Maura was curled up against the wall of her cell. How did it come to this? What made Lord Elrond send word to this foul elf about what he saw that was to come of her. And then the way Thorin looked at her when he heard all of it. Never did she want any of them to know, especially Thorin. Most of them would have made her stay behind and well Thorin when she first met him, he could care less about her life, or have anything to do with her, but now she wasn't sure about him anymore. She never expected the dwarf prince to step in between her and the elf king. Tears continued to come down the healers face, not only could she still feel the sting of her cheek, or the fact that her own mind made her believe that her family was alive, when she knew the truth, but for her not knowing if Bilbo was alright, made the pit in stomach worse and she finally couldn't keep the tears muffled as they streamed down and every so often she'd let the low whimper escape her lips.

Once Thorin had been violently shoved into his cell, he shot the elf guard a hateful glare as his door shut. When Balin had asked him, if the king had offered them a deal, he could hear the immediate disappointment from his old friend when he didn't accept the offer, just so they could continue you on they're way to the mountain, but his pride got in the way as it always did and now they were locked up to rot. There only hope was the hobbit, but was he still alive, or was he already dead? At that, the prince then realized maybe he should have taken it, they could be out right now looking for their burglar, who could still be out there for all they knew. "Still think Elves are our friends? " The dwarf prince growled lowly. Thorin was cursing himself instantly, when he realized he spoke his thoughts out loud, but it didn't surprise him when the healer never answered him back and thats when he heard it. Coming from the cell beside him, was the soft crying of the woman.

"Maura. Are you all right?" Thorin asked, his voice no longer serious, but with a slight hint of concern and the sniffling stopped.

"Uh, I'm...fine." She choked on her sobs. " Don't worry about me."

"Maura. He'll be alright...I promise." The dwarf stated, knowing what was clearly on her mind.

"How can you be sure? Were stuck in here, and Bilbo's out there all alone. I just...I want him back. I can't lose him too." Her voice broke at the thought and she wrapped her arms around herself and buried her face in her tattered dress. Thorin knew well enough, that when it came to offering words of comfort to someone in great pain, he was terrible at it. He always said the wrong thing or ended up making the person feel worse then they already felt. But it threw him off when the woman had said 'I can't lose him too.' Who was she referring to, that she had lost?

"Maura...Bilbo is not the same hobbit he was when he left the Shire. He's smart, he'll figure out a way to stay alive. We will get out of here." The healer did not say anything, but took some sort of comfort in his words that, hopefully soon they would find a way out of this horrid realm and find Bilbo.

"And not all Elves are like Thranduil. Some are willing to help others in they're greatest needs, regardless of what the issue might be between them." Maura retorted, as she wiped the last few of her tears.

"How can you still defend the elves, after what he did?!" Thorin shot back at her, no longer speaking calmly.

"Because I would not be here now, if it wasn't for the elves!" Maura snapped back and the prince went silent for a few seconds before speaking.

"What's that suppose to mean?" He demanded, his tone getting more aggressive. Remember something that crooked Elf had said in the throne room.

"Nothing. I don't want to talk about it."

"Maura, I saw you're face when Thranduil mentioned Lord Elrond sent concerning news about you. What was he talking about!?"

"I SAID I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!" The healer screamed at him. Maura put her face in her hand, feeling awful for yelling at the dwarf. The remaining company let out awkward coughs and sighs as they had all heard the intense conversation of their leader and healer. She knew he was just trying to help, which still seemed strange to her, since their only form of conversation was disagreeing or meaningless words on this journey. The woman crawled over to the dark corner of her cell and though she knew it was useless, she closed her eyes and laid her head against the hard ground.

The days went by painfully slow. The elves only fed their prisoners water and bread to keep them from starving. A week went by and then another and then another and soon it felt like they had been behind bars for nearly a month. Maura had barely spoken to Thorin in the passing weeks as he continued to ask her what it was she was so afraid of telling him.

Being locked up in these small quarters were making the dwarves insane. Maura was at the point that she would hear the hopeful sound of the hobbit's voice, only to find, once she looked at her door that their was nothing there and now she could only think that Bilbo was dead and that she had not only failed him, but failed to keep her promise to her friend.

"I'll wager the sun is on the rise. Must be nearly dawn." Bofur sighed loudly for all to hear.

"We're never going to reach the mountain, are we?" Ori asked sadly, his only replies were the disappointing sigh's of his comrades and brothers .

"Not stuck in here, you're not."

All the dwarves head's perked up at the sound of their burglar's voice and they all ran to the bars of their doors.

"Bilbo!" Balin exclaimed, seeing the young fellow alive. Maura heard all the loud cheers of her companions, but thought it was nothing more then her mind playing tricks on her once again.

"Shh there are guards nearby!" The hobbit hissed, silencing them all as he unlocked their doors one by one, starting with Thorin's.

"Aunt Maura?" Bilbo called out as he opened her door. The woman squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ignore it. It wasn't real. Just like ever other time she heard since being locked up here. "Aunt Maura, it's me." The woman slowly turned around and tears came to her eyes as he stood in front of her.

"Bilbo!" She cried as she ran over to him and held him close. "You're alive." Bilbo held his aunt just as close, when he saw the others about to head up the stairs and he stopped them. " Not that way. Down here. Follow me." He whispered as he began to descend down a flight of stairs and the company followed behind them, moving as quietly as they could. Once at the bottom, the dwarves began to panic when they realized where the hobbit had led them.

