By: Dana
Summary: The births of three Tunnellys.
Characters: The Tunnellys; others mentioned as well
Pairings: None
Rating: G
Warnings: Wee hobbits, gen
Author's Notes: This happened because of slightlytookish, my co-conspirator in Tunnelly Love. I would also like to thank dreamflower02, for the very title suggestion. There are notes at the end, in case you want to find out more about the Tunnellys. Because, well, Tunnellys Are Love.
I wrote over 1500 words of wee hobbits! What is the world coming to?
Series Index: Roads Go On and Years Go By.
Disclaimer: The author makes no claim to owning the rights of anything to do with J.R.R. Tolkien or New Line Cinema. Any and all characters and situations that have been borrowed are for the author's personal use only, and for the entertainment of others.

          I. SR 1385

'I don't think I've ever felt this tired,' she said, felt where her hair was limp, sticking against her brow. Opal looked at her, her expression shrewd somehow but also very dear. Opal, who was nearly at her time, herself, and yet had insisted almost as fervently as Orchid had, that she be the one who'd attend to the birth. So Orchid, feeling very tired but perhaps not as tired as Opal must be feeling, laughed and then sighed. 'I do suppose it's only just the start.'

Opal grinned at her, at that. 'Wiser words,' she said, and left it at that. And Orchid, feeling very weary, but happily so, looked down at her newborn son: him bundled in fresh linens, and her arms about him, and him sleeping against her chest. He was hers, and certainly, he had taken his time, coming into the world: and he had yet to wait his father, as Opal had yet to deem it the proper time, given the struggle her nephew had made, being born.

And yes, she was very tired, but she was also very happy, and proud of herself. 'My little lad,' she said, and kisses his brow. 'Tell me, cousin, how did I do?'

'Very well. I think that Ben will be very proud, and pleased.'

'Oh, he'd best!' At that, Orchid laughed, but that seemed weary, as well. She looked at her son, at her Tolbric, and she smiled to herself. Then, to Opal, though she didn't look at her, she said: 'You might not see it right now, with him asleep, but I've the feeling that my son here will grow up to be a very tiring lad.'

          II. SR 1393

Tolby had been waiting very patiently – as patiently as he could, eight-year-old lad that he was. 'Is he ready now?' he asked his Da, and pulled on his sleeve. His Da smiled down at him, and nodded.

'Yes, it's time,' he said, and Tolby smiled when his Da swooped down and picked him up, and him ending up perched in his father's arms. He wound his arms about his Da's neck, and leaned against him. 'Your little brother is all ready and now it's time to meet him.'

'Finally,' Tolby said, sighing. 'It took him long enough.'

His Da laughed at that, and jostled him in his arms, but then he carried Tolby into the room where his Ma had been, for hours and, well, hours. Tolby didn't just want to see his new brother, he wanted to see his Ma, too.

Inside the room, his Ma looked very tired, and she was holding a bundle to her chest – 'There he is,' said Da. 'That's your new brother.'

Tolby looked... his Ma was smiling, and his new brother was sleeping, and before Tolby knew what he was doing, he was asking if he could hold him – it was all well and good enough to look at him, but Tolby wasn't sure he trusted if he was real.

Ma nodded, and Aunt Opal said it was all right, quite all right, and then Da put Tolby down. Carefully, he took the baby up from Ma's arms, and then he turned, kneeling somewhat, and told Tolby how he was going to have to be very careful, when he was holding Jed.

Tolby nodded, looking at the baby – looking at his Jed – absolutely fascinated. He was all red and scrunched up looking, and there wasn't any hair on his head, and he was sleeping, so Tolby couldn't see the colour of his eyes. He held his arms like his Da instructed him, and then Jed was in Tolby's arms – and Tolby smiled, ear to ear. 'He's so little,' he said, whispering – he didn't want to wake his Jed up. From his teeny ears, to his tiny nose, to his little hands, all fisted up – Jed was the smallest thing that Tolby had ever seen.

'We'll keep him, right?' Tolby didn't look up.

His Da chuckled. 'Of course we will, lad.'

'Good. I like him.'

