I'm so sorry for the wait in the update. I only just started university last week and I also only recently properly returned from two month's worth of holidays! I've been extremely busy, but I found some spare time and I managed to get another chapter going.

By the way, I went to New Zealand in February and can I say how awesome it was to go to Hobbiton as well as visit the location where Edoras was filmed!

Chapter 51: Different Times

"If someone doesn't tell me what's going on, I'm gonna lose it," Evelyn said, annoyed slightly as she watched Thorin and Oin stare at her belly as if it wasn't her belly.

Oin cleared his throat. "You appeared to miscarry the child while you were sleeping, however we both heard another heartbeat within your womb,"

She frowned. "Another heartbeat? You mean…?"

Both dwarves nodded, slowly but surely.

Evelyn wasn't entirely sure how to react to this. Her emotions were mixed together, and she felt confused, excited, nervous, joyous and tired all at the same time, and yet she still felt as if she had lost something very dear to her. And she had. Had the other unborn child survived, she surely would have given Thorin twins, something worthy of immense celebration, instead only one child survived, and she wasn't sure how to react to this, how Thorin felt about the potential thought that she was unable to carry twins and could not give him a perfect family.

She looked over at Thorin, beseeching him to say something. "Another heartbeat, Thorin…" She said to him quietly and cautiously.

He nodded his head and looked at her, finally tearing his eyes away from her bare belly. In his eyes, he tried to imagine the little being growing inside her at that very moment, and could not believe that it was possible, that this child had survived when the other had not.

"You're going to be a wonderful mother," He said to her, reaching up to play with her hair lovingly. As he did this, Oin smiled knowingly and quietly collected his things, leaving the room without being noticed that he had done so.

Back in the room, Thorin continued to stroke her hair.

"And you'll be a wonderful father," She told him.

He sensed something was not quite right, and clasped both her hands. "Do you worry for this child?"

She bit her lip slightly and nodded, her forehead creased with concern. "I don't think I could bear it if he or she doesn't survive… and I can't help but worry what to say should the child survive and the time comes to tell it about the brother or sister it never had,"

Thorin shushed her gently as he listened to her speak with such desperation. "We'll get through this,"

Once Evelyn calmed down enough so that she could rest once more, Thorin quietly slipped from the room and returned to the council chambers to inform the other council members of recent events. They all sat in silence as he told them what had happened since he had unexpectedly rushed from the room.

Vreshkin Ironbark, the dwarf who had suggested Thorin step aside from the throne, leaned forward in his chair.

"Your Majesty, as much as we are all joyful to hear the news you share with us, I must admit it is a little… odd, shall we say, that your, er, betrothed, has been given a child out of wedlock. There will be many against this, unless you intend to marry her soon…"

Thorin leaned his hands on the tabletop, scowling slightly. "I intend to marry her as soon as she regains the strength she had the day I met her. As for the matter of my child, that is of no concern to me. The child will be of my blood, does that not matter enough for the kingdom?"

There were a few uneasy murmurs of agreement in return; Vreshkin reclined in his seat slightly, looking somewhat taken aback.

"Now that these matters have been resolved then," his brother cut in after a period of heavy silence, "the Council finds it urgent that we discuss the matter of our kin returning to the mountain once more," He addressed the others. Several murmured in agreement, this time with more enthusiasm, glad to move on to another subject that would not cause their king to become angry.

While Thorin hated the Council and their occasional ignorance for the plights of others, he grit his teeth and sat down in his seat, doing his best to calm himself down before he leaped across the table and throttled Vreshkin for what he had said.

"If it pleases the Council, I will write a letter to the Blue Mountains and invite those who wish to return to the mountain to do so. Hopefully, those living in other regions will eventually get the same message. I believe your sister Dis is in the Blue Mountains as well, she would do well to see to it that her sons and her brother are well,"

"I have no doubt that you will do so immediately," Thorin said, mustering the most courteous voice he could.

The dwarf sitting next to Vreshkin's brother, the shortest in the room with a beard that almost touched his toes, piped up, "It perhaps would be wise to also begin preparations for continuing the restoration of the kingdom. There is still much to repair after the invasion of Smaug, however with the numbers we have currently this is proving to be a difficult task. Perhaps it would be wise to send word to the Men of the Lake to send assistance,"

Thorin shrugged. "I am unsure how able and willing Bard will be to send men to help considering he lost many in the war but I will not oppose this. We need as many men as we can if we are to restore the mountain to its former glory. It will take those in the Blue Mountains many months to get here, I want these halls ready for them when they arrive,"

A month passed, and the kingdom of Erebor was indeed beginning to look like it had once before, ever so slowly. Bard had indeed sent several Men to the mountain immediately, and Thorin found it hard to believe his eyes when around 100 men appeared at the gates with a responding letter from Bard himself.

Evelyn was recovering at a rate not even Oin could explain. The scar that reminded them all of how close she came to dying had healed up the best it could, becoming the same darkish-pink hue of the scar on her side from the poisoned Orc arrow. She was now able to walk unaided from her bed out the door and down to the end of the hall before becoming short of breath and needing to be guided back to her room. She was frustrated that she was still not at full strength, and made it clear to Thorin that, despite their happiness, this pregnancy could not have come at a worse time. Her belly was already clearly defined, protruding from her hips a tad, making her feel incredibly awkward whenever she got up to use her legs.

Thorin rarely left her side in those days. All his belongings had been moved to her room, and he now worked in the same room, writing upon hundreds of parchments and attending to important matters throughout the day, stopping only once or twice for a break. The first few days had many dwarves of different shapes and sizes passing through the room countless times to speak with Thorin, until Evelyn burst into a fit of rage and threatened to throw them all off the battlements unless they left her alone to rest in peace. To resolve this issue, Thorin would leave the room whenever someone wished to speak with them or non-pressing matters could wait until the next Council meeting.

Thorin noticed, as each day passed, how Evelyn's behaviour became even more unpredictable. Oin had taken him aside the day he moved his belongings into her room and warned him that pregnancy for a woman was a very challenging task, and her moods and emotions would vary alarmingly for a while, and that he would have to put up with anything she threw at him, literally or metaphorically.

He then found himself bewildered by her changes in emotion. Her temper would break without warning and he would find himself shocked into silence every time she decided to have a yelling fit and get mad at the smallest things. He forced himself to never argue back, instead aiming to calm her down anytime she had the sudden urge to yell the kingdom to its knees. Her hormones would kick in madly at nighttime, and he found himself exhausted every day, not just from the work he was doing during the day as King of Erebor, but from being dragged to bed by a rather aroused and naked woman in his bed. He had to admit, he enjoyed this side of her thoroughly, but he found himself sleeping for longer than he would have liked due to staying up quite late.

When her emotions became too much for her to handle, he found himself having to abandon his work to comfort her when she would suddenly burst into tears when things got the better of her. What she was experiencing was very alarming for Thorin, and he found himself constantly seeking out any information he could lay his hands on in books or by cornering Oin throughout the day and badgering him with questions.

They were both tired, physically and emotionally, yet they were happy all the same, and their bedtime ritual considered of lying in bed together with their hands resting on her belly, no doubt waiting for their child to announce its arrival into the world.

Things are getting a bit crazy but better! Thoughts?