"You know, Brianna, you make me so happy." Said Merry, with a wide grin on his face. "I can honestly tell you that no lass in the Shire is as beautiful as you are."

"Thank you." I replied, while gingerly stroking my hair back behind my ear.

"You know I would do anything to make you happy, right?" Merry placed a loving hand on my right shoulder. The sun glimmered through his light blue eyes.

I nodded my head in agreement. "Y-yes," I stuttered. "I do know that, Merry. You've told me before."

Merry paused for a moment to stop and think. He scratched at his blonde curls and gazed into my eyes as if he were mesmerized by something beautiful or if he were under a wizard's spell.

"There...there was something I wanted to ask you, Bri. I know I've asked you this question before but....I was wondering if... you would like to marry me?"

Merry got down on his knee and yanked out a small box from out of his jacket pocket. He opened up the latch. Inside of the box was a beautiful silver diamond ring. It was no ordinary ring. It was a wedding ring that Merry had bought himself. It looked awfully expensive.

"Will you make me the happiest hobbit in the Shire, Bri? Will you marry me?"

I couldn't come up with a response to Merry's marriage proposal. I was still surprised by the fact that Merry had boughten me a wedding ring. The first time that Merry had tried to propose to me I wasn't sure that I was ready for marriage. But, it was a very kind gesture that Merry would buy that ring for me. Merry and I had spent quite a lot of time together and I just felt like he was the one that truly understood me.

"I guess it couldn't hurt." I thought to myself. "I deserve to be happy." I nodded my head and grinned.

"Yes, Merry." I replied. "I will marry you."
Merry jumped up from the floor, slammed the ring box shut and clapped his hands loudly, which gave me quite a startle.

"Perfect!" Merry shouted. "I knew you'd say yes to me, Brianna! You could never say no to me!" I chuckled nervously and blushed.

Merry moved in close and gave me a great big hug and a peck on the cheek. "As soon as you know it, Bri, we'll be married and we'll have children of our own."

My grin quickly turned into a frown. A shocked expression fell upon my face. I couldn't think of any words to say. To be honest, I didn't want to have any children. I didn't feel that way about Merry. I just wanted to marry Merry and not have any kids. I did not want to have the responsibility of raising a family. Plus, I had no mother figure in my life. I didn't want a mother figure in my life. Merry had teased me before about how a whole bunch of women were after Frodo and that they wanted to marry him. I didn't want Frodo to get married. Frodo was the only parental figure in my life. If Frodo got married, then I thought that he'd forget about me and the person that he would marry would make him happier and they might have another child. That bothered me for a long time. Plus, all of the hobbits would poke fun at me for how I looked and that I was different from the rest of them. I remember one time where a group of hobbit women came up to me and were pointing out my flaws. That hurt me.

Other reasons for me not wanting to have children was because I didn't have the same "feelings" that Merry had towards me, if you catch my drift. Plus, I had been through a lot of traumatic experiences, one of them being Frodo finding me in the Eastfarthing Woods when I was almost left to die. That memory has been ingrained into my head and it's hard to let it go. I also felt like Merry wasn't fit to be a parent either. He spends lots of time pulling pranks and causing mischief in the Shire, he stays up late drinking at The Green Dragon, he smokes way too much, and he probably doesn't take very good care of himself. How can he take care of a child if he doesn't know how to take care of himself?

"How do you feel about that, Bri?" Said Merry, eagerly. "Doesn't that make you happy? It sure makes me happy!"

"I...I....I...don't know how I should feel about that, Merry." I stammered.

"You should be happy, Brianna!" Merry cheered with excitement.

I shook my head slowly. "N-no, Merry. I'm sorry. But, that doesn't make me happy. I'm sorry."

"Wh-what are you talking about? How can that not possibly make you happy? I thought you wanted to marry me. Don't you?"

"Yes, Merry, I do want to marry you. I just don't want to have children. I don't want to, Merry. I don't want that kind of responsibility. Plus, I don't really feel the same way as you do."
Merry grimaced. "What's the problem with having children, huh? What do you mean you don't feel the same way?"

"I don't want that responsibility, Merry." I repeated. A heavy lump grew in my throat. I was worried about how Merry was going to respond to what I said about me not wanting to have children. But, I knew it wasn't going to be good.

"I think I understand now." Concluded Merry. "You're just being selfish. You only care about yourself and not about me. I'm not good enough for you, am I?"

"Y-yes, you are, Merry. I-I-I'm not being selfish."

"Oh, please. Don't got trying to pretend that you're innocent. Like you're some angel."

"But you used to call me your angel, Merry. That's what you used to call me."

Merry crossed his arms in frustration. "I'm starting to have second thoughts about that. How could you do this to me, Brianna? You said that you wanted to be happy! I'm tryin' to make you happy! But, no! You're too stubborn because you don't want children! Why don't you think about what makes me happy? Goodness, Brianna! You're too selfish!"

"That was a little uncalled for, Merry. When do you ever think about what makes me happy? Aren't you the one that's being selfish? The only thing that you want is to marry me and have kids with me! That's all you want! You never take things into consideration! Can't you be a bit open minded?" I was on the verge of tears. My voice began to shake as I spoke.

