Author's Note: Hello everyone. Happy New Year. I'm sorry I didn't post this chapter on the last day of last year or the first day of this year and it was the plan to post then but due to some family stuff I was unable to do so. I am sorry but as I'm going back to work tomorrow (oh joy, oh joy), I thought I would treat you all to not just one chapter but two, as this one, you will see ends with a bit of a cliff-hanger and while the tiny sadist in me says to make you all wait for chapter 64, the hobbit in me is going to post it, maybe in the next hour or so. Needs a final re-read that's all.
We're going to be introduced to a new character in this chapter, and no I've not just introduced them to simply kill them off; no this lovely lass will be around for awhile, though the reason behind her creation is to start the ball rolling for this second to last mini-arc in Arc Three. But we'll go more into that at a later date.

Chapter Sixty-Three

The Cost of Trust

Thorin kept to his promise of visiting, coming by her chambers first thing the next morning to check on Frodo's progress, which sadly hadn't improved overly greatly but the little lad was happier to see him than he had been the previous morning, which was an improvement in itself.

He stayed for as long as he could before he was needed to go and inspect a new mine, again promising to visit soon.

Bilbo spent much of her day with Frodo, taking care of him. At one point Balin and Ori came by, in the hopes they could work with her further on her trial, but it quickly became clear that no work could be truly done with a coughing, sneezing child nearby, waking every few minutes wanting the attention of well, anyone really. Frodo wasn't overly picky as to who gave him attention, just as long as someone was there with a book or story ready on their tongue to tell him.

"We need to get this done." Balin said worriedly after the fifth interruption, this time due to Frodo actually having to throw up.

"A little busy at the moment." Bilbo retorted as she settled her exhausted child back into bed, "Can't it wait a few days, just until he's better?"

Balin shook his head.

"I'm sorry lass, but we truly cannot. The council wants to have this trial before Durin's day, which is only a few weeks away now, which means, we need to have all the information ready and for you to know back to front, inside out exactly what you plan on saying the day of your trial."

"Can you cousins not watch him for a time?" Ori asked softly.

Bilbo shook her head.

"Paladin and Saradoc are helping Oin with trying to find the right blend of medicine to help Frodo throw he's cold. Lotho would never agree to watching Frodo, even if he was well and only for a few minutes. And my father…. well, no."

"We'll think of something." Balin said, giving her shoulder a reassuring pat.

And they did. Or rather, Bombur's pregnant wife, Eir did. She had a dear friend who had a daughter with a talent for dealing with the most troublesome of dwarflings.

From her very humble beginnings in Ered Luin, of taking care of the rare children born to the dwarven community for a few measly copper coins while their parents worked long hours in the mines, Mira had quickly risen in the ranks of children carers due to her calm presences and warm heart, she was now highly sort after. She was, according to Eir, now training to become teacher but still enjoyed simply caring for children.

Even with the high recommendation from Eir and Dis, who knew of the young dwarrowdam by reputation only (the lass was a decade or so younger than Kili and so had, of course, never cared for either of Dis's boys), Bilbo was still a little hesitant. Not because she didn't believe the girl was competent, for clearly she was, extremely so, but it was just… she was Frodo's mother and he was sick, and when a child was sick, his or her mother was meant to be the one taking care of them. Also, she knew from experience how well Frodo took to being babysitted… which wasn't very well at all. Ask her son to take care of his little cousins, the lad would gladly accept. Tell him that he was to have a babysitter himself? Frodo would sulk for hours.

However, there was really little else that they could do and so, a meeting was arranged between parents, child and carer later than day.

Bilbo, upon meeting the lass, a pretty but sensible looking dwarrowdam with a good head upon her shoulders, liked her immediately. As did Frodo, when he stirred himself enough awake to meet her. Thorin took maybe a little more convincing but by the end of meeting all were happy, and Mira was willing to start looking after Frodo immediately.

