Alright, you goofs. Here. You can have this.

Cheyanne sat up, blinking. She was sitting in the main hall of Erebor at the foot of the king's throne. She yawned and started to stand up, but groaned as she moved her left leg. She glanced downwards and saw fabric wrapped tightly around it. Someone had covered her burn for her.

She also frowned when she noticed she wasn't wearing her torn jeans anymore. On her lower half was a brown wool skirt; she had a white button up shirt on, and over it, she was wearing a red vest. She also didn't have any shoes on. And her feet were abnormally big and hairy.

Cheyanne fell backwards against the throne in shock. She was a hobbit. She had actually turned into a hobbit. What the fu-

"Cheyanne, there you are!" Bilbo hurried around the throne, coming from the stairs behind it that led down to the treasure hoard. She understood the look he was giving her as he found her. Stopping next to her, his strange look turned to confusion. "What in the world happened to you?"

"I-I honestly don't know," Cheyanne answered. She managed to climb to her feet, and she let out a gasp of panic when she saw she was shorter than him.

Bilbo gaped at her in disbelief. "Cheyanne!"

"I don't know!" she exclaimed, pressing her palms to her forehead. How was she supposed to explain to him that Gary/Gandalf had done this to her? She couldn't just say, "Oh, my old man friend who's actually our wizard friend decided to change me into who I actually am."

Bilbo shook his head and blinked. "You know what? I don't want to know. Right now, I need you to talk to Thorin."

Cheyanne frowned. "What's he done?"

"How long have you been up here?" Bilbo demanded. "Thorin hasn't left the treasure in almost two days now, I'm worried that if we don't do something soon, he's going to starve."

Cheyanne let out a breath. "Alright, I'll try to talk to him, but I don't think-" A flash of pain went through her forehead, and she groaned, touching the center. It hurt even when she lightly touched it with her fingers, and she winced, cursing.

Her vision was starting to get dark around the edges. She felt like she was falling, and she realized she had been when her back hit the ground. Bilbo called her name and shook her shoulders, but she couldn't respond. She moaned in pain and allowed her eyes to close.

Behind them, she was met by the last person she expected to see, and she rolled her eyes.

"Gary! Was that really necessary?"

"I'm sorry," he apologized, "but I needed to get in here somehow. Apparently, it hurts."

"What are you doing in my head?" she exclaimed in annoyance. "And why am I four inches shorter than I was?"

Gary let out a breath. "Cheyanne, I have to change your memories so that they fit the life of a hobbit instead of a human."

Cheyanne gaped at him. "No."

"Cheyanne-"

"Gary, I left Texas to do this. I left my life to do this. I am not going to willingly give up my memories just to fit whatever weird story you're trying to write!"

Gary gazed at her for a long moment. She could tell her was trying to think of a way to convince her otherwise. She crossed her arms, visibly explaining that there was no way she was changing her mind, and Gary frowned.

"Cheyanne, I need to finish what I started by turning you into a hobbit. You're Cheyanne Baggins now, and you need Cheyanne Baggins's memories," he explained.

"No," she responded sternly. "I will not let you take my memories and turn them into something fake. I deserve that much, at the least. Don't you think so?"

Gary stared at her. "Cheyanne, I wish I could agree with you, but it wouldn't be fair if you continued to know everything about what was going to happen before it actually happens. You'll know that you're supposed to save Thorin with the crystal, and that's no climatic at all."

"Who cares?" she demanded. "No one is going to know except for you. Besides." She grinned smugly. "Thorin fell in love with Cheyanne Phillips. What's going to happen to your story if she turns into Cheyanne Baggins?"

Gary grunted. Cheyanne knew she'd caught him. He was silent for a very long moment, until at last he muttered, "Fine, you can keep your memories." Cheyanne was about to cheer in success. "But…." She lowered her arms and looked at him. Gary was smirking. "I'm going to make it so that all your memories are based in Middle-Earth instead of Earth itself, meaning everyone you know will be turned into hobbits. And you won't know what's going to happen next in the story anymore."

