Kyle felt Bilbo watch them as they ate, as if it were some custom to wait until knowing the guests were satisfied with their meal before helping himself. Or maybe he was just nervous around kids, a thought occurred to him while eying the hobbit beneath his dark bangs. Then again, the little dude had been twitchy nonstop for as long they had known him, which had not even been two hours yet. Kyle didn't feel that much different; ever since he woke up and found himself lying on fresh summer grass surrounded by an environment that did not match the earthy field of the farmhouse, his mind had been having trouble processing the changes around them.

Especially with the hills, the village, and its people. It was all very beautiful and classy, but it left a strange and unsettling feeling in his stomach that became easily suffocating.

When Kyle had been shouting at Lobelia, the female hobbit, to defend his little sister, it had partly been his old anger that returned to him from the farmhouse before they were attacked by those monsters.

Oh, yeah, the monsters! How could he forget? Their hideous, snarling faces had been at the back at his mind all while he and his sisters were trying to figure out what this place was and how they got here to begin with.

Did their grandparents notice that the three of them were missing yet? Like Dad. His stomach plummeted. Oh, God, what if they had the same conclusions about their whereabouts as he had about his father for the past eight months? Kidnapped. Buried in a ditch somewhere. Staging an attack in order to disappear. The last idea was ridiculous, but Kyle had seen enough mystery TV shows to get a little creative.

"So, how are you enjoying the tea?" Bilbo asked, attempting to make a conversation after fifteen minutes of bashful silence.

"It's great, thank you," Maia answered with a small smile. Lori was sitting next to Mr. Baggins, eating a piece of everything set out on the table, while Kyle sat next to Maia, doing the same. "We also wanted to say thank you for doing this for us," she added. "You know, letting us stay here until we figure this all out. I swear that woman can build a cavalry against us if she wanted!"

"The Sackville-Bagginnes can be a tad sensitive when their space is invaded," agreed Bilbo. "It doesn't matter if it's visitors or other hobbits. Lobelia is one of the worst, and I know from personal experience."

"Friend of yours?" Maia joked, nibbling her strawberry.

"No, far from it, I'm afraid! We had tea here once, in my younger years when I thought about courting, but Lobelia's facade of courtesy can be quite unsettling. She was Lobelia Gracegirdle at the time, unwed. Her family and the Sackville-Baggines' had always been after my family's fortune, not to mention all its objects of interest and the family business itself...She was just the first to attempt in worming her way in, and at age twenty-eight, too! Anyway, I know better now." He shrugged.

Bilbo then noticed Kyle picking at his sandwich. "I must say, you-you quite startled a few hobbits out there." He chuckled nervously. "We thought that-erm-one of these folk was going to lose their temper to Lobelia one day, but I quite surprised to find it to be a child of Men strolling through. It almost looked like you were going to strike her," he squeaked a little at that.

"I wasn't going to hit a girl!" said Kyle, defensively.

"So, you're saying that if Lobelia wasn't a woman, you would hit her, then?"

"No! Not exactly," Kyle fumed. "She yelled at Lori. I just got mad and wanted to scare her."

"I was just playing," mumbled Lori, who was staring into her tea cup of milk, looking upset.

Bilbo hesitated, before awkwardly patting the small child on the back. "There now, never mind about all that nonsense," he said, trying to sound comforting. "If anything, it's Lobelia who should be ashamed, but you know what?" Lori met his gaze. "I personally don't want to talk about Lobelia anymore, or any Sackville-Baggins for that matter."

"I agree," nodded Maia, who sipped her tea. "What do y'all have in mind?"

"Well," decided Bilbo, "how about you start telling me where the three of you came from? Have you traveled far?"

"Um...yeah, it's a bit more complicated than that," admitted Maia, covering the awkwardness by taking another sip of tea. She didn't know how to start explaining, so Kyle decided to take over.

"We kind of woke up here," he said, watching Bilbo's confused expression. "Just on the outside of your village, but we have no idea how we got there, other than this big flash of light that came out of nowhere. Last night we were just at-at our family farmhouse for a one night sleepover by ourselves. We had just come from a HoeDown carnival while celebrating Maia's acceptance into Baylor University..." He paused, seeing the lost look on the hobbit's face. "It's a college. A school for older kids. Young adults, like Maia."

"Ah," Bilbo nodded, slightly enlightened.

"We're from Texas," piped in Lori. Bilbo's face fell again.

