That same night they went out again. They spoke a little about Fili and Kili but nothing in particular, Thorin had a lovely time. He knew this wasn't dates, just formal meetings and he was happy with that. Bilbo was a nice lad and he seemed very thoughtful and caring, Thorin found himself thinking that is Bilbo was a woman he would have dated him immediately. It wasn't like Thorin had never been on dates before, in fact, in high school he got called "Casanova" for having so many girlfriends, he was quite popular. Although he mostly spent the night with them out of kindness and that he didn't want to hurt anyone (and that he himself was a horny teenager) but he had never been in love with anyone of them. In university it calmed down and he looked for a serious relationship and went on a couple of dates with a couple of women, but none of them felt like "the one", and now he was so caught up in work and his nephews that he hadn't even time to think about women. He wondered if Bilbo had a girlfriend. A cute boy like him would have no problem getting a cute little girl.

"What are you smiling at?" Bilbo asked and looked him in the eyes. Those brown eyes, yes, it was a shame Bilbo was a man.

"Nothing, just thinking" Thorin answered and took a sip of his coffee.

They went out a couple of more times that month and the month after until Thorin counted they had gone out 10 times already, not that he was counting or anything. It was like he knew everything about Bilbo at that time. Except for one thing, they did not talk about love or children. Every time Thorin had tried to bring it up Bilbo had changed the subject and looked really uncomfortable and after a couple of unsuccessful tries he gave up, thinking it was private.

"Why are you always meeting with Bilbo?" Fili asked one morning at breakfast as he shoved a spoonful of cereals in his mouth.

"Yeah, it's our Bilbo!" Kili exclaimed and almost pushed out a glass of juice. "You're stealing him! No fair!"

Thorin chuckled at his nephews reactions. "Well I get along really well with Bilbo and he is very nice." He took a sip on his morning coffee and read the morning paper; the boys were calmer in the mornings now than they had been before.

"Are you in love with Bilbo?" Kili asked and Thorin coughed and spilled coffee all over the table.

"Stupid!" Fili yelled. "They're both boys!"

"But mom said that two boys and two girls could love each other!" Kili yelled back. Fili grinned and stuck his tongue out.

Thorin had to separate them both to avoid a fight and helped them get dressed. He never answered them.

The ride to kindergarden was like it used to be. Fili and Kili screaming in the backseat, the radio news played and Thorin cursed over the morning traffic. But when he stopped outside the red building he turned around to the twins.

"Hey, can you go in by yourself?" He asked.

They both looked confused at him, and at each other. "Why?" Kili said with a sad voice.

"Why are you not coming with us?" Fili filled in.

Thorin sighed. "I'm in a hurry today; it's a meeting with a bunch of boring old men." It was a lie; he just simply didn't want to meet Bilbo today. "But I will come to pick you up later today, ok?"

The boys nodded and went out in silence. Thorin made sure they got into the yard before he buckled up and drove away.

He occupied himself with work all day as to press away the thought of the brown headed boy with the, oh, so sincere smile. Lucky (for him) there was a murder case that he had to put all of his effort into and a dozen phone calls to call. He noticed a few times that his phone vibrated to tell him that Bilbo texted him. He probably wondered why he hadn't followed the boys inside like usual. Thorin told himself he was too busy to answer, or even look at the phone.

"Mr Oakenshield?" He heard a female voice at his door. He looked up and found his secretary Tora, a cute little woman, about 6 years younger than himself, with long black hair and blue eyes. The hair was of course coloured, when she had started working for him she was blonde. "I was just going to leave these folders to you." She walked up to his desk and put a pack of brown paper folders on it. Thorin looked closely at her for a brief moment. She was actually very good looking, a proportional body with a freckled small face and that Irish accent she desperately tried to hide. She would be the perfect woman to become a mother.

"Yes, I'll look it over later." Thorin answered and looked down to his computer. She was single now anyway, he was single. Give it a shot, something inside him said and before he could stop himself his mouth moved on his own.

"Miss Narvison" he started and she turned around to look at him.

"Yes?"

Thorin stumbled on the words and seemed to look for the right ones. "Would you perhaps want to, I don't know, maybe, go to dinner with me on saturday?"

She looked confused for a moment and Thorin was just about to take back what he said when she smiled. "Are you asking me out?"
Thorin nodded.

"I would love that." She said

This chapter is kind of short, and I'm sorry. I've been having some personal issues to deal with. But hopefully it will clear itself out and I'll get out of this. Keep on reviewing and message me, it makes me very happy. *Bows*

/Kumiko