"Gary!"

He held up his hand. "If you want to stay Cheyanne Phillips in everything but your size, I suggest you don't try to argue."

Cheyanne didn't want to lose her knowledge about her life before, but she didn't want them to change completely! Jon was too tall to be a hobbit. And how were her parents going to die in a car accident without there being any cars in Middle-Earth? How was Gary going to change it so it still made sense?

"Don't you worry about it not making sense, Cheyanne," he told her coolly. "I'm the writer, and I know what I'm doing."

"Gary… How will I know I'm supposed to save Thorin with the crystal if you take away what I know about The Hobbit?" she asked him quietly, truly worried that she wouldn't.

Gary smiled at her. "Don't worry," he said. "You will remember everything that happened on the journey, you just won't know what will happen from here on out. The company will not remember that you knew everything beforehand." Cheyanne was going to say something else, but Gary shook his head. "You will be fine."

Cheyanne didn't know if she agreed with him. Maybe she would forget about the crystal in the heat of the moment, and just gape in shock as Thorin gets trapped underneath the Orc. Maybe she wouldn't realize that she was supposed to help him at all. Maybe… Maybe she wouldn't even be a part of the battle.

She looked at Gary. "I don't…" She trailed off and shook her head. "There's no point in talking about it, is there?" she asked him quietly.

"I won't let there be a bad ending, Cheyanne," Gary promised her.

Cheyanne sighed and nodded submissively. "Alright, G," she muttered. "I'm putting this in your hands."

Gary nodded once. "I know what I'm doing. Everything will turn out just like it's supposed too," he assured her. "Though, you won't know that because I'm also wiping this conversation out of your memory." Before Cheyanne could protest, he grinned and waved. "Good luck!"

Cheyanne fell through a trap door that opened in the ground and landed with a grunt in front of the throne. Bilbo was crouched next to her, and he shook her shoulders. "Chey!"

Her head lolled against her chest, and Bilbo slapped her cheek. She looked up in surprise, cursing something out. "That hurt!" she complained, rubbing her cheek.

"Why did you pass out?" demanded her cousin.

"I-I don't know," Cheyanne realized after a moment. "I… How long was I asleep?"

"Only a few minutes," Bilbo told her. Cheyanne sighed and pushed him off of her before climbing to her feet. She clenched her teeth against the pain in her leg. Bilbo sucked in a breath through his teeth as the bandage slipped down her leg and exposed the burn. "That does not look good, Chey."

"Thanks," she said under her breath, reaching down to pull the fabric back up. It hurt to try to tug it over her burn, and she grunted.

"Cheyanne, don't," Bilbo began, reaching over to do it for her. She waved him off with a grumble.

"I can do it myself." She hissed as the fabric of the bandage rubbed against the burn, and she let out a whine of pain. Bilbo gazed at her in concern, and she glared at him. "Go find something more useful to do than just stand there and gape at me," she ordered.

"Chey, I need your help," Bilbo told her. "Thorin needs your help."

"Thorin doesn't need help," Cheyanne responded, finally managing to get the bandage back in place. "He's perfectly fine."

"You of all people should know that isn't true," retorted Bilbo. "He isn't the same dwarf he was. I know you can see it."

Cheyanne didn't like hearing Bilbo talk about Thorin that way. Her king was fine; he hadn't changed in the way he'd acted around her at all, aside from the addition of his very obvious affection for her. In her eyes, the changes had been for the better. Maybe Bilbo was just jealous.

She was about to poke fun at him about this when Dwalin appeared from the staircase behind the throne. "There you are," he exclaimed. "I thought you came up here to fetch her?"

"I did!" Bilbo replied. "She fainted."

"I did not," Cheyanne grunted. Bilbo rolled his eyes and she turned to the dwarf. "Are you going to ask me to talk sense into Thorin as well?" she queried.

