The whole house was woken up two hours later by a yelling Legolas. It turned out he went into Tauriel's room only to find two people in bed. At first he thought it was his sister, but after waking the startled couple, he frantically began looking for his beloved sister. He found her chatting in the living room with Fili's younger brother and Gimli.

"Why were there some people in your room?" He asked her.

"Well, they probably thought it was vacant." She replied.

"So where did you sleep?" He gazed at her crossly.

"On the sofa." She replied. "But it was very uncomfortable so actually I didn't sleep much." She tried to hid a slight blush and trembling hands. She was horrible at lying and she knew it. "Would you like some breakfast?"

"Nah, I'd throw up…" He made a strange face. He dropped half dead on the armchair and looked around. "Since you didn't sleep much, you could have at least cleaned this mess." He scolded her.

"To your information I've joined the cooking section, so I'm not planning to clean anything at all." She smiled radiantly at him. "Actually since no one seems to be hungry, I'm going out." She got up and began walking towards her room.

She ran up the stairs, her room was finally empty, after Legolas had chased the couple away, so she could do some cleaning. She took the sheets off, opened the window and took all the washing to the laundry room. After making her bed, changing into her normal clothes, and making sure she locked the door, she sneaked down to Kili's room to give him his clothes back. The TV was on loud in the living room, so she knew Gimli and Legolas were probably busy.

Kili was in his room, gathering all the clothes from the floor and cleaning up a bit.

"So where are you planning to go?" He asked her, noticing she was all dressed up.

"A spin around town, I need to know where everything is." She smiled and jangled her car keys.

"Is that an invitation?" He asked hesitantly, still unsure what their everyday relation will be.

"Of course it is stupid." She said kissing him gently.

"I'll see you in ten minutes in the garage." She smiled and walked away, still feeling his eyes on her.

. . . . .

"So that's our lecture hall?" She asked seeing a huge building in the main campus. Her drive around town turned into Kili telling her where everything was. "Let's go and take a closer look." She parked the car and they got out. After thirty minutes of walking around the campus, she asked if there was a shopping centre near the campus. So they ended up seeing that, she was a bit disappointed with the size of the mall, but she could always go back home to do the shopping. "So is there a cinema anywhere near here?" She asked taking him by the hand.

"Of course there is, do you think they are playing anything worth watching?" He smiled at her.

"Is that an invitation?" She asked smiling at him.

"Of course it is princess." And he pulled her into a gentle kiss.

. . . . .

They came home around dinner time, and the living room was already clean but empty.

"I'll go start dinner." She smiled at him. "I think you should go check where everyone is."

He found them in Fili's room playing on the play station. Fili and Dain were laying on the bed, still zombiefied, while Gimli and Legolas were car racing.

"Are you guys hungry?" He asked them.

"What's on the menu?" Legolas asked.

"Spaghetti and garlic bread." Kili replied. "Dinner will be ready in like forty minutes."

"They are all half dead." Kili whispered into her ear as soon as he came into the kitchen. "What kind of sauce are you making?" He glared curiously into the pot.

"It's a spicy marinara sauce." She turned and gently kissed him. "So since we're in a public place, we should rather talk and not make out. So can you tell me more about the painting in the living room?"

"I gave Fili that one last Christmas." He contemplated what to tell her about his art frenzy. "When the weather is good I like to go hiking, and that was the view I saw. The forest melting into the lake in the setting sun. So when I came home I just had to paint it."

"I like it, do you have more of your works here?" She asked him curiously.

"Nah most of them are at home." He replied, trying not to say anything more than he should.

"Do you only paint landscapes?" She continued the unintended interrogation.

"I actually prefer painting people." He quietly replied.

"It's funny I don't think I've ever had a painting of me." She laughed, and he tried not to choke to death. He knew perfectly well he had tones of her sketches, drawings and paintings at home. He was really glad he didn't take them with him.

"I'm more into photography myself." She changed the topic. "Although I'm no artist." She smiled hesitantly, she could see him glare at her, but she could not read his facial expression.

"I could do a painting of you, If you'd like." He finally whispered after a moment of silence.

"I'd love that." She replied gently, trying to ease the tension which suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

After some time their house mates joined them. Fili was more sober so he even tried eating a bit, but Dain just went green and returned back to his room. Gimli and Legolas were chatting enthusiastically about their plans for the new year and their studies. Soon everyone returned to their rooms. But both Kili and Tauriel felt strange when alone. They had spent one evening, one night and one day together, but still they felt it wasn't enough. She tried reading a book, but suddenly decided it was boring. He tried sketching, but the only thing which appeared on the sheet were waves of red hair. He laid down on the bed and held the pillow she had been using the previous night, only to smell her scent on it and pretend she was still there with him.

She thought about how strange that someone would come into her life so quickly and become so important after such a short time. Being honest to herself she even realised that if he would ask her to marry him after just those 24h, she would have said yes. He was cute, witty, gentle and passionate at the same time. He loved cooking and painting, he loved playing the same games and watching the same type of films. She realised she could spend her whole life with him, and not be bored for even a second. It was like he was the other half of her soul. With him she felt complete, safe and at peace.