It was only a week later, when Fíli wished to take Sigrid up on her proposal, that he truly realized he didn't have any way to contact her outside of knowing where she worked and what gas station she frequented. He was sure he could use some of his means through work to find her home address or phone number, but wanted to try and avoid the most disturbing of communication methods.

He was worried that Kíli was feeling the allure of the Crystal and he was turning back to his self-destructive tendencies. While he had hundreds of friends or contacts on the police force that could answer any of his questions on addiction, he felt compelled to talk to someone who already understood the situation. Their uncle, Thorin, had been a respected police chief for years, and his fall from grace already hung over Fíli's head. He didn't want to admit to those that wanted to see him fail that his brother was struggling with a drug addiction.

And so here he was, sitting outside of the hospital at damn near six in the morning, waiting for Sigrid to finish her shift. He didn't even know if she worked every day or even the same hours each time she did work. From the small amount of personal information she shared with him, he knew she worked the night shift as often as she could.

"Fíli?"

Luck seemed to be on his side for once.

He turned his head towards the hospital and saw Sigrid approaching him cautiously, wrapping her coat tightly around her torso. The weather had warmed for a few days, luring the entire city into a false sense of security, before dumping rain, sleet, and arctic temperatures on the unsuspecting victims.

"What are you doing here? Is everything alright? Is it Kíli?"

Fíli stood from the bench as she drew closer, shoving his hands into the pockets of his dark brown leather jacket. "It's not... well, it is Kíli, I guess. I was wondering if we could grab a cup of coffee."

"At six AM?" She asked with a slightly unbelieving laugh, her breath turning into a visible puff between them.

He opened his mouth and found he didn't have a good answer for that and that his plan of stalking her outside of her work was probably not the first thing he should have attempted. Really, using his police resources seemed to be the less creepy option, now. He removed a hand from his pocket to scratch the back of his neck nervously. "I guess I didn't really think this through, did I?"

Sigrid smiled knowingly, shaking her head. "Not really." She started walking again and motioned with a tilt of her head to follow along. "Come on, I know a place that's only a block over."

He followed after her, jogging a half-step to catch up. "Do you need to get home to your siblings?" He hadn't even considered the fact that the entire reason she worked the night shift was so that she could get Tilda and Bain ready for school in the mornings. "We can get coffee later. I really wasn't thinking on my way here."

"It seems fate made you stop by today, Fíli." She joked, turning the corner once they reached the end of the hospital courtyard. "Da took a few days off from work and is staying with us. I told him that I was going to the library after work to cram in a few hours of studying." She turned, showing him the backpack she had slung over her shoulders. "He told me I work too hard, and I told him that was the pot calling the kettle black."

"I don't know your father, but he seems like a smart man." He shrugged his shoulders when Sigrid glared at him. "You're what, twenty-four?"

"Twenty-two."

"Mahal." She was younger than she looked, which he probably shouldn't say out loud to her. Kíli was only a year younger than the woman, and headed down an incredibly different path. She was just under six years younger than he was and already shouldered the responsibility of being a single parent, working a full time job, and taking a full load of classes. It only proved his point. "You're going to burn yourself out before you even have a chance to live your own life."

"Oh, sure, says the cop who was promoted to Detective when he was twenty-six, which is practically unheard of."

Fíli glanced side-long at her with a tilt of his head. He didn't remember mentioning that detail when he'd seen her last at the hospital. She was silent for another beat, and he could have sworn her cheeks reddened, though perhaps it was from the strong wind that picked up and whipped her hair in and out of her face.

"I looked you up." Sigrid explained, lifting a hand to shove her hair back over her shoulder and out of her face. "I was curious."

He felt a strange sense of pride from her words, and wondered at it for a moment. Surely there was no hidden meaning behind her intentions. It was only natural for someone to want to know more about a person that had essentially saved them from danger. And yet... He shook the thought off.

"You could have asked. I would have been honest with you."

