What Happened Thereafter {A LotR Fanfiction}

Thorn

[I dedicate this chapter to purintonb113 because he is a really good writer and loves Star Wars (who doesn't?!), and because I think it's funny when we write back and forth to each other: "Hey, what's up?" back and forth repeatedly. Keep up the good work, purintonb113!]

Thorn was crouching on the nature of her name: thorn bushes. Their sharp little points dug into her skin and she clenched her teeth to stop herself from making any noise, lest the target heard her. Beside her, Peregrin Took held a ball of honey in his left hand that he was waiting quite patiently to release. In front of them, the target (otherwise known as Fredegar "Fatty" Bolger) was sitting on his favorite comfy chair smoking his pipe and drinking ale--completely oblivious to the fact that he was about to get "honeyed." 

"How much longer do you think it'll take for him to walk over here?" Thorn whispered. Pippin shrugged and looked over at her, wondering the same thing.

"Maybe you should distract him," he suggested. Thorn rose an eyebrow.

"Distract him? How do you expect me to do that?"

"Fatty likes you well enough, just tell him you've got a surprise for him. He's sure to follow you," Pippin urged. Thorn thought it over silently in her mind. On the one hand, Pippin was right: Fredegar did seem to like her, so she could easily convince him to walk past the thorn bushes somehow. On the other hand, Fatty was suspicious of Thorn because she played with Pippin, and Thorn wasn't sure how much he trusted her with that knowledge. 

"I guess I'll try," she finally agreed. Pippin grinned and pushed her out of the bushes before she could change her mind. Immediately, Fatty looked over at her and frowned, wondering what on earth she had been doing in his garden. 

"Thorn? Thorn Tumalow?"

"Yes, it's me. Good afternoon, Fredegar." Thorn curtsied and saw Pippin shift in his hiding place in the corner of her eye. Fatty stepped out of his chair and came a bit closer, as if he were trying to peer around her.

"What are you up to?" he asked, clearly suspicious.

"What do you mean?" Thorn asked innocently. She moved in front of Pippin and crossed her arms behind her back. "I'm not up to anything."

It was Fatty's turn to cross his arms and he stared at her, not believing for a second that she wasn't up to anything. So he asked her to join him for tea, but Thorn explained that she wasn't in the mood for tea and would rather go for a pleasant walk with him. This pleased Fredegar because no lass had ever asked to go on a walk with just him, before. He decided that there was no threat and walked up to Thorn and shook her hand happily.

"Sure, we can go for a walk!" He smiled broadly and looked her up and down. He wondered if she  liked him and found him interesting, and then thought about what he thought about her. She wasn't bad looking--thick auburn hair curled around her face and reached just below her shoulders. Her eyes were a mixture between green and blue, so he couldn't decide which they were, but upon further inspection determined they were green. Fredegar also liked her personality well enough--she seemed nice and was fun to talk to, there was just that slight problem of her mischievous disposition. Another unfortunate attribute was the fact that she hung around Peregrin Took far to often, but other than that, she could be a good match for him.

During this time, Thorn had been inching farther and farther down the path, hoping Fatty would follow so that Pippin could throw the honey at him, but for some reason Pippin had gone completely silent and hadn't even attempted at throwing the honey at the target. Thorn glared at him, but he just glared back and stuck his tongue out at her before taking aim and throwing. 

As soon as the sticky mess hit the side of Fatty's head he screamed and stomped his foot on the ground, as if he were a child throwing a tantrum. 

"I knew it! I knew I shouldn't have trusted you, Thorn Tumalow!" he shouted. His face was more than red--it was purple. He couldn't believe how easily he'd been tricked, and all because he'd been thinking about how nice she looked! Well, she certainly showed him. 

"Peregrin Took!" were the next words to exit Fatty's mouth. A very embarrassed Pippin popped his head from behind the bushes and smiled nervously at Fredegar. 

"Hey, Fatty," he said meekly. Fredegar opened his mouth to say something else, then looked at the two hobbits before him. Both had equally ashamed looks on their faces. Thorn was looking down at the ground feeling sorry about the whole thing and Pippin had emerged fully from behind the bushes and was looking his older friend straight in the eye, awaiting his punishment. 

None came. For instead of scolding, laughter came from Fatty's mouth. He laughed so hard he had to hold his belly, and then he laughed some more because it was so awfully funny. No one could pull pranks quite like a Took. Pippin gazed at his friend, astounded.

"Y-You're not angry?" he asked hesitatingly, afraid that if he said it out loud it would become true, but Fatty just shook his head.

"Of course I am! Come, let's laugh together!" 

That worked for both Pippin and Thorn, and soon all three of them were laughing hysterically on the front yard of Fatty's house. Several hobbits passed by looking at them all with strange expressions on their faces, but eventually moved on with the explanation that nothing could be queerer than a certain Appleberry anyway. Besides, laughing hobbits weren't an unordinary thing. Not at all.

After a while, Thorn leaned over and whispered in Pippin's ear: "It worked after all!" in which Pippin grinned at her widely and added: "Better than expected, as well!"

Finally, Fatty stopped laughing, and wiping the tears of mirth from his eyes, he asked Thorn and Pippin for a cup of tea inside his house. They politely declined and Thorn even went as far as curtsying to him, making him feel much better about the entire situation. When they walked down the path he couldn't help thinking how fortunate they were to have each other. Before they were friends, both had been small terrors and mischief workers. Now that they were friends, the fun had only begun...and Thorn really did look nice today..

Pippin had noticed it too, which was different for him. Normally he took absolutely no notice of the opposite sex except for when they were the target of his pranks, or if they were his friends. Perhaps it was something in his own eye, but her eyes seemed much greener than usual. He blinked and looked at her again, which confused Thorn. Why was he looking at her that way? Was there something on her face? It must have blown off because a minute later he smiled at her and looked straight ahead again.

"I want to thank you for being my friend." Thorn's voice interrupted any thoughts Pippin was having, and totally took him by surprise. 

"What?" he asked, not knowing what to make of her random outburst of...was it affection?

"It's fun to mess around and get in trouble with you," she explained. "Before, I was the only one out of my friends who had the guts and knack for getting into trouble. It's a refreshing change to have someone that's kind of similar to me."

"Oh, well, you're welcome, Thorn," Pippin told her. They smiled at each other, then Pippin tagged her shoulder and pointed to a tree about thirty yards away.

"I'll race you," he grinned impishly.

Thorn giggled as he took off running without warning, and as she ran after him she called out: "Last one has to invite Fatty Bolger to tea!"

She could almost hear the smile in Pippin's voice when he called back to her. "Me? Have tea? Not on your life, I'm getting there first!"

In the end, Pippin won the race to the tree and Thorn was left with a warning from Pippin that she had better ask Fredegar to tea sometime during the next week because if she didn't, the next prank he and Merry pulled would be directed at her. 

It was good to have a friend Thorn could rely on to make every day in her life brighter.