An Unexpected Feeling (Bagginshield)

Seeing the stars - part 2

The sky was growing dark. The whole company had gone to sleep, except for Bilbo.

He stood on a small rock, hands behind his back, watching the sun set. He was waiting for Thorin. Then, Bilbo saw the first star of the night appear in the sky. It was quite faint, not big or shimmery.

Bilbo sat down. Where was Thorin? What if he had just been joking? Bilbo felt foolish.

"You stupid hobbit," he whispered to himself quietly.

"Thorin wouldn't stay up all night just for you."

All of a sudden, Bilbo heard steps behind him. He recognized them.

"Thorin! You came then," the hobbit said quite loudly as he stood up.

"Shh... You'll wake the others." Thorin said, placing his finger on Bilbo's lips. The dwarf was smiling.

Thorin looked up at the sky.

"Look," he said quietly, putting his hand on Bilbo's shoulder and pointing at the sky.

The sky was full of stars. Shimmery, beautiful and full of hope. Bilbo sighed.

"It's beautiful," he whispered, mesmerized.

As Bilbo looked at the sky, Thorin lowered his head and looked at Bilbo. Bilbo's eyes were shimmering in the starlight. The dwarf sighed longingly. He grabbed some of Bilbo's curly hair and twirled it gently around his finger.

Bilbo moaned ever so slightly. He wasn't expecting this. He turned to Thorin.

"Ehm... so... Could you teach me something?" Bilbo asked.

Thorin was a bit embarrassed.

"Yes, of course... I'm sorry," he answered.

"No, no, it's okay," Bilbo said. He actually enjoyed the dwarf's gentle touch. Thorin smiled.

"Well, that is the Crown of Kings", he said, pointing at a small constellation. Bilbo looked at it for a while and nodded. He didn't see a crown anywhere, but came to the conclusion that that was beside the point.

"And that," Thorin said as he pointed at another, bigger group of stars,

"That is the Dragon."

"Do dragons really look like that?" Bilbo asked.

"Well, not really" Thorin answered playfully. He was smiling. If anyone else would have asked him that, he would have been offended. But Bilbo was different.

Bilbo turned to Thorin. They looked at each other for a moment. Bilbo couldn't help but smile as well.

"Well, I hope they would," he said,

"Because that is not a very frightening dragon at all."

Thorin chuckled. All he wanted to do was to take Bilbo in his arms and cuddle him. But that would have been inappropriate.

Suddenly, Bilbo felt tired. He was still looking at Thorin.

Thorin noticed Bilbo's sleepy eyes. He couldn't control himself, but grabbed Bilbo and let him lie on his arms.

Bilbo was so tired that all he could do was mumble: "What are you doing?"

"I'm taking you to sleep," Thorin answered softly and smiled.

And so he did. He carried Bilbo back to the camp and laid him on the ground.

"I'm tired..." Bilbo mumbled.

"I know. Sleep," Thorin whispered.

Bilbo felt his little heart race, but was too tired to do anything but yawn and fix his position.

Thorin lowered his head and kissed the hobbit softly on the forehead. Bilbo fell asleep.

Thorin looked at the sleeping hobbit for a while. He touched his hair. Then he went to sleep, too. For some reason, he was quite proud of himself.