The mountain was nothing like Bilbo remembered it. Of course, Bilbo only remembered the mountain in ruins, bits of rubble and the dead bodies of dwarves scattered around, the throne room littered with stolen jewels and gold. The Erebor Bilbo now walked through looked nothing like that.

They were in the lower levels of the city, where the homes were. Bilbo stared curiously around him at the stone dwellings. Despite their make, he could tell that they were very cozy within. Around him children were running, giggling as they played a game of tag, and Bilbo was glad he was holding Mithril, or she would have likely scurried off after them.

They moved further into the city, through the stone streets. As they neared the palace the homes grew sparser, and more and more shops appeared. Bilbo caught Bifur and Bofur looking longingly towards the other end of the city, and guessed that their toy shop was there.

It was here that the majority of the company parted with him. The elves had remained in Dale, seeing no need to continue with the company past that point, and the travelers had ascended the mountain with Aragorn as their only guard. As the traders went to bring their bought items to their shops Bilbo set Mithril down and took Minriel from the ranger. They needed to keep up appearances. Bifur quickly stepped forward and pulled Mithril's hand into his own, keeping the child from running off.

At last they approached the castle. By now Bilbo was positively quaking, and he was amazed that he was able to keep a hold of Minriel. As they approached the gates the crowd of dwarves thinned, and where their company had before been inconspicuous, they now stood out like a sore thumb, especially with their towering guard.

Bilbo inspected the castle as they drew near. It was carved into the mountain itself, the wide gates open for all to pass in. The banners of the line of Durin hung on either side of the walkway, dark blue in the dim mountain air.

Bilbo drew back behind his friends as the doors to the castle opened, and Mithril pulled away from Bifur and came to stand by her father. She reached up to plant a kiss on Minriel's head, and then gave her father a comforting smile, sensing his distress. Bilbo smiled in return before following the others inside.

They were in the throne room. Bilbo scanned around him nervously, resisting the anger that came over him. The last time he had been in this room it had been with a sick king. He shook his head. He knew that Thorin had rid himself of the gold sickness. Yet he still couldn't help his worry. His heart pounded in his throat and he was forced to swallow down bile. The majority of his worry, he rationalized, was from his fear of how Thorin would react to seeing him.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he found faint amusement in the nerves that had seemed to overtake his dwarves as they crossed the room. Despite their sure strides, after spending a year with them, Bilbo knew when they were worried. He could understand why. He doubted Thorin was pleased with how they'd gone running off to the Shire. Even Aragorn was ill at ease, glancing back consistently to check on Minriel.

Ahead he could hear talking, and Bilbo gulped as he recognized Thorin's deep baritone mixed into the conversation. What was being said he had no idea, for it was in Khuzdul, but as the group approached all voices ceased. Then Thorin said something in a rather sharp voice, and the dwarf he'd been speaking to scurried out of the castle.

All was silent, and Bilbo was fairly sure everyone could hear his heart pounding in his throat. This was it. After eight years, he would finally see Thorin again. How would Thorin react? How would Bilbo react? Bilbo again had to fight the wave of nausea that ran over him.

"So," stated Thorin. "You have returned from the Shire." Bilbo winced at the anger in the dwarf's voice, and then realized that it wasn't directed at him. From his place behind Bifur, Bombur, and Bofur, he, Mithril, and Minriel were hidden from view. The only reason why Thorin was speaking in common tongue was for Aragorn's benefit. "Who is this?" asked the king.

Aragorn stepped forward. "I am Strider, a ranger from the north," he introduced himself. "I offered my protection to your traders after they encountered orcs on the road, and have travelled with them since."

There was silence for a moment, and Bilbo ran a list in his head of all the possible expressions Thorin might be making at this moment. Thoughtfulness, worry, possibly even nothing at all. The king had always been quite good at wearing a stone mask.

"I thank you then," Thorin said at last. "I would speak with you later, but as of now I have some- family matters to attend to with these three." Bilbo knew that now Thorin had gestured angrily to the Ur Family. In front of Bilbo, Aragorn nodded.

"Of course," he said. He backed off to hide behind one of the many pillars in the throne room, and Bilbo cursed the ranger under his breath. Of course Aragorn didn't want to miss the show.

When next Thorin spoke, it was with an anger that he was rapidly losing control of. "How could you do this?" he asked. "How could you sneak off in the night like thieves, to go on an errand that you knew I did not want any to complete? How could you interfere as such in my life?" The dwarf growled in mixed anger and that emotion that could only be described as being done. "Why would you go to-to-to him!"

