Summary:
All Hobbits listed are taken from Hobbit family trees I found through a google search for hobbit families.
Bilbo was humming as he rocked one of the younger Hobbits to sleep, though he was often seen around the Mountain doing this or that, sometimes providing advice or bringing Thorin something he had forgotten, he was nearly always seen accompanied by a young Hobbit, not always one of the ones that now belonged to him and the Dwarrow King.
Of all the Hobbits that Bilbo had feared would not make it to Erebor, Bell had been high on his list, as part of the reason Samwise had been along with him on his trip was how near to her due date she had been. It had been a relief that she had made it, had somehow happened upon a group of Dwarrow just outside the still burning Shire with her four older children following closely, they had been lucky if one could call it that, the only person in their immediate family that they had lost had been Bell's Husband, Hamfast. Bilbo had listened to her tale, of how Hamfast had insisted on distracting those that had come to destroy the Shire while she and their children ran.
Bell had given birth on the road to Erebor, to a little girl named Marigold, and they had been some of the first arrivals, even before Thorin's proclamation had spread.
Bilbo had offered to keep housing Sam, knowing that even with the help from both Dwarrow and Hobbits Bell might have her hands full with her children and so Bilbo was often caught with little Marigold resting against his chest and her older sisters Daisy and May holding onto his pants or one of his Boy's hands as they followed Bilbo on his trips through the Mountain.
Bell's oldest sons, Hamson and Halfred were some of the Hobbits that insisted upon Farming the land and like their father they were quite good at it and so Bilbo had suggested giving them joint charge of the operation.
It had been unfortunate to find that Frodo's parents hadn't made it to Erebor, Dora, Drogo's older sister, had told Bilbo that they had gone boating that day since they hadn't had to worry about little Frodo and the raiders had come from the direction of the river, Drogo and Primula had likely been some of the first to parish.
And so Frodo would remain with Bilbo as Pippin and Merry would.
Merry's father Saradoc and his uncle Merimac had made it to Erebor, arriving some days after Bilbo and the children had but while Merry had been thrilled to see his father and uncle he seemed to realize that Saradoc was in no shape to care for his son, Saradoc could barely care for himself.
Merimac had explained that seeing his wife, Esmeralda, fall had killed something inside of his brother and Merimac could not take Merry, though he wanted to because he would be taking care of Saradoc. It was decided that the best thing for Merry would be to remain in Bilbo's care for the most part with visits to his uncle and father, much like Pippin was taken to visit with his sisters or the way Samwise would go to visit with his mother and siblings and end up bringing his siblings home to Bilbo's for the night.
Thorin had agreed that keeping the children so Bell could rest would be a good thing and had realized that they would need more space as Thorin suspected that there would be more children sleeping over with them when their parents wanted the rest or when it was just easier to bed them down in one place than to take several children to several different homes late at night.
Thorin had then had Bofur, Dori and Dwalin help him to clear the rooms next to Thorin's, something that had until then been deemed unnecessary. Dis had told Bilbo that they were the Consort's Quarters as generally Consorts were not required to share rooms with their Husbands.
Bilbo had looked at Thorin then and very deliberately explained how the layout was going to be, all of the rooms would have multiple beds or a large bed for shared sleeping and Bilbo would remain in Thorin's rooms with the youngest of the children, the older the children were the further the would sleep from Thorin's bedroom, they did make the Consort's rooms accessible through the dining room so that the children did not have to bother Bilbo and Thorin if they couldn't sleep.
It had come as a surprise that Lobelia had made it, though Otho had not and she'd carried her son Lotho in her belly on her journey, managing alone through sheer stubborn will, but she had hardly been able to look at Lotho without tears and so Bilbo took him into his arms after her labor, passed him to Thorin without a word before turning back to pull Lobelia into his arms and rock her, petting her hair in comfort.
Lotho had become Bilbo and Thorin's and Lobelia hadn't been able to take him back, and there had been a few mutterings but there were dark greens on Lobelia's arms that mixed with silver. It had taken several hours of gentle coaxing for Bilbo to get Lobelia to tell him why she couldn't raise Lotho herself, and she had explained in a soft, trembling voice, so unlike herself, that Otho had grabbed her arms during the Shire Fall and had been killed covering her body with his own, the green had come from his fear for her safety and the silver from the tight grip that had remained after he had stopped breathing.
