Ali stood rather uselessly in the courtyard of Beorn's home. Around her the dwarves hustled around collecting their things, refusing to let her help them in any way. And by any, she meant ANY. Fili had refused to allow her to strap her own bag to the horse, and Bombur had somehow shimmied between her and the pot she was trying to stir. As she stood there she was still attempting to figure out how someone that size could even shimmy.

Irritated at their overly zealous behavior when it came to helping her since her injury, Ali wanted nothing more than to sulk. That was hard to do though. How would one sulk because someone cares too much? No, it wasn't that they were too helpful; it was that they were smothering her.

Ali watched Thorin pulling his own saddle over the horse. Last night had been…well it had been a dream. Thorin had in fact kissed her again, pulling her closer than she had thought any man ever would. The kiss itself had been, passionate at least, erotic at the middle, and indescribable at the end. As far as first kisses goes, Ali was pretty sure she had hit the jackpot, like Cinderella, or Snow White. Well, except she had known him for more than a day, so the princess's could go suck on that mature decision.

This morning though when she woke up she was sure it had been a dream. A fantastic, wonderful, fantasy at the very best, at least until she had felt his arm around her waist pulling her back into his chest. Ali had froze, scared that Thorin would regret being there, or perhaps he was embarrassed. Heavens knows she was, she didn't know what the protocol was for this situation. They hadn't actually done anything last night worth blushing over. They spoke of their families, friends, and hobbies. Ali was ashamed to have edited her history, leaving out the grim details; she would save that for another time.

Ali had laid there pretending to be asleep, hoping Thorin would wake up and leave first so she could pretend nothing had happened. Yes, it was the coward's way out, but she was panicked, how could people have one night stands? All her worries were put to rest when Thorin stretched out behind her, drawing in a long lazy breath he pulled her closer again.

"I know you're awake," Thorin had mumbled, nuzzling into her hair.

"Um, how'd you know," Ali had asked, she didn't know what else to say.

Thorin breathed a laugh into her hair, "Because the second you woke your body went ridged. I believe last night after you fell asleep was the first time I've seen you truly relax."

"Oh, really?" Ali tried to nonchalantly pull away and disguise it as a stretch. Thorin was having none of that, keeping his arm right in its place.

"I know what you're trying to do, fuhum lukhud, you don't need to shy away from me. I will protect you always, and never let you go."

"Do you have everything?" Bilbo startled Ali out of her daydream, following her gaze to Thorin, "if you continue to stare doey eyed at him the entire time I will refuse to share a horse with you." Bilbo sighed, shaking his head, the tips of his ears still tinged red from their misunderstanding last night.

"Yea, I have everything, not that I really ever unpacked," Ali laughed, it felt as though it had been forever since she had felt this happy. Ali tried to adjust the shoulder on Thorin's tunic, the blasted thing was simply too big. It made up for its size with warmth though, and while she didn't want to admit it, the light smell of Thorin made her feel a bit safe.

"You ready lass?" Dwalin roared from the other side of the courtyard unnecessarily. Ali rolled her eyes and began walking over.

"I was literally twenty-five feet away, why are you yelling," Ali chastised him, but he was already not paying attention.

"I don't like that she ain't got a weapon," Dwalin rumbled to Thorin, who tried to subtly look her up and down. Not subtle enough, Ali thought as she felt her face heat up.

"Not true, I still have lefty and righty," Ali tried to protest.

"Lefty and righty? You failed to mention them before," Thorin turned, folding his arms across his chest.

"Cause there is naught to mention, if I remember correctly righty is ur man, lefty is unpredictable," Dwalin openly scoffed.

Thorin looked confused, tinged with a bit of surprise, "who is righty?"

Suddenly Ali felt self conscious, "it's my fist," she tried to mumble so that he couldn't hear.

"What?"

"There her fists uncle," Fili piped in as he sauntered up next to them, "if I'm correct there's also jazz hands."

"God Fili, way to spill all my amazing fighting techniques," Ali could feel her face heating up even more. It had been funny before, now it was a bit embarrassing.

"Why is lefty unpredictable?" Thorin asked, his eyes squinting with thought.

"Lefty stopped talking to me a long time ago, so I don't really know what he's up to these days." Ali tried to joke, but no one laughed, "that and I have a serious lack of hand eye coordination."

"You know, I've been meaning to ask where you learned jazz hands," Kili leaned on Fili, "did batman teach you that?"

"Batman?" Ali coughed, a bit in surprised then in an attempt to hide the laughter brought on by the image of batman actually using jazz hands.

"Sorry to breakup this little party but we really should be off," Bilbo cleared his throat, motioning to the fact that most of the others had already mounted their ponies. Still Bilbo was unable to look Thorin in the eyes, or for what Ali could tell even in his general direction. It was terribly apparent that hobbits were rather modest people; Ali was actually surprised he knew what a blow job was at all.

Ali spun immediately, not wanting to give anyone time to help her any more than they already had. Thorin was a step ahead of her though, appearing out of basically thin air beside her saddle.

"Promise me that if something happens you won't actually try and fight with these," Thorin almost whispered as he raised her fists in his own, his hands completely enveloping hers.

"Why not?" Ali could barely breathe when he was this close. Seriously when had he started to affect her so much?!

