Bilbo had been so proud of himself. All throughout this crazy adventure he had not cried once. Sure there had been close calls when his eyes would fill with tears, but he had not let them escape. Then he has one bad dream and he is bawling like a baby.

Though he had to confess that this one had been particularly bad.

In his dream, he had watched as Thorin had once again rushed at Azog. He watched as the dwarf king is attacked and defeated. But this time when Azog had ordered his underling to behead Thorin, Bilbo could not move past the base of the fallen tree all the Company was hanging off. It was like someone had stuck his large feet in tar and the harder he struggled to move to aid Thorin the less he could move. He could not even get one toe to twitch. So in horror, Bilbo watched as the King Under the Mountain was beheaded. Bilbo heard the Company call and yell for their lost king and then scream as the tree they all hung from finally gave away. Bilbo, left on the top of the cliff and unable to move, watched the underling that had kill Thorin walk toward him. The orc's sword touched his neck then drew back to swing, leaving a smear of Thorin's blood on his neck. The last thing Bilbo saw before he woke was the orc's cruel smile and the sword coming back toward his neck.

Bilbo now sat, panting, trying to stop his tears. It was just a dream, you silly Hobbit! Bilbo thought reaching for his improvised handkerchief that Bofur had given him.

"Bilbo, lad, are you okay?"

Bilbo looked up from his search to see Bofur (speak of the dwarf…) looking at him in concern were he sat on watch.

Bilbo nodded his head and wiped at his eyes again, "Yes, I am fine Bofur. Just had a bad dream."

Bofur nodded his head in sympathy, "Aye, know that feeling. If I wasn't on watch I bet I would be waking up from bad dreams, too." Bofur then frowned when he noticed something shining on the Hobbit's cheeks and eyes.

"What that on your face, Bilbo?" He asked getting up and walking to crouch by the hobbit. Bofur reached up and touched the spot the shining was coming from, his fingertips coming way wet.

"Huh? Oh that…I am fine Bofur it is –"Bilbo, blushing at being caught crying, said before being cut off by the dwarf.

"Why is there water coming from your eyes?!" Bofur asked his own eyes going wide when he saw where the wetness was coming from.

Bilbo stared at his friend in confusion, "What do you mean why is there water coming from my eyes? I am-"

"Wait here, Bilbo, I am going to get Oin!" Bofur said jumping up and hurrying over to the medic.

"Bofur! There is nothing wrong with me! It is just-"Bilbo whispered-shouted after the hatted dwarf but he had already made it to Oin and was shaking him.

"Oin! Oin! Wake up! Something is wrong with Bilbo!" Bofur shouted to wake the half-deaf dwarf.

"Wha-? What is wrong?" Kili muttered from his sleeping spot beside his brother, his dark hair a mess on top of his head.

"Something is wrong with Bilbo!" Bofur replied, finally able to rouse Oin from his deep sleep.

"What?! But he said he was fine!" Kili said in alarm, now fully wake. "Fili! Wake up! Something wrong with Mr. Boggins!"

"I am fine! And it's Baggins not Boggins!" Said hobbit shouted but no one was listening to him.

"I told everyone to tell me if they had injures," Oin grumbled, sitting up and gathering the meager medical supplies that had made it through Goblin Town. "But no, there is always a stubborn one. What is wrong with the Hobbit, Bofur?"

Bofur nervously tugged on the flaps of his hat, "Water is coming from his eyes."

"What does that mean?" Fili asked, a concerned frown pulling down the corners of his mouth.

"I don't know lad. But you better wake Thorin just in case something is seriously wrong." Oin ordered. Fili nodded and then hurried off to wake his uncle.

"Fili, no! There is no need to wake Thorin!" Bilbo shouted after the blond. Oin kneeled down next to the hobbit and gently but firmly grabbed his face angling so he could see it from the light of the fire.

"Oin, I promise that there is nothing wrong with me. Have none of you ever seen-"

"I think we will let Oin be the judge of that, Mr. Baggins." Thorin interrupted coming up behind the medic. Though his words sounded harsh, Bilbo could tell the dwarf was concerned from the soft look in his eyes. Since Bilbo had saved the king, Thorin had started to be more open and accepting of the fourteenth member of the Company.

