Just want to mention that I haven't written for LotR fandom before, so I'm truly sorry if there's something I've massively screwed up that I didn't know about...

Anyway, this is just a little fic about Fíli getting some romance with an oc because his brother shouldn't horde it all with Tauriel :)

Have tried to keep with the movie canon as much as possible (although Bofur/Bombur having a sister is obviously NOT canon), though there are some assumptions I've made about what will happen in the last movie... Though I think it's fairly safe to assume that Smaug is going to attack Esgaroth and that the Battle of Five Armies is going to happen!

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to read this!

Right and Expectations

The first time he had laid eyes on her had not been in the best situation. In fact, as far as first encounters with pretty dwarven women went, meeting them when you've been taken captive by goblins isn't the most ideal one he could imagine.

She'd been battered and beaten when she was brought before them. A spy, the goblin king had stated, that they'd caught some months ago and kept to set an example of for nosy dwarves who didn't know better than to mind their own business. Whether that was true or not, Fíli couldn't guess. But she was broken that day before them, she'd been skinny and malnourished with blood and dirt matted in her hair and open wounds on her body.

What Fíli hadn't expected was that Bofur was going to howl in such protest that he almost managed to break free of his bonds in his anger.

"Sifur!" She'd raised her head weakly at the name and gazed at him with big grey eyes. "You stupid fat ugly goblin bastard, let her go!"

But he hadn't let her go, of course, and it'd only been when all hell had broken loose and they were escaping that she'd joined them. Fíli wasn't entirely sure how it happened, whether Bofur had run back and freed her or she'd managed it herself, but she was with them as they ran like lunatics trying to escape the godforsaken place. He hadn't actually thought she would have the strength to run, she looked so weak, but she managed just fine, perhaps because of adrenaline and little else.

It was only when they'd escaped and ran out of the cave that the gravity of her physical state collided into her, and she collapsed onto the ground, unable to move. Almost out of reflex, Fíli had found himself moving to her aid without really knowing he was doing it, but stopped himself as Bofur reached her first.

"Sif," the other dwarf had started and he slapped her cheeks a little to wake her up because her eyelids had started to droop. "Wake up! We're getting out of here."

She'd tried to stand but her knees had buckled under her weight. Fíli had swept an arm around her waist to support her before he'd even realised it, then he'd noticed that everyone else was giving him the most peculiar look and he'd vaguely contemplated dropping her to the floor, had that not been an entirely ungentlemanly type of thing to do.

"Funny time to be trying to pick up a lass," Dwalin had muttered gruffly. As if to make his point even more poignant, there was a howl of a warg that followed and made Ori pale a little.

"We have to move," Thorin had said then. "Where's Bilbo?"

Fíli hadn't really paid attention to the conversation after that. Instead, he'd glanced at this Sifur and pulled her to her feet. His arm had still been around her waist and hers around his shoulder. He wondered if the look Bofur had given him was intentionally suspicious or not, because the other dwarf didn't look overly impressed.

But Fíli had ignored it and instead helped her along with the others as best he could as they escaped. Somehow they managed it, although sometimes he found himself looking back and wondering precisely how that was.

o0o

It was only sometime later when they'd been carried by eagles to Carrock (that was an experience that Fíli wasn't too keen on repeating, he'd had the worst motion sickness, plus seeing the ground so far beneath him had not helped much) that they got a chance to actually sit down and do anything.

Of course, Fíli had completely abandoned any thought of their new companion at the concern of the wounded Thorin, but once he'd stopped fretting that his uncle was going to die he eventually turned his attention back to her. Except that what he saw was Bofur kneeling beside her and tending to her wounds. Perhaps he'd looked a bit disappointed, because Kíli gave him a little pat on the back and sat down next to him.

"Ack, there's plenty more fish in the sea," his younger brother said sympathetically, then glanced gingerly down over the edge of the monolith they were on and added, "or maybe river is a bit more appropriate in this circumstance."

Fíli gave him a half amused look. "Why would you even jump to that conclusion?"

