Author's Note: Alright, the next chapter has been posted! I was questioned earlier if there are going to be any pairings in this work and the answer is: Yes! However, there isn't going to be any romance between Haley and the canon Hobbit characters. The most she's going to get is family-like love with the members of the Company and Bilbo. Tauriel/Kili is going to happen, but I'm planning on making it not as extreme as it was in the films. I'm also thinking about putting in Bagginshield since I'm such Bagginshield trash. XD As a side note, I should have mentioned that this will be a mix between the book and the movies. Characters such as Azog and Tauriel (obviously since I just mentioned Tauriel) are going to be present. Anyway, tell me what you guys think and enjoy the chapter!

Awakenings and Questions

She was floating; floating inside a great darkness that didn't seem to have an end. All sense of touch, sight, smell, and hearing didn't exist in this darkness. She felt numb, but also relaxed in this darkness. How long had she been here? An hour, a day, a month, or maybe more? She couldn't tell. All she felt was the calm and the floating.

What happened to her again? Why was she here? She couldn't remember that either. Was she dead or alive but unconscious? Either seemed like the correct answer.

What did she remember?

Her name for start: Haley Verando, or 'Hal' as she was nicknamed by her family. She knew she was close to turning twenty-one. She remembered her likes and dislikes; how could anyone not remember those if they could help it? She remembered her family and she remembered her friends. She remembered that she was in college. What year was she again? Oh, yeah, she was a junior.

What was that about puppets and painted hands? Oh, her final project for theater. What did that have to do with anything? Why did she remember shattering pots and fear?

But then, she remembered.

She remembered working with her friends in the school's basement on their background. She remembered their idle chatter and jokes jabbed at one another. She remembered them leaving and her working so long afterwards.

She remembered the sudden earthquake.

She remembered the ceiling caving in above her.

The remembrance of the earthquake and what happened to her slowly lifted the dark haze around her mind. And with the return of consciousness, came her senses.

The first sense to return to her was sight. The darkness that surrounded her gradually turned from black to a dull red that was probably from a bright light shining through her eyelids. With the return of the sense of touch also came the stiffness and soreness her entire body felt. The worst pain was coming from her hands and knees. Both felt like they were on fire. Under her body, she could feel the familiar feeling of lying on the ground with grass brushing against her exposed skin and the occasional tiny rock poking at her. With the feeling of a warm breeze tickling her face came the return of both her sense of smell and hearing. The smell of clean air and the sound of rustling leaves accompanied by the calls of songbirds awoke the rest of her mind. With the awakenment of her brain came her first fully conscious thought:

Where was she?

Flashing open her eyes a moment later wasn't the best idea as the harsh light of the sun assaulted her eyes. Hissing in pain, she squeezed her eyes shut and added the extra layer of her arm for protection against the sun. With that little stunt came a knife stabbing her head over and over again. Even with the protective darkness, her head pounded painfully for a few moments. Eventually, her headache receded to a dull throb.

'Okay, brain's a little tender. Duly noted. Alright, let's try that again. This time without the sun directly in my eyes.'

Making sure that her eyes stayed firmly shut, Haley pushed herself up into a sitting position. Her sore muscles protested and her palms stung sharply, but she pushed those feeling to the back of her mind. When she finally finished her struggle, Haley cautiously opened her eyes.

What greeted her was much better than the sun directly in her face. Peering around, Haley took in the full sight before and around her. She defiantly wasn't under a pile of rubble or in a hospital bed. Instead, a wonderfully green forest surrounded her. The grass was thick and lush with scattered piles of blooming wild flowers of varies colors, trees were either almost or entirely covered with their regrown leaves, the songs of birds and the constant rhythm of a distant woodpecker caught her ears, and the smells of the flowers around her caressed her nose. She also caught the sight of a distant dirt path peeping out from between the shrubs. The forest felt calm, safe, and even peaceful.

'Am I dead?' she thought, but then mentally slapped herself when she remembered her sore muscles and aching hands and knees.

If she actually was dead, Haley didn't think that physical injuries would follow her into the afterlife. What was the point of that? A constant reminder that that was how you died? Does a little man come up to you and say: 'Congratulations! You actually managed to somehow get yourself killed. Great work! As your reward, you get to keep your signs of failure for all eternity. Now, go and play show-and-tell with the others who also got fucked up by fate!' If that was the case, the afterlife had a sick sense of humor.

Haley shook her head to rid herself of her musings. Now was not the time for wandering minds. She needed a plan and she needed it now. The first thing she needed to figure out was where she was and, more importantly, how she got here. Glancing back towards the dirt road, she concluded that starting with that would be a good start.

Getting up from the grass proved a little tricky when her knees decided to give her a sharp jab if she bended them too far. But she was able to do it; just not as gracefully as she would have liked. Before moving towards the road, Haley patted herself down and took stock of what she had, what she didn't have, and what injuries she had.

