Homeward Bound Part One: An Unexpected Journey

Chapter One

Bilba Baggins watched the road unspool before the cart and pony and sighed in contentment. She'd agonized over going to Bree, picturing all sorts of horrible calamaties and possible bad outcomes but, in the end, the weather had been beautiful, the trip itself uneventful, and, among her many purchases, she'd gotten an amazing deal on a set of gardening tools.

All in all a good trip, even if one of her main reasons for going couldn't be accomplished until she returned home. Butterflies invaded her stomach and she felt a smile form at the thought. She was more nervous about that reason than the actual trip. Ahead the road wound over a small hill, peace, quiet and home lay just out of sight. Granted, even if her plan went perfectly, her homecoming wouldn't be ENTIRELY peaceful, she'd no doubt have to put up with a few disapproving stares. After all, it was well established that a respectable Hobbit did not go on trips, particularly if that Hobbit was a young lady, and ESPECIALLY if that Hobbit was a young lady ALONE, without an escort.

For her, though, there was only one resident whose reaction she was worried about. Even as the thought crossed her mind, the butterflies turned to nerves chewing at her intestines and she felt the smile slip off her face. What if she'd misunderstood? What if Fram was just being polite when he said he was always impressed by Belladonna Took's stories and adventurous spirit?

Her fingers tightened on the reins until her knuckles turned white. The further away from Hobbiton the more she'd been able to put the worries about her adventure out of her mind. Now, however, every step the pony took back brought her one step closer to having to face her neighbors, and Fram.

Bilba had zero adventurous spirit of her own, she was not her mother. Up to this point Bilba had left the Shire once and...that...that had not gone well. She banished the thought immediately, unwilling to go down that particular road. In any event, the point was she wasn't her mother. Fram was apparently impressed with her mother but Bilba had always felt embarrassed. Her mother never cared about what others thought of her, Bilba did. She didn't want to be labeled as odd or, worse yet, a Disturber of the Peace like her mother. She wanted to live a quiet, peaceful, life surrounded by her books, garden and, hopefully, Fram.

Fram Harfoot, the Hobbit she'd pined after for years but could never bring herself to speak to, until that fateful day she'd run into him at the marketplace.

Literally, she'd been daydreaming and utterly failed to see him until she physically bounced off him and fell in an undignified heap at his feet. Still, as mortified as she'd been, she'd spoken to him and, what's more, found out about his feelings toward her mother's antics.

And that was when her Took side, dormant her entire life, reared its head. Impressed by your mother is he? YOU could be like that, just a little bit. Then maybe, just maybe, he'd be impressed with you too! Shortly after that the idea of a very brief trip to Bree had formed. She was still shocked at herself for coming up with the plan, let alone acting it out. What sealed it even more was finding the object of her affections had a pony and cart that would be perfect for the trip and would give her a reason to go talk to him again. She'd be able to tell him she was going and thus show him she was a little like her mother, but not so much as to be labeled as anything...unnatural.

It would be enough of an adventure to hopefully shut up her Took side and it would giver her yet another excuse to see Fram when she returned and had to take the pony and cart back to him.

The only ugly part she might have to deal with would be Lobelia stopping by to make the same veiled suggestions she'd used to make about Belladonna, implying possible reasons as to WHY a young female might wish to take a trip away from her family and friends, unescorted.