Bilbo winced at the way he had been referred to, the word 'him' spat as though cursed. He told himself it wasn't the same as last time. Thorin's tone was not driven by a gold-crazed hate, but hurt at the rejection he thought he had been given.

Well, one thing's for certain, he thought as Thorin continued to rant angrily. His temper hasn't changed.

"Oh shut up Thorin," someone said at last. Bilbo recognized the voice as female, and though he had never heard it before, he knew it could only belong to Dis Dís. He could also hear Fili and Kili snickering faintly in the background at what Bilbo could only imagine was the extremely disgruntled expression on their uncle's face. "They were doing you a favor, and acting on my orders."

Thorin grumbled something under his breath, but otherwise did as his sister ordered. Bilbo couldn't help but admire the dwarf woman for that alone. At the same time, he was already beginning to foster a growing fear for her.

Thorin sighed, and when he spoke again his voice was soft, resigned. "What did he say?" he asked.

Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur stepped aside to reveal Bilbo and the two girls, and for the first time in eight years, Bilbo saw Thorin Oakenshield. He was distinctly aware of the gasps that came from Dis and her two sons, but he paid them no mind for now. His attention was completely wrapped up in the dwarf before him.

Thorin looked nearly as Bilbo remembered him, perhaps a few more silver strands in his hair, his face somehow wearier, but yes, that was Thorin. At the sight of the hobbit standing before him Thorin's blue eyes widened, and his mouth all but fallen open.

Thorin laughed at Thranduil and Bard, who stood below him before the barricade his company had assembled to block off the entrance to the mountain.

"You have nothing with which to bargain with me," he reminded them.

Bilbo winced at the ice in Thorin's words, knowing that this dwarf who had once been Thorin would willingly- happily even, shoot down either man or elf with the bow that rested ready against the rampart.

Bard's smile was grim as he pulled a cloth wrapped bundle from his chest pocket. Bilbo instantly recognized it as the package he had delivered to the barge man the previous night. "We have this," he called. He quickly uncovered the Arkenstone, and around Bilbo the dwarves all gasped.

Thorin went completely still, the blood draining from his face. His hands clenched into fists at his side, and Bilbo knew that the dwarf's nails were digging into his palms.

"Where did you get that?" Thorin's voice was dead calm, cracking with ice. Bilbo resisted the urge to shudder, unconsciously drawing ever so slightly away. Then he took a deep breath and stepped forward.

"I gave it to him," he declared. Again the dwarves gasped as all eyes turned to him, and Bilbo forced himself to meet his lover's eyes.

If Thorin had been horrified before, Bilbo didn't know how to describe the look that had now come upon the king's face. "You?" he choked. "You- betrayed me?"

Bilbo sighed and stepped closer, then thought better of it and came to a stop. "No," he defended himself. "I may be a burglar, but I like to think myself an honest one. I took the Arkenstone as my share of the treasure."

Thorin's eyes narrowed, and Bilbo gulped. Those eyes had as of late changed, so that the normally sparkling blue was now nearly black. Right now those black eyes burned with hatred as they focused on the hobbit.

"You- You think that you have any claim to MY treasure?" Thorin bellowed. Suddenly he let out a great roar, and Bilbo only had time to let out a squeak of fright as the king seized him and began to shove him over the wall they had built. From there, Bilbo knew, all that awaited him was a tumble to his death.

"Stop!"

Everyone froze at Gandalf's command, and for the first time the grey robed wizard revealed himself among the ranks of elves and men. "Stop this now," he shouted. "If you do not like my burglar then by all means return him to me, alive and in one piece. Please Thorin, do not do something that you will only regret."

All was silent, and the company seemed to be holding their breaths. Each were frozen, overwhelmed with this drastic change of events. They silently prayed that Thorin wouldn't kill Bilbo; each had grown to love him as a dear friend during the past year. Yet they still felt unrivaled anger at his betrayal. For despite his good intentions, he had indeed betrayed Thorin.

They were unsure what Thorin would do. Would he comply with Gandalf or simply hurl the hobbit from the wall as he'd been intent on doing? The dwarves surrounding the couple weren't sure what to do. A part of them wanted to help Bilbo before Thorin could kill him, but they just couldn't bring themselves to move. They couldn't allow themselves to lift a hand against their king, even if Thorin was only a remnant of the king he had once been.

At last Thorin made a decision, and tossed Bilbo ruthlessly to the side. Bilbo stifled his oomph of pain as he landed hard on the stone, then scrambled to his feet and backed quickly away from Thorin, his heart shattering.

