Meanwhile the miners from the Iron Hills who had been behind all three assassination attempts on King Thorin's life has been arrested. This time several dwarves, including Dwalin and Runa, had seen that they had caused the cave in and so there was finally enough proof to charge them with attempted murder. Since Thorin was still in his rooms with Balin, Dwalin and Bofur interrogated them.

The miners soon realised that they would most likely die anyways and didn't even try to deny what they had done. Actually they were proud of it and thought that they were heroes who had tried everything to improve the situation of the poorer dwarves of Erebor.

When Bofur told them that they hadn't succeeded in killing neither Thorin nor Poppy but would be charged for accidentally killing Anor, one of the miners grinned evilly. "Well, actually this idiot's death was no accident. When he saved the King, his leg had been injured badly and he couldn't flee. Luckily no one noticed him because they all fussed over the King. So we took care of him. He knew too much and we had to get him out of the way. But since we're not stupid we made it look like an accident." He cocked an eyebrow at Dwalin and Bofur. "Now you can charge us with murder. And if you want to know, we would have killed the King's stupid nephew as well. But there had been to many witnesses right away."

Dwalin wanted to reach for his axes but clenched his fists instead. These bastards would die but they'd get a trial first. He grabbed the dwarf who had explained how they had killed Anor by the collar and dragged him to the deepest and darkest cell Erebor's prison had to offer.

After a few minutes Fili finally calmed down. He kissed Poppy once again. "I'm so glad that you're well."

Poppy smiled at him and then at Dis. "May I hold my son? I'm sure he's hungry as well."

Fili nodded. "Aye love, of course you can hold him. But he has eaten a while ago. One of the healers luckily found a wet nurse for him." He sat down next to his wife on the bed to help her hold the baby.

But suddenly Poppy looked upset. "Why a wet nurse? He's my son! I want to nurse him. I won't let anyone else do that." She said with tears in her eyes.

"Of course you can nurse him, my dear. But we didn't know when you'd wake up and little Thorin had to eat. From now on you can nurse him." Dis explained with a smile and carefully put the baby in Poppy's arms.

"I'm sorry! I thought you wanted to take him away from me." Poppy whispered and stroked her son's dark curls and cheeks.

Fili wrapped his arms around the hobbit and dwobbit and kissed his wife's temple. He realised that Poppy had probably been scared that someone in Erebor wanted to take her son away from her again to raise him as an heir to the throne. "It's ok. No one will take him."

They stayed like this for a while admiring their newborn son. Dis had left them alone to fetch some clothes for Thorin and to check on her husband and brother. She also decided to write a letter to King Thranduil to ask him to send Daisy to Erebor to help taking care of the children. She had promised Kili to find a way to bring the hobbit into safety and away from Tauriel and this was probably the best reason she would get. She gave the letter to one of her most trusted guards and asked them to bring the hobbit to Erebor as soon as possible.

Soon the door opened and Bilbo and Ori peered in. They sighed in relief when Poppy smiled at them. "We're sorry but the little ones have been scared since both of you didn't come home. They want to see you."

Fili sighed. "I should have gone to them but I was too scared of losing Poppy. Would you fetch them, please?"

Ori nodded and left but Bilbo stayed to meet his friends' baby. He smiled at them and chuckled. "He looks like Thorin, I mean the King."

Poppy chuckled as well. "That's why I named him Thorin. But the King isn't happy about that."

Bilbo sighed and pointed at the bandage around Poppy's head. "Did he do that? Did he hit you?"

"Yes, he thought I dared to call him Thorin. But I know he's mad. So I'm not angry at him." Poppy explained.

"I can't understand what has become of him." Bilbo sighed.

Fili swallowed. "I don't know what has happened but he was changed when we found you. He had wrapped you in his coat, begged Oin to save the two of you and sobbed that he was sorry again and again."

Poppy was about to answer but in that moment Ori and Runa arrived with the little ones. They were still scared that something had happened to their parents and held tightly onto the dwarves. Vili held onto Runor's hand, while Runa held Lili and Tulip and Ori carried Ruby.

