A/N She is but a wee little thing after what chapter lengths we've gotten used to, but she's earned her place just the same.

I did not go into this series expecting Queen to earn such a place in it's soundtrack but here we are.

Speaking of soundtracks, will I probably once again listen to the Barbie soundtrack while I'm getting ready for work in the morning? Yeah, I'd say the chances are good. It's a bop.

Is that what the kids say?

Groovy.

Josephine had a feeling Thranduil would be keeping up on his word when three days later her clothes were brought back to her. They'd been cleaned and mended, and the borrowed shirt she'd gotten from one of the dwarves had been tailored down so two thirds of it didn't have to be tucked into her belt. Changing out of the simple dress the healers had given her, Josephine paused at her cloak once she got to it and pressed it up to her chest for just a moment before throwing it around her shoulders and clasping it at her throat. Then, about an hour later, she was marched out of the room for the last time, and led down towards the dungeons. It was, possibly, the first time she'd ever heard the dwarves totally silent, bored stiff from imprisonment in individual cells probably.

"Don't tell me you've all lost your wills to live already." She hollered, nudging the bars of Nori's cell with her toe as they passed.

"Don't count us out yet, lass!" Bofur yelled from across the chasm with a wide grin on his face. "We're just bidin' our time for the most opportune moment."

"Conservin' our strength ye see!" Gloin added from the cell next to him.

Then, passing Thorin's cell he braced his arm against the bars and looked up at her. "I'll have a lot of questions if we ever get out of here."

"Add them to your growing list since we left the Shire."

The door of a cell next to Fili's was opened for her and she stepped into her own private cell. It clanged shut behind her and the guard left silently. "So is everyone okay?" She yelled, the only way for them all to hear her.

"Yes, if you count being imprisoned for the rest of our lives by moon eyes elves to be 'okay'." Thorin answered.

"It was either elves or being eaten by spiders." She replied with a shrug, sitting back on her new bed, the well threatened slab of rock. "Patience is a virtue, Thorin. We'll find a way out of this."

"If we don't die of boredom first!" Kili joked.

Josephine was surprised to hear that, it had only been about two and a half weeks. After all of the long days of travel, they were whittled down by the Mirkwood dungeon a lot faster than she'd anticipated. "Oh come on, you guys are masters at entertaining yourselves."

"Ran out of songs." Bofur explained.

Well…she could at least help with that.

Josephine's mood as she finally stepped through the doors of the King's house was decidedly off. She'd been reminding herself all day, first as an excuse for the questions she'd had to field, and then feeling more like it was her who was the problem, that she was now living in a different culture in a far different time. Questions like this were bound to arise in counsel, it was political as well, after all. And now she felt like it was a question she needed to broach with Aragorn and it made her nervous.

A consequence of their incredibly short engagement had meant some things hadn't been spoken about before their marriage. Nothing so far had been insurmountable or even that difficult to agree on, but Josephine still wasn't quite sure what to expect from this one.

He was in the sitting room in his chair by the fire, a book open in his hand with his long legs kicked out in front of him. She was greeted with a smile when he saw her and closed his book, holding out his hand for her to take.

But Josephine lingered in the doorway, picking at her sleeve as tried to figure out how to start. "How was your day?" A+ avoidance, Josephine.

He frowned worriedly and let his hand drop over the arm of the chair. "Fair. But I am now more concerned as to yours."

She took a deep breath and bit her lip. "So I guess I always just assumed…cause you know, different world and all…" Another deep breath. "I'm your wife." She continued slowly. "The queen. There's a…Duty…" Now it just felt like she was being painfully obtuse. "Is it…bad that we're not having kids yet?" A year into their marriage, they hadn't started trying yet, and the questions had finally started coming in.

Aragorn's face broke into relief and he stood. "Is that what has you so troubled?" He drew his hands along her face and kissed her forehead lightly. "Why now does this worry you so?"

"Well," She sighed, feeling a weight come off her chest at his relaxed reaction. "As the king you're supposed to have an heir and as your wife that's kind of looked at as my job. But with the aftermath of the War and settling in here it just…it's too soon and it seems like we were both on the same page about it, but now the lords are making comments and their wives are gossiping and…" She trailed off and let whatever was left of her ramble hang in the air.

Aragorn picked it up and nodded sympathetically. "Josephine, we have many years yet for such things."

"But what about what you-"

"Whether our child is born this year or the next, or several from now, I will cherish them and you, no less." He kissed her softly. "The lords and their wives can say what they will, but it is not for them to decide."

She sighed and buried her head in his chest. "Come on, you've gotta have one fatal flaw. You can't just keep being a god damn feminist icon."

Chuckling he wrapped his arms around her. "I have many flaws, Josephine, of which you have seen."

"I'm not talking about things like you being so oblivious you'll walk around smelling like Satan's armpit until I tell you."

"Satan? Is that not the man with the bag of gifts from your land?"

Josephine snorted with a laugh and pulled away, leaning back against the doorframe and looking at him with a smile. "I'll explain later. Totally different story." She brushed her hand along his jaw and shook her head. "How did I get so lucky with you?"

"You were written into my story, as I was written in yours. This was always meant to be how our journey would end." He leaned down and wrapped his arms around her legs, lifting her up into the air and making his way down the hall. "I will happily oblige if I have not made my feelings clear enough. Perhaps that oversight is the fatal flaw you have been wondering about?" He ended cheekily.

"I think," she paused to kiss him. "I need some more examples. Just to be sure."

Suddenly he was pressing her against the wall, a deep rumble in his chest as his lips found her again. "Will you tell me of what you seek?" His beard brushed against her jaw as his lips pressed just below her ear. "Or shall I try to guess, instead?"

"Mmm." She hummed. "I think we should see what you have in mind."

She could feel his mouth against her neck pull into a grin and his teeth gently nipped at her skin. "As my Queen commands."

"Do you all think you've got the parts down now?" Josephine asked, her face pressed between the bars so she could try and see as many of them as possible. "I know there's a lot going on but I think it'll be fine."

"Lass, we've come up with more complicated than this in one night." Bofur said confidently.

"But she still hasn't explained what a Scaramouche is…" Ori added.

Nori was equally interested in the backstory of some of it. "It's no language I've ever heard."

"Look, this is a classic back where I'm from, and it'll keep us busy for a while. Might even annoy some of those uppity elves so can we try it?"

"You don't have to tell me twice." Fili said. "Come on lads, Kili, Gloin, Ori, you're with me."

The four of them loudly cleared their throats and began, perfectly in sync.

"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy…"

Their practice continued as they tried to weave all the parts in to include the company (Thorin sat out the entirety but Balin was finding particular pleasure in bellowing Bismillah every time the line came up)

Josephine's grin was ear to ear as she listened to them bark out Bohemian Rhapsody while she screeched her way through the higher notes they couldn't reach. At least until a familiar voice snapped at them from the top of the dungeon.

"Quiet!" Legolas hollered.

"Bismillah! No!" Balin yelled back, ending with a hearty laugh.