"Yes," Dwalin answered. "He won't listen to the rest of us, and if he stays down there much longer, I don't know what will happen to him."

"Why do we think anything will happen to him?" questioned Cheyanne, starting to get annoyed with him. "Doesn't Thorin have every right to wallow in the treasure? We did win it back from Smaug."

Bilbo shook his head. "She's hopeless," he said to Dwalin, turning and walking away. Cheyanne watched him disappear down the stairs at the end of the throne hall before looking at the dwarf again.

"What's his problem?"

"Well, lass," Dwalin began with a sigh. "I think it's you."

"Me?" Cheyanne exclaimed in exasperation. "What does he expect me to say, Dwalin? I can't… I can't accept Thorin being sick. I won't. He's better than that."

Dwalin gazed at her carefully. "He is, but sometimes, it's not your choice. Sometimes something just happens, and there is no way for you to stop it." He glanced past her towards the throne. "I should have never let him enter Erebor again. At least not until we took care of the treasure, made it less extensive. Maybe then he would still be the Thorin we knew."

Cheyanne shook her head. "No. I refuse to hear you say that. You know Thorin will be fine."

"I truly wish I could agree with you, Cheyanne," Dwalin said, his face sad. "With the way things are now, however, I can't."

"He's fine!" Cheyanne shouted. She turned and stalked away in the same direction Bilbo had gone, huffing. They had no right to judge Thorin when he was the only one who really knew what was going on inside his head. It was awful how quickly they were popping to explanations about him. "He isn't sick," she said to herself. "He's not."

She made it down the stairs and walked through the archway. She walked around the main level ring of walkway that lined the entry hall to the doors, still in ruin from Smaug's flight out of the mountain. Her shoulders slumped and she let out a breath. "Stupid dragon." Her leg was throbbing wickedly.

Ignoring it, she hobbled to the wreckage of doors and gazed out over the rubble towards Dale in the distance. The city looked so sad and dreary, void of life. She didn't know what Dale had looked like before Smaug's first attack, but she could only imagine. Busy markets, shining lights coming from the houses. Adults and children everywhere. All of that was a memory now, though.

Cheyanne was about to turn away from the doors when she noticed something through the fog above the plain at the foot of the mountain. Squinting, she tried to make clear of what she was seeing. It looked like a dark mass moving up the mountain towards Dale. As it got closer, she realized that it was people.

Her eyes widened. The survivors from Lake-town! They were coming up the mountain.

"Hey!" she shouted over her shoulder into Erebor. "Everyone come to the doors, quick! The Lakemen are entering Dale!" Within moments, half of the company was at the doors with her, and more were coming up from the throne hall, where the stairs behind it led down to the caverns.

Thorin himself appeared with Dwalin and Bilbo, and Cheyanne furrowed her brows when she saw his face. He looked angry. He stormed over to the rubble where the rest of them were standing and Cheyanne pointed to the crowd of people. "You see?"

The dwarf glared out at the survivors for a long moment. "Stone," he decided at last.

"What?" Cheyanne queried, confused.

"We need stone," Thorin said, turning to face the company. "Someone go get ropes and pulleys from the mines. We're going to build a wall so that they can't get in."

"Thorin-"

"Do it!"

Ori sprinted off, and Thorin waved his hand at the boulders remaining from the doors. "The rest of you, move these closer to the entrance. We need to do this quickly, before the Lakemen realize we're still alive in here."

The dwarves set to doing just that, no one protesting. Cheyanne watched them for a moment before she glanced up at Thorin. He had returned to glaring out at Dale, his face stony. "They only want what you promised them," she whispered to him.

He scoffed. "What I promised them? What else was I to do? We were short on time and supplies; I was going to say anything to get to Erebor, Cheyanne." He turned away from the city in the distance and went to help Balin move a boulder.

Cheyanne stepped away from the work, frowning. Thorin would never have decided to do this. The people of Dale were technically his people. The paid homage to him. Shouldn't the king give his people what he promised them?

