Ella awoke when something cold was pressed against her back. Ella groaned.
"Good morning." Oin said.
"Oh, morning doc!" Ella said with a smile. "You haven't seen George by any chance, have you?"
"He's outside with the others." Oin said cleaning her wound
"Isn't it clean enough?" Ella mumbled joking.
"Just to be on the safe side, My Lady." Oin said. "How did you sleep?"
"Well besides having another nightmare about my family AGAIN then I'm perfectly fine."
"Care to tell me about it?"
"Not really but I guess that I have to tell someone." Ella said rolling her eyes. Ella told her whole story in one long breath and Oin didn't even interrupt once.
"And then he threatened her!" Ella said finishing the story. "That's not something for my father to do. He would never put a finger on her! I just don't understand why I keep having these kind of dreams."
"This isn't your first nightmare like that?" Oin asked. "No. I've had several before but this one was different from the others."
"How different?" Oin asked a bit concerned.
"Well, with the other dreams it would always end with the car crash but not this one." Ella frowned and started thinking. "And in the others George was the only one t-t-to-to… you know… and now I heard Sandra say that I had died too. Why do you think that is?" She asked Oin.
"Maybe you have grown too attached to the company." Ella couldn't help but smile at his comment.
"Maybe I have."
Oin cleared his throat and wrapped Ella up again.
"Can I go outside?" Ella asked Oin when he was done.
"No." He quickly said.
"Oh come on Oin, please… Please… Pretty please?"
"Please lass, don't look at me like that." Ella just kept looking at him and she made her puppy eyes bigger. "Fine." Oin said lowering his head in defeat.
"Yes!" Ella shouted. "Can you give me my shirt then?"
"Sorry to tell you this lass. But we had to cut your shirt open."
"What?!" Ella said with her eyes wide with shock. "But what am I suppose to wear then? I can't go walking around like this."
Oin chuckled at Ella's outburst and handed her Fili's leather jacket. "He left it for you." He said with a smile. Ella quickly pulled it on, but as her arm moved into one of the sleeves she could see that the fabric was torn. You could see where the bear had struck.
"Holy shit!" Ella shouted as she saw the marks. "Guess I was lucky."
"That you were." Oin said with a nod. "Now get some food before you go outside, while I clean up this mess."
"Thank you Oin." Ella said and ran out of the door.
"Don't run! You still have to be careful with your-" Oin was cut off when Ella closed the door with a bang. "Why am I even trying?" He said to himself.
XxX
"Hey guys." Ella said walking outside with two honey rolls in her hand.
"Ah, look who's finally up." Bofur said with a smile. "How's your back feeling?"
"Very clean." Ella joked. "And a bit stiff."
Bofur patted on the empty spot on the grass and Ella sat down. "Ella, I allowed you to go outside but you still have to lay down!" Oin shouted from the house.
"Alright!" Ella shouted back rolling her eyes and lay down in the grass. "This sucks."
She sneezed once or twice, thanks to the grass tickling her nose when she suddenly felt something crawl up her hand. Ella screamed shaking her hand and jumped against Bofur. She quickly crawled over his head and swung her arms and legs around his back. Bofur's eyes were wide as Ella crawled against him and he had to hold his hat from falling.
"What's wrong, lass?!" He asked concerned trying to breathe as Ella's arms tightened around his neck.
"There!" Ella pointed. Bofur squinted his eyes to the grass where Ella had been laying and he saw a small spider walking across. Bofur started laughing and everybody looked at them and came walking up.
Bofur stood up but Ella still hung on to his back. "Your afraid of a itty bitty spider like that?!" He asked laughing.
"What's going on?" Thorin asked with his deep voice as he saw Ella holding on to Bofur with all her might.
"Our lass here, is afraid of spiders." Bofur said covering his eyes laughing as he tried to stay on his feet.
Thorin shook his head. "Ella, let Bofur go." He said smiling. "It was just a spider."
"That's no going to work, Thorin." George said standing next to him. "Once Ella knows that there is a spider, she won't let go."
Ella shook her head and tightened her grip.
"Ella… Lass… I can't… Breathe!"
"One time Ella had a spider in her room and she slept outside the door with her blanket over her head."
"Yes well, that spider was as big as my fist!" Ella shouted.
