Chapter Forty-Nine: Potato, Tomato
"Hey, Kee." Emelia kept smiling, feeling more and more awkward with each tense moment that passed without him saying anything. She tapped her fingers along her forearms behind her back, waiting for him to show any sign that he realized she was there. Even blinking faster than normal would suffice. When another few minutes passed without a word, she tapped her fingers more vigorously, nails digging into the fabric of her sleeves until they frayed. She opened her mouth to say something else, but nothing came out besides of a puff of nervous air, that ended up sounding more like a burp than anything else. She grimaced stepped further into the room, wondering if Kili had suddenly lost the ability to speak. "You're starting to freak me out."
"Stop," Kili demanded, causing her to freeze on the spot.
"What?"
"What's your name?"
"Emelia?" She instantly took a few more steps towards him. She scrubbed her hands on her pants, unsure of why she was so nervous. She tried to maintain eye contact but she found the intensity of his gaze unnerving. He turned away from her when she got closer, shaking his head and running his hands through his hair in an almost frantic manner that concerned her even more. "Kili, what's wrong?"
Kili looked at her for a moment longer, scrutinizing her to the point she felt almost naked, before he crossed the room in three massive strides. She dropped her arms to her side, waiting for him to reach her. He raised his hands and, for less than half a second, she thought he was going to hit her before she realized how stupid that thought was. She jumped when he grabbed her face with calloused hands, the roughness of his fingers feeling oddly comforting on the smooth skin of her cheeks. The dark color of his eyes seemed to go on forever, making her even antsier and nervous. She waited for him to process what he need to process, letting him trace his dirty fingers over the jutting lines of her cheekbones before they traveled down to rub over her chapped lips. He touched each of the numerous dirt smudges and the mats of curls at her temples and the bruising on her neck. His thumb stopped next to her right eye, rubbing over the skin shakily.
Emelia thought about asking him again when he suddenly squeezed her face between his hands, pressing her cheeks up until they puffed out over her eyes and made her lips fishy.
"Kee?"
"You swear you aren't some trick, some illusion meant to cause me more pa..." He trailed off, keeping her firmly in place with his strong grip.
"It'd be a pretty sweet illusion, don't you think?" She laughed shakily, reaching her hands up to grab hold of his wrists. She felt his heartbeat beneath her fingers racing erratically, like he was having a panic attack of some kind. She rubbed her pointer finger up and down, smiling at him in a way that made her cheeks puff up even more. "Why're you up here by yourself?"
And suddenly he was laughing.
She blinked and stared at him, feeling her own heartbeat increase dramatically as he pulled her closer to him. He finally released her face just long enough to wrap his arms around her shoulders before he crushed her against his chest, not allowing a millimeter of space between them. She felt him bury his face in her ratty hair, something that would have mortified her if the situation was different, rubbing his nose along the side of her neck for a moment before something wet dripped down.
"Why are you crying?" She asked, wiping her nose on her left shoulder, while reaching up her right hand to wrap around the base of his neck.
"Why am I crying?" Kili's mouth ghosted above her ear. "Why are you crying?"
"We're a mess." She laughed, wiping her nose again. She supposed it wasn't that surprising that she had started crying. It had been a while since her last good quality cry, so she was probably overdue.
"So you are, in fact, real."
"Very, really, quite certainly real." Emelia traced her fingers along the back of his neck, twisting them in his hair slightly.
He moved back from her just enough to look at her, eyes trailing over her face like he was trying to memorize every part of her. She did the same, cataloging every part of him; every bit of stubble, every minuscule line, every sun-kissed freckle. He was so obnoxiously handsome and she thought he knew it. The smirk was too informed for someone who didn't know they were handsome. He looked down at her lips and smiled, pulling her in for a kiss that burned straight through her.
It was tinged with something akin to desperation, but it made her toes curl all the same. She placed her hands on the collar of his coat and relaxed when he didn't make any move to let her pull back for air. Emelia didn't even think she would be able to breathe, if given the opportunity. She felt so wonderful it was probably illegal in some parts of the United States. She wanted to kiss him longer and harder and until neither of them could distinguish between where one ended and the other began. She wanted to pull back just so she could tell him how happy she felt before kissing him all over again.
His hands moved from her neck and down her shoulders before settling comfortable on the spot that used to be soft between her stomach and her hips. His fingers splayed out as he pulled her closer, squeezing hard enough to leave bruises. She pushed her hips forward impulsively, rolling them in a desperate attempt to release some of the pressure she was feeling, relishing in how wonderful it felt to have him close to her finally.
She wanted to feel that good all the time.
And she thought she could, for a brief moment, before she remembered everything brewing right outside the mountain.
A ice cold bucket of water, if there ever was one.
