Days blurred together, walk, talk a little with Gollum, nibble at bread, walk more. The monotony was occasional broken by an orc sentry, which Bilbo promptly took care of, but other than that there was nothing but Gollum's mad ramblings and the constantly heavy weight around his neck. He found himself stumbling and his strength failing him often. Slowing his progress more and more as his legs refused to hold him up.

Constantly exhausted but sleep still didn't come easily.

Bilbo rested in the dull sunlight as Gollum went wandering about the area speaking to himself about spiders or something of the like.

"Masters, thing are coming up the hill!" Gollum panted, running over Bilbo's legs in his rush, "Hairy ones!"

"Orcs?" Bilbo yawned, feebly unsheathing Sting, he felt bad when he saw the state of the blade. He hadn't bothered to clean it in days, weeks really, of course the blade would never dull but it was caked with orc blood.

Carefully Bilbo peaked out from behind the boulder, Gollum was right, three figures were heading up the hill towards him. Bilbo crouched, lying in wait until they reached him.

Soon they were only a few feet away, Bilbo could see their shadows getting closer from his hiding place behind the rock. Just then, Gollum's nails slipped against the stone, making a loud scratching sound that made the figures stop. Bilbo heard swords being unsheathed, damn! His cover was blown, without any other choice, he got to his feet and leapt out from his hiding place with Sting at the ready.

-oOo-

Kili was thankful, now more than ever, that he found Bilbo's footprints. Were it not for them, his family would have gone over the hills and toward the black gate rather than around where Bilbo's lead. Of course, the footprints had finished up days ago now since they entered the grasslands.

They had passed several dead orc bodies on their way which told them Bilbo must have continued in the direction they were heading though. He remembered not long ago when he'd seen the first on in the distance and for a few horrible seconds, thought it was Bilbo's body.

It seemed Kili and his brother were inheriting their Durin genes, as the conversation had been dry and almost non-existent for days. Just like their uncle they had started becoming silent travelers, though that may have been due to the circumstances.

The youngest Dwarf had been about to ask their uncle if they could spare a break once they'd passed the boulder fields but a sound stopped him. Thorin looked at them both seriously, something was hiding from them, an orc Kili guessed.

Then, there was a flurry of movement as a small figured darted out, brandishing a black blade and before Kili could cry out, he'd been knocked to the ground with the sharp point of the sword hovering over his eyes. Kili looked up at his attacker ready to push him off but froze.

"Bili?" He breathed.

Suddenly the wight was gone and Kili sat up still gaping, as were Fili and Thorin, both of whom had dropped their swords.

"...Kili, Fili, Father..." Bilbo croaked.

"Bilbo, what happened to you?" Thorin gasped.

Kili shared the same thoughts, he barely recognized his little brother.

His clothes were ripped, dirty and fraying on all edges, his cape was no longer the pleasant green it had been mere months ago, but rather dark grey and splattered with what looked like Orc blood. The rags hung of his painfully thin body, making them look even worse. Bilbo's hair was in disarray, not a single braid remained and it was caked to his skull with filth just like his clothes. Most startling of all was his brother's face. It was pale, drawn, with large blackish bruises around his eyes and his thin lips were cracked and bleeding slightly. And of course there was Sting, Bilbo's beloved blade which looked black with grime. It was unheard of for Bilbo not to look after his possessions, especially Sting.

Bilbo glanced down at himself, as if he hadn't even realized he looked different.

"Things have been...rough." Bilbo replied cooly, "What are you doing here? Are the others with you too?"

"No, just us." Fili assured him, obviously not having the heart to speak of Boromir's fate, "We couldn't let you do this alone."

"We missed you, we've been so worried." Kili sighed, surging forward and gently embracing his brother, who tensed at the action slightly before returning the gesture, slowly, as if he'd forgotten how.

"I've missed you too." He whispered before shifting uncomfortably out of his brothers grasp.

"Bilbo why haven't you been looking after yourself?" Thorin asked gently, reaching for Bilbo's cape but Bilbo jerked out of the way, resting a hand protectively on his chest. No doubt against the Ring.

Kili felt his heart ache, Bilbo looked so broken and frightened, of them no less!

"I'm sorry, it's just such a shock to see you all." Bilbo smiled softly, but the action didn't quite meet his eyes.

"Is Thrain around?" Fili asked, glancing about the air surrounding them for some dsign, Bilbo frowned.

"He left, weeks ago. Passed on." He replied curtly, "Gone ont ot he next life."

"He left you?" Thorin asked gently.

"I told him to go." Bilbo corrected him seriously, "He was struggling to stay in the physical world anyway."

"Master...?"

The Dwarf's turned at the voice which seemingly had no owner but Bilbo didn't seem fazed.

"Oh, Gollum!" He gasped, "I forgot, come out, it's safe."

A small, hunched pale creature appeared from behind the rock but Kili was still caught up on the whole "Master" thing.

"I've tried to get him to stop calling me that." Bilbo spoke up as if reading their minds, "But there is no reasoning with him."

"Dwarveses..." Gollum grinned, "Masters friends with Dwarveses?"

"They're my family." Bilbo replied, "My father and brothers, everybody, meet Gollum. He's uh..somebody I met on the road."

The creature slunk back a little muttering to itself, which didn't seem to bother Bilbo in the slightest but it made Kili's skin crawl.

"We should go." Gollum spoke up finally, "We cans enter the mountain now, find out ways, yes we can."

"Wait, you're taking directions from this creature?" Thorin spoke up, "You leave your own family behind but you see no harm in having this, Gollum, lead you? How can you trust him over us?"

"He's been to Mordor before he knows the way." Bilbo argued, "He's proven I can trust him, mostly."

"And we haven't?" Fili growled, tempers finally flaring, "You left us behind Bilbo! In the middle of battle no less! If we hadn't shown up here today, how would you even know we were alive? For all you knew, we could have been dead! Did that not occur to you?"

"Of course it did!" Bilbo yelled, "You think I want to be on my own?! I left because it was too dangerous to be around people with this thing around my neck! Besides, nobody would come after you if we weren't with me!"

The family stood, glaring at one another for a few seconds before Kili broke the tension with a slow breath. They had to stay calm.

"Like it or not," He said calmly, "We're your family and that means we're staying with you, we'll get rid of that evil thing and then we'll go home. Together."

Bilbo looked at his brother with such a look of hope and integrity that for a moment, Kili could once again see the same little brother he'd grown up with.

The Durins are together again! :)

Thank you to those who left comments or reviews, reviews always spark my writing passion.