Wow! Thank you so, so much for all the follows, favourites and reviews, that is without a doubt the best response I have ever had to a chapter one, and I'm really happy that you all liked the first chapter. I cannot say how much you all have made my week, and for that I thank you :)
I hope you like this one as much as the last one. The hobbits featured in this one are mainly cannon hobbits with their ages tweaked to fit better in this story, and some of them have pretty strong links to LOTR ;)
Kíli and Bilbo have cannon ages, and Bilbo is the same age that Pippin would be in LOTR, just to give you an idea.
Read. Enjoy. Review.
Chapter Two # One of Us #
For the first month at Bag End, Kíli's main company was Bilbo and his young gardener Hamfast, a friendly young lad in his late tweens who was as loyal to Bilbo as Kíli was. Despite the good company, he missed the only friends he could remember, the Tooks siblings, but only until a knock on the door drew him away from the kitchen on a sunny morning.
"Paladin, Esme!" he cried, elated, as he opened the door.
As Bilbo walked around the corner he saw the two young hobbits launch themselves at Kíli, dragging him into a big hug and almost squeezing all of the air out of his lungs.
"We missed you!" Esme squeaked, a huge smile on her face.
"More than we should've missed a dirty-rotten-no-good-scoundrel of a dwarf." Paladin teased, his tone lacking any menace whatsoever.
"What are you doing here?" Bilbo asked with a smile.
"Hullo, Cousin Bilbo!" Esme greeted cheerfully. "We've moved here, to Hobbiton!"
"Really?" Bilbo blinked. "Why?"
"Because the Healing House needs another healer after Mrs Underhill retired. Mama volunteered." Esme explained happily. "We've come to take Kíli to the market!"
"To the market?" Bilbo blinked.
"Is that a problem?" Paladin asked, crestfallen.
"No, no, it's just that we've only been down the market once and there were enough people staring when he was with me." Bilbo worried. "Not all of the residents of Hobbiton are as nice as you both."
"We'll look after him, please! We'll only be a few hours." Esmeralda pleaded, hugging Kíli and blinking up at Bilbo imploringly.
"How about a deal…" Bilbo mused. "If you bring him back in one piece before noon, I will have a batch of cookies ready for you when you get back. If you're late, I'll come and get you and then you get no cookies."
"That only gives us two hours!" Esmeralda pouted, putting on the puppy dog eyes.
"You obviously don't want me coming with you," Bilbo pointed out, thinking that he could probably get some chores done without Kíli taking over. "But I want to know that you're alright, and not being bullied by some blockheaded Bracegirdle. If all goes well you can take him back to the market later."
"Thank you, Cousin Bilbo!" the Took siblings chorused, grabbing Kíli's hands and sprinting out the door.
"See you later, Bilbo!" Kíli laughed, as he was dragged away.
Esmeralda kept a hold of Kíli's hand as they ran down the sunny path, and Paladin stopped by a small house. "Wait a minute!"
"What's he doing?" Kíli asked Esmeralda nervously as Paladin knocked on the door.
"Getting Saradoc." The girl replied, smiling warmly at Kíli. "He's one of our best friends."
"Oh..." Kíli bit his lip.
"Don't worry, he'll like you!" Esmeralda insisted, instantly recognising Kíli's hesitance. "He's really, really nice! His father's the Master of Brandy Hall, but Saradoc lives here in Hobbiton with his brother Barnabas, because his mother wanted him to learn from his brother and get a proper job so that when he comes to rule Brandy Hall he will know about money and stuff. Barney's a fruit vendor."
Seconds later a dark haired hobbit emerged from the house with Paladin. He appeared to be a little older than Esmeralda, about Paladin's age if Kíli guessed correctly, but like the dwarf he was shorter than Paladin and taller than Esmeralda.
"This is the dwarf?" Saradoc sneered in a very unkind tone and Kíli glanced at Esmeralda, unsure of how to react.
