Prepare for some father/daughter fluff :) I love adad Thorin :)

'How could you even think of leaving without me?' Dwana stomped with her foot. 'And the elves? I thought that you had become reasonable. You have no businees with those tree sha...'

'Dwana!' Brann stopped her before she could utter the word, but Zial was already grinning.

'But amad, we already know that the elves are tree shaggers!' she exclaimed. 'Adad always...'

'Zial, my gem, why don't you go and...do not get your adad into trouble.' Thorin smirked as he saw Branns frown. The queen rolled her eyes as her husband looked at her with puppy eyes and sighed in defeat. She did not want to part from him with a fight. She respected his feelings towards elves, even if she did not agree with him.

'You are silent this morning, my love.' Thorin took Branns hand.

'I already miss you.' Brann stated sadly.

Thorin looked at her lovingly and was about to lean into her to kiss her as they heard Dwana huff.

'Hello? I am right here!' she snarled.

'How could we forget?' Thorin sighed. 'Brat.'

'That brat is responsible for the protection of your queen. And you let her leave all on her own! Even without Nori spying on her!' Dwana bit her lip as Thorin glared at her, but Brann laughed.

'I will miss you both. And Zial, Gwen and Belladonna.' Brann sighed. 'And I will ride swiftly. There have been no orcs on the way from here to the Grey Havens. An armed force of dwarves with me would only catch attention. Attention I do not want.'

'I am useless. You do not need me and the king does not want my help either. What am I to do now?' Dwana asked unhappily.

'You could be there for your husband.' Thorin grumbled and asked himself wether he should pity Thorin Stonehelm or not.

'Hmmmm.' Dwana chewed on her bottom lip. 'Maybe I should try that.'

As hard as it was for Brann, she tore herself away from her family that day. Against protocoll, she kissed her husband in public as they parted in front of the gates and she gave all her girls a kiss on the nose.

'Take good care of your adad, alright?' Brann smiled as her daughters nodded. Little Belladonna, who was snuggled up in her fathers arms, chose this moment to say her first word.

'A...mad.' she mumbled and Brann had to fight back her tears.

'Oh my little gem...' sometimes Brann had a bad conscience when she adressed her smallest dwarfling. Zial and Gwen always had to share her attention and Belladonna had it all. But the twins did not mind and cheered up to their little sister.

Brann walked backwards to her pony and sighed heavily as the beast rode away from the mountain, away from her family.

The king under the mountain fought his desperation as he watched his wife ride away. But he had to stay strong for his daughters. They should not feel his sadness.

'Unca Dwaln!' Belladonna crawled over to Dwalin as he entered the royal chambers two weeks later.

'Little princess...where is your adad?' Dwalin bowed and realised that Belladonna could not answer him. She had made incredible fast progress on speaking the past days, but only because Thorin talked to her all day long. Which was unusual for a dwarf as introverted as Thorin. 'Never mind. Thorin?'

Thorin had just made breakfast for his two older daughters and walked into the living room to greet his guest. He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw his youngest daughter cling to the leg of the captain of the guard. Dwalin lifted his leg a few times, but the princess held on.

'How does this come off?' Dwalin asked the king and made Thorin chuckle. 'For the love of Durin, are you wearing an apron?!'

'I do not want any bacon on my ceremonial attire. Donna, get off your uncle.' Thorin told his daughter, who only looked back at him with huge brown puppy eyes. Eyes like Branns. The king felt his heart sting as he thought of his wife. Brann had sent a letter a few days ago. She had arrived in the Grey Havens and she had met an elf she already knew, his name was Lindir. He had agreed to help Brann with her problem, but she had not written anything about a progress or an answer to her questions. It seemed as if Thorin would have to wait a little bit more for his wife to return.

'Donna, get off uncle Dwalin right now.' Gwen rushed towards them and pointed a scolding finger at her younger sister. Dwalin always wondered that the twin with the human name was so much a dwarf and her sister named after the fierce queen of Erebor was more the gentle girl. Belladonna immediately let go of Dwalins leg and crawled over to her sister. 'Donna, you should try to walk. You are a dwarf of the line of Durin and Durins do not crawl!'

Dwalin had to fight back a laugh and looked at Thorin. Gwen was a miniature version of her father. Belladonna tried to stand up and managed to stand on her own two feet for a few moments before she fell back onto her bottom again. Dwalin was about to rush forward, but Thorin held up his hand. He reached out one big callous hand for his younger daughter and Belladonna scrambled back up onto her feet again. She waggled towards her father and fell down three times on her way there, but she did not give up. Finally she reached the arms of her father who lifted her up into the air and swirled her around.

'I knew that you could do it, my gem!' the king purred. 'A strong descendant of Durin, like my other two gems.'

