CHAPTER 20 - A NEW FAMILY
Milestone! We've hit chapter 20 - and it's extra long, just to celebrate :)
Disclaimer: I do not own the Hobbit or any of the characters/story lines that belong to it, all credit goes to J.R.R. Tolkien, in all his glory.
Hayden woke the next morning with Thorin's arm wrapped around her waist from behind her. It was the first night they had slept in the same bed through the entire night – well, the first night she could remember, at least. And she had to admit she wouldn't mind waking up to this every morning.
Memories of the night before flew around in her mind and she couldn't help but smile to herself in content. Today was the day she would get to see the land of her dreams. The world that she had dreamed about going to since she had first read The Hobbit – and now it was really happening. It was all too good to be true.
Her stomach twisted a little at that - too good to be true... She had been pushing that out of the way since she had agreed to go to Middle Earth with Thorin, but now it came to the front of her mind.
She had read The Hobbit millions of times and each time it ended the same: the slaying of Smaug, the Battle of the Five Armies – and Thorin's death. But surely the ending wouldn't be the same as the book? The Company's appearance in her apartment made it very different as it is. But there was still a chance, a very real chance that he could-
She quickly shook the thoughts from her head. No, I will be there with him this time, she thought defiantly, and I won't let that happen.
Convincing herself that she was worrying for nothing, she slowly turned around to face Thorin and studied him as he slept soundly.
His face was relaxed; his mouth slightly open, and she could see the outline of his muscles through his shirt, which was enough to take her breath away.
God, if that's with his shirt on I can't wait until it's off, she thought with a smirk.
If someone had told her a few weeks ago that she would be in love with Thorin, King Under the Mountain, she probably would have run from them thinking they were psychotic. Now, it made so much sense. It seemed cliché to think that her whole life had been a struggle and a blur until this moment, but it was true.
Careful not to disturb him, she got out of bed, planning on finding clothes to wear and taking a long shower - and last shower, she thought with a groan.
"Where are you running off to?"
Thorin was sitting awake in the bed and had propped his head up on his arm, looking at her with satisfaction and amusement.
"Getting ready," she stated, still looking around for her clothes.
"Why?"
She stood up straight and looked at him, "Why? Because it's freezing and we have long day ahead of us."
"All the more reason to come back to bed," he grinned, lifting up the blankets and inviting her in.
The temptation was all too much, and she rolled her eyes and crawled back into bed, wrapping her legs around him. She propped up a pillow and layed her head on it so that she was eye level with Thorin.
"I am going to miss it here," he sighed, laying his hand over hers.
"Me too… but it's worth it," she smiled and leaned in to kiss him.
"I should warn you," he said seriously, "This journey will be dangerous – and I need you to promise you will do everything I tell you."
"What do you think I am?" she asked indignantly, "A child?"
"No," he said, "You are simply very stubborn and I won't have you hurt because you think you know better than me."
"I do know better than you," she shrugged, "And if I'm stubborn then you're the bloody King of stubbornness."
"You see? Even now you are fighting back!"
"And you wouldn't do the same?" she scoffed, and he stayed silent, "But yes, I will do everything you tell me."
"That was not so hard, was it?"
"Don't get too used to it."
Hayden made to get up but Thorin's strong arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her back.
"Not so fast, woman," he said, and she turned to glare at him.
"Don't call me that."
"What, woman? You are a woman though," he smirked challengingly.
"And a woman who has a name," she huffed, making to get up once again. But Thorin continued to ignore her protests, holding her down and kissing her jawline and down her neck, causing her to moan in surprise delight.
"You-" she made to insult him but he caught her mouth with his, quickly silencing her.
"'Stubborn bastard'?" he offered.
Hayden went slightly pink in the cheeks, "You heard that?"
"And a few other names, which I must admit were quite creative for a young lady."
"Well, serves you right for eavesdropping," she retorted, and quickly slipped out of bed before he could stop her, leaving behind a surprised Thorin glaring at her from the bed.
"Morning," she said to the Company as she walked into the kitchen, receiving a few grunts and hellos in reply, as they were only just waking up.
"I was wondering, Parker," Kili called from the couch, "If you had seen Thorin?"