"You mean a speck." George said rolling his eyes with a small smile on his face. "See what I have to live with?" He asked Thorin.
Thorin walked up to Bofur and tried to loosen Ella's grip around his neck but it didn't work. "Fili!" Thorin shouted and Fili came running up. "Get your woman off of him." Fili tried to hide his smile but failed.
He walked behind Bofur and grabbed Ella by her waist. "It alright, love." He said trying to pull her off. "The spider is long gone." Apparently it didn't work. Dwalin, Bombur and Bifor had to help Fili with getting her off.
XxX
Once everyone had convinced Ella that the spider was gone she calmed down but she did not want to lie on the bare grass so they had to fetch her a blanket. Ella looked at every single dwarf.
Dwalin and Nori were sharpening their weapon. Ori was drawing a picture of Ella and Fili, who was lying next to her. Bofur was sitting far away from Ella smoking his pipe and talking to Bifor, Balin and Dori. Balin and Dori were having a discussion of some sort. Gloin and Bombur were sharing stories about the kids. Kili was practicing his arrows. Oin was sitting against a tree chasing lost hours of sleep. But where were Thorin and George? She hadn't seen Beorn and Gandalf either.
Ella raised herself on her elbows and looked around. Fili clearly knew what she was thinking and pointed down the hill. "He's teaching him how to fight." Fili mumbled. Ella got up on her feet but Fili grabbed her ankle and she fell down into the grass and Fili dragged her back to him. He wrapped his arms around her not touching her wound.
"Fili let me go." She giggled.
"No." He said chuckled. "I've waited long enough to hold you again. So you're staying with me!" He said pulling her closer to his chest. Ella tried to wiggle her way out.
"I just want to see if he's alright." She giggled.
"He's with Thorin. Nothing could go wrong!"
"Would ya look at that." Gloin said to Bombur as they moved closer. "Young love."
"Seems like ages ago to us." Bombur chuckled. The ginger dwarves sat next to the couple. "Could you imagine Ella walking around with a round tummy?" Bombur asked. "The halls of Erebor filled with young dwarflings, running around and laughing."
"Pulling our beards and hanging onto our legs 'til we drop." Gloin said chuckling.
"What number do you have in mind?" Bombur asked Ella.
"What?" Ella asked her cheeks blushing mad.
"How many children do you want?" Gloin asked. "Their needs to be an heir at some point."
Fili's face was now turning red as well and he let go of Ella a little.
"Aw, isn't this nice." Kili said teasingly as he to moved closer to his brother and Ella. "Your making them blush." Ella pulled Fili's leather jacket over her head.
"Now, come on." Gloin said. "Give us a number." The heat under Fili's jacket started to rise and Ella could hardly breath under it. Why are they doing this to me?
"Four." She heard Fili say sure of himself.
What? Ella's eyes widened and she stuck her head out of the jacket.
"Three boys and a girl." Fili continued. Ella looked up at him and then to the others. Everybody was now sitting around them. Everybody except for George and Thorin who were still training down the hill and Ella thanked God for it with all her heart.
"What are you going to name them?" Bilbo asked curious. Ella looked up at Fili. His mouth was open but no words came out. "We haven't decides that yet." He said quickly.
Please stop talking about it. Ella thought. Bring back the spider!
One of the horses came their way and Ella knew that it meant that it was time for lunch. "Hallelujah, praise the Lord!" She said dramatically and stood up. "I'll go get Thorin and George." She quickly said and walked away making the others laugh.
XxX
When she was out of site she leaned against a tree and sighed. She could feel the heartbeat through the tree and it calmed her down. She had never felt so awkward during a conversation, EVER. Not even when her father gave her THE talk. This had far out been the worst. She was nineteen, she hadn't thought about any of those things yet. Maybe it popped in her head once or twice but she always shook the thoughts out of her head. She had to finish collage first.
Ella stood behind a tree watching Thorin and George practice. She had to give it to George he was actually pretty good. He swung his little sword around and attacked Thorin. Thorin was about to swing his sword at the little warrior but George crawled between his legs. George swung his sword but Thorin blocked it just in time. George giggled as Thorin ruffled his hair.
"Again." Thorin said smiling. Thorin was smiling and it looked good on him. Ella saw a familiar spark in his eyes. It was a spark her father used to have in his eye when he was running around and playing with George.
