Bilbo has felt a certain amount of sadness as they left the house of the skin changer. Their time there had been relatively safe and relaxed, it was almost like being back at Bag End once more. And Beorn, despite his insistence on calling Bilbo 'little bunny' much to the amusement of the dwarfs, had been a wonderful host.

Despite this he was also glad to be back on the road, or at least his Tookish side was, the Bagins side was already dreading the diet of water soups and charred fish that would no doubt be on the menu. After eating proper food once more for a few days he had actually gained back some of the weight he'd lost due to the large amount of walking, well mostly running, they had had to do since their quest began.

He was yet to tell anybody, though he guessed that Gandalf suspected, about his newly found treasure. He referred to it as his invisibility ring for now, though something told him the object was, more. It was as if a tiny voice in his head was telling him to keep it for himself.

They stopped and made camp a days walk from the skin changers house, finally in a less spider infested part of the forest. Gandalf had even informed them that they could venture further than the path now without fear. Of course, he would feel better about it if the wizard was actually here, once again he had disappeared to seek his own company and he could be gone for hours or even days.

It soon became apparent that Bilbo wasn't the only one who had felt saddened with the loss of proper food and Bombur was soon insisting on finding extra ingredients for tonights stew.

"Master Baggins can go!" Kili announced.

"What?" Bilbo blinked.

"You hobbits are always eating, I bet you know loads of stuff we can put in a stew." Kili explained with that sneaky grin on his face.

"And you did tell us all Hobbits love to grow food in their gardens, so you must know what they all look like." Fili added.

The other Dwarfs chuckled, even Thorin, who had not only been more kind an accepting toward the Hobbit lately, but more happy in general. Perhaps it was the relaxing they did while with Beorn, or maybe it was how far they had come, no matter what the excuse Bilbo was glad for it.

"Alright, I'll go." Bilbo sighed in mock sadness, "If I scream, it means a spider is trying to eat me so come save me!"

A few days ago a dark joke like that wouldn't of even earned a chuckle, however today, when the world was so much brighter, it had the two youngest Dwarfs falling over in peels of laughter.

Grinning to himself Bilbo went in search of food in the surrounding woods, he spotted some mushrooms but unfortunately they were not of the edible sort. He wandered but soon he began to worry. He was desperate, even now, to prove his worth to the company. He did not want to go back empty handed but it seemed even this part of the woods was yielding nothing of use.

Then all of sudden, he saw the shoots. Onion leaves!

Happily he began to dig, smiling to himself as he pulled the wild onion out of the ground and began to wipe as much grime and dirt off as possible. After cleaning two onions he began to blink more to stop the stinging in his eyes, bloody onion fumes.

Another three and he was sniffling and rubbing at his eyes every few seconds in an effort to keep his vision clear. He'd never been so effected by onion vapor before, Mirkwood was magical though, perhaps these were enhanced vegetables.

"Dammit." he mumbled to himself in frustration, "I can't keep doing this much longer."

Finally, with a few deep breaths of fresh air the stinging sensation lessened and he grabbed the onions by their long leaves, making sure to keep them as far away from his face as he could before turning back to camp.

-oOo-

"Bilbo's been gone for ages." Fili noted, "I hope he's alright."

"Did his fight with the orcs prove nothing?" Dwalin sighed, "I'm sure he's fine."

"Still, best to go make sure he's not fallen down any rabbit holes." Thorin spoke up quickly, earning a few giggles for the bunny reference.

He acted aloof but really he was beginning to feel concerned also. Ever since the Hobbit proved how honorable and brave he was he'd felt the need to make up for his poor attitude toward him.

He followed the halflings footprints in the soft ground for a while, he had wandered a fair way until he spotted the tiny figure just through a grove of trees on his hands and knees picking something out of the ground. He stopped short though when he heard the sound of sniffling coming from Bilbo, quickly ducking behind a tree to observe.

The halfling was crying.

Thorin watched in shock ad the Hobbit continued to work, bringing the onions out of the ground, stopping every few seconds to wipe his eyes of tears. The Dwarf was at a loss, Bilbo had seemed happier these last few days, why on earth would he be crying? unless, it had all been some sort of act and really he was miserable and trying to hide it from the Dwarfs.

"Dammit." he heard the hobbit mumble, "I can't keep doing this much longer."

Thorin felt dread fill him, what could Bilbo be talking about? He sounded like he was in pain, was the Hobbit hiding an injury from the rest of the company? Or was he thinking of leaving and going back to the Shire because the journey was too hard for him.

Or perhaps, he realized darkly, perhaps Bilbo was hurt by all the teasing and roughhousing he received from the Dwarfs. Perhaps all those cruel things he'd said over the course of the trip were still hurting their burglar emotionally.

He watched as Bilbo began to breathe deeply and wipe his eyes one final time before getting to his feet and Thorin realized if he didn't move he'd be spotted any second. Quickly he darted off back to camp, making it back just in time, not even having time to explain to the others what he had heard but luckily they were all to distracted with the onions Bilbo had bought back.

Thorin spent the meal in silent serious contemplation with himself. Nobody commented, they simply assumed his brooding nature had come back full force and gave him a wide berth which he was thankful for.

Perhaps the Hobbit wasn't getting fed enough, he'd heard his kind ate several meals a day instead of the three they had been going through. What if they were starving him without even knowing it and the thought of going back to it after actually being full after staying at the skin changers was upsetting him?

Or perhaps it was simple homesickness?

Luckily for him Bilbo was the first to fall asleep, curled up in a tiny ball by the fire under his blankets. Earning him several light taunts about being a little bunny once more. Finally Thorin could talk to his kin.

-oOo-

In hushed tones he explained what he had seen and heard to the other members of the company. They all seemed equally concerned, especially Fili and Kili who were probably the closest to the Hobbit.

"He hasn't seemed upset these last few days." Kili spoke, "He's been in quite high spirits."

"We know he tried to leave and go back to the Elves before we were captured by the Goblins." Bofur mused, everybody knew by now.

"Goblins..." Thorin muttered, "Now that I think about it, we never did learn how he escaped them."

"He didn't seem to want to talk about it." Fili added, "You don't think they did anything terrible to him do you? What if they tortured him!"

"I think we would of noticed any serious injury." Dwalin rebuffed, "Perhaps one of us has said or done something offensive to Hobbits, for social taboo that we're not aware of."

Some of them hummed in agreement, that was entirely possible.

"Well then we are just going to have to do our best to be nicest o him." Kili said matter-o-factly, "We'll prove to him that we want him around and make sure he gets enough food and rest."

The others nodded.

Not that he would ever admit it but Thorin would feel terrible were their burglar to leave, Bofur was right, he was part of their company now.

I'M MAD ABOUT THE HOBBIT! :) This is my first time writing for it though :P I'm not planning for this to be a long story but I couldn't NOT publish it.