**TRIGGER WARNINGS** Mentions of suicide attempts, depression and mental breakdowns.

The rain had continued on for what seemed like hours and there were no signs that it was going to stop anytime soon. Rain wasn't unusual in Auckland, but he had to admit this was getting ridiculous, and it seemed like his feelings were mutual amongst some of the other men.

"Mister Gandalf? Can't you do something about this deluge?"

"It is raining, Master Dwarf! And it will continue to rain until the rain is done!"

Anders rolled his eyes, remembering his brother's implying on multiple occasions that he was a dwarf because he was the shortest. For fuck's sake.

"Of course they would be dwarves." He muttered under his breath.

A jerk from the body before him broke him from his brooding. Looking down, a smirk pulled at his lips as he watched Maya's head slowly fall forward. She shot up again, shaking her head and taking in a deep breath.

Without a word, he reached around her and pulled on the reins to stop the pony before he dismounted.

"What are you doing?" She asked more alert now than she was a moment ago.

"We're switching places. Get off." He responded holding out his hand to support her.

"What? Why do we need to -"

"Don't argue with me. Just get off the horse." His tone came out harsher than he intended, but seemed to work as he watched her dismount without arguing.

As quick as he could, he mounted the pony and held out a hand to help his riding companion up. Once he was sure she was settled in, he reached back and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"What are you doing?" She said with annoyance.

"I'm making sure you don't fall when you decide to doze off again." He replied as the pony started walking again.

"Oh."

"Yea, oh. Now get some sleep. You look like shit."

The words came out before he had a chance to really think about them, and silently he braced himself for another one of her fits, but when he felt her lean against him with a small chuckle, he couldn't help smirking.

Within minutes, she fell asleep, her arms relaxed and he was forced to hold on to them to make sure she didn't fall off the pony.

"You only look out for yourself!"

"You're suck a dick!"

A small chuckle rose from Anders as he thought of his brothers. Oh if they could see him now. They would probably still call him a dick, but no one could say he hadn't helped anyone anymore.

"No one cares."

"Stop fighting it."

"No!" She gasped as her eyes shot open and her arms tightened around someone drawing a groan from them.

"Maya! It was just a dream. Let go."

Taking in the sway of the horse, the trees of the forest and finally looking at the back of the head of a blond man, Maya quickly back as best she could with his hands still gripping her own.

"Sorry." She muttered.

"Remind me, next time you're gonna fall asleep when we're riding, you sit in the front."

She couldn't help rolling her eyes at the comment as she adjusted herself back to put a bit more space between her and Ander. Unfortunately she couldn't do much as he still held on to her hands.

"What were you dreaming about?"

The question halted her movements. A quick look up and she met his eyes.

"Nothing." She said looking away with a shrug.

"Right. So you just nearly crushed my ribs for nothing." He scoffed.

Again she tried to pull away but his grip held.

"I said I was sorry. Please. Just let me go."

She prayed that her voice wasn't as shaky as it sounded in her head and that Anders wouldn't press the topic. After a brief moment though, he surprised her and slowly released her. Muttering a thank you, she let her arms rest on her thighs.

With a slow breath in, she released it and took in her surroundings. It was no longer raining, the sun was high in the sky but the winds kept the temperature low. The forest trees had seemed to have been traded for large bushes and random rocky terrains.

"I wonder how much longer we're gonna be riding for…"

"We'll probably find a place to set up camp soon."

The voice had both her and Anders jump in their seats. Whipping her head back, she was met with the smiling face of the man who had helped her after she fell.

"Mister Bofur, right?"

He nodded as he pulled his pony up to theirs. "Aye. Glad to see you got some rest."

She chuckled and scratched the back of her head.

"Me too. Still really tired though."

"I don't blame you dear. How are you feelin'?" He asked, turning his attention to Anders.

"Well let's see. My ass hurts, I'm hungry, this one here wants to find ways to kill me, I have no idea how to get back home and I found out you're all dwarves, which means I'm literally the size of a dwarf!"

"That's the spirit lad!" Bofur beamed before kicking his pony.

Anders' looked at the smiling man in utter confusion as Maya tried and failed to keep her laughter back.

"Shut up." He snapped.

They rode for another hour or so, before coming upon an abandoned house.

"We'll set up camp here. Fili, Kili. Watch the ponies. Stay with them." Thorin bellowed as everyone came to a halt and began to dismount.

Maya grabbed the bedrolls and was about to hand them to Anders when she heard Gandalf shout. Everyone went silent as the man in grey stormed past everyone muttering about "having enough of dwarves" below his breath.

Where is he going?

She must have said it out loud because Anders gave her shoulder a small squeeze before grabbing the bedrolls from her. Chewing on her bottom lip, she gave one last look at where the older man was heading before turning back to the job at hand.

