/Epilogue\\\ Taken from Emotion in Motion - Chapter 5 - For The First Time

"Thorin," Bilbo said, running his fingers through the grey-streaked hair of his dwarf.

"Bilbo," Thorin responded, turning his head to press a kiss to Bilbo's wrist.

"You like my new name, Thorin?"

Thorin smiled, his face splitting into a wide grin as he stole a kiss from Bilbo's lips. "I do."

"I shall remember that for the future."

Thorin pulled away and made a face as the material of his smallclothes pulled at his skin.

"Bath first, perhaps?" Bilbo suggested.

Thorin smiled. "You have not seen the bath in these rooms. We shall bath together."

"Is that wise?" Bilbo asked, smiling up at Thorin knowingly.

"No, it is not. But I do not wish to let you go."

"Very well," Bilbo said, standing up. "We shall bath and eat and then you may take me to bed."

Thorin nodded and walked them through to the bathroom where a large, bone white bath took up the length of one wall. It was already filled with water, steam rising from the top and curling into the air before them.

"Biorn was a wonderful addition to our family," Thorin said, kissing Bilbo and walking over to the bath. He stripped down and turned to Bilbo, smiling over his shoulder, before he stepped up and into the large tub.

Bilbo immediately walked over and threw off his jacket when he heard the moan Thorin let out when he was submersed in the water. Thorin watched avidly as Bilbo undressed and then held out a hand towards him. Bilbo slipped down into the hot water and felt it sink into his bones.

"This is amazing," Bilbo said, resting back against Thorin's chest.

"Aye, nothing quite like a hot bath."

Bilbo personally thought it was the relaxation of an orgasm on top of the hot water but he did not care as Thorin wrapped his arms around him and held him close.

Later, Thorin looked down at Bilbo's wrinkled finger tips and reached for the soap, rubbing his hands together and then all over Bilbo – startling the hobbit from the light doze he had slipped into.

"What?" Bilbo said, twisting to look at Thorin.

"You were sleeping a little, my Bilbo."

"In the bath, that is not safe."

"I would not allow any harm to come to you," Thorin said, kissing Bilbo's shoulder.

Bilbo yawned and turned fully to kiss Thorin firmly. "I know that."

"I shall have to keep my eye on you in the future as well."

Bilbo smiled and took the soap from Thorin, returning the favour and rubbing soapy hands through the springy hair on the dwarf's chest, long his long arms, and the span of his smooth, scar-marked back. Thorin returned to cleansing Bilbo's skin, allowing his hands to slip below the surface of the water and catch against Bilbo's soft middle.

"How is this water still hot?" Bilbo asked, pressing into Thorin's hands.

"Fire stones," Thorin explained, washing his hobbit thoroughly.

"I see," Bilbo half-moaned, setting himself to returning the favour.

A few minutes later, Bilbo closed his eyes as Thorin poured rinsing water over the hobbit's head and then did the same to himself. Bilbo stepped out of the bath and wrapped himself in a large towel before he threw another one around the dwarf's body. He rubbed at Thorin's skin with a wide smile. Thorin's stomach growled under Bilbo's hand and the hobbit smiled up at his intended.

"I think we should eat before anything else, Thorin."

Thorin nodded and kissed Bilbo on the mouth and then on each cheek. "Then I shall lay you upon our bed and I will take whatever innocence you have left."

"And your innocence?"

"You shall have tomorrow."

Bilbo smiled and took Thorin's hand to walk them both through their warm chambers and into the kitchen – much larger than the one they had had deeper in the mountain.

"Once," Thorin explained, "all dwarves within this mountain ate together every evening in the Great Hall. As the mountain grew so too did the need for dwarves to live more within their chambers. This is one of the first chambers carved from the mountain when my forebears changed their ways of living."

"It is more like the kitchen of a hobbit-hole."

"I know."

Bilbo smiled and pulled the food that Griumma had left for them from the oven. He scooped them both out a large plate and handed them to Thorin before he collected a knife, extra utensils, and his Violet Petal Cake. He went to join Thorin before the fire and sat close by his side as they ate dinner. As soon as Bilbo put down his fork Thorin slipped the plate from his hands.

"Are you in a rush, Thorin?"

"Yes," Thorin said. "For I have waited for this cake for many long moons and I have waited to have you since the moment I saw you. I wish to eat your cake – ask you to bond with me formally, and then take you to bed."

Bilbo flushed at the thought and stood immediately to collect his cake.