"Saradoc!" She put her hands on her hips angrily and the boy laughed, his haughty countenance dropping into a friendly smile.
"Sorry, I couldn't resist. You think your name is Kíli, right?"
Kíli nodded cautiously and Saradoc grinned. "I really am sorry. I was doing an impression of-"
"Otho SB!" The Tooks chorused, giggling.
"Who's Otho SB?" Kíli frowned as Saradoc pulled an apple out of thin air and started to eat.
"Otho Sackville-Baggins." Paladin shuddered dramatically. "Haughtiest, most horrible hobbit you're likely to meet. And you are likely to meet him; he thinks family honour is everything."
"Oh..."
"Now look what you've done, Saradoc, you've made him all shy again!" Esmeralda scolded and Kíli blushed scarlet. "See!"
"Sorry." Saradoc repeated, looking genuinely saddened at having frightened Kíli. "How about I show you the best place to play in Hobbiton and you can all forgive me?"
"Deal." Kíli blurted out before either of the Tooks could say anything for him and they all grinned.
"Let's go!" Saradoc ran off in a different direction.
"Saradoc, the market's that way, isn't it?" Paladin frowned.
"I said the best place to play in Hobbiton, and that's not the market, come on, let's go!" Saradoc laughed.
Esmeralda giggled and ran after him, Kíli and Paladin following excitedly.
In minutes they arrived at a peaceful little lake, surrounded by dozens of trees with low branches. In an instant, the three young hobbits darted up the trees.
"Wh-what are you doing?" Kíli frowned.
"You've never climbed a tree before?" Saradoc gaped, and Paladin slapped him.
"He doesn't know!"
"Sorry, I forgot." Saradoc looked suitably abashed. "Here, take my hand."
"What?" Kíli took a step back, fear churning in his gut. "That…That doesn't seem natural."
"Taking my hand?" Saradoc looked affronted.
"No, being in a tree!" Kíli hissed, eyeing the colossal plant with apprehension.
"What's wrong, Kíli?" Esme pouted. "Come up!"
"I can't!" Kíli shook his head. "I don't know how."
"Don't know how?" Paladin frowned.
Guilt and embarrassment made Kíli feel nauseous and he made a pitiful plea. "Isn't it a bit elvish?"
"What's wrong with elves?" Esmeralda's pout deepened.
"Um…" Come to think of it, Kíli was not sure.
"Exactly!" Saradoc rolled his eyes, offering Kíli his hand. "We'll show you how, it's not too hard when you try."
One deep breath and one leapt of faith was all it took for Kíli to begin climbing and swinging through the trees like the most skilled of the hobbits.
"Tree top tag!" Esme demanded. "Paladin's it!"
"Oh, yes!" Saradoc whooped, helping Kíli swing from tree to tree. "Come on, quick!"
"Climb, Kíli!" Esme agreed, fleeing from her brother.
"What, why?"
"It's like normal tag, you know on the ground, except you're not allowed down from the trees." Paladin grinned deviously, making a beeline towards Kíli.
Surprisingly, Kíli proved to be great at tree top tag, and their fast paced game went on for two hours, until a scream interrupted their play.
"Drogo, Robin, Hugo! Help!" a little hobbit girl of about Esme's age screamed, pointing at Kíli with terror.
The young dwarf instinctively hid behind the branch.
"No, Rosa, it's alright!" Esme put her hand on Kíli's arm. "This is Kíli, he lives with Bilbo!"
The three hobbit boys the girl had screamed for appeared behind her, along with another couple of girls, and the three boys squared up, though they looked fearful.
"With Bilbo?" the one with the darkest hair asked suspiciously.
"Yes." Saradoc's voice was strong.
"And he stayed with us for two weeks." Paladin smiled at the dwarf, gently pulling him into the other children's view.
Kíli shied away from their suspicious glares but Paladin would not let him go.
"There's nothing wrong with him, and he's more afraid of you than you are of him!" Esme finished with a victorious nod.
