Kili groaned and tossed another piece of popcorn into the air, expertly catching it on his tongue. To The Lighthouse was resting open on his ribs, not nearly as far into the book as he needed to be for Monday's exam, but SparkNotes would prove a blessing yet again. "This is so fucking boring," he whined, lolling his head on Ori's thigh. The other rolled his eyes and shook his head halfheartedly, nudging his friend's skull off his knee. Kili whined louder and rolled over. "So bored. So damn bored."

"Just finish it and it'll be over," Ori assured. "Every assignment requires a certain amount of time and effort put into it, and however long you put it off, it's not gonna go away –might as well get it over with."

"How wise of you," he laughed, sitting up and eating a handful of popcorn. "But I'd rather just avoid the book altogether. I can't –I can't read any more of it."

Tauriel was listening from off to the side, in the same chair she'd sat in early the morning, flipping through a magazine, no intention to comment. His studies were none of her concern, and as long as she stayed nearby, she was doing exactly what she was being paid for. She only got involved when the book was tossed across the room. "Kili," she warned, giving him a similar glare to what Ori was shooting him; Kili was entirely unfazed by their disapproval and made no move to pick it up, leaning back into the sofa cushions.

The door swung open and "I'm home!" was called into the living room. Dis entered with a bag on each arm; "Ori, there's more in the car," and the boy set his textbook aside to hurry out to the garage. "How was your day?" the woman asked whichever person present would answer.

"Had a great time in the city," Kili smirked, looking pointedly at Tauriel, who just read the gossip section of Life & Style. "We went to a diner, stopped in at Iron Ink, and picked up party decorations for next weekend."

"Oh." She seemed taken aback at the news they'd gone out but was smiling when she looked at the young nurse. "Did you enjoy your first day on the job?"

She nodded, bringing her eyes up from the colorful dresses on the page and smiling back. "It was fun; he didn't give me any trouble." This wasn't quite true, even if he'd been nothing but nice to her, because it seemed the teen was more reluctant to look out for himself than he'd made his mother believe. Tauriel's job might be a bit more difficult than she'd anticipated, but the pay was enough to keep at it at least a while longer. She was under contract, after all. "Can I speak to you, Dis? Alone?"

Kili gave her an odd look but laughed off his uneasiness. "Surely there's nothing you couldn't say in front of me."

Tauriel clucked her tongue and shrugged. "Alright, then." She turned back to the confused woman in front of her, and reached into her jeans pocket. "I found this in the trash when I was throwing a bottle of soda away." She held up a plastic baggie containing a half dozen pills of different sizes and colors.

Dis blanched, and turned sharply to her son; Kili glared into space, arms tight across his chest. Tauriel wouldn't mention how he'd lied to her about it; he had to be in deep enough as it was. She stayed silent and the quiet consumed them all, until finally Dis rubbed at her eyes, exasperated, and stared down at the boy who still wouldn't look at anyone. "Do you want to die?"

The bluntness of the question made Tauriel flinch; Kili shrugged, unwilling to relent in that moment, but he was quick to correct himself. "I honestly don't think missing one dose is gonna kill me, Ma. I mean, I feel just fine."

"You feel fine because you've been taking your pills –at least, I thought you were." Her calmness was almost unnerving and Tauriel tried to turn her attention back to the magazine. At a quiet assurance that this morning's regimen was the first he'd skipped, the mother continued with no choice but to trust it. "You know what happens if you stop taking them. You get sick, and you end up back in the hospital. Do you want that?"

"No." He was losing his hand in this fight.

"I didn't think so." She paused and looked between Kili and Tauriel, and she spoke next to the nurse. "You'll be monitoring his medication from now on; make sure he takes them when he's supposed to, that he takes all of it, and swallows all of it. If he's resistant, he can spend the day in the Kwiet Room."

"Yes, ma'am."

Satisfied for the time being, Dis moved on to the kitchen to get started on dinner. The front door swung open again, and Fili sauntered in with Sigrid in tow, carrying a box of pizza (actually, he balanced two in one hand) and two-liter bottle of soda each. "Hey! We picked up dinner." Tauriel didn't miss how Kili's eyes lit up when the duo came into the living room; the exchange that had taken place only moments ago seemed to take less of a toll on him than she'd thought it would, which –if she were honest— relieved her somewhat. He can't afford the strain of guilt, I guess, she told herself.

"What happened to that party you were going to?" he greeted, grinning brightly at his brother and their guest.

Fili shrugged and dropped the soda bottle into Kili's lap as he passed, patting his shoulder when his hand was free. "Didn't feel like going; thought I'd bring Sig over and we could all have pizza."

"I'm still not sure three pies is enough," Sigrid quipped, and Tauriel wondered again how many people in fact stayed in the colossal home. She counted four that lived there, including the elusive Thorin Oakenshield, plus Sigrid was here and surely Ori still was too, wherever he'd disappeared to. And herself, of course, but she wasn't sure if she'd be having any –still, she liked to think that she was being considered in their head count. Kili hopped to his feet and followed them into the kitchen; Tauriel, uncertain what else to do and feeling awkward in the living room alone, hesitantly stood and trailed in behind.

