A/N HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! The hectic mess of the holidays is over and I'm starting to get my shit back together. I feel like I say that a lot, but shit is never perpetually together for anyone so...

Soon, dragons and battles and Thorin loosing his marbles and things start to get dicey. Cause you know, things haven't been dicey so far or anything.

Enjoy!

Small wooden shavings fell in curls onto the rug and when the pile got big enough, Aragorn scooped them up and threw them into the fire.

Josephine was cross legged in front of him, tying pine boughs together with twine and fussing whenever her sappy fingers caught on the knots.

A year ago she'd been in Rivendell preparing for a journey that terrified her, and now she was listening to the fire crackle and Aragorn's knife softly carving into a piece of pine. Once upon a time he'd promised her peace, and peace he was delivering effortlessly.

With his carving knife he reached over and cut a small length of twine, messing around with his carving. When he finished he held it up by a loop of twine. The firelight cast over a palm sized doe, a bit roughly hewn but no less beautiful for it.

Josephine took it with a smile, turning it over in her hands. "The first ornament for our tree." He followed her to her feet and she held it back out to him. "Here, it's your first tree, you should hang the first ornament."

He took it with a soft smile and gently hung it from the branch in front of them. His arms wound around her waist and he tucked her head under his chin. "It is your first doe, from when I took you hunting."

Josephine melted, remembering how it had felt to be in his arms then. "The one we left for the bears?"

"An unimportant price to pay." he sighed and kissed her head. "You frightened me that day. You fell ill so quickly and I hated that I had not seen it sooner."

"In your defense I was doing everything I could to hide it. I had to prove my usefulness to everyone, including you, remember?" She joked, still perched on the truth but making light of it.

"For all its worries, the memory of that trip is precious to me. I knew then, as you slept in my arms, that any hopes I had of not caring for you deeply were in vain."

"Next time, let's not wait so long to confess our undying affections for each other. Deal?"

He chuckled. "Deal. Just imagine what we could've gotten up to in Lothlorien had we known."

Josephine sputtered as his voice taunted her. "We would've gotten the entire fellowship kicked out for sure." Then she shuddered as his lips pressed a kiss behind her ear. "Don't you dare…"

Another kiss, and a nip, and she slipped out of his arms reluctantly with a laugh. "I've been trying to get to making these wreaths for a week, don't tempt me." But oh was he tempting her.

"But what harm, my queen, could one more day do?" He cast an innocent expression over his face, but his eyes were dark and teasing.

Playfully, he took a step forward and she took one back, still fully intending to go back to her craft but not at all against playing along with his game for a minute or two longer.

"That's what you said last night, my king. We can't keep doing this."

"Can we not?" He said with another step.

Josephine met him in the middle and laid her hands on his chest. "How about this, tonight we finish my holiday to-do list and tomorrow…" She popped up onto her toes and gave him a kiss, whispering while she had barely pulled away. "I'm all yours."

She'd expected an equally teasing response, but the noise that came out of Aragorn's mouth was a deep, craggy snore and she reared back in confusion. He looked the same, but then the noise came again and she realized it wasn't him making it.

Then her eyes snapped open and she began to understand two things. One, she'd been sleeping, and two, the snore had come from Oin who was crashed out on the bed next to her.

She rolled out of the bed and found Kili up and sitting at the table with the rest of the dwarves, shoveling stew into his mouth and offering his bowl to Sigrid who was trying to pour another ladle full into it.

Josephine threw her cloak around her shoulders and went out the front door, toeing it shut and learning against the railing. The early afternoon sun offered no warmth and the town was still dull and colorless.

Things were on track, Kili was okay, and at worst until Smaug showed up all she'd have to do is spring Bard from jail. But she felt like the spring in her chest that had wound so tight back in the Shire to hold her together, was starting to rust. Josephine needed to go home and feel safe and have her family back. She still couldn't decide if it was making her stronger to see him in her dreams, or driving the knife deeper into her heart. Maybe it was both.

Doubt gnawed at her as time passed, born from the crack of a lash and the time spent away from Gondor. She'd spent months, hell years by that point, training up to be able to fight and protect herself. Denethor's agendas in Minas Tirith during the war had made her cautious enough to keep with practice even up until the day she'd come to the Shire. Not that Legolas would've let her skip out on their lessons anyway, though she was beginning to wonder if this quest had been the reason he was so firm on it.

The door creaked open and Sigrid came up beside her and handed her a bowl and a spoon. "You haven't eaten anything since breakfast yesterday. It's not much but it's the least we can do after you and your friends saved us last night."

Not wanting to seem ungrateful for the meal, even if she had come outside to avoid everyone, Josephine took the bowl and began to pick at it. "Thank you. If it wasn't for you letting us stay, I doubt Kili would've survived long enough for Legolas to get here so trust me, our debt to you is a lot bigger." Nevermind the fact that the orcs wouldn't have broken into the Bardling's house at all if they hadn't been there.

"Now that he is improving, will you leave like the others?"

Josephine watched Sigrid closely, trying to gauge the reason behind her friendly question. "I suspect it'll be another week or two before I'm comfortable with him traveling. I'd like to stay here if you're okay with that?" If she wasn't, Josephine didn't have another plan since they had to stay until Smaug showed up, but she didn't want them to feel like a band of dwarves was holding them hostage. "It'll give Bofur and Fili time to patch up the roof and you'll be safe until we can get your dad back."

Sigrid seemed relieved. Good, she'd just been worried they'd leave and she and her siblings would be alone. "I suppose that would be for the best. Wouldn't want you having to knock on the Master's door again. The town gossip is that he wants you for his wife."

Josephine pretended to gag and Sigrid laughed. "Is it too late to let the orcs take me? Besides, I have someone back home who might have a few things to say against that."

Sigrid pulled her sweater close around her and shivered. "Well, I'd say he'd wish you inside where it's warm then, not out in this." A burp rumbled loudly from inside the house. "Though…perhaps a few more minutes might do us both some good."

Later, with just a few coins in hand and a bag of things scoured from the house to trade, Josephine went to the market with Bofur and Fili to find supplies to fix the house.

"Never seen men so tight fisted for a bundle of nails and a few boards." Fili grumbled as they were turned away from the third stall they'd gone to. "Can't you appeal to them?" He asked Josephine. "You're their kin, surely that should help."

"I'm hanging around with dwarves and I'm an outsider, I don't think I have a whole lot of insight that could help us."

"But they're your kin?" Bofur said in confusion. "Surely you all trade the same?"

"Just cause I'm of the race of men doesn't mean our cultures are the same across the board." She turned sideways to scoot by a woman passing the other way and they glanced at each other, exchanged a tight lipped sort of smile, and went on like nothing had happened. On either side of her the dwarves stopped and stared at her with raised eyebrows. "What?"

"Oh sure," Bofur scoffed. "Ye'r nothing like 'em at all." He handed her the coin.

When Josephine realized what he was referring to, she'd already taken the coin and Fili was passing her the bag of tradables. "The awkward white person smile doesn't count, oh my g-"

They were several feet away already, waving her towards the next stall that looked like it might have what they needed. After some looking, bartering, and haggling, she met them at the edge of the market and dumped their supplies into Bofur's arms.

Fili looked smug and clapped her on the arm. "See, you must've given them that strange smile that you all do. Put them at ease."

"Don't make me throw you in the lake."

"Already been." He quipped. "Rather not if it's all the same."

Josephine tugged on one of his braids and smothered a smirk at his antics. "Come on, let's get back, I'm freezing my ass off."