Author's Note: ALSO - if you've read by fem-Bilbo story in March, you are going to recognize a LOT of this, but I had a reviewer who prompted me to make that collection of one shots into a real story. I'll leave the other up for posterity - and so I can read the reviews - but this will be the result of that prompt. I'm trying to work on my other WIP's and some of them are being a real pain. I'm also trying to find a new job while covering more positions than I did before due to people leaving and/or being let go. A lot of whining that, but also a bit of why I've been so scatterbrained lately. You have my deepest apologies and I hope you will stick with me regardless. Until I find the new job, it might get worse. Again - my apologies. I am sorry.

Concerning Bella

A Little Family History….

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."

And what a Hobbit-hole it was too.

Bungo Baggins designed the entire complex while he courted Belladonna Rose Took, daughter of the long-lived Old Took. Gerontius Took would settle for nothing less than the best for his daughters, and if Belladonna would be moving to Hobbiton, then she would be living in the finest smial available. Three years passed during the designing and building of the place now known as Bag End. During that time, Bungo pursued quite the proper courtship, which worried the Tooks. Belladonna possessed the Took curiosity and wandering ways in their fullest and her family worried the staid Baggins would end up breaking her spirit.

On the contrary…

Bungo enjoyed the tales of her travels, listening with rapt attention to each detail. He even learned the Elf tongues so she could practice when at home. Indeed, given the sheer size of her family clan, they should not have been surprised to see her gravitate more and more to the young fellow who paid her greater attention than anyone else could spare. Not that he neglected her family, letting any of them pass on stories of their adventures, but Belladonna came first in his mind and that, more than anything else, sold Old Took on Bungo Baggins as a son-in-law. Any male who would devote so much of himself to his daughter's happiness must be a good match.

And so it proved.

Bungo and Belladonna enjoyed their married life. He spent most of his time puttering around in his garden, working alongside the Gamgees, and scribbling away in various journals. Most people believed these to be works on family history, quite the appropriate task for a gentle Hobbit, and they were correct, though the actual history being recorded would likely have horrified his more prim and uptight relatives. Instead of recording the minutia of Hobbit life or the history of the Baggins family, Bungo recorded his wife's many stories of the lands beyond the Shire. No one suspected the hidden rebel living within the skin of a proper Baggins.

Old Took laughed so hard when he found out that he almost dropped a cask of ale.

The marriage produced two children. Yavanna blessed them with one son, Bilbo, and one daughter, Belladonna, called Bella to differentiate her from her mother. Ten years separated the elder from the younger, but that did not seem to matter. The good folk of Hobbiton remarked on Bilbo's devotion to his little sister – how he would play with her and keep her occupied as their mother shopped in the market. He would respond to her crying when at home, allowing their father to remain with any guests who might be visiting. Many mothers would be heard speaking in wistful tones of having such a good firstborn. Everyone agreed that Belladonna made an excellent mother despite the wildness of her youth.

Though they did wish she would not fill her children's heads with fireside tales.

All things being considered, however, they could overlook some eccentricities. The three daughters of Gerontius Took carried rather infamous reputations after all, and they would be glad if the oddities remained at a few stories. Bungo seemed to be raising his son in the proper Baggins fashion and Hobbiton rested in the knowledge he would do the same for young Bella.

Then came the Fell Winter.

Bungo, Belladonna, and the children visited their Brandybuck cousins that winter, braving the temperatures for the Midwinter feast. According to stories told later, no one could remember a brighter, cheerier Midwinter…but then memories are tricky things. Given the tragedy which occurred two days later, one might suspect that anything 'Before' would take on a glowing remembrance, to be more than they were. Perhaps, perhaps not. Regardless, the feast lived on in memory as a wonderful time filled with food, presents, laughter, and love.

Brandy Hall filled to bursting, and the nearby Brandywine – frozen for the first time in memory – proved an irresistible draw to the numerous children. They walked, or more accurately slipped, across the ice as they played various games, resting secure in the knowledge that such ice prevented any potential drownings.

