13/01/2019 Author's Note: Hello all, I hope the first couple of weeks of 2019 have been treating all of you well. I meant to post this on New Years, but life unfortunately got in the way and then I was right back to work. But I haven't been feeling very well this weekend, so have been stuck in bed for the past two days and I thought I'd try and use my time productively and get this chapter up and posted.

I have to say I was blown away by the response Chapter 71 received, so thank you, thank you to all that commented/reviewed. I'm so happy people are still reading this fic and enjoying it.

Chapter 72

Durin's Day

Bilbo stirred from her slumber, her mind still clouded with dreams of the past. For once at least though, her imagination had not taken liberty of past events and twisted them into the nightmares that usually plagued her dreams.

No, she had dreamed of the events of the day of The Battle of Five Armies exactly as they had happened. No ugly twists where her friends lay dead at her feet and she was left alive to witness the orcs destroy everything within their evil reach.

Her dream had not been pleasant in the slightest but it had been at least the truth and she would take dreaming the memory of that day over the twisted nightmares without a second thought.

She rolled slowly on to her back and let a hand come to rest upon her belly which, having spent several weeks living on Bombur's rather fabulous cooking, had returned to a healthy roundness.

She smiled slightly as she rubbed it, remembering when it had once be swollen fit to burst when she had been carrying her most precious of treasures.

And today was a very special day for her most precious of treasures too.

She slid out of bed with a satisfying crack of her back, pulling a dressing gown from where it had been thrown haphazardly over a chair by her small fireplace and pulled it on as she made her way of her room.

The rooms that led off of the corridor of the apartment that she and her family where now staying in within Erebor where still silent, not even a noise was coming from the room she was heading to.

Careful to keep quiet if he was still sleeping, Bilbo opened the door to her little son's room and entered.

And yes, he was still sound asleep, looking so peaceful and all the more innocent then he did in his waking hours, his mouth slack and little limbs thrown out in all directions.

"Happy Birthday my dearest heart." She whispered as she kissed his forehead, smiling as he let out a little happy noise in his sleep before he buried further into the bedclothes

She would let him sleep, there was still a few hours before what would be considered a reasonable waking hour.

Stretching again, she left Frodo's room as quietly as she had entered and instead head for the kitchen of the apartment to fix herself up a nice cup of tea.

She gave her belly another rub, for the promise of tea had reminded it of the odd tugging and pulling sensation that it had started upon the moment of her waking. She had always felt these sorts of sensations within her belly around the night of Frodo's birth, as if her body could not quite forget the ten grueling hours it had taken to bringing her son into the world. Ten hours of pain, confusion and grief, but ultimately it had all ended with her feeling more joy than she had ever felt in all her life.

She set the kettle down upon the stove and rubbed her still healing hands (at least she didn't have to wear those awful bulky bandages anymore) together as she looked around the warm and merry kitchen, feeling somewhat at a loss as to what to do with her time before her son and everyone else woke.

This was the first birthday of her son's which she had done almost no planning for what so ever. No cooking, no decorating, no party planning, nothing. All of that had been taken off her hands by her dwarves, who when she questioned any one of them about what exactly they had instore for her child's day of birth, they had all simply smiled wide and secretive grins in return and telling in voices that made her worry, that she need not fear about a thing and to simply allow for them to take care of everything.

She may have been guilty of shooting Thorin a rather panicked look when she had been told this, to which her majestic idiot had simply smiled a similarly secretive smile in return and she knew she had no ally in him to trying and keep their child's birthday under some kind of control.

She knew she shouldn't feel annoyed or even distressed over the fact that the dwarves had taken over preparations for Frodo's birthday. She had after all been busy preparing for her trial and she didn't know very much at all about the Mountain or its inhabitants to be able to properly prepare something close to a hobbit party for Frodo. But even so, she was still Frodo's mother! And no matter how busy and stressed she might have been, he was her son and today was his birthday, time should have been allowed for her to have been able to do something! She hadn't even been able to bake a birthday cake, as Bombur had happily informed her that that was what he was doing.

And it wasn't as if the dwarves themselves weren't busy, for today it wasn't just Frodo's Birthday but also Durin's Day! The first day of the dwarven New Year, a very important day in their calendar and from what she had heard and seen, there was a lot of preparation that was put forward for making this day the most memorable and biggest of the Dwarven year. And yet, they had still be able to make time for her son and his birthday.

She sighed heavily before she gave her head a firm shake.

Enough of this, she told herself firmly. You have planned and celebrated nine wonderful birthdays with Frodo. You cannot feel sour towards the dwarves who are only wanting to make up for lost years.

She made herself a nice cup of tea before taking herself off to front parlor of the apartment, where she sat her cup down on the little table beside the lovely armchair that she had claimed as her own, before she stirred up the embers in the fireplace, giving the room so much needed warmth while she lit lamps for some light.

She did so miss windows, but it could not be helped, being so deep in the mountain as they were.

Once the room was decently lit and the fire was burning merrily, Bilbo went back to armchair and having plucked a book from the bookshelf that stood proudly – with so, so many books upon its shelves – Bilbo settled herself down for some early morning reading.

The whole book had been written in Khuzdul, meaning it would keep her brain occupied until her son awoke. Or until someone knocked softly the apartment's front door.

