Dwalin was at post at the top of the ramparts when he noticed two dwarflings coming towards the large open gates of The Lonely Mountain. One had long blonde hair and the other long dark hair with the same color scruff on their chin. That was the only difference between them, though, as they both wore the same clothing and carried a sword at their hips and a bow over their shoulders. They could not have been even as old as Kili when the company first set out, which meant that these two were probably not even at their majority, yet there was no adult in sight.

Dwalin gave his post to another before heading down to find out more about the children. "And where are your parents?" asked the dwarf guard at the door before Dwalin waved him off.

"Daddy sent us here," replied the blonde one, now looking at Dwalin who was probably the most threatening looking dwarf even though he lacked any sort of armor. He had already stepped in front of the other and was holding onto his sword just in case anyone should attempt to attack them.

"We're supposed to ask to speak with Balin son of Fundin," said the ravenette.

"And what do you want with him?" Dwalin raised a brow at the two little ones.

"We're only allowed to speak with Balin," replied the blonde, stepping just a bit farther in front of the other to hide him from view. It was only then that Dwalin happened to see a slight twitch of the hilt of the ravenette's sword, which meant that he was also holding it and ready to fight.

"He is very busy right now," Dwalin replied. "Why don't we wait for your dad to get here before we take you in to see him?"

"I told dad he wouldn't listen," the blonde one growled. "Stupid stubborn dwarrows."

"That's why he gave us that document, though," replied the ravenette, swinging his pack off his back and digging inside it until he came up with a rather old contract that Dwalin would recognize anywhere.

"How did you come by this?" Dwalin's eyes widened as the blonde handed him the contract that Bilbo had signed so long ago.

"Daddy gave it to us," replied the ravenette, "so that you would allow us to see Balin son of Fundin."

"Fine," Dwalin growled. If they wanted to speak to his brother so badly, then let them. In the meanwhile, he would find out what the hell was going on and how the hell they got their hands on a contract that should belong to their burglar.

Both boys stiffened, but they followed Dwalin nonetheless. They didn't really have a choice anyway, since Dwalin had signed for two of the guards to follow behind and make sure the boys didn't try to escape.

Balin was contentedly reading a book in his room when he was startled by the loud banging of someone at his door. It could only be his brother, of course, as no one else would knock in such a way and he sighed as he stood to open the door. He was shocked, though, to find the murderous expression his brother was currently wearing.

"These dwarflings are demanding to speak to you," he hissed, motioning at a blonde and ravenette dwarf that stood behind him.

"And why does that upset you so, brother?" Balin asked. He did sometimes enjoy teaching the little ones and they came to speak to him often, though he wasn't sure he had ever seen these boys before.

"They had this," Dwalin growled, shoving the contract into Balin's hand before entering his room. The boys looked up at him with wide blue eyes and, Balin suddenly knew exactly whom they were.

"Please come in," he said to the two as he dismissed the guards behind them. "What has brought the two of you all the way out here?" He quickly ushered both brothers to the couch near the fire where they sat huddled together, though both still remained rather stiff.

"We were told that we were only allowed to speak with Balin son of Fundin," replied the ravenette.

"I am Balin son of Fundin, and this is my brother, Dwalin. Please feel free to say whatever your dad has asked you to."

"He wanted us to give you this letter," the ravenette replied, digging through his bag until he came up with the very letter and handed it to Balin. The dwarf wasted no time in ripping it open, worrying as to why Bilbo would send the boys out there when he had been so against letting them go before.

Dear Master Balin

I am truly sorry for sending my boys to you without any warning beforehand, but Gandalf has come to me with another quest that is of the utter secrecy and I could not risk a letter to you being intercepted and the enemy knowing where I was going. I also could not risk leaving them behind if anyone should attempt looking for me at my house. I know they will be safe within the mountain, though, so I have sent them there. I will be bringing the boys as close as I can to Erebor and then I will have them make the rest of the trip on their own while I head to my destination.

