I will not die, I'll wait here for you,

In my time of dying!

/

I woke up, hoping that last night was just a bad dream. 'There were no dwarves,' I thought, 'Gandalf did not try to recruit me to be the burglar for a group of dwarves on a quest to reclaim a mountain from a dragon. A girl did not fall from my ceiling and try to convince me to come along.'

Of course all of my denials went out the window as soon as I saw the the tea cup sitting on my bedside table. I reluctantly sat up and got up. Taking the teacup in hand I cautiously opened my bedroom door expecting to find all thirteen dwarves once again destroying my kitchen and dining room. So I was quite surprised when I was greeted by complete silence.

I checked the dining room: gone.

The kitchen: gone.

The spare rooms: gone, gone, gone!

All of my uninvited guests were gone! Even Gandalf and Miss Hale. Once I'd finished searching my home for any lingering dwarves I happily skipped to the kitchen to put away my cup and clean up. I was quite surprised to find the entire place spotless. And even more surprised when I spotted my contract and a piece of paper on my table. How had I not noticed that before?

I stared at the contract for awhile, then turned my attention to the other paper. From Miss Hale? After reading it I thought back to when she fell from my ceiling. What would have happened to her had I not intervened? Why had I intervened? I frowned a bit remembering how I had snapped at the dwarves to back away. Where had that come from? Why did I feel so protective of her?

I returned my attention to her note and frowned some more she wanted share this adventure with me? Why? Surely she knew that I was hardly the best candidate for the position of a burglar of all things. She's a seer, I remembered suddenly. What had she told me last night? She only knew what would happen if I did go with them, that implied that I needed to go along. 'But I could die!' I thought, fearfully. 'But Miss Hale will be there too,' a little voice in my head reminded me. Somehow I knew in my heart that she would never willingly lead us into danger. Why was I so ready to trust her when I'd only just met her? So many questions and no answers.

And the only way to answer them was to go with her.

"I must be out of my mind," I muttered, picking up a quil.

Two minutes later I was running out the door, sprinting towards the northern road. "Hello, Bilbo!" One of my neighbors called out, "where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"I can't talk now! I'm already late!"

"Late? Late for what?"

"I'm going on an adventure!"

No proper Baggins has ever gone on an adventure before. Oh, the gossip that I will endure when I return! 'If I return,' I reminded myself. While the thought worried me I couldn't bring myself to stop and return. Despite my common sense I trusted Miss Stormy Hale and I wanted to share this adventure with her and, dare I say it, with the dwarves.

My thoughts traveled back to the gossip as ran to catch up with the company. If I return my good name will be tarnished forever. No one except my Took and Brandybuck cousins will ever truly respect me again. The whispers and odd looks that will haunt me for the rest of my days!

And you know what?

Somehow I couldn't bring myself to care.

About twenty minutes after running and speed walking I finally caught up with the dwarves. "Wait! Wait!" I yelled speeding up back into a run, "I signed it! I signed it!"

As I ran past the line of ponies I noticed Miss Hale turn her horse around to watch me run up past the line of dwarves to the dwarf who'd given the contract to me last night. I skidded to a stop beside Balin's pony. "I signed it," I wheezed out, handing him my contract.

The old dwarf silently examined the contract for a few moments before giving an approving smile. "Everything looks in order," he said, "Welcome to the company of Thorin Oakenshield Master Baggins."

Immediately I heard Miss Hale start to cheer and even some of the dwarves joined in. I felt a burst of pride hearing her approval. Why did I care so much what she thought of me? Why did for her at all. I immediately forgot about my pride when I heard Thorin say, "Get him a pony."

All my protests were ignored as two of the younger dwarves, Fili and Kili I think, picked me up and deposited me onto a pony. As soon as I got myself comfortable I sneezed. Blasted horse hair! I fumbled for my handkerchief. As I wiped my nose a thought occurred to me. I turned my attention to Miss Hale, "Did you know I was going to need this?" I asked, a little afraid of her answer.

But she just said, "Eh, I thought you might."

I stared at her, feeling a little in awe of her powers. How powerful was her gift? How many details was she aware of? Just what exactly did she know?

"Most of the dwarves took bets on whether or not you would join us, Bilbo!" Gandalf called out suddenly.

Really? I noticed there were bags being tossed through the air. I turned my attention to Miss Hale, "Oh?" I said, "And what did you two think?" I was terrified of what her answer would be.

"Why Mister Baggins," she smiled and caught to bags of coins. She handed one to the dwarf riding next to her- was that an axe in his head? "We never doubted you for a second."

/

Chapter Five completed!

Damn, sorry guys I didn't mean to leave you for so long. And sorry that this is so short. I promised a chapter from a different PoV and I wanted to deliver since I wasn't divulging any new info on Stormy. It's hard writing a PoV that isn't from an OC! I started writing Dori, but I couldn't really get into his head. Then I tried Thorin, but decided it would be too soon too see into his head. I finally settled on Bilbo, because, well you'll see soon enough. And then I was going to publish it on Wednesday but the dang Internet went off and just got fixed today. Again sorry.

Next time: We learn more about Stormy, I promise! Again just a filler chapter, character bonding and all that jazz.

Thanks you to shishiwasteken, Kelwtim2spar, RougeReaper, Guest, and rosmund Chadwick for reviewing!

Love ya!