This chapter is brought to you by my Colon, who's still making me ill. Thanks, asshole.

The eagles may have flown for a whole night, but by the end of the day, the pack of Orcs were already on our tail. It was a horrible day, to be honest. No one really talked, and it was just sort of awkward.

I had told Kili I had liked him, and he said he had liked me too, but then it was silence on the airways, really.

We all ran the whole day, and still the Orcs still had nearly caught up to us.

Come nightfall Bilbo was pushed to check how close they were, while Gandalf, the Dwarves, and I waited for him.

Kili and I hadn't talked yet about anything, and while we all quietly waited for Bilbo to tell us the news, Kili stared at me. He had been staring at me all day, really. But now it was just getting a bit too annoying.

"What?" I asked him in a hushed tone, frowning as I looked around to see if anyone was watching us.

Ori was, but Ori always seemed to be watching me at the worst moments. I frowned at Ori and he shrugged. I half expected him to look away, but he still watched Kili and I. What a weirdo.

Kili didn't respond, but merely continued staring at me. And I knew Kili wasn't going to stop staring at me until we talked, so I groaned and looked around again.

"We'll be, like, a minute." I whispered to Fili who was on the other side of me. "Three tops."

"I really don't want to know." Fili said as he raised his brows at me, then looked at his brother before rolling his eyes.

"Well, I-" I began, but Kili grabbed my hand and dragged me farther away from the group, and behind a few trees.

I stared at him, waiting for him to talk.

Kili sighed. "What did you mean by, 'You're my dream'?"

I frowned, looking away and thinking.

I could tell him the truth. That somehow during the last week of my life, I had started to seriously like him. Or I could lie. I mean, it had to be obvious though, right? It's not like I liked the truth that much myself either. Like come on now, Malia. How lame can you get to fall in love?

"Malia." Kili said, his free hand gently caressing my cheek as his hand pulled my face so I'd have look at him again.

God, what a hottie. Ugh.

"I meant what I said, geez." I said, slightly hostile.

What can I say? I don't know how to function like an actual person in romantic situations. Not without lashing out weirdly.

"I romantically like you, or whatever. It's… whatever." I continued, shrugging and trying to avoid looking into Kili's eyes.

Kili didn't speak, and I still didn't have the heart to look at him.

I was exhausted, and honestly, very pessimistic. I mean really, Kili with me? I was just about the least female thing ever. The dress that the elves had given me was in the most shitty condition ever, and I swore like a sailor. He deserved better. He deserved a real Dwarf woman, with Dwarf-knowledge and wit, and those other things I didn't have much of.

I pulled away from him, and his hand fell off of my cheek. But he didn't let go of my hand.

And when I pulled more, he yanked me back into his strong arms. I raised a brow at him, trying to figure out what he was doing.

Kili didn't even hesitate, he merely smiled that dumb toothy grin, his face lighting up as he brought his face to mine and gently placed his lips against mine.

I'm not going to mince words. Kili's kisses are the bee's knees. I know, sorry.

Mind you, I had been kissed before. It never was the most pleasant though. It was normally more or less an awkward situation for everyone involved. The first guy I had kissed, Scott, stopped talking to me after I made a weird joke after we kissed. I was 15 and nervous, I'm not sure what he had expected.

Probably not a pun stemming from a song from the 80's, though.

Kili pulled away from me, and I stared at him in awe and confusion.

I was actually silenced. Stunned to silence from the fact that I could still feel how gently his lips pressed against mine. How right it felt, and how weird that was to me. I had never kissed someone and thought, 'Yeah, I'd like to do that again.'

"Was that crossing a line?" Kili asked as he looked down at me, clearly unable to read how I felt.

"I mean," I paused, smiling. "Yes."

Kili's face fell.

"It was a good line to cross, though." I quickly spat out.

Kili's smile returned, and he brought his hand up to brush the hair out of my face.

Although part of me really didn't want this to end ever, I still spoke up.

"We need to return to the company." I said.

"Right." Kili cleared his throat, a neutral expression dawning on his face as he stepped away from me, letting go. "As you were." He motioned for me to go back.

I tilted my head at him, raising a brow. He looked me up and down then winked, and I rolled my eyes.