Both boys know that I will be gone for some time, but I have not told them that it is very likely that I will probably not survive this trip. This brings me to the reason that I have sent them to you in particular. I have told them stories about their father, but I have made them promise not to try to meet him without your permission. I know that you have already told him about his husband being dead, but I do not want the children to be known as his illegitimate sons. I have enclosed our marriage agreement with this letter (and Balin clutched it in his other hand), but I leave it up to you on whether Thorin should be made aware of them.

I am so sorry, my friend, for all the mess that I have caused you to deal with. I hope you will some day forgive me, but I must put my children in your care. Please do whatever you think is best. But do not try to find me.

Thank you,

Bilbo Baggins

P.S. I have taught the boys both of our cultures, but have allowed them to pick and choose some things such as the way they introduce themselves. I hope this will be okay.

Balin stared at the letter for a moment longer. A feeling of dread overcoming him as he read one line over and over again. It was very likely that Bilbo would not survive. Yet, Balin convinced himself, Bilbo had survived a meeting with a dragon, so perhaps he would be all right. There were other things that he needed to be concerned with anyway.

"Will you two introduce yourselves?" he asked them. Bilbo had sent him a letter right after they had been born to tell him that they were both healthy baby boys, but he could not yet give them their names since their naming day was still a year away. Balin had replied that, while he would dearly like to know their names, he thought it best that Bilbo keep their correspondence about the children to a minimum just in case someone else should happen to read the letters. Bilbo had agreed and never written about his children again.

"Frerin, son of Thorin," said the blonde one and Balin heard Dwalin gasp in the background.

"And Frodo Baggins," said the other, and Balin saw Dwalin lose his balance and have to hold onto the edge of a chair to keep himself up.

"At your service," the boys said together as they gave shallow bows, as was respectable of the royal line of Durin.

Dwalin stared at Balin with his mouth agape and his eyes wide until his elder brother finally took pity on him. "These are the twin sons of Bilbo Baggins and King Thorin," he nodded before turning to the boys once more. "I must go and speak with the king, but my brother will take care of you here while I am away."

Frerin nodded, relaxing into the couch with his brother held close to him.

"Will you tell us stories about the Quest for Erebor?" Frodo asked Dwalin as Balin left the room with the letter and marriage contract gripped in his hands.

It was much later than Balin thought it was when he finally found the king laying with a dwarrowdam in his bedchamber. "Get out," Balin growled at the she-dwarf. "Now." It was probably the most threatening Balin had ever looked, but in that moment he did not care to check himself.

"Balin?" Thorin asked as the she-dwarf scrambled out of his room. "What is going on?"

"Read this," Balin thrust the marriage contract at the king and glared until Thorin looked down at it.

"What is this?" he asked even as he read the lines. It looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't remember what it was from.

"That is the marriage contract that you wrote," Balin pointed at the contract, losing any patience he had been holding onto throughout this whole affair. "That is your signature that you signed. And, that," here Balin pointed at the messy little signature, "is the signature of Bilbo Baggins agreeing to be your husband after you proclaimed that you loved him and that he was your one. That is his declaration of love after you lied to him and told him that you loved him too."

"I didn't lie to him!" Thorin gasped. No matter what, even as a child, he would never lie to Bilbo.

"Obviously you did since you forgot him so easily," Balin hissed. "He waited for you! He thought you finally remembered him that night in Lake Town! Only to find out that you had just been using him."

"Balin," the word sounded so broken that it immediately broke Balin out of the rant that he was working up to. "You told me that my husband was dead."

"Because he asked me to," Balin nodded. "Because he thought you would be happier if you could move on and not be tied to him anymore."

"Why are you telling me all this then?" Thorin asked. He was looking down at the document with such sadness that Balin found himself losing his anger towards the other.

"Because something has arrived that has made it so that you must be aware of it all," Balin sighed.

"What is it?" the king asked distractedly. Whatever it was couldn't be nearly as important as the memories that were now barraging him of the very first time he ever met Bilbo Baggins. He hated and loved them in equal measures, because he loved any time he spent with Bilbo, but he hated that they had abandoned him and made him treat Bilbo so cruelly.