"I'm sorry," he said downheartedly. "I had never heard of a place called Texas. Is it a town, or village outside of the Shire? Off the maps, perhaps?"

"It's a state," answered Kyle, trying to sound like it was obvious, "from America?" Bilbo's expression was no different, and a flood of anxiety started to fill the his chest. "Are we still on Planet Earth?" His voice rose a notch.

"Kyle, calm down," Maia said mildly, but was unheeded. Kyle was panicking, losing his cool. Everything felt so wrong. So unreal.

Bilbo looked just as anxious as Kyle felt. He spluttered, trying to search for the right words with his hands. "Well...I-I-I suppose...Middle-earth is just that," he tried. "I've never left the Shire, so I suppose I wouldn't know where Texas-or this America-really is. And-And are you sure that what you're telling me is real?" His tone suddenly changed, sounding more accusing and traced with disbelief.

Kyle stilled. He glared at the hobbit. "You don't believe us?" he said coldly.

"The notion of coming from places that don't exist on my maps is outrageous," protested Bilbo, a little haughtily. "So forgive me if I have some trouble processing this information."

Kyle stood up so suddenly the table trembled, making everyone tense. He was having trouble breathing; he needed air.

He charged out into the hallway and didn't look back.

"Kyle, come-dammit!" Maia muttered when they heard him open the front door, though it didn't slam shut. "Sorry, I need to go after him." She stood up and Bilbo followed her lead.

"Miss Maia, I'm sorry," Bilbo said quickly with wide eyes, "I did not mean to upset him. That was really rude of me! I should apologize-"

"It's fine," Maia cut in, although she sounded tired. "He's just freaking out a little, that's all. I'll be right back. Sorry." Bilbo made small noise when the girl rushed out of the dining room after her brother.

Oh, why on earth did I say such things like that to my guests? Bilbo sighed, feeling guilty. Then straightened up, feeling indignant like any Baggins should. The idea of places that were never heard of still left the hobbit feeling a little foolish. He had invited these young strangers into his home. He gave them some of his food. He had even stood up for them in front of all the hobbits in Hobbiton, even when he could have just walked away, like he had always done. And what did he get in return? Pranks? Childish games? Humiliation? He knew he was over thinking things, but they arechildren. Not Maia, but she was close enough. He remembered faintly of his own years of childhood involving fun games and imagination, sometimes even making up names of places and creatures of legend.

Then again, the Dainson siblings were everything Bilbo had never seen or heard of before, in pictures or in real life, and from the looks in their expression (Bilbo was often good at reading people over tea time), they certainly didn't look like they were playing games. Especially Kyle.

If anything, they looked more than just sad and scared. They look lost. You really got yourself in a pickle now, Mr. Bilbo Baggins! Bilbo pinched his bridge nose for a moment, feeling a headache coming. He didn't know what to think, or what to believe.

"Are you okay, Mr. Bilbo?" Bilbo was startled out his thoughts as Lori asked with a small voice. She was staring up at him with wide, concerned eyes. In the heat of things, he had forgotten that the child was still in the room.

While trying to find the right answer to her question, Lori got up and took the hobbit's hand. She was good head shorter than him, if not more. "We really are from Texas, Mr. Bilbo," she said softly. "We're not making it up!"

The little girl looked so pleading that Bilbo squeezed her little hand back and said, "I'm sorry, Lori. I really am, but you can hardly blame me for having a hard time accepting this, especially when there's no way to prove it...well, I mean you people definitely come from somewhere, just by looking at your clothes and your, er, accents and whatnot-Why are you laughing?"

Lori was giggling. "You're funny!"

Bilbo blinked, and tilted his head. That was odd. "You, um…..you think I'm funny? Why is that?" He had never really considered himself to be funny in any way...but then he remembered a few people or more laughing softly whenever he was around and he had never known why. He never asked until now.

"I don't know, you just are!" exclaimed Lori, smiling cheekily. "Mommy says that some people are just funny by nature 'cause they just make you happy by being themselves! Grandma says I'm like that, too! We're both funny!" She hugged her teddy bear close to her chin and rocked on her heels.

Bilbo found himself smiling, feeling much better. He found himself liking this innocent little girl even more, despite her odd behavior. Maybe it was the Took-ish part of him that was effected by her cheerfulness, or maybe it did that to all people, but he had a very good feeling that he was already growing fond of her.

"Wanna see something cool?" she suddenly announced excitedly.