"Kee," She spoke against his lips, sighing when he ignored her and moved his attention away from her mouth towards her neck. "Kee, I have to tel…"
She lost the ability to speak when he bit down softly, working his mouth against her skin until a small mark appeared. She made a noise at the back of her throat that was simultaneously alarming in its volume and surprising in its sudden appearance. Her distraction gave him the opportunity to wrap his hands around her hips and pick her up, guiding her legs around his own while he walked forwards towards the nearest wall. He pressed her against it firmly and rolled his hips forward, causing her to moan louder. She hardly noticed the pain in her back, too distracted by the rush of dopamine clouding her brain.
Emelia moaned again, this time loud enough for it to reverberate in the small room.
She blushed and tried to look away, the combination of her embarrassment at the noise coupled with the heat of their interaction making her sweaty and frazzled. She hoped he felt the same, but she couldn't be so sure. She tried to think about it, process what she was happening, when he pushed her jacket back off her shoulders and attacked the skin just above her collar bone.
He certainly knew what he was doing, that much was for sure. Her nails dug into his back, clawing at him in a desperate attempt to pull him closer. She was certain she had never needed someone, something, so bad in her entire life.
It half terrified her, half excited her.
She couldn't decide what half she liked more.
"Emmy." Her name flowed from his mouth roughly, sending shivers down her spine. She lifted her back off the wall so that he could push the jacket off easier, leaving her in nothing but the thin shirt she had been given by Bard. His left hand moved from her hip and up her side, fingers brushing against the underside of her breast through the thin material. His other hand dipped underneath her shirt and trailed up her back as he rubbed smooth circles into her skin. "Em, I…"
Losing the ability to finish coherent sentences seemed to be something they had in common.
And as quickly as it started, it stopped. Kili removed his hands from her like they had been burned and immediately pried her legs from around his waist so that he could step back, putting as much distance between them as possible without it being too obvious what he was doing. Her legs felt like jello, her chest like it was full of butterflies, her brain unable to process anything but how much she wanted to kiss him again.
"What?" She tried to keep her voice even and lacking in all departments besides curiosity. The neediness still showed through, however, causing her to cringe. She cleared her throat, repeating her question with a more neutral expression on her face, despite the heat that was surging in the bottom of her stomach.
"Your back," He said simply. He grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around, pressing her forward so she was practically flush against the stone wall. She felt his hands on the neckline of her shirt, pulling it down to expose her wound to the cold mountain air. "May I?"
She smirked at the hesitation in his voice. "You just copped a feel, Kee. 'Course you can."
"I did not 'cop a feel', whatever that means."
"You touched boob." She smiled at him over her shoulder and couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of pride at how embarrassed he suddenly looked.
"I shouldn't ha…"
"Don't finish that sentence. " She flipped around so that she could look at him. She rubbed her hand along his jaw, smiling at him in a way that she was sure made her look like she was drunk. She moved her hand up to push some of his hair back from his face, ignoring how sunken and exhausted he looked, knowing that she probably looked the same. He leaned into her touch, bringing his own hand up to hold hers.
"It wasn't very princely of me," Kili said, eyes closing involuntarily.
"I don't mind." He seemed conflicted and she thought for a moment he was going to belabor the point further before she sighed, watching him as he turned his head so that he could press a soft kiss to the inside of her wrist.
"Can I see your back?"
"Don't freak out?"
"Should I?"
"No, I was just saying that so you wouldn't make a big deal out of it."
"Should I?" She supposed there was no changing his reaction, regardless of how much she tried to keep him from turning it into something bigger than it was.
"It's probably looks pretty gnarly, I'll give you that." Emelia turned back around and waited for him to pull the collar of her shirt down. His fingers were cold, but not altogether uncomfortable, as they traced along the skin at the nape of her neck and along her shoulder blades. "Tauriel fixed it. I think. I haven't been able to look at it, so the skin could be sloughing off in dinner plate-sized amounts for all I know."
He didn't say anything. His fingers continued to probe along her back until they found the puckered and raw skin. She hissed when he touched the edge of the stitching, moving away from his hands out of reflex. He rubbed the top of her back, methodically, absentmindedly, for a moment before he finally spoke to her, voice almost impossible to hear despite the silence in the room. "I missed you so much."
"Really?" Emelia asked, not meaning to sound like she needed some sort of affirmation. She wasn't so vain. Still, she glanced over her shoulder to look at him, stomach pooling with an unfathomable amount of warmth when she saw the serious look on his face. "What?"
"I thought I lost you," Kili said, hands pausing on her back. "What happened? Where were you?"
Emelia turned around and leaned back against the wall, reaching out to grab hold of his coat to pull him back with her. She thought she had turned his attention away from her cut, for the time being, but had stepped into more dangerous territory. She found it quite odd how comfortable she was with him without needing to even say what she was to him and what he was to her, which she had no idea how to quantify into words. She didn't want to talk about it, about everything that had happened, because it made panic bubble up in her chest that felt like it would kill her, if the orcs or Smaug or any other of the thousands of things that had gone wrong failed to do so.
