Ered Luin was nothing like Lothlórien. The helicopter swept around and over the city in a looping arch, revealing a glittering landscape so bright it outshone the night sky, the sprawling expanse of it halted only by the mountains in the far distance and the inky black of the sea. There were no trees as far as Bilbo could see – likely all cut down to make room for the city's expansion – and he wondered how they could stand it. Five million Elves and Dwarves and Humans were living and breathing down below in the neon-lit metropolis, either oblivious or uncaring as to the immediate danger they were in.

Bilbo turned away. The bright city lights were burnt on his retinas like the strangest of constellations, and Bilbo blearily blinked them from his vision. The helicopter left Ered Luin behind, putting the city to its tail. Ahead rose up their base, lit up sparsely here and there by floodlights, a hulking, indistinct shape lurking on the horizon.

Home, Bilbo reminded himself. This is home.

Base Zero, the last Jaeger stronghold in Middle Earth, was all but overflowing with Dwarves. Bilbo couldn't help but stare as he was led through the base, and more than once he had to run to catch up with his assigned guide because he'd fallen too far behind. Dwarves of all sizes, shapes, colours and of both genders hurried about, their uniforms and bared skin often slicked with sweat and grease, and Bilbo was subject to his own fair share of curious stares himself. He guessed that, once again, he was the only hobbit on staff.

There was a high percentage of Humans, which Bilbo had expected, but more surprisingly Bilbo spied Elves in amongst them, their pointed ears and tall figures making them easy to pick out amongst the crowds. This was one place, then, that truly reflected the Last Alliance between all of the Free Peoples of Middle Earth.

Bilbo was politely shown to his lodgings by his Dwarven guide – Ori, was it? – and left alone to unpack and rest. Although it had been a long and draining journey to the base, Bilbo's work was to start immediately; he was to report to the Marshall Dís at six hundred hours sharp the following morning, which would give him only a few hours' worth of rest. Bilbo didn't mind, though. He would rather be tired and overworked than be sitting around all day – he had found that he dreamt less the more exhausted he was when he went to bed.

There was so much to think about, but Bilbo was content for the moment to simply lie out on his cot, which creaked under his weight. He huffed a laugh to himself; if there was one thing that all bases shared, it was that their mattresses were apparently made of cardboard. That aside, his room was vastly different from his one in Lothlórien – not only was it considerably smaller, it was made of the same bare, grubby metal that the rest of the base was, with a door that reminded Bilbo of Lothlórien's underground bunker. He could hear what seemed to be the distant sound of water slapping against the base's hull, and the underlying thrum of engines working hard into the night. Still, though, Bilbo was sure he could make his room homely enough for his tastes, and the noise was not so different from the creak and groan of Lothlórien's towers.

Sleep gently swept over him.

There were two pairs of Jaeger pilots already on staff, but Bilbo did not meet either of them on his first day. Instead he was shown around the base by Dís, who explained what his duties were to be, and that there were no ranks here. They were no longer associated with the Last Alliance, though she hinted that they were still receiving funding from 'surprising' sources.

'Now, Bilbo,' said Dís, 'as we have the formalities out of the way, would you like to see our Jaegers?'

Bilbo tried to hide his excitement at the question, but he suspected that he had not been successful, if Dís' wryly raised eyebrow was any indication.

Bilbo coughed and said, 'yes, I think that would be very...useful. So I know where they are, you know – that sort of thing.'

'Right this way, then,' said Dís, and there was an underlying note of amusement in her tone, though nothing showed on her face. 'I'm sure you've already read the reports on their specifications?' Dís didn't need see Bilbo's nod of confirmation as they walked – she already knew the answer. 'Gandalf told me you were an avid reader. Such a thing will come in handy, I'm sure. Things here work a little differently than you are used to, and we'll need you up to speed as soon as possible.'

They turned a sharp corner, and suddenly and without warning, the Jaeger hangar bay was before them.

'We have two working Jaegers,' said Dís, and Bilbo barely heard her over his wonder, 'the one over there, on the left, is Dúnedain Evenstar, piloted by two of our longest-serving pilots, Aragorn and Arwen.'

