Disclaimer: I do not own the Hobbit.

Marie and Thorin Bonding Time!

It was too quiet for Marie. The dwarves were not ones to sit by idly at a meal without at least one food fight, but now they just sat around the large table quietly picking at what they allowed themselves to take from their host, which was little more than nuts, berries and few slices of cheese. Marie guessed that the lack of substantial delicacies like pork and chicken was the cause of such a sombre mood, that or the thought of the orc pack still pursuing them.

Marie stood by the fire they had built and watched over the simmering pot of milk. She felt she could at least attempt to make something for the company. Gandalf had made himself comfortable on a stool by the fireplace, and had withdrawn behind the thin veil of smoke emanating from his own long pipe, his grey gaze staring of into a world unseen by the ordinary eye.

This didn't feel right to Marie, which surprised her since only months ago she would have wished for nothing more than peace and quiet while she sat at the dinner table. It was clear now just how far the dwarves had wormed the way into Marie's life, where the reckless manners and boisterous lust for food and song now reassured her of her companions' well being instead of repulsing her.

"Could we perhaps make an escape now, with the night to hide us?" Ori whispered to Fili and Kili from across the table. Marie glanced over her shoulder at the youths as she broke up pieces of honeycombs.

"Maybe, but it's the bear that is the problem." Fili knocked his knuckles on the wood.

"If we are quiet, we could make it into the woods at least."

"You always have been bold Ori."

"Perhaps too bold." Dwalin, who had long given up eating at the table, stood behind the scheming youths. "Has this quest tough you nothing? Other than the vulgarity of goblins or to gawk at a woman." This was a purposeful jab at Kili, who had received nothing but reminders of his minor fault that day. He still could not meet Marie's gaze and keep his head down.

She turned back to the pot and mixed in the honeycomb and milk, stirring it carefully with giant ladle. Bombur came up next to her, "I only found a little bit Miss Marie. Will it be enough?" He handed her a small piece of ginger like she had asked him to locate. "More than enough. Thank you." She took it and pulled the pot away from the fire, so the milk would not burn. "I was only going to use a single piece anyway. I don't know how this will turn out with goat's milk."

She cut a small sliver from the plant and dropped it into the mix to infuse it. Bombur leaned over and sniffed it, "What is that exactly?"

"Just a little something my mother used to make. It's good to help stave off illness and makes for an evening treat." Marie pushed the pot back over the flames, the smell of ginger hitting her hard. "I hope I've remember it correctly. It's been years, not since ..." Marie fell quiet when she remembered.

"Miss Marie?" Bombur tapped her shoulder gently.

"It's nothing. Nothing at all." Marie feigned a smile

"Shall I find some cups?"

"Yes please. If you can, small ones."

Bombur went back to searching while Marie picked up the ladle and stirred.

"Here." Bofur pulled out his tobacco poach and pipe, "Since we can't find comfort in warmth or ale."

"Aye, that would do just fine." Nori stood up and crossed around to take a pinch. "Alright go easy. There's not much left." Bofur handed out an equal share to Nori, Fili, Balin and Thorin and soon even more smoke filled the house.

"How about a song Bofur?" Balin suggested, "It would be worth more than the belting of goats."

"Aye but use is a song with meed?"

Another roar came from the outside.

"He's at it again." Dori said. An uncomfortable silence befell the again as they all waited to hear what came after, and only ended thanks to Thorin. "Come Bofur, a song."

Bomber returned with what appeared to be feeding bowls the size of a normal dinner plate. "No cups?" Marie whispered to him, and he shook his head. "They'll do the trick." Marie scooped up some of the liquid and sipped it. It wasn't a disaster like she had feared. "Try this." She offered the dwarf, who gladly gulped it down. His face lit up and he gave Marie his silent but delighted approval.

"The world world was young, the mountains green,
No stain yet on the Moon was seen,"

Marie paused for a moment as the first few notes of Bofur's song filled the air.

"No words were laid on stream or stone,
When Durin woke and walked alone.
He named the nameless hills and dells.
He drank from yet untasted wells,
He stooped and looked in Mirrormere,
And saw a crown of stars appear,
As gems upon a silver thread,
Above the shadow of his head."

It didn't sound like one the upbeat dwarf would sing, but at the same time his voice felt perfect for it. It shifted the dull atmosphere to something more cosy like. Oin and Nori kept the rhythm by tapping the table with spoons. The hobbit poured the drink into the bowls and she and Bombur passed them out amongst the others.

