Poppy stayed at Bag End for the next three weeks until she had finally fully recovered. Fili wanted to look after her all the time but she encouraged him to go back to work. The hobbits appreciated his work and she did not want him to lose any customers only because of her. She spent the days with Bilbo cooking and they also started to prepare the wedding. Fili and Poppy had decided to marry in spring, on they day they had first met two years ago. They didn't want to wait too long and this was Poppy's favourite season. Since they didn't have any family and not that many friends they only wanted a little party. But Bilbo had other plans.

#

It was a strange feeling for Poppy to move back to her own smial. She had become used to having company. She wouldn't live alone for long though. After the wedding Fili would move to her home. Normally the newly married couple would get their own new home. But that wouldn't make much sense in their case. Poppy was living alone and her smial was perfectly located next to Fili's forge. The young dwarf didn't have many belongings. So they decided to use all of Poppy's things and maybe get a few new pieces of furniture. Bilbo had decided to buy them a new bed as a wedding present. He found it quite odd that they'd sleep in Poppy's small bed or even her parents' bed. Also Fili was a bit taller than most hobbits, so a bigger bed might be more comfortable for him anyways.

Poppy had also started to work at the Green Dragon Inn again. She needed the money and she also liked her job. Everyone there was glad that she had fully recovered. The children that had caused the accident came to apologise once again and brought a huge basket with food. Poppy hugged all of them and assured them that she wasn't angry.

When Poppy didn't have to work and Fili wasn't too busy in his forge, they spent most of the time in Poppy's smial. Poppy hadn't changed much there since her parents death. Her marriage to Fili would be the beginning of a new part of her life though and she wanted him to feel happy there as well. She did not want to throw away her family's belongings. So they decided to put everything in one of the large unused storage rooms. They painted and slightly redecorated the rooms in the way both of them liked them. Fili actually didn't care about this too much, all he wanted was to be with Poppy.

Poppy found her mother's wedding dress in her parents' bedroom. She had loved this dress since she was a fauntling. A few tears rolled down her cheeks and she held it close to her body. An idea started to form in her mind, at the moment she was thinner than her mother had been but it might work with a few adjustments. She smiled and quickly hid it in one of the cupboards before Fili entered the room.

Fili had brought a small painting of his father, his mother and him when he was 4 years old. He had pictures of Kili and Thorin as well, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to look at them every day. Poppy smiled when she saw Fili as a dwarfling and wondered what their children might look like. She promised Fili to buy a frame at the market the next day and to put it on the wall in the living room next to the picture of her family.

#

One evening Fili stayed at Poppy's because it was hailing quite heavily. She didn't want him to walk all the way up to Bag End and invited him for dinner. When she prepared the food she smiled and wondered if their future life would be like that every day. She doing the household and hopefully taking care of their children and Fili working in the forge and coming home for meals. It would be different from the life she had had until now but she liked the idea to be a wife and mother. Like most hobbit girls she had always dreamed of a big family.

After dinner they cuddled up in one of the armchairs in the living room. Poppy laid her head against Fili's shoulder and he wrapped his arms around her waist. She played with the braids in his hair and moustache and he kissed her occasionally.

Poppy shifted in his arms to look into his face. "Fili, there's something I'd like to ask about the braids if you don't mind?"

"Sure, I'm happy that you want to know more about my culture! You can always ask me everything you want to know." Fili smiled and place another kiss on the tip of her small nose.

Poppy giggled. "Well, when you put the courting braid into my hair, you said that in your culture everyone would know that we're courting. I've been wondering how this is supposed to work if only the female gets a braid? Or do the males normally get a braid, too?"

"Normally the lass puts her braid and bead in the lads hair, too. But I knew that you do not have such things. And it doesn't mean anything here." Fili answered.

Poppy kissed him to stop him from talking and frowned at him "Why do you say it doesn't mean anything? I'm pretty sure that it does mean something to you."

"Aye, it does! And it makes me happy that you allowed me to braid your hair. I only wanted to say that it's not important for hobbits." Fili explained.

"Ah, I see! And do both get wedding braids as well?" Poppy asked. When Fili nooded she continued "I thought that maybe I could braid your hair on our wedding as well. But I don't know how. I can only do simple braids and I don't have a bead either."

Fili smilled brightly. "I wanted to ask you about braiding my hair already, but I thought that you might not want that. You can't imagine how happy I am right now. I will teach you the braid and don't worry about the bead. I will make a matching pair of beads for us." He pulled her closer and kissed her again. He never wanted to let her go again. But it was quite late already and Bilbo might be worried. So he went home soon.

#

A few weeks later Fili and Poppy sat on a fur in front of the fire place. After about two hours of practicing the wedding braid Poppy groaned and laid down on her back. "Maybe we should cancel or postpone the wedding until in ten years or so. I will never learn such a complicated braid."

Fili first looked at her in shock but then started to laugh when he realised why she didn't want to marry him anymore. He laid down on his side next to her and towered above her face. "You don't have to braid my hair. That's no problem at all. Just let me braid your hair."

Poppy frowned "No, Fili! I want to do this properly. I understand that these braids play such an important role in dwarven culture. To me it feels like dishonouring you and our marriage if we don't do this the right way."

Fili smiled and kissed her. "Well, this makes sense. But we still have a few weeks to practice and you're braids aren't that bad. I'm sure you're going to improve even more, no one at the wedding will know what exactly the braid is supposed to look like. So why don't you just try to braid my hair as good as you can and we'll redo it later?"

Poppy nodded in agreement and Fili kissed her again. Until now their kisses had only been short pecks on the lips. When Poppy started to caress his beard, he couldn't resist the urge to deepen the kiss any longer. His hand moved over her belly up towards her breasts and his tongue trailed along her lower lip.

Poppy stiffened. She looked confused and even kind of scared. Fili remembered how inexperienced she was. "Poppy, don't be scared. I'm not going to hurt you. I only wanted to kiss you. I will never do anything you don't want." He sighed "Um, maybe I should better leave now."

Poppy quickly took his hand. "No Fili, please stay!" She blushed "Kiss me!"

Fili smiled and tenderly places his lips on hers. This time Poppy seemed to enjoy the kiss and moaned softly when Fili touched her belly just below her breasts again.