It was agreed upon quickly that Mira would look after Frodo only in the evenings (for now at least), when he was less restless and readily able to sleep while Bilbo would go off and spend the evening with Balin and Ori preparing for her trial. She wasn't, however, overly surprised when she returned from meeting with them that first evening, to find Thorin sitting with Frodo and not Mira.

Frodo was listening to whatever tale Thorin was currently telling him with as much enthusiasm as a sick nine year old could express between coughs and sneezes. He was buried close to Thorin's chest as the two of them sat by the fire.

"Hello." She greeted them quietly, after a moment of simply staring at the sight in front of her. It was rather heart-warming really, while also at the same time, left her heart wrenching itself into knots. This should not be a new scene to her where it caused her to stare in open mouth wonder every time she saw the two of them being simply father and son and not Thorin, leader, king under the mountain and Frodo, his bastard son to his burglar.

No, this should be a scene that she was used to, familiar with, one that only caused her heart to feel warm and loving, and not give her a huge sense of guilt or send a shiver of anger threw her heart. She shook herself, reminding herself coolly that she had already spoken of these things with Thorin and she needed to start letting those feelings go. Along with her possessiveness of her son.

She hadn't been lying when she told Thorin that he needed to count his blessing that she was, more or less, willing to share Frodo with him.

It twinged a little now, the sharing Frodo with Thorin, in a different way to how it twinged when Frodo was with one of his dwarven uncles. For almost a whole decade Frodo had been the centre of her world and she his, but now, of course his world was expanding and well, she was just going to have to learn to adapt and accept that she couldn't just have him all to herself anymore.

"Mama!" it did however help to see his delight and excitement as she walked into the chambers, his feverish eyes brightening as she grinned back at him, squirming in Thorin's lap, desperate to be let down so that he could run to her.

"Enough of that." She laughed because she could see his efforts to get to her were already exhausting him. She walked over to where he and Thorin sat by the fire, running her hand over her son's forehead (which was warm but thankfully no longer wet with sweat).

"Have you been good?" She asked snorting softly when Frodo nodded his head eagerly.

"He's been asleep so of course he has been." Thorin rumpled causing Bilbo to laugh again as Frodo pouted.

"I can be good." Frodo grumbled before letting out a series of coughs that came from deep in his chest and sounding far more moist than Bilbo would have liked. He fell back weakly against Thorin's chest, breathing heavily through his stuffed up nose.

"I hates it." The little lad grumbles as he swiped his nose and mouth on the sleeve of his bed shirt.

"I know sweetheart, I know." she dropped a kiss upon his curls.

"No luck with Oin?" She directed this question to Thorin who shook his head.

"He and your cousins tried a new blend earlier with him," he nodded his head at Frodo who was pulling faces of disgust in his arms, "but so far it is showing no signs of helping, but then, it is still early."

"Yucky." Frodo muttered.

"Does it feel like it helps though?" Bilbo asked her son.

"No." Frodo pouted, "It's just yucky."

"Yes," Thorin continued with a small, fond sigh, "he has been so helpful with each new blend. The most we can get out of him about it is that it is 'yucky' and that he going to throw up."

"Did he?" She asked with some alarm as she looked between father and son. Thorin shook his head.

"No. But he refused to speak to any of us."

"Frodo!"

"Not true." Frodo grunted, "I spoke to Mira." Her son's face immediately brighten, "I like Mira, Mama. She's nice and pretty and…" whatever else Frodo was going to say about Mira was lost as he started to cough again, Thorin rubbing his back to help ease some of the tension that had built there with every one of Frodo's hacking coughs.

Bilbo poured her son some water and between her and Thorin they managed to get him to drink down both the water and some more of the medicine that Saradoc and Paladin had made for him earlier from their knowledge of hobbit remedies. For once, the little boy didn't put up a fight against taking the medicine and was all but ready for bed once he had drunk it down.

