s any of your business."

"No. ‘f course it isn’t." Pippin smiled sadly and kissed Merry lightly on the nose, "After all, I’m just a foolish little Took."

He crawled off the bed then and headed to the door.

"I made pancakes, if you’re interested," he called back over his shoulder, "It’s Sam’s last day here, don’t forget."

Merry lay quietly after Pippin left, his stomach knotting tightly with guilt.

There had been tears in his cousin’s eyes. Merry was sure that he had seen them. And he knew who was to blame.

~~~~

Merry eventually emerged and joined the tail-end of breakfast. No one watching would have ever known that any feelings had been amiss, as it was quite a cheery meal all around. Merry and Pippin made light banter back and forth, Sam and Estella laughing gently at their jokes. All the adults took a turn praising Faramir as he fed himself large bits of pancake and even Estella seemed amused with he decided they worked better as a hat.

Afterwards, as she picked up discarded bits of breakfast from beneath the lad’s chair, Estella suggested that they all go out into the yard for a bit and enjoy the warm, sunny morning which, as it was already late in the fall, would not be available to them for much longer.

"That sounds like a marvelous plan," Merry said, handing the now rather sticky babe to Sam. "You take Faramir out into the fresh air while we finish cleaning up in here and then we’ll come to join you."

Sam was happy to be of use and relieved to leave the three to deal with the disaster that was post-breakfast at Crickhollow.

As they helped Estella with the dishes, Merry tried desperately to catch Pippin’s eye, but the hobbit always seemed to be looking in the wrong direction.

Merry grew more worried as all the dishes were stacked and the pots were neatly placed where they would be ready for the next meal. He wanted more than anything to tell Pippin that he was sorry, but he knew he couldn’t actually just say it flat-out like that. Things had never been that way with him and Pippin, there always had to be the pretense of a game.

Finally, he had determined with some dejection that he would end up leaving the kitchen having received no absolution.

Then, just as he was heading for the back door, Merry felt a tap, a tiny object pelted at the back of his neck. A raisin.

He turned to find the culprit, but saw only Pippin, who seemed suddenly to be quite involved in re-stacking some dishes in the cupboard.

Merry couldn’t help but grin as he headed outside. He knew that, for the moment at least, he had been forgiven.

~~~~