Chapter 1

There was a knock on the door, and the three girls sitting in their rooms swung their heads up. Bilbo was making dinner, but he never mentioned company before. Nor was he planning on inviting anyone over soon. So they all got up and peeked out of their doors.

Bilbo came from the kitchen, his face scrunched in confusion as he tied his rob tighter around the center. When he looked behind at the girls, they shrugged. They don't invite people over anyways, everyone in the shire was terrified of them. Even if they weren't so upfront about it. They were friendly at times, but the girls knew they were talked about in hushed tones. It didn't bother them, they had Bilbo, who had looked after them since they were pups.

They watched as Bilbo opened the front door and was met with a tallish, burly man. His beard thick, but his head partially bald. They could smell something new about him. Maybe he wasn't a man? It's not man's scent.

"Dwalin. At your service." He bowed, his voice thick with an accent. Bilbo didn't know what to say or if he should question the strange man first. So he fixed his robe a bit more and nodded back,

"Bilbo….Baggins, at yours."

Dwalin, the strange man, barely taller than Bilbo himself, frankly just walked through the door and pushed past Bilbo. Stammering, Bilbo decided to actually ask his question earlier. "Do we… know each other?"

Dwalin seemed just as confused as the hobbit. He furrowed his thick brows, "No?" As if that answer was obvious. Which it was but to Bilbo just walking up to a random hobbit's house and inviting themselves in without prior invitation, calls for necessary questioning.

"Uh…Bilbo?" One of the girls asked, making the very befuddled man turn around and look at her.

"Yes Ash?" He watched as Dwalin took off his coat and wrapped it around his arm. Before tossing it at the hobbit to catch. He turned to look at the three girls as well, not even noticing them there.

"Should we shoo away the guest?" She asked, one brow raised since clearly this man wasn't invited. His scent alone was making her want to plug her nose after only a minute of being here. Her friend Rea already put a hand up to her nostrils to block it out.

Bilbo shook his head after a moment of thinking, clearly not wanting to say anything in front of their 'guest'. Dwalin bowed to the girls, "Evenin'."

"Wow you're an ugly one."

Ash covered her mouth with a laugh while Rea punched her other friends arm. Bilbo looked at the girl in the middle who didn't seemed fazed at all at what she just said. "Dakota, be quiet." He said through clenched teeth.

Dwalin huffed, "You're not much of a looker either sweetheart."

Dakota didn't even react just glared at him, arms crossed. "Now, where is it?" Dwalin boomed suddenly, startling Bilbo who was still holding his things.

"Where is what?"

Dwalin glanced at him, like he was expecting to be bottle fed these answers. "Supper? He said there'd be food, and lots of it."

The girls came down from the hall and stood next to Bilbo as Dwalin made for the kitchen. "He said?"

"Wait, who said?" Rea echoed, exchanging a look with Dakota. While Ash turned to Bilbo,

"Bilbo did someone else come by today while we were out hunting?" She put on a face of concern, he was supposed to tell them if anybody strange ever bothered him. They're very protective of him and he knows that.

"Well…No! No! I have food right here for you mister Dwalin!" Bilbo shoved the items away, forgetting to answer Ash and went over to share some of the dinner he made with Dwalin. Disapproving looks from all three girls followed suite.

"He's always way too nice to people. This guy doesn't deserve to eat the fish we caught today." Ash murmured to her best friends standing next to her. Shaking her head slightly, Rea went after him.

Dakota stopped Ash from following, her blue eyes wide, "Wait you're saying that guy is eating the fish I caught today? Oh hell naw." She stepped ahead of Ash and stormed into the kitchen, while Ash quickly followed to make sure her friend didn't start throwing things because of her hard-earned work being eaten up by somebody very unappreciated here.

"Wait wait Koda." She pulled at her arm but before anything else happened, Dwalin already sucked down the entire plate of food and was chewing engrossedly into the tender meat. "Oh, that's just not cool."

Bilbo sent a warning look to the girls as all of their invisible fur was basically bristling just looking at him.

"Very goodness, any more?" Dwalin spoke through a mouthful of fish.

"Oh, yes right here." Bilbo handed him some bread scones.

Ash growled, "Bilbo…stop feeding the man." She clenched her fists, watching as Dwalin looked at her, then proceeded to take an enormous bite of the scone right in front of her.

The door knocked.

Dwalin looked over at Bilbo who was standing very stiff next to him. "That'll be the door."