"I'm sorry," She said after a moment, but that sounded insincere to her. She felt like the only thing she had said for the last couple of hours had been apologies and, now that she said it again, she was starting to realize that she didn't think she could say it enough. "I couldn't just leave Tilda. You were already gone when I got back."
"And you think I chose to do that? To leave without you?"
"Well, no, but..."
"But nothing. That killed me, Emelia. When Bard told us you died, I couldn't br..." He stopped, a look of pain taking over his face. His hands dug into her, squeezing her hard enough to leave bruises crescent moon shaped marks in her skin.
"This whole guilt thing must be a trait you inherited from Thorin. I already told Fili that what happened wasn't your fault and I think I'm going to start throwing punches if I have to say that one more time," Emelia said in a rush, taking a steadying breath at the end. "Can we talk about something else? I mean, literally anything else."
Kili stared at her, mouth twisting downwards in a scowl as he processed what she said. "You think that's why I'm upset? That I feel guilty?"
"I just assumed."
"Of course I feel like I let you down. I should have been there for you, but that isn't the only thing. Em, I thought I lost you." The honesty was disarming, but she understood how she felt. The warmth intensified in her stomach and she leaned forward, lacing her hands behind his neck to pull him down for a hug.
Her mind trailed back to her family for a moment, remembering the pain she had felt when she realized that she probably wouldn't see them again. They were ripped from her, violently and without warning, and she knew that she wouldn't be the same without them. There was a piece of her missing and she never wanted Kili to feel that way, even if the comparison gave her more importance in his life than was necessarily true. She rubbed his back, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't cause the whole argument to start up again, before she settled on just holding him. He pulled her to him tighter, arms shaking.
"I'm not letting you go again," He said after a moment.
"You stay, I stay. You go, I go. It's how it works now," She responded, repeating her words from Lake-town with even more meaning than the first time.
"It's how it works now."
There was an unspoken agreement in their words and Emelia couldn't help but feel like it was a turning point for the better. She let out a sigh against his chest, closing her eyes for a moment.
"What happened to your back?" There went her theory that he had forgotten about her back.
"I was trying to find some painkillers for you," Emelia smirked up at him, pulling him just a fraction of an inch closer. "So, you're welcome."
"Have you got them?" Kili asked, finally smiling after looking so morose.
"No."
"Well done."
"Shut up," Emelia laughed, pushing him back. "What about you? How's your leg?"
"It twinges a bit," Kili said, purposely being vague.
"Can I see?"
"Are you asking me to take off my trousers?"
"I thought you were trying to be princely."
"Did I say that?" Kili feigned innocence, placing his hand on the wall next to her head. He leaned over her and waggled his eyebrows in an attempt, she was sure, to try and look seductive. She didn't think he needed to try particularly hard, considering the face he had been gifted with, but she let him give it his best effort just to see. She folded her arms over her chest and raised her chin, nodding for him to continue. That wasn't the response he expected, causing him to panic for a moment before he cleared his throat and pulled his hand back so that he could stand up straight. "Right well, as long as you're asking I suppose I could…"
Emelia snorted and shook her head, taking mercy on him and his stuttering. She would've thought he would smoother than that, but then again, the depths of awkward she had achieved over the last couple of months probably rivaled him at that moment.
"You don't have to show me your leg," Emelia said, rolling her eyes at the relived look on his face. "But, you have to promise to tell me if it starts acting up."
"It's really nothing."
"Kee, I think, now that we're reunited and experiencing what can only be described as something straight out of a Gary Marshall film, that we should probably try something new."
"What's that?"
"We should tell each other the truth. I don't want to keep things from you and, I hope, you don't want to keep things from me."
"Of course not," Kili said, voice raising an octave involuntarily. "Sorry. I'm not trying to hide it from you, I just don't see a reason for you to worry. I feel well."
Emelia eyed him for a moment before she decided not push him on it. "Well, in the interest of transparency, I think you should know that Gandalf is pretty sure there's an orc army coming for Erebor."
Kili's face visibly blanched in the dim light. "And you're just now telling me this?"
"I tried to tell you earlier, but you distracted me."
"What could have possibly been so distracting?" Kili asked, folding his arms over his chest.
"That was a pretty good kiss," Emelia admitted, blushing despite herself. She glanced up at him and noticed, to her delight, he was as well.
"It was," Kili said, smiling in a way that made her believe him. "But, we should tell the others."
"You don't think that would be a little weird?"
"What? Why?"
"Well, I mean Thorin's your uncle. He probably doesn't need to hear about our steamy snogging sessions."
"Em, you know what I mea…" He trailed off, seeing the sly look on her face. "And you knew that. That's funny, really."
