It was unremittingly dark in the Mines of Moria, and any sudden sound threatened to dispel the stillness that hung in the air.

Gollum slunk over the rocks, trying to restrain himself and not disturb the silence. As he edged nearer, noises became louder, until there was no silence but only the sound of Gimli snoring. Edging as close as he dared, he peered out from behind a rock, his gaze fixed on the small hobbit that shivered in the night, the only member of the fellowship awake. Gollum hissed softly at the sight of him, "Bagginsss..."

Cautiously, he looked around at the rest of the sleeping fellowship. Sam was curled up next to Frodo, and Gollum sneered softly at this, and at the sight of Merry and Pippin who were barely any distance away, snuggled up in blankets. To Gollum's amusement, Boromir was also sleeping snugly amongst the hobbits, looking rather out of place. "Boromir alwaysss likess the little oness preciouss," he muttered to himself.

He quickly looked around at the others, checking they were sleeping soundly. They were, and a little distance away. Gollum hissed softly again, and let his gaze wander back to Frodo. Frodo was fighting sleep, trying desperately to stay awake and fulfil his role of keeping watch. Gollum studied him silently for a few minutes, watching every shiver and every yawn, and those intriguing blue eyes that kept threatening to hide behind delicate eyelids. At last however, Frodo's head slumped against his chest, and he was asleep.

Chuckling to himself, Gollum edged nearer, scanning the fellowships for signs of alertness; then he was practically on top of the little hobbit, who was now softly snoring. Hobbits are heavy sleepers, and Gollum trod lightly and quietly, with no fears. It was only the mutterings and noises he made in his throat that made any noticeable sound. "Preciousss..." he whispered darkly.

He tugged at Frodo's sleeves, and pulled him slowly across the floor. Frodo did not wake; however Sam stirred a little in his sleep, and Gollum hissed. "Nassty hobbitses, trying to wake up!" He let go of Frodo, gently letting him rest on the floor and scuttled along to the nearest hobbit, which happened to be Pippin. Carefully, Gollum rolled Pippin's sleeping body towards Sam. Pippin was snoring loudly and didn't notice a thing.

Gollum chuckled to himself once more, and returned to his prey. He dragged the hobbit softly across the floor, being careful not to jar him and awake him from his sleep.

---

Sam half woke, and caught a glimpse of a sleeping hobbit next to him in the dark. He snuggled up closer to the sleeping form, before falling asleep himself once more.

---

Gollum continued to drag Frodo way, shaking his blankets off him as they went. Gollum found his way round a corner and through a dark doorway, out of earshot. He gently put the hobbit down, kneeling next to the soft body.

"And now... the preciousss..." Gollum murmured dramatically. "Now that the filthy little Bagginsss is mine, the preciousss shall be also..."

He fumbled at the hobbit's neck, beneath his shirt, and found the chain which held the ring. "Preciousss...." He purred, happily, and the chain seemed to become undone around Frodo's neck, without any effort from Gollum. He smiled adoringly, and cupped the ring in his hands. "Preciousss wanted to come back to Smeagol," He said, stroking it. "Preciousss is home." He slipped it onto his finger, and made to scamper off into the darkness, but then turned back, and looked at the sleeping hobbit, who sighed contentedly.

"Bagginsss.... Smeagol should get revenge on the Bagginss shouldn't he preciousss?" He crept back up to the hobbit again, and leant over him, hissing. He put his hands to the hobbit's neck, and gazed down at him. "But maybe... maybe Smeagol doesn't want to kill the Bagginss just yet..." He murmured. "Not yet preciousss, we wants to do something else instead, don't we preciouss?"

He leaned over the hobbit, sniggering once more. "Bagginss..." He stroked Frodo's chin, and leaned inwards, kissing the hobbit with surprising tenderness. Frodo stirred in his sleep, but didn't seem to notice anything amiss. Gollum smiled, and kissed the hobbit deeper, one fist clenched over the ring on his finger. He ran his other hand through Frodo's hair fiercely. Frodo's lips felt soft and warm against Gollum's cold mouth, and Gollum urged the lips of the sleeping hobbit open with his tongue. Still Frodo didn't wake, but slowly and unconsciously he opened his mouth to Gollum's probing tongue, beginning to move his lips against Gollum's. Gollum's tongue embraced the warmth of Frodo's mouth, and felt the breathing of the little hobbit become faster.

