Old Winyards

Chapter: Eighteen
Pairing: Frodo/Sam; Merry/Pippin
Authors: Thuri and Catherine
Rating: M
Warnings: Language; Mild angst
Summary: Merry checks up on Frodo and Sam. Well, Sam's work, anyway...


"Frodo is still sick... I have no idea what state the place'll be in by the time he's feeling better." Merry tossed down his tennis racket with a sigh, picking up a towel.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," said Pippin, picking up Merry's racket and zipping the case around it. "He's got tons of good employees who've stayed with the Estate for years and know how to run it, not the least of whom is old Gaffer Gamgee."

"I don't know if he knows the paperwork, though," Merry replied, drinking from a water bottle.

"He probably knows a good deal more about it than anyone might guess," said Pippin, toweling off and putting the rackets back on the wall before reaching for his own bottle.

"I should still offer to help."

"You can offer if you like," said Pippin, "but don't force. And for heaven's sake, have a little respect for Sam. He's been taking really excellent care of Frodo, and no, it's not his job to do it."

Merry made a face. "I'm still not sure about that... Sam's his gardener."

Pippin grasped Merry's shoulder, firmly. "You haven't even given him a chance," he said. "I've been with them, and looked at them with an open mind, something which you have yet to do, and I see a great deal more than a gardener when I look at Sam. And if I can see that, and I don't even know him all that well, then Frodo must see depths I can't even imagine. You know he's always been perceptive, Merry. And besides, Sam isn't a gardener. He's the best head groundsman in the Valley next to his father, and he's helped keep the vineyard famous and profitable since he was fifteen years old. I'd call that an accomplishment worthy of a hell of a lot more respect than you're giving him."

Merry thinned his lips, but didn't answer.

"Merry, love," said Pippin, moving his hand to Merry's neck. "I know you love Frodo. I know you're worried about him. But think about how hard your parents were on you when we were getting together. Do you really want to be treating Frodo that way? And do you really want to treat Sam the way they treated me?"

"I want what's best for him," Merry said stubbornly.

"And do you think that means trying to separate him from the man he's loved and stayed celibate for for the last two years?" asked Pippin, gently.

"I don't know," Merry admitted. "But he's sick, and I don't think he's thinking clearly, no matter what."

"He loved Sam enough to save himself for him for two years. Do you think he was sick then? He's wanted him since the moment he laid eyes on him, and it's not like Frodo hasn't played the field pretty damned thoroughly in the meantime, right?" Pippin massaged Merry's shoulder with his hand.

"I didn't mean about Sam," Merry said irritably. "I meant thinking clearly about the estate, and the business and all... I'm worried about him, Pip."

"Keep your hair on, dear," smiled Pippin, borrowing a favorite Gamgee colloquialism. "I may love you to pieces but I can't always read your mind." He sighed, then, running his hand through Merry's hair. "I'm worried, too. And I suppose it won't hurt to check, but please, Merry, try to restrain your bossy self. However much you love him, he won't be served well if you don't listen to his side of things and swallow your pride, a bit. Besides," he added, with a twinkle, "I rather fancy keeping your bossy self all for my very own." He kissed Merry, nipping his pouty lower lip. "There's a pair of handcuffs that’ve been calling to me for a while, now, and I rather think I've been a very, very naughty boy..."

Merry grinned at that, and kissed him. "Mmm, later, Pip."

"I'll be waiting. With that nice, new flogger you bought for us..." He caught Merry in a lascivious embrace and bit his nose.

Merry laughed aloud, kissing him back. "Dork. I love you."

"I love you, too, bossy-boots." He knocked his forehead against Merry's in their gesture of instant, violent love and pulled back. "Now just remember, I'm the one that needs discipline. Save the rough stuff for me!" He winked, and squeezed Merry's bum before pulling away.

Merry chased him off the tennis court.


Merry trudged up the drive to Bag End. Much though he may have disapproved of Frodo's entanglement with the Gamgee boy, he couldn't rid himself of Pippin's words rankling in his head. Pippin rarely spoke so insistently to him when his mind was made up, and Merry had learned over the years that when he did, ignoring his partner's words was perilous. You know he's always been perceptive, Merry replayed itself over and over in his mind, and Merry knew the truth of it, even through everything he tried to tell himself about what a horrid idea it was for Frodo to have more than a fling with a hired hand, however long he'd been with the Estate.

Speaking of the Estate, just how long had Frodo neglected the paperwork, anyway? Merry shuddered to think of it, and sped up to the front door. He was polite but brisk with Daisy when she answered it, and wondered why she had such a scowl on her face when she saw him. I'll have to talk to Frodo about that girl, he thought. Her behavior is utterly inappropriate.