She winked and slipped out from her spot leaning against the wall, moving around him towards the door. She heard him follow after her, jogging clumsily to catch up so that he could reach out and take her hand. It made her stomach feel squirrelly once again. She thought the feeling might be nice if she wasn't so hungry, but as it was she felt like she had just done a thousand crunches just for the hell of it. She rubbed her free hand over her ribs, thoroughly unhappy with how much they now protruded and squeezed his fingers.
"So, not to be crude, but you hinted at snogging in the plural."
"Kee!"
"So that's a no?"
Emelia rolled her eyes and pulled her hand out of his, causing him to make a noise of protest. She sped ahead, taking the steps two at a time. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his side, placing a kiss on her temple. He squeezed the former home of her raging muffin top, causing a small feeling of self-consciousness to spring up, which was quite stupid, considering. Still, she swatted his hand away, much to his amusement, and gripped it firmly to prevent him from doing it again. Kili made a noise of protest and she stuck out her tongue, which ended up being a bad idea because he immediately pulled her in for another kiss.
It escalated almost as quickly as the last one and she found herself once again struggling to breath. She wrapped one arm around his waist and the other around his neck, pulling him closer a bit too enthusiastically, causing his front teeth to slam into her lip, drawing blood.
"Ow, what the hell?" She covered her mouth with her hand and glared at him.
"What? That wasn't me," Kili said, grabbing her right hand so that he could pull it back and look at her lip. "Let me see." He wrapped his hand around her wrist, bringing his other hand up to wipe some of the blood away. "It's barely a scratch. You're always so dramatic."
"You maimed me," Emelia moaned melodramatically, throwing her hand up to her forehead while she leaned back. "I'll never be the same again."
"I still like you well enough," Kili dropped his hand, leaning forward to place a kiss on her cheek.
"I guess that's something we can agree on."
"That I like you well enough?"
"That I like you too," Emelia said, voice dropping slightly as she realized the serious turn their conversation had suddenly taken once again. "Not to make things weird or anything."
"Well, we wouldn't want that."
"I'm trying to be romantic, if you could give me a moment that'd be great. I realize that's hard for you, but just five minutes and then you can go back to your usual M.O."
"By all means, please continue. Dazzle me."
"I wonder where you got that phrase from."
"A beautiful red-head that was right in the middle of her romantic declaration, I believe," Kili said, crossing his arms over his chest. He raised his eyebrows and gestured for her to continue, smiling at the annoyed look on her face.
"No, the moment's lost."
He got a contemplative look on his face that instantly made her nervous. He uncrossed his arms and recrossed them, trying, and failing, to look more comfortable than she thought he was. The playful look melted away and was replaced with a more somber one, making her fingers twitch involuntarily. "I didn't care for you very much when we met," He paused, eyes widening significantly as he seemed to realize what he said. Emelia tried to look offended, but couldn't manage to without smiling. "That isn't what I meant."
"I liked you about as much as I liked those trolls," She said, wrinkling up her nose when he made a face.
"That's very sweet, thank you. I'll remember that." Kili grabbed her hand, pulling it close to his chest. "And you have the nerve to complain about me ruining the moment." She tapped her fingers against his chest, smiling at the put out look on his face, even though she could tell he wasn't actually upset. Quite the opposite in fact. She could feel a bubble of anticipation building in her chest, threatening to burst at any moment if he didn't continue.
"Are you about to confess your undying love for me?" Emelia asked playfully, trying to sound nonchalant about the whole thing, despite the fact that she could tell there was something different about the way he was looking at her.
"Yes, yes I was."
"What? I was joking."
"I'm not. I love you," He said, making it seem like it was the easiest thing in the world for him to admit. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest and for once it was for something good and not out of fear.
"Well, I would hope so, otherwise it would be really rude of you to keep kissing me." She cringed. Of all the things in the world for her to say when having someone confess their love to her, she had to go with the least romantic, and quite frankly, rude response in her repertoire. Her mouth dropped open in horror as the awkwardness prolonged. "Wait, no. Say it again. I swear I won't respond like a twat."
"You swear?"
She nodded quickly, taking a deep breath.
"I love you," He said again, even more conviction in his voice than the first time. "I had thought I would tell you in the throne room, or maybe one of the halls filled with statues of my ancestors, but I don't think it really matters as long as I tell you." She stopped him before he could continue by leaning forward to place a kiss on his stubbly cheek. "I love you more than I can ever say."
"I love you too." He visibly relaxed, causing Emelia to cock her head sideways. "What, did you think I didn't feel the same way?"
"The thought crossed my mind." She didn't mean to snort, and in any other situation she would slap herself in the face for being so rude, once again, but she couldn't help it. Kili bristled, folding his arms over his chest with a very perturbed look on his face. "It isn't funny."