"Of course, he's in my-" she abruptly stopped talking when she saw the smirk on Kili's face and the dwarves all turned to stare at her.
"You mean to say that the perfect Miss Hayden Parker spent the night with a man in her bed?" Fili jeered dramatically, sitting up straight in his seat.
"You will honestly be the death of me," she glared at Fili and Kili, her face blushing bright red.
She made to busy herself making a coffee but stopped when she saw out of the corner of her eye the dwarves exchanging small brown packs between one another.
"What are you doing?" she asked them suspiciously.
"Gambling," Dwalin grunted, throwing his own money pack to Fili, who grinned happily.
"On what?" her eyes narrowed with further suspicion.
"How long it would take you and Thorin to spend the night together," Bofur replied.
Hayden almost dropped her coffee mug in shock.
"What?"
"Please Hayden, don't act like you don't know what that means," Fili stared disbelievingly at her.
"No, I know what it means," she spluttered, turning an even brighter red, "But we didn't- there wasn't any- we didn't do uh…"
At this the dwarves stopped to stare at her again, pausing in between sorting the winnings.
"What do you mean?" Kili said, looking rather crestfallen, "You just slept? You didn't do anything?"
"Of course not!" she growled, never feeling more relieved that Thorin was not in the same room as her, "I have some self respect you know."
She hid the fact that it wasn't exactly her idea to wait for 'the right time' – if it was up to her she would spend all day wrapped around the handsome dwarf – but she wasn't going to let the Company know that.
At her words, about half the dwarves who had been handed packs of money begrudgingly gave them back to their original owners. Fili and Kili, who had gained the most from the bet, were most reluctant to give back their winnings and looked disappointed in the result of the night.
"So, you all took bets on how long it would take Thorin and I to sleep together?" she asked them incredulously, leaning on the kitchen bench.
"Pretty much," Gloin shrugged.
"I can't believe you all, that's so horrible!" she frowned, noticing the dwarves looked unabashed by her reaction.
"What is horrible?" Thorin asked, walking into the room.
Oh, typical, now he walks in, she thought bitterly.
"Nothing," she replied quickly, shooting all the dwarves a warning glare, "I just found out dwarves are rather fond of gambling."
Thorin grunted and shrugged, brushing his hand around her waist as he past her to get a drink.
Hayden heard Fili and Kili snigger from the other side of the room and she shot them another glare.
"Want to make this journey a lot more interesting, Parker?" Kili asked, jumping up from his seat to join her at the bench, his brother close behind him.
"Because we all know it's going to be so boring," she scoffed, "That depends, though."
"How about you join us all in another bet?" Kili suggested.
"I'm listening," Hayden nodded for him to continue.
"We've all placed guesses as to where in Middle Earth we're going to land," Kili explained, "Simple enough, the person who guesses correctly wins the cash."
"As interesting as that does sound, I don't have any money to gamble," she shrugged, "At least none that's worth anything in Middle Earth."
"Do not worry about that, I shall provide the money," Thorin said, joining in on the conversation.
"What? No, I can't-"
"You can, and you will," he said simply, "If by chance you do win, we will share the winnings."
"Why?" she frowned.
"What's mine is yours," he said with a smile.
She returned the smile and took his hand, which was resting on the bench, and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"Alright then, I'm in," she said triumphantly, turning back to Fili and Kili, who had been unusually quiet during her and Thorin's conversation. After she spoke, they seemed to wake up from their daze and became their normal selves once again. But she did notice they did not make a sarcastic comment about Thorin's sweet gesture, which was definitely odd.
"Fantastic," Fili grinned, "Where do you think we will land?"
"Fili guessed Dol Guldur, I said Mordor," Kili listed, "A few of the lads guessed the Shire, Mirkwood, and Bifur said Erebor – at least I think that's what he said."
"Rivendell," she said, making up her mind immediately.
"Rivendell?" all three dwarves stared at her.
"Rivendell," she nodded with a smirk. She had no idea why she had chosen the Elven Kingdom, but she had a strong feeling they would end up there, in the place the Company should have visited next.
"All right," Fili shrugged, "Whatever you say."
"You better hope for uncle's sake you're right," Kili added, before leaving.
