Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author Note: Part Seventeen in the 'Violet Nights' series.

CARMINE DINNER DATES

The restaurant was busy but Dis easily shouldered her way through. She knew that Belladonna was sure to have a table staked out, yes, there she was, sat in a comfortable corner. It was a great vantage point; Belladonna spotted Dis quickly and waved her over, catching the attention of a waiter simultaneously. She adjusted the deep-green scarf draped around her neck, the tail end of her order loud and clear as Dis sat down opposite her.

"...chicken for me and she'll have the rare steak."

"She will," confirmed Dis with a smile, looking up towards the waiter. "What do you have on tap?"

Her beer ordered – and somehow she was going to convince Thorin to start using the Laketown Brewery again because their beers really were superb – she turned to her dinner companion. Belladonna looked her usual bright-eyed self, her nails were painted maroon and her dark-blonde hair was twisted back with effortless elegance. She didn't have her little green notebook out so at this point nothing was currently reaching crisis levels.

"How are the boys?" Belladonna asked.

An ambiguous question but Belladonna had minutely adjusted her fork's position beside her plate as she'd spoken so Dis knew who she was referring to – Kili and Fili. Dis smiled faintly, her hand running absently over the words tattooed around her left wrist. The first time Belladonna had seen the new tattoo; she had easily identified the poet and had told Dis it was a very fitting choice.

The waiter brought their drinks over and Dis waited a moment before answering Belladonna. How were her sons? A constant question. Thinking of them brought a fuller smile to her face though, one that Belladonna returned. No doubt she was thinking about Bilbo. Well, there was plenty to smile about there, the man was a godsend.

"Oh, the same as always," she replied simply, touching her pint glass with her right hand to indicate no injuries or problems. "Making life interesting."

Belladonna's smile became knowing. She'd met Fili and Kili several times and had gotten on very well with them. Bilbo's face had been a picture when his mother had strolled into Violet Nights with Fili on one arm and Kili on the other, all three of them happily chattering together. Thorin hadn't looked thrilled either, but he'd still bought Belladonna a coffee, having correctly guessed what type she'd wanted. He'd then sat and talked to her for almost half an hour. There weren't many who could resist Belladonna, she'd even became friends with Elrond Kind, the very private man who was also owner of the city's most highly-lauded restaurant.

"Mine are the same," Belladonna said serenely, her hand wrapped around her wine glass – no injuries or problems for Bilbo and Bungo either then. "Well, Bilbo ignores a lot of my messages, but he's been doing that since he was a teenager."

Their starters arrived – stuffed mushrooms for Dis, salmon pate for Belladonna – and their conversation continued, each sentence accompanied by a small innocuous gesture. They exchanged information and enjoyed each other's company. They often met up for lunch or dinner, once a week if they were both free. Sometimes Dis cooked a cheese and ham pasta bake at her flat and Belladonna arrived via the building's back door, or Belladonna invited Dis over to her house, but more often than not they met in public, it made many things so much easier.

Belladonna cleared her throat, catching Dis' attention. When Dis glanced up, Belladonna was fiddling with her phone, a slight frown on her face. Oh, who was watching them? Ah yes, a diner several tables away and at least one of the waiting staff was lingering unnecessarily. Belladonna was probably taking notes, Dis did the same with her phone and sent photos of the spies to Bifur without the photos' subjects even realising what had happened. Half the restaurant had their phones out; there was nothing suspicious about that at all.

Dis drained her pint glass with a smile and chewed hard on her last stuffed mushroom. One of the spies winced.

The music was incredibly loud but that was fine with Dis. She tipped her head back and swallowed the shot without wincing and leaned into the hard sculpted body pressed up against her back. Damien was mouthing her ear and telling her in no uncertain terms how much he wanted to fuck her. It wouldn't be for the first time. And afterwards she'd get to fuck him.

It was always refreshing to spend a night away from Erebor, she still had to be on her guard though. Dis had perfected the art of losing herself in drinking and fucking without also losing control. Once she'd had to block a punch that had almost come out of nowhere during an intimate conversation, she'd made the guy double-over in pain shortly afterwards and had left before he could try get another shot in for his employer. Thorin had looked very tight around the eyes when she'd told him about it the next day. She could have kept quiet about it, but she was sure that Smaug would have made sure that Thorin was informed about it in the worst way possible and Thorin had enough to obsess about already. Dis could usually take care of herself, she had a system, she enjoyed herself and she wasn't letting Smaug take that away from her.

Her phone vibrated. It was Belladonna, checking that all was well at her usual appointed time. Dis smiled and hammered back a message that things were better than good thanks, but could Belladonna please send her a message tomorrow morning just in case. Belladonna confirmed that she would and that she'd buy Dis a particularly sweet coffee at Violet Nights and a plateful of Bilbo's delicious breakfast pie if Belladonna made it there by ten. She was on.

Dis tucked the phone away and turned around to pull Damien decisively close. The night was still young and so was he.

There was definitely someone following her. Dis shook her head and thumbed an often-sent message to Belladonna. She really didn't have time for this, she was already late for lunch. But there was a woman in grey with dark red hair idly window shopping and somehow always ending up on the same street as Dis. She was very good but Dis had spotted her.

