A/N: This is short. It is just an epilogue. I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'll handle the rest at the end. See you there!

Epilogue

The evening was a quiet one. Fili worked on a design for the necklace he was making for Sigrid. Magnus lay stretched out on the rug in front of the fire, warming his belly. Sigrid sat in her armchair, a lamp on the small table giving her more light to work. Lengths of cloth spilled cross her lap as she carefully stitched designs and gems into it. He was pretty sure it was for Tilda, but he wasn't completely positive.

Fili leaned back from his struggle to figure out how to incorporate jeweled alstroemeria flowers into the limited space. He looked up at Sigrid, leaning his elbow on the arm of the chair and his cheek on his fist, half covering his mouth.

Perhaps it was the rare quiet moment with no one present to observe or distract. Perhaps it was the serene expression on Sigrid's face as she worked stitches unerringly into the cloth, showing such a mastery of her craft. Perhaps it was the way the firelight danced across Sigrid's features, highlighting the copper strands in her hair, the softness of her skin, or the perfect curve of her lips. Perhaps it had always been there, just unrecognized.

Whatever the reason, the feeling that suddenly burned within Fili, sending his stomach into that wonderful falling, tripping, tumbling, weightless feeling he associated with the first stages of their courting, their first kisses, when she'd claimed him after beating a dwarrowdam that Challenged her for his Courtship. Their wedding night when they'd first joined together. The hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stood on end and a smile curved along his lips unbidden.

He loved her.

When had that happened?

"What's that smile for?"

Fili jumped slightly. Sigrid's hands had stilled and she now watched him curiously. "Just taking a break," he answered automatically and shifted his eyes away from her to the sketchbook on his lap, embarrassed at being caught staring. She set her embroidery hoop aside, shifting the excess cloth so it didn't cover her legs but didn't trail along the ground. She folded her hands neatly in her lap and just waited for him, her eyebrows slightly raised. He recognized the pose. It had become familiar over the last ten months of their marriage. She could outwait a dragon that already had a horde, he was sure. She would stay that way until he told her what was really on his mind.

He lifted his hands, motioning for her to join him by the desk. "I have something to tell you," he said, feeling he would burst if he didn't say something immediately. She stood and walked to him, placing her palms into his. He marveled at the feel of calluses across her fingers and palms and the softness of the skin along the backs of her hands, as well as the occasional scar there from her lessons with him and Nori in knife fighting or from him or Dwalin with the sword. He pulled her gently down, twisting her until she sat on his lap. He stretched up and kissed her chastely, savoring the sweetness of her lips. The strange feeling in his stomach returned as she leaned further toward him so he didn't have to stretch so much.

"I love you," he murmured and kissed her again.

Sigrid hummed against his lips and a thrill shot through him at the minor vibration. "Do you now?" she asked, breaking the kiss and smiling coyly at him.

He released her hands and reached to cradle her face, pulling her down a little so he could rest his forehead against hers. "Yes," he said earnestly. "I don't know when it happened but I've fallen in love with you. I am utterly lost for you and have no wish to ever be found by any but you. I do not expect you to feel the same way, but I wanted you to know of my regard for you."

"Fili, I…" she trailed off, muscles taught beneath his hands and on his lap.

He smiled and kissed her cheek. "It doesn't change anything between us," he said. "I think I've loved you for a while and just hadn't realized. I see no reason why saying it aloud should alter our arrangement."

She nodded and relaxed into his hold. "It does change things though," she said.

"Only if you want it to," he said. "I will not repeat it if it distresses you."

"No," she said after a few moments of thought and resting comfortably in his arms. "It's nice to know I am loved."

"Then I will remind you daily," he said and kissed her again.

Nine months later, Fili looked up from his paperwork when the door to his office opened, ready to snap at whoever was interrupting. He needed to finish so he could get home to his lovely wife.

Magnus nosed his way into the room, the door swinging wide against his bulk. Fili watched the door, waiting for someone else to come inside. Instead, Magnus turned and nudged the door with his head until it closed. Then he came over to Fili and propped his large fuzzy head on the dwarf's leg.

Fili smiled. "I see Sigrid finally taught you how to let yourself in and out of a room," he said and scratched at the dog's ears. He went back to reading the report in front of him. He kept rubbing at Magnus' fur until his fingers hit a rolled up parchment attached to the dog's collar. He looked down with a frown.

Sure enough, tied with a little scrap of familiar blue ribbon, was a note with his name written across it. He pulled it away from the dog's collar and opened it, recognizing Sigrid's tidy script anywhere. He read the five words she'd written to him and shoved the note into his pocket. He picked up his papers and left hastily.

He stopped by Thorin's office and entered after receiving permission. Balin was there, just as he'd suspected. Good. He held out the reports he'd been slogging through. "I'll finish these tomorrow," he said. "I need the rest of the afternoon to myself."

"Tell Sigrid we said 'hello,' laddie," Balin said, accepting the papers. He'd place them in the appropriate files and lock them away for the night for Fili.

"Don't make a habit of this," Thorin admonished absently, his eyes scanning the papers in front of him. He yelped and glared when Bilbo whacked him on the shoulder.

"Leave him be. It's not like you've never skived off early before," the hobbit said to his husband. "Enjoy your afternoon," he said to Fili with a kind smile.

"Thanks, Auntie Bilbo," Fili said with a cheeky grin and left before anyone could change their minds. Magnus walked alongside him as he left the mountain and started the hike up the face along a familiar track.

It didn't take long for him to find a familiar ridge. He rounded a boulder and there she was, his lovely wife dressed in his favorite sage green dress, sitting on a deep red blanket with a picnic basket next to her.

"I got your note," he said. "'Meet me at our spot'," He quoted and took a seat next to her. He leaned up into the kiss she gave him.

Sigrid smiled against his lips, her hand coming up to delicately run along his jaw, fingers carding through his beard. She lingered in the soft, slow, chaste kiss before turning to the basket and pulling out his favorite foods, including two slices of the honey cake he so enjoyed that she rarely made.

"What's the occasion?" he asked, happily accepting the plate she handed him.

"I love you," she said.

Fili set his plate aside and pulled her to him again, kissing her thoroughly. "Darling beautiful Sigrid, do you mean it?" he asked. "After all this time? After over a year of marriage?"

"I do," she said and laughed when he kissed her again and it quickly turned into a squeak as he pulled her down on top of him. "Here?" she demanded when his hands started tugging her dress up and he reached for the lacings that ran up the back of it. He delighted in the fact she'd worn the simple green one she preferred and that he loved instead of ones that befit her station as one of Erebor's Princess Consorts.

"Can't think of a better place. Magnus, go keep watch," he ordered and proceeded to show his wife just how much those three words from her lips excited him, how much they meant to him, uttered for the first time in the same place where everything had started between them.

A/N:

Thank you all who have read through this entire fic. That you would stick with me this long is encouraging and humbling all at the same time. It's been over 100,000 words. It's finished. Thank you all for your support.

Those of you that have left comments. Thank you from the very bottom of my humbled heart. Whenever I find myself struggling with my writing, I go back and read them. You give me courage and self-confidence. I will be rereading your comments for years to come.

For those that want more of my writing in this particular fandom: The Bagginshield is started. The Kiliel is in the works. I have a few one-shot ideas in progress as well.

I am still accepting prompts and probably always will be. I look forward to hearing from you all.

Please leave comments and prompts, no matter how long it has been since I published this. I will look for your responses for many years to come.

For the last time in this fic:

Happy reading!