2

Over the next several days, Pippin continued to take the herbs that Aragorn had given him, and he and Diamond continued to have relations every few days. They actually found this quite pleasant and much less demanding than trying to be in the mood almost every day.

Diamond had talked to Aragorn soon after they had arrived and told him how much Pippin was looking forward to celebrating his birthday in Minas Tirith, so the king had started planning something special for his smallest knight.

-----

On the morning of her husband's birthday, Diamond awoke to a most distressing sound. Pippin was being violently sick into the chamber pot beside their bed.

"What's wrong," she asked sleepily, as if she couldn't figure it out from the sound.

"I don't know," came her husband's weak reply as he flopped limply back onto the bed. "I just woke up to this horrible churning in my stomach, and when I started to get up to go to the privy, I got so sick that all I could do was grab the chamber pot. The strange thing is, that now that I've done that, I feel fine. In fact, I'm ready for breakfast."

Unfortunately, Diamond did not have much of an appetite. She had not been all that hungry for the last several days, and she had no idea why.

-----

That night Aragorn hosted a lavish feast in honor of Pippin's thirty-ninth birthday. The food was excellent, but neither hobbit seemed up to eating as much as they normally did.

After Pippin had handed out presents in traditional hobbit-fashion, and had received a few, as was common in Gondor; the two hobbits excused themselves and retired early for the evening.

"Do you suppose everything is all right?" asked Arwen as she watched the diminutive couple leave.

Aragorn followed her gaze thoughtfully but said nothing.

-----

The next morning began just as the previous one had. Only this time, Diamond, too, felt queasy upon awaking; although she was able to avoid actually throwing up. "Maybe you should tell Aragorn you're sick," she said through the hand she had clamped to her mouth.

"Why?" asked Pippin, splashing water on his face and rinsing his mouth, "I feel fine now. I'm sure it was just because of all the new foods we've been eating lately. Maybe there's a reason hobbits cook so sensibly: we just can't tolerate all the strange and exotic tastes that men seem to enjoy."

Diamond just shook her head. She knew that until he was ready, Pippin would not say a word about this to anyone, least of all the king.

-----

By the fourth morning, they were both throwing up.

"This isn't right," said Diamond. "If you won't speak to the king, then I will."

As soon as breakfast concluded, she approached Aragorn where he sat at the table with his wife. "Your Majesty, I need to speak with you. It's about Pippin."

"What is the matter, Mistress Diamond?" asked Aragorn.

"Well, it is a little hard to explain. It started the morning of his birthday. He woke up that morning and was very ill, but as quickly as he got sick, he felt better. That was strange enough, but then it has happened every morning since. He's sick, and then he's fine. He didn't want me to say anything, but I figured I should. I'm worried that it might be some sort of reaction to those herbs you've been giving him."

Aragorn had a thoughtful look on his face. Finally he asked, "Diamond, have you had any nausea the last few days?"

"Um, now that you mention it, I have to admit that I have. I think it's from waking up to the sound of my husband being sick."

"Yes, it could be," said the king, "but it could also be something else. I want both of you to report to me at the Houses of Healing at the sounding of the seventh hour. And don't worry," he added, seeing the look of concern on the hobbit's face, "I don't think it's anything serious."

-----

"Oh, this is ridiculous," Pippin groused. He sat in a room in the Houses of Healing, holding Diamond's hand. "I'm sure all Aragorn is going to find is that I've had some minor illness that's been going around, or something. This is such a waste of time."

"Now now, Dear" said Diamond, squeezing his hand and giving it a little pat. "Humor us, all right? I, for one, am tired of waking up feeling ill every morning, even if you're not."

"All right," said Pippin, "but I reserve the right to say 'I told you so" when Aragorn tells us I've just caught something that's going around.

At this point, Aragorn walked in. "How are you both feeling this afternoon?" he asked.

"I'm fine," said Pippin, "or I would be, if my sweet wife didn't insist that we spend the afternoon sitting in the Houses of Healing listening to you tell us that nothing is wrong. Personally, I'd just as soon be serving the duty I had been assigned before Diamond got this bee in her bonnet."

"Hmmm, Moody, isn't he?" Aragorn quipped, casting a look at Diamond. "And what about you?" he asked, giving Diamond his full attention.

"I'm fine," she answered. "I'm not the one who's been sick for almost a week now."

"No," her husband shot back at her, "you've only been sick the last three days, or so."

-----

Aragorn thoroughly examined Pippin, but made no comment as to his findings. When he was done, he turned to Diamond. "Now, Mistress Took, it is your turn."

"My turn?" she exclaimed. "But there's nothing wrong with me. Pippin's the one who's been sick, and the only thing wrong with me comes from witnessing his moments of indisposition."

"Nonetheless," insisted the king, "I want to make sure all is well with you."

Reluctantly, Diamond submitted to the examination. It seemed to both hobbits that Aragorn paid special attention to the lass's abdomen.

-----

When Aragorn was satisfied with his findings, he sat the couple down before him and explained what was happening to them.

"I have some very serious news for you," said the king, but he couldn't quite keep the smile off of his face, no matter how hard he tried. "This news will change your lives forever."

"Would you please get to the point, Srrider!" demanded Pippin.

"Oh, very well," sighed Aragorn. "You are going to have a baby."

"W-what?!" exclaimed Diamond. Her face was as white as flour, and she looked very near to fainting.

