Chapter One

She had honestly not intended for this to happen. Bilbo Baggins was not this type of person. She didn't wander off on an adventure with troublesome dwarves and an even more troublesome wizard. She did not receive such sultry gazes as the ones directed towards her from the princes and she certainly never sought the attention of brooding kings. How had a hobbit from the Shire gotten involved in such a situation?

...

Often Bilbo could be found seated at her kitchen table at 8pm eating a supper that consisted of a large fish. Bilbo Baggins was a hobbit, not unlike many others, that enjoyed the comfort of routine and to break that routine made her instantly distressed. So there she sat, at 8pm, in a button up green pyjama top and her pyjama bottoms, a patchwork robe hanging loosely on top. Her hand was poised over her fish as she set to squeeze a lemon across the top of it but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

It wasn't unusual for Bilbo to have guests, but it was very unusual for her to forget inviting someone. It was also unusual to feel such a nauseating feeling in your stomach because of a knock at your door. She rose from her chair slowly and crept over to the window, worried that it may be Gandalf the Grey again. She had received a rather unnerving visit from the towering wizard that very morning with the wizard telling the hobbit that he was "looking for someone to share in an adventure."

To that she had told him that adventures were "nasty, disturbing, uncomfortable things" that "made you late for dinner." But even she couldn't deny the intrigue she felt at the idea of travelling out of the shire, especially when he had mentioned her youthful self. Her heart ached. She used to be so curious and now, now she sat alone eating fish supper at 8pm.

The knock sounded louder this time and Bilbo jumped, banging her head against the window. She groaned and rubbed her forehead before walking to the round door situated in the hill. As she opened it she thought the bump on her head was causing her to see things but no, true as day stood a dwarf. Although he was only a few heads taller than herself she could see for sure that he was a dwarf from the stories she used to read because of his well-groomed thick beard and heavy armour. His forehead was large and protruded casting an eerie shadow over parts of his face.

"Dwalin." He spoke gruffly, eyes never leaving hers as he bowed. "At your service."

Bilbo's eyes widened considerably. "Um..." She looked down at herself, hastily tying the front of her dressing gown to cover the thin material of her pyjamas. "Bilbo Baggins... At... At yours?"

Dwalin pushed past the hobbit, entering her home and walking mud across her floor.

"Do-do we know each other?" She asked as politely as she could manage whilst trying not to wince as mud flung onto some of her books.

He fixed her with a steely gaze. "No." She froze. She felt very childlike and vulnerable in only her pyjamas as a strange warrior dwarf peered around her house. "Which way lassie? Is it down there?" He pointed vaguely.

"Is what down where?" Bilbo frowned.

"Supper. He said there would be food and lots of it." He spied Bilbo's fish supper and grinned, scrapping his boots across the floor on his way to the table.

Bilbo gritted her teeth in annoyance. "He said?" She watched him sit down, too afraid to stop him. "Who said?!"

With no reply, the dwarf simply sat down and began shovelling her supper into his mouth at an alarming speed. Bilbo barely had time to register what he was doing before he threw the head into his mouth and bit down with a loud crunch. She felt the nausea rise again. He merely grunted when he finished the whole fish, bones and all, and grunted again gesturing to the pantry. "Very good this. Anymore?" He hadn't even picked the crumbs from his beard yet.

"What?" She squeaked. "Oh...oh yes, help yourself." She hesitated before picking up a plate of scones, hiding one for herself in her pocket. She couldn't help but cater to him, hobbits were creatures of hospitality and it didn't help that this dwarf frightened her a lot.

Another knock sounded before she could say anymore.

Dwalin smirked. "That'll be the door."

Bilbo pulled the door open quickly this time and was greeted by a dwarf with a long white beard and kind face. "Balin." he introduced himself. "At your service."

She stood before him, unsure of whether or not she should let him in too. "Good evening." The hospitable hobbit in her won over once again.

"Yes," he looked up at the night sky. "Yes it is. Though I think it may rain later." He peered around the space he could see. "Am I late?"

Bilbo placed her hands on her hips. "Late for what?" But before she could interrogate her so-called-guest, Balin had spotted Dwalin.

He chuckled. "Evening brother!"

Dwalin, his hand stuck in a cookie jar, looked down and beamed. "Oh, by my beard! You're shorter and wider than last we met!" He pulled his hand free as Bilbo watched on, a small smile playing on her lips as they reunited.

"Wider not shorter." Balin chastised. "Sharp enough for the both of us." They both grinned and clasped arms leaning back to look at each other. They then sharply clashed their heads together pulling a gasp from a concerned hobbit watching on from where she had closed the door.

