Bilbo froze wen he heard Thorin's voice, how could he have been so careless. He was still grief-stricken over Gandalf, he'd not even bothered speaking quietly.

"Nobody." He replied quickly, "I was talking to myself."

"You were waiting and responding." Thorin replied, slowly walking forward looking concerned, "You were not talking to yourself."

"I was!" Bilbo insisted, he could feel himself starting to sweat.

"Stay calm, Bilbo." Thrain warned, "You're not convincing at all right now."

The others began to appear at the mouth of the cave, drawn by their raised voices. This was not good at all, first Gandalf and now this, could his day get any worse?

"It's the Ring isn't it?" Fili said quietly, "Bilbo maybe you should take it off."

"Yes, let one of us carry it." Boromir added quickly, Bilbo could see the greed in his eyes.

"No! It's tricking you, trying to get you to take it." Bilbo explained but slowly found himself backed against a tree as the group crept closer. The Ring was whispering and hissing with glee, begging for them to take it for their own. Bilbo was happy to notice all of them looked as if they were more concerned for him rather than wanting the Ring, all save Boromir of course. The human's eyes were glued to the small bump under his shirt where the Ring was resting.

"Give it to us!" He demanded finally, leaping forward.

"Boromir no!" Thorin yelled but failed to catch him before the man leapt at Bilbo, drawing the knife from his belt.

Bilbo froze, he didn't want to draw his sword even if Boromir was attacking him it wasn't his fault. Suddenly the shifting form of Thrain stepped out in front of him, pushing Boromir back with as much force as he could muster. The human, who had no way of seeing the ghost, was not anticipating such a blow from nowhere and flew backwards into the ground much to Bilbo's horror.

The group stood in stunned silence, all looking at Bilbo with much more than mild concern.

"Bilbo, how did you_" Thorin started.

"He's fallen for it, that Ring's granted him power." Boromir spat.

"No! No it hasn't you don't understand." Bilbo tried to defend himself, how was he supposed to defend a person nobody but himself could see?

"Give it to me!" Boromir demanded.

"Boromir this is not helping." Legolas chided, "Remain rational, that Ring is going to your head."

"What about him?" The human demanded, "You all saw it, that Ring has given him power!"

"Just tell them Bilbo." Thrain told him hurriedly, "Better they think you mad then power hungry."

Swallowing Bilbo nodded.

"It wasn't me that threw you it was Thrain."

Thorin made a face Bilbo had never seen before, nor could he describe.

"His ghost is here." Bilbo continued, "I can see and talk to him because of the Ring."

"Bilbo..." Thorin said very gently, "This isn't funny."

"I'm not mad! Look I'll prove it, can't you scratch something into the ground?" Bilbo asked.

Thrain knelt down to begin writing something but once again Boromir made himself known. Stating it could be the Ring's doing again.

"If it really is our Grandfather, then just get him to tell you something only he could know." Fili decided, "Thorin will know if it's a lie or not."

Bilbo beamed at his brother, it was good to see somebody giving him the benefit of the doubt.

"Tell Thorin I knew Dis was covering for him when she said it was her who broke the crystal vases in our chambers when they were children." Thrain decided, "It couldn't have been more obvious but I let them get away with it."

Bilbo repeated the story, trying not to laugh at the idea of THORIN being clumsy. They didn't need to wait for the reply to know it was true, Thorin had already turned red at the mentioning of it. The others stared at him, then at the air surrounding him, probably trying to catch a glimpse of the invisible Thrain.

"We should take cover for the night." Legolas said finally, "All this yelling will give us away if we're not careful."

Aragorn nodded.

"Come on, let's give the Dwarfs some time alone." He ordered, practically dragging Boromir inside the cave with him and Legolas.

The silent tension was palpable, Bilbo looked at his feet but he could feel the eyes of his father and brothers on him.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Kili asked finally, "Since when do you keep secrets?"

"What was I supposed to say?" Bilbo snapped, "You'd think I was going mad because of this stupid Ring."

He gripped the band through his shirt feeling nothing but loathing for it.

"We would have been, concerned." Thorin admitted, "But if you'd just proven it like you did then, it all would have been fine."

"He's much more level headed than when I last saw him." Thrain remarked, Bilbo couldn't help a small huff of laughter earning him some strange looks from his family.

"Sorry, Thrain was just saying you've matured." Bilbo muttered.

Thorin had that strange look on his face again. There was a small amount of jealousy there as well, Bilbo guessed he'd feel the same in Thorin was dead and only Fili or Kili could see him.

"You need to trust us Bili." Fili insisted, "Otherwise everything will fall apart."

"I know."

"Perhaps I should go and check the perimeter." Thrain mused, floating off through the trees, most likely very uncomfortable, Thorin had mentioned his father was never one for anything emotional.

"Come, we should all get some sleep." Thorin spoke up gruffly, "Today has been challenging enough."

Thorin laid a hand on Bilbo's shoulder and gripped it for a few moments as they walked back, Bilbo smiled up at him in an effort to reassure him that all was well.

"I'll take first watch." He spoke quietly, settling down on the log Bilbo himself had been sitting on not long ago.

Boromir, Legolas and Aragorn were already settling down for the night when the three brothers reached them. For the last few weeks Bilbo had slept apart from the others, he was worried the Ring would tempt them in the night when their minds were lax if he was too close.

"Bili, sleep by us again tonight." Fili told him.

Bilbo gave him an uneasy look, eyes flicking downward for a second to where the ring was resting.

"It's okay, you can trust us." Kili assured him.

Vaguely he was aware that the Ring was whispering away again but he ignored it and set his sleeping roll down between his two brothers just like old times before settling down to sleep. For the first time since their quest began, he felt safe.