"It didn't seem that important when there was a gun about to paralyze me or your brother having drug-induced hallucinations and threatening to kill me."

"Touché. Alright, since you know about me, what don't I know about you?"

She smiled, but didn't turn to look at him. "Nothing that interesting, I assure you." She raised her hand and pointed to the sign of a steaming cup of coffee swinging above a dimly let building. "Bombur's is right over there."

The two of them crossed the street in amicable silence, though he couldn't help feeling a little cheated at how she avoided answering his question.

Inside the cafe, the lights were so dim that for a moment, Fíli was sure the establishment was actually closed and they had forgotten to lock the door before leaving. However, there were a few college students spread about in boothes that had additional lights jutting out from the wall. They appeared to be adjustable, and shone over books and notes and stressed faces.

Sigrid led him to the counter, where an almost impossibly rotund man stood ready to take their orders.

"Oh, Sigrid! It's been such a long time! You've been working too much, haven't you?"

Fíli snorted, and she ignored him to smile in favor of the human ball behind the register. "I've just been working and studying, thank you, Bombur. After this semester, I've only got another year left in the program."

"That's great! And also terrible! You've been solely supporting this business for the last three years." Bombur laughed a mighty laugh, and one of the disgruntled students looked up from his intense studying to see what the commotion was about. Deciding it wasn't worth his time, he returned to his book.

"You'll be just fine, Bombur." She rolled her eyes and glanced up at the menu, even though she didn't need to. "I'll just have the usual." She shifted to remove one of the straps of her backpack, no doubt to retrieve money.

Fíli stepped forward, moving slightly in front of her, hoping she'd take the hint. "And I'll have a cup of the lightning blend, room for sugar and cream," he told Bombur while pulling his wallet from his back pocket. Bombur looked between the two of them for a moment, before smiling a cheeky grin.

"That'll be $6.49, then." Fíli handed him a $10 bill and told him to keep the change. "I'll bring those out to you when they're ready." He gave a wink in Sigrid's direction, and when Fíli turned to look at her she appeared flustered. Surely she didn't take Bombur's flirting seriously?

Sigrid headed towards the back of the building, and he followed. They picked a small table in one of the corners that was far enough away from the only two other people in the area so that they could talk freely with no concerns of eavesdroppers.

"You didn't have to do that."

"Hm? You mean buy your coffee?"

"Tea, and yes." She sat down on one side of the table, shifting her backpack from her shoulders and letting it prop up against the wall beside her. "I might not be able to take on any Goblins, yet, but I'm perfectly capable of buying my own drink."

Fíli lowered himself into the chair across from her, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "You sure make it hard for a guy to be polite. My brother berated you on the job with death threats, you agreed to sit down and talk with me immediately after your overnight shift, you work too hard and you deserve it, or I was being a gentleman. Take your pick." He crossed his right ankle over his left knee, watching her flounder for a retort and come up with nothing. "Wait, you said you can't take any Goblins on yet."

Sigrid hadn't realized her slip of the tongue, and averted her gaze to the bookshelf along the wall behind Fíli. "I am going to take self-defense classes this summer." She knew her Da's feelings on the matter, which is why she hadn't exactly been truthful with him. "I'm not looking for trouble, but I want to know what to do if I find it. I know I haven't properly thanked you for what you did, and I think we both know where I would be if you had stopped in just twenty minutes later. I can't always expect to be saved just in time."

Fíli shifted so that he could rest his elbow atop the back of his chair, scratching at his beard as he noticed her apparent unease with the topic. "I think it's a great idea."

"Really?" Her eyes slid to his, expecting to find him joking or something of the sort.

"Of course. You've already got a warrior's spirit. I could tell from the moment you almost shot lasers from your eyes when you thought I was suggesting Tilda be taken from you."

Sigrid grimaced, wrinkling her nose at the thought. "Yeah, sorry about that."

