Six-Months Later

The Shire

I was still trying to rest, labor was something that I did not expect to be so difficult and more than that, painful. I had been early, labor coming about two weeks before we had expected it, so it had just been me and Bilbo there, screaming through most of the night. Funny thing was, Bilbo was screaming more than I was. Some neighbors came and looked into the widows to see what was going on, some of the kinder hobbit-women came and took over for Bilbo who immediately went outside and did not come back in for the rest of the night. I did not know that such thing could happen to a body, that one creature could be in such pain one moment and then the next it was just like. . . nothing once again and then right there in front of me, crying and squawking was my child. I smiled as I held onto him as tightly as I could, whispering small things to him in Elfish as the women started to take away all of the soiled material.

" Quite now, Injros. My midnight star." I whispered to him as the women left just like the came and Bilbo slowly came back into his house.

" Tiny little bugger." Bilbo said as he sat beside of me.

" Tiny?" I said with a huff as I looked down at him. " Tiny, but very strong." I smiled as I noted how long his noise was and smiled to Bilbo as he noticed it as well.

" I'm glad to see that he is a rather quite Dwarf. Too many loud ones have been in my house in the past year." He smiled as he placed his arm over my shoulder.

" Will be gone as soon as my little hole is made in the hill beside of you. I swear on it." I smiled as he shook his head.

" No worried on that. Besides, you are still planning on going to Rivendell when the baby is born . . . well now that he is born a little before hand."

" I should tell Fili and Elrond. Send a message to them both." I said as I tried to stand to move to the window to use what little magic I had left in me.

" No. You should get some rest. Send the message in the morning. Besides, with the whispers that go around in the Shire, they will surely know by morning anyway." He said as he helped me up the stairs to the small room off of the side of his.

" You are truly a wonderful friend." I said as he helped me into bed, my body clutching to Injros. " I will owe you for what you have done for me and my child."
" Call it equal for all of the times that you saved my life." He said as he waved his hand to me and gave Injros a small kiss on the head. " Tomorrow morning I will go to the market and get everything that I can find for the child."
" You know where my treasure is." I smiled as I waved towards the corner of the room to the flowing amount of treasure I had.

" Call it a gift, from me." Bilbo said as he shook his head and left the room. " Goodnight."

" Goodnight, my friend." I said in Elfish as I looked down to my sleeping child.

There was something wrong when I awoke. It was just before dawn and my child was seep in a dead sleep beside of me. But I could hear the noises of people downstairs. I was in a state of panic as I believe that someone was trying to break into my dear friends house! A burglar in my burglars house! No. I instantly took my rob from where it hung on the door frame and searched around for whatever weapon that I could find. Looking all over my room as quietly as I could, the only thing that I could find was a fire poker from my fireplace where the fire had died long into the night. I looked over to my child to note that he was safe in the middle of my bed and nuzzled him lightly to check that he was still breathing.

" Stay quite, little one." I whispered to him, though I knew that there was no way that he would understand me yet and quietly left the room.

I looked around the upstairs to find that there was no one up there yet and as I crept my way down the stairs I could hear the voices were getting louder and louder as I made my way down them. There seemed to be so many, how was I going to defend myself with a fire poker? I swung it around so that the sharper side was with me and the more blunt side was out as I made my way down all of the other stairs and hit the first thing as hard as I could with a loud thud. But when I looked to see what I had hit I instantly dropped the weapon to the ground and placed my hands onto my mouth to over my jaw hanging from where it had been.

" Gandalf the Grey, what on earth are you doing here? In my house? Before the sun has even fully rose into the sky?" I hissed to him as I placed my hand onto his chest to find that he was still breathing and as he rose he smiled to me lightly.

" We're here for the baby shower of course!" Ori said as he came around the corner.

" Baby shower. . . oh no . . . I did not have one of those." I said as I looked around and noted that there was more Dwarfs in the house. " You have. . . baby shower?"

" You know, where we all come around with gifts and say how happy to see how big you have. . ." Bofur said as he placed his hand onto my now flat stomach. " Somethings missing."

