Thanks for all the comments. I wish there was a better system in place for me to thank you each individually but they are truly wonderful to read. ^_^

~Past

For the next few days, Bilbo stopped trying to sleep in the rooms with Balin, Dwalin, and Gloin. Instead he simply waited until they were asleep to get up and crawl in next to Thorin. By morning, Bilbo would wake and head straight to the kitchen area to start breakfast.

It wasn't that he was necessarily trying to hide but he wasn't ready for Kili and Fili to start their teasing. It wouldn't have mattered at all except the hunt for the Arkenstone started to affect Thorin. Everyday Bilbo took out the stone and wondered if that day was the day he would tell Thorin. Each day passed and when Bilbo curled around the King, he naively let himself think that it didn't matter if the Arkenstone sat at the bottom of his bag for the rest of time.

This delusion held until Thorin told Bilbo that someone in the party had betrayed him. He felt ill as he looked at the stone. He did not have the slightest clue what he was going to do.

Of course then Elves and the men arrived and Thorin declared war. Bilbo knew he would rather never sleep again than let a war take place when he knew a way to bring peace, and maybe even release the hold over Thorin.

As twilight settled heavily in the sky and Thorin drifted off, Bilbo lay awake. He kept trying to steel himself for what must happen, even though a large part of him wanted nothing more than to squeeze his eyes shut and believe that it would all be better in the morning even if he did nothing.

That, however, he knew was a lie. Swallowing back the pain, Bilbo sat up and slid out from Thorin's embrace.

As quiet as his given title, Burglar, he snuck from Erebor. Arkenstone in hand. He could only hope that there was one King that could sensibly end this madness.

-Present-

There was something odd going on in Erebor. No less than three times, Bilbo had walked into a room and silence had descended. Plenty of the dwarves present were ones that he had conversed with on several prior occasions. Now they were staring at him with thinly veiled pity and disbelief. The hobbit didn't know what he had done that was 'pity' worthy but it was the emotion that seemed to come from all directions.

Fili and Kili had come to Bilbo in the library and asked if he needed anything. Dismissing the strange behavior, he had tried to get back to work, only to have Balin and Dori show up to ask the same. Bilbo wondered if he should start testing to see if the ale had gone wrong.

Even stranger than all that were the looks that the company had started giving Thorin. Suddenly it seemed everyone would shoot glares of discontent at their King. It ruffled Bilbo's nerves, so he tried to spend some extra time with Thorin between his meetings, but if anything it got worse.

Dis, at one point, pulled Thorin aside for a quiet but harsh discussion. There was a lot hand gestures but Bilbo couldn't catch a single word.

Afterwards, Thorin seemed to pull away from him, not returning any of Bilbo's quips with half-smirks or full laughter. Whatever was happening he knew that something was wrong and he wasn't going to be shrugged off any longer.

There was only one person he knew that would have the answers he needed.

Opening the armory door, Kili glanced up and nearly walked into Bilbo. As he started to smile, the dwarf caught the frown on his friend's face and the narrowing of his eyes.

"Kili, son of the Durin line. You have some questions to answer to," Bilbo grabbed the young dwarf's ear and pulled him back into the armory.

"AH! Bilbo!" Kili exclaimed, hands coming up in surrender as Bilbo pushed him back onto a stool. He hit with a thud and sighed when his ear was released.

"Master Baggins, please! I've done nothing wrong," he protested. Off Bilbo's fierce look he added, "Well nothing today at least."

"Something's going on in this mountain and I refuse to be left out and mocked for it," Bilbo says, taking a step back and squaring off to the dwarf.

"No one is mocking you Mister Bilbo. That isn't what's going on," Kili confessed, eyes going wide.

"But there is something going on," Bilbo said, smirking. Kili swallowed.

"Perhaps Uncle Thorin would be the better person to talk to," Kili deflected. Bilbo crossed his arms.

"I want answers, Kili. I am sure have them," Bilbo frowned. "Now, what is so important that your mother would pull Thorin out of hearing-range for an argument. Everyone is glaring at your Uncle like he has done something wrong!"

Kili winced, and took a breath. "The Council are questioning Uncle's reluctance to marry you."

For a moment Bilbo stared, head tilting to the side as he tried to understand those words. He shook his head.

"I want the truth, Kili. I will not have you playing mind games with me. That's utter nonsense and we both know it."

"What? No! It is the truth! I swear!" The young dwarf sat up straighter on his stool and frowned. "I wouldn't lie about this, I promise."

Taking another second, Bilbo tried to reason it out in his head but none of it made sense. He definitely should have tested the ale. Sighing, he scratched his head.

"I will have to see if maybe your brother knows since you do not want to cooperat-"

"Uncle is being question of his intentions since you two have been sleeping together! They are urging him to marry before it becomes common knowledge in all of the mountain," Kili says.

"What does that have to do with marriage?" Bilbo tried to think if there had been any mention of betrothal in any of the dwarven texts he'd discovered in the library.

"Mister Bilbo! You deserve marriage! I don't know why Uncle won't propose but this is not looked favorably on by the Council for him to have a Consort without at least marriage!" Kili's forehead crinkled in frustration.

"Consort? Kili, we are just sleeping with each other. Why would I be considered a consort?"

The younger dward groaned and buried his face in his hands. "Dwarves do not just take people to bed. There has to be marriage first. It just isn't done."

Bilbo rubbed his face.

"This is not making any sense. Thorin and I are simply-"

"No!" Kili shouts, interrupting him. "I do not want to know. That's private." He sticks his fingers in his ears as Bilbo tries to talk over him. He grumbles and stands up.

"Has everyone lost their good sense?" he shout to the room at large before leaving.

-Past-

When he returned to his King's arms, Bilbo found that no sleep would be forthcoming. He spent the rest of the night holding back tears of anger. He slipped asleep only once and his nightmares of the end of the Durin line made him awake clutching Thorin's sleep shirt. Bilbo barely managed to get himself together before Thorin woke.

Immediately, Thorin launched into the search the Arkenstone and left. Bilbo followed with a heavy heart.