Disclaimer: I do not own the hobbit.

So sorry for the drag between updates, but you know, life doesn't like letting you do what you want. I am a little apprehensive about this one guys, a bit of a divergence and all. As always read and review!

P.S Title is based of a line from 'Romeo and Juliet'. Thought it would be a fun little tidbit since I am in a production of it :)

Whether the company wanted to go to war or not went unspoken as they prepare for whatever came from the Elves and the men of the Lake. They knew Thorin was not himself yet the remained silent, submitting to his decision. Loyal beyond sense the whole lot of them. Thoirn commanded the bridge destroyed, they did so. He told them to 'prepare for war', they set to work in the giant armoury.

That was how Marie found herself, waiting back in the living quarters while the dwaves fished out an assortment of shields, chainmail, axes, swords and many other tools of war. Even from five levels down, it made Marie's stomach churn, and her ears hurt. She was accustomed to the volume that could be reached in a crowded place and sometimes the dinning table when enough women were having scones. But these were not the sounds of eagerness, comfort and the promise of a laugh. These noises were the signal of war. For a time she stood around the armoury like a mouse trapped in a kitchen, edged into the walls until she found herself in the company of dusty mounts of the most ludicrous sets of armour she had seen. By some good grace Dwalin saw her distress and shooed her out, under the pretense that it was no place for a lady.

Marie wrapped herself in her arms as she paced the lengthy room, shifting the Arkenstone in her pocket as she did. Fear brushed against her mind and she glanced all around like someone, somewhere had seen it move. But she was all alone.

"Well done Marie. Now every crack and scrap will be suspect." She chided herself. After one last lap of the room she decided to sit down for her blistered feet's sake and made her way to her small cot in the ajoining room. Marie gave a heavy sigh and pulled her legs up onto the cot and drew her magic ring from her pocket. "What to do? What to do? What to do?" What could she do? She knew nothing of warfare, or it's glory.

Marie twirled the gold band around lazily.

Now the dwarves, they understood it. Marie remembered how well suited most of her compainions looked in their armour as they were preparing downstairs. They thrived on the glory of it for it was part of their heiritage. She was a hobbit and hobbits don't fight, at least not physically. Against her better judgement she chuckled at the visual of her shouting from the top of the wall at the fighting.

By accident, the ring slipped onto her middle finger and Marie was enveloped by magic. Something was wrong though. It did not feel as heavy as she'd come to expect, in fact it seemed to be moving around her like wind and even sounded like a howling storm. It grew colder and Marie thought she could feel the air in her lungs being sucked out of her.

'Gu kibum …. kelkum-ish …. burzum-ishi.'

Marie raised her hand up in front of her, the ring glowing around her finger like a flame.

'Akha-gum-ishi ashi gurum.'

The howling became shrieking and Marie awkwardly spun in her cot in search for the noises source. Instead of a blank wall behind her there was a great ball of fire hurtling towards her. Marie tried to gasp but couldn't, her lungs had frozen up.

It was Smaug. He had come back for her to finish what he started. Marie felt herself falling back, away from the fire.

But it never touched her.

In her thrashing Marie had fallen off the cot and hit the floor which knocked her whole body back into working again. 'It's not real. It's not real!' She yanked the ring off and took a large gulp of air. She rolled onto her side, hair falling in her face as she clawed at the floor.

"Ow." She muttered feebly.

"Miss Baggins!"

The hobbit could have just died when Thorin called for her. She got up off the floor little too quickly and almost fell back from dizziness but she caught herself and calmly walked out into the living quarters, the ring safely back in her pocket. Thorin was dressed in full battle armour from head to toe. The light reflected of each piece making it appear to be made of gold. He looked dangerous, large and glorious.

"Wow …eeelll" Marie corrected herself. "You … that is a … You are well suited for armour." Marie she probably looked like a mess.

Thorin's eyes narrowed.

"What? Something wrong?"

"Are you alright? You look flushed." The initial sharpness to his glare softened.

"I … fell. I was … taking a nap and I just … well." Marie shrugged. "This happened."

"A nightmare?"

Marie licked her bottom lip to ease the sting of the chapped skin, "Of sorts." Give it another few hours she could be very well witnessing a nightmare at the gates.

"I have something for you." He said but showed no indication of moving from the doorway, so Marie had to go to him. As she drew closer she noticed he was holding what looked like a white shirt. Thorin held it up. "You're going to needs this. I do not expect nor will allow you to involve yourself with the battle but you shall have protection." Marie reached out to touch it as it hung between them. It felt so light. "This vest is made of silver steel." He told her. "Mithrel it was called by my forefathers. No blade can pierce it."

