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“Thorin, I found something,” Bilbo said from where he had been forced to stand beside Thorin on the dais as he sat on his throne and surveyed his kingdom. A kingdom of corpses and more gold than one knew what to do with. A kingdom of death and decay and starvation that Bilbo was not looking forward to.
“Found what, my hobbit?” Thorin asked as he looked at Bilbo with a soft smile, an indulgent one, as though Bilbo was a favoured pet and not the male Thorin had married in Lake Town.
"I saw something in the other wing. I wanted to show you,” Bilbo continued, ignoring the suspicious looks the others were giving him. He was aware that they had all fallen to the gold sickness to different degrees. The least affected were Fili, Kili and Ori, and the three young ones were often huddled together whispering, trying to figure out how to save their older relatives from themselves.
Bilbo had run interference between them and Thorin’s paranoia more than once, and he was exhausted. Exhausted of the colour gold, of the way the metal and gems felt under his bruised and aching feet, of the way that when he looked into Thorin’s once blue eyes, Bilbo could no longer see the dwarf he had fallen in love with. Bilbo had had enough. He wanted his dwarf back. He wanted his husband back.
Bilbo wasn't manipulative by nature, but he was clever and sneaky and knew he needed to get Thorin away from both the treasure and the others. Their paranoia fuelled each other to act more ridiculous over nothing but shiny mathoms, so Bilbo took a deep breath before moving closer to Thorin and placing his small hands on the armour Thorin was now wearing. Armour that was gaudy and ostentatious and made his dwarf look sinister and cruel, though Bilbo supposed the look in his eyes did that also.
“What is in another room that cannot be found here? Behold our riches, behold our future,” Thorin said grandly as he swept a hand forward, encompassing all the treasure before him. Bilbo had to put on a faux smile as he simpered up to Thorin, oohing and ahhing when inside he felt like screaming, like throwing every last piece of treasure into the forge Smaug had relit for them.
Instead, he smiled widely as he placed a soft kiss on Thorin’s stubbled cheek before leaning forward to whisper in the dwarf’s ear, “There was the shine of gold and it confused me. Shouldn’t all the gold be in here?”
The glare that crossed Thorin’s face caused Bilbo to shiver, though he made no outward sign he was afraid of the dwarf who once held him so tenderly, whispered Khuzdul endearments in his ear and held Bilbo tight as though he was the most precious thing Thorin had ever seen. Now his gaze was covetous, as though Bilbo was another spoil of battle, another trinket to be kept close. Bilbo felt his heart break all over again at all he had lost, even when his love was before him.
Bilbo gave his head a little shake. He had no time to dwell. He had a plan, and the first part of it was to get Thorin out of this accursed treasury.
“The others?” Thorin asked as he looked at their Company with malice, worried about leaving them alone with his obscene amounts of gold.
"They can come too. Dori is known for his textile knowledge, no?” Bilbo asked, his nerves hidden behind a soft smile. “There is golden thread; he may know if it is real or not. I obviously don’t,” he added sheepishly.
“Not to worry, Bilbo, you are a hobbit and the gold of corn is enough to satisfy you. This is why you have I to teach you my mountain’s riches,” Thorin said as he smiled down at Bilbo before pressing their heads together.
Bilbo allowed himself to stay there a moment. Just one moment where he could pretend he wasn’t in a living nightmare and the dwarf before him wasn’t as likely to turn around and gut one of his beloved nephews as he was to lock Bilbo away as he whispered sweet nothing's to him.
The moment broke too soon when they heard the clinking of coins underfoot, and Thorin’s head snapped up. Bilbo didn’t allow him to be distracted. Instead, Bilbo grabbed Thorin’s hand and tugged him along behind him, chattering about how he had gotten lost and seen the shine of gold.
They quickly made it to the partially destroyed workroom where Bilbo had seen what he was about to show Thorin. Bilbo was not a country bumpkin; he knew exactly what he was looking at, and as he had hoped, Thorin was seeing it as though with new eyes.
“It isn’t finished, but …”
“It was never finished because we were sitting for it as the dragon came …” Thorin trailed off as he reached forward and traced the face of the painted dwarrowdam before him.
The unfinished portrait was of a dwarrowdam, a dwarrow and three small pebbles. One was fully painted, and the two young males that were just shapes, faceless beings if one didn’t know who they were beside.
“Amad … I thought I would never see her likeness again …” Thorin trailed off, tears thick in his voice.
Bilbo watched as the rest of the Company slowly came to their senses as the raw grief in Thorin’s voice at seeing his long dead amad, his baby sister when she had been young and safe, helped to lift the fog from their minds.
Bilbo watched as his dwarf came back to him bit by bit.
“Her hair is golden, no?” he asked tentatively.
“As golden as her heart, as pure as yours,” Thorin admitted as he pulled Bilbo tightly into his arms and cried silent tears into his hobbit’s neck for all he had caused him, for all he had almost done when blinded by gold.
“Thank you,” Thorin whispered, meaning far more than just standing beside him. Bilbo had given him a gift he had never known to expect, and in doing so, in returning some of Thorin’s lost history, Bilbo had helped fight back the darkness that had been trying to claim him.
Bilbo clung back to his dwarf just as tightly, relieved his love was back and that the worst seemed behind them now.
Surely things would be alright now that he had his Thorin back.