"Don't be. I'd have reacted the same way if it were..." Kíli. He didn't have to finish that thought for both of them to know who he meant. Yes, he supposed that was why he had asked her to get coffee with him, but it had been so much easier when they were trading teasing remarks and talking about anything else.

They were saved from a terribly awkward silence when Bombur arrived with each of their drinks, setting down the incredibly strong coffee in front of Fíli, and the sweet, honey-smelling tea in front of Sigrid. The human ball winked in her direction again, and Fíli thought for a moment that she was going to swat him, but she instead quipped a thanks to him and busied herself with stirring her tea. Bombur shrugged in Fíli's direction, and waddled back to his post behind the counter.

A few more seconds ticked by where neither of them spoke. Fíli dropped two cubes of sugar and a healthy splash of creamer into his coffee, stirring it with one of those tiny straws, of which Kíli used to always question their usefulness. He never dignified the stupid question with an equally stupid answer, just a sigh, and he sighed just thinking about it. He missed his brother, not whatever he'd become.

Sigrid waited patiently for him to speak, and he appreciated that. It was hard enough for him to admit that he was struggling with something this personal, but he had also sought out an almost complete stranger in which to confide.

"How is school?" He wasn't ready.

"It's going well." She understood.

She shrugged out of her jacket, now that she had warmed up a bit from the chill outside. "I have one last test at the end of this week, and then I'll be done until next semester. With the exception of the self-defense class, of course." She warmed her hands around her teacup. "How is work? I'm... not really sure what constitutes as a good day or a bad day in your field."

He gave an understanding nod, taking a long swig from his coffee cup before answering. "A good day is when I'm able to bring closure to a family. There are many kinds of bad days. Any day I need to break the news to a victim's family, any day I need to transfer a case out of the department because it's gone cold, any day I can't bring closure to someone." He set his mouth in a thin line, tracing his thumb over the lip of his mug. "There are a lot of bad days."

Mahal, he was just exquisite conversation today.

Fíli chanced a look up across the table, and saw a strangely pained expression on Sigrid's face. He felt an instant desire to fix whatever he'd done wrong to make her look like that. "I'm sorry, I should really think up a better answer to that question."

She shook her head, frowning down into her tea. "No, it's true. Without an answer, without closure, you can't ever move on. You always wonder and it eats away at you until..." Well, until you pour yourself into school and work and caring for your siblings so you don't have any time to think or feel.

"Your mother?" He couldn't help but ask, wondering if she too needed someone to listen. Of course, she was always doing the listening or the mothering or the fixing. When did anyone stop and take a moment to ask if she was okay?

Sigrid took a sip of tea, resuming her study of the books over Fíli's shoulder. She wasn't really focusing on any of them, but it kept her grounded for the moment. However, she couldn't find the strength to speak out loud what she often thought to herself. Her father never spoke of her mother or her untimely death, but Sigrid had been old enough to read the news in the papers herself. She read enough to know that her mother's death was violent and unprovoked, and as of yet, unsolved. But for her father, it was easier to pretend she had never existed.

Fíli found that he wanted to listen to her story, and hoped maybe she would open up if he were able to do the same. "I'm worried Kíli is using, again."

Her attention shifted back to him, looking almost relieved to be able to talk about something else. Though she had a feeling she wasn't off the hook. "What makes you think that?" There was no judgement in her tone, she was merely asking for the facts of the situation that led him to his belief.

"Twice I've been called to the station for a case in the middle of the night, and found that he's climbed out the window and gone down the fire escape. He's always back when I come home or when I wake up in the morning, but what reason could he have to do that if he wasn't back to using?"

"Have you asked him about it?"

Fíli snorted. "We haven't talked about it so much as argued vehemently about it. He swears that he isn't using again, but that he is actually sneaking out to see a girl. What kind of fool does he take me for?"

"How does he act when he's home? Is he conscious most of the time? Coherent?" Leave it to her to actually force him to think reasonably. In his line of work, not to mention with his family's history, he knew how to spot a Crystal junkie from a mile away.