Once everything was unmounted, she pat the side of her pony before unbuckling the saddle and playing it on the ground for tomorrow. With a small tug of the reins the pony followed her down to the rest of the ponies. Her heart began to race the closer she got to the brothers. She hadn't spoken to them since waking up and while she had seen they were fine with Anders. A part of her wondered if they would treat her differently, especially given their last interaction.

Fili was the first to notice her approaching and with a small smile walked up to greet her.

"Here. Let me get her."

Maya stopped mid stride as she watched him closely but let him take the pony over to the tree before stringing up the reins. Slowly he turned back to her as Kili joined his brother's side.

"I was hoping you would come." He said with a smile.

For a moment, her heart faltered and quickly she took a step back. Both seemed to notice the change as they shared a glance and Kili held up his arms as if she held a gun at him.

"We don't mean you harm. We just wanted to apologize." He said slowly.

"What…"

"The way we treated you, when your husb...friend was sick." Fili stepped forward. "Dwarves are notorious for not trusting outsiders, you see. And while we don't trust you-"

"You're a member of our group now. So we wanted to apologize." Kili interrupted.

Maya eyed them suspiciously as they moved to stand side by side again and with a bow they smiled at her.

"Fili"

"And Kili"

"At your service."

A smile pulled at her lips at their antics. She could respect their honesty with her and could understand where they were coming from. Trust was something not easily given. It was a lesson that she learned the hard way.

"Maya. At your service." She said meekly with a small bow.

It earned her a smile from both dwarves and she smiled back.

"Well, you should go rest."

"Yeah, I know. I look like shit." She said rolling her eyes with a small chuckle.

The comment had the two dwarves pause, their eyes widened.

"What? No! We didn't mean it like that. We just meant that since you hadn't slept the past few nights-" Kili started.

"You would want to catch up on sleep." Fili stated, finishing Kili's thought.

Maya could help but stare at them for a moment before laughing.

"I get it. I was just-" She took a deep breath and smiled. "I was just making a joke. Anders said it earlier…"

The words died on her lips as she watched their expression shit to confusion.

Well shit. Maya could feel her cheeks turn red remembering where she was and who she was talking with.

"It's an expression we use where I'm from. I just forgot that...Um. Yea. I'm gonna go now. But thank you, for not killing me. Or Anders. Yep." She said, taking a few awkward steps back. "Well have a good night."

With a quick wave, she turned and quickly walked back to where Anders sat propped against a rock not far from the fire.

Anders sat quietly. His mind raced with questions. The biggest questions of all being "Where are they and how did they get there?"

It had to be the current.

It was the only explanation in his mind as he recalled the odd pull it seemed to have on him. Almost as if some invisible hand had grasped their legs and refused to let go. And as quickly as it happened, the hold was gone.

His brows furrowed at the memory. Biting his lower lip, he scanned the group of dwarves and locked his eyes on the random giant of a man smoking his pipe. Anders narrowed his eyes, as the thoughts of perhaps talking to this "Gandalf the Grey" crept into his mind. But with a small shake of his head, he pushed the thought away. He was going to figure this out, while the man seemed the more helpful of the bunch, Anders couldn't help but feel he needed to be careful about which cards he played, if he wanted to get back home.

The thought of home reminded him of Maya, who apparently was hurrying over to him. He still didn't understand his quirky little companion. She was worse than Dawn in regards to her temperament, but he had no doubt if the two women ever met, they would get on quite well. Especially with how easily flustered both women get.

He let out a small chuckle as Maya plopped down next to his outstretched legs and leaned her head against her hand. To anyone watching, they would have thought nothing of it, perhaps that he was just tired. But Anders could see her brows furrow as she gnawed at her bottom lip.

"What happened? Fifi and Kiki get your knickers in a twist?"

Anders giggled as dark eyes glared at him. Her pout gone.

"Fili and Kili. And no they didn't get my knickers in a twist." She snapped, imitating his Kiwi accent, which Anders had to admit wasn't bad for an American. "And nothings wrong so just drop -"

"Riight, so that's why you came rushing over here all pouty."

Her slack jaw drew another laugh from Anders, which earned him another glare and words of defiance. He knew he should be a bit nicer to her given the past few days but getting a rise out of her was entertaining.

Maya was now sitting with her knees pulled up and head resting upon them. Even with her back to him and no clear view of her face, he knew that pout was back. Letting out a small sigh, Anders caved.

"Alright, Miss Pouty. If you're gonna be like this, then-"

"Fine, I get it!" She said standing up and walking back down the hill towards the ponies.

Anders let out a sigh and let his head fall back against the rock he was leaning against.

He seriously didn't understand this girl. He didn't want to be her friend and quite frankly he was glad she didn't seem to want that either, but his concern for a random girl he never even had sex with was becoming more present to Anders and he didn't like it.

"Trouble with the class?"

