The Roots of the Ivy and Other Stories of Middle-Earth

Ivy finished filling the tub from the big copper of boiling water and dipped her fingers in. A bit too hot. She’d have to let it cool. She dried her fingers on a towel. She didn’t really need a bath. She had just bathed yesterday, before her wedding. But she was a little sore and Éowyn had told her a warm bath would help with that and besides, it was her honeymoon and she should allow herself the luxury of as many baths as she wanted. Then Estella had said if she felt guilty about wasting water, she could invite Pippin to share the bath with her. Both of them had started giggling then, making Ivy roll her eyes. Honestly, the two of them could be worse than Eifa and Brenna.

She left the bath and wandered through Crickhollow, making her way into the parlor. She stopped to smell a vase of tulips that the Gamgees had placed on a small table and spotted the package that Pippin had distracted her from last night. Not that she had minded being distracted.

She picked up the folded paper tucked under the ribbon of the cloth-wrapped object.

Ivy raised an eyebrow. Why would they be sending her a book from Harad? And one that she didn’t need to read the words?

She pulled open the ribbon, the cloth covering falling away. In her hand she held a slim, leatherbound book. On the cover was embossed some words in the flowing script of Harad. She flipped open the book, saw that the inner pages were indeed in Common--then the illustrations caught her eye.

She nearly dropped the book. There were drawings of people and they were...they were...

She sat down in a chair, feeling the blush burning her face. Glancing over a few of the passages, she realized it was some sort of...instruction book. She flipped through a few pages. She certainly would need instructions, because she’d never have dreamed of most of the poses the couples were putting themselves into.

She turned to the front of the book. No illustrations, just a lengthy passage on the duties of a husband and wife in marriage. Well, duties of a wife, mostly. The husband was mostly instructed on how to run his household and how to manage...concubines? Ivy snorted. Over her dead body.

She turned a few more pages and peered down at one of the illustrations. Her eyes widened. The woman was putting her mouth around the man’s...

“What are you reading?”

Ivy slapped the book shut and looked up. Pippin was standing in the doorway. He’d gone out to take care of the pony after breakfast. She hadn't even heard him come in. She saw the confused look on his face and realized how she must look, blushing over a book.

“Are you all right?” he asked, coming towards her.

She nodded, trying to control her breathing and her racing heart. She clutched the book to her chest.

“Ivy--?”

“It’s a present. From my friends. In Gondor.” She looked down, blushing again, feeling a touch guilty for...well, she wasn’t really sure.

“Can I see it?”

“Um...” She didn’t dare look up at him. She suddenly had an image of how Pippin would look if he were the man in the drawings. It made her get that achey feeling low in her belly that spread down between her legs.

“Ivy?”

“All right.” She handed him the book, risking a glance at him. He was smiling at her, that lovely smiled that always made her feel... “I need to go take a bath, though,” she said. “It’s probably ready now.” She rushed out, not bothering to get a reply.

She ran into the bathroom and shut the door. She didn’t know why she felt so...guilty? nervous? embarassed? She wasn’t a shy maiden anymore. She thought any shyness or nervousness she'd had was taken care of last night. Why did the book make her so shy again?

She dropped her robe, the cool air caressing her skin, making her nipples harden. She shivered and quickly got into the tub, not even testing the water. Luckily, it had cooled some.

She dunked her head in the water, trying to calm herself down. She tried not to think about Pippin and the book. Tried not to think about him reading the book. Right now. Looking at those pictures...

She got that feeling between her legs again and gave an involuntary moan. She couldn’t get the thoughts out of her head, the thoughts of those pictures, of what it would be like for Pippin to take her like that. She drew her knees up, keeping her legs tight together, but it didn’t help get rid of that feeling. If anything it made it worse.

She busied herself with her bath. She washed her hair first, working out the tangles from her pillow, which helped distract her from her state. But as soon as she started washing her body--she nearly dropped the soap, amazed at how sensitive she was to the feeling of it sliding over her skin. 

She had nearly finished when she heard the door open, making her jump. She didn’t turn to look at him. She couldn’t. She was too embarrassed.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him kneel down behind her. Her breath quickened.

“Ivy?” he asked, calm and soothing. “What’s the matter? Did the book upset you?”

She shook her head. “No. It didn’t upset me. It’s just... embarassing.”

He stroked her wet hair, down the back of her neck. “Why is it embarassing.”

