She ached. Everything ached. Evie wasn't sure what hurt worse, the stinging of her infected wound or the uncomfortable throbbing of her heart. Thorin stood over her, and she was worried to discover the cause of the anxiety lining his face.

"Your mother insists that I go…"

Her visitor lamented, and the tortured look in his eyes told her it wasn't an excuse.

"It is better that you do," Evangeline conceded, taking a steadying breath, "if the mountains prove worthy of your people, you have much work ahead of you."

Thorin nodded, his jaw tight. The dwarf's staggeringly blue eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he looked down at her, as if considering his next entreaty.

"What will you do?"

She did not reply for a moment, and for the prince it felt like a century.

"Well, it seems I will not be going anywhere in the near future," she sighed, looking down at her failing body, her legs making shapes under the blankets as she pushed herself up a little higher in bed. "But after I heal… if I heal –" (the very prospect made Thorin's body go stiff and caused the prince to forget the many reasons her very adamant mother had forced upon him to convince him to leave) "then perhaps I will travel again."

It was the only thing she knew how to do, after all. While lately she had been wanting more and more to settle down, at least for a brief period, she also knew she would like to stretch her legs some if she ever escaped her sickbed. And as much as Evie wanted to simply stay for a time… Remaining in the Shire with its merciless simplicity seemed like quitting her own destiny, somehow. Like relinquishing some indefinite future. After everything she had gone through, the hobbit refused to end up right back where she started. Not without some grand change or revelation. A scar wasn't enough to stop her from discovering whatever it was she had set out to find in the first place.

"So you wish to continue your wanderings?"

Thorin asked her, and the pain in his voice was palpable. Evie's stomach turned at his tone, making her feel even feebler than before.

"Unless I had somewhere in particular to go..."

She supplied. The hobbit clearly did not mean the Shire.

Thorin's breath caught in his throat, and Evie could almost feel the things they had always left unsaid filling the thick air between them. She forced her eyes to meet his, her stormy grey confronting his striking sapphire and forcing out an answer.

"What about the Blue Mountains?"

He finally asked, his voice a rich tenor of unacknowledged sentiment. She tore her gaze from his, protesting (despite herself – she could never remember why she said it), "I would only be a distraction; the dwarves would not have some unknown hobbit interfering with their plans as they make themselves a new home…"

"You would not be unknown to them."

It was almost a promise. Evie suddenly forgot how to breathe.

"It will be hard and uncomfortable work," he added, falteringly, "but once it has started and we have begun to build into the mountains… Would you come?"

Evangeline's heart leapt into her throat. She looked back up at him, her clear grey eyes wide.

"Yes."

She breathed, so quietly it was almost inaudible. The dwarf's thin lips curved into a smile, and it was soon mirrored on the hobbit's face as she realized what this could mean. It was nothing stable, nothing certain, yet – all pragmatism and practicality suddenly became meaningless as he defied every thought rushing through her head.

"Please, take this…"

He offered, tugging a ring off his finger and placing it in her small hand. It appeared large and heavy, but proved rather lighter than she had expected – the hobbit gazed down at the object in surprise, feeling the cool metal in her palm. She picked it up with her other hand so she could look at it. Evie tried not to react to the strange sensation she felt when she touched the inside of the ring, sensing the lingering warmth of Thorin's finger. There were dwarven runes on one side of the piece, and she guessed it was a signet ring of some sort. Evangeline swallowed, still trying to grasp the full extent of what was happening.

"Thorin…"

There was a certain gravity in her tone which made him afraid.

"What does this mean?"

"At this moment I cannot give you what I would, what I wish to, but perhaps someday…"

Looking into her huge, expectant silver eyes made Thorin lose himself; it became difficult for the dwarf to speak again even though the words were so clear in his mind.

"It is a promise."