Kíli only wiggled his eyebrows at him suggestively and the blond couldn't stop a little laugh escaping his lips. He pushed his brother playfully and received an annoyed look in return.

"Hey!" Kíli huffed at him. "I would appreciate it if you didn't do that when I'm on the edge of a cliff, dear brother."

Fíli laughed warmly at him, grabbed him by the neck and with a fisted hand, ruffled his hair. His younger brother protested fervently and made a sort of flailing attempt to get away. It was only when Nori spoke up that he paused what he was doing, in a somewhat comic pose because Kíli was still in his grasp with his hands firmly trying to yank himself free.

"Little young for you, don't you think, Bofur?"

A couple of the other dwarves made wolf whistles, or just generally gave Bofur a suggestive look. Fíli obliged letting his brother go then and grinned a little at the annoyed look he received. Kíli attempted to straighten his hair a little bit as both Bofur and Sifur glanced up at the rest of them.

"She's our baby sister, you oaf," Bofur replied almost accusingly. Bombur gave a hearty little chuckle. Nori made an odd facial expression as if he vaguely considered apologising and felt rather embarrassed.

"See?" Kíli whispered and nudged his brother a little. "Maybe you do have a chance!"

Fíli's hand flew into the air and smacked his brother across the back of his head in such a smooth motion that every other dwarf, hobbit and wizard laughed at them. Even this newcomer did, and his eyes found hers in the commotion. There was the briefest of smiles that spread across her lips, and he realised that he was returning it.

o0o

The next time he'd spoken to her had been entirely Kíli's fault. In fact, his brother had acted in such an outrageous manner he'd wondered if it would be inappropriate to throttle him in front of the rest of the company right then and there.

It was at Beorn's table when the majority of the dwarves where stuffing their faces. Kíli had initially taken his place beside Fíli, as they usually did, but then he stood up dramatically and gestured equally absurdly to Sifur.

"My dearest lady," he started as she'd made the attempt to sit on a stool, "you simply cannot sit on such a chair when you are recovering from such grievous injures!"

"I can manage-" he bustled her over and made her sit where he had been before she could even finish her sentence. Then, Kíli gave his brother a very un-subtle wink and took the stool Sifur had intended to use, until being relocated to the proper chair Kíli had been using.

Which left Fíli in a somewhat awkward position. He started off at first by looking intently down at his food as he ate it, then gave her the fleetest of looks, only to wrench his gaze away again when she looked at him.

After a few moments he gathered up his courage and asked a somewhat less awkward, "so do you, uh, know how to fight?"

"Yes," she replied politely. "But the goblins took my blades when they captured me."

"Ah. I see."

He caught Kíli's attention out of the corner of his eyes. His brother gave him a look as if to say what the heck was that?

Fíli just shrugged sort of helplessly. Kíli rolled his eyes and jabbed a finger at him, then did the same at Sifur and finally threw his hands in the air in frustration as he just got a blank look in return.

The blond dwarf coughed a little awkwardly and tried again. "How did they capture you?" he asked warmly.

"They ambushed me when I was travelling," she replied and tensed a little bit. "They wanted information on Thorin, said something about a bounty."

The man in question let his knife clatter to the table a little bit too forcefully and Beorn gave him an annoyed look. Sifur glanced up at the leader of their band and gave him a level look.

"But I didn't tell them anything," she added.

"Of course you didn't," Bofur said as if it were common knowledge. He waved a fork at her. "You were raised better than that."

There was an awkward moment that followed which was only broken by a loud burp from Bombur and a groan from Bilbo because he was right in the firing range of it.

o0o

When they were making an effort to leave and enter Mirkwood he approached her next. She was still completely unarmed with only the torn clothes she had on her for any protection. He at least thought she ought to have a weapon of some kind or other so she wasn't dead weight. In fact, Thorin had said that he wouldn't allow her to come with them if she couldn't stand up for herself. Happily, Fíli had an abundance of knives and other pointy things stuffed in various places on his person, so he decided in the grand scheme of things he could spare one or two for her.

"What do you normally fight with?" he offered her as Kíli very conspicuously geared up a pony within earshot.