Maybe he is sick, Cheyanne though to herself, getting nervous just thinking about it.

Bilbo walked over to her. "You're beginning to understand why I'm afraid now, aren't you?" he asked her quietly.

Cheyanne didn't answer. She didn't- couldn't answer. She refused to accept Thorin had changed for the worse. He had his mountain; that's all that he should be worrying about now. The wall was just a precaution, not just from the people of Lake-town but from others that would come to the mountain and try to take the gold for themselves.

Cheyanne blinked. Where had the thought about the gold come from? Who cared about the gold? The sooner Thorin was away from it, the better.

Not that they needed to take him away from it, because he was fine.

Cheyanne hung her head and stared down at the floor. "Everything is alright," she mumbled to herself.

Bilbo sighed from where he stood beside her. Cheyanne lifted her head and watched him walk away, shaking his head. "Cheyanne!" She winced at Thorin's voice calling her name and immediately regretted fearing it. "Help Ori set up the lift."

Cheyanne turned around and went over to the younger dwarf to do just that. He gazed at her as she started to untangle ropes. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," she answered simply, and didn't say anything more.

(*)

Working hard and nonstop, the dwarves were finished with the wall by nightfall. Thorin stepped back when the final stone was in place at the bottom of the stairs leading up to a higher platform, and he nodded to himself. "That should be good enough for the moment."

He turned and addressed the others. "Tomorrow, we will continue our search for the Arkenstone." Cheyanne's throat clenched hearing him say the name. "At dawn. For now, I think we all deserve some sleep."

The dwarves sighed in relief, and they trotted off to find rooms in the vast mountain. Cheyanne remained where she was. This was not her home; she had no idea where to sleep, nor where to go to find a place.

She glanced around for Bilbo, but her cousin was nowhere to be seen. Sighing, she sat down where she was and rested her chin in her hand. The room was almost empty now. Balin disappeared down a set of stairs, and she was alone. She fell backwards onto the cold floor and stared upwards at the high ceiling.

She heard movement, and she sat up again abruptly. It sounded like… A clinking of something. Quickly, she stood and followed the noise. It took her through a narrow passage and out into what appeared to have been a balcony, but it was coated in fallen stone pillars.

She traced the noise to the area behind one of the pillars, and almost shouted in surprise when she saw what it was. Bilbo was holding what could only have Arkenstone in one hand, and tapping it against the floor. He looked up as she rounded the corner, and his eyes went wide.

Quickly, he shoved the Arkenstone into his coat and hurried over to her, clamping a hand over her mouth. She gaped at him with wide eyes, and he met her gaze. "Shh," he said. "Don't talk loud, please. I'll explain everything to you if you keep quiet."

Cheyanne nodded after a moment, deciding she was too close to Bilbo to give him away. Bilbo slowly took his hand away and glanced over his shoulder. "I-I found the Arkenstone when I came into Erebor the first time," he explained in a whisper.

"You've had it this whole time?" she exclaimed quietly. Bilbo gave her a warning gesture to lower her voice with his hands, and she dropped her tone further down. "What have you been doing while the rest of us look for it?"

"I've been deciding whether or not to give it to Thorin!" responded the hobbit. "Seeing him today… I don't think I should."

"Bilbo, you must!" Cheyanne told him. "If you don't, he'll keep having everyone look for it until he drives himself mad."

"And what do you think will happen if I do give it to him?" Bilbo asked. "Think, Cheyanne. He's already obsessed with finding it. How will he act when he finally does?"

Cheyanne didn't want to think about it, not after seeing how Thorin had reacted to the Lakemen coming to take their share of the gold that he had promised them. It seemed like Thorin wasn't going to part with any of the treasure, and if he gained the one thing that would give him complete power…

She shook her head. "You can't keep it, though. What if he finds out? You'll be dead."

