Thorin had walked Bilbo into their shared room, insisting the hobbit rest a bit while they waited for Fili and Kil's return. Bilbo fussed about, unwilling to sit still in the large bed as Thorin watched him with annoyance.
"Can't you hold still for five seconds?" He scolded the fidgety hobbit, Bilbo rolled his eyes and started to demand that Thorin hand him his crocheting tools and yarn while they waited.
Reluctantly, the dwarf obliged, giving Bilbo his things and watching as the little one set about his crafty work.
"What are you making this time, a too small tunic for Dwalin perhaps? Or maybe an unsoiled hat for Bofur?" Bilbo looked at Thorin with surprise.
"Yes, I know about your incident with the dwarfs hat. I'm just surprised he's still wearing it. I wouldn't wear anything that you took a big turd on, that's just downright disturbing..." He shivered at the thought, upsetting Bilbo enough to make him throw his crochet needle at the ornery dwarf's head.
It clanged and bounced off Thorin's nose, making him whine as he held his lightly sore schnoz.
"Settle down, by Durin! I'll bend you over my knee like a child if you're going to act like one, Bilbo!" Thorin warned, receiving a rude gesture from Bilbo, the hobbit stuck out his tongue at the threatening king.
Thorin was about to teach his feisty hobbit a lesson, when the fellow started to clutch at his stomach and cry out in pain.
"Bilbo!" Thorin called, helpless as he watched the fellow moan and groan, clutching his guts in agony. Then, as quickly as it had happened, the pain vanished, relinquishing the hobbit from its painful hold. He laid back in the bed, shivering at the aftermath, Thorin caressing his companions face and assuring him that everything would be fine.
"Bilbo, have you felt that pain before?" He asked gently of his weakened friend.
Bilbo wouldn't answer him right away, making the dwarf very nervous, until the hobbit sighed in a defeated manner.
"I try not to worry you, you've got a lot to deal with already, you don't need me to add another thing on your list of worries." Bilbo gingerly admitted, the dwarf frowned at his hobbit, upset that he'd not mention this strange happenings to him right away.
"When did they start?" Thorin assertively asked, having an assumption and wanting to hear Bilbo's truthful words.
"Shortly after the wedding. I was minding my own business in the library when all of a sudden, this strange pain came upon me. But then it left suddenly, and I thought that perhaps it was all my imagination. But it did keep happening...Since it went away so quickly, I thought that I could hold off having to tell you. That maybe it'd stop occurring even." He answered the king, his eyes unwilling to look at Thorin directly.
"Bilbo, I care for you a great deal, you need to tell me these things so that I can try to help you. Damn all my other responsibilities, your health is more important to me." He expressed his feelings to his partner, moving Bilbo's chin so that the hobbit had to look at him.
"We will find out what ails you, little one. I promise." He leaned in and kissed the lightly blushing Bilbo, pulling back to see a teary eyed hobbit.
"What are the tears for, my hobbit?" He gently stroked away the tears streaming down Bilbo's cheeks.
"I just never knew you cared so much." He hesitantly answered, Thorin had an ornery smile on his face.
"What, you assumed I only cared when it came to bedding your hobbit arse?" He teased his friend, getting a chuckle from the teary hobbit.
"There now, laughter's a much better look on you, not weepy tear drops." Thorin spoke playfully, making the hobbit feel better.
"Rest, I'll wake you when my nephews return." The dwarf king promised, not standing away until Bilbo had closed his weary eyes.
With his companion dozing, the king went to wait outside their room, eager to see his nephews return with wizard in tow.
-0-0-
"How was your journey?" Thorin asked of his returned kin, glad to see them and the wandering wizard.
"Fine, though my bum is a bit sore from Gandalf taking his big rod and.." Kili's sentence was abruptly cut off.
"Not another word! I don't want to hear what the old pervert did to you." Thorin shushed his kin, receiving a glare from the wizard.
"Thorin Oakenshield, you are truly an ass. If it wasn't for Bilbo, I wouldn't have bothered coming." He tersely informed the rude king, watching as the dwarf rolled his eyes and turned to lead them to the hobbit.
"Is he alright, uncle?" Fili asked as they followed.
"He was resting when I left." Thorin answered, stopping to turn and ask the wandering wizard a troubling question.
"Gandalf, is it true that on rare occasions, male hobbits...reproduce?" He carefully inquired, the wizard started to chuckle at the king, irritating Thorin.
"Where on earth did you ever hear such a thing? It's nothing more than an old wives tale, nothing has ever been documented to prove that there ever were male hobbits popping out babies." He snorted at the thought.
"Bilbo, he said it has happened." Thorin informed the wizard, his face uncertain as the wizard brushed past to enter the room first, muttering the words 'I should have known.'
"Goodness! He has gained a bit of a belly!" Gandalf exclaimed louder than he should have, waking Bilbo with his thundering voice.
"It's alright, little hobbit. Gandalf is here." Thorin reassured his freshly awoken friend, placing a soothing hand on the hobbit's shoulder.
"Gandalf. I'm glad you came." Bilbo smiled faintly, looking up at the wizard with tired eyes.
"I come only because your mother was a good friend, and she'd never forgive me if I didn't try to help you with an ailment." Gandalf explained curtly, still not satisfied with Bilbo's life decision.
"Now hold still and let me look at you." Gandalf spoke evenly, taking his hands and floating them above the hobbits body, feeling out for any hex that might be placed there.