With a slight frown, she looked up from her book, purposefully ignoring the pinch of a headache that had been slowly forming the more she had tried to get her mind to understand the information from her book.

Sliding her finger carefully in between the pages to hold her place in the book, she hoped up out of the armchair and crossed the room to open the apartment door.

She tried her best to keep her face from flushing too deeply with pleasure at the sight of who was her early morning visitor. And probably failed spectacularly given the rather pleased looked she was receiving in return.

"He's still asleep." She said as she stepped back to allow Thorin entrance to the apartment, guessing the reason behind his early morning visit.

She grin widely when she saw his expression was one of surprise before settling for fond amusement.

"Kili," He rumpled softly, making an obvious effort to keep his deep voice as quiet as possible now that he was aware that she was the only hobbit awake, "and Fili to a lesser extent, were always up at the crack of dawn on their birthdays. Desperate to start the treasure hunt for their presents."

"You made up treasures hunts for them on their birthdays?" Bilbo asked absolutely delighted by the very idea.

Thorin nodded, and though there was a somberness to his brilliant blue eyes, there was also a hint of old joyfulness as well.

"Yes. It started as a way of not disappointing them for when coin was tight and presents were not many in number. By making them having to hunt for their gifts, they were so excited when they found them after following a map they did not seem to take it to heart that the gifts were few. And then it simply became a tradition. A tradition that I believe the two of them have kept going between them even into adulthood." His smile was fond, if a little exasperated at his nephews' antics.

"And is a treasure hunt something that is in store for Frodo today?" Bilbo asked hoping she might finally, finally swindle some information about what was plan for the coming day.

"Maybe, maybe not." Thorin replied with an almost teasing tone that had Bilbo huffing as she stomped to the kitchen to make up some more tea for Thorin and herself.

"You do not like not knowing, do you?" Thorin said as he followed after her, his dark eyes dancing with amusement over her frustration.

"I…" She trailed off with a pout, knowing that what she was about to say, about her not liking surprises might not be taken to well, or possibly misinterpreted as her not believing the dwarves could possibly be able to plan something for Frodo's birthday that wouldn't end in disaster. Which wasn't what she thought at all, she just… she was a simple hobbit and as a simple hobbit she liked to know what was going to happen in her day. And night…

She grimaced as she remembered that there was some kind of grand feast that would be happening that night in honor of Durin's Day. She had seen the dress that Dis wished for her to wear and from the looks of the beautiful garment, this feast was something of a rather big event within the mountain. And she had heard that Bard might be coming, being the King of Dale now and possibly an ambassador from the Woodland Realm. Neither of which she was truly looking forward to, for obvious reasons.

She had a very small ember of hope in her chest that she was more or less forgiven by the people of Lake-Town and Dale for setting a fire-breathing dragon down upon their heads. But she also wouldn't blame them if they hadn't.

It was a rather big ask, and she was fairly certain she wouldn't feel very generous nor forgiving towards the person who told an over-size furnace with wings about the aid they had given, which in turn had the over-size lizard burn down their town and kill more than half their population with flames and drowning.

Nope, she was not looking forward to meeting with Bard or anyone from Lake-Town at dinner that night.

Nor any of the elves that Thranduil sent as ambassadors of his Kingdom. She was fairly certain that in Thranduil's book of people he disliked, she ranked even lower than Thorin. The Elf King had appeared to have taken an immediate disliking to her – a feeling that was rather mutually felt – upon their first official meeting and she really didn't think the years between meetings would have improved his opinion of her. The years certainly hadn't improved her opinion of him.

Yes, this was going to be a very awkward dinner indeed, surrounded by dwarves who still didn't truly like her despite her being now cleared of all charges and the mother of Durin the Deathless. Humans who may or may not still hold a grudge against her for her involvement in getting their town destroyed. And the elves… whose king just didn't like her and they might also bear a grudge for making their captain look like a fool when she stole the keys from his belt and having snuck around their realm for weeks on end without getting herself caught.

"Where are you?" She was pulled from her rather busy thoughts by Thorin who was watching her closely making her wonder what expressions she had been pulling while she had been internally fretting over all the races who did not like her.

"Here? In this kitchen, in my family apartment in Erebor." She replied rather sweetly that had Thorin scowling at her as he took the cup of tea she was handing out to him before he gestured for her to lead the way back to the front parlor.

"Your mind." Thorin sighed sounding rather exasperated as he took a seat in the armchair next to her own. "Where were you in that head of yours?"

"Oh." She couldn't stop herself from turning red, "just, you know, worrying over this and that. It's fine. I'm fine."

Thorin simply raised an eyebrow at her, and motion for her to continue.

"Just… honestly it is nothing you need to worry about, it just me being silly and overthinking things. All of it is truly very small and unimportant and really, I shouldn't be working myself up over them."

"And yet… you are." Thorin replied in a slow, even voice that made her aware that she had been rambling quickly and her breathing had become unsettled. She took a moment to composer herself by taking a sip of her new cup of tea.

"Are you worrying about today?" Thorin asked, leaning forward in the chair, hands clasped loosely in his lap as he stared at her with his piecing blue eyes, "For you have nothing to worry about, I assure you. Nothing dangerous has been planned and yes, it is something of a treasure hunt for Frodo as well as, if you are willing, a trip to the Secret Door. Frodo has been asking since he got here to see it and today as you know is the one time a year it will open."

