A/N: Uhm, yeah ...rating changed to M now. Citrus warning!
o.o.o.o.o
"That's one way to lose Kili."
The words, and the flat tone, were a slap in the face. Dis growled down at her eldest while he looked down as if to study the chess board. Bofur tried to slink down into his chair and appear as invisible as possible.
"I'm trying to protect your brother." The irrate mother spat out the words.
Fili shook his blond head and finally looked back up at her. "You had me engaged at seventy. Why is he still too young at two years over that?"
Startled, Dis' temper abated slightly as she realized that Fili might be upset. "My boy, you were engaged to a fine dwarven maid of high standing. Not married off on a whim. And the wedding wasn't even to take place for another few more years."
"You made him promise to come back to you." Fili pointed out coolly. "You made me promise to look after him."
Dis' expression froze as she studied her oldest. "You're not nearly as reckless as your brother."
Bofur whistled tunelessly at that outright lie. Dis whacked him over the head. Sliding out of his chair to the ground, Bofur moved to the other side of the room, and apparant safety.
"You. You I could trust to follow Thorin and ..."
"Mam." Fili interrupted. "I know you love me, don't think I don't. But you forget, I was there when they brought word of da's death. I saw you clutching Kili. Your youngest, your baby. And don't think that I don't realize that except for the beard, he looks almost exactly like da. Trust me, back then, I held onto him too."
Dis' face melted as she moved to her son. "You're my first born, my rock."
Fili nodded, a smile teasing his expressive lips. "Mam, I know. I know you'd go to the ends of Middle Earth to protect me."
"I would." Dis agreed fervently, reaching forward to touch his cheek. "I don't love one son over another."
"No." Fili agreed, secure enough in his place within the family. He grinned. "But you refuse to see that Kili is no longer a baby. You fought against his coming with us. Thorin had to stand up for him. Just so he could come."
Dis snorted. "You know he had plans to follow you two if you managed to leave without him? Sneaking out like some bandit in the night."
Fili nodded and shrugged, it sounded just like his younger brother. "But mam, the point is ...he was ready to come along. Thorin found him strong enough. So do I. The more you hang onto him the more he's going to try and slip away."
Saddened, Dis turned and glared at the closed door before her. Finally she clicked her tongue a few times and shook her head. "That does not mean that I need to hand him over to some elven wench ..."
"Who sees his worth, finds him attractive ..." Fili interrupted.
Bofur scratched his impressive mustache and nodded. "Saved his'n life more than once."
"Is willing to leave her people to be with him." Fili finished lightly.
Shocked, Dis and Bofur both stared at him. "Oh come on." Fili continued. "Handfasted? Sounds permanent in the making, at least to me. But Tauriel has to know, we're not staying here."
Dis shook her head in denial. "No. If she is merely looking for a way out of here ..."
Bofur interrupted this time. "Why? She is a captain in the King's guard. Respected. Friendly with the king's son. This be her home. I don't think she'd be leaving it on a simple whim."
Fili stood up and smiled at his mother, taking her hand and giving it a tug. She resisted, but finally relented to the one-arm hug from her eldest child. "In other words, mam. Best be learning the elvish words for grandbabies."
o.o.o.o.o
o.o.o.o.o
Kili was wrapped around her pale form, his head tucked in next to her collarbone. His warm breath teased the tops of her breasts while one of his large hands spanned the bare skin above her abdomen, his fingers resting just under the curve of her bared breasts.
"My skin burns." She murmured in a soft tone that left no doubt that she was not actually complaining. "I didn't know that hair could be so rough."
Kili chuckled, his hot breath making her shiver in anticipation despite being completely satiated. "You bite." He teased.
She blushed slightly, pleased that when she'd given into her baser instincts he hadn't acted apalled or disgusted, not like some had in her past. "I don't think you have to worry about being bossed around." Tauriel's hand rose and traced a shivery line down his spine, drawing a moan of pleasure from deep within the drowsy-eyed dwarf.
Kili chuckled and swept his fingers up to capture one of her breasts again, running his calloused fingers over the sensative peak. "No?"
The red-head arched her back, pushing her flesh more firmly into his touch. What could she say? For someone who seemed so affable and mischevious, Kili was nothing less than dominant once unclothed. As weakened as he'd been recently, there was nothing tentative about his lovemaking. "I'll be sore for a week." She muttered happily.
Kili lowered his head and lazily lapped at what his fingers held captive, pulling a deep moan of pleasure and heat from his elven companion. His ... hmmm. "What do we call each other?"