Daisy had not led him astray, and he found Frodo in the office. Steeling himself for the sight of Frodo buried under a mountain of scattered papers, Merry stopped dead in the doorway. "Well!" he exclaimed. "This is not what I expected to see!"

Frodo looked up from signing the last of the checks Sam had prepared for him. "Oh?"

"Well, I mean, I'd thought, with you being sick and everything, that you’d have been swamped with the paperwork that had accumulated," said Merry, looking with stunned shock at the organization of the office. "This looks better than it ever did when Bilbo was running the place," he said. "And here I thought you were at death's door."

Frodo shrugged. "I have been, nearly. Sam's taken care of most of it."

"Sam?" Merry asked, his voice darkening. "What the hell does he know about how to do this?"

Frodo blinked at him. "He knows as much as I do, Mer. He can add."

"If you know nothing more about how to run this Estate than a common gardener, Frodo, perhaps it's time to let someone else take it over who does know something about it. After all, we can't have the place fall to rack and ruin because you let the help run the business while you can't tell the difference between a good Merlot and a box of cooking sherry."

"Excuse me? Sam is far from being a common gardener. He and his family know more about this place than I do, because they've lived here and worked it longer than I have. I know when to delegate, and when not to, and I don't appreciate your tone, Meriadoc."

"And my family, and therefore yours, Frodo, have been in this business for longer than old Bilbo ever even dreamed of dabbling in it," said Merry, scornfully. "Why they ever let him have this prime land, I'll never know." He sighed. "Look, Frodo, I know you have a bit of a thing for Sam, but are you really thinking clearly about this? I mean, the boy's made his living outside, hands in the dirt planting and tending vines, not cooped up in some stuffy old office doing the books. How can he possibly manage the paperwork in a place like this?"

Frodo shrugged. "Search me. But he has, and is. Better than I was doing."

"Well, then, I'd better check his work, if you don't know how to. You never know with these... With the people you hire," he amended.

Frodo raised an eyebrow. "I checked it. I know how, Merry, I've just been too tired."

"Then you won't object to a second pair of eyes, will you? Just a spot check, at least. You've been sick, and he's never done this before, nor is he meant to be, so it won't hurt to have me check just a couple of these over, now, will it?"

Frodo rolled his eyes, but pushed a stack of papers at him. "If that's your idea of fun..."

Merry snorted. "Well, not exactly, but I do think it's a good idea." He began scrutinizing the papers, noting that Sam had filled everything out neatly and completely, but frowning at the extra charges he had filled in on the sheets. "These are very late, Frodo. Months overdue. You haven't been sick that long."

Frodo shrugged. "Bilbo left a lot undone, when he left."

"Bastard!" muttered Merry. "I have to agree with Sam about the way he left."

"So do I. But there's nothing to be done about it now."

Merry smirked. "Here I am agreeing with Sam for once, and all you can do is grouse!"

Frodo laughed, and shook his head. "I'll work on that."

Merry laughed in turn, a pang reminding him of the ease they'd had between them in happier days. He finished perusing the papers in his hand and handed them back to Frodo. "Well, I must admit, he does seem to have quite a good grasp on how to do this, for a –" he stopped himself, remembering Frodo's and Pippin's words. "For someone who's never done this before," he finished, resignedly. "So are you going to hire him on as your new accountant?"

Frodo shrugged. "I don't know. But for now, he's willing to do the paperwork, and I'm wiling to let him."

"It's not exactly in his job description," prickled Merry.

"He doesn't exactly have a job description, right now," Frodo replied, shrugging. "And God knows he knows more about wine than I do."

"You're not– You couldn't actually be planning to have him manage the Estate?"

Frodo shrugged. "I doubt he'd agree, if I asked him."

"Well, that's good," said Merry. "I always did used to think he had good sense, at least, even if he has got eyes above his station, at the moment."

"Merry, knock it off. This is California, it's the 21st century."

"I know, and you think I'm a snob," said Merry, his walls rising at the familiar accusation. "But Frodo, really, you must know that class counts, even in California, especially in wine circles. It's just not treated as honestly as it is in some other places. And how do you think our family will look at it if he moves in with you and gets his hands on... well, excuse the pun, but on the family assets?"

Frodo raised an eyebrow. "I quite like what he's doing with my assets."

Merry rolled his eyes. "Well, of course you do, Frodo! You've been mooning after him for years, and don't Pippin and I both know it! But if you'd just get serious, for a moment–"

"I am serious, Merry. He's handling these accounts better than I know how to, he's been taking care of me, and he's losing his family over me. He's risking a hell of a lot more than I am, and I think it's time you got a civil tongue in your head talking about him. And stop being so fucking high and mighty, as if your mother didn't start out a waitress."

Merry flushed. "My mother was much more than a waitress, and you know it! And besides, she came from good stock; they just fell on hard times, thanks to that fucking embezzler of an accountant her idiot father hired."