"Oh," Bilbo said feeling some of worry ease just a little in her chest. She hadn't actually thought of the Secret Door and the fact that it would once again be able to be opened. A tiny sting of panic shot through her as a spark of memories of walking down long dark green corridors to go and find a 'large, white gem', but she was quick to shake the thoughts away before she started to really work herself up into a state.

"Is that alright?" Thorin asked his eyes still entirely focused upon her face.

"Yes, yes. It's fine. I…" she shook her head, rolling her eyes as she wiggled her bandaged fingers by her head, "was being silly, remembering… never mind."

"We don't have to do it." Thorin said his eyes dark with worry.

"And deny Frodo the chance of seeing the Secret Door in action for another year? No, it's truly fine. There is no dragon at the end of the tunnel this time and I found the 'large white gem', so… yes, I will be fine. Though," She paused thinking of when the Secret Door was meant to open, "isn't there the feast tonight? Will we have time to go to the Secret Door, get back and ready, in time for the feast?" She didn't know if she wanted to be so late that she could miss the feast entirely or spend the whole day worrying about the time so as not to be.

Thorin chuckled.

"Is that what you are worrying about? The feast?"

"Maybe." She sniffed.

"Billanna." He sound exasperated but at the same overwhelmingly fond.

"What?" She muttered, "There are going to be a lot of people at this feast who dislike me a great deal."

"Billanna…"

"It's true." She sighed, slouching low in her armchair as she stared rather glumly up at the ceiling. "The people of Lake-Town have good reason to. I did set a dragon down upon them. And Thranduil and I never saw eye to eye, so I'm sure his ambassadors are going to spend the whole evening looking down their perfect noses at me. And the dwarves…"

"You are worrying entirely too much about this." Thorin said gently.

"I know that." She huffed, "but it's very hard to stop."

"I know." Thorin said, reaching over to take her hand for a brief moment, offering a comforting squeeze before returning back to leaning in his armchair. "But if you will let me, I will try and remove some of your worry. While I cannot speak for all the people of Lake-Town and now Dale, and for the elves of the Woodland Realm," the muscle by his left eye twitched in irritation but he pressed on nonetheless, "I can tell you that the King of Dale and his children were distressed when you were not found after the Battle of the Five Armies," She watched him wince as he spoke, "and grieved quite deeply when you were presumed dead. Them and a good many of the humans were, or so I heard. As I have heard there was a great deal of cheer when it was revealed you were alive and well and inside the mountain. Fili says that the Bowman is very eager to meet with you this evening."

"Really?" Bilbo asked a little breathless and rather moved at the thought that Bard might actually have cared that she had died during the Battle of the Five Armies and relieved to have heard that she was alive and well. She had caused the poor man so much trouble after all.

"Indeed." Thorin nodded before his expression turned rather sour and his tone grouchy, "The elves… you seem to endear yourself to them, even the ones who have all the reason to think poorly of you – for your cleverness and showing them up as fools within their own realm. Kili's…" Thorin rolled his eyes but there was no malice within his actions, "elf friend, was one of the elves who searched for you upon the battlefield, along with Thranduil's son."

"Tauriel and Legolas." Bilbo offered up, for even though she had never actually officially met either elf, their names had been of the first she had learnt within the elven realm of Mirkwood and they had simply stuck in her head, though not with the same distaste as she held towards Thranduil.

"Yes, them." Thorin replied shortly, waving off her exasperated look. "They searched for you for quite some time, or so Kili was quick to tell me, when he was talking to me at all, during those first couple of years." They both winced at the memory of those early dark years where they had been separated and they both believe the other thought the worst of them.

"I'm sorry." Bilbo mumbled as she felt the swell of guilt build in her chest. It hurt her still to think of the rift she had caused between uncle and nephew only a few short years ago. A rift, that Bilbo was certain, was only now beginning to properly mend.

"Don't" Thorin waved her off firmly, "What happened was of no fault of yours. It was mine, and mine alone."

"But…"

"Billanna."

Bilbo simply sighed before giving him a short nod to appease his tired, world-weary expression, to try and remove the guilt that had built within his now stormy blue eyes.

"And my dwarves are growing fond of you with every passing day." Thorin continued after a moment of two of not quite so awkward silence, but the air had certainly felt heavy, "there are always those who dislike for the sake of disliking someone, but you must know that you have many of my nobles wrapped around your fingers."

"I do not." Bilbo grumbled, cheeks hot as she stared at him in disbelief.

"It is the complete truth." Thorin said with an almost proud grin that had her heart pounding in her chest.

"Liar."

"Why would I lie?" Thorin asked and Bilbo bit her bottom lip at the thought of actually being liked by the dwarves of Erebor. It would certainly make hers and Frodo's lives easier if she was indeed liked. She could finally get out and about, leave the confines of Erebor's palace and instead get out and walk the bustling streets of Erebor's great dwarven city. She would rather like that.

Their conversation came to halt there with the arrival of Frodo who wandered into the sitting room, rubbing sleep from his eyes with one hand while holding his stuff bear in the other. He was quick to forget his tiredness however upon seeing Thorin and with a happy grin bounded over to his father, excitedly asking him if he knew what day it was.