As the two dwarves made their way to the newly spotted pantry, Bilbo followed, tripping over her robes in a hurry to keep up. "Um, I'm sorry to interrupt but the thing is I'm not entirely sure you're in the right house... it's not that I don't like visitors." She watched helplessly as they poured out her finest ale. "I like visitors as much as the next hobbit but..." Dwalin grabbed a tomato and squeezed testing its ripeness. "But I do like to know them before they come visiting. And you see, the thing is, I don't know either of you. Not in the slightest. I don't mean to be blunt but I uh... I had to speak my mind." She threw her hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry."

Both dwarves eyed her with raised brows, finally turning away from the food. "Apology accepted." Beamed Balin.

Bilbo growled in annoyance as the two dwarves continued ignoring her. She raked her hand through her toffee coloured curls in frustration, trying to count to 10 to calm herself.

Another knock. Bilbo dragged herself back to the front door a yanked it open only to be met by two much younger, and dare she admit it, much more attractive dwarves. The one on the left stood slightly taller than the other and he had hair like beaten gold whereas the one on the right was like a puppy, eyes bright with excitement and a mop of brown hair.

"Fili."

"And Kili."

"At your service." They bowed lowly and as they returned to their full stature, they winked and smirked.

"You must be Mrs Boggins." Kili smiled charmingly making Bilbo's cheeks feel warm.

She shook her head reverently. "Nope! You can't come in! You've come to the wrong house." She shut the door quickly to rid herself of the blush inducing brothers.

Kili jammed his foot in the gap just in time. "What! Has it been cancelled?!" A look of utter disappointment coloured his features.

"No one told us." Fili chimed in, frowning. He peered over the top of Kili's head to look in on the scene.

"Cancelled... No nothings been cancelled!" Bilbo stepped back as they pushed through and sighed in confusion. What was going on?

"That's a relief." Kili grinned goofily, taking it upon himself to look around her home.

Fili tapped Bilbo on the shoulder and as she turned shoved two heavy swords into her hands. "Careful with these sweetheart, I just had them sharpened." He smiled in what he hoped to be a reassuring way but Bilbo only blushed. Sweetheart.

"It's a nice place..." Kili returned from his snooping. "Did you do it yourself?"

"No it's uh, been in the family for years." Being the sole attention of the two brothers was making her quite flustered, but not enough to stop her noticing Kili scraping the mud from his boots on her furniture. "That's my mother's glory box can you please not do that!"

"Ooh, feisty." Kili smirked and Fili opened his mouth to say more when Dwalin entered the scene.

"Fili, Kili, come give us a hand."

Kili embraced the dwarf excitedly after Fili and left as Bilbo called out "How many more of you are there?"

Another knock on the door, or rather, knocks. "Oh no... No..." She threw the swords down but then felt guilty and piled them nicely before facing her door again. "There's nobody home! Go away and bother somebody else! There's far too many dwarves in my dining room as it is. If this is some… some idiot's idea of a joke I can only say it is in poor taste!" She was oblivious to the two boys watching her chest as it heaved with fury and instead of blushing fell back with a squeak as some 8 dwarves fell through the door with Gandalf standing behind them.

Getting back to her feet quickly her hands fell to her sides in despair. "Gandalf." She whined.

The rest of the evening seemed to form a blur of dwarves as Bilbo stood rather defenceless in a corner watching the human locusts devour her pantry. She watched as Bombur carried three blocks of cheese through to her dining table. "Tad excessive don't you think? Have you even got a cheese knife?"

"Cheese knife?" Laughed Bofur. "He eats it by the block!"

Bilbo sighed in exasperation and leant against a wall trying not to get squished. She glared at the dwarves but it was weak and simmered to an inquisitive stare as she watched the handsome brothers look over at her and back at each other.

From her spot against the wall she noticed Gandalf counting.

"We appear to be one dwarf short." The wizard mumbled, a concerned tone to his voice.

"He's late is all." Dwalin reassured from the pantry doorway. "He travelled north to the meeting of our kin. He will come."

Gandalf nodded and sipped at the wine Dori offered to him.

Then all at once the dwarves seated themselves at the dining table, Fili walking over it to pass ales around. Bilbo looked on wearily. They had so much energy that she felt drained just watching them. They all downed their ales in under a minute and began burping around the table. Only Balin seemed to look on with disdain.

Not long after they were seated they had finished. Their ravenous appetites surprised Bilbo, she had always felt that she ate in excess but what she consumed was nothing compared to a dwarf. Soon enough they began drifting around the house leaving Bilbo free to grab Gandalf.

