Chapter 9 MY Dearest Naomi
Thorin gasped and jolted, his eyes cracking open. He groaned and rolled onto his other side, burying his face into the pillow that he had crushed in his arms.
"Woman my back end is cleaner than your house. Let me sleep." Thorin mumbled .
Vivian laughed. "Thank you for cleaning my house, by the way. However I think that there is someone who is rather excited to meet you."
Thorin half turned over and cocked a bushy black eyebrow, managing a single-eyed look of incredulity. "Hmm?"
"Naomi?" Vivian reminded him gently.
"Mm." Thorin's eyebrow raised in recognition and his eye closed again as he rolled over, pulling the blanket over his head as he did so. "I'll meet her later. Need sleep."
Vivian laughed. "No I think that after dinner you and I need to have a discussion anyway." When Thorin didn't move Vivian sent an aggravated look up at the ceiling.
"Acts like a damn two year old." She muttered.
Sighing Vivian grabbed the edge of the blanket and pulled it quickly away from the Dwarf King's body. Now Thorin had been expecting this and, rather than curling into a tight ball to preserve warmth as Vivian had thought he would, he sprung from the mattress, grabbing Vivian by the waist. Thorin was conscious enough of his surroundings that he didn't tackle her to the floor, but wrapped his legs around hers and rocked back into the bed.
He rolled over, arching his back up and going onto his forearms and knees so that he would not crush her, and he began spidering his fingers over her sides. Vivian's eyes widened at the touch, one that she hadn't felt since she was a child and living with her mother. Thorin's fingers were gentle over her skin, not pressing to the point of pain, but just enough to set her nerve endings aflame and make her giggle and shout with laughter.
Naomi peeked her head out of her bedroom door to see what all the noise was about.
Vivian looked to the side and called between bouts of laughter. " Mimi! Help me!"
Thorin's eyes were trained on Vivian's tear-streaked face, and part of him was relieved that these tears were ones of joy. Thorin leaned his face closer to hers and allowed his hair and beard to tickle her face and neck, prompting her to further giggling.
Naomi, being fiercely protective of her aunt ran as quickly as her little legs could carry her over to Vivian's bed, launching from the stack of books at the foot of the bed with a war cry that was as fierce or more so than Thorin's own. Naomi clung to the back of Thorin's shirt with one tiny hand, as well as her knees, and with the other she was beating ineffectually at his back and shoulders.
"GET. OFF. MY AUNTIE. YOU. BIG. MEANIE WORM!" Each word had been punctuated with a blow to Thorin's shoulders, except the last two
which had been delivered with a rather forceful kick to the left shoulder blade.
Not having been cursed at like that since Fili and Kili's childhood, Thorin found being called a 'meanie worm' rather hilarious. Only Vivian squirming and bouncing around, yelling that the bread was burning roused Thorin from his laughter, allowing him to jump away from her, moving Naomi from his back and into his arms, enough that she could run to the oven and try and rescue it.
The only problem with Thorin jumping around on Vivian's bed was that there simply wasn't enough bed.
Thorin ended up painfully wedged between the bed and the right wall, an indignant Naomi sitting on his chest, arms crossed.
"Serves you right." Naomi said decisively, using him as a footstool to boost herself back onto the bed. Thorin let out a pained 'oof' when she planted her foot in his diaphragm
Thorin heard Vivian's voice. "Naomi! Be nice."
"Is he Thorin?" Naomi inquired.
"Yes dear. Why?"
"I'm really glad that I brought Daddy's old dresses is all."
Dinner and the next four hours of watching Vivian and Naomi sort toys and set up Naomi's room was largely uneventful, Thorin only stepping in when needed. After Vivian and Naomi had done the dishes and Thorin had put away the rest of the soup and the salvageable bread Naomi was sent to put on her pajamas and brush her teeth. Vivian pulled Thorin to the futon that stood a few feet left of the bed.
Thorin looked concerned. "What's going on?"
Vivian looked rather troubled. "How do you think that you'd be watching Mimi for most of the day tomorrow?"
Thorin answered warily. "It would be fine. Why though?"
"My boss, the royal ass that he is, doesn't let his 'best pastry chef' take more than one Saturday off every two weeks. It's totally bull crap and I don't like having to take the shit that he throws my way, but I need the money. Especially now." Vivian sighed.
"What is happening now?" Thorin asked.
Vivian took a deep breath and opened her mouth to speak, when Naomi entered the room. Vivian held her open arms out to the girl, and she ran into them. Vivian pulled the tiny girl to her chest tightly and rocked her, lips pressing to the top of Naomi's head. Thorin noticed that silent tears ran down Naomi's cheeks.
Vivian let the little girl back onto the floor and hugged her.
"Goodnight, baby. I love you."
Thorin opened his arms hesitantly. "May I have a goodnight hug as well Miss Naomi?"
Naomi looked at him, assessing. And without word or gesture she ran headlong into Thorin's open arms, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his chest as best as she could. Naomi buried her face in the curve of his neck and a choked "I'm sorry." left her lips.
Thorin cleared his head of the shock of the moment and wrapped his arms around her and rocked the tiny girl as Vivian had. "Don't worry my dear. I forgive you."
The pair just stayed like that until soft snores emanated from Thorin's beard, at which point Thorin carried Naomi into her bedroom and laid her gently on the bed. Thorin pulled the covers over her, and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.
When Thorin came back out to the living area Vivian had tears in her eyes. " I've never seen her act like that with anyone but her parents and me."
Thorin inclined his head. "You were saying?"
Vivian nodded. "Yeah, Lily, Naomi's mom, is going through a really bad divorce and I'm Naomi's court appointed guardian until the divorce and child custody disputes are settled."
Thorin nodded not really sure what any of that was. Vivian ran through a list of things that Naomi did and didn't like, how much to feed her and when, and most importantly how to recognize naptime.
After that Thorin slumped over on the futon and fell into a sleep filled with carnivorous Ducklings. Yes. Carnivorous ducklings.
A.N. I love you everyone who reviewed and I gave you all a nice long chapter to celebrate this being far and away my longest and most reviewed Fanfic! Blue button? Please? Y'know ya want to!
