I will not say the Day is done - english version

The visitors

The following days, Sam devoted himself to helping Frodo regain a Hobbit's everyday life movements. He had done too much for him, he had to help him reclaim the autonomy his body needed. Every day, he would take him around the little vegetable garden of the Gaffer, and, in the privacy of the little bedroom, he would help him regain the flexibility of his limbs. He asked him to reproduce simple gestures — raise his arms in the air, spin them, bend his knees, stand up straight — but at first it took a lot of energy out of Frodo, and he ended up going to bed, exhausted. Sam had brought him some books from the library in Bag End, and he was able to read again. It helped him a lot with his speech: words came more easily to him, and if his voice gradually lost its hoarse squeak, he was now expressing himself in a constant whisper that was quite unsettling to Sam.

Once the shock of finding Frodo was over, Samwise found it harder and harder to ignore what his heart had been trying to keep quiet for years. And to make things more difficult, Frodo wasn't pushing him away as he'd done at first, he even seemed to thrive in Sam's presence. He tended to ask for his company and seemed to eat more when Sam was looking at him, like a child trying to please a favourite parent. It wasn't easy for Sam, under these circumstances, to disregard the feelings that were tearing his heart and body apart. He had spent his life acting as if it did not exist, choosing to ignore the obvious, but he found himself forced to face it head-on every day. Accompanying Frodo — who was finally regaining some flesh on his bones — while he washed himself, listening to him recite the poems he read in his books in a hushed voice, feeling his gaze on him in search of approval, rubbing ointment on his skin... The list of intimate moments they shared seemed to have no end. This awakening of feelings that he thought he had buried away years before, pushed away from him when he had had to make a choice for the future of Middle-Earth, was like a whole new punishment for Sam. Three years after taking on Frodo's, he had to carry a burden again, in secret and without any elven magic to guide him this time. But if that was the price he had to pay to bring Frodo back to life, he could live with what he should consider nothing more than a minor inconvenience. The most important thing was to make sure that Frodo himself didn't notice anything.

'You never ask what happened to me,' Frodo once remarked in his ethereal voice. 'Aren't you curious?'

Caught off guard by the question, Sam — who was busy cutting his master's hair to make him look like his former self — froze for a moment.

'It's just...' he began, his voice trembling slightly, 'I wasn't sure you'd want to talk about it.'

He put down his scissors and went to kneel down before Frodo with a serious look on his face. He took his hands.

'I'm ready to hear everything. Anything you want to share, I'll be able to carry it. I must. But to ask you to talk about it, that I dare not. Would you like to tell me about it?'

'No, I don't want to tell you. Not yet,' Frodo whispered. 'But I'm reassured to know that I can count on you the day I do.'

'Always, Mr. Frodo. I hope you know, you can ask me anything.'

'Don't say that, Sam. You don't know what you commit yourself to.'

'I don't care!'

Frodo gave him a sad smile and put a dry hand on Sam's round cheek and Sam shed a tear. They remained silent for a short while before Sam got up and picked up his scissors again. He had carefully avoided wondering what might have happened to Frodo after his disappearance, but now it was hard for him to ignore the questions in his head. He pushed them away firmly. If he wanted to stay sane to take care of his master, he should not waste himself in such speculations.

The atmosphere was more relaxed at 3, New Row since Frodo had regained his speech. He still ate very little for a Hobbit, but he shared the table with Hamfast and Sam almost every day, and he no longer needed help feeding himself. Sometimes he was sick, a consequence of his restored sweet tooth, but he was able to make light of it. Sam often talked about moving him back to Bag End, but Frodo didn't seem in a hurry to leave the shelter that was the Gaffer's little hole. He would have to announce his return to everyone when he regained possession of his smial, and he wasn't ready for that yet. As for Hamfast, he was delighted to have company every day and did not seem to be bothered by the presence of his son and the master of Bag End in his house.