Gollum gave a soft hiss of delight, and squeezed the precious tighter in his excitement. He was on all fours, crouched over Frodo now, and he shifted his weight from his elbows to his chest, as he moved his hand through Frodo's sweet hair, which he found fascinating.

Gollum broke away from the kiss and murmured to his precious. "Smeagol used to have hair like that preciouss, when he was a nasssty little hobbit, before he was Gollum... look at the little sssleeping hobbit preciousss, see he sighssss softly in hiss sleep, and doesn't even notice Smeagol'ss here..." Gollum sniggered. "But the Bagginsss he likess Smeagol to be here really, the Bagginss likess it preciousss..."

---

Meanwhile, Sam awoke, for no reason, still feeling very tired.

"Mr Frodo?" He whispered, to the half visible figure on his right amongst the shadows, "Mr Frodo?" He got no answer, and wrapping his blankets around him, shuffled over to the hobbit, who he now could see was asleep. He reached out a hand, and touched the sleeping hobbit's shoulder gently.

"Mr Frodo! You're supposed to be keeping watch..." Sam fell quiet a moment, and decided it wasn't fair to wake his master. Instead, he, Sam, would keep watch, and let his master rest. Leaning against a rock, he tried to stay awake, and felt proud that he was doing such an important thing, as well as looking after Frodo. He wondered if his master was cold, and moved closer, pushing his own blanket over the two of them. He shivered a little, and yawned. Maybe he'd just lie down a little bit, but he wouldn't fall asleep, oh no. Not while someone needed to keep watch.

Sam shuffled down, and lay next to the sleeping hobbit. "It's alright Mr Frodo, I'm still awake," he said, just in case Frodo was awake. The hobbit rolled over a little in his sleep, and Sam caught a glimpse of curly hair peeping out of the top of the blanket. He pushed the blankets back into place, and lay down again, his head not far from that of the other hobbit. In the thick darkness, and hidden by the blanket, the other hobbit lay still. Sam moved closer, trying to check on his master.

"Are you awake Mr Frodo?" he whispered. There was no answer, but Sam felt a sudden urge to see his master's face. He slowly put out a hand and stroked the hobbit's hair, edging even closer and tilting the sleeper's face to try and see it in the dim light. He couldn't make out anything really, and he felt a bit sad. But this close, he could feel the hobbit's breath on his face, only a short distance away; he shivered, but not from the cold. He felt tired, and tried to keep himself awake, but the next thing he knew, he'd pressed his lips against the other hobbit's mouth. Sam's eyes flicked open with surprise and fear, and he shrank back, hoping that his master hadn't woken up.

Pippin smiled at Sam's shyness and leaned over to kiss him passionately, pushing his tongue between Sam's lips and pulling back his blankets. Sam was startled, and, his heart beating fast, began to return the kiss, tentatively opening his mouth to Pippin's gently persuasive tongue. By this point Pippin had kicked off his blankets and was lying on top of Sam, fumbling with his shirt buttons. "I never thought you liked this kinda thing," Pippin grinned, and winked, although it was wasted in the darkness.

Sam gasped, and opened his eyes breathlessly. That wasn't Frodo's voice! "Pippin?" "Who else?" Pippin smirked, pulling Sam's shirt off, and covering his chest in kisses. "Oh... I don't know..." Sam murmured, and forgot Frodo.

---

Merry woke grumpily; hearing fervent whispers and moans beside him, and sighed heavily. Pippin always did this, wherever they went. He always ended up shagging someone. He wandered who exactly it was. The point was however, that it wasn't him. Just because he didn't go round throwing himself at people.... Merry smiled thoughtfully, and glanced over at Boromir.

Boromir awoke, surprised but not unpleased, to find a hobbit pinning him down and kissing him on the lips. "Don't say anything," whispered the hobbit, in between seductive kisses. "Just kiss me." Boromir did so, obediently and rather enthusiastically, and wondered what Merry would think of the Horn of Gondor.

