I own nothing. All rights go to Tolkien and Peter Jackson.

NOTE: The "age" at the beginning of each section is Kili's age at the time

SIX TIMES THEY MIGHT'VE MET

AGE: 1 year

"Please?"

"No."

"...pretty please?"

"The answer's still no, no matter how pretty."

"But Aunt Kallyn, it's red! You know red is my favorite in the whole world!"

The shop owner, Marrrown, put on his best smile as he approached the girl, begging the elderly woman she was with, pointing to something on his table. The woman had wrinkled, but still sharp features, and her wiry gray hair was tucked into a scarf, though a few strands flew out around her face. The girl was barely able to peek above the edge of the table, but her dark gaze was locked onto a swirl-shaped brooch with a red polished bit of glass in the center. "I see you're interested in that pin."

"Yes," the girl immediately answered while the elderly woman gave him a hard glare.

"No, we are not interested, thank you."

Marrown ignored the old woman, speaking directly to the girl, who looked up at him pleadingly. "If it's red you like, we've got some lovely necklaces over here."

The girl's gaze shot up to the woman. "Aunt Kallyn, necklaces. Necklaces."

"They'll choke you while you're sleeping. Now come on, those potatoes aren't going to buy themselves."

Marrown heard the girl continue to protest as she was literally dragged away into another section of the market. Marrown busied himself for a few minutes polishing up a few pieces of jewelry that had been marred by fingerprints. He set down the last piece, a ring with a clear gem on it, just as another group approached his stall. It was a dwarven man and woman, both of them with dark hair, and similarly sharp, stormy eyes. Siblings, perhaps? The female one was carrying a small bundle, that, upon closer inspection, was an infant, with a thick head of dark hair already growing, and a nose like the woman Marrown could assume was the child's mother.

"We haven't time for this, sister," the male dwarf gritted out. "Fili will wake any moment."

"Oh, hush," the dwarven woman sighed, her eyes scanning over the bits of metal on the table. "I'll only be a minute."

"What can I interest you in?" Marrown asked her, smiling.

"Oh, I'm just looking," she replied distractedly, beginning to bounce the baby on her hip as it woke slightly.

Another small voice piped up, and Marrown looked down, in a bit of shock, to see the little girl from before, cheeks flushed from exertion, at the edge of the table. "I got away. Now, how much for the pretty red one?"

Marrown chuckled, his surprise fading. This was a mischievous little brat. "Where's your Aunt gone, lass? She'll be looking for you."

"Will not!" she protested. "She's too busy with potatoes."

He wondered for a moment at her obvious distaste for potatoes, but the dwarven woman spoke suddenly. "Kili! Let go of that."

The baby in her arms had snatched a bit of jewelry out of the woman's hand. On closer inspection, it was the pin the girl had been so very fond of. The girl gasped as she witnessed what had happened. "He likes my pin too!"

"There you are."

That was the elderly woman from earlier, relief clear in her eyes upon finding the little girl, still gaping at the dwarven woman as she extricated the pin from the baby's grasp. "I can't believe you ran off!" the woman admonished, reaching down for the girl's hand. "I've been half-mad looking for you. Now come on, I still haven't found my potatoes."

"Sorry about that," the dwarven woman chuckled, as she set the pin back on the table. "He seems to love red."

Marrown nodded, still able to see the elderly woman dragging the girl away. "But Aunt Kallyn, that hairy baby-"

"He's less hairy than you," the elderly woman snapped back. "Now pick up your feet before I do it for you."

"But-" the girl was cut off with a screech as the woman did just as she'd threatened. At this sound, the baby began stuttering in its breathing, a sure sign of an imminent temper tantrum. As the two dwarves walked away, trying to nurse the baby back into silence, Marrown sighed. Business just wasn't as good as it used to be.

AGE: 17 years

Glory liked singing. She knew lots of songs, the ones Kallyn had sung to her, the ones she heard on the streets, and a few that she'd even made up herself. There was one she was particularly proud of, that she'd come up with when she saw a frog dead on the street the previous fortnight.

Mallyn even said she had a pretty voice! And why would Mallyn lie? She was very nice. Nicer than Kallyn, although Glory did find herself missing the old hag sometimes...

Her musing was interrupted as she nearly tripped over something on the ground, letting out a rather undignified squeak as she narrowly avoided a nasty fall. She regained her footing in a moment, but her heart still thudded painfully in her chest. However, she soon found herself astonished as she got a closer look at the thing she'd tripped on. Was it..."Are you a baby?'

The little boy, who'd been crouched on the side of the road, wrinkled his nose up at her, mumbling, "No."

Glory crouched down beside him. "Then what are you?"

"Kee."

"A key?" Glory frowned. No he wasn't. She was quite positive that he'd be entirely useless in opening doors.

"Kee? Brother!"

