'I am a wale.' Brann sighed and tried to find a comfortable position to sit.

'Is that your blowhole?' Kili asked and pointed to Branns navel. At this his aunt had to laugh that hard that she thought she would go into labor instantly. She was ten months into the pregnancy and only her nephews could distract her from her annoyance about her condition. The queen of the Blue Mountains had not slept in ages and her back hurt for two months straight. Brann was close to losing her mind. But right now she had curled up with Fili and Kili on a huge pile of pillows in front of the fireplace. This was how Thorin and Dis found them. Brann had fallen asleep with one dwarfling under each arm. All three of them looked so peaceful that Thorin and Dis could not help but stare at them for a long moment in silence.

'In a few years this might be Brann and your two dwarflings.' Dis whispered. She chuckled as she saw her brother pale. Thorin was still nervous to be a father of two and calling him adad made the mighty kings knees shake. Dis enjoyed to see her brother like that, happy and free of the burden of kingship. Dis was about to sneak to her sons, but Thorin held her back.

'For Mahal's sake, don't wake the dragon,' he whispered and pointed at his wife. Dis smirked. The king of the Blue Mountains was afraid of his very own dragon.

'Why do you have to do this? You are pregnant and the mines are no place for a pregnant woman!' Dwalin walked beside Brann slowly. Very slowly. In fact he had never moved that slowly in his life. Brann could only walk in slow motion, her belly was huge and it slowed her down. The captain of the guard was annoyed and irritated. But not as irritated as his queen.

'Oh really. You don't say? And would you mind explaining to me why the queen does not need to inspect the mines of her kingdom? My duty is not over because I am pregnant.' Brann snarled.

'The mines are dangerous. Some collaps, some have bad air. What if one of the mines collapses while you are in there?' Dwalin shuddered. 'Thorin would kill me. Slowly. As slowly as you are walking right now.'

'Very funny!' Brann hissed.

'Seriously girl, if you continue walking that slowly you will miss the birth of your own dwarflings.' Dwalin sighed in annoyance.

'Oh, cut the...ahhhhhhh!' Branns hands moved to her belly and she bent over.

Dwalin looked at her in shock and as he thought that their situation could get any more worse, it did. A loud rumble sounded through the mountain and one of the walls in the corridor collapsed. Dwalin managed to pull Brann to safety, but the way back to the royal wing was blocked by stone. The queen cried out in pain and Dwalin was afraid that a rock might have hit her. But as he looked down at Brann he could see her hand pressing into her belly.

'No no no, please girl, don't do that to me...' Dwalin muttered. He had still not forgotten the sight of Kili coming out of Dis and the memory haunted him in his sleep.

'They are coming, Dwalin. Wether you like it or ...NOOOOOOOOT!' Branns cry echoed from the walls and Dwalin winced. 'But its too soon! I still have two months to go!'

'Then just don't push! Press your legs together, woman!' Dwalin was close to panic.

'I can't, they are coming now.' Brann felt her contractions rip her body apart. 'Are you going to faint again?!'

'I am thinking about it.' Dwalin was pale as death.

'Breathe, breathe.' Brann instructed the captain of the guard in between her contractions. 'Listen, you cannot faint now. I need your help. You have to...AHHHHH...look...down there. And tell me how much I am dilated.'

'You want me to...Noooooooo way. I will not look...there! Thorin will kill me.' Dwalin shook his head.

'Listen, you TWiT!' Brann was going mad from the pain. 'You will look and you will tell me how many fingers wide the opening has become, NOW!'

Brann tried to yell at Dwalin in her desperation. He was a soldier and Brann hoped that a loud and clear order would help him focus. Apparently it worked, because Dwalin nodded and took a deep breath before he lifted Branns dress. Brann could see the dwarf's face get red as a tomato, in fact she was afraid that he would really faint on her.

'Oh Mahal...uhmmmmm...its about...Please don't make me put my fingers - there.' Dwalin could not touch his queen...there. He simply could not.

'Either you move your hand down there or you guess! Move it!' Brann cried out as a new contraction made her belly wrench.

Dwalin looked in between of his queens legs and nodded. 'You are...dilated about three fingers wide. That is...three of my fingers, not yours. No, I think its more four fingers...or five? Sweet Mahal, I think it just got wider...'

'Alright, then I need to start pushing. You need to look and react when the dwarflings come out. You need to steady their heads when they come out of me and for Mahals sake, do NOT let them fall!' Brann took a deep breath and waited for another contraction to push. 'In some cases the umbilical cord might be wrapped around the little ones throat, you will need to cut it, fast. Listen to me! Do you understand?'

'Umbilical cord, cut the throat, got it!' Dwalin repeated and Brann was about to correct him, but was interrupted by a painful contraction.

The queen cried out in pain and began to push. She could feel her abdomen tear apart under the pressure and prayed to every gods of the dwarves and men to let her little ones live.

'I can see the head! The little one already has hair! Dark hair like Thorins! Push girl, push, push, push!' Dwalin urged his queen. 'Shoulders, arms, legs and feet! Tiny little feet! Whoops...'

'Dwalin!' Brann exclaimed.

'Sorry, they are really slippery!' Dwalin apologised.

'Dwalin! I swear, I will...' Brann was about to rip the dwarfs head off as she heard the voice of her husband on the other side of the collapsed wall.

