By: Dana
Summary: Pippin wants to grow up; Sam thinks all good things come in their time.
Characters: Pippin, Sam, mention of Frodo
Pairings: Sam/Pippin
Rating: G
Warnings: Pre-slash
Author's Notes: For Janette, because.
Disclaimer: The author makes no claim to owning the rights of anything to do with J.R.R. Tolkien or New Line Cinema. Any and all characters and situations that have been borrowed are for the author's personal use only, and for the entertainment of others.

Pippin guessed that if Frodo had been behind his expulsion from Bag End, then his cousin would have said something along the lines of and don't be a bother, and took him by the shoulders, and guided him out into the light; but then, Frodo didn't understand him nearly as much as he should.

And Frodo hadn't, and the sun certainly was shining, and Pippin could taste the spring on the breeze; and Pippin liked the fresh air better than the stuffy confines of Bag End, any old day. For being such a bore, Frodo deserved all that Eglantine Took would unleash upon him. After all, Pippin had heard his mother talking with his father, before their visit: and Frodo was far too old to be living along, unwed, and Pearl really was a good lass, and Frodo would understand.

But then, Pippin mused, it was just as likely that Frodo would not. He was just so old, and Pearl was still so young - she'd be coming of age, come June. And with Frodo just having passed forty - well, maybe Frodo wasn't really that old.

Pippin sighed and pushed those thoughts away. There was a great big world outside of Bag End's front door, and its not that he didn't like the outdoors - he loved them, really, but there was little for a teen (who was almost a tween) to do, when he was stuck at his elder cousins, and there were none who happened to be his age, for miles around. He'd always been one for exaggerations.

"It would have been best if Mum had just - oh, hullo Sam!" Pippin called out, waving, having spotted the gardener's sandy haired head, where he knelt down the path. Pippin quickened his pace (he most certainly did not skip), then came to a stop, bare feet skidding against the dirt.

Sam returned the gesture then wiped his brow, smiling. "Good morning, Mr Pippin."

"I'll have none of that, Sam," Pippin reprimanded, but he was grinning still, and he gave Sam and Sam's work a searching look. "What are you up to today? Or would you like me to call for Frodo? I'm sure that he'd like the chance to get away from my Mum - she came to have tea with him, you know, and I thought it would be best if I just stayed out of doors -"

"Not be a bother, am I right?"

Pippin laughed and nodded, crossing his wrists at the small of his back. "You might just be correct about that, Sam. I most definitely wouldn't want to get underfoot."

"Or else your Mum might put you to work."

"And in someone else's home, the nerve of it!" Pippin exclaimed. "And it's just that talk about weddings is so boring," he continued, plaintively, and Sam nodded, then wagged a finger at the lad.

"Not all weddings are boring, you hear. Why, my sister Daisy was just as happy as you could imagine, and you couldn't picture a prettier bride on her wedding day. So they're not all bad."

"I suppose not," Pippin sighed and crouched down, thinking that Sam would most certainly be the sort who looked forward to the day he'd be married, "but I really don't see the purpose of it."

"Well, you might not, now," Sam said, and as an afterthought, went back to his work; Pippin watched him, as he carefully pulled at the weeds. "But then, you're still young."

Pippin sighed, melodramatic. "I'll always be young, won't I, Sam?"

Sam laughed and gave Pippin a hard look, one that was softened by the smile on his lips. "You shouldn't say something so silly."

"Well, it's just the way I feel, you see," Pippin replied, reaching out and snagging a long blade of grass. He pulled on it, then twirled it around his forefinger, tilting his head to look towards Sam. "You're lucky, Sam. You'll be coming of age, before you know it. I'd give anything to be an adult."

"Now that's just foolish talk, Mr Pippin."

"It is not."

The lad's shoulders slumped and Sam's gaze flickered between his work, and the young hobbit. "See, Pippin, it's just like this. These lavender here, you see, they bloomed a bit too early this year. So I have to be careful with them, otherwise, we might lose the whole batch. And that's what we're like, too. Flowers. And if we bloom too soon..."

