Is anyone even reading this?
Settling into Bag End was easier said then done. With three very tired children who had just had a horrible night it was easy to understand why it wasn't easy to settle them. Bilbo sat them down, wrapped them up and gave all three a nice glass of warm didn't take long for the children to start drifting off, Ori began to nod off first so Bilbo took his cup and sat it on the table. "I'll take him back, you two sit still and I'll come back for you, alright?" Fili nodded sleepily and Kili took another drink to hide a yawn.
Bilbo and Ori worked together to get the littlest dwarf washed up the best they could and tucked into the guest room that the three would share. With little Ori tucked away, Bilbo set his sights on Kili. It took a moment to wrestle away to cup and them pry the child from his brother but Bilbo managed, barely. Fili was too asleep to notice at this point and barely managed to keep himself sitting up. After washing the grumpy dwarfling Bilbo tucked him in to bed and smiled when Ori cuddled the slightly bigger Kili.
When he returned for his final charge, Bilbo wasn't surprised to see Fili fighting to stay awake. "Come, lets get you to bed."
Fili shook his head. "Can't, snatchers." The dwarflings eyes slipped down and he pried them back open with pure force of will. "Wont let them take us again."
Bilbo exhaled softly and put his hand on the young man's face. "They can't hurt you anymore. I've made sure of that." Bilbo didn't want to think about it, he didn't want to mention it, he just wanted it to go away, forever. Intellectually he knew that it wouldn't, the memories would haunt him for quite a bit longer, but tonight Fili needed the reassurance. He needed to know that the snatchers couldn't hurt any more.
Fili gave the hobbit a slightly confused look before the words caught up to his brain. Fili smiled slightly as he stumbled behind Bilbo and let the hobbit rinse some of the dirt from his skin before being tucked into bed like a child. After a moment's hesitation Bilbo left the room and returned with the dagger that Fili had loaned him. The three children were asleep and after watching them sleep for a moment Bilbo climbed up on the bed curling himself up into a little hobbit ball at the foot of the bed. He was unwilling to let the children go unprotected not tonight. Sleep didn't take the hobbit that night, but that was alright. The knife never left his hand and Bilbo knew that if someone had walked through the door he would have used it.
–
Bilbo was up before the sun, he watched the Shire awaken and he heard the screams when the bodies were found. He was sure that everyone would believe that drunken men had wondered too close to the Shire and ate the wrong plant it had happened before long ago. Luckily, early before the rest of the hobbits had risen Bilbo had gone out and made sure that's what it looked like. He drug the men to their fire hidden the rope and left. He couldn't do much more then that.
After cleaning up his murder scene, Bilbo tried to focus on making breakfast, instead of watching when they brought the bodies into the Shire. Scones, eggs, bacon, food piled up on the table. It was almost enough to feed two hobbits, which meant three dwarflings and one hobbit could finish it off easy. His thoughts whispered traitorously, but the hobbit managed to push them back. He instead focused on the food and frowned at the amount of food. He might need to make more.
Just as he turned to the stove to make more food a little head stuck itself out of the door. "Mr. Boggins? er... Bilbo, sir?" Little Ori stood at the door way. "Where is the bathroom?"
Bilbo smiled at the child and showed him the way. "Make sure to wash up for breakfast, when your done come eat," He told the dwarfling. Ori's head bobbed affirmative as he entered the wash room. Leaving Ori to his privacy Bilbo turned his attention to the other two dwarflings in his home. He had yet to hear a peep from them and it was a little unnerving.
Bilbo peeked into the bedroom and had to stuff his fist into his mouth to cover his cooing. Somehow, Kili had ended up curling up on his brothers chest like a large cat. Fili had a face full of his brother's hair but was still snoring like a champion. Loath as he was to wake them Bilbo knew that he needed too, lest breakfast go cold.
"Fili." Bilbo called out not wanting to startle the children. No reaction. "Kili!" Bilbo said a little louder. Still nothing. Bilbo was at a loss, he wasn't sure how to wake them without scaring them. "Breakfast time, boys, get up." he said louder. Still nothing. Cautiously Bilbo moved in to shake Kili's shoulder. Still nothing.
Frowning, if they weren't snoring so loud Bilbo would have thought they were dead. Shaking his head he was about to get Ori when he heard the dwarfling's voice from behind him. "That's not how you do it, Mr. Bilbo. It's like this." With a running jump, Ori sailed onto the bed with a scream. He began hopping and shouting. "Breakfast time, breakfast time! I'm going to eat it all!"
Fili woke right away. "Shut up Ori. I'm sleeping," he sat sitting up to glare at the still jumping and grinning dwarfling. A disgruntled Kili slipped into his brother's lap.
"Whacha gotta yell for?" He complained rubbing his eyes with the palm of his hand. Bilbo restrained another coo, it wasn't fair that dwarflings were so cute.
"Mr. Bilbo said it's breakfast time and it smells really good. Get up!" Ori whined tugging on Fili's hand.
Fili grumbled but stood, Kili who was still sitting on his brother, until that point, tumbled and fell to the floor. Ori snickered and helped his friend up while Bilbo watched from the door with a smile. This was nice. "Go wash up, Fili, you too Kili and then we can start breakfast."