'Yes, I remember reading about them,' said Bilbo, attempting to maintain some level of professionalism over his instinctual, child-like joy at seeing the Jaegers, 'they're the first inter-species pairing, aren't they?'

Dís nodded. 'Yes, no one was as surprised as Arwen's father when they were found to be compatible. I'm not sure he's gotten over the shock of it yet. They make a fine team, and no one can dispute that, though many have tried.' She gestured to the Jaeger on the right. 'That one over there is-'

'Alpha Rayade,' said Bilbo, 'I've seen it many times on the news. I don't think there's a soul on Middle Earth who wouldn't recognise it.'

'For all the wrong reasons,' said Dís with a long-suffering air, 'it's piloted by my sons, Kíli and Fíli.'

'They've had an outstanding kill rate,' said Bilbo politely. Dís looked as though she were trying to restrain from rolling her eyes.

'Yes, they have, but for Mahal's sake, don't tell them that. They're bad enough as it is. No doubt you'll bump into them soon enough. I won't arrange a meeting between them you and them, Bilbo – goodness knows I've no idea where they are most of the time. They're bound to turn up sooner or later.'

Bilbo hid his smile, turning to peer into the far corner of the hangar. 'Are those two more Jaeger I see?' he asked, 'I don't remember reading anything about them in the notes.'

'Oh, yes. They're both works in progress, at the moment, and we haven't pilots or names for either of them. Yet,' she added, casting Bilbo a piercing look, and Bilbo's stomach clenched uneasily.

'I've read your scores,' said Dís, 'they're off the charts. Why didn't Marshall Galadriel pair you with someone? Did she think you too young?'

'No, it...it wasn't that,' Bilbo said with a shake of his head, 'she allowed me to start compatibility tests with five other candidates, but...'

'No one matched up,' Dís thankfully completed for him. Bilbo clenched his jaw tightly, hoping Dís would leave it there.

'Would you like to try again?' Dís pressed instead, 'we have a great number of Dwarves here who have decent enough scores. A few Elves, too, who might be compatible.'

'Is that an order, Marshall?' Bilbo countered, keeping his voice level and free of his discomfort.

Dís treated him to a frown. 'No, it is not,' she said firmly, 'you will be a valued member of this base whatever you decide. It's your choice. Think on it – there's no need to make a decision now. Just bear in mind that one of those Jaeger will be finished within the year, and we have need of a pair.'

'I'll think about it,' said Bilbo, though he already knew his answer.

Dís continued to appraise him for a few more seconds, sharp dark eyes searching his face for something. Then, thankfully, she relented, her countenance lightening.

'Our tour completed, I think it's time you met our resident mad scientists,' she said.

'Yes, I'd like that,' Bilbo said absent-mindedly. The science department had never really interested him aside from when it overlapped with his work, but he would like to meet all of the department heads as a matter of course.

'I'm sure you will. In fact, I can almost guarantee it,' said Dís, the edges of her eyes crinkling, sweeping away before Bilbo had a chance to clarify.

The science department was no different from Lothlórien's. Organised chaos. Lab equipment lay everywhere, frequently full of bubbling concoctions, and on several of the lab tables sat computer screens, across which endless numbers scrolled and multiplied. The only difference was that there was one section of the room that was almost painfully clean and tidy, and instead of numerous teams of scientific bent over their experiments, there were only two occupants.

A Dwarf was sat hunched over an oddly-lit tank full of neon-blue water, containing what appeared to be an oversized organ of some kind. A winged, battered and fluffy-edged cap sat on his head, in juxtaposition to his smart white lab-coat, but Bilbo barely spared a moment to look at him. He was far more interested in the figure at the blackboard, who was stood on a stool in the clean part of the lab, writing out number after symbol after number, muttering to herself all the while, her curly head of hair tucked up into a messy bun at the nape of her neck.

Years had passed since they last met, but Bilbo would know her anywhere.

'Lobelia?' Bilbo spluttered.

'So you do know each other,' murmured Dís beside him, but she was drowned out by Lobelia's startled yelp, the hobbit spinning around on her stool and almost losing her balance altogether. She flailed, and Bilbo stepped forwards, ready to catch her, but there was no need – Lobelia righted herself and stared at him through her round-lens glasses, utterly stunned.

