It had taken little effort to convince the younger hobbits to all return home once Bilbo had mentioned how the eagles had brought them to the Carrock.

Frodo, Merry, Pippin and Sam, however, had taken a lot more convincing, until Bilbo had finally given up.

Frodo, of course, stayed with him, so it hadn't been too much of an issue; Merry and Pippin, however, had had to plead with their parents to let them stay longer, while Sam had asked his father, Bilbo's loyal gardener for years, who had agreed readily, as long as Sam wouldn't be too much of a burden.

In the end, it had been agreed that the three hobbits would stay the night with Frodo and Bilbo.

Frodo had been absolutely ecstatic, flying around the hobbit hole and making up another few beds while Bilbo got supper ready. They'd all eaten rather cheerfully, Merry and Pippin shoving down mouthful after mouthful of food, until they'd all finally finished up and washed and dried the dishes, returning to the group of chairs by the roaring fireplace.

Bilbo shut his eyes for a moment, remembering Ella, remembering the rest of the company, of that journey that had taught him so much.

The unexpected journey that he would never, ever forget.

"The eagles have allowed us to rest here for the night," Gandalf said to Thorin, who nodded and immediately barked out orders for the dwarfs to set up camp with whatever they had left, for Oin and Gloin to start a fire, for Bombur to start making dinner.

His eyes never left Fili and Ella, sitting at the edge of the rock, Fili leaning back on his arms, Ella's head on his shoulder as they murmured, one of them making the other laugh every so often.

"He's happy with her," Gandalf said, following his line of vision. "And she with him."

"They hardly know each other."

"They've obviously made a connection."

"He's too young."

Gandalf scoffed at this.

"He might put himself at risk protecting her."

"He already puts his life on the line for you and for his brother, every day," said Gandalf. "And I somehow doubt Miss Aidan is willing to let him protect her at his own risk. You must have heard their conversation, as did everyone else."

Thorin only grunted, his eyes still never leaving them. He had not been happy to have Ella along, despite the fact that he rather liked the young human girl. He hadn't been very happy to have Bilbo along either, but the hobbit had proved himself useful, what with the trolls, and had risked his own life to save Thorin.

The only thing Ella Aidan had done, as far as Thorin was concerned, was take Fili's attention away from the quest. He could not deny that she was a rather nice girl, someone easy to get along with, but the quest – she could not lead the company away from the quest.

"This might be good for him," Gandalf said, gently.

"This might also not be good for the quest."

"They are happy. Let them be happy together."

"Ella Aidan has yet to prove her worth."

Shaking his head, Gandalf turned away.

"Dinner!" came Bofur's voice, across the Carrock, and Ella lifted her head slightly from Fili's shoulder to glance up interestedly.

"I'll get you some," the blond dwarf said, laughing, brushing his lips across her cheek as he got to his feet, unaware of the fact that Ella was blushing furiously as he did so. "Oh, no, Bombur's already finished his first helping and he's back for a second serving…"

"Don't let him finish everything!"

Ella smiled as Fili made his way over to where the other dwarfs were gathered, Kili suddenly joining him halfway, a huge grin across his face as he elbowed his elder brother.

"Miss Aidan."

Thorin stepped out from behind her, arms behind his back, dark eyes boring into hers.

"Thorin." Ella was vaguely aware of the fact that her face was heating up even more as he moved to stand directly in front of her. She remembered how she had slapped him furiously earlier that day in her anger.

Oh god.

"You know that you were brought along on this quest only because of these dreams that you were having in Rivendell. I have no other reason for bringing you along."

"Yes."

Ella was staring down at the ground, wondering how she'd never realised how fascinating rocks were before.

"I need you to understand something. With this new understanding between yourself and Fili – " At this Ella's eyes flickered slightly over to the blond dwarf, who was now trapped in a headlock by Dwalin " – he must not be distracted from the quest in any way. You know he is heir to the throne of Erebor. He must never forget the purpose of this quest. Of this journey."

Ella could only blink at him.

"You – you think I would distract him away from the purpose of your quest?" She stared at him. "Thorin, I wouldn't – I know how important this quest is to you, to all of you, and especially to you and Fili and Kili and Balin – I would never want to distract Fili from it – I don't think I could even distract him – "

"I understand," he interrupted, "that you would not. However, in your current condition, I believe that his focus would be more on you rather than the quest."

And then Ella finally understood what he was trying to say.

He's saying I'm a burden.

"I – " she began, then fell silent, biting her lip.

"I merely want you to keep this in mind," said Thorin. "I do not want you to draw his attention away from the quest more than is necessary."

Without another word, he turned and walked away, leaving Ella staring after him, her mind a whirlwind of emotions.

Fili. Fili, wonderful Fili. She'd gotten the shock of her life when she'd realised she was in another world, but had learnt to adapt, to care for the dwarfs, had wanted to go on the quest with them. A quest which she had thought would be important for her – a quest that would, possibly, help her figure out what she could do with her new life in this world.