"Yes!" shouted her husband, jumping from his seat and hugging the healer/king.

"But, what about Pippin's illness?" asked Diamond when she had recovered from her own shock.

"Oddly enough," said Aragorn, "that is actually connected to your pregnancy, Diamond. Some expectant fathers actually have morning sickness as badly as their wives, and even worse in some cases." He gave Pippin an intense, but sympathetic, look.

Pippin's smile faded. "You mean I'm going to be sick every morning until the babe comes?"

"It's possible, but not likely. Morning sickness usually ends after about three months. You should feel fine by the time I give your wife permission to travel again. I do assume that you will wish for this child to be born in the Shire and not here in Minas Tirith. As much as we would love for the first child of our Ernil i Pheriannath to be born here, we understand that it is important for you to be surrounded by your family and close friends. Besides, I know Merry would never forgive me if I deprived him of seeing his newest cousin as a newborn."

"So we will be able to travel home?" asked Pippin.

"Yes. There should be no reason that you should have to stay here once the first three months are over. The second three months are actually the safest time in a pregnancy to travel. You should be safely back home by the time the baby is due."

-----

That night Pippin and Diamond lay awake late into the night talking about their joy, and how they would break the news to their families

"You know," Diamond pointed out, "it's going to be pretty obvious that I'm in the family way by the time we arrive back home. I don't think we're going to need to say a whole lot to anyone."

"Oh, I guess you're right. I hadn't even thought that far ahead," said Pippin.

"No, I hadn't figured you had. Pippin could hear the smile in his wife's voice.

Both hobbits fell asleep with contented sighs and smiles on their faces.

-----

Just after mid-summer the hobbits made plans to return to the Shire. They wanted to be home long before the autumn rains, and they wanted to have the journey over with long before there was the slightest risk that Diamond would have the baby early.

On the first day of Halimath they set out. They planned to take their time and arrive home sometime in early Winterfilth. This would give them a chance to get settled and get a nursery set up before the baby was due to arrive sometime the following Solmath.

The trip went well, and the first day of Blotmath saw them crossing the borders of Buckland.

-----

"Pippin!" called Merry, greeting his cousin as the Tooks arrived at Brandy Hall. "Your timing is perfect, as usual. We were just sitting down to dinner. And tomorrow we have a celebration planned to mark the tenth anniversary of the removal of Sharkey and his men. I'm sure I don't have to ask twice to get you to stay for that."

"Of course not," answered Pippin. "It will give us a chance to share all of our news with you, and there is a lot to tell." Merry didn't miss the look Pippin gave his smiling wife, nor did he fail to notice the change in Diamond's figure.

-----

That night, after Pippin had seen Diamond properly tucked into bed, he sat in Merry's office sharing a bottle of Buckland's best brandy.

"So, care to tell me how that happened?" asked Merry, setting his glass down and fixing his cousin with an intense look.

"How what happened?" asked Pippin, all innocence. He was pretty sure he knew exactly what Merry was referring to, but he was going to make the Brandybuck come right out and ask.

"Don't play that game with me, Peregrin Took. You know good and well what I'm talking about. Just last winter you sat right here and lamented to me that you and Diamond would never have children and how the office of Thain would pass to yet another branch of the family upon your death. And now you show back up here less than a year later with a wife who is obviously expecting. So, I'll ask you again, how'd that happen?"

"It happened, dear cousin, in the usual way. I certainly hope I don't have to explain the bees and the blossoms to you. After all, you have a son and daughter of your own. I think you know how they are conceived." Pippin couldn't help but smirk. He was finding tormenting Merry on this particular subject quite amusing.

Merry looked scandalized. "No! You certainly don't have to explain things to me. But I do want to know what happened. Not that," he added hastily. "Did Aragorn cure Diamond?"

"Noooo," said Pippin. "He cured me. Or, more accurately, he gave me some herbs and some good advice. After that, nature just took its course. Now, will it happen again; not likely. The herbs are pretty powerful and Aragorn didn't recommend using them again. Besides, we don't know if it was the herbs or just my sympathetic nature, but I have no desire to have morning sickness again."

Merry practically fell on the floor laughing. When he had calmed a little, he looked at his cousin whose face resembled a thundercloud. "You were sick instead of Diamond," he blurted. "That is hysterical. I've never heard of the father being the sick one. Are you sure those herbs didn't do something else?"

"That's not funny, Merry. In fact that's just about the nastiest thing I've heard in a while, and I've been around a bunch of Gondorian guardsmen all summer.

"Aragorn assured me that I was just having sympathy sickness. Trust me, Diamond had her share of it, too.

"But to get back to you question; this will, most likely, be our only one. I kind of wish we could have more, but to have one is all the miracle I'm going to hope for."

-----

On Solmath 10, S.R. 1430, Faramir Took came into the world. He was a large baby, by hobbit standards, and there was some concern for his mother's welfare, but all went well, in the end, and both were deemed healthy.

-----

That evening, Pippin sat in his office. He had gone there to find some peace and quiet after all the excitement. He found himself looking at the Yearbook of the Tooks, old Yellowskin as they called it. In a week there would be a ceremony to enter his son's name into that tome. 'My son," he said aloud. "I thank the Valar for you, and Aragorn, too."

Without another thought, he picked up a piece of paper and a pen and began to compose a letter to the king.

The End.