"Hey!" Kíli protested, feeling himself blush.
"Well?" Esme's eyes flashed fiercely. "Am I right or am I right?"
"You're right." Kíli grumbled.
"Exactly. Now…" she jumped down from the tree, holding her hand out to Kíli. He slowly scrambled down from the tree. "Everyone, this is Kíli…Kíli, this is Rosa Goodchild, Drogo Baggins, Robin Smallburrow, Primula Brandybuck-"
"Prim Brandybuck." The girl interrupted with a wince.
"My cousin." Saradoc added, flashing a grin first at Primula and then at Kíli.
"- Hugo Boffin, and finally little Milo Burrows." Esmeralda jabbed Kíli in the ribs. "Say hello, Kíli."
"Hello…" he said obediently, praying that he would be able to remember all of the names, at least the first names.
"He's not going to hurt us?" Rosa, the girl who had screamed, bit her lip.
"I wouldn't." Kíli interrupted Paladin's positive reply with a shake of his head. "I wouldn't ever hurt anybody."
"You're staying with Bilbo?" the dark haired Drogo cocked his head.
"Yes." Kíli shuffled awkwardly.
"And Bilbo trusts you?" the girl with the big blue eyes, Primula narrowed her bright blue eyes.
"Yes…" Kíli nodded.
"Alright, that's good enough for me." She grinned. "What are we playing, tree top tag?"
"Prim!" Milo, the littlest boy with the white blond hair, hissed. "It's not safe, Mama said-"
"Saradoc's it!" Esmeralda sang.
Though the newcomers were a little hesitant, the game did not take long to get into full swing once more, Kíli quickly winning over the hobbit children with his quick smile, easy laugh and kind, gentle demeanour.
As the afternoon wore on, they moved down from the trees and began to play on the ground, and Kíli got so caught up in the endless games that he forgot about Bilbo's orders to be back at noon.
By the time another scream interrupted their games again, the sun was beginning to set.
"Milo! Get off him, let go of him!" the boy's mother (Kíli would later learn that her name was Lily) shrieked upon seeing the dwarf giving her son a piggy back.
Kíli blinked in shock as what seemed like endless hoards of angry hobbits – angry adult hobbits – poured into the little field.
"Did you not hear her, you little whelp?" a man stepped forward. "Get off that child, you put him down this instant!"
Kíli lowered the tiny boy to the floor and backed away, surprised by the overreaction.
"Milo, come here!" the same woman cried, and the boy ran to his mother, obviously frightened.
"Get away from those children, dwarf!" the man roared, brandishing a stick at Kíli who flinched away with a little cry and staggered back.
"Leave him alone!" Esme cried in defence of her friend.
"You stay out of this, Miss Took." The man growled, and Esme swallowed, bowing away. "Do you know who I am?"
Kíli shook his head. Bilbo…where are you…Bilbo?
"I am Odo Proudfoot; I'm the Mayor of Hobbiton. And that means that I'm in charge here. Get away from those children before you kill somebody!"
"Kill somebody?" Kíli gasped, horrified. "I wouldn't-"
"Milo, darling, I don't want you playing with him anymore." Lily started to usher Milo away and Kíli's cheeks burned with shame and fear.
"Saradoc, what did I do?" Kíli whispered to his nearest friend.
"You're a dwarf…" Saradoc mumbled miserably.
"Listen to me, I don't want any of you children to play with this dwarf anymore, understand?" Proudfoot's voice rang loud and strong, and Lily's audible whisper to her son all but mimicked his words.
"I don't want you playing with that child anymore."
"Why, Mama?"
"Because he's not one of us."
"Ow!" Milo winced as his mother's hand pressed on the bruises on his shoulder that he had sustained from falling out of a tree earlier in the afternoon.
"You hurt my son!" the woman gasped, looking at Kíli accusingly. The children began to protest as one body but another angry faced hobbit man that Kíli would later discover was Milo's father lunged at Kíli, brandishing a branch like a weapon.
