Fili slowly opened his eyes as the sun shined through the curtains and on his face. He had to blink a couple of times before he remembered what had happened and where he was. His eyes immediately searched for Ella and he sighed in relief when he saw her still fast asleep with a sleeping Vili in her arms.
Fili carefully scooted closer to them before he rapped an arm around Ella's waist and nuzzled into her dark curls as he placed a kiss on her head.
Vili had noticed the soft movement in bed but was too tired and too comfortable to wake up so he just grabbed hold on one of his father's braids. A small giggle escaped him when Fili ran a finger over his chubby cheeks.
"Let him sleep." Ella mumbled half awake with her eyes still closed. "Too early for him to start moving around."
Fili only hummed in agreement and brushed his nose against Ella's, which cause her to groan slightly.
"Sleep."
"Why would I do that when I have a beautiful view right in front of me?" He asked as he moved a lock behind her ear.
"Jerk."
"I love you too." Fili smile and placed a tiny kiss on Ella's lips. Ella awoke and pressed in to the kiss a little. She was still too tired to get out of bed but that moment was for her a reason to wake up so early.
"You need to braid your hair again." Ella whispered as she noticed George and Kili still sleeping on the other side of the room. "Gods, you look worse then a blow-dried cat."
"Thanks, love."
"You know I don't mean it like that." She smiled. "Sit up. I'll fix it before we get out before breakfast. No need to give the poor hobbit a heart attack after taking us in like this. I think you scared him enough in the pantry. Here… Hold him."
Ella lifted Vili up and handed him to Fili. He carefully placed the dozing baby against his chest and hummed as Ella's fingers combed through his golden blond hair. He turned his head to look up her green eyes before placing his lips against hers.
Ella pulled back as she felt tears coming up in her eyes and placed her forehead against Fili, even in the odd angle. "I love you so, so much." She whispered with a sob. "I'm sorry for pulling you into this mess. It's all my fault… I got you killed!"
"Hey, hey… It's alright…" Fili whispered as he cupped Ella's face with his free hand and guided her to lay her head on his lap. Handing her Vili, she immediately clung to the baby and sobbed silently into his dark curls. "We're alright…"
He trailed his fingers over her face and smiled when Ella took hold of his hand and kissed his palm. Fili placed his nose against hers before scooping his little family up in his arms and held them close.
XxX
"Alright, everybody up!" Bilbo walked through the bedroom door and swung the curtains open. Fili covered his eyes with his arm as the other still held Ella and Vili, who were both groaning at the sunlight. He couldn't remember falling back asleep. "You slept through breakfast, second breakfast and elevensies. I will not let you skip lunch! Oh Ella, I have a dress for you, don't know if it will suite you though so you have to try it on. Lunch in ten minutes! Everybody up! Kili! George!"
"We're up!" The guys shouted in union as Bilbo walked out with a proud smile on his face.
"NOW!"
Everybody groaned but did as they were told and pushed themselves out of bed. Kili and George pulled on their shirt and shuffled out of the room with their eyes closed but when they opened the door and the smell of food entered the room they were sprinting to the dining room.
"Oh, and now all of the sudden you decided to be Mr. Sleepyhead?" Ella questioned Vili as she put the baby on the bed so she could dress. The baby made no movement to craw and closed his eyes again after a couple of second. "When did he start drooling so much?"
"Don't know." Fili shrugged and pulled his shirt over his head before pulling his hair in a low ponytail with a leather string. "It wasn't that bad yesterday… Maybe it's a sign that he will finally start teething."
"Sure hope so." She smiled and stepped out of her nightgown and into the dress Bilbo had gotten her. It was a sleeveless yellow dress that went just bellow the knees and had green flowers printed all over the skirt. "What do you think?" Ella asked turning in a circle.
"It's short."
Ella just rolled her eyes and pulled on he dirty boots. She actually liked the dress and it fit her well enough, only maybe a little to tight which made it show off her curves a little more then it should. Not that Ella minded though. She only needed to get used to the light fabric instead of the heavy ones she was used to.
"I know it's short." Ella smiled and picked up the baby from bed before facing her husband. "But it is either this or nothing at all."
"I'd prefer nothing at all and keep you locked in here." Fili mumbled and kissed her.
"I should have seen that comment coming."
"You should." He smiled and led her out of the room. "But we'll see what we can do about that after lunch."
XxX
"Vili, don't chew on that!" Ella said and she pulled a stick from Vili's small hands as everybody sat in the backyard. "What's the matter with you? You can't eat this… Here."
