Chapter 10: Reality Strikes

Sleeping in the warmth of Kili's embrace was far nicer than anything she could remember. While she'd fallen asleep on his chest with the blankets pulled up around them that was certainly not the way she awoke.

Without opening her eyes to the bright morning light, she slowly came to and realized she'd been so comfortable and exhausted the night before she didn't even remember moving around in her sleep. Usually she tossed and turned at night, fitfully moving around, but she'd slept quite solidly with the warm, tattooed man behind her. He'd acted as a solid anchor, holding her still with limbs tangled with hers beneath the blankets. She hadn't expected to sleep so soundly in an unfamiliar place with someone she'd just met.

Tauriel grinned to herself as she realized she was on her side with Kili spooned up behind her, warming her back. His sleepy morning breath blew against her neck and his legs were wound with hers as if they'd shared a bed a hundred times. The blankets had been shoved down around their waists, but a warm arm was draped over her chest and breasts, covering them from the chill morning air. The pillow beneath her nose smelled like him; some sort of manly soap, a faint hint of the smoky whiskey from the night before, and something spicy that reminded her of sandalwood and leather. Digging her nose further into the pillow, she inhaled deeply and let herself relax again. She faded in and out of sleep for another few minutes, fighting off the urge to rise and start her day. She wasn't ready to leave the night before behind, but apparently the morning had other plans.

She heard the click click click of the dog's toenails against the hardwood of the bedroom floor as the air conditioning switched off. It became quiet.

Too quiet.

Opening one eye, she had to blink a few times to help herself focus. They were bleary at first, but soon focused in on the face of a bald headed, grey-bearded man. He was standing at the foot of the bed, frowning down at her as if he was trying to figure out a complex equation. Warg stood next to him at the bottom of the bed, his head cocked at her and his tail wagging slightly.

Tauriel barely had time to gasp before he glared sternly at her and asked in a burly Scottish accent, "The fuck ye dain?"

She let out a surprised scream, violently rousing Kili behind her. He let out a strangled surprised yell and jumped up in the bed as she screamed, scrambling to cover herself – her very naked self – from the eyes of the suddenly amused looking man at the foot of the bed. He burst out laughing as Kili helped her yank the blankets up.

"What the-Dwalin! The fuck, man?"

Tauriel reeled back, yanking the blankets up around her with Kili's help. He groaned as the other man laughed, clearly enjoying surprising them.

"Oh my God!" she gasped, tucking the blankets around her with Kili's help. He was still half asleep, but the scream he'd heard from his bedmate could have roused the dead. Warg whimpered at Dwalin's side, but didn't move.

"Dwalin, get out!"

"You know this man?!" she yelped, cowering behind Kili. Kili didn't have the chance to speak before the intruder spoke for them.

"Indeed he does, lass. I've known Kili here since he was a wee thing. Which is why it's so funny to catch him with his pants down – literally. Cover yer'self, lad! Jaysus, what a fright. How is a lass supposed to look at a hairy arse like that and ye not expect her to scream?"

Kili practically growled at him in response and pulled the sheet up around himself to cover everything important, not that it mattered much. Dwalin had already gotten quite a show by surprising the pair before they'd even woken up and had a chance to get dressed. Tauriel crouched behind Kili in the bed, the sheets pulled up to her chin. This was not the lazy, romantic morning he'd pictured as he'd fallen asleep the night before. He'd planned to wake up slowly, ravish each other one more time, and then maybe share a nice hot shower together before having some coffee on the back deck.

What he didn't have planned was waking up to a screaming Tauriel, frantically covering his dick with a sheet, and watching his uncle Dwalin manically laughing his stupid arse off at the foot of his bed.

"Get out ye crazy old git! Fuck!" he yelled, but Dwalin was already retreating with another round of hearty laughter. Kili groaned, abandoning the blankets to chase him out the bedroom door and slam it soundly behind him. Turning back to Tauriel, he winced when he saw the shock and humiliation still etched on her face.

"You okay?"

Slowly, she pulled her eyes from the doorway and over to where Kili now stood beside the bed. He was stark naked, just the way he'd fallen asleep the night before. It was all out in the open in the dim light that was filtering through the bedroom blinds. The muscles, the tattoos, the dusting of dark hair she suddenly found attractive, and, well…all of him. She blushed and averted her eyes.

Kili glanced down and grunted in surprise as if he'd just remembered he was completely naked. Fishing around on the floor, he skipped the underwear and opted instead to pull on his jeans commando. Tauriel raised an eyebrow and tried not to look. He chuckled at her prudishness. He didn't think he had anything to hide after what they'd shared the night before, but Tauriel was obviously still a bit reserved in the light of day.

"Deciding to be shy after last night?"

She smirked, embarrassment rising in her chest and making her skin tingle at the thought of the night before. It wasn't that she was shy, exactly, it was simply that her newfound openness with Kili was still a new discovery. The experiences they'd shared in the dark of night were coming back to her in little flashes but she didn't feel an ounce of regret. She'd been so reserved in the bedroom and in life for so long that it was an entirely new experience to have been so open with someone she'd only known for a few hours.

