I'm Staying With You (A Hobbit Fanfiction)

Chapter 6

"That was very helpful, Bofur," Gandalf mutters.

We manage to get the unconcious hobbit into his armchair that stands beside his fireplace and I start making some tea for him once he wakes up. 

"Don't you think ale would be better?" Fili asks. 

"Uh, no.  Not at all," I reply, smirking. 

"Yeah Fili, his tiny body wouldn't be able to handle it," Kili chuckles from the entrance of the kitchen. 

"Both of you shut up, I'm trying to make tea," I scold, trying not to laugh. 

"Alright Nossa, you win.  We'll go sit quietly like old Oin over there," Fili says, holding up his hands in defeat.  I look into the dining room and sure enough, Oin is sitting at the table with his horn in his ear.  A couple of other dwarves are in the dining room as well, but they're talking to quietly for him to hear. 

"Wouldn't that be nice!  Go give him some company," I joke.

"Please no, Nossa.  Please," Kili begs.  

"Fine, you can stay in here if you stop distracting me," I say. 

"Thank you," Kili sighs in relief.  Fili smirks. 

"So you find us distracting?" 

"SHUT UP!" 

------------------

As soon as Bilbo wakes up, I hand him his mug of tea.  He sits for a long time, staring into the fire blankly.  Gandalf stands across from him, watching the hobbit. 

"Are you okay, Bilbo?" I ask. 

"I'll be alright.  Just let me sit quietly for a moment," he replies, giving me a small smile before looking back into the fire. 

"You've been sitting quietly for far too long," Gandalf says.  "Tell me, when did doilies and your mother's dishes become so important to you?"

I hear footsteps and I turn to see Fili and Kili standing just outside the living room.  They motion for me to come, and I do. 

"Get out of there before the argument starts up.  It'll get nasty pretty quickly," Fili whispers. 

I nod and we walk away, quickly finding somewhere to sit on the floor.  We're just in earshot of the speech that Gandalf is giving to Bilbo. 

"I remember a young Hobbit who was always running off in search of Elves in the woods.  Who would stay out late, come home after dark, trailing mud and twigs and fireflies.  A young hobbit who would have liked nothing better than to find out what was beyond the borders of the Shire!"

"Oooh he is getting the lecture of a lifetime," Kili mutters.  I playfully punch him in the arm and keep listening. 

"The world is not in your books and maps. It's out there," Gandalf finishes. 

"I can't just go running off into the blue!  I am a Baggins of Bag End," Bilbo replies.

"You are also a Took."

"Oh snap," Fili chuckles.

"Did you know that your great-great-great-great uncle Bullroarer Took was so large, he could ride a real horse?" Gandalf asks.

"That's humongous," I mumble, imagining Bullroarer towering over me. 

"Yes," Bilbo mumbles so quietly we can barely hear him. 

"Yes, well, he could!" Gandalf continues.  "In the Battle of Green Fields, he charged the Goblin ranks.  He swung his club so hard, it knocked the Goblin king's head clean off!  It sailed 100 yards through the air and went down a rabbit hole.  And so the battle was won, and the game of golf invented at the same time." 

"He invented the game of golf?" Kili mumbles. 

"That's what he just said, genius," I reply. 

"I do believe you made that up," Bilbo says.

"Dang it," Kili mutters.

"Great story though," Fili shrugs.  

"Agreed," I say.  

"Well, all good stories deserve embellishment," Gandalf says. 

"I don't know what to think anymore!" Kili groans, holding his face in his hands and lying on his back.  I can't help but laugh at him, because he seems so distraut about the story of the massive hobbit and the game of golf. 

"Are you three evesdropping on their conversation?"

We spin around and see Thorin standing above us.  He raises an eyebrow and we all look at each other. 

"No," Fili says. 

"Yes," Kili admits. 

"Maybe," I finish. 

"Either way, we're meeting in the living room in a few minutes.  Be there," he says.  There's a slight twinkle in his eye as he says this, and it makes the three of us smile.  He walks away and we listen to the last bit of conversation.

"You'll have a tale or two to tell of your own when you come back," Gandalf says. 

"Can you promise that I will come back?" Bilbo asks.

"No," Gandalf says. "And if you do, you will not be the same." 

"That's what I thought," Bilbo sighs.  "Sorry Gandalf, I can't sign this.  You've got the wrong hobbit." 

A part of me is saddened.  I kind of liked the little fellow.

Bilbo walks down the hall and towards his room.  Fili, Kili, and I stand and start walking towards the living room, and on the way we see Balin and Thorin talking in the hallway. 

"It appears we have lost our burglar," Balin says.  "Probably for the best.  The odds were always against us.  After all, what are we?  Merchants, miners, tinkers, toymakers." He chuckles. "Hardly the stuff of legend." 

"There are a few warriors amongst us," Thorin points out. 

"Old warriors," Balin retorts. 

"I would take each and every one of these dwarves over an army from the Iron Hills.  For when I called upon them, they answered.  Loyalty, honour, a willing heart.  I can ask no more than that," Thorin says. 

"You don't have to do this.  You have a choice," Balin pleads. "You've done honorably by our people.  You have built a new life for us in the Blue Mountains.  A life of peace and plenty.  A life that is worth more than all the gold in Erebor." 

"From my grandfather to my father, this has come to me," Thorin says, holding up the key.  "They dreamt of the day when the Dwarves of Erebor would reclaim their homeland.  There is no choice, Balin.  Not for me.  I want this for my nephews.  I want this for all of you." 

Fili, Kili, and I look at each other.  Even though we have never seen Erebor, we've heard the stories.  And Thorin wants this so badly, it must be something more than we can imagine. 

Balin nods and eyes the key.  

"Then we are with you, laddie.  We will see it done." 

A/N: I haven't updated for two months.  I am so sorry.