However Bilbo had expected the hobbits in the market to behave towards him and Thorin, it wasn't what he received. Rather than avoid the two of them, the hobbits surrounded them the way they had before with more questions for Thorin and now a couple for Bilbo. The questions flew faster than they could possibly answer as the hobbits pressed closer in on them as if to press the answers from their very lungs. But, really, Bilbo should have anticipated this; hobbits were curious things by nature and when you added something that was as taboo as a homosexual relationship to the mix, their curiosity became insatiable.

So now, Thorin and Bilbo were besieged in the market being bombarded by questions that they were unsure how to answer. In the end they decided that the truth would be the best option, but they didn't have time to answer any of the questions before another flew from a different direction.

"Did the two of you meet on that mad quest he went on?" Asked one hobbit woman as a male hobbit queried "If you did, where have you been for the last sixty years?" as a third asked "Is it true that you are dwarven royalty?" and a fourth—a cute, tiny, wide-eyed hobbitling with a bright blush on his little round cheeks—asked "Is it true that you two . . . you know? Just like Mommy and Daddy?" At that last question—such a taboo subject—coming in such an innocent tone from such a small child silence fell in the market and Bilbo felt a flush rise up his cheeks. He had no idea how to answer that question from a child. With an adult he would have either answered that they were—perhaps crudely explaining how such a thing worked if he was particularly irate—or told them that it was none of their business. But such a small child . . . Bilbo had no practice with small children. Frodo had been twelve when he was adopted. Not truly a child, not like this one, which couldn't be more than five years old.

Thorin, however, had a bit more experience with small children and bent so that he was as close to eye level with the youngster as he could be. He should have expected it, but for some reason he hadn't realized that hobbit children were so much smaller than dwarflings. He had seen swaddled dwaflings that were larger than this hobbitling that was walking and talking. He was suddenly struck by the realization that hobblings were absolutely precious and Thorin suddenly and painfully wished for the first time for a do-over with his nephews when they were small. Perhaps he and Bilbo would have to adopt a small orphaned hobbit, or perhaps an orphaned dwarfling as the odds of finding one of those would be greater due to the lifestyle so many dwarves led. He had originally intended to only speak with the child, but now he had the ardent desire to feel a small body in his arms once more.

Watching the child's mother carefully and gauging her reaction, the dwarf reached out slowly and lifted the child onto his hip with a smile. The mother was a bit shocked, but her expression soon melted into a smile as she saw how gentle the large dwarf was being with her child and the lack of fear her son had for the dwarf, even going so far as to reach up to touch one of the silver clasps of his braids. Hobbits—while parents were the absolute authority in child-rearing—had no objections to allowing others to play with or lift their children. They truly did live in a blessed area with no crime and very little danger and their permissiveness of strangers to touch their children was a byproduct of their seclusion.

"And where did you hear that, little one?" Thorin asked with a laugh as the child managed to swat one of his braids. He knew from experience that children had a knack for hearing things that they ought not to and knew that odds are that he had overheard it from his mother gossiping. But even so, he couldn't find it within him to be angry with her. After all, this was most likely the most interesting thing to happen in Hobbiton in many years and she had said nothing that wasn't the truth after all.

"Everyone is saying it," the little boy said shyly looking up at the dwarf through his bangs. "They all say that you and Mister Bilbo were for . . . forni . . . doing something in an alley that only married couples should do."

"They were right," Thorin said gently a soft smile on his face as he ruffled the boy's hair. "But it's alright. Can I let you in on a secret?" Even though the question spoke of a secret, Thorin kept his voice loud enough that everyone could hear him easily. The little boy nodded eagerly, his green eyes wide at the prospect of being let in on a secret.

"Do you promise to keep it just between us?" Thorin asked, laughter in his voice as he remembered how easy it had been to get such eager expressions from his nephews when they were young. Rather than hurt him, the memory made him feel warm. They had been such happy dwarflings and had always managed to bring out the softer side of him.

