It was in the early morning when she finally was able to pass into sleep. She awoke in the afternoon, again by her bladder, and saw that Kili had hardly moved in the night. She gently pulled herself from his grasp, then slid back between the covers once she had relieved herself. She accidentally brushed against his erect penis and pulled back as though burnt.

She wasn't alarmed that he had an erection. But she felt as though she was violating him in some way, that she didn't yet have his permission for such intimacies as much as she wanted them. She settled back in the bed, carefully positioning herself, frustrated that she was unable to stop her body from reacting with arousal.

Hours passed as she was lost in her thoughts, still not believing the events that had come to pass. After awhile, she could no longer ignore the rumblings of her stomach. An elf had brought her pack and a light meal shortly after she'd woken, but as the light dimmed into yet another evening, she was becoming ravenous. Kili slept on, and sometimes she became alarmed and checked him to make sure that he was still alive. He seemed to be making up for the sleep he hadn't gotten for months.

fReese was pulling on her boots when a light tap came at her door. She opened it and was surprised to find the slight ginger standing before her, a friendly smile stretched across her red mouth. Reese blinked as she surveyed the woman's face, trying hard not to stare. The woman's right cheekbone was bright purple, slightly swollen, the bruise angry and startling. The woman looked as though she's been recently beaten or in a fight.

"I thought you might be hungry," the woman said, holding out a tray heavily laden. Trying to ignore the bruise, Reese stared at her, taking in her skinny frame, freckled nose, orange hair, and oddly coloured slanted eyes. Reese hadn't gotten a good look at her before, and now Reese was taken aback by the woman's unusual appearance. In the time Reese came from, this woman would be considered to be very attractive and exotic. However, in Middle Earth, she'd likely have been considered quite unappealing. But her gaze was clear and direct, which normally Reese found slightly disconcerting in people, but rather liked in the woman before her.

Reese took the tray nodding gratefully, quickly setting it down on the table by the door.

"Thank you," she said, turning back to the woman. "This is very kind of you. I didn't want to leave him, but he doesn't appear to be waking and my stomach has been rumbling for hours."

The woman laughed. "Well, dwarven pregnancies require a great deal of nourishment, and I thought you must be ready to eat a limb. I wasn't sure if the fare I'd had the elves deliver this afternoon was adequate, but I oversaw the preparation of this tray myself to make sure the provisions were sufficient."

Reese stared at her in disbelief, having quite forgotten the woman's declaration the day before. "How did you know?" she asked in astonishment.

The woman winked at her. "Well, I will tell you, but only if you do not yet share it with the King. I'm revealing these parts of myself to him slowly." Reese nodded, realizing she had no idea who this woman was or what her relationship was to Thorin. "I have a touch of magic that allows me to communicate with unborn children. I could tell immediately that you are into your second trimester and that the father is a dwarf."

Reese gaped at her in astonishment. She'd never heard of a woman possessing such a thing in Middle Earth.

The woman laughed at her expression. "It has proven quite useful in my years as a midwife." Reese nodded mutely, and the woman blinked.

"Forgive me, I seem to have forgotten myself. I am Wren, a healer from Bree, and betrothed to Thorin Oakenshield."

"Betrothed...?" Reese repeated in shock. "Thorin is betrothed?"

Wren's smile widened. "So it seems," she laughed lightly. Reese smiled with her as the woman seemed slightly giddy at the thought. Reese suddenly thought that this woman appeared to be very much in love as she shared this news with Reese.

"Well then it is with deepest pleasure that I meet you, my lady," Reese breathed. "I believe you know who I am, but just in case, my name is Reese Jacobson, and I am a Futurian."

"So I have been informed!" Wren exclaimed. "Rather loudly I might add by that cantankerous dwarf I am to be wedded to."

Reese snorted and quickly covered her mouth, glancing over her shoulder but seeing Kili had not stirred.

"I don't believe we could wake him if we wished," Wren said, following Reese's gaze.