'She is a flower, adad, not a gem.' Gwen corrected her father.

'No, she is a plant.' Zial came over to join the rest of her family. 'A poisonous plant. Mahal knows why amad chose to name her that way.'

Thorin and Dwalin exchanged a glance and walked over to the fire.

'Sit down, my ladies.' Dwalin snuggled up with the twins, while Thorin held Belladonna in his arms. 'Your father will tell you a story about when he and your amad lived in Bree.'

'You and amad lived in a town of men? Why?' Zial looked disgusted. 'Men are...they are...'

'Your amad is from the race of men, my daughter.' Thorin chuckled. 'And you are half human. Think about what you want to say.'

The king frowned at his old friend as Dwalin shot him a glare which obviously meant oh, you are the one to talk.

'And yes, your amad and I have lived in Bree for nearly a year. Your aunt Dis, Flli, Kili, Dwalin and Dwana lived with us for a while, too.' Thorin told his daughters.

'Why are we not living together now?' Zial asked. 'We would have so much fun! Fili, Kili and Gwen and I would play all day long.'

'And that is exactly why we do not live together.' Thorin smirked and Dwalin nodded. The captain of the guard did not want to imagine how hard his work would get if he would not have to have an eye on two royal princes, but four royal dwarflings.

'Well, as we lived in Bree, your amad was...one of the rangers was interested in your amad and has attacked her and aunt Dwana in the nearby forest.' Thorin did not plan to ever tell his daughters how the ranger harassed Brann, so he hurried to get to the part with the hobbits. 'Two halflings rushed to your amads aid and the female's name was Belladonna. You need to know that halflings are smaller than we are. But apparently, their small appearance was no issue concerning her bravery. She helped your amad and aunt Dwana and to honor her, your little sister was named after her.'

'Why have we not met any halflings, yet, adad?' Gwen asked. 'If they helped amad, then we should honor them all!'

'The Shire folk is introverted and does not have dealings with dwarves, they never have.' Dwalin told them. 'They know nothing of the world, for they barely leave their green Shire. The river Brandywine protects them from the dangers of the rest of Middle Earth. Halflings are peaceful and naive. Nothing could bond them to us.'

Thorin nodded at his friends word's. He was thankful for the halflings help, but he would never feel more than gratefulness towards anyone of them. But speaking of diplomatic relations, he was reminded that he had to be in council in a few moments.

'My gems, I have to leave you.' Thorin stood up and put Belladonna back into the chair. 'Take care of your little sister and if there is anything wrong, get aunt Dwana. Is that understood?'

'But adad! Can we not stay with uncle Dwalin? Pleeeeeeaaaaaaase?' Zial and Gwen jumped in excitement and Thorin chuckled as he saw the panic in his friends eyes.

'Dwalin has to come to council with me, he is my guard. Don´t you want uncle Dwalin to protect your adad?' Thorin asked and looked down at his daughters.

Gwen and Zial thought about their fathers reasoning for a moment and decided that Dwalin should go with Thorin. 'Take good care of our adad, uncle Dwalin.' Zial called over her back as the three daughters of Thorin walked back into the kitchen to clean up.

'Thank Mahal.' Dwalin sighed. 'I love your daughters, Thorin, but if I had to watch over them a whole day I would go insane. I watched Fili and Kili once. Do you remember when they set the kitchen on fire? Dis almost made me participate in that sunshine play, too!'

For the first time in weeks, Thorin laughed out loud and wholeheartly. The image of his friend in the sunflower costume would have been a sight he would never have forgotten.

'You fell asleep!' Thorin grumbled. 'You fell asleep and you snored! In council!'

'It was boring!' Dwalin defended himself. 'They have been chewing on this bloody topic for hours! Without any progress! How do you do that?'

'I can sleep with my eyes open.' Thorin smirked and earned a surprised look from his friend. When they came to the royal chambers, they found Dwana sitting on the floor and playing with Belladonna. Thorin was immediately worried. 'Dwana? What are you doing here? Did something happen to the princesses?'

'No, everything is alright.' Dwana sighed. 'When will Brann be back?'

Thorin sat down in his armchair. 'I do not know. I think she may be gone for another few weeks. Why are you asking?'

'No particular reason...' Dwana looked at Thorin and her gaze softened. 'Do you miss her?'

'More than anything else in the world.' Thorin admitted.

'You know that she does this for you? For you and your family?' Dwanas frown disappeared as Thorin nodded.

'But there is nothing that will ease the pain of her passing when that day comes.' Thorin mumbled and sat back. Dwalin and his daughter exchanged glances in worry, but the princesses under the mountain managed to lighten up the mood with their entrance.

