Bilbo stalked the halls of the elves blending into the shadows when one of the woodland elves appeared, like most big folk they hardly looked down as they walked past. As to be expected the healer halls had emptied pretty quickly once the feast had begun. It was too easy for Bilbo to slip out of the halls without anyone noticing. The problem was finding his dwarrows, he had no clue where to go, he knew he had only a few hours before someone would eventually check on him so he would have to be fast.

He paused again as he heard the sound of yet another elf approaching. He slipped back into the shadows, just in time as the dark haired elf walked past with a tray that looked like held a bottle of wine and a plate of food. But what drew Bilbo's attention was the slight jangling of metal coming from the elf, and Bilbo almost cried in delight at the sight of the keys that hanged off the elf's belt. He knew that these were what he needed to free his dwarrows once he found them.

Bilbo silently followed the guard with the keys further into the elf kingdom than he had before. Goosebumps started to appear on his arms, as a chill filled the air as the sound of running water came louder in the hobbits ears. If he guessed he would say there were entering the lowest levels of the kingdom.

The elf made his way into what looked like a cellar; that was filled with barrels. Bilbo hid in the shadow of the doorway as the key elf set down his tray in front of a blond elf who looked surprise.

"That is some of Thranduil's finest wine" said the blond elf.

"Indeed," said the dark haired elf, pulling out a pair of goblets "Why should Thranduil have all the fun, while we are stuck here? It's not like the dwarrows can escape and the barrels aren't going anywhere either" returned the elf, filling both goblets to the brim with wine. "We will dump the barrels for Laketown after our own celebrations."

Barrels? He looked around taking in the size of the barrels, they would be big enough to stuff a dwarf in, even Bombur. But how did the barrels get into the river, he could hear the river but didn't see were they could be dumped. Leaving the two elves to drink, Bilbo slowly began to explore the cellars, searching for the way to enter the river. It was quite a large room, and Bilbo looked into every cranny trying to find the river.

It happened when Bilbo began to cross a clear expanse of boards, heading towards a stack of barrels on the other side of the room. He had only took two steps when the world began to tilt, the floor sinking underneath his feet. The roar of the water got louder, and Bilbo scrambled trying to climb the suddenly tilted board. After a few tense moment where Bilbo was sure that he would fall into the river beneath him the board slowly began to tilt in the other direction as Bilbo's weight balanced it back again. Once it was leveled, Bilbo couldn't help but lay on the ground and tried to catch his breath, his limbs shook with leftover adrenaline.

So that was how the barrels got into the river, Bilbo mused slowly sitting up and scutching until his back hit the piled up barrels. He sat their letting his heart slow down, before he dared to stand up to examine the trap door. Now that he was looking he could clearly see the seam that marked that the door was there. He knelt by the far edge and pushed hard, the door opening far enough that he could make out the river below him. He estimated that the river was ten feet below him, but he was certain that once the barrels were in the water that they would be able to float their way down the river until they reached Lake Town.

He slowly made his way back to the two elves, first he would have to find a way to get the keys away from the elf and find his way to the dungeons. He was completely shocked when he arrived back to the two elves that both were leaning against the wall, fast asleep with several bottles of wine empty around them. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Bilbo tip toed to the elf and slowly and gently undid the belt that held the keys, pausing frequently when the elf so much as twitched. Bilbo was sweating when he finally eased the keys off the belt and held them securely in his hands. Letting out a big breath he quickly made his way back up the stairs.

-p-p

The tunnel system hadn't been as easy as to accomplish. It was slow going without the proper tools; many a times in the week that they worked Bofur would have traded his hat for his mattock. As expected the hardest thing was hiding the dirt. It was simple for the bigger dwarves such as Thorin, Dwalin, and Bombur, they just sat in front of their piles when the elves came around. But for Ori it was more difficult to hide. He finally solved the problem by spreading the dirt in the back of the cell and patting it down until it looked like part of the floor.

They had another setback when part of a tunnel collapsed on Kili, Fili screamed so loudly for his brother that the elves came running. It was a mircle that Kili was able to pull himself out of the tunnel and lay on top of it just in time as the elves came in demanding them to be quiet. But despite these setbacks, they were able to follow Bofur's time table and by the end of the week Bofur was breaking the stones that made up the hallway outside of his cell.

He turned to Bifur behind him, "Were through."

Bifur grinned and crawled back to their cell and poked his head out, "Were through!"

There was a quiet cheer that went through the cells, before Thorin's voice rose above the others.

"Alright men, start heading towards Bofur's cell" he called heading towards his own tunnel. The other dwarrow did immediately as Thorin said, slipping under their own bars into their neighbors cell as they slowly made their way towards Bofur's cell. Once Dori and Ori were in the same cell, the older dwarf began to dust the younger one

"Get off Dori" said Ori trying to shake his brother off, but couldn't help the small smile that came onto his face. He secretly had missed Dori's fussing. Dori scowled at Ori but returned the smile after giving him a hug.

Fili and Kili had much the same reaction to finally being able to touch each other once again. Kili had launched himself at his brother as soon as he had cleared the final tunnel.

