"It's actually a really nice place to live," Bilba chattered to Dwalin as she swept them both inside the lobby of her apartment building," The rent's fair for this part of the city, and I have a rooftop apartment, which is absolutely amazing! The building's owner, Mr. Grey, gave me the keys to the roof and I have such lovely views of the river and park from there and my balcony. A rather odd man him, why just last week he had someone come out and enclose my entire roof with a fine mesh, which is fine, I asked him to after all. But then he also had them enclose the fire escape stairs leading to the roof and part of my balcony, which seemed quite odd to me. And then he finished it off by telling me that I needed to get a pet of some kind, maybe a few pets even. It's rather odd, it's almost like he knew you were coming."

Dwalin's ears twitched with interest as he watched the elevator doors shut with an unpleasant hiss. This Mr. Grey sounded like he was quite the confusing individual, almost as bad a certain grey wizard… His thoughts came to grinding halt. It couldn't be, could it?

The lift jerking was enough to bring him back to reality and he yowled in surprise, ears flattening themselves against his head in shame when he heard Bilba laughing.

"It's alright, we'll be home in a few minutes," she said as she stroked his back with her free hand," There's plenty of room and you'll have free run of my apartment and the roof. Actually, you could almost have run of the entire building if you wanted to, there's no one else renting here; which is odd considering this is prime property and Mr. Grey could make a small fortune if he wanted to. Who am I to judge, though?"

"You sound like a good judge of character to me," he told her petulantly, not that she could understand him," If he is the reincarnation of that daft old wizard, odd only begins to describe that pest…" He trailed off as he came face to face with a uniquely green door.

"It was the door that sealed the deal for me," she admitted to him as she dug in her pocket for her keys," I already knew I was going to take this place before, I would have been crazy not to, but that silly green door just made this place feels like home." The key turned smoothly in the lock and the door clicked open, revealing her apartment to his eyes for the first time.

Comfortable looking furniture was scattered around the room, interspersed with potted plants and piles of papers and books. Bookshelves lined the walls and the kitchen looked to be set up for someone who did a lot of cooking. It was a far cry from the comfortable smial she'd had in the Shire, but he supposed that this was probably as close to a Hobbitish home as she was likely to get in the modern world.

Humming quietly, Billa deposited him on the floor before hanging her jacket on the nearby coat rack. "Come on, I'll give you the grand tour."

The rest of the house was just as comfortable, he decided as he trotted obediently after his love. Everything looked so warm and welcoming, and she was nearly exactly how he remembered her. Her laughter, her chatter, the warm sparkle in her eye; that was something he would fight tooth and nail to protect. He would not fail her a second time.

Eventually, their tour led them to the bathroom and his ears perked in interest. While Mahal had graced him with information on this new world, there was nothing like seeing such wonders for himself. He examined the room carefully, mentally comparing any differences he could find between modern innovation and Dwarven ingenuity. The sound of running water made him turn his head from his inspection of the sink's plumbing and his ears perked up happily at the sight of the bathtub being filled with a low level of water.

"Now I know that cats don't really like water…." Billa began, only to be cut off by a large ball of fur racing by her to hop fearlessly in the tub.

Oh, blessed maker, he thought dreamily to himself as the warm water soaked through his fur, this feels so good.

A wondering laugh made him tilt his head back to watch his Billa through half-lidded eyes. She looked amused and rather relieved at his actions and he purred in pleasure at having made her happy.

"I take it back, obviously you don't mind baths," she chuckled as she knelt by the tub and picked up a bottle of shampoo," I'm actually very thankful for that as I doubt I would have been able to wrestle you for a bath if you hadn't wanted one."

Dwalin purred louder in agreement as Billa's questing fingers started to rub the liquid into his admittedly dirty fur. This had to be as close to Mahal's Halls as he could get on Arda, it just had to be.

"You have such lovely fur," she murmured," such a beautiful shade of brown, so dark and warm. Oh and look at these markings on your head, they almost look like tattoos. This tattered ear of yours just gives you the right addition to your character too."

If he'd still been a dwarf, he would have moaned at the feeling of his tattered ear being rubbed between delicate fingers. Ever since it had been mauled at the Battle of Moria, it had been more sensitive than any injury had a right to be; though thankfully it had passed being sensitive to weather conditions and had settled on being sensitive to touch. He wondered how Billa would have taken the news that if she had only touched his ears when he was a dwarf, he would have melted and done whatever she wanted him to.

"I dream sometimes," Billa murmured softly and he pulled himself away from his thoughts to focus once more on her face," and in these dreams, I see people whose names I know, but I can never remember meeting. One of these people was a warrior, a fearsome one, who carried a pair of great axes on his back. He looked so fierce, but he had such a great heart, one that was capable of so much compassion."

Dwalin's heart raced faster, did she know him? Could she see that he was here in front of her?

"I know that you're only a cat and that he was… something else; something ever so precious to me, not that he ever knew it. But still, I think I'll call you Dwalin, after him. What do you think?"

"I think that my own name sounds perfect for me," he meowed as his eyes twinkled with mirth. Carefully he bumped her hand with his forehead before he hauled himself back out of the tub to drip all over the floor.

"Oh do come here," she grumbled and snatched a towel off the rack to dry him with," Honestly, is this how things are going to be from now on?"

Dwalin merely chirped in agreement and continued to purr.

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.

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It wasn't until much later after a scrumptious meal of leftovers from Billa's dinner (he'd wanted to cry when he realized that it was trout, cooked the same way it had been all those years ago) and a movie on the television (the next time Bilba left the apartment he was going to learn how to work the remote) that he started to see that maybe things weren't as all right as he'd thought they were.

Bilba had spent several moments creating a rough nest out of pillows and a blanket atop a comfy chair before she had placed him onto it. Naturally, he had instead hopped over onto her bed and lay down, he had just found her and he was not going to let her out of sight now. Bilba, however, seemed to disagree with him and quickly scooped him up and back onto the nest. He refused.

"Oh fine," she grumbled, throwing up her arms in defeat as he took a seat on the bed once again," You can sleep on the bed if you want but be warned, it's not going to be comfortable for you. I have a tendency to scream and thrash about in my sleep. I'm just as likely to kick you or roll over on you and I really don't want you to get hurt. So please, for my sake if nothing else, sleep on the chair."

The worried look on her face made his heart twist and he nearly did as she asked, but then a vision of her lying dead on a battlefield flashed before his eyes and he resolutely settled himself once more. Let her do her worst, he wasn't leaving.

"Alright then don't say I didn't warn you," Billa sighed, and oh she sounded so tired as she slipped beneath the covers and turned out the lights," Goodnight Dwalin."

Goodnight, ghivashel.