'Bilbo?' she said hesitantly, 'goodness me, is that really you?'

'It is!' Bilbo said, laughter bubbling up through his chest for the first time in months.

Lobelia stepped down off of her stool, her gaze never leaving Bilbo for a second. There was chalk smeared all across her nose, and her hair had gotten longer and wilder since Bilbo had seen her last, strands escaping her bun to haphazardly frame her face.

'The very same Bilbo Baggins who pushed me into the river on my fifteenth birthday, in my lovely blue dress that was given to me by my paternal grandmother?'

Bilbo choked on his own laughter, wincing. Lobelia had always known how to hold a grudge. 'Um...yes?' he attempted.

Lobelia narrowed her eyes at him, and Bilbo was on the verge of fidgeting when her fierce look shifted into a brilliant grin, and she threw her arms around him.

'Oh, Bilbo,' she said, hugging him so hard the air was all but knocked out of him, 'it's so very good to see you.'

'You too,' Bilbo murmured, hugging her back. To think that he'd be so glad to see Lobelia Bracegirdle. How the world turned.

Lobelia released him with one final squeeze, pushing her glasses up onto the top of her head and schooling her expression into something much sterner.

'Thank goodness you're here,' she said, 'we're in dire need of some hobbit sensibility in this Eru-forsaken base. Yourself excluded of course, Marshall,' Lobelia swiftly added with a respectful nod in Dís' direction.

'Of course,' said Dís, eyes twinkling.

'And someone who knows the value of an orderly and clean lab. Not to mention regular baths,' sniffed Lobelia, giving Bilbo a meaningful look.

'I think she's referrin' to me,' piped up the Dwarf in the corner, waving cheerily at Bilbo, apparently entirely un-offended by Lobelia's words, 'and I'll have you know I take regular baths,' he went on, rising from his seat to join Bilbo and Lobelia, 'just like any other Dwarf.'

'Oh yes, and aren't you due for your yearly bath any day now, Bofur?' said Lobelia waspishly.

Bofur grinned and hooked his thumbs through his trouser loops. 'Aye, that I am,' he said, winking at Bilbo.

'There's a line bisecting this room for a reason, as you now know,' said Dís mock- conspiratorially, and Lobelia looked so put out that Bilbo found himself laughing openly and without restraint. It took him entirely by surprise.

Perhaps he'd made the right decision in coming to Ered Luin after all.

Bilbo did not have to wait long to meet Ered Luin's youngest and brightest piloting pair. He was walking from comms to the command centre on his second full day, with an arm full of reports, when he found himself all but swept off of his feet and placed on two sets of broad shoulders.

'Hey-!' Bilbo squawked indignantly, trying to regain his balance and not lose his grip on the folders all in the same moment.

'We found him! It's our hobbit!' Said one of his captors.

'Put me down,' said Bilbo firmly, whacking him over the head with the heaviest file. Laughing, the pair did so, Bilbo scrambling off and away as soon as he was near the ground. He took one look at them and said, resigned, 'you must be Kíli and Fíli - Dís' sons.'

The dark-haired dwarf to the right grinned. 'That we are. He's Fíli-'

'-he's Kíli,' cut in the one with wheat-gold hair, 'and you must be the hobbit.'

'Not the hobbit,' Bilbo corrected, frowning, 'there's Lobelia, too-'

'She doesn't count!' exclaimed Kíli, mock-scowling. 'She's not a hobbit, she's a-'

'Demon!' said Fíli.

'A wizard.'

'She keeps stealing our chocolate rations-'

'-still can't figure out how she's doing it-'

'-hence the demon part-'

'- unless it's a skill only Hobbits have?'

'In which case you should teach us-'

'-but it's okay, because we get her back. We go into her room when she's not around-'

'-and just move things ever so slightly,' finished Fíli with a roguish grin.

'And you're still alive?' said Bilbo dryly, but then shook his head. 'Well, it was honour to meet the two of you, but I have to-'

'Is it true?' Fíli interrupted - quite rudely, in Bilbo's opinion.