His hand continued to stroke down her neck. “Because...I...I was....” She gave a sigh when she felt his warm breath against her ear. “I was thinking about...” His lips grazed the edge of her ear. “...thinking...about you and...” He trailed his mouth down to her neck, just below her ear, his teeth and tongue scraping the sensitive skin. “...you and me...doing...” His hands touched her shoulders, resting there for a moment, before sliding down over her chest, into the water, to cup her breasts. “...doing...” She moaned as his fingers rubbed over her nipples. He kept them there, rubbing in small circles. “...doing those things...and...it made me feel...” His fingers grasped the nipples, pinching a bit. “Pippin!” Her legs fell open, her knees hitting the side of the tub and she pushed up against his hands.

He pulled his mouth away from her neck, moving his head up to whisper in her ear. “Do you want to do those things, Ivy?”

“Yes,” she gasped. His hands were kneading her breasts, his thumbs brushing over her hard nipples. The ache between her legs was throbbing now.

“Do you want me to do those things to you?”

She whimpered, writhing now under his touch. She didn’t think she could take it anymore. She wanted him to take her. Now. To thrust inside her and soothe the ache. But he held her fast, his arms pinning hers. She couldn’t even turn to look at him.

His right hand moved from her breast, sliding down her body until he touched her between her legs. His fingers slid along the folds, exploring, and rubbed over a spot that made her flinch and buck against his hand. He kept his fingers on the spot and started to trace circles there as well, more firmly than the fingers on her breast. His touch made the ache become unbearable.

“Please...” she sobbed, squirming in his hold. “I need you...I can’t...”

“Just relax, love,” he murmered. “Relax and let it come.”

She let her head fall back on his shoulder. He was murmuing in her ear now, “love you, love you”, over and over again, matching his words to the rhythm of his hands on body. She whimpered and moaned and sighed as he tortured her.

Then she felt it, the tightening that spread out into her thighs. She thrust her hips a few times, pushing against his hand as her climax came. It tingled throughout her body, out to her fingers and toes. She cried out at the wave of pleasure that swept through her, her body no longer in her control. Pippin moved his mouth to swallow her cries, still keeping his hands on her. 

She cried out at the wave of pleasure that swept through her, her body no longer in her control. Pippin moved his mouth to swallow her cries, still keeping his hands on her. 

When she relaxed in his arms, he pulled back to look at her.

“Gods, Pippin” she breathed. His gentle touch was nearly painful on her sensitive breasts now and the dull ache between her legs, though diminished, was still there.

He grinned. “Learned that from Chapter Two.”

She smiled, taking a few deep breaths. Her mother had explained that women could climax, too. She’d just never expected it to be like that, like her whole body was no longer hers to control. She sat up, turning to look at Pippin. She saw that his sleeves were soaked up to his shoulders and his left shoulder was wet from her hair.

His eyes ran over her body, and she had to fight the urge to cover herself. He was her husband, after all. He had every right to look at her. He met her gaze and Ivy saw the desire in his eyes. It sent a thrill up her spine.

He stood up, a bit slowly. “Old knees,” he complained, rubbing them a bit. Then he stood upright and reached for her towel. 

He came around the tub and offered her his hand. He pulled her up, steadying her as she stepped from the bath, then wrapped her in the towel, rubbing the coarse cloth against her skin to dry her. Ivy closed her eyes and sighed. Every spot the towel touched, he followed with kisses. Up and down her legs, across her belly and around her back and up to her arms and over her breasts. Here he stopped, tasting each nipple, making her sigh. They were still quite sensitive from his earlier touches.

He kissed his way up to her face and grasped her hips to pull her closer. She plucked at a sleeve. “You’re all wet,” she said.

“I can’t imagine how that happened,” he murmured into her ear, making her giggle. He let her go to squeeze the water out of her hair, then tossed the towel aside and gathered her in his arms.

She squealed when his wet sleeves wrapped around her. “That’s cold!” She squirmed around in his grasp and began to unbutton his shirt.

“Why Mistress Took,” he said. “Are you taking advantage of me?”

She didn’t say anything, just poked him in the side, right in his ticklish spot. He squirmed away, laughing. She grabbed his shirt front to hold him still, then continued with the buttons.

She peeled the wet shirt off him and let her hands wander over his bare skin. He had gained weight since he’d stopped drinking, although he was still thin by hobbit standards. He was healthy now and his body was recovering from all those years of abuse. He was even getting a bit round about the middle--not as much as her dad, but he was definitely taking on the shape of a hobbit approaching middle-age.