Tauriel gasped for air once he let her nipple slip from his mouth. She shook her head and pulled him closer, despite there being no space between them in the first place. "Hmmm?"
"You're my wife? Not my wife? Almost my wife? My fiance maybe. My handfasted-ness?" Kili dipped his head down and began to feast again, his free hand moving over to the other breast, lest it start to feel neglected.
Tauriel's right knee drew up, pushing her heel into the soft pillow, arching herself up to him. "That isn't a word." She groaned, settling back down and rolling him onto his back. The red-head looked down at him as he grinned lasciviously up at her.
"My right hand is doing better." The dark-eyed dwarf teased her, letting his right hand tickle her hip, making her catch her breath as she moved away from his hand instinctively. Right into the path of his left hand, which captured the smooth column of her thigh and pulled her leg upward, making room for him down below.
Tauriel had a moment to realize that she'd been manipulated when his dark eyes closed with pleasure. And disappeared. Moaning heatedly, she caught her lower lip between her teeth as she supported her weight on two arms. While her dwarven lover slid down the soft pillows until his mouth opened heatedly on her belly button. And going lower.
Finding it hard to breathe, Tauriel's green eyes closed, only to open them wide in shock as he called to her from his sensual perch down below. "Are you sure this is allowed on my diet?"
An answer was not forthcoming, as the rasp of his beard on this most sensative skin had her swallowing her cries and burying her face in the pillows instead.
o.o.o.o.o
o.o.o.o.o
"I am NOT calling you that." Tauriel's voice sounded clipped as Fili, Dis and Bofur walked into the small garden the next morning.
Kili's laughter was full of dark promises, making his older brother's eyebrows raise in wonder.
"Husband isn't right. Fiance or bethrothed isn't quite right either, as handfasting is different." The dark-eyed dwarf teased her, looking far too cheerful. "Morning." He called to the newcomers.
Tauriel and Kili both looked up from their respective bows as they stood yards away from their targets. Hers was easy to pick out, being that the arrows were aligned in perfect symmetry.
His were generally in the right area, but in no particular area. Only two seemed to be right on the mark. Fili looked at his younger brother, making careful consideration of how Kili was shaking out his obviously fatigued right arm. "Looks good."
Kili's mood slipped and he frowned. "Don't patronize me, brother." It was clear that he wasn't happy with his own personal progress.
"You hit the mark twice." Dis spoke up, not bringing up the events of yesterday. Or her assumptions on how they'd spent the evening.
"I think by accident." Grumped Kili, relieved that his mother wasn't bringing up difficult subjects. "My ...Handmaiden here has been perfect with her own aim."
"And you will NOT call me that." Tauriel replied, slipping an arrow smoothly into her bow and firing before anyone could react. It struck in perfect alignment to the rest of her shots.
Kili looked at the arrow still quivering in the tree, and then back at his she-elf. He raised one eyebrow and with a returning smile. "My Starmaiden?"
The red-head sighed. "No."
Kili gave her a long, long look. Weighing carefully how he might say what was in his heart. "My love?"
Tauriel stared at him for a long moment, his eyes glued to hers. Uncomfortable, but pleased, she nodded.
Fili and Bofur stared at Dis, who closed her eyes as if in pain. But the dwarven matron let the comment go without speaking.
"You know what I want you to call me." Kili just had to push his luck.
Tauriel's green eyes lost their glow as she sighed. "No."
What happened next stunned every one of them. A giggle, the sound of running feet, a squeal of laughter and then a young girl ran into the clearing. She stopped short at the sight of them.
Who was more shocked, Tauriel couldn't say.
The human girl suddenly burst into wild tears and ran forward, throwing her arms around a badly startled Fili.
Dis had her blades out, but seemed unsure what to do about an underage girl. One currently babbling about how happy she was that Fili was still alive.
"Tilda?" Tauriel actually wasn't sure, the human female child currently had her face pressed into Fili's side. "Is she ..."
"Whoa." A male voice came next.
"Alone?" Finished Tauriel on a deep, heart-felt sigh. "No, she's not alone."
Bain stood at the edge of the clearing looking back and forth in shock between Kili and Fili. "You ...you're dead! Da spoke at your funerals!"
Dis carefully weighed her blade, looking at the children from the world of Men. Children who could spell disaster for her own two sons, and get them killed in a far more permanent manner. She stepped forward.
From nowhere, an arrow shaft buried itself in the ground in front of her foot. Dis looked up at Tauriel, furius. The elf, though, wasn't looking at her. With shock, Dis realized the arrow had come from another. "Kili?"
The youngest of the dwarves present shook his head at his mother. "No. Mam, just no."
