Within days of her birth, everyone in Bag End realized that having a child and caring for a child were two drastically different things. For Dís, this wasn't news. She had already raised two children and remembered just how much work they could be. Thorin, as well, was not unacquainted with children and their raising. However, he had never been primarily responsible for their care, nor been involved at quite so young adv age. And that was precisely what Dís insisted upon this time.

The first night she had insisted that the baby stay in their room, placing the crib at the foot of their bed herself.

"You wanted this babe, Thorin," she said sternly when he attempted to protest, attempting to explain that, as Peony nursed the babe, the babe should sleep with her. Dís was having none of it. "You can wake with her same as her mother."

When Poppy woke squalling that night, Bilbo smacked his mate awake.

"You take her to Peony," the hobbit grumbled, rolling back over and putting his pillow over his head to muffle the sound. "It was your idea to do it and your sister's idea that she sleep here." Thorin sighed, getting to his feet and putting on his dressing coat and picking up the babe, patting her gently and shushing her to no avail. He carried her down the hall to Peony's room, woke the sleeping hobbit, turned his back and allowed the baby to nurse and then took the baby back and laid her in the crib. It felt as if he'd only just laid down when the baby started crying once more.

He only did that once more before Peony refused to give the baby back.

"Sleep," she muttered. "You look like death. I'll keep her." Thorin shook his head but before he could speak she continued, "Tell Dís I wanted to cuddle her. She won't argue against that." Thorin nodded, unable to deny that he needed the sleep, or that Peony had found Dís' one weak point.

"The baby?" Bilbo muttered, curling against his side as he lay down once more.

"With Peony," he replied, leaning his cheek against Bilbo's curls and stroking his shoulder. The hobbit hummed in pleasure before drifting to sleep once more.

ooOO88OOoo

Dís said nothing about it the next morning when Poppy came out in her mother's arms. The others wondered if she knew where the babe had slept, but she did. In hindsight, removing the babe from her mother at night was a poor decision. It wasn't like Thorin could latch her on. She'd just wanted to punish her brother and force him to see that children weren't all cuddles and coos. She'd failed to take into account that the babe and Peony would sleep better if neither had to fully wake to nurse.

Even as she backed away from insisting on the babe sleep with her brother, she continued to insist that Thorin, and to a lesser extent, Bilbo, take a direct hand in the care of the child. Even poor Frodo was not exempt, being drafted into carting water for the wash as "Peony's done more than enough work for the time being."

The next time they came to a head was when Thorin attempted to hand a soiled Poppy, who he had been rocking, back to Peony to change after the young hobbit offered.

"You will do no such thing!" Dís called from the kitchen, turning from the food she was preparing and coming into the room with the chopping knife still in her hand.

"She's not a nephew this time, Thorin. She's your daughter. You can change her," she continued, gesturing at him with the knife for emphasis as she spoke.

Thorin was not intimidated by his sister's gesture. His face was a mask of indifference as he stared at the knife tip. It was only once he looked down at the tiny child squawling in his arms that the first hint of trepidation crept in. She looked so small in his large, coarse hands. So small. So tender. So fragile.

"I can't," he said attempting to pass the babe off once more. Peony was about to take her when Dís swooped in, passing the knife to the hobbit lass before taking Poppy in one arm and dragging Thorin out of his chair with the other. She didn't say a word until she had bundled them both into the room where they had arranged the child's things. Gently, despite her apparent agitation, she laid the babe on the table.

"Mahal's beard, Thorin," she muttered as she unfastened the diaper, "it's only poo! I swear! You were willing to face orcs, dragons, and countless other dangers but a baby's diaper steals your courage."

"That's not what it is," he replied, shifting uncomfortably. Dís was unconvinced, not even attempting to cover her disbelief and snorting as she handed the clean babe back to her brother.

"It's not!" he repeated, his tone indignant before he shook his head, softening once more as he admitted his fears to his sister.

"It's just that she's just so little. Her head's not even as big as my hand! And hobbits are so fragile. I've hurt Bilbo before, accidentally and intentionally. I-I don't want to . . ." he trailed off unable to finish the thought.

"You won't hurt her," Dís said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "They're more durable than we think. Hobbits and babes. You'll get used to her." Thorin shook his head, he didn't think that she was right but didn't have the heart to argue with her now.

ooOO88OOoo

Babe or no, eventually things had to go back to some semblance of how they were before. Thorin had spent a few weeks at home acclimating to their new addition but there were still many things to plan before spring came. The forge was still open despite the weather, as were the official's offices to finish off plans for the dwarves' arrival.