'Is what true?'

'You have the highest simulator scores in Lothlórien?'

'Oh,' said Bilbo flatly. 'That. Yes, it is.'

'Then why aren't you undergoing compatibility tests right now?' asked Kíli, expression so serious that the resemblance between him and his mother was even more striking in that moment.

'I'm not sure,' Bilbo said slowly, temper rising, 'that it's any of your business.'

'It is when we don't have someone to guard our right flank,' Fíli pointed out. 'Aragorn and Arwen do well enough-'

'When they aren't too busy making moon eyes at each other,' Kíli muttered under his breath.

'-but we need someone to watch our backs. They're testing a few Dwarves and Humans out – a handful of Elves, too – but none of them have scores that touch yours.'

'Although Gimli hasn't taken his test yet, as he keeps reminding us,' added Kíli.

Bilbo licked his lips and took a few steps backwards. 'It's nothing interesting – really. It's just...a medical condition.'

'A medical condition?'

'Yes,' said Bilbo, fumbling for an excuse, 'I have...I have worms...in my tubes.'

'Really,' Fíli said with raised eyebrows, 'then why has-'

But his interrogation was thankfully cut off by the wonderful Tauriel, who appeared at the end of the corridor to cast her severe and disproving gaze in Kíli and Fíli's direction.

'Gentlemen,' she said, 'I do believe Dwalin was expecting you in hangar six two hours ago.'

Kíli and Fíli gulped simultaneously.

'We, er, we rescheduled with-with him,' said Fíli, suddenly looking nervous.

Tauriel smiled, and her smile was like the edge of a blade. As always she cut an intimidating figure, her bright red hair - cropped short - a stark contrast to her plain, dark-grey uniform.

'I'll just check that with him, shall I?' was all she needed to say and Kíli and Fíli were both falling over themselves to pat Bilbo on the back and take their leave.

'Good talk, good talk,' said Fíli.

'Yes, lovely meeting you Mister Baggins. We'll see you at dinner,' Kíli said, and the two of them all but ran off.

Bilbo watched them go, the tension that had been mounting in his chest easing. He let out a breath and turned to Tauriel with a smile.

'Thank you,' he said with absolute sincerity.

Dís' right-hand woman merely smiled warmly and said, 'I accept payments in chocolate, Mister Baggins.'

Bilbo's run-in with Kíli and Fíli only added to his restlessness over the compatibility tests. He had not yet given Dís an answer, and she was being patient with him – for now, at least. He could push the problem aside during work, when he had something to focus on, but during his down time it all but ate at him. He felt utterly torn. Dare he try again and chase out the slightest chance of his dream becoming reality? But if he did and he was unreservedly rejected by all of his potential partners then he would have absolute confirmation that there was something wrong with him.

Bilbo had read every journal, textbook and transcript that he could get a hold of on the subject of Drift technology. Drift compatibility was made up of ninety-five per cent hard science and five per cent 'unknown' or 'outside' factors, which Bilbo knew to mean, 'we have no fucking clue' – but it was phrased as such because the scientists would rather have a dinner date with a Kaiju than admit that they didn't understand something. Bilbo had always assumed that it was something in that five per cent that made him incompatible. He'd spoken with the Jaeger pilots in Lothlórien, but they'd offered him no further insights into what he might be missing. But now, though, he had new sources of information to tap.

Kíli and Fíli were out of the question. Bilbo did not want a repeat of their first conversation. Instead, he timed his lunch break in the cafeteria one day to coincide with Dúnedain Evenstar's pilots coming off of their first shift of the day. Bilbo had not yet had a chance to meet Aragorn or Arwen. He only hoped that the elf and the man would not be so curious about Bilbo in return.

They were easy to spot. They were both still in their jumpsuits, the emblem for their Jaeger – a silver tree with a highly stylised star in its branches - emblazoned across their backs. Arwen was startlingly beautiful, her dark hair cut into a blunt-edged bob and pinned neatly back, revealing the elegant point of her ears. Her beauty was matched by the handsomeness of the young man beside her. Aragorns' hands – clothed in fingerless gloves – were wrapped around a bowl of steaming soup, apparently intent on his food, but he looked up with warm eyes when Bilbo approached their table.