Sifur gave him a perplexed look. She'd tidied herself up a bit now and had actually managed to brush her copper hair and put it in a braid now. It looked quite nice in comparison to the bloody mess it'd been before. Fíli frowned at her as she looked up his body, as if she didn't believe he actually had any spare weapons to offer her.

"What?" he replied a little defensively. "You'd be surprised what I can stuff into my clothes."

Kíli gave an entirely loud and inappropriate snigger. Fíli's features flushed as he realised how that might have sounded if you thought about it that way. He only became brighter red when Sifur couldn't stifle a little laugh.

"Do you have two daggers?" she asked eventually.

"Yes, uh..." he paused and reached into a boot and retrieved one blade and handed it to her. Then he considered where to get the next one from. "Just, um, give me a second."

He leant back and reached somewhere behind him, straining a little to grab the hilt and finally drawing a second dagger successfully and giving that to her as well. The look on her face was priceless and he couldn't stop a little laugh escaping his lips even if he'd wanted to.

o0o

Getting captured and almost eaten by spiders wasn't something he considered to be a pleasant past time. Getting captured and thrown into a cell by elves was something he definitely didn't consider a pleasant past time. He'd almost started liking elves when they'd been in Rivendale, because those ones had been quite friendly and had nice food. These ones were decidedly not friendly.

The elves had pushed him roughly into a cell and searched him. That had been amusing at least because they kept finding little daggers and blades stuffed in various places on him. Even when they moved to lock the cell he still had one down the back of his shirt. The elf guard that had escorted him hesitated, then held out a hand expectingly.

Fíli sighed and relinquished his final concealed weapon with a grin.

It was only when the jail door was shut behind him that he saw Sifur being marched in. He grasped the bars with both hands and strained to look out at what was happening. A tall blond elf was pushing her into a cell but he paused and gave her an amused look.

"A female?" he mused, then gave her a snide look. "Where's your beard, dwarf?"

Sifur spat in his face. All in all, Fíli had to admit that might not have been the wisest thing to do. The elf glowered at her and struck her cheek with the back of his hand.

"Hey!" Fíli had yelled before he knew it and the blond elf's eyes snapped to him. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size, you bleeding tree hugger!"

Another guard took over forcing Sifur into her cell and the blond elf sauntered over to him. He bent down and stared at him through the bars of his cage and Fíli returned with a snarl.

"Someone like you, perhaps?" the elf sneered. "You're a bit short for a knight in shining armour, don't you think?"

Then he stalked off, leaving Fíli fuming in his cell.

o0o

"You want us to hide in these barrells?" Dwalin asked. "Are you mad?"

"I do believe he is," Bofur added rather unhelpfully.

Fíli was just frowning and watching the situation unfold before him. He glanced over at his brother and blinked in surprise. Kíli had a sort of vague, dreamy look on his features like he wasn't particularly all there.

"Kíli?" He prompted his brother. "What's wrong with you?"

"Hmm?" the brunet glanced at him absent-mindedly but then sobered when Fíli gave him a look as if to say what is wrong with you?

"I ain't getting in no barrel," Balin said defiantly.

"You have to, hurry up!" Bilbo was shooing them and almost looked like he might try and push them in himself. "Please, just please hurry up!" He looked twitchy and kept glancing behind him in case any elves had found them.

All the dwarves look at Thorin. Their leader considered for a few moments, and then instructed them to do as the hobbit said.

"There aren't enough," someone chimed in as they all tried to get into one.

"I am not sharing with Bombur," someone else said.

"Well, someone has to share, just figure it out quickly!" Bilbo was practically jumping on the spot he was so nervous.

Fíli glanced down over the side of the barrel he had claimed and saw Sifur standing on the ground beside him. He offered her his hand. "Here. You're not massive like your brother so I think you can squeeze in."

She did manage it but it was a bit squishy. Sifur gave him an amused look and he raised an eyebrow at her.

"You have such a way with words," she said.