Her heart stopped in her chest. A promise? Of – she knew of what. She knew exactly what this meant, as any female would. No elf, dwarf, hobbit, human, or wizard could deny the meaning of such a gesture. Evie felt as though she couldn't breathe; a thousand questions and fears and rationalities were racing through her mind in an onslaught of nervous energy. This wasn't happening, it couldn't be real; there was simply no possibility…

"Are you able to make such a promise? Are you sure that –"

"My father is gone, and there is no one else to speak for me. I am, of course, bound to serve the dwarves of Erebor, but in this case I believe that my happiness and that of my people will find a common source."

Evie's next breath cracked in her throat. She had always wanted him to say such words, she had always dreamed of the day… Yet somehow, and with the sudden solemnity of truth, reason weighed heavier than desire. As agonizing as it was to acknowledge, Evie felt it as surely as she did the pain of her wound. Perhaps she clung to prudence to assuage her genuine fear of rejection, of failure… She had to touch and feel something before she could believe in it – and there was far too much at risk between them to plunge recklessly into the deep, as often as she was wont to do such a thing.

"If the Blue Mountains are found to be suitable for the dwarves, you must lead your people there and begin the work of building a home… I have no place in that. They need a king, one fully devoted to them and to their cause, not…"

She trailed off, thinking herself an unfair diversion. Thinking of what others would think. She had no right to him, but Durin's Folk did – and she was not about to come between them, however much she would suffer not to do so.

Thorin sighed, his hands folding over one another in an act of uncharacteristic anxiety; perhaps they were unconsciously noting the absence of the ring.

"Your words hold truth; I must put my people first. Before myself. Before even you…"

The way he said it made her feel faint. Evie blamed it on her condition, but she knew it was not her body betraying her but her heart. She took a shaky breath, trying to remain calm, to think…

"If I were in a different position, if I were not myself, son of –"

"Please..." She begged him, her grey eyes bright with feeling, "Do not think in such a way. You are yourself. And I would not.." She paused for the briefest of moments, searching for the fortitude to finish the phrase, "I would not have you otherwise."

A change came over the dwarf's face, his thick eyebrows wavering and his mouth falling open as his breath caught in his chest.

"So you would…"

He could not complete the question, although his meaning was clear. More clear than he had ever been.

"Yes.. Yes, of course."

She exhaled. She had not been sure until she said it, until she heard the words falling from her lips, but once they had been spoken the irrevocable sentiment rang true even to her own often confused heart. This was what she wanted. He was what she wanted. Pretending anything otherwise would be the greatest lie of her life.

"It could be a long time…"

He cautioned, and she refused the warning with a gentle shake of her head. Her thick curls tousled around her on the pillow, framing her face like a golden crown.

"Then it is good fortune that we are still so young."

It seemed her typical lightheartedness had not been wholly claimed by her sickness. Thorin smiled, and Evie strained to remember seeing him looking happier than he did now. It broke her heart, and she could not know why. Both of his hands eagerly wrapped around one of hers, bringing it to his lips in earnest affection.

"Evangeline…"

He called her name, and the fullness of his voice brought a gloss of corresponding emotion to her eyes, as much as she tried to maintain herself.

"I will return for you, or find you, wherever you are, when all this is over.."

He pledged, and her full pink lips pulled into a hopeful smile. She could not believe it was true, that they could come together for a third time (and perhaps forever), and she would not until that day came. The Tooks may be adventurers, but they were reasonable ones at that. A promise was a beautiful thing, but it was a claim to a future which might never come to pass. Even so, the hobbit hurt herself thinking such awful things with him so near, so distractingly, dreadfully close…

There was a gentle knock on the door, and Marigold stepped inside. It was clear she was interrupting something, but all the same the healer knew how much was at stake and could not let the visitor keep her daughter waking any longer than he had to.

"I am sorry to disturb you, but Evie needs her rest."

Thorin nodded, battling between his despair at parting with her and his elation at receiving her returned affections. His grip on the blonde's hand tightened before he released her, their eyes locking again to paralyzing effect.