She couldn't lead her shadow to Belladonna's house. Like Bilbo, Dis did what she could to keep Belladonna and Bungo out of the worst of Smaug's crosshairs but unlike Bilbo she was sure that there was little she could do personally to keep Belladonna out of the firing line completely or permanently. Still, she behaved in the way that Smaug expected – worried about her friend, trying to protect her – because that gave them some cover and something to work with. Smaug might think he knew who Belladonna was and what she was capable of but actually he probably had no idea. Good.

Dis was smiling and keeping one eye on the woman who was currently glancing in the window of Dorothy Perkins when a car horn beeped cheerfully. Bungo Baggins pulled up beside her in a smart dark blue car, winding down the nearest window with a smile.

"Taxi for the lady?"

Dis laughed and opened the back door to throw her bags inside before taking a seat beside Bungo. He winked at her and drove smoothly away. Dis made sure to take a photograph of the woman who was turning only slightly to watch them leave. Bifur was building an impressive database of Smaug's operatives and was already identifying patterns. That reminded her, she owed Florella several drinks. Florella and Bifur hadn't gotten much time together recently thanks to Florella's job taking her to Scotland for almost a month and then Dis had made that free time even scarcer thanks to the amount of work she'd sent their way. Maybe she could buy them a plant or two, or a jungle.

The inside of the car smelled like pipe smoke and coffee. They took a circuitous route back to Belladonna and Bungo's house. On the way, Bifur texted to say that the woman who'd been following Dis had been spotted before. Once they'd parked outside the house, Bungo got out and produced a small bouquet of orange roses from the car boot, presenting them to Dis. She smiled, what a nice surprise.

"Did you grow these in your pumpkin patch?"

Bungo's own smile broadened, retrieving a pipe from his pocket. "Bingo always sells out whenever we stock flowers at the greengrocer's and they do very well at Bag End too so I've been working on getting more flowerbeds organised. The flowers are especially popular in the summer."

Dis smelled the roses, hiding her touched smile. Roses of all colours were always big sellers and the fact that he's saved her a bouquet of her favourite colour was a very kind and smile-worthy thought. Beorn had asked her recently when she was going to get her next tattoo, maybe she'd get one of a pipe with the smoke curling upwards into a recognisable shape - an orange rose, to match the orange roses already tattooed on her neck, surrounding a sword. She had room on one of her arms and Beorn would make it look exceptional.

Dis pressed her smile to Bungo's cheek and drew a package of pipe weed out of her back pocket with a flourish. Bungo took it happily.

"I'm not sure I deserve this."

"I am."

Across Dis' ribs was a tattoo tribute to her late husband Stird. It was a mark of how important he'd been to her. Without him, her sons wouldn't be who they were. Stird had been good friends with Frerin and like Frerin, had served in the military. An injury had forced his early retirement though so he'd worked hard at rehabbing his arm and had been making noises about maybe becoming an army recruiter when he'd been killed in a hit and run. The driver had been pretty high and had ploughed into Stird who'd been crossing the road at the time. The driver was eventually caught and convicted. Dis was left with two small children who'd grown up with only the barest memories of their father.

Dis had had Stird cremated. He'd never mentioned wanting to be buried and Dis had never understood why a grave was needed in order to think about someone who was missed and loved. Later when Smaug became a looming presence in their lives, she was glad that she hadn't given him something to desecrate.

Dis often stroked a hand across her ribs, silently remembering the man that she'd married. Thorin had looked slightly amused the entire day of the wedding, as though he was sure that the whole thing was a joke on him, so Dis had stood up at the reception and had announced that her brother had really wanted to give an impromptu speech. Stird had laughed hard and had bought Thorin several drinks afterwards. They'd married at a beautiful local hotel; Dis had worn a creamy-white blouse and a carmine-coloured skirt with matching shoes. She hadn't carried or worn any flowers; her orange rose skin-art had been on display for all to see.

She'd scattered Stird's ashes at several different locations that she rarely visited. She didn't need to.

Thorin was frowning at Elladan and Elrohir again. Dis rolled her eyes and poked him sharply with a teaspoon. When Thorin's frown transferred to her, Dis raised an eyebrow pointedly.

"I don't think they're stealing from the till."

Thorin's frown deepened. "They're..."

"Related to Thranduil, I know. I'm related to you, how do you think I feel?"

Elrohir's mouth moved, he was almost smiling. Dis winked and thanked him when he handed her a particularly well-frosted slice of cake. She forked up a mouthful and gave her compliments to the baker. Elrohir's smile widened, just a little. Dis turned back to Thorin and nodded towards the Rivendell flyers decorating a nearby pinboard, business cards and menus displayed temptingly on the shelf below.

"Elrond's got an eye in Violet Nights."

"Exactly."

Dis poked Thorin with her teaspoon again. When he snatched the utensil away, she jabbed him hard with her finger instead.

"He's not Thranduil." She offered her brother a rich forkful of cake. "And Bilbo and Belladonna trust him."

As Thorin chewed on that, Dis dropped a loud handful of coins into the tip jar. She liked Elrohir and Elladan, they were lovely to look at and they had a great subtle sense of humour, which could be surprisingly wicked one, if you took the time to look for it. They were as uncomfortable with the Durins as the Durins were with them. Well, not all the Durins were. Dis had seen how carefully the twins eyed every customer that came in and how they reacted sometimes when answering the phone. She knew that feeling well and hated it.

When she left, Elladan and Elrohir left with her. On her way out she snapped a photo of Thorin's expression to send to Belladonna.

-the end