Clothes? Check. Dusty as all hell, but check nonetheless.

Favorite sweatshirt tied around her waist? Check.

iPod that she kept in her sweatshirt's pouch? Surprisingly, check and undamaged.

Glasses?

Glasses?

Where were her glasses?

Feeling around her face and, the now noticeable, missing weight on her nose proved the absence of her glasses. Without her glasses, things even a foot away from Haley looked like blobs of blurry color. But right now, she could see perfectly. How?

'Maybe I really am dead…' she speculated from the sudden miracle. She couldn't even remember a time not wearing glasses. Every year saw her sight getting worse and worse until she had lenses as thick as bottle glass perched atop her nose. She was certainly perplexed at this latest mystery.

She decided to move on to the assessment of her injuries. Peering down at her hands, Haley involuntarily winced at the damage. Her palms were torn to shreds with a few pieces of glass sticking to her raw skin. They were dirty and covered in dried up blood. She would have to try to find a stream or some sort of water source to clean them and avoid infection. The first step was taking out the glass. It took longer than what she would have liked, but Haley eventually coaxed the last of the shards out of her hands. They were tiny, so not having any deep wounds was a bonus.

The rest of her body was unharmed. Except for her knees. Thankfully, they weren't cut up like her hands. Instead, dark purple marks covered her knees that looked like they weren't going away anything soon. Sighing at her state, Haley shook her head and told herself to suck it up. She wasn't going to find any help if she didn't get moving.

Pushing past the shrubs and low tree branches, the girl stepped onto the road and came to another roadblock.

Which way did she go?

Taking a good look down each way, Haley only found the left path banking to the right while the right path went straight on towards the horizon. She couldn't spot any road signs or maps or any indication on which way lead towards civilization.

'Well… guess I better just pick one and hope for the best,' she thought. With a determined look in her eyes, Haley turned towards the path that banked to the right and marched down it.

The persistent growling of her stomach an hour later lowered her mood. She hadn't eaten since early that morning and her stomach thought it was about time to voice its complaints to her. The gnawing of her stomach also didn't help. Before her, the road she followed didn't look like it was about to end anytime soon and the forest around her was ever present. The only change that she noticed was that said forest seemed to grow greener as she walked. The sun above her was starting to descend from its perch at the top of the sky. Harley sincerely hoped that she was able to find some sort of civilization before the sun set.

'I wonder if the campus called my parents,' she mused, 'Mom and Dad are probably sick with worry right now. No doubt they stopped work to rush down. Mom probably called everyone else to tell them what happened. Did anyone else get caught in the earthquake? I really hope not. That was probably a really strong one. Maybe they were able to get out before the building collapsed…'

It was then that the sudden sound of deep growling and a startled yelp snapped Haley out of her thoughts. Concern spurred her into action as she dashed down the road and around a sharp turn. Skidding to a halt and ducking behind a tree trunk, Haley's eyes widened at what she saw.

A few yards in front of her was what looked like a child. He had his back towards her, but even from a distant, she could tell that he was frozen in shock. And who could blame him? Blocking the path in front of him were two large wolves that looked too skinny to be healthy. Their fur was dark, matted and missing in some spots. Both had gleaming yellow eyes, although one looked like it was missing an eye. Both were crouched low, ready to pounce with their sharp fanged teeth ready to kill.

They were ready to kill the child right in front of her!

Ignoring the pounding of her heartbeat and the stinging pain from her palms, Haley grabbed the nearest fallen branch and sprinted towards them as fast as her adrenaline carried her. Protective instincts flaring to life, Haley gripped the branch like a make-shift sword and let out a war cry. Startled by her roar, the child and the wolves spotted her; the wolves backing up a few steps from the sudden newcomer.

Leaping in front of the child, Haley swung as hard and as fast as she could, driving the wolves back farther and farther away from their intended prey. The wolves snarled and tried to snip at her branch all the while dodging a potential blow to their heads. Seeing that their attacker wasn't going to stop anytime soon, the wolves jumped back a few feet to plan another plan of attack. Taking the small amount of reprieve to her advantage, Haley back up towards the child to block the wolves' view of him, her branch held out and ready to strike at a moment's notice. Already her breath was labored and her heartbeat pounded against her chest, but the adrenaline rushing through her veins pushed her through.

"Try again and see what happens!" Haley snarled at the wolves, her face dark and twisted into a furious glare that promised pain. The wolves snarled at her words. The one with both working eyes grew impatient at their stalling. Leaping forward, the wolf readied its fangs to tear at soft flesh. However, Haley was ready for it. A pained yelp from the attacking wolf was the result of a thick branch meeting its head and its assault was cut short as it fell to the ground.