Drowning being a most fearsome death to most Hobbits – they did not care for swimming. (Save for some of the Brandybucks themselves who were forgiven their odd feelings due to living against the Old Forest and much too close to the settlements of the Big Folk.

Late into the afternoon, two evenings after the Midwinter feast, the tweens lingered at the river as their elders and younger siblings returned to the Hall. Bilbo, though barely in his tweens, argued for permission to stay and his parents agreed as long as he remained with his older cousins. The tweens – irresponsible as they could be – knew to return to the Hall before full dark. The stars began to kindle in the twilight sky when the mass of laughing tweens made their way towards a warm fireside and good supper.

Howls rent the air.

A pack of White Wolves exploded from the Old Forest and charged across the frozen Brandywine. Shrieks and screams filled the air as the tweens scattered, trying to escape from the ravenous beasts. The winter – coldest on record in the Shire – ravaged the lands to the north and the creatures roved into settled lands during their search for food. Hunger made the Wolves fearless and the group of unprotected, and unarmed, tweens made too tasty and easy a target. The tweens had only two choices – run or hide. Both would prove successful…and both would prove untenable. Wolves covered the ground at speeds no Hobbit could match and their keen sense of smell led them to the trembling youngsters trying to hide.

Most of them could only hope for a quick death.

One of the tweens – forever after called 'Lightfoot' Took – reached the Hall, screaming for aid and describing fearsome foes. The adults required a moment to comprehend his message, but their reaction upon understanding moved at lightning speed.

The Horn-Call of Buckland rang out in the night.

"Awake! Fear! Fire! Foes! Awake!"

Elders, most women, and all of the children took refuge in the cellars of the Hall while the men and a handful of the women prepared to fight off the Wolves before moving out to find the missing tweens. More adults, their own families hidden away, streamed in from surrounding villages and isolated households. Armed and watchful, the large force moved out to drive off the attacking Wolves.

More attacks would come during the latter half of winter and the Hobbits would turn their farming instruments to bloodier use over those months. They welcomed the aid brought by the Rangers of the North as well, working with them to secure the eastern and northern borders of the Shire. The White Wolves could not stand against the combined forces and large packs ceased their raids. Small incursions still occurred, only ending with the coming of the spring thaw.

No attack would prove as deadly as this first.

Sunlight crept across the ground and brought the full tragedy into stark detail. Almost a dozen tweens lay still on the ground with several more missing and never to be found. Others would be found that morning – hiding in trees, under stones, burrowed into the earth itself. Distraught parents and other family members searched out each tween, hoping almost against hope that their child would be one of the hidden ones. Too many parents returned in devastation.

Bungo and Belladonna among them.

The death of their son sobered Bungo and Belladonna. Bella became the focus of their attention, both their hopes and their fears. Bella grew up learning the tongues of the free peoples – Dwarvish an obvious exception due to the secrecy of the Dwarves. Bungo taught her to read and write in the various tongues as well, not to mention how to bargain and negotiate. Belladonna taught her to sew and to cook, but also to hunt and to hide in plain sight. They wanted to make sure their daughter would be prepared for the future as the Mistress of Bag End.

Both parents encouraged a balance in Bella's heritage – the Took's sense of adventure and the responsibility of the Baggins clan. They journeyed with her to the furthest reaches of the Shire and told her of the lands beyond the borders. Plans began to be made for Bella to visit some of the places they mentioned when she grew old enough. She showed every sign of becoming an adventuress at least the equal of her infamous mother.

Then Bungo Baggins grew ill and passed away.

Folks in Hobbiton and Bywater believed he never truly recovered from the death of his son. For all the love he held for his wife and daughter, a piece of him remained broke at the loss of Bilbo and people murmured that his final years held the shadow of tragedy. For Bella, the tragedy continued. Her mother, also bereft of son, all but shattered at the death of her unexpected death of her husband. Many wondered if Belladonna would follow her husband into the grave.

