The Hobbit/There and Back Again - A Hobbit's Tale Fanfiction

Chapter 2 - The Unexpected Guests

The rest of the day has been rather quiet, which would be good if this morning's encounter with the wizard didn't cross my mind every now and then. I was just cooking my supper for the night after Abigail told me she was taking a bath and to start without her. To be honest, I much rather eat alone than have another rather awkward meal with her. Not that there was anything wrong, it's just there was so much on my mind I couldn't quite spit it out at the moment. Just when I was about to enjoy my supper, the doorbell rings. I frowned to myself, seeing I wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone nor wanting my food to get cold. But of course, I have to answer the door since Abigail was still in the bath.

When I opened the door, I was greeted by a rather large dwarf. He was bald on the top of his head, with long dark hair down slightly past his shoulders. His chest was broad, fur peeking through his dark cape, and rather intimidating. "Dwalin" the dwarf introduced himself, "At your service"
I noticed my attire and quickly closed my robe before introducing myself, "Bilbo Baggins, at yours"
The dwarf named Dwalin rudely enters the house without much of a single word. I don't even know this dwarf and surprisingly he doesn't know me. "Which way, laddie?" he asked from across the hall, "Is it down here?"
"Is what down where?" I asked confused
"Supper. He said there'd be food and lots of it"
"He said? Who said?"

I didn't get an answer and there Dwalin was, sitting at my small dining table eating my fish. I was surprised Abigail didn't hear him enter my home with his loud booming voice. At sat silently in the corner and watched as the large dwarf ate, stuffing his face with bread and vegetables, until the door rings once again. This time, a much older dwarf was at the door. His long white hair matches his long white beard. He was slightly shorter than Dwalin, but greeted me with a kind smile. "Balin" he said, "At your service"
At this point, I was at a loss for words. Why do dwarves keep coming to my house? I didn't even know I was gonna have visitors tonight.

All I ever said was "Good Evening" to the older dwarf.
"Yes. Yes it is" said Balin, "Though, I think it might rain later"
I stood at the door confused as Balin kindly entered the house and whispered, "Am I late?"
"Late for what?" I asked, not expecting an answer.
The older dwarf turned to the much taller dwarf, a smile appearing on his face. "Evening, brother" he said, slowly making his way to Dwalin, his younger brother. The next thing I knew, the two dwarven brothers headbutt one another and chuckled in delight. "Um, excuse me" I said, "Sorry, I hate to interrupt. But the thing is, I'm not entirely sure if you're in the right house"

"Bilbo?" called Abigail, I turned to see the female hobbit fresh out of the shower with her hair tied up in a messy bun, a robe wrapped tightly around her body, and her night dress peeking from the said robe. "What's going on? I heard noise from the bathroom" she asked, concern washed on her face.
Before I could tell her that nothing had happened, Abigail turned to see the two dwarves having their brotherly moment. A smile appeared on her face and said, "Balin, is that you my old friend?"
This caught me by surprise. She knew these dwarves?! Or at least one of them. Balin turned his gaze to the female hobbit and smiled, greeting her with open arms as they hugged one another.

Afterwards, Abigail offered the dwarfs a drink until I pulled her aside so we could talk. Once we entered the kitchen, I glanced over her shoulder to see if either one of them were listening. "What are you doing, Abigail?" I whispered, "It's not that I don't like visitors, I like visitors as much as the next hobbit. But I would like to know them before they come visiting. Did you invite these dwarves without my permission?"
"No, of course not" said Abigail, "I haven't seen Balin in 10 years and I never met Dwalin until tonight. But didn't you tell me that a hobbit must show good hospitality no matter who the guest may be?"
I stood there in silence, remembering the lessons I taught Abigail sometime after her mysterious arrival 10 years back. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration, "Yes, I remember saying that. But they can't stay here"
"Oh please, Bilbo, just for tonight. I promise they'll be gone by morning"

I felt Abigail gently taking my hand, looking up at me with those innocent blue eyes of hers, begging for me to let them stay. "Please?" she asked, ever so sweet and soft. I wanted to resist, I truly did, but seeing I didn't have the heart to say 'no' to her, I agreed. Abigail smiled and hugged me tight before leaving the kitchen to show Balin and Dwalin the pantry where the food and ale were. As mentioned before, I like visitors as much as the next hobbit, but I would like to know the guest before they come visiting. It seems when I told the dwarves this, neither one of them was listening. "The thing is, I don't know either of you. Not in the slightest" I said as Dwalin threw a cheese over his shoulder and Abigail caught it before it dropped to the floor. I finally took a deep breath and said, "I don't mean to be blunt, but I must speak my mind. I'm sorry"

The two dwarves stop what they were doing, facing towards me in silence as I look them dead in the eye. "Apology accepted," said Dwalin, much to my surprise, before speaking to his brother again. The doorbell rings again, I could feel a cold chill running down my spine, possibly knowing who might be at the door. Abigail kindly hands me the cheese she saved and said, "I'll answer it"
As the female hobbit fixed herself up a bit on her way to the door, I couldn't just stand there so I followed her from a good distance to see what she would do. When Abigail answered the door, this time there were two dwarves. One was blonde with a matching beard and tan colored fur clothing, the other was dark hair with a stubble and much darker clothing.

"Fili" said the blonde dwarf
"And Kili" said the other
"At your service" the two spoke in unison, bowing before Abigail's presence. Kili smiled and politely kissed Abigail's hand in greeting, "You must be Mrs. Boggins"
A blush appeared on Abigail's face, including my own. She kindly pulled her hand away and said, "Mr. Baggins and I are not married. And I'm afraid you can't come in. You've come to the wrong house"
Before Abigail could shut the door, Kili opens it again in shock. "Has it been canceled?" he asked
"No one told us" said Fili
Abigail tried to make it clear to the young dwarves until they cut her off, "No, nothing's been canceled-"
"That's a relief," said Kili as he proceeded to enter my house. Fili apologized for his brother's manners and kindly kissed Abigail's hand before entering the house himself.

The two dwarves looked around the house until Fili came up to me, handing me his wild collection of weapons into my hands. "Careful with these" he said, "I just had them sharpened"
"It's nice, this place" said Kili, impressed by the craftsmanship of my home, "You two build it yourselves?"
"Oh no, it's been in Mr. Baggins' family for generations," Abigail explained.
Kili then proceeds to scrape the bottom of his boots against my mother's glory box, even when I practically begged him to stop doing that. Dwalin walks over to the two younger dwarves, asking them to give him and Balin a hand to set up the table for everyone.

When I heard the doorbell ring for the fourth time tonight, my patience ran thin. "There's nobody home!" I yelled, dropping the swords on my way to the front door, "Go away and bother somebody else! There's far too many dwarves in my dining room as it is!"
"Mr. Baggins, please calm down," Abigail begged, trying to calm me down.
I kept screaming, "If this is some clot-head's idea of a joke, I could only say, it is in very poor taste!"
The moment I opened the door, a pile of dwarves fell on top of each other. Outside stood a familiar tall gray wizard with an amused grin on his face, Gandalf.