---

Frodo was dreaming. About Aragorn to be specific, although Frodo didn't want anyone to know anything more specific than that. Least of all Aragorn. As Frodo dreamt, he found his dream becoming slowly more and more real. He half awoke to find that someone had indeed taken his shirt off and was kissing his collarbone. Frodo slowly became more and more conscious of the situation. He couldn't see anyone there, but he could feel it... he could definitely feel it. He heard slight murmuring and gave a sudden cry of realisation as he realized who it was.

"The filthy little Bagginss is awake!" Gollum cried sharply, looking up, and quickly grabbing Frodo's wrists as he tried to struggle. "Naughty little Bagginsss," he leered. "Smeagol hasss you now, Smeagol and the Preciousss!"

"The precious!" gasped Frodo, trying to push the invisible Gollum off him, but failing miserably. Gollum was far stronger than he was, and Frodo's arm was still weak from his injury at Weathertop.

"The preciousss," Gollum confirmed, sniggering. "Smeagol's preciousss, hiss birthday present."

Frodo could feel the cold metal of the ring against his arm; it was still on the hand that Gollum was using to pin down the hobbit's right wrist. He desperately tried to free his arm but it was no use. Gollum laughed, "The hobbit cannot esscape," He said, leaning down towards Frodo, and kissing him on the lips once more.

Frodo tried to struggle, but couldn't even scream, as his mouth was once more filled with Gollum's tongue, and his arms were twisted round above his head.

"Naughty hobbit," Gollum laughed, and pressed his lips over Frodo's again. Frodo struggled still, and then bit Gollum's lip in a sudden act of rebellion. Gollum pulled away, but retained his grip on Frodo's wrists.

"Filthy little Bagginsss!" He cried, blood dripping from his lip, becoming visible as it landed on Frodo's shirt. "But Smeagol doesn't care!" He kissed Frodo again, even more fierce this time, and Frodo could taste theblood, feel it trickling down his chin. He thrashed about as much as he could, under Gollum's weight. Gollum chuckled softly into Frodo's mouth, squeezing his wrists tightly.

---

"I never knew you had a beard fetish too," Gimli said huskily, and twirled a strand of his own beard around his finger teasingly. "There's a lot you don't know about me, Gimli," Gandalf said, smiling seductively and pulled Gimli closer.

---

Legolas awoke, seeming to hear passionate demands and promises from every direction. He sat up, and immediately looked away from Gimli and Gandalf, wishing he hadn't happened to have been facing that way, and saw two hobbits under a blanket, and a hobbit and Boromir a little further along. Then there was Aragorn, snoring soundly, oblivious to the scandal around him.

Legolas crawled over to Aragorn, trying to ignore the others.

"Aragorn..." he whispered, and shook him gently. "Aragorn!"

Aragorn rolled over, tetchily. Legolas hesitated, and then thought, well why not? Everyone else was... He leaned down, and kissed Aragorn fully on the lips, slowly. It was without a doubt the most romantic kiss of that entire evening. He ran his fingers through Aragorn's hair, caressing his cheek slowly... and Aragorn awoke, looking into the eyes of Legolas.

"Legolas...?" "Aragorn," said Legolas, sweetly, and smiled, still stroking Aragorn's cheek.

"Who's that squealing?" Aragorn asked, frowning. "Gimli I think," Legolas said. "I know, I don't like to think about it either."

Aragorn could vaguely make out shapes in the darkness, shapes he didn't want to see, and he could hear things he definitely didn't want to hear. His heart suddenly beat faster. What if Frodo... was with one of the others? He couldn't bear that; it was bad enough not having Frodo, than to see him with one of the fellowship.

Legolas leaned in to kiss Aragorn again, but Aragorn pushed him aside, standing up and looking around desperately. He couldn't see Frodo anywhere. Legolas looked cross and took Aragorn's blankets, putting one over his head to block out the noise, and attempted to sleep.

Aragorn crawled closer to Boromir, trying to see which hobbit that was. As soon as he had ascertained that it was Merry, he crawled on towards the two other hobbits. Listening carefully to the two hobbits, in a state of some alarm, he worked out that it was Sam and Pippin. Those accounted for, there was only Gimli and Gandalf.