" What happened?" Nori asked as he looked at me with his eyes as big as saucers.

" Oh well. . . I was going to send a message to you when I woke. . ." I said as I looked around and wrapped my robe on tightly to my body.

" What happened?" Fili asked as I spun around and came face to face with him as he looked down at me and shook his head. " No. How did it. . . when did this. . . were you even planning on telling me?" Fili asked as he looked to my stomach to my face with eyes full of rage.

" Fili will you please calm down, everything is fine-"

" Fine you say! You were not going to tell me that something has happened to my own son! He was not due for another two weeks! Ireth, please tell me, when did it happen?" He asked and all I could do was laugh.

" This is no laughing matter!" Nori said as he came around the corner.

" Yes, it is." Thorin said as he placed his hand around my shoulder. " The girl is now a mother. From the bonfire that is going on in the next house over, I would say that we are a little late for the celebration."

" My child came early." I stated with a smile as Fili's anger instantly washed away. " You are a father."

" Early. . . I- I'm a dad?" He asked with a smile as he wrapped his hands around my face. " I'm a dad!"

" Congrats Laddie!" Dwalin said with a smile as he gave me a hard pat on the back.

" I did most of the work here!" I said with a smile as I looked to Fili. " He looks like you, has your noise." I said with a smile as I moved my hand down the rim of his noise.

" Where is he then?!" Thorin asked and all I could do was smile.

" Well I thought that someone was breaking into my house here so I left him in the safest place that I could think of! My bed!" I said with a giggle as I took Fili by the hand and brought him up the stairs and I could hear the footsteps of the others following like small children.

The way that Fili looked down at his child as if it were made of gold made me smile as the others huddled around us in the small room that I had been in for the last few months. Fili did not want to hold Injros though, I think it is because he though that he would break the small child, so besides me, Thorin was the second person to be able to hold him and I could not believe how amazing it was at it. Cooing the baby as he cried because of being taking from his mothers grasp – which Fili did not like whatsoever, he went into like instant warrior mode and nearly took out his sword – and simply held the child and talked to him and rocked the baby with a smile as wide as the sun on his face. I could only sit back on my bed and smile as I watched the way that Thorin already held the child and the way that there was an instant connection between the king and the future heir to the thrown.

" Have you named him yet, Lassie?" Dwalin asked as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder, smiling to Fili who still had the awe-struck dad look on his face.

" Injros." I said as he looked to me with such confusion on my face that it made me smile. " The midnight star, no matter where you are, you are able to see it. Even on the worst of nights, it is seen. Very powerful star and very beautiful." I smiled as I looked to my child and nodded. " Very."

" Middle name?" Thorin asked as he turned to me for the first time.

" I- I really have not thought of that yet." I said as I looked to Fili. " I was thinking that maybe we could talk it over, or you could just do it, since I gave him the first name."

" Kili." He stated without even looking at me. " Injros Kili."
" I like that." I smiled as I wrapped my hand into Fili's strong and calloused hand.

We all started to file out of the small bedroom and into the dinning area which they had made sure that there would be room for all of us and when Bilbo finally came back in we all laughed as he dropped most of the things that he was carrying. He had not been expecting visitors, let alone a dozen Dwarfs and a Wizard. When the gifts had all been opened and thank yous were said the Dwarfs all started to dig into the meals that they found in Bilbo's pantry, from what I heard it was the first time that they had been gladly welcomed to it with a nod and a wave, saying that he needed to go out to the market to get more anyway. When Injros finally made his way into his fathers arms – whether Fili liked it or not – I smiled as I lead him to the cool spring day that was outside. Flowers were just starting to pop from the ground below.

" I- I feel as if you should come live with me. Ireth, you know that I will love you will all of my heart and no I do not give a damn about what the others think about you and us. I- I need you in my life. Yes, it did take off of the things that have happened for me to realize that and I know that it must be a really horrible thing to say, but I need you now. And I think that you may still want me." I sighed as I turned my body away from him.

" I have been thinking about this a lot since I left the mountain." I said as I looked to the sky.