Fili went towards them and hugged all of them. "I'm sorry that I didn't come to you early. Mama has given birth to your sibling and I had to stay with her. She is still is bit weak and has an injury on her head but you don't have to be scared, alright?"

The little ones nodded and Fili smiled at them. "Would you like to meet Thorin, your little brother?"

Vili, Lili and Tulip gasped when they heard the name since they had only terrible memories of a person called Thorin. So Fili explained that Thorin used to be a wonderful uncle when he was little and that he had changed a lot because he was sick. He also told them why they had decided to name the baby Thorin. Soon the children smiled and wanted to meet little Thorin.

Fili led the children to Poppy's bed and helped them to sit down next to their mother to look at the little boy.

Vili had stayed behind and had asked Runor to meet his little brother as well. He was really excited about having a brother and smiled happily. But Runor told him that he should join his sisters. He would follow soon with his mother to meet the baby. Vili nodded and ran to his parents and siblings.

Fili had sat down behind Poppy again to help her hold Thorin while Lili, Vili, Tulip and Ruby touched their little brother carefully. They stroked his hair and belly and kissed his small cheeks. Poppy smiled down and them and hoped that they could stay that happy together in the future.

Suddenly they've heard Runa gasp because Runor had silently left Poppy's sickroom. She wanted to follow her son but Fili asked her if he was allowed to go instead since he thought he knew why the dwarfling was upset. Runa agreed and went to Poppy with a frown on her face.

Fili left the room and soon found Runor sitting in a corner near the entrance to the infirmary. He kneeled down next to him and pulled him into an embrace. "Runor, what's wrong?"

The dwarfling looked up at the older dwarf and wiped his tears away. "Nothing, Mister Fili."

Fili shook his head. "You shouldn't lie. You're sad because Vili has a brother now, aren't you?"

Runor but his lip but finally nodded. "You won't need me anymore now. Vili has a brother to play with and you have another son to spend time with. You can teach him all the things you wanted to teach me." He explained and sobbed.

Fili looked at the little boy with wide eyes and hugged him again. "You don't have to be afraid, Runor. You will always be Vili's best friend and I will always be there for you as well. But I understand how you feel. When my brother Kili was born I've also thought that my parents and uncle wouldn't love me as much as they used to before. But that's not true. You haven't lost friends, Runor. You have probably gained a new one. Of course for now neither you nor Vili can play with him. So nothing will change for a while. But soon Thorin will grown and then he will want to play with you and follow you all the time. You will be another big brother for him and he will look up to you. I promise, Runor, you don't have to be scared to lose any of us."

Runor looked at Fili with still teary eyes. "Really?"

"Of course, Runor. Would you like to come back in and hold Thorin?" Fili asked with a smile.

"Yes!" Runor exclaimed and started to smile.

Fili took Runor's hand and led the dwarfling back to Poppy's room. He helped him sit next to Vili and carefully put the baby in his arms. Runor held Thorin with a proud smile on his face.

Meanwhile Fili told Runa and Poppy in a low voice what had been wrong with Runor. Runa sighed sadly and thanked Fili for helping her and her son that much.

Soon Oin brought a cradle and clothes for baby Thorin. Runa helped Poppy to dress her son and put him in the cradle to sleep. Lili, Vili, Tulip, Ruby and Runor stood around the cradle and watched, or in Vili's case touched, the little boy.

Runa had left to fetch some food for everyone and Fili had sat down next to his wife on the bed. Poppy had put her head on Fili's shoulder and enjoyed the peaceful moment. She was tired but she knew that she would have to nurse Thorin soon.

Suddenly the door opened and King Thorin entered the room. The children gasped and Vili immediately clutched Runor's hand. All of them were scared that the dwarf might hurt them, their parents or even their baby brother.

Thorin realised how scared they were but still tried to smile at them. Then he went towards Poppy's bed. He bit his lip when he saw the big bandage around the hobbit's head and how pale she still looked. She was shaking with fear and Fili had wrapped his arms around her. The latter looked at his uncle with fear and worry in his eyes. Thorin also noticed the silent plea not to hurt her even more. Then Thorin kneeled down in front of the hobbit and carefully took her hand. "Please forgive me!"