Chapter 10

The next morning the company awoke early. From Bilbo's cupboard they scavenged enough for their breakfast then set about leaving. Abigail was surprised the hobbit was not woken up because of the ruckus the dwarves were causing. Just as she was about to walk out the door she saw Bilbo's discarded contract on the floor. On a whim, she picked it up and placed it on the desk, hoping he would see it when he woke up. When she looked back at the door, she saw Thorin standing there watching her.

"The hobbit will not come." He said curtly.

Several of the dwarves looked between them nervously.

"I think he will." She replied in like tone.

"Ten coins says he won't." Gloin said with a laugh.

"I'll take that bet." Gandalf said

All the dwarves placed their bets as Thorin and Abigail kept their eyes locked.

"That's enough." Thorin commanded at last "Let's get going."

The moment was broken and Thorin left the house.

*O*

A while later they were riding down the trail leading out of the Shire. Abigail stayed beside the wizard in the back of the group. Neither Thorin nor Abigail had said anything to each other since their tense standoff. Still, this hadn't affected the excitement of the company, she only wondered how long it would last.

"Do you really think he will come?" Abigail asked Gandalf, who rode beside her.

"I do." Gandalf assured.

Sure enough, not long after that, Abigail picked up on the sound of footsteps coming down the path behind them. She pulled her horse to a stop.

"Wait! Wait!" Bilbo came crashing down the path, waving the contract in the air "I signed it!"

Bilbo handed the contract to Balin who looked at it with his magnifying glass.

"Everything appears to be in order. Welcome, Master Baggins, to the company of Thorin Oakenshield."

Several of the other dwarves gave a cheer, even Abigail couldn't keep a smile from her face. However, she didn't miss the unimpressed look on Thorin's face.

"Give him a pony." He ordered curtly.

A look of panic overcame Bilbo's face at the mention of a pony.

"No, no, no, no, that-that won't be necessary, thank you, but I-I'm sure I can keep up on foot. I've done my fair share of walking holidays, you know. I even got as far as Frogmorton once-" His ramblings ended abruptly with a yelp of surprise as Fili and Kili lifted him onto a pony.

"We will have to go quite a bit farther than Frogmorton if we wish to succeed in our quest." Abigail said with a soft smile.

As the pony began to move, Bilbo looked over at her with a fearful expression.

"I've never ridden a horse before." He admitted, holding the reins in front of him awkwardly.

"Don't worry, you don't have to do anything. Your pony will follow the others." She tried to assure him.

"Come on, Nori, pay up. Go on." Oin said from somewhere ahead.

With a grunt, Nori tossed a sack of money to Oin. Soon after money sacks began flying around while Bilbo simply watched with a confused expression on his face. Abigail smirked to herself as one was thrown to her. Usually she carried very little gold but this felt like a small victory to her.

"What's that about?" he asked finally.

"Oh, they took wagers on whether or not you'd turn up." Gandalf replied "Most of them bet that you wouldn't."

"What did you think?"

"Hmmm." Easily the wizard caught a sack of money and put it into his bag "My dear fellow, I never doubted you for a second."

Bilbo turned to look at her.

"And you? How did you know I would come?"

"I didn't." she answered plainly "I could only hope."

"Why would you hope for that? You hardly even know me." he seemed shocked.

"I do not know. However, there is something about you."

Abigail left it at that because she didn't know what else could be said. It was totally irrational for her to feel that way. Bilbo was a fair and gentle soul and he should not have been involved in this dangerous quest. Yet here he was, looking up at her with big, curious, naive eyes. Eyes that had not seen all that she had seen. In that moment she knew she would do what she had to do to protect this hobbit. Suddenly Bilbo sneezed loudly breaking the moment.

"Ah, all this horse hair, I'm having a reaction."

The hobbit reached into his pocket to retrieve something, steadily becoming more frantic as he didn't find it.

"No, no, wait, wait, stop! Stop! We have to turn around." Bilbo said frantically.