"Alright," he said, as she turned heel and started pulling him into the sitting room where their baggage lay piled near the armchair. He glanced at the mantelpiece and spotted his jar of homemade sugar cookies. One thing he certainly knew about children was that they loved cookies. So did he. "Would you like a cookie or two, while we're at it?"

Lori beamed, as Bilbo reached up to take the glass jar off the mantelpiece and handed it to her. A sugary-sweet smell wafted her nose when she opened the jar and plucked out three soft cookies topped with powdered sugar. While Bilbo sat on the armchair to help himself with two of his own, Lori unclipped Maia's big purse and pulled out the object of her finding.

"What are you looking for?" asked Bilbo, putting the jar aside and peering over the chair's arm. "What is that?"

She held it in Bilbo's view, grinning mischievously. "Maia's sketchbook!"

Kyle had rushed outside, throwing open the round green, oak-wood door until he found himself on the front door steps of Bag-End's front lawn. He bent over his knees and started taking deep breaths, gulping in the fresh, clean air with the faint scent of summer grass and pine. It was not as hot as Texas by ten or twenty degrees, but he could feel sweat beading under his mop of unruly black hair, which right now shielded his eyes from the daylight that shined over an unknown world that threatened to suffocate him like being trapped in a bag with no holes. Where were the holes...the answers?

Feeling dizzy, he felt himself slump down on one of the stone steps and put his head in his hands between his legs, his fingers digging and gripping his scalp uncontrollably. Tears prickled his eyes, but didn't fall. If people were staring, he was too pissed to care.

Hearing light footsteps from cowboy boots approach behind him, Kyle didn't have to look up to know that Maia had come to join him. She gently sat down next to him and, instead of speaking, started rubbing his back in soothing, circular motions. His breathing slowed and his body relaxed, but his blood was still hot with annoyance from Bilbo's reproach. From the entire situation.

"Better?" Maia asked, putting her arm around his hunched shoulders, but then Kyle sniffled and croaked, "No."

"Okay, then. Just take deep breaths, okay? You're just having a panic attack-"

"Yeah, I'm panicking!" Kyle snarled, his head snapping up to glare at his sister. "Why aren't you? Are you in denial, or something?"

Maia's soft face steeled. "No, I'm just simply trying to stay calm and see how this all plays all out. We've only been herewhat, two hours? This whole thing might not even be real. Or maybe it is. I don't know, but all I know is that if we're going to try to figure out what the hell is going on, it's important that we keep it together while we're doing it!"

"Oh," laughed Kyle bitterly, "that's easy for you to say, yoga girl, but in case you haven't noticed, we're in another freaking world! As in, 'I don't think we're in Texas anymore,' Maia! We're in a place full of little people with hairy feet who don't know anything about the United States, and then they think we're bat-shit crazy."

"Kyle-"

"Do not try to deny it, Maia! Bilbo thinks we're crazy and you know it!"

"Fine, Kyle, I think Bilbo is just as freaked out as we are!" Maia said, exasperated. "Just put yourself in his shoes-or feet-whatever he wears. What would you do if someone totally strange came up to our house in our world, and then they just told us they were from a place called Middle-earth, making it sound like they came from the middle ages or something? Would you believe them?"

"Depends," he grumbled.

"Kyle!"

"Okay, fine. No, I wouldn't! Not without real proof, anyway."

"So, we'll show him." Kyle looked at Maia, who smiled suddenly. "C'mon, Ky, we have a ton of stuff in our backpacks we can show him that will blow his mind! I have my sketchbook, my camera, my pens, my phone-oh wait, I lost it!-but you still have your gameboy, right?"

Kyle snorted. "How does my gameboy prove that we're from Texas?"

"It proves that we're from a different world," corrected Maia. "It won't solve all our problems, but it's a start. At least Bilbo will know who we are and what he's really dealing with." She nudged him playfully. "So, what do you think? Ready to go back inside and be mature about this, or are you just gonna sulk out here all day?"

He grinned and shoved at her. "Shut up," he said as she laughed. It was then he noticed a family of hobbits staring at them from the hill path, the children curious while the parents looked on with disapproval. Feeling annoyed, Kyle called out them, "Hey! Take a picture. It lasts longer!" Startled, the hobbit parents grabbed their children's hands and started scuttling on their way. Maia giggled, while Kyle laid his hands on the back of his head, looking proud and relaxed.

When they went back inside, closing the door behind them, they heard Lori exclaiming excitedly in the living room and Bilbo talking. When entering, the hobbit and their little sister were sitting in one of the armchairs together, three open books in their laps. One was Maia's sketchbook, still open, and two others were leather booklets that looked like journals.

