Zephyr: I'm very glad to hear that you like the idea of Bilbo and Pearl. And I do not think they will be going to Erebor, and it's pretty much explained when she gives birth on why.
Ari: I know, I always hate it when they die. You'd think I'd change the ending in one of my stories but in every one I kill Thorin. Her and Bilbo wouldn't be like her and Thorin, just cause I don't think she could love someone like she did(which was almost a spell), it would be sweeter and more gentle. If I do it, I'm still a little undecided.
Kaia: Only a son would take Dain's place on the throne (which is sexist I think) I'm not thinking there would be much doubt on that Pearl and Thorin had been married, it's just I don't think many dwarves would be okay with what Pearl is, and what the child is, cause they aren't dwarves - they're barely "human".
vintagegirl1912: I honestly don't think she could love anyone like she did Thorin, but she does love Bilbo too. And that may turn into something romantic years down the line, but it wouldn't be with the intensity of her and Thorin.
"I had thought you dead," Bilbo said quietly as he sat across from her.
Pearl looked up at him with unfeeling eyes, though not deadened they held no joy. "As did I," she said placing a hand on her round stomach. "Alas we were both wrong."
Though he was happy to see her alive he felt as though that were wrong for it was obvious she wished not to live. But after spending so much time with constant company Bilbo had found himself growing lonely and seeing Pearl had made him hope that his friend had returned; only that she was not the mermaid she had been.
"Are you hungry?" he asked at a loss for what to do, but she only shook her head. In the end she had laid herself down on the sofa and fallen asleep leaving Bilbo with nothing else to do but retire to his bed.
Pearl continued to live in a state of nonliving and Bilbo fluttered around her trying to get her to respond, though she never would. He put her in a bath and she would lay there unmoving, he put food in front of her and she would eat without tasting. She mostly laid on the sofa staring at nothing and Bilbo couldn't imagine what she was thinking, if she thought of anything at all.
She did though, she thought all the time without ever stopping and it was always of Thorin. She had come to the conclusion that she had failed him as a wife and that was why he had been so overcome with the gold; I am a mermaid, she thought, I could have made him love only me if I chose. Her thoughts cycled and pained her, blame weighing on her though it had been no fault of hers.
After a month Bilbo had given up trying to wake Pearl and instead sat at her side wondering if she would have her baby and then return to the sea and die. When she was sleeping Bilbo would sometimes place his hand on her swollen stomach and feel the baby kick; amazed at the tiny life inside her.
A week later Bilbo woke to Pearl crying out and he rushed to the sofa which she refused to leave, seeing her sitting up with a hand on her belly and her face contorted in pain. She relaxed after a moment and her face smoothed. "Are you alright?" he asked knowing nothing of pregnancy.
Pearl's response was a strangled moan as she felt another spasm tear through her. Bilbo jumped up at hearing her pain and pulled on his coat. "Don't leave me."
He turned at hearing Pearl's desperate plea to see her staring at him with fearful eyes. "I need to get someone to help I don't know what to do, I will come back," he swore to her before running out his door. He stopped a moment to think who to go to and who was closest and decided he should probably keep to family which left Rosa Took, his great-uncle Ponto Baggins' daughter.
It was not long before him and Rosa came back to Bilbo's hobbit-hole, though Rosa was old and therefore slower and a widow herself like Pearl. "Oh dear," Rosa cooed at Pearl's whimpers. "We should move her to a bed."
Hobbits were not known for their strength, it was a silly notion in fact, and yet Bilbo gathered Pearl in his arms as best he could and struggled for his spare bed where he laid her down.
"Oh my," he said embarrassedly when Rosa spread Pearl's legs.
"Perhaps you should hold her hand," Rosa said trying to not to smile at Bilbo's red cheeks.
Hours later, Pearl's screams still echoing in his ears and his hand prickling as it regained feeling, a babe's cries filled the hobbit-hole. "It is a girl," Rosa said after cleaning the baby, placing the small infant in her mother's arms.
