TITLE: Footsteps 
AUTHOR: Nadja 
RATING: R, maybe? 
PAIRING: S/R, implied F/S  
DISCLAIMER: If they were mine, I wouldn't leave the house. 
SUMMARY: What must it be like for Sam, living with Rosie at Bag End? 
NOTES: Spoilers to RotK, I guess. I got mauled by a rabid plotbunny last night, so this is 
a delurk and a snippet. Feedback will be worshipped. 
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I don't know what I expected, but this wasn't it. Never thought that, once we were back, 
once everything was safe again, you'd avoid me. Hard to do, living in the same place, but 
you seemed determined to prove that it's not impossible. 
 
We both knew. I tried to tell you, once, but you wouldn't listen. "Go marry Rosie, Sam," 
you said. "Have children. Have a happy life." As if I could be happy without you. 
 
As if I could ever disobey you. 
 
So I married her, and we both moved in here - because I don't think you could stand to be 
separated from me, either. You were certainly quick enough to offer. And you stopped 
avoiding me. 
 
Sometimes at night, I can hear you, softer than whispers, padding through the hallway 
past my door. Sometimes, I hear you pause. 
 
Usually you move silently, with the grace of an elf - these sounds are meant for me. 
 
Rosie writhes beneath me, but I can't hear her. I am straining for the sound of your 
breath, moving in time with your blood, knowing that if my eyes could pierce this wall, I 
would be staring at your face. That thought is too much for me and I come, gasping 
broken syllables that might be part of your name. 
 
Beyond the wall, I hear you leaving, and every heartbeat sounds like "yes," and every 
footstep sounds like "no." 
 
 
 
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