Thorin, rather teasingly, replied that of course it was Durin's Day, an answer that seemed to confuse Frodo as to whether he should be just as excited for the festive day as he was for his birthday, or huffy over Thorin apparently forgetting it was his birthday as well.

Obviously deciding to spare his son from further confusion of what he should be feeling, Thorin present the little boy with a small present and wished him a happy day of birth, much to Frodo's glee.

The present was, oddly enough, a small book of dwarven tales that immediately engrossed the little dwobbit as he poured over words his brain vaguely understood and carefully ran his finger over the beautiful drawing that decorated the pages.

He gleefully showed his mother who had been craning her head at an awkward angle so as to be able to look at it from the moment the present had shown to be a book. Before the two of them became too heavily engrossed in the beautiful little book, Bilbo remembered her manners and by extension Frodo's, blushing deeply when she looked back at Thorin who had been watching them both gush over the book with a fond expression.

It took only the slightest of nudges for Frodo to look back at Thorin, let out a tiny squeak as he quickly scrambled out his thanks for his new book.

Thorin laughed, a hand reaching out to ruffle the lad's black curls, offering to read the first story to Frodo while they waited for the rest of their family to wake. Frodo all but flew with his book into Thorin's lap, eager and willing for any new story to be told to him.

And that was how the rest of Bilbo's family found them, Thorin reading the book in a low voice with Frodo eagerly listening as Bilbo looked on with great affection.

However, once it was seen that the rest of the hobbits were awake and dressed for the day, Thorin was hurrying them out of the apartment and with almost dizzying speed Bilbo was being pulled through the celebrations of the day, barely able to catch her breath as they moved from one place to another as they embarked on Frodo's rather epic Birthday Treasure Hunt.

And indeed, it was epic. Bilbo saw more Erebor in one day than she had in all the weeks she had spent inside the mountain – granted she had been somewhat trapped to certain areas of the mountain city.

Frodo was positively beside himself, running all over the place with a map in hand, accompanied by Bombur's lads while Fili and Kili chased after them all, keeping them from falling over ledges while the rest of them followed after, at a slower pace, being given the grand tour that Bilbo had been promised many years ago.

At around three in the afternoon, Bombur's sons returned to their mother while the rest of the company and the hobbits (minus Bungo, Balin and Oin who were all proclaiming they were a little too old for the next part of Frodo's birthday plans and had retired to Balin's study for tea and a good smoke), ventured out of Erebor, passing many a dwarf preparing for the coming evening. No one stopped them, but they received many a questioning look sent their way as they made their way out of the mountain.

Bilbo shivered as she stepped out into the cool fresh air, her face instinctively turned towards the sun, despite it being half hidden behind clouds.

"Brrr." She turned her head to look at Frodo who was shuddering in cold but grinning so widely as he ran eagerly forward, desperate to get out into the open space of the world.

"Not so fast." Bilbo called after him, "You're going to trip if you keep running around like that!"

"Won't!" Frodo called back only to stump his toe on a rock and hopped about rather comically for several moments. He pouted when he saw his mother's sending him her best 'I-told-you-so' look.

Bilbo rolled her eyes to the heavens before marching across the bridge and stepping out onto the plains of Erebor.

She cupped a hand over her eyes to stare at Dale, catching in the afternoon light clear signs of human activity within the walls.

"It rebuilt well." She commented out loud.

"Wait til you get a chance to see inside the city." Kili called back with a grin, "they've managed to get a lot of the plants and trees to grow as they once did, before Smaug came."

"I would like that." Bilbo grinned as she remembered the great sorrow she had felt when she and the company had walked through the burned out shell of a city some eleven years ago.

She was actually rather impressed by just how far Erebor and the great mountain's surrounding lands had come. There were still no sign of regrowth for the great pines that Balin had told her once grew upon the roots of the mountain, but small vegetation had returned, grass and small shrubs were growing, though looking a little sorry for themselves as the winter months approached. Bilbo wouldn't be surprised it were to snow in the next couple of days.

She wrinkled her nose at the thought. She had never been truly fond of the cold, unlike her son who loved winter best of all seasons, despite the shorter, darker days and the fact that few other little hobbits wanted to play out in the snow with him.

She watched with a small smile as Frodo gallivanted about as they made their way in the direction of the Secret Door.

They hadn't made it very far at all before Bilbo stopped, peering up at an outcrop of rocks that had a shallow ditch beside them, then back at Erebor, then at Dale, her mouth silently moving as she did some silent calculation. From the frown decorating her face, whatever she had calculated had not pleased her.

"Lass, what are you doing?" Dwalin called as they stopped to see their burglar had actually now climbed up the outcrop of rocks she had stopped beside and was scowling furiously all around her.

"Nothing." She replied with a sigh as she half slid half clambered back down the rocks once more.

"Eh?"

"It's…" She was pouting in a frustrated fashion before her whole face dropped into rather comically sad expression. "I think I found my ditch."

"Your ditch?"