The other wolf took Haley's momentary opening from her loss of balance and copied the other wolf's tactics. However, wood instead of flesh met its mouth. Haley had spotted the wolf coming at her out of the corner of her eye and switched her weapon into a shield at the last second. Holding the branch horizontal to her and with the wolf's jaws wrapped around the part between her hands, a vicious tug of war began. Haley could feel her strength leaving her. She didn't have much time before she was too tired to fight off the wolves.

A sudden, swift and hard kick to the wolf's chest set it stumbling back a few feet before another war cry from Haley brought the end of the branch down upon its skull. The wolf yelped in pain and stumbled back even farther from the two. Shaking its head to rid itself of the disorientation, the half-blind wolf looked to have decided then and there that all this grief wasn't worth it. Snapping its jaws at the other member of its pack, the half-blind wolf bounded away and into the shadow of the forest. The other wolf followed behind him.

The road remained silent for a few moments with only Haley's labored breathing breaking it. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead and neck as the effects of her adrenaline rush simmered away. Her body trembled with exhaustion and the branch in her hands suddenly felt rather heavy. Carelessly tossing the branch to the side, Haley finally turned towards the child with a question of 'are you alright' forming on her lips.

She stopped, however, when she finally got a full look at the child.

Oddly enough, the so-called 'child' before her didn't look like a child at all. He was the size of a child (about two feet shorter than her) with the face of a full grown man. Short and curly honey colored hair sat upon his head and a pair of brown eyes stared back at her in shock. A pair of pointed ears poked out from under his curls. He was a little pale-looking with a small belly protruding from his middle. He wore a pair of brown trousers with a white, long-sleeved shirt underneath a golden vest embroidered with a vine pattern. Around his neck was a light blue handkerchief that was tucked neatly underneath his vest. Over that, he wore a rich blue jacket. His feet were probably the strangest thing Haley had ever seen before. They were large and bare with a generous amount of honey colored curls at the top. Beside his feet lay a fallen basket with its contents, mushrooms, spilled over.

Never before had Haley ever seen anything like him. Was he some sort of elf or leprechaun? Either one was seriously shattering her perspective of reality, that was for sure!

Shaking herself out of her state of bewilderment, Haley tentatively stepped towards the strange creature.

"Are you alright?" she finally asked through her much calmer breaths. Her question seemed to snap the creature out of his own musings.

"Ah, yes," he answered, "I do believe I am."

"That's good," she mumbled before she collapsed onto her behind in exhaustion. The amount of stress had finally taken its toll on her body, leaving her a shaking and aching mess. The creature panicked at her sudden flop to the ground and kneeled in front of her.

"Are you alright?" he asked, worry etched onto his face as he searched for any obvious injuries. Before Haley could answer, the creature suddenly paled and gaped at her hands. Following his gaze, Haley hissed at the sight of her hands. If she thought they were bad before, she was surely mistaken now. Her hands had acquired new gashes and splits. Fresh blood began seeping in her palms and the dirt from the branch coated raw and undamaged skin.

"Oh my," the creature muttered, "That doesn't look too good."

"I'm not gonna lie and say that it doesn't hurt, but I would obviously be lying," Haley said in agreement. She looked back up at the creature, "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes, yes! I'm perfectly fine. Still in one piece, thank goodness, but those hands of yours need to be treated right away," he fussed. He paused for a moment before adding, "And it would probably be best if we leave this area before those wolves try anything again."

"Yeah," she said before then hoisting herself up while the creature hurriedly gathered his fallen mushrooms into his basket. "Uh, what's your name?"

"Oh, terribly sorry! Where are my manners?" he scolded himself before flashing her with a friendly smile and a small bow, "Bilbo Baggins, at your service."

"Haley Verando… at your service?" she finished awkwardly, not knowing if that was the right way to respond or not. She must have since he looked rather pleased at her.

"Haley…Verando," he said slowly as to pronounce her name correctly, "That's quite an unusual name. You must come from very far east of the Misty Mountains."

"Is that not how people say 'hello' around here?" she asked, her eyebrows knitting together at the mention of a mountain range she had never heard of.

"Around the Shire it's perfectly normal, but I've heard that the race of Men usually claim their father's name as a title." Bilbo would have continued if he hadn't taken notice to Haley's confused expression. "Pardon me, I don't mean to be rude, but are you lost?"

The idea of being lost grew more and more real with the naming of locations she had never heard of. The Shire? Misty Mountains? The Race of Men? Three things came to her mind at that moment: Where was she, what was Bilbo, and how the hell was she going to get home?

"I guess I am…" she finally answered.

Author's Note: Well, that's the end of this chapter. I hope you guys like it and, remember, if you guys have any questions, please ask! I don't bite! Bye!