She hadn't expected to fall hard for a protective blond dwarf with a charming smile. Or for that blond dwarf to care for her to the point that he would put her before himself, every single time, at every sign of danger.

Panic hit her then, sudden and hard and overwhelming. The dwarfs had had little female interaction on this quest – and according to some of the stories they told her of their lives in the Blue Mountains, there were very few dwarfish women as well. What if – what if Fili cared for her simply because there were few other females around? What if his affection for her – no matter how real he thought it was – was simply built on the fact that she was around him every day, and that once they'd gotten back to the real world, to the rest of society, he'd find someone else he realised he truly cared for instead?

No. Ella squeezed her eyes shut, tried to breathe properly. This was stupid. She had much more important things to worry about – her leg, for example, and the fact that Orcs were hunting them, and the fact that their time to get to the Lonely Mountain was running out, and of course the fact that Thorin had only spoken to her just a moment ago to make sure she didn't distract Fili in any way.

"Are you okay?" Fili was by her side again, placing the bowls on the ground, reaching out a hand to grasp hers. "Ella?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She managed a weak smile, squeezed his hand slightly before moving to pick up the bowl.

"I saw Thorin talking to you," he said, pulling her so that she was leaning against him again. "What did he say?"

He saw her blush furiously, shake her head.

"Ella – "

She shook her head, again, furiously.

He paused for a moment; put his bowl down, wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, trapping her arms within his own, pulled her so that her back was against his chest, his head on her shoulder, and he could feel her stiffen slightly, feel her heart rate increase rapidly.

"Ella," he repeated, into her ear, softly this time, slowly.

"I hate you," she muttered, placing down her own bowl and attempting to wriggle out of his grasp.

"Ella." And he was hugging her tighter, saying her name into her ear softly, until she finally gave up and relaxed, turning her head slightly so that she was facing him.

He could feel her breath along his jawline, and this time it was him who stiffened slightly, realising how close he had pulled her to him.

"He wanted me to make sure you that you wouldn't be distracted from the quest," she said, leaning back into him, wincing as she stretched out her right leg slowly. "Because – with my injury – he thought you might not be as focussed on the quest – and that I told him that I would never ever distract you – and – that – I wouldn't be able to distract you from it anyway – "

"Wait, wait, what?" Fili readjusted himself slightly. He knew that he should probably have been more concerned about the fact that Thorin thought he would be distracted from the quest, but he could only focus on Ella's second sentence. "He thought that you would – would be a burden, or something?"

"He is right."

"You're not a burden – "

"Don't be an idiot, Fili."

Fili was still trying to wrap his mind around the rest of the things Ella had said. "What do you mean, you wouldn't be able to distract me from the quest?"

At that, Ella flushed again, a bright red.

"Did I say that? I didn't say that. I didn't say that at all."

"Ella." Fili relaxed his grip around her, found her hands instead, splayed her long brown fingers in his palms. "You know," he chuckled, "you already making me forget, half the time, why I wanted to come on this quest. Why I am on this quest."

He noticed she had stiffened again.

"But you always remind me of why I'm here as well," he said. "Because I look at you, and you make me think of home, and happiness, and where so many find beauty in jewels and coins and gold, you've made me realise that beauty isn't always in precious metals or jewels." He held her hands in his, gently. "You remind me of what is right in this world."

Ella let out a shaky laugh.

"You make me sound like some kind of angel when I have a temper to rival maybe even Thorin's, when I'm careless and clumsy and keep getting injured and – "

"Angels," Fili said, "are perfect in their own way."

Nori, despite what the majority of dwarfs thought, actually cared very much for his younger brother, though he didn't always show it.

He had noticed that ever since they had started dinner, Ori hadn't been able to tear his eyes away from where Fili and Ella were sitting near the edge of the rock. Ella was leaning against Fili, her injured leg extended in front of her, and Fili had arranged them in such a way that he had to keep his arm around Ella in order for him to eat his dinner.

Nori had seen Ori's hands tremble slightly as he shoved a spoonful of meat into his mouth.

"Ori." He leaned forward and prodded the younger dwarf with his spoon.

With a jerk, Ori sat up straight and turned to face Nori. "Yes?"

"You're staring at them."

He saw Ori drop his spoon into his bowl nervously, clear his throat. "Staring at who?"

"Ori."

Ori looked at him for a long moment; then, with a sigh, he moved over to sit with his older brother. "Is it really that obvious?"

"Anyone with half a brain can see it."

"It's just – " Ori paused, swallowed. "She's wonderful, you know? Really, really wonderful. She's funny. And she's brave, she tries not to let her fear show. And she doesn't want to depend on people – she wants to be able to take care of herself even though someone else would gladly put his life on the line for her. And she's just – she's just amazing."

