Live and Learn
Aurora Baggins

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of Tolkien’s characters and I don’t own Calla and Tansy. They belong to MaddyLakeDeep. I only own young Caleb
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Ch.1-New Life
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A crisp morning dawned on the home of the Baggins and Gamgee hole. And what a glorious morning it was because just moments earlier a new life arrived at Bag End.

Young Calla and Elanor sat at the foot of the exhausted Tansy’s bed, marveling at the new arrival. Calla was just about to jump onto the bed to see her new sibling, but was restrained by Rosie.

Frodo stood beside the bed smiling fondly at his wife and their brand new son, Caleb Baggins.

“Congratulations you two,” Sam said from the doorway.

Rose nodded in agreement and smiled at her friend.

Tansy smiled wearily back and laid her head back on the pillow as she cradled the newborn baby.

“Mama?” said a nearby voice. “Can I hold him?”

Frodo and Tansy looked to see an eager Calla sitting on the bed eyeing her new brother with curiosity.

Tansy gently slipped the babe into Calla’s arms and Caleb immediately snuggled deeper into the folds of his older sister’s sleeve.

“He’s so small,” Elanor said as she stroked the baby’s round, pudgy cheek.

“So his name’s Caleb? That’s such a lovely name,” Rosie said.

Frodo and Tansy nodded.

The group was surprised when young Caleb suddenly woke up and immediately started crying for his mother.

“Well you two,” Sam said over the cries, “We should leave Mr. Frodo and Tansy alone so they can rest.”

Elanor and Calla were sad after Caleb was given back to Tansy and slowly began shuffling out the door. Rosie followed.

Just before Sam left he said, “I’m really happy for you two.”

“Thank you, Sam,” Frodo said quietly at seeing that Caleb had finally fallen asleep.

Sam nodded and left the couple alone in their bedroom.

“He’s such a beautiful little thing, isn’t he?” Tansy said, smiling at her husband.

Frodo nodded and set himself on the bed next to Tansy.

“I hope that these two grow up to have normal lives,” mumbled Frodo.

Tansy looked worriedly at Frodo and quickly said,

“We’ll just raise them like any other parent and hopefully they will.”

“I just don’t want Calla and Caleb to suffer. I don’t want them to live with the scorn that we had to live with,” Frodo said, sadly.

Tansy reached up and laid a hand on Frodo’s pale cheek.

“They won’t, Frodo. They won’t,” she promised.

Frodo leaned into the touch, closed his eyes and smiled warmly.

He embraced Tansy and got up from the bed. Frodo bent down and touched his son’s small hand before heading out the door.

Tansy watched as Frodo left, then wearily flopped her back onto the pillow. She certainly hoped they could keep Calla and Caleb safe from all the ridicule. She really did.

TBC…

A/N: I know that there is no way in the world I could ever best MaddyLakeDeep’s writing, but I tried. If anyone was wondering, yes this is a continuation to Maddy’s ‘Fragile Choices’ trilogy. She gave me permission to use her characters in this story and I tried my best to copy her style of writing. I hope that those of you who read this story liked it. Please leave me a review. Thanks tons!

Aurora