"I don't believe it! We're in the cellars!" Kili hissed and the others looked at Bilbo and glared at him.

" You were supposed to be leading us out, not further in!" Bofur snapped.

"I know what I'm doing!" He retorted, and the dwarf in returned shushed him. The followed behind the hobbit further into the room and saw a number of barrels piled on one another.

"Everyone, climb into the barrels quickly." He ordered them, quietly.

"Are you mad? They'll find us!" Dwalin growled at him, and the others silently nodded their heads in agreement. The hobbit had led them to their doom.

"No, no. They won't I promise you. Please, please, you must trust me." He pressed, but none of them budged an inch. Maura turned to look at Thorin for help. Bilbo had led them this far without getting them caught, he deserved to see the rest of his plan through.

"Do as he says." The dwarf prince ordered and the Dwarves began climbing into a barrel.

"Thank you." She quietly whispered to him. Thorin slightly nodded before guiding over to the others only to see to his mere disappointment that only one barrel was available and he looked at her.

"Get in."

"What about you?" She asked

"I'll climb in after you." He informed.

"W-wait, what? Thorin we wont fit in that barrel" She protested.

"Maura get in now! We don't have time to argue about this." The healer grumbled under her breath, but knew he had a point. The elves would figure out if they hadn't already that their prisoners were no longer in their cell's. Maura climbed into the barrel and Thorin managed to squish in beside her, making her feel extremely uncomfortable.

"What do we do now?" Bofur asked and the others slowly poked their heads out of the barrels.

"Hold your breath. "Bilbo said, pulling a lever.

"Hold my breath? What do you me-" Bofur began, but never got to finish when the barrels began tumbling down the ramp when then floor opened up and one by one fell into the river and the floor closed above them.

The dwarves looked up when they saw the floor opening up again and the hobbit fell into the freezing cold water. " Bilbo!" Nori shouted, as grabbed the halfling by his arm so he could take hold of the edge of the barrel.

"Well done Master Baggins." The prince praised. Bilbo waves him off. "Let's go!" The dwarves began to follow the river, when they came around the corner and Maura's eyes widen when she saw what they were about to go down. "HOLD ON!" Thorin roared. The healer let out a scream as they went over the waterfall, before it was muffled when their barrel got plunged under the water.

The barrels continued down the river when a horn is heard behind them. They turn around to see a bridge coming up with armed guards. One elf quickly runs over to pull the lever and shut the gate before the company is able to go any further.

"No!" Thorin growled in frustration as he yanked at the metal, but it didn't budge. The guards then drew their weapons as the barrels began knocking into one another. Suddenly coming from over the wall was a loud roar.

" Watch out! There's orcs!" Bofur yelled as a number of orcs began swarming the bridge, killing the elves and launching themselves at the unarmed dwarves.

"Get under the bridge!" Thorin ordered, hearing the commotion that was happening above them. Bilbo was the only one with a weapon, stabbed any orc that tried to come near them.

While the elves were fighting off the orcs that were invading their lands, Kili was the only one to notice the lever was unattended and he climbed onto the edge of his barrel and jumped over to the platform. The young dwarf ducked as an oncoming orc swung his blade, trying to cut his head off but failed too and got knocked into the water.

Dwalin tossed the lad an orc weapon that he had taken from an orc he had killed earlier. Kili quickly made his way over to the lever, taking out any orc that tried to stop, he was just out of reach of the handle when he suddenly felt a shot of pain go through his leg.

"Kili!" Fili yelled. The younger brother groaned as he fell on his back.

"Kili." Maura heard the concern in Thorin's voice as he feared for his youngest nephew. More elves from the guard showed up, among them was the elf prince and she- elf that had captured them weeks ago in the forest. The healer tried to see if she could spot Kili, she had no idea how badly he was hurt and hated not being able to help him. The gate suddenly open and Maura's and Thorin's barrel was the first to go down, yet another waterfall again, with the healer screaming before being submerged under the powerful waves.

The continued down river, begin followed by the orc pack being led by Bolg, the spawn of Azog the Defiler. Thr orcs jumped at them from all area's, trying to tip their barrels over. Some continued to stay on the high ground, shooting arrows at them. Without warning Thorin pushed Maura's head down into the barrel when at orc launched its self at them, nearly tipping them over before Thorin managed to shove it into the rapid water and they continued on their way.

The elves had caught up to the fleeing company and began eliminating the filth's in their path. The healer knew well enough elves were excellent fighters, everything about them was always so graceful, smooth and they never missed their targets. But she couldn't help but notice the elf prince seemed to be taking it as far as to show off his skills as he took out dozens of orcs. They were coming around a corner when an orc jumped through the air at them. Maura screamed and unintentionally buried her face in the princes chest when an arrow came flying through the air right into the orc and bringing it down into the water instead. Maura instantly saw Legolas and they both shared a look before their barrel continued to be pulled by the current.

Legolas was fighting an orc, when another one quickly approach behind him to take the elf out when Thorin, throws his sword at the orc, causing it to fall into the river. The barrels go over another steep waterfall. Thorin and Legolas share a look of some understanding and the elven prince stops pursuing the company in the barrels as they continued to drift down the rapid river with the orc pack trailing behind them, trying to catch up.