" You left without really saying goodbye. You just took your share and left. Did not even allow me to give you this." He said with his free hand as he lifted a ring to my view, it was beautiful with an emerald in the middle. " It was my mothers, her mothers before that. Great royalty had worn this ring. I know that we would have to wait a year, that your people have their own way of doing weddings and I do not care, I will wait a thousand years if that is what it takes for you to say that you will marry me. Ireth, be my queen, I love you with all of my heart and I hope that you still love me as well."

" I never stopped loving you." I whispered as I looked back to him. " I do not think that I could ever stop loving you."
" Then lets start new and clean. We can live a new life with one anther. Wherever you please I will follow you. You, me, and our little Injros. We can live where you want. You as my queen." Fili whispered as he placed the ring into my hand.

" You really mean this?" I asked with a smile slowly forming on my face as I looked from my son to his father, the ring feeling weightless in my hand.

" I mean it with all of my heart. If you say yes one day you will bring our people together. The Elfs and Dwarfs will have someone to look for, someone to unite them. I should have seen that before. I love you with all of my heart and the last half a year has been hell without you in it, Ireth. I do not think that I could do another day without you in it. I do not even think that I could go another day without being able to place a kiss onto your lips." He said as he touched my face lightly.

" Fili!" I said as I wrapped my arms around his body and brought him in as close as I could while he still held our child and finally allowed our lips to meet with one another yet again.

" I love you with all of my heart." He said as I pulled him back in for another kiss. " I will love you till the day that I die and longer than that." He said and I rolled my eyes because all I wanted was to feel his lips. " My queen." He whispered through my lips as I smiled to him.

" Shut up, my love." I said in Elfish and I placed the ring onto my finger and smiled as I took the one that Thorin had given me that had been around my neck and placed it onto his finger. " Now we have given one another our rings. . . now we just have to go to Rivendell to tell my brother." I laughed as Fili looked honestly scared.

We could not wait the year to be married to one another though. So we broke another Elfish tradition of waiting a year to be married and told everyone that we were going with the Dwarven tradition of not caring when we got married. I got to wear a crown on my head as Fili did on his and surprisingly the people seemed to love me, they knew that I fought for them and I was one of the only people of any race to step up to the call of Thorin when he needed someone to go on a journey with him that would turn out to nearly take my life more than once, which they really seemed to look at with pride. Injros grew up in Erebor, which made Fili very happy.

Though I cannot say that we lived completely happily ever after – with the memories that were locked in our brains forever, the deaths that we all had to face, and even me giving up my immortality to live a mortal life with Fili and my son, who seemed to take up the Dwarven characteristics from what we could tell of mortality, or when he finally asked about his uncle and the only thing that Fili and I could do was stare at the child and I had to try with all of my might not to cry– I can say that we were close to happy. Yes, we had our ups and downs, the days that one of us barely wanted to get out of bed because of our war-memories, but we would get right back up from it as well. I do not think that I had ever seen Fili as happy as the moment that I told him that we were expecting our second child – a girl who we named Iris. Fili and I knew that it would never be the way that it had first been between us, though it did get a lot better, there was nothing that I regretted. And when the nights were clear enough, Fili and I would take Injros and his little sister out to the middle of no where, lay in the grass with him and Iris and sit and watch the stars, for hours, without saying a word.

When the children are older I will tell them how I was there when we finally took back the kingdom that we lived in now. How I fought side-by-side with our family to take back the land that had been striped from us. How they tried to tell me to stay back but I would not allow them to. I would tell them about the time where Elfs and Men finally came to the aid of Dwarf's. They will think that it is just a bedtime story for years. But one day, they will realize that their family is full of hero. In our culture, the true hero's get their energy placed into a star once they died. So I finally named a star for each hero in our life. The biggest and brightest star that we could find, Injros decided that one would be named Kili and so it was, the star Kili was created in the sky.

The End

Author's Note: Hey guys! So what did you think about the story? Like it? I don't know what to write about now! If you have any suggestions on what on Middle-Earth I can write about now please let me know. I'm kind of desperate. This has been my baby for the last month and I hope that you liked it but please help me come up with a new one!