Chapter Text
‘ What are you gonna do when we get home, sir?’ Sam asked.
Frodo didn’t much care for the question, as he knew he wouldn’t be going home after this, but he wouldn’t say so to Sam. Sam didn’t need that grief yet, and Frodo was determined to keep despair from him until feeling it was absolutely unavoidable. Besides, they needed something to talk about with all this endless walking, and Sam was only trying to cheer him up.
‘I haven’t quite thought about it,’ was Frodo’s careful answer. ‘What about you?’
‘Oh, I’m gonna cook somethin’ awful nice,’ he said, with an enthusiasm that made Frodo smile. ‘A really big breakfast. Eggs and sausages, bread and jam, some fresh fruit, a good cup of tea. You’ll like it much better than lembas , I guarantee that.’
‘It’s for me?’ Frodo wondered, touched by the thought. Though he often felt too sick or worried to eat these days, he had to admit, that imaginary breakfast sounded appealing, especially if Sam was the one who’d made it.
‘O’course it’s for you,’ Sam said. ‘I miss makin’ food for you. I never thought I’d end up in a place where there’d be nothin’ at all to cook.’ He looked out over the rocky landscape a bit miserably. Frodo understood that. He missed wandering through green woods, plentiful with animals and fruit trees. He missed all those signs of life.
‘Well, then I look forward to having it,’ Frodo said. ‘I do hope you’ll allow yourself a share.’
‘If you’ll have me at your table, Mr. Frodo.’
‘Why, I’d be honoured, Sam.’
‘We should set a date for it.’
‘Who knows when we’ll be back. But shall we say…a Sunday morning perhaps?’ Frodo suggested, forgetting the near certainty of his untimely demise for the moment.
Sam seemed surprised at Frodo’s commitment to this. He looked a little perplexed in truth, but happy, and that was all Frodo would dare to ask for. That Sam was happy.
‘Sounds good to me,’ Sam said.
‘I’ll see you then,’ Frodo responded. He might have been making a joke. He couldn’t tell. It had been so long since he’d joked with anyone.
When we get home… It was a wonderful thing to consider.
Frodo knew this conversation would deepen his heartache later on, but for now he held on to the light feeling in his chest and the image in his mind of him and Sam eating breakfast together on a peaceful morning.