Sorry, I apologize. This chapter kicked my butt. Next chapter should be out Thursday... I wanted to have it out Monday, but plot points that I'd forgotten about, came up in this chapter, changed the next one. I have a date with my writers group, so all edits should be completed. I've been working up to the next chapter for so long.

Let me know if there are any glaring errors in this, I posted right after finishing with only a basic read threw.

Chapter 20

Big, Stupid, Mean, Rock Things!

One would think that after traveling for two months with a pack of dwarrow, that even the most stubborn of them would start to see her as something more than just a waste of space. She felt lucky that at least she had a few people on her side.

She'd saved their lives for crying out loud, they weren't the forgotten dinner of three trolls; so what if she did it without lifting a sword. She'd gotten them out of Rivendell without them being detained to 'save Middle Earth from a dragon'. Well, at least in that case, they thought it was Nori who'd pulled the information together, but it was really her. It wasn't her fault that the leader still wouldn't listen to her and the ones who would were detained.

In the week long trek it took to get to the base of the mountain; where they were supposed to wait for Gandalf; she'd been belittled and constantly growled at by their leader. Oakenshield seemed even more upset by the fact that she was still with the group then ever before. Despite the fact that she was always helping up to set up camp, she partook in the watches and was usually one of the first up in the morning. Instead he acted as if she didn't do a thing and was holding them up.

She wasn't sure if it was because she was a female, not a dwarf (so he thought) or she really was moving slower than the others. She didn't think she was though, even though she hung around at the end of the line, it was only because she wanted to stay as far away from his grumpy behaviour. She had a feeling that unless something major happened, she was never going to get away from his nastiness.

It was starting to wear thin. At night, she found herself thinking of the large smail she'd left behind so she could get to know her family. She was starting to wonder if she should turn back, damn the contract she signed. It wasn't like he wanted her there, having trying to keep her from being a part of the group from the very beginning. She had hoped at one time, that they could at least get along, even if they never became friends, they were co-workers of sorts for this venture. Now, she just wanted it all to be over.

It had gotten to a point that she hardly ever heard a word of kindness, except from Bifur, who she had difficulty understanding and occasionally Nori. At least they'd taken to try and teach her some Iglishmek while they'd been traveling, at least when the other's weren't butting in. Well, Bifur seemed to be trying to teach her legitimate words, where as Nori was just teaching her every curse word he knew and some thieves signs. If perhaps she used them from time to time focused directly on Oakenshield's back, well only the three of them knew.

.

It really didn't help much that after a days travel outside of Rivendell, there were no more trees. Bushes became the extent of the privacy she would get for doing anything personal and even those seemed to take a drastic decline after another couple of days. Thankfully at night, they would camp by a large rock or two, but she couldn't get enough privacy to do anything more than a quick bathroom run. She couldn't take the time she needed to shave.

Four days out of Rivendell and she found herself wearing a hood at all times, trying to hid the peach fuzz that was growing in quickly. She'd never let it grow for this long without shaving it before and she was worried about the others seeing it. It was going to be a very long trip over the mountains and she hoped she was going to get a chance to shave before anyone figured out yet another of her secrets.

It wasn't like she hadn't been thinking of stopping anyway. It had never felt right to shave in the first place, but she'd done so in the Shire to keep her families secret and continued to do so as to not give away said secret. Now that she was planning to tell him the truth, there was no need to keep up with the practice, but she didn't want him to find out before she had the chance to do so.

.

By the ninth day out of Rivendell, she knew that her beard was visible to the naked eye; already almost as full as Kili's was (and wouldn't he be upset about that when he saw it). There would be no way to hide it if her hood came down. The only good thing was that it had started raining two days ago and hadn't let up, so everyone had their hoods up now.

By the Valar did she ever hate rain. It wasn't so bad when you had soft grass and dirt under your feet that you could dig your toes into for a grip. But now it was just rocks, rocks and more rocks. She'd never really traversed by foot under these conditions and she'd never realized just how slippery rocks could be when wet. For like any healthy Hobbit, Iris had an aversion to water any deeper than her knees and even then only when necessary. Thankfully there had been no large rivers as of yet without a bridge to cross or the dwarrow may find themselves carrying her across it.