"Came from good stock?" Frodo's eyebrow went higher. "I suppose, if you count Irish farmers arriving for the gold rush as good stock..."

Merry flushed harder. "That was well over a century ago, and you know it! They made good ages ago. And why are we going into my family's history when it's the future of the Estate that's at stake?" He shifted, uncomfortably.

"Because Sam's family is just as good as ours," Frodo said simply. "If not better, since they actually work for a living."

"Oh, don't give me all that reverse snobbery shit!" said Merry, pacing now. "There's nothing inherently better about their working for their money. There are plenty of scum buckets out there who work for a living."

"And plenty of scum buckets who don't," Frodo said evenly. "I didn't think you were among them."

"I..." Merry fell silent, stung.

Frodo nodded slowly. "Nothing to say?"

"I'd better be getting back to Pippin," said Merry, thickly, forcing back the sting in his eyes.

"Merry, you're my cousin and I love you," Frodo said softly. "I don't want to lose you because I love Sam, too."

"Pippin warned me to be careful," said Merry, his eyes cast down.

"I don't want to lose you," Frodo said again firmly.

Merry sighed. "I don't want to lose you, either, Frodo," he said, his voice unsteady. "I should never ignore Pippin's advice. Little turd even told me so. Again."

"He has a point, I'm afraid," Frodo said with a soft grin.

"Oh, shut up!" said Merry, cuffing Frodo's shoulder, gently.

"I love you, too."

"Mewwy wuvs Fwo-Fwo," said Merry in his most annoying voice.

"Fwo-Fwo is going to hit Mewwy," Frodo replied, giggling. "Missed you, Mer."

"I missed you, too," said Merry, nudging his shoulder into Frodo's. "And I've been worried about you, Fro."

"I'm worried about me, too..."

"Talk to me," said Merry, pulling up another chair.

"I'm still sick," Frodo said, shrugging a little.

"I know. Have you seen Ell about it?"

Frodo nodded. "Repeatedly. He thinks it might be mono..."

"Ugh!" Merry drew back involuntarily, even though he wasn't touching Frodo.

Frodo rolled his eyes. "I promise I won't kiss you."

"Good thing, too," quipped Merry. "Sorry, Frodo, you know about me and germs." Merry managed a full-body twitch.

"You're phobic?" Frodo offered. "I don't think it is, though. I've been doing some research, and it doesn't all fit... but I don't know what is wrong. I'm just so fucking tired..."

Merry nodded. "You've been off your game ever since Bilbo disappeared, haven't you? Pip and I have been worried for months. We thought you were just hit hard with the way he left, but..."

Frodo nodded. "That's why the paperwork is so far behind. I can't concentrate on anything... It's bad, Mer."

Merry pulled his chair next to Frodo and put his arm around his shoulders. "What can I do to help?"

Frodo leaned against him for a moment. "Trust me to know Sam's decent?" he asked softly. "I can't fight you, too."

Merry stiffened for a fraction of a second, then pulled Frodo a bit closer and sighed. "You know, the thing is I always thought I liked Sam before he actually caught you. I sound like a jealous old queen, don't I?"

Frodo laughed. "Just a bit... Merry, he's a good man. Trust that, at least? He wants nothing but to help me."

Merry let out a long breath. "Between you and Pippin, I'm going to get a beating if I don't give him a chance, aren't I?"

"Basically."

Merry sighed, more for effect this time. "Oh, all right!" he intoned. Then he softened. "I know Sam's always been a well-meaning sort, Frodo. I know he'd never intentionally defraud you, or anything, it's just... Well, I just don't know if he's good enough for you. Of course, I don't think anyone you've seen to date has been good enough for you. You haven't exactly made great choices, so far." He nudged Frodo in the ribs.

Frodo sighed. "I know... But I think I have, now... And Sam picked me, too, Merry."

"I can't believe I'm going to say this, but that is a plus," said Merry. "At least it makes a difference from the last fifteen times..."

Frodo blushed. "I know, I know..."

Merry gave Frodo's shoulders a squeeze. "I hope you understand, though, that as your oldest remaining cousin, I am required to ask Sam about his intentions toward you."

"Be nice to him, Mer."

"I will. Pippin'll kill me if I'm not, and not in a nice way..."

"Good."

"You want him to kill me? I thought you loved me!" Merry pouted, dramatically.

Frodo laughed. "I do, Mer. You're still my favorite cousin, even when you're an ass."

"Gee, thanks," said Merry.

"And I'm yours, right?"

"Umm... Just let me think about that for a moment..."

"Merry!"

"All right, all right! Of course you are! Good grief! D'you think I'd come traipsing up this blasted pockmarked drive in the mud if you weren't? I mean, look at my shoes, man, they're ruined! Haven't you ever thought about paving the fucking thing?"

