Bedtime stories

It was afternoon in the Shire. At this time of the day you could find most hobbit man –and some women- in the Green Dragon, having a laugh or smoking some pipe weed. Others were cleaning of after a day of work or getting the fauntlings ready for bed. But there was one hobbit that had a rather calm evening planned. As the kettle whistled Bilbo looked up from his book. Sighing he pushed himself out of his armchair and made his way towards the kitchen. He got the kettle out of the fire and took his tea mug from the cupboard. He put the leaves in the mug and added the boiling water, minding his fingers this time. He didn't want to be reminded of last week, all his doilies were soaked! He was pulled out of his nasty flashback as he heard a sob down the hall. Poor lad, Frodo had caught a nasty cold due to his little 'venture' two days ago. Though, Bilbo found nothing adventurous about fighting invisible monsters outside in the rain without even a bloody shirt on. "I had told him not to do it and he went and did it anyway", Bilbo muttered to himself. Realising how much he sounded like his mother, a fond smile crossed his face. How many times had his mother said the same when he came home with another ripped pants, covered in dirt.

He passed the boxes filled with books, maps, and other stuff he hasn't looked into for many years now. It has been almost a year now that Frodo, now almost ten years old, moved in with him after his parents, Yavanna bless their souls, passed away in an awful accident. Since then he had taken Frodo under his wing. He has always loved his nephew, he is a good lad with a good sense for adventure. Yes, Bilbo was very fond of the lad and some company was never wrong. Bag end is beautiful, vast and, well, lonely. And it is not as if he is short of money or anything. Bilbo huffed, the damn thing still smells a bit of trolls now. Frodo will also make a fine heir, because no way that dreadful woman, Lobelia, will get anything from him, he would rather shave his feet. It wouldn't surprise him if she'd ever steal his silverware. He has seen her eyeing it for a while now. He would have to keep an eye out for her.

He slowly opened the door, not wanting to make too much noise. He looked at the little bundle under the three blankets- he just wanted to make sure he would not be cold- as another sob was heard. Making his way to the bed he sat on the empty place next to Frodo. He looked down at the mop of curls as the face was hidden in the pillow.

"Frodo, my lad, what is wrong?" He asked, resting his hand on the small shoulder.

"I can't sleep" A muffled voice answered.

"And why not? You know you have to sleep in order to get better."

"My throat hurts, and my tummy, and my nose is stuffed, and all these blankets are really waaarm." Frodo wailed.

"Ah." Bilbo said, removing one blanket and folding it back under the bed, because what if he would get cold later. "And what can I do about these awful problems?"

"Can you maybe tell another story?" Frodo sniffled.

"Another story?" Bilbo said chuckling. "And what kind of story would you want to hear then?"

"A story about.." Frodo hesitated, thinking. ".. about your adventures!"

"Mmh well" Bilbo started " I do have a story about a great adventure." He said slowly. Looking at Frodo, who now had all his attention focussed on him. "Last week I went to the market, to buy a pumpkin, and Bolger asked three silver coins for it, three! Of course I would have nothing of that nonsense and-"

"No uncle! A real adventure!" Frodo said, with a stern frown on his face.

Bilbo grinned. "A real adventure you say? I could tell you about that trip I took a few years ago…"

"Yes! Yes!" Frodo said bouncing, unable to sit still.

"Fine, I'll tell you about my real adventure. As you know I was traveling with a group of dwarves. And let me tell you lad, dwarves are very odd creatures. Did you know that they only eat two to three meals a day?"

Frodo gasped as his mouth went wide open. "Only two?!"

"Yes, only two. You understand that this was very problematic for me. I was sure I would starve." Bilbo said dramatically. "So one day, while we were resting in the woods I went looking for berries, nuts, anything! That was when I saw some blackberries. I was so happy I even did a little skip. But as I was just about to eat these delicate fruits I heard a voices behind me!"

This earned a little gasp out of Frodo as Bilbo continued.

"I turned around expecting orcs, goblins or other horrible creatures. What was there was in fact much worse.. It were the two princes of the company. I have told you about them didn't I?"

"Yes yes." Frodo answered quickly, as he wanted to hear more. Kili and Fili were his favourite, as they were 'really funny' especially with all their pranks. Of which Bilbo had promised himself not to tell more of as Frodo had the tendency to try and re-enact them.

"Well there I was and by the grins on their faces I could already see that they were up to no good. But they only greeted me and walked past me, I thought nothing of it. That was until that evening. While everyone was getting ready for sleep I laid down in my sleeping bag. As I did this I felt a squishy substance at my feet. Not knowing what this was I let out a loud shriek, which was heard by the entire company of course. As all their heads turned towards me, some already grabbing their weapons, I looked inside the sleeping bag. Only to find a huge amount of blueberries, some already squashed. Dumbstruck I stood there until I heard some very bad hidden sniggers, which came out of the direction of the two trouble finding princes."

At this Frodo laughed loudly.

"Ah you find that funny. Maybe you should experience blueberries in your bed someday. I had to wash my feet three times in the freezing water until they were all clean." Bilbo grumbled to himself.

"No uncle! I don't wan' any berries in my bed!" Frodo exclaimed.

"You don't?" Bilbo said hiding his smile. "Well if you are a good lad and try to get some sleep, maybe I'll reconsider." He pushed himself of the bed after tugging little Frodo in.

"Mmkay"

Bilbo stroked the brown curls and left the room, closing the door behind him. He remembered that day well. After finding out that Fili and Kili were behind this – no surprise there- because they had thought it would be funny to fill Bilbo's sleeping bag with blueberries, Thorin punished them by making them do the night-watch of the next three days. Even though Kili innocently tried to explain that they were only trying to help Bilbo, as they saw him enjoying the berries. Thorin would have nothing of this as he lived through this for 70 years at the time. Some of the company sat a few metres away trying to look like they weren't listening to the commotion that was happening. Others on the other hand did not to hide their amusement – especially Dwalin who was grinning like an idiot- or disapproval at all as they were sitting openly looking at the little family uproar. Bilbo smiled fondly at this memory passing the room where the stain Bofur made with his prized tomato's still stood proudly. He had tried to scrub it out but after the sixth time he had given up. He turned the corner back into his kitchen.

As he returned to his tea, which was now too strong and cold, he tapped his fingers against his leg. Well nothing to do about this, he thought, and threw the cold tea out of the window. Adding some water in the kettle he hang it above the fire to let it boil again, sitting in the kitchen chair he waited until the water was boiling. It was almost half past four by now. Running a bit late he thought to himself. Not that it really mattered. It has been almost 20 years ago. He wasn't expecting any company. Not anymore.