"Yes, the ditch I fell in after I got cracked in the head during the Battle of Five Armies. I knew it had been close to Erebor's front gate," Her frustration was back, her tone full of exasperation, "I just didn't realize how close. That," she pointed at the ditch and then at Erebor's bustling gate, only short-ish distance away, "is very annoying."

"Because it was so close?" Paladin asked a little uncertain as to why Bilbo was looking so annoyed.

"Yup and I walked the complete opposite direction, because apparently missing a massive mountain is an easy thing to do when you've been smacked in the head." She was grumbling now and stomping off in the direction of the Secret Door. Which despite it being exactly eleven years since she had last seen the infamous door, she remembered its general location with almost perfect clarity.

"You missed a mountain but you can remember where the Secret Door is?" Dwalin called after her, accompanied by several amused snorts.

"Shut up. It was dark, I was crawling out from under several orc bodies and the direction I just happened to be facing when I finally got to my feet was Dale… and at the time, Dale looked rather big…" She trailed off knowing how silly she sounded but it was the honest truth and exactly how it had happened. At least, that was the best that she could remember, her memory was pretty hazing regarding the details of what had transpired during those first couple of days between the battle and being found by Gandalf and Beorn.

She wasn't pressed or teased anymore over her walking in the completely wrong way of the mountain she had apparently been trying to reach, having it fairly well known by now that it was a rather sore topic for their burglar and it would best for all for it simply to be left alone.

The afternoon was spent trekking over mountain roots and telling Frodo and the other hobbits tales of the dwarves adventures, with Frodo eagerly asking question regarding this or that, while his uncles' simply shook their heads in disbelief.

Bilbo wandered ahead, more because she wanted to test her memory and to see just how well she did remember the location of the Secret Door. She hadn't exactly found it hard to spot the secret stairs the last time she was here and so she wasn't too worried that she might miss them this time.

And sure enough, just as the shadows were starting to grow longer – and once again, it would seem that they might be pushing for time to reach the door under the prerequisite for it to open under – Bilbo saw the statue and the strange "stair" like pattern carven into its side.

"You have sharp eyes Master Baggins." Thorin teased softly as he came to stand beside her.

Bilbo rolled her eyes.

"Hardly." She shorted, "I would say they rather stand out, those stairs, even if they are the most ridiculous set of stairs I have ever seen. I honestly can't believe we got up them the first time round." She looked back at her cousins and son, "and now we're going to try again, and with even more hobbits." Because there was absolutely no point trying to deny, that out of all of them, it had been her who had struggled the greatest with getting up those bloody stairs eleven years ago. Hobbit were simply not built for climbing rocky structures. Trees, more or less fine, mountains, not so much.

"It'll be fine." Thorin reassured her as he guided her the rest of the way to the stairs where she was surprised to see that ropes had be strung up, all along the stairs to help one to keep their balance as they climbed and to catch them if something terrible, like slipping, occurred.

Frodo ran past them with an excited yell, obviously having spotted the hidden stairs all by himself and was more than a little eager to scramble his way up them.

"Frodo!" Bilbo called after her rambunctious son, who was now at the foot of the stairs, his head crane back as far as it could go, his mind obviously trying to figure out how he might find his way up the rather ridiculous – in Bilbo's mind at least, though she did remember the grumblings from several dwarves on their first climb over the engineering of the stairs – staircase.

Frodo looked back at her with a pout, his big blue eyes wide and pleading.

"But… but, Mama!" Frodo whined, "We have to hurry, the sun!"

"Calm down laddie." Gloin called as he cracked his back, preparing for the rather wearisome climb ahead of him, "We're still got time yet."

Bilbo bit back a smile as Frodo wiggle impatiently at the bottom of the stairs while his dubious uncles were convinced that the stairs was perfectly safe and safety precautions had been taken.

Finally, after quite a bit of convincing and Bilbo throwing in her two cents of – "If I could climb these stairs without ropes eleven years ago, you lot certainly can with them!" – had the hobbit cousins grudgingly agreeing to go through with the climb.

"Questioning their masculine pride, ya cruel little minx?" Bofur teased as he nudged her side fondly, "Haven't ya heard, we males are delicate things and our feelings must be handled with care."

Bilbo chocked back a laugh while her cousins glared on.

"That ain't it at all!" Paladin complained in frustration, hands upon his hips, "She hates heights. More than the average hobbit, so if she can climb up there, than…"

"Pal, stop digging yourself into a hole and climb up those bloody stairs already." Saradoc interrupted his cousin with a bob to his head with his fist, "I don't fancy climbing these in the dark though." He shot the group of dwarves a worried look. "We're not, are we? Going to have to climb back down in the dark?"

"No," Thorin shook his head, "we can use the tunnels to make our way back to the city." The hobbits – Bilbo included – let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Let's get this over with then." Lotho grumbled as he stomped to the foot of the stairs, standing beside Frodo, his neck crane as far as it could go backwards as he peered up at the stairs with distaste written all over his sour face.

Truthfully Bilbo could not believe the surly hobbit had even agreed to this. He had been given every chance over the course of the day to return to their apartments or join her father, Balin and Oin in smoke in Balin's study. But despite all offers – all of which must have been preferable to him and his proper hobbit sensibilities – he continued following them along, grumbling continuously over this and that – Bilbo was rather adapt a tuning out her once-husband-to-be's mutterings – but followed them nonetheless.