All babies had midnight-blue eyes, his Ma had told him once, and Tolby saw that was true, when Jed opened his eyes. 'Hello, Jed,' Tolby said, smiling – thinking, when Jed was bigger, he would teach him all the things an older brother should show a younger – 'I am Tolby – Tolbric Tunnelly – your big brother. I promise you, I will be the very best big brother I can be – and I think that you will be the best little brother.'

Jed didn't say anything, of course – but Tolby didn't mind.

          III. SR 1405

It was a story her Ma seemed fond enough of telling her – how she had picked the very worst time of year to be born, it being the first snow they'd seen in years, and her Da having come back from Great Smials, unaware he'd brought the sweating sickness along with him. And it having been a difficult birth – her mother would always smile at that point of the story, and shake her head. Aster was very glad, now, to be alive, but at the time, she could only guess that she hadn't been ready yet to step out into the world.

And Orchid would go on. And there they were, all of them at Applegrove together, and Mistress Eglantine and her middle daughter, Nell, having come to visit (and Eglantine having wanted to give what help she could, and knowing whatever help she might offer would be appreciated) – and then Ben had come in from the cold, covered in snow, saying how very grateful he was, having made it home in time. But then, he collapsed, right there and on the kitchen floor!

Now, he was burning with a fever, and very sluggish and rambling a bit, too, but Mistress Eglantine guided him somehow into one of the guest bedrooms – your Aunt Opal was there, of course, attending to your birth, and young Nell was there as well. And Tolby and Jed, who were both young, and if their Da was sick, we couldn't risk them falling ill as well. Your Aunt Opal instructed young Nell to run to Tib's – she being the only one who could, though Tolby had insisted he would be able to – but it was snowing out, still, and she was a good deal older than he was. So out she went, bundled up against the cold.

Now, Tolby, he wanted to say a number of things, and all very loudly, but your Aunt Opal kept him and Jed both entertained as long she could, telling them small stories and singing them songs – you were still not ready to come, though your Aunt Opal knew your time was very near.

It was Mistress Eglantine who put herself at the greatest risk – she tended to Ben herself, kept him away from the lads, and from myself and your Aunt Opal as well as well – he was burning with that terrible fever, you see.

Now, Aster had this story a number of times, and new it by heart. Still, always breathless, she would say: 'And what happened then?'

Her mother would smile at her, and pat her hand. She would say, 'You need to finish with the potatoes' or, 'We want to finish with the dough so the bread can rise', and Aster would nod and continue in her chore, but then she would look at her mother, expectant.

Her mother would go on, telling her how terrible it was, but her Uncle Tib came back – Tib, who of course had experience as a healer, and after putting a number of perhaps foul tasting concoctions into Ben, got him to sleep. There was sickness at Great Smials, he told your Aunt Opal – and her not wanting to tell me, if only because I was still in my time. Now, your Uncle Tib He stayed there through the night, and Mistress Eglantine stayed as well, already having put herself at risk – and young Nell took your brothers, and tended them for the night, giving them their dinners and then putting them to bed.

So, morning came, and you had come as well – and sometime in the night, your father's fever had broken, but then Mistress Eglantine had fallen ill as well. And no wonder she had – at the risk she had made... At that, her mother would shake her head, her gaze very distant. Aster would want to press her for more, but she would never have the chance – her mother would look at her and smile, and make light of her own dreary mood. She wouldn't often speak of how Tolby had gotten the sickness, as well – and that was alright with Aster, as it wasn't a part of the story that she liked to hear. But, when she did mention it, she would always end up smiling, and shaking her head at her own dismal thoughts.

'Well, there was a happy ending, as any good story ought to have,' she'd say.

Aster would want to counter, would want to say that happy endings weren't what made a story worth telling – but she did like the story, and it was a good one, happy ending and all. She would smile, and thank her mother, and she would finish off whatever task it was she had started.

End Notes: Tib and Opal Tunnnelly are the property of slightlytookish. All the other Tunnellys (Aster, Jed, Tolby, Ben and Orchid) are mine. Jed was first featured in the Moro-Lockholes fic, "One More Path To Tread", and he has also showed up in slightlytookish's "After the Fall" (and Tib Tunnelly first showed up in another of her stories, "A Stroke of Love").