Marie gingerly took the shirt from him and looked closer. It looked to be made of tiny rings no bigger than a needle's eye all linked together. The collar was heavy with jeweled embroidery that the thread could have been metal as well.

"This … this seems a bit much, don't you think Thorin?"

The dwarf appeared so calm, much more than he had been for days now and Marie feel her heart giving a little flutter."It is a gift. A token of our friendship."

Marie didn't know what she should have said. Give him thanks for the gift? Or ask if it was only friendship he wanted of her? Given the mixed signals she had been receiving the last few weeks it would be nice to know. For now though, manners first. "Thank you Thorin."

Something snapped in his eyes and Marie started to worry once more. "True friends are hard to come by." He clutched her shoulder suddenly. "I have been blind, but now I am beginning to see." He growled, leaning in close to the hobbit. "I am betrayed!"

Marie shrank under his gaze. "What?"

"The Arkenstone."

Marie felt like she had been dropped from the top of the highest point of the mountain. Did he know? How? Her knees were shaking and she dared not breathe.

Thorin glanced over his shoulder, as if there was someone else in the room. The tension double as Marie waited for her doom, clutching the Mithrel shirt to her chest.

"One of them has taken it."

If it was possible, Marie was sure her heart gave out, started up again only to be stopped once more.

"One of them is false." Thorin eyes narrowed as he almost hissed his suspicion. Marie would not let one of the others take the blame for her indecision.

"Thorin." She squeaked,"The quest is for filled. You've won the mountain back, is that not enough?"

"Betrayed by own people."

Was he even listening to her? "Thorin you gave your word. You are a man of honour. Is this treasure truly worth more than you honour?" Somehow she managed to regain some of his attention. He had a lost look in his eyes. They were not the clear steady colour of the sky and more like murky water. "I vouched for you to the Master. I still believe you to be an honest man."

"And for that I am grateful Marie. Truly, but .." His voice shifted, "The treasure in this mountain doesn't belong to the people of Laketown. This ..." Thorin closed his eyes, the lines of his brow drew together tightly in what looked like pain. Marie reached out to touch him but froze when his eyes opened and she was met with an eerily familiar glare. "This gold is ours, and ours alone." His armour rattled ever so slightly with his movements as he withdrew from Marie. "By my life, I will not part with a single coin. Not one piece of it."

Those words.

Those exact words.

Marie had heard the before, from Smaug himself. The world seemed to move so slowly around them, making it so much worse for the hobbit as Thorin went to leave, his beloved treasure to defend.

'No Thorin. No ... no, no no no no no!'

She felt the Mithrel slip from her fingers and fall to the floor, but Marie could only focus on Thorin. She groped the air until she caught his armoured arm but he did not feel it. It was like pulling on a tree trunk. So she rushed in front of the dwarf. Even then he didn't acknowledge her and gazed forward. That is until Marie took his face in her hand and forced him to look at her. Before he could question her bold move, she pushed up on her toes and kissed him.

It was ever so light, a gentle lingering caress.

She felt his hot breath fan across her skin as she pulled back. "Please don't do this." Marie opened her eyes. Thorin looked so confused, gazing down at the hobbit in silence. Marie felt his jaw clench and unclench beneath her hands like he was trying to speak but was unable to find the words. "You don't have to fight. You're home now, this is what matters Thorin."

He turned his face into her left hand, lips pressing into the palm as his own hand covered it. He grimaced as if in pain and Marie thought she could feel him shaking. The armour encasing his fingers was cold and dug into her skin as he sharply gripped her hand. "I ... can't" Thorin pulled himself from her and left. Marie just stayed there, listening to his loud exit echoed on and on down the lengthy passage.

She should been crushed, enraged even, but all she felt was overwhelmingly despair. Marie tried to hold it all in, but it welled up in her chest until it hurt too much. The strength in her legs went and Marie sunk to her knees, the tears finally falling and running over the hand covering her mouth. All at once she remembered that hazy night in Laketown. She remembered his beard under her fingers, the scent of burnt wood and the taste of wine. Her covered mouth muffled the strange yelp of a sob the she made, such an undignified noise but Marie couldn't stop it.

She was hurting.

She was hurting because Thorin was hurting, or so her mind wanted to believe like some lovesick maid. Marie knew who the real Thorin was, how passionate and strong he was, his small displays of affection for his nephews, his comradery with Dwalin and Balin. But above all was the trust he had in every single member of the company. Marie believed in that trust.

Thorin had to be stopped before he destroyed all of that, and that included saving him from himself. That for Marie meant making a very difficult and heartbreaking decision. She abhorred the notion of it and yet it was the only way, it was the right way.

