A Stark Predicament

Chapter 44 New Worries

Thorin and Bruce went into Thorin's study. "Okay Thorin, what's bothering you about the baby? I saw that look on your face when Alina was talking about the the baby." Thorin sighed. "Mahal forgive me, but I am beginning to have second thoughts about this baby. If it is taking this much out of her and it is only eight weeks, I can only imagine how much worse things will get in a year and a half's time." Thorin said in the most worried tone Bruce had ever heard, Thorin was on the verge of tears. "I do not want to lose my wife, Bruce. I feel terrible saying this but I would rather lose my child than my wife!"

Bruce was taken aback to hear such a confession from the King, he must really be distraught. "Thorin you're not going to lose either one. Remember she ran herself ragged today, she needs to  rest. If she has anemia, I can give her a certain diet plan for her to follow plus vitamins that will help fight it. None of this is uncommon for human women. Don't freak out, I will keep an eye on her." Bruce took a deep breath. "As a matter of fact, if it will ease your mind. I will stay here in Erebor through out her pregnancy."

Thorin was ecstatic, just the thought of having Bruce nearby in case anything happened eased his mind and heart tremendously. "Aye, Bruce please stay, you will have anything you need and your own suite in the Royal Halls. I will of course pay you for your services and time here. Don't bother to argue, I've made up my mind and you can not dissuade the King." Thorin smiled and hugged Bruce. Bruce walks up to Tony. "Okay, I have all the vials I need, call Jarvis."  Tony looked at Bruce with red eyes. "Bruce, make my baby sister better, please? I can't lose the only family I have." Tony says trying to clear the lump in his throat. "Jarvis bring the suit and prepare to run blood-work on Honey Bunny."

Jarvis shot out of Tony's suite going straight to the Royal chambers, but stopped and walked into the room and stood next to Tony. **Ready when you are, Dr. Banner.** Bruce sat on the bed and drew three vials of blood from Alina then handed them to Jarvis. All of this to the great fascination of Thorin. He wondered what type of information they could get from three vials of blood. **Sir, it will take me approximately two hours to get the results, stand by.** Alina sat up a little more. "In the meantime, may I have my soup please?" Tony scrambled to get the tray but Logan already had. "Here you go, Kid sorry but its cold now."

Alina gave Thorin a pleading look "I'm just going to reheat it, I won't use that much power I promise." Thorin sighed and looked at Bruce, who gave a slight nod. "Alright, but this is the last time until you are better." She clapped her hands "Yay." With the snap of her fingers the soup was hot again. "See, no problem." she gave them a  beautiful smile that made even Tony's heart skip a beat.

Alina happily ate her soup and chicken breast while they waited for the test results. Her strength and color returning, much to the relief of her worried husband. "I told you I just needed to eat and sleep, now all of you go back to the feast." Not a single person moved. "Fine sit there, I'm going to sleep. Thorin, since you're not going back, cuddle with me!" They all chuckled at Thorin. Thorin just smiled at his spoiled One and took his coat off and boots, then got into bed with her. Alina scooted as close to him as possible put her head on his chest wrapped her arms around him and fell instantly asleep. Both Logan and Tony Awe'd at Thorin who turned bright red.

Two hours went by, Alina was still fast asleep. Her color had returned to normal, she had a nice healthy glow about her. Thorin breathed out a sigh of relief. **Sir the test results have returned.** Tony leaped to his feet. "Thank you Jarvis. Now lets see what can be seen." Tony gets the Hologram working on the suit to project the lab results so he and Bruce can look at them. After reading them, Bruce smiles. "It would seem that everything is normal even her healing, though she is anemic and is low on a few other vitamins." He gives Thorin an encouraging smile. "Nothing a little vitamin shot can't fix and prenatal vitamins. So there isn't anything to worry about."

"Like I said, I'll take good care of her." Tony quirked an eyebrow. "What do you mean Bruce, what's going on? " Bruce removed his glasses and looked at Tony. "I'm going to be staying here in Erebor during Alina's pregnancy to monitor her more closely."  Tony let out a sigh of relief. "I am so glad to hear that, thank you. But I'm thinking that if you're gonna spend a year and a half here we need to equip you with everything you need. If that's alright with you, Thorin?" Thorin still lying in bed with Alina half on top of him now says. "Aye, whatever you need to make sure my Azyungâl is healthy, please do it."