"My Grandmother taught me to make a cake very similar to this when I was but a hobbitling," Bilbo explained. "As I grew I changed the recipe a little until it became the one you are about to eat. With this change it became the very best cake I have made. I knew, upon the first time I tasted it, that I could not make the cake again until I had a hobbit…a dwarf…who I would ask to marry me and share my hobbit-hole for the remainder of our lives. You understand, of course, that that is you and I will never love another. I shall never make this cake for another as I have made it for you and no matter how much you love my scones, and I know you do, Thorin Oakenshield, King Under the Mountain, the fact is that this cake is a true expression of the fact that I am now yours in heart, body, and spirit and I ask you to pledge me your heart for me to keep forever, your body for me to pleasure and take pleasure in, and your spirit for when we leave this land for the next I shall still wait for you and love you past death. With this cake, and my words, I make this unbreakable pledge to you. Do you accept all that I offer you, Thorin, son of Thráin?"

Thorin looked at Bilbo with soft eyes – his face slack with something that made Bilbo's chest ache.

"Thorin?"

"I pledge you my axe," Thorin said, gripping Bilbo's hands tightly. "I pledge my sword and my hammer. I pledge my life, my crown, and my honour to you, Bilbo Baggins of Bag-End. I shall mine my mountain to anoint you with jewels and metals and every coin of gold that comes to rest upon my hand will be yours to share. I am yours in heart, body, and spirit as you have asked me, Bilbo, son of Bungo and Bella. All the riches that shall ever be mine to claim will be yours to have and I shall lie with no other, as I shall love no other. When my body has turned to stone and rests within my mountain it shall be you that holds my heart and my eternal love. For all of the days of dwarves you shall be mine as I am yours."

Bilbo swallowed deeply and lunged forward to press his mouth to Thorin's in a hungry, open mouth kiss. His teeth clashed against Thorin's but he did not pull back only moved to press tighter into the dwarf. A dwarf who was not soft and did not weave pretty words but who had twisted every hope that Bilbo had ever had for love into one speech. Thorin's hands were soothing on Bilbo's body, pulling the kiss down from something furious and hard until it was a soft press of lips to lips and Bilbo was able to remember himself and the cake that was waiting for them. He pulled his mouth away from Thorin's and panted as he pressed himself into the chair instead.

"Bilbo?" Thorin asked, his voice barely a whisper.

"That was perfect and I accept," Bilbo said, blushing.

"Then cut me a piece of cake so that I may eat it and in all the ways of hobbit and dwarf we can claim one another."

Bilbo nodded and cut into the cake – a piece for each of them. Thorin took it and Bilbo watched as the dwarf cut into the piece, lifted it to his lips, and tasted the cake. He held his breath while Thorin ate the very first bite of cake and moaned his pleasure. Bilbo couldn't hold back the grin that spread across his face as Thorin immediately went back for another bite.

"This is the best thing I have ever eaten, Bilbo."

Bilbo smiled at him brightly and bit into his own piece of cake, savouring the flavour he had perfected so long ago. He had made the cake a number of times – for himself – planting half of it in his garden in an old hobbit tradition and ensuring that when he finally met Thorin he would have a cake to make that was worthy of him. He, himself, did not so much care if he ate the cake or not but he could feel something shift within him as he watched Thorin savour his slice. All their courting was now behind them and no matter that they were waiting to marry, or bond, until Durin's Day came again they were now pledged to one another and nothing would come between them.

Thorin stopped eating and looked at Bilbo. "You do not enjoy it?"

Bilbo shook his head. "I love you, Thorin, and I now feel comforted that nothing will ever come between us and our future."

Thorin nodded. "We are pledged."

"Finish your cake," Bilbo said, setting his plate on the table. "I am going to make our bed."

"I will help."

"No," Bilbo said, pressing a hand on Thorin's cheek. "Let me do this for you, it is the hobbit way to make a home comfortable and this shall be our home."

Thorin nodded and rested back, allowing Bilbo to make their bed with fresh, clean sheets, and finally he threw a spare quilt over the blankets. Bilbo walked to their bags and searched through until he located their sleeping clothes and took them, and a vial he had purchased when he obtain his mark, to the drawers next to their bed. Just as Bilbo was standing to survey the work done Thorin stepped up behind him and pressed his chest to Bilbo's back.

"Thorin," Bilbo said, reaching back to hold onto the dwarf.

"My Bilbo," Thorin said, pressing kisses along the line of Bilbo's neck, biting at the spot behind Bilbo's ear.

Bilbo moaned for Thorin and tightened his hold. "Will you mark me tonight, Thorin."

"Yes, your body will show the marks that are normally invisible to everyone, the marks that make me yours."

"And me yours," Bilbo finished, pulling away so that he could climb onto the bed.

He turned around and held out a hand for Thorin, asking the dwarf into the bed.

/And we are completely done - how sad...\\\