It was an exhilarating experience, in fact.

She smiled shyly and tried to find the words, but nothing came easily to her.

"Okay then," he chuckled at her silence. "You still okay with…last night?"

"Okay?" she asked, her eyes meeting his. She blinked blankly. "Yes?"

"Well, I just…I had a good time. I hope…you did?"

"I….uh…yes," she finally managed to spit out, laughing softly to herself. She'd almost forgotten about the intruder when her eyes moved to the foot of the bed where the intruder had stood.

"Uh…"

"Oh, shit," he muttered. His smile waivered for a moment as his eyes bounced between her and the now closed door. "I'm sorry about him. No sense of boundaries. Erm…That's my uncle Dwalin. I…forgot I told him to come out today to work on his bike. If the main shop is too crowded, sometimes the guys bring their bikes out here to my shop. We love to prank each other an' give each other a hard time, s'all," he explained in a pained voice. "Seeing it from your eyes makes me realize it's a bit ahm….childish. But he's family…"

"It's….okay," she stuttered, wrapping the sheet across her breasts and tucking it beneath her arms. Her mouth tried to find the words, but she struggled for a moment at the shock of waking up to see a huge, tattooed biker leering at her. One about twenty years older and not nearly as attractive as the one she'd gone to bed with, mind you.

"I just….he scared me, that's all. And now I think he's seen me naked. In fact, I'm fairly certain he has."

Kili dragged a hand through his wild dark waves, wincing as he glanced around the room.

"He just did it to get a rise out of me, I'm so sorry Tauriel. He's harmless – just no sense of what's maybe appropriate. It's been….awhile since I've had a girl around and he just wanted to give me hell for it. Family, I guess."

"I see," she exhaled, brushing the hair away from her eyes. "What time is it?"

Kili fished his phone out of the pocket of his jeans, raising his eyebrows.

"Bout ten. Shit, we slept late. Hmmm…You hungry?" he asked, flashing her a rakish smile.

Tauriel felt her insides clench as she took in the devilishly good looks of Kili in the morning light. It hadn't just been the drinks and the darkness that had made him attractive after all. He was just as ruggedly handsome in the daylight as he was in a dark bar.

"I can tell Dwalin to bugger off for a few hours while I cook us up something to eat. I know I'm about starved after you putting me through the paces las'night…"

"I-" she started, then her eyes widened and her heart began to pound. "Did you say ten? I have to get home! Oh crap, I have to be home for brunch in half an hour! How far are we from town?"

Kili's shoulders slumped visibly as his plan for a relaxed morning getting to know the woman he'd ravished the night before was smashed to pieces.

"Bout twenty minutes. I can drive ye, make in about fifteen. Shit, I'm guessin' he'll be right pissed when you show up late, am I right?"

Tauriel watched his bright, almost hopeful hazel eyes fade into a look she couldn't quite describe. He looked almost….sad. Not that she wasn't upset to have to leave in such a hurry herself, but the image of her father's disapproving glare and subsequent incredulous and somehow murderous stares of distain when she'd done something displeasing were never a good thing.

"He is going to kill me," she wailed, covering her face with her hands. "Shit. I mean…can you really drive me?"

He nodded, her heart slamming against her chest as she realized what this meant. Kili was going to have to drop her off at home and surely her father would be waiting for her. He would know she didn't come home the night before and instead of sneaking in at the crack of dawn, she was now forced to walk back into her house in last night's clothes and just in time for a brunch with all of his well-to-do friends. She groaned and stood, hastily forgetting she was still naked. Searching the floor, she fished her underwear out from beneath the bed, stepping into it with as much grace as she could muster. Kili jumped to action, scouring his slightly disheveled bedroom floor for the rest of their clothes. Tauriel managed to find her bra and slip it on, followed by her pants.

"Sigrid called me….nineteen times, oh my god," she groaned, flipping through the missed calls. "I hope she wasn't upset with me for leaving her?"

He met her gaze from the other side of his bed. Kili scanned his own phone, wincing. "Fili gave me a few rings as well. Think they were worried about us?"

"Partly yes, partly no – Sigrid was probably warning me that my father is on the warpath since I didn't come home last night. I'm sure she's already at my house and it surely hasn't escaped her that I'm nowhere to be seen. Crap…do you see my top anywhere?"

Kili frantically scanned the floor, his hand shoving his hair away from his eyes. Ducking down, he scooped up the black t-shirt she'd had on briefly the night before and tossed it to her.

"This is better than showing up in a bra I reckon?"

Tauriel caught the shirt and held it up. It was the soft, worn, Oakenshield shirt he'd given her the night before to keep warm while he'd gotten the Connemara whiskey. That suddenly felt like a million years ago as the reality of her situation came crashing back down on her. He was right – they needed to leave and at least it was a shirt.

