Work Text:
~*~
Frodo gazed sightlessly through the panes of the study window. In his mind he did not see moonlight shining on the green and growing things outside, but a desolation where nothing living could take hold. Like his heart.
Sam came in, and quiet though he moved Frodo heard him. How could he not? Sam was so much a part of him that he felt his every breath as if it were his own.
'Frodo?'
'Yes, Sam?' He didn't turn around. Vaguely he could make out Sam's reflection in the glass. Oh, that beloved face. How he yearned toward it. Toward the light in those eyes that still held the promise of everything that had vanished in the fires of Mount Doom.
''Tis a pretty night with the moon and all. I thought you might enjoy a turn around the garden before going to bed.'
Alone? He hated himself for the bitter thought. What right had he to be bitter about Sam returning to Number Three each night? He opened his mouth to say 'no', to suggest that Sam take Rose Cotton for a walk instead, but what came out was, 'All right.'
~*~
They walked slowly across the garden without speaking. Frodo kept his head bent, studying his moon shadow cast across the silvered grass and almost touching Sam’s. Almost but not quite.
‘Will you not tell me what’s wrong, Frodo dear?’ Sam asked quietly.
I’m wrong, Sam. It’s me.
‘Nothing is wrong.’
‘I’m not blind, Frodo. I can see you’re hurting and I want to help if I can.’
Don’t make me tell you. Don’t make me explain.
‘You can’t help. Not this time.’
Sam took him by the arm and stopped him. ‘Will you look at me?’ he said.
Reluctantly Frodo did. There it was, that light in Sam’s eyes, speaking to the place inside Frodo that still, against all odds, held a spark of hope.
‘Is it something I did?’
‘Oh Sam,’ Frodo whispered, and laid his palm against Sam’s cheek. Tears welled in his eyes. ‘Of course not. You are the only good thing in my life. Too good for me. I don’t deserve...’
‘Hush.’ Sam stopped Frodo’s words with his fingers. ‘You deserve everything, Frodo. Every good thing in this world.’
A tear slipped free and ran hot down Frodo’s cheek. Tenderly, Sam thumbed it away, and that was Frodo’s undoing. The unaccustomed tears flowed freely.
‘Don’t cry. I see what is troubling you now, and I mean to put an end to it, straight away.’ Sam took Frodo by the shoulders and turned him so that he was facing the Party Field, above which the moon shone brightly, surrounded by myriad stars. ‘Did you ever see aught more beautiful? That’s what you are to me, Frodo. The moon and the stars shining down on our Shire.’ He slid his hands down and wrapped his arms tightly around Frodo from behind. ‘‘Tis like as if I’m holding it all in my arms when I hold you, and I don’t mean ever to let go.’
‘I never want you to let go. But you must, Sam. For your own sake. I’ve been too hurt.’ Frodo tried to pull away, but it was like those moments when his hand had strayed to the ring despite himself. He couldn’t do it. ‘You deserve every good thing in this world, too.’
‘And don't I have it, right here?’ Sam pressed his lips to the tender spot beneath Frodo’s ear, and Frodo let out a sob. ‘I love you, Frodo,’ he said.
Still, Frodo tried to resist. ‘But is love enough?’ he asked sadly.
‘It can be, if you’ll give it a chance,’ Sam replied. ‘Will you do that?’
Yielding at last to Sam’s plea, and even more to the spark of hope deep down that nothing could quite destroy, Frodo turned in Sam's embrace and threw his arms around his neck. ‘I will,’ he said, and blindly found Sam's mouth with lips salt with tears.
~*~
Frodo was still awake at dawn; Sam slept peacefully in his arms. Frodo listened to him breathing in and out, and felt every breath as if it were his own. Outside the first birdsong swelled to welcome the sun’s rising and the birth of a new day. Soon, Sam would awaken and open his eyes, and in the light of them Frodo knew he would find not the promise of things that had vanished, but of those that had just been born.
~end~
Lyrics
Breathe in, breathe out,
Tell me all of your doubts,
& Everybody bleeds this way,
Just the same.
Breathe in, breathe out,
Move on and break down,
If everyone goes away i will stay.
We push and pull,
& I fall down sometimes,
I'm not letting go,
You hold the other line.
Cause there is a light in your eyes, in your eyes.
Hold on hold tight,
From out of your sight,
If everything keeps moving on, moving on,
Hold on hold tight,
Make it through another night,
& everyday there comes a song with the dawn,
We push and pull and I fall down sometimes,
I'm not letting go,
You hold the other line.
Cause there is a light, in your eyes, in your eyes.
There is a light, in your eyes, in your eyes.
Breathe in, and breathe out.
Breathe in, and breathe out.
Breathe in, and breathe out.
Breathe in, and breathe out.
Look left look right,
To the moon in the night.
& everything under the stars is in your arms.
Cause there is a light, in your eyes in your eyes.
There is a light, in your eyes, in your eyes.
There is a light, in your eyes, in your eyes.
There is a light, in your eyes, in your eyes.