Epilogue

It had been well over a year since Merry had been sick, and all our Hobbits had gone to their respective homes. Sam had moved in to Bag End, to 'be closer to his work'. Merry had gone back to Buckland, and Pippin to Tookland. Of course, neither spent much time without the other. Whenever Merry was in Buckland you could expect Pippin to be there, or coming up within a week.

Merry's parents had been rather surprised and a slight bit angry that their son was 'one of those types'. However, once they saw the two of them together their hearts melted and readily accepted them both. Pippin's parents had been quite a piece of work, as Paladin was deeply against it. Mainly because Pippin was his only blood heir, and he wasn't ready to let go of the family title. Pippin was quite lucky to have Eglantine as a mother, and she quickly rode Paladin down. She had a very good argument.

Eventually both families gave Merry and Pippin their blessing. Of course, being two lads, they couldn't get married. So they made plans to instead move to the house in Crickhollow, which still belonged to Frodo anyway. Frodo had decided he owned far too much property anyway, and figured giving it to Merry and Pippin was better than giving anything to Sackville-Bagginses.

All in all, everything worked out, and the Shire was up two happily madly in love couples, weather they knew it or not. And Eglantine's argument? Who really wants Pippin taking care of Tookland?


A/N: Merry's disease was an actual affliction. Lyme disease. It results from an infected tick bite, and can result in hallucinations, muscle weakness, irregular pulse, and a rash.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed and saw this through to the end!