Ruby arrived later than expected. All her shopped goods were piled up on the cart behind her. She had managed to convince one of the townsmen to lend her their cart. Well, her pouch was lighter by three gold coins, but the thought alone of carrying all the food was enough to convince her.

The large doors leading into the mountain were closed as she left them. Some years ago she had bent the iron gates back into their original shape. It must have looked funny to anyone watching (not that there was a soul around). Smaug, big, scary and definitely deadly, trying his best to rebuild the very mountain he had destroyed.

Pushing open a much smaller door located a bit off the middle, she dragged her cart inside. It had been tedious to get the partially broken thing, filled to its extent with food, books and other necessities up the slippery roads leading towards the mountain. Ruby had lit the forges ages ago, and made sure they would burn on, so the mountain wouldn't be too cold. As a result some of the snow had been melting and made the roads all muddy and slippery.

The long halls were filled with warm light, flickering torches on the ornamented pillars. The gigantic mold for the stature of Thror still stood at the end of the hall, waiting to be finished. Waiting, reminding her of Smaug's doom. Sending another wary look towards the end of the hall she closed the door again and made her way down to the forges.

~

The sweet smell of baked goods, cinnamon and vanilla filled the air of the spacious kitchen. A high whistling sound announced that the tea-water was boiling, while the bubbling and popping of bubbles from the direction of the stove sent waves of a hearty scent into the kitchen and hallway outside. The giant pot filled with soup was almost ready, only a pinch of salt was missing.

"Salt, salt… where did the salt go?" Ruby rushed over to the opposite side of the room, frantically searching the cupboard.

The whistling climbed up a note, ringing in her ears. She whirls around, taking the hot kettle from the fire and emptying it into the teapot she had found some time ago in one of the lower kitchents. With her other hand she stirred the soup with a wooden spoon, so it wouldn't burn a second time.

A slightly burned smell tickled her nostrils. Her gaze immediately snapped to the oven. A faint bit of black smoke started to pour out of the half-open hatch.

"No, no, no! Not again, oh please not again!" she pleaded.

Letting go of the spoon she pulls open the hatch in a rapid motion. The cookies were a bit dark, but probably edible. Placing the kettle on the nearest table she begins to take out the cookies and small breads one by one to put in the next load.

For the second time that day her blouse caught on fire. The slightly too long brown sleeve of her right side hung a bit too near to the fire, while putting in the second tray. In annoyance she patted at the small flame, trying to suffocate it, before it would ruin her last pair of representable clothes. Just earlier she had the stupid idea to check if the peppered fish had enough pepper-coating. Bloody dragon-sneezers, almost set her cooking-books on fire.

~

The table was set. The tea ready. The soup was on a small flame, so it would be still hot when served. The fish waited in the remaining heat of the oven while the chicken salad stood nice and cool. She had dusted off the throne room and had taken special care of the throne itself. The halls were cleaned off her muddy cart-tracks, the beddings from the still intact living quarters were aired out and she had replaced the flowers on the graves in the lower levels with new ones. The treasury was organized, the secret passageway lit, as well as the great hall.

'Everything is ready, so why do I have the feeling that something is missing?'

Her thoughts were rudely interrupted as her ears twitched, picking up a faint knocking sound echoing through the halls. They were here! Finally they were here. Finally she could give back the Arkenstone to his rightful owner… The Arkenstone. She had forgotten to put the king's jewel on the porch of the secret passageway!

Thoughts raced through her head, spinning in circles but always ending at one point. She had ruined it. She had one job and she ruined it. How could she have forgotten the most important piece in her whole plan?

Stone scraped upon stone as the secret door was opened from the outside. Too late. There was no way for her to put the stone where she had planned. Now she had to improvise. Somehow it would work out. Surely.

As if the mountain was inhaling, a fresh breath of air whirled through the treasury and the halls and corridors. Ruby shifted from one feet upon the other, her hands repeatedly dusting off and straightening her clothes. Another red curl freed itself from her bun just as an undistinguishable whisper reached her ears, followed by a very, very disgusting smell.

What in the world was that?! It smelled like rotten fish, damp clothes and cheese. Old cheese. Was that a hint of mold in the smell? Her dragon lifted his head for a bit, analyzing the scent she believed. It was still curled up in her chest, relaxed. His tail twitched a bit as he seemed to identify the scent.

'Dwarf' was his only reaction, before he curled back around her heart.

Dwarf indeed, she knew that they would come for heaven's sake, but that they would smell like this?! Of course they wouldn't smell like flowers, candy and unicorn-poop, but this was way too much. They would have to take a very long, intense bath before they would have dinner!

From her position, up on one of the bridges, she had a perfect view over the treasure chamber. From the right a familiar small silhouette crept into the chamber. The hobbit smelled just like the dwarrows waiting outside, but there was something else on him, something warm and sweet?

Bilbo started searching the piles of coins, gold, trinkets and gems for that one jewel he wouldn't find down there. The king's jewel lay well protected where it should have stayed, in the heart of the mountain.