It was then, staring down at the dark haired child with her father's blue eyes, that Pearl awoke. She smiled at her tiny child, stroking her smooth little cheeks.
"What will you name her?" Rosa asked as she set about cleaning Pearl.
Bilbo looked down at Pearl to see her turn and look up at him in question; he had been the one to name her. "Daisy?" he offered, the first name he had suggested for Pearl.
Pearl remembered that day when he found her, how her life changed. She smiled up at Bilbo and shook her head before tears filled her eyes and she began to cry; remembering all she had lost.
"Shh," Bilbo said as wrapped his arms around her, holding her as her body shook. Pearl dried her tears soon enough after the baby cried herself.
"Here," Rosa said knowing the baby was hungry, though she was greatly surprised at seeing Pearl's breasts were not lactating.
Though the child settled once Pearl sang softly in her ear and Bilbo smiled uncomfortably at Rosa who was giving him a hard and searching look.
"What were some of the other names you had said?" Pearl asked after her daughter had fallen asleep.
Bilbo thought for a moment until he remembered a few. "Petunia, Poppy."
Pearl thought on those as she looked at her daughter's sleeping face not liking them for her. "What are the flowers that grow in the water?"
"Lilies," Rosa answered wondering who the woman was for she did not have the feet or the look of a hobbit.
"Lily," Pearl said smoothing the short dark hair on her daughter's head.
Rosa shooed Bilbo out into the hall so she could get some answers, and the last thing either of them heard before the door was closed was; "he would have loved you," and it nearly broke Bilbo's heart.
"Who is she?" Rosa asked staring hard at Bilbo.
Bilbo thought as quickly as he could, running through all his family to find someone he could say Pearl was related to. "She is the cousin of Gilly Brownlock, the wife of one of my cousins, Posco Baggins; Pearl Brown," Bilbo answered very pleased with himself for thinking of it.
"Why is she here? Does she not have other family?" Rosa asked, knowing there was more behind Bilbo's pause before he had answered.
"She was recently widowed, I offered her a room until she could find another place to live. She wanted to be closer to her family," he answered stumbling over his words, growing nervous under Rosa's stern gaze.
She nodded as she thought. "She is no hobbit," she said finally though she decided to let it be for now, having been recently widowed herself and therefore was filled with sympathy for the strange woman who had to raise the babe alone. "She will need a dress, both of them."
"Yes they will," Bilbo agreed hoping Rosa would speak no more of what Pearl was.
"I will make them both one," Rosa said as she walked towards the door. "Should you need anything my door is always open, for both of you," she told Bilbo kindly before leaving.
Bilbo sighed in relief once Rosa had left and he returned to Pearl's side where they both sat looking at the sleeping baby. "Lily, a fine name."
There are more people who like the idea of Pearl and Bilbo, but there are a good number of people who don't. I have to say, I kind of like Pearl and Bilbo, just not yet. It would be something that happens in a few years. And, repeating myself, it won't be like with her and Thorin. It'll be more sweet, and Pearl already loves Bilbo (friendship-wise) and it will turn into her wanting to have someone she can spend her years with cause she's lonely. And Bilbo's pretty much already in love with her, and being a hobbit he's naturally sweeter anyway. This is really Pearl's only chance of ever finding happiness, cause she hasn't found it yet.
Also, I did not give her a son as you read (thanks to some wonderful ideas from Tolwen). As a girl she pretty much has no claim to the throne, so I guess that answers questions about Erebor. Lily will take Pearl's last name that Bilbo gave her making her Lily Brown; which is a canon character and is the mother of Rosie, who marries Samwise Gamgee. There's a few Lord of the Ring connections which I'm very happy about. Rosa Took is the great-grandmother of Pippin, just as a fun fact. This all came from the help of Tolwen, who I'm very grateful for. I hope you will continue reading even if you're not fond of Bilbo and Pearl. And if you decide not to read anymore then I would like to thank you for reading this far.