The company barely made it, but thanks to everyone working together, everyone survived. All but Bilbo. 
“Curse the halfling! Now he’s lost?!” Dwalin looked for him in vain, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"I thought he was with Dori!” Gloin was quick to foist off any blame.
Dori was still panting from the run. “Don’t blame [i]me![/i]”
"I’ll tell you what happened!" Thorin sheathed his sword then faced them all. "Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it! He’s thought of
nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth since first he stepped out of his door! We will not be seeing our Hobbit again. He is long gone.”

Kili looked the clearing over in hopes of spotting Bilbo, but he did not. What if he'd been wounded? For a brief moment in time, he nearly voiced his concerns, but a familiar voice broke through.

“No, he isn’t.” Bilbo clasped a hand to Balin's shoulder as he passed him by, and then he stopped. To explain his whereabouts would take too long, and he was not certain that he wanted to. For reasons even he did not yet know, he wished to keep the ring a secret.

“Bilbo, we’d given you up!” Kili smiled to see him; he was fond of their burglar, and he'd long considered him part of their group even if Thorin did not. 
For once, his uncle was proved wrong, but he was not sold quite yet. Skeptical, Thorin looked him over for evidence that Bilbo had gone through the same battle they had. "I want to know: why did you come back?”

There was a brief, awkward pause. Bilbo looked to the ground, readjusted his collar, then found it within himself to resume eye contact. “Look, I know you doubt me, I know you always have. And you’re right, I often think of Bag End. I miss my books. And my armchair. And my garden." To speak of such things made him miss them all the more, but Bilbo continued on, never losing his voice. "See, that’s where I belong. That’s home. And that’s why I came back, cause you don’t have one. A home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can.”

Bilbo had finally found his courage, but he would need much more of it. The hobbit had finished speaking right in time, for in that moment, a howl broke through the clearing. This was the howl of a warg, one belonging to the Pale Orc.