Kili was jolted awake by the pressure of a boot at his side. His brother looked down at him with a questionable expression. The elf, he realized, was still beside him, and Fili was clearly none too pleased. He sat up, expecting her to follow suit, but when she remained in repose, he fell back to the straw bed worriedly as the other dwarves moved away into the kitchen.
"Tauriel?" he whispered, stroking her cheek, his worry melting as he felt her steady breaths.
She was asleep, he realized, and he couldn't help but smile. Apparently their unbelievable night together had taken a lot out of her. He studied her beautiful skin, her achingly gorgeous features, softly running his fingers across her parted lips as she began to stir.
"Kili?" her eyes fluttered open, and disoriented she pressed a single, tender kiss to his forehead.
Color filled his cheeks, as he was certain they were being watched intently from across the room, and as she slowly regained her bearings, she too felt a pang of embarrassment. Though she knew that Fili was aware of their attachment to eachother, he certainly wouldn't be happy to learn that their physical relationship had progressed so quickly, and she didn't want to be the one to tip him off.
Why would he be terribly upset though? she assured herself. Certainly, as brothers, he must have witnessed a long string of Kili's conquests. A handsome, virile young man like him at the peak of physical health and fitness, Kili surely would have his pick of any young dwarven females that he laid eyes upon, right? But as she caught Fili's glare from the table across the room, she became vehemently aware that it wasn't so. And when she turned and found that Kili had snuck off and left her sitting alone, her suspicions were more than adequately confirmed.
Hitting the front door as fast as her feet would carry her, she was only mildly surprised to find him leaning against the fence, in nearly the same position he had taken the night before. Unwelcome anger flared in her chest, and she lashed out, fiercer by far than she'd meant to.
"How could you just walk away and leave me in there!?"
Immediately she softened, hearing her own harsh words, but when Kili turned around to face her there wasn't fear or indignance in his eyes, only a deep and infinite sorrow.
"I'm sorry," he offered sweetly, turning back away in an attempt to rein in his emotions.
But she wasn't going to let him shut her out, so she walked around the edge of the pickets, placing herself close in front of him. She lifted a hand to his cheek, and forced up his chin, but when his gaze met hers once more his sadness had been joined by confusion and pain. Her own expression raked with uncertainty, she opened her mouth, but couldn't find the words to convey what she felt.
"I hope my weakness hasn't caused you grief," he said, placing his own hand over hers, "but if I'd stayed even a moment longer, I would have said something that both of us may highly regret."
She lifted her brows questioningly; she did not entirely understand. So cautiously, begrudgingly, he began to explain.
"Among the dwarrow I have... obligations." He searched her eyes for comprehension but found none, so he continued. "I do not stand to inherit the throne, but as the only brother of Thorin's heir, I will be called upon to continue our line."
Her mouth fell open as his words found purchase, her hand still pressed against his cheek. Then the anger she'd let leave her bloomed anew.
"And Fili is upset because he'll not see an elf-dwarf half-breed ascend the throne, is that it?"
"What?" Kili smiled now, allowing his adoration for her to creep across his features. "No," he softly caressed her neck. "Fili is upset because he fears I will give him no heir at all."
Again she appeared to be entirely confused.
"Despite our long years, dwarves have few children, and are only able to conceive within a specific window of age. As hard as it is to achieve within our own species, creating a child with you may not be possible at all."
The corners of her lips curled gently upward as his explanations sank in, but when he went, on Tauriel found herself entirely blind-sided.
"I am only recently of age to produce offspring, but it can't be easy on Fili to know that the first woman to come to my bed is one who'll never be leaving it with child."
"What?" she croaked in disbelief. "The first woman?"
He smiled sheepishly, realizing he had said to much, and she wasn't going to let it go.
"Kili? But that's impossible. You knew exactly what to do, where to touch, it was..." Her thoughts ran wild trying to process this new information, and for several moments he simply held her hand patiently, waiting for the storm of unfamiliar emotions to subside.
Finally, she calmed measurably and returned his stare, tentatively closing the remaining distance between them.
"Kili," he blinked contentedly when she said his name, "why didn't you say?"
It took him a minute, but when he spoke it was from the heart.
"Because I didn't want you to hold back." she tilted her head almost imperceptibly as he confessed. "I wanted you, all of you, without hesitation. The future is so uncertain, but one thing I absolutely know is that I need you. Victory, should we rise to meet it, will not be easily won, and many a hard-fought battle lies ahead. But for the first time, when I look to the end of our struggles, I picture somebody standing next to me."