"Can I tell Mama?" the child asked, concern furrowing his tiny brow at the prospect of being forced to keep something from his mother.

"Of course you can tell your Ma," Thorin replied with a true laugh. "We can't have you keeping secrets from her!"

"Ok then," the little hobbit agreed, a smile brightening his face once more with the rapidly shifting emotions of a young child. "What's the secret?"

"Mister Bilbo and I are married," Thorin replied conspiratorially. "We traveled together on the quest and fell in love on the road. Just before we reclaimed my kingdom from the dragon Smaug, he and I were wed in front of my kin—his friends—by the Master of Lake Town."

"You are?" the hobbitling asked with the wide-eyed wonder of a child. "I didn't know that you were married, Mister Bilbo!"

"No one did, lad," Bilbo replied with a sad smile. "That's why it's a secret. Can we trust you to keep it for us?" The boy nodded eagerly and looked between Thorin and Bilbo with wonder in his green eyes. He squirmed slightly and Thorin set him back on the ground to return to his mother with a slight bow of thanks to the hobbit woman in question for allowing him to hold her child. She smiled back at him and gave him a slight nod of her own. While she may not approve of Bilbo's dwarf's extracurricular activities, he did have a way with children and through the medium of her child he had answered most of the questions they had posed to him.

"Again, I am afraid that I must take my leave of you. I'm afraid that your smith will have my beard if I am late for work," Thorin said, looking between the shocked faces of the adult hobbits as they processed the fact that not only had Thorin just admitted that he and Bilbo had been rutting in an alleyway, but that he was a king—or at least in possession of a kingdom—as well as the fact that he and Bilbo had quested together. But the most shocking thing—and more fodder for gossip—was the fact that not only were he and Bilbo intimate; they were married! And the Shire had missed out on the party that would have accompanied Bilbo's wedding. Just the thought of the food that they had missed out on . . . they wondered if Bilbo could be convinced to have an official Shire wedding to go along with his dwarven one. Even if they weren't entirely sure that they approved of his choice of mate, a Baggins party was not something to scoff at and they would be more than willing to support a strange wedding to be invited to one.

When it became clear that no path was going to magically appear this time, Bilbo and Thorin began the slow process of edging their way through the crowd. As with the day before, no sooner had they cleared the crowd than gossip began flying once more, but unlike the day before Bilbo wasn't livid with his lover: that day, he was amused.

"I saw that, you know," Bilbo said as soon as he believed them to be out of earshot, looking at Thorin out of the corner of his eye with a smile on his face.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Thorin replied with a small wry smile. No one had ever called him on the way he behaved around children before. It shouldn't have surprised him that Bilbo would be the first. "There was nothing for you to see."

"You mean to tell me that I did not just see the Great Warrior-King Under the Mountain cuddling a hobbitling in the market?" Bilbo asked sarcastically, a fond smile on his face as he remembered how open and gentle Thorin's face had been as he held the little one. It had been strange as he had never seen anything close to that expression on his lover's face before save for the few precious moments they had been able to lie together after they made love, but not abnormally so. And he found that he had loved seeing it.

"You saw nothing of the sort," Thorin teased. "I would never do anything as undignified as cuddle a child. Especially not a hobbit child. I do not cuddle hobbits." Bilbo snorted quietly in disbelief. He knew for a fact that Thorin did, in fact, cuddle at least one hobbit and even if he had never seen Thorin around children before he had no doubt in his mind that the dwarf had cuddled many children over the years. He was fourteen years older than his sister, after all. Surely he had held her when she was a child.

"Bilbo," Thorin began quietly after they had walked in silence for a moment. "I know that we will need to talk about it and that you will need to think it over, but . . ."

