Author's Note: HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE everyone! I hope your all having a wonderful day/evening/night and if it's Christmas day where you are, MERRY CHRISTMAS! And season greetings to all.

This is, more or less, a filler chapter but do not cry, next chapter is basically Thorin/Bilbo fluff slash angst fest. I'll be updating with that chapter as soon as I either get up or time allows.

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Unexpected Guests

Thorin knew, the moment he left Billanna's chambers he would be bombard by his fellow lord dwarves. But he received welcomingly delay from such meet by the unexpected arrival of his cousin Dain and his son Thorin Stonehelm who had arrived to the mountain in the late hours of the evening.

"Thorin," Balin sighed, "you can't escape the lords forever. They will demand…"

"Tomorrow," Thorin replied as he marched to the chambers his cousins often stayed in when they visited the Lonely Mountain, "the lords will respect that family and a fellow ruler come first. Even in the matter of Durin's rebirth."

"I doubt that they will agree." Balin responded, "but I will do what I can to appease them for now, but tomorrow… Thorin, they're all yours."

"Thank you so much." Thorin grumbled as he watched his old friend and advisor walked in the direction of the council chambers.

"Come on," Dwalin said, knocking his shoulders against Thorin's, "Let see what has brought Dain back so soon before he was expected. Durin's day is still some time away."

"I can well imagine what has brought him here." Thorin muttered nodding to several of guardsman as they passed. He ignored their looks of awe, their obvious desire to ask if the rumours were true, did Durin truly walk amongst them again and was he truly in the form of Thorin's illegitimate son.

As he and Dwalin approached Dain's chambers they could hear his distinctive booming voice. From the tone of his booming voice, Thorin could tell his cousin, while not angry, had a distinct annoyed tint to it.

He knocked and entered the chambers without waiting for anyone to answer it, before simply standing in the doorway of the chamber, taking in the scene before him.

His cousin was currently towering over his sister, who had her hands pressed firmly on her hips as she glared back up at him. His cousin's son was sitting in a chair by the fireplace, clearly trying to keep a straight face as he watched the glaring match between his father and Dis. The lad wink widely at Thorin as he and Dwalin entered the room.

"Thorin." Dain barked in way of greeting, breaking his glaring match with Dis who had turned her disgruntle scowl upon Thorin.

"Good evening Dain. What brings you here?" Thorin asked, even though he could well guess the answer to his cousin's visit.

"Like ya don't know." Dain snorted, "Heard ya caught Bovin and that he had ya supposedly dead burglar with him."

"Aye."

"Heard ya got yerself a son from her."

"Aye."

His cousin rolled his eyes at him in exasperation.

"See and this here, is why I don't visit so often. Ya lot are such cagey bunch, getting information out of ya is worse than drawing pus from a wound." Dain grumbled, scowling from Thorin to Dis than back again.

"We heard that he is Durin the Deathless reborn." Dain's son questioned Thorin eagerly, his eyes bright with energy and curiousity.

"Helm," Dain rumbled with a sigh, shooting his son a look telling him to be quiet before looking expectantly at Thorin.

Thorin shifted uncomfortably and not for the first time this evening, wished he could have kept his son's identity a secret for just that much longer. Frodo hadn't even been properly introduced to his kingdom as his son yet and now every dwarf in the mountain knew that he was Durin reborn; putting an extra load of pressure upon his son's shoulders. The little boy didn't even fully understand what it meant to be his son, illegitimate or not, let alone what it meant for him to be the reincarnation of Durin.

He wished he could just give his son more time to prepare for both of these things… his mother also, for even though Billanna seemed to have outwardly accepted their son's lot in life, there had been moments throughout the evening when he had caught her staring at their son with a look of overwhelming horror, as if she simply wished to pull him into her arms and never let him go, for fear he might fall beneath the massive destiny he had been dealt by Mahal.

Thorin wondered, and not for the first time, if Mahal had actually put any thought at all when he set Frodo down upon his path, or if he simply continued to throw obstacles and challenges in the boy's way with reckless abandon, not realising that he had probably set the boy upon a road that would cause him a tremendous about of pain and suffering.

Thorin shook his head, trying to clear away his own fears and trepidation in regards to his son's lot in life. They would deal with each day as it came, that was how he would live this life of his, or else be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of madness that was currently coursing through it.

"Indeed." Was all he said.

"Drawing pus from a wound." Dain repeated with growl. "Thorin!"

"What would you have me say, Dain?" Thorin asked his cousin tiredly, rubbing his forehead with his hand. "yes, my burglar is alive and yes she has given me a son, who is indeed Durin the Deathless reborn."

"Ya sure of this?" Dain pressed, his eyes narrowed, "He has the mark?"

"Aye," Dis said quietly, her voice soft with fondness, "on his shoulder, clear as day."

Dain rubbed his beard, his brow forwarded with thought.