"He's nothing like he was in the hospital, if that's what you mean. After the first few days of being irritable, he actually seems back to normal. Almost like the Kíli I remember, before this whole thing went to shit." No, he couldn't pick out any behavior in the recent days that could be attributed to Crystal. "But that doesn't change the fact that he's sneaking out, and he insults my intelligence by suggesting it's anything but drugs."

Sigrid didn't seem convinced, shrugging as she took another sip of her honeyed tea. "Give him an ultimatum. Ask to meet the girl or to tell the truth. You have to be patient, but you also have to be strict. If he is out using again, you can't let him sap you of your strength and independence. As hard as it may be to let him fail, it's the best thing you can do for him."

He pondered her words for a moment. "I can at least try it. If nothing else, it will force him to admit that I'm the more emotionally stable brother."

She let out a loud laugh, lifting her hand to shield her mouth. Her mind had obviously been elsewhere and not expecting his comment. Her laughter quieted, but her eyes still shone with mirth, and he couldn't help but grin in return. She was too young to be so somber all of the time, and he was glad that he had been the one to bring her a few seconds of true laughter. She was about to comment, undoubtedly to tease him about just how emotionally stable he was, when his cell phone rang in his jacket pocket. With a silent curse, he drew out his phone and groaned when he saw it was the station.

"Durinson." He answered, mouthing a sincere 'I'm sorry' to Sigrid as he listened to the details of his newest case. Another gang-related death, as if he should be surprised. After promising to be down to the scene as soon as he could manage, he hung up with a sigh.

"I take it you've got a case to solve," she commented, rather than asked, watching him tuck his phone back into his jacket with a nod.

"Can I give you a ride home at least?"

Sigrid shook her head with a smile. "I'm going to stay here and study." She gestured to her backpack still on the floor. "Giant career-deciding test this week, remember?" But she couldn't help but be disappointed that their odd reunion was going to be cut short.

Fíli stood, unsure how to really thank her for listening or wish her goodbye or whatever was societally required in this kind of situation.

"Oh, hold on," she told him, leaning down and rummaging around in her backpack. She produced a pen and the only scrap of semi-usable paper she could find - an old receipt she didn't even care to glance over. She scribbled something down and held it out to him. "Let me know how it goes with Kíli."

Her number. So he didn't have to sit outside her place of work and take bets as to whether or not the stars and the moon aligned in just the right pattern for their paths to cross again. "Or if we want to get coffee again? Under normal circumstances?" He couldn't stop himself from asking her, feeling a sense of camaraderie between them. She was easy to talk to and had a good head on her shoulders, and he couldn't ignore the fact that maybe he just wanted to see her again.

Sigrid smiled, and he could have sworn again that a blush dusted her cheeks, with no biting wind to blame this time. "I don't do normal circumstances, but I suppose I could make an exception."

Fíli smiled in return, wishing her good luck on her test and heading for the exit. He gave a wave to the ever-jovial Bombur, who winked in return. What a strange fellow. When he reached the door, he looked back over his shoulder to find Sigrid's eyes on him, chewing on one of her thumb nails, perhaps in thought. Her cheeks tinged pink at being caught watching him, and she offered an embarrassed smile and a little half-wave of her hand, before turning and digging through her backpack in an attempt to avoid humiliating herself further. He watched her for another split second, before slipping out the door and into the dawn.

What was he getting himself into?

Next chapter features more Kíli and brotherly interaction! As well as quite a bit of plot development!

Reviews are greatly appreciated! Truly, they keep me going, and I want to know how I can improve this story for your enjoyment. Longer chapters? Shorter chapters? More dialogue? Less dialogue? Are the characters true to form? Please let me know all of your thoughts, big or small!

I used to be the type of reader who would never leave reviews, until I started writing again and realized I sometimes feel cheated. I have no idea if any of you are enjoying this if you don't tell me. I am writing for you guys!

And thank you to those that have reviewed from the start. You are extra awesome!