She let her fingers trail down, over his belly, and to the buttons of his trousers. She let one hand rub softly against his erection as the other worked on the buttons.

Pippin sighed and closed his eyes as she touched him. Once the buttons were free, she pushed the trousers over his hips and down, allowing him to step out of them.

“You got me naked,” he said.

“Mmmm.” Ivy smiled at him. He pulled her into an embrace and captured her mouth, his tongue pushing between her lips. His erection was hard against her belly and she ran her fingers along the length. Pippin shuddered at the touch.

Then she remembered something, a picture from the book, and curiosity got the best of her. She pulled away from him, sinking to her knees before he could even react, so that she was looking right at his erection. 

She’d never really looked at it closely before. They’d been far more concerned with putting it to use last night. She touched him, gently, and he gasped. She could feel him shiver, but he didn’t move, just let her explore over the smooth skin. She ran gentle fingers over the length, to the thick curls at the base, down to his ballocks, and back again. She grasped the length and moved her hand, pulling the foreskin back, fully revealing the head. There was a tiny drop of his seed at the tip. She couldn’t help herself. She leaned forward and tasted it.

“Ivy!” He stepped back, pulling from her grasp.

“Sorry,” she said, turning her eyes to the floor, embarassment heating her face. She licked her lips nervously, still tasting him on her tongue. She'd never considered he might not want to do some of things from that book.

“No, love, it’s not that...” He leaned down and caressed her cheek, guiding her to look up at him. He was bright red as well and breathing a bit hard. “You just surprised me.”

Oh. She gave a small smile and looked up at him coyly. “Did you like it?” she asked slowly, her voice low.

He made a strangled noise in his throat and only managed a nod.

“Do you want me to do it again?” she asked. She smiled as his eyes widened. He let out the breath he had been holding and nodded.

“But...” He swallowed and backed up against the table. “I think I need to hold on to something.” He gave a crooked grin.

She grinned back and got up to move closer to him. She kissed him, hard, then went to her knees in front of him again. She ran her hands up his legs, from his shaking knees up his thighs. Keeping one hand on his hip, she moved the other to grasp him. Then, just like in the picture, she took him in her mouth.

Pippin gave a strangled moan as she engulfed him. She let her tongue explore him, remembering to be careful with her teeth. She knew this was a tender area for a man. 

He tasted salty, with a bit of...well, it was hard to describe. Musky, but not unpleasant. Her tongue swept over the delicate skin and he thrust a bit, shoving farther into her mouth. She moved her head a little, up and down. She figured that was the right thing to do, since that’s what he did when he was in her. He gave a low, throaty moan at her movements and she felt quite pleased with herself. Yes, that was probably the right thing to do. 

She wished she would have read the passage next to the illustration, to find out what else she should do. So she could make Pippin feel like he had made her feel in the bath. She felt a tingling in her breasts and belly at that thought, of what he had done to her. She wanted very much for him to do that again.

He was panting now, and he began to thrust a little harder. “Ivy...” He took one hand from the table to touch her hair. “I’m almost there...soon...soon...”

He gave a cry and she pulled away, surprised at his sudden release into her mouth, and she felt a spatter of warmth on her shoulder.

The hand that had been in her hair was now wrapped around his erection as he finished his release, spilling his seed onto the floor next to her. She looked up, wanting to watch his face. She loved to watch him like this, watch him lose control in the pleasure she had brought him.

When he relaxed, slumping back against the table, she stood. She let her hands trail up his body until she was carressing his face. 

“Did you like it?” she asked, giving him a cheeky grin.

He gazed at her with half-lidded eyes and leaned towards her. She turned her head away. “Um...I don’t think you’ll want to kiss me, I probably taste like--” He cut her off, capturing her mouth and thrusting his tongue inside. They both moaned as he plundered her mouth, their tongues tangling together. His hands were on her hips, pulling her close, his leg between hers. That ache was coming back full force and she thrust her hips, pushing against his thigh.

He broke the kiss to look in her eyes. “You’re not done yet, are you?” he asked. He held her gaze as he slid his hand between her legs, his fingers pushing inside her.

She groaned and pushed onto his hand, her body searching for relief. But she didn’t want his fingers there, she wanted him.

He pulled his hand away and she instantly regretted not wanting his fingers there. “Pippin,” she moaned. “Please.”

“I will, love,” he said and kissed her gently. “But I think we should move to the bed. I don’t have the stamina for standing up for all this.”