She glanced up at that other voice, echoing down the street, before looking back down at the small boy, crouched on the ground. "Do they know you?"

"Brudder," the boy spat out, furrowing his brow in upset. "Fee's mean."

"Mean?" If there was one thing Glory didn't like, it was meanies. Kallyn always said that the meanies were just people that got dropped on their head when they were little. There must be a lot of people that got dropped on their heads, because it seemed like there were a lot of meanies.

The boy nodded.

"Kee! Come on!"

Glory looked up to see a blonde boy with longish hair standing down the street a bit. "Are you the meanie?"

"What?" he asked, frowning in confusion. "I'm not a meanie!"

"The key says you are!" she cried, standing and pointing at the little boy, who was watching their exchange with wide eyes.

The blonde boy rolled his eyes. "C'mon Kee. Let's get away from this stupid girl."

Glory gasped as the little boy dragged himself up to his feet. "I'm not stupid! Mallyn says I'm really clever!"

"Then Mallyn's stupid too!" the boy shot back, striding forward to grab the little boy by the hand, dragging him away.

Glory struggled for something to say as she watched their retreating backs. "Well...I bet you got dropped on your head twice!"

The boy turned to stick his tongue out at her, shouting, "Doesn't make you less stupid!" before disappearing around a corner.

Glory huffed. Boys were mean.

AGE: 38 years

Kili rubbed viciously at his eyes, swinging his legs at a savage pace over the edge of the bridge. No, he was not crying. Durins didn't cry. But boy, did Kili want to. It just wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that Fili got all of Uncle Thorin's attention just because he was the oldest and got to inherit the throne. Fili didn't even want the throne! He's said so a few times. But every time Kili had offered to take the duty off of his hands, his brother would simply laugh, and tell him that it was nice of him to offer.

Sometimes, it felt like everyone just ignored Kili. Like he wasn't important. Not to Fili, not to Mama, and certainly not to Uncle Thorin. He couldn't count on his hands the number of times in the past week his Uncle had dismissed him with a quite distracted, "Not now, Kili. This is important."

So he wasn't important then?! He clenched his fists tight, longing to rip, punch, destroy, just to hurt something! Maybe that would show his uncle that he wasn't just something you could always push aside in favor of the better son of Dis!

He heard footsteps behind him, and froze. "Fee, go away."

"M'name's not Fee, and I'm not goin' away."

For some reason, Kili felt more heat push behind his eyes. So Fili didn't even bother coming after him?

Someone sat beside him, and he glanced over to see it was a girl. Oh, he wasn't very fond of girls. They just never seemed to understand. "This is where I come when I'm angry too," she said, quite simply. All Kili could see of her was her pale, bare feet swinging over the water like his.

"Not angry..."

She snorted, and Kili resisted the urge to push her right off the ledge. "Don't bother. What's happened?"

Part of him wanted to tell this girl. That way, at least someone would understand how hard it was to be him. But he refused to stoop to that level. She was a girl, and girls were, on principal, stupid. She'd probably not understand. "...Go 'way."

The girl paused for a while. "I think you're the same age as my brother."

Kili couldn't deny, this caught his interest. "How old's he?"

"Eleven."

Kili scoffed. This girl was stupid. "I'm not eleven. I turned thirty-eight last month."

"You're acting like you're eleven," she shot back, tone unforgiving.

"And you're acting like a girl!"

"Good thing I am one, then," she chuckled drily.

There was a long silence in which Kili refused to dignify this annoying girl with a response. She eventually broke the silence, though. "Sometimes, people are stupid, aren't they?"

Kili ignored her. She finally stopped swinging her feet underneath her, pulling her knees up to her chest. "Seems like no one else understands you, and like no one else could."

He found himself agreeing with her.

"It's just not fair, is it?"

Despite his best efforts, Kili found himself looking up at her. To his surprise, there were tears welling in her dark eyes, though her expression remained blank. "No," he said quietly. "It's awful."

She nodded, and Kili watched, transfixed, as a tear dripped from her eye, sliding down her cheek and off her chin. As she silently began crying, Kili felt tears begin to build in his own eyes, and for once, he didn't fight them. He deserved to cry. Here he was, miles from home, thrown out by an Uncle, brother, and mother who only saw him as an annoyance. And the only comfort he had was this random girl he was sitting on the edge of a bridge beside, while the both of them sobbed silently to themselves. That, at least, was deserving of a good cry.

His head began to throb dully, as he ran out of tears. His face was slick with salty tears, and his nose had run snot all down his face. He was an utter mess, and just couldn't bring himself to care. What did it matter if he was never really going to be anything but Fili's annoying little brother, anyway?

"Stand up," the girl said, suddenly. He glanced up, a bit surprised to see her standing, scrubbing the tears off her face with the sleeve of her jacket. "Come on, get up."

