Thanks to my talk the night before with Beorn he was much more receptive to the dwarves than I know he would have been otherwise. He offered us ponies, and food. He even gave me fresh bandages for my leg and now I was feeling much better. Everyone else was happy with how things had worked out. Fili walked over to me throwing his arm over my shoulder. “You are an amazing woman. We are truly blessed to have you with us,” he said as he rubbed my shoulder and kissed my cheek. I turned and looked at him smiling. He seemed sincere, but there was something in his eyes that confused me. Some emotion I wasn't expecting, and something told me that we needed to have a talk the first chance we got to be alone.

Of course that chance wasn't going to come for some time. As soon as we had made it into Mirkwood forest things seemed to go wrong. Everyone's minds were fuzzy, they couldn't seem to focus on anything, and then spiders….spiders that were bigger than me! It wasn't that I was afraid of spiders, but these were huge and I didn't like them at all. Just as I was about to turn into a wolf and start fighting the spiders the elves showed up first.

Let me tell you now, having an arrow pointed in your face is never amusing. My blood boiled and I snarled at Legolas. He raised a brow and looked at me curiously. “What's a human woman doing with a group of dwarves?”

I huffed and crossed my arms. “Listen here elfie I don't owe you an explanation. I don't owe you anything. But I'll tell you what you'll get if you don't move that arrow out of my face.” Even though I knew who he was I didn't want to use his name. It was more insulting this way. I moved a little closer to him and glared. “I will turn into my other form and I will bite you. So why don't you just let me go and I won't ruin that pretty face.” I smirked at him.

Legolas didn't like that and smacked me upside the head forcing it to turn. Fili, Kili, Thorin, and Dwalin all started yelling and trying to get to me. They couldn't break loose from the elves no matter how much they fought. I turned my head back to Legolas eyes blazing and tackled him to the ground and held him there. “If I didn't know how important a role you play in the future I would make you regret what you just did,” I snarled. His eyes went wide and he ordered the elven guards to let my friends come to me. Fili and Kili pulled me from him, but my glare didn't falter.

A heavy sigh left me as all of us were thrown into cells. I sat in the back knowing there was no use in trying to escape. I looked up at Fili as he stood at the cell bars and offered him a smile. “Have patience Fee. We'll get out of this. We just have to wait,” I told him.

Fili moved away from the cell bars and came to sit in front of me. His brows were furrowed in concentration.

“Go ahead and say whatever it is on your mind. I noticed back at Beorn's that you wanted to tell me something. So what's going on?” I asked.

Fili took my hand in his and rubbed it with his thumb. “I heard your talk with Kili. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but when he asked about me and you I couldn't help, but stay. What you said about your love life...it pains me to know someone as sweet and perfect as you isn't actually looking for love. You deserve to be treated like a princess by a good man.”

I had been looking at our hands as he talked, but when he finished I looked up at him. “I'm just afraid that if I go looking for it I'm only going to get hurt again. After Matt I finally accepted what I was, who I was and I feared that if I started dating again I would end up being a shell of the person I am. I don't want that to happen,” I admitted.

Fili cupped my cheek and pressed his forehead to mine. “You are a strong, beautiful, kind woman. I do not think that will be your fate. Any man would be lucky to have you, but the one who deserves you will accept you for who you are, boost your confidence, and build you up. Not all men are the same and one day you'll find someone to love you like you deserve. I promise you that.” He moved and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

I blinked and looked down not wanting him to see the unspilled tears that rested on my eyelashes. Fili and Kili had both managed to make me feel better about what happened with Matt. I actually thought I stood a chance of having love. And part of me wanted to admit to Fili that despite me not looking for love I was already falling. Forget that, I had already fallen. I just hadn't had the courage to tell the dwarf in question. But now I was starting to get it.

“Thank you Fili. You've given me hope, you and your brother. Actually if I'm being honest so have Thorin and Dwalin. The way all of you are so kind to me, the way you look after me and accept me for who I am. I've never had that and well the thing is I'm in love with…” Our cell door opened before I had the chance to finish my sentence. I looked around Fili and saw Bilbo standing there.

I ran to him and gave him a fierce hug. “I knew you would get us out of here. I had all the faith in the world that you would come.” I pulled away from him and smiled.

Bilbo chuckled. “Was it faith or knowing?” He teased.

“Well...you may have a point there my friend. I did know you were going to save us.” I shrugged. And when he let us into the cellars I didn't argue at all about getting into the barrels. I merely climbed in as the others argued about it.

Kili noticed I was in a barrel already and decided to get in one as well. I giggled as the others complained, but finally listened as Thorin ordered them to get in.