The bags that had been under Cheyanne's eyes for months were gone. Her complexion was back to its normal shade. Her eyes were bright and glimmering. Her lips and cheeks were pink and healthy. Her hair bounced about at its length a few inches below her shoulders, thick and shiny. She looked… perfect, despite having been ill not two hours before.

She noticed Thorin's staring, and she lowered her own gaze from his.

"It's a shock, isn't it?" she asked quietly. "Gandalf's magic is powerful, just… not powerful enough to do the one thing that would have made this easier for everyone."

Thorin exhaled. "Cheyanne…" He approached the bed slowly. He wasn't afraid, just… wary. If she was not the same as she had been before the illness…

She raised her eyes when he stopped beside where she sat, and they met gazes again. Thorin studied her for a very long moment. Cheyanne sat silently, and let him do so.

Finally, Thorin reached out a hand towards where one of hers rested on the bed. Cheyanne let him take it in his own, and she watched their fingers join together, before she looked at Thorin again.

"You are not supposed to be a Hobbit," he said softly, his own eyes on their hands.

"Well… that depends on who you ask," Cheyanne said carefully. "The author of the book all of you are from planned on me being a Hobbit, and Gandalf thinks I'm supposed to be a Hobbit." She shrugged one shoulder. "I just… came out as a human instead. But I'm a Hobbit now."

"You do not belong in Middle-earth."

Cheyanne blinked at him. "That also depends on who you ask," she finally said, aware of her voice breaking. "Thorin? Do… do you think I belong in Middle-earth?"

The King said nothing for a very long time. He simply continued to study their joined hands, as though he were waiting for some sort of sign to appear within them. Cheyanne waited quietly, more afraid of hearing his answer the longer the silence ensued.

Thorin eventually glanced up from their hands and met her eyes again. His were shining with unshed tears.

"I believe that you belong with me," he replied, "which is why you returned to me, even after everything that has tried to keep us apart."

Cheyanne's head fell, and she released a quiet sob. She hadn't been expecting that.

Thorin let her hand go and pulled her forward so that her forehead lay against his shoulder. His hands circled on her back soothingly, and he murmured gently to her: "Shh, 'ibinê. You do not need to cry."

Cheyanne did her best to stifle her sobs, but it didn't work out. She turned her head so that she wasn't crying directly into his shoulder and sniffled several times.

"Sorry," she said. "I just… I didn't know how you'd react to this."

"Honestly? I'm more than a bit confused, but not entirely disbelieving. After all…" He paused and closed his eyes. "I've always wondered why you appeared from practically nowhere the day prior to the journey."

"What do you mean?" Cheyanne asked, leaning backwards so that she could look at him.

"I mean… I'm referring to you, my One, appearing to me just before the journey that would destroy or secure my legacy," Thorin answered. "You were the good omen that I needed, and I wondered why you had entered my life when you did." He smiled at her. "Now I know that it is because someone wrote it that way."

Cheyanne couldn't help herself. She let out a chuckle. "Strange, hmm?"

"Yes," Thorin agreed. "But not a bad strange."

Cheyanne smiled again, and Thorin couldn't help himself. He leaned forward, prepared to give her a deep kiss, but was interrupted when her belly let out a loud, hungry growl.

Thorin stopped only a couple inches away from her lips, and bowed his head, chuckling. Cheyanne let out a giggle of her own.

"Sorry," she said. "I'm sort of starving."

"We'll get you fed," Thorin assured. His eyes had found her belly and were fixated on it. "It's important that you eat."

Cheyanne realized what he was gazing at, and she stared at her belly for a moment as well, frowning to herself. Her eyes then widened slightly, and she looked up again in disbelief.

"I'm glad you're hungry," Thorin said quietly, "considering the vomiting you did all morning."

"Thorin…" He glanced upwards, and Cheyanne blinked at him. "Oin checked on me before Gandalf did his magic, didn't he?" Thorin nodded. "And… what did Oin tell you?"

"He told me that you're carrying a child," Thorin replied. Cheyanne gaped at him, and Thorin offered her a smile. "We're going to have a baby."

One of her hands flew to her mouth while the other immediately went to her belly. Thorin reached forward and covered it with his own, gazing at her all the while.

Her eyes closed, and then opened, and she slowly lowered the hand over her mouth. "A baby? Is he… is he positive?"

"I do not know, but Gandalf didn't disagree," Thorin said. "Cheyanne, we have a few things to discuss regarding this baby."

Cheyanne inhaled shakily, and nodded a few times. "Yes," she agreed. "You mean whether or not we will tell it about me." Thorin dipped his head, and Cheyanne exhaled slowly. "I believe it depends on what we tell everyone."

"Which is another thing we must discuss," Thorin added.

"Yes," Cheyanne said again. She drew her lower lip between her teeth and glanced downwards at her belly. "You know… we don't have to tell everyone. It can just be… between us, and whoever else Gandalf has already told." She raised her eyes and met his. "It's not as though we need everyone to know."

Thorin gazed at her without blinking for a long moment. Finally, however, he looked downwards and exhaled slowly. "Cheyanne… the way I was able to lead my people after Erebor was lost was by not… keeping anything from them," he said, carefully. "I do not want to keep things from them now, either, especially something as big as this."

Cheyanne studied him in surprise, and Thorin finally raised his eyes and met hers again. He reached up a hand and placed it against her cheek. "If they were willing to accept you before, imagine what they will think now, knowing that we were written for one another."