"She has a terrible temper," Nori said, and Ori smiled faintly, remembering one day when Kili had annoyed her so much and they'd ended up having a shouting match, with Ella promptly moving to the front to walk with Bofur and Kili joined Fili at the back, glowering, until Fili had made them sit next to each other and apologise to each other.

"And she's violent," added Nori thoughtfully, recalling one night when she'd punched him on the arm, an extremely hard punch for a small human girl, making his arm still ache the next morning. And, of course, when she had slapped Thorin.

"Everyone has their imperfections," Ori said, and he turned his gaze to Fili and Ella again, where they were having what seemed like a playful argument, Ella repeating over and over that her hair was dirty and disgusting and he was in no way allowed to touch it, Fili insisting that he didn't care how much dirt she had in her hair because he wanted to braid it.

"C'mon, lad." Nori clapped him on the shoulder. "There are enough dwarfish lasses back in the Blue Mountains for you; and if you don't fancy any of them, our journey's far from over."

"Don't you see, Nori?" The young dwarf's voice was pleading. "I'm not much of a warrior, not like all of you. Nobody would want someone like me, not when there are – not when there are Fili, and Kili, and Dwalin, and you and everyone else – "

"Ori."

There was something in the older dwarf's voice that made Ori fall silent.

"You will find someone." Nori gathered up the empty dishware, managed a smile for his younger brother. "I promise."

"We've no bedrolls or anything, so we'll have to make do with our coats and cloaks."

Groans of disappointment was echoed around the rock, with a loud sigh from Bilbo, who was discovering that no matter how uncomfortable sleeping in a bedroll on the ground was, sleeping without a bedroll on hard rocky ground was a million times worse.

Fili dragged Ella gently over to him, as he always had, but instead of her leaning her back against his chest, he turned her so that she was facing him.

"Your coat is hardly big enough for both of us," said Ella.

"Hey!" Fili looked offended, pointed at his cloak and Ella's laid out on the ground. "It's not just the coat!"

He was relieved to hear her laugh.

"How's your leg?" he asked, quietly, when they'd finally found a comfortable position, Fili with his arm on the ground along Ella's shoulders, her leaning into him slightly, both of them looking up at the sky above them.

"Better," Ella admitted. "Oin looked at it again after dinner and I have absolutely no idea what he did, but it's feeling even better now."

"Good," Fili said. "Because we're starting off tomorrow."

"I'm not sure how fast I can keep up."

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm carrying you."

"What?"

"Well, you obviously still have some trouble walking, even though you try and pretend you don't."
"I can walk perfectly fine – "

"No, you can't. And even if you could, I'd still carry you anyway."

"I'd probably break your arms."

"Give me some credit, I'm a pretty strong dwarf."

"Is this just a chance for you to carry a girl in your arms or something?"

"Now you've just seen through my brilliant plan."

"Idiot," Ella said, rolling her eyes, turning to face him, and her breath caught when she realised he was already looking at her, smiling.

Ella was curled up with her head atop Fili's chest when she first whimpered.

And then she began to toss, rolling from left to right and back again.

"Ella?" Fili blinked himself awake, eyes widening as she twisted where she lay, eyes clenched tightly shut, her hands gripping onto the fabric of his clothes. "Ella!"

And then she was crying, tears running down her face, murmuring something in her sleep, her breathing growing harsher as she tossed and turned.

"Ella, Ella, Ella." Fili felt panic rising in him, panic and concern and fear, as he struggled to sit up, to prop her upright. He wrapped his arms around her as she let out another whimper, as she twisted some more. "Ella, c'mon, it's all right, I'm here, I'm right here – "

And then her eyes snapped open, large and wild and out of focus.

"Fili?" she managed to whisper, clutching at him.

"Yeah, it's me, I'm right here – "

He was abruptly cut off as she flung her arms around his neck, her head buried in his shoulder, her body still wracking with sobs.

"It was terrible," Ella whispered, once Fili had finally calmed her down, murmuring into her ear and rocking her in his arms. She looked so frightened, so pale.

Fili didn't think he'd ever been so upset about not being able to protect her.

"I saw – I saw Jerelee." She took a deep breath in, grasping at his hands, before continuing. "She was dead, and it was all dark, and she was in pain, and she was screaming, screaming so badly."

Jerelee. How long had it been since she thought properly of Jerelee? Or Emma, for that metter. And Addy and Tiffany and Delilah and Alison and the twins and her parents. Too long. Far, far too long.

Fili didn't say anything, just held her in his arms.

"And woods, and fighting, and hurt and pain and running and running and Orcs and weapons and pain, so much pain."

His hands tightened around her.

"And I saw a town." Her voice was muffled as she buried her face deeper into his shoulder. "A town, and guards and weapons and a mountain, and Orcs and screams and fighting, and fire, hot, raging fire, and death, and destruction."

She takes a deep, shuddering breath.

"A dragon, a red-gold dragon, flying in the air."