Bilbo nodded. "I know," he said. "I do, and that's why I don't know what I should do with it." He glanced down at the ground. "Before you found me I was trying to decide if I could destroy it if I threw it against the floor hard enough."

Cheyanne could only gape at him, and Bilbo let out an exasperated breath. "Help me, Chey!"

"What do you want from me?" she demanded. "I can't help you with this; I have no idea what you should do."

"Give me something, at least! Tell me what you're thinking."

Cheyanne glanced down at the ground. "Does anyone else know?" she questioned after a moment.

"I think… Balin might have a suspicion, but he doesn't know for sure," Bilbo answered.

"Good," Cheyanne murmured. "Do your best to keep it that way." She gnawed on her lower lip, thinking. "Don't… Don't give it to Thorin, either, but don't try to destroy it."

"Why not? Wouldn't everything be better if it was just gone?" asked the hobbit.

Cheyanne nodded in agreement. "Yes, it would be. But… I just… I have a feeling that it may be important later on." She gazed at her cousin steadily. "Do not let anyone know about it, do you understand me?"

Bilbo nodded weakly just as there were the sound of footsteps from the passage she had come through. Bilbo's eyes widened in fear, and Cheyanne pushed him towards the hall behind him. "Go, and don't open your mouth open this. Keep that damn thing away from him."

"Thank you, Chey," he said gratefully before turning and hurrying away into Erebor.

Cheyanne let out a breath just as someone placed a hand on her shoulder. "What are you doing out here?" Thorin's deep, velvety voice ran over her. "It's freezing." She was suddenly draped in the robe he had received from the Master of Lake-town. It was much too big, but it was very warm, and Cheyanne tugged it around herself.

"Thank you," she said to Thorin.

The dwarf walked around to stand beside her. From where they were, they could see over the plain to the north-west of the Lonely Mountain, uncharted territory. Thorin gazed out at it for a long time, expression thoughtful. "I want to travel out there," he said at last, pointing with one hand.

"Even after you've been across Middle-Earth?" she queried in disbelief. "I would think you'd want to stay home."

Thorin chuckled. "I've been more than just across it, ê 'ibin," he said. "I've been all over it."

Cheyanne leaned into his side, and the dwarf wrapped an arm around her. Her knees went weak. Why did the others think he was sick when he was acting this way?

Even as she stood beside him, however, she had a feeling that he was sick. He was sick with greed. Even the way his arm held her close gave her the sensation that he was being possessive of her. She was suddenly very nervous.

Carefully, she pulled away from him with a laugh and took off the robe. She held it out to him with a grin. "I need to go find a place to sleep," she explained when he took it, giving her a confused look.

Thorin's eyes glowed in the moonlight. "You could stay in my rooms," he said softly. "It wouldn't be the first time we've slept together."

Cheyanne's throat went dry. Oh, she wanted to sleep with him, feel his warmth beneath a blanket beside her, his strong arms wrapped around her protectively. She had felt safe when she had slept with him before. Would she still feel safe now, or would she feel like an item of value?

Say no, Cheyanne, she said to herself firmly. You can say no.

She met Thorin's gaze. His blue eyes watched her carefully. She could tell he was trying to read what she was thinking from her face. She straightened her expression so she wouldn't give anything away and opened her mouth to refuse his offer.

"Yes please."

Damn it all to the Valar.

Thorin's eyes brightened. He took her hand in his. It warmed her cold fingers instantly. "Come with me," he said. "I'll show you how to get there."

Cheyanne smiled weakly in answer, and she allowed him to pull her into Erebor again. He led her up a staircase just inside the mountain to their left and across a suspended walkway a few floors up to a large oak wood door. With one hand, he pushed it open into one of the most luxurious rooms Cheyanne had ever seen.

Puffy armchairs sat before a giant fireplace built into the stone wall. A big canopy bed covered in blankets a dark royal blue awaited, unused and beckoning. Cheyanne wanted to throw herself onto it and fall fast asleep, only to wake up again in ten years or so.

