Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings Imagines

Pippin ~ Pint

Pippin had been coming in everyday, getting a drink and sitting by himself at a table.

All because she was there.

There in her pretty work dress, her brown hair in curls around her neck, and brown eyes always smiling.

He wanted to talk to her, but he really wasn't sure how.

He could ask Merry, but was embarrassed to admit that he needed help with this.

She moved with such grace and ease that so many times he'd swear that he'd died.

And she had noticed the hobbit, noticed his nervous gaze and the tight grip on his glass, very different to some of the others that came in here, and so it was that she decided to go and talk to him.

"How are you doing tonight?"  She asks with a bright smile at the hobbit.

Pippin's cheeks turn red.  "Good thanks."

"Can I get you anything?  You seem pretty content on holding an empty glass."  She chuckles brightly.

"Um..."  Pippin stared at his glass.  He hadn't even realised that he'd finished.  "N..no, that's okay, I think I should be going."

He goes to stand, but she holds out a hand.  "On the house, anything you like."

Pippin's face went an even brighter shade of red, and she found in incredibly adorable, making her smile even wider.

"You know what, I'm about to finish my shift anyway, so why don't you sit right there and I'll get us both a drink?"

Pippin's mouth hung open slightly, and he nods dumbly.

Beaming, she walks away, leaving Pippin a little dumb founded.  He remembered always teasing Sam about Rosie, and now he felt much the same.

Nervous and a little helpless.

She comes back over, two foaming pints in her hands.  Pippin stares as she sets them down and sits across from him.

"You drink pints?"  He asked, a little stunned.

"Every now and then."  She says, settling down.  "Nice way of getting a little tipsy, quickly."

Pippin stares at her and then at his pint.  "I've never heard of a lass drinking pints before."

"Well, you can't have met many decent lass's then."  She chuckles.

Just when she thought Pippin's face couldn't get any redder, it did, and she laughs again, holding out her hand.

"Lollette."

"Pippin."

"Pippin?  As in Peregrin Took?"

Pippin nods, shocked she knew his name.

"You and your friends were quite the talk of the Shire when you got back.  Quite the adventure you guys had."

Again, Pippin nods, a little lost for words.

There was a light in her eye, one that Pippin began to recognise the more she talked.

"It must have been exciting, leaving the Shire and seeing what was beyond the borders."  She takes a drink of her pint.  "Although, it'd be nice to know the actual tale, and just the rumours."

And before Pippin knew it, he was telling their tale, everything that happened, even parts he only partly knew himself, and she listened with rapt attention until it got late.

They decided to meet the next night.

And the night after.

For five nights, Pippin told Lollette his story, each night she would buy him a pint and sit across from him and listen.  Pippin finding it easier to talk to her each night.

She would react accordingly to the story, with gasps and laughs and looks of wonder, and Pippin found it very enjoyable to keep talking.

Sadly, he reached the end of his tale and she stared at him with wide eyes.

He shifted nervously in his seat.  "Well, that's all there is."

"Wow..."  Lollette breathed.  "I never expected anything like that."

Pippin gives strained smile.  "Neither did I."  He looks at his half completed drink.  "It makes quite the story doesn't it?"

"No wonder the rumours got so wild."  She nods then, realising he'd asked a question.  "And you...you really were a soldier for Gondor?"

He gives a small laugh.  "More or less."

"That is amazing."  She blushes then and averts her gaze.  "It really is.  I'm surprised you wanted to come back after all that excitement."

"It wasn't all excitement,"  Pippin says sadly.  "We lost a lot of friends.  But still, the Shire is our home, it only felt right to come back.  We each had lives that we could try and rebuild after all."

Lollette was watching him, her brown eyes concerned as his shoulders had sunk a little and he was staring into the depths of his drink.

"Are you managing?"

He shrugs lightly.  "Slowly."

Pippin looks up surprised when her hand rested over his, and there was a tenderness in her eyes he did not expect to be there.

"It'll be okay, Pippin, I know it will be."

He smiles, and they call it an early night as Pippin told her he had to leave in the morning to go somewhere with Frodo.

It was almost a week before Lollette saw Pippin again, and she was starting to worry for him, as he'd said it was only a short journey.

But when a knock on her door came, she was not expecting it to be him.

"Pippin?"  She asked in surprise.

He stood there as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders, his eyes and nose red from crying.

"Pippin, what's wrong?"  She gasped, wrapping her arms around him and leading him inside.

"Frodo."  Pippin croaked.  "Frodo is gone."

"What do you mean gone?"

"He's gone."  He starts to weep.  "Into the west, with the elves and Gandalf.  He wasn't...he wasn't adjusting back to this life."

"Oh Pip..."  She says softly as he begins to cry harder.  Lollette leads him over to the lounge and sits him down, she then wraps her arms around him and pulls him into her.

They sat together as she let Pippin cry, and she started to sing softly to him to ease the shake in his shoulders.

Eventually, his sobbing stopped, and he just lay there with his arms around her, listening to her sing and her steady heart beat.

She brushes her fingers into his hair as she falls silent.

"You have a beautiful voice."  He mumbles, his voice croaky.

Lollette smiles softly.  "Thankyou."

"Lollette?"

"Yes Pippin?"

"Will you marry me?"

Lollette laughs.  "Don't you think that's a bit sudden Pip?"

"No."  He holds her tighter.  "Because I've loved you from the moment I saw you."

Her grin widens and she kisses the top of his head.  "We will see."

He mumbles something, but she can't understand.  She goes to ask what he says, but a soft snore reaches her.

With a soft laugh, she adjusts get a bit more comfortable, before placing another soft kiss on his forehead.

"I love you too, Pippin."