She smiled at that. She was pretty sure there wasn’t much wrong with his stamina. He had already proven that last night. But she did agree that the bed would be nicer.

They held hands as they left the bath, walking together as if they were going for a stroll as a courting couple. Except that they were naked.

He led her over to the bed and gently pushed her back to lie down. Then he settled himself to kneel between her legs. She wondered what he was going to do, because it would take a while for him to be ready again.

He put his hands under her knees, pulling them up. He slid his hands down her thighs, letting them come to rest on the bed next to her bottom. He leaned over and kissed a knee, gently, his tongue darting out to taste her skin. Then he moved down a little and did it again. Ivy clutched the blanket in her fists as he worked his way down her thigh. The ache was quite insistent now. She had to work hard to keep her hips steady. When he reached the the crease between hip and thigh he looked up at her briefly and grinned. Then, instead of moving to her belly as she expected, he kissed her between her legs. 

“Pippin!” 

Her legs jerked at the unexpected contact and he moved his hands to grip her, keeping her thighs apart and steady. “Relax, love,” he murmured, dipping his head down to taste her again. 

Ivy gripped the blanket tighter and squeezed her eyes shut. Pippin’s tongue was pushing into her, but not far enough to reach the ache. Still, she was sure the feeling of his warm breath, of his tongue caressing her so intimately, was going to be enough to push her over the edge again.

Then he stopped and she opened her eyes, lifting her head to look down at him. He was on all fours and breathing heavily.

“Pippin?” she asked, suddenly concerned.

He looked up at her, a bit of a pained expression on his face. “Sorry, love,” he said. “Needed to get a bit of control back.” He pushed himself upright. “You’ve got my body thinking it’s a tween again.”

She glanced down as saw that he was, indeed, hardening again already. She smirked. No, no problems with stamina. She looked up at him. “Then why don’t you do something about it?”

He chuckled and caressed her, pushing his fingers into her again. “You don’t want me to finish this?”

She smiled at him. “I just want you.”

He smiled back at her and leaned forward. But instead of coming down on top of her, he put his hands under her knees again, pushing them forward until her feet were at his shoulders. “Feel like trying something else?”

She chuckled. “How much of that book did you manage to read?” 

“Enough,” he said and planted a kiss just above the curls on her foot. “I’m a quick study.”

“I’m sure you are,” she said, laughing. 

He laughed with her, then reached forward to caress her belly. “Are you ready?”

She snorted. “I’ve been ready for quite a while!”

He didn’t say anything, just held her gaze as he shifted forward and thrust into her with a grunt. She gasped at the sudden intrusion, mostly because it was still unfamiliar. As soon as he was inside her, though, she relaxed and pushed her hips to meet his thrusts.

The position he had picked allowed him to thrust deep inside her, more than enough to reach the ache that had been plaguing her. It also allowed her to watch him as he took her. His own eyes were looking down, watching himself thrust into her.

Her breath quickened at the sight of him, his body thrusting into hers. She reached out to caress his belly.

Just a few more thrusts and she felt a tingling in her body, different from before, not as strong, but it still made her moan with pleasure. Her cry seemed to push him over the edge. Pippin groaned as his own climax came over him and he thrust harder, spurting his seed into her.

They just stared at each other for a moment, both breathing hard, then Pippin gently lowered her legs and lay down next to her, pulling her into his arms to kiss her.

“Better now?” he asked.

“Much better.” She giggled as he ran his tongue over the tip of her ear. 

They shifted to face each other. Ivy touched his cheek and gazed into his eyes. His green eyes gazed back at her, happy and content, nothing at all like the dead look he’d had after she had returned from Gondor, when he’d bedded her that first time.

“Love you,” she said.

He touched his forehead to hers. “Love you.”

“I just don’t see how that one could work.” Ivy peered at the picture in the book. She still hadn’t figured out if that was the woman’s arm or a leg around the man’s neck. She turned to book sideways. No, still didn’t help.

Pippin snorted. “I suppose not.” He flipped to the next page. They were lying side by side on the bed, on their stomachs and naked, looking through the Haradric book. Once she’d gotten over that initial embarassment, Ivy was finding the book to be quite...educational.

“That one looks quite nice.” Pippin pointed to one of the drawings. The woman was sitting in the man’s lap, facing him, her legs wrapped around his back. The man was kissing her breasts. Ivy licked her lips and shifted her hips. That ache was coming back.

She looked at Pippin and grinned. “I suppose we could give it a try.”