"I think you're right," Reese agreed.

"I don't know yet exactly what happened to him, but in the short time I've known him, I believe he's not slept at all unaided by ale. I've seen it in several men returning from combat or similar trauma. The dreams …." Wren waved her hand as trailed off as she peered at Kili. "Sometimes those who are particularly gentle and kind suffer the most. He seems much more settled already."

Reese nodded, turning back to Wren. "Would you like to come in?"

Wren shook her head, and Reese smiled as the future queen's mad copper curls bounced around her shoulders. "Thank you, but I'll leave you in peace. I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to catch up. And you are needed most by him right now." There was understanding in Wren's words, and Reese gazed into the woman's strange eyes, searching for judgment and finding none. Only compassion and sincerity.

Reese felt her eyes swell again and the woman laughed with her as Reese brushed at them impatiently. "Would you like some clothing sent up?" the woman asked. "Or anything laundered?"

Reese was grateful. "Yes, please. If someone could please come by for them. We were only planning to be here one night before returning to Adelaide today. I wasn't expecting to need anything clean."

Wren nodded quickly and swept into the room, surprising Reese as she scooped up the discarded garments. "I'll have someone bring you warm clothing quickly, maybe something to sleep in. Are your blankets warm enough?"

"They are, thanks," Reese smiled. "Sharing a bed with a dwarf is like having a personal heater, and carrying his child is even warmer."

"Well, I'll leave you, then," Wren said as she bustled out the door. "Oh, have you told him yet?"

Reese paused, before colouring briefly. "No," she cast her eyes downward. "He fell asleep so quickly. There wasn't time."

Wren nodded. "Fair enough. I'll inform the King that he will simply have to remain silent a while longer. He's bursting to storm in here and have a 'discussion.'"

Reese snorted imagining this small woman instructing Thorin Oakenshield about what he could and could not do and didn't doubt for a minute that he was listening to every word dutifully.

"It's no matter," Wren added. "I think the last thing we need to treat the elves to another family ... scene." Reese cringed at Wren's words, and Wren reached out to gently pat Reese's arm. "Don't worry about causing a fuss. It was the right thing to do. Thorin would never have let you speak to Kili. He thought he was doing the right thing by keeping you apart."

Reese exhaled, relieved. Wren made to leave the room when Reese stopped her unable to suppress her curiosity any longer. "Wren, what happened to your eye?"

"Oh that," Wren waved her hand. "Thorin hit me."

Reese choked on the bread she had stolen from the tray. "Pardon me?"

"Oh not like that. I snuck up on him in the night, and he thought I was an attacker."

Reese gaped at her, unable to think of anything else to say.

"Alright," Wren sang. "Sleep well, and goodnight!" She bustled through the door and after a moment Reese shut it gently beside her.

Reese woke on the second morning to find the bed empty. Fear gripped her as she sat up in the cold bed but instantly exhaled in relief when she saw Kili in a chair near the side of the bed wearing his trousers and tunic.

"Shhhh, I'm here," he said as he moved to the side of the bed. He pulled her to him and held her tightly.

"I thought you'd changed your mind," she breathed into his shoulder, blinking the sleep from her eyes.

"Never," he murmured, stroking her hair. She pulled away after a moment and looked at him. He still had dark bruises under his eyes, but his gaze seemed clearer. He seemed slightly less sad than the day before. She knew way better than to expect that her mere presence would help him overnight. They both had a long journey ahead of them.

"The sleep did you good," she said.

"It did," he agreed, and then he actually smiled at her. It transformed his face and she glimpsed the man he was before. He stood, bringing the tray over the bed to allow Reese to have what she wanted.

"Still so considerate," she said. "Wren brought this by last night."

"Oh, so you met?" Kili asked.

Reese nodded, her mouth full.

"She's very perceptive," he added. Reese raised her brows at his tone. She wondered what else Wren saw that others thought they were keeping hidden.