He didn't notice the watchful eyes of a certain red-haired girl, who could only smile at his poor attempts to be silent and lay low in all the gold and echoing stone halls. It had been a loss on his end from the very beginning. Well, at least he would get to enjoy a good cup of tea and a hot bath after his long journey.

Another jewel was carefully inspected and smelled? What was he doing down there?! Oh for the love of… That didn't belong there! How could he not see that he was putting the large ruby on the wrong pile? She needed to get him out of there, before he ruined her whole sorting system. The dragon surely wouldn't lay low when the chamber was brought into disorder!

Hastily she grabbed the tray with the blue tea-pot and the two matching cups, placed another plate with cookies on it and made her way down the stairs and towards the hobbit. Whenever he moved, she took a step closer. He didn't notice her. Well, he might have been focusing too much on the dragon, so it was a reasonable mistake to oversee the little girl.

Now what? Ruby stood right behind the still oblivious and frantically searching hobbit. Maybe she should say something. Or make a sound so he would turn around? But what if she would frighten him and he would run away, or worse, faint? Surely he wouldn't scream right?

Before she could even attempt to make a move, another 'no, this one's not either' whisper escaped the hobbit and a big green stone was sent flying over the small creature's shoulder. Just like in the bad sitcoms Ruby used to watch at home, the stone flew in slow motion first high up, before it made its way down. She watched it coming nearer and nearer, before it hit with a hollow 'thunk' right inside the freshly filled tea-cup.

"Sugar honey ice tea, now I have to get another cup."

Had she just said that out loud? She had. Biting her lip, trying desperately to undo what had already happened. She stared down at the frozen hobbit as he very slowly turned his head. Their eyes locked. He screeched, she panicked.

This was not how she had planned it. The hobbit was definitely not reacting according to plan! Rushing through the corridors her own footsteps echoed from the walls. when she reached the forges she pressed herself against one of the large pillars sheltering the forge from the dragon in the movies.

'What is wrong with you?' her inner voice scolded her, while the dragon gnawed at her ribcage. He was angry that she had just ran away. A dragon didn't run, he would stay and burn everything that stood in his way.

No! There was no way she would let that happen. She had read the hobbit a hundred times, more even. How could she incinerate her favorite character? The dragon grunted disappointed, kicking her ribs one last time. He didn't go back to sleep as if he wanted to make sure she wouldn't do something stupid.

"Excuse me, miss? I believe you've lost this?" a shaking voice addressed her from the left.

The dragon snorted pleasedly. So no thief after all, rather a helping hand. Bilbo didn't know, but in this very moment he had actually calmed the beast just enough for him to be tolerated. He had brought a token of goodwill, unknowing, and with that gave himself a second chance.

"OHHH," she exclaimed louder than necessary, "Yes, yes I did. Thank you so much, master Baggins. How about a nice hot bath? I am going to prepare some new tea and you can tell me all about your travels whilst we have some tea and cookies!"

She took the partially broken tea set from his hands and started to walk towards the bathhouse. The hobbit followed her hesitantly. He stayed in the shadows and looked over his shoulder with every sound echoing through the halls.

"T-the dragon, what about the dragon?!" he whispered.

"Don't worry about him, he is soundly sleeping and seldomly wakes. And who wouldn't love such an interesting story as the one you carry with you, master Baggins?" she smiled, pointing at a large archway, directly leading onto the bath.

"If you are finished just head straight down this way, I will be waiting for you there. Then we can talk."

The hobbit obviously still had many unanswered questions, but he was a polite creature, and really much too homely to deny a hot bath and a good cup of tea. So he followed his host's wish. Even a new pair of clothes lay there for him, a bit big, yes, but very thoughtful.

~

Bilbo appeared not much later, cleaned and refreshed. Ruby was really thankful that she had managed to acquire some soap from a traveling vendor in Lake Town a while back. But she could have sworn it had been a scentless one. So why did the hobbit carry a faint scent of flowers, pastries and summer?

"Master Baggins, please have a seat and some tea. I am more than curious to listen to your story. Say, is it true that you have a thing for Bofur?"

To her exhilaration the pointy tips of the hobbits ears turned slightly red. So all the rumors roaming around the fanbase had been true indeed. This would be exciting. Which other rumors would turn out to be true? What was it that she had read then? Something about Dwalin and Ori? She couldn't remember clearly, maybe it had been Dwalin and Nori.

"Do tell me master Baggins, how did you come to join in on this quest?" intrigued she leaned forward.

"I-"

Before Bilbo could start his story loud footsteps interrupted him, followed by the sound of very manly screaming. It was unmistakably the battle-cry from the company of thirteen dwarrows. They stormed in, weapons readied, determined to fight whatever would wait for them.

Ruby sighted, so she would have to listen to master Baggins' story at a later time.

AN: Please give me some feedback, as I am still not very good at writing