Something occurred to Tony. "Bro, what does Azyungâl and Amrâlimê mean?" Thorin smiled a big smile "Azyungâl means love of all loves and Amrâlimê means love of me in Khuzdul. And Ghivashel means treasure of all treasures." Thorin kisses Alina on the head, his smile gets even bigger. He is so happy that she will get better. "Wow, that is the most romantic thing I have ever heard. Maybe I should try those on Pepper?" Bruce and Logan laughed. Thorin quirked an eyebrow. "Who is Pepper, Brother?" Tony liked that Thorin called him that. "Pepper is my fiancé, I should probably use those when she's mad at me…Holy Shit! I forgot to tell her I was coming here! Jarvis get Pepper on the line." He jumped up and left the room "Hi Pep. A funny thing happened on my way to Middle Earth…." Thorin, Logan and Bruce's laughter could be heard all the way out in the hall.

Tony came back into the room. "Well, she's pissed at me. Guess I'll have to buy her some jewelry or start calling 'love of all loves.' Or something." Thorin chuckled as he finally extricated himself from Alina's embrace. "Come along, Tony, I have just the thing for your lady. Bruce would you mind watching Alina, please? Logan, why don't you come along as well." Bruce nodded "Yeah no problem Thorin."  Thorin gave a slight bow to Bruce in gratitude.

They descended into the heart of the mountain toward the treasury. Tony started to suspect where they were going. "Uh, Thorin where are we going?"  "We are going to the treasury." Thorin said. Logan and Tony looked at each other a little worried. "Do you think it's a good for you to be near the gold?" Logan asked. Thorin looked over his shoulder at them. "The gold sickness has left me completely when my Azyungal did the same. There is no more temptation for me." He gave them a proud smile. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs and saw all that gold and jewels Logan and Tony came to understand why Thorin got sick in the first place.

"This is the treasure horde of Thror. Here I will find you the perfect gift for your beloved, Tony" Thorin grinned at his brother-in-law. Tony was completely awestruck and so touched by Thorin's gesture. "Thorin, I don't know what to say, thank you so much I truly appreciate it!" He bowed to Thorin. Tony noticed that the gold and jewels were all organized. "Your sister sorted everything out when we were looking for the Arkenstone." Thorin closed his eyes at the memory, and reached for his heart. "Before everything went terribly wrong." He shook his head to rid himself of that horrible memory. Logan and Tony just looked at each other, they could still see the pain and regret on Thorin's face.

"As I was saying, it's all sorted. The Jewels are this way." He led the way to a large pile of diamonds rubies, sapphires of all sizes, shapes and cuts. "Would she like a necklace or a ring?" Tony was speechless. "What? Oh uh a necklace. Diamond if you can spare it."  Thorin just chuckled then disappeared. He came back with a diamond necklace that had on it a heart shaped diamond the size of  Thorin's fist. Tony just gawked at it. He had never seen a more perfectly cut diamond in his life, it was exquisite. "She. Will. Love. It!"

A thought occurred to Thorin that he need to make another bead for his One before their marriage. Because of her healing factor her hair was already at shoulder length. He went back and retrieved all the materials he would need to make a new bead. "We can go back now." Thorin announce. As they're walking up the steps, Logan fell in step with Thorin. "You know I was thinking about this whole guard issue you're having with Alina, and I think I should be her personal guard, after all I know her better than anyone else and she'll feel more comfortable with me."  Thorin thought that was a good idea but Logan was a guest in Erebor. He couldn't ask him to do this.

"No, Logan you are my guest. I could not ask you to guard her, when you should be relaxing." Logan rolled his eyes. "Oh please bub, I'm gonna get bored eventually and start bugging her anyway. I might as well protect her."  Thorin thought for a moment and finally agreed. "Fine, I will only agree if you are paid for your services." Logan grunted in agreement.