"My dear Bilbo, what is the matter?" He knelt slightly to look into her eyes, his containing a slight twinkle.

"What's the matter?" She hissed, dragging him to a more secluded space. "I'm surrounded by dwarves! What are they doing here?"

"Oh they're quite a merry gathering, once you get used to them." The wizard smiled.

"I don't want to get used to them! Look at the state of my kitchen! There's mud trod into the carpet," She turned him around "they've pillaged the pantry and I'm not even going to tell you what they've done in the bathroom but they've destroyed the plumbing!" She looked up at him, finally giving up and reverting back to her small hobbit voice. "I don't understand what they're doing in my house."

She felt a tug at her sleeve and looked over, willing herself not to cry in frustration. It was one of the younger ones, Ori. "Excuse me. I'm sorry to interrupt… but what should I do with my plate?" He looked down at her with innocent eyes but Bilbo didn't feel in the mood to entertain.

"Here you go Ori, give it to me." Fili took the plate from Ori, throwing it to Kili who bounced it off his elbow and into the hands of Bifur who yelled something in the dwarvish language Khuzdul that Bilbo couldn't understand.

She held her breath as plates flew before her but as soon as they began scraping her cutlery together in some kind of rhythm, she drew herself up to full height. "You can't do that! You'll blunt them!"

Bofur smirked. "Ooh, you hear that lads! The lady says we'll blunt the knives!"

"Blunt the knives, bend the forks. Smash the bottles and burn the corks. Chip the glasses and crack the plates... That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!" The dwarves fell about in laughter as Bilbo crossed her arms under her chest.

Bilbo scowled as Gandalf chuckled but the room quietened instantly as knocks sounded on the door.

"He is here." Gandalf murmured. He walked towards the door, careful to duck under the chandelier. With a wide sweeping gesture, he pulled the door back, revealing a brooding figure.

"Gandalf, I thought you said this place would be easy to find." The figure stepped through the door painstakingly slowly. "I lost my way twice." Bilbo's breath caught in her throat. "I wouldn't have found it at all if it had not been for that mark on the door."

The dwarf was the tallest of them all, Fili and Dwalin just an inch or two below him. His thick black hair was threaded through with strands of fine grey and his braids were tied off with precious blue beads.

The dwarves were silent as they gathered around him, as if he were some sort of magnetic force. Bilbo pushed through the crowd at the mention of a mark on the door.

She looked worriedly at the door but Gandalf shut it quickly. "There's no mark on the door. I had it painted a week ago." She manoeuvred around the unknown dwarf attempting to pull Gandalf away so she could see her door.

"There is a mark. I put it there myself." Gandalf crossed his arms over his chest whilst the dwarf looked on in amusement. "Bilbo Baggins, allow me to introduce the leader of our company, Thorin Oakenshield."

Gandalf pushed Bilbo closer to the dwarf in question and she stumbled. Thorin began to walk circles around her making her feel like prey. "So…" He stopped behind her, facing the dwarves instead. "This is the hobbit." Bilbo's cheeks grew warm and she bit her lip out of nervous habit. Her eyes caught Fili's and she instantly looked to the floor. "Have you done much fighting?"

"Pardon me?" She whispered, too embarrassed to meet anyone's gaze.

"Axe or sword?" Thorin moved to stand in front of her.

"Well…" She felt a sudden surge of confidence. "I do have some skill at conkers if you must know." Thorin's face was hard and showed no sign of humour. "But I, um, fail to see why that's relevant."

The imposing dwarf smirked and turned towards the others. "Thought as much. She looks more like a grocer than a burglar." The dwarves broke into rumbles of laughter before greeting Thorin with hugs and violent embraces.

Bilbo watched as the party made their way into the kitchen. She sat on the floor by the entrance way, leaning against the frame.

Balin was the first to speak. "What news from the meeting? Did they all come?"

The dwarves waited with baited breath. "Aye. And more from all seven kingdoms." Cheers went up all around the table.

Dwalin never moved his gaze from Thorin, giving him his utmost attention and respect. "What do they say?" He asked.

There was silence for a while before Thorin looked at them all and replied. "They will not come. They say this quest is ours and ours alone."

Bilbo's ears pricked up at the sound "You're going on a quest?" She stood up hesitantly, walking towards the table.

When no one spoke up, she walked around to where Thorin laid out a map and read aloud. "The… Lonely… Mountain?"

Oin, a grey haired dwarf spoke up. "Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountains as it was foretold. When they return to Erebor it is said that the rein of the beast will end."

Bilbo decided to address them again. "Um, what beast?"