"Do not tell me you invited more people?!" Dakota raised her voice, before slapping the scone out of Dwalin's hand. All he did was glare at her as he continued chewing, while Dakota put both her hands on the table facing him, giving him an icy look in return.

While the stare-down was happening, Ash followed Bilbo to the door, Rea not far behind. This time Bilbo opened it and another man with a pure white beard stood there.

"Another dwarf?" Bilbo whispered to himself, the word catching on Ash's ears. Dwarf? That's what this scent was? Ewwww….

This 'dwarf' looked a bit perkier and smiled broadly at the hobbit. "Balin. At your service." He finished with a bow.

"What do you want dwarf thing?" Ash growled, sensing Bilbo's uneasiness very rapidly. He didn't invite this one either and she didn't even have to ask. But once again, Bilbo hushed her and pushed her back behind him.

"Good evening." He simply stated.

"Yes, yes it is. Although I think it might rain later." Balin replied, matter of factly.

Rea gave Ash another confused glance, this one way less disguised than the last few. But Ash just shook her head. From the kitchen came a large sound, vibrating of the floor as Dwalin got up from his seat.

"He doesn't like you touching things, now stop it!" Dakota had wrenched the dwarf's arm away from the cookie jar and was met with a scowl from the burly man. She defiantly took the jar and set it back where it was, giving him the same cold glare.

"Oh!" Balin saw his friend and walked up to him. All the girls and Bilbo could do was watch dumbfounded.

"Bilbo, are you leaving something out?" Ash questioned him yet again. All Bilbo did was mumble and shake his head, not really answering. "Bilbo!" She raised her voice, clearly getting annoyed. Her green eyes were bright and focused on him as all Bilbo did was fumble with his words.

"I-I" He started.

The two dwarves laughed and smashed their heads together, clearly a thing they do for close brotherly greetings. Which is different than what Ash and the girls do, they sniff butts as wolves. So she can't really be weirded out.

"I think you guys have the wrong house. This isn't a place for you to stay." Rea spoke up, but the two dwarves were so busy catching up, they totally ignored her. She threw her hands up and looked at the rest of them.

The two dwarves then made their way over to the pantry and started observing all the food Bilbo had. In which Bilbo tried multiple times to get their attention and tell them that they were in the wrong house. But of course to no avail, even after they caught his apology for being 'blunt' in his own way. They continued on.

"This is going nowhere. We gotta kick them out." Dakota suggested, standing by the hall behind Bilbo and his babbling. Ash nodded but Rea shook her head,

"We gotta behave like Bilbo says. You know how he is with guests, let alone strangers."

She made a point, Ash thought, but they were touching everything and eating his food without his permission. It just wasn't right for them to be on their territory and take their things.

The doorbell rang.

Bilbo leaned over and watched the door, but this time Ash blocked his view. "NO. We are not inviting anyone else in. I'll handle this Bilbo."

Before he could protest, she was already stomping aggressively towards the door. He knew they wouldn't be very hospitable like he was raised to be. But at this time he knew they couldn't have anymore strange dwarfs, even if he was afraid to say it out loud. He was hoping Rea would be the one to tell them off though, she was always the more calm one of the three. But her bright red hair was nowhere to be seen as the two other girls made for the door. She stood by Bilbo and tried to talk to the already imposing dwarf's inside the pantry once more.

When Ash opened the door, two young looking dwarves were there now. Two more?! She sighed as she watched them bow just like the other two.

"You must be Mr. Baggins? Or maybe related?" The dark haired one leaned over to the other. "I thought it was a man….?" He tried to whisper but Ash and Dakota clearly had better hearing than they knew.

"Uh no, we're not. This is the wrong house actually. No Mr. Baggins or whatever lives here. You can go away, byeee." Ash put on a fake little smile and started to shut the door but the one named Kili stopped it very suddenly.

"What? There's been a cancel?"

Fili leaned in too, "No one told us." He narrowed his eyes at Ash while Dakota gave him the same look in return.

"He doesn't want you here. Go the hell away." Dakota pressed on the door but both dwarves now shoved it open.

"Ah so he does live here, That's a relief!" Kili strode right in, while Fili waltzed in confidently a second after, giving Ash a wink. She growled quietly once more and shut the door.

She knew they could forcibly remove them with a swift change and some bite marks, but once they saw the look on Bilbo's face, they knew they had to behave.

Looking at him with a pout as they couldn't stop two more, Bilbo sighed and went to go scold Kili for wiping his boots where they shouldn't be.