She handed him a piece of apple but he turned it away and started biting on his fist in stead.
"Stubborn dwarfling." Ella huffed and ate the piece herself. "Too much like your father you are."
"Maybe we should go to the market." Bilbo said, smoking his pipe together with the dwarf brothers and George, who was pouting when Kili wouldn't give him a smoke. "We could buy him a teething toy and you lot still need to fix and stock my pantry."
"We also need a bird so we can send a message to my Uncle." Fili said. "We at least need to tell him that we are alright and where we are. We also need supplies when we decide to head back."
"We can't just head back." Ella commented. "Vili is to young to travel all the way and even if we were to leave we're still just the five of us. We barely managed to cross middle earth with fifteen in the company. We wouldn't even make it to Rivendell."
"Well figure something out." He smiled. "That is if Bilbo will keep us longer then today."
"Of course you can stay." Bilbo said. "I wouldn't be a Baggins if I kicked you out, now would I? And I actually enjoy your company as long as you don't start throwing with my plates!"
"But we never actually broke any of them." Kili smiled and elbowed the hobbit. "And I wasn't the one who started it."
"But you started singing!"
"It was Fili's idea!"
Bilbo rubbed his face and rolled his eyes. "Bloody dwarves."
"Can imagine." Ella snorted and pulled the stick out of Vili's hands again. "And I'm married to one." She smiled but frowned when she looked at the baby and saw that he had a stick again. "Why you little-! How do you keep doing that?"
"Mama." Vili drooled and smiled up at his mommy before waving the stick around.
"What am I supposed to do with you?" Ella asked and placed him on her lap. "We really need to get you a toy. Can't have the little prince eating sticks, now can we?"
XxX
"I don't like this." Ella whispered as she took hold of Fili's hand and leaned into his side as they walked through the market. "Everybody is staring at us! Remind me again why we decided to come here…"
"Well, first of all we needed to fix Bilbo's pantry." Fili smiled and adjusted Vili in his other arm as the baby tried to keep balance holding onto his now braided hair. "Secondly, we need a teething toy for our son because he keeps chewing on my hair! Vili, daddy's hair is not for eating."
"Dada!" Vili beamed and held up the braid with the bead he had been gumming on.
"Not for eating." Fili shook his head and the braid out of the baby's hand. "But I don't think that you are the only one uncomfortable here." He told his wife and nodded to the hobbit in front of them whose hands were twitching. "Don't think he's been out much since he returned from the quest- George don't run off so far!"
"I'll go talk to Bilbo." Ella said and took the baby from his arm. "You go catch George before he loses sight of us."
As Fili took off, she fell into step with the hobbit and adjusted the baby on her hip. "You alright, Bilbo?"
"Yes, yes perfectly fine." Bilbo mumbled and smiled though Ella could clearly see that he wasn't fine.
"You could've told us where the market was… You didn't need to come with us. We would've understood."
"Are you crazy?" He gasped and stole Vili from Ella's grip before placing the baby on his own hip. "Wouldn't want to give every hobbit in Hobbiton a heart attack. I'm fine, I really am. It's just been a long time since I've been outside like this."
"Sorry."
"No no no no, Ella don't you dare." Bilbo stopped where he stood and turned to the girl with a scolding look on his face. "What happened on the quest wasn't your fault! I decided to go on the quest with you lot and what happened in the end was no ones fault. It was madness! So don't go blaming yourself about it… You stood up for me and that was already more then I could ask. Now let's just get everything we need and head back before we bump into someone-"
"Bilbo!"
"Like Lobelia…" He mumbled and rolled his eyes before turning around with a fake smile. "Hello Lobelia, fine day for a trip to the market, isn't it?"
"Do you know what happened yesterday?!" Lobelia asked. "There was one of your filthy dwarves running around yesterday evening! Snapping at me like some kind of wolf! Downright horrible it was! I want you to send those creatures away before they do us any harm."
"Don't think my teeth are sharp enough to bite your head off." Ella mumbled and ran a finger over her teeth. "No fangs, so I'm not a wolf. Could break your neck if I wanted though but we wouldn't want to traumatize the little ones, now would we?"
Lobelia's eyes flickered to Vili who was biting on his little fist and drooling all over his hand as the other was clinging to Bilbo's honey colored curls.
"Come on, baby." Ella said and picked him up. "Let's go find daddy before I actually try to bite the woman's head off. Wouldn't let the others miss out on that, would we? Let's find you a toy before I am going to let you loose on that woman. Good day miss Sackville-Baggins, it was a joy to talk to you as always."