"You would like to raise a child," Bilbo said with a knowing smile. "I saw it in your face before you picked up the little lad. And you're right, Thorin. That is something that we will have to talk about and think long and hard on before we attempt it. You have to remember, I am eleven years older than I ever should have gotten. And I'm . . . well . . . do we need to bring a child into that?"

"I'm not saying no," Bilbo continued as he saw Thorin's face fall slightly as he laid out the difficulties they needed to think about before they even thought about adopting a child. "I am just saying that we need to think carefully on it. And if we decided that we want a child—assuming that we can find another orphan to take in—what kind of child would we want? A dwarf? A hobbit? I would ask about a human or elf but that would pose and entirely different problem as I have not Man-sized rooms in my home."

"So you will think about it?" Thorin asked hopefully. He hadn't realized until that day just how much he actually desired to raise children with Bilbo. A part of him felt guilty at the desire. He had already raised his children and failed them. Was it fair to their memories to start over? But another part of him argued that he was not replacing his boys and that they would want him to be happy. If his happiness would also bring joy to an orphan, where was the harm in that?

"I'll think about it," Bilbo agreed. "I would have you happy and if a child is what it takes, I think that I can live with that. Just remember that if we do acquire one if it is a particularly young one they are quite needy and I am rather old."

"My dear hobbit," Thorin replied with a laugh, "I still have eighty-four years on you. You do not get to talk to me of being old."

"What if we just agree that we are both old and let the matter drop?" the hobbit asked with another smile which Thorin returned before they walked into the open door of the forge and Thorin relieved Tom for the afternoon. There was a larger pile of things to be completed that day than there had been the day before despite the substantial pile that Tom had already completed. Apparently word of Thorin's presence had spread and business was flooding in even from as far as Buckland and Tookborough.

At that information, Thorin had his second realization that day: if he and his kin opened a forge in the Shire, they would put Tom out of business. He hadn't thought of what repercussions such an action might have on the smith already working in the Shire. While he prepared for work, the wheels in his brain were spinning as he tried to think of a solution that would not put Tom out of business and would not inconvenience his kin either. The only solution he could think of was one that would be a hard sell: Tom would have to work with them. They would all still make a profit and it would serve all of them well, the problem would be convincing Tom to join them and convincing his kin to allow the hobbit into a dwarven forge.

He knew that he could order it and they would obey, but they would not welcome the hobbit. It would be the situation with Bilbo all over again. Even though it was not an elegant solution, it was the only equitable one that he could see and he would enforce it if he had to. He only hoped that it would not come to that. With that idea figured out, Thorin turned his full attention on lessening the pile if not eliminating it entirely and Bilbo settled down with a red book and a quill in the corner. Both of them occasionally stole glances at the other one or asked a question, but for the most part the afternoon was spent in a companionable silence—from words at any rate since forges are never silent.

ooOO88OOoo

By the time that dusk came and Tom returned, Thorin had completed all of the repairs and had banked the fire and returned all the tools to their proper places. Tom picked up a couple of the pieces and looked at them before glancing up at the dwarf with wonder in his eyes.

"You mean that you managed to do all of that in half a day?" Tom said his voice showing his shock. "I'd thought that that pile would occupy us a few days at least."

"Should I work more slowly?" Thorin asked seriously. He hadn't meant to upset the hobbit and if there was a reason the hobbit wanted him to work more slowly he would be willing to do it.

"Of course not!" Tom cried in joy. "I have no objections to how quickly you work. I'm impressed, though I may have to go knock a few holes in pots to keep us in business if things keep up at this rate."

"I would hate for you to have to resort to that, Master Tom," Thorin said with a laugh at the idea of the hobbit sneaking into homes to break pots.

"I don't believe that I will have to," Tom replied with a laugh of his own. "Do you realize that in two half-days you have done nearly a week's worth of work? Even if I can find us no other work for the rest of the week, you have already completed enough to keep the forge's profits steady 'til next week." Thorin remained silent, unsure of what he should say in response.