"Rivendell?" Thorin asked her in distaste, "Are you certain?"
"No," she laughed, "But I think I might be right."
"I hope so," he said, looking very uncertain of her guess.
The Company was in a rather quiet mood for the rest of that day, despite the fact that they were only a few hours away from returning home.
It seemed that, although they were motivated at the start of their journey, they were not at all looking forward to leaving the comfort of Hayden's apartment, which Hayden understood. She supposed it was like going from a sleeping bag on the rough ground while camping to a cozy warm bed in doors – that and the constant fear of being attacked in the middle of the night by orcs.
Hayden spent her day finishing packing and spending time with the dwarves, before the start of their treacherous journey. They had planned to hide her bags wherever they were transported to, so she packed all her essentials into the rucksack that she would be carrying with her.
"I think I'm finally done," she said triumphantly as she zipped up her rucksack.
"Took you long enough," Fili mused from her desk, where he was lounging on the chair.
"Shut up," she muttered, picking up one of the suitcases, "Thorin, would you mind-?"
Thorin nodded and picked up the other case, but as he did so, the zipper slipped open and all her books and photos came tumbling out.
"Oh, shit!" she groaned, "I swear I zipped that up-"
But she stopped when she heard a snigger coming from her bed, where Kili lay sprawled across it, trying hard not to laugh at the scene before him.
"You son of a bitch," she muttered, her eyes narrowing at Kili, who pointedly looked away from her.
She dropped her suitcase and rucksack to the floor and leapt onto the bed in fury, pinning Kili down and whacking him hard with a pillow.
"You asshole! I can't believe you! Do you know how long it took for me to pack that?" she yelled in between beatings.
Kili was breathless from laughter, apparently unabashed by Hayden's anger.
"Children," Fili muttered, pretending to look disapprovingly at the scene.
"Make yourself useful Fili and pick up Hayden's books," Thorin ordered his nephew.
"But it wasn't me who-"
"Do it."
Sighing, Fili reluctantly got off his seat and began piling Hayden's stuff back into her suitcase, and as he was doing so, he noticed a thick folder, the size of an A3 piece of paper.
Making sure his uncle was not looking, he peaked inside to see what was in it and whistled in awe. There were hundreds of hand sketches and water paintings of buildings and structures, some from this century, others that he recognised from Middle Earth.
"Hey!" Hayden yelled at Fili, noticing what he was looking at, "Didn't anyone ever teach you not to look through other people's stuff?"
"No, Thorin was never a very good teacher," Fili smirked, but it quickly disappeared when he heard Thorin's growl from the other side of the room.
Leaving Kili on the bed, Hayden made to grab the book from Fili but he jumped away from her agilely.
"Fili, don't you dare ruin that," she said through barred teeth, attempting to snatch the book away once again but failing.
"Now, why would I do that?" he asked sweetly.
"Because you're the spawn of the devil."
"A little harsh, Hayden," Fili clutched his heart in mocking pain.
"Seriously, Fili, give it back!"
"Oh, seriously? Did you hear that Kili- she's serious about this," Fili grinned, throwing the book over Hayden's head to Kili.
"I had no idea," Kili shrugged, catching the book and looking inside it, all the while dodging away from Hayden, "Wow, Parker. You drew these?"
"Would you just give it back?" she sighed and looked expectantly at Thorin, "Are you always this helpful?"
Thorin sighed and whipped the book out of the air as Kili went to throw it back to Fili, but he did not give it back to Hayden. He opened it just as Kili had done and looked very interested at its contents.
"Hm, there's something new to learn about you each day," he observed, flipping through the pages, "Did you draw these?"
"Yes," she said bluntly, crossing her arms stubbornly.
"You have a real talent," Thorin said, and his face split into a smile at the next drawing.
"What is it, uncle?" Kili asked.
"Our home," Thorin smiled, and held up the book to show a hand sketch of the front doors of Erebor.
"That's Erebor?" Fili stepped forward for a closer.
Fili and Kili had been born after the attack of Smaug, and had never seen their true home before – as there were no pictures in Middle Earth of the Dwarven Kingdom.
"Wow," Kili breathed in awe, "It's even better than I imagined."