"I'm afraid you'd just annoy whatever it was," Thorin winked before gently bopping his forehead against hers. "Now let's get you up on the pony, fuhum lukhud," he laughed, grabbing her by the waist like she weighed no more than a child.

Ali wanted to grumble as she shifted around, but it would have had no effect when her face was this shade. Not only was she lifted like a child but also because this morning he refused to tell her what those words meant. She didn't like not knowing what he was calling her; it could be something rude for all she knew.

The feeling of Thorin swinging into the saddle behind her made Ali a bit self-conscious. She should move forward so he had more room, did he think her butt was too big for the saddle? Could he feel her heart hammering away? What if she smelled bad? Was her hair blowing in his face?

"Ali," Fili trotted up next to Thorin and her as they began their journey to the forest, followed close by his brother.

"We were wondering if we could talk about something." Kili shifted eagerly on his saddle.

"Depends what you were wondering about," Ali hoped they wouldn't be asking about her and Thorin. No, if they asked about that then she would shut them down instantly. She wasn't ready to talk about that without being embarrassed. Especially since he was sitting right behind her.

"Who is Batman?" Fili almost gushed, almost instantly the group around them began to form.

"What?" Ali asked, this was not what she was worried about at all.

"We've been talking and we have some theories," Kili looked intently at her. Oh fluffy marshmallows they were actually taking this Batman thing seriously. Like really seriously. "I believe he is a mentally disturbed man who has a fascination with small animals."

"Nonsense, he is ah guard that uses tha' tourist's fear of small mammals as ah weapon," Dwalin barked.

"We are not scared-"Ali started but was cut off by the ruckus that ensued.

"Clearly he's ah baker," Bofur tutted.

"Nah, 'e's ah farmer of odd animals, who also protects people."

"Nutcase!"

"Who ya callin' a nutcase!?"

"He fly's on a bread machine, he's ah baker!"

"He's the king!"

"How you figuring 'e's ah king?"

"I'm callin' you ah nutcase."

"STOP!" Ali yelled, grabbing the quarreling group's attention. "He's a crime fighting billionaire, playboy, genius, detective, okay?"

The group looked from one to the other, obviously that little explanation had done nothing.

"But why does 'e owe ya so many deer?" Bofur asked finally, the rest of the group hummed in agreement.

"What?" Ali sat back, now it was her turn to be confused.

"Back at Beorn's you said, 'Batman owes me twenty bucks.' We heard it clear as day." Fili informed her.

"Well for starters 'bucks' is one of our terms for money, also I don't remember saying anything of that sort." Ali snorted, it must have been when she was sleeping, that was a weird thing to tell them. "I also feel I should mention that he isn't real, he's a character in a comic book."

At least half of the group gasped when she told them the last part. Kili looking down right offended, like she had just spoiled the ending of a good story.

"I guess that would make more sense," Bilbo finally spoke up, "though I believe that they could have made up a more convincing character."

Ali just laughed, "If you read the books it would all make more sense." Or less, she mentally added, given that ninety percent of the things in any comic book would be totally foreign to them.

The group quieted as they were forced to face the reality that Batman didn't actually exist. Ali leaned forward to rub the pony's neck. He was the cutest little black and white spotted pony she had ever seen.

"Careful," Thorin snapped his arm across her chest and pulled her back against him.

"I wasn't going to fall," Ali complained. If he was going to baby her this entire time she swore to herself she would actually jump off the pony.

Luckily she didn't have to make any rash decisions as they approached the forest, pulling her mind from any possible escape attempt.

"I want you to stay close, okay?" Thorin murmured in her ear.

Ali just nodded. She didn't have to be told twice to stay close in a creepy dark forest. Little Red Riding Hood hadn't listened and she'd been eaten alive, although Ali refused to believe anyone who claimed to be Thorin while dressed in a nightgown. So perhaps she wasn't as bad as Little Red. No, mental image go away! Ali shook her head as the images of him wearing a nightgown bounced around.

As they dismounted Ali heard Bilbo telling Gandalf that he thought these woods felt sick. Ali looked again at the decaying roots and knurled branches; this forest was way past sick.

"Remember stay close," Thorin took her hand, stepping only a fraction into the woods.

Why did he keep saying that, as if he were afraid she would go crazy and just run screaming off hither yonder? Yes, previously she had screamed quite a bit, then she ran at the wolves, or that time she said all that crazy stuff. Actually never mind, Ali squeezed his hand, perhaps she wouldn't fault him this time.

"I'll stick to you like Velcro," Ali tried to reassure him.

"Like what?" Thorin turned, brows pulled together.

That's right, there's nothing like that here, "nothing," Ali smiled, he probably thought everything she said was crazy at this point.

"Not my horse! I'll need it." Gandalf boomed, startling nearly all of them.

Gandalf was leaving? Ali felt suddenly worried, why would the magical person leave before the magical forest. This is where they really needed him. Ali felt the forest suddenly looming darker behind her.

Ali squeezed Thorin's hand tighter, what if something happened in there? What if she wasn't able to protect him like he could her?

Well here we go again. This wasn't my best chapter

sorry guys :( I just could not think of anything for the down time.

Thankfully they are into the forest and my ideas are coming back.

Please comment and Thank you to all my wonderful followers.

MUAH!