Bilbo covered his mouth with the back of his hand to hide his chuckles as Ella walked away. He hadn't seen the hobbit woman so terrified in a very long time. Apparently Ella never changed.
XxX
"George, what are you doing?" Fili questioned as he saw the boy surrounded by hobbit girls, who were pulling his hair, poking his side, checking his clothes with blushing giggles. "Where is Kili?"
"Decided I would let him fight this one alone." Kili appeared next to his brother and swung an arm around him before he leaned into his side, causing the blond to trip over a little with a loud laugh. "I bet Lulla would be jealous." He whispered.
"No!" Fili breathed in disbelief. "You're lying!"
Kili just nodded with one of his stupid smirks before it turned into a frown. "Um Fee…" He whispered. "There are girls looking at us too."
"Worried, brother?"
"Me?! Of course not!" Kili hissed. "You?" He mumbled.
"I'm taken." Fili laughed and slipped behind his baby brother before shoving Kili to the group of girls that had been looking at them. "Got a son and everything, so you are the next in line… Have fun." He whispered before giving the brunet a hard final push before turning on his heels and leaned against a stand a couple of yards away.
"Once they get started they never stop." The hobbit behind the stand said with a smile. "Women, they are all the bloody same."
"Aye," He agreed. "But what would we do without them?"
The hobbit scoffed before taking a good look at Fili. "I'm sorry to ask, master dwarf." He said. "But you aren't married by any chance, are you?"
"Yes, I am." Fili said with his head slightly tilted. He was trying to figure out where this was heading. "Why?"
"Well there was this woman a friend and I helped yesterday and she was searching for her husband. She said that she was looking for her husband and child-"
"Bob!" Ella's voice beamed from behind. "What are you doing here?"
"Lady Ella." The hobbit beamed and stepped from beyond the stand with a huge smile on his face. "I see you found your family!"
"And I see you met my husband."
"It seems that way." Bob laughed. "Though I didn't catch his name."
Fili smiled and bowed as he introduced himself. "Fili, at your service. I must thank you, master hobbit, for helping me find her again. I am forever in your dept."
"Oy, Madoc!" Bob shouted to the stand across the road. "Did you hear that?! A prince in my dept!"
"You got help, you dimwit!" Madoc laughed from the other side where he was selling toys. "You wouldn't have found the way back to Hobbiton if I wasn't there! Afternoon, Lady Ella."
"Hey Madoc!"
"I would have found my way back perfectly clear!"
Ella giggled as the hobbits kept shouting and Fili chuckled as he shook his head. "Now lets see, who do they remind me of?" She grinned as she leaned into his side. Fili just cocked a brow before she laughed again. "You are Kili, goofball."
"We're not like that-"
"Yes, you are." She quickly kissed him before walking over to Madoc's stand. "Hey Madoc, got anything good?"
"Anything good? Of course!" Madoc smiled and puled up more toys. "I've got birds and horse, stuffed animals, balls, dolls, blocks, hoops and sticks. I have swords and crowns, bows and arrows! You name it!"
"Got any teething toys?" She asked. "I think Vili's finally going to teeth. He's been chewing on sticks and my braids." She pulled a braid out of Vili's hand to prove her point but the baby just took another one. "Do you see what my problem is? Vili, oh my God!" She huffed when he chewed on her braid again.
"Depends on which one the baby wants." Madoc smiled and held up four teething toys. One was squared; one was round, another in the shape of a butterfly and one in the shape of an apple. He held them up for Vili and the baby's eyes went wide. His small hands reached for a toy and Ella couldn't hold her laughter when he grasped the apple.
"Hey Fili!" She called and lifted the baby for her husband to see. "Are you sure he's yours?!"
Vili looked at his daddy and waved at him with the apple in hand.
"Funny!" Fili called back but when he saw that it was an apple Vili was holding, he face-palmed and turned to Bob. "I swear to Mahal that that woman is going to be the end of me."
"Aye." Bob agreed. "I told you they were all the same."
Okay, so this had been a lot harder to write then I thought :3 But here it is and I hope you enjoyed it... I would love for some suggestions on what to do in Hobbiton because they are going to stay with Bilbo for a couple of chapters. Just the smallest of ideas could help so don't be afraid to leave a suggestion (either send me a PM or write it in the review/comment box) because I need all the help I can get :P Let me know what you thought and stuff (review, follow, favorite, PM me...) Whatever as long as it is something :3 XxX Kneeling Angel
Talk to you again soon my dear readers :3