And now, here he is, about to climb up a secret dwarven staircase, to find a secret door for no other reason than it was the desire of a child who might have been but never was his.

Bilbo did not know whether to be impressed by her once-husband-to-be or simply flummoxed by him.

He had, Bilbo remembered with a started, also spent much of his time while in Erebor reading whatever material that had been readily available to him.

None of this was usual Lotho behavior. Whenever they returned to the Shire, he was going to give his dearest mother quite the fright.

Despite herself, Bilbo found herself grinning at Lotho, rather pleased by how this unexpected adventure seemed to be making him step out of his comfort space. Of course, upon noticing her smile and realizing it was being directed at him, the surly hobbit's expression became even more sullen, even though his ears did appear to turn a little pink, but that was most likely due to the chill of the air.

Bilbo shook her head and pushed Lotho from her mind, instead settling on not panicking over having to climb up these bloody stairs again.

The rope did help, but Bilbo would rather that she had never had to climb these stairs ever again in her life time, and she was more than grateful to reach the top, blood pounding in her ears and finger nails all fully broken from scrambling up the steps. Not to mention the ache that had set into her hands.

Frodo though, seemed no worse for wear from the climb, eagerly running all around the ledge that the secret door open out onto, exclaiming over how far he could see across the land before just as quickly trying to guess the location of where the key hole was.

His actual guess wasn't far off, Bilbo noted as she sat upon a rock watching as her lad gently traced the general area of where she was fairly certain – if her memory wasn't failing her that is – where the key hole was located.

"There's no Thrush." She pointed out as the thought wander lazily across her mind. "Doesn't there have to be a Thrush around for this to work?" Spells and magic was really quite beyond her comprehension, and given how last time she had only truly made sense of the silly riddle on the map was when she had spotted a thrush tapping a snail against a rock, did everything fall into place in her head. She wasn't sure if that had been magic or simply coincidence.

"Thinking we have to catch one lassie?" Gloin teased and Bilbo after a moment's thought, remembered the late night conversation shared in Rivendell, where she had kept everyone wake by asking inane questions about the map's riddle.

She remembered a particularly amusing mental image that she had had at the time of the dwarves having to run around the mountain with nets, just trying to catch one little Thrush.

She did her best to mask the amused giggle the image generated with a cough, convincing no one if the exasperated looks she was being sent by the dwarves were anything to go by.

"What?" Bilbo asked, her eyes wide and innocent. Her dwarves only let out snorts in response before their attention was pulled back to Frodo who was growing impatient in the fading light, muttering the riddle of the secret door that had been told to him since his earliest childhood.

"Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks, and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the keyhole. That's right, isn't Mama?" Her son turned his impatient little face away from the solid rock wall in front of him to stare back at his mother questioningly.

"Yes, sweetheart, that's right." She respond with a happy smile, not in the least surprised her little lad remembered the riddle while some of her dwarves gapped at the boy in disbelief.

"There's no thrush though." Frodo worried his lower lip, his gaze searching the darkening sky for such a bird to appear before looking back at her, knowing that this was a concern she had raised only moments before.

"Let's see if we can do it without the thrush." Bilbo was quick to reassure him, knowing how much her son wanted to see the Secret Door and passage.

"You think it won't work without a thrush though." Frodo pointed out as Bilbo moved to stand by his side, his expression anxious.

"Eh, that's just cos yer mama's a pessimists, laddie," Bofur teased, "don't ya let her worries get ta ya."

Bilbo stuck her tongue out at her best friend, but she was regretting her flippant words that were now causing her boy so much worry.

"It'll be fine sweetheart, you'll see. And," she rolled her eyes in a comical fashion, "if it doesn't work, you can blame me for chasing the magic away with my little faith in it." This cracked something of grin across her son's face before he turned back to the wall, running a hand over its surface.

"Am I close?" He asked, his hand so very near where Bilbo was certain the keyhole was.

Bilbo forced herself to keep a neutral expression.

"Mama!" Frodo stamped his little foot to the ground.

"I'm not saying anything," Bilbo replied calmly, maybe enjoying teasing her son a little too much, "you will simply have to be patient and wait and see."

"But I have been. I've been patient for ages! Forever!" Frodo whined causing the dwarves and hobbits around him to laugh and Thorin to reach over and ruffle his dark curls.

"Not much longer now." Thorin promised, looking far more relaxed than he had this time eleven years passed.

Frodo sighed and looked towards the setting sun and the slowly rising moon.

"The last light means the moon, don't it Mama?" Frodo turned to her for confirmation. "Not the sun, that's why we're waiting for the sun to set."

Bilbo almost felt like her heart might burst with joy, as she had never actually told him the solution to the map's riddle and so, her little boy had figured it out all on his own. It couldn't even be said that he was using memories that had once belong to Durin, as the Secret Door and map had been created well after the last Durin's time on Middle-Earth.

"Clever boy." She beamed at him as she hugged him close. "I didn't figure it out half as quickly as you did."

"Ta be fair, ya were under a bit of stress at tha time." Nori snorted while Bilbo stroked Frodo's curls.

"And you didn't give up when the rest of us did." Thorin added, his expression fond and oh so thankful, that Bilbo's whole face turned red with embarrassment.