"As you were." I retorted, and I turned and started heading back to the company, Kili right behind me.

The first words I heard when we got in earshot of the company was Gandalf saying;

"Neither."

I quietly snuck in, slinking past Bofur to stand next to Fili.

"He will help us or… he will kill us." Gandalf said, sighing.

"Huh?" I choked.

"What choice do we have?" Nori asked, giving me a weird glance before looking back at Gandalf.

In the distance a creature roared, and Gandalf's frown grew. "None."

And we were back to running. To a house, apparently. And we ran, and ran. Through rivers, and over hills, and down hills. All night and all the next day, with very few breaks. The few breaks we did have consisted of me trying to catch my breath and drink as much was as possible. I drank out of very dodgy rivers, but I mean. When in Rome, right?

We ran as fast as we could to the house. I didn't dare turn around, especially when I heard the roars get closer behind us.

We continued running through gates, and only stopped after the door of the house was shut and the beast was on the other side, scratching at the door.

"What is that?" Ori asked as he looked at the door.

"That is our host." Gandalf said, looking exhausted.

"I'm sorry," I blinked. "What?"

I had felt like I had missed something. Honestly, story of my life in Middle-Earth.

"His name is Beorn. And he's a skin changer. Sometimes he's a huge black bear. Sometimes he's a great strong man. The bear is unpredictable."

"As bears typically are." I threw in, nodding as if I knew what was going on.

I didn't.

Gandalf sighed. "But the man can be reasoned with. However, he is not overfond of dwarves."

Ori pressed his ear to the door. "He's leaving."

"Come away from there." Dori snapped, grabbed Ori's arm and pulling him away. "It's not natural. None of it."

Gandalf turned and gave a pointed look at Dori.

"Its obvious he's under some… dark spell." Dori continued.

"Don't be a fool. He's under no enchantment but his own." I could tell Gandalf was as exhausted as we were. "All right now, get some sleep. All of you. You'll be safe here tonight."

"Should we be stealing food from a bear?" I asked Bombur as I watched him cook wearily. "That sounds like a breach. We've already ambushed his house."

"Shut up Lassie. Eat." Dwalin said as he grabbed bowl of stew and shoved it at me.

"Charming as always, Dwalin." I said to him dryly, taking the bowl and walking away from him.

I heard him laugh behind me, but I continued on until I found a corner in the dinning room and sat in it, on the floor. Alone.

Dwalin had given me meat. He wanted to kill me, apparently. That was his way of saying thanks for saving his king, by killing me.

"What are you doing over here?" Kili asked, raising a brow at me, his own bowl of stew in his hands.

"Trying to find the courage to eat meat." I said to him.

"It's only," Kili started, but I cut him off.

"Please don't tell me what animal is in this stew." I said to him, lifting the spoon out of the bowl and looking at the stew.

Kili sighed, and sat down in front of me. "I can see this is very hard for you."

"Ten years." I said to him. "I haven't eaten meat in ten years. The proteins in my body need to relearn how to break down meat. It's not going to be fun."

I felt Kili's eyes on me, but I didn't look at him, and instead kept looking at the stew.

"You need to eat it, Malia." Kili said. "If you don't, I'll be forced to take drastic measures."

I finally looked up at him, a smile growing on my face as I saw the twinkle in his eyes. "Drastic measures?"

"Aye." He nodded. "I'll force feed you the whole bowl, if I have to."

"If you do that I'll probably throw up on you." I said to him.

"That's a risk I'm willing to take." Kili said. "So what will it be?"

I looked down at the stew, scooping some up in my spoon and slowly bringing it to my mouth.

I'm not going to lie, it tasted good. Whatever meat it was, it wasn't bad. Bombur was a good cook, that explained the weight.

Kili watched me eagerly.

"It's not going to affect me right away, Kili." I said to him. "It's not the eating itself I'm worried about…" I paused. "…it's the digesting."

Kili snorted. I watched him eat as I continued to eat my stew.

"You never told me why you don't have braids." I said to him.

"Do I need to have braids?" He asked me, a smile forming on his face.

"You said that it was important to have braids." I reminded him.