She was going to break Thorin's trust.

And she had just the means to do so.

xxxx

Marie went into hiding, leaving in her place a well stuffed pillow wrapped in a blanket on her cot. With any luck the dwarves will think her asleep and not think twice to look under the blanket. It would have been easier to have simply used the magic ring but after the last time she put it on it was probably for the best not to.

Her insides were already churned up as it was.

Once she absolutely sure none on the dwarves were lingering about the barricade she scurried up the wall, quiet as a mouse. There was no way she could recall the hidden passage on her own and asking one of the dwarves would raise questions. This was the most direct way to get to Dale. At the top of the wall a line of bows and fully stocked quivers had been set in place. Marie ignored this and pulled looked over the edge at the climb down before her.

'Oh my.' A twenty foot drop by her reckoning. The gangway had been destroyed and had flooded over the debris. 'Well if I fall I'll hit either the water or the rocks. A grim prospect.' But just how was she to get down in the first place? She could scale down the wall but didn't trust herself to keep her grip. Marie looked around at the mess left behind in the wall's construction. A ladder was too obvious. Rope perhaps. There was plenty from the pulleys. Marie scrambled for whatever rope she could find, using Sting to cut off the metal pulls. The hobbit paused every few seconds to check her surroundings, but heard nothing and kept going until she had enough. She tied one end to an old torch mount that was little more than a metal ring. After a few experimental tugs Marie deemed the knot tight enough. The sun had long since set, giving Marie the perfect cover

"Who goes there?"

Marie froze. How did she not hear someone approach?

She quickly dropped to rope and stood, kicking the rest into the shadows.

"Is that you Marie?" Of all people to find her it was Kili. "Ugh yes. Yes it's just me Kili." The young dwarf was at the other other end of the wall on guard watch no doubt.

"I thought you were already asleep."

"I was. But ... I woke up and thought some fresh air would help with my head. Blasted thing has been pounding all day."

But there was no fooling him, not with those sharp eyes of his. Kili could see the rope and the guilt on her face clearly but not the reason. "You're running away?"

Marie decided to spare him anymore fibs. "No Kili. But I am about to do something foolhardy, something you may hate me for."

"I couldn't hate you Marie. Honestly." He glanced behind him before closing the gap between them. He lowered his voice in case of any prying ears lingering in the shadows. "But what must you do? Tell me please. I can help if I can."

"You can't help me Kili. Not with this." Marie shook her head.

"I don't even know what 'this' is."

"I intend to prevent a war."

"How? What could …?" Slowly Kili started to put two and two together. "Oh no Marie are you …!"

"Shhh!" Marie hissed and in her panic she covered his mouth. Both of them waited a tense few seconds in case the out mild outburst attracted someone. Kili was the first to breathe again and pulled Marie's hand away, clutching it tightly. "Are you mad Marie?" He whispered. "Thorin is still searching high and low it and you're going to give it away to the enemy?"

"Are they though?" Marie countered ans the young dwarf's mouth twitched. "Admit it you don't want to fight them."

"I …. I …" Kili couldn't answer her.

"This is something I have to accomplish alone and to involve anyone else would …. Understand that what I am about to do is because I care. Remember when you asked me about what it is to love?" Marie made her tone softer. "Well sometimes … you do thing, anything if it meant protecting the one you love most, even if that includes hurting them." Oh Heaven help her, he just stared at her with his dark brown eyes as he began to realize what she was also saying. "If you care for Thorin at all, if you care for me at all, you'll let me do this."

Kili sighed and finally let go of her hand. He turned his gaze to the ground. "If anyone asked …. I never saw you here. This meeting … this conversation never happened."

"Thank you Kili," Marie said, relieved that the young dwarf understood at last. "I hope tha…mmmgh" She was cut off abruptly when Kili quite suddenly kissed her, one hand holding the back of her head in place and the other settling on her hip.

Marie just stood there, stunned at his bold action. He kiss was at an odd angle, rushed and quite hard like an ancious teen's first try. When he finally released her lips he refused to look at Marie, and she could not find the fight right words to say. "This … never happened." He breathed. The hold around her loosened and he stepped back.

'Oh Kili.'

Marie watched the dwarf trudge back across the barricade with a heavy heart. For his sake, Marie waited until he was gone before finishing what she started. He already knew what she was going to do, no need for him to see her do it. Marie grabbed the rope from off the floor. 'Remember Kili. I do this for you, for all of them …. and for Thorin.'

With a heavy heart, she tossed one end over the edge.

Yup, so imma just gunna go hide under my bed now ...