Chapter 48:

I sat up with a gasp, scrabbling around desperately. For a second, everything was dark, and I was enveloped by fear. "Kili -"

"Freya, oh, thank Mahal!" came the yell from off to the side.

"Kili," I half-sobbed, and then he was there, his arms around me. I hugged him as hard as I could before melting into him as I cried on his shoulder. He slowly sat down on the bed and I eventually stopped crying.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I - Earth - Lily, hospital, coma, dream..." I made little sense as I babbled, but he got the gist.

"Oh, Freya," he whispered. "It wasn't a dream. You're here now, with me."

We sat like that for a long time, just holding each other.

"How long was I gone?" I asked softly.

He pulled back a little, hesitating, and I fixed him with a sharp gaze. "Kili. How long was I gone?"

He swallowed. "You've been gone for two months."

"Jesus Christ," I muttered, rubbing my temples and squinching my eyes up. "Of course. So where are we? What's been happening?"

He gave me a look like he didn't believe me that I was fine with having been gone for months. "I - Fili's king, now, or he will be soon - you didn't miss the coronation, which is nice -"

The door creaked open, and I heard another yell: "Freya, you're awake!" I spun and cried out with gladness as Fili sprinted in, looking honestly the same as ever. I was happier than before, for certain, but that wasn't saying much. He slid across the floor and wrapped me in a bear-hug.

"Hi, Fili," I squeaked, somehow managing to hug him back and wipe a tear out of my eye at the same time.

"Mahal, Freya, I wondered if you would ever wake up!" he breathed finally, pulling back from me. "The other Dwarves they'll want to know -"

"Well, she's back, there's plenty of time," Kili interrupted rather pointedly, as if he didn't want to share me just yet.

"Well, I'm awake!" I said happily. "What's been happening?"

Fili shrugged. "Making this mountain livable, for one. Making peace again with the Men and Elves and such. You missed the eagles saving all our arses, by the way. So did Kili, but he learned about it earlier."

"Where's Gandalf?"

Fili turned even more sober than before and said, "He's gone, Freya. So is Bilbo. They left weeks and weeks ago."

I turned white and gripped Kili's shoulder so tightly he winced. "They didn't wait?"

Fili shook his head slowly. "Gandalf escorted Bilbo back the Shire. I assume they're still on the road. Gandalf promised that he would come back, but it will take months."

I swallowed. "Everybody survived, yes? Besides -"

"Yes," interrupted Kili. "They've been waiting impatiently for you to wake up. So was I, come to that."

"What he's not telling you, Freya," said Fili with a sudden grin and a wink, "Is that he has literally not left you for two months and took all his meals here, slept only when somebody else was here to keep watch over you, and refused to let anybody else carry you from the tent next to the battlefield into the Mountain's infirmary. Literally the only time he left was for Thorins funeral."

I glanced at Kili with a tiny smile, but he was steadfastly staring at the floor, his face a little pink.

Fili tipped his head to the side, then said quietly, "I think I'm gonna go." He started for the door, then turned back for a second. "Freya - I forgot to thank you. You saved my life, and Kili's thrice. For that, you are forever in my debt." His eyes, already soft and kind, softened even more. "And whatever you do, remember what Uncle said - don't feel guilty. I appreciate that you tried, and so does Kili, and so did he. He has been peacefully laid to rest in the King's Burial Cavern, with Orcrist by his side. You can go pay your respects later, if you wish."

With a final nod, he left, closing the door tight behind him.

Silence surrounded us, and for a few minutes I just sat, enjoying the peace. I swallowed, then glanced at Kili. "What now?" I asked softly.

He replied with his own question, "What did you do?"

I didn't really understand, but I started to recount from when I healed him the second time. "Well, I healed you, and then I cast another spell real quick - it made me remember everything." I gasped slightly, then gave an airy chuckle, shaking my head in disbelief. "I remember everything, Kili, I remember my childhood here, I remember dating you as Tralique -"

He spun so fast, I could have sworn he got whiplash. "You do?" He almost squeaked.

I nodded, still grinning into space as I dug through my own new memories - including a few with Kili that made me blush. "You never told me we did that!" I yelped, slapping his arm.

He sniggered. "You never asked."

I laughed, and then sobered up a bit. "After I cast that spell, I woke up in a hospital, on Earth. Lily - she was next to me, she said I had been in a coma for five years, and then she started talking - I ran away. I went up to the roof of the building, and I jumped off." There was no colour or emotion to my voice, and I didn't tell him details for fear they would make him as scared as they had made me. "I died there, for good I guess. I... the entire quest, I had this weird feeling in my gut that I thought was just constant nervousness - whether about you, or the quest itself, or what I knew was coming - but now it's gone, and I think that it's because I left something there last time, when I got hit by a giant truck. I think I didn't die there that time, so I left something of myself there, which why I couldn't remember my life here. Same with when I ended up there after being Tralique - I left myself here, and so I felt restless my whole "life" there. But now, I'm really dead there. I'm here for good now."

Kili listened in silence, and then smiled a bit.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm glad you remember. And I'm glad you're here for good now."

I sighed, rubbing my forehead. "Unless I mess up again, like I did the very first time."

"You have better control of your magic now. It's unlikely that that'll happen," he pointed out, which was true.

"What should I call myself now?" I asked with a tiny laugh. I gazed around the room, noticing that despite our underground location, the room was softly-lit, as if from skylights and high-set windows. It was huge, and a peaceful sort of silent silent. It had high arching ceilings, and I wondered, as I looked around at the empty beds and closed doors, if said doors were bolted.

"Freya," Kili replied to my question, without missing a beat. "That's how you're more comfortable, now."

"Kili - I feel different. I feel... more like that girl who defied her father all the time, who taught herself to fight, who followed you to the Shire despite you not wanting me to."

Kili chuckled. "When I caught you following me -"

"I know," I interrupted, with a laugh of my own. "You nearly murdered me."

"Then you disappeared." He turned, and placed his hand on my cheek. "I nearly went crazy, Freya. It was only because I was travelling with Fili, we had a place to be, that I didn't rip up the entirety of Middle-Earth to find you."

I smiled softly. "Well, you did spend two months at my side, waiting for me to wake up. I'm assuming you were talking to my comatose form as you did so -"

He shut me up by kissing me, and I decided once and for all that it was the best way to be interrupted. Ever. Period.

I twined my arms around his shoulders, and he parted my lips gently with his tongue - and then I gently pushed him off.

He looked at me, confused. "What -"
"Kili." I gave him a look that was part exasperation and part you're insane. "We are in a hospital wing. We are not doing that here. M'kay?"

He chuckled. "You're staying, I assume?"

"Count on it," I breathed, and he scooped me up and carried me out of the hospital room. I didn't even need to ask where we were going.

So I changed this scene to be more emotional than the original one, because I figured that if she had been gone for two months, then there would be more exchange of feelings. So duh, here we are.