"I almost kicked the key off the ledge." She found herself reminding them all, "in my frantic hunt for it to get in the keyhole in time, only for me to almost send it flying off the mountain side."

"Oh Mama." Frodo sighed, patting the hand wrapped around his shoulders in a sympathetic fashion that had her laughing.

"Lucky your Papa caught it with his boot." Bilbo snorted as she ran her fingers again threw Frodo's curls as her son let out a huge sigh of relief.

"I'm glad I looked behind me and saw you were not following after us. It I hadn't started to come up when you were yelling, the key may have been lost forever." Thorin replied and Bilbo felt a wave of queasiness wash through.

"I have actually had nightmares about that," She admitted with a moan as she buried her face into one hand, "of me kicking the key over the edge and it becoming forever lost."

She noticed the worried looks being sent her way and she was quick to wave them off.

"No, not as in terrible nightmares, just the silly bad dreams one has, such as dreaming you have left the house and the stove is still lit."

That seemed to settle her dwarves and attention was more turned to the sun disappearing on the horizon and the rising moon.

Though Bilbo's attention was actually on stone wall, her eyes focused on the spot she was certain the keyhole was located.

And yes, sure enough, despite there being no thrush to knock upon the grey stone, the secret keyhole did reveal itself to the world.

Bilbo shook her head, bemused by the bizarre conditions required to finding the secret entrance to Erebor. It honestly seemed far more trouble than it was worth, but that was an opinion she planned on keeping to herself.

Frodo let out a loud exclamation of delight at having been so close with his guess of where the keyhole was, his little fingers running over the now visible hole, marveling over how easily it was missed in sunlight.

But what truly made the little dwobbit's day was when he was handed the key, the key to the secret door, by Thorin who gave him an 'go-ahead' nod while behind them there was encouraging cheers from the company and his hobbit uncles.

The key was heavy in his small hand, but it was definitely one of the most beautiful of keys Frodo had ever seen in his life. With great care, he slide the key into the lock and turned it slowly.

For a frightening moment, it seemed nothing had happened, but then with a bit more of a turn of the key, there was a click, and the wall in front of him seemed to shift just a little.

He looked wildly at his mother who smiled and nodded as he pressed his hands upon the stone door and gave it a shove. And then another. The third shove appeared to be what was needed – he failed to notice Thorin's hand above his head, pushing the door from behind him – and the door swung open.

The passage that it opened into was made up of the same green marble that Frodo had come to acquaint with the city of Erebor, though the dusty, stagnant air that drift out was not at all familiar to him. Thank goodness.

He sneezed and rubbed his nose with his sleeve.

"Give it a moment for the air to circulate, then we'll go down." Thorin was saying as lanterns were lit and distributed around their group. Frodo had hoped he might be given one but no such luck it would seem.

Bilbo stared down the long, dark passage way as unpleasant memories stirred inside her head, as the stale air stirred with fresh wind.

There is no dragon down there, she told herself firmly, as she had been telling herself all day, from the moment Thorin had told her that coming to the Secret Door had been a part of Frodo's Birthday plans.

No gold either, she added for good measure, for her mind was also pulling up the unhappy memories of Thorin stalking around Smaug's bedroom in search of the Arkenstone. The Arkenstone that had been sitting in her pocket from the first couple of hours of her being inside Erebor.

"Ready?" She jumped slightly when she felt a small, slightly chilly hand clasp her own. She smiled down at Frodo, who was practically shaking with excitement. Seeing his excitement was balm for her panic mind, soothing the worst of her unhappy memories.

"Of course, sweetheart." She ruffled his hair and let him all but pull her into the tunnel she had truly hoped to never have to walk down again.

It's worth it, though, she thought as she listened to Frodo's excited chatter, to have him so happy.

Despite Frodo's pleas to go first, Bilbo was more than grateful when Thorin and Gloin took the lead. She didn't know if she trusted her memory enough to get down to Smaug's bedroom from the Secret Door as she had only ever done that particular walk the once and the tunnels did so look alike.

The whole trip, Gloin spoke of the history of Erebor, of how Durin's Folk had come to call the mountain home and of how it had risen, before Smaug's desolation, to be the pinnacle of Dwarven society. The mountain had yet to reach such status again, but as Gloin was more than proud to point out this was only due Erebor having to compete with the likes of the Blue Mountains and the Iron Hills. And the Blue Mountains was only of such a high standard now because of the leadership from Thorin and Lady Dis.

Bilbo had heard Thorin cough when Gloin was proclaiming this and a quick look at his face convinced her that he was embarrassed by Gloin's praises.

"It was mostly Dis." He admitted when he saw her looking at him, "I just glared at anyone who didn't agree with her decisions. She was the one who truly built Eren Luin up from the ground, turning it from the mining town it had become and back into the bustling city it is today."

Bilbo, despite the anxiety in her chest, felt herself grin wide and true at his rather humble admittance.

All too soon, or at least it was for Bilbo, they were arriving into the very corridor that she had stood in all those years ago, bracing herself to start her search for a 'large, white gem' in a mountain that was suffering from a rather large dragon problem.

Her hand, appearing to be moving on its own accord, lifted as they stepped through the large doorway leading into a now empty but still utterly massive chamber, her knuckles rapping just as loudly as ever against the stone wall.