Reese made to get up to put the tray back on the table, but Kili took it from her before coming to settle on the side of the bed again.

"Reese, may I kiss you?" he asked suddenly. She looked at him in surprise before nodding. He locked his eyes with hers, and she felt as though she was sinking into the warm brown pools, her heart beating rapidly and willingly. He leaned in slowly and brushed his lips against hers as her eyes fluttered shut. She immediately felt herself swell with desire but determinedly shoved those feelings aside. She would not rush him. He would likely not be ready for a long time.

However, he seemed to disagree with her as his kiss quickly became more insistent. She couldn't help smiling. Dwarven libido seemed to be insatiable, even when under duress.

"Mahal, I've missed you so much," he murmured as he shifted to press her back into the bed before deepening their kiss. "Am I rushing things?" he asked suddenly. She shook her head as she pulled him to her again, feeling her nightgown become wet quickly as he came to kneel between her legs. She felt his erection pressing against her stomach as he hovered slightly above her, supporting himself with his arms as he moved his mouth over hers. She brought her hands up to tangle in his glorious hair, pulling him to her more tightly as she began to grind her hips upward into his, feeling gratified when he let out a low growl as he bucked his own hips forward. She gasped as he ground into her while his mouth began to travel down her neck before moving back to her mouth. He moved to settle his weight on her fully when she panicked, realizing he could not lie on top of her like this without crushing her hardening stomach, snapping her out of her aroused daze as she remembered she had to tell him of her pregnancy.

"Stop," she gasped, pushing him away. He complied immediately, almost scrambling to the end of the bed as though frightened.

"Are you well?" he asked. "Was it too much? If it was, I'm very sorry. It's been so long." He looked ashamed as though he thought he'd done something wrong.

"Everything is fine," Reese assured him. "And there's no way that you could want this more than I do. But there's something I have to tell you first."

He stared at her as she steeled herself. She had no reason to be afraid. She knew he wanted her now even if she wasn't pregnant, and she knew he would be happy. But she felt nervous. She'd spent so long trying to figure out what she would say in this moment.

"Kili, I'm pregnant."

He stared at her as though not understanding at first, before finally repeating her. "Pregnant?"

"Yes," she said. "The baby is yours," she rushed to add, realizing he might wonder. "I was always going to tell you, even before yesterday's that was the plan. I was just waiting until there was less danger of losing the baby."

He blinked as she spoke. "But how?" he asked. "I thought you were …."

"The herbs fell under the bed when we … that time when I got back from Rivendell," he nodded as she spoke, "And I didn't realize until weeks later, after I …." He nodded again, showing her he knew she spoke of when she returned to Adelaide after leaving him.

A slow smile broke over his face, and he reached for her hand, gripping it tightly. "We will have a child?" he asked.

"Well, yes, my love. I believe that will be the outcome," she couldn't help joking to break the tension slightly and was glad to see him laugh. He leapt up from the bed, pulling her with him into a hug, resting his hand on the back of her head as he held her tightly to him.

"I love you so much, Reese," he murmured.

"I love you too," she whispered back. They stood like this for a moment before he pulled away and looked at her. She reached up to kiss him. She was even more aroused than before and felt her whole body aching with need. He kissed her back but pushed her away when she tried to deepen the kiss.

"Reese," he began, "Even though you are not dwarrow, I would like for us to practice azjânu sanu. We would have the ceremony right away. Balin could perform it. "

Reese nodded as she gazed into his chocolate brown eyes. "What is that?" she asked.

"It's the ritual of not engaging in carnal relations during the paturniency."

"Excuse me?"

"No sex," he clarified.

Reese stared at him, mouth hanging open. "Is this a joke?" she asked. She actually felt panicked, her arousal was reaching a nearly painful level.

"No, it is not."

If Kili had known about cameras, he would have wished to have one at that moment to take a picture of her face.

~The End~

A/N: thank you for reading, following, and favouriting. At this point there are not plans for a sequel. It's been a great journey.