Chapter Ten

A Smile

3rd POV

Tati couldn't help the relieved sigh that escaped through her lips after she finally got off of her pony, almost in an excited manner. She was finally relived that she no longer had to feel the muscles of her legs straining against the uncomfortable position. And it especially didn't help that the dwarven king wanted to use as much sunlight as possible, and so, none of the company got so much as a couple minutes to get off of their pony and rest for a while.

Attempting to ignore the pain emitting from her thighs, she glanced up to find Dwalin staring back at her with his usual indifferent eyes, however, this time, the girl could see a small gleam of some indescribable emotion resting in his usually cold eyes. Though, not one to pry, she simply offered him a small, meek smile, and in return. This caused the corners of his lips to twitch just for one second, and then it went back to its usual indifferent scowl.

If it had been anyone else, Tati would've instantly started to feel anxiety rise up through her heart, and would've started to fiddle with her fingers at such an expression. However, she didn't feel like that around him, for a reason she still hadn't found. If anything, if she were to be completely honest with herself, she felt… safe in his presence. Not just in the way she believed that he could protect her from all the physical dangers, but also like she didn't have to worry about making a fool of herself, or worry about him judging her too harshly.

In truth, she had been contemplating this, the entire ride.

Her thoughts filled with possible solutions to this equation; like she just felt protected because of last night when he had been protective over her. When he had went out of his way to scold the males for making her more afraid (more do than she had been earlier). And then also last night, as well as this morning, he made sure she had a nice meal, and even tried to force her to sit and eat.

Yet, she still barely knew him, so the question was, why?

Why is it… that it took me days to get a little used to Jack and Gandalf, and even though it only took Bilbo a few hours for me to become less timid, he at least had to do a lot talking before it reach that level of comfort around him… But I've barely spoken to Dwalin, and yet… I feel comfortable around him, like out of everyone here, he's the only person I can rely on. Though not true, I still feel it… Why? Her thoughts questioned out of the sudden, causing her to lightly nibble her bottom lightly.

So consumed with her theories bubbling in her head, she didn't hear Dwalin slide off his own pony, and plop down right next to Tati's stilled form.

When she didn't move a muscle for a few moments Dwalin frowned. "Tati," he said as softly as he could with his usual gruff and husky voice, narrowing his eyes when the girl didn't budge the tiniest millimeter.

Tati then suddenly felt a hand clasp onto her shoulder, which ultimately ripped her from her thoughts. And out of both fear and shock, her head jerked upwards as her mind snapped back to reality. With her instinctive fear, the girl ran her hazel colored orbs upwards, trailing over a muscular and tanned body, to the long dark brown hair that fell past his shoulders and up to the narrowed, yet beautifully colored eyes with the tattoos lining his head.

Dwalin, Tati recognized with relief, thankful she had managed to stop herself before her mind went back to her awful past of dark memories.

Once she realized that it was only the burly dwarf that she had been questioning herself about earlier, she felt herself finally relax, her hazel eyes' calming as she stared into his own softened eyes.

"You alright lass," he asked in a soft voice (that, if it had been someone who had known him for years, it would've shocked them to the core).

Offering him her usual meek smile, she very timidly patted his hand so quickly, that most wouldn't have caught it if they hadn't been paying their undivided attention. "Y-yes," Tati squeaked as she nodded her head lightly, and on instinct, moved out of his hold.

Dwalin nodded in return, but she could see that he was not convinced; he was pursing his lips, as if he really wanted to say something, but was holding himself back. Despite this, Tati continued to smile up at him even though she could feel her cheeks burning and was sure that a deep blush was tinting them, unknowing causing Dwalin to look away for a short second, feeling his heart race like he had before but unwilling to accept his reaction. Glancing back at the black haired girl, he opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get a peep out a loud voice interrupted him.

"Start setting up camp," Thorin's voice boomed through the field speaking to everyone in the company, ripping the duo from their conversation as both of their heads jerked to his area, strangely feeling as if they were little kids whose hand had been caught inside the cookie jar. "Once we're all set up we'll dispatch the watches for tonight," he commanded again, and instantly, everyone got to work, most already starting on making the fire while others simply unloaded their own things.

Releasing a small breath that she didn't even realize she was holding in, while Dwalin ran a quick hand over his face, the two started to unpack their things from the pony, vainly trying to forget the moment that had passed over them only seconds earlier. Thankfully, they were both delivered a distraction, however that did not stop Dwalin from stealing a glance or two every couple of minutes.

"Tati," Gandalf greeted as he strolled up to the petite girl, offering her a comforting smile. "How was your ride; getting used to the feeling I hope," he continued with a small chuckle when he watched a brief look of displeasure pass through her features.

