I do not own any of the characters or the Hobbit (just the AU storyline and my OC) those are the work of the esteemed and brilliant John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, and without his genius, this and many other fan fics would not be in existence.

Please review! I love getting them-they keep me encouraged J

Bilbo approached the dwarf king hesitantly, juggling the hot piece of mutton back and forth between his hands even as his body shivered. As he got closer, he frowned, noticing how Thorin's chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, eyes closed.

He must be sleeping, the hobbit thought to himself. Goodness knows he needs it.

He carefully stepped over the prone Fili, and leaned down to set the hot meat down in front of the elder dwarf on the stone floor of the eyrie. Just as Bilbo began to rise, Thorin's voice sounded, slightly muffled by the fur near his mouth.

"Bilbo, what are you doing?" Thorin cracked one of his eyes open, eyebrow raised. The hobbit immediately moved to step back over the sleeping prince, and stared at the dwarf king in bewilderment.

"H-how did you know it was me?" the surprised hobbit asked, eyes wide. Thorin's lips twitched slightly at the bewildered expression on their burglar's face. "You were sleeping!"

"If it had been anyone else, I would have heard them come up," Thorin replied, yawning. "Since I heard and smelled the meat being set down but no boots, I knew it had to be you. Besides, I wasn't asleep." Bilbo's expression clearly stated that he wasn't so sure about that, but the hobbit didn't mention anything.

The dwarf king looked down at the steaming meat, sighing, before attempting to sit up. A pained grunt left him, despite trying to hide it, and Thorin was forced to take several quick breaths as he froze, jaw tight. Bilbo's expression grew worried, and he glanced between the dark haired dwarf and the company, unsure if he should call for someone.

"Don't bother," Thorin gasped, noticing the halfling's expression. "It's nothing." The hobbit raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest, and Thorin had to bite back a chuckle, thinking to himself that the hobbit looked very much like his sister when she was about to scold him.

"It's not nothing," Bilbo replied, shivering despite his attempt to look stern. "You are injured too, you know." The dwarf sighed, averting his eyes. Bilbo saw a slight look of defeat cross his features as he refused to meet the hobbit's gaze, and the air filled with silence for a few minutes. Bilbo shuffled from one foot to the other, eyeing the fire as he rubbed his cold arms.

"Thank you," Thorin said quietly, causing the hobbit to turn back toward him. Bilbo's brows furrowed in confusion for a moment, until he realized that Thorin's fingers were grasping the edge of his red coat-folded up under Fili's head. "I always thought hobbits to be weak and fragile, unable to withstand the dangers of the wild-or the cold that comes with it."

The dwarf king turned his head toward the hobbit, and for the first time since they made each other's acquaintance, Bilbo saw respect instead of disdain in Thorin's eyes. Granted, when Thorin had unexpectedly hugged him in gratitude the day before, there had been apologies and respectful words, but at that time his eyes had been filled with grief and worry for his nephew. The hobbit shrugged nonchalantly.

"Now that was nothing," Bilbo replied, teeth chattering. Thorin raised an eyebrow, the hobbit's blue tinged lips and violent tremors not going unnoticed. Bilbo sighed.

"He needed it more than I did," he said quietly, gaze wandering toward the sleeping young dwarf. Thorin nodded, his gaze following Bilbo's.

"There were more than enough furs to go around," the dwarf king said quietly, gaze turning back toward the hobbit. "And yet you chose to give up your coat for my nephew. Don't try to tell me you aren't freezing- my body may be injured, but my eyes work just fine."

Thorin gave Bilbo a pointed look, and the hobbit gave him a sheepish one in return, before wiping his running nose with the back of his hand absentmindedly. Thorin looked at him for a moment, expression unreadable, before lifting one of the furs off himself. Eyeing it for a moment, he reached it out towards the surprised hobbit. Bilbo's eyes widened as he recognized who the furs belonged to, and glanced fearfully in the owner's direction.

"If Dwalin grumbles at you, tell him I told you to wear it," Thorin explained, slightly amused despite himself at the dumbfounded expression on the hobbit's face. "We cannot have our burglar freezing to death before we reach the mountain."

Bilbo hesitantly accepted it, wrapping the yellow fur around his shoulders. Thorin bit back another chuckle at how comical the hobbit looked, his shoulders significantly narrower than Dwalin's. The hobbit looked back up at Thorin, eyes landing on the now cool mutton.

"Best eat your breakfast before it freezes," the hobbit chided. Thorin glanced down at the large piece of meat, then at the arm his weight was currently being supported by, sighing. His gaze turned toward Bilbo, though he refused to look him in the eye.

"You will have to help me up," the dwarf king replied, speaking so quietly that even Bilbo's keen hobbit ears almost didn't hear him. However, having been subject to Thorin's pride from the moment he stepped into Bag End, Bilbo knew that it had cost the dwarf king dearly to admit his need for assistance. The halfling nodded.

The rest of the company followed Thorin because he was either kin or their king- or both. Bilbo on the other hand had joined the company out of a sense of adventure and something else he still quite hadn't put a finger on- though he highly suspected it to be a little bit of lunacy as well. However, Gandalf had been right. The journey had already changed him.