"How long have you been here?" Bilbo asked once Frodo had settled down into bed and she and Thorin had moved to her chamber door.

"Not very long at all." Thorin admitted with a shrug. "He was awake and the lass and he were reading from that book Ori gave you the other day." He paused thoughtfully. "She is a good lass. She seems to care for him, and not for who he is or who he used to be."

Bilbo nodded with a small smile before it turned into a yawn.

"Oops, sorry." She said pressing a hand over her mouth.

"You must be tired, I will let you sleep." He made to leave before looking back at her with a look of concern.

"You are taking care of yourself?"

"Hmmm?"

"You are not overworking yourself?" He continued, "the last thing you need or want is to fall ill yourself."

She smiled.

"I'm fine. It takes a lot for me to fall ill."

Thorin simply raised his eyebrows at her, causing her to fight the childish desire to stick her tongue out at him.

"Oh hush, Laketown doesn't count."

"Oh?"

"NO! It does not count, not even for a moment. My falling ill then was solely due to me being stuck in the bloody river all day and then walking about in wet clothes almost all night. Anyone would fall sick with a cold after that."

"If you say so." Thorin replied in a dry sceptical tone.

"I do." She insisted crossing her arms across her chest and staring defiantly back at him. Thorin let a small snort of amusement, his blue eyes twinkling merrily as he reached out and as he had done previously, ran a hand down the side of her face.

"Good night. Sleep well."

"Thank you. I will… I am actually. Sleeping well, I mean. The nightmares… they haven't been so bad these past couple nights."

Thorin smiled a true and genuine smile back at her.

"I am glad."

"Good night Thorin." She smiled at him.

"Good night Billanna."

TMPoT

Mira, daughter of Soren and Myra, had been honoured beyond words to be requested to take care of her king's child, Durin the Deathless. She had dressed in her best gown to meet with the King under the Mountain, his closest advisors, the infamous burglar and the king's child himself.

She was quick to decide, upon meeting her, that she quite liked Bilbo Baggins and hers and the King's son, Frodo. Neither were anything like how she expected them to be and she almost immediately, upon meeting Mistress Baggins, shoved all the rumours (most of which she had not believed, but when one heard them often enough they became somewhat ingrained in one's head) about the hobbit woman being nothing more than thief, a seductress after only her own gains, a wrench, child-stealer and along with a long list of unpleasant things that pot stirrers were calling her around the city.

Thankfully most of them had been shut up with the news of hers and the King's son was in fact Durin the Deathless and as her dear Pa had pointed out on the very day she received her summoning to meet with the King, if the hobbit woman had been any of things the pot stirrers were calling her to be, then Durin would never have allowed himself to be born to such a woman. And upon meeting her, face to face, Mira was entirely certain that the hobbit woman was none of things she had been called. She was kind creature, very gentle; so gentle in fact it was hard to believe that she had done any the things that Mira had heard she had done of the great quest to retake Erebor.

How could such a tiny, sweet creature kill so many spiders and steal from a dragon when she looked as if she could barely hold a sword without trembling. But then, as her mother had always told her, appearances can be deceiving and obviously this tiny woman was more than simply met the eye or she would not hold the respect of the King, his heirs and their mother, his cousins and chief advisors and all the rest of his company.

Even Lord Dain Ironfoot and his son, Thorin Stonehelm were speaking praises in her name, so obviously, this little woman was quite a character, with a great deal of depth hidden beneath her gentle eyes, soft curves and mane of curly golden brown curls. And Mira, even after so few days of knowing Mistress Baggins was already beginning to understand the depth of character this tiny woman held. It quickly became obvious that the hobbit woman was intelligent, with a wicked tongue and a way of worming out information out about you. Bilbo Baggin's had barely known her (and she her) three days and yet now knew more about her than some of her closest friends did and they had spoken, in those three days, a total of maybe an hour. An hour and half, tops maybe.

Mira shook her head before smiling as she tapped politely upon Mistress Baggin's chamber door.