"Gandalf, Bilbo just recently told me he's been having odd stomach pains. They started shortly after the wedding." Thorin felt it was wise to mention this bit of information to the examining wizard. Bilbo frowned at Thorin, unamused at his partner, in Bilbo's eyes, tattle telling on him to the elderly wizard.
Gandalf's old, wrinkled hands, hovered above Bilbo's stomach. Gently, slowly they lowered, touching the hobbits plump little belly. Gandalf's brow was furrowed in concentration as he moved his hands in circle motions over the hobbit tummy. He gasped and pulled back quickly, as if something had bit him. His swirling wizard eyes gazed at Bilbo in confusion. Those eyes frightened the hobbit, making him very fearful of whatever the wizard had felt.
"Well?!" Thorin growled, impatient as always, "What is wrong with him?"
"I have traveled Middle Earth and have witnessed many things, but I can honestly say that I have never seen anything like this before." Gandalf began, reaching into his robes to take out his pipe, lighting it before he continued on, "This is magic at work, my short companions, a magic I have never encountered before." He spoke evenly to the worried group, Fili and Kili rushed to Bilbo's side, looking at Gandalf determinedly.
"Then lets find the source, and run him through!" Fili spoke, Kili whole heartedly agreeing with his brother.
"It's not that simple, young ones. The spell put on Bilbo is faulty, whoever placed it upon our hobbit friend assumed he was female, thus the complications." Gandalf puffed worriedly on his pipe, eyeing Bilbo wearily.
"What do you mean, complications? Just tell us what's wrong with him, damn it!" Thorin cursed, angry with the wizard for beating around the bush.
"There is a living thing growing inside Bilbo's stomach. I say living thing because I don't know what it truly is. That pain you mentioned Bilbo having? It is most likely this little thing, growing and shifting and tugging at the hobbits intestines. Without a womb, it is growing inside your actual stomach, Bilbo."
"If we do not find a way to remove this from your body before it is fully grown, you will surely die. It will either wrap up your intestines so tightly that it kills you, or if you do somehow live to carry it to term, the labor will most likely kill you. You have no proper parts to give his thing an exit, and babies simply don't crawl out of arse holes." Gandalf sighed, watching his hobbit friend stare in silent shock at him. It wasn't as if the wizard enjoyed bringing bad news.
"There has to be a way, there has to be someone who can help him, Gandalf!" Thorin has feeling a deep pain inside himself, having to imagine a world without his Bilbo in it.
"I have only one such individual in mind, but you aren't going to like it. And the journey to get to her will be long, Bilbo may or may not survive to even seek her help. I just don't know how much time that thing inside him will need to fully develop." Gandalf sighed, frustrated.
"Bilbo, how long do normal hobbit babies need to bake before they're ready to come out of their mum's oven?" Kili asked, waiting patiently for his frightened friend to respond.
"Ten months, it's ten months for hobbits." Bilbo finally spoke, his eyes distant looking.
"Ah, well, perhaps we will have enough time. But it's still up to Thorin, where we need to seek help, it's from the Lady Galadriel. She rules over Lothlorien." When Thorin only stared blankly at Gandalf's words, the wizard added, "Elf territory."
That got Thorin's attention, the dwarf frowned at first, then looked upon Bilbo and found himself losing the hatred he held for the elvish race. If this she-elf could heal Bilbo, then Thorin would undoubtedly go. As much as he hated elves, he hated more a possible future without his hobbit by his side.
"We leave in the morning." Was all the dwarf king needed to say, the nephews rushed off to tell the other dwarfs while Gandalf shuffled out, puffing on his pipe still to help ease his worry at finding a strange thing inside Bilbo.
With some privacy now, the dwarf king let down his guard, rested his weary head against Bilbo's shoulder, and let the tears he'd been fighting back fall from his saddened face. His guard down surprised the quiet hobbit, as Bilbo gently took his hand and stroked the sad hearted Thorin's head.
"It could be worse, you know. I could have been changed into an elf." He tried joking, finding his dear companions emotional display unusual, he didn't quite know how to ease the kings pain. Hell, Bilbo was the one possibly going to die here, if anyone should have been weepy, it should be him! And yet, the hobbit couldn't let the sadness take him, not when there was still hope. Bilbo was an optimist, after all. More so than Thorin at this moment.
Quietly, the hobbit comforted his king, letting the dwarf get out all his sadness. It was tough, being a king. You had to stay strong in the eyes of others, but at least Thorin had one person to turn to, to let down his guard to. It made Bilbo feel very flattered and privileged to be that special to Thorin. As long as he was able, the hobbit would always try to be there for his dwarf, for as long as Thorin needed him.
-0-0-
The Hobbit belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien
A/N: Thorin is very, VERY emotional here, because he's thinking the worst, and worries that his hobbit is going to die and leave him to be alone forever. And that scares him badly, thus his emotional moment with optimist Bilbo. Bilbo's a trouper, he has faith that Gandalf's friend is going to save him. And I realize I haven't written about Kili's elf girlfriend yet, I'll get to that soon! Hope you're liking this so far!
so, I doodled a fun little drawing of Thorin and Bilbo running from the honking devil, if anyone feels like seeing it, it's on my deviantart page. Message me and I'll send you the link! Also, any of you fans been thinking about doing FanArt? If so I'd love to see it! :D