Not Alone

"Thorin," Gandalf's voice called from the doorway, trying to be as quiet as he could, "there is...something we must discuss. A moment of your time?"

Thorin had not been paying too much attention and mustn't have heard the knock, nor Gandalf's usual cheery hello. He was too preoccupied with the small figure of Dru, tucked into a little ball by his side and fast asleep under his arm.

She'd finally awoken properly the day before, able to talk to her friends and family since the Battle and whilst she was healing quickly, she still needed as much rest as she could get.

He hadn't really had a chance to properly talk with Gandalf because of her, he never really left her side. And when he did, it was usually to see what everyone else needed that he could help with. Gandalf had been front and line in not only helping with the healing but talking to those that could gather word and send for help. He was usually seen tucked into a corner with Dain or outside the entrance with Bard. So seeing him there now must have been important.

Carefully, he moved away from Dru, making sure she was comfortable on the pillow and undisturbed as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood facing Gandalf.

"Gandalf," he smiled at him, suddenly feeling extremely exhausted, despite his rest, "I suppose this is about you and Bilbo leaving in a couple of days? He's already talked to me about it and I'll be sad to see you go...both of you. But know, you'll always be welcome here-" Thorin stopped talking when he noticed that Gandalf was attempting to interrupt him, his brow suddenly drawn down into a fierce frown.

"It's not just that...Thorin," he looked over his shoulder as Dru shifted about on the bed, her eyes still shut, "perhaps somewhere more private?"

Thorin didn't really want to go too far from Dru, but his chambers were only next door and if they kept the connecting door open, it would be all right. He'd hear her if she tried to clamber out of bed again.

"Come, follow me," Thorin turned away and led Gandalf towards the door leading to his own chambers, "we won't disturb her in here and we'll still be close encase she awakens."

But Dru had already awoken. As soon as her Uncle's warm form had left her side from the bed, she'd stirred from her sleep but kept her eyes closed. She was hoping to fall back into her dreams but wanted to wait for Thorin. It seemed much easier and nicer to fall asleep with him beside her, protecting and watching over her. Just for a while, whilst she was healing, she'd let him.

She heard their footsteps leave the room and enter his own and she was still halfway in dreamland when she heard them begin to talk.

She hadn't meant to listen. But they'd not shut the door and despite Gandalf's quiet tones, with no sound in her own room, it was very easy to hear the conversation.

It was a few muffled formalities and issues, but she didn't hear anything important, until...

"Your father...I'm afraid...he's gone."

Dru's eyes snapped open and she suddenly found she was listening in.

No sound seemed to be made from either male for a moment, not even Thorin, but she waited.

"Excuse me?" Her Uncle's voice finally spoke, hushed and slightly strangled.

"Thorin...your father is gone," Gandalf cleared his throat, trying his best to explain, "I'm afraid there's a lot I still do not know myself and the circumstances...are fuzzy, but-"

There was a sudden noise, like someone smacking their hand against a table before Thorin spoke again.

"How can you be sure? All these years and-"

"Thorin...he was with me in Dol Guldur. Your father had been held there," Gandalf' voice sounded heavy as if he too was struggling with the words he had to speak, "and I'm afraid I could not save him. Before I was taken prisoner...he was killed. I'm sorry."

Carefully, Dru pushed herself up to sitting position and shoved the covers off of herself. She wasn't going to get back to sleep now and she wanted to go to Thorin. But she waited for Gandalf to finish talking, encase he had anything else important to say.

Turns out, he did.

After what seemed like an eternity, Thorin's voice came again, though much quieter and strained than before.

"Did he say anything? Did he tell you anything for me?"

Another long pause and she heard Gandalf's long exhaled breath.

"He told me, in his exact words...to tell his son how much he loved him."

Dru had to cover her mouth to stop the sob escaping, though it was too late to stop her tears falling. She swung her legs out of the bed and carefully pushed herself up and out, wincing at the painful tug in her stomach. But she wouldn't be stopped.

"He would be very proud of the King you've become," the old wizard's voice was gentler than before and Dru knew he may not have been good at comforting people, but that didn't mean he didn't care.

"Thorin," Gandalf's voice seemed closer now as if he'd moved towards the door, "just because you never found him, did not mean your search was in vain. He remembered before the end...he remembered you."

Thorin had not spoken in a while and she heard no other sound from him. No Cry. No shout, whether in anger or sorrow. He was silent.

Gentle footsteps came back towards the door that connected the rooms, but Dru didn't want to move away. She stepped aside to let him past, but she did not move away.

When he walked back in, he didn't look the least bit surprised to see her standing there, looking up at him.

Her eyes were full of her own questions, but her thoughts were too jumbled. She was mourning for a man she never knew. A grandfather she had never had the chance to meet. And for Thorin, who would never get a chance to see his father again.

Gandalf nodded his head at her and looked back over his shoulder at the door, before addressing her quietly,

"Khiluz," Gandalf spoke to her in Khuzdul and whilst she'd confessed to not knowing but of her own people's ancient language (other than the insults and swears), she did know other important words. Ones like 'Family'.

He carefully lay his hand on her shoulder in the only sign of comfort she knew he would express until after she'd been with Thorin. He moved away from her and left the room without another word.

Dru carefully made her way through the door, holding onto the frame as she went. It still hurt to walk by herself, but she wasn't able to call Uncle Thorin for help. She was going to go to him when he needed her most.

She made her way into his chambers, her arm wrapped around her stomach and trying to hold back the pain.