Perhaps she did, but Belladonna held on until after her daughter came of age. Rumors abounded through the Shire that certain members of the Baggins clan wanted guardianship of the young female in order to get their hands on her home. This fired Belladonna's spirit and she pulled herself together, putting her grief to one side as she began working to protect her daughter's inheritance. She sought out her own brothers' aid as well as speaking with various influential people – both Baggins and not. Her efforts bore fruit. Word began to spread that the Thain, the Master of Buckland, and Bungo's sisters would take umbrage should anyone attempt to manipulate Bella or her inheritance. The scheming individuals backed off and grew silent – though no one doubted they would continue to connive behind the scenes.

Seven years later – Bella turned thirty-three.

Belladonna passed away eight years after her beloved Bungo, a shadow of the vibrant female who once traveled as far as Mithlond in the West and Rivendell in the East. Those who made a habit of collecting useless trivia would consider her the most travelled Hobbit since their Wandering Years over thirteen hundred years previous.

Few could have ever guessed that in less than a decade, her own daughter would surpass her.

Even fewer would have guessed that within a century of her parents' deaths, Bella Baggins would be one of the most famous Hobbits who ever lived, known and renowned in the courts of Dwarf, Elf, and Man.

Hobbiton, Year 1341 by Shire Reckoning (Year 2941 of the Third Age)

Miss Belladonna Lilly Baggins, daughter of the proper Bungo Baggins and his infamous wife Belladonna Rose Baggins, née Took, muttered to herself as she made her way back to Bag End after a trip to the market. Not that she needed to go to market – her larder overflowed in case of unexpected family visits – a legacy of being related to the oversized Took clan, but she felt a desire for some good mushrooms and greens to go with her fish. And she refused to hide away in her home, wizard or no wizard. The earlier visit by the wandering Wizard had thrown off her entire schedule – not to mention throwing her emotional state into a tizzy. Imagine! Inviting her on an adventure as though she lingered in her tweens! Insisting that it would be very good for her – and amusing for him!

Of all the nerve!

Bella might be a daughter of the Tooks, but the folk of the Shire all exclaimed over how much she resembled her father when it came to proper behavior. She might have had her moments as a child and a tween, but she settled down, right and proper, as an adult.

It was sad that her parents passed away before they could see it.

Most folk could only find minor issues for which to take Bella to task - with the notable exception of the Sackville-Baggins portion of the family. They thought she perhaps read too much, those books and scrolls all involving the various Big Folk types outside of the Shire, and she remained single, quite alone in her smial. It seemed a shame to waste all of that room on a single Hobbit when her father designed it for a family. Still, again putting aside the opinion of the Sackville-Baggins', Bag End did belong to her; there could be no doubt about that. Uncommon as it might be for a young female to live on her own – most married before they ever left their parents' home. (One could, of course, find the occasional widow living alone, though their children – and they always had at least one child – tended to keep them company quite often.) In every other way, however, Miss Bella lived an exemplary Baggins lifestyle, so folks accepted the few oddities as being the likely outcome of losing her parents at so young an age.

For herself, Bella often felt her single state looming over her. While she possessed a large family – as most Hobbits do – she did not feel close to anyone in particular. Her Took family found her agreeable, but a little too staid for their tastes while her Baggins family despaired of her unHobbitlike education though they approved of her proper society manners. She tried to walk the fine line between them in her desire to do honor to the legacy of her parents.

Now she sat down to a solitary dinner, still uneasy over Gandalf's visit as it stirred old memories of sitting near her mother and listening to her stories of various journeys and the longing that young Bella felt to be just like her mother.

A knock at the door brought a bewildered frown to her face. She had hoped for a quiet evening after the earlier hassle with the Wizard. Still…it would not do to be rude. The unexpected visitor should not suffer for her temper over Gandalf and his unsettling ways. Bella opened the door with a smile on her lips and found that her surprises for the day were not yet at and end.

"Dwalin," announced a tall, menacing Dwarf as he bowed, "at your service."