"Mira, hello, do come in." Mira allowed for herself to be ushered into the chambers, smiling at Frodo who was still sick in bed with, well, with the cold was what Mistress Baggins called it.

"Good evening Mistress Baggins." She replied politely ignoring the impatient look the hobbit woman gave her. Upon their very first meeting, Mistress Baggins had given her permission to call her 'Bilbo' but in all honesty, Mira didn't think she could. This hobbit woman was something of the stuff of legend, along with being the once lover of her king. She had even heard a rumour, and again, she had tried to pay no heed to it, that King Thorin had even been thinking of making the hobbit woman his queen, if not for the whole business with the Arkenstone hadn't occurred.

Either way, she couldn't just go around calling the mother of Durin the Deathless by her first name; it went completely against what was proper.

"How is your mother?" Mistress Baggins asked after a moment, her warm smile returning.

"Oh," Mira blushed deeply, her mother's long term illness had been one of the things Mistress Baggins had wormed out of her upon their very first meeting, "she's quite well this evening, thank you Mistress Baggins."

Mistress Baggins gave her a genuine smile before turning her attention upon her son, who was sitting up in bed, a great improvement to how she met him a few days earlier and the lad had barely been able to sit up let alone be sitting up and reading a book. He, however smiled cheerily at her and his mother as they moved closer to him, before letting out a string of raspy coughs.

"That is sounding better… correct?" Mira asked Mistress Baggins uncertainly. Even though she had a wide experience with children, she found herself to be a little out of her depth with how to take care of this particular child. She had taken care of human children in the past, when she and her family still lived in Eren Luid but they had been a completely different kettle of fish to dwalflings, who were just as different again to the child currently occupying the bed.

Mistress Baggins smiled widely as she ran her hand over her son's dark curls.

"Yes, it is. Oin and my cousins believe they've found the right mix of different remedies, hobbit and dwarven to help with Frodo's cold. So hopefully," She smiled at her son, "very soon you'll be back to being the little terror of energy you normally are."

The little (and he truly was one of the littlest boys, child even, Mira had ever seen. For someone with his intellect, he was the size of a child maybe just learning to write his first letters, not a child who could read, write and comprehend fairly advanced levels of text. And she was fairly certain he both could understand and speak some Khuzdul and elevish) boy stuck his tongue out at his mother in response to her teasing before breaking into another series of sneezes, his mother rubbing his back as the sneezes shook his body.

"Will you-will you read to me Mira?" Frodo asked once his sneezes were finished (for now at least), his blue eyes imploring and hopeful.

Mira smiled back at him. "Of course mim ze."

"He's eaten," Mistress Baggins informed her as she made her way to her chamber door, "has had his medicine and his bath. He is all ready for bed, so if you could just read to him for a little bit until he's sleepy and just watch him until I get back, that would be greatly appreciated."

"Of course Mistress Baggins." Mira nodded and the hobbit woman smiled.

"Thank you very much for this." Mistress Baggins said sincerely. "I'll be back in a couple of hours. Goodnight Frodo, be a good lad to Mira, yes?"

Frodo waved cheerily from his bed.

"Night night Mama."

With a final smile to the both of them Mistress Baggins left her chambers.

"Read?" Frodo held his book out to Mira who laughed and took it from him.

"Where are you up to mim ze?" She chuckled as she settled down upon the bed beside him, smiling widely as he snuggled closely to her side. He eagerly pointed to the title of the story he was up to and Mira smiled and set about reading.

She read around four and a half stories before the little boy fell asleep. Taking great care as to not disturb him, she extracted herself from the bed, stretching her stiff limbs as she did so. She settled down into an armchair by the fire, pulling out her own book she had had previously had tucked away in her coat pocket.

She had only started to become engrossed in her book when there was a heavy knock upon the door. Looking up from her book with a frown, wondering who on earth was calling so late. Of course, King Thorin had come by the night before, but he hadn't knocked so heavily. Somewhat cautiously, she set her book aside and walked over to the chamber's door.