"I swear I'm not laughing." He didn't say anything and she sighed. "It's just, how could I not? I mean, be realistic. I don't want to speak for you, but as far as I'm concerned, there's no one else that even compares to you," Emelia paused, suddenly feeling foolish for reasons she couldn't explain. She took a deep breath, running a hand through her knotty hair nervously. "I love you so much you're all I can think about sometimes. Even when I'm supposed to be worried about not dying, I think about you and if you're okay and, on occasion, how cute you are when you smile."
"You're definitely laughing at me."
"I'm not!" Emelia exclaimed, trying to look very serious. He kept a straight face for a moment before he smirked, rolling his eyes. "You're an ass."
"But you love me."
"I do," She said without a hint of joking in her voice. She meant it. Every single word. She didn't understand how it was possible to feel so strongly about someone, but she did and, now that she knew he felt the same, she felt like some invisible burden had been lifted off her shoulders. She felt her body actually relax and the tension in her muscles dissipate, allowing her to breathe freely for what felt like the first time in months. Emelia rubbed her hands over her stomach, smiling like an idiot. She walked forward and pressed herself against him, hugging him as tightly as she could. "Kee, I know I'm kind of a dingus when it comes to this sort of thing, but I just want you to know that you're my person. Dwarf. Thing."
"I'm your thing?"
"Now you're laughing at me."
"Absolutely, but only because I find it unbelievable."
"What?" Emelia leaned back, tilting her head back ever so slightly to look at him.
"Like I said, I think I hated you when we met. Actually, I'm certain I did. I thought you were rude, selfish, immature, insufferable, and incompetent," He paused, looking over her head with a thoughtful look on his face. "Then there was the way you seemed to always have something to say about everything, like you couldn't go to sleep without getting the last word in. I thought you would be the death of me."
"This is so romantic."
"I think you'll be death of me for different reasons, though. I don't think in terms of just me anymore. I think of you and I think about how if something were to happen to you, I don't think I could survive that sort of pain long enough to see it through to the other side." He crushed her against his chest, keeping her anchored against him. She inhaled deeply, memorizing his scent and how he felt, perfectly content to just be with him for the time being.
Emelia kneeled down over the semi frozen stream, muttering under her breath. After the prospect of nothing but watery oats for the foreseeable future, she had been practically hysterical in every sense of the word. The celery that she had packed away in her pants had seemed less than appetizing when she presented it to the dwarves and they had promptly turned it down, which even she had to admit was a reasonable response.
She glanced up at the sky, taking note of how the sun had yet to make an appearance despite the fact that it was well past sunrise. Or at least, she assumed it was well past sunrise. She didn't know morning from night now, as much as that depressed her. The clouds were dark, ominous really, and made her mood worsen with each passing moment. Kili didn't seem to notice. He was chattering away happily on one of the rocks behind her, bow across his lap as he watched her try to find some protein for them to eat. She would settle for anything at this point that wasn't green or from the Erebor store rooms. Everything had a distinctly rotten flavor that she couldn't get out of her mouth.
"So is Thorin planning on becoming a shut-in now?" Emelia asked after a moment, sitting back on her back of her feet in the cold mud. "He probably doesn't even know I'm back."
"He hasn't been feeling very well recently."
"Let's just pretend that's true for like five minutes," She said, staring at the water. "But, I really need to tell him about the orcs."
She didn't understand why that was an argument she needed to make. The danger seemed self-explanatory and the sort of thing that most people, namely Thorin, would freak out about.
Thorin still hadn't come out from his little hidey hole somewhere in the mountain. Even after her and Kili returned from their romcom moment, or whatever that could be called, Thorin still hadn't been there. She asked about him and all the dwarves got a shifty look that was about as suspicious as a warm toilet seat in an empty house. Naturally, she'd been annoyed. She didn't know exactly where it came from specifically, or if it was just her general, and what seemed like constant, frustration with him showing through. She still hadn't forgiven him for leaving her in Lake-town, which felt petty now that she could really think about it, but it felt like the last straw. She didn't know if she would be happy to see him or if she would feel angry, but she knew she needed to talk to him before it was too late.
Bilbo couldn't say anything because apparently he never left, leaving her with the complete responsibility of letting Thorin know what was happening. And he wasn't taking appointments right now, so she was stuck with biding her time with the only useful thing she could think of.
"Maybe he'll feel a bit more himself when he sees all the fish you catch."
"If there's any fish to catch," Emelia said moodily, looking back at the water. "I thought Balin said this stream was full to the brim."
"Balin was probably thinking of before Smaug," Kili suggested, hopping off the rock with an unnatural amount of spryness for someone who had sustained a leg injury not too long ago. She glanced down at his thigh, staring at it for a moment to see if there was any sign of shakiness. He noticed her gaze and waved his hand, drawing her attention back up to his face. She shook her head and looked back up, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she turned around to focus her attention on the water. "I'm curious."
"About?"
