The Romances of Four Hobbits

A/N: Hope you like this new chapter! Much longer this time, although I think that most of it's due to my famous text insertion . . . oh, well! Enjoy, I had fun writing the romance stuff in this more than any fanfiction I've done, probably because I like hobbits so much, they're so cute!!! *~*~*~*~*~*~*
      

Preparing to Fight Back



Before Pippin could recover what little sense he now had left. Diamond broke off the kiss, her face beet red.
"I'm sorry, Pippin, you must think me off my rocker . . ."
"Well, I-" was what Pippin would have said, little as it is, but he was beaten to it.
"I was just so relieved at seeing you . . . It meant nothing, really."
Pippin was perplexed by the sudden sinking feeling that entered into his heart.

Suddenly, the echoed sound of "'Fire! Foes! Awake!'" reached them. Pippin, putting all distractions aside, leapt into action. He ran for his pony, which had somehow not been spooked throughout the whole ordeal and was now calmly grazing on the grass on the side of the road.
Pippin mounted his horse and moved it over to Diamond. She stood stock- still, a little afraid of the animal, since ponies and horses were not familiar animals in the Shire.
"It's alright, Diamond, hop on."
"I don't thinks so . . ."
"Och, don't be such a coward, lass!"
Diamond bristled, "I am no coward!"
"Then get on the pony!" Pippin extended his hand towards her. Diamond hesitated, then slipped her hand into his. His gripped tightened and he hoisted her up behind him.
"Yah!" Pippin yelled, digging his heels into the pony's sides. The pony took off at a gallop. Diamond cried out in alarm and immedietly her hands went tightly around Pippin's waist.
"Oh," Pippin said grinning, "I forgot to tell you: hold on!"
Diamond glared into his curly hair. "Just like old times," she sighed. "Some things just never change."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*


"You've gotten so . . . so . . . tall!" Estella managed.
"Yep," Merry answered with an egotistical sniff. "Adventurin' makes you grow."
"An' . . An' your clothes! Where did you get such garments?" Estella fingered the tunic and the chain mail beneath it.
"It's the uniform of the Rohirrim."
"'The Rohirrim?'"
"Aye! They're these riders you see and-"
"Come on, Merry, Sam's back and with Farmer Cotton," said Frodo.
"'Stell, go back home and stay there," Merry instructed the hobbit-lass. "Things are going to get pretty nasty in a day or two."
"I'm not frightened . . . now that you're back," Estella said the last part softly, but Merry caught it all and soon he felt his pointy ears getting quite hot along with the rest of his face.
"Estella, promise me you'll stay at home!" He pleaded.
"I cannot promise that. I do not like the idea of hiding in my house when I could help defend the Shire."
"But, 'Stell-!"
"Merry!"
"Coming! I'll be back."
The company rode back to Cotton's farm to stay the night and layout their plans.

*~*~*~*~*

A day or two later found the our hobbits and very many others lying hidden near Bywater Road waiting for ruffians to pass by as they no doubt would. Merry, sitting in a tree, looked ahead. He spotted a dark mass coming along the East Road.
The hobbit looked down at the waiting hobbits behind the barricade. He whistled a signal down and they all nodded, readying their weapons. Merry then caught sight of a hobbit-lass armed with a rolling-pin.
"Estella!" He hissed loudly.
Estella looked up at him and shrugged her shoulders with a grin.
"I told you that I don't like idea of sitting when I could help." Then she pat the rolling-pin into her hand and gave another shrug. "'Twas all I could find. But, they'll be sure to get a piece of my mind with it!"

Merry's keen hobbit ears suddenly began to pick up the sound of the ruffians footsteps and he forced himself to throw his worries aside and concentrate on the battle that would no doubt take place.