Kíli screamed, falling to the floor in his attempt to get back away from the man, raising his hands in a vain effort to protect himself. Paladin, Saradoc and Esme had all fallen away, out of his sight and there was no one standing between him and –
"Stop!" a familiar voice yelled, and suddenly the man was knocked away.
"Bilbo-"Odo began but the young hobbit staggered in front of Kíli and did not move.
"Leave him alone, he's done nothing wrong!" Bilbo interrupted fiercely.
Odo growled. "There are bruises-"
Kíli whimpered as Bilbo whirled around to look at him with flashing eyes. "Bilbo, I didn't-"
"He didn't do it!" Bilbo instantly told Proudfoot.
"Listen, Bilbo Baggins, that thing is not one of us, and if you insist on keeping it in your house you will most definitely regret it! He is going to hurt our children, he's going to damage our-"
"Shame on you, Odo Proudfoot!" A familiar voice boomed, and the mayor bristled.
"Adalgrim-"
"Shame on you, shame on you all!" Adalgrim Took repeated scornfully. "This 'dwarf' is a child, Odo, a child! He remembers nothing of his past; save Bilbo he is completely alone in the world! Tell me, did he hurt anyone?"
"Milo has bruises." Lily all but shrieked.
"I fell out of a tree!" The blond boy protested, and Drogo Baggins looked ashamed.
"That um...might have been my fault, I climbed on the branch and it snapped."
"Is this true?" Odo's icy gaze fixed on every child in turn, and each nodded.
"See?" Adalgrim boomed with great authority. "Did he break anything? Did he do anything wrong?"
"He played with our children-"
"Because he is a child! And a good natured, well behaved, and kind hearted child at that!" Adalgrim shook his head and Kíli trembled. He had never seen anyone so furious, not that he could remember. "You may say that Tooks are queer, but I never thought I'd see the day when the residents of Hobbiton acted so cruelly and unjustly to a lonely child with scare anyone to love him and nowhere to go. Shame on you, all of you!"
"And you...you are happy for him to be playing with your children?" Mirabella Brandybuck, Primula's mother, asked, gazing at her daughter.
"More than happy." Adalgrim nodded and the woman took a deep breath.
She stared at Kíli with what looked like pity, appearing as though she wanted to reach out to him, but then she dropped her chin to her chest and put an arm around Prim.
"Come on, Prim, let's go home."
One by one the parents led their reluctant children away and Kíli hung his head. The rest of the hobbits started to walk away, muttering bitterly to each other and casting filthy looks at Bilbo and Kíli. A couple even went so far as to throw some tomatoes at them, and to Kíli's horror, Bilbo shielded him from them, too.
What's wrong with me? Why are they so afraid? Are dwarves bad, am I bad? Kíli thought desperately. And now Bilbo's being scorned by his family and I don't even deserve it.
Curling his legs up into his chest, Kíli bit back a sob.
"Kíli, are you alright?" the sincere concern in Bilbo's voice was more than he could take and he sobbed.
"What's wrong with me? Why do they hate me?"
The next thing the dwarfling knew Bilbo was sitting next to him, pulling him into a hug. "There's nothing wrong with you."
Kíli sobbed again, clutching at Bilbo desperately. "But-"
"Listen to me." Bilbo's quiet voice rang with authority as he leant his head on Kíli's. "Hobbits are remarkably shy, compared to dwarves or men or elves... Anything different scares them."
"And I'm different." Any control Kíli had was lost and he started to sob uncontrollably.
For a moment, Bilbo did not speak. When he did, his voice was low. "There's nothing wrong with you."
"Pay no heed to those uptight blockheads, Kíli." Adalgrim Took crouched down in front of Kíli with his easy smile. "Just keep being your cheerful, gentle self and they'll learn to like you as much as we do."
