Phew. A Nori fic. I really hope I do this justice. Well enjoy!
The night that Nori came into the world was a miserable, cantankerous one and completely unexpected because the weather had been so fine before. In short, it was like the dwarfling who was born during its hours or perhaps vice versa. Dori was not quite a dwarfling then but he was in no way a full grown dwarf. He had watched anxiously as his mother had gone through several bouts of painful contractions and had helped her to bed and then ran for the healer, Oin. When they had arrived, his mother was in the midst of another contraction. Oin had set to work immediately and soon had Dori running up and down doing various things at the healer's instructions. Dori bustled about the house doing everything he had been asked to do, glad for the tasks to keep him from worrying uncontrollably. Yet it was difficult not to. He worried about his mother, giving birth in the next room. He worried about the health of the baby dwarfling, since the birth was appearing to be a difficult one. He worried about whether his mother would be able to take care of the dwarfling since she had never been quite the same since his father had died at the battle for the Mines of Moria. And then the father of the dwarfling she was giving birth to hadn't stayed with them for very long. He worried that she wouldn't be able to cope with the responsibility of having another child to take care off. All these worries and a thousand others ran through his head while he did all he could, to help Oin.
It was close to midnight when Dori, who had settled himself right outside the bedroom, heard the cry that was unmistakably that of a dwarfling. He stood up instantly but had enough restraint not to burst into the room. Instead he waited impatiently for Oin to come out and tell him he could go and see his mother. About five minutes later, the door open and Oin nodded at him from behind it. Dori didn't waste time but pushed past Oin and into the room. Behind him, he heard Oin go out and close the door. His mother was lying, propped up, on the bed, looking tired but awake and alert. In her arms she held a tiny bundle. Dori approached the bed cautiously.
"Are you aright mother?" he asked.
She smiled at his question and his concern. "Yes my love," she told him, "I am fine. Come here."
He came closer to the bed and she tilted her head up and he bent obediently and she pressed a kiss to his forehead.
"Come see your little brother," she said softly. She carefully shifted the cloth wrapping the dwarfling so that Dori could see him properly.
"Brother?" asked Dori in surprise and delight. "I have a little brother?"
"Yes," said his mother, smiling at his reaction. Dori looked down at the bundle in his mother's arms. A tiny, pink face, scrunched up in sleep, greeted him. Wisps of red hair poked out from under the blanket. For a moment Dori just stared at the baby, overcome with the realization, that this, this tiny baby was his baby brother.
"Would you like to hold him?" asked his mother, breaking into his thoughts.
"What?" he asked.
His mother just chucked and held the baby out to him. He reached out and then pulled his hands back. "What if I drop him?" he asked suddenly fearful.
"You won't drop him," his mother told him.
"But..." he began but his mother interrupted him.
"He is a your baby brother," she told him, "You won't drop him, because you can't."
She held the baby out to him and this time Dori, still with shaking hands reached out and took the baby, positioning his hands as his mother showed him. Then just like that, the dwarfling was settled heavy in his hands quite firmly. He looked at his mother in amazement and then looked down at the baby. A wave of fierce protecticveness washed over him. This was his baby brother. He would take care of him. He would let anything happen to him.
"What's his name," he asked in a hushed whisper, after a moment.
"Nori," his mother replied, "His name is Nori."
"Nori," repeated Dori softly, after his mother.
"Yes," she said, "Now, Dori, promise me something, love."
"Anything, mother," he said instantly.
"Promise me you'll take care of him,' she said, "He is your brother and he'll need you, although he may not realize it and you may not want that responsibility. But family," and here she choked up, "Family should always look after each other. Family should always be there for each other. No matter what. No matter what happens. No matter how much they change. Promise me."
"I promise mother," Dori said, although he wasn't sure why she was telling him this. Of course he would take care of him. But still her words settled deeply in his heart and his mind. He gazed down at the tiny dwarfling in his arms and made a silent promise to himself. No matter what. That was his promise to himself. No matter what.
He carefully handed the baby back to his mother.
"Get some rest mother," he told her.
"I will, love," she told him and leaned forward and kissed his head once more. Then he turned and began to leave the room. But when he had almost reached the doorway his mother said after him.
"Remember Dori, you can't let your baby brother fall." Not won't, not shouldn't, can't.
"No mother," he said and closed the door after him. And through all the years after, Dori, remembered what she'd told him. He couldn't let his baby brother fall. He wouldn't because he couldn't.