The three dwarves turned to stare at Hayden, who was looking at the scene in much interest.
"Where did you learn to draw like that?" Kili asked her.
"I didn't, I just- I don't know I've always drawn…" she trailed off uncertainly.
"But why Erebor?"
"There are more drawings besides Erebor, you know," she frowned, stepping forward to take the book from Thorin, "Look, here's the Doors of Durin…"
She flipped through the pages, naming each of the sceneries she had drawn out that were from Middle Earth.
"The Shire… another Lonely Mountain… Mirkwood… oh and Rivendell-"
"Urgh, Rivendell?" Fili scoffed, "I was beginning to think you had some taste."
"There's nothing wrong with Rivendell, it's beautiful," she said, ignoring the dwarves grunts, "Well I'm not a dwarf and I'm not biased – I'll draw whatever I want."
"Why do you draw so many structures?" Fili asked, "You could draw something more interesting – like us?"
He and Kili struck a pose then and there, and Thorin sighed and rolled his eyes.
"I don't draw people," she said simply, "I draw buildings and scenery."
"Why?"
"Because our Hayden is an architect," Thorin answered for her.
"An architect?" Fili nodded, impressed, "You mean those people who make towers and cities?"
"Yes- and no," Hayden frowned, "We design them- you know, form the ideas and give the dimensions, the actual making is up to the builders."
"Huh," Fili laughed, clapping his uncle on the arm, "She may actually be useful after all."
"Besides for giving us little cousins," Kili added.
"I should have known that was coming," she sighed and for the first time, noticed that Thorin also seemed to look rather awkward at this comment too.
She had never paid any attention to Thorin when Fili and Kili brought up the idea of Hayden becoming Queen and having Thorin's children, but apparently he found it just as embarrassing as she did, because he looked pointedly away from her and went quieter than usual.
"Get out of here," Thorin growled to his nephews, "Before I lose my temper."
"Sorry, uncle but we need to borrow Hayden," Kili shrugged.
"Hey, I'm not just some book for loan," she said indignantly.
"Oh, of course, dear," Fili smiled sweetly, "Keep telling yourself that."
"One of these days-"
"Yes, yes," Kili waved a hand, "We've heard all the threats, believe me."
"Now, follow me," Fili said, stepping out of the room and dramatically gesturing for them to follow.
Hayden sighed and reluctantly followed Fili and Kili out of her room, with Thorin trailing behind her. They found the entire Company waiting for them in the lounge room, looking expectantly as Hayden and Thorin walked into the room.
"Do take a seat, lass," Balin said kindly, offering her a chair that was facing them.
"Oh, thank you," she said and frowned to herself – the attitude in the room seemed a lot more serious than usual, "What, uh- what's going on?"
"We wished to speak with you, my dear," Gandalf said.
"About…?" she asked expectantly, looking over at Thorin, who shrugged, but she got the feeling he knew what this was about.
"Our journey, Miss," Dori said, "You see, it's-"
"It's going to be very dangerous," Dwalin interrupted.
"Oh, I know Thorin already-" she began to say.
"But it's not only orcs or goblins we fear," Gloin said darkly, "There are- well, there are-"
"Worse things that can harm a young lass," Balin sighed.
"I don't understand…" Hayden frowned.
"I think the point our dear dwarves are trying to make," Gandalf stepped in, "Is that you are unquestionably very beautiful, Hayden, and there will no doubt be certain… uh, certain people who may try to, well, take advantage of you."
"Oh…" Hayden suddenly understood and her frown deepened. She knew that sort of stuff would inevitably happen in Middle Earth; she had watched Game of Thrones after all. But she had always naively believed it would be a lot more innocent and nicer to live in.
"But if anyone-" Kili began.
"Literally, anyone," Fili quickly added.
"Lays a hand on you-" Kili mimicked a violent action with his hands of what he would do.
"We don't care if it's a beggar or the bloody King of Middle Earth," Fili said boldly.
"Bad things will happen to them," Kili finished bluntly.
"Oh, you guys, that's so sweet," she smiled, her heart warming as she looked around at the Company, "But I don't expect you to get into trouble just for me-"
"Not just for you," Bofur said, "If anything happened to you, lass-"
"We would never forgive ourselves," Bombur finished for his brother.
