Ladies, Gents, whatever you identify as, this is book 2. Please go back and read The Lost Gem if you haven't. For those returning, welcome back to my world. Please enjoy. I would also like to thank my lovely friend for helping me decide on a title. Love you

Ch 1 In the Time After

Smaug's claw pressed down slightly before lifting and sinking partway into the gold coin and treasure. He snorted, smoke blowing from his nose and clouding the tiny girl-dragon before him. "Well now, isn't this interesting. You smell like a dragon, but there is something else, something ... darker."

Lapis glared daggers, her fingers lengthening into talons as a growl threatened to escape. He was taunting her and she could barely recognize it through her growing anger. "You attacked my home."

"Hmmm...and your dwarf I suppose."

She hissed and lunged to her feet, but before she could get any further, Smaug pushed her back onto her butt. Her shift was quick and she tried to attack him again as a dragon, her own lethal claws trying to dig into his scaly hide. It was useless though and he opened his mouth, letting lava-like fire run over Lapis as she tried to do the same with her ice. The heat pushed her down to her belly and a low growl resonated from her, making Smaug laugh.

"You attack for a dwarf that is most likely dead, why?"

The image of Thorin burnt beyond recognition struck Lapis silent before the associated grief struck her and she flew at Smaug. All effort she had put into the attack was for naught when his claw pinned her down yet again and he rose from his bed of gold. She struggled against his hold, clawing and biting fruitlessly, while Smaug watched her innirritation.

"Enough!" The word shook the walls and Lapis stopped moving, hearing the dominance in his voice. Smaug snaked his long neck down so his head was near to the opalescent female. "Change back."

Lapis tried to not listen, but something in her, similar to the voice that used to talk to her, made her return to her human form. The claw wrapped around her and lifted her up eye level with Smaug, watching as his own gold eye blinked at her naked body.

"You carry eggs."

"I carry one child, my mates."

"Mate?" Smaug chuckled, the dark sound making her shiver. "And there is more than one egg in your belly. You are a curious thing, a shifting dragon... I'm most intrigued."

She was starting to feel faint, the effort of shifting was taking its toll. Red, black, and gold swam before her eyes as she swayed forward in his grasp. Tears welled up as the stench of burning flesh finally hit her and all thoughts went to Thorin, how most likely he was dead because if he wasn't, he would've come back for her. He always came for her. Her vision blackened and Lapis fainted in Smaug's hold, the last thing she saw was the rivers of gold and rainbow of jewels as he lowered his claw.

For days she slept, tucked into a small mound of treasure where Smaug watched her every move. Or lack thereof. If he had been a lesser creature, he would've thought her dead from the lack of movement. He watched over his unexpected ward with a curious eye, wanting more information on where and how she came to be here. Dragons were magic and there had never been a female. Her dragon form was stunning, scales shining like moonlight and the midnight sky with stars. In the second day of her slumber she had shifted back unconsciously back and Smaug was more relaxed, studious in his observation. What had him even more entranced was the day she cried and little stones rolled from her eyes and slid gracefully over her hide in rivers.

The great dragon knew what they were, and he hadn't seen them in an age. Pearls. But how did his female counterpart have the ability to create the precious stone? Smaug remained burrowed in his conquered treasure for the first few weeks while Lapis slept and the cold weather crossed over the mountain. Eventually, Smaug succumbed to his own hibernation. Before falling asleep, he covered Lapis in a portion of gold, leaving her snout uncovered, and did the same for himself. The silent echo of Erebor reigned during the snowy winter, not a creature disturbing the two dragons or coming near the mountain. The season passed over Middle Earth and soon, green buds started to peek through the bright white snow. Spring was pushing through and with it, a surprise for Lapis.

It was still cold in the mountain but buried in the gold neither dragon felt the effects anyhow. In the smaller pile, Lapis shifted and coins and jewels ran off her head and neck as she blinked at her surroundings. Where was she? She moved more, gently letting the gold run down the pile as she crawled out of the nest. Taking a deep breath, Lapis trembled at the memories that assaulted her from the scent of stale death. She was alone, Thorin was gone, and another dragon had driven out the only beings she would call family. Where was he? Her eyes swept up the mountains of treasure and spied his scarlet nose and one eye sticking out from where his head was buried. As Lapis went to move, pain radiated through her body and Smaug's eye popped open at her crying roar.

With a smoky snort, his great head rose and peered down at the pale dragon cowering on the ground in pain. "You are preparing to lay eggs."

Lapis hissed at him, "Why didn't you kill me?" It was the first time she had spoken to him as a dragon and hadn't realized it through the pain.