"Wh-" but he didn't get the chance to actually say anything meaningful because they were tumbling down the opened hatch and into a stream of water within moments.

It wasn't a particularly pleasant journey. He got a mouthful of water and almost choked, got battered around quite a bit, ended up with the barrel facing the wrong way up in the river at least once, until finally they surfaced and he was gasping for air. He realised then just how small this barrel actually was because Sifur was pressed flat up against him with her head forced into his shoulder.

She peeled herself away as best she could in their haphazard barrel ride and there was a brief moment of general awkwardness until both their attention was drawn by the fact they were being shot at. Then they crashed into a portcullis and Fíli found himself thinking not for the first time that he was really starting to dislike elves.

o0o

After they'd escaped from the elves any thoughts he might have had of Sifur were taken up entirely by his concern for his brother. He was somewhat angry that Kíli had got hurt, but mostly just worried to the point were the brunet was getting annoyed that he was fussing over him too much.

"I'm fine, you don't need to baby me!" Kíli said with a good deal of exasperation as they were being ferried to Esgaroth.

"You're my younger brother, I believe it's required," Fíli replied and smacked the brunet's hands away as he tried to get a look at the wound on his leg.

Kíli flinched and a little groan escaped his lips as Fíli pulled back the torn material to expose were the arrow had pierced him. The blond ignored him, tore a piece of cloth off his shirt and dipped it over the side of the barge into the water. Then he pressed the material into the wound and tried to clean it as best he could. It wasn't particularly easy because his brother kept squirming in pain.

"Stop moving," Fíli instructed.

"It bleeding hurts when you do that, you tosser!" Kíli replied through gritted teeth.

"Would you rather it become infected?" he challenged.

The brunet hesitated and then looked away with a scowl. Fíli cleaned the wound as fast and painlessly as he could, but there were still a few half suppressed little groans escaping his brother's mouth and he kept jerking every now and then. When he was finally finished he bound his leg with the cleanest piece of cloth he could find, and then sighed softly.

Kíli gave him an annoyed look, to which he only laughed. "You're hopeless."

The brunet glowered at him and he grinned, leant forward pressed a kiss to his brothers forehead and then slumped down exhausted beside him. There was a moment of silence between them as they watched the town on the lake come closer into view.

Then, Kíli spoke softly. "How do you know if you love a woman?"

Fíli glanced at him with a bit of a surprised look, then replied. "Somebody once told me it's when the only thing you want to do is grab her by the shoulders and kiss her so hard that your lips bruise and you faint because you can't remember the last time you took a breath."

He paused, then continued. "That you'd take a sword to your throat if there was even the bleakest chance it would save her life." He gave his brother a curious look. "Why do you ask?"

Kíli shrugged and pulled a face, but then looked at him mischievously. "Just trying to figure out how long it's gonna take you to realise you feel that way about Sif."

He blinked at his brother, and then scoffed and cuffed him over the back of his head. Even as Kíli protested and shoved him in the side his gaze drifted to her, and he swallowed thickly as he found himself considering if perhaps there was some truth to it.

o0o

It almost broke Kíli to not be allowed to journey with them to the Lonely Mountain. It almost broke Fíli too to see him so devastated, but he understood deep down even if it hurt. Kíli protested Thorin's decision but he was so weak he could barely stand.

Fíli climbed out of the boat and moved to support his brother. So help him but he wouldn't abandon his sibling not even for the chance to see their home again. Blood meant more than that. What he hadn't expected was that Sifur was going to follow him.

When Kíli struggled to stand even with his brother holding him up from one side, Sifur climbed out of the boat and pulled the brunet's other arm over her shoulder. Kíli moaned a little bit as Fíli leant forward and caught her attention.

"You don't have to stay," he told her and jerked his head in the direction of the boat. "I can manage."

"Your people are my people," she replied with a determined look. "Your brother is my brother."

He stared at her a little dumbfounded and with perhaps a little bit of a gape. She was holding his gaze so intently that he wondered if it were possible to read her thoughts through her eyes, because so help him he felt like he could.