Ella sat down and leaned her shoulder against the tree as George and Thorin kept battling. She started thinking about the conversation she had with Gloin and Bombur.
"Ella walking around with a round tummy."
"The halls of Erebor filled with dwarflings."
For the first time Ella really thought about having her own. What would they look like? Would they have Fili's blond hair and her green eyes or would they have dark hair with blue eyes? Would they have Fili's caring and adventurous side or would they have Ella protective side and her mood swings? She truly hoped not. Fili already had his hands full enough with her mood swings.
Ella was pulled from her thoughts by a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey." Fili said and sat down next to her.
"Hey." She replied and leaned her head on his shoulder. He grabbed her hand and entwined their fingers.
"I haven't seen that look on my uncles face in a long time." Fili said with a smile.
"It looks good on him, doesn't it?" Ella asked and Fili just nodded his head.
Ella imagined Fili running around like that. Their small kids running after him with their small wooden swords, of course! If they ever had kids she sure as hell wouldn't let them run around with real swords. Ella couldn't help but to smile at the picture in her head. Fili would make a great father, she was sure of it.
"What are you think about?" Fili asked with the biggest smile on his face.
Ella shook her head. "Nothing." She said quickly.
"Tell me." Fili said poking her.
"It's nothing." Ella said smiling.
"Was it about what I had said back there?"
"May-be." Ella said trying to hide her smile.
"Look, I'm sorry if I-"
"You have nothing to be sorry for." Ella said looking him into his eyes. "I just…" Ella sighed and looked and the ground. "I've never really thought about it." Ella looked up again. "But what you said, it what you want isn't it?"
"May-be." Fili said with a teasing smile.
"No but seriously for a second. It's what you want, isn't it?" Ella didn't let go of his eyes.
"Well, that's how I always pictured it." Fili said. "I could imagine us having our own. The boys running around waving their weapon at each other."
"What about the girl?" Ella asked. "You said you wanted a girl too."
"The girl would be daddy's little princes but of course she would learn how to fight to and she would chase after her brothers." Ella smiled at the spark that started to rise in his eyes. "She would have your mood swings." He said joking.
"I hope not!" Ella said. "I'm already bad enough."
"How would you want it?" Fili asked her. "Well, I've never really thought about it. I always said that I should finish my collage first, but I don't see that happening anymore now." Ella answered with a smile.
"You'll be a great father." She said. "The way you are around George sometimes proves that. Just don't give our kids their first ale when they're six." Ella said with a stern look.
"I can't promise anything." He said with a smirk and Ella rolled her eyes.
"THORIN! FILI! ELLA! GEORGE! WHERE ARE YOU? SOME OF US ARE STARVING OVER HERE!"
"Dwarves really don't have any patience do they?" Ella asked joking.
"We do." Fili said helping her up. "Just not for two hours."
"Two hours?!" Ella shouted. "Have we really been gone that long?!"
Fili just smiled and nodded.
"WILL YOU HURRY?!"
"WERE COMING!" Ella shouted back.
"Thorin! George! Foods ready!" Fili shouted.
"Ella did you see me?!" George asked his sister. "I kicked Thorin's ass! Your next Fili!" George said pointing his sword at Fili before walking back to the house waving his sword in the air.
"That boy listens just as bad as you do." Thorin said standing next to Ella.
"Yeah, sorry about that. Apparently it runs in the family." Ella said smiling at the king before he walked after George. Fili grabbed Ella's hand and they weren't far behind him.
XxX
Ella pulled Fili to a stop before entering the house. "We still have to pick names." Ella said smiling and placing a kiss on Fili's lips.
"Later?" Fili asked pulling Ella closer.
"Later." She answered and placed her arms around his neck. Fili pulled her closer and lifted her up making Ella yelp before he started kissing her.
But again, before their kiss could go any deeper, the dwarves and the hobbit started shouting their names. "Stop fooling around out there and get in here!" Bofur shouted.
"Please don't say that they will live with us." Ella said under her breath.
Fili chuckled and placed Ella down giving her one last kiss. "I wouldn't dream of it!" Fili said opening the door for her. "After you, my princess." Fili said bowing slightly and offering her his arm.
"Why thank you, my prince." Ella said and together they walked in.
