A/N: To those who follow my other stories as well and were waiting for this, sorry it took so long. Real life got kinda busy, and I got sidetracked by the Avengers and WoW. Whoops.

To those new to my stories: welcome, and please enjoy!

"Watch your step, Miss Baggins, this path is treacherous," Thorin murmured, touching her elbow lightly as he passed her on the narrow path.

Bella sighed. The darkness in the woods was nigh all-encompassing. "I'm sure I would, if I could see them," she muttered wryly. She could see only the faintest outline of his back, and all she knew of the rest of the Company was by the sounds they made as they moved, stumbling and cursing, through the forest. Therefore, when he stopped, she nearly walked straight into his back before she could manage to stop her feet from barrelling onwards.

"You cannot see in this darkness?" he asked, a touch of concern in his voice.

"I'm afraid not."

"Then hold onto my arm, and I will guide you."

"Thorin?" Bella whispered, fumbling to find him in the darkness.

"Miss Baggins?" His voice came from the right, when she had expected it from the left, causing her to startle. "Should you not be resting?"

She turned in the direction she thought his voice had come from, reaching out for him, and his hand met hers. She gripped tightly, gratefully.

"I should, but the eyes keep me awake. There are more than there were before," she said. "They worry me. Do you think an attack upon the Company will be likely?"

"No," Thorin answered, squeezing her hand. "Both Gandalf and Beorn insisted we would be safe as long as we kept to the road. The fact that we have not been attacked yet speaks for the truth in their claims. Go back to sleep; you will be safe, and I have the watch."

Bella sighed, not entirely convinced, but the promise of warning before an attack was enough to soothe most of her fears. She squeezed back in thanks, then made her way back to her bedroll.

Still, sleep was long in coming that night. The eyes above watched, sometimes moving, and the Company snored.

Bella lay, exhausted and hungry, near the edge of a place where one of the elf-fires had been. The tales had been told of how she had managed to drive the spiders away, praise had been given, and now there was nothing left for it but catching their breath. That was the moment when Dwalin said the words that likely stole at least ten years of Bella's life away right there:

"Where is Thorin?"

'Where is Thorin?' remained the main question after all of them (except Bella, who simply followed unseen) had been captured by the elves of Mirkwood. Their leader was not with them, nor was he imprisoned anywhere close to them.

"If he has died, Fíli will lead this Company," Balin told her mournfully through the bars a week or so after their capture, when all of them were losing hope of ever seeing Thorin alive again.

"We will have to make a deal with the elves if we want to reach the Mountain in time," Fíli said when asked. "We have to finish our task, even if Thorin is never found. It is what he-" The young prince paused to gulp back tears. "-what he would have wanted. Not the deal with elves, obviously, but reaching the Mountain-"

"But we do not have the key!" Kíli exclaimed from the cell next to Fíli's, craning his head to try to look at him around the curving of the cave wall. "Uncle was the one with the key!"

"Give me one more day," Bella cut in when Fíli looked at a loss to an answer to that. "One more day to try to find him. If I do not, then we'll see about making a deal. And finding that key." She shuddered at the thought of the elven king Thranduil.

She had watched him sometimes, unseen from the shadows, in the hopes that he would say something about Thorin, and every time she had the sense that he knew that she was there. There was a strange light in his eyes – ones so unlike Elrond's – that she did not like in the least, so she was greatly reluctant to make any sort of a deal with him. She did not trust him at all, less so since he had captured the dwarves, her friends.

Therefore it gave her great relief to see Fíli agree to her suggestion, readily so. And she set out to find Thorin with a new determination. He had to still be alive! He simply had to!

In the end, following the elf with the food turned out to be the way to go about it.

The door to Thorin's cell was the thickest yet, made of sturdy oak wood and iron. There were no guards, so once the food-bearing elf had left, the hobbit was left alone in the corridor, trembling from head to toe with the relief of discovering the leader of the Company alive.

She waited a few moments for the trembling to mostly stop, then crept up to the little window in the door. "Thorin?" she whispered into it, removing her ring as she did so. As she did, she felt a chill she hadn't even realized was there leave her. "Thorin, are you well?"

There was no answer.

Bella gripped the iron bars in the window hard and raised herself onto her toes to be able to peer into the cell. In the dim lighting, she could barely see his form, unmoving in the far corner. Worry overtook her again. "Thorin, please, answer me!"