"Why you didn't share this little talent of yours earlier."
"If you'll recall, I did mention something about what my family did. You just didn't listen." Kili came up behind her, watching her with just enough intensity that she could feel his gaze on her back. She moved the spear from one hand to the other, fingers picking at the metal embellishments on the grip. "I guess we didn't need it then."
"We have oats."
"Kill me."
Kili laughed, wrapping his arm around her waist from behind. He moved some of her hair off her neck and kissed the skin between the bottom of her hairline and her collar. "It's better than the celery you pulled out of your pants."
"You would be lucky to eat anything that comes out of my pants," Emelia said and instantly regretted it."Why do I even bother speaking? All I do is same dumb shit like that. I mean really, why?" Kili laughed louder, pressing another kiss to the back of her neck.
"In an effort to be more princely and to keep you from turning the color of your hair, I'll ignore that you ever said anything."
"Thank you. Now, go back to sitting on the rock over there and doing nothing. You're distracting me."
"Of course, milady."
"Ugh, gross, no."
"Emmy," He corrected, winking at her over his shoulder as he walked back over to his spot and waved at her for her to continue. She smiled at him for a moment before she turned back to the stream, bending down to stare at the flowing water once again.
"So, why didn't Fee come with us?" Emelia asked after a moment. She flipped the spear and slammed it into the ice near her feet, breaking it up into little chunks that floated down the river until they curved around the mountain and were gone from sight. She knew they would snake down until they passed in front of the barricade Thorin had them build. She hadn't seen any fish down there, so she didn't have much hope of finding any up here. Still, she felt better, if she couldn't speak to Thorin, that she wasn't sitting around doing nothing. Plus, she might even get some fish out of it. "He's been acting off."
"He thinks what happened to you is his fault."
"You're like goldfish, I swear to god."
"I'm not bringing it back up, I'm just pointing out why he's been quiet."
"You know, he did this after Beorn's house." Kili made a noise of agreement at the back of his throat. "It'll be so much easier when all of this is over so you guys can give me the cold shoulder for normal things. Like drinking milk straight out of the bottle, or leaving my underwear on the floor."
"Are you planning on leaving your smallclothes around and about?"
"I don't know. Who knows what I'll be like when I can finally relax again. I might just end up being the worse roommate ever."
"But you are planning on staying?"
"What kind of question is that?"
"An insecure one."
"Of course I'm staying," Emelia said after a moment, keeping her back to him. She didn't have an abundance of options for where she would go after it was all said and done, but even if she did, she knew she wouldn't go anywhere that didn't involve Kili. "I wanted to go to school before all this happened. I had it in my head that if I could just get out, just get away from my parents, I might be able to do something more with my life than fish."
"What did you want to do?"
"I really didn't have a plan. I thought maybe I could be a good doctor, but I wasn't smart enough. When I was younger I wanted to be a firefighter."
"What?"
"We have people who fight fires for a living."
"Are fires that common where you are from?" Kili asked, setting his bow down beside him. She glanced over her shoulder and couldn't help but smile as she saw the look of interest on his face.
"Where I'm from specifically, no. But in the rest of the country they are. Anyway, the point to all this self-interested rambling is that I don't want you to think I'm staying because I have nowhere else to go, which is true by the way, but I've had to readjust and aim for new things. Like not dying for instance. That's been my main goal for a while, but now that it seems like this is almost done I've starting thinking about what I'll do afterwards."
"I think I'll climb to the top of the mountain and watch the sunset," Kili mused.
"That sounds nice. I think I'll sleep for a few days. If you can wait, I'll go with you."
"I was already planning on you joining me," Kili said, fiddling with something she didn't bother to turn around and look at.
"So, how does the whole dwarf thing work?"
"Excuse me?"
"Living in the mountain. Do you live communally, or does everyone have separate apartments?"
"A little bit of both. The royal family lives in their own apartments above the throne room, but there are parts where many dwarves live together and work together daily."
"Eventually, I would like to see more of Erebor than just the two rooms," Emelia said, noticing a fish for the first time. It was small, barely enough to feed two people, but it instantly made her heart beat faster in excitement. She stepped into the water as quietly and as smoothly as possible, bringing the spear up. She tracked it, holding her breath as it got closer to her feet, before she brought the spear down on its head. Blood seeped out into the water, turning it pink. She brought the fish up and turned around, a triumphant smile on her face. "And people say I'm useless."
"When has anybody ever said that?"
"They were definitely thinking it."
Kili snorted. He came up behind her and reached his hand up to grab the fish off the end of the spear, sending a bit more blood spilling down over her hand. "Yummy, right?" She turned back around and resumed her position watching the water.
"Thirty more of these and we should be well off."
"You'll be lucky if you can get three out of me, let alone thirty, but whatever. Dream big."