"Good evening." She said cautiously as she opened the door, seeing a low level guard standing outside in the corridor.

The guard bowed.

"For give meh miss, but I was ent by yeh mother."

"My mother?" Mira asked her eyes widening in worry, "why? Is she alright?"

"She is fine, miss, but yah Da… there 'as been a accident in tha mines, he as been badly hurt and there are fears…"

Mira was half way out the door before he had finished speaking.

"Wait." She grabbed the doorframe to keep herself from pelting down the corridor, "I can't… Frodo. Mistress Baggins has not yet returned and I…"

"Tha king 'as been informed, as 'as… as 'as Mistress Baggins. They 'ave 'ive permission for ya to go ta ya Da."

"But Frodo."

"I 'ave been tasked with watching 'im till his mother arrives… shortly, tha' will be."

Still, Mira wavered. Fear coursed through her being over her father and how badly injured he might be from the accident in the mind, he wasn't a young dwarf anymore and this wasn't the first time he had suffered near death injuries but even so, doubt niggled away at her fear, trying to fight against it, to make her think clearly.

"My brother?"

"Is with yah Ma and Da. Please miss, fom what I 'eard, yah Da, he don't 'ave much time."

"I will see him." Mira whispered, casting worried looks over her shoulder to where the little boy lay sleeping in his bed, "but I will return. Frodo is my charge."

"Course, miss. I will stand guard til yahself or the hobbit mistress return." The guard bowed lowly to her and then she was running.

Her feet pounded against the stone corridors and stairs, her breath coming out in desperate gasps. People called out to her as she ran through the main part of the city but she could not hear what they said over the frantic cries of 'Pa' that chanted over and over again in her mind.

Only one voice cut through the chant and she almost tripped over her feet.

"Coren!" She gasped and fought back a sob at the sight of her younger brother who was staring at her as if she had suddenly sprouted wings. "What… what are you doing here? Pa?"

Coren looked at her in confusion, shifting his pick from one shoulder to the other, his face dirty from a long day and partial night spent down in the mines.

"What about him, Mira?"

"He said… he said there was an accident." Her chest started to heave as her brain clicked onto a horrible realisation, "oh Mahal!" and then she was running again, back the way she had come.

"MIRA?"

"Go get the king!" She yelled back at her brother, "or the head of guards! Or the spy master! Just someone! Go Coren NOW!" She shoved her through masses of dwarven folk, most who cursed at her for being so rude but she paid them no heed as she fought back desperate tears. How could she have been so stupid!? To fall for such a trick? Please, please let her foolishness, her over-active imagination not cost the little lad his life, or his mother's.

Oh Mahal, please keep him safe!

Author's Note: Oh no, Frodo's in danger... or is he? Stay tune for next chapter to find out.
This whole mini-arc, along with Frodo's cold, were all meant to take place in the next arc, in Arc Four, but only a matter of weeks ago, I sort of realized, considering everything that is going to be happening to Arc Four, to all the different characters, it was actually all a bit too much. And I want you to care about what happening to the characters and not go, 'oh, well now so and so was endanger, just like so and so was last chapter or so ago'. So just before Christmas I shoved Frodo's cold forward and then this mini-arc too. Which I think, at least I'm pretty sure was the right thing to do. It feels like is/was when I was writing it and now, I'm not regretting that I've done it though it has made Arc Three even longer (and I'm still not finished it 'pinches nose and breathes heavily') and post-pone the start of Arc Four, which I originally hoped to start with this New Year but well, that hasn't happened, much annoyance, but it can't be helped. Hopefully when this fics second birthday rolls around we can celebrate the end to Arc Three and the beginning of Arc Four. That will be the beginning of March, so I have just under two months to get my act together.

Hope you all enjoyed. Next chapter will be along shortly.