"Your sons," Balin replied, jerking Thorin's whole attention back to him. "Bilbo bore them in Bag End, but has sent them to us as he heads off on a matter of secrecy." Here he handed the letter to Thorin, who read it as quickly as he could.

"We must find him!" Thorin gasped as he jumped from his bed and started to dress himself.

"You will not go looking for him," Balin demanded in the same tone he had used all those years ago. "He has asked us not to look for him and has sent his children here to be taken care of. Will you deny both of those wishes?"

At that, Thorin froze. He truly did want to go find Bilbo, protect him from whatever dangers he was heading to face, but he also wanted to care for the children that he had never known. He sighed as he finished dressing, knowing exactly what his choice needed to be. "Will you let me meet them?" he asked.

"Of course you will need to meet them," Balin said in a chastising tone, though he was well aware that he was really giving Thorin hope. "They will be living with you from now on anyway and it is your duty to take care of them."

"Thank you," Thorin muttered, knowing that Balin would hear him. "Take me to them."

Dwalin had just finished telling the tale of the three trolls, which Frodo had asked about specifically and he was surprised about how much the hobbit had downplayed his role in the whole affair, when the door opened once more. He immediately reached for his axe as both the children reached for their swords, but stopped when he saw just who was walking into the room. He gave a curt nod and followed his brother out. They would wait outside and guard the door so that no one would interrupt.

Thorin crouched near enough to the boys that he could reach them, but far enough away that they wouldn't feel overwhelmed or threatened. "Hi," he tried to smile at them, but he knew that it was failing miserably. "My name is Thorin. I'm your father." That was probably the awkwardest thing that Thorin had ever said, but there it was and both boys' eyes widened before the raven was up and jumping at him. The blonde was quick to follow, though in a more subdued way and they reminded him of Fili and Kili when they were young.

"It's so nice to meet you," the raven cried as the blonde nodded alongside him. "Daddy has told us so many stories about you. We've been wanting to meet you forever and then daddy told us that we were going to come here for a little while and we were so excited. You're so much cooler in person!"

"It's nice to meet you too," Thorin replied. "But you haven't properly met anyone until you have both introduced yourselves." Because he was supposed to be acting like a father and that's always what he would have said to Fili and Kili when they forewent a proper greeting as children.

The blonde was the fist to step back and he pulled the raven to stand next to him. "I'm Frerin, son of Thorin," he said, making Thorin's throat catch at the name of his own deceased brother. He had always thought that if he were to have children he would name one of them after his brother. Apparently Bilbo had the same thought. He was the perfect being and Thorin had ruined it all.

"And I'm Frodo Baggins," said the raven.

"At your service," the two bowed together and Thorin had to hold back a laugh. These two were definitely twins, but at the same time they reminded him so much of Fili and Kili that it was just strange.

"Well," he said after a moment of getting his bearing back. "Would you to like to come live with me as Princes of Erebor?" And he immediately regretted saying that, though, as he realized just what a weight it would suddenly be on their shoulders. Apparently he had nothing to fear, though.

"Can we really?" Frerin asked, his eyes widening as his brother's hands came up to cover his shocked gasp.

Thorin nodded. "You won't be my heirs as I have already given that right to my nephew, Fili, but you will be my sons, the Princes of Erebor."

"I can't wait until daddy returns," Frerin grinned and Frodo nodded, though Thorin could barely withhold his flinch. "He'll be so happy to see us as princes."

Thorin gathered both boys in his arms once more and cried into their shoulders. They would never know why he cried that day and would probably never see him do so again, but they stood and allowed him to cry on them for several hours before he finally regained himself enough to take them to their room within the royal chambers. He would introduce them to his sister and nephews tomorrow, he planned, the rest of the company the day after, and the rest of the kingdom in a week or so once he and Balin had figured out just how to do so without a huge uproar.

Even if Thorin never saw Bilbo again, he would at least make things right by taking care of their children. And possibly even spoiling the boys to the best of his ability.

AN: I hope you all enjoyed this. I will possibly expand upon this story in the future, but it probably won't be any time soon.