Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, places, settings, or anything that is from Lord of the Rings! They all belong to the honorable J.R.R. Tolkien, and his Estate, etc. I just invented some of Rosies extended family.

Authors Note: I have taken one of my favorite fairy tales and set it in Middle Earth; starring my favorite hobbit couple. *sigh* I have researched Rosie's family as best I could, and I have only discovered that it seems she had an uncle, Wilcome Will, who was her father's brother. The family tree in my copy of the book does not say if he married or had a family. So the rest of the family is of my own creation. If anyone discovers anything that would say otherwise regarding this, please let me know! Also, does anyone know if they had watches or clocks in Middle Earth? I'm trying to figure out how hobbits told the time. This story is very AU! The time frame of the story does not follow that of the book!

Cinder-Rose

Chapter One: Things Have Changed

Rosie Cotton sighs wistfully as she finishes hanging up the laundry to dry. It seems like a natural day.

Smoke cheerfully curls up from the chimney of the hobbit hole burrowed in the ground. The ground is covered once again in green grass. Trees are growing stronger and taller once more. Flowers turn their faces up to be kissed by the warm sun. Birds sing again. The Shire at last is slowly starting to look like it once did before Frodo Baggins, Merry Brandybuck, Pippin Took, and Sam Gamgee left. Things will never completely be the same again, but things are definitely getting better.

The sound of young hobbit laughter can be heard from the road. Rosie smiles; the lovely day brings back memories of when she and her brothers would play in the front yard while their mother would sit on a bench, sewing, and watching the children in amusement. Those days were carefree and natural.

"Cinders!" The voice breaks the peaceful spell that Rosie has fallen into. And it reminds her that it is not a natural day like it had been more than a year ago.

"Oh," she gasps and quickly picks up the now empty basket. She rushes around the side of the hole to the pale purple door, which is framed by rosemary and lilies. The laughter of the small hobbit children walking along the road in front of the hole turns to jeering as they spot her. Rosie quickly opens the door and steps inside, shutting the door firmly behind her. She leans against the door and closes her eyes for a minute.

Without looking Rosie knows exactly how the fancy hobbit hole looks. All the rooms are richly carpeted. Paintings hang on nearly all of the walls. The best china and silverware is always used. There is a roaring fire in nearly every room. While the inhabitants of this hole are not quite as rich as Frodo of Bag End, they make sure to let all know of their high status.

Yet this is not home to Rose Cotton. Oh, no. Her family's hole had been much more plain and simple, for they could not call themselves very wealthy, though they were well off. But they had gotten along fine and happily. They had had a simple little garden of vegetables and fruits in the front yard. Their door had been like a piece of the sky which had fallen to earth. Along their white-picketed-fence there had been forget-me-nots, snapdragons, and roses. The backyard had been where Samwise had often played with Tom, Jolly, Nick, and Nibs, her brothers. Wrestling had been one of their favorite pastimes. Their hole had been simply furnished. But it was home. Where so many dear memories that she now held had happened.

Rosie sighs and looks around the room. It is so, so different from home.

It had been less than three months after the four hobbits had disappeared into the Old Forest and there had been many rumors going around concerning them. The Chief had come to power and the Shire was starting to become a barren wasteland. And Rosie had tried to hope against hope that one day the four hobbits would come walking down the road. And she would see Sam again. But the dream did not come true, and what hope she still clung to began to die.

One day Lily Cotton had suddenly fallen very ill. The proper herbs to treat her could not be found because of the broken trees and crushed bushes and flowers. The Cotton family could only gather around the hobbitess who was their mother and wife, and watch as each day she slipped further and further away from them. It was early in December when they laid Lily to rest in the dark, cold ground. Rosie suddenly found herself as woman of the house. She had to take care of her younger brothers and do all the cooking and sewing and tend the garden while her father and older brother went to market and took care of the animals.

In the early spring Tom Cotton went off for a fortnight to visit some relatives, and left the children at home. He never returned. He was ambushed and beaten and robbed. He was laid to rest next to his Lily.

The Cotton children had then been split up. Tom and Jolly were sent off to Crickhollow. Nick and Nibs were sent to Needlehole to stay with friends of their parents. And Rosie went off to Deephallow to live with their Uncle Wilcome and Aunt May and Cousins Rosemary and Lily. Rosie had tearfully bid her brothers farewell and had not seen them since.

When she had reached Deephallow she discovered that certain things were expected of her. She was considered family, but she did not have to be treated like family. She was given a back room that was not as furnished as the others. Her only belongings were what she had brought with her. She was not given any new dresses; Lily and Rosemary gave her their old tattered hand-me-down dresses. Rosie discovered that she was to be a servant to her aunt and cousins. Her uncle was often away on business. She had to get up when the sun rose. She cooked all the meals, did the sewing and ironing, the washing, the gardening, and going to market.

Things were not the same as before. No longer did she feel loved and cared for. All of those who were dear to her were either gone or far away. Rosemary and Lily despised their cousin and only ordered her around. And when the dresses were nothing but rags, her Aunt May took to having her dress in nothing but trousers and a shirt, which got dirtied from her work. Her brown curls were done up in two simple braids and become dangled and messed. If she had ever seen someone she knew from Hobbiton, they would not have recognized Rosie, she looked so different. She was no longer the pretty little lass with the sparkling eyes, and easy smile. No, she was not Rosie Cotton from Hobbiton. She was now Rose of Deephallow. Cinders, as her aunt sneered. Cinder-Rose, preferably by Lily and Rosemary took to calling her. "Cinders and a rose do not go together!" they would tease her.

But then in the late summer they all had moved to Hobbiton. But not one person knew that the dirty girl that dressed in trousers and a shirt was their own Rosie Cotton. She was forbidden to reveal who she was. And here she was also the cause of many jokes by the children and rude lads.

A few weeks later news spread that the four travelers had returned! Rosie could not believe that it was true. But one day she had caught a glimpse of them. They were alive! How her heart rejoiced.

They had risen up the Shire. The Chief was gone, and his ruffians. And that white wizard was dead. But the land did not look like how it once did. But Sam had restored it. He used his gift from the Lady of Lorien so the rumors went and the land was even more beautiful and plentiful than it had been before.

The fate of the Shire had turned around. Rose wondered not for the first time if her life would ever be more of what it had once been.

"Cinders!"

Aunt Mays voice causes Rosie to jump, and she hurries to put the basket away and answer her aunts calling.