"W-well, it was b-better than last ti-ime," she stumbled, trying to muster up a small smile in return, but instead, it turned out crooked and looked more like a grimace if anything. Once again, triggering another chuckle to erupt from the wizard's throat.

"I'm guessing it still wasn't all that lovely," he teased lightly, and like what Dwalin did earlier, he clasped a hand on her shoulder and gave her a comforting squeeze before he dropped his hand. He knew that to everyone Tati seemed to be fine with physical touching, but he knew better; if you stayed too long she would get uncomfortable and almost immediately would walk out of your grip. "Don't fret my dear; you will soon get so used to the feeling that it will no longer bother you in the slightest. Besides, it's better than walking all day," Gandalf continued.

"Y-yes," Tati agreed almost hurriedly as she nodded; despite her discomfort with riding horseback, she knew it was a luxury not having to walk altogether.

"Come along Tati, let's help the rest set up camp," he urged softly as he lightly pushed against the small of her back towards the satchels that were latched onto her and Dwalin's pony. By then Dwalin had already left a few minutes earlier to go get a quick catch of meat for the stew tonight, though he mostly volunteered because he needed an excuse to clear his mind.

She nodded again, and started to unlatch the clips (while Gandalf walked off to do his fair share of the work), digging out the bed spread that she had gotten from Jack, who had stated: "he was too old for traveling anymore, and it she didn't take it, it would just end up sitting in some closet somewhere collecting dust." It was about the only reason why she took, especially since she already felt horrible for all the clothes and supplies he had also given to her.

Once Tati had gotten out her bed she paused for a second, her eyes trailing over Dwalins' bags. She nibbled her bottom lip, contemplating whether or not she should set out his spread as well, Should I…? I mean, he could get angry, I don't know how territorial he is over his stuff… I should just do it, take a deep breath and do it, he's helped me so much, it's the least I can do to help him. Shyly, gingerly, almost as if she was diffusing a bomb, her dainty hand slithered underneath the satchel flap and quickly searched for his own bed spread and the split second her hand had grazed it she ripped it out in lightning speed.

Pressing the spreads against her chest, she took a small look around and noticed that everyone seemed to be tying their ponies reign's to the trees and so she followed in suit. Gently, after she tied the poor pony up, she gave the pony a loving rub on its neck, a small smile appearing on her face as the pony nudged against her hand. Giving it another pat, she walked over to one of the untaken sections of their camp, and undid Dwalin's bed, delicately smoothing it out it make it look nice.

"I'm sure Dwalin can do that," a sudden voice spoke up, seemingly out of nowhere; causing the girl to nearly jump out of her skin while jerking her entire body around, her eyes wide and her heart slamming against the confines of her chest.

Behind her stood one of the younger dwarves that partook in this quest, one with brunette hair, and a tiny beard in comparison to the ones the others bore. On his face stretched a cheeky smile as if he knew something that she did not. Tati recognized him as one of the dwarves earlier who had been teasing Bilbo (and indirectly herself) about the danger of the quest, which had caused the poor hobbit to faint onto the hard ground. And despite her unwillingness to judge another person so quickly, she immediately felt dislike towards the young dwarf. He reminded her distinctly of the "playful" popular boys she would see at school who's "teasing" was considered not harmful to those around, but in reality it actually hurt the victim of their taunts.

"Y-y-yes I-I k-know," she barely squeaked out, and intuitively she clasped her hands together as she posture stiffened.

"Sorry about scaring you," he grinned with amusement dancing in his eyes; however the second he noticed that the girl was actually looking away from him while she anxiously nibbled on her bottom lip he instantly sobered up, feeling guilt churn inside his stomach. "Well then you don't have to do it; just let big ole grumpy Dwalin deal with his own stuff, it's not your job to do," he continued softly, a faint smile resting on his lips as he tried to grasp her attention by grabbing her shoulder.

In lightning speed her eyes shot up and she absently moved out of his hold just as quick. The young dwarf in return frowned, and noticing this, after realizing her harsh actions, Tati then composed herself as much as she could possibly do and stared at him meekly in the eye.

"A-a-am I-I n-not sup-pose to touch h-h-his stuf-f," Tati asked in an antsy tone as her eyebrows furrowed softly in both fear and slight confusion.

"No, I don't think he would mind you touching his things. I just wanted you to know you're not obligated to do that." He stated with a small shrug of his shoulders. "But hey if you so desperately need to I won't hold you back," he mused with a grin, however, he noticed Tati still didn't lighten up and from the way her posture was still stiffened, it was obvious she was hesitating his presence altogether.