"Emelia, move!" Emelia looked up just in time to see the orc shoot the arrow directly at her. She felt something slam into her from behind, sending her flying forward into the frozen water. Kili landed on top of her so hard it caused her to gasp and swallow water. Kili jumped off her and she twisted around immediately, sitting up out of the water just enough to cough out a stream of water and spit.
She looked around, struggling to get up on the slippery rocks. There were five orcs spilling over the rocks with their weapons drawn, teeth barred. Kili dropped one instantly with an arrow through its skull, sending a small splatter of blood spilling out from its eye socket over its cut up cheek. It fell backwards into one of the others, sending them both to the ground with a crunch. Emelia scrambled backwards, throwing her arms out to find the spear in a manner very similar to that of Velma trying to find her glasses. Incidentally, she felt about a useful as Velma.
She finally managed to find the worn end of the spear and pulled it to her chest, flipping around so that could keep her front to the orcs. Kili said something to her, probably telling her to run, but she couldn't understand him. Probably something about her running away, or something else equally stupid. Jamming the end of the spear into a crevices in the rocks, she stood up and jumped to the bank. Kili instantly grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back behind him, shielding her with his body.
"You need to run," He said, shooting another one of the orcs through the neck. It made a sickening gurgling noise before it fell forward and slammed into the rocks. The arrow snapped in half on the rocks on the bottom of the small stream and Emelia watched as the body started floating away, bumping into the sides and leaving behind a trail of black blood in the water. Kili pushed them both back as the other three advanced faster than he could shoot them, hand grabbing another arrow from the quiver around his shoulders. One came from the left and raised its notched sword above its head and swung for them out of the corner of her eye where Kili couldn't see. Emelia grabbed him roughly around the shoulders and shoved them both down, covering his head with her hands.
The sword sung over both their heads, narrowly missing them by millimeters. The orc raised the sword above its head and Emelia and Kili jumped apart, sliding on the damp rocks as they tried to get away from it. The orc, more than likely thinking Emelia looked like the weaker target, if they were capable of such thoughts, turned to her and advanced, swiping its sword right at her neck. She leaned back and held the spear up, eyes widening when the sword slammed into the wooden shaft hard enough to splinter it. She kicked her leg out and caught it in the kneecap, sending it stumbling backwards and giving her time to hop up and use the top half of the spear.
Her hands didn't shake when she slammed the spear into the orcs neck. She didn't know if she was proud of herself, or horrified that it didn't bother her as much as it should have. The blood from its neck pooled up in the wound, spilling out over its marred skin in globs. Emelia stared at it for a moment, watching the warm liquid stain the rocky ground beneath it. It was getting easier. All of it. She didn't even feel anything, no sickness deep in her gut, no panic about the thought of taking a life. Nothing but relief at still standing there alive and well, relatively speaking. She stepped forward and placed her feet at the base of its neck and bent down, wrapping her fingers around the spear. She yanked and stumbled backwards, ignoring the squishing sound that emitted as the spear tip ripped through flesh again.
"Are you hurt?" Kili touched her back, surprising her. She jumped, and turned around, throwing the spear up like a shield out of reflex. She instantly relaxed and dropped it next to her feet, nodding her head.
"I'm fine," She said and she thought she meant it. "Surprisingly."
"You're sure?" He eyed her warily, seeming to think that she should be vomiting, or screaming, or some horrifying combination of both. She looked down at herself, eyeing her completely steady hands and nodded again, confirming what she said.
"Yea, I'm good. It's still gross, but I've done it a few times recently."
"What? Why?"
"Well, when I went to get your poppy seeds there were a few and then down by the lake there was one," She paused and looked down at the one at her feet. "And then this one, so three I guess. Four if you include that goblin."
"Four," Kili said the number slowly, letting it sink in with a low whistle. "Is it concerning how attractive I find that?"
"A little," Emelia admitted, blushing slightly. She stepped away from him, the smell of the dead orc finally getting to her. "You would think they would have found the time to take a shower at some point."
"Have you?"
"Are you comparing me to an orc, Kili son or Mirwi?" Emelia asked, smirking at him when she noticed the look on his face.
"No, no I would neve…" She cut him off with a short kiss.
"We should probably go back. I mean, this can't be good." Emelia gestured to the orcs, smiling ruefully at the look on his face. She handed him the spear and stepped over the orc's body, giving it a solid glare for good measure, before she walked back over to the singular fish she had managed to catch before they were attacked. "Does Thorin like his fish fillet, fried, baked, or stewed?"
"Does it matter?" Kili shouldered the spear and turned around, looking at the small gap in the rocks that the orcs had come from.
"Obviously I wouldn't be asking if it didn't," Emelia replied, pulling her cloak off her shoulders. She picked the fish up by the tail and turned to him, taking note of his tense posture. "Do you happen to be in possession of bread crumbs?" He glanced over his shoulder and snorted, shaking his head. Emelia sighed, pursing her lips. "So stewed it is."