At once multiple hands grabbed at him, and Bilbo found Ori, Dori, and Nori shoving him at the rope that Dwalin and Balin were tossing over the wall several feet away. The rest of the company put themselves between Bilbo and Thorin as Bilbo climbed awkwardly over the wall, giving him time to escape to safety. Each dwarf held hints of anger on their faces, but above all was hurt- and sadness.

"Go," Bilbo heard Thorin say. He turned slightly as he began to clamber down the rope to see the dwarf address Gandalf coldly. "Take him and leave." Now the icy black eyes turned to Bilbo. "You are banished from my mountain," he snarled. "If I see you again, I will kill you."

Bilbo gulped and began to climb quickly down the rope, knowing that Thorin was telling the truth.

As several minutes stretched on into a tense silence no one spoke. Bilbo and Thorin stared at each other, and everyone else in the room stared at the pair, very aware of the whirl of emotions that were passing through each of the lovers' minds. Bilbo's knees shook, and he hardly noticed Strider come up behind him until the ranger had taken Minriel from his arms. Mithril was looking at him questioningly, but some sort of instinct seemed to be holding her tongue, for the child made no noise.

"Bilbo." Thorin was the first to speak, and Bilbo felt himself waver where he stood as the dwarf spoke his name. He tried to sort through the emotions behind the one word, or the emotions contained in the king's face, but found it impossible. He trembled all the more at the familiar sound of Thorin's voice, and had to remind himself that now would not be a good time to faint again.

"You- you have returned." Thorin's voice was now hesitant, cautious. He took a small step forward and then froze, and Bilbo had a feeling that Thorin was also remembering their last meeting.

"Why?" Thorin whispered.

Bilbo gulped. This was where he should be saying something. Anything. He needed to explain to Thorin that he still loved him, that the only reason he had returned to the Shire was because he had believed the dwarf he loved to be dead. Now was a very good time to say all of this, but as Bilbo forced his mouth open, no sound came out.

He closed it, and then tried again. Still, he couldn't force the words out. He made a strangled noise in the back of his throat, tried again, and then moaned in dismay. Then an idea occurred to him, and he quickly slipped his pack off his shoulders and dug around within its depths. Never before was he so glad he had thought to bring it.

In the back of his mind, Thorin knew that he would one day find amusement in the way his hobbit was floundering. It was, he decided, rather adorable to see. He quickly pushed such thoughts from his mind. Bilbo wasn't his hobbit, not anymore. Thorin had given up any such rights to Bilbo's hand when he had tried to kill him.

He was then immensely confused as Bilbo thrust a red leather bound book at him. Automatically his hands came up to clutch at it, and Bilbo hastily pulled away before their hands could touch. Thorin looked down at it in confusion, then back to Bilbo, who was now backing away, a silent plea in his eyes.

"Read it," he begged. "Just- just read it. Please." And with that the hobbit turned and fled, sprinting back through the entrance to the throne room before Thorin could respond.

"Da!" called Mithril. She took a step forward, as though to follow her rapidly retreating father, but was stopped by Bifur's hand on her shoulder. He shook his head softly, and she stepped back towards the dwarf with a pout.

Thorin hardly noticed the child. He turned to the book that Bilbo had handed him. Why would Bilbo give him a book? What did it mean? Tentatively he flipped open the cover, his eyes skimming over the familiar handwriting that was scratched ever so carefully across the page. Immediately he knew what the tale contained, and he closed the book sharply.

"Well?" Dis was looking at him expectantly, being the first of the adults to recover from the shock of the hobbit turning up in the mountain. "What is it?"

Thorin shook his head mutely, and then made his way slowly from the room. He could feel the eyes of the others on his back, but he ignored them all as he headed back to his rooms. There he locked the door and sat at his desk to think.

Bilbo was back. Did that mean things had changed? Was he willing to give Thorin another chance? Thorin felt that he didn't deserve it, but knew he couldn't possibly refuse the hobbit if he accepted him back.

He glanced again to the book. Despite what he knew it contained, he was still curious. It was an insatiable thirst, one that itched to know just what Bilbo had thought at all moments of the quest. A part of him also knew that within the book were the answers he had been craving over the past eight years. Answers that he had been afraid to have.

Despite the terror that had caused his heart to pound painfully fast in his chest, Thorin couldn't resist. He pulled the book open and stared down at the page, then forced himself to read. Soon he was lost to the world, wrapped up in days that had long since passed.