The shadow that was Thorin stirred, raising his head. His eyes glinted in the darkness, little pinpoints of light. "Halfling? Is that truly you?" he whispered hoarsely.

"Yes, yes, it's me," she answered hurriedly. "Are you alright?"

He stared for a moment, then jumped to his feet and rushed to the door, reaching through the bars for her as best he could. Bella grabbed at his fingers to stop him from doing damage to himself, trying unsuccessfully to get more than his wrists through the bars.

His grip on her hand was reassuringly strong.

"Yes, fine," he whispered, "but what of the Company? Do they live?"

"They live," she reassured him, happy that she had some good news to give. "All locked up in separate cells, but they live and they are fed. Things are, in that aspect, better than they could have been."

"And what, then, of you?" Thorin asked, looking at her intently. "How do you stay undetected from the elves?"

"I-I found a Magic Ring under the Goblin Caves," Bella answered, reluctant to speak of it. "It makes me invisible, allows me to move unseen. I have to be wary of fires and light, because I do have a shadow, but I have managed to stay undetected so far."

Thorin was silent for a moment, grip on her hand strong, before he said, "Remarkable. You are most extraordinary, Miss Baggins, and I am glad to see you alive. It is good to have someone able to move freely, but tell me – do you get enough to eat?"

Bella bit her lip, caressing Thorin's hand softly with her thumb. He seemed reluctant to let go, and she understood why. After weeks alone in a cell, she would be desperate for contact, any sort of contact at all, as well.

"I steal what I can from the elves," she answered vaguely. "The worst thing is the constant cold, and finding a safe corner to sleep in. I am constantly afraid that they will discover me by stepping on me when I am asleep, or of making some sound then."

"Then rest here," Thorin said, "and I will wake you should someone come. They have only just brought food – no one will come here in quite a while."

"Thank you," Bella said gratefully, "I will, but first I must tell the Company that I have found you. They should know."

She thought it best not to mention that they had started contemplating making a deal with the elves in order to get out of there. She could find out Thorin's plan for dealing with the situation later. Bella was just grateful, for now, that there was a later.

"You want us… to get into the barrels." Nori deadpanned.

"It is the only way out that I have found!" Bella said, somewhat desperately.

"Well, find a better way," said Dwalin flatly, glaring at the barrels.

"Not getting in there," someone in the back agreed.

"We will be bruised and battered by journey's end, and probably drowned, too. We thought you had a better idea, when you managed to get hold of the keys,"* Glóin grumbled.

"Very well," Bella said, past desperate and arriving at thoroughly exasperated and annoyed now. "Come along back to your nice cells, and I will lock you all in again, and you can sit there comfortably and think of a better plan – but I don't suppose I shall ever get hold of the keys again, even if I feel inclined to try." **

"Do as she says," Thorin said abruptly. "Get into the barrels – go! Go!"

"Finally," Thorin murmured, wet and exhausted, but clearly in good spirits all the same. "We have arrived at Lake-town. You did it, Miss Baggins – you brought us here!"

"Y-y-yes, g-good," Bella answered, teeth clattering and hugging herself to try for some warmth. "But p-please, after s-so long a-a journey, you ha-have to call me Be-Bella."

Thorin gave her a pleased smile and a one-armed hug. "It would be my pleasure, Bella. Come, let us get you some warmth." To the rest of the groaning Company, he shouted over his shoulder, "Get up, we move!"

A/N: Feeling like hitting Bella over the head here. That grip on your hand (when she finds Thorin alive in a cell under the Elvenking's palace) is gratefulness that you're alive, you idiot, not being desperate for any kind of contact! AAARGH! ::writing frustrating, thick-headed characters::

The plague of slow burn. Feel like smashing their heads together. (To quote one awesome writer: omg, kiss!)

I would like to note that Bella isn't completely blind - it's evening when she mentions that she can't see, and the sun has gone down.

Oh, and a few quotes from the book again! I'm ignoring the movie (yes, I've seen it), so no spoilers from the Desolation of Smaug.
*slightly reworded quote from The Hobbit: Barrels Out of Bond
**quote from The Hobbit: Barrels Out of Bond

And a final note: I never meant for this to be a series. Then I made myself curious with a mention of kind looks and treasured words. ::shakes head at myself::