March, 2003
"Merry, do you want to see the new baby?" Esmerelda Brandybuck asked her eight-year-old son as he walked back into the Great Smials. The Master of Buckland and his wife had come to celebrate the Took and Thain's first and only son's birth. Merry wrinkled his nose.
"Do I have to?" Esme gave him a stern look and he sighed. "Okay. But what fun is he? All babies do is eat, sleep and poo." Esme reprimanded her son while trying not to laugh.
"Don't say that in front of your Aunt Eglantine, or your Uncle Paladin will give you a switching. Now behave." She opened the door to Merry's aunt's private sitting room silently and nudged him in. Merry shot her a mutinous look behind her back and turned back to the scene in front of him as she shut the door.
The baby was crying. No, he was wailing. Loudly. Pearl and Pimpernel were doing everything they could to get him to stop. Pervinca, the youngest Took girl, was outside because she was too young to help with the baby. Merry covered his ears as the boy's cries became, if possible, even louder. Pearl turned around and glared at Merry.
"What are you doing in here?" she had to half shout over her brother's wails. Merry disliked Pearl. A lot. She was always mean to him and bossy. He glared at her.
"My mom told me to go see the baby." Pearl shook her head in disgust.
"He's not a toy, Merry Brandybuck, you can't play with him." Pimpernel took the baby from Pearl and began to sing to him, a soft Shire lullaby that Merry's mother had often sung to him. The baby quieted down a little, only making noises every once in a while. Pearl and Pimpernel sighed in relief.
"Can I hold him?" Pearl shot Merry a distrustful look and shook her head.
"No, Meriadoc," she said in her superior tone. "You'll drop him. Besides," she added, for good measure, "he just went to sleep." He went and sat down in a chair.
"I won't wake him up," he said. "And if I sit down I won't drop him, I promise." He looked at Pimpernel instead of Pearl. "Please, Nel. Please?" Nel sighed and looked at Pearl. Pearl's eyes widened and she shook her head, her lips pursed together. Nel looked at her again and she sighed.
"Fine," she snapped. "But if he drops that baby it's your fault Pimpernel." Merry's face lit up and Nel nodded. Pearl walked out. Nel walked carefully over to Merry and gently sat the baby into Merry's arms. He cradled the boy gently and smiled at him.
"He's beautiful," he whispered reverently. "What's his name?" Nel smiled.
"Peregrin Took," she said. Merry wrinkled his nose.
"Peregrin?" Nel laughed quietly at his tone. "I think I'll give you a nickname." He thought hard for a moment and then he smiled.
"I'll call you Pippin." Nel looked at him funny.
"Why Pippin?" Merry looked up at her and smiled cheekily.
"Because he's a pip-squeak so I thought Pip, then I thought Pippin." Nel laughed. Pippin stirred in Merry's arms and Nel held her breath. But Pippin just gave a tiny yawn and snuggled closer to Merry's small chest. Nel looked at Merry in amazement. Merry was looking down at the baby boy in his arms. He smiled warmly and bent down, placing a small kiss on Pippin's brow.
"I love you Pippin. Always." Merry shifted and drew his legs up under him without waking him. He closed his eyes and soon the two of them were asleep, Merry with one arm curled protectively around Pippin.
Some time later Esmeralda came into the room. She stared in wonder at the scene before her. She looked at Nel. Nel smiled.
"They've been like that for about an hour. Merry took hold of him and he went right to sleep. It's scary," she said quietly so as not to disturb the two in the big armchair. Esmerelda smiled sadly.
"It's wonderful too," she said finally. "I don't think those two will ever be apart." Nel looked at her aunt strangely and shook her head.
"Merry gave him a nickname,' she said. "Pippin." Esme smiled. "He said because he's so small." They both looked at the sleeping infant and his eight-year-old protector. They both had contented smiles on their faces.
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Shire Chronicles: First Things First by Nfinity Nite
Story notes: Warning: Cutesy moments run amok!
This is the very first part of the Shire Chronicles series. I wrote it a long time ago, but it didn't really seem like a story by itself. So I reworked it a little and made it my first chapter. Where else would you begin a love story like this but at the very beginning? It tells the story of the very first time Merry and Pippin meet. It's short and sweet. A lot of other writers have written about when Pippin was born and all of them are great. ENJOY!