'Brann! Are you in there?' Thorin yelled through the wall of crumbled stone.

'Thorin! We are here! Dwalin is with me.' Brann yelled back.

'But not for long! Thorin, get your butt in here, Brann is having the little ones! And I am dying!' Dwalin yelped as Brann slapped his shoulder.

'Oh, YOU are dying? You got to be joking...AHHHHH...' Branns outburst was interrupted by the contractions as the second dwarfling made its way into the world of the living.

'What do you mean, Brann is having the little ones? Now is not the time!' Thorin was panicking, Brann could hear it. The queen was rolling her eyes and took a deep breath.

'I am surrounded by...AHHHH...Dwalin! Eyes down there, you know what to do!' Brann ordered the captain of the guard who was looking more pale with every minute that passed.

'Eyes down...where? Are you kidding me?' Thorin exclaimed and Brann could practically heard him punch the stone between them. 'Don't you dare faint again, Dwalin!'

Brann could not help but chuckle and she heard that the dwarves on the other side were nearly breaking through the collapsed wall. She could hear Thorin yell orders in Khuzdul and hoped that he would arrive soon enough to witness the birth of his second dwarfling. In this moment the rock began to crumble backwards and Thorin emerged from the hole that had appeared on the wall. The king of the Blue Mountains rushed to his wife's side and kneeled down grabbing Branns hand.

'I am here, everything is going to be alright.' Thorin assured Brann and winced as she squeezed his hand, nearly crushing his bones.

'Alright, you have to push, I can see the head!' Dwalin was doing a good job as a midwife and Thorin looked at his old friend in shock. 'Come on, girl, push! There are the shoulders!'

Thorin groaned as his hand was crushed by Branns grip and he wondered how much force his soft wife could bring up. His wife's pained cries echoed in his mind and he winced as Brann gave a final push with a heartbreaking scream. Suddenly Brann went limb and her head fell back in relief.

'And there is the second rascal.' Dwalin grinned happily. He had torn his coat in two and had wrapped the two royal dwarflings into the pieces. Brann told him to cut the umbilical cord and sighed in relief as Dwalin told her that she was not bleeding too much. Oin was on his way down, but he would take a while. Leaning back against Thorins broad chest Brann relaxed and felt incredibly happy. It was done. She had survived the birth and her twins were safe. They did not cry, they only babbled into Dwalins cloak. Dwalin gave Brann the firstborn and Thorin looked down at his wife with his firstborn dwarfling with enormous pride. He looked at the second dwarfling in Dwalins arms and reached out for his second born.

'Careful with the head, there ya go.' Dwalin muttered. Thorin already had experience with dwarflings because of Fili and Kili and he slowly began to rock his little one. Brann looked up from the dwarfling in her arms and almost cried of happiness. The sight of Thorin holding the dwarfling in his arms was warming her heart. The love in her husbands eyes as he was holding their dwarfling was the most beautiful thing Brann had ever seen.

'They are beautiful. So beautiful.' Thorin whispered. 'You have no idea how happy you made me, my queen.'

Brann smiled weakly, she was exhausted and she started to doze off. 'I love you, Thorin.' she whispered.

'I love you more.' Thorin kissed his wife's forehead and tried to make her lean against him without letting go of their dwarfling.

'Oi, would you look at that!' Oin had finally arrived. 'You look good, my queen! To be honest, I would not have expected the birth to be that easy...'

'Easy? Press a melon through your nose and then tell me that a birth is easy!' Brann growled.

Oin smiled warmly and took a look at the twins. 'They are in great health. They are smaller then normal dwarflings, but they are twins, so this is normal. You have done well, my queen. And Dwalin...Dwalin?'

In the chaos, nobody had noticed the captain of the guard pass out on the floor next to the royal couple. Thorin shook his head and smirked.

'You got to be joking.'

'By Mahal, they are so precious!' Dis exclaimed as she saw her nephews for the first time. Brann was back in the royal chambers and was already breastfeeding one of the dwarflings. 'Which one is little Thror? And which one is little Thrain?'

'Oh dear.' Brann looked at the twins. 'Dwalin, do you remember which one came first?'

'Nope.' Dwalin was fighting to regain control. He was still drowsy from his fainting and he felt extremly sensitive. He had tears in his eyes when he looked at Thorin and how happy he was.

'Dwana, would you do me a favor and get the diapers?' Brann asked her courtlady. The one dwarfling who had been drinking had finished and needed new diapers.

'Give him to me, I will change his diapers.' Dis grinned as Dwana let out a relieved sigh. She loved the small ones, but diaper changing was nothing Dwana would want to do. Dis took the dwarfling from Branns arms and walked back to the changing table. As she opened the diapers she stayed alert to any pee which might come her way. With two boys Dis knew that they used to pee when the diaper was taken away. But nothing came. Dis looked down at the dwarfling and started laughing hysterically. The others looked at the princess as if she had gotten mad.

'Dis, what happened?' Thorin frowned at his sister.

'Well, my dear brother. It seems...' Dis walked over to the second dwarfling and opened the second diaper. 'It seems as if you need to think about new names.'

Neither Thorin, nor Brann understood what she was saying. Dwalin slapped his hand against his forehead. 'Oh, I forgot to tell ya. You have two girls.'

All Brann could hear next was Thorins body landing on the floor with a loud bump.

This chapter is shorter, but there is all the action in here :)