But as Bilbo assisted the dwarf in sitting upright so he could eat, the hobbit knew that, no matter what, his loyalty would lie with Thorin.

His king- by choice.

XXX

Kili watched as Cirashala crossed the log ahead of him, marveling at how well she kept her balance. She held her left hand out to aid her, broken right hand still safely tucked near her torso.

The young dwarf behind her glanced down at the small ravine, a stony creek about twenty feet below them at the bottom, and tried to focus as he placed one foot in front of the other.

Despite what everyone says, I am no elf, the dwarf thought to himself, brow furrowed in concentration. Dwarf feet were meant to walk on stone, not fallen logs. Especially damp ones.

The rain was thankfully still gentle, but as they neared the end of the log, it began to increase in strength. Blinking the water out of his eyes, Kili stepped down off the log, thankful to be on sturdy land again. Cirashala had pulled up the hood on his tunic, and though he did not regret giving it to her, he did miss the slight respite from the rain the hood had offered.

The young woman turned toward him, blue eyes meeting his.

"Which way?" she asked, bringing her left hand up to cover her right in an attempt to shield it from the rain. Kili sighed, gripping the leather strap on the Oakenshield tightly.

If only uncle were here, he would know what to do, the young prince thought to himself.

But his uncle was not there. It was up to him to lead them eastward toward this Beorn Cirashala mentioned, and make sure they were safe in the process. The rain didn't help matters, and Kili knew that it wouldn't be long before they would have trouble finding firewood that would burn. However, the young prince also knew that they needed to get as much distance between their old campsite and them as possible.

"This way," he replied, moving past her in what he believed was east, as best as he could figure. She followed behind, and Kili made sure to glance behind him every so often to make sure she stayed near.

The rain began to fall harder and harder, and much to the young dwarf's chagrin, the wind began to blow. Still they kept on, despite being nearly thoroughly soaked. As he tripped over a soaking wet root, Kili mentally scolded himself for not thinking ahead and packing dry firewood strapped to his back under his coat.

Fili would have remembered to do that, the young dwarf thought, swallowing heavily. I really hope they are all right.

XXX

Cirashala was soaked through. The hood offered little protection once the wind began to blow, and cold rain began to pelt her in the face.

At least my hair isn't flying in my eyes anymore, she thought to herself as she continued on, trying to distract herself from the pain in her back and wrist. She was grateful that the cold rain numbed her body slightly, making the pain just bearable. However, she did not like being sopping wet.

Kili coughed ahead of her off and on, though he brought his hand up to muffle it. The young woman frowned, remembering the coughing fit she heard earlier that day.

That really doesn't sound good, she thought to herself, eyes following the young dwarf's back. He sounds awfully congested.

Her brow furrowed in concern, but before she could ask Kili about it, the young woman stumbled on a root. Looking ahead, she saw that Kili had begun to pull away from her slightly, and quickened her pace. She really needed to pay attention to her surroundings lest she get lost.

I just hope it isn't anything serious, the young woman thought to herself. The last thing we need is one of us getting sick right now.

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A NOTE TO MY READERS: I apologize for the shorter chapter. I have been sick all day, and my husband had to close the store tonight on top of it :( This was about as much as I could write tonight. But hopefully in a week or two the chapters will get longer again. But since life happens, I cannot make any guarantees. I hope it was still good anyway :D Namarie!

A response to reviewer Auth: I usually pm my responses to reviews, but since your pm is disabled, I hope this suffices :) though I cannot reward your review with much in the way of spoilers, since others may see it. I am glad that you are enjoying it! Thank you for the compliment too :) I don't like a lot of the stories with the romance either, because they are so completely unrealistic- people don't fall in love in five minutes in real life, so they shouldn't in stories either, in my opinion. Especially since Cira is grieving too-she won't get over her husband in a mere three weeks (which is about where the time frame for the story is at right now). I am not a fan of a lot of inappropriate stuff either, and it would be completely out of place with how the characters are, and within the realm of Tolkien's world. I am trying to keep my story as realistic as possible, and also to follow the "rules" that Tolkien has set out for his world for the most part. I watch An Unexpected Journey a lot and have about worn out my pause/play button because there is so much characterization there with the actors never stopping or stepping out of character! It is amazing how much work they all put into it, and I can't really see any of those characters being highly inappropriate like FF tends to do….As far as updating, I update when I can. My two girls keep me VERY busy, as does sewing and household chores and tasks…but I will try to update hopefully sometime soon. You are very welcome :)

A response to guest reviewer SMCB: Yeah, pretty much with time management issues…but I am glad you are enjoying it! :) I thank you for the compliments :D Yes, the characters will develop throughout the story for sure. Not all of their journey was action (you see this very much in both the movie and the book- a significant amount of time is spent jumping from action sequence to action sequence with decent chunks of time in between not really shown-at least the extended edition fixed it some). I prefer to show the longevity of the quest and see the characters develop, observing BOTH the action and the quiet times. And in all honesty, there are more quiet times than action times in an adventure such as this. I wanted to "fill in the gaps" that the book/movie left out, as it were ;) As to anxious and patient- I am right with you on the stories I enjoy too! So, yes it is possible ;)

Thanks to all who review, favorite, and follow- without you and your constant encouragement and constructive criticism, I would not be as good of a writer as I am now :D :D :D