Thorin nodded to the bed. "I haven't slept there in ages."

"I've never slept there." Cheyanne's voice was a squeak, and her cheeks grew hot in embarrassment.

Thorin laughed. "Well, you will tonight," he said. He released her hand and walked away towards another door within the room, disappearing behind it. Cheyanne stood baffled in the center of the room. What was she supposed to do, simply fall asleep while he held her like a toy he didn't want to share?

She stood, shaking, for several minutes until Thorin reemerged from the room he'd gone into. It must have been a closet of some sort because he had changed out of his traveling clothes into a simple outfit perfect for sleeping in.

Cheyanne bit her lip when he turned towards the fireplace. She could see his back muscles rippling beneath the thin cloth of the shirt he was wearing. His rear end wasn't hard to miss, either.

Thorin tossed a match onto the logs in the fireplace and rotated back around to face her. "I don't have anything for you to change into," he said regretfully.

Cheyanne immediately shook her head. "Don't be sorry. I don't mind sleeping in this." Her eyes widened. Maybe he didn't want her getting his bed dirty from her dusty clothing. "Unless, you don't want me too…"

"No, it matters not to me," answered Thorin as he approached her and took her hands in his. Running a thumb along the back of one of hers, he met her eyes. "I'm glad you decided to sleep in here."

Cheyanne swallowed. "It would have been rude to turn down the offer, wouldn't it?" she whispered hoarsely.

Thorin merely smiled and pulled her over to the big bed. Cheyanne's chin barely reached over the top of the mattress, it was so high up off the floor. She was about to try and climb up when Thorin took her by the waist and lifted her like she was no more than a feather. She pulled herself up onto the bed with his help, face on fire.

Thorin easily climbed up behind her, and he pulled back the top blanket, gazing at her all the while. "Are you alright?" he queried after a moment.

"Why do you ask?" Cheyanne retorted much too quickly.

"Chey, is there something you want to tell me?" He gazed at her with those blue eyes of his, trying to look right into her. Cheyanne turned away, refusing to submit so easily.

"I'm just nervous, that's all."

"Nervous?"

"Yes. About staying with you in your room. This is your home, Thorin. I don't… I don't belong here." She reached over with her right hand and brushed it against the blue velvet coverlet. "This is very strange for me."

Thorin took her right hand in his left, and she followed his arm back to him. The dwarf was gazing at her steadily. "I asked you to stay with me, which means you belong here just as much as I do," he told her sincerely.

Cheyanne's heart began to ache. She knew he wasn't perfect, but it was hard to imagine he was so terrible when he acted this way with her. She needed him to be this gentle around everyone, to show that he could be the king they all knew he was before they had entered Erebor. Only, she didn't know how to do that.

Sighing, she returned the smile he gave her. "I'm exhausted," she said softly. "Should we go to sleep?"

Thorin nodded, and Cheyanne slid beneath the blanket, resting her head on the pile of pillows that awaited her. The fire in the fireplace wasn't strong, and the room was left in a soft orange flow that was just strong enough so she could roll over and see Thorin clearly in the darkness.

The dwarf had laid down on his side and was watching her. She could tell he wanted her to come closer so that he could hold her, as he had did those other times.

Cheyanne knew that she shouldn't, but she didn't know if she could stop herself. Thorin was so… Warm and safe. She was safe when she was in his arms, and she wanted that safety. If only she didn't want safety from whatever greed had taken over his mind.

She grinned again, but held herself back and didn't cuddle closer to him. "Good night, Thorin Oakenshield."

His expression changed slightly when he realized she wasn't going to let him hold her tonight. "Good night, Miss Baggins," he said in answer.

Cheyanne rolled over onto her side, facing away from him, and let out a silent breath. What was she supposed to do?

Oh sheeeeeeett... Something's startin' to go down, and I don't know if it's gon' be pretty when it finally happens.