"I really hate to interrupt this moment," Kíli gasped. "But do you think you could sort this out later, because I think I might pass out soon. That would be great, thanks..."

His head lolled a little bit and Fíli had to nudge him to keep him conscious. He reasoned he'd make sure his brother was safe first and deal with his emotions later.

o0o

Kíli falling in love with an elf had caught him completely off guard. Smaug attacking Esgaroth had caught him slightly less off guard in comparison. The first notice they got of the impending doom was the sound of a huge explosion and part of the room crashing down on top of them. There was a good deal of screaming and Fíli managed to pull himself free of the debris quite quickly. He looked around frantically, was relieved to notice his brother was fine and then saw Sifur trapped beneath a pile of bricks and wood.

He ran to her and helped free her, then raked his gaze over her body to see if she was wounded. She had scratches over her body and a deep gash on her cheek, but she got up and seemed fine otherwise. It was a relief for him, and he only realised some seconds afterward that he'd actually been quite worried about her.

There was a moment of silence where they just stared at each other, before Kíli interrupted them. "Really, you have the worst timing."

Fíli jolted back to reality as he realised the entire city was in fact collapsing around them. Bofur yanked him by the back of his collar and then pointed a finger at him.

"I might come to accept you making a pass at my sister," he told him matter-of-factly, "but not when we're about to die, so reign it in you dog!" Then, Bofur hit him over the back of his head and Fíli realised now would probably be a good time for escaping.

o0o

Stepping foot in the Lonely Mountain was a feeling he couldn't accurately put into words. Smaug was dead, they'd reclaimed their home – and their treasure. The gold and riches he didn't care overly much about, but their home... That meant more to him than any money or wealth. He'd wondered around in a daze at first, fingers trailing over the stone and scarcely truly believing it was real.

He rounded a corner in the corridor he'd been exploring and bumped into another person because he was paying such little attention. An apology had left his l automatically, then he realised it was Sifur standing in front of him and glanced away shyly. Fíli stuffed his hands into his pockets and then forced his gaze back at her.

She hesitated, muttered something like an excuse me and tried to slip past him. He grabbed her hand to stop her. "Hey!"

She paused and glanced at him but said nothing. Fíli refused to release his hold on her. "Where are you going?"

"I'm... not sure," she replied softly.

"So why not stay here with me?" he suggested.

Her features became haunted and she sighed. "It would never have worked, Fíli."

His eyebrows knitted together and he opened his mouth to reply but she beat him to it.

"You're going to be king of all this one day," she told him.

"I know," he replied and let a small grin tug at his lips. "I'll need a queen."

"Yes." She shook her head and gave him a sympathetic look. "But not a commoner for one."

He stared at her for a good long few minutes then. He hadn't considered it from that point of view, he'd been so caught up with his emotions he'd overlooked one crucial detail. Sometimes he envied his brother for not being first in line to the throne, he could almost do what he wanted so long as Fíli was alive, within reason of course. But part of him was loathe to submit to expectation and traditions. He'd been loyal and devoted to Thorin and his people for as long as he could remember. But he'd draw the line at letting them decide who he was and wasn't allowed to love.

Fíli took a step closer to her and was pleased to note she didn't move away from him. Instead, she stilled and tensed. He let his free hand curl around her jaw, his fingers tangling into her hair and his face so close to hers his nose was pressed against her own.

"Then maybe that's the first thing I'll change when I become king," he whispered.

Something flashed over her features, almost like hope, and then he pressed his lips to hers. She didn't even try and resist him, her mouth opening beneath him with hardly any effort on his part. Her arms were wrapped around his neck in seconds and he'd pulled her closer with his other arm.

He pushed the back of her shirt up and let his fingers run over her skin, and then he heard the battle horn droning. They broke apart and he glanced up the corridor, then back at her. He couldn't help it, he stole another fleeting kiss before grasping her firm by the shoulders and giving her a longing look.

He wished he could have stayed there for all time to come, but he couldn't, and he wouldn't when he was still loyal to his brother and uncle.

Little did he know that was the last time he'd ever see her, and the last time she'd ever see him alive.