She was almost trampled by dwarves hurrying back into the corridor.

"Why would you do that for?" Lotho huffed as he rubbed his shoulder from where he had been knocked into by Fili.

"Uh, well…" Bilbo rather sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Habit? Entering someone's home without invitation is the height of bad manners." she offered up lamely.

"But you didn't actually knock when there was a dragon in there, did you?" Kili asked with wide eyes.

"Well…"

"Bilbo!"

"Oh, shush" She stamped her foot as she waved the astonished slash horrified looks being sent her way, "I would like to see what any of you would have done when you were about to enter a chamber, filled to the brim with all manner of treasure, in search of a and I quote "a large, white gem", with a possibly very alive dragon who might eat you at any moment. I would honestly like to see you do better."

"I certainly wouldn't have started off with knocking on the doorway as I entered." Dori huffed.

"I may have actually called out 'Hello' first and then knocked, but…" seeing the horrified looks returning, Bilbo pressed her hands upon her hips, "that's neither here nor there."

"How by Mahal's bloody hammer, did ya even survive?" Dwalin groused, shaking his head while Bilbo pouted at him.

"Sheer dumb luck." She admitted without qualm. "And the fact that Smaug was on for a chat and I kept his interest."

"By riddling him, right?" Paladin queried as they moved out of the corridor and started making their way down in to the chamber that has once been filled with mountains of hoarded gold.

"Hmm, that and my rather ridiculous attempts of being subtly as I tried to get the Arkenstone while talking to him. I swear he was moving about so much on purpose, just to send it further flying down the mountains of gold." Bilbo grumbled.

"Weren't ya wearing ya funny ring?" Bofur asked, his face paling under his fur hat when Bilbo shook her head.

"No, he could sense me when I was wearing it and…" she shook her head, remembering with a shudder what it had felt like to be wearing her silly ring while Smaug had been looking straight at her. It had… been the most unpleasant of feelings. An experience she never wanted to have again.

"Did you get it, though?" Frodo was asking her excitedly, "The Arkenstone? Did you steal it right from under Smaug's nose? Or did you find it later?"

"No, I got then and there. I managed to snatch it up just as he was about to burn me to a crisp. Only, he was too busy monologuing, so I was able to escape."

"And what?" Saradoc asked with an astonished expression, "you just carried it around in your pocket for however many days."

Bilbo shot the dwarves, in particular Thorin, a truly guilty expression as she nodded.

"Hmmm hmmm."

"Eh, makes sense ya found it that early." Bofur thumped the back of her head lightly with his fist. "Ya were never down here long enough to have found it any other time."

"Balin knew that you had, I believe." Thorin spoke unexpectedly, meeting her eyes with a calmness that Bilbo was so very relieved to see.

"He suspected, and I implied that I had it, but I sort of just kept it to myself… oh that sounds terrible when I put it like that." She wrung her hands in front of her, "That isn't what I meant, I just…"

Thorin shook his head, laying a gentle hand upon her shoulder.

"All is well, you did what you thought best under trying circumstances." His words had her sagging in relief, her racing heart returning to a more natural beat.

"Come, we should not linger for too much longer," Thorin said speaking to the group as a whole. "There is still much to be done this evening still."

Bilbo groaned.

Oh yes, the great feast in celebrations of Durin's Day, how could she ever forget.

"All will be well," Thorin said to her again as Gloin led them out of Smaug's old bedroom and up into the bustling with excitement and joy city of Erebor above. "You'll be fine."

She gave a nervous sort of laugh, but forced herself to smile at him despite the racing of her heart at the thought of the upcoming feast.

Come now Bilbo, she thought firmly, you have faced trolls, spiders and a dragon, what is one little feast compared to all that and more?

Be brave, smile and maybe you can manage to sneak a book in when no one is watching you.

She found herself grinning at the thought. In fact, the thought of reading under the table at such a grand feast as the one she was about to attend, kept her amused all through the process of the dressing of her hair, face and gown. Only when she saw herself in the mirror of her chamber, with a very smug Dis standing behind her, did her amusement fade as she stared at the rather splendid looking hobbit lass standing before her.

"You are going to knock them off their feet with their hammers." Dis said with a pleased grin as she quickly tucked an escaping curl safely way with another pin that had a silver flower twisted upon it.

"Oh, I don't know…"

"Eh," Dis chuckle, "You wait and see. My brother," and the smug smile slipped into something softer, "won't be able to take his eyes off you. Not that he doesn't already spend all of his time looking at you, but tonight…" Dis wide grin was back while Bilbo's cheeks exploded with color as she stared back at herself in the mirror.

Maybe, just maybe, this night wouldn't be completely awful.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading. I'm not sure when I'll update next, but I will try and not make it three years between updates.

If you are interested in reading any more of my work while waiting for an update for this fic, I have written two other chapter-fics for the Hobbit called Home is Behind, the World Ahead (which is a prequel of this fic and a basic re-telling of the The Hobbit, book and movies, with my own stuff thrown in here and there), as well as my big Hobbit AU, The Crownless King Shall Reclaim His Throne.

Again thank you for reading and I hope you are all having a lovely weekend and that 2019 is being good and kind to you all.