Lori was pointing out the sketch of their horse ranch when Bilbo looked up, hearing the older Dainson siblings enter. Bilbo shifted uncomfortably (seeing as he can't stand up with little Lori practically on his lap), but he acknowledged their presence, "Oh, good, you're back! Are you alright, Kyle?" He sounded genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, I'm good." Kyle shrugged, trying to act indifferent despite feeling a bit ashamed for bursting out of the room in the middle of a conversation like a whiner baby.

"I, um," Bilbo began, looking slightly ashamed himself. "I wanted to apologize for my rude behavior earlier. I have never had Big Folk inside my home before...well, as least for as long as I can remember...but you are still my guests, after all, and I would like to-that is to say, if you would prefer it-I would still like to be of service." He cleared his throat. "I would also like to say-if you would pardon my brief skepticism at the table-that I...I believe you."

Now Kyle was skeptical. "You do?" he said, trying to sense the no-nonsense in all of this. He pointed at the open sketchbook. "Is it because you saw Maia's drawings? Because even that couldn't be much proof!"

"I don't need more proof," assured Bilbo. "Well, considering that everything about the three of you is profoundly strange and untraditionally outlandish-pardon me again, I mean no offense-but either way, it's not up to me to decide where you came from, only that I should accept that, if you really are good people, that you must be telling the truth. And in my opinion, as strange as you are, I do not view you young ones as bad folk. Not at all," he stated firmly.

Kyle started to smile at the hobbit's warm words, feeling his previous anger and anxiety melt away. He could tell Maia was doing the same next to him.

"I will not pretend to understand any of it-because I don't, not by a field's length-but I believe you," continued the hobbit. "So if you still want to stay here in Bag End for a little while, I would truly like to know more about where you came from. Lori here has shown me quite some marvelous sketches here-oh, if you didn't mind," Bilbo quickly said to Maia, after realizing to his shock and embarrassment that they had been looking without asking. "Your sister said she wanted to show me, and I just assumed-"

Maia shrugged, smirking. "Don't sweat it! They're mostly just sceneries from home; nothing special."

"I beg to differ," commented Bilbo, flipping a few more pages that revealed some horses, some with riders and cowboy hats. "If anything, the pictures themselves revel with some of what the Shire has. Horses, farms, fields...although the hats look a little silly, and the boots..." Bilbo glanced towards Maia's boots, and then Lori's. "Like yours."

"They're cowboy boots," chirped Lori. "Or cowgirl boots for us! We have a lot of cowboys in Texas. They wear cowboy hats and cowboy boots and, oh, the golden star badge, too!"

"No, Lori, that's just for sheriffs," scoffed Kyle. "And sheriffs are usually only found in small towns, anyway!"

"Are you a cowboy?" Bilbo asked Kyle, eyes wide with curiosity.

Kyle snorted. "Nope, but I did pretend to be one all the time when I was little. Hat, boots, fake gun, and all. Cowboys are really cattle drivers that have been in the West around two hundred years ago. They're, like, our culture and our stereotype, but there's just mostly normal people now. Oh, I wouldn't do that," he warned Bilbo suddenly, who had flipped to the page with Maia's colorful hairbands strapped around half of the book like a lock.

Bilbo's hands froze, when he had been about to remove the hairbands. "Is it private from here?"

"Uh, yeah," Maia said, uncomfortably. "Those pages are M rated."

Bilbo frowned innocently. "I-I don't understand your meaning."

"It's just...mostly inappropriate stuff. Private pleasures." Kyle almost gagged at her words. He had the personal experience of peeking into her "private pleasures" when he was eleven, and the sight made him want to gouge his eyes out (he had thought a little bit differently toward Maia that day). "You know...like nudity?"

That's just describing it lightly, thought Kyle with a shudder.

"Oh!" Bilbo's eyes went wide like saucers, blushing fiercely, causing all the kids to laugh at his completely flustered face. He quickly snapped the book shut and placed it aside. "You're right. Completely private. Not my business. At all! Wonderful drawings, though."

"Thank you," said Maia, catching her breath from laughter.

"What about yours?" said Lori, who picked up one of the leather journals. She opened one and looked on with wide eyes as she flipped through the pages. "Wow! Maia, look at these!"

"Holy cow!" gasped Maia, as she knelt next to the armchair to look at the drawings in the book. When Kyle followed her, he gawked. They were mostly drawing of Hobbiton and the rest of the Shire, but they were in such fine, breathtaking detail that Kyle could have sworn they were drawn by Da Vinci himself.

