by auntimeesh
Frodo sat in the garden, thinking hard. Bilbo’s present had been a wonderful surprise, but it left him with a bit of a dilemma. He’d planned to give the older hobbit a box of monogrammed handkerchiefs, but that seemed rather inadequate now. There had to be something he could give Bilbo that would be as special as the gift Bilbo had given him, but for the life of him, he couldn’t think what it was.
He found himself idly watching as Hamfast Gamgee supervised his youngest son, Sam, who was trimming the hedges. The lad showed a keen interest in gardening and had been helping his father all summer. Frodo enjoyed watching the relationship between the two. The Gaffer was a gruff hobbit whose bark was far worse than his bite, as Frodo had come to realize. The young gardening apprentice listened to his father carefully, always tried to correct his mistakes and rarely made the same mistake twice, and never seemed hurt in the least when his Gaffer barked an order or called him a ninnyhammer.
Frodo had come to the conclusion that as much as Sam loved gardening, he also loved spending the time with his gaffer. And Ham clearly felt the same way, sending frequent looks of pride and affection towards the lad.
Frodo was beginning to get the seeds of an idea as he watched the gardeners, hard at work. Maybe there was something he could give Bilbo, after all. Hurrying inside, he checked first to see where Bilbo was. Reassured that the old hobbit was busy with preparations for the party they were having later that afternoon, he hurried to the study. He had work to do, and he wanted to get it done before lunch.
He just barely succeeded, getting everything arranged to his satisfaction minutes before Bilbo called his name.
“Frodo. Time for lunch!”
“I’m coming, Bilbo,” he called back. Looking around, he nodded in satisfaction before carefully closing the door behind him and joining Bilbo in the kitchen.
“You’ve been very quiet this morning,” Bilbo commented as he ate. “What have you been doing?”
Frodo heard the note of suspicion in his guardian’s voice and smiled to himself. “Oh, this and that. I was rearranging your study, mainly.”
“What!?” A mouthful of chicken flew across the table as Bilbo stared at Frodo in consternation. The older hobbit’s mouth opened and closed several times, but no words came out, and Frodo had a hard time suppressing the laughter he felt.