"The point is," Balin smiled, "We know you have never had a true family-"
"How do you know that?" Hayden said quickly, looking from Thorin to Bilbo, who were the only two she had told about her past.
"No one told us," Fili said hurriedly, "We figured it out for ourselves."
"Oh, really?" she stared suspiciously at Fili and Kili, knowing this had something to do with them.
"Anyway," Kili continued for Balin, "Since you'll be all alone when we arrive in Middle Earth-"
"Well I won't be all alone," she mimicked Kili, "will I? I'll have all of you."
"Exactly," Fili nodded, "You'll have us. We'll be like the family you never had."
"What?" she said slowly in a whisper, "Family? My family? … Why? Why me, I don't…"
"All of us care very much about you, Hayden," Bilbo said, "Without you, we would not be going home."
"And you made us feel like we had a home," Nori said.
"So… you want to be my family?" she said slowly.
"Not want to be," Kili said, "We are your family, Parker."
Hayden looked around at the rest of the Company who were all nodding in agreement.
"Oh…" she said and smiled, feeling tears coming to her eyes.
She had never had a family before, and here were the Company, the Company telling her they cared about her and that they were her family. She could not have felt happier than in that moment.
"Have we upset you, lass?" Ori asked concernedly, for they had all noticed the tears in her eyes.
"N-no," she half laughed, sniffing and wiping away her tears, "That's- that's the nicest, sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me…"
She quickly hid her face in her hands as tears came streaming down from her eyes.
"And this is what happens when we try to be nice," Fili sighed, "Typical."
Thorin frowned at Fili and walked over to where Hayden sat, kneeling down so that he was at her eye level and gently took her hands away from her face.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine," she sniffed and smiled, "It just took me by surprise."
"We know we don't look much of a family," Gloin shrugged.
"But we're a hell of a lot better than elves, that's for sure," Bofur chuckled.
"No, no," Hayden shook her head, "I couldn't ask for a better family."
The Company all beamed at her and she returned their smiles, looking down at Thorin and noticing that he was smiling aswell.
She wiped away the last of her tears, laughed brightly and fell forward into Thorin's arms, wrapping her arms around his neck in a tight hug.
"Well, I don't see why Thorin should get all the love," Kili shrugged and Fili nodded.
They both leapt up from their seats and Hayden eyed them wearily, breaking away from Thorin.
"Group hug!" they called out, lifting Hayden from her seat and pulling her into a bone-crushing hug.
The dwarves all cheered and jumped up from their seats, surrounding Hayden, Fili and Kili in a massive dwarf hug.
In the tight huddle Hayden was somehow shuffled around, receiving hugs from each of the dwarves (and Bilbo of course) and her smile did not falter once.
At five minutes to midnight the Company and Hayden began making their way to the kitchen gloomily. Although they were looking forward to going home, they had been more relaxed and happy in this time then they had ever been in Middle Earth.
Hayden, however, was shaking with nervousness. It was all too much for her. No longer than a week ago she was just a university graduate sitting on her couch reading her favourite book. Now, she was travelling to the land she was obsessed with, alongside the man she loved more than anyone in the world.
With only 90 seconds to go they huddled together. Gandalf stood at the front with his staff in front of him, muttering in a strange language that Hayden recognised as Sindarin – an ancient language used by the immortal elves.
60 seconds… Gandalf was holding out a hand and talking louder now with his eyes shut in concentration.
30 seconds… Thorin took Hayden's hand in his and squeezed it, and the dwarves all shuffled around impatiently.
10 seconds… Gandalf's voice became even louder and she heard lightning crack outside. Her stomach was twisting nervously.
5 seconds… Hayden took one last look at her apartment and said her last goodbye to England.
3…2…1…
The floor beneath them began to rumble and shake, which was all too familiar to the Company. Hayden squeezed Thorin's hand for comfort, but held her ground. Her kitchen floor began to crack and split, only this time the dwarves did not panic or struggle against it.
The last thing Hayden felt was the floor underneath her fall and she lost her feet and fell into the darkness below her, not letting go of Thorin's hand.
Stay tuned to see what happens next in Chapter 21 of An Unexpected Journey!