"Oh, those are a mixture of my mother's and mine," explained Bilbo, smiling fondly as Maia traced her fingers delicately over the sketches. "Some of them are recent, when I go on long walks and blow a few smoke rings on a fine day like today. I remember my mother teaching me all there is to know about catching the tiniest detail in even the smallest of things. It was one of our favorite activities together, sharing this book, just the two of us, while Da was off doing his own business."

"Our mother is an artist, too," said Maia, softly, her gray-blue eyes never leaving the drawings. "That and a horse trainer. Like her, I'm aiming to get a college degree on studio art, maybe even travel a bit, just to expand the mind."

"Does your mother know where you are?" Bilbo asked her. "Does she know-does she know that you're not in Texas anymore?"

If the topic hadn't suddenly turned so solemn, Kyle would have been laughing to tears at Bilbo's choice of words (being the very same thing he had quoted from a classic children's book when he had been panicking on the doorstep of the hobbit hole). But when bringing their mother into the conversation, the very recent memory of her body lying in a hospital bed for eight months now, his throat began to choke up. None of them spoke, not even Lori, who was suddenly looking sad.

"No," Maia answered for them, finally. "She doesn't. Not yet." She still held on to the tiny thread of hope that their mother would wake up, even if by chance they were still stuck in this world when that happened. "That's why we need to get back home, ASAP." Bilbo twitched his nose, but didn't comment on the initials.

Kyle knew she wouldn't mention the part of their half-dead mom being in a coma. It didn't seem necessary. They weren't planning to stay for long, after all. Like they also agreed not to tell Bilbo about the monsters, before they went inside. Kyle decided to brief Lori on that later.

"This book is empty," Lori said suddenly, picking up the other journal. It was a wide version with a chestnut-red leather binding. There was even an acorn symbol carved in the center, along with gold lining and the golden initials BB for Bilbo Baggins. The pages were yellow parchment, dry and scratchy over the surface, and were indeed blank.

"Oh, yes, that," Bilbo started to say, "was a gift from my grandfather, the Old Took, my mother's father. It was a birthday present from when I was a child." He chuckled to himself, recalling a fond memory. "It was meant for me to write down my adventures when I grew old enough to have them." Then his smiled faded, so he straightened up and composed himself, as if he shared something very private and felt uncomfortable after admitting it. He closed the book and then stood suddenly, returning the two journals to his bookshelf. "Oh, well...it doesn't matter. Not anymore. Adventures are not something to look forward in any case."

"You don't like adventures?" Lori said in disbelief. "Why? They're a lot of fun!"

"I am quite content with my life the way it is, Lori," answered Bilbo, gently. "Besides, adventures would mean I would have to leave my home, my books, my armchair, my garden...it also makes you late for dinner. Personal experience in my youth, mind you. My old father never failed to remind me."

Neither of the Dainson siblings said this aloud, but to them, being in an unfamiliar place at the least likely of times that both scared and excited them, it already felt like an adventure.

Then Bilbo turned around, clapping his hands together, looking more enthusiastic. "Alright, enough of that now. Since we are all here, and if you really want me to help with your current situation, we have more important things to discuss. There's quite a few things we have to cover up if the three of you are going to be staying in Hobbiton for a while. For starters, Maia..." He looked up at her and put his hands on his hips, nodding at her clothes: skinny jeans and ruffled tank top. "As lovely as I truly find your clothing to be, I'm afraid we have to change the attire. As soon as possible."

"Why?" demanded Maia, clearly insulted. She put her hands on her hips and eyed the hobbit, looking taller. "What's wrong with my clothes?"

Bilbo suddenly blushed and looked at his feet. "Well...ahem...don't take this wrong way, Miss Maia...though I am certain that where you came from, your clothes deem appropriate enough, but...erm...to me and-and from the looks of most of the neighbors outside, from where I can see-please don't be too hard on me, Miss Maia, but I'm just going to say it straight off to avoid the awkward confusion." He gestured feebly at her bare shoulders, while cowering slightly. "You're too exposed," he squeaked.

There was a pregnant pause. Then Kyle and Lori burst out laughing. This is getting ready for church with Gran and Gramps all over again! Kyle thought as he drowned in his giggles. Lori actually tumbled out of the armchair in her fevered laughter, clutching her stomach.

Maia gave them all a black glare, her face turning pink. Bilbo gave her a sheepish grin.