Kili dragged himself to obey, halfheartedly swiping a sleeve over his nose. "Why?"

"I left my brother at home alone, and I'm not going to leave you here like this."

"Where's your mum? Can't she just look after him?" Kili scuffed a boot in the dirt. He didn't feel like going anywhere. He just wanted to stay and sit on this bridge.

"She's dead," the girl said, quite simply.

"Oh," was the only response he could muster.

"Aren't you coming then?"

He nodded.

AGE: 45 years

There was quite a hoopla going on in the town square when they arrived in the little southern town. It was nearing sunset, and the space was filled with humans, dancing and laughing. Ori had quite insisted that they just ate at the tavern then retired for a good night's rest, but Kili, Fili and Bofur had all wanted to join in the festivities a bit, so they all agreed that they'd go back to the room before midnight. Kili was starting to think that far too early of a curfew. The wine flowed freely at this gathering, which Kili eventually identified as a wedding, and Fili was too busy getting smashed himself to keep Kili from drinking a bit more than what might have been good for him. He'd kept it under control, of course, due mostly to a fretting Ori, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't at least a little tipsy.

Not to mention the fact that drunken humans were fun. They laughed easily, danced easily, sang easily; all the most fun things in the world. Except one girl. He'd seen her an hour ago, sitting under a tree on a small bench. She looked a year or two older than him, and pretty enough, he supposed. Not necessarily as...exciting as some of those flirty, buxom lasses with braided hair and corsets, but nice enough. Many people stopped by to talk to her, and she entertained them with a bit of a smile and a light tone, but Kili could tell it was fake. The smiles never managed to reach the darkness of her eyes.

Confidence bolstered by half a dozen swooning lasses and more than a few glasses of wine, Kili sauntered over, seating himself beside her on the bench. "Lovely night, isn't it?"

"Lovely enough," she answered in a soft voice.

"You don't have to lie to me, you know," he told her in a bit more of a hushed tone. "I know you're miserable."

She chuckled humorlessly, but didn't reply.

"So, tell me, what's got such a pretty little lass such as yourself upset?"

She leaned back against the tree, crossing her arms over her chest. There was a long pause before she spoke. "See the groom?" He followed her pointing to a man near the center of the square, caught up in the dance. He was a few years older than this girl, with sandy brown hair and a warm complexion. "He's my brother."

"Oh." Kili wasn't expecting that. They hardly looked alike...

"And today will officially mark the disappearance of the last person in this Guldur-forsaken realm that actually cares about me."

Kili raised a brow, watching the man twirl about a fair, ornately dressed woman he assumed was the bride. "Is the new wife that bad?"

"No," the sullen girl huffed. "She's perfectly pleasant. But I'm not going to live in their house. I'd not belong."

"I suppose not," Kili mused. This did seem to be a rather tough situation..."But isn't tonight supposed to be for merriment?"

She 'hmm'ed in response, eyes a bit unfocused and gloomy.

"Enough sulking then." He raised a hand, and in a moment, he had a sizeable glass of fragrant red wine in his grasp. "Drink this."

She eyed the cup. "I'm not particularly in the mood to be cheered up right now, Master Dwarf. So, if you don't mind..."

"I do mind." He grabbed up her wrist, placing the glass of wine in her hand. "Drink it."

She shot him a glare, but tipped the glass back, draining it in a few seconds. "Happy?"

He grinned. "I will be if you'll give me the pleasure of this dance."

"Bloody dwarves," she groaned under her breath, but placed her hand in his.

AGE: 49 years

It was a miserable night out. Rain had been falling steadily for the past two hours, turning the ground into a pool of muddy slop. He had been forced to travel nearly the whole day in this downpour, as Thorin insisted they reach the next town before calling it a day. By the time they reached the small town, all of his muscles ached, his stomach burning with hunger. Thorin sent Kili and his brother out to find the inn while Thorin worked out lodging for their horses at the local stable. Fili and Kili had split up about five minutes ago, each going down the main street in different directions. However, for Kili, the main street turned into a side street, which turned into an alleyway, and within minutes, he was lost. Mahal, everything looked the same in these human towns.

After a few long minutes of wandering, he caught sight of an alleyway that seemed familiar. His heart lifted. Surely, this would get him back on the right track. He was halted in his tracks halfway through, by a hissing voice. "Don't you dare come another step closer."

He froze, scanning the darkness around him for the source of the noise. "I'm not, I'm not," he assured them, trying to sound calm. This was the last thing he needed tonight. "Now, who's there?"

"No one to concern yourself with," the voice snapped. His eyes finally adjusted to the dark, and Kili identified that he was speaking with a dark, hooded figure, not a hobbit or dwarf, judging by their stature. Their hand was pale and small, clenched tightly, near trembling, around the hilt of a knife.