Frodo laughed aloud. "Oh, I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too. A whole lot, actually. And... and I don't want you to feel like you have to fight me, Frodo. I'll get used to Sam, if that's what it takes. Just as long as he doesn't do anything to hurt you, or to fuck you. Over! To fuck you over!" Merry put his head in his hands and groaned.

Frodo giggled, but rubbed his back. "He won't. I promise you, Merry. He's different. This is different..."

"And where have I heard that before?" asked Merry, wearily.

"Well... it's true this time," Frodo mumbled.

"Uh-huh," said Merry, "And you have a very picturesque bridge to sell in the Bay area, and..." Merry stopped at Frodo's expression. "I really will give him a chance. I did promise, you know? I'm just going to be a bit suspicious for a while. Even if he's never given me any cause for worry, you have!"

Frodo nodded. "Well... that's true enough.

Merry laughed and gave Frodo a head noogie. "Just as long as we're clear on that," he said. He rose and stretched, then pulled Frodo up with him and hugged him. "Well, I'm glad that this round of paperwork's done, at least, and... well, if Sam needs any help figuring it out, you can send him to me," he said, a little awkwardly. "After all, it's best to keep this sort of thing in the family."

Frodo smiled. "I'll let him know, Mer. Thank you."

Merry gave Frodo's forehead a smacking kiss. "Anything for you, Frodo. Except for keeping Pip waiting any longer. He's got a pair of handcuffs and a nice new flogger waiting just for me."

Frodo put his hands over his ears. "Too much information! La la la I can't hear you!"

Merry laughed out loud. "Give me a call if you need anything," he said over his shoulder as he left.

"I will. Thanks, Mer."

Frodo smiled, watching him go, and set himself to write the last few checks. Well. Merry on his side instead of against him was an unexpected bonus to the day, indeed. He hadn't at all liked being at odds with his favorite cousin. The trouble, Frodo reflected, was that Merry was too proud and too stubborn for his own good. Oh well. Pippin was likely to knock him down a few pegs, in the long run.

Sam rounded the corner between the back entry and the office just in time to see Merry's back disappear round the corner to the front door. He stiffened, not wanting to deal with Merry, if he could avoid it. He had just met Daisy outside Number 3 so that she could hand him some of his things. He was still unwelcome in his father's cottage. He stopped to collect himself for a moment, not wanting to encourage another attempt by Merry to put him out of Bag End, under the circumstances. Losing one home was bad enough. He couldn't bear to lose his home with Frodo, even though Bag End was not really his abode. When he heard the front door snick shut, he counted to ten and then walked into the office. "Frodo?" he said, waiting for his lover to finish writing a check before he spoke.

"Sam! Hullo, how are you?"

"Oh, I'm all right," said Sam, sitting a bit more heavily than he'd meant to on the chair next to Frodo.

Frodo smiled wryly. "And yet somehow I don't believe you."

"Well, I've been better," admitted Sam, staring at his hands as they twisted in his lap. He forced his head up to look at Frodo. "How are you, love?"

"I'm better than I've been for a bit," Frodo replied with a soft smile.

"Oh?" said Sam, perking up a little.

"Merry's coming around."

"Is he? Well, that's good news. Does that mean he'll come round and do the paperwork, then? And maybe not put up too much of a fuss if I move into the spare room for a bit?" he added, nearly in a whisper.

"It means if you need help with the paperwork, you can ask him. And he'll expect you to be in my room."

Sam slid from his chair onto his knees and hugged Frodo close, hiding his face in his chest. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice muffled in Frodo's light jumper. "I saw Mr. Merry leaving when I came in, and I thought I'd be having to leave, and I'd just been to Number 3..."

"Oh Sam..." Frodo hugged him close.

Sam pressed into Frodo. "I weren't allowed inside," he said. "Daisy had to get me a few things, is all, and then I had to leave. Dad, he... He left out the back when he saw me coming. Wouldn't even look at me."

Frodo frowned. "I'm so sorry, love... I hate that I'm doing this to you."

"You're not doing this to me, Frodo," said Sam. "You're just caught in the middle, is all."

"Still..."

"I'm the one's sorry to be causing you so much bother," said Sam. "Me uncle always used to say that guests are like fish; they go bad after two days. And it's been a good deal more than two days, so I must be pretty far-gone, by now. And there's a rift between two of your employees, and that's my doing, not yours. And it's me Dad as has thrown me out, not you. Leastways, not yet, so how can any of this be your doing?"

"You're not a guest, you're family," Frodo replied, sighing. "And... I don't want to be apart from you. We'll figure it all out, somehow."

At that moment, the Gamgee girls bustled by, all in a lather over something that even Sam could barely understand. "Family's even worse," he groaned.

Frodo laughed and kissed Sam’s head.