Slipping it over her head, she hurriedly picked up her phone and slid into her shoes before following Kili out into the kitchen. Dwalin sat at the counter, hunched on a barstool and grinning into a steaming cup of coffee. Tauriel meant to avoid his eyes, but slipped and met his gaze. His piercing blue eyed stare surprised her as he watched her stand there and fidget. The man was downright menacing. His bald head had a few tribal looking tattoos scattered across the top, and those wound their way down behind his ears to his thick neck. A salt and pepper colored beard covered his chin and created a stark contrast to his youthful piercing blue eyes. At first she would have guessed he was almost sixty, but up close she wasn't sure. He was almost twice as burly as Kili was, and that was saying something. His short sleeved black Oakenshield Engines t-shirt revealed two tattooed arms. His tattoos made Kili's look tame – both arms were covered down to his knuckles with skulls, naked women, fire breathing dragons, and a slew of other things.

"Where do I know ye?" he asked suddenly, placing the mug on the counter. Tauriel looked at Kili for help, but he was busy pawing through a stack of junk on the counter.

"Keys, keys…" he muttered. "Shit, where did I put those?" he pawed at his pockets before ducking into what must have been his laundry room to yank out a fresh black t-shirt.

"I know you," Dwalin repeated. Tauriel glanced at him nervously.

"What?"

"I know you from somewhere, don't I?" he asked.

She twisted her hands in front of her, silently wishing Kili would hurry up and find the damn keys already. The last thing she needed right now was for Dwalin to realize who her father was and make a big deal about it. She had conveniently left that part out of her conversation with Kili the night before, not on purpose really, but more so that she wouldn't have to talk about him for once. Just one time she wanted to just be Tauriel and not her father's daughter.

"I'm…n-not sure," she said noncommittally.

Dwalin squinted at her suspiciously, as if he was trying to place her from a distant memory. Feeling her cheeks heat up, she dropped her eyes and swallowed hard. The jingling of keys made Warg bark and start wagging his tail.

"Got em! Come on, let's jump in the truck. Dwalin, don't drink all the coffee, keep Warg company. Not this time, you gotta stay bud," he told the dog as the shaggy mutt edged his way toward the door. Warg gave a displeased little squawk at having to stay behind, but gave a halfhearted tail wag as Tauriel patted his head one last time before following Kili out into the bright sunlight. The summer day was already hot and getting hotter – it felt later than it really was and she felt her stomach give a nervous flip at how tardy she would be showing up to her house. Her father was going to absolutely crucify her when she walked through that door, she knew it.

Stepping off the porch, she groaned as another bike came slowly rumbling down the little gravel lane towards Kili's house as they hurried to the truck parked in the driveway.

"Shit, that'll be Fili, wanting to give me a brotherly chat," Kili muttered as the rider halted and killed the engine. Fili easily swung off the bike and his blue eyes were instantly twinkling with amusement and snark as he eyed the two of them making a hasty beeline towards the truck. He was smiling so wide it made his blue eyes crinkle around the edges in the bright summer sunlight. He scanned them both up and down and she knew Fili knew exactly what they had been up to.

"Hey little brother," he called, nodding at them with a smirk only an older brother could manage, "Didn't know you had company! I would have stayed home and left you to it."

Kili frowned, his jovial expression gone and one of straight business replacing it.

"We gotta bolt, Fi, no time. Dwalin and coffee inside."

"Called ye bout twenty times," Fili casually continued, placing his helmet on the back of his bike. He was grinning like the cat the caught the canary, Tauriel thought.

Kili opened the door for her, tossing his brother an annoyed look over his shoulder. Leave it to Fili to call him out at the worst possible time. It had to be something about brother-timing.

"Leave it alone, Fi. I'll be back in a minute. Gotta run her home."

Tauriel climbed into the truck, her hands shaking. Maybe it was the shock of Dwalin at the foot of the bed, maybe it was running into his brother who knew without a doubt what happened between them, or maybe it was the idea of what was waiting for her at home. She wasn't certain, but the adrenaline was making her feel like she'd already had eight cups of that expresso her boss at the bookshop, Bilbo, was always downing.

She didn't have time to worry much longer. Soon Kili had the keys in the ignition and they were off.

Sorry for the wait! The arrival of spring had me distracted after work these past few weeks..*sigh*

So if you've ever watched The Hobbit or seen Graham McTavish, you'll know what I am talking about when I describe him. Google 'Dwalin' and you'll get an idea. I have taken thier appearances in The Hobbit and simply altered them to fit my Sons of Anarchy-ish dreamboat delicious biker stereotypes...so shoot me ; )

Hope you enjoyed this! Oh, and based off your comments from last chapter, I am DEFINITELY writing a Sigrid/Fili oneshot about how they met and their uh...first night together.

Thanks for reading!

"The Fuck ye dain?" = Scottish slang for 'What the fuck are you doing?'