A/N: Payback time for the Durins! Thank you, Dojosun, the first part of this chapter is in your honor. :)

Dwalin, Balin, Fili, and Kili walk through the now familiar streets. Balin knows what happened now. They had decided not to bring along Thorin,despite his protests, Balin felt that Thorin, busy as he was in his duties, would do better to stay back at Erebor. (He also knew that Thorin would not be very happy with the boys at all. Need I say more?) "Look! There's the bench!"

"Yes indeed." Murmurs Balin thoughtfully.

"Are you quite certain these are the names?"

"They are the ones Thorin gave me." Responded Dwalin confidently, remembering how Thorin's eyes flashed and how he had clenched his fists as he recited them. He was very glad they had not brought him along. Balin spotted a small boy on the street.

"Hello, there!" Said Balin, approaching a small boy on the street. The boy glanced up at him. "Do you know someone named Bradley?"

"Nope."

"Bailey, Balin."

"Oh, sorry, do you know someone name Bailey?"

"Yeth, thir." Said the boy, mumbling around a heavy lisp. "He liveth right next door to me."

"Can you show us where you live?"

The boy shook his head vigorously. "My Mama thayth that I'm not allowed to show thtrangerth where we live. We might get robbed, you know."

"I could make him talk." Muttered Dwalin to Balin.

"Shhh!" Balin whispered back. He knelt so he was eye level with the boy( Who couldn't have been more then four or five years old) and said kindly, "Well, that's very smart of you, to listen to your Mama like that. Well, could you show us where Bailey lives?"

"I geth I could, Thir." The boy led them back to a small, narrow street lined with houses on both sides.

"That'th Bailey'th howth, right there, next to mine-oopth." He ran into the house to the right of the small wooden house that Bailey presumably lived.

"Kili and Fili will go and look around for the others. Now, Kili. Fili. Listen to me very closely." Kili and Fili lean in. "Fight Fair."

"We will, Balin, we will!" Fili and Kili called jovially as they ran off.

"Now." Said Dwalin. He gave a good hard knock on the door. Whatever Dwalin and Balin expected, it was not the cheerful young woman who smiled at them and said, "Oh, Hello, there! Are you friends of Bailey? You look about his height-oh, no wait, you're dwarves! Pardon me! Is there anything I can get for you?" "Er, no, ma'am, actually, it is about Bailey, but-"

"Momma, Momma, may I have a sweet?"

"No, darling."

A young boy, a little older then the previous one they met, ran up to his mother and started pulling on her skirt, asking repeatedly, "May I have a sweet? May I have a sweet?" Every time, his mother answered, "No."

Finally the child stopped and pouted, "Gosh, you're mean Momma. But I'll stop anyway because I love you."

"Oh, no! I don't want you to be sad! Here, have some sweets!" She reached into her pocket and a large handful of pralines.

"Oh, thank you, Momma!" The little boy ran off, gobbling them down.

"No wonder." Muttered Dwalin to Balin. She turned back to them. "All right, so about Bailey?"

"Errr, well, he beat up a dwarf with the help of his friends."

"One of our own." Added Dwalin. "Well, dear goodness! I hope he's alright! Did the dwarf harm him at all?"

"Umm, no, actually, he was better off then his vic-" Balin cursed silently. Apt though the word was, it was not a term Thorin would appreciate.

"Victim? Oh, dear, I'm sorry. Is your friend alright?"

"Yes, ma'am. He's quite alright."

"Well, that's fantastic! Is that all you wanted?"

"Uh-"

Dwalin stepped forward. "We wondering you could punish him appropriately for his lack of respect."

"Punish?"

"Yes. I saw some nice hazel trees on the town outskirts that you could use." He said meaningfully.

"You mean whip him? My baby?"

"Sometimes a little bit of force is necessary to reinforce discipline." Said Dwalin gently.

"Of course, I'll keep that in mind." She responded nervously.

"Or you could have your husband do it." Suggested Balin.

"Of course!" She brightened. "I'll ask him. "

"Do you have the addresses for Bailey's friends?" Asked Dwalin.

"Why, yes!" She said.

Fili and Kili found the kids in the alley where they saw them last, running and screaming in terror from Dwalin's axes. Now they were currently pulling the wings and legs of grasshoppers, and laughing is the squirming bodies tried to right themselves.

"Hey!" Yelled Fili.

"We have a bone to pick with you." Said Kili.

"Come out and fight, Bailey!"

"What for?" Said Bailey cockily, stepping forward out of the gloom. "Oh, some dwarves?" He had a nasty smirk on his face. "Scram. The last dwarf we came across was a retard who took forever even to take one itsy-bitsy step." He kicked out his foot in slow motion to demonstrate. "Beat it."

"HE'S NOT A RETARD!" Kili and Fili yelled in unison. They flew at Bailey and punched him with a passion. They quickly realized something...Bailey was a terrible fighter. Of course. Who else would gang up on someone trapped in slow-motion? That was the only way he would stand a chance.

Well, thought Fili as he landed a punch to the stomach, he's getting what he deserves for his bluff. They leave Bailey gasping, his companions are stunned.

"You think he's as bruised up as Thorin was?" Asks Fili.

"I think so. Gentlemen, take this as a warning." Said Kili, tipping a nonexistent hat. "Don't mess with people that LOOK vulnerable, because their nephews will kick your butts. Good day." Then the two gallant young dwarves strode off into the sunset.

Later

"So then, the poor couple fainted right infront of our very eyes. They had had no idea."

"But there was this one tough looking guy who answered the door and said, "That's me boy!" When he informed him. Naturally, I slapped him to tears."

"Fortunately, no one was watching." Added Balin drily. "Or else Dwalin could have easily gotten arrested."

"Bailey's a coward!" Fili annouces.

"He's a terrible fighter!" Kili interjected.

"You should have seen the look on his face when I asked if he remembered me. He did. He didn't say, but he did."

Fili and Kili might as well have been struck by lightening. "UNCLE THORIN?! When did you get here? We thought you were back at Erebor!"

Balin and Dwalin are just as flabbergasted. "What-how-"

"As soon as you left, I followed you about a day behind. I told Oin I wasn't feeling well, then snuck out and got moving."

"But-but-but-but-" Stutter Fili and Kili in shock.

Thorin looked insulted. "Don't you know that a king's pride is never fully salvaged until he stares his enemy in the eye himself? You fought the good fight-(retard! That bastard) but some of it I had to do as well."

Fili and Kili think about this for a second.

"I guess we have a lot to learn." Says Kili, staring up at his uncle in awe.

"Yeah." Said Fili, looking at Thorin with equal admiration.

But that is in the future. Right now, Erebor has not been reclaimed. The journey is not complete. Let us return to the present...

It took eight days for Thorin II Oakensheild to recover from the incident with Gandalf's staff, which trapped him in slow motion.

All of them knew when it happened.

But only Thorin and Gandalf knew why Thorin woke his company up very early, and hurried of while Gandalf was still slumbering.

And as Gandalf puffed and cursed, and ran to catch up, he realized he had come to regret that day in the forest one week ago.

No matter how necessary it was, he reminded himself as he tripped in his haste.