"I can't braid." Kili admitted, shrugging and looking down at his bowl.

"Couldn't you get someone else to do it for you?" I asked him.

"I could." He agreed. "But I couldn't live with the shame of having to know my mother braided my hair."

"Wow." I snorted. "Dragging your mother, aren't you? I thought you loved your mother."

Kili smiled at me, and I knew he had no clue what I was really saying. He got the gist of it though.

"I do love my mother, but it's a wee bit childish to have to have her braid my hair." Kili said. "It's not like I could re-braid it whenever I needed to bathe either."

"Well, I guess the real question now is, do you want braids?" I asked him.

He looked at me skeptically. "Aye."

I stared at him, waiting for him to connect the dots. I had braided my hair at least 3 times in front of him on this journey, and yet he still didn't understand what I was trying to say to him.

"Can I braid your hair then for you?" I asked him.

"You want to braid my hair?" Kili sputtered.

"Why is this surprising you?" I asked him. "There isn't a euphemism that I'm missing, is there?"

"No."

"Good, 'cause I can't do euphemisms. Sometimes even metaphors are a little too much for me."

Kili chuckled, and then stared at me for a moment. "Do you really want to braid my hair for me?"

"Why are you acting like this a lifetime commitment?" I teased him.

He smiled, looking away for a moment. "You'll have to keep braiding it at least until we get to Erebor."

"That's fine." I said, shrugging. "It'll give me something to do with my hands, besides rebraiding my own hair."

Kili looked back at me again, staring into my eyes before sighing, and then nodding.

"Finish your stew, and then we will figure out the logistics." I said to him as I stood up.

"And where are you going?" He asked me as I stepped over his knee.

I took a few more steps away from him before looking back. "I'm going to go wait by the bathroom…" God, he did not need to know this. "…just in case."

He snorted, his face crinkling up with laughter. I smiled at him and turned back around to walk away.

"Malia." Kili said, and I turned back to look at him. "I hope everything comes out well."

I couldn't even stifle my laughter. I burst out laughing, and so did he. It wasn't long before all the noise we were making attracted attention.

"What's going on?" Bofur asked as he peered his head out at us from the hallway.

I shook my head at Bofur, still laughing as I walked towards Bofur, and then around him to the kitchen to put away my bowl.

Kili had found me where I told him I would be, and the moment he saw me sitting outside the bathroom he started laughing again. Just hearing his laughter got me going again, and he had to help me off of the floor because I couldn't stand up whilst laughing so hard.

"So what are these logistics we need to figure, Malia?" Kili asked as he kept ahold of one of my hands.

"I already figured out what I want to do." I told him, as I held onto his hand tighter and started dragging him down the hallway.

I dragged him to the living room, which was literally a room full of living creatures, and bundles of hay.

I stopped, looking around the room. I spotted a bundle of hay across the room and led him to it.

"Right, you sit on the ground." I told him as I let go of his hand. "Right in front of me." I said as I sat down on the bundle of hay.

I watched him start to sit down, and snorted.

"Not facing me, you Twix. Put your back right here." I patted to the side of hay between my legs.

Kili frowned, but did as I asked. "What's a Twix?" He asked as he settled closer to me, his back resting on my lower legs. The warmth from his body felt really nice.

"It's a candy." I said to him as I looked at his head. "It's got a biscuit, and caramel, covered in chocolate. Very yummy."

"Why'd you call me that?"

"I'm sorry." I said sarcastically as I gently placed my hands on his head. His hair was soft. "I don't have a fun name for you. Unless you want me to call you Killian."

Kili let out a breathy laugh. "You can call me Kee. It's what Fili calls me."

"Kee." I said it to myself as I carefully took out his barrette. "I like it." I paused. "Both the nickname and your barrette."

I put the barrette down beside me on the hay and started braiding his hair quietly.

"Sing me a song." Kili said.

"Right." I sighed, thinking as I continued carefully lace-braiding his hair.

"You taught me the courage of stars before you left,
How light carries on endlessly, even after death.
With a shortness of breath, you explained the infinite.
How rare and beautiful it is to even exist.