Bofur looked her up and down before propping his feet up. "Well lassie that would be a reference to Smaug the terrible. Greatest calamity of our age. Airborne fire breather. Teeth like razors, claws like meat hooks. Extremely fond to precious metals."

"Yes I know what a dragon is." She huffed, crossing her arms under her chest again. Bofur's eyes lit up at this and she went bright red, dropping her hands to her sides.

"I'm not afraid!" Exclaimed young Ori. "I'm up for it! I'll give him a taste of dwarvish iron right up his jacksie!"

His older brother Dori glared and pulled him back onto his seat.

"This task would be difficult enough with an army behind us," began Balin, "but we're numbered just 13. And not 13 of the best nor brightest."

Arguments broke out among the table and Bilbo rolled her eyes until Fili interrupted. "We may be few in number but we're fighters. All of us to the last one." Bilbo smiled. Maybe it was because he'd called her sweetheart but she liked the blonde dwarf.

Kili, over excited, tried to raise the spirits. "And you forget we have a wizard in our company! I bet Gandalf will have killed hundreds of dragons in his time!"

Bilbo snorted with laughter as Gandalf stuttered in reply.

"How many?" Dori asked.

"What?" He mumbled.

"How many dragons have you killed?" He pressed on. "Go on and give us a number!"

More arguments broke out over the table, only silenced by Thorin's roar.

"If we have read these signs then do you not think others will have read them too? Rumours have begun to spread. The dragon Smaug hasn't been seen for 60 years. Eyes look east to the mountain assessing, wondering and weighing the risk. Perhaps the vast wealth of our people now lies unprotected. Do we sit back while others claim what is rightfully ours? Or do we seize this chance to take back Erebor!"

Cheers erupted all over the table and Bilbo found herself admiring the determined edge to his voice. She could tell that this was important to all of them.

She left the dwarves to their own devices and sat outside for a while, trying to take in what had just happened. From where she sat she could see most of the Shire and it made her smile. The sight of cosy houses with warm light shining through the windows and a vast greenery. But part of her longed for something more, the taste of mountain air and the feel of unknown soil between her toes.

The idea of a dragon frightened her more than she cared to admit but she was intrigued by the quest, so much so that when two brothers sat themselves either side of her she almost jumped off the bench she was perched on.

"Mrs Boggins," Kili said softly, "we are sorry to have startled you."

Bilbo smiled in return. "It's okay Kili. And my name is Miss Baggins. Not Mrs Boggins."

The brothers apologised in sync. "We have something to give to you." Fili whispered. She shuddered, aware of their legs pressing hers on each side.

He handed her a roll of rough paper that, once unravelled, fell to just past her feet. "What's this?" She queried.

"Balin asked us to give it to you." Kili replied. "It's your contract." Both brothers beamed down at her as she raised her eyebrows.

"Contract?" She scanned through it quickly.

"You have to sign it so that you can travel with us and help us reclaim Erebor." Fili mirrored Thorin's pride as he spoke.

"I…I don't know. I can't offer much help… Like Thorin said," She panicked. "I'm sorry, Sir Oakenshield?"

Fili and Kili snorted with laughter making Bilbo blush. "Thorin! Call him Thorin." Kili managed between laughs.

"Um, like Thorin said, I'm more of a grocer than a burglar." She laughed half-heartedly.

Fili gazed down at her. "I hope you consider it, Miss Baggins."

"It would be a pleasure to have you on the journey." Kili chimed in, licking his lips.

Bilbo felt flustered again. "I…"

Fili twirled a curl of her hair round his finger and smiled. "I feel you will find yourself out there. When an adventure comes calling it's not wise to turn it down."

They patted her knees in a friendly gesture, at least she assumed it was friendly, then they stood up, bowing low. "Goodnight Miss Baggins." They sang in unison. "We hope you will join us in the morning."

Bilbo looked between the contract and their retreating backs, not noticing the brooding figure watching her from the window, frowning.

Thank you for reading! I have tried to stick as close to the movie script as possible but when I was writing everyone's lines word for word I realised that the first chapter would be offputtingly long so I cut out the part about Gandalf handing Thorin the key by taking Bilbo outside instead, so just assume that the conversation continued as she left. I would just like to remind readers that I haven't read the book so this is purely based on the movie. I will also obviously be adapting the story to fit my ideas as well otherwise it wouldn't be fanfiction so please don't get angry that my write up doesn't fit word for word with the story.

Please let me know if I got dwarf names/important facts mixed up and let me know what you thought :~) those hoping for smut do not be disheartened, I will include some in later chapters but I want to make sure I have a good plot line going too!