"Where do you think you're going?" Dís demanded as Thorin lifted his coat from the peg by the door.

"To work Dís," he snapped. "Some of us cannot remain idle in the house all winter. Am I allowed to go alone, or do I have to take the babe with me to the forge?"

"Of course not, "she scoffed."The forge is no place for a babe. Especially a hobbitling. Bilbo can watch her."

"I. .. But... He. . . "Bilbo stuttered trying and failing to come up with a reason he couldn't watch the babe in Thorin's absence. There were reasons on his tongue but at the challenging look on Dís' face, so much like her sons' and brother's that it was more than disconcerting, they died there. All his clever words and quips were for naught in the face of her stubbornness.

"It was his idea," he finally said when he could come up with nothing better that would still be true.

"And you agreed to it," she reminded him. "Your name is on the paper claiming Poppy and it's your surname she bears." Bilbo nearly replied that Peony's name was on the birth certificate as well, but managed to refrain himself when he realized that Dís would not take kindly to such a statement, especially when she had made it patently clear that she felt that Peony's name alone should have been on the document when poor Paladin had come to draft it.

"Oh! I suppose I'll watch her," he grumbled before walking out of the room. "You're lucky I love you," he muttered to Thorin on his way past.

"Something I remember daily," Thorin promised, shrugging into his coat. "I'll see you when I return," he said. Bilbo grunted noncommittally and gestured dismissively before shutting the door to his study with a snap.

"We'll come get you when she wakes," Dís called. Thorin merely smiled and amusement at seeing his mate routed by his sister before pressing his forehead to hers and heading out the door.

As Dís turned her attention back to the dishes from breakfast, Peony stepped up to her cautiously. While she wanted to make her position on the matter clear, she still wasn't entirely sure where she stood with Dís and knew that the dwarf dam's continued good will was key to her remaining in Bag End past the babe's weaning, no matter what they said now.

"You . . . you know I don't mind watching her," she muttered. "I-I actually kind of enjoy it and I know you don't like how we did this, but . . . but there really wasn't another way. And at least with them taking her I get to see her sometimes. At least for a while. If we given her to anyone else, well..." she trailed off. Dís didn't need her to finish. She knew very well what would have happened had any but a dwarf been involved in the adoption.

" I know, lass," Dís sighed. "Even though I know it's true, it doesn't mean I have to like it. Among my people, you would have had irrevocable rights to your child. Married or not. She would have been yours until your death. It . . . it was hard enough losing my own lads, even though they were nearly grown. To bear a live babe only to have it taken from you and given to another ... I-I can't imagine it."

"But she wasn't taken," Peony said. "There was no way I could keep her. You and I both know that's not the way things are here. I know it's not how you do things, but we're not dwarves we're Hobbits. And it's not perfect but I still get to hold her and love her and this is how it has to be. You shouldn't be so hard on them; most adoptive parents aren't as kind to the birth mother. Anyone else and I wouldn't even have gotten to know she was a she, let alone hold her."

Dís sighed deeply but said nothing else. While she understood where Peony was coming from, it wasn't something she would ever be able to condone. Not when the ache in her heart from the loss of her sons had yet to ever subside. She couldn't understand how an entire culture could place so little value on the bond between mother and child. And, to be honest, she hoped she never did. But she could also see how much her obvious dislike of the situation was troubling Peony.

The two with the two women sat in silence for a while washing and drying the dishes while Peony worried she had said too much and Dís stewed. After more time than was comfortable had elapsed, Dís finally spoke again.

"I suppose you're right," she said looking at the younger woman. "There's nothing we can do about the situation and continuing to degrade my brother's decision will accomplish nothing. I'm only glad they chose to let you stay. But don't let them treat you as a maid, I know you love your baby and want to care for her but if they want to make her the decisions as her parents they need to be involved. That means Bilbo, too. Don't let him bully you into doing all the work because he's 'too old'."

Peony only laughed at the idea of the grouchy old "Mad Baggins" bouncing a babe on his knee. She wondered if it was something she would ever actually get to see.

ooOO88OOoo

So sorry about the wait on this. Life got in the way in the form of going back to school for my NP. School is still ongoing but I'm in the swing of it now. Also, this chapter was like pulling teeth. Hopefully, it didn't read like that.

If any of you are still around I would love to hear what you thought. Good, bad, or indifferent.

Stickdonkeys