I couldn't help but ask,
For you to say it all again.
I tried to write it down,
But I could never find a pen.
I'd give anything to hear,
You say it one more time,
That the universe was made,
Just to be seen by my eyes.

I couldn't help but ask,
For you to say it all again.
I tried to write it down,
But I could never find a pen.
I'd give anything to hear,
You say it one more time,
That the universe was made,
Just to be seen by my eyes.

With shortness of breath, I'll explain the infinite.
How rare and beautiful it truly is that we exist."

Kili didn't speak for a few minutes after I finished singing. But when he finally did, he said;

"That was beautiful." He sighed. "All the songs from your world are beautiful."

I chuckled, shaking my head even though he couldn't see. "No, they aren't." I paused. "I could've chosen Cake by the Ocean."

"Waste time with a masterpiece, don't waste time with a masterpiece,
You should be rolling with me, you should be rolling with my, ah
You're a real-life fantasy, you're a real life fantasy,

But you're moving so carefully; let's start living dangerously
Talk to me baby,
I'm going blind from this sweet sweet craving whoa-oh
Aye aye aye aye aye I keep on hoping we'll eat cake by the ocean."

Kili laughed. "So maybe they aren't all beautiful. Perhaps I just enjoy your singing."

If that had been him flirting with me, I hadn't noticed.

"You'd be the first." I said, finishing the lace braids and grabbing the barrette, pinning them both together in the same spot the barrette was in before. "Well maybe not first. I've had a few kids who have heard me sing and not cry." I looked down at his hair and nodded. "I finished."

"How does it look?" Kili asked as he turned around in his spot to look at me.

He looked beautiful. But, it was Kili and he always looked beautiful.

"It looks good." I said, feeling my cheeks grow warm. "It suits you."

His smile grew bigger as my cheeks grew redder. He lifted a hand up to his head and carefully felt the braids.

"What does it mean, to eat cake by the ocean?" Kili asked as he kept smiling at me.

"It doesn't have a definitive meaning." I said to him. "But to me, the song means live your life and have fun."

Kili stared at me for a moment in thought, nodding his head.

Fili came into the room, stopping abruptly and looking from Kili to myself.

"What'd you do to his hair?" Fili asked.

"Don't act like it doesn't look good." I snapped at him.

Fili was taken aback by my snark. "It looks fine, I just wasn't expecting it."

My stomach grumbled, and I groaned. "I do not need any comments from either of you about my stomach." I remarked as I jumped out of my seat, and ran to the bathroom.

In case you were wondering, it hadn't been nearly as bad as it could've been. I had heard horror stories about people in my world who had accidentally eaten meat and then been in agony for hours, but maybe Middle-Earth was different. Or maybe my body had gotten enough shocks in the last week, that eating meat was the least of its worries.

Of course when I left the bathroom I was singing. You try living without music. I used to go everywhere while listening to music.

"So you want to know just how I feel about you,
I could live without you just don't want to,
I cross my heart and hope to die,
But my heart says you're dying to cross my mind,

Oh the night is so young,
It hurts"

Kili startled me from my singing while I had been walking down the hallway away from the bathroom.

"You all right?" Kili teased me, a big smile forming on his face.

"Shut up, I'm fine." I said to him, and I could feel my face grow hotter.

God, how embarrassing.

Kili beamed down at me, and when I ignored this and tried to walk past him, I blocked my path again.

I stared at him, waiting for him to move out of my way. But he didn't, he merely brought his face closer to mine, kissing me. It wasn't like our other kiss. This one lasted, our mouths exploring each other's and neither of us seemed to want it to end. I wanted to be closer to him, so close. I could tell he wanted to be closer to me too, because his arms wrapped around me, pulling me closer to him.

When his mouth had left mine, I was very confused.

"Why are you kissing me like that after I've just gone to the bathroom?" I asked him, raising a brow at him as I stared at him incredulously. "I've just been, well." I really needed to learn how to shut up. "Not well. Isn't that weird?"

I paused. "Or maybe it isn't weird to you, considering Bilbo told me you all destroyed his plumbing."

Kili cackled, smiling at me while shaking his head in disbelief of my words.

"It's true, that's what he had said." I said.

Kili didn't respond, he merely smiled and laughed.