"To kill a female carrying dragons, it is against the magic created in us." He lowered his nose and nudge her back to the little nest she had been in before. "You will feel better when you give into what your magic is saying to you."

With nothing to do or stop him, Lapis half crawled back onto the pile of gold, shivering in pain. "You know nothing of me, I only carry one child."

"Deny the truth as you will, but I know more. I can sense three eggs and what they are, dragons like us. The smell of dwarf still lingers but it is tolerable." Smaug retreated slightly and breathed warm air over her. "Give into your instincts, they won't lead you astray."

With nothing else coming to mind, Lapis could only do as he suggested and collapsed into herself. The pain was centered on her lower body and she lost herself in her mind, not focusing on anything other than the cooing voice she hadn't heard in so long. It was saying the same as Smaug, and soon, the pain stopped. Without realizing it, she had laid eggs. Craning her neck, she looked around her body and saw three shimmering, white-blue eggs with her tail curled around them protectively. Her vision clouded and the tears forming in her eyes quickly turned to gemstones as they fell to below, gentle tinkling sounds filling the air.

"Why do you cry? This is a grand and joyous occasion for us. There aren't many of us left, your eggs will grow and take charge wherever they go."

Why did she cry? Lapis continued to stare at her eggs, filled with wonder and sorrow. Thorin wasn't here and he never will see his children hatched and grow. Why hadn't she died? Maybe they could have met in the stars like in one of the books she had read while laying on Thorin's lap. Stretching her neck to the sky, Lapis bellowed out in sorrow as her tears continued to fall. All she wanted was her mate here, next to her as their hatchlings would grow. Smaug said nothing as she curled around her eggs, wrapping them in warmth. She didn't know when they would hatch, but she did know instinctively what to do in that moment.

Over the next month, Lapis barely left her new nest next to Smaug. Unlike him, she still needed to hunt for food once in a while to sustain herself. In the short time she would leave, Smaug would cast either hot air over the eggs or breathe fire gently, so not to melt the gold around them. The first time Lapis had returned and saw the flames, she had attacked him, her ice catching him off guard on the side of his face. His answering roar had been fearsome and shook the mountain, but there wasn't any retaliation. She hadn't shifted back to her human form once, since her eggs were too large and couldn't be covered, Lapis had discovered inadvertently she had grown while sleeping. With the entrance collapsed, she returned to the mines to her old tunnels and nest but was unable to squeeze into the tunnels. They were going to have to be dug out again, especially with the need to get to all the gifts Thorin had given her before.

Smaug spoke to her every now and then, his speech between sleepy and lecturing. He spoke to her of their history, how they came to be, and how no one, especially dwarves, were to be trusted. Whether she listened or not, he didn't track. But the words were spoken and hung in the air, staying with her. It was on a day where he wasn't talking and it was silent in the mountain when a strange noise pricked their ears. Lapis was the first to move, since the sound was accompanied by a shift in her eggs. She slid down the nest and propped her head next to her babies and spied one of the eggs had a crack in the top and was wiggling in place.

"It is time then."

Lapis ignored him and watched impatiently for her children to climb out on their own. After some time, when night was about to fall, a piece of shell fell off and a tiny hand appeared. Who was more shocked, neither could say, but she watched as the small being tumbled from the shell. Lapis reacted quickly, catching it with her snout and blinked at the child. It had been born just like her, only much younger. Perhaps around the age of a two year old she had seen in Dale once. Her eyes moved down and saw its identifying feature, it was a male. Thorin's heir. Red-gold hair past his shoulders and the same gold eyes looking at her in awe as it thumped his fist against her nose.

The sound of cracking gained her attention again and Lapis moved her eyes to her other eggs. They were both hatching at the same time and she had no idea what to do with the one still laying on her. Gently, Lapis nudge her first born up the pile again and he rejoined the nest, watching the other two come into the world. The next one rolled its shell over and broke free, propped up on hands and knees. It looked around, spying its brother first and then Lapis, laughing when she poked it with her nose to turn it over. It was a girl, only with black hair instead with the exact gold eyes. She giggled when Lapis's tongue licked over her before doing the same to the boy. The last egg broke open minutes later and her third baby rolled out, landing next to its sister. This time, Lapis didn't have to look to tell it was a girl, though her coloring was much different. Her dark blue hair was spread out and the blue eyes that looked back at her were the same as Thorin's, the Durin blue that all members of that family were born with, distinguishing their birth line.

"They smell like the dwarf."

Well now, I hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter. please let me know what you all thought.