"Gandalf?" Marie gave the wizard a light tap to wake him. He coughed out smoke as his trance was broken. "Mm, umm. Oh why thank you Marie." He took the bowl graciously. He sipped it and grinned. "This is your mother's Honey Milk isn't it?"

"With my own little twist."

"It's delightful Marie." Gandalf raised it to toast her. Marie smiled and continued to hand out the drink.

"But still the sunken stars appear
In dark and windless Mirrormere;
There lies his crown in water deep,
Till Durin wakes again from sleep."

As Bofur came to the end of his song, Marie placed a bowl in his hand, "That was lovely." She said. "Thank you. And what may I ask is this?" He eyes the gold coloured milk curiously.

"Just something to drink. I know it's not ale or brandy, but it's .."

"It's great." Kili said rather loudly. Both Marie and Bofur turned as one to the young dwarf. "I mean it's really nice Marie." He ducked his head backed down. "Thank you Kili." Marie said politely, only making it worse for Kili as he buried his face into the bowl. Fili smirked at his little brother and patted his back.

Soon all but two of the dwarves were sipping away at the Honey Milk, Bombur helped himself to the rest of the pot and there was a demand for another song from the toy maker. Marie held the last two bowls in each hand to pass to Dwalin and Thorin. She found Dwalin standing apart from the group, but could see Thorin, though she swore he had just been standing right next to Dwalin. "My thanks lass." Dwalin muttered and downed the drink in one go. But Marie didn't hear him, she was looking in the shadows for the missing king.

Dwalin placed his hand on Marie's shoulder, careful not to knock her over with his strength, "He's outside." He told her in a voice so low, it could have been mistaken for a growl. With one look she thanked him and slipped into the shadows herself.

The front door to the house was still bared so Marie looked for another exit. She crept deeper into the house, bumping into more goat and a few stray chickens who clucked their annoyance at her. Marie found what she was looking for when she saw a thin strip of pale light streaming in from somewhere. It was a small side door built into another pair of barn doors, and it was open.

'So much for staying inside.' Marie sighed and stepped through the door.

It wasn't dark as Marie had expected it to be. A shroud of mist had descended and had completely enveloped the sky and glen, it was so thick Marie could barely make out the shapes in front of her. Of in the distance, the groans and cries of the black bear could be heard still. She looked up to find the stars but only the moonlight made it through the mist, giving it a blue hue. It was like early morning in the winter in the Shire, when the trees were bare and droplets of rain lined the like diamonds. Marie breathed out slowly and watched it freeze and roll from her lips, becoming one with mist.

"You shouldn't be out here."

She turned sharply and almost spilt the hot drank. Thorin was sitting on a stray log that had long since tumbled out from a pile and had been consumed by the ivy that grew all over the house. He was clutching his pipe as usual, letting the smoke dance across his eyes. Her fright was quickly forgotten once she saw him. "Wouldn't your rules apply to you as well?"

Thorin took a deep breath in to speak, but it looked as though it pained him to do so and slowly he let out a deep groan. Marie became worried and took a step towards him. "Are your wounds ...?"

"It is nothing. It will pass."

Marie forced herself to believe him, for there would be no use trying to tell him otherwise. His will was too strong, as was his pride. That was why he sat alone, he did not wish the others to see him in pain.

"What is it that you want?" Thorin lifted his face a little, and Marie could not but be transfixed for a moment. The pale light illuminated his face, which appeared ashen and tense yet still proud as always, like cold stone. The only life to be found was in his eyes, which the blue hue of the moon increased to a brilliant shine. Marie remembered her wits and held out the bowl, "I just came to see if," She pried her gaze from those eyes and looked sheepishly at the milk, "If you would like some." She took and another step and held out the bowl.

Thorin stared at the bowl for a long time and Marie thought he would not take it, but sure enough he reached up and graciously accepted it. He sipped it wordlessly and Marie felt a rush of joy as she back away, ready to return to the warmth of the house.

"I want to know something." Thorin said and Marie froze to the spot. "You had a chance to escape, to return to your home. Yet you did not, you came after us and have stayed with us."

Marie lips became a hard frown and she tried to turn away. "Let's just ... forget about our spat in the cave shall we? I was being emotion and irrational thoughts led to my decision. I'm sorry so let's ..."

"I want to know." Thorin repeated himself, "Why did you come back?" There was a softness to his voice that calmed the hobbit, if only a little.