"In fact," the hobbit smith continued, "now that your relationship with Mister Bilbo has come out and I know that you will be here for some time if not forever, if I am unable to find you work or you complete all that I have found I see no harm in you starting to reap your end of our bargain."

"That is very generous of you, Master Tom," Thorin replied with a bow of thanks. With the thought of the partnership he was about to propose, the dwarf made an offer that he never thought he would make to a hobbit. "When such a day comes, if you would like to learn, I would be more than willing to teach you how to forge a sword."

"You . . .you would teach me?" Tom asked breathlessly. He knew that dwarves were very secretive and especially so when it came to their forging secrets. The idea that this dwarf would teach him how they forge swords . . . it was astounding.

"I would," Thorin replied. "I owe you a debt; most smiths would not have turned their forges over to me so readily or allowed me to earn my reward so quickly. They would have claimed that I was barely making any profit for them and kept me for months or perhaps even years before they admitted that I had earned my pay. I admire your kindness and honesty. For this, I will teach you."

"Will you not be in trouble with you kin?" The hobbit asked warily. He didn't want to discourage the dwarf but he also didn't want him to come to harm for his generosity.

"If you know of my relationship with Bilbo then you have also heard the other rumors about me, have you not?" Thorin asked with a small laugh. The smith nodded. "They speak the truth. There are none that could criticize my decisions." When the smith looked confused, Bilbo walked forward wrapping an arm around Thorin.

"What he is trying to hint at but is too modest to say is that he is the Heir of Durin," Bilbo said with a gentle smile. When it was clear that Tom was still confused, Bilbo decided to elaborate further. "Thorin was the king of the dwarves before some . . . unfortunate circumstances changed it and the throne passed to his cousin. Even so, he can do as he will and not be in trouble for it. To think," Bilbo said looking up at Thorin with humor dancing in his hazel eyes, "I just accused you of being modest. That is something I never thought that I would say about you," Thorin elbowed Bilbo gently at the snide remark on his humility, or lack thereof.

"He's a king!?" Tom gasped. The idea that a king would be working in his forge left him flabbergasted. He knew that dwarves—even their women—were capable smiths but a king?

"I was a king," Thorin said with an exasperated glance at Bilbo. It hadn't been humility that had caused him to attempt to hold that information, but rather it had been an attempt to keep from upsetting his relationship with the smith overmuch.

"I'm just a dwarf now," Thorin continued. "True, I still have respect and the power of my name, but I have no real power anymore and no kingdom to call my own. I only wish to live the rest of my life in peace. That includes working when I can. I hope that this new knowledge will not affect our agreement."

"Not at all!" Tom replied suddenly. "It doesn't affect our deal in the least! And if you want to live an ordinary life—not that I would tell you how to conduct your business, mind—I would keep that little fact a secret."

"Did you hear that?" Thorin asked with a hard look at his lover. "We need to keep my lineage secret."

"Don't look at me like that, Thorin Oakenshield!" Bilbo snapped playfully. "You were the one telling the hobbits in the market that we were married before reclaiming your kingdom. You have given up the secret as much as I have and you did it first." Thorin at least had the shame to look embarrassed. He had forgotten that he had said that to the child.

"Well, if the secret is already out, I'd say prepare yourselves," Tom said with a laugh. "Hobbits may not have royalty, but they liked you well enough before and now . . . it may take you forever to get anywhere for quite some time."

"In that case," Thorin said with a sigh, "we had better head home. Though this is not the longest I have kept Bilbo from a meal I doubt that he will be pleased with me if I delay it much longer." Tom said nothing more but gave them a nod of farewell as he finished closing up the forge for the night. As they walked away, Tom couldn't help but stare after them wondering how in Middle Earth Mad Bilbo Baggins had wound up with a dwarf King for a lover. He wished he could say that stranger things had happened, but if they had, he didn't know about them.

ooOO88OOoo

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Stickdonkeys