Aragorn frowned. One hobbit - Frodo - was missing. Finally, he stood up and looked around desperately. He could make out, in the darkness, two blankets discarded a little way off, just before a doorway. He ran over there, his sword drawn. He thought he could hear a voice, a familiar hissing, murmuring voice, and he began to run even faster. He could hear frantic cries too, Frodo's, and they rang clearly through his head, filling him with fear and anger towards whom by his sounds could only be Gollum.

---

He reached the doorway, sword up in front of him defensively. His eyes scanned the room. With relief he saw Frodo there on the floor, his shirt in a crumpled heap beside him. Relief turned to surprise, however, as he saw that Frodo was in a state of some despair, thrashing about on the floor, while all along could be heard hissing and murmuring.

For a moment, Aragorn stood there, disorientated, and then came to a sudden realisation. Gollum had the ring - his precious - he must do, and not only that, he had Frodo. Once he heard Gollum speak again, he knew for certain.

"Little hobbit," Gollum hissed. "Are you scared of sweet little Smeagol and the precious?" Frodo just kicked and struggled, calling out desperately. Then, suddenly, Gollum was no longer on top of Frodo but was being thrown through the air, falling to the stone floor. The ring slipped off of his finger, and rolled away noisily.

Gollum, now visible, desperately tried to crawl after it, but Aragorn was there again, thrusting his sword towards Gollum.

Gollum dodged away from the ring and away from the sword, hissing. "Smeagol wants his precious! It was his before the Bagginss stole it! It was Smeagol's birthday present!"

Aragorn said nothing, his mouth a grim line, calm but clearly enraged. He lunged at Gollum again, who dodged, but only just, and Aragorn's sword cut into Gollum's arm. Gollum cried out, and clutched his arm as he scuttled quickly out of reach. Frodo crawled over to the ring, and grabbed it, cursing himself for even letting Gollum get it in the first place, although he couldn't remember how that happened.

Gollum saw this, and screamed. "My precious! My precious..." He cried, lunging for Frodo. In panic, Frodo put the ring on and rolled away. Gollum screamed even more, and looked around for any sign of the hobbit and his precious. But then Aragorn hit him with his fist, enough to knock Gollum backwards, but not to seriously hurt him. Aragorn really felt like inflicting serious pain on Gollum right now, but Gandalf had said something about Gollum being important, and Aragorn didn't want to affect the fate of the Fellowship.

Gollum fell backwards, hissing angrily and then moved quickly forward again at Aragorn's knees, knocking him backwards too. Gollum looked around quickly for his Precious, but Frodo still had the ring on and Gollum had no chance of finding him. He hissed, and gave up - for now. He ran away, cursing the hobbit and the man with all his breath. Aragorn looked up, panting, and saw Gollum escaping. That was probably the best thing, he thought to himself.

"Frodo?" He asked, looking around, but too out of breath to get up. He felt the invisible hobbit throw himself against his chest, sobbing quietly. He put his arms around Frodo, and tried to comfort him. "It's all right Frodo, I'm here. You can take the ring off now, I'll look after you."

Frodo hesitated, and then slowly slipped the ring off his finger. He held it in his clenched fist now, squeezing it tightly, not wanting to risk losing it again. Aragorn tilted Frodo's face up to look at him. Frodo looked back him, wide eyed and pale, his tears running down his face and mingling with Gollum's blood still smeared around his mouth.

"It's all right now little one," Aragorn said, wiping the blood and tears from Frodo's face with his finger.

"I'm sorry," Frodo rubbed the tears and blood away himself. "I'm all right now. Don't worry." "I do worry," Aragorn said, gently. "For one so small, you have great strength; but the ring, for such a little thing, casts a great burden upon you, and you cannot be expected to go it alone. That is why I swore to protect you, and why I am here, holding you now..."

Frodo shifted uncomfortably, realising that the man was in fact holding him, that he was in truth lying on Aragorn.

"Thank you... Strider... for comforting me. But I think I shall be all right now."

"Are you sure little one?" Aragorn asked, knowing that he should let Frodo go now, but finding he couldn't bear to.

Frodo hesitated and looked away, to avoid answering. It was very kind of Aragorn to comfort him, but the little hobbit couldn't help but feel rather nervous around the ranger.