"Yer lass," He said to Thorin, "had not a clue, I imagine, aye?"

"No." Thorin shook his head.

"Must have been quite a shock to her." Dain rumpled thoughtfully, "how she coping?"

"Given she only found out all of a couple of hours ago, as well as can be imagine." Dwalin snorted, answering in Thorin's stead, for his ears were suddenly filled with her protests.

"Because it's not possible! He's a dwobbit! Isn't that special enough, unique enough? Why must you place the burden of him being the reincarnation of one of the seven fathers of dwarves, the most famous, the most revered of them all! Durin the Deathless, you cannot be serious. Why…why would he choose to be reborn into a dwobbit? Into Frodo? What can he possibly hope to gain? No, no, no."

"Proud?"

"Not sure she's up to that point yet." Dwalin replied with shrug.

"Her son is Durin…" Helm gapped from where he still sat by the fire.

"Doesn't really matter to her laddie," Dwalin told the young dwarf, "she's a hobbit; Durin means almost nothing to her. Well, until now."

"So she wouldn't not have told ya about the lad because of this?" Dain asked Thorin, note of cautiousness to his voice.

"No." Thorin said in a tight voice, his tone speaking a warning. Though as usual, his cousin took little heed of it and pressed on.

"So why keep it a secret?" Dain asked looking around at them all, "I know it's her right as his mother whether she accepts ya as his father or not, but no word that she birthed yer son? That's a little harsh, no matter what transpired between tha two of ya."

"It is complicated." Thorin said quietly ignoring the heavy ache in his chest. "She planned to send him to us… to me when he turned thirty-three."

Seeing the confused look on his cousin's face he elaborated.

"Hobbits reach full maturity at thirty-three. And if the lad wished to meet me when he came of age, no one could say that he could not because he would be of age, an adult."

"Does he age like a hobbit?" Dain asked curiously. Now that his initial annoyance over his lack information had subsided, his natural curiosity was burning threw, his questions now coming from a genuine place of interest. "or a dwarf."

"We do not know yet." Thorin admitted, not liking at all how little they did know about his unique little son, "his intelligence is beyond the years of both hobbits and dwarves, but his size maybe that of dwarfling in his early to mid-twenties."

"Heard he's a splitting image of ya when ya were a dwarfling."

"There is… some resemblance. No one would be on a strong foot if they were to try and argue that I did not sire him. But he is his mother's son." Dain continued to look curious so Thorin continued, "he has the colourings of those of the line of Durin, but possesses the feet and ears of hobbits and possibly the height too, but as of yet, we cannot be sure."

Dain looked positively fascinated.

"Can I meet him?" Dain asked and Thorin knew his cousin was asking not as Lord of the Iron Hills, requesting to look upon the one who would appear to be Durin reborn, but rather as a family member and a father in his own right, who was delighting that Durin's line had another child born to its linage. Thorin was let out a silent sigh of relief at this. He had feared some his cousin reaction to the news of Frodo and his being Durin reborn but now he saw his fear was unfounded, his cousin would not be a threat to Frodo or Billanna. If anything he might prove to be an ally to them… he hoped.

"I believe Billanna has put him to bed, he's had quite an exhausting day."

"I dare say." Dain boomed. "Poor laddie. He coping alright, or did he know already?"

"No," Thorin shook his head, "he didn't have any idea. He was quite frightened at first to the reactions he received in the markets; he didn't understand what was happening. Now that it has been, more or less, explained to him, he is accepting this part of him."

"Does he know you're his…?"

Thorin snorted with fond amusement.

"Aye, he does. To attest to just how smart the lad is, he figured it out, all by himself, that I was his father." He felt his pride grow within his chest and fought back a smile when he saw Dain, Helm and Dwalin all smirking at him while Dis was giving him an affectionate look. He looked away from them all with a grunt.

"Look at him, proud father already." Dain boomed. "Tomorrow then? I think I would quite like to meet this little lad who can ruin Thorin Oakenshield fierce, stone face reputation with a single swoop. And his mother too, for I am sure she must be quite the character to catch yer eye."

"Oh," But Dis and Dwalin were answering Dain before Thorin had a chance to open his mouth, "she is." They both smirked widely back at him while he glared at them. Dain let out a bark of laughter as Thorin crossed his across his chest, still scowling but inwardly he felt no true ire, mainly only relief. Billanna and Frodo were both being accepted by Dain and his son. And he was sure that upon meeting them, Dain would become a strong ally to them.

Author's Note: I'm so happy right now. For today I did not only finish work for ten days (YAY! No phone calls or pay claims to process... YES!), I've also bought my tickets to BATTLE OF FIVE ARMIES! And I've received The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Chronicles: Art & Design from WETA workshop today. I wasn't expecting to get it until mid to late January, so this was a lovely surprise.

Anyway, hope you all have a lovely holiday. See you all very soon.