This was brilliant! I just read your other stoy "the last hour" and started to search your other stories. I'm glad I did :

What a wonderful story! :D I especially love the ending... "goodnight Shire" and the paraphrase from Bilbo's farewell speech. ;)
Lovely, lovely story! :D

"You could put a crown on a dog and it wouldn’t make him a prince, but dress Mr. Frodo in tatters and rags and the quality would still shine right on through"
I am truly amazed. I read that passage and could hear Samwise Gamgee's voice speaking it.
Brava and *please* keep up the good work. I look forward to visiting with your excellent turns of phrase many times in the future.

How wonderful to find a story in which Lobelia displays some good qualities! I love the way you've got the cousins interacting, and Poor Sam doing his best by Frodo and Lobelia as much as he's able to. Pippin wearing his new suit hoping for a ocmpliment (hope they can wash out blood and applesauce) and Merry finagling for the cobbler... The wonderful details you put into this make it well worth a re-reading! Thank you.

Wonderful! These sorts of tales are among my favourites and you depict the characters exceptionally well! I am so glad that I found you, and I am adding you to my Favourite Authors list : )

This is a wonderful story! Tathar is one of my favorite authors, and I just happened to check up on one of her stories where she happened to recommend yours. I'm glad I took her advice - it's great to discover another favorite!

I thought your characterizations were very well drawn, and ejoyed the more "sympathetic" picture (ofr once!) of Lobelia.

I'll look forward to reading more of your work.

Lovely tale! At the end I could just smell the flowers and grass and hear the cricket chirp as Frodo said, "Good night, Shire." You did well by the characters, and they were very much "themselves".

Cool! I enjoyed this very much. Don't know why I never encountered it before. Your Pippin is great, and it was hilarious to imagine Lobelia fawning over the youngest Took! I really hope you're considering more hobbit stories; you might discover you have more than one in your system!

Your story is a little gem. I have had great pleasure in reading it and will certainly bookmark you as an author to keep an eye on!

Please write more...

This is such a wonderful story, and so well written, please forgive me for not finding it sooner. They sure had a tough day. Poor Pippin wanted to show off his new suit and wound up getting apple stains all over it. My favorite is chapter 3 with Lobelia, it was perfection. Who would have thought Lobelia would take over and run things (well, she is a mom). And Frodo is such a gentlehobbit, inviting her to stay for dinner even though it would be torture. Merry and the cobbler is great, even in sleep he asks for it. Thank you for this story.

What a lovely chapter! Citrine, you've outdone yourself this time. :) I'm sorry to see it end, but I do hope to see more works from you soon? Your characterization of Frodo is just perfect (and of course little Pip and Merry are just adorable!).

Let me see if I can choose between all my favorite parts and just pick my very favorite few! Well, I did *love* this description of Frodo:

"Mr. Frodo was the very soul of kindness; a Hobbit couldn’t ask for a kinder, more generous master. You could put a crown on a dog and it wouldn’t make him a prince, but dress Mr. Frodo in tatters and rags and the quality would still shine right on through, just like he had a light inside."

Beautiful! And Sam did repay Frodo's kindness in the end.

And this was just sweet:

"Merry rolled over when Frodo threw the quilt over them. “Cobbler?” he said with his eyes closed.

“No, just Frodo, I’m afraid. You’ll have to wait and see cobbler in the morning,” Frodo whispered. He tucked the quilt in around their feet. “Sleep well, lads.”

The storm that threatened still had not come, so Frodo went back to his garden bench. It had been a long, eventful day and he felt drowsy and peaceful, but not quite tired enough for bed, so he sat in the dark for a long time and looked out over Hobbiton. “Goodnight, Hobbiton,” Frodo said. “Gamgees, Bolgers, Boffins, Proudfoots.” Frodo smiled to himself. “That is, Proudfeets, all various and sundry distant relations, and dear friends in residence. Sleep well, all. Goodnight, Shire.” He looked east, toward distant Rivendell, where Gandalf said Bilbo had gone. “Goodnight, Bilbo.”"

You had me giggling and "aw"-ing during the exchange between Frodo and Merry, and the next second I was sniffling over Frodo's farewell to Bilbo. (sigh) Bilbo and Frodo's relationship has always been my very favorite - I couldn't by any chance entice you to write a story about them? *begs*

I'm so glad you didn't abandon this story - and I'm also gratified that you at last have gotten some recognition from someone else too. I'll be sure to mention your work when I post the next chapter of my own stories (whichever one that may be!).

Thank you for a wonderful story, Citrine, hope to see more from you soon! God bless!

Tathar

This is so sweet and funny! Who would have thought Lobelia could be so nice to the hobbits! lol And what on earth was Pip doing, wearing winter clothes on a hot day. Actually initially I thought he fainted from the sight of blood. Anyway, good story!

Oh, another wonderful chapter, Citrine! I must say I nearly choked when Lobelia took control of the situation and tended to Pippin and Merry - what a surprise! But, as Frodo well knew, one should never underestimate the power of big, green, sorrowful eyes! ;) Frodo's probably glad right now that nothing had happened to *him* so he hasn't had to experience Lobelia's tending. (shudder) Very gallant of him to relieve Sam of the task of escorting Lobelia home, too. :)

I'm enjoying this story so much, can't wait for more!

Oh, good, another update! I can't understand why no one else has reviewed yet - I'm loving this story!

As I said before, very nice characterization of Frodo you have here - I just love it that he's able to let go and have fun tickling Pippin for a bit, but then just as quickly he's serious and takes control of the situation. Poor Pippin - but Frodo will take care of him, I'm sure. Might Lobelia still be there on their way back to Bag End? I'm sorry, I just love any Lobelia/Frodo confrontations, and you're Lobelia is so well done. :)

Can't wait for more!

Wonderful beginning! I'm loving this already! I especially enjoy your characterization of Frodo - very much "book-Fro" to me. :) I hope, though, that Lobelia isn't gone for good - I would LOVE to see Frodo handling her as he seemed to be quite good at in the book (sarcastic and clever, but still gentlemanly all the while :D).

This beginning line made me giggle: "...there were many more important things he could have been doing while he was waiting, but he didn’t feel like doing them. The long grass felt cool and pleasant, and moving seemed like such a bother."

The story of my life... ;)

This is certainly going on my favorites list. Hurry with more, please!