Cheyanne had to smile at that, but then she shook her head. "When they learn that they themselves are written characters… what will they think?"

Thorin considered this for a moment, and then he smiled, too. "They will think that a happy ending has finally found them," he said softly, "and, truly, I believe one has."

Cheyanne couldn't help herself. She closed the distance remaining between the two of them and covered Thorin's lips with her own. Thorin let out a quiet breath against her mouth, and Cheyanne pressed into the kiss further, deepening it to a depth they weren't unfamiliar with. Thorin's arms closed around her waist tightly and pulled her across the bed and closer to him. Cheyanne's hands went to his hair and her fingers tangled within it as she tilted her head, humming into his mouth.

Thorin released a soft chuckle when she finally pulled away, their lips parting with a gentle, but resounding smack, and Cheyanne grinned at him.

"Sorry," she whispered, pressing her forehead to his. "I love you, that's all." She let out a light laugh and pressed a kiss to his nose. "You know, I loved you long before I saw the movies."

Thorin frowned for the first time when he heard this. "What, pray tell, is a movie?" he asked her, and Cheyanne let out a rambunctious giggle.

"It's hard to explain, but it's basically a visual book," she explained when the giggles had subsided. Thorin still looked confused, and Cheyanne shook her head. "Never mind. I'll try to explain it later." She leaned backwards away from him and glanced around the bedchamber. "How do we tell everyone, then? Gather them all outside of Erebor like when they returned, or do you have something more…" She glanced at him, her eyes sparkling. "... something more party-like in mind?"

Thorin had to smile at the excitement in her gaze. "It's been several months since Erebor had something to celebrate," he admitted. "Perhaps the news of the Queen and the heir is… party worthy."

Cheyanne could barely contain her excitement. "I'd say so!"

Thorin laughed and leaned forward to kiss her again, savoring this one. When he withdrew, he let out a soft breath. "I missed you so much these last months," he murmured. "When Gandalf told me that your memories had changed, I feared you had changed." He slipped a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. "I see now that my worries were unnecessary."

"Thorin, I promise you that whatever you loved of Cheyanne with Middle-earth memories is still here," Cheyanne told him. "My memories may be different than they were, but the rest of me is just the same." She smiled at him. "Believe me, I have no reason to be different."

Before Thorin could respond, there was a knock on the bedchamber door. He glanced at her, and Cheyanne smiled before saying, happily, "Come in!"

The door opened and Dwalin came bustling through. He stopped dead when he saw Cheyanne sitting up right on the bed, mostly for the same reason Thorin had hesitated. She didn't look as though she'd been sick whatsoever. It was a shock.

Cheyanne, however, merely continued to smile. "Hello, Dwalin," she greeted. She slid off of the bed with Thorin's help and went over to where he stood, stock-still. "Everything all right?"

Dwalin stammered momentarily, and Cheyanne raised an eyebrow at him. He stopped, and lowered his gaze to the floor in order to regain his senses.

"Dwalin?" Cheyanne prompted.

The big Dwarf's shoulders shook a bit, and he sniffled. "I just… I cannot believe that you're all right," he said quietly. "All this time, all that worrying, and you're just… here." He lifted his gaze from the floor and glanced past her. "What has changed?"

Cheyanne exhaled, and shook her head. "Nothing," she said softly. "I promise, Dwalin. I'm the same as I was before. I just… have different memories, now. That's all."

There was a moment of silence where Dwalin continued to stare past her, and Cheyanne gazed up at him, hoping that he would look at her. Thorin watched the two of them, frowning to himself.

Finally, however, Dwalin closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were focused on Cheyanne, and she gave him her most reassuring smile.

"It's me," she said to him.

In response, Dwalin's arms went around her in a hug, and he exhaled slowly.

"Yes," he agreed after a moment of hugging. "It is you, thank Mahal."

He let her out of the hug after a moment, and grinned at her. "Sorry," he said. "I just -"

Cheyanne merely shook her head. "Don't worry about it," she said.

Dwalin wanted to say more, but Gandalf and Bilbo appeared in the bedchamber doorway before he could, and Cheyanne turned to them, pleased.

"Yes, food!" she exclaimed, going over to where they were. Bilbo gaped at her as she grabbed for the biscuits on the tray he was carrying and shoved them into her mouth. She noticed his expression a moment later, and glanced at him, a biscuit halfway to her mouth, which was still full of another.

Gandalf chuckled to himself as Cheyanne quickly swallowed down the biscuit she'd already put in her mouth, and grinned at Bilbo.

"Hi," she greeted. "Sorry. I'm just… really hungry."

Bilbo stared at her for a moment, and then he snorted to himself and looked up at Gandalf. "Not a Hobbit," he said, disbelieving.

That caused laughter to erupt from everyone in the room, and Cheyanne quickly took the tray Bilbo was holding away from him and set it down before throwing her arms around him in a tight hug.

Bilbo returned the hug immediately, burrowing his face into Cheyanne's shoulder with a heavy exhalation. He didn't care what Gandalf said; Cheyanne was his cousin, and his best friend, no matter where she came from. And he was very happy that she was all right.

He could only hope that everyone else felt the same as he did, even when they learned the truth.

Hurray! Everything's better! Baby! Memories! No one's pissed off! Yet!