'Bilbo Baggins,' said Arwen, smiling, her voice light and melodious, 'it is a pleasure to meet you at long last.'

'My reputation precedes me, it seems,' said Bilbo, matching her smile with one of his own, albeit much more hesitantly. 'May I take a seat?'

'Of course,' said Aragorn. 'What can we do for you?'

Bilbo blinked, taken aback - he had not expected Aragorn to get straight to the point. The Humans, Dwarves and Elves of Ered Luin were far more blunt and straightforward than the denizens of Lothlórien had ever been.

'I'm after some information, if you're willing to answer a few questions,' said Bilbo, recovering quickly.

'Fire away,' said Arwen, putting aside her half-eaten sandwich.

'It's about Drift compatibility,' Bilbo started, and watched as Aragorn and Arwen shared a look. It was laden with unspoken meaning exchanged in a split second, in a language known only to them. Bilbo stamped down on the hot swell of jealousy that flared up in his chest.

'This is merely a guess,' said Arwen carefully, 'but do you want to know about the infamous five per cent?'

'Yes, I do,' said Bilbo, 'how did you know?'

'There's been rumours going around about your test scores, Mister Baggins, and your reluctance to try out potential partners,' said Aragorn, and Bilbo groaned.

'If this is Kíli and Fíli-'

'No, it isn't,' laughed Arwen, 'although they are usually the source of such things.'

'I swear Jaeger bases are full of the biggest gossips,' Bilbo huffed.

'You might be right,' Aragorn said, smiling, 'but please, ask your questions. We will answer them, if we can.'

'But sometimes the Drift is hard to describe,' added Arwen.

'Thank you,' said Bilbo, and paused to give himself time to shuffle his thoughts into order, 'I suppose what I want to ask is...well...' he let out a frustrated breath and blurted out, 'how do you know?'

Arwen lowered her eyes, mulling over Bilbo's question. She and Aragorn did not glance at each other again, but there was something about the way they shifted that spoke of a shared thought, their bodies moving into each other's space, utterly in-sync.

'That,' said Aragorn, 'is a very difficult question to answer.'

Arwen snapped her eyes back up to Bilbo. 'Have you ever met someone and known, instantly, that you would be friends?'

Bilbo thought about it. 'Yes, I suppose I have,' he said.

'And do you remember the feeling of...being on the same wave-length, as it were? That when you speak to them they can catch your full meaning with hardly any effort at all?'

'Yes, I think so.'

'That's what it's like,' said Aragorn, 'you meet, and in those few moments...something snaps into place.'

'Like an elastic band,' Arwen said, amusement making her lips curl, and she flicked her eyes to the ceiling. Aragorn did glance at her this time, eyebrows raised, and Bilbo had to guess that she was referring to an inside joke.

'Yes, like an elastic band. For non-familial pairings, many people liken it to love at first sight, but it's not quite that.'

'There are many romantic novels that would say otherwise,' said Arwen, smile edging into a grin.

Bilbo laughed, nodding. There was a large portion of romance novels dedicated to stories about pilots who met, fell in love and became the perfect piloting pair. Bilbo, in the privacy of his own mind, could admit that there was a stash of books hidden away under his mattress from this very genre, though if anyone ever found them, he'd still claim they weren't his.

'I'm sorry for being so vague, Bilbo,' Aragorn went on, 'I can only tell you that you'll know when you find it.'

'When you do,' said Arwen, her lovely features shifting into something more serious, 'you must fight for it with your whole heart.'

'It's worth fighting for,' agreed Aragorn, gloved hands clenching together for a moment.

Bilbo's mind flicked over his mental notes on the two, and understood their meaning. Not everyone in Base Zero was there with the full support of their family and friends

'You'll find it, Bilbo,' Arwen said, soft voice fierce, reaching out to squeeze one of Bilbo's hands, 'I promise you. You'll find it.'

'Arwen is never wrong,' grinned Aragorn.

Bilbo match Aragorn's grin with a smile, and in the face of their conviction, for a handful of seconds he honestly believed them.