"This place is nice, did you do it yourself?" Kili wondered, while Fili took off his weapons and handed them to Ash. Reluctantly, she grabbed them, giving him a scowl as he smirked.

"Be careful with these, I just had them sharpened."

This time Dakota's deep growl could be heard from directly behind her. Fili just talked to her like she was some imp of a child! Disturbing.

Ash tossed the swords and other weapons right onto the bench, not giving a rats ass about their condition.

Dwalin came over and greeted the two brothers (for their scent was similar Ash knew they were related) and pulled them over to help set up the dining room. They mentioned that they had to fit more dwarves and Bilbo's face almost went pale.

"More of you?!" He almost squeaked. Ash and Rea exchanged a look as Dakota ran for the door and blocked it immediately, her eyes wide.

"No way are we getting more dwarves in this hole. No freaking way." She declared, while Bilbo was about to say something when the doorbell rang once more.

He marched over to the door anyways, his temper already gone. "No! I don't need any more dwarves in this house! If this is some joke, it is in very poor taste!" He moved Dakota out of the way even though she told him to not open it several times. And when he did, an enormous bundle of dwarves just fell flat onto the floor.

They were all cursing at each other for their weight and stupidness while Bilbo and the girls just gaped. But from behind the dwarven mess on the floor, there was a tall man in grey robes peeking from above the doorway, When his eyes met Bilbos' the hobbit slumped his shoulders. "Gandalf." He breathed, recognition evident and the entire night now making sense to him. The girls knew him too, he was the one that set them on Bilbo's front porch when he was just a young adult and they were lost pups.

When all the dwarves started to set the table up and take all of Bilbo's food, he was profusely checking on every dwarf that brought some sort of food out, telling them to put it back but to no avail. The girls all were around him, doing the same thing to help.

"He said put it back! Now do it!" Dakota grabbed one of the foods from a dwarf with an axe in his head and placed it back into the pantry. The dwarf started angrily motioning how rude of her that was and Gandalf stepped in to calm them both down.

Once 'Bifur' was able to go back and get the item Gandalf turned to Dakota, who was eyeing him furiously. "You must be Dakota? Bilbo mentioned you earlier along with your other pack mates. It's good to see you all grown up."

She scoffed, "I'm still trying to figure out why you so rudely told a company of dwarves that it was okay to pillage Bilbo's food storage. I contributed to over half that meat and fish!" She threw her arms up in exasperation. But she saw that the wizard looked unfazed which annoyed her even more.

"Young pup, there is more to this gathering than meets the eyes. You will see." Was all he said, before getting distracted by another dwarf offering him wine.

Rea was about to stop the biggest dwarf from taking four cheese wheels, but she felt her smaller form shiver at the thought of standing in his way, especially with the way he was eyeing the cheese. "Sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to get a cheese knife or something, that looks dangerous to eat all by yourself…." She cringed as he walked past her without a word.

Another one came up from next to her, "Cheese knife? He eats it by the block."

"That's disgusting."

"Not if you have five stomachs!" He laughed, his accent thick through his words. He walked away and Rea tried to stop more of the dwarves from taking more than they need. These dwarves were rather pigs than anything, do they even need this much food?!

Sure on a bad day, the three girls could eat their fair share of a few kills, but not to this extent for much smaller beings. Where does it all go?

"And you're the lovely Rea, am I right?" Gandalf appeared next to her as she failed yet again to help Bilbo stop them from taking antique chairs. She looked up at him, a little worn out already with this mess.

"Gandalf, can you please explain why there are so many in such a small house? Wasn't there somewhere other than a hobbit house to have a feast at? I mean seriously…" She looked over the dwarves coming back and forth. The space a little too tight for her comfort.

"Bilbo said you had bright red hair, it is very beautiful in person I tell you. Quite a rare sight indeed for your kind." Another dwarf with red hair and thick braids walked in between them. "Well, not for dwarves though." He chuckled, but Rea frowned still, knowing how upset Bilbo is when they have to clean this up afterwards.

"We're going to be hunting for months to get this meat back. And if that's the case, I'll just eat all of them right here and now, so it'll last me." Ash grumbled a she came up to Rea. Who smacked her arm at her words.

"Watch what you say! They might freak if they knew you were serious about that and that we could actually do it." Rea hissed. Ash rubbed her arm and pouted, knowing how hard they'll have to work to get so much food back.

"And you're Ash?" Gandalf guessed, since she was the last of the pack of three.

Ash lowered a brow, "I don't like you." Was all she stated.