"I ... well where to start?" Marie scratched the back of her head. "I realised something, when I was in the Goblin tunnels. I remembered what you said about understanding what it was like, missing a home and everything. Then it dawned on me that you did, you felt my pain tenfold and I knew then I was being undeniably selfish and petty. I have home to go back to but you don't, yours was taken. I know now that the reason I came back was because I want you to get it back, and I will help you if I can." She glanced at Thorin to see his reaction. He had listened to every word she had told him and seemed moved by them. Marie felt herself grinning and she looked shyly at her hairy feet, "I always wanted adventure in my youth."

"What stopped you?" Thorin asked

Marie hesitated as old wounds from the past ached in her chest. Her voice came out no louder than a whisper. "My thirst for it died twenty five years ago, along with the one who encouraged it." Her arms wrapped around herself automatically as she waited for what the dwarf would say next. But he just looked with curiosity gleaming in his eyes. He wouldn't make her speak, but he let her if she chose to. "Who was he?" He finally asked

"I wouldn't think to laden you with my stories Master Dwarf. They're not worth much."

"Try me."

After what seemed like years of worth of silent debating, Marie dropped her arms.

"Alistair Took. A distant cousin on my mother's side. He and I did not have any siblings so we were quite close in out childhood, he was only few years older. Unlike most hobbits, Alistair had an insatiable taste for travel, always itching to escape to the world beyond our borders. And I was no better, though be less brave than he was. Every day we would run off to where ever our feet took us, over the little rivers and up into the trees, into the woods and sometimes into famer's crops. It did not matter to us, as long as we were together. Folks thought Alistair was a bad influence on me, the already strange Baggins girl who'd climb up a tree and pick pockets, but I did not heed their words back then."

Marie found herself slowly sitting on an over grown stump as she told her tale.

"It was always Al's dream to leave the Shire. He wanted to go east to where the elves lived, to see if what the legends spoke about Rivendell were true. Then he would go further on, further than any hobbit had dared dream of. He would see all the world and return with riches no one had ever seen and new stories to tell the children. I wanted to go with him, but I was still too afraid to leave everything I hand even known behind. But Al was patient, and promised that when we both came of age we would go together, and even then he would wait for me to be ready."

She could see him in her mind, the gold curls just as unruly as her's, the cocksure smile he always had and the ruddy red cheeks that all Tooks had. Al, her Al, devilish as he was charming made that promise with the sincerest smile.

"But it didn't matter if he did wait. The winter after he made that promise, he came down with a mild cold. We thought nothing of it, it was just a cold, but when spring passed and the coughing did not ease I couldn't help but feel uneasy. Al would just laugh it off every time I would ask him about, but I could see through his lies. As the months fade by, his strength seemed to fade with them until he could not run anymore, nor climb trees. He'd fall into fits and his face would loss all colour, and when I found blood on his handkerchief ... After that he could barely walk without collapsing. Old Took had the best healers from all over the Shire at his call, even one from Bree. They all told him the same thing, it was in his lungs. The healer from Bree called it Consumption but what we called it did not matter. He was dying and there was nothing we could do."

Marie's voice started to give way, and she paused to compose herself

"We did what we could to ... ease his pain, but no matter what he was suffering. It wasn't long before he lost all his strength. I tried to be brave for him, but in the end I would just cry ever day over the inevitable outcome and I hated myself for it. The days turned into winter once more and little by little we lost more of Al, until one day ... he didn't wake up ... ever again."

Again Marie needed to stop. Her chest felt compressed and her words felt like they were choking her. She could feel's Thorin's gaze on her as she took a deep breath and went on.

"Travelling on an unfamiliar path is not the hardest part of a journey Marie, it's taking the first step forward. That's what he used to tell me all the time when I afraid. Before he died he made me swear that I would have his adventure, to not be afraid of me dreams. He made me swear ..."

"And here you are." Thorin pointed out.

Marie let out a mirthless laugh. "Here I am, twenty years too late and all of it spent on trying to be a respectable hobbit to afraid to go beyond her front door." Her eyes stung with unshed tears that she rubbed away. She had already spilt her guts to Thorin, she would not start crying too.

"You loved him dearly."

"I did."

"I think we would be very proud of you."

Marie stopped rubbing and looked at him. "You said that you were afraid, but look where you are now. Never before has a Halfling been seen these parts and I doubt none of your kin have even thought what was in the east. If you were as afraid as you believe would you have made it this far?" There was a sincerity in his words that made Marie's chest release the tightness constricting her. "I may have doubted you once Marie, but I know now expect many things from you."

It was his smile that got her. She ducked her head and let the tears drip onto her knees.

"Thank you." Was all she could say.