Back in the throne room, Dis turned to look at the males all staring after Thorin. Bifur, Bombur, and Bofur had quickly sullened, and Dis suspected they hadn't thought Bilbo and Thorin's reunion would go like that. Behind her Fili and Kili were still pale faced and wide eyed, staring in openmouthed shock at where their uncle had disappeared. Then their eyes moved to where Bilbo had fled from, and then the two brothers' eyes met, looking, as they always did, to each other.

"Well," commented Bofur at last. "That went well."

He immediately flaked under the glares Bombur and Bifur aimed at him.

Even Aragorn wasn't sure what to do. He stood awkwardly to the side, Minriel cradled in his arms as he stared after the hobbit. Something had to be done here, he knew. Someone needed to go after Bilbo, and someone needed to check on Thorin. Since none of the others seemed inclined to do anything other than gawk at the scene that had just occurred until the turn of the century, Aragorn sighed and took matters into his own hands.

He passed Minriel off to Bifur. He had never spoken with the dwarf, as he didn't speak Khuzdul, but figured that if Bifur could handle the rambunctious bundle of energy that was Mithril, surely he could look after Minriel for some time. The dwarf nodded as the man walked briskly from the throne room, only looking down again as Mithril tugged on his sleeve.

"Where did Da go?" she asked in Khuzdul. She reached up and began to play with Minriel's hand, an action that Bifur suspected was soothing to her. He didn't say anything in response to her question, merely ruffling her hair.

Dis however, zeroed in on the small girl. "You speak the language of the dwarves," she observed. Her voice was cool and cautious, yet not unkind, though Mithril seemed not to fully sense that. At the small whimper the now frightened girl gave, Dis's expression softened tremendously. She knelt down, opening her arms for the child to come to her. After some hesitation Mithril did, and Dis gave her a hug and a quick kiss, hoping to reassure her.

"What's your name?" she tried again.

"Mithril."

Dis's eyes widened at the name, and she then realized what Mithril had called Bilbo. Her eyes went to the Ur Family. "Explain," she ordered. Her eyes went to the baby Bifur cradled, noting rather unhappily that she had the pointed ears of the elves. Mithril too had pointed ears, but they were more subtle, the same small tip that Bilbo's ears had.

It took Aragorn over an hour to find Bilbo. Erebor was very large, and Aragorn had never been there before. He had no idea where he was going, or if it was even in the right direction. He tried to avoid attracting too much attention to himself as he moved, resisting the urge to pull his hood up and over his face.

At last he found Bilbo. He was sitting behind a small cluster of stone houses, and Aragorn suspected that the hobbit had simply run blindly until he'd found a relatively uninhabited place to hide.

Bilbo didn't look up as Strider approached and sat crossed legged beside him. Even like that the ranger towered over the hobbit, but Bilbo hardly cared.

"Do you think he'll forgive me?" he asked finally.

Aragorn sighed as he considered. While he didn't want to upset the hobbit, he also didn't want to give him false hope. The truth was he simply didn't know the King Under the Mountain well enough to be able to tell.

"I don't know," he admitted. He reached over and rubbed Bilbo's back, and the hobbit groaned and all but collapsed in on himself.

It took several minutes and many shuddering breaths that Aragorn politely ignored, but finally Bilbo regained his composure. He looked back up at Aragorn, frowning as for the first he time registered the absence of Min and Mith, as the two fathers had nicknamed the girls.

"Where are the girls," he asked.

"I left them with Bifur," Aragorn supplied. He sighed again. "I'm sure the dwarves will have questions about them," he told Bilbo. He paused, examining the weary looking hobbit with hooded eyes. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Does it matter?" responded Bilbo. When Aragorn gave no response besides a glare that said he was waiting for an answer Bilbo sighed. "No," he admitted. "But I shouldn't have run off like that; Mithril will be frightened. I need to get back to her."

He reluctantly pushed himself to his feet, gulping nervously. Bilbo was incredibly frightened of facing Thorin or the other dwarves again; he highly doubted any of the others would have a better reaction than Thorin. But it had to be done. Finally he steeled himself, and then turned to Aragorn with a frown as he realized he had another problem to contend with. "Do you have any idea how to get back to the castle?" he asked.

Aragorn shook his head as a laugh escaped him. "No," he admitted. "I don't."

I'm so sorry it's been so long since I've updated this last. There's been a lot going on lately. The good news is summer's here, so I'm hoping I'll have more time to work on stories. No promises though. I never seem to be able to keep those concerning my stories.

Anyways, here it is! The much anticipated reunion! Thank you so much to everyone who had read and enjoyed this story!