Fili and Kili both brightened at the thought of food so Bilbo and Ori walked back into the kitchen to start setting up. Just as Bilbo finished filled Ori's plate Kili sauntered into the kitchen and took his place. Bilbo raised an eyebrow at the youngster and had to ask. "Where's Fili?" No answer, just a smug looking little dwarf that took his seat at the table. Bilbo rolled his eyes and filled Kili's plate and sighed when he heard angry stomps from the bathroom. "What did you do, Kili?" While Bilbo didn't have siblings he was sure that having mean cousins was about the same. So he expected that Kili had done something to irritate the eldest dwarf.
Kili just smiled and started his breakfast. Fili entered the kitchen cursing and waving his hands angrily he looked like he wanted more then to wring his brother's neck. Bilbo put a stop to that right away. "None of that now. Sit down and eat your breakfast. We will discuss this after you eat. One more word like that and I'll wash your mouth out. This is my home and I will not tolerate such language."
Fili blushed red and sat down quietly, he didn't like being scolded by the hobbit. The four ate in silence, all lost in their respective thoughts. Bilbo's mind was whirling with thoughts of his dark night. The hobbit did what he could to think about other things. Breakfast, his books, dwarves. Yes, dwarflings, Bibo decided to focus on the dwarflings. He had three dwarflings that belong elsewhere, in his home. It was all rather confusing when he thought about it too long or too hard.
The three boys finished about the same time, and Bilbo soon after, with breakfast done and the plates stacked in the kitchen to be washed Bilbo sat back down at the table with the boys read to find some answers. Kili was sitting in his chair kicking his feet as high as they could go. Ori was tilting his head back as far as he could to stare at the ceiling and Fili as digging at his teeth as if something was stuck. Bilbo wanted to sigh, this was why he didn't want children.
"Alright boys. Time to talk. First things first. How did you end up here?" Bilbo wasn't really sure what question to ask first but in the end he decided at random. It was Kili that answered, surprisingly.
"The snatchers, caught us playing outside. Uncle Thorin and Ma were inside talking about boring adult stuff and we were just playing and this guy comes along and just snatches up Ori! Then a troll walks up and-" Bilbo reached across the table and pressed a finger to the child's lips. He didn't have time for the child's stories.
Bilbo smiled kindly at the boy, "Thank you, Kili, now give the others a turn." It seemed Kili was a storyteller, Bilbo would have to watch that. "Ori, Fili?"
Fili huffed and rolled his eyes, "Stupid little brother. That's not what happened." Fili met Bilbo's eyes and gave the hobbit a long suffering look. Bilbo had to bite back a smile but nodded all the same to get the boy to talk. "We were sitting outside waiting on Ma and Uncle Thorin, but those men came by and said that they were troll hunters. Kili jumped up and asked to go hunt a troll with them." Fili glared at his brother. "Ori tried to tell him not to talk to the men but Kili would not shut up. The men snatched up Ori when he mentioned going to tell his brothers, then grabbed Kili!" Fili said frustrated, Bilbo hushed the little ones before they could say anything.
"I saw them as they were leaving. I almost lost them. Uncle Thorin left me in charge and I almost lost them." Fili slammed his closed fist down on the table. "I let us get snatched and I couldn't protect them. Uncle Thorin is going to be so mad!" Frustrated tears pooled in the blond's eyes. Bilbo wanted to comfort the child but he didn't. He wasn't sure if he could. "I followed them for a few miles and they caught me too! They made us drink some that made us sleepy. When we woke up we were so far away. It's been days since we have seen Ma and Uncle Thorin." Ori sniffed and rubbed at his eyes, he too looked as if he wanted to cry. Kili was sitting with his arms crossed letting his hair cover his face. "I wanna go home." Fili whispered staring at the table.
Bilbo sighed and stood from his seat, he couldn't just let the children suffer like this. Giving into urge that he had moments before he walked around to the other side of the table able and hugged the children close to him. "We will get you back to them, do not doubt that." Taking his new seat next to the dwarflings he asked another question.
"Did they hurt you?" This was mostly toward Fili but Ori answered.
"They kicked Fili a lot. And slapped Kili. I was quiet." He seemed ashamed of himself for not getting hurt. Bilbo wanted to bang his head against the table. Dwarfs, even little ones were stubborn pains.
"Okay, so it'll be a trip to the doctor after second breakast. Now I'm going to be sending out letters so that your families can come find you." Bilbo explained. "For Fili and Kili it will be their mother and uncle. What about your Ori?"
"Dori and Nori, my brothers."
Bilbo nodded, "Alright after the doctor we will sit down and write the letters, how does that sound?"
Kili and Ori nodded while Fili looked disgruntled at the thought of going to the doctor. Bilbo just laughed and ruffled the blond's hair before standing. "Come now, we have things to do before second breakfast. A trip to the market, Kili, Ori will you come with me? Fili you can stay and get some sleep if you would like." He hadn't liked hearing that Fili had taken a brunt of the damage, it made his heart hurt.
When Bilbo touched Fili's head he noticed the dwarf seemed a bit warm and he was hoping that sleep without the two younger ones would be tempting enough for the elder to stay home, luckily it was.
Bilbo tucked Fili back into bed with care and dressed the younger dwarves properly and left the house. Before they did though, Bilbo tucked back in for a moment. He went into the room where they had all slept the night before and took the dagger out from under the bed and placed it in Fili's hand. Sleepily the blond's eyes blinked opened and then his hand tightened and he tucked it under the pillow. Feeling better Bilbo rushed back out side. There was a lot to do before second breakfast and he needed to get a move on, or they would be late. And Hobbits were never late to second breakfast.