As his words echoed through her ears, something inside began to shine, the light of a pure and beautiful emotion growing larger than life. And for the very first time in her six hundred twelve years, she felt entirely and completely happy. She brought her lips to his in a gentle kiss, moving slowly, tenderly, and wound her fingers through his dark messy mane as she felt him smile against her mouth. Love. So this was what it felt like.
Eventually, good humor and hope restored, Kili softly broke away from the kiss to look at her, eyes sparkling like brilliant chocolate diamonds.
"So I take it you would come to my bed again then?" he shot her a cocky grin, and in a playful mood, she decided to quell his insecurities.
"Perhaps if your next bed is not made of grass, I will remain there indefinitely."
He smirked and pulled her close, but was clearly still apprehensive.
"I will get better, you know," he said seriously.
And she smiled wide, unable to keep the desire from creeping into her gaze. His performance anxiety was touching, but truly there was no charge.
"You don't need to," she informed, hesitating only slightly before adding. "You are the best lover I have ever had, and when we were together I felt a sense of harmony that I have never known before."
Another, more hungry and heated kiss followed, and soon they were breathlessly prying apart from eachother.
"It's too bad we don't have a lot of time," he chuckled, his stomach unexpectedly chiming in.
Neither had been paying attention to anything but the other, and both now noticed a delightful smell beginning to seep from the little cabin.
"Breakfast," he sighed, and they warily headed back inside.
Their first moments rejoining the group, and sitting noticeably close, were blissfully free of probing stares and chatter as everyone was far too focused on the food piled in front of them. As the children finished up and headed out into the clearing though, the dwarves began stacking their plates in the water basin and Fili's attention was once again upon the couple.
"So," he began cautiously, at least trying to strip some of the frustration from his voice as he gestured between them, "what exactly is this?"
Clearly he was asking what they viewed themselves as in relation to eachother, but having not been brave enough to raise the subject with one another, neither wanted to answer right away.
"Well?" Fili sighed, exasperated.
"I'm in love with her," Kili blurted out, and everyone who remained inside was briefly shocked into stillness.
"We are in love," Tauriel corrected, grasping his hand as he stared into her eyes serenely for a moment, high on elation in the wake of her confession.
Fili's expression distorted as a million different emotions hit him all at once. He was still slightly angry, shocked, even appalled, but it was evident in the gaze of both his brother and the elf that actual love and devotion had miraculously grown between them. And he had truthfully never seen Kili so happy. He needed to solidify his own position on the issue though, before any of them left this spot.
"Well then," he said slowly, wrestling with confusion "I suppose, I will stand with you before Thorin when we return to the mountain."
"You will?" Kili reached for his brother with his free hand.
"Yes," he sighed, nodding. "If this is what you want."
Kili turned his attention back to the elf, eyes still beaming with adoration. "It is."
"You will come with us now, won't you Tauriel? To the mountain?" he whispered, but his heart deflated as she shook her head.
"I must return to Mirkwood," she replied. "To convince my people that we should come to your aid."
Hearing this, Fili's own eyes widened. He certainly hadn't expected that.
"My king allows his prejudices to weaken him," she continued, "but he is a man of reason and compassion. I am confident that if I present my case carefully, he will see that it is in everybody's best interest to assist in the retaking of the mountain. Then, when the survivors of Laketown rebuild, there will be peace and protection from the Lonely Mountain, all the way South to Rivendell. How could any true monarch throw away such a chance to bring harmony to our lands?"
The elder dwarf prince finally allowed himself to smile. "You, lady elf, are full of surprises. But there's one more thing that I simply must know." She raised an eyebrow. "How is it that my brother so altered your intentions from preventing our escape as prisoners, to joining in our cause, which is perilous at best?"
Now the elf only smiled back.
"He didn't." Her inquisitor looked thoroughly confused. "I didn't follow you to Laketown as a guard chasing prisoners. I followed when I learned from a captive orc that my archer had been felled by a poison-tipped arrow."
Hearing it from her own mouth, the puzzle pieces came together in Fili's head and the corners of his lips only rose even higher.
"I don't understand what you see in him, fair lady," he chuckled, "but I fear my brother is a luckier man than I."