Holding back a sigh as he felt guilt continuing to swarm in his stomach for he had an idea as to why she was so hesitant to be around him, he still kept the grin plastered to his face. "Kili," he introduced with a bow. "At yer service!"

"I-I'm T-Tati," she said back, and with that, the corners of her lips twitched into a tiny smile that barely even lasted a second. But nonetheless Kili's grin morphed into a smile and he beamed right back.

OOO

Entering back into the camp, two small, dead rabbits hung from Dwalin's fingertips, his hunting knife strapped onto his hip. He, thankfully, had a quick and successful hunt, especially for not knowing the area all that well. It was also refreshing, and had cleared his mind momentarily, but only until he made his way back into their camp, and like a tsunami all thoughts filled with a certain shy girl with raven colored tresses and hazel eyes came rushing back. Sighing through his nose, he cleared his throat and attempted to push away his thoughts when he thought of the nice horse ride over, and the feel of Tati's body sliding against his.

"Here," he merely grunted as he dropped the two animal corpses next to Bombur's feet, who sat at the steaming pot. And before Bombur could say anything, though it wasn't like Bombur said much anyways, Dwalin strolled right off, his eyes absently grazing over the campground for Tati's form. He still had no clue why, and it was starting to slightly irritate him, but he felt this burn to be close to her, to see if she was doing just fine, and it was almost instinct to go off and find her.

And even though it's only been a couple days, he was now starting to stop questioning it.

Before long he caught sight of her standing next to what appeared to be his bedroll laying next to her own (though from the distance he couldn't really see it clearly), looking meekly reserved as none other than Kili chatted to her with a beaming, yet cheeky smile. Instantly, Dwalin felt the urge to go over there to save her from her social suffering for he experienced himself that she was rather nervous and anxious when talking to new people, but after some rather long seconds that appeared like hours of standing and watching calculatingly, he noticed that she was slowly starting to relax into the conversation.

He felt his heart speeding up at the soft and warm look overcoming the gentle features of her face.

After finding that she was okay, he headed over to the pony they shared and started to delve into his satchel, finding that she indeed set out his bedroll.

Normally the bulky dwarf would've been against anyone going through his things; they were his personal items that no one but himself needed to touch them, but strangely he found himself alright even though he knew Tati must've gone through his bag. While thinking this, he found the warmth that he had been feeling all day long grow within his chest, causing Dwalin to absently rub it vainly in hopes that it would disappear.

Ignoring the unknown feeling, he headed over to the pot of stew that sat over a fire and plopped himself down onto the ground, resting his back against the base of the tree. Dwalin then pulled out the hunting knife he had used earlier and started to clean and sharpen it, subconsciously watching as the once bright sky turned into a nice dark blue.

After a while of sitting and enjoying the cool night breeze, he heard another body seat itself next to him, and the bulky dwarf glanced to side to find it was Tati with two bowls of steaming stew in her hands. Holding her hand out, she was offering a bowl towards Dwalin with a tiny smile curving onto her pretty pink lips.

That smile… he felt his heart race again, however this time, he felt his cheeks starting to burn uncomfortably.

"I g-got you a b-bowl," she said in her usual soft and velvety voice as the smile continued to play on her lips.

He nodded towards her, trying to, once again, ignore his racing heart and the flush on his cheeks. "Thank ye lass," he answered back as he accepted the bowl, patting her on her head as his lips twitched for a small second.

The duo then sat peacefully next to each other as they ate, and even up to the moment they went to bed. And every so often, they found themselves stealing glances at one another.

To be continued…

A/N: I'm so thankful that everyone is enjoying this. I went over this chapter a couple times for any grammar mistakes so hopefully everything will be good! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE REVIEWS/FOLLOWS/FAVS! I got so many! I got eleven and I'm just so happy everyone is enjoying this!

So thank you Karybear1, shishiwastaken, BloodyTink, watergoddesskasey, electrogirl88, Magy26753, Thilbo4Ever, angel897, BCgurlie, PrincessBlonde, and lillisa34!

I'm just going to answer a couple reviews, sorry if I don't answer yours, but you guys can PM me anytime.

To Thilbo4Ever: I just want to say thank you for being a consistent reviewer. Also never ever worry about this story getting abandoned! I have only once abandoned a story and that was only because I got bullied on there, but with this one don't worry I would never leave it, the only problem you'll face in the times when I don't update for months because of writers block mostly.

To BloodyTink: I feel like Balin could get away with teasing him haha! But Fili, Kili, and Bofur, yeah they better watch their backs. Hope you've enjoyed this chapter as well!

To Karybear1: Oh my haha thank you. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter.