When Fjola was gone, Fili sighed sadly. He knew that he had to talk to Poppy but he didn't know how. Seconds later the blond dwarf heard a knock on the door. He left the children's room and one of the servants told him that one of the council dwarves wanted to talk to him.

Fili looked towards his mother, who promised him to look after Poppy and then followed the servant towards his official study. There one of the servants talked to him about the amount of gems that had been mines for a long time and urged him to read and sign several papers. Fili sighed in relief when the council dwarf was finally gone but decided to stay in his study to read the documents before he would come to him again.

After a while he looked at the picture of his family that hung opposite to his desk. He groaned and threw all the papers onto the floor. He buried his face in his hands and started crying desperately; his family needed him but he had to deal with completely useless papers. He was also King and Thorin had taught him that the kingdom was more important than family though. He took his crown and angrily threw it on the floor.

Outside the room Thorin heard the noise and carefully entered Fili's study to see what was wrong. He found his nephew with his head on the desk crying like he hadn't seen him crying for a long time. He went towards him and put his hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, lad."

Fili startled and looked at his uncle with wide eyes. "You know?" He asked.

Thorin nodded. "Aye, Fjola told me that she worries that Poppy would die if you had any more children. I hope you're not angry that she told me?"

"No, it's alright. I would have talked to all of you about it anyways. But I don't know how to tell Poppy. I know that she wanted many more children." Fili whispered.

"Fili, you have seven wonderful children. I'm sure she understands and won't want to risk her life to have more. Just talk to her when she's feeling better." Thorin tried to reassure his nephew.

Fili nodded but didn't look completely convinced.

"What happened here?" Thorin asked when he finally noticed all the papers lying on the floor.

"I have to sign these but this seems to be such a stupid task at the moment. All I can think about are Poppy, Iris and Azalea. I'm sorry, Thorin. I know that you have to be really disappointed." Fili replied with fresh tears in his eyes.

"Fili, I'm sorry! This is all my fault. I placed the burden of being King on your shoulders too soon. You should have had more time just for your family but I've been too selfish. I'm sorry." Thorin tried to apologise.

"It's alright, uncle. You didn't force me to become .king, I agreed to your proposal." Fili said and tried to smile.

"Aye, but I knew you would. After everything I did you e been there for me all the time. Now it's time for me to help you." Thorin smiled. "Take some time off; spend it with your family. They will all be happy to have you around. I will cover for you in council. I promise that I will only bother you with extremely important decisions." The older dwarf suggested.

Fili stood up and embraced his uncle. "Thank you, uncle! This would help me a lot."

Thorin nodded and they sat down to discuss a few things Thorin had to know. Then Fili finally returned home but Poppy was already asleep again.

Fili helped his wife to nurse their twins twice during the night and also cuddled with little Thorin who wasn't used to be in his mother's arms.

Fili left early the next morning without telling anyone that he wouldn't be in council. He left for Dale because he wanted to surprise his wife and he hoped that he would get everything he needed there.

Lili, Vili, Tulip and Ruby woke up early as well and ran towards Runa's room. The dwarrodam was surprised to see them up that early but smiled at them. "Good morning, my gems. Is something wrong?"

Lili smiled at her. "No, but we have a question." She quickly continued when Runa nodded with a smile. "We want to surprise Mama. She is always there when we're sick and now we want to help her."

Tulip nodded. "Can we make breakfast for her?"

Runa smiled. "Of course but I'll help you to cook alright. I don't want you to get burnt."

The children nodded and ran to the kitchen with Runor. Runa quickly followed them with a smile on her face. She helped the children to fry some bacon, eggs and the tomatoes the children head cut into halves. Meanwhile she watched them cut apples and different berries for a fruit salad with some nuts as a special treat. At the end Runa made some tea and allowed the children to put milk and honey into it.

Finally Lili took the plate with the hot food while Tulip took the salad and Ruby the tea. Vili ran to his room and fetched his favourite book.

Runa first checked on Poppy, who was already awake and felt a bit better before she let the children into the room. They smiled brightly at their mother and carefully out the food into the bedside table. "Mama, we made breakfast for you!" Vili announced proudly. Then he added. "But Runa helped with the stove. So you don't have to worry."

Poppy looked at her children and started to cry. The children looked at each other in worry and Ruby even started to sob. The hobbit realised that her children didn't understand why she was crying and told them that she was so happy about their surprise that she had to cry.

Lili, Vili, Tulip and Ruby cheered when they realised that their mummy loved their surprise and climbed onto the bed to hug her. Then Runa sat little Thorin onto the bed next to her. He crawled towards his mother and threw his little arms around her.

Poppy stroked over her children's heads but she was still too weak to move a lot. So Runa asked her if she needed her help to eat. The hobbit felt a bit ashamed but nodded. "Yes, please! If you don't mind helping me."

Runa smiled. "I'm your handmaiden after all. But dint worry. I'd also do this for you if I weren't."

A short while after Runa started helping Poppy to eat, Vili sat down on the bed next to her with his book. "Mama, I've learnt my last letter two days ago. I can read my favourite story on my own now. Can I show you?"

"Of course, my dear." Poppy smiled, she knew how happy it made her oldest son to be able to read and write. So Vili opened his book and started reading his favourite story while Poppy ate her breakfast.

In the moment Vili finished reading the bedroom door opened and Fili entered the room. He hit his surprise behind his back and watched the scene in front of him.

Ruby immediately noticed him. "Papa! Papa! Look we cooked breakfast for Mama!"

Fili looked slightly panicked. He worried that the children might have hurt themselves but luckily they looked fine.

Runa smiled at him. "Don't worry! I didn't let them near the stove."

"But the breakfast was our idea. We wanted to surprise Mama because she is always their for us when we are sick or have a nightmare." Lili explain.

"That's a wonderful idea, my gems!" Fili told his children proudly and with a bright smile. "I hope Mama will like my surprise as well." He went to Poppy and kissed her. He sat down next to her and revealed a huge bouquet of flowers.

Poppy looked at the flowers and fresh tears filled her eyes. "These are the flowers our daughters are named after." She whispered and looked at the lilies, tulips, irises, azaleas, poppies and red roses.

"I chose the roses for Ruby because they are red like a ruby." Fili explained.

"Thank you! They are wonderful!" Poppy said happily and touched Fili's hand.

The dwarf kissed her again and smiled. "I have another surprise. Thorin will attend the council meetings for me. So I can be here with you most of the time."

Poppy smiled and the children cheered; they were all happy to spend more time with their father.

Hello everyone! I just want to let you know that I will be in New Zealand until the end of the month. I will try to write there but I can't promise that I'll be able to update often :)