Kíli just sobbed and shook his head. He had seen the way those hobbits looked at him. They were not going to like him any time soon.
"You can still play with us, Kíli." Esme mumbled, and he looked up at her face.
To his surprise, she was crying, but he shook his head. "Then you can't play with the others and that's not fair."
"Saradoc!" a hobbit of about Bilbo's age leant over the fence. "Come on, it's time for dinner! You can play with your friends tomorrow, I'm hungry!"
"That's Barney, my brother." Saradoc smiled at Kíli sympathetically. "I will see you tomorrow."
"Do you need anything, lad?" Adalgrim asked Bilbo kindly, and the hobbit shook his head.
"No, thank you. We'll be alright, you can go." Bilbo looked up at his cousin with some unspoken signal that Kíli did not care to recognise, and Adalgrim nodded.
"In that case we best be getting home to tell your mother. Something tells me that she won't be too happy about all of this…"
As the Tooks reluctantly followed their father away, Bilbo moved his arm away and Kíli curled in on himself even more.
Was Bilbo going to leave him, too? He should have known better.
"Come on, Kíli, let's go home." His friend's voice was soft, and through his tear filled eyes Kíli could see Bilbo's hand hovering in front of his eyes, but he could not bring himself to take it. "Kíli, take my hand, come on."
Kíli shook his head once more, desperately trying, and failing, to stop the sobs bursting free from his lips.
"Oh, Kíli…." Bilbo bent down and picked the dwarfling, allowing Kíli to curl into his chest. Kíli instantly clutched Bilbo's shirt and wrapped his legs around the hobbit's waist, still crying like a baby.
"We're home." He murmured a short while later as they arrived back at Bag End, carrying Kíli straight to the sitting room and sitting down in the armchair without putting him down.
Trying to speak through the endless sobs resulted only in the hiccups, so Kíli listened to Bilbo's soothing instructions to just breathe as the hobbit rocked him back and forth like a babe.
"I'm sorry!" he cried as soon as he could. "I'm sorry, Bilbo, I'm sorry!"
Bilbo blinked in surprise. "Whatever for?"
"I didn't come home on time and I'm turning all your friends against you and-"
Bilbo pushed Kíli away slightly and forced the dwarfling to look him in the eye. "Stop right there, Kíli. First off, when was the last time you, Paladin and Esme were back when you said you would be, and when was the last time I was angry about it? Secondly, I don't care what Odo Proudfoot thinks."
"But he could…"
"Do what?" Bilbo challenged with a laugh. "He's just a stuffy old hobbit, Kíli."
"Will your family hate you because of me?" Kíli murmured, leaning back against his hobbit's chest, and Bilbo sighed.
"You've done nothing wrong, Kíli, I promise. I don't know what's going to happen, but I know that you've done nothing wrong." Bilbo rested his chin on Kíli's head.
"I'm sorry…" Kíli whispered again, and Bilbo held him close.
"I'll tell you what, tomorrow we'll walk down to the old woods and practise with that little bow of yours. Would that make you feel better?"
Kíli looked up at Bilbo with wide eyes. "Really?"
"I mean it." Bilbo laughed and pulled Kíli closer. "I need you here, Kíli."
"No one needs me." Kíli protested, pushing Bilbo's arm away.
"I don't want to be alone, Kíli." Bilbo's voice was small enough to draw Kíli's gaze. "If you ever left, and I stayed here alone, I'd go mad, or worse!"
"Worse?" Kíli sniffed.
"I'll turn into a boring stuffy so-and-so who fuses over doilies and dishcloths and other superficial nonsense!"
Kíli giggled a little. "No you wouldn't. You're far too interesting."
Bilbo laughed. "I'm glad you think so." A few minutes later, the hobbit spoke again. "Kíli, are you feeling alright?"
"Yes…"
"Honestly?"
Kíli sniffled. "No…"
"List them."
Kíli frowned. "What?"