"It's alright Kili" murmured Fili rubbing his brother's back as Kili buried his face in the crook of his neck. Kili just held on tighter, remembering the tunnel collapse and his panic as he tried to dig himself back out, fighting the dirt that tried to fill his nose, crushing him.

Dwalin grunted as he tried to climb out behind Fili, but found it blocked by the brothers. "Alright laddies, break it up we haven't got all night." The boys complied, but that didn't stop Kili from keeping a firm grip on Fili's arm, with a grin on his face. The cell started to get crowded, as more and more of the Company crawled and a few curses rung out as toes were stepped on. Though the overall mood was excited and impatience as they watched the hole in the floor get bigger and bigger until Bofur hat covered head poked out and grinned as he turned to the Company behind the bars.

"I can see why the elves been keeping us behind bars, you guys are a sight to see" smirked Bofur as he slipped his arms out of the hole and lifted himself out, ignoring the remarks that were snapped back at him. Once his feet were clear he turned to look down the hole. "Bifur hand me that dagger, got get this big enough that Bombur can get through."

Bofur quickly chipped away at the hole, pausing each time another Company member squeezed past, until it was only Thorin, Dwalin, and Bombur left in the cell waiting for the exit hole to be made big enough to squeeze through. It took another ten minutes for Bofur with Bifur help to make it big enough for Bombur girth.

"Come on King of the Tunnel, we got a hobbit to find and an elf kingdom to escape" said Dwalin, holding out his hand for Thorin to take. Thorin scowled at his friend, but grabbed his hand and allowed Dwalin to haul him out of the tunnel. Wiping the dirt from his face he turned to his newly freed Company.

"Alright, the easy thing is done, Balin if you will lead. It's time to reclaim our hobbit."

Balin took the lead leading the Company towards healers halls and hissing for the rest of them to be quiet, which was quite the feat for the Company. It was unsurprising that Nori was the quietest of them all and he elected to bring up the rear.

Bilbo hurried down the hallway, keys clutched tightly to his chest to prevent them clanging. He had passed a hallway when following the elf, and he would use that as his starting point in finding his family. Turning to glance behind him, he wasn't watching where he was going. Nori who had heard a slight noise behind him was pausing to find the source didn't see the silent hobbit until they ran into each other. Nori's arms shot out automatically to steady the hobbit.

Nori and Bilbo looked stupidly at each other for a long moment. Nori was the first to react, scooping the hobbit into his arms he hugged him tight. "Here we thought we needed to rescue you, and from the looks of it you were about to rescue us" he said looking at the keys in the hobbits hands.

"Well didn't want to ruin my streak" returned Bilbo, hugging the dwarf the best he could. "Were are the others?"

Nori smiled and turned to where the others were still moving forward, let out a shrill whistle that caught the attention of the rest of the Company. Bilbo had the nerve to smile cheekily and wave at them from his place in Nori's arms. His smile grew bigger as the Company came charging back and soon he was tugged out of Nori's arms and into anothers, and for the next few minutes he was passed around and hugged, with cries of 'Bilbo' and 'Uncle Bilbo'.

Only Balin was the only one not shocked at the condition Bilbo was in. Though he was much improved compared to what he was a week ago, he still looked bad, thinner than he was before. Oin's scowl was dark as he grabbed Bilbo, his eyes scanning the hobbits frame taking in the new and old bandages and the slight chaffing of skin that surrounded Bilbo's neck and ankles. "When we get out of here I'm giving you a full medical check-up, no arguments!" he huffed, mentally comparing how much Bilbo weighed in his arms compared to when he was at Beorn's and how much it would take to get Bilbo to a healthy weight.

Bilbo nodded solemnly, he knew better to argue with Oin. But he would rather take the fussy dwarf than to ever be touched by another elven healer. Oin seemed to realize this and gave the hobbit a soft smile and gently tapped their foreheads together. Bilbo grinned, "I'm alright Oin really" he whispered.

Oin snorted, "I think I'm the judge of that."

The dwarves were too busy celebrating the fact they found their hobbit that they didn't notice a set of footsteps approaching until a startled gasp had them snapping their heads to find the source of the noise blanching with fear when they took in the sight of Legolas standing in front of them.

The two parties froze, in any other circumstances it could be counted as funny, but not now. The Company unconsciously moved to circle the youngsters keeping all four in the middle of the group. Legolas's eyes found the hobbit in the middle of the group, before they gazed back at Thorin. He deliberately turned and started to walk away while calling back over his shoulder. "You have ten minutes before I alert the rest of the guard; don't expect any lenience when you are recaptured."

Legolas smiled as he walked away, there was no way that the dwarrows could get away, the only way was through the gate which didn't open unless you were an elf. It was a win-win situation for Legolas some of his guilt he felt for the Halfling would lift, the dwarrows would find there was no escape and soon find it was hopeless to resist anymore and tell his Father their plans and Thranduil would no longer torment Bilbo. Yes it would best for everyone to let this play out.

The dwarrows stood there for a second longer, absolutely stunned, it was Bilbo who snapped out of it first, grabbing Thorin by the arm and pulling him back towards the way he came. "Come on we only have a few minutes. We need to get to the basement, I have a way out of here."