A few weeks later Daisy received a letter from her parents. She was quite scared about their reaction and sat in a rocking chair in front of the fireplace for a long time. She held the letter in one hand and had put the other on her belly. Her baby kicked her a lot and was very active today. The hobbit wondered if her child sensed her distress and was upset about it.

Then Kili entered the room and smiled at his wife. "Hello my love, are you well?"

Daisy rubbed her belly. "The baby is restless and kicks me all the time."

So Kili kneeled down in front of her and put many kisses on her belly. "Shh, shh, please don't hurt your mama." Then he looked at the letter. "What's this?"

"It's a letter from my parents."

"So, what does it say?" Kili asked with a frown.

"I haven't read it yet. I'm so afraid." Daisy said in a low voice.

"Come, let's read it together." Kili suggested and pulled her towards the chair. There Daisy sat down in her husband's lap and slowly opened the letter. She read it silently and then tears pooled in her eyes.

Kili wiped them away but didn't know what to say until Daisy started to smile. "They aren't angry that I was with child out of wedlock. They are very happy for us and really want to meet their first grandchild."

Kili sighed in relief and kissed her. "That's wonderful news. Maybe we can visit them one day."

"Yes, it's a long journey but maybe we can do this once the child is old enough." Daisy said and intertwined her hand with Kili's on top of her belly.

The next few weeks passed quickly. Fili got used to being king and spent a lot of time in council. He had decided to rule a bit differently from Thorin but he still wanted to know what was going on in his mountain. He appointed dwarves who were in charge of several departments like Bofur for the mines, Ori for the library and scribes, Bombur for the kitchen, Dori for the housekeeping or Oin for the health care system. They were aloud to make many decisions on their own or together with Balin and Thorin who worked as head advisors. At least once a week and for important decisions they met with King Fili to inform him about what was going on or to ask about his opinion though.

Some council members didn't like this decision and complained that Fili didn't do his job correctly to have more time with his family. But he explained that he trusted the dwarves he had put in charge and that he would change his way of ruling if things turned bad. So far the changes seemed to help the mountain though.

King Fili also spent a lot of gold to improve the living conditions of the poorer inhabitants of Erebor like the miners. Since he had lived with them for over two years he knew that they needed some more recreational activities, a kindergarten and most importantly better housings. So he sent several builders to upgrade these. At first the houses of the families with dwarflings got their own bathrooms. But he promised that at the end of the building work every home would have one. Once again some council members didn't like this but to Fili improving the living conditions of his people was more important than hoarding even more gold. And the dwarves of Erebor loved him for that.

Although Fili was very busy, he tried to spent every evening and some of the afternoons with his wife and children. Usually they played together in their rooms or simply cuddled in front of the fireplace.

But since it had snowed the previous night Fili suggested that they could built a snow dwarf in front of Erebor. The children cheered happily and so Poppy, Runa, Daisy and Dis dressed everyone with warm boots, coats, scarves, gloves and caps. Then they met Bilbo, Dwalin, Thorin, Fjola, Kili, Fili and several guards at the front entrance.

Kili was quite worried about Daisy going out though. She would give birth soon and he worried that the cold might hurt her and the baby. But after Poppy and Bilbo had explained that it was cold and sometimes even snowed in the Shire as well he relaxed.

Thorin stood a few feet apart from everyone else and adjusted Fjola's shawl. He explained that he didn't want her to catch a cold but in truth he wanted to be close to her. Then he kissed her again and again while she caressed his beard. They loved each other very much and had decided to marry in early spring because they didn't want to wait much longer to finally live together. Dwalin had made quite a lot of fun of Thorin but the latter didn't really care.

Now Dwalin hid behind a tree close to where Thorin and Fjola stood and threw a snow ball at his best friend. Then he stepped in front of the tree grinning like a dwarfing. Thorin grinned as well and threw another snow ball at Dwalin. Soon all males and children threw snow balls at each other and laughed loudly. Dis and Fjola joined the fun while Runa, Poppy, who held Thorin, and Daisy hid behind the guards.

Soon the children started building their snow dwarf. The adults wanted to help them but they insisted to do it on their own. So they stood together and talked. Poppy had finally announced that she was with child again and had already started to show. This had surprised her and now everyone wondered if she might carry twins again.

Suddenly Kili saw Erebor's archers training in the distance. He felt tears burning in his eyes and ran away. The others soon realised what might have troubled Kili and so Daisy, Dis and a guard followed him. The others stayed outside because the children were still playing happily.

In their rooms the hobbit soon saw Kili's bow and arrows on a pile on the floor next to their rubbish bin. She quickly picked it up and sighed. Then she heard Kili's sobs from inside their bedroom but the door was locked.

Daisy didn't know what to do. She wanted to talk to her husband but she also knew that shouting wouldn't help anyone. She asked Dis to inform the family about what had happened but also asked her to leave them alone for now. The dwarrodam nodded and left quietly.

Daisy stood in the middle of the living room rubbing her belly. The baby was restless again and normally the only thing that really calmed him or her down was Kili's voice and touch. She sighed and took a small piece of paper and wrote. "Kili, please don't shut yourself in in our room. I want to help you. I love you and I miss you." Then the baby kicked again and Daisy added with a sad smile. "The baby loves and misses you too."

She slid the piece of paper under the door into the bed room and hoped that Kili would find it. Then she went towards the room that would soon be the nursery and sat down in the rocking chair. She rubbed her belly and told her child about his or her father.