Pippin nodded, and Sam's sun-browned fingers tugged gently at the weeds. "If we bloomed too soon, then we could be ruined, as much."

"I guess I see what you're saying," Pippin replied, quietly, and his gaze moved from Sam's hands, up the tanned arms, to the profile of Sam's face; and the light that seemed to be caught up in his eyes. But then, Pippin guessed, that just as likely could have been the sun.

"Ah, here you are, you can take a look at them, if you'd like."

"Oh," Pippin blinked and scooted a bit closer, and careful hands brushed at a small bloom. Sam was grinning and Pippin could nearly taste it, in the lateness of the warming morning air.

And there, at the tips of Sam's fingers, careworn and sunny, a lavender bloom. "Oh," and Pippin breathed in again, feeling small, and silly, and at the same time, suddenly so very, very large. "They're so small."

"Aye, which is why we have to be careful, Mr Pippin. You see the little weeds? They'll choke them and then they won't get none of the air, or water, and they'll die. And I'd just hate to see such a lovely thing wither and fade."

Pippin nodded.

Sam seemed to turn to face him, very slowly, and the air was very hard to breathe. "Are you all right, there, Mr Pippin?"

Pippin nodded, feeling the blood pound in his ears, blinded by the sun that was shining so brightly in Sam's hair, captured in the light of Sam's eyes. "Oh," he groaned and covered his eyes, looking away. "I'm fine, Sam, I'm fine. The sun's just a bit too bright, it seems."

"Are you so certain?" And there was laughter dancing with concern in Sam's voice. "You don't seem so fine to me, and that's a fact. Maybe you ought to get yourself a drink of water, and sit for a bit in the shade."

Pippin laughed and sat back, blinking hard. "Perhaps you're right."

"Shall I call for Mr Frodo then, and your Mum?"

"Oh, no, there's no need for that. I just need to catch my breath..."

Sam nodded, but wasn't so sure. "Well, if you're certainly certain, I've work to do - so, if you don't mind..."

Pippin laughed and shook a finger at Sam. "You just go and do what you have to do, Sam, and I'll sit right here, if you don't mind." He laughed again and felt a frown twist his lips. "You needn't be so polite to me, you know. I'm just your employer's younger cousin. It's not like I -"

Sam had risen and gave Pippin a serious look. "I just do what's right, Mr Pippin, and don't think that I'd just let you run all over me. I know how you Tooks can be, after all."

Pippin chuckled and kept his eyes on Sam as the elder hobbit knelt again. Sam, Pippin guessed would certainly be a difficult one to figure out. He seemed at such peace, and he was and he had such a gift.

"What's it like, Sam?"

am looked up and back at Pippin, frowning slightly. "What was that, Mr Pippin?"

"Oh," Pippin responded. "What's it like, Sam? You give life."

"Well..." and Sam frowned again. "It's dreadful hard to explain. I don't think that I could just put it into words."

Pippin looked to Bag End and wondered, then gave Sam what could have been the most serious look of his life. "Could you show me, then?"

Sam laughed. "Now Mr Pippin -" and he frowned again and held his tongue a moment, and Pippin remembered wishing like this when he'd been younger, really young, and he'd hoped beyond hope that he'd be spending time with Merry, or that he'd get what he wanted on Pervinca's birthday, and she wouldn't give him something silly. And maybe he'd never wished as hard as he had, right then, and he crossed his fingers, too.

"Are you really so certain? I mean, I hadn't thought..."

"Well, I wouldn't mind, you know, and you don't know when it might come in handy. And my Da always says that it's good to know as much as you possibly can - and it might be hard to believe, but I'm not so against learning." Pippin lowered his gaze and bit his lip. "If you don't think that I'll be a bother, that is."

Sam laughed and wiped at his eyes, leaving a smudge of dirt across the bridge of his nose. "Oh Mr Pippin, you're no bother at all."

Pippin smiled and looked at him out of the corner of his eye, reaching out to the soil, feeling the warmth of Sam's hand beside. And he didn't want anything more, right then, than to see the sun again, in Sam's eyes.