Anders looked up to find the same dwarf with the silly-looking hat coming over to sit next to him.

"That's an understatement." Anders scoffed as he leaned his head back.

"You know, supper won't be ready for another hour or so." Anders raised a brow as if that was supposed to be the answer to all his questions but the dwarf seemed oblivious to Anders' annoyance. "Might be good to go for a walk."

"And your leader would be okay with that? The shifty God going for a walk and his companion nowhere insight."

"Thorin will understand you two need to work things out." And before Anders could retort, the dwarf lifted him to his feet and pushed him in the direction Maya went.

Anders huffed as continued walking. He was fairly certain that she was with his lookalike and the brother, but was surprised when he saw them by themselves.

Anders went to shove his hands in his pockets only to realize that his trousers had none.

"Fuuck. I miss my suit." he muttered. He didn't have the patience to go looking for someone who obviously didn't want to be found and was about to head back to the others when he noticed it. Taking a deep breath, Anders sighed and made his way over to the small form that was huddled just behind a nearby boulder.

Maya was sitting cross legged, with one arm on her knee and her head leaning on her palm as she drew random designs in the soft mud with a stick. The pout was back along with the guilt that Anders had felt when he was told she watched over him for three days. He hated feelings.

"Mind if I take a seat?"

The soft voice startled Maya from her thoughts and looked up to meet blue eyes, that for once didn't seem to mock her. She begrudgingly nodded and scooted over a bit to share the boulder she claimed. As he sat down, she began doodling in the dirt again. She didn't feel like talking and he seemed to understand that as he leaned back.

The sun began to set when Anders decided to break the silence.

"So I have a proposition for you."

Maya's eyes closed as she counted to 3 before slowly letting out a breath. "A what?"

She really didn't have the energy to deal with him.

"The way I see it, is we're stuck here and seeing as we need to get back home together, we should learn to tolerate each other. Then once we're back home, we can go our separate ways and pretend like this never happened. Preferably in the form of heavy drinking for me."

Giving him a quick side glance, she caught his eyes and cheeky smile. She rolled her eyes and let out a small chuckle. She knew he was right, the less they bickered and stuck together the easier it'll be till they get back. Assuming there was a way to get back..

"Fine. I'll be less...crazy, if you stop being such a jerk." The words came out a bit harsher than she wanted but given Anders' reaction, or lack thereof, she didn't feel too guilty about it.

"First, I'm a God and second, while I personally don't care about why you have these little outbursts, if you're gonna storm off like you did just now, you're gonna get yourself killed. Or worse, get me killed looking for you."

"I wasn't always like this." The words were out before she realized. Her throat was suddenly dry and heart skipped a beat. A tear slowly ran down her cheek as she waited for Anders to come back with some snarky retort, but none came.

"When was the last time you went out? Met up with friends?

Maya scoffed. "I don't have friends."

Dr. Grayson's brows furrowed as she gave Maya a sympathetic smile before jotting a few notes on her pad.

"I know you say everything is fine. But closing yourself off...Repressing the trauma won't make it go away. You need to try and meet people. You don't have to tell them your past. But in order to make friends, relationships, you'll have to let your guard down at some point."

Maya sunk lower into the couch, keeping her eyes locked on her hands.

"It's been almost 4 months since you started coming here and you have made so much progress-"

"I'm going to Hawaii with my family." Maya said quickly.

Dr. Grayson's jaw dropped for a moment before she composed herself with a smile.

"So you decided to go! That's wonderful, Maya! This trip will be good for you. It'll offer you the chance to clear your mind and reconnect with your family. Maybe even make a few new friends as well."

"Maybe even make a few new friends as well." And now look, here I am with a group of dwarves, a giant of a man, and a God apparently. Dr. Grayson's head would explode at how much my social life has improved. Maya scoffed at the thought as she wiped her tears away.

"What happened?" Maya met Anders' steady gaze and bit her lower lip. "You know I can make you tell me."

Her eyes widened with newly formed tears at his statement, her lower jaw trembled a bit as she tried to comprehend what he said. He wouldn't do that...he can't do that. The determination she saw in his eyes left as he let out a harsh chuckle and shook his head.

"That bad then." He clicked his tongue and shifted his gaze to ahead. "Why did you need to get back that night?"

Maya left out a scoff and sniffled. "Jesus, you're unbelievable."

"What!? It's an honest question." Anders snapped back as he shifted to face her. "So? Out with it."

She stared at him, slack jawed for a moment, before shifting her gaze to the red and purple sky. He's not gonna let this go…fine. Maya closed her eyes and took a shaky breath before looking at the annoying Blonde man in front of her.

"I have a curfew and if I missed it one more time then I-"

"Curfew!? You're fucking serious?! You forced me to walk miles because you're worried about missing your curfew?!" He hissed, jumping to his feet.

