"Bilbo? Where's the hobbit?" Thorin heard over the thunderous rain. Thorin started to panic, where was his burglar? He, along with the other members of the company, started to search the jagged cliff side for the youngest and smallest
"There he is!" Bofur shouted. "Com'on Bilbo grab my hand!" Bofur and Ori were struggling to reach the poor hobbit from the slippery edge of the mountain. All Thorin could do was hurl himself over the edge to reach his hobbit in time. When Thorin grabbed the drenched halfling he was surprised by how little the hobbit weighed making it easy for the dwarf to, quite literally, throw him up and over into Bofur's waiting arms. The dwarf king couldn't help the ever present scowl deepen on this bearded face when he saw Bofur's arms wrap around the trembling / Dwalin hefted the scowling dwarf king back onto safe ground, but Dwalin was livid.
"Oi! What were ye think'n?! If ye would 'ave fallen to yer death then where would we be? No King for the Lonely Mountain still. Then we would be under the charge of Kili! Mutiny we would have! Mutiny!" The tattooed dwarf nudged Thorin, "I thought we had lost our burglar though for sure."
Thorin was angry, he had to save the weakest member of the company. Not that that necessarily made him mad but the inability to stop himself from risking his own life, for a hobbit no less, made him quiver.
"He's been lost ever since he left home!" Thorin couldn't contain the rage building in him. Who was this halfling to command the king's actions without so much a word being spoken? Once he saw the silent tears streaming down the little hobbit's face, he felt guilty that he was not nicer to the halfling, but he shook the alien feelings. 'No, those are not tears,' he reassured himself, 'just the rain.' He turned his glare ahead so as to snub out the emotions a dwarf was not suppose to have, especially for such a small weak creature. "He should never have come, he has no place amongst us." Without glancing back at the trembling halfling he lead the company of shivering dwarves to what seemed like an abandoned cave. To be sure no creatures were lurking he sent Dwalin to search it for any remnants of those who inhabited it, luckily there weren't.
Thorin felt vengeful, as he often did but this time towards a certain dwarf with a floppy hat whose arm was still wrapped around a certain hobbit, "Bofur! You take the first watch." He all but growled it. Bofur's face was that of disbelief but there was no sign of him disobeying the order. 'Ha,' Thorin thought, 'that should teach him to touch his hobbit.' Thorin's lips spread with a smug grin, 'And if not, well there will be plenty more nights ahead of him to spend awake.' His grin grew.
Later when all the dwarves had set off to bed, chilled without a fire, he heard gear being thrown around. Thorin looked up to see the halfing kneeling down trying his best to roll up his makeshift bed as tightly as possible, so it would fit in his pack. Little did the hobbit know that this gave Thorin the perfect vantage point to Bilbo's round backside and shapely calves. Thorin's ears were growing warm with a blush when the hobbit got up and headed to the mouth of the cave. The dark haired dwarf couldn't help but watch the narrow hips on the soft creature sway back and forth as he / Before the hobbit could make it out Bofur stopped him. "Where do ye think yer going?"
"Back to Rivendale." Was Master Baggin's short reply.
Thorin's eyes widened in shock. 'No!' He almost shouted but refrained. He heard Bofur start to panic, shaking his hands and head, "No, no, no. Ye can't turn back! Yer part of the company. Yer one of us now!" Bofur's desperate voice.
Damn it all, Thorin thought, if only he had taken first watch, as he always did, instead of giving it to Bofur! Mahal was laughing down on him now for sure.
"I'm not though am I. Thorin said I never should have come and he was right. I'm not a Took, I'm a Baggins. I don't know what I was thinking." Bilbo's head hung in sadness. Thorin felt regret for the first time in a hundred years. Maybe he should not have been so hard on the halfling, after all he was not as tough as rock, like dwarves. He was soft, as the rolling hills of the Shire where he was born and raised.
Before he could get up to apologize he heard Bilbo's angry voice, "No, you don't. You don't understand, you're dwarves. You're used to living on the road, not settling, not belonging anywhere." Bilbo quieted. He started to apologize for his outburst when he noticed Bofur's shoulders sag in defeat. Thorin's whole body pressed harder into the rock as his form sagged with the painful truth.
Bofur voiced what he was feeling, "No, you're right. We don't belong anywhere." He could hear the usual happy dwarf sigh in saddness, "I wish you all the luck in the world. I really do.
Thorin sat up to protest his burglar's leaving when the ground gave way beneath him. For a brief moment Thorin and Bilbo's eyes locked, shock and fear painted their faces as darkness engulfed them.
Thorin decided that goblins were the most fowl and retched creatures in Middle Earth, well perhaps second to the Elves of Mirkwood.
"Where's Bilbo?" Gandalf asked after his head count of the company. Thorin was starting to hate that question the more it was asked. "Where is out hobbit? Where is our hobbit?!" He asked frantically causing everyone to look around, searching for the missing member.
"Curse that halfling! Now he's lost? I thought he was with Dori!" Dwalin was yelling
"Don't blame me!" Dori
"Well where did you last see him?" Gandalf was becoming desperate.
"I think I saw him slip away when they first cornered us." Nori stated nervously.
Thorin was once again enraged. His hobbit had managed to escape him even when the company was under attack of putrid goblins! He really wanted to leave that badly?!
"I'll tell you what happened! Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it. He has thought of nothing but his soft bed and warm hearth since he stepped out of his door. We will not be seeing our hobbit again. He is long gone!" When Thorin was done ranting everyone was looking just behind him when he turned around, low and behold he had shoved his foot in his mouth once again, as his hobbit appeared from seemingly nowhere.
"No he hasn't." Bilbo said sternly giving Thorin a pointed look.
There were questions of how he had escaped, but all Thorin wanted to know was, "Why did you come back?"
Bilbo's chestnut eyes glistened, "Look, I know you doubt me. I know you always have. And you're right. I often think of Bag End. I miss my books, and my armchair, and my garden. See that's where I belong, that's home. That's why I came back because you don't have one, a home. It was taken from you but I will help you take it back if I can."
Thorin's heart was so full of warmth at this moment he couldn't help feel pride for the halfling. His halfling, after the cruel and cold way Thorin had treated him, wanted to help claim his home back. This was the moment Thorin realized that he would never be able to let the halfling from his sight, the moment he would never be able to let the hobbit go. Thorin looked around at the others who all looked sad but hopeful. Gandalf only smiled like he had never had a doubt.