"Why are you asking about Thorin?"
"Because I obviously like him more than you."Even though he could see the mocking expression on her face, he still scowled at her and immediately stalked back over to stand in front of her. "Calm down. I was just thinking I would probably have to butter him up. He isn't exactly my biggest fan."
"Once you tell him what you know, he'll listen to you."
Emelia thought that would be the case, but she wasn't so sure. She waited until she could keep the doubtful look off her face before she turned back around. "You ready?"
Kili nodded and walked back over to her, looking down at the dead fish for a moment before he looked up at her face, appraising her. "I have a question."
"No, you can't take credit for catching this."
"Funny, but no. I was simply wondering why you didn't share you skill with spears before. It seems like the sort of thing that you would have mentioned. I think basically any time would have been appropriate. On your first night with us, 'I can use a spear.' Or when we were being chased by wargs, 'I forgot to mention, but I happen to know how to kill things from a distance.'"
"I didn't think of it," Emelia admitted, realizing how silly that was. "That's really stupid isn't it?"
"A bit, yes."
"But, hey, now you know."
"Now I know." Kili laughed, sliding his arm over her shoulder. He held up the spear, shaking it. "Do you want this back?"
"Be a dear and hold onto it for me?" Emelia batted her eyelashes and stuck out her tongue. "I did get dinner, after all."
"Breakfast, I think."
"Whatever. Potato, tomato."
"What does that have to do with it?" Emelia bit her lip and used her right hand to reach up and grab the back of his neck and pulled him down for another kiss, smiling against his mouth as he made a noise of surprise. He dropped the spear and wrapped his arm around her waist, kissing her harder. He paused after a moment and leaned back, nose scrunched up.
"What?"
"You smell like fish."
"Just you see if I ever kiss you again," Emelia said, turning on her heel to walk back down the rocky path they'd used to get up. She heard Kili hurrying up behind her, going through ever type of apology imaginable. She hiked her cloak up further and leaned down, smelling the bloody fish. When she thought Kili wasn't looking she breathed in deeply, allowing herself to remember growing up with that smell for a moment before it got weird.
"What are you doing?" Kili asked, causing her to immediately lower the cloak and look away.
She hoped down one of the rocks and leaned back against it, reaching out a tiptoe to test the next one. She couldn't explain it in a way that wouldn't make her sound insane, so she kept quiet, perfectly content to focus on making her way back down the mountain without falling and breaking her neck. Kili kept close behind her, hand reaching out occasionally to make sure she wasn't going to fall. She entertained the idea that he was simply making sure she didn't drop the first good meal they would have in days for a moment, smiling as she imagined the look on his face if she told him that. There would be a lot of protesting, and great deal of stuttering, before he kissed her again. She might ought to tell him, now that she thought about it. She laughed, stopping at the bottom of the small path when she could see the entrance to the mountain.
"What are you laughing about?"
"Just thinking."
"About?"
"Something funny, obviously." Kili rolled his eyes. "Mostly just about how much more everybody's going to like me than you for getting fish."
"Well, I know I like you. Quite a bit actually," Kili said, charming her in such a simple way it amazed her.
"How do you do that?"
"What?"
"Make something so simple sound like you're asking me to marry you."
"I was planning on that as well."
"What?" Emelia thought she heard him incorrectly. She almost dropped the fish she was carrying, and she would have if it weren't for the fact that Kili reached his hand out to steady her hands. "You're not serious."
"'Course I am."
"No you're not," Emelia said again, more forceful.
"It wasn't the way I envisioned asking you, but the sentiment is the same. I want to marry you."
Emelia snorted, shaking her head. He was joking, surly. Her fingers griped the edge of her cloak, pulling it up to prevent the fish from flopping out onto the ground. "No way," She said after a moment, realizing that he wasn't laughing with her. "You know that's crazy, right?"
"Why?"
"Because we haven't even gone on a date."
"There you two are," Fili popped up out of nowhere, resting his arms on one of the rocks. Emelia stared at Kili for a moment longer, unsure of what had just happened, before she turned to look at Fili, mouth slightly agape, eyes wide. "What? Did I miss something?"
Helloooo! Long time no see, eh? Life has been uber busy recently (Grad school stuff) so I haven't had nearly the time I wanted to to work on this, hence the massive break in between chapters. I'm still not entirely comfortable with this chapter, but I thought it fit their personalities well to not take things too seriously for too long. I really hope this was satisfying, considering how long you had to wait! This really has been giving me fits, so I hope it comes across well and not rushed or crappily written.
Anyway, I'm on the lookout for a Beta, if anyone is interested, let me know! Things go sour once again next chapter (looking at you, Thorin. LOL) so I hope this was just enough happy to tide you over before things get really serious once again.
REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! All your support for last chapter was awesome! Keep it up!