"It's not that, I have -"

"Jesus Fuck! How the fuck old are you then?! Shit, you can't be younger than 18!? "

"What!? No! Anders, I'm-"

At this point he was pacing and muttering to himself about going to prison but that he didn't do anything. Feeling nothing but fear and frustration at this point, Maya jumped to her feet and grabbed him by the arms stopping his frantic movements.

"For fuck's sake Anders! I'm 28 and I wasn't worried about being grounded. If I missed my curfew then I would be sent to a psych ward!" The words sobbered Anders quickly as she felt the tension in his arms drain. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she didn't know why but wanted to continue. "After my parents were contact by police about my last suicide attempt. My parents worried anytime I would take late night walks. So they insisted on a curfew, they said if I went to therapy and came home on time...I didn't have to go."

"Why…" He didn't finish and from the look in his face she knew what he was asking. She was trembling now and hadn't realized the tears that ran freely down her cheeks. Catching his gaze, she noticed the shock and pity in his eyes.

"I'm not crazy. Don't look at me like I'm crazy! I don't have a death wish and I didn't want to die, I just get tired...everything replays and I hear them in my head like a record. Just constantly reminding me. And I get so tired and I remember all over again. I just want it to stop."

Her sobs become more erratic with each breath and she doesn't remember falling to her knees, or when Anders had pulled her into his arms. But instead of fighting him, she wrapped her arms around his waist and cried.

He didn't mean to break her, he really didn't. But the moment that word escaped past his lips, he realized just how guarded Maya actually was. And when she crumbled, he caught her. He had never really been the go-to for emotional support, that was always Ty's or Mike's realm. But here he was, on the ground with a sobbing girl in his arms and he was surprisingly okay with it. Granted he didn't know the full story, but he got enough to understand why she nearly crushed his ribs earlier.

He continued to rub her back as her sobs slowly began to subside. Thinking she's better, he slowly tries to push her up, when he feels her arms tighten just a bit around him. He couldn't help but chuckle a bit as he gave in to wrapping his arms around her once more. A small gesture that actually brought a smile to his face and made him feel warm inside, but he would be damned if he admitted it to anyone.

The snap of a branch brought Anders back to reality and quickly looked around to find the burglar holding two bowls giving the young God a sheepish smile.

Looking back at Maya who hadn't stirred, he noticed that at some point she had fallen asleep. Her cheeks stained with dried tears, her brow furrowed and jaw clenched. Her words replayed in his head and Anders let out a sigh. She must get nightmares often.

"Did she fall asleep?"

Anders looked up at the man as he kneeled down and placed the bowls of what looked like some kind of stew on the ground. "Yea, seems so."

"Bofur wanted me to check on you two-" Bofur...Oh! That's his name. Right. "-but seeing as she's asleep, and with Fili and Kili just over there, it should be fine to stay here."

Anders blinked at the man, or was he a dwarf? "Uh...ya ta."

"Okay." The burglar gave a curt nod and smile before gently lifting Maya's head, cuing Anders' to what he had suggested earlier when Anders' mind wandered.

Slowly the two managed to readjust Maya, allowing Anders' to lay back against the boulder before laying her head down in his lap.

"Ta uh…"

The smaller man looked at him quizzically for a moment before straightening. "Bilbo Baggins of Bag End."

Anders nodded and thanked him again, hoping that would end the slightly awkward interaction but just as Bilbo was about to walk away, he paused and Anders internally groaned.

"I...um...I heard what she said." Anders' head snapped up and eyes narrowed at Bilbo as he continued. "Now...I don't know what a siteward is...but...but just know that she will always be welcome at Bag End...My home."

The God studied the small man for a moment before his eyes dropped to the young girl in his lap. "Did anyone else hear her?"

"I don't think so. Fili and Kili may have but I don't see them anyone at the moment so I don't believe-"

"Good. Let's keep it that way, yeah?" He said straighten up to the best of his ability. "No one else needs to know about this."

Bilbo gave a tight lipped smile and a nod before heading back to the campsite.

Well there's at least a couple questions answered. What the fuck happened to you? Anders had a curious mind and he was good, very good at poking and prodding til he got what he wanted. And for the most part, he always got what he wanted. But now he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to that particular question. And when had he started getting protective over her? Maybe it was because it was her secret, just like Braggi was his. Or maybe it was the look of fear in her eyes when she broke down that made him want to take pity on her.

"Fuck!" He said quietly as he leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Maybe if he got some sleep, he would feel like his normal snarky self in the morning.

So it's been a hot minute since I touched this story and I wasn't sure if I was ever going to work on it again. Mainly because I didn't have any idea of where to go with this. This chapter might trigger some people and it hits a bit close to home so getting this out is difficult. Even writing this I wonder if I should just write the update and then delete this whole chapter. But anyways, I hope you like it. I am working on the next couple chapters so hopefully I can get those out in a few days or so.