"I'll permit you to say your goodbyes, but you must leave her or she will not heal."

Mary warned, trying to stay composed as she realized what must be passing between them. She felt her own designated fraction of the terror and excitement they were no doubt experiencing, but amplified by her own sordid past. To think that her daughter might have a future with a dwarf of Erebor, with the very king of those dwarves, was completely beyond her capacity of belief. Marigold thought of her father in law, of her husband, of their deaths and the dark change it had brought to the family… And now her daughter was more tied up in that legacy than any of them. Mary bit the inside of her mouth, turning and stepping back into the hallway to allow the couple one last moment of privacy and to hide the unwanted tears which had begun welling up in her eyes. She was too old for this, the hobbit despaired, and far too bitter.

.

"She is right to worry…"

Evie contemplated morosely, her grey eyes focusing on the large ring still in her hand and reflecting its steely color.

"I may not survive all this."

Her clarification was uninvited, and elicited a desperate noise of protest from the prince.

"Your mother told me…"

"She is trying to be positive." Evie explained, her free hand resting carefully on top of her wound without putting any pressure on the sensitive area. "I also know her craft, and I can tell just how bad it truly is…"

It took a great amount of personal fortitude to meet Thorin's eyes again.

"It is worse than whatever she has told you…" She took a quick breath, realizing her own selfishness almost instantly. If she continued on in such a way, he might refuse to leave her and therefore unwillingly neglect his duty as soon-to-be king. There was a future, a remarkable, incredible, unbelievably perfect future, in which Evie became a queen. If she wanted to be the hobbit who could live out that future, she had to start now. And that meant acknowledging that Thorin was not hers alone, and never would be. His people needed him just as badly as she did, and so it was her duty to start their promised future with a lie.

"Even so," She countered herself, "I am sure my mother will figure something out. It is not so terrible as that…"

"I can stay –"

He would not ignore his obligation to Durin's Folk, not for anyone, yet he could postpone his arrival at the Blue Mountains a few days more if she needed him here.

"No." She said flatly, shifting in the bed and pushing herself up on her pillow.

"No, you must go. I… I will be fine."

She assured him, putting on her bravest face.

"Besides," she considered, "I have quite a lot to fight for."

They shared a smile, although Thorin's appeared even more forced than her own.

"I have already lost you once, Evangeline. I will not lose you a second time."

His voice was gritty and deep; the sound stirred her.

"You will call on me if you ever need anything, or if you are unwell…"

He insisted, and she nodded. "You must go… Before this becomes any harder than it already is."

He made a small noise of agreement. The dwarf leaned forward, placing a tender kiss on her forehead. One of his hands gently grasped her slender shoulder and the other went to the side of her face. His thumb stroked her cheek, calloused fingers drifting across the soft skin of her neck and sending a delightful shiver down her spine. She breathed in when his lips met her forehead, and her brow furrowed longingly beneath his kiss. Thorin felt her heartbeat quicken under the fingers that caressed her neck, and his own was incited to match it. He moved away slowly, admiring the flush of her face and the soft lids of her closed eyes, long eyelashes dark against her pink cheeks. Evangeline soaked up the warmth of him, noticing the heady, unsteadying scent of his body as he bent over her and a few strands of his hair fell across her shoulders.

He mumbled something in his native tongue and slowly backed away, his fingers skimming the line of her jaw as he did. She kept her eyes closed for a moment before opening them again, only to be caught immediately in his debilitating sapphire gaze.

"Until next we meet."

.

.

.

.

.

Author's Note: Thank you for your comments (Yay for 100 reviews! You are all absolutely amazing and I am so grateful for your support!)! I really enjoy reading them and I'm always interested to see what you think of what's happening! I'm trying to let this play out as realistically as possible, as tough as it is to keep Thorin and Evie apart for a little longer… But this chapter is a big milestone, if only in a melodramatic BBC period piece sort of way… hahaha Yet again, I couldn't help myself.

xoxo!