Speaking of the Company, they (with the exception of Gandalf who had gone to see if a friend-of-a-friend would be willing to take them in for a little while) were all now crowed around the medic and his patient.

His very unwilling patient. Bilbo kept trying to pull his head away from Oin and kept saying that he was fine and nothing was wrong with him, thank you very much!

"If you would just hold still this will not take long, you stubborn Hobbit!" Oin finally huffed, "If you don't, I'll get Dori to hold you still!"

"But nothing is wrong with me!" Bilbo all about shouted, throwing his hands in the air. Now tears of frustration gathered in the corners of his eyes, "I was crying! No need to make a huge deal about it!"

The dwarves stared at him in silence for several seconds till Ori shyly asked from the back of the crowd,

"What is crying?"

"So crying is when someone's emotions are so strong and over whelming that to relive them…water comes from their eyes?" Ori asked while taking notes in his notebook. (How the young dwarf had kept a hold of it through all the excitement of Goblin Town was anyone's guess.)

"Yes." Gandalf chuckled from his spot around the campfire, seeming very amused by the confusion on the Company's faces.

The wizard had come back to camp just as the Company was starting to really panic, thinking that crying was maybe some kind of hobbity illness. Also by that time, Bilbo had started to dissolve into tears of frustration adding to the dwarf's panic.

"Think of it as when you fill a waterskin with too much water. The more water you put in the fuller and tighter the skin gets. And if you put too much in it overflows. That is what happens when people's emotions get too much. They cry because they have too many emotions inside." Gandalf explained.

"So …. It is not some of hobbity illness?" Kili asked.

Bilbo sighed, his face buried in his hands, "No, Kili. Crying is not a 'hobbity illness'. In fact, all of the races cry."

"Not dwarves." Dawiln rumbled from across the fire.

Bilbo lifted his face from his hands, frowning. "What do you mean? Everyone cries….." But then he peppered off. If Dawiln was telling the truth then that wound explain why the Company had reacted with worry when they had saw his tears, instead of the scorn he thought that they would. Bilbo mentally shook his head, Dwarves…. Bother and confuse them….

"Well, if dwarves don't cry then what do they do?" Bilbo asked confused and a little skeptical.

"We go into something similar to berserker rage," Thorin said from beside Dawiln. "We throw things, scream, and tear at our clothes- but water never comes from our eyes." His own eyes spoke of great experience in this and from what Bilbo had learned about of the dwarven king's history, Bilbo believed him.

"Okay, but how have none of you ever seen someone of another race cry? Even a child?" Bilbo asked.

"The other races do not always trust dwarves, my dear Bilbo." Gandalf said as he looked around at the group sadly. "They view them as stone-hearted and unfeeling. And as crying is viewed as a weakness to most of the races who do cry, do you think that they would cry in front of dwarves?"

Bilbo looked around at the group of dwarves. They were all avoiding looking him the eye and he could tell that all that Gandalf had said was true.

"Well if it does not bother you all- I mean not everyone is comfortable with crying people- what I am saying is- oh bother," Bilbo rambled before he stopped, took a deep breath, and then looked around at the rest of the Company.

"I would be comfortable to cry in front of you all." At this statement, the dwarves all smiled at their hobbit and bowed their heads to him in respect. Fili, Kili, and Ori all got up and hugged Bilbo. Fili and Kili hugged him from the side while Ori hugged him from the front, accidently pressing Bilbo's face into his sweater with his over excited hug.

"We will make sure that you don't have reason to cry, Mr. Baggins" Ori promised from the group hug. Fili and Kili also agreed with the scribe, echoing his words.

"I'm sure you will, boys," Bilbo's muffled voice said from the middle of the hug.

"Let the hobbit go, Ori, before the he passes out from lack of oxygen," Nori's amused voice said from beside Dori, though he looked like he also wanted to join the hug.

"No, I am fine," Bilbo said, somehow have wiggled enough that his chin now rested on top of Ori's shoulder. "Hugs are actual nice to have during or after crying."

"Then we will provide as many hugs as needed," Kili said his voice as serious as Bilbo had ever heard it. The promise was echoed by the rest of the Company from around the fire.

Bilbo looked around at the group of people that he had being traveling with that somehow become so close to him in such a short time and smiled,

"I'll take you up on that promise." He said and relaxed fully into the hug.