"Where are the others?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Back through there, but they're somewhat busy at the moment. We'd be better off staying here for the rest of the night."

Frodo yawned, and nodded. He didn't bother to ask what the others were up to, trusting Aragorn. "Let's sleep now, little one," Aragorn said, rolling over slightly so that Frodo was now lying by his side, and hugged him still, for warmth and protection. "You'll be safe." Frodo cuddled up to Aragorn and shut his eyes. He was glad of the ranger's comfort, both emotional and physical. He felt Aragorn's strong arms around him protectively, and he wondered what thoughts were running through Aragorn's head at the moment.

Aragorn was, in fact, trying not to think of anything at all, just go to sleep, but his thoughts kept returning to the hobbit in his arms, lying so close to him. He felt guilty, and reminded himself that he was supposed to be taking care of Frodo, not scaring him even more. He didn't feel he could bear to lie alone with Frodo, but what else could he do? He wasn't taking Frodo back to the others; he didn't quite trust Pippin when he was in that kind of a mood. But, Aragorn reminded himself reproachfully, he was feeling rather in that kind of a mood himself.

---

Frodo awoke suddenly, almost in tears. He'd been dreaming... vivid flash backs about Gollum, but they seemed even more real than they had done before. He moved closer to Aragorn, and looked around fearfully into the threatening darkness. There seemed to be movement everywhere, rustling from all directions, shapes looming out of the darkness. He could hear some kind of strange squealing some way off.

Frodo buried his head in the sleeping Aragorn's chest; the ranger didn't fully awake but hugged Frodo tightly. Frodo tried to move away slightly, worried that he might be an annoyance to Aragorn, but the man's strong arms held Frodo still, and so he stayed close, not wanting to wake him. Frodo shut his eyes, and tried to get back to sleep, but he couldn't get the thought of Gollum out of his head -his cold lips, his hissing laugh, and his insistent kisses... Frodo shuddered, and tried to think of something else. Anything to rid himself of thoughts of Gollum. Frodo felt his eyes welling up, and he was crying once more. He tried to stop, cross with himself, but couldn't help it. He tried to choke back the sobs, and failed.

Aragorn stirred, and hugged the little hobbit anxiously. "Frodo?"

Frodo looked up at the ranger and saw concern in his eyes. In the near darkness the ranger looked more beautiful than ever, in so many ways. He could feel Aragorn's arms around his waist, his hands on his back, and being so close to the man, so close that he could almost feel the man's breath, made Frodo tremble slightly.

Aragorn gazed at the little hobbit, unsure of what to do. He could think of several things he'd like to do, but also several reasons why he shouldn't do them. He could feel Frodo trembling, and wondered if he was scaring him. Should he pull away a little? On the other hand, maybe Frodo was scared of Gollum, and the pressures put upon him by the ring, in which case he might need a comforting hug right now. If only Aragorn could limit himself to only comforting hugs that is...

Frodo looked up at Aragorn, and still thoughts of Gollum flashed through his mind. He needed something to take his mind of this. Something to comfort him, something to make him happy... Impulsively, he leaned forward and firmly pressed his soft lips against Aragorn's, heart beating fast and praying he wasn't doing a stupid thing. To his delight and relief, Aragorn pulled the hobbit even closer, and returned the kiss passionately. Aragorn had reacted before he could think, and suddenly cursed himself for his lust. He broke away, and looked at the hobbit carefully. Frodo looked back at him, blue eyes wide in an expression of hurt and dismay. He had done a stupid thing, he told himself.

"Frodo...." Aragorn said, his hand softly stroking the hobbit's cheek.

"It's alright, I understand," Frodo said in a small voice, trying not to cry. That would make the situation even worse. But Aragorn had wanted him, for a moment at least surely, judging by his reaction. Frodo found he couldn't help himself; he kissed Aragorn fervently and insistently, not letting the ranger break away.

Aragorn knew he could easily break away should he wish to, and he knew he should. However the hobbit was far too tempting, and he seemed to be wanting this. Oh yes, he definitely seemed to. He sighed, and decided that it was becoming too much of a struggle to think straight anymore. This was definitely a night to remember, he thought, before his thoughts vanished and he became immersed in the fiery kiss.