Gandalf hummed and left the girls to stop the dwarves once more from eating more than they could possibly chew. Gandalf counted the party while they were all bustling around, and he counted 12 dwarves. There was one missing.

"He is late is all." Dwalin answered his thoughts before he could voice them. "He went up north to a meeting of our kin. He will come." Sipping more of his drink and not really doing much more to help, Gandalf nodded to him as a thank you. He also wondered how this lot was going to take the fact on what the three girls standing here really were. He hoped in due time they would accept them, as they're invaluable to help this quest if things ever do go wrong. They weren't from this world, they were transported here, so whatever fate they may have had, is now going to hopefully change the fate this quest would've had too. It's a long shot, but Gandalf knew he had to take that chance.

When all the dwarves were finally sitting down, along with Gandalf, they began to feast. Throwing food this way and that, Bombour catching some in his mouth to the amusement of the entire table. While Bilbo mused over his now empty pantry, Rea went to comfort him while Dakota and Ash stood by the entryway to the dining room, watching them make a huge mess of everything.

"Unbelievable." Ash groaned, unable to even think of what they'll have to clean up after this. She was planning a long night of reading, before going out and shifting with her girls later. This will at least take up until morning, no doubt if they don't fall asleep doing it.

"I wanna kick all their asses." Dakota deadpanned, leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed. Ash murmured in agreement.

Dwalin poured some ale down Oin's ear trumpet and the poor dwarf had to blow it back out again, giving a roar of laughter to the whole company.

Gandalf smiled and looked over at the girls glaring at them all and met eyes with Dakota. He raised his ale to her and she rolled her eyes and looked away. Bilbo hadn't said much about them, he was hoping to learn more about each of their personalities if they decided to come on this journey. He was already quite intrigued.

After the dinner was done, Bilbo grabbed Gandalf and brought him aside to have a word with him, clearly very visibly upset. Which is rare because the last time he was so angry was when Dakota had ripped apart one of his couches due to her throwing a fit about being grounded. She smiled at that memory though because at the end of the day he gave her warm tea and forgave her for her actions, even though it was an antique design.

"You know, we learned of Bilbo's name but not yours young lassie." When Dakota looked over she saw a red headed dwarf smiling at her. She was still fuming about the fact that all their hard work at harvesting and bringing in game over the months before winter all went to waste in one night, that she only scoffed and rolled her eyes at him.

"You're not staying, so you don't need to know." She replied scathingly.

Ash came up from behind and stood across from the dwarf who looked shocked at her friends reply. She knew Bilbo wanted them to be nice even though he was very upset right now. They were going to be gone by morning anyways, no harm done.

"I'm sorry, she's cranky when she doesn't eat. My name is Ash, this is my pa-friend." She almost said 'pack-mate' but she caught last minute that that might've been weird to hear. She cleared her throat, "I mean this is my friend Dakota, and our other friend over there with the bright red hair is Rea."

He nodded and looked appreciative of her responding nicely, "You look like a strong group of women together. Keepin' mister Baggins on his toes eh?" He laughed. "I am Gloin, at your service." He did a small bow with his head. Ash returned the gesture while Dakota walked away, not interested anymore. Her blonde friend had the shortest temper at the best of times. Well, dirty blonde hair mostly, its faded since they were younger, she always teases Dakota about it either being a light brown or dirty blonde.

"Here Ori give it to me." Fili took the plate Ori was holding and threw it to his brother who caught it effortlessly. Each of the dwarves started to toss and throw plates and silverware everywhere, nearly giving Bilbo a heart attack. They sang a song to go with it too, just to tease Bilbo about how perfect he wanted everything and to not 'blunt the knives'.

The song was rather catchy, and clearly they made it up on the spot but apparently everybody knew the words. Rea went over to the dining room and watched as they sang and cleaned the plates off. Bilbo was yelling at them that it was silverware and plates that were over 100 years old and for the first time, his annoyance was rather funny. As the dwarves paid no mind to it, they kept singing and dancing around and throwing delicate things very carefully and catching them. Rea let out a small laugh.

"That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!" They all finished as he stormed in and all the utensils and plates were neatly stacked and cleaned. They all roared with laughter and cheered each other on the job well done. Gandalf smoking and laughing with them as Ash and Dakota showed up to see the neatly done job as well.

Then everyone went quiet as the door knocked three times.

Gandalf went solemn. "He is here."

Rea exchanged a look with her friends, wondering why such intensity was needed for this one person.