What made matters worse is they'd finally started crossing the narrow paths in the mountains, instead of the more gradual slopes she's finally gotten used to. Thankfully, they'd placed her in the middle of the group, instead of letting her hide in the back like she had been doing. She had a strong feeling that Bifur had a lot to do with the fact that Bofur was the one in front of her And she thought that Dwalin pulled the short straw to have to be behind her. She knew she was a liability and was definitely holding up the line. She was fine as long as she didn't look down, but it was difficult not to do so when there was barely enough room to walk single file. She just couldn't understand how they thought this was safe.

They'd been traveling most of the day, and even though she was in the best shape she'd ever been in her life, she was tiring out quickly. This was something she just wasn't used to. It was everything she could do to bite her tongue and not beg for them to find a place for the night. The sun had already started to set and it was getting more difficult to see where to place her feet, but Oakenshield was pushing them forwards. She could understand why, but there had to be some sort of cave they could settle in, at least until dawn. She was desperately trying not to grab onto Bofur, just in case she lost her balance.

She could barely hear Oakenshield yell watch out, just as a harsh blast of wind attempted to rip her from the side of the mountain, a scream aborted halfway through as she felt a jerk from behind on both sides of her shoulders and she was pressed up against the wall. Panting harshly, she turned her head to look up at Dwalin, but he wasn't looking at her, he was looking way off in the distance, eyes wide with fear.

"Watch out!" He slammed his arm across her chest, pressing his massive bulk against her to keep her to keep them both pressed against the mountain side as an impossibly large boulder seemed to fly through the air, hitting the mountainside above them. Rocks fell down around them and she clung to Dwalin as she heard Balin over the roar, "This is a thunderstorm; it's a thunder battle! Look!" She couldn't help but follow where he pointed with her eyes and felt like crying. They were all going to die and she'd never told her father the truth.

Her father who for some strange reason sounded excited by the massive stone creatures throwing rocks at each other, "Well bless me, the legends are true. Giants; Stone Giants!" The grown beneath her feet seemed to start to surge and she felt like it was surging upwards. Their luck couldn't be so bad that they ended up on another one of those creatures could they? She knew the truth as soon as they started to split off from the other half of the group and they all seemed to be clinging to the knees of yet another giant. From where they were, separated from the others, she could see that the other group seemed to get off it and back onto the mountainside. Only leaving their small group. She prayed to the Valar that she wouldn't die with her father at her side.

All of a sudden a large crash that could be felt throughout the entire giant, the whole body vibrating around them. And then they were falling, everything was happening so quickly, it felt like hours of fear where it couldn't have even been a minute in the air before they were hurtling back toward the mountain and she was sure the five of them were going to be a pancake against the rocks that were speeding towards them.

She felt the crash as they hit the side, but somehow, they survived it, in the split second they had, all four of her Dwarves jumped and she followed. But it wasn't enough, she was too far away to land on the ledge like they did. All she could do was hang onto the edge and hope against hope someone would find her. She could hear the cheers of the others as they reunited, and for a moment, she thought no one would see.

"Where's Iris? Where's the Hobbit?" She should have known her father would be the one. Excruciatingly long seconds later; as her hand slipped and she fell another few feet before catching herself again; she saw both Ori and Bofur reaching down for her. Both yelling for her to take their hands and she desperately tried to reach up towards them, ignoring that her hood was down; all she wanted was to live.

Even as they scrambled to grab her hands, she could see the shock in the Dwarrows faces at what they saw. It wasn't for long though, as she felt an arm wrap around her and Oakenshield boosted her up into her fathers arms where she was quickly pulled to safety, and moved against the wall of rock. As this happened, Dwalin was pulling their leader back up, after he nearly fell himself.

Dwalin looked over to her with a small smile, glad to see that she was okay, "I thought we'd lost our burglar." He was taking a step towards her, seeming to take a closer look. He looked about to say something else, when an angry growl rolled over them all.

"She's been lost ever since she left home. She should have never come. She has no place amongst us!" He didn't even look towards her as he started forward again, "Dwalin! We need a place for the night!"

AN: When typing this at 2:30 in the morning, I found myself typing things like traversing by 'food' instead of 'foot' So if there are any… crazy mistakes, please point them out and I'll fix them.