More Than Enough

He let out a heavy sigh at the slam of the bedroom door. Feeling defeated, Thorin began slowly pacing around the living room, thinking about what he'd done. Was he too harsh? Was his punishment too severe? He had warned her, he warned her more than once, but she only smiled...she smiled right at him and did it anyway.

She knew the rules! No climbing inside, especially not on the old, wobbly bookshelf. Her favorite story was resting on the top shelf where Thorin had laid it last night, but Tierney wanted to read it again. Thorin told her to wait while he fetched more water for Siggy, her bowl had been empty for quite some time due to Thorin trying to keep up with his rambunctious daughter all day. It took all of three minutes, yet when he returned, Tierney was halfway up, rocking the entire shelf with every step.

Thorin told her nicely at first to come down, and reminded her that she knew she wasn't supposed to do that, that she could get hurt. The second time, he became stern. When he tells his child to follow the rules, he expects her to do it. But the third and final time, she would test his patience no longer. What was she expecting? No one would ever let her get away with this. Not her mother, not her aunt, not even her cousins! Yet she still reacted like she was doing nothing wrong, her innocent defiance carried in that smile. The smile didn't last long though...it immediately turned into a frown as she jumped down and stormed off into her bedroom, the first of her sobs escaping as she slammed the door shut.

"You are very deep in thought." Thorin looked up in surprise. "You didn't even hear me come in." Talia observed as she closed the door. He wasn't expecting her to be back this early. They had such a long, rough last few months, Thorin insisted he take the day off and allow Talia to spend some time to herself. It had also been such a long time since he had a day with just him and his little princess, and they had been having such a good day too. He couldn't wait to tell Talia all about it...that is, up until ten minutes ago.

Thorin gladly buried his face into Talia's hair when she got on her toes to embrace him. She smelled like the spices of Dale's markets. He inhaled deeper, nestling himself further into her comfort. He turned the corner of his lips as he felt Talia chuckle. "Come on, let's go sit down." Thorin let his wife take his hand and lead him to the sofa. He kept his hold on her fingers even after they sat down. "Did something happen?"

The Dwarf king sighed, reluctant to admit his defeat. "Tierney found her way to the bookshelf again."

Talia raised her brows. "Oh." She shook her head and bit her lip. "That girl. So what did you do about it?"

"I warned her three times over and she ignored me. So I...I yelled at her to come down. I told her that we wouldn't be reading the rest of the day and that she could forget about dessert after supper tonight."

His wife nodded her head as her lips formed a small smile. "And now she's in her room sulking?"

Thorin narrowed his eyes when Talia chuckled. "What?"

"That's not that bad. You did the right thing, she just took it a little extra hard."

"A little? She looked at me as if I betrayed her...and then she tried to hide her tears." Thorin protested, trying to convey exactly why this was no laughing matter. "I've never seen her do that with you."

"Well, that's because she's used to me. I'm the one who's home with Tierney all day, and I've only just now started to teach late afternoon classes again. She's gotten five straight years worth of discipline from me. But you? You admitted yourself that it's been forever since you last spent a full day with her without me or Dis around. She was testing you today, she wanted to see what she could get away with." Talia elaborated.

"And why would she do that? She knows the rules, why would she expect any less from me?" Thorin challenged, trying not to feel insulted.

"Because she's daddy's girl. And I know you love that. But you're also gonna find that the last thing any daddy's girl wants is to be disciplined by daddy. That's why she took it harder than usual."