Everybody came to a stop, the dwarves turning to see what was the matter.

"What on earth is the matter?" Gandalf said.

"I forgot my handkerchief." The hobbit exclaimed in horror.

As Abigail looked at him she couldn't help but smile, he was so distraught by the fact that he had forgotten his handkerchief that it was comical. From in front of her she saw Bofur tear off a strip of cloth from his clothing and toss it to Bilbo.

"Here, use this." He said laughing.

"Move on." Thorin ordered.

"You'll have to manage without pocket-handkerchiefs and a good many other things, Bilbo Baggins, before we reach our journey's end. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you; the world is ahead."

Bilbo looked down at the cloth in his hands with a lost look in his eyes.

"Don't worry," Abigail said, urging her horse on "I believe you will be alright."

*O*

They traveled long and far, though mountains and across rivers. In all that time, Abigail avoided Thorin as if he had the plague. And Thorin, for his part, seemed to be only too happy to allow that to continue. Whenever they did have interaction, it was stiff and tense. Still, sometimes, when he thought she wasn't looking, she would ketch him staring at her. However, while her relationship with Thorin remained stagnant, Abigail slowly but surely won over the other dwarves. One night the made camp on the north side of a rock face, it was close to a cliff but Thorin thought it might give them the cover they needed. So they set about, making a fire, taking care of the horse's and cooking the food.

As the night grew late, the company sat close around the fire in relative silence, some sleeping, others not. Abigail sat with her back against the cool stone. She watched Bilbo struggling to get to sleep over Gloin's obnoxious snoring. Finally he sat up, giving up completely. He got up and walked over to where the ponies were tied up. Abigail got up and followed him, pulling two apples from her bag. She handed on to Bilbo.

"How did you manage to keep these?" He asked, feeding it to Myrtle.

"I have my ways." She replied with a smirk "So, how are you doing? With all this I mean."

The hobbit paused in thought.

"It's not too bad really, the road is harsh and I do miss my bed and such but hearing all the stories the dwarves have to tell is wonderful."

Suddenly they heard a scream in the distance.

"What was that?" Bilbo asked, standing a bit tenser.

"Orcs." Kili replied.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Thorin was now awake.

"Orcs?" Bilbo asked uncertainly, making his way back to the fire.

"Throat-cutters. There'll be dozens of them out there. The lowlands are crawling with them." Fili put in.

"They strike in the wee small hours, when everyone's asleep. Quick and quiet; no screams, just lots of blood." Kili said snickering.

Abigail was about to step in and tell them to stop being childish but Thorin beat her to it.

"You think that's funny? You think a night raid by Orcs is a joke?" He said harshly.

"We didn't mean anything by it."

"No, you didn't. You know nothing of the world." With that Thorin turned as walked toward the cliff Abigail was standing close to.

If it bothered him that she was there he didn't let on. For a few minutes two stood in silence, both listening to Balin explain why Thorin hated Orcs. Abigail already knew the story from their second day of travel when Balin told her everything she'd missed. Still, it made her heart hurt to hear. She should have been there for him, with him.

"Thorin, I'm…sorry, for everything you've been through." She said finally.

He glanced over at her and for a moment there was no hate in his eyes, just a deep sadness.

"It doesn't matter now. No one can change the past."

Somehow she sensed he was talking about more than the battles and hardship of his life. He was talking about their relationship.

"No, but we don't know what the future will hold."

Without another word Thorin turned around and walked away, leaving Abigail alone.

"But the pale orc? What happened to him?" Bilbo asked.

"He slunk back into the hole whence he came. That filth died of his wounds long ago." Thorin replied.

From somewhere inside, Abigail got this terrible feeling. Almost as if they were being watched but as she surveyed the lands she saw nothing.

Guys, I'm really sorry it took so long! College and two jobs are really draining me. I decided to side down and power through my writers block so if it's not the most inspiring work I'm sorry. As always please let me know what you think or if you have any helpful suggestions!