She loved Lotho, wanted to keep him but she couldn't get that dead look in Otho's eyes out of her head and she'd been having nightmares and she knew that she wouldn't be able to do her best by him.
It had been Oin who had reminded several Dwarrow that not all females wanted to be mothers, Dwarrowdams sometimes never even revealed that they were female in their lifetimes for this reason, that Lobelia had brought her son into the world and admitted that it would not be best for her to keep him had been very brave of her.
It had become nearly policy that if a little Hobbit was found wandering that they were taken to Bilbo or Thorin, if they were in meetings then one of the Company would do, rather than try to find out who they belonged to. There were even some Dwarrow who would keep the children until whatever meal was closest and teach them something of craft, some of the older Hobbits, Tweens and those nearing their majority had expressed an interest in smithing, usually the soft, delicate work that the Elves favored that Dwarrow had surprisingly little patience for.
Bilbo checked on the little one that was resting against his shoulder to see that little Lotho was sleeping and if he was lucky would remain asleep during his meeting with Thranduil and Bard, since Thorin had convinced him that he needed to supervise the Planting outside of the Mountain with Samwise, Frodo and Merry, Pippin having taken quite a liking to Dori, Bilbo suspected that it had to do with Dori giving him a basket of soft blankets to take his naps in. Bilbo should have been suspicious of Thorin's sudden interest in planting season but he had not had the energy or want, having missed talking to Bard and wishing to give Thranduil an apology for passing through his forest without stopping to see him.
May and Daisy were with Ori, helping him organize the library to mask him teaching them their letters. Bell was with Bombur in the kitchen and Dwalin had somehow been given charge of Marigold as he had made his way toward the training grounds that morning, normally this would have concerned Bilbo, but lately Dwalin was the only one that could get the baby girl to sleep and Bilbo knew that Dwalin would let nothing happen to her, he also suspected that if Dwalin was needed for more than just supervising Nori would appear as he somehow always did.
Bilbo smiled at the Dwarrow that were standing guard outside the meeting room and stepped inside.
"Good morning." Bilbo said and felt a sigh escape his mouth.
Both Big Folk stilled suddenly, the little ones stilling playing with fingers or the extra trinkets that they wore, one young Toddler was balancing carefully on Thranduil's head, playing with his crown.
"I can explain." Bard started, and didn't even wince when the young girl in his lap tugged at his hair before closing her eyes.
"We have done nothing wrong." Thranduil spoke imperiously, turning to look at Bilbo.
Bilbo saw the shifting behind him and realized that one of the teens was braiding the Elf's hair.
"They were here when we arrived." Bard said anyway.
"I suspect that they were." Bilbo acknowledged, "If you can concentrate with them here I see no reason they have to leave."
Thranduil nodded happily.
They got a surprising amount done and several things brought up and resolved or marked to bring to Thorin's attention. Lotho woke halfway through and drew the attention of both Bard and Thranduil who seemed to just notice him and they had both reached out for him at the same time and hit their knuckles together and Bilbo had watched yellow bloom upon their hands.
The two had stared at each other before sputtering and Bilbo knew that Thorin was going to regret missing this, but the shock had died away and they had agreed to talk after the meeting was over and Bilbo let them pass Lotho back and forth between them before Thranduil sat the boy on his knee nearest to Bard and Bard ended up with his fingers in Lotho's mouth as the boy gnawed at them, neither seemed bothered by the mess the boy was making so Bilbo said nothing.
Supper in the great hall with the Kings of Dale and Mirkwood along with the rest of the Dwarrows was interesting as Thranduil had not bothered to brush out his hair and it was a mess of rather neat braids as well as what Bilbo suspected were first attempts.
Thorin had somehow managed to keep a straight face when he'd seen the mess but neither Kili nor Legolas had and they had snickered throughout supper.
Bilbo deciding to shut Legolas up had lifted Lotho from Bard's arms, ignoring the half hearted protest and had dropped the boy on Legolas' lap stopping his noise abruptly as Legolas immediately caught the boy in his hands to keep him on his lap, his terrified face had set Gimli, Tauriel, and Dis off in peals of laughter and Bilbo saw the small smile that crawled over Thranduil's lips.
Bilbo had then proceeded to eat and Legolas had sat in fear with the boy on his lap for the rest of supper, face terrified, unsure of what to do until Gimris finally took pity on him and helped him adjust his arms and talked him through feeding the boy his bottle. By the time supper was over Legolas was much more relaxed with the child resting in his arms.
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