She did not see him at first, so unused to his own chambers that were the complete opposite of her mother's. Whilst the room was still as vast, there were a few notable differences here and there. The darker blue painted along the walls. The long tables around the side, surrounded by dusty books and forgotten mementoes from so long ago.

Off into one corner, a set of stairs went up and twisted until it became another floor. Dru wasn't sure what was up there, but she could see towels and linens strewn over the wall of the stairs, so she assumed he had his own bathing area.

His own bed would have usually been hidden by the large curtain that hung down from the ceiling, except he'd torn them down. She'd been told he insisted they take what clean fabric they could find to help the wounded or be given to those that needed beds.

But he wasn't on his bed. She looked around and finally found the fireplace in the opposite corner. There was a small table with a game, layered in years of dust and dirt and there were three chairs pulled up close to it.

And in one of them, was her Uncle. His head was bowed low as he leant forward in his chair, his elbows on his thighs and his hands unseen behind the curtain of hair.

He had not seen her, nor had he heard her enter. She had a feeling, he didn't even know Gandalf had left.

She walked towards him, not being quiet on purpose but even when she dragged her foot along the floor, he did not acknowledge her.

"Uncle?"

He'd obviously not heard her approach. His head came up slowly and he looked at her, unshed tears glistening in his eyes. He'd never looked so heartbroken before and whatever aches and pains she had were forgotten. She shortened the distance between them and stood by his side, looking down at his face and desperately wanting to reach and hold him. But she wanted him to know that she knew.

"I heard you. I heard you and Gandalf talking," she couldn't keep her voice from shaking, wondering if it was still her place to talk to him about such a personal matter, "I heard...about Thrain."

His eyes seemed glazed over. He could see her, but he wasn't really taking in what she was saying to him.

Her tears fell down her face and she reached her hand out to him, her bandaged hand tentatively touching his knuckles.

"I'm sorry...about your father, I am," she choked on a sob as her hand shook against his skin, "I wish-I wish you could have found him. I'm sorry."

Thorin seemed to finally focus on what she was saying. He did not seem angry, he just couldn't seem to shake himself out of his shock and heartbreak.

All those years, searching and wondering.

Being told that his hope was false when it was not.

And his father was gone.

Thorin found his voice again, trying to say the words Gandalf had repeated to him.

"He wanted...He wanted Gandalf to tell me that-" his tears finally fell and for the first time in a long time, he began to choke on his words.

Dru didn't hesitate any longer. Despite her protesting body she leant down and threw her arms around his shoulders, pulling him close.

"I know."

She began to cry with him and held him as he trembled against her, finally releasing his emotions after so long.

"He loved you," Dru could think of no other words to say, just letting them come tumbling out, "he loved you in the end, you can't forget that. He loved you!"

She sobbed against him, stroking his hair tenderly in her bandaged hand.

"You don't have to go through this alone. You won't have to," She moved to place a kiss on the top of his head, "I love you, so much. So please don't feel like you're alone."

He moved back enough to look at her, his tears flowing free from red-rimmed eyes. Her hand moved to his face and carefully touched his cheek, her hand purposefully soaking up the tears that fell with her bandage.

Thorin grabbed at her arms as if seeking her support physically, his eyes looking at her and desperately trying to find answers to questions he knew she wouldn't be able to give him. But she was there for him and he knew that. She wasn't going to leave him.

His arms came about her and pulled her towards him. She went willingly into his embrace and in a matter of moments, she was seated on his lap, her arms tightly wrapped around his shoulders and head.

He buried his face into her neck and sobbed openly for the first time in years.

They comforted one another, Dru feeling his heartache at not only the loss of the grandfather she'd never known but the thought that Thorin was hurting so much for it. He'd lost his father after searching for him so many years.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

She had nothing to apologise for, but she couldn't stop saying it as she held him.

Thorin knew it would be ok. Despite his overwhelming sadness that he would not see his father again, something deep inside of him knew it would be ok. And Dru, holding him just as much as he was holding her helped reassure him of that.

He had to take care of this tiny figure that was holding him so close to herself and yet with such a contradicting mix of ferocity and gentleness, it was as if she was taking care of him.

And maybe she was.

But if it were the case, then he didn't mind.

"I'm here," she pulled back and held his head in her hands to look at him, "I'm here and I promise-I promise I'll not leave you."

She stuck true to that statement. They spent what felt like hours just crying and holding onto one another, Dru not moving from the spot on his lap and Thorin's arms not leaving around her waist.

As he leant back in the chair, pulling Dru gently with him, he made sure she was comfortable where she slept. He felt the pull of sleep himself, but before he went he threaded his fingers into her hair and pulled it away from her sleeping face.

Before he drifted off, he whispered the words to her he'd been afraid to say since he'd carried her home from the battle. But just because he was afraid, didn't make them any less true to him.

"My Little one."

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In Which, I told you there would be more...
And welcome to the first part of our little tales of Erebor. Not all of these will be in order as I may always think of something else that happened, but heeeeeey

For those that are just joining, I recommend you read the other Hobbit stories I've done (or just skimming over them to see what you've missed and who Dru is) and if you've been following me for a while *waves* Evenin'.

I won't spoil it for you, but I hope you enjoy these little...drabbles? Scribbles? Scrambles? Tales.

These little tales the Bard has been writing and planning for a while now.

Also, you're probably wondering about this:
After everything they've been through, I really wanted to push the father and daughter relationship between Thorin and Dru. They need some more solo scenes together just talking and being there for one another.
So yes, there will be more scenes with just these two, but other scenes coming up between Dru and others.