"List the bad emotions in your head." Bilbo instructed. "That's what my…that's what my father always used to tell me whenever I was upset. Tell me the list."
Recognising that he was not being given a choice, Kíli took a deep, trembling breath. "I'm sad and I'm scared, and confused and ashamed and lonely…"
"I'm here…" Bilbo murmured. "You don't need to be lonely."
Kíli did not say anything, but then again neither did Bilbo when the dwarfling crept into his room that night to curl up and sleep beside him.
When Bilbo woke the next morning, Kíli was still curled up next to him, fast asleep. As a special treat, he cooked a magnificent breakfast for the dwarfling, who seemed in a much better mood that morning, at least until someone knocked at the door.
"Kíli, will you get that?" Bilbo called, lifting the boiling kettle from the stove. When another knock came, Bilbo frowned. "Ki-"
"Will you please?" A quiet voice behind him asked. He turned, eyes widening at the shame and fear in the young dwarfling's eyes.
"Come with me." It was not an offer, and Kíli reluctantly accompanied him to the door, his eyes widening when he saw the crowd of children outside.
"We're sorry about our parents, Kíli." Prim began quickly. "They were cruel and unfair and they didn't listen."
"We've all decided that we don't care that you're a dwarf at all." Hugo chipped in.
"You're our friend." Rosa confirmed.
"And if they don't like you playing with us they can suck eggs." Drogo insisted fiercely.
"I hope that you still want to play with us." Robin looked hopefully at the gaping Kíli.
"It doesn't matter that you're a dwarf." Little Milo made the biggest puppy dog eyes Kíli had ever seen. "Please don't let it matter that we're hobbits!"
Kíli gaped like a fish for a moment, before grinning and stammering out. "I-I…Thank you!"
"Hey, what's going on?" a familiar voice approached the back of the group. "Kíli? Bilbo, what's going on?"
"We're apologising, Paladin." Hugo declared gravelly. "On behalf of our parents."
"Well I never, you blessed children." Adalgrim announced his presence with a deep chuckle.
"Mr Adalgrim, why doesn't my mama like Kíli? I don't understand!" Milo pleaded.
"There are two problems for your mama, the first is a thing called prejudice – she doesn't like Kíli just because he's a dwarf, it's like thinking that a Bracegirdle is stupid just because they are from Hardbottle. The other thing is pride – she's too proud to let you play with him, or to admit that she could be wrong."
"I don't like pride and prejudice." Milo declared. "They're mean!"
"They are." Adalgrim nodded. "Now Bilbo, Paladin and I have just come around to invite you both to dinner tomorrow night."
"That would be lovely, thank you." Bilbo smiled and nodded.
"Will you come and play with us now, Kíli?" Hugo cocked his head.
All six hobbit children hit Bilbo and Kíli with puppy dog eyes and the hobbit laughed, looking expectantly at Kíli.
To his surprise, the dwarfling shook his head and took a step backwards towards Bilbo. "No, I can't. I'm sorry. We're going to go into the woods, me and Bilbo."
"Oh, alright…" Drogo looked a little surprised, but he quickly smiled. "Tomorrow?"
Bilbo noticed Kíli shrinking towards him as he answered.
"I…I don't think that's a very good idea."
"Why not?" Rosa frowned, crossing her arms.
"We'll all just get in trouble." Kíli mumbled, leaning against Bilbo.
The young hobbits all looked extremely crestfallen, and Bilbo ground his teeth together.
As soon as they got home from the woods, he was going to have serious words with Odo Proudfoot.
"That's not fair!" Milo pouted, and Primula nodded with a scowl.
"You're right, it isn't fair. It's not fair at all. Old Proudfoot's cruel."
"Come and play with us tomorrow, Kíli." Drogo repeated softly. "We'll be waiting for you."
I hope that's alright for you all, thanks so much for reading! I don't like this chapter as much as number one, personally, but I do like the next one which should be up tomorrow if all goes well :) Please do review if you want, it makes my day :)
