I gave up when Gandalf left and I cried sitting against the door, keeping the grief that I have been into for over 80 years.

I spent the next day buying food, clothing, and things necessary for the journey. I was afraid to meet my dwarves again that night.

I spent the afternoon cooking dinner, the equivalent for what I would do for my own birthday inviting all Hobbiton. I knew my dwarves and I knew of their appetite. I was placing the table when I heard the door. My first dwarf had arrived.

I opened the door and I found the dwarf who had defended me countless times, who had taught me that even the most hard dwarf can be gentle and shy, with a very big heart that Ori had managed to get soft during the trip.

"Dwalin ..." I smiled and he smiled at me.

"At your service, Mister...?"

"Ah ... Emm ... Bilbo Baggins, at your service." I said with a small reverence. "Please enter Mister Dwalin, I was just setting the table." I pointed to the living room.

"Have we met before, halfling?" Dwalin asked me while I took his coat and he went to the living room .

"Uh ... no, we do not know each other, but ... Gandalf told me how you all were." I cleared my throat and closed the door. "By the way, you can call Bilbo." I smiled at him and followed him to the living room.

Dwalin nodded. "Then call me Dwalin, Mister Bilbo. I'm ready for supper." He walked over to the table and began to move so all dwarves could sit down properly. I was still smiling at him. I was no longer afraid of him after having known him. I help as I could moving things until the door rang.

"That would be the door." I nodded and I went to open Balin.

I opened the door with a smile on my face and I did a reverence. "Bilbo Baggins at your service, mister Balin. Your brother is already inside, helping to set the table. "

Balin nodded with his mouth open and entered. "Thank you, mister Baggins."

I closed the door and I walked him to his brother. "Please call me Bilbo, if we are going to spend a long time traveling together it would be better if you call me by my name."

Balin smiled and nodded. "Yeah boy, call me just Balin then." He approached to his brother and I walked away to give them privacy.

"Good afternoon brother ..."

I leaned against the wall smiling. It had been years since I had saw both siblings so happy. I could hear them move furniture when the door rang and I sighed. How could I face Fili and Kili if I had seen dead in their eyes after the battle? I opened the door and my eyes filled with tears when I saw both siblings standing there, smiling.

"Fili"

"And Kili"

"At your service." They both said simultaneously.

"You must be Mister Boggins!" Said Kili looking at me.

I nodded biting my lip trying not to cry. "Bilbo, please Kili." I grabbed their stuff and I invited them inside. "Please, help Balin and Dwalin move furniture." Both brothers looked at me without understanding, and while Fili went to help them, Kili did not move from my side.

"Are you all right, mister Bilbo?"

"Yes, Kili ..." I tried to smile. "Just ... I remembered my nephews when I saw you ..." And it was true, I loved both brothers as they were my own nephews. "Please help your brother with the table. When the rest come I will serve you dinner." Kili's eyes lit up and he ran to the living room.

And I heard Fili, Dwalin and Balin shout: "Is not Boggins, it's Baggins!"

I laughed out loud, I missed those two brothers that one day I dared to call family. This time they were not going to die for Erebor, or for Thorin, or for anyone. Again, I heard the door and when I opened it I held a laugh to see the rest of the company fell to the ground.

"Good night!" I said looking at Gandalf, smiling fun while the rest of dwarves tried to move. "Dwalin, Balin, Fili and Kili have already arrived and they are setting the table."

"Mister Boggins, they have arrived and we are hungry!" Laughed Kili from the dining room and we all heard an "Ah!" as if someone had stuck him (probably Dwalin).

"Please" I said looking at the dwarves who were already up. "come in or Kili will start to eat my furniture." Some dwarves began to laugh and when I saw Bofur I got a huge desire to embrace him, like to Ori, but I could not do it, they did not know me.

"Thank you, mister Baggins." Ori said going into the room with the rest of dwarfs.

"You're welcome, Ori .." I said, and then I froze. No one noticed I had said his name without a previous meeting, except Gandalf. I assumed they believed that Gandalf would have told me their names or something. Gandalf closed the door and I did not move. He was staring at me.

"What do you know about this trip and our companions, Bilbo?"

"J-Just what you have told me, and Balin, and Dwalin... Dwalin told me how was each dwarf." I cleared my throat, I always had been a very good at inventing excuses. "I guess I've been lucky... please Gandalf, sit with the rest and I'll bring the food."

Gandalf just nodded, without actually believe me, and he went with the group of dwarves who were laughing. I was carrying food as they laughed and exchanged stories. I was very happy to see them all there, even if their manners were very unsatisfactory! I saved some food for Thorin and I sat beside Bofur at the precise moment when Ori began to burp. How... that could come out of such a small body? I've been wondering that for years. Bofur gave me an affectionate pat on the back (stronger than it should have been, which almost broke my ribs).

"Mr. Baggins, we thank you for this food and all these beverages, right boys?" He lifted his jug.

"Aye!" They all drank together.

"It was not annoying, I love to cook." I said smiling.

"I think it would be best if we clear the table, right?"

"Right!" They all shouted, and they began to stand up. They began to leave the room, and I made myself aside when Ori looked at me (with eyes that makes him seem like a little lamb), lifting the plate.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt, but what should I do with my plate?"

Before I could respond, Fili took it out of his hand.

"Here you go, Ori, give it to me" Fili threw the dish to his brother who threw him into the kitchen. Then I remembered the last time they did the same, and I tried not to laugh, I yelled while the plates were flying over my head.

"Excuse me! Leave that! That's my mother West Farthin pottery it's over 100 years old! "I went to the kitchen where the rest were playing with the knives. I could not take it anymore and I told them smiling. "Can you not do that? You'll blunt them!"

"Ooh. Do you hear that, lads? He said we'll blunt the knives!" Said Bofur and they began to sing.

Blunt the knives bend the forks

Smash the bottles and burn the corks

Chip the glasses and crack the plates

That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!

Cut the cloth, tread on the fat

Leave the bones on the bedroom mat

Pour the milk on the pantry floor

Splash the wine on every door!

Dump the crocks in a boiling bowl

Pound them up with a thumping pole

When you're finished, if they are whole

Send them down the hall to roll!

That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!

I stood in a corner of the room listening to the song and watching flying plates and knives. When everyone was finished singing, Bofur and Dwalin, laughing, gave me a pat on the back each (which may ache a little ...) and the door was heard.

"He is here." Gandalf said, his smile getting away from his face, and before anyone could react I walked to the door.

I grabbed the handle of the door and I bit my lip, I was afraid to open and see him again... I fix my hair a little under the watchful gaze of Gandalf. I opened the door and there he was... the dwarf who I had been in love with for over 80 years. The dwarf for who I had grief all these years. His blue eyes met mine, and I tried not to remember the last time I saw them, life disappearing from them...

"So ..." said Thorin smiling at me. "This is the Hobbit."