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Sam awakens to a soft shuffling sound.
He jolts up in his sleeping pack, afraid of beasts lurking in the shadows. He scrambles to his feet, prepared to alert somebody, but he sees movement from one of the packs. Frodo’s.
Samwise steps forward quietly, whispering, “Mr. Frodo?” He’s almost upon him now, and he can hear Frodo whimpering, hiccoughing.
Sam kneels, then, next to the curled form of his friend. He reaches a cautious hand out, placing it on Frodo— he’d been aiming for his shoulder, but hits the middle of his arm.
Frodo startles, turning. His hair is a sweaty mop, hanging in front of his eyes. His cheeks are streaked with tears. “Sam?”
Sam quickly takes his hand back, embarrassed at the contact. “Are you alright, sir? I can—“
“Will you stay with me?” he asks, voice fragile. “Please?”
It takes Sam a moment to process this request, but he nods and climbs inside Frodo’s sleep pack. For a long, agonizing moment, he’s not sure what to do with his hands, but Frodo burrows immediately into his side, and he wraps his arms around his slight frame.
Frodo is trembling in Sam’s embrace. His breaths come fast and shallow, face buried in Sam’s shirt. Sam reaches a hand up to stroke Frodo’s hair, feeling the tension rise and fall with his breathing.
“I’m sorry,” Frodo whispers. “I woke up… scratching my arms. I don’t know what happened to me.”
Sam moves his hands to run his fingers along Frodo’s arms, feeling the raised marks stretching from his elbows to his wrists.
“Sam.. It stings…”
“I’m sorry,” Samwise whispers, pulling back. Frodo scoots forward again, slotting himself in Sam’s embrace. He’s still shaking.
“I’m afraid.”
Sam presses his lips to the top of Frodo’s head, feels a sob wrack through his body. “I know, Mister Frodo.”
The night is long. Sam doesn’t let himself sleep. He stays protective, wrapped around his friend. He feels Frodo’s breathing deepen, even out, feels the tension slowly drain from his body. He does not move when his arms go numb. He does not move when sweat forms between them. He does not move.
Things are not better. They will not be better for a long while. But for now, Frodo dozes in Samwise’s arms, and he is safe.