Kili took in a deep breath. "Now that doesn't seem true. Why don't you take your hood off for a moment?"

"It is raining," they explained, as if this should be obvious.

"Well, yes," Kili agreed, backtracking a bit. "But a little rain never hurt anyone. You might find it a bit refreshing."

A light passed by on the street, illuminating the face under the hood. It was a girl, in her teens, her dark hair plastered to her pale, high cheeks. Her eyes bore dark and fearful into his as she flinched away from the brightness.

"Ah," Kili chuckled, smiling at her. This wasn't some criminal, it was a scared girl. Hardly something to be feared. "There's the pretty lass. Now why don't you tell me what you're doing out tonight in this weather."

"Just..." she hesitated, and all the sting left her tone. "Just leave me alone, aye? I'm not in the mood for kindness."

"That's what people looking for kindness always say," he quipped, coming a step closer, one eye on her knife, held at her side. "What's bothering you?"

"Don't ever bother with love, Master Dwarf," she sighed after a moment, tone speaking of a deep grief. "At least, not when nothing lasting can come of it."

Kili frowned. What was that supposed to mean?

He didn't get the chance to squeeze an explanation out of her, as he heard Fili's voice, down the street a ways. "Kili? Where are you!?"

"Have a nice evening," the girl said.

Before Kili could stop her, she had disappeared. Kili stared at the spot where she had been, before shaking his head, stepping out of the alleyway in the direction he'd heard his brother. "Fee?"

"There you are, brother," Fili huffed, jogging up to him, his every footstep splashing mud up his coattails. "You were supposed to meet with me half an hour ago!"

Kili was shocked. "Has it been that long?"

Fili nodded. "Lost again?"

"Aye..." Kili replied distractedly. "I guess I was."

AGE: 61 years

And you won't be missing your lady,

You won't be lonely in bed.

Don't worry yourself about fading,

Once the good drink's filled up your head!

The whole bar fell into drunken, roaring laughter at the conclusion of the final chorus. There were few things more amusing than drunkards singing. And those things were likely only drunk Bofur singing. Then again, when was Bofur's singing ever not drunk? Kili shook his head, gulping down the last few drops of ale in his tankard. He lifted a hand to call over the barmaid, continuing to watch the drunken festivities of the men filling the tavern.

However, after a few minutes, no one had come to his service. He tore his eyes from the chaos before him to scan over the rest of the room. Kili caught sight of the missing waitress, a mousy girl with glossy, dark curls of hair, pinned up at her head. She was trapped in a corner near the door, and Kili instantly recognized she was in a bit of trouble. She was cornered in by at least four men, all of them clearly drunk, with predatory looks in their eyes. Kili sighed, setting down his tankard, and pushing up from his chair. Seemed as if it was time for him to play hero. Not that he was a braggart, but he ended up having to do this a lot.

Half way across the tavern, he realized that someone beat him to the scene. It was a tall, lanky figure, a hood pulled up over their head. They had just come in from the door, it seemed. They still wore a large pack, and mud was splattered up their boots and tattered cloak. Kili frowned as within a moment, the figure had dissipated the crowd of men, letting the barmaid scurry free. The newcomer took up a seat at the abandoned table, dropping their pack to the ground next to them.

"You're quick," Kili commented, seating himself across from them.

"Perhaps you're slow."

Kili found himself astonished as the figure threw back their hood, revealing a face that was quite definitely...female. Another glance a bit...lower confirmed any doubts. He'd been beat to playing hero by a girl.

"You're a lass."

She raised a brow, sweeping her cloak off to set it on the chair beside her. "And you're a dwarf. Impressive observational skills, by the way. Not many get that I'm female, considering the long hair, feminine face, and body of a woman."

Kili regained his composure quickly, trying to recall his recently lost pride. "Body of a woman, indeed."

"You're drunk," she told him, with a roll of her eyes.

"And you're gorgeous."

"And out of your league, Master Dwarf. Now go on, before I have to scare you off too." She punctuated this by unsheathing her sword, pretending to be inspecting it with a dangerous smirk.

Kili nearly swore. He'd left his sword up in his room. All he had on him was a knife, which would be little match against the long curve of her weapon. He slid his chair out with a wink. "If y'want me later, just ask at the innkeep."

She scoffed. "In your dreams."

"I certainly hope you will be."

If you're curious as to how these two idiots actually met, (well, as actually as fanfic gets) check out my other story, Noticeable Differences! (Shameless self-plug is shameless) Hope you enjoyed! Leave a review if you could. I'm up for any sort of suggestion for future chapters of this fic. In fact, I welcome your ideas. Have a great week!

NEXT CHAPTER:

Seeking Perfection

Sometimes, she had to curse him. Curse him for having left her with the inability to find perfection without him.

Angst/Hurt/Comfort - Words: 690 - Gwen, Frodo