'Adad! Gwen beat Fili in swordfight!' Zial exclaimed as soon as the door opened.

'It was not fair!' Fili and Kili stormed in right after them. 'I thought I had hurt her. And as I lowered my sword, she got me! That was a trick and dishonorable!'

'I fight to win.' Gwen snarled. 'What does honor help you when you are dead? What did your pity earn you, other than defeat?'

'Honor is the only thing that makes us different from our enemies!' Fili exclaimed. 'Uncle, say something.'

Thorin had only looked at his daughter and his nephew and had realised how fast they both had grown up. It was scaring him. Soon, they would be able to fight at his side.

'Well, Gwen is right. Sometimes honor is not enough, but I do not see any dishonorable actions in her way of fighting.' Thorin straightened his back. 'You do know that your cousin if only half your size, Fili? And a female? What honor is there in fighting a female?'

'Brann and Dis would have your beard for these words.' Dwalin sniggered and Dwana glared at the king.

'Females can be warriors!' Gwen exclaimed. 'Amad can wield two swords and a bow! Dwana wields two axes! And Dis...wait, I have never seen aunt Dis wield a weapon.'

'Dis despises weapons and war.' Thorin explained his daughter. 'She has lost many dear dwarves to war. Your uncles Lindin and Frerin. Your great grandfather.'

'Tell us about them!' Zial jumped onto her fathers lap. 'I want to know more about them! Dis never talks about uncle Lindin! And you barely talk about uncle Frerin! Were Dis, uncle Frerin and you like Fili, Kili, Gwen and me?'

'Worse.' Dwalin smirked at Thorins glare.

In the evening, after half a day of story telling and laughing, Dwana and Thorin brought the dwarflings to bed. But for some reason, Belladonna could not sleep. Thorin realised that her little stuffed animal was missing. It was a small black dog that Dwana had made, but it looked more like a miniature warg. Belladonna loved her stuffed animal and could not sleep without it. Thorin looked for the small warg everywhere and as he saw Kilis guilty expression he knew who to ask.

'Kili...' he did not even need to ask.

'Alright, I ripped Belladonnas little warg.' his nephew pouted. 'But it´s also her fault. She spilled chocolate over it and I took it away to have it cleaned. On my way up here I started playing with it. It is not very strongly sewed!'

Thorin sighed and pressed his fingers against the dull ache behind his eyes. He jumped as he felt someone pull on his tunic from below. Belladonna was standing at his side and looked at him with huge brown eyes. She was holding the little dogs head in her small hands.

'Heal Blacky?' she asked him and held up te rest of her toy. Thorin sighed in defeat. Kili kneeled down beside Belladonna and took the shreds of Blacky into his hand.

'I will buy you a new one, alright?' he told the princess, but Belladonna shook her tiny head.

'Adad.' she pointed up at Thorin and gave him the cutest puppy look that Thorin had ever seen. She even had an even more powerful look than Kili. It must be the brown eyes, Thorin thought.

'You will have to wait until tomorrow, my gem.' Thorin told his daughter and watched as her expression changed into a mixture of determination and a frown. The little dwarf crossed her arms in front of her chest and took a deep breath. She blew up her cheeks and squeezed her eyes shut.

'What is she doing?' Thorin looked at his nephew questioningly.

'She is holding her breath until she has a new Blacky.' Kili sighed and grinned at his uncle.

Thorins eyebrows flew up his forehead as he looked down at his daughter. Dwalin had told his children that Thorin had done that when he had wanted something as a dwarfling. Curse that chatterbox. He was about to tickle his daughter to make her catch her breath as her eyes opened, rolled back into her skull and she fainted because of the lack of oxygen. Thorin shook his head at his daughter. She may be the most gentle one of his daughters, but it seemed that she could also be stubborn. He picked her up and made sure that everything was alright before he brought her to her bed. Kili followed them with a guilty expression.

'I will get her a new toy, uncle!' he promised. 'And if I have to sew one myself!'

Thorin smiled at his nephew. 'Thank you, Kili. I am sure that your seweing skills match those of Dwana and the litle princess will have her warg back in no time.'

A week later, Thorin Stonehelm looked up at his wife as she came back from the royal chambers. 'Did you tell them?' he asked and frowned as she shook her head.

'I wanted the queen to know first.' Dwana sighed.

'When will she be back?' Thorin asked, but after the look on Dwanas face the answer seemed clear.

'The king says that she might stay away a couple of more weeks.' Dwana sighed and sat down on the edge of their bed. 'Thorin, I am scared.'

'I am here, my love.' Thorin sat down at Dwanas side and took her hand. 'We will do this together.'

Dwana smiled at her husband lovingly and leaned her head against his strong shoulder. Together, they sat on the bed in silence until the lights of the candles went out.