Merry's face writhed in disgust. "You're the one that's not being open minded! I can't believe this, Brianna! This...this is pathetic!"
"Merry..." I whimpered. "Don't....Don't do this. You're scaring me!"

Merry moved in closer to me. I could feel his warm breath upon my face. "Oh, really?! I'm scaring you?!" he said, sarcastically. "Well, good then! You should be scared of me! Go ahead and cry! I don't care."

Merry moved away from me and headed towards the front door of Bag End. "Next time, why don't you take other people's feelings into consideration for once, Brianna?! Don't think that Frodo will protect you because he won't!"
There was a loud slam at the other end of the hobbit hole.

A painful expression grew on my face. I was holding in a lot of sadness and a lot of fear. I had no idea that Merry would say those things to me. They....they hurt me a lot. They stuck with me. They cut me like a sharp knife. I thought that Merry loved me. I didn't know if Merry was ever going to come back for me.

I stood in the middle of the hallway, my jittering hands masking my face. I tried taking deep breaths to try to relax, but it didn't work. I had the sudden urge to burst into tears.

Out of nowhere, I head the sound of footsteps. They were getting louder and louder. Someone was probably coming after me. "It's probably Frodo." I thought to myself. "I don't want him to see me like this. I hope he didn't hear what was happening between me and Merry."

I felt gentle hands squeezing my shoulders. "Oh, Brianna." whispered Frodo. "Are you alright, my dear?"

I shook my head quickly, with my hands still covering my tear-stained face. "Why...why does....it matter?" I sniffled. "Why does anything matter?"

Frodo held me close to his warm body and rocked me back and forth in slow swaying motions. He brushed my hair over my ears and gave me a kiss on my forehead, which didn't give me much comfort.

"It does matter, Brianna. It does matter." Frodo soothed. "I heard what happened between you and Merry. It didn't sound too good. I hope you're alright."

"Does it look like I'm alright, F-Frodo?" I buried my head deeply into Frodo's chest and sobbed. "M-Merry doesn't love me anymore!"

Frodo held me even closer to him to try to calm me down. "Shhh. Shhh." He consoled, in a soft-spoken voice. "Oh, my dear Brianna, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Would...would you like to talk to me about it?"

"Nooo!" I cried out in agony.

"Shhh." Frodo soothed. "Shhh. Oh, my dearest. Oh, my dear." He tried suggesting something to try and make me feel better. "Brianna, my dear, would you like me to take you to your bedroom? I can take you there if you want me to."

"A-A-Alright, F-Frodo." I choked. "A-A-Alright."

Frodo noticed that my entire body was shaking like a leaf. He knew that I couldn't walk all the way to my bedroom because I was too weak. So, he decided to carry me to my bedroom. I clutched tightly onto Frodo's neck, not wanting to let go. Frodo lifted my legs from off the cold, hard tile floor.

As he was heading down to my bedroom, I couldn't help but to sob into his shoulder. Frodo kept massaging my hair and continued hushing me. I felt him plant a soft kiss on my cheek.

When Frodo had tucked me into bed, he took his place beside me and wrapped his arm around my shoulder, holding me close. Then, he carefully laid me down and placed his hand on top of my warm forehead.

"I think it might be best if you rested for a while, darling." Frodo advised. "Then, you can tell me what is bothering you. How does that sound?"

I wiped my red puffy nose with the edge of my shirt sleeve. "I...I...guess so." I hesitated. "Oh, Frodo." I let out a loud groan. "I...don't feel too good. My...stomach hurts so much. So does my head."

Frodo planted a kiss on my forehead. "I'll make you some tea. That should make you feel a little better and it might help you fall asleep faster."

I nodded my head weakly. "Th-thank you, Frodo."

Frodo chuckled silently. "You're welcome. Is there anything else that you might need?" An idea suddenly popped into Frodo's mind. "Oh, and I'll get you a wet cloth for your forehead. You feel awfully warm."

"N-no. There's nothing else that I need." I managed a crooked smile.

Frodo walked over to my bedroom window, drew back the curtains and left it ajar. He felt that it would be best if there was some fresh air in my room. After Frodo opened my window, he headed towards the door and told me that he wouldn't be too far and if there was anything else that I needed from him, all I had to do was give him a shout. I had no more energy in me to shout. So, I laid back in my comfortable bed and tried to close my eyes for a while. I could not fall asleep. I found it rather difficult.

A few minutes later, Frodo returned with a mug of piping hot herbal tea and a damp cloth, which he applied to my forehead. He set the mug down onto my nightstand and started to engage in a conversation with me.

"Do you feel comfortable enough to tell me what happened between you and Merry, Brianna? Or would you rather tell me after you've rested?"

"I-I-I'll tell you after." I said, shakily.

Frodo nodded his head and smiled. "That's alright with me."

"Frodo?"

"Yes, Brianna?"

"I actually do have something to tell you. But it's not good."

"What is it?" asked Frodo, curiously.

(Author's note: This one shot is actually going to have different parts to it, so I'm just going to leave it on a cliffhanger and I'll write the second part soon.)