Dis saw the boxes and bottles and sighed halfheartedly, donning a pair of oven mitts. "You could've told me you were picking something up," she smiled, picking the pot of water up off the stove and dumping it into the sink. "I almost started on spaghetti."

"No need, Ma!" Fili laughed, setting the pizza he carried down at the breakfast bar. Sigrid set the final pie down beside them, and he started opening them up to reveal the food inside. One was plain, another half pepperoni and half sausage, and one white cheese. Fili spun around and saw Tauriel, and suddenly remembered something. "Oh, um –Tauriel! I didn't know what you'd like so I hope something here is good."

Tauriel smiled softly and assured him she'd eat one kind or another, but honestly, she wasn't very hungry. She watched Sigrid run through the imperfect slicing of the white cheese pizza with a cutting wheel, laughing and warding Kili off from nabbing a slice before they were properly split apart. His arm snuck in against her waist and Tauriel felt a jolt of something she knew she shouldn't have. "You're gonna get it on my shirt, stop!" Kili was laughing too, now, when the girl turned suddenly and waved the pizza wheel at him nowhere near enough to actually hurt him. Tauriel thought for just a moment that it was less likely to get on her shirt than on the soft stomach so prominently displayed under the hem of a butterfly crop top. She kept an eye on Kili's eyes, but they were focused on Sigrid's face and the slice of pizza he brought to his mouth.

"Pad the grease off that first!" his mother scolded from behind the counter. Kili groaned and set the slice down on a paper plate and grabbed a wad of napkins. The grease of the pizza soaked into the paper pressed into it, coming away a kind of sick yellowish color that Tauriel caught sight of before they were thrown in the trash. He was satisfied now to be able to eat his dinner in peace –by the end of the night he would eat two more slices, each requiring a sponging of the grease before he was allowed to take a bite.

Soon everyone was gathered again in the living room, the ladies all full or no longer hungry and the brothers occasionally returning for more pizza or soda. They were rejoined by Ori (whom Fili had bought a meatball parm), who stayed in their company a while before heading off to sleep; and, much later and very briefly, Thorin and Bilbo. The latter declined pizza and the former declined conversation in favor of going to sleep upstairs. He'd still not had a word with the young woman he'd be signing checks to. Bilbo was friendly and did introduce himself to Tauriel this time, apologizing for having not done so that morning –but he soon followed Thorin upstairs.

Sigrid grew tired around ten, and both Fili and Kili insisted she stay the night rather than drive home, but she didn't need much convincing. She thanked the group in general for letting her stay, and headed upstairs to find a guest bedroom. Tauriel felt an odd weight lifted from her shoulders when she was gone.

Kili felt almost inclined to ask if Fili had skipped out on the party because of him, wondered if his poor reaction to the idea of his brother spending another night out was less subtle than he'd thought. But he didn't want to ask and bring that awkwardness in: if Fili had decided not to go, Kili had to trust that it was of his own will, or he might have to feel bad about it. Instead he just leaned against the older brother's shoulder and they talked about dumb things for quite a while.

Tauriel was silent. Dis was silent, too, but seemed to be listening to her sons' conversation, and it wasn't long until she too called it a night. The three of them were then left alone, and Tauriel felt very much on the outside looking in on the other two; they were obviously very close and must've missed each other greatly when they'd been apart for so long.

But by midnight Fili was starting to yawn every few sentences, and Kili laughed softly when it was becoming too frequent to get any real word in. "Go on, go to sleep."

Fili nodded tiredly, squeezed his little brother goodnight and bid Tauriel the same before trudging off to his bedroom. And then there were two.

Kili, at least, to Tauriel's relief, didn't seem angry with her for revealing his little stunt from earlier. Maybe it was a good thing she'd left the lying bit out of it. Still, he didn't seem up to starting conversation, but refused to go to bed before one in the morning. Tauriel knew this wasn't a good sleep schedule but said nothing about it for now; she'd chided him enough for one day.

"You can go to bed, you know," he said at last.

"Not really. I'm supposed to watch you all waking hours." He scoffed and leaned his head back over the edge of the sofa. "If you go to sleep then I—"

"About earlier." He suddenly sat up, looking her dead in the eyes. "Why did you rat me out?" Still— he didn't seem angry. Disappointed, maybe even irritated, but she could see deep in his eyes that he already knew the answer and understood. So she didn't give him one.

"You're a smart kid. You know you need to take your pills and look after yourself and everything."

His lips tightened into a straight line, redness coming to his face. "Yeah, I do. But if I decide I don't wanna take my pills one morning then—"

"Then it's my job to correct that, however I must. I want to be your friend, Kili, I do; but I'm your nurse first."

There seemed